Holocene Deposits of Saharan Rock Shelters: The Case of Takarkori and Other Sites from the Tadrart Acacus Mountains (Southwest Libya)

The excavation at Takarkori rock shelter is part of a long-term study of Holocene cultural dynamics in southwest Libya begun in the early 1990s. With a rich Holocene occupation, the area is one of the key spots for reconstruction of human occupation of the last 10,000 years. In this region, similar to the case in the rest of the Sahara, most of the data come from surface investigations at open-air sites, while excavated caves and rock shelters provide just a few. Although less exposed than open-air sites, Holocene archaeological deposits in Saharan caves and rock shelters are characterized by a fairly dynamic nature. Loose sediments, coupled with variability of human occupations and magnitude of natural agents, determine multiple alterations to the archaeological deposits in sheltered sites. In this paper, we present the nature and meaning of the archaeological deposits at Takarkori rock shelter, where a relatively large area has been recently excavated, showing a stratigraphic sequence extending from c. 9,000 to 4,200 BP, unevenly represented by several occupation pulses. In order to sharpen understanding of the development of human occupation at this site, specific procedures for the study and recording of the archaeological deposit have been developed, along with a program of extensive radiocarbon dating. Data from the Takarkori sequence ultimately will be integrated with available published stratigraphies from the Acacus Mountains, with the aim of reviewing the results from past excavations.     

International Heritage Tourism in Rwanda: Paving Over the Past at the Musanze Caves

Through a case study of the Musanze Caves, this paper describes the impact of Rwanda’s heritage tourism industry on archaeological resources. The paper outlines Rwanda’s tourism industry and describes how it privileges ‘natural heritage’ above ‘cultural heritage’, a situation which is negatively impacting upon archaeological sites such as the Musanze Caves. To create the Musanze Caves tourism experience there has been significant non-archaeological excavation and construction in the caves, which has damaged regionally significant archaeological remains that date from 1000 CE to the present. Furthermore, the Musanze Caves tourism experience does not incorporate extant archaeological information into the presented narrative, which is instead based on ‘natural heritage’ and adventure tourism. This situation is damaging rare resources that might help construct new historical narratives to replace untenable colonial and pre-genocide ones, and is generally unhelpful in communicating the knowledge that we do have about the region’s history.     

DIGITAL CEMENTUM LUMINANCE ANALYSIS AND THE HAUA FTEAH HOMININS: HOW SEASONALITY AND SEASON OF USE CHANGED THROUGH TIME*

The importance of environmental seasonality and the seasonal cycling of resources to human populations make studies of human responses to seasonality useful to test hypotheses about short‐ and long‐term changes in human behaviour. This paper utilizes digital dental cementum luminance analysis in order to better understand patterns of the seasons of death of Ammotragus lervia at Haua Fteah, Cyrenaica, and to test whether long‐term climatic changes can be detected in dental cement. The overall pattern of the season of death of A. lervia at Haua Fteah is that of year‐round utilization, with a slight increase over time in A. lervia use during the growth period/summer time. The use of digital cementum luminance analysis (DCLA) to detect changes in the seasonal differences between temperatures indicates a trend for increased seasonality in temperature over the past 40 000 years at Haua Fteah. Furthermore, DCLA patterns in the more recent assemblages indicate a shift to a warmer climate from Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 to MIS 1.     

Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of La Olla,a Holocene archaeological site in the Pampean coast (Argentina)

The evolution of littoral palaeoenvironments in the southern Pampas region of Argentina towards the end of the early Holocene and the beginning of the mid Holocene is discussed, and the formation processes of the archaeological site of La Olla are analysed. This site is located in the intertidal zone of the present beach and is remarkably well-preserved. The human occupation at the site has been dated at between 7400 and 6480 yrs BP, and is interpreted as a place for the processing and consumption of the southern fur seal (Arctocephalus australis) and southern sea-lion (Otaria flavescens). It is concluded that biostabilization by microbial mats of the sedimentary structures and archaeological remains that developed and are present on the tidal flat prevented their erosion by wind, turbulence currents and waves. This is what has permitted the exceptional preservation of the site. On the basis of the analyses of one of the sectors of the site it can be concluded that the sedimentary succession of the La Olla site is the result of the coastal environmental changes during the early–mid Holocene in the pre-maximum transgressive episode. During this interval a tidal flat developed on the Pleistocene abrasion platform. Human occupation occurred during the formation of mixohaline marsh, an upper intertidal–lower supratidal zone ecosystem.     

