Grounded in the Past
Feces, fragrance and medicine: Chemical evidence of ancient therapeutics in a Roman unguentarium
Cenker Atila, İlker Demirbolat & Rana Babaç Çelebi
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, April 2026
Abstract:
Fecal-based pharmacological treatments are widely attested in Greco-Roman medical texts, yet no direct chemical evidence has until now supported their practical application. This study presents the first molecular confirmation of such practices through GC–MS/FID analysis of organic residues from a Roman glass unguentarium (artifact no. 4027) excavated in Pergamon, a major center of Roman medicine. The vessel’s contents revealed a distinctive blend of human fecal biomarkers (including coprostanol and 24-ethylcoprostanol) and aromatic compounds such as carvacrol, a major constituent of thyme oil. These results align with classical prescriptions that combined dung with odor-masking agents to enhance patient compliance -- practices noted in the works of Galen, Dioscorides, and Pliny the Elder. By integrating archaeometric analysis with historical and philological research, the study reframes Roman unguentaria as vehicles not only for cosmetics, but also for socially managed therapeutic substances. The findings contribute critical empirical support for the pharmacological use of excrement in antiquity and offer a replicable interdisciplinary model for investigating ancient medicine. In light of contemporary interest in microbiome-based therapies, this evidence also prompts a reconsideration of early traditions once dismissed as marginal or irrational.
The Late Iron Age Mound Raknehaugen in Norway: A Ritual Response to the Sixth-Century Crisis
Lars Gustavsen
European Journal of Archaeology, forthcoming
Abstract:
This article challenges long-held assumptions that Raknehaugen, the largest prehistoric mound in Scandinavia, served as a high-status burial monument. While traditionally seen as reflecting elite power in the Late Iron Age, this interpretation is poorly supported by archaeological evidence, which has consistently failed to reveal any evidence of a burial. Instead, the author argues that the mound’s construction should be understood as a communal, ritual response to a catastrophic landslide that took place in the wake of the AD 536 ‘Dust Veil’ climatic crisis. Drawing on a relational landscape approach, recent LiDAR analysis, and dendrochronological data, the study situates Raknehaugen within a dynamic landscape and suggests that it functioned as a structure intended to restore the cosmological and social order. Reframing the mound as an active agent in a sacred landscape opens new avenues for interpreting Iron Age monumentality beyond elite-centric narratives, emphasizing landscape, materiality, and collective ritual practices.
Shifting tin imports into the broader Eastern Mediterranean region during the Bronze and Early Iron Ages (ca. 2000-900 BC)
Wayne Powell et al.
Journal of Archaeological Science, April 2026
Abstract:
Lacking substantial local tin deposits after 2000 BC, the Eastern Mediterranean depended on the importation of large quantities of tin from extraneous sources. Situated roughly equidistant (ca. 3000 km) between the large tin deposits of Western Europe and Central Asia, both localities have been proposed as potential sources of tin metal used in Eastern Mediterranean bronze production. However, such speculation must be substantiated. Herein, we assert that the application of a central-tendency-based approach to the comparison of tin isotope analyses of artifact assemblages with those of tin ores is an effective approach to differentiating between Central Asian and European tin sources in both pure tin metal and tin alloys. We apply the TIA approach to the reinterpretation of existing tin isotope analyses of tin ingots and introduce a large body of new evidence drawn from tin isotopes analysis of ancient (2000-900 BC) bronze artifacts from the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, Tell Atchana in the Amuq Valley of Turkey, the eastern part of the northern Adriatic/Istria and Kvarner (Croatia), Egypt and Peloponnese, Greece. A general chronological trend from high δSn in artifacts dating to 2000-1600 BC to moderate values in the Early Iron Age (1100-900 BC) indicate a gradual shift from tin dominated by Central Asian imports to tin derived from European deposits. These changes in the movement of tin are mirrored in other traceable commodities such as Baltic amber and glass.
Modern human presence in eastern Asia before 130 ka: Evidence from U-series re-dating of Daoxian site
Jiemei Zhong et al.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, April 2026
Abstract:
The first “Out of Africa” of Homo sapiens was about 200 thousand years ago (ka). However, the migration to East Asia is still under debate. Here, we present new radiometric U-Th dating results of speleothem samples from Fuyan Cave in southern China to constrain the intervening archaeological sediment level associated with the Daoxian H. sapiens. Results show that the hominin-bearing layer is bracketed between 230.2 ± 4.3 and 130.7 ± 1.4 ka. In combination with chronological data from this and other archaeological sites, our findings suggest that the dispersal of modern humans into East Asia should be earlier than 130 ka.
Urban resilience in Ancient Mesopotamia: Insights into the socioeconomic system of the Bronze and Iron Age Khabur Valley
Deborah Priß et al.
Antiquity, forthcoming
Abstract:
The ability of urban centres to grow and persist through crises is often assessed qualitatively in archaeology but quantitative assessment is more elusive. Here, the authors explore urban resilience in ancient Mesopotamia by applying an adaptive cycle framework to the settlement dynamics of the Bronze and Iron Age Khabur Valley (c. 3000–600 BC). Using an integrated dataset of settlements and hollow ways, they identify patterns of growth, conservation, release and reorganisation across six periods, demonstrating the value of coupling archaeological data with resilience theory and network analysis to understand the adaptive capacities of complex archaeological societies.