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Archaeological Data (archaeological + data)
Selected AbstractsThe Late Prehistoric,Early Historic Game Sink in the Northwestern United StatesCONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2002R. Lee Lyman The number of big game killed by the Corps of Discovery in 1805,1806 and recorded by Lewis and Clark suggests that ungulates were abundant in central and eastern Montana and rare in western Montana, central Idaho, and southeastern Washington during the early nineteenth century. Paleoecologists Paul Martin and Chris Szuter conclude that this difference was a function of human predation. They support their conclusion that ungulates would have been abundant in southeastern Washington had humans not hunted them by arguing that the nineteenth-century livestock industry was successful without supplemental feeding. The livestock industry was, however, not consistently successful until artificial feeding was initiated. Archaeological data from eastern Washington indicate that ungulates have been taken by human hunters more frequently than small-mammal prey throughout the last 10,000 years and that ungulates decreased relative to small mammals coincident with changes in climate. Bison ( Bison bison) and elk (Cervus canadensis) were present in eastern Washington throughout the Holocene, but bison were abundant there only during a cooler and moister period; elk have been abundant only in the twentieth century, subsequent to transplants and the extermination of predators. Geographic variation in the abundance of bison across Montana, Idaho, and eastern Washington has been influenced by human predation but has also been influenced by biogeographic history, habitat differences, and climatic change. Resumen: Los datos históricos proveen información valiosa sobre las estructuras de los ecosistemas, sus funciones y procesos. El número de animales de caza grandes que fueron sacrificados por las tropas de descubrimiento en 1805-1806 y registradas por Lewis y Clark sugieren que los ungulados eran abundantes en Montana central y oriental y raros en Montana occidental, Idaho central y el sudeste de Washington durante los inicios del siglo diecinueve. Los paleontólogos Paul Martin y Chris Szuter concluyen que esta diferencia fue causada por la depredación humana. Ellos apoyan su conclusión de que los ungulados podrían haber sido abundantes en el sudeste de Washington si los humanos no los hubieran cazado argumentando que la industria de la ganadería del siglo diecinueve exitosa sin alimento suplementario. Sin embargo, la industria de la ganadería no fue consistentemente exitosa hasta que se inició la alimentación artificial. Los datos arqueológicos de Washington oriental indican que los ungulados fueron eliminados por los cazadores humanos mas frecuentemente que las presas pequeñas de mamíferos a lo largo de los últimos 10,000 años y que la disminución de ungulados, relativa a la de mamíferos pequeños coincidió con cambios en el clima. El bisonte (Bison bison) y el alce (Cervus canadiensis) estuvieron presentes en Washington oriental a lo largo del Holoceno, pero los bisontes fueron abundantes solo durante un periodo mas frío y húmedo; los alces habían sido abundantes solo en el siglo veinte subsecuente a los transplantes y a la exterminación de los depredadores. La variación en la abundancia de alces a lo largo de Montana, Idaho y el oriente de Washington estuvo influenciada por la depredación humana, pero también por la historia biogeográfica, las diferencias en hábitat y el cambio climático. [source] From Casta to Californio: Social Identity and the Archaeology of Culture ContactAMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 3 2005BARBARA L. VOSS In culture contact archaeology, studies of social identities generally focus on the colonized,colonizer dichotomy as the fundamental axis of identification. This emphasis can, however, mask social diversity within colonial or indigenous populations, and it also fails to account for the ways that the division between colonizer and colonized is constructed through the practices of colonization. Through the archaeology of material culture, foodways, and architecture, I examine changing ethnic, racial, and gendered identities among colonists at El Presidio de San Francisco, a Spanish-colonial military settlement. Archaeological data suggest that military settlers were engaged in a double material strategy to consolidate a shared colonial identity, one that minimized differences among colonists and simultaneously heightened distinctions between colonists and local indigenous peoples. [source] A genetic analysis of the Sakishima islanders reveals no relationship with Taiwan aborigines but shared ancestry with Ainu and main-island JapaneseAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2010Hirotaka Matsukusa Abstract The Sakishima islands are members of the Ryukyu island chain, stretching from the southwestern tip of the Japanese archipelago to Taiwan in the East China Sea. Archaeological data indicate cultural similarities between inhabitants of prehistoric Sakishima and Neolithic Taiwan. Recent studies based on tooth