News

Publication date: April 2017Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 80

Publication date: May 2017Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 81 Author(s): Kaitlyn A. Thomas, Brett A. Story, Metin I. Eren, Briggs Buchanan, Brian N. Andrews, Michael J. O’Brien, David J. MeltzerClovis groups, the first widely successful colonizers of North America, had a distinctive technology, whereby manufacturers removed flakes to thin the bases of their stone projectile points, creating “flutes.” That process is challenging to learn and costly to implement, yet was used continent-wide. It has long been debated whether fluting conferred any adaptive benefit. We compared standardized models of fluted and unfluted points: analytically, by way of static, linear finite element modeling and discrete, deteriorating spring modeling; and experimentally, by way of displacement-controlled axial-compression tests. We found evidence that the fluted-point base acts as a “shock absorber,” increasing point robustness and ability to withstand physical stress via stress redistribution and damage relocation. This structural gain in point resilience would have provided a selective advantage to foragers on a largely unfamiliar landscape, who were ranging far from known stone sources and in need of longer-lasting, reliable, and maintainable weaponry.

Publication date: May 2017Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 81 Author(s): Timothy J. McCoy, Amy E. Marquardt, John T. Wasson, Richard D. Ash, Edward P. VicenziAlthough rare among Hopewell horizon artifacts, meteoritic metal represents the most exotic raw material used during the Middle Woodland period in Eastern North America. We demonstrate that Hopewell meteoritic beads recovered from Havana, Illinois can be linked to the Anoka, Minnesota, iron, which fell as a shower of irons across the Mississippi River. The similarity in major, minor and trace element chemistry between Anoka and Havana, the presence of micrometer-sized inclusions of gamma iron in kamacite in both, and the obvious connection via the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers between Anoka and Havana point to the production of the Havana beads from a mass of the Anoka iron. Experiments strongly support the manufacture of the beads via fragmentation of schreibersite inclusions to liberate small pieces of metal. Repeated cycles of heating to temperatures of 600–700 °C followed by cold-working produced flattened metal sheets. These sheets were subsequently rolled to make the Havana beads. Recovery of the iron mass of Anoka that was used to make the beads likely occurred by local populations who were part of the Trempeleau Hopewell center, with exchange bringing it to the Havana Hopewell center, where the beads were manufactured.

Publication date: April 2017Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 80 Author(s): Paloma Vidal-Matutano, Auréade Henry, Isabelle Théry-ParisotWe present here a new approach combining the microscopic characterization of fungal decay features and the fragmentation degree of the charcoal remains from Middle Palaeolithic combustion structures: features H4 and H11 from Abric del Pastor, unit IV (>75 ka BP) and features H50 and H57 from El Salt, unit Xb (ca. 52 ka BP), Eastern Iberia. The observation of wood degradation patterns that occurred prior to charring followed by their quantitative analysis according to previous experimental studies revealed differences between the alteration degrees of the firewood used in the hearths, highlighting the existence of firewood acquisition criteria based on dead wood gathering and also suggesting smoke-related functions. Coupled with fragmentation analyses, this method highlighted possible post-depositional processes affecting the higher degraded charcoals. These results lead us to propose a quantitative analysis of the fungal decay patterns on Middle Palaeolithic charcoal reinforcing the previous hypotheses about dead wood gathering among Neanderthal groups as an accessible and available resource in the surroundings. These data have significant implications for the interpretation of firewood use and management by Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers which was traditionally defined as an opportunistic activity according to the absence of selection criteria based on specific taxa.

Publication date: May 2017Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 81 Author(s): Jonathan R. Wood, Michael F. Charlton, Mercedes Murillo-Barroso, Marcos Martinón-TorresTrace levels of iridium in ancient silver artefacts can provide information on the sources of silver-bearing ores as well as the technologies used to extract silver. A geographically and chronologically disparate legacy dataset, comprised of Near Eastern objects from the Sasanian and Byzantine Empires (1st Millennium AD) and coins circulating around the Mediterranean in the mid-1st Millennium BC, shows that Ag-Au-Ir log-ratio plots can help identify silver derived from the same mining areas, as well as broadly differentiating between the ore types exploited. Combining trace element and lead isotope analyses through the Pb crustal age of the ore, further delimits interpretations on the compositions and locations of silver ore sources. Furthermore, it is shown that silver artefacts of Near Eastern origin have exceptionally high iridium levels, suggesting a unique silver-bearing ore source, potentially in the Taurus mountain range of southern Anatolia. The wide range of crustal ages identified for ancient Greek coins and Near Eastern objects suggest that the addition of exogenous lead as a silver collector during smelting was common practice in the Near East as early as 475BCE. The practice of mixing silver from different sources has also been identified by triangulating the log-ratio subcomposition plots, Pb crustal ages of the ore from which the silver derived and absolute values of trace levels of gold and iridium in silver artefacts.

