Showing papers on "Assemblage (archaeology) published in 2004"

A cognitive and neuropsychological perspective on the châtelperronian

Abstract: Châtelperronian is the term used for a distinctive archaeological assemblage found in areas of southwestern France and northern Spain. Neandertals appear to have been responsible for the artifacts, but some of the artifact types represent a significant change from those used in the previous 200,000 years of Neandertal culture. Two alternative interpretations have been proposed for this change--one emphasizing independent development and the other emphasizing imitation of modern humans. We propose a slightly different scenario in which Neandertals created the artifacts through a form of observational learning known as emulation. This form of learning fits an account of Neandertal thinking that is derived from cognitive models of working memory and long-term working memory and is enriched by examples from neuropsychology.

The Art Of Assemblage

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On the discovery of a unique terrestrial faunal assemblage in the classic Pennsylvanian section at Joggins, Nova Scotia

Abstract: A rich fossil assemblage discovered from the classic Pennsylvanian locality of Joggins, Nova Scotia, is here described for the first time. The 2 m-thick Hebert sandstone, within the lower Joggins F...

Late Lapita occupation and its ceramic assemblage at the Sigatoka Sand Dune site, Fiji, and their place in Oceanic prehistory

Abstract: The Sigatoka Sand Dune site on the island of Viti Levu, Fiji, has been continuously eroding over the past half century. Large-scale excavations here in the mid-1960s documented a Late Lapita ceramic horizon, one significantly including many restorable or diagnostically complete vessels. A 1998 discovery of an intact segment of this deposit led to renewed excavation and the recovery of additional vessels. The results of this excavation are presented and used to redress long-standing problems associated with the occupation and interpretation of the ceramic assemblage. Based on radiocarbon dates and geoarchaeological analysis, it is known that the ceramics originally were deposited and rapidly buried on a back beach sand flat over a very brief period of time ca. 2500 BP (ca. 2600 cal. BP). The distribution of ceramics, the relative absence of habitation features, non-ceramic artifacts and fauna, and shoreline characteristics suggest the locale was employed as a canoe-landing site. The temporal discreteness, and the completeness of ceramic vessels have made the collection a critical assemblage for comparative analyses in Oceanic prehistory. With only limited decoration applied to the vessels, the assemblage has been interpreted as a devolutionary stage, one intermediate between the complex and highly structured decorated vessels of the initial Lapita colonists and a sequent Plainware phase where decoration has all but disappeared. Rather than a devolutionary stage, the Sigatoka pottery represents a viable industry with functional if not social importance in late Lapita society.

Equifinality, Assemblage Integrity and Behavioral Inferences at Verberie

Abstract: Body part representation is often used to identify site function, particularly transport to or transport from kill sites. Taphonomic research has indicated that a number of pre- and post-depositional agencies can result in similar part representation, largely a function of bone density, which can be measured in a variety of ways. A number of procedures for measuring bone density are discussed and applied to a late Upper Paleolithic faunal assemblage from Verberie, France. Comparisons of those densities with percent survivorship of reindeer bones from the archaeological site indicate that density-mediated attrition, most commonly associated with equifinality, is not primarily responsible for the skeletal element representation. A reverse bulk utility curve suggests that high and medium nutritional value skeletal elements were removed from this hunting site for subsequent processing and consumption elsewhere.

Quality Quartz: working stone at a bronze age kerbed Cairn at Olcote, near Calanais, Isle of Lewis

Abstract: This paper discusses an assemblage of worked and smashed quartz associated with a Bronze Age kerbed cairn at Olcote. Most analytical treatments of quartz in Scottish prehistory have been structured around a pervasive dualism: quartz working is either the mundane use of a low quality raw material or the ritual use of a symbolically laden referent. The assemblage from Olcote highlights the dangers of such dichotomous analytical positions.

Taphonomy, geology, and paleoecology of the Sandy Site, an exceptional assemblage in the Maastrichtian Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota

Abstract: Bartlett, Jeffrey Alan. Taphonomy, geology, and paleoecology of the Sandy Site, an exceptional assemblage in the Maastrichtian Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota. (Under the direction of Dale Russell.) The Sandy Site is a multispecific terrestrial deposit in the fluvial sediments of the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation. It captures a diversity of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs and other vertebrates. Over three thousand bones represent at least fifty genera of birds, pterosaurs, terrestrial and aquatic tetrapods, and fish. Ten of the eleven dinosaur families found throughout the formation have been recognized at this quarry. Detailed taphonomic observations included abrasion, bone completeness, skeletal representation. These and a number of qualitative features indicated two distinct bonesets in the assemblage. An allochthonous suite included bones of tyrannosaurs, hadrosaurs and ceratopsians, which possessed taphonomic signatures similar to exotic aquatic vertebrate specimens. Smaller, unusual dinosaurs comprised a parautochthonous group with mammals, birds, pterosaurs, and small herpetofauna. Sedimentologic data suggest a fluvial crevassing event as the most likely depositional setting. Crevasse channel deposition fits with the Sandy microstratigraphic package and structures present, the narrow time resolution, and the dual nature of the taphocoenosis. A direct cause of mortality cannot be identified, but that agent and the subsequent burial of the taphocoenosis apparently occurred in two steps. Comparison with other sites indicates that Sandy was a product of fortuitous set of repeatable events, and that similar depositional environments produce mixed assemblages with multispecific parautochthonous components. The autochthonous assemblage presents a Sandy paleofauna different from conventional reconstructions of the Hell Creek Formation. Smaller dinosaurs prevailed in this setting, in marked contrast to the dominance of a few megafaunal taxa presented in previous reconstructions. The original faunule has a size structure similar to modern mammal communities. The regional ecology may have been mosaic rather than homogeneous, where large dinosaurs lived near but separately from the unusual small denizens of Sandy. The dinosaur faunule represented at Sandy portray a very different community than generally known for the regional Triceratops fauna of the Western Interior, and may have inhabited the Hell Creek landscape as more influential members of the ecosystem than previously recognized. TAPHONOMY, GEOLOGY, AND PALEOECOLOGY OF THE SANDY SITE, AN EXCEPTIONAL ASSEMBLAGE IN THE MAASTRICHTIAN HELL CREEK FORMATION OF SOUTH DAKOTA

Analysis of the Pass Cavallo shipwreck assemblage, Matagorda Bay, Texas

Abstract: Analysis of the Pass Cavallo Shipwreck Assemblage, Matagorda Bay, Texas. (May 2004) Amy Anne Borgens, B.A., Purdue University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Donny Hamilton A survey conducted in February of 1998 located an anomaly originally believed to be the remains of L’Aimable. L’Aimable was one of four ships utilized by ReneRobert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, for his voyage to colonize the Gulf Coast in 1684. The anomaly, a wrecked vessel with a heavy iron signature, was located outside the entrance to the historic pass into Matagorda Bay, Texas. Artifacts were extracted from the wreck site to aid in the identification of the vessel, which was subsequently determined to be more recent in origin. A preliminary examination of the artifacts indicates that the shipwreck dates to the first half of the 19 century. The survey recovered over two hundred artifacts. The assemblage of artifacts includes over 80 lead shot, over 40 examples of brass firearm furniture, over 15 firearm fragments, several pieces of copper sheathing, and iron bar stock. Almost two-thirds of the material is associated with small arms. The majority of the identifiable firearms are military arms of three patterns: the British Short Land Pattern, the British India Pattern, and the Model 1757 Spanish musket. Historical research has determined that these arms were circulating in Texas, New Orleans, and Mexico, as early as 1815. The British pattern arms were both

Palynological assemblage from the Anjar intertrappeans, Kutch district, Gujarat: Age implications

Abstract: CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 86, NO. 12, 25 JUNE 2004 1596 1. Singh, J. S. and Singh, S. P., Forests of the Himalaya, Gyanodaya Prakashan, Nainital, 1992. 2. Rai, S. C., Sharma, E. and Sundriyal, R. C., Environ. Conserv., 1994, 21, 30– 34. 3. Singh, J. S., Pandey, U. and Tiwari, A. K., Ambio, 1984, 13, 80–87. 4. Singh, J. S., Tiwari, A. K. and Saxena, A. K., Environ. Conserv., 1985, 12, 67– 69. 5. Singh, J. S., Singh, L. and Pandey, C. B., Curr. Sci., 1991, 61, 477–479. 6. Houghton, R. A. and Hackler, J. L., Global Change Biol., 1999, 5, 481–492. 7. Houghton, R. A., Hobbie, J. E., Melillo, J. M., Moore, B., Peterson, B. J., Shaver, G. R. and Woodwell, G. M., Ecol. Monogr., 1983, 53, 235–262. 8. Lugo, A. E., Sanchez, M. J. and Brown, S., Plant Soil, 1986, 96, 185–196. 9. Dixon, R. K., Brown, S., Houghton, R. A., Soloman, A. M., Trexler, M. C. and Wisniewski, J., Science, 1994, 263, 185–190. 10. De Jong, B. H. J. et al., Environ. Manage., 1999, 23, 373–385. 11. Cook, A. G., Janetos, A. C. and Hinds, W. T., Environ. Conserv., 1990, 17, 201– 212. 12. Schimel, D. S., Global Change Biol., 1995, 1, 77–91. 13. Cairns, M., Barker, J., Shea, R. and Haggerty, P., Interciencia, 1996, 21, 216– 223. 14. Sharma, E., Sundriyal, R. C., Rai, S. C., Bhatt, Y. K., Rai, L. K., Sharma, R. and Rai, Y. K., Integrated Watershed Management, Gyanodaya Prakashan, Nainital, 1992, p. 120. 15. Sundriyal, R. C., Sharma, E., Rai, L. K. and Rai, S. C., Vegetatio, 1994, 113, 53– 63. 16. Sharma, R., Ph D thesis, HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar, 1995. 17. Sundrial, R. C. and Sharma, E., For. Ecol. Manage., 1996, 81, 113–134. 18. SYSTAT, Statistic, SYSTAT 6.0 for Windows, SPSS, Chicago, 1996. 19. Detwiler, R. P. and Hall, C. A. S., Science, 1988, 239, 42–47. 20. Srivastava, S. C. and Singh, J. S., Biol. Fertil. Soils, 1989, 8, 342–348.

