bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ancient Maya Chert Workshops in Northern Belize, Central America
Authors: Shafer Harry J. , Hester Thomas R.
Published: April 2006

Recent archaeological work at Colha and at other localities in the geographically restricted chert-bearing zone of northern Belize has revealed large-scale exploitation of chert for stone tool production. Workshops dated during the Late Preclassic period signal the beginning of craft specialization in chert working that continued in the Late Classic and into the Early Postclassic periods. Secular items such as large oval bifaces, tranchet bit tools and prismatic blades, as well as nonsecular eccentrics and stemmed macroblade artifacts are distinctive of the Late Preclassic and Late Classic workshops. The distribution sphere of Preclassic and Classic period chert tools has been traced to several contemporaneous sites that lie beyond the chert-bearing zone to the north. Colha has been identified as the primary production and distribution center during the Late Preclassic period; although it remained a production center in the Late Classic period, the main center for distribution may have shifted to Altun Ha.
The Seating of the tun: Further Evidence concerning a Late Preclassic Lowland Maya Stela Cult
Authors: Justeson John S. , Mathews Peter
Published: April 2006

Hieroglyphic and comparative linguistic evidence indicate that a Lowland Maya stela cult had been in existence, with monuments being erected predominantly or exclusively at the end of the 360-day year, in Late Preclassic times. These data corroborate Hammond's (1982) evidence for Late Preclassic stela erection. With his demonstration that the stela cult was associated with public architecture and a sacrificial burial at Cuello, the inference that contemporaneous stelae were erected primarily at year-endings establishes the complete Lowland Maya form of the stela cult well before the end of the Late Preclassic. It indicates that the cult was contemporaneous with Pacific coastal and adjacent highland stela cults, and developed at least partially in independence of the latter.
Stereological Identification of Opal Phytolith Populations from Wild and Cultivated Zea
Authors: Russ John C. , Rovner Irwin
Published: April 2006

Reported criteria for distinguishing wild Zea varieties (teosinte) from cultivated primative maize using plant opal phytolith morphology were tested using computer-assisted image analysis. Results showed current criteria to be effective but inconsistent. A straightforward stereological algorithm was derived from image analysis data providing high-confidence statistical assignment of the Zea phytolith populations in this study to wild or cultivated categories.
Never Say Never Again: Some Thoughts on Could Haves and Might Have Beens
Authors: Adovasio J. M. , Donahue J. , Stuckenrath R.
Published: April 2006

Tankersley and Munson (1992) reiterate that the early and, perhaps, some of the later Meadowcroft Rockshelter radiocarbon dates may be contaminated by anthropogenically derived coal or dissolved coal by-products. Their allegations are assessed in light of available data and rejected. Presently, there is no evidence whatsoever for particulate or nonparticulate contamination of any part of the Meadowcroft Rockshelter radiocarbon chronology.
Why Don't We Know When the First People Came to North America?
Authors: Meltzer David J.
Published: April 2006

The question of when the first people came to North America defies consensus. Data from an array of fields would seem to narrow the number and timing of migrations, but that evidence is at best circumstantial and cannot be used to constrain what is strictly an archaeological matter. Advocates of a pre-12,000 B.P. human population assert that their evidence is valid and is rejected by skeptics only because of deep-set historical biases. That assertion is not well-founded. If a bias exists, it is in the assumption that there were only three discrete migrations, the earliest of which was Clovis. The possibility that these migrations were not discrete episodes involving small founding populations, but instead may have been migratory dribbles spread over thousands of years, has implications for understanding the variation evident among modern descendant populations and the archaeological variability of Clovis. The possibility that there were early, pre-12,000 B.P. migrations that may have been wholly unrelated to Clovis and failed, may have equally important implications for why we don"t know when the first people came to North America.
Chemistry and Paleodietary Research: No More Easy Answers
Authors: Sillen Andrew , Sealy Judith C. , Merwe Nikolaas J. van der
Published: April 2006

While isotopic and elemental analyses of prehistoric skeletons have made an important contribution to paleodietary research over the last 10 years, certain problems in the application of these techniques only now are emerging. These problems, affecting both isotopic and trace-element studies, mainly are due to the peculiar interdisciplinary nature of the field, rather than to any technological barrier. With minor exceptions, techniques developed largely in other sciences have been grafted on to archaeological problems. This no longer suffices because gaps remain in the scientific grounding of these techniques that need to be addressed before more complicated archaeological questions can be resolved. While the necessary studies may seem to be of little immediate anthropological interest, they are vital if continued progress in paleodietary research is to characterize the years ahead.
Prehispanic Saltmaking in Belize: New Evidence
Authors: MacKinnon J. Jefferson , Kepecs Susan M.
Published: April 2006