Publication date: April 2017Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 80 Author(s): William A. BrownPopulation growth rate estimators have recently emerged in demographic temporal frequency analysis (dTFA) as further tools to monitor pre-census population dynamics. The information that such estimators supply affords considerable heuristic potential for population-ecological research both because they implicate the environmental, behavioral, and physiological mechanisms that condition population growth, and because they impose much-needed empirical constraints on our efforts to build theory addressing long-run human population dynamics. However, the earnestness with which these estimators have been applied warrants caution. First, several nonidentical measures of population growth are current in both formal demography and dTFA, creating an opportunity for their equivocation. Second, our ability to insightfully interrogate growth estimates for population-ecological information has been checked by a tendency to interpret them in the framework of off-the-shelf parametric growth models ill-suited to long-run population dynamics. This paper evaluates the biodemographic merit of three estimators recently applied in dTFA. It also advocates a transition away from parametric and toward dynamic growth models and introduces an inductive, regression-based approach to the latter. A Monte Carlo simulation study indicates that this inductive approach can successfully recapture information about environmental influences on population growth from archaeological summed probability distributions, less so from kernel density estimates.

Publication date: April 2017Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 80 Author(s): Wesley D. StonerSatellite imagery and a LiDAR-based DEM have enabled the identification of more area of agricultural intensification in the Gulf lowlands than anywhere else in Classic period (∼300–800 CE) ancient Mesoamerica. This research helps to unravel the complex relationships among population density, settlement organization, food production, agricultural management, and level of sociopolitical complexity. The following conclusions are made: 1) Vestiges of agricultural intensification occur primarily in areas with dense concentrations of prehispanic monumental architecture, which represent nodes of political authority; 2) Nevertheless, some regions with evidence of intensification are distant from any monumental architectural complexes, indicating that at least some fields were constructed using family and corporate labor outside direct political oversight; 3) Intensified agricultural field area correlates negatively with the amount of rainfall recorded in historic times along the coast, suggesting that intensifications may have aimed either to reduce risks associated with exclusive use of rainfall (non-irrigation) agriculture or to maximize the annual growth cycle to produce a surplus; 4) Limited dating suggests that use of intensified agriculture ceased around the same time (∼500–800 CE) just before a massive depopulation took place across much of the Gulf lowlands. This pattern implicates environmental and social stresses as part of the multifaceted process of Classic period collapse in the Gulf lowlands.

Publication date: April 2017Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 80 Author(s): Frederik W. Rademakers, Thilo Rehren, Ernst PernickaThe origin of copper used in Late Bronze Age (LBA) Egypt is very poorly understood despite its cultural and economic importance attested in archaeological and historical sources. Extensive literature discusses major LBA copper sources such as Cyprus (oxhide ingots), Oman (bun ingots) and Egyptian-controlled sites in the Sinai. This paper presents new chemical and lead isotope data for Egyptian copper alloys excavated in several bronze production workshops from the New Kingdom capital Pi-Ramesse, expanding on earlier data from Amarna. Supporting data is obtained from the analysis of crucible remains from the same context, for which the potential contribution of lead isotope analysis is critically evaluated.Diachronic changes in the provisioning of these Egyptian workshops are discussed, incorporating an extensive overview of currently known Egyptian mining and metallurgy. The results have major implications for our understanding of LBA copper circulation in the wider region, for the first time analysing a major Egyptian ‘consumer’ assemblage.The analytical results reveal a complex picture of variable copper supply to the Ramesside workshops, which involved both the recycling of existing bronzes and the use of freshly smelted copper from various origins to produce fresh alloys. Importantly, this includes crucial new evidence for the melting of (Cypriot) oxhide ingot fragments in crucibles for alloying.The royal, internationally connected nature of these workshops makes Pi-Ramesse an exceptional case study of LBA metal trade, and hypotheses raised in this paper highlight the need for more extensive analysis of ancient Egyptian copper artefacts to grasp metal circulation throughout Egypt’s long history. More refined frameworks, incorporating the variety of private as well as royal contexts, will improve understanding of Egypt’s ancient economic organisation. This paper offers new perspectives onto LBA metal supply and consumption networks, with broader archaeological interpretative models of economic and political interactions across the wider ancient Near East.

Publication date: April 2017Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 80 Author(s): Stephen A. Collins-ElliottMethods of measuring differentiation in archaeological assemblages have long been based on attribute-level analyses of assemblages. This paper considers a method of comparing assemblages as probability distributions via the Hellinger distance, as calculated through a Dirichlet-categorical model of inference using Monte Carlo methods of approximation. This method has application within practice-theory traditions of archaeology, an approach which seeks to measure and associate different factors that comprise the habitus of society. It is implemented here focusing on the question of regional food consumption habits in Republican Italy in the last two centuries BCE, toward informing a perspective on mass social change.

Publication date: March 2017Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 79