M Roffet-Salque
Biographic Data
| ID | 30262 |
|---|---|
| NAME | M Roffet-Salque |
| GIVEN NAMES | M |
| FAMILY NAME | Roffet-Salque |
| SIGNATURE | ROFFET-SALQUE M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Bristol |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9508-788X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 229 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
The occurrence and diagnostic potential of aquatic biomarkers
The processing of aquatic (marine and freshwater) resources in archaeological pottery is identified through the detection of ω-(o-alkylphenyl)alkanoic acids (APAAs), dihydroxy fatty acids (DHYAs), and isoprenoid fatty acids in preserved lipid residues. Certain biomarkers are considered more diagnostic of aquatic resources, but published methodologies frequently use different combinations of biomarkers as evidence for freshwater resource processin…
Investigating the Dietary, Economic, and Social Practices of a Neolithic Funnel Beaker Community in Wanna, Germany, Through Raw Material and Organic Residue Analyses of Pottery
This study details the analysis of an assemblage of Funnel Beaker pottery from Wanna in Northern Germany investigated using petrographic, geochemical, and organic residue analyses. The analyses revealed specialized production of pottery vessels for funerary contexts, but that domestic and funerary pottery were used intensively to process animal products. Dairy fats dominated, underlining the important role of domestic ruminants to the economy of …
Volatile compounds reveal the composition of embalming materials used in Egyptian mummification
The distinctive musty odour of Egyptian mummies is evident to anyone who has encountered their tissues and balms. A reasonable assumption is that this odour is the product of the decay of the mummy body tissues combined with volatile compounds released from aged balms and bandages. Given the established complexities and variabilities in the compositions of mummy balms, it is expected that variations in balm compositions will be reflected in the c…
Prehistoric Landscape Development and Romano-British Farming near Rossington, South Yorkshire
In 2016–2017 Wessex Archaeology undertook excavations between Rossington and Doncaster in South Yorkshire prior to the development of a strategic rail freight interchange. The earliest evidence related to peat formation within two different parts of the site, with a pair of sequences radiocarbon dated to between the Mesolithic period and the Bronze Age. Pollen preserved within the peat provides evidence for woodland development over this period, …
An Early Neolithic house in the Foothills
Provenance, technology and possible function of Gáta–Wieselburg vessels from the Trieste Karst (northeastern Italy)
A few scattered vessels, typologically attributed to the Gáta–Wieselburg culture, are known from the Friuli Venezia Giulia region in northeastern Italy. This culture spread during the Early Bronze Age (Reinecke Br A1b and A2, 2100–1700/1600 bc ) in present‐day eastern Austria, western Hungary and southwestern Slovakia. Rare ceramic artefacts, typically biconical double‐handled jugs with well‐burnished surfaces, have been discovered in caves of th…
A photographic atlas for European freshwater and migratory fish remains and key considerations for their analysis
Identification of archeological fish remains requires the use of comparative reference materials, generally in the form of disarticulated fish skeletons. Photographic or illustrative atlases provide an additional resource for the analysis of fish remains. Photographic resources exist for many marine species and for specific geographic regions, whereas freshwater European species have not been covered in great detail. Here, we present a photograph…
Integrated approaches to understanding animal exploitation and dairying in the Central European Early Neolithic
Recent genetic studies point towards 6 th millennium BC central Europe as the core region for the emergence of the lactase persistence (LP) gene mutation -13,910 * T, making it important to understand the intensity of milk production and consumption among Linearbandkeramik (or LBK) farming groups. However, it is not known if milking was part of the LBK Neolithic “package” from the start, or if it displayed a discontinuous pattern in time and spac…
Direct evidence of the use of beehive products in pre‐Roman Sardinia
Written sources and iconographic evidence suggest that honey and beehive products, used in culinary, medicinal, and technological functions since pre‐Neolithic times, were likely known and used in Phoenician and Punic Sardinia. The role of these resources is nonetheless poorly understood because no direct evidence survives on a macroscopic level. Significant advances in the knowledge about beeswax and beehive products processing in the past have …
Commensality as social integration in Neolithic Çatalhöyük
Direct 14C dating of equine products preserved in archaeological pottery vessels from Botai and Bestamak, Kazakhstan
