The Case of the Caldwell Mound: A Woodland Period Mound in the Central Scioto River Valley

ABSTRACT

This article presents a reconstruction and analysis of the Caldwell Mound located in the central Scioto River valley of southern Ohio. The mound contained a log tomb, at least four burials, and associated funerary objects. Four AMS radiocarbon dates place the Caldwell Mound within the last century BC and first century AD, and the mound contains evidence of practices historically associated with “Adena” and “Hopewell.” Few other records exist from this period in the region despite it experiencing perhaps some of the most dramatic socioreligious transformations in precolumbian North America. This analysis documents early evidence for the diversification and segregation of leadership roles based on the interpretation of three buried individuals. It also demonstrates the utility and efficacy of working with amateur-produced records and collections, even when incomplete, to reconstruct and glean insight from important Woodland period sites.     

Avulsion fractures of the transverse processes of the first thoracic vertebra: an archaeological case study from Raunds

Avulsion fractures of the transverse processes of vertebrae have not been previously identified in the archaeological record. This paper provides a case study of a 21–25 year old male skeleton from the 10^th century cemetery at Raunds Furnells (Northamptonshire, UK) with bilateral avulsion fractures of the transverse processes of the first thoracic vertebra. Possible aetiologies of this condition are discussed and conclusions drawn about the impact of this condition upon the individual. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Marital instability in the context of dramatic societal change: the case of Kyrgyzstan

ABSTRACT

How do marriages fare during times of dramatic social, political and economic transition? Transitional societies offer a unique context for studying marital instability as they are often buffeted by countervailing forces of modernisation and re-traditionalisation, in addition to socio-economic and political changes. Using detailed and rich data from Kyrgyzstan, the study investigates trends over time in marital instability in response to societal upheavals and gradual secular transformations; ethnic group-specific responses in marital instability; and the role of changing gender regimes in marital instability. The findings reveal an increase in the rate of marital dissolution over time. However, ethnic group-specific differentials remained significant, mirroring the historically shaped relative positioning of the groups in the process of demographic change. The results also highlight gender differentials in the influence of education and employment on marital instability. The findings are discussed within the broader framework of demographic and social changes in transitional Central Asia.     

On the Age of Serpent Mound: A Reply to Romain and Colleagues

Radiocarbon dates reported by Romain and colleagues (2017) suggesting that Serpent Mound (33AD1) is an Adena effigy mound are problematic because they cannot be linked reliably to cultural activities associated with the original construction of the effigy mound. Additional arguments offered by Romain and colleagues (2017) in support of an Early Woodland age for Serpent Mound also are unconvincing. A Late Prehistoric age for Serpent Mound is supported by the radiocarbon dates reported previously, new radiocarbon dates, the relative abundance of serpent imagery in the Fort Ancient culture and the contemporaneous Mississippian Tradition, the virtual absence of serpent imagery in the Adena culture, and the fact that, whereas effigy-mound building is otherwise unknown in the Early Woodland period, it is well documented, if rare, for the Fort Ancient culture and in the not-so-terribly-far-away upper Midwest it is so common that it defines the broadly contemporaneous Effigy Mound culture.     

Beyond the identification of formation processes: Behavioral inference based on traces left by cultural formation processes

Formation processes are generally considered as a negative factor for behavioral inference in archaeology. The concept of formation processes, however, can potentially be far more useful for behavioral inference in archaeology than simply identifying spurious variability in the archaeological record. Physical traces left by cultural formation processes convey a certain kind of behavioral information which may not be otherwise available. Variables related to site occupation, such as the occupation span, the number of occupation episodes, and the location of activities, can be inferred from characteristics of refuse deposits, or refuse structure.     

Responsive advertising regulation: A case study from New Zealand

As the most visible element of the marketing communications mix, advertising has had its critics and, given the choice, developed countries usually select a self-regulatory approach to deal with unacceptable or irresponsible advertising. This article reviews the literature in this area and incorporates thoughtful contributions from research conducted with New Zealand's Advertising Standards Authority. This approach helps bridge the gap between theory and practice and assists advertising practitioners and regulators concerned with advertising control to eliminate undesirable features of such systems in the future. Findings indicate that practice differs from theory in the areas of complaint acceptance procedures and code enforcement. A challenge for future research lies in addressing these two key components of the model in more detail and less breadth.     

Artifact orientations and site formation processes from total station proveniences

It is well understood that the orientation of clasts within a deposit can yield information on site formation processes. Although the term clast usually refers to the natural component of a deposit, the artifactual and faunal components are also known to be sensitive to site formation processes. There are a number of ways in which orientations can be recorded and analyzed, and this paper describes how orientations can be recorded as part of piece proveniencing artifacts with a total station. After the method is described, the calculation, statistical analysis and presentation of artifact orientations are considered. The final part of the paper presents orientation data from Pech de l'Azé IV recorded and analyzed in this way. The example demonstrates the effectiveness of the total station method of recording orientations, their sensitivity to site formation processes, and the importance of using multiple methods of data analysis and presentation to assess and interpret patterning.     