The black layer of Middle Palaeolithic combustion structures. Interpretation and archaeostratigraphic implications

Certain aspects of the formation processes of simple, flat archaeological combustion structures such as those present in the Middle Palaeolithic record remain unexplained. Such kind of combustion structures are commonly affected by postdepositional agents and often, their only distinct, well preserved component is a thin black lens on the ground. Hence, understanding the nature of this black lens is essential towards archaeological interpretation. From an interdisciplinary microstratigraphic approach, we present a case study in which for an entire experimental series of flat combustion structures the black layer represents the fire-altered topsoil on which the fire was made. Parallel analysis of archaeological Middle Palaeolithic combustion structures from the site of El Salt (Alicante, Spain) reveal similar patterns, leading to significant implications for archaeological interpretation. In the light of these results, special attention must be paid to the formation processes of flat Middle Palaeolithic combustion features, as black layers and the material contained in them are not necessarily linked with combustion but with preceding activities or events. In such cases, black layers represent intact remnants of occupation surfaces, concealing significant behavioural and palaeoenvironmental information relevant to the reconstruction of Middle Palaeolithic societies.     

Toward an understanding of site abandonment behavior: Evidence from historic mining camps in the southwest Yukon

Our present understanding of discard and abandonment behaviors as well as other cultural activities structuring the archaeological record is inadequate. Although some research is progressing toward such an understanding, much of what is known about these processes still tends to be grounded on weak assumptions and untested propositions. However, a number of historically documented gold rush sites in the Kluane region, Yukon Territory, appear to provide a unique opportunity for formulating and testing hypotheses relevant to a better understanding of site abandonment behavior. Abandonment processes for these and other sites are reviewed and their effects are discussed in an effort to determine how two major variables of abandonment behavior, the manner under which sites are abandoned and whether or not return is planned, contribute to the formation of the archaeological record.     

Contacts under the lens: Perspectives on the role of microstratigraphy in archaeological research

Achieving an accurate perception of time and context remains a major challenge in archaeology. This paper highlights the potential benefits of microstratigraphic study to address this goal, drawing on case studies from Lower, Middle, and Upper Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Iron Age archaeological sites. First, we discuss the importance of site formation reconstruction and the ways in which current field methods approach the sedimentary record. Then, we focus on both field identification and high-resolution study of stratigraphic contacts, which are ubiquitous in archaeological deposits. Examples are presented to highlight the role of microstratigraphy in characterizing the nature of contacts and their significance for archaeological interpretation. A microstratigraphic approach is especially useful for distinguishing between contacts that originate from changes in depositional processes and contacts that form as a result of post-depositional processes such as pedogenesis, diagenesis, or burning. Further examples show how “invisible” anthropogenic surfaces and different kinds of occupation deposits can come to light at a microscopic scale of observation. Finally, we illustrate cases in which what appeared to be sterile layers in the field yielded anthropogenic elements. In the end, we discuss how archaeological projects might incorporate microstratigraphic analyses and their results within broader research frameworks that prioritize site formation process reconstruction.     

A Late Holocene Population Bottleneck in California Tule Elk (Cervus elaphus nannodes): Provisional Support from Ancient DNA

Zooarchaeological analyses have suggested a possible case of late Holocene resource depression in California tule elk (Cervus elaphus nannodes). We develop and conduct a preliminary independent test of this here based on trends in genetic diversity derived from ancient DNA extracted from archaeological elk bone. Mitochondrial DNA sequence data from 24 tule elk temporally dispersed across the late Holocene deposits of the Emeryville Shellmound, California, provide provisional support for a decline in genetic diversity and a population bottleneck beginning about 1600 B.P. Final confirmation of this pattern must await complete replication of the sequences. Stable isotope analyses of the elk bone provide a record of change in the terrestrial environment across the period of deposition and no suggestion that climate change may have played a role in an elk population decline. The analysis has implications for our understanding of change in human behavior and biology during late Holocene of central California, the methodology of resource depression analyses, and the conservation biology of tule elk.     

