The Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 2003–2005: A Retrospective

Abstract

Archaeologists have long recognized that the Hopewell period was marked by the movement of exotic raw materials and artifacts across the eastern United States. The use of archaeometric techniques to trace the sources of these materials is well established. However, little work has been done on sourcing the pipestone used in Hopewell pipes. In this research we use Portable Infrared Mineral Analyzer (PIMA) technology to identify the presence of Minnesota catlinite as a raw material used for pipes recovered from the Tremper Mound (33SC4) caches in the Scioto Valley of Ohio. A new radiocarbon date places the deposition of these caches between B.C. 50 and A.D. 79. The presence of catlinite pipes in Ohio and in Wisconsin, but rarely in Illinois, suggests the existence of a direct west-to-east route from the catlinite quarries through Wisconsin to Ohio. This movement of catlinite appears to have been a short-term Hopewellian event and the material was not used again until late prehistoric times.     

Refining the identification of native American pipestone quarries in the midcontinental United States

Midcontinental pipestone quarries in Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, and Kansas were utilized by a number of native cultures from 5000 YRBP through historic times. Except for Gunderson’s pioneering work on catlinite, the mineralogy of these sources was poorly understood until recently. For fifteen years, a University of Illinois team of archaeologists and geologists has used well-established mineralogical methods (X-ray diffraction [XRD] and reflectance near-infrared spectroscopy [NIS]) to identify and characterize nine pipestone quarries and match sources with archaeological artifacts from major Hopewell and Mississippian culture sites. NIS analyses of raw materials from nine major pipestone quarries show distinct mineralogical differences between sources but relatively uniform composition within each source. The major distinguishing minerals estimated from NIS spectra match very well with earlier results from XRD and inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) analyses. Results demonstrate that NIS is a reliable non-destructive technique for discriminating between midcontinental pipestones and for sourcing pipestone artifacts.     

The Organization of Late Paleoindian Lithic Procurement Strategies in Western Wisconsin

Abstract

The applicability of employing an organization of technology framework to the analysis of prehistoric lithic procurement strategies is demonstrated here. Analysis reveals that a spatial separation is present in the distribution of lithic raw materials used by Late Paleoindian populations in western Wisconsin. This raises the possibility that lithic raw material functioned as a stylistic indicator of group membership. To evaluate this suggestion microstylistic traits present on a large sample of diagnostic Late Paleoindian projectile points were examined. Significant differences in stylistic traits were observed between sample areas. Furthermore, these differences correspond to spatial differences in raw material use. The correlation between lithic raw material use and microstylistic traits is consistent with the idea that lithic raw material serves as a stylistic marker of group membership, and indicates the presence of some form of social boundary within western Wisconsin during the Late Paleo indian Period.     

A Quantitative Analysis of Skill and Efficiency: Hopewell Blade Production at the Turner Workshop,Hamilton County,Ohio

Abstract

We describe and analyze blade production at a small site near the Turner Earthworks, Hamilton County, Ohio. The Turner Workshop provides perhaps the largest sample of Ohio Hopewell (ca. A.D. 50–350) blades and blade-cores recovered from a single site to date. We focus on describing the production process at Turner and comparing our results with those from other Ohio Hopewell and nonHopewell blade production sites. Special attention will be focused on rates of production errors, metric variability in final products, and the variability introduced into the production process by increases in distance-to-source and how these lines of evidence bear on the question of specialized production in middle-range societies. Our analysis reveals an industry characterized by a high frequency of errors, a high level of variability in final products, and a lack of standardization in reduction process. We therefore conclude that the Ohio Hopewell blade industry did not employ craft specialists.     

Description and Thermoluminescence (Tl) Dating of An Alleged Hopewell Mobiliary Clay Human Figurine from Hopeton Earthworks,Ross County,Ohio

During a reorganization of the collections at Kent State University (KSU), a fired-clay human figurine was discovered. Beyond the fact that KSU obtained the specimen from a collector, and the alleged origin was the Ohio Hopewell site of Hopeton Earthworks, information on the specimen’s provenience and chain of custody was lacking or ambiguous. To determine whether the artifact was consistent in style and age with Hopewell, we conducted a comparative study, as well as a direct chronometric assessment using thermoluminescence (TL) dating. The comparative study was equivocal: The figurine possessed some attributes consistent with Hopewell, but other features were not consistent or missing. TL dating revealed an age of 4590?±?270, exceeding the Hopewell period by over 2,000 years. These results suggest two mutually exclusive hypotheses, neither of which is relevant to Hopewell: Either the figurine is one of the earliest examples of ceramic technology in eastern North America or it is a “fake,” perhaps from the Old World, and the object entered the KSU collections under pretense. More broadly, we suggest that archaeologists take a much more circumspect approach to collector-acquired objects and perform their due diligence in verifying the stories associated with them, even if that means increased use of destructive testing procedures.     

