Showing papers on "Assemblage (archaeology) published in 2012"

On assemblages and geography

Abstract: In this paper we explore what assemblage thinking offers social-spatial theory by asking what questions or problems assemblage responds to or opens up. Used variously as a concept, ethos and descri...

Precarity’s Forms

Abstract: Writing matters if objects of analysis are to be understood as emergent forms with qualities, intensities, and trajectories that can be described or evoked. Writing is not epiphenomenal to thought but its medium. As it sidles up to worlds, disparate and incommensurate things throw themselves together. As it attunes, spatial and temporal dimensions come into play; writing skids over surfaces, pauses on a detail, grows capacious or pinched. Here, I write four very different scenes of precarity as a form that accretes, accrues, and wears out and one that takes place through attachments, tempos, materialities, and states of being. Such objects of analysis register the tactility and significance of something coming into form through an assemblage of affects, routes, conditions, sensibilities, and habits.

A Twenty-First Century Archaeology of Stone Artifacts

Abstract: Archaeologists today, as in the past, continue to divide their stone artifact assemblages into categories and to give privilege to certain of these categories over others. Retouched tools and particular core forms, for instance, are thought to contain more information than the unretouched flakes and flake fragments. This reflects the assumption that information to be gained from stone artifacts is present within the artifact itself. This study evaluates a continued interest in the final form of stone artifacts by first considering ethnographic accounts of stone artifact manufacture and use in Australia and then by utilizing the patterns observed in these accounts to investigate assemblage patterning within an Australian archaeological case study. Reading the ethnographic accounts provides no indication that Aboriginal people valued more or less complex artifacts, in uniform ways, in every situation. In fact, the opposite is true. Stone artifacts were always valued in some sense but which ones, and in which ways, depended on the situations the people who needed the artifacts found themselves in. Aboriginal people were quite capable of making and using expedient and informal artifacts in complex ways. The significance of these observations is considered for stone artifact studies in general and in relation to a case study from western New South Wales, Australia.

A new assemblage of juvenile Ediacaran fronds from the Drook Formation, Newfoundland

Abstract: A new assemblage of frondose and filamentous Ediacaran macrofossils is reported from the upper Drook Formation of Pigeon Cove, Newfoundland. The frondose forms, all less than 3 cm in length, are considered to represent the juvenile growth stages of Ediacaran organisms including Charnia spp. and Trepassia spp. This is the first report of an assemblage wholly dominated by such small juvenile rangeomorph forms, and provides insights into the ontogeny and ecology of these earliest members of the Ediacara biota. The fronds occur alongside filamentous forms with similarities to microbial taxa, and both morphotypes are considered to postdate an assemblage of large ivesheadiomorphs on the same bedding plane. If so, the assemblage represents one of the oldest documented examples of secondary community succession. The new Pigeon Cove fossils also extend the stratigraphic ranges of several key frondose taxa ( Charnia masoni, Charniodiscus spp.) back into some of the oldest known macrofossil-bearing strata. These revised ranges lend support to the suggestion that the previously observed low diversity within the Drook Formation may represent a combination of taphonomic and sampling artefacts. Furthermore, this assemblage implies that the diversification of architectural morphotypes within the Ediacara biota took place earlier than hitherto suspected. Supplementary material: A document containing figures of additional juvenile rangeomorphs and filamentous specimens, a table of specimen dimensions, and a complete digitized map of the Pigeon Cove bedding plane, is available at www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18529.

The Lithic Assemblage of Level J

Abstract: We present in this chapter the lithic assemblage of level J. Bearing in mind the temporal issues involved in the interpretation of archeological assemblages, we have organized this chapter according to two different analytical levels. On the one hand, we have studied the technological and functional characteristics of the assemblage-as-a-whole, paying special attention to raw material provisioning, knapping strategies and tool manufacture. Raw material provisioning was basically local, although the nearest materials were not the most exploited. Core reduction strategies show a high variability due to the dominance of expedient criteria aimed at the production of small flakes. Finally, tool manufacture was characterized by the clear dominance of denticulates and notches, which were used at different tasks, but especially at hideworking. On the other hand, the second analytical level is focused on the event level and tryes to identify as much single technical episodes as possible. This approach is based on refitting and the identification of Raw Material Units. The spatial distribution of these events allows discussing the temporal dynamics in the formation of the lithic assemblages, highlighting the time-dependent nature of assemblage variability.

