‘Newsround’ offers a platform for new discoveries that do not appear within the specialist contributions of this year’s Archaeological Reports, but which nevertheless warrant emphasis, either as a result of their particular characteristics or for the contribution they make to broader archaeological narratives. This section is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather an overview of archaeological research in Greece. It comprises largely preliminary reports (results of excavations that took place up to and including August 2022, where possible) that complement the digital content made available through Archaeology in Greece Online (https://chronique.efa.gr). Due to the diachronic nature of a number of the sites, and for ease of reference, the material is organized geographically in the first instance and then chronologically (earliest to latest) within each section as far as possible.

The discipline of Greek architecture has been changing rapidly since the time of a major review published in 2011. The current study examines research published since 2012 about the prehistoric through to the Hellenistic eras in mainland Greece and the Aegean, along with the expansion of Greek architectural systems throughout the Mediterranean and Black Sea in the first millennium BC. A narrative discussing close to 300 works from recent years is bolstered by a quantitative analysis of the subjects treated in nearly 1,000 studies from the previous decade. Traditional foci of the discipline, such as palaces and sanctuaries, are being approached in new and methodologically sophisticated manners. A notable rise in the scrutiny of material remains suggests diverse new interests in planning and construction, from the scale of an individual architectural member up to a territorial defence network. The integration of recent digital and scientific methods has been remarkable, including widespread adoption of 3D recording and modelling, remote sensing, and compositional analysis. Certain architectural types – in particular fortifications, harbours, and urban planning – have received a great deal more attention than in past decades.

Mesolithic resinous adhesives are well known for their role as hafting mastic within composite technologies, yet it is increasingly clear that their usage was more diverse than this. Birch-bark tar has been recovered from Mesolithic contexts as chewed lumps linked to medicinal treatment of toothache and oral diseases, and as a decorative element on ornaments and art objects; and an amorphous resinous substance possibly derived from pine or spruce resin has been found within a burial context. This diversity of applications suggests that resins and tars may have been understood in different ways which did not always privilege their mechanical functionality. To underscore the limited archaeological perspective of conifer resins and tars as hafting agents, we draw on data sourced from a wide range of ethnographically documented societies, demonstrating the array of economic and social functions these materials have for contemporary hunter-gatherer groups. Using archaeological case studies, we illustrate how a deeper understanding of the material and sensory properties of resins and tars, and the trees from which they are derived, opens new insights into the diverse roles resinous materials performed within Mesolithic worldviews.

Satellite imagery and UAV (drone) photos taken at Lagash (modern Tell al-Hiba) after rainstorms and at times of elevated soil moisture show dense near-surface architecture that dates mostly to the Early Dynastic III period (c. 2600–2350 BCE) and covers several hundred hectares. Archaeological knowledge of Mesopotamian urban structure has mostly been limited to isolated excavated neighbourhoods, such as at third millennium BCE Tutub (Khafajah) or Eshnunna (Tell Asmar), and early second millennium BCE Ur (Tell al-Muqayyar). The morphology of Tell al-Hiba and the quality of the imagery sets create a unique situation that enables the reconstruction and comparison of neighbourhoods across almost the whole of the city of Lagash. Mapping of near-surface architectural remains, streets, and water features reveals a discontinuous city located within a watery, possibly marshy environment.

This study applied, radiocarbon dating to charcoal and mollusk samples from Sernambetiba and Amourins archaeological sites in the Northeast region of Guanabara Bay, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to assess the marine radiocarbon reservoir effect (MRE) of this area, being applied for the correction of the marine samples ages. The results for this estuarine system were ΔR = –87 ± 90 14C yr and ΔR = –244 ± 70 14C yr for 3970 ± 70 14C yr BP and 2357 ± 60 14C yr BP, respectively. Based on these findings, calibrated 14C ages were calculated for Sernambetiba and Amourins shell mound sites surrounding the bay. Marine samples from the Guapi site were analyzed and only their radiocarbon ages presented because there were no paired terrestrial samples for the MRE assessment. These results are coherent with previously published values also derived from archaeological samples for the Rio de Janeiro state coastal region and contribute to the interpretation of human occupation of the region during the Holocene.

During a survey on the island of Öland in south-eastern Sweden, whose aim was to study the local waste-disposal practices, the authors recorded abandoned machinery and cars dating from the 1940s to today in locations close to residential areas and farms, and complemented the investigation by interviewing informants. This led them to conclude that dumping redundant objects in the surroundings of villages forms an entangled network with other behaviour, i.e. collecting things which had outlived their usefulness and embedding them in the landscape. The behaviour observed in Öland is compared with two other cases of collecting abandoned objects in Öland and southern Sweden. Using the location and chronology of the finds, the authors interpret the behaviour by borrowing the concept of heterotopia, as defined by Foucault.

This article concerns the development of archaeology and museology, in the Ottoman Empire, Turkey, and Greece, through the life and career of Théodore Macridy. Macridy participated in knowledge transfer in more than one discipline and more than one country. Through his links with Western academic circles in archaeology and museology, he made a significant contribution to their development in the Ottoman Empire, Turkey, and Greece. Living between the Ottoman and Greek epistemic communities as an Ottoman citizen of Greek origin, he excavated numerous sites of the Ottoman Empire, worked at the Ottoman Imperial Museum, and contributed to the foundation of the Benaki Museum in Athens at the end of his career. This makes him a good example of an Ottoman Greek scholar whose liminal identity led to his relative neglect in both Greek and Turkish archaeology and museology.