The discovery of a number of prehispanic saltmaking sites on the southern coast of Belize by the Point Placencia Archaeological Project suggests a concern with local saltmaking during the Late Classic and perhaps later periods. Previously, only one small source was thought to have produced salt in prehispanic Belize, and it was believed that most of this mineral was imported from the northern coast of Yucatan. This paper describes the sites located by our survey and offers an interpretation of the local saltmaking process. It is suggested that Placencia salt was inferior in quality to that from Yucatan, and that it might have been consumed by commoners, while elites were able to obtain pure Yucatecan salt.
Fertility in the Prehistoric Midwest: A Critique of Unifactorial Models
Authors: Holland Thomas D.
Published: April 2006

Cultivation of starchy seeds must be recognized as a complex of variables upon which selection operates and of which population growth is the inherent measure of success. Early weaning through the use of starchy-seed gruels, though recently proposed as the principal factor in the increase of fertility, is insufficient as a prime mover for population growth in west-central Illinois during the Middle and Late Woodland periods.
Marine-Resource Value and the Priority of Coastal Settlement: A California Perspective
Authors: Jones Terry L.
Published: April 2006

The value of marine resources and coastal environments to hunter-gatherers has long been debated, with the archaeological record frequently invoked as the ultimate test for various arguments. Optimal-foraging principles suggest that the temporal priority of the exploitation of one resource over another indicates its value with respect to subsistence efficiency, a crucial variable in overall reproductive success. If coastal habitats are highly valuable, their exploitation should be seen early in the archaeological record; if not, a time lag should be evident between the initial exploitation of terrestrial and coastal environments. A review of the archaeology of early marine-resource use in prehistoric California reveals complex patterning that does not exclusively support one position or the other. Certain of these data accommodate the traditional model of an adaptive transition between specialized hunting of terrestrial big game during the Paleoindian period and diversification, including marine-resource exploitation, during the Archaic period. Others, however, suggest that shellfish were part of the diet of the initial colonists of western North America, indicating the value of this resource to mobility-restricted members of hunting and gathering groups.
Cabeza de Vaca and the Sixteenth-Century Copper Trade in Northern Mexico
Authors: Epstein Jeremiah F.
Published: April 2006

Descriptions of Indians in northern Mexico with copper artifacts occur in the sixteenth-century expedition reports of Cabeza de Vaca, Francisco Ibarra, and Father Rodríguez. The phrasing of Cabeza de Vaca's account indicates that both copper bells and plates were excavated from abandoned villages and then traded widely. Statements given in all three journals point to the site of Paquimé, or Casas Grandes, in Chihuahua as the most probable source. Since Casas Grandes was deserted in the sixteenth century, it is suggested that the copper objects found among the Indians in northern Mexico by Cabeza de Vaca, Ibarra, and Rodríguez were looted from Casas Grandes rather than obtained by trade from west Mexico or Mesoamerica.
Trampling the Archaeological Record: An Experimental Study
Authors: Nielsen Axel E.
Published: April 2006

This paper reports on several experiments carried out to explore the transformations of the archaeological record affected by trampling. These transformations include changes in artifact distributions and formal alterations that should be taken into account when carrying out studies of activity areas. The experiments were made on dry, hard-packed surfaces and in the same sediments after a rain. The materials used were bones, obsidian flakes, sherds, and fragments of brick and wood. The analysis focuses on vertical displacement, horizontal displacement, and damage (breakage, microflaking, and abrasion), paying special attention to the response of the trodden substrate and its implications for the whole process. The interaction of trampling with other formation processes (e.g., maintenance) also is considered. The main patterns observed in the trampled materials are vertical and horizontal size sorting, and characteristic size distributions in sherds. These empirical generalizations are then integrated in a model that can help to identify trampled contexts and assess their potential for behavioral inference.
On New England Shell Middens: Response to Sanger's Cautionary Tale
Authors: Spiess Arthur E.
Published: April 2006

There is an ongoing debate about the nature of artifact association and the expression of living surfaces in New England and Maritime Provinces shell middens. I focus this debate on a single shell midden where supposedly Early Woodland styles of projectile points are associated with Middle Woodland ceramics. These findings suggest that either a revision of the New England and Maritime Provinces Woodland sequence is necessary, or that we should rethink our models of shell-midden formation processes.
Plumbate Origins and Development
Authors: Neff Hector , Bishop Ronald L.
Published: April 2006

The question of spatial and temporal origins for Plumbate ware is addressed with archaeological evidence from the eastern Soconusco region of the Pacific slope, and evidence from a recent stylistic and compositional study (the latter by neutron-activation analysis). This evidence confirms the Pacific coastal-origins hypothesis proposed by Shepard (1948), suggesting specifically that the first Plumbate, designated "Guayabal Plumbate," was produced in or near the littoral zone of southwest Guatemala. The development of Early Postclassic Tohil Plumbate out of Late Classic San Juan Plumbate is found not to involve a hypothesized intermediate stage (designated "Robles" in previous literature). The fancy abstract-incised and effigy style associated with Tohil Plumbate is argued to represent a stylistic departure of a small group of ceramic artisans who previously had worked in a long-lived "background" tradition.
Prehistoric Vegetation and Environment at Chaco Canyon
Authors: Hall Stephen A.
Published: April 2006

