Pub Date : 2025-02-17DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101664
Brandon T. Ritchison , C. Zoe Doubles , Maureen S. Meyers
Archaeological narratives of migrations in pre-Colonial North America rely on cultural materials, which often only convey relative temporalities and tempos of these dynamic events. Here, we employ Bayesian chronological modeling to examine a pattern of immigration into a cultural frontier during the 14th through the 16th centuries AD in what is today southwest Virginia, USA. Incorporation of prior archaeological knowledge and a compilation of new and old radiocarbon dates reverses the chronological relationship of two Mississippian cultural sites that would have been expected based on the presently accepted regional ceramic chronology. This reversal necessitates a recontextualization of migrant motivations and experiences. Additionally, our new chronology demonstrates that when examined at finer spatial and temporal scales, regional population movements in the Mississippian (ca. 10th – 17th centuries AD) period were likely bi-directional and contingent upon historical circumstance as much as macro-regional push and pull factors. Our revised chronology for these two Mississippian cultural sites offers new avenues for investigating and understanding migrant experiences in the past.
{"title":"Mind the gap: Modeling Mississippian migration and frontier settlement in southwest Virginia, USA","authors":"Brandon T. Ritchison , C. Zoe Doubles , Maureen S. Meyers","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101664","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101664","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Archaeological narratives of migrations in pre-Colonial North America rely on cultural materials, which often only convey relative temporalities and tempos of these dynamic events. Here, we employ Bayesian chronological modeling to examine a pattern of immigration into a cultural frontier during the 14<sup>th</sup> through the 16<sup>th</sup> centuries AD in what is today southwest Virginia, USA. Incorporation of prior archaeological knowledge and a compilation of new and old radiocarbon dates reverses the chronological relationship of two Mississippian cultural sites that would have been expected based on the presently accepted regional ceramic chronology. This reversal necessitates a recontextualization of migrant motivations and experiences. Additionally, our new chronology demonstrates that when examined at finer spatial and temporal scales, regional population movements in the Mississippian (ca. 10<sup>th</sup> – 17<sup>th</sup> centuries AD) period were likely bi-directional and contingent upon historical circumstance as much as macro-regional push and pull factors. Our revised chronology for these two Mississippian cultural sites offers new avenues for investigating and understanding migrant experiences in the past.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 101664"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143429713","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-13DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101665
Anna Marie Prentiss , Matthew J. Walsh , Megan Denis , Thomas A. Foor
Macroevolutionary analysis provides the opportunity to ask questions concerning the major patterns of long-term continuity and change in the cultural record. In this study, we address the evolution of lithic technological operational strategies spanning the last 20,000 years primarily in the northwestern and northern portions of North America. We measure systemic technological variation on a maximum of 159 site components with 100 artifact characters and character states. Results implicate multiple technological lineages likely deriving from origins in the Siberian Middle to Upper Paleolithic (Paleoarctic/Northeast Pacific Rim, Paleoindian/Archaic, and Paleo-Inuit).. We conclude that some technological strategies evolved for performance in particular environments (Arctic Small Tool tradition) while others evolved and spread across multiple regions likely due to their functional adaptability (Archaic). Finally, we offer methodological recommendations for measuring the likelihood of particular phylogenetic outcomes using Bayesian and phenetic procedures.
