bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Texcoco Region Archaeology and the Codex Xolotl
Authors: Charlton Thomas H.
Published: April 2006

The use of a hypothesis of conflict between Tula and Cholula by Parsons (1970) to account for settlement patterns and ceramics of the Toltec periods in the Texcoco region has resulted in the introduction of inconsistencies in the settlement interpretations of the preconquest Texcoco sequence. The Tula-Cholula Conflict Hypothesis is based on inadequate data and not supported. However, it is possible to interpret the settlement and ceramic changes of the Texcoco sequence using ecological and cultural factors suggested by Parsons for periods earlier than the Early Toltec. The correlations suggested by Parsons (1970) between the Codex Xolotl and the Early Toltec period rested in part on the use of the Tula-Cholula Conflict Hypothesis. With the elimination of this hypothesis, it is possible to correlate the 2 basic culture patterns of the Codex, as defined by Parsons, with terminal Late Toltec and Early Aztec. These correlations support Dibble"s original thirteenth century date for the early events depicted in the Codex Xolotl.
A Tumbaga Object from the High Andes of Venezuela
Authors: Lechtman Heather
Published: April 2006

A small, gilt tumbaga object was excavated by Erika Wagner at the habitation site of La Era Nueva, near the town of Mucuchíes, in the Venezuelan Andes during her 1967–68 field expedition. This object is the only Precolumbian metal artifact excavated in the Mucuchíes region and one of the few ever found in Venezuela. A complete study of the object, including wet chemical analysis, metallographic examination, and electron microanalyser scans, proved it to be of a typical tumbaga alloy, made of extremely thin, cast sheet metal, and gilt by one of the processes of depletion gilding. Both the sophistication of the metallurgy that characterizes this object as well as the lack of any other evidence for a prior metallurgical technology in the region indicate that the object could not have been made locally. It may be of Colombian origin, a product of Chibcha or Tairona goldsmiths.
Culture Areas and Interaction Spheres: Contrasting Approaches to the Emergence of Civilization in the Maya Lowlands
Authors: Freidel David A.
Published: April 2006

Recently several models have been proposed for the origin and evolution of lowland Maya civilization. These models share a basic spatial framework, the culture area, which is logically tied to a particular theoretical approach to the emergence of lowland Maya civilization. The culture area approach rests on the premise that sociocultural innovation occurs as a localized response to local natural and social conditions. Such innovation subsequently diffuses outside the local area through successful competition with alternatives. The empirical archaeological expectations of models based upon this approach are not satisfied at the site of Cerros, a Late Preclassic center on the coast of northern Belize. An alternative approach, the interaction sphere, better accommodates the evidence from Cerros and other Preclassic sites in the Maya Lowlands. The culture area models, the evidence from Cerros, and the interaction sphere approach and its theoretical ramifications are discussed.
Turrialba: A Paleo-Indian Quarry and Workshop Site in Eastern Costa Rica
Authors: Snarskis Michael J.
Published: April 2006

Turrialba, a multicomponent quarry and manufacturing site in eastern Costa Rica, has yielded in surface collections 18 fluted points, fragments, and preforms. Both North and South American paleo-Indian point types are represented. Also present are keeled scrapers, end scrapers with lateral spurs, large flake side scrapers, burins, knives, and large blades. Turrialba is as yet undated, but future excavations at the site will be crucial in understanding the diffusion and development of the fluted point tradition in the Americas.
Site Relationships at Quebrada Tarapaca, Chile: A Comparison of Clustering and Scaling Techniques
Authors: Matson R. G. , True D. L.
Published: April 2006

This study is a comparison of the results of a variety of clustering methods and 2 multidimensional scaling techniques on data from sites in northern Chile. While differences do occur, the similarities among the results are strong in spite of differing inputs. In general, results of relative frequency analysis appear to be superior to those of presence/absence, and the techniques used seem to be viable additions to existing archaeological tools.
Population Dislocation in the Navaho Reservoir District, New Mexico and Colorado
Authors: Eddy Frank W.
Published: April 2006

The Navaho Reservoir District is an arbitrarily defined unit of salvage archaeological research located in northwestern New Mexico and adjacent portions of Colorado. As such, it is used here as a data source for the study of ninth and tenth century population dislocations due to climatic change and river erosion. The affected Pueblo farming peoples migrated by means of slow, steady upstream drift. Violent land competition between the agrarian communities is offered as an explanation for the use of the leap-frog rather than wave strategy in population relocation.
The Classic Maya Collapse: Testing Class Conflict Hypotheses
Authors: Hamblin Robert L. , Pitcher Brian L.
Published: April 2006

