Understanding the impacts of the emergence of hereditary social inequality in human societies is one of the fundamental questions in archaeology. This book is one case study examining the transitions in craft apprenticeship of formed lithic tools among the precontact Coast Salish of the Pacific Northwest Coast as hereditary social inequality emerged. According to cultural transmission theory, the emergence of large plank house villages and hereditary social inequality would result in the restriction of craft knowledge, and was predicted to reduce the stylistic and fine scale metric variation of formed lithic tools. High resolution metric and stylistic analyses were performed, controlling for material quality, tool retouch and sample size effects. Stylistic variation in lithics and assemblage heterogeneity suggests that lithic craft knowledge became increasingly restricted through time, with the emergence of large sedentary populations.
Il progetto di ricerca oggetto del presente lavoro è stato intrapreso con l'obiettivo di approfondire le conoscenze sui modi di vita dei gruppi preistorici nel territorio del Mont Fallère (Saint-Pierre, Valle d'Aosta, Italia) e tracciare le principali tappe della storia ambientale olocenica dell'area. Si tratta di un lavoro a carattere multidisciplinare che mette in relazione dati archeologici e ambientali ottenuti tramite prospezioni territoriali, scavi archeologici, analisi dell'industria litica, datazioni radiocarboniche, carotaggi palinologici, analisi fisico-chimiche dei sedimenti, indagini geologiche e geomorfologiche. Lo studio evidenzia la frequentazione dell'area da parte dei gruppi di cacciatori-raccoglitori mesolitici, oltre all'attestazione delle prime forme di transumanza verticale a partire dal IV millennio a.C., durante l'età del Rame. Attraverso un approccio diacronico, preceduto da un'accurata fase di progettazione e riflessione metodologica, si è cercato di mettere in evidenza l'evoluzione del rapporto uomo-ambiente in questo settore alpino durante la preistoria.The aim of the research project here presented was to investigate prehistoric occupations in the Mont Fallère district (Saint-Pierre, Valle d'Aosta, Italy) and to reconstruct the main phases of the Holocene environmental history of the area. It is a multidisciplinary work that presents archaeological and environmental data obtained through surveys, archaeological excavations, lithic industry analyses, radiocarbon dates, palynological samplings, physical and chemical soil analyses, and geological and geomorphological studies. The research highlighted the fact that the area was settled by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer groups, but it also yielded evidence of the vertical transhumance practices that occurred during the Copper Age (4th millennium BC). By adopting a diachronic approach, preceded by a careful methodological reflection, the authors reconstruct the evolution of the relationship between human occupation and environmental evolution during prehistory for this alpine district.
This book argues that the use of sail as a complement to paddling would have formed an integral part of the development of centres of power in the early Scandinavian Bronze Age, permitting more frequent communication, and thus helping to expand, maintain and control power. This argument stands in sharp contrast to the current belief that the introduction of the sail in the North occurred between the 7th or 8th and the 10th centuries AD. This reassessment of the potential timing and development in the use of the sail derives mainly from an examination of the Bronze Age rock art (c. 1800-500 BC) in southern Scandinavia containing imagery of boats with attributes that can be interpreted as masts and sails, in combination with experimental sail trials in Bronze Age type boats, and using early sailing in ancient Egypt and Oceania as a backdrop.
Birmingham Archaeology Monograph Series 12An area excavation was undertaken in December 2004-May 2005 within the western part of the interior and defences of Metchley Roman fort, Birmingham (central England) in advance of proposals for a new hospital development. This was the largest single excavation of the fort interior undertaken at Metchley, comprising an area of approximately 0.4ha, equivalent to approximately 9% of the total internal area of the Phase 1 and Phase 3 fort. This volume, the fourth in the reports, concentrates on the researches into the western fort interior, defences, and post-Roman activity.With contributions from Erica Macey-Bracken, Hilary Cool, James Greig, Rob Ixer, Rosalind McKenna, Anthony Swiss, Jane Timby, Roger White, Felicity Wild and David WilliamsIllustrations by Nigel Dodds and Jemma Elliott
Proceedings of the 19th Meeting of the European Association of South Asian Archaeology in Ravenna, Italy, July 2007South Asian Archaeology 2007. Special Sessions 2
A study of the development patterns of grinding and milling techniques in the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean (III-I millennia BC).
