What legitimizes archaeological work in an age of global climate change, socio-political crises and economic recession? On what topics should archaeology focus its research questions, and what forms of archaeological engagement are not merely justifiable but able to make a difference in light of such challenges? Today, there is a tendency, we argue, that archaeological responses to current challenges are expected to align with a specific mode of conduct, political stance and genre, where, for example, a very particular notion of activism, responsibility and ethics is dominating. There is no denial that current challenges call for immediate instrumental reactions, but we contend that valuable reactions can – or even must – vary, and that more fundamental and slow ontological and epistemological change should also be nested within these responses. In this article, we explore what it means to care – what it means to be concerned – in the Anthropocene through archaeological practice and aesthetic engagement. By highlighting the relations between ethics and aesthetics, we explore ways in which we get in touch with the objects of concern, placing undecidability and speculation as dispositions equally important to urgency and impact.

Sequential thermal analysis allows for deconvoluting the refractory nature and complexity of carbon mixtures embedded in mineral matrices for subsequent offline stable carbon and radiocarbon (14C) isotope analyses. Originally developed to separate Holocene from more ancient sedimentary organic matter to improve dating of marine sediments, the Ramped Pyrolysis and Oxidation (RPO) apparatus, or informally, the “dirt burner” is now used to address pressing questions in the broad field of biogeochemistry. The growing interest in the community now necessitates improved handling and procedures for routine analyses of difficult sample types. Here we report on advances in CO2 purification during sample processing, modifications to the instrumentation at the National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (NOSAMS) facility, and introduce sodium bicarbonate procedural standards with differing natural abundance 14C signatures for blank assessment. Measurements from different environmental samples are used to compare the procedure to the different generations of sequential thermal analyses. With this study, we aim to improve the standardization of the procedures and prepare this instrumentation for innovations in online stable carbon isotopes and direct AMS-interface measurements in the future.

Shipping radiocarbon samples from the scientist to the laboratories involves packaging and wrapping them with all sorts of bags and materials to make sure the samples arrive safely. Over the years a variety of possible and impossible package materials have arrived at our laboratory, causing problems occasionally but often being the highlight of the day cheering up the people involved. The reality of excavating important, occasionally unexpected, samples during field work sometimes includes taking samples when time is short or package materials could not be prepared. At this point, any kind of package becomes useful. Things like cigarette packets, reused office packets, tissue boxes, or medical packaging can become handy. But sometimes samples are taken, wrapped in aluminum foil, and forgotten in the desks. This article celebrates creativity, giving an overview of the many ways samples can be packed. However, using some of the less-than-ideal choices, drawbacks will be shown and possible problems explained.

Radiocarbon (14C) measurements undertaken by the NERC Radiocarbon Laboratory using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) are now freely available on a new online database. The data presented covers measurement of the wide range of sample types that are processed for research projects in the fields of Earth and environmental science, supported by the United Kingdom’s Natural Environment Research Council. Sample types within the database include organic remains, soils, sediments, carbonates, dissolved organic and inorganic carbon, and carbon dioxide. Currently, the database contains 14C data for over 2400 individual samples that were measured and reported between 2005 and 2013, but it is envisaged that this will expand considerably as more data are made available. Contextual information such as sampling location and associated publications are provided where available, and searches can be performed on sample location, sample type, project number, and publication code. This new database compliments an existing, publicly available database of measurements performed using radiometric methods by the laboratory which has recently been expanded to present over 2000 measurements. It is hoped that this archive will prove useful to workers in the community who would benefit from greater availability of measurements for particular locations or sample types, and for the purposes of performing meta-analyses, and/or synthesis of larger datasets.

This study focuses on the chronology of King Den’s reign, the fifth ruler of the 1st Egyptian dynasty. A series of radiocarbon (14C) dates were established on archaeological material from several tombs at the Abu Rawash site, near Cairo, which comprises a complex of 12 monumental mud-brick mastabas. Modeling the 14C results enables us to estimate the date of King’s accession and to link this to the beginning of the 3rd Dynasty, i.e., to Egyptian state’s structuration. Through the application of OxCal software, sets of 14C results obtained from the same archaeological context have been summarized and compared with the precise state of our knowledge on the historical duration of this reign. These results place King Den’s accession between 3104 and 2913 BCE (2σ), with the more likely date being 3011–2921 BCE (1σ). The modeled temporal density thus obtained is based both on new contextualized 14C dates and on an updated reading of the historical information on his reign. This is a dynamic result, which can be refined as soon as we have more data to integrate into the model. Above all, this resulting model becomes a crucial chronological point to better determine the beginning of the Egyptian Old Kingdom.

