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Using oxygen isotope ratios in terminal growth rings, we estimate the month of harvest of 32 Macoma nasuta shells from a single component Late Phase II (450–200 cal BP) assemblage from CA-CCO-297. Results suggest that clamming occurred throughout the year, but was most pronounced during two pulses in early summer and early winter. We relate the former to longer daylight in early summer that facilitated access to tidal flats and clamming, while the latter may relate more to a lack of other foraging opportunities. We compare the results to Macoma seasonality studies at two other Late Period sites (CA-SFR-171 and CA-SMA-6) and one Middle Period site (CA-ALA-17) on San Francisco Bay. The patterns at all four sites are similar in many regards, but differ in the details and highlight new information on ancient settlement patterns in the region.

Ceramics of multiple styles from five archaeological sites on Antigua were analyzed at the University of Missouri Research Reactor Center to obtain a better understanding of ceramic compositional variability within Antigua. Bulk chemical characterizations of pottery were determined by neutron activation analysis. Findings suggest that all of the ceramics in our sample were made from locally available, naturally tempered clays, and that there is compositional continuity through time despite the different stylistic and locational attributes of the sherds.

In the South Caucasus—roughly the territory of today's Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan—the transition from the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) to the Late Bronze Age (LBA) is equated with fundamental shifts in settlement patterns, subsistence economy, and political strategies. During the mid-2nd millennium BC, nomadic pastoral societies that had dominated the region began to settle down and construct stone fortresses along the foothills of the Lesser Caucasus; these fortifications largely replaced the expansive and often opulently adorned kurgan burials as the most prominent expression of political dominance on the landscape. After a decade of intensive archaeological study at various fortifications, very little remains known about the political and economic relationships among fortresses on a regional scale that might improve our understanding of the roots of these sociopolitical transformations. In this paper, we highlight the results of a recent neutron activation analysis (NAA) of ceramics from elite and non-elite contexts at a selection of LBA fortresses on the Tsaghkahovit Plain in northwestern Armenia, and offer some preliminary interpretations about political and economic organization and boundary formation. Most strikingly, the NAA data suggest that the fortresses on the Tsaghkahovit Plain appear to have isolated themselves economically from surrounding valleys, perhaps in an attempt to forge boundaries and legitimating ideologies attendant to new political formations that were quite distinct from their nomadic predecessors in the MBA.

Using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) of prehistoric pottery, daub, and modern clay samples from Valencia, Spain, we tested expectations on changes in raw material use with socio-economic shifts during the Neolithic (ca. 5600–2800 BC). Elemental analysis identified three distinctive clay source groups used by Neolithic potters. Contrary to expectations, a shift in raw material use was identified between the Early and Middle Neolithic despite general similarities in technological practices. In the Late Neolithic, pottery production became more specialized, but potters used the same range of clay sources documented earlier. This study illustrates the utility of INAA for testing hypotheses of prehistoric craft production.

of Missouri for preliminary statistical analysis of the data. The goal of the statistical analysis is to recognize compositionally homogeneous groups within the analytical database. Whether a group is discriminated easily from other groups can be evaluated visually in two dimensions or statistically in multiple dimensions. Based on the “provenance postulate,” such distinguishable groups are assumed to consist of the manufactured products using clays from geographically restricted sources or source zones. The location of sources or source zones may be inferred by comparing the composition of unknown groups to that of known sources of raw materials. The results of the analyses are given in Table 1.

The George C. Davis Site (41CE19) in central East Texas holds a prominent position in American archaeology. Fifty prehistoric ceramic specimens from early Caddoan contexts (A.D. 800–1200) were analyzed by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) at the Missouri University of Missouri Research Reactor Center (MURR). The chemical compositions of the Davis ceramics were compared with previously identified Caddoan ceramic compositional groups. Early Caddoan ceramics from the Davis site likely originate from local alluvial clays in the Neches River Basin. Investigating issues of ceramic production, we conclude that clays from multiple sources and/or different ceramic recipes were used to make various Caddoan pottery types.

