Archaeological Sciences

Despite an increasing literature on the decomposition of human remains, whether buried or exposed, it is important to recognise the role of specific microenvironments which can either trigger or delay the rate of decomposition. Recent casework in Northern England involving buried and partially buried human remains has demonstrated a need for a more detailed understanding of the effect of contrasting site conditions on cadaver decomposition and on the microenvironment created within the grave itself. Pigs (Sus scrofa) were used as body analogues in three interrelated taphonomy experiments to examine differential decomposition of buried human remains. They were buried at three contrasting field sites (pasture, moorland, and deciduous woodland) within a 15 km radius of the University of Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK. Changes to the buried body and the effect of these changes on hair and associated death-scene textile materials were monitored as was the microenvironment of the grave. At recovery, 6, 12 and 24 months post-burial, the extent of soft tissue decomposition was recorded and samples of fat and soil were collected for gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) analysis. The results of these studies demonstrated that (1) soil conditions at these three burial sites has a marked effect on the condition of the buried body but even within a single site variation can occur; (2) the process of soft tissue decomposition modifies the localised burial microenvironment in terms of microbiological load, pH, moisture and changes in redox status. These observations have widespread application for the investigation of clandestine burial and time since deposition, and in understanding changes within the burial microenvironment that may impact on biomaterials such as hair and other associated death scene materials.

The source of Egypt's copper supply during the Third Intermediate Period (1070-664 BCE) is largely unknown. Here we present new data from chemical (elemental) and lead isotope (LI) analysis of royal Egyptian artifacts of the 21st Dynasty (ca. 1010 BCE)-a period which until now was represented in the LI record only by a single artifact. Our finds identify the source of the copper in the Arabah region providing a basis for our historical reconstruction of the copper exchange network in the southern Levant at the turn of the first millennium BCE. We also analyzed two objects from the 24th and 25th Dynasties (8th c. BCE), which revealed a marked change in Egyptian copper metallurgy in both the composition (from Cu with traces of Sn to leaded copper with traces of As) and the supply chain (the Arabah ores are excluded). As the sampling involved museum artifacts, we performed X-ray imaging as a means to avoid sampling of any later metallic modifications and ensure the correct sampling process.

Ceramics are a key indicator for the study of cultural heritage:-A valuable technological indicator because (a) ceramics mark the passage from the simple exploitation to the complex control of fire; (b) they represent the first pyrotechnological product of a certain complexity; and (c) they are able of triggering the development of other technologies such as those involving the processing of metal and glass.-A valuable socioeconomic indicator because (a) ceramics are brought into the houses of both poor and wealthy families; (b) they provide evidence of trade routes and cultural exchange; and (c) they are able to pass on significant information about the evolution of aesthetic taste as well as dietary habits through the centuries.-A valuable chronological indicator because (a) their comparative study can provide accurate dating; (b) they can provide absolute dates by thermoluminescence testing; and (c) they enable the dating of other materials found in stratigraphic association. In this framework, research questions are discussed according to the different steps of a typical research project in progress: from the individuation of the archaeological site or area, to the selection of the ceramic types to be investigated and the samples to be taken for the analyses. It is proposed that research questions should contribute to the reconstruction of a "big picture" covering wide and complex issues such as the circulation of a specific type of goods within large geographic areas and/or the diachronic evolution of production technology. It can be demonstrated that farsighted strategy in research planning can provide material for preliminary articles that satisfy professional obligations to publish periodically while also laying the groundwork for truly important contributions to the field. The distinct fields of provenance, technology, function, use, chronology and conservation are briefly reviewed in order to provide an introductory framework to the following contributions of this Topical Collection. As for research design, the aim here is to reaffirm the importance of typology and contextualization as the basis for all studies undertaken. Finally, it is demonstrated that true multidisciplinary collaboration, rather than working in silos according to different specializations, provides the best approach to obtaining accurate and meaningful results. Premise This paper serves as an anchor to the Topical Collection (TC) "Ceramics: Research questions and answers" aimed at guiding researchers in the study of archaeological ceramics from excavation to study and preservation in museum collections. Each contribution has a tutorial approach covering one of the main issues pertaining to the study of ceramics: research questions and sampling criteria (this paper); the chemical (Hein and Kilikoglou 2020) and mineralogical-petrographic

