A Late Holocene Tsunami at Basta Voe,Yell, Shetland Isles

A distinctive sand layer enclosed within Holocene peat is described from Basta Voe, Isle of Yell, Shetland Isles. The sand layer, that can be traced considerable distances inland and up to a maximum altitude of c. + 9 m OD, is here interpreted as having been deposited by a former tsunami. AMS dating appears to indicate that the tsunami occurred between 1300 – 1570 cal years BP. At present, the tsunami has no known source mechanism although the most likely mechanism is thought to have been an offshore slump or slide. The available information would presently seem to indicate that this tsunami was restricted to the eastern coastline of Shetland. The relatively young age of this inferred tsunami is of considerable importance to planners and engineers concerned with estimating coastal flood frequency and magnitude.     

Geoarchaeological tsunami deposits at Palaikastro (Crete) and the Late Minoan IA eruption of Santorini

The explosive eruption at Santorini in the Aegean Sea during the second millennium BCE was the largest Holocene volcanic upheaval in the Eastern Mediterranean region. The eruption was disastrous for the Minoan settlements at Santorini, but the effect on human society in the neighbouring islands and regions is still clouded in uncertainty. Tsunami generation was suggested, but comparatively little evidence was found. The lack of firm tsunami traces is particularly puzzling in Crete with its coastal settlements of the Late Minoan IA period, during which the Santorini eruption occurred. Here, we report the discovery of extensive geoarchaeological tsunami deposits at Palaikastro in north-eastern Crete. These deposits are characterized by a mixture of geological materials, including volcanic Santorini ash, and archaeological settlement debris. Various tsunami signatures were identified: (1) erosional contact with the underlying strata, (2) volcanic ash intraclasts in the lower part of the deposit, (3) reworked building stone material in the lower part of the deposit, (4) individual marine shells, (5) marine micro-fauna, (6) imbrication of rounded beach pebbles, settlement debris, ceramic sherds and even bones, (7) multi-modal chaotic composition. Late Minoan human settlement activities at Palaikastro provided architectural and stratigraphic frameworks in space and time that recorded and preserved tsunami evidence as geoarchaeological deposits. Such stratigraphic resolution and preservation may not occur in the natural landscape. Volcanic ash transported by wind from Santorini south-east to Crete preceded the tsunami. Geological, archaeological and radiocarbon dating criteria all converge, indicating that the tsunami deposits are coeval with the Minoan Santorini eruption. Field evidence suggests that tsunami waves at Palaikastro were at least 9 m high. Inverse tsunami modeling was attempted, based on these newly discovered tsunamigenic deposits. The initial wave in the generation region at Santorini that best fits the stratigraphic data is a wave with +35 to −15 m initial amplitude and a crest length of about 15 km.     

Modeling tides and tsunami propagation in the former Gulf of Tartessos,as a tool for Archaeological Science

After the last Holocene sea level rise (about 6900 BP), the Gulf of Tartessos extended over the south-western area of the nowadays Guadalquivir Valley (Spain). With the development of some depositional littoral landforms and the progressive infill, the system evolved towards an inland lagoon. The first political system in the area emerged and collapsed from the fourth to the second millennium BC. Around the first millennium BC the culture of Tartessos flourished in this area under the Phoenician influence, but it vanished by the sixth century BC. The quest of its lost capital, the city of Tartessos, has been one of the most exciting archaeological enterprises in the past century. The former coastline and the bathymetry of the gulf can be reasonably reconstructed from geo-archaeological studies, and it can be used for the numerical modeling of tide and tsunami propagation in this water body. Models, with a spatial resolution of 30 s of arc, are based on the 2D non-linear hydrodynamic equations and have been previously validated under nowadays conditions. Computed tidal elevations and currents can provide some insight on the ancient trades for ship traffic and fisheries. The simulation of tsunami propagation, like the catastrophic one of 1755, allows estimating their potential hazardous effects on ancient coastal cities.     

