Assemblage variability and bifacial points in the lowermost Sibudan layers at Sibudu,South Africa

Building on the important work of Lyn Wadley at Sibudu, archeologists from the University of Tübingen have excavated the upper stratigraphic units of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) sequence down to the Howiesons Poort (HP). Here, we present the main results from lithic analyses of the lowest part of the Sibudan sequence to assess its overall variability and taxonomic status. Based on the new findings, we also discuss the implications for archeological systematics and the cultural evolution of modern humans in MIS 3 from a more general perspective. The Sibudan deposits encompass over 20 archeological horizons that span a 1.2-m-thick, well-stratified sequence whose base and top have been dated to ～58 ka (MIS 3). In contrast to the upper stratigraphic units, the lower Sibudan assemblages that we analyzed here show much higher use of local sandstone, quartz, and quartzite. These older units are characterized by frequent use of expedient core reduction methods, bipolar reduction of locally available quartz and quartzite, less retouch of blanks, and lower find densities. Tongati and Ndwedwe tools, which feature abundantly in the upper part of the Sibudan sequence, are entirely absent, as are unifacial points. Instead, notched and denticulated tools are common. Surprisingly, knappers manufactured small bifacial points, mainly made from quartz, by means of alternating shaping in the course of the oldest occupations. The results highlight the great diversity of human technological behavior over even short periods during the MSA, raising important questions about the mechanisms of behavioral change, cultural taxonomy, appropriate scales of lithic analyses, and the relationship between the HP and the Sibudan. Our findings further erode the old idea that bifacial technology in southern Africa is limited to the Still Bay. Research is increasingly showing that bifacial points come and go in different forms and contexts of African Late Pleistocene technology, impeding their use as chrono-cultural markers.     

The Lake Krasnoe obsidian source in Chukotka (Northeastern Siberia): geological and geochemical frameworks for provenance studies in Beringia

Basic data on the geology and geochemistry of obsidian from the Lake Krasnoe source in Chukotka (Northeastern Siberia) are reported for the first time. The data are based on 2009 fieldwork and analytical studies of igneous rock samples. The lake shore and surrounding parts of the Rarytkin Range were thoroughly examined. Two geochemical types of rhyolitic obsidian were recognized for the first time: (1) metaluminous obsidian related to the fine-grained crystalline rocks and (2) peralkaline obsidian corresponding to ignimbrite ash-flows or lapilli-tuffs composition. Both types are related to the final phase of acidic volcanism in the Western Kamchatkan-Koryak Volcanic Belt. Based on the results obtained, we conclude that accumulation of obsidian pebbles in the lake’s modern beach deposits is related to silicic melts that erupted during the late Eocene-early Oligocene in the form of extrusive domes or pyroclastic flows, which are now either covered by Quaternary sediments or located below the water level. The Lake Krasnoe obsidian was intensively used by the ancient populations of Chukotka as a raw material for making stone tools. It was also occasionally transported to Alaska across the Bering Strait in later prehistory. The distances between source and utilization sites are up to 700–1100 km. Geochemical data for Lake Krasnoe obsidian, based on neutron activation analysis and X-ray fluorescence that are presented here, can now be used for provenance studies in the Northeastern Siberia and adjacent regions of northern North America.     

Toy Story: Homophily,Transmission and the Use of Simple Simulation Models for Assessing Variability in the Archaeological Record

The interpretation of spatial and temporal patterns in the archaeological record remains a long-standing issue in the discipline. Amongst many methods and interpretations, modelling of ‘biased transmission’ has proved a successful strategy to tackle this problem. Here, we investigate a type of biased transmission, homophily, that is the tendency of individuals to associate and bond with similar others. In contrast to other social sciences, homophily remains underused in archaeology. In order to fill this gap, we develop six distinct variants of a well-established modelling framework borrowed from social science, Axelrod’s Cultural Dissemination Model. These so-called toy models are abstract models used for theory-building and aim at exploring the interplay between homophily and various factors (e.g. addition of spatial features such as mountains and coastlines, diffusion of innovations and population spread). The relevance and implications of each ‘toy model’ for archaeological reasoning are then discussed.     

Weak Ties and Expertise: Crossing Technological Boundaries

In this article, we question how new technological traits can penetrate cohesive social groups and spread. Based on ethnographic narratives and following studies in sociology, the hypothesis is that not only weak ties are important for linking otherwise unconnected groups and introducing new techniques but also that expertise is required. In order to test this hypothesis, we carried out a set of field experiments in northern India where the kiln has been adopted recently. Our goal was to measure the degree of expertise of the potters distributed between early and late adopters of the kiln. Our results are discussed in the light of oral interviews. Our conclusions suggest that expertise is a necessary, albeit not sufficient, condition for weak ties to act as bridges and thereby for new techniques to spread. As an example, they explain how turntables could have been adopted by potters from the northern Levant during the third millennium BC.     

Refining the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilization</Emphasis>: How Plant Fiber Technology Drove Social Complexity During the Preceramic Period

Moseley’s (1975) Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilization hypothesis challenges, in one of humanity’s few pristine hearths of civilization, the axiom that agriculture is necessary for the rise of complex societies. We revisit that hypothesis by setting new findings from La Yerba II (7571–6674 Cal bp) and III (6485–5893 Cal bp), Río Ica estuary, alongside the wider archaeological record for the end of the Middle Preceramic Period on the Peruvian coast. The La Yerba record evinces increasing population, sedentism, and “Broad Spectrum Revolution” features, including early horticulture of Phaseolus and Canavalia beans. Yet unlike further north, these changes failed to presage the florescence of monumental civilization during the subsequent Late Preceramic Period. Instead, the south coast saw a profound “archaeological silence.” These contrasting trajectories had little to do with any relative differences in marine resources, but rather to restrictions on the terrestrial resources that determined a society’s capacity to intensify exploitation of those marine resources. We explain this apparent miscarriage of the Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilization (MFAC) hypothesis on the south coast of Peru by proposing more explicit links than hitherto, between the detailed technological aspects of marine exploitation using plant fibers to make fishing nets and the emergence of social complexity on the coast of Peru. Rather than because of any significant advantages in quality, it was the potential for increased quantities of production, inherent in the shift from gathered wild Asclepias bast fibers to cultivated cotton, that inadvertently precipitated revolutionary social change. Thereby refined, the MFAC hypothesis duly emerges more persuasive than ever.     

