DIGITAL CEMENTUM LUMINANCE ANALYSIS AND THE HAUA FTEAH HOMININS: HOW SEASONALITY AND SEASON OF USE CHANGED THROUGH TIME*

The importance of environmental seasonality and the seasonal cycling of resources to human populations make studies of human responses to seasonality useful to test hypotheses about short‐ and long‐term changes in human behaviour. This paper utilizes digital dental cementum luminance analysis in order to better understand patterns of the seasons of death of Ammotragus lervia at Haua Fteah, Cyrenaica, and to test whether long‐term climatic changes can be detected in dental cement. The overall pattern of the season of death of A. lervia at Haua Fteah is that of year‐round utilization, with a slight increase over time in A. lervia use during the growth period/summer time. The use of digital cementum luminance analysis (DCLA) to detect changes in the seasonal differences between temperatures indicates a trend for increased seasonality in temperature over the past 40 000 years at Haua Fteah. Furthermore, DCLA patterns in the more recent assemblages indicate a shift to a warmer climate from Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 to MIS 1.     

Site formation processes in caves: The Holocene sediments of the Haua Fteah,Cyrenaica, Libya

Caves have yielded some of the most globally important archaeological sequences, but often their interpretation has suffered from assumptions about cave sedimentary processes. Caves contain distinctive sedimentary environments: this has major implications for the understanding of contained archaeological materials. This paper describes and analyses the Holocene sediments in the Haua Fteah, a sequence regarded as essentially continuous by the original excavator. 50 years after it was first excavated, the Haua's Epipalaeolithic to post-Classical chronological range and rich finds make it still the key Holocene archaeological site in North Africa. The reassessment shows, however, that the sequence is strongly discontinuous and this has major implications for the reinterpretation of the site, as the highly-resolved archaeological record is thus likely to reflect a series of brief occupations, rather than continuous human activity. As with many caves, the sedimentary record in the Haua Fteah is an extremely sensitive indicator of environments and processes in the wider landscape. Secure understanding of sedimentary process, from analysis of the highly individual records found in caves, is essential for full understanding of their contained archaeology.     

Dismantling Dung: Delayed Use of Food Resources among Early Holocene Foragers of the Libyan Sahara

At Uan Afuda, and other Early Holocene sites of the Acacus mountains, in the Libyan Sahara, dung layers and plant accumulation are a major, but repeatedly neglected, feature of hunter-gatherer communities. To understand the formation and meaning of such features, a multidimensional analysis has been undertaken, combining micromorphological, palynological, botanical, archaeozoological, and archaeological data. The hypothesis here formulated is twofold: plant accumulations are evidence of anthropic activity aimed at the storage of fodder; and dung layers are related to a forced penning of a ruminant, very likely Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia). The exploration of these two features has hinted at the existence of a deep reciprocal relationship, which has been interpreted as the cultural control of wild Barbary sheep, leading to a delayed use of food resources. This behavior may be considered an opportunistic strategy adopted to minimize the effects of lean periods and implicates increasing cultural complexity within Late Acacus Saharan forager societies of the 9th millennium B.P.     

Revisiting Neolithic Caprine Exploitation at Suberde,Turkey

Abstract

This paper addresses the nature of sheep and goat exploitation at the Aceramic Neolithic site of Suberde, Turkey. Although previously interpreted as a Neolithic hunters' village, new demographic and measurement data indicate that the sheep and probably goats at Suberde represent the earliest appearance of managed populations in the Bey?ehir region of central Anatolia. Kill-off data indicate that the caprines were carefully selected for slaughter within a narrow age range, while measurement data provide evidence for size diminution, a feature commonly seen in domestic populations. There is no evidence, however, to indicate that caprine management included the intensive culling of young males, a feature which is often considered to be characteristic of herding economies. This divergence from the expectations of various ethnographic models of pastoral management may represent highly localized “experimental” caprine management strategies in the earliest Neolithic settlements of central Anatolia.     