crown traits show remarkably high inter-island diversity among Ryukyu islanders, suggesting that the Sakishima islanders might have genetic backgrounds distinct from main-island Okinawa people. To investigate the genetic diversity of the Ryukyu islanders, we analyzed mtDNA, Y chromosome, and autosomal short tandem repeat loci in a sample of main-island Okinawa people and Sakishima (Miyako and Ishigaki) islanders whose participated in a previous study of tooth crown morphology. Our phylogenetic analysis of maternal (mtDNA) and paternal (Y chromosome) lineages shows that the Sakishima islanders are more closely related to people from the Japanese archipelago than to Taiwan aborigines. Miyako islanders and the Hokkaido Ainu have the first and second highest frequencies (respectively) of the Y-chromosomal Alu-insertion polymorphism, which is a presumable Jomon marker. Genetic diversity statistics show no evidence of demographic reduction or of extreme isolation in each island's population. Thus, we conclude that 1) Neolithic expansion from Taiwan did not contribute to the gene pool of modern Sakishima islanders, 2) male-lineage of the Ryukyu islanders likely shares a common ancestor with the Hokkaido Ainu who are presumably direct descendants of the Jomon people, and 3) frequent reciprocal gene flow among islands has masked the trace of common ancestry in the Ryukyu island chain. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] GENETICS AND RECENT HUMAN EVOLUTIONEVOLUTION, Issue 7 2007Alan R. Templeton Starting with "mitochondrial Eve" in 1987, genetics has played an increasingly important role in studies of the last two million years of human evolution. It initially appeared that genetic data resolved the basic models of recent human evolution in favor of the "out-of-Africa replacement" hypothesis in which anatomically modern humans evolved in Africa about 150,000 years ago, started to spread throughout the world about 100,000 years ago, and subsequently drove to complete genetic extinction (replacement) all other human populations in Eurasia. Unfortunately, many of the genetic studies on recent human evolution have suffered from scientific flaws, including misrepresenting the models of recent human evolution, focusing upon hypothesis compatibility rather than hypothesis testing, committing the ecological fallacy, and failing to consider a broader array of alternative hypotheses. Once these flaws are corrected, there is actually little genetic support for the out-of-Africa replacement hypothesis. Indeed, when genetic data are used in a hypothesis-testing framework, the out-of-Africa replacement hypothesis is strongly rejected. The model of recent human evolution that emerges from a statistical hypothesis-testing framework does not correspond to any of the traditional models of human evolution, but it is compatible with fossil and archaeological data. These studies also reveal that any one gene or DNA region captures only a small part of human evolutionary history, so multilocus studies are essential. As more and more loci became available, genetics will undoubtedly offer additional insights and resolutions of human evolution. [source] The Ohalo II prehistoric camp (19.5 Ky): New evidence for environmental and tectonic changes at the Sea of GalileeGEOARCHAEOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 5 2002Shmuel Belitzky Combined archaeological data, shore surveys, and aerial photos of submerged sediments in the Sea of Galilee provide new insights into environmental and tectonic events, their dating, and their impact on the Ohalo II prehistoric camp (ca. 19,500 yr B.P.) and its surroundings. The Ohalo II waterlogged campsite contains excellently preserved brush hut remains and other in situ features, all embedded in late Pleistocene lacustrine strata. The findings indicate relatively short occupation of the site, not more than months or several years at a time. The high quality in situ preservation of delicate organic materials, as well as the short occupation period, suggests a quick and gentle burial by fine sediments. The evident fast submergence (water level rise of the Sea of Galilee) could have been the result of climatic fluctuations towards the end of the last glaciation and/or small-scale tectonic subsidence. The site is located on a tectonic block formed in the western fault belt of the Dead Sea Rift. We present new evidence of post-occupational folding of the late Pleistocene strata and recent tilting and faulting. A westward tectonic tilt may have caused the blockage of the old Jordan River outlet after A. D. 1106. Excellent preservation of the fault traces to the east of the site is attributed to the young age of the displacement on the fault. The last displacement apparently post-dates the blockage of the old Jordan River. