Search

Bark cloth (‘tapa/kapa’) is a fabric made from beaten plant fibres. In the Pacific tapa made of paper mulberry has been of great cultural importance and its use is associated with both utilitarian and ceremonial contexts. In the 19th century, traditional bark cloth was largely replaced by Western cloth. On some islands, tapa making was banished with the arrival of missionaries and Christianization. This is the case for the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. Only a few tapa pieces from this island group survive and are held in Museum collections. In this work, we present results of the analysis of a bark cloth bundle discovered at the Te Ana o te Tetea cave on Agakauitai in the Gambier Archipelago. The bundle was made up of large and small strips of thin tapa, with some watermarks left by the beaters. Associated with the tapa, were a piece of wood and cordage. A few of the bark cloth samples showed symmetrical black lines along some of the folds. This paper presents the results of a number of analyses performed on the bark cloth bundle from this island with the aim of determining its age, if the decorations were man-made and the plant species used for its manufacture. Samples were dated by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) and the designs were analyzed by portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Scanning Electron Microscopy - Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) for elemental characterization. Raman spectroscopy was also performed in order to assess the chemical nature of pigments. These analyses allow us to conclude that the finds date to the pre-European contact period for this island group and that these lines can be attributed to man-made designs. In addition, genetic analysis of the ribosomal region were performed to identify the species used in its manufacture, which indicate that the plant used to make the tapa cloth was Broussonetia papyrifera or paper mulberry. The availability of new genetic sequencing techniques allow for new and very sensitive analyses of archaeological material that require careful handling from the beginning in order to avoid sample contamination.

Three sediment cores and five test-pits at Anaura Bay, New Zealand were examined for evidence of Maori horticulture, and compared with descriptions of this site made in 1769 by Captain Cook's Endeavour expedition. The pits revealed soils modified for gardening and plant microfossil analysis (pollen, phytoliths and starch) identified four introduced prehistoric cultigens, all featured in the descriptions. These comprise three starch field crops: taro (Colocasia esculenta), common yam (Dioscorea alata) and sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), and an orchard-based crop: paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera). This activity, occurring on steep hills and a recently uplifted surface, was accompanied by deforestation and consequently an extremely accelerated erosion rate. In one of the cores, maize (Zea mays) pollen and cf. potato (Solanum tuberosum) starch possibly older than other evidence of European settlement may confirm early adoption and spread by Maori of these European-introduced crops.

Time has consistently been regarded as the missing dimension from our renderings of space, having a significant impact on how we interpret and represent past interaction. Nowhere is this more keenly felt than in discussion of maritime mobility. This paper outlines an innovative approach to mapping maritime spaces by taking into account the performance of Bronze Age sailing ships in different weather conditions and the subsequent time of sailing journeys. The use of cartograms is demonstrated to be invaluable for reconceptualisation of maritime space and rethinking maritime connectivity in the past. This marks a step-change in approach, which has implications for regions beyond the case study area (eastern Mediterranean). The results presented in this paper foreground meaningful differences in maritime connectivity between Egypt and the Levant during the earlier Bronze Age than are easily realised through traditional static representations. This demonstrates the significance of developing alternative representations of space/time for archaeology.

While ancient Near Eastern cuneiform texts and iconography unambiguously demonstrate the social, economic, and ritual significance of beer, direct archaeological evidence for beer production or consumption remains surprisingly rare. This scarcity of material evidence renders it difficult to extrapolate information about the ingredients and production processes of beer, on the one hand, and the paraphernalia and social contexts of its consumption, on the other. In recent decades, organic residue analysis has become an essential tool in the identification of ancient alcoholic beverages, but research on Near Eastern beer has focused largely on production and storage vessels, whose form, archaeological context, and associated macroscopic residues already indicated their use in beer production. In this paper, we present a novel field sampling protocol that prevents contamination along with a refined organic residue analysis methodology that relies on a series of co-occurring compounds to identify confidently beer in ceramic vessels. The same compounds were identified in several modern beer samples and, thus, support our identification of a similar fermented barley-based beverage in archaeological samples from the late second millennium BCE site of Khani Masi in northeastern Iraq. The results presented in this paper allow us, for the first time, to unambiguously link a diverse range of vessel types to the consumption and production of beer, identify a fundamental change in Mesopotamian consumption practices, and shed light on the cultural dimensions of Babylonia's encounter with the Zagros-Mesopotamian borderlands.

This special issue examines new trends in phytolith scholarship and assesses the future direction of this field of research. The papers presented represent a broader shift in phytolith research into a new phase called the “Period of Expanding Applications”. It is characterized by 1) a rapid increase in the number of phytolith publications; 2) a diversification of research topics; 3) a reassessment of the use of radiocarbon and other isotopes in phytoliths; 4) the development of digital technologies for refining and sharing phytolith identifications; 5) renewed efforts for standardization of phytolith nomenclature and laboratory protocol; and 6) the development of the field of applied phytolith research. This paper argues that interdisciplinary collaborations and a continued effort to understand the basics of phytolith production patterns are essential for the growth of the discipline and its application in archaeological studies.

As archaeologists continue to be interested in understanding how people encountered and engaged with past landscapes, layering them with social knowledge, it is important to harness geospatial techniques that are not tethered analytically to discrete points and can represent the flow of processes across a whole landscape. This paper explores landscape permeability modeling as one such geospatial approach. Applied archaeologically, permeability modeling examines the degree to which a given landscape, with a specific mix of physical and social variables, was conducive to the movement of people and the flow of social, economic, political, and/or ideological processes. An archaeological case study is presented that uses a resistant-kernel permeability model to examine food storage suitability in an inland lake landscape in northern Michigan during Late Precontact (ca. AD 1100/1200 – 1600) and how people in their intimate, day-to-day, encounters with this landscape understood the storage potential(s) of this matrix. While a specific case is detailed in this paper, the procedures employed are adaptable to other archaeological landscapes.

