Feasting at Poverty Point with Poverty Point Objects

ABSTRACT

Attempts to account for the impressive and unusual archaeological record of the World Heritage site of Poverty Point have often faltered. The vast and diverse set of artifacts, the spectacular and well-designed earthworks, and the millions of baked-clay objects known as Poverty Point Objects are all distinctive and anomalous features of the site. This paper argues that the archaeological record of Poverty Point can best be explained as the product of periodic, ritualized feasting events. Drawing on diverse archaeological and anthropological studies of feasting I demonstrate that it is a useful research framework for understanding the site’s content because many of the archaeological signatures of feasting are present at Poverty Point. I argue furthermore that Poverty Point Objects were an integral component of this culture of feasting and offer hypotheses on their role in the feasts.     

Poverty Point as Structure,Event, Process

A multiscalar analysis of the Poverty Point mound and ridge complex of northeast Louisiana illustrates the value of agency and practice theories to historical interpretations of monumental architecture. The architects of Poverty Point included both ancient mounds in their design and, arguably, symbolic representations of the far-flung places and peoples from which Poverty Point residents acquired raw materials for tools and ornaments. The conjunction of the past with the present, and the local with the nonlocal was the logic of a new social order that was both corporate and pluralistic. Extrapolation of the geometry of Poverty Point earthworks at increasingly larger scales encompasses the places and histories of communities whose migrations, shifting alliances, and transformations contributed to the genesis of Poverty Point culture.     

Tetrahedron baked-clay objects from an early woodland context at the Jaketown site,Mississippi

Excavations undertaken in 1951 at the Jaketown site revealed a dense deposit of fragmented and intact pyramid-shaped baked-clay objects (BCOs) at the base of Mound A. This deposit was associated with the site’s Early Woodland component. Recent fieldwork at Jaketown also encountered the same tetrahedron deposit and identified an additional and distinct pit feature filled with the objects. In this article, we present the results of analyses that examine the production, composition, chronology, and function of these enigmatic baked-clay artifacts. Following a hiatus associated with massive flooding in the Mississippi Valley ca. 3200–2850 cal B.P., Jaketown was re-occupied by people who shared ceramic affinities with groups to the south and to the east and, who like many contemporaries, used BCOs as a part of their cooking technology. The tetrahedron deposit represents one of the earliest dated Tchula contexts at ca. 2600 cal B.P., and was used over a short time for a social purpose that brought populations together for food consumption as a means of encouraging cooperation.     

Shellfish Exploitation Strategies at the Pinnacle Point Shell Midden Complex,South Africa,During the Later Stone Age

Pinnacle Point, Mossel Bay, is best known for the preservation of the earliest evidence for systematic shellfish exploitation by humans during the African Middle Stone Age (MSA). Comparatively little is known about the shellfish gathering strategies of the Later Stone Age (LSA) inhabitants of this region. This article reports on five LSA sites at the Pinnacle Point Shell Midden Complex excavated by the Centre for Heritage and Archaeological Resource Management in 2006 and 2007. These sites represent 2,000 years of hunter-gather and herder settlement and subsistence in the region. Shellfish remains from the five middens were analyzed in order to understand the exploitation patterns of their LSA inhabitants. Information on the relative abundance of different mollusk species in these assemblages and, where possible, the average size of collected specimens, is then compared with published accounts of shellfish material from other sites along the southern Cape coast. These include roughly contemporary assemblages from Noetzie, Hoffman's/Robberg Cave and sites in the Garcia State Forest, and MSA assemblages from Pinnacle Point, Blombos Cave, and Klasies River Mouth. Regional continuities in gathering strategies focused on a range of bivalves and gastropods, and chronological shifts in the exploitation of rocky shores and sandy beaches, and different littoral zones, are apparent.     

Formal analyses and functional accounts of groundstone “plummets” from Poverty Point, Louisiana

Groundstone plummets of magnetite or hematite are commonly found artifacts of the Late Archaic period in Louisiana. While often assumed to have functioned as weights for fishnets or as thrown objects used to catch waterfowl, relatively little empirical evidence has been generated to explain their form and features relative to hypothesized performance in prehistoric behavior. To address this deficiency, we provide a morphometric analysis of the variability in plummet shape as a means for studying the performance constraints inherent to their use. Based on our analyses, we find that plummet form is well explained as a component of weighted looms, supporting the early use weaving technology in the Late Archaic of Eastern North America.     

