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VI/1/2015
InterdIscIplInarIa archaeologIca
natural scIences In archaeology
homepage: http://www.iansa.eu
Editorial IANSA 2/2016
The IANSA Journal’s Thematic Variety – a Mirror of the Current Movements
in Archaeology
Jaromír Beneš, Ondřej Mlejnek
The scope of current archaeological research is extremely
wide. Starting with the theory, one can read papers that are
philosophically conceptualized and constructed – and continue
all the way through – to fnally end with a methodology that
uses the pure empirical logic of the natural sciences. These
latter kinds of papers are strongly supported by the IANSA
journal; however, we do not exclude the former mode of
thinking using “softer” forms of argumentation. Simply
stated, our approach fully encompasses interdisciplinarity,
which demands the synergy of minimally one, but usually
two or more, other disciplines.
Current movements in archaeology are radical – with
obvious and huge inclinations towards multidisciplinarity,
demanding the existence of large teams of researchers. These
teams are already quite common and they all need space for
the publication of their results. Twenty years ago, single-
author papers were the norm and multi-author papers were
the exception; today the picture is quite the opposite. Because
of the strong connection of archaeological research with the
natural sciences – and their associated publication standards
– the multidisciplinary approach has expanded to both local
as well as international journals. This general trend refects
the global changes in science generally – everything is faster;
publications are accessible by a single click, the number of
electronic journals is increasing and scientifc research has
become more open to the wider public. This new mode for
the publication of scientifc results is fully supported by our
journal. In the globalised world there is no way back.
This issue of our journal refects several recent trends
in the archaeological sciences. After the last IANSA issue
was devoted to the burial place of Prague-Zličín and to
the Migration Period, we would like to again present a
more general issue which contains papers from diferent
European regions focusing on many varied aspects of life
in past societies. In this issue, for example, it is possible to
fnd a huge variety of papers. The geographical scope of
the articles is not just limited to Central Europe. Although,
thematically, it is knowledge from this region which
dominates, we are also publishing studies focusing on other
parts of the world, here represented, for example, by Africa,
Italy and Russia. The thematic range of this journal also
remains a broad one. In this issue we present articles from
the felds of geoarchaeology, archaeological anthropology,
archaeobotany, technology and archaeological theory.
But let’s have a closer look at the contents of this issue:
The physical anthropologist Anna Pankowská and her
team present a study describing the process of incorporation
of strontium, barium and calcium isotopes into human hard
tissues. They analyzed human hard tissues from the Early
Bronze Age archaeological site at Chrášťany in Moravia.
Signifcant variances in the isotope ratios were identifed by
tissue type and this paper discusses the manner in which the
type of hard tissue infuences these isotope ratios.
Alexandra Golyeva from the Russian Academy of Sciences
and her team describe their results of geochemical and
morphological analyses of sediments at the Late Bronze Age
site of Muradymovo in the Urals. Residual soil contamination
by gypsum has been detected in these sediments even though
the abandonment of the site was 3,500 years ago. This is due
to the fact that the Bronze Age people in this region had a
tradition of building their houses out of gypsum rock.
An Italian team led by Loredana Carratoni from the
University La Sapienza in Rome presents the results of
mineralogic, petrographic and chemical analyses of Greco-
Italic amphorae excavated from a cargo wrecked close to
Punta Romana in Sardinia around 200 BC. The analyses
confrm the origin of the amphorae from the Campania
region, namely from the Lacco Ameno furnaces on the island
of Ischia as well as from the furnaces operating in the Capua
district.
Michal Hejcman from the Czech University of Life
Sciences and his team present a paper giving a new method
for the better comparison of amounts of particular cereal
species found at archaeological sites. The aim of their study
Volume VII ● Issue 2/2016 ● Pages 153–154
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IANSA 2016 ● VII/2 ● 153–154
Jaromír Beneš, Ondřej Mlejnek: The IANSA Journal’s Thematic Variety – a Mirror of the Current Movements in Archaeology
154
was to compare the kernel weights of cereal species planted
in Europe since the Neolithic and to propose recalculation
coefcients for their relevant comparison. After recalculation,
archaeobotanists and even archaeologists can estimate the
real value of specifc crops in diferent prehistoric periods.
The anthropologist Michal Živný along with the
archaeologist Zbyněk Moravec present the results of their
anthropological analysis of a unique grave from the frst half
of the 19
th
Century excavated at a cemetery in Puchmajerova
Street in Ostrava (Czech Republic). A skeleton buried in this
grave shows interesting traces of dissection intervention.
Based on the archaeological fndings, anthropological
assessment and written sources, it was possible to identify this
skeleton as the remains of Mariana Máchová (1817–1837)
who died by committing suicide.
Monika Baumanová from the University of Basel presents
a thematic review dealing with archaeological theory. Her
review presents a perspective on how archaeologists may
proceed when applying analytical methods both to seek
patterns in the past as well as interpret past constructed
space. She proposes that space may be seen as a human-
made material culture, which plays an active role in social
processes. As a case study the author describes the advantages
and shortcomings of several archaeological studies
concerned with the spatial structure of the Swahili house.
She concludes that we need to actively engage approaches
that reveal quantifable patterns in the built environment, as
well as consult more relativistic issues of perception, sensory
experience and social production and consumption of space.
Our review editor Anna Pankowská has prepared a review
of a book of proceedings called “Transformation by Fire. The
Archaeology of Cremation in Cultural Context” that describes
diferent possible attitudes to the phenomenon of cremation in
past societies. Finally, the Backstory section contains another
article in the Look into Region series. This time Jaroslav
Peška and Lukáš Šín present the activities of the rescue
archaeological institution known as the Archeological Centre
in Olomouc, which is also the main publisher of this journal.
The content of this issue confrms the above-mentioned
statement about the thematic diversity of the papers
published in the IANSA Journal. We hope you will fnd here
much which is new and important for your work.