Demographic profiling of archaeological assemblages offers a window into the shifting exploitation strategies practiced by ancient societies. High resolution sex-specific age profiles, in particular, have yielded new insights into the evolution of early management practices taken during the initial stages of animal domestication (Zeder, 2001). This paper is the third in a series seeking to develop a method for constructing demographic profiles for Sus scrofa — one of the earliest major livestock species noteworthy for being independently domesticated in both Southwest and East Asia. The first paper in this series (Lemoine et al., 2014) presented a new system for constructing high resolution age profiles using patterns of dental eruption and wear. The second (Zeder et al., 2015) presented a new method for computing high resolution age profiles based on long bone fusion. Both papers used a reference assemblage of modern Eurasian wild boar for developing these new aging schemes, which were then applied to the large assemblage of S. scrofa remains from the Early Holocene age site of Hallan Cemi (c. 11,600 cal. BP) in southeastern Anatolia — an assemblage that previous researchers claimed provided evidence for early steps toward management (Redding, 2005). Here we focus on a subset of this modern reference collection consisting of 34 wild boar skeletons from Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. We employ a Logarithm Size Index scaling (LSI) technique to examine the effect of factors such as age, locality, and, sex on body size in modern wild boar. We find that even though both age and locality have an impact on body size, LSI values derived from select measurements of various different post-cranial elements can be used to classify individual osteological specimens as belonging to immature animals, and, for animals older than about eight months of age, as female or male. We test the reliability of these classifications by comparing the known demographic profiles of the modern reference population against those derived from the LSI classifications. Finally, we apply this new method to the Hallan Cemi assemblage and propose a method for adjusting LSI values to account for temporal size differences encountered between the modern and ancient populations. We also present methods for assessing the reliability of these classifications in the ancient population. We conclude by offering guidelines for the application of this new method to other archaeological assemblages of S. scrofa and other ungulate species that demonstrate strong degrees of sexual dimorphism.

In a recent paper, Benson and Grimstead (2019) determined that only minimal amounts of maize could have been grown in Chaco Canyon due to its aridity, short growing season, and frequent summer flooding of the valley floor. In this paper it is shown that deer and rabbit densities within semiarid regions such as the Canyon are such that 2300 Canyon residents would eliminate essentially all small and large mammals within a year. This implies that food (meat and maize) must have been imported from one or more outlying areas to feed the Canyon's residential population. This would have entailed ~18,000 annual trips to the Canyon by porters carrying 45 kg. Although some Sr-isotope data on archaeofauna and maize recovered from Chaco match Sr-isotope values of soil extracts collected in the Canyon (Benson, 2010, 2012; Grimstead et al., 2016), the Canyon's low mammal densities and poor agricultural potential led to a search for other food-source areas with matching Sr-isotope ranges. New isotopic data indicated that the Chuska mountain region appears to be a primary source of these materials. However, there are also a number of other high-elevation relatively wet regions on the periphery of the San Juan Basin with soils having Sr-isotope values that match Chaco Canyon archaeofaunal values, especially values obtained on deer.

In this paper we contest the anthropogenic character of small and shallow charcoal-filled pits which occur in large numbers on Mesolithic sites in the coversand area of the northwest European plain. Despite uncertainties about their exact function, they have so far been generally interpreted as hearth-pits. Following this assumption, these features have been systematically used for dating Mesolithic sites and reconstructing Mesolithic settlement systems. However, chronological inconsistencies as well as the absence of in situ burning evidence call into question this anthropogenic interpretation. Based on anthracological, chronological and pedological evidence from two sites in NW Belgium (Verrebroek and Doel), it is argued that most of these features may be of natural origin. In particular there is good resemblance in morphology, distribution and content with remains of abandoned and burnt ant mounds. The paper ends with highlighting the consequences of this new interpretation, while suggesting new lines of investigation for future Mesolithic research.

The contributions 2014 indicate that research into the study of early agriculture continues to remain a flourishing area of science. We discuss the contribution of the volume's papers and provide a review of how they add to our knowledge about the process to early agriculture, its development and impacts upon the Holocene landscape. The main focus of many of the papers is on the European Neolithic record, with several contributions focussing on research from other regions. Our understanding of the processes happening in Europe is deepening to a level where we have a relatively good understanding of events at a regional level and moving towards understanding at a continental level. This contrasts with other areas of the world where there is still considerable need for intensive primary data collection and where the narrative of agricultural subsistence practices varies considerably. In some regions, existing models of understanding may not be fully adequate and the process of “agriculture” in these areas was likely substantially different to how this occurred in Europe and the Near East. Indeed, it is clear that a more nuanced understanding of how we currently define ‘agriculture’ is necessary. This recognises the diversity of agricultural practises that are evident in different areas of the world, which may be quite removed to what might be recognisable as ‘agriculture’ in places such as Europe. It is evident that the switch from hunter-gatherer subsistence to agro-pastoralism had a huge effect on the Earth system, impacting biodiversity, land cover and the global carbon cycle. Archaeologists have much to contribute towards our knowledge of these impacts and the development of the modern ‘cultural landscape’.

The issue of resource exploitation, both plants and animals, by Neolithic communities has always attracted vast interest. In particular, resource exploitation at mountain cave sites is still being widely discussed. This paper explores the use of grass resources at the archaeological site of Els Trocs (Aragón, Spain), a Neolithic mountain site in the Pyrenees. The analysis of phytolith samples suggests that grasses growing in the surrounding of the site were widely used. The morphological assemblages identified, and their spatial distribution, indicate that wild grasses were probably used as floor spread. The integrated approach used in this study, combining phytolith, spherulite and micromorphological analyses, confirms this hypothesis. Furthermore, the analysis of phytolith assemblages and micromorphological traits indicate the seasonal occupation of the site, placing human frequentation at this location during late spring/early summer. Several studies have highlighted the presence of charred seeds of domesticated cereals in the archaeological record of mountain cave sites however, in many instances, whether these crops were cultivated near the sites or whether the grains were transported to the cave from the valley bottom remains under debate. This paper also contributes to this debate by showing that no crop-processing activities were taking place at the site, The main research of this work developed within the project “Los Caminos del Neolítico” (HAR2009-09027), granted by the General Management of Research and Management of the National R+D+i/ Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation, led by Professor Manuel Rojo-Guerra and co-funded by the Government of Aragón. The paleoenvironmental research and part of the funding is provided by the AGRIWESTMED project of the European Research Council (ERC-2008-AdG 230561) coordinated by Dr Leonor Peña-Chocarro

This paper presents the results of the taphonomic analysis of the burials from Tell Halula (Middle Euphrates Valley, Syria). The numerous burials recovered from this Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) settlement, in addition to the large volume of field documentation, have provided an opportunity to study burials in more depth than is usually allowed. This data set is important because of the unique mode of deposition, the exceptional preservation of the related assemblages (including fabrics, mats, and basketry) and the highly standardized nature of the funerary practices. Although the burials were found in various stages of preservation and articulation, we will show that they all represented the same type of funerary deposit, namely seated burials, often encased in bottle-shaped funerary bundles, and that the variability found during excavation can be attributed to post-depositional taphonomic effects. We provide a study of the different forms that result from these taphonomic influences and highlight the importance of doing this type of analysis. We hope that this paper will be a valuable contribution to the growing body of literature surrounding both seated burials and the taphonomy of burials.