An in-depth study of lesions of muscle insertion sites on bone (enthesopathies) in recent and fossilised human skeletons. The work contributes to the field of anthropology in three ways. The author presents a new method of scoring enthesopathies that takes into account variation in muscle attachment site histology and morphology with a system that may well become the new standard for studying enthesopathies in prehistoric and recent populations. Second, the author provides an exhaustive analysis of enthesopathies in three large skeletal series (from Portugal, England and Italy) of individuals of known occupation. This section provides the first controlled comparative documentation of the relationship between activity and enthesopathies, and contributes greatly to the understanding of which muscle attachment sites best reflect activity levels and patterns in individuals, and which types of activity are most likely to contribute to variation in the severity of enthesopathies. Finally, the study describes the results when the new methods are applied to European Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene fossil humans.
The main aims of this study are: to examine the development of Iron Age and Roman landscape of the Foulness Valley, East Yorkshire (northern England), from around 800 BC to the end of the Roman period; to test the validity of the results arising from earlier work undertaken concerning the location and character of Iron Age and Roman settlement and industry in a context of the whole catchment of the Foulness Valley; and to place the Iron Age and Roman archaeology and environment of the Foulness Valley in the wider context of Britain and beyond.
South American Archaeology Series No.5
This work explores the interrelationship between humans and plants within the Princess Point culture. Princess Point is the archaeological cultural context in which a shift from an economy based on foraging to one that incorporated horticulture occurred in what is now southern Ontario. The earliest dates for evidence of corn horticulture in Ontario are from the Princess Point period (ca. 1570 to 970 B.P.). The basis of this study of the Princess Point is to explore the origins of agriculture, together with plant use generally in southern Ontario, and to gain a better understanding of a time when people were changing their subsistence pattern from one based on wild plant resources during the Middle Woodland to one that incorporated crops. Contents: Chapter One: Introduction; Chapter Two: Princess Point; Chapter Three: Plant Evidence: Sampling and Methods; Chapter Four: Identification and Quantification of Plant Remains; Chapter Five: Princess Point Plant Use; Chapter Six: Discussion and Conclusions.
An in-depth study of man's impact on the environment and landscape of the Maltese islands from the Neolithic to Medieval times.
This book started its life as a study of people travelling between England and Rome from the Augustinian Mission until the close of the Anglo-Saxon period but that proved to be too limiting a subject, for two reasons. One was that so much of the evidence about how people travelled around lay in continental sources and it seemed foolish to ignore it simply as a matter of principle. The second is that the means by which people travelled proved to be so exhaustive a study that it led into all kinds of by-ways: accommodation, money carrying and changing, safety, language and a whole range of human problems that still exist in modern travel but are more easily solved for the traveller, usually by other people. It was not enough to catalogue the travellers: the question turned to, how did they manage to do it before the days of organised mass travel in the high middle ages? The later centuries have been better studied, but the earlier ones have not. The result is thus something of a hybrid: more than a study of English sources alone, but less than a study of the whole of European travel. The theme is primarily the north-south routes that converged on the Alps and joined the north of Europe to Italy. Where appropriate, the author has confined his evidence to material from England, that is, to those people who made the journey and their motives, the timing and duration of their journeys, and the routes that they followed. Elsewhere, in sections which address the mechanics of travel, he has widened the range of sources, to include material from all Anglo-Saxon sources irrespective of where the journey was made, provided that it was compatible with a journey to Rome. The author has also adopted some contemporary foreign parallels where Continental experience would match English, thus including material ranging from Gregory of Tours at the beginning of our period, and Albert of Stade, some time after the end. In including these additional sources the author has tried to throw light on the problems of travellers to and from England rather than provide what would be an inadequate description of the whole of continental travel.
