Pit House Research Articles

Discovery of the Jomon era maize weevils in Hokkaido, Japan and its mean

Recent research on plant and insect impressions on Jomon-period pottery strongly suggests not only the presence of household pests such as the maize weevil (Sitophilus zeamais), but also the existence of storage facilities for acorns and nuts inside pit houses. The presence of insect pests provides indirect evidence for human-mediated crop propagation on a large scale. The evidence also suggests the possibility of introduction of maize weevils into north-eastern Japan by the Jomon people via the transportation of infested foodstuffs. However, this ‘diffusion by man’ hypothesis has remained unproven because it is possible that these insect pests and their preferred foods originated locally. Aiming to resolve this issue, we examined pottery vessels discovered at a Jomon site in Hokkaido that contain the remains of adult maize weevils. The geographical and temporal distribution of these vessels suggests a possibility of the human-mediated diffusion of maize weevils and chestnut cultivation across oceanic barriers by the Jomon people. Ultimately, we could not prove this hypothesis because of lack of entomological evidence, but we could prove that colonization of the cultivated plants had played a role in the spread of stored food pests. A lot of discoveries of the maize weevil by further impression survey will be expected as a clue to trace the relationship history between people, cultivated plant and pest insects.

Defining activity areas in the Early Neolithic (Starčevo-Criş) of southeastern Europe: A spatial analytic approach with ArcGIS at Foeni-Salaş (southwest Romania)

Through the years, there has been a great deal of archaeological research focused on the earliest farming cultures of Europe (i.e. Early Neolithic). However, little effort has been expended to uncover the type and nature of daily activities performed within Early Neolithic pit house dwellings in the northern Balkans. In this paper, we conduct a spatial analysis of the Early Neolithic (Starčevo-Criş culture) pit house levels of the Foeni-Salaş site in Romania to determine the kinds and locations of activities that occurred in these pit houses. Artefacts were piece-point plotted in the field to allow for their precise distributions to be identified within and between pit houses. Given the low frequencies of most artefact types, visual techniques are used to identify patterns. Such precise spatial data distribution yields a fuller understanding of how space was used at Foeni-Salaş. The results show that different types of activity areas are present within each of the pit houses. Comparison of interior to exterior artefact distributions demonstrates that most activities take place within pit house. Some of the activities present include weaving, food preparation, butchering, hide processing, pottery making, ritual, and other activities related to the running of households, and that each pit house was probably occupied by a small family unit.

‘The Truth About Stories’

This essay describes the development of a compassionate pedagogy by way of three experiences the authors had as co-teachers in an experimental, first-year, integrated, cohort-based program in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities. In attempting to build a curriculum to tackle the “fragmented and incoherent educational experience” (Marra & Palmer, 2008, p. 113) that privileges answer-mining over the understanding of scholarship as a conversation among “essentially contested ideas” (Gallie, 1955), we found that our program reproduced the very restrictive, top-down, positivistic paradigms we sought to overcome. In reimagining the program and our role as teachers, we took our cue from the story of Charm, or Sky Woman, as told in Thomas King’s Massey Lecture, The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative, in which Western hierarchical paradigms of creation are challenged by a First Nations story of collaboration and co-creation. Compassionate pedagogy, we learned from our experiences as co-teachers, cannot be developed in the abstract; rather, it must be grounded in the unique material circumstances of a classroom. Compassionate pedagogy arises from the contestation of and collaboration between ways of knowing that, if embraced, can be deeply unsettling and transformative. The experiences described here both incited change in our understanding of our vocation and provided us with a model of negotiation, accommodation and resistance that we have carried beyond the program into other areas of our professional and personal lives. Our encounter with First Nations ways of knowing, both in the King lectures and in a traditional Dakelh pit house, challenged our unexamined assumptions about education and pushed us toward a pedagogy that is flexible, that legitimizes the needs of the whole learner, and that resists an entrenched institutional paradigm of suffering by advocating for an alternative one: the right to be well.

