Contemporary Sites Research Articles

Convergence at Poverty Point: a revised chronology of the Late Archaic Lower Mississippi Valley

AbstractThe Poverty Point site, located in the Lower Mississippi Valley of the south-eastern United States, is commonly considered a centre of innovation that exported new material culture, practices and identity to presumably contemporaneous sites in the region. Recent radiocarbon data, however, show that Jaketown, previously interpreted as a peripheral expression of Poverty Point culture, is earlier than the type-site. Using the revised chronology at Jaketown as a case study, the authors argue that assuming a radial diffusion of cultural innovations biases our understanding of social change and obfuscates complex histories. Their study demonstrates how examining local sequences can challenge generalised models of regional cultural change.

Distinct modes and intensity of bird exploitation at the dawn of agriculture in the Upper Euphrates and Tigris River basins

Early Neolithic avifaunas excavated at the sites of Göbekli Tepe and Gusir Höyük illustrate two entirely different modes of bird exploitation in south-eastern Anatolia during the 10th and 9th millennia BCE, which prompted us the re-evaluation of other substantial bird bone assemblages from contemporaneous sites in the upper basins of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. We thus compared the range and diversity of species captured, seasonal aspects of bird hunting, and types of habitats exploited by Near Eastern communities of foragers at the dawn of agriculture. Fowling practices in the Upper Euphrates catchment aimed at multiple avifaunal resources in varied habitats explaining high taxonomic diversity in the respective assemblages. Overall, the proportions of birds, mammals and fish in the diet were similar in all sites. In contrast, meat diet in the Upper Tigris River basin proved less culturally uniform. The contribution of birds, fish and mammals to the diet varied significantly between sites. Our study also showed that avifaunal diversity was very low at some sites in the Tigris basin suggesting an overall limited interest and time commitment to this economic activity there. An intensification of bird hunting in autumn and winter was observed in both areas.

Indirect dating of secondary cave burials in the Massim region of Papua New Guinea reveals last millennium reorganisation of social practices

ABSTRACTIn the Massim Island region of southeastern Papua New Guinea secondary interment of skeletal remains was widely practiced historically, but its social context and regional expression in the deeper past remains uncertain. In this paper the chronology of secondary burial on Panaeati Island is established indirectly by reconstructing the cultural and spatiotemporal association of 21 clay pots placed with human skeletal remains at Biniwaga Cave, coincidently establishing the first whole vessel typology of Southern Massim Combed Pottery (SMCP) and Southern Massim Pottery (SMP). Comparison with excavated pottery assemblages on Panaeati and elsewhere in the region demonstrates that the Biniwaga pots are consistent with SMCP and early SMP, dating from 740 to 470 calBP. Secondary burial practices on Panaeati are contemporary with those recorded elsewhere in the region and coincide with changes in pottery production centres. Compared to excavated pottery assemblages from contemporary sites, a relatively narrow range of pots are represented at Biniwaga. It is hypothesised that pots were selected to reflect the cultural affiliation of deceased individuals during a period of increasing inter‐island interaction.

Phytolith evidence for crop structure at the Zhangwangzhuang site during the early and middle Yangshao cultural periods on the southwestern Huanghuai Plain, China

