Soft-Stone Sources on Crete

Abstract

Neutron activation analysis and other analytical techniques enable archaeologists to match certain stone artifacts with their sources in the living rock. Steatite, serpentinite, and chlorite, which are often called “soft stones,” have been matched with considerable success in tests on New World samples. Matching artifacts and sources helps the archaeologist in determining prehistoric exchange systems and thus gain considerable insights into ancient cultures.

In order to provide basic information on soft-stone sources on Crete with which samples from artifacts may be compared, a review of the literature and two field surveys were undertaken. The results indicate that soft-stone sources on Crete are more extensive than formerly believed. The correlation between soft-stone deposits and the location of ancient sites is also considered.     

Rocks of ages: propagation of hot-rock cookery in western North America

Cook-stone technology's Old-World roots were established by 30,000 B.P. and reappeared in the New World by 10,000 B.P., after millennia of direct-fire cooking. Hot-rock cookery, which is necessary for foods that require prolonged cooking, facilitated land-use intensification by affording greater utilization of nutrients in available foods on a given landscape. This technology gradually diversified during the early Holocene in western North America. By 4000 B.P. its initial intensification was underway; final intensification began by 2000 B.P. and typically peaked during the last 1500 years. Propagation of hot-rock cookery exemplifies pre-Columbian food crises and signals carbohydrate revolutions wherein more high-cost foods feed growing populations. As modeled, cook-stone griddles, earth ovens and steaming pits with rock heating elements are more costly facilities, insofar as fuel is used to heat rocks that, in turn, extend cooking time and temperature. More expensive still is stone boiling, given that fuel heats rocks that, in turn, heat water that cooks the food. Even more expensive in terms of energy expended is the manufacture of heating elements in the form of stone, ceramic, and metal cooking containers, all of which afford further evidence of land-use intensification.     

Study on Damage Assessment of Earthen Sites of the Ming Great Wall in Qinghai Province Based on Fuzzy-AHP and AHP-TOPSIS

ABSTRACT

As a world-renowned heritage site, the Ming Great Wall in Qinghai Province, is an example of an earthen site that is seriously threatened by a series of deterioration. Its damage assessment is the precondition for further protection planning and implementation, but related research was found to be scant. To fill this gap, we explore to study its damage assessment by applying Fuzzy-AHP and AHP-TOPSIS to determine the damage assessment levels for 18 earthen sites selected from Qinghai Province, combined with their occurrence environment, engineering properties of rammed earth, deterioration characteristics, and building technologies. After obtaining and comparing results, the AHP-TOPSIS is indicated to be much closer to the real damage conditions. Therefore, this method is proved to be more suitable for the damage assessment of earthen sites in Qinghai Province. This study also holds the potential application of the AHP-TOPSIS in the damage assessment for other earthen sites in Northwest China.     

Stone-boiling maize with limestone: experimental results and implications for nutrition among SE Utah preceramic groups

Groups living on Cedar Mesa, SE Utah in the late Basketmaker II period (Grand Gulch phase, AD 200–400) were heavily maize-dependent, but lacked beans as a supplemental plant protein, and pottery vessels for cooking. Common occurrence of limestone fragments in their household middens suggests 1) limestone may have been used as the heating element for stone-boiling maize and 2) this practice might have made some maize proteins more available for human nutrition. Experiments examined these possibilities; results indicate that stone-boiling with Cedar Mesa limestone creates an alkaline cooking environment suitable for nixtamalization of maize kernels, and that maize cooked in this fashion shows significant increases in availability of lysine, tryptophan, and methionine. Archaeological limestone fragments from a Grand Gulch phase site show amounts of fragmentation and changes in density consistent with repeated heating. While not conclusive, these data indicate that further research (e.g., examination of archaeological limestone fragments for maize starch grains or phytoliths) is warranted. It is suggested that greater attention be paid to archaeological indications of stone-boiling with limestone among maize-dependent but pre-pottery societies.     

Ground stone tool production and use in the Late Upper Palaeolithic: The evidence from Riparo Dalmeri (Venetian Prealps,Italy)

Abstract

The site of Riparo Dalmeri yielded numerous flint, bone, and shell artifacts, as well as faunal and botanical remains, which are evidence of the Late Upper Palaeolithic (or Late Epigravettian culture, ca. 16,000–12,000 cal b.p.) occupation of the Alps region. The importance of the site is related to the discovery of 267 stones painted with anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and geometric designs. Here we report on ground stone tools from Riparo Dalmeri investigated by means of an integrated technofunctional and experimental approach to reconstruct their production and use. The results support the hypothesis that the ground stone artifacts were employed in specialized activities (e.g., hide treatment, flintknapping) as well as in the production of some of the painted stone artifacts.     

