A newly developed compact AMS, LEA (Low Energy Accelerator), is tested and compared with a state-of-the-art AMS system MICADAS (Mini Carbon Dating System), which has a precision performance of better than 1‰ for modern 14C. The main difference between these two systems is the acceleration voltage, which has been reduced from 200 kV with the MICADAS system to 50 kV with the LEA system. In order to execute the final performance tests, exactly same samples (2 sets consisting of 7 standards, 4 blanks, 26 wood samples) are measured on both systems successively. The results show that the LEA system is fully operational, and the performance is entirely comparable with that of the MICADAS system.

This paper examines the distinctive distribution patterns of Amphore Crétoise (AC) 4 amphoras within Roman trade networks through critical assessment of the morphological attributes of this amphora type compared to AC1–3 jars and through consideration of the mechanisms that underlie these patterns. This builds on a growing number of studies that have focused on the design attributes of amphoras as important factors tied to their economic role. It also demonstrates the importance of engaging in more nuanced and detailed investigations that question assumptions about amphora distribution within the Roman world. The AC4 is the primary, and often only, Cretan type found at sites in Rome's northwestern provinces and along the Danube frontier. A narrower profile and smaller capacity appear to have made this amphora type more attractive than other Cretan forms for transport along river and overland routes.

International cultural heritage regimes such as the World Heritage Convention have faced increasing scrutiny with regard to the impact of heritage governance on local communities. An oft-posited solution to this problem is to increase the possibilities for these communities to participate in decisions that will potentially affect the heritage they live in, with, or around. For international lawyers, this discussion is usually framed through the lens of the right to take part in cultural life guaranteed by human rights law. This case note reflects on the Final Report of the International Law Association’s Committee on Participation in Global Cultural Heritage Governance, which analyzes the current state of the law on these issues and formulates several proposals for its future development. The case note underlines the potentialities of human rights-based approaches to heritage management and the importance of adopting a cross-sectoral approach to participation in international governance.

The article presents results of measurements of radiocarbon (14C) concentration in sub-annual dendrochronologically dated tree rings of English oak (Quercus robur L.) from Grabie village near Kraków (southern Poland). Samples of early wood (EW) and late wood (LW) spanning the years 664–658 BCE. α-cellulose was extracted from each sample and their radiocarbon content was measured at the ATOMKI laboratory in Debrecen, Hungary. The EW and LW data confirm a prolonged increase in Δ14C values around 665–663 as was observed by Park et al. (2017), Rakowski et al. (2019), or Sakurai et al. (2020). In addition, we found that this event may consist of two relatively small events, as was proposed by Sakurai et al. (2020). Based on obtained in this and previous study data we estimate that the occurrence of the two events were between 665 and 664 BCE (Rakowski et al. 2019), and in late spring of 663 BCE (May–June, before beginning of LW formation).

We present an alternative radiocarbon (14C) age-depth model using IntCal20 to calibrate new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) data applied to a Lake Baikal sediment core (VER99G12) in southern Siberia. 14C dating showed that the core extends to 31 ka. To take into account uncertainties in 14C age and sedimentation depth in the core, a new age-depth modeling routine, undatable, was used in this study. Undatable revealed that significant changes in sedimentation rate correspond to global climate events, either warm or cold, which periods are likely close to the timing of the occurrence of the Meltwater pulses (MWP) at 19 and 14 ka, and the Last glacial Maximum (LGM) at 21–20 ka. Since the Selenga River accounts for 50% of the total river inflow to Lake Baikal, we interpret that these changes in sedimentation rate could be signals of significant changes in Selenga River discharge to the lake, which is expected to be affected by global climate change. Based on pollen analysis, it is highly probable that the sudden influx of the Selenga River to Lake Baikal, particularly at 19 ka, was due to the thawing of permafrost water through the Selenga River, which had developed in the region. Total organic carbon content and mean grain size increases concurrent with sedimentation rate, suggesting river inflow increased available nutrients for biological activity. Our results indicate that hydrological changes corresponding to MWP events can be observed in continental areas of the Northern Hemisphere.

In 2017, ancient DNA analysis of the Harper Road burial from Southwark (London) found that the individual had male chromosomes. Now analysis has discovered that the individual had female chromosomes, data which match the osteological estimation of sex and the interpretation of the grave-goods.