Mid‐Holocene Development of Mangrove Communities Featuring Rhizophoraceae and Geomorphic Change in the Richmond River Estuary,New South Wales,Australia

This paper describes the hitherto unreported occurrence of mid‐Holocene mangrove deposits in the Richmond River estuary, southeastern Australia, thereby providing evidence for changes in the distribution and composition of mangrove communities within a subtropical estuarine system during the Holocene. Stratigraphic, radiocarbon and palynological evidence indicates that widespread development of mangrove communities took place in the upstream reaches of the Richmond River estuary during the period 7000 to 6000 years BP. These communities maintained their habitat through substrate aggradation under the conditions of a moderate sea‐level rise, in contrast to other estuaries within the region, which generally experienced the submergence of intertidal substrates. Mangrove species belonging to the family Rhizophoraceae, most likely Bruguiera gymnorrhiza and Rhizophora stylosa, dominated these communities, in strong contrast to contemporary communities, which are dominated by Avicennia marina. Moreover, these mid‐Holocene communities were located a considerable distance upstream of the contemporary occurrences of Rhizophoraceae species within the estuary. The changes in the spatial distribution and composition of mangrove communities parallel the large‐scale evolution of the estuary driven by sea‐level variation. Shallow, buried Pleistocene terraces probably contributed to the regionally unique aggradational response of the mangrove communities and their substrates to a sea‐level rise during mid‐Holocene times.     

An investigation of climatic change in the holocene epoch using archaeological charcoal from Swaziland, Southern Africa

A methodology is described for the analysis of Holocene charcoals excavated from a rock shelter in the Lubombo Mountains of northeast Swaziland. Scanning electron microscopy was used to compare these with modern reference woods. Of the ancient material 96·6% could be identified, in some cases at specific level. It is in such a subtropical area, where the woody flora is so rich, that assemblages of local taxa can be used in palaeoclimatic reconstructions. The changing taxa indicated by the charcoal fragments from the rock shelter clearly reflect minor shifts in Holocene climate, from moist to dry and back to moist in recent times. This is of relevance to the fluctuations in Stone Age populations in southern Africa. The wider use of such evidence to complement other palaeoenvironmental and archaeological data is advocated.     

A spatial approach to upland vegetation change and human impact: the Aber Valley,Snowdonia

Abstract

Uplands have long been considered important ‘barometers’ for human-environment relationships. Five pollen sequences from the upper Aber Valley (Snowdonia), across an altitudinal gradient, reveal that human impacts have varied temporally on small spatial scales in the region. Woodland taxa persisted into the later Holocene at lower altitudes and sites located at higher altitude reveal a more open landscape history, possibly as a result of increased exposure limiting tree growth at high elevation. Continuous pastoral human land use is evident in the high upland (400 to >600 m AOD) landscape with evidence of clearing, burning and grazing indicators throughout the records covering the last ～6000 years, with increased activity apparent during the last 2000 years. There is no clear evidence to suggest that climate change (e.g. deteriorating climatic conditions from ～850 BC) resulted in land abandonment and it appears more likely that climatic shifts could have led to changes in human land management. The results demonstrate that pastoral land use varied at different altitudes across the Aber Valley upland, and have highlighted the value and potential of high/fine spatial sampling in providing insights into land use history and the mosaic of habitats that result.     

Holocene artiodactyl population histories and large game hunting in the Wyoming Basin,USA

Regional paleoenvironmental reconstructions and data on artiodactyl response to climate change suggest that large game densities would have expanded during the late Holocene in the Wyoming Basin. Within this context, we use the prey model of foraging theory to predict a late Holocene increase in the hunting of artiodactyls, relative to lagomorphs and rodents. This prediction is then tested against 144 dated components documenting human subsistence in the Wyoming Basin. Close fits are found between the deductively derived prediction and the empirical records: significant increases in artiodactyl hunting occurred during the late Holocene. These results have implications for the interpretation of long-term increases in large-game in Holocene archaeofaunas throughout North America.     

