Exploring Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) Habitat Collection via Oxygen Isotope Geochemistry and its Implications for Ritual and Mound Construction at Crystal River and Roberts Island,Florida

Research at Crystal River and Roberts Island Shell Mound Complex, on the western coast of Florida, USA, offers a quantitative assessment of the temporality of shell deposit construction, Native subsistence practices, and mobility patterns through stable oxygen isotope data from eastern oyster (C. virginica). The δ¹⁸O_water values of oysters vary synchronously with salinity, assuming relatively constant δ¹⁸O_water/salinity gradients since the time of occupation, allowing for an examination of shifts in oyster habitat exploitation over time. Our previous (Thompson et al. 2015) study indicated that midden accumulation occurred throughout the year, while oysters from mound deposits were collected in colder months. New data indicate that in addition to differential season of collection, habitat exploitation also varied. During early occupation at the site, oysters were collected primarily from lower saline habitats, while in later phases oysters were obtained from higher salinity waters; we relate this to a lower sea level and concomitant settlement shift seaward. Additionally, oyster from later mound contexts was collected from higher saline habitats relative to those in midden contexts; Native people may have targeted specific bioherms at certain times for the year for feasting-related mound construction.     

The Shellfishers of St. Catherines Island: Hardscrabble Foragers or Farming Beachcombers?

ABSTRACT

St. Catherines Island (Georgia, USA) was separated from the mainland at about 3000 BC, creating massive estuarine tidal marshes, which aboriginal foragers began exploiting almost immediately. Correlative optimal foraging modeling and four decades of archaeological fieldwork demonstrate how this baseline shellfishing economy evolved and persisted, with some local impacts on estuarine resource patches, but no detectable changes in diet breadth over several millennia. The first St. Catherines islanders were likely tribal-level, egalitarian societies living in economically self-sufficient, virtually sedentary, and politically autonomous villages. They made the earliest pottery in North America. Shortly after AD 800, early Mississippian populations developed into chiefdoms characterized by ranked, inherited social hierarchies, ascribing social status and wealth at birth. This significant shift took place wholly in the context of their long-standing shellfishing economy. In the face of dramatically increasing populations, St. Catherines islanders gradually intensified their shellfishing and, at about AD 1400, they began cultivating maize and other domesticates. Shellfishing offers generally higher return rates than corn farming, so the adoption of a maize-based economy was likely driven by political, social, and perhaps adaptive changes in the Mississippian world rather than strictly provisioning strategies.     

Modeling Breastfeeding and Weaning Practices (BWP) on the Coast of Northern Chile's Atacama Desert During the Formative Period

Stable isotope analysis of bone collagen is frequently employed as a means of studying the breastfeeding and weaning practices (BWP) of archaeological populations. Such studies are strengthened greatly through the application of statistical models that permit precise and model-bound estimates of weaning age, duration, trophic enrichment, and the isotopic characterization of supplementary foods. Here we present the result of a stable isotope (δ¹⁵N) and Bayesian computational modeling study of bone collagen from human subadults from two coastal cemetery sites located near the mouth of the River Loa in the Atacama Desert. Recent bioarchaeological and paleodemographic research on remains from these marine hunter-gatherer sites, which are contemporary with the Formative Period (1500 BC–AD 400), has found evidence for notably elevated rates of female fertility. Ultimately, we argue that the modeled BWP parameters, which indicate the early introduction of supplementary foods, support an argument of high fertility as gleaned from the bioarchaeological evidence, and that these results provide novel insights into the child-rearing practices of the coastal populations of the Atacama. Indeed, these populations would have seemed to have developed a set of BWP that carefully balanced the biological and economic production/reproduction of the community.     

A Model for Paleoamerican Coastal Zone Preference for the Atlantic Slope of Eastern North America Since the Last Glacial Maximum

Paleoamerican colonization models have emphasized the importance of coastal zones for provisioning hunter gatherers with a diverse range of subsistence resources. This article expands on recent research by Lowery et al. 2012, and presents a model to explain the distribution of Clovis points across the Atlantic slope of Eastern North America. Marine transgression since the last glaciation has submerged large tracts of the Atlantic continental shelf. Global bathymetric data was used to estimate the Clovis age shoreline from Delaware to Florida. Clovis biface data for modern coastal areas, obtained from the Paleoindian database of the Americas, was compared to the slope of the paleo-shoreline to predict coastal zone preference. Results indicate a relationship between point distribution and coastal zone type. Areas where major rivers with high-quality tool-stone intersect broad coastal zones served important roles to Clovis subsistence adaptations. The potential exists for early Paleoamerican sites along the continental shelf submerged beneath 55–75 m of the Atlantic Ocean. Modern coastal regions with high densities of Clovis points may serve as analogues for identifying earlier sites that have been submerged as a result of marine transgression.     

