Showing papers on "Assemblage (archaeology) published in 1997"

Testing the Reality of a “Living Floor” with Archaeological Data

Abstract: No matter how “pristine” an archaeological assemblage may appear, archaeologists should always be concerned with documenting the degree and nature of possible postdepositional disturbances. This paper outlines a number of tests that can be applied to archaeological, vs. geological, data to assess these effects, and their use is illustrated in an excavation of a Lower Paleolithic site in France. Although this site was originally thought to contain a possible “living floor” reflecting relatively little postdepositional disturbance, the tests applied here clearly show that both the lithic and faunal components in large part reflect secondary deposits and most probably are only coincidentally associated. From a methodological perspective, this study clearly demonstrates the power of these tests for assessing the taphonomic history of any site containing lithic and faunal remains, and the use of this particular example illustrates the need for these kinds of tests to be applied at the time of excavation.

Exploring Technology and Social Space

Abstract: EPISTEME Introduction Slouching towards Tralfamadore The Modern Episteme Beyond the Modern Episteme Space and Agency in the Land of the Cyborgs Living in a Deleuzian World ASSEMBLAGE Making Television, Making History AT&T Builds the Bomb Communications From SDI to NII through the MSI Welcome to Your Assemblage It's a Small World After All Rethinking the NIICO and the GII Conclusion Technology is License to Forget

Material culture and African-American spirituality at the hermitage

Abstract: In this article, artifacts excavated from 19th-century African-American contexts at the Hermitage plantation near Nashville, Tennessee, are examined in light of their possible use in religious ritual, traditional healing, and other behaviors related to spirituality. While specific spiritual behaviors cannot be determined from the Hermitage archaeological and documentary record, the presence of a distinct African-American belief system at the Hermitage is suggested through comparison of selected artifacts from the Hermitage assemblage with various historical, folkloric, and archaeological sources. This belief system and its associated behaviors may have aided African Americans in achieving limited social and economic autonomy within the system of plantation slavery.

Impact of urbanization on a gall-inhabiting Lepidoptera assemblage: the importance of reserves in urban areas

Abstract: This paper examines the structure of a Lepidoptera assemblage in an urban environment in South Africa. The Lepidoptera inhabit fungus-induced galls on Acacia karroo. Habitat patches supporting the moth assemblage were sampled from rural, urban-reserve, suburban and city sites and the habitat quality at each of these sites was quantified. Gall occupancy, larval density and species richness were lowest at the most disturbed, city sites. Non-parametric multivariate techniques showed that the moth-assemblage structure did not differ significantly at rural and urban-reserve sites. Assemblage structure at the suburban sites was variable and appeared to be transitional in structure between the city assemblage and the rural and urban-reserve assemblages. Habitat quality variables however were weakly correlated with moth-assemblage structure. The contribution of urban reserves to the local sustainability of this Lepidoptera assemblage emphasizes the importance of maintaining ‘green’ areas in and around cities.

Unpacking the Discard Equation: Simulating the Accumulation of Artifacts in the Archaeological Record

Abstract: Quantifying discard to accurately estimate the duration of site occupation is critical middle-range research necessary for understanding assemblage diversity, the nature of settlement systems and mobility strategies, and population size, and for testing any anthropological theory that depends on the accurate measurement of these variables. We address this middle-range research by employing a computer simulation to explore assumptions inherent in the discard equation and to determine the accuracy with which cooking pot refuse measures the length of site occupation. The accumulation of discarded cooking pot sherds is simulated using a strong archaeological case: the Duckfoot site, a Pueblo I residential site located in the Mesa Verde region of southwestern Colorado. We argue that estimating the length of site occupation using data from a strong archaeological case is superior to using the discard equation and ethnographic data, but that the discard equation and ethnographic data-used judiciously-can provide reasonable estimates if a strong archaeological case is not available. Results indicate that the most variable and least accurate results are generated by short-term occupations of sites by small numbers of households. We further conclude that quantifying the accumulation of discarded cooking pot sherds has considerable promise as a means of estimating the length of site occupation.

Inscriptions as artifacts: Precolonial south india and the analysis of texts

Abstract: This paper examines one assemblage of texts from southern India, stone inscriptions of the Vijayanagara period, and considers both how these texts have been studied and how that history of research has structured our understanding of the past. We ask how these texts might be interpreted differently, (1) under different conditions of sampling and recovery, with a specific focus on in-field locations of inscriptions, and (2) as sources of information combined with archaeological data. We suggest that traditional source-side criticism of texts might be profitably expanded routinely to include contextual analysis, such as archaeologists apply to studies of artifacts.

