Warfare and mortality at Koger's Island,Alabama

Koger's Island, a late prehistoric agricultural community in the southeastern USA, is the site of a cemetery containing four mass graves of individuals with perimortem trauma and scalping cutmarks. Although the site as a whole has a demographic profile typical for a society of this kind (with high infant mortality), the mass graves contain relatively few infants or children, and an abundance of adult males. It is suggested that the skeletons found in the multiple burials represent the victims of raiding or warfare. The disproportionate number of males in the mass graves may be related to the fact that relatively few males at the site are older than 50 years, presumably because they are dying at an early age from violence.     

中原史前文化的优势--中国早期文明研究札记之一

解开华夏文明的锁钥仍然在中原史前文化中.中原史前文化的优势表现为较早地奠定了深厚的农业经济基础,并以之支撑起庞大的人口规模;向心状的聚落布局;以及先民对世俗性日常生活的关注.同时,还表现在中原地区的东西南北交汇之位、过渡之位和文化与环境的多样性之位.     

Warfare in Prehistoric and Early Historic Eastern North America

Recent criticisms of the use of historically and ethnographically recorded conflicts as models for warfare in prehistoric times force archaeologists to reexamine assumptions about the frequency, severity, and effects of intergroup fighting. In eastern North America, skeletons of victims and palisaded settlements—the only information consistently available on intergroup hostilities—indicate that the prevalence of conflicts varied greatly over time and space. Occasionally the attacks, typically ambushes of small numbers of people, cumulatively resulted in numerous casualties.Variation in palisade strength is consistent with the organizational structure and warrior mobilization potential of late prehistoric societies in different parts of the Eastern Woodlands.     

Patterns of Cranial Trauma in a Prehistoric Population from Central California

Evidence of cranial trauma was investigated in a skeletal sample from the site CA-Ala-329 located on the eastern side of San Francisco Bay, Central California. The sample included 365 crania, including 134 adult males, 104 adult females, 22 adults of indeterminate sex and 105 subadults. Evidence of cranio-facial fracture was found in eight individuals, one of whom is an adolescent. Thus, the frequency in adult crania of traumatic injury is 7/260 (2.7 per cent). Of the seven individuals of known sex displaying such cranial trauma, all are male. The injuries are generally suggestive of some form of interpersonal aggression, with five healed vault fractures, one lesion with an embedded obsidian fragment (a probable projectile point) and two healed facial fractures. Further clear evidence of interpersonal aggression has been previously determined in this sample and has been reported at even higher levels elsewhere in California. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Prehistoric Local Environment of Grasshopper Pueblo,Arizona

Abstract

The prehistoric local environment near Grasshopper Pueblo, east-central Arizona, is reconstructed by analysis of mammalian microfauna recovered at the site. Changes in the vegetation surrounding the pueblo during the span of occupation (ca. 1300–1400 A.C.) are described and the present and past environments at the site are contrasted. Paleoenvironmental analyses to date have failed to produce evidence for a rapid prehistoric climatic shift with negative consequences for agricultural productivity.     

新疆史前时期考古学研究现状

新疆史前时期考古学的研究,已经取得一批丰富的考古材料和科研成果。本文尝试概括1949年以来新疆史前时期考古学研究,进行一个研究历程的文献综述。就新疆史前时期的考古学研究文献进行梳理,具体考察新疆史前时期的考古学研究成果。试图了解当前新疆史前时期考古学研究的现状、特点,对未来的研究工作提出建议和展望。     

Paleoenvironmental reconstruction at Canyon del Muerto,Arizona, based on principal-component analysis

A multivariate statistical technique, principal-component analysis, is used to interpret pollen assemblages from archaeological context in terms of paleoenvironmental information. The pollen samples originate from an archaeological site in northeastern Arizona (Canyon del Muerto) covering the period between AD 700 and AD 1300. Through the use of principal-component analysis the percentage constraint in the pollen counts is removed and the data set effectively reduced to groups of co-varying taxa. Once these groups are ecologically defined as to the environment they represent, their changes of dominance through time can be analysed. This study has shown a correlation between a population expansion in Canyon del Muerto (AD 1050–1150) and the dominance of upland forest types suggesting slightly cooler and/or wetter conditions. The pollen data compare well with the tree-ring indices for this region. Local disturbance is reflected in the record during the period of greatest population. A shift to a shrubland vegetation during the peak construction phase indicates the clearing of cottonwood, fir, spruce and pine (all found within the site) by local inhabitants. Thus, the palynological evidence suggests both cultural and climatic factors are involved in the explanation of pollen deposition.     

