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.     

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.     

Explaining Shell-Tempered Pottery in Prehistoric Eastern North America

Explanations for the rise in frequency of shell-tempered pottery in the Eastern United States have vacillated between historical and functional accounts. Using evolutionary theory, the historical records of first appearance and diffusion are woven with physical properties of shell-tempered pottery that may have led to its selection. An appreciation of the scale at which change occurs and the units of analysis most appropriate for understanding that change is necessary for an explanation that can account for the widespread use of shell-tempering and the more-or-less coincident rise in its frequency. A hypothesis with empirical consequences is offered as a starting point for understanding this phenomenon.     

Prehistoric demography of North America inferred from radiocarbon data

Large radiocarbon datasets are increasingly used as a paleodemographic proxy, although potential sources of bias in such records are poorly understood. In this paper, we use more than 25,000 radiocarbon dates extracted from the Canadian Archaeological Radiocarbon Database (CARD) to estimate long-term population trends in North America, while critically examining biases in such records. The frequency distribution of CARD dates shows a positive curvilinear pattern, such that older dates exist in lower numbers than more recent dates, which in part reflects the removal of cultural carbon from the archaeological record through processes such as erosion and dissolution. The average annual growth rate of radiocarbon dates in CARD was calculated and used to derive estimates of the population of North America from the Paleo-Indian to the Contact Periods. While taphonomic bias has likely affected the CARD data, other factors, such as the overrepresentation of Paleo-Indian and Archaic radiocarbon dates, may have offset any bias due to taphonomy. A quantitative reconstruction of Native American population shows that population increased rapidly around 2000 cal yr BP, reaching a maximum of 2,500,000 people by ～AD 1150. From this time until European contact, the population declined, possibly due to the effects of increased sedentism and population density.     

Archaeology and environment in York

Despite extensive excavation work both in the City and Vale of York, there has been little attempt to synthesize the considered wealth of biological information which has occurred. This paper discusses some of the preliminary results obtained by the Environmental Research Team of the York Archaeological Trust and endeavours to relate these into the rather inadequate regional background, a mosaic, which, even in comparatively well-studied fields such as animal and human bones, still has more holes than pieces. Considerable emphasis is placed upon the more recently developed lines of research, particularly the insect remains, since it is felt that these have much more to offer than is realized by most archaeologists. The final section reviews certain aspects of the interaction between man and his environment, particularly the climate, in relation to the limited amount of evidence as yet recovered from York. This research has stressed the additional amount of information which can be gained by a close association of field archaeologist, historian and environmental scientists.     

我国史前祭祀遗迹初探

史前祭祀遗迹在史前考古研究中占有相当重要的位置。本文通过对史前祭祀遗迹的综合考察,试图将常见的祭祀形式划分为4类：1．“坛”祭;2．“(土单)”祭;3．“坎”祭;4．“庙”祭。我们认为,史前先民根据不同的祭祀对象和目的,已经开始有意识地选择不同的祭祀形式,并且不同祭祀形式也反映了当时人们的原始宗教思想。     

陕西史前考古的发现和研究

陕西最早的史前考古活动可追溯到1898年,是年,意大利人吉利欧里(E.H.Gjglioli)在延安地区调查中发现了新石器时代的有孔石斧①.     

藤花落史前城址的几个问题

本文通过对《藤花落》报告的层位学、类型学分析,将藤花落城址相关的遗存分为四期,并在此基础上对藤花落城址进行了研究,认为该城址的城墙上和壕沟内的柱洞属于栅栏遗留,栅栏是与城墙、城壕等一体的防御设施;藤花落龙山文化遗存属尧王城类型,晚期文化面貌发生改变与王油坊类型龙山文化的东传有关。     

史前社会复杂化进程的理论探索

复杂化是社会在其生存基础、社会结构、意识形态等各个方面从简单到复杂,从平等社会向等级社会过渡的一种进程.这是史前社会一种全球性的趋势,造成这一趋势最基本的动力是人口压力,它迫使群体采取强化食物生产、从事战争或贸易等直接刺激复杂化出现的措施.复杂化的实现手段是对包括经济权力、军事权力、思想意识在内的几种主要的权力的控制来...     

史前考古学与诗性智慧

20世纪90年代以来,中国考古学已经开始步入一个辉煌的时代.它在青春期曾被人指出的一些缺点和弱点(如自以为是、神秘主义、依附史学、缺乏反省)①已得到一定程度的克服,在史前考古学领域,特别是对新石器时代文化遗址的大量发掘、整理,已经使史前文化的多元一体格局较清楚地显现出来,中国文明起源的问题也获得了新的认识,考古学也日益得到公众更多的瞩目.笔者正是由于近年来研究史前文化艺术的需要而对考古学给以较多关注,本文在此要讨论的不是考古学的有目共睹的成绩,而是中外考古学尤其是史前考古学在研究方向及方法论上的一种"偏失",也可以说是史前考古学所忽视的一个重要问题,即史前考古学与诗性智慧的关系问题.     

