Classes Of Artifacts Research Articles

Analysis of Artifact Shape Using Fourier Series in Closed Form

Standardized, quantified characterization of artifact shape is still problematic insofar as both intuitive shape typologies and multivariate analyses of shape attributes are limited to narrowly defined classes of artifacts exhibiting homologous morphological landmarks. The Fourier series in closed form is introduced as a mathematical description of irregular, two-dimensional shape, where the relative contributions of 20 standard components of shape, or “harmonics,” are given in a series equation which can also regenerate the shape of the artifact as precisely as required. This method permits cross-class inspection of the variance of shapes of artifacts, and lends itself to classifications of shape or to intra-class analyses of variance. The level of descriptive precision may be set by the investigator in accordance with research interests. Applications of the method to archaeological samples, and different analyses of the data generated by the method, are discussed.

The Economic Systems of Ancient Oaxaca: A Regional Perspective [and Comments and Reply

Archaeological data from a regional settlement pattern survey of the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, are used to monitor how scarce goods and resources were allocated to members of society through eight phases from 600 B.C. to A.D. 1520. The goal is to determine how distinct historical social structures performed economically in terms of the goods and resources recoverable archaeologically. Measures utilized include land use and settlement characteristics, domestic architectural space, public architecture, pottery, obsidian, and a number of other artifact classes. The results show consistent linkages between specific land use and population variables and specific artifactual items in ways suggesting that political control, or lack thereof, structured the economy in patterned ways. Other factors, including urbanization and boundary permeability, are influential but not as persistently involved as political power. These results show how regional-scale archaeological data can be used to sharpen theoretical underst...

17th and 18th century lead-glazed redwares in the Massachusetts Bay Colony

Plain earthenwares typically comprise a large percentage of an early 17th and 18th century domestic site’s ceramic assemblage. Historical archaeologists often have been unable to analyze adequately the styles, forms, functions, and types present in this artifact class. This paper presents a typological classificatory method for lead-glazed redwares that should have broad application possibilities in historical archaeological contexts. Type-Variety Approach data are then utilized with other sherd attributes to reconstruct probable vessel forms and functions. The value of using this Type-Variety Approach, which consistently treats both ware and decorative types, is illustrated with a synopsis of temporal and spatial interpretations, first presented in the 1976 John M. Goggin Award Paper (Turnbaugh 1977). Red earthenware assemblages from the Salem Village Parsonage site (1681–1784), from other contemporary Bay Colony domestic sites, and from ten 17th to early 19th century Bay Colony potters’ kilns are considered.

Estimating original assemblage content to adjust for post‐depositional vertical artifact movement

Abstract Frequency curves of a particular class of artifacts, such as pottery, from each stratum assemblage have been used to derive relative chronologies and simultaneously models of cultural change. Such empirical counts do not usually take into account post‐depositional processes affecting archaeological remains. A distinctive type of ceramic, coin molds, from the Iron Age hillfort at the Titelberg in Luxembourg provides the model for presenting a method for estimating original assemblage content per stratum on the basis of the artifact frequency as actually recovered upon excavation.

Cultural associations and mechanisms of change in anthropomorphic figurines during the Neolithic in the eastern Mediterranean basin

Abstract This paper describes a series of multivariate analyses involving figurines of the Neolithic period in the eastern Mediterranean basin. It is felt that previous discussions concerning this class of artifact were too impressionistic and based upon an inappropriate use of analogy. The present research confirms many of the chronological relationships between Anatolia, Greece, and Yugoslavia. It also suggests that body parts as attributes may be a useful unit of analysis. Finally, a model is presented which may account for stylistic changes in figurine manufacture through time.

The deer hunters: Star Carr reconsidered

Abstract Star Carr, the Mesolithic site excavated thirty years ago, has been considered a classic example of a winter season base camp until recently reinterpreted as a specialized industrial locale. By focusing on site formation processes, we present an alternative interpretation that Star Carr was a hunting and butchering site occupied frequently for very short periods at various times of the year. Our argument considers how recent ethnoarchaeological, taphonomic and site formation studies support this interpretation. We examine seasonality, the length of visits, and major ecofact and artefact classes, including animal bone, flaked stone tools, and antler points. We review previous interpretations.

Raw Materials Source Areas and “Curated” Tool Assemblages

Excavation of the workshop of an ancient rhyolite quarry yielded three classes of artifacts. One class consists of worn and broken tools made of exotic stones. It is argued that these tools represent a "curated" assemblage and one that is highly revealing of the duration and distance of population movements.

Gated cardiac computed tomography with a motion phantom.

