Articles de revues sur le sujet « Charcoal hearths »

This study related age structure and composition of forests in southeastern Pennsylvania to edaphic properties caused by the activities of a local charcoal iron furnace from the late 18th to the late 19th century. Forests surrounding charcoal hearths were harvested on 20- to 30-year rotations to supply wood for charcoal production in earthmound kilns. Charcoal hearths were created by a recurring cycle of disturbance, including the removal of established vegetation, intense heat, and the deposition of charcoal. Thirty-eight hearths of Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site were examined to describe differences in vegetation relative to surrounding forests that have developed since the cessation of charcoal production in 1883. Hearth forests were significantly younger than surrounding forests, with lower tree density and basal area, decreased sapling and shrub abundance, and higher herbaceous cover. Compositional differences on charcoal hearths included decreased importance of several Quercus species and ericaceous shrubs and increased importance of Liriodendrontulipifera L. Results of this study indicated that the initial effect of charcoal production was the prevention of stump sprouting and a delay in recolonization following disturbance due to extreme soil physical and chemical properties. Failure of hearth seedlings to recruit into larger size classes, age–diameter relationships of Liriodendrontulipifera L. trees, and the failure of calcifuge species to reestablish similar cover on charcoal hearths suggested that unfavorable properties of charcoal soils continue to negatively affect long-term productivity. Relative to nonhearth soils, large, significant differences in soil pH, cation exchange capacity, base saturation, and exchangeable Ca, Mg, and K indicated that continuing inhibition of woody plants on charcoal hearths may be related to alterations in soil chemistry that have persisted for 110 years.

Charcoal production associated with the iron industry had a pervasive influence on forests during the 17th and 18th centuries in the mid-Atlantic region of the eastern United States. In a recent study we reported the altered forest composition and soil properties on historic charcoal hearths in southeastern Pennsylvania. In this study, additional experimental results describe potential past and present mechanisms that may inhibit forest development. Nyssasylvatica Marsh, wood samples taken from the first 15 years of growth on hearth sites contained roughly half the amount of P and Mn and nearly double the amount of K and Na relative to wood produced on nonhearth sites in the same period, consistent with initial pH elevation following hearth abandonment in 1883. In the greenhouse, Quercusalba L. and Quercusrubra L. showed a significant growth depression in hearth soil. When the proportion of charcoal soil varied from 0 to 100%, several growth parameters of Q. rubra declined significantly with increasing charcoal soil content. In situ foliar nutrient concentrations of Vacciniumcorymbosum L. and Quercusvelutina Lam. were significantly different in P, K, Ca, Mg, Mn, Fe, Na, and Cu on hearth versus nonhearth plots. The present inhibition of hearth regeneration appears to be the result of persistent differences in soil nutrient availability after more than a century.

The wetland site of Verrebroek “Dok” situated in northern Belgium is one of the largest and best dated locations of Mesolithic material in northwestern Europe. Salvage excavations organized since 1992 at this large, unstratified open-air settlement have revealed more than 50 spatially independent artifact concentrations with traces of numerous fireplaces. Single entity dating of charred hazelnut shells from surface-hearths and charcoal from hearth-pits was used to obtain information not only on the sites duration, but also on the relation between the surface hearths and the hearth-pits. The dates were also used to look at discrepancies between the radiocarbon chronology and the typo-chronology of the lithic artifacts.

Agriculture has been the major driver of deforestation in Europe in the last 1000 years. In the past, forests were also exploited for charcoal production; however, the spatial scale/extent of this activity and its impact are unknown. LIDAR data can be used as a noninvasive tool to investigate the small-scale diversity of the land relief, including forested areas. These data can reveal the extent anthropogenic modifications of topography present-day as well as in the past. One of the activities that can be analyzed based on LIDAR data is spatial distribution of charcoal production. A preliminary LIDAR data analysis indicated the intensity of this practice and its potential impact on the natural environment. This prompted us to analyze the environmental impact of charcoal hearths in northern Poland. As it turned out, this topic exceeded the scope of earth sciences and became a transdisciplinary one. In this work, we will use the research methods typical of biogeography, dendroecology, paleoecology, soil science, biology, botany, history, onomastics, as well as art history, in order to thoroughly understand not only the natural consequences but also the social and economic consequences of charcoal production. This paper presents the assumptions of our project, the research methodology, and the preliminary results. We have identified using LIDAR data more than 73 thousand relief forms which can be remnants of charcoal hearths. Our preliminary results confirmed large scale impact of past human activity related to charcoal production and suitability of the methods used for detecting and reconstructing charcoal hearths as well as determining the distribution and magnitude of past forest use for charcoal production in NW Poland.

AbstractEarly Holocene cultural material at Gerstle River, central Alaska, provides excellent contextual controls for examining variability in radiocarbon dating. Over 4,000 bone and teeth fragments are directly associated with over 7,000 lithic artifacts and 10 discrete charcoal-rich hearths in a thin occupation layer (∼10 cm vertical thickness) within well-stratified loess deposits. Radiocarbon dating of the hearth features indicates overlapping ages at 2σ, suggesting contemporaneity. This study uses the high level of resolution at Gerstle River to evaluate systematic radiocarbon variation due to different materials (collagen and charcoal), different pretreatments of collagen (regular and ultrafiltered), and interlaboratory variation through paired bone and hearth charcoal dates, split samples, and cross-checks. Accurately dating bone collagen is important given the closer association of dated samples with human activities (e.g., butchering) compared with charcoal fragments in certain contexts (e.g., driftwood, paleosols, or alluvial deposits). This study demonstrates the efficacy of bone collagen dating with ultrafiltration to counter potential site-specific contamination. These results also indicate that even in high-resolution situations with little evidence for old-wood effect and contamination, considerable variability can exist among cross-check and even split samples from single pieces of charcoal from short-lived species.

This paper presents a study of the chronological setting of hearths registered in FMIS (digital register containing records of all known ancient monuments in Sweden) in the provinces of Västerbotten and Norrbotten, Northern Sweden. A total of c. 1500 hearths are known in the area, mainly situated north of the river Skellefteälven. Within a study area of 107 x 94 km, 32 hearths were randomly selected for excavation, each site embracing 1-14 hearths. The sites were scanned using a metal detector and nearly all artifacts found were from the period AD 1600-1900. 14C-datings of charcoal and burned bones corroborated that most hearths were used during this period, with a large number dating to the 19th and 20th centuries. Many hearths contained bones from mature reindeer, indicating that the hearths were related to reindeer herding. We suggest that most hearths are related to nomadic Sami reindeer herders using coastal areas for winter pasture, possibly resulting from the breakdown of the “lappskatteland” (taxation lands) system and an increase in reindeer numbers.

Fell's Cave lies near the Magellan Straits of South America's Southern Cone. This was the first site to provide evidence of a late Pleistocene occupation of South America, and it is the site where the Fishtail projectile point type was defined. Previous radiocarbon ages from Fell's Cave on charcoal samples from three hearths in the late Pleistocene artifact-bearing levels yielded dates ranging from ca. 11,000 to 10,100 radiocarbon years before present. New radiocarbon dates on curated charcoal samples from these same hearths yield revised ages of ca. 10,800 to 10,400 radiocarbon years before present. These new dates from Fell's Cave agree well with ages from other South American sites in the Southern Cone with Fishtail points and show that the Fishtail projectile point was made from ca. 10,850 to 10,300 radiocarbon years before present or ca. 12,800 to 12,100 calibrated years before present.