Under the Boards: Archaeological Site Formation Processes at the Commissariat Store, Brisbane

The study of archaeological site formation processes, although routinely undertaken for prehistoric sites, is only carried out in historical archaeology in a limited way. Understanding the processes which formed the archaeological record of a site is an important first step towards developing justifiable inferences about past behavior and past societies regardless of the age of the site. This paper identifies and examines the cultural and non-cultural processes that formed the archaeological record at the Commissariat Store, Brisbane. The history of the site, from its construction in 1829 as part of the Moreton Bay penal settlement to the present, is examined and the expected impacts and processes on the archaeological record are identified. Archaeological evidence from the salvage excavation of the site undertaken in 1978 and 1979 is analyzed to identify the cultural and non-cultural site formation processes. This study identifies the presence of cultural formation processes including discard, loss, abandonment and re-use from an examination of the historical and archaeological evidence. Non-cultural formation processes at work in the site include faunalturbation, floralturbation, flooding, and aquaturbation.     

Archaeological Survey of Dynamic Coastal Landscapes and Paleoshorelines: Locating Early Holocene Sites in the Prince Rupert Harbour Area,British Columbia,Canada

We present and test a predictive archaeological survey model that targets early Holocene paleoshorelines in the Prince Rupert Harbour area using LiDAR bare earth digital terrain models and a 15,000-year reconstructed history of relative sea level change. Despite a century of archaeological research in the study area, no sites dating earlier than 6000 cal b.p. had been identified prior to our research. Our field survey identified three early Holocene sites associated with paleoshorelines 7–10?m above current sea level (masl). These locations demonstrate repeated use through the Holocene even as shoreline position changes. We discuss these new data in relation to the early Holocene archaeological record from the rest of the northern Northwest Coast and suggest that the region was ubiquitously occupied by this time and that the lack of recorded early Holocene sites in some areas is likely a result of survey and preservation bias, rather than historical reality.     

Late Neolithic household activities in marginal areas: the micromorphological evidence from the Kouveleiki caves,Peloponnese, Greece

The micromorphological study of the Neolithic archaeological sequence of the Kouveleiki Caves A and B and the reassessment of the archaeological record under the new data revealed that the site constituted a small-scale self-contained mixed farming household in an upland area of Greece. The study of the microstructure and the microstratigraphy of the sediment revealed that the front chamber of Cave A is dominated by dry, almost totally burnt coprolites resulting from stabling, most likely of sheep and/or goats. There are also indications of frequent trampling and disturbance of the stabling deposits by human activities. Hence, Cave A was used as a small seasonal pen and, probably, as a place for rudimentary activities. The dark back chamber of Cave A was the main habitation area, where plastered floors were constructed by a mixture of burnt dung (derived from the seasonal pen) and red clay (to be found in the plain in front of the cave). The nearby Kouveleiki Cave B was probably used as a complementary activity area.     

Environmental context of a Neolithic site at Beifudi,north-west Hebei Province,China

The earliest evidence of prehistoric religious practice in China found so far comes from excavations at Beifudi, about 120 km south of Beijing, in the form of votive offerings and porcelain sorcery masks dated to the period 8000–7000 yr BP. These finds are part of a rich Neolithic site located on the second river terrace on the north shore of the Yi River. This paper presents results of pollen analysis of part of a sediment profile from a depression at the edge of first terrace towards second terrace, a few hundred metres away from the main archaeological finds. A sequence of marked changes in environment occurred between 9000 cal yr BP and 6000 cal yr BP, and dating evidence suggests strong associations with the ebb and flow of human activity in the area. The first phase of activity on the site begins at around 8000 cal yr BP, towards the end of a period of relatively dry, cold environmental conditions. Between 7800 cal yr BP and 7400 cal yr BP, the first clear evidence of cereal cultivation appears in the pollen record. Rich archaeological finds occur during the same time period, suggesting local prosperity. This first phase of the Beifudi culture ends at 7300 cal yr BP, when warmer and wetter conditions are inferred and wetland areas expand, reducing the area available for crop cultivation near the site. A return to drier and cooler conditions from 6900 cal yr BP corresponds with the second phase of apparent prosperity in the archaeological record from Beifudi. This phase ends at around 6500 cal yr BP, at the start of another shift towards wetter conditions in the flood plain environment. The pollen record suggests that environmental conditions in the flood plain were a major determinant of human activity at Beifudi in the early-mid Holocene.     

