Residential Bases Research Articles

Middle Holocene residential mobility in western Santa Rosa Island, California

The middle Holocene (8200-4200 cal BP) on California's northern Channel Islands (NCI) was a period of important population change, including the elaboration of settlement and subsistence systems during periods of environmental stress. On Santa Rosa Island (SRI), there is evidence for intensive settlement associated with greater sedentism along the relatively wet and productive northwest coast. We use faunal, chronological, and stable oxygen isotopic (δ18O) data from middle Holocene interior residential base sites to reconstruct patterns of mobility between the coast and the interior of the island. Most of the interior sites on SRI dating to this period are oriented toward the northwest coast and previous isotopic studies have indicated they were used seasonally to access terrestrial plant resources and fresh water from fog. This is supported by the faunal record from CA-SRI-50, which was occupied during the summer and fall and has a low-diversity faunal record associated with field processing prior to transporting marine foods to the site. CA-SRI-152 and -229, however, are two sites oriented toward the southwest coast, an area that is drier and less productive overall, but contained a high abundance of red abalone (Haliotis rufescens). These sites appear to have additional roles, including as stopover locations, reflected by a lower density but more diverse faunal record with settlement focused on the spring. This study indicates that the structure of interior residential bases on the NCI during the middle Holocene was not monolithic and that people traveled to the interior for different purposes. By understanding the diversity of sites in the context of environmental variability during the middle Holocene, we can better reconstruct patterns of seasonal mobility and site use during an important period of change that contributed to the eventual development of coastal hunter-gatherer-fisher social complexity.

Late Holocene technological provisioning at the Kings Table rockshelter, Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia

ABSTRACTTechnological analysis of the late Holocene component of the stone artefact assemblage recovered from the Kings Table rockshelter in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, provides the basis for an assessment of the site's role in broader late Holocene settlement‐subsistence systems. Drawing on Kuhn's widely employed “provisioning model”, as well as Kelleher's general pre‐contact occupation model for the Blue Mountains National Park (BMNP), we argue that the Kings Table rockshelter functioned as a short‐term field camp for logistically‐organised hunter‐gatherers whose principal residential bases were located in “off‐mountains” contexts. It is argued that the late Holocene component of the Kings Table assemblage has a technological “signature” entirely consistent with individual provisioning. Aboriginal groups occupying this site over the course of the late Holocene employed a mobile toolkit whose lithic component was dominated by artefacts manufactured out of high‐quality, transported silicified tuff and incorporated both backed artefact‐bearing composite tools and hafted edge‐ground hatchets (axes) as key elements.

Analysis of Influencing Factors of Farmers’ Homestead Revitalization Intention from the Perspective of Social Capital

Revitalizing idle rural residential bases is essential for improving the utilization rate of residential resources, activating pastoral land resources assets, increasing farmers’ property income, and stimulating rural development vitality. Social capital is one of the essential social resources owned by farmers, which is closely related to rural social governance and farmers’ daily lives and plays an indispensable role in revitalizing residential land. Based on the theory of social capital and the survey data of 316 farm households in Shaanxi Province in 2022, this study first empirically analyzes the influencing factors of social capital and its constituent dimensions on farm households’ willingness to revitalize their home-steads using a Logit regression model, and then empirically analyzes the hierarchical structure relationship among the influencing factors using an ISM model. The results of the study show that: (1) Social capital and its three constituent dimensions of social network (“Contact with relatives, neighbors, and families” and “Contact with village committee staff”), social trust (“Trust in friends and relatives” and “Trust in village committee and other organizations”), and social participation (“Participation in meetings of village committees and other organizations”) have significant positive effects on farmers’ willingness to revitalize their residential land. (2) There are differences in the effects of different dimensions of social capital on farmers’ willingness to revitalize their homesteads: social trust as a deep-seated cause affects farmers’ social networks and social participation, which in turn affects farmers’ knowledge of homestead revitalization policies and ultimately farmers’ willingness to revitalize their homesteads. Based on the findings of the study, to improve farmers’ willingness to revitalize their homestead bases, government departments should base their efforts on the social capital characteristics of farmers, increase the cultivation of farmers’ social capital, and strengthen the publicity of the work of revitalizing homestead bases and related policies.

