Habitation Sites Research Articles

NOTES ON THE START DATE OF THE POIENEȘTI-LUCAȘEUCA CULTURE

In this study, we analyse the issue of the start date of the Poienești-Lucașeuca culture. Based on the dating of certain categories of items discovered in both funerary and habitation sites but also on the information supplied by certain written sources we set the chronological limit of this culture to the last quarter of the 3rd century BC.

Preliminary Report on the Excavations of Neolithic sites from Khasi Hills Meghalaya

As far as the Neolithic period is concerned, Khasi and Jaintia hills of Meghalaya have revealed a good number of Neolithic sites on the evidence of surface finds. The typo-technology of the tools recovered of from these finds showed uniformity throughout Khasi-Jaintia hills. The paper focuses briefly on the findings from two excavated sites; the site of Lawnongthroh, which was briefly reported in an archaeological journal, and a report from an ongoing excavation at Myrkhan Neolithic Sites, both located in East Khasi hills district of Meghalaya. The sites have been dated through AMS and conventional C14 dates. Lawnongthroh is a habitation site and the site of Myrkhan showed a mixture of both a factory and habitation site. The two site offer closer insight on the typo-technological pattern of Neolithic materials from the region.

Site Formation Processes and Hunter-Gatherers Use of Space in a Tropical Environment: A Geo-Ethnoarchaeological Approach from South India.

Hunter-gatherer societies have distinct social perceptions and practices which are expressed in unique use of space and material deposition patterns. However, the identification of archaeological evidence associated with hunter-gatherer activity is often challenging, especially in tropical environments such as rainforests. We present an integrated study combining ethnoarchaeology and geoarchaeology in order to study archaeological site formation processes related to hunter-gatherers’ ways of living in tropical forests. Ethnographic data was collected from an habitation site of contemporary hunter-gatherers in the forests of South India, aimed at studying how everyday activities and way of living dictate patterns of material deposition. Ethnoarchaeological excavations of abandoned open-air sites and a rock-shelter of the same group located deep in the forests, involved field observations and sampling of sediments from the abandoned sites and the contemporary site. Laboratory analyses included geochemical analysis (i.e., FTIR, ICP-AES), phytolith concentration analysis and soil micromorphology. The results present a dynamic spatial deposition pattern of macroscopic, microscopic and chemical materials, which stem from the distinctive ways of living and use of space by hunter-gatherers. This study shows that post-depositional processes in tropical forests result in poor preservation of archaeological materials due to acidic conditions and intensive biological activity within the sediments. Yet, the multiple laboratory-based analyses were able to trace evidence for activity surfaces and their maintenance practices as well as localized concentrations of activity remains such as the use of plants, metals, hearths and construction materials.

Sourcing Interaction Networks of the American Southeast: Neutron Activation Analysis of Swift Creek Complicated Stamped Pottery

In the lower American Southeast, regional scale social interactions burgeoned alongside the growth of nucleated villages, widespread mound-building projects, and conspicuous mortuary ceremonialism during the Middle and Late Woodland periods (ca. A.D. 100–800). A premier material for understanding the scale and significance of social interactions across the southern landscape comes from Swift Creek Complicated Stamped pottery, a ubiquitous class of material culture that provides direct evidence of connections between specific sites at a multitude of scales and in myriad contexts. By combining design data and determinations of vessel provenance through Neutron Activation Analysis of a total of 825 sherds and 130 clay samples, this research ascertains types of social interaction and their predominant directions and levels of intensity across multiple ecological, social, and cultural contexts. The results indicate two main patterns: first, that vessels were frequently transported from habitation sites and civic-ceremonial centers to distant burial mounds; and second, that people traveled to ceremonial centers from outlying villages for events that included the exchange of wooden paddles. These patterns reveal a high level of social coordination within integrated networks that were inextricable from the region-wide trends toward population aggregation and heightened monumentality and rituality.

Sourcing Interaction Networks of the American Southeast: Neutron Activation Analysis of Swift Creek Complicated Stamped Pottery

In the lower American Southeast, regional scale social interactions burgeoned alongside the growth of nucleated villages, widespread mound-building projects, and conspicuous mortuary ceremonialism during the Middle and Late Woodland periods (ca. A.D. 100–800). A premier material for understanding the scale and significance of social interactions across the southern landscape comes from Swift Creek Complicated Stamped pottery, a ubiquitous class of material culture that provides direct evidence of connections between specific sites at a multitude of scales and in myriad contexts. By combining design data and determinations of vessel provenance through Neutron Activation Analysis of a total of 825 sherds and 130 clay samples, this research ascertains types of social interaction and their predominant directions and levels of intensity across multiple ecological, social, and cultural contexts. The results indicate two main patterns: first, that vessels were frequently transported from habitation sites and civic-ceremonial centers to distant burial mounds; and second, that people traveled to ceremonial centers from outlying villages for events that included the exchange of wooden paddles. These patterns reveal a high level of social coordination within integrated networks that were inextricable from the region-wide trends toward population aggregation and heightened monumentality and rituality.