THERMOLUMINESCENT DATING OF BAKED CLAY BALLS OF THE POVERTY POINT CULTURE

Seven sites in Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas have been dated. For six sites (Terral Lewis, Poverty Point, Jaketown, Teoc Creek, Shoe Bayou, and Claiborne) the results are not inconsistent with contemporaneity; excluding Claiborne the average date is 1000 b.c. , with an error limit in absolute terms of ± 200 years. The seventh site (Loggy Bayou), in which sherds and balls were found in association, gave a date some fifteen hundred years more recent.     

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.     

商代原始瓷分区与分期略论

商代原始瓷主要出土于浙江、河南两省,尤以浙江为主;江苏、福建、山东、河北、山西、陕西诸省亦有少量的发现。在以浙江为中心的东南地区,原始瓷主要出土于城址、遗址、墓葬、窑址中,可分为五期,贯穿整个商代,可据此初步建立太湖地区较为完整的商代原始瓷编年序列;在以河南为代表的中原地区,原始瓷基本出土于大型都城遗址和高等级墓葬,亦可分为五期,第四期也即商代晚期前段与东南地区的第四期始有交集,第五期也即商代晚期后段较东南地区的第五期持续时间长;另外,江西等长江中游地区和福建、广东的闽南粤东地区还出土有一批带釉的器物,胎、釉均不稳定,时代相对较晚。浙江省原始瓷种类较丰富、数量众多、质量较高,并且发现了大规模的原始瓷窑址群,可初步判定为商代原始瓷生产与使用的中心地区。     

EARLY WOODLAND SETTLEMENT AND MOUND BUILDING IN THE UPPER TENSAS BASIN,NORTHEAST LOUISIANA

Abstract

Traditionally overlooked because it lacks hallmarks of material and cultural complexity, Early Woodland in the Southeast is an interval of significant transformation in material culture, settlement, and social organization. Investigations at four sites in northeast Louisiana provide insights into changes taking place at this time. These sites are situated on a crevasse splay created by flooding at the end of the Archaic. This flooding is associated with an occupation hiatus ca. 3000–2500 cal B.P. Evidence suggests a rapid colonization of the crevasse splay by people using Tchefuncte pottery, and there is no evidence at these sites of stratigraphic or cultural continuity from Poverty Point. The Early Woodland occupation in the study area dates ca. 2400–2100 cal B.P., which is later than dates associated with Early Woodland in the Pontchartrain Basin and contemporary with Lake Cormorant culture sites farther north. Early Woodland in northeast Louisiana is marked by a diagnostic Tchefuncte ceramic assemblage and the presence of a settlement system composed of small villages or hamlets nucleated around a conical mound that presumably served as a ceremonial/ritual center. This mound was erected very rapidly; radiocarbon dates suggest it was constructed in no more than 10 years. Although mound building has been suspected, this is the first conclusive evidence it was an aspect of Tchefuncte settlement and ceremonial practices. Data from these sites bear on the question of cultural and demographic continuity and change at the Archaic to Woodland transition. Previous models emphasize continuity of populations with ceramic technology and styles diffusing into the lower Mississippi Valley. In contrast, our data support a model of Early Woodland repopulation of the lower Mississippi Valley from the south and east following a prolonged period of regional abandonment.     

论河南秦墓

河南地区是受秦文化影响较深的地区之一,目前河南地区发现的秦墓在年代上持续时间较长,且与秦的历史发展密切相关。因此文章将河南地区的秦墓分为四个阶段进行分析,就每个阶段的墓葬形制、随葬器物、文化因素等方面进探讨,并与关中、湖南、湖北和山西等周边地区秦墓进行比较,归纳出不同地区秦墓特点及与河南秦墓异同,最后就秦文化对河南汉墓的影响做简单论述。     

