Three-dimensional cranial shape analyses and gene flow in North Africa during the Middle to Late Holocene

Archaeological evidence shows that populations used to transverse the Sahara Desert throughout the Holocene despite the extreme temperatures and the rough physical terrain. The current paper examines whether the desert inhibited extended gene flow among populations by means of cranial morphology as captured by geometric morphometrics. The examined populations include the Garamantes, a group centered in Southwest Libya and largely controlling trans-Saharan trade, and various Egyptian, Tunisian and Sudanese groups dating to the Middle and Late Holocene. The results showed that most inter-population comparisons were statistically significant and therefore all populations appear more or less distant to each other. The Mahalanobis biodistance measure identified four clusters. The first consists of the Garamantes alone, the second includes the populations from Kerma and Gizeh, the third includes the Badari and Naqada, while the fourth consists of the samples from Algeria, Carthago, Soleb and Alexandria. Moreover, the distance of the Garamantes to their neighbors was significantly high and the population appeared to be an outlier. This is attributed to the location of the Garamantes at the core of the desert, indicating that, despite the archaeological evidence, the Sahara Desert posed important limitations to gene flow between the Garamantes and other North African populations.     

The Environmental History of Tigray (Northern Ethiopia) in the Middle and Late Holocene: A Preliminary Outline

This paper outlines the environmental history of the Tigrean Plateau (northern Ethiopia) during the Holocene, based on the available geomorphological, palynological, archaeological, and historical evidence. At present, it seems that (1) the plateau experienced a more humid climate with a denser vegetation cover during the Early Holocene; (2) Soil erosion due to clearing vegetation began in the Middle Holocene; (3) agricultural activity was intensified in the Late Holocene, as a consequence of the rise of a state; (4) demographic pressure increased from the early first millennium BC to the mid–first millennium AD, causing soil erosion; (5) environmental degradation and demographic decline occurred in the late first millennium AD; (6) the vegetation cover was regenerated in the early second millennium AD; and (7) progressive vegetation clearance started again in the second half of the second millennium AD.Cet article trace l'histoire ambiante du Plateau Tigréen dans l'Holocène en utilisant les données géomorphologiques, palynologiques, archéologiques et historiques. Il semble que (1) dans l'Holocène ancien le plateau était caractérisé par une phase humide avec une dense végétation; (2) l'érosion causée par l'abbattage de la végétation commen¸a dans l'Holocène moyen; (3) l'activité agricole s'inténsifia à la fin de l'Holocène, par conséquence de l'essor d'un état; (4) la pression démographique augmenta de plus en plus du début du premier millénaire av. J.-Ch. à la moitié du premier millénaire ap. J.-Ch.; (5) la dégradation ambiante et la diminution démographique se vérifièrent à la fin du premier millénaire ap. J.-Ch.; (6) une régéneration de la vegetation se vérifia au début du seconde millénaire ap. J.-Ch.; et (7) l'abbatage de la végétation recommen¸a dans la seconde moitié du seconde millénaire ap. J.-Ch.     

Changing fashions in the Middle Stone Age: the stone artefact sequence from Klasies River main site,South Africa

The analysis of Middle Stone Age artefact assemblages from the 1984–8 Deacon excavation of Klasies River main site on the southern Cape coast of South Africa emphasizes its importance as a source of information on the Late Pleistocene period. The trends in artefact variability noted in the previous 1967–8 Singer and Wymer excavation are described in more detail and it is concluded on typological grounds that the cave 1B assemblages which are associated with the anatomically modern human mandible no. 41815 are of the order of 100,000 years old. Rare, unstandardized retouch and the persistence of time-restricted patterning in the Klasies River main site Middle Stone Age sequence over periods in excess of 20,000 years represent significant differences between Middle and some parts of Later Stone Age sequences. It is suggested that this may be a consequence of conservatism under relatively low-density demographic conditions rather than a reflection of the absence of modern behaviour among Middle Stone Age toolmakers.