Animal exploitation at ed‐Dur (Umm al‐Qaiwain,United Arab Emirates)

Faunal remains are described from a series of contexts excavated in the coastal site of ed‐Dur, dated between the second and fourth century AD. The more than 19,000 identified animal bones allowed a diachronic and spatial analysis. Subsistence relied heavily on domestic animals, in particular sheep and goat, and on fishing. Whereas the exploitation of terrestrial resources seems to have been quite constant throughout the period considered, the aquatic fauna shows changes through time. A shift, possibly linked to overexploitation, is seen both in the proportions of the targeted fish species and in their sizes. The deposition of some of the mammals encountered in burials is also dealt with; dog and ovicaprid can probably be added to the list of mammals used in ritual context in the region. Spatial analysis did not reveal particular concentrations or activity areas. In general the finds fit nicely in the archaeozoological record of the wider region.     

晚明底层文人的生存状态--以南京王世茂车书楼为中心的考察

王世茂车书楼是晚明南京一家重要的书坊,它编纂、校注和刊刻的图书仅流传至今者就达30余种,与车书楼有联系的作者、校者和刊刻者达40余人。文章借鉴新文化史的研究范式,通过对车书楼及其所编纂、校注和刊刻图书的考察,探究商业出版环境下晚明底层文人的生活方式、价值观念和精神诉求以及人际交往情况,从而揭示了晚明底层文人生存状态和谋生方式的多元化。这一努力不仅可以深化传统社会底层文人生活状况的研究,还在方法论上有所突破。     

辽东半岛古代生存经济模式的转变及其环境背景

本文首先根据对辽东半岛考古遗址中出土的生产工具的统计分析,结合遗址出土的动物骨骼和贝类遗骸的种类及数量,讨论了辽东半岛从小珠山下层时期到青铜时代生存经济的模式及其变化。然后从自然环境变迁、人类对自然环境的影响以及对外文化交流等方面,对上述变化的原因进行了探讨,认为辽东半岛北部区、南部区和海岛区的生存经济模式及其变化,与各区不同的自然环境以及人类对自然资源的影响有关。     

旅游地间生态关系分析

旅游地虽然不是生命体,但具有许多生命体的基本特征,将旅游地作为一种特殊的生命体,从生态学的视角来观察,研究旅游地的空间关系,是本的基本思路,本首先从旅游地的生存与发展出发,借用生态学的种群间关系理论,深入分析了旅游地之间的生存与发展关系,确立了旅游地空间关系的基本类型及各类型的基本特征,在此基础上,得出了旅游地空间生存关系各基本类型之间可以相互转化这一主要结论;最后,指出了本研究在旅游资源评价与开发,区域旅游规划和旅游发展战略研究中的实践意义。     

The Environment and Subsistence of the Early Neolithic Settlement Area at Těšetice-Kyjovice,Czech Republic

This paper presents a reconstruction of environmental conditions and subsistence strategies in the Early Neolithic (6th Millenium BC) settlement area at Tě?etice-Kyjovice (Czech Republic). Our detailed reconstruction of the environment contributes to the unravelling of the genesis and spread of steppes and the formation of secondary anthropogenic forest-free areas in the Holocene in eastern-Central Europe. Mollusc shells, charcoals and plant macroremains were used as on-site evidence of a settlement environment. A relatively warm and dry anthropogenic forest-free area is reconstructed for the immediate vicinity of the Early Neolithic settlement. Communities of mixed deciduous forests are recorded in the surroundings of the settlement. Plant macroremains reflect the characteristic Neolithic range of cultivated plants (e.g. Triticum monococcum, Triticum dicoccon, Lens culinaris and Pisum sativum). Papaver somniferum seeds were also found, possibly constituting the oldest evidence of its presence and cultivation in the territory of the Czech Republic.