Mortality date estimation using fetal pronghorn remains

Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) fetal remains are sometimes recovered from archaeological contexts. Pronghorn have consistent reproductive schedules so their remains may provide information on seasonality of site occupation and number of mortality events. To investigate the reliability of fetal remains for seasonality and mortality event assessment, bone size and tooth eruption were measured in a sample of modern fetal pronghorn remains with known mortality dates. Results indicate a strong correlation between bone size and mortality date, but no significant correlation between tooth eruption level and mortality date. Fetal bone size was used to estimate a late April or early May mortality date at both the Oyster Ridge (48UT35) and Trappers Point (48SU1006) archaeological sites. The number of mortality events at Trappers Point was also investigated. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A REVIEW OF THE LATER UPPER PALAEOLITHIC IN THE ODER AND VISTULA BASINS IN THE LIGHT OF RECENT RESEARCH

Summary. The withdrawal of the Vistulan ice-sheet some 15,000 years ago permitted colonisation of the Oder and Vistula basins by a succession of Late Upper Palaeolithic peoples, amongst whom various distinct groups can be recognised. Magdalenian, Shouldered Point, Curved Back Point and Tanged Point technocomplexes are distinguished by the author, who discusses them with reference to the salient features of the archaeological assemblages, comments on the dating evidence, and considers both internal variability and possible relationships with industries in Western and Eastern Europe. The populations of this region, which coincides approximately with the boundaries of modern Poland, were hunter-gatherers exploiting late glacial and early postglacial game resources, but there is evidence that systematic use was made of other local resources, such as ochre (mined at Rydno), Jurassic flint and the chocolate flint of the Holy Cross Mountains. In this process some of the Late Upper Palaeolithic peoples travelled long distances and established wide contacts. Use of the chocolate flint by Swiderian groups of the Tanged Point technocomplex is proving to be a particularly worthwhile study: flint of this kind is found at some 300 out of 700 Swiderian sites. Actual quarrying places are known in the source area, with working and living sites occurring at various distances from them, offering considerable potential for a study of contemporary economic and social organisation and seasonal migration.     

Emerging Applications of LiDAR / Airborne Laser Scanning in the Management of World Heritage Sites

Remotely sensed data and imagery have revolutionized the way we understand archaeological sites and landscapes. LiDAR / airborne laser scanning (ALS) has been used to capture the often subtle topographic remnants of previously undiscovered sites even in intensely studied landscapes, and is rapidly becoming a key technology in survey projects with large extents and/or difficult terrain. This paper examines the practical application of this technology to archaeological heritage management, with special attention given to how ALS can support the World Heritage List nomination process and management of WHS archaeological sites and landscapes. It presents a number of examples from published ALS studies alongside case studies from projects undertaken by the authors at Cultural Site Research and Management and the Cultural Site Research and Management Foundation, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. The paper opens with a review of how ALS has been used at established World Heritage Sites, focusing on the Archaeological Ensemble of the Bend in the Boyne, Ireland, and the Angkor Archaeological Site in Cambodia. ALS applications for site prospection and demarcation, and viewshed analysis is explored in this section. Following this, we explore how ALS has been used to support two recent applications: the successfully nominated Monumental Earthworks at Poverty Point, USA and the recently nominated Orheiul Vechi Archaeological Landscape in Moldova. We propose that the detail offered by ALS data greatly strengthens nomination dossiers by emphasizing the outstanding universal value of sites, highlighting significant features and providing greater context to wider landscapes, and is particularly efficacious in delineating site boundaries for legal protection and long-term management. Finally, we conclude with a look at some of the practical considerations involved in the use of ALS, including access and training.     

Occlusal molar microwear and the diets of the Ipiutak and Tigara populations (Point Hope) with comparisons to the Aleut and Arikara

