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1.
During the last 15 years, charcoal analysis of archaeological sites in north-western France has been carried out in conjunction with systematic and detailed dendrological examination. By considering these extrinsic criteria in association with the analytical results, palaeo-ethnographic and palaeo-environmental information can be obtained. The charcoals are classically identified under the microscope on the basis of their cellular structure. This examination is associated with an observation of the ligneous structure on transverse sections using a binocular lens. When charcoal fragments are large enough, the growth ring widths are measured. Tree ring curvature is also noted. Finally, alteration by fusion or radial cracks, the presence of fungal hyphae, and insect degradation are also recorded. Results are thus obtained on the nature of fuel used in domestic fireplaces and kilns. The selection of timbers and their catchment areas are also revealed. The average width of the growth rings in oak charcoal from domestic hearths coming from about forty sites in north-western France shows a significant increase from 6000 to 2000 BP. There is a similar increase in the number of heliophilic taxa used from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. This implies that the environment became more and more open because of use by society. The interpretation of the dendrology results applied to charcoal analyses is obtained through a convergence of criteria. Thus, charcoal analysis can provide more than just an identification of the species used, and can yield fundamental information on the interaction of society with the environment. 相似文献
2.
Ancient building construction wood preserved in a peat bog below the seafloor in a shallow mangrove lagoon in Paynes Creek National Park, Belize, provides an exceptional record of Classic Maya wood use. Identifications of construction wood at Early Classic Chan B'i, and Late Classic Atz'aam Na, are reported and discussed to assess forest exploitation and species selection over time. Black mangrove (Avicennia germinans) dominates the Early Classic assemblage. The Late Classic assemblage is characterized by greater variability and an absence of mangrove species. When considered in the environmental context, identified species conform to principles of optimal foraging. The change in the wood assemblage over time suggests overexploitation of forest resources, resulting in deforestation of the local landscape and subsequent adaptation of foraging behavior. Deforestation is linked to the wider social context in which growing inland populations created demand for salt, putting greater pressure on the forest resources exploited by the Paynes Creek salt works for fuel and timber. 相似文献
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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. 相似文献
4.
Robert W. Mann Michael D. Thomas Bradley J. Adams 《International Journal of Osteoarchaeology》1998,8(4):295-299
An archaeologically-derived example of congenital absence of the ulna and humeroradial synostosis in a prehistoric North American adult female from Moundville, Alabama is presented. That a physically deformed individual could survive to adulthood attests to her ability to physically adjust to the handicap, as well as society's acceptance, support, or at the very least its indulgence, of persons with potentially crippling deformities. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 相似文献
5.
Guzzi-Heeb S 《家族历史杂志》2011,36(4):367-386
The eighteenth-century "sexual revolution" cannot simply be explained as a consequence of economic or institutional factors -- industrialization, agricultural revolution, secularization, or legal hindrances to marriages. The example of western Valais (Switzerland) shows that we have to deal with a complex configuration of factors. The micro-historical approach reveals that in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century sexuality -- and above all illicit sexuality -- was a highly subversive force that was considerably linked to political innovation and probably more generally to historical change. Nonmarital sexuality was clearly tied to political dissent and to innovative ways of behavior, both among the social elites and the common people. This behavior patterns influenced crucial evolutions in the social, cultural, and economic history of the region. 相似文献
6.
