Pre-Clovis in Texas? A critical assessment of the “Buttermilk Creek Complex”

Lithic artifacts from the lowest strata of the Debra L. Friedkin site, located on Buttermilk Creek in central Texas, have been interpreted as an undisturbed pre-Clovis assemblage (Waters et al., 2011a). Stone tools and debitage were recovered from sediments stratified just below diagnostic Clovis artifacts and dated by OSL to between 13.2 and >15.5 cal kya. Invoking commonly observed cultural and natural site formation processes, we offer an alternative explanation of the “Buttermilk Creek Complex” as a Clovis assemblage in secondary association with the dated sediments.     

Stable isotope analysis of dog,fox, and human diets at a Late Holocene Chumash village (CA-SRI-2) on Santa Rosa Island,California

Stable carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) isotope analyses of dog (Canis familiaris), island fox (Urocyon littoralis), and human bone collagen from CA-SRI-2 (AD 130–1830) on Santa Rosa Island, California provide a proxy of diet and the relationships between humans and these animals. Carbon isotopic signatures indicate that Native Americans and their dogs at CA-SRI-2 subsisted almost exclusively on marine resources, while the island fox ate primarily terrestrial foods. Nitrogen isotopes and archaeofaunal remains indicate that humans and dogs also ate higher trophic level foods, including finfishes, marine mammals, and seabirds with smaller amounts of shellfish. The CA-SRI-2 island foxes appear to have eaten higher amounts of terrestrial foods, similar to the diets observed in modern fox populations. These data generally confirm the commensal relationship assumed to exist between domesticated dogs and people, but the carbon isotopic composition of dogs is enriched ∼2‰ compared to humans. We hypothesize that the difference in carbon isotopes between dogs and humans may have resulted from a higher consumption of C3 plants with lower δ¹³C values by humans, or less likely from the ingestion by dogs of significant amounts of bone collagen, which is enriched by ∼4‰ over associated muscle.     

RECENT POPULATION TRENDS IN THE USSR

Pending the publication of new Soviet population data based on the 1979 census, to be hald next January, the author reviews population trends in the 1970's. After a steady decline through much of the Soviet period, birth rates and death rates have stabilized for the country as a whole, although marked regional differences continue. An unexplained rise in infant mortality and an apparent reduction of life expectancy have led to the suppression of data in these areas. No ready explanation is found for a recent increase in female fertility and age-specific death rates. Abnormalities in the age-sex structure, resulting from past population catastrophes, continue to persist and indicate future labor shortages. Geographical differences in population growth rates, resulting from differential rates of natural increase and migration, are analyzed. Urbanization, a typical phenomenon of the Soviet period, continues apace, with the biggest increases in large cities despite a policy designed to discourage big-city growth. A crucial question is the optimal disposition of the growing labor pool in the Central Asian region-whether to foster local employment or encourage migration from Central Asia to labor deficit areas elsewhere in the Soviet Union.     

Industrializing Shell-Bead Production in Northern New Jersey: Reuniting Collections from Stoltz Farm (1770–1830) and the Campbell Wampum Factory (1850–1900)

Historical Archaeology - By at least 1770, settlers of northern New Jersey appropriated the production of Indigenous shell beads, including iconic styles of wampum and hair pipes. At that time,...