Rethinking households, communities and status in the southern Brazilian highlands

Disparities in domestic architecture are a potential correlate of emergent status inequality between households. In the southern Brazilian highlands, pit house settlements exhibit significant variations in structure size and site layout. Particularly relevant are the oversized structures whose function has been debated but remained unresolved. Here, I present data from Baggio 1, a large site including an oversized structure (cal CE 1365–1790). I show how the oversized pit house emerged earlier and was distinguished not only by its dimensions, but also by its privileged hilltop position and practices of floor renewal. When the settlement expanded with the addition of smaller pits, some of which were small houses, whereas others were specialized facilities, the precinct around the oversized structure continued to be the focus of activities of the settlement. Based on ethnography of the Jê peoples of Brazil and cross-cultural relationships between household size and status, I argue that the dwellers of the oversized pit house could have derived a higher status from their more numerous kin and connection to the founders of the site. Finally, the appearance of oversized pit houses must be understood in a broader context of landscape and social transformations in southern Brazil after the turn of the second millennium AD, which was also reflected in other material signs of emergent status inequalities.

Early Pueblo Pit Structure Architectural Practice in the Chuska Valley, New Mexico

This paper analyzes pit structure architectural practice in the Chuska Valley, New Mexico and investigates the scale and kinds of interactions among early Pueblo groups with emphasis on the communication of identity through architecture. The paper examines a sample of structures dating to the Basketmaker III and Pueblo I periods. Viewing pit structure architecture through the lens of the communities of practice approach, I contend early Pueblo Chuska Valley pit house communities had a certain way of designing and constructing architecture and using internal main chamber space that community members perpetuated intergenerationally through continual practice. This research demonstrated that pit structure practice in the Chuska Valley during the early Pueblo period represents a community of practice local to the Chuska Valley and Chaco Plateau. Architectural similarities and trade of material culture between the Chuskan and Chaco regions suggest strong ties related to shared communities of practices and possibly sociocultural identities.

Regionality in Mahan Settlement Structures

Regionality in Mahan Settlement Structures

Large‐scale geophysical archaeological prospection pilot study at Viking Age and medieval sites in west Jutland, Denmark

AbstractIn 2014, a team of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology, in collaboration with Holstebro Museum, conducted a geophysical archaeological prospection pilot study at several Viking Age and medieval sites in West Jutland, Denmark; sites that had been discovered earlier by aerial archaeology. The high‐resolution surveys employed motorized ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetometer systems as well as novel post‐processing software. The aim of this study was to test the suitability of these methods and the chosen approach to efficiently explore, investigate and document prehistoric settlements on a large scale under the prevalent environmental conditions in this part of Denmark. Over the course of five days of fieldwork, numerous structures of archaeological interest, such as the remains of longhouses, property boundaries, pathways, pit houses and other buried remains of the settlements, were detected and mapped. The combination of the data gathered by magnetic and GPR prospection with the already existing aerial imagery permitted an integrated archaeological interpretation, resulting in considerable new knowledge about the investigated sites. In this paper, we present the results obtained for the Viking Age settlement at Stadil Mølleby and a medieval village near Rysensten, both situated on sandy soils.

Understanding the Chronology and Occupation Dynamics of Oversized Pit Houses in the Southern Brazilian Highlands

A long held view about the occupation of southern proto-Jê pit house villages of the southern Brazilian highlands is that these sites represent cycles of long-term abandonment and reoccupation. However, this assumption is based on an insufficient number of radiocarbon dates for individual pit houses. To address this problem, we conducted a programme of comprehensive AMS radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modelling at the deeply stratified oversized pit House 1, Baggio I site (Cal. A.D. 1395–1650), Campo Belo do Sul, Santa Catarina state, Brazil. The stratigraphy of House 1 revealed an unparalleled sequence of twelve well preserved floors evidencing a major change in occupation dynamics including five completely burnt collapsed roofs. The results of the radiocarbon dating allowed us to understand for the first time the occupation dynamics of an oversized pit house in the southern Brazilian highlands. The Bayesian model demonstrates that House 1 was occupied for over two centuries with no evidence of major periods of abandonment, calling into question previous models of long-term abandonment. In addition, the House 1 sequence allowed us to tie transformations in ceramic style and lithic technology to an absolute chronology. Finally, we can provide new evidence that the emergence of oversized domestic structures is a relatively recent phenomenon among the southern proto-Jê. As monumental pit houses start to be built, small pit houses continue to be inhabited, evidencing emerging disparities in domestic architecture after AD 1000. Our research shows the importance of programmes of intensive dating of individual structures to understand occupation dynamics and site permanence, and challenges long held assumptions that the southern Brazilian highlands were home to marginal cultures in the context of lowland South America.