Pollen analysis of woodrat (Neotoma) middens indicates that the local vegetation at Chaco Canyon and the regional vegetation of the San Juan Basin, northwestern New Mexico, have been shrub grassland since at least 10,600 years ago. Plant macrofossils in the same woodrat middens indicate that pinyon pine trees were present in the canyon during much of the Holocene, but low percentages of their pollen grains in both the middens and in adjacent alluvium suggest the trees were few, occurring as small stands or isolated individuals along canyon escarpments. The vegetation at Chaco Canyon during Anasazi times was an arid shrub grassland with a sparse escarpment population of pinyon and juniper. A climate-caused regional increase in pinyon at higher elevation sites occurred approximately at the time of Puebloan abandonment.
Bioarchaeological Evidence for a Spanish-Native American Conflict in the Sixteenth-Century Southeast
Authors: Blakely Robert L. , Mathews David S.
Published: April 2006

As the state of Georgia marks the four hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of Hernando de Soto, we reflect on the other actors in the encounter. The King site, a Native American village in the sixteenth-century chiefdom of Coosa, yielded an unusually high crude death rate of 36 per 1,000. We attribute the elevated mortality to casualties from a clash with the Spaniards. Twenty percent of the King site skeletons exhibit injuries-deep gashes and cuts across two extremities–inflicted by steel weapons. Although enemies of the Coosa possessed some European weapons, the demographic profile of the fatalities–young women and middle-aged males and females–implicates the Spaniards. Comparison with European battle casualties supports the notion that the Spaniards were responsible for the injuries. The chronicles reveal de Soto’s army to have been the likely perpetrator. The victims probably either resisted enslavement or attempted to free others from enslavement. The site offers the first archaeological evidence of Spanish violence in the interior Southeast.
Microrefuse and Site Structure: The Hearths and Floors of the Heartbreak Hotel
Authors: Metcalfe Duncan , Heath Kathleen M.
Published: April 2006

This paper presents the results of a research project investigating the types, frequencies, and spatial distribution of small items of refuse on and in floors of a prehistoric structure–the Heartbreak Hotel–excavated in central Utah. Excavation and analytical procedures specifically were designed to recover microrefuse–refuse with a minimum dimension of less than .25 cm. There is strong empirical support for the proposition that microrefuse recovered from such contexts will be found in its area of production, and that patterning in its spatial distribution will, other things being equal, indicate spatial patterning in the performance of the activities that produced the microrefuse. We demonstrate that there is rather dramatic patterning in the types and frequencies of microrefuse between and within rooms of the structure and discuss possible explanations for the character of that patterning. We conclude with a discussion of the present limitations of our understanding of refuse disposal and suggest avenues of ethnoarchaeological inquiry likely to produce better archaeological and behavioral expectations relating to spatial patterning of microrefuse.
A New Synthesis of Middle Paleolithic Variability
Authors: Rolland Nicolas , Dibble Harold L.
Published: April 2006

The familiar debate concerning Middle Paleolithic variability has opposed stylistic vs. functional explanations based on the assumption that tool types and assemblage groups represent discrete, invariant entities. Middle Paleolithic variability, however, actually occurs continuously. Further, recent research shows that raw-material constraints and different degrees of artifact-reduction intensity constitute more basic and observable factors of variability than function and style. Thus, much of the variability in these assemblages appears to have been caused by toolmaking and tool-rejuvenation processes and/or by differential occupation intensity induced by environmental circumstances. The correct interpretation of these Middle Paleolithic assemblages must therefore consider these factors, as well as interregional stylistic drift, function, and diachronic change.
Sensitivity, Precision, and Accuracy: Their Roles in Ceramic Compositional Data Bases
Authors: Bishop Ronald L. , Canouts Veletta , Crown Patricia L. , Atley Suzanne P. de
Published: April 2006

Differences in analytical sensitivity, precision, and accuracy exist among techniques and laboratories involved in the chemical analysis of archaeological ceramics. Large differences in these analytical parameters become significant in the formulation of data bases where comparability of the data is being sought. Small differences become significant when comparing pottery produced from clay resources located within a discrete geological environment. To better assess and report on the analytical results being obtained from laboratories, neutron-activation analysis and X-ray fluorescence are discussed relative to the level of precision required for ceramic characterization studies, the use of standards, and the preparation and submission of samples for commercial laboratory analysis.
Artifact Size and Lateral Displacement under Tillage: Comments on the Odell and Cowan Experiment
Authors: Dunnell Robert C.
Published: April 2006

Odell and Cowan's (1987) experimental study largely confirms and extends results obtained by Lewarch and O'Brien (1981) on the effects of tillage on artifact distributions in the plow zone. In contrast to earlier studies, however, they find no relation between artifact size and lateral-displacement distance. The lack of relation between these two variables may be a consequence of defects in experimental design and analysis and should be considered suspect until better controlled data are available.
More on Estimating Tillage Effects: Reply to Dunnell and Yorston
Authors: Cowan Frank L. , Odell George H.
Published: April 2006

