Soundscapes of the Everyday in Ancient Oaxaca, Mexico

In ancient Mexico, sensory engagement in the form of oratory, music, and performance were major components of state-sponsored festivals and noble feasts. We think far less, however, about the soundscapes associated with rituals and everyday life in household contexts. Drawing on contextual, iconographic, and acoustic analyses of flutes, whistles, bells, costume ornaments, and ceramic vessels with rattle supports from the site of Río Viejo in coastal Oaxaca, Mexico, we argue that sound-production created a shared spatial landscape that linked community members to one another. Even in the absence of visibility or participation, soundscapes were prominent, celebrated elements of everyday life that purposely blurred the boundaries between the natural, cultural, and spirit worlds.     

Geospatial modeling of pedestrian transportation networks: a case study from precolumbian Oaxaca,Mexico

Using accumulated cost surfaces and various pathfinding techniques within Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software, archaeologists and other spatial scientists have developed increasingly sophisticated models of human movement. Despite their utility, these approaches can be limited because standard GIS software cannot model movement (1) from many origins to many destinations or (2) without specific origins and destinations. Absent these capabilities, it is particularly difficult to model networks of movement over a given tract of land if you are interested in obtaining a more general sense of movement dynamics, not specific site-to-site patterns. In this paper, we present an innovative way of modeling past movement that generates both natural-looking networks and also indicates the degree of traffic that may have existed on any particular segment of those networks. The “From Everywhere to Everywhere” (FETE) model generates networks based on topography and landcover without requiring that origin and destination points be supplied in advance. We apply the FETE model to a case from the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, a region that has extensive archaeological and ethnohistoric data sets that serve as a test of the efficacy of our technique. A comparison of the FETE output with known late precolumbian and early colonial movement corridors indicates that the method is effective and should be useful for modeling networks in other areas.     

Transportation corridors and political evolution in highland Mesoamerica: Settlement analyses incorporating GIS for northern Tlaxcala, Mexico

Investigations of the functional utility and social elaboration of natural transportation corridors contribute to generating more comprehensive understandings of complex macroregional phenomena such as political evolution. In this article, highland central Mexican transportation corridors are analyzed through GIS applications and a reconsideration of settlement data from an important corridor in northern Tlaxcala. The location of the study region, within the corridor connected to the northeastern Basin of Mexico, makes it particularly relevant for examining interregional exchanges and the transformation of a more rural landscape adjacent to core areas of urbanization and state political expansion. Conclusions drawn from the study are largely complementary to the interpretations made by the surveyors [Merino Carrión, B.L., 1989. La Cultura Tlaxco. Serie Arqueológica, Colección Científica 174, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City], but provide an updated assessment of prehispanic political evolution ca. 900 BC–AD 1519. Specifically, the study tracks the evolution of early ceremonial centers, Teotihuacan’s territorial expansion through the region, political balkanization following the collapse of Teotihuacan, and the establishment of small, independent polities encountered by the Spanish. New contributions include quantitative measures relevant to assessing the systemic integration of the region and the social value of the corridor during different chronological phases, elucidating the differing expansionary trajectories of Teotihuacan and the Aztec Empire.     

Nari (calcrete) outcrop contribution to ancient agricultural terraces in the Southern Shephelah,Israel: insights from digital terrain analysis and a geoarchaeological field survey

A field survey revealed that Byzantine and Early Arab (ca. 5th to 8th century C.E.) agricultural systems in the semi-arid region of the Shephelah (central Israel) were similar to runoff agricultural systems in the arid region of the Negev (southern Israel). This similarity led to the hypothesis that systems in the Shephelah also function as runoff farms. This hypothesis is not trivial since runoff values in semi-arid regions are generally low due to intensive but short rainfall events, and due to the presence of sink patches that absorb runoff on slope surface. The aim of the current research is to examine whether runoff potential in a representative agricultural system in the Shephelah is sufficient for sustaining runoff farming. A geoarchaeological field survey and digital terrain analysis show that large Nari (calcrete) outcrops on the footslopes generate high runoff values that improve water potential. Hydrological simulations and calculations show that 230 mm of direct rainfall generates a water potential equivalent to 300 mm of direct rainfall. In view of these results, it is reasonable to conclude that the presence of Nari enabled runoff agricultural farming in the Shephelah region, even in drought years.     

