Academic literature on the topic 'Paleobotany Archaeology Prehistoric peoples'
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Journal articles on the topic "Paleobotany Archaeology Prehistoric peoples"
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Strauss, Alan E. "Narragansett Basin Argillite: Lithology, Chronology, and Prehistoric Tool Manufacture." North American Archaeologist 10, no. 1 (July 1989): 25–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.2190/beba-n4up-c1r6-pvkg.
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This article examines the use of one low-grade raw material, Narragansett Basin argillite, by prehistoric peoples in southeastern New England. Petrographic sections analyzed by Dr. Dan Murray (Geologist, University of Rhode Island) have provided a detailed account of the lithology of this material. Rock formation processes and lithic sources are also discussed. Artifact analysis has provided data pertaining to the prehistoric periods when Narragansett Basin argillite was most often used by prehistoric populations in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. An examination of tool manufacturing techniques has brought to light striking similarities between argillite and quartz Small Stemmed points further supporting the hypothesis of an in situ development of the Small Stemmed Point tradition in New England.
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Junker-Andersen, C. "The Eel Fisheries of the St. Lawrence Iroquoians." North American Archaeologist 9, no. 2 (October 1988): 97–121. http://dx.doi.org/10.2190/pt2v-3f1u-9kgg-klr7.
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Recent zooarchaeological analyses of faunal materials recovered from the Steward (BfFt-2), Beckstead (BfFt-1), and Driver's (BeFu-2) archaeological sites in Eastern Ontario have demonstrated that the late prehistoric Iroquoian peoples who inhabited the upper St. Lawrence River valley depended to a great degree upon the exploitation of freshwater fish resources. Among the fish species found to be of primary importance to these peoples was the American Eel ( Anguilla rostrata [Lesueur]). The author examines both the ethnographic evidence and the available archaeological data concerning the native exploitation of this species to reconstruct the methods used in its capture and preparation, as well as its role in the St. Lawrence Iroquoians' seasonal cycle of faunal resource exploitation activities.
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White, John R. "The Kern Effigy: Evidence for a Prehistoric fort Ancient Summer Solstice Marker." North American Archaeologist 7, no. 2 (October 1986): 137–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.2190/wlf7-5drf-nu10-dqll.
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Recent excavations in Warren County, Ohio, within the shadow of monumental Fort Ancient have brought to light a large prehistoric alignment of limestone flagstones forming an effigy of a serpent. Radiocarbon dates indicate that this effigy was constructed in 1200 A.D. presumably by local peoples archaeologically designated as being of the Anderson focus (or phase) of the Fort Ancient aspect. Strong evidence indicates that this large “artifact” may have seen use as an astronomical ground marker for determining the summer solstice and important dates related thereto. A set of general and site specific hypotheses is presented to support this contention and to briefly discuss its cultural setting.
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Broughton, Jack M. "Widening diet breadth, declining foraging efficiency, and prehistoric harvest pressure: ichthyofaunal evidence from the Emeryville Shellmound, California." Antiquity 71, no. 274 (December 1997): 845–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x0008577x.
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The Emeryville Shellmound is a famous but now destroyed midden once located on the east shore of San Francisco Bay. Analyses of the fish remains from the stratified late Holocene deposits indicate that prehistoric peoples had substantial impacts on the sturgeon populations of the Bay. This calls into question the commonly held belief that native peoples lived in harmony with nature and has important implications for the management of modern vertebrate populations.
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Bin 'Aqil, Abdalaziz Ja'afar, and Joy McCorriston. "Prehistoric small scale monument types in Hadramawt (southern Arabia): convergences in ethnography, linguistics and archaeology." Antiquity 83, no. 321 (September 1, 2009): 602–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00098860.
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The authors report new understanding of the prehistoric monuments of Hadramawt (Yemen) using archaeological fieldwork, linguistic terminology and ethnography. The stone tombs, platforms and alignments are shown to have experienced particularly interesting life histories. Passing travellers add stones and bury camels, shrines are reconditioned and dismantled to construct goat pens. It is clear that only this kind of multi-disciplinary expertise can hope to define the prehistoric sequence in an arid and rocky mountain landscape in which non-literate pastoral peoples have left few other traces. An online photo essay accompanies the article at http://antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/mccorriston/index.html
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GOODRUM, MATTHEW R. "The meaning of ceraunia: archaeology, natural history and the interpretation of prehistoric stone artefacts in the eighteenth century." British Journal for the History of Science 35, no. 3 (September 2002): 255–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0007087402004776.
