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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Archaeology and Prehistory'
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Koutrafouri, Vasiliki G. "Ritual in prehistory : definition and identification : religious insights in early prehistoric Cyprus." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/3288.
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Prehistoric archaeology has had major difficulties in identifying ritual practices. The history of archaeological approaches ranges from a total repudiation of the capability of the discipline to recognise and analyse ritual activities in the past, to absolute acceptance of all identified prehistoric patterns as ritual. Even within a postmodern apprehension of the world, where deconstruction of all established perceptions seems to have reached an end point, prehistoric archaeology has never successfully constructed a notion of ritual in prehistory. Acknowledging that ritual definition and identification is a problem of the modern western archaeologist, this thesis identifies the root of the problem in methods of thinking deeply rooted in western civilization, in our cultural schemata, and in approaches to archaeology that only superficially observe the problem rather than confront and resolve it. In seeking a resolution, this work proposes a structural dismantling of the problem and its recomposition from its basics. The thesis proposes a middle-range theory based on structuralism and pragmatics and a method of meticulous contextual and relational analysis for the identification and interpretation of ritual practices in prehistory. As a starting point, death is identified as the quintessential category for the exploration of a mytho-logic system and its subsequent definition. The treatment of the dead is recognised as the ideal starting point for an examination of the archaeological record in quest for ritual. Ritual structural elements identified in the context of burial are used subsequently for the identification of non-death ritual practices. The identification of religious practices in Early Prehistoric Cyprus reveals a vibrant ritualpracticing culture contrary to previous commonly accepted observations. Structured depositions in ritually empowered containers; ritual transport; hoarding; symbolic abandonment; ritual sealing; ritual burning; ritual use of burials for the creation of liminality; construction of highly symbolic structures and subsequent attribution of agency to them, all constitute religious practices attested by this thesis for the Cypriot PPNB and Aceramic Neolithic. This identification of ritual in Early Prehistoric Cyprus enables the exploration of this culture’s mytho-logic. The thesis demonstrates how early Cypriots viewed their world and their position in it. Finally, this research offers new perspectives in recognising past socio-cultural realities through the examination of ritual practices.
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Smith, Geoffrey M. "Pre-Archaic technological organization, mobility, and settlement systems : a view from the Parman Localities, Humboldt County, Nevada /." abstract and full text PDF (free order & download UNR users only), 2006. http://0-gateway.proquest.com.innopac.library.unr.edu/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:1436213.
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Thesis (M.A.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2006."August, 2006." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 257-268). Library also has microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [2006]. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm. Online version available on the World Wide Web.
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Walker, William Howard. "Ritual prehistory: A pueblo case study." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/187395.
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What is the behavioral evidence of ritual prehistory? How can the development of new archaeological method and theory enable prehistorians to identify ritual deposits and reconstruct the ritual past? This dissertation addresses these questions in a case study of puebloan sites in the U.S. Southwest. Rather than attempting to identify prehistoric belief systems, it uses an artifact life-history approach to create expectations about how certain artifacts were made, used and especially disposed of in ritual contexts. Fill and floor deposits from ceremonial structures (kivas) at the ancestral Hopi pueblo of Homol'ovi II are interpreted using this approach. These deposits are then linked to a greater ritual disposal tradition whose roots extend into Basketmaker times. These findings are also applied to fragmentary skeletal remains that have previously been attributed to cannibalism and warfare. An alternative explanation, witchcraft persecution is offered.
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Greenlee, Diana Mae. "Accounting for subsistence variation among maize farmers in Ohio valley prehistory /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/6565.
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Samphire, Benjamin Robert. "Minds in Prehistory : Conceptual Issues in the Archaeology and Evolution of Mind." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.486361.
Full textAbstract:
Interest in questions about the minds of people in the past has come' to take centre stage, not just within the discipline of archaeology, but more widely. This thesis argues that, to date, attempts to fashion and practice an archaeology of mind have been fundamentally undermined, if not rendered entirely incoherent, by conceptual confusions regarding the phenomena of mind with which they are interested. Such confusions have led to mistakes of varying severity effecting both the identification of mental phenomena from the evidence of the archaeological record, and subsequent attempts to explain the presence and nature of such phenomena. Here, following the insights of Wittgenstein (1958a), it is argued that conceptual clarity is a necessary foundation for a successful empirical endeavour, and that sucn clarity can only be achieved by paying attention to the use words have in our language. In this light, the conceptual confusions present in, and negative implications resulting from, two of the central approaches (the cognitivist [e.g., Wynn 2002] and Iingualist [e.g., Noble and Davidson 1996]) to the archaeology of mind are explored. Arising from these two critiques are a number of positive conceptual points (inclUding that mind can only be identified by its content, and that such content can be attributed on the basis of both linguistic and non-linguistic behaviour) that go toward the development of a methodology that allows for the secure archaeological identification of mental phenomena in prehistory. The final part of the thesis applies this methodology to a particular area of archaeological interest (regarding the temporal content of past minds), finding that many existing attributions are, at least, underdetermined by the evidence adduced, but that certain temporal content is manifest in that very same evidence. The thesis concludes by outlining some of the prospects for, and limitations of, the archaeology of mind.
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Brennan, Emily J. "Investigating Cooking in Prehistory| Results from a Bone Boiling Experiment." Thesis, The George Washington University, 2015. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1600242.
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The universality and importance of cooking both culturally and biologically is well established. Knowing when, where, and how in the archaeological record human groups began employing this practice can help answer questions concerning the timing and mechanism of both behavioral and anatomical changes in hominins. Identifying cooking in the archaeological record, however, is a complex taphonomic issue. When, where, and how hominins started controlling fire in the past is a greatly debated topic. Analyses of microscopic traces in soil and on bone may offer new lines of taphonomic evidence needed to demonstrate a specific use for fire. Specific cooking practices may also leave behind specific traces of macro-, micro-, faunal, and artifactual evidence. Previous research showed no change in the mineral component of human bone when boiled. To test the hypothesis that crystallinity changes also do not occur under low intensity thermal alteration, domestic pig limb bones were boiled for varying lengths of time. This study determined that even at longer periods of boiling, no observable change is observed in the crystallinity of the hydroxyapatite of bone. What was noted, however, was the existence of patina fractures on fleshed bone when boiled to certain lengths of time. Continued study of this novel observation may offer new insights into what degree of thermal intensity is needed for certain macroscopic observations and what micro- or primary structural properties of bone account for them. Other methods that examine the microstructure of bone may be able to detect changes that occur with low intensity thermal alteration that are unrelated to the state of the hydroxyapatite minerals. Further investigation is needed to understand which methods are best able, if possible, to identify differences that occur in bone that undergoes different diagenetic processes (i.e. weathering vs. low intensity thermal alteration vs. high intensity thermal alteration). Such investigations can illuminate how fire was utilized in the past.
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Isbell, William H. "The Archaeology of Wari and the Dispersal of Quechua." Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2012. http://repositorio.pucp.edu.pe/index/handle/123456789/113612.
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The association of Wari with Quechua, or proto-Quechan speech, cannot be demonstrated by an unbroken tradition of material culture such as ceramic style from the Middle Horizon to ethnohistorically known Quechua speaking communities. However, the spread of Wari from its northern Ayacucho homeland, to the archaeologically most obvious colonies that stretch across Andes from Cuzco to southern Ayacucho, and into Ica and Arequipa, corresponds remarkably with the ethnohistoric distribution of Quechua IIC. This is the most convincing confirmation that Wari spoke proto-Quechua. Variation among southern Quechua IIC dialects suggests to linguists that dispersal was later than the Middle Horizon. However, if a unified Wari polity promoted a uniform speech community throughout its southern domain it is likely that differentiation would not have begun until Huari collapsed at the end of the Middle Horizon.The origins of Wari lie in long-term interactions between highland Huarpa and coastal Nasca cultures, perhaps establishing an expansive political confederation by the end of the Early Intermediate Period. If Nasca people spoke proto-Aymara and Huarpa folk spoke proto-Quechua, this alliance may account for the ancient relationship between these two proto language groups, described by historical linguists. Archaeological evidence for Wari in the north, especially the Mantaro, the Callejón de Huaylas, and Huamachuco, suggests an early phase of colonization with direct rule, followed by the rise of local elites allied with Wari nobility, indirect rule, and processes of ethnogenesis, that probably promoted linguistic distinction, albeit retaining Wari affiliation. Consequently, although Quechua may have arrived in the north highlands at more or less the same time as the south, separation of Quechua I languages in this northern region probably began early in the Middle Horizon, and experienced social pressures promoting rapid differentiation. The Quechuas of the central coast and far northern Cajamarca are confusing, but new understandings of the archaeology will require new inferences about the past. In the meantime, it is at least plausible to propose that proto-Quechua was spread by Wari, during the Middle Horizon, and that Wari should be credited with the dispersal of Quechua as a whole, not just Quechua II.La asociación de Wari con el quechua o el protoquechua no se puede demostrar con una tradición ininterrumpida de cultura material desde los estilos de cerámica del Horizonte Medio a las comunidades quechuahablantes etnohistóricamente conocidas, pero su dispersión desde su área de origen en el norte de Ayacucho hasta las colonias arqueológicamente más obvias que se extienden lo largo de los Andes desde el Cuzco al sur de Ayacucho, así como hacia Ica y Arequipa, corresponde, de manera notable, con la distribución etnohistórica del quechua IIC. Esta constituye la confirmación más convincente de que los wari hablaron protoquechua. La variación entre los dialectos quechua IIC del sur sugiere a los lingüistas que la dispersión fue posterior al Horizonte Medio. Sin embargo, si se plantea el escenario de una entidad política unificada como Wari, que promovió una comunidad con una lengua uniforme a lo largo de sus dominios en el sur, es probable que la diferenciación no haya empezado si no hasta que Huari, y su imperio, colapsaron hacia fines del Horizonte Medio.Los orígenes de Wari se pueden encontrar en una serie de interacciones de largo plazo entre las culturas Huarpa, de la sierra, y Nasca, de la costa, posiblemente con el establecimiento de una confederación política expansiva hacia fines del Período Intermedio Temprano. Si los grupos nasca hablaban protoaimara y la gente huarpa se comunicaba mediante el protoquechua, dicha alianza podría explicar la antigua relación entre estos dos grupos protolingüísticos descritos por los lingüistas históricos. La evidencia arqueológica para Wari en el norte, especialmente en el Mantaro, el Callejón de Huaylas y Huamachuco, sugiere una fase temprana de colonización acompañada de un control directo, a lo que siguió un ascenso de las elites aliadas con la nobleza wari, un control indirecto y procesos de etnogénesis que, probablemente, promovieron una diferenciación lingüística, si bien conservaron la filiación wari. Como consecuencia de ello, si bien el quechua puede haber llegado a la sierra norte aproximadamente al mismo tiempo que al sur, la separación de las variantes del quechua I en estas regiones del norte empezó, quizá, de manera temprana en el Horizonte Medio y experimentó imposiciones sociales que estimularon una rápida distinción. La situación de los quechuas de la costa central y de Cajamarca, en el extremo norte, es confusa, por lo que las nuevas interpretaciones por parte de la arqueología requerirán de nuevas inferencias acerca del pasado. En el entretanto, es posible proponer, al menos, que el protoquechua fue difundido por Wari durante el Horizonte Medio y que a Wari se le debe atribuir la dispersión del quechua en su integridad y no solo del quechua II.
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Peres, Castellani Marcello. "Poblamiento, producción y poder. Los patrones de asentamiento de la Edad del Bronce entre la Meseta Sur y el Levante peninsular." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/672057.
