Indigenous Occupation Research Articles

Archaeological evidence for indigenous human occupation of Southern Arabia at the Pleistocene/ Holocene transition: The case of al-Hatab in Dhofar, Southern Oman

The Neolithic peopling of Arabia is a subject of increasing debate, as different scenarios are proposed to describe the relatively sudden appearance of seemingly homogeneous archaeological sites throughout the south of the Peninsula during the Early Holocene. Such sites are identified by the co-occurrence of a laminar core reduction strategy with its supposed fossile directeur, the “ Fasad point.” This techno-typological package has been used by some to link these sites with an expansion of pastoralists from the Levant. A recent study of blade technologies in Southern Arabia, however, demonstrates a large degree of internal variability within these reduction strategies, whilst an inter-regional study of Fasad points reveals this artifact category to be both time-transgressive and morpho-metrically variable across parts of Southern Arabia. Archaeological findings from al-Hatab Rockshelter in Dhofar, Oman go further to challenge the notion of an expansion originating in the Levant and spreading across Southern Arabia. Here we demonstrate that an indigenous occupation with a blade technology and tanged points pre-dates the ‘ Levantine expansion’ by at least four millennia. Based on the lithic assemblage from al-Hatab, we argue the Arabian Late Palaeolithic developed locally in Southern Arabia, forming part of the previously defined Nejd Leptolithic tradition. The evidence from al-Hatab in conjunction with recent genetic findings indicates that some groups in Southern Arabia have persisted there since the Late Paleolithic ca 13,000 years ago, if not earlier.

Evidence of Early Metalworking in Arctic Canada

This paper examines new evidence related to an early (pre‐Columbian) European presence in Arctic Canada. Artifacts from archaeological sites that had been assumed to relate to pre‐Inuit indigenous occupations of the region in the centuries around A.D. 1000 have recently been recognized as having been manufactured using European technologies. We report here on the SEM‐EDS analysis of a small stone vessel recovered from a site on Baffin Island. The interior of the vessel contains abundant traces of copper–tin alloy (bronze) as well as glass spherules similar to those associated with high‐temperature processes. These results indicate that it had been used as a crucible. This artifact may represent the earliest evidence of high‐temperature nonferrous metalworking in the New World north of Mesoamerica.

Right and Resistance: Norms, Interests and Indigenous Direct Action in Canada

Direct mobilization of indigenous peoples, involving protests, blockades and occupations, plays a prominent role in Canadian political life, but has to date been subject to limited explanatory social science. This article examines two high-profile flashpoint events, both involving sustained physical occupations of disputed territory by indigenous peoples, in light of the theoretical debate between instrumental and normative explanations for ethnonational group mobilization. The behaviour of indigenous protesters does not suggest a material or political cost–benefit calculus—as instrumentalism predicts—but rather an ongoing, dynamic evaluation of the legitimacy and righteousness of contentious action. This ‘calculus of right’ reflects the Weberian notion of value rationality—political action that is selected for its intrinsic rather than instrumental value to participants. The concept of ‘calculus of right’ is proposed for future scrutiny in studies of nationalist mobilization.

Across the Barricades: Non-Indigenous Mobilization and Settler Colonialism in Canada

Recently, a new body of scholarship on “settler colonialism” has emerged with the goal to analyze the non-Native dimension of Indigenous-settler relations, in Canada and other settler states. This paper will identify two shortcomings of the new literature: first, a tendency to conflate mass-level non-Natives with the state itself; and second, an erroneous, primordial presentation of non-Native norms and identity. The paper examines two case studies of settler political mobilization in opposition to Indigenous peoples, in the contexts of the Indigenous occupations at Ipperwash/Aazhoodena in the early- to mid-1990s, and Caledonia/Kanonhstaton in 2006. The cases reveal consistency in how the mobilization is framed by non-Native participants – as a defense of abstract procedural principles like equality before the law and public order. This normative framework does not resonate with settler colonial theory. They also illustrate the degree to which mass-level non-Natives are autonomous actors in the relationship. During both conflicts, local non-Natives often advanced divergent interests from those of the state, producing a tripartite political dynamic that is not anticipated in the literature.