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Historians of archaeology have noted that prehistoric stone artefacts were first identified as such during the seventeenth century, and a great deal has been written about the formulation of the idea of a Stone Age in the nineteenth century. Much less attention has been devoted to the study of prehistoric artefacts during the eighteenth century. Yet it was during this time that researchers first began systematically to collect, classify and interpret the cultural and historical meaning of these objects as archaeological specimens rather than geological specimens. These investigations were conducted within the broader context of eighteenth-century antiquarianism and natural history. As a result, they offer an opportunity to trace the interrelationships that existed between the natural sciences and the science of prehistoric archaeology, which demonstrates that geological theories of the history of the earth, ethnographic observations of ‘savage peoples’ and natural history museums all played important roles in the interpretation of prehistoric stone implements during the eighteenth century.
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Steadman, David W., and Sharyn Jones. "Long-Term Trends in Prehistoric Fishing and Hunting on Tobago, West Indies." Latin American Antiquity 17, no. 3 (September 2006): 316–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/25063055.
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AbstractWe compare the bone assemblages of Milford 1 (TOB-3) and Golden Grove (TOB-13) in Tobago, West Indies. Milford 1 is a small preceramic occupation (ca. 3000-2800 cal B.P.), whereas Golden Grove is a large ceramic-period village (ca. 1700-900 cal B.P.). Species richness at TOB-13 is greater than at TOB-3, both in marine (67 vs. 39 fishes) and terrestrial (32 vs. 9) taxa. Major shifts in marine exploitation from the preceramic to ceramic periods can be seen in relative abundance of tuna, toadfishes, and in fishes inhabiting mangrove and brackish water environments, and decreases in relative abundance of parrotfish, carnivorous reef fishes, and sea turtles. The abundance of tuna bones at TOB-13 is uniquely high among West Indian archaeological sites. For terrestrial taxa, the difference in species richness exceeds the expected, including decreased specialization on big game (peccaries) at TOB-13, with a greater tendency to hunt reptiles, birds, and mammals of all sizes at TOB-3. Factors underlying the shifts in fishing and hunting may include different collection methods and food preferences of non-Arawakan (preceramic) vs. Arawakan (ceramic) peoples, as well as human-induced declines in populations of peccaries, sea turtles, and selected fish species. Another possible factor is site setting, with the inhabitants of TOB-13 having enhanced access to mangrove habitats.
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Watson, Aaron, and David Keating. "Architecture and sound: an acoustic analysis of megalithic monuments in prehistoric Britain." Antiquity 73, no. 280 (June 1999): 325–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00088281.
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Prehistoric monuments in Britain are often dominant features in the landscape, and archaeological theory has tended to consider the visual and spatial influences of their architecture upon peoples' movement and perception. The articulation of sound within these structures has not been widely discussed, despite evidence which suggests that many monuments provided settings for gatherings of people. This possibility was explored at two contrasting sites in Scotland, a recumbent stone circle and a passage-grave, revealing that the elemental acoustic properties inherent in each may have literally orchestrated encounters with the stones.
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Claassen, Cheryl. "Shellfishing Seasons in the Prehistoric Southeastern United States." American Antiquity 51, no. 1 (January 1986): 21–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/280391.
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Shellfish seasonality studies are summarized in this article, which presents the results of analysis at 94 sites in nine southeastern states. All but six of the sites are middens or shell lenses composed of marine or brackish water species (M. mercenaria, R. cuneata, D. variabilis). Shells in those sites along the Atlantic coast were collected from fall to early spring, while shells in sites on the Gulf coast were collected during early spring to summer. Freshwater shellfish middens in four states have been investigated and consistently indicated collection during warm weather. The uniformity of the results indicates that the variation in species used, techniques used, sample sizes, or geography have no noticeable negative impact on the usefulness of the results. It is argued that shellfish were a staple in the diet of many prehistoric horticultural peoples in spite of the fact that they are a dietary supplement for modern hunters and collectors.
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Solometo, Julie, and Joshua Moss. "Picturing the Past: Gender inNational GeographicReconstructions of Prehistoric Life." American Antiquity 78, no. 1 (January 2013): 123–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.7183/0002-7316.78.1.123.
