Pub Date : 2023-09-19DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101546
Victor D. Thompson
In 1566, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés arrived at Mound Key, the capital of the Calusa polity. What he saw there was unlike anything else he would encounter in La Florida, a capital teaming with people and complex architecture that was essentially a terraformed anthropogenic island constructed mostly of mollusk shells situated in the middle of Estero Bay. The Calusa literally raised this landscape—51 ha in area—from the sea and built a complex canal system to the capital’s interior. The capital and its outlying towns did not practice large-scale agriculture, but rather relied upon harvesting and management of aquatic resources. Here, I outline the nature of urban processes at the settlement. From this evaluation, I argue that there are many similarities between the settlement and other urban areas of research, particularly in other parts of the Americas. I explore how the occupants of Mound Key worked through some of the experiences of urban processes present via collective action, specifically regarding waste management, transparent governance, and sustainability.
1566年,Pedro Menéndez de Avilés抵达卡卢萨政体的首都Mound Key。他在那里看到的与他在拉佛罗里达州遇到的任何其他地方都不同,拉佛罗里达州是一个由人和复杂建筑组成的首都,本质上是一个主要由软体动物外壳建造的人工岛,位于埃斯特罗湾中部。卡卢萨人将这片面积51公顷的土地从大海中开垦出来,并建造了一个通往首都内陆的复杂运河系统。首都及其外围城镇没有大规模农业,而是依赖于水生资源的收割和管理。在这里,我概述了定居点城市进程的性质。根据这一评估,我认为该定居点与其他研究城市地区有很多相似之处,尤其是在美洲其他地区。我探讨了Mound Key的居住者是如何通过集体行动,特别是在废物管理、透明治理和可持续性方面,积累一些城市进程的经验的。
{"title":"Considering Urbanism at Mound Key (Caalus), the capital of the Calusa in the 16th Century, Southwest Florida, USA","authors":"Victor D. Thompson","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101546","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101546","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In 1566, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés arrived at Mound Key, the capital of the Calusa polity. What he saw there was unlike anything else he would encounter in <em>La Florida</em>, a capital teaming with people and complex architecture that was essentially a terraformed anthropogenic island constructed mostly of mollusk shells situated in the middle of Estero Bay. The Calusa literally raised this landscape—51 ha in area—from the sea and built a complex canal system to the capital’s interior. The capital and its outlying towns did not practice large-scale agriculture, but rather relied upon harvesting and management of aquatic resources. Here, I outline the nature of urban processes at the settlement. From this evaluation, I argue that there are many similarities between the settlement and other urban areas of research, particularly in other parts of the Americas. I explore how the occupants of Mound Key worked through some of the experiences of urban processes present via collective action, specifically regarding waste management, transparent governance, and sustainability.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49738074","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 : 2023-09-15DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101543
Vanessa Forte , Gianluca Miniaci
Clay figurines represent one of the ideal object categories for tracing the profile of their makers since they preserve traces of the maker’s gestures. The scope of the article is to reconstruct the different manufacturing steps of clay figurines, assess the complexity of the shaping sequences and study fingerprints to trace the profile of people who produced such artefacts in the ancient village of Lahun (Egypt, MBA II, c. 1800–1700 BC). The high number of production chains revealed that, despite an apparent roughness, clay figurine production was characterised by high stylistic and technological variability, indicating several levels of skill possessed by their producers. On this basis, Lahun clay figurines were not an extemporary or standardised product. A neat division can be established between anthropomorphic figurines and those representing animals, which show a lower degree of complexity and an attempt not to define clear shapes. Most of the figurines were revealed to be mainly shaped by adults, while children contributed in a marginal way to their production. However, the presence of sub-adult fingerprints on some of the clay figurines indicates that children were active agents producing material culture and integrating part of the adult production process through cooperation and/or playing.