Residential Development,Risk, and Land Prices

This paper examines the relationship between the residential development sequence and land price. Inherent in the dynamics of residential development is that the first consumers face the greatest risk since they do not know with certainty what the neighborhood characteristics will be; subsequent consumers have more information. The model predicts that land prices will rise over time relative to the market; developers offer the first consumers discounted land prices to compensate them for the first-mover disadvantage. The empirical evidence indicates that this is indeed the case.     

Persistent land use patterns and the mid-Holocene housepits of Wyoming

Abstract

The cyclical use of sites and locales over decades, centuries, and even millennia is an important aspect of hunter-gatherer land use that is rarely considered in studies that focus on a single annual cycle. The long-term perspective provided by archaeological data can be used to delineate persistent land use patterns and contribute to an understanding of the complexity of hunter-gatherer behavior. Mid-Holocene Wyoming housepit data document persistent land use over at least a 2000-year period at three spatial scales—the reuse of housepits, reuse of sites containing housepits, and use of different sites within the larger region. Slab-lined cylindrical basins at many sites in southwest Wyoming provide evidence for stable long-term land use during the middle Holocene. The focal point of this pattern was probably a predictable resource, possibly some type of root plant that would have been available during the dry middle Holocene.     

Landscape and Soil Development on Monaro Basalt West of Nimmitabel,New South Wales

Prolonged stability of the southern tableland of NSW, developed on early Tertiary Monaro basalt, is evident from weak landscape dissection and numerous small lakes. However, poorly developed soils and weathered zones are inconsistent with prolonged Cainozoic weathering or formation under climates substantially different to the present. Thin Holocene sediments are also at variance with the sizes of the lake basins. Low depositional landforms, termed ‘lake shadows’, occur on the eastern perimeters of most lakes, and comprise clay pellets blown from basin floors during dry phases. Deflation, dominantly during Quaternary glacial periods, and reactivated today, is responsible for the thin soils and sediment cover. The lake basins are partly solutional and partly deflational features. The modern soil cover reflects the modern climate.     

A side-scan sonar and high-resolution Chirp sub-bottom profile study of the natural and anthropogenic sedimentary record of Lower Lough Erne,northwestern Ireland

A geophysical survey (side-scan sonar and high-resolution sub-bottom profiling) combined with established chrono- and bio-stratigraphic markers are used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of Lower Lough Erne, northwestern Ireland since the end of the last glacial. Discrete acoustic units define four prominent sedimentation cycles, one Late-glacial and three Holocene, within the seismic stratigraphy. Basin development is predominantly controlled by climate until the Mid Holocene when the effects of cultural activity are related to pronounced signatures in the seismic record. An enhanced reflector marking the termination of the Early Holocene sedimentation cycle is associated with the elm decline and forest clearance during the Neolithic (between approximately 5800 cal. BP and 5300 cal. BP). The associated increase in sediment input, by infilling minor topographic lows and basins, has a smoothing effect on the morphologic expression of the original basin. Onlapping and truncated reflectors in the penultimate acoustic unit define further modification of lake bed relief by removal of sediment from the system during engineered lowering of the lake levels that began in the 1880s. Acoustic anomalies identified on the side-scan sonar data are linked with cultural activity and are identified as having the potential to facilitate the recent establishment and migration of invasive zebra mussels through the Erne system.     

Holocene lakes and prehistoric settlements of the Western Faiyum,Egypt

Holocene lake stages in the Faiyum depression commenced with a high lake stand during the 10th millennium bp, followed by an early Holocene lake from 8500 to 7000 bp. A pronounced recession and the development of a palaeosol preceded another rise to a mid-Holocene, high lake level from 6500 to 5100 bp. A major drop in level coincided with the late Neolithic and Early Dynastic. The Moeris lake witnessed by Herodotus is also documented. The drop in lake level during early Ptolemaic times marked the end of the freshwater lake and was apparently, in part, a result of declining Nile floods. Terminal Palaeolithic sites are associated with the early Holocene lake and Neolithic sites with the mid-Holocene phase. Prehistoric settlements were placed near lake-margin marshes and ponds. The richness of the lake margin in aquatic resources and its susceptibility to short- and long-term fluctuations influenced both subsistence and settlements, and is believed to have encouraged a para-agricultural economy.     

