Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory最新文献

Evolvability refers to the capacity, ability, or potential of an organism to generate heritable variation. Under this view, much extragenetic inheritance is regarded not as noise, fine-tuning, or a luxury add-on to genetic inheritance but as an essential tool for short-term adaptation. With respect to humans, the cultural contribution to evolvability is key to understanding evolution. In many instances, cultural inheritance directs genetic inheritance, not the other way around. Culture, being relatively free from the genetic leash, can produce change that genetic inheritance cannot. Soft inheritance—the view that heredity can be changed by an organism’s experiences—has been disdained for over a century, but in light of the recent outpouring of data demonstrating extragenetic inheritance, defining evolution only in terms of genetic change ignores half the adaptive process, discarding much of what is interesting and relevant. Archaeologists can play a key role in evolvability research, given their contributions to topics such as niche construction, modularity, mosaic evolution, and developmental bias.

A unique property of the Paleolithic record is the possibility to observe human societies in large areas and over long periods of time. At these large spatial and temporal scales, a number of interesting phenomena can be observed, such as dynamics in the distribution of populations in relation to equally large-scale environmental patterns. In this paper, we focus on phenological patterns of vegetation and discuss their explanatory potential for differences in site densities in different periods and parts of Europe. In particular, we present a case-transferable approach to diachronically estimate the timing of the vegetation period and resulting phenological gradients. We discuss results for two complementary case studies. First, we look at the Aurignacian in Western and Central Europe, a period of dynamic population dispersal in a topographically heterogeneous region. Second, we focus on the Middle and Late Upper Paleolithic in the East European Plain, a period after the arrival of anatomically modern humans in a topographically rather uniform area. We visualize phenological trajectories and boundaries otherwise invisible in the archaeological record with certain explanatory potential for the observed archaeological patterns. Importantly, we do not intend to reconstruct specific plant communities or dispersal routes of animals or humans. Rather, we aim at highlighting gradients which in themselves and on small temporal scales might be comparatively weak, but over the course of millennia may potentially influence the distribution of animal biomass and human populations by biasing the aggregate of at times opposing actions of individuals towards particular directions.

In this paper, I investigate the possibilities and limitations of fractal analysis methods applied to archaeological and synthetic settlement plans, with the goal of providing quantitative measures of spatial randomness or noise, as well as potential tools for automated culture-historical attribution of settlement plans and socio-economic intra-site differentiation. The archaeological sample is made from Linear Pottery settlements in south-west Slovakia and Trypillia settlements in the Southern Bug—Dnieper interfluve in central Ukraine, all based upon high-quality geomagnetic site plans. Synthetic plans are constructed as geometrically ideal versions of the archaeological ones, with varying degrees of added spatial noise. A significant correlation between fractal dimension and noise level is revealed for synthetic settlement plans, independently of size, density, house-size distribution and basic layout. However, several methodological challenges persist, and further systematic exploration on larger samples is needed before these results may be generalised. All analysis is performed in the R language and the script is made freely available in order to facilitate further development.

Linking the likelihood of convergent evolution to the technologies’ complexity, this paper identifies the scales of technological diffusion and convergence, i.e., the evolving of structures that are similar, but not related to a common “ancestor.” Our study provides quantitative measures for understanding complexity and connectivity in technologies. The utility of our approach is exemplified through the case study of Cucuteni-Tripolye pottery kilns in Chalcolithic Southeastern Europe. The analysis shows that technological evolution has to be scaled to the “technologically important” (in quantitative terms) component parts, whose introduction shapes a ground for extinction and self-evolvement caused by the cascade effects along technological design structure. Similar technological solutions to the technological design structure engender the spread of similar devices in various locations. Surprisingly, such a broad distribution may be the result of relatively low internal diversity, rather than arising from higher efficiency. This gives some reasons for the underestimation of convergence as a mechanism for evolution of technology in current prehistoric archaeology.