Prehistoric Ceramics Research Group: Occasinoal Paper 5In October 2004 over 70 delegates met in the Department of Archaeological Sciences at the University of Bradford for the second International Conference on Prehistoric Ceramics. The conference was the second major biannual conference to be organised by the Prehistoric Ceramics Research Group. The call for papers was deliberately broad in its scope - recent research - and such is the amount of work currently taking place on Prehistoric Ceramics across Europe (and indeed further afield) that the conference organisers were inundated with offers of papers. In such a developing subject as is modern ceramic studies, it is logical to assume that papers will be wide-ranging and varied. It is hoped that in the papers presented in this volume, readers will find much to stimulate the mind and their own directions of study even if the subject matter is not directly relevant to their own specific fields. This is the unifying beauty of ceramic research.
This work investigates the excavated archaeological record of the northern Levantine littoral for specific evidence of continuity or change in the regional economic structure after the period of destruction that enveloped the Eastern Mediterranean at the end of the Late Bronze Age. It also integrates relevant textual evidence and seeks to place this area within its regional context as part of the Eastern Mediterranean and Ancient Near Eastern trading networks by comparing the northern Levantine evidence with that from the south and from Cyprus.
Society for South Asian Studies Monograph No 4The site of Anuradhapura, NW Sri Lanka, is important, from two principal points of view. In the first place it has played a significant role in the history and cultural traditions of Sri Lanka as a whole. Secondly, Anuradhapura has a more immediate, specific importance from an archaeological point of view on account of the extent, depth and richness of the occupation deposits. This has been demonstrated by the research done there by archaeologists during the last century. This work has opened the way to achieving a better understanding of Early Historic Sri Lanka than was hitherto possible and provided an excellent basis for further investigation. Indeed, it is upon this basis that the investigations described here have been undertaken and have carried forward the study of this remarkable site, leading to a more detailed and comprehensive understanding of its long history and development. The investigations described here had the advantage of a number of modern techniques, including geophysical methods of surface survey, three-dimensional recording of levels and finds in excavation, and ample radiocarbon measurements. On account of the depth and continuity of the dated cultural sequence described in the two volumes that make up the report, each of which deals with specific aspects of the excavation as a whole, it is possible to relate Anuradhapura to a wider archaeological context. The present, second volume, The Artefacts, describes the artefacts and other finds and relates them to the dated sequence ofarchaeologically identified layers, thus clothing the dated structural framework with cultural material. An important discovery was that of a small number of short inscriptions on pottery and other objects in Brahmi script. The record provided by the Anuradhapura sequence makes it possible to look outward at its historic links and their implications. For example, it is now possible to study the city of Anuradhapura's cultural and trading links with other parts of the ancient world. In sum, the excavations at Anuradhapura provide a wonderful database of evidence relating to the Iron Age and Early Historic periods of South Asia and from it we can study the stages of the emergence of a city and its subsequent growth. (Volume I, The Site, provides the archaeological framework and is firmly based on the carefully recorded cultural sequence, the longest and most fully recorded so far available in Sri Lanka, and indeed in the entire southern half of the Indian subcontinent. This work is available as BAR S824 1999: Society for South Asian Studies Monograph 3 Anuradhapura The British-Sri Lankan Excavations at Anuradhapura Salgaha Watta 2. Volume I: The Site by Robin Coningham. ISBN 1841710369.)