Several lines of archaeological evidence are presented in this paper to suggest the existence of class warfare among the Classic Maya and of issues that historically have been associated with class conflict. This evidence indicates that class warfare may have halted the rule of the monument-producing, or Classic, elites and precipitated the depopulation of the lowland area. The theory is evaluated quantitatively by testing for time-related mathematical patterns that have been found to characterize large-scale conflicts in historical societies. The information used in the evaluation involves the time series data on the duration of rule by Classic elites as inferred from the production of monuments with Long Count dates at a sample of 82 ceremonial centers. The analyses confirm that the Maya data do exhibit the temporal and geographical patterns predicted from the class conflict explanation of the Classic Maya collapse. Alternative predictions from the other theories are considered but generally not found to be supported by these data.
The Evidence for Complex Exchange Systems among the Ancient Maya
Authors: Becker Marshall Joseph
Published: April 2006

The hypothesis presented by Tourtellot and Sabloff regarding ancient Maya exchange systems, although not necessarily incorrect, is found to be based on inaccurate information. The use of such data leads to the formulation of erroneous ideas concerning Maya economic systems in general. This in turn hinders the application of the useful aspects of Tourtellot and Sabloff"s study to problems concerning the structure of ancient Maya society.
Valdivia, Jomon Fishermen, and the Nature of the North Pacific: Some Nautical Problems with Meggers, Evans, and Estrada's (1965) Transoceanic Contact Thesis
Authors: McEwan Gordon F. , Dickson D. Bruce
Published: April 2006

Meggers, Evans, and Estrada's (1965) thesis, that storm-tossed Jomon fishermen drifted across the North Pacific to the coast of Ecuador and introduced pottery-making at the Valdivia site, is presented. The thesis is examined from the standpoint of the mechanics of such a voyage. The nature of the surface current patterns in the North Pacific are discussed, together with the weather conditions found along the presumed route, the types of vessels known archaeologically for the early Jomon, and the suitability of such vessels for a trans-Pacific crossing. Finally, the survival problems faced by a crew adrift in an open boat on the North Pacific are presented. It is concluded that contact between Jomon and Valdivian peoples was unlikely to have occurred in the manner suggested by Meggers, Evans, and Estrada. Several possible alternative routes and explanations are advanced.
An Eighteenth Century Reference to a Fluted Point from Guatemala
Authors: Bray Warwick
Published: April 2006

The earliest literary reference to a fluted point occurs in a work written in 1722 by Francisco Ximenez. This specimen and others from Guatemala are discussed in the light of recent discoveries from neighboring areas.
Controlling Pressure in Experimental Lithics Research
Authors: Ackerly Neal W.
Published: April 2006

The amount of pressure exerted per unit area is critical in microwear formation. Previous researchers have incorrectly assumed that amount of pressure per unit area can be controlled by controlling the amount of external pressure [i.e., load] applied during implement usage. Research has shown that even when the external force is constant, the fracture threshold varies depending on the amount of implement edge is contact with a worked item. Since edge contact varies considerably between functionally distinct classes of artifacts, a large amount of “noise” may have been inadvertently introduced into previous experimental results. This poses a significant problem, which must be addressed by future researchers.
Formative Period Occupations in the Highlands of Northern Ecuador: A Comment on Myers
Authors: Athens J. Stephen
Published: April 2006

The proposal by Myers, Reidhead, and Brouillard of Valdivia-Machalilla-related occupations in the northern highlands of Ecuador is challenged. Stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates from the La Chimba site do not support the concept of an Early Formative Espejo phase. Additional evidence from the Im 11 site reinforces this conclusion. In sum, the prehistoric chronology of the northern highlands appears to be quite distinct from that of the Ecuadorian coast.
Cluster Analysis and Archaeological Classification
Authors: Aldenderfer Mark S. , Blashfield Roger K.
Published: April 2006

This paper examines some of the implications of Christenson and Read’s [1977] comments on the use of numerical taxonomic concepts in archaeological classification. While many of their comments are accurate, we feel that they have seriously misrepresented the nature of cluster analysis as a grouping technique by their association of cluster analysis with the theoretical and methodological goals of numerical taxonomy. The implications of their arguments are challenged.
The Eric O. Callen Collection
Authors: Bryant Vaughn M.
Published: April 2006

Dr. Eric O. Callen’s notes, records, and reference materials covering nearly 20 years of research in the area of human coprolite analysis have been given to the Laboratory of Anthropology at Texas A & M University. The collection has been cataloged and is now available for use by interested researchers.
Potential Interpretations of “Stone Gorget” Function
Authors: Curren Cailup B.
Published: April 2006

Polished “stone gorgets” may have had the same function as contemporary ceramic tools.
A Review of the Evidence for Early Holocene Turkeys in the Northern Great Basin
Authors: Grayson Donald K.
Published: April 2006

Faunal remains recovered from the lower levels of the Connley Caves (south central Oregon) in the late 1960’s were attributed to turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), thus implying a major prehistoric range extension for this bird. Reanalysis of the Connley Caves avifauna demonstrates that this material should have been assigned to sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), and that the original investigators erred by confusing sexual dimorphism with taxonomically significant variation.
Economy of a Prehistoric Urban Context: Commodity and Labor Flow at Moche V Pampa Grande, Peru
Authors: Shimada Izumi
Published: April 2006

