bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Linguistic Divergence and the Collapse of Preclassic Civilization in Southern Mesoamerica
Authors: Dahlin Bruce H. , Quizar Robin , Dahlin Andrea
Published: April 2006

Based on published lexicostatistical dates, two intervals in the prehistory of southern Mesoamerica stand out as fertile periods in terms of the generation of new languages: the Terminal Preclassic/early Early Classic Periods, and the Early Postclassic Period. After comparing archaeological evidence with language distributions within the subregions of southern Mesoamerica during the first of these periods, we conclude that the cultural processes during both periods had the same potential for producing rapid rates of linguistic divergences. Just as rapid proliferation of linguistic divisions was symptomatic of the well-known collapse of Late Classic Maya civilization, so it can be taken as a sign of a collapse of Terminal Preclassic civilization. Both collapses were characterized by severe population reductions, site abandonments, an increasing balkanization in material culture, and disruption of interregional communication networks, conditions that were contributory to the kind of linguistic isolation that allows language divergences. Unlike in the Terminal Classic collapse episode, small refuge zones persisted in the Early Classic Period that served as sources of an evolving classicism; these refuge zones were exceptions, however, not the rule. Although the collapse of each site had its own proximate cause, we suggest that the enormous geographical range covered by these Early Classic Period site failures points to a single ultimate cause affecting the area as a whole, such as the onset of a prolonged and devastating climatic change.
The Trouble with Ham Steaks: A Reply to Morrow
Authors: Kuhn Steven L.
Published: April 2006

Toby Morrow argues that I (Kuhn 1994) made an error in calculating the utility/mass ratio of retouched tools, and he proposes an “alternative” formula. Unfortunately, Morrow confounds utility per se with ratio of utility to weight, and, as a result, his alternative approach is erroneous. This response to Morrow examines the central issue of how artifact utility is assessed. The main message of my original paper is reaffirmed. Utility/mass ratios eventually begin to decline as artifacts get large, and optimal size ranges can be estimated based on a few simplifying assumptions.
Archaeological Cultures and Cultural Affiliation: Hopi and Zuni Perspectives in the American Southwest
Authors: Dongoske Kurt E. , Yeatts Michael , Anyon Roger , Ferguson T. J.
Published: April 2006

Archaeologists and Native Americans apply different concepts to classify ancient groups of people who lived in the past. This is a topic of current interest because many archaeologists in the United States are now having to determine the cultural affiliation of the materials they study to comply with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The Hopi and Zuni tribes in the American Southwest are used as case examples to examine how and why archaeological and tribal views of cultural affiliation are divergent. We suggest anthropological perspectives of culture need to be reintegrated into archaeological theory in collaboration with Native Americans in order to interpret the past in a manner that is both useful and interesting to the multiple audiences interested in our work.
It's a Small World after All: Comparative Analyses of Community Organization in Archaeology
Authors: Kolb Michael J. , Snead James E.
Published: April 2006

Human social systems are constituted at different scales; the local community, while an important organizational unit cross-culturally, has received limited archaeological study. We argue that community-centric studies in archaeology have significant potential in documenting the diversity of small-scale agricultural systems and in promoting comparative study of local societies. Using comparative data from social anthropology, we put forth a definition of community useful for the archaeologist based on three irreducible elements: social reproduction, agricultural production, and self-identification. These elements provide an ideal framework for cross-cultural comparison. We also argue that using a community approach requires certain methodological refinements, such as adopting an appropriate research scale, conducting intensive surface survey, and using analytical strategies such as labor investment and boundary maintenance. We present recently collected data from two prehistoric agricultural communities, Waiohuli in Hawai'i and Tsikwaiye in northern New Mexico, in order to illustrate the strength of this mode of research.
Animal Bones from Caves to Cities: Reverse Utility Curves as Methodological Artifacts
Authors: Marean Curtis W. , Frey Carol J.
Published: April 2006

Utility-based studies are attractive to zooarchaeologists because they afford the opportunity of investigating economic decisions relative to particular contexts. While a positive relationship between utility and skeletal element abundance is anticipated at residential sites, a reverse utility curve is most common. A popular mechanistic explanation argues that reverse utility curves result from density-mediated destruction of bone, suggesting that utility-based studies will rarely be successful as density-mediated destruction will overwhelm any skeletal element patterning created by differential transport. We show with archaeological and experimental/naturalistic taphonomic data that the mechanistic explanation is overstated. Fauna from Kobeh cave (a Mousterian site) and "Ain Dara (an Iron Age site) both show a reverse utility pattern when estimates of long bone abundance are based just on ends (the procedure followed at all sites that have shown a reverse utility pattern), and all bones are plotted together. When long bone abundance is estimated from the middle shaft portion, the reverse utility pattern collapses and a positive relationship arises. The ubiquity of the reverse utility curve derives in many cases from basing long bone abundance estimates on ends and scatter-plotting the abundance of long bones with non-long bones, thus restricting the analysis to the least dense most spongy bone portions. Long bone abundance estimates must include the middle shaft portion to attain accurate estimates of element abundance. Long bone abundance, when based on shaft portions, can be usefully compared to utility to investigate utility-based models of human behavior.
Ground-Stone Tools and Hunter-Gatherer Subsistence in Southwest Asia: Implications for the Transition to Farming
Authors: Wright Katherine I.
Published: April 2006

