Sourcing archaeological bitumen in the Olmec region

Prehispanic Mesoamerican peoples collected, processed, and used bitumen for decoration, sealant, and adhesive. Among the earliest to do so were the Olmec (1200–500 b.c.) of Mexico's southern Gulf coastal lowlands. Geochemical analysis of bitumen from Olmec archaeological contexts as well as from seeps in the Olmec region reveals that seeps can be geochemically differentiated and can be correlated with archaeological samples. Groups of sites with chemically different archaeological bitumen indicate multiple procurement networks reflecting complex regional systems of exchange and interaction. Organic geochemical analysis of bitumen provides a new tool to study procurement strategies and exchange patterns in Mesoamerica.     

In the Land of Olmec Archaeology

Abstract

Michael D. Coe and Richard A. Diehl, In the Land of the Olmec, two volumes plus maps. Volume I, The Archaeology of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, 416 pp.; Volume II, The People of the River, 198 pp. The University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas 1980. 100.00.

The recent publication of a comprehensive report describing the excavations at San Lorenzo, Tabasco, Mexico, In the Land of the Olmec by Michael D. Coe and Richard A. Diehl, provides a significant contribution to Mesoamerican archaeology and a suitable opportunity to review the present status of Olmec studies. The development of Olmec archaeology is a relatively recent phenomenon, with the modern era of research beginning with Matthew Stirling's surveys and excavations at several sites in Mexico's Gulf Coast region (1938–1946), and continuing with the University of California at Berkeley's excavations at the site of La Venta in the mid-1950s. The report by Coe and Diehl of the San Lorenzo investigations (1966–1968) adds considerably to our understanding of the origins and other aspects of Olmec civilization. These contributions, together with several continuing gaps in our knowledge, are reviewed by a resume of Olmec chronology, archaeological remains, external connections, and the implications of the Olmec for the evolution of Mesoamerican civilization.     

Olmec archaeology: A half century of research and its accomplishments

The Olmec of Mexico's southern Gulf coast (3100-2450 B.P.) are the most famed of Formative period Mesoamerica's early complex cultures, and are particularly noted for their elaborate stone monuments. After five decades of research, scholars remain in sharp disagreement on what the archaeological record means with regard to the impact the Olmec had on social and political evolution in Mesoamerica. A discussion of interpretive problems and a review of 50 years of Olmec archaeology illustrates reasons for the disagreements, as well as the type, quantity, and quality of data that have been recovered from excavations. Those show that, until recently, knowledge of the Olmec has been based primarily on two limited pre-1970 data sets. New research is discussed, and topical issues in Olmec archaeology are treated in detail.     

Settlement and subsistence among the Early Formative Gulf Olmec

Mounting archaeological evidence suggests that floodplain resources, not maize (Zea mays) agriculture, were instrumental in the emergence of Early Formative (ca. 1500–900 uncal BC) complexity across Mesoamerica’s isthmian lowlands. The lion’s share of these data derives from the Pacific side of the isthmus; discussions of the Early Formative Olmec along Mexico’s southern Gulf lowlands have not kept pace. This paper presents settlement and subsistence data that highlight the role of floodplain resources in the development of Gulf Olmec politico-economic complexity. These data support a non-agricultural alternative to traditional models of Gulf Olmec emergence at San Lorenzo, the premier Early Formative Gulf lowlands center. Increased productivity of maize toward the end of the Early Formative period challenged San Lorenzo’s extant politico-economic basis, bringing about a short-term, hyper-acceleration of elite competitive displays. Ultimately, the adoption of maize agriculture generated a reorganized Middle Formative period (ca. 900–400 uncal BC) landscape in and around San Lorenzo. This agrarian adjustment saw occupation move out of the floodplain and into the upland areas, a process sometimes characterized as a cataclysmic system collapse in the Coatzacoalcos basin.     

Applying GIS tools to define prehistoric megalith transport route corridors: Olmec megalith transport routes: a case study

Applying spatial data management and analytical tools is an accepted method for investigating potential settlement patterns. This study applied Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to the study of Preclassic Olmec megalith transport in Mesoamerica. The GIS slope gradient tool was used to identify potential transport corridors with gradients of less that 1:10, which defines the limit of human effort needed to control these stones as demonstrated in ethnographic and replication experiments by various researchers. These outcomes were also used to refine transportation methods and likely start points that would be used to cross lowlands near to the San Lorenzo centre of Olmec society.     

