Palaeopathology in late Pleistocene and early Holocene Central Plains bison: dental enamel hypoplasia,fluoride toxicosis and the archaeological record

Multiple formative agents are cited for dental enamel hypoplasia (DEH) in modern and fossil mammals. Here, four late Pleistocene-early Holocene bison assemblages from the Central Great Plains are analyzed for DEH and other bone pathologies to investigate the possible influence of chronic fluoride toxicosis, a condition that may have presented a long-term source of duress for prehistoric bison and devalued them as nutritional resources to human hunters. Although DEH is present in all the analyzed assemblages, the lack of corroborating dental and post-cranial anomalies consistent with chronic fluoride toxicosis speaks against it as a primary factor of DEH formation or general ill health in these bison. Rather, maternal nutritional stress, weaning, and seasonal forage condition are invoked as probable promoters of DEH formation. Other identified abnormalities are discussed in reference to their contribution to reduced feeding efficiency and lameness, as are their roles in developing palaeoecological models applicable to archaeological questions about ancient human lifeways.     

Bison breeding characteristics and interpretation of archaeological seasonality revisited

Bison breeding behaviour has been used for the last three decades as the basis for developing methods for assigning season‐of‐occupation estimates to archaeological sites on the North American Plains. These methods are based upon the supposition that the North American bison breeding season is extremely short and that genetically controlled ontological characteristics such as foetal growth and tooth eruption sequences can therefore be used to infer site seasonality in a reasonably straightforward and precise manner. This paper reviews bison population studies conducted during the past 30 years to reassess present understandings of the length of North American bison breeding seasons. It is concluded that the bison breeding season regularly extends over a period of three to four months, and that initiation of ontological development will therefore also vary over the same period of time. Bison development characteristics cannot provide a reliable or precise means of assigning seasonality to archaeological sites on the North American Plains. It is suggested that methods using physical characteristics such as dental cementum incrementation which are directly affected by seasonal changes could be more productive. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Probabilistic models of seasonal <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bison</Emphasis> exploitation based on fetal prey osteometry and reproductive phenology

Seasonality studies are a staple of Great Plains archaeology, but obtaining evidence for seasonal food procurement is challenging. This study explores seasonality through the lens of fetal bison remains. A method is developed that produces intra-annual probability distributions for the date of fetal death. These distributions are informed by osteometric data from fetal bison in archaeological contexts, fetal skeletal growth curves, and data-driven models of bison conception dates. Probabilities can be assigned to seasonality hypotheses by examining date intervals across these intra-annual distributions. This method is implemented through an R program and applied to seasonality hypotheses at three archaeological sites containing fetal bison remains: Big Goose Creek (Wyoming), Baker Cave III (Idaho), and the Upper Tucker Site (Texas). Unlike previous efforts to infer seasonality from fetal bison remains, this method provides explicit probabilities showing the level of agreement between the osteometric data and seasonality hypotheses. This probabilistic approach could be extended to seasonality studies involving other animal taxa both within and outside of North America.     

Degenerative Joint Disease and Social Status in the Terminal Late Archaic Period (1000–500 b.c.) of Ohio

This research presents an analysis of the inferred Late Archaic social structure in Ohio based on degenerative joint disease (DJD, also known as osteoarthritis) and mortuary practices. We tested the hypothesis that mechanical loading involving physical activities is differentially distributed in a population along levels or types of social stratification. This hypothesis was investigated via statistical treatment of DJD as a skeletal stress marker of activity, its occurrence by age and sex, an association with grave goods, and spatial distribution in terminal Late Archaic cemeteries. The skeletal samples used in this study came from three cemeteries, the Boose, Kirian‐Treglia (KT), and Duff sites, dating to the Ohio terminal Late Archaic period. In general, the high overall prevalence of DJD in these people indicates that this population led a rigorous life. This study hypothesized that the burials in the Late Archaic period in Ohio might be socially patterned as evidenced from the unequal distribution of grave goods and skeletal variability in DJD. Nevertheless, the analyses suggest that there is no statistical association between DJD and mortuary practices including grave goods and burial location in a cemetery. As observed in numerous hunter–gatherer populations, the societies in our sample were also characterized by the absence of a marked social stratification. The results suggest that there were only ‘natural inequalities’ in Late Archaic societies due to biological factors, such as age and sex. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