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AbstractArtistic reconstructions of ancient life are powerful blends of archaeological interpretation and imagination. Like other narratives about the past, they can project contemporary gender roles and relations on ancient peoples, and can reinforce or transform ideas about gender in the present. This article examines the construction of gender ideologies inNational Geographicillustrations of prehistoric life. Our analysis of 204 pictorial reconstructions from 1936 to 2007 reveals that women and women’s work are significantly underrepresented and undervalued, while exhibiting evidence of temporal change in response to societal factors and editorial influences. A vigorous archaeology of gender has had little impact on the magazine’s imagined past; in some respects, the ancient women depicted in the last twenty years are just as scarce, passive, and subordinate as they were in the postwar “backlash” of the 1950s.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic "Paleobotany Archaeology Prehistoric peoples"
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Wymer, Dee Anne. "The paleoethnobotanical record of central Ohio - 100 B.C. to A.D. 800 : subsistence continuity amid cultural change." Connect to resource, 1987. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1219945114.
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Cox, Katharine, and n/a. "Human migration in prehistoric Northeast Thailand." University of Otago. Department of Anatomy & Structural Biology, 2009. http://adt.otago.ac.nz./public/adt-NZDU20090626.150746.
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The aim of this thesis is to examine the scale of human migration in three prehistoric settlements in the Upper Mun River Valley (UMRV) Northeast Thailand, from c. 1700BC - AD500. Archaeological data implies migration may have had a central role in the development of agriculture and later metal technology in the region, which is suggested to show increased social complexity over this important stage in the development of states in mainland Southeast Asia. The scale of these migrations, however, are not known and based on archaeological evidence it is unclear whether there were large numbers of individuals migrating into the region in order to bring about the changes seen in the archaeological record.
Two potentially complementary-methods are used to identify the extent of migration in the UMRV in this thesis. The first method, the study of dental morphological traits, is used as an indication of genotype of 78 prehistoric individuals. The second method is isotope analysis of the dental enamel of 74 individuals, used as indicators of childhood residence and diet. Strontium (Sr), Carbon (C) and Oxygen (O) isotopes are analysed. The first method reflects an individual�s genetic heritage through inherited traits, while the second method is an indication of an individual�s migration during their lifetime. Together, these methods may provide a powerful means to assess the scale of migration over an extended period of time in this region.
As it has been posited that the introduction of agriculture is related to migration of people into the region, the current study hypothesises that while immigrants would be identified from outside the UMRV during all phases of occupation at the sites, this would be particularly so during the earlier phases. It is also hypothesised through analysis of the morphological traits that genetic relationships at each site could be suggested. Finally, it is also hypothesised that individuals with evidence for infectious diseases, which are otherwise rare in the region, would be immigrants.
The frequencies of the dental morphological traits at each site are calculated, and a local pattern for each site developed. The results from the morphological traits suggest low levels of migration into the UMRV, and overall group homogeneity. Despite this homogeneity, it is suggested that several individuals may have been from a different genetic pool to others at the sites, reflected in a different combination of dental traits. There is also some evidence for genetic relationships between individuals, and over time, possibly indicating familial relationships at the sites.
Stability in the Sr isotopes over time suggest a local signature for the UMRV. Sr isotopes did not support a hypothesis of large-scale immigration into the UMRV, as there were few isotopic outliers identified. Those individuals with clear outlier Sr results, and therefore probable immigrants, were predominately female. All phases of occupation of the UMRV attracted some long-range inward movement of people, although the data suggests long-range migration diminished over time.
[delta]��C values show no significant change over time, possibly supporting the Sr data of limited migration into the region. While the interpretation of this isotope is primarily from a perspective of migration it is recognised that this may be limited to understanding variation in diet in the individuals. [delta]�⁸O values show significant change over time (p = 0.00, ANOVA), perhaps consistent with previous research which suggested increased aridity in the UMRV. An alternative explanation of the [delta]�⁸O data is that migration increased with time, with people who were differentiated by their O isotopes but not their Sr, however the increased aridity hypothesis is favoured here.
The hypothesis that individuals with evidence for infectious disease would be long-range immigrants into the region is rejected. None of the individuals who had physical evidence for infectious disease had chemical data to support their being immigrants.
The putative migrants to the UMRV are presented as case studies, assessing the complementarity of the methods used. It is argued that given the changes in the environment over time in the UMRV the area may have become less attractive to immigrants and as a result the communities may have become more insular. The data yielded from the two methods have demonstrated the value of using inherited dental traits together with isotopic data of individual migration for investigating human mobility in the past. Using these methods, this study shows that there were low levels of migration into the UMRV and that long-range migration was more frequent in the earliest phases of occupation in the region.