As a step toward delineation of prehistoric urbanism on the North Coast of Peru, Royal Ontario Museum teams have conducted intensive structural-functional analysis of “urban context” at the site of Pampa Grande, much of which was last occupied by a Moche V population (ca. A.D. 600-700). Such analysis entails, among other requirements, rigorous temporal control and a systemic conception of archaeological sites, emphasizing interlinkage of various activity loci. The multistage excavation-sampling design devised for the task was based on codification of architectural forms in terms of access pattern and on the belief that ceramically defined “contemporaneity” is inadequate for functional analysis. Application of the method showed that the site contained dispersed loci of low-output craft production, with a labor force commuting from elsewhere and fed by spatially segregated kitchens. An extensive network of corridors and formal storage complexes further attests to a concern with the control of commodity and labor movement.
Dental Caries and Early Ecuadorian Agriculture
Authors: Turner Christy G.
Published: April 2006

Teeth of Vildivia Period C Indians lack caries, a fact inconsistent with suggestions for intensive agriculture at this time (ca. 2000 B.C.) in coastal Ecuador.
Butchering and Stone Tool Function
Authors: Walker Phillip L.
Published: April 2006

Experiments were performed to determine the effectiveness of obsidian tools with different forms of edge treatment for animal processing. For most butchering tasks, primary flakes with unmodified working edges were more effective than bifacially pressure-flaked tools. The data presented indicate considerable variability among animal species in the demands placed on tools used for specific butchering tasks. It is suggested that consideration by prehistoric hunters of factors such as tool longevity and raw material availability could have resulted in the use of butchering tools with less than optimal cutting characteristics.
More on Contingency Table Analysis, Decision Making Criteria, and the Use of Log Linear Models
Authors: Clark G. A.
Published: April 2006

Read's (1974) discussion of contingency table analysis is amplified. Procedures for model formulation and testing advocated by Fienberg (1970) and Goodman (1968, 1969, 1970) are outlined, contrasted, and used to analyze a corpus of archaeological data. It is argued that Fienberg's approach is better suited to situations in which the behavior of the data can be accurately predicted within fairly narrow limits. The Goodman approach is more appropriate to situations in which the behavior of the data is completely unknown.
Pre-Altithermal Archaeology in the Sierra Pinacate, Sonora, Mexico
Authors: Hayden Julian D.
Published: April 2006

The 600 square mile volcanic area of the Sierra Pinacate, in extreme northwestern Sonora, Mexico, comprises a unique geologic and ecologic enclave in which archaeological remains have been undisturbed by erosion. Situated in an essentially waterless desert, its semipermanent waterholes have been foci of human activity since man's first entry into the region. Three geologic phenomena indicate the chronology of artifacts in the region. Desert pavements formed by aeolian deflation of loess are altithermal phenomena. Two degrees of thickness of desert varnish on pavement and associated artifacts provide evidence that man was present during a pluvial period preceding an altithermal episode centering around 17,000 B.C., as well as throughout the well-known Pluvial period. The formation of caliche below ground level helps place excavated artifacts in sequence. M. J. Rogers' term “Malpais” is revived and assigned to the earlier pluvial occupation, basal to “San Dieguito Phase I (SD I)” of the Pluvial. Diagnostic criteria which involve both archaeologic and geologic elements have been developed for both periods, and their extension to related areas is briefly discussed.
Quarter Sections and Forests: An Example of Probability Sampling in the Northeastern Woodlands
Authors: Lovis William A.
Published: April 2006

Problems involved in the application of probability sampling strategies to woodland environments are discussed and illustrated by example. The results of the sample and the field tactics employed in its implementation are appraised. Some directions for the development of specialized field tactics in woodland environments, including the reduction of transect intervals, the use of test-pitting, and the generation of explicit means for survey strategy alteration, are suggested.
The Nearest-Neighbor Statistic: Archaeological Application and New Developments
Authors: Pinder David , Shimada Izumi , Gregory David
Published: April 2006

Human behavior has spatial corollaries of great importance to both geographers and archaeologists. Some of these corollaries can be expressed as point maps, and to describe them objectively it has become common-place to employ the nearest-neighbor analysis technique devised by ecologists. But recently it has been shown that "underestimation" is an inherent flaw of the technique. Initially, therefore, the attention of this paper focuses on elimination of this problem by modifying the traditional formulae. With the flaw corrected, the issues surrounding interpretation of the nearest-neighbor statistic are discussed, and a review is made of the special difficulties of applying the technique to archaeological data.
The Archaeology of Vacant Lots in Tucson, Arizona
Authors: Wilk Richard , Schiffer Michael B.
Published: April 2006