Ground-stone tools and hunter-gatherer subsistence in late Pleistocene southwest Asia are examined in light of ethnographic and experimental data on processing methods essential for consumption of various plant foods. In general, grinding and pounding appear to be labor-intensive processing methods. In particular, the labor required to make wild cereals edible has been widely underestimated, and wild cereals were unlikely to have been “attractive” to foragers except under stress conditions. Levantine ground-stone tools were probably used for processing diverse plants. The earliest occurrence of deep mortars coincides with the glacial maximum, camp reoccupations, the onset of increasingly territorial foraging, and the earliest presently known significant samples of wild cereals. Two major episodes of intensification in plant-food processing can be identified in the Levant, coinciding respectively with the earliest evidence for sedentism (12,800-11,500 B.P.) and the transition to farming (11,500-9600 B.P.). The latter episode was characterized by rising frequencies of grinding tools relative to pounding tools, and suggests attempts to maximize nutritional returns of plants harvested from the limited territories characteristic of sedentary foraging and early farming. This episode was probably encouraged by the Younger Dryas, when density and storability of foods may have outweighed considerations of processing costs.
Use Wear on Bone and Antler Tools from the Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories
Authors: LeMoine Genevieve M.
Published: April 2006

A series of experiments making and using bone and antler tools show that functional identifications of these tools can be made with confidence in some circumstances. Using principles from the field of tribology, the experiments demonstrate that different uses leave different microscopic traces on bone and antler. They also show that when the materials used are similar, the wear produced will be similar. In particular, wet materials, including snow, ice, wet hide, and wet antler all produce nearly identical microscopic patterns. Other groups of similar materials, such as bone, antler, and wood, or fish scales and hair, present the same problem. Although differences can be detected, these may not be preserved on archaeological tool specimens. Application of the experimental results to bone and antler tools from the Mackenzie Delta illustrates that functional identifications of tools can be made with confidence, despite the problem of similar microscopic patterns, when other lines of evidence (ethnographic and historical accounts, distribution of wear) are taken into account. When such information is lacking, functional identifications are more difficult and must be made with more caution.
The Mississippian Presence and Cahokia Interaction at Trempealeau, Wisconsin
Authors: Green William , Rodell Roland L.
Published: April 2006

Red-slipped pottery and a multiterrace platform mound at Trempealeau, Wisconsin, indicate the presence of an early Mississippian outpost in the upper Mississippi Valley ca. A.D. 1000. Trempealeau apparently represents a Mississippian elite site-unit intrusion from the American Bottom, and it probably served as a nodal point of early contact between Cahokia and peoples of the upper Mississippi Valley. By establishing a mound center at Trempealeau, its founders not only secured access to material goods but also facilitated the flow of information from the northern Mississippi Valley to the newly emerged elites in the American Bottom.
Grinding-Tool Design as Conditioned by Land-Use Pattern
Authors: Nelson Margaret C. , Lippmeier Heidi
Published: April 2006

The form in which archaeologists recover artifacts is the product of intentional design, use modification, and postdepositional alteration. Analysis of grinding tools, from small prehistoric sites in southwestern New Mexico, indicates the effects of intentional design and use modification on artifact form. These variables of technological behavior are considered in relation to anticipated, regular occupation of sites. Distinguishing the extent to which site visits are anticipated and regular can enhance our understanding of how places and resources were used and how land use was organized. Because grinding tools commonly remain on sites, their anticipated reuse signals anticipated reuse of the places where they occur. While characteristics of intentional design positively correlate with regularity of site occupation, the effects of use modification do not.
Investigations in the Cahokia Site Grand Plaza
Authors: Holley George R. , Dalan Rinita A. , Smith Philip A.
Published: April 2006

Research designed to explore the Grand Plaza at the Cahokia Mounds site, the largest Mississippian-period mound center in the eastern United States, documents that plazas may yield significant information regarding Mississippian manipulation of the landscape and the initial growth of mound centers. Probing and excavation within the Grand Plaza revealed that buried ridge-swale topography, identified through an electromagnetic-conductivity survey, was stripped and then filled by the Cahokians. Excavation also corroborated the presence of deep-pit borrows identified by remote sensing. Based on the ceramics recovered from our excavations, we argue that these earth-moving events were initiated prior to the onset of the Mississippian period (ca. A.D. 1000). Reclamation of the borrowed areas resulted in the formation of the mound-plaza configuration early during the Mississippian period.
Some Relationships between Behavioral and Evolutionary Archaeologies
Authors: Schiffer Michael Brian
Published: April 2006