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Bartelheim, Martin. "Die Rolle der Metallurgie in vorgeschichtlichen Gesellschaften : sozioökonomische und kulturhistorische Aspekte der Ressourcennutzung ; ein Vergleich zwischen Andalusien, Zypern und dem Nordalpenraum = The @role of metallurgy in prehistoric societies /." Rahden, Westf. : Leidorf, 2007. http://www.vml.de/d/detail.php?ISBN=978-3-89646-872-7.
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Hood, David James, and n/a. "A social history of archaeology in New Zealand." University of Otago. Department of Anthropology, 1996. http://adt.otago.ac.nz./public/adt-NZDU20070530.152806.
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Consideration of the degree to which social factors have influenced the development of archaeology has become a recent focus of interest among archaeologists; however little work has been done on determining the relationship of social factors to archaeology in new Zealand. The aim of this thesis is to consider whether archaeologists were influenced by the surrounding New Zealand society between the years 1840 and 1954 and if so, in what manner were they influenced. In particular, consideration is given to how the social background of New Zealand archaeology compared with the social influences of British archaeology compared with the social influence of British archaeology of the time.
For the purposes of the study the term archaeologist applies to all those who investigated or recovered in situ archaeological material. Lists of archaeologists of the day were compiled from journals, newspaper articles, and unpublished sources. From these lists the social background of those engaging in archaeology was reconstructed.
Developments in archaeology theory and methodology were also examined, not only to determine the manner in which they effected the practise of archaeology, but also to determine the source of those developments, and the reasons for their adoption.
The wider social context was also examined to determine the degree to which archaeology reflected certain factors in New Zealand society, not simply in the manner in which archaeology was carried out, but also in the reasons for which research was conducted.
This study demonstrates that though the discipline, and in particular the power, was concentrated among urban professionals, the social spread of those engaging in archaeology was wide. This was particularly the case between the turn of the century and the Second World War, when archaeologists with a tertiary background were in a minority.
Archaeologists were influenced both from inside and outside the field, the degree of influence being determined by individual factors.
As archaeologists were a part of society, so too was society part of archaeological practice. In the manner in which archaeology was conducted the influence of societal attitudes towards women and Maori can be seen.
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Faught, Michael Kent 1950. "Clovis Origins and Underwater Prehistoric Archaeology in Northwestern Florida." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/565547.
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Church, Flora. "An inquiry into the transition from late woodland to late prehistoric cultures in the central Scioto Valley, Ohio circa A.D. 500 to A.D. 1250." Connect to resource, 1987. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1232541325.
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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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Dietz, Michael J. Benfer Robert Alfred Pearsall Deborah M. "Diet, subsistence and health a bioarchaeological analysis of Chongos, Perú /." Diss., Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri--Columbia, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10355/6169.
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Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb 17, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation advisor: Dr. Robert A. Benfer, Jr. and Dr. Deborah Pearsall. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.
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Belcher, William R. "Fish exploitation of the Baluchistan and Indus Valley traditions an ethnoarchaeological approach to the study of fish remains /." online access from Digital Dissertation Consortium access full-text, 1998. http://libweb.cityu.edu.hk/cgi-bin/er/db/ddcdiss.pl?9813108.
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Kennedy, Jason R. "Terminal Ubaid ceramics at Yenice Yani implications for terminal Ubaid organization of labor and commensality /." Diss., Online access via UMI:, 2008.
Find full textBooks on the topic "Paleobotany Archaeology Prehistoric peoples"
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Lone, Farooq A. Palaeoethnobotany: Plants and ancient man in Kashmir. New Delhi: Oxford & IBH Pub. Co., 1993.
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Lone, Farooq A. Palaeoethnobotany: Plants and ancient man in Kashmir. Rotterdam: A.A. Balkema, 1993.
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Paul, Kronkright Dale, and Norton Ruth E, eds. The conservation of artifacts made from plant materials. [Marian del Rey, Calif.]: Getty Conservation Institute, 1990.
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Marinval, Philippe. L' alimentation végétale en France: Du Mésolithique jusqu'à l'Age du fer. Paris: Editions du Centre national de la recherche scientifique, 1988.
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Marinval, Philippe. L' alimentation végétale en France: Du Mésolithique jusqu'à l'Âge de fer. Paris: Éd. du Centre national de la recherche scientifique, 1988.
