Adopting a human rights-based approach, this paper scrutinizes the treatment of illicit trafficking in cultural property as a human rights issue. The study focuses on the Iraqi contribution to the international agenda, revealing that Iraq co-sponsored at least 13 UN resolutions on the restitution of illegally expropriated cultural property, actively contributing to the negotiation of others, along with submitting its legal opinions on the drafts of relevant international documents, starting from as early as 1936 to culminate with the calls to stop cultural plunder feeding Western markets since the 1990s. Centering the Iraqi voices and adopting a critical decolonial rights-based perspective, the study showcases how illicit trade in cultural property clearly emerges as a violation of a state’s permanent sovereignty over its wealth and resources, negatively impacting its ability to guarantee the right to pursue economic, social, and cultural development for its people, as well as to freely dispose of their resources, the key components of the right to self-determination.

Superadas las crisis sociales y políticas que tuvieron lugar en las décadas finales del período Preclásico, nuevas entidades comienzan a emerger en el panorama geopolítico de las tierras bajas mayas. En el caso del Petén campechano, el descubrimiento de sitios arqueológicos con vestigios de estructuras defensivas y monumentos pétreos permite inferir la configuración de una nueva realidad en la que entidades como Oxpemul parecen comenzar a despuntar. En este sitio destacan dos monumentos que preservan registro iconográfico de cautivos, las Estelas 22 y 23; estas exhiben patrones iconográficos típicos del Clásico temprano, entre los que destacan tres figuras desnudas e hincadas. Con la toma de nuevas fotografías diurnas y nocturnas de las estelas y la utilización de la herramienta computacional Reflectance Transformation Imaging, se presentan nuevas interpretaciones de los monumentos de Oxpemul; además, a través de los nuevos análisis iconográficos se proponen nuevas consideraciones sobre las dinámicas sociopolíticas regionales durante los contextos tempranos en los que Oxpemul parece jugar un papel destacable.

Marine plastic pollution is an issue that threatens most places around the world, including the remote and unique Galapagos archipelago. We used the archaeological framework of object itineraries as part of a story-writing workshop to explore perceptions of marine plastic litter (MPL) by students from two schools in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz. Their stories, adopting an archaeological approach to plastic litter as artefacts, told the itinerary of MPL collected on Galapagos shores. We also analysed surveys evaluating their self-reported knowledge, pro-environmental behaviours (PEBs) and perceptions of the issue of MPL before and after the workshop. Our findings showed good awareness of MPL origins and impacts, reflecting the specific pathways of litter reaching this Pacific archipelago from mainland South America, regional marine activities including fishing in and around the Galapagos Marine Reserve, and local sources, although those are thought to be limited. Yet the lack of focus on solutions in the stories and the emphasis on recycling PEBs suggest more targeted activities are needed to address the need of complementary solutions and to place more emphasis on reducing plastic use.

Earlier objects are frequently identified in later contexts, though rarely form the focus of discussion. This paper presents 34 sites where earlier Bronze Age metalwork has been found in later Bronze Age contexts in southern Britain, including hoards and non-hoard contexts. These ‘out-of-time’ objects follow complex trajectories and can inform us about the potential ways past societies conceived their own pasts, especially when contextualized in broader integrated landscapes. Out-of-time objects might be deposited singly or within hoards to reinforce community boundaries and legitimize links with past communities. The form, wear and treatment of these objects pre-deposition (e.g. curation and/or deformation) as well as the places in which they were buried represent indicators of prehistoric processes of commemoration and/or forgetting.

Marks and figurative representations have been recognized as crucial socio-cognitive components that contributed to the transition from foraging to farming of the Neolithic in southwest Asia, during a period in which communities adopted novel social interactions and economic strategies. This article investigates image production and the trajectories tied to the creation of visual codes. We show that since the early Neolithic phases (c. 9700–6600 cal. bc) societies in southwest Asia engaged with specific symbols and created narrative and operational semasiographies, intended to serve as key communicative devices that functioned as community ties and contributed to social interaction across distant groups.

Forgetting, and having recourse to unremembering the past, is useful for different populations. The modern world has provided a range of examples, but the effectiveness of short-term amnesia has not always been highlighted in archaeological scholarship. In this article, a case study from the Roman-period Netherlands highlights that the significance of memory-making in the past may have been overstated. Especially among those societies living under imperial rule, forgetting played an important role, one that calls for more critical focus and understanding. The utilization of cross-cultural and historical examples provides the background for a close analysis of the remains from a single graveyard. The study brings out the repeated amnesiac changes that indigenous groups underwent to adapt themselves to the continuing fact of occupation.

War, captives, and human sacrifice were parts of Late Postclassic (AD 1250–1524) Maya culture in highland Guatemala. Las Casas (1958:152) wrote that the supreme lord “put the heads of the sacrificed on some poles on a certain altar dedicated only to this, where they had these for some time, after which they buried them.” These cultural aspects show up in human remains excavated at Iximche’, the Kaqchikel Maya capital. Here, we integrate previously published and unpublished results of stable isotope analyses and explore their implications for diets and the geographic origins of individuals who were buried at the site on the eve of the Spanish conquest. Data from Iximche’ are compared with available results from other ancient Maya sites.