{"title":"The cultural macroevolution of lithic technological strategies in Northern and Western North America during the upper Pleistocene and Holocene","authors":"Anna Marie Prentiss , Matthew J. Walsh , Megan Denis , Thomas A. Foor","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101665","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101665","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Macroevolutionary analysis provides the opportunity to ask questions concerning the major patterns of long-term continuity and change in the cultural record. In this study, we address the evolution of lithic technological operational strategies spanning the last 20,000 years primarily in the northwestern and northern portions of North America. We measure systemic technological variation on a maximum of 159 site components with 100 artifact characters and character states. Results implicate multiple technological lineages likely deriving from origins in the Siberian Middle to Upper Paleolithic (Paleoarctic/Northeast Pacific Rim, Paleoindian/Archaic, and Paleo-Inuit).. We conclude that some technological strategies evolved for performance in particular environments (Arctic Small Tool tradition) while others evolved and spread across multiple regions likely due to their functional adaptability (Archaic). Finally, we offer methodological recommendations for measuring the likelihood of particular phylogenetic outcomes using Bayesian and phenetic procedures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":"77 ","pages":"Article 101665"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143403191","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-10DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101662
Koji Lau-Ozawa , J. Ryan Kennedy
The archaeology of diaspora has grown in many directions during the first two decades of the 21st century. It has become a key way of understanding the short-term and long-term connections between people and communities defined by movement and migration. However, archaeologists of diaspora still at times struggle with old models of interpretation which seek out ethnic markers in material culture or signs of acculturation. How then do we move past these paradigmatic pitfalls? In this article we look to the concept of the neighborhood as a potential avenue away from a cul-de-sac of theoretical stagnation. Neighborhoods, spatially proximal areas in towns and cities, often comprise multiple diasporic communities in close contact. Ethnic and racial lines are not necessarily neatly maintained, challenging fixity or fluidity binaries when approaching diasporic communities. Thinking of the neighborhood as interpretive model in itself challenges us to think past siloed communities and look to the distinct ways in which social identities and networks are dynamically shaped by living space in urban contexts. Utilizing material from Santa Barbara’s Nihonmachi, we attempt to think through material culture through the lens of the neighborhood, appreciating the blurred lines across the multiple communities living on the block.
{"title":"Diaspora on the block: Neighborhood archaeology as theory and method","authors":"Koji Lau-Ozawa , J. Ryan Kennedy","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101662","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101662","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The archaeology of diaspora has grown in many directions during the first two decades of the 21st century. It has become a key way of understanding the short-term and long-term connections between people and communities defined by movement and migration. However, archaeologists of diaspora still at times struggle with old models of interpretation which seek out ethnic markers in material culture or signs of acculturation. How then do we move past these paradigmatic pitfalls? In this article we look to the concept of the neighborhood as a potential avenue away from a cul-de-sac of theoretical stagnation. Neighborhoods, spatially proximal areas in towns and cities, often comprise multiple diasporic communities in close contact. Ethnic and racial lines are not necessarily neatly maintained, challenging fixity or fluidity binaries when approaching diasporic communities. Thinking of the neighborhood as interpretive model in itself challenges us to think past siloed communities and look to the distinct ways in which social identities and networks are dynamically shaped by living space in urban contexts. Utilizing material from Santa Barbara’s Nihonmachi, we attempt to think through material culture through the lens of the neighborhood, appreciating the blurred lines across the multiple communities living on the block.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":"77 ","pages":"Article 101662"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143377984","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-05DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101663
Emmanuel Baudouin , Quentin Aubourg , Xavier Gutherz , Ibrahim Osman Ali , Asma Youssouf Aden , Mariam Abdoulkader , Jessie Cauliez
Architectural studies are of great interest in considering variations in social phenomena. This ethnoarchaeological program therefore focuses on the evolution of building techniques, both in relation to the recent prehistory of Western Asia, and the current context through field surveys carried out in Djibouti. The aim of this article is to present the results of our study conducted in the Gobaad basin (2022–2023) among the Afar and Issa entities by documenting the techniques (materials, layout techniques, morphology of the buildings), referencing practices and socio-cultural context, identifying the networks involved in the dissemination of practices and defining the learning processes in earth construction.
The results of this research show three scenarios. The architectural diversity among the Afar reflect a certain fluidity of social practices, which translates in the architecture into a diverse range of techniques. On the contrary, the standardized architectural traits observed among the the spread of moulded mud brick indicate social compartmentalization and a closed identity. Finally, the adoption by the two communities of an architectural type exogenous to the Gobaad basin allows to formulate a demic diffusion with the adoption of an “Ethiopian style”. These results contribute to our research on the Neolithic of Western Asia by providing socio-cultural, economic and historical interpretations.