The thesis concentrates on computational methods pertaining to ancient ostraca - ink on clay inscriptions, written in Hebrew. These texts originate from the biblical kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and dated to the late First Temple period (8th – early 6th centuries BCE). The ostraca are almost the sole remaining epigraphic evidence from the First Temple period and are therefore important for archaeological, historical, linguistic, and religious studies of this era. This “noisy” material offers a fertile ground for the development of various “robust” image analysis, image processing, computer vision and machine learning methods, dealing with the challenging domain of ancient documents’ analysis. The common procedures of modern epigraphers involve manual and labor-intensive steps, facing the risk of unintentionally mixing documentation with interpretation. Therefore, the main goal of this study is establishing a computerized paleographic framework for handling First Temple period epigraphic material. The major research questions, addressed in this thesis are: quality evaluation of manual facsimiles; quality evaluation of ostraca images; automatic binarization of the documents and its subsequent refinement; quality evaluation of binarizations on global and local levels; identification of different writers between inscriptions (two distinct methods are proposed); image segmentation (with improvements over the classical Chan-Vese algorithm); and letters’ shape prior estimation. The developed methods were tested on real-world archaeological and modern data and their results are found to be favorable.

A total of 1496 investigated colourless glass analyses have been collected with the aim of achieving a clear geographical, typological, chronological and compositional overview on this particular type of glass. Based on manganese and antimony contents, four main groups were characterised: naturally colourless, Mn-decoloured, Sb-decoloured and Mn/Sb-decoloured. Main achievements relates to the chronological distribution of manganese and antimony technologies, the former being associated to a long lasting technology which culminated during the Late Antique period while the latter being practically absent after the 8 th century AD, being at its acme during the Roman imperial period. Except for naturally colourless glass, glass-making technology mostly implied the use of impure sands and na-tron, relegating the other components to a virtually irrelevant presence, except during the Late Antique and Medieval periods.

This paper gives a broad introduction to the concept of crowdfunding, before quantitatively analyzing 35 archaeological crowdfunding campaigns in order to draw relevant conclusions on the method's potential for financing archaeological research.
It also provides a quick overview of some important do's and don'ts for people considering using crowdfunding to back their next archaeological project.

In the interest of accessibility this paper is published on Academia.edu rather than through an established journal.

Archaeological Study on Reinforced Soil for Hydraulic Engineering in ancient China www.georesources.net Based on detailed historical data, the application history of reinforced soil in hydraulic engineering in China is studied. Archaeological research shows that 'grass wrapped sludge' technique was invented in ancient China about 5,000 years ago and the technique was widely used in dam construction for flood control, river regulation and breach blocking. Geosynthetic reinforcement and protection techniques were introduced to China only in the 1960s to 1970s, while the application of reinforced soil in hydraulic engineering has a much longer history. Geosynthetics reinforcement is inheritance and development of ancient wisdom for modern civilisation.

The source of Egypt's copper supply during the Third Intermediate Period (1070-664 BCE) is largely unknown. Here we present new data from chemical (elemental) and lead isotope (LI) analysis of royal Egyptian artifacts of the 21st Dynasty (ca. 1010 BCE)-a period which until now was represented in the LI record only by a single artifact. Our finds identify the source of the copper in the Arabah region providing a basis for our historical reconstruction of the copper exchange network in the southern Levant at the turn of the first millennium BCE. We also analyzed two objects from the 24th and 25th Dynasties (8th c. BCE), which revealed a marked change in Egyptian copper metallurgy in both the composition (from Cu with traces of Sn to leaded copper with traces of As) and the supply chain (the Arabah ores are excluded). As the sampling involved museum artifacts, we performed X-ray imaging as a means to avoid sampling of any later metallic modifications and ensure the correct sampling process.

The book is intended as an introduction to the ‘classical’ methods of multivariate analysis that have been widely used in archaeometric data analysis for the last 40 years or so. The main methods covered are principal component, cluster and linear discriminant analysis, as well as exploratory methods that can be used before these are applied. The emphasis is on the ideas that underpin these methods, their implementation, and interpretation. Some of the relevant mathematics is included for completeness, but the intention is that the book can be read without needing to understand the mathematical detail provided. The intended readership is archaeological scientists, presumed to have some knowledge of basic statistics but not any great experience of multivariate analysis.

