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Organizing archaeological artefacts under a conceptual system is part and parcel of archaeological research. As an abundant material category, pottery artefacts classified in an effective typological model provide a rich source of information for the discipline. However, building a typological model from scratch, as well as maintaining it, often represents a challenge. To support archaeological research, automated methods are increasingly utilized in sustaining classification models. Yet, there is potential for advancement in creating, rethinking, and updating typological arrangements by means of digital, label-driven, or data-driven algorithmic approaches. In this paper, we take a step towards fulfilling this potential while highlighting the fuzziness involved in typological arrangements. We present a complete research pipeline of pottery form quantification, fuzzy-type description, and fuzzy-type definition which is in principle applicable to any typological model. The methodological pipeline is implemented, first, in rim segments to algorithmically construct polythetic rim descriptors; second, in complete profiles to algorithmically connect the global form with the attributed functional class; and third, in types to investigate within-class form variation and its chronological relevance. This paper provides tools to formalize the ambivalence of typological classification using fuzzy logic and revisit the theoretical model to investigate the vagueness of belonging to a class based on morphological aspects of pottery profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

North American brass projectile points conjure a variety of archaeological narratives. Depending on the interpreter and the context of interpretation, they serve as evidence for: simplistic replacement of local traditions by technologically superior European-introduced materials; the homogenizing forces of global capitalism; nuanced and complicated Indigenous-colonial histories; and/or Indigenous survivance and adaptability. Irrespective of the narratives that they inspire, however, brass projectiles remain under-studied and under-theorized in North American archaeology. This paper addresses this dearth by analyzing and rethinking a large museum assemblage of brass projectile points from Ontario. The analysis offers insights into the variability and history of brass projectiles, specifically as they relate to lithic traditions. The brass assemblage under consideration points to the significance of New Materialist perspectives on relationality, on post-anthropocentrism, and on change and history. Whereas archaeological habits tend to characterize North American brass projectiles as permutations of "old" plus "new" with minimal engagement with the objects themselves, this paper thinks with brass points, seeking out new angles of understanding that recognize their novelty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological studies of early weaponry have relied for decades on ethnographic parallels—whether from ethnohistorical accounts, ethnographic literature, or from objects studied in museum collections. While such accounts and collected objects provided key data in the past, including of morphometrics and functionality, few studies have explored the quality of such data. In this paper, we critically assess a dominant theoretical paradigm, namely the utility of ethnographic collections to assess Pleistocene archaeological material. Our focus is how ethnographic spear morphometrics are used to propose delivery methods of archaeological weapons. We discuss the archaeological significance of early spears, and the role that ethnography has played in interpreting them. We provide new morphometric data of ethnographic wooden spears, which have been used analogically to assess the earliest archaeological hunting tools. We systematically collected data from ethnographic collections of wooden spears in five museums in the UK and Australia including mass, length, diameters and point of balance, alongside any recorded information on provenance and use. Older datasets, as well as the data in this paper, are limited due to collection bias and a lack of detailed museum records. By subjecting the new data to statistical analyses, we find that with a few exceptions morphometrics are not reliable predictors of delivery as thrusting or hand-thrown spears (javelins). Prevalent hypotheses linking variables such as mass, tip design, or maximum diameter with delivery are unsupported by our results. However, the descriptive statistics provided may remain useful as a means of comparative data for archaeological material. We conclude that using simple morphometrics to parse weapon delivery has had a drag effect on forming new and interesting hypotheses about early weapons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite years of debate, the factors that control the long-term carrying capacity of human populations are not well understood. In this paper, we assess the effect of changes in resource extraction and climate-driven changes in ecosystem productivity on the carrying capacity of hunter-gatherer populations in a terrestrial and coastal ecosystem. To make this assessment, we build time-series estimates of changes in resource extraction using stable isotopes and ecosystem productivity using paleoclimate models and geomorphic records of flood events. These estimates of resource extraction and ecosystem productivity allow us to assess a complex model of population expansion that proposes linked changes between population density, resource extraction, and intensification. We find that changes in resource extraction had a larger effect on carrying capacity in both the terrestrial and coastal ecosystems than climate drivers of ecosystem productivity. Our results are consistent with the idea that both Malthusian limits on resources and Boserupian pressures to reorganize economic systems operate in hunter-gatherer populations over the long term. Our data and analysis contribute to evaluating complex models of population growth and subsistence change across archaeological cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeologists all over the world face problems regarding complexity and disorganization. Whether surveying, excavating, or doing laboratory analysis, the nature of the evidence of prehistoric societies is fragmented and incomplete. On a global and very general basis, the older the site, the greater the fragmentation, the more the missing data, and the greater the disorganization that the archaeologist must navigate to understand the past. Of course, there are notable exceptions. Most archaeologists consider the topic from the specificity of a particular time, a particular place, and a particular society. In this paper, it is considered in its most non-particular and general format. In order to do so, the paper creates an artificial archaeological region that is surveyed and excavated to a greater and lesser extent and analyzed with a variety of statistical and graphic evaluations. It concludes that when all other things are equal, increasing fragmentation causes far more disorganization and increases complexity than does missing data. Thus, fragmentation is a far more important problem for archaeological interpretation than relatively small amounts of missing data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the ontogenetic age and sex composition of zooarchaeological assemblages can reveal details about past human hunting and herding strategies as well as past animal morphology and behavior. As such, the accuracy of our estimates underlies our ability to ascertain details about site formation and gain insights into how people interacted with different animals in the past. Unfortunately, our estimates typically rely on only a small number of bones, limiting our ability to fruitfully use these estimates to make meaningful comparisons to theoretical expectations or even between multiple assemblages. This paper describes a method to use zooarchaeological remains with standard biometric measurements to estimate the ontogenetic age and sex composition of the assemblage, focused on immature, adult-sized female, and adult-sized male specimens. The model uses a Bayesian framework to ensure that the parameter estimates are biologically meaningful. Simulated assemblages show that the model can accurately estimate the biometry and composition of zooarchaeological assemblages. Two archaeological case studies also show how the model can be applied to produce tangible insights. The first, focused on sheep from Neolithic Pinarbaşı B, highlights the model's ability to elucidate site formation and function. The second, focused on cattle remains from four assemblages from 7th-6th millennium BCE northwestern Anatolia, showcases how to use the mixture modeling results to compare assemblages to one