The consequences of Wari contact in the Nasca region during the Middle Horizon: archaeological,skeletal, and isotopic evidence

During the Middle Horizon (AD 650–1000), the Wari polity expanded its sphere of control in various regions of the Andes, including Nasca on the south coast of Peru. The nature of the interaction between Wari and local communities varied. This study explores the consequences of Wari contact in the Nasca region at the site of La Tiza, which includes individuals dated to the Early Intermediate, Middle Horizon, and Late Intermediate periods. Using evidence for burial ritual along with demographic, paleopathological and isotopic data, population composition, mobility, diet, and health are investigated. δ¹³C data indicate a relatively stable diet through time at La Tiza with evidence for continued maize consumption, and paleopathological results indicate health problems associated with this type of diet. δ¹⁸O and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr data suggest that most of the individuals buried at La Tiza were local to the area. However, two female adults from the Middle Horizon burials are characterized as nonlocal based on δ¹⁸O and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values and several individuals overlap with the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr local range for the Wari heartland. In conjunction with the use of new tomb types during this period these results highlight the ideological and populational changes occurring with Wari contact at La Tiza.     

Doubts about How the Middle Horizon Collapsed (ca. A.D. 1000) and Other Insights from the Looted Cemeteries of the Lower Ica Valley,South Coast of Peru

This paper presents new information from funerary contexts in the lower Ica Valley, on the south coast of Peru, spanning two millennia from the end of the Early Horizon to the Late Intermediate Period. Although severely looted, these sites can still yield valuable information. We discuss their architecture and material culture in the context of radiocarbon dates. Among other findings, these cast new light on the poorly understood transition from the Middle Horizon to the Late Intermediate Period, for which a paucity of archaeological data from ca. a.d. 1000–1250 has long been taken as evidence of an environmentally- or socially-induced demographic collapse. Yet the data we present here suggest that the basins of the lower Ica Valley were likely occupied continuously over this period, and that the echoes of Wari influence here may have lasted longer than previously thought.     

The geographic origins of Nasca trophy heads using strontium,oxygen, and carbon isotope data

Scholars continue to debate the identity of individuals curated as trophy heads in the Nazca Drainage of southern Peru (c. 1–800 AD). What was the role of trophy heads in Nasca society? Were they victims of warfare or venerated ancestors? Strontium, oxygen, and carbon isotope data from archaeological human tooth enamel from Nasca trophy heads from Aja, Cahuachi, Cantayo, Majoro Chico and Paredones, and from individuals buried in Nasca cemeteries at Cahuachi, Cantayo, and Majoro Chico elucidate the geographic origins and paleodiet of trophy heads in the Nazca Drainage. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and δ¹⁸O_c(V-PDB) data from both the trophy heads and the Nazca Drainage burials are all quite variable, and do not support the hypothesis that the Nasca trophy heads were obtained from a geographically-distinct population. Similarly, the δ¹³C_c(V-PDB) data demonstrates that the individuals included in this study consumed similar diets. These data suggest that the Nasca trophy heads likely derive from the local Nasca population. Rather than obtain heads from enemy warriors through geographic expansion or warfare as seen in other parts of the world, this complex social practice existed within the Nasca polity throughout space and time.     

Ceramic Petrology and the Study of Anglo-Saxon and Later Medieval Ceramics

Abstract

A SURVEY of archaeological ceramic thin sections held by institutions and individuals in the United Kingdom was undertaken in the early 1990s by the City of Lincoln Archaeology Unit and funded by English Heritage. Over 6,000 thin sections of Anglo-Saxon or medieval date (or reports on their analysis) were located. For the Middle to Late Anglo-Saxon and the post-Conquest Periods, these studies have confirmed that pottery production was carried out in a limited number of centres and that most pottery, including handmade coarsewares, was therefore produced for trade. The distances over which pottery was carried vary from period to period but were actually as high or higher in the Middle to Late Anglo-Saxon Period as in the 13th to 14h centuries. However, for the Early Anglo-Saxon Period (and the Middle Anglo-Saxon Period outside of eastern England) the evidence of ceramic petrology is equivocal and requires more study. These 6,000–odd thin sections represent a resource which could be used for various future studies, some of which are discussed here, and as an aid to their further use a database containing information on the sampled ceramics, their location and publications of their analyses will be published online through Internet Archaeology.     

