Prof Christopher Ramsey

Abstract:

Radiocarbon dating is essential for establishing robust chronologies in archaeological and paleoenvironmental contexts spanning the last 55,000 years. Pottery, pervasive in the archaeological record, offers a crucial framework for dating human activity during the Holocene. Traditionally, radiocarbon dating of pottery has relied on targeting carbonaceous inclusions such as organic temper or measuring stratigraphically associated materials like bone and charcoal. Inaccuracies can arise, however, if the targeted fraction does not reflect the timing of vessel use or if stratigraphic associations are uncertain. An alternative involves radiocarbon dating of lipid residues, particularly fatty acids absorbed into the ceramic matrix during the processing and storage of plant and animal-derived resources. This approach holds promise for delivering highly accurate measurements directly correlating to vessel use. At the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, efforts have been made to develop this methodology through compound-specific radiocarbon dating of pottery, employing a gas chromatography (GC)-preparative fraction collector (PFC) approach. Here, we describe the protocol and present preliminary findings, including analyses conducted on pottery samples sourced from an archaeological site with an established chronology.

Abstract:

Abstract. Chew Bahir, a lake that is dry for most of the year, located in a tectonic basin in the southern Ethiopian Rift, was the target of several scientific drilling expeditions between 2009 and 2014. The aim of these expeditions was to explore the basin and its lake sediments as an archive of past changes in the environmental conditions during the evolution of our species, Homo sapiens. In more than 25 publications, the scientific findings derived from the analysis of the sediments were presented and discussed in detail. In the present paper, we provide the background information on the project's origins, planning and implementation – that is, information that has not yet been presented in scientific papers, or only very briefly, but which could be important for those working on similar projects in the future. Herein, we particularly focus on the advantages and disadvantages of obtaining twin cores at a short distance, aiming at a continuous high-quality composite core, a strategy that had to be defended during the planning stage of the project due to the higher costs involved but which is considered to be the best practice for scientific drilling in modern sedimentary basins.

Abstract:

Narratives about the motivations and conditions for mass violence as a persistent feature of conflict throughout human history have evolved in complexity and materiality. Victims of these events are key for understanding the evolution and transformative power of violent behaviour as it developed from simple inter-group conflict to more strategic mass violence. Here we present the results of a bioarchaeological study of 77 and biomolecular analysis of 25 individuals from a 9th century BCE mass grave from Gomolava in the Carpathian Basin, Southeast Europe. The site is located at the interface of complex socio-spatial relations, divergent cultural traditions and values, and competing ideologies of landscape use. Here we show that excessive lethal violence enacted mostly on women and children suggests a selective demographic bias. The people buried together shared few, even distant, genetic relationships, and so their killing presents striking evidence for an episode of cross-regional conflict and an underlying aggressive shift in power, violence and gender relations in the region. Gomolava provides evidence for the deliberate annihilation of select sections of a regional population as a motivation for mass violence behaviour in later prehistoric Europe. It also shines new light on the socioeconomic agency and importance of women and young individuals in later European prehistory.

Abstract:

Narratives about the motivations and conditions for mass violence as a persistent feature of conflict throughout human history have evolved in complexity and materiality. Victims of these events are key for understanding the evolution and transformative power of violent behaviour as it developed from simple intergroup conflict to more strategic mass violence. Here we present the results of a bioarchaeological study of 77 and biomolecular analysis of 25 individuals from a ninth-century BCE mass grave from Gomolava in the Carpathian Basin, Southeast Europe. The site is located at the interface of complex sociospatial relations, divergent cultural traditions and values, and competing ideologies of landscape use. We show that excessive lethal violence enacted mostly on women and children suggests a selective demographic bias. The people buried together shared few, even distant, genetic relationships, and so their killing presents striking evidence for an episode of cross-regional conflict and an underlying aggressive shift in power, violence and gender relations in the region. Gomolava provides evidence consistent with deliberate annihilation of select sections of a regional population as a motivation for mass violence behaviour in later prehistoric Europe. It also shines new light on the socioeconomic agency and importance of women and young individuals in later European prehistory.

Abstract:

The Feeding Anglo-Saxon England (FeedSax) project applied scientific methods to bioarchaeological remains, in order to shed new light on medieval English agriculture. The methodology included an extensive radiocarbon dating programme which, besides helping to date developments in farming at selected case study sites, proved informative in its own right. This paper discusses the key implications of this programme’s results, with regard to the general problems of dating medieval settlement phases. First, it has allowed us to devise a new ‘universal’ chronological schema which aligns conventional phases with the precision currently attainable from calibrated radiocarbon dates. Second, it has revealed frequent discrepancies between the radiocarbon dates of organic remains and their original phasing — usually based upon associated ceramics — often resulting in chronological refinements or revisions, and sometimes revealing hitherto unrecognised periods of activity. In particular, the results highlight that ceramic-based phasing often underestimates the age of organic remains.