Comments by Dunnell and Yorston (this issue) on our article concerning the effects of tillage on archaeological distributions are, in general, useful contributions toward an understanding of a topic with which most archaeologists must ultimately come to grips. A few of these comments have stimulated a reconsideration of our position on a couple of points, and we hope that this exchange of ideas will clarify the situation for anyone who desires to pursue this research trajectory further.
Interregional Interaction in Prehistory: The Need for a New Perspective
Authors: Schortman Edward M.
Published: April 2006

Recent archaeological efforts to model processes of intersocietal interaction have been hampered by a dearth of conceptual tools suitable to these analyses. In particular, there is a need for a theoretical structure that shifts concern from our traditional focus on spatially distinct cultures and their relations to the physical environment. Without such a shift, questions of intersocietal contact cannot be addressed successfully. This article suggests that the concept of social identity has a role to play in this reorientation. The use of social identity focuses attention directly on intersocietal interactions by encouraging us to ask such questions as who is interacting with whom, under what conditions, and what are the effects of the contact on local social change? This paper defines social identity, provides examples suggesting its utility in archaeological research, and considers the specific questions raised by the application of social identity to archaeological materials.
John Rowzée Peyton and the Myth of the Mound Builders
Authors: Blakeslee Donald J.
Published: April 2006

Some of the first recorded archaeology done in North America was accomplished by John Rowzéé Peyton in 1774. With two companions, Peyton escaped from jail in Santa Fe. Using a compass and a copy of the Delisle map of 1703, he made his way to an Osage camp on the Missouri River and thence to St. Louis. En route, he stopped to excavate in a burial mound. His interpretation of the mounds he saw is one of the first recorded instances of the Mound Builder myth. There is reason to suspect that Peyton may have been responsible for the origin of the myth, as an oral tradition among the educated elite of the American colonies.
Horizonal Integration and Regional Diversity: An Alternating Process in the Rise of Civilizations
Authors: Willey Gordon R.
Published: April 2006

The Precolumbian culture sequences for Mesoamerica and Peru, the two New World areas where native civilizations attained their greatest complexity, show, in each case, an alternation between periods of horizon-style unifications and periods of marked regional stylistic diversity. It is the thesis of the present essay that this alternating process of intense regional interaction broken by periods of lesser interaction is a vital one in the rise to civilizational complexity.
Monte Verde, Chile: A Comment on Lynch
Authors: Dillehay Tom D. , Collins Michael B.
Published: April 2006

A recent review by Lynch of late Pleistocene sites in South America is impaired by numerous errors and misrepresentations. Although Lynch omits several important sites and often selectively uses data to support his own position, this comment addresses his review of the Monte Verde site in Chile. Although Lynch has not visited Monte Verde and has inspected few artifacts from the site, he questions the Pleistocene association of artifacts and the “hand of humans” in the site. Lynch’s interpretations are refuted on the grounds that he is unfamiliar with the site, that he reviewed obsolete publications, and that he often misrepresented material in these publications. The archaeological evidence for late Pleistocene human activity at Monte Verde is reviewed in terms of the site stratigraphy, chronology, and artifacts.
From Twining to Triple Cloth: Experimentation and Innovation in Ancient Peruvian Weaving (ca. 5000-400 B.C.)
Authors: Doyon-Bernard S. J.
Published: April 2006

A chronological sequence for the introduction of the major categories of loom weaves in the Initial period and Early Horizon of prehistoric Peru reveals a process of experimentation that begins with primarily suprastructural and discontinuous decoration and culminates with the achievement of designs that are wedded materially to the weave. Three major innovations allowed for this dramatic advance: (1) the use of multiple heddles, which is found surprisingly early in the sequence; (2) the recognition of the full potential of the “cross” to vary the selection of the warps from the fixed order in the heddles, and (3) the related application of the complementary principle, in which one colored yarn is substituted for its partner in a contrasting hue. Through the elaboration of these truly revolutionary discoveries, the last limits to artistic freedom were removed and weaving technology rapidly advanced to include the full repertoire of loom-weave classes known in the Andes.
Comment on “Tomato Springs: The Identification of a Jasper Trade and Production Center in Southern California”
Authors: Shackley M. Steven
Published: April 2006

Marie Cottrell's recent (1985) proposal that prehistoric long distance exchange of jasper occurred between the California coast and inland deserts is most unlikely in light of the presence of abundant secondary siliceous sediment sources (including jasper) along the nearby southern California coast. The obsidian hydration based site chronology at Tomato Springs, founded on non-source provenienced obsidian, is equally problematic. A number of other lesser potential fallacies serve to undermine the assumption of long distance transport of a raw material that was available locally.
A Reconsideration of Chronology for the La Quemada Portion of the Northern Mesoamerican Frontier
Authors: Trombold Charles D.
Published: April 2006