One of the most important pre-Columbian gold assemblages made up of more than one hundred objects from two tombs in the Cauca river valley, Colombia, was studied to obtain archaeometric information. Although several attempts have been made to arrange gold production in time and space from the stylistic point of view, no firm conclusions were possible due to the lack of archaeological contexts. This paper presents first results of a new, fully instrumental approach, in which different analytical techniques, including OM, SEM-EDS, XRF, PIXE, RBS, AMS and X-ray imaging, were applied in order to determine a technological, metallurgical and chronological frame of the so-called Quimbaya Treasure., This paper is part of two Research Projects HUM2009-09298 and HAR2011-12809-E funded by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain. We are also indebted to the Instituto de Patrimonio Cultural de España, IPCE, for taking charge of the Radiographic work and to the Laboratorio de Arqueología del Paisaje y Teledetección (LabTel, CCHS-CSIC) for their help with the graphical abstract.

Recent refinements in radiocarbon sampling procedures have enabled a more robust absolute chronology for the Mesolithic in the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt area of northwest Europe. These refinements have allowed for a new chronological sub-division of the Early and Middle Mesolithic periods. Results of this research have indicated that the Middle Mesolithic period was bound by two Early Holocene cooling events, one at 9300 cal. BP and the other at 8200 cal. BP. These results enable a critical evaluation of the role of chronological precision in the investigation of contemporaneity between abrupt climate change and hunter–gatherer sociocultural change. In this paper we focus on the variable chronological resolution of the Early to Middle and Middle to Late Mesolithic transitions in the RMS area, and the role of this variable resolution in our ability to investigate the contemporaneity of these two transitions with different Early Holocene abrupt cooling events. This paper highlights two central challenges facing archaeological investigations of the relationships between climate and culture change: first, the requirement of tight chronological overlap between climate and culture change events and consideration of leads and lags in ecosystem and subsequent human responses to climate change; second, the equifinality problem and the separation of the impact of gradual from punctuated environmental change on human societies.

This paper establishes a chronological framework for selected pieces of Caribbean (Taino/Lucayan) wooden sculpture, enabling previously ahistoric artefacts to fit back into the wider corpus of pre-colonial material culture. Seventy-two 14C AMS determinations from 56 artefacts held in museum collections are reported, including 32 ceremonial duhos, or seats. Far from being constrained to the last few centuries prior to contact, the dates for these objects extend back to ca. AD 250, and include the artistic legacies of various cultures. Duhos in both low and high back styles are present from about AD 600, if not earlier, in a distribution that spans the Antillean island chain from Trinidad to Cuba. Complex, drug-related paraphernalia and elaborate ancestral reliquaries are in evidence by AD 1000, as are some distinctive regional styles – such as the unique iconography from the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos islands. This paper explores relevant methodological issues – from the challenges of working with museum pieces (e.g., uncertain provenance, discrete sampling techniques, impact of previous conservation treatments on dating results), to dealing with potential ‘in-built’ age in tropical hardwoods.

Aerial photography has made the single most important contribution to our improved appreciation of the density, diversity and distribution of archaeological sites in Britain since World War Two. This is particularly the case for areas of intensive lowland agriculture where ploughed-out sites are known mainly from marks in the crops growing above them. However, reconnaissance for such cropmarks is not equally effective throughout the lowlands, because of the particular conditions of drier weather, well-drained soils and arable agriculture required before they become visible, and is highly unpredictable. Given that the appearance of cropmarks is linked to moisture stress in growing plants, they are potentially detectable at bandwidths outside the visible spectrum and before they become apparent therein. This paper focuses on the application of two spectral enhancement techniques: Principal component analysis and Tasselled cap transformation. Comparing a range of imagery (CASI-2, ATM and digital vertical photographic data) from two case study areas in Lowland Scotland, each with very different environmental, agricultural and archaeological backgrounds to facilitate further comparisons, the paper demonstrates that multi-spectral/hyperspectral imagery can enhance the identification of otherwise invisible archaeological sites, particularly in the near-infrared part of the spectrum. However, the lower spatial resolution of such imagery, compared to photography, can make the often diffuse and incomplete cropmark traces more difficult to determine with confidence.

This paper describes the camel bones discovered in two Late Roman contexts from Arlon (Belgium). The morphological and metrical analyses identify the animal as a dromedary. The goal of this paper is also to provide an inventory of all camel finds published for the northern provinces of the Roman Empire. Based on a review of twenty-two archaeological sites with camel bones, it is shown that both the dromedary and Bactrian camel were imported to the northern Roman provinces and that the camels were present throughout the whole Roman period. This study also demonstrates that the camel discoveries cannot be linked exclusively with military contexts, as traditionally postulated. Indeed, several finds derive from civilian settlements (villas and cities). All sites with camel remains are located close to roads and are widespread throughout the Roman road network. It is suggested that the camels imported to the northern provinces might have been originally pack animals linked with both military and civilian traffic.