Indigenous Occupational Practices and Apprenticeship: Implications for Personal Development of Youths in South-West Nigeria

The study examined the relationship between indigenous occupational practices and apprenticeship, and personal development of youth in the south-west Nigeria. Descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The sample of 200 apprentices was drawn from 5 indigenous occupations selected in the south west Nigeria. A total number of 40 apprentices were drawn from each indigenous occupation using purposive non-probability sampling for the study. The study developed and used a questionnaire tagged: “Indigenous Occupational Practice and Apprenticeship, and Personal Development Questionnaire (IOPAPDQ)” with a reliability coefficient (r = 0.81) and complimented with interview for data gathering. Out of the 200 respondents were 119 males and 81 females youths with ages range between 15 and 25 years. Descriptive statistic of percentage as well as inferential statistic of Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) was used for the data analysis. While the null hypotheses developed for the study were tested at .05 level of significance. The findings revealed that 64 percent of the apprentices observed are youths that have at least secondary school education while 36 percent do not, and there is significant relationship between pot making, blacksmithing, farming, adire textile, carving and personal development of youth in the south-west Nigeria. It is therefore recommended among others that the trainers and other leaders in the workplace should make regular visits and contact with apprentices in the workplace; the apprentices should always be exposed to more site or trial periods on the job so as to develop their skills in the occupations. Finally, apprenticeship in indigenous occupations should be designed in a way to provide adequate technological orientation and preparation for career development. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n1p393

People on Country: Vital Landscapes, Indigenous FuturesJ.Altman, S.Kerins (eds.) Annandale, NSW: The Federation Press, 2012. xxii + 250 pp., appendices, index. ISBN: 978‐1862878938. AUD $39.95 (Pb.).

This edited volume by Jon Altman and Sean Kerins, both with a wealth of experience in Indigenous natural resource management, is the culmination of a five-year collaborative direct action research project called People on Country, Healthy Landscapes and Indigenous Economic Futures. It contains the contributions of no less than twenty seven authors, divided into two related parts: the perspectives of the Australian National University (ANU) researchers in part one, and the Indigenous partner perspectives by seven community based ranger groups in the Northern Territory and New South Wales in part two. Altman effectively introduces the policy context and synthesises the diverse contributions with pertinent observations about Indigenous occupation of, and rights to, land, the ecological significance of the ‘Indigenous estate’ (covering 20% of Australia and increasing), and the importance of Indigenous environmental work for Indigenous communities and the nation more broadly. The two-part structure reflects one of the key messages of the book: that policies and research with Indigenous people are enriched by a ‘two-way’ or ‘two-toolbox’ approach—western scientific and Indigenous—based on ‘equality born of a dialectical interdependence’ (p. xix). I will return to this approach further below...

Methods for Indigenous Land-Use and Occupancy Mapping

Methods for Indigenous Land-Use and Occupancy Mapping

Indigenous land restitution and traditional occupation in Mexico's Lacandonia

The central argument of this article is that international (inter-American) human rights law upholds the land rights of the Lacandon Community (Comunidad Zona Lacandona). This argument relates to the issue of the recognition and protection of indigenous land rights on the basis of traditional tenure by international human rights law. The article contributes to the empirical understanding not only of the case study but also of the concepts of traditional occupation and land restitution in the context of the Inter-American Human Rights System. This article is based on data obtained from agrarian archives, interviews and a revision of the literature on the case study and the inter-American norms and jurisprudence.

