Measuring subsistence specialization: Comparing historic and prehistoric abalone middens on San Miguel Island,California

Red abalone middens, common on the Northern Channel Islands during the Middle Holocene, have often been interpreted as relatively specialized foraging camps. To test the degree of subsistence specialization of one such site, we compared faunal data from a 6400-year-old red abalone midden (CA-SMI-557) and an historic “Chinese” black abalone midden (CA-SMI-558) located along the same drainage on San Miguel Island. The historic assemblage, resulting from highly specialized abalone harvest, drying, and export activities, provides a baseline for evaluating the degree of subsistence specialization at the red abalone midden, where a wider range of economic and subsistence activities is represented. We illustrate how detailed comparative study of faunal remains, artifacts, site structure, and archival sources can help elucidate the economic function of both historic and prehistoric sites.     

Rice or millets: early farming strategies in prehistoric central Thailand

Ancient seeds from archaeological sites can provide clues that are crucial for understanding and characterizing subsistence strategies. This in turn contributes to our understanding of, and explanations for, the relationship between socioeconomic systems and organization of craft production. This article will examine the relationship between rice and millets at three prehistoric sites from a regional copper-producing center in central Thailand to provide new insights into the subsistence strategy of these communities and to better understand the relationship between these crops and their introduction and use in Southeast Asia.     

The bovid third phalanx and prehistoric ploughing

Plough agriculture is the basis of southeast Asian rice cultivation, and has profound social implications. Yet little if anything is known of its development in prehistory. In the absence of fossil fields, remains of ploughshares or of ploughing scenes, attention is focused on the bones of potential draught animals. A multivariate analysis of exostosis development in the third phalanx indicates that cattle at the site of Ban Chiang were gracile, while water buffalo were as robust as modern draught animals.     

Dietary patterns during the late prehistoric/historic period in Cikobia island (Fiji): insights from stable isotopes and dental pathologies

The dietary patterns of eight adults and one child interred in the Korotuku burial mound (Cikobia, northern Fiji), dated from the late prehistoric/historic period (around AD 1850), have been investigated using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope signatures and dental and oral pathologies. Bone collagen isotopic compositions showed that (1) males and females had similar diets in terms of terrestrial C₃ resources and marine fish components and proportions; (2) the proportion of marine fish comprised around 25% of the protein fraction of the diet, and the proportion of vegetal food was high; and (3) one canid that was also studied had a different diet, probably rich in shellfish. Oral and dental examinations of the humans evidenced (1) a low level of dental macrowear, (2) a high rate of carious lesions—interproximal and cervical—of about 15%, and (3) a low amount of abscessing, as well as the presence of alveolar bone recession and calculus in most of the adults. This evidence suggests a diet relying mainly on vegetal food with very limited shellfish consumption. When viewed in the light of ethnohistoric information, this pattern suggests a particular sociocultural behaviour, including food selection, since the analyses of the canid remains indicate that more diversified food resources were available than those consumed by the humans. Overall observations suggest that the deceased in the Korotuku burial mound might be members of an elite living on the island, thus pointing to possible social stratification in the late prehistoric/historic Cikobia community.     

Five thousand years of atmospheric Ni,Zn, As,and Cd deposition recorded in bogs from NW Iberia: prehistoric and historic anthropogenic contributions

The analysis of environmental archives from across the world has demonstrated that human perturbation of the geochemical cycles of trace metals and the resultant atmospheric metal contamination date back, at least, several millennia. However, an understanding of the local processes and timing of changes in trace metal deposition is also essential for a proper global interpretation. The Iberian Peninsula was a major mining area since prehistoric times and the analysis of environmental archives provides a good opportunity to improve our understanding of the history of mining and metallurgy in Europe. We present the results from three ¹⁴C dated peat cores from the Xistral Mountains (NW Iberia). These records are used to reconstruct past atmospheric deposition of Ni, Zn, As, and Cd. The chronology of the changes in concentrations and metal accumulation rates was found to be concordant in the three bogs, and showed great similarity to total Pb, Hg, and Pb isotope ratios as determined in previous investigations. They present a consistent view of changes in atmospheric pollution and the importance of metals in the development of human societies, especially: i) the first evidence of atmospheric metal pollution 3400 years ago, which is simultaneous with the expansion of the Atlantic Bronze Koine; ii) a pollution event between 2350 and 2150 years ago, associated to the development of so-called Celtic culture (local Late Iron Age); iii) a dramatic increase of metal fluxes in Roman times; iv) a severe and rapid increase in the last 250 years corresponding to the beginning of the industrial revolution in Europe, reflecting the emergence of the new dominant sources of pollution, and v) the increase of long range atmospheric transport of pollutants. Our data suggest that all detected ancient (until ca. 1450 cal BP) periods of enhanced Ni, Zn, As, and Cd accumulation may have had an anthropogenic origin, related to the onset and development of mining and metallurgy.     

