The Chronological Evidence for the Introduction of Domestic Stock into Southern Africa

This essay reviews radiocarbon dates associated with the earliest evidence of domestic stock in southern Africa and reviews existing models for their introduction in light of the current evidence. Two primary models exist for the introduction of domestic stock into southern Africa: an early Khoisan wave and an Early Iron Age source. Neither model is completely supported by the evidence. Available chronological evidence suggests that Khoisan and Iron Age herders simultaneously ushered domestic stock into the northern and eastern regions of southern Africa. Early Iron Age groups in southern Zambia are likely external sources. Khoisan herders exclusively introduced domestic stock into Namibia and the Cape. However, in the northern and eastern regions of southern Africa, stock possession and transfers probably were complex and involved both Khoisan and Iron Age groups.     

A provenance study of Mycenaean pottery from Northern Israel

The occurrence of imported Mycenaean pottery in the Late Bronze Age southern Levant is one of the most conspicuous aspects of Eastern Mediterranean trade connections during this period. A group of 183 Mycenaean pottery vessels from 14 sites in northern Israel, from both coastal and inland settlement contexts were analyzed by Neutron Activation Analysis. The results indicate that the vast majority of these vessels have a similar profile and can be provenanced to the north-eastern Peloponnese or more specifically, to the Mycenae/Berbati workshop in the Argolid. Possible interpretations of these results are presented and discussed against the historical and cultural background of the Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean.     

“Measure for measure”: a taphonomic reconsideration of the Kebaran site of Ein Gev I,Israel

We present the results of a detailed taphonomic study of the faunal remains from Ein Gev I, a Kebaran open-air site near the Sea of Galilee, Israel. In an earlier study faunal remains were assigned to bone element and species using a rapid method technique based on the identification of teeth and epiphyses only (Davis, 1974). In this study we identified the maximum number of skeletal elements, including fragments of long bone shafts. We also employed a series of taphonomic analyses to reconstruct the depositional history of the bone assemblage and to investigate subsistence, meat procurement and bone processing strategies. We compared the results obtained by a complete bone sampling method with those derived using a rapid method. The bone assemblage is dominated by mountain gazelle (Gazella gazelle), Mesopotamian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica) and bezoar goat (Capra aegagrus). The assemblage is characterized by significant density-mediated biases, caused by both human bone processing behaviours and in situ post-burial bone attrition. Our attempts to compare species abundance derived from the two different identification protocols revealed no significant difference between the two sampling methods, both in terms of species diversity (richness and evenness) and skeletal element abundance (SEA). These comparisons contrast previous studies that expected to find ubiquitous head-and-foot dominated SEA profiles in zooarchaeological studies that were based on the incomplete identification of faunal remains.     

The Middle Stone Age south of the Limpopo River

Current interest in the origins of anatomically modernHomo sapiens has focused attention on early modern human remains and related archaeological materials associated with the southern African Middle Stone Age. While the anatomically modern status and a Last Interglacial or later age for the human fossils enjoy general support, issues related to the definition of the Middle Stone Age, its dating, and the interpretation of human behavior lack consensus. Available evidence suggests that the anatomically modern human skeleton appeared well before many aspects of the subsistence and symbolic behavior that characterize recent foragers and that Middle Stone Age technology persisted longer in southern Africa than its northern hemisphere counterpart.     

The Precontact Iroquoian Occupation of Southern Ontario

Iroquoians become recognizable in the archaeological record of southern Ontario about A.D. 500, with the appearance of Princess Point sites and maize agriculture in the lower Grand River valley. After A.D. 1000, Iroquoians lived in longhouse villages situated in the interior, north of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence River. This synthesis of the Iroquoian occupation of southern Ontario prior to European contact focuses on origins, settlement patterns, demography, subsistence, and sociopolitical organization. It highlights the significant contributions to Iroquoian archaeology that have been made by government and private consulting archaeologists over the last two decades.