Direct and accurate radiocarbon dating of lipid residues preserved in ceramics is a recently established method that allows direct dating of specific food products and their inception in human subsistence strategies. The method targets individual fatty acids originating from animal fats such as ruminant dairy, ruminant adipose, non-ruminant adipose and aquatic fats. Horse lipid residues found in Central Asian pottery vessels are also directly dat…
A call for caution in the analysis of lipids and other small biomolecules from archaeological contexts
Neolithic to Bronze Age economy and animal management revealed using analyses lipid residues of pottery vessels and faunal remains at El Portalón de Cueva Mayor (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain)
Technological variability in foragers’ pottery productions at the early-mid Holocene site of Sphinx, western part of Jebel Sabaloka, Sudan
Lipid Residues from Low‐Fired Pottery
This paper assesses the fate of lipids associated with low‐temperature and pit‐fired pottery to determine to what degree organic compounds persist or are removed during short‐firing episodes below 800 °C. Three different types of clay were fired using contrasting techniques including at 400 °C for 4 h in a muffle furnace, and pit‐firing in which pottery was fired to higher temperatures but for shorter periods of time. Total lipid extracts obtaine…
Strong bias towards carcass product processing at Neolithic settlements in northern Greece revealed through absorbed lipid residues of archaeological pottery
Differing modes of animal exploitation in North-Pontic Eneolithic and Bronze Age Societies
This paper presents new results of an interdisciplinary investigation of the diet and subsistence strategies of populations living in the North-Pontic region during the Eneolithic and the Early Bronze Age (ca. 3800 BC to the 2500 BC). New organic residue analyses of >200 sherds from five Eneolithic sites and two Early Bronze Age settlements are presented. The molecular and stable isotope results are discussed in relation to zooarchaeological evid…
Defining pottery use and animal management at the Neolithic site of Bylany (Czech Republic)
Impact of modern cattle feeding practices on milk fatty acid stable carbon isotope compositions emphasise the need for caution in selecting reference animal tissues and products for archaeological inv…
Degraded animal fats, characterised by the presence of palmitic (C16:0) and stearic (C18:0) fatty acids and related glycerolipids are the most common class of preserved lipids in organic residues trapped in the porous clay matrix of archaeological ceramic vessels. The ubiquitous presence of fatty acids in animal fats and plant oils precludes identification of fat types by the solely molecular composition of residues. Hence, animal fats are identi…
Regional asynchronicity in dairy production and processing in early farming communities of the northern Mediterranean
Significance This unique research combines the analyses of lipid residues in pottery vessels with slaughter profiles for domesticated ruminants to provide compelling evidence for diverse subsistence strategies in the northern Mediterranean basin during the Neolithic. Our findings show that the exploitation and processing of milk varied across the region, although most communities began to exploit milk as soon as domesticates were introduced betwe…
From the inside out
The investigation of organic residues associated with archaeological pottery using modern analytical chemical methods began in the 1970s. It was recognised early on that the analysis of lipids (i.e. fats, waxes and resins) preserved in surface residues or the fabric of single potsherds, representative of single vessels, was a powerful method for ascertaining pottery use, with a high degree of specificity. Subsequent developments saw a significant…
Widespread exploitation of the honeybee by early Neolithic farmers
Tracing pottery use and the emergence of secondary product exploitation through lipid residue analysis at Late Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad (Syria)
Earliest evidence for cheese making in the sixth millennium bc in northern Europe
Crop manuring and intensive land management by Europe’s first farmers
The spread of farming from western Asia to Europe had profound long-term social and ecological impacts, but identification of the specific nature of Neolithic land management practices and the dietary contribution of early crops has been problematic. Here, we present previously undescribed stable isotope determinations of charred cereals and pulses from 13 Neolithic sites across Europe (dating ca . 5900–2400 cal B.C.), which show that early farme…
A call for caution in the analysis of lipids and other small biomolecules from archaeological contexts
New insights into the Early Neolithic economy and management of animals in Southern and Central Europe revealed using lipid residue analyses of pottery vessels