The emphasis of the current guide is on ‘Applied Statistics’. This means that even though the mathematical principles of different statistical methods are briefly described, the key aim is to make sure the reader understands what kind of data is being analysed, what type of test is the most appropriate, how to actually implement this test correctly using R, and how to properly interpret the results. The examples given throughout this guide are taken from the archaeological sciences. However, technical terms have been intentionally avoided so that these examples are understood by non-archaeologists and it should be easy for specialists from other disciplines to see how the analyses presented could be used with their types of data and research questions. 

These notes were written especially for users running the Windows version of R, but most of the material applies to the Mac and Linux versions as well. All the sample data files used in this guide are provided in the folder R_Files, which may be freely downloaded from the zenodo repository (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3837331). This document is an open resource and it is anticipated to be updated at regular intervals. I would greatly appreciate any feedback and recommendations for future improvement at e.nikita@cyi.ac.cy.

20 Years of preservation, conservation and restoration of antiques and sculptures in the private sector. This is not meant as a DIY catalogue for restorers. It outlines visually examples of artefacts prior and post rescue. It gives an idea what can be accomplished when treatments are selected to restore pieces with the idea of minimal intervention.

This review summarises the state-of-the-art of lead-based pigment studies, addressing their production, trade, use and possible alteration. Other issues, such as those related to the investigation and protection of artworks bearing lead-based pigments are also presented. The focus is mineralogical, as both raw materials and degradation products are mineral phases occurring in nature (except for very few cases). The minerals described are abellaite, anglesite, blixite, caledonite, challacolloite, cerussite, cotunnite, crocoite, galena, grootfonteinite, hydrocerussite, laurionite, leadhillite, litharge, macphersonite, massicot, mimetite, minium, palmierite, phosgenite, plattnerite, plumbonacrite, schulténite, scrutinyite, somersetite, susannite, vanadinite and an unnamed phase (PbMg(CO3)2). The pigments discussed are lead white, red lead, litharge, massicot, lead-tin yellow, lead-tin-antimony yellow, lead-chromate yellow and Naples yellow. An attempt is made to describe the history, t...

The full form of this article both in English and Portuguese languages will be displayed in Academia beginning from January 1, 2024, as it can be filed on freely accessible online archives no earlier than one year after the release of its journal. Please e-mail me for obtaining this brief article before 2024: elafli@yahoo.ca
In this paper we discuss archaeological authenticity, advanced both from scholarly as well as popular scientific point of views. In the last five years, the inconspicous debate on "archaeological authenticity" has become public. The problem was previously known, but not very common in scientific research. The expected number of forgeries is very high in local museums exhibits, including lamps, coins, metal objects (especially silver) and gems. In international markets, we know several classes. It is particularly difficult to distinguish authentic coins or modern fakes. This paper presents a sampling catalogue for the reanalysis of the artifacts using multiple criteria to determine their non-authenticy.

Keywords: Archaeological fakes; replicas; imitations; authentic; museums.

A more exact dating of the Chiemgau meteorite impact in Bavaria, southeast Germany, that produced a large strewn field of more than 80 craters sized between a few meters and several hundred meters, may provide the indispensable fundament for evaluating its cultural implications and thus enable an extraordinary case study. A straightforward answer has not yet been provided due to e.g. scarce existence of diagnostic material, lack of specialised micromorphologists, absence of absolute
dating data etc. Here we report on a first OSL dating applied to a catastrophic impact layer that features both impact ejecta and tsunami characteristics attributed to proposed falls of projectiles into Lake Chiemsee in the impact event. The OSL dating was conducted on a quartzite cobble and four sediment samples collected from an excavated archaeological stratigraphy at Lake Chiemsee that comprised also the impact layer. In a first approach the analyses were based on the assumption of zero luminescence resetting clock from the induced impact shock for the quartzite cobble, and a solar bleaching of tsunamigenerated sediments. Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) was applied using the Single Aliquot
Regeneration (SAR) protocol and relevant reliability criteria. For sediments the beta‐TL
method was also applied. Reported ages fall around the beginning of 2nd millennium BC. Special attention is given to the peculiar situation of OSL dating of material that may have been exposed to impact shock of strongly varying intensity, to excavation, ejection and ejecta emplacement, the latter overprinted by and mixed with tsunami transport processes resulting in possibly very complex bleaching scenarios largely differing from the original assumptions.

