New experimental evidence on the relation between percussion flaking and flake variation

Controlled experiments in percussion flaking allowed for objective analysis of relationships between variables of flake production and those variables which are attributes of the final result. The independent variables, those controlled by the flintknapper in the production of stone tools, include force and angle of blow, platform thickness and exterior platform angle. The dependent variables are those attributes of the flakes which are often used in current lithic analyses and include interior platform angle, length, thickness and flake termination. The results clearly show that exterior platform angle is highly significant for understanding many aspects of flake production. These and other relationships between the independent and dependent variables are also discussed.     

Household Archaeology in the Andes

Data from domestic contexts can be used to address significant anthropological research questions. Archaeological investigations in the Andes (areas once incorporated into the Inka empire, including northwestern Argentina, highland Bolivia, northern Chile, Ecuador, and Peru), like many parts of the world, rely on ethnohistory and ethnography to interpret the archaeological remains of domestic areas and make inferences about households. In this review I describe the ideas about Andean households that archaeologists are using and how domestic remains are being examined to infer social, economic, and political processes. Household archaeology in the Andes requires ethnoarchaeology and theory-building in order to understand the complex social dynamics at the foundation of ancient Andean societies.     

Processing ochre in the Middle Stone Age: Testing the inference of prehistoric behaviours from actualistically derived experimental data

The increase in the presence of ‘ochre’ in African Middle Stone Age contexts has been employed, together with changes in human biology and behaviour, to support the hypothesis that ‘modern’ cognitive abilities arose in Africa. The consistent exploitation of ochre is interpreted as evidence for colour symbolism, a proxy for the origin of language and a defining aspect of ‘modern’ human behaviour. That humans attached considerable symbolic value to red ochres in particular is illustrated by ethnographic examples. Research has shown that wear patterns indicative of abrasive processing methods prevail, but many archaeological specimens also exhibit wear traces not derived from grinding or scraping alone. Building on former research, I present here the results of an experimental study devised to infer the methods employed to extract powder from ochre during the African Middle Stone Age. The prospect of ascertaining at least some of the likely uses to which ochre may have been put, is also explored. I conclude that functional data derived from actualistic experiments can be used to enhance our understanding of some aspects of prehistoric behaviour.     

Regional Research on the Inca

The past two decades have witnessed an increase in the amount of regional research on the Inca state of Andean South America. This work has revolutionized our view of the Inca empire and has provided a comparative database for understanding the nature of imperial expansion in premodern empires. This paper places this work in historical context. It then describes the way in which a regional approach has complemented other research to give us a fuller picture of Inca imperial strategies. The Inca state used a variety of strategies to incorporate its provinces into a viable political entity. Regional archaeological approaches provide the best means of defining those strategies, giving us a more nuanced view of premodern states such as the Inca.     

An experimental approach to the study of interpersonal violence in Northeastern Patagonia (Argentina), during the late Holocene

This paper incorporates an experimental approach to the study of violence patterns in Northeastern Patagonia (Argentina) during the late Holocene. The underlying hypothesis considers a close association between socio-ecologic alterations during the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (MCA) (ca. 1150-600 years BP; Stine, 1994, 2000) and a probable increase in conflict levels. In order to test this hypothesis, human skulls (n = 986) were analyzed for bone lesions, discriminating late bone lesions, such as those produced by metal tools. The experimental approach used swine (Sus scrofa domestica) skulls, as proxies for human skulls, and incorporated original sabers. From this discriminating analysis, it can be inferred that no significant increase in violence signs were recorded until the first stages of Hispanic-indigenous contact (first half of 17th century). These findings emphasize the need for a revision of the implications of the dynamics of human populations in Northeastern Patagonia during the late Holocene.     

Managing the risk of climatic variability in late prehistoric northern Chile

The concept of risk management encompasses the diverse strategies employed in preventing and mitigating losses associated with social and environmental calamities. Building on the growing literature on risk, we use archaeological data from the Tarapacá Valley, located in northern Chile, to document the risk-reduction tactics mobilized by the valley’s inhabitants to navigate the increasingly volatile environmental and social conditions of the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000–1450). With the onset of exceptionally unpredictable environmental conditions after AD 1100, residents of the Tarapacá Valley chose strategies such as increased trade and agricultural diversification and extensification to minimize shortages in staple resources. Threats of raiding and intra-community strife exacerbated the risks associated with subsistence shortfalls. Valley communities elected a number of strategies to curtail conflict-induced risk, including movement of settlements and field systems to defensible locations, construction of walls and other defensive features, and the introduction of plazas. Rock art data suggest that trade was increasingly embedded in ritually sanctioned events involving groups from different ecological zones. While studies of risk have focused disproportionately on environmental hazards, subsistence-related crises are often compounded by social hazards that require their own risk-mitigating strategies, further constraining options for coping with subsistence stress.     