{"title":"Earth construction from past to present: Initial results of the ethnoarchaeological program in the Gobaad Basin (Republic of Djibouti, Dikhil region)","authors":"Emmanuel Baudouin , Quentin Aubourg , Xavier Gutherz , Ibrahim Osman Ali , Asma Youssouf Aden , Mariam Abdoulkader , Jessie Cauliez","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101663","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101663","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Architectural studies are of great interest in considering variations in social phenomena. This ethnoarchaeological program therefore focuses on the evolution of building techniques, both in relation to the recent prehistory of Western Asia, and the current context through field surveys carried out in Djibouti. The aim of this article is to present the results of our study conducted in the Gobaad basin (2022–2023) among the Afar and Issa entities by documenting the techniques (materials, layout techniques, morphology of the buildings), referencing practices and socio-cultural context, identifying the networks involved in the dissemination of practices and defining the learning processes in earth construction.</div><div>The results of this research show three scenarios. The architectural diversity among the Afar reflect a certain fluidity of social practices, which translates in the architecture into a diverse range of techniques. On the contrary, the standardized architectural traits observed among the the spread of moulded mud brick indicate social compartmentalization and a closed identity. Finally, the adoption by the two communities of an architectural type exogenous to the Gobaad basin allows to formulate a demic diffusion with the adoption of an “Ethiopian style”. These results contribute to our research on the Neolithic of Western Asia by providing socio-cultural, economic and historical interpretations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":"77 ","pages":"Article 101663"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143273552","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-21DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101657
Pilar Babot , Álvaro Martel
A set of visual representations and marks made on the red plastered floor within a domestic enclosure, are analyzed. They belong to low scale agro-pastoralist societies that inhabited the Argentine Puna in the South Central Andes, ca. 1500 BP. The prepared floor would have configured a proper surface for a multisensory ritual performance. This type of material is reserved for specific places such as graves and offering deposits in the study area. The drawn visual representations are interpreted as to lineage emblems and, due to restricted visual access, they would pertain to the private sphere and therefore, would be aimed at communication within the social group. They are analyzed within the framework of ritual archaeology and feasting to propose that they could be part of the ritualization of the domestic place as an ordering element of the social group, and as a way of claiming the family territory. Shortly after its complex ritual closure, the enclosure was used for the confinement of Camelidae livestock. The ritual performance and the subsequent story of the enclosure in productive practices would have been significant actions in a context of environmental deterioration that could have affected the availability of fertile spaces in the region.
{"title":"Marks on the floor. Instant and memory in the foundation of an agro-pastoralist place in the Puna high desert, Northwest Argentina (ca. 1500 BP)","authors":"Pilar Babot , Álvaro Martel","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101657","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101657","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A set of visual representations and marks made on the red plastered floor within a domestic enclosure, are analyzed. They belong to low scale agro-pastoralist societies that inhabited the Argentine Puna in the South Central Andes, ca. 1500 BP. The prepared floor would have configured a proper surface for a multisensory ritual performance. This type of material is reserved for specific places such as graves and offering deposits in the study area. The drawn visual representations are interpreted as to lineage emblems and, due to restricted visual access, they would pertain to the private sphere and therefore, would be aimed at communication within the social group. They are analyzed within the framework of ritual archaeology and feasting to propose that they could be part of the ritualization of the domestic place as an ordering element of the social group, and as a way of claiming the family territory. Shortly after its complex ritual closure, the enclosure was used for the confinement of Camelidae livestock. The ritual performance and the subsequent story of the enclosure in productive practices would have been significant actions in a context of environmental deterioration that could have affected the availability of fertile spaces in the region.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":"77 ","pages":"Article 101657"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143050009","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-19DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101658
Sarah J. Noe , Randall Haas , Mark Aldenderfer
This study examines the subsistence strategies of Archaic Period inhabitants (9.0–3.5 cal. ka) of the Lake Titicaca Basin, located in the high Andes of South America. Faunal data from three Archaic Period sites in the Ilave region of Peru are used to explore the dietary habits of early foragers spanning over five millennia. Comparative analysis reveals heavy investment in camelids, with deer serving as a secondary meat. Small mammals, fish, and birds are virtually absent from the assemblages. We further observe increasing emphasis on camelids relative to deer over time, suggesting a shift from hunting to management during the period of investigation. We fail to find evidence of diet breadth expansion, risk averse foraging, or climate-induced subsistence changes. The observations align with previous studies that document a transition from camelid hunting to herding in other regions of the high Andes. The findings provide preliminary evidence of early camelid management in a suspected domestication center and contribute key insights into the economic strategies that facilitated the emergence of agropastoral economies and socioeconomic complexity in the Lake Titicaca Basin.