Full textAbstract:
La presente tesis de doctorado está dedicada al estudio de las dinámicas del
poblamiento, de la organización de la producción y de las expresiones de poder
económico y político que han caracterizado la Meseta Sur y el Levante peninsular a lo
largo de la Edad del Bronce Antiguo y Medio (c. 2200-1550 cal ANE).
El objetivo es facilitar, a través de una perspectiva macroespacial y holística, la
comprensión del proceso de cambio y ruptura ocurrido en la península ibérica entre
el Calcolítico y la Edad del Bronce, considerando un marco geográfico unitario en un
área donde la arqueología "culturalista" había creado fronteras basadas en criterios
idealistas más que en la materialidad arqueológica.
El planteamiento metodológico se inspira a la "teoría de las prácticas y de las
producciones sociales", y se pone el objetivo de analizar las formas históricas de la
distancia social, tanto económica (disimetría social) como sexual (diferenciación
sexual).
Para alcanzar estos objetivos, se han localizado e inventariado 1440 poblados de la
Edad del Bronce en un área total de 117.000 km2.
La creación de una base de datos específica, la recopilación bibliográfica, el acceso a
las cartas arqueológicas de las comunidades autónomas, las prospecciones de
superficie utilizando instrumentación GPS y dron, y finalmente la creación de un SIG
han favorecido la creación de una red de conexiones entre los datos geo-espaciales
y los materiales arqueológicos analizados.
El capítulo 1 está dedicado a la definición de los objetivos de la investigación, del
marco cronológico y geográfico examinado y de las metodologías interpretativas
empleadas: estructura de la base de datos, fuentes bibliográficas y de archivo
consultadas, los problemas y las variables tomadas en consideración, las técnicas de
prospección empleadas, y el análisis geo-espacial realizado con el software QGIS.
El capítulo 2 aborda las dinámicas de la formación del espacio social, analizando la
densidad del poblamiento, las pautas de asentamiento, el tamaño y la ubicación de
los poblados, las fortificaciones, el desnivel interpuesto entre los poblados de altura
y los llanos circundantes, las estructuras antrópicas y el aprovechamiento hídrico.
Después de estos análisis, se constata como la presencia de poblados de altura (tanto
fortificados como sin fortificaciones) y más en general la protección del espacio social
mediante la construcción de fortificaciones de piedra constituyen una absoluta
discontinuidad con los patrones de asentamiento del Calcolítico, representando un
clima de tensión social creciente y una incipiente jerarquización social.
El capítulo 3 analiza las formas de la producción social y las contextualiza en cada
pauta de asentamiento: la caza y la guerra (puntas de flecha de sílex, de hueso y de
cobre), la agricultura (dientes de hoz, silos subterráneos, silos de mampostería,
grandes contenedores cerámicos y molinos para la producción de harinas), el
procesado de productos lácteos (queseras), la tejeduría (pesas de telar), la hilatura
(fusayolas), el trabajo del marfil (materia prima, preformas y productos acabados), y la
metalurgia (mineral, escorias, crisoles, moldes de fundición).
El capítulo 4 pone en relación las ubicaciones y las formas de los espacios sociales
con la gestión y el control de la producción, analizando las dinámicas socio-políticas
que pueden haber generado las expresiones de poder y el clima de tensión que
caracterizaban los territorios al norte del Argar durante la Edad del Bronce.La presente tesi di dottorato è dedicata allo studio delle dinamiche del popolamento, dell'organizzazione della produzione e delle espressioni del potere economico e politico che hanno caratterizzato l'area della penisola iberica al nord di El Argar durante l'Età del Bronzo Antico e Medio (c. 2200-1550 avanti era comune). L'obiettivo è quello di favorire, attraverso una prospettiva macro-spaziale e olistica, la comprensione globale del cambiamento avvenuto nella Meseta Sur e nel Levante peninsulare tra Calcolitico e Bronzo, alla fine del III millennio AEC, considerando un quadro geografico unitario laddove le scuole archeologiche culturaliste hanno creato frontiere regionaliste basate su criteri idealisti più che su uno studio della materialità archeologica. L'approccio metodologico della presente ricerca è ispirato alla "teoria delle pratiche e delle produzioni sociali", e si pone l'obiettivo di analizzare le forme storiche della distanza sociale, tanto economica (dissimmetria sociale) come di genere (differenziazione sessuale). Per raggiungere questi obiettivi sono stati localizzati, analizzati ed inventariati 1440 abitati dell'Età del Bronzo in un'area totale di 117.000 km2. La creazione di un database specifico, la ricerca bibliografica, l'accesso agli archivi delle Soprintendenze, le prospezioni di superficie effettuate con l'uso di strumentazione GPS e drone, e finalmente la creazione di un GIS hanno favorito la creazione di una connessione analitica tra i dati spaziali e materiali dei siti archeologici presi in esame. Il capitolo 1 è dedicato alla definizione degli obiettivi della ricerca, del quadro cronologico e geografico preso in esame, e della metodologia interpretativa utilizzata: struttura del database, fonti bibliografiche e archivistiche consultate, i problemi e le variabili prese in esame, le tecniche di prospezione archeologica utilizzate, e l'analisi geo-spaziale realizzato con il software QGIS. Il capitolo 2 affronta le dinamiche di cambio dello spazio sociale, analizzando la densità del popolamento, i modelli di insediamento, l'estensione e l'ubicazione degli abitati, i sistemi di fortificazione, il dislivello metrico interposto tra gli abitati e il fondo valle, le strutture antropiche abitative e di sfruttamento idrico. Sulla base di tutte queste considerazioni, si evidenzia come la presenza di abitati in altura (fortificati e non fortificati) ed in generale la protezione dello spazio sociale e produttivo mediante la costruzione di fortificazioni di pietra, costituiscano una assoluta discontinuità abitativa rispetto all'Età del Rame, testimoniando un clima di crescente tensione sociale ed una possibile crescente gerarchizzazione. Il capitolo 3 da seguito a tutte queste considerazioni analizzando le forme della produzione sociale e contestualizzandole in ogni singolo modello di insediamento: la caccia e la guerra (punte di freccia in selce, in osso e in rame), la produzione agricola (falci di selce, silos e grandi recipienti ceramici per lo stoccaggio dei cereali, macine per la produzione di farina), la produzione di derivati del latte (formaggiere ceramiche), la tessitura (pesi da telaio in terracotta), la filatura (fusaiole ceramiche), la produzione di oggetti in avorio (materia prima e preforme di avorio), e la metallurgia (minerale, scorie di fusione, crogioli di terracotta e forme di fusione di pietra). Il capitolo 4 mette in relazione i luoghi e le forme dello spazio sociale con l'organizzazione ed il controllo delle produzioni materiali, ricostruendo le dinamiche socio-politiche che possono aver generato le espressioni di potere ed il clima di tensione abitativa osservabili al nord di El Argar durante l'Età del Bronzo.
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Programa de Doctorat en Arqueologia Prehistòrica
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Masson-MacLean, Edouard. "Animals, subsistence and society in Yup'ik prehistory." Thesis, University of Aberdeen, 2018. http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=239353.
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The prehistory of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta is poorly understood and the region today is home to the Yupiit, whose traditional lifeways revolve around animals. However, the fur trade and Christianity limit the use of ethnographic data to fully understand pre-contact human-animal relationships and subsistence in particular. The discovery of the prehistoric site of Nunalleq (15th-17th c. AD), therefore provides a unique opportunity to address this issue and opens a window to explore human responses to the Little Ice Age. In this research, a zooarchaeological analysis was undertaken to investigate animal exploitation at Nunallleq, potential changes in subsistence strategies and the nature of the faunal assemblage. Results suggest that people at Nunalleq focused primarily on salmon, marine mammals and caribou with migratory waterfowl possibly playing an important role at specific times of the year. This tripartite subsistence strategy appears to have provided the inhabitants of the site with the flexibility and necessary coping mechanisms to face potential environmental-related stress during the Little Ice Age by relying more on other resources, such as seals and caribou, when experiencing a reduced availability of salmon. The choice to settle at Nunalleq may have been strategic in order to have good access to multiple key resources simultaneously and it is suggested that perhaps the possible decline in salmon may be related to prehistoric warfare in the region. It is also highlighted that bone working and dog gnawing contributed to the formation the Nunalleq faunal assemblage. This raises further questions as to the nature and meaning of arctic and subarctic archaeofaunas and highlights the importance of multiple lines of evidence to document past human-animal relationships. This study better informs our understanding of Nunalleq forming a baseline for further subsistence studies in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
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Chattopadhyaya, Umesh Chandra. "A study of subsistance and settlement patterns during the late prehistory of north-central India." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1991. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/273140.
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Haines, Angela L. "Determining Prehistoric Site Locations in Southwestern Ohio: A Study in GIS Predictive Modeling." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1306497891.
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Clark, Geoffrey R., and n/a. "The Kuri in prehistory : a skeletal analysis of the extinct Maori dog." University of Otago. Department of Anthropology, 1995. http://adt.otago.ac.nz./public/adt-NZDU20070531.123209.
Full textAbstract:
Skeletal remains of the prehistoric New Zealand dog, the kuri, are frequently recovered from archaeological sites. Despite their relative ubiquity only one major study, and the last for twenty five years, has been conducted. That work provided limited anatomical and osteometric information and concluded that the kuri population was homogenous through space and across time.
This study set out to provide a more detailed skeletal description and to investigate the question of population homogeneity by examinig kuri skeletal material from five museums and two university anthropology departments. Metric and non-metric data was collected from a total of thirty seven archaeological sites from throuhout New Zealand.
Variation within the population was established by comparing coefficients of variation across a number of variables. A program of univariate and multivariate analysis was carried out to examine spatial and temporal variation.
Results showed that the appendicular skeleton of the kuri has the highest levels of variation. Smaller limb shaft dimensions of late prehistoric kuri are thought to be due to a reliance on insufficient quantities of marine foods. Tooth wear analysis of late prehistoric dogs showed that they had severe tooth wear compared to �Archaic� dogs.
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Azaza, Mohamed. "Changes in animal husbandry, diet and animal trade in Tunisia from the Iron Age to the Roman period: an archeozoological approach." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/669870.