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Singh, O. K. Prehistoric archaeology of Nongpok Keithelmanbi. Imphal: Amusana Institute of Antiquarian Studies, Manipur, 1986.
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World prehistory and archaeology: Pathways through time. Boston: Pearson Allyn and Bacon, 2008.
Find full textBook chapters on the topic "Paleobotany Archaeology Prehistoric peoples"
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Rick, Torben C., Courtney A. Hofman, and Leslie A. Reeder-Myers. "Why Translocate?" In An Archaeology of Abundance, 248–72. University Press of Florida, 2019. http://dx.doi.org/10.5744/florida/9780813056166.003.0009.
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Worldwide, prehistoric hunter-gatherers and horticulturalists translocated a variety of animals and plants to islands. Translocations enhanced island ecosystems, introducing animals and plants used for food or raw materials. We review recent zooarchaeology, genetics, and stable isotope data to evaluate the evidence for ancient translocations to the islands of Baja and Alta California. Native peoples likely translocated foxes, mice, ground squirrels, domesticated dogs, iguanids, and possibly skunks to some California Islands. Although some animal translocations were for subsistence or broader environmental enhancement, others were either unintentional (mice) or more closely associated with ritual and other cultural practices. The dearth of translocations tied directly to subsistence suggests that marginal island food sources were not a primary factor driving translocation.
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Anderson, David G. "Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Archaeology of the Southeastern Atlantic Slope." In Early Human Life on the Southeastern Coastal Plain, 299–308. University Press of Florida, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.5744/florida/9781683400349.003.0014.
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In recent decades, great progress has been made in perennial topics and questions in the Southeast such as the existence and nature of Pre-Clovis and Clovis occupations; the role of sea level rise and fall and its affects on prehistoric peoples; the need for effective prospecting for possible inundated sites; the studies of the nature of the Younger Dryas climatic reversal and its affects on climate, environment, and humans, including the proposed cosmic impact hypothesis; and the expansion of more sophisticated methodologies for analysing Early Archaic, notched-point attributes to reveal the social dimensions of these widespread early Holocene societies.
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Arnold, Bettina. "The Past as Propaganda: Totalitarian Archaeology in Nazi Germany (1990)." In Histories of Archaeology. Oxford University Press, 2008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199550074.003.0010.
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To understand events in German prehistoric archaeology under the National Socialists, it is necessary to look at the discipline well before Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 and the beginning of the Umbruch period of radical change. Archaeology in Central Europe on the eve of the First World War was marked by a return of the ethno-historic approach to theory; in German-speaking regions there was a new name for the discipline to go with its new orientation. The term Vorgeschichte (prehistory) was rejected as a survival of anthropological thinking: Urgeschichte (early history) was preferred as better emphasizing the continuity of prehistory with documentary history (Sklenár 1983: 132). The writings of the nineteenth-century French racial philosopher Gobineau provided a doctrine of the inequality of different races (Daniel and Renfrew 1988: 104–6). Journals and publications dealing with the subject of race and genetic engineering increasingly appeared in Germany in the early twentieth century, among them Volk und Rasse, which was founded in 1926, and Fortschritte der Erbpathologie und Rassenhygiene, founded in 1929. Neither publication survived the Second World War. The linguist Gustaf Kossinna (1858–1932), a late convert to prehistory, laid the groundwork for an ethnocentric German prehistory. Kossinna proposed cultural diffusion as a process whereby influences, ideas, and models were passed on by more advanced peoples to the less advanced with which they came into contact. This concept, wedded to Kossinna’s Kulturkreis theory, the identification of geographical regions with specific ethnic groups on the basis of material culture, lent theoretical support to the expansionist policies of Nazi Germany. ‘Distribution maps of archaeological types became a convincing argument for expansionist aims: wherever a single find of a type designated as Germanic was found, the land was declared ancient German territory’ (Sklenár 1983: 151; Fig. 7.2). Alfred Rosenberg, the NS party’s ideologist, codified this ethnocentric and xenophobic perspective: ‘an individual to whom the tradition of his people (Volkstum) and the honor of his people (Volksehre) is not a supreme value, has forfeited the right to be protected by that people’ (Germanenerbe 1938: 105).
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Price, T. Douglas. "Frameworks for Europe’s Past." In Europe before Rome. Oxford University Press, 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199914708.003.0004.
