Search

The early, ephemeral adoption of pottery arose under different circumstances in both the Transbaikal and Russian Far East regions, however in both instances it was likely used to intensify extraction of more nutrients from resources already heavily in diets focused almost exclusively on riverine environments. In the Transbaikal, earliest ceramic use is correlated to an increase in residential mobility with no other technological or subsistence change. Ceramic vessels may have allowed more extensive processing of these food sources, including small mammals and fish, already in the foraging diet. In the Russian Far East, however, earliest ceramic use is correlated to higher rates of sedentism and ground stone technology, with intensification of land mammals in the Middle Amur Basin, and fish and C3 plant extraction in the Lower Amur Basin. Furthermore, it is clear that early on ceramics were incorporated ephemerally into behavioral systems throughout a relatively long period of time, thus the use of terminology such as “Final Late Paleolithic” and “Initial Neolithic” may only be descriptors of whether individual sites contain pottery, not a meaningful description of “cultures” or “time periods”. Thus, during the late Pleistocene, pottery may have been incorporated by hunter-gatherer-fishers into one behavioral system that initially comprised locations with and without ceramic use depending on the specific behavioral and environmental circumstances of the given region.

This file describes the morphology and use wear of a drill form from the Eaton site in West Seneca, New York.

Dans le sud de la France, la connaissance des habitats du Néolithique ancien reste encore assez fragmentaire et le plus souvent limitée à quelques structures, bâtiments ou fragments de bâtiments isolés. Au sud de la ville de Nîmes, dans le Gard, la multiplication des opérations d’archéologie préventive au cours des deux dernières décennies a permis de mettre au jour les vestiges plus ou moins bien conservés de trois sites d’habitats auxquels viennent s’adjoindre une dizaine de structures ou indices de sites isolés. Tous ces gisements se rattachent à l’Épicardial languedocien, entre 5100 et 4800 ans avant notre ère environ. La présence de niveau de sol et de structures en creux permet d’approcher la structuration spatiale de ces habitats. Le mobilier archéologique recueilli (céramique, silex, quartz, macro-outillage, parure, ocre...) documente les productions associées à ce faciès culturel ainsi que leur évolution sur plusieurs siècles. En plus de l’étude des provenances des matériaux, les analyses carpologiques, archéozoologiques, anthracologiques et malacologiques illustrent la manière dont ces gisements s’inscrivent au sein de leur territoire et de leur environnement. Enfin, la multiplication des diagnostics archéologiques et fouilles préventives permet, dans cette zone, de s’assurer de la réalité des vides d’occupation. C’est donc toute la dynamique spatiale et temporelle de l’occupation d’un territoire que ces gisements permettent d’aborder., Evidence for early Neolithic settlements in southern France is still quite fragmentary and is most often limited to a few features or parts of structural remains. South of the town of Nîmes, in the Gard département, the increase in preventive archaeology fieldwork over the last two decades has led to the discovery of three quite well-preserved settlement sites, together with a dozen or so sites with slighter traces of occupation. All these sites date to the Languedoc Epicardial, which approximately covers the period 5100-4800 BC. The preservation of a soil horizon as well as subsoil features on these settlements enables spatial patterning to be examined. The artefacts recovered (pottery, flint, quartz, macrolithic tools, ornaments, ochre...) illustrate Epicardial material culture and its development over several centuries. Combined with sourcing of materials, analyses of botanical, faunal and snail assemblages illustrate how these sites relate to their territory and environment. Lastly, the increase in trial trenching and preventive excavation now makes it possible to determine which parts of the region actually remained unoccupied. These sites thus provide a whole range of evidence enabling the space-time dynamics of settlement to be investigated at a regional scale.

Public version of the project excavation report (see project page for abstract).

Often understudied by archaeologists, ground stone tools (GST) were ubiquitous in the ancient Maya world. Their applications ranged from household tools to ceremonial equipment and beyond. Little attention has been focused on chemically sourcing the raw stone material used in GST production, largely because these tools were fashioned out of igneous or sedimentary rock, which can present characterization challenges. And, although portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) has been applied widely to source obsidian, the utility of pXRF for geochemically sourcing other kinds of stone remains underexplored. We present a small-scale application of pXRF for determining granite provenance within a section of the Middle Belize Valley in Belize, Central America. Belize is an ideal location to test chemical sourcing studies of granite because there are only three tightly restricted and chemically distinct sources of granite in the country, from which the overwhelming majority of granite for ancient tool production derived. The method described here demonstrates that successful and accurate geological characterizations can be made on granite GST. This cutting-edge sourcing technique has the potential to be more widely applied in other regions to reveal deeper connections between the sources of GST production and sites of consumption across space and through time.

