Roderick B . Salisbury
I am an anthropological archaeologist with primary research interests in human-environmental interactions and spatial/social organization. My regional expertise is Central European prehistory, but I maintain active research interests in Northeastern North America. I received my PhD at the University of Buffalo in 2010. My current research focuses on the use of geoarchaeological methods, including soil phosphate analysis, multi-element geochemistry, and archaeo-geochemical prospection, in combination with the principles of behavioral archaeology and historical ecology, to reconstruct past human behaviors, using soil as an analyzable artifact. This approach allows me to reconstruct the spatial organization and formation processes of prehistoric dwellings, activity zones, settlements, and communal and ritual areas, as well as environmental reconstructions of prehistoric landscapes and soilscapes.
My theoretical interests are in soil as material culture, human-environmental interactions, the links between social and spatial organization, and the relationship between environmental change and cultural resilience or transformation. How did people mitigate environmental change in the past? How do human activities alter their ecosystems, how long do these changes persist, and how do these changes then impact human societies? What can we learn from the past about contemporary ecosystem management and soil conservation? I also tie these concepts to questions of spatial and socio-economic organization. How did the organization of household or community space relate to local environmental conditions? How did they relate to social structure? Were cultural or economic transformations associated with attempts to mitigate environmental change? Through all of this, I treat soil as a form of material culture that influenced past societies and holds valuable information about past human activities and landuse.
My research projects are interdisciplinary, including geoarchaeology, geophysics and remote sensing, palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, and archaeological survey and excavation.
Current Research Projects:
Neolithic Archaeology and Soilscapes Körös Area (NASKA): The current focus of field research is on the relationship between spatial organisation, environmental change and social change during the transition from the Middle to Late Neolithic (ca. 5500-5000 BC) in the Körös Region of eastern Hungary, funded by the British Academy and the Hungarian National Cultural Fund. Results of this work have been published in the Central European Journal of Geoscience and Archaeological Prospection.
Value of Mothers to Society (VAMOS):
I am a post-doctoral researcher on the VAMOS project at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. In this project, I am responsible for GIS spatial analysis, developing contextual data for cemeteries and burials, and maintaining the projects spatial database.
Prospecting Boundaries:
Prospecting Boundaries is a landscape archaeological research project being conducted in the Mazara river valley of southwest Sicily. The aim of the project is to explore the dynamics of land use and occupation between the interior and coastal area of western Sicily.
I also continue collaborating with the Körös Regional Archaeological Project (KRAP), using soil chemistry and soil analyses to reconstruct cultural soilscapes and other activity areas in Neolithic and Copper Age settlements.
Address: Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology
University of Vienna
Franz-Klein-Gasse 1
A-1190 Vienna, Austria
My theoretical interests are in soil as material culture, human-environmental interactions, the links between social and spatial organization, and the relationship between environmental change and cultural resilience or transformation. How did people mitigate environmental change in the past? How do human activities alter their ecosystems, how long do these changes persist, and how do these changes then impact human societies? What can we learn from the past about contemporary ecosystem management and soil conservation? I also tie these concepts to questions of spatial and socio-economic organization. How did the organization of household or community space relate to local environmental conditions? How did they relate to social structure? Were cultural or economic transformations associated with attempts to mitigate environmental change? Through all of this, I treat soil as a form of material culture that influenced past societies and holds valuable information about past human activities and landuse.
My research projects are interdisciplinary, including geoarchaeology, geophysics and remote sensing, palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, and archaeological survey and excavation.
Current Research Projects:
Neolithic Archaeology and Soilscapes Körös Area (NASKA): The current focus of field research is on the relationship between spatial organisation, environmental change and social change during the transition from the Middle to Late Neolithic (ca. 5500-5000 BC) in the Körös Region of eastern Hungary, funded by the British Academy and the Hungarian National Cultural Fund. Results of this work have been published in the Central European Journal of Geoscience and Archaeological Prospection.
Value of Mothers to Society (VAMOS):
I am a post-doctoral researcher on the VAMOS project at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. In this project, I am responsible for GIS spatial analysis, developing contextual data for cemeteries and burials, and maintaining the projects spatial database.
Prospecting Boundaries:
Prospecting Boundaries is a landscape archaeological research project being conducted in the Mazara river valley of southwest Sicily. The aim of the project is to explore the dynamics of land use and occupation between the interior and coastal area of western Sicily.
I also continue collaborating with the Körös Regional Archaeological Project (KRAP), using soil chemistry and soil analyses to reconstruct cultural soilscapes and other activity areas in Neolithic and Copper Age settlements.