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This book is about the prehistoric archaeology of Europe—the lives and deaths of peoples and cultures—about how we became human; the rise of hunters; the birth and growth of society; the emergence of art; the beginnings of agriculture, villages, towns and cities, wars and conquest, peace and trade—the plans and ideas, achievements and failures, of our ancestors across hundreds of thousands of years. It is a story of humanity on planet Earth. It’s also about the study of the past—how archaeologists have dug into the ground, uncovered the remaining traces of these ancient peoples, and begun to make sense of that past through painstaking detective work. This book is about prehistoric societies from the Stone Age into the Iron Age. The story of European prehistory is one of spectacular growth and change. It begins more than a million years ago with the first inhabitants. The endpoint of this journey through the continent’s past is marked by the emergence of the literate societies of classical Greece and Rome. Because of a long history of archaeological research and the richness of the prehistoric remains, we know more about the past of Europe than almost anywhere else. The prehistory of Europe is, in fact, one model of the evolution of society, from small groups of early human ancestors to bands of huntergatherers, through the arrival of the first farmers to the emergence of hierarchical societies and powerful states in the Bronze and Iron Ages. The chapters of our story are the major ages of prehistoric time (Stone, Bronze, and Iron). The content involves the places, events, and changes of those ages from ancient to more recent times. The focus of the chapters is on exceptional archaeological sites that provide the background for much of this story. Before we can begin, however, it is essential to review the larger context in which these developments took place. This chapter is concerned with the time and space setting of the archaeology of Europe.
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Diaz-Andreu, Margarita. "Classical versus Islamic Antiquities in Colonial Archaeology: The Russian Empire and French North Africa." In A World History of Nineteenth-Century Archaeology. Oxford University Press, 2007. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199217175.003.0017.
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This chapter revisits the connection between nationalism and religion in a very different setting to that seen in the biblical lands (Chapter 6) and, to a certain extent, in Central, South, and Southeast Asia (Chapters 7 and 8). It analyses how religion is able to induce the creation of alternative historical discourses to those formed on the basis of the remains of the classical civilizations. On the one hand, the historical account about the Greeks, the Romans and other contemporary peoples influenced by them such as the Scythes still maintained their powerful allure as symbols of civilization and of one’s own empire. On the other, however, the weight religion had in the nineteenth century allowed for the search of the national origin in other periods with special significance for particular churches. Thus, the Byzantine period became appropriated as a Golden Age in the Russian Empire. In contrast, the Islamic past never acquired a similar status in the French colonies of North Africa. The religious undertones of particular archaeological periods were also used to undertake a racial reading of modern populations, and therefore had a direct impact on the colonization of the area. Yet, during the nineteenth century the effect of all this in archaeology was only limited, for the search for ancient remains stubbornly maintained a focus on the classical past. A comparison between the archaeology of the Russian colonies and of French North Africa reveals several similarities and differences which shed light on the processes guiding the development of archaeology in each of these areas. In both of them the historical narrative produced by the colonizers was one in which the classical periods were better regarded and valued more positively than others, following a hierarchy from classical to Byzantine, and then to the prehistoric and Islamic periods. Also, in both colonial areas archaeology was practised by many different actors: individuals from a breadth of occupations, and professionals belonging to many institutions, colonizers settled in the colonies as well as others coming from the metropolis. Nevertheless, this diversity was much more marked in North Africa than in the Russian colonies.
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Diaz-Andreu, Margarita. "The Early Search for a National Past in Europe (1789–1820)." In A World History of Nineteenth-Century Archaeology. Oxford University Press, 2007. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199217175.003.0020.
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In the nineteenth century, the allure of the past of the Great Civilizations was soon to be contested by an alternative—that of the national past. This interest had already grown in the pre-Romantic era connected to an emerging ethnic or cultural nationalism (Chapter 2). However, its charm would not be as enticing to the lay European man and woman of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, who were much more under the influence of neoclassicism (Chapter 3). The Western European nations had no monuments comparable to the remains of Greece, Rome or Egypt. Before the Roman expansion into most of Western Europe in antiquity, there had been few significant buildings, apart from unspectacular prehistoric tombs and megalithic monuments whose significance was unrecognized by the modern scholar. Roman remains beyond Italy were not as impressive as those found to the south of the Alps. Because of this it seemed much more interesting to study the rich descriptions the ancient authors had left about the local peoples and institutions the Romans had created during their conquest. Throughout the eighteenth century the historical study of medieval buildings and antiquities had also increasingly been gaining appeal. In Britain their study instigated the early creation of associations such as the Society of Antiquaries of 1707, but even this early interest did not lead to medieval antiquities receiving attention in institutions such as the British Museum, where they would only receive a proper departmental status well into the nineteenth century (Smiles 2004: 176). In comparative terms, the national past and its relics were perceived by many to be of secondary rate when judged against the history and arts of the classical civilizations. During the French Revolution and its immediate aftermath, for example, the national past would not be as appreciated by as many people and antiquarians as that of the Great Civilizations (Jourdan 1996). This situation, however, started to change in the early nineteenth century. There were three key developments in this period, all inherited from Enlightenment beliefs, which were the foundation for archaeology as a source of national pride. The effects of these would be seen especially from the central decades of the century.