Recent studies in Southeastern Anatolia shed light on the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period. The surveys and excavations carried out in Şanlıurfa show that the centers of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period are concentrated in this region. Gobekli Tepe, Karahan Hill, Sayburç, Nevali Çori, Ayanlar Höyük, Yeni Mahalle, Harbetsuvan Hill, Sefer Hill, Kurt Hill, Hamzan Hill and Taşlı Hill are some of them. The Harbetsuvan Hill, discovered in 2014, is located within the provincial borders of Şanlıurfa, 53 km east of Şanlıurfa, between the calcareous plateaus known as the Tek Tek Mountains. On the Harbetsuvan Hill, which is dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period; T-shaped obelisks and architectural remains were unearthed. In addition, a large number of flint tools, grinding stones, pestles, stone vessels, animal bones and various ornaments were found. In our study; Studies were carried out on the ground stone finds found in the salvage excavations carried out in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Ground stone tools vary in size and shape. Some finds were recovered intact. Ground stone tools; pestles, upper and lower grinding stones, axe, chisel, chisel, chisel, slingshot, sharpening stone, drill, stone vessels, decorated stone slabs, marble plug, limestone marbles, basalt hammer, round window stone and shaped by rubbing method. basalt and basalt fragments consist of retouched and inlaid stones., Güneydoğu Anadolu'da son dönemlerde yapılan çalışmalar Çanak Çömleksiz Neolitik Dönem’e ışık tutmaktadır. Şanlıurfa'da gerçekleştirilen Yüzey Araştırmaları ve Kazı Çalışmaları Çanak Çömleksiz Neolitik Dönem’e ait merkezlerin bu bölgede yoğun olduğunu göstermektedir. Göbekli Tepe başta olmak üzere Karahan Tepe, Sayburç, Nevali Çori, Ayanlar Höyük, Şanlıurfa-Yeni Mahalle, Harbetsuvan Tepesi, Sefer Tepe, Kurt Tepesi, Hamzan Tepe ve Taşlı Tepe bunlardan bir kaçıdır. 2014 yılında keşfedilen Harbetsuvan Tepesi Şanlıurfa il sınırları içerisinde Şanlıurfa'nın 53 km doğusunda Tek Tek Dağları olarak bilinen kalkerli platolar arasında yer almaktadır. Çanak Çömleksiz Neolitik Döneme tarihlendirilen Harbetsuvan Tepesi'nde; T-biçimli dikilitaşlar ve mimarı yapı kalıntıları gün yüzüne çıkarılmıştır. Bunun yanı sıra çok sayıda çakmaktaşı alet, öğütme taşları, havanelleri, taş kaplar, hayvan kemiği ve çeşitli süs eşyası gibi buluntular ele geçmiştir. Çalışmamızda; 2017, 2018 ve 2019 yıllarında gerçekleştirilen kurtarma kazılarında ele geçen sürtme taş buluntuları üzerinde incelemeler yapılmıştır. Sürtme taş aletler boyut ve şekil olarak farklılıklar göstermektedir. Bazı buluntular sağlam olarak ele geçmiştir. Sürtme taş aletler; havanelleri, alt ve üst ezgi taşları, balta, keser, kesercik, keskicik, sapan taşları, biley taşı, delici, taş kaplar, bezeli taş plakalar, mermer tıkaç, kireç taşı misketler, bazalt vurgaç, yuvarlak pencere taşı ve sürtme yöntemi ile şekillendirilmiş bazalt ve bazalt parçaları, düzeltili ve işlentili taşlardan oluşmaktadır.

The recent investigation of an archaeological site in southwest Nigeria has added new insight into the early human occupation and cultural development in the rainforest of West Africa. In the Iresi Hills, two rockshelters were investigated in 2017 and 2018, and both yielded evidence of Later Stone Age (LSA) occupations. The artifact assemblage reveals two cultural phases—Aceramic LSA and Ceramic LSA. The upper Ceramic LSA phase is characterized by pottery, microliths, ground stone axes, and other lithic finds, while the lower phase bears microliths only. The Ceramic LSA level is dated to 5653–5581 cal BP.