Diversity in archaeology's social theories is desirable, but factioning of the discipline into antagonistic, paradigm-based camps undermines the scientific enterprise. In order to promote efforts at building bridges between different theoretical programs, this paper examines relationships between behavioral archaeology and evolutionary (selectionist) archaeology. Potential common ground is brought to light, incompatibilities are critically examined, and possible synergies are explored. It is concluded that there is no fundamental reason why these two programs cannot work in concert to achieve the goal of explaining behavioral (or evolutionary) change in human societies. Whether productive relationships can be established between other programs remains to be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Tui Chub Taphonomy and the Importance of Marsh Resources in the Western Great Basin of North America
Authors: Butler Virginia L.
Published: April 2006

Debates about the importance of marsh resources to prehistoric human subsistence in the western Great Basin are longstanding. Recent questions regarding the natural vs. cultural origin of fish remains in lakeside archaeological sites further impede understanding of ancient subsistence patterns. Taphonomic study of a huge assemblage of tui chub (Gila bicolor) remains from an archaeological site in Stillwater Marsh, western Nevada, was undertaken to identify agents of deposition in marsh settings. The Stillwater fish remains showed limited surface modification-cut marks, burning, and digestive etching and staining—and thus these attributes were not useful indicators of origin. Fish mortality profiles, reconstructed by regression analysis of body size, indicates cultural selection of young/small fish rather than natural catastrophic mass death. The low survivorship of vertebrae in the chub assemblage suggests differential treatment of cranial and postcranial body parts by cultural agents. The Stillwater site fish assemblage represents a vast number of small fish; the presence of small tui chub from archaeological sites throughout the western Great Basin suggests that prehistoric fishers targeted relatively small chub in the subsistence quest.
Standardization, Labor Investment, Skill, and the Organization of Ceramic Production in Late Prehispanic Highland Peru
Authors: Costin Cathy L. , Hagstrum Melissa B.
Published: April 2006

Specialization encompasses many ways to organize craft production, ranging from small, household-based work units to large workshops. Distinctive types of specialization develop in response to various social, economic, and environmental factors, including the demand for crafts, the social relations of producers, and the support base for artisans. These factors in turn influence manufacturing technology. Thus, different types of specialization can be characterized by a “technological profile,” which reflects relative labor investment, skill, and standardization. An analysis of Prehispanic ceramic technology in the central sierra of Peru demonstrates how these technological profiles can be used to identify the ways ceramic production was organized to provision consumers with utilitarian and luxury pottery. As we demonstrate in our analysis of pottery recovered in the Yanamarca Valley, utilitarian Wanka-style cookwares and storage jars were produced by independent household-based artisans, while imperial Inka-style jars were produced by locally recruited corvee labor working for the state.
Identifying Lithic Reduction Loci with Size-Graded Macrodebitage: A Multivariate Approach
Authors: Healan Dan M.
Published: April 2006

This paper presents a method of identifying lithic reduction loci based on size-sorted debitage in the macroscopic size range. Multivariate analysis of decremental size classes of debitage derived from the use of nested screening provides a means of investigating the differential operation of size sorting at various size levels, so that size thresholds for distinguishing deposits of probable primary and secondary refuse can be identified on empirical grounds. The method is used to distinguish refuse dumps from what appear to be lithic reduction loci within an obsidian core/blade workshop excavated at the Early Postclassic city of Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico.
Stylistic Variation in Evolutionary Perspective: Inferences from Decorative Diversity and Interassemblage Distance in Illinois Woodland Ceramic Assemblages
Authors: Neiman Fraser D.
Published: April 2006

Certain aspects of what archaeologists have traditionally called stylistic variation can be understood as the result of the introduction of selectively neutral variation into social-learning populations and the sampling error in the cultural transmission of that variation (drift). Simple mathematical models allow the deduction of expectations for the dynamics of these evolutionary mechanisms as monitored in the archaeological record through assemblage diversity and interassemblage distance. The models are applied to make inferences about the causes of change in decorative diversity and interassemblage distance for Woodland ceramics from Illinois.
Examining Lithic Technological Organization as a Dynamic Cultural Subsystem: The Advantages of an Explicitly Spatial Approach
Authors: Ricklis Robert A. , Cox Kim A.
Published: April 2006

The organization of hunter—gatherer lithic technology is examined as a dynamic process, with reference to a case study from the Late Prehistoric period of the Texas central Gulf Coast. Several lithic data sets from sites of the Rockport phase (ca. A.D. 1200—1700) indicate that three modes of behavior operated to maintain technological efficiency, and that each was adopted in response to inefficiency thresholds associated with increasing, distance-related costs in the procurement and transport of lithic material. In combination with information on the settlement and subsistence patterns, it is apparent that the organization of lithic technology was adjusted to the more basic needs for biotic-resource procurement. As a result, lithic efficiency was not a constant, but fluctuated within a dynamic cultural subsystem that articulated with the scheduling demands of overall adaptive behavior.
An Analytic Strategy for Studying Assemblage-Scale Ceramic Variation: A Case Study from Southeast Missouri
Authors: Teltser Patrice A.
Published: April 2006