{"title":"Hunting to herding on the Andean Altiplano: Zooarchaeological insights into Archaic Period subsistence in the Lake Titicaca Basin, Peru (9.0–3.5 ka)","authors":"Sarah J. Noe , Randall Haas , Mark Aldenderfer","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101658","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101658","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the subsistence strategies of Archaic Period inhabitants (9.0–3.5 cal. ka) of the Lake Titicaca Basin, located in the high Andes of South America. Faunal data from three Archaic Period sites in the Ilave region of Peru are used to explore the dietary habits of early foragers spanning over five millennia. Comparative analysis reveals heavy investment in camelids, with deer serving as a secondary meat. Small mammals, fish, and birds are virtually absent from the assemblages. We further observe increasing emphasis on camelids relative to deer over time, suggesting a shift from hunting to management during the period of investigation. We fail to find evidence of diet breadth expansion, risk averse foraging, or climate-induced subsistence changes. The observations align with previous studies that document a transition from camelid hunting to herding in other regions of the high Andes. The findings provide preliminary evidence of early camelid management in a suspected domestication center and contribute key insights into the economic strategies that facilitated the emergence of agropastoral economies and socioeconomic complexity in the Lake Titicaca Basin.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":"77 ","pages":"Article 101658"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142990487","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-19DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101659
Tatiana Niculescu
This article seeks to develop a formal framework for studying the American Jewish diaspora archaeologically, using Alexandria, Virginia’s turn of the 20th century community as a case study. Moving beyond simple ethnic markers and tacking among several analytical scales, this approach explores how material culture and space both reflected and helped create new social identities. A few themes emerge for studying the Jewish diaspora in the U.S.: the need to understand the racial ideologies of a particular time and place and how these shaped people’s lives; the importance of nuancing strict definitions of kosher practice that leave little room for individual choices, regional constraints, and social pressures; and the importance of looking beyond simple correlations between economic position and consumer goods. These themes provide merely one path forward and studies of other places and times will yield more avenues for archaeologically studying the Jewish diaspora.