长江流域史前古城的初步研究

一长江流域现已发现的史前城址（一）长江中游的史前城址长江中游现已发现的史前城址主要有湖南澧县城头山、湖北石首市走马岭、江陵阴湘城、荆门马家垸、天门石家河等。据报道湖南澧县鸡叫城,也是一座史前古城。据悉,长江中游地区现已发现的史前城址还有四、五座［１］...     

Women's Participation in Prehistoric Warfare: A Central Illinois River Valley Case Study

Considerations of Native American warriorhood are likely to conjure images of male‐bodied, masculine individuals. While the majority of formally recognized warriors may have indeed fit this mould, it is also true that female‐bodied/feminine warriors have been historically documented in many places, including North America. Further, even in cases where women were not formally recognized as such, it seems likely that they played offensive and defensive roles on an ‘as needed’ basis, such as on subsistence outings or when their homes and families were under attack. In this paper, we seek to explore the intersection of womanhood and warfare‐related violence at Morton Village (11 F2) and the associated Norris Farms #36 cemetery. This late prehistoric community in the Central Illinois River Valley has been the subject of extensive bioarchaeological interest regarding high levels of skeletally indicated violent trauma. We review this osteological evidence in addition to incorporating mortuary and subsistence perspectives on the ideology and practice of warfare at this time and place. A tripartite approach considering osteological trauma patterns, mortuary commemoration, and new interpretations of community life leads us to suggest an alternate interpretation—one in which Morton Village women are, in at least some instances, considered as active defenders of their community and lifeways rather than passive victims of violence. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Economic and Land-Use Implications of Prehistoric Fire-Cracked-Rock Piles,Northern Arizona

Abstract

Intensive archaeological survey of 14.5 sq km of the Upper Basin, an area located near the Grand Canyon's eastern South Rim in northern Arizona, has discovered 126 fire-cracked-rock piles that are surrounded by artifact scatters of varying size and assemblage composition. Because these phenomena are unprecedented in upland conifer ecosystems of the American Southwest, several hypotheses are explored regarding their formation histories. Analyses of artifact assemblages, botanical remains, pollen, and faunal remains recovered from four excavated sites indicate that they result from flaked-stone artifact production, ground-stone artifact reuse and recycling, ceramic-vessel-fragment recycling, and animal and plant processing. In addition, radiocarbon dates and temporally diagnostic projectile-points and ceramics imply that the sites differ in terms of frequency, intensity, and patterns of use, and with respect to the groups of people who formed them (Anasazi, Cohonina, Havasupai, or Hopi). Byproducts of a little-known, long-term land-use pattern in Southwestern prehistory (ca. A.D. 417–1650), these sites represent a key source of information for understanding how different sources of variability come to be expressed in archaeological landscapes.     

New evidence of prehistoric arrow wounds in the Iberian Peninsula

Recent excavations carried out in the Iberian Peninsula have revealed some skeletons with arrow wounds at sites dating from the neolithic to the Bronze Age. The discovery of burials in which the human remains have not been moved and the methodical nature of the excavation have made an in situ examination possible, and have confirmed this evidence as testimony of violent action, of which there are many other examples all over Europe. Four cases of silex arrowheads found in different human bones from the excavation of the hypogeum of Longar (Navarra, Spain), carried out between 1991 and 1993, are described.     

Violence in the Central Iberian Peninsula during the Bronze Age: A Possible Prehistoric Homicide

One of the most interesting sites of the Bronze Age in the central area of the Iberian Peninsula is La Motilla del Azuer (Daimiel, Ciudad Real), dated between 2200 and 1350 bc . The main objective of this study was to investigate interpersonal violence in this site and to report an uncommon case of violent death. No traumatic injury was detected in any child, and men and women significantly differed in the frequency of traumas. More traumatisms were found in men from the earlier stages of occupation, including a young man with at least three blunt force traumas and 26 sharp force traumas. The archaeological findings and trauma patterns in the skeletons of the 65 individuals studied suggest a relatively intense level of exposure to violence for adult men in the earlier stages of occupation of this settlement. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

渭河流域史前石斧的初步研究

本文拟就现有的考古资料对渭河流域的史前石斧进行考古类型学分析,梳理其形制的演变,并就石斧的用途和社会意义等问题进行讨论。     

史前玉璧源流、功能考

史前小型玉璧主要发现于东北与环太湖地区,两地各有渊源,独立发展,其中东北地区到红山文化中晚期发展成大小有序的组璧,而环太湖地区则被大型玉璧所取代,均成为当时原始礼制的重要组成部分史前玉壁是仿太阳而出现的,主要是借助太阳向上升起的巨大力量,使墓主人的灵魂进入永恒与再生。     