Radiocarbon (AMS) dates on two split-based point wings and a hominin molar from the site of Trou de la Mere Clochette in the French Jura are presented in this paper. Dating split-based points has very rarely been undertaken. This is unfortunate given that these artefacts are critical to our definition and characterization of Early Upper Palaeolithic technocomplexes, as they are considered to be the type fossil of the Classic Aurignacian. Although the molar proved to be Neolithic in age (4341 ± 33 14 C BP), the split-based points date to the Aurignacian and are, in fact, the oldest dates so far on directly dated shaped Aurignacian organic points from Europe (33 750 ± 350 14 C BP and 35 460 ± 250 14 C BP). Furthermore, what is particularly interesting about this site is that its lithic industry has strong affinities with the Protoaurignacian, rather than with the Classic Aurignacian, the latter being the industry with which split-based points have usually been associated. Located in Northeastern France, at the intersection of the Danube and Rhone corridors and very close to the Swabian Jura, this site, its Protoaurignacian lithic industry and these new dates are particularly relevant to a number of current discussions. Among these are the timing of key technical innovations and the characterization of, and chronological relationship between, various Early Upper Palaeolithic industries. Our paper presents these new results and discusses their implications in this wider context.

The reasons for megafaunal extinction in Australia have been hotly debated for over 30 years without any clear resolution. The proposed causes include human overkill, climate, anthropogenic induced habitat change or a combination of these. Most protagonists of the human overkill model suggest the impact was so swift, occurring within a few thousand years of human occupation of the continent, that archaeological evidence should be rare or non-existent. In Tasmania the presence of extinct megafauna has been known since the early twentieth century ( Noetling, 1912 , Scott, 1911 , Scott, 1915 ) with earlier claims of human overlap being rejected because of poor chronology and equivocal stratigraphic associations. More recent archaeological research has not identified any megafauna from the earliest, exceptionally well-preserved late Pleistocene cultural sites. In 2008 however an argument for human induced megafaunal extinctions was proposed using the direct dates from a small sample of surface bone from two Tasmanian non-human caves and a museum sediment sample from an unknown location in a cave, since destroyed by quarrying ( Turney et al., 2008 ). Turney et al. (2008) supplemented their data with published dates from other Tasmanian caves and open sites to argue for the survival of at least seven megafauna species from the last interglacial to the subsequent glacial stage. To investigate the timing of extinctions in Tasmania and examine the latest claims, new excavations and systematic surveys of limestone caves in south central Tasmania were undertaken. Our project failed to show any clear archaeological overlap of humans and megafauna but demonstrated that vigilance is needed when claiming survival of megafauna species based on old or suspect chronologies. The results of our six-years of fieldwork and dating form the first part of the present paper while, in the second part we assess the data advanced by Turney et al. (2008) for the late survival of seven megafauna species. A model of human prey selection and the reasons for the demise of a range of marsupials, now extinct, are discussed in the third part of the paper.

Multidisciplinary spatial studies are relatively limited in Indian archaeology, despite their potential for research and heritage management. This paper discusses applications of satellite remote sensing, field studies and GIS, in the context of Palaeolithic archaeology. The study region covers an area of around 8000 km 2 , in the state of Tamil Nadu, South India, and is characterized by a rich and diverse Palaeolithic record. Satellite images of varied spatial resolutions were interpreted to address both regional and site-specific research questions. Thematic maps were generated from satellite data and refined with intensive field investigations. These were used for demarcating sources of raw material, and in investigating variability in the distribution of sites through time in relation to a range of geological and geomorphological features. Satellite data and field studies also aided in mapping impacts on sites resulting from modern landuse patterns. The paper also discusses the development and testing of a model to detect potential areas where new sites may be rapidly located.

This paper emerges from an attempt to more actively integrate archaeology with ongoing geographical and environmental discussions of human responses to the effects of climate change in the Caribbean. If archaeology is to contribute to the mitigation strategies currently being developed, then robust interpretations are necessary that can be practically integrated with inter-disciplinary action. This paper discusses the methods needed to provide the high-resolution data and interpretations required using archaeological and palaeoenvironmental research from a case study area in northern Cuba. Using data collected from an ongoing collaborative archaeological research project with the Cuban Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, we evaluate whether it is possible to make useful interpretations of human response to past changes in sea-level, precipitation and hurricane activity. Specifically, the effects of these activities on the changing nature of settlement locations, food procurement strategies and household architecture among pre-Columbian communities are evaluated. Indigenous mitigation strategies are identified and used to inform modern day preparation for the impacts of climate change in the Caribbean.

This paper focuses on the description and characterization of the nature of isotropic and silicon-rich particles observed in plaster samples from the Maya archaeological sites of Calakmul and Lamanai. Based on the composition and morphology of these particles, it is proposed that volcanic ash and glass were incorporated into some of the ancient Maya plasters in order to produce hydraulic reactions. From a technological point of view, the intent on the part of the Maya to produce such reactions is relevant because it would reflect resource planning and complex knowledge of materials. Results also confirm previous reports of the presence of volcanic ash layers at the site of Calakmul and suggest that there were considerable ash falls in the Maya lowlands during Prehispanic times which may have made the material available in many areas of the Central Lowlands. If, as we propose here, volcanic ash was employed in lowland Maya plasters, then the use of volcanic materials by the lowland Maya was more intensive than has been recognized. Our paper also reviews the literature about the use of volcanic materials in lowland Maya materials and suggests future lines of research.

Based on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis, this paper assesses the defensibility of winter village sites in the Mid-Fraser region on the Canadian Plateau during the Late Prehistoric Period (ca. 3500-200 B.P.), particularly the Plateau and Kamloops Horizons (ca. 2400-200 B.P.). Although there is variability in prehistoric village locations in terms of defensibility, highly defensible prehistoric sites in the Mid-Fraser region are concentrated in two localities. The high defensive values of these village sites indicate that the threat of intergroup conflict had a significant impact on choice of settlement location. The approach used in this paper demonstrates the importance of past defensive considerations in the decision making processes pertaining to settlement locations. As conflict is a common feature of many cultures and time periods throughout the world, this approach has potential applications to other defensive sites globally.

Graphic and metric archaeological documentation is an activity that requires the capture of information from different sources, accurate processing and comprehensive analysis. If monitoring of the state of conservation is required, this task has to be performed before intervention, during and after the completion of the works in a repetitive way. This paper presents the use of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) in order to effectively produce, prior to intervention, accurate and high-resolution 3D models of a cave with engravings dating back to the Upper Palaeolithic era. The processing of the TLS data is discussed in detail in order to create digital surface models. The complexity of the cave required the integration of two techniques, TLS and close range photogrammetry to yield not only traditional drawings such as sections and elevations, but also photo-realistic perspective views and visual navigation worlds fully operational in 3D environments. This paper demonstrates the potential of integrating TLS and close range photogrammetry to provide both accurate digital surface models and photo-realistic outputs. This processed data can be used to systematically improve archaeological understanding of complex caves and relief panels of prehistoric art with tiny engravings.