Theopetra Cave is a unique prehistoric site for Greece, as the Middle and Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods are present here, bridging the Pleistocene with the Holocene. During the more than 20 yr of excavation campaigns, charcoal samples from hearths suitable for 14C dating were collected from all anthropogenic layers, including the Paleolithic ones. Most of the samples were initially dated using the ABA chemical pretreatment protocol in the Laboratory of Archaeometry of NCSR Demokritos, Greece, and the Radiocarbon Dating and Cosmogenic Isotopes Laboratory of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. The 14C results, which were not always consistent versus depth, showed that the earliest limit of human presence is ∼50,000 yr BP, thus reaching the age limits of the 14C dating method. However, 10 TL-dated burnt flint specimens unearthed from the lower part of the Middle Paleolithic sequence of the cave gave ages ranging between ∼110 and 135 kyr ago. These results are in disagreement with the 14C dates, as they support a much later date for these layers. In order to clarify the situation further, charcoal samples originating from hearths were conventionally dated in the Laboratory of Archaeometry of NCSR Demokritos using the ABA pretreatment. Additionally, hand-picked charcoal fragments also underwent 14C dating by AMS in the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit using the acid-base wet oxidation (ABOX-SC) pretreatment protocol. The 14C dates from the cave's Paleolithic layers obtained by both pretreatment protocols suggest a probable charcoal diagenesis affecting the 14C results of these very old samples. However, the dates obtained with ABOX-SC pretreatment are considered more reliable and in the younger stratigraphic part produced consistent results with the TL dating.

Relict charcoal hearths (RCHs) increases soil fertility in forest ecosystems. However, the effects of RCHs on the activity and abundance of soil microorganisms remain unknown. In this paper, we analysed the impact of relict charcoal production on the soil enzymatic activity and composition of soil bacterial and fungal communities in Scots pine forests of the Manowo Forest District in northern Poland. Moreover, we determined the effect of relict charcoal production on the soil properties. Our research was conducted by comparing the physical, chemical, enzymatic and microbiological properties of charcoal-enriched and charcoal-free soils. Significant differences in physical properties were found between these two soil types in terms of their structure and water holding capacity. As expected, horizons enriched with charcoal were characterised by a significantly higher organic carbon content (4.7% on average compared to 2.2% in control horizons), and also by a considerably higher content of available phosphorus (an average of 64.07 mg·kg−1 compared to 36.21 mg·kg−1 in the control). Similarly, RCH horizons displayed a higher pH and higher contents of Ca and Na cations. These results indicated that RCH soils provided more favourable conditions for the soil microbiome, as reflected by the higher enzymatic activity and diversity of the microorganisms. Moreover, bacterial and fungal communities in RCH soils were more diverse and had greater species/genera richness, especially in the case of fungi. Members of the genus Rhodoplanes dominated the bacterial community at both RCH and non-RCH sites, followed by Streptomyces, Burkholderia, Skermanella, Tsukamurella and Candidatus Solibacter. Both culture- and next generation sequencing (NGS)-based analyses showed that soil fungal communities were dominated by Ascomycota, with Penicillium as the most abundant genus. Our results showed that hearth soils may represent a significant C pool in the forest ecosystem. This study supports the strategy of safeguarding such charcoal-enriched soils as precious C reservoirs and ecologically important biodiversity hotspots. Moreover, the application of charcoal may effectively increase the microbial diversity of forest soils, especially during the reforestation or re-cultivation of disturbed habitats.

Excavation and survey has revealed evidence of activity around the long cairn, Caravat Barp during the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages. A series of three hearth complexes comprising stone-built hearths within an ash/charcoal spread associated with post-holes and pits were the earliest features on the site. A large sub-rectangular stone enclosure was built soon after peat had begun developing over the area. When the peat had developed to a thickness of 0.2 m another fence line was laid down, apparently utilizing the earlier enclosure. Finally, a small cairn was formed just west of the long cairn. Palynological work was carried out to establish the nature of the contemporary environment while the macrofossil record was analysed in terms of wood use and the foodstuffs available.

This limited study was principally concerned with the identification of wood charcoal from the metal-working floor and bowl-hearths, in order to identify the timber species exploited for fuel in the metal-working process, although other charred plant remains present in the samples were also identified.Samples from site had previously been treated to extract the charred material and separate the cereal and weed seed remains from the charcoal present.2 A sample of plant remains taken from the sealed soil profile (38) beneath the rampart was also examined; it contained small-seeded legume species, cuscuta, grass rhizomes and fungal sclerotia and cleistothecia, which might be found in any soil.Identification of a piece of wood charcoal requires its fracture in three planes (Leney and Casteel 1975). The fragments thus obtained were examined under an epi-illuminating microscope and identified by comparison with modern charred reference material and an atlas of wood anatomy (Schweingruber 1982). The minimum size of charcoal piece from which the three planes of fracture could be obtained was relatively large, so that many of the pieces in the samples were too small to be analysed. All samples contained at least twenty identifiable pieces, however, mainly of twig or branch wood.

AbstractThis short note presents a preliminary list of 21 radio-carbon dates obtained from field samples. The samples came from a variety of types of context (charcoal from hearths or middens, fragments of original timbers) from different types of site (farms, gsur, villages) of varying date (Roman, Byzantine/early Arab, Medieval). The results have been calibrated to present the dates in calendar years to one and two standard deviations. Some preliminary comments are advanced on the comparison between these dates and those derived from the study of the fineware pottery assemblages from the sites.

This article reports excavations undertaken between 1990 and 1994 on a small cliff terrace, at Tintagel Island in Cornwall. This terrace (the Lower Terrace) lies below Site C (the Middle Terrace), where a building was excavated by Dr C.A.R. Radford in the 1930s. The remains uncovered on the Lower Terrace comprise several phases of ephemeral stone and turf structures with associated hearths, floor deposits and stakeholes. These are separated by periods of shillet (tiny flakes of slate in sandy clay soil) levelling. With the collapse of the last structure the terrace was buried by layers of scree and slate slip from the slope above. Artefact groups of fire-lighting stones, whetstones and worked flint and quartz were recovered predominantly from earlier phases, together with Romano-British Native pottery. Later phases mainly comprised sherds of Imported Mediterranean pottery (84 per cent of all finds) and slate disc pot lids. The results of an extensive programme of environmental sampling clarified that a wide range of probably locally growing trees and shrubs were exploited for fuel, as well as for wattles and larger posts and beams. Tiny burnt fragments of animal and some human bone were found scattered through a handful of deposits, but the material is probably residual. A programme of radiocarbon dating was possible with the availability of charcoal material from hearths and stakeholes. This programme, using innovative mathematical modelling techniques, produced three distinct date ranges of structural activity on the Lower Terrace: 395–460 cal AD for one of the earliest phases of hearths, floors and stakeholes pre-dating the occurrence of Imported pottery; 415–535 cal AD for a later structural phase with hearths and first occurrences of Imported and Native pottery together; and 560–670 cal AD for the latest and best surviving structure, with hearths, stakeholes and a large assemblage of Imported pottery.

ABSTRACTThe radiocarbon (14C) chronology of hunter-fisher-gatherers’ archaeological settlements along the Brazilian coast is usually based on mollusk shells, charcoal from hearths, and eventually human bones. However, fish otoliths are found in several archaeological contexts and may represent a reliable option as a chronological record. In this work, we compare the 14C dates of whitemouth croakers (Micropogonias furnieri) otoliths with dates obtained from other materials (shell and charcoal), collected from shellmounds on the coast of Rio de Janeiro, with the aim of improving the accuracy in the 14C dating of Brazilian shellmounds, strengthening the comprehension of the native populations’ occupational trends and the coeval palaeoceanographic context. Based on x-ray diffraction results for archaeological otoliths, their geochemical composition indicates minimal diagenesis effect over time even under burial conditions in the studied sites. The comparison between otolith dates and dates obtained from other proxies revealed similar results but with decreased deviations in otolith dates in all of the studied sites.

Advanced deep learning methods combined with regional, open access, airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data have great potential to study the spatial extent of historic land use features preserved under the forest canopy throughout New England, a region in the northeastern United States. Mapping anthropogenic features plays a key role in understanding historic land use dynamics during the 17th to early 20th centuries, however previous studies have primarily used manual or semi-automated digitization methods, which are time consuming for broad-scale mapping. This study applies fully-automated deep convolutional neural networks (i.e., U-Net) with LiDAR derivatives to identify relict charcoal hearths (RCHs), a type of historical land use feature. Results show that slope, hillshade, and Visualization for Archaeological Topography (VAT) rasters work well in six localized test regions (spatial scale: <1.5 km2, best F1 score: 95.5%), but also at broader extents at the town level (spatial scale: 493 km2, best F1 score: 86%). The model performed best in areas with deciduous forest and high slope terrain (e.g., >15 degrees) (F1 score: 86.8%) compared to coniferous forest and low slope terrain (e.g., <15 degrees) (F1 score: 70.1%). Overall, our results contribute to current methodological discussions regarding automated extraction of historical cultural features using deep learning and LiDAR.