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Assyrians, Judaeans, Pastoral Groups, and the Trade Patterns in the Late Iron Age NegevHISTORY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 2 2007Juan Manuel Tebes This article gives a current reassessment of the evidence of trade between the Negev, Edom, and the Mediterranean in the Late Iron Age. To determine the characteristics of this trade pattern, textual (Assyrian, Biblical) and archaeological data , especially the distribution of Edomite wares in the Negev , are used to propose a model in which trade was controlled by the local nomadic pastoral groups. [source] The ancient inhabitants of Jebel Moya redux: measures of population affinity based on dental morphologyINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OSTEOARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 2 2007J. D. Irish Abstract This paper reexamines some of the methods and craniometric findings in the classic volume The Ancient Inhabitants of Jebel Moya (Sudan) (1955) by Mukherjee, Rao & Trevor, in light of recent archaeological data and relative to a new dental morphological study. Archaeological evidence characterises these inhabitants as having been heavily influenced by outside sources; yet they managed to establish and maintain their own distinctive culture as seen in the site features and surviving artefact collections. The dental study, modelled after the original craniometric-based investigation and using the same or similar comparative samples, detected complementary indications of outside biological influence. In the study, up to 36 dental traits were recorded in a total of 19 African samples. The most influential traits in driving inter-sample variation were then identified, and phenetic affinities were calculated using the Mahalanobis D2 statistic for non-metric traits. If phenetic similarity provides an estimate of genetic relatedness, these affinities, like the original craniometric findings, suggest that the Jebel Moyans exhibited a mosaic of features that are reminiscent of, yet distinct from, both sub-Saharan and North African peoples. Together, these different lines of evidence correspond to portray the Jebel Moya populace as a uniform, although distinct, biocultural amalgam. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Vegetation dynamics in western Uganda during the last 1000 years: climate change or human induced environmental degradation?AFRICAN JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 2009Julius B. Lejju Abstract A multi-proxy analysis of microfossils from sedimentary records, together with evidence from historical and archaeological data, has provided evidence of vegetation dynamics and human environment interactions in western Uganda for the last 1000 years. Pollen, fungal spores and phytoliths extracted from sediment cores obtained from a papyrus swamp at Munsa archaeological site indicate a relatively wet and forested environment in western Uganda prior to ca 1000 yr bp (cal 977,1159 ad). A subsequent decline in forest vegetation occurred from ca 920 yr bp (cal 1027,1207 ad). However, the deforestation period occurred during a wet period as registered in the River Nile water records, suggesting a human induced deforestation at Munsa rather than reduced precipitation. Increased numbers of herbivores, presumably domesticated cattle, postdeforestation are evidenced by the presence of dung fungal spores and broad accord with the archaeological evidence for initial occupation of the site at Munsa and the establishment of a mixed economy based on crops, cattle and iron working between 1000 and 1200 ad. From ca 200 yr bp (cal 1647,1952 ad), forest recovery occurred at Munsa site and appears to reflect abandonment of the site, as suggested by archaeological evidence, possibly following a period of prolonged drought and famine between 1600 and 1800 ad, as recounted in the oral rich traditions of western Uganda and also reflected by low water levels of River Nile. [source] Hunter-gatherer response to late Holocene climatic variability in northern and central AustraliaJOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE, Issue 6 2010Alan N. Williams Abstract Sum probability analysis of 1275 radiometric ages from 608 archaeological sites across northern and central Australia demonstrates a changing archaeological signature that can be closely correlated with climate variability over the last 2 ka. Results reveal a marked increase in archaeological records across northern and central Australia over the last 2 ka, with notable declines in western and northern Australia between ca. AD 700 and 1000 and post-AD 1500 , two periods broadly coeval with the Medieval Climatic Anomaly and the Little Ice Age as they have been documented in the Asia,Pacific region. Latitudinal and longitudinal analysis of the dataset suggests the increase in archaeological footprint was continent wide, while the declines were greatest from 9 to 20° S, 110 to 135° E and 143 to 150° E. The change in the archaeological data suggests that, combined with an increase in population over the late Holocene, a disruption or reorganisation of pre-European resource systems occurred across Australia between ca. AD 700 and 1000 and post-AD 1500. These archaeological responses can be broadly correlated with transitions of the El Niño,Southern Oscillation (ENSO) mean state on a multi-decadal to centennial timescale. The latter involve a shift towards the La Niña-like mean state with wetter conditions in the Australian region between AD 700 and 1150. A transition period in ENSO mean state occurred across Australia during AD 1150,1300, with persistent El Niño-like and drier conditions to ca. AD 1500, and increasing ENSO variability post-AD 1500 to the present. