bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
An Archaeological “Restudy” of an Andean Ethnohistorical Account
Authors: Murra John V. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractThe recent publication in Lima of a detailed, house-to-house 16th-century census of the Huanuco region in the Andean highlands, suggests the possibility of an archaeological investigation retracing the 1562 survey. The archaeological expressions of the several ethnic groups should be identified. The degree and nature of the Inca influences in a peasant area could be revealed. Eventually it should be possible to clarify archaeologically a variety of moot points in Inca social organization.
Costs of Shell Analysis
Authors: Koloseike Alan 
Published: April 2006

AbstractExcavation of a coastal site often involves the temptation to perform a quantitative analysis for mollusc shell present in the midden. A major factor in such an analysis is the time expense involved. This paper presents the minimal time costs for the sub-processes of standard shell analysis. Time costs for an actual shell analysis are reconstructed to illustrate the use of sub-process rates and as an independent check on the rates as reported. An adequate standard shell analysis is an expensive undertaking. The time and/or money involved might well be applied to more productive research.
The Shaft Tombs of Western Mexico: Problems in the Interpretation of Religious Function in Nonhistoric Archaeological Contexts
Authors: Taylor R. E. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractThe widely differing interpretations of the function of certain artifactual materials associated with the shaft-tomb complex of western Mexico are utilized to illustrate certain problems in the analysis of nonhistoric archaeological materials thought to be of religious significance. It is suggested that in the absence of some new model specifically designed to deal with the religious sub-system of nonhistoric societies and in the absence of interpretative data derived from relatively secure historical contexts, the only approach which seems justified, in light of our present level of knowledge, is to operate on the level of broad generalized statements of probability.
Escapable Errors in Employing Ethnohistory in Archaeology
Authors: Fletcher Charles S. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractIn a recent article which appeared in American Antiquity, Don E. Crabtree reported the results of his experiments in reproducing aboriginal prismatic flaked blades. In his excursion into the ethnohistory of obsidian blade making, Crabtree unfortunately relied on an inaccurate English translation of the Spanish Fr. Juan de Torquemada's account of the process. As a supplement to Crabtree's otherwise excellent article, Torquemada's original Spanish text is presented herein, along with a translation and comments on Crabtree's interpretation of the faulty translation.
Validity of Radiocarbon Dates on Terrestrial Snail Shells
Authors: Tamers M. A. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractRadiocarbon dating of terrestrial snail shells is examined. Three groups of samples, two from archaeological sites of Venezuela and one from the state of Texas, were taken as examples. The true ages were determined from radiocarbon dates on associated charcoal, and measurements on the snail shells allowed the errors to be determined. The groups showed completely different characteristics: 15 samples from Texas all had ages falsely old, 12 specimens of one Venezuelan group produced all correct dates, and another Venezuelan type with five samples gave dates all too recent. This study defines the directions and extents of errors for each group of snail shells, permitting them to be used as relatively reliable datable objectives in excavations where better materials are not available.The possibility of correcting the radiocarbon dates using carbon-13 concentrations is considered, and 24 measurements are presented. It is concluded that more than one factor can influence the stable isotope concentrations in each case, and, therefore, carbon-13 is not useful for the improvement of the accuracy of snail shell dates.
Archaeology in the Arctic, 1935-60
Authors: Larsen Helge 
Published: April 2006

AbstractArchaeological activities in the North American Arctic are reviewed in terms of the sequences and cultures which have been identified in three major culture areas: the coastal zone from St. Lawrence Island to eastern Greenland, the central area around Hudson Bay with extensions to northern Greenland and Newfoundland, and southwestern Alaska including the Aleutian Islands. Three broad culture horizons are suggested for organizing the data for the first two of these areas. The earliest horizon which cannot be surely identified as either Pre-Eskimo or Proto-Eskimo is tentatively called the Denbigh Flint horizon. It is characterized by fine chipping, micro-cores, micro-blades, burins, and the absence of pottery. These traits occur in the Denbigh Flint and New Mountain complexes and in other assemblages perhaps as far east as the Sarqaq of Greenland. The second or Paleo-Eskimo horizon which also emphasized fine chipping is found in two forms, one with pottery, such as the Choris, Norton, Near Ipiutak, and related cultures in northwestern Canada, and the other without pottery represented by Ipiutak and Dorset. The latest or Neo-Eskimo horizon is the northern maritime tradition of the Okvik to Inugsuk range of cultures. Other approaches to the interpretation of northern archaeology are summarized.
An Old World View of New World Prehistory
Authors: Bushnell Geoffrey 
Published: April 2006