Already Occupied: Indigenous Peoples, Settler Colonialism and the Occupy Movements in North America

Indigenous struggles in Canada and the USA—the northern bloc of settler colonialism—have long been characterized by tactical occupations. It is often assumed that Indigenous peoples' concerns are congruent with those of ‘the 99%’: broad-based opposition to economic and political marginalization, strong sub-currents of environmentalism and direct democracy, and antipathy towards state violence. Indigenous people and groups have engaged with Occupy, but have also raised powerful critiques of the goals, philosophies and tactics of various Occupy movements. As a result, there have been changes within the praxes of Occupy, but also conflict and disintegration. Many concerns of Indigenous peoples remain unaddressed; legacies of historical colonization and the dynamics of contemporary settler colonialism are powerfully entrenched. The Occupy movements seek to claim the spaces created by state power and corporate wealth—specific sites such as Zuccotti Park or Wall Street, and general spaces of urban poverty and suburban collapse. Indigenous occupations, by contrast, seek to reclaim and reassert relationships to land and place submerged beneath the settler colonial world. These occupations question the validity of settler colonial nation states. Simultaneously, the nationalistic, racialized content of Occupy movements in North America does not just leave Indigenous peoples out; it situates Occupy within a settler colonial dynamic, participating in the transfer of land and power to the hands of the settler colonial majority. Settler colonialism provides a powerful lens through which to examine Settler—Indigenous dynamics around Occupy.

Useful Species Richness, Proportion of Exotic Species, and Market Orientation on Amazonian Dark Earths and Oxisols1

Useful Species Richness, Proportion of Exotic Species, and Market Orientation on Amazonian Dark Earths and Oxisols Anthropogenic soils of Amazonia, known as Amazonian Dark Earths (ADE), are environments with elevated soil fertility that can produce crops that otherwise yield poorly on the leached and highly acidic Oxisols that dominate much of the basin. While ADE sites near urban centers often attract commercial horticultural production of nutrient–demanding exotics, these soils are also considered possibly unique reservoirs of endemic agrobiodiversity because of their relationship to pre–Columbian indigenous occupation. Through botanical surveys and interviews with smallholder farmers, this study compared useful species richness, proportion of exotic species, and market orientation of farms situated on ADE and non–anthropogenic Oxisols in the municipality of Borba in Central Brazilian Amazonia. Species richness was similar on Amazonian Dark Earth and Oxisol farms (19.6 spp vs. 18.3 spp); however, ADE farms showed significantly higher proportions of exotic species (39% vs. 26%; p = 0.025). Furthermore, ADE farms in Borba demonstrated significantly higher market orientation (61.0% vs. 47.3%; p = 0.028), likely a result of the advantage of Amazonian Dark Earths for production of crops that are nutrient–demanding or pH–sensitive crops that have higher values in the nearby regional market of Manaus.

Non-governmental organizations in Bangladesh: their contribution to social capital development and community empowerment

This article looks at the role of NGOs in terms of their capacity for social capital development and community empowerment. The article is based on qualitative research focusing on two NGOs in Bangladesh: Proshika and Practical Action Bangladesh, and their work in two communities, one urban and the other rural. The article also focuses on data obtained from two indigenous occupations: blacksmiths and goldsmiths. It argues that there are specific problems within these communities and that NGOs’ capacities for social capital development and community empowerment were limited.

REDD+ and the Indigenous Question: A Case Study from Ecuador

One of the main issues regarding the implementation of REDD+ in Latin America has been the growing concern that such projects may infringe upon the rights and negatively affect the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities. Various indigenous and civil society organizations are ardently opposed to the initiative. Such is the case in Ecuador, where indigenous opposition to REDD+ represents a considerable obstacle in the creation of a national strategy since more than 60% of the country’s remaining forest cover is on indigenous land or under indigenous occupation. Thus one of the most critical challenges remaining for Ecuador will be the construction of a strong legal, financial, and institutional framework—one that the greater indigenous community might be willing to accept. Closer examination of this topic however, reveals just how difficult this may become. Lack of information, a recent political split between national authorities and the indigenous sector, and the dissimilar organizational capacity levels of indigenous communities make the feasibility of carrying out REDD+ projects on these lands extremely complex. However, the biggest obstacle may be ideological. Many indigenous groups view REDD+, with its possible emphasis on international markets and neoliberal mechanisms, as a continuation of the type of policies that have impeded their quest for sovereignty and self determination. As such, indigenous people are only willing to consider such projects if they clearly see preconditions in place that would safeguard their cultures, territories, and autonomy.