Chemical-characterization data from INAA provided information for understanding procurement of clays and production of ceramics in the Yapese past. By integrating mineralogical and chemical composition studies, we suggest clay-source zone distinctions for the different Yapese ceramic wares.

The development of exchange models from Pacific Islands' archaeological data is a major task facing Oceanic archaeologists. Chemical characterization of ceramics can assist provenance studies required for modelling past human interactions. This regional instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) conducted on ceramics collected from the Micronesian ceramic-producing islands of Belau, Chuuk, Guam, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap allows us to form compositional groups and provenance ceramics from the coral islands of Fais, Satawal, and Ulithi. Different island contexts, which cause post-depositional chemical transformations in ceramic sherds, do not hinder the provenance assignments.

The loss of ceramic technology is widespread in Oceanic island societies. While this disappearance has taken place at different times, under different conditions, on different Pacific Islands, a model created by examining the technology loss of one soasian ciety may cast light on the contributing factors to the decline of ceramic production of other Oceanic contexts. A model to account for the relatively recent end of ceramic pot production and use on the island of Yap, Federated States of Micronesia, during the colonial period is offered. Ceramic manufacture on Yap was at least a 2000-year-old tradition before it ceased in the twentieth century. Relying on a historical approach that considers the social dynamics of pots and a combination of archaeological, ethnographic, and ethnohistoric records, the Yapese gradually replaced their ceramic vessel technology with metal pots because of new conditions encountered during contact and colonialism. Factors involved in the ease of replacement of ceramic pots include limited access to the specialized labor required to produce ceramic containers, the superior durability offered by the replacement technology, and the fact that ceramic pots were valued more for their function.

In this paper, we report on our examination of the suitability of geochemical provenance studies on red ochre sources from western North America. We report geochemical data derivedfrom PIXE (particle-induced X-ray emission) analysis of eight red ochre sources from California, Oregon, Wyoming, and Alaska. Our preliminary analysis of these red ochres, including multiple samples from one large deposit, suggests that the tested samples vary significantly between sources. It appears likely that the geochemical analysis of red ochres, widely used and traded among Native Americans and other ancient peoples around the world, could expand the range of materials used by archaeologists and other scholars to reconstruct past exchange and interaction systems. Este articulo discute nuestra evaluaci6n de los estudios de proveniencia geoquimica de lasfuentes de ocre rojo en Norte America occidental. Reportamos los resultados del andlisis de ocho fuentes de ocre rojo en Alaska, California, Oregon, y Wyoming, incluyendo multiples muestras de un deposito extenso. Los datos obtenidos por medio de la tecnica PIXE (emision de rayos X inducida por protones) indican que las muestras de diferentes fuentes varian significativamente. Es posible que el andlisis geoquimico de ocre rojo, el cual fue utilizado ampliamente e intercambiado entre grupos nativo-americanos y otras poblaciones alrededor del mundo, podria expandir el rango de los materiales usados por arqueologos y otros investigadores para reconstruir sistemas de intercambio e interaccion pasados. G eochemical provenance studies of minerals, metallic alloys, and other synthetic materials play a key role in reconstructing ancient exchange and interaction networks in various parts of the world (see Bishop and Neff 1989; Harbottle 1982; Hughes and Smith 1993; Neff 1992; Schackley 1988; and others). In general, such studies have focused on geochemically distinctive materials such as basalts, clays, metals, obsidians, and other materials that can be traced to relatively discrete source deposits. Red ochre, a material widely used by many ancient and historic peoples, has received relatively little attention as a potential source of information on past trade, travel, or interaction patterns (see David et al. 1993; Sagonia 1994; Tankersley et al. 1995; and Weinstein-Evron and Ilani 1994 for significant exceptions). This situation is somewhat surprising given the fact that high-quality red ochres