The prehistoric sources of Palliser Bay obsidian

A sample of 210 pieces of archaeologically derived obsidian from settlement sites in Palliser Bay, New Zealand, was subjected to X-ray fluorescent analysis, in order to define the petrographic sources exploited by these prehistoric groups. It was found that the material had been derived from sources at Mayor Island, Huruiki, Rotorua, Cooks Bay, Purangi, Ongaroto and Taupo, and with the exception of the last 3, all were being quarried as early as the 12th century AD. Problems were encountered in assessing the significance of trends in source exploitation which had been proven on other grounds, and these suggested that future analyses must involve far larger archaeological samples.     

The conservation and management of historic urban space

In practice, the care of historic urban space is dominated by planning professionals whose bias is towards the broad remit of the conservation of the built heritage; it remains the exception for other professions to take an active role in the protection of spatial elements of the historic townscape. Neither do these areas enjoy the same degree of statutory protection as their built counterpart, even though they may have played an equally important role in the evolution of our towns and are an integral part of the urban form. This study is the first stage of the author's on‐going research into the value of historic space within the modern urban environment and the level of protection afforded it by the planning system. The results of this pilot study are used to suggest a professional and statutory framework, based upon inter‐disciplinary co‐operation, from which the full value of townscapes may be safeguarded in the future.     

Palaeolimnological impacts of early prehistoric farming at Lough Dargan,County Sligo,Ireland

This study provides a unique method of inquiry for archaeological investigation with an aim to assess the intensity and effects of Neolithic and Bronze Age farming practices at Lough Dargan, northwest Ireland, through a multi-proxy analysis of a lake sediment core. Chironomid (non-biting midge fly) subfossils and lake sediment geochemistry (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N and C:N ratios) were used to assess changes in limnological conditions through time. The limnological data were compared with macroscopic charcoal concentration and pollen data to examine the potential influence that early farmers had on a freshwater lake system within a prehistorically active catchment. Results from the chironomid analysis show that the first substantial period of agricultural activity in the early Neolithic (c. 3730–3190 BC) resulted in a temporary shift to more eutrophic lake conditions. There is evidence of animal husbandry with substantial levels of animal waste reaching the lake, leaving an imprint in the geochemical record of increased δ¹⁵N values and decreased δ¹³C values and C:N ratios during this time. The chironomid community reverted back to its pre-impacted state c. 3190 BC in response to a period of reduced farming (c. 3390–3000 BC) which eventually led to a distinct lull in activity, with possible cessation of farming from 3000 to 2700 BC. A return to eutrophic conditions coincided with the gradual return of agriculture, with more permanently altered lake conditions dominating from 2400 BC, even during a 250-year period of reduced human activity commencing at c. 1440 BC. Increased sedimentation rate, along with increases in δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N and C:N, the presence of chironomid taxa indicative of erosion, more eutrophic lake conditions and high concentrations of macroscopic charcoal all point to more intensive land use practices during the Bronze Age. Palaeolimnological data exhibited an immediate response to intensified farming during this time, and were especially responsive to pastoral farming due either to scale of activity or proximity to the lakeside. The success of this study demonstrates the effectiveness of palaeolimnological analysis in the investigation of prehistoric farming. This approach will help inform Neolithic and Bronze Age land-use practice and human–environment relations in the region, and highlights the potential for chironomid-based archaeological research.     

Analogy in Danish prehistoric studies

Ethnographic analogy has invariably been used in archaeology at a subconscious level for understanding artefacts. Alison Wylie's analysis, transferring the logical discussion of analogy from philosophy to archaeology, has, though not uncritically, been accepted by the present author as a method of assessing the strength of analogical reasoning. First, Wylie's analysis is presented and discussed. Secondly, her framework serves as a standard of reference for the Danish historical development of analogical reasoning over the past 170 years. Lastly, a contextual approach that does not entirely depart from Sophus Müller's terminology is suggested.     

试论我国北方地区史前女性塑像与雕像

人体雕握.是视觉艺术的一种表现形式,从其产生的机制来说,其取材的对象,最初并不是人类本身.而是他们所熟悉的自然界,特别是动物界.初期的人像雕塑作品,要么是附丽于各种类型的器皿上,没有独立出来,要么是些小型作品,或作为人体的装饰品.或作为个人崇拜物和巫术的替身①.     