Foddering by Mongolian pastoralists is recorded in the stable carbon (δC) and nitrogen (δN) isotopes of caprine dentinal collagen

Direct identification of fodder provisioning in individual animals is a previously unexplored area that has important implications for determining animal husbandry strategies in prehistory. In this study, foddering practices are examined in modern domestic and wild caprines from Mongolia (Baga Gazar'in Chuluu) through carbon and nitrogen analyses of bulk sampled dentin collagen in molar teeth. Foddered caprines display significantly different δ¹³C values compared to non-provisioned caprines. This pattern reflects the consumption of C₄ plants year-round by provisioned caprines while non-provisioned caprines ingest C₄ plants only during the summer months. Provisioned caprines also display significantly different nitrogen isotopic values relative to non-provisioned animals. The difference in nitrogen isotopes between wild and foddered animals may be due to increased access in quality graze through foddering by domestic caprines, which results in improved nutrition and extended lactation periods, or enriched δ¹⁵N of fodder plants relative to background flora. Differences in tooth wear between sampled wild and foddered animals may also contribute to the observed δ¹⁵N differences.     

New light on early caprine herding strategies from isotope analysis: a case study from Neolithic Anatolia

The measurement of stable carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) isotopes of caprine bone collagen from the Neolithic sites of Çatalhöyük and Aşıklı Höyük in south-central Anatolia have allowed examination of exploitation and herding practices of sheep and goats. The isotope values from protodomestic caprines at Aşıklı Höyük suggests that these animals were consuming very similar foods to each other and were all confined to the same or similar environments with no access to C₄ plants. At Çatalhöyük, the results show how the caprine management strategy develops from the strategy seen at Aşıklı Höyük into a more varied practice at an early stage as the site grows with an increasing dietary contribution obtained from C₄ plants. No change in diet is isotopically discernible at Aşıklı Höyük. Interestingly, no distinction could be made between the diets of sheep and goats at either site. Therefore, such studies are a useful method of examining the development of early herding or management strategies of caprines in the Near East.     

Distinguishing between archaeological sheep and goat bones using a single collagen peptide

We describe a method of isolating and analyzing a single collagen peptide able to distinguish between sheep and goat bone collagen. The 33 amino acid peptide from both sheep and goat collagen was sequenced and shown to differ between the two species at two positions. Analysis of a range of caprines indicated that the sequence changes occurred between the divergence of the Himalayan tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus) and the ibex (Capra ibex) and that the proposed goat marker is diagnostic of all Capra species and breeds. The survival of these markers in archaeological bones was tested using a set of 26 ovicaprid specimens from Domuztepe, a Neolithic site in south central Turkey. These markers were used to test the osteological determination of 24 of the Domuztepe bones, and determine the species for two immature specimens. The collagen-peptide method has advantages over other non-morphological methods of sheep/goat distinction because of the long-term survival of collagen over other biomolecules such as ancient DNA. The results also highlighted the problems in relying upon one morphological criterion, in this case on the distal radius, to distinguish between sheep and goat bones.     

The radiocarbon reservoir effect: new evidence from the cemeteries of the middle and lower Dnieper basin,Ukraine

This paper presents preliminary results of new radiocarbon dating of human, faunal and fish skeletal remains from a number of the cemeteries from the Middle and Lower Dnieper Basin, Ukraine. The results appear to demonstrate the presence of a radiocarbon reservoir effect during the Neolithic–Eneolithic periods, the first time that this has been identified in this region. The data indicate that the radiocarbon reservoir effect is currently only evident during these periods, and not in the earlier Epipalaeolithic–Mesolithic periods, prompting the suggestion that the radiocarbon reservoir effect is associated with elevated fish consumption from the Neolithic period onwards.     

Seasonality and season of birth of modern and late Neolithic sheep from south-eastern France using tooth enamel δO analysis

Stable oxygen isotopic analysis of tooth enamel was used to investigate seasonality and season of birth in sheep. Analyses were performed on the teeth of eight modern sheep bred at the Carmejane farm in south-eastern France and born in different periods of the year. This reference data set confirms that oxygen isotopic records in the second and third molars can be used to differentiate between sheep born in late winter and those born in early autumn. The results show that inter-individual variability in the timing of tooth formation is low for the second lower molar and more pronounced for the third lower molar in this population. The duration of the process of enamel mineralization has been estimated at approximately six months. The teeth of four sheep and two goats from the late Neolithic site of Collet-Redon in south-eastern France were analyzed using the same methodology. At this site, lambing occurred between the late winter and early spring. A slight difference appears in the seasonal sequence recorded in sheep and goat, although it cannot be determined, whether this is due to different timing of tooth development, or an actual shift in the birth period. From the distribution of slaughter ages and birth period, it is suggested that domestic caprines were killed throughout the year and that Collet-Redon was probably a permanent settlement.     

