Debates about the best means of preparing archaeologists continue. This article reviews data from 674 archaeological job postings to assess in-demand archaeological knowledge, skills, and abilities. The needs assessment reveals American archaeology's demand for dynamic, highly skilled professionals capable of identifying, preserving, and protecting the past. The skills demanded in archaeology job postings are the skills necessary to not only succeed as an archaeologist in any sector but also meet the challenges faced by the discipline more generally.

We have documented more than 200 relative values of gold and silver across almost 3000 years (2500 bce–400 ce) to establish value benchmarks for essentially pure metal. Our aim is to improve understanding of ancient economies by enabling regional and temporal comparisons of these relative values. First, we establish silver as an early, reliable benchmark for valuing gold of varying purity before implementation of parting. Whilst purity accounted for two to threefold variation in the value of gold, we conclude that availability was more influential. Access to Nubian gold until about 1100 bce seems an important influence on gold-silver value ratios in Egypt and the Near East, which increased significantly following loss of this source. This investigation yields a suite of relative values for essentially pure gold and silver, subdivided by regions and intervals from 2500 bce–400 ce. These will enable future comparisons of precious metal-denominated costs of labour and commodities, including with today.

Connections between northern Iberia and western France around the Bay of Biscay during the Chalcolithic, Early Bronze Age, and Middle Bronze Age are addressed in this article through a multivariate cluster analysis of a dataset of 1273 metal finds, comprising 4554 metal artefacts grouped into five multiregional clusters with distinctive distributions, chronologies, content, and contexts. Changes in distribution and chronology show that metalwork from faraway regions was deposited in similar ways, reflecting changing patterns of interregional connectivity. Changes in context and content suggest social transformations. The clustering method known as Latent Class Analysis is presented here in the hope that it will be applicable to other datasets elsewhere in the world.

Discussions of mithraea tend to emphasize their uniformity. While it is true that many earlier mithraea do adhere to an established plan, there are a notable number of mithraea dating from the late 3rd c. onward that do not. This article discusses these various atypical mithraea, how such alterations to the standard mithraeum plan might have impacted on Mithraic rituals, and how this might have affected the experiences of the participants. It also explores why such changes occurred, observing that while in some instances this may have been to accommodate alterations to ritual practices, in others it was likely due to more mundane issues, such as limitations on space and environmental factors. The article concludes by reflecting on the implications this has for the identification of mithraea in the archaeological record.

In 2017, archaeologists at Pompeii discovered by far the longest tomb inscription ever found at the city on a monumental tomb. This elogium provided insight into many aspects of the city's social, economic, and political world. One clause attests to the distribution of baked bread in the city. This note argues that the passage provides new evidence from Pompeii that answers two longstanding questions. The first is that of the subject of an often-reproduced Pompeian fresco. The identity of the main figure in the painting is debated: either a baker or a politician. The second is the status, political rank, and network of the owner of the property on which the fresco was discovered. Supported by the evidence of an electoral programma, the painting and inscription illuminate the mechanics of beneficence at Pompeii and serve to identify the residence of someone who operated in the political networks of the 1st-c. CE city at a sub-elite level.

The peristyle house kitchen in the legionary camp at Vindonissa is one of the few examples of a Mediterranean-style kitchen with a raised hearth in the northwestern provinces. The exceptional preservation of the kitchen made possible an interdisciplinary investigation combining archaeological, archaeobiological, and micromorphological analyses in order to reconstruct dietary and food-processing practices, kitchen maintenance, and waste disposal management in a 1st-c. CE legionary camp household in Germania Superior. The kitchen infrastructure, the large ceramic inventory, and the amphorae finds together indicate a sophisticated cuisine and also food preparation for a large number of people, most likely by servants. The archaeobiological finds provide evidence that the diet was strongly Roman influenced and luxurious. These results confirm that the diet and in general the whole lifestyle of military members was strongly determined by military rank. The house was most likely inhabited by a high-ranking officer of the 11th legion.

