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Publication date: Available online 26 July 2016Source:Journal of Archaeological Science Author(s): Ximena S. Villagran, André Strauss, Christopher Miller, Bertrand Ligouis, Rodrigo OliveiraFew archaeological sites in the Americas contain high concentrations of human burials dating back to the early Holocene. The tropical karstic region of Lagoa Santa, in central Brazil (state of Minas Gerais) is one of the richest bioanthropological records available to study the behaviors and funerary practices of early Holocene South Americans, with more than 200 skeletons found so far. One of the key locations to examine the history of human settlement in Lagoa Santa is the site of Lapa do Santo, a rockshelter known to contain the oldest rock art and the earliest evidence of funerary complexity in the continent. In this geoarchaeological investigation we focus on the early Holocene settlement at Lapa do Santo (7.9–12.7 cal kyBP) applying high-resolution geoarchaeological techniques, such as micromorphology, organic petrology and μFTIR, on both archaeological, modern reference and experimental samples. This is the first time that a micro-contextual approach integrated with experimental geoarchaeology has been applied to study the formation of rockshelter deposits in a tropical setting. Our results show that the stratigraphic sequence formed under the dual influence of anthropogenic sedimentation—through continuous combustion activities—and geogenic sedimentation in the form of oxisol aggregates which fell from above the limestone cliff into the rockshelter. Intact hearths and remobilized combustion debris, possibly hearth rake-out, are close to the graves suggesting repeated burning activities as part of the ritual behavior of early Holocene South Americans. Large amounts of ash are intermixed with heated and unheated oxisol aggregates. Heated termite mound fragments were also found mixed within the sediments. Post-depositional alteration of the site includes limited bioturbation and localized, low energy surface water and sub-surface concentrations of moisture, leading to precipitation of dense, secondary carbonates. The age inversions can be attributed to the human action of reworking the ashy sediments and not to post-abandonment processes. Despite this, the overall preservation of the sediments is good and most human burials can be considered to be in primary context.

Publication date: June 2016Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 70 Author(s): Joan Negre, Facundo Muñoz, Carla LancelottiMaps representing the distribution of chemical residues over anthropogenic floors are the main diagnostic tools used by archaeologists for addressing the identification of geochemical signatures of past actions. Geostatistics allows producing these maps from a sample of locations by modelling the spatial autocorrelation structure of these kind of phenomena. However, the homogeneity of the prediction regions is a strong assumption in the model. The presence of barriers, such as the inner walls of domestic units, introduces discontinuities in prediction areas. In this paper, we investigate how to incorporate information of a geographical nature into the process of geostatistical prediction. We propose the use of cost-based distances to quantify the correlation between locations, a solution which has proved to be a practical alternative approach for archaeological intrasite analysis. The cost-based approach produces more reliable results avoiding the unrealistic assumption of the homogeneity of the study area. As a working example, a case study of the distribution of two specific chemical signatures in domestic floors is presented within a controlled ethnographical context in Northern Gujarat (India). On a broad disciplinary scale, the benefits of using our approach include improved estimates in regions with complex geometry and lower uncertainty in the kriging predictions.

Publication date: August 2016Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 72 Author(s): Michael Holton PriceI extend Metcalfe and Barlow’s field processing model to account for the opportunity cost of home labor and test the model using ethnographic observations of clove harvesting, cacao harvesting, and sago processing on the island of Seram in eastern Indonesia. The ethnographic observations are consistent with the opportunity cost of home labor time being between 0.58 and 0.96 that of field labor time. Since the Metcalfe-Barlow model assumes that the opportunity cost of home labor is zero, this refinement of the Metcalfe-Barlow model is warranted in the social and ecological context in which the data was collected and in archaeological contexts where the opportunity cost of home labor cannot clearly be ignored. The extended model predicts a lower threshold than the Metcalfe-Barlow model for the critical transport time beyond which field processing should occur, which has broad implications for recognizing and explaining archaeological and paleoecological signatures of subsistence transitions. I illustrate this by showing that for sago processing the extended model predicts a threshold that is less than half that predicted by the Metcalfe-Barlow model. This low threshold suggests that sago is unlikely to be processed at home. Given this and the perishable nature of both sago starch and traditional containers used to transport it, the limited evidence for sago in archaeological assemblages should not be taken as evidence that it was an unimportant resource in prehistory.

