CAROLINA BAYS: TIME CAPSULES OF CULTURE AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Abstract

We synthesize results of extensive archaeological surveys and geoarchaeological investigations of Carolina bays and other depressional wetlands on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS). The SRS is located along the Savannah River in the upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina. These data are augmented with data from Carolina bays elsewhere within their middle to south Atlantic Coastal Plain range. Carolina bays are shallow, oriented upland ponds that formed during the late Pleistocene under climatic conditions very different from present. Their use by prehistoric populations was most intensive during the Paleoindian and Archaic periods. Subsequent use by Woodland and Mississippian populations tended to be ephemeral. Change through time in the prehistoric use of Carolina bays and other depressional wetlands is linked to regional-scale changes in climate, particularly to the hydrologic regime.     

Clovis biface technology at the Topper site,South Carolina: evidence for variation and technological flexibility

The Topper site in the South Atlantic Coastal Plain of South Carolina provides a rare glimpse of the entire range of Clovis tool manufacture. Topper is a quarry-related site along the Savannah River with an outcrop of Coastal Plain chert and a buried Clovis component. This paper focuses on the 174 bifaces and diagnostic debitage from recent excavations to understand biface production at Topper. I present the process of manufacture then measure the variation in production characteristics at the site in terms of our current knowledge of Clovis biface technology. I conclude that Topper flintknappers used reduction strategies typical of Clovis-period tool production but created a biface assemblage with greater flexibility in design than documented at most other Clovis sites. This variation in biface production suggests greater variability in Clovis behavior across America—Clovis groups adapted to local resource conditions and adjusted the organization of their technology accordingly.     

PINE BARRENS AND POSSUM’S RATIONS: EARLY ARCHAIC SETTLEMENT IN THE NORTH CAROLINA SANDHILLS

Abstract

Competing models of Early Archaic settlement in the Southeast propose broad-scale organization conditioned by either lithic raw material availability or seasonal exploitation of biotic resources and social interaction. We offer a view from beyond the quarries and away from the river with data from the North Carolina Sandhills, a unique physiographic zone of the interior Coastal Plain. Analysis of the distribution of Early Archaic sites at Fort Bragg, including posited upland base camps, raw material use, and application of GIS least-cost path analysis, suggests intensive interriverine settlement, with watershed divides serving as conveyance corridors between high-quality toolstone areas in the Piedmont and resource blooms in the Coastal Plain. Some settlement changes are evident within the Early Archaic sequence, including a gradual shift from logistical to residential mobility and infilling of the local landscape. In the proposed Sandhills model, biocultural needs, social interaction, and requirements for high-quality toolstone are identified at the local band level. Mobility and settlement are considered to be broadly structured by networks of interriverine trails between the major resource areas of the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. Aspects of both the bandmacroband model and Uwharrie-Allendale model apply to the Early Archaic record of the Sandhills, but with closer affinities to the latter.     

Tethered mobility and riparian resource exploitation among Neolithic hunters and herders in the Galana River basin,Kenyan coastal lowlands

Abstract

Human activity along the Galana River inside Tsavo National Park, Kenya extends from 6000 years BP until at least 1300 years BP. This time period in East Africa predates and includes the Pastoral Neolithic – geographically and temporally linked early cattle-herding cultures comprised of autonomous communities with loose cultural connections to one another. Data from some sites located in the Great Rift Valley, Lake Victoria Basin and Central Kenyan Highlands indicate that after 3000 years BP, residential mobility patterns increased and pastoralists adopted a strong dependence on maintaining and culling herds of domesticated animals. This pattern is not borne out in Tsavo, where artefact analyses indicate that people had restricted mobility and relied primarily on exploitation of an endoaquatic resource base. This study hypothesises that subdecadal periodicity in El Niño/Southern Oscillation index (ENSO) along with a general trend toward aridification of East African landscapes provided the environmental backdrop for a subsistence regime focused primarily within riparian environments of the Coastal Lowlands region.     

Chinook Salmon,Late Holocene Climate Change,and the Occupational History of Kettle Falls,a Columbia River Fishing Station

ABSTRACT

Kettle Falls, located 1125?km from the mouth of the Columbia River in present-day Washington State (USA), was the second-most important salmon fishing and trading locus on that river in the early historic era. We encapsulate the late Holocene history of the fishery by deriving a summed probability distribution function (SPDF) from 50 radiocarbon ages from 13 archaeological sites within 2?km of the falls. When compared to an SPDF from 307 sites from elsewhere on the Columbia Plateau, and a null model, the Kettle Falls SPDF exhibits two phases of elevated activity at 1700–1300?cal BP and 800–500?cal BP, and an intervening lull. These phases are not related to the excavation history or differential exposure of sites to taphonomic processes, but they are concordant with episodes of glacial advance in the local mountains, which reflect hemispheric-scale changes in climate. Modern returns of summer-run Chinook salmon to the Columbia River are inversely correlated with sea-surface temperature regimes in the northeast Pacific Ocean, and we propose that the occupational history of the Kettle Falls fishery echoes long-term variations in the returns of salmon to the upper Columbia River linked to climate change.     

