Showing papers on "Assemblage (archaeology) published in 1996"

Evaluating Lithic Strategies and Design Criteria

Abstract: A wide range of factors has recently been proposed to explain lithic assemblage organization and tool morphology. These factors include: reliability, maintainability, risk, mobility, versatility, and flexibility. Discussion of all these factors has tended to remain on an abstract level with anecdotal analyses or non-lithic ethnographic observations used for support. The present chapter analyzes a complete assemblage from the Interior Plateau of British Coumbia with the aim of trying to explain assemblage organization and tool morphology. Design theory provides a powerful analytical framework for dealing with these problems. Results demonstrate that basic considerations such as requirements of task performance, raw material availability, and processing volumes play the most important roles in determining assemblage organization and morphology. In trying to apply more recently proposed factors to the explanation of tool morphology, we found many of them to be highly ambiguous and perhaps non-operational. In addition, theoretically expected outcomes of these models sometimes did not match archaeological lithic patterns. In other cases, their usefulness seems akin to considerations of “prestige display” in lithics, i.e., most useful as special case factors and most relevant in carefully defined situations (e.g., hunting gear). Nevertheless, all these concepts can be accommodated in a broad design analysis framework, emphasizing constraints, design considerations, and reduction/resharpening strategies.

Lithic Refitting and Archaeological Site Formation Processes

Abstract: The lithic assemblage recovered from Horizon 2 of the Twin Ditch site is the focus of an ongoing refitting study and provides the data employed in the analysis presented here. The abundance of lithic tools and manufacturing debris recovered from this relatively pristine Early Archaic base camp has allowed for the reassembly of numerous broken stone tools and for the reconstruction of several chipped stone tool manufacturing episodes through refitting. These refitted artifacts provide a wealth of spatial and technological data that can be applied to numerous archaeological research questions. More specifically, the refitted tools and debitage from Horizon 2 provide details concerning archaeological site disturbance processes, modes of refuse accumulation, and the occupational history of the site. The results of the present analysis indicate that the Horizon 2 cultural deposits have been subjected to minimal post-occupational disturbance, that lithic debris accumulations on the site represent both primary knapping loci and secondary refuse deposits, that at least two distinct occupational episodes are represented on the site, and that the individual occupations of the site were probably of relatively short duration.

Do species assemblages ever recur

Abstract: Ecology suffers from the affliction that arguments often happen in the absence of data. Eventually the controversy dies down, and everyone thinks that the issue has been settled, though it is not agreed how, since in fact no test has ever been made. So it is with the question of whether the same assemblage of species (i.e. 'association) can be found at different sites ('association' is used in this paper for a local assemblage of species, with no other implications). The question 'Does any association recur?' strikes at the basis for recognizing and naming community types (e.g. Rodwell 1991-95). It can be seen as the critical test between the two major concepts of community structure, in the words of Gleason (1939), either:

Excavations at the Tsodilo Hills Rhino Cave

Abstract: During the last 15 years the National Museum and Monuments has been engaged in an intensive study of the archaeology and rock art of the Tsodilo Hills (Robbins, 1990; Robbins et al, 1994; Campbell et al, 1994a,b). In this paper we will discuss the results of our 1995 test excavations at the recently discovered site of Rhino Cave. This site contains a rich assemblage of Late Stone Age and Middle Stone Age artifacts, so far found concentrated within 1.4 metres of deposits. Moreover, the site contains one of the most striking examples of rock art found at Tsodilo, as well as a series of wall depressions and grooves, many of which are in pristine condition.

A method for taxonomic typology construction and an example: utilized flakes

Abstract: This paper considers problems inherent in constructing typologies based on subdividing artifacts using clustering algorithms that assume a paradigmatic structure (as do most, if not all, currently used algorithms) and presents an alternative method based on a taxonomic, rather than a paradigmatic, structure for the artifact classes. The method is exemplified by analysis of an assemblage of utilized flakes from a series of late prehistoric habitation sites in the central highlands of Peru. These flakes were previously analyzed using more intuitive, traditional methods but without identifying any satisfactory groupings within the assemblage. Similarly, paradigmatically based clustering algorithms applied to the entire data set and using the several variables measured over these flakes were also unable to extract meaningful groupings. In contrast, the method presented here was able to (1) construct a partition of the flake assemblage into groups that also made intuitive sense to the practitioner, (2) have functional interpretation assignable through a model of transmission offorces from agent to object acted on, and (3) produce units differentially occurring across the several subsites from which the utilized flakes were obtained, i.e., units that add another dimension to the analysis of activities represented by the archaeological assemblage. Although demonstrated with utilizedflakes, the method has general application.