The southwestern Huanghuai Plain, located in the transitional climate zone between southern and northern China, was characterized by a unique rice-millet mixed farming pattern during the Neolithic period, which laid a solid economic foundation for the origin of civilization in Central China. However, the specific formation time and evolution of mixed farming in this area are still unclear. In this study, phytolith analysis was conducted on 31 sediment samples from Zhangwangzhuang, a site that has been dated back to the early and middle Yangshao cultural periods (ca. 6.3–5.6 ka BP) in the research area. The results indicate that the mixed farming of rice and millets appeared at Zhangwangzhuang since the early Yangshao period (EYS), approximately 6.3 ka BP. Further quantitative analysis of the phytolith data shows that broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) and rice (Oryza sativa) were abundant at Zhangwangzhuang. Notably, the proportion of rice declined greatly in the second phase and afterward increased continuously from the third to the fourth phases, which was much higher than that of nearby contemporary sites and might be attributed to the abundant water resources around Zhangwangzhuang. Combined with the existing archaeobotanical data, this paper argues that the emergence of millet cultivation during the early Yangshao cultural period in the research region could be caused by the southward spread of the Yangshao culture. On the other hand, millets became more widely cultivated in the southwestern Huanghuai Plain since 6.0 ka BP, which could have been caused by climate change, from warmth and humidity to coolness and drought. The paper thus provides important information regarding the formation and developing process of rice-millet mixed farming in the southwestern Huanghuai Plain, contributing to a better understanding of the subsistence strategy adopted by the local people when facing climate change in the north–south transitional zone of China.

Understanding the nature of early agriculture in the Central Plains of China (ca. 2600BC–221BC): Non-urban settlement perspective through archaeobotanical and stable isotope analysis

Agriculture constitutes the economic foundation for social complexity and civilization process in ancient China. Agricultural practices of ordinary settlements as the basic unit of society could reflect the overall agricultural production and technology and also a basic guarantee for the sustained development and stable operation of the society. The Central Plains of China witnessed the social transition, the onset and development of state-level societies, urbanization process, and the boom of bronze civilization during the Longshan period to Eastern Zhou (ca. 2600BC–221BC). This study primarily aimed to assess the coping strategies of non-urban settlements and the nature of agriculture in Central Plains during this social transformation and development period. It examined the era’s agricultural strategies by reporting the archeaobotanical remains and stable isotopic data of charred grains and legume seeds from the Huqiugang site, a long-lived settlement lasting from Longshan to Eastern Zhou in this area.Findings show that Huqiugang inhabitants adopted active agricultural strategies to confront the social changes and climate fluctuations during Longshan to Eastern Zhou, including effective adjustment of the crop structure, improved crop management and expansion of the agrarian field to cultivate multiple crops. Combined with archaeobotanical remains and stable isotope values of charred plant remains from ordinary contemporaneous sites in the Central Plains, the characteristics of agriculture in non-urban settlements during Longshan to Eastern Zhou in the Central Plains are revealed, including stability of diversified crop patterns, innovation of agricultural technology, and flexibility of agricultural practices, which all contributed to the sustainability of agriculture in this area. Sustainable agriculture provided the economic guarantee of social resilience in the period of social transformation and development in the Central Plains, and was the important driving force for the emergence and development of state-level society, urbanization, and the prosperity of bronze civilization in the Central Plains during Longshan to Eastern Zhou.

A world of reindeer: A technological and functional reassessment of the Last Glacial Maximum osseous industry from Cotu Miculinți (northeastern Romania)

Processing of osseous materials was an important component of the repertoire of technological innovations throughout the Palaeolithic. The study of hard animal materials assemblages therefore provides crucial information regarding hominin adaptational ranges and cultural evolution. In contrast to the wide array of studies published on this topic in western and central Europe, the Palaeolithic osseous industries from Romania received comparatively limited attention. The organic industry recovered from Cotu Miculinți, a Late Glacial Maximum (LGM) site located in the Prut Valley (northeastern Romania), provides a case at point. The present study proposes a throughout reassessment of the collection of osseous artifacts from this site, covering several key aspects – raw materials, chaîne opératoire, and the functionality of the assemblage – in an attempt of setting the site’s osseous industry into the wider context of LGM cultural adaptations in the area east of the Carpathians.The results of our analysis reveal an assemblage predominantly made of reindeer antler and document a standardization of the technical transformation scheme, by use of both segmentation and extraction. This resulted in the production of two types of blanks: segmentation produced massive pieces that were transformed into hammers or perforated batons, and extraction by grooving led to standardized rods on flat blanks used to produce barbed points or smoothers. The finished pieces were used in domestic activities (processing of hides, bark, and wood) and for hunting. The assemblage of osseous artifacts from Cotu Miculinți displays many features in common with contemporaneous sites in the area, in particular Cosăuți (Moldova), which is strongly indicative for a similar cultural and adaptive background.

