This gazette presents to the reader outside Rome news of recent archaeological activity (July 2022–June 2023) gleaned from public lectures, conferences, exhibitions and newspaper reports.

Feathers addresses the dual challenges of inferring original vessel counts from sherds and inference to use life from reconstructed vessels. His solution assumes the validity of sherd assemblages as units of observation that considerable research invalidates and overlooks methods that estimate original vessels from sherds. Feathers also doubts that use life can be inferred for reconstructed vessels. Although not a focus of my article, the larger study from which it derived addresses this matter in detail that strongly warrants vessel size as use-life measure. Of course we must be pragmatic in quantifying pottery assemblages, but first we must identify valid units of observation, and only then attend to pragmatics.

Sample materials such as sediments and soils contain complex mixtures of different carbon-containing compounds. These bulk samples can be split into individual fractions, based on the temperature of thermal decomposition of their components. When coupled with radiocarbon (14C) measurement of the isolated fractions, this approach offers the advantage of directly investigating the residence time, turnover time, source, or age of the different components within a mixed sample, providing important insights to better understand the cycling of carbon in the environment. Several laboratories have previously reported different approaches to separate radiocarbon samples based on temperature in what is a growing area of interest within the research community. Here, we report the design and operation of a new ramped oxidation facility for separation of sample carbon on the basis of thermal resistance at the NEIF Radiocarbon Laboratory in East Kilbride, UK. Our new instrumentation shares some characteristics with the previously-reported systems applying ramped oxidation and/or ramped pyrolysis for radiocarbon measurement, but also has several differences which we describe and discuss. We also present the results of a thorough program of testing of the new system, which demonstrates both the reproducibility of the thermograms generated during sample combustion, and the reliability of the radiocarbon measurements obtained on individual sample fractions. This is achieved through quantification of the radiocarbon background and analysis of multiple standards of known 14C content during standard operation of the instrumentation.

The paper focuses on the Pleistocene deposits in Perspektywiczna Cave, southern Poland, related to cave hyena (Crocuta crocuta). We used direct radiocarbon dating of hyena fossils supported by genetic and stable isotope analyses to infer the paleobiology of this population. Radiocarbon dating of 19 hyena remains suggests long inhabitation of the region during early MIS 3, around 50–34 ky cal BP. The youngest among our dates, 34,355–33,725 cal BP (1σ, combined of two dates for the same specimen) points out the latest appearance of a cave hyena north to Carpathians. Beside this long period of occupation, the Perspektywiczna Cave hyenas stayed ecologically stable, but their genetic structure changed. Two mtDNA haplogroups were present, one typical for other Late Pleistocene European populations and the other one known so far only from recent African populations.

Lacquerwork technologies comprise multiple techniques depending on countries, time, and traditions. Carved Asian lacquers applied on wooden objects consist of multiple thin uncolored or pigmented layers spread over the surface. To radiocarbon (14C) date these types of objects, often only the wooden structure is used. Here we report on a set of carved lacquered objects that were dated based on stylistic form, 14C dating of the wooden structure and of the Asian lacquers. THM-Py-GC-MS and micro-Raman spectroscopy were used to confirm the molecular composition of the lacquers and helped assessing the pretreatment protocol. The lacquers analyzed contained between 20 and 50% wt carbon, thus 2–5 mg of sample were necessary for 14C dating. The dates obtained on wood and lacquers showed a reliable correlation. The results suggest that, in most cases, it is sufficient to sample a part of the lacquer layers to date an object. We advise to perform an acid pretreatment followed by a successive solvent immersion with an increasing polarity. Dating different components of a lacquered object can also help to understand previous restoration interventions that frequently occur for ancient lacquered objects. Ceramic, metallic, and other objects covered with Asian lacquers can also be dated using this approach.