Potters and herders at the southern edge of the Andean world: Risk management and mobility in Northwestern Mendoza, Argentina

This study addresses the risk-management activities of Andean pastoralists in northwestern, Mendoza. We compare data from one high-altitude site, Agua de la Cueva, located near a spring and an excellent hunting ground, and a domestic pit house at the site San Ignacio in a nearby mountain valley. We analyze data from roughly contemporaneous contexts dating to 1100–1400 cal BP. Osteometric measurements of camelid post-cranial bones and comparisons to modern camelids with multivariate statistics confirmed the presence of wild guanacos and vicuñas as well as castrated and uncastrated domestic llamas. Hence, this is one of the southernmost areas where Andean pastoralism was practiced. Petrographic analysis of pottery and comparisons to local geology suggest strong similarities between the sites. Similar fabrics suggest a closely-connected group that probably made effective and complementary use of these two environments. Previous studies have established the presence of vessels from the other side of the Andes indicating long-distance contacts between populations on both sides of the Andes. These contacts may have been made via caravans that included castrated llamas, which are ethnographically preferred among drovers. The possibility of caravans is a hypothesis to be tested with future research. Our data suggest these groups participated in seasonal and perhaps long-distance movements in addition to other activities such as hunting, herding, and storing food. The combination of these risk-management strategies provided a stable economic base for the potters and herders of northwestern Mendoza. This case can be broadly compared to better-known archaeological and ethnographic examples from other parts of the Andes.

Multi‐technique Geophysical Survey in and around the Hillfort Lossow – a Bronze and Iron Age Central Site in Brandenburg, Germany

AbstractAt the hillfort Lossow, integrated geophysical surveys were applied as part of an interdisciplinary research project. The importance of the prehistoric and Slavic site rests on various shafts within the hillfort, which are dated to the Early Iron Age and contain findings of offering processes associated with cult practices. At present more than 60 shafts with a depth of 5 to 7.5 m are known from test trenches and excavations inside the hillfort. In the settlement in front of the hillfort, large‐scale magnetic gradiometer surveys and electrical resistivity mapping were applied to detect new archaeological features, verified by field surveys and targeted excavation. Inside the hillfort, a combination of magnetic gradiometer surveys, electrical resistivity imaging, ground‐penetrating radar, and pulse‐induction metal detection were used to reveal the complexity of structures like archaeological pits, shafts, pit houses and modern disturbances in varying soil types. These measurements resulted in a very complex signal of the geophysical data. We used an integrated approach for the interpretation of data from magnetic gradiometer surveys, pulse‐induction metal detection and ground‐penetrating radar surveys. Thus it became possible to interpret most of the detected anomalies as archaeological features from the Slavic period or modern metal artefacts in the topsoil. The detection of the Iron Age shafts covered by complex settlement structures only became possible using high resolution electrical resistivity tomography and low frequency ground‐penetrating radar. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Landscape development and soils around the Bronze Age settlement Kamennyi Ambar, southern Trans-Urals, Russia