The dhole (Cuon alpinus) has been documented on the Iberian Peninsula throughout the Middle and Upper Pleistocene in archaeological and palaeontological contexts. However, this is an uncommon species among the Iberian quaternary faunae as a whole. This paper focuses on the remains of the genus Cuon recovered in three different sites of the Iberian Mediterranean region and their morphological and osteometrical study. By comparing these with fourteen complete skeletons of Canis lupus, as well as with other remains of C. alpinus, we intend to highlight some anatomical and metrical differences between Cuon and Canis that, added to those already published, could be a functional base-line for the identification of this genus. The identification of this species is complex, especially in archaeological contexts, and in some cases the dhole has been identified as Canis or Canidae. Furthermore, this paper explores the chronology of the presence of the dhole in the Iberian Peninsula and the different contexts where these animals have been recovered from.

In 1854 Chief Mugombane and members of his Kekana Ndebele chiefdom took refuge in what is now known as Historic Cave, in the Makapan Valley, South Africa. The chiefdom retreated into the cave following an attack on a party of Trekboers. The subsequent siege of the cave, which lasted just under a month, ended in the death and surrender of its occupants and their dispersal among the Trekboers and their African auxiliaries. However, the number of people and the composition of the group that hid in the cave, as well as factors that led to the demise of the Kekana became blurred in the various renderings of the historical event. During the 1980s researchers began to cast doubt on the original Trekboer documents and the magnitude of the event when it became apparent that the Kekana oral histories remained silent on the matter. Between 2001 and 2007 the material remains of the siege were excavated to provide new data from which to judge the scale and impact of the siege event. Human remains, the primary focus of this paper, afford this perspective. This paper provides the result of the analysis of the human remains excavated from the cave, as well as an account of those remains that have been recorded or are housed in collections. The study of two naturally mummified individuals removed from the caves and stored in collections is also presented.

Localised hypoplasia of the primary canine (LHPC) is characterised by roughly circular defective areas of thinned or missing enamel on the labial surface. This defect is rarely reported in bioarchaeological research. Using samples from late prehistoric mainland Southeast Asia, this paper documents the prevalence of LHPC to produce baseline data for this defect. The samples are from seven archaeological sites in Thailand and collectively span from ca. 4000 to 1500 BP. In the combined samples, 32/79 (40.5%) of individuals and 47/199 (23.6%) of teeth had LHPC. The high occurrence of LHPC may suggest there was poor maternal and infant health. There is also a high occurrence of caries associated with LHPC, which has implications for the assessment of deciduous dental health. This paper stresses the importance of the collection of dental enamel defect data from deciduous teeth including LHPC in bioarchaeological research.

This paper examines changes in the organization of lithic technological systems during the later Middle Stone Age (MSA) of South Africa. Using principal components analysis (PCA), the study looks at the lithic data from two important South African MSA sites: Blombos Cave and Klasies River Mouth. The paper uses PCA to describe the transition to (1) the biface-dominated Still Bay industry at Blombos Cave and (2) the microlithic Howiesons Poort industry at Klasies River Mouth. Based on these analyses, the paper offers a synthetic scenario of the emergence of the Still Bay industry from earlier MSA industries, closely followed by the dramatic transition to the Howiesons Poort. Using a few principles of tool design and behavioral ecological models derived from the study of modern foragers, the paper suggests that the Still Bay came about as the result of deteriorating environmental conditions at the beginning of Oxygen Isotope Stage 4, which caused resources to become scarce and more widely distributed. The study proposes that the bifacial point strategy of the Still Bay was a response to wider mobility patterns and increased movement away from lithic raw material sources. The paper then suggests that Howiesons Poort emerged as information sharing strategies improved, and resources in the environment could be more efficiently targeted with more task-specific tools. The paper closes by reviewing the implications of these findings for modern human origins in South Africa.

Inter-population differences in skeletal and dental growth and maturation are acknowledged frequently in the biological anthropological literature. These growth differences have implications for the reliability of standards for the estimation of age at death of archaeological subadults. The number of archaeological projects that are recovering human burials from non-European contexts, including Southeast Asia, and the increasing interest in subadult bioarchaeological studies provides the impetus for investigating this issue of ageing subadult individuals from these populations. This paper aims to address some of the problems of the representativeness of ageing standards for non-European children in bioarchaeology. This is achieved through a literature review of the issue of growth variability and age estimation, and a basic comparison of the commonly applied age estimation method based on North American children with a dental formation study of modern Thai children. Although these studies do not employ similar methods the Thai study is the only comparable data available and therefore serves as a starting point to address these issues. The results raise an important question for bioarchaeologists of the appropriateness of available ageing methods. In addition this paper emphasises the need for the use of appropriate methodologies in the collection and presentation of dental formation data.

This paper establishes an eight thousand year history of anthropogenic metal pollution at one of the oldest, most important and longest sustained sites of the extraction and smelting of copper ores in the Old World: the Faynan Orefield in Jordan, which is located between the hyper-arid southern desert and the front of the wetter Mountains of Edom. The modern land surface is shown, in significant part, to be a complex palimpsest of archaeological sites, metal pollution of various ages and ore processing deposits. Quantitative and qualitative observations of the storage and cycling of heavy metals through the local natural and domestic systems have produced a body of information on processes with which the past has been interpreted. Heavy metal concentrations in semi-continuous sedimentary bodies indicate that over the last 1500 years, metals were removed by natural processes at a comparatively slow rate given the scale of the original anthropogenic metal burden: the proportions of lead with respect to copper have increased as the overall metal burden has been lowered. Distinctive anthropogenic metal-pollution signatures have been detected in ash- and charcoal-rich deposits that were discarded onto the banks of a perennial stream in the late Neolithic. At present, the nature of the human activities that might have produced these pollution signatures is unknown. Substantial metal pollution from industrial-scale smelting activity was present from the Early Bronze Age. The intensity of heavy metal pollution produced in Classical Times locally exceeded that recorded at major European copper smelting centres in the nineteenth century A.D. The pollution evidence indicates that intensive copper smelting at the immediate area took place until approximately the end of the Byzantine period; with the exception of one further minor episode of smelting radiocarbon dated to cal. BP 530–330. An observed partial, but perhaps significant, parallelism is also noted between this local record and the records of the metal burdens of the northern hemisphere determined at mire or ice-sheet sites at high-altitudes or high-latitudes. The paper discusses the extent to which this parallelism might be a geochemical indicator of the actual existence of “economic systems” of a geographical scope and scale to have both exercised substantial “pull” upon the resources of such isolated and difficult locations at the Wadi Faynan, and to have generated sufficient overall metal pollution to have materially altered the chemistry of the global atmosphere. The comparative absence of quantitative information upon the nature, spatial scale and impacts of human, industrial and natural processes affecting metal-pollution in other metal-rich arid lands provides a significant impediment to such approaches that seek to research “locally and think globally”.