Address: Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology
University of Vienna
Franz-Klein-Gasse 1
A-1190 Vienna, Austria
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Books, Edited Books, and Edited Journal Sections by Roderick B . Salisbury
The two-volume proceedings contain numerous contributions presented during the 10th ICAANE, giving an overview of current research, excavations and activities in Near Eastern archaeology. The first volume includes the "Statement about the Threat to Cultural Heritage in the Near East and North Africa", signed in the course of the 10th ICAANE, as well as papers of the sections Transformation & Migration, Archaeology of Religion & Ritual, Images in Context and Islamic Archaeology. The second volume is dedicated to the main topics Prehistoric and Historical Landscapes & Settlement Patterns and Economy & Society, and is completed with Excavation Reports & Summaries.
Published by Archaeolingua, Budapest
Prehistoric Research in the Körös Region, Vol. 3
ISBN 978-963-9911-79-6
The authors in this volume focus on understanding individual trajectories and the historically contingent relationships between the social, the economic, the political and the sacred as reflected regionally. Among topics considered are the social construction of landscape; use of spatial patterning to interpret social variability; paleoenvironmental reconstruction and human impacts; and social memory and social practice. This book opens a discourse around the spatial patterning of the contingent, recursive relationships between people, their social activities and the environment.
Journal Articles and Book Chapters by Roderick B . Salisbury
extracting information from archaeological soils and sediments for
decades, but recent technological developments, such as the analysis
of lipid biomarkers, proteins, and ancient DNA from soil and the diversification of approaches necessitate a re-examination of standard
field practice and a renewed emphasis on soil and sediments as archaeological materials. This review paper brings together a range of
specialists to introduce cutting-edge approaches to analysing soils and
sediments. From the large to the small scale, pioneering methods can
complement established soil analytical methods to address issues of
soil formation and erosion processes, heritage preservation, mobility,
domestication, land use, human-environmental interactions, cultural
and biological complexity, and ecosystem legacies. Soil analyses are
poised to enable archaeologists to ask new questions and generate innovative hypotheses in an interdisciplinary research framework.
(nanoLC-MS/MS) represents a quantum leap for the study of childhood and social relations more generally. Determining sex-related differences in prehistoric child rearing and mortality has been hampered by the insufficient accuracy in determining the biological sex of juveniles. We conducted mass spectrometric analysis to identify sex-specific peptides in the dental enamel of a child from a settlement pit of the Early Bronze Age settlement of Schleinbach, Austria (c. 1950–1850 BC). Four perimortal impression fractures on the skull of a 5–6-year-old child indicate an intentional killing, with a co-buried loom weight as possible
murder weapon. Proteomic analysis, conducted for the first time on prehistoric teeth in Austria, determined the child’s sex as male. While we cannot conclusively determine whether the child was the victim of conflicts between village groups or was slain by members of his own community, we suggest that contextual evidence points to the latter. A possible trigger of violence was the follow-on effects of an uncontrolled middle ear infection revealed by an osteological analysis. The boy from Schleinbach highlights the potential for further investigation of gender-biased violence, infanticide and child murder based on the recently
developed method of proteomic sex identification.
The two-volume proceedings contain numerous contributions presented during the 10th ICAANE, giving an overview of current research, excavations and activities in Near Eastern archaeology. The first volume includes the "Statement about the Threat to Cultural Heritage in the Near East and North Africa", signed in the course of the 10th ICAANE, as well as papers of the sections Transformation & Migration, Archaeology of Religion & Ritual, Images in Context and Islamic Archaeology. The second volume is dedicated to the main topics Prehistoric and Historical Landscapes & Settlement Patterns and Economy & Society, and is completed with Excavation Reports & Summaries.
Published by Archaeolingua, Budapest
Prehistoric Research in the Körös Region, Vol. 3
ISBN 978-963-9911-79-6
The authors in this volume focus on understanding individual trajectories and the historically contingent relationships between the social, the economic, the political and the sacred as reflected regionally. Among topics considered are the social construction of landscape; use of spatial patterning to interpret social variability; paleoenvironmental reconstruction and human impacts; and social memory and social practice. This book opens a discourse around the spatial patterning of the contingent, recursive relationships between people, their social activities and the environment.
extracting information from archaeological soils and sediments for
decades, but recent technological developments, such as the analysis
of lipid biomarkers, proteins, and ancient DNA from soil and the diversification of approaches necessitate a re-examination of standard
field practice and a renewed emphasis on soil and sediments as archaeological materials. This review paper brings together a range of
specialists to introduce cutting-edge approaches to analysing soils and
sediments. From the large to the small scale, pioneering methods can
complement established soil analytical methods to address issues of
soil formation and erosion processes, heritage preservation, mobility,
domestication, land use, human-environmental interactions, cultural
and biological complexity, and ecosystem legacies. Soil analyses are
poised to enable archaeologists to ask new questions and generate innovative hypotheses in an interdisciplinary research framework.