This article examines a frequently overlooked aspect of cuneiform writing in Egypt: the materiality and technology involved in the production of cuneiform tablets, with a particular focus on the process of tablet firing. It is argued that firing was an integral part of tablet production that required learning and practice by the Amarna scribes. The successful firing of tablets to temperatures around 800°C is attributed to the robust and longstanding tradition of tablet manufacture in Mesopotamia, Anatolia, northern Syria and Hazor. In contrast, the lower firing temperatures observed in tablets from Egypt, Alašiya and much of the Levant are associated with the production and firing of cuneiform tablets as a recent technological innovation that required thorough mastery.

This paper explores the evolving landscape of comparative research between ancient Egypt and China, focusing on various aspects such as culture, writing systems, political economy, and motivations behind these comparisons done in China and international environments. Embedded with the historical context, motivations and methodologies of scholars engaged in this comparative endeavour, the authors suggest that such research is linked to modern China's intellectual history and global engagement. It discusses potential motivations, including economic factors, national agenda and interdisciplinary integration. The authors also raise the need for more deliberate theorizations of Egypt–China comparisons, emphasizing the importance of greater reflexivity and inclusivity in shaping the trajectory of comparative studies. Overall, the document sheds light on the complexities, motivations and potential impacts of Egypt–China comparative research, highlighting its relevance in understanding both historical civilizations and contemporary global dynamics.

Marine aerosols can enter the terrestrial environment via sea spray which is known to affect the stable isotope fingerprint of coastal samples (plants, animals/humans), including δ13C. However, the impact of sea spray on 14C dating of terrestrial organisms at coastal sites has not been investigated so far. Besides a direct effect, sea spray is accompanied by physiological effects, e.g., due to salinity. In an artificial sea spray experiment in the greenhouse, the effect of sea spray on 14C in plant tissue was investigated. Beach grass was sprayed with mineral salt solutions containing only traces of NaCl or with brackish water from the Schlei inlet or the Baltic Sea. These plants should give a 14C signal close to the modern atmospheric 14CO2 composition. However, three treatment groups showed variable radiocarbon concentrations. Plants sprayed with water from the Schlei inlet, Baltic Sea water, or with a mineral salt solution with very high HCO3– concentration are depleted in 14C content relative to contemporary atmospheric composition. While δ13C reflects physiological effects in the plants, caused either by salinity (NaCl) or HCO3– stress, resulting in decreased discrimination against 13C, the uptake of high amounts of 14C (ca. 53–67%) from DIC (dissolved inorganic carbon) partly masks the underlying physiological reactions, as is visible in the radiocarbon signature of the plant tissues. This preliminary study indicates that sea spray effects on plant tissue could potentially influence faunal tissue 14C composition at coastal sites. Further research is required to better understand the observed reservoir effect.

The Manych Depression is a relatively narrow elongated depression of tectonic origin, connecting the Caspian and Azov-Black Sea basins. The Caspian Sea repeatedly discharged its waters through this depression into the Black Sea and further into the Mediterranean Sea during the Quaternary period. The last discharge occurred in MIS 2 when the Khvalynian transgression waters exceeded the drainage divide between those two basins. The geochronology of the last flow of Caspian waters into the Black Sea was established recently based on 14C dating of Khvalynian shells, carried out mainly by liquid scintillation counting, and the end of this event was dated to 12.5–12.8 ka cal BP. Recently obtained OSL dates for one of the most complete sections of the Khvalynian deposits of the Manych Depression indicate an older time for the end of the flow. This study aimed to clarify the timing of the Khvalynian transgression discharge by examining two sections containing the Khvalynian mollusk fauna in layers that, according to their stratigraphic and geomorphological position, belong to the final phase of the flow of the Caspian waters. Four 14C AMS dates were obtained from single shells of Didacna ebersini and Hypanis plicata, which agree with the OSL dating results. The results indicate that the last overflow of Caspian waters through the Manych Depression had ceased at around 14.5 ka cal BP.

In Arabic treatises on algebra, Book II of Euclid’s Elements quickly became a traditional work of reference, especially for justifying quadratic equations. However, in many of these treatises we find a representation of Euclid’s notions that deviates from the “original Euclid.” In this article, I focus on the way in which propositions of Book II were understood and reported by al-Karaǧī (11th c.) in two of his algebraic writings. Inspired by the variety of arithmetical practices of his time, al-Karaǧī transposed these Euclidean propositions from geometrical objects to numbers and applied them to an algebraic context. This allowed him to combine various argumentative strategies deriving from different fields. Building upon al-Karaǧī’s work, al-Zanǧānī (13th c.) no longer needed to mention Euclid and instead conceived of a justification of quadratic equations (the “cause” of the equation) which is completely internal to algebra. These case studies provide evidence for the use of the Elements as a toolbox for the development of algebra. More importantly, they shed further light upon a typical feature of medieval mathematics, namely the existence of a plurality intrinsic in the name “Euclid.”