This review summarises the state-of-the-art of lead-based pigment studies, addressing their production, trade, use and possible alteration. Other issues, such as those related to the investigation and protection of artworks bearing lead-based pigments are also presented. The focus is mineralogical, as both raw materials and degradation products are mineral phases occurring in nature (except for very few cases). The minerals described are abellaite, anglesite, blixite, caledonite, challacolloite, cerussite, cotunnite, crocoite, galena, grootfonteinite, hydrocerussite, laurionite, leadhillite, litharge, macphersonite, massicot, mimetite, minium, palmierite, phosgenite, plattnerite, plumbonacrite, schulténite, scrutinyite, somersetite, susannite, vanadinite and an unnamed phase (PbMg(CO3)2). The pigments discussed are lead white, red lead, litharge, massicot, lead-tin yellow, lead-tin-antimony yellow, lead-chromate yellow and Naples yellow. An attempt is made to describe the history, technology and alteration of these pigments in the most complete manner possible, despite the topic's evident breadth. Finally, an insight into the analytical methods that can (and should) be used for accurate archaeometric investigations and a summary of key concepts conclude this review, along with a further list of references for use as a starting point for further research.

Recent casework in Belgium involving the search for human remains buried with lime, demonstrated the need for more detailed understanding of the effect of different types of lime on cadaver decomposition and its micro-environment. Six pigs (Sus scrofa) were used as body analogues in field experiments. They were buried without lime, with hydrated lime (Ca(OH)2) and with quicklime (CaO) in shallow graves in sandy loam soil in Belgium and recovered after 6 months of burial. Observations from these field recoveries informed additional laboratory experiments that were undertaken at the University of Bradford, UK. The combined results of these studies demonstrate that despite conflicting evidence in the literature, hydrated lime and quicklime both delay the decay of the carcass during the first 6 months. This study has implications for the investigation of clandestine burials and for a better understanding of archaeological plaster burials. Knowledge of the effects of lime on decomposition processes also has bearing on practices involving burial of animal carcasses and potentially the management of mass graves and mass disasters by humanitarian organisations and DVI teams.

The optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating is a steadily developed method in the fields of archaeology, geoarchaeology and earth sciences. The trapped electrons in lattice defects of suitable minerals during irradiation by natural radioisotopes throughout the time and the emitted luminescent light after agitation by optical radiation in the lab (or by daylight), are physical processes which determine the total equivalent (to a laboratory dose) dose (in Grays). The intentional or accidental light exposure to light and the thermal agitation sets luminescence clock to zero for a mineral within a material to be dated. Excellent publications (either articles or books) and reviews on the OSL dating have been made. The objective coverage of essential novel applications and basic research accompanied by an ethic unbiased pace is a prerequisite for scientific integrity of every publication. A recent Nature Reviews Method Primers on OSL dating of quartz was the stimulus for the present constructive and supplementary information and serves also as a plea for fairness.

Although military sites have long been the subject of geophysical investigation, those associated with recent military campaigns are noticeably rare. In fact, although such techniques are increasingly used to identify the unwanted legacy of modern warfare, such as unexploded ordnances or mass burials, they have not been used to investigate the archaeology of such conflict. The survey here attempts to identify the archaeology of one military site (Puits d’Herode) that was part of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall and to identify the key elements associated with its D-Day defences. Magnetic gradiometry, twinprobe resistance and ground-penetrating radar were used at this site and, as a result of the nature of the buried archaeology, the magnetic technique proved most valuable. Trenches and bunkers previously known from aerial photographs were located accurately and a track believed to relate to the post-D-Day advance of the Allied forces across Puits d’Herode was also identified. The use of geophysical data in the investigation of this site has provided a new avenue to examine previously difficult topics such as the quality of intelligence available at the time of the conflict and the level and accuracy of shelling; although these may seem unlikely targets for archaeological geophysics, they are important to military historians for whom eyewitness accounts are becoming increasingly scarce.