Archaeological classification and ethnic groups: A case study from Sudanese Nubia

This is an attempt to discuss the central problem in archaeology, to understand the relationship between the artifacts and the cultural processes which produced them. Classification is our main methodology for the interpretation of this relationship: The problem is, however, to find the significant criteria. The focus of this paper is to show how archaeologists on the basis of classification of artifacts have tried to reconstruct culture history in terms of migration, diffusion or invention. The main example is from Sudanese Nubia. A criticism of the criteria here selected as significant for the identification of people and their movement, is based on a general theoretical discussion of ethnic groups.     

Terms in place and time: A case study from the Anthropological Index Online*

An analysis of terms, and keywords that have appeared over the last 50 years in the Anthropological Index (now AIO) challenges anthropology's purported universal coverage of regions and topics. Anthropological article production published in specialized periodicals leaves many areas uncovered, some topics marginalized, or absent. The article takes the presence or absence of keywords in articles in anthropological literature from all world regions to ask what may have generated these gaps. We argue that keyword use can reveal the role that geographical positioning, languages spoken, and national histories may have had in anthropological production. Shamanism and cognate concepts such as animism and spirit possession are taken to guide an analysis of the anthropological production in different languages through the use of keywords that appear in the coverage of AIO. The research demonstrates how far keywords use is shaped by contingent adjustments to predicaments and theoretical concerns with complex historical roots.     

Coloration and Fabric Structure of Selected Polychrome Textiles from the Seip Mound Group

Abstract

Selected yellow and brown colored textiles from the Hopewellian Seip Mound group were examined visually and photographed. In some cases, the yarns are colorant saturated and the colored patterns are nearly identical on both sides of the textiles. In addition to the use of several colors, fringe and possibly leather are used as decorations. Particulate material shed from these fabrics, or small samples strategically removed based on the results of the forensic photography, were examined with optical microscopy, revealing that the fabrics are made of dyed rabbit hair and bast fibers. Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) of a subset of the samples indicates that there is no significant difference in elemental composition between the different colors. However, the high carbon and copper content are signs of mineralization of the fibers. These textiles reflect multifaceted textile construction methods with elaborate decoration techniques as well as the use of complex dye technology.     

土墩墓考古:新收获,新思考——在江苏句容、金坛土墩墓群抢救性发掘考古成果汇报会上的讲话

2005年江苏句容、金坛土墩墓群抢救性发掘考古成果在一墩一墓、一墩多墓、向心结构等土墩墓重大学术问题上取得了突破性进展,并为田野考古科学操作提供了典范。从方法论和考古学理论角度思考,土墩墓的发掘和研究还需进一步深化。     

土墩墓一墩多墓问题讨论

对作为吴越文化主要遗存的土墩墓的研究成果累累,对其埋葬特点、文化内涵、文化性质、时代等,学术界已墓本达成共识,但对是否存在一墩多墓的问题,意见不一。本文根据对南岗山、连山等地的考古材料分析,认为一墩多墓现象在土墩墓中的确存在。     

Behavioural archaeology and refuse patterns: A case study

This paper examines the association and distribution of different classes of refuse around a late Iron Age and Roman settlement in Essex, England. It is shown, for instance, that bone and pottery refuse from the eating of meals was distributed differently from that deriving from food preparation. Some conclusions are then drawn about activity variation within the settlement. Clearly, this approach can extract a great wealth of information from extensively excavated settlements, but it is also argued that similar studies are both feasible and necessary for small‐scale, rescue excavations.     

A hierarchical taxonomic procedure for provenance determination: A case study of Chalcolithic ceramics from the central Zagros

This study develops a data analysis methodology for the exploration of the variance in chemical composition of ceramic artifacts due to their typological, location and temporal characteristics. This methodology then allows for the characterization of ceramics based on these characteristics and the sequential assignment of unclassified ceramics to a region, subregion or site, with further assignment to specific ware and chronological period. The procedure uses INNA data on the elemental composition of ceramics in order to derive a series of classification functions for each category within each level of the taxonomic hierarchy. The developed procedure is used to investigate a provenance problem involving Chalcolithic ceramics from the Zagros region of western Iran. The results show that the elemental composition of ceramics, when coupled with multivariate statistical techniques, represents a powerful means for distinguishing ceramic provenance.     