Use of stone hammer tools and anvils by bearded capuchin monkeys over time and space: construction of an archeological record of tool use

Wild bearded capuchins (Sapajus libidinosus) in the cerrado (seasonally dry savannah-like region) of Brazil routinely crack open several species of palm nuts and other hard encased fruits and seeds on level surfaces (anvils) using stones as hammers. At our field site, their nut cracking activity leaves enduring diagnostic physical remains: distinctive shallow depressions (pits) on the surface of the anvil, and cracked shells and stone hammer(s) on or next to the anvil. A monthly survey of the physical remains of percussive tool use at 58 anvils in our study site over a 36-month period revealed repeated use, seasonal consistency, temporal variation, landscape-scale patterning, appearance of new hammers and transport of existing hammers to new anvil sites. Artefactual evidence of the temporal and spatial pattern of tool use collected in the survey is in correspondence with concurrent direct observation of monkeys using and transporting tools at this site. Shell fragments endure for years above ground, suggesting that they may also endure in the strata around anvil sites. The bearded capuchins provide an opportunity to study the construction of percussive tool sites suitable for archeological investigation concurrently with the behavior responsible for the construction of these sites. We suggest several lines of inquiry into tool sites created by capuchin monkeys that may be useful to interpret the archeological evidence of percussive tool use in early humans. Archeologists should be aware that transported stone materials and artificial durable landscape features may be the result of activity by non-human animals.     

Excavations at E1 Remolino: Household Archaeology in the San Lorenzo Olmec Region

Abstract

Studies on the Olmec frequently focus on large centers and monumental works of art, often ignoring the important role of peripheral sites in regional hierarchies. Recent investigations at the Early Formative period (900–1500 b.c., uncorrected radiocarbon years) site of El Remolino help balance this “elite centered” focus by collecting household and community level data at a habitation area away from the regional center of San Lorenzo. Subsurface testing and extensive excavations produced evidence of living surfaces, features, and refuse disposal patterns, which together with phytolith data improve our understanding of a lower order Olmec site. El Remolino was established in the San Lorenzo phase as a permanent settlement whose inhabitants pursued fishing, hunting, gathering, and plant cultivation. The degree to which this site was politically or economically dependent on the elite center of San Lorenzo is unknown.     

THOUGHTS ON THE UTILITY OF A BIVARIATE‐SPLITTING APPROACH TO OLMEC CERAMIC DATA INTERPRETATION*

A recently resolved debate centred on the interpretation of a major set of INAA data that was based on Olmec ceramics from Mexico. In an attempt to answer questions arising from the debate, this paper discusses the effect of numbers of samples chosen for data interpretation. It also presents interpretations of the ceramic data set based on a bivariate data‐splitting approach and compares the results of this with the multivariate analysis approaches employed by the initial publishers of the data.     

Early Olmec obsidian trade and economic organization at San Lorenzo

The Olmec were the first complex society to develop in Mesoamerica between 1800 and 600 cal B.C. The earliest large Olmec center during this period was the archaeological site of San Lorenzo which emerged as Mesoamerica's first large ritual and political center between 1400 and 1000 cal B.C. San Lorenzo's growth as a prominent center included the development of long distance trade relationships with adjacent areas of Guatemala and highland Mexico. High precision chemical analysis of obsidian imported for use in the fabrication of cutting tools is used to reconstruct the growth, size and extent of San Lorenzo's interregional exchange networks with areas of Mexico and Guatemala where obsidian occurs as raw material. A total of 852 obsidian artifacts were analyzed to reconstruct changes in obsidian procurement between 1800 and 800 cal B.C. This represents one of the largest samples of sourced obsidian from a Mesoamerican site and it provides a comprehensive picture for the development of interregional trade networks for Mesoamerica's first large Olmec center.     

Molecular evidence of bitumen in the Mousterian lithic assemblage of Hummal (Central Syria)

Evidence for bitumen use in Middle Palaeolithic sites is an exception in Pleistocene archaeology. This paper presents the discovery of three tar-bearing Levallois artefacts found in the Mousterian sequence in Hummal (Central Syria). The organic residues were submitted to geochemical study. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analyses of saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons and isotopic data show the presence of bitumen. The most likely location of natural asphalt provisioning is the Shaaf outcrop in the Bichri desert. The bitumen-bearing stone tools add further important data to the growing knowledge about bitumen processing in the Middle Palaeolithic spring sites of El Kowm. Identification of the provisioning place for natural asphalt enables a more precise assumption about the site's catchment area. From a technological point of view, the tar-bearing specimens provide information on the range of tool forms selected for hafting. Ballistic features arguably indicate that the pointed Levallois blanks seem to be spear points that were fitted to a wooden handle. In at least one case, this technical procedure was seemingly executed during a brief episode of occupation and replacement of worn out implements. This small, bracketed window of detailed insight into Mousterian technology is linked with the more general relationship between Levallois technology and stone tool hafting.     