For ceramic assemblages composed exclusively of sherds, inferences at the scale of artifact are often problematic. Drawing on information provided by experimental studies, observations can be made such that technology and use are expressed at the scale of assemblage. A simple classification is used to describe variation in paste composition for an assemblage of shell-tempered ceramics from southeast Missouri. Using these classes as a set of analytic units, variables reflecting on technology and use are examined. The analytic results suggest that while some coarse-shell ceramics may have been used preferentially for cooking vessels, the distinction between coarse and fine shell is not as straightforward as cooking vs. noncooking, and that coarse-shell pastes were used to manufacture vessels used in a wider range of contexts than fine-shell pastes. Furthermore, not all variation can be understood in terms of the mechanical or thermal properties usually emphasized in experimental studies.
Culture Contact Studies: Redefining the Relationship between Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology
Authors: Lightfoot Kent G.
Published: April 2006

Archaeology is poised to play a pivotal role in the reconfiguration of historical anthropology. Archaeology provides not only a temporal baseline that spans both prehistory and history, but the means to study the material remains of ethnic laborers in pluralistic colonial communities who are poorly represented in written accounts. Taken together, archaeology is ideally suited for examining the multicultural roots of modern América. But before archaeology’s full potential to contribute to culture contact studies can be realized, we must address several systemic problems resulting from the separation of “prehistoric” and “historical” archaeology into distinct subfields. In this paper, I examine the implications of increasing temporal/regional specialization in archaeology on (1) the use of historical documents in archaeological research, (2) the study of long-term culture change, and (3) the implementation of pan-regional comparative analyses.
Autonomy and Regional Systems in the Late Prehistoric Southern Southwest
Authors: Douglas John E.
Published: April 2006

A regional systems approach has become a mainstay for examining intersocietal interaction in the prehistoric Southwest, although problems with the approach exist. Particularly problematic for the model is how smaller-scale societies might have interacted with larger-scale societies. As a case study in comprehending “areas in between,” I examine the Animas phase (about A.D. 1150-1450), located in extreme southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and northeastern Sonora. Considerable controversy exists over the relationship between Animas phase sites and the much more imposing remains found at and near Paquίmé (Casas Grandes) in northwestern Chihuahua. This debate is explored through two contrasting theories about smaller-scale societies: (1) that they are relatively stable and autonomous remnants of older social systems or (2) that they are dependent peripheries marginalized by core areas. Neither of the models appears to adequately explain the mosaic of features that the Animas phase possesses. A more dynamic model is proposed that recognizes the presence of regional interaction, the low efficiency and high costs of interactión for the prehistoric Southwest, and the sources of power of small-scale social systems.
Paleoclimate and the Potential Food Reserves of Mississippian Societies: A Case Study from the Savannah River Valley
Authors: Anderson David G. , Stahle David W. , Cleaveland Malcolm K.
Published: April 2006

Precipitation reconstructions based on bald cypress (Taxodium distichum L. Rich) annual growth ring data collected from locations near the Savannah River valley, coupled with a series of simple models of storage capability, are used to calculate the agricultural food reserves potentially available each year from A.D. 1005 to 1600 to local prehistoric Mississippian populations. The resulting food reserve estimates suggest that interannual variation in rainfall during the growing season may have resulted in both extended periods of food surplus and food shortfall. We hypothesize that prolonged episodes of agricultural food surplus and shortfall had a pronounced impact on the historical trajectories of these chiefdom societies. This argument is supported by historical accounts describing the impact of drought during the period of Spanish settlement at Santa Elena (A.D. 1565-1587), and offers a possible explanation for some of the major changes observed in the late prehistoric archaeological record in the Savannah River valley, including the emergence, expansión, and decline of several mound centers and the eventual abandonment of a large portion of the basin. The study indicates the value, and potential, of analyses linking archaeological, historical, and dendrochronological data in the southeastern United States.
Production of San Juan Red Ware in the Northern Southwest: Insights into Regional Interaction in Early Puebloan Prehistory
Authors: Hegmon Michelle , Allison James R. , Neff Hector , Glascock Michael D.
Published: April 2006

San Juan Red ware pottery was distributed across the northern Southwest from the eighth through tenth centuries A.D., though made only in the northern San Juan region. This paper investigates the concentration (Costin 1991) of San Juan Red ware production through neutron activation analysis of the pottery and raw materials. Production was concentrated in the area of southeast Utah, and within that area it appears to have been produced at only a limited number of sources, possibly by specialized pottery-making communities. These results have implications regarding economic organization, exchange, and mobility.
Additional Evidence for Early Cucurbit Use in the Northern Eastern Woodlands East of the Allegheny Front
Authors: Hart John P. , Sidell Nancy Asch
Published: April 2006