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L'objectiu general d'aquesta tesi és utilitzar un enfocament arqueozoològic per avançar Comprendre els canvis que la
colonització romana de Tunísia va provocar en els animals. pràctiques de cria, patrons de dieta i comerç
d'animals.Per aconseguir aquest objectiu, hem emprès un estudi comparatiu de encaixos faunístics.Hem analitzat les
restes de fauna de Ghizen i Zama, i els resultats han estatcontextualitzat amb tota la informació arqueozoológica de
Tunísia.Vam desenvolupar una metodologia específica per comparar dades de fauna . La nostraLes anàlisis es van
concentrar a la quantificació taxonòmica de les principals espècies domèstiques.(Bovins, ovins, caprins i porcins) per
establir la importància econòmica de cada
tàxon Es van examinar els elements esquelètics per determinar els efectes de alteració tafonòmica i humana en cada
acoblament. L'edat a el morir es va estimar en per fer llum sobre l'ús i l'explotació d'animals. Els nostres resultats
proporcionen una major comprensió dels canvis en les pràctiques de cria d'animals, la dieta de carn i el comerç
d'animals a Tunísia des de l'Edat del Ferro fins al període romàEl objetivo general de esta tesis es utilizar un enfoque arqueozoológico para avanzar Comprender los cambios que la colonización romana de Túnez provocó en los animales. prácticas de cría, patrones de dieta y comercio de animales. Para lograr este objetivo, hemos emprendido un estudio comparativo de ensambles faunísticos. Hemos analizado los restos de fauna de Ghizen y Zama, y los resultados han sido contextualizado con toda la información arqueozoológica disponible de Túnez. Desarrollamos una metodología específica para comparar datos de fauna publicados. Los análisis se concentraron en la cuantificación taxonómica de las principales especies domésticas. (bovinos, ovinos, caprinos y porcinos) para establecer la importancia económica de cada taxón Se examinaron los elementos esqueléticos para determinar los efectos de alteración tafonómica y humana en cada ensamblaje. La edad al morir se estimó en para arrojar luz sobre el uso y la explotación de animales. Nuestros resultados proporcionan una mayor comprensión de los cambios en las prácticas de cría de animales, la dieta de carne y el comercio de animales en Túnez desde la Edad del Hierro hasta el período romano
aumentó: el primero fueron explotados en gran medida por su lana, mientras que este último se convirtió en una importante fuente de carne. Al mismo tiempo, especies como el gato, la rata negra, el ratón doméstico, el conejo, la liebre y el barbecho los ciervos fueron introducidos en Túnez durante el período romano, lo que demuestra que los animales fueron otro producto comercializado en los puertos del norte de África. El comercio de animales fue una importante actividad económica para Túnez, no solo para la exportación de bestias salvajes sino También para la importación de animales salvajes y domésticos. La dieta de la carne también fue modificada, particularmente en las provincias del norte de Túnez, donde hubo un aumento en el consumo de carne de cerdo. Por lo tanto, proponemos que la carne dietética El patrón documentado en Túnez durante el período romano estuvo influenciado no solo por factores culturales, pero también por factores económicos y quizás ambientales, todos los c The broad aim of this thesis is to use an archeozoological approach to further understand the changes that the Roman colonization of Tunisia brought about in animal husbandry practices, diet patterns and the animal trade. To achieve this aim, we have undertaken a comparative study of faunal assemblages. We have analyzed the faunal remains from Ghizen and Zama, and the results have been contextualized with all the archaeozoological information available from Tunisia. We developed a specific methodology for comparing published faunal data. Our analyses concentrated on the taxonomical quantification of the main domestic species (cattle, sheep, goat and pig) in order to establish the economic importance of each taxon. The skeletal elements were examined in order to determine the effects of taphonomic and human alteration on each assemblage. Age at death was estimated in order to shed light on animal use and exploitation. Our results provide greater insight into changes in animal husbandry practices, meat diet and animal trade in Tunisia from the Iron Age to the Roman period
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Pomerantz, Solomon. "The prehistory of Madagascar : microbotanical and archaeological evidence from coastal and highland sites." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2017. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:a0f536e8-9f1f-451b-b02d-cc9365ed3aba.
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Despite nearly one hundred years of archaeological and palaeoecological research in Madagascar, the human colonisation of the island remains poorly understood. Long- standing narratives of this colonisation described the arrival of Austronesian- speaking peoples by AD 400, eventually reaching the Central Highlands by the 12th century. The recent discovery of microlithic tools at the rockshelter of Lakaton'i Anja has radically disrupted conventional narratives for this colonisation by more than doubling the known period of Madagascar's human history, and questioning the presumed Austronesian origins of these first Malagasy peoples. This discovery also challenges existing models for the late Holocene extinction of the island's megafauna. This thesis constitutes the first systematic review in the last thirty years of literature relating to the colonisation of the island, as well as the first to approach this multidisciplinary material in light of new archaeological evidence from Lakaton'i Anja. This study also represents the first comprehensive and comparative phytolith analysis conducted on Madagascar. Despite the wide application of phytolith analysis across regional archaeological and palaeoecological contexts, it has never before been applied here. This thesis explores the botanical impact of these early colonists in and around sites of occupation, as well as tracing the introduction of Asian rice (Oryza sativa) and domesticated bananas (Musa acuminata). New methods of phytolith analysis were developed, adapted, and applied to sediments collected from two seasons of excavations in 2012 and 2013. The sites of Lakaton'i Anja, Mahilaka, and Ankadivory D'Ralambo were re-excavated, as well as the new site of Ampasimahavelona, near Vohémar. This thesis presents and discusses these excavations as well as the earliest evidence for the cultivation of both Musa acuminata and Oryza sativa on Madagascar, and an ultra-high resolution botanical perspective on the last four millennia of Madagascar's prehistory.
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Allitt, Sharon. "STABLE ISOTOPIC INSIGHTS INTO THE SUBSISTENCE PATTERNS OF PREHISTORIC DOGS (CANIS FAMILIARIS) AND THEIR HUMAN COUNTERPARTS IN NORTHEASTERN NORTH AMERICA." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2011. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/136922.
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AnthropologyPh.D.
There are four goals to this study. The first is to investigate the diet of prehistoric dogs (Canis familiaris) in the Northeast region of North America using stable isotope analysis. The second goal of this study is to generate independent data concerning the presence or absence of C4 resources, such as maize, in the diets of dogs. Third, this study investigates the use of dog bone as a proxy for human bone in studies assessing the presence of C4 resources at archaeological sites. The fourth goal of this study is to provide a check on existing interpretations of the material, macro- and micro-botanical records as it concerns the presence or absence of C4 resources at the sites involved in this study. Stable isotope analysis is a science that allows the measuring of the abundance ratio of two stable isotopes of a particular element. Stable isotope analysis can differentiate C4 and C3 plants, as well as terrestrial and marine resources in material such as bone where the chemistry of diet becomes recorded. Given the importance of C4 plants to many prehistoric populations, in the absence of direct evidence identifying their presence at archaeological sites, an alternate method for identification is needed. Maize played an important role in changing human behaviors during prehistory including: decisions to increase sedentism, abuse of power structures, and stratification of gender roles within human populations. Additionally, an overall decrease in health is seen in prehistoric populations who focused their subsistence practices on maize. Dogs were chosen as the focus of this study because related research suggests that their diet tends to mimic human diet. Prehistoric dogs were scavengers, but they were also intentionally fed companions. The suggestion that dog diet in some way mimics human diet means that stable isotope ratios from their bone will reflect the type of resources available for consumption by their human counterparts. As such, this investigation may also indirectly inform on the diets of the American Indian inhabitants of the settlements in which these dog remains originate. Thirty samples of dog bone, dating from the Early Ceramic Period, ca. 3000 B.P. to the Late Woodland and Early Historic Period, were obtained from museum and personal collections, and from ongoing archaeological excavations throughout the Northeast region of North America. Stable isotope analysis was conducted at Notre Dame's Center for Environmental Science and Technology. The results of this analysis indicates that these prehistoric dogs consumed the types of resources represented in the archaeological record with one important exception: consumption of C4 resources, possibly maize, was occurring at several sites where no other evidence of C4 exploitation exists. Of the dogs sampled ten were from pre-agricultural sites in Maine and their stable isotope ratios indicated a diet of marine and terrestrial resources. Nineteen dogs were excavated from components dating to the Late Woodland or Historic Period. During the Late Woodland and Historic Period the C4 plant maize was exploited by many human groups in the study region. Interpretation based on stable isotopes from bone collagen indicates that six of these dogs had isotopic signatures within the range of significant C4 resource consumption. Stable isotope ratios from the remaining dogs indicate a smaller contribution of C4 resources to diet. According to 13C ratios from carbonate three dogs, two from New Jersey (DB2, DB8) and one from Maryland (DB11), had a significant C4 plant component to their diet. The remaining Late Woodland and Historic period dogs most likely consumed minor amounts of C4 resources. In addition to identifying C4 resources in the diet of dogs, the value of assessing isotope data from both collagen and carbonate is investigated. The sample size for this study was small in comparison to the size of the region assessed. Despite the small sample size, this analysis contributes to our knowledge of past dog and human subsistence patterns. Our understanding of the utility of stable isotope studies of human companion species has also expanded. In addition to investigating the presence of C4 resources in the diet of prehistoric dogs, this research provides an alternate line of inquiry to re-assess current interpretations, especially in areas where direct evidence of isotopically identifiable C4 plants, such as maize are currently lacking. The results of this study are applicable first and foremost to the consumption patterns of the individual animals sampled. However, that these dogs were consuming particular resources provides at least a clue of what was under consideration by their human counterparts.
Temple University--Theses
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NEWHARD, JAMES MICHAEL LLOYD. "ASPECTS OF LOCAL BRONZE AGE ECONOMIES: CHIPPED STONE ACQUISITION AND PRODUCTION STRATEGIES IN THE ARGOLID, GREECE." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2003. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1053108651.
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Randall, Clare Elizabeth. "Livestock and landscape : exploring animal exploitation in later prehistory in the South West of Britain." Thesis, Bournemouth University, 2010. http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/15958/.
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The animal remains from British later prehistory have frequently been treated as generally only able to inform us about economy, and occasionally about symbolic behaviour. On the other hand, the use and division of landscape has been largely discussed in terms of social organisation. There has been a failure to appreciate that there is a reflexive relationship between pastoral farming and the utilisation and inhabiting of landscapes. The nature and needs of livestock and detailed consideration of husbandry methods have informed identification of the types of archaeological data we can use to discuss husbandry practices. This thesis integrates faunal, field and environmental data to achieve a holistic understanding. Husbandry practices and animal consumption and deposition identified from analysis of over 130,000 fragments of animal bone from Cadbury Castle, Somerset, and sites in its environs, have been considered in the light of successive arrangements of fields in the area. The relationship between changes in landscape organisation and in animal exploitation has been established and can also be detected across the south west. The fields of the earlier Bronze Age apparently relate to continuation of extensive husbandry regimes, whilst fixing the activity within the landscape. Small scale arable farming was integrated during the Middle Bronze Age. Subsequently there was a return to extensive grazing and mobility. An approach dominated by sheep farming began in the Early Iron Age. This gained ascendency in the Middle Iron Age, with new, small, fields that are indicative of a highly integrated arable and pastoral system and which were both intensive, localised, and reflect the technical, social and ideological complexity surrounding animals. This thesis has found that the form of landscape division and organisation was intimately bound up with the practicalities of livestock management. It has identified a variety of features and arrangements that can assist in understanding livestock management elsewhere in Britain and beyond. At different times and places this involved different social and technological choice, but was founded in the needs of managed animals. This study has shown the benefits of integrating archaeological, faunal and landscape data, together with a strong understanding of the practicalities of animal husbandry. This approach not only enables better understanding of arable and pastoral systems, it allows us to better recognise and understand the social and ideological choices expressed in the farming landscape.
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Cacheda, Pérez Maria. "Coeducació patrimonial en arqueologia prehistòrica: model i aplicació en els casos de la Roca dels Moros del Cogul (Les Garrigues, Lleida) i el Museu d'Art Precolombí i Indígena (Montevideo)." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/673212.
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Aquesta tesi presenta una nova eina de diagnosi en coeducació patrimonial per a la divulgació de l’arqueologia prehistòrica, per poder implementar-la en museus i equipaments patrimonials que treballin la divulgació de la prehistòria. Aquesta eina, en forma de rúbrica d’avaluació, està construïda des d’una metodologia nova en coeducació patrimonial, que consisteix a aplicar la perspectiva de gènere a l’acció educativa patrimonial a través del relat que s’explica, l’acció educativa en si (àmbit relacional), i el llenguatge. Aquesta metodologia va ser creada, per a aquesta investigació a través de diferents disciplines.
