Can Bel (Pineda de Mar, el Maresme)

Descripció de la necròpolis rural de Can Bel, a Pineda de Mar, el Maresme

Pla de difusió del Patrimoni Cultural de Pineda de Mar. Tot el que hi ha i no veus

Les idees que han portat a realitzar aquest projecte són les següents: posar en valor i donar a conèixer la realitat patrimonial que té Pineda de Mar, conèixer i documentar el patrimoni cultural de Pineda, actualitzar l’inventari d’elements declarats al municipi, oferir a la ciutat la possibilitat de tenir un turisme cultural, no només un turisme de sol i platja, ser un projecte útil i factible per a l’ajuntament del municipi. Aquestes idees o raons han estat el rerefons per a encaminar i decidir el projecte final de difusió que es presenta en aquest treball.

Dating sediments in coastal areas and potential applications for constraining the palaeo-environmental context of an archaeological site at Vohemar

We present an overview on different environmental zones within coastal areas and summarise the physical basis behind the three most important methods that are available to date Holocene coastal sediments. Besides radiocarbon and uranium series dating, Optically Stimulated Luminescence (Osl) has increasingly been applied for dating in coastal settings over the past decade. This is illustrated by a number of case studies showing that Osl can be applied to sediments from almost any kind of coastal environment, covering a potential dating range from some years up to several hundred thousand years. Osl dating may hence be the method of choice for deciphering natural environmental change along coasts as well as the presence and the impact of human occupation in such areas. In addition, we briefly show how and where these dating methods could be applied to constrain the palaeo-environmental context of an archaeological site at Vohemar in north-eastern Madagascar.

Anisotropy-magnetic susceptibility from the Krems Wachtberg archaeological Site (Austria) and high temperature susceptibility

The loess sediment embedding the main Gravettian layer at the Krems-Wachtberg archaeological site facilitates exceptional preservation. To gain insight in the sedimentation process before and after the Paleolithic settlement, the magnetic fabric (preferential orientation of magnetic particles) of loess of the Krems-Wachtberg site is investigated. Magnetic fabric properties clearly show an eolian origin of the loess, but may indicate some relocation in the meter above the cultural layer. The magnetic fabric properties can be divided into three intervals, the top interval shows lowest foliation and inconsistent magnetic fabric directions. The middle interval around the main cultural layer shows low foliation, but a clear preferential NW - SE direction of the lineation. This lineation is interpreted as preferential direction of the eolian loess accumulation from the South-East. The interval below ca. 0.5 m underneath the main find horizon shows a northeast-southwest lineation, but an imbrication suggesting that sediment accumulation occurred perpendicular to this direction, similar to the interval around the find horizon.

2-D and 3-D processing and interpretation of multi-fold ground penetrating radar data:a case history from an archaeological site

A 2.5-D and 3-D multi-fold GPR survey was carried out in the Archaeological Park of Aquileia (northern Italy). The primary objective of the study was the identification of targets of potential archaeological interest in an area designated by local archaeological authorities. The second geophysical objective was to test 2-D and 3-D multi-fold methods and to study localised targets of unknown shape and dimensions in hostile soil conditions. Several portions of the acquisition grid were processed in common offset (CO), common shot (CSG) and common mid point (CMP) geometry. An 8×8 m area was studied with orthogonal CMPs thus achieving a 3-D subsurface coverage with azimuthal range limited to two normal components. Coherent noise components were identified in the pre-stack domain and removed by means of FK filtering of CMP records. Stack velocities were obtained from conventional velocity analysis and azimuthal velocity analysis of 3-D pre-stack gathers. Two major discontinuities were identified in the area of study. The deeper one most probably coincides with the paleosol at the base of the layer associated with activities of man in the area in the last 2500 years. This interpretation is in agreement with the results obtained from nearby cores and excavations. The shallow discontinuity is observed in a part of the investigated area and it shows local interruptions with a linear distribution on the grid. Such interruptions may correspond to buried targets of archaeological interest. The prominent enhancement of the subsurface images obtained by means of multi-fold techniques, compared with the relatively poor quality of the conventional single-fold georadar sections, indicates that multi-fold methods are well suited for the application to high resolution studies in archaeology.