Analyses of organic residues preserved in ceramic potsherds enable the identification of foodstuffs processed in archaeological vessels. Differences in the isotopic composition of fatty acids allow differentiation of non-ruminant and ruminant fats, as well as adipose and dairy fats. This paper investigates the trends in milk use in areas where sheep and goats are dominant in the faunal assemblage and in some sites from the Linearbandkeramik cultu…
Direct dating of pottery from its organic residues
Techniques for identifying organic residues in pottery have been refined over the years by Professor Evershed and his colleagues. Here they address the problem of radiocarbon dating these residues by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) which in turn dates the use of the pot. Fatty acids from carcass and dairy products cooked in the pot were isolated from early Neolithic carinated bowls found at the Sweet Track, Somerset Levels, England, and then …
From the inside out
The investigation of organic residues associated with archaeological pottery using modern analytical chemical methods began in the 1970s. It was recognised early on that the analysis of lipids (i.e. fats, waxes and resins) preserved in surface residues or the fabric of single potsherds, representative of single vessels, was a powerful method for ascertaining pottery use, with a high degree of specificity. Subsequent developments saw a significant…
Muck 'n' molecules
The detection of manuring in antiquity can provide important information concerning the agricultural and waste disposal practices of ancient communities. Faecal biomarkers provide a reliable and highly diagnostic method for detecting ancient faecal inputs to soils irrespective of any morphological remnants of manuring
Lipid Residues from Low‐Fired Pottery
This paper assesses the fate of lipids associated with low‐temperature and pit‐fired pottery to determine to what degree organic compounds persist or are removed during short‐firing episodes below 800 °C. Three different types of clay were fired using contrasting techniques including at 400 °C for 4 h in a muffle furnace, and pit‐firing in which pottery was fired to higher temperatures but for shorter periods of time. Total lipid extracts obtaine…
Tracing pottery use and the emergence of secondary product exploitation through lipid residue analysis at Late Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad (Syria)
Impact of modern cattle feeding practices on milk fatty acid stable carbon isotope compositions emphasise the need for caution in selecting reference animal tissues and products for archaeological inv…
Degraded animal fats, characterised by the presence of palmitic (C16:0) and stearic (C18:0) fatty acids and related glycerolipids are the most common class of preserved lipids in organic residues trapped in the porous clay matrix of archaeological ceramic vessels. The ubiquitous presence of fatty acids in animal fats and plant oils precludes identification of fat types by the solely molecular composition of residues. Hence, animal fats are identi…
Direct 14C dating of equine products preserved in archaeological pottery vessels from Botai and Bestamak, Kazakhstan
Direct and accurate radiocarbon dating of lipid residues preserved in ceramics is a recently established method that allows direct dating of specific food products and their inception in human subsistence strategies. The method targets individual fatty acids originating from animal fats such as ruminant dairy, ruminant adipose, non-ruminant adipose and aquatic fats. Horse lipid residues found in Central Asian pottery vessels are also directly dat…
Defining pottery use and animal management at the Neolithic site of Bylany (Czech Republic)
Neolithic to Bronze Age economy and animal management revealed using analyses lipid residues of pottery vessels and faunal remains at El Portalón de Cueva Mayor (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain)
High prestige Royal Purple dyed textiles from the Bronze Age royal tomb at Qatna, Syria
During the ongoing excavations in the palace of the famous Qatna complex, the excavators noted patches of brown staining on the floor of a high status tomb. Chemical extraction revealed the presence of brominated derivatives of indigo and indirubin, and more detailed characterisation showed that it likely came fromHexaplex trunculus. In short, this was none other than the renowned Tyrian or Royal Purple mentioned by Pliny, which was to have such …
On the Beach
In 1990 a stone covered pit containing a Trevisker Ware vessel was found eroding from the cliffs at Harlyn Bay and excavated. The vessel contained cremated bone from several individuals with some animal bone, quartz pebbles, and a small bronze pendant. A radiocarbon date on the cremated bone fell in the range 2120–1880 cal bc and is a valuable addition to the small number of securely-dated Early Bronze Age burials in Cornwall with metalwork assoc…