The massively fortified ceremonial center of La Quemada on the northern mesoamerican frontier has long been thought to date primarily to the Postclassic period. New evidence now supports the contention that La Quemada's florescence was earlier and perhaps longer than previously recognized. Four lines of evidence support this conclusion: (1) reevaluation of Armillas’ published 14C dates, (2) regional survey data, (3) new 14C dates from excavations on a large village site near La Quemada, and (4) recent chronological refinements in the Chalchihuites area for identifying the temporal position of tradewares. Several implications of this are discussed in terms of mesoamerican core-periphery relations.
Regional Surveys in the Eastern United States: The Strengths and Weaknesses of Implementing Subsurface Testing Programs
Authors: Lightfoot Kent G.
Published: April 2006

The probability of detecting sites using subsurface testing programs is a serious concern for archaeologists working in the eastern United States. Some have suggested that current test-probe programs provide a poor method for estimating the frequency and distribution of sites. In this article I examine the usefulness of subsurface testing programs by comparing the results of an Eastern subsurface survey with a pedestrian surface survey conducted in the Southwest. The subsurface survey at Shelter Island, New York, was designed so that probability limits could be calculated for detecting sites of varying sizes. These probabilities were then employed to estimate the number and kinds of sites contained in sample units. When these results were compared with those from a pedestrian surface survey in northeastern Arizona, the results suggested that carefully designed subsurface surveys, although extremely labor-intensive, can provide settlement-pattern information as detailed as that collected in surface surveys.
The Quality of Tribute Cloth: The Place of Evidence in Archaeological Argument
Authors: Brumfiel Elizabeth M.
Published: April 2006

This paper continues the discussion of objectivity, subjectivity, and the place of evidence in archaeological argument begun by Wylie (1992a), Little (1994), and Fotiadis (1994). First, it describes my expectations concerning Indian women’s resistance to tribute cloth extraction in Aztec and colonial Mexico. Then, it explains how I tested my expectations against several bodies of archaeological data. Finally, it analyzes how I did and did not alter my initial beliefs in the face of a gap between the expected and the actual data. This study supports earlier conclusions by Trigger (1989) and Wylie (1992b) that data are somewhat independent of the archaeologists who collect them and that data have some impact on the larger edifice of assumptions that archaeologists bring to their research.
Testing the Reality of a “Living Floor” with Archaeological Data
Authors: Dibble Harold L. , Chase Philip G. , McPherron Shannon P. , Tuffreau Alain
Published: April 2006

No matter how “pristine” an archaeological assemblage may appear, archaeologists should always be concerned with documenting the degree and nature of possible postdepositional disturbances. This paper outlines a number of tests that can be applied to archaeological, vs. geological, data to assess these effects, and their use is illustrated in an excavation of a Lower Paleolithic site in France. Although this site was originally thought to contain a possible “living floor” reflecting relatively little postdepositional disturbance, the tests applied here clearly show that both the lithic and faunal components in large part reflect secondary deposits and most probably are only coincidentally associated. From a methodological perspective, this study clearly demonstrates the power of these tests for assessing the taphonomic history of any site containing lithic and faunal remains, and the use of this particular example illustrates the need for these kinds of tests to be applied at the time of excavation.
Structural Changes in Archaic Landscape Use in the Dissected Uplands of Southwestern Indiana
Authors: Stafford C. Russell
Published: April 2006

Structural changes in Archaic landscape use are examined using a large-scale survey data set from the dissected forested uplands of southwest Indiana. Spatial patterning of hafted bifaces, as indicated by proximity to streams of different order and distance from major rivers, was found to vary between the Early and Middle Archaic periods. Early Archaic settlement emphasized the upper reaches and divides of basins, but also included near-river locations, while Middle and later Archaic groups focused on locations near basin outlets and major rivers. These changes are argued to be a function of reduced residential mobility and a shift from a largely foraging to a collecting strategy. Increased travel and processing costs associated with a logistical strategy resulted in a deemphasis of more distant extravalley resource patches. Several explanations for this shift in strategies are explored, including possible increased spatiotemporal heterogeneity of the environment associated with postglacial climate and vegetation change.
Migration in Prehistory: Princess Point and the Northern Iroquoian Case
Authors: Crawford Gary W. , Smith David G.
Published: April 2006

Snow has recently challenged the in situ theory of the origins of the Northern Iroquois, arguing that it is a controlling model that does not account for certain linguistic, social, ceramic, and settlement anomalies he identifies in the record of prehistoric Iroquoian development. He proposes a migration model that purports to respond to these anomalies. Data recently gathered from a project focusing on the Princess Point Complex of southern Ontario shed light on Snow’s hypothesis for a migration after A.D. 900. These new data do not support Snow’s migration scenario, at least as this model concerns Ontario and Princess Point.
The GE Mound: An ARPA Case Study
Authors: Munson Cheryl Ann , Jones Marjorie Melvin , Fry Robert E.
Published: April 2006