When ancient hearths at open archaeological sites do not yield carbonized annual plant remains or other high-quality samples, wood charcoal is commonly used for radiocarbon dating. Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.), a shrub frequently used for fuel across much of the western United States, seems a potentially better candidate for 14C dating than tree wood since the possibility for significant age discrepancy might be less. A comparison of multiple assays from single features reveals that sagebrush can overestimate age more than even tree wood charcoal. A plausible cause of this appears to be persistence of the shrub on the ground surface for an extended interval after death, such that use as fuel almost invariably occurs hundreds of years after fixation of carbon. The potential for age discrepancy may decrease as population density increases because the demand for fuel wood would have resulted in a more rapid turnover of the fuel biomass. This is not true for Archaic period foragers of western North America when population levels were likely quite low and residential mobility quite high.

Claims for a human presence in Australia beyond 60,000 years ago must have a strong evidence base associated with rigorous methodology and intense scrutiny. In this light we present excavation results for Charcoal and Burnt Stone Feature #1 (CBS1) located within coastal dune sediments at Moyjil (Point Ritchie), Warrnambool, that independent geomorphic and OSL dating indicates is of Last Interglacial age (~120,000 years ago). While on plausibility grounds the cultural status of a feature of such great antiquity in Australia is unlikely, a cultural origin for CBS1 is less easily dismissed if assessed with an age-independent methodology. A broad range of macroscale discrimination criteria has been used to assess whether CBS1 is either a cultural hearth or a natural feature such as a burnt tree stump. On balance, evidence marginally supports a cultural origin over a natural origin. However, the absence of associated stone artefacts and faunal remains and the presence of burnt root wood precludes definitive statements on the cultural status of the feature. Our case study is methodologically instructivein terms of the potential complexities and issues of equifinality involved in the archaeological identification of ancient hearths.

Despite the paucity of archaeological research in the Sierra Madre Oriental ecotone of northeastern Mexico, a patterned distribution of large open campsites replete with petroglyphs is suggested by a recent rock art survey sponsored by the Mexican government. Pilot research at Boca de Potrerillos, one of the largest and best preserved examples of this site type, demonstrates that the intermontane desert of today was once a combination of grassland and wetland. Hundreds of hearths are now exposed on the surface of a desiccated alluvial plain and thousands of petroglyphs have been incised into sandstone boulders fringing the occupational area. Radiocarbon assay of charcoal derived from buried hearths dates the intact subsurface living surfaces to the period between 1350 and 650 years ago. Pollen and phytolith samples from buried strata and ground stone implements describe a mesic environment and provide a list of potential economic plants processed at the site. The presence of both aquatic and terrestrial snails supports the paleoenvironmental reconstruction of wetlands, replete with emergent vegetation, flanked by rocky slopes. Archival research suggests that a drying trend is mirrored in the agricultural history of the valley but the extreme degradation effected in the last four decades is attributable to modern exploitation of the aquifer.

AbstractSalvage excavation of a small mound on the south coast of Guatemala revealed evidence of Late Preclassic salt production. Most potsherds are of a crude, thin-walled utility ware believed to have been used in evaporating salt water over fires. Level-by-level attribute analysis suggests evolution of a more efficient vessel form for this purpose. A typological study of fine ware and radiocarbon dating firmly position the mound chronologically. Charcoal was abundant; daub and elongated hearths probably figured in the technology. Also, the absence of edible plant remains and the scarcity of obsidian blades and animal bone add to the picture of a specialized, salt-producing locality. The represented salt-making technology is partially reconstructed using comparative ethnographic, ethnohistorical, and archaeological sources from southern Mesoamerica.

Lake Donggi Cona is a key area for the exploration of the prehistoric settlement of the inner Tibetan Plateau because of its location in the joint of the higher inner Tibetan Plateau and the upper Yellow River valley. Here, we carried out archeological investigation on the lake basin, and a total of 256 pieces of stone artifacts were collected from the surface of the DJCN 3-2-2 site on the northern shore terraces of the lake. In addition, AMS14C and OSL dating were performed on hearths and section (DJCN 3-2-2), respectively; meanwhile environmental proxies, including grain size, charcoal, magnetic susceptibility, fungal spore, and pollen, were analyzed. The results indicate that the AMS14C ages of the charcoal range between ~5.4 and 5.0 cal. ka BP, consistent with OSL dating from the charcoal layers in the DJCN 3-2-2 section (~5.5 ka BP). The functional analysis of the stone artifacts and dating results showed that the site was a seasonal, relative long-term, and central camp which was used for processing of stone artifacts, cutting and consuming food and the production of daily necessities. Charcoal, magnetic susceptibility, and fungal spores from the DJCN 3-2-2 section revealed that prehistoric human activities began at ~5.8 ka BP and significantly intensified during the period of ~5.6–5.5 ka BP and then gradually weakened. Pollen assemblages indicated that the vegetation was dominated by alpine steppe during the period of ~5.8–5.0 ka BP, indicative of a relatively warmer and wetter climatic condition during this period. Taken together, we infer that under the impact of the Neolithic culture in lower altitude of upper Yellow River valley and Microlithic culture in the higher altitude inner Plateau, a Neolithic-Zongri culture had emerged in the transitional region between these two cultures during middle Holocene.

Investigations in the now-submerged cave systems on the Yucatán Peninsula continue to yield evidence for human presence during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Skeletal remains are scattered throughout the caves of Quintana Roo, most representing individuals who died in situ. The reasons why they explored these underground environments have remained unclear. Here, we announce the discovery of the first subterranean ochre mine of Paleoindian age found in the Americas, offering compelling evidence for mining in three cave systems on the eastern Yucatán over a ~2000-year period between ~12 and 10 ka. The cave passages exhibit preserved evidence for ochre extraction pits, speleothem digging tools, shattered and piled flowstone debris, cairn navigational markers, and hearths yielding charcoal from highly resinous wood species. The sophistication and extent of the activities demonstrate a readiness to venture into the dark zones of the caves to prospect and collect what was evidently a highly valued mineral resource.

Abstract ESR (electron spin resonance) can date sites that span the whole Paleolithic, but requires accurate sedimentary dose rates, especially in caves where the internal and cosmic dose rates can approach 0 mGy/yr. This study examines the sedimentary radioactivity in the upper layers at Golema Pešt, North Macedonia. Reaching &gt; 5.5 m deep, &gt; 21 flatly lying, silty-sandy matrix-supported gravel layers with éboulis clasts fill the cave. In Sondage 2, Layers 0–5 contained many hearths and yielded thousands of bones and teeth, many from ungulates. In Layers 2-5a sat thousands of lithics and small tools, many made on tiny quartz crystals. Layers 2c-6 have Mousterian assemblages with denticulates, notched tools, Levallois cores and flakes. To measure the volumetrically averaged sedimentary dose rates for ungulate teeth dated by ESR from Sondage 2, 66 sediment samples were analyzed by NAA. Adding éboulis, calcined bone, and charcoal associated with the hearths lowered the sedimentary dose rates or left them unchanged. In Layer 2 at 198 cm below the cave datum, the Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) cryptotephra occurred, where it caused abnormally high sedimentary U, Th, and K concentrations and dose rates. Since the CI tephra lay 28–30 cm above AT77, a tooth dated from Layer 3, using time- and volumetrically averaging increased AT77’s sedimentary dose rate by 32%, and dropped its calculated age by 25%. Analyzing the sedimentary compositions at every 2 cm in Layers 0–2 yielded a highly detailed stratigraphy that reduced the uncertainty in the sedimentary dose rates and the ESR ages, but more detailed geochemical analyses must be completed within the lower layers in Sondage 2.