This article presents results from a large-scale investigation of bird use in the Scottish Islands. Although avian archaeology has sometimes been overlooked, it has become increasingly clear that birds were a small but often important component of past diets. This is particularly relevant when it is considered that a diverse range of birds, and particularly aquatic birds, thrive in coastal and island locations. Large colonies of gregariously breeding seabirds provided a concentrated resource which could be targeted intensely for both meat and eggs. The use of aquatic birds in the Scottish Islands is therefore integral to holistically understanding diet and resource use in these settings. Aquatic birds would have offered a wide variety of dietary resources to prehistoric populations including meat and eggs, but also oil and fat. The exploitation of seabirds endured throughout Scottish Island prehistoric living from the Mesolithic to the Late Iron Age (and much further beyond), within a picture of resource use that shows both continuity and flexibility in the exploitation of aquatic birds. The acquisition of these resources required the development of several species and habitat-specific fowling techniques that demonstrate in-depth understanding of the avian resources being exploited. Local hunting and targeted fowling trips to more distant locations in the landscape and seascape are indicated by the zooarchaeological data. Exploitation of aquatic birds displays a summer focus but as part of a year-round fowling calendar, whilst preservation for later consumption may provide information on another element of the dietary picture.

Keywords
Birds; Seabirds; Fowling; Scottish Islands; Avian archaeology; Zooarchaeology

The issue of the research process in any scientific discipline represents the whole reasoning taken in order to obtain knowledge of a particular field of reality. Similarly, in the archeology research process involves constructing the hypotheses related to the explanation of the data and the methods of testing of these hypotheses. The used procedures must be re-peatable, constructive and should offer the results empirically verifiable. In other words, the research process leads to building of the hypotheses and theories forming a coherent knowledge, which should be verified, up to the best explanation. In contrast to scientific research, philosophical thoughts in their typical realization run in an opposite way: at first philosopher tries to under-stand the global sense  a "meaning" of whole and than individual ele-ments. The archaeologists, accepting postprocesssual approach, returned to the philosophical methods of thinking and thus changed their ap-proach in the resear...

Mass spectrometry-based approaches have been successfully applied for identifying ancient proteins in bones and other tissues. On the contrary, there are relatively few examples of the successful recovery and identification of archeological protein residues from ceramic artifacts; this is because ceramics contain much lower levels of proteins which are extensively degraded by diagenetic effects. In this paper, we report the results of the characterization of proteins extracted from pottery of the Maltese site of Baħrija, the guide-site for the Baħrija period (half of 9th-second half of eighth century BCE), recently identified as the final part of the Borġ in-Nadur culture. Proteomic data here reported confirm that one of the major issue of these kind of studies is represented by contamination of animal and human agents that may complicate endogenous protein identification and authentication. The samples tested included a small group of ceramic forms, namely three tableware and six coarse ware thought to have been used in food preparation and/or storage. In this context, the limited availability of paleobotanical and archeozoological analyses may be compensated by the outcomes of the first proteomics profiling which, even if obtained on a limited selection of vessels, revealed the centrality of wheat in the diet of the ancient community of Baħrija. The data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange with identifier < PXD022848 > .

A collection of window-panes, vessels and alleged waste from Thamusida has been investigated by OM, SEM–EDS, ICP–MS, ICP–OES and XAS at the Fe–K and Mn–K edges. Glass samples have been characterized as natron-based soda–lime–silica glasses, with low magnesium and low potassium. The results have been compared with 43 reference groups available for ‘naturally coloured’ and colourless glasses of both Roman and later ages. Two main types were distinguished: RBGY 1 (Roman Blue–Green and Yellow 1) and RBGY 2 (Roman Blue–Green and Yellow 2). Given their compositional similarity to the Levantine I or, to a lesser extent, HIMT glasses, the Syrian–Palestinian coast for RBGY 2 and Egypt for the RBGY 1 have been suggested for their provenance. Most Thamusida samples have been assigned to the RBGY 2 type. A small group of Thamusida colourless vessels was included into the RC (Roman-Colourless) compositional field; the latter still being defined. The alleged waste pieces may define a local production that should have been of secondary type. The investigations performed on local raw materials seem to discount the possibility of a primary glass-making site. XAS measurements determined that Fe2+ contents ranging between 30 and 52% are able to assure an aqua blue colour; below 30%, the glasses turn light green or light yellow.

