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Data from the marriage of paleomagnetism and archaeology (archaeomagnetism) are the backbone of attempts to create geomagnetic field models for ancient times. Paleointensity experimental design has been the focus of intensive efforts and the requirements and shortcomings are increasingly well understood. Some archaeological materials have excellent age control from inscriptions, which can be tied to a given decade or even a specific year in some cases. In this study, we analyzed fired mud bricks used for the construction of the Ishtar Gate, the entrance complex to the ancient city of Babylon in Southern Mesopotamia. We were able to extract reliable intensity data from all three phases of the gate, the earliest of which includes bricks inscribed with the name of King Nebuchadnezzar II (605 to 562 BCE). These results (1) add high quality intensity data to a region relatively unexplored so far (Southern Mesopotamia), (2) contribute to a better understanding of paleosecular variation in this region, and the development of an archaeomagnetic dating reference for one of the key regions in the history of human civilizations; (3) demonstrate the potential of inscribed bricks (glazed and unglazed), a common material in ancient Mesopotamia, to archaeomagnetic studies; and (4) suggest that the gate complex was constructed some time after the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem, and that there were no substantial chronological gaps in the construction of each consecutive phase. The best fit of our data (averaging 136±2.1 ZAm 2 ) with those of the reference curve (the Levantine Archaeomagnetic Curve) is 569 BCE.

Iran, despite its size, geographic location and past cultural influence, has largely been a blind spot for human population genetic studies. With only sparse genetic information on the Iranian population available, we pursued its genome-wide and geographic characterization based on 1021 samples from eleven ethnic groups. We show that Iranians, while close to neighboring populations, present distinct genetic variation consistent with long-standing genetic continuity, harbor high heterogeneity and different levels of consanguinity, fall apart into a cluster of similar groups and several admixed ones and have experienced numerous language adoption events in the past. Our findings render Iran an important source for human genetic variation in Western and Central Asia, will guide adequate study sampling and assist the interpretation of putative disease-implicated genetic variation. Given Iran's internal genetic heterogeneity, future studies will have to consider ethnic affiliations and possible admixture.

This article presents arguments to date the Neolithic graveyard at Tell es-Sawwan to the \"Initial Pottery Neolithic\" (ca the middle of the 7th millennium cal. BC). Stratigraphy and burial customs as well as material culture allow to draw comparisons with sites of this period. They additionally indicate a strong cultural continuity with the PPNB period. This new understanding of the graveyard together with its earlier date necessitates furthermore a discussion of the southern extension of the region where the sedentary PPNB hunter-gatherers flourished. Cet article expose les arguments qui tendent à faire remonter le cimetière néolithique de Tell es-Sawwan au PN initial (ca milieu du 7e millénaire cal. BC). La stratigraphie et les pratiques funéraires, tout comme la culture matérielle permettent de dresser des comparaisons avec des sites contemporains. Ils révèlent en outre une continuité culturelle avec la période du PPNB. La nouvelle compréhension de ce cimetière et de son ancienneté conduisent par ailleurs à discuter de l'expansion méridionale des chasseurs-cueilleurs sédentaires du PPNB occupant alors la région.

Recent survey and excavation conducted in the Mil Plain region of the southern part of the Republic of Azerbaijan challenges traditional notions of Neolithic sedentism. Here, the authors present their findings, and propose that prior to its abandonment towards the end of the sixth millennium BC, the occupation of the region was comprised of numerous highly variable short-term sites and multi-mounded sites (Qarabel Tepe), as well as anchoring sites (Kamiltepe). This indicates multi-scalar patterns of mobility of a much more complex nature than had previously been supposed, making this region quite unique for the Late Neolithic of South-western Asia.

This study presents a new approach for detection and mapping of ancient slag heaps using 16-band multispectral satellite imagery. Understanding the distribution of slag (a byproduct of metal production) is of great importance for understanding how metallurgy shaped long-term economic and political change across the ancient Near East. This study presents results of slag mapping in Oman using WorldView-3 (WV3) satellite imagery. A semi-automated target detection routine using a mixed tuned matched filtering (MTMF) algorithm with scene-derived spectral signatures was applied to 16-band WV3 imagery. Associated field mapping at two copper production sites indicates that WorldView-3 satellite data can differentiate slag and background materials with a relatively high (>90%) overall accuracy. Although this method shows promise for future initiatives to discover and map slag deposits, difficulties in dark object spectral differentiation and underestimation of total slag coverage substantially limit its use. Resulting lower estimations of combined user’s (61%) and producer’s (45%) accuracies contextualize these limitations for slag specific classification. Accordingly, we describe potential approaches to address these challenges in future studies. As sites of ancient metallurgy in Oman are often located in areas of modern exploration and mining, detection and mapping of ancient slag heaps via satellite imagery can be helpful for discovery and monitoring of vulnerable cultural heritage sites.

New thoughts about the use of archaeological stratigraphies! Is this so? The discussion article by Patricia A. McAnany and Ian Hodder aims at the construction of a theoretical framework to expound and discuss the problems of archaeological stratigraphy. Such a theoretical framework is urgently needed, they feel, and has been largely neglected until now. Reading and interpreting an archaeological stratigraphic record, if carried out according to the guidelines they try to establish, may reveal much more information about past social processes that led to the formation of the specific stratigraphy. In the authors' own words, ‘thinking about stratigraphic sequence in social terms is more than an academic exercise’ (quoted from abstract). As the record left behind by ancient communities, archaeological stratigraphies, in their view, take a middle place on a scale from micro-records endowed with meaning (artefacts) to macro-records of contextual meaning preserved in archaeological landscapes. The in-between, the immediate residues of meaningful past human behaviour encapsulated in archaeological sites, remain, in their view, undertheorized.

This article presents arguments to date the Neolithic graveyard at Tell es-Sawwan to the “ Initial Pottery Neolithic” (ca the middle of the 7th millennium cal. BC). Stratigraphy and burial customs as well as material culture allow to draw comparisons with sites of this period. They additionally indicate a strong cultural continuity with the PPNB period. This new understanding of the graveyard together with its earlier date necessitates furthermore a discussion of the southern extension of the region where the sedentary PPNB hunter-gatherers flourished. Cet article expose les arguments qui tendent à faire remonter le cimetière néolithique de Tell es-Sawwan au PN initial (ca milieu du 7e millénaire cal. BC). La stratigraphie et les pratiques funéraires, tout comme la culture matérielle permettent de dresser des comparaisons avec des sites contemporains. Ils révèlent en outre une continuité culturelle avec la période du PPNB. La nouvelle compréhension de ce cimetière et de son ancienneté conduisent par ailleurs à discuter de l’expansion méridionale des chasseurscueilleurs sédentaires du PPNB occupant alors la région.