The cave of Cyclope is situated on the SW side of the island of Youra, 16 miles from Alonnessos. Systematic research in the cave lasted from 1992 to 1996. The upper layers, which date to the Roman period, contained mainly lamps. In the centre of the cave a Middle Neolithic stratum yielded a mass of pottery of exceptional red-on-white decoration. In cutting C, near the entrance, the upper layers belonged to Late Neolithic I (5th millennium BC) and were underlain by a thin Early and Middle Neolithic layer. Most of the deposits were Mesolithic. These layers consisted of faunal remains and thick-packed living floors in which there were ash hearths and scattered charcoal. Radiocarbon dates from these strata ranged from c. 6800 to 8500 BC. The quantity of fish bones and shells was immense in the Mesolithic levels, suggesting, in association with the variety of bone hooks, high dependance on sea resources. The presence of Mesolithic habitation on a small island in the northern Aegean demonstrates that the cave of Cyclope is the earliest site in the Aegean Sea.

We present the first results of an accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon intercomparison program on 3 different charcoal samples collected in one of the hearths of the Megaceros gallery of Chauvet Cave (Ardèche, France). This cave, rich in parietal decoration, is important for the study of the appearance and evolution of prehistoric art because certain drawings have been 14C dated to the Aurignacian period at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. The new dates indicate an age of about 32,000 BP, which is consistent with this attribution and in agreement with the results from the same sector of the cave measured previously at the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE). Six laboratories were involved in the intercomparison. Samples were measured in 4 AMS facilities: Center for Isotope Research, Groningen University, the Netherlands; the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, UK; the Centre de datation par le carbone 14, Univ. Claude Bernard Lyon 1, France (measured by AMS facilities of Poznań University, Poland); and the LSCE, UMR CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, France (measured by the Leibniz-Labor of Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Germany).

Shpan-Koba Grotto is currently the only stratified Mesolithic and Neolithic site on the plateau of the First Range of the Crimean Mountains (Yayla). Lower Early Mesolithic cultural layers of the site (archaeological unit 3) have exceptional preservation due to the rapid accumulation of sediment and infrequent settlement of the grotto. Their planigraphy, number and composition of the artifacts can tell about the peculiarities of the economical use of the landscapes and rock shelter of the Crimean highlands at that time. Cultural layers of archaeological unit 3 date back to time from 11500 to 7600 years cal BP, which belongs to Early Preborial. At this time, the climate was colder and wetter than today, the plateau of the Yayla around Shpan-Koba was covered by mesofit steppes, pine, birch and juniper grew on the slopes of the mountains. According to archaeozoological data, the fauna of the Yayla included such representatives of steppe landscapes as saiga and horse, and simultaneously typical forest animals — red deer, brown bear and lynx. All cultural layers of the unit 3 are very similar. They belong to the type of "ephemeral": are represented by small fires, few bones of hunted animals and single flint artifacts. The layers were left by the bearers of the Swiderian culture, due to very few flint artifacts, among them: swidrian points, segment, backed blades, straight dihedral burin, end-scrapers. More than half of the found flint artifacts are retouched tools, the rest — blades and flakes, have the traces of use in the form of macro retouch. Such composition of the flint inventory indicates on the hunters (“expeditional”) character of the habitations in the Shpan-Koba grotto. The planigraphy of all layers of the unit 3 was similar too. It corresponds to classic ethnographical «Drop-Toss model» be L. Binford, which describe the organization of the living space around the hearth by a group of people from one to five people (Binford 1978; 1983). The central object in each of the cultural layers was one hearth about one meter in diameter with the thin charcoal lens and little piece of burned clay under it. Three concentric zones were traced around the hearths on the western, southern, and southeastern sides: 1) without artifacts; 2) with little bones and flint artifacts (Drop zone); 3) with bigger bones (Toss zone). The "asymmetrical" location of the finds in relation to the hearths indicates the absence of artificial housing in the grotto. The only exception is the habitation of the 3-5/6 cultural layer, in which a small wall of stones was excavated. For it, the "symmetrical" location of the finds around the hearths can be assumed to be an artificial structure made of plant materials, such as a brush windbreak or a hut. The windbreak could also exist in the habitation of layer 3-2, judging by the lack of a Toss zone in the south-western part. The presence of only one hearth in each of the cultural layers, the location of the artifacts relative to the hearth and their number, the composition of hunting prey, etc., evidence, that Shpan-Koba grotto in the Early Mesolithic was used as dwelling of little group (4—5 people). The occupation, probably, was very short terming, due to small and low-power fires, very few bones of animals and single flint artifacts, which were found in сertain layers. Their purpose was recreation, skinning and butchering of hunting prey, repair of hunting equipment and more. Seasonality of the Early Mesolithic dwellings in the grotto, due to archaeozoological data, fall on warm time — spring and summer (Benecke 1999, s 83, abb. 10). The aim of the swidrian people’s hunting expeditions to Yaila was hunting, first, on the saiga and red deer, which migrated from from the steppes of northern Crimea. The number of the red deer also increased in the First Range of the Crimean Mountains during warm seasons. The bones of the brown bear in many layers suggest that it was also an attractive prey. Key words: Crimea, Ukraine, Early Mesolithic, habitation, seasonal migrations, Swiderian.

There are two caves containing groups of wall paintings of the Upper Paleolithic age known in the Southern Ural: Kapova (Shulgan-Tash) and Ignatievskaya (Yamazy-Tash). In total, about 200 pictorial motifs have been recorded in the Kapova cave, among which there are life-like depictions of Pleistocene animals (mammoth and rhinoceros). Some 180 pictorial motifs have been found in the Ignatievskaya cave, which also show images of the Pleistocene fauna (mammoth and rhinoceros), although less realistic than those in the Kapova cave. The cultural layers have been discovered in the cave sediments at both sites. Archaeological excavations in the Kapova cave revealed multiple cultural layers which contained remains of the hearths, stone artefacts, fragments of ochre, decorations made of stone and tusk, a piece of burnеd clay cup, bone tools and animal bones (some with traces of ochre paint). In the Ignatievskaya cave, the Paleolithic cultural layer contains numerous fragments of charcoal, stone artefacts, rare fragments of ochre, decorations made from teeth of arctic fox and bison and from mammoth tusk, as well as the bones of Pleistocene animals. In the past two decades, a series of radiocarbon dates has been reported by different researchers based on the charcoal and bones from the cultural layers in both caves. Seventeen dates have been reported for the Kapova cave, including 14 Upper Paleolithic, 2 Bronze Age and 1 modern dates. The materials from the cultural layer of the Ignatievskaya cave have yielded 6 radiocarbon dates; another 3 dates were obtained directly from the charcoal used for the black paintings in the cave. Our analysis of publications, in which the radiocarbon dates from the Upper Paleolithic cultural layers of the Kapova and Ignati-evskaya caves are used, has revealed that the dating results are often reported inaccurately or incompletely, which leads to serious errors in interpretations. In particular, the incorrect use of non-calibrated radiocarbon dates as calendar ages, completely changes the paleoclimatic context of the cave occupation; for the Kapova cave, for instance, such misinterpretation shifts the dates of the cave visiting and painting from the late part of the Last Glacial Maximum and early deglaciation to the Bølling-Allerød interstadial. In this paper, we revisit the published radiocarbon ages for these two Southern Ural sites, provide practical recommendations and re-emphasize the importance for accurate and complete reporting of radiocarbon ages in publications.

Excavation in advance of development of the European Marine Science Park at Dunstaffnage in Argyll (NGR: NM 87878 34063) revealed multi-phased activity from the Neolithic into the Early Historic period. An irregular row of firepits, interpreted as funerary pyres, was orientated east–west and incorporated an infant inhumation and a cobble path. Dating of charcoal revealed that the fire-pits were probably in use for a number of generations during the Late Iron Age. The fire-pits were located on the edge of wet ground and it is postulated that these were deliberately located on what may have been perceived as a liminal boundary to aid passage into the afterlife. Activity shifted to the drier ground in the Early Historic period, late 7th to 9th century, in the form of an extended farmstead within which barley and oats were being dried in a kiln. Evidence for possible barns and/or houses survives in the form of a post-hole structure, a post-built wattle and daub structure, at least one basket pit boiler and a number of cobble hearths. One pit contained ten metal artefacts thought to be derived from agricultural implements or a dismantled structure. The duration of use of the farmstead appears to have been relatively short and it may have been seasonally occupied.