This article analyses the development of Neolithic earthen architecture in the Eastern Mediterranean as a concrete example of ‘communities of practice’. Recent studies on earthen architecture have highlighted its adaptability to different climates, architectural forms and craftmanship levels, focusing on the technological aspects of earthen construction. This paper explores the anthropological significance of earth as a building material. It provides evidence on the development of earthen building techniques, interactions between different communities regarding building practices and an understanding of the dynamics of chaîne opératoire in relation to various materials. A review of archaeological case studies provides compelling preliminary evidence for the existence of early specialized architecture in Neolithic Aegean contexts.

En excavaciones efectuadas en Chichén Itzá en 1967, se encontró una construcción subterránea tipo chultun conteniendo los restos óseos de más de 70 individuos humanos, la mayoría subadultos masculinos. El depósito mortuorio presenta características de ser post-sacrificial, de carácter primario; la datación por carbono-14 lo ubica hacia el 1000 d.C., en el momento de mayor expansión de Chichén Itzá como ciudad capital regional. La cuantificación de 1,066 dientes permanentes establece un número mínimo de individuos de 75 (incisivo central superior izquierdo). Con el propósito de discernir sobre la afinidad biológica de los individuos, primero se llevó a cabo un análisis univariante y multivariante de los diámetros mesiodistales y bucolinguales y se compararon con 16 sitios prehispánicos de época clásica; posteriormente se analizó la morfología dental en 14 rasgos y se compararon con 24 sitios mayas prehispánicos del clásico, siguiendo la metodología estandarizada de Arizona State University Dental Anthropological System (ASUDAS). Se aplicaron tres análisis multivariantes (medida media de divergencia, análisis de conglomerados, y escalamiento multidimensional). Con base en este estudio, podemos afirmar que los niños del chultun de Chichén Itzá no pertenecen a las poblaciones de las Tierras Bajas del norte o del sur, como tampoco a las de las Tierras Altas del sur. Quizá formaban parte de grupos de comerciantes de larga distancia que se asentaron en Chichén Itzá a partir del 800 d.C. para dominar las rutas de comercio tanto marítimas como terrestres de la Península.

Chichen Itza stands as a monumental landmark of late Pre-Columbian Maya and Mesoamerican religious complexes. Among the enigmatic aspects of Chichen Itza's ceremonial innovations count skull racks (known as tzompantli in Nahuatl), where the heads of sacrificed victims would be exhibited. Here we combine the scrutiny of death imagery and human skeletal remains, including skulls with marks of bilateral or basal impalement and mandibles with perimortem decapitation from “New” Chichen, the Osario complex, and from Chichen's astronomical Caracol complex. Our combined skeletal and iconographic data confirm the increased practice of corpse processing and head exhibition at Chichen Itza when compared to Classic-period Maya centers. Most of these body treatments were not foreign introductions, as generally believed, but followed local practices, long carried out at the Yucatecan urban centers of Nohpat, Kabah, Uxmal, and Dzibilchaltun. Although on a minor scale compared to Chichen, these demonstrate the display of human body segments, not only skulls, which renders the term tzompantli problematic. In the context of the totalitarian rhetoric of Chichen's central spaces, the massified violence and corpse display herald late religious cults at the cadences of battles won, astronomical cycles, and the perpetual movement of the Feathered Serpent.

Zooarchaeological data are presented to examine aspects of animal resources utilization at Chichen Itza and Isla Cerritos during the Terminal Classic. Through the review of zooarchaeological records, a differential pattern emerges based on contextual and environmental origins of the identified taxa, highlighting the ritual importance of coastal species at Chichen Itza. In addition, the transportation network of animals and animal parts from the peninsular interior to Isla Cerritos and coastal areas towards Chichen Itza is outlined. The reviewed zooarchaeological evidence of both settlements represents the first effort to rethink and heighten understanding of the relationship between the northern Maya capital and its coastal outpost during the Terminal Classic, profiling the diverse environments being exploited and differential utilization in the coast and the interior of the Northern Lowlands.