Prosecutions of looters under the U.S. Government's Archeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) have heretofore come in cases involving federal or Indian land, thus limiting applications of the law and questions about both the law and the legal rights of artifact collectors. In this essay we examine the GE Mound case, the first prosecution and conviction of a group of looters under ARPA for interstate transport of artifacts illegally removed from private property. The GE Mound case serves as a textbook on issues that currently confront archaeology. The conflicting interests of archaeologists, looters, other artifact collectors, and Native Americans are illustrated in the legal proceedings and the controversies surrounding the prosecution. We review the proceedings and controversies to establish a factual record for this precedent-setting and politically sensitive case.
Spears, Darts, and Arrows: Late Woodland Hunting Techniques in the Upper Ohio Valley
Authors: Shott Michael J.
Published: April 2006

The belief that the bow and arrow replaced the spear and/or dart as hunting weapons in eastern North America between 1500 and 1200 B.P. is tested using a classification function that identifies bifaces as either spear/dart or arrow points. Results and their alternative interpretations bear important implications for the timing and nature of the technological transition. Moreover, the economic consequences of the transition are at once subtler and less profound than often supposed. Ethnographic data do not support simple notions of a uniform increase in acquisition efficiency across target species with the adoption of the bow and arrow.
Excavation Sample Size: A Cautionary Tale
Authors: O'Neil Dennis H.
Published: April 2006

Frequently, only five percent or less of a midden site is excavated for environmental-analysis purposes before it is turned over to the bulldozers for destruction. Such exceptionally small sample sizes have become accepted in cultural-resource-management work as adequate for gaining a good understanding of the chronology and cultural activities at a site. This assumption was tested by the author with a 63 percent excavation sampling fraction from a southern California midden. The data indicate that a far-from-complete understanding of a site may result from small sampling fractions and that more carefully designed sampling strategies and statistical manipulation of the data may not overcome this problem.
Sedentarization and Agricultural Dependence: Perspectives from the Pithouse-to-Pueblo Transition in the American Southwest
Authors: Rocek Thomas R.
Published: April 2006

The pithouse-to-pueblo transition in the southwestern United States is widely viewed as a period combining increasing sedentism and agricultural dependence. This paper argues that sedentarization and degree of agricultural dependence need not be directly linked across the transition, and that two kinds of preservational biases influence the appearance of a linkage. First, sample size effects result from better archaeobotanical preservation at large, relatively sedentary pueblos, compared to pithouse settlements that are often smaller and less intensively occupied. Second, differences in storage technology increase the likelihood of carbonization of domesticates at pueblos. Quantitative paleoethno-botanical data from the Dunlap-Salazar pithouse site and Robinson site pueblo in south-central New Mexico illustrate these problems. Dunlap-Salazar has lower quantities of domesticates in its flotation samples than Robinson pueblo. When preservational differences are taken into account using ratios or ubiquity counts, however, the contrast between the sites disappears. These findings have methodological implications, suggesting that casual qualitative or even quantitative comparisons between pueblo and pithouse sites in the Southwest (or analogous sites in other parts of the world) may be misleading. The results also suggest that the commonly accepted direct association between lower mobility and higher dependence on crops in pueblos in contrast to pithouse sites requires reevaluation.
Middle Archaic Bone Pins: Evidence of Mid-Holocene Regional-Scale Social Groups in the Southern Midwest
Authors: Jefferies Richard W.
Published: April 2006

Carved and engraved bone pins collected from eight sites along the Middle Mississippi and Lower Ohio Rivers and their tributaries are used to investigate the development of regional-scale social interaction among increasingly more sedentary late Middle Archaic (6000–5000 B.P.) hunter-gatherer groups. The similarity in pin morphology and decoration suggests an increasing level of social integration among groups that were shifting from a residential mobility strategy to a logistically organized one. The development or amplification of intergroup social networks provided access to information and resources that were formerly obtained through more direct forms of intergroup contact. The spatial distribution of selected bone pin styles suggests that these social networks extended over a considerable portion of the southern Midwest. Collectively, these data suggest that regional social networks existed in this part of the Midwest much earlier than previously believed.
The Intensity of Maize Processing and Production in Upland Mogollon Pithouse Villages A.D. 200–1000
Authors: Diehl Michael W.
Published: April 2006

Analyses of the size, shape, and wear on western Mogollon manos and metates reveal that the dietary importance of maize remained low and stable from the Early Pithouse period (A.D. 200–550) through the Georgetown phase (A.D. 550–700). The consumption of maize increased during the San Francisco phase (A.D. 700–825/850) and continued to increase through the Three Circle phase (A.D. 825/850–1000). Changes in the ubiquity of charred pieces of maize (Zea mays) from paleoethnobotanical samples also indicate an increase in maize consumption from the Early Pithouse period through the Three Circle phase. The onset of increased maize consumption roughly coincided with the introduction of an improved variety of eight-row maize, around A.D. 650–700 (Upham et al. 1987). The analyses presented in this study do not agree with recent suggestions (Gilman 1987; Mauldin 1991) that maize consumption in the western Mogollon region remained stable and low until the Classic Mimbres phase (A.D. 1000–1150).
Reply to Bamforth
Authors: Harry Karen G.
Published: April 2006