The analysis of cords recovered in the archaeological sites Pena de las Trampas 1.1, c. 8400 years BP, and Inca Cueva 7, c. 4080–4030 years BP, allowed us to discuss the hypothesis that vascular bundles of palm leaves from distant sources were used in the Northern and Southern Puna during the Holocene in different archaeological sites. In this paper we contribute data from two sites. The first is situated at the locality of Antofagasta de la Sierra, Catamarca, Southern Argentinean Puna; the other at the Quebrada de Inca Cueva, Jujuy, Northern Argentinean Puna. The goals in this paper were to identify the raw materials used in making cords, the differences in cord fabrication between the two samples and the temporal and spatial distribution of Puna data with reference to the palm species habitat.

This paper deals with hearth-related accumulations in Middle Palaeolithic sites. Spatial behaviour is a key to understanding the cultural capabilities of ancient hominids. Ethnoarchaeological and archaeological research has shown that hearth-related assemblages are a basic feature in the spatial behaviour of modern and prehistoric hunter–gatherers. In this paper, we propose a methodology for analysing archaeological accumulations and study a series of hearth-related assemblages from the Abric Romani Middle Palaeolithic site (Capellades, Spain). We also analyse the degree of contemporaneity between the different activity episodes documented at each archaeological accumulation. Our results suggest that the characteristics of domestic areas in this site are not substantially different from those observed in ethnoarchaeological contexts and Upper Palaeolithic sites.

This paper presents a standardized series of replicable and comparable density assays, based on the technique of photon densitometry (or absorptiometry), for two native South American camelid taxa, the domesticated llama ( Lama glama ) and alpaca ( L. pacos ). Two sets of volume density (VD) measures (in g/cm 3 ) are provided: (1) “shape-adjusted” volume density (VD SA ) which computes cross-sectional area of each scan site based upon computerized analysis of scanned digital images; and (2) standard volume density (VD LD/BT ) which norms cross-sectional area to a block form. Derived value sets are compared with each other, between camelid specimens and with published figures for camelid, deer and bison skeletal elements. Patterns of structural bone densities between South American camelids and other artiodactyls might be attributed to unique anatomical expressions of locomotor and dietary adaptations. The density data are combined with derived meat utility indices to explore the archaeological correlates associated with the production, distribution and consumption of ch'arki , a native Andean dried meat product. The paper examines the validity of an Andean charqui effect ( sensu Miller, 1979, An introduction to the ethnoarchaeology of the Andean Camelids . Ph.D. Thesis, University of California at Berkeley), based on the well-known schlepp effect , by comparing hypothetical ch'arki and chalona models of meat preservation. Faunal data from the prehistoric Peruvian site of Chavin de Huantar do not support the consumption of imported ch'arki , but could implicate its local production. The data could also support the consumption of imported chalona , or the importation of live camelids which were subsequently slaughtered, locally produced into chalona and consumed. In both cases, the data leave open the possibility that Chavin may have been a production centre for either ch'arki or chalona ; however, acceptance of the differing interpretations requires some potentially problematic assumptions.

In a recent paper, Schmitt and Juell argued that corroded, thinned, and polished bones may be diagnostic of carnivore scatological bone. This paper examines leporid and bird bones recovered from 20 golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) pellets, and concludes that these same taphonomic traces are commonly present on bones regurgitated by this diurnal raptor. As a result, much additional research will be required before carnivore scatological bone can be uneqivocally distinguished from bones cast by golden eagles.

Criticisms levelled by Tim Church on a previously published paper (Hoard et al., Neutron activation analysis of stone from the Chadron Formation and a Clovis Site on the Great Plains, Journal of Archaeological Science 19, 655–665, 1992) are addressed. We maintain that the methods and conclusions of our previous paper are sound. Our ongoing research is refining our methodology and continuing to produce significant archaeological interpretations.

This paper proposes that the additional acid-loading brought about by the deposition of large quantities of acid aerosols from Icelandic volcanic eruptions may be responsible for environmental stress and settlement abandonment postulated by previous authors for northern and western Britain in the late 2nd millennium BC. The mechanism is predicted to have been of significance only in those ecosystems that were already significantly acidified. The paper discusses and counters suggestions that the volcanically-induced climatic change was the principal mechanism for both an apparent abandonment of settlement over large areas of northern Scotland, and the stress experienced by oak trees growing on raised bogs in Ireland.

In this paper, I explore multiple methods of ceramic seriation, including correspondence analysis and frequency seriation, to revise the regional ceramic sequence for the Mississippian period of northern Georgia in the Southeastern United States, a period defined by the emergence of complex sociopolitical organization and marked socioeconomic inequality. I present a Bayesian radiocarbon framework for interpreting these seriations and situating them in absolute time. As the acquisition of new data and new analyses continuously demand reevaluations of any ceramic chronology, the analytical framework outlined here offers an avenue for future ceramic and radiocarbon datasets to be formally integrated with extant datasets to quantitatively reevaluate archaeological sequences. Because changes to materials and material attributes continue to be employed to construct culture-historical narratives and timelines across the world, especially for the purpose of highlighting and defining critical social, political, economic, and cultural transitions, the methodological approach presented here provides opportunities to formally explore, assess, and re-evaluate temporalities of cultural change.