El marc teòric amb què es construeix l’eina de diagnòstic en coeducació patrimonial per a la divulgació de l’arqueologia prehistòrica es basteix amb un marc teòric que beu de diferents àmbits de coneixement transversals. La construcció d’aquesta eina va implicar un apropament epistemològic des de diferents àmbits de coneixement teòric i pràctic: l’arqueologia prehistòrica, l’educació i el feminisme. Des de la perspectiva de l’arqueologia prehistòrica, presenta una oportunitat d’aprofundir d’una forma crítica en els continguts (relats, narratives) i les formes que estan presents en els àmbits de la divulgació de la prehistòria i del patrimoni Aquesta metodologia de la coeducació patrimonial s’ha avaluat al Conjunt Rupestre de la Roca dels Moros del Cogul (Les Garrigues, Lleida). Després de la construcció i l’avaluació del model es generen uns resultats amb els quals s’obté l’eina de diagnosi i es fa una aplicació de l’eina al Museu d’Art Precolombí i Indígena de Montevideo (Uruguai).
S’aplica el model de diagnosi de l’art rupestre europeu a un museu d’art precolombí i indígena llatinoamericà, un cas totalment oposat: un context expositiu sobre arqueologia prehistòrica, però amb referents diferents i es comprova que s’ha construït una eina no limitada a un context prehistòric concret. Una eina patrimonial aplicable a tots els contextos d’arqueologia prehistòrica de divulgació de la prehistòria.Esta tesis presenta una nueva herramienta de diagnosis en coeducación patrimonial para la divulgación de la arqueología prehistórica, para poder implementarla en museos e instituciones patrimoniales que trabajen la divulgación de la prehistoria. Esta herramienta, en forma de rúbrica de evaluación, está construida desde una metodología nueva en coeducación patrimonial, que consiste en aplicar la perspectiva de género a la acción educativa patrimonial a través del relato que se explica, la acción educativa en sí (ámbito relacional), y el lenguaje. Esta metodología fue creada, para esta investigación a través de diferentes disciplinas. El marco teórico con que se construye la herramienta de diagnosis en coeducación patrimonial para la divulgación de la arqueología prehistórica se realiza con un marco teórico que bebe de diferentes ámbitos de conocimiento transversales. La construcción de esta herramienta implicó un acercamiento epistemológico desde diferentes ámbitos de conocimiento teórico y práctico: la arqueología prehistórica, la educación y el feminismo. Desde la perspectiva de la arqueología prehistórica, presenta una oportunidad de profundizar de una forma crítica en los contenidos (relatos, narrativas) y las formas que están presentes en los ámbitos de la divulgación de la prehistoria y del patrimonio arqueológico asociado. Esta metodología en coeducación patrimonial se ha evaluado en el Conjunto Rupestre de la Roca de los Moros del Cogul (Les Garrigues, Lleida). Después de la construcción y la evaluación del modelo se generan unos resultados con los cuales se obtiene la herramienta de diagnosis que se ha aplicado en el Museo de Arte Precolombino e Indígena de Montevideo (Uruguay). Se aplica el modelo de diagnosis del arte rupestre europeo a un museo de arte precolombino e indígena latinoamericano, un caso totalmente opuesto: un contexto expositivo sobre arqueología prehistórica, pero con referentes diferentes y se comprueba que se ha construido una herramienta no limitada a un contexto prehistórico concreto. Una herramienta patrimonial aplicable a todos los contextos de arqueología prehistórica de divulgación de la prehistoria.
This thesis presents a new diagnostic tool in heritage coeducation for the dissemination of prehistoric archaeology, to implement it in museums and heritage facilities aimed at the dissemination of prehistory. This tool, in the form of an evaluation scheme, is built up from a new methodology in heritage coeducation, which means to apply the gender perspective to patrimonial educational action through the explanatory account, educational action itself (relational realm), and language. This methodology was created for this research through different disciplines. The theoretical framework by which the diagnostic tool is constructed in heritage coeducation for the dissemination of prehistoric archaeology is built within a theoretical framework based different knowledge fields. The construction of this tool involved an epistemological approach from different approaches of theoretical and practical knowledge: prehistoric archaeology, education and feminism. From the perspective of prehistoric archeology, it presents an opportunity to delve in a critical way into the content (relates, narratives) and forms that are present in different contexts of the dissemination of prehistory and associated archaeological heritage. This methodology of heritage coeducation is used for evaluating the Roca dels Moros rock shelter (Les Garrigues, Lleida), because it is a model that is constructed from scratch for the spread of prehistory, from the postulates of feminist archaeology, heritage education (narratives and stories in the forms of discourse and images or museographies), and coeducation (the scope that has to do with educational action, the situations when educational activity occurs, and how the relationships between the different actors/activities that develop it: heritage – students – space), with qualitative methodologies (criteria and applied indicators relating, language and field) and quantitative (observation and surveys). Following the construction and evaluation of the model, results are generated from which the diagnostic tool is obtained. An application of this tool is made in the Museum of Pre-Columbian and Indigenous Art in Montevideo (Uruguay). In summary, a new elaborated diagnosis model is applied to opposite, but complementary cases: a European rock art cave and a pre-Columbian and indigenous Latin American museum of art. They represent expository contexts on prehistoric archaeology, but with different referents, demonstrating that the diagnostic tool is not limited to a particular prehistoric context, but is applicable to all kind public presentations about prehistoric archaeology.
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Programa de Doctorat en Arqueologia Prehistòrica
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Murrieta, Flores Patricia A. "Travelling through past landscapes : analysing the dynamics of movement during Late Prehistory in Southern Iberia with spatial technologies." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2011. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/374750/.
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Movement is integral to all aspects of human life. It allows us to carry out tasks ranging from the basic act of obtaining food to travelling long distances to trade goods and engage in social dynamics. Studying the complexity of human movement is instrumental in understanding the development of crucial social aspects such as identity, technology, territoriality, political complexity, and even social inequality. Movement is therefore of central concern to archaeology and anthropology. Archaeological approaches to movement have traditionally focused on the distribution of traded goods or raw materials as evidence of long-distance contacts. As such, “static” evidence has been at the heart of these studies, which often focus on objects’ points of departure or destination. Fewer attempts have been made to investigate what happened in between these points, including the processes of travelling, the mechanics of movement, or the archaeological evidence on a landscape scale related to long-distance journeys. Interestingly, no previous research has specifically looked at the detailed process of how prehistoric people navigated through the landscape while traveling within and beyond the usual limits of their local economy and social demands. Looking to tackle these issues, this thesis develops a robust theoretical framework for the study of human movement on a landscape scale investigating, through an interdisciplinary approach, the possible physical, environmental and social variables that influenced or affected this activity during prehistory. Using this framework, novel methods of spatial analysis are developed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and High Performance Computing (HPC) to explore and identify particular spatial patterns related to this phenomenon. Using a combination of spatial analyses, a series of methodological tools are created (1) to identify potential prehistoric pathways and (2) to investigate the influence of natural corridors in the establishment of symbolic and funerary sites, the most significant variables behind the creation of prehistoric path layouts, the use of monuments and symbolic places in orientation while travelling, and, finally, their potential role of said monuments in territorial definition. Taking as specific example the late prehistoric groups of south western Iberia, the thesis investigates the particular materialization of human movement in the context of Copper Age (c. 3100-2100 BCE) and Bronze Age (c. 2100-850 BCE) societies. In the case of the Iberian Peninsula, there has been a severe lack of discussion in the discipline regarding the possible practice of mobility and sedentism as joint strategies during prehistoric times. This is the first study in Iberia exploring the degree of residential mobility that prehistoric societies exhibit. In addition, using physiological and psychological research, it also constitutes the first attempt in archaeology to build a theory on how humans navigated through their landscape before the existence of maps, testing it through robust spatial methods. Drawing on a range of available archaeological evidence from traditional pathways and the location of symbolic sites and habitats to the material culture products of trade and exchange, the research sheds light on the social meaning of long-distance movement and the importance of this activity in the development of collective identities and territories during Late Prehistory.
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Makowski, Hanula Krzysztof. "Horizons and Linguistics Changes in the Prehistory of the Central Andes." Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2012. http://repositorio.pucp.edu.pe/index/handle/123456789/113631.
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In this article the author compares from an archaeological perspective two models used in paleo-linguistic studies. The first is inspired by the discussion on the formation of the Indo-European family and is diffusionist and evolutionary in nature. The second emerges from debates on the history of the Semitic language family in which the emphasis is on mechanisms of interaction: between core and periphery, and, lingua franca with local languages and dialects. The author concludes that it is the second model that might allow us to describe properly the environmental characteristics and particular causes which determined the transformations of the linguistic map of the prehistoric Central Andes. To judge from the impressive stability of cultural boundaries which overlap with hypothetical language frontier, the distribution of pre-Hispanic languages in Colonial times reconstructed by linguists ought to coincide with a map of the proto-languages in the mid-first millennium BC (cal.). New relationships at different levels — and also certain distances — seem to have been established during two periods of instability, after the decline of Chavín, and, after the collapse of Huari and Tiahuanaco. It is likely that both proto-Quechua and proto-Aimara, began to assume the role of general languages for Huari and Tiahuanaco, respectively, starting in the Middle Horizon. The exceptional spread of these languages is likely due to their role as general languages.En el presente artículo comparo, desde la perspectiva arqueológica, dos modelos utilizados en los estudios paleolingüísticos. Uno está inspirado en la discusión sobre la formación de la familia indoeuropea y tiene carácter difusionista y evolutivo. En el segundo, alimentado por los debates sobre la historia de la familia semita de lenguas, el énfasis radica en los mecanismos de interacción: centro-semiperiferia, lengua franca respecto a lenguas y dialectos locales. Por este medio, llego a la conclusión de que solo el segundo modelo permite describir a plenitud las características del entorno y las causas particulares que condicionaron las transformaciones del mapa de los idiomas en los Andes centrales prehistóricos. La distribución de las lenguas prehispánicas en tiempos coloniales, reconstruida por los lingüistas, debió coincidir, en buen grado, con el mapa de las protolenguas a mediados del primer milenio a.C. (calib.), a juzgar por la impactante estabilidad de las fronteras culturales a las que se sobreponen las hipotéticas fronteras lingüísticas. Nuevas relaciones de parentesco en diferentes ámbitos —y, también, algunas distancias— parecen haberse establecido en dos periodos de inestabilidad: luego del ocaso de Chavín y después del colapso de Huari y de Tiahuanaco. Es probable que tanto el protoquechua como el protoaimara empezaran a tener el papel de lenguas generales para Huari y para Tiahuanaco, respectivamente, a partir del Horizonte Medio. La excepcional difusión de ambos idiomas se puede atribuir a esta función.
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Lumbye, Mira Anna Beatrice. "Settlement and Interactions in Pacific Prehistory : An Overview of Modern Genetic Research." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Arkeologi, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-453506.
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The Pacific is the part of the world that was last settled by humans. The colonization occurred in different stages which can be discerned through various methods, one of them DNA analysis of humans as well as other species of animals and plants associated with human settlement. The direction of human migration is traditionally believed to have taken a west-eastern direction, originating in the area near Taiwan and spreading eastward until reaching the islands of Remote Oceania. However, there are also strong indications of an east-western route of interaction, with recent DNA studies confirming prehistoric human contact between South American and Polynesian peoples. The aim of this paper is to investigate the current research on human settlement of the Pacific focusing on the genetic analyses of humans as well as animals and plants believed to have accompanied the human settlers. It is to be hoped that this research survey will shed new light on the subject of geographical origins of Pacific migration and the early interactions and settlement patterns that ensued.Oceanien blev den sista världsdelen att befolkas av människan. Koloniseringen ägde rum i flera steg som kan studeras med olika metoder, däribland DNA-analys av människor samt andra arter av djur och växter vilka förknippas med mänsklig migration. Kolonisationen av Stilla Havet gick enligt den vedertagna forskningen i en väst-östlig riktning, med utgångspunkt från området kring Taiwan och vidare österut till Bortre Oceanien. Det finns emellertid även starka indikationer på öst-västliga interaktioner mellan polynesier och sydamerikansk ursprungsbefolkning. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka det aktuella forskningsläget med fokus på genetiska analyser av människor såväl som av de djur och växter som tros ha följt människorna. Förhoppningen är att denna forskningsöversikt ska kasta nytt ljus över frågan om det geografiska ursprunget för den oceaniska expansionen och de tidiga migrationsmönster och interaktioner den gav upphov till.