An Early Neolithic house in the Foothills
A photographic atlas for European freshwater and migratory fish remains and key considerations for their analysis
Identification of archeological fish remains requires the use of comparative reference materials, generally in the form of disarticulated fish skeletons. Photographic or illustrative atlases provide an additional resource for the analysis of fish remains. Photographic resources exist for many marine species and for specific geographic regions, whereas freshwater European species have not been covered in great detail. Here, we present a photograph…
Muck 'n' molecules
The detection of manuring in antiquity can provide important information concerning the agricultural and waste disposal practices of ancient communities. Faecal biomarkers provide a reliable and highly diagnostic method for detecting ancient faecal inputs to soils irrespective of any morphological remnants of manuring
Direct dating of pottery from its organic residues
Techniques for identifying organic residues in pottery have been refined over the years by Professor Evershed and his colleagues. Here they address the problem of radiocarbon dating these residues by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) which in turn dates the use of the pot. Fatty acids from carcass and dairy products cooked in the pot were isolated from early Neolithic carinated bowls found at the Sweet Track, Somerset Levels, England, and then …
High prestige Royal Purple dyed textiles from the Bronze Age royal tomb at Qatna, Syria
During the ongoing excavations in the palace of the famous Qatna complex, the excavators noted patches of brown staining on the floor of a high status tomb. Chemical extraction revealed the presence of brominated derivatives of indigo and indirubin, and more detailed characterisation showed that it likely came fromHexaplex trunculus. In short, this was none other than the renowned Tyrian or Royal Purple mentioned by Pliny, which was to have such …
On the Beach
In 1990 a stone covered pit containing a Trevisker Ware vessel was found eroding from the cliffs at Harlyn Bay and excavated. The vessel contained cremated bone from several individuals with some animal bone, quartz pebbles, and a small bronze pendant. A radiocarbon date on the cremated bone fell in the range 2120–1880 cal bc and is a valuable addition to the small number of securely-dated Early Bronze Age burials in Cornwall with metalwork assoc…
First dairying in green Saharan Africa in the fifth millennium bc
New insights into the Early Neolithic economy and management of animals in Southern and Central Europe revealed using lipid residue analyses of pottery vessels
Analyses of organic residues preserved in ceramic potsherds enable the identification of foodstuffs processed in archaeological vessels. Differences in the isotopic composition of fatty acids allow differentiation of non-ruminant and ruminant fats, as well as adipose and dairy fats. This paper investigates the trends in milk use in areas where sheep and goats are dominant in the faunal assemblage and in some sites from the Linearbandkeramik cultu…
Earliest evidence for cheese making in the sixth millennium bc in northern Europe
Crop manuring and intensive land management by Europe’s first farmers
The spread of farming from western Asia to Europe had profound long-term social and ecological impacts, but identification of the specific nature of Neolithic land management practices and the dietary contribution of early crops has been problematic. Here, we present previously undescribed stable isotope determinations of charred cereals and pulses from 13 Neolithic sites across Europe (dating ca . 5900–2400 cal B.C.), which show that early farme…
Widespread exploitation of the honeybee by early Neolithic farmers
Tracing pottery use and the emergence of secondary product exploitation through lipid residue analysis at Late Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad (Syria)
Regional asynchronicity in dairy production and processing in early farming communities of the northern Mediterranean
Significance This unique research combines the analyses of lipid residues in pottery vessels with slaughter profiles for domesticated ruminants to provide compelling evidence for diverse subsistence strategies in the northern Mediterranean basin during the Neolithic. Our findings show that the exploitation and processing of milk varied across the region, although most communities began to exploit milk as soon as domesticates were introduced betwe…
From the inside out
The investigation of organic residues associated with archaeological pottery using modern analytical chemical methods began in the 1970s. It was recognised early on that the analysis of lipids (i.e. fats, waxes and resins) preserved in surface residues or the fabric of single potsherds, representative of single vessels, was a powerful method for ascertaining pottery use, with a high degree of specificity. Subsequent developments saw a significant…