Angela Schlumbaum Paula F. Campos Serge Volken Marquita Volken Albert Hafner Jörg Schibler 《Journal of archaeological science》2010
Ancient DNA from a Neolithic legging (1st half of the 3rd millennium BC) found at Lenk, Schnidejoch (2750 m a.sl.) in the Swiss Alps has demonstrated, that modern distribution of genetic variation does not reflect past spatio-temporal signatures. The legging was made from the skin of a domestic goat (Capra hircus), belonging to the caprine haplogroup B1, which is marginal in Europe today, but represents a third highly diverse goat haplogroup entering Europe already in the Neolithic. Population expansion of lineage B therefore happened more than 4500 years ago, but their members were at some point almost completely replaced by goats of today's common A and C haplogroups. 相似文献
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Juan M. Rubiales Laura Hernández Fernando Romero Carlos Sanz 《Journal of archaeological science》2011
Charred woods may be used to effectively reconstruct past wood acquisition strategies. We used anthracological data from the pre-Roman settlement of Pintia (Padilla de Duero, Valladolid) to examine the use of forest resources at the local scale. Palaeoecological data revealed heterogeneous landscapes in the inland northern meseta with environments that offered diverse sources of wood for the inhabitants of Pintia, one of the first cities of inland Iberia. Pines (Pinus pinea/pinaster and Pinus sylvestris/nigra) and both evergreen and deciduous Quercus L. and Juniperus L. were the main taxa identified as both fuelwood and construction elements, but the assemblages and frequencies of these taxa differed depending on their use. We also examined the potential of models from human ecology by considering the frequency, handling time and the relative technological value of each taxon to model how people gathered wood resources. The results suggest that although local availability affected the forest resources that were used by the Vaccaei people, specific taxa were positively selected for specific uses. 相似文献
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Brian Clifton Finucane 《Journal of archaeological science》2007,34(12):2115-2124
This paper reports the δ13C and δ15N values of bone collagen, muscle and skin from several late prehistoric–early colonial (AD 1490–1640) mummies from Perú's Ayacucho Valley. The mean of the δ13C and δ15N values of bone collagen are −11.5 ± 1.4 and 11.1 ± 0.7‰, respectively. The mean of the δ13C values for Vinchos skin is −11.8 ± 1.2‰ and the mean of δ15N values is 13.2 ± 0.5‰. The samples of muscle tissue have a δ13C mean of −11.9 ± 0.9‰ and a δ15N mean of 12.7 ± 0.3‰. The data from bone collagen indicate maize was the basis of the region's subsistence economy. A significant correlation between δ13C and δ15N values of bone collagen (R2 = 0.75) is consistent with the preferential fertilization of maize with composted manure. Both skin and muscle samples are consistently enriched in δ15N relative to paired samples of bone (2.1 ± 0.5 and 1.6 ± 0.7‰, respectively), possibly as a result of short term physiological stress or differential decomposition. 相似文献
12.
R.L. Kinaston H.R. Buckley S.E. Halcrow M.J.T. Spriggs S. Bedford K. Neal A. Gray 《Journal of archaeological science》2009,36(12):2780-2787
The Teouma skeletal sample from Vanuatu represents one of the few truly colonising populations in the Pacific Islands. Therefore, investigating the factors that may have affected foetal/infant mortality in this population is potentially important for understanding the success of settlement in this region of the world. We investigate whether stable isotope analyses of carbon and nitrogen in conjunction with skeletal ageing techniques, can aid in identifying whether the subadults from Teouma died before or after birth in an attempt to understand the potential threats to foetal and infant survival. Multiple skeletal ageing methods using diaphyseal lengths were used to age the young subadults (n = 7). Using regression-based skeletal ageing methods, four of the individuals were aged at around full-term gestation (37–42 weeks gestation), while the remaining three individuals died preterm. The isotope analyses did not assist in identifying the individuals that survived post-birth because none of the subadults displayed the 2–3‰ trophic increase in δ15N values expected for a breastfed infant, probably as a result of their young age. However, all of the foetal/perinatal individuals exhibited higher δ15N values in their bone collagen compared with the adult females of the sample, with two of the individuals demonstrating unusually high δ15N values. The δ13C values of the foetuses/perinates did not exhibit the same variation. We explore a number of possible explanations for this elevation of perinatal/foetal δ15N values and tentatively suggest that this is a result of in utero stress as a consequence of chronic maternal ill-health. The osteological and palaeodemographic evidence supports the assertion that females, foetuses and perinates were susceptible to environmental stress within this colonising population, resulting in early death of the perinatal individuals in addition to early terminations of pregnancy or premature birth possibly caused by infectious and/or metabolic diseases. 相似文献
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Svetlana V. Svyatko Rick J. Schulting James Mallory Eileen M. Murphy Paula J. Reimer Valeriy I. Khartanovich Yury K. Chistov Mikhail V. Sablin 《Journal of archaeological science》2013
We report the results of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of 354 human and faunal samples from five archaeological cultures of the Minusinsk Basin, Southern Siberia – Afanasyevo, Okunevo, Andronovo, Karasuk and Tagar (ca. 2700–1 BC) – a key location in Eurasia due to its position on a northern corridor linking China and central Eurasia. The results indicate that the diet of Eneolithic to Middle Bronze Age (Afanasyevo to Andronovo) populations was primarily C3-based, with C4 plants only becoming an important component of the diet in the Late Bronze Age Karasuk and Early Iron Age Tagar cultures. Freshwater fish seems to have been an important constituent of the diets in all groups. The findings constitute the earliest concrete evidence for the substantial use of millet in the eastern Eurasian steppe. We propose that it was probably introduced from Northwestern China during the Karasuk culture at the start of the Late Bronze Age, ca. 1500 BC. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for the nature of pastoralist economies on the steppes. 相似文献
14.