Taphonomy and interpretation: An analytical framework for social zooarchaeology

Abstract: Taphonomy is central to many attempts to address social questions from archaeological animal remains, especially where those questions relate to practices of consumption and deposition. Without a clear analytical framework for this purpose, however, results can verge on the anecdotal. Following a review of the structure of taphonomy, this paper presents just such a framework designed to isolate archaeologically relevant patterns of behaviour through a comprehensive, quantitative analysis of numerous taphonomic variables. The typical formation processes shaping zooarchaeological assemblages are grouped into five broad stages and considered in reverse chronological order, allowing the analyst to work backwards towards the ‘death assemblage’ while identifying evidence of cultural practices. Particular attention is paid to differences between taxa, context types, phases, etc., that cannot be explained in mechanistic terms. This process is illustrated with selected data from a wider study of the Vinca (late Neolithic) site of Gomolava, Serbia, tracing the identification of one particular set of depositional practices. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Flint Patina as an Aspect of "Flaked Stone Taphonomy": a case study from the loess terrain of the Netherlands and Belgium

Abstract: This paper describes recent research into variable patinas observed on lithic artifacts from the loessmantled region of Southern Limburg, The Netherlands and Belgian Limburg. There, patina intensity and artifact typology and technology have long been used as indicators of the relative age of surface finds. Though it is true that Neolithic and later flint surface finds never possess the intensity of patina observed on Paleolithic artifacts, this study indicates that sub-aerial exposure likely plays a marginal role in flint patination. Rather, type and degree of patina development appear more closely related to depositional context. We consider data from local surface sites, inferences about the geochemical influence of plant roots, humic acids, soil pH, temperature, and site aspect; and microscopic analysis of thin sections produced from a small sample of artifacts. Finally, we propose a simple model of the flint patination process based on empirical and experimental research on glass hydration. This is a preliminary, conceptual study aimed at developing a working protocol for more extensive flaked stone taphonomy research. Excavations, lithic artifact assemblage analyses, and geochemical studies are currently ongoing, and continue to build on the results of this preliminary research.

Materialism and the politics of assemblage

Abstract: In response to the commentaries on Anderson et al. (2012), the authors’ short response raises questions about, first, the status of materialism and realism in current debates around relations and r...

Assemblage, materiality, race, capital:

Abstract: The emphasis on assemblage in the social sciences and humanities of late naturally leads to the problem of race, or of how bodies assemble together into unequally positioned racial formations. This commentary argues broadly in line with Deleuze and Guattari that assemblage theory should investigate more than it has its relationship to other materialisms, especially Marxism, biology and feminism. Assemblage theory has enormous potential to overcome binaries such as nature/culture, but only if it understands what novelty it brings.

Spatio-temporal patterns of fish assemblage structure in a coastal plain stream: appropriate scales reveal historic tales

Abstract: Quantifying assemblage structure across spatio-temporal scales is ecologically important and further aids in the understanding of community organisation processes. Currently, few studies have assessed assemblage structure across generous magnitudes of scale, and influences of processes (biotic and abiotic) responsible for structuring assemblages are still questioned. Using community and hydrologic data collected over a 22-year period from a stretch of river nearing 150 km, we examined spatio-temporal fish assemblage structural patterns in a temperate coastal plain stream. Results indicated that significant changes in assemblage structure across time were influenced by environmental disturbances, including drought and hurricane events. Assemblages were restructured in a punctuated manner directly following these events, and complete recovery of initial assemblage structure did not occur across the study period. Additionally, we found spatial differentiations between upstream and downstream assemblages, which were driven by greater abundances of several species in downstream sites. Our results suggest that assemblage structure is influenced by environmental variation, specifically, extreme disturbance events and spatial habitat heterogeneity.