LATE PREHISTORIC AND PROTOHISTORIC SHELL GORGETS FROM SOUTHWESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

Abstract

Written versions of Cherokee myths, recorded in the late nineteenth century, refer to earthen mounds, rattlesnakes and raptors, and other aspects of Cherokee cosmology. These themes are manifested in the iconography of engraved shell gorgets and masks from late prehistoric and protohistoric sites in Cherokee town areas of southwestern North Carolina. Comparable iconography is seen on gorgets and masks from surrounding areas of the southern Appalachians. This paper summarizes themes from Cherokee myth and legend that are related to iconography engraved on gorgets and masks, describes the content and context of these artifacts from southwestern North Carolina, and discusses the implications of these finds for understanding connections of late prehistoric and protohistoric Cherokee towns to the broader networks in the Southeast through which gorgets and iconography circulated.     

The fire stones carry: Ethnographic records and archaeological expectations for hot-rock cookery in western North America

Ethnographic data from Kalispel elders in the 1930s attest to use of wild root foods, rock-filled earth ovens, steaming and boiling pits, and hot-rock griddles during the 1800s in forested montane regions of the interior Northwest. Cabeza de Vaca’s narrative of his 1528–1536 travels across the Gulf Coastal Plain of Texas and deserts of northern Mexico illustrates the importance of root foods, earth ovens, and stone boiling in aboriginal Southwest North America. These and other accounts, results of actualistic experiments, and knowledge of cooking requirements afford reliable bases for generating archaeological expectations about fire-cracked-rock assemblages representative of diverse cook-stone facilities.     

湖南常德跑马岗战国墓发掘简报

跑马岗战国墓群位于常德市鼎城区白鹤山乡,处沅水流域和澧水流域交汇处的低岗上。1999年冬首次集中清理了38座战国楚墓,均为竖穴土坑墓,随葬品以陶器为主,其次为铜器和漆木器,是一批极有研究价值的楚化资料。     

Micromorphological Study of Concotto Surfaces Protected by the Avellino Eruption in 3945 ± 10 cal. BP at the Early Bronze Age of Afragola Village in Southern Italy

ABSTRACT

The term Concotto refers to fragments or patches of hard heated clay that derive from living surfaces, walls, and ovens. Concotto fragments are found throughout the Italian peninsula and date from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. Current studies express contradictory opinions about whether or not the Concottos on living surfaces represent intentionally constructed surfaces or the secondary products of the contact between hot embers and sediments. This study uses micromorphological analysis to investigate the function and composition of Concotto surfaces from several domestic structures at the Early Bronze Age village of Afragola in southern Italy. Afragola is an exceptionally preserved agricultural village that was covered by almost 1?m of volcanic ash during the Vesuvius eruption in 3945?±?10 cal. BP. The Concottos at Afragola are hard, red surfaces that are typically associated with burned materials. Micromorphological analysis reveals that the Concottos were intentionally made by laying down patches of clay and then heating them to create a hard, flat surface. This study explores the potential uses of the Concotto as cooking surfaces during the Early Bronze Age of southern Italy.     

The functional dimensions of earth oven cooking: An analysis of an accidently burned maize roast at the C. W. Cooper site in West-central Illinois

Abstract

Despite the prevalence of earth ovens, a subclass of pit features used for cooking, there is little consensus regarding how these cooking features were used or about the foodstuffs that were prepared in them. To provide a more detailed understanding of earth oven cooking in the archaeological record, we analyze the archaeobotanical contents, stratigraphy, and morphology of a cooking pit recently excavated at C. W. Cooper, an early Mississippian (a.d. 1150–1200) site in west-central Illinois in order to contribute to research on late Prehistoric foodways. Filled with nearly 100 ears of maize, this earth oven presents the opportunity to document the process of undertaking a maize roast. The volume of maize and its presence within a dense concentration of cooking, processing, and storage facilities allows us to consider the communal nature of outdoor earth oven cooking in the 12th century Central Illinois Valley and the socioeconomic dimensions of commensal politics more broadly during the Precolumbian era.     

Earthen Architecture at the Bluff Great House Site in SE Utah

Abstract

An earthen terrace has been identified at Bluff Great House, a Chacoan site located in SE Utah. The Bluff site was part of the Chacoan regional system that operated in the northern part of the American Southwest between about A.D. 900 and 1150 and was focused on Chaco Canyon in NW New Mexico. Several types of earthen structures have been identified at great houses in Chaco Canyon and throughout its region, usually associated with the construction of ritual landscapes. The Bluff terrace is part of this tradition of earthen construction, but is unlike most other reported examples. It seems to express the same concern with creating an appropriate setting, however, and may be interpreted as part of the ritual landscape that surrounded and defined the Bluff great house, although other interpretations are considered. It dates not only to the Chaco era, but also to the first part of the post-Chaco era (A.D. 1150–1225).     