Decision Making and Influencing Factors in Withdrawal of Rural Residential Land-Use Rights in Suzhou, Anhui Province, China

The withdrawal of rural residential land-use rights is a major initiative in China’s current rural land reform, and it is of great importance in promoting the rural revitalization and urbanization strategy. The Chinese government encourages farmers to withdraw from their residential bases in an orderly manner to effectively revitalize land resources. The study aimed to explore the key factors that influenced the decision of farmers to withdraw from their rural residential lands in different contexts and proposed suggestions for related policy reforms. Firstly, the study proposed hypotheses based on the theories of the hierarchy of needs and peasant household behavior, combined with the current situation of the research area. Then taking the withdrawal policies and practical experiences of some pilot areas in China as a reference. Secondly, the study set five exit modes for withdrawing the right to use rural residential land and programmed four dimensions of the factors that affected those decisions to form the questionnaire. A total of 533 valid questionnaires were obtained by using scenario simulation. Thirdly, the study analyzed the influential factors of the exit decisions of the different modes using the multivariate ordered logistic regression model and tested the hypotheses using the abovementioned methods. The results showed the following: (1) the willingness of the rural residents to accept the different exit modes for withdrawing their rural residential land-use rights substantially varied. The rural residents prioritized the exit modes that were beneficial to their future housing and other social security. (2) There were some differences in the influencing factors on the exit decisions. Among the four-dimensional factors, the “rural residents’ cognitive characteristics” had a substantial impact on the decisions for withdrawing rural residential land-use rights. Based on the research conclusions, the study proposed some targeted policy suggestions: steadily promoting the construction of a high-quality social security system, promoting classified governance policies based on the diversified needs of farmers and strengthening the individual cognition of relocated farmers to withdraw from homesteads. In addition, a more scientific and reasonable land governance system needs to be established.

Problems in the Management of Rural Natural Resources and Optimization Countermeasures

With the continuous development of China's economic level, more and more attention has been paid to rural construction and development. In the new era, do a good job in the management of rural natural resources, realize the optimal allocation of resources, and the reasonable protection of ecological resources, so as to build a new countryside and realize the modern development of the new countryside. However, at present, there are still many problems and contradictions in the management of natural resources in rural China, such as low land transfer efficiency, many difficulties, unreasonable planning, deserted residential bases, and ineffective protection of the ecological and natural environment, which further restrict the situation. Reasonable application and sustainable development of rural natural resources. Therefore, it is necessary to deeply analyze a series of problems in the management of rural natural resources, formulate optimized countermeasures according to the specific conditions of the problems, and gradually solve the problems and contradictions to strengthen the construction of new countryside.

Landscapes, climate change & forager mobility in the Upper Paleolithic of northern Spain

Numerous studies have shown that the relative frequency of retouched pieces can help to distinguish forager mobility strategies amongst individual layers at a single site and, potentially, at multiple sites across regions (Riel-Salvatore & Barton, 2004; Riel-Salvatore et al., 2008; Barton & Riel-Salvatore, 2014). We use this proxy measure and other lines of evidence to evaluate Late Pleistocene human land-use practices from 47 Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic sites in northern coastal Spain.To monitor mobility strategies we examine the proportion of retouched pieces to total lithics, focusing on backed pieces which probably served mostly as replaceable inserts in organic armatures for hunting weapons. Kuhn (1995) argued that foragers at some distance from a residential base would have had to rely on replaceable elements for the tools and weapons they carried with them. Assemblages with low total lithic densities but a high proportion of backed pieces would most likely represent the remains of short-term camps where hunting weapons were repaired in the field, whereas those with high lithic densities and relatively few backed pieces would likely represent residential bases where hunting weapons were manufactured.The analysis also links variation in lithic assemblages to paleoclimate and topography and uses 951 radiocarbon dates to identify demographic ‘pulses’ under the assumption that – ceteris paribus – the density of dates and the density of population are at least roughly linearly correlated with one another (French & Collins, 2015). Increases and decreases in regional population density can be detected and compared to episodes of climate change measured by the GISP2 and NGRIP2 ice cores over the Pleniglacial, Tardiglacial (MIS 2) and the early Holocene. Data insufficiencies, incomparable typologies, and adequacy of reporting are also discussed.