Two accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates, 5404 ± 552 B.P. (AA-19129) and 2625 ± 45 B.P. (AA-19128), confirm the presence of mid-Holocene and early late Holocene cucurbit (Cucurbita pepo), respectively, at the Memorial Park site (36CN164) in north-central Pennsylvania. This is the second documented occurrence of mid-Holocene cucurbit and the first documented occurrence of domesticated early late Holocene cucurbit in the northern Eastern Woodlands east of the Allegheny Front. These occurrences help to establish the use of cucurbits in the Northeast on a timescale equivalent to that in the riverine interior, with the exception of the very earliest riverine interior dates. The Northeast has contributed little toward our understanding of prehistoric agricultural evolution in the Eastern Woodlands. The Memorial Park cucurbits and the mid-Holocene cucurbit recently reported at the Sharrow site in Maine indicate that greater efforts are needed to document pre-maize agricultural behavior in this area to increase our knowledge of the full range of pre-maize agricultural behavior in the Eastern Woodlands.
New Perspectives on the Clovis vs. Pre-Clovis Controversy
Authors: Whitley David S. , Dorn Ronald I.
Published: April 2006

We consider the Clovis vs. pre-Clovis debate from three perspectives: migration models; petroglyph and surface-artifact ages; and scientific method. First, we test the hypothesis that a Clovis migration can account for the temporal and spatial distribution of South American Paleoindian sites “accepted” by Clovis-first advocates. Using a Clovis-first model, site ages are underpredicted by approximately 1,500 years, suggesting that the Clovis hypothesis cannot be reconciled with accepted empirical data. Second, we present North American accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS)14C minimum-limiting ages from petroglyphs and surface artifacts that demonstrate continued support for a pre-Clovis occupation of the dryland west, as well as a Beringian entry into the hemisphere. Third, the debate has been confounded by a widespread misstatement of the problem. Though Clovis occupation is a “solved” issue, the competing hypotheses are whether the first migration was Clovis or pre-Clovis; the presence of Clovis sites is simply a necessary prediction of both migration theories. The empirical implications of the Clovis-first hypothesis are virtually untested. Scientifically evaluating the first peopling controversy requires scrutinizing the empirical test implications and logical coherency of both competing hypotheses.
Population Aggregation in the Prehistoric American Southwest: A Selectionist Model
Authors: Leonard Robert D. , Reed Heidi E.
Published: April 2006

The settlement practices of the prehistoric Anasazi of the North American Southwest exhibited shifts from the occupation of dispersed settlements to aggregated villages in many locales both concurrently and at different times. Explaining the nature and timing of these shifts has long been a focus of interest to researchers working in the Southwest. We present a model that outlines the relations among population growth, population dispersion and aggregation, regional abandonments, the nature of specialized systems of production, labor organization, climatic change, and the role of natural selection in producing evolutionary explanations. We offer the hypothesis that aggregation is the product of changes in the organization of corporate labor related to the stabilization of specialized strategies of resource production in response to changes in environmental conditions.
Archaic Blade Production on Antigua, West Indies
Authors: Davis Dave D.
Published: April 2006

Antigua has substantially more preceramic sites than any other island in the Lesser Antilles. Archaic peoples made extensive use of the high-quality flint that is common on Antigua to produce industries dominated by unretouched flakes and blades. Analysis of the largest excavated Archaic assemblage from the island reveals that flaked-stone technology centered around the production of direct-percussion blades, and that the majority of other flake classes are by-products of blade production. The assemblage's five major morphological classes of blades appear to represent successive stages of core reduction.
Our Father the Cayman, Our Dinner the Llama: Animal Utilization at Chavín de Huántar, Peru
Authors: Miller George R. , Burger Richard L.
Published: April 2006

Analysis of the animal bones recovered from the excavations of residential contexts at Chavín de Huántar reveals a mixed economy that included the herding and hunting of camelids (llama and vicuña) at Chavín de Huántar as early as the Urabarriu Phase (900–500 B.C.). It also suggests that a pattern of trade in dried llama meat (ch'arki) from high altitude environments (punas) to lower ones had developed by the Chakinani phase (500–400 B.C.), while the consumption of hunted animals (especially deer) sharply declined in importance. During the apogee of Chavín de Huántar (400–200 B.C.), socioeconomic stratification is reflected in differential access to tender meat from younger animals. The role of Chavín de Huántar in the spread of camelid pastoralism and the importance of highland vs. tropical rain forest animals in Chavín ideology is discussed as well.
GIS-Based Image Enhancement of Conductivity and Magnetic Susceptibility Data from Ureturituri Pa and Fort Resolution, New Zealand
Authors: Ladefoged Thegn N. , McLachlan Sheena M. , Ross Sarah C. L. , Sheppard Peter J. , Sutton Douglas G.
Published: April 2006