{"title":"Profiling the people behind clay figurines: Technological trace and fingerprint analysis applied to ancient Egypt (Lahun village, MBA II, c. 1800–1700 BC)","authors":"Vanessa Forte , Gianluca Miniaci","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101543","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101543","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Clay figurines represent one of the ideal object categories for tracing the profile of their makers since they preserve traces of the maker’s gestures. The scope of the article is to reconstruct the different manufacturing steps of clay figurines, assess the complexity of the shaping sequences and study fingerprints to trace the profile of people who produced such artefacts in the ancient village of Lahun (Egypt, MBA II, <em>c</em>. 1800–1700 BC). The high number of production chains revealed that, despite an apparent roughness, clay figurine production was characterised by high stylistic and technological variability, indicating several levels of skill possessed by their producers. On this basis, Lahun clay figurines were not an extemporary or standardised product. A neat division can be established between anthropomorphic figurines and those representing animals, which show a lower degree of complexity and an attempt not to define clear shapes. Most of the figurines were revealed to be mainly shaped by adults, while children contributed in a marginal way to their production. However, the presence of sub-adult fingerprints on some of the clay figurines indicates that children were active agents producing material culture and integrating part of the adult production process through cooperation and/or playing.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49738073","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 : 2023-09-01DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101533
Jon Ross , Kent D. Fowler , Itzhaq Shai
Techno-stylistic studies in ceramic analysis have largely focused on characterising production groups, based on the similarity of various objects and how they were made. The demographics of potters and the division of labour often remain enigmatic in current chaîne opératoire research. A growing number of biometric studies have demonstrated the potential of fingerprints preserved on ceramic surfaces for classifying the age and sex of potters. In this paper, we use a recently introduced identification matrix to model labour divisions based on 52 fingerprints preserved on a diverse range of objects from the Late Bronze Age II stratum at Tel Burna. The sample includes objects from the recently exposed cultic enclosure. Based on broad ethnographic considerations, women were the principal potters in Canaanite society. Our study tests this hypothesis with regards to who made pottery for cultic use. We identify patterns in age categories and a sexual division of labour for the manufacture of select objects and vessel types. The results lead us to discuss possible effects of imperialism on labour organisation. We provide the first compelling insights into the social relations of pottery production at a time when Egypt exercised hegemony over the city-states of the Southern Levant.
{"title":"New fingerprint evidence for female potters in Late Bronze Age Canaan: The demographics of potters and division of labour at Tel Burna","authors":"Jon Ross , Kent D. Fowler , Itzhaq Shai","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101533","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101533","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Techno-stylistic studies in ceramic analysis have largely focused on characterising production groups, based on the similarity of various objects and how they were made. The demographics of potters and the division of labour often remain enigmatic in current <em>chaîne opératoire</em><span> research. A growing number of biometric studies have demonstrated the potential of fingerprints preserved on ceramic surfaces for classifying the age and sex of potters. In this paper, we use a recently introduced identification matrix to model labour divisions based on 52 fingerprints preserved on a diverse range of objects from the Late Bronze Age<span><span> II stratum at Tel Burna. The sample includes objects from the recently exposed cultic enclosure. Based on broad ethnographic considerations, women were the principal potters in Canaanite society. Our study tests this hypothesis with regards to who made pottery for cultic use. We identify patterns in age categories and a sexual division of labour for the manufacture of select objects and vessel types. The results lead us to discuss possible effects of imperialism on labour organisation. We provide the first compelling insights into the </span>social relations<span><span> of pottery production at a time when Egypt exercised hegemony over the city-states of the Southern </span>Levant.</span></span></span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49722391","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 : 2023-09-01DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101534
Patricia M. Lambert
In this study cranial injuries in human skeletal remains from the site of Cerro Oreja in the Moche Valley of north coastal Peru provide a proxy measure of violence during the Gallinazo Phase preceding the rise of the Southern Moche State and are used to assess the role that violent conflict may have played in state formation. Both healed and perimortem cranial vault fractures are present in the sample of 116 individuals from Cerro Oreja. These injuries provide evidence of both intra- and intergroup violence during the Early Intermediate Period (EIP) occupation of the site, ca. 400 BCE – AD 200. The injury rate is significantly higher than that observed in a residential sample (AD 200 – 800) from the site of Moche or in an aggregated EIP sample from the larger Andean region. While escalating violence during the Gallinazo Phase might be expected if warfare contributed to the genesis of this primary state, this was not statistically verified here. The data do suggest that a climate of violence prevailed at Cerro Oreja in the years preceding the rise of the Southern Moche State and that violent conflict likely contributed to the emergence of this hegemonic polity.