Pollen analysis of core DS7-1SC (Dead Sea) showing intertwined effects of climatic change and human activities in the Late Holocene

The Dead Sea sediment holds the archives of a complex relationship between ever-changing nature and ancient civilisations. Here the detailed pollen analyses of core DS7-1SC (off-Ein-Gedi) are presented for the first time. The record covers the last 2500 years. The facies changes from halite (when no freshwater flows in the Dead Sea) to laminites (when rainfall provides sufficient inflow for the Jordan and subsidiary rivers) a couple of times through the record. The pollen diagram (supported by the facies change) shows a wetter Roman-Byzantine period, which allowed intensive arboriculture and a wetter period at the end of the XIXth and beginning of the XXth centuries, the latter in good relation with historical and instrumental data. Based on radiocarbon chronologies on several pollen diagrams along the western Dead Sea shore, the transition to drier climates and the transition to pastoralism are suggested to take place between a few decades before the Islamic period and close to this transition.     

Re-examination of the Zone I Material from Tamar Hat (Algeria): Zooarchaeological and Technofunctional Analyses

New analyses of faunal and lithic remains from stratigraphic Zone I (the top 15 layers) of the Iberomaurusian site of Tamar Hat, provide new data for understanding the function of this site and various activities carried out there. The occupation of Tamar Hat Zone I occurred in a prevailing mountainous environment which especially favoured game such as Barbary sheep. Zooarchaeological study of mammal remains revealed behaviours and technical processes which are related to hunting activity and the various stages of processing and butchering these animals. In addition, a technofunctional analysis of the backed bladelets indicates impact damage typical of the kind produced on projectile points used in hunting. Strong similarities in techniques and behaviours were observed in all of the occupation phases of Zone I.     

Early Cotswold woodland

Many “wold” names are derived from the OE wald, meaning “woodland”. In a recent paper Everitt examined the evidence for Kent and suggested that areas of wold downland had been wooded in the Anglo-Saxon period. They had also been territorially linked to river-estates as areas of outlying wood-pasture. The present paper examines the evidence for the Cotswolds. Here the name “wold” is applied to an area which was largely open pasture by the medieval period and the use of the term in its later sense of “high, open country” would not have been out of place. Yet the evidence from early place-names and pre-Conquest charters suggests that a great deal of woodland was present in the Anglo-Saxon period, especially in the valleys dissecting the escarpment and along the scarp face. Although this was a watershed area, divided between adjacent valley-based estates, as in Kent, there is little direct evidence here of an early interest in woodland-pasture. The importance of the area seems to have arisen in the middle and later Anglo-Saxon period as a result of an increased use of the upland for sheep pasture. Nevertheless, the term “wold” seems to date from an earlier period when woodland was indeed extensive.     

Holey Goats: Multiple Cases of Supratrochlear Foramina in the Humerus of Caprines from the New Kingdom Pharaonic Town of Amara West,Northern Sudan

Supratrochlear foramina (STF) were recorded in fifteen per cent of goat and sheep/goat humeri from the New Kingdom pharaonic town of Amara West, in modern northern Sudan. To the authors’ knowledge, this trait has never before been reported in the published literature for goats or sheep, whether from archaeological or modern contexts. The aim of this work is twofold: to contribute to the growing corpus of studies addressing the incidence and aetiology of STF, and to raise awareness for their possible presence in caprines, thus encouraging their identification and recording in archaeological assemblages.     