The ability to geologically classify stone artefact materials is crucial because it is the first step in provenance allocation and geochemical grouping that inform archaeological models used for understanding exchange systems within prehistoric social networks. Geochemical analyses have revolutionised exchange studies by making it possible to match stone artefacts back to quarry sources, sometimes hundreds or thousands of kilometres away. Most archaeological basalt characterisation and provenance studies have relied on destructive sampling techniques to obtain the major trace elements NaO2, K2O and SiO2 (wt%) to identify volcanic rock types on the Total Alkali Silica (TAS) diagram. To overcome this limitation, this paper presents an alternative method, the Pearce W-F diagram, that determines volcanic rock type and alkalinity using elements TiO2, Zr, Y and Nb that are accurately detected by non-destructive portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF). This new method is proven to be effective in a comparison with recent XRF archaeological basalt studies in the Pacific. The power to classify volcanic rock types non-destructively with pXRF significantly increases the number of artefacts and museum objects available for inclusion in archaeological exchange studies.

The middle Huai River valley, located in the climatic, cultural and agricultural transitional zone in the central-eastern China during the Neolithic, occupies an important position in the study of the origins, development and spread of rice and millet farming in China. Previous studies indicate that rice agriculture has extended to the middle Huai River valley since 8.5 ka BP, and rice domestication was in the early stage between 8.5 and 7.5 ka BP, while the earliest evidence of millet remains discovered in this region was as late as ca. 5.0 ka BP. However, the process of rice domestication after 7.5 ka BP in this region, and when and where foxtail millet and broomcorn millet first extended respectively into this valley and interplayed with rice during the Neolithic period are still unknown. In this study, phytolith analysis of the soil samples from the Shuangdun site during the archaeological excavation, which is a representative site of the Shuangdun Culture in the middle Huai River valley dating back to 7.3–6.8 ka BP, reveals evidence of crops in the middle Huai River valley, China. Our results show that rice with japonica characteristics was the dominant crop at the Shuangdun site, which had a higher domestication rate than that at the Shunshanji site during 8.5–7.5 ka BP in terms of the morphological and morphometric analyses of rice bulliform and double-peaked glume cells, while broomcorn millet only occupied a small proportion of the total amount based on analysis of the quantity and ubiquity of phytoliths. Our data extend the record of broomcorn millet use in the middle Huai River valley by nearly 2000 years. The analysis in this paper not only provides significant evidence for illustrating the transformation of crop structure and the domestication process of rice in the middle Huai River valley, but also brings some clues for mapping the spatiotemporal route for the spread of rice and millets in central-eastern China during the Neolithic.

Archaeologists now routinely use summed radiocarbon dates as a measure of past population size, yet few have coupled these measures to theoretical expectations about social organization. To help move the ‘dates as data’ approach from description to explanation, this paper proposes a new integrative theory and method for quantitative analyses of radiocarbon summed probability distributions (SPDs) in space. We present this new approach to ‘SPDs in space’ with a case study of 3571 geo-referenced radiocarbon dates from Wyoming, USA. We develop a SPD for the Holocene in Wyoming, then analyze the spatial distribution of the SPD as a function of time using a standard nearest-neighbor statistic. We compare population growth and decline throughout the Holocene with expectations for different Ideal Distribution Models from population ecology that predict the relationship between habitat quality and population density. Results suggest that populations in Wyoming were initially clustered and then became increasingly dispersed through the course of the Holocene. These results suggest that Allee-like benefits to aggregation, rather than ideal free-driven dispersion patterns, explain settlement decisions in response to growing populations. Our approach is a first step in constructing a method and theory for describing relationships between social organization and population growth trends derived from archaeological radiocarbon time-series.

This paper presents the results of δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S isotope analyses on archaeological faunal remains from deposits dated c. 400–200 cal BCE at two Iron Age sites in Wessex: Suddern Farm and Danebury hillfort, Hampshire. The aim was to investigate diet and mobility within the populations and across a range of animal species. The results demonstrate a significant level of mobility within the Iron Age, with around 20% of the terrestrial herbivores either having been reared off the chalkland and brought to the sites from perhaps 150–200 km away or moving between isotopically distinct areas throughout much of their life and presenting a ‘mixed’ isotopic signal. The results lead us to suggest that the old paradigm that views most Iron Age people as leading relatively sedentary lives should be re-evaluated, and new models be considered that allow for regular movements by a portion of the population over much larger distances than hitherto considered in this period of prehistory.

For decades, the origin of the bronzes with distinct highly radiogenic lead isotopic ratios in Shang period China has been a puzzle. This paper presents new lead isotope data for bronze objects from the Hanzhong region, one of the key regional bronze cultures during Shang period China. On the basis of a synthetical investigation of the typological, chemical and lead isotopic features of Hanzhong bronzes and their relations to other regional bronze cultures, we propose the Qinling area as a potential region of origin for the metals containing highly radiogenic lead used by several contemporaneous but culturally/politically distinct entities across a vast territory. Taking into account both archaeological and geological evidence, this working hypothesis draws attention not merely to the geological provenance of metal resources, but also to the mechanisms of metal production and circulation as well as broader social-economic dynamics.

This paper contributes to the current debate regarding the ethno-cultural identity and origins of the post-Archaic (5th to 4th centuries BCE) population of the town of Satricum by introducing bioarchaeologial data including strontium isotope ratios, strontium concentrations, δ13C and δ18O values of tooth enamel, as well as dental morphological traits. Previous studies suggested a change in the original Latin population of ancient Satricum as a result of migrating groups called the Volscians coming from the eastern mountainous hinterland of Latium. The purportedly relatively short occupation of Satricum (ca. 150 years) by the Volscians during the post-Archaic period increases the chance of identifying the first generation of migrants coming from the mountains. Individuals from three presumable Volscian necropoleis in Satricum are analyzed. Forty-three third molars were sampled for isotope and elemental analyses. All individuals appear to be “local” based on their strontium and oxygen isotope ratios. However, three individuals have statistically lower strontium isotope ratios than the rest, two of which originate from two intersecting graves. These two also have the lowest strontium concentrations, potentially suggesting they are spatially and possibly biologically related. At the group level, the strontium concentration data show a clear difference between the necropoleis. An additional difference is in the dental non-metric trait frequencies, with a biodistance analysis suggesting the necropoleis contain different gene pools (MMD score of 0.789). It is hard to determine if these data suggest (1) a population that experienced fast and marked gene flow between use of the necropoleis, or (2) a population with large, distinct kin groups using different necropoleis. Nonetheless, the data show that the 5th to 4th century BCE was a period of change in Satricum and this work paves the way for future research as we strive to understand the origins and identities of these peoples.