Two geographic information system (GIS) techniques for displaying, analyzing, and interpreting geophysical data were recently applied at two archaeological sites in northern New Zealand; a pre-European Maori pa (fortification), and a late nineteenth-century European fortification. A GIS was used to stretch and filter the conductivity data from the pa to accentuate subtle contrasts and clearly delineate boundaries between areas with contrasting conductivity readings. Magnetic susceptibility data and two different bands of conductivity data from the historic fort were used as input for a GIS-based unsupervised classification. The classification delineated five spatial entities, several of which corresponded to known archaeological features. The interpretability of the geophysical data in relation to conventional visual analysis of conductivity contour maps was enhanced through the use of the GIS procedures outlined.
Domestic Architecture in Apalachee Province: Apalachee and Spanish Residential Styles in the Late Prehistoric and Early Historic Period Southeast
Authors: Scarry John F. , McEwan Bonnie G.
Published: April 2006

The traditional architectural styles of the Apalachee of northern Florida and Spanish colonists in the New World represent distinct approaches to the organization of domestic and community space and reflect different attitudes toward public and private activities. To the degree that the Apalachee became Hispanicized or that the Spaniards in Apalachee adopted aspects of aboriginal lifestyles during the seventeenth-century mission period, we might expect to see changes in architecture and community organization. Archaeological and ethnohistorical data from Apalachee Province indicate that the shapes and spatial arrangement of native and European domestic structures changed very little as a result of contact. This suggests that each group maintained a distinct identity in the realm of residential organization, despite the profound changes that both the Apalachee and Spaniards made in other aspects of their lives as a result of European colonization in La Florida.
Ceramic Micro-Seriation: Types or Attributes?
Authors: Duff Andrew I.
Published: April 2006

Micro-seriation using attributes of decorated ceramics has been shown to accurately refine intrasite and intersite relative dating. Using data from Pueblo de los Muertos, a nucleated town in west-central New Mexico, this presentation demonstrates that micro-seriation of type frequencies produces equally accurate results. Typological analysis also provides substantial time savings when compared to attribute recording. Additionally, using types with established temporal ranges permits linkage of relative seriation with absolute dates. A combination of correspondence analysis and k-means cluster analysis was found to provide sound and easily interpretable results. The results of a typological seriation of Pueblo de los Muertos deposits are examined, and the utility of typological seriation for other contexts is considered.
Alternative Procedures for Assessing Standardization in Ceramic Assemblages
Authors: Kvamme Kenneth L. , Stark Miriam T. , Longacre William A.
Published: April 2006

Interest in the material correlates of economic specialization has led to numerous quantitative studies of standardization (or the lack of it) in craft production, particularly of ceramics. Most of this research has focused on measures of variation and conventional statistical procedures in the treatment of the empirical data, many of which are dependent on unrealistic assumptions (such as normal populations), yielding results that can be questioned. To resolve this crisis more robust statistical methods are investigated including the “jackknife” method (for confidence interval construction) and a multigroup test for homogeneity of variance known as the Brown-Forsythe Test. Computer simulations show that the latter is robust under a variety of distributional forms. These new methods are used to reanalyze ethnoarchaeological ceramic data from the Philippines; it is shown that markedly different conclusions can be reached when compared with the results of more conventional procedures.
Immunological and Microwear Analysis of Chipped-Stone Artifacts from Piedmont Contexts
Authors: Petraglia Michael , Knepper Dennis , Glumac Petar , Newman Margaret , Sussman Carole
Published: April 2006

Immunological and microwear analysis was performed on 100 chipped-stone artifacts from four prehistoric sites located in the Virginia Piedmont. A total of 20 artifacts returned positive results for immunological analysis and 16 artifacts returned microwear results. The findings indicate the negative effects of postdepositional processes and the potential utility of the techniques for deciphering prehistoric activities, otherwise unavailable by conventional studies in piedmont contexts. The study further illustrates the value and problems associated with immunological and microwear analyses on chipped-stone assemblages.
The Minimum Spanning Tree Problem in Archaeology
Authors: Hage Per , Harary Frank , James Brent
Published: April 2006

The minimum spanning tree problem is a well-known problem of combinatorial optimization. It was independently discovered in archaeology by Renfrew and Sterud in their method of close proximity analysis. Unlike traditional methods of seriation, this method permits branching structures that reveal clustering in archaeological data. Identifying close proximity analysis as the minimum spanning tree problem permits a more efficient means of computation, an explicit rule of clustering, and a recognition of problems of indeterminacy in the analysis of network data. These points are illustrated with reference to Irwin's recent study of voyaging and cultural similarity in Polynesia.
Zinc as a Paleodietary Indicator: An Issue of Theoretical Validity in Bone-Chemistry Analysis
Authors: Ezzo Joseph A.
Published: April 2006