Publication date: June 2016Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 70 Author(s): Monica MărgăritRaw materials deriving from the aquatic environment were systematically used for personal ornamentation by modern humans throughout their entire history. In this study we analyse three types of raw materials: Lithoglyphus sp. shells, Unio sp. valves and Cyprinus carpio opercular bones. The central purpose of this paper is to initiate a database of the way in which wear develops according to the system of attachment and the longevity of use. In order to identify the costs invested in the manufacturing of these types of items, both from the point of view of time and effort, an experimental programme has been developed, which permits the recording of all the variables (means of gathering the raw material, technological stages, time recorded for each operation, and tools used). Furthermore, it was set the task of wearing the beads experimentally processed, as adornments, for two years, and of periodically evaluating the perforation and the surface of the pieces under a microscope. Moreover, observations made on archaeological specimens were compared to experimental replicas. The archaeological assemblages from the Romanian Neolithic were used as a case study to illustrate the relevance of the results.

Publication date: August 2016Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 72 Author(s): Vladimír Sládek, Martin Hora, Kristýna Farkašová, Thomas R. RocekThis paper proposes and tests the idea that a major change in technology associated with the grinding of cereals may account for changes in asymmetry in the upper arms of women in the Neolithic through Iron Age across a large area of Europe. It has been observed that bilateral asymmetry in humeral strength (i.e., polar section modulus) decreased to near zero in early agricultural females, but increased again during the Iron Age. These changes in asymmetry in females have been interpreted as the direct consequence of the adoption of the saddle quern at the start of the Neolithic and its subsequent replacement by the rotary quern in the Iron Age. To test the impact of these alternative cereal grinding methods, we tested the efficiency of saddle and rotary quern grinding with 16 female volunteers and the effect of grinding on muscle activity of the upper limb with 20 female volunteers. We used electromyography to measure muscle activity in the pectoralis, deltoideus, infraspinatus and triceps muscles and adjusted muscle activity for efficiency and muscle size. Saddle quern grinding was 4.3 times less efficient than rotary quern grinding and produced a significantly higher amount of coarse- and middle-grained flour but a significantly lower amount of very fine grained flour than rotary quern grinding. Saddle quern grinding showed symmetrical muscle activity in all four studied muscles, whereas rotary quern grinding yielded consistent directional asymmetry in a majority of muscles even during bimanual rotation. Saddle quern grinding required about twice as much muscle activity per kg of grain when adjusted for muscle size than rotary quern grinding. Our results support the view that saddle quern grinding may have played a major role in the decrease in directional asymmetry in humeral strength in early agricultural females and that the adoption of the rotary quern during the Iron Age may have increased humeral directional asymmetry mainly because of increased asymmetrical loading and the reduced time needed for grinding in favor of other manipulative tasks.

Publication date: June 2016Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 70 Author(s): Kristine M. Bovy, Jessica E. Watson, Jane Dolliver, Julia K. ParrishDetermining whether seabirds recovered from coastal shell middens were obtained via active hunting or scavenging of beached carcasses is a challenge for archaeologists. Traditional methods have included analyzing skeletal part frequencies, abundance, age profiles, and contextual evidence. The assumption has been made, based on limited biological data, that an assemblage of carcasses scavenged from the beach will have more wing elements, and fewer legs and heads. Few studies, however, have embraced modern beaching data to verify this assumption and assess the potential faunal resources available for scavenging. We analyze the skeletal part representation of modern beached birds observed by the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST), comparing the COASST dataset to two idealized hypotheses used by archaeologists: the human scavenging hypothesis (wings only are recovered, while heads and legs are absent) and the human hunting hypothesis (all body parts are found in equal proportions). Finally, we apply these results to analysis of the bird remains from the Minard site (45-GH-15), a late Holocene coastal site in Grays Harbor, Washington. We find that contemporary beached bird data are closer to replicating the human hunting hypothesis as compared to the human scavenging hypothesis, as >75% of the 19,599 carcasses in the COASST dataset had a combination of head, wings and legs. This result, and the similarity in taxonomic distribution between our contemporary beached bird data and Minard assemblage, suggests that indigenous peoples may have used scavenging as a viable means of resource acquisition in the past. Use of contemporaneous beached bird data may provide zooarchaeology with a statistically defensible baseline of information on the phenology, abundance and condition of bird carcasses.

