Documenting and Analyzing Rock,Paintings from Torres Strait,NE Australia,with Digital Photography and Computer Image Enhancement

Abstract

The deterioration of rock-art over time is an important concern for indigenous communities, archaeologists, rock-art researchers, and cultural heritage managers. Computer enhancement has emerged as an important tool in viewing poorly visible rock paintings. While most studies regarding this technique explore the methods associated with computer enhancement there is little discussion of the results that can be generated beyond the recovery of images. This article presents results from the application of computer enhancement methods to rock paintings from the Torres Strait region in NE Queensland. The results obtained through the computer enhancement of deteriorated rock paintings are used to reveal degrees of preservation, interregional interaction, and previously undocumented spatial patterning across the strait.     

Bumpit: The Painted House at Lynsted,Kent

Abstract

The extensive wall-paintings at Bumpit are an important example of decoration in a late-Elizabethan-period house. They date to the last part of the 16th century and formed part of a very extensive scheme of building and embellishment. The house and its paintings are described in detail to provide a record of this important ensemble, and the characteristics of the paintings discussed to enable them to be seen in a wider context.     

Rock surface luminescence dating of prehistoric rock art from central Iberia

Rock art paintings are notoriously difficult to date numerically. Recently, luminescence dating has been shown to provide reliable rock surface burial ages in various archaeological settings. Here we use the cross-cutting relationship between a fallen rock and two paintings of the Iberian Levantine (older) and Schematic (younger) styles to constrain the age of the paintings by dating the rockfall event using rock surface luminescence dating. Infrared-stimulated luminescence (IRSL) signals as a function of depth into the buried face of the talus border indicate that the IRSL signal measured at 50°C (IR₅₀) was sufficiently reset to a depth of about 1.6 mm prior to burial. An uncorrected IR₅₀ age of 1.6 ± 0.2 ka was calculated for the rockfall event by dividing the surface equivalent dose (D_e) by the total dose rate. This age was corrected using both conventional and field-to-laboratory saturation approaches to yield indistinguishable ages of 2.7 ± 0.5 and 2.9 ± 0.3 ka, respectively. Since the panel with Schematic art was first available to the artist after the rockfall, we conclude the Schematic rock art at Villar del Humo is younger than ~2.9 ka. The Levantine rock art was painted on a panel constrained by the talus boulder before detachment, and so it is likely to be older than ~2.9 ka.     

A FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF MISSISSIPPIAN CERAMIC VESSELS FROM TOWN CREEK

Abstract

Vessel shape, size, and use-alterations are used to identify vessel types and vessel functions among Mississippian ceramics from the Town Creek site in central North Carolina. Possible functions are discussed for vessel types, and broad distinctions are made regarding vessels that possibly were used for cooking, serving and eating, or storage. The composition of the overall vessel assemblage at Town Creek indicates that it is generally comparable with other Mississippian assemblages. A consideration of the distribution of vessel types by context allows some insights into the association of different activities with different parts of the Mississippian community at Town Creek, namely, that the mound area was associated with distinctive vessel assemblages.     

Mathematics and painting

Abstract

Mathematics and painting are interrelated in many ways. At a technical level mathematics can be used to enhance our appreciation of paintings. This was recently demonstrated beautifully by Taylor, Micolich, and Jones in their analysis of Jackson Pollock's drip paintings, which led them to the conclusion that Pollock's paintings are in a way figurative pictures. Relations also exist at a more basic level. Painting and mathematics can share subject matter, as is illustrated here by a discussion of the mathematical concepts 'open' and 'closed', which are related to paintings by Pollock, Kandinsky, Turner, and van Gogh. It is suggested in conclusion that mathematics and painting are so closely related and have so many similarities that it is reasonable to consider them simply as two different but complementary ways of visualising aspects of the concrete or abstract reality in which we are embedded.     

Animal Remains from the Carter Creek Site: Late Woodland Adaptive Strategies in the Upland Frontier of West Central Illinois

Abstract

The Carter Creek site (11-Md-817) was a village located at the prairie edge in west central Illinois during the early Late Woodland Weaver phase (Esarey et al. 1984). This occupation represents a frontier upland community (Green 1987, 1993). Animal remains recovered from the Carter Creek site are compared to contemporaneous samples from the region in order to test hypotheses proposed by Green (1987, 1993) and Styles (2000). It is found that the “pioneers” at Carter Creek continued to hunt and fish as their ancestors had (cf. Green 1987, 1993), but with some adjustments to optimize local resources (cf. Styles 2000). There is no evidence of venison trading or tribute found at this or any contemporaneous sites.     

BIOARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF SUBSISTENCE AND HEALTH AT THE LAKE GEORGE SITE,MISSISSIPPI (22YZ557)

Abstract

Bioarchaeological investigations of subsistence and health were conducted on a skeletal population from the Lake George site (22YZ557), a large prehistoric settlement in the lower Yazoo basin of west-central Mississippi. Subsistence is inferred from oral health indicators (including dental caries, calculus, periodontal disease, abscesses, antemortem tooth loss, and macrowear) and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios from bone collagen and apatite. Health is inferred from nonspecific indicators (including cranial porous lesions, enamel hypoplasias, and Harris lines). The sample includes 25 adults and 25 subadults, all of which date to the Coles Creek period (A.D. 700–1200). Frequencies of all pathological conditions are reported for the entire sample and divided by sex and age for adults. Results indicate a heavy pathology load at Lake George, but one that is not dissimilar to other Coles Creek populations. Isotope values indicate a diet that included primarily C3 plants (δ¹³C_Col = ?21.03‰, δ¹³C_Ap-Diet = ?22.06) and terrestrial protein (δ¹⁵N = 9.72‰). The sources of nonspecific pathologies are attributed to stressors associated with increasing population density and cultural complexity that occurred during the Coles Creek period.     

广西花山岩画颜料脱落和褪色原因分析

花山岩画是研究我国百越民族古代社会历史最重要、最直接的资料,岩画颜料脱落和褪色是岩画的主要病害。任何文物发生病害既与其制作材料和工艺有关,也与其保存环境因素相关。本工作在花山岩画制作材料和工艺分析研究以及区域环境特点分析的基础上,分析并讨论了岩画颜料脱落及褪色发生的原因。结果表明,岩画颜料层病害主要是受物理风化(温差变化、高湿度与光辐射)、化学风化-溶蚀作用和胶结材料老化引起;颜料褪色是由于岩画颜料表面覆盖泥质薄膜和颜料胶结材料老化导致颜料颗粒脱落致使颜料色彩饱和度降低,岩画颜色变淡变暗。     

ANALYSIS OF EARLY-NINETEENTH-CENTURY MUSCOGEE CREEK FUR TRADE AT A UNITED STATES FACTORY STORE

Abstract

We conducted an analysis of economic transaction records from the Fort Wilkinson Factory Store in central Georgia in an attempt to understand trade behaviors by the Muscogee Creek people of the southeastern United States. Between February 4, 1804, and November 29, 1806, factory personnel recorded 2,168 trade transactions at Fort Wilkinson. During this period, 38,226.5 deerskins and skins, 482 hides and rawhides, and 569 furs entered the fort. In exchange for these items, the Creek Indians primarily received cloth, followed by manufactured items such as kettles, gun supplies, and consumable groceries. We analyze the month-by-month exchange trends and compare the trade-good assemblages to archaeological sites that represent Creek occupations that date to the same time period in Georgia and Alabama. Further, we assess the biases of the data and interpret the data in relation to existing historical and archaeological studies of the Muscogee Creek people.     

The spatial dimension of the woodland period

ABSTRACT

State archaeological site files are a critical component of cultural resource management and information management toolkits. Yet, engagement with these datasets for research purposes can be difficult, at best. We address some of the challenges to a synthesis of spatial data from state site files by examining the Woodland period components of Deptford/Cartersville, Swift Creek, and Weeden Island. We also examine time slices of a large set of radiocarbon dates from contexts reported to be associated with Deptford and Swift Creek. Dates are plotted on a map at the same spatial scale as our site files dataset to evaluate time and space simultaneously. This study reveals important gaps in the radiocarbon dataset that can be rectified with strategic sampling. It also supports some long-held ideas about the spatial distribution of Deptford, Swift Creek, and Weeden Island. For example, Weeden Island is demonstrated to be strongly centered on the Alabama and Florida Gulf Coast, whereas Deptford is concentrated on both the Gulf and the Atlantic Coastal Plains.     

The protection and management of the megalithic art of Galicia,Spain

Abstract

Megalithic art is an important cultural resource in many regions of Western Europe. In this contribution we look at examples from Galicia, in the north-west corner of the Iberian Peninsula. A vast project has been underway since 1998, surveying and characterizing megalithic paintings, a field of research previously unexplored in any systematic way. Through defining the extent and state of conservation of megalithic paintings, the aim of the project is to be able to recommend adequate measures for their protection and preservation. It is hoped that this interdisciplinary effort will be combined with a consistent policy of display and promotion that will ensure a growing public awareness of the value of these fragile artistic works, while avoiding unnecessary losses in this part of our cultural heritage.     

青海民和县寺沟峡岩画调查简报

2019年,丝绸之路南亚廊道调查队在青海省民和县寺沟峡内发现了4幅6组个体102个岩画,并对岩画进行了详细的调查、测绘和数字化扫描。从整个岩面的制作技法来看,有直接磨刻法和敲凿法。岩画主要以抽象图案为主,有少量人像、持物人物、鸟等具象形象。其形象与新石器晚期至青铜时代彩陶图案纹饰相似度较高,与中原地区岩画有着密切关系,为研究官亭盆地早期文化提供了新的突破口。     

Swift Creek paddle designs and the imperative to be unique

ABSTRACT

The emergence of the Swift Creek style tradition represents a shift from two or three simple carved paddle designs to many thousands of unique paddle designs by middle Swift Creek then back to merely a few in late and post Swift Creek times. This explosion in designs is a striking phenomenon, in need of consideration. Increased design diversity implicates a rise in creativity, verging on an imperative to be unique, where none previously existed in this medium. In this paper, we offer a revised model of Swift Creek social dynamics by reference to the new-found creativity of paddle makers situated within the context of ethnographic case studies.     