Many studies in complexity theory employ agent-based models whose interactions can be expressed as networks. In such models, the pattern of interactions between actors is crucial, and the network topology that emerges from the raw data can be characterized through many metrics. One tool previously used in archaeology studies has the potential to deal with networks in social contexts at different scales of analysis: social network analysis (SNA). This discipline has been applied successfully in a wide range of archaeological problems, providing valuable insights and a different perspective. It also could be helpful to quantify concepts associated with social complexity, such as robustness or resilience. In this work, we propose some methodologic possibilities for consideration in the phase definition of the adaptive cycle model (ACM), using SNA tools. To illustrate the process, we will present a case study from the Copper Age in the Iberian Peninsula: the Bell Beaker phase.

Prehistoric and Archaeological research has pointed out the role of marine resources in modern humans’ cognitive and cultural developments. Maritime adaptations constitute a key component of the sociocultural evolution in Eastern Arabia. During the Neolithic (c. 6500–3300 BCE), it is expressed by the colonisation of offshore islands supported by advanced seafaring and the exploitation of marine resources not only for staple food but also for obtaining hard animal materials used for both symbolic and technological productions, respectively in the form of personal adornments and tooling. Although tools made of retouched large marine mollusc shells are reported on several sites, no detailed study has been conducted on their function and role within the socio-technological processes.

The present study introduces a prospective approach for the functional analysis of archaeological shell tools from Eastern Arabia. A reference collection of use-wear traces made experimentally has been built: it compiles the results of 65 experiments (23 are documented and illustrated in the present study), including the processing of various animal, vegetal, and mineral materials. Use-wear traces have been observed and described using both low and high-power magnifications (conducted mainly at 100 ×). It provides helpful methodological support for future comparisons with archaeological specimens. The procurement conditions of the shell valves and the techniques of retouch have been discussed in detail, allowing further considerations on the degree of the socio-technological investment devoted to these peculiar artefacts.

Explaining material traces of movement as proxies for past movement is fundamental for understanding the processes behind why people in the past traversed the landscape in the way that they did. For this, least-cost path analysis and the use of slope-based cost functions for estimating the cost of movement when walking have become commonplace. Despite their prevalence, current approaches misrepresent what these cost functions are, their relationship to the hypotheses that they aim to represent, and their role in explanation. As a result, least-cost paths calculated using single cost functions are liable to spurious results with limited power for explaining known past routes, and by extension the decision-making processes of past people. Using the ideas of multiple model idealisation and robustness analysis, and applied via a tactical simulation, this study demonstrates that similar least-cost paths can be produced from slope-based cost functions representing both the same hypothesis and different hypotheses, suggesting that least-cost path results are robust but underdetermined under the tested environmental settings. The results from this tactical simulation are applied for the explanation of a Roman road in Sardinia. Using probabilistic least-cost paths as an approach for incorporating multiple cost functions representing the same hypothesis and error in the digital elevation model, it is shown that both model outcomes representing the minimisation of time and energy are unable to explain the placement of the Roman road. Rather, it is suggested that the Roman road was influenced by pre-existing routes and settlements.

Earth ovens are a ubiquitous feature of eastern North America, used throughout many cultures and periods, leaving a highly visible signature of habitational life. This study focusses on one of the four uniquely outsized earth ovens from the center of a woodhenge at Hopewell Mound Group, the type site of the Hopewell culture. Cleaned of artifacts and fire-cracked rock, this feature required specialized analysis to shed light on its function: macrobotanical methods of seed identification and wood charcoal analysis along with phytolith and soil micromorphological analysis. These analyses create a holistic picture of the earth oven, the woodhenge, and the nature of feasting and ritual at Hopewell Mound Group, along with a snapshot of the paleoenvironment. Results show ritual use of ash wood (Fraxinus sp.), Eastern Agricultural Complex seeds seasonally timed with a summer solstice ritual, and grass leaf phytoliths deposited deeper than the surrounding natural strata. Feasting at this site seems to be focused on feeding large numbers of people, as opposed to a small set of competitive elites.