A Late Pleistocene Occupation on the Southern Coast of Oregon

Abstract

Geoarchaeological research on the southern coast of Oregon brought to light archaeological evidence of early human occupation in the late Pleistocene. Indian Sands (35CU67) lies on a highly eroded deflated headland on the Oregon coast where previous surveys had found and dated surficial cultural materials as early as 8250 b.p. (uncalibrated radiocarbon years). Prior to excavation of Indian Sands, sediment and stratigraphic analysis, along with radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dates, established the existence of late Pleistocene deposits. The excavations confirmed the presence of buried cultural deposits containing lithic artifacts, charcoal, and fire-cracked rock. Dispersed charcoal from the floor of an artifactbearing level was dated to 10,430 b.p., more than 2000 ^l4C years older than any other Oregon coastal site.     

RECALCULATING MOUND VOLUME AT MOUNDVILLE

Abstract

Volume is a critical measure in quantifying differences among earthen mounds. Previous methods for measuring mound volume are prone to error by oversimplifying the symmetry of earthworks. However, the wide availability of contouring software has made it simpler to calculate volume. The results obtained using a computerized technique referred to as the gridding method are compared with previous mound volume estimates at Moundville. The outcome shows that volumes calculated using the gridding method are much smaller than the original estimates. Inflation of the volume of earthen mounds may lead to misrepresentations regarding the degree of sociopolitical organization that existed at Moundville and at other prehistoric mound-building societies in the southeastern United States.     

江苏邳州煎药庙西晋墓地M1发掘简报

2015—2016年,南京博物院等单位对江苏邳州煎药庙西晋墓地进行抢救性发掘,共发现砖室墓葬9座。M1为双甬道土坑砖室合葬墓,出土有陶瓷器、金银器、铜器、铁器等各种材质的文物,其中鹦鹉螺杯和玻璃碗尤为珍贵,为研究该时期丝绸之路提供了重要的资料和线索。     

Middens,Construction Fill,and Offerings: Evidence for the Organization of Classic Period Craft Production at Tikal,Guatemala

Abstract

The production of artifacts of stone, shell, and bone at Tikal, an important center in the Southern Maya Lowlands, created quantities of durable waste, referred to as debitage. Yet debitage is not a reliable indicator of production area because of the spatially flexible nature of Prehispanic technology and site-maintenance activities that shifted manufacturing debris into secondary contexts. Nevertheless, debitage, even in secondary context, provides important information on the organization of craft production at Tikal, particularly during the Classic Period (ca. A.C. 250–850). Most crafts were organized as household industries, carried on by independent, part-time specialists living in the central area that surrounded the monumental core of the city. The elite probably supported some full-time production to satisfy their demands for status goods and tools for construction projects. Expedient production by nonspecialists, using locally available materials such as chert and bone, occurred at all times.

Production waste was recovered from the construction fill of public and residential architecture and from household middens, mixed with domestic trash. The largest concentrations, however, were found exterior to elite chamber burials and within cached offerings. The delayed identification of debitage from ritual contexts exemplifies the reflexive nature of the way archaeologists classify material culture and their interpretations of the contexts from which it is recovered.     

Staple food preparation at Teotihuacan

Like studies of craft production, research on food production has significant implications for understanding the economic organization of past societies. This paper highlights the tools of maize (Zea mays) processing and cooking as a constructive avenue to examine aspects of food production at Teotihuacan during the Terminal Formative and Classic Periods (100 BC–AD 650). By analyzing the spatial distribution of comales, metates and manos recovered from the Teotihuacan Mapping Project, this study investigates the notion that edible maize products were produced through specialized labor. Two notable patterns are observed. First, the aggregation of comales along the Street of the Dead during the Miccaotli phase (AD 100–170) suggests that tortilla preparation fueled large public work projects, feeding the workers, their families, and other dependents of the state. Secondly, the spatial aggregation of grinding stones, manos and comales in seven concentrated areas within the Classic Period (AD 170–650) occupation of the city suggest that several apartment compounds, possibly entire barrios, may have specialized in the production of tortillas and other finished maize foods for exchange. Such a pattern may have resulted from the costly labor and materials required for the production of tortillas, favoring economies of scale. Several areas within the city conspicuously possessing low frequencies of maize processing artifacts suggest that some sectors were dependent on specialized labor from outside the household for daily needs. Together, these data suggest that food production was a specialized activity at Teotihuacan and increase our understanding of the economic organization of the ancient metropolis.     

