The El Niño phenomenon can cause devastating inundation with catastrophic social and economic impacts. Evidence for multiple second-millennium BC El Niño events is present as laminated sediment layers at Huaca Cortada, a large Initial Period monument of the Caballo Muerto Complex in the Moche Valley, Peru. These indicate that one response to this period of climatic flux was the renewal and expansion of temple architecture, perhaps in an effort to demonstrate control over nature, and to maintain a symbol of community permanence. The final abandonment of Huaca Cortada is also associated with an El Niño event around 1000–900 BC.

The high-quality organic preservation at Alpine lakeshore settlement sites allows us to go beyond simplistic reconstructions of farming in the Neolithic. The rich archaeological datasets from these sites may be further complemented by methods such as nitrogen isotope (δ15N) analysis of charred crop remains. At Hornstaad-Hörnle IA and Sipplingen, on the shore of Lake Constance in south-west Germany, this method has been used to provide a unique insight into strategies of cultivation such as manuring on both a spatial and temporal scale.

Taiwan presents a puzzling anomaly in the development and expansion of South and Southeast Asian trade routes. The lack of historical records from the island emphasises the value of archaeology for understanding the establishment of trade and the transmission of people, ideas and knowledge. Recent research focusing on newly excavated sites such as Jiuxianglan shows that the Metal Age in Taiwan began around 400 BC, much earlier than was previously thought. Furthermore, it seems that early trade predominantly prioritised links to the south, and not, curiously, with Mainland China to the immediate west as had traditionally been supposed.

Evidence of Bronze Age settlement in Rome has, for the most part, been conspicuous by its absence. The later development of the city has precluded most excavations from reaching a depth sufficient to encounter any such deposits, and early finds have been mostly recovered from secondary deposits. A series of boreholes below the church of Sant'Omobono have revealed in situ deposits of anthropic activity, which date to the late second millennium BC, interspersed with thick alluvial deposits. This new data from the Forum Boarium demonstrates that early settlement activity in Rome was not restricted to the summits or slopes of the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, but also included activity on the banks of the Tiber.

Inscriptions on new archaeological finds in the Aegean, examined alongside linguistic evidence relating to Greek and Phrygian vowels, are here used to explore the origins and spread of the Greek alphabet. The ‘invention’ of vowels happened just once, with all of the various Greek, Phrygian and Italic alphabets ultimately deriving from this single moment. The idea spread rapidly, from an absence of writing in the ninth century BC to casual usage, including jokes, by 725 BC. The port of Methone in the northern Aegean emerges as a probable candidate for the site of origin. A place where Greeks and Phoenicians did business together, with international networks; was this where Semitic, Greek and Phrygian letters first coalesced?

Two perforated dog molars were found directly associated with a Kura-Araxes child burial from the third millennium BC in Armenia. Both teeth show trimming of the root ends and boring of a biconical hole through the lingual root with a hand-held stone tool. Expedient manufacture, the anatomical location of the hole and use-wear suggest that the molars were suspended in order to display their crowns as part of a necklace that also included two stone beads. This is an unusual type of personal ornament and the first of its kind reported in the South Caucasus. Its use in a Kura-Araxes burial is interpreted as an active modification of the funerary symbolism during this period.

How closely integrated were the commercial centres of the Roman world? Were traders aware of supply and demand for goods in other cities, or were communities of traders in cities protectionist and working opportunistically? Widely traded commodities such as terra sigillata tablewares in the Eastern Mediterranean provide an ideal opportunity to explore the economic processes that underlie the archaeological evidence. Agent-based computational modelling allows various such processes to be explored, and also identifies areas for further investigation.

Excavations at Kavuşan Höyük (south-eastern Turkey) have revealed evidence of the use of turtles, tortoises and terrapins in post-Assyrian funerary practices. Of particular significance are the remains of the Euphrates soft-shelled turtle (Rafetus euphraticus), distinguished from other species of turtle by their quantity and treatment in the burial pit under investigation here. The unique finds from Kavuşan Höyük, coupled with archaeological and textual records, underline the economic and symbolic significance of these animals for communities in prehistoric and early historical Mesopotamia.

The Base Ring juglets of Late Bronze Age Cyprus have long been associated with opium due to their hypothetical resemblance to inverted poppy heads. Analysis of organic residues on Base Ring juglets from Cyprus and Israel, however, showed no trace of opium; instead, the vessels had contained a variety of perfumed oils. The analytical results are supported by textual evidence attesting to a lively trade across the eastern Mediterranean in aromatic substances and compounds, rather than in opium. The poppy-head shape of the Base Ring juglets was not a reference to their contents.

Plant macrofossils from the sites of Khao Sam Kaeo and Phu Khao Thong on the Thai-Malay Peninsula show evidence of cross-cultural interactions, particularly between India to the west and Southeast Asia to the east. Archaeobotanical analysis of various cereals, beans and other crops from these assemblages sheds light on the spread and adoption of these species for local agriculture. There is also early evidence for the trade of key commodities such as cotton. The plant remains illustrate a variety of influences and networks of contact across South and Southeast Asia during the late first millennium BC.