---

Résumé L'analyse des industries lithiques de l'âge de la Pierre Moyen provenant des fouilles Deacon au site principal à Klasies River, sur la côte sud du cap de l'Afrique du Sud, souligne l'importance de ce site pour ses renseignements sur le Pléistocene récent. Les tendances de variabilité dans le matériel culturel déjà constatées dans les fouilles précédentes de Singer et Wymer (1967–8) sont présentées ici en davantage de détail. L'étude typologique amène à la conclusion que les industries de la grotte 1B, associées à la mandibule no. 41815 de forme humaine moderne, ont un âge approximative de 100,000 ans. La présence assez rare d'une retouche non-standardisée et la persistance des modalités, chronologiquement bien définies, dans la succession des industries de l'âge de la Pierre Moyen au site principal à Klasies River pendant des périodes de plus de 20,000 ans constituent des différences considérables entre l'âge de la Pierre Moyen et quelques phases de l'âge de la Pierre Récent. On propose que cela peut être la conséquence d'un conservatisme sous les conditions de densité démographique faible, plutôt qu'en déduire que la mode de comportement caractéristique de l'homme moderne manquait aux gens de l'âge de la Pierre Moyen.

     

Archaeology, History, and Historical Archaeology in South America

This paper discusses the relationship between history and archaeology in general, their common concerns and links with historical archaeology. It deals with the development of historical archaeology in three related South American countries, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, and pays attention to recent trends in the theory and practice of the discipline in the area.     

Declines in Mammalian Foraging Efficiency during the Late Holocene, San Francisco Bay, California

Resource intensification models that have been posited for prehistoric California predict decreases in foraging efficiency during the late Holocene, Using implications of the fine-grained prey model of optimal foraging theory, I derive an index of the efficiency of vertebrate prey choice from the relative abundances of large- and small-sized prey items. I then test the intensification models with late Holocene mammalian faunas from San Francisco Bay shellmounds. Dramatic linear decreases in the relalive frequency of artiodactyls compared to the smaller sea otters (Enhydra lutris) throughout the occupational histories of particular localities strongly support the resource intensification models. The declines in artiodactyl abundances are not correlated with late Holocene climatic indices developed for this region, with changes in the seasonal use of shellmounds, or with technological innovations. An intra- and interregionally consistent pattern in declining abundances of large mammals in environmentally distinct regions throughout California suggests that resource depression driven by human predators may be the single most important cause of the declines. These patterns have far-reaching implications concerning the long-term human role in structuring prehistoric ecosystems.     

Claudia Abatino: Exploitation and Management of Animal Resources During the Middle Iron Age,Northern Limpopo Province,South Africa

African Archaeological Review -     

明代中晚期江南地区贫士的社会交往生活

明代中晚期江南地区经济相对繁荣,士人阶层的社会交往行为空前繁盛。然而,在士人阶层的底层,一些生活窘迫的贫寒之士既不屑于治生,又鄙于结交权贵,生活的困顿使得这个群体的社会交往活动相对萎缩,成为与当时士林风气不协调的一个特殊群落。贫士社会交往行为的相对缩减,使得他们回归到倡导“安贫乐道”的传统儒学的范式中寻求文化的支撑。     

Middle Holocene Taphonomy and Paleozoology at the Prairie-Forest Border,the Itasca Bison Site,MN

The Itasca Bison site near the prairie-forest border in central Minnesota is important to understanding the cultural and ecological role of bison in the upper Midwest during the middle Holocene. Recent reanalyses of this assemblage support the original interpretation of a taphonomically complex, fluvially modified site. Despite this taphonmic complexity, the role of humans in the butchering and possible accumulation of some of the bison fauna is also supported, although not as the only mechanism of accumulation. The bison assemblage is slightly biased toward males, and seasonality estimates are spread throughout the year. New direct accelerator mass spectrometry dates indicate a minimum of two highly mixed depositional events: one at 7970–7790 cal B.P. and an earlier event between 8520 and 8180 cal B.P.     

Marriage and Kinship in South India,South America,and the USSR: Essays from three cultural perspectives

Dumont, Louis. Affinity as a Value: Marriage Alliance in South India, with Comparative Essays on Australia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983. x + 230 pp. including references and index. $22.00.