Current approaches in diet-related bioarchaeological research focus on establishing major developments in ancient societies, whilst small-scale and high-resolution studies of social constituents of past food consumption have gained far less attention. We conducted a multiproxy study of ancient diet in the 12th–13th century AD cemetery at Kukruse, NE-Estonia, in order to address the question of socially constrained food in the past. Two different food related archaeological sources – ceramic vessels and human bones – were investigated by applying organic residue (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), bulk isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS), gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS)), and plant microfossil analysis for the first, and human bone stable isotope (IRMS) analysis for the latter. Results show that there was a gender and to some extent also age-specific food consumption by different community members at Kukruse: male (and some older female) diet was based on more aquatic and higher trophic level organisms, whilst younger females tend to feed on lower trophic level and potentially more herbivorous animals and their products. The paper emphasises the concept of past diet as a social phenomenon, the aspects of which can be best revealed with the help of multiproxy bioarchaeological analysis.

The demographic dynamics of human settlements are a fundamental part of understanding complex society development, and population estimates are a fundamental part of understanding those dynamics. Many types of demographic analyses can be carried out on the basis of relative population estimates, but a deeper understanding of demographic processes can be gained by converting those estimates into absolute numbers of people. Using regression analysis this paper develops a technique for making absolute population estimates based on the area and density of ceramic sherd scatters. This technique can be used to make absolute population estimates in many parts of the world, though here its application is illustrated using data from the Intermediate Area and Amazon region. Unlike previous approaches to demographic reconstruction this technique provides a basis for establishing population error ranges for different degrees of statistical confidence.

This paper presents new stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope data obtained from human and animal remains from the Kamennyi Ambar 5 cemetery (KA-5) (Southeastern Urals, Russian Federation) and represents one of the largest stable isotope datasets from a single prehistoric site in the steppes of Central Eurasia. These results are compared with other regional faunal, botanical and archaeological datasets to examine late prehistoric trends in pastoralism and human dietary patterns. The findings of this research emphasize a subsistence regime consisting of broad-spectrum resources that include domestic and wild animal species, wild plants and fish. This study contributes to current knowledge regarding the diversity in isotopic values of human and animal remains and indicates that variation in subsistence was related to distinct local resource biomes and economic strategies. These results suggest a more complex model of late prehistoric subsistence trends in the steppes that emphasizes the need for enhanced micro-regional studies combining environmental, biological, and archaeological datasets. The study presented here also provides information on the most detailed bioarchaeological study of human remains and stable isotopes to date related to the Sintashta archaeological pattern.

In this paper we provide an analytical insight on a specific form of bullion-currency. Through the comparison of the statistical properties of different samples of hacksilver and balance weights from various contexts of the Near Eastern Bronze Age, the study attempts to assess whether the weight values of bullion-currencies can be expected to comply with existing weight-standards. The results of the statistical analyses on a silver hoard from Ebla (Syria) strongly suggest that hacksilver in the Bronze Age Near East was shaped and/or fragmented in order to comply with the weight-systems that were in use in the trade networks where it circulated. The results also show the possibility to quantify the level of affinity between different weight-systems. The study is intended to provide a starting point for future research, aimed at the identification of different forms of bullion-currencies in pre- and protohistoric economies.

Long-standing arguments regarding the early cultural transition, the domestication of plants and the impacts of climate change on past Egyptian societies remain contentious. In this paper, we demonstrate that grazing started at our study site, Kom El-Khilgan in the NE Nile Delta, ca. 7000 years ago, which was several hundred years prior to crop farming. We examined pollen-spores and non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP) in a 1-m-deep sediment profile (KH-1) in the study site, defined archaeologically as the Pre-Dynastic (>5.9 ka) in age. Our results show that before ca. 7.0 ka, major floods prevailed in the Nile Delta, as highly-concentrated Podocarpus and Polypodiaceae were transported from the East African highlands and Cyperaceae of higher Nile flow indication. This humid phase was succeeded by a brief period of drying climate ca. 7.0–6.6 ka, allowing the entry of the first settlers who commenced grazing their animals on previously inundated wetlands. This change is indicated by the remarkable increase in fungal spores (Cercophora, Sordaria, Coniochaeta cf. Ligniaria) from accumulations of animal dung. At ca. 6.6 ka, the abrupt appearance of domesticated cereal pollen (Poaceae >35 μm) and cereal grass pathogens (Pericornia and Sorosporium) suggests an amelioration of the climate that allowed the introduction of cereal crops and related water management activities. Grazing and cropping co-existed for the remainder of the record during the time when there occurred a mega-tendency of climate drying towards recent time. A drought event recognized ca. 4.2 ka led to the collapse of the Old Kingdom.

The Norse Greenlanders were dependent on wood for making houses, boats, utensils, tools and as fuel. Due to Greenland's northerly latitude and short, cool summers, the local woody taxa include relatively few species, most of which are low-growing shrubs. Consequently, it has been argued that import of timber was necessary to meet the wood requirements of the Norse Greenlanders. The taxa of archaeological wood assemblages from five Norse sites in Greenland, the episcopal manor Garðar/Igaliku (O47), Tatsip Ataa Killeq (O172), Tasilikulooq (O171), Narsaq (O17a) and Garden under Sandet (GUS) were analysed to determine whether the wood was native, import or driftwood. This paper demonstrates that farmers in Greenland used mainly driftwood and native wood, while high-status sites like Igaliku had access to sporadic timber imports from mainland Europe and North America. Furthermore, the proportions of driftwood taxa from the Norse settlements are more or less the same as of Inuit and pre-Inuit cultures in Greenland and the Smith Sound. These results suggest that the Norse Greenlanders were not reliant on imported wood but were in fact mostly self-sufficient in regard to their timber resources.