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.     

New Radiocarbon Dates from Franchthi Cave: A Preliminary Note Regarding Collection of Samples by Means of Flotation

Abstract

Franchthi Cave is an important prehistoric site in southern Greece. Six years of excavation have revealed a sequence beginning in later Upper Palaeolithic and continuing to near the end of the Greek Neolithic, i.e. some 17,000 (radiocarbon) years of essentially continuous human occupation. The purpose of the following is to make public 11 new dates from this sequence and, at the same time, to suggest that there is no significant difference between the results of samples collected for radiocarbon dating by flotation and those secured by conventional trench-collection.     

Interdisciplinary Research into the Legacy of the Medieval Metropolis of Soba in a Modern Khartoum Suburb

Recent research at Soba focuses on the tangible and intangible heritage of the medieval capital of Alwa kingdom, whose remains cover approximately 275 ha. About 222 ha of this area has been built up or transformed into agricultural land in the past 30 years. An ethnographic survey was also carried out in the built-up area to understand how the residents engage with the archaeological heritage and material remains. The undeveloped area of the capital (53 ha) was the focus of interdisciplinary archaeological fieldwork conducted in 2019 and 2020. A large-scale geophysical survey, using a fluxgate gradiometer and ground-penetrating radar, was initiated in the undeveloped area, and excavation trenches were opened to verify distinctive magnetic anomalies. Along with the ethnographic and geophysical data, the study of the pottery, burials, and stratigraphic sequence (supplemented with radiocarbon dates) provides new insights into the spatial organization of the medieval capital.

     

Lagunillas: A New Archeological Phase for the Lake Maracaibo Basin,Venezuela

Abstract

This paper describes and compares the newly established archeological Lagunillas phase for the Lake Maracaibo Basin in northwestern Venezuela. Lagunillas is characterized by subsistence based on corn, by pile dwellings, and by complex pottery emphasizing plastic decorative techniques. A set of radiocarbon dates places Lagunillas into Period II (1000 B.C.-300 A.C.) of the regional chronology. Although it shares some traits with other western Venezuelan pottery traditions, Lagunillas also shows northern Colombian, Ecuadorian, and, indirectly, Amazonian influences.     

Geophysical investigations in the service of Mount Carmel (Israel) prehistoric research

Geophysical investigations in el-Wad Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel, enabled the mapping of the surface of the bedrock and a reconstruction of the depth of the archeological deposits. Seismic refraction and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) provided similar results, indicating the potential value of geophysical studies when one seeks to reconstruct site features and establish future excavation strategies. Results of a GPR survey later conducted in the adjacent Jamal Cave were supported, to a high degree, by subsequent archeological excavations in the course of which Lower and Middle Paleolithic layers were unearthed.A Continuous Vertical Electrical Sounding (CVES) geoelectric survey in the (collapsed) Misliya Cave indicates a low resistivity layer at the upper, central part of the cave, suggesting that lithified archeological deposits, of ca. 4 m, are preserved at the site. This has been supported by a test excavation recently conducted at the site.More intriguing is the case of what, on the basis of the outer morphology of the cliff, seemed to be another collapsed cave just to the north of el-Wad. The CVES survey, at the bottom of the cliff and across the hypothesized cave (or chamber), shows a two-layer model, with a low resistivity (100–200 ohm-m) layer, overlying a layer of high resistivity (8000–10,000 ohm-m). A trial trench indicates that here the bedrock is covered by shallow, recent, surface material, with no archeological value.All three methods of geophysical investigation proved applicable and resulted in the successful evaluation of sites' location, depth and spatial extension, thus forming essential tools in future prehistoric research.     

Metal Working in the Northern Lowveld,South Africa A.D. 1000–1890

Abstract

The Iron Age archaeology of the northern Lowveld of South Africa is notable for the abundance of mining, metal working, and salt production sites recorded in the region. We report the results of scientific studies of the metallurgical remains recovered from 1965 to 1978 by Nikolaas J. van der Merwe, David Killick, and colleagues in various campaigns of survey and excavation in the Phalaborwa region, a major center of precolonial metallurgy. Both iron and copper ores occur in a carbonatite complex at Phalaborwa and were smelted in low-shaft furnaces of two different designs. Two radiocarbon dates of ca. 1000 b.p. are available for the mines themselves, which have now been completely destroyed. All other radiocarbon dates for the archaeological sequence at Phalaborwa fall in two groups, the first from the 10th to 13th centuries A.D., the second from the 17th through the 20th centuries A.D. Both iron and copper were smelted in both periods; tin-bronze and brass appeared towards the end of the earlier period.     