Fluvial sediments, correlations and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction: The development of robust radiocarbon chronologies

Multiple sequences of radiocarbon dates extracted from organic materials are increasingly being used to provide robust chronologies for landscape development, particularly the timing and correlation of significant climatic and ‘process’ events. Whilst the validity of using such frameworks in sedimentary environments such as lake basins and raised bogs has been the focus of much attention, such debates have not extended to fluvial systems. Using examples from three lowland, vertically accreting river valleys in East Anglia, UK, this paper assesses the robustness of their associated radiocarbon chronologies by assessing the contrasting age estimates that are obtained by dating different parts of the same organic sample (humic, humin and plant macrofossils) at a variety of stratigraphic levels. Overall, the humin and humic acid fraction results were statistically consistent, whilst the plant macrofossil remains were found to be of a slightly younger age. In these examples, it is argued that the younger ages appear to be the result of Phragmites (common reed) roots pushing plant macrossils through the sedimentary sequence or opening up voids for material to fall through, although studies in lacustrine and mire environments suggest alternative explanations may also be possible. Whichever explanation is preferred, this study demonstrates clearly that the complexity of valley floor stratigraphy and processes is such, that using single radiocarbon dates, whether AMS or bulk samples to reconstruct chronologies of ‘geomorphic system response’ may need to be refined and subjected to the same level of assessment that has been applied in other sedimentary systems.     

Origin and Collapse of Complex Societies in Oaxaca (Mexico): Evaluating the Era from 1965 to the Present

I summarize recent archaeological work in Oaxaca, Mexico, with a focus on questions central to world prehistory: the origin and collapse of complex societies. Monte Albán was the capital of an emerging civilization in the southern highlands of Mexico during the second half of the first millennium B.C. Soon after the foundation of the ancient city, there is evidence for state formation and a political expansion into regions outside the Valley of Oaxaca. Centuries later, Monte Albán went into decline, giving way to the competing small polities found throughout Oaxaca at the time of the Spanish conquest. Since the late 1960s, our knowledge of these changes has been transformed by study of Oaxaca's pre–Monte Albán past, regional settlement surveys, and processual model building. Evolutionary and historical perspectives allow for significant refinement of current debates surrounding the rise and fall of complex societies in Oaxaca.     

Evaluating soil resilience in long-term cultivation: a study of pre-Columbian terraces from the Paca Valley, Peru

This study evaluated the soil properties of pre-Hispanic stone-walled terraces by comparing soil quality along terraced catenas in the Paca Valley, a tributary of the Mantaro Valley, Peru. Micromorphological and bulk analyses of terrace soils revealed that despite terracing soil horizonation largely followed the catena. Upland terraced fields had deeper A-horizons with higher biotic activity than uncultivated controls, but less fine material and greater carbonate accumulation. Midslope fields were highly variable in depth and soil properties reflecting considerable substrate and anthropogenic variations in this growing zone. Silts and clay accumulated in valley bottom terraces where pedofeatures indicate an ongoing downhill movement of fine material. The distribution of soil separates down Paca hillsides demonstrates that terraces help moderate, rather than control, the erosion of key soil fractions required for long-term agricultural productivity. This study illustrates how the loss of fine material is partly mitigated by soil consolidation in dense topsoil peds, microaggregates and saprolite. These aggregates are retained by terraces and contribute to deep soil profiles. Nevertheless, many fields show signs of degradation, especially from insufficient organic matter amendment. In addition to farming itself, buried soils and associated artefacts in valley bottom fields indicate mass soil movement, a likely result of disruption caused by Inca road and terrace construction. The poor soil quality of many upland terraces also confirms that stone-walled terraces were constructed on mediocre substrates for farming, indicating a high labour investment for marginal agricultural returns in these areas. Overall, Paca Valley terraces improve topsoil retention and promote deep soil profiles. However, these fields present quite varied growing substrates. It is also apparent that over the last millennium, soil depletion from cultivation has compromised soil quality through loss of fine material and organic matter. Shifts in farming practice away from pre-Hispanic practices such as long-fallow and middening appear to exacerbate this trend.     

The Early Mesolithic Haverbeck site,Northwest Germany: evidence for Preboreal settlement in the Western and Central European Plain

Archaeological sites dating from the Preboreal are of special interest since they mark the turning point in the transition between the cultures of the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene. In spite of their relevance only few sites in the Western and Central European Plain have become known, thus providing an inhomogeneous basis for further hypotheses. In particular, sites in the widespread aeolian landscapes have been neglected for a long time due to their uncertain genesis, dating problems and obviously insufficient preservation. Our investigations of the Haverbeck site, situated in sandy aeolian substrate, seek to enhance knowledge about the Preboreal Mesolithic. The well-preserved archaeological spatial, technological and functional patterns and the geoarchaeological site formation were studied. Sedimentological and palaeopedological analyses, supported by ¹⁴C and OSL dating results, revealed that artefacts were deposited during the Preboreal on sands which had accumulated during the Younger Dryas and were reactivated in subsequent periods (Atlantic, Subboreal, Subatlantic). In spite of these processes, the artefacts remained unimpaired in their relative horizontal positions, enabling spatial analyses, which show a zonal differentiation and a prevalence of retooling and replacing activities. These results offer an insight into spatial and functional differentiations of the local Early Mesolithic subsistence, evidently including particular places for gathering and processing raw material. A comparison between the microlithic spectrum left behind and the number of points produced as concluded from the microburins indicates a greater typological differentiation than previously assumed for the Early Mesolithic. The remarkable variability of scraper forms obviously intentionally abandoned in a high number and replaced by new tools emphasizes the strong influence of functional elements on the typological assemblage composition. It is suggested that Early Mesolithic assemblages could display rather functional requirements or tasks performed than significant chronological or regional influences.     