An empirical evaluation of copper procurement and distribution: elemental analysis of Scioto Valley Hopewell copper

In prehistoric North America, artifacts of copper occupy a position of prominence in the Hopewell societies of Ohio’s Scioto Valley. These artifacts also represent the social contacts and long-distance interactions that brought copper to the Scioto Valley. Yet, our understanding of Hopewell copper acquisition, and the movement of copper artifacts within the social networks of the Scioto Valley and beyond, has been limited due to the limited availability of geochemical data concerning provenance and variability. We begin to develop the foundation for understanding these important social issues by analyzing the elemental variability of Hopewell copper through the use of laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. We analyze 24 samples from four known copper source regions and 52 samples from 6 prominent sites in the Scioto Valley. Results suggest that a majority of the artifacts are consistent with sources in the Great Lakes, with a plurality classified as Isle Royale. However, 21% of Scioto Hopewell copper artifacts were most consistent with southern Appalachian sources. High elemental variability argues against simple models of copper acquisition and suggests that different social groups had access to a variety of copper sources through varying social networks. Native copper regardless of source seems to have been channeled along similar social and symbolic pathways. Our results suggest that instead of being derived from the struggle to access a specific source, value is derived from the social relationships represented by the copper and the connotation of exotic connection embodied in both style and material.     

Microwear Analysis of Hopewell Bladelets from Two Sites Associated with the Stubbs Earthworks,Southwest Ohio

Hopewell bladelets represent one of a handful of standardized blade industries in prehistoric North America. In the past 25 years, archaeologists produced a great deal of published research on Hopewell bladelets. Yet much remains to be explained about this lithic tradition. This project presents the results of functional analysis of bladelets from two sites near the Stubbs Earthworks along the Little Miami River in southwest Ohio. Results indicate that bladelet use at these sites largely focused on bone/antler processing. This is in contrast to the generalized function of many of the artifacts in Ohio bladelet assemblages and provides researchers with another piece of the puzzle in examining the variation in bladelet function between sites and across regions.     

Local and “Global” Perspectives on the Middle Woodland Southeast

During the Middle Woodland period, from 200 BC to AD 600, southeastern societies erected monuments, interacted widely, and produced some of the most striking material culture of the pre-Columbian era, but these developments are often overshadowed by the contemporaneous florescence of Hopewell culture in Ohio. I argue that the demonstrable material links between the Middle Woodland Southeast and Midwest demand that we cease to analyze these regional archaeological records in isolation and adopt multiscalar perspectives on the social fields that emerged from and impacted local Middle Woodland societies. In synthesizing recent research on Middle Woodland settlement, monumentality, interaction, and social organization, I make explicit comparisons between the Middle Woodland Southeast and Ohio Hopewell, revealing both commonalities and contrasts. New methodological approaches in the Southeast, including geophysical survey techniques, Bayesian chronological modeling, and high-resolution provenance analyses, promise to further elucidate site-specific histories and intersite connectivity. By implementing theoretical frameworks that simultaneously consider these local and global dimensions of Middle Woodland sociality, we may establish the southeastern Middle Woodland period as an archaeological context capable of elucidating the deep history of the Eastern Woodlands as well as long-standing issues surrounding middle-range societies.     

Temporal Patterns in Ceramic Production in the Berbati Valley,Greece

Abstract

This research explores temporal patterns in the procurement of raw materials for ceramic production, based mainly on material recovered in regional survey. The underlying premise is that potters in different cultural phases will preferentially exploit the same geological landscape for the most suitable raw materials, but different materials may be preferred depending upon the potter's technological traditions. A program of petrographic and chemical analyses was carried out on ceramics from the Berbati-Limnes Archaeological Survey, Argolid, Greece. Ceramic fabrics from several cultural phases were studied and compared with patterns of settlement within the valley. The results show that ceramics from regional surveys can be used to identify broad patterns of change in exploitation of the same landscape. In some cases these patterns correlate with changes in settlement and may indicate that different choices in raw material procurement mark the arrival of potters from outside the valley.     