Archaeological Site or Natural Marine Community? Excavation of a Submerged Shell Mound in Ninigret Pond,Rhode Island

ABSTRACT

Submerged shell midden sites and natural shell deposits can have similar characteristics and can be difficult to distinguish archaeologically. We excavated two test units from a large (at least 35 m×70 m) submerged shell mound in Fort Neck Cove in southern Rhode Island to assess whether it was natural or cultural in origin. This mound had been recognized as a potential archaeological feature as early as the 1970s. Excavation, radiocarbon dating, and subsequent laboratory analysis of excavated materials suggest that the mound was a natural oyster reef rather than a submerged archaeological site. No artifacts were found; there was no clear evidence for human modification of any shells; small species that would not have been targeted as food were present; and δ¹³C values of oyster shells from the mound were consistent with freshwater input into their growth environment, suggesting that they grew in an estuarine environment that did not exist prior to the inundation of the ponds. The stratigraphically oldest radiocarbon date we could obtain (430–190 cal BP, 2σ range), from 70 cm below the pond floor, placed deposition of shells at least 3,000 years after the inundation of the pond. The excavation methods that we used and the process of testing, irrespective of whether the feature is cultural, are valuable contributions to the methodological literature on submerged site archaeology and help provide insight for other researchers working to discern natural from cultural shell midden sites.     

THE CHRONOLOGY AND HISTORY OF MOUNT TAYLOR PERIOD (CA. 7400–4600 CAL B.P.) SHELL SITES ON THE MIDDLE ST. JOHNS RIVER,FLORIDA

Abstract

Mount Taylor period (ca. 7400–4600 cal. B.P.) shell mounds on the St. Johns River in northeast Florida were some of the first Archaic freshwater shell sites to be documented in the Southeast. However, there is much that remains unknown about their chronology, history, and changing significance through time. This paper presents a regional chronology ofMount Taylor shell sites based on radiocarbon assays from well-documented contexts. Three major changes in the distribution, arrangement, and use of shell sites are identified which correspond with significant shifts in social interaction and environmental change. An examination of the contexts of shell deposition demonstrates that shell sites were frequently established as places to dwell and were subsequently transformed into places of commemorative ceremony or mortuary ritual. The history of Mount Taylor shell sites has implications for the broader debate on whether shell sites were middens or monuments.     

The Franchthi Cave Flint Survey: Some Preliminary Results (1974)

Abstract

Six seasons of excavation have been conducted at Franchthi Cave, a large prehistoric site in southern Greece which has given evidence of essentially continuous human occupation from ca. 20,000 B.C. to ca. 3000 B.C. (in radiocarbon years). A detailed survey of the raw materials used in the local chipped stone industries was initiated in 1973 and is being carried out by one of the authors (DMVH). The objectives of this survey include the identification of the types and the distribution of locally available raw materials with the hope that this information will contribute further to our understanding of the human ecology of the site and its environs. A summary of some of our preliminary observations resulting from a modification of original sampling procedures will be given in the following paragraphs.     

Saving the Rose Theatre: England's first managed and monitored reburial

Abstract

The discovery of the Elizabethan Rose Theatre in London in 1989 led to pressure on the government for the site to be preserved for future full excavation and the display of the remains in situ. This paper describes briefly the historical and geological background to the theatre site, and discusses the rationale of the burial system adopted and the methods used to monitor the condition of the site. The burial system was designed with a limited life expectancy of a few years and it was, and still remains, the objective of the Rose Theatre Trust to raise sufficient money for the theatre to be displayed. However, fourteen years on, the system continues to perform satisfactorily. The methodology is reviewed, particularly the use of expensive and scarce Buckland sand, and finally, the options for the future of the theatre's remains are considered.     

Radiocarbon Dating and the George C. Davis Site,Texas

Abstract

Seventy-nine radiocarbon samples were assayed from the George C. Davis Site, a prehistoric Caddoan settlement in the central portion of east Texas. Statistical analysis of the dates convincingly establishes the age of the site as extending from about 780 A.C. to 1260 A.C. and enables us to place the cultural remains into three temporal periods. These dates also provide specific and useful examples for improving the application of radiocarbon dating to archaeological problems.     

Last Glacial Human Settlement in Eastern Cantabria (Northern Spain)

While the excavation of individual sites remains fundamental to the creation of the Palaeolithic archeological record, increasingly the focus of prehistoric research is on human adaptations to and within natural regions. Such a reorientation implies viewing sites and occupations as samples of different suites of activities in various habitats across space and time; it is dependent on the use of radiocarbon to date and relate occupation residues among sites; and it necessitates the application of methods to uncover patterns of human mobility as an integral aspect of subsistence economy, demographic arrangements and social relations. This paper contributes to the regional study of Last Glacial foragers by presenting preliminary aspects of a case study from the Asón River basin in eastern Cantabria. Assembled here are data from several recent and a few older excavations in sites distributed between the present shore of the Bay of Biscay and the uplands of the Cantabrian Cordillera. The main sites are El Otero, La Chora, La Fragua and El Perro near or at the present mouth of the river, the classic cave of El Valle in the mid-valley, and El Mirón and El Horno near the cave art loci of Covalanas, La Haza and Cullalvera in the upper valley. While the highest density of known sites in the whole drainage area occurs during the Magdalenian and Azilian periods (17–10 kya), there is evidence for substantial abandonment of the montane interior during the Mesolithic, when human settlement was concentrated around the estuary of the Asón, after which time the whole valley was repopulated in the Neolithic.     