Early Archaic Clay Figurines from Cowboy and Walters Caves in Southeastern Utah

Abstract: Excavations at Cowboy and Walters caves in southeastern Utah in the mid-1970s uncovered an assemblage of unfired clay artifacts unlike any previously described types. Analysis of these clay artifac...

The Anzick site : analysis of a Clovis burial assemblage

Abstract: approved: o2 Robson Bonniclisen The Anzick Clovis assemblage was first discovered in the late 1960's near Livingston, Montana. More than 100 stone and bone artifacts were found in association with the remains of two subadults proven to be the earliest radiocarbon-dated human burial in North America. Although human remains are notoriously absent, similar artifact assemblages have been found in Utah, idaho, Washington State, and Colorado. These assemblages were recovered as descrete groups of artifacts with no evidence of associated habitation or economic activities. A number of hypotheses have been offered concerning the function or meaning of these assemblages despite the lack of a complete, detailed analysis of any of these assemblages. 1-lypotheses offered include projectile point "blueprint" of production, functional tools iii various stages of reduction cached for future use, tools made specifically for mortuary purpose, and tools meant to be heirlooms and handed down through generations. Each of these hypotheses presents behavioral implications that may be tested with different levels of analyses. Raw material, shape, technology, and usewear are addressed in the Anzick assemblage iii order to test each hypotheses. initial results of the analyses suggest that the Anzick assemblage is composed of a number of tool types that (1) were not produced specifically for mortuary purposes, (2) suggest relationships between raw material context and technological organization, and (3) were not intended to be recovered for future use. Furthermore, the artifacts appear to be functional tools reflecting a highly formalized toolkit. Similar contexts of the Anzick and other assemblages indicate a comparable function for all these assemblages. The Anzick Site: Analysis of a Clovis Burial Assemblage

Evaluating Flake Assemblage and Stone Tool Distributions at a Large Western Stemmed Tradition Site Near Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Abstract: This paper presents the results of in-field data analysis of stone artifacts from the surface of 26NY7920, a large WST site near Yucca Mountain on the Nevada Test Site (Fig. 1). Examination of the spatial dispersion of stone artifacts allowed the site to be partitioned into three clusters based upon tool and flake densities from across the site. The kinds of stone artifacts found within the clusters were compared with each other and with the rest of the site assemblage found in a nonclustered context, in order to make inferences regarding the segregation of activities at the site. This analysis included evaluating lithic reduction strategies, stone tool content, and toolstone selectivity.

Processing sequences in the Indian Lower Palaeolithic: examples from the Acheulian and the Soanian

Abstract: During the Palaeolithic and especially during the Lower Palaeolithic, the prehistoric people of India were making and using two different types of lithic assemblages. To the south of the Indo-Gangetic basin their cultural remains belong to the Acheulian, characterized by the presence of Handaxes, sometimes cleavers, and by small tools on flakes or other pieces of stone. To the north of the Indo-Gangetic basin, in the Siwaliks, most of the sites yield Soanian lithic material comprising a majority of cobble tools with no typical handaxes. Flakes and small tools are rare. These two technical traditions evolved separately during the entire Palaeolithic and may be considered as two different technologies, but in both of them three processing sequences can be distinguished which are quite comprarable from one tradition to the other. The organisation of the processing sequences appears to be independent of cultural tradition. From this point of view, case studies of an Acheulian assemblage from Rajasthan and a Soanian assemblage from the western Siwaliks reveal clear similarities.

Artifact and Assemblage: The Finds from a Regional Survey of the Southern Argolid, Greece I: The Prehistoric and Early Iron Age Pottery and the Lithic Artifacts

Abstract: Introduction Curtis Runnels, Daniel J. Pullen, and Susan Langdon 1. The pottery of the Neolithic, Early Helladic I, and Early Helladic II periods Daniel J. Pullen 2. The pottery of the Early Helladic III and Middle Helladic periods Gullog C. Nordquist 3. The pottery of the Late Helladic period P. A. Mountjoy 4. The pottery of the early Iron Age and Geometric periods Susan Langdon 5. The Lithic artifacts: flaked stone and other nonflaked Lithics P. Nick Kardulias, and Curtis Runnels Conclusions Curtis Runnels, Daniel J. Pullen, and Susan Langdon.

Geological Evolution of Northeastern Anatolia

Abstract: The paleogeography of the Eastern Pontides was defined by the Paleotethys ocean to the north and a continental assemblage to the south, prior to Carboniferous time. The S-dipping subduction of Pale...