Flora in the Latin East: Archaeobotanical Remains from Crusader Arsur

Archaeobotanical analysis in Crusader-period sites in the Southern Levant is rare, and the plant finds from Arsur (Apollonia-Arsuf ) add new data to the scarce Crusader botanical material. The fills of refuse from one cesspit from the 12th and 13th centuries CE have revealed mineralised plant finds seldom uncovered in the Southern Levant. Together with the carbonised plant material from other loci of Crusader-period contexts, this plant assemblage forms a comprehensive picture of the diet of the site inhabitants. The analysis of Crusader crop material shows a diet of typical Southern Levantine character that was based on the cultivation and use of indigenous crops also known from other contemporaneous sites.

Dynamic Durationality: Art As Infrastructure In The Age Of Climate Politics

Discussions of site orientation in public art have often been framed by contrasting the temporal notions of permanence and temporariness. This article leans on cross-disciplinary theorization of infrastructure—and its attention to climate change—to suggest that we see a new type of artistic interest in reengaging with permanence in the form of infrastructure development and maintenance. Specifically, the article analyzes the case of Super Reef, an artistic project that aspires to construct at least fifty-five km2 of reef along the coastline of Denmark. The article unpacks the material, social, political, and aesthetic dimensions of Super Reef as performing a dynamic durationality of interspecies infrastructure. This dynamic durationality implies a recognition of the always-already-provisional and precarious quality of any infrastructure project, while still invoking aspirations for long-term commitment to reconcile, repair, and maintain multispecies environments. If site orientations in the 1990s and early 2000s favored temporary, mobile, and social forms of artistic interventions, contemporary site orientations are suggestively more concerned with reimagining new forms of durationality.

Sharing ceramic manufacturing processes: A technological and petrographic study on ceramic production and exchange between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico (350–1200 CE)

This study investigates the production and distribution of ceramics across the islands of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico during the Ceramic Age (ca. 800–500 BCE to 1500 CE). The ceramic assemblage from El Frances, Dominican Republic, is analyzed and compared with five other sites from Puerto Rico (Hacienda Grande, Tecla, La Gallera, Dorado-42, Sorcé). Petrographic analysis clarifies the origin of raw materials and the preparation of the clay body. Results show an initial phase (ca. 350–900 CE) of Saladoid ceramics at El Frances that appears to be similar to the Puerto Rican sites in the processing and the origin of some of the raw clay materials. Between ca. 900 and 1200 CE, evidence from El Frances shows technological change, suggesting a process of socio-cultural transformation. This change entailed the production of very coarse and heterogenous ceramic bodies and the use of locally accessible clays originating from metamorphic parent rocks. The heterogeneous paste preparation is comparable with other contemporaneous sites such as El Flaco and La Luperona, located in the central north, and El Cabo on the east coast of Hispaniola. This study adds insights to manufacturing practices in ceramic production across a long-term period and shows evidence of the occurrence of similar “ways of doing” between distant communities across Puerto Rico and Hispaniola.

Reconstruction and Visualization of the Mosaic Floor of the Temple of Pitiunt Hillfort

The 3D reconstruction of the Great Pitiunt Fortress has been our long-term goal. The results of archaeological excavations have revealed traces of a mosaic floor in one of the temples. It was impossible to carry out a full reconstruction of the temple without first restoring the mosaic floor. The area of the preserved mosaic found during the excavations was only 33 square meters. This is 10.5% of the total interior area of the temple of 317 square meters. However, based on a number of reasons, i.e., the direction of the dividing borders between the elements of the mosaic, the requirement of symmetry of individual sections, the adjustment of motifs and the analysis of similar contemporaneous sites, it was possible to make a version of the general view of the reconstructed mosaic floor for further processing in the 3D reconstruction of the temples of the complex. This article provides the methods described, an analysis and justification of the reconstructed design of the mosaic in fragments and a holistic final model. The stylistic features of the mosaic have been identified, and the reasons for the dating of the mosaic have been given.