Levantamento arqueológico na Aldeia Lalima, Miranda/MS

No Território Indígena multiétnico denominado Aldeia Lalima foram identificados 13 sítios e 7 áreas de ocorrência arqueológica, constituídos por materiais Guarani, da Tradição Pantanal (análogos aos da Fase Jacadigo e aos sítio MS-CP-25) e por materiais associados à história de formação do contexto etnográfico atual. Considerando os materiais detectados como correlatos da trajetória histórica da ocupação indígena na Aldeia, proponho que Lalima pode ser compreendida como um palimpsesto da história indígena regional e sugiro algumas questões relativas ao aprofundamento das pesquisas arqueológicas na área.

Holland in Iceland revisited: An emic approach to evaluating U.S. vocational interest models.

An emic approach was used to test the structural validity and applicability of Holland's (1997) RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional) model in Iceland. Archival data from the development of the Icelandic Interest Inventory (Einarsdóttir & Rounds, 2007) were used in the present investigation. The data included an indigenous pool of occupations and work-task items representing Iceland's world of work that had been administered to a sample of 597 upper secondary school students. Multidimensional scaling analysis and property vector fitting using Prediger's (1981) work-task dimensions were applied to the item responses to test if the RIASEC model could be identified. The results indicated that a 4-dimensional solution better explains the interest space in Iceland than Holland's 2-dimensional RIASEC representation. The work-task dimension of People-Things and the Sex-Type and Prestige dimensions were located in the 1st and 2nd dimensions of the multidimensional scaling solution, but Data-Ideas, a dimension critical to the RIASEC model, was not. The 3rd and 4th dimensions did not correspond to any dimensions previously detected in structural studies in the United States and seem to be related to specific ecological, cultural, and political forces in Iceland. These results demonstrate the importance of selecting representative indigenous occupations and work tasks when evaluating the RIASEC model. The present study is an example of the next step in a comprehensive cross-cultural research program on vocational interests, an emic investigation.

<i>Life on the River: The Archaeology of an Ancient Native American Culture</i> (review)

Reviewed by: Life on the River: The Archaeology of an Ancient Native American Culture Nancy J. Parezo (bio) William R. Hildebrandt and Michael J. Dercangelo. Life on the River: The Archaeology of an Ancient Native American Culture. Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books, 2008. 136 pp. Paper, $13.95. Life on the River summarizes the findings of an excavation project conducted by Far Western Anthropological Research, Inc., at Kum Bay Xerel (Shady Oak Village, CA-SHA-1043) along the banks of the Upper Sacramento River in northern California. The site that the archaeologists and a group of Wintu and professional volunteers unearthed was a precontact and early contact period Wintu village occupied during the early 1800s. Because the site is located on private land, the owner was required to finance excavations, consultations, and burial removal before the land could be developed for residential housing. As required by the Society for California Archaeology and the Shata County Department of Resource Management, Hildebrandt and Dercangelo, in consultation with Wintu elders and cultural monitors, produced a highly readable, concise book about the site, the history of the Wintu and their ancestors, and their Indigenous occupation of this land over ten thousand years. Life on the River is a good example of what proper consultation with Native communities yields in the expansion of knowledge about the culture, health, and history of particular peoples. In this case, the Wintu, the archaeological community, students, and the general public all gain from these efforts because Hildebrandt and Dercangelo provide new information that is relevant, contextualized, and made accessible in an easy-to-read book. The book is a culture history, not a work that espouses a theory or seeks to prove a hypothetical construct. It begins with an introduction that sets the stage by describing the project’s history, the consultation process, and important findings. Following this is a chapter entitled “The Distant Past,” which describes the early occupations of the Upper Sacramento Valley (labeled in periods based on artifactual remains), subsistence adaptations to climatic changes, and the arrival of the Wintu based on a historical linguistic analysis conducted in conjunction with Wintu speakers. While the chapter has an excellent concise introduction to dating methods and explains how archaeologists designate time and cultural periods, missing is a rendition of appropriate Wintu stories of their origins and arrival in the area around 1500 BP. The next chapter describes parts of traditional Wintu culture as related in the ethnographic literature, findings from other sites in the region, and interviews with Wintu elders. By “traditional,” the authors mean Wintu culture (which they call lifeways) just prior to European contact. Emphasis is given to food procurement and processing through wild seed gathering, hunting, and fishing; social organization (short paragraphs devoted to chiefs, shamans, marriage, gambling); [End Page 419] warfare; and architecture. These are the standard sociocultural categories of life that leave evidence in the archaeological record. Again, Wintu stories are missing and would have enhanced and fleshed out the narrative. Following these contextualizing chapters is a description of the excavations at Kun Bay Xerel. This is a concise, well-written, standard site description, including the location of the site, excavation methods and summaries of the different techniques used to acquire information, site stratigraphy, and chronology. The authors focus on architecture, house structure, artifacts, and food remains. Like the rest of the book, this chapter is well illustrated with photographs of the Wintu excavating and monitoring the site, charts, profiles, and drawings of artifacts. Particularly interesting are the house and earth lodge features and how the Wintu identified their use, the source of obsidian and beads, which tells of trade patterns, and the botanical remains, which demonstrate how the Wintu and their ancestors used multiple parts of their lands so as not to denigrate any one source. The most interesting information in the book is contained in the next chapter, “The End of an Era: First Contacts with Europeans.” It is also the saddest. A burial ground was unexpectedly discovered in the middle of the excavation, an area that would be highly impacted by the housing development. Although it is always preferable to leave human remains untouched, the Wintu decided to learn from their...