{"title":"Diaspora, tradition, and progress: Archaeology of Alexandria, Virginia’s German Jewish community","authors":"Tatiana Niculescu","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101659","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101659","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article seeks to develop a formal framework for studying the American Jewish diaspora archaeologically, using Alexandria, Virginia’s turn of the 20th century community as a case study. Moving beyond simple ethnic markers and tacking among several analytical scales, this approach explores how material culture and space both reflected and helped create new social identities. A few themes emerge for studying the Jewish diaspora in the U.S.: the need to understand the racial ideologies of a particular time and place and how these shaped people’s lives; the importance of nuancing strict definitions of kosher practice that leave little room for individual choices, regional constraints, and social pressures; and the importance of looking beyond simple correlations between economic position and consumer goods. These themes provide merely one path forward and studies of other places and times will yield more avenues for archaeologically studying the Jewish diaspora.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":"77 ","pages":"Article 101659"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142990457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-16DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101660
M.Cecilia Pallo , Judith Charlin , Marcelo Cardillo , Paula D. Funes , Liliana M. Manzi
Recent rock art research in the Pali Aike volcanic field (PAVF, southern Argentina and Chile) expanded the chronology (ca. 3100B.P.) and morphological and technical repertoire of abstract-geometric and figurative paintings of the “Río Chico style”. This paper discusses the spatial distribution of painted motifs to understand the criteria that guided the representation strategies and the flow of information among the hunter-gatherers that occupied the PAVF during the late Holocene. By employing social network analysis and statistical tests, two main groups of rock art locations that differ in geographic position, plus the richness and abundance of motifs, were detected. Furthermore, geographical distance was observed to have played a key role in determining the spatial structuring of motif class distribution at the regional level, with significant similarities existing between nearby locations (ca. 20 km) and important differences between more distant ones (ca. 60 km). Thus, rock art paintings as cultural features related to an ancient flow of information and human mobility patterns at a large spatial scale, follow the spatial trend described by other lines of archaeological evidence, which indicates different forms of human land use and occupational intensity between sectors of the PAVF, particularly between the Gallegos (northern sector) and Chico (southern sector) Rivers.
{"title":"Unveiling the spatial structure of rock painting designs and information flow among hunter-gatherers in southern Patagonia","authors":"M.Cecilia Pallo , Judith Charlin , Marcelo Cardillo , Paula D. Funes , Liliana M. Manzi","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101660","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101660","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recent rock art research in the Pali Aike volcanic field (PAVF, southern Argentina and Chile) expanded the chronology (ca. 3100B.P.) and morphological and technical repertoire of abstract-geometric and figurative paintings of the “Río Chico style”. This paper discusses the spatial distribution of painted motifs to understand the criteria that guided the representation strategies and the flow of information among the hunter-gatherers that occupied the PAVF during the late Holocene. By employing social network analysis and statistical tests, two main groups of rock art locations that differ in geographic position, plus the richness and abundance of motifs, were detected. Furthermore, geographical distance was observed to have played a key role in determining the spatial structuring of motif class distribution at the regional level, with significant similarities existing between nearby locations (ca. 20 km) and important differences between more distant ones (ca. 60 km). Thus, rock art paintings as cultural features related to an ancient flow of information and human mobility patterns at a large spatial scale, follow the spatial trend described by other lines of archaeological evidence, which indicates different forms of human land use and occupational intensity between sectors of the PAVF, particularly between the Gallegos (northern sector) and Chico (southern sector) Rivers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":"77 ","pages":"Article 101660"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142990488","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-08DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101656
Alex Bertacchi , Potiphar Kaliba , Jessica C. Thompson
The Economic Defendability Model posits that foragers exploiting dense and predictable resources should establish defended territories, while foragers exploiting unpredictable resources manage shortfall risk by ranging across larger areas that they do not invest in defending. While these expectations are supported by ethnographic observations, archaeological tests have been limited to peri-aquatic settings. Here, we present a comprehensive zooarchaeological study of the mammalian fauna from Hora 1 rock shelter in the Kasitu Valley of Malawi, which yielded deposits dated to the last 21,000 years, and interpret them through the lens of behavioral ecology to show reduced logistical mobility that may be connected to increased territoriality. The results indicate that during most of the occupations, foragers at Hora 1 employed hunting strategies focused on a diverse array of small taxa, mostly procured close to the site, which would have been most efficiently done with the aid of traps and nets. Exploitation of relatively complete carcasses was intense and targeted within-bone nutrients more than meat, reflecting an energy-limited landscape during dry season occupations. Overall, the evidence suggests that foragers at Hora 1 adopted a home range system with limited mobility and were not strongly territorial.