The use of the concentrations of zinc in archaeological bone as an indicator of past diets and/or health conditions has become widely accepted in bone-chemistry analysis, despite the fact that the theoretical validity for such an application has not been established. In this paper I present a series of critical variables—such as elemental metabolism, bone physiology, the relationship between dietary intakes of an element and its concentration in bone, trophic-level separation in the foodweb, and diagenetic variability—that must be addressed in the process of theoretical validation. I also discuss how studies that support the use of zinc as paleodietary indicator have generally focused on only one or perhaps two of these criteria. Until a sound model based on physiological principles is developed, the use of zinc as a paleodietary indicator remains unproven.
The Production and Distribution of Classic Mimbres Black-on-White Pottery
Authors: Gilman Patricia A. , Canouts Veletta , Bishop Ronald L.
Published: April 2006

Because the most abundant and finest quality Classic Mimbres Black-on-white ceramics are associated with large pueblos located in the Mimbres Valley, archaeologists have subscribed to a center-periphery model of exchange to explain the occurrence of these ceramics outside of the “heartland.” Recent instrumental neutron-activation analysis based on 117 samples from six sites and supported by petrographic analyses demonstrates that separable production groups can be distinguished outside of, as well as within, the valley proper. Widely distributed production locales do not support a model of centralized control over production and distribution. The analyses thus raise questions about the purposes of such visually distinct pottery and the nature of its exchange.
Intrasite Spatial Analysis of Bone: Subtracting the Effect of Secondary Carnivore Consumers
Authors: Marean Curtis W. , Bertino Leanne
Published: April 2006

Animal bones discarded by people are commonly subject to disturbance by carnivores. These carnivores are present throughout the world and include wolves, coyotes, hyenas, and many others. This disturbance not only modifies and destroys bone, but also moves many of the bone fragments away from their original position of discard. Intrasite spatial analyses of bone that seek patterns meaningful to human behavior thus need to subtract the effect of carnivore disturbance. Experimental studies with spotted hyenas show that the position of a bone fragment on a limb bone, combined with bone surface modification, can be used to identify a class of bone fragments that are minimally affected by carnivores and are thus the best indicators of spatial patterning resulting from human behavior. Limb-bone ends are moved significant distances, as are shaft fragments as a general class. However, middle-shaft portions of limb bones that preserve percussion marks from hammerstone breakage retain nearly the precise spatial position as originally discarded by hominids. Thus, any spatial analysis of bone, when carnivores are implicated as contributors or consumers at an archaeological site, should focus on middle-shaft portions of limb bones with percussion marks.
The Plateau Interaction Sphere and Late Prehistoric Cultural Complexity
Authors: Hayden Brian , Schulting Rick
Published: April 2006

The Plateau culture area of northwestern North America fits the criteria of an interaction sphere. Understanding the general cultural dynamics responsible for the creation of interaction spheres has been poorly developed in archaeological and ethnological theory. Data from the Plateau Interaction Sphere are used to argue that the main factor responsible for the emergence of interaction spheres in transegalitarian societies is the development of an elite class. Elites who seek to maximize their power and wealth at the tribal level do so in part by establishing trading, marriage, ideological, military, and other ties to elites in other communities and regions. They use these ties to monopolize access to desirable regional prestige goods and to enhance their own socioeconomic positions. In conformity with expectations derived from this model, the data from the Plateau demonstrate that interaction sphere goods are predominantly prestige items and that these concentrate in communities that have the greatest potential to produce surplus and to develop socioeconomic inequalities. These same features also seem to characterize well-known interaction spheres elsewhere in the world.
Botanical Signatures of Water Storage Duration in a Hohokam Reservoir
Authors: Bayman James M. , Palacios-Fest Manuel R. , Huckell Lisa W.
Published: April 2006

Although large-scale canal irrigation technology is commonly associated with the prehistoric Hohokam (A.D. 200–1450) of south-central Arizona, earthen reservoirs were essential for domestic water storage in areas of the Sonoran Desert away from perennial streams. Interpretations of seasonal water storage in prehistoric Hohokam reservoirs are often based on direct analogy with the historic Tohono O'odham (formerly called the Papago). This assumption of seasonal water storage is a hypothesis that should be tested rather than uncritically accepted by archaeologists. Sediments recovered with a hand-driven bucket auger from an earthen reservoir at a large Classic-period (ca. A.D. 1200–1450) Hohokam site (AZ AA:3:32 [ASM]) yielded uncarbonized seeds of an aquatic plant belonging to the genus Lemna (duckweed). The high number of Lemna seeds indicates that water may have been stored on a long-term, perhaps perennial, basis. Analyses of sediments from other reservoirs should generate further discoveries of uncarbonized seeds or other biological remains (e.g., pollen, phytoliths, diatoms, snails) and refine our understanding of prehistoric water storage facilities throughout the world.
Cation-Ratio Dating and Archaeological Research Design: Response to Harry
Authors: Bamforth Douglas B.
Published: April 2006