Seven hundred years of human-driven and climate-influenced fire activity in a British Columbia coastal temperate rainforest.

While wildland fire is globally most common at the savannah-grassland ecotone, there is little evidence of fire in coastal temperate rainforests. We reconstructed fire activity with a ca 700-year fire history derived from fire scars and stand establishment from 30 sites in a very wet (up to 4000 mm annual precipitation) temperate rainforest in coastal British Columbia, Canada. Drought and warmer temperatures in the year prior were positively associated with fire events though there was little coherence of climate indices on the years of fires. At the decadal scale, fires were more likely to occur after positive El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation phases and exhibited 30-year periods of synchrony with the negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation. Fire frequency was significantly inversely correlated with the distance from former Indigenous habitation sites and fires ceased following cultural disorganization caused by disease and other European impacts in the late nineteenth century. Indigenous people were likely to have been the primary ignition source in this and many coastal temperate rainforest settings. These data are directly relevant to contemporary forest management and discredit the myth of coastal temperate rainforests as pristine landscapes.

Tracking the origins and diet of an endemic island canid (Urocyon littoralis) across 7300 years of human cultural and environmental change

Abstract Understanding how human activities have influenced the foraging ecology of wildlife is important as our planet faces ongoing and impending habitat and climatic change. We review the canine surrogacy approach (CSA)—a tool for comparing human, dog, and other canid diets in the past—and apply CSA to investigate possible ancient human resource provisioning in an endangered canid, the California Channel Islands fox (Urocyon littoralis). We conducted stable isotope analysis of bone collagen samples from ancient and modern island foxes (n = 214) and mainland gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus, n = 24). We compare these data to isotope values of ancient humans and dogs, and synthesize 29 Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates that fine-tune the chronology of island foxes. AMS dates confirm that island foxes likely arrived during the early Holocene (>7300 cal BP) on the northern islands in the archipelago and during the middle Holocene (>5500 cal BP) on the southern islands. We found no evidence that island foxes were consistently using anthropogenic resources (e.g., food obtained by scavenging around human habitation sites or direct provisioning by Native Americans), except for a few individuals on San Nicolas Island and possibly on San Clemente and Santa Rosa islands. Decreases in U. littoralis carbon and nitrogen isotope values between prehistoric times and the 19th century on San Nicolas Island suggest that changes in human land use from Native American hunter-gatherer occupations to historical ranching had a strong influence on fox diet. Island foxes exhibit considerable dietary variation through time and between islands and have adapted to a wide variety of climatic and cultural changes over the last 7300 years. This generalist foraging strategy suggests that endemic island foxes may be resilient to future changes in resource availability.

Exploitation of a Seasonal Resource: Bird Hunting During the Late Natufian at Shubayqa 1

AbstractThis paper discusses the Late Natufian avifaunal remains from Shubayqa 1, a Late Epipalaeolithic site situated in north‐east Jordan. The site has produced an exceptionally large and well‐preserved assemblage of bird bones recovered from a substantial midden deposit, and from the analysis of this material, we argue that there is evidence for en masse hunting of seasonally migrating waterfowl during the occupation of the site. The abundance of waterfowl and the hunting strategies employed to capture this prey must have resulted in a plentiful supply of meat, enabling the choicest parts of the birds to be quickly removed from the rest of the carcass. The tibiotarsus bones were also frequently taken back to the habitation site for use as a raw material, possibly for bead manufacture. Extensive hunting of the birds was not a result of resource pressure as often argued; instead, people chose to take advantage of a particularly abundant prey population during the winter months. This evidence casts a critical light on the suggestion that population growth and environmental change forced late Pleistocene hunter‐gatherers in the Levant to expand their subsistence base to include lower‐ranked prey species. Our data also have implications for the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the landscape. The presence of a few bones of birds other than waterfowl suggests these species had minimal importance to the diet of the inhabitants and bones from diurnal raptors may have been collected to be used in decorative items or as tools rather than reflecting the hunting of these species for food. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Low-Intensity Investigations at Three Small Sites Along Lake Xaltocan in the Northern Basin of Mexico

This report describes recent low-intensity archaeological investigations conducted at three small sites in the northern Basin of Mexico. The sites are represented by surface artifact scatters and are located on the former shoreline of the now-drained Lake Xaltocan, originally one of the principal lakes in this region. Fieldwork included mapping surface concentrations and site dimensions, conducting test excavations, and recovering surface collections. The analysis of surface artifacts focused on determining site function and chronology. Based on fieldwork and analysis, we propose that Michpilco likely was a habitation site with a substantial occupation during the Classic period. The smaller Non-Grid 5 site was occupied during the Epiclassic period, and site Non-Grid 6 was occupied during the Late Postclassic to colonial periods. These sites reflect occupations in a lacustrine landscape throughout different periods. They also exemplify the rapid disappearance and threat of destruction that looting, infrastructural development, and agriculture pose to archaeological sites in the region.