Sepulchral Brasses,and Incised Slabs

A Middle Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Chesterton Lane Corner, Cambridge, has been radiocarbon dated to the seventh to ninth centuries with its floruit in the eighth century and evidence that many of the individuals buried there were executed. Intriguingly, there is also a Late Roman decapitation burial at the site. The evidence for Middle Anglo-Saxon Cambridge is reviewed and the relationship between justice and central places is considered.     

A comprehensive numerical chronology for the pre-Columbian cultures of the Palpa valleys,south coast of Peru

Before the arrival of the Spaniards in Peru in 1532, many different societies flourished in the coastal desert of southern Peru. Of these, one of the best known is the Nasca culture (living in the area between about 260 cal BC and 640 cal BC.), which created the famous geoglyphs on the desert floor. In this paper we present a numerical chronology for the cultural development in the valleys of Palpa, in the northern part of the Nazca region, which spans the time from the Archaic Period (starting there around 3760 cal BC) to the Late Intermediate Period (terminating with the arrival of the Spaniards in 1532 AD). The chronology is based on more than 150 ¹⁴C samples collected by our project from well-documented archaeological excavations of 17 different sites in and around Palpa. Thanks to the advanced AMS-¹⁴C dating technique, demanding only few milligrams of organic material, we could focus on samples of plants, like beans, corn, or reed, representing single years of growth or use, and also on delicate materials like straw from clay bricks (adobe) and textiles. All single ¹⁴C dates were combined to cultural phases using a Bayesian statistical model, implementing the a priori information of the archaeological contexts, and adopting the relative ceramic chronologies available for this area.     

Testing the sustainability and sensitivity to climatic change of terrace agricultural systems in the Peruvian Andes: a pilot study

The results of an integrated geoarchaeological and palaeoecological pilot study of a prehistoric agricultural terrace and nearby mire basin are presented. They reveal two stages of terrace construction for the cultivation of Zea mays during the Middle Horizon (615–695 AD) and late, Late Intermediate Period (1200–1400 AD). These stages were strongly associated with evidence for vegetation succession, destabilisation and erosion of the surrounding landscape, and changes in mire surface wetness. The reasons for agricultural terrace abandonment and/or reconstruction are uncertain, with only circumstantial evidence for climatically induced agricultural change.     

Wari’s imperial influence on local Nasca diet: The stable isotope evidence

The highland Wari Empire established a presence within the Nasca region of south coastal Peru during the Middle Horizon period. To clarify the nature of this interaction, we analyzed stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of human bone collagen from individuals living in the Southern Nasca Region (SNR) before (1–750 AD) and during (750–1000 AD) imperial influence. The stable isotope data do not indicate that the Wari Empire transformed maize agricultural labor in the Las Trancas Valley of the SNR. In fact, during both time periods, Nasca people had access to a wide range of food items.     

Isotopic Evidence for Marine Consumption and Mobility in the Atacama Desert (Quillagua,Northern Chile)

Archaeological research in the Atacama Desert has recovered evidence of considerable cultural variability. This variability seems to have increased during the Late Intermediate Period (AD 950–1400). The oasis of Quillagua, located at the margins of the Loa River in northern Chile, between the Andes and the coast (70 km from the Pacific Ocean), has shown important evidence regarding this cultural diversity. The variety in the archaeological evidence found at Quillagua has been interpreted as the result of two different cultural influences at the oasis: the Pica‐Tarapacá who occupied the coastal and inland regions to the north of Quillagua and the Atacama who occupied the oasis and fertile areas southeast of Quillagua. Here, we present the results of stable carbon, nitrogen and oxygen isotope analyses of 23 individuals recovered from the Cementerio Oriente in Quillagua, in order to test whether the observed cultural variability is also reflected in diet and mobility patterns. Results from carbon and nitrogen isotope measurements indicate the importance of marine protein, as well as a contribution of maize in the diet of some individuals. Four individuals show low δ¹⁸O values, suggesting a possible highland or non‐local origin, whereas values for the remaining individuals are consistent with lowland populations. Together, the results support the idea that the Quillagua oasis represented an important site of interaction between the Tarapacá and Atacama cultures, with close contacts with the coast but also with the presence of individuals from the highlands. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FROM DESERT LOESS IN THE NAZCA–PALPA REGION,SOUTHERN PERU: PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES AND THEIR IMPACT ON PRE‐COLUMBIAN CULTURES*

