Journal of Archaeological Science 36 (3)

The spread of early farming in Europe is revisited using a sample of 3072 audited 14C calBC dates from 940 georeferenced Early Neolithic sites. The expansion has been reconstituted using the kriging [geostatistical] technique of spatial interpolation. Centres of renewed expansion, of contact zones, and the main routes of expansion have been highlighted by means of a vector map, representing the gradient. Using this map ten points of renewed expansion and nine contact zones were detected.

Digital Imaging Analysis has been proposed as an efficient alternative to traditional petrography for some applications. This is tested using data from the Pevey Site, Mississippi.

A new method of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) is applied to the analysis of burned bones. FTIR analyses were undertaken to examine changes in Crystallinity Index (CI), Ca/P and C/C ratios in bone experimentally burned to known, but varying, temperatures and durations. Three sample groups were used to assess the new FTIR method. Blind tests were performed to assess the use of the CI for predicting burning conditions. The results suggested that the new method of FTIR was preferable to the traditional approach, but that CI is affected by factors other than temperature of burning, including the method of FTIR used, and that predictions of burning conditions in archaeological material may not extend beyond that of 'high' or 'low' intensity of burning.