Neanderthal and animal karstic occupations from southern Belgium and south-eastern France: Regional or common features?

Karstic systems have preserved abundant archaeological records with well-represented faunal remains due to their sedimentological and topographical features. These particular localities were intensely exploited and occupied by Neanderthal groups. We focus here on Middle Palaeolithic settlements from the Last Glacial Period (MIS 5d-3), which is characterized by marked climatic variability with colder episodes alternating with more temperate periods. The Ardèche region in south-eastern France and the Meuse Basin in Belgium have recently been the focus of regional studies combining archaeological, geological and chronological data in order to bring to light human land-use and subsistence strategies. These two areas comprise multiple rock shelters and caves with Neanderthal occupations dating from MIS 5d to 3. As well as the obvious traces of occupation by Neanderthals, most sites provide evidence of carnivore occupations (e.g., cave bears, cave hyenas or wolves). Each of these habitation sites presents a specific topography and type of occupation and most of them reveal behavioural homogeneity within their sequences.By comparing data from faunal accumulations in these two related areas, separated by a distance of about one thousand kilometres, we attempt to gain a better understanding of the driving forces behind Neanderthal and animal occupations of karstic networks. Do regional land-use patterns exist in different European karstic localities or can we perceive common features related to the geography and topography of the sites?

Lithic Technology at Linda's Point, Healy Lake, Alaska

<p class="Pa5" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; color: #221e1f;">Interior Alaska’s Healy Lake archaeological locality contains a cultural sequence spanning 13 500 years, beginning with some of the oldest known human occupations in Alaska. From 2011 to 2014, we conducted archaeological excavations at the Linda’s Point site. Detailed recording has clearly separated the lowest cultural component at the site and begun to clarify the contentious culture history of the Healy Lake area. The lower component, associated with a thick paleosol, contains multiple hearths, debitage, and small triangular points similar to those seen at the Healy Lake Village site. The upper silt deposits contain a variety of lithic tool types within a dense scatter of debitage and bone fragments spanning a wide time range. Linda’s Point appears to have been used as a habitation site throughout its history, changing from recurring short-term occupations in the terminal Pleistocene to more intensive site habitation and greater reliance on local lithic resources during the Holocene.</span></p>

Мультидисциплинарные исследования бохайской группы могил в окрестностях Краскинского городища

Locating graves at a Bohai (698–926 AD) cemetery near the fortified site at Kraskinskoye in southern Primorye is difficult because their outward signs were destroyed by large-scale fl ooding and meandering of the Tsukanovka River during the medieval warming phase. Therefore, several prospection methods were employed. While drilling proved useful for locating stone structures in the alluvium, we tried to achieve similar results by nondestructive techniques. Micromagnetic modeling and electrical profiling techniques were employed on a large area to reveal anomalies suggestive of underground stone structures in friable soil. Kappametry of ground surface was applied layer by layer within excavated areas to document magnetic susceptibility of deposits. Comparative analysis of data obtained by prospection techniques (micromagnetic sensing, georadar, magnetic susceptibility measurement) and by archaeological methods was helpful for detecting medieval burials without visible features. We revealed the orientation, arrangement, and general features of Bohai burials, located probable stone mines, and unearthed ceramics suitable for dating. Bohai burials at Kraskinskoye are paralleled by contemporaneous ones in China. Paleogeographic and petrological analyses provide clues to the reasons behind the destruction of Bohai burials. A reconstruction of the environment around the habitation site and cemetery is suggested.

The Newt Smith Site (41HE78), Henderson County, Texas

The Newt Smith site (41HE78) is probably an ancestral Caddo cemetery and habitation site in the Coon Creek valley of the Post Oak Savannah in the Trinity River basin in East Texas. In April 1931, a Mrs. A. G. Hughes of Poynor, Texas, donated a single Caddo vessel to The University of Texas. That vessel is in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin (TARL).

Caddo Ceramic Vessels from the Eli Moores Site (41BW2), Bowie County, Texas

The Eli Moores site (41BW2) is an important ancestral Caddo mound center and habitation site on the Red River in the East Texas Pineywoods, likely part of the Nasoni Caddo village visited by the Teran de los Rios entrada in 1691. The Eli Moores site is situated on a natural levee of the Red River, currently about 2.5 km north of the site. The site, occupied from the 17th to the early 18th century, may have been the residence of the Caddi of the Nasoni Caddo when it was visited by the French and Spanish, and the Xinesi lived in a temple on the mound at the nearby Hatchel site (41BW3). The site was investigated by the University of Texas in 1932, and in one of the mounds and in associated midden deposits, the remains of Caddo structures, midden deposits, features, eight burials (with nine individuals), and a large ceramic and lithic assemblage were recovered, along with well-preserved plant and faunal remains.

