Variation In Material Culture Research Articles

The View from Jaketown: Considering Variation in the Poverty Point Culture of the Lower Mississippi Valley

Recent research at Jaketown, a Late Archaic earthwork site in the Lower Mississippi Valley, suggests that the culture-historical framework used to interpret Jaketown and contemporary sites in the region obscures differences in practices across sites. As an alternative, we propose a framework focused on variation in material culture, architecture, and foodways between Jaketown and Poverty Point, the regional type site. Our analysis indicates that people used Poverty Point Objects and imported lithics at Jaketown by 4525–4100 cal BP—earlier than elsewhere in the region. By 3450–3350 cal BP, people intensively occupied Jaketown, harvesting a consistent suite of wild plants. Between 3445 and 3270 cal BP, prior to the apex of earthwork construction at Poverty Point, the community at Jaketown built at least two earthworks and multiple post structures before catastrophic flooding sometime after 3300 cal BP buried the Late Archaic landscape under alluvium. These new data lead us to conclude that the archaeological record of the Late Archaic Lower Mississippi Valley does not reflect a uniform regional culture. Rather, relationships between Jaketown and Poverty Point indicate a multipolar history in which communities selectively participated in larger social phenomena—such as exchange networks and architectural traditions—while maintaining diverse, localized practices.

Landscapes, environments and societies: The development of culture in Lower Palaeolithic Europe

Identification of cultural groups is rare in the early Palaeolithic due to site formation processes including taphonomy and the effect of raw material and site function. This paper reviews a critical period in Europe at about 400 ka (MIS 11) when we may be able to identify such groups. This period, sees more sustained occupation and evidence of new technologies, including bone and wooden tools, hunting and fire-use. Importantly, brain size had begun to approach modern capacity. The fine-tuned record from Britain enables correlation of sites and new models of human behaviour to be developed. Millennial-scale changes in material culture can now be recognised, which can be interpreted as brief incursions by different cultural groups into Britain from mainland Europe. We suggest that population movement was primarily driven by changes in climate and environment. We further propose that variation in material culture is a reflection of local resources and landscape and that during stable environment localised expressions of culture emerge. This can be applied to Europe, where it is suggested that a complex mosaic of small-scale cultural groupings can be identified, some with and some without handaxes, but underpinned by a common set of technologies and behaviours.

Variation in Material Culture: Adoption of Greek Ceramics in an Indigenous Sicilian Site (8th century BCE)

The archaeological study of social boundaries through the examination of the material culture reflects the intent to better understand the interaction established between two different cultures. This paper, as part of my PhD study, identifies and analyses evidence for cultural transformation in southeastern Sicily when indigenous populations came into contact with ancient Greek settlers between the end of the eighth and the beginning of the seventh centuries BCE. In particular, this current study examines indigenous pottery production and distribution, focussing on material from Monte Finocchito in southeastern Sicily and combining archaeological and anthropological approaches with the first archaeometric analyses ever carried out on this artefact assemblage. The study argues on the basis of analysis of pottery fabrics and techniques, as well as shapes and decoration, that indigenous populations maintained robust independent cultures in the early phase of their interaction with the Greeks.

A revised chronology for Pleistocene paleolakes and Middle Stone Age – Middle Paleolithic cultural activity at Bîr Tirfawi – Bîr Sahara in the Egyptian Sahara

