Some spatial analyses of Chalcolithic settlement in Southern Israel

This paper is a brief investigation of one of the outstanding problems in Chalcolithic archaeology in the Negev desert of Israel: that of the spatial distribution of sites and the possible relationships between these sites that may be inferred. Although the region is rich in archaeological data for the Chalcolithic period, very little work has thus far been undertaken in terms of the quantification of the archaeological data – a necessary prerequisite for complex spatial analysis. Nevertheless, simple analysis of settlement patterns using the data presently available for 403 Chalcolithic sites in the Negev is given as an example. Autocorrelation tests measuring clustering and dispersion of sites show that the overall impression of clustering is a factor of access to farming land, water, grazing and Mediterranean maquis, but that smaller scale analysis suggests that settlement patterns were essentially random. This makes it difficult to argue in favour of settlement hierarchies or structured settlement of any kind.     

Grar: A Chalcolithic Site in the Northern Negev,Israel

Abstract

Grar is one of the largest Chalcolithic sites in southern Israel. The first part of this article presents an overview of the results of excavations carried out on the site during 1981–1987. The site of Grar is a cluster of occupational units once inhabited by sedentary farmers growing cereals and raising sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle. Grar is similar to other sites in the northern Negev previously considered as ephemeral. This suggests that the role of pastoralism and semi-nomadism in the Chalcolithic period has been overemphasized. Grar and other sites of the Chalcolithic period are, in fact, the earliest versions of villages of the Near Eastern fellahin, or peasants.

A comparative study of Grar and other northern Negev sites follows. Although the area in question is small, it is suggested that during the Chalcolithic period the northern Negev was settled by two groups, or “tribes,” with the same cultural background but different modes of lift.     

Chalcolithic Hamlet Excavations near Shiqmim,Negev Desert,Israel

Abstract

We explore the nature of three small villages or “hamlets” situated in close proximity to Shiqmim—one of the largest Chalcolithic (ca. 4500–3600 CAL B.C.) settlements in the southern Levant. Located in the northern Negev Desert of Israel, Shiqmim and other large sites in the Beersheva valley have yielded data suggesting the emergence of a regional chief dom-level social organization in this period. Identifying chiefdoms in the Near Eastern archaeological record is difficult because there is little material evidence of displays of rank and power such as are found in Mesoamerican chiefdoms. A two-tier settlement hierarchy with large settlement centers that coordinate religious, political, and economic activities for a constellation of smaller satellite villages or hamlets is one of the most important cross-cultural attributes of chiefdoms documented by anthropologists. The results from archaeological soundings, material culture analyses, and radiocarbon dating of small-scale sites in the vicinity of a large settlement center in the Beersheva valley are consistent with the presence of a dynamic regional chiefdom-level society during the Chalcolithic period.     

Evidence of interpersonal violence at the Chalcolithic village of Shiqmim (Israel)

Three circumscribed depressed fractures were found on the skull of an adolescent boy recovered from a primary intramural burial at the Chalcolithic site of Shiqmim, northern Negev, Israel dated to (∼4500–3200 BCE). The fractures were located on the left side and back of the skull. They are circular in outline and have sharp margins containing numerous small bone fragments. These indicate that the skull was fractured when the bone was still fresh and were the probable cause of death. The location of the fractured areas is typical of blows inflicted by a right‐handed individual in face‐to‐face conflict. The size and shape of the fractures, suggests that they were inflicted by a blunt instrument, possibly a mace head. The absence of any signs of healing or infection indicates that all fractures occurred within a short space of time and resulted in death. Neither biological characteristics nor burial pattern show any unique features that distinguish this individual from others recovered at this site. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Chalcolithic Period of the Southern Levant: A Synthetic Review