Placing the second generation: A case study of Toronto

We examine the social mobility of the second generation in the Toronto metropolitan area by analyzing whether the adult children of immigrants live in more affluent and desirable neighbourhoods than the first generation. Using 2016 census microdata, we compare the social characteristics of census tracts where immigrants and the second and third-plus (3+) generations concentrate. The index of dissimilarity indicates the degree of residential separation among generations and for five ethno-racial second-generation groups: Chinese, South Asian, Black, Southern European, and Northern and Western European. The empirical findings show that the neighbourhoods where the first generation is over-represented are less affluent than those where the second and 3+ generations concentrate, with the largest improvements in social status occurring between the first and second generations. Although they frequently live in more distant suburban neighbourhoods than the first generation, the second generation still tends to live in inner and outer suburbs more than the exurban 3+ generation. For the second generation, the degree of residential concentration varies across ethno-racial groups with persistent segregation marking the residential locations of racial minorities. The findings highlight the variegated geographies and social mobility of the second generation in Canada's largest metropolitan area.     

Archaeology in the age of the Anthropocene: A critical assessment of its scope and societal contributions

Abstract

Recent decades have witnessed heightened public and governmental awareness of the nature and scale of environmental challenges likely to face the planet over the course of the next fifty to one hundred years. Scholars from across a broad range of disciplines have been drawn into these debates and have begun to reorient their research towards finding solutions to some of the most pressing problems and to devising more sustainable and resilient livelihoods. Archaeologists, with their conventional orientation toward past events and processes have been rather slower to engage with these issues. Recently, however, there has been a steady shift within the discipline so as to incorporate more future-oriented perspectives, and ‘the use of the past to plan for a better future’ is rapidly becoming a common theme within archaeological research projects and publications. While welcoming some of these developments, this paper offers a critical assessment of the various claims that are now being made of archaeology's potential to help overcome current environmental challenges and its contributions to defining and understanding ‘the Anthropocene.’     

Using Information Technologies for Collaborative Learning in Geography: A case study from Canada

In this paper, we share our experiences in designing, offering and evaluating undergraduate assignments that used information technologies to help undergraduate students from different universities collaborate on resource and environmental management problems in Canada. We focus on conditions of collaborative learning and peer review, especially how our uses of information technology reduced or increased the challenges of creating the conditions necessary for collaboration. In particular, we consider our successes and setbacks regarding five challenges: (1) composing effective groups, (2) providing sufficient time, (3) encouraging individual accountability, (4) enhancing regional perspectives, and (5) incorporating peer review and reducing competitiveness.     

Obsidian Diffusion Dating by Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry: A Test using Results from Mound 65, Chalco,Mexico

Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) was used to measure hydrogen and other elemental concentrations as a function of depth in ten obsidian artifacts (Pachuca Source), each with a well-constrained ¹⁴C date, from Mound 65, Chalco, Mexico. Hydrogen depth profiles for the different artifacts all display a characteristic S-shape, and increasing maximum hydrogen content in each profile and profile depths are well correlated with time. These data are used to investigate the potential use of Obsidian Diffusion Dating by SIMS (ODDSIMS) for both extrinsic and intrinsic dating of obsidian artifacts. Using “characteristic points” on the hydrogen profile (half-fall depth, inflection point depth), simple hydration rate equations were evaluated against time constraints provided by associated ¹⁴C dates. We demonstrate that neither the traditional OHD equation for depth (x) as a function of the square root of time (t^1/2) nor a linear function (t¹) fit the data. Solving the more generalized tⁿ function provides an excellent fit between characteristic point depths and ¹⁴C dates (for n≈0·75), and meets the constraint that at time equal to zero, the depth of the hydration profile must also be zero. However, this may be an average coefficient over the range of ages available, and may not accurately reflect rates at shorter or longer times. Using only two obsidian samples and their associated ¹⁴C dates, a calibration curve can be derived that provides ODDSIMS dates for the other pieces that are in excellent agreement with associated¹⁴ C dates, indicating that empirical application of the technique is potentially feasible, at least at individual sites.The underlying processes governing hydrogen transport into the obsidian were also investigated by using finite difference modelling to reproduce the shape of the hydrogen depth profile. Excellent fits were obtained by assuming concentration-dependent diffusion, and dates that agree well with associated ¹⁴C dates can also be extracted from the finite difference profiles. Although considerable additional work needs to be done, the success of the finite difference modelling suggests that development of an independent, intrinsic ODDSIMS model may be possible.     

Brief encounters: Tatham Mound and the evidence for Spanish and Native American confrontation

Skeletal trauma often has been utilized to examine facets of inter- and intragroup violence. Eighteen skeletal elements from Tatham Mound are considered in this study, which exhibit wounds similar to documented cases of trauma caused by edged metal weapons. Tatham Mound is a sixteenth century mortuary site in central Gulf Coast Florida and is located within the reconstructed zone of contact with the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. Macroscopic and microscopic analyses of skeletal elements are conducted in order to distinguish trauma due to edged metal weapons from other perimortem and post-mortem bone modification. The damage on elements from Tatham Mound is compared with documented cases of trauma from edged metal weapons as well as medieval European skeletal remains exhibiting trauma due to edged metal weapons. It is concluded that some of the observed cases are probably due to metal weapon wounds inflicted by the Spanish explorers.