Environmental indifference? A critique of environmentally deterministic theories of peatland archaeological site construction in Ireland

Climate change, whether gradual or sudden, has frequently been invoked as a causal factor to explain many aspects of cultural change during the prehistoric and early historic periods. Critiquing such theories has often proven difficult, not least because of the imprecise dating of many aspects of the palaeoclimate or archaeological records and the difficulties of merging the two strands of research. Here we consider one example of the archaeological record – peatland site construction in Ireland – which has previously been interpreted in terms of social response to climate change and examine whether close scrutiny of the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental records uphold the climatically deterministic hypotheses. We evaluate evidence for phasing in the temporal distribution of trackways and related sites in Irish peatlands, of which more than 3,500 examples have been recorded, through the examination of ~350 dendrochronological and 14C dates from these structures. The role of climate change in influencing when such sites were constructed is assessed by comparing visually and statistically the frequency of sites over the last 4,500 years with well-dated, multi-proxy climate reconstructions from Irish peatlands. We demonstrate that national patterns of “peatland activity” exist that indicate that the construction of sites in bogs was neither a constant nor random phenomenon. Phases of activity (i.e. periods in which the number of structures increased), as well as the ‘lulls’ that separate them, show no consistent correlation with periods of wetter or drier conditions on the bogs, suggesting that the impetus for the start or cessation of such activity was not climatically-determined. We propose that trigger(s) for peatland site construction in Ireland must instead also be sought within the wider, contemporary social background. Perhaps not surprisingly, a comparison with archaeological and palynological evidence shows that peatland activity tends to occur at times of more expansive settlement and land-use, suggesting that the bogs were used when the landscape was being more widely occupied. Interestingly, the lulls in peatland site construction coincide with transitional points between nominal archaeological phases, typically defined on the basis of their material culture, implying that there may indeed have been a cultural discontinuity at these times. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Las cuevas prehistóricas de Serinyà (Pla de l’Estany, Girona)

The Reclau Caves, which form part of the Serinyà Prehistoric Caves Park (Pla de l’Estany, Girona), are shelters formed by waterfall travertines which have been in turn affected by karstification phenomena. Though relatively small, these cavities were big enough to held human occupation. Its evolution has seen the falling of blocks and infilling of terrigenous materials. Thus, the caves were completely filled and had most of their original roofs fallen. The first excavations of these caves were made in the mid 1940s and they continued, albeit with some interruptions, until present times. The caves were occupied by humans since the late Middle Pleistocene until the Holocene. Hence, the main occupation periods can be attributed to the Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic cultures. Given the existence of these sites, the project of an archeological park was started and its first phase opened to the public in the summer of 1997. The creation of this park has led to the protection of the three main caves of the site (Arbreda, Mollet and Reclau Viver Caves). The caves have also been adapted and singposted to open them to the public. Other facilities of the park include a reception building and an activity area. The caves can be visited in guided tours which include the projection of a film, the visit to the permanent exhibition room, the three main caves and the participation in some prehistoric-related activities

A Lateglacial archaeological site in the far north-west of Europe at Rubha Port an t-Seilich, Isle of Islay, western Scotland: Ahrensburgian-style artefacts, absolute dating and geoarchaeology

The exact pattern, process and timing of the human re-colonization of northern Europe after the end of the last Ice Age remain controversial. Recent research has provided increasingly early dates for at least pioneer explorations of latitudes above 54°N in many regions, yet the far north-west of the European landmass, Scotland, has remained an unexplained exception to this pattern. Although the recently described Hamburgian artefacts from Howburn and an assemblage belonging to the arch-backed point complex from Kilmelfort Cave have established at least a sporadic human presence during earlier stages of the Lateglacial Interstadial, we currently lack evidence for Younger Dryas/Greenland Stadial 1 (GS-1) activity other than rare stray finds that have been claimed to be of Ahrensburgian affiliation but are difficult to interpret in isolation. We here report the discovery of chipped stone artefacts with technological and typological characteristics similar to those of the continental Ahrensburgian at a locality in western Scotland. A preliminary analysis of associated tephra, pollen and phytoliths, along with microstratigraphic analysis, suggest the artefacts represent one or more episodes of human activity that fall within the second half of GS-1 and the Preboreal period