In the southern Levant, the late fifth millennium to mid-fourth millennium BC—traditionally known as the Chalcolithic period—witnessed major cultural transformations in virtually all areas of society, most notably craft production, mortuary and ritual practices, settlement patterns, and iconographic and symbolic expression. A degree of regionalism is evident in material culture, but continuity in ceramic styles, iconographic motifs, and mortuary practices suggests a similar cultural outlook linking these sub-regions. Luxury items found in group mortuary caves provide good evidence for at least some inequality in access to exotic materials. The level of complexity in social organization, however, is still debated. Divergent interpretations of Chalcolithic socio-economic organization suggest that, with the large amount of new information now available, a reevaluation of the debate is due. In this article we synthesize the more recent evidence and weigh interpretations of processes that led to the widespread fundamental changes witnessed during the late fifth to early fourth millennium BC.     

Diet uniformity at an early farming community in northwest Anatolia (Turkey): carbon and nitrogen isotope studies of bone collagen at Aktopraklık

Aktoprakl?k is a settlement site composed of three areas (A–C) in the Marmara region of northwest Anatolia, with phases of occupation that date to the Late Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic periods, mid-seventh to mid-sixth millennium bc (ca. 6400–5600 cal. bc). Here, we present 54 human and fauna bone collagen stable isotope results from the site, alongside five modern fish bone collagen isotope results, to examine the nature of human diet. The stable isotope analysis shows that human diet comprised the consumption of select C₃ terrestrial resources, with a preference for domestic animal proteins over plant proteins. The evidence to date suggests that animal husbandry was at the forefront of Late Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic subsistence practices. No isotopic difference in humans is observed between biological sex or between areas B and C at the settlement.     

Site maintenance practices and settlement social organization in Iron Age Karnataka, India: Inferring settlement places and landscape from surface distributions of ceramic assemblage attributes

This paper investigates the spatial organization of social relations in settlement contexts through a quantitative and distributional analysis of surface ceramic attributes from Iron Age Period (1200–300 BC) archaeological sites in Southern India. The results discern variation in depositional contexts across each site, from which I infer a variety of basic settlement activity structures (e.g., site maintenance, trash disposal, residence, animal husbandry, metallurgy, ritual). I use these results, together with further analyses of artifact and feature distributions, to infer a basic suite of places, place-making practices and some of the social relations and organizational structures that produced these historically unique Iron Age settlement landscapes.     

Stable isotope analysis of Neolithic and Chalcolithic populations from Aktopraklık,northern Anatolia

This paper presents the results of stable isotope (carbon and nitrogen) analysis of human and faunal remains from the site of Aktoprakl?k, one of the earliest farming sites in the Eastern Marmara region of Northwest Anatolia. Excavations at this site have shown that occupation occurs from the middle of the 7th millennium BC through to the middle of the 6th millennium BC. The earliest Neolithic activity at this location occurs at the settlement site of Aktoprakl?k C. Since 2004 a number of Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic burials have been recovered from the settlement areas and an Early Chalcolithic cemetery (Aktoprakl?k B and A respectively). To date a total of 60 individuals have been recovered from Aktoprakl?k, 23 of which (20 adults [10 males, 8 females and 2 indet adults] and 3 children below ca. 12 years of age) form the basis of the current isotope study. In addition, 14 faunal samples from cattle, pig, sheep/goat and fallow deer are included in the analysis in order to facilitate a consideration of trophic level shifts and to interpret the ¹³C data. The data represents the first isotopic study of a farming community from this region of Anatolia. This region is important to our understanding of the north-westwards transmission of farming into Europe from the Near East, and as such Aktoprakl?k represents a key site for studying the diet of farmers at the transition to agriculture. The close clustering of isotope values overall indicates homogeneity in subsistence practices for this farming population. Interestingly, the isotope values indicate a general focus on C₃ terrestrial resources at Aktoprakl?k, despite the close proximity of both freshwater and marine environments where alternative resources could have been procured.     