Kostenki 9 is a small Gravettian site in the Kostenki-Borshchevo area of Russia, known for a highly homogeneous assemblage of ventrally truncated backed bladelets, as well as the presence of ground stone artefacts. The site was mainly excavated during the twentieth century but in recent years small-scale work has begun again at the site. Until now no radiocarbon dates have been available for the site, although it has been assumed to be broadly contemporary with Borshchevo 5/I and Kostenki 4 due to similarities in their assemblages. Here we present the first radiocarbon dates for the site, which confirm that the site is roughly the same age as Borshchevo 5/I and Kostenki 4, and older than the Kostenki-Avdeevo Culture sites in the region. We also present an overview of the lithic assemblage (both knapped and ground stone) based on recent studies. The truncated backed bladelets found at the site are highly comparable to similar artefacts of approximately the same age found at a series of sites in Central Europe, including Jaksice II, Trencianske Bohuslavice, Petřkovice I and Milovice I. This is a key point of material culture similarity that requires further work but which hints at long-distance social and cultural links across Eastern and Central Europe slightly pre-dating the well-known connections that have been established based on the shared presence of shouldered points. Similarities in material culture across this region are further attested by analogies among personal ornaments – waisted double-headed beads – found at the Kostenki sites and at Grub/Kranawetberg in Austria.

This paper presents results of morphological and petrological analyses of ground stone tool assemblage acquired from late Bronze Age settlement site at Niemczanska, Wroclaw, Poland. The collection of six tools is functionally and petrologically diverse but comparable in terms of physical and mechanical properties, i.e. hardness and wear resistance. Exclusively hard and quartz-rich rocks were selected for tools production (granites, gneisses and sandstones). We applied complementary approaches: polarizing optical microscopy with modal mineralogical analyses, scanning electron microscopy and electron probe microanalyser for the petrographic and raw material provenance study. The results of our observations lead to the conclusion that raw material was collected locally from the surface deposits associated with glacial erratics brought to the area during MIS-16 to Saalian glaciations from Sweden and Aland Islands. Our observations confirm that erratics were a common source of raw material for the Odra Basin populations during the Bronze Age instead of autochthonic Sudetic or allogenic materials. Agricultural (grinder and grinding disc) and non-agricultural (whetstone, pad/fragment of a grinding disc, grinder and smoother) functions are recognised, based on morphological observations and use-wear traces. Three activity zones are distinguished at the site – production, habitation and possible cult zone with lithic tools spread within production and habitation zones.

In the archaeological record, Ground Stone Tools (hereafter GST) represent an important tool group that provides invaluable data for exploring technological development and changes in resource exploitation over time. Despite its importance, Lower and Middle Paleolithic (MP) GST technology remains poorly known and understudied. The MP record of the Levant constitutes a compelling case study for exploring the nature and character of GST technology. Especially the site of Nesher Ramla (Israel, end of Marine Isotope Stage 6/beginning of 5) has provided one of the world's largest GST assemblages from MP contexts. Aiming at evaluating the variability of tool types at the site from a technological and functional perspective, this study follows an analytical approach which integrates different scales of analysis. Our workflow seeks to generate and combine qualitative and quantitative data allowing: 1) the identification of damage areas, and 2) functional analysis, based on the location, distribution, and characterization of use-wear traces. This study shows a substantial level of diversification in resource exploitation (e.g., mineral, hard animal material and likely perishable components). Results show the presence of several tool types on which diagnostic use-wear can be associated with different activities. Importantly, our analysis indicates the presence of various hammerstone types showing distinct wear characteristics. The variability observed within the hammerstones likely reflects different functions, including in some cases the processing of distinct worked materials. Ultimately, this study contributes to our understanding of the significance of GST technology for the ecological dynamics of MP populations. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Some archaeologists have argued that the Formative-era villagers of the Sevier River region in the eastern Great Basin were primarily foragers whose economy was dependent upon marsh resources, espe...

Archaeological research at Al-Khashbah, Sultanate of Oman, conducted by the University of Tübingen, revealed a large Early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BCE) site. During the intensive surface survey and excavations, several ground stone tools were found. Most of them came from the vicinity of monumental stone and mud-brick structures, so-called towers, and are clearly connected to copper-processing waste such as slag, furnace fragments and prills, i.e., droplets of molten copper. Therefore, it is assumed that these ground stone tools were used within the operational procedures of copper-processing. Interestingly, only the monumental towers from the first half of the 3rd millennium BCE, i.e., the Hafit period, feature larger quantities of ground stone tools as well as copper processing waste. Towers from the second half of the 3rd millennium BCE, i.e., the Umm an-Nar period, have none. Within the scope of this paper, the distribution of the different types of ground stone tools in Al-Khashbah as well as their find context will be presented. They are illustrated with drawings generated from 3D models created using digital photography processed with the software Agisoft Photoscan. Comparisons with other 3rd millennium BCE sites in Eastern Arabia show that there as well, copper-processing remains are often associated with ground stone tools. The overall variety of types seems to be rather homogeneous in the region.