An Early Pleistocene Phytolith Record from Wonderwerk Cave,Northern Cape,South Africa

Grass silica short cell phytoliths were sampled from the four lowermost archaeological strata in excavation 1 at Wonderwerk Cave and offer an independent record of climatic change during an episode of Early Stone Age hominin occupation at the cave. Linked to differences in growing season temperature and the geographic distribution of C₃ and C₄ grasses in southern Africa, fossil grass phytoliths were used to trace palaeoenvironmental shifts at the site. The results suggest that Early Pleistocene environmental conditions at the cave fluctuated: between wetter and drier summer–rainfall growing conditions (C₄) towards the end of the Olduvai subchron and the beginning of the subsequent interval of reversed polarity, to mostly dry and cooler winter–rainfall growing conditions (C₃), that continued throughout the interval. It ended with a shift towards increased summer rainfall aridity at around one million years ago. The fluctuation between markedly wetter and drier C₄ conditions at the cave (NADP-me grass types vs. NAD-me grass types) does not support the premise that the expansion of C₄ grasslands was always coupled with increased aridity.     

PATTERNS OF DIURNAL VARIATION OF GROWING SEASON PRECIPITATION ON THE CANADIAN PRAIRIES: A HARMONIC ANALYSIS

We analyze the spatial variation in diurnal daytime-nighttime precipitation amounts and event frequency, using 24 years (1965-88) of hourly growing season precipitation records for 24 stations on the Canadian Prairies. Harmonic analysis indicates that both maximum amount of precipitation and maximum frequency of precipitation events occur during late night to early morning throughout the agricultural areas. Comparison of drier and wetter season precipitation patterns indicates further that the nocturnal maximum is weak in the drier and strong in the wetter growing seasons. Identification of these patterns might be helpful for more reliable forecasting of not onlyprecipitation probabilities for various times of day during the growing season in general, but also those for drier vs. wetter seasons in particular.
Nous analysons la variation spatiale de la frequence et de la quantitk depre'cipitations diurnales utilisant des observationsCchelonne'essurunepe'riode de24 anne'es (I 965- 88) et recueillies toutes les heures durant la saison de croissance pour 24 stations des prairies Canadiennes. Une analyse harmonique rnontre qu'ti travers ces re'gions agricoles, la quantite' rnaxirnale de pre'cipitations ainsi que la frkquence rnaxirnale de ces evhernents seproduisent tard la nuit jusqu'ti t8t le rnatin. De plus, la cornparaison des rnoddes de prtkipitations recueillis durant les saisons les plus sPches et les plus hurnides rnontre que le rnaxirnurn nocturne est faible durant les saisons les plus seches et Clev6 durant les saisons les plus hurnides. L'identification de ces tendences devrait aider ti I'elaboration de predictions plus exactes concernant non seulernent les probabilite's de prkcipitations ti toute heuredu jour et de la nuit durant la saison de croissance, mais aussi, et plus particulisrernent, les probabilite's de precipitations attache'es ti I'identification des saisons les plus seches et des saisons les plus hurnides.     

Absolute age and tooth eruption and wear sequences in sheep and goat: determining age-at-death in zooarchaeology using a modern control sample

This paper seeks to improve our understanding of the relationship between mandibular tooth eruption and wear sequences and absolute age in modern sheep and goat. While the relationship between tooth eruption and wear and absolute age has been investigated for primitive breeds in parts of the Old World, our pilot study extends the applicability of this research to modern breeds and to another geographic region (North America). A modern control sample of two species of domestic caprines – Ovis aries (sheep) and Capra hircus (goats) from Manitoba, Canada – are used to evaluate the two major systems for analyzing mandibular tooth wear and eruption (Payne and Grant) and for assigning an absolute age-at-death. In order to compare the two systems, an absolute age for Grant's Mandibular Wear Stages was established for the first time, previously demonstrated only for Payne's system. The analysis confirmed that there is a very high correlation between the known age and estimated age based on tooth eruption and wear. However, Payne's system generated far coarser age-at-death profiles, which lowers its utility in constructing harvest profiles. Grant's system is recommended for ageing be utilized since it can yield more sensitive age estimations. In conclusion, it is possible to utilize the modern caprine breeds to establish the relationship between tooth eruption and wear and absolute age to reconstruct age and season of death of archaeological samples.     