A functional analysis of grinding stones from an early holocene site at Donghulin,North China

The processes that led to the transition from small mobile groups of hunter-gatherers in the Late Pleistocene to sedentary communities of the Early Holocene in north China are poorly understood. The Donghulin site in Beijing was occupied at the onset of the Holocene, and excavations have revealed a rich archaeological record for investigating the changing subsistence strategies during this transitional period. A functional study of two grinding stones (a slab and a handstone) near a burial dated to 9220–8750 cal BC at Donghulin investigated the range of plants exploited during this early occupation period. Starch residues indicate that the grinding stones were used for processing plants, and confirm processing of acorns, which is consistent with the incidence of oak in the pollen record. The usewear, with only rare patches of developed polish, suggests that plant parts of low silica content were processed, although usewear on the handstone suggests processing of two or more plant taxa. The results suggest that the use of grinding stones to process plant foodstuffs, particularly acorns, may have played a major role in the subsistence strategy during the transitional period to sedentism and agriculture in some parts of north China.     

New Insights on the Palaeo-archaeological Potential of the Niokolo-Koba National Park,Senegal

The study of the Palaeolithic in Senegal has made considerable progress in the last decade and has provided a renewed vision of the behavioral evolution of prehistoric populations in West Africa. The cultural trajectories within the region seem to be highly variable and bear witness to strong behavioral dynamics, the mechanisms of which still need to be better understood. However, the number of reliable, dated, and stratified sites, as well as the palaeoenvironmental data providing a context for populations in their palaeolandscapes, is still scarce. In order to provide new and solid data, we conducted new archaeological survey in the Niokolo-Koba National Park in south-central Senegal, aiming at a preliminary identification of Pleistocene and early Holocene sedimentary deposits. Here, we report an overview of the newly discovered industries found in different contexts. Most of the 27 identified sites show surface and out-of-context assemblages, but other sites are stratified and have all the criteria to justify the development of a long-term archaeological, geochronological, geomorphological, and palaeobotanical project. The Niokolo-Koba National Park, through which the Gambia River flows, is characterized by an abundance of sources of knappable material and by well-preserved sedimentary sequences. Therefore, archaeological research in the Niokolo-Koba National Park has the potential to provide major milestones in our understanding of the evolutionary dynamics at work in West Africa during the early periods of occupation of the region.

     

Holistic geoarchaeology in the Penobscot Valley,Maine, USA: context,scale, and interpretation

A holistic landscape approach to cultural resource analysis of a set of archaeological sites in the central Penobscot Valley led to inferences regarding the Holocene physical and biological environmental context. Targeted environmental studies include (1) examination of forest and wetland changes through time and (2) lake-level studies as a key to paleohydrology. These studies were combined with broad-scale geomorphic investigations and detailed stratigraphic analyses, and studies of archaeological sites and their artifact assemblages. Together, these studies provide a picture of dramatic changes to the physical and vegetational landscape. These included reestablishment of a major river following deglaciation, evolution of extensive lakes to uplands and peatlands, and a shifting mosaic of open and closed forest composed of a variety of hardwood and softwood species. Inferences based on buried soils exposed in archaeological excavations supported climatic interpretations based on vegetation and paleohydrology. As a result, this work allowed evaluation of (1) site formation and preservation processes and (2) occupational patterns. Site formation and preservation of Early Holocene sites can be linked to sedimentation by hydraulic damming upstream of rapids at the mouths of tributary streams. Shifting human land use reflected by changes in occupation patterns appears to correspond to changes in forest composition as well as wetland and stream evolution through time.     

Late Holocene vegetation and palaeoenvironmental history of the Dunadd area,Argyll, Scotland: chronology of events

This paper focuses on the chronology and environmental significance of a sediment sequence from an alluvial locality in the vicinity of the historic site of Dunadd, Scotland. It outlines the rationale and statistical validity of an age model derived for a sequence of floodplain sediments from which detailed pollen-stratigraphical and plant macrofossil records have been derived. A series of radiocarbon dates are calibrated using a Bayesian modelling approach, the results of which can be refined by incorporating two independent age estimates based on tephra layers of known age. Analysis of the entire floodplain sequence for volcanic glass shards revealed the presence of discrete but geochemically very similar tephra layers within the upper (late Holocene) part of the sequence. Comparison with published geochemical data obtained from Icelandic tephras of historical age indicates strong statistical correlations with the Hekla 1947 AD and Hekla 1510 AD. While the Hekla 1510 AD tephra has previously been reported from sites within Britain and Ireland, the Dunadd sequence affords the first record of the Hekla 1947 AD tephra layer within Scotland. When the ages and stratigraphic positions of both tephra layers are incorporated into the Bayesian age model, an overall centennial to decadal precision for the late Holocene is achieved, with archaeological and environmental transitions discriminated with highest-likelihood age uncertainty ranges of 20–50 years at 95% confidence. The local environmental record is assessed in the light of this new chronological framework: the data support previously reported proposals for two periods of significant climatic deterioration with increased wetness, the first during the early Medieval period and the second during the late 16th and 17th centuries AD.     