Classical Period of Australian Indigenous Interiors: Shaping of Space and Interiority

While building in indigenous Australian culture has been well researched from both an anthropological and architectural point of view, interiority (pre-European contact period) has remained largely un-researched. The implications of rock art (paintings and engravings) and the negative impact of confinement will be discussed from the point of view of interior architecture, in particular from the spatial ideas theorised within interior architecture. Art theory, anthropology and design representation will be drawn upon. ‘Cultural places,’ the stories revealed by the physical landscape and the evidence which has been left by indigenous occupants of the land, are revealing for the study of interiority. Dark magic rock paintings or ‘purri purri’ in the Laura Basin and sandstone engravings in the Sydney region reveal a strong spatial effect created by indigenous art. A whale engraving in North Sydney, one of the many whale representations in the region, presents an image for some contemplation in relation to interior architecture and its principles. The purpose of the image and representation of the ‘event’ will be considered. Whale bones themselves were a known material utilized in some classical indigenous building. Funerary practices involving the internment of bones within the enclosed space of logs is of importance in relation to the idea of death resulting from enclosure. In north- eastern Arnhem Land the Hollow Log or Bone Coffin ceremony still takes place. After the internment of the bones, the log is painted with clan designs and placed upright in the ground. The act of painting creates a strong linkage between the log and the human body, just as traditional architectural elements and human physiology are intimately connected.

The Donovan Site (5LO204): An Upper Republican Animal Processing Camp on the High Plains

The Donovan site (5LO204) is a Late Prehistoric animal processing campsite located in northeastern Colorado. The site has been extensively excavated by the University of Wyoming High Plains Archaeology Project since 1992. Containing at least 11 stratified occupation surfaces dating between about A.D. 1000 and 1300, Donovan represents a frequently visited western expansion of the Upper Republican phase of the Central Plains tradition. Material culture includes thousands of fragmented bison bones, lithic debitage, diagnostic ceramics, side-notched projectile points, and bifacial knives. Long thought to represent the activities of either indigenous High Plains occupants or central Plains hunting parties, this site and others on the western High Plains provide evidence for the complex interactions between foraging and farming communities on the Plains.