Surfaces from the Visual Past: Recovering High<Emphasis Type="Bold">-</Emphasis>Resolution Terrain Data from Historic Aerial Imagery for Multitemporal Landscape Analysis

Historic aerial images are invaluable sources of aid to archaeological research. Often collected with large-format photogrammetric quality cameras, these images are potential archives of multidimensional data that can be used to recover information about historic landscapes that have been lost to modern development. However, a lack of camera information for many historic images coupled with physical degradation of their media has often made it difficult to compute geometrically rigorous 3D content from such imagery. While advances in photogrammetry and computer vision over the last two decades have made possible the extraction of accurate and detailed 3D topographical data from high-quality digital images emanating from uncalibrated or unknown cameras, the target source material for these algorithms is normally digital content and thus not negatively affected by the passage of time. In this paper, we present refinements to a computer vision-based workflow for the extraction of 3D data from historic aerial imagery, using readily available software, specific image preprocessing techniques and in-field measurement observations to mitigate some shortcomings of archival imagery and improve extraction of historical digital elevation models (hDEMs) for use in landscape archaeological research. We apply the developed method to a series of historic image sets and modern topographic data covering a period of over 70 years in western Sicily (Italy) and evaluate the outcome. The resulting series of hDEMs form a temporal data stack which is compared with modern high-resolution terrain data using a geomorphic change detection approach, providing a quantification of landscape change through time in extent and depth, and the impact of this change on archaeological resources.     

Assessing the Stability and Sustainability of Rock Art Sites: Insight from Southwestern Arizona

In light of global trends in human population growth and urbanization, burgeoning cultural heritage tourism industries, and climate change, cultural heritage places in nearly every corner of the world are significantly threatened, and will remain so into the foreseeable future. Rock art sites are some of the most imperiled, with their exposed contexts posing unique challenges to conservation. Consequently, effective management of publically accessible rock art sites necessitates a sustainable approach that weighs visitation in regard to cultural significance and site stability. This essay integrates rock art stability and sustainability assessment methodologies at the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site in southwestern Arizona. The study specifically applies the Rock Art Stability Index (RASI) to evaluate the natural and anthropogenic weathering forces impacting the site, and the Heritage Asset Sensitivity Gauge (HASG) to assess site sustainability under existing management practices in relation to current and forecasted rates of visitation. A spatial analysis of aggregated RASI data shows that visitor foot traffic has had some of the most profound impacts to the petroglyphs. Unrestricted access to the site area is also highly correlated with the presence and location of vandalism and graffiti, and visitor-related trampling has adversely affected the site’s surface artifact assemblage. Application of the HASG projects that, while existing management practices are fairly sustainable, they become less so under forecasted increases in visitation. Further, the HASG appraises the site’s cultural significance as outweighing its market appeal, indicating management efforts should prioritize conservation over tourism-related development.     

Sequential Incisions on a Cave Bear Bone from the Middle Paleolithic of Pešturina Cave,Serbia

We present the detailed analysis of a cervical vertebra from a cave bear, found at Pe?turina cave, Serbia, in a Mousterian archaeological level dated by radiocarbon at 43.5–44.6 kyr cal BP, and by ESR to between 93.5 and 102.5 kyr BP. Identified as a portion of the cranial articular facet, the fragment displays ten subparallel grooves. The microscopic study of these grooves and other surface modification present on the bone fragment, conducted with multifocus optical and confocal microscopes and complemented by a taphonomic analysis of the associated faunal assemblage, supports the hypothesis that the incisions were made by humans. Results are used to critically examine ambiguities implicit in the analysis and interpretation of early engravings, a category of material culture that has been playing a key role in the identification of early instances of symbolically mediated behavior.     

Parental Grief and Mourning in the Ancient Andes

Parental grief is an intense emotion shaped and mediated by cultural attitudes toward death, the strength of parent-child attachment, the age of the deceased child, and the role of children in society. Despite some assertions that high infant mortality or economic hardship may lessen parental grief, cross-cultural studies show that child death often causes emotional distress to parents, in particular mothers. Funerary treatments of children, especially infants, are often simplified, contradicting more immediate and immaterial expressions of parental grief that cannot be studied archaeologically. In this study, I examine the funerary treatment of children in ancient Andean Tiwanaku society (A.D. 500–1100). I assess the use of ritual practices and objects associated with children’s burials as indicative of children’s social identities and parental mourning. The nature of grave assemblages in regard to different ages of the children suggests that parental attitudes toward their children changed over the course of childhood. The choice of offerings seems to reflect parental attachment to and recognition of the child’s life. Modifications of ceramic vessels point to the intimate mourning gestures of grieving mothers who sought to provide their deceased children with the necessary offerings to assume their place among the community of venerated ancestors. This study draws on ethnographic, psychological, and ethnohistoric sources of parent-child bonds in the Andes and beyond to investigate children’s burials not merely as reflective of childhood and children’s role in society but as the material record of parental attachment and emotion in the past.