Diachronic variability in prehistoric land use in Oregon’s Warner Valley

Pedestrian survey in northern Warner Valley, Oregon, has provided data capable of contributing to reconstructions of prehistoric land use. Such information is complementary to data generated by recent work at the stratified LSP-1 rockshelter situated in the Northern Warner Valley Study Area (NWVSA). Here, we present results of our survey and focus on when the area was visited, how it was used, and from where visitors to the area originated and/or obtained toolstone. Our results indicate that the NWVSA saw heavy use by Paleoindians before being largely abandoned during the Middle Holocene. During the Late Holocene, groups likely operating from residential bases further south in the better-watered parts of Warner Valley returned to the NWVSA. Compared to other nearby areas, the NWVSA was utilized less intensively during much of the Holocene.

Cultural Transmission on the Taskscape: Exploring the Effects of Taskscape Visibility on Cultural Diversity.

Culturally transmitted behavior can be structured in its performance both geographically and temporally, in terms of where and when implements are made and used on the landscape (what Ingold calls “the taskscape”). Yet cultural transmission theory has not yet explored the consequences of behaviors transmitted differently due to their enactment at different taskscape locations, what Tostevin calls “taskscape visibility.” Here, we use computer simulations to explore how taskscape visibility and forager mobility affect the diversity of two selectively neutral culturally transmitted traits within a single population of social learners. The trait that can be transmitted from residential bases only (lower taskscape visibility) shows greater diversity than the trait that can be transmitted from residential bases and logistical camps (higher taskscape visibility). In addition, increased logistical mobility has a positive effect on the diversity of the trait with the lower taskscape visibility while it generally shows little to no effect on the diversity of the trait with higher taskscape visibility. Without an appreciation for the ways in which taskscape visibility and mobility can structure cultural transmission in space and through time, the difference in the observed equilibrium diversity levels of the two traits might be incorrectly interpreted as resulting from qualitatively different forms of biased cultural transmission. The results of our simulation experiment suggest that researchers may need to take the taskscape visibility into account when inferring cultural transmission from archaeological data.

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.

Prehistoric Settlement in Island Interiors: Evidence From California's Santa Cruz Island

ABSTRACTOn California's Channel Islands, a rich body of scholarship has emerged in which the focus has been marine resources and their roles in colonization and the development of complex societies. Although this orientation has been crucial to elucidating the cultural significance of the islands, the terrestrial dimensions of island occupation have been neglected by comparison. Our research on Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the Channel Islands, is an initial step in articulating the marine and terrestrial aspects of island subsistence and settlement off the California coast. Our study is based on the compilation of radiocarbon dates from 42 sites and excavation data from 17 of these. Commonalities in artifact and faunal constituents are evident among most interior sites, although there are significant differences relating to time period. The nature of interior settlement changed dramatically through time, shifting from what are interpreted as seasonal residential bases during the Middle Holocene to the byproducts of logistical forays during the Late Holocene, with an apparent gap in occupation from 1000 BC to AD 500. In this article we evaluate patterns in these data sets in terms of multiple hypotheses that invoke climatic and cultural factors to account for interior settlement. In doing so, we highlight the shifting importance of island interiors and their terrestrial resources to coastal societies through time.