An archaeological survey of 17 vacant lots in Tucson, Arizona, was carried out as a student exercise. The survey disclosed evidence for a recurrent set of activities: travel from place to place, refuse disposal, storage, automobile-related uses, adult and children"s play, camping, and various removal processes. Hypotheses about several formation processes, especially trampling, are provided. It is argued that vacant lots are a distinctive kind of activity area involving public use of private space, present in all cities, whose archaeological study may shed light on past urban systems.
The Origins of Specialized Nomadic Pastoralism: A Systemic Model
Authors: Lees Susan H. , Bates Daniel G.
Published: April 2006

A model is presented which describes the transition from mixed rainfall-dependent agriculture with animal husbandry to specialized modes of production based upon irrigated agriculture and nomadic pastoralism. This model emphasizes selective pressures for mixed farming before irrigation agriculture had expanded in the arid alluvial zones of Mesopotamia, and selective pressures for specialization after irrigation agriculture had become established in that zone. It goes on to describe dynamic interaction between specialized groups once such specialization has become institutionalized.
Dendrochronologic Calibration of the Radiocarbon Time Scale
Authors: Damon P. E. , Ferguson C. W. , Long A. , Wallick E. I.
Published: April 2006

Extensive radiocarbon analyses have been made of dendrochronologically dated wood. The resultant radiocarbon data are not in total agreement with the conventional solar calendar as exemplified by the tree-ring chronology. The discrepancy reaches a maximum between 4060 B.C. to 7350 B.C. when radiocarbon dates are too young by 800 to 870 yr. Using a compatible set of 549 dated samples as a working base, a calibration table has been derived for conversion of conventional radiocarbon dates to calendar dates. This conversion table covers the period of time from A.D. 1600 to 5400 B.C. Data are also given to facilitate the calculation of the accuracy of the corrected date by a simple, illustrated method.
An Interpretation of the Cave underneath the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico
Authors: Heyden Doris
Published: April 2006

The cave recently discovered underneath the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico, is analyzed both according to historical written sources and reports of cults to cave deities, prominent in Mexico for millennia. Different cave rites are discussed in an effort to determine the function of the grotto. The Teotihuacan cave is compared with the mythical Chicomoztoc, Seven Caves, place of creation in ancient Mexican mythology. The author suggests that the cavern may have determined the site for the building of the Pyramid of the Sun and that later Aztec accounts of rulers being buried underneath the pyramid may have been based upon fact.
Texcoco Region Archaeology
Authors: Blanton Richard E.
Published: April 2006

Charlton (1973) argues that Parsons' (1969, 1970) explanation for the abandonment of the central Texcoco region, Mexico, during the Early Toltec period, is misleading because Parsons considered only “non-ecological” factors. Specifically, Parsons suggested that this zone was not occupied because it was the boundary between the political spheres of two competing regional centers, Tula and Cholula. Charlton argues instead, that the region was abandoned due to “ecological” factors. Namely, he argues, the Early Toltec period was a period of low population density, when only the most suitable agricultural land was occupied; thus the central Texcoco region was not utilized because it is agriculturally marginal. Charlton’s emphasis on the use of “ecological” factors to explain the distribution of Early Toltec settlements is misleading because it does not allow prediction of the locations of other known Early Toltec settlements in the Valley of Mexico. Abandonment of large portions of the Valley of Mexico was a general pattern during this period, due to “Balkanization” and competition between local centers.
Political Themes on Mesoamerican Monuments: A Case Study
Authors: Cheek Charles D.
Published: April 2006

Many Mesoamericanists today accept the fact that much Mesoamerican art, in various media, depicts historical events and persons. Much of this evidence has come from hieroglyphic texts. This paper attempts to demonstrate the value of using non-glyphic attributes of depictions of personages and of interaction scenes to investigate the same problems. Non-glyphic attributes of scenes and individual dress and ornamentation are treated as coded cultural information that reflects patterned sociocultural phenomena. This approach is applied to Cotzumalhuapan sculpture from Coastal Guatemala. It is demonstrated that there are two distinctive facial types in interaction which seem to represent two different socio-political groups.
A Test of Aerial Photography in an Estuarine Mangrove Swamp in Veracruz, Mexico
Authors: Bruder J. Simon , Large Elinor G. , Stark Barbara L.
Published: April 2006

A ground truth check confirmed the utility of color aerial photography for predicting and mapping archaeological sites in an estuarine mangrove swamp zone and for serving as a basis for settlement pattern studies. Accuracy of prediction was extremely high due to the sharp response of vegetation to slight differences in elevation.
Experimental Archaeology: A New Outlook
Authors: Saraydar Stephen C. , Shimada Izumi
Published: April 2006

The potential contributions which imitative experiments can make to archaeology are far greater in scope, complexity, and overall "value" than is commonly realized. A sketch of some of these potential contributions is given and, in support of the claims advanced, a method of measuring the efficiency of hand operated implements is described and then applied in a comparison of different agricultural practices. The results show that experiments can provide important data unobtainable by traditional research methods and aid in the analysis of past subsistence and technological systems.
A Method for Counting Ceramic Rim Sherds
Authors: Egloff B. J.
Published: April 2006

