Settlements and the Development of “Statelets” in Sonora,Mexico

Abstract

The late prehistoric and protohistoric population of eastern Sonora, Mexico, has been described on the basis of reports by early Spanish explorers, as being organized into modified chiefdoms called “statelets.” The development of these small, regionally discrete political units has been seen as the result of Casas Grandes influence. Archaeological data on late prehistoric settlement patterns gathered during an intensive survey of the Valley of Sonora and presented here verify that statelets did exist. Data on earlier settlements and settlement-pattern changes, however, are interpreted as meaning that statelets developed without external influence. A growing population and increasing local exchange are proffered as the underlying causes for statelet development. Contact and trade with neighboring groups did exist, but probably were consequences rather than causes of changes evident in the settlement patterns.     

Bioturbation of Submerged Sites by the Asiatic Clam: A Case Study from Amistad Reservoir SW Texas

Abstract

Burrowing clams represent a poorly studied threat to shallowly buried and submerged archaeological sites across North America. Test excavations at a formerly submerged prehistoric terrace site in SW Texas unearthed burrowing clams (Asiatic clam Corbicula fluminea) in, under; and around features. A review of this clam's ecology, burrowing habits, geographical distribution, and presence in this and other archacological sites illustrates the potential for significant sediment disturbances.     

Teeth of juvenile woodchucks as seasonal indicators on archaeological sites

The woodchuck, Marmota monax, a burrowing scuirid of eastern North America, was a common food animal of prehistoric peoples. Since the species has a single, brief birthing period all juveniles are at a comparable stage of development at a given time. Widths of the continuously growing incisors, development of the cheek teeth and alveoli, and loss of deciduous teeth have been determined from a sample with known dates of collection. These data are compared to juvenile woodchuck remains from an archaeological site to determine season of kill.     

Food production in the Early Woodland: macrobotanical remains as evidence for farming along the riverbank in eastern Tennessee

ABSTRACT

Open riverbanks and disturbed floodplains are targeted by archaeologists as optimal habitats for the growth of many of the weedy indigenous seed crops in eastern North America, but there is still little evidence for garden locations in the archaeological record. This article combines macrobotanical and geoarchaeological analyses from the Birdwell site (40GN228), located on the Nolichucky River, to give insight into where cultigens were planted and how they were managed in eastern Tennessee during the Early Woodland period. The recovery of uncharacteristic amounts of edible seeds and wood charcoal from the lower terrace of this site suggests that inhabitants were actively managing cultigens along the floodplain of this settlement. The presence of these remains in a non-midden context is evidence that precontact farmers in the Tennessee foothills took advantage of the newly created floodplains of the Early Woodland by implementing a burning regime, an early agricultural strategy aimed at increasing soil productivity and encouraging the growth of weedy annuals on the riverbank. In absence of lines of evidence such as preserved paleosols that can be examined for soil micromorphology, pollen, and phytoliths, integrated paleoethnobotanical and geomorphological analyses can be used to reconstruct land use and archaeologically identify prehistoric cultivated fields.     

Prehistoric Shellfish Exploitation in Coastal New York

Abstract

Sectioning studies of marine bivalves are broadening our understanding of prehistoric shellfish exploitation along the Atlantic coast of North America. We review the evidence for the timing of shellfish exploitation in coastal New York and present the results of a recent sectioning study of Mercenaria mercenaria from the Sungic Midden site on Shelter Island, New York. The results compare favorably with the harvesting patterns of other north Atlantic Sites, indicating that shellfish exploitation took place during more than one season of the year. The implications of these findings are examined in relation to current subsistence-settlement models of coastal New York.     

