Zooarchaeology and Changing Food Practices at Carrizales,Peru Following the Spanish Invasion

Through analysis of zooarchaeological remains from two occupations at the site of Carrizales, we examine how an indigenous Peruvian maritime community responded to imperial interventions in their daily lives in the late sixteenth century. Following their forced resettlement into a planned reducción village, and amidst demographic decline and tribute extraction, Carrizales’s residents significantly changed how they put food on the table, pursuing less time-intensive strategies of food collection and incorporating Eurasian animals into their diets. These results illustrate the dynamism of relations between imperial political economies and domestic life and the efficacy of indigenous survival strategies.     

Explaining Regional Variations in Entrepreneurship as Multiple Occupational Equilibria*

Abstract. The paper proposes a human capital‐based model of choice between paid employment and entrepreneurship that can give rise to multiple equilibria in occupational structure. The model is consistent with evidence of pronounced, persistent, and hitherto unexplained regional variations in entrepreneurship. Whether multiple equilibria emerge is shown to depend on the occupation‐specific productivity of human capital and the costs of human and financial capital. The paper goes on to discuss the implications for governments seeking to promote entrepreneurship as a tool of regional development policy.     

Bedding, hearths, and site maintenance in the Middle Stone Age of Sibudu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Micromorphological analysis of sediments from the Middle Stone Age site of Sibudu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, provides a high-resolution sequence and evidence of site formation processes of predominantly anthropogenic deposits. This methodology allows for a detailed interpretation of individual anthropogenic activities, including the construction of hearths and bedding and the maintenance of occupational surfaces through the sweep out of hearths and the repeated burning of bedding. This analysis also provides a context for evaluating other studies at the site relating to magnetic susceptibility, paleobotany, paleozoology, anthracology, and studies of ochre.     

Cemented ash as a receptacle or work surface for ochre powder production at Sibudu,South Africa, 58,000 years ago

The white ash of Sibudu hearths sometimes became cemented and, when this was the case, some of these crusts were used as work surfaces or receptacles, particularly in occupations dating about 58,000 years ago. Substantial deposits of red and yellow ochre powder have been found on these crusts. This suggests that the ochre was not associated with hearths for heat treatment because yellow ochre readily transforms to red even at low temperatures. XRF readings suggest that the ochre used at the site derives from different geological sources. Micromorphological studies imply that phosphatization caused the cementation of the ashes in some hearths, while gypsum growth hardened one of the hearths described here.     

Still Bay and serrated points from Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter,Kwazulu-Natal,South Africa

Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter is a long-sequence Middle and Later Stone Age site in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Jonathan Kaplan excavated the site and analysed the material in the 1980s as a rescue project. For many years thereafter the collection remained untouched, partly because of doubts raised about the stratigraphic integrity of the site. Using single-grain OSL dating we show that post-depositional mixing of sediment was restricted to time-specific, small-scale events. The OSL ages obtained for the Howiesons Poort and pre-Howiesons Poort are comparable to those of other southern African sites with unambiguous Howiesons Poort and Still Bay Industries. Based on morphological and other characteristics, we reason that the Still Bay is represented at Umhlatuzana, and announce the presence of a serrated point assemblage closely associated in time with the Still Bay points.     

A Neolithic Voyage

Examination of stone artefacts from Maiden Castle, Dorset, led to the identification of a Neolithic saddle-quern which originated in central Normandy. While stone axes from Brittany and jadeitite axes from the Alps have long been known from central southern England, the quern is the largest and heaviest Neolithic import yet identified. It has a bearing on the debate about indigenous or immigrant origins for the Neolithic, but also re-opens the question of the type of boat that plied the Channel at this early period. It is argued that logboats, for which there is evidence, should not be overlooked in favour of skin-boats for which there is none.
© 2009 The Authors     

Identifying regional variability in Middle Stone Age bone technology: The case of Sibudu Cave

A few pieces of worked bone were previously reported from Sibudu, a site from KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa featuring a stratigraphic sequence with pre-Still Bay, Still Bay, Howiesons Poort, post-Howiesons Poort, late and final MSA cultural horizons. Here we describe an expanded collection of worked bones, including twenty-three pieces. Technological and use-wear analysis of these objects, and their comparison with experimental and ethnographic data, reveals that a number of specialised bone tool types (wedges, pièces esquillées, pressure flakers, smoothers, sequentially notched pieces), previously known only from the Upper Palaeolithic and more recent periods, were manufactured and used at least 30,000 years earlier at Sibudu Cave. These tools appear to be part of a local tradition because they are absent at contemporaneous or more recent southern African sites. Variability in Middle Stone Age material culture supports a scenario in which, beyond broad similarities in lithic technology, significant differences between regions, and trends of continuity at a local scale emerge in other aspects of the technical system, and in the symbolic domain. The archaeological record is revealing a complexity that prevents evaluation of the modern character of Middle Stone Age cultures in antinomic terms. We argue here that it is the detailed analysis of cultural variation that will inform us of the non-linear processes at work during this period, and contribute in the long run to explaining how and when crucial cultural innovations became established in human history.