The paper presents proxies from an interdisciplinary geoarchaeological working group. Sediment analyses and geomorphological studies, radiocarbon ages of snail shells and luminescence dating of loess allow a preliminary chronology of the environmental evolution of the eastern Atacama desert, Nazca–Palpa region (southern Peru). Until now, typical desert loess was unknown from the arid western flank of the Andes (southern Peru). The loess points to periods of more humid conditions with open grasslands at the eastern Atacama desert margin in the early and middle Holocene. In the footzone of the Andes, aridification set in before the Paracas Culture (c. 800–200 bc ) evolved, but the Cordillera Occidental remained semi‐arid. A second push of increasing aridity started at the latest in the Middle Nazca Period (after ad 250). During this time, the Nazca settlement centres moved upstream through the river oasis, following the eastward‐shifting desert margin. It is possible that culminating aridity after ad 600 caused the collapse of the Nazca civilization. During the Late Intermediate Period (ad 1000–1400), more humid conditions favoured the massive reoccupation of the eastern Atacama up to a distance of about 40 km from the Pacific coast. Since the 14th and 15th centuries, the Palpa region has again been part of the hyper‐arid Atacama. The study shows that in the Nazca–Ica region, the deep cultural changes of Pre‐Columbian civilizations were not caused by catastrophic run‐off of El Niño events, but by a shifting eastern desert margin due to the changing monsoonal influence.     

Pastoralist Mobility in Bronze Age Landscapes of Northern Kazakhstan: 87Sr/86Sr and δ18O Analyses of Human Dentition from Bestamak and Lisakovsk

ABSTRACT

The role of migration and mobility of people across the steppe has often been cited as key to Bronze Age developments across Eurasia, including the emergence of complex societies in the steppe and the spread of material culture. The central Eurasian steppe (CES) is a focal point for the investigation of the shifting nature of pastoral societies because of the clear transition in archaeological patterning that occurred from the Middle (MBA) to Late Bronze Age (LBA). The spread of LBA (1700–1400?cal BC) Andronovo cultural materials found across wide swaths of the steppe provide indirect evidence for broad scale interactions, but the degree to which people moved across the landscape remains poorly understood. This study takes a first step into documenting human movement during these critical periods through strontium (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) and oxygen (δ¹⁸O) isotopic analyses of tooth enamel recovered from human individuals buried in the cemeteries of Bestamak (MBA) and Lisakovsk (LBA) in northern Kazakhstan. Strontium isotope results, referenced against the distribution of contemporary bioavailable strontium in the vicinity of both sites, suggest local communities engaged in small-scale mobility with limited ranges. Reduced strontium and oxygen isotopic variation visible in humans from Lisakovsk suggests mobility decreased from the Middle to Late Bronze Age likely indicative of a shift in resource and landscape use over time.     

Residential mobility and resource use in the Chiribaya polity of southern Peru: strontium isotope analysis of archaeological tooth enamel and bone

The Chiribaya were a complex polity during the Andean Late Intermediate Period (c. AD 1000–1300) in the Ilo and Moquegua Valleys of southern Peru. Recent research has demonstrated that the Chiribaya polity was a señorío, a confederacy of economically specialised parcialidades. Here we test hypotheses regarding the movement of individuals and resources among the Chiribaya‐affiliated sites of Chiribaya Alta, Chiribaya Baja, San Gerónimo and El Yaral, as well as from outside of the Ilo and Moquegua Valleys. Although archaeological human enamel and bone strontium isotope ratios from Chiribaya Baja and San Gerónimo cluster closely, there is a wider variety of strontium isotope ratios observed at Chiribaya Alta and El Yaral. This indicates that individuals buried in cemeteries at these sites had access to a wider variety of resources, and probably moved between different geological zones throughout their lifetimes. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Landscapes of death: GIS-based analyses of chullpas in the western Lake Titicaca basin

