Holocene Occupation Research Articles

Intentional or incidental thermal modification? Analysing site occupation via burned bone

Although there has been extensive experimental research on the thermal modification of bone, the results have rarely been applied to interpret zooarchaeological assemblages. The faunal assemblage from Wanderer's Cave, Australia was analysed to investigate the origins, timing and context in which faunal specimens became burned during the mid–late Holocene occupation of the site. Statistical analyses of uniformity of burning, burning over fracture surfaces and epiphyses, frequency of carbonisation by prey taxa, and thermal modification of canid modified specimens indicate that the majority of faunal specimens were unintentionally modified when on the surface of the deposit or while buried in sediment when fires were lit at subsequent site occupation events. Thermal modification at the site does not reflect intentional cooking activities. Significant preservation biases were identified from the lower acidic levels of the site, preventing knowledge of the early fire history at Wanderer's Cave.

Patterns of chronological variability in occupation on the coastal margin of Blue Mud Bay

AbstractThis paper presents an analysis of radiocarbon dating of shell mounds and middens in Blue Mud Bay, northern Australia. The aim is to investigate variability in use of the landscape and foraging activity through time. By considering both mounded and non‐mounded shell deposits, results indicate that occupation and use of coastal landscapes during the Holocene in this region of northeast Arnhem Land was highly variable, with several overlapping phases of occupation and gaps in site formation. As in some other Australian regions, this implies a discontinuous or nonlinear pattern of occupation, one that suggests the late Holocene occupation of coastal Blue Mud Bay may be characterised by variability in the distribution and intensity of foraging behaviour through time and space.

Dating Of Bush Turkey Rockshelter 3 in the Calvert Ranges establishes Early Holocene Occupation of the Little Sandy Desert, Western Australia

Systematic excavation of occupied rockshelters that occur in ranges along the Canning Stock Route of the Western Desert has seen the establishment of both a Pleistocene signal (c.24ka BP) as well as the fleshing out of a Holocene sequence. Recent dating of a perched rockshelter in the Calvert Ranges, east of the Durba Hills, has provided a Holocene record filling in previous occupational gaps from the Calvert Ranges. The extrapolated basal date of the site is in the order of 12,000 BP. Assemblages from this site illustrate repeated occupation through the Holocene with a notable shift in raw materials procured for artefact production and their technology of manufacture in the last 1000 years. Engraved and pigment art is thought to span the length of occupation of the shelter. The site illustrates a significant increase in the discard of cultural materials during the last 800 years, a trend observed at other desert sites. Much of the pigment art in this shelter seems likely to date to this most recent period.

Radiocarbon dates for earth mounds on the Adelaide River, Northern Australia

AbstractThis paper reports new dates for mid to late Holocene occupation of the lower Adelaide River in northern Australia. Earth mounds located on the margins of the floodplains provide a series of radiocarbon determinations that suggest continuous settlement from at least 4000 years BP until recently. During that time the floodplains have undergone a dramatic environmental evolution from extensive mangrove swamps in the mid Holocene, through a variable mosaic of estuarine and freshwater conditions c.3000 years ago, to the freshwater floodplains extant since 2000 BP. These results have implications for the chronology of earth mounds elsewhere in northern Australia.

Climate-Controlled Holocene Occupation in the Sahara: Motor of Africa's Evolution

Radiocarbon data from 150 archaeological excavations in the now hyper-arid Eastern Sahara of Egypt, Sudan, Libya, and Chad reveal close links between climatic variations and prehistoric occupation during the past 12,000 years. Synoptic multiple-indicator views for major time slices demonstrate the transition from initial settlement after the sudden onset of humid conditions at 8500 B.C.E. to the exodus resulting from gradual desiccation since 5300 B.C.E. Southward shifting of the desert margin helped trigger the emergence of pharaonic civilization along the Nile, influenced the spread of pastoralism throughout the continent, and affects sub-Saharan Africa to the present day.

