Archaeological Patterns Research Articles

Cultural rhythms and pulses on MIS 5-3 migration episodes of Homo sapiens dispersal in Northeast Africa

On the one hand, genetic observations suggest one essential migration of anatomically modern humans (AMH) from Africa to Eurasia had taken place around 70-50 ka BP and led to the dispersal of AMH all over the world (Out-of-Africa-II model). On the other hand, given the initial phase of the migration would have been located in East and Northeast Africa, archaeological patterning of cultural traits can, so far, neither support nor contradict such a model within the supposed area of migration, and at the time concerned hereby. This paper addresses the obvious invisibility of the migration in the archaeological record and the reasons for it. We propose the summer/winter rainfall frontier to have caused phases of isolation between East and Northeast Africa, impeding cultural exchange between these areas, either resulting from acculturation or migration. We exclude large scale events of dispersal, only small-scale movements of populations to be admitted. This might explain the lack of archaeological visibility of the migration event.

Modeling terminal Pleistocene and Holocene forager population increase and environmental change in the Central Namib desert, Namibia

This paper examines the interplay of environmental change and human demographic shifts among late Pleistocene and Holocene populations in the hyper-arid context of the Central Namib Gravel plains, Western Namibia. This paper applies a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to arid-zone hunter-gatherer mobility patterns and settlement systems based on variability among ethnographically and historically observed groups. It then applies this model in examining issues related to the Middle-to-Later Stone Age transition at the sites of Erb Tanks and the Mirabib rock shelter. This model suggests that, among modern arid-zone foragers, population density is by far the strongest factor influencing mobility and settlement systems, with higher population densities favoring longer residential site usages and shorter residential moves within smaller territories. In contrast, environmental variables having to do with annual rainfall, rainfall seasonality, and effective temperature affect mobility and settlement systems in ambiguous and statistically insignificant ways. This paper closes by arguing that regional-scale population increases signaled by various features of Later Stone Age archaeological patterning led to local population expansions in the Central Namib Desert, and that this in turn caused a range of recognizable cultural shifts that were strongly linked with adaptations to aridity.

Early Holocene inundation of Doggerland and its impact on hunter-gatherers: An inundation model and dates-as-data approach

Sea-level rise was a key factor changing environments during the Early Holocene in Northwest Europe. It affected Mesolithic hunter-gatherer communities by inundating large areas in the current North Sea, commonly referred to as Doggerland. In this paper we present novel inundation models for the southern North Sea providing visualisations of lateral inundation driven by sea-level rise and relate it to frequency analysis of radiocarbon dates from archaeological sites. These improve on previous studies that relied on bathymetric data, which includes post-inundation overprints of Holocene sedimentation and erosion, and thus significantly underestimates the timing of inundation in some areas.We constructed a paleoDEM (a composite elevation grid of the top of the Pleistocene) for the eastern part of the southern North Sea; and sea level surfaces that combine relative sea-level curves from glacio-isostatic adjustment models optimised for Britain and southern Scandinavia respectively. We corrected our paleoDEMs for tectonic background basin subsidence, and in the inundation modelling account for pre-compaction elevation of peat in coastal areas. We evaluated the impact of these model components on our results and describe the possible inundation history of Doggerland. We suggest earlier inundation than predicted by previous models, showing significant area loss around 10.5–10 ka cal BP.Palaeogeographic changes are compared with archaeological radiocarbon data using a dates-as-data approach. Composite Kernel Density Estimate and permutation tested Summed Probability Distributions are used as a proxy for the visibility, nature and intensity of human activity. Results indicate key periods of growth and decline recorded in the dataset, as well as regional differences in growth rate, some correlating with inundation phases. Chiefly, we find elevated growth rates around 10.5–10 ka in northwest Germany and the Netherlands, contemporaneous with the abovementioned phase of extensive area loss, and moreover, with changes in culture and practices on Early Mesolithic sites.However, the spatiotemporal distribution of archaeological data is significantly influenced by accessibility and preservation of sediments of a certain age. We discuss the importance of inundation modelling and sediment data in understanding how landscape taphonomy affects archaeological patterning, especially in dates-as-data approaches.