Kensinger, Kenneth M., ed. Marriage Practices in Lowland South America. Illinois Studies in Anthropology, No. 14. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984. x + 297 pp. including references and index. $19.95.

Dragadze, Tamara, ed. Kinship and Marriage in the Soviet Union: Field Studies. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984. xiii + 269 pp. including brief guide to Soviet ethnographic journals. $39.95.     

Social Cooperation and Resource Management DynamicsAmong Late Hunter-Fisher-Gatherer Societies in Tierra del Fuego (South America)

This paper presents the theoretical basis and first results of an agent-based model (ABM) computer simulation that is being developed to explore cooperation in hunter–gatherer societies. Specifically, we focus here on Yamana, a hunter-fisher-gatherer society that inhabited the islands of the southernmost part of Tierra del Fuego (Argentina–Chile). Ethnographical and archaeological evidence suggests the existence of sporadic aggregation events, triggered by a public call through smoke signals of an extraordinary confluence of resources under unforeseeable circumstances in time and space (a beached whale or an exceptional accumulation of fish after a low tide, for example). During these aggregation events, the different social units involved used to develop and improve production, distribution and consumption processes in a collective way. This paper attempts to analyse the social dynamics that explain cooperative behaviour and resource-sharing during aggregation events using an agent-based model of indirect reciprocity. In brief, agents make their decisions based on the success of the public strategies of other agents. Fitness depends on the resource captured and the social capital exchanged in aggregation events, modified by the agent’s reputation. Our computational results identify the relative importance of resources with respect to social benefits and the ease in detecting—and hence punishing—a defector as key factors to promote and sustain cooperative behaviour among population.     

Late Holocene vegetation and palaeoenvironmental history of the Dunadd area,Argyll, Scotland: chronology of events

This paper focuses on the chronology and environmental significance of a sediment sequence from an alluvial locality in the vicinity of the historic site of Dunadd, Scotland. It outlines the rationale and statistical validity of an age model derived for a sequence of floodplain sediments from which detailed pollen-stratigraphical and plant macrofossil records have been derived. A series of radiocarbon dates are calibrated using a Bayesian modelling approach, the results of which can be refined by incorporating two independent age estimates based on tephra layers of known age. Analysis of the entire floodplain sequence for volcanic glass shards revealed the presence of discrete but geochemically very similar tephra layers within the upper (late Holocene) part of the sequence. Comparison with published geochemical data obtained from Icelandic tephras of historical age indicates strong statistical correlations with the Hekla 1947 AD and Hekla 1510 AD. While the Hekla 1510 AD tephra has previously been reported from sites within Britain and Ireland, the Dunadd sequence affords the first record of the Hekla 1947 AD tephra layer within Scotland. When the ages and stratigraphic positions of both tephra layers are incorporated into the Bayesian age model, an overall centennial to decadal precision for the late Holocene is achieved, with archaeological and environmental transitions discriminated with highest-likelihood age uncertainty ranges of 20–50 years at 95% confidence. The local environmental record is assessed in the light of this new chronological framework: the data support previously reported proposals for two periods of significant climatic deterioration with increased wetness, the first during the early Medieval period and the second during the late 16th and 17th centuries AD.     

Copper Working Technologies, Contexts of Use, and Social Complexity in the Eastern Woodlands of Native North America

The creative ways in which native North American peoples of the Eastern Woodlands utilized copper throughout prehistory present provocative contrasts to models of Old World metallurgical development. Archaeological approaches that incorporate laboratory methods into investigations of indigenous metalworking practice have brought new insights and raised new questions about the development and use of techniques, sources of materials, and the social dynamics of copper consumption. This paper integrates the results of these studies into a discussion of copper use in Old Copper, Hopewellian, and Mississippian traditions that focuses on illuminating the complex relations among levels of technological sophistication in the manipulation of the material itself, the often elaborate and meaning-laden contexts in which artifacts were used, and the relative social complexity of the cultures that supported copper procurement, transformation, and use. It is suggested that ‘technological style’ approaches will assist archaeologists in efforts to flesh out culture-specific aspects of its consumption.     

Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers of Cis-Baikal, Siberia: An overview for the new century

The paper examines Middle Holocene hunter-gatherer adaptive strategies in the Baikal region of Siberia based on diverse data (radiocarbon, mortuary, geochemical, genetic, human osteological, and zooarchaeological) accumulated over the last 10–15 years. The new model emphasizes the cyclical nature of the long-term changes and recognizes similarities between the Early Neolithic and Late Neolithic–Early Bronze Age cultures. The overall impression seems to be that change in the region was rapid rather than gradual. A number of interesting correlations between various cultural and environmental variables have been identified. During the Early Neolithic and Late Neolithic–Bronze Age, the spatial distributions of mortuary sites, open landscape, and good fisheries are all correlated and both intervals are coeval with periods of environmental stability. For the Early Neolithic two additional sets of correlated variables have been identified: (1) the uneven distribution of fish resources, uneven distribution of the human population, and cultural heterogeneity; and (2) poorer overall community health, more extensive male travel and heavier workloads, and higher reliance on fishing. For the Late Neolithic–Early Bronze Age, the sets of correlated variables are somewhat different: (1) more even distribution of terrestrial game resources (herbivores), more even distribution of the human population, and cultural homogeneity; and (2) better overall community health, less travel and lighter workloads, more equitable distribution of labor between males and females, and higher reliance on game hunting. Viewed together, these patterns emphasize the much more dynamic pattern of hunter-gatherer cultural variability, temporally and spatially, compared to what was known before.     

Estimating Core Number in Assemblages: Core Movement and Mobility During the Holocene of the Fayum,Egypt

The utility of the cortex ratio first developed by Dibble et al. (American Antiquity, 70(3), 545–560, 2005) and extended by Douglass et al. (American Antiquity, 73(3), 513–526, 2008) is examined in contexts where cores rather than flakes may be transported. The cortex ratio is used to demonstrate the movement of artifacts by quantifying missing surface area, typically where it is the flakes that were removed and the cores that were left behind. In such situations, the removal of flakes with small volumes will result in the removal of relatively large cortical surface areas resulting in a low cortex ratio. However, when it is the cores that were removed, assemblages will lose greater proportions of artifact volume relative to the loss of artifact surface area. Here, we propose methods to investigate the effects of high-volume artifact removal from archeological assemblages as a proxy for human movement in addition to the cortex ratio. We apply the methods to stone artifact assemblages from the Fayum, Egypt, where changes in mid-Holocene mobility are closely linked to food production.     

中世纪中后期法兰西王室守护神问题探析

在古代社会乃至在某些传统情结较为浓厚的现代社会,一定的社会群体往往会将某一具有特殊地位的超自然神灵(或神化了的历史人物)奉为自己的守护神,以此求得精神上的安慰与寄托。对于这一特定的社会群体来说,守护神选定以后,其角色通常会呈现出既定性和恒常性特征,一般不会因时间的推移而轻易出现其角色由他神取而代之的现象。然而,     

Late Pleistocene mammalian extinctions in North America: Taxonomy,chronology, and explanations

Toward the end of the Pleistocene, North America lost some 35 genera of mammals. It has long been assumed that all or virtually all of the extinctions occurred between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago, but detailed analyses of the radiocarbon chronology provide little support for this assumption, which seems to have been widely accepted because of the kinds of explanations felt most likely to account for the extinctions in the first place. Approaches that attribute the losses to human predation depend almost entirely on the assumed synchroneity between the extinctions and the onset of large mammal hunting by North American peoples. The fact that only two of the extinct genera have been found in a convincing kill context presents an overwhelming problem for this approach. Climatic models, on the other hand, are becoming increasingly precise and account for a wide variety of apparently synchronous biogeographic events. While a role for human activities in the extinction of some taxa is fully possible, there can be little doubt that the underlying cause of the extinctions lies in massive climatic change.