B.F Leach 《Journal of archaeological science》1979,6(2):109-126
A method is suggested whereby modern ecological information on fish behaviour and distribution, together with commercial catch figures, may be used to assess season of occupation of archaeological sites. Monthly catch probabilities for each species are scaled by minimum numbers from prehistoric osteological assemblages to yield an overall likelihood of the fish being caught at different months of the year. A test case on two assemblages from Palliser Bay, New Zealand, suggested year-round habitation, and this was consistent with individual qualitative seasonal markers. The fishbone evidence can also be used to comment on aspects of prehistoric technology connected with marine foods, such as the use of canoes, baited traps, long line hauling, rock fishing and seine netting. In addition, the fish information substantiated subtle environmental changes which are believed to have taken place in this region. 相似文献
15.
Alicia K. Wilbur 《International Journal of Osteoarchaeology》1998,8(3):180-191
This study focuses on hands and feet as indicators of sex and stature for Native Americans, hitherto relatively neglected in this regard. The study was performed on a large, well-preserved prehistoric skeletal sample from west-central Illinois. Discriminant functions are presented which determine sex with accuracies exceeding 87%. Those functions are then tested on three other Native American samples and found to have similar high degrees of accuracy. The utility of hand and foot bones for estimation of femur length (and subsequent inclusion in stature estimation equations) is also explored. While indirect estimation of stature is determined to be possible in this manner, it is suggested that these and other stature estimation techniques that have large standard errors may be of limited archaeological or forensic value. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 相似文献
16.
Jorge E. Spangenberg Montserrat Ferrer Pascal Tschudin Marquita Volken Albert Hafner 《Journal of archaeological science》2010
Archaeological leather samples recovered from the ice field at the Schnidejoch Pass (altitude 2756 m amsl) in the western Swiss Alps were studied using optical, chemical molecular and isotopic (δ13C and δ15N of the bulk leather, and compound-specific δ13C analyses of the organic-solvent extracted fatty acids) methods to obtain insight into the origin of the leather and ancient tanning procedures. For comparison, leathers from modern native animals in alpine environment (red deer, goat, sheep, chamois, and calf/cow) were analyzed using the same approach. Optical and electron microscopically comparisons of Schnidejoch and modern leathers showed that the gross structure (pattern of collagen fibrils and intra-fibrils material) of archaeological leather had survived essentially intact for five millennia. The SEM studies of the hairs from the most important archaeological find, a Neolithic leather legging, show a wave structure of the hair cuticle, which is a diagnostic feature for goatskins. The variations of the bulk δ13C and δ15N values, and δ13C values of the main fatty acids are within the range expected for pre-industrial temperate C3 environment. The archaeological leather samples contain a mixture of indigenous (from the animal) and exogenous plant/animal lipids. An important amount of waxy n-alkanes, n-alkan-1-ols and phytosterols (β-sitosterol, sitostanol) in all samples, and abundant biomarker of conifers (nonacosan-10-ol) in the legging leathers clearly indicate that the Neolithic people were active in a subalpine coniferous forest, and that they used an aqueous extract of diverse plant material for tanning leather. 相似文献
17.