Bridging prehistory and history in the archaeology of cities

Abstract

Archaeology is ideally suited for examining the deep roots of urbanism, its materialization and physicality, and the commonalities and variability in urban experiences cross-culturally and temporally. We propose that the significant advances archaeologists have made in situating the discipline within broader urban studies could be furthered through increased dialog between scholars working on urbanism during prehistoric and historical periods, as a means of bridging concerns in the study of the past and present. We review some major themes in urban studies by presenting archaeological cases from two areas of the Americas: central Mexico and Atlantic North America. Our cases span premodern and early modern periods, and three of the four covered in greatest depth live on as cities of today. Comparison of the cases highlights the complementarity of their primary datasets: the long developmental trajectories and relatively intact urban plans offered by many prehistoric cities, and the rich documentary sources offered by historic cities.     

Warfare in Prehistoric and Early Historic Eastern North America

Recent criticisms of the use of historically and ethnographically recorded conflicts as models for warfare in prehistoric times force archaeologists to reexamine assumptions about the frequency, severity, and effects of intergroup fighting. In eastern North America, skeletons of victims and palisaded settlements—the only information consistently available on intergroup hostilities—indicate that the prevalence of conflicts varied greatly over time and space. Occasionally the attacks, typically ambushes of small numbers of people, cumulatively resulted in numerous casualties.Variation in palisade strength is consistent with the organizational structure and warrior mobilization potential of late prehistoric societies in different parts of the Eastern Woodlands.     

Holocene paleoshorelines,water levels and submerged prehistoric site potential of Rice Lake (Ontario,Canada)

Rice Lake, located in the eastern Great Lakes of North America, has a high density of prehistoric (11–0.5 ka BP) terrestrial archaeological sites. It has been speculated that a large number of sites are submerged on the lakebed, as lake levels have risen >9 m since the arrival of Early Paleoindian peoples (∼11 ka BP). In order to better understand the submerged landscape and its archaeological potential, a detailed bathymetric survey and sediment-coring program was conducted across a 30-km² area of northeastern Rice Lake. Changes in Holocene water levels and shoreline positions were reconstructed by integrating core data with a digital elevation and bathymetric model (DEBM) that accounted for differential isostatic uplift and basin sedimentation. The DEBM was used to generate a series of maps showing changes in the lake paleobathmetry and paleogeography and areas of prehistoric archaeological potential.     

Maize Agriculture Evolution in the Eastern Woodlands of North America: A Darwinian Perspective

David Rindos' coevolution theory remains the most comprehensive application of Darwinian theory to issues of prehistoric agriculture evolution. While his theory has drawn attention, there has been a lack of subsequent development of the application of Darwinian theory to prehistoric agricultural evolution. Combining Sewall Wright's shifting balance theory of evolution with aspects of Rindos' coevolution theory provides important new insights into the processes of crop transmission between regions. Using these theories, a model is developed for the adoption and subsequent evolution of maize agriculture in the Eastern Woodlands of North America.     

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.     

3D imaging of Skoteino Cave,Crete, Greece: Successes and difficulties

Abstract

Interpreting cave use, especially from antiquity, requires the perception of subterranean space in all dimensions (floor to ceiling to lateral extent) including spatial variability resulting from geological factors. Subterranean conditions, coupled with variable atmospheric conditions, create a special environment not readily conveyed by conventional mapping techniques limited to two-dimensional floor plans. Skoteino Cave in north central Crete, Greece was used as a ritual and refuge site in the Bronze Age and later. Mapping of the cave attempted to depict and interpret prehistoric and historical use of this space by employing two mapping techniques: EDM total station mapping and terrestrial/point cloud laser scanning. Comparisons with earlier methods used to map cave show the advantages and disadvantages of various mapping schemes. To date, this was the first use of three-dimensional (3D) scanning to explore the complex shapes and space of a subterranean archaeological site on Crete (and the second such use in Greece), and this use demonstrates its own consequent successes and difficulties.     