Assemblage Definition, Analytic Methods, and Sources of Variability in the Interpretation of Marquesan Subsistence Change

Abstract: L'article propose une nouvelle analyse des restes fauniques du site de Hane Dune (Iles Marquises) afin de reevaluer l'hypothese selon laquelle les indications de modifications dans les assemblages fauniques refleteraient les modifications des strategies de subsistance des populations prehistoriques

An unusual lithic assemblage from Lunanhead, Angus

Abstract: In July 1993 the Scottish Urban Archaeological Trust Ltd (SUAT) carried out an extensive field evaluation funded by Historic Scotland in advance of a housing development near Lunanhead, Angus. From the base of a natural depression 28 flint artefacts were recovered. One further piece was retrieved from the topsoil. Although small, this assemblage represents an important find combining evidence of a rare commodity in Scotland: good-quality flint nodules, with technological evidence of a broad blade industry, of which Scotland has few examples to date.

The austral palaeobiogeography of an Early Cretaceous (Albian) trigoniid bivalve assemblage from the upper part of the Fossil Bluff Group, Alexander Island, Antarctica

Abstract: An Early Cretaceous (Late Albian) assemblage of trigoniid bivalves occurs in a single bed of the Mars Glacier Formation, in the upper part of the Fossil Bluff Group in eastern Alexander Island, Antarctica. It comprises: Eselaevitrigonia sp. nov., Nototrigonia (No­ totrigonia) ponticula SKWARK0, Nototrigonia (Nototrigonia) spedeni FLEMING, Nototrigo­ nia (Callitrigonia) sp. nov., Pacitrigonia sp. nov. and Pisotrigonia capricornia SKWARKO, all new records for Antarctica. The assemblage most resembles Australasian faunas, rather than South American ones, and provides an example of a distinct Austral palae­ obiogeographic distribution. The surface flow of the southern margin of the Pacific Ocean was eastwards, bringing larval spat from Australasia towards the west coast of the Ant­ arctic Peninsula. Larval spat from A_lexander Island appear to have been denied access to the Austral Basin of South America. Possible reasons for this include palaeogeographic barriers and Pacific Ocean current circulation.

Buto. Tell al-Fara'in. A pottery assemblage of the 8th century B.C.

Abstract: Description d'un assemblage de ceramiques egyptiennes, importees de Palestine, date du 8e siecle av. J.-C. (Troisieme Periode Intermediaire) et mis au jour sur le site de Tell al-Fara'in/Bouto

A spatial study of aspects of the Roman settlement of Spain through the use of GIS

Abstract: This thesis explores the use of computer, and in particular GIS (Geographic Information Systems), techniques to study the development of the Roman rural settlement in three areas of Spain: the Guadalquivir Valley, the region of Tarragona and the Maresme. The project has two aims, the first consists of finding a viable way to study the archaeological data from non-systematic surveys, which have been collected over a period of years and stored in archaeological units. The second aim of the project is to assess to what extent GIS can be used to perform such a sort of archaeological study. Firstly, the data used in the study are presented and the way in which they were stored and manipulated in digital format is described and discussed. The computer hardware and software used are described. Some of the problems encountered with this approach are highlighted and the solutions implemented are presented. Secondly, the analysis on the archaeological data about the Roman rural sites in the three study areas, carried out using GIS and statistical software, is presented in detail. For each area the shape of rural settlement pattern at different periods is investigated in relation to environmental and socio-economic factors. Multivariate statistical techniques are used to study the pottery assemblage of the rural sites. The information derived from the analysis is then used to create models of the development of each area. In the concluding chapter the resulting models are compared and the differences and similarities in the development of the three areas observed. The advantages and disadvantages of using GIS with archaeological non-systematic survey data are discussed and assessed. Finally, a series of considerations on the main differences between the approach described in this thesis and earlier comprehensive works dealing with data from several separate areas are presented.

A Report on the Chipped Stone Assemblage from Tell Iktanu, Jordan

Abstract: The chipped stone assemblage from the site of Tell Iktanu is described below. The assemblage, of the Early Bronze IB, Intennediate Early Bronze/Middle Bronze and Iron Age II, is largely represented by a flake-based core technology used for the production of a variety of retouched flake tool types. Canaanean blades and tabular scrapers represent specialized aspects of the industry which exhibit distinct patterns clearly differentiating the Early Bronze and EB.MB samples in the assemblage.

The chipped stone assemblage from Hartuv

Abstract: The chipped stone assemblage from Hartuv is comprised of three basic components: flake tools and associated waste; blade tools, both locally produced and imported; and tabular scrapers. There is little evidence of on-site manufacture. The sickle tools differ somewhat from most Early Bronze Age assemblages but otherwise the assemblage is functionally, technologically, and typologically typical of the Early Bronze Age.