another and to specific hypotheses. This modeling framework provides a new avenue for investigating long-term trajectories in animal biometry alongside contextual analyses of past human choices in butchery and consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential applications of microCT scanning in the field of archaeobotany are only just beginning to be explored. The imaging technique can extract new archaeobotanical information from existing archaeobotanical collections as well as create new archaeobotanical assemblages within ancient ceramics and other artefact types. The technique could aid in answering archaeobotanical questions about the early histories of some of the world's most important food crops from geographical regions with amongst the poorest rates of archaeobotanical preservation and where ancient plant exploitation remains poorly understood. This paper reviews current uses of microCT imaging in the investigation of archaeobotanical questions, as well as in cognate fields of geosciences, geoarchaeology, botany and palaeobotany. The technique has to date been used in a small number of novel methodological studies to extract internal anatomical morphologies and three-dimensional quantitative data from a range of food crops, which includes sexually-propagated cereals and legumes, and asexually-propagated underground storage organs (USOs). The large three-dimensional, digital datasets produced by microCT scanning have been shown to aid in taxonomic identification of archaeobotanical specimens, as well as robustly assess domestication status. In the future, as scanning technology, computer processing power and data storage capacities continue to improve, the possible applications of microCT scanning to archaeobotanical studies will only increase with the development of machine and deep learning networks enabling the automation of analyses of large archaeobotanical assemblages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role that humans played in the extinction of Pleistocene proboscideans is highly controversial. Ethnohistoric records of elephant hunting, in concert with theoretical rationales, are often used as proxy evidence to support the view that ancient humans regularly and efficiently targeted large-sized proboscideans to the point of extinction. This paper examines the socioeconomic and technological contexts of elephant hunting in contemporary and ethnohistoric records to show how these circumstances influenced the scale of harvest, productivity, and valuation of elephants. Quantitative and qualitative evidence derived from some of these records are used to analyze the efficiency of elephant capture using traditional hunting technologies (spears, poisoned projectiles, traps, and drives). This analytical framework provides a systematic method for evaluating the productivity of proboscidean predation. Results show that prior to the widespread use of firearms in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the acquisition of elephants, irrespective of the traditional hunting technology used, was a dangerous, high-cost activity often associated with a high-risk of hunting failure. In the ethnographic record, elephant hunting is consistently associated with prestige-seeking among egalitarian hunter-gatherers. Although the analysis presented here is derived from hunting episodes that involved modern elephants, the physical characteristics and abilities that make these animals expensive and risky to hunt were likely manifested by most Pleistocene proboscideans. Using ethnographic data, a framework for recognizing how prestige hunting is manifested under different ecological and sociopolitical circumstances is provided and offers an alternative and compelling explanation for zooarchaeological patterning of costly prey in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After returning from a national meeting, Jim was excited to begin a series of experiments on fiber-tempered pottery. One afternoon, Jim and I were hauling, in a university truck, some used equipment given to the lab by a local company. Working with Jim - solving problems, doing experiments, fashioning theory, writing papers - was always pleasurable. Working on Paul Fish's Northern Tucson Basin Project, Jim conceived an experiment to understand the distribution of isolated sherds along the Ruelas Drainage. [Extracted from the article]

The development of technologies related to plastic mineral matters (PMM), including clay, mud, and plaster, represents a major step in cultural evolution because of their important repercussions for food processing, storage, transportation, construction, and symbolic expression in past human societies. This paper aims to illuminate the chaînes opératoires employed in the transformation of PMM and highlight early evidence for these technologies in the archaeological record. Our focus is 'ad-hoc' (or non-manufactured) ground stone tools used in finishing operations. Specifically, we discuss pebbles and cobbles employed to regularize, smooth, or burnish clay and mud-based products. Because these tools consist of unmodified rocks, recognizing and understanding the traces developed through use is essential for their identification. This is a pilot study that draws on experiments, ethnographic studies and quantification via confocal microscopy to assess the variability of use-wear developed on mud and clay processors. Extra attention is placed on micro-polish, not only because this type of wear has been seldom described before for such tools, but also because it appears to be highly diagnostic. We suggest that the variability observed can be described as a family of wear, that is, a range of recurrent use-wear characteristics associated with the processing of PMM. We analyze two collections associated with different chrono-cultural contexts: the Late Natufian site of Hilazon Tachtit in the Southern Levant and the Late Neolithic site of Kremasti-Kilada in Greece. At both sites, the identification of processors of PMM provides pivotal data to understand the relevant chaînes opératoires, assess the emergence and development of these technologies, and also explore symbolic behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While developments in GIS technology and methodologies continue to add great value to archaeological research, they have often fallen somewhat out of step with theoretical developments elsewhere in the discipline. The result is a technology that focuses on the practically possible—new questions emerge as and when the technology allows. While more experimental approaches exist in some sub-disciplines, such as studies of the North American Southwest or contemporary archaeology, these are not regularly incorporated elsewhere. This paper explores the possibilities for GIS-based research to engage with current theoretical debates surrounding posthumanism, and particularly assemblage thinking. A case study focuses on the European prehistoric heathlands, arguing that limiting our investigations to traditional realms of GIS practice means that much of the detail that defines different types of landscape disappears from view. By taking inspiration from assemblage thinking, I explore the multiple species that make up heathlands and define how they were experienced and interacted with in the Early Bronze Age of Denmark. Thus, I argue that GIS and posthumanism have much to offer one another in archaeological practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the applicability of the Principal Component Analysis-Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (PCA-AHC) approach to provenance studies of non-ferrous metals using combined Pb isotope and chemistry data. Pb isotopic ratios were converted to the natural abundance of individual isotopes and then to weight units. Next, all relevant variables (Pb isotopes and trace elements) were processed with PCA and AHC to examine the relationships between observations. The method is first verified on three literature-based case studies (1, 2, and 3). It is argued that, as is the case in archaeological iron provenance studies, the PCA-AHC method is also viable for non-ferrous metals. This method can greatly facilitate research, compared to conventional biplots with ratios of Pb isotopes and trace elements. Additionally, PCA-AHC can become part of the initial deposit selection process, and it can help clarify less obvious classification cases. The main problem with a practical application of this approach is insufficient deposit datasets with complete Pb isotopic and chemistry data. In such cases, it is possible to use the PCA-AHC method separately on Pb isotopic and chemistry data and then to compare and contrast results. Alternatively, the proposed approach can be used solely with Pb isotopic data. This application is shown in two additional case studies (4 and 5), which demonstrate the method's application for tracing