Archaeological cultures

archaeologists recognize archaeological cultures in the past and tend to equate them with distinct societies. In fact, we often cannot identify specific societies in the past because of the fragmentary nature of the archaeological record that survives and the problems of defining the time and space boundaries of such 

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At this point in our discussion, then, we recognize the existence of archaeological cultures. Now it is necessary to define these cultures in terms of their place in time and geographic location. This aspect of archaeology is known as culture history, detennining the chronology and distribution of past cultural groups. 

The preceding paragraphs describe a frame of enquiry for examining past human societies, a model of how archaeological cultures operate, and a perspective on some of the differences and changes that are present in the archaeological record. This frame reveals some of the information we would like to know about the past and some of the questions we can ask. For the most part, the questions raised in this chapter are the big questions about the nature of past human societies, about different kinds of economies that operated in the past, about different levels of social and political organization, and the role of the environment in human life. 

Archaeological culture A group of related materials from a region that indicate a common or shared way of doing things. 

Some of these archaeological cultures, such as Lusatian or Przeworsk, are characteristic only for the selected area of Central Europe, among others the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany. 

Fig. 2. Chronology and archaeological cultures of the Wielkopolska region discussed in the paper other cultures - cultures occurring in the analysed region, from which there were not any samples available).

Early scientific studies were ptedominandy aimed at objects often referred to as belonging to the fine arts. Subsequendy, equal importance and effort has been attached to studies of objects of cultural and historical interest, such as archaeological and ethnographic materials, or manuscripts, documents, photographs, and books in archives andUbraries. This article is meant to be inclusive of all such objects as well as of fine arts objects. The term art object when used is an inclusive, generic connotation rather than an exclusive one. 

Clutton-Brock, J. and Hammond, N. 1994 Hot dogs comestible canids in Preclassic Maya culture at Cuello, Belize. Journal of Archaeological Science 21 819-826. 

The discussion above lacks basic data the purpose of our inventory is mainly to raise issues that need to be addressed in the future, and to try to develop a framework that relates these issues to each other, than to supply this lacking data. Because of that, the question of whether aspects of isotopic variation discussed above can be unequivocally identified in the archaeological record in Europe cannot yet be answered. We can, however, state that some form of patterning (as opposed to random variation) can often be observed. In many cases we observe patterns without knowing the precise causes, conceivably because they are the result of more than one factor e g., a climatic and a cultural effect. 

Rock Paintings in the Field. The manufacturing and composition of paints from prehistoric periods are of great archaeological interest because it is possible to deduce aspects of the ancient cultures based on their abilities to produce works of arts. Many pigments used in ancient paintings are iron-based compounds. In most... 

Hunter, P. (2007), Dig this - biomolecular archaeology provides new insights into past civilizations, cultures, and practices, EMBO Reports 8, 215-217. 

Pernicka, E. (2000), Isotope archaeology, in Rammlmair, D. (ed.), Applied Mineralogy in Research, Economy, Technology, Ecology and Culture, Proc. 6th Int. Congress on Applied Mineralogy, Goettingen, Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 1025-1028. 

Wiedemann, H. G. (1995), Paper investigations in Maya and Aztec cultures, in Vandiver, P. B., J. R. Druzik, J. L. Galvan Madrid, I. C. Freestone, and G. S. Wheeler (eds.), Material Issues in Art and Archaeology, paper 4, Symp. Proc. Materials Research Society, Pittsburg, Vol. 352, pp. 711-722. 

Men have always used the natural materials around us to produce functional objects and works of art. Paintings and other objects that are part of our cultural heritage, including textiles, books, sculptures, archaeological objects, furniture and the organic residues found in association with them (e.g. cosmetics, medicines, perfumes, food), contain a wide variety of organic materials from natural to synthetic. 

In the present chapter, we first provide some general information concerning the chemistry of waxes and lipids currently encountered in various items from our cultural heritage and we detail the main protocols based on direct mass spectrometry that have been developed so far. We then discuss the mass spectra obtained by EI-MS on a range of reference substances and materials sampled from museum and archaeological artefacts. We then focus on the recent possibilities supplied by electrospray ionisation for the elucidation of the structure of biomarkers of beeswax and animal fats. 

E. Darque Ceretti and M. Aucouturier, Secondary ion mass spectrometry. Application to archaeology and art objects, in Non destructive Analysis of Cultural Heritage Materials, K. Janssens and R. Van Grieken (eds), Comprehensive Analytical Chemistry XLII, Elsevier BV, Amsterdam, 2004, pp. 397 461. 

The development of scientific procedures that are able to use very minute samples (a few micrograms), together with the increased availability of advanced analytical instrumentation, have led to great interest in the chemical study of materials used in cultural heritage. This has given rise to a sharp increase in research studies at the interface between art, archaeology, chemistry and the material sciences. As a result, successful multidisciplinary collaborations have flourished among researchers in museums, conservation institutions, universities and scientific laboratories. 

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