Where the Grass is Greener — Large-Scale Phenological Patterns and Their Explanatory Potential for the Distribution of Paleolithic Hunter-Gatherers in Europe

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

BITS: A Bayesian Isotope Turnover and Sampling model for strontium isotopes in proboscideans and its potential utility in movement ecology

Abstract Strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) of incrementally grown tissues have been widely used to study movement ecology and migration of animals. However, the time scale of 87Sr/86Sr incorporation from the environment into tissue and how it may influence data interpretation are still poorly understood. Using the relocation of a zoo elephant (Loxodonta africana) named Misha, we characterise and model the 87Sr/86Sr turnover process using high‐resolution measurements of its tusk dentine. We seek to develop a framework that can improve quantitative interpretation of 87Sr/86Sr data in tissues. The 87Sr/86Sr transition associated with the relocation is measured using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) on a prepared tusk slab. We develop a turnover model (BITS), with a rapidly exchanging central pool and a slowly exchanging peripheral pool, in a Bayesian statistical framework. The measured dentine data are first used to calibrate model parameters. The parameters are then used to estimate possible 87Sr/86Sr input time series from two datasets via model inversion: a fidelity test using Misha's dentine data and a case study using published dentine measurements from an Alaskan Woolly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius). The LA‐ICP‐MS data are consistent with a two‐compartment turnover process with equivalent half‐lives of 41 days for the central pool and 170 days for the peripheral pool. The model inversion shows good fidelity when estimating the intake 87Sr/86Sr time series associated with Misha's relocation. In the case study, the model suggests an abrupt pattern of change in, and a much wider range of, intake 87Sr/86Sr values than expressed in the woolly mammoth dentine data themselves. Our framework bridges the gap between environmental 87Sr/86Sr variation and data measured in tusk dentine or other incrementally grown tissues. It could be coupled with movement models and additional isotope tracers to study seasonal residency or the spatial and temporal patterns of movement/migration. The generic turnover processes can be adapted to other isotope systems, additional incremental tissues, or other organisms, thus expanding our modelling toolkit to investigate niche partitioning, life history traits and behavioural patterns in conservation biology, archaeology and paleoecology.

Raw Material Surveys and Their Behavioral Implications in Highland Lesotho

Archaeologists have long considered climate change a primary mechanism behind human behavioral adaptations. The Lesotho highlands’ Afromontane and climatically extreme environments offer a unique opportunity to examine proposed correlations between topography, climate, and human behavior. Previous studies suggest that warmer temperatures allowed humans to expand their diet breadth and foraging range, whereas colder temperatures restricted humans to resources in riverine corridors. These studies used faunal and floral change as proxies to track changes in forager mobility but did not consider how differential access to stone resources affected human behaviors. To account for this gap, we conducted a survey for knappable rocks around the Sehonghong rock shelter in eastern Lesotho, recording the materials present and their size and shape in the modern environment. We compared the survey results to later Pleistocene (~ 22–11 ka cal. BP) lithic assemblages at Sehonghong to better understand whether archaeological patterns match modern knappable rock availability. Contrary to previous hypotheses, we find that past peoples at Sehonghong were not limited to exclusively riverine resources during colder conditions. We then used flake-to-core and noncortical-to-cortical flake ratios to track changes in mobility and knappable rock procurement patterns. The ratios remain constant up until the Late Glacial, ca. 14 ka cal. BP, when we see an increase in both flake-to-core and noncortical-to-cortical ratios, suggesting increased movement of stone out of Sehonghong. These conclusions show that resource procurement and mobility patterns are not solely dependent on climate change but may be driven by more complicated causal mechanisms such as increased interaction and the formation of social networks across the Lesotho highlands and beyond.

Emergent technological variation in archaeological landscapes: a primate perspective.

Archaeological evidence informs our understanding of the evolution of hominin behaviour. Such evidence is traditionally used to reconstruct hominin activities and intentions. In the Plio-Pleistocene, the presence or absence of specific tools and variation in artefact density is often used to infer foraging strategies, cognitive traits and functional activities. However, the Plio-Pleistocene archaeological record is known to be time-averaged and forms through the aggregation of repeated behavioural events over time. Thus, archaeological patterns do not reflect discrete episodes of activity, but rather the interaction of behaviour with environmental factors over time. However, little is known about how such interactions produce archaeological variation diversity. Primate archaeology can help address this research gap by providing the opportunity to observe how behaviour produces material patterns in a natural setting. This study, thus, examines how varying the material properties of stone and resource availability influence the artefactual signature of nut-cracking in a population of long-tailed macaques from Lobi Bay, Yao Noi island, Thailand. Results show that these interactions can produce a structured and diverse material signature in terms of artefact density and frequency of specific artefact types. These findings demonstrate how material patterns can emerge from long-term interactions between behaviour and environmental factors.