artefacts to their parent ores using datasets with a few thousand observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hafting of stone tools and the creation of composite artifacts represent major developments in the early evolution of human technologies, with implications for artifact functions, human adaptation, and cognitive capabilities. A parallel issue is that of miniaturization of stone tools, which is argued to confer certain advantages, some of which are related to hafting. Our aim in this paper is to shift the discussion of these phenomena to the issues of re-hafting or retooling. We argue that important constraints on form and production of elements in composite implements come not just from the practice of hafting, but from the practice of rejuvenating implements by replacing broken or worn elements with similar-sized pieces. We further argue that absolute dimensional variation (tolerance) is the most important factor to consider in re-hafting or retooling. In this paper, we examine the hypothesis that there was a global increase in standardization in blade production over time related to increasing emphasis on hafting and retooling. Standardization is assessed in terms of both dimensional (sd), and relative (cv) measurements. The database for the study consists of > 100 assemblages, dating from the Middle Pleistocene to the Holocene. The data set includes a wide range of technologies ranging from comparatively simple to quite complex reduction. When the entire time range is examined, there is a decrease in blade size over time, and a parallel increase in standardization as measured by both sd and cv. However, the trend in cv is driven mainly by the late appearance of pressure blade technology; if pressure-blade technologies are excluded from the sample, there is no directional change in standardization as measured by cv. These findings suggest that prior to the widespread adoption of pressure blade technologies, Paleolithic knappers could create artifacts with finer dimensional tolerances only by making them smaller. The demands of increasing dependence on composite tools with replaceable parts could in turn explain long-term trends towards decreasing size in some classes of artifact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This short introduction briefly recalls how sociological theories and formal methods for social networks can help to interpret diffusion processes of ancient cultural traits. It also provides a presentation of the selected papers. These papers focus not on the ways archaeological data can be represented in a relational format, but on the potential of specific sociological network-related models to gain insights into the underlying mechanisms of diffusion processes. The necessity to develop more fine-grained information to reconstruct ancient local social networks is underlined while three aspects of the diffusion process are explored: (a) situations in which cultural practices are not borrowed in spite of contact between groups; (b) situations in which cultural practices are adopted; and (c) situations in which cultural practices in one group are copied by people from another group. All of them take inspiration from sociological studies of diffusion processes through networks, although to different extents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporaneity of spatially distinct activity areas at prehistoric sites is often inferred based on lithic refit connections alone. These connections are, in addition, only rarely discussed in detail, nor are they explicitly subjected to any form of critical assessment. In this paper, we present a combined use of Bayesian modeling of 14C-dates, raw material characterizations and lithic refitting to investigate the occurrence of interconnected artefact clusters at the Belgian Mesolithic site of Kerkhove. Besides this, a set of parameters is presented that is employed to control the reliability of the refit connections. The three proxies applied in this paper suggest that the Early Mesolithic occupation of the site was organized as two diachronic and more or less parallel alignments of artefact clusters. Based on the lithic refitting results, two scenarios can be considered to explain the formation histories of these linear arrangements. The individual artefact clusters incorporated within them were either occupied in a strictly contemporaneous manner or in a (partly) sequential manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citation analyses in archaeology have detected prestige tactics, shifts in research agendas, and patterns of gender differentiation. This paper focuses on self-citation in archaeology and systematically analyzes the factors that affect rates of self-citation. Self-citation rates in archaeology are significantly higher than in socio-cultural anthropology but are average for a social science with interdisciplinary ties to the physical sciences. Self-citation correlates weakly with the gender of the citing author and the geographic and thematic focus of research, but correlates strongly with the age of the author. Additional analyses reveal partial evidence for the use of self-citation as a prestige tactic. The paper concludes with a discussion of citations to writers close to the author (mentors, friends). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to develop quantitative measures for describing the diversity, homogeneity, and similarity of archaeological data. It presents new approaches to characterize the relationship between archaeological assemblages by utilizing entropy and its related attributes, primarily diversity, and by drawing inspiration from ecology. Our starting premise is that diachronic changes in our data provide a distorted reflection of social processes and that spatial differences in data indicate cultural distancing. To investigate this premise, we adopt a parsimonious approach for comparing assemblage profiles employing and comparing a range of (Hill) diversities, which enable us to exploit different aspects of the data. The modelling is tested on two seemingly large datasets: a Late Bronze Age Cretan dataset with circa 13,700 entries (compiled by PG); and a 4th millennium Western Tripolye dataset with circa 25,000 entries (compiled by AD). The contrast between the strongly geographically and culturally heterogeneous Bronze Age Crete and the strongly homogeneous Western Tripolye culture in the Southern Bug and Dnieper interfluve show the successes and limitations of our approach. Despite the seemingly large size of our datasets, these data highlight limitations that confine their utility to non-semantic analysis. This requires us to consider different ways of treating and aggregating assemblages, either as censuses or samples, contingent upon the degree of representativeness of the data. While our premise, that changes in data reflect societal changes, is supported, it is not definitively confirmed. Consequently, this paper also exemplifies the limitations of large archaeological datasets for such analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeologists have explored a wide range of topics regarding archaeological stone tools and their connection to past human lifeways through experimentation. Controlled experimentation systematically quantifies the empirical relationships among different flaking variables under a controlled and reproducible setting. This approach offers a platform to generate and test hypotheses about the technological decisions of past knappers from the perspective of basic flaking mechanics. Over the past decade, Harold Dibble and colleagues conducted a set of controlled flaking experiments to better understand flake variability using mechanical flaking apparatuses and standardized cores. Results of their studies underscore the dominant impact of exterior platform angle and platform depth on flake size and shape and have led to the synthesis of a flake formation model, namely the EPA-PD model. However, the results also illustrate the complexity of the flake formation process through the influence of other parameters such as core surface morphology and force application. Here we review the work of Dibble and colleagues on controlled flaking experiments by summarizing their findings to date. Our goal is to synthesize what was learned about flake variability from these controlled experiments to better understand the flake formation process. With this paper, we are including all of the data produced by these prior experiments and an explanation of the data in the Supplementary Information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finger flutings are channels drawn in soft sediments covering walls, floors and ceilings of some limestone caves in Europe and Australia and in some cases date as far back as 50,000 years ago. Initial research focused on why they were made, but more recently, as part of a growing interest in the