Middle Paleolithic Behavioral Organization: 1993 Excavation of Tor Faraj,Southern Jordan

Abstract

Excavation of a Levantine Mousterian rockshelter exposed two living floors in the upper part of a deposit more than 3.5 m thick. An intrasite study, focusing on the spatial patterns of data recovered from the two floors, complements an earlier intersite study of settlement and procurement patterns. The arrangement of hearths and the spatial distributions of artifacts and manuports indicate redundant behavioral organization for the two components. Moreover, the behavioral patterns reflected in site use by the occupants of the shelter some 70,000 years ago strongly resemble those recorded for modern foragers.     

Shape Reproducibility and architectural symmetry during the Chalcolithic period in the southern Levant

Architecture reflects social aspects of past communities. Structure attributes such as shape, size, building material and decoration, provide valuable information beyond their immediate structural function. However, while attributes such as size can be measured and therefore objectively compared between structures, the comparison of shape between structures is based on subjective observations. In the current study we use two quantification methods for analyzing prehistoric shape-based architectural data: (1) we developed a new method, Shape Reproducibility (SR), based on objective computerized procedure for analyzing the similarity and difference between shapes of ancient buildings; and (2) we use Continuous Symmetry Measure (CSM), a method which was originally developed for analyzing flint artifacts and ceramic vessels to objectively compare between shape symmetry. Applying these methods to settlement data of the Chalcolithic period enables quantification of the level of architectural similarity within and between different sites and their comparison to architectural data of later periods, such as the Early Bronze Age II urban center at Arad. Our CSM results suggest that the symmetry of architecture does not increase through time. Our SR findings demonstrate that in the main cultural Chalcolithic entity, the Ghassulian, the architecture of different sites could not be distinguished from one site to the other. In addition, we demonstrate that the architecture of the Chalcolithic sites in the Golan Heights is homogeneous and significantly differs from other Chalcolithic sites, while Ghassulian intra-site variability is higher. In comparison with Arad, however, this variability is relatively low and limited. These results suggest that status differentiation or hierarchical social organization cannot be indicated from Ghassulian architecture.     

Spatial Point Processes Applied to the Distribution of River Junctions

The notion of randomness has been extensively applied to topological (nondimensional) properties of drainage networks. The spatial (dimensional) organization of five fluvial hierarchies is examined herein through the application of quadrat analysis to random and clustered spatial probability models. The Poisson, Polya-Aeppli, and negative binomial models are compared with point-pattern distributions of river junction location for three basins in Indiana and two fossil systems on an erosion surface in semiarid Australia. The negative binomial model best fits all five networks, suggesting that the branching behavior of fluvial systems follows the mathematical precepts leading to clusteredness of junctions. The degree to which the Polya-Aeppli model fits the data suggests the imposition of a temporally limited set of environmental conditions optimally suited for network growth. Only for the two fossil systems does the Poisson model agree. It is speculated that the effect of prolonged subaerial erosion may be to shift a clustered distribution towards the random state as the surface approaches a pediplained state.     

Excavations at Rio Claro,Northeast Honduras: Preliminary Report

Abstract

During the summer of 1975, preliminary survey, mapping, and excavations were conducted at the H-CN-12:Rio Claro site, a sizeable Pre-Hispanic village settlement in the Department of ColónNE Honduras, Central America. Artifactual remains and chronometric determinations indicate that the settlement was inhabited during the Cocal Period (ca. 1000-1530 A.C.). This report describes the location and layout of H-CN-12:Rio Claro, principal excavations, the first regional radiocarbon dates for the Cocal Period, and some of the artifacts and significant findings of the second season of fieldwork in this little-studied region of the Americas. The possibility is raised that the site is the ethnohistorical chiefdom center Papayeca.     