Boats and meaning: A study of change and continuity in the Alta fjord,arctic Norway,from 4200 to 500 years B.C.

This paper is an analysis of socioeconomic and symbolic meaning associated with rock carvings of boats which were carved on rock surfaces between 4200 and 500 calendric years B.C. in the Alta fjord, arctic Norway. The carvings, which are divided into four diachronic phases, change in form and partly in content, approximately contemporaneous with the general archaeological record. The analysis of the human figures associated with the boats indicates that there were functional and possibly status differences, in the real as well as in the mythological world. There are also diachronic changes in the activities in which the boats are depicted. The changes in the carvings might be associated with other cultural transformations such as in material culture and socioeconomic and religious systems, among northern hunters and fishers. Some of the changes could be influenced by ideologies associated with Neolithic and Bronze Age socioeconomic systems further south in Scandinavia.     

Large game, agricultural land, and settlement pattern change in the eastern Mimbres area, southwest New Mexico

The 12th-century depopulation of large villages in the Mimbres region of the US Southwest has been attributed to a number of causes, including resource stress. This study combines archaeological evidence and models of environmental conditions in the eastern Mimbres area of southwest New Mexico to assess the magnitude and timing of food stress from a combination of a period of reduced precipitation and the effects of prolonged hunting and farming activities on the landscape. Results indicate that large game in the area was quite sensitive to hunting pressure, and was locally depleted long before settlement reorganization occurred. Access to arable land was somewhat reduced around the time of settlement reorganization, but productive land remained locally plentiful. Although the settlement reorganization did not improve access to large game or arable land, farmers’ perceptions of below-average conditions for agriculture relative to their expectations and past experience would have contributed to decisions to move.     

The DaVincis of dirt: Geoarchaeological perspectives on Native American mound building in the Mississippi River basin

The complexity of mound construction, as revealed through geoarchaeological analyses, indicates the cultural significance of mounds may be as well reflected in the earthen construction materials and their arrangement, as it is in the artifacts abandoned on their summits. We use geoarchaeological examples from three sites in the Mississippi River basin, Shiloh Mounds, Cahokia, and Poverty Point, to advocate a geoarchaeological approach that considers multiple scales from the regional soils and geomorphology, field observation of lithostratigraphic units, to the micro-scale identification of the mineralogy and soil development in order to decipher the source and processing of the soils and sediments. We focus on the use of five types of construction referred to here as: sod blocks, soil blocks, loaded fills, zoned fills and veneers. Also we address the selection and transportation of soils and sediments used in mound building and what these types of deposits reveal about the methods used to build mounds. These data can be used to evaluate and understand organization of labor, pace of construction, and mound appearance. We hold there is a considerable (although unquantified) difference between earth moving and mound building and that the construction of these important monuments required considerable knowledge, skill, planning, hard work, and attention to symbolic and ritual meaning.     

The devolution of mudbrick: ethnoarchaeology of abandoned earthen dwellings in the Bolivian Andes

This ethno-geoarchaeological study considers the formation of archaeological deposits through a study of abandoned contemporary mudbrick structures on the Taraco Peninsula, Bolivia. The study site was a domestic compound with rooms for different functions that had been abandoned for over 50 years. Structures were in variable states of decay in terms of roof cover, walling integrity and abandonment fills. Geoarchaeological samples were collected from intact and weathered adobes, earthen hearths, mud plaster, and flooring. Adobes and mud plaster were locally derived from topsoil containing archaeological sediments with added gravel and plant temper. This study found a relatively light anthropogenic signature for decayed earthen houses.Rising damp exfoliated mud plaster despite un-mortared cobble wall foundations. Organic matter from roof fall attracted thriving soil faunal populations, which furthered site destruction through bioturbation, particularly packed earth floors. Sediments derived from weathered mudbrick retained little evidence of prior use as construction materials unless exposed to heat. Sediments exposed to high-temperatures produced the most distinctive rubified features but were structurally compromised. Isolated thermal features from decomposed adobe would not be distinguishable from other hearth types. Adobes exposed to low or moderate heat had few distinctive features in thin section. Intact adobes and floors that were not exposed to heat have fewer pores than natural sediments and distinctive grass inclusions. These adobes disarticulated into loose sediments when exposed to weathering. Adobe fall outside the crumbling structures blended into topsoil.This study sheds light on functional attributes of pre-Columbian construction practices. Thick, fine-textured sterile flooring is commonly encountered in the study region. This would control bioturbation from roof fall in a previous occupation enabling reconstruction in abandoned dwellings. In contrast to the contemporary dwelling, prehistoric mortared cobble foundations would resist rising damp. Cobbles without mortar may relate more to design and construction than durability. These contrasts between contemporary and prehistory construction practices reflect differences in the design, construction costs and functional use-life of adobe structures.     