At Bîr Tirfawi and Bîr Sahara in the now hyperarid Egyptian Sahara, relict lake deposits located in adjacent deflation basins near 22°54′57.58″N 28°50′19.54″E preserve evidence of different hydroclimate conditions that enabled cultural activities during the Middle Stone Age – Middle Paleolithic (MSA-MP). Single aliquot regeneration optically stimulated luminescence (SAR-OSL) dating techniques were applied to sediment samples with archaeological contexts to generate a more precise geochronology for the groundwater-supported lakes and prehistoric activities in the region. New age determinations on nine samples collected from Bîr Sahara East and Bîr Tirfawi are presented for the five paleolake phases originally described by the excavation team. The new analyses yielded dates that are more precise, and refine the original geochronology for water availability at this location. The determinations suggest that some of the originally defined lake phases are temporally indistinct. SAR-OSL dates of the West 2 and West 3 lake phases defined at Bîr Sahara East overlap in time, and are contemporaneous with the Grey 3 phase at Bîr Tirfawi, at around 102 ka. The refined age for the Grey 1 phase at Bîr Tirfawi dates to 135 ± 21.6 ka, and two dates for the Post-Lake phase at Bîr Sahara center around 41 ka. A probability distribution plot (pdf) of all nine of the analytical results resolves the chronology of groundwater-supported paleolakes and prehistoric activities in the region around 41 ka (MIS 3), 80 ka (MIS 5a), 102 (MIS 5c-d), and 115 ka (MIS 5d-e). Precise dates for the sediments at these archaeological sites are important for several lines of multidisciplinary inquiry, including the role of Middle-Late Pleistocene climate on landscape change and water availability, variations in material culture and the adaptations in populations of anatomically modern humans (AMH) in the Sahara. Research in the Bîr Sahara – Bîr Tirfawi region is particularly interesting because the sites are within the modern hyperarid core of NE Africa, and are not located along the coasts or major waterway corridors “Out of Africa” like the Nile Valley. Semi-permanent paleolakes and long-lived spring-fed oases located in the modern arid belt west of the River Nile between Egypt and Sudan were crucial biomes for sustaining the lifeways and dispersal of Homo throughout the Quaternary. However, the importance and the role of such ecosystems dispersed across the North African landscape is somewhat underestimated in existing hypotheses that aim to describe hominin adaptation and dispersals.

CULTURA MATERIAL E ALIMENTAÇÃO: A EVOLUÇÃO DOS UTENSÍLIOS À MESA E A CONSOLIDAÇÃO DE COMPORTAMENTOS DURANTE A REFEIÇÃO

Consuming food is not the simple satisfaction of a nutritional and biological need, but it is also a mean of cultural expression, as it is permeated by conventions that stipulate behaviour standards and convey messages. The sharing of a meal is also a source of pleasure, and it plays a significant role in building and in the consolidation of social relations. The context of food eating, it is important to consider that, not only the type of food consumed, the amount or the way it is prepared, but also the circumstances of consumption should be given an equal importance. The utensils, their disposal at the table, the way of handling, order of use, among other protocols reflect symbologies inherited over the centuries and contribute to shape the contact between diner and food. This article proposes that the contextual interaction with the utensils applied in food consumption gradually consolidates certain habits and collaborates in identity construction, as variations in material culture result in distinct ways of dealing with food. An approach from a European starting point is taken, for its vast influence both in Brazil and worldwide, since the period of maritime expansion and colonization, in which their habits and products were widespread. In addition to an analysis of the evolution and diversification of the apparatuses used during the meals, and the intrinsic development of etiquette rules, it follows a brief exposition of the influences of such manners on the Brazilian table. DOI: 10.12957/demetra.2016.22229

Social Interaction at the End of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B: an Inter-site Analysis in the Euphrates Valley

This article discusses contact, social relationships, and social organization between sites at the end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic in the Euphrates valley; all of which are of high importance for reconstructing and modelling social organization in consolidated agricultural villages. Our analysis has succeeded in identifying a complex range of overlapping levels and types of social interaction that occurred simultaneously and operated at different scales including the household, the community and inter-regional communities. This complex mixture of interacting spheres, together with the identification of cultural-social boundaries, enables us to understand and explain inter-site variation in material culture and mortuary practices. Moreover, they reflect the growing social complexity of large farming communities at the end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and the role played by settlement as the social unit through which these communities became more distinctive and self-consciously different.

The accumulation of stochastic copying errors causes drift in culturally transmitted technologies: Quantifying Clovis evolutionary dynamics

The archaeological record is the empirical record of human cultural evolution. By measuring rates of change in archaeological data through time and space it is possible to estimate both the various evolutionary mechanisms that contribute to the generation of archaeological variation, and the social learning rules involved in the transmission of cultural information. Here we show that the recently proposed accumulated copying error model [Eerkens, J.W., Lipo, C.P., 2005. Cultural transmission, copying errors, and the generation of variation in material culture and the archaeological record. Journal of Anthropology archaeology 24, 316–334.] provides a rich, quantitative framework with which to model the cultural transmission of quantitative data. Using analytical arguments, we find that the accumulated copying error model predicts negative drift in quantitative data due to the proportional nature of compounded copying errors (i.e., neutral mutations), and the multiplicative process of cultural transmission. Further, we find that the theoretically predicted rate of drift in long-lived technologies is remarkably close to the observed reduction of Clovis projectile point size through time and space across North America.