10,000 Years in the Rocky Mountains: The Helen Lookingbill Site

Abstract

Located in a spring-fed meadow at 2620 masl, Helen Lookingbill is a stratified, high-altitude open site in the Washakie Range of the Absaroka Mountains in NW Wyoming. The site contains cultural material ranging in age from Paleoindian through Late Prehistoric periods. Although the densest cultural deposits date to the Early Archaic (8000–5000 b.p., uncalibrated), other time periods are well represented. A 10,400 year old layer comprises the earliest component (Haskett/Hell Gap) in the main excavation area; above it is a series of Late Paleoindian, Early Archaic, later Archaic, and Late Prehistoric components. The major materials at the site are chipped stone and bone, while a deer bone bed dating between 6500 and 6800 b.p. is contained within the main excavation block. In addition to deet; the site contains the remains of mountain sheep, bison, porcupine, and other mammals. Located on and near both quartzite and chert stone sources, the mountain meadow served as a prehistoric camp site and yielded evidence of tool production, heat treatment, refurbishing, and use. Interdisciplinary research provides much information pertinent to understanding the nature of site occupation with implications for regional cultural dynamics, high altitude hunter-gatherer adaptations, and site formation processes.     

From the Piedmont to the Coast: LA-ICP-MS 87Sr/86Sr evidence for short-term,long-distance mobility in the American Southeast

Mounting evidence suggests that the Archaic Southeast shell mound builders had large-scale trade networks and engaged in social aggregations. Here, incremental ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values were measured by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) in third molar enamel samples of 11 individuals interred in the Middle Archaic Harris Creek shell burial mound in St. John's River Valley (SJRV), Florida. Results reveal that SJRV residents engaged in short-term, long-distance mobility up to the Piedmont margin and excursions into coastal areas, consistent with direct trading and social gatherings. Two individuals are interpreted as migrants from central Tennessee, suggesting a link to the Ohio River Valley shell mound builders.     

Bison butchery at Cooper,a Folsom site on the Southern Plains

Cooper, a Folsom arroyo-trap bison kill site in northwest Oklahoma is composed of three large-scale kill episodes. The bison bones have been examined for butchering evidence and exploring the butchering pattern. Damage categories to cortical bone are indentation, cut mark, helical fracture, and impact blow. The 99 elements damaged are from 36 carcasses across all three kills, and damage morphology indicates both lithic and bone expediency tools were used in the butchering. Animals are being butchered in an upright position on their stomachs, with transverse and abdominal muscles the focal point. Experimental butchering of a bison replicates the reconstructed sequence and underscores a gourmet butchering style for the Cooper kills.     

略论南阳汉墓中的“胡人”形象文物

河南南阳地处中原,数年间出土的汉画像砖石和陶俑中有大量的胡人形象,有歌舞者、射猎者、为奴为俾者,或站或跪或骑,姿态各异。这些胡人的形象出现在汉代的中原地区,反映了当时西北少数民族和中原的文化交流。     

Abundant Gifts of Stone and Bone

An abundance of points, flakes, bones, shells, and bodies is considered sufficient to raise the hypothesis that these offerings and their places constitute a type of fertility shrine. This paper documents several possible lithic and bone-offering places in eastern North America, among them Allumettes Island, Quebec; Tick Creek Cave, Missouri; James Creek, West Virginia; and Pen Point, South Carolina. Perhaps the most significant Late Archaic shrine marked by an abundance of points, deer bones, and human burials is Indian Knoll, Kentucky. The proposed fertility or increase rite practiced was that for a hunt god.     

Points and prey: a quantitative test of the hypothesis that prey size influences early Paleoindian projectile point form

Understanding the causes of variation within and between projectile point types is an important task for Paleoindian archaeologists since they rely heavily on points to investigate such things as settlement dynamics and hunting practices. One long-held explanation for the variation in early Paleoindian point form is that prey size influenced the size and shape of projectile points. The study reported here evaluated this hypothesis with standard and geometric morphometric data recorded on Clovis and Folsom points from the Southern Plains and Southwest that are associated with mammoth or bison remains. Points used to hunt mammoth were found to be larger and of a different shape than points used to hunt bison, which supports the hypothesis. However, when both point type and prey size were taken into account, the results ran counter to predictions. Potential explanations for this discrepancy are discussed.     