Landscape and soils around the prehistoric Bronze Age site of Kamennyi Ambar, southern Trans-Urals, have been studied. The topography of the Trans-Ural peneplain was formed by denudation during Mesozoic and Tertiary. The resulting gently undulating plain was subsequently dissected during Pleistocene under periglacial climatic conditions, and wide valleys with gentle slopes were formed. The saprolized pre-quaternary rocks are covered by thin layers of quaternary sediments, which are sometimes loess-containing. Deposits of in-situ loess are almost absent. Most probably, deluviation under periglacial conditions played the dominant role and prevented the formation of loess deposits. Thin loess deposits are preserved only in some flat watershed positions. The Quaternary layers sometimes contain strongly weathered coarse bedrock components indicating a solifluidal genesis of the cover beds on the slopes. The degree of weathering of the autochthonous components increases towards the water divide where the cover beds consist almost completely of pre-Quaternary saprolite. The slopes of the Karagaily Ajat valley are structured by numerous smaller tributary valleys which usually have a yellow-brown loam fill and show in their lower parts gully-like linear erosion features. Decalcified Haplic Chernozems are prevalent soils in the fills of the tributary valleys, at the lower slopes of the Karagaily Ajat-valley, and in the loams of the Lower Terrace. When clay cutans and coatings were observed in the subsoil the soils were identified as Luvic Chernozems. On the gentle slopes, Mollic Leptosols or Leptic Regosols (Mollic) are developed in thin cover beds. Up the slope, the depth of the humus horizons decreases. When examining the layer succession of the near surface underground and the associated soils along transects across the tributary valleys, it was found that the thickness of the cover beds on the slopes increases towards the valley floor. In the soils of the Lower Terrace varying salt contents can be found. Mollic Solonetz were identified therein. Within the excavation area in Kamennyi Ambar, Anthrosols and Solonetz were found in the compacted layers of the older Sintashta culture, while Haplic Chernozems (colluvic) with similar features like the virgin soils have developed in the fillings of younger pit houses.

Population and social aggregation in the Neolithic Chulmun villages of Korea

This article reviews published excavation reports of the Chulmun settlements in South Korea and explores the changes in demographic structure over the period of ca. 8000–1500BC. The Chulmun people were sedentary hunter–gatherer–fishers with an intensified use of marine resources, food storage, and a low level of plant cultivation. Archaeological evidence for social differentiation is very scarce in this period and social relationships are assumed to have been egalitarian. In an attempt to explain the lack of articulated social differentiation, this study examines settlement patterns to reveal considerable temporal variation. The number of settlements increased dramatically in 4000–3000BC, presumably under the influence of plant cultivation and/or an intensified use of wild resources, but then decreased in 3000–1500BC. Even at the zenith of the hypothetical population growth, most settlements were small scale with only a few pit houses and archaeological evidence for large population aggregation, which would have promoted interpersonal interactions, is rare. The uninterrupted presence of shell middens shows that coastal resources continued to be exploited until the end of the Chulmun period, while some sites were newly established in small remote islands. The current investigation suggests that although population growth occurred at one point, a number of interrelated factors, including a low level of aggregation and the subsequent population decrease and/or relocation, acted against the institutionalization of social inequality in the Chulmun period.

Rayleigh‐wave Resonance Analysis: a Methodological Test on a Viking Age Pit House

AbstractSeismic surface‐waves may show amplitude resonances at certain frequencies depending on the thickness and elastic parameters of near‐surface layers. We investigate if resonance frequencies of Rayleigh‐waves, (seismic surface‐waves polarized in the vertical plane) can be used to prospect archaeological remains of small‐scale buildings such as pit houses. Our test site is a newly detected Viking age village on the island of Föhr (north Germany) where we concentrated on one typical pit house. The results from resonance analysis are compared with magnetic data, ground penetrating radar (GPR) and classical seismic refraction measurements. The method of Rayleigh‐wave resonance mapping used in this paper is based on the idea that Rayleigh‐wave oscillations on top of anthropogenic structures will show different resonances than on undisturbed soil. We perform spectral analysis of these oscillations to provide information related to the seismic site response. We process single vertical component recordings and map the change in resonance frequency that can be related to the archaeological objects. The test showed that the pit house can be mapped by Rayleigh‐wave resonance analysis with a horizontal resolution of ~0.6 m. Corresponding computations of the depth of the pit house agree with the results from GPR, magnetic modelling and refraction seismics. A modelling study helped to understand the connection between subsoil shear‐wave velocity model and the signal generated by the pit house. The progress of seismic field measurement is slow compared to GPR and magnetometry. However, since seismic methods are based on elastic subsoil parameters, it can be applied in cases where magnetic contrasts are low or GPR fails because of high electromagnetic wave absorption. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Temporal fluctuation of human occupation during the 7th–3rd millennium cal BP in the central-western Korean Peninsula