Untimely Bollywood: Globalization and India’s New Media Assemblage

Abstract: No wonder you activities are, reading will be always needed. It is not only to fulfil the duties that you need to finish in deadline time. Reading will encourage your mind and thoughts. Of course, reading will greatly develop your experiences about everything. Reading untimely bollywood globalization and indias new media assemblage is also a way as one of the collective books that gives many advantages. The advantages are not only for you, but for the other peoples with those meaningful benefits.

Rhaetian foraminiferal assemblage from the Dachstein Limestone of Mt. Begunjščica (Košuta Unit, eastern Southern Alps)

Abstract: Mt. Begunj{~ica (Karavanke Mts., northern Slovenia) structurally belongs to the Ko{uta Unit (eastern Southern Alps). The Dachstein Limestone, building the northern side of the mountain and its main ridge, was deposited on the Julian Carbonate Platform, while grey and red nodular Jurassic limestones of the southern slope represent sedimentation on the Julian High. The massive Dachstein Limestone contains a rich assemblage of benthic foraminifera. Typical representatives of the reef and back-reef area were recognized. The age of the assemblage is dated as Rhaetian, based on the co-presence of species with a Norian and Rhaetian time span, such as Galeanella tollmanni, “Sigmoilina” schaeferae, Alpinophragmium perforatum, Aulotortus tumidus, Variostoma catilliforme, Variostoma cochlea and Variostoma helicta, together with the Rhaetian to Lower Jurassic Involutina turgida.

Polyplacophora (Mollusca) from the San Diego Formation: A remarkable assemblage of fossil chitons from the Pliocene of southern Califoria

Abstract: A rich chiton assemblage consisting of more than 15,000 valves (shell plates) was collected by George P. Kanakoff (1897– 1973) from Pliocene exposures of the San Diego Formation just north of the U.S./Mexican border. The assemblage includes 16 extant species, three extinct species (Callistochiton sphaerae n. sp., Lepidozona kanakoffi n. sp., and Amicula solivaga n. sp.), and three indeterminate species. The collection is dominated by the genus Callistochiton and also includes the genera Leptochiton, Oldroydia, Lepidozona, Stenoplax, Amicula, Mopalia, Placiphorella, Tonicella, Dendrochiton, and Nuttallina. This assemblage expands the known stratigraphic and paleogeographic ranges of many chiton genera and species and provides information about an apparent late Cenozoic diversification of chitons along the Pacific Coast of North America. Chitons appear to have diversified in the northeastern Pacific from the middle Miocene to Pleistocene, driven in part by regional increases in productivity and environmental heterogeneity during that time. The chitons are interpreted to have been deposited at inner-neritic depths (,25 m) in the mouth of a bay or in a continental shelf environment, and the annual temperature range and seasonality are inferred to have been similar to those that occur off the nearby San Diego coast today. However, the fossil assemblages also include a mixture of taxa that today range only to the north or to the south. The large sample sizes of chiton valves allow rigorous analysis of the ratio of valve types, revealing a divergence from the expected pattern. This divergence is even greater on average than what occurs in assemblages of chiton valves in Holocene sediments, revealing that taphonomic factors bias valve ratios long after valves are disarticulated. New foraminiferan and molluscan data indicate a middle or late Pliocene age of deposition for these beds, between 3.3 to 2.5 million years ago (Ma), and possibly about 3.0 Ma.

Central Norwegian Snow Patch Archaeology: Patterns Past and Present

Abstract: Over nearly a century, a large assemblage of archaeological artifacts has been collected from some high-lying snow patches in a number of mountain areas in central Norway. The regional collection now comprises 234 individual artifacts that include both organic and inorganic elements. Many of these are arrowheads, shafts, and other equipment from past hunting expeditions on alpine snow patches. This article outlines three different phases of artifact recovery in the region: Phase I (1914 – 43) began with the initial snow patch discovery and included large numbers of finds in the 1930s and early 1940s; Phase II (1944 – 2000) had relatively few discoveries; and Phase III (2001 – 11) included discovery of 17 new sites and a record number of 145 artifacts. Local reindeer hunters and hikers have recovered many of the artifacts. There are close links between reindeer hunting and snow patch surveying in the region. The majority of snow patch finds were recovered during the period from mid-August through mid-September. The collection can best be viewed as a cohesive long-term record of melting snow patches.