Early Holocene land snail exploitation in northern spain: the case of La Fragua cave

Abstract

The question of the anthropic or natural origin of land snail deposits within the archaeological record is the subject of debate all over the world. In the Cantabrian region of northern Spain land snail middens are routinely identified in the early Holocene archaeological record. La Fragua Cave (Cantabria, Spain), which contains an early Holocene layer dated to 9600±140 BP (10,932±196 cal BP), offers the opportunity to address this debate through the examination of Cepaea nemoralis (Linnaeus) land snails recovered in direct association with mammal bones, charcoal, lithic artefacts and other materials. It is therefore believed that their presence at the site is clearly anthropic in origin. In addition, the exploitation patterns indicate an occasional collection and consumption of land snails, which confirms the complementary character of these resources in the diet of hunter-gatherers in Cantabrian Spain during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition.     

Precolumbian Settlements on Carriacou,West Indies

Abstract

The first systematic archaeological investigation of Precolumbian sites on the island of Carriacou in the West Indies provides a rich source of information regarding Amerindian settlement in the southern Caribbean. Herein, we report results from an island-wide survey and subsequent excavation at two large village sites—Grand Bay and Sabazan—that provide evidence for an intensive late Ceramic Age occupation dating between CAL. A.D. 400–1200. Results from four seasons of excavation at Grand Bay and two at Sabazan indicate that inhabitants colonized the island later than larger nearby islands (although an earlier settlement is possible); were engaged in inter-island and South American interactions as evidenced through analysis of pottery, stylistic artifacts, and faunal remains; exploited a variety of marine and terrestrial foods, including several animals rarely found in the Antilles that were translocated to the island from elsewhere; and buried their dead in and around shell middens and, at least once, under a habitable structure.     

Early Mesoamerican Garbage: Ceramic and Daub Discard Patterns from Cuauhtémoc, Soconusco, Mexico

Formation processes are all too infrequently addressed by archaeologists excavating in Mesoamerica. This paper examines refuse disposal patterns from the site of Cuauhtémoc on the Pacific coast of Chiapas, Mexico, to provide insight into how the site formed and how artifacts accumulated. This analysis uses materials dating between 1600–800 BCE which encompass the centuries before, during and after the late Early Formative or Early Olmec period (i.e., 1250–900 BCE). First, I employ sherds and daub from shared open-air middens and trash-filled pits to explore trash deposit formation through the 800 years that the site was occupied. Next, I use these same classes of data to make synchronic comparisons between five different depositional contexts dating to the Conchas phase (900–800 BCE). For all phases, these analyses demonstrate that pit features received more debris than open-air middens and that material in the latter contexts were more broken up. Further, the low density of daub from late Early Formative period contexts suggests that distinctive architectural customs may have been practised during this time. Conchas phase refuse indicates that waste disposal locations physically separated an elite residential zone from the rest of society and that elite contexts were more intensively used. Accounting for the formation of archaeological deposits allows for more nuanced interpretations of this early Mesoamerican village.

High Resolution Stratigraphic Distribution of Coprolites within Eneolithic Middens,a Case Study: Hârsova-Tell (Constanta County,Southeast Romania)

Abstract

Quantitative distribution of coprolites, fish bones and mammal bones recovered by wet screening from an Eneolithic midden at Hârsova-tell (southeast Romania) is surveyed within a high resolution stratigraphic framework. The coprolites, all containing bone fragments, are attributed to carnivores/omnivores: dog, pig, man. Highly significant correlation (Spearman's coefficient of rank correlation r_s = 0.46, P < 0.0001) between coprolite distribution and the seasonality-related fish bone distribution suggests that seasonality controls the stratigraphic distribution of coprolites recovered by wet screening within middens. Periods of high fish bone input into the midden, correlated with frequent coprolite occurrences, correspond to the warm season (late spring to early autumn). Assessment of potential factors controlling coprolite distribution within the midden suggests that sections of high coprolite concentration reflect preservation of faeces until embedding in sediments, and/or rapid embedding of faeces. Preservation of faeces is favored by dry periods, characteristic of the summer season in the highly continental climate of the region. Rain, freeze-thaw cycles or other wet season processes favor faeces disintegration. Our results suggest that the stratigraphic distribution of coprolites obtained by wet screening may represent an indicator of seasonality in middens. Additional studies are needed to better characterise this relationship and refine interpretations.