Traditional studies of early bronze metallurgy in China have focused on typology, decoration and production methods. The application of new analytical techniques to investigate chemical composition, however, is offering important new insights. The use of one such method (electron probe microanalysis) to study bronze artefacts from the Hanzhong basin in central China shows a level of diversity that implies much greater complexity in the extended landscape networks of the Bronze Age than was previously thought. The ability to appreciate these finds from a new perspective allows progression beyond older, simplistic models, and demonstrates that the Hanzhong region held greater importance within the power structure of Bronze Age Central China than has previously been recognised.

Despite being institutions of major social importance throughout the Roman world, taverns remain poorly understood archaeologically. The identification of one such possible tavern at the Iron Age and Roman site of Lattara in Mediterranean France is hence a discovery of special significance. Not only is the tavern the earliest of its kind in the region, it also serves as an invaluable indicator of the changing social and economic infrastructure of the settlement and its inhabitants following the Roman conquest of Mediterranean Gaul in the late second century BC.

The triple disaster that hit eastern Japan on 11 March 2011—earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown—was a momentous event with long-term implications for archaeology and heritage. The sheer scale of the damage experienced generated a form of ‘disaster-led’ preventive archaeology, in line with the reconstruction efforts. As radioactive contamination continues to affect cultural assets including museums and monuments in the exclusion zone, the massive decontamination efforts under way bring about further heritage complications. Alongside its immediate applications, archaeology also has a wider critical role to play: with its mastery of materiality and temporality, it can help envisage the ‘contemporary future’ at Fukushima, a defining landmark of the feats and failures of late modernity.

A unique set of circumstances has preserved a group of rare wooden artefacts deep within burial caves in the southern Levant. Identified as spindles and distaffs, they are fashioned from tamarisk wood and date to the Late Chalcolithic period. Analysis suggests that these implements were used to spin flax fibres, and they provide the earliest evidence for two distinct spinning techniques, drop spinning and supported spinning (with rolling on the thigh). One wooden spindle with the whorl still in place is the oldest such tool to survive intact in the Near East. The lead forming the whorl may have originated in Anatolia, and it is evidence, perhaps, of early long-distance trade.

Mobility has long been recognised as a key feature of later prehistoric communities in eastern Eurasia. Isotope analysis of human hair offers new potential for studying individual mobility patterns within these communities. Hair samples from individuals of the Tashtyk culture buried in the Oglakhty cemetery in southern Siberia (third to fourth centuries AD) reveal variations in diet during the last months of their lives. Millet and fish were important in summer and autumn, С3 plants and meat and dairy products at other times of year. The results indicate strong seasonal shifts in diet, and seasonal movement between different areas.

Stonehenge is a site that continues to yield surprises. Excavation in 2009 added a new and unexpected feature: a smaller, dismantled stone circle on the banks of the River Avon, connected to Stonehenge itself by the Avenue. This new structure has been labelled ‘Bluestonehenge’ from the evidence that it once held a circle of bluestones that were later removed to Stonehenge. Investigation of the Avenue closer to Stonehenge revealed deep periglacial fissures within it. Their alignment on Stonehenge's solstitial axis (midwinter sunset–midsummer sunrise) raises questions about the early origins of this ritual landscape.

The cave of Kayuko Naj Tunich is believed to have been the location of the accession ceremonies for the royal dynasty of the ancient Maya Uxbenká polity in southern Belize. Little is known, however, about the structures referred to as the Kayuko Mound Group that lie close to the cave. Excavations have now provided evidence for the date of this complex, and experimental research has estimated the labour costs involved in its construction. The results suggest that while both the mound group and the cave were involved in the celebration of royal accession, the former acted as a short-lived festival site in contrast to the enduring significance of Kayuko Naj Tunich.

The rare discovery of a well-preserved miliarium—a water boiler—in a rural bath house in Gaul suggests that the technology of water supply had penetrated the remoter parts of the Roman world. Such boilers were frequently recycled for their valuable metal content. This example, by contrast, was buried close to where it once stood—perhaps in connection with the ritual deposit of complete animal carcasses around the bath house. The symbolic associations of the boiler are suggested by decorative elements including the mask of a bearded man, argued to represent Okeanos, a divine personification of the sea. The near-complete state of the boiler also provides new insight into the processes used in its manufacture from lead and copper alloys.

The rock art of the Lovo Massif region in the Lower Congo offers a fascinating and understudied example of artistic traditions, some of which predate the period of European contact. The first extensive, systematic survey of the region has identified key aspects of these rock art traditions, and has obtained radiocarbon dates that facilitate new interpretations of the relationship between the rock art and the historical kingdom of Kongo. Multiple perspectives are used to integrate anthropological, historical and archaeological data with stories from local mythology to show how the significance of this art has evolved over time. As a result of this study, the unique cultural heritage of the Lovo Massif rock art has been put forward for protection under the UNESCO World Heritage list.