CT images of the heart are significantly degraded by the effects of motion during the scanning interval. The use of electrocardiographic (ECG) gating to provide "stop-action" cardiac images remains limited by artifacts. A motion phantom has been constructed to allow systematic study of the artifact structure of ECG-gated images and to isolate the origins of these artifacts. "Stop-action" reconstructed images are presented demonstrating two classes of artifacts: (a) pinwheel artifacts that appear at the edges of high-contrast moving objects; and (b) linear streaks occurring in relation to missing views when an incomplete angular set of projections is used for image reconstruction with the convolution back-projection algorithm. These results underscore the use of the motion phantom for the analysis of image artifacts and stress the need for new CT reconstruction algorithms which are optmized for "stop-action" scanning.

Controlling Pressure in Experimental Lithics Research

The amount of pressure exerted per unit area is critical in microwear formation. Previous researchers have incorrectly assumed that amount of pressure per unit area can be controlled by controlling the amount of external pressure [i.e., load] applied during implement usage. Research has shown that even when the external force is constant, the fracture threshold varies depending on the amount of implement edge is contact with a worked item. Since edge contact varies considerably between functionally distinct classes of artifacts, a large amount of “noise” may have been inadvertently introduced into previous experimental results. This poses a significant problem, which must be addressed by future researchers.

Spatial Analysis: Multiple Procedures in Pattern Recognition Studies

AbstractThe analysis of the spatial distributions of artifacts on archaeological floors has potential for the recognition and interpretation of cultural patterns represented by prehistoric remains. This study emphasizes the use of multiple procedures for the separate problems of pattern detection, estimation, and prediction. Aggregative and segregative definitions are proposed for three artifact class associational modes. Definitions are also proposed for general and special pattern prediction problems. An application to the Mousterian site of Rosh Ein Mor in Israel, shows that multiple procedures can be extremely advantageous in the interpretation of general complex patterns.

“Swedish” colonial yellow bricks: Notes on their uses and possible origins in 17th century America

Small bricks of yellow color are often found at early colonial sites along the eastern seaboard. These building elements are usually associated with Swedish and Dutch constructions of the 17th century. Despite their frequency at such sites, little has been written about them and still less research has been conducted regarding their history. In order to initiate a study of this class of artifacts, some basic information is presented along with the limited data derived from the yellow brick remains recovered during excavations directed toward revealing an early house foundation in Governor Printz Park (36DE3) in southeastern Pennsylvania. These remains are believed to include the 1643 foundation of the “Printzhof,” the core of the earliest European Settlement within the boundaries of modern Pennsylvania.

A FLUTED “FISHTAIL” PROJECTILE POINT FROM LA CUMBRE, MOCHE VALLEY, PERU

During the examination of La Cumbre, Moche Valley, Peru, in 1970 one artifact was collected which differed markedly from the others found at the site.1 This projectile point (fig. 1), though broken at both the stem and tip, appears to have the major characteristics of the, now well described, fluted fishtail projectile point class.2 This class of artifact has been found in various widely separated parts of South America and appears to be one of the characteristics of an early preceramic horizon.

Futher reflections on the Isimila Acheulian

Uranium series dates on bone from the Isimila Prehistoric Site, Tanzania, indicate that this East African Acheulian site may be older than originally estimated. They raise the possibility that the Middle Pleistocene sediments containing Acheulian occurrences span a longer range of time than had been supposed. This could add to the plausibility of a contention by Hansen and Keller that differences between artifacts in the uppermost Acheulian horizon and in lower-lying beds are primarily a reflection of change through time rather than a result of different human activities. A summary of the artifact content and associations of the several archeological stratigraphic units is given, and, although a sort of “developmental sequence” can be seen, the existence of discrepant occurrences suggests that an interpretation of directional change as a “function of time” does not, in fact, well accommodate the evidence. Quantitative changes in artifact class proportions in aggregates seem just as likely to be related to local exploitation potentials for early man which were produced during the process of basin in-filling, while observed qualitative differences in the lower-lying horizons may be due to samples biased because of limited exposures which are restricted to a single sedimentary environment.

Some Uses of R-Mode Analysis in Archaeology

AbstractOne kind of R-mode analysis, the examination of the co-occurrence of particular artifact classes across a number of collections, facilitates the identification of recurrent artifact clusters. Its use with proportional data, however, requires the safeguard of equalizing collection sizes, which in turn may necessitate the use of some statistic other than the product-moment coefficient of correlation. Two examples of R-mode analysis are given, both using an average-linkage clustering procedure. The first uses proportional data from unmixed collections of a southwestern Alaskan phase of the Arctic Small Tool tradition, permitting a definition of artifact groups that may represent specialized activities, and highlighting 1 cluster that may have specifically temporal significance; some results of factor analysis are compared. The second example employs presence-absence information from surface-collected ceramics from Tlaxcala, Mexico, and makes possible a refinement of the ceramic sequence.