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Iliopoulos, Antonios. "The prehistory of material signification : tracing the nature and emergence of early body ornamentation through a pragmatic and enactive theory of cognitive semiotics." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2015. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:0811d8f8-e885-4785-b7a6-681faaceca41.
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This thesis explores the nature and emergence of early body ornamentation, which has long been at the forefront of the debate on modern human origins. According to most prehistorians, ornamental shell beads are unequivocal proxies for behavioural and cognitive "modernity", for they are considered the arbitrary products of symbolically-capable brains. In my dissertation, I argue against the "symbolic" dictum of reducing material signification to linguistic terms, and attributing its creation to a representational mechanism. For one, the significative meaning of material culture is not entirely arbitrary, because concepts can be founded on physical properties and affordances. Moreover, material signification is not the epiphenomenal product of innate cognitive modules, for the mind is not a computational device that processes internal representations before externalising them through behaviour. I thus suggest that these theoretical fallacies about the nature and emergence of material signification can be overcome by combining a pragmatic semiotic approach with an enactive theory of cognition. Briefly put, a pragmatic semiotic theory describes the nature of material signification by recognising that significative concepts can be founded on physical qualities and relations, whereas an enactive theory of cognition accounts for the emergence of material signification by explaining how significative concepts are brought forth via the constitutive entwinement of mind and matter. Through the synergistic fusion of these theoretical tenets, the origins of early body ornamentation can be examined from a developmental perspective that treats the generation of significative meaning as the emergent product of material engagement. In its light, the preoccupation of most evolutionary archaeologists with the notion of "modernity" appears to be inherently problematic. It is therefore ultimately proposed that the dominant symbolic interpretation of material signification need be replaced with a pragmatic and enactive theory of cognitive semiotics that is suitably geared to trace the evolution of prehistoric material signs.
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Price, Elizabeth Megan. "Town and Gown : amateurs and academics : the discovery of British prehistory, Oxford 1850-1900 : a pastime professionalised." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2007. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:b07844bc-f5a5-4064-9cac-198ff9b704a7.
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This investigation into the origin of a collection of nineteenth century lanternslides revealed evidence of the social, intellectual and cultural importance of various scientific societies in Oxford, and the contributions made by those involved, particularly the creator of the lanternslides, H. M. J. Underhill, (1855–1920). Evidence gathered from primary sources showed a fluidity of relationships between the supposed ‘town and gown’ in late nineteenth century Oxford which consisted of a community of citizens, amateurs and academics, all of whom were linked by a growing interest in the real and mythological British past. Following a discussion of the key intellectual and social influences in Britain during the latter half of the nineteenth century, including the implications of the emerging evidence of an ancient human past, the thesis focuses on individual case studies. They illustrate the roles of overlooked or neglected individuals whose work contributed to the growth of today’s discipline of British prehistory. Several people, now forgotten, including Underhill were contemporaries of Arthur Evans and Edward Tylor whose social circumstances made it easier for them to become prominent academics. The results of this research indicate that a new approach is required in the history of archaeology; one that would draw attention to the vital contributions made by forgotten or overlooked individuals, societies and popular publications. Further attention to these issues will shed new light on the way that prehistoric archaeology moved from an antiquarian pastime to an academic discipline between 1850 and 1900.
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Heggarty, Paul, and David Beresford-Jones. "Archaeology, Language, and the Andean Past: Principles, Methods, and the New "State of the Art"." Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2012. http://repositorio.pucp.edu.pe/index/handle/123456789/113428.
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This book emerges from the conference Lenguas y sociedades en el antiguo Perú: hacia un enfoque interdisciplinario, a gathering of linguists, archaeologists and anthropologists at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú in August 2009. This chapter sets out first the raison d’être of our enterprise: why it seemed so important to foster a meeting of minds between these disciplines, to converge their disparate but complementary perspectives into a more coherent Andean prehistory.Next, it is asked how linguistics can inform us about prehistory at all, exploring some general methodological principles and how they might be applied specifically in the case of the Andes. The ‘traditional model’ for associating the linguistic and archaeological records in the Andes is then reviewed — but pointing also to various inherent infelicities, which duly call for a far-reaching, interdisciplinary reconsideration of the Andean past.Therefore we attempt to sum up the new state of the cross-disciplinary art in Andean prehistory, as collectively represented by the papers that emerged both from the Lima conference and from the symposium that preceded it, held at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge in September 2008. Progress and new perspectives are explored first on key individual questions. Who, for instance, were the Incas, and whence and when did they come to Cuzco? How and when did Quechua, too, reach Cuzco, as well as its furthest-flung outposts in north-west Argentina, Ecuador and northern Peru?Finally, the scope is broadened to overall scenarios for how the main Andean language families might correlate in time and space with the archaeological horizons that in principle might best account for their dispersals. Four basic hypotheses have emerged, whose respective strengths and weaknesses are assessed in turn: a traditional ‘Wari as Aymara’ model, revised and defended; alternative proposals of ‘Wari as both Aymara and Quechua’, a suggestion of ‘both Chavin and Wari as Quechua’; and the most radical new departure, ‘Wari as Quechua, Chavin as Aymara’.El presente volumen resulta del simposio "Lenguas y sociedades en el antiguo Perú: hacia un enfoque interdisciplinario", una reunión de lingüistas, arqueólogos y antropólogos realizada en la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú en agosto de 2009. La presente contribución expone primero la razón de ser de nuestra iniciativa: el por qué nos parecía tan importante promover un encuentro entre estas disciplinas, con el objeto de hacer converger sus perspectivas dispares —pero, por lo tanto, complementarias— para avanzar hacia una prehistoria andina más coherente.Seguidamente, preguntamos cómo es que la lingüística está en condiciones de proveernos datos sobre la prehistoria. Primero examinamos algunos principios metodológicos generales a tal fin, antes de examinar como estos se dejan aplicar mejor en el caso específico de los Andes. A continuación, pasamos revista al modelo tradicional de las supuestas asociaciones entre los registros lingüísticos y arqueológicos en la región, señalando al paso varios desaciertos inherentes, los mismos que claman por una reconsideración profunda e interdisciplinaria del pasado andino.Por lo tanto, este artículo prosigue con el propósito de resumir el nuevo estado interdisciplinario de la cuestión de la prehistoria andina, tal como lo representan los artículos que resultaron tanto del encuentro de Lima como del simposio que le precedió, llevado a cabo en el McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research de la University of Cambridge en septiembre de 2008. Se analizan, en primer lugar, los avances y nuevas perspectivas sobre algunos temas específicos, entre ellos: ¿quiénes fueron los incas, de donde procedían y cuando llegaron al Cuzco?, ¿cómo y cuándo alcanzó el quechua el Cuzco, así como sus más alejados puestos de avanzada en el noroeste de Argentina, Ecuador y el norte del Perú?Por último, ampliamos nuestro alcance a escenarios generales que buscan correlacionar, en el tiempo y el espacio, las principales familias lingüísticas de los Andes con los horizontes arqueológicos que, en principio, mejor podrían explicar sus dispersiones. Han surgido cuatro hipótesis básicas, cuyos respectivos puntos fuertes y débiles pasamos a evaluar: el modelo tradicional, ahora revisado y defendido, de "Wari como aimara"; y propuestas alternativas de Wari como aimara y quechua a la vez", "Chavín y Wari como quechua", y —más radical aún respecto al modelo tradicional— "Wari como quechua, Chavín como aimara".
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Reader, Rachael. "Over the ditch and far away : investigating Broxmouth and the landscape of South-East Scotland during the later prehistoric period." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/7347.
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Hillforts have dominated interpretations of later prehistoric society, but these have been based on an uncritical acceptance of their military or symbolic role and a ‘big is best’ mentality. Using the exceptional archive from Broxmouth hillfort in East Lothian, the research presented in this thesis had the unique opportunity to examine the boundaries of that site in detail. Drawing on ideas that sites should not just be seen in their final form, episodes of enclosure creation, maintenance and abandonment are examined. Constructing a biography of Broxmouth has highlighted the relative infrequency of these creation events and how social relationships were intimately tied to the enclosure boundaries. These events are not isolated and investigating the contemporary landscape has shown that the coastal plain would have been densely settled, yet the bleak hills of the Lammermuirs appear to have been avoided. Mapping old routeways and pit alignments shows that this landscape may have been a draw for the practice of transhumance, primarily for sheep and cattle as demonstrated in the Broxmouth evidence. Combining GIS analyses with more experiential approaches, shows how some sites took advantage of the topographical surroundings and were instrumental in the practice of transhumance. Creation events at other sites also appear to be infrequent and examining further excavated sites in East Lothian has allowed the formation of a broad chronology of changing enclosure patterns. Contextualising Broxmouth has documented changes in how people interacted with their landscape, how social relationships were enacted and how these changed from the late Bronze Age, through to the Roman Iron Age.
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Millward, Georgia Grunewald. "The genetic prehistory of the lower Illinois River valley| An ancient DNA analysis of Yokem Mounds 1-5." Thesis, Indiana University, 2015. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3742824.
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Yokem Mounds and its neighboring lower Illinois River valley sites were part of a dramatic cultural shift that occurred during the transition from the Late Woodland period (A.D. 400-1050) to the Mississippian period (A.D. 1050-1400) of Illinois prehistory. Evident changes in diet, burial treatment, and material culture accompanied this transition at Yokem Mounds. What remains unknown is whether the transition co-occurred with a population displacement by originators of the Mississippian culture, the Cahokians, or other Mississippian immigrants. My ancient DNA analysis of Yokem Mounds 1-5 tackled this question, as well as described other cultural behaviors in order to identify additional impacts of the Mississippian culture.
I typed the mitochondrial DNA of 21 Late Woodland and 23 Mississippian individuals and placed the results within the context of previous genetic studies of the lower Illinois River valley and other ancient Midwest populations. I determined that there was genetic continuity between the Late Woodland and Mississippian populations, both populations practiced patrilocal postmarital residence patterns, and neither had burial patterns organized by matrilines. The differences in maize consumption as determined by stable isotopic signatures amongst the Late Woodland population were not associated with matrilineal familial diet preference. The population genetic analysis identified genetic connections between Yokem Mounds and contemporaneous populations at Schild Cemetery, Orendorf, and Angel Mounds; but Yokem Mounds was significantly different from the Oneota population at Norris Farms #36. Additionally, Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex DNA was recovered from eleven individuals from Yokem Mounds and Schild Cemetery. Notably, two of these individuals date to the Middle Woodland period (100 B.C.-A.D. 400), which is the earliest identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex DNA in the lower Illinois River valley. Overall, this research further expands our understanding of Native American prehistory and the demographic changes that occurred prior to European contact.
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Kaiser, Luke Frederic, and Luke Frederic Kaiser. "The Role of Feasting in the Development of Complexity in Minoan Society." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/622846.