Introducing a new experimental design for controlled studies of flake formation: results for exterior platform angle,platform depth,angle of blow,velocity, and force

Potential variables that underlie variation in flake size, and in some instances shape, are investigated in a newly designed experiment. This new design, which utilizes glass cores molded to a specific shape, results in flakes that are identical to archaeological ones. Variation in exterior platform angle, platform depth and angle of blow all directly affect flake size, and in the case of exterior platform angle, flake shape as well (in spite of constant core surface morphology). In treating velocity and force independently, neither is found to affect flake size or shape. These results have implications for understanding different strategies that flintknappers may employ to control the size of their flake products.     

Asphaltum hafting and projectile point durability: an experimental comparison of three hafting methods

The design of a projectile delivery system often plays a critical role in the durability and breakage patterns associated with spent projectile points. This paper presents the results of an experimental project designed to examine projectile point durability and breakage patterns between three different hafting methods. Specifically, we compare two asphaltum hafting techniques drawn from archaeological and ethnohistoric accounts from the Central Valley of California with a more stereotypical cross-hatched sinew hafting system. Our results suggest a small yet statistically significant increase in durability among asphaltum hafted points, opening the door to future research on these ethnohistorically documented hafting techniques.     

Hunting lesions caused by osseous projectile points: experimental results and archaeological implications

The identification of projectile impact traces on archaeological faunal remains is an important issue for understanding prehistoric hunting behavior, especially in the Paleolithic and Mesolithic. From the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic in Europe, and earlier in Africa, projectiles tipped with osseous points were of great importance for subsistence; but thus far, no specific experimental reference has been developed to help identify the traces left by these points. In 2003 and 2004 two series of projectile experiments with antler points of Magdalenian design were organized, involving two ox calves and two female fallow deer as targets for bow and spearthrower shooting. The subsequent study demonstrates that positive identifications of impact traces left by osseous points can be made. The observation of 127 impact traces allowed us to distinguish three main types of traces: notches, punctures and perforations. The relationships between the nature of the impact traces and the (i) target species, (ii) characteristics of the impacted bones, and (iii) type of weapon are presented. Synthesized results are then discussed within the context of the European Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic.     

Vein quartz in lithic traditions: an analysis based on experimental archaeology

Worldwide, vein quartz was a commonly used raw material for stone tools but this material has proved difficult for archaeologists to analyse because many quartz assemblages appear to be comprised of amorphous pieces, not easily recognised as humanly modified or forming ‘tools’. This paper discusses the analysis of the debitage – focusing on the debitage fragmentation rate, the debitage, break, and fragment types, and the quantitative analysis of the complete flakes – resulting from experimental knapping of quartz, which formed part of a project which investigated the use of quartz in Irish prehistoric lithic traditions. The results have highlighted the complexity involved in analysing quartz assemblages, and the significant differences between the debitage products of quartz and chert knapping assemblages. While bipolar knapping is generally easy to differentiate from direct percussion, it is harder to differentiate between soft and hard hammer percussion.     

Stone-boiling maize with limestone: experimental results and implications for nutrition among SE Utah preceramic groups

Groups living on Cedar Mesa, SE Utah in the late Basketmaker II period (Grand Gulch phase, AD 200–400) were heavily maize-dependent, but lacked beans as a supplemental plant protein, and pottery vessels for cooking. Common occurrence of limestone fragments in their household middens suggests 1) limestone may have been used as the heating element for stone-boiling maize and 2) this practice might have made some maize proteins more available for human nutrition. Experiments examined these possibilities; results indicate that stone-boiling with Cedar Mesa limestone creates an alkaline cooking environment suitable for nixtamalization of maize kernels, and that maize cooked in this fashion shows significant increases in availability of lysine, tryptophan, and methionine. Archaeological limestone fragments from a Grand Gulch phase site show amounts of fragmentation and changes in density consistent with repeated heating. While not conclusive, these data indicate that further research (e.g., examination of archaeological limestone fragments for maize starch grains or phytoliths) is warranted. It is suggested that greater attention be paid to archaeological indications of stone-boiling with limestone among maize-dependent but pre-pottery societies.     

Assessing the macrofracture method for identifying Stone Age hunting weaponry

Macrofracture analysis is an experimentally derived method used as an initial step in investigating the hunting function of stone artefacts. Diagnostic impact fractures, which can only develop as a result of longitudinal impact, underpin this method. Macrofracture analysis recently gained favour in Middle Stone Age studies, supporting hypotheses for effective hunting during the late Pleistocene in southern Africa. However, the factors affecting diagnostic impact fracture formation and the interpretation of these fracture frequencies are not yet fully understood. This paper outlines a set of experiments designed to test macrofracture formation under human and cattle trampling and knapping conditions. The results show that: (a) macrofractures occur frequently when stone artefacts are trampled by cattle and humans and in knapping debris; (b) diagnostic impact fractures occur on some of the trampled flakes and knapping debris (≤3%), but significantly less often than in previous hunting experiments; (c) when they do occur, they are likely produced by longitudinal forces similar to those experienced during hunting; (d) considering artefact morphology is important during macrofracture analysis; and (e) macrofracture analysis is not a standalone method, but is most useful as part of a multi-analytical approach to functional analysis. These experiments help to establish a significant baseline diagnostic impact fracture frequency for the interpretation of archaeological macrofracture frequencies.     