The Fauna from the Tyrannosaurus rex Excavation, Frenchman Formation (Late Maastrichtian), Saskatchewan

Abstract: The quarry that contained the partial skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus rex, familiarly known as “Scotty,” has yielded a diverse faunal and floral assemblage. The site is located in the Frenchman River valley in southwestern Saskatchewan and dates from approximately 65 million years, at the end of the Cretaceous Period. The faunal assemblage from the quarry is reviewed and the floral assemblage is summarized. Together, these assemblages provide some insight into the biological community that lived in southwestern Saskatchewan during the latest Cretaceous.

La cueva del Valle, Rasines, Cantabria, España

Abstract: La cueva del Valle is a cave site located in the central part of eastern Cantabria which contains evidence for human activity dating to more than 9,000 years ago. This volume is divided into two parts: the first takes a general overview of the site, its location, local geography and at previous excavations and investigations; the second looks specifically at the excavations carried out in 1996, 1997 and 1998. The latter includes detailed reports on the cave itself and the deposits found within it, including environmental and faunal remains, ceramics and bone tools and weapons, and also features a series of studies on the lithic assemblage. Spanish text.

The Paleoindian Bison Assemblage from Charlie Lake Cave

Abstract: The goal of this research is to investigate the subsistence activity or activities represented in the Paleoindian bison assemblage from Charlie Lake Cave. To achieve this goal, standard zooarchaeological methods are used, including quantification of skeletal element frequency, identification of bone modifiers, and reassembly of specimens. It is demonstrated that the assemblage was not affected to a significant extent by weathering, density-mediated attrition, or carnivore damage. Instead, the skeletal element frequency recognized in the assemblage is predominantly the result of human action. The patterns observed in the bison assemblage reveal an emphasis on limb bone elements, and an absence of axial elements. It is argued that an emphasis on limb elements would be advantageous for their transportability coupled with high marrow content. Comparisons with neighbouring sites and site-function models demonstrate that Charlie Lake Cave was neither a kill site nor a campsite, although its function as a campsite midden could not be ruled out. Outside of the kill sitefcamp site dichotomy common in Paleoindian archaeology, the assemblage is compared to a number of other site-function models, including hunting party monitoring station, storage facility and ritual location. A combination of these hypotheses, with an emphasis on storage, is put forward as the probable subsistence activities represented in the Paleoindian strata of Charlie Lake Cave.

Portals to metropolis: 19th-century guidebooks and the assemblage of urban experience.

Abstract: This study analyzes the graphic design of 19th-century urban guidebooks to learn how readers conceived of the city and their social roles. San Francisco guidebooks, from a collection published betw...

The cretaceous ostracoda assemblages and its biostratigraphic character istics in the hailaer basin

Abstract: This paper briefly introduces the sedimentary character istics and stratigraphic sequence in the Hailaer Basin. Based on the composition and distribution of ostracode species, five ostracoda assemblages have been identified: 1. Limnocypridea subscalara-Hailaeria dignata assemblage; 2. Cypridea badalahuensis-Hailaeria cretacea assemblage; 3. Ilyocyprimorpha hongqiensis-Rhinocypris rivulosus assemblage; 4. Altanicypris obesa-Talicypridea triangulata assemblage; and 5. Chinocypridea augusta-Talicypridea qingyuangangensis assemblage. According to the materials of ostracods and their distribution, we described the biostratigraphic features and pointed out their significance in stratigraphic subdivision and correlation in the Hailaer Basin.

Analyzing Domestic Contexts at Sagalassos: Developing a Methodology Using Ceramics and Macro-Botanical Remains

Abstract: There has been a renewed interest in the study of domestic space in antiquity, focusing upon the importance of small, (semi-)portable objects and their contexts in order to investigate human behavior. In these studies, the use of domestic space is examined by describing the contents of rooms and by linking these contents to specific activities. This article adds to the discussion by proposing a methodology for interpreting artifact distribution patterns in three steps. First, the architectural subdivision of the space is determined. Second, we assess to what degree the assemblage as found is representative of the original content of a room, by examining the formation processes of the archaeological record. Third, the presence or absence of certain functional categories within the archaeological assemblage is investigated. The application of this methodology to the ceramic and palaeobotanic material recovered from a large urban villa at Sagalassos (southwest Turkey) makes it possible to identify the function of spaces, the social status of the inhabitants and the eventual abandonment patterns on the site.