AbstractA review of problems in American archaeology is organized around the Lithic, Archaic, Formative, Classic, and Postclassic stages of Willey and Phillips. Among the problems raised and discussed are: the inadequacy of the Early Lithic or generalized gathering tool stage, the need for a better definition of the Archaic concept, the difficulty in extending the Archaic stage into South America, the dating and interpretation of the Peruvian Preceramic period, the origin of New World cotton, the possibility of trans-Pacific contacts and the feasibility of ocean travel, the Mesoamerican origin of the Formative stage, the dating of Valdivia culture and the Formative in general in South America, the relationship between Chavin and the comparable cultures in south coastal Peru, the inappropriateness of identifying most of the Mesoamerican centers as cities, the Aztec state as an empire, and the Classic stage as essentially urban, and the possibility of yet finding a Siberian origin for the pressure-flaked bifacial projectile points of the paleo-Indians.
Recent Discoveries in the Atacama Desert and the Bolivian Altiplano
Authors: Barfield Lawrence 
Published: April 2006

AbstractRecently discovered paleo-Indian sites on the shores of Salar de San Martin in Chile and Laguna Colorada and Laguna Hedionda in Bolivia are described. A cave at Laguna Hedionda is stratified. Comparisons are made with Ayampitin in Argentina and Le Paige's sequence for sites around Salar de Atacama in Chile. Pottery from the Hedionda sites is compared with post-Tiahuanaco to Inca styles in nearby areas of Bolivia. Le Paige's sequence (Puripica, Tulan-Cebollar, Tambillo) is criticized and a revision (Puripica-Tulan, Tambillo-Cebollar) proposed.
Administration of Contract Emergency Archaeological Programs
Authors: Jennings Jesse D. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractContract emergency research is seen as sharing essentially the same limitations as other emergency work. These are: the pressure of time; an arbitrary restriction of geographic area of study; the obligation to sample adequately the full range of cultures represented; and the possible problem of dealing with a large volume of data. The contract also carries with it a stipulated deadline for the completion of an acceptable report. All of these limitations are seen as advantageous.
A Doughnut-shaped Vessel from Kaminaljuyú, with a Distributional Analysis of This Unusual Form
Authors: Parsons Lee A. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractA rare ceramic form commonly called the doughnut-shape is reported for Kaminaljuyú, Guatemala, Miraflores phase. This specimen provides another example of the stucco technique on Pre-Classic pottery. A trial distribution of doughnut-shaped vessels is plotted for the Americas. Although this chart is based upon only a few published illustrations, certain deductions can be made as to the value of this form as a horizon marker. The horizontal variety of doughnut vessel may be a good marker for the Late Pre-Classic horizon in Mesoamerica.
Apache Archaeology in Northeastern New Mexico
Authors: Gunnerson James H. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractExcavations in northeastern New Mexico have confirmed the presence of a variety of Jicarilla Apache house types mentioned in Spanish documents of ca. 1700. Associated with a 7-room adobe structure and a pit house was an artifact complex closely resembling that of the Plains Apaches represented by the Dismal River aspect. The predominant pottery, however, is a thin micaceous ware, herein described as Ocate Micaceous, accompanied by trade sherds of Tewa Polychrome, plain black Pueblo ware, and Puebla (Mexico) blue and white majolica. Mid-19th-century Apache sites in the area are “tipi-ring” sites yielding a thicker micaceous ware, herein described as Cimarron Micaceous, White man’s trade goods, and a few stone artifacts. The relationship between Apache micaceous pottery, made from ca. 1600 (or earlier) until the early 1900’s, and that made at Taos and Picuris is still not clear.
Texcoco Fabric-Marked Pottery,Tlateles, and Salt-Making
Authors: Charlton Thomas H. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractAn examination of the data used to support Nunley’s hypothesis (1967) that Texcoco Fabric-marked pottery vessels functioned as flowerpots to adapt chinampa agriculture to saline Lake Texcoco does not confirm his conclusions. The distribution of the ware andtlatelescoincides not with chinampa agriculture but with salt-producing communities of the 16th century. Aboriginal salt-making produced large mounds of washed or leached soils which are thetlateles. Texcoco Fabric-marked ware is suited for the rapid heating of saline solutions. It is concluded that the sherds and thetlatelesare the archaeological remains of Aztec salt-making activities.
A Massacre at Hopi
Authors: Turner Christy G. , Morris Nancy T. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractThirty Hopi Indians of both sexes and all ages were killed, crudely dismembered, violently mutilated, and probably cannibalized about 370 years ago. This massacre occurred on the left bank of Polacca Wash ten miles south of the Hopi villages. The location of, dismemberment of bodies in, and radiocarbon age of this mass burial suggest the bodies were once the few live villagers, taken captive by other Hopi warriors, referred to in the legendary account of the destruction of Awatobi pueblo that occurred ten to twelve generations ago.
Weathering Cracks and Split-Line Patterns in Archaeological Bone
Authors: Tappen N. C. , Peske G. Richard 
Published: April 2006