The Mira site is a stratified Upper Palaeolithic site in the Dnieper valley. The stratigraphic sequence includes three layers with archaeological finds from the period between 31,000 and 28,000 cal BP. The upper layer (layer I) yielded the remains of a seasonal autumn-winter settlement of horse hunters. The composition of flake tools suggests analogies with the Gorodtsovskaya culture of the Middle Don. The presence of bifacial tools and Aurignacian forms points to the Szeletian and, possibly, Micoquian analogies. Remains of a surface frame structure, production areas and hearths were revealed in the layer. The structure of the inhabited space is not complicated by a reorganization of the inhabited area, which allows identifying the specificity of particular features of the layer with greater reliability. The article gives a detailed description of an unusual feature from the upper layer of the Mira settlement. The feature is a pit located within the contour of the dwelling. There are grounds to think that the pit was dug at the beginning of the occupation, and shortly after that backfilled. Charcoal, bone and tooth fragments and a piece of a stone artifact made of an exotic raw material were found at the bottom of the pit. The composition of the finds and the circumstances of their placement suggest that we are dealing here with possible traces of some magical practice, namely the so-called “building offering”.

Unusual low water levels in the Sea of Galilee (Dead Sea Fault, Israel) have caused the recent exposure of submerged Late Pleistocene prehistoric sites and lacustrine sediments along the southern shores of the lake. The Ohalo II site is a large fisher-hunter-gatherers camp with in-situ brush hut floors, hearths, and a human grave. The site is radiometrically dated by 25 charcoal dates to 19,430 BP (average, uncalibrated). The archaeological remains include quantities of excellently preserved organic remains. These would not have been preserved without a rapid rise of lake level immediately after the occupation, covering the remains with silts and sand. Recently a concentration of eight tree trunks were found about 1.5 km south of Ohalo II, of which five trunks were identified as Salix species and dated as a single accumulation at about 16,100 BP. The trunks, too, had to be submerged quickly together to ensure excellent preservation. The camp and the trunks were found at −212/−213 m, almost 4 m below modern high water levels. We suggest that the finds represent two separate episodes of deposition during low lake levels, almost 3,000 radiocarbon years apart, each followed by an abrupt water rise. It is possible that climatic changes caused the observed fluctuations, though earthquakes (blocking or lowering the Jordan outlet, for example) cannot be ruled out.

The layout and organisation of wooden houses in Aalborg from 1050-1600This analysis of the layout, organisation and use of wooden houses in Aalborg in the period 1050-1600 is based on the remains of 39 buildings from a total of 11 different excavations carried out between 1962 and 2008. Wooden houses have been excavated at 41 sites in Aalborg, but at only 12 of these sites was the level of recording adequate to permit inclusion in this analysis. In addition, Aalborg has 23 half-timbered houses dated prior to 1600, seven of which still stand on their original site. Out of this total of 62 wooden houses, 25 examples provide good information on layout, organisation and use and therefore form the backbone of this study.In terms of date, the main weight of the excavated houses lies in the 15th century, while the 14th century is poorest represented. Looking exclusively at the 23 best-preserved houses, the distribution is more uniform throughout the Middle Ages; however the 14th century remains underrepresented (tables 1 and 2).None of the houses in the present assemblage has been excavated in its full extent. Even so, it is apparent from the data that the width of the houses was very uniform: generally 5-6 m in the case of the excavated houses. The reason for this is probably that wider houses would require longer tie beams and thereby have a weaker construction. The houses were probably built with a framed construction that contained insufficient timber to stabilise a wider structure. The length of the houses varied as the timber-framed buildings have a modular construction made up of bays. The length of a house can therefore be increased as required by simply adding further bays.Regionality is a major question in the discussion of layout, organisation and use and as all the primary material for this study derives from Aalborg, it is possibly only representative of the situation in Northern Jutland. Studies of 18th century farmhouses show that regional differences do not necessarily follow the usual regional groupings and, moreover, that they can be quite considerable (fig. 4). Variation between houses can also be the result of the different housing requirements of the various social strata.If the study’s best preserved houses are examined in the light of the above, three things become immediately apparent: All the houses, with only two exceptions, are situated with their gable extending all the way out to the street, and secondly, also with two exceptions, they are located along Aalborg’s main thoroughfare. Finally, all the houses lie in a dense, intensive settlement. Despite the small sample size, the material reveals so many similarities between the houses that it can be considered to be homogeneous. Consequently, it is able to shed light on the prevailing conditions in the gable-fronted houses which faced on to Aalborg’s main street.A collective overview of the layout and organisation of the houses is best illustrated by figures 2 and 3, where the house outlines are arranged in chronological order. As is apparent, partition walls have exclusively been identified running across the houses, and the number of rooms in each of them is modest. In the houses dating from the period 1050-1300 it was apparently normal to have a large room out towards the street, and in several instances the presence of some form of hearth has been demonstrated here. The room behind this was generally slightly smaller or of the same size as that at the front. The houses from the period 1350-1600 are, as in the preceding period, very uniform. They all have a large room out towards the street, but it is not possible to demonstrate whether this room was heated. The most striking common feature of the houses is that there are hearth structures in the rearmost or middle room; these are interpreted as representing the kitchen regions in the houses. The layout and organisation of two of the timbered-framed houses match that of the two latest, excavated houses. In both cases there is a large room out towards the street; this room was heated by a jamb stove. Behind this room lies the room with the kitchen hearth arrangement. In general, it can be said that the layout of Aalborg’s medieval and early Renaissance town houses was not particularly complicated and there were only very few rooms. The differences between the two periods 1050-1350 and 1350-1600 lie primarily in where and how the hearth was situated in the house.The presence of fixed hearths can be relatively easy to demonstrate archaeologically, because charcoal and burnt clay are durable materials. Out of the 39 houses that were examined, a fixed hearth was not identified in only 12 cases, and of these houses without a recognised hearth, most had been only partially excavated. The evidence suggests that throughout the entire Middle Ages in Aalborg it was usual to employ stoves and open hearths side by side. This is in direct conflict with the accepted view that hearths were replaced by stoves during the course of the Middle Ages. It is not possible to ascertain whether this variation results from regional differences or a statistically inadequate sample (tables 3 and 4).If a stove is sited with the stokehole in one room and the stove chamber in the next, it becomes possible to heat a room without it being plagued by smoke (fig. 5). Some of Denmark’s earliest examples of jamb stoves were found in Aalborg and the two best examples were excavated at Algade 9. The two houses in question have been dendrochronologically dated to the 1120s (fig. 6) and the 1170s (fig. 7), respectively. One of them, house 8, was a direct replacement of the other, house 5. Both are well-documented with unequivocal traces of partition walls.The jamb stove heated the second room back from the street which, as a consequence, was warm and comfortable without the inconvenience of smoke. All the other hearths were located in the first room out to the street and activities which required a hearth must necessarily have taken place here. This way of organising the dwelling must, on the basis of the material analysed here, have been usual in the Early Middle Ages, up until the 14th century. Of the 15 houses dated to this period, the same pattern can be recognised, more or less, in eight of them. Probably the earliest house with a jamb stove was excavated at Bredgade 7 (fig. 2, house 2) and is dated stratigraphically to the end of the 11th century.In none of these Early Medieval jamb stoves has it been possible to demonstrate the use of “potkakler” – hollow ceramic tiles – in the stove construction. These tiles first appeared in Aalborg in the 15th century. Consequently, there is no connection between the introduction of “potkakler” and the introduction of jamb stoves to Aalborg.The evidence suggests that hearths after the 14th century, compared with the preceding period, were positioned further back in the house. The most marked traces of hearths are now to be found in the middle part of the house, corresponding to the second room in from the street. In houses 18, 20, 21, 22 and 23 on figure 3 there are complicated hearth structures which are, in all cases, interpreted as kitchen facilities (fig. 8). Consequently, the kitchen moved back in the house and it seems that this change took place after the middle of the 14th century. The position of the hearths in the two timber-framed houses 24 and 25 is almost identical to that seen in the houses from the Late Middle Ages. The kitchen hearth was located in the second room back from the street and was built up against the partition wall. The front room could thereby be heated with a jamb stove with a stokehole in the kitchen. This resulted in a heated but smoke-free room.In the two well-preserved houses 5 and 8, the presence of a door has been demonstrated between the front two rooms in the buildings, interpreted as the living quarters in the houses. As these buildings were gable-fronted houses, the main door must have opened to the street and access to the house’s second room, the one with the jamb stove, was therefore through the front room. This front room with the hearths was probably the most public room in the house. There are no traces of doors in the part containing the living quarters in the Late Medieval houses, but in the two timber-framed houses, a main door in the gable leads into the front room. This room was probably a more public room than the kitchen room behind it. There was direct access between the two rooms. In both houses, the kitchen room has a further outer door which must be perceived as a back door.In Denmark, fixed, raised wall benches are considered to be a completely standard fixture in the dwelling houses of Viking times and the Middle Ages. Their use ceased in Denmark during the course of the 13th century, a development which can be partially confirmed by the evidence from Aalborg. The wall benches probably went out of use because this was the time when movable furniture became more widespread.The excavated remains of the wooden houses in Aalborg demonstrate that, in the course of the Middle Ages, a change took place in the internal organisation of the houses. The main development was that the cooking hearth was moved from the front room further back in the house. As a consequence, cooking no longer took place in the first room encountered on entering the building. In the Early Middle Ages, a relatively standard pattern can be observed in the internal organisation of houses in Aalborg. At the front of the house, out towards the street, there was a room which contained all the house’s hearths. It was also from here that a jamb stove was fired, which heated the room behind. The smoke-filled front room would have been the first room people came into in the house, while the room behind would have been smoke-free. This latter, more comfortable room probably functioned as the house’s living-/bedroom. The fact that it was necessary to go through the first room in order to reach the more comfortable room behind suggests that the rear room was more private than that at the front. The room with the hearths was probably the place where externally-directed activities such as trade took place.In the excavated houses from the Late Middle Ages, the kitchen region is no longer found to be in the room out towards the street. It is unclear how the front room was used, but one possibility is that it had the same function as in the later timber-framed houses, i.e. as an entrance hall with externally-directed functions. The activities which took place around the house’s main hearth had possibly become of a more private nature and were therefore, together with the hearth, moved away from the front, more public, room.This change in internal organisation appears to have taken place during the course of the 14th century. If this is true, then it coincided with a series of other social changes and upheavals such as the agricultural crisis, the population decline, the plague epidemics and consequent changes in family structure. It is not inconceivable that the reason for the revised preferences with regard to specific types of dwelling organisation has its basis in these altered family patterns. The Late Medieval way of organising a dwelling next underwent changes at the beginning of the 17th century.Christian G. KlingeNordjyllands Historiske Museum