To Professor James Neely

In respect and admiration

Almost 50 years after landmark archaeological activities in the Deh Luran plain in southwestern Iran by Frank Hole, Kent Flannery, James Neely, and Henry Wright, the area was re-surveyed in 2016 and 2019 to assess the destruction of archaeological sites as a result of agricultural and expanded irrigation activities. During the surface survey on Tappeh Gārān two inscribed objects were found. The inscriptions yield some information on the economic and political importance of Tappeh Gārān in the Old Elamite Period. Textual evidence indicates that throughout the 3th to the 1st millennia BCE, Mesopotamian rulers frequently invaded Elam and seized its principal centres, especially Susa. As the main corridor between Elam and its western neighbors, the Deh Luran plain is a major route between the two, especially in regards to the acquisition of raw materials by the Mesopotamians, including different kinds of stone and bitumen. Further, the abundance of water and fertile soil made the Deh Luran plain a desirable target for Mesopotamian polities. The inscribed objects from Tappeh Gārān consist of writings in Akkadian and geometric patterns that we think illustrate the outline of an agricultural scheme.

En este trabajo se discute un conjunto de indicios de poblamiento humano en diferentes locus de la Pampa Occidental: el sitio 1 de la localidad Tapera Moreira, El Carmel y Casa de Piedra. El poblamiento inicial de este territorio ha estado restringido a un solo dato cronológico correspondiente al Holoceno temprano, proveniente del sitio Casa de Piedra 1 (8620 ± 190 años aP) que no ha sido replicado en ese u otros sitios de la región. Por ello no ha sido incorporado en la agenda de la discusión sobre esta temática en publicaciones recientes. Sin embargo, en años posteriores a su publicación se han suscitado diversos hallazgos cuyos contextos señalan gran potencial informativo en relación con la ocupación humana inicial de paisajes sin historia previa. Se presentan indicadores de cultura material (puntas de tipo cola de pescado, litos discoidales y materias primas muy seleccionadas y con tratamiento térmico) recuperados en asociación en diferentes locus pampeanos, que se relacionan con las expectativas generadas para una etapa de ocupación inicial del paisaje. Se propone un modelo de exploración lenta y discontinua que utilizó vías de transitabilidad de distinto rango en el proceso de conocimiento y colonización de estos ambientes desérticos.

Este trabajo se propone avanzar en la comprensión de los procesos históricos de pintado del sitio arqueológico de Oyola (Sierra El Alto-Ancasti, Catamarca, Argentina). En particular, se evalúan similitudes y diferencias en la composición material de las mezclas pigmentarias para entrever la existencia de antiguas recetas pictóricas en la confección de las pinturas rupestres negras. Para ello se realizaron análisis microestratigráficos de 28 motivos mediante microscopía electrónica de barrido con análisis elemental por espectroscopía dispersiva en energía de rayos X (MEB-EDS), y microespectroscopía Raman (RS). Su estudio comparativo señaló el uso alternativo de dos pigmentos negros (carbón vegetal y óxidos de manganeso) combinados, en algunos casos, con un aditivo (sulfato de calcio). De esta forma, fue posible conocer ciertos aspectos de las recetas pictóricas que orientaron la preparación de las mezclas pigmentarias negras, aproximándonos a algunas de las tradiciones y saberes retomados. Para alcanzar una comprensión histórica de dichas recetas, se evaluó la distribución espacial, temporal y algunas características formales de los motivos rupestres realizados con ellas. Al no identificarse tendencias claras, se propone una definición menos normativa de receta pictórica que resalta los aspectos compartidos entre distintos episodios de pintado sin perder de vista las posibilidades creativas de cada evento.

In 2006, the World Bank's private sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), introduced eight Environmental and Social Performance Standards (PSs) to define IFC clients’ responsibilities for managing their environmental and social risks, including those related to cultural heritage. Since their introduction, the PSs have evolved into a de facto global standard that other development banks and many private sector banks, insurers, and development proponents have voluntarily adopted to help manage their own risk exposure. Although the widespread adoption of such policies can be viewed positively as a reflection of good governance, the PSs were never designed with this purpose in mind. This article traces the development of cultural heritage policy within the World Bank Group, then critically examines the IFC PSs as they relate to cultural heritage, drawing attention to the elements in need of revision to better reflect internationally recognized good practice for the management of cultural heritage. Equally important, we recommend the development and implementation of a bespoke cultural heritage framework for the private sector.

The award-winning video game Heaven's Vault stands out among a plethora of over-sensationalized representations of archaeology in video games and other media. The main character of the game is a woman of color named Aliya Elasra, whose primary weapon is her mind, which she uses to uncover a centuries-old mystery while unearthing the secrets of an ancient language. Set in a fantastical science fiction–inspired universe, the player engages in activities that gradually explain the game's world. With multiple endings and re-playability, Heaven's Vault offers an experience that is hard to pass up for fans of rich narrative, archaeology, and interactive puzzles.