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Isendahl, Christian, and Walter Sánchez. "Archaeology’s Potential to Contribute to Pools of Agronomic Knowledge: A Case of Applied Agro-Archaeology in the Bolivian Yungas." In Humans and the Environment. Oxford University Press, 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199590292.003.0017.
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Over the last two decades the concept of applied archaeology has been used increasingly to refer to how archaeology can contribute more broadly to society at large. Depending on the intellectual and geographical context there are many different ways that applied archaeology is understood. One important set of approaches builds on the standard definition of applied science as the application of scientific knowledge in creative problem-solving. Many archaeologists find that evidence which sheds light on resource exploitation strategies in the past is particularly rewarding in this regard, arguing that the insights gained from archaeological research can guide land use planning and resource management and make a positive impact on local livelihoods for people today and in the future (Costanza et al. 2007a; Hayashida 2005). This kind of applied archaeology is usually associated with rural livelihood development, but there is also an emerging applied archaeology of land use planning in predominantly urban sectors (Smith 2010). Some of the most prolific projects of applied agro-archaeology for rural development are those engaging in rejuvenating prehistoric agricultural features that have fallen into disuse or are being mismanaged. Groundbreaking applied agro-archaeology in the Andean region demonstrates considerable advances in this field, reconstructing abandoned raised fields, irrigation canals, and cultivation terraces in order to understand pre-Hispanic agricultural systems and long-term land-use dynamics and to re-apply ancient technologies for contemporary use (Chepstow-Lusty and Winfield 2000; Erickson 1985, 1994, 1998; Kendall 1997b, 2005, Chapter 9 this volume). The Andes are exceptionally rich in archaeological remains of pre-Hispanic agriculture and demonstrate considerable diversity in peoples’ approaches in the past in addressing the many different managerial issues associated with sustaining a farming livelihood in these environments (Denevan 2001; Donkin 1979). Linking the broad scope of applied agro-archaeology to the theoretical framework of historical ecology (Balée 1998, 2006; Balée and Erickson 2006; Crumley 1994, 2000, 2007), the motive of this contribution is to discuss some of the problems and opportunities facing an on-going applied agro-archaeological project in the Yungas of the Bolivian Andes (Isendahl 2008).
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Kohler, Timothy A., and James Kresl. "Be There Then : A Modeling Approach to Settlement Determinants and Spatial Efficiency Among Late Ancestral Pueblo Populations of the Mesa Verde Region, U.S. Southwest." In Dynamics in Human and Primate Societies. Oxford University Press, 2000. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195131673.003.0012.
Full textAbstract:
The archaeology of southwestern Colorado from A.D. 900 to 1300 presents a number of interesting problems, including population aggregation and abandonment. We report on an on-going project, implemented using the modeling libraries of Swarm, to model the settlement dynamics of this region, treating households as agents. Landscape detail includes an annual model of paleoproductivity, soils, vegetation, elevation, and water resource type and location. Individuals within households reproduce and die; households farm, relocate, and die; children within households marry and form new households. Household location is responsive to changing productivity (depleted in some scenarios) and, in some scenarios, water resources. Comparison of simulated settlement with the archaeological record highlights changes in the settlement and farming strategies between Pueblo II and Pueblo III times, including the increasing importance of water and sediment-control, and other alternatives to extensive dry farming. Our results suggest that degradation of the dry-farming niche may have contributed to these changes. This project began with a desire to understand why, during certain times in prehistory, most Pueblo peoples lived in relatively compact villages, while at other times, they lived in dispersed hamlets (Cordell et al. 1994). Our approach to this problem is based on a thread of accumulating research begun in the early 1980s when a dissertation from the University of Arizona by Barney Burns (1983) showed that it was possible to retrodict potential prehistoric maize yields in a portion of Southwest Colorado by combining prehistoric tree-ring records with historic crop-production records of local farmers. A few years later, Kohler et al. (1986; see also Orcutt et al. 1990) simulated agricultural catchment size and shape in a northern portion of the present study area, to arrive at the suggestion that avoiding violent confrontation over access to superior agricultural land was a major force in forming the villages that appeared in this area in the late A.D. 700s and again in the mid-800s.