41SM91: A Frankston Phase Settlement on the Neches River at Lake Palestine, Smith County, Texas

Site 41SM91 is an ancestral Caddo habitation site on an upland landform east of the Neches River, in the area of Lake Palestine, a large reservoir constructed on the Neches River in the East Texas Pineywoods; the dam is located about 11 km south of the site. The site was found and recorded during a 1957 survey of the proposed reservoir flood pool, and Johnson described it as “a large Frankston Focus habitation site located in a cultivated field on the slope of a large hill to the east of the Neches floodplain”. A large assemblage of ceramic vessel sherds were collected from the surface of the site during the archaeological survey, and these sherds are in the collections of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin.

Faunal Remains from the Early Complexes of the Sagan-Zaba II Multilayered Habitation Site (9120–7880 cal. BP) in the Cis-Baikal: Planigraphy, Subsistence Patterns, and Seasonality

This article is the first publication to analyze faunal remains from early complexes (layers VII and VI) at the multilayer settlement of Sagan-Zaba II, situated on the western shore of Lake Baikal. We discuss species composition of fauna from the site as well as associated radiocarbon dates, age and sex designations, spatial distribution, and their overall selection as it relates to site seasonality. We address the previously-defi ned potential offset between uncalibrated dates from remains of ungulates and seals at the site, relating to the problem of “old” carbon in Lake Baikal. For layer VII, this offset is 682 years on average, and for layer VI it is 509 years. Taking the offset from nerpa bones into account, layers VII and VI now appear to date to the period between 9120 and 7880 cal BP. An analysis of faunal materials from the early complexes of the Sagan-Zaba II settlement indicates that inhabitants of this site hunted nerpa seals, ungulates, and other mammals as well as birds and fi sh, demonstrating a complex use of natural resources. Most likely, sites featured short-term, seasonal occupations, as indicated by the distribution of hearths and other materials, the thickness of hearth features, and the absence of specialized production areas. Results of an analysis of dentine layers from cross-sections of nerpa teeth as well as the presence of faunal bones that are only available during the hotter months of the year in the Cis-Baikal region, are consistent with a model of spring and summer site use.

A Middle Caddo Period Cemetery (41FK97/139) on Big Cypress Creek in Franklin County, Texas

In the early 1990s, an ancestral Caddo habitation site and cemetery was reported to the junior author in the Big Cypress Creek valley in Franklin County in East Texas by a local collector. The site is in an area of other known ancestral Caddo cemeteries, including the Bruce J. Connally Farm (41FK5) and the P. G. Hightower Farm (41FK7). In this article we summarize the available information about this important but still little known ancestral Caddo site.

Portable Sculptures from Neolithic and Bronze Age Habitation Sites near Lake Baikal

Portable sculpture provides important information on past worldviews, the ways various objects were perceived, and subsistence activities. This study addresses fi gurines from Neolithic and Bronze Age habitation sites on Lake Baikal relying on a summary of published specimens and those from recent excavations, totaling 32 intact and fragmentary fi gurines from twelve sites. Chronology, assessed on the basis of stratigraphic observations and radiocarbon analysis, suggests that fi gurines were manufactured on Lake Baikal since the Early Neolithic (over 7000 cal BP). Most of the early specimens represent fi sh, and some depicts Baikal seals. They conform to the Kitoy artistic tradition. Late Neolithic fi gurines (5590–4870 cal BP) evidence a different style, typical of the Serovo-Glazkovo tradition. Bronze Age depictions of fi sh are highly stylized. Overall, these differences make it possible to track chronological changes in the contents and styles of portable sculpture in the region. Most representations of fi sh have perforations for appending and were probably used as lures. Larger ones without holes might have been used in rituals.

Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Assemblage from the Spoonbill Site (41WD109) in the Lake Fork Creek Basin, Wood County, Texas

Ancestral Caddo habitation sites are common in the upper Sabine River basin in East Texas, as well as along tributaries of the Sabine River, including Lake Fork Creek. In this article we discuss the ceramic vessel sherd assemblages from the Spoonbill site (41WD109) that was investigated in the area in the 1970s. The site is in the Lake Fork Creek basin in the immediate vicinity of Lake Fork Reservoir.

Скульптура малых форм с поселений неолита и бронзового века на побережье озера Байкал

Скульптура малых форм с поселений неолита и бронзового века на побережье озера Байкал