individual in the past, researchers began asking questions about who made them. This shift in direction has led to claims that by measuring the width of flutings made with the three middle fingers of either hand, archaeologists can infer the ordinal age, sex and individuality of the 'fluter'. These claims rest on a single dataset created in 2006. In this paper, we undertake the first critical analysis of that dataset and its concomitant methodologies. We argue that sample size, uneven distribution of sex and age within the sample, non-standardised medium, human variability, the lack of comparability between an experimental context and real cave environments and assumptions about demographic modelling effectively negate all previous claims. To sum, we find no substantial evidence for the claims that an age, sex and individual tracing can be revealed by measuring finger flutings as described by Sharpe and Van Gelder (Antiquity 80: 937-947, 2006a; Cambridge Archaeological Journal 16: 281–95, 2006b; Rock Art Research 23: 179–98, 2006c). As a case study, we discuss Koonalda Cave in southern Australia. Koonalda has the largest and most intact display of finger flutings in the world and is also part of a cultural landscape maintained and curated by Mirning people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeologists are increasingly interested in studying the role emotions have played in past human decision making. This paper demonstrates how awe is under-appreciated within archaeology despite it being uniquely available to archaeological research given its connection to monumental architecture and communal rituals. Archaeological engagement with awe is particularly important as psychological research has demonstrated that it is a prosocial emotion that leads to the creation of more extensive and stronger social bonds between individuals. A novel interpretation of Poverty Point (USA) is provided to illustrate the importance of studying awe, as this massive earthwork site was built more than 3000 years ago through large-scale gatherings. Reconsidered as a place of awe, Poverty Point is recast as an emotional locale where larger social and cultural identities and relationships were formed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a new perspective on the constitutive role of material culture for memory using the Knossian Kamares pottery style as a case study. It challenges prevalent approaches in mainstream memory studies, which confine memory to individuals' brains or minds, suggesting a deeper relationship between material culture and memory. Presenting a novel methodology rooted in cognitive archaeology to study the long-term making of Knossian Kamares decorations, I suggest that the Knossian Kamares pottery style is a transgenerational memory that enabled generations of artisans to remember, learn, and update technological skills and knowledge. I also claim that, in assuming this distributed, enactive, and non-representational stance on style as memory, it becomes evident that remembering is something we do: an active engagement that emerges with and through material culture in specific sociomaterial settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In ancient navigation, the safety of a ship depended in no small measure on the stability of her anchors, and this crucial role at sea was not overlooked in the ritual symbolism of maritime communities. Accordingly, there is a general consensus on the fact that the anchors deposited at Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age temples were important carriers of meaning for seafaring groups. Nevertheless, little effort has been made to understand the role of anchors in the conceptual world of the ancient seafarers beyond the fact that they were powerful symbols of maritimity. Borrowed and adapted from linguistics, Conceptual Blending Theory (CBT) provides the theoretical framework to use material culture as a source for the investigation of ancient thought processes. In this paper, I apply the perspective of CBT to the anchors found at the Late Cypriot sanctuary of Kition-Kathari, with comparisons to those from Byblos and Ugarit, and I examine the cognitive implications of anchors as material metaphors and investigate how they embody the blending of the mental spaces of the sacred, the city, and the sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilising multiple lines of evidence for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction improves our understanding of the past landscapes in which human populations interacted with other species. Illuminating such processes is key for a nuanced understanding of fundamental transitions in human history, such as the shift from hunting and gathering to farming, and allows us to move beyond simple deterministic interpretations of climate-driven innovation. Avifaunal remains provide detailed indications of complex multi-species interactions at the local scale. They allow us to infer relationships between human and non-human animals, but also to reconstruct their niche, because many bird species are sensitive to specific ecological conditions and will often relocate and change their breeding patterns. In this paper, we illustrate how novel evidence that waterfowl reproduced at Levantine wetlands, which we obtained through biomolecular archaeology, together with modern ornithological data reveals conditions of wetlands that are conducive for breeding waterfowl. By understanding the interplay between wetland productivity cycles and waterfowl ecology, we argue that human modifications to the environment could have promoted wetland productivity inviting waterfowl to remain year-round. Within this landscape of "mutual ecologies", the feedback resulting from the agency of all species is involved in the construction of the human niche. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographic information systems (GIS) has been used in archaeology for four decades, and colloquially appears to have become a main tool in the geospatial aspects of archaeological practice. In this paper, we examine temporal trends in the use and/or mention of GIS in archaeological publications (books and journal articles), conference presentations, and websites. We gathered data through keyword searches and with formal sampling surveys and conducted both quantitative and qualitative analyses to characterize the changing nature and intensity of GIS use in archaeology over time, and then contextualize these trends with a narrative history of archaeological GIS. We show how archaeological GIS-use has grown from a few early adopters of the 1980s, through a slow initial integration phase in the 1990s, to a set of two major expansions in the 2000s and 2010s. While we find that applied use of GIS has grown to the point where it can be considered ubiquitous—if not completely universal—in the discipline, we also discovered that the major focus in archaeological GIS advancement is methodological rather than theoretical. We identify five roadblocks that we believe have hampered the development of a theory-rich archaeological GIS: (1) deficiencies in the archaeological GIS education model, (2) over-reliance on commercial software, (3) technical/technological barriers, (4) gaps in acceptance of GIS, and (5) the perception of GIS as "just a tool." We offer initial suggestions for ways forward to mitigate the effects of these roadblocks and build a more robust, theoretically sophisticated relationship with GIS in archaeology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last several decades, the application of aDNA and strontium isotope analyses on archaeologically recovered human remains has provided new avenues for the investigation of mobility in past societies. Data on human mobility can be valuable in the reconstruction of prehistoric residential patterns and kinship systems, which are at the center of human social organization and vary across time and space. In this paper, we aim to contribute to our understanding of mobility, residence, and kinship patterns in late Prehistoric Iberia (c. 3300–1400BC) by providing new strontium data on 44 individuals from the site of Humanejos (Parla, Madrid). The study presented here is multi-proxy and looks at these new data by interweaving biological, chronological, and archaeological information. This analysis found that 7/44 individuals buried at Humanejos could be identified as non-local to the necropolis. Although more men (n = 5) than women (n = 2) were found in the non-local category, and more non-local individuals were identified in the pre-Bell Beaker (n = 5) than in Bell Beaker (n = 1) or Bronze Age (n = 1), we find no statistically significant differences concerning sex or time period. This contrasts with other archaeological datasets for late prehistoric Europe which suggest higher female mobility, female exogamy, and male-centered residential patterns were common. At