(nanoLC-MS/MS) represents a quantum leap for the study of childhood and social relations more generally. Determining sex-related differences in prehistoric child rearing and mortality has been hampered by the insufficient accuracy in determining the biological sex of juveniles. We conducted mass spectrometric analysis to identify sex-specific peptides in the dental enamel of a child from a settlement pit of the Early Bronze Age settlement of Schleinbach, Austria (c. 1950–1850 BC). Four perimortal impression fractures on the skull of a 5–6-year-old child indicate an intentional killing, with a co-buried loom weight as possible
murder weapon. Proteomic analysis, conducted for the first time on prehistoric teeth in Austria, determined the child’s sex as male. While we cannot conclusively determine whether the child was the victim of conflicts between village groups or was slain by members of his own community, we suggest that contextual evidence points to the latter. A possible trigger of violence was the follow-on effects of an uncontrolled middle ear infection revealed by an osteological analysis. The boy from Schleinbach highlights the potential for further investigation of gender-biased violence, infanticide and child murder based on the recently
developed method of proteomic sex identification.
was launched in 2014, and focuses on the cultural and trade connections of the first agricultural communities that settled the Szécsény basin in the Ipoly Valley. A principal aim of the project is to locate Middle Neolithic settlements; to map the cultural, economic, and ideological interconnections between these settlements; and to determine the direction of the connections.
However, we have also the opportunity to study a broader time span, because
all prehistoric and historic periods are identified through our surface survey, and the
results will be utilised for long-term comparative analyses
változásainak vizsgálatára. Az Ipoly-Szécsény Régészeti Projekt (ISzAP) Szécsény-Ültetés középső
újkőkori lelőhelyére és a környező Szécsényi-dombság, illetve a Cserhát északi előterében húzódó Ipoly-völgy,
valamint a Nógrádi-medence kutatására összpontosít. A csekély rendelkezésre álló információ ellenére feltehető,
hogy az Ipoly és Zagyva folyók több régészeti korszakban is fontos szállítási útvonalak lehettek. A
kerámia- és kőeszköz-leletanyag elemzése alapján intenzív kapcsolatok hálója bontakozik ki a környező keleti,
nyugati, déli, közeli és távolabbi újkőkori közösségek (a bükki, szakálháti, valamint a Vinča-kultúra, a közép-európai
vonaldíszes kerámia kultúrája, illetve az alföldi vonaldíszes kerámia kultúrája) között. Célunk az eddig
csak kevéssé kutatott, de annál nagyobb jelentőséggel bíró észak-magyarországi terület cserekapcsolatainak
feltérképezése, és az ehhez kapcsolódó társadalmi interakciók minél pontosabb megismerése.
in northern Hungary. The Ipoly-Szécsény Archaeological Project focuses on the Szécsény-Ültetés archaeological
site and its surrounding area of the Szécsény Hills in the Nógrád Basin at the northern part of
Cserhát Mountain and Ipoly Valley. Although there has been relatively little archaeological research in
this area, the Ipoly and Zagyva Rivers appear to have served as important transportation routes during the
Neolithic. Ceramic and lithic material from Szécsény-Ültetés and the few other sites examined in the region
indicates exchange with groups to the east, west and south, including Bükk, Notenkopf, Vinča, Szakálhát,
and both eastern and western variants of the Linearbandkeramik. Our goal is to fill in the empty spaces
in our archaeological maps of the region, and to gain a better understanding of trade and related social
interactions.
analysis. Examination of organic compounds and carbonate content at various levels showed different values, which suggest a variety of natural and anthropogenic stratigraphic layers. Mid-sized siltstone fraction is dominant in the section. The layers originate from the immediate vicinity of the mound, but have different characteristics than present-day soils. These mounds contain a valuable record of cultural and environmental conditions occurring at the time of their construction, and also serve as a refuge for ancient loess vegetation; therefore their conservation is highly recommended.
A regional survey began in 2015, including surface collections, coring and soil phosphate survey, and development of a regional GIS database. Our goal is to fill in the empty spaces in our archaeological maps of the region, and to gain a better understanding of trade and related social interactions. A principal aim of the project is to locate Middle Neolithic settlements; to map the cultural, economic, and ideological interconnections between these settlements; and to determine the direction of the connections. In our surveys, emphasis is put on additional non-destructive approaches (e.g., predictive modeling, geophysical survey and 3D terrain modelling). In addition, soil chemistry survey and geological drilling will extend the information we gathered about settlements and the environment, respectively. The considerable areas covered by woodland and pasture, which are inaccessible to field surveying, require alternative prospection methods.