This paper presents a new approach to an old problem, the provincial reception of the image of Roman emperors. Applying 3D computer modelling, we captured the portrait features of Hadrian as represented on coinage minted for the British province, produced a 3D model from a coin and compared it with the bronze head of Hadrian found in London. The aim was to test the possibility, previously posited by other scholars, that the London portrait might have been produced by an artisan who used coin portraits of the emperor as his main – if not only – model. More generally, the paper examines the dependencies of coinage and sculpture on shared models and applies new technology to Roman portrait studies.

The eastern Great Lakes Late Quaternary timescale is based on older thermoluminescence dates and on uncalibrated radiocarbon dates from extensive sections along the north shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario. New optically stimulated luminescence dates from Late Quaternary delta sediments from the north shores of Lake Erie at Sand Hills Park give consistent ages of 23.5 to 20.5 ka. This is 4 to 7 ka older than previously assigned based on lithologic correlation with 16.5 ka calibrated radiocarbon dated sediments 5 km to the west at Vanderven. On the existing eastern Great Lakes stratigraphy, it puts deposition of these Sand Hills Park sediments in the Erie interstadial and not in the fluctuating postglacial glacial retreat of the Mackinaw phase to which the Vanderven sediments belong. The Sand Hills delta and underlying diamicts must have been overridden by the Porty Bruce advance at 18 ka. IntCal20 calibration of existing radiocarbon ages suggests that the physical stratigraphic relations of the various Wisconsin units are accurate and that the existing timescale is simply too young.

Shott (2022, American Antiquity 87:794–815) argues that making inferences from ceramic data requires first inferring use lives of vessels—something that is difficult to do. This comment argues that the problem of differential use life becomes more tractable if the assemblage, rather than the vessel, is the unit of analysis. Aside from empirical reasons, theoretical considerations also favor the assemblage as the appropriate unit.

This article presents and analyzes a newly discovered petroglyph from Tetzcotzinco (mun. Texcoco, Mexico) in the form of arranged pecked dots. Based on what is known about Mesoamerican divinatory systems, calendars, and the perception of space, the interpretation takes into account both the encoded numerical values and the layout of the dots. The main argument is that this and similar representations’ function was not limited to simple counting of days or serving as a kind of astronomical marker, in which the arms of the cross indicated, for example, equinoxes, which is by far their most common interpretation in academic literature. Instead, it represented calendrical cycles through the numbers, as suggested by some scholars. Based on this hypothesis, the article explores the possible connection between numbers registered in Tetzcotzinco's “pecked cross” and specific diagrams from indigenous divinatory books. Therefore, the plausible interpretation of the symbolism of this petroglyph is that it either expressed a series of meanings related to the agrarian period(s) and rain god(s) or less-known Mesoamerican calendrical cycles, such as half trecenas or seven- and nine-day periods.

The penultimate deglaciation was characterized by a sub-millennial-scale warm event in the Heinrich Stadial 11(HS11), termed the 134-ka event. However, its precise timing and structure remain poorly constrained due to the lack of high-resolution and precisely dated records. We present an oxygen isotope record of a speleothem with well-developed annual lamina from Zhangjia Cave, located on the north margin of the Sichuan Basin, characterizing Asian summer monsoon (ASM) changes in the 134-ka event, which included an increase excursion of ca. 149 years and decrease excursion of ca. 200 years, inferred from 3.3‰ δ18O variations. This event also divided the weak ASM interval-II (WMI-II), corresponding to HS11, into two stages, the WMI-IIa 132.8–134.1 ka and WMI-IIb 134.4–136.4 ka. With a comparable climatic pattern globally, the 134-ka event is essentially similar to the millennial-scale events in last glacial–deglacial period. Particularly, the observed weak-strong-weak ASM sequence (138.8–132.8 ka) is largely controlled by changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) forced by the meltwater of northern high-latitude ice sheets. Moreover, our results underpin that AMOC, rather than the global ice volume, is more critical to ASM variations during the last two deglaciations.

Crime groups are drawn to stealing heritage and cultural property because the thefts can be less dangerous than other illicit activities and there can be a lower chance of detection. In addition, there are financial opportunities such as selling the objects, using them as currency and collateral in illicit markets, and through rewards and ransoms. While these factors remain, crime groups operating as criminal entrepreneurs will continue to be attracted to this type of theft even if situational crime prevention strategies are implemented at locations. Unique and irreplaceable heritage and cultural property will be stolen, and societies will lose in artistic, cultural, heritage, historical, and financial terms. This article argues that, while people tasked with the policing and security of heritage and cultural property should focus on the potential thefts, policing agencies also need to focus on the crime groups, especially as heritage and cultural property thefts can be crime groups’ “Achilles’ heel.”