Canids as persons: Early Neolithic dog and wolf burials, Cis-Baikal, Siberia

Interpretations of dog burials made by ancient foraging groups have tended to be based upon our own relationships with such animals and modern western cosmological and ontological concepts. Osteological studies of early dogs often focus only on issues of taxonomy, and as a result very little is known about these animals’ life histories. Eastern Siberia has produced many Holocene dog burials, but these are typically not well described and the explanatory frameworks provided for them are very underdeveloped. Here we examine in detail two Cis-Baikal canid burials, one of a wolf and the other a dog, both in large Middle Holocene hunter-gatherer cemeteries. We link the mortuary treatment of these animals to other cultural practices, particularly the treatment of the human dead, and broader patterns in Northern human-animal relationships. This interpretive model is combined with detailed osteobiographies for the canids and contextual information for these and other dogs and wolves from Middle Holocene Cis-Baikal. It is argued that canids here were understood and treated in a variety of ways. We suggest that some animals with unique histories were known as distinct persons with ‘souls’ and because of this at death required mortuary rites similar to those of their human counterparts.     

Determining the provenance of black limestone artifacts using petrography,isotopes and EPR techniques: the case of the monument of Bocco

This paper investigates the provenance of the black limestone of the monument known as Bocco, named after the king of Mauretania who presented Silla with this work as a sign of his submission to the power of Rome. A multi-method approach, comprising petrographic observations, carbon and oxygen isotope composition and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra characteristics, was used for this purpose. The monument is part of a reconstruction of a rectangular base (approx. 8 × 2 m) which is likely to have served as the base for a bronze statuary group and is currently composed of six blocks of limestone whose exterior is engraved with a fine frieze. The results of the different analyses were compared with the data of a published database of the most important black limestone quarries exploited during Roman times in the Mediterranean area. The petrographic and physico-chemical parameters did not prove to be very effective in determining the provenance of the black limestone of Bocco; the isotopes result even raised some uncertainty as to whether all six blocks came from the same quarry, though this doubt was dispelled by the EPR data and, above all, by the evident petrographic similarity between them. Differences in the isotopic composition of the various blocks may be due to an in situ rock alteration process caused by interaction with an aqueous fluid. It was, however, impossible to determine with certainty the origin of the material of the stone artifact using the database available; it is possible that the black limestone of Bocco came from an ancient quarry that is likely to be located in north western Africa but has not yet been uncovered. An alternative hypothesis, according to which the limestone used for the monument of Bocco came from the ancient quarry of Ain el Ksir, one of the Tunisian quarries present in the database, is also discussed.     

Why Did Binford's Middle-Range Program Outcompete Schiffer's Formation Process Program?

Different ideas are proposed all the time in archaeology. These often rise or fall based on how well they predict objective, measureable characteristics of the archaeological record. But other ideas are more paradigmatic, concerned with how we think about the archaeological record rather than the record itself. What determines which ideas rise or fall? This essay considers the specific question of why Lewis Binford’s middle-range approach became more prevalent over the very similar formation-process approach of Michael Schiffer in the 1970s and 1980s. It is hypothesized that while an approach’s ability to predict objective characteristics of the archaeological record is one selective factor, in this particular case, other factors, including personality and, especially, the association between Binford’s approach and significant, long-standing problems of prehistory, were also significant selective factors.     

Joint controlled fluid flow patterns and iron mass transfer in Jurassic Navajo Sandstone,Southern Utah,USA

The Jurassic Navajo Sandstone of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument (GSENM), Utah, exhibits a broad range of iron oxide/oxyhydroxide concretionary geometries that record a complex paragenetic history of the reservoir. The concretionary geometries are as follows: (i) common macroconcretions (>5 mm in diameter), (ii) ubiquitous microconcretions (<5 mm in diameter), (iii) localized iron oxide/oxyhydroxide‐lined northeast‐striking joints, and (iv) loopy asymmetrical mineralization and banded precipitation patterns (Liesegang bands) associated with the joints. Spheroidal concretion geometries typically indicate diffusive mass transfer, whereas asymmetrical mineralization represents advective directional flow. Liesegang bands parallel to asymmetrical mineralization denote a diffusive mass transfer component perpendicular to the principal flow direction. Careful study of concretionary geometries and their cross‐cutting relationships establishes a relative timing of precipitation and mobilization events. Macroconcretions formed post‐Laramide (<55 Ma), prior to and independent of the Miocene joints. The joints provided conduits for later oxidizing fluids that precipitated iron oxide/oxyhydroxide lining on the joint faces. Advective mass transfer overprinted the area with preferentially cemented flow lines (asymmetrical mineralization) less than 10 Ma, coincident with development of a hydraulic low to the southeast of the region (Colorado River downcutting). Certain trace elements are genetically tied to concretion formation, and evaluation of trace elements establishes precursor mineral phases. Enriched uranium concentrations in concretions (relative to the host rock) and low/undetectable sulfur concentrations in both host rock and concretions suggest that iron oxyhydroxide was a primary precipitate rather than a reduced iron mineral (i.e., pyrite or siderite) that later oxidized. Enrichment of Ni and As in concretions functions as fingerprints for diagenetic concretion formation when determining genesis of ambiguous iron oxide/oxyhydroxide spherules such as the remotely sensed ‘blueberries’ on Mars. Similarities between Mars and Utah spherules such as geometry, in situ spacing and volumetric density suggest that Mars spherules precipitated via a geochemically self‐organized nucleation pattern in diffusive chemical reaction fronts.     

Technological analysis of ceramics from Early Sarmatian burials in the Southwestern Urals

Early Sarmatian ceramics from the Southwestern Urals are analyzed using the approach set forth by A.A. Bobrinsky. Pottery production among the early nomads was based on an original technology. The results of the analysis are used to reconstruct the ethno-cultural history of the Southwestern Urals.