This review offers an update on arsenic-bearing minerals and pigments with the aim of serving as a guide for the study of Cultural Heritage materials in which these materials can be found. The different As-bearing mineral phases (realgar, pararealgar, orpiment, anorpiment, alacranite, dimorphite, bonazziite, uzonite, wakabayashilite, duranusite, arsenolite and claudetite) and some of their light-induced products are examined. The occurrence of As-sulfides and their trade, use, alteration and degradation are also reviewed. Finally, the analytical techniques commonly used for the identification of arsenic-containing pigments are discussed. The manuscript concludes with a good practice guide and a summary of key concepts for use by those working in the field of cultural heritage.
This article is part of the Topical Collection on Mortars, plasters and pigments: Research questions and answers

Obsidian: Obsidian is an aluminosilicate, or rhyolitic, glass, formed by rapid cooling of volcanic magma under the proper geologic conditions. As any other glass, it is not a crystal, and thus it lacks the lattice structure typical of crystals at the atomic level. However, glasses do possess some degree of spatial order. Thus, it is an amorphous natural glass that contains pristine water Η2Ο and sparse crystals of variable sizes of a few microns. The surface is weathered in the atmosphere and the environmental context. Composition: 70–75 % SiO2, 10–15 % Al2O3, 3–5 %Na2O, 2–5 % K2O, 1–5 % FeO3 + FeO (in contrast to iron-bearing glass and silica-enriched leached rinds on obsidian glass recently discovered onMars that are representative of global processes of explosive volcanism potentially implying widespread acidic leaching on Mars due to oxidizing and acidic solutions). Obsidian rocks were used by early peoples for the making of their tools and implements.

This review summarises the state-of-the-art of lead-based pigment studies, addressing their production, trade, use and possible alteration. Other issues, such as those related to the investigation and protection of artworks bearing lead-based pigments are also presented. The focus is mineralogical, as both raw materials and degradation products are mineral phases occurring in nature (except for very few cases). The minerals described are abellaite, anglesite, blixite, caledonite, challacolloite, cerussite, cotunnite, crocoite, galena, grootfonteinite, hydrocerussite, laurionite, leadhillite, litharge, macphersonite, massicot, mimetite, minium, palmierite, phosgenite, plattnerite, plumbonacrite, schulténite, scrutinyite, somersetite, susannite, vanadinite and an unnamed phase (PbMg(CO3)2). The pigments discussed are lead white, red lead, litharge, massicot, lead-tin yellow, lead-tin-antimony yellow, lead-chromate yellow and Naples yellow. An attempt is made to describe the history, t...

A series of well-characterized specimens, known as the Peabody-Yale Reference Obsidians (PYRO) sets, has been designed to aid with calibrating and assessing X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) data, including portable XRF (pXRF) measurements, for obsidian sourcing. Each of these ten matched sets consists of 35 specimens: 20 specimens for calibration and 15 specimens for evaluation. These sets include not only obsidians with common geochemical compositions (i.e., alkaline rhyolites) but also rarer ones (i.e., peralkaline rhyolitic, trachytic, and andesitic specimens, including East African Rift obsidians). When used as described, the PYRO sets are suitable to calibrate and evaluate XRF data for obsidians worldwide. A set can be borrowed following loan policies of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, which will also accession a set. Publishing all source information – from their names and GPS coordinates to the datasets used for the recommended values – not only allows the sets to be replicated by others but also fulfills the demands of scientific transparency. Their main purpose is facilitating collaborations and “big data” projects, and the PYRO sets were designed to complement existing protocols for calibration and evaluation. In short, the sets are intended as a tool for almost anyone (e.g., a student who borrows an instrument to source artifacts) to meet – and even exceed – experts' practices involving transparency, accuracy, and reproducibility.

This paper introduces the concept of quality in the context of archaeological data analysis. Firstly, generic quality factors in data analysis are mentioned and the notion of uncertainty is reviewed. Secondly, the discourse reflects on fundamentals necessary for the building of a theory of uncertainty assessment in archaeological data.In so doing, uncertainty particulars of these data are highlighted and solutions for its assessment are deduced. Said theory will have to cover a wide range of analysis topics, however, so it is suggested to depart from general standards of data quality and quality management in order to develop, subsequently, solutions adapted to recurrent problems in archaeological analysis.