A STUDY OF CHINESE PORCELAIN RAW MATERIALS FOR DING,XING, GONGXIAN AND DEHUA WARES*

The raw material used largely determines the type and quality of porcelain produced. Twenty-three raw materials used for making Ding, Xing, Gongxian and Dehua porcelain bodies were studied using principal component analysis. Results show that for Dehua wares, only one raw material was used. For Ding wares, although there were many possible raw materials, the use of one alone is unlikely. Lingshan clay was the main raw material but it has to be mixed with other raw materials: Pinjiawa clay, quartz, feldspar and dolomite. The Xing pieces can be divided into three groups and Gongxian wares into two groups, which are discussed in detail.     

Slicing Cut Marks on Animal Bones: Diagnostics for Identifying Stone Tool Type and Raw Material

Abstract

Butchering implements leave identifying signatures on bones. From these signatures, it is possible to distinguish the different raw materials and types of chipped stone butchering tools. The results of recent experiments enable us to distinguish the different types of raw materials and tools used in the butchering process, in particular those implements that produce slicing cut marks. Three types of chipped stone tools (blades,flakes, and side scrapers) and raw materials (flint, obsidian, and quartzite), as well as issues relevant to lithic production and use were examined and tested. Silicone molds of cut marks produced by each of the instruments were made and subjected to analysis in light optical and scanning electron microscopes under various levels of magnification. The criteria used for distinguishing tool type, raw material, type of production and use characteristics of the respective cutting instruments are presented, as well as a discussion of the application of the experimental results to the Early Bronze Age I site of Afridar, Israel. The data from Afridar indicate that almost all of the butchering marks on animal bones from the site were made by stone tools, in particular haphazardly-made flakes.     

Ritual practices and collective consumption of animal products at the Iron Age rural settlement of Mas Castellar de Pontós (Girona,Spain) (5th–4th centuries BC)

Abstract

Animals have played an important role in certain ceremonies or rites in the past. During such activities, animals may have been alive, dead or been used as raw material. The disposal of detritus from these practices can lead to the formation of faunal assemblages with a particular taxonomic and anatomic composition. At the Iron Age ‘Mas Castellar de Pontós’ site (Girona, Spain), associations of archaeological materials excavated from Pit feature FS362 were suggestive of deposits arising from collective ceremonial consumption. Analysis of the 1309 mammal remains recovered from this feature is used to determine the nature and dynamics of the ceremony. At the same time, the relationship of these faunal remains with the other archaeological materials recovered in the pit will allow light to be shed on the significance and importance of these ceremonies in the framework of the social and political relations that governed the life of the inhabitants of this settlement.     

Upper Paleolithic raw material economies at Üçağızlı cave, Turkey

This paper addresses variation in lithic raw material economy within the early Upper Paleolithic at Üçağızlı cave (south-central Turkey). The stratigraphic sequence documents some 12,000 years of the early Upper Paleolithic, entailing changes in lithic technology, raw material exploitation, and game use. Although the same lithic raw materials were exploited throughout the sequence to make quite similar ranges of products, there are marked changes in the ways raw materials from different source areas were treated, including patterns of transport and raw material consumption. The concept of technological provisioning is used to understand changing strategies for procuring and managing supplies of flint from different source locations. Shifts in raw material economy are argued to represent responses to changes in residential mobility and the scale/duration of occupations at the cave itself: data on cultural features and foraging strategies provide independent evidence for these shifts in land use. Results have implications for more nuanced approaches to investigating of lithic raw material economies and the significance of “raw material transfers.”     

A MACROSCOPIC INVESTIGATION OF TECHNOLOGICAL STYLE AND THE PRODUCTION OF MIDDLE TO LATE ARCHAIC FISHHOOKS AT THE CHIGGERVILLE,READ, AND BAKER SITES,WESTERN KENTUCKY

Abstract

Manufacturing trajectories represent a series of choices made by artisans in the process of transforming a raw material into a useful object. In some cases these choices explicitly communicate a message; in others, patterned behaviors may result in a kind of technological style that can be used to make inferences about the manufacturer’s identities. Investigation of bone tools from the Chiggerville, Read, and Baker sites in the Green River region of western Kentucky has resulted in the identification of four distinct methods of manufacturing single-piece fishhooks. Additionally, small pointed implements may represent the barbs of composite fishhooks, indicating the use of a technologically distinct fifth style. These fishhook types are interpreted as evidence for the movement of individuals throughout the mid-South in the process of social interaction and exchange and support the hypothesis that Shell Mound Archaic groups in western Kentucky were complex hunter-gatherers.     