Hominins and carnivores in the Early Pleistocene site of Barranco León (Orce, Baza Basin, SE Spain): Comment on Courtenay et al. (2023)

This work investigates questions regarding obsidian circulation among the late populations (since ca. 1100 BP) of Antofagasta de Sierra (Catamarca Province, Argentinean Southern Puna Plateau). By means of geochemical provenance studies conducted on obsidian artefacts, the sources of obsidian that these groups accessed have been identified. The samples considered in this study were collected at three radiocarbon-dated sites in the micro-region: La Alumbrera, Bajo del Coypar II and Campo Cortaderas.The results obtained are compared with those available for other contemporary sites and Formative contexts (ca. 3000–1100 BP) within the area of study. A preliminary discussion is presented on the basis of the environmental, political and social tendencies that characterized the times after ca. 1100 BP at the micro-region and south-central Andes.

Deciphering the West Eurasian Genetic Footprints in Ancient South India.

Since 2006, Pattanam coastal village of the Ernakulam District in Kerala, India, has witnessed multi-disciplinary archaeological investigations in collaboration with leading research institutions across the world. The results confirm that the Pattanam site could be an integral part of the lost ancient port of Muziris, which, as per the material evidence from Pattanam and its contemporary sites, played an important role in the transoceanic exchanges between 100 BCE (Before Common Era) and 300 CE (Common Era). So far, the material evidence with direct provenance to the maritime exchanges related to ancient cultures of the Mediterranean, West Asian, Red Sea, African, and Asian regions have been identified at Pattanam. However, the genetic evidence supporting the impact of multiple cultures or their admixing is still missing for this important archaeological site of South India. Hence, in the current study, we tried to infer the genetic composition of the skeletal remains excavated from the site in a broader context of South Asian and worldwide maternal affinity. We applied the MassArray-based genotyping approach of mitochondrial makers and observed that ancient samples of Pattanam represent a mixed maternal ancestry pattern of both the West Eurasian ancestry and the South Asian ancestry. We observed a high frequency of West Eurasian haplogroups (T, JT, and HV) and South Asian-specific mitochondrial haplogroups (M2a, M3a, R5, and M6). The findings are consistent with the previously published and ongoing archaeological excavations, in which material remains from over three dozen of sites across the Indian Ocean, Red Sea, and Mediterranean littoral regions have been unearthed. This study confirms that people belonging to multiple cultural and linguistic backgrounds have migrated, probably settled, and eventually died on the South-western coast of India.

Aphidna’s Prehistoric Tumulus in North Attica from around 2000 BC. A Comprehensive Re-assessment of Sam Wide’s 1894 Excavation

Abstract The 13 graves excavated in 1894 by Sam Wide at Aphidna only attracted sporadic attention during the first decades, even though he exposed unusually rich burials. However, over the last 20 years, there has been increased interest, but still with most focus on only one grave, Pithos Grave III. This article combines information from several sources to get a more comprehensive picture, including a thorough re-read of Wide’s original publication in German, an examination of his preserved correspondence and notes, also with a newly discovered original photo taken during the excavation. In addition, recent colour photos of the finds kept in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens are provided. This approach may, in a sense, be termed ‘archaeology in reverse’. Wide was a pioneer in Greek prehistoric studies and the first to identify a then-unknown phase between the Early and the Middle Bronze Age, based on the Aphidna finds. His detailed descriptions of the excavation, including the large bowls placed outside the pithos graves, also contribute to reconstructing burial rites. After 130 years, with many new contemporary sites now available, new insights into regional perspectives can be gained.