Everything Old Is New Again: Recent Approaches to Research on the Archaic Period in the Western United States

There are regional differences in how archaeologists conduct their research on the Archaic period. The rich array of techniques and approaches used to examine this period in the West include human behavioral ecology and other evolutionary perspectives, technological style and aspects of practice theory, neuropsychological theory, and more. Recent research in the Great Basin, Southwest, Great Plains, Columbia-Fraser Plateau, and coastal California is surveyed to highlight commonalities and differences in the questions asked of the archaeological data and in the techniques that are used.     

Economic and environmental changes during the 4th and 3rd millennia BC: the 25th Jubilee Symposium of the AEA in Bad Buchau,southern Germany

Abstract

This study represents the first detailed published analysis of a relatively large archaeologically derived faunal assemblage in eastern Beringia for the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene. The faunal remains, dated to 10,100 cal. BP, are well preserved and have highly resolved spatial association with lithics and hearth features. Factors in the formation of the assemblage are assessed through analyses of weathering, presence/absence of carnivore damage, fragmentation patterns, bone density, and economic utility. Taphonomic analyses indicate that human transport and processing decisions were the major agents responsible for assemblage formation. A spatial model of wapiti and bison carcass processing at this site is proposed detailing faunal trajectories from the kill sites, introduction on site in a central staging area to peripheral marrow extraction areas associated with hearths and lithic items. Data from mortality profiles, spatial analysis, and economic analysis are used to interpret general economy and site function within this period in Interior Alaska. These data and intersite comparisons demonstrate that considerable economic variability existed during the Early Holocene, from broad spectrum foraging to efficient, specialized terrestrial large mammal hunting.     

Hunter‐gatherer use of small animal food resources: coprolite evidence

Faunal remains are commonly found in coprolites and provide direct evidence of animal consumption. An evaluation of hunter‐gatherer coprolites from the Southwest US shows that animal bone in coprolites can be used to assess patterns of hunting, food preparation, and general importance of small animals in diet. This is demonstrated by a comparison of faunal assemblages between two hunter‐gatherer sites with respect to small animal hunting strategies. The sites are Dust Devil Cave on the Colorado Plateau, an Archaic winter habitation, and Hinds Cave, a warm season Archaic habitation in the lower Pecos of Texas. The results indicate that small animal hunting varied regionally and seasonally. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social Change and Hunting during the Pueblo III to Pueblo IV Transition,East-Central Arizona

Abstract

The transition from the Pueblo III to the Pueblo IV period (A.D. 1100–1400) in the American Southwest involved marked population aggregation. Diverse economic, political, and religious factors must have played a role in the integration of these populations. Bailey Ruin, Bryant Ranch, and Pottery Hill, three sites in the Silver Creek drainage of east-central Arizona, show increased hunting of large mammals during this transition. This trend has elsewhere been attributed to hunting specialization due to local resource depletion and perhaps the need for a seasonal supplement to maize-based diets, but these factors do not adequately explain the data here. In fact, the regional reliance on rabbit protein suggests that hunting larger game was not necessary to meet dietary needs in an environment where small game is a reliable food source and artiodactyls are rare. Rather, the increased proportion of large mammals in the Silver Creek area faunal assemblages seems to reflect larger issues of social reorganization. Rituals aimed at community integration and individual attempts to gain authority and prestige were focused on communal hunts, feasts, and the production of ritual paraphernalia through large-game hunting.     

Baffles and Stockades: Entryway Construction at Southern Plains Fortifications,A.D. 1500–1850

Southern Plains archaeologists have for years reported piecemeal data suggesting that ancestors of the Wichita Indians periodically built fortifications. Since 2003, we have conducted archaeological and geophysical investigations at multiple Late Prehistoric and European contact era fortified Wichita sites occupied between about a.d. 1500 and a.d. 1811. We seek to better understand the areal extent, timing, and structural changes associated with facilities that appear to have functioned as redoubts (Drass, Perkins, and Vehik 2018). In this article, we focus on how the Wichita constructed and secured fortification entryways. Given the inherent vulnerability of entryways, architects across the globe have designed a variety of defensive configurations to confound attackers. For the Wichita, the introduction of horses and guns beginning in the 1600s magnified these challenges. Our findings indicate that baffled gates, often paired with fenced extended entryways, facilitated quick entry by defenders and dependents while serving as impediments to hostile intruders.     