吉林史前玉器试探

吉林省位于中国东北地区中部,在研究史前玉器起源和该地区的文化交流中起着重要作用。据不完全统计,在１９处遗址中共发掘出土４９件史前玉器,近几年发掘了左家山、西断梁山和腰井子三个遗址。出土玉器主要有斧、凿、镞等,通过对相关遗址的材料比较研究表明,吉林省的史前玉器可以分成三个阶段：第一阶段年代在公元前７５００年－公元前６５００年,第二和第三阶段年代在公元前５５００年－公元前４０００年。吉林和黑龙江出土的史前玉器有许多共同特征,且明显不同于辽宁西部和内蒙东南部出土的玉器。     

Recent Prehistoric Field Research in Central Tunisia: Prehistoric Occupations in the Meknassy Basin

Recent field prospection and test excavations in the Meknassy Basin (Central Tunisia) has revealed many prehistoric sites covering almost all the phases of North African prehistory from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic. Excavations at the Aïn El-Guettar Mousterian site has yielded a faunal assemblage dominated by bovids and equids. One human tooth was found in situ. The stratigraphic sequence contains charcoal-rich occupation layers with faunal, human and lithic finds. A level with an industry resembling the Aterian was found beneath a Mousterian layer. The excavations at Aïn Oum Henda 2 (Jebel Maloussi) provided many Middle Palaeolithic lithic artefacts, some of which are pedunculates. From the excavations of the Rammadiya El Oghrab (Jebel Bou Hedma) we recovered some bones of antelope, many fragments of ostrich egg shell (among them a worked disc), an enormous quantity of flint (tools and splinters) and of land snails. In spite of the scarcity of land snails and the absence of bone in the rammadiya of Jebel Bou Hedma 1, the site produced a beautiful flint collection including an arrowhead found on the surface, which led us to place the site in the Neolithic.     

An Early Prehistoric Shaft on Cranborne Chase

Continuing field work on Cranborne Chase has examined a unique shaft in Fir Tree Field, Down Farm in the parish of Gussage St Michael. Although shafts are known in prehistoric contexts elsewhere in England in the form of Neolithic flint mines, ritual shafts and even Bronze Age wells (Wilsford), the shaft reported here is particularly early and remains, at present, unexplained. Excavation and augering has revealed a shaft over 25 m deep containing evidence of Mesolithic to Beaker activity.     

浅析史前居室埋人现象

本文对我国史前居室埋人现象的考古材料进行了较全面的梳理,并在前人研究的基础上,探讨了这一现象形成的原因及相关问题。认为我国史前居室埋人现象可分为两大类:史前居室有序埋人现象(A类,又可分为a、b、c三小类)和史前居室无序埋人现象(B类),A类是人类有意识的形为,B类则更多的是自然灾害和部落间冲突所造成,不能简单地将死者埋在居室内的现象称之为居室葬,居室葬仅仅是史前居室埋人现象形成的原因之一,自然灾害、部落冲突等也是造成这一现象的重要因素。     

Prehistoric hunters and gatherers of Brazil

Although carbon-14 dates prior to 13,000 B.P. have been obtained from several sites east and south of Amazonia, their reliability is uncertain. By about 11,000 B.P., however, two lithic traditions were widespread. The Uruguai tradition, characterized by bifacial stemmed projectile points, was associated with open vegetation in the south; the Itaparica tradition, emphasizing well-formed unifacial artifacts, had dispersed over the eastern tropical parklands. An enormous amount and variety of rock paintings and/or engravings are associated with the latter. Around 7000 B.P., two new traditions emerged to exploit new habitats. The Humaitá tradition, characterized by large bifacial tools and an absence of stone projectile points, expanded over the broad-leaved forests in the south, leaving the open landscapes dominated by the projectile point-using Umbu tradition. The sambaqui (shell midden) tradition, also emphasizing large bifaces, developed along rugged portions of the southern coast. By 4000 B.P., groups along the coast of Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo were using domesticated or semidomesticated plants, perhaps sweet manioc. Maize was being grown in Minas Gerais by about 3500 B.P. Carbon-14 dates from numerous sites indicate, however, that the hunter-gatherer way of life persisted in many places long after the advent of pottery-making horticulturalists. The existence of large temporal and spatial gaps even in regions with considerable investigation makes it difficult to reconstruct the process of evolution reflected in these archaeological complexes. Correlations between cultural traditions and environmental fluctuations indicate, however, that adaptation to changing conditions was a significant challenge faced by prehistoric Brazilian populations.     

再论川东长江沿岸的史前文化

川东长江沿岸历年来发现了许多史前遗存,积累了较多的考古发掘资料,本即根据这些考古资料,对这一地域的史前化作了探讨,并着重论述了在这一区域发展起来的一种地方性特征较强的考古学化——哨棚嘴化。