The western Lake Titicaca basin is marked by above-ground funerary towers, known as chullpas, located in a variety of geographical contexts and dating to the Late Intermediate Period, or LIP (AD 1100–1450), and Late Horizon (AD 1450–1532). Over the years, interpretations of these tombs have concentrated upon their roles as loci for ancestral veneration and their abilities to perpetuate memory, delineate social ties and territories, and demarcate access to resources. These views share the implicit or explicit assumption that these mortuary structures were intended to be highly visible. Yet this assumption has never been formally tested. By using GIS-based geospatial tools and statistical analysis, this paper investigates the extent to which chullpas surveyed in the western Lake Titicaca basin visually dominated the landscape. These tombs were not positioned in random locations; they exhibit a high degree of clustering and were built in highly visible areas that could be seen from sites of occupation and regions of economic importance such as Lake Umayo. This paper suggests that this landscape of death was deliberately constructed to have an enduring social impact.     

Opportunistic versus target mode: Prey choice changes in central-western Korean prehistory

Human decision-making processes are usually hierarchical in that higher-level decisions impose constraints on lower-level decisions. As a result, prey choices during individual foraging trips are governed to a large degree by higher-level decisions regarding how to supply resources to satisfy demands, with higher-level decisions typically made prior to foraging trips. Resource selectivity and search bias sometimes take place in this context. By dividing resource procurement modes into opportunistic and target, I discuss how choice of mode on the basis of an overall economic plan affects prey choice during foraging trips and faunal assemblage composition resulting from those trips. An analysis of taxonomic diversity in shellmidden assemblages from the central-western Korean Late Chulmun Period (3500–1300 BC) and Middle and Late Mumun Period (700–100 BC) shows that Late Chulmun people adopted a target mode, while Middle/Late Mumun people adopted an opportunistic mode in their exploitation of marine resources. A decrease in the importance of marine resource in Middle/Late Mumun produced a change in taxonomic diversity by increasing the opportunistic cost of marine resource exploitation.     

Boathouses as indicators of political organization

Remains of boathouses from the Iron Age and the Medieval Period have been studied for classifying and dating purposes. A classification based on the ratio length/breadth is compared with the height above sea level and tested by ¹⁴C‐dates, the measurements of preserved boats and ships, and archaeological finds. It is possible that we can define three groups of boathouses belonging to three different chronological periods. The distribution of large boathouses indicates a different naval organization during the Medieval Period than in the Late Roman/Migration Period. During the Medieval Period the coastal area was divided into many local districts, and each of them had to contribute to the king's fleet with a fully equipped ship. The Iron Age boathouses are found in groups, and it is suggested that the country was then divided into several chiefdoms, and the boathouses were concentrated around the chieftains’ administrative centres.     

Paleodietary analysis of a San Francisco Bay Area shellmound: stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of late Holocene humans from the Ellis Landing site (CA-CCO-295)

The late Holocene archaeofaunal record of the San Francisco Bay Area demonstrates temporal declines in the abundance of low-cost, high-ranked marine and terrestrial resources. During later periods of occupation, faunal assemblages are often dominated by lower-ranked, higher-cost resources, suggesting an increase in diet breadth through time. Archaeological resource intensification models argue that this marks a late Holocene decline in foraging efficiency in the Bay Area, driven by human-induced harvest pressure. This study examines dietary change in the region using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data from 65 human burials, spanning two temporal components (cal AD 55–890 and cal AD 762–1550) at the Ellis Landing site (CA-CCO-295). The strong linear relationship between collagen carbon and nitrogen isotope values reflects both marine and terrestrial food consumption, with individuals showing a high level of dietary variability at the site. No temporal trend or meaningful sex differences were found in isotope values. The widening of diet breadth predicted by the archaeofaunal record occurred prior to the occupation of the Ellis Landing shellmound site. The trend in exploiting a greater amount of terrestrial resources during the Middle and Late Period in central California was supported by isotopic evidence.     

