BACKGROUND Given the relative abundance of modern human DNA and the inherent impossibility for incontestable proof of authenticity, results obtained on ancient human DNA have often been questioned. The widely accepted rules regarding ancient DNA work mainly affect laboratory procedures, however, pre-laboratory contamination occurring during excavation and archaeological-/anthropological handlin...

All cities known to social scientists and historians have neighborhoods. People living in urban settings universally organize important aspects of their lives on a spatial scale that is intermediate between the household and the city. Urban authorities also tend to organize administrative ac­ tivities such as tax collection and record keeping on a similar scale. The spatial relationship between...

Environmental archaeology of archaeological sites on both sides of the Dachang section in the Daning River, the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, shows that riverbed evolution has a great influence on the distribution of archaeological sites during the prehistorical and historical period, and it restricts human activity and the development of ancient culture. Field investigation, dating data, ...

Archaeological silk provides abundant information for studying ancient technologies and cultures. However, due to the spontaneous degradation and the damages from burial conditions, most ancient silk fibers which suffered the damages for thousands of years were turned into invisible molecular residues. For the obtained rare samples, extra care needs to be taken to accurately identify the genuin...

due to shortage of contemporary written sources and archaeological evidence, our knowledge about different parts of the median society is very incomplete and fragmentary; therefore, a detailed assessment of some related issues such as conditions of women in this period is difficult and sometimes risky. the results of this research, based on the same historical sources and archaeological evidenc...

Mythology allocated a large part, fundamental and effectively to the human mind. The knowledge of mythology in fact recognizes the important infrastructure of ideas, culture and civilization. One of the most common ways to study mythology is to implement psychological ideas in mythology. The result is not only a better understanding of mythology, but also a better understanding of human psyche ...

The protection and conservation attempts of ancient monumental heritage of the city of Hierapolis of Phrygia, during the last few years, are more delineated than in the past as inevitably connected to the environment context, which is characterized by the more extended and significant limestone concretions phenomenon in the world. Studies, excavation works, ancient monuments restorations, carri...