The ethics of displaying human remains from British archaeological sites

Abstract

The 1998 exhibition London Bodies at the Museum of London provided an opportunity to review the ethical issues relating to the excavation, study and display of human remains in modern Britain. It is suggested that for most Britons the display of human skeletal material is not considered a problem, but that archaeologists would do well to ensure that their practices are in line with the views and beliefs of the society in which they work.     

Temporary site protection for earthen walls and murals at Çata1höyük,Turkey

Abstract

The exposure of earthen architecture at archaeological sites presents tremendous difficulties both during and after excavation. While it is the intent of most reburial programmes to stabilize exposed structures against the long-term effects of loss of pressure and fluctuations in moisture, relative humidity and temperature, reburial does not easily afford practical protection against immediate damage caused during excavation. At the Neolithic site of Çata1höyük in Anatolia, Turkey, a phased programme to integrate the excavation and conservation of the site was developed. This included emergency stabilization and protection of the mud brick walls, plasters, mural paintings and relief sculpture, both during and between excavation seasons. One component of this programme included the development of a temporary perlite-vermiculite protection system.     

The Roman Shipwreck of Antirhodos Island in the Portus Magnus of Alexandria,Egypt

Between 1998 and 1999 three excavation campaigns were undertaken on a shipwreck at the now‐submerged site of the ancient Portus Magnus, off the coast of Alexandria. The site, close to the island of Antirhodos, was identified through geophysical and archaeological surveys carried out by the Institut Européen d’Archéologie Sous‐Marine (IEASM), directed by Franck Goddio. The remains of the ship lie c.5 m deep and are spread over c.350 sqm. No cargo has been found. Artefacts recovered, the details of the ship's architecture and radiocarbon dating all suggest it sunk between the end of the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE. Its dimensions correspond to those of commercial ships of the Roman era. Identification of the wood used contributes significantly to our knowledge of materials used in naval architecture of this period.     

The Middle Holocene Shell Mound of El Gouna on the Red Sea (Egypt)

Abstract

In the El Gouna (Hurghada) area on the Red Sea of Egypt, a Middle Holocene shell mound from around 5800 B.P. (uncalibrated radiocarbon years before A.D. 1950) has been tested by a restricted excavation. Collection of shellfish on the Red Sea shore provided subsistence opportunities for Middle Holocene groups coeval with the Early Predynastic Tasian of the Nile Valley. The El Gouna site demonstrates for the first time that prehistoric shell mounds exist near the Egyptian Red Sea shore.     

Application of Bement's Spray Sealant Technique to Infant Skeletal Remains

Abstract

A 1985 article in JFA introduced a technique for stabilizing adult human skeletal remains. A modification of this technique was developed for the removal of two fragile infant burials from a Caddoan site in east Texas that enabled the excavators to remove and transport the pedestaled burials to a laboratory setting for more precise and detailed excavation. Details of this application are described, as is the utility of this method.     

Archaeological survey,paleogeography, and the search for Late Pleistocene Paleocoastal peoples of Santa Rosa Island,California

Abstract

The northern Pacific Coast is an important area for understanding human colonization of the Americas, but Late Pleistocene coastal sites are rare and interglacial sea level rise has inundated the continental shelf and the primary areas where Paleocoastal archaeological sites are likely to occur. Here we outline a terrestrial archaeological survey project designed to identify Paleocoastal sites on Santa Rosa Island, California. Using reconstructions of ancient shorelines and paleogeography, we predicted that sites might be found where lithic resources, freshwater springs, caves or rockshelters, and strategic vistas drew Paleocoastal peoples into the island interior. We identified nine new Paleocoastal sites, including four radiocarbon dated to >11,000 cal b.p. that are among the oldest sites on North America’s Pacific coast. Our targeted survey demonstrates an important technique for investigating island and coastal settings where sea level rise remains a significant challenge for locating early sites.     

Excavation on the Brunton and Shields Railway at Weetslade,North Tyneside

Abstract

Excavation and recording of a section of the Brunton and Shields Railway, near Wideopen, North Tyneside, has revealed remains of two phases of trackbed, both dating to the first half of the 19th century. The original 1826 line, which was horse-drawn, lay in a cutting over 1m deep. The line was relaid in 1839 for the introduction of a locomotive. Clear evidence was found for the construction method of both the 1826 and 1839 tracks, although no sleepers or rails were found in situ.

The excavation has shown that, despite continual use of the line for over 150 years, signifi cant remains survived of the earlier trackbeds, the depth of the cutting being the principal factor in their preservation. The excavation is one of comparatively few investigations of an early railway to examine a single section of line in detail. The remains uncovered date from the era of iron rails and stone sleepers, which distinguishes it from other published excavations from the north-east, where earlier wooden waggonways were revealed. The work demonstrates the wider potential for early railway remains to lie beneath later lines, even those in recent use, and emphasises the need to examine the routes of early lines archaeologically.     

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.