Identifying palaeo-environments and changes in Aboriginal subsistence from dual-patterned faunal assemblages,south-western Australia

Palaeo-environments and past human subsistence patterns are difficult to determine from dual-patterned faunal assemblages where human and non-human predators have accumulated and intensively modified animal bones. This paper examines such records in the Leeuwin–Naturaliste Region of south-western Australia, where a thin belt of coastal limestone contains caves and rock shelters with rich faunal deposits. The Late Pleistocene and Holocene part of this record derives from four archaeological sites: Devil's Lair, Tunnel Cave, Witchcliffe Rock Shelter and Rainbow Cave. Correspondence analysis combined with cluster analysis enables a preliminary assessment of habitat changes using simple species abundances in the faunal assemblages and comparison with indices of past human activity in the sites and the species’ present habitat preferences. These inferred changes, consistent with previous analyses of faunal remains and tree charcoal, suggest that late Holocene sites document Aboriginal occupation in coastal heath, scrub and woodland. Late Pleistocene deposits record hinterland occupation at times of low sea-level when the coast was up to 30 km seawards of its present position and the surrounding vegetation was open-forest or woodland. As rainfall increased and vegetation changed in the Holocene, species foraging in open-woodland declined or became locally extinct, while species requiring closed canopy habitats increased. Rank-order correlations of taxa and archaeological remains from depositional sequences before and after the environmental change indicate that the occupiers of late Holocene sites favoured the same generalist species that occupiers of Late Pleistocene sites had favoured, which were available at all times. Prey habitats, foraging behaviours and historic records of ethnographic hunting and settlement pattern suggest that this local continuity is consistent with maintenance of a “dispersive mode” subsistence pattern in the region.     

The Holocene Archaeology of Southwest Ethiopia: New Insights from the Kafa Archaeological Project

Abstract  

Southwest Ethiopia’s cool, moist, and steep highlands differ from other African environments, and may have fostered distinct patterns of Holocene resource use and intensification. Prior to 2004, only a few archaeological projects probed eastern and northern margins of this region. The Kafa Archaeological Project (2004–2006) excavated ten caves and rockshelters in different environments in the heart of southwest Ethiopia to obtain a Holocene chronology and compare it with adjacent regions. At Kumali Rockshelter, middle Holocene deposits show use of a microlithic industry to obtain wild game, and excellent macrobotanical preservation promises to reveal changes in plant use from 4,700 ¹⁴C bp to the present. Ceramics and domestic animals appear at Kumali and Koka by ~2,000 ¹⁴C bp, suggesting herding and pottery making appeared late and contacts with neighboring regions were tenuous. Technologically conservative people continued microlith production and sporadic rockshelter use into the eighteenth century CE.     

Composite hunting technologies from the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene,Niah Cave,Borneo

Renewed archaeological investigation of the West Mouth of Niah Cave, Borneo has demonstrated that even within lowland equatorial environments depositional conditions do exist where organic remains of late glacial and early post-glacial age can be preserved. Excavations by the Niah Cave Research Project (NCP) (2000–2003) towards the rear of the archaeological reserve produced several bone points and worked stingray spines, which exhibit evidence of hafting mastic and fibrous binding still adhering to their shafts. The position of both gives strong indication of how these cartilaginous points were hafted and gives insight into their potential function. These artefacts were recovered from secure and ¹⁴C dated stratigraphic horizons. The results of this study have implications for our understanding the function of the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene bone tools recovered from other regions of Island Southeast Asia. They demonstrate that by the end the Pleistocene rainforest foragers in Borneo were producing composite technologies that probably included fishing leisters and potentially the bow and arrow.     

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.