Palaeolithic chert exploitation in the limestone stretch of the Egyptian Nile Valley

Different raw material procurement strategies are attested in the limestone stretch of the Egyptian Nile Valley. Chert cobbles from Nile terraces or from their derived deposits were generally used. Four main procurement strategies have been recognized. During the Middle Palaeolithic intensive surface collecting was the most common strategy. However, open quarrying techniques involving features such as ditches are also attested. True subterranean mining with vertical shafts and underground galleries was known by the Early Upper Palaeolithic at 35,000 years BP. Extracted nodules were processed at the procurement sites. The study of the reduction strategies has proved valuable in gaining a better understanding of the Palaeolithic sequence of the Egyptian Nile Valley.

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Résumé Différentes stratégies d'obtention de matière première ont été reconnues dans la zone calcaire de la vallée du Nil égyptien. En majorité, ce sont des galets de chert qui ont été utilisés. Les stratégies d'obtention se classent en quatre types. Au Paléolithique Moyen la méthode la plus fréquente était la collection intensive en surface. Mais il y eut aussi une technique d'exploitation en profondeur, à l'aide de tranchées à ciel ouvert. Une véritable extraction minière avec des puits verticaux et des galleries souterraines fut pratiquée dès le début du Paléolithique Supérieur, vers 35.000 BP. Les galets extraits étaient réduits sur les sites d'exploitation mêmes. L'étude des processus de réduction nous a permis de mieux comprendre la séquence paléolithique de la vallée du Nil égyptien.

     

Searching for fish names with the Vula’a of Papua New Guinea

This article describes an ethnographic project initiated by a group of people in Irupara village, Papua New Guinea (PNG), who for a period between 2001 and 2010 self-identified as ‘historians’. At the forefront of the group’s concerns was a younger generation unfamiliar with the local language names of fish and fishing techniques. I document the collaborative project developed to address a situation perceived as a loss of language, culture, and identity. As well as providing a valuable lexicon in an Austronesian language, the research brings to light important distinctions between recording ‘history’ and ways of recalling and expressing the past commonly referred to as ‘historicity’.     

New Equations for the Size Reconstruction of Sturgeon from Isolated Cranial and Pectoral Girdle Bones

Measurements on cranial and pectoral girdle bones of 56 museum specimens of modern sturgeon (Acipenser sturio and A. oxyrinchus) were used for the establishment of regression equations allowing back‐calculation of size from isolated sturgeon remains. Different curve fittings (power, linear, logarithmic and exponential fit) were modeled to retain the most accurate regression. These were then applied to archaeological sturgeon remains (A. sturio/A. oxyrinchus) from Vlaardingen, a Dutch late Neolithic settlement. The back‐calculated lengths obtained on the archaeological remains all stayed within the known size ranges of the two species and allowed making inferences on the possible place of capture of the fish. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lower Pecos and Coahuila peyote: new radiocarbon dates

Peyote, a psychoactive cactus native to the Chihuahuan Desert, has been preserved from excavations at only two archaeological sites: Shumla Caves in the Lower Pecos region of southwest Texas and shelter CM-79 near Cuatro Ciénegas in Coahuila, Mexico. We determined three indistinguishable radiocarbon ages of 5160 ± 45, 5200 ± 35, and 5210 ± 35 ¹⁴C years BP, yielding a mean age of 5195 ± 20 ¹⁴C years BP for the three specimens from Shumla Caves. For one of the Cuatro Ciénegas specimens we obtained the first direct radiocarbon date of 835 ± 35 ¹⁴C years BP. This study demonstrates the use of peyote by inhabitants of the Lower Pecos region of the Chihuahuan Desert about 6000 calendar years ago, and confirms its use by inhabitants of the Cuatro Ciénegas region of the Chihuahuan Desert in Late Prehistoric times. The Shumla Caves' specimens are composed of an aggregate of ground peyote mixed with other plant material, i.e., they appear to be manufactured peyote effigies, and are definitely not intact peyote buttons.