On Behavioral Depression in White-tailed Deer

Behavioral depression is a decline in prey availability because of enhanced alert response, movement away from areas, increased social behavior, and other responses to predators. This form of resource depression is an alternative hypothesis to be contrasted to over-exploitation that potentially explains a decrease in hunting efficiency over time should the zooarchaeologist observe a decline in the relative abundance of remains of high-rank prey. Gregarious ungulates, such as many North American cervids, may exhibit such behavioral responses under predation. The white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), one of the most common high-rank prey animals from Holocene archaeological sites in eastern North America, is less gregarious, more r-selected, and exhibits greater home-range fidelity than other cervids. As a result, whitetails are less likely to exhibit behavioral depression than other North American ungulates, which may explain their common occurrence in Holocene archaeological faunas, such as that from the Eagle??s Ridge site in southeast Texas where resource depression appears to have occurred from 4,500 to 1,500?years ago. The behavioral ecology of ungulate species should be considered on a case-by-case basis to develop testable hypotheses about prehistoric human predation.     

Contribution of numerical modelling of environmental parameters to the conservation of prehistoric cave paintings: the example of Lascaux Cave

Abstract

This study of Lascaux Cave consisted of simulating the evolution of changes in the levels of temperature and humidity both in the air and in the rock. By choosing different models (one-dimensional, three-dimensional, etc.), it was possible to calculate the required variables (temperature, moisture levels, speeds, etc.) at all points inside the cave, to locate zones of high water vapour concentration and to understand the nature of the airflow. The simulations described here provide the first general data on the airflow within the cave and its hygrothermic behaviour. The temperature fields result from natural convection phenomena, which are influenced by the climate outside the cave. From the point of view of air dynamics, we can observe the presence of an overall airflow that starts in the Machine Room (containing the air conditioning system installed in 1958), runs along the ground to the end of each of the branches of the cave, and returns along the cave vault to its starting point. This slow-moving phenomenon suggests the possibility of passive control of the ambient air from the Machine Room. There are localized risk areas where condensation of water vapour can occur, resulting in rapid deterioration of the limestone. Several of these areas are therefore monitored using condensation indicators placed on the cave walls or by visual observation of painted areas. The higher air speeds detected in some areas of the cave result in decay of the prehistoric paintings. The numerical modelling results, confirmed by observations and measurements in situ, should be taken into consideration when managing the conditions within the cave.     

Reassessing the northern limit of maize consumption in North America: stable isotope,plant microfossil,and trace element content of carbonized food residue

In combination, the analysis of carbonized food residue for stable C and N isotopes, elemental composition, and plant microfossils (phytoliths and starch granules) offers a powerful tool for understanding patterns of prehistoric maize (Zea mays) consumption in small-scale societies. Using this approach, we conclude that maize was more widely consumed in North America than previously suspected. Between ∼AD 700 and 1600, despite little or no archaeological evidence of gardening, corn was a widespread component of diet on the eastern Canadian prairies. This pattern, furthermore, extended into the adjacent boreal forest at about the same time. However, carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) values on food residue samples vary widely, suggesting significant overall dietary differences from one region to the next. Analysis of a subset of residue samples for elemental composition (using ICP-OES [inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectrometry]) may help identify broad trends in the provenience of foods consumed at these sites.     

The “land of conjecture:” New late prehistoric discoveries at Maitland’s Mesa and Wisad Pools,Jordan

Abstract

Major cultural transformations took place in the southern Levant during the late prehistoric periods (ca. late 7th–4th millennia b.c.). Agropastoralists expanded into areas previously only sparsely occupied and secondary animal products played an increasingly important economic role. In the arable parts of the southern Levant, the olive in particular became increasingly significant and may have played a part in expanded exchange contacts in the region. Technological expertise developed in craft production, and the volume and diversity of status goods increased, particularly in funerary contexts. Mortuary and other ritual practices became increasingly pronounced. General study syntheses, however, rarely include more than a cursory mention of the more arid regions of the southern Levant (i.e., Negev, eastern and southern Jordan, and Syria). Recent investigations indicate that intensive exploitation of the regions may date to these late prehistoric periods, yet this evidence has been difficult to attribute to specific chronological period or cultural affiliations. The Eastern Badia Archaeological Project investigates two regions for a potential florescence of building and occupation during the late prehistoric periods in the eastern desert of Jordan.     