Cereals from the Late Bronze Age Fortified Settlement of Tállya-Óvár

This paper aims to present new archaeobotanical data from the Late Bronze Age settlement of Tállya-Óvár in the North Hungarian Mountains. Upon investigating the area around a bronze hoard found earlier, the floor of a building was unearthed, and 16 archaeobotanical samples were taken. The interpretation of the botanical finds was difficult due to a low to medium density of remains and the judgement sampling method. This paper focuses mainly on cereal remains, attempting to interpret them by comparing them with the record of contemporary sites in Hungary and placing them in a broader European context. The samples from Tállya-Óvár were dominated by spelt, barley, and millet. In general, the archaeobotanical assemblage fits the hypotheses concerning Late Bronze Age agriculture. These results are important because no archaeobotanical data have yet been published from high-altitude fortified settlements in the North Hungarian Mountains.

Transformations in the roles of men, women, and children in the ceramic industry at Early Bronze Age Hama, Syria and contemporary sites

Transformations in the roles of men, women, and children in the ceramic industry at Early Bronze Age Hama, Syria and contemporary sites

Clinical Impact of a Sepsis Alert System Plus Electronic Sepsis Navigator Using the Epic Sepsis Prediction Model in the Emergency Department

BackgroundThe Epic Sepsis Prediction Model (SPM) is a proprietary sepsis prediction algorithm that calculates a score correlating with the likelihood of an International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision code for sepsis. ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the clinical impact of an electronic sepsis alert and navigator using the Epic SPM on time to initial antimicrobial delivery. MethodsWe performed a retrospective review of a nonrandomized intervention of an electronic sepsis alert system and navigator using the Epic SPM. Data from the SPM site (site A) was compared with contemporaneous data from hospitals within the same health care system (sites B–D) and historical data from site A. Nonintervention sites used a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS)–based alert without a sepsis navigator. ResultsA total of 5368 admissions met inclusion criteria. Time to initial antimicrobial delivery from emergency department arrival was 3.33 h (interquartile range [IQR] 2.10–5.37 h) at site A, 3.22 h (IQR 1.97–5.60; p = 0.437, reference site A) at sites B–D, and 6.20 h (IQR 3.49–11.61 h; p < 0.001, reference site A) at site A historical. After adjustment using matching weights, there was no difference in time from threshold SPM score to initial antimicrobial between contemporaneous sites. Adjusted time to initial antimicrobial improved by 2.87 h (p < 0.001) at site A compared with site A historical. ConclusionsImplementation of an electronic sepsis alert system plus navigator using the Epic SPM showed no difference in time to initial antimicrobial delivery between the contemporaneous SPM alert plus sepsis navigator site and the SIRS-based electronic alert sites within the same health care system.

By Who, for Whom? Landscape, Process and Economy in the Bloomery Iron Production AD 400–1000

Landscape, process and economy in the bloomery iron production during AD 400–1000 are all integrated in this paper initiated by an archaeological excavation of a bloomery site in Motala in Östergötland, southeast Sweden. This site is one among other contemporaneous sites with similar features, such as long-term iron production and a location in the landscape within easy reach of communication routes and, most importantly, access to the vital raw materials ore and wood. The site is placed in a rich region with several high-status features, such as richly furnished graves and settlements. We evaluate the transfer of knowledge and skills in a landscape perspective. Interactions in a complex network involving various entrepreneurs, from producers to consumers, are suggested as central. The major focus is on the importance of the organisation, the economic point of view, as well as quality and trade.