A Statistical Study of Lunar Alignments at the Newark Earthworks

Abstract

Previous work has presented evidence that the Circle-Octagon Earthworks at Newark Ohio contain numerous features that are aligned to the lunar standstills (extreme rise and set points of the Moon). A Monte Carlo study of randomly constructed octagons is presented to investigate the statistical significance of this evidence. The study investigates the sensitivity of the statistics to a variety of plausible assumptions about the design of the earthworks, the capabilities of the builders, and the type and precision of the astronomical alignments. The results of the quantitative study establish that the statistical significance of the evidence for deliberate astronomical alignment over the entire range of plausible assumptions is far too high to be dismissed. The study reveals that the hypothesis of deliberate astronomical alignment predicts the otherwise unexplained shape of both octagonal earthworks constructed by the Hopewell Culture. The analysis compares the Newark dataset to hypothetical datasets which have no statistical significance, so that the difference is clearly established. We also show the evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that the astronomical alignments were established from observations made from high points where the effects of local horizons were negligible.     

The Case of the Caldwell Mound: A Woodland Period Mound in the Central Scioto River Valley

ABSTRACT

This article presents a reconstruction and analysis of the Caldwell Mound located in the central Scioto River valley of southern Ohio. The mound contained a log tomb, at least four burials, and associated funerary objects. Four AMS radiocarbon dates place the Caldwell Mound within the last century BC and first century AD, and the mound contains evidence of practices historically associated with “Adena” and “Hopewell.” Few other records exist from this period in the region despite it experiencing perhaps some of the most dramatic socioreligious transformations in precolumbian North America. This analysis documents early evidence for the diversification and segregation of leadership roles based on the interpretation of three buried individuals. It also demonstrates the utility and efficacy of working with amateur-produced records and collections, even when incomplete, to reconstruct and glean insight from important Woodland period sites.     

Early Woodland Upland Encampments of Central Ohio

Abstract

Most published studies of the Early Woodland period (1000 B.C.–200 B.C.) in Ohio have traditionally focused on the mortuary/ceremonial aspects (e.g. mounds) of the latter half of this time period. Less energy, however, has been devoted to nonmortuary sites, such as those that appear in the uplands as surface lithic scatters. In the past decade archaeological studies in central Ohio have yielded a rapidly growing amount of information concerning upland Early Woodland sites. In this article we compare and contrast variability in site structure, flint acquisition and stone tool production, diet, ceramic attributes, and radiocarbon dates from three central Ohio upland sites: President’s Club, 33LI183, and McCauley. Together, these data reveal an emerging pattern of upland site use during the Early Woodland period in central Ohio.     

A New and Extended Case for Lunar (and Solar) Astronomy at the Newark Earthworks

Abstract

The Middle Woodland period Newark Earthworks in Newark, Ohio, are the largest known set of connected, geometrical earthworks ever constructed. An analysis of available evidence (survey, topographical, statistical, and archaeological) shows that the geometry of this Hopewell complex and its relation to the surrounding terrain can be understood in terms of astronomical alignments to the Sun and Moon. The geometrical structure of the site is consistently aligned with extremes in the 18.6-year cycle of lunar standstills. An understanding of the topographical context is presented by identifying four hilltops connected by lunar standstill alignments to long linear features of the Earthworks and connected to each other by alignments to the Sun at the solstices. The number and accuracy of the alignments together with Monte Carlo studies showing the low likelihood of chance producing such results suggest that Newark was aligned with unprecedented accuracy both to regional topographical features and astronomical phenomena.     

Microstructures of Building Materials from Huaca De La Luna,Peru

ABSTRACT

The microstructures of building materials from the archaeological complex of Huaca de la Luna on the northern coast of Peru is assessed for the first time by a multiscale approach. The multiscale microstructural characterization used laboratory techniques including optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray microtomography, and both gas and powder pycnometry. Optical microscopy revealed the presence of organic matter and shell fragments and X-ray microtomography showed differences in the sizes and connectivity of pores. The BET (N₂ gas adsorption) specific surface areas showed greater presence of clayey matrix in the mortars. No significant differences among mortars and brick fragments mineralogy were detected by X-ray diffraction, so the larger amount of fine binding matrix in the mortars suggests that they were produced blending raw material with different grain sizes. The aim of this study is to provide data that can be used for a better understanding of the Moche culture, its construction techniques, and to support conservation strategies of the archaeological heritage.