Geoarchaeological context of late Pleistocene and early Holocene occupation at the Cooper's Ferry site, western Idaho, USA

AbstractArchaeological excavations at the Cooper's Ferry site (10IH73), located in the lower Salmon River canyon of western Idaho, revealed a stratified sequence of cultural occupations that included a pit feature containing stemmed points. However, radiocarbon ages determined on charcoal and bone in the pit feature range between ca. 12,000 yr B.P. and 7300 yr B.P. By considering the effects of postdepositional processes on dated samples, and by comparing the lithostratigraphy, pedostratigraphy, and stable isotope geochemistry of pedogenic carbonates from Cooper's Ferry with other well‐dated stratigraphic sections in the canyon, site geochronology is clarified. Based on the presence of key radiocarbon ages and distinctive stratigraphic criteria, we argue that the initial occupation and interment of lithic artifacts in a pit feature at Cooper's Ferry occurred during the late Pleistocene, between ca. 11,410 and 11,370 yr B.P., and not during the early Holocene. Records of geomorphic change and paleoenvironmental proxy data from the site reveal that early occupation in the lower Salmon River canyon corresponds with evolving riparian ecosystems, which must be considered as a contextual aspect of local prehistoric cultural ecology. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A Possible Ritual Cache of Great Basin Stemmed Bifaces from the Terminal Pleistocene—Early Holocene Occupation of Nw Nevada, USA

Recently, an assemblage of 19 obsidian tools has come to light following the death of their original collector. This collection apparently resultedfrom his excavations in an unknown cave in 1974 and may have been found buried together as a cache and ritual offering. These unusually large tools correspond to the Parman variety of the Great Basin Stemmed cluster, which is associated with the terminal Pleistocene-early Holocene occupation of the Great Basin region of North America. The assemblage contains six Parman projectile points, four stemmed bifacial preforms, five bipointed preforms, two ovoid bifacial blanks, one small triangular biface, and a thick scraper. Trace element studies of these materials suggest origins from five different obsidian sources near the High Rock country of NW Nevada. Comparison of this collection with Paleoindian biface caches from outside the Great Basin suggests some interesting parallels that may imply shared cultural behaviors between these groups.

Comparative records of occupation in the Keep River region of the eastern Kimberley, northwestern Australia

This paper considers the record of occupation in the Keep River region of the eastern Kimberley, and whether archaeological records are equally preserved within as well as between regions. Luminescence dating, radiocarbon dating and archaeological evidence from eight rock shelter sequences provide only late Holocene (5 – 0 ky BP) occupation sequences, whereas luminescence dating and archaeological evidence for three sand-sheet sequences indicate occupation dating to 18 ky BP. Given that rock shelters and sand sheet excavations can produce such different chronologies, it is questioned to what extent the representative records for the eastern Kimberley, and the adjacent western Kimberley, Victoria River District and Arnhem Land regions can be compared. It is also argued that in the absence of comparative non-occupation chronostratigraphy, particularly of rock shelters, it remains unclear whether apparent Holocene intensification is a product of cultural change or of research and preservation.

Prehistoric Foragers and Farmers in South-east Asia: Renewed Investigations at Niah Cave, Sarawak

The paper describes the initial results from renewed investigations at Niah Cave in Sarawak on the island of Borneo, famous for the discovery in 1958 of the c. 40,000–year old ‘Deep Skull’. The archaeological sequences from the West Mouth and the other entrances of the cave complex investigated by Tom and Barbara Harrisson and other researchers have potential implications for three major debates regarding the prehistory of south-east Asia: the timing of initial settlement by anatomically modern humans; the means by which they subsisted in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene; and the timing, nature, and causation of the transition from foraging to farming. The new project is informing on all three debates. The critical importance of the Niah stratigraphies was commonly identified – including by Tom Harrisson himself – as because the site provided a continuous sequence of occupation over the past 40,000 years. The present project indicates that Niah was first used at least 45,000 years ago, and probably earlier; that the subsequent Pleistocene and Holocene occupations were highly variable in intensity and character; and that in some periods, perhaps of significant duration, the caves may have been more or less abandoned. The cultural sequence that is emerging from the new investigations may be more typical of cave use in tropical rainforests in south-east Asia than the Harrisson model.

Terminal Pleistocene—Early Holocene occupation in northeast Asia and the Zhokhov assemblage

A knowledge of the history of ancient human occupation in the eastern Siberian Arctic differs distinctly from that of areas south of the Arctic Circle, where numerous sites are located (Fig. 1). A study of the latter provided a basis for a framework of cultural development, which was later applied to the archaeological materials of the arctic regions of eastern Siberia. Accordingly, the ideas on the chronology and the cultural interpretation of the northern sites are based essentially on the southern materials. The number of sites representing different stages of the Polar Stone Age is extremely small compared to that of the southern regions. If there are some dozens of Neolithic sites in the continental regions of the East Siberian Arctic, the early sites are significantly rare. Thus, there are very few sites presumed to be of the Dyuktai or Sumnagin culture, and the connection of these sites with the Late Paleolithic (or the Mesolithic) culture is rather questionable. The Late Pleistocene stage of human occupation of northeast Asia is considered to be related to a spreading and development of the Paleolithic Dyuktai culture.

