Internet Archaeology 42

This article discusses the role of hair in Viking sagas and in the archaeological record.

This article interprets renaissance writings and their descriptions of hair and water.

This collection of short articles represents an original attempt to bring together scholarship that is usually divided along lines of specialism in time, place, method, or discipline. The shared focus of its contributions is on hair: more than an infrequently preserved element of human remains, but a widespread (and arguably cross-cultural) symbol of power, of fertility, of identity and the self. Moreover, its care and treatment using various forms of material culture, and its artistic representation in diverse media, offer a unique opportunity to examine the interface between the body and material culture. Where exceptional taphonomic conditions facilitate the preservation of hair and associated organic material, the result is some of the richest assemblages of human remains and associated material culture in the archaeological record. In contrast, 'everyday' objects associated with haircare are among the most taphonomically robust, frequently encountered and recognisable personal items known to archaeologists, and provide us with insight into the making of personal and bodily identities, even in the absence of human remains themselves. When studied in an interdisciplinary framework, the interpretative potential of this material is clear, but such work has been rare. This collection aims to set a new agenda for cross-disciplinary research focused on the nexus of human and artefactual remains, by highlighting the rich and diverse potential of this material when studied through archaeological, biochemical, artistic, historical, sociological and anthropological lenses.

This article discusses analysis of the wig and comb of Meryt using GC/MS analysis

This review evaluates the potential of Google Earth Engine (GEE) for use in archaeological remote sensing

Archaeology and photography has a long, co-constructed history that has increasingly come under scrutiny as archaeologists negotiate the visual turn. Yet these investigations do not make use of existing qualitative and quantitative strategies developed by visual studies to understand representation in archaeological photographs. This article queries the large photographic archive created by ongoing work at the archaeological site of Çatalhöyük in Turkey to consider the visual impact of changing photographic technologies and of a shifting theoretical focus in archaeology. While using content analysis and semiotic analysis to gain a better understanding of the visual record, these analyses also unexpectedly reveal power dynamics and other social factors present during archaeological investigation. Consequently, becoming conversant in visual analyses can contribute to developing more reflexive modes of representation in archaeology.

Roman Vindolanda lies on the Stanegate Road to the south of Hadrian's Wall, on the northern frontier of the Romano-British province. It has complex stratigraphy with at least ten layers of occupation dating from around AD 85 to its abandonment in the 5th century, but it is the first five levels from AD 85 to AD 130-139 that have produced some of the most significant organic objects from the Empire, including the Vindolanda writing tablets (Birley 2009). One of the distinctive aspects of the Vindolanda collection is the large number of wooden hair combs found in these levels.Over 160 boxwood hair combs have been unearthed from the site. Resembling modern nit combs, these small objects had the primary function of cleaning and detangling hair, but further examination of the collection allows for the exploration of different aspects of style and function.

This article discusses the role of hair and identities within the middle ages.

This article discusses the use of incremental analysis of carbon and nitrogen isotopes of hair from the 19th century in dietary reconstruction.

An exponential growth in research outputs, the great diversity of sources used, and the number of active researchers in archaeology make it impossible for any individual to present an overview of the discipline using reading and narrative alone. It is suggested that archaeologists might instead take a lead from scientometric studies and develop visualisations of their discipline as a research domain using data extracted from the citation indices. Three visualisations of the intellectual base of archaeology are presented, in the form of network maps of sources used, authors and terms. These maps, with their clustering of nodes, reveal the extreme multidisciplinary nature of archaeological research, patterns of overlapping and divergent communication networks among archaeological researchers, and the language and conceptual knowledge of archaeology. They also show marked variation in the gendered structure of academic reputations as created through citation practices across a series of specialisms of archaeology. Finally, these maps also suggest that archaeology as a discipline might be characterised by a process of fractal division into subgroups of practitioners following distinct but repeated forms of engagement in their archaeological enquiry.

A modern burial experiment was devised to test microscopic residue survival in acidic peat and slightly acidic clay soils at the Early Mesolithic site of Star Carr (North Yorkshire, UK), and at nearby control location. The experiment addresses concerns regarding the applicability of residue analysis in varied burial environments, and particularly in highly acidic archaeological conditions. Flint flakes (n= 78, including blank controls) were used on twelve plant, animal, and mineral materials to create residues and then buried. The residues were examined 1 month and 11 months after burial. An unburied reference collection containing the same twelve residue types in a fresh state was compared to the buried residues to assess diagenesis. The residue types that survived across all burial conditions and time intervals were: softwood tissue, tree resin, bird feathers, squirrel hair, and red ochre.During microscopic analysis, it became clear that many residues lack diagnostic traits, and thus an assessment of the extent to which each residue can be identified was conducted. The degree to which residues were able to be identified was further investigated with a variable pressure scanning electron microscope (SEM). SEM images of the reference residues were compared to the reflected VLM micrographs of the same residues, which improved characterisation in some cases. Residues were grouped into three categories (diagnostic, distinctive, and non-distinctive) within a visual characterisation guide. Our in situ microscopic analyses indicated that few residue types have diagnostic traits that allow them to be identified unambiguously, and thus further characterisation techniques are often required.

Using 3D laser scanning, two badly damaged and heavily restored Roman portraits from English country house collections are here identified as originally being representations of the Emperor Nero. The first portrait, from Petworth House, is of Nero at the time of his formal adoption as heir by the Emperor Claudius in AD51, while the second, from Wilton House, represents a new intermediate portrait type of the fifth emperor, marking his transition from traditional Julio-Claudian prince to more flamboyant princeps, made between AD54 and 59. Given that few replicas of Nero exist in anything like their complete state, following the memory sanctions that followed his death in AD68, any 'new' discovery represents a significant find, to be analysed and cross-compared with established portraits. This article further assesses the importance of recording head dislocation and mutilation in images of Nero while the dangers of over restoration in classical portraiture, in which original identity can be obscured, are also considered.