Lithic production,site formation and Middle Palaeolithic palimpsest analysis: in search of human occupation episodes at Abric del Pastor Stratigraphic Unit IV (Alicante,Spain)

We present the results of an exercise in Middle Palaeolithic palimpsest analysis geared toward the identification of human occupation episodes. It is based on a combined reading of the archaeosedimentary deposit and the archaeological record of Stratigraphic Unit IV from Abric del Pastor (Alcoy, Alicante, Spain), chronologically framed within MIS 4–5. A study of site formation processes coupled with archaeostratigraphic analysis of the lithic record incorporating Raw Material Units (RMU) and refits, as well as with combustion features and faunal remains enabled identification a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 6 human occupation episodes within lithostratigraphic units IVa, IVb and IVc. Through our data it reaches a high resolution temporal frame close to the ethnographic time scale, which constitutes a significant contribution for the knowledge of human occupations types and landscape use in the Mediterranean rim of the Iberian Peninsula during Middle Palaeolithic.     

Statistical means for identifying hunter–gatherer residential features in a lithic landscape

Techniques are described for extracting circular rock features from landscapes dominated by clasts of the same type from which cultural features are composed, using as a test case a large stone circle residential site in western Wyoming, USA. Methods consist of point plotting all relevantly-sized culturally and naturally-deposited clasts in the field and identifying potential cultural features using point density analyses tools in ArcGIS. Potential rings are either accepted or rejected as cultural features by comparing clast frequency, density and distribution in internal, feature-ring, and external spatial buffers to ethnoarchaeological data recording stone circle size and morphology and to similar data generated from a control sample of off-site, naturally-occurring clasts. The results of the analysis are used to discuss group size, mobility type, and duration of site occupation and to explore problems of assessing such at surface archaeological sites resulting from palimpsest-type site formation processes.     

Hits,Misses and Close Calls: An Image Essay on Pattern Formation in On Growth and Form

Abstract

The second edition of D’Arcy Thompson’s On Growth and Form was written only shortly before the advent of computers made it possible to develop more sophisticated mathematical models of processes of growth, morphogenesis and pattern formation in nature. It also predates the blossoming of several branches of science with the conceptual tools to investigate complex phenomena such as self-organization, nonlinear dynamics and chaos, fractal geometry and self-organization. As a result, Thompson’s aspirations sometimes fall short of his means — and occasionally he sets out on the wrong path. This image essay explores some of the instances in which Thompson surpassed his limitations or, alternatively, was constrained by them. In either circumstance, it illustrates how his themes remain areas of significant scientific activity today.     

A processual study of Inka state formation

Traditional interpretations of how the Inka empire developed emphasize the disjunctive transformation of a village-level society through the agency of a single charismatic ruler. New evidence from the Inka heartland indicates that it was in fact the formation of a centralized state in the Cusco Valley of highland Peru that enabled the rapid campaigns of Inka territorial expansion during the 15th and 16th centuries. By using archaeological data and ethnohistoric documents to develop independent lines of evidence, it is possible to describe Inka state formation processes anthropologically. Settlement and excavation data from the Vilcanota Valley provide several indicators of the development of a centralized Inka state during the Killke Period (c. A.D. 1000–1400), while multiple accounts of the Inka past describe the transformation of Inka society over a period of several generations leading up to the first campaigns of imperial conquest. Both lines of evidence are consistent with the kinds of changes described for other known cases of state formation. The formation of the Inka state and its expansion in the Cusco region created conditions in which the agency of Inka rulers could direct the expansion of a mighty empire in only a few generations of conquest.     

Late Holocene climatic fluctuations and soil genesis in southern Patagonia: effects on the archaeological record

Geoarchaeological research conducted at five localities in southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego identified a mollisol within late Holocene aeolian and colluvial deposits associated with archaeological material. The mollisol's origin and development are related to an increase in humidity (c. 1000 BP) following an episode of severe drought during the Medieval Warm Period. Corroborating data is supplied from dendroclimatic and pollen studies. A drastic reduction in frequency of artefact distribution recorded at the sites studied corresponds to this pedologic event, suggesting a greater human presence at these sites during earlier, regional-scale arid conditions. However, the paucity of archaeological remains may also be the result of the low resolution of cultural evidence following the pedologic development due to superimposition over previous archaeological deposits.     