Cultural Transmission Theory and the Archaeological Record: Providing Context to Understanding Variation and Temporal Changes in Material Culture

Cultural transmission (CT) is implicit in many explanations of culture change. Formal CT models were defined by anthropologists 30 years ago and have been a subject of active research in the social sciences in the ensuing years. Although increasing in popularity in recent years, CT has not seen extensive use in archaeological research, despite the quantitative rigor of many CT models and the ability to create testable hypotheses. Part of the reason for the slow adoption, we argue, has been the continuing focus on change in central tendency and mode in archaeology, instead of change in dispersion or variance. Yet archaeological research provides an excellent data source for exploring processes of CT. We review CT research in the anthropological sciences and outline the benefits and drawbacks of this theoretical framework for the study of material culture. We argue that CT can shed much light on our understandings of why material technology changes over time, including explanations of differential rates of change among different technologies. We further argue that transmission processes are greatly affected by the content, context, and mode of transmission and fundamentally structure variation in material culture. Including ideas from CT can provide greater context for explaining and understanding changes in the variation of artifacts over time. Finally, we outline what we feel should be the goals of CT research in archaeology in the coming years.

Cultural transmission, copying errors, and the generation of variation in material culture and the archaeological record

Archaeologists are adept at analyzing variation in artifacts. The discipline has well established and tested methods to track change through time and to evaluate the function of artifacts that depend upon measures of variation in the archaeological record. Although a critical concept, the means by which variation in material culture is generated is not well understood. This paper explores one source of variation, copying errors, and systematically examines how cultural transmission processes act to amplify, reduce, or maintain such variation. Using simple models, we generate expected distributions for the amount of variation that occurs through time under varying circumstances. This variation is caused by small errors that are transmitted from one person to another in the propagation and replication of cultural traits. These baseline values provide useful null models for explaining variation in prehistoric assemblages of artifacts. We use measurements of projectile points from Owens Valley and Woodland ceramics from Illinois to demonstrate the value of this approach.

Style and Society in Ceramic Neolithic Cyprus

The Ceramic Neolithic period in Cyprus is distinctive because of the multifaceted similarity observable in the surviving material culture. It is only in the ceramic repertoire that regional variation is clearly detected and this is most evident in the surface treatment on decorated pottery. Regional variation in material culture is known to have occurred in prehistoric societies where external influences acted upon internal social and economic structures, thereby contributing to diversity. In Ceramic Neolithic Cyprus there is little evidence for external influences and consequently the specific diversity in surface treatment on painted pottery would appear to have been caused by other factors. The aim of this study is to examine the archaeological evidence from Ceramic Neolithic Cyprus with a view to understanding why regional variation can be observed in the decoration on pottery while the society as a whole was essentially homogeneous in all other aspects of its material culture. It is argued that regional variation in the decoration on pottery is expressed as style and that it represented formally structured social behaviours that evolved as a way for individuals and groups to negotiate their economic and social space.

Practice Makes Within 5% of Perfect: Visual Perception, Motor Skills, and Memory in Artifact Variation

Practice Makes Within 5% of Perfect: Visual Perception, Motor Skills, and Memory in Artifact Variation

Pottery of Bilad al-Sham in the Ottoman Period: a Review of the Published Archaeological Evidence

This paper reviews the present state of knowledge concerning the pottery of Bilad al-Sham during the late-Mamluk and Ottoman periods. Dating evidence in published excavations is considered and diagnostic pottery is identified. It is argued that greater attention needs to be paid to regional variation in material culture and to the role of social and economic factors in the analysis of the evolution of specific ceramic types. The paper concludes that more detailed study of the excavated pottery of this period would provide valuable information about the social and economic history of Bilad al-Sham from the fifteenth to the early-twentieth century.