AbstractPost mortem cracks in bone produced by action of weather or other agencies which cause shrinkage have been shown to be oriented in the same direction as split-lines produced by decalcification and punctures with a needle. Archaeological bone also shows split-lines parallel to weathering cracks in cases where preservation of the collagenous matrix is good. Limb bones of birds tend to have better preservation than mammal bones in the Lasley"s Point site in Wisconsin. Considerable microscopic structure of bone is preserved where decalcification and split-line processing are possible.
The Restoration and Preservation of Some Objects from Etowah
Authors: Byers Douglas S. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractSteps taken to clean copper objects from the Etowah site, and to eliminate malignant patina or “bronze disease,” are discussed. The objects are considered in terms of paraphernalia attributed to the Southern Cult. One bilobed hair emblem bears representations of figures in ceremonial dress. One of the figures may be an impersonator of the Long-Nosed God.
Archaeology as Anthropology
Authors: Binford Lewis R. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractIt is argued that archaeology has made few contributions to the general field of anthropology with regard to explaining cultural similarities and differences. One major factor contributing to this lack is asserted to be the tendency to treat artifacts as equal and comparable traits which can be explained within a single model of culture change and modification. It is suggested that “material culture” can and does represent the structure of the total cultural system, and that explanations of differences and similarities between certain classes of material culture are inappropriate and inadequate as explanations for such observations within other classes of items. Similarly, change in the total cultural system must be viewed in an adaptive context both social and environmental, not whimsically viewed as the result of “influences,” “stimuli,” or even “migrations” between and among geographically defined units.Three major functional sub-classes of material culture are discussed: technomic, socio-technic, and ideo-technic, as well as stylistic formal properties which cross-cut these categories. In general terms these recognized classes of materials are discussed with regard to the processes of change within each class.Using the above distinctions in what is termed a systemic approach, the problem of the appearance and changing utilization of native copper in eastern North America is discussed. Hypotheses resulting from the application of the systemic approach are: (1) the initial appearance of native copper implements is in the context of the production of socio-technic items; (2) the increased production of socio-technic items in the late Archaic period is related to an increase in population following the shift to the exploitation of aquatic resources roughly coincident with the Nipissing high water stage of the ancestral Great Lakes; (3) this correlation is explicable in the increased selective pressures favoring material means of status communication once populations had increased to the point that personal recognition was no longer a workable basis for differential role behavior; (4) the general shift in later periods from formally “utilitarian” items to the manufacture of formally “nonutilitarian” items of copper is explicable in the postulated shift from purely egalitarian to increasingly nonegalitarian means of status attainment.
Additional Notes on Prehistoric Wells at the Clovis Site
Authors: Green F. E. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractPortions of two recently observed prehistoric wells at the Blackwater No. 1 locality in Roosevelt County, New Mexico, furnish additional data on features first described by Evans (1951). These wells were exposed by gravel-quarrying operations which have removed the last major remnant of ancient pond deposits containing artifacts of the Llano and Folsom cultures and the Portales complex. The time of well-digging occurred during an erosional interval between Beds 3a and 4; and on the basis of comparisons with the Lubbock Reservoir site, this interval is equated with the Altithermal stage of Antevs, and it is suggested that the wells were dug sometime between 4000 and 5000 years ago.
Carbon Dating Prehistoric Soot from Salts Cave, Kentucky
Authors: Benington Frederick , Melton Carl , Watson Patty Jo 
Published: April 2006