{"title":"Cranial injuries as evidence for violent conflict during the Gallinazo Phase in the Moche Valley of North Coastal Peru","authors":"Patricia M. Lambert","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101534","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101534","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In this study cranial injuries in human skeletal remains from the site of Cerro Oreja in the Moche Valley of north coastal Peru provide a proxy measure of violence during the Gallinazo Phase preceding the rise of the Southern Moche State and are used to assess the role that violent conflict may have played in state formation. Both healed and perimortem cranial vault fractures are present in the sample of 116 individuals from Cerro Oreja. These injuries provide evidence of both intra- and intergroup violence during the Early Intermediate Period (EIP) occupation of the site, ca. 400 BCE – AD 200. The injury rate is significantly higher than that observed in a residential sample (AD 200 – 800) from the site of Moche or in an aggregated EIP sample from the larger Andean region. While escalating violence during the Gallinazo Phase might be expected if warfare contributed to the genesis of this primary state, this was not statistically verified here. The data do suggest that a climate of violence prevailed at Cerro Oreja in the years preceding the rise of the Southern Moche State and that violent conflict likely contributed to the emergence of this hegemonic polity.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49722442","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 : 2023-09-01DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101524
Amy Roberts , Craig Westell , Marc Fairhead , Juan Marquez Lopez , River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation
This paper uses a ‘braided knowledge’ approach to explore Aboriginal ancestral narratives, geomorphological interpretations and archaeological evidence relating to the Murray River (Rinta) in South Australia’s Riverland region. The 'knowledge carriers’ of ancestral narratives are honoured and complexities regarding the ways in which their wisdom was recorded by Europeans are considered. Commonalities between Aboriginal and Western knowledge systems are outlined through a number of key threads relating to the geographic directionality of peopling in the region, river dynamism (particularly in relation to the deglacial transformations from 15 ka) and more. Differences between knowledge systems are also explored and include descriptions of ‘Indigenous frameworks’ which embed multiple levels of meaning, as well as Aboriginal interpretations of the subsurface. The paper shows that through a collaborative exchange of ideas, together with the conscious positioning of Aboriginal knowledges, normally disparate systems may be explored to amplify our understandings of Indigenous riverscapes.
{"title":"‘Braiding Knowledge’ about the peopling of the River Murray (Rinta) in South Australia: Ancestral narratives, geomorphological interpretations and archaeological evidence","authors":"Amy Roberts , Craig Westell , Marc Fairhead , Juan Marquez Lopez , River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101524","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101524","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper uses a ‘braided knowledge’ approach to explore Aboriginal ancestral narratives, geomorphological interpretations and archaeological evidence relating to the Murray River (Rinta) in South Australia’s Riverland region. The 'knowledge carriers’ of ancestral narratives are honoured and complexities regarding the ways in which their wisdom was recorded by Europeans are considered. Commonalities between Aboriginal and Western knowledge systems are outlined through a number of key threads relating to the geographic directionality of peopling in the region, river dynamism (particularly in relation to the deglacial transformations from 15 ka) and more. Differences between knowledge systems are also explored and include descriptions of ‘Indigenous frameworks’ which embed multiple levels of meaning, as well as Aboriginal interpretations of the subsurface. The paper shows that through a collaborative exchange of ideas, together with the conscious positioning of Aboriginal knowledges, normally disparate systems may be explored to amplify our understandings of Indigenous riverscapes.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49722591","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 : 2023-09-01DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101526
Gonzalo Pimentel G. , Mariana Ugarte F. , José F. Blanco , Claudia Montero-Poblete , Juan Gili , Javier Arévalo , Francisco Gallardo , Christina M. Torres , William J. Pestle
We present a synthesis of our investigation into pre-Hispanic pathways of the Atacama Desert Pampa -one of the driest and harshest environments on our planet- where we have identified a variety of mobility strategies and dynamics deployed by the different communities that inhabited both the Pacific coast and the inland oases of this region. Specifically, we focus on the inter-nodal archaeological and biogeochemical data that provides direct evidence of the presence of individuals from myriad regions traversing this area from the Middle Archaic to Late periods (c. 7000 BP-400 BP). Moreover, we analyze how, beginning in the Formative Period, this multiplicity of peoples employed different mobility systems, circulation, relationships, and social exchanges to integrate this apparent “empty space”. In doing so, we discuss and reformulate the classic highland caravanning model of the Andes, which considered highland caravanning groups as the only agents promoting long-distance mobility and exchange.