Intrasite features distribution as a source of social information: The case of Djaba-Hosséré (Northern Cameroon)

The spatial organization of Dìì settlements has been considered as the reflection of the peculiar social organization of Dìì chiefdoms: a model based on an association of several lineages, most of them being necessary for the working of the whole. The distribution of thousands of surface remains (features and ceramics) located on the eastern foot of the Djaba massif, the site of the eponymous chieftaincy in the early 19th century, together with stratigraphic data, is likely to provide information about the age and the foundation process of a Dìì chiefdom. Following the spatial analysis, we will see that, locally, the growth of political complexity began about the 18th century and that this process may have resulted in the arrival of ‘foreigners’ among one or more of the autochthonous communities, one of what appears to have been strongly involved in metallurgical activities. Archaeological data seems thus to indicate that the foundation myth of the ‘generous foreigner’ shared by most of the Dìì chieftaincies was based on historical events.     

Evidence for Earliest Olive-Oil Production in Submerged Settlements off the Carmel Coast, Israel

Thousands of crushed olive stones with olive pulp are concentrated in pits at the Kfar Samir prehistoric settlement off the Carmel coast south of Haifa. Observations at this site, and at other Late Neolithic to Early Chalcolithic offshore settlements in this region, record an olive-oil technology that began along the Carmel coastal plain as early as 6500 years ago. This is about 500 years earlier than previously held. These new finds help define the technology of olive-oil production and refine the chronological definition of cultural units along the southern Levant coast during the 7th millenniumbp, a time of major transition between the end of the Neolithic and beginning of the Chalcolithic.     

BUTCHERING PATTERNS AND SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF FAUNAL ANIMAL REMAINS CONSUMED AT THE LOS MILLARES CHALCOLITHIC SETTLEMENT (SANTA FE DE MONDÚJAR,ALMERÍA,SPAIN)

The archaeological settlement of Los Millares (Santa Fe de Mondújar, Almería) is located in the Mediterranean coastal area of southern Spain. This archaeological site constitutes one of the most important settlements belonging to the Copper Age in the Iberian Peninsula and has given its name to the ‘millariense’ culture. The settlement has been completely excavated, yielding major archaeological faunal remains, with 27,426 bone fragments classified by researchers from Munich University (Germany). In this paper, we apply different statistical methods (mainly χ² analysis) to study the spatial distribution of bones from domestic and wild animals, reconstructing the patterns of appearance within specific functional spaces. These functions can be associated with meat consumption (sites to cut the animals into small pieces, areas where the meat was eaten, garbage sites, etc.) and the production of handmade objects (bone tools, stone tools, etc.). The results show different spatial distributions of faunal remains within the areas of the settlement, according to the animal species and particular parts of the animal skeleton, as well as the age and the sex of individuals. The findings reflect social behaviour that relates the consumption of certain species to a specific sector of population, and such behaviour can be discerned in the animal remains. Moreover, there is evidence regarding economic matters, such as meat production and the exchange of animals, which require further research.     

聚落群再研究--兼说中国有无酋邦时期

本文分析了聚落群的产生发展过程、基本特征和性质。指出其早期阶段是部落,晚期阶段大都是古国,聚落辟经历了从部落到国家的发展过程。论述了国家的起源。认为酋邦和消亡阶段的部落无大区别,中国不必划分酋邦时期。     

Contextualizing Kuruçay Höyük: Assessing the Unexplored Late Chalcolithic Landscape Near the Beginning of Early Social Complexity in SW Turkey

Kuruçay Höyük can be considered a key site for our understanding of Late Prehistory in southwest Turkey and above all, the poorly known Late Chalcolithic (4200–3100 b.c.). Until now, limited research has been conducted on the relationship between the excavated site and its surrounding. This article discusses the Late Chalcolithic results of an integrated survey in the vicinity of Kuruçay Höyük in the Burdur Plain. Drawing upon these results, this paper illustrates that the site was far from an isolated feature during the 4th millennium b.c. The picture that emerges is one of a differentiated settlement system consisting of both larger höyük/tell settlements (like Kuruçay Höyük) and smaller sized, possibly short-lived, flat settlements. These results are further contextualized within the developments that took place in the region during the Chalcolithic, which seem to have opened the door for communities to become more complex during the Early Bronze Age.     

