Denisovans,Neanderthals, and Early Modern Humans: A Review of the Pleistocene Hominin Fossils from the Altai Mountains (Southern Siberia)

Journal of Archaeological Research - This paper reviews significant issues related to the fossil hominins from the Altai Mountains of Siberia (Russia), namely Denisovans, Neanderthals, and early...     

Swidden agriculture,village longevity,and social relations in Formative central Tlaxcala: Towards an understanding of macroregional structure

Understanding social change within early village societies requires analysis at multiple scales. In this paper, we focus on macroregional structure in the Formative era of Central Mexico, based on excavations at village sites in Tlaxcala. A macroregional scale is particularly important for contextualizing developments in the study region. Rapid political evolution after 900 BC built on a legacy of organizational innovations in settled communities to the south. The earliest farmers in central Tlaxcala practiced a system of swidden agriculture developed at lower-lying elevations. Practiced on the erodible slopes of central Tlaxcala, that system led to the widespread degradation of farmland. Consequences at the village scale involved chronic instability of settlement and recurring localized stress on faunal resources.     

Agricultural slope management and soil erosion at La Laguna,Tlaxcala, Mexico

Several superimposed systems of agricultural terracing are preserved at the archaeological site of La Laguna in central Mexico. Excavations uncovered complex stratigraphic sequences of terrace fills and colluvial deposits. Their chronology was established by radiocarbon, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), and the presence of diagnostic features and artifacts. The Formative occupations of the site (ca. 600–400 BC and 100 BC–AD 100) resulted in severe erosion and exposure of indurated subsoil horizons. In the Middle to Late Postclassic (AD 1150–1520) stone-walled terraces were built to recover the degraded slopes for cultivation. Renewed reclamation works have been undertaken since the Colonial period, eventually taking the form of sloping-field terraces with berms planted in maguey. The reconstructed sequence of local land use underscores the risks of dating agricultural features by association with sherd scatters, as well as the complexity of the relationships between demographic variables, agricultural intensity and terracing.