In this paper the population fluctuation in the central-western region of the Korean Peninsula is investigated using radiocarbon data obtained from prehistoric pit houses in residential bases or settlements during the seventh to third millennium cal BP comprising the Neolithic, Bronze and Early Iron ages in Korea. Fluctuation in radiocarbon date distribution is compared with summed probability distribution of calibrated dates as well as total numbers of settlements and dwellings arranged in chronological order. Results indicate the appearance of Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements in the early sixth and the late fourth millennium BC each followed by a rapid growth of population with a peak around 5500 and 3000 cal BP. Population decline is identified from 5300, 4900, 4500 cal BP during the Neolithic and 2800 and 2400 cal BP during the Bronze Age. The period between 4500 and 3500 cal BP corresponds with the lowest density of settlements and dwellings. Agricultural villages collapsed 2400–2000 cal BP. The paper suggests the hypothesis that climate change, especially cold or dry climate induced by weak Asian monsoon events, is possibly responsible for the fluctuation of settlements and population in prehistoric Korea.

A gênese das paisagens culturais do planalto sul brasileiro

A aplicação da abordagem da arqueologia da paisagem aos sítios arqueológicos pesquisados nos municípios de Bom Jesus e Pinhal da Serra, no nordeste do Rio Grande do Sul, permitiu identificar cinco momentos marcantes na construção social da paisagem cultural moderna do planalto sul brasileiro. Este artigo enfatiza a importância da temporalidade da paisagem, ressalta as diferenças entre a paisagem dos grandes construtores de estruturas semissubterrâneas e a dos edificadores de estruturas funerárias e assinala que essas não podem ser associadas automaticamente aos grupos denominados Proto-Jê ou aos grupos históricos Jê Meridionais.

Revisiting the economy and mobility of southern proto-Jê (Taquara-Itararé) groups in the southern Brazilian highlands: starch grain and phytoliths analyses from the Bonin site, Urubici, Brazil

This article presents the results of starch grain and phytolith residue analyses from 14 ceramic fragments recovered in two domestic cooking structures from a southern proto-Jê pit house at the Bonin site (Urubici, Santa Catarina state, southern Brazil) dating to 1300–1439 and 1297–1414 cal yr. A.D. The novel application of plant microfossil techniques in this region revealed, for the first time, the consumption of manioc (Manihot esculenta Crantz), beans (Phaseolus sp.), and possibly yams (cf. Dioscorea sp.) in addition to maize (Zea mays L.) and squash (Cucurbita sp.). These findings show that southern proto-Jê people had a subsistence economy based on a variety of plant foods and practiced food production more than one century before European Conquest. Contrary to traditional models of southern proto-Jê mobility, our data suggest that food production may have allowed populations to settle in the southern Brazilian highland plateau year-round without the need for seasonal movements to the Atlantic forest escarpment and the Atlantic coast environments to procure food. Our data complement archaeological evidence for increased sedentism and social complexity among southern proto-Jê groups from A.D. 300–1700, including the construction of large, well-planned pit-house villages, and the creation of a highly structured landscape revolving around funerary/ceremonial structures.

Sedentism, Settlements, and Radiocarbon Dates of Neolithic Korea

There are two conflicting models regarding the role of the Neolithic millet cultivation in the appearance of the Bronze Age farming economy in South Korea. The “continuity model” suggests that the emergence of a farming economy was a consequence of increasing sedentism, and that millet cultivation practiced during the Neolithic played a significant role in the transition to the Bronze Age. On the contrary, the “discontinuity model” suggests that the appearance of the Bronze Age farming economy heavily dependent on rice had little to do with previous millet cultivation in the Neolithic and the degree of sedentism during the latest Neolithic was very low. We test these models by looking into a temporal variation of sedentism, by quantitatively analyzing the quantity of pit houses and settlements based on relative chronology and radiocarbon dates. Sedentary settlements with small-scale millet cultivation appeared in the central-western Korea during the early fourth millennium b.c . They increased sharply during the late fourth millennium b.c . and also appeared in central-eastern and southern Korea, but they almost disappeared in central and southern Korea from the late third millennium b.c ., suggesting a return to increased mobility and/or sharp decrease in population. Hence a continuity model for the emergence of a farming economy cannot be accepted. We suggest environmental deterioration as a prime mover for both the appearance of millet cultivation during the fourth millennium b.c . and the disappearance of sedentary settlement from the late third millennium b.c . in Korea.