Bamforth contends that research conducted into cation-ratio dating at CA-KER-140 was flawed because of (1) a poorly conceived research design, (2) a lack of site integrity, and (3) misinterpretation of the chemical data. He further argues that processes affecting artifact stability at KER-140 were absent from the IPP sites. As a result, he suggests that the conclusions presented in my earlier article are unsound and irrelevant to the interpretation of previously derived cation-ratio dates. In this article I respond to these assertions. Specifically, I demonstrate that Bamforth has failed to establish grounds for dismissing either the KER-140 research design or the chemical results obtained from that study. In addition, I review descriptions of the IPP sites presented elsewhere by Bamforth and conclude that these descriptions support the interpretation of artifact instability at the IPP sites.
Late Pleistocene Human Friction Skin Prints from Pendejo Cave, New Mexico
Authors: Chrisman Donald , MacNeish Richard S. , Mavalwala Jamshed , Savage Howard
Published: April 2006

In the excavation of Pendejo Cave (FB 9366) near Orogrande, New Mexico, 16 friction skin imprints were found in five stratified zones on clay nodules, baked at over 120°C. After careful analysis, expert dermatoglyphologists determined that these imprints had positive primate characteristics. The imprints are probably of human origin, since no other primates are known to have existed in prehistoric New Mexico. Eight of the imprints occurred in three well-dated zones falling in the late Pleistocene. These zones have direct radiocarbon dates between 12,000 and 37,000 B.P. In addition to their association with radiocarbon determinations, the prints come from three of 24 stratified zones, intensively studied by geologists and pedologists, that are dated in sequence by 34 other radiocarbon determinations acquired from four different laboratories. The imprints are associated with a column of over 35,000 paleontological specimens and more than 15,000 botanical remains. These specimens indicate Pleistocene changes and supply evidence of human transportation and modification of various materials. The prints are also associated with artifacts, ecofacts, features of human construction, and human remains. The imprint specimens therefore provide evidence of Pleistocene human occupation in the New World.
The Effects of Stone and Technology on Fluted-Point Morphometry
Authors: Tankersley Kenneth B.
Published: April 2006

Previous morphometric studies have identified variation in fluted-point thickness data but have seldom considered its cultural or technological sources. New data from western and eastern North America suggest that variation in fluted-point thickness results from variability in lithic raw-material selectivity and bifacial-flaking techniques.
The Social and Economic Contexts of Lithic Procurement: Obsidian from Classic-Period Hohokam Sites
Authors: Peterson Jane , Mitchell Douglas R. , Shackley M. Steven
Published: April 2006

The social and economic organization of obsidian procurement has been a topic of particular interest in southwestern archaeology as a result of recent work identifying and characterizing a number of sources throughout Arizona, New Mexico, and northern Mexico. Recent studies have attempted to explain temporal and spatial variability of obsidian distribution in the larger contexts of regional exchange networks, socially bounded territories, and elite redistributive efforts. This study reviews the current state of research as reflected in three models. Patterns in obsidian source diversity and reduction stage data are assessed relative to model expectations and an analysis of obsidian acquisition and distribution. The likelihood of elite members of an increasingly formalized socioeconomic system playing a role in these processes should be considered, while at the same time noting that kin-based raw material procurement and ritual item mobilization may explain many of the obsidian patterns. The emerging perspective suggests that obsidian moved in a variety of spheres, concurrently serving a number of social and economic purposes. This study highlights the importance of modeling individual, nonlocal commodities before attempting to generate monolithic exchange models.
L'Éducation des Masses en Afrique Occidentale Française
Authors: Labouret Henri
Published: April 2006

Sous l'impulsion personnelle du Gouverneur Général M. J. Brévié et avec l'aide éclairée de M. l'Inspecteur Général de l'Enseignement Charton, la Fédération Française de l'Ouest-Africain prend résolument une orientation nouvelle qui mérite d'être signalée. Un programme remontant déjà à quelques mois en fixe les grandes lignes, définissant ainsi les trois aspects du problème à résoudre.

‘Au point de vue social et administratif, il s'agit de préparer et de former, par une sélection attentive, les cadres indigènes nécessaires à la vie économique du pays, d'accroître, par une éducation appropriée, la valeur des futurs chefs indigènes et de consolider leur autorité traditionnelle.

‘Au point de vue économique, il s'agit de former des cadres économiques et la main d'œuvre qualifiée, indispensable à la bonne marche de l'économie africaine.