The accumulation of charcoal within a midden at Cape Byron, northern New South Wales, during the last millennium

The analysis of the presence and distribution of wood and charcoal fragments often forms part of archaeological studies in Australia, providing either some measure of fluctuations in charcoal fragment abundance or sedimentation rate or sources for radiometric dating (e.g. Colley 1997; Lilley et al. 1998; Bird et al. 1998). However, there have been relatively few studies in which the range of species represented by the charcoal or wood remains has been studied in detail (cf. Hope 1998). The applicability of such study has been well demonstrated throughout the world, where the study of fossil wood and charcoal provides valuable ecological, bioarchaeological and human ecological information about the people and the places they inhabited during the period of occupation represented by the archaeological deposits. Such information includes insights into both practical aspects of daily life based on the use of natural resources, and conceptual relationships between people and their environment: the harvesting and collection of foodstuffs; the supply of materials for the construction of shelter, tools, weapons and other artefacts; the provision of fuels for heating and lighting; attitudes towards certain plants; articulation of beliefs in natural phenomena (e.g. Boyd 1988; Boyd and Kenworthy 1991-1992; Smart and Hoffman 1988; Â Pearsal 1989; Thompson 1995). In particular, the analysis of wood types fossilised in archaeological deposits provides the opportunity to examine the related issues of fuel wood collection and forest resource management. While studies may indicate form and direction of environmental change brought about by wood fuel extraction (e.g. Miller 1985; Smith et al. 1995), it is more likely that patterns of both site catchment wood resource distribution and timber selection for particular usages can be identified (e.g. Shay and Shay 1978; Thompson 1984; van Zeist et al. 1986; Boyd and Kenworthy 1991-1992; Pierce et al. 1998), and thus that some insight into the cultural characteristics of resource selection may be approached. This report provides the results of a study of the woody taxa represented at a prehistoric midden on the north coast of New South Wales (Bell 1997); it will not detail the full excavation results (Collins 1994), but will draw on these where appropriate. The context of the site is one of a prehistoric occupation of a coastline at least during the late Holocene, for which there is ample evidence for extensive and probably relatively dense late Holocene occupation (e.g. Coleman 1980; Hall and Hiscock 1988; Byrne 1989; Collins 1992; Rich 1994). Such population density is largely attributed to the resource richness of this sub-tropical coast, and consequently there has been some debate about the balance between the importance of seasonal movement and sedentary settlement (McBryde 1974, 1982). While an emphasis on a sedentary life style in the region may, in part, be ascribed to an uncritical reading of Ainsworth's (1922) reminiscences of a period some 70 years earlier in his life, it is undoubtedly the case that the coastal region of New South Wales was a particularly rich ecological zone for human settlement. Such ecological richness has largely been expressed in the archaeological analysis of the material contents of middens. The midden is probably the most common type of occupation site in the coastal zone and, being characterised by high concentrations of shellfish remains, provides an analytical basis for studies of natural resource use focusing on shell and fish resource use. However, middens characteristically contain other classes of fossil, including the charcoal which is the focus of attention in this paper.

Investigating Correlates of Sedentism and Domestication in Prehistoric North America

Throughout the Holocene occupation of the North American continent, residential mobility declined while plant domestication increased. Direct results of these processes have been investigated through structural, paleobotanical and ceramic analyses, but have rarely been detected in assemblages of stone tools. This study involves intensive technological and use-wear analyses of lithic materials from five excavated sites in the Illinois Valley that span 7,500 years of the Holocene. Results of functional trends analyzed through time indicate that most of the specific activities and worked materials in which the tools were engaged are stochastic in nature. Nevertheless, certain trends, including increases in the proportion of chopping/percussion damage and the presence of hoeing wear in later components, are consistent with changes in mobility and plant manipulation. The presence of other coeval processes is indicated by increases in wear from drilling and projectile use. In addition, support is found for the contention that highly mobile foragers of the Early Holocene needed standardized, multi-functional implements such as bifaces. The decline in bifacial technologies throughout the Holocene provides a measure of increasing sedentism, as considerations of versatility and portability were eschewed in favor of more expedient technologies.

Données préliminaires sur la Préhistoire Holocène à Maisons-Alfort (Val-de-Marne)

Abstract Preventive excavations carried out at Maisons-Alfort, Z.A.C. d'Alfort I (France), disclosed several Pleistocene and Holocene occupation levels. The Chassey enclosure fills up a blank between Bassée and Oise. The Late Bronze Age level contributes to the analysis of relations between the Northern-Alpine and Atlantic complexes of the Late Bronze Age lib - Ilia. The interest of the Seine and Marne confluence has been confirmed by the recent discovery of a site on the Z.A.C. d'Alfort II, some 250 m downstream from the one described here.

