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• An ethnoarchaeological study document dynamics of pottery traditions in Senegal. • A fashioning technique is homogeneous in a heterogeneous cultural context. • Environmental, socio-economic and cultural factors explain technical changes. • Spatial distribution of two distinct firing procedures is related to precolonial kingdoms. • Recent transformations of potters' toolkits reveal changes in a globalized world. Ceramic traditions are constantly evolving, but the pace of change is variable and not all stages of the chaîne opératoire are affected in the same way, depending on the causes of borrowing, abandonment, or innovation. Few ethnoarchaeological studies in Africa have focused on a detailed understanding of these dynamics, which are important for the interpretation of past societies. Our study was conducted from 2012 to 2015 along the Falémé Valley in eastern Senegal, characterized by diverse cultures and environments. It aims to understand the historical dynamics of ceramic traditions by documenting the variability and spatial distribution of the different stages of the chaîne opératoire , and analyzing the factors that explain the transformations of techniques, potters' tools and finished objects over different temporalities, both long- and short-term. The results show that the same fashioning technique, molding on a convex shape, is used by all potters, whatever their cultural identity. On the contrary, firing procedures indicate two different traditions. The reconstruction of potters' genealogies and apprenticeship networks anchor both traditions in distinct social trajectories, and their spatial distribution corresponds with the ones of precolonial kingdoms expanding after the Mâli empire's collapse, between the 17th and the 19th century CE: the Fulbe kingdom of Boundou in the north, and three Mande kingdoms in the south. Beside this long-term dynamic, elements of paste recipes' or potter toolkits' transformation, and the abandonment of certain types of pots refer to recent dynamics dating back to a few decades, in a context of climate change and growing globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ethnoarchaeological study on mobility patterns among highly mobile forest-dwellers. • Studying the relations between mobility and archaeological formation processes. • Habitation sites occupied over few weeks involve maintenance practices. • The spatial signature of activity residues is disturbed by site maintenance. Mobility is considered to play an important role in the way people use their habitual space. Highly mobile societies present a particular challenge to archaeologists as a direct relation is assumed between the duration of occupation and the intensity of its archaeological signature. Here, we present a cross-cultural, ethnoarchaeological study carried out among three contemporary societies that, while showing different patterns of mobility, all live in humid tropical forests—in Thailand, the Congo Basin, and India—and share many social notions and values. The aim of this study was to observe how differences in patterns of mobility affect the formation of archaeological signatures. Our study demonstrates that when a site is occupied for only a few days to a couple of weeks, activity residues tend to be deposited in situ. This could potentially preserve the original spatial pattern of material distribution that directly reflects the activity areas and people's use of space. However, when a site is occupied for more than a week or two, maintenance practices such as sweeping begin to take place, which result in almost complete removal of activity residues from their primary location and the formation of waste areas at the edge of the dwelling sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research suggests that two ethnocultural "identities"—such as ethnic identity or national identity—can be compatible (positively correlated) or in conflict (negatively correlated) within and across immigrant-origin groups. In the present article, I advance a more cognitively oriented framework for using correlational patterns to map how immigrant-origin people organize their attachments to a variety of ethnocultural categories. In explaining the value of this framework, I embark on a multistage empirical illustration. First, I perform a correlational class analysis (CCA) using a sample of second-generation Germans and a vector of 13 identity-related indicators. Second, I use a series of linear regressions and a descriptive visualization to clarify the results of my CCA. Third, I fit two multinomial logistic regressions that demonstrate how social attributes—and specifically, religion and ethnicity—impose constraints on the latent schemes that second-generation Germans follow to organize their ethnocultural "identities." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying the accumulating agent(s) of small animal assemblages at archaeological sites is challenging given the range of behaviors, skeletal plans, and body sizes of prey species as well as the range of potential predators. Although mammalian carnivores, raptors, and humans are considered typical predators of small game, there are many contexts—especially in island ecosystems—where humans and raptors are the primary agents for small animal assemblages in the absence of mammalian carnivores. Moreover, smaller animals tend to range in body sizes in these geographically restricted ecosystems. This study aims to broadly explore: 1) how small animal body size affects the taphonomic signature(s) of human and avian predation; and 2) how human and avian-generated small game assemblages compare with one another. To investigate these questions, this study compared the resulting taphonomic patterns of small animal predation by raptors and humans using data collected during a controlled-feeding experiment and an observational study, respectively. In the controlled-feeding experiment, deceased laboratory rats (Rattus norvegicus domestica) (50–500 g) were fed to two Milky Eagle Owls (Ketupa lacteus), one King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa), and two Lappet-Faced Vultures (Torgos tracheliotos). In the observational study, we explored how humans processed various species of small prey ranging in body mass (80–5000 g) by analyzing anthropogenic modifications (i.e., cutmarks, tooth marks, burning). The resulting small animal assemblages were analyzed post-consumption for skeletal element representation, fragmentation and breakage patterns, and bone surface modifications. Results show that small prey body size significantly affects pre-depositional patterning in terms of skeletal element survival, butchering intensities, and cutmark frequencies. Furthermore, our experimentally generated assemblages show that breakage, fragmentation, and element relative abundance patterns can be used to distinguish between human and avian-accumulated assemblages in the archaeological record. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Traditional compound adhesive production and hafting require complex steps and processes. • Euphorbia latex may have been used as effective base for prehistoric hafting adhesives. • Certain aspects of composite tool making are more sophisticated than previously realized. Abstract Combining individual components into a single implement—i.e., hafting—conferred prehistoric populations more efficient toolkits, including projectile weapons. Hafting with the aid of adhesives is considered to have particularly given composite tools better reliability. The innovation of compound adhesives is specifically considered cognitively more demanding than simpler forms of fixative paste. As a result, the antiquity and nature of such adhesives has attracted much archaeological research attention. However, with few ethnographic instances studied worldwide, the complexity of prehistoric compound adhesive technologies remains largely inferential. This paper describes the multicomponent adhesive production and hafting of obsidian scrapers by traditional hideworkers in southern Ethiopia. Documentation of the compound adhesive preparation and hafting processes has implications for the interpretation of various aspects of archaeological hafting adhesives, including those related to the cognitive requirements involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Humans are the only primates that maintain regular inter-group relationships and meta-group social networks that enable the inter-group flow of individuals. This is the basis of the band/tribe concept in the anthropology of modern foragers. The present work is a theoretical approach to the