The Poet inspired?

There is in the Ashmolean Museum (1968.777) a Hellenistic plaster relief with a festive scene of a most intriguing character (plate 1a). Its mood, I should like to think, is not alien to some of the lighter emotions which play round a celebratory volume; and perhaps this note, beginning from a re-interpretation of one detail of that scene, may end by adding a little to its claims on the manifold interests of the volume's distinguished recipient—not least if we find that it has some connection, of whatever kind, with the world of Greek drama.The relief is a cast, made in a mould taken from a metal cup. The class of artefacts to which it belongs has been illuminated by a discussion from Miss Gisela Richter; in 1964, while still in private hands, and not long after its acquisition by purchase in Egypt, this particular specimen achieved the distinction of publication in an extensive and very fine study by Mrs Dorothy Thompson; what I have to add here, it will be seen, is in the nature of a tentative excursus to that work.

Investigation of heated and oxidized oils and fats by gradient elution liquid chromatography

The major classes of artefacts in frying oils can be analyzed by liquid chromatography, where oils with different pre-treatments show characteristics fingerprint chromatograms. Gradient elution programmes are also useful for the analysis of technical polar glycerides and seed oils containing oxygenated fatty acids. Using a UV and a moving-wire detector in series, it can be shown that in heated and oxidized oils, UV-absorbing substances are found primarily among the most polar fractions. The moving-wire detector also permits the routine “total artefacts” analysis of heated and oxidized oils. The steady increase of the toal artefacts peak with heating time is demonstrate.

Spatial Analysis of Occupation Floors I: Application of Dimensional Analysis of Variance

AbstractA statistical procedure for the analysis of patterns of spatial distribution of artifacts over occupation areas is outlined. This procedure envisions 3 steps: the testing for non-randomness of spatial concentrations in the distribution of each class of artifacts, the reorganization of the data so as to best reflect such concentrations in the analysis of intercorrelation among those artifact classes which exhibit significant spatial patterning, and finally the analysis of spatial intercorrelations among these artifact classes and the definition of clusters of classes of artifacts based on their similarity of distribution over the area concerned. A new statistical method called dimensional analysis of variance is presented as a method with which to begin this series of steps. Dimensional analysis of variance works with data in the form of counts per grid unit, thus making it applicable in many archaeological situations for which no other statistical methods are available for spatial analysis. The procedure of spatial analysis, based on dimensional analysis of variance, is illustrated with the analysis of a preceramic occupation floor in a small cave in the valley of Oaxaca, Mexico.

Investigation of Artefacts Formed in Frying Fats

AbstractThe investigation of frying fats and artefacts formed in edible oils both under actual industrial frying conditions and under experimental conditions is discussed. The potential importance of instrumental liquid chromatography for the characterization and identification of oxidized oils is shown. Separation schemes and methods for the isolation and identification of fractions are discussed. Classes of artefacts consisting of dimeric fatty acids and more polar monomeric fatty acids may be isolated by preparative column, thin layer, and gel permeation chromatography and further characterized by GLC, TLC, derivatization, and mass spectrometry. The use of methoxylation, silylation, and labeling techniques for double bond and hydroxy group position determination in artefact classes by mass spectrometry is discussed.

Moundville and Surrounding Sites: Some Structural Considerations of Mortuary Practices II

AbstractAnalysis of differential distribution of mortuary artifacts from the major site units at Moundville and the Pickwick Reservoir in northern Alabama has yielded structural similarities and differences. The occurrence of certain classes of artifacts, symbolic of high status positions, is limited to a restricted number of individuals interred in platform mounds. These artifacts are not found with individuals buried in the cemeteries either at Moundville or in surrounding sites. In turn, within the cemeteries and platform mounds there is observed differentiation and regularity in and between classes of individuals in terms of skeletal orientation and mortuary treatment. The model suggested from the archaeological remains is one of a complexly ranked and functionally specialized politico-religious organization as part of this cultural system.

Preceramic Transhumance in the Callejón de Huaylas, Peru

AbstractThe nature of the connections between coastal and highland Peru is a largely unresolved problem. Seasonal transhumance in the sierra zone, suspected in preceramic times, may bear on the beginnings of Andean agriculture. The preceramic occupation of the upper Santa Valley spans a wide range of environments and types of sites, which probably represent related facies of a single cultural cycle. The sites include high elevation hunting camps, workshops, open air river terrace sites, and a dry cave in which plant remains are well preserved. It is thought that preceramic hunter-gatherers migrated regularly from one elevation and environmental zone to another, and that this should be systematically reflected in the frequencies of various classes of artifacts in the stone tool industries.