We present here the analysis of the radiocarbon concentration and the components deposited on 2-year-old Pinus sylvestris L. needles collected in 2021, which were exposed to air contaminants for approximately two years. The needles were collected from seven sampling sites located near roads, households, and industrial factories in Silesia, the most industrialized part of Poland. The radiocarbon concentration was investigated using liquid scintillation spectrometry. Scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were used to quantitatively analyze the elements deposited on the surface of pine needles. The depletion of the radiocarbon concentration in pine needles relative to clean air was observed at most of the investigated sites. Although it has been observed that in the research area, the fossil fuel CO2 emission ranging from 0.4 to 3%, we cannot exclude that Suess effect may be underestimated due to biomass burning and mixing of the 14CO2 origin from different sources. A significant amount of silicon, nitrogen, and sulfur was commonly found in samples, Metal elements of Ca, Fe, Al, Mg, and K were also present in most samples. Heavier elements of Fe and Ti were present in higher concentrations only in needles obtained from sites nearer to the heat and power plant in Łaziska Górne.

The Hunnic incursions into eastern and central Europe in the 4th and 5th c. CE have historically been considered one of the key factors in bringing the Roman Empire to an end. However, both the origins of the Huns and their impact on the late Roman provinces remain poorly understood. Here we provide a new, combined assessment of the archaeological, historical, and environmental evidence. Hunnic raids and warfare within the Roman provinces are most intensely attested for the first half of the 5th c. We propose that severe drought spells in the 430s to 450s CE disrupted the economic organization of the incomers and local provincial populations, requiring both to adopt strategies to buffer against economic challenges. We argue that the Huns’ apparently inexplicable violence may have been one strategy for coping with climatic extremes within a wider context of the social and economic changes that occurred at the time.

Intentionally broken “picture” lamps, or Bildlampen, are relatively common at archaeological sites throughout the Roman world. Such lamps typically exhibit a missing central discus. The discus itself – called a lamp “medallion” – often survives, too, and represents further evidence for deliberate lamp breakage. This article explores picture lamps with missing discuses and lamp medallions as a distinct and identifiable artifact group. It also surveys the possible reasons behind their intentional breaking. The work additionally identifies selected findspots where the lighting vessels were broken in rituals, with a special focus on the Shrine of Apollo at Tyre, and examines whether lamp breakage reflects individual choice or collective behavior. In an effort to understand how Roman picture lamps were deliberately broken and the lamp medallions generated for rituals, breakage experiments – drop, impact, puncture, and hammerstone – were conducted on accurate museum-made replicas of Roman picture lamps.

This short paper publishes a new manuscript of the literary composition “Letter from Sîn-šamuḫ to the god Enki” (ETCSL 3.3.19). K.8755 is one of the tablets which proved to be Old Babylonian in spite of their assignment to the British Museum's Kuyunjik Collection. It preserves parts of ll. 8–15 of the composition and probably belonged to a multiple columns tablet. The present paper offers a score transliteration of the lines concerned, based both on the recently published copies and the online photos of the other mss. It provides a number of new readings and interpretations on individual lines.

This study presents a new stable oxygen isotope chronology, covering the years 800–2000 AD, constructed using modern and subfossil wood derived from trees growing around Lake Schwarzensee in Austria. The climatic signal imparted in the chronology is conditioned mainly by the direct influence of environmental factors on the isotopic signature of source water, which in turn is regulated by evaporation and condensation mechanisms. The second driver of stable oxygen isotope is the physiological response of trees to changing weather conditions, most importantly rates of transpiration. The chronology of stable oxygen isotopes corresponds well with both temperature (r = 0.485; p < 0.05) and total precipitation (r = −0.548; p < 0.05) during the growing season (May–September). This mixed signal results from the fact that the relationship between the content of stable oxygen isotopes and the influence of climate is multifactorial. Moreover, the effect exerted by meteorological conditions on stable isotope ratio changes over time. This is most probably linked to interannual variation in climatic and environmental factors.