{"title":"On the pathways. Inter-nodal archaeology in the Atacama desert Pampa (c. 7000 BP-400 BP)","authors":"Gonzalo Pimentel G. , Mariana Ugarte F. , José F. Blanco , Claudia Montero-Poblete , Juan Gili , Javier Arévalo , Francisco Gallardo , Christina M. Torres , William J. Pestle","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101526","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101526","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We present a synthesis of our investigation into pre-Hispanic pathways of the Atacama Desert Pampa -one of the driest and harshest environments on our planet- where we have identified a variety of mobility strategies and dynamics deployed by the different communities that inhabited both the Pacific coast and the inland oases of this region. Specifically, we focus on the inter-nodal archaeological and biogeochemical data that provides direct evidence of the presence of individuals from myriad regions traversing this area from the Middle Archaic to Late periods (<em>c.</em> 7000 BP-400 BP). Moreover, we analyze how, beginning in the Formative Period, this multiplicity of peoples employed different mobility systems, circulation, relationships, and social exchanges to integrate this apparent “empty space”. In doing so, we discuss and reformulate the classic highland caravanning model of the Andes, which considered highland caravanning groups as the only agents promoting long-distance mobility and exchange.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49722525","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 : 2023-09-01DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101530
Indira Montt , Daniela Valenzuela , Barbara Cases , Calogero M. Santoro , José M. Capriles , Vivien G. Standen
Textilization processes envisioned as technological transformation of animal fibres and the incorporation of textiles into human bodies, is analyzed among Chinchorro hunter gatherers, along the hyperarid Pacific coast of the Atacama Desert throughout the Holocene (ca. 7800–3500 cal BP). The Chinchorro, as producers and consumers of South American camelid fibres and textiles, created a range of textilized mortuary corporealities. We studied bodies (Artificially Treated Bodies, Statuettes, Figurines), tools and textiles. Based on technological analysis of textiles dressing the bodies, we address the technological procedures employed in textile production. We defined: (a) textilization of Chinchorro bodies, (b) the entailed social relations and technological practices and, and (c) the temporal variability of camelid fibre textile production. These results are discussed within the broader context of early Andean textile fibre management and camelid domestication. From a worldwide perspective, we highlighted how Chinchorro textilization processes, as a microhistory, can be seen in the flow of human-nonhuman animal mutual interactions that gave rise to domestication and the later textile industry. We conclude that progressively ties between people and camelids intensified, by increasing the incorporation of fibres and textiles in the bodies, and the development of communities of practice which shared a concern for textile embodiment.
在整个全新世(约7800–3500 cal BP),在阿塔卡马沙漠极度干旱的太平洋沿岸,Chinchoro狩猎采集者对动物纤维的技术改造和纺织品融入人体的Textilization过程进行了分析。作为南美骆驼纤维和纺织品的生产商和消费者,Chinchoro创造了一系列文本化的太平间实体。我们研究了身体(人工处理的身体、雕像、雕像)、工具和纺织品。在对纺织品对身体的工艺分析的基础上,我们介绍了纺织品生产中使用的工艺程序。我们定义了:(a)Chinchoro身体的文本化,(b)所涉及的社会关系和技术实践,以及(c)骆驼纤维纺织品生产的时间可变性。这些结果是在早期安第斯纺织纤维管理和骆驼驯化的更广泛背景下讨论的。从世界范围的角度来看,我们强调了Chinchoro文本化过程作为一个微观历史,可以在人类与非人类动物相互作用的过程中看到,这种相互作用导致了驯化和后来的纺织业。我们得出的结论是,通过增加纤维和纺织品在身体中的结合,以及共同关注纺织品体现的实践社区的发展,人与骆驼之间的联系逐渐加强。
{"title":"Chinchorro fibre management in the Atacama Desert and its significance for understanding Andean textilization processes","authors":"Indira Montt , Daniela Valenzuela , Barbara Cases , Calogero M. Santoro , José M. Capriles , Vivien G. Standen","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101530","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101530","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Textilization processes envisioned as technological transformation of animal fibres and the incorporation of textiles into human bodies, is analyzed among Chinchorro hunter gatherers, along the hyperarid Pacific coast of the Atacama Desert throughout the Holocene (ca. 7800–3500 cal BP). The Chinchorro, as producers and consumers of South American camelid fibres and textiles, created a range of textilized mortuary corporealities. We studied bodies (Artificially Treated Bodies, Statuettes, Figurines), tools and textiles. Based on technological analysis of textiles dressing the bodies, we address the technological procedures employed in textile production. We defined: (a) textilization of Chinchorro bodies, (b) the entailed social relations and technological practices and, and (c) the temporal variability of camelid fibre textile production. These results are discussed within the broader context of early Andean textile fibre management and camelid domestication. From a worldwide perspective, we highlighted how Chinchorro textilization processes, as a microhistory, can be seen in the flow of human-nonhuman animal mutual interactions that gave rise to domestication and the later textile industry. We conclude that progressively ties between people and camelids intensified, by increasing the incorporation of fibres and textiles in the bodies, and the development of communities of practice which shared a concern for textile embodiment.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49736836","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 : 2023-09-01DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101528