Style, technology, and iron smelting furnaces in Bantu-speaking Africa

The purpose of this study is to investigate how and why iron smelting furnaces exhibit style. This goal stems from a broader question conceming why a great diversity of iron smelting furnaces exists in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the Bantu-speaking area. The effort falls into three sections. First, I discuss some theoretical issues of style in archaeology as they affect socially conscious interpretations of variation in material culture. My particular focus is upon the behavioral foundation of style as it relates to the process of production. Second, and centering on the complex object which a furnace is, I address the factors that cause stylistic variation in the process of African iron smelting. With the working de& nition of technological style and a methodology for reading stylistic variation in the iron smelting process, I proceed to suggest how and why iron smelting furnaces exhibit style in the context of MaShona culture in present-day Zimbabwe. A functional view of style, generally following Wobst (1977) and Wiessner (1983, 1985), is important for probing into some of the relationships between the technology and style of iron smelting furnaces. More specifically, technological style (Lechtman 1977; Lechtman and Steinberg 1979; Steinberg 1977) provides the framework to examine the behavioral underpinnings of style and the cultural influences which structure technological behavior into a form of communication. I define technological style as the formal integration of the behaviors performed during the manufacture and use of material culture which, in its entirety, expresses social information. The theory of technological style requires that we direct our attention to the iron smelters and the operations they perform. The furnace is merely a physical manifestation of the smelting event and offers a means to reconstruct the behavioral choices made. The position of the master iron smelter in his culture, on the other hand, a person with special

A Comparison of Two Contemporaneous Lifestyles of the Late Second Millennium B. C.

Differences detected in late second millennium B. C. material culture excavated in the lowlands and the hill country traditionally have been attributed to two ethnic groups described in the Old Testament as "Canaanite" and "Israelite." An alternate explanation, based on a reassessment of pottery, architecture, agriculture, and "cultic artifacts," suggests that regional variation in material culture reflects geographic and economic factors rather than ethnic identity. Ethnicity is defined and explained. Based on ethnoarchaeological research in Cyprus and Jordan, differences in ancient artifacts can correspond to contemporaneous lifestyles, urban and rural. Social mobilization is presented as the process that culminated in the redistribution of the population into rural, dispersed settlements characteristic of the 14th and 13th centuries B. C.

Isochrestism and style: A clarification

The literature of style and ethnicity in archaeology exhibits growing confusion regarding the meaning of the term isochrestism introduced by Sackett. Its original, and correct, usage concerns the notion that ethnic style is a latent quality that potentially resides in all formal variation in material culture, including varition regarded as purely functional in the utilitarian sense. Progressively, however, the term has become wrongly identified with Sackett's more general argument regarding style, which concerns as much the issue of its behavioral background as the issue of where it resides. Here the distinction between isochrestism and Sackett's broader position is clarified and both in turn are brought into relation with the major questions currently being debated by students of ethnic style.

Style or Isochrestic Variation? A Reply to Sackett

Isochrestic behavior as Sackett describes it is recognized to be one of the important sources of variation in material culture. The behavioral bases for isochrestic variation and for what I describe as stylistic variation are contrasted and some of their implications for variation in material culture are discussed. Kalahari San projectile points are then reexamined within the framework of isochrestic and stylistic behavior using both historical and contextual data. It is concluded that variation in San projectile points better fits the expectations of stylistic than isochrestic behavior, at least with our current understanding of isochrestic behavior.

Reconsidering the behavioral basis for style: A case study among the Kalahari San

In this paper, it is proposed that there is a behavioral basis for much, but not all, of the formal variation in material culture that has been called style by archaeologists. This aspect of stylistic behavior is founded on the basic human cognitive process of identification via comparison. Such stylistic behavior is argued to be one means by which people negotiate their personal and social identities relative to that of surrounding others. Thus, the process of social, and corresponding stylistic, comparison is proposed as the mechanism underlying stylistic development and change. This behavioral basis for style is explicated in a case study among the Kalahari San, in which the role of style in beaded headbands in regional, areal, and personal identity relations, as well as exchange, is investigated. Finally, the proposed behavioral basis for style is discussed in terms of what it can contribute to interpretation of variability in material culture, current approaches to style, and its implications for the development of a theory of style.

The Weights of Chipped Stone Points: A Clue to Their Functions

The Weights of Chipped Stone Points: A Clue to Their Functions