Mesoamerican Warfare, Protecting Divinities, and Fortified Sanctuaries

Fortified sites, sanctuaries, deities, and community were interconnected in Mesoamerican warfare practices and theology. This article examines the archaeological patterning and Indigenous religious beliefs regarding fortifications, sanctuaries, and deity communication. Ethnohistoric and ethnographic information points to the importance of deities and ancestors for community well-being and success in war. Mesoamerican combatants protected deities, including their images and sanctuary homes, for they were often captured or destroyed during sieges. Site fortification was based not only on pragmatic military purposes, but on culturally practical decisions related to protecting deities and divine intercession that influenced human behavior and community practices. As in other areas, Mesoamerican people maintained covenants with spiritual forces in close proximity at sacred “communicating places” in wartime, such as temples in settlements and sanctuaries at hills and caves. Hence, fortifications protected people, their shrines, and their gods, as well as militarily strategic places. This study calls attention to additional religious behaviors in Mesoamerican war besides sacrifice to war gods and for cosmic renewal, which went hand-in-hand with political, military, and community concerns.

The role of temple institutions in Wari imperial expansion at Pakaytambo, Peru

During the Andean Middle Horizon (CE 600–1000), the highland Wari emerged as an expansive power that formed the largest pre-Inka imperial project in the Andes. Although territorially discontinuous, the introduction of Wari state institutions to disparate regions of Peru knit together far-flung and diverse social groups. Recent excavations at Pakaytambo in southern Peru have uncovered a Wari ritual complex replete with a d-shaped temple, patio-group architecture, and monumental platform construction. The complex was established in the upper Majes-Chuquibamba drainage of Arequipa at ∼ 1700 masl and was strategically placed along a major pre-Inka road at the nexus of highland-coastal populations and socio-ecological zones. In this article, excavations at Pakaytambo are presented and discussed in terms of architectural canons, site chronology, and material studies in consideration to broader changes during the late Middle Horizon. d-shaped temples represent the most ubiquitous form of civic-ceremonial architecture related to Wari religious institutions and imperial ideology. Thus, Pakaytambo provides invaluable insights into the production of state authority through public ritual and performance in regions beyond a state heartland. A focus on institutions, their group members, norms, shared objectives, and archaeological patterning provides a middle-level unit of social analysis complimentary to high theory of the state.

Het Pollino Archaeological Landscape Project (PALP)

The Pollino Archaeological Landscape Project. The authors report on a new project, the Pollino Archaeological Landscape Project (PALP) that focuses on landscape and archaeological research of the Pollino mountains. This range is located on the border of the provinces of Basilicata and Calabria in southern Italy and is part of the Pollino National Park, founded in 1993 and declared a UNESCO Geopark in 2015. The objective of the PALP is to reconstruct transhumance routes and to map related seasonal pastoral habitations and facilities in the uplands that were still in use in the recent past, and to study the socio-economic connections with the lower-lying, permanently inhabited parts of the landscape. The results will increase the interpretative potential of archaeological patterns in the landscape studied by GIA researchers in the framework of the Raganello Archaeological Project, of which PALP is an extension.

Methodologies to Determine Geometrical Similarity Patterns as Experimental Models for Shapes in Architectural Heritage

Today, plans to protect historic buildings focus on managing architectural heritage sustainably. Technical teams, such as architects and restorers, use massive data acquisition techniques, so an identification mechanism is required to select geometrical similarity patters to support hypothesis that guarantee historical data. Moreover, computational methods are required to understand the role of organic shapes in historic buildings. This paper first describes an extensive review of the literature and then the algorithms and methods to compare and to detect similar geometrical elements and complex patterns in architecture and archaeology. For this purpose, two key aspects are considered: the metric standpoint and historical-graphical features of the 3D models, i.e., composition, techniques, styles, and historical-graphical documentary sources. Research implies testing several methodological lines to know the similarity degree of complex organic shapes in architectural details through statistical analysis, software to assess point clouds, and complex curve analysis. The results have shown that the three procedures can be compared and that the bases of the pillars of both the Cathedral of Seville and the churches in Carmona, Jerez, and Morón are very similar; however, the base of the pillar of the church in Carmona presents scalability variations.