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Feasting is one of the most ubiquitous communal activities in the history of humanity. Oftentimes, feasting is accompanied by a substantial amount of material culture that carries intimate details of the activities that took place at these events. In fact, the changes in the material culture of a feast can also inform us as to how society itself was transforming by becoming increasingly insular or shifting toward a more regional sense of identity. One of the established methods of analyzing a feast is through the examination of its ceramic assemblage. The Bronze Age site of Mochlos in East Crete has a well-stratified Early Minoan deposit which has provided me with an opportunity to interpret a number of social, political, and economic intricacies taking place in East Crete as Minoan society approached the palatial system that dominated the Middle and Late Minoan periods. In order to do this, I provide a background to my research, perform a ceramic study of the stratified deposit in question, interpret the results of the analysis, and include a cross-cultural investigation that serves to further enlighten the data from Mochlos. What is most important to take from this study is that Prepalatial society was not without complexity and structure, and, in reality, much of the complexity that we attribute to the palatial social system of the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE can be traced back to the second half of the 3rd millennium BCE.
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Sheridan, Jill Alison. "The role of exchange studies in 'social archaeology', with special reference to the prehistory of Ireland from the fourth to the early second millennium B.C." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1985. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/250862.
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Barry, Marie Porterfield. "Lesson 03: Prehistory - Our Connection to the History of Humankind Before Text." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2020. https://dc.etsu.edu/art-appreciation-oer/4.
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This lesson covers prehistoric art from the Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages. It focuses on cave art (Pech-Merle, Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc, Lascaux) and carved figures (Woman of Willendorf) from the Paleolithic period and megalithic architecture (Stonehenge) from the Neolithic period.
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Swan, Lorraine. "Minerals and Managers: : production contexts as evidence for social organization in Zimbabwean prehistory." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala University, African and Comparative Archaeology, 2008. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-8588.
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In the Zimbabwean past, farming societies utilized mineral resources for their own use and for exchange to local and regional populations, as well as to markets beyond African borders. Successful agriculture was constrained by environmental hazards, principally unpredictable and often inadequate rainfall. Farming communities managed this predicament in various ways. It is likely that some groups used mineral resources found in the vicinity of their settlements to produce materials or items to exchange. The social contexts that defined the nature of mineral production and exchange altered between the mid-first and mid-second millennium AD, as social ranks emerged and political and economic systems became increasingly complex. The thesis is a commentary on how the motivation of society to broaden its resource base, to improve the benefits to households and to society in general, contributed to the emergence of leaders and, ultimately, of an elite class. The focus of the research is on iron and copper production because the author has examined gold production thoroughly in a previous study. Four published papers outline the history of iron and copper production in Zimbabwe. The papers provide case studies of the scale and social context of iron and copper production and exchange.
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Beresford-Jones, David, and Paul Heggarty. "Broadening Our Horizons: Towards an Interdisciplinary Prehistory of the Andes." Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2012. http://repositorio.pucp.edu.pe/index/handle/123456789/113496.
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This chapter sets out a new proposal for a coherent interdisciplinary prehistory of the Andes, based firstly on a long overdue reexamination of the relationships between the various regional ‘dialects’ within the Quechua language family; and secondly on the search for a far more satisfactory correlation with the archaeological record.Our founding principle is that language expansions do not ‘just happen’. Rather, they happen only for those very same reasons of socio-cultural change that archaeology seeks to describe through its own, independent data. Here is the true link between our disciplines, so we discard outdated, facile equations of ‘language equals culture equals genes’, in favour of the real correlation: that language families necessarily reflect past expansive processes, whose traces should also be clear in the material culture record. This principle is one that we can make use of to identify and assess correspondences between archaeological and linguistic patterns, on three levels: chronology, geography, and above all, causation. Or in other words: when, where and why did particular language expansions occur?In the Andes, in principle this entails that we should look to the Horizons, not the Intermediate Periods, as offering the most natural explanations for the major Quechua and Aymara dispersals. With the Incas too late to account for the time-depth of either family, the most plausible candidate for the first major expansion of Quechua turns out in our view to be the Wari Middle Horizon, with the Chavín Early Horizon more tentatively suggested as behind the earlier spread of the Aymara family. This effectively both upturns the traditional Torero hypothesis, and bears clear implications for the long debate in archaeology as to the nature, duration and extent of ‘Horizons’.Este artículo propone una nueva visión de la prehistoria andina, que busca tejer un conjunto mas coherente entre las varias disciplinas que intentan entender el pasado precolombino. Se fundamenta, en primer lugar, en una reexaminación, pendiente ya desde décadas, de la clasificación tradicional de las relaciones entre los diversos "dialectos" regionales al interior de la familia lingüística quechua; y, en segundo lugar, en la búsqueda de una correlación mucho más satisfactoria con el registro arqueológico.El nuevo enfoque que aquí proponemos se enraíza en el principio fundamental que si algunas lenguas mayores han logrado dispersarse de manera espectacular, esto no pudo haber ocurrido sin ningún motivo. Más bien, tales expansiones lingüísticas se deben a las mismas razones —es decir, los mismos cambios socioculturales— que la arqueología también busca describir por medio de sus propios datos independientes. Allí radica el auténtico vínculo entre nuestras disciplinas, de manera que podemos descartar las ecuaciones simplistas y obsoletas del estilo "lengua=cultura=genes", en favor de la correlación verdadera: las familias de lenguas reflejan procesos expansivos pasados, cuyos indicios deberían quedar claros también en el registro de la cultura material. Este principio se aprovecha para identificar y evaluar las correspondencias entre los patrones arqueológicos y lingüísticos, y así en tres niveles: la cronología, la geografía y, sobre todo, la causalidad. En otras palabras: ¿cuando, dónde y porqué se difundieron determinadas lenguas?En los Andes esto implica que en principio debemos ver a los horizontes, y no a los periodos intermedios, como los que ofrecen las explicaciones más naturales para las dispersiones mayores del quechua y el aimara. Ya que el Imperio incaico remonta a una época demasiado tardía las explicaciones de la profundidad temporal de cada familia, es más bien el Horizonte Medio Wari el que se vuelve el candidato más verosímil para haber vehiculizado la primera gran expansión del quechua, según nuestro parecer. Asimismo, aunque de manera más tentativa, se sugiere que el Horizonte Temprano Chavín pudo haber impulsado la dispersión más temprana de la familia aimara. Esto, en efecto, trastoca la hipótesis tradicional de Torero, además de conllevar claras implicancias para el largo debate arqueológico acerca de la naturaleza, duración y extensión de los "horizontes".
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Stigsohn, Lovisa. "Toner från förhistorien : En studie om förhistoriska musikinstrument och deras olika betydelser i det fornnordiska samhället." Thesis, University of Kalmar, School of Human Sciences, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hik:diva-2482.
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This is a study of Prehistoric musical instruments from Scandinavia and the different meanings they could have had in the Prehistoric society. I have described the different types of possible music instruments and the different categories that they belong to. I have also written about their different functions that could have been for example ritual artefacts, shamanic tools or useful instruments in hunting. Two case studies are also presented in the essay, the Falköpingsflute and the Balkåkradrum.
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Ferraioli, Ferdinando. "L'hecatostys : analisi della documentazione." Phd thesis, Université du Maine, 2011. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00654302.
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La thèse a pour objet l'hécatostys, une unité civique appartenant à la catégorie des celles que les Modernes définissent comme " numériques ". Nous en comptons près de cent témoignages épigraphiques et littéraires. Cette institution est présente notamment à Mégare et dans certaines de ses colonies propontiques et pontiques (Chalcédoine, Byzance, Héraclée du Pont, Sélymbria et peut-être Chersonèse Taurique). D'autres témoignages proviennent de Samos et de Lampsaque, deux cités d'Ionie. La thèse est divisée en deux parties. Une première partie, la plus importante, est consacrée au recueil, à l'analyse et à la traduction de tous les documents intéressant notre enquête, présentés par régions et par cités (s'ajoute une section regroupant les cas douteux). Le commentaire se propose de mettre en évidence, le cas échéant, les données et les problèmes et d'examiner le rôle de cette institution dans chaque cité. Une seconde partie, plus succincte, est une sorte de chapitre final faisant le point sur ce qui est issu des différentes sections dans le cadre d'une discussion plus générale. Il suffira de présenter brièvement les témoignages littéraires et épigraphiques des diverses cités dans l'ordre dans lequel ils sont traités en détail dans la thèse. Un examen de l'unique témoignage fourni par Mégare (IG IV 21 42) et la comparaison avec d'autres cas similaires ont révélé l'existence probable d'une relation, malheureusement assez mal définie, entre l'hécatostys et la plus ancienne organisation du territoire de la Mégaride. Ensuite, l'analyse des nombreux témoignages épigraphiques relatifs à l'hécatostys de Byzance et de Chalcédoine (décrets octroyant la citoyenneté et formules onomastiques) a révélé, pour la période postérieure au IVe siècle av. J.-C., une relation entre l'hécatostys et le droit de cité. Nous passons ensuite à l'examen des sources concernant Héraclée du Pont, Samos et Lampsaque. Il s'agit, dans le premier cas, de sources littéraires, dans les deux autres cas, de témoignages épigraphiques. Une analyse du témoignage littéraire sur Héraclée du Pont (Aen.. Tact., XI 10 bis-11) nous amène à supposer d'une part une dépendance possible d'Énée le Tacticien du texte d'Aristote, d'autre part, l'existence d'écrits de référence qui auraient pu offrir des éclaircissements sur les plus anciennes fonctions de l'hécatostys. L'analyse des nombreux témoignages épigraphiques de Samos et de Lampsaque montre, ici encore, l'existence d'une relation entre l'appartenance à l'hécatostys et la citoyenneté. L'examen des formulaires concernant l'inscription dans l'hécatostys dans les documents octroyant la citoyenneté à Samos s'avère lui aussi intéressant. Quant à la documentation fournie par Lampsaque, elle permet de supposer un lien entre l'hécatostys et le déroulement de certains actes religieux, bien que, vu l'état fragmentaire de l'inscription en question, il soit difficile de tirer des conclusions plus développées. Enfin la définition lexicographique d'Hésychios (s.v. " hécatostys ") semble être l'écho de la transmission de la théorie post-aristotélicienne sur l'hécatostys.
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Bonga, Lily Alexandra. "Late Neolithic Pottery from Mainland Greece, ca. 5,300-4,300 B.C." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2013. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/236215.
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Art HistoryPh.D.