Archaeological excavations at Point Hope, Alaska uncovered skeletal remains of two populations: the Ipiutak (100 B.C.–500 A.D.) and Tigara (1200–1700 A.D.). Archaeological evidence indicates that, although both groups relied on animal (largely marine) resources for their subsistence, the Ipiutak were mainly caribou hunters, whereas the Tigara were primarily whale hunters. To date, no study has attempted to ascertain whether the inferred dietary differences of these two groups could be substantiated using a more direct technique, e.g. microwear or stable isotope analysis. In this study, the occlusal molar microwear fabrics of the Ipiutak and Tigara were analyzed. Comparative data for two other modern human groups, the Aleut and Arikara, were also examined. Significant differences in microwear signatures were detected among the groups considered. The results of this study show that the Tigara have significantly more microwear features, more pits and narrower scratches compared to the Ipiutak. These results are concordant with interpretations that the two Point Hope populations had significantly different dietary habits. Differences in microwear signatures between the Aleut and the two Point Hope populations were also detected. Compared to the two Point Hope populations, the Aleut has significantly fewer features and wider scratches. The Aleut microwear signature further differs from that of the Tigara in having significantly lower pitting incidence. The microwear pattern of the Arikara, who had a mixed diet, differed from that of the mainly meat-eating Aleut and Point Hope peoples in that the Arikara has significantly fewer features, lower pitting incidence and narrower scratches.     

Edge damage distribution at the assemblage level on Middle Stone Age lithics: an image-based GIS approach

Lithic artifacts represent the most abundant cultural remains from Middle Stone Age sites in southern Africa. Of these, pointed forms (under a variety of names), blades, and flakes have long been recognized as the three most abundant general types, and retouch on all three is rare relative to similar forms of equivalent age elsewhere. Here we offer a new technique for documenting concentrations of edge damage on an assemblage level to infer taphonomic processes and to record usewear and retouch. This approach is specifically aimed at patterning on the assemblage scale, rather than on individual artifacts. We use points from a Middle Stone Age assemblage from Pinnacle Point Cave 13B, near Mossel Bay, South Africa, to illustrate the technique. Combining GIS, rose diagrams, and polar statistics, we were able to visually and statistically summarize lithic artifacts for patterns of edge damage. For the points made on quartzite in this assemblage, edge damage was found to be significantly patterned and taphonomic causes of the damage were rejected. The technique also opens avenues for many other quantitative analyses that are either impossible or difficult with current non-visual systems of recording, such as measurements of distance, angle, and area of edge damage.     

Fluid inclusion constraints on the origin of the brines responsible for Pb–Zn mineralization at Pine Point and coarse non‐saddle and saddle dolomite formation in southern Northwest Territories

The Pine Point region is a classic metallogenic mining camp that produced over 58 million short tons of Zn–Pb ore from approximately 40 base‐metal mineralized deposits hosted by Middle Devonian carbonates. The ore deposits are localized in paleokarstic features found in the epigenetic ‘Presqu'ile’ dolomite that preferentially replaced some of the upper barrier limestones. The main ore‐stage sulfides include galena, sphalerite, marcasite, and pyrite. A bulk fluid inclusion chemistry study was carried out on sulfide, coarse non‐saddle and saddle dolomite and calcite samples from the Pine Point and Great Slave Reef deposits, and unmineralized coarse non‐saddle and saddle dolomite samples from Hay West, Windy Point and Qito areas. Molar Cl/Br ratio data from Pine Point indicate the presence of four fluids at different stages of the paragenesis. The fluids trapped in sulfides and ore‐stage dolomites predominately consist of a Br‐rich fluid with a composition similar to that of evaporated seawater (fluid A), and a very Br‐enriched fluid of unknown origin (fluid B). Both these fluids are CaCl₂–NaCl (Na to Ca ratios of 1:10)‐rich brines and have compositions unlike the modern formation waters in the Devonian aquifers in the basin today. A third, relatively Cl‐rich (or Br‐poor), fluid (fluid C) was identified in two samples and may have acquired some chlorinity by dissolving halide minerals. Mixing between the Br‐rich fluid A and a dilute fluid also occurred in the later stages of the paragenesis, resulting in the formation of calcite and native sulfur. Saddle and coarse dolomites not associated with significant sulfide mineralization have a narrow range of halogen compositions similar to fluid A. There is no evidence of fluid B or C in the unmineralized samples. Relative to a modern‐day seawater compositions all the fluids have had some modification of their cation compositions. There is some weak evidence for interactions with clastic units or crystalline basement rocks. It is also possible however, that the evaporative brines could have formed from a relatively CaCl₂‐rich, NaCl‐depleted Devonian seawater, unlike the composition of modern‐day seawater.     