Quantifying Postdepositional Redistribution of the Archaeological Record Produced by Freeze–Thaw and Other Mechanisms: An Experimental Approach

Archaeologists regularly cite frost-related mechanisms as potential transport agents capable of redistributing the archaeological record. Specific data quantifying the scale of frost-induced disturbances, however, are regrettably few. In this paper I present several sets of empirical data obtained from the initial results of a long-term experiment. Test objects positioned in a control plot configured to minimize forces extraneous to frost activity (e.g., wind) demonstrated an average lateral movement of 7.8 cm over a 3-year period. In a second plot that lacked restraints on other variables, test objects migrated an average of 31.8 cm over the same period. Extrapolated over prolonged periods, these data have profound implications for the interpretation of intrasite spatial patterning.     

兰州市老龄人口空间分布及其形成机制

文章运用2000年第五次及2010年第六次人口普查数据,对兰州市主城区老龄人口的空间分布及其形成机制进行了分析。结果表明:兰州市老龄人口增速快,各区增长差异显著,街区差距相对缓和;老龄人口比重呈圈层结构分布,街区间比重差异明显,老龄人口高密度街区范围扩大,空间特征呈现出明显的"双中心"结构;高龄老人增速快,老龄人口性别比下降,空巢家庭日益增加,老年抚养负担加重。其形成机制主要缘于历史沿革、社会发展、人口生育政策以及人口迁移的共同作用。     

The Flintlock Site (8JA1763): An Unusual Underwater Deposit in the Apalachicola River, Florida

In the fall of 2001, staff of the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research were led by river divers to an underwater site in the Apalachicola River containing a large concentration of prehistoric and historic artifacts lying on the riverbed. Subsequent inspection of the submerged river bank and scoured limestone river channel revealed a myriad of objects, which included iron fasteners, metal tools and implements, broken glass bottles, stone projectile points, scattered bricks and stone blocks, and other materials. Discovery of two large fragments of a wooden watercraft, a bayonet, a copper arrowhead, and flintlock gun barrels initially prompted researchers to hypothesize that the site might represent the remains of a U.S. Army boat that was attacked in 1817 by Seminole Indians while en route upriver. The episode, which caused the deaths of more than 30 soldiers and several women who were aboard the boat, led to the First Seminole War and the U.S. Army invasion of Florida. To investigate this hypothesis, a systematic survey of the riverbed was undertaken in the spring of 2002 to record underwater features and recover additional diagnostic artifacts. These activities employed side-scan sonar as well as diver visual investigations. This paper presents a case study of the value and broader significance of aggregate data where interpretation was underpinned by artefactual, historical and environmental analysis.     

Producing ‘decent girls’: governmentality and the moral geographies of sexual conduct in Ireland (1922–1937)

In this article we examine the mode of governmentality constructed in Ireland with regard to the regulation and disciplining of sexuality in the post-independence era up to the writing of the Constitution (1922–1937). Drawing on the writings of Michel Foucault, we document how Ireland became an intense site of applied, national bio-politics with a panoply of government commissions and legislation, accompanied by new sites of reform (Magdalene Asylums and Mother and Baby Homes), which together were designed to mould and police the sexual practices of its citizens and create a sanitised moral landscape. Whilst a thoroughly gendered project, with nearly all legislation and sites of reform targeting women, we contend it was also a highly spatialised endeavour. The modes and practices of governmentality produced a dense spatialised grid of discipline, reform and self-regulation, seeking to produce ‘decent’ women inhabiting virtuous spaces by limiting access to work and public spaces, confining women to an unsullied (marital) home, and threatening new sites of reformation, emigration or ostracisation.