山东史前时期的陶塑艺术

陶塑艺术的产生与发展有着悠久的历史,在山东地区,生活在这里的先民们通过世世代代的劳动,不仅发明了陶器,同时也创作出一些优美的陶塑艺术作品。据考古资料介绍,在距今大约8000多年以前的后李文化遗址中就有许多陶塑艺术品的发现,这些陶塑艺术品不仅形体较小,且造型简单,制作粗     

中国史前玉文化板块论

中国史前玉器有着长达6000余年的历史,遍布东、北、西、南各地,组成相对独立发展的群体及其玉文化区域。其历经玉兵器、玉美器、玉神器以及早期“王室玉”等若干阶段的演进和积淀,为华夏文明的创造奠基了第一块坚实的基石。本文采纳地质学上的“板块”一词以概括说明史前玉文化的宏观性质及其微观特点,史前玉文化板块分为东夷玉文化板块、淮夷玉文化板块、古越玉文化板块等三大玉板块以及海岱玉文化东夷亚板块、陶寺玉文化华夏亚板块、石峁玉文化鬼国亚板块、齐家玉文化氐羌亚板块和石家河玉文化荆蛮亚板块等五个文化亚板块。它们按自身规律运动又互为碰撞、渗透、并存以至融合,终于走向其归宿,熔铸为统一的中华玉文化。     

The role of labrid fish in prehistoric economics in New Zealand

Labrids are one of the most common types of fish to occur in inshore rocky marine habitats in New Zealand. There are major discontinuities in their relative abundance in archaeological sites from different regions of New Zealand, and these are difficult to reconcile with known distributional patterns. A number of possible explanations are examined such as changes in fishing technology and various ecological factors. It is concluded that the reasons for these observed fluctuations may vary considerably from one case to another, but where large numbers were caught by prehistoric people who had access to alternative fish resources, unreliability of some major aspect of the economy may be inferred. A combination of poor sea conditions and marginal horticulture is likely to increase the importance of labrid fish.     

石质文物表面防护中的问题和新材料

野外的大型石质物暴露在自然界的风化环境中,近代环境污染和酸雨使侵蚀更加严重,已有许多防护材料用于石质物的防护,本分析了目前防护材料,特别是憎水性有机高分子防护材料在使用中存在的问题,并初步探索了使用新的生物无机防护材料的可能性。     

The meaning of sedentism and mobility in an archaeological and historic context

Sedentism is a commonly used concept in settlement pattern analysis. In a recent review of this concept Rafferty (1985) found “sedentary” to be related to both settlement permanence and site size. Both space and time are fundamental aspects of sedentism. While maintaining permanence as a central factor, this paper discusses further aspects of sedentism primarily in relation to the use and meaning of space. A case study based on archaeological and historical materials on Sami and Norwegian settlements in arctic Norway is used as an illustration. In arctic Norway prehistoric maritime settlements have often been interpreted as being either transhumant or sedentary. The prehistoric case of sedentism is then viewed in relation to the historically known differences in settlement permanence in space and time for Norwegian and Sami populations in the same area of arctic Norway. It is proposed that models of sedentism should not only be based on ecological, economic, and adaptational considerations but should also include the importance of the meaning of place in the relationship between human populations and landscape.     

Coastal environments and their role in prehistoric migrations

In recent years, increased attention has been turned towards the role of coastal environments in facilitating the global dispersal of humans. Previous approaches have focused on locating, dating and linking coastal archaeological sites, in order to create an overall impression of population movement across continents. When considerations of the actual process of colonization have been presented, they have been predicated on a series of assumptions regarding the nature of the coastal environment. The most important of these is that the coastal zone is homogenous and stable, on space and time scales relevant to human migration. This paper aims to test this and other assumptions by considering the true nature of the palaeo-coastal zone on global to continental scales and on timescales commensurate with migrating populations. Evidence is presented from Pleistocene and Holocene palaeo-environmental and archaeological records, so covering the major migrations of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic. The principal conclusion of this study is that the coastal zone is in fact characterized by a significant degree of environmental heterogeneity and instability on a multitude of spatio-temporal scales. This in turn has significant implications for how we interpret the actual process of colonization.     

Fishery in prehistoric and medieval Tallinn,Estonia

During archaeological excavations in central Tallinn, Estonia, many fish bones were collected among other archaeological finds. As these were salvage excavations conducted under limited time and cost restraints, only a very small part of the removed soil could be examined for fish bones. In such hasty conditions, the only option was to take soil samples from selected areas and carry out water sieving in the laboratory. This procedure resulted in the recovery of a variety of fish remains. Also, a previous conclusion that only large fish were captured is re-evaluated. This paper focuses on two recently excavated medieval sites in Tallinn: Tartu Road 1 and Vabaduse Square. In Vabaduse Square, a Late Neolithic settlement was also discovered under the medieval layers. The analysis of the three different assemblages of fish bones from the two sites, which were collected by somewhat different methods, contributes to our knowledge on fishing and fish consumption in Tallinn's past.