{"title":"Short-distance hunting strategies of Late Quaternary foragers in the miombo woodlands of Malawi","authors":"Alex Bertacchi , Potiphar Kaliba , Jessica C. Thompson","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101656","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101656","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Economic Defendability Model posits that foragers exploiting dense and predictable resources should establish defended territories, while foragers exploiting unpredictable resources manage shortfall risk by ranging across larger areas that they do not invest in defending. While these expectations are supported by ethnographic observations, archaeological tests have been limited to <em>peri</em>-aquatic settings. Here, we present a comprehensive zooarchaeological study of the mammalian fauna from Hora 1 rock shelter in the Kasitu Valley of Malawi, which yielded deposits dated to the last 21,000 years, and interpret them through the lens of behavioral ecology to show reduced logistical mobility that may be connected to increased territoriality. The results indicate that during most of the occupations, foragers at Hora 1 employed hunting strategies focused on a diverse array of small taxa, mostly procured close to the site, which would have been most efficiently done with the aid of traps and nets. Exploitation of relatively complete carcasses was intense and targeted within-bone nutrients more than meat, reflecting an energy-limited landscape during dry season occupations. Overall, the evidence suggests that foragers at Hora 1 adopted a home range system with limited mobility and were not strongly territorial.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":"77 ","pages":"Article 101656"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142975243","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-03DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2024.101654
Anthony P. Graesch , David M. Schaepe , Nathan Goodale , Hector Salazar , Moriah McKenna , Sarah Harris , Andrew Prunk , Annette Davis , Roy James Walton , John Rissmiller
Salmon fishing and storage have been integral elements of Stó:lō-Coast Salish household life, economy, and identity in the Fraser Valley and lower Fraser Canyon of southwestern British Columbia for millennia. However, taphonomic factors affecting salmon remains make it difficult to directly study variability in food-related labor allocations, prompting us to focus instead on fish processing tools. This study employs experimental archaeology, archaeological collections analyses, and geochemistry to investigate the production of kw’éts’tel—ground slate fish knives essential to the precontact Stó:lō-Coast Salish salmon economy. Our objectives are to examine the forms and attributes of finished kw’éts’tel blades, explore potential slate sources, and assess decisions, techniques, and labor involved in blade production. Using an integrated methodological framework, our analyses offer nuanced insights into kw’éts’tel production and its role in Stó:lō-Coast Salish social organization. We argue that this approach enhances our ability to interpret the kw’éts’tel-focused archaeological record, shedding light on social change over time. This is particularly significant in a region where the emergence of a high-ranking social elite was partly driven by positioning and placement within the means and mode of production in the salmon-focused fishing economy.
{"title":"Making kw’éts’tel: A materialization of household food-focused labor","authors":"Anthony P. Graesch , David M. Schaepe , Nathan Goodale , Hector Salazar , Moriah McKenna , Sarah Harris , Andrew Prunk , Annette Davis , Roy James Walton , John Rissmiller","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2024.101654","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaa.2024.101654","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Salmon fishing and storage have been integral elements of Stó:lō-Coast Salish household life, economy, and identity in the Fraser Valley and lower Fraser Canyon of southwestern British Columbia for millennia. However, taphonomic factors affecting salmon remains make it difficult to directly study variability in food-related labor allocations, prompting us to focus instead on fish processing tools. This study employs experimental archaeology, archaeological collections analyses, and geochemistry to investigate the production of kw’éts’tel—ground slate fish knives essential to the precontact Stó:lō-Coast Salish salmon economy. Our objectives are to examine the forms and attributes of finished kw’éts’tel blades, explore potential slate sources, and assess decisions, techniques, and labor involved in blade production. Using an integrated methodological framework, our analyses offer nuanced insights into kw’éts’tel production and its role in Stó:lō-Coast Salish social organization. We argue that this approach enhances our ability to interpret the kw’éts’tel-focused archaeological record, shedding light on social change over time. This is particularly significant in a region where the emergence of a high-ranking social elite was partly driven by positioning and placement within the means and mode of production in the salmon-focused fishing economy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":"77 ","pages":"Article 101654"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142929218","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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