Harry's recent paper in this journal critiques the use of cation-ratio dating to assess the age of surface-collected artifacts as part of a rejection of this dating technique in general. However, Harry's negative conclusions are difficult to reconcile both with the seemingly successful application of cation-ratio dating as part of the Intermountain Power Project (IPP) in California, the only other project in which surface artifacts have been cation-ratio dated, as well as with Harry's own data. The present comment details substantial differences in (1) the rigor and sophistication of the research designs applied by Harry and the IPP research and (2) the integrity of the sites on which these two projects worked, and points out important components of Harry's data that are inconsistent with her conclusions. Cation-ratio dating is certainly not yet perfected as a dating technique, but the available data indicate clearly that Harry's critique is seriously flawed.
The World's Longest-Lived Corporate Group: Lithic Analysis Reveals Prehistoric Social Organization near Lillooet, British Columbia
Authors: Hayden Brian , Bakewell Edward , Gargett Rob
Published: April 2006

The ability to identify distinct types of cherts and chalcedonies at the large prehistoric housepit site of Keatley Creek on the British Columbia plateau has made it possible to infer important aspects of socioeconomic organization from ca. 2400 to 1100 B.P. Each large housepit tested at the site appears to have a distinctive and characteristic composition of chert and chalcedony debitage which remains coherent over time (for at least 1,000 years). Three inferences concerning socioeconomic organization are derived from these observations: (1) residents of each large housepit probably foraged in distinctly different ranges during nonwinter months where they procured their raw stone materials; (2) residents of each large pithouse formed “residential corporate groups” that differed in their access to stone resources; and (3) the “residential corporate groups” that occupied large pithouses retained economic rights, corporate identity, and ownership of specific pithouse premises for unusually long time periods spanning more than a millennium. Differences between lithic assemblages of housepits were confirmed by three separate and independent analyses employing successively more sophisticated techniques.
An Assessment of the Acid-Extraction Approach to Compositional Characterization of Archaeological Ceramics
Authors: Neff Hector , Glascock Michael D. , Bishop Ronald L. , Blackman M. James
Published: April 2006

We criticize the acid-extraction approach to chemical characterization of ceramics previously advocated in this journal by Burton and Simon (1993). The instrumental technique used by Burton and Simon (inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy [ICP]) is a highly precise chemical characterization technique, but noise introduced by characterizing acid extracts from sherds nullifies the usefulness of the resulting elemental concentration data for archaeological sourcing.
A Pot is Not a Rock: A Reply to Neff, Glascock, Bishop, and Blackman
Authors: Burton James H. , Simon Arleyn W.
Published: April 2006

There are some fundamental errors in the arguments of our critics: equating acid extraction with bulk techniques; confusing extractability, the signal of interpretive interest, with analytical error; and, most importantly, presuming that the influences of behavioral choices of prehistoric potters are unwanted “noise” in the data. In confirmation of our original statements, Neff et al., demonstrate that neutron activation analysis (NAA) and acid extraction are independent methods, that the data are not commensurate, and that acid extraction is sensitive to technological choices of prehistoric potters. We agree emphatically. Because ceramic vessels are not idealized geologic materials mined from quarries, but complex technological products, richly embedded with behavioral attributes, we see this behavioral sensitivity of acid extraction as its virtue, not its vice. Acid extraction is a viable compositional tool currently producing significant archaeological results.
Hedgepeth Mounds, an Archaic Mound Complex in North-Central Louisiana
Authors: Saunders Joe W. , Allen Thurman
Published: April 2006

In 1991, test excavations were conducted at Hedgepeth Mounds (16L17), a two-mound complex in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana. Radiometric, archaeological, pedological, and geomorphological data suggest that the site dates to the Archaic period (6000-1500 B.C.). Charcoal from a hearth beneath Mound A dates to cal 2888 ± 100 B.C. A soil sample from the submound surface dates to cal 4930 ± 117 B.C. Two Archaic projectile points are among the artifacts from the submound surface. Diagnostic soil horizons in Mound A fill suggest the mound is of great antiquity. Soil cores from areas adjacent to Mound A have demonstrated that the living surface of the site is covered with approximately 1 m of alluvium, and that the alluvial mantle contains diagnostic soil horizons indicative of long-term weathering.
Comparison of 1/8″- and 1/4″-Mesh Recovery of Controlled Samples of Small-to-Medium-Sized Mammals
Authors: Shaffer Brian S. , Sanchez Julia L. J.
Published: April 2006

Most previous screen experiments have assessed various mesh-size biases in the recovery of faunal remains from specific archaeological samples. These tests provided detailed information about recovery biases at those sites. To augment these previous tests, Shaffer (1992) conducted 1/4″-screen tests on modern comparative mammal skeletons to assess specific biases for the taxa tested. However, because 1/8″ screens are now widely used in archaeological sampling, potential biases should be assessed. Results presented here document hypothetical best recovery of the taxa tested and substantial increased recovery of mammals weighing between 18 and 340 g for 1/8″-screen tests relative to 1/4″-screen tests.