The Late Neolithic (defined here as the LN I of Sampson 1993 and Coleman 1992) is both the culmination and the turning point of Greek Neolithic culture from the preceding phases. It lasts some 1,000 years, from approximately 5,300 to 4,300 B.C. The ceramic repertoire of the Late Neolithic period in Greece is a tremendously diverse body of material. Alongside this diversity, other aspects of the ceramic assemblage, such as Matt-painted and Black-burnished pottery, share broad similarities throughout regions, constituting a "koine." The commonalities, however, are most apparent during the earlier part of the Late Neolithic (LN Ia); in the later phase (LN Ib) phase, more regional variations proliferate than before. In the Late Neolithic, all categories of pottery--monochrome, decorated, and undecorated--are at their technological and stylistic acme in comparison with earlier periods. While some of the pottery types demonstrate unbroken continuity and development from the preceding Early and Middle Neolithic phases, new specialized shapes and painting techniques are embraced. For the first time in the Neolithic, shapes appear that are typically thought of by archaeologists as being for food processing (strainers and "cheese-pots"), cooking (tripod cooking pots and baking pans), and storing (pithoi). More recent research, however, has demonstrated that these "utilitarian" vessels were more often than not used for purposes other than their hypothesized function. These new "utilitarian" vessels were to dominate the next and last phase of the Neolithic, the Final Neolithic (also called the Chalcolithic, Eneolithic, or LN II) when painted pottery disappears from most Greek assemblages just before the beginning of the Bronze Age. During the past two decades, there has been much research into Late Neolithic Greece, particularly in Northern Greece (Macedonia). This dissertation incorporates the most up-to-date information from these recent excavations with the older material from sites in Thessaly, Central Greece, and Southern Greece. Since this study draws solely upon published material, both old and new, there are certain limitations to the type of analysis that can be performed. The approach, then, is more of an art-historical and historiographical overview than a rigorous archaeological analysis. It provides an overview of the major classes of pottery (decorated, monochrome, and undecorated) and their primary shapes, motifs, and technological aspects. While it emphasizes commonalities, regional and chronological variations are also highlighted. The technological means of production of vessels, their use, circulation, and deposition are also considered. The structure of this paper is that each pottery chapter is devoted to a broad class (such as Matt-painted), which is broadly defined and then more closely examined at the regional level for chronological and stylistic variations. Likewise, a sub-section then discusses the technology of a particular class and its regional and or chronological similarities and differences. When necessary, outdated scholarship is addressed and rectified.
Temple University--Theses
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Morgan-Forster, Antonia H. "Climate, Environment and Malaria during the Prehistory of Mainland Greece." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2011. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/1579/.
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Interpretations of osteological remains from mainland Greece during the 1960-1980s led to the suggestion that the most virulent form of malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, was prevalent between the Mesolithic and Late Bronze Age (c. 8700 cal. BC-1100 cal. BC). Although disregarded over the past decade, the theory has regained support in recent years from osteological, epidemiological, environmental and DNA studies. However, the presence of this strain of malaria in prehistoric Greece remains controversial. This thesis evaluates 1) the palaeoclimatic conditions of the Aegean between the Mesolithic and Late Bronze Age and 2) the palaeoenvironmental conditions of three archaeological settlements, with the aim of ascertaining whether the climatic and environmental conditions were as conducive for P. falciparum and the mosquito vectors as the osteological evidence suggested. Equal consideration is given to the so-called ‘lesser strains’ of malaria, P. vivax and P. malariae, the significance of which is considered to have been underestimated in previous studies.
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Linderholm, Johan. "The soil as a source material in archaeology. : Theoretical considerations and pragmatic applications." Doctoral thesis, Umeå universitet, Institutionen för idé- och samhällsstudier, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-31380.
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This thesis deals with questions on various applications using soils and sediments as sources of information in archaeological research. Human environmental impact on soils and sediments, in terms of pollution, is a well known phenomenon as the industrialisation intensified during historical times and onwards and has left strong pollutive marks. However, humans have always accumulated or emitted matter and various compounds in connection to their habitats for subsistence, but these earlier traces are not always detectable, depending on soil and sediment state of preservation. Bioessential elements are intimately linked to humans and their dwellings and especially phosphate has been evident in this respect. It was established already in the 1930s, that even Stone Age settlements could be located through elevated phosphate content in extensive soil phosphate mappings. This thesis is a compilation on results from several sites and excavations from the southern to the northern parts of Sweden. There is a wide variety of soil types and chronological setting in the material, from highly acid podzols to calcareous soils, and sediments dated to Younger Dryas to current top soils. Sites from the Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Early and Late Iron Age and Medieval are all represented. Methods that have been implemented are firstly various forms of analysis in regards to soil phosphate, magnetic susceptibility and organic matter. Furthermore, metal and non-metal elements have been considered, as well as lead isotopes. A multiproxy approach is applied in some examples where biological and chemical data is combined to interpret past events. In this thesis there are also five papers presented. The first paper deals with methodological issues concerning multi-element analyses of various soil samples (off-site to feature) from an archaeological excavation. The second paper is about the possibilities that may be used when analysing the soil organic phosphate in relation to prehistoric agriculture. Paper three and fourth are compilations of large scale contract archaeological project. These papers deal with theoretical, methodological and practical issues concerning environmental archaeology in relation to contract archaeology. Studies on landscape development and erosion are among the cases presented. The last paper deals with a late Mesolithic - early Neolithic settlement in Vuollerim, N. Sweden, and spatial dimensions on the human use of settlement (off-site to on-site) and house floors (intra-site), are discussed.
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Ardelean, Ciprian Florin. "Archaeology of early human occupations and the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in the Zacatecas Desert, northern Mexico." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10871/13870.
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This doctoral thesis presents the results of the pioneering archaeological investigation conducted in the Northern Mexican Highlands with the aim to evaluate the existing indicators of the earliest human occupations at the end of the Pleistocene and discover new evidence of ancient cultural manifestations through a systematic exploration of an endorheic basic in the Zacatecas desert, a region never studied before. An exhaustive survey and analysis of the available literature on Mexican prehistory establishes the weak points of the local paradigms, differentiating between academic myths and objective realities. A complete historiography of the topic of the earliest humans in Mexico has been achieved, for the first time. The study of several collections of flaked stone artefacts, in different cities in Mexico, show new indicators of the presence of bearers of the Late Paleoamerican cultures, in regions where their presence had been weakly confirmed. The most important part of the research consisted in fieldwork realised during two long seasons; the first one dedicated to the surface explorations and the second one to excavations. Thirty-five new archaeological sites were discovered in the first phase, most of them open campsites reminiscent of hunter-gatherer societies, with a richness of stone artefacts on their surface. They indicate a long cultural sequence, going from the Late Pleistocene to the Late Holocene and the historic periods. Four sites were further studied by fourteen test excavation units: Dunas de Milpa Grande, San José de las Grutas, the Chiquihuite Cave and Ojo de Agua. Two new archaeological cultures were identified, one at Dunas (an interesting assemblage of limestone and basalt flaked stone tools) and another one at San José (a limestone concave-based points complex). First indicators of ʻolder than Clovisʼ human presence have also been obtained. The palaeoenvironmental data provide a preliminary reconstruction of the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene landscape of the basin, based on geology, extinct fauna, phytolith and mollusc analyses. Radiocarbon and OSL results support a first cultural and paleoclimatic model for the study area. This investigation also discovered the first case of a “black mat” in Mexico: a black layer of sediment deposited under specific environmental conditions during the Younger Dryas cooling event.
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Harrower, Michael James. "Environmental versus social parameters, landscape, and the origins of irrigation in Southwest Arabia (Yemen)." Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1135738900.
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Silva, Abrahão Sanderson Nunes Fernandes da. "Bacanga, Paço do Lumiar e Panaquatira: estudo das indústrias líticas presentes em sambaquis na Ilha de São Luís, Maranhão, por cadeias operatórias e sistema tecnológico." Universidade de São Paulo, 2013. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/71/71131/tde-11042013-161635/.
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Esta pesquisa visa a compreensão das indústrias líticas relacionadas ao sambaquis Bacanga, Panaquatira e Paço do Lumiar, existentes, respectivamente, nos municípios de São Luís, São José de Ribamar e Paço do Lumiar, localizados na Ilha de São Luís, Maranhão. Os sítios cujo material foi analisado estão em uma região costeria, inseridos em ambiente de estuário e apresentaram cronologias variando entre 3.840 e 1420 anos antes do presente. Os conceitos básicos utilizados para compreender as indústrias foram os de cadeia operatória e sistema tecnológico.This research aims at understanding the lithic industries related to shellmounds Bacanga, Panaquatira and Paço do Lumiar existing, respectively, in the municipalities of São Luís, São José de Ribamar and Paço do Lumiar, located on the island of São Luís, Maranhão. The sites where in a coastal region inserted in estuary environment and showed varying timelines between 3840 and 1420 years before present. The key concepts used to understand the industries were the operative chain and technological system.
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Watson, Anna L. "Normality and the Aging Process in the Thoracic Spine: Two Late Prehistoric Ohio Populations." The Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1242766993.
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Kelley, Caitlin. "Ten Thousand Years of Prehistory on Ocheesee Pond, Northwest Florida| Archaeological Investigations on the Keene Family Land, Jackson County." Thesis, University of South Florida, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1535883.
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The purpose of this project was to record the private archaeological collection of the Keene family, which was previously unknown to the professional community. While at the two sites, Keene Redfield site (8Ja1847) and Keene Dog Pond site (8Ja1848), in Jackson County, northwest Florida, USF archaeologists also conducted field investigations to look for prehistoric cultural materials in undisturbed contexts.
This research was conducted at the request of the Keene family. The field crew systematically documented, cataloged and photographed each artifact in the Keene collection while at the sites. Surface survey and testing were also carried out in order to determine site boundaries, occupation and function.
]Over 1,000 artifacts from every time period from the transitional Paleo-Indian/Early Archaic through the Mississippian were documented from the collection. Field investigations resulted in the location and investigation of undisturbed cultural strata below the plow zone, enabling the researchers to obtain radiocarbon dates from these deposits. Evidence of hunting and gathering activities and of tool processing including repair, sharpening and possible re-use was found at both sites.
This work allowed for the publication of two previously unknown, rich archaeological sites and for a better understanding of the prehistoric activities and functions of this region of the southeast. While participating in this public archaeology project, several other similar opportunities presented themselves, providing USF archaeologists with the ability to maintain a presence in the area to continue public archaeology efforts to engage the community and encourage appropriate participation and good stewardship of these types of private sites.
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Toledo, Brambilla Gasques Lia Raquel. "El pasado arqueológico en Mato Grosso do Sul – Brasil: un análisis a través de la base de datos del MuArq – Museo de Arqueología de la UFMS." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/673646.