A Jack's Reef Horizon Settlement Cluster in the Central Scioto Valley

In 1992, Mark Seeman proposed the existence of a Jack's Reef horizon in Ohio. Little professional research has been undertaken on domestic sites since then though. The Jack's Reef horizon subsumes the Intrusive Mound complex. Archaeological excavations for the Rockies Express-East gas pipeline project identified three sites in the central Scioto valley that provide evidence of Jack's Reef horizon occupations in floodplain and upland settings flanking the river valley. Radiocarbon dates confirm habitation associated with this late Late Woodland culture from cal A.D. 630–1000. Excavation and geophysical data reviewed in this article indicate intensive habitation of large base camps and small-scale residential bases, with secondary refuse disposal, distinctive ceramics, a curated bifacial lithic technology, and an expedient flake-tool technology.

Mobile Communities and Pastoralist Landscapes During the Formative Period in the Central Altiplano of Bolivia

The domestication of llamas and alpacas was fundamental for the cultural and economic development of Andean societies, but the origins of camelid pastoralism as a distinct mode of socioeconomic organization remain little understood. Whereas most archaeological interpretations of prehispanic highland societies emphasize the transition from hunting-gathering to agriculture as a process marked by the establishment of agricultural sedentary villages, other subsistence and mobility strategies have been for the most part overlooked. A case in point is the Wankarani cultural complex from the Central Altiplano of Bolivia, which has been interpreted as an example of an early village-based sedentary society. Here, I argue that a model of mobile pastoralism based on ethnoarchaeological research better explains the Central Altiplano's Formative period archaeological record. Recently collected data support this proposition. Settlement patterns consisted of multiple dispersed camps attached to residential bases occupied recurrently. Horizontal excavations from a residential base revealed structures and features analogous to pastoralist landscapes documented around the world. Faunal identification confirmed the preponderance of domesticated camelids. Based on this evidence, I argue that we need better explanatory frameworks for approaching the origins, organization, and variability associated with early food producing societies such as mobile camelid pastoralists.

Early Settlement Systems in the Middle Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Barbara County, California

Although still scanty, recent archaeological investigation in the central Santa Ynez Valley of Santa Barbara County, California, has revealed evidence of occupation dating prior to 5000 cal BP. The most definitive evidence comes from a site overlooking the Lake Cachuma reservoir and another 1.5 km north of the Santa Ynez River. More circumstantial evidence comes from a series of sites along the Lake Cachuma shoreline and a site overlooking a southern tributary of the Santa Ynez River. Three alternative settlement system models can account for the existing data, each concerning the relationship between valley sites and coastal sites on the other side of the Santa Ynez Mountains. First, separate populations occupied coastal and valley territories. Second, populations occupied large territories that included both coastal and valley residential bases. Third, populations centered on the coast occupied valley camps for such enterprises as hunting. No basis exists for rejecting any of the alternatives, and it is possible that all three settlement system types existed at different times and places prior to 5000 cal BP.

Seasonal stability in Late Holocene shellfish harvesting on the central California coast

Oxygen isotope determinations from 92 California mussel ( Mytilus californianus) shells from ten archaeological sites in central coastal California show relatively stable seasonal harvesting patterns between 3600 CAL BP and historic contact (AD 1769). Coastal occupants harvested mussels nearly year-round and seem to have occupied individual residential bases throughout the seasonal cycle. Interior groups returned with mussels from the coast mostly in the spring and early summer, but almost never in the late summer/early fall when nut crops were harvested. These findings suggest two inter-dependent groups with distinct seasonal settlement strategies: inland people, reliant on acorns and other nut crops harvested in the fall, and coastal inhabitants who were less involved with acorns. This pattern is supported by accounts recorded by the first Spanish explorers in AD 1769. While some interior groups may have been seasonally migrating “collectors,” coastal populations were less mobile, inhabiting individual residential sites throughout the year, albeit not necessarily on a permanent basis. These findings highlight the strong influence of coastal environments and resources on hunter-gatherer mobility.