Archaeologists rely upon the sherd count to quantify creamic data. A simple method for counting rim sherds uses the percentage of a vessel's orifice represented by each sherd. This technique can be used to estimate the minimum number of vessels represented by the sherds in any specific category.
The Contemporaneity Problem
Authors: Schacht Robert M.
Published: April 2006

Informal impressions or formal estimates of the size of prehistoric populations are often distorted by counting as if contemporary remains that, although dating to the same general period, were not in fact contemporary in a strict sense. In this paper, I evaluate a number of methods for mitigating this problem and propose a new solution. In the process, fundamental questions are raised concerning the nature of period boundaries, the life-cycles of sites, and how these phenomena affect estimates of the size of prehistoric populations. It is suggested that the growth cycles of most sites can be approximated by a relatively simple mathematical formula, or a series of such formulae, each expressed as a function of time. The total population can then be estimated at any point in time. A computer program to perform this task is given as an appendix, and the suggested procedure is illustrated with an example using data from SW Iran.
Part II: Current Research in Europe, the near and Middle East, and China
Authors: Wells Peter S. , Lamberg-Karlovsky C. C. , Chang K. C.
Published: April 2006

My aim in assembling this review is to make recent archaeological research in the Old World accessible to readers of this journal. Three issues are emphasized–current research concerns, major recent discoveries, and readily available literature on the subjects treated. The regions covered are Europe, the Near East, and China. A review article concerned with Africa will appear in a later issue. I wish to thank Peter Bogucki and Richard Meadow for helpful advice in this review's preparation. PSW
Two Roads Diverged: A Brief Comment on “Lowland Maya Archaeology at the Crossroads”
Authors: Hammond Norman
Published: April 2006

Some points raised by Joyce Marcus's survey of lowland Maya archaeology require further discussion.
Divided We Stand: Aspects of Archaeology and Information
Authors: Renfrew A. Colin
Published: April 2006

The role of the New Archaeology of the 1960s is recognized as decisive in the history of archaeology: an awakening from the “long sleep of archaeological theory” from about 1880 to 1960. But at the same time, limitations in the New Archaeology are responsible for corresponding defects in the present scene. The first of these is the lack of clear policy for the handling and especially the publication of data. It is argued that the outstanding defect of Cultural Resource Management, especially in the United States, is the failure to promote a clear policy that all survey work and all excavations should be adequately published. Accompanying this is the inadequate provision for the effective retrieval, at a national level, of the information which does emerge from CRM projects. The responsibility for this lies at the door of the academic archaeologists.

The second defect is the failure to recognize that the New Archaeology primarily offered new and interesting problems, not ready solutions. The widespread misconception that processual archaeology has become “normal science” is partly responsible for the lack of steam in the current theoretical scene in the United States. Some alternative approaches are indicated, and it is suggested that cognitive archaeology may, in the 1980s and 1990s, take its place alongside the social archaeology of the past two decades as a significant growth area.
An Alternative to a Strictly Materialist Perspective: A Review of Historical Archaeology, Ethnoarchaeology, and Symbolic Approaches in African Archaeology
Authors: Schmidt Peter R.
Published: April 2006

Over the last three decades archaeologists of Africa have developed distinctive perspectives in their use of oral traditions in historical archaeology and ethnoarchaeology. Many of these innovations reflect the cultural attitudes of Africans about their own history and have lead to an archaeology that is increasingly sensitive to questions of an African historical identity free from the Western structure of thought. The African archaeological tradition accepts, with materialist interpretations and explanations, the importance of symbolic subsystems in a synthetic and systemic approach. Consequently, the application of structural and symbolic analysis to interrelated archaeological and ethnographic information is an integral part of an anthropological approach to the later prehistory and history of Africa.
Frequencies of Spiral and Green-Bone Fractures on Ungulate Limb Bones in Modern Surface Assemblages
Authors: Haynes Gary
Published: April 2006

During observational fieldwork in undisturbed ranges of free-roaming bison and moose, I have identified approximately 8% of surface bones as spirally or green-fractured due to documented carnivore activity, and 5% as spirally or green-fractured due to trampling or dust wallowing by bison. The bones of smaller species suffer up to 50% breakage. Bone modifications by wild wolves and bears are briefly described, as are characteristics of fractures caused by trampling and wallowing.
The Northeast Petén Revisited
Authors: Rice Don S. , Rice Prudence M.
Published: April 2006

The role of environmental versus sociopolitical factors in establishing the characteristics of Maya settlement in Petén, Guatemala, has been debated, but evaluations have been hampered by a lack of diachronic data. Archaeological surveys and excavation conducted within a larger historical ecology project focused on the twin lake basins of Yaxhá and Sacnab, in northeast Petén, have provided a diachronic perspective on the settlement debate. In this area early settlement decisions appear to reflect topographic or environmental concerns, but the evolution of civic-ceremonial authority in the region caused deviations from this pattern.
Toward a More Comprehensive Model of Interregional Commodity Distribution: Political Variables and Prehistoric Obsidian Procurement in Mesoamerica
Authors: Zeitlin Robert N.
Published: April 2006