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Aquesta tesi investiga la prehistòria de Mato Grosso do Sul, Brasil, amb l’objectiu d’analitzar la gran diversitat de poblaments prehistòrics a la regió i entendre com van arribar i a on o quan es van establir a Mato Grosso do Sul. El fet d’estar en el centre del continent sud-americà, suggereix que aquest estat va ser la ruta de les poblacions que venien de nord / sud i est / oest del continent. Com a conseqüència, la segona major diversitat ètnica del Brasil es concentra en aquesta regió, probablement heretada de pobles prehistòrics. Per entendre i contextualitzar el poblament actual, es van investigar les influències culturals i mediambientals que van dirigir el passat moviment dels grups, incloent la seva arribada i la seva distribució dins i fora d’aquesta regió en el passat entre 12.600 anys B.P. fins a 500 anys B.P. amb l’arribada dels europeus a la regió. L’estudi es basa en la utilització de SIG, utilitzant l’eina QGIS que es va emprar per caracteritzar els patrons d’assentaments dels diferents grups prehistòrics. Es va treballar amb contextos geofísics (hidrografia, geologia i geografia), arqueològics, específicament, en evidències materials de cultura, i amb datacions per radiocarboni. La recerca es va recolzar en una base de dades, feta per a aquesta tesi, en la qual es va incloure la informació medi ambiental i arqueològica provinent del Museu d’Arqueologia de la Universitat Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (MuArq), IPHAN, altres investigadors d’altres universitats i els informes finals obtinguts en l’arqueologia de contracte. A partir de l’anàlisi dels patrons de distribució dels assentaments dels grups caçadors-recol·lectors i agricultors ceramistes, més el seu context natural, s’ha realitzat un model de la distribució dels diferents grups i les influències naturals / culturals més significatives. La ubicació dels jaciments demostren que la influència més important en tots dos poblaments (caçadors-recol·lectors i agricultors) de Mato Grosso do Sul és la proximitat dels recursos hídrics. Es van observar que ambdós jaciments van ocupar les conques del Paraguai i Paranà i els seus respectius afluents, dades que van ser corroborats per la datació (TL i 14C) i pel tipus de material obtingut en els diferents estrats d’una mateixa ocupació. A més a més, per a complementar aquests estudis, es va fer l’extracció dels càlculs dentals de dos cranis de la sub tradició guaraní, per començar una investigació inèdita d’ arqueobotànica a la regió, en la qual es guardaran les informacions obtingudes dels microtraus trobats en els càlculs per a posteriors investigacions ambientals i de la dieta precolonial a la regió.Esta tesis investiga la prehistoria de Mato Grosso do Sul, Brasil, con el objetivo de analizar la gran diversidad de poblamientos prehistóricos en la región y entender cómo llegaron y donde o cuando se establecieron en Mato Grosso do Sul. El hecho de estar en el centro del continente sudamericano, sugiere que este estado ha sido la ruta de las poblaciones que venían del norte / sur y este / oeste del continente. Como consecuencia, la segunda mayor diversidad étnica de Brasil se concentra en esta región, probablemente heredada de pueblos prehistóricos. Para entender y contextualizar el poblamiento actual, se investigaron las influencias culturales y medio ambientales que dirigían el pasado movimiento de los grupos, incluyendo su llegada y su distribución dentro y fuera de esta región en el pasado entre 12.600 años B.P. hasta 500 años B.P. con la llegada de los europeos a la región. El estudio se basa en la utilización de SIG, utilizando la herramienta QGIS que se empleó para caracterizar los patrones de asentamientos de los diferentes grupos prehistóricos. Se trabajó con contextos geofísicos (hidrografía, geología y geografía), arqueológicos, específicamente, en evidencias materiales de cultura, y con dataciones por radiocarbono. La investigación se apoyó en una base de datos, hecha para esta tesis, en la cual se incluyó la información medio ambiental y arqueológica proveniente del Museo de Arqueología de la Universidad Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (MuArq), IPHAN, otros investigadores de otras universidades y los informes finales obtenidos en la arqueología de contrato. A partir del análisis de los estándares de distribución de los asentamientos de los grupos cazadores-recolectores y agricultores ceramistas, más su contexto natural, se ha realizado un modelo de entrada de los diferentes grupos y las influencias naturales/culturales más significativas. La ubicación de los yacimientos demuestra que la influencia más importante en ambos poblamientos (cazadores-recolectores y agricultores) del Mato Grosso do Sul es la proximidad de los recursos hídricos. Se observaron que los dos yacimientos ocuparon las cuencas del Paraguay y Paraná y sus respectivos afluentes, datos que fueron corroborados por la datación (TL y 14C) y por el tipo de material obtenido en los diferentes estratos de una misma ocupación. Además, para complementar estos estudios, se hizo la extracción de los cálculos dentales de dos cráneos de la sub tradición guaraní, para empezar una investigación inédita de arqueobotánica en la región, en la cual se guardarán las informaciones obtenidas de los microtrazos hallados en los cálculos para posteriores investigaciones ambientales y de dieta precolonial en la región.
This thesis investigates the prehistory of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, with the aim of analysing the great diversity of prehistoric settlements in the region and understanding how they arrived and where and when they settled in Mato Grosso do Sul. The South American continent, has been crossed by populations from the north / south and east / west. Today, Mato Grosso do Sul has the second largest ethnic diversity of Brazil, inherited from prehistoric peoples. In order to understand and contextualise today’s indigenous population distribution, the cultural and environmental influences which led the movement of the groups in the past, including their arrival and distribution in and out of the region between 12600 years AP until 500 years AP with the arrival of Europeans to the region, is investigated. I have analysed the archaeological data from the geographical perspective (hydrography, geology and geography), based on the material evidence of culture and radiocarbon dates. The study uses GIS, specifically the QGIS tool to characterise the patterns of different prehistoric groups’ settlements. A database was developed which included environmental and archaeological information from the Museum of Archaeology of the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (MuArq), IPHAN, other researchers from different universities and the final reports obtained from contract archaeological reports. A model of the settlement distribution patterns of the different groups and the most significant natural / cultural influences has been developed for the hunter-gatherer and ceramic farmer groups, as well as the geographical and other natural contextual data. The results show that the most important influence on the peopling of Mato Grosso do Sul is the proximity to water resources such as the Paraguay and Paraná basins and their tributaries and their proximity to forests, in every period. In other words, there is no big difference between the preferences of the hunter-gatherer and the farmers, so much that the sites (the dated ones) were occupied by many peoples, both Paleoindian and Indigenous. Despite the paucity of radiocarbon dates, cultural evidence obtained in the excavated layers, demonstrated this. Furthermore, in order to complement these studies and the possession of two skulls of the Guaraní sub-tradition, and analysis of the microfossil contents of dental calculus samples was undertaken, to conduct a preliminary archaeobotanical investigation. The information obtained from this microfossil analysis will be stored for subsequent environmental researches and prehistoric diet in the region.
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Programa de Doctorat en Arqueologia Prehistòrica
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Field, Julie S. "The evolution of competition and cooperation in Fijian prehistory archaeological research in the Sigatoka Valley, Fiji /." Thesis, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2003. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=0&did=765031501&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=2&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1233790945&clientId=23440.
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Brown, Hannah J. "Understanding the later prehistoric field systems of the Yorkshire Dales." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/15711.
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The Yorkshire Dales National Park contains some of the UK’s most extensive and well-preserved prehistoric landscapes. Of particular interest are a number of coaxial field systems, which cover hundreds of hectares and exhibit significant time-depth, yet remain little studied and poorly understood in relation to comparable resources elsewhere in Britain and north western Europe. This research aims to address this situation, bringing together existing disparate source materials for the first time, alongside supplementary field observation, to develop a detailed record of the coaxial landscapes. Using a Geographic Information System to manage, interpret and interrogate the combined datasets, analysis focuses on form and character, and explores prehistoric use of the iconic landscape. The study seeks to enhance our knowledge and understanding of the landscapes’ place in space and time, setting them against the backdrop of systems elsewhere, and attempts to place them within the context of later prehistoric society. The research, conducted in association with the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, also informs the management and public understanding of the archaeological resource of the Dales via the Historic Environment Record.
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García, Martínez María Soledad. "Recursos forestales en un medio semiárido. Nuevos datos antracológicos para la Región de Murcia desde la Edad del Bronce hasta época medieval." Doctoral thesis, Universidad de Murcia, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/11018.
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Esta tesis doctoral recoge el estudio antracológico de los materiales leñosos carbonizados de cinco yacimientos arqueológicos de la Región de Murcia cuya secuencia cronológica cubre los últimos 3800 años, desde la Edad del Bronce hasta la época medieval. Los yacimientos estudiados son concretamente La Punta de los Gavilanes (Mazarrón), con ocupación desde la Edad del Bronce hasta mediados del siglo I a.C.; Barranco de la Viuda (Lorca), con un único momento de ocupación asociado al Bronce Argárico; el Balneario Romano de Archena, cuya cronología se sitúa en torno al siglo I d.C.; los materiales constructivos carbonizados del Teatro Romano de Cartagena y, finalmente, el enclave de los siglos XII y XIII localizado en la Calle Santa María nº 19 de Jumilla.Los resultados obtenidos se insertan en el contexto del Sureste de la Península Ibérica a partir de su discusión con las secuencias polínicas y antracológicas publicadas para esta zona.This doctoral thesis contains the charcoal analysis of the charred materials from five archaeological sites of the Región de Murcia, whose chronological sequence covers the last 3800 years, from the Bronze Age to the medieval period. The studied sites are concretely Punta de los Gavilanes (Mazarrón), occupied from the Bronze Age to the I century BC; Barranco de la Viuda (Lorca), with one moment of occupation associated to the Argaric Bronze; Balneario Romano de Archena, whose chronology is around the I century AD; the charred building materials of the Teatro Romano de Cartagena and, finally, the medieval site (XII and XIII centuries) located in the Calle Santa Maria nº 19 of Jumilla.The results are inserted in the context of the Southeastern Iberian Peninsula by means of their discussion with published pollen and charcoal sequences from this zone.
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Patton, Paul E. "A PROCESSUAL APPROACH TO HOCKING VALLEY, OHIO, PREHISTORIC CERAMICS USING EDX AND XRD ANALYSIS." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1180051803.
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Shapiro, Craig Harris. "The Function of Prehistoric Agricultural Systems in Sāmoa: A GIS Analysis of Resilience to Flooding." The Ohio State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1587471401529248.
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Saunders, Mary K. "Walking through time : a window onto the prehistory of the Yorkshire Dales through multi-method, non-standard survey approaches." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/15207.
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The large-scale field-systems, ubiquitous across upland and marginal parts of the Yorkshire Dales, are insecurely dated and poorly understood. Apart from some sporadic academic interest, the archaeology of this region has yet to receive the level of scholarly attention it deserves. The research presented here involved an intensive investigation of an area near Grassington, Upper Wharfedale, UK. Detailed field analysis revealed a section of one of these field-systems to be only a single element in a complex, multi-layered prehistoric landscape, which it is proposed may have roots as far back as the early Neolithic. Contextualisation of the survey area against palynological data, radiocarbon dates and comparative material moves the date of inception of the field-systems back to the middle Bronze Age, some 1000 years earlier than is currently assumed. The combination of empirical data and theoretical ideas has allowed a relative chronology to be determined in the survey area, together with the creation of a testable hypothesis surrounding the development of Upper Wharfedale and the wider Yorkshire Dales through prehistory. A sense of place and the veneration of natural places are key themes within this landscape and it was possible through these to draw out elements of prehistoric society and to show the evolution of ideas such as land tenure and monument significance. This dual empirical-theoretical approach is novel in upland landscape archaeology in the UK and is shown here to have significant merit.
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Royce, Karen Louise. "Geophysical Investigation of an Early Late Woodland Community in the Middle Ohio River Valley: The Water Plant Site." The Ohio State University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1313416567.
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Ojala, Carl-Gösta. "Sámi Prehistories : The Politics of Archaeology and Identity in Northernmost Europe." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala universitet, Arkeologi, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-108857.
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Throughout the history of archaeology, the Sámi (the indigenous people in northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in the Russian Federation) have been conceptualized as the “Others” in relation to the national identity and (pre)history of the modern states. It is only in the last decades that a field of Sámi archaeology that studies Sámi (pre)history in its own right has emerged, parallel with an ethnic and cultural revival among Sámi groups. This dissertation investigates the notions of Sámi prehistory and archaeology, partly from a research historical perspective and partly from a more contemporary political perspective. It explores how the Sámi and ideas about the Sámi past have been represented in archaeological narratives from the early 19th century until today, as well as the development of an academic field of Sámi archaeology. The study consists of four main parts: 1) A critical examination of the conceptualization of ethnicity, nationalism and indigeneity in archaeological research. 2) A historical analysis of the representations and debates on Sámi prehistory, primarily in Sweden but also to some extent in Norway and Finland, focusing on four main themes: the origin of the Sámi people, South Sámi prehistory as a contested field of study, the development of reindeer herding, and Sámi pre-Christian religion. 3) An analysis of the study of the Sámi past in Russia, and a discussion on archaeological research and constructions of ethnicity and indigeneity in the Russian Federation and the Soviet Union. 4) An examination of the claims for greater Sámi self-determination concerning cultural heritage management and the debates on repatriation and reburial in the Nordic countries. In the dissertation, it is argued that there is a great need for discussions on the ethics and politics of archaeological research. A relational network approach is suggested as a way of opening up some of the black boxes and bounded, static entities in the representations of people in the past in the North.