Publication date: August 2016Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 72 Author(s): Adam S. GreenThe engravings on Harappan stamp seals allow the identification of particular artisans in the past. Toward this end, this article employs three-dimensional optical microscopy of stamp seal engravings to provide a non-destructive source of data for reconstructing specific sequences of action. Comparing these operational sequences (chaînes opératoire) reveals similarities that probably resulted from past production events undertaken by differing individual carvers. Applying this high resolution approach to a sample of five unicorn stamp seals from Mohenjo-daro (2600–1900 B.C.) strongly suggests that their engravings are the work of three artisans. The differences in their operational sequences provide preliminary insights into the boundaries between the communities of practice that produced Harappan seals. This approach can extend archaeological inquiry into many aspects of the social conditions in which seal production occurred. A close analysis of operational sequences reveals how the traces of specific actions, faithfully recorded in stone, can help us find people in the past whose specific activities would otherwise lie outside of scholarly investigation.

Publication date: June 2016Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 70 Author(s): Elena Karpova, Vladimir Vasiliev, Victor Mamatyuk, Natalia Polosmak, Lyudmila KundoThe collection of textiles from Xiongnu burial was obtained in the recent years as a result of research of the Russian-Mongolian expedition led by N. Polosmak. This collection is a unique source of the different types of information. Xiongnu throughout their long history controlled the Central Asia regions of the Silk Road, by which many and varied products, including textiles and wool, were brought to China from the west. The woolen fabrics and textiles of high quality were found in the Xiongnu noble burials located in the mountains of Mongolia. An analysis of their dyes composition by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) showed that the woolen fabrics were dyed with plant and insect dyestuffs. Each sample analyzed was dyed with a set of dyestuffs that indicates that dyers had not only the necessary and various dyes, but possessed highly developed craftsmanship of dyeing. Based on the results of this research it can be proposed that the dyeing of the woolen textiles found in the graves of the Xiongnu nobility was carried out in the manufactories of the Mediterranean, known for their fabrics dyeing culture. Numerous Chinese-made silk fabrics were dyed with traditional Han epoch plant dyes – indigo and Indian madder. Dyes composition of the silk textile fundamentally differs from dyes of the woolen fabrics by the absence of dyestuffs of insect origin.

Publication date: August 2016Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 72 Author(s): Anna E. Spinek, Wiesław Lorkiewicz, Joanna Mietlińska, Ewa Sewerynek, Arkadiusz Kłys, David Caramelli, Elżbieta Żądzińska

Publication date: August 2016Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 72 Author(s): Daniel Weidele, Mereke van Garderen, Mark Golitko, Gary M. Feinman, Ulrik BrandesIts focus on dependencies and patterns in relational data makes network science a promising addition to the analytic toolbox in archaeology. Despite its tradition in a number of other fields, however, the methodology of network science is only in development and its scope and proper usage are subject to debate. We argue that the historical linkage with graph theory and limitations in commonly available software form an obstacle to leveraging the full potential of network methods. This is illustrated via replication of a study of Maya obsidian (Golitko et al. Antiquity, 2012), in which it seemed necessary to discard detailed information in order to represent data in networks suitable for further processing. We propose means to avoid such information loss by using methods capable of handling valued rather than binarized data. The resulting representations corroborate previous conclusions but are more reliable and thus justify a more detailed interpretation of shifting supply routes as an underlying process contributing to the collapse of Maya urban centers. Some general conclusions for the use of network science in archaeology are offered.