Developmental Stress in Immature Hominines from Late Pleistocene Eurasia: Evidence from Enamel Hypoplasia

The differences between Middle and Upper Palaeolithic cultures from Europe have been likened to the contrast between generalized and complex hunter–gatherers. A test of this model is undertaken by comparing the types, amount, severity and timing of episodes of enamel hypoplasia between the two periods among specimens from western Europe and the circum-Mediterranean area. The earlier sample consists of 59 dentally immature individuals with 128 primary and 154 permanent teeth while the later sample consists of 47 dentally immature individuals with 162 primary and 125 permanent teeth. It was predicted that the Upper Palaeolithic would show more variation in the attributes noted above as a consequence of increased social differentiation. While the prevalence (50% of individuals) and severity of enamel hypoplasia do not differ between the samples, the Upper Palaeolithic component is significantly more variable in the types and timing of enamel defects. Localized hypoplasia of the primary canine is absent from the Middle Palaeolithic but very common among Upper Palaeolithic children. Earlier work has linked this enamel defect to craniofacial osteopenia due to low bioavailability of vitamin A. Linear enamel hypoplasia peaks at age 3·5 years in the Middle Palaeolithic sample but is as common at age 2·0 as 5·0 years in the Upper Palaeolithic sample. The age distribution differs significantly. Peak age at stress, combining all types of enamel hypoplasia, is 3·5 years in the Middle Palaeolithic and 0·5 years in the Upper Palaeolithic. The major contrast between the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic in terms of enamel hypoplasia is the advent of stressful episodes in early infancy in the Upper Palaeolithic. This is attributed to the low bioavailability of vitamin A due to the synergistic effects of malnutrition and infection exacerbated by a net increase in population density among socially competitive family lineages.     

文化生态史观视野下的文明化进程——中原地区与太湖地区的比较研究

"文化生态史观"是一种系统观点,它强调研究文化进程的发展,必须综合分析文化、环境诸因素在历史过程中的作用.中原与太湖地区文明化进程的结果不同,源于中原地区文化生态系统中某些因素的优越性,战争机制促成的社会组织、开放性的文化特质、务实的社会意识、多样的生态环境与公元前三千纪末期的应时发展,这些都促使中原地区逐渐确立了文化上的强势地位.相比之下,太湖地区宗教特色的社会组织,面对危机缺乏变通;保守的文化特质,使文化缺乏革新和灵活性;务虚的社会心理,浪费了大量的社会资源;单一的生态环境,使社会面对自然灾害缺乏灵活的应对.最终,新石器时代末期,文化的一蹶不振,环太湖地区彻底丧失了发展时机.     

Coils,slabs, and molds: examining community affiliation between Late Archaic shell ring communities using radiographic imagery of pottery

ABSTRACT

Radiographic imaging is used to determine the techniques used to form vessels from two contemporaneous Late Archaic shell rings in coastal Georgia. These data, in concert with decorative and technofunctional data, suggest that different potting communities occupied each ring. The presence of different communities at each ring corresponds with larger regional patterns in which localized socio-political bodies developed during the Late Archaic. The findings offered in this paper suggest that localized groups did not exist in isolation but rather lived near one another for centuries.     

The Use of Hunting and Herding Spaces: Stable Isotope Analysis of Late Archaic and Early Formative Camelids in the Tulan Transect (Puna de Atacama,Chile)

We present the results of analysing stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in camelid remains found at the Late Archaic site TU‐52 (ca. 5000–3800 bp ), the Tarajne Phase site TU‐94 and the Early Formative sites TU‐54, TU‐85 and TU‐122 (ca. 3100–2400 bp ). All of the sites are located in the Puna de Atacama (Northern Chile) along the 14 km Tulan transect, between the head of Tulan ravine (ca. 3000 m.a.s.l.) and the border of the Salar de Atacama (2317 m.a.s.l.). Our aim is to understand how the space was used by hunter‐gatherers and early herders from the beginning of camelid domestication to the consolidation of herding practices. Isotopic analyses were complemented with osteometric data in order to correlate changes in animal size and isotopic values with the initiation of animal husbandry. Isotopic and osteometric results show less variability of δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values during the Late Archaic and Tarajne Phase, whereas variability is higher during the Early Formative. We postulate that during the latter period, there was more widespread use of hunting and herding spaces along the Tulan ravine, including areas above 3000 m.a.s.l. as result of more consolidated herding practices, while the highlands were used as a complementary space to hold livestock near ritual sites and residential settlements. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.