The Fisher Site: Archaeological, Geological and Paleobotanical Studies at an Early Paleo-Indian Site in Southern Ontario, Canada

Abstract: Fisher Site (BcHa-45) is a large interval. No radiocarbon dates are availPaleo-Indian (Parkhill complex) site able from the site itself. Storck emphanear the south shore of Georgian Bay in sizes the site's significance, noting that, at southern Ontario. Although published about 22 hectares, this is "the first large in 1997, this report is based on fieldParkhill complex site to be reported work undertaken between 1975-1980, in detail," and, for the Great Lakes with subsequent analyses and results. It region, this publication "is only the third presents an integrated picture of landdetailed report on a large, multi-area scapes around the site at the time of site" since the early 1950s (p. 3). occupation. The project is described Fieldwork identified 19 lithic conin eight chapters subdivided into three centrations across the site. All artifacts parts. Part 1 describes "The Archaeolwere recovered from the plough zone ogy of the Fisher Site." Part 2 focusses or disturbed contexts. No intact culon "The Geological and Palaeoenvironturai deposits were discovered. Luckmental Context of the Fisher Site and ily, the site was unknown to local Region." Part 3 is a concluding "Overpeople before this project. Storck view"), consisting of a single chapter therefore believes that the assemblage followed by a reference list and two was not biased by selective surface colappendices (pollen analysis and an artilecting. He concludes that the artifacts fact catalogue) . are the "product of a single cultural Chapter 1 introduces the Fisher Site group" based on stylistic and techand outlines the fieldwork conducted, nological characteristics of the fluted The site is near the strandline of glacial points. Lithic concentrations varied Lake Algonquin, a Late Pleistocene highacross the site, perhaps because difstand of Lake Huron. Storck assumes ferent areas were used for different that occupation is roughly contempopurposes. This suggested that detailed raneous with this highstand and thus analysis might yield information on occurred in the 11,500-10,400 yr BP activity organization.

The Evolution of Anasazi Ceramic Production and Distribution: Compositional Evidence from a Pueblo III Site in South-Central Utah

Abstract: We start from the premise that ceramic evolution created the paste-compositional and formal diversity of archaeological ceramic assemblages. After discussing alternative models of formal and compositional diversity in ceramic assemblages, we examine an assemblage from an Anasazi site in southern Utah from which 206 sherds were characterized by neutron activation analysis. The assemblage is remarkably diverse compositionally, which indicates that vessels from a number of sources were used at the site. Equally interesting, similar vessels (belonging to a single “ware” category) occur in a number of distinct compositions, which indicates that they were made in multiple locations. We argue that the selective regime under which such an assemblage would accumulate is distinct from the selective regime under which assemblages with a strong association of form and composition would accumulate.

The Sample Size-Richness Relation: A Comment on Plog and Hegmon

Abstract: Plog and Hegmon (1993) focus on my research (Leonard 1989) on Black Mesa, Arizona, faunal assemblages as part of a broader critique of the work of a number of researchers who consider the effects of sample size on assemblage richness values. I suggest that their critique is problematic for a number of reasons, primarily statistical, but also because they do not provide an alternative hypothesis for the observed pattern.

Namurian (Lower Carboniferous) gastropod assemblages from Ningxia, China

Abstract: The Namurian Tsingyuan Formation from Ningxia, China, is divided into three members. The remarkably well-preserved gastropods from the Tsingyuan Formation belong to three assemblages: the Angyomphalus longicostatus — Glabrocingulum tongxinensis assemblage from the Lower Member; an assemblage of some siliceous Bellerophon sp., and Naticopsis sp. from the Middle Member; and the Euphemites hindi — Turbonitella semisulcatus assemblage from the Upper Member. Based on the associated ammonoids and conodonts, these assemblages are considered equivalent to the Eumorphoceras, Homoceras 2 - Reticuloceras 1 and Reticuloceras 2 zones of West Europe respectively.

AMS dating of the Manx Ronaldsway Neolithic

Abstract: The Ronaldsway Culture of the Isle of Man was recognized as a classic later Neolithic assemblage over 50 years ago; its dating and duration have been matters of debate. AMS radiocarbon determinations from carbonaceous deposits on Ronaldsway-style pots resolve chronological questions, while new research provides a more secure social context.

Differences between Spontaneous Assemblage and Concentration-Induced Assemblage of Peptide-Containing Molecules in Organic Media

Abstract: Assemblages of tripeptide-containing molecules in organic media were divided into the self-assemblage which was formed at a low concentration and the concentration-induced assemblage which was unstable upon heating.