AbstractThe interiors of two large Kentucky caves — Mammoth Cave and nearby Salts Cave, both within Mammoth Cave National Park — were much visited and utilized by prehistoric Indians. Large quantities of artifacts and numerous other evidences of human activity are still present in both caves, especially in undisturbed portions of Salts Cave. Most of the remains comprise perishable materials of vegetable fiber and wood, and plants or plant parts carried into the caves by the aboriginal inhabitants of the region. Several collections of artifacts gathered 40 or 50 years ago from the surface in the Mammoth Cave area have recently been examined by D. W. Schwartz of the University of Kentucky. One such collection hints at a village site of the late Archaic-Early Woodland time range somewhere near the entrance to Salts Cave. In 1961, specimens of the black-brown ceiling and wall deposits which are quite extensive in parts of both Salts and Mammoth caves were collected and analyzed. The deposits were found to be soot, presumably from aboriginal torches and hearths whose remains occur plentifully in some areas of the caves. A sample of soot from Salts Cave was submitted for radiocarbon determination; the resulting date is 3075 ± 140 B.P. Two dates had been previously obtained by the National Park Service from artifacts in Mammoth Cave: 2230 ± 40 B.P. and 2370 ± 60 B.P. These three dates support the suggestion of a late Archaic-Early Woodland placement for the prehistoric activity in Salts and Mammoth caves.
Close-Proximity Analysis: A Rapid Method for the Ordering of Archaeological Materials
Authors: Renfrew Colin , Sterud Gene 
Published: April 2006

AbstractA simple graphical method is presented for the seriation or ordering of archaeological assemblages or types. Like most seriation methods, it requires the tabulation of coefficients of similarity between the units in question. By a consideration, restricted to the most similar neighbors of each unit in turn, a uniquely determined structure usually emerges within a few minutes. When the archaeological material is such that it may be seriated well, this structure compares closely with computer seriations of the same data. The method is illustrated by the reexamination of seriations by other workers and is exemplified by graphical and computer seriation of the Cycladic cemeteries of the Aegean Early Bronze age.
The Importance of Both Analytic and Taxonomic Classification in the Type-Variety System
Authors: Sabloff Jeremy A. , Smith Robert E. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractThe type-variety system of ceramic analysis, as currently used at many sites in southern Mesoamerica, differs in certain respects, especially in emphasis, from the system outlined by Smith, Willey, and Gifford in 1960. The reports on the pottery from the lowland Maya sites of Mayapán, Yucatán, Mexico and Seibal, Petén, Guatemala, in both their overall formats and the specific formats of their descriptive sections, have combined certain aspects of both taxonomic (typological) and analytic (modal) classification. It is argued that the type-variety system, as employed at these two sites, overcomes many of the objections to typological analyses recently raised by J. V. Wright (1967) and provides an adequate basis for both tight intersite comparisons in southern Mesoamerica and reanalyses of the ceramic data by other archaeologists in future studies.
Human Bone Artifacts from Southern Texas
Authors: Hester Thomas Roy 
Published: April 2006