The cave of Theopetra is located on the northeast side of a limestone rock formation, 3 km south of Kalambaka (21°40′46′′E, 39°40′51′′N), in Thessaly, central Greece. It is a unique prehistoric site for Greece, as the Middle and Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods are present here, bridging the Pleistocene with the Holocene. Several alternations of the climate during the Pleistocene are recognized in its stratigraphy. Among the most striking finds, two human skeletons, one from the Upper Paleolithic period after the Last Glacial Maximum and one from the Mesolithic period, should be emphasized, while in a deep Middle Paleolithic layer, the oldest human footprints, with remains of fire, were uncovered.During the 13 years of excavation, evidence of human activity suitable for radiocarbon dating was collected, such as charcoal samples from hearths and bones from the two human skeletons. The use of proportional counters for the measurement of 14C in combination with the recent improvement of the calibration curve has enabled the production of high-precision reliable ages. Sixty 14C-dated samples, originating from 19 pits and from depths ranging from 0.10 m to 4.20 m, have already provided an absolute time framework for the use of the cave. The earliest limit of human presence probably exceeds 48,000 BP and the latest reaches World War II. Within these limits the 14C dating of samples from consecutive layers, in combination with the archaeological data, permits the resolution of successive anthropogenic and environmental events.

Excavations of sites spanning the Beaker to early Roman periods at Stackpole Warren, Dyfed, are described. The sites are in an area of blown sand which enhanced their preservation and led to the separation of several horizons. The earliest is a buried soil beneath the blown sand which contained Mesolithic to Bronze Age artefacts. At site A, there was a roundhouse associated with Early Bronze Age pottery and dated to 1620±70 and 1400±70 BC uncal., and two other roundhouses, one possibly of Beaker age. After a period of soil formation, a ritual complex of Later Bronze Age date was established, this contemporary with the earliest besanding of the area; it included a stone setting of more than 2000 small stones, an alignment of small water-worn stones and a standing stone. A cremation gave a latest date of 940±70 BC uncal. Other Later Bronze Age activity is recorded at site G/J in the form of a rectangular enclosure, possibly unfinished.Late Iron Age to early Romano-British settlement was present at sites A and B, consisting of scatters of occupation debris, burnt mounds, cooking pits, hearths and houses, some of stone, some of timber, all taking place in an area being intermittently besanded.Peripheral to the religious and domestic sites, a field system was excavated. The earliest phase was a linear earthwork from which a C14 date of 400±70 BC uncal. was obtained from charcoal in the ditch. After the decay of this, rectangular fields with stone walls were laid out, one along the line of the erstwhile earthwork, this taking place around the end of the Iron Age as dated by C14 of charcoal directly beneath a wall to 90±70 BC uncal. Some of the fields had been cultivated by a succession of cross- and one-way-ploughing, others used for cattle.An assemblage of 763 flints included a few Mesolithic artefacts but was mostly of Late Neolithic and Bronze Age date. A succession of ceramic assemblages included a small Middle Neolithic group (4 vessels), two distinct Beaker groups, one early (Lanting and van der Waals steps 1–3 (8 vessels), one late (steps 3–6) (45 vessels), an Early Bronze Age group of collared urns (43 vessels) and a Later Bronze Age group (26 vessels).Environmental data was not prolific but there was a small quantity of animal bone, mostly cattle and sheep, and cereal grain, mostly barley with some wheat. Marine molluscs were present but sparsely utilized and there was no other indication of the exploitation of the coastal resources such as seals, birds, fish andiseaweed. Land Mollusca indicated open country from the Iron Age onwards when the record begins.The importance of the site is in the ritual complex from site A, the succession of Iron Age/Romano-British occupation horizons, the succession of ceramic assemblages, the field system and the fact that blown sand horizons have allowed the preservation and separation of the sequence much of which would have been at best conflated in to a single horizon or at worst destroyed. Otherwise, there is no evidence that the site was in any way special with regard to the relationship of human activity and sand deposition until the Middle Ages when the area was used as a rabbit warren. Nor was the coastal location important, at least as could be determined by the results. This was a representative of a succession of later prehistoric farming communities and their various domestic, ritual and sepulchral activities in lowland Dyfed.

A new analysis of previous results on conflicts between shell and charcoal dates and on burnt human bones, with new data presented here, suggests that alternative interpretations are possible for the archaeology and environmental history of the Willandra Lakes region. Black sediment samples from archaeological sites at Lake Outer Arumpo exhibit wide variation in burnt and unburnt carbon content; high humic acid concentrations in midden layers and in one group of hearth/ovens are absent in another, older, group of hearth/ovens. There are no acceptable results on charcoal from hearth/ovens older than ca. 31 ka bp, and no evidence that these samples are associated with numerous midden shell dates at 34–37 ka bp. Similar logic applied to humic-free residue dates on burnt human bones places five gracile skeletons (including Mungo 1) as post–Last Glacial Maximum.

