1,720,972 research outputs found
Geoarchaeological Insights from the Neolithic to the late Bronze Age archaeological sequence in Grotta Battifratta (Central Italy)
No full textGrotta Battifratta is a key archaeological significant site located in the municipality of Poggio Nativo
(Rieti, Central Italy), recently investigated by Sapienza University of Rome. The cave lies along a
mid-Pleistocene travertine escarpment on the Riano River's left bank, a minor Farfa River tributary,
in the Sabina area and has been the focus of a multidisciplinary research project since 2021. This
project combines archaeological excavations with geoarchaeological analyses to reconstruct the
depositional and post-depositional processes responsible for shaping the archaeological stratigraphy,
with the broader aim of linking these dynamics to human occupation phases and late Quaternary
climatic variability. Ongoing fieldwork has revealed a well-preserved stratigraphic sequence
documenting a long-term human presence at the site, extending from the Middle Palaeolithic through
the Neolithic until the Bronze Age. Evidence from the Neolithic layers suggests a predominant focus
on ritual and funerary activities, which persisted into the Bronze Age, when subsistence-related
practices also became attested. From a geoarchaeological perspective, the formation of the Neolithic
deposits is associated with multiple alluvial episodes that produced alternating clayey to silty organicrich layers—containing charcoal, bone, and ceramic fragments—and reddish to brown sandy-silty
sterile horizons. These sedimentary alternations reflect climatic instability, with phases of intense
rainfall causing soil erosion, sediment influx, and reworking of earlier archaeological materials. These
high-energy events were followed by quieter depositional phases, marked by intermittent, lowintensity water flow within a confined basin environment inside the cave. This integrated
investigation highlights the critical role of geoarchaeological approaches in disentangling the
complex relationships between human settlement dynamics, climatic fluctuations during the late
Quaternary, and anthropogenic landscape transformation. Grotta Battifratta thus represents a key case
study for reconstructing occupation continuity and environmental change in Central Apennines
upland cave contexts
Chert sources and territorial behaviour after the Neolithization process: An exploratory analysis from Grotta Battifratta (Rieti, Central Italy)
Full text linkThis paper aims at investigating lithic raw material acquisition strategies and human mobility in the Sabina region (Central Italy) during the Neolithic period through the Non-destructive Multiparametric Protocol for Chert Investigation (NM-PCI) applied to the lithic assemblage of Grotta Battifratta (Sabina region, Rieti). Despite its importance as a unique natural bridge in the middle of the Italian peninsula, Sabina has long been archaeologically underestimated. Moreover, although rich in siliceous rock sources, a solid knowledge of chert availability and distribution is lacking. By applying a pilot analysis on raw material provenance, this work aims at shedding light on i.) chert-bearing deposits in the region and ii.) human territorial behaviour. Furthermore, the preliminary characterization data of the Sabina chert is presented here as part of the first project of construction of a geological reference collection, currently lacking for the area. Geological samples and the lithic assemblage of Grotta Battifratta have been characterized by applying petrographical, geochemical (pXRF) and colorimetric analysis (CIELab). Multivariate statistics is employed to explore chert variability and to assess the geographic origin of the raw material exploited at the archaeological site. The preliminary results suggest a strong reliance on local sources together with a short but significant introduction of exogenous raw material, whose origin is still under investigation. This research presents a preliminary analysis of chert in the Sabina region and provides a novel strategy to current research in lithic raw material provenance in the Central Italy
Safeguarding archaeological excavations and preserving cultural heritage in cave environments through engineering geological and geophysical approaches
Full text linkCave excavations pose several challenges, notably the stability of surrounding rocks crucial for archaeologists’ safety and site conservation. Engineering geological modells, supported by geophysical investigations, provides effective solutions for rock stability assessment, pivotal in designing safety measures to protect archaeological sites, thereby enhancing accessibility for tourism purposes. This research dealt with a combined engineering geology and geophysics approach for rock stability assessments, incorporating the results into archaeological procedures at the Battifratta Cave (Central Italy). The rock mass characterisation was performed through direct geomechanical surveys and 3D photogrammetric reconstructions. Ambient seismic noise measurements were performed to identify potential subsurface cavities beneath the ground floor, while ambient vibration measurements highlighted prone-to-fall rock blocks. Geophysical techniques have been experienced as a monitoring strategy to support design for archaeological excavation project. More in particular, they allow identifying potential changes in dynamic properties or precursor signals of impending deformation in rock blocks posing a threat to the excavation area. Cross-fertilisation between the Earth Sciences and Cultural Heritage Sciences results in the definition of best practices to be applied in different archaeological contexts
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Geochemical data of Scaglia Bianca chert from Central Italy for provenance studies
Full text linkThis work presents the first geochemical characterization data of Scaglia Bianca Fm chert from Central Italy. The dataset is part of the chert reference collection (SiliROck) of Sapienza, University of Rome, and includes 110 chert samples collected from Abruzzo, Latium and Umbria regions. The samples have been previously examined using solely non-destructive techniques: petrographic analysis using a stereomicroscope, and geochemical analysis through portable X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (pXRF). In this study, we report a comprehensive dataset of geochemical data of chert samples originated in the Scaglia Bianca Fm, open and reusable to researchers to gain a detailed overview of Scaglia Bianca chert for provenance analysis
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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