Excavations at the Neolithic site of Avgi (Middle-Late Neolithic, circa 5700-4500 cal. BCE) in the Kastoria region, northwestern Greece, brought to light one of the largest ground stone assemblages known from Neolithic Greece. More than 8000 ground stone tools and objects, raw materials and by-products comprise a valuable record for investigating various aspects of ground stone technology (production, consumption, discard), while their rich contextual information provides an ideal opportunity for addressing its significance for Neolithic societies. This paper examines the presence of grinding tools (stable grinding slabs and mobile grinders, their raw materials and by-products) within different spatiotemporal contexts (habitational phases, buildings, open areas, pits). Through the detailed technological and contextual analysis of the grinding artifacts we seek to explore different aspects of their biographies, related to their manufacture, use, maintenance, destruction and discard, within the context of a single Neolithic community. The goal is to shed light on the multiple ways through which the Neolithic society of Avgi consumed those technological products in various social occasions, practices and places (e.g., daily routine activities, special events of communal or symbolic character, individual houses and communal activity areas) and explore their role in the formation of social identities and the production of social meaning.

Ground stone technology for processing starchy plant foods has its origins in the late Pleistocene, with subsequent intensification and transformation of this technology coinciding with the global emergence of agriculture in the early Holocene. On the island of New Guinea, agriculture first emerges in the highland Wahgi Valley, potentially from c. 9 kya, and clearly evident by 6.5 kya. Approximately 400 km further east in the highland Ivane Valley, long-term occupation sequences span the Holocene and late Pleistocene, but there is currently no direct evidence for wetland agriculture. Here, we report rare evidence for ground stone implements from a secure mid-Holocene archaeological context in the Ivane Valley. The Joe’s Garden site has flaked and ground stone artefacts with significant starch assemblages dating to approximately 4.4 kya. We present the first empirical evidence for the function of stone bowls from a New Guinea highland setting. Usewear and residues indicate the grinding and pounding of endemic starch-rich plant foods. Geometric morphometric analysis of starch grains shows that at least two taxa were processed: Castanopsis acuminatissima (nut) and Pueraria lobata (tuber). This regional example adds to our understanding of the trajectories of diverse plant food exploitation and ground stone technology development witnessed globally in the Holocene.

Ground-stone objects such as stone-headed clubs (gabagab) and axes/adzes held key positions in ethnographically known social networks encompassing Torres Strait and southern central New Guinea. How...

Comparison of Late Paleoindian sites of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains reveals 36 site components from 28 sites containing ground stone tools, including nine Cody Complex examples. Much of the ground stone use appears related to generalized activity, as few items have functionally specific forms. However, the Cody components have an unexpectedly higher number of grooved abraders as compared to other complexes. We note that Paleoindian examples contain wider u-shaped grooves compared to Late Prehistoric/Protohistoric abraders related to arrow production. We argue that Paleoindian abraders represent shaft abraders, used in the production of dart shafts within weaponry systems. We propose several hypotheses for the emergence of this technology during Cody times. The most parsimonious explanation is that the specific sites containing these abraders represent large camps, occupied for long periods and containing diverse chipped and ground stone assemblages.

During 1974–1978, the Lithuanian Institute of History published four volumes of the Lietuvos archeologijos atlasas (Atlas of Lithuanian Archaeology). The atlas’s first book, which was edited by Dr habil. Rimutė Rimantienė, was devoted to Stone and Bronze Age sites and stray finds from this period (Atlasas 1974). The separate article of this book (Bagušienė, Rimantienė 1974) encompassed all of the ground stone artefacts that had been mapped and were preserved at that time in Lithuanian museums. The work listed 2560 ground stone artefacts from 1420 find spots and created distribution maps, an index of the main types, and a typology scheme, which Lithuanian archaeologists and museologists have used for almost half a century. The typological scheme of ground stone artefacts created by Ona Bagušienė and Rimutė Rimantienė is seen not as an unalterable constant, but as a dynamic, modifiable classification structure. The article presents insights and thoughts that arose in creating a ground stone artefact database for SW Lithuania (Užnemunė). And examines the most abundant ground artefact ypological group, perforated stone axes. Keywords: perforated ground stone axes, typology, terminology.