Archaeological sedimentology of overbank silt deposits on the floodplain of the Ohio river near Louisville,Kentucky

The surface of the floodplain of the Ohio River about 20km southwest of Louisville, Kentucky, is a series of linear ridges and swales that are subparallel to the channel of the river, which here is relatively straight and flows southward. Numerous prehistoric occupational sites are located on these ridges. The sediments that underlie the ridges, which were examined in four archaeological excavations as deep as 8 m, are predominantly sandy silt and silty fine to very fine sand and appear to be mainly the product of overbank deposition from suspended load. Abundant cultural material and occupational sites dating as early as 10,000 years BP are found in the sediments at depths as great as 6·5 m. The fine sediments of the floodplain are underlain by sand and gravel.The context of the cultural materials and the stratigraphy and morphology of the deposits indicate that the ridged deposits began as linear riverside sand and gravel bars. These were succeeded upward by fine-grained overbank deposits in which the ridged morphology was maintained because the overbank silt and fine sand were deposited as prograding elongate bars at high water. As the floodplain ridge built upward, the sedimentation rate decreased and the sand content of the sediments diminished, and as the river channel occasionally shifted, the ridged deposits were built in successive subparallel sequences.Two archaeological consequences are implicit in this depositional model of orderly growth of the floodplain. First, available archaeological data from floodplain segments along other parts of the river should confirm the model; and second, the model should make it possible to search the floodplains of the Ohio River for stratified sites of any desired age.     

A ZOOARCHAEOLOGICAL SYNTHESIS OF SOUTH CAROLINA’S PREHISTORIC COASTAL SITES

Abstract

A synthesis of faunal analyses from South Carolina’s prehistoric coastal sites is presented as a means of investigating geographic differences and diachronic changes attributable to climate. Thirty-one zooarchaeological samples from 26 sites are presented, ranging from the Late Archaic through the Late Mississippian periods. Frequencies of taxa such as eastern oysters, quahog clams, sea catfishes, and drums, among others, vary spatially and temporally, roughly paralleling broad climatic trends. These results, while preliminary, provide insight into faunal use patterns and are used to indicate avenues for future zooarchaeological research in South Carolina and surrounding areas.     

Morphology and Significance of Transverse Ridges (De Geer Moraines) Adjacent to the Moray Firth,NE Scotland

Abstract

High-resolution NEXTMap digital surface models and aerial photographs are used to map suites of transverse ridges at Tarbat Ness and to the west of Elgin, along the margins of the Moray Firth in northeast Scotland. Based on their morphology, configuration and location, interpret these landforms as De Geer moraines which formed at or near former grounding line positions of the Moray Firth palaeo-ice stream. The Tarbat Ness De Geer moraines almost certainly formed at a marine margin. Reaching altitudes of 55 m above present OD, these landforms may provide one of the highest geomorphological indicators for former relative sea level in mainland Britain. Evidence from surrounding landforms and sediments suggest that the ridges formed between c. 15 000–18 000 cal yrs BP, indicating that a significant fall in relative sea level may have taken place prior to an ice margin re-advance in the Moray Firth, known as the Ardersier Oscillation.     

Modelling Resource Values and Climate Change Impacts to Set Preservation and Research Priorities

ABSTRACT

Climate change impacts will increase in their frequency and severity in the coming decades, resulting in compromised integrity or destruction of thousands of heritage resources. Efforts are needed to identify, record, and study resources that will be affected. To set research and preservation priorities, the vulnerability of resources to climate change impacts and their importance to scientific research, preservation, and other resource values needs to be understood. We advocate a modelling approach which predicts the location, timing, and severity of climate change impacts; identifies resources at risk, their resource values, and opportunity costs; and prioritises research and preservation options based on these assessments. The need for this approach is illustrated with examples from two coastal areas subject to different impacts and hosting different types of heritage resources: the Atlantic coast of Georgia in the United States and the Wismar Bight along the Baltic Sea in northern Germany.     

A geoarchaeological evaluation of a reported late Pleistocene human burial from Brazoria County,Texas

The skeleton of a human adult female was excavated from alluvial sediments along the Gulf Coastal Plain of Texas. She was buried face down in an extended position with her hands crossed beneath the waist. Initial radiocarbon ages indicated that this skeleton dated to the late Pleistocene. Geoarchaeological and archaeological excavations at the site, coupled with new radiocarbon ages, amino acid compositional data, and an analysis of the previously reported radiocarbon ages obtained from the skeleton instead suggest a middle Holocene age for this burial.     