Metallurgy and specialisation in Prepalatial Mesara, Crete

The purpose of this paper is to examine the technological knowledge and the technological level of copper metallurgy in the Mesara plain in Crete, during the Prepalatial period. In order to investigate this issue, objects from several (12) sites in the area were chosen for examination. In this way, the technological level of the area and each site could be safely ascertained. From the 55 objects that were examined, a very small sample was taken, which was the subject of metallographic and chemical analyses. By using these methods, the manufacturing processes for the production of each object, as well as the alloy that was used in each case, were identified. The combination of these two methods, along with typology of the objects and the number of objects produced at each site, provided safe conclusions as to the technological knowledge and the possible specialisation of metal production in each site and period. In the end, a lack of homogeneity in the Mesara plain was noticed as concerns the production of copper objects. Some sites seem to have a dominant position, with larger production and trading of metal artefacts, while other sites fail to provide any indication of metal production, and it is very possible that the metal objects were obtained from the neighbouring sites. Finally, the existence of specialised production is obvious in some sites in the Mesara plain, especially in the case of two groups of objects (triangular and long daggers), while the lack of organised and standardised production is obvious in the case of some other sites in the same area.     

Continuity Amidst Change: Village Organization and Fishing Subsistence at the Dionisio Point Locality in Coastal Southern British Columbia

Shifts over time in faunal representation in Northwest Coast archaeological sites have been viewed as reflecting changes in economic organization and social complexity. We use fish faunal data from the Parry Lagoon Midden (site DgRv-006) in the Salish Sea region of coastal southwestern British Columbia, Canada, to evaluate the relationship between change in subsistence strategies and community organization. We describe and compare fish assemblages recovered from a shell midden generated by habitation at two sequentially occupied village sites. The lower midden layers include faunal remains derived from the Marpole Period plankhouse village occupation at site DgRv-003 (1500 to 1300 cal BP), while the upper layers were generated during the occupation of a Late Period plankhouse within site DgRv-006 (1000 to 600 cal BP). We compare the two faunal records to ascertain if subsistence re-organization accompanied the social change associated with abandonment and later re-establishment of a village in the Dionisio Point Locality. Results indicate continuity of a diverse fishing economy for the two occupations, and therefore across the Marpole to Late Period transition. This study adds to the recent trend in Northwest Coast archaeology to reconsider the long-standing view that social and subsistence change necessarily occurred in tandem.     

THE LATE BRONZE AGE HOARD FROM CLOS DE LA BLANCHE PIERRE, ST LAWRENCE, JERSEY, CHANNEL ISLES.

Summary. The Late Bronze Age hoard from Clos de la Blanche Pierre, St Lawrence, Jersey was found in 1976. The hoard was found in a pot and the broken objects consisted of weapons, axes, tools, ornaments and casting debris dated to Bronze Final II (10th century B. C.) and represents the only material of this type to be found in the Channel Islands so far. The objects are directly comparable to those of the Saint Brieuc des Iffs industry in Brittany and the Wilburton Complex in England as well as being related to other industries in the Atlantic west. The detailed metal analyses of the objects confirm their affinity to industries in North-western France.     

Sealing,whaling and caribou revisited: additional insights from the skeletal isotope chemistry of eastern Arctic foragers

Research reported here is the second phase of a bone collagen stable isotope and radiocarbon study of eastern Arctic diets. Seventy-five directly dated burials from the Native Point Sadlermiut mortuary collection and two Thule sites, Kamarvik and Silumiut in northwest Hudson Bay, were added to an existing data set of 81 individuals. Thule foragers dated to a 2σ range of AD 1047–1700 and subsisted on diets comprised of ca. 80% marine taxa, primarily ringed seal and bowhead whale. The Native Point Sadlermiut dated later in time, AD 1289–1896, and relied more heavily on high tropic level marine taxa, ringed seal and seabirds. Three dietary trends are apparent coincident with Neo-Boreal cooling (AD 1400). In addition, both Thule sites were abandoned at commencement of the Little Ice Age (AD 1600), which coincides with European contact, raising intriguing questions about the effects of climate change on high latitude foraging strategies and the possibility that epidemic disease was introduced in the Hudson Bay region as early as 1613.