The grounds of Gallipoli: Earthy memory and the collapse of space and time

This article deals with the meanings and agencies of earth in the making of memory. We consider the role of the soil at the Gallipoli peninsula, in today’s Turkey, a key First World War battlefield and a nodal point of national memories, especially for Australia, New Zealand and Turkey. Informed by more-than-human approaches to heritage and memory and drawing on contemporary site visits as well as historical sources, we discuss the Gallipoli peninsula as a landscape freighted with earthy memory in multiple ways: with the bodies of the dead of 1915, the material deposits and earthworks of the conflict, the memory practices undertaken relationally between people and nation states, and the weight of international diplomacies in the making and remaking of geopolitical orders and claims. In all of this, the ground is both supremely tangible and extremely abstract, making it a most potent agent in memory practices. We are interested in how groups claim ownership of, and control over, the ground; the many ways in which the earth comes to matter, including why and how it moves, how far, and through what forms of transfer; and the scalar zoom of perception and imagination that allows memory to take different forms. We explore these interrelations through attention to processes of what we call ‘formation’ and ‘activation’ of the earth, arguing that they often work to set up mitigations or collapses of distance – geographically and temporally – through different memorial and museum practices and rituals. In our analysis, however, such attempts to create collapses, or ‘wormholes’, through which the faraway Gallipoli can somehow be felt and grasped, are ultimately doomed to fail, as spatial and temporal distances inevitably seem to re-assert themselves as brutal and unbrookable gulfs.

PALEOCLIMATE AND PALEOENVIRONMENT IN NORTH-WESTERN ITALY (SOUTHERN ALPS) DURING THE LAST GLACIAL STAGE: THE SMALL-MAMMAL RECORD FROM THE BUCO DEL FRATE CAVE (PREVALLE – BRESCIA)

The palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental data obtained by the study of the Buco del Frate cave small-mammals indicate that, around 40,000 years ago (MIS3), the eastern part of the province of Brescia, immediately to the west of Lake Garda, was characterised by the presence of open taiga environment and watercourses crossing the plain facing the cave. Specifically, the palaeoclimatic conditions of this part of north-western Italy around 40,000 years ago – compared to climate data for the years 1960-90 measured at Ghedi, 20 km southwest of the Buco del Frate cave – involved average temperatures some 4° C cooler and rainfall some 30% lower. Based on the collected data we show that the western part of the Po Valley, west of Lake Garda, was characterized by a steppe-like environment, not too different from the almost contemporaneous site of Settepolesini di Bondeno (Ferrara), defined as "mammoth steppe". We also note that the western Po Valley, if compared with deposits from high- and medium-mountain contexts in the same area, was characterized by a more steppe-like environment. Indeed, the mountain settings, in perhaps more sheltered areas, indicate the presence of environments with more trees (or, at least, bushes).

Late Acheulean Handaxes from Northeastern Caucasus: Morphology and Technology

We describe the variability of morphological and technological features of handaxes from two culturally and chronologically consecutive Acheulean assemblages of Dagestan, Northeastern Caucasus. The early one, dating to MIS 11–10, is represented by three sites: Darvagchay-Zaliv-1 (complex IV, layer 3), Darvagchay-Zaliv-4 (layer 5), and Darvagchay-Zaliv-2. The late complex, dating to MIS 7, includes the sites of Darvagchay-Zaliv-1 (complex IV, layer 2), Darvagchay-Zaliv-4 (layer 3), and Darvagchay-Karier. We examine analogies from other Acheulean sites in the Caucasus. Two-dimensional geometric-morphometric analysis was used to study the shape of tools from Dagestan. The findings suggest that the shape of unifacial tools is the same as that of Ьifaces. The comparison of tools from two cultural and chronological horizons, including those from contemporaneous sites in the Caucasus, indicates a higher variability in earlier tools. Based on the scar pattern analysis, three chaînes opératoires in manufacturing handaxes were reconstructed. Tools of the later complex had been subjected to a more thorough reduction than those of the early complex. Technological continuity was traced over a considerable timespan (MIS 11–7). It was manifested in the standardization of bifacial shape and the gradual sophistication of chaînes opératoires. Given the high morphological homogeneity of tools from Dargvachay complexes and other contemporaneous industries of the Caucasus, it can be suggested that these technological tendencies are characteristic of the entire Caucasus.