development of analytical tools to understand group size and the temporal scale of site occupation in the archaeological record. We selected FLK Zinj as one of the oldest examples of a taphonomically-supported anthropogenic site in which both variables (group size and time) could be modelled using a combination of modern forager regression estimates from their camp sizes and estimates derived from the combined use of modern African foragers' meat consumption rates per day per capita during the dry season and minimum estimates of flesh yields provided by the carcass parts preserved at FLK Zinj. This approach provides the basis for a testable hypothesis which should be further tested in other Oldowan sites. An estimate of 18–28 individuals occupying FLK Zinj was made, which is similar to the estimated 16 individuals of one of the 1.5 Ma Ileret Homo erectus footprint trails. It also shows a similar proportional distribution to Dunbar's equations (group size to neocortex ratio) as documented in modern foragers, which suggest that most of the social network of H. erectus was in the meta-group level as is the case of modern foragers. Irrespective of the range of variation discussed for both variables (group size and length of time represented), it is argued that neither small estimates of time nor small group sizes can account for the formation of FLK Zinj. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we address the question of the conditions for persistence of technological boundaries. We use field studies to test the predictions generated by a theoretical model in analytical sociology and examine the micro-processes at stake in the non-diffusion of techniques: to which extent techniques contributes to a sharp disagreement between groups and promote polarization? The ultimate goal is to provide archaeologists with an empirically tested model to explain spatial distribution of technological clusters and maintenance of technological boundaries. Field studies examine ethnographic situations in four countries where social groups using different ceramic techniques for making utilitarian vessels live in close geographical proximity. Two situations enable us to examine the conditions under which technological boundaries persist, while two others enable us to analyze, through a boundary-making perspective, how differences in craft techniques contribute to polarization. Our data suggest that in a context where different techniques are used for different types of object there is a cognitive bias which fosters technological polarization. This cognitive bias develops in the course of interactions between actors living in close geographical proximity. Polarization increases when technological standards are used by different social groups, thereby favoring negative influence and persistent technological boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the exploitation of ochre and its role in the emergence of modern human behaviour has been afforded substantial academic consideration, inquiries into ochre procurement strategies remain limited. Since the systematic exploitation of red ochre is widely viewed as symptomatic of increasing cognitive complexity, the persistence of this behaviour amongst extant sub-Saharan African groups is significant in terms of human behavioural aspects observed in the archaeological record. The aim of this paper is to provide insight into prehistoric ochre procurement strategies by presenting an account of the methods implicated in the extraction of red ochre by the Ovahimba of the Kunene Region, north-western Namibia. I draw correlations between prehistoric and modern traditional mining practices and show that ethnoarchaeological research provides a basis for the formulation and assessment of archaeological research questions. I focus on the primary source of red ochre in the Kunene Region, the Ombumbuu ochre quarries, and employ visible spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDS) to characterise ochre from this resource. I also explore the evolutionary impact that the habitual exploitation of red ochre might have had on prehistoric human adaptive strategies and assert that these played an important role in increasing human survivability and cumulative cultural capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent archeological finds of protodogs dating to 35,000 years ago have ignited controversy over the function of canids in early Upper Paleolithic societies. Reconstructions nominate the use of proto and early dogs in hunting and hauling as underwriting changes in subsistence technology, catalyzing human population growth and supporting the spread of modern humans at the expense of Neanderthals. These reconstructions assume that the use of canids in hunting will always have profound impacts on human subsistence. In this paper, I summarize existing quantitative data derived from the ethnographic record to evaluate productivity gains derived from the use of dogs in hunting. To augment this sparse information, I present some of the only data on the deployment of unspecialized Central African dogs (basenji’s) by hunter-gatherers. These data show that while dogs can enhance hunting returns in certain circumstance, their overall impact on hunting productivity is highly variable and often restricted to specific prey types. Furthermore, the complex circumstances surrounding the emergence and spread of dogs globally precludes simple applications of these data to the archaeological record. These data invite a reexamination of when and how we expect dogs to have a significant impact on human subsistence and the circumstances that supported the emergence and spread of canids as effective hunting aids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is evidence of discontinuities in the sequences of some archaeological sites that exhibit long-term occupation and use over time in southern Africa, there is less evidence of such discontinuity in the ethnographic record. Drawing on long-term interdisciplinary studies of southern African peoples in the Kalahari Desert, this paper examines the evidence of discontinuities in the historical and ethnographic records. Attention is focused primarily on two southern African San populations for which detailed diachronic data exist: (1) the Ju/’hoansi of northwestern Kalahari, and (2) the !Xóõ San of the southwestern Kalahari region of Botswana and Namibia. From an ethnographer’s perspective it might at first appear as though there was a fair amount of continuity in the Kalahari. It is shown, however, that there have been complex changes over time in the period from 1850 to the present, which occurred as a result of a combination of factors, including short-term and long-term ecological changes, in-migration and out-migration of various groups, cycles of population growth and decline, colonization, technological shifts, and implementation of development and conservation programs. The two cases illustrate the complex ways that activities, mobility, technology, land use, and demographic patterns can change over time as a result of both internal and external forces, resulting in discontinuities in the ethnographic record. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Shell horn production for Andean rituals shifted between conch and ceramic over millennia. • In the early colonial period shell horns were used in propitiatory pilgrimages. • Ceramic shell horns were complex musical instruments crafted by itinerant specialists. • Technological hotspots indicate independent invention and long-distance interaction. • Performance in ensembles shaped the soundscapes of ceremonial centers. This paper addresses the enchainment of skills and interactions for the production of ceramic shell horns, and the meaning of these musical instruments whose sounds have shaped the ritual soundscapes of the central Andes since the boom in public architecture in the second millennium BC (early Formative Period c. 3800–3300 BP). Linguistic and ethnohistoric reviews shed light on performance practices and meanings at the time of conquest. Contextual analysis of thin sections of ceramic shell horns excavated in Keushu (Yungay, Ancash, Peru) and dated to the Early Intermediate Period and early Middle Horizon (c. 2200–1600 BP) suggests the agency of specialist itinerant potters. Crafting processes are reconstructed by bringing together material analysis (petrography, X-ray tomography, X-ray diffraction), bioarchaeology, studies of instrument organology, and ceramic ethnoarchaeology. Informed by experimental reconstruction distinct modeling techniques are distinguished and crossed with available provenience data to suggest three independently arising traditions or hotspots in northern Ecuador, on the central Andean coast, and in the highlands of northern Peru. The ritual sounds and soundscapes of the latter area are discussed. Like earlier conch horns, ceramic shell horns played a pivotal part in ritual performances that accompanied the development of irrigation-dependent agrarian and pastoral lifeways in the Andes. Enduring symbolic linkages between shell horn sounds, the sea and irrigation water may indeed represent a powerful embodiment of the voice of God. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploration and analyses of early archaeological sites and their faunal assemblages have grown increasingly sophisticated since the sites were first proposed to be home bases where ancestral hunters brought meat to share with their mates and offspring. Debates about that proposition motivated quantitative attention to hunting, scavenging, butchery and transport of big game among modern Hadza and the faunal assemblage characteristics and archaeological sites they create. Findings prompted a hypothesis about competitive scavenging that might explain the character and ecological context of the early sites, a hypothesis since strengthened by consensus among archaeologists working at Olduvai that the sites are not home bases. Hadza carcass procurement rates calibrate estimates for ancestral populations without similar technology, underscoring the likelihood that other food resources were especially important in human evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological investigations of hunter-gatherer site structure have remained largely descriptive, despite significant explanatory advancements by evolutionary approaches to foraging behavior and ecology. To date, calls to incorporate site structure studies within this behavioral ecological framework have largely been ignored. We suggest there is a clear explanation for this. At large spatial extents, human behavior is constrained by patterned ecological variability, as such, a general theory of behavior is likely to characterize key aspects of human decisions. At small spatial extents, human behavior is not constrained by patterned ecological variability, therefore, the human decisions that produce site structure should be driven by mechanical constraints or random variation. However, variation in site structure may be ecologically relevant inasmuch as it informs on landscape level variation in human-environment interactions. Drawing on ethnoarchaeological data collected in collaboration with Martu, Aboriginal foragers in Western Australia, here we test empirically-derived, mechanistic predictions on site size and material size sorting to show how these can inform theoretically-derived, adaptive predictions from the Marginal Value Theorem. Results show that site size increases with the number of occupants and hence, the amount of in-patch foraging competition, while size sorting increases with the duration of occupation and hence, in-patch residence time. Combined, these attributes of site structure can be used as proxies of foraging behavior to explain variability in overall foraging yields. With this approach, site structure can provide insights into foraging decisions that can be examined through a general theory of behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

James F. O’Connell is one of the most influential ethnoarchaelogists, especially so for his contributions to the development of behavioral ecology in anthropology. His scholarship in Australian archaeology and his ethnographic work with Hadza hunter-gatherers are probably best known. However, his intellectual development in the archaeology of Western North America and commitment to Australian ethnography remain underappreciated. Here I trace details of his ethnoarchaeological roots – from his background in Great Basin archaeology through his early ethnographic work in Australia – to demonstrate the maturation of an increasingly relevant and important approach to understanding human-environmental interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Despite its crucial economic importance, storage remains a surprisingly rare topic in Maya archaeology. • Evidence for storage architecture among the modern, colonial era, and ancient Mayas can help build a middle-range theory for studying this topic. • Architectural, artifactual, and geoarchaeological data can help archaeologists recognize distinct types of above-ground storage architecture, such as kitchens, storerooms, storehouses, and warehouses. • Classic Maya royal courts relied on ancillary, centralized, and administrative storage facilities. • Storage is a necessary and productive angle for studying ancient Maya household and political economies. The storage of abundant foodstuffs or items is a central element of all economies, but strangely remains a rare topic in the field of ancient Maya anthropological archaeology. This paper aims to fill this lacuna by proposing a middle-range theory of ancient Maya storage architecture. This theoretical framework is built on extensive empirical data derived from ethnographical, ethnohistorical, and archaeological literatures. This middle-range model is then applied to the Later Classic (700–900 CE) regal palace of La Corona, Guatemala where five distinct, yet complementary storage contexts are identified on archaeological and geoarchaeological grounds. The storerooms, storehouses, and warehouse found in this royal household were used to store distinct foodstuffs, commodities, administrative tools, taxes and tribute, ceremonial paraphernalia, and prestige items. These complementary architectural contexts are arranged along a pragmatic operational chain, where they occupy ineluctable positions. In this paper, I show that placing storage at the center of ancient Maya economic inquiry – be it for household or political economies – is not only possible, but necessary and productive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Marra Australian Aboriginal philosophies guide archaeological research. • Stone artefacts are embedded within Marra relational philosophies and politics. • Stone 'raw materials' are potent ancestral substances. • Access to powerful Marra ancestral quarries changed through time. • Lithic analyses of Marra stone artefacts reveal changing social worlds. In archaeology, investigations into the social and cultural contexts of stone artefacts have largely focused on their typological styles, manufacturing technologies, functions, geographic distributions and the significance of the quarries they come from. Yet what is oftentimes overlooked is the deeper contemporary understandings by Indigenous groups of the stone artefacts recovered from excavations. In this paper, we analyse an assemblage of 9,642 excavated stone artefacts from the rockshelter site of Walanjiwurru 1 in Marra Country in northern Australia, in light of the cosmological significance of regional stone sources to local Aboriginal groups. Each recovered stone artefact, and the quarries of their raw materials, is laden with meanings that help reveal how Marra Aboriginal people socially and cosmologically engaged with their landscape. By combining archaeological and Marra cultural perspectives, we argue that subtle variations in the range of stones and their relational characteristics signal changing political engagements with ancestral places over the past 2300 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The compound-specific δ13C values of n -alkanes from pastoralist winter campsites in Mongolia have great potential to reconstruct dietary seasonality of livestock and local vegetation. We analysed leaf wax n -alkanes and their carbon isotope ratios in common fodder plants (Artemisia mongolica , Chenopodium album , Elymus dahuricus , Elymus sibiricus and Stipa sibirica) fed to domesticates during the winter months, and also in topsoils (0–8 cm) from four livestock corrals in northern and southern Mongolia. n -Alkanes identified in fresh plant parts reflect signatures with mean δ13C stable isotope values of individual n -alkanes typical for C 3 plants (−34.1‰). Plants from forest- and desert-steppe exhibit similar mean n -alkane δ13C values but significantly wider isotopic variation in the desert steppe flora. The non-anthropogenic control samples exhibit δ13C mean values significantly higher from that of dung deposits and fresh plants for the same regions. Our data support previous research that n -alkanes profiles and their carbon isotopic values vary depending on the local vegetation and environment, while simultaneously demonstrating how anthropogenic activity, such as corralling of livestock, is recorded in the n -alkane of domesticates dung validating the use of biomarker studies in pastoralist archaeological contexts for distinguishing seasonal foddering, local environmental data and to an extent grazing habitats. •Anthropogenic activity (i.e. corralling of livestock) is recorded in the n-alkanes of animal dung. •n-Alkanes identified in fresh plant parts and dung reflect signatures for vascular C3 plants. •Herbivore dung from winter camps reflects ingestion of plant fodder collected in summer. •n-Alkane 13C values from penning deposits are depleted regarding those of non-anthropic deposits. •Pastoralist grazing habitats (forest and desert) are detected through a biomarker approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

