A bioarchaeological study of a Western Basin tradition cemetery on the Detroit River

Archaeological monitoring of construction in a Windsor city park on the Detroit River led to the discovery of an isolated cemetery containing the remains of eight individuals assigned to the Late Woodland Western Basin Tradition. At the request and consent of the contemporary First Nation community, tissue samples from five individuals were subjected to radiocarbon dating, mtDNA, and stable isotope analysis to confirm cultural affiliation and further understand the subsistence practices of these people. Radiocarbon dating placed the cemetery at the transition from the Younge phase (AD 900–1200) to the Springwells phase (AD 1200–1400). The stable carbon and nitrogen isotope results provide an unexpected but fuller understanding of Late Woodland Western Basin Tradition subsistence. All individuals were as enriched in carbon as those found on Iroquoian horticulturalist sites to the east, suggesting a very high reliance on maize. Nitrogen isotope values indicate that the protein component of the diet was comprised largely of high trophic level food sources, likely fish. An in situ osteological analysis identified a high number of carious lesions in the visible teeth, also suggesting a diet high in carbohydrates. The mtDNA findings support the antiquity of the Western Basin presence in Northeast North America through genetic links with the Hind Site, an Archaic site in southern Ontario. These results underscore the importance of such studies for providing novel insight into the archaeological histories and lifeways of this distinct Late Woodland tradition. This study also emphazises the need to work with descendant communities to provide them with information on the past that reflects their distinct heritage in the lower Great Lakes region.     

Troubled kids? Locational disadvantage,opportunity structures and social exclusion

ABSTRACT

Young people growing up in poverty often have restricted access to out-of-school enrichment activities that are important for generating the soft skills that support post-school transitions. This paper compares young Australians’ accounts of their opportunity structures – their engagement with enrichment activities, their post-school aspirations, and their knowledge of routes to achieve them – in two suburb types – improver suburbs (close to the median on many indicators) and isolate suburbs (severely disadvantaged on most indicators). While young people in improver suburbs felt able to access facilities and networks in equally or more affluent neighbouring suburbs, young people in isolate suburbs felt excluded from neighbouring suburbs, and experienced more restricted opportunity structures than young people living in improver suburbs, even those who were themselves economically disadvantaged. The paper argues that this geographical experience of exclusion prevents many economically disadvantaged young people from accumulating knowledge and skills valued in post-school settings.     

论海南沦陷时期的日本占领政策

在抗战中日军侵占海南岛时期,日本力图将海南岛殖民地化,是其对海南岛占领政策的核心。为此,日本在推进其在海南岛的殖民活动、强化殖民统治机构、控制殖民体制下的文教事业等殖多方面可以说是不遗余力。其对海南岛的领土野心也就昭然若揭。     

Subsistence practices in an arid environment: a geoarchaeological investigation in an Iron Age site,the Negev Highlands,Israel

The Negev Highlands (southern Israel) is an arid zone characterized by settlement oscillations. One settlement peak occurred in the early Iron Age IIA (late 10th and early 9th centuries BC). The most conspicuous structure in many sites of this period is an oval compound comprised of an internal courtyard surrounded by rooms. Two hypotheses for the function of these oval compounds are that they served as Israelite fortresses which guarded the southern border and routes of the Solomonic kingdom, or that they represent local agro-pastoral groups. In order to gather more information regarding the subsistence practices conducted in these oval compounds, we carried out a small-scale excavation at the site of Atar Haroa. We focused on sediment sampling and used several geoarchaeological, as well as isotopic, techniques in order to identify macroscopic and microscopic remains related to animal husbandry and crop agriculture. The remains identified from the archaeological sediments were compared with modern reference materials collected from abandoned Bedouin camps. The excavation included two half rooms and several test pits in the courtyard of the oval compound, featuring one Iron Age occupation level composed of gray sediments and relatively small amounts of pottery, bones and macro-botanical charred remains. Micromorphological, mineralogical, dung spherulite and isotopic analyses carried out on the gray occupational sediments from the rooms show that they originate from wood ash and dung, both used as fuel. Similar analyses of the gray sediments in the courtyard show that they originate only from degraded livestock dung. Phytolith analyses show that the gray anthropogenic sediments have similar concentrations of phytoliths as in control (yellowish) sediments and in the dung of winter free-grazing desert livestock and lichen-grazing black dwarf Bedouin goats. Phytoliths indicative of cereal crops are completely absent in the archaeological dung remains, indicating that cereal crops were not processed by the site inhabitants. Based on ethnographic and archaeological parallels, and on the presence of grinding stones and absence of sickle blades in the excavated rooms, we infer that the inhabitants at the oval compound at Atar Haroa subsisted on livestock herding and bought or exchanged cereal grains. Our results support the hypothesis that the inhabitants at the oval compound at Atar Haroa were desert-adapted pastoralists, rather than garrisoned soldiers.     