This volume presents the site of Northton in the Western Isles of Scotland (at Toe Head on Harris).During excavations in 1965 and 1966 two early horizons were identified beneath and close to the base of the machair sands. With excavation the stratigraphically later of these horizons furnished evidence for a probable stone structure, funerary and faunal remains, and an abundance of artefacts, particularly pottery, which in turn dated the horizon to the Neolithic period. In contrast, the lower horizon lay directly above the natural boulder clay, was sealed by the machair sands, and contained a general paucity of faunal and artefactual remains. Due to the discovery of one small sherd of Neolithic pottery it was assumed, however, that this horizon might represent an earlier phase of Neolithic occupation. During a brief season of fieldwork in 2001 a seemingly comparable horizon, which also rested above the boulder clay, was identified in a section which had been exposed through coastal erosion. Following a limited investigation this basal horizon produced evidence for human activity in the form of possible stone settings, charred plant macrofossils, faunal remains and a small assemblage of chipped stone artefacts. Significantly, a series of dates obtained from the plant macrofossils indicate that this material is unambiguously of the Mesolithic period. Whilst these somewhat unexpected results have major implications for constructing the internal chronology of the site, as they appear to extend human activity at Northton back to the seventh millennium cal. BC, they are also of considerable interest at both a regional and national level, as they may represent the first direct evidence for Mesolithic activity in the Western Isles. The volume has chapters on the site's early occupation, the Beaker period, Bronze, Iron, and later periods, and a history of the Northton Machair. There are six Appendices and Catalogues of finds and data.
This work examines the post-palatial phase of Late Helladic IIIC middle. During this phase in Greek prehistory, Greece undergoes important changes that will transfer the palace administrative system of the Mycenaean era to that of the city-states of the early Greek period. At the time of its publication much of the material evidence known today was still unpublished and although the material examined provided a most thorough account of what was known at the time it was still limited as a result of the lack of publications or as often was the case the lack of LH IIIC, or so defined, deposits. This phase of the Bronze Age has been periodically examined either through the investigation of specific sites or in certain cases with the study of a particular type of material find such as pottery. What this publication aims to provide is a more synthetic study of the middle phase in its entirety within the regions of the central and southern Aegean. By examining the archaeological material from settlements and burials of the middle phase, together with their associated finds of pottery, terracotta figurines, jewellery and weapons, it is hoped that they will provide valuable insight into this phase and provide information concerning the new social and economic structures that arose in response to the loss of the Mycenaean administrative centres.
The ways in which the Hominids of the Middle Palaeolithic acquired megaherbivores is still a point of controversy. Did Neanderthals have sufficient intellectual and technological capacities to hunt these huge mammals? This volume presents methods relating to the acquisition and treatment of prey. These are applied directly to the study of three European sites marked by an important population of very large mammals: Hanhoffen (Bas-Rhin), Biache-Saint-Vaast (Pas-de-Calais) and le Mont-Dol (Ille-et-Vilaine). In addition, 73 archeological levels presenting more or less remains of very large herbivores, dated from Middle Palaeolithic of North-Western Europe, are compared.
The complex archaeological and geological legacy that North Somerset boasts often means that certain periods may be ignored.
Edited by H. L. Cobb, F. Coward, L. Grimshaw and S. Price.This volume stems from sessions at the 2004 Theoretical Archaeology Conference at Glasgow University, entitled "Hunter-Gatherers in Early Prehistory" and "Hunting for Meaning: Interpretive Approaches to the Mesolithic". The sessions came about as a response to a continuing lack of appreciation of new developments in theoretical approaches to the archaeology of prehistoric hunter-gatherers both in the Pleistocene and Holocene.
An exploration of the social and military role of the Shardana mercenaries in Egypt during the 13th to the 11th centuries BC.
15 papers from the Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology held in Southampton, England in 2003.
This research is based on the comb assemblages from 18 excavation sites, which cover over 80% of the excavated area of Medieval Novgorod (950-1450 AD), Russia. The work outline the chronological trends and stylistic changes in combs themselves and in their relationship to the immediate environment of the properties they originate from, as well as to broader contexts of the town and the entire complex urban community. The research also uses these objects for drawing out the fundamental changes of the comb-making industry in its transition from the late Viking Age and through the Middle Ages and as a background to the development of the urban society. The comb finds are analysed typologically and contextually and the databases are presented in the accompanying download.
With a bounty of illustrations this volume traces the history of furniture making in Mesopotamia over the course of some 10000 years. This is a much neglected area of study, and using his practical experience as an architect Dr. Kubba is able to provide many new and fascinating insights.