Hunter–gatherer movement patterns: Causes and constraints

The study of hunter–gatherer mobility patterns is of vital importance to our understanding of the paleolithic archeological record. Such patterns necessarily comprise many interacting locales, and it is at the landscape scale that we should attempt to understand the relationship between ethnographic and archeological data. This paper derives, quantifies and tests a series of basic predictions about the effects of group size, occupation duration and habitat quality on mobility strategies using a substantial ethnographic dataset. The results demonstrate that habitat quality is the best determinant of move distances among hunter–gatherers, but that occupation duration also has an effect among those foragers who rely principally on hunting. It is suggested that three roughly concentric zones, the limit of scatter, the foraging radius, and the logistic radius, are predicted by group size and occupation duration, habitat quality, and proportions of hunting and logistical mobility, respectively. The relevance of these conclusions to more generic ecological theory is discussed in the context of evolutionary forces acting on hunter–gatherer mobility in prehistory.     

A geochemical study of bituminous mixtures from Failaka and Umm an-Namel (Kuwait), from the Early Dilmun to the Early Islamic period

This paper is the last in a series presenting geochemical analyses of fragments of bituminous mixtures excavated from archaeological sites in Kuwait. The first was devoted to bituminous boat remains from the Ubaid‐related Neolithic site of H3, As‐Sabiyah, while the second dealt with bituminous amalgams from the Partho‐Sasanian site of ^cAkkaz, a former island now joined to the south side of Kuwait Bay. This, the third, refers to bitumen‐bearing samples from two other islands, Failaka and Umm an‐Namel, and covers a time span including the Early Dilmun period, the Kassite period and the Hellenistic to Early Islamic periods. The composition of the bituminous amalgams was studied in detail. The proportions of soluble and insoluble organic matter as well as vegetal organic matter were evaluated. Mineralogical composition by X‐Ray diffraction and thin‐section analysis was used to estimate the mineral input in the bituminous mixtures. It can be confirmed that the recipes used in the preparation of these bituminous amalgams comply with those traditionally used in antiquity, as seen at many sites in Mesopotamia and the Gulf. Analysis of the soluble organic matter, and especially its ‘‘saturates’’ fraction, provided sterane and terpane distributions and the measurement of diagnostic molecular ratios. These data, complemented by the isotopic composition of asphaltenes, allowed the identification of the sources of the bitumen, by calibration with numerous references from Iran and northern Iraq (oil seeps, bitumen from archaeological sites). It was established that the bitumen from Failaka and Umm an‐Namel was mainly imported from central Iraq (Hit‐Abu Jir) and northern Iraq (around Mosul). One sample of oil‐stained sand, dating to the Early Dilmun period, originated from Burgan and thus documents small‐scale imports from inland Kuwait. These results, and those of previous analyses, agree with the geopolitical context of the Early Dilmun, Kassite and Hellenistic periods, and the maritime trade routes that linked Mesopotamia to the settlements of the Gulf and beyond. The paper concludes with an overview of recent bitumen provenance analyses, and discerns chronological patterns in the distribution of Iraqi and Iranian bitumen in the Gulf and Indian Ocean, from the Neolithic to the Islamic periods.     

Cultural and trade practices in Sincu Bara (Senegal): a multi-proxy investigation

The Sincu Bara site in Senegal is one of the most famous archeological sites in Western Africa. Here we present the results of a multi-proxy study that combined microscopic analyses, carbon content, stable carbon isotope (δ¹³C) and radiocarbon (¹⁴C) measurements. This investigation exhibits a chronological framework in two phases: from 400 yr AD to 650 yr AD and 650 yr AD to 900 yr AD. Furthermore, it shows that besides basic potteries, some potsherds are notable for a temper exclusively made with human-harvested C4 plants. Finally, the ¹⁴C analysis performed on the organic slip strongly indicates the use of bitumen or bitumen-derived products for red slip preparation. This suggests the establishment of trade relationships with Nigerian and/or Trans-Saharan populations as early as 400 yr AD.     

Pollen Extraction for Arid-land Sediments

Abstract

Critical examination of traditional extraction procedures employed to recover pollen from a variety of archeological contexts demonstrated the inadequacy of many such techniques. Particularly in arid zones, where pollen preservation is notoriously poor, inappropriate laboratory analysis acts to distort grains further. A satisfactory methodology for pollen samples recovered from areas subjected to such deteriorating effects as oxidation and weathering is essential for archeologists attempting to reconstruct prehistoric environments. A new extraction methodology harmless to pollen grains, yielding excellent pollen counts and preservation from archeological soils was, therefore, experimentally developed for arid-land sediments.     