Shooting out the slate: working with flaked arrowheads made on thin-layered rocks

Although there are many archaeological and ethnographic evidences for the use of slate and similar rocks for flaking purpose, they raised little interest among specialists, leading to a general ignorance of specific problems associated with these raw materials. Starting from the study of several Neolithic and Chalcolithic slate collections of the Western Iberia, the mechanical properties of slate and its impact on knapping process has been defined; subsequently, manufacturing and use of slate and phyllite projectiles have been undertaken. The results show that the ease with which these materials break into sheets of uniform thickness and morphology would provide an ideal basis for a fast and easy manufacture of arrowheads. In addition, these projectiles have shown a penetration capability and resistance statistically equivalent to those made on more standard materials (i.e. chalcedony or rock crystal). Therefore, slate and other rocks with a high degree of fissility would have been very attractive to prehistoric knappers endeavouring to make arrowheads.     

The construction of hunting sceneries: Interactions between humans,animals and landscape in the Antofalla valley,Catamarca, Argentina

Through the history of human occupation in the south-central Andes, the interactions between south-American camelids and human populations were essential in the social reproduction, being hunting one of the appropriation modes of greater long term. In this sense, the way in which encounters between hunters and their preys were materialized becomes a relevant subject in order to understand these interactions. That is why in this paper I pretend to show the way in which the landscape were constructed where the encounters between hunters and their preys were given. For this, I shall focus in the information obtained from the intensive and systematic survey developed in the Antofalla valley, located in the Antofagasta de la Sierra Department, Catamarca Province, Argentina. This information has allowed me to identify a series of structures build with the aim of propitiate the encounter of herds by means of anticipating the movements of the animals, searching to obtain near and fixed targets in order to materialize the attack.     

The role of abrasives in the formation of lithic use-wear

This paper briefly examines the question of the influence of abrasive particles on the development of use-wear on stone tools. It is argued that grit inclusions may have been a common element of prehistoric tool using conditions, hence the need for archaeological experiments which consider this variable. A series of experiments are described where end-scrapers were used on bone and hide surfaces both with and without a grit inclusion. The resulting wear patterns are discussed and illustrated. It is concluded that the addition of grit to the worked surface causes a dramatic and demonstrable change in use-wear development.     

Pitted stone cobbles in the Mesolithic site of Font del Ros (Southeastern Pre-Pyrenees,Spain): some experimental remarks around a controversial tool type

The presence of cobbles with activity-related marks in the Mesolithic site of Font del Ros (Berga, Spain), and in particular one group of artefacts – pitted stones – raises problematic issues associated with the characterization of percussion activities. Although these artefacts have generated an extensive bibliography on ethological, ethnographic, ethnoarchaeological and archaeological levels, various questions persist in relation to their possible contextual function. In this paper we present the results of an experimental programme in which three types of activities that could create pitted stones are reproduced: bipolar knapping of vein quartz, hazelnut cracking, and hazelnut grinding. The aim of this experimental programme is to describe marks and use-wear traces related to such activities.     

Landscape Archaeology of Nubia and Central Sudan

The paper examines the regional scale research in the Middle Nile Valley within the context of historical development of archaeology of Nubia and Central Sudan. This historical overview is put in the context of archaeological theory, especially the concept of landscape archaeology. A discussion of various theoretical issues is followed by the presentation of the natural, economic, political, cultural and sacred landscapes of Nubia and Central Sudan. Past field research is presented and the emerging trends are identified.La présente communication examine la recherche à l'échelle régionale dans la vallée du Nil Moyen dans le contexte du développement historique de l'archéologie de la Nubie et du Soudan central. Ce survol historique est situé dans le contexte de l'archéologie théorique, particulièrement l'archéologie du paysage. Une discussion des problèmes théoriques est suivie d'une présentation des paysages naturel, économique, politique, culturel et sacré de la Nubie et du Soudan central. Les recherches antérieures sont aussi présentées et les nouvelles tendances sont identifiées.     

Herds for the Gods? Selection Criteria and Herd Management at the Mass Sacrifice Site of Huanchaquito-Las Llamas During the Chimú Period,Northern Coast of Peru

ABSTRACT

The discovery of the sacrificial remains of 140 children and 206 camelids sacrificed at the site of Huanchaquito-Las Llamas, on the northern coast of Peru, has provided new data on mass sacrifice practices during the Chimú period. The exceptional state of preservation of the camelids, including the presence of coats and hides, opens new research perspectives on the utilisation of animals in ritual contexts. This article will focus on the results of the zooarchaeological analysis, particularly of mortality profiles and coat colour, to address the criteria used to select the sacrificial victims. Young individuals were exclusively selected, and while there is a majority of brown coats, three colours that are present in modern herds are absent at Huanchaquito. This reveals the preferential choice made by the Chimú officiants for this sacrifice. A spatial analysis did not reveal preferences in the organisation of the deposits. The killing of the youngest cohort of the livestock probably had an impact on the whole livestock. This suggests the existence of large herds that were controlled by the Chimú empire. Our results provide additional insights into the management of camelid herds and show the complexity of pastoralism on the pacific coast during pre-Hispanic times.