Geoarchaeology

Featured in GEA

New and exciting Geoarchaeology article on the Moon's site formation processes

 In this article, the authors introduce a new subfield they call planetary geoarchaeology to open discussion about how geoarchaeologists can play a role in addressing current and future issues surrounding the preservation and management of space heritage. To demonstrate the potential of the subdiscipline, the paper focuses on the current archaeological record of the Moon, describes lunar site formation processes, and discusses the implications for the current and future preservation of space heritage in the lunar setting.

Featured in GEA

New article exploring the last three thousand years of river channel engineering in the Nile Valley

This study explores the 1000-km stretch of the River Nile, from the 1st Cataract in southern Egypt to the 4th Cataract in Sudan, looking at the many hundreds of drystone walls that are located within active channels, on seasonally inundated floodplains or in now-dry Holocene palaeochannel belts. The authors examine the distribution of these river groynes using remote sensing and drone survey, establish their probable functions and a provisional chronology using ethnoarchaeological investigation and the ground survey, and consider the historical and economic implications of this form of hydraulic engineering in the Nile Valley over the past three millennia.

Featured in GEA

New Open Access article on the Canary Islands indigenous site of Belmaco Cave (La Palma, Spain)

The authors studied the 600–1100-year-old archaeological site of Belmaco Cave presenting a high-resolution, multiproxy geoarchaeological study combining soil micromorphology, lipid biomarker analysis, X-ray diffraction, μ-X-ray diffraction, μ-X-ray fluorescence, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and μ-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, to characterize formation processes and explore plant sources.

Special Issue Proposed: Geoarchaeology at the Micro-Scale: Recent Advances in Microanalytical Techniques

Paper topics include contextualized approaches such as paleoproteomics and/or applications of aDNA, µ-XRF, µ-FTIR, µ-CT and micromorphology across a wide range of environments and locations. Contact guest co-editors Justin A. Holcomb ([email protected]), Michael J. Aiuvalasit ([email protected]), or Devlin Gandy ([email protected]).

Image Source: Archaic (7th Century, Greece) ritual ash midden with plaster floor preparation. J Holcomb and P. Karkanas.

New: Special Issue, Geoarchaeology in China

Read the latest special issue from Geoarchaeology on the recent trends and developments of geoarchaeology in China.

Special Issue

Read the special issue from Geoarchaeology based on papers with a focus on Ancient Water Management.