C. Trevor Duke , Neill J. Wallis , Lindsay Bloch , Ann S. Cordell , Michael D. Glascock
Archaeologists have long relied on material proxies of labor organization to identify different social formations. Conventional wisdom holds that specialization is particularly integral in developing hierarchical states, and that hunter-gatherers are typically “generalists” provisioning their immediate household and community. However, archaeological evidence from eastern North America challenges these assumptions in showcasing evidence of specialized production among nonhierarchical societies. Because specialization is now known to exist outside the chiefdom or state, some researchers have questioned its analytical utility. Further, recent approaches to crafting discourage the use of generalizing heuristics (e.g., specialization), and instead center the historical dimensions of community and identity. In this study, we argue that archaeological research on specialization can mature by shifting focus from determinative wholes like hierarchies, to the relationships between crafters and recipients. To demonstrate this point, we present results of a multi-method chemical and petrographic study of Late Woodland (ca. AD 650–1050) and Mississippian (ca. AD 1050–1550) pottery from the Tampa Bay region of Florida. By contextualizing these data within historical relationships between communities and crafters, our study identifies two different forms of ritual specialization among nonhierarchical hunter gatherers; one predicated on religious leadership, the other on securing access to esoteric knowledge and property.
{"title":"Sourcing ritual specialists in ancient Tampa Bay (AD 650–1550): A multi-method chemical and petrographic approach","authors":"C. Trevor Duke , Neill J. Wallis , Lindsay Bloch , Ann S. Cordell , Michael D. Glascock","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101528","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101528","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Archaeologists have long relied on material proxies of labor organization to identify different social formations. Conventional wisdom holds that specialization is particularly integral in developing hierarchical states, and that hunter-gatherers are typically “generalists” provisioning their immediate household and community. However, archaeological evidence from eastern North America challenges these assumptions in showcasing evidence of specialized production among nonhierarchical societies. Because specialization is now known to exist outside the chiefdom or state, some researchers have questioned its analytical utility. Further, recent approaches to crafting discourage the use of generalizing heuristics (e.g., specialization), and instead center the historical dimensions of community and identity. In this study, we argue that archaeological research on specialization can mature by shifting focus from determinative wholes like hierarchies, to the relationships between crafters and recipients. To demonstrate this point, we present results of a multi-method chemical and petrographic study of Late Woodland (ca. AD 650–1050) and Mississippian (ca. AD 1050–1550) pottery from the Tampa Bay region of Florida. By contextualizing these data within historical relationships between communities and crafters, our study identifies two different forms of ritual specialization among nonhierarchical hunter gatherers; one predicated on religious leadership, the other on securing access to esoteric knowledge and property.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49722440","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 : 2023-09-01DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101532
Holly Pittman , Reed Goodman , Sara Pizzimenti , Paul Zimmerman , Jennifer Pournelle , Liviu Giosan
Remote-sensing techniques play an important role in the resumption of archaeological research in southern Iraq. These tools are especially powerful when ground-truthed through excavation and survey, and when informed by local environmental histories. This response engages with propositions put forward by Hammer (2022): “Multi-centric, Marsh-based urbanism at the early Mesopotamian city of Lagash (Tell al-Hiba).” Using a mix of UAV photography and magnetic gradiometry data, Hammer argues that Lagash was a marsh-based city toward the end of the Early Dynastic period in Mesopotamia (c. 2,900-2,292 BCE), and that on-site habitation had previously been restricted to points of high elevation because of excess water. Fundamental geoarchaeological and chronometric data, however, are absent. Based on evidence from previous excavations and general conditions of site preservation, we review Hammer’s interpretations, including the validity and reliability of the data that the paper uses to advance its arguments. Ongoing work at that site has the potential substantially to enhance our understanding of ancient urbanism. Ultimately, this response seeks to rectify basic principles of chronology, taphonomy, and paleoenvironment at Lagash, and to highlight the importance of verifiable representation in the presentation of remotely-sensed datasets.