Trace element and Pb isotope provenance analyses of native copper in northwestern North America: results of a recent pilot study using INAA,ICP-MS,and LA-MC-ICP-MS

Several indigenous groups in northwestern North America used native copper prior to EuroAmerican contact. The Arctic, Subarctic, and Northwest Coast culture areas all have archaeological finds and geological sources of native copper. The copper-rich region of south-central Alaska and southwestern Yukon has often been credited as the source of archaeological native copper found on the Northwest Coast despite the presence of native copper sources further south. This paper presents the results of a pilot study using INAA, ICP-MS, and LA-MC-ICP-MS to assess the potential for native copper provenance research in Alaska and the Yukon Territory. Discrete native copper sources could be distinguished from one another intra-regionally. Difficulties associated with future native copper provenance research in northwestern North America are discussed.     

Unearthing an Atlantean myth in Angkor: geoarchaeological investigation of the ‘underwater road’ crossing the Tonle Sap Lake,Cambodia

Of the many myths surrounding the medieval city of Angkor, Cambodia, one of the most obscure but pervasive is the existence of a road built across the Tonle Sap Lake. This road supposedly ran from the Angkorian ‘port’ at Phnom Krom to the temples situated in the Battambang district some 70 km southwest of capital. New geoarchaeological information demonstrates that the ‘road’ is actually a series of localised occurrences of authegenic calcite, which probably formed approximately 5500 years Before Present. Our results demystify this intractable Cambodian legend expand on the dynamic history of this important water body in mainland Southeast Asia.     

Micromorphological perspectives on the stratigraphical excavation of shell middens: a first approximation from the ethnohistorical site Tunel VII,Tierra del Fuego (Argentina)

Due to their problematic stratigraphy, shell middens have traditionally been excavated by artificial stratigraphical cuts. This approach has often led to the obliteration of the original depositional sequence, removing important information regarding depositional and post-depositional processes, and human frequentation. Since the 1970s, an Argentinian team has been excavating archaeological shell middens in the Beagle Channel with a detailed stratigraphical approach, based on the excavation of actual depositional units (peeling), rather than artificial cuts. In the 1980s, Spanish archaeologists joined the Argentinean team and launched a series of new projects involving the excavation of ethnohistorical Yamana fisher-hunter-gatherer sites. The first excavated midden site was Tunel VII, from which two monolith columns of about 50 cm each (C11 and C12) that spanned the whole stratigraphy were extracted. The two columns were consolidated with resin, and two series of thin sections produced to corroborate stratigraphical observations made in the field, and to verify hypotheses related to the formation of archaeological shell midden sites. We present here the first results obtained from the microscopical observation of seven thin sections from column 11 (West column), extracted from a portion of the profile originally described as corresponding to the hut entrance and associated floor. The observation of microscopical features invisible in the field has provided supplemental information about the depositional and post-depositional processes affecting shell midden sites. We have also preliminarily defined a number of micromorphological characteristics identifying human activities such as discrete shell deposition events, phases of preparation of the hut floor, and compression by repeated trampling. Finally, we have explored the possibility of establishing some guidelines to characterise the length and character of frequentation phases of the site previous to its final abandonment at the beginning of the 20th century.     

Deciphering the inorganic chemical record of ancient human activity using ICP-MS: a reconnaissance study of late Classic soil floors at Cancuén,Guatemala

Inorganic chemical analysis of soil floors using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was undertaken to provide information on the nature and location of past human activity in the ancient Maya city of Cancuén, Guatemala. The use of ICP-MS to detect trace and ultra-trace elemental enrichment of two excavated soil floors from the late Classic period is the first study of its kind in Mesoamerican archaeology. Geochemical background of the site was established by the analysis of palaeosols and nearby undisturbed ‘off-site’ soil profiles. Robust statistical methods used in the study clearly distinguished the level of anthropogenic enrichment across the former floors. Many elements measured showed only minor departures (10–20%) from the site's background soil chemistry. The greatest levels of elemental enrichment were detected in the rare earth elements, mercury, and gold. The latter is of particular interest considering the consensus that gold was absent from the world of the Classic-period Maya. Comparisons of the spatial pattern of mercury enrichment with lithic and archaeological data show strong linkages to past industrial and ritual activities. Elevated rare earth element concentrations were recorded broadly across both soil floors and are considered to be related to concentrated human occupation in antiquity.