The distance-decay model of commodity distribution is examined for its potential utility in accounting for the interregional patterning of nonlocal goods during prehistoric times. Data obtained through a spectrochemical trace element analysis of Mesoamerican obsidian artifacts serve to expose some of the model's explanatory deficiencies and, when viewed in the context of what we know about the events of Mesoamerican prehistory, suggest that variables of a sociopolitical nature must enter into any comprehensive attempt to understand the processes by which long-distance networks of commodity distribution evolved and were maintained.
Spurred End Scrapers as Diagnostic Paleoindian Artifacts: A Distributional Analysis on Stream Terraces
Authors: Rogers Richard A.
Published: April 2006

Analysis of archaeological sites on a stream terrace system in Kansas supports the idea that spurred end scrapers are valid diagnostic Paleoindian artifacts. No sites with spurred end scrapers were discovered on the Holocene terraces, while the Wisconsin terraces did yield such sites. The differential distribution of spurred end scraper sites on terraces appears to be statistically significant. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that spurred end scrapers were not found on the Holocene terraces because they were not being used when the Holocene terraces formed.
Unproductive Lithic Resources at Lake Mead
Authors: Kamp Kathryn A. , Whittaker John C.
Published: April 2006

Artifacts from 24 chipping stations and a lithic scatter from the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada were analyzed by refitting conjoinable flakes to original cores. Artifacts represented debitage from the initial reduction of locally-available low-quality chalcedony nodules for the eventual production of flake tools. The refitting analysis allowed the debitage to be divided into four patterns that roughly correlate with variation in the quality of the raw material. All result from the same strategy of reduction aimed at producing as many usable flakes as possible from low-quality material. Such relatively unproductive sites are rarely studied in detail because they require intensive analysis, but were probably an important part of prehistoric resource systems.
Pans and a Grain of Salt: Mississippian Specialization Revisited
Authors: Muller Jon
Published: April 2006

Yerkes's comments fail to place my article in its context of other research on the lower Ohio Valley. He reacts more to what he thinks I believe than to what I actually wrote. Yerkes seems to want to identify Mississippian specialization on the basis of artifact traits rather than on the basis of actual organization of production. Moreover, he does not present any additional significant evidence to support the idea that true specialization was present in Mississippian society, in the American Bottom or elsewhere. The need to reject lower-level explanations of data before proposing higher-level explanations is not sufficiently appreciated. Finally, there is not sufficient appreciation of the degree of importance of the concept of specialization to the investigation of the social evolution of hierarchical systems.
Seasonality of Mollusk Collecting Determined from O-18 Profiles of Midden Shells
Authors: Killingley John S.
Published: April 2006

Midden shell carbonate O-18 profiles are used to estimate the month of shellfish collection. Fourteen molluscan shells from a coastal midden in Baja California were analyzed to demonstrate the potential of the technique for reconstructing settlement patterns. Ancillary information on paleotemperatures is also recovered from the O-18 values.
Towards a Rational Nomenclature in Faunal and Ecological Studies
Authors: Schramm Engelbert
Published: April 2006

Two new terms are recommended for the disciplines of faunal and ecological studies in historical perspective. They are congruent with terms in related sciences.
Bergumermeer and Modeling: A Comment on Odell
Authors: Yacobaccio Hugo D. , Borrero Luis A.
Published: April 2006

Odell’s use of activity areas, population parameters, seasonality, and ethnographic analogy concepts is criticized for the lack of adequate testing of his premises.
A Biocultural Analysis of Social Organization at Monte Albán
Authors: Wilkinson Richard G. , Norelli Richard J.
Published: April 2006

Skeletal material from high and low status interments at Monte Alban, Oaxaca, is used to evaluate the biocultural relationship between the two samples. Analyses of sex ratios, and metric and nonmetric variables fail to demonstrate a significant difference between the two groups, and suggest that class endogamy was unlikely. Analysis of the age structure of the samples provides evidence for a significant difference; social mobility and status achievement are suggested. Models of the growth and development of Monte Alban are evaluated in light of the biocultural analyses.
Ancient Agriculture and Population at Tikal, Guatemala: An Application of Linear Programming to the Simulation of an Archaeological Problem
Authors: Dickson D. Bruce
Published: April 2006

Population estimated for the Late Classic period at the Lowland Maya site of Tikal, Guatemala, is reviewed. Linear programming is described and suggested as a method for simulating the agricultural carrying capacity of the sustaining area of the site, thereby inferring its potential population. Archaeological data on the estimated size of the Tikal sustaining area is presented along with modern agricultural production and caloric output figures for maize, root crops, and ramon seeds. These data are used in the computation of a linear program. The results of the computer runs calculating the maximum population supportable by different combinations of milpa, intensive farming, and aboriculture are discussed. These results suggest that a mixed subsistence strategy in which ramon seed aboriculture and intensive root cropping were combined and were supplemented by kitchen gardening, hunting, gathering, and trade might have supported a population as high as 69,705 to 76,699 people within the boundaries of the site of Tikal during the Late Classic period.
A Statistical Examination of Settlement Patterns at Tikal, Guatemala
Authors: Arnold Jeanne E. , Ford Anabel
Published: April 2006