Grave Monuments in South–Eastern End of the South Caucasus: Late Bronze – Early Iron Age Kurgans

The article deals with the results of the Late Bronze – Early Iron Age kurgans built in the foothills of the Talysh Mountains at the south-eastern end of the South Caucasus. Saribulag kurgans are located in Alar village of Yardimly district, on the pasture of the same name at an altitude of 2000 m above sea level. These grave monuments are very important in terms of studying the burial customs of the Late Bronze – Early Iron Age communities. Comparative analysis shows that such archaeological patterns are well known from the monuments of contemporary archaeological culture sites of the South Caucasus. When comparing the findings revealed during the excavations and the typology of graves with parallel samples in different regions of Azerbaijan and outside the Caucasus, the Saribulag kurgans can be attributed to the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age.

Where to put them? Burial location in middle Hellenistic to late Roman Sagalassos, southwest Anatolia

AbstractIn classical archaeology the spatial aspects of deathscapes and associated funerary phenomena are often taken at face value. Beginning from a relational understanding of space, this article examines the necropoleis of middle Hellenistic to late Roman Sagalassos (second century BC to fifth century AD) within the wider context of the city. To facilitate this methodologically, four spatial aspects are investigated for the Hellenistic, Roman Imperial and late Roman periods: the relations between the spaces of the living and dead, landscaping practices, visibility and accessibility. These four aspects offer insight into the funerary and non-funerary relations from which the necropoleis emerged, developed, expanded and eventually disappeared. A whole range of funerary phenomena are included, ranging from cinerary urns, rectangular and vase-shaped ostothekai, aediculae, naiskoi, arcosolia and sarcophagi to larger sepulchral structures like temple tombs. In addition to being compared with urban developments, the observed patterns are further evaluated within the larger framework of Asia Minor. Ultimately, the enunciated archaeological patterns facilitate multicausal answers to where the Sagalassians placed their dead, if and how this changed and became more varied, and why these developments occurred in particular (re)configurations of time-space.

Tracking Emergent Spatial and Social Patterns across Terraced Landscapes in Polynesia

ABSTRACT Successful settlement on Polynesian islands required the alteration of environments, and such alteration produced extensive cultural landscapes. While some of the characteristics of these landscapes are well-established, what drives the spatial and temporal structure of these settlements is not clear across the entire region. Here, we present data on the nature and structure of settlement along one geological substrate in the interior of Ta‘ū Island, Manu‘a Group, American Sāmoa. Our results suggest that variability in slope and soil fertility were key drivers of archaeological patterns. Early use of the area seems to meet expectations of an ideal free distribution wherein the community was dispersed and located in relatively optimal locations for settlement. Characteristics of the settlement in the 15th century a.d. and later are consistent with landscape packing and community integration, signaling a shift to an ideal despotic distribution.

Life fields and life particles

Abstract Theory developed bottom-up from data patterns in archaeology and ethnology, for the dynamics of the human Holocene, required incorporation of culture fields and life fields. In this paper I present implications of that for experimentalists and theoreticians of the life and physical sciences. I offer suggestions for properties of the life particles, including the prediction that they be massive, slow 15- or 45-quark particles which decay, leading eventually to the molecules of life. I further suggest incorporation of them into a revised Standard Model of particle physics.

Modeling avian eggshell microstructure to predict ontogenetic age and reveal patterns of human-avifauna interaction

Archaeological eggshell is a commonly recorded, yet underutilized material for understanding human-environment interaction in the past. In addition to the use of archaeological eggshell as a paleoenvironmental proxy, archaeologists have innovated important new approaches to the study of archaeological avian eggshell, including the application of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for the characterization of eggshell microstructures. These studies have demonstrated the importance of eggshell for understanding how ancient communities exploited and interacted with avifauna. In this paper, we build on these methodological advances by testing new approaches to image avian eggshell and characterizing complex eggshell surface microstructures. We demonstrate the utility of capturing high-resolution 3-dimensional (3D) eggshell surfaces using advanced imaging modalities (optical profilometry, scanning electron microscopy, digital microscopy, computed tomography), to model changes in eggshell microstructures that are correlated with ontogeny. Using the Common Ostrich (Struthio camelus) as our model system, we introduce a statistical modeling approach to predict the ontogenetic age of ratite eggshell using roughness measurements of 3D features. Successful prediction of ontogenetic age has great potential to reveal archaeological patterns of human exploitation of avian eggs. These findings further illustrate the importance of archaeological eggshell for investigating human-environment interactions, emphasizing the need for archaeologists to use field methods (hand/trowel excavation and fine mesh screen) that facilitate eggshell recovery.