‘Il s'agit enfin par une action sur la masse et une orientation franchement pratique donnée à l'enseignement, de préparer les conditions sociales et psychologiques de la mise en valeur rationnelle du pays par l'indigène lui-même, de créer un enseignement populaire éducatif et pratique, qui dirige dans son cadre traditionnel le progrès de la société indigène.’
Le Dialecte des Pygmoïdes Batswá de L'Équateur
Authors: Hulstaert G.
Published: April 2006

D'aucuns pensent—à tort selon nous, — que les Pygmoïdes ont une langue qui serait totalement différente de celle de leurs maîtres. Il est vrai que les Pygmoïdes parlent un dialecte qui sonne étrange. On y rencontre plusieurs mots dont leurs maîtres actuels n'usent jamais. Des Baotó qui ont des Batswá à leur disposition, les comprennent très facilement, et beaucoup savent parler leur dialecte. Il en est tout autrement des Baotó qui n'ont jamais fréquenté les Batswá: au début, ils ne les comprennent pas du tout.
The Social Problems of Nigeria
Authors: Enemo Eleazar Obiakonwa
Published: April 2006

Nigeria is not only a recent creation, but it can with justice be called an artificial creation with a heterogeneous population. This is the reason why the social system of Nigeria is fraught with problems of which the first and foremost is the problem of integrating many divergent elements in social, religious, political, and economic life, of selecting what is good from each of these elements, and reconciling them with the culture of an invading and stronger civilization.
II. Kipsigis
Authors: Orchardson I. Q.
Published: April 2006

In asking a Kipsigis the question ‘What is a witch?’ there is a difficulty, for firstly, what does the questioner exactly mean by the word ‘witch’? How much does he include under the term ‘witchcraft’? Again, what word is one to use to translate ‘witch’ or ‘witchcraft’? There is a great variety of phenomena which may be included under this term. They are all distinct in the Kipsigis mind and are denoted by different words. There is no word which includes them, all comparable to the English word ‘witchcraft’.
Common Laborers? Industrial Pluralists, Legal Realists, and the Law of Industrial Disputes, 1915–1943
Authors: Ernst Daniel R.
Published: April 2006

At the turn of the twentieth century, when highbrow political thinkers rebelled against the consensual epistemology and ethics of the Victorians, when they argued, as William James did, that “neither the whole of truth nor the whole of good is revealed to any single observer,” when they declared themselves to be living in “a world where truth and justice are to be carved from culture rather than found already etched in reason,” they created an unprecedented problem in liberal political and legal thought. Previous thinkers could take the individual as the fundamental political unit and attribute to “him” a capacity for knowing and doing right that “he” shared with all God's children (as “commonsense” moral philosophy held) or all participants in a consensual, organically developing society (as historicist scholarship had it). Armed with such premises, they could confidently judge diverse social practices against universal standards of conduct.
Differing Perceptions of the Value of Pollution Abatement across Time and Place: Balancing Doctrine in Pollution Nuisance Law, 1840–1906
Authors: Rosen Christine
Published: April 2006

The business development that took place during the nineteenth century fouled America's waters. It also caused smoke, soot, stenches, noise, jarring vibrations, solid wastes and other forms of industrial pollution. These problems drove people to the courts for injunctive relief. Their suits raised a dilemma of fundamental importance to all industrialized societies: how best to reconcile the often conflicting goals of environmental quality and business growth.

This article looks at how nineteenth-century American judges grappled with this quandary by examining their use of balancing doctrine in pollution nuisance cases.
Laissez-Faire and Liberty: A Re-Evaluation of the Meaning and Origins Of Laissez-Faire Constitutionalism
Authors: Les Benedict Michael
Published: April 2006

Until recently, historians of American constitutionalism agreed that, except for the infamous Dred Scott decision, the most unfortunate decisions of the Supreme Court were those that incorporated the notion of laissez-faire into the Constitution in the late nineteenth century. These decisions permitted the Court to frustrate efforts to secure a more just economic order in the United States until the 1930s. The intellectual foundations of laissez-faire constitutionalism have been so alien to most legal scholars since the 1930s (and equally unintelligible to many even earlier) that they have found it difficult to believe these decisions were the result of efforts to enforce ‘neutral’ principles of constitutional law, to utilize the terms of Herbert Wechsler's famous analysis. They could not conceive of the Court's rhetoric about liberty and due process as anything but cant, a subterfuge designed to camouflage other purposes.
The Custody of Children in English Manor Courts
Authors: Clark Elaine
Published: April 2006

Very little is known about the young and the orphaned in the villages of medieval England. The span of years constituting childhood as well as the social experiences peculiar to youth must be deduced from either literary sources, including the comments of chroniclers and priests, or legal records generated by coroners, jurors and feudal lords. The variety and scope of this evidence notwithstanding, certain questions about the care of children in the rural world remain unresolved. Did peasants view childhood as a period of protected dependency, and at what age did childhood cease? How did the change in status from child to adult take place? There was, it seems, no public proclamation, no elaborate ceremony or ritual. Instead it appears that children quietly entered the adult world as soon as they no longer were dependent on their mothers and nurses. Indeed the dependency of medieval children now has the semblance of brevity, neither prolonged by families nor subject to broader constraint. But does this appearance fully account for the passage of childhood in peasant society?