Humanejos, we have also identified one non-local female whose exceptional Beaker grave goods suggest she was an individual of special status, leading to additional questions about the relationships between gender, mobility, and social position in this region and time period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, mercury is a matter of concern for health and environmental authorities across western countries, and legislation has been passed and programs have been implemented for its total elimination from human activity. But this was not always the case: mercury and its compounds have been highly appreciated and used since remote times all over the world with very diverse purposes ranging from decorative, medicinal, metallurgical and symbolic. In particular, cinnabar (HgS, mercury sulfide), a mineral of an intense red color, has been considered in many cultures as an exotic raw material, highly valued and associated with the elites and sacred practice. In this paper, we examine one such case, set almost 5000 years ago, in Copper Age Iberia, by investigating mercury exposure through human bone. The study presented here includes a total of 170 samples from 70 different human individuals and 22 animals (plus one soil sample) from the Copper Age mega-site of Valencina, south-western Spain. It is the largest ever single-site study of exposure to mercury based on human bone in combination with cinnabar use. Abnormally high values are recorded in some individuals dating between 2900 and 2650 BC, especially in those buried in remarkable tombs belonging to the social elite of this period, but high levels of mercury are also recorded in the rest of the population. Three lines of interpretation are used to explain these results, including the manipulation of cinnabar (grinding it into powder, mixing it with other substances, using it for the decoration of objects, buildings and the human body), its direct consumption through ingestion or inhalation by a 'special' social group and the contribution of environmental factors. Based on the currently available evidence, which is carefully reviewed, Valencina represents the most intense and prolonged case of exposure to mercury recorded in human history, which makes it an important site to assess the long and complex history of use of this substance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological palimpsests are depositional units where the remains of various human occupations have been mixed for hundreds to hundreds of thousands of years. They create various sets of analytical scales that archaeologists must deal with routinely. In this paper, I argue that sociocultural processes derived from a communities of practice framework — scaffolding, guided participation, and continuity through shared activities — can be used by archaeologists to describe a palimpsest's lithic assemblage, to differentiate its patterns, and to interpret their meaning. These processes must first be remapped onto an ecological approach to skill before they can be expanded onto new sets of scales, however. I ground my work at the site of La Martre (Quebec, Canada), a nexus of fifteen marine terraces spread over 500,000 m2. Slow depositional processes and plowing have mixed its lithic remains to create a 10,000-year-wide depositional unit with poor chronological and spatial control. Fieldwork conducted between 1995 and 1999 sampled 0.03% of its total surface. Most of its 2111 tools and 207,506 flakes were uncovered in its 40-cm-thick plowzone. I build methodological tools — dispersion surfaces, skill combinatorics, and extended skilled reduction sequences — to describe a small subset (N=93) from one of La Martre's loci (16-west). I describe ten extended skilled reduction sequences showing various degrees of skill and knapping methods. Concepts of scaffolding, guided participation and continuity through shared activities are then used to interpret these patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A unique property of the Paleolithic record is the possibility to observe human societies in large areas and over long periods of time. At these large spatial and temporal scales, a number of interesting phenomena can be observed, such as dynamics in the distribution of populations in relation to equally large-scale environmental patterns. In this paper, we focus on phenological patterns of vegetation and discuss their explanatory potential for differences in site densities in different periods and parts of Europe. In particular, we present a case-transferable approach to diachronically estimate the timing of the vegetation period and resulting phenological gradients. We discuss results for two complementary case studies. First, we look at the Aurignacian in Western and Central Europe, a period of dynamic population dispersal in a topographically heterogeneous region. Second, we focus on the Middle and Late Upper Paleolithic in the East European Plain, a period after the arrival of anatomically modern humans in a topographically rather uniform area. We visualize phenological trajectories and boundaries otherwise invisible in the archaeological record with certain explanatory potential for the observed archaeological patterns. Importantly, we do not intend to reconstruct specific plant communities or dispersal routes of animals or humans. Rather, we aim at highlighting gradients which in themselves and on small temporal scales might be comparatively weak, but over the course of millennia may potentially influence the distribution of animal biomass and human populations by biasing the aggregate of at times opposing actions of individuals towards particular directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzing the nature of governance of early states and cities is a major challenge for archaeology today. Blanton and Fargher's (Blanton and Fargher, 2008) influential model of early state governance has proven difficult to operationalize using archaeological data. In this paper, we explore a possible material correlate of collective and autocratic governance: the amount of formal open space in a capital city. We use a sample of premodern Mesoamerican cities to evaluate whether or not these spaces functioned as public goods provided by collective governments. Our assumption is that a positive relationship between the amount of public space and the size of cities indicates that plazas functioned as public goods. In our sample of Mesoamerican cities, we find that the plaza-city size relationship does indeed imply that plazas were public goods. This finding is inconsistent with prior analysis of an expanded cross-cultural sample where no such relationship existed, suggesting that the relationship between the formal public space and the form of governance may be culturally specific to Mesoamerica. These results reflect the complexity of the dynamics of early cities and their governance and suggest that the classification of public goods must be attentive to cross-cultural variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The seaways have played a significant role in the movement of people, goods and ideologies since prehistory; yet, the ephemerality of movement combined with the paucity of direct evidence for prehistoric seafaring has challenged more refined understandings of the role of early seafaring in anthropogeny. Advances in digital methodologies within archaeology, such as least-cost approaches, allow more nuanced models of movement to be generated but suffer from dichotomous approaches to land and sea. These disentangled land-sea perspectives have long been criticised as ineffectual for understanding past maritime cultures, and previous discussions of prehistoric seafaring more specifically have advocated the consideration of the unique character of maritime space in order to more closely actuate a seafarer's perspective. Drawing on these ideas, this paper argues that more nuanced approaches to past seafaring are not only necessary but also achievable through holistic perspectives, heuristic methods and scaled-down resolutions, which allow for a more contextualised understanding of the spatiality and temporality—i.e. the human-scale—of maritime movement. This will be demonstrated through an integrated land-sea least-cost method to model Neolithic seafaring around the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. It is not the intention of this paper to advocate solely for the methodology outlined here but rather to demonstrate the need to consider and understand the unique character of maritime space and its many influences on the practices being studied. Only through such contextualised cognition can the perspectives and ideologies of past seafarers and the role of seafaring in anthropogeny truly be understood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces the articles featured in the June 2002 issue of the "Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory." Number of papers presented at the 66th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in April 2001; Issues confronting the interpretation of the seasonality of site occupation based on the study of faunal remains; Method available to model Pleistocene human behavior; Theory used to study Paleolithic subsistence patterns and demography.

