Disease: A Hitherto Unexplored Constraint on the Spread of Dogs (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Canis lupus familiaris</Emphasis>) in Pre-Columbian South America

Although debate continues, there is agreement that dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) were first domesticated in Eurasia, spreading from there to other parts of the world. However, while that expansion already extended as far as Europe, China, and North America by the early Holocene, dogs spread into (and south of) the tropics only much later. In South America, for example, the earliest well-attested instances of their presence do not reach back much beyond 3000 cal. BC, and dogs were still absent from large parts of the continent—Amazonia, the Gran Chaco, and much of the Southern Cone—at European contact. Previous explanations for these patterns have focused on cultural choice, the unsuitability of dogs for hunting certain kinds of tropical forest prey, and otherwise unspecified environmental hazards, while acknowledging that Neotropical lowland forests witness high rates of canine mortality. Building on previous work in sub-Saharan Africa (Mitchell in Archaeol Res Afr 50:92–135, 2015), and noting that the dog’s closest relatives, the grey wolf (C. lupus) and the coyote (C. latrans), were likewise absent from South and most of Central America in pre-Columbian times, this paper explores instead the possibility that infectious disease constrained the spread of dogs into Neotropical environments. Four diseases are considered, all likely to be native and/or endemic to South America: canine distemper, canine trypanosomiasis, canine rangeliosis, and canine visceral leishmaniasis caused by infection with Leishmania amazonensis and L. colombiensis. The paper concludes by suggesting ways in which the hypothesis that disease constrained the expansion of dogs into South America can be developed further.     

The potential of paleoethnobotanical evidence for the study of Teotihuacan foodways

Macro- and microscopic plant remains recovered from excavations at Teotihuacan over several decades contribute to an understanding of the subsistence resources available to the city’s inhabitants. However, associated contextual evidence may be inconclusive regarding the specific uses of the plants in question and, particularly, whether their presence or relative abundance indicates processing and consumption or the consequence of depositional processes. While the analysis of archeological plant remains is necessarily an interdisciplinary endeavor, involving aspects of botany, ecology, ethnography and history among other disciplines, contextual archeological evidence provides the matrix for interpretation. In this paper, we explore direct archeological evidence for plant use, considering the significance of appropriate contextual evidence (e.g., activity areas, associated ceramics, lithics, etc.) and the potential complementary role of analytical techniques such as residue analyses, and carbon isotope signatures in faunal and human osteological remains as well as stratigraphic sediments.     

Teotihuacan pottery as evidence for subsistence practices involving maguey sap

As in most other pre-industrial cities, urban life at Teotihuacan was closely intertwined with ceramic technology, perhaps nowhere more so than in the realm of foodways. Here, we use two kinds of information derived from ancient pottery—ceramic residues and intra-site sherd distribution patterns—to shed new light on the city’s subsistence economy. We concentrate in particular on the amphora, a type of vessel that may have been used to contain aguamiel and pulque, liquid foodstuffs made of maguey sap. Distributional data distilled from surface collections of the Teotihuacan Mapping Project are informative about patterned variation in the use of these pots at the scale of the entire city. More focused analyses are aimed at chemical characterization of organic residues preserved in ceramic sherds recovered from recent excavations. Part of a broader project aimed at identifying both animal and plant remains, the results of the residue analysis provide the first direct identification of pulque remains in Teotihuacan pottery.     

Discussion: the subsistence of the Teotihuacan metropolis

In this chapter, the issue of how the huge multiethnic metropolis of Teotihuacan was fed will be addressed reassessing data from four different contexts:

1. 1.
   The apartment compounds where people dwelled
    
2. 2.
   The neighborhood centers where many people of different origins worked
    
3. 3.
   The palatial structures of the ruling elite
    
4. 4.
   The rituals inside the main pyramids
    

My extensive excavation project at the multifamily apartment compound of Oztoyahualco 15B:N6W3 (1985–1988) provides the primary dataset to address the first context; there, the faunal and floral remains relate directly to food preparation and consumption, as well as fuel provisioning, manufacture, and domestic ritual. My project at the multiethnic neighborhood center of Teopancazco (1997–2005) addresses the complexity of multiethnic relations established through caravans linking Teotihuacan with allied sites along the corridor towards the Nautla region of the Gulf Coast of Veracruz. Foreign fauna, as well as cotton and other raw materials and products, arrived to Teotihuacan through these caravans, together with migrant specialized craftsmen/women. The third context will be addressed through my excavations in Xalla, a huge palatial complex to the north of the Pyramid of the Sun, where the ruling elite participated in ceremonial and sacrificial activities. The fourth context will only be mentioned briefly and is related to the excavations in the main monumental structures, where faunal and floral remains were associated with consecration rituals, as well as those found in the fill of these structures.     