Cooking pits – in clusters or in rowsCooking pits can occur either arranged in one or more rows, following a roughly parallel course, or in clusters of up to several hundred closely-spaced examples with no apparent pattern in their location. This type of structure is known from Southern Scandinavia, Germany and Poland. Most cooking-pit systems belong to the Bronze Age, but occasional examples date from the Early Iron Age.The cooking-pit complexes are described according to the following characteristics: 1) location in the landscape, 2) proximity to water, 3) distance to contemporary settlements, hoards and graves, 4) uniformity of form and content and 5) paucity of finds (Heidelk-Schacht 1989).In recent years in Denmark, attention has become focussed on cooking-pit systems and many new examples have been investigated (fig. 1). There are at least 42 known sites (fig. 2) comprising a total of at least 4300 cooking pits. However, as most rows or clusters of cooking pits have not been fully excavated, the real number is much greater. There are virtually no da­table finds from the pits, as a consequence of which there is a tendency to date these features alone on the basis of their form and structure. Radiocarbon dates are the most important source when dating and many new sites, especially with uni-seriate arrangements of cooking pits, have been scientifically dated.In this article, the cooking-pit question is examined with a point of departure in a uni-seriate system at Frammerslev in Salling and a complex system at Brok­bakken, Bjerringbro.FrammerslevDuring Skive Museum’s investigations in 2002 and 2006, discoveries included a uni-seriate cooking-pit system and a 31 m-long row of postholes 200 m further to the east, parallel to the row of cooking pits. The row of cooking pits (fig. 3) lies on a plateau located on a large promontory. The promontory hosts several concentrations and a row of burial mounds, constituting a marked feature in the landscape, also in the Late Bronze Age. The row of cooking pits runs directly towards a burial mound in both directions. Six cremation graves were found in the burial mounds, indicating that they were also used for burial purposes in the Late Bronze Age. There is no settlement in the vicinity.The row of cooking pits comprises 33 pits located in extension of one another, forming a 67 m-long northeast-southwest oriented row (fig. 4). Towards the northeast, the row continues in a more scattered fashion with a further seven cooking pits. In the middle of the series there is a complex of at least four cooking pits ( fig. 4, no. 1), of which two are included in the row. Repeated re-cutting can be seen in the complex and this is the only site so far where repeated use can be documented. At Frammerslev, there are subsidiary cooking pits associated with the row – a feature also seen at Roerstensgård and Bækmarksgård.The other cooking pits in the Frammerslev row are circular or elongate-oval. On the basis of the deposits in the pits, a typology has been constructed (fig. 5).When the cooking pits are classified according to the presence or absence of a compact charcoal-rich layer at their base, as well as one or two overlying layers, two main types can be identified, one with three, and one with two sub-types:Type 1 includes cooking pits with a black, compact charcoal-rich basal layer. Type 1a has a basal layer of charcoal and over this a yellow to brownish-yellow layer with red-burnt areas and, uppermost, brown topsoil material with scattered fire-shattered stones and charcoal. There may be red-burnt soil at the edge of the pit. There are, accordingly, three layers within the cooking pit and the red-burnt layer over the charcoal is unbroken and follows the course of any subsidence in the pit. Type 1b has brown topsoil-like fill directly over the basal charcoal layer. There are, accordingly, only two layers in the cooking pit. Type 1c comprises a black charcoal-rich basal layer with a substantial content of fire-shattered stones in the same layer as the charcoal, by which it distinguishes itself from types 1a and 1b. Type 2 covers cooking pits lacking black charcoal layers and possibly also without fire-shattered stones. In the case of type 2a, the whole pit is filled with brown clay, possibly lacking, or with only occasional scattered, fire-shattered stones and with very little charcoal. There is no red-burnt subsoil associated with these pits. With type 2b, the basal layer comprises clay with a very low content of charcoal and occasional fire-shattered stones or yellow to brownish-yellow clay with many small pieces of fire-shattered stone but no charcoal and no red-burnt clay.As can be seen from the overview (fig. 6) of the cross-sections of the cooking pits, there is great uniformity within, respectively, types 1a and 2a.Cooking pits of type 1 were primarily hearths where the cooking stones were heated in situ and the subsoil has become coloured by the effect of the intense heat. Subsequently, the pit served its purpose as, presumably, a cooking place for the roasting of meat. While the stones were still hot the fire was extinguished by being covered by thin layers of soil being thrown in; in several cases these can be seen to have acquired a reddish colour due to the effect of the heat. In several of the cooking pits there are very small fire-shattered stones, presumably the result of repeated use. Finally, the pit was either intentionally covered after its last usage or stood open and, with time, became filled with soil-rich culture layers. Accordingly, the cooking pit represents a complete series of events.The cooking pits of main type 2, with no or few fire-shattered stones, no or only a little charcoal and lacking red-coloured subsoil, must be explained in a different way. Either fire was never lit in the cooking pit – in which case it is difficult to maintain the term cooking pit and the pit could perhaps represent a kind of preliminary phase to its actual use, or the pit has been completely cleaned out after use, resulting in only the overlying layers being present. This type represents perhaps the pre- and post-phases of the actual cooking-pit activity.By examining the distribution of types 1 and 2, a pattern emerges which can provide the basis for an interpretation of the uni-seriate structure at Frammerslev (see fig. 4). Cooking pits of type 1 are the deepest and lie on both sides of the large central pit. Cooking pits of type 2 lie further away at both the northeastern and southwestern ends. This distribution of types suggest that the most commonly-used features are the central ones and that the row grew successively out from this core. Two shallow pits of type 2 furthest to the north could perhaps be the beginning of the next stage.The cooking pits at Frammerslev have not been archaeologically dated on the basis of artefacts. Two cooking pits of type 1 have been radiocarbon dated (fig. 7). If account is taken of the greatest uncertainty, the calibrated dates are, respectively, 860-790 BC and 1070-830 BC, i.e. Late Bronze Age, periods IV-V.Uni-seriate structures are found on Funen and Zealand and in Central and Northwestern Jutland and have many common features. They have often a marked location in the landscape, several occur on or near the highest point, for example on larger or smaller promontories extending out into a wetland area. Virtually all the uni-seriate cooking-pit rows lie in the vicinity of a wetland. Five out of 11 uni-seriate cooking-pit rows point in the direction of a burial mound. It is difficult to judge whether the cooking-pit rows lie remotely relative to settlements and burial grounds; investigation of even greater areas would be required in order to establish with certainty the absence of contemporary sites in the vicinity. This situation is further complicated by the fact that the houses from this period appear to be located quite a distance apart.The uni-seriate cooking-pit structures are, as a rule, lacking in finds. Nine uni-seriate cooking-pit rows have been radiocarbon dated (fig. 9). The radiocarbon dates reveal that the cooking-pit systems were used in the Late Bronze Age, periods IV-V, especially in the years between 950 and 800 BC.Brokbakken I-IIIIn the period between 1990 and 2008, Viborg Stiftsmuseum carried out several arch­aeological investigations on a 20 hectare site at Bjerringbro. These excavations have been named Brokbakken I-III. By way of the excavations at Brokbakken it has proved possible to demonstrate that large and small concentrations of cooking pits can be found in the vicinity of a multi-seriate system of cooking pits.Brokbakken comprises a delimited promontory (fig. 10), bordered on three sides by 8-10 m high steep slopes and gullies running out towards the flat Gudenå river valley. To the southeast, the promontory slopes gently without any natural boundary. The concentration of cooking pits at Brokbakken II lies a little withdrawn from the edge of the promontory, facing out towards a small gulley. The multi-seriate system of cooking pits, Brokbakken III, lies along the edge of an extensive valley which, 1.5 km distant, runs into the Gudenå.Brokbakken I yielded a concentration of 30 cooking pits, especially of type 1b, together with refuse pits from the Late Bronze Age, periods IV-V.At Brokbakken II, there is a concentration of 85 densely-placed cooking pits, primarily of type 1c (basal layer comprising a mixture of charcoal and fire-shattered stones), as well as several smaller clusters (fig. 11). There are a few finds, including a collection of sherds (fig. 12) from a c. 23 cm high vessel. Radiocarbon dating of a cooking pit shows that, when the greatest uncertainty is taken into account, it was in use between 1130 and 840 BC (see fig. 7), i.e. in Late Bronze Age, periods IV-V.At Brokbakken III, a multi-seriate system of cooking pits was investigated in 1997. This comprised 110 examples arranged in three to four rows (termed rows F, G, I and J), forming a fan shape (fig. 13), as well as 42 cooking pits lying individually or in smaller or larger concentrations. The majority of the cooking pits are circular or oval and they vary in size.The cooking pits at Brokbakken III are built up according to the same basic principles as those at Frammerslev, and cooking pits of types 1b, 2a and 2b are present. Cooking pits with a compact layer of charcoal at the base are, conversely, absent, but these are presumably replaced by cooking pits of type 1c. Overall, it can be seen that the majority of the cooking pits, in all 55% of all those which were sectioned, belong to type 1b.When account is taken of the greatest uncertainty in the radiocarbon dates, the cooking pit alignments can be seen to have been in use in the period 1020-800 BC, i.e. Late Bronze Age, periods IV-V.Multi-seriate cooking-pit systems are known from 10 localities on Zealand, Funen and Bornholm, and in Jutland. They are located on hillsides or level ground with small elevations or on flat promontories extending out into wetland areas. The cooking-pit rows are found by bogs, lakes and watercourses. The multi-seriate cooking-pit systems have no fixed orientation and several structures follow a meandering or curved course. At the known localities, there are between two and 15-16 rows of cooking pits, and it seems that systems comprising three to four rows are commonest. Five structures have been dated to the Late Bronze Age, periods IV, V and VI.Concentrations of cooking pits with more than 25 cooking pits are known from 20 localities on Zealand, Møn and Funen and in Jutland (see fig. 2). The concentrations have very diverse locations – some are on or by marked hill tops or on an even plateau, while others occur on sloping terrain as well as on the floor of a valley. The cooking-pit concentrations lie in the vicinity of lakes, watercourses or bogs or close to open water.A cooking-pit concentration at Fårdalgård (fig. 19) lies in undulating terrain, virtually a promontory. On the plateau behind the cooking pits, settlement traces from the Late Bronze Age have been found. Further away, there are burial mounds and only 100 m away lies the find site for the famous Fårdal hoard. The latter is dated to the Late Bronze Age, period V, and the system of cooking pits can, as a whole, be dated on the basis of pottery to the Late Bronze Age; this also applies to other concentrations of cooking pits.ConclusionSystems of cooking pits must be seen in a wider context, where their topographic location and information on the area’s settlements, burial grounds and hoards are included in the evaluation. On the basis of topographic location, it is reasonable to suggest that uni-seriate structures could have had a different function from multi-seriate examples, and that the complexity is further increased if there are both rows and concentrations of cooking pits at the same site.Uni-seriate structures are often located high up in the vicinity of, or pointing towards, burial mounds containing finds from both the Early and Late Bronze Age. These structures should probably be interpreted in conjunction with the burial mounds, and be seen as cultic features employed in connection with burials or other ceremonies associated with the cult. Their physical form, a long row of cooking pits at Frammerslev, constitutes a clear eastern demarcation and the associated row of postholes is a clear western demarcation of the row of burial mounds. The group of burial mounds towards the north could be a form of transverse demarcation of the area. In this way, areas are created within the landscape, each of different significance – outside and inside – a totally ritual landscape.The multi-seriate systems and large concentrations of cooking pits are often conspicuously located in areas with watercourses, lakes or bogs or facing out towards open water. Several sites, such as Brokbakken I-III and Fårdalgård, are located on marked promontories extending out into large river valleys where offerings have been found in the vicinity. It seems obvious to imagine these large concentrations and numerous rows of cooking pits as the result of many people’s activities in connection with great gatherings and cultic ceremonies. The argument can be made for an supra-regional presence of people, and the site can, therefore, be interpreted as a gathering place for a larger area.Figure 20 shows the location of the cooking-pit concentrations relative to the main watercourses in Central Jutland: Gudenå, Skals Å and Nørre Å. There is about 30 km in a straight line from the concentrations of cooking pits in Lynderup to the cooking pits of both Brokbakken I-III and Munkebo. Within this area, with its meandering river systems, and the areas of land they delimit, there are several systems of cooking pits. Their location in the landscape suggests some form of territorial division. We can almost predict the location of the next structure in the landscape!Brokbakken I-III also demonstrates, at a superior level, a form of division of the landscape. High up on the promontory there are cooking pits and traces of metalworking delimited by the slightly lower-lying multi-seriate system of cooking pits. Below the promontory by the Gudenå there is an offering area. On the plateau nearest the promontory there are scattered traces of settlement and in the burial mounds further away the rich graves of important people. If this interpretation of the landscape is correct, the systems of cooking pits can have had a function as markers in the ritual landscape.The investigations of rows of cooking pits show that there are differences in the physical composition of the individual structures, but it is the fill layers which form the basis for a more subtle interpretation of their function. These layers could represent various stages of use and cleaning out. The investigation at Frammerslev shows that the rows of cooking pits were used several times, and it is possible to argue for successive expansion. A form of division into separate sections is also seen at several sites.On the basis of many ethnographic parallels and practical experiments, it has been suggested that the cooking pits were used to cook meat. If we accept that the cooking pits of type 1 were used for cooking, and that food for 10 people can be prepared in a single pit, the systems of cooking pits at Frammerslev could have been used to prepare food for 60-100 people, while those at Brokbakken III could perhaps provide for 800-1000 individuals.Inge Kjær KristensenMuseum SallingSkive Museum