The widely applied concentric zonation model for Classic period Maya centers, which specifies that high-ranking persons lived closer to the central civic-ceremonial precinct than low-ranking persons, is tested for the site of Tikal. Our method is to identify residential units from the Carr and Hazard (1961) Tikal maps and to compute labor investment costs of construction of residential units from variables derived exclusively from the cartographic data. Our finding is that the Tikal data do not substantiate the concentric zonation model.
Spatial Bounding and Settlement History at Three Walled Northern Maya Centers
Authors: Webster David
Published: April 2006

Prehistoric boundary walls are associated with the three walled northern Maya sites of Chacchob, Cuca, and Dzonot Aké. All were probably built for defensive purposes, but have wider implications concerning the delimitation and use of space in Maya centers. Each center represents a fortified elite enclave, but each has experienced a very different pattern of growth resulting in distinctive settlement configurations.
Radiocarbon Dating in Eastern Arctic Archaeology: A Flexible Approach
Authors: Arundale Wendy Hanford
Published: April 2006

Radiocarbon dates from marine mammal tissue present Arctic archaeologists with some difficult interpretive problems. These problems are so serious that McGhee and Tuck have even advocated omitting all sea mammal dates from the Eastern Arctic radiocarbon chronology. A flexible approach to interpreting sea mammal dates will allow researchers to use existing dates more effectively and to make future dates more reliable. Solving the problems with sea mammal dates requires: (1) abandoning the assumption that radiocarbon assays are quasi-absolute chronological indicators; (2) recognizing and understanding the sources of variability that affect these dates; (3) correcting for these sources of variability; and (4) developing a more flexible strategy for interpreting the resulting date sequence. A large table of radiocarbon dates from the Eastern Arctic provides the basis for demonstrating how these four steps can be accomplished. Applying this flexible approach also suggests directions and guidelines for future research.
Linear Nearest Neighbor Analysis
Authors: Stark Barbara L. , Young Dennis L.
Published: April 2006

Linear nearest neighbor analysis is reconsidered and revised. This statistical method facilitates decisions about whether points along a line are clustered, random, or dispersed. One of its possible archaeological applications is illustrated using a set of probable housemounds along the Cabeza de la Vaca Arroyo in Veracruz, Mexico. The mounds are in a dispersed pattern. Ecological and subsistence factors offer one promising explanation for the pattern.
Buffer Zones in the Cultural Ecology of Aboriginal Amazonia: An Ethnohistorical Approach
Authors: DeBoer Warren R.
Published: April 2006

Historical and archaeological evidence indicates that unoccupied buffer zones were a pervasive feature of the aboriginal cultural ecology of Amazonian floodplains. Buffer zones in Ucayali culture history are examined in detail, and the more general implications that such zones have for interpretations of Amazonian prehistory and ecology are discussed.
Hydraulic Engineering Aspects of the Chimu Chicama-Moche Intervalley Canal
Authors: Ortloff Charles R. , Moseley Michael E. , Feldman Robert A.
Published: April 2006

Of the many canal systems of the Chimu empire the Chicama-Moche Intervalley (La Cumbre) Canal connecting the Chicama and Moche valleys represents the highest level of technical achievement. This paper examines the engineering skills of the Chimu as revealed by computer analysis of the open channel flow design techniques they utilized. Analysis of agricultural strategies made possible by this canal and the surveying skills inherent to its use are examined in detail. The presence of many trial canal paths toward the distal end of the canal indicate extreme difficulty in overcoming tectonically induced ground-slope changes caused by fault lines near the intervalley divide. The canal was abandoned prior to completion of construction and thus never served to supply the Moche Valley with Chicama water.
The Inland Shore Fishery of the Northern Great Lakes: Its Development and Importance in Prehistory
Authors: Cleland Charles E.
Published: April 2006

Despite a great many references in the historic and ethnographic records to the importance of fishing by natives of the northern Great Lakes, anthropologists and archaeologists have failed to appreciate the uniqueness and significance of the inland shore fishery. A review of the archaeological evidence for the evolution of the fishery from Late Archaic to historic times indicates that the fishery can provide an organizing concept for understanding the cultural evolution of the region. Further, this record provides a means of examining the process of adaptation as it reflects a long series of technological and social adjustments to a specific set of environmental conditions over time.
Provenience Analysis of Obsidians from the Central Peten Lakes Region, Guatemala
Authors: Rice Prudence M. , Michel Helen V. , Asaro Frank , Stross Fred
Published: April 2006