Going to pieces at the funeral: Completeness and complexity in early Bronze Age jet ‘necklace’ assemblages

Abstract: This article explores how the ways in which we as archaeologists view material culture – as being constituted of many parts or attributes, as complete, as dynamic, as unchanging – can affect the ways we interpret it In doing so, it addresses the inherent conflict of object classification: while individual objects vary in significant and observable ways, to be included in broader research agendas they must be approximated to normative and idealized types, effectively effacing the actions of the individuals who made and used them This conflict is explored through the study of beaded ornaments of jet and jet-like material found in Early Bronze Age burials across Britain Although each bead assemblage comprises a variety of bead forms, types and materials, archaeologists and curators continue to treat them as singular, whole objects I argue that tacking back and forth between the scale of the whole assemblage and that of the individual part allows us to make use of the variety of singular objects and make

Animal Figurines from Neolithic Çatalhöyük: Figural and Faunal Perspectives

Abstract: This article presents a study of the zoomorphic figurine assemblage from Neolithic Catalhoyuk in central Turkey. Figurine manufacture, depositional condition and contexts of discard are discussed, to find that their fragmentation seems related to fabrication methods and use rather than intentional breakage. We show animal figurines deriving mostly from midden contexts, indicating an expediency in their use. Analysis then focuses on a sub-set of 104 relatively complete quadruped figurines. We introduce a method for transparently grouping them into morphological types, with the aim of querying whether they reflect actual animal forms, and if so, to explore representational variation and consistency within those forms. Three key findings emerge from this sub-study: 1) while ambiguity exists, many figurines strongly suggest real animal forms; while wide morphological variation is seen within ‘taxon’ groups, there are clear areas of consistency in depiction, implying an intention for recognition that persisted over extensive time periods; 2) across animal forms, careful attention is given to modelling heads, horns, tails, and sometimes neck and forequarters, showing a hierarchy in representation; 3) figurine makers at Catalhoyuk were adept at expressing different forms of the same animal type, adults and juveniles, removable features, animal movement, and occasionally very finely modelled forms. The combined evidence — viewed alongside the Catalhoyuk faunal remains and other animal portrayals — is employed to consider alternative interpretations of the figurines. While no one interpretation fits the highly varied assemblage, we argue that they most likely played roles in real everyday activities, such as animal exchange, herding, management, hunting and tracking, and thus reflect aspects of human–animal engagements not witnessed by other archaeological finds.

Palynozonation of the Cretaceous to Lower Paleogene strata of the Muglad Basin, Sudan

Abstract: Fifty-six ditch-cutting samples from two exploration wells, Azx-1 and Khx-1, in the Muglad Basin, Sudan were analysed for their palynofloral content. The material is dominated throughout the Early and Mid Cretaceous by rich pteridophyte/bryophyte spores and gymnosperm pollen. Angiosperm pollen are relatively less abundant, but become diverse by the Late Cretaceous although they occur in extremely low proportions. The recovered miospores allow the recognition of six informal assemblage zones spanning the Early Cretaceous through to the Paleocene and are designated as follows: Assemblage Zone I (Neocomian–Barremian); Assemblage Zone II (Barremian–Aptian); Assemblage Zone III (Aptian–Albian); Assemblage Zone IV (Albian–Cenomanian); Assemblage Zone V (Maastrichtian) and Assemblage Zone VI (Maastrichtian–Paleocene). This new zonation compares well with previous local and regional schemes.

The Maisierian, at the edge of the Gravettian

Abstract: The development of the Gravettian complex is still largely unknown. In this context, the lithic assemblage from Maisieres-Canal, 14C dated around 28,000 bp, is particularly interesting. We propose here a new study of this collection, based on technological, typological, and functional approaches, particularly focused on the tanged pieces and ‘Maisieres points’, some of which are likely projectile points. This new study leads us to discussion of the position of this assemblage in the context of the western European Early Gravettian. The Maisierian appears to be a specific industry, different from the typical Early Gravettian, and studying it thus permits new light to be shed on the complexity of the first phases of the Gravettian, a complex that is perhaps less consistent than it would seem.