AbstractAn examination of archaeological materials from the lower Texas coast has revealed the presence of a number of deliberately altered human bones. Modified sections of human long-bone shafts, severed proximal and distal ends of long bones, and sections of ribs have been found with burials in Kleberg, Nueces, and Cameron counties. Single examples of altered human bones have also been found in the interior of southern Texas and on the northern coast of Tamaulipas, Mexico. These unusual bone artifacts are described, and their provenience is noted.
The Caribou/Wild Reindeer as a Human Resource
Authors: Burch Ernest S. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractThe caribou/wild reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) has been a major resource for many human populations in northern North America and Eurasia for tens of thousands of years. The species is generally represented by prehistorians as providing an ample, easily exploited, and highly reliable resource base for humans. In this paper a number of specific assumptions leading to this view are examined in the light of new data on North American caribou and caribou-hunting Eskimo groups. The conventional picture is found to be largely untenable.
Functional Considerations of Warfare in the Southeast during The Mississippi Period
Authors: Larson Lewis H. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractDuring the last purely aboriginal period in the southeastern United States, most, if not all, of the settlements in the interior areas were fortified, implying a cultural pattern of extensive warfare. This paper examines the nature and function of defensive works protecting the sites and advances the hypothesis that warfare at this time resulted from competition for arable land.
The Clovis Blades: An Important Addition to the Llano Complex
Authors: Green F. E. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractGravel quarrying operations in 1962 at the well-known Clovis site north of Portales in eastern New Mexico uncovered important new evidence of Early Man. In February, a total of 17 punched blades was found after being mechanically exhumed and, on the basis of inferential evidence, these blades are assigned to the Llano complex that dates back some 11,000 to 13,000 years. The term “Clovis blade” is proposed for this new artifact type, which is discussed in detail. These implements, and the recent discovery of several blade-tools associated with the remains of four mammoths now being excavated by the El Llano Archaeological Society, lead to the postulation of a blade industry for the Llano complex; and evidence which indicates the persistence of the punched-blade technique up through Agate Basin times is presented.On the basis of technology, distribution, and apparent similarities to Upper Paleolithic blade cultures of the Old World, the classic Paleo-Indian cultures characterized by fluted points are believed to represent a unique, late Pleistocene migration that is temporally, culturally, and spatially distinct from the extremely early cultures of the Pacific coastal regions.
The Burin-Faceted Projectile Point
Authors: Epstein Jeremiah F. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractA series of Paleo-Indian and Archaic projectile points with burin facets at either the proximal or distal end is described. Most of the points come from Texas. The burin facets appear to be intentional products of the burin technique, used either for the production of burins and burin spalls, or for modifying the shape of the point itself. Paleo-Indian point types with burin facets include Clovis, Cumberland, Folsom, Plainview, Meserve, Angostura, and a number of variant forms. The data suggest that the burin or the burin technique may have been widespread throughout North America during early fluted-point times.
Metallurgical Characteristics of North American Prehistoric Copper Work
Authors: Schroeder David L. , Ruhl Katharine C. 
Published: April 2006

AbstractThe use of native copper in some prehistoric cultures of North America was both extensive and technically skillful. The remains of pits sunk into every major native copper lode in the Lake Superior region (Griffin 1961; Drier and DuTemple 1961: 16; Quimby 1960: 52-63; West 1929) show that the material was mined in quantity. Float copper, found on the surface, was also used. The Indians appreciated some of the properties of copper and made use of these in shaping tools, weapons, and ornaments of high-quality workmanship. Figure 1 shows typical examples of the thousands of beautifully shaped native copper artifacts which have been found in mid-North America. The development of metallurgical techniques is usually supposed to follow a progression of hammering, annealing, melting the native metal, smelting ores, casting, and alloying. Curiously enough, the techniques of copper working in North America evolve only through the hammering and annealing stages, and apparently they remained at this level for centuries. In this paper the authors examine some of the metallurgical properties of the artifacts and the native copper from which they were made.