Differing modes of animal exploitation in North-Pontic Eneolithic and Bronze Age Societies
This paper presents new results of an interdisciplinary investigation of the diet and subsistence strategies of populations living in the North-Pontic region during the Eneolithic and the Early Bronze Age (ca. 3800 BC to the 2500 BC). New organic residue analyses of >200 sherds from five Eneolithic sites and two Early Bronze Age settlements are presented. The molecular and stable isotope results are discussed in relation to zooarchaeological evid…
Defining pottery use and animal management at the Neolithic site of Bylany (Czech Republic)
Impact of modern cattle feeding practices on milk fatty acid stable carbon isotope compositions emphasise the need for caution in selecting reference animal tissues and products for archaeological inv…
Degraded animal fats, characterised by the presence of palmitic (C16:0) and stearic (C18:0) fatty acids and related glycerolipids are the most common class of preserved lipids in organic residues trapped in the porous clay matrix of archaeological ceramic vessels. The ubiquitous presence of fatty acids in animal fats and plant oils precludes identification of fat types by the solely molecular composition of residues. Hence, animal fats are identi…
Strong bias towards carcass product processing at Neolithic settlements in northern Greece revealed through absorbed lipid residues of archaeological pottery
Lipid Residues from Low‐Fired Pottery
This paper assesses the fate of lipids associated with low‐temperature and pit‐fired pottery to determine to what degree organic compounds persist or are removed during short‐firing episodes below 800 °C. Three different types of clay were fired using contrasting techniques including at 400 °C for 4 h in a muffle furnace, and pit‐firing in which pottery was fired to higher temperatures but for shorter periods of time. Total lipid extracts obtaine…
Technological variability in foragers’ pottery productions at the early-mid Holocene site of Sphinx, western part of Jebel Sabaloka, Sudan
A call for caution in the analysis of lipids and other small biomolecules from archaeological contexts
Neolithic to Bronze Age economy and animal management revealed using analyses lipid residues of pottery vessels and faunal remains at El Portalón de Cueva Mayor (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain)
Direct 14C dating of equine products preserved in archaeological pottery vessels from Botai and Bestamak, Kazakhstan
Direct and accurate radiocarbon dating of lipid residues preserved in ceramics is a recently established method that allows direct dating of specific food products and their inception in human subsistence strategies. The method targets individual fatty acids originating from animal fats such as ruminant dairy, ruminant adipose, non-ruminant adipose and aquatic fats. Horse lipid residues found in Central Asian pottery vessels are also directly dat…
Integrated approaches to understanding animal exploitation and dairying in the Central European Early Neolithic
Recent genetic studies point towards 6 th millennium BC central Europe as the core region for the emergence of the lactase persistence (LP) gene mutation -13,910 * T, making it important to understand the intensity of milk production and consumption among Linearbandkeramik (or LBK) farming groups. However, it is not known if milking was part of the LBK Neolithic “package” from the start, or if it displayed a discontinuous pattern in time and spac…
Direct evidence of the use of beehive products in pre‐Roman Sardinia
Written sources and iconographic evidence suggest that honey and beehive products, used in culinary, medicinal, and technological functions since pre‐Neolithic times, were likely known and used in Phoenician and Punic Sardinia. The role of these resources is nonetheless poorly understood because no direct evidence survives on a macroscopic level. Significant advances in the knowledge about beeswax and beehive products processing in the past have …
Commensality as social integration in Neolithic Çatalhöyük
Prehistoric Landscape Development and Romano-British Farming near Rossington, South Yorkshire
In 2016–2017 Wessex Archaeology undertook excavations between Rossington and Doncaster in South Yorkshire prior to the development of a strategic rail freight interchange. The earliest evidence related to peat formation within two different parts of the site, with a pair of sequences radiocarbon dated to between the Mesolithic period and the Bronze Age. Pollen preserved within the peat provides evidence for woodland development over this period, …
Archaeology (26 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (26 works) · Geography (25 works) · Pottery (18 works) · Isotope Analysis in Ecology (13 works) · Biology (12 works) · Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis (9 works) · Agriculture (8 works) · Ecology (8 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (8 works)