Reports on the topic "Paleobotany Archaeology Prehistoric peoples"
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Saville, Alan, and Caroline Wickham-Jones, eds. Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Scotland : Scottish Archaeological Research Framework Panel Report. Society for Antiquaries of Scotland, June 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.9750/scarf.06.2012.163.
Full textAbstract:
Why research Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Scotland? Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology sheds light on the first colonisation and subsequent early inhabitation of Scotland. It is a growing and exciting field where increasing Scottish evidence has been given wider significance in the context of European prehistory. It extends over a long period, which saw great changes, including substantial environmental transformations, and the impact of, and societal response to, climate change. The period as a whole provides the foundation for the human occupation of Scotland and is crucial for understanding prehistoric society, both for Scotland and across North-West Europe. Within the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods there are considerable opportunities for pioneering research. Individual projects can still have a substantial impact and there remain opportunities for pioneering discoveries including cemeteries, domestic and other structures, stratified sites, and for exploring the huge evidential potential of water-logged and underwater sites. Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology also stimulates and draws upon exciting multi-disciplinary collaborations. Panel Task and Remit The panel remit was to review critically the current state of knowledge and consider promising areas of future research into the earliest prehistory of Scotland. This was undertaken with a view to improved understanding of all aspects of the colonization and inhabitation of the country by peoples practising a wholly hunter-fisher-gatherer way of life prior to the advent of farming. In so doing, it was recognised as particularly important that both environmental data (including vegetation, fauna, sea level, and landscape work) and cultural change during this period be evaluated. The resultant report, outlines the different areas of research in which archaeologists interested in early prehistory work, and highlights the research topics to which they aspire. The report is structured by theme: history of investigation; reconstruction of the environment; the nature of the archaeological record; methodologies for recreating the past; and finally, the lifestyles of past people – the latter representing both a statement of current knowledge and the ultimate aim for archaeologists; the goal of all the former sections. The document is reinforced by material on-line which provides further detail and resources. The Palaeolithic and Mesolithic panel report of ScARF is intended as a resource to be utilised, built upon, and kept updated, hopefully by those it has helped inspire and inform as well as those who follow in their footsteps. Future Research The main recommendations of the panel report can be summarized under four key headings: Visibility: Due to the considerable length of time over which sites were formed, and the predominant mobility of the population, early prehistoric remains are to be found right across the landscape, although they often survive as ephemeral traces and in low densities. Therefore, all archaeological work should take into account the expectation of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic ScARF Panel Report iv encountering early prehistoric remains. This applies equally to both commercial and research archaeology, and to amateur activity which often makes the initial discovery. This should not be seen as an obstacle, but as a benefit, and not finding such remains should be cause for question. There is no doubt that important evidence of these periods remains unrecognised in private, public, and commercial collections and there is a strong need for backlog evaluation, proper curation and analysis. The inadequate representation of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic information in existing national and local databases must be addressed. Collaboration: Multi-disciplinary, collaborative, and cross- sector approaches must be encouraged – site prospection, prediction, recognition, and contextualisation are key areas to this end. Reconstructing past environments and their chronological frameworks, and exploring submerged and buried landscapes offer existing examples of fruitful, cross-disciplinary work. Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology has an important place within Quaternary science and the potential for deeply buried remains means that geoarchaeology should have a prominent role. Innovation: Research-led projects are currently making a substantial impact across all aspects of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology; a funding policy that acknowledges risk and promotes the innovation that these periods demand should be encouraged. The exploration of lesser known areas, work on different types of site, new approaches to artefacts, and the application of novel methodologies should all be promoted when engaging with the challenges of early prehistory. Tackling the ‘big questions’: Archaeologists should engage with the big questions of earliest prehistory in Scotland, including the colonisation of new land, how lifestyles in past societies were organized, the effects of and the responses to environmental change, and the transitions to new modes of life. This should be done through a holistic view of the available data, encompassing all the complexities of interpretation and developing competing and testable models. Scottish data can be used to address many of the currently topical research topics in archaeology, and will provide a springboard to a better understanding of early prehistoric life in Scotland and beyond.