Symposium 2.1 (Pottery Manufacturing Processes: Reconstitution and Interpretation) from the 14th UISPP Conference held in Liège, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001.
Translated from the Latvian by Valdis B¿rzi¿¿
A volume of detailed research and summary into metal farming tools used in Gaul/Upper Germania from the Gallo-Romano period; indeed many of the types are still in use today. 199 finds are investigated and reconstructed to show the various techniques of manufacture, use and efficiency. The new method of analysis has shown that ploughing equipment was capable of turning the soil in Gallia Belgica from the second century. Includes 8 colour plates of metallurgical analyses. An accompanying catalogue is provided by the same author in: BAR - S1236, 2004 "Les instruments aratoires des Gaules et de Germanie Superieure Catalogue des pièces métalliques" (ISBN 1 84171 595 6).
This work is an examination of the burial practices of the Upper Seine Basin during the earlier portions of the Iron Age (Hallstatt Finale to the La Tène Moyenne) conducted with the specific aims of examining concepts of identity as reflected through the funerary remains. It focusses upon three aspects of identity: regionality, gender and social status. These theoretical concepts are examined through the analysis of the artefact assemblage and the examination of aspects of similarity and differences inthe artefact placement within the graves context. In order to examine these aspects, this work begins by reexamining the existing theories and models of understandings for the Iron Age in Northeastern France. It examines specifically the socio-economicmodels utilised to examine the general archaeological remains, the present understandings of social status, and pays particular attention to the existing models for our understanding of gender during the time period. Once the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches have been presented, the study goes on to discuss the analysis conducted by the author of a sample of archaeological sites. This analysis utilised a variety of quantitative techniques in order to obtain new data regarding aspects of identity associated with regionality, gender and social status. Among the statistical methods used were a simple comparison of mean averages for a series of burial categories identified by the author, as well as the use of the exploratory multivariate technique of correspondence analysis. The results are presented and discussed in detail, and then interpreted in the light of past and present models of our understanding of the Iron Age. Finally, the thesis discusses the nature of the changes in the burial rites between the Hallstatt Finale and the La Tène Moyenne, and presents a series of new interpretations of Iron Age culture in the region.
Archaeological Conference in Honour of the Late Professor Michael J. O'Kelly. Proceedings of the Stones and Bones Conference in Sligo, Ireland, May 1-5, 2002This volume presents the proceedings of the Stones and Bones archaeological conference held in Sligo in May 2002 in honour of the late Professor Michael O'Kelly. 15 papers are included, as are several abstracts and posters.
Mycenaean culture has been thoroughly studied and is well understood as it relates to the Greek mainland. However, for the Aegean islands, and in terms of this study the South-eastern Aegean, the situation is not so clear. The islands, due to their geographic peculiarities, have a special character and it is essential to appreciate the extent to which their environment affected the local culture. These processes and the way they operate can help us in understanding the character of Mycenaean influence on the islands. Inextricably linked to this line of thinking is the question of migration, colonization and invasion that has been proposed for the islands, entailing population movement from mainland Greece. This ultimately leads to the question of ethnicity and the nature of Mycenaean cultural identity. In order to investigate these ideas, they must be analyzed to find out how they can be applied and perceived in the archaeological record. The South-eastern Aegean, as defined in this study, comprises Samos, Ikaria, Phournoi, the islands of the Dodecanese as well as south-western Anatolia, that is the Carian coast opposite Rhodes, and part of the Ionian coast up to the Küçük Menderes river, Kolophon and Bakla Tepe. Although the main period of study is the Greek Bronze Age, reference is also made to the Neolithic. The book is divided into three parts: Part I, on the environment and movement; Part II, on the landscape; and Part III on burial information. The Appendices provide for the first time all the available data on South-eastern Aegean burials, i.e. the architectural elements of the tombs, their contents and a thorough analysis and presentation of all the finds.
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