For over half of a century, ethnoarchaeology has served as an important analytical tool in the development of archaeological theory and the interpretation of human culture. In recent years, with the growth of geoarchaeology as a subdiscipline of archaeological research, scholars have begun to examine contemporary and recent contexts by applying analytical methods from the field of geosciences (e.g., soil micromorphology, mineralogical, elemental, phytolith and isotope analysis) in order to better understand site formation processes and depositional and post-depositional processes. First, this paper explores, as contributions to archaeological sciences, the concept of ethnoarchaeology in general and the emergence of geo-ethnoarchaeology in particular. Second, through examination and synthesis of several key case studies, this paper emphasizes the usefulness of a broad range of laboratory-based analytical methods in linking the archaeological record and human activity. Third, this paper brings together data from recent geo-ethnoarchaeological studies conducted in Africa, South and Central America, Europe and South and West Asia that analyze floor deposits, hearths, degradation of mud houses, use of space, use of plants, animal husbandry and cooking installations. A wealth of information is assembled here to form a reference framework crucial to any study of archaeological materials and sites and for the interpretation of archaeological site formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Saloum Delta, Senegal, is renowned for its vast shell middens which date to at least 5000 BP and in many cases, also contain numerous burials. Though archaeological work has been conducted here for over 70 years, the focus has been on obtaining radiocarbon dating sequences and rescue excavation; little is known in detail about the middens or the people who built them. Today, the Sereer Niominka people of the Saloum Delta continue to collect and trade shellfish using traditional methods. This has offered an opportunity to observe these processes in practice, and examine the archaeological footprints they produce. These ethnoarchaeological observations have provided new perspectives on the development of large shell middens that will contribute to a better understanding of the archaeological landscape here and will also be of relevance to midden-rich environments, more widely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the background, objectives, progress and results of a series of field experiments concerning the production of salt cakes using ceramic vessels known as briquetage, conducted within the framework of a larger research project concerning the ethnoarchaeology of the salt springs from the extra-Carpathian areas of Romania. The approach was based on the existing archaeological data – description of briquetage sherds and their discovery contexts, as well as on ethnoarchaeological accounts and previous experimentations. The experiments allowed some valuable observations on the distinct aspects of this chaîne opératoire : modelling and firing the briquetage vessels; exposure to fire of the recipients filled with brine or a salt slurry of varied concentrations; the amount of time needed for crystallization and hardening of the salt, dependent on the fuels used and temperatures reached; ways of extracting the salt cakes from the ceramic coat; assessment of the effort (i.e. labour and raw materials) involved by the whole process. All the failures, challenges and eventual successes encountered during the experiments granted an insight into an ancient technique, described mainly a priori in the archaeological literature. Also, it gives a hint in understanding the appreciable importance and value of salt in times when this essential mineral was not available as it is today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debates about ancient Amazonian social organization have evaluated characterizations from a range of sources that include ethnographically documented foraging societies and archaeological discoveries suggestive of sedentized agriculturists. This study uses qualitative ethnoarchaeological data about foraging and small-scale horticulture among the Pumé of Venezuela, and Lewis Binford’s quantified database of foraging groups and environmental parameters, to develop a testable model that predicts the conditions under which Amazon Basin foragers would (or would not) intensify subsistence to the point of incorporating maize and other cultivars; as well as the conditions for reversing the process. Specific expectations for the archaeological and paleoenvironmental record are proposed as indicators, and assessed relative to what we currently know from the archaeological record. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnoarchaeology is one of the most significant and lasting contributions developed by Lewis Binford as a mainstay of processual archaeology. Observations about the organization and use of space by contemporary groups are used as one method to investigate material patterns found in archaeological record. Ethnoarchaeological research by Graham (1989) among the Rarámuri of northern Mexico generated models of residential site structure that operate at several spatial and organizational scales. Further ethnographic survey of groups who use subterranean dwellings was conducted by Schmader (1994) . Resulting expectations about residential mobility and site structure are presented. Excavations of ancestral puebloan pitstructures in central New Mexico by Schmader (1994) applied Graham’s models to explain patterning of interior floor assemblages. Distributions of floor items are used to identify activity areas and maintained interior space. Discussions concerning structure function, architectural responses to mobility, and inferences about varying degrees of site sedentism are presented. The potential and applicability of connecting ethnoarchaeological observations with archaeological patterns is described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lewis R. Binford was a hugely significant figure in the archaeology of the 20th century. His prolific publications invigorated the role of anthropology in archaeology, and pioneered the development of processualism, scientific archaeology, middle range theory, ethnoarchaeology, hunter–gatherer studies, and the use of global scales of analysis in constructing conceptual frameworks for understanding the organization and evolution of cultural systems. In this issue, two of Binford’s most important contributions – middle range research and the construction of frames of reference – are brought into new relevance with case studies that span time from the Middle Pleistocene to modern-day traditional communities, and global regions from the sub-arctic and temperate to the desert and the tropics. The concluding article considers in detail what makes a truly influential archaeologist in today’s society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We seek to expand ceramic ethnoarchaeology by factoring in subsistence behaviors in a holistic approach to household economies. With never before published data from the Kalinga Ethnoarchaeological Project, we analyze the relationship between household rice farming and pottery exchange in Dangtalan from 1975 to 1976. We show that inequalities in rice landholdings and yields were ameliorated through household exchange of pottery. Households with the highest rice productivities (rice yield divided by field area) received pots from households with lower productivities. There is a clear inverse relationship between household investment in rice farming and ceramic exchange to other community households. By tracing out the exchange networks, we find that village divisions have influence on who exchanges with whom. The fact that women manage a household’s pottery production and rice farming and that village divisions play a