A set of 296 obsidian artifacts from the lakes area of the Department of Peten, Guatemala, has been provenienced by X-ray fluorescence and neutron activation analysis. The obsidians come from socioeconomic contexts (primarily rural/domestic) and time periods—from the Middle Preclassic period, ca. 800 B.C., up to the time of Spanish contact, A.D. 1525—that have been poorly represented in previous Lowland provenience studies. Thus they provide new data on the acquisition and distribution of this important non-local commodity in the Maya Lowlands.
Mississippian Specialization and Salt
Authors: Muller Jon
Published: April 2006

Despite a tendency to treat Mississippian production as involving specialization, little effort has been made to test these proposals in actual field work. A distinction between specialization at a site and specialization of producers is made in this article and applied to materials from the Great Salt Spring, a Mississippian salt production site in southern Illinois. Testing and excavations in 1981 and 1982 show that this was a true limited activity site. Nonetheless, the data on producer organization do not strongly support the conclusion of specialist production there and are consistent with simpler models of non-specialist production.
Relationships between Early Preclassic and Early Middle Preclassic Phases in Northern Belize: A Comment on “Lowland Maya Archaeology at the Crossroads”
Authors: Potter Daniel R. , Hester Thomas R. , Black Stephen L. , Valdez Fred
Published: April 2006

In a recent paper, Marcus (1983) provides a timely synthesis of the rapidly accumulating body of data from various projects in the Maya Lowlands. One of the specific problems discussed by Marcus is that of temporal and cultural definition of the Swasey phase at the sites of Cuello and Colha, and its relationship to other early components. Our comment presents new data from Colha that were not available to Marcus. These data have significantly expanded our understanding of the earliest occupations at the site and have important implications for intersite comparisons.
Shellfishing Seasons in the Prehistoric Southeastern United States
Authors: Claassen Cheryl
Published: April 2006

Shellfish seasonality studies are summarized in this article, which presents the results of analysis at 94 sites in nine southeastern states. All but six of the sites are middens or shell lenses composed of marine or brackish water species (M. mercenaria, R. cuneata, D. variabilis). Shells in those sites along the Atlantic coast were collected from fall to early spring, while shells in sites on the Gulf coast were collected during early spring to summer. Freshwater shellfish middens in four states have been investigated and consistently indicated collection during warm weather. The uniformity of the results indicates that the variation in species used, techniques used, sample sizes, or geography have no noticeable negative impact on the usefulness of the results. It is argued that shellfish were a staple in the diet of many prehistoric horticultural peoples in spite of the fact that they are a dietary supplement for modern hunters and collectors.
Technological Efficiency and Tool Curation
Authors: Bamforth Douglas B.
Published: April 2006

Archaeologists frequently explain tool curation by its efficiency. Such explanations ignore the fact that curation is a complex activity and that its component parts are efficient in different ways. I argue that the nature and distribution of lithic resources critically affect technological efficiency and I discuss two aspects of curation, maintenance and recycling, asserting that they are responses to raw material shortages. Shortages result from regional geological conditions and from behavior patterns that restrict access to raw material in certain contexts. Ethnographic and archaeological examples support this hypothesis and highlight the relationship between subsistence-settlement organization, raw material distribution, and technology.
“Workshops” and “Specialized Production” in the Production of Maya Chert Tools: A Response to Shafer and Hester
Authors: Mallory John K.
Published: April 2006

A reexamination of the data presented by Shafer and Hester (1983) indicates that the level of specialized production and volume of intersite exchange of chert tools in the area of Colha has been greatly overstated. Evaluation of rates of production over time suggests that at most a few thousand chert tools were produced per year at Colha, indicating a very low level of specialization, if any. The context of the chert debitage deposits is suggestive of domestic production for household use, rather than the “industrial-level mass production” postulated by Shafer and Hester.
The Beginnings of Radiocarbon Dating in American Antiquity: A Historical Perspective
Authors: Taylor R. E.
Published: April 2006

Few archaeologists would dispute the suggestion that the introduction of 14C dating into archaeological research has had a profound influence on the way in which prehistoric studies are conducted. Glyn Daniel, for example, has gone so far as to rank the development of the 14C method in the twentieth-century with the discovery of the antiquity of the human species in the nineteenth-century (Daniel 1967:266). Despite the widespread acknowledgment of the significant role played by the 14C method in contemporary archaeological investigations, no comprehensive, critical, historical review of the specific intellectual history and substantive characteristics of this impact, particularly in American archaeology, has been published.
Archaeology and the National Science Foundation
Authors: Yellen John E. , Greene Mary W.
Published: April 2006

In 1954, nineteen years after the founding of the Society for American Archaeology and four years after President Harry S Truman signed its enabling legislation, the National Science Foundation (NSF) inaugurated a Program of support for ”Anthropology and Related Sciences,” which expended its entire research budget for that year on two awards. Dr. Gordon Willey of Harvard University received a one year grant of $11,500 to examine “Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the Maya Area” and Dr. Robert Braidwood, University of Chicago, was provided with $23,500 to be expended over a three-year period to conduct “Human Population Studies in the Fertile Crescent.”