Spatiality and the Interpretation of Identity Formation: Fugitive Slave Community Creation in Nineteenth-Century Kenya

In the nineteenth century, the coalescence of a plantation economy on the Swahili Coast provoked an upsurge in the local slave trade. Increasing numbers of enslaved workers fled inland, and, by the 1840s, some had created independent settlements. In Swahili, runaway slaves were known as watoro. Forged by men and women of diverse cultural backgrounds, watoro communities offer broad insight into how groups form and sustain themselves. This study explores how watoro settlement organization and landscape practices reflect the process of community formation. Particular attention is paid to watoro communities?? participation in regional networks and the degree to which fugitive slaves developed homogenized sociocultural norms or maintained long-term cultural plurality. This paper adopts a spatial archaeological approach centered on settlement location, housing density, and domestic architecture. Dissonances between these spatial data and artifact distributions reveal the ways in which both heterogeneity and homogeneity were expressed and experienced. Articulations and disarticulations between different evidentiary types also help to better reveal the diverse range of inter-group interactions that fugitive slaves pursued and avoided.     

Pattern Analysis Based on Type, Orientation, Size, and Shape

Quantifying the pattern of geographically defined areas has proven useful in analyzing and understanding geographic processes. Pattern analyses most commonly used by geographers measure the spatial distribution of nonspatial variables at each point or in each area. The objective of this research is to develop and assess a pattern analysis for area-class maps that considers more than the nonspatial attributes when describing a spatial pattern. We examine whether similar geographic areas—similar with respect to attribute type and several geometric properties—exhibit particular spatial patterns (e.g., clustered, random, or dispersed). The additional attributes we include are orientation, size, and shape. We refer to the method as TOSS, reflecting the T ype, O rientation, S ize, and S hape of areas. The goal of considering these additional attributes is to capture the geometric aspects of pattern that other approaches to pattern analysis do not. Sets or groups of similar areas are created using cluster analysis, based on a variable standardization score using the Gower coefficient of similarity. The spatial distributions for each set of geographic objects are then calculated using nearest neighbor analysis. To test the effectiveness of the TOSS method, results from pattern analysis and the TOSS method are qualitatively and quantitatively compared. The TOSS method offers a novel approach to pattern analysis.     

Contextualizing Early Urbanization: Settlement Cores,Early States and Agro-pastoral Strategies in the Fertile Crescent During the Fourth and Third Millennia BC

This paper employs data from selected sample survey areas in the northern Fertile Crescent to demonstrate how initial urbanization developed along several pathways. The first, during the Late Chalcolithic period, was within a dense pattern of rural settlement. There followed a profound shift in settlement pattern that resulted in the formation of large walled or ramparted sites (‘citadel cities’) associated with a more dynamic phase of urbanization exemplified by short cycles of growth and collapse. By the later third millennium BC, the distribution of larger centres had expanded to include the drier agro-pastoral zone of northern and central Syria, termed here the ‘zone of uncertainty’. This configuration, in turn, formed the context for Middle Bronze Age settlement, and the pattern of political rivalries and alliances that typified the second millennium BC. Evidence is marshalled from archaeological surveys and landscape analyses to examine these multiple paths to urbanization from the perspectives of (a) staple production within major agricultural lowlands; (b) the shift towards higher risk animal husbandry within climatically marginal regions; (c) changes in local and inter-regional networks (connectivity); and (d) ties and rights to the land. Textile production forms the core of the proposed model, which emphasizes how the demand for wool and associated pasture lands opened up new landscapes for agro-pastoral production and settlement. The resultant landscapes of settlement are then compared with the picture in the southern Levant where a more restricted zone of uncertainty may have limited the opportunities for agro-pastoral production.