The Transition from the Neolithic to the Copper Age: Excavations at Vésztö-Bikeri,Hungary, 2000–2002

Abstract

The transition from the Neolithic to the Copper Age on the Great Hungarian Plain (ca. 4500 B.C.) coincides with dramatic changes in house form, settlement layout, settlement distribution, and mortuary customs. These changes affected nearly every aspect of social organization—from the organization of households and villages to the distribution of cultural groups across the landscape. Our current understanding of the various changes that occurred during this important transition is hindered by a lack of systematically excavated settlement sites dating to the Early Copper Age on the Great Hungarian Plain.

The results of three years of excavation at an Early Copper Age settlement located in the Körös River Valley suggest that, in contrast to the Neolithic, craft activities on Early Copper Age sites are segregated in different parts of the settlements. This general pattern of increasing economic specialization occurs throughout SE Europe at the end of the Neolithic and is associated with a tendency towards increased integration of economic and social units in settlements during the Copper Age.     

ZOOMORPHIC EFFIGY PENDANTS: AN EXAMINATION OF STYLE,MEDIUM, AND DISTRIBUTION IN THE CADDO AREA

Abstract

Caddo zoomorphic effigy pendants were crafted from a wide variety of raw material, such as freshwater mussel shell, Busycon perversum (whelk) marine shell, animal bone, and various types of soft stone. They have been documented at contemporaneous Late Caddo (A.D. 1400–1700) sites along the Red River in northeast Texas, southwest Arkansas, and northwest Louisiana; the Black Bayou, Big Cypress Bayou, and upper Sabine River basins in northeast Texas; the Ouachita River in south-central Arkansas; and the Arkansas River in central Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. This paper describes the development of a comprehensive corpus that investigates stylistic groups, differential raw material or medium utilized, and the spatial distribution of zoomorphic effigy pendants throughout the Caddo area. Results reveal north-south heterogeneity, suggesting the presence of broader traditional cultural narratives associated with a complex idea that is manifest regionally in distinct stylistic forms and linked to Caddo beliefs concerning Beneath World themes. Additionally, this stylistic and spatial analysis offers an additional dataset to further explore social, political, and economic linkages among and between contemporary Caddo groups around A.D. 1500.     

A systematic review of climate change education: giving children and young people a ‘voice’ and a ‘hand’ in redressing climate change

ABSTRACT

The reality of anthropogenic climate change has been established ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ by leading scientists worldwide. Applying a systematic literature review process, we analysed existing literature from 1993 to 2014 regarding climate change education for children and young people, with the aim of identifying key areas for further research. While a number of studies have indicated that young people’s understandings of climate change are generally limited, erroneous and highly influenced by mass media, other studies suggest that didactic approaches to climate change education have been largely ineffectual in affecting students’ attitudes and behaviour. The review identifies the need for participatory, interdisciplinary, creative, and affect-driven approaches to climate change education, which to date have been largely missing from the literature. In conclusion, we call for the development of new forms of climate change education that directly involve young people in responding to the scientific, social, ethical, and political complexities of climate change.     

New evidence for the Mousterian and Gravettian at Rio Secco Cave,Italy

Abstract

The dearth of evidence for late Neanderthals in Europe reduces our ability to understand the demise of their species and the impact of the biological and cultural changes that resulted from the spread of anatomically modern humans. In this light, a recently investigated cave in the northern Adriatic region at the border between the Italian Alps and the Great Adriatic Plain provides useful data about the last Neanderthals between 46·0 and 42·1 ky cal b.p. Their subsistence is inferred from zooarchaeological remains and patterns in Middle Palaeolithic lithic technology. Unexpected evidence of the ephemeral use of the cave during the early Upper Palaeolithic Gravettian period shows a change in lithic technology.     

Using chaîne opératoire and communities of practice to identify interaction in the Contact and Mission periods in southern Georgia,AD 1540–1715

ABSTRACT

In this article, the pottery production of indigenous groups living inside and outside of colonial spaces in southern Georgia is compared by identifying portions of the chaîne opératoire of pottery production. Diachronic and geographic changes to production demonstrate that groups living in the interior of Georgia were in continual interaction with coastal groups in the mission system. This interaction likely contributed to the emergence of the Altamaha pottery tradition, which spread from southern South Carolina to northern Florida during Spanish colonization of the region. This research shows that Native American groups navigating colonialism drew on a wide network of communities to alter traditions in the face of unprecedented social change.     