Weaning and Field Survival Responses of Propagules to Propagating Structures and Seedling Types in Sheanut Production in Tropical Africa

The Shea is an economic tree found in West and Central Africa with huge industrial uses in the confectionery, pharmaceutical and cosmetic sectors worldwide. Its rapid multiplication has been hampered by its slow growth and long gestation period. Successes in cutting propagation have been achieved (between 60% - 80%), however weaning of the rooted cuttings for establishment has been a major challenge. Two factorial experiments were carried out in a study in 2012. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of propagating structures and seedling types on the weaning and subsequent field establishment of propagules of Shea tree for plantation establishment. A randomized complete block design with three replications was used. Survival of the rooted cuttings in the mist propagator was very high (93.3%) and comparable to that of the seedlings (100%). The rooted cuttings in mist propagator produced the highest number of leaves, 11 times greater than the least number of leaves produced by seedlings in the lath house. Comparing the seedling types, the rooted cuttings produced significantly greater number of leaves, 4.8 times than the normal seedlings. Rooted cuttings in the mist propagator produced the biggest stem girth significantly greater than the seedlings kept in all the structures. The rooted cuttings in the mist propagator produced 4.4 times bigger stem girths than the seedlings in the lath house which had the smallest stem girth. The rooted cuttings in the mist propagator produced the tallest plants, 1.4 times and 1.9 times significantly taller than the seedlings in the propagating pit and lath house, respectively, which produced the shortest plants. There was a significant relationship between field survival of propagules and the month of establishment expressed as Y (percent survival) = -2844 + 0.070 × (month); P 2 = 0.68; n = 90. Rooted cuttings transplanted in a hole depth of 52.0 cm produced the biggest stem girth, 5.6 times bigger than the stem girth of the seedlings transplanted into any of the three hole depths. Rooted cuttings transplanted into a hole depth of 52.0 cm produced the highest number of leaves, three times more than the seedlings in 26 cm hole depth, which produced the least number of leaves. The study concluded that the mist propagator was the most suitable propagating structure for weaning rooted cuttings of sheanut tree since it resulted in higher survival of the rooted cuttings as well as promoted the growth of the rooted cuttings. For field establishment, rooted cuttings transplanted into hole depth of 52 cm resulted in higher survival rates and performed better in terms of growth than the seedlings. Furthermore, the month of establishment was very critical for the rate of survival of the transplanted propagules of Shea tree.

Farmsteads in early medieval Germany – architecture and organisation

In Germany early medieval rural settlements are known from a rising number of excavated sites. Rural architecture was a wooden architecture. Only churches were built in stone. A farmstead consisted of several buildings: the main house and several economic buildings as pit houses and storages. Before the 1980s, when large scale excavations became more and more common, there was little awareness of changes in rural settlement history. The formation of still existing villages was only late in the Middle Ages. However, even today it is difficult to understand the changes in rural architecture as there are distinct regional differences. Probably the 5th century on the one hand and the period of village formation between the 10th and 13th centuries on the other hand were the most innovative periods. This article provides a short characteristic of buildings and settlement organisation. He gives an outline of research history and identifies some recent trends and future perspectives of research.

The Ecological Strategy of the Pit House in Western Henan

This article discusses the ecological value of the pit house which lies in Shan xian county San Menxia in the respects of planning and site selection ,spatial organization ,material structure as well as energy utilization ,through the fact-investigation and interviews .The article starts from the aspect of construction technology ,and indicates the ecological strategy of the pit house ,hoping to provide some reference significance in the design of the modern living buildings .