During the course of the Neolithic, this region saw complex development in social and settlement organization, including the nucleation of populations in large settlements and the continued reoccupation of living space, changes in house structure and environmental impacts. By employing a suite of methods from archaeological science, including soil chemistry, sedimentology, geophysics, palynology and archaeobotany, we are gaining a better understandings of the early phase of settlement nucleation during the middle-to-late Neolithic transition, the relationships between changing groundwater levels and cultural developments, and human impacts on the environment during later prehistory in the Körös region. Fieldwork in 2014 and 2015 show a structured distribution of houses along an oxbow lake, and artifact distributions associated with these houses. New soil phosphate and macrobotanical data will also be introduced, as we grapple with variability in settlement organization and human-environmental interactions.
A behavioral approach focuses on the interactions of people, artifacts and the environment in all times and all places, and builds on the work of Michael Schiffer. Although best known for site formation processes, behavioral archaeology is also widely used for studying life histories and technological change. A further behavioral insight is consideration of the performance characteristics of soil and the role that these characteristics play in both the technological and social functions of soil and soilscapes. Anthropogenic soils and soilscapes are the result of human activity, and as such are important archaeological materials. Cultural beliefs and traditions about soil inform behavior, and have the potential to influence the formation of cultural soilscapes. Using a behavioral archaeology approach, we begin to be more aware of human-soil interactions and of the potential significance of soil itself – soil as material culture.
Our project develops a new comparative methodology for examining the dialogue between small communities, cultural traditions and environmental change. We use geochemical and geophysical prospection of settlements, traditional surface survey and environmental analyses to examine cultural resiliency. By cultural resiliency, we mean the ability of a society to maintain and develop identity, knowledge and ways of making a living, despite challenges and disturbances, by resisting damage and recovering quickly. In this case, we are looking for ways that Neolithic populations on the Great Hungarian Plain handled environmental change."
visual qualities of sediments to characterize use of space at seven farmsteads. The patterning of chemicals and other soil characteristics show clear evidence of activity areas. At the regional scale I examined the distribution of these settlements in relation to palaeohydrology, soil characteristics and other settlements. I interpreted these combined data sets in light of how landscape both structured and is constructed by human society, developing the concept of soil as material culture as a way to understand how changes in soils brought about through habitation and agriculture – that is the development of cultural soilscapes – could influence people’s perceptions of their place in the world. The concepts of practice, relationism and soil as material culture allowed me to develop understandings of how Neolithic people engaged in a dialogue with the materiality of soil in the formation of communities.
The model enables the identification of three general areas within a household cluster or hamlet; open spaces, intensively used pits and activity areas, and household and/or communal refuse locations. Results indicate that people maintained traditions of activity and house location within small farmsteads during both the Late Neolithic and
Early Copper Age, as seen through patterns of chemical enrichment and sediments in household clusters. These patterns also indicate that small farmsteads from both periods share a different spatial organisation from large, nucleated Late Neolithic villages. I argue that this continuity in one aspect of life reflects deep-running beliefs about community and place, beliefs that are related to intimate connection with the soil and are not necessarily reflected in ceramic decorations. Through these, the relations between different scales of communities and variability in regional settlement patterns, exchange and mortuary customs can be seen as variability partially enabled through the continuity afforded by cultural soilscapes.
This session explores the role of border areas as interaction zones, comprising communities with their own traditions and structures. Can we identify "crossroads communities"? Can we see the movement of borders over time, or communities shifting from being at crossroads to being within cores? What were the long-term effects of movements of people, materials, and ideas on communities within the borderlands? How many peripheral areas were also borderlands, and how has the "marginal area" label muddled our understanding of social, political, and economic developments?
This conference aims to explore where archology stands as a discipline. Do we waver uneasily between subject groups, or are we integrating different kinds of knowledge? Archaeology is inherently cross-disciplinary, borrowing from art history, computer science, geography, biology and other subjects. Many projects today are multi-disciplinary, bringing in experts from different fields. Working in this way has become standard practice in archaeology, but how is this actually done? In what ways do the paradigms of different disciplines influence the questions explored and the knowledge generated? Is it appropriate to talk about inter-disciplinarity? How are multiple disciplines integrated within actual research? These questions provide the framework for understanding Disciplinarity in Archaeology.
measurement of human impacts on ancient environments in order to examine the spatial patterning of the contingent, recursive relationships between sociopolitical, ritual, and
economic activities.