Absence of evidence or evidence of absence? Understanding the chronology of Indigenous occupation of western New South Wales, Australia

Radiocarbon determinations obtained from heat retainer hearths in four sampling locations in western New South Wales, Australia are reported, with age estimates ranging from the mid Holocene until the last few centuries BP. Hearths are first considered in their geomorphic setting to determine the likely age of the surfaces into which they were dug and the reasons why they are still extant today. Second, the radiocarbon determinations are analysed not to date single events in the past, but to construct a regional chronology of Indigenous Australian occupation. In this chronology, periods when hearths were not constructed are as important as periods when radiocarbon determinations indicate sustained hearth formation. Third, comparisons are made among the four sampling locations to determine regional patterns. Results suggest both regional and local patterns of occupation and abandonment, or at least very much reduced hearth construction, over the last two millennia. The increasing frequency of radiocarbon determination results from hearths as one approaches the present is likely to be a result of the relative abundance of well preserved recent surfaces in the locations we have studied and the consequent lack of relatively ancient surfaces.

Da pré-história à história indígena

Nesta tese de doutorado o autor analisa criticamente a história e a historiografia da arqueologia pantaneira, desde a segunda metade do século XIX até fins do século XX, e aborda o processo de ocupação indígena das terras baixas do Pantanal, desde os primeiros pescadores-caçadores-coletores do período pré-colonial até os atuais canoeiros Guató. O objetivo maior é contribuir para a composição de uma história indígena total, em seus múltiplos aspectos e perspectivas espaço-temporais, a partir de uma abordagem interdisciplinar que emprega procedimentos teórico-metodológicos próprios da arqueologia, antropologia e história. Para tanto, foram utilizados dados contidos em fontes textuais diversas, informações recolhidas a partir da tradição oral dos Guató e os resultados de pesquisas arqueológicas, etnográficas e etnoarqueológicas. Foi possível demonstrar que a arqueologia pantaneira tem sido pautada pelo estudo de povos pescadores-caçadores-coletores, associados à macro tecnologia ceramista conhecida no Brasil como tradição Pantanal e a estruturas monticulares do tipo aterro, os quais se estabeleceram na região muito antes do início da Era Cristã. Nos dias de hoje, a arqueologia pantaneira reflete as mesmas mudanças de nuance constatadas para a arqueologia brasileira desde a década de 1980. Nos séculos XVI, XVII e XVIII, período de muitas disputas entre Espanha e Portugal pelo domínio do alto Paraguai, foram produzidos vários relatos que atestam a existência de um extraordinário mosaico sociocultural no centro da América do Sul, inclusive de um complexo de povos canoeiros formado por sociedades cultural e lingüisticamente distintas. De todas essas sociedades, a dos Guató é a mais conhecida do ponto de vista etnoistórico e etnológico, estando tradicionalmente organizada em grupos domésticos ligados por laços de consangüinidade, descendência e afinidade, relacionados a um particular sistema de patrilocalidade e patrilinearidade.

Population–environment relations at the forested frontier of Nepal: Tharu and Pahari survival strategies in Bardiya

The ‘population–environment nexus’ debate emphasizes the impact of population and development on forest and agricultural resources and specifically focuses on small farmers in tropical regimes, on their adaptabilities, and on the reasons why they differ in their management of resources. Recent ‘bottom-up’ perspectives pay close attention to farmers' own practices and suggest that population growth can be accompanied by environmental enhancement and recovery as well as destruction. During the last 30 years, the densely forested frontier of the Tarai in Nepal has been the target for government-sponsored resettlement and spontaneous land-occupation of Hill migrants, paharis. The indigenous occupants of the Tarai, tharus, were sometimes displaced, often disadvantaged, and rarely considered allies, either to the new settler communities or the central authorities and the elite classes. This paper traces the converging paths of the paharis and tharus in their common struggles for survival and sustenance at the frontier. The forested environment is one common resource base, the political allegiances communities embrace is another resource strategy. Both quantitative and qualitative data depicting the comparative situation of paharis and tharus in the Tarai district of Bardiya in Western Nepal are used to uncover contemporary strategies of forest use, indigenous and settler survival strategies, and local ‘grassroots’ political organization. Generalizations are sought to better understand the population–environment nexus of relations in such South Asian tropical forest ecosystems.