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Bacterial ancient DNA as an indicator of human presence in the past: its correlation with palynological and archaeological data,JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE, Issue 4 2009Jacek Madeja Abstract Palynological investigation is one of the most important tools for reconstructing past vegetation. Some plants have proved to be relatively sensitive indicators of human activity, but most of them are not specific. In this paper we propose a method which can be used for the verification of phases of anthropogenic impact on vegetation distinguished in pollen diagrams. In this work we adopted the existing molecular methods for tracking bacterial ancient DNA of Bifidobacterium and Bacteroides-Prevotella (known as human- and cow-specific genetic markers) in palynologically and archaeologically associated sediments. This method can be helpful in determining local human presence, especially in those time periods when pollen analysis has not always been very discriminating (Palaeolithic, Mesolithic) and at sites without archaeological evidence. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Social Identity and Culture Change on the Southern Northwest CoastAMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 3 2007MARK A. TVESKOV Driven by the participation of Native American people in the contemporary political, cultural, and academic landscape of North America, public and academic discussions have considered the nature of contemporary American Indian identity and the persistence, survival, and (to some) reinvention of Native American cultures and traditions. I use a case study,the historical anthropology of the Native American people of the Oregon coast,to examine the persistence of many American Indian people through the colonial period and the subsequent revitalization of "traditional" cultural practices. Drawing on archaeological data, ethnohistorical accounts, and oral traditions, I offer a reading of how, set against and through an ancestral landscape, traditional social identities and relationships of gender and authority were constructed and contested. I then consider how American Indian people negotiated the new sets of social relationships dictated by the dominant society. [source] CONNECTING THE DOTS: TOWARDS ARCHAEOLOGICAL NETWORK ANALYSISOXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 3 2010TOM BRUGHMANS Summary In recent years network analysis has been applied in archaeological research to examine the structure of archaeological relationships of whatever sort. However, these archaeological applications share a number of issues concerning 1) the role of archaeological data in networks; 2) the diversity of network structures, their consequences and their interpretation; 3) the critical use of quantitative tools; and 4) the influence of other disciplines, especially sociology. This article concerns a deconstruction of past archaeological methods for examining networks. Through a case study of Roman table wares in the eastern Mediterranean, the article highlights a number of issues with network analysis as a method for archaeology. It urges caution regarding the uncritical application of network analysis methods developed in other disciplines and applied to archaeology. However, it stresses the potential benefits of network analysis for the archaeological discipline and acknowledges the need for specifically archaeological network analysis, which should be based on relational thinking and can be expanded with an archaeological toolset for quantitative analysis. [source] Land use in prehistoric malta.OXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 1 2004A re-examination of the maltese, cart ruts' Summary. This paper explores the manufacture and function of the so-called ,cart ruts' within the harsh environment of Malta and proposes that they were deliberately constructed in order to push the boundaries of available arable land and are better identified as field furrows. Using comparative ethnographic evidence as well as archaeological data from European contexts, it is argued that the driving force, which necessitated their manufacture in Malta, lay in socio-economic pressures. It is argued that the ruts are of high antiquity, products of Temple Period intensification and marginalism in land use. [source] Pre-Columbian population dynamics in coastal southern Peru: A diachronic investigation of mtDNA patterns in the Palpa region by ancient DNA analysisAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2010Lars Fehren-Schmitz Abstract Alternative models have been proposed to explain the formation and decline of the south Peruvian Nasca culture, ranging from migration or invasion to autochthonous development and ecological crisis. To reveal to what extent population dynamic processes accounted for cultural development in the Nasca mainland, or were influenced by them, we analyzed ancient mitochondrial DNA of 