Contemporaneity and entanglement: Archaeological site structure from a Bayesian perspective

Abstract

Previously we (Woodborne et al., 1995) and many others have attempted to pinpoint the seasonality of hunter gatherer site visits by assessing the ‘ages at death’ of animals with a restricted birth season. We used seal remains from two late Holocene sites along the Cape west coast. In this reevaluation, including larger samples of both modern and archaeological seal bones, we rephrase the question from ‘at what age did this seal (these seals) die’? to ‘which month or months most effectively characterize the likely capture (death) date for this set of seals’? By shifting focus from ‘age at death’ to ‘month of death’ we attempt a more Bayesian approach by using contemporaneity of linked seal deaths at sites as a form of prior knowledge to inform predictions of season of visit. We also illustrate the entanglement of radiocarbon samples, shellfish remains, refitted ostrich eggshell water flasks, hearths and seal mandibles in the layout of the DFM site. Reflections of the brevity of occupation at DFM and the entanglement of observations are assembled to support the notion of contemporaneity of seal deaths there.