role in the socialization of young men suggests that subsistence and craft production cross-cut gendered cultural traditions. This pattern may be the product of a complex-adaptive system undergoing change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the significance and relevance of concepts presented by Lewis Binford in “The Archaeology of Place” (1982) in studying the process of human colonization in Patagonia. Models and observational techniques inspired by and presented in that seminal paper have been instrumental in the discussion of the mobility of the first inhabitants of southern Patagonia. The result is a flexible ecological model of a slow process of human expansion into the southern end of the continent, and the recognition of at least three early occupational nodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological assemblages are fundamentally records of discard behavior. Lewis Binford’s pioneering ethnoarchaeological research focused attention on the differing pathways that lead to artifacts being abandoned in different locations on the landscape. Recurring relationships between artifact density and assemblage content at Middle and Upper Paleolithic sites reflect simple behavioral dynamics pertaining to artifact production and discard. In the very long archaeological sequence from A. Jelinek’s excavations at Tabun Cave, Mousterian assemblages show the expected pattern, but earlier Acheulean, Amudian and Yabrudian assemblages do not. In combination with evidence that different classes of artifacts were discarded at different rates, these results suggest that land use and raw material provisioning in the later Middle Pleistocene were organized differently than they were among later populations of Neanderthals and modern humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological models are a fundamental tool that archaeologists use to clarify our thinking about the processes that generate the archaeological record. Typically, arguments reasoned from a single model are bolstered by observing the consistency of ethnographic data with the argument. This validation of a model establishes that an argument is reasonable. In this paper, we attempt to move beyond validation by comparing the consistency of two arguments reasoned from different models that might explain corporate territorial ownership in a large ethnographic data set. Our results suggest that social dilemmas are an under appreciated mechanism that can drive the evolution of corporate territorial ownership. When social dilemmas emerge, the costs associated with provisioning the public goods of information on resources or, perhaps, common defence create situations in which human foragers gain more by cooperating to recognize corporate ownership rules than they lose. Our results also indicate that societies who share a common cultural history are more likely to recognize corporate ownership, and there is a spatial dynamic in which societies who live near each other are more likely to recognize corporate ownership as the number of near-by groups who recognize ownership increases. Our results have important implications for investigating the coevolution of territorial ownership and the adoption of food production in the archaeological record. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new approach combining ethnoarchaeology and experimentation aiming towards a better understanding of prehistoric firewood use and management. The example of present fuel management practices among a residentially mobile group of Evenk Siberian reindeer herders, shows how ethnoarchaeology can provide an analytical background for the study of complex man–environment interrelations. Ethnographic observation confirmed in particular that the moisture content and structural soundness of the wood can be linked to hearth function: rotten conifers for instance, are used for hide smoking by several groups living in the boreal forests of the Northern hemisphere. Charcoal samples from an Evenk hearth fed with rotten Larix cajanderi (Siberian larch) showed a high proportion of microscopic features diagnostic of fungal alterations. A series of systematic experimental combustions on Pinus sylvestris (scots Pine) confirmed the existence of a relationship between the frequency and the intensity of fungal alterations visible after the combustion and the initial state of the wood used in the hearth. The establishment of an alteration index allows now to take a new parameter, the structural soundness of the wood, into account when performing archaeological charcoal analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has shown that there are many factors, such as vessel type, size, and function, producer skill, and market systems, that can influence pottery standardization/uniformity. In this paper, I use ethnoarchaeology to explore how the social and economic organization of the Gamo living in southwestern Ethiopia affects uniformity of pottery form and decoration. I compare uniformity at the community level to test our assumptions regarding potter specialization associated with potters who are full-time craft specialists living in a complex and highly stratified, caste society. In conclusion, I argue that distribution (i.e., market and patron-client) impacts the uniformity of pottery morphology and decoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zooarchaeologists frequently use the relative abundance of skeletal elements in faunal assemblages in conjunction with foraging theory models to infer subsistence decisions made by prehistoric hunter-gatherers. However, foraging models applied to ethnoarchaeological cases have had variable success linking skeletal transport decisions with foraging predictions. Here, we approach this issue with the well-known Hadza data to statistically model the skeletal element transport decisions in response to distance from the residential hub and the number of carriers available for carcass transport. We compare our modeling approach to the traditional skeletal element utility curves from Binford's work with the Nunamiut, and to the more recently proposed Shannon evenness measure. Our approach, based on standard yet powerful statistical modeling techniques, can help researchers gain increased insight into the prey part transport responses of hunter-gatherers. Our analyses treat individual prey skeletal elements by body size as the response variable. The results of this analysis suggest that utility curves, and the Shannon evenness approach as a proxy for utility curves, are problematic for making statements about prehistoric foraging from zooarchaeological data. Transport distance does not explain a significant portion of small prey (size class 2) skeletal element transport variation. However, distance explains a great deal of transport variation in large prey (size classes 4 and 5). Inferences from skeletal element profiles should be made relative to prey body size and the discard probability of individual elements. Understanding the influence of these variables allows construction of a framework for testing archaeological element profiles against ethnographically derived transport models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Tell Seker al-Aheimar, located in the Upper Khabur, northeastern Syria, is an early Neolithic settlement that chrono-culturally spans from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) to the Proto-Hassuna period (Pottery Neolithic). The site is one of the largest and best documented Neolithic sites in this relatively poorly investigated region in Upper Mesopotamia. Among the occupation sequence of the site with well-defined architectural phases, the Late PPNB settlement (late 8th to early 7th millennium cal. BC) is characterized by an extensive mud-brick architecture, which comprises large multi-roomed rectangular buildings and gypsum-plastered floors. Our research questions center on the identification of domestic activities and their spatial distributions in the site through integrated studies of phytoliths and dung spherulites using an ethnoarchaeological approach. The ethnoarchaeological research included the study of agricultural and dung remains obtained from modern domestic structures from the top of the tell and the modern village of Seker al-Aheimar. The examined activity areas and materials comprised indoor storage and processing spaces, open areas, fireplaces, building materials and livestock enclosures. We use the ethnoarchaeological results to interpret the distributions of both phytolith and spherulite concentrations in archaeological contexts in terms of domestic activities that took place both within and outside buildings. Building spaces and their adjacent areas showed material accumulation resulting from household debris, including food remains, construction materials, matting, hearth cleaning and fuel residues. Indoor activities included the use of certain areas for storage, cereal-processing and cooking. The identification of livestock dung remains in fireplaces suggests the use of dung as a fuel source. We compare these new results with our previous studies of different phases and areas of the site to discuss diachronic and spatial trends in Neolithic household behaviors at Tell Seker al-Aheimar. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Sun dried mud bricks are a common building material across the globe, found in many archaeological sites in the Old World since ca. 11,000 years ago. This material is known to disintegrate due to exposure to the elements, mostly affected by rain. Yet, the geomorphic and sedimentological characteristics of this disintegration process have never been studied in detail until recently. Here we report on mud brick degradation processes observed in an abandoned mud brick village in northern Greece. We demonstrate that mud bricks have unique micromorphological characteristics that differentiate them from natural soils. Upon degradation some of these characteristics are lost (e.g., planar voids after fibrous vegetal temper). Rain initiates brick degradation at the upper parts of walls where from brick material is washed down walls and deposited at their feet, forming a conical talus. The talus deposits show micromorphological features indicative of a variety of flows, including wet and dry grain flows, debris, hyperconcentrated and water flows. These flows seem to operate simultaneously across small distances. These talus deposits are different micromorphologically from natural soils thus their characteristics can be used to identify degraded mud brick material in archaeological sites. This, in turn, may help identify the location of long degraded mud brick walls (in the absence of stone foundations) and identify the relationship between house floors and degraded infill that accumulated on floors following wall degradation. A comparison between the current observations with a previous study we conducted in an abandoned mud brick house in arid southern Israel, illustrates the generality of these low energy slope processes in mud brick degradation, which emphasizes the worldwide applicability of the processes identified in this study. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Spatio-temporal understanding of past domestic activities is a key aspect of archaeological reasoning. The identification of markers of particular anthropic actions through time has become a fundamental issue. Chemical analyses of archaeological floors are an essential tool to investigate and identify anthropic markers of past human activities. This paper explores the relative spatial variability of chemical residues of floors in an ethnographic context to provide a constructive basis to experiment with spatial analysis for the detection and interpretation of anthropic activity markers. These markers are recognised as anomalies and tendencies in the relative spatial distribution of chemical residues embedded in the floor. The experiment has been carried out in a controlled environment and serves to test the methods and assumptions to be used in archaeological contexts. Spatial interpolations (IDW, Map Algebra and PCA) were performed and allowed the identification of anomalies in the distribution of residues that can be associated with specific activities (fuel use, food preparation and consumption, use of fireplaces). Geostatistics (Ordinary and Regression Kriging) was used in order to contribute to the identification of trends related to the use of space and the connected activities (e.g. inner versus outer space, storage versus cooking). The results show how the integration of different techniques can improve data interpretation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Much of our success as a species derives from the ability to adapt hunting and gathering to diverse ecologies and incorporate a wide range of food resources. Hunter–gatherers maintain broad dietary options through an array of alternative and fallback strategies. While many decisions facing foragers have been analyzed, few paired nutritional and return rate data are available, especially in relation to the value of wild roots. Ethnoarchaeological data from a group of South American hunter–gatherers allow us to comparatively assess the value of root resources by observing what mobile foragers do when presented with the option to retain or replace wild foods with domesticates. Nutritional content and foraging returns indicate that cultivated tubers provide no clear nutritional or labor advantages. Evidence also does not suggest that wild roots are inferior resources. This may explain why some foragers incorporate domesticates without replacing dependence on wild foods, or signaling a transition to an agrarian economy. This perspective has archaeological implications for modeling of past subsistence during initial and early exploitation of cultigens. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] We analyze ethnographic pottery production and distribution in Northern Peru. [•] Three tendencies on the relation between tools, techniques, and place are identified. [•] Two models for plainware are developed: local production and non-local production. [•] With the ethnographic models we examine the construction of archaeological narratives. [•] We suggest ethnographic guidelines for the archaeological study of plainware. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Mud constructed cooking installations such as ovens and hearths are common in modern, pre-modern and archaeological domestic contexts in West and Central Asia. Archaeological cooking installations are primarily identified using analogy of shape and size to ethnographic installations. The study presented here establishes direct evidence to the use of fire within mud constructed cooking installations, thus providing means for reducing ambiguity in identification of archaeological cooking installations. In addition, we present here a newly developed method that enables a clear-cut distinction between wood and dung ashes used as fuel materials in many modern and archaeological domestic contexts. The study is based on an ethnoarchaeological research in rural households at the Republic of Uzbekistan that was followed by geoarchaeological analyses of installation walls, wood ash, dung ash and wood and dung standards collected in the study area. Field work included ethnographic observations, interviews with informants and temperature measurements during cooking experiments. We show that changes in the clay mineral structure due to exposure to high temperatures on the interior walls of cooking installations can be detected using FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) spectroscopy, providing for the first time direct evidence to the use of fire within such installations. We demonstrate that the temperature recorded by clay alteration on installation walls as well as in the ashes left on installation bottoms does not correspond to baking or cooking temperatures. We also show that the newly developed method, based on the ratio of wood ash pseudomorphs to dung spherulites, separates between wood and dung ashes with very high certainty. Yet, we identify a range of values where differentiation between wood and dung ashes is uncertain, and suggest it results from intensive mixing processes. Lastly, we show that phytolith morphotype analysis is an insufficient tool, if used alone, for distinguishing wood from dung ashes in the study area. The newly developed tools for temperature estimation within mud constructed installations and for fuel origin determination contribute to better understanding of cooking-related practices, and can be applied to archaeological contexts worldwide. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Techniques are described for extracting circular rock features from landscapes dominated by clasts of the same type from which cultural features are composed, using as a test case a large stone circle residential site in western Wyoming, USA. Methods consist of point plotting all relevantly-sized culturally and naturally-deposited clasts in the field and identifying potential cultural features using point density analyses tools in ArcGIS. Potential rings are either accepted or rejected as cultural features by comparing clast frequency, density and distribution in internal, feature-ring, and external spatial buffers to ethnoarchaeological data recording stone circle size and morphology and to similar data generated from a control sample of off-site, naturally-occurring clasts. The results of the analysis are used to discuss group size, mobility type, and duration of site occupation and to explore problems of assessing such at surface archaeological sites resulting from palimpsest-type site formation processes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In 2009, an archaeological intervention in the Valle da Gafaria (Lagos, Portugal) allowed the excavation of part of a leprosarium and an associated necropolis (15th–17th centuries). The individuals recovered were buried directly in the soil, in positions and orientations discordant to the prevailing Christian rules. The sample is made up of eleven adult individuals of both sexes. This paper discusses the differential diagnosis of unusual and distinct pathological changes in five of the individuals recovered. The differential diagnosis of the lesions gave rise to several possible pathological conditions, namely, leprosy, treponematosis, brucellosis, slipped femoral capital epiphysis, and Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease. Various macroscopic and radiological aspects led us to consider leprosy as the most probable diagnosis in two individuals. Treponematosis and brucellosis were the probable diagnosis in other two individuals, respectively. One individual presented lesions in the right femur compatible with Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease. Historical documents suggest that the poor, mentally disabled, and people suffering from syphilis, tuberculosis, among others, were also housed in leprosaria. Therefore, it is possible that evidence of other conditions is found in human remains uncovered at a leprosarium. The cases under study enrich the scanty osteoarchaeological documentation of palaeopathology in Portugal in the Modern Age, namely of leprosy, brucellosis, treponematosis, and Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease, and they can contribute to reduce the discrepancy between historical and biological evidences of disease. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The central role of grinding activities in the dietary practices of traditional agricultural populations can be approached from an ethnoarchaeological point of view. The comparison of ethnographic references raises the question whether the function and the socioeconomic context in which grinding slabs are used allow to assess issues related to conclusions drawn from archaeological contexts. Our discussion is based on the analysis of the manufacturing of grinding slabs, their use cycles and their social status in several Minyanka villages (Mali), providing useful references when examining the way in which archaeologists explain and interpret technological, functional and spatial observations. The typological and technical evolution and variability of querns results from a combination of several factors determined by the available raw materials, the skill of shaping techniques, the organisation of manufacturing and the transference of the function of grinding tools. But these factors alone cannot explain the encountered range of variation. Our study thus emphasises the very role of cultural aspects within these temporal and regional developments, and the impossibility of dissociating the use of a quern from its socio-economic context. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper I propose a novel integration of inductive predictive modelling and ethnoarchaeology. The case study concerns seasonal upland pastoral settlement patterns in the eastern Italian Alps. A sample of modern pastoral sites has been selected, and their relationships with environmental variables have been analyzed in order to create a model to predict the location of archaeological upland pastoral sites. The model has been tested with modern and archaeological control samples. It has proved to be useful for predicting the location of specific site categories. Ethnoarchaeological fieldwork has been carried out in the same alpine sample area, which has enhanced the interpretative potential of the proposed model, suggesting that the spatial of the analyzed sites could well be related to their dairying function. The creation of ethnoarchaeological locational models with a predictive potential may be very important not only in helping to tackle some theoretical and methodological problems in predictive modelling, but also in enhancing the importance of ethnoarchaeology in landscape archaeology projects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper we present an experimental study of bone modifications caused by human chewing during consumption. Traditionally, tooth marks have been attributed to non-human actors. However, ethnoarchaeological as well as previous experimental work has shown that humans can make many modifications during chewing. Our results suggest that the range of damage is as extensive as that most likely to be produced by carnivores. This damage includes furrowing, scooping-out, crenulated and saw-toothed edges, longitudinal cracking, crushing, peeling and tooth marks. In this paper we present a description of the types of damage observed in the experimental sample. Some of this damage shows parallels between the experimental modifications and archaeological assemblages from Pleistocene and Holocene deposits at the Sierra de Atapuerca sites (Burgos, Spain). The repetition of morphologies allowed us to attribute some of the damage to tooth marks made by human chewing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The crystallinity of bone mineral represents an established method of measuring heat-induced change and is of importance to fields including material science, clinical science, anthropology and archaeology. A commonly used technique involves the calculation of the Crystallinity Index (CI) using selected peaks from Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) absorbance spectra. However, the choice of peaks has to date not been statistically justified. In this study a novel application of statistical techniques to the FTIR spectra of bone samples burned in the range 100 °C–1100 °C has been used to identify 5 new spectral indices of heat-induced crystallinity change. The validity of the new indices was tested by using a statistical classification model (LDA) to predict the burning temperature of a set of 108 bone samples burned between 100 °C and 1100 °C. A correct classification rate (CCR) of 97.2% was obtained when a combination of 4 indices including the CI was used. This was significantly better than the CCR of 66.7% which was obtained when the CI was used on its own. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Archaeological interpretations are interwoven with analogical reasoning. This paper presents a large volume of ethnographic data on traditional pig husbandry in modern Iberia and discusses their zooarchaeological importance. Europe-based ethnoarchaeological studies on traditional pig husbandry (e.g., in Sardinia/Corsica and Greece) have only recently made their appearance and have been proved environmentally and geographically more relevant than similar studies carried out in Asia. This paper presents archaeologically relevant data on a great variety of themes such as pig morphology, adaptation in and exploitation of environment, herd size and composition, the relations between wild and domestic populations, castration, breeding, genetic diversity, slaughtering practices, age-at-death, home range, control and movements, diet, weight, agricultural damage and products. The results show that traditional systems of animal husbandry do survive in Europe and their study widens and improves our interpretative framework. This Iberian-based study showed that domestic pig morphology is the combined result of the breeder’s selection and the pig’s adaptation to a given environment and husbandry system. Moreover, scale is a crucial factor significantly affecting all other aspects of a husbandry system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The importance of identifying activity areas on archaeological sites has focussed much ethnoarchaeological and geoarchaeological research on floor formation processes, especially the cultural practices and preservation conditions affecting the distributions of artefacts, organic residues, and elements. In order to broaden the understanding of site formation processes in northern regions, an ethnoarchaeological study integrating geoarchaeological methods was conducted at abandoned 19th- and early 20th-century turf buildings at the farm of Thverá, northeast Iceland. Micromorphological analysis of the floor deposits in different rooms, compared to the former resident’s descriptions of how space had been used and how floors had been maintained, revealed that only a few activities resulted in the accumulation of residues that were diagnostic of how space had been used on a daily basis. Instead, floor layers were dominated by residues associated with maintenance events, such as the intentional spreading of ash, and the laying of fresh turf. This study highlighted the fact that “dirty”, “clean”, “comfortable”, and “waste”, are socially constructed concepts that have a significant impact on the composition of occupation surfaces and must be given careful consideration by archaeologists attempting to spatially analyse residues in floor deposits to interpret site activity areas. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In archaeological literature, the study of trees and wood remains is a topic of relatively marginal interest, especially compared to texts on crops and human–animal relations. However, charcoal is the most frequent botanical remain found in archaeological sites. Charcoal analysis can therefore play a major role in the development of studies in both landscape and palaeoethnobotanical reconstruction. The majority of the archaeological charcoal assemblages reflect the exploitation of wood as an energy source (fuel). The archaeological study of firewood selection has been predominantly developed from “eco-utilitarian” or “subsistence economy” perspectives, but has not yet considered fuel collection and use as one of the most enduring categories of human–environment interactions, nor has archaeology looked into its potential as a source of empirical information on past perceptions of, and interactions with, ancient landscapes. The aim of this paper is to expand previous archaeological work on the interpretation of charcoal macro-remains through the study of firewood collection as a historically constituted, socially mediated and archaeologically observable landscape practice. In order to achieve this, we present an ethnoarchaeological case study from the Fang society of Equatorial Guinea (central Africa) aimed at gaining a better understanding of the complex interactions between cultural, ecological and economic variables in firewood collection strategies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Awá are a group of hunter–gatherers in transition to agriculture living in the Brazilian Amazon forest. After contact with mainstream society from the 1970s onwards, their culture, and especially their material culture, has undergone important transformations. Many traditional technologies and artifacts have been lost, especially those related to women. In this context, the persistence of arrow-making, although threatened by the spread of shotguns, is remarkable. During ethnoarchaeological work conducted between 2005 and 2009, we have been able to observe that the everyday making and use of arrows cannot be explained in neither functional nor symbolic terms alone. From our observations, we conclude that making and using arrows is indissolubly woven with the self of Awá men and, for that reason, we consider that only a relational-ontological approach can help us understand the deep relationship between men and arrows. Finally, we argue that the Awá case offers new possibilities to investigate technologies of the self in other non-modern societies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present and discuss empirical evidence on the dynamics of occupation and site formation processes from contemporary mobile campsites in Northwest Siberia. The questions posed are derived generally from archaeological studies of Upper Paleolithic record in Europe. We document the active Nenets summer camps at lakes and the abandoned winter and spring camps in the open tundra and the forest tundra. Analysis of the floral and zoological resources shows that plant resources and fish are available predominantly in the summer while reindeer are abundant in these regions in fall and winter when they return from summer pastures further north. When natural resources are not available, groups supplement with food purchased at shops. Within these living camps, “structures évidentes” and “structures latentes” of classical French paleoethnology cannot be distinguished as clearly as at Upper Paleolithic sites: and architectural remains, ash from hearths, and other objects may be removed from the central areas towards the site peripheries. However the investigated camps preserve a discrete structure with interior living areas (including children’s playgrounds), exterior areas with evidence of reindeer carcass processing, woodworking, and other activities, peripheral toss zones, and dispersed activity remains in the surrounding landscape. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Indices of taxonomic abundance are commonly used by zooarchaeologists to examine resource intensification, overexploitation and gender-divisions in foraging labor. The original formulation of abundance indices developed a clear interpretive framework by linking the measure with foraging models from behavioral ecology. However, using the same basic tenets of behavioral ecology, archaeologists disagree about how to interpret variability in abundance index values: some suggest that high proportions of large prey remains represent higher overall foraging efficiency, while others argue the opposite. To help solve this problem, we use quantitative observational data with Martu hunters in Australia’s Western Desert to examine how foraging decisions and outcomes best predict variation in the abundance index values that result. We show that variation in the proportional remains of large to small game is best predicted by hunting bout success with larger prey and the time spent foraging for smaller prey. A declining abundance index results from decreasing hunting success with larger prey, increasing time invested in hunting smaller prey, or both; any of which result in a lower overall return rate than if large prey were acquired reliably. We also demonstrate that where large prey acquisition is stochastic, high index values are correlated positively with men’s proportional caloric contribution of large unreliable game, while low index values are correlated with women’s proportional foraging time for small reliable game. We discuss these results with reference to evidence of resource intensification and gender-specific foraging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Due to their problematic stratigraphy, shell middens have traditionally been excavated by artificial stratigraphical cuts. This approach has often led to the obliteration of the original depositional sequence, removing important information regarding depositional and post-depositional processes, and human frequentation. Since the 1970s, an Argentinian team has been excavating archaeological shell middens in the Beagle Channel with a detailed stratigraphical approach, based on the excavation of actual depositional units (peeling), rather than artificial cuts. In the 1980s, Spanish archaeologists joined the Argentinean team and launched a series of new projects involving the excavation of ethnohistorical Yamana fisher-hunter-gatherer sites. The first excavated midden site was Tunel VII, from which two monolith columns of about 50 cm each (C11 and C12) that spanned the whole stratigraphy were extracted. The two columns were consolidated with resin, and two series of thin sections produced to corroborate stratigraphical observations made in the field, and to verify hypotheses related to the formation of archaeological shell midden sites. We present here the first results obtained from the microscopical observation of seven thin sections from column 11 (West column), extracted from a portion of the profile originally described as corresponding to the hut entrance and associated floor. The observation of microscopical features invisible in the field has provided supplemental information about the depositional and post-depositional processes affecting shell midden sites. We have also preliminarily defined a number of micromorphological characteristics identifying human activities such as discrete shell deposition events, phases of preparation of the hut floor, and compression by repeated trampling. Finally, we have explored the possibility of establishing some guidelines to characterise the length and character of frequentation phases of the site previous to its final abandonment at the beginning of the 20th century. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]