Tell el-Retaba, an archaeological site situated in Wadi Tumilat in the eastern Nile Delta, some 35 km west of the modern city of Ismailia, has been excavated by the Polish- Slovak Archaeological Mission, directed by Dr. hab. Slawomir Rzepka, since 2007. Long-lasting archaeological excavations of the Third Intermediate Period settlement have yielded hundreds of ground stone artefacts, among them implements used for grinding activities. The diversity of these tools’ forms and the material they are made of may imply their having been employed for various purposes and to treat a wide range of substances. This article presents a preliminary analysis of the grinding stone implements and their possible uses.

add description

add description

add description

add description

add description

The Salt River Project (SRP) is planning to conduct 5-year vegetation management along their Coronado-Silvering 500 kV transmission line beginning in May 2022. The portion of the transmission right-of-way (ROW) that crosses Tonto National Forest (TNF)’s Tonto Basin and Pleasant Valley Ranger Districts will be subject to vegetation management during this cycle. The entire length of the proposed treatment corridor has been previously surveyed, with the most recent survey conducted by Logan Simpson in 2016 (Cook et al. 2017). Review of the existing data sources, however, reveals numerous discrepancies in site location, site extent, and concordance among Arizona State Museum (ASM) assigned numbers, Forest Service assigned numbers, and other site numbering systems. Thus, the purpose of this project is to reconcile, to the extent possible, those discrepancies and to provide updated spatial data and recommendations. This will allow SRP to determine spans in which vegetation management by hand is needed to preserve cultural resources sites.

add description

add description

In accordance with the provisions of the 2004 Arizona Water Settlement Act, the Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office (PXAO) assisted the San Carlos Irrigation and Drainage District (SCIDD) in the preparation of an environmental assessment (EA) prior to the rehabilitation of portions of the San Carlos Irrigation Project, a Bureau of Indian Affairs water delivery system that serves both the Gila River Indian Community and SCIDD. The project area extends along the current and realigned portions of the Florence Canal, from the sediment basin just south of the Ashurst-Hayden Diversion Dam to Picacho Reservoir. In order to comply with stipulations set forth in the EA, all historic properties within the expanded APE must be mitigated prior to construction. At the request of PXAO, Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. prepared a historic property treatment plan (treatment plan) to conduct Phase 2 data recovery at AZ U:15:676(ASM), eligibility testing at AZ U:15:861(ASM), Phase 1 data recovery for the new and previously uninvestigated portions of the canal alignment at AZ U:15:124(ASM) and AZ U:15:663(ASM), and Phase 2 data recovery based on previous excavations within the revised APE at AZ U:15:663(ASM). This final report presents the results of these cultural resources investigations.

n accordance with the provisions of the 2004 Arizona Water Settlement Act, the Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office (PXAO) assisted the San Carlos Irrigation and Drainage District (SCIDD) in the preparation of an environmental assessment (EA) prior to the rehabilitation of portions of the San Carlos Irrigation Project, a Bureau of Indian Affairs water delivery system that serves both the Gila River Indian Community and SCIDD. The project area extends along the current and realigned portions of the Florence Canal, from the sediment basin just south of the Ashurst-Hayden Diversion Dam to Picacho Reservoir. In order to comply with stipulations set forth in the EA, all historic properties within the expanded APE must be mitigated prior to construction. At the request of PXAO, Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. prepared a historic property treatment plan (treatment plan) to conduct Phase 2 data recovery at AZ U:15:676(ASM), eligibility testing at AZ U:15:861(ASM), Phase 1 data recovery for the new and previously uninvestigated portions of the canal alignment at AZ U:15:124(ASM) and AZ U:15:663(ASM), and Phase 2 data recovery based on previous excavations within the revised APE at AZ U:15:663(ASM). This document contains the contact sheets (photos) and photo log associated with these cultural resources investigations.

add description

To meet increased demand for electricity due to growth, SRP plans to construct an approximately 20-mile (mi), double-circuit, 230-kilovolt (kV) transmission line including associated tubular steel pole structures that average 110–140 feet (ft) tall (Project). The Project will connect three 230/69kV receiving stations, including the Ball Substation in Gilbert, the Pfister Substation in southeastern Queen Creek, and the Abel Substation east of San Tan Valley. This Project was approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) in 2009, when they issued a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility (CEC) (Decision No. 71441). AZ U:10:32(ASM)/Sand Dune South (hereafter referred to as AZ U:10:32(ASM)) is a large prehistoric Hohokam village site historically documented as containing a ballcourt and several mound features. The site has since been entirely covered and affected by historic and modern agricultural activity – leaving the status of subsurface cultural deposits unknown – and is presently unevaluated for inclusion in the NRHP and ARHP. This end of fieldwork (EOF) report documents the eight features and two non-features (including two features and one non-feature originally recorded during the Phase I testing) that were recorded as a result of the phased archaeological data recovery conducted by PaleoWest during the course of the Project.