Bipolar Reduction and Behavioral Variability During the Mid-Late Holocene at Eagle's Nest,Mount Sinai Harbor,New York

Recent syntheses for the Long Island Sound region argue for long-term cultural continuity amongst Holocene coastal hunter-gatherers. These notions derive primarily from studies of quartz lithic assemblages, which archaeologists argue show structural stasis over time. The remaining variability is explained with a ‘distance to source' model in which near-coastal sites tend to show a lack of quartz conservation while interior sites show quartz recycling. Under this model, technological strategies traditionally associated with raw material conservation (e.g., bipolar reduction) should not occur at near-coastal sites. We test the ‘distance to source’ model by reexamining a quartz lithic assemblage from Eagle's Nest-Long Island's richest Holocene coastal hunter-gatherer site. We find conclusive evidence for bipolar reduction in the site's “block/shatter” materials. Toolmakers used bipolar reduction to conserve raw material. Toolmakers also used anvils and bipolar reduction to open quartz cobbles, to stabilize freehand cores, to efficiently access cutting edges, and possibly to create crushed coarse quartz temper for pottery production. Our results point to previously unrecognized aspects of behavioral variability in the Eagle's Nest lithic assemblage and to possible revision of the ‘distance to source’ model. Similar variability may be present at other North American sites with quartz “block/shatter” material.     

Neolithization and Ancient Landscapes in Southern Primorye,Russian Far East

Archaeological and paleoecological investigations of Neolithization processes in Southern Primorye (or the Maritime Region) of the Russian Far East are generating new insight into the complex interactions between human populations and the natural environment during the Middle Holocene. Dynamic coastal and terrestrial ecosystems have been linked to transformations in the paleoeconomy and social structure of prehistoric societies that gave rise to the Boisman Neolithic culture (7500–4500 BP) of coastal hunter-fisher-gatherers. These human–environment relations are reconstructed in the current paper, drawing from a wide range of available evidence.     

Murujuga,Northwestern Australia: When Arid Hunter-Gatherers Became Coastal Foragers

ABSTRACT

The Dampier Archipelago (Murujuga) in northwestern Australia is a rich rock art province located in an arid-maritime cultural landscape. The archipelago juts into the Indian Ocean just north of the Tropic of Capricorn. When people started inscribing this rugged granophyre landscape it was an inland range more than 100 km from the coast. Murujuga rock art is contextualized by a 47,000-year-old occupation sequence from the Pilbara, a model for stylistic change, and a predictive model that envisages how people may have adapted to this eventual seascape. Initial testing of an outer island suggests that highly mobile coastal foragers took advantage of interior ranges across the Abydos Plain as sea levels rose after the Last Glacial Maximum. This article describes for the first time evidence for Australia's earliest domestic stone structures (dated to between 8063 and 7355 cal BP) and tests the predictive model. Rosemary Island is an inscribed landscape that reveals the emergence of an arid island and provides insights into the dynamics of mobile arid hunter-fisher-gatherers in the early Holocene. It adds to the body of Australian evidence for island abandonment with insulation, but with minimal evidence for subsequent (re)colonization.     