Early Holocene Occupation in Northern New England. Brian S. Robinson, James B. Peterson, and Ann S. Robinson, editors. Occasional Publications in Maine Archaeology No. 9. Maine Historic Preservation Commission, Augusta, 1992. ii + 203 pp., figures, tables, references cited. ’15.00 (paper).

Early Holocene Occupation in Northern New England. Brian S. Robinson, James B. Peterson, and Ann S. Robinson, editors. Occasional Publications in Maine Archaeology No. 9. Maine Historic Preservation Commission, Augusta, 1992. ii + 203 pp., figures, tables, references cited. ’15.00 (paper). - Volume 59 Issue 4

Prehistoric settlement and landscape change on alluvial fans in the upper Mississippi river valley

AbstractGeoarchaeological studies of alluvial fans in the northern Sny Bottom (Upper Mississippi River valley) focused on distal fan lobe processes, the effects of small‐scale landscape change on prehistoric locational decisions, and the resulting structure of the archaeological record. Aerial imagery together with coring and trenching of paleochannels on distal lobes found that frequent channel avulsion (1) produced abrupt landform/habitat changes and (2) shifted the primary loci of sediment deposition on fans through time. Analysis of wood charcoal from prehistoric occupations indicates that vegetation succession during post‐avulsion overbank aggradation along a new channel was characterized by a shift from Fraxinus‐dominated to mesophytic forest. Results also indicate that use of fans by Early Woodland (ca. 2550–2100 B.P.) and other foragers centered on portions along active channels. Shifting depositional loci on fans led to surfaces and depositional units of varying age, and hence a complex stratigraphic record of Holocene occupations.

Martujarra Prehistory: Variation in Arid Zone Adaptations

In this paper preliminary results from recent fieldwork in the Little Sandy and Great Sandy Deserts are discussed and placed in the context of other arid zone research. Three points are developed. Firstly, that the arid zone is environmentally diverse and therefore human adaptations within it are likely to be varied in space and through time. Secondly, that a distinction should be made between late Pleistocene and Holocene occupation patterns and finally, that there are changes common to many arid zone sites throughout the Holocene.

Environment as artefact: a geographic perspective on the Holocene occupation of Southwestern Victoria

Archaeology in OceaniaVolume 18, Issue 2 p. 73-80 Article Environment as artefact: a geographic perspective on the Holocene occupation of Southwestern Victoria Lesley Head, Lesley Head Department of Geography, Monash University, Clayton, VictoriaSearch for more papers by this author Lesley Head, Lesley Head Department of Geography, Monash University, Clayton, VictoriaSearch for more papers by this author First published: October 1983 https://doi.org/10.1002/arco.1983.18.2.73Citations: 22AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume18, Issue2October 1983Pages 73-80 RelatedInformation

Recent Developments in the Prehistory of Anatolia

Previous articleNext article No AccessRecent Developments in the Prehistory of AnatoliaUfuk Esin, and Peter BenedictUfuk Esin Search for more articles by this author , and Peter Benedict Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Current Anthropology Volume 4, Number 4Oct., 1963 Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/200391 Views: 4Total views on this site Citations: 7Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1963 The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological ResearchPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Jens Axel Frick Reflections on the term Micoquian in Western and Central Europe. Change in criteria, changed deductions, change in meaning, and its significance for current research, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 12, no.22 (Jan 2020).https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00967-5 Bibliography, (Nov 2011): 256–348.https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444342369.biblioBleda S. Düring The Early Holocene occupation of north-central Anatolia between 10,000 and 6,000 BC cal: investigating an archaeological terra incognita, Anatolian Studies 58 (Dec 2013): 15–46.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0066154600008656I. E. S. Edwards, C. J. Gadd, N. G. L. Hammond The Cambridge Ancient History, (Mar 2008).https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521070515J. Mellaart ANATOLIA BEFORE 4000 B.C., (Dec 1970): 304–326.https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521070515.009 Marilyn Keyes Roper A Survey of the Evidence for Intrahuman Killing in the Pleistocene, Current Anthropology 10, no.4, Part 24, Part 2 (Oct 2015): 427–459.https://doi.org/10.1086/201038Colin Renfrew, J. E. Dixon, J. R. Cann Obsidian and Early Cultural Contact in the Near East, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 32 (May 2014): 30–72.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0079497X0001433X