Iron production in scandinavian archaeology

Several sites of the historic and prehistoric periods exist at the vicarage of Borg on Vestvåg?y, North Norway. The settlement site Borg I, which is at present being investigated within the framework of a Scandinavian research project, is believed to be a Late Iron Age chieftain's residence.     

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.     

Defining the provenance of red slipped pottery from Texas and Oklahoma by petrographic methods

Ceramics are among the most important artifacts that archaeologists use to reconstruct patterns of prehistoric trade and exchange. Petrographic analysis of ceramic thin-sections, in addition to providing detailed technological data, enables the identification of sand-tempering agents. These raw materials are potentially important evidence for ceramic provenance, assuming that such common materials themselves would not have been traded. Here we apply methods developed by sedimentary petrographers to the problem of determining the provenance of Red Slipped sherds from late Prehistoric (c. AD 1000–1400) sites in the Caddoan area and contemporaneous Plains Village sites. Modal frequencies of different kinds of quartz, feldspars and lithic grains are used to construct several triangular graphs that reveal compositional patterns indicative of provenance. Sherds from the Plains Village sites exhibit higher frequencies of lithic grains, feldspars and polycrystalline quartz relative to the sherds from sites in eastern Texas and eastern Oklahoma. While anomalous sherds were identified, the longstanding assumption that Red Slipped sherds in Plains Village contexts were traded from the Caddoan area is not supported by these data. These methods have strong application potentials for other, geologically diverse portions of North America.     

Recent publications of interest

Abstract

The Education Department at English Heritage encouraged the effective school curriculum use of the historic environment, from castles to post-medieval landscapes, from prehistoric burial monuments to twentieth-century townscapes. This paper charts the programme of funding education staff and resources to assist teachers to help their pupils to access, discover, and carry out cross-curricular projects at some archaeological sites under investigation. Case studies include excavations at Battle Abbey, East Sussex, Heslerton, North Yorkshire, Boxgrove, West Sussex, Whitby Abbey, North Yorkshire, and Cawthorn Camps, North Yorkshire.     

Prehistoric Investigations in Cantabrian Spain

Abstract

The rich Paleolithic record from Cantabrian Spain has long been interpreted in light of the phylogenetic, chronological scheme developed largely in the Périgord region of SW France, despite important differences in industries, environments, and faunas. This paper outlines the development of prehistoric research in Cantabria from its beginnings a century ago to the present, from the early work of establishing a regional chronology to the on-going attempts to understand and explain the changing regional adaptations of Pleistocene and early Post-Pleistocene hunter-gatherers. Cantabria is usually treated only in passing in syntheses of the prehistory of Western Europe, and its extensive literature is far less widely known than that of SW France. We hope in part to remedy the situation by providing a concise regional overview and an extensive bibliography of classic and modern references.

Preliminary conclusions from archaeological investigations and allied paleoenvironmental research by members of the La Riera Paleoecological Project are also discussed. The La Riera Project is an example of a modern, problem-oriented regional approach to the study of prehistoric human adaptation. It was designed to generate and test hypotheses about Late and Post-Pleistocene ecosystems in Cantabrian Spain. These hypotheses examine the relationships among habitat selection, site location, and climatic change, test for periodicity in prehistoric occupation, and examine patterns of covariance in artifact and faunal debris categories with the objective of isolating changes in adaptation recoverable from the 12,000 year record at the La Riera cave, and at other sites of comparable antiquity in the Cantabrian zone. Preliminary results define patterns of site-functional variation at La Riera related to prehistoric activity sets. These patterns appear to cut across the culture/stratigraphic units upon which much Upper Paleolithic research in western Europe is based.