Well preserved non‐collagenous extracellular matrix proteins in ancient human bone and teeth

Ancient bones in a good preservation state, ascertained by microscopic techniques, conserve extracellular matrix proteins over thousands of years. With new techniques, intact extracellular matrix proteins from ancient bones and teeth are extracted and separated by one‐dimensional and two‐dimensional electrophoresis. Proteins were identified in Western blots by special antibodies against different human extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules of bone. We have confirmed different types of ECM human bone molecules such as osteonectin, osteopontin, and alkaline phosphatase with specific antibodies in human bone samples from different age groups. Additionally, we selected bone samples from different cultural time periods, such as the Middle Ages, the Bronze Age and the Late Pre‐Pottery Neolithic Phase (PPNB), and teeth from individuals from the Early Middle Ages and from the Late PPNB. The survival of intact extracellular matrix proteins in ancient bones and teeth dating from recent times to the Late PPNB, and reliable techniques to identify these proteins, present a great challenge to further research. A Match Set with PD‐Quest 7.2 shows that only 16% of protein spots in the teeth are also found in the bone of the same individual. In combination with the results of macro‐ and microscopic investigation, biochemical techniques will help us in obtaining a better understanding of bone and teeth in health and disease. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Levantine Perspectives on the Middle to Upper Paleolithic “Transition”

This article presents a synthesis of the presently available data concerning the processes and meaning of the technical changes in lithic productions across the Middle Paleolithic/Upper Paleolithic boundary in the Levant. As a “corridor” between Africa and Eurasia, this area is of first importance in the discussion of Modern Human origins. The results of several new field projects (especially concerning the Initial Upper Paleolithic), the recent lithic technological studies (based on the chaîne opératoire concept) as well as radiometric dating were used here to discuss the rhythms and processes of technical changes at the onset of the Upper Paleolithic, examining carefully the lithic repertoire from the Late Middle Paleolithic through the Initial Upper Paleolithic from Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, and Israel. This paper puts forward the idea that the emergence of Upper Paleolithic technical characteristics did not occur following a single process, even in the same region (here the Levant), but most probably followed a “mosaic” pattern. However taking into account the data presently available, the main basic scenario for the onset of the Upper Paleolithic in this region would have been the generalization of new technical traits that would have emerged within certain local Late Middle Paleolithic and the following Initial Upper Paleolithic groups. If a diffusion phenomenon should be considered, as claimed by many scholars, the available information suggests that it has functioned more as a stimulus rather than the simplistic scenario of a catastrophic wave of population and the resulting acculturation.     

Nicotine in the hair of mummies from San Pedro de Atacama (Northern Chile)

The consumption of plant-derived hallucinogenic substances through smoking and snuffing is a long-standing tradition in the south-central Andes. Chemical and archaeobotanical evidence point to the consumption of nicotine and tryptamine alkaloids in Northwestern Argentina and of tryptamine alkaloids in San Pedro de Atacama (SPA), in prehispanic times. In this paper, results are reported of gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analyses aimed at identifying nicotine and tryptamine alkaloids in the hair of mummies from different cultural periods of SPA. Fifty-six samples were examined. While tryptamines were not found in any of the samples, nicotine was found in 35 samples, assigned to the Late Formative (1 of 1 sample from this period), Late Formative or Middle (1 of 2 samples from either of these periods), Middle (4 of 6 samples from this period) and Late Intermediate periods (8 of 12 samples from this period), or without assignment to period due to lack of contextual information (21 of 35 samples unassigned to a period). These results show a continuous consumption of nicotine from the Late Formative to the Late Intermediate periods of SPA (ca. 100 B.C.–1450 A.D.). No associations were found between presence of nicotine in the hair of mummies and presence of snuffing trays or of other snuffing paraphernalia in the corresponding tomb; furthermore, neither the diversity of the funerary context, measured in terms of the number of types of objects, nor the presence of gemstone necklaces differed between tombs with mummies with or without nicotine in their hair. Overall, these results suggest that consumption of nicotine was performed by members of the society at large, irrespective of their social and wealth status.     

陕西千阳尚家岭秦汉建筑遗址初识

The architectural site dating to the Qin-Han Dynasty in the Shangiialing site of Qianyang County, is one of the best preserved building remains in the Qian River Valley during this time period. This architecture might have been used for near 200 years from the Late Warring States Period to the Middle Western Han Dynasty. Recent archaeological works provide significant information to further understanding of the style and characteristic of this building and to how it was renovated and reconstructed under the historical background of ＇ban cheng qinzhi ＇ （The Han Dynasty inherited systems from the Qin Dynasty）. Since the site is situated on an east-west major communication route, this architecture might have served as a ＇ligong bieguan ＇ （resort palace）, or functioned as a courier state and storage house simultaneously.