This is a paper about mark making and human becoming. I will be asking what do marks do? How do they signify? What role do marks play in human becoming and the evolution of human intelligence? These questions cannot be pursued effectively from the perspective of any single discipline or ontology. Nonetheless, they are questions that archaeology has a great deal to contribute. They are also important questions, if not the least because evidence of early mark making constitutes the favoured archaeological mark of the 'cognitive' (in the 'modern' representational sense of the word). In this paper I want to argue that the archaeological predilection to see mark making as a potential index of symbolic representation often blind us to other, more basic dimensions of the cognitive life and agency of those marks as material signs. Drawing on enactive cognitive science and Material Engagement Theory I will show that early markings, such as the famous engravings from Blombos cave, are above all the products of kinesthetic dynamics of a non-representational sort that allow humans to engage and discover the semiotic affordances of mark making opening up new possibilities of enactive material signification. I will also indicate some common pitfalls in the way archaeology thinks about the 'cognitive' that needs overcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper proposes a new method to quantify the flow of water and water accumulation zones on bedrock panels. This can be used to investigate how water influences the placement of rock art. The analysis is based on photogrammetric models on which water flows and accumulations were modelled using a NetLogo simulation and the SAGA hydrology package. To test the hypothesis that water was a structuring element in the creation of rock art, case studies of Bohus-granite panels from south-western Sweden were used. The described approach should be possible to use on most rock art placed on bedrock panels regardless of rock type, its state of cleaning, or present microfauna. The modelling of water flows and accumulations is a powerful tool to compare the image placement and image density in relation to water even on widely separated panels on which such observations cannot be made directly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability of early hominins to overcome the constraints imposed by the characteristics of raw materials used for stone tool production is a key topic on the discussion about the evolution of hominin cognitive capabilities and technical behaviours. Thus, technological variability has been the centrepiece on this debate. However, the variability of lithic assemblages cannot be correctly interpreted without understanding site occupational models and function and considering that individual tools represent specific discard moments in a continuous reduction process. In Europe, the earliest technological record is represented by the scarce and scattered Mode 1 technologies, often deriving from occasional occupations or restricted activity areas yielding unrepresentative assemblages. In this paper, we approach the technological behaviours exhibited by Lower Palaeolithic hominins from the subunit TD6.2 of the Gran Dolina site (Atapuerca, Burgos) by including the perspective of reduction intensity studies on the analysis of technological variability. Gran Dolina TD6.2 is a unique and extremely significant archaeological context, as it represents the oldest multi-layered unit of domestic hominin occupations in the Early Pleistocene of Europe. We use the Volumetric Reconstruction Method (VRM) to estimate the original volume of the blanks and quantify the reduction intensity of each core individually to characterise the reduction distribution patterns using Weibull probability distribution functions. Our results suggest differential raw material management in terms of reduction intensity, according to the characteristics of each lithology. This could reflect a solid understanding of raw material qualities and a certain degree of planning. Altogether, the continuity between knapping strategies through reduction denotes constant adaptation to raw material constraints as well as particular knapping conditions, rather than specific compartmentalised mental schemes. In conclusion, Homo antecessor toolmakers would have been situational knappers whose technological behaviour would be highly adaptive. This research constitutes the first reduction approach for the European Early Pleistocene assemblages that will lead to a referential framework for other European Early Pleistocene sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the conception of visual art as a material culture artefact produced through a work process. Art-making work processes condense economic factors (raw material exploitation, labour organization, etc.), technological factors (materials, tools, techniques, etc.) and cognitive factors (knowledge, values, visual perceptions, etc.), all of which are inextricably linked in the creation of visual images. The paper argues that the analysis of such work process is a key element in understanding and interpreting the role of visual images within the social contexts in which they were made and used (displayed/worn, viewed), insofar as many of their functions, meanings and effects stemmed from such production contexts and from the different affordances of image-making techniques. These concepts are applied to the research of the body paintings created and worn by the Yamana/Yagan, whose ancestral territory is located in the southernmost region of Tierra del Fuego, where traditions of bone artefact decoration and pigment use have been documented along seven millennia. Body painting is analysed using a 'visual archaeology' approach, through the systematic study of a photographic record of 76 images taken in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, combined with information from the written record (50 historical-ethnographic sources from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, which are summarized for the first time in this publication). Results show that (a) the affordance of image-making techniques was flexibly exploited in order to generate design repertoires of higher or lower variability according to the type of situation of body painting display and (b) part of the visual and social effects of these images stemmed directly from their production contexts (e.g. domestic versus ceremonial, public versus secret) and from their techno-visual and performative affordances. Thus, the paper shows that art images-objects should not be interpreted only as final products, since many of their material and social qualities were deeply rooted in the very production processes that led to their existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to shift debate in the study of archaeological art away from epistemological questions of definition towards ontological approaches. To this aim, the paper proposes a non-representational study of archaeological art based on the twin concepts of affect and agential intra-action. As an example of this approach, the paper examines the carved stone balls of Neolithic Scotland. The analysis of carved stone balls focuses on their making and on their inter-regional circulation and exchange as a way of approaching the affective character of these artefacts. The paper finishes with a detailed consideration of the concepts of affect and intra-action and advocates their use in the archaeology of art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-representational approaches (to rock art) have highlighted the relevance of making processes. Rhythm, temporality, and taskscapes emerge from every act of making, and are deeply engaged with the affective properties of these practices. In this paper, we outline a rhythm-analysis perspective to rock art discussing how it can shed light on the affective properties of this materiality, the emergence of landscapes, and the impact this practice had on the lived temporalities of the peoples that carried them out. We apply our approach to three case studies related to hunter-gatherer, agrarian, and Incaized communities in different areas of the Southern Andes. As a result, we discuss the relevance of approaching the relationship between making, rhythm, correspondences, and taskscapes to better understand rock art and avoid the pitfalls of an ahistorical relational perspective in archaeology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mesolithic in Eastern Europe was the last time that