Droughts as random events in the Maya lowlands

Because the values of most of the parameters controlling the occurrence and severity of a drought in a given location are unknown, and no periodicity has been observed, droughts can be considered random events. Running a random number generator within the limits of the annual rainfall variability relevant to the Maya lowlands, and defining a “Lean Year”, it is observed that strings of lean years occur quite frequently. Defining “Severe Drought”, “Disaster”, and “Catastrophe” based on the length of these strings, it is observed that a severe drought occurs on average every 32 years, a disaster occurs on average every 130 years, and a catastrophe on average every 500 years. These values fit the measured variability of the Yucatan climate, as observed in lake core sediments and in the post conquest written records. It also fits the average occurrence of “megadroughts” in the US Great Plains.The fit between the random occurrence model and the actual, “measured” occurrence of droughts supports the notion that for all practical purposes, droughts had been random events in the Maya region and could not be predicted. The lack of evident periodicity could be one of the reasons why means for long-term storage of food products were not developed there. It may also have affected the relationship between the priesthood and the general populace in that region.Since the method described here can be applied to any climatic region once the rainfall variability and the sensitivity of the local agriculture are known or can be estimated, if similar results are found they may probably have affected other regions with other ancient cultures in a similar way.     

FOCUS: The Scapula Representation could be the Key: A Further Contribution to the ‘Klasies Pattern’ Debate

Past discussion on the unusual skeletal part representations at Klasies River Mouth is briefly summarized. Recent discussion in this journal, regarding the “Klasies Pattern”, has focused upon the differential destruction of small and large bovid bone epiphyses by carnivore ravaging and density-mediated attrition. Bartram & Marean (1999) argue, from ethnoarchaeological study and consideration of other archaeological sites, that, unless shaft fragments are painstakingly identified, the upper limb bone epiphyses of large bovids will be seriously under-represented. They therefore suggest that the “Klasies Pattern” is likely to be artefact of taphonomic and analytical processes. Klein, Cruz-Uribe & Milo (1999) replied with a defence of the analytical procedures employed during the original Klasies River Mouth analysis. They also state that there was very little evidence of carnivore ravaging at Klasies River Mouth. In this paper, it is pointed out that Bartram & Marean's (1999) study only considered the humerus, radius, femur, tibia and metapodia. However, in the “Klasies Pattern” it is the scapula that is most notably abundant in the small bovid classes and most notably scarce in the large bovid classes. It is argued that, from the study of bone mineral densities and Brain's (1981) carnivore ravaging experiment, there is no reason to expect a differentially greater taphonomic destruction of large bovid scapulae. In fact, exactly the reverse may be true. It is therefore argued that at least this aspect of the “Klasies Pattern” must be considered to represent human differential bone transport, rather than an artefact of taphonomic processes.     

DNA analysis of archaeological sheep remains from China

Recent research has thrown considerable light on the history of the domestic sheep, but has not extended to ancient sheep specimens. In the present study, ancient DNA analysis was carried out on eight archaeological sheep remains recovered from Erlitou archaeological site in Henan Province (ca. 2100–1800 B.C.) to explore the genetic structure of ancient sheep and the phylogenetic relationship between ancient and modern sheep. We analyzed the control region sequences and coding regions of mitochondrial DNA from the remains by direct sequencing and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis, respectively. Our results reveal that all ancient sheep belong to lineage A defined by modern sheep sequences. Phylogenetic analysis shows that neither argali (Ovis ammon) nor urial (Ovis vignei) mtDNA is closely related to Erlitou ancient sheep. In addition, our results suggest that ancient DNA analysis can serve as a powerful tool in tracing prehistoric population movement.     

Pollen analytical investigations at Crosby Warren, Lincolnshire, in the Vicinity of the iron age and Romano-British settlement of Dragonby

Open-cast ironstone mining at Crosby Warren, near Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire exposed an extensive section through “cover sand” deposits. revealing buried podzol soils and peat layers. Stratigraphic studies, pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating have been carried out on three representative profiles. From these investigations it would appear that the “cover sands” in this area were stabilized under mixed oak woodland by c. 300 BC. After c. 100 BC woodland clearance and farming activities have been distinguished. Local alterations in land-use may be linked with cultural developments at the nearby Iron Age and Romano-British settlement of Dragonby. It is suggested that the impact of man upon the vegetation during Iron Age and Romano-British times probably facilitated podzolization and sand blowing.