REVISITING PLATFORM MOUNDS AND TOWNHOUSES IN THE CHEROKEE HEARTLAND: A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH

Abstract

This article describes the development and initial results of the Western North Carolina Mounds and Towns Project, a collaborative endeavor initiated by the Tribal Historic Preservation Office of the Eastern Band of Cherokee and the Coweeta Long Term Ecological Research Program at the University of Georgia. The goal of this project is to generate new information about the distribution of late prehistoric mounds and historic period townhouses in western North Carolina. This ongoing research has produced updated location and chronological data for 15 Mississippian period mounds and historic Cherokee townhouses, and led to the discovery of a possible location for the Jasper Allen mound. Using these new data, I suggest that David Hally's model for the territorial size of Mississippian polities provides a useful framework for generating new research questions about social and political change in western North Carolina. I also posit that the cultural practice of rebuilding townhouses in place and on top of Mississippian period platform mounds, a process that Christopher Rodning describes as “emplacement,” was common across western North Carolina. In terms of broader impacts, this project contributes positively to the development of indigenous archaeology in the Cherokee heartland.     

Frontier Life: Late Prehistoric Adaptations of the Kansas City Locality

Abstract

Late Prehistoric (AD 900–1500) adaptations along the lower Missouri River in the Kansas City locality include two distinct contemporaneous archaeological cultures, Steed-Kisker and Pomona. Both are reviewed with emphasis on interaction, change, and continuity. Evidence from other sites in northeastern Kansas, a prairie-woodland ecotone, points to interaction where their culture core areas overlapped, a locality that was a frontier throughout much of prehistory between cultures of the eastern woodlands and the Great Plains. Recent investigation of house remains at the Scott and Caenen sites, representing the Steed-Kisker and Pomona cultures respectively, provides significant insight concerning relations or lack thereof. About 130 years apart in time of occupation, they are only 350 m distant in Stranger Creek valley, the last major tributary of the Kansas River before its confluence with the Missouri River. Both illustrate the contrasting nature of these adaptations, specifically change from a Woodland adaptation represented by Steed-Kisker and continuity with respect to it represented by Pomona, which persisted longer. The possibility of assimilation of both cultures with the Oneota tradition during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is discussed.     

A FRESH LOOK AT A LITTLE-KNOWN SOUTHEASTERN COPPER PLATE

Abstract

Chauga (38OC47) is a mound site now under Lake Hartwell at the head of the Savannah River in Oconee County, South Carolina. Excavations in 1958–1959 by the University of Georgia recovered a Mississippian copper plate. Upon comparison to others of its kind, it is clear that this lesser-known plate encompasses some interesting design features, most notably the presence of the only known depiction of a chunkey stone on copper. We have recently created a more accurate representation of its design. The plate appears to portray many similarities to depictions of Birdman dancers: kilted dancers and dancing elders within the “Stack” style. Birdman themes are common in Mississippian iconography. Given the importance that copper plates have for interpreting Mississippian art and belief systems, this updated examination provides useful new information for researchers studying Mississippian iconography.     

Prioritising Heritage Resources in a Time of Loss: Sea Level Rise and Archaeological Resources of the Middle Atlantic Region,US

ABSTRACT

The US Middle Atlantic region, known for its rich archaeological record and diverse topographic settings, is experiencing a range of climate change impacts, most notably: sea level rise and coastal erosion in its tidal zones. Documented palaeostratigraphic and palynological studies throughout the region provide a record of late Pleistocene/Holocene environmental response to changing climate, confirming observations from other disciplines that the magnitude of modern impacts exceeds past temporal and spatial patterns. The corresponding impact on archaeological resources is great, requiring a renewed effort to document threatened sites while also working with local and state governments to develop mitigation strategies. The Middle Atlantic Archaeological Conference (MAAC) created the Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge Committee to promote regional partnerships in site impact assessment and mitigation strategies. The network highlights the predicament of archaeology in this time of climate change: accelerated research and discovery in the face of catastrophic loss.     

Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research for Planning Climate Change Adaptation Responses: The Example of Santiago de Chile

Abstract

This article gives insights into an inter- and transdisciplinary research approach designed to enhance the planning of climate change adaptation responses at urban-regional level. What makes interdisciplinary approaches to adaptation action unique is its ability to unravel the complexity of climate change and the interwoven processes it entails. It is the planning aspect here that makes stakeholder involvement crucial. Hence in contemporary climate change research the science-policy interface takes centre stage, generating response capacity and exchanging ‘usable’ information with decision-makers within the framework of a transdisciplinary approach. Climate action plans and climate adaptation strategies, for example, have the potential to unite sectors and levels of decision-making around an integrated planning approach. This article discusses the challenges and constraints of the inter- and transdisciplinary research approach developed for a Metropolitan Region of Santiago de Chile (MRS).