The potential of paleoethnobotanical evidence for the study of Teotihuacan foodways

Macro- and microscopic plant remains recovered from excavations at Teotihuacan over several decades contribute to an understanding of the subsistence resources available to the city’s inhabitants. However, associated contextual evidence may be inconclusive regarding the specific uses of the plants in question and, particularly, whether their presence or relative abundance indicates processing and consumption or the consequence of depositional processes. While the analysis of archeological plant remains is necessarily an interdisciplinary endeavor, involving aspects of botany, ecology, ethnography and history among other disciplines, contextual archeological evidence provides the matrix for interpretation. In this paper, we explore direct archeological evidence for plant use, considering the significance of appropriate contextual evidence (e.g., activity areas, associated ceramics, lithics, etc.) and the potential complementary role of analytical techniques such as residue analyses, and carbon isotope signatures in faunal and human osteological remains as well as stratigraphic sediments.     

Archeometric characterization of prehistoric grindstones from Milazzo Bronze Age settlement (Sicily,Italy)

The results of a petrographic and geochemical study carried out on archeological grindstones allow to provide new constraints on protohistoric commercial exchanges over the Mediterranean area. Eleven grindstones, discovered in an archeological site located in Milazzo (Messina, Sicily) and dated from the Early Bronze Age, have been investigated by geochemical and petrographic techniques. The raw materials are mainly volcanic rocks characterized by calc-alkaline and K-alkaline affinities with volcanic arc geochemical signature. Only one sample, made of basalt belonging to the Na-alkaline series, shows an intraplate signature. The comparison with the available literature data for similar rocks allowed constraining the volcanic origin of the exploited lavas. While the intraplate-type raw material came from Mt. Etna Volcano (Sicily), the arc-type volcanic rocks are mostly trachyandesites, basaltic andesites, and one rhyolite. Although most of them come from the Aeolian Arc, a provenance of some samples from the Aegean Arc cannot be excluded. This last region could represent the most probable provenance area for the rhyolite sample.     

Sources of lithic material procurement in Estancia La Suiza archeological locality (San Luis, Argentina)

The present study is the first step in the elaboration of a regional base of lithic resources for an area located in the northeastern San Luis province, Argentina. Within this area lies the Estancia La Suiza archeological locality, near the hills of Sierra de la Estanzuela, where prehistoric quarry workshops have been identified. The main objective of this work was to explore the use of the different raw materials by prehistoric groups. The general geological setting of the hills of Sierra de la Estanzuela is described, and a distribution of raw material in the area is proposed. The principal sources of lithic material procurement representing the archeological record were identified, and lithic types were quantified and classified. Finally, the lithic material recovered from the Estancia La Suiza 2 quarry was characterized; the results show that the artifacts correspond to the earliest stages of production.     

Multiply Situated Strategies? Multi-Sited Ethnography and Archeology

Recent literature hails George Marcus’ multi-sited ethnographic strategy as a potentially useful approach for juxtaposing relations that transcend conventional spatiotemporal boundaries of archeological sites. Emerging from these discussions is what has been labeled multi-sited archeology, adapted from multi-sited ethnography to serve archeologists’ interests in comparing locales, multi-scalar connections, and local–global relations. Following a brief overview of multi-sited ethnographic principles, a review of the archeological literature exposes how archeologists are increasingly engaged with parts of multi-sited ethnography in practice, but in ways that remain, in our critical discussions, largely disengaged with the genealogy and idiosyncrasies of the approach’s foundational elements. Convergences and disjunctures between multi-sited strategies in ethnographic and in archeological practice are explored; these provide the basis for suggesting what might be a multi-sited archeology, illustrated here by a case study about the early New England iron industry. While multi-sited ethnography clearly cannot be a copy-and-paste application in archeology, its distinctiveness and usefulness in archeological comparisons is open to debate.     

Pottery politics: Late Classic Maya palace production at Motul de San José, Petén,Guatemala

Archeologists often rely heavily on stone monuments, architecture, settlement patterns, and written texts to reconstruct ancient political systems. In this paper we focus on the role of polychrome pottery as both a reflection of and critical component in the production of power relations. We present rare direct evidence of polychrome pottery production recovered from the Maya site of Motul de San José, the presumed Late Classic (ca. 600–900 AD) capital of the epigraphically-recognized Ik’ polity. Our contextual analysis of production debris and tools complement on-going polychrome vessel style and chemical analyses of Ik’ Style polychrome vessels to suggest that Motul de San José’s royal court was an important center in the manufacture of Ik’ Style polychrome pottery. These elaborate vessels indexed the political history, power, and networks of the Ik’ polity. By combining archeological, iconographic, and epigraphic data of polychrome pottery, we shed light on Motul de San José’s internal political-economic dynamics as well as its macro-political alliances and tensions with other polities.