Journal of Anthropological Archaeology最新文献

This article addresses Postclassic Maya population recovery in the aftermath of the collapse of Terminal Classic period political centers by 1100 CE in northern Yucatan, Mexico. While much has been written about the collapse of northern lowland Classic period Maya civilization by the eleventh century CE, we focus here on longer-term outcomes from a demographic perspective, during the Postclassic period (1150-1500 CE). We analyze survey data from the adjacent and sequential archaeological sites of Tichac and Mayapán to support three arguments. First, rural zones were populous prior to the northern collapse. Second, inhabitants of rural zones persisted during the cycle of political collapse and recovery. Third the ubiquity of Postclassic Maya settlements after the twelfth century CE suggests resiliency in the region marked by a rapid rate of sociopolitical regeneration and substantial (if partial) demographic recovery. We frame findings from our study area with broader evidence from regional archaeological settlement studies and early Colonial documents attesting to robust northern Maya populations at the time of European contact. We consider the important role of rural localities in fostering recovery by storing cultural knowledge, providing destinations for outmigration, and serving as hubs for long-term, cyclical regeneration of state society.

We investigate archaeological evidence for the early production of Melo (or commonly named ‘baler’) shell knives recovered from Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene deposits in Boodie Cave, Barrow Island. The site is in the Country of Thalanyji people in northwestern Western Australia. The oldest shell knife fragments were recovered from units dated to 46.2–42.6 ka, making this one of the oldest Homo sapiens sapiens shell tool technologies currently described. We situate this early and ongoing tradition of shell tool manufacture within recent discussions of the early development of shell industries from both Island Southeast Asia and globally. Although shell knives have been previously reported from Pilbara and Gulf of Carpentaria surface middens in northern Australia, systematic analysis of the manufacturing process and associated debris, and especially from pre-Holocene contexts, has not been previously conducted. This research explores the shell knife chaîne opératoire through the integration of three data sets derived from archaeology, ethnography, and experimental archaeology. This study highlights the significance of shell tool industries in the northwest of Australia, and globally, from the Pleistocene and into the Late Holocene in areas with limited access to hard rock geology where shell reduction represents a unique technological strategy.

The emergence of Shimao, a proto-urban center at the contact zone between agropastoral communities of the Loess Plateau and herders/hunter-gatherers of Monogolian Plateau, offers critical insights into the economic activities during the transition to the Bronze Age in continental East Asia. Unprecedented in scale in prehistoric China, the bone needle workshop at the central mound was a prelude to the specialized, industrial-scale bone production workshops seen in the Bronze Age cities of Zhengzhou, Anyang, and Zhouyuan during the second and early first millennium BCE. The bone needle production at Huangchengtai probably supplied a sophisticated craft industry for the production of garments using animal hides and textiles.

The Serranía de la Lindosa in the Colombian Amazon hosts one of the most spectacular global rock art traditions. Painted in vibrant ochre pigments, the artwork depicts abstract and figurative designs – including a high diversity of animal motifs – and holds key information for understanding how Amazonians made sense of their world. We compare a zooarchaeological assemblage with painted depictions of animals at the Cerro Azul site, and utilise relevant ethnographies and ethnohistories. A lack of direct proportional relationships between the animal representation in the art and zooarchaeological remains alludes to the complex socio-cultural interconnection between Amazonian communities and their ritualised environments. We discuss the benefits and limitations of quantitative categorisation and explore Indigenous ontologies, highlighting Amazonian perspectives on human-animal relationships.