hunter-gatherer economies thrived there before the spread of agriculture in the second half of the seventh millennium BC. But the period, and the interactions between foragers and the first farmers, are poorly understood in the Carpathian Basin and surrounding areas because few sites are known, and even fewer have been excavated and published. How did site location differ between Mesolithic and Early Neolithic settlers? And where should we look for rare Mesolithic sites? Proximity analysis is seldom used for predictive modeling for hunter-gatherer sites at large scales, but in this paper, we argue that it can serve as an important starting point for prospection for rare and poorly understood sites. This study uses proximity analysis to provide quantitative landscape associations of known Mesolithic and Early Neolithic sites in the Carpathian Basin to show how Mesolithic people chose attributes of the landscape for camps, and how they differed from the farmers who later settled. We use elevation and slope, rivers, wetlands prior to the twentieth century, and the distribution of lithic raw materials foragers and farmers used for toolmaking to identify key proxies for preferred locations. We then build predictive models for the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic in the Pannonian region to highlight parts of the landscape that have relatively higher probabilities of having Mesolithic sites still undiscovered and contrast them with the settlement patterns of the first farmers in the area. We find that large parts of Pannonia conform to landforms preferred by Mesolithic foragers, but these areas have not been subject to investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes weathering modifications to elephant bones in Zimbabwe, southern Africa, and discusses possible implications about conditions of deposition and the time elapsed since death or skeletonization. The observed patterns of proboscidean bone weathering, the times elapsed since death, and burial times may not be same as for bones of smaller terrestrial mammals typically found in fossil assemblages. A system of weathering stages is proposed for proboscidean long bones, flat bones, mandibles, and ribs. Special attention is given to drying cracks that affect breakage patterns when weathered bones are trampled or impacted. Weathering effects on elephant bones vary for several reasons, such as differences between juvenile and adult cortical bone and frequency of wet/dry cycling. Also briefly discussed are the observed or possible effects of burning, dissolution, organic erosion such as root etching, and inorganic carbonate (calcite) encrustation. Comparable weathering effects are also reported on bones of Mammuthus spp., supporting the probability that (1) bone weathering in fossil proboscidean assemblages can be described in corresponding terms, and (2) implications about assemblage origins may be similar, although this inference must be cautiously drawn. The data reported here will allow analysts to describe assemblage materials in consistent terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magic and witchcraft, classic topics in the anthropology of religion, involve everyday things such as ashes, ceramics, minerals, shell, and projectile points. In many cultures, people attribute agency to such artifacts, as well as architecture, begging the question what is the archaeological record of such animate beings? To understand past human lifeways more fully, we need to explore the formation processes associated with the interaction between people and other non-human actors. For example, what might we learn from a burned pueblo whose rooms contain ash, projectile points, crystals, and other items? In this paper we argue that deposits in ritually closed pueblos of the North American Southwest, like many other Neolithic villages, likely contain purposely deposited objects in an effort to neutralize the anima left in these places and to prophylactically protect their former inhabitants from future witchcraft. We present Cottonwood Spring Pueblo, New Mexico, as a case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boomerangs are among the most recognisable elements of Australian Aboriginal technology. In the popular mindset, the prevailing image of these wooden artefacts is that of thrown implements that return to the thrower, principally used for hunting animals. However, boomerangs have a deep multipurpose role in Indigenous societies, with just a few examples of their known functions, including fighting, digging, and making music (i.e., "clap sticks"). Recently, yet another function for boomerangs has been proposed (Martellotta et al., 2021): the functional modification of lithic tools (i.e., retouching)—a form of use that is almost unknown among non-Aboriginal researchers. Here, we provide the first comprehensive review of evidence for the use of boomerangs as lithic retouching tools (percussors). A detailed lexical analysis demonstrates similarities between Palaeolithic bone retouchers used for the same purposes as the Australian hardwood boomerangs, thus confirming our traceological hypothesis and the power of using a multidisciplinary approach in investigating Australia's deep past. This paper provides the foundation for discussions surrounding the multipurpose concept behind many Aboriginal tools by focusing on the most iconic item. We propose that, in future studies, the complex technological and functional features of boomerangs should take precedence over their famous "returning effect". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One important aspect affecting variability in core reduction technology is the degree of expertise of knappers. In the present paper, we show that, at the Middle Palaeolithic open-air site of Nesher Ramla, the degree of expertise of ancient knappers played a major role in shaping the composition of the lithic assemblage. Using robust markers of knapping skill, such as the frequency and reiteration of decision mistakes in the knapping process, allowed us to establish that a clear relationship exists between the degree of structuring of core technologies and the degree of expertise of the knapper at Nesher Ramla. Simple core technologies (e.g. pebble and multiple surface cores) can be linked to the work of novices, while more structured technologies (e.g. Levallois) are linked to the work of more experienced individuals. In addition, we apply for the first time a 3D-based procedure for identifying the causes that possibly lead to knapping accidents, specifically potential errors in the evaluation of the reduction surface exterior platform angle and/or its profile. Tying simple core technologies with the work of unexpert knappers allowed us to explore otherwise elusive social-cultural aspects of past hunter-gatherer societies such as age structuring. Specifically, we suggest that during the most intense phases of occupation in Nesher Ramla, children and/or young adults were present at the site alongside adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stone tools provide key evidence of human cognitive evolution but remain challenging to interpret. Stone tool skill-learning has been understudied even though (1) the most salient cognitive demands of tool-making should occur during learning, and (2) variation in learning aptitude would have provided the raw material for any past selection acting on tool-making ability. However, we know very little about the cognitive prerequisites of learning under different information transmission conditions that may have prevailed during the Paleolithic. This paper presents results from an exploratory study to trial new experimental methods for studying the effect of learning conditions and individual differences on Oldowan stone tool skill acquisition. We trained 23 participants for two hours to make stone flakes under two different instructional conditions (observation only vs. direct active teaching). We employed appropriate raw materials, a moderate practice time, and in-person, fully interactive instruction. Participant performance was evaluated through an analysis of the stone artifacts produced. We compared performance across experimental groups with respect to individual participant differences in grip strength, motor accuracy, and cognitive function measured for the study. Our results show that a 2h training window is insufficient to document learning-related performance change. However, direct active teaching reduces variability in knapping rate, methods, and outcomes during early-stage learning, thus increasing the reliability of skill reproduction. Instruction also altered knapping quality vs. quantity trade-offs in the two groups and dramatically changed the effects of individual differences in strength, visuospatial working memory, and social learning tendencies on knapping outcomes. Our results provide further support for the hypothetical