On the Supposedly Young age of Angara Alluvial Sediments Based on the Findings of Salvage Excavations in the Flooding Area of the Boguchany Hydroelectric Plant

Based on the stratigraphy of Paleolithic sites on the northern Angara, the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene history of the region is reconstructed. Findings of recent salvage excavations in the Boguchany flooding zone as well as the evidence of Quaternary geology, geomorphology, neotectonics, and archaeology jointly disprove the “young Angara” model proposed by G.I. Medvedev and other “geoarchaeologists.” The principal event postulated by that model – the alleged disastrous outburst of the Angara along the Baikal channel 12–7 ka BP is supported neither by the relief nor by the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene sedimentation record nor by the stratigraphy of the Paleolithic sites on the northern Angara.     

Evolutionary Ecology,Resource Depression,and Niche Construction Theory: Applications to Central California Hunter-Gatherers and Mimbres-Mogollon Agriculturalists

Evolutionary ecology is a theoretical framework that has been widely applied to problems in human evolution and prehistory. Because the approach often focuses on how behavioral adjustments to changing socio-ecological conditions create novel selective pressures that in turn drive other changes in morphology and behavior, it draws on the same evolutionary logic that underlies niche construction theory. We illustrate here the important role that niche construction has played in archaeological applications of evolutionary ecology with two detailed case studies: one from Late Holocene hunter-gatherer populations in Central California and one from Mimbres-Mogollon agriculturalists in New Mexico. These examples illustrate that evolutionary ecology-based approaches, with an emphasis on formal predictive modeling, allow for the incorporation of niche construction as it affects model parameters with reference to specific problems involving past behavior. Further modeling and empirical applications will expand the synergies between these complementary approaches and advance our understanding of the human past.     

Humanitarian Space as Arena: A Perspective on the Everyday Politics of Aid

‘Humanitarian space’ denotes the physical or symbolic space which humanitarian agents need to deliver their services according to the principles they uphold. This concept, which separates humanitarian action from its politicized environment, is widely used in policy documents and academic texts, even though empirical evidence abounds that this space is in fact highly politicized. To some extent the uncritical use of the concept of humanitarian space is understandable because of its aspirational character. This article explores a different angle: how different actors use the concept and the language of humanitarian space and principles in the everyday politics of aid delivery. It proposes an empirical perspective that approaches humanitarian space from the perspective of everyday practices of policy and implementation. It maintains that the humanitarian space is an arena where a multitude of actors, including humanitarians and the disaster‐affected recipients of aid, shape the everyday realities of humanitarian action. The paper develops this perspective for two humanitarian operations: a protracted refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya, and the tsunami response in Sri Lanka.     

The Taliban,Public Space,and Terror in Pakistan

Two UK-based specialists on terrorism in Pakistan use empirical evidence to document and analyze the Pakistani Taliban's (Tehrik-e-Taliban) practice of targeting spaces of public interaction for terrorism intended to suppress expressions of public unity and restrict venues for open discussion. In tracing the rise of the Taliban in Pakistan, the authors review the country's history of state and civil society formation, its relations with Afghanistan, and U.S. and Western policy in the region. The authors present timely information and insights that enhance understanding of the recent surge in terrorist attacks on civilians in Pakistan and its ties to the eastward spread of conflict from neighboring Afghanistan.     

Archaeological Survey of Dynamic Coastal Landscapes and Paleoshorelines: Locating Early Holocene Sites in the Prince Rupert Harbour Area,British Columbia,Canada

We present and test a predictive archaeological survey model that targets early Holocene paleoshorelines in the Prince Rupert Harbour area using LiDAR bare earth digital terrain models and a 15,000-year reconstructed history of relative sea level change. Despite a century of archaeological research in the study area, no sites dating earlier than 6000 cal b.p. had been identified prior to our research. Our field survey identified three early Holocene sites associated with paleoshorelines 7–10?m above current sea level (masl). These locations demonstrate repeated use through the Holocene even as shoreline position changes. We discuss these new data in relation to the early Holocene archaeological record from the rest of the northern Northwest Coast and suggest that the region was ubiquitously occupied by this time and that the lack of recorded early Holocene sites in some areas is likely a result of survey and preservation bias, rather than historical reality.