Subsistence change,landscape use,and changing site elevation at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in the Dordogne of southwestern France

The dramatic topography of the Dordogne Valley region of southwestern France has long been recognized as an influence on prehistoric human settlement and subsistence patterns. Previous research on late Pleistocene settlement patterns in this region implies that, as cold-adapted higher-ranked resources became scarce in the lowlands, site location in the Dordogne and adjacent river valleys should shift towards higher-elevation areas during the period from 18,000 to 6500 years BP. This study employs a GIS-based analysis to evaluate the changing settlement patterns in the Dordogne region at this time. While no significant changes in elevation were found during this period, site elevation variance does appear to increase significantly between the Magdalenian and the Sauveterrian. Explanations for this finding are explored using zooarchaeological data from Moulin du Roc, one of the sites in the data set. Results suggest that the Magdalenian period in the Dordogne may not have been as resource-rich as is often assumed.     

Prehistoric land use at an archaeological hot-spot (the rock art park of Campo Lameiro,NW Spain) inferred from charcoal,synanthropic pollen and non-pollen palynomorph proxies

Pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs and charcoal from a colluvial soil surrounded by prehistoric petroglyphs (Campo Lameiro, NW Spain) were studied in order to assess the nature of human activities and their impact on Holocene vegetation patterns. Several phases of anthropogenic impact were observed. (i) Between 7.6 and 6.5 ka cal BP, synanthropic taxa (Urtica dioica type, Plantago lanceolata type) and coprophilous fungi (e.g. Sporormiella-type) are indicative of early (pre-agricultural) creation of small patches of pasture using fire, possibly for incipient animal husbandry or as part of a deliberate strategy to improve game availability. Such activities only had a minor effect on the deciduous Quercus-dominated forest established earlier during the Holocene Thermal Maximum. (ii) Between 5.9 and 4.8 ka cal BP a more intense signal indicative of pastoral activity was detected, corresponding to the Neolithic period. (iii) Between 4.8 and 3.4 ka cal BP, which fits within the hypothetical timeframe of petroglyph creation, the synanthropic and humidity (e.g. Cyperaceae, Mougeotia) indicators diminished while charcoal concentration increased, which can be explained by Mid-Holocene cooling/drying (Neoglaciation) in combination with reduced human impact, or by non-pastoral activities in the area possibly in association with the development of the rock art culture, converting pasture to protected open ground through anthropogenic fires. (iv) During the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age (3.4–2.5 ka cal BP), grazing pressure and fire regime intensity are high, coinciding with evidence of regional forest regression, despite an amelioration in climate. (v) Later phases, not corresponding to prehistoric rock art contexts, include a phase of heavy grazing and reduced fire frequency (from ca. 2.5 to 1.2 ka cal BP) as well as the near complete elimination of the deciduous woodland, the expansion of ericaceous shrubland and the evidence of local agriculture and afforestation. These results are consistent with earlier studies in the area and highlight the spatial heterogeneity in the vegetation especially during periods of prehistoric anthropogenic interference.