Uranium-series age estimates for rock art in southwest China

We report the first uranium-series age estimates for rock art in China. Calcite bracketing a paint layer was used to constrain the age of a naturalistic outline hunter-gatherer painting in the Jinsha River area of northwest Yunnan Province (southwest China). The rock paintings in this region are unique in style and content compared with other bodies of rock art in China, which are dominated by Neolithic subject matter. The minimum and maximum ages were determined using isochron techniques on multiple samples of calcite from above and beneath the paint layer. A large painted deer head was dated to between 5738 and 2050 years. This painting and underlying flowstone are superimposed on older paintings that suggest the older paintings are at least 3400 years old, if not older than 5738 years. The results indicate for the first time that Jinsha River rock art is older than other forms of rock art in the region and show that rock art likely extends back to at least the transition from the Palaeolithic to Neolithic in this part of China.     

Swift Creek at a human scale

ABSTRACT

The interpretive potential of Swift Creek pottery, widely produced throughout Georgia, eastern Alabama, and northern Florida during the Middle and Late Woodland periods between ca. cal AD 100 and 800, has been apparent for many years. Much research has been focused on identifying paddle designs from the impressions left on sherds. Less attention has been devoted to the carving of the wooden paddles and its social context. Drawing inferences from our work on Swift Creek pottery in southern Georgia and Florida, and drawing inspiration from the career of Mark Williams, we consider Swift Creek paddle production “at a human scale.” Extrapolating from the number of paddle designs identified in our sample, we argue that paddle manufacture was an infrequent occurrence, probably conducted by specialists and intended to commemorate major life events.     

Uncovering Huber Lifeways: An Overview of Findings from Four Years of Excavations at the Huber Phase Middle Grant Creek Site (11WI2739) in Northern Illinois

ABSTRACT

This article reports on recent findings from the ongoing archaeological project at the single- component early seventeenth-century Huber phase site, Middle Grant Creek (11WI2739), located at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in Will County, Illinois. Excavations and geophysical surveys conducted over the past four years are yielding valuable data that are expanding our understandings of this critical period just prior to European colonialism. Findings have revealed a wide range of protohistoric activities, including foodways, skilled craft production, and ceremonial activities as well as far-flung trade relationships that illustrate the endurance of Indigenous trade networks into at least the early seventeenth-century. This article introduces the latest findings from Middle Grant Creek and brings them into discussions of this key period in Midwestern archaeology.     

SOUTH APPALACHIAN MISSISSIPPIAN AND PROTOHISTORIC MORTUARY PRACTICES IN SOUTHWESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

Abstract

Mississippian societies of southwestern North Carolina are generally thought to have been less centralized and less hierarchical than their counterparts elsewhere in the Southeast. This paper compares and contrasts mortuary patterns at the Warren Wilson, Garden Creek, and Coweeta Creek sites to reconstruct patterns of social and spatial differentiation within late prehistoric and protohistoric communities in southwestern North Carolina. These sites include, respectively, a late prehistoric stockaded village, a platform mound and village, and a protohistoric Cherokee town with a public structure and several domestic dwellings. Distributions of burial goods and the placement of burials indicate that some social distinctions were reflected in the treatment of the dead by Mississippian and protohistoric groups in southwestern North Carolina, and that those distinctions were embedded in the architecture and built environment of these sites.     

岩画断代研究——科技考古学领域中一个亟待解决的问题

探索和研究表明,岩画断代问题仍然是困扰岩画研究的难题之一,其主要原因是岩画本身不能够提供可供断代的直接依据。本文综述了目前岩画断代研究中经常使用的自然科学和考古学方法及其存在的问题,提出应用AMS14C是今后研究我国岩绘画断代问题的首选方法,解决岩刻画的断代问题则主要有赖于微腐蚀方法。     

LOOKING BEYOND THE OBVIOUS: IDENTIFYING PATTERNS IN COLES CREEK MORTUARY DATA

Abstract

While the lack of grave goods has been the focus of most scholarly discussion of Coles Creek burial practices, the mortuary analyses presented here focus on recognizing correspondences among sex, age, and burial position. Using assemblages from three Coles Creek sites (Greenhouse, Lake George, and Mount Nebo), I find that while there is significant intersite variability among Coles Creek mortuary programs, certain age groups are consistently treated differently from each other and from everyone else. Thus interments were being made with deliberate care and consideration for those involved and are not nearly as haphazard and disorderly as previously thought.