218 individuals, originating from chronologically successive archaeological sites in the Palpa region, the Paracas Peninsula, and the Andean highlands in southern Peru. The sampling strategy allowed a diachronic analysis in a time frame from approximately 800 BC to 800 AD. Mitochondrial coding region polymorphisms were successfully analyzed and replicated for 130 individuals and control region sequences (np 16021,16408) for 104 individuals to determine Native American mitochondrial DNA haplogroups and haplotypes. The results were compared with ancient and contemporary Peruvian populations to reveal genetic relations of the archaeological samples. Frequency data and statistics show clear proximity of the Nasca populations to the populations of the preceding Paracas culture from Palpa and the Peninsula, and suggest, along with archaeological data, that the Nasca culture developed autochthonously in the Rio Grande drainage. Furthermore, the influence of changes in socioeconomic complexity in the Palpa area on the genetic diversity of the local population could be observed. In all, a strong genetic affinity between pre-Columbian coastal populations from southern Peru could be determined, together with a significant differentiation from ancient highland and all present-day Peruvian reference populations, best shown in the differential distribution of mitochondrial haplogroups. Am J Phys Anthropol 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Haplotype Trees and Modern Human OriginsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue S41 2005Alan R. Templeton Abstract A haplotype is a multisite haploid genotype at two or more polymorphic sites on the same chromosome in a defined DNA region. An evolutionary tree of the haplotypes can be estimated if the DNA region had little to no recombination. Haplotype trees can be used to reconstruct past human gene-flow patterns and historical events, but any single tree captures only a small portion of evolutionary history, and is subject to error. A fuller view of human evolution requires multiple DNA regions, and errors can be minimized by cross-validating inferences across loci. An analysis of 25 DNA regions reveals an out-of-Africa expansion event at 1.9 million years ago. Gene flow with isolation by distance was established between African and Eurasian populations by about 1.5 million years ago, with no detectable interruptions since. A second out-of-Africa expansion occurred about 700,000 years ago, and involved interbreeding with at least some Eurasian populations. A third out-of-Africa event occurred around 100,000 years ago, and was also characterized by interbreeding, with the hypothesis of a total Eurasian replacement strongly rejected (P < 10,17). This does not preclude the possibility that some Eurasian populations could have been replaced, and the status of Neanderthals is indecisive. Demographic inferences from haplotype trees have been inconsistent, so few definitive conclusions can be made at this time. Haplotype trees from human parasites offer additional insights into human evolution and raise the possibility of an Asian isolate of humanity, but once again not in a definitive fashion. Haplotype trees can also indicate which genes were subject to positive selection in the lineage leading to modern humans. Genetics provides many insights into human evolution, but those insights need to be integrated with fossil and archaeological data to yield a fuller picture of the origin of modern humans. Yrbk Phys Anthropol 48:33,59, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Specialization, Context of Production, and Alienation in the Production Process: Comments and AfterthoughtsARCHEOLOGICAL PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, Issue 1 2007Yung-ti Li The study of craft specialization has gone through several stages since the pioneering work of Childe, each with changing foci and emphases. The current volume marks yet another development in the field that demonstrates both discontents with existing theories and efforts to enhance and strengthen the discourse. Acting as a commentator to facilitate further discussion, the first half of my chapter addresses specific issues in individual chapters, while the second half explores another dimension of production by looking at bronze and pottery production in ancient and premodern China. Whereas some contributors examine alienability in the social role of the objects and the rights over alienation of the product, this discussion examines another form of alienation that can be considered in the study of craft production, one that is both salient and tangible in archaeological data: alienation of the manufacturing process, that is, alienation of the craft producers from their own skills. The work of Ursula Franklin on Shang bronze production is reviewed, and new studies on porcelain production at Jingdezhen and stoneware production at Yixing are incorporated to further develop Franklin's model. I argue that through examining the material patterns of the production process and the type range of finished products, alienation in the workplace can be detected archaeologically. [source] | ||||||||||||||||