co-evolution of teaching, language, and tool-making, and suggest that the presence/absence of direct active teaching can fundamentally alter learning-related selection pressures on individuals. The study provides lessons for future experimental design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ways in which children learn in foraging societies differ from the classroom-based style of learning and teaching typical of industrialized societies in the West. This difference, however, has often been mischaracterized by anthropologists as an absence or rarity of direct teaching in foraging societies. In this paper, following Scalise Sugiyama (Evolution and Human Behavior 22:221–240, 2001), I argue that oral storytelling is a form of pedagogy in foraging societies that shares all of the key features of direct teaching including the signaling of an intention to share information, the identification of intended recipients of this information, and the transmission of knowledge that has applicability beyond the immediate context. I then review the evidence for storytelling/narrative in the Upper Paleolithic. Finally, I explore the implications of this form of teaching for skill acquisition and knowledge transmission in Upper Paleolithic children and adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Should cesspits be excavated and recorded in detail? In the UK, cesspits often are considered 'mundane' and frequently overlooked during excavation or only half-heartedly recorded. This paper explores the biography of cesspits—their construction, use, reuse, and closure/abandonment, as well as their archaeological investigation and interpretation. What does a cesspit look like? How might we better recognise cesspits archaeologically? By exploring modern NGO guidance and high-quality archaeological studies of cesspits and latrines, we can begin to understand something of the common biography of these features. Comparison between the approach to the excavation/recording of cesspits in the USA with that of the UK also may inform our collective approach to these features at any archaeological site. Perhaps our own assumptions and approaches to the archaeological interpretation of these features may be hindering our understanding of their significance as important records of status and societal behaviour? This paper will conclude by exploring the interpretation of cesspits from two different chronological periods in the UK, outlining entirely different approaches to quite similar data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new theoretical approach to medieval rural settlement, built on the concept of intensity, is proposed. It is argued that analysing settlements as intensive spaces creates new opportunities to explore the emergence of difference in medieval lived experience. The approach is intended to overcome the challenges posed by approaches to medieval architecture framed by binary divisions (e.g. inside/outside). Drawing on posthuman thought, it is argued that such divisions constrain the understanding of how and why difference emerged in the past. The paper advances this approach through its application to the study of house construction and domestic economy in the medieval village of Hangleton, England. It is proposed that difference emerges as everyday practices are performed in constantly changing material environments, generating situationally grounded but varied experiences of rurality. Rather than being subject to macro-scale economic processes, this approach allows us to understand historical change as a patchwork of localised interactions which overflowed the bounds of communities or regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weapons and past weapon systems are important research topics in Paleolithic archaeology. Its popularity stems from its relevance for understanding broader technological evolution, subsistence strategies, and human behavior. However, identifying what weapon system was used has proven to be a significant methodological challenge over the last few decades and in spite of what some titles of recent publications suggest, the question is still not resolved. In this paper, we present the results of a ballistic analysis of the four modes of propulsion that are traditionally considered for the Paleolithic period (bow, spear-thrower, hand-cast and thrusting spear). We advocate a stepwise approach to the problem given the multiple variables involved. The goal of this study is to add an essential building block to current understanding by exploring the notion of reactional impact stress (RIS) on the basis of the angle of incidence developed by the different projectiles. Our results show the importance of RIS for accurately understanding the projectile impact phenomenon and the existence of a reproducible and mutually distinct RIS between the four tested weapon systems. These results shed a new light on approaches that have been used previously to examine weapon systems archaeologically, such as those relying on the length of "diagnostic impact fractures". Our results allow the proposition of an alternative approach that appears to hold great potential, in particular for identifying the use of the bow. While a reliable method for recognizing past propulsion modes is not yet established, we conclude that the solution lies within the integration of several fields, more in particular use-wear analysis, fracture mechanics in brittle solids, and ballistics and we progressively move forward in identifying the key building blocks of such a method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates relationships between intervals of local environmental aridity and site occupation intensity at the Upper Paleolithic cave site of Üçağızlı I (Hatay coast, south-central Turkey) by combining a stable carbon isotope-based paleoenvironmental record with several classes of archaeological evidence. A novel method for synthesizing stable isotope data from multiple ungulate species is used to create an integrated archaeofauna-based paleoenvironmental record. This method increases the temporal resolution of the investigation in the absence of precise chronological control for some sedimentary layers and reveals patterns of habitat segregation among coeval prey taxa in each layer. The method also demonstrates significant variation in the δ13Cdiet of ungulates occupying contemporaneous landscapes, reflecting the existence of multiple micro-habitats within the foraging ranges of the Paleolithic occupants. Overall, the degree of environmental aridity does not correlate with measurable changes in land use or site occupation intensity based on archaeological proxies in the Üçağızlı I sequence. One exception is the Ahmarian occupation in layer B1-3 that records the wettest environmental conditions in conjunction with a marked increase in site occupation intensity, increased dietary breadth, and evidence for meat storage practices. These patterns likely signal a reorganization of forager land-use strategies in response to a short-lived interval of especially productive environmental conditions, possibly in conjunction with reduced mobility of local foragers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 4th millennium BC, an intensive artefact circulation system existed among the hunter-gatherer peoples of north-eastern Europe. Along with other goods, ring-shaped ornaments that were mainly made of different kinds of slates or tuffites were commonly distributed. Although commonly referred to as 'slate rings', these ornaments consist mainly of fragments of rings. In this paper, we suggest that the 'slate rings' were never meant to be intact, complete rings, but were instead fragmented on purpose and used as tokens of social relationships relating to the gift-giving system. By refitting artefact fragments together, analysing their geochemical composition, micro details, and use-wear, we were able to prove that these items were not only intentionally fragmented but also likely worn as personal ornaments. Moreover, ED-XRF analysis of 56 of the artefacts showed a correlation between their geochemical characteristics and stylistic detailing, suggesting different production phases or batches. Comparative data analysis confirmed the provenance hypothesis that the majority of the analysed objects, or at least their raw materials, were exported over hundreds of kilometres from the Lake Onega region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In March 2011, a conference was held at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, focusing on the possibilities and potentials of combining quantitative spatial studies with more human-centred and theoretically explicit approaches to past landscapes. This short introduction outlines the main themes and goals of the conference and the resultant papers, published here as a special issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]