Considering the rotary hearth furnaces (RHF) direct reduction process, using bamboo char, charcoal and straw fiber as reducing agents added into the carbon containing pellets, the experimental study on the impact of reduction effect has been conducted from metallization rate, compressive strength and volumetric shrinkage. Test results showed that biomass reducing agents can replace traditional reducing agents used in the RHF direct reduction process. Compared with traditional reducing agents, biomass has less of effect on metallization rate, but different biomass reducing agents have large impact on strength and volumetric shrinkage of pellets. The compressive strength of pellet with straw fiber is relatively higher, and the compressive strength of pellets with charcoal or bamboo charcoal is low, for reaching the production requirement, which will be improved at higher temperature (1300°C). Using bamboo charcoal as reducing agent will lead to the swell of pellets in the beginning stage, and this situation will make the volumetric shrinkage at high temperature lower, finally, all of these will affect the strength of pellets and the heat-transfer between different material layers, thus it should be used accompanying with other reducing agent.

The Chauvet-Pont d'Arc Cave is one of the most important sites for the study of the earliest manifestations and development of prehistoric art at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. Different dating techniques have been performed thus far (AMS 14C, U/Th TIMS, 36Cl dating) to model the chronological framework of this decorated cave. The cave yielded several large charcoal fragments, which enabled the opportunity for obtaining multiple dates; thus, a First Radiocarbon Intercomparison Program (FIP) was initiated in 2004 using three charcoal pieces. The FIP demonstrated that those cross-dated samples belonged to a time period associated with the first human occupation. One of the statistical interests of an intercomparison program is to reduce the uncertainty on the sample age; thus, to further assess the accuracy of the chronological framework, the Second Intercomparison Program (SIP) involving 10 international 14C laboratories was carried out on two pieces of charcoal found inside two hearth structures of the Galerie des Mégacéros. Each laboratory used its own pretreatment and AMS facilities. In total, 21 and 22 measurements were performed, respectively, which yielded consistent results averaging ∼32 ka BP. Two strategies have currently been developed to identify statistical outliers and to deal with them; both lead to quasi-identical calibrated combined densities. Finally, the new results were compared with those of the FIP, leading to the important conclusion that five different samples from at least three different hearth structures give really tightened temporal densities, associated with one short human occupation in the Galerie des Mégacéros.

The Chauvet-Pont d'Arc Cave is one of the most important sites for the study of the earliest manifestations and development of prehistoric art at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. Different dating techniques have been performed thus far (AMS14C, U/Th TIMS,36Cl dating) to model the chronological framework of this decorated cave. The cave yielded several large charcoal fragments, which enabled the opportunity for obtaining multiple dates; thus, a First Radiocarbon Intercomparison Program (FIP) was initiated in 2004 using three charcoal pieces. The FIP demonstrated that those cross-dated samples belonged to a time period associated with the first human occupation. One of the statistical interests of an intercomparison program is to reduce the uncertainty on the sample age; thus, to further assess the accuracy of the chronological framework, the Second Intercomparison Program (SIP) involving 10 international14C laboratories was carried out on two pieces of charcoal found inside two hearth structures of the Galerie des Mégacéros. Each laboratory used its own pretreatment and AMS facilities. In total, 21 and 22 measurements were performed, respectively, which yielded consistent results averaging ∼32 ka BP. Two strategies have currently been developed to identify statistical outliers and to deal with them; both lead to quasi-identical calibrated combined densities. Finally, the new results were compared with those of the FIP, leading to the important conclusion that five different samples from at least three different hearth structures give really tightened temporal densities, associated with one short human occupation in the Galerie des Mégacéros.