{"title":"Response to Emily Hammer’s article: “Multi-centric, Marsh-based urbanism at the early Mesopotamian city of Lagash (Tell al Hiba, Iraq)”","authors":"Holly Pittman , Reed Goodman , Sara Pizzimenti , Paul Zimmerman , Jennifer Pournelle , Liviu Giosan","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101532","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101532","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>Remote-sensing techniques play an important role in the resumption of archaeological research in southern Iraq. These tools are especially powerful when ground-truthed through excavation and survey, and when informed by local environmental histories. This response engages with propositions put forward by Hammer (2022): “Multi-centric, Marsh-based urbanism at the early Mesopotamian city of Lagash (Tell al-Hiba).” Using a mix of UAV photography and magnetic gradiometry data, Hammer argues that Lagash was a marsh-based city toward the end of the Early Dynastic period in Mesopotamia (c. 2,900-2,292 BCE), and that on-site habitation had previously been restricted to points of high elevation because of excess water. Fundamental geoarchaeological and chronometric data, however, are absent. Based on evidence from previous excavations and general conditions of site preservation, we review Hammer’s interpretations, including the validity and reliability of the data that the paper uses to advance its arguments. Ongoing work at that site has the potential substantially to enhance our understanding of ancient urbanism. Ultimately, this response seeks to rectify basic principles of chronology, </span>taphonomy, and paleoenvironment at Lagash, and to highlight the importance of verifiable representation in the presentation of remotely-sensed datasets.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49736312","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 : 2023-09-01DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101512
Jack M. Broughton , Michael J. Broughton , Kasey E. Cole , Daniel M. Dalmas , Joan Brenner Coltrain
Previous research has documented declines in the abundance of high-return resources including tule elk (Cervus canadensis nannodes) over the past three millennia in central California, suggesting the occurrence of resource depression. We test the hypothesis that hunting depressed tule elk in this setting by articulating stable isotope analyses from 88 directly dated tule elk specimens with data on the age structure and skeletal part representation from the King Brown and Emeryville Shellmound sites. Late Holocene trends in stable isotopes and modeled climatic variation are inconsistent with climate-based population declines. However, at King Brown, located within the Central Valley and vast tule elk freshwater marsh and grassland habitat, increasing isotopic diversity, a decline in mean age, and increasing abundance of high-utility skeletal elements suggest local depression stimulated the increasing use of distant elk patches. Although faunal trends are consistent with the depression of elk at Emeryville, the site is located on the shore of the San Francisco Bay where limited elk habitat existed, and no evidence of distant elk patch use is indicated. This analysis underscores how human behavioral responses to resource depression can vary in relation to the local ecology as they affect patch use economics for specific prey and demonstrates how such responses can be deciphered through stable isotope and faunal data.
{"title":"Late Holocene tule elk (Cervus canadensis nannodes) resource depression and distant patch use in central California: Faunal and isotopic evidence from King Brown and the Emeryville Shellmound","authors":"Jack M. Broughton , Michael J. Broughton , Kasey E. Cole , Daniel M. Dalmas , Joan Brenner Coltrain","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101512","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101512","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Previous research has documented declines in the abundance of high-return resources including tule elk (<em>Cervus canadensis nannodes</em>) over the past three millennia in central California, suggesting the occurrence of resource depression. We test the hypothesis that hunting depressed tule elk in this setting by articulating stable isotope analyses from 88 directly dated tule elk specimens with data on the age structure and skeletal part representation from the King Brown and Emeryville Shellmound sites. Late Holocene trends in stable isotopes and modeled climatic variation are inconsistent with climate-based population declines. However, at King Brown, located within the Central Valley and vast tule elk freshwater marsh and grassland habitat, increasing isotopic diversity, a decline in mean age, and increasing abundance of high-utility skeletal elements suggest local depression stimulated the increasing use of distant elk patches. Although faunal trends are consistent with the depression of elk at Emeryville, the site is located on the shore of the San Francisco Bay where limited elk habitat existed, and no evidence of distant elk patch use is indicated. This analysis underscores how human behavioral responses to resource depression can vary in relation to the local ecology as they affect patch use economics for specific prey and demonstrates how such responses can be deciphered through stable isotope and faunal data.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49762161","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}