Um planejamento ortogonal guliveriano: uma leitura modular da Túrio do período clássico

Abstract: This paper uses the Gulliverian metaphor to examine the organization of a well-known Classical orthogonal planning in Magna Graecia, south Italy. After observing the relationship between the elements of the urban grid of Thourioi, we will propose the application of a modular unit formed by the sum of ten Attic feet by the geometer of its urban plan. According to our main argument here, this module orientated the land-measurement of Thourioi by co-measuring the width of ithe roadway network and width/length of blocks, lots, and “major rectangles”. Furthermore, certain alignments in its planning are physically established, as it will be demonstrated in the case of its major roads. Thourioi calls forth through its compositional structure of older formulas a wider horizon of orthogonal planning tradition, an ancient scansion rhythm reified in archaeological patterns of many Greek Western foundations since the VIII century BC.

Small Signals: Comprehending the Australian Microlithic as Public Signalling

Signalling is a critical capacity in modern human cultures but it has often been difficult to identify and understand on lithic artefacts from pre-literate contexts. Often archaeologists have minimized the signalling role of lithic tools by arguing for strong form-function relationships that constrained signalling or else imposed ethnographic information on the archaeological patterns with the assumption they assist in defining the signalling carried out in prehistory. In this paper I present a case study for which it can be shown that function does not correlate with form and that the technology fell out of use 1000–1500 years ago. This means that neither presumptions of continuity in social practice nor reference to tool use provide strong explanations for the size, shape standardization and regional differentiation of Australian microliths. Sender-receiver signalling theory is harnessed to motivate a new synthesis of these microliths, and I demonstrate that not only were these artefacts probably key objects used in public signalling but also that sender-receiver frameworks enable us to infer details about the operation of the signalling system.

Ridge-and-Furrow Agriculture around Lake Mikri Prespa, Greece, in a European perspective

Ridge and furrow is an archaeological pattern of ridges and troughs used in Europe, frequently associated with communal open-field farming and strip cultivation. Strip farming spread throughout Europe in the Middle Ages but appears to have only slightly penetrated southern Europe. In Greece, no areas under a ridge-and-furrow system were previously known. Working on 1945 aerial photos of Prespa, Greece, a border area around two lakes whose water levels fluctuate seasonally, we noted the presence of strip fields around the lakeshore, and subsequently identified them in the field as a ridge-and-furrow system. Using GIS, we measured the dimensions of all individual fields and collected oral histories from elderly locals. The area under strip farming was over 900 ha. Strips were straight, ca 200 m long and 10m wide, with a mean area of 2,160 m2. Wheat, rye, maize and beans were cultivated on the ridges, whilst grass in the furrows was mowed for hay. The construction and dimensions were almost identical to those seen in England. No information was found on either the origin of this system in Prespa, or connections with ‘zadruga’ or ‘chiftlik’ – other regional communal land management systems. A few adjacent areas with strip cultivations still in use were located in the two neighbouring countries sharing the lakes, and still fewer areas with ridge-and-furrow traces, particularly around lakes. By using ridge-and-furrow agriculture, local people had successfully coped with the perennial and seasonal inundation of their fields, a problem that remains unresolved and afflicts modern biodiversity conservation in the area.

The ca. 1638 Waterman Site, Marshfield, Massachusetts: The Anatomy of a Pilgrim House

The excavation and reconstruction of the ca. 1638 Waterman site is providing the first comprehensive and detailed look at the architecture and household material culture of an early period Pilgrim house in Plymouth Colony. The small vernacular house was of earth-fast, post-in-ground, and palisaded-wall construction, and burned down in a catastrophic fire after only a short period of occupation. The archaeological features, artifact patterns, and historical documents are integrated with 17th-century anthropomorphic architectural metaphors to reconstruct the house’s architecture and the various domestic activities that occurred within and around the house, including foodways, expressions of gender roles, environmental adaptation, and English and Native American cultural exchange.