Staple food preparation at Teotihuacan

Like studies of craft production, research on food production has significant implications for understanding the economic organization of past societies. This paper highlights the tools of maize (Zea mays) processing and cooking as a constructive avenue to examine aspects of food production at Teotihuacan during the Terminal Formative and Classic Periods (100 BC–AD 650). By analyzing the spatial distribution of comales, metates and manos recovered from the Teotihuacan Mapping Project, this study investigates the notion that edible maize products were produced through specialized labor. Two notable patterns are observed. First, the aggregation of comales along the Street of the Dead during the Miccaotli phase (AD 100–170) suggests that tortilla preparation fueled large public work projects, feeding the workers, their families, and other dependents of the state. Secondly, the spatial aggregation of grinding stones, manos and comales in seven concentrated areas within the Classic Period (AD 170–650) occupation of the city suggest that several apartment compounds, possibly entire barrios, may have specialized in the production of tortillas and other finished maize foods for exchange. Such a pattern may have resulted from the costly labor and materials required for the production of tortillas, favoring economies of scale. Several areas within the city conspicuously possessing low frequencies of maize processing artifacts suggest that some sectors were dependent on specialized labor from outside the household for daily needs. Together, these data suggest that food production was a specialized activity at Teotihuacan and increase our understanding of the economic organization of the ancient metropolis.     

Iron Age tin bronze metallurgy at Marlik,Northern Iran: an analytical investigation

The archaeological excavations performed in 1961 and 1962 at the necropolis of Marlik (Gilan District, northern Iran) revealed important archaeological remains dating to Iron Age I and II periods (late second/early first millennium BCE). While the metal collection from Marlik includes various gold, silver and bronze objects and is considered one of the most significant finds of metal objects from the prehistoric Iran, the technological investigations discussed in this paper provide information on tin bronze objects only from Marlik. Both the composition and the microstructure of 25 copper alloy objects have been determined in order to achieve a better understanding of the metallurgical processes used in northern Iran from the second to the first millennium BCE. Experimental analyses were carried out using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and optical microscopy. The results demonstrated that the copper-base objects were made of the binary copper–tin alloy with variable tin contents. Other elements such as As, Ni, Pb, Zn and Sb were detected in minor/trace amounts. Variable tin content may be due to the application of an uncontrolled procedure to produce bronze alloy (e.g. co-smelting or cementation). Microscopic observations and microanalyses revealed the presence of numerous copper sulphide inclusions, lead globules and intermetallic phases scattered in the bronze solid solution. The microstructures seen in the bronze objects under study were varied and included worked/annealed or dendritic grain structures.     

A hypothesis on different technological solutions for outdoor and indoor Roman wall paintings

The determination of the chemical composition of different parts of wall paintings (pigments, mortars and binders) provides information about technology of preparation of an artefact. Herein, we present a multi-methodological characterisation of wall paintings from a Roman archaeological site in Cuma, focusing on differences between an indoor (domus) and outdoor fabrication (a temple, Tempio con Portico (TCP)). Both pigments, binders and mortars were studied via a combination of destructive/μ-destructive (mass spectrometry, ionic chromatography, ICP-based techniques) and non-destructive (Raman microscopy, small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and X-ray diffraction) methodologies. Particularly, the systematic presence of dolomite only in mortars from TCP may suggest an intentional use of such limestone for the outdoor fabrication of public interest. Differences between TCP and domus are also related to the composition of the pigment binder. In particular, the detected binders (studied by LC-MS/MS and GC-MS) were proteinaceous in the case of domus (possibly egg and animal glue) and drying oils in the case of TCP. Ultimately, our multi-methodological study provides an overall picture of the material components of paintings from fabrications with different use, proposing a hypothesis on technological choices according to conservative and destination reasons.