Hyperspectral (multiple, narrow band) satellite imaging provides a useful discovery and analytical tool for archaeologists. The Hyperion instrument, flying on the Earth Observer 1 (EO-1) satellite, was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on November 21, 2000. Unlike 7-band Landsat or 15-band ASTER imagery, Hyperion provides 242 (196 calibrated) narrow bands in the visible (VIS) to shortwave infrared range (SWIR), enabling much more detailed archaeological and geological analyses. It was designed as a spectrometer specifically geared to mineralogical analysis, and the imagery is freely available via data acquisition (targeting) requests from NASA. We requested a Hyperion image swath targeted on Khirbat en-Nahas (KEN), an ancient copper smelting site along the Wadi al-Ghuwayb (WAG), a part of Jordan’s Faynan district, where extensive ore processing occurred from the 3rd millennium BCE to industrial scale production over several centuries in the early 1st millennium BCE (Iron Age) and continued until Medieval Islamic times. We use a combination of Principal Components Analysis (PCA), similarity matrices, and Spectral Mixture Analysis (SMA) on a single image swath to help locate additional ore processing sites, distinguish different areas at KEN that drew on different ore deposits, and discern depositional differences that may help illuminate issues related to the organization of production at KEN. Extensive field surveys in the research area provide a unique opportunity to ‘ground-truth’ the results of the hyperspectral research. The results of our study show considerable promise for future work with Hyperion data sets, and illuminate new aspects of the copper smelting industry at Khirbat en-Nahas. However, the low spatial resolution of the imagery and the nature of weakly reflective bands in the near infrared (NIR) limit the utility of the results. 相似文献
18.
Xabier Pontevedra-Pombal Tim M. Mighall Juan C. Nóvoa-Muñoz Eva Peiteado-Varela José Rodríguez-Racedo Eduardo García-Rodeja Antonio Martínez-Cortizas 《Journal of archaeological science》2013
The analysis of environmental archives from across the world has demonstrated that human perturbation of the geochemical cycles of trace metals and the resultant atmospheric metal contamination date back, at least, several millennia. However, an understanding of the local processes and timing of changes in trace metal deposition is also essential for a proper global interpretation. The Iberian Peninsula was a major mining area since prehistoric times and the analysis of environmental archives provides a good opportunity to improve our understanding of the history of mining and metallurgy in Europe. We present the results from three 14C dated peat cores from the Xistral Mountains (NW Iberia). These records are used to reconstruct past atmospheric deposition of Ni, Zn, As, and Cd. The chronology of the changes in concentrations and metal accumulation rates was found to be concordant in the three bogs, and showed great similarity to total Pb, Hg, and Pb isotope ratios as determined in previous investigations. They present a consistent view of changes in atmospheric pollution and the importance of metals in the development of human societies, especially: i) the first evidence of atmospheric metal pollution 3400 years ago, which is simultaneous with the expansion of the Atlantic Bronze Koine; ii) a pollution event between 2350 and 2150 years ago, associated to the development of so-called Celtic culture (local Late Iron Age); iii) a dramatic increase of metal fluxes in Roman times; iv) a severe and rapid increase in the last 250 years corresponding to the beginning of the industrial revolution in Europe, reflecting the emergence of the new dominant sources of pollution, and v) the increase of long range atmospheric transport of pollutants. Our data suggest that all detected ancient (until ca. 1450 cal BP) periods of enhanced Ni, Zn, As, and Cd accumulation may have had an anthropogenic origin, related to the onset and development of mining and metallurgy. 相似文献
19.
《Environmental Archaeology》2013,18(1):16-35
AbstractThis paper presents the results of species diversity and dendrological analyses of archaeological charcoal excavated from medieval and early modern iron production sites in Bilsdale, and at Rievaulx in the neighbouring valley of Ryedale, North Yorkshire, UK. Standard methods of quantification are used to assess species diversity, sampling sufficiency and taxa presence. The assessment of dendrological features provides additional evidence for growth trends and cutting cycles analogous with cyclical woodland management, as well as environmental and growing conditions. Analysis of archaeological charcoal from four medieval bloomery furnace sites in Bilsdale, and from the site of the hammersmithy and blast furnace at the early modern iron works at Rievaulx, provide comparable data-sets which indicate a change in cutting practise and dominant species selection for industrial fuelwood occurred between the 12th- and mid-16th centuries AD. Results show that dominant species presence changed from an admixture of predominantly birch (Betula sp.) and hazel (Corylus avellana) sourced from small calibre branchwood and stemwood used in the medieval bloomery furnaces, to a dominant oak (Quercus sp.) presence from standard sources used at the Rievaulx iron works by the mid-16th century. Whilst it is uncertain whether this change in dominant species composition and the source of industrial fuelwood is related to changes in local availability, or the result of the technological transition to blast furnace processing which occurred at this time, estate records reveal a woodland management campaign was instigated to supply and maintain fuelwood supplies to the iron works at Rievaulx which coincides with the introduction of Tudor arboricultural legislation in the 1540s. 相似文献