Environmental change recorded in sediments from the Marmes rockshelter archaeological site, southeastern Washington state, USA

The Marmes Rockshelter archaeological site in southeastern Washington state contains a > 11 kyr stratigraphic record that was excavated in the 1960s but only recently analyzed in detail. We present the results of physical, chemical, and isotopic analyses of archived Marmes sediments from rockshelter, hillslope, and floodplain locations. Multiple lines of evidence including éboulis production, soil chemistry, and δ 13C and δ 18O signatures in soil organic matter and calcium carbonate suggest that relatively cool, moist conditions 10,600 to 9700 14C yr BP were followed by relatively warm and dry conditions as early as 9000 14C yr BP. Warm and dry conditions extended to the late Holocene, followed by a return to cooler and moister climate. The limited range of δ 13C and δ 18O values in Marmes paleosols suggests that the magnitude of moisture and temperature shifts was locally buffered in the lower Snake River Canyon but adequate to generate significant changes in sedimentation and soil formation, possibly due to nonlinear geological and pedological processes. These buffered canyon environments were well suited for establishing residential bases associated with foraging and logistical collecting strategies and may have minimized the influence of climate changes in food resource abundance.

Land use and economic change in the post‐frontier upland Philippines

AbstractChanges in land use and in the nature of farm enterprises in the upland Philippines are examined through the lens of household economic strategies, using data obtained on Palawan Island and with particular attention to non‐agricultural employment diversification. Short fallow intervals and small farm sizes are today common throughout upland Palawan. In addition, as upland farming has become more of an occupation of specific household members and less the way of life of entire households, many upland farms are specialized in particular crops. Such specializations, however, change over time as households undergo growth and domestic cycling and some members establish new income sources and residential bases in the lowlands. Meanwhile, restrictions on new forest clearance and other developments that make it difficult for upland households to secure an adequate living from farming alone have greatly increased collection pressures on non‐timber forest products. These and other changes are reconfiguring the role of women in household economy and generating new axes of regional economic integration. Despite considerable land and other resource degradation in the uplands, some causes for optimism are found in the spontaneous adoption of agroforestry practices and in the emergence of new identities configured in part around notions of environmental well‐being. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Settlement Patterns Reflected in Assemblages from the Pleistocene /Holocene Transition of North Central China

Survey along the margins of the Helan Mountains in the Ningxia Hui and Nei Mongol Autonomous Regions discloses variability in the distribution and assemblage composition among 47 archaeological localities, and suggests a reduction in hunter –gatherer residential mobility through time. Late Palaeolithic tool assemblages are less frequent, smaller, and relatively uniform from site to site. They tend to be found near canyon mouths on the mountain front, or around springs in the middle to upper reaches of fans, suggesting limited variation in both length of stay and subsistence strategies. In contrast, early Neolithic sites, more abundant and variable in size and complexity, are located near fan toes or lower fan springs where water could be more easily diverted. Larger more diverse assemblages suggest long-term residential bases, while smaller specialized assemblages, devoid of microliths, indicate short-term camps and resource processing locations. This helps confirm a similar pattern identified in materials collected by the Sino-Swedish expedition, in the northern Alashan. Together they suggest that the trend towards decreased residential mobility is associated with increasingly intensive and specialized use of seed resources that may be related to the early development of plant husbandry.

Informative archaeological signatures at Bahía de las Ánimas, Baja California

Bahía de las Ánimas along Baja California's central GuIf coast was a major focus of prebistoric activities. Here family groups relied on a rich and diverse marine and terrestrial food base close at hand. Numerous archaeological sites are evident including shellmounds, f1aked stone tool worlcshops, smaller residential bases, and a mortuary center. Occupation is evident from initial Mission-era sites with brown ware ceramics to remains perhaps thousands of years old. It is hypothesized that over time the regional inhabitants may have intensified and diversified their food gathering practices with concomitant popuJation increases and links with areas nearby including those to the interior and Bahía de los Ángeles. Stress reduction mechanisms, in addition to the regionallinks with othec groups, may have included various ritual activities and the beginnings of social differentiation.