Late Archaic wells on the Gila River Indian Community,Arizona

Eight prehistoric wells dug to a depth of ∼2 m below the modern ground surface were found in the alluvial sediments of McClellan Wash on Gila River Indian Community in southern Arizona. Charcoal from the sediments filling the wells yielded radiocarbon ages of ∼1000 B.C. The time in which wells were dug coincides with a period of general regional aridity and high ENSO activity in the American Southwest. Digging to access water may have occurred in response to period(s) of resource uncertainty, or as a logistical activity that engaged increasingly resource-tethered Late Archaic/Early Agricultural populations. These activities laid the foundation for agricultural practices that eventually became the dominant mode of subsistence in the low-lying areas of the Sonoran Desert.     

The Removal of Ear Trophies Associated with Scalpings in Prehistoric North Alabama

The act of scalping has long been associated with Native American conflict‐related human body part trophy taking. Reasons for their removal were varied and often included communal and personal factors. Previous research has identified several different types of scalp removals based on the amount of soft tissue affected during the process of scalping. One of these types can involve the removal of the ears. Through reanalysis of known scalping victims within the middle Tennessee Valley of North Alabama, we have identified five cases where victims were both scalped and had their ears removed. These cases provide a unique understanding of the practice of human body part trophy taking. They support ethnographic accounts that indicate ear removal has great time depth and was geographically widespread. Although the five cases presented here are similar to total compound scalpings, they actually represent total simple scalpings. Unlike total compound scalpings, where the ears are removed attached to the skin of the scalp, these cases show evidence of secondary removal of the ears after the scalp was already detached. This secondary removal of the ears after the act of scalping supports the interpretation that the aggressors intended different purposes for each trophy. It is likely that the scalp and ears each had their own meaning. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An example of a severe neck injury with survival seen in a Bronze Age burial

We present a paleopathological analysis of an adult male from the Bronze Age site of Motilla del Azuer (Daimiel, Ciudad Real) from the Spanish region of La Mancha. The hyoid bone from this individual exhibits a healed fracture. This is an exceptional archaeological find. This injury is extremely rare apart from hanging and strangulation, and it is even rarer since the individual survived this injury to his neck. This injury was probably produced by a direct impact to the neck. This event could have been the result of an accident or that of intentional aggression. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Bajada Canals of the Safford Basin,Southeastern Arizona: Excellence in Prehistoric Engineering

A large network of exceptionally well-engineered prehistoric canals has been discovered near Safford, Arizona. Within an area of roughly 450 km², 12 distinct canal systems, comprised of 41 canals, have been identified originating in the bajada of the Pinaleño Mountains. Conveying water from runoff and springs, the longest canal is about 13?km, and the total length of all systems exceeds 125?km. While a few canals may date to ca. a.d. 1100, the vast majority date to between ca. a.d. 1250 and 1450 and appear to be constructed by migrants from northeastern Arizona. These features represent the second largest network of canal systems in the American Southwest, and, while smaller in size and total length than the canal systems of the Phoenix Basin, they exhibit engineering sophistication not found in those systems. These canals have expanded the knowledge of prehistoric water management engineering and agricultural intensification in the American Southwest.     

A possible massacre at Early Bronze Age Titriş Höyük,Anatolia

Trauma is among the most important sources of data providing information related to systematic violence, battles and massacres among ancient populations. In this study, a mass grave from Titriş Höyük in the Southeast Anatolia was examined in terms of cranial traumas. Skeletal remains of minimum 19 individuals were placed on a plaster basin as a secondary interment. The frequency of cranial trauma was 81.3% among 16 available adult crania. The fact that the perimortem traumas were observed on both sex groups and the presence of two children and an infant on the basin suggest the possibility of these individuals being subjected to an attack or a massacre. It has been determined that the frequency of traumas in the common burials increased more than twofold from Early‐Mid EBA (6.7%) to Late EBA (14.3%). While all of the injuries observed in Early‐Mid EBA were in the form of healed depressed trauma, penetrated traumas were also encountered in Late EBA. The increased frequency of cranial trauma with unusual interment on a plaster basin indicated that a social stress might have taken place in Titriş Höyük. It is concluded that the collapse of the Akkadian Empire, the deterioration of the trade‐based economy and resource stress might have been possible factors that played a role in the excessive violence, or a massacre in Titriş Höyük. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.