Showing papers on "Ethnoarchaeology published in 1998"
TL;DR: In this paper, information about the activity of children among the Nukak from the Colombian Amazon, is summarized, and based on this, and on data from other hunter-gatherers, archaeological expectations are generated and compared with the archaeological record of the Pampean Region of Argentina.
Abstract: The material production of children has not usually been considered in the analysis of the hunter-gatherer archaeological record. However, ethnographic data shows that children are significant producers of material culture, especially in residential camps. In this paper, information about the activity of children among the Nukak from the Colombian Amazon, is summarized. Based on this, and on data from other hunter-gatherers, archaeological expectations are generated and compared with the archaeological record of the Pampean Region of Argentina. A methodology for the identification of children's activity is proposed as a first step towards the discussion of diversity in the agency of social actors in past societies.
60 citations
TL;DR: A typology of artificial rock hollows and tentative identification of their functions is founded upon study of recent practices at Sukur as discussed by the authors, and five stages of development of equipment for grinding grain are identified and shown, using field archaeological evidence, to constitute a sequence of historical phases that extends from the Neolithic or early Iron Age to the present.
Abstract: A typology of artificial rock hollows and tentative identification of their functions is founded upon study of recent practices at Sukur. Five stages of development of equipment for grinding grain are identified and shown, using field archaeological evidence, to constitute a sequence of historical phases that extends from the Neolithic or early Iron Age to the present. The development of other types of hollows is related to this sequence. Ethnographic data are employed to estimate the use lives of grain grinding hollows, which are interpreted in terms of woman-centered familial grain-grinding units. The evidence suggests that prior to ca. AD 1600 the population density averaged two orders of magnitude less than in recent times—with important implications for regional culture history. This exploratory study demonstrates the potential of artificial hollows as evidence for the study of prehistory, culture and demographic history, and the history of landscape in Africa and beyond.
59 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the third season of fieldwork by an interdisciplinary team of archaeologists and geographers working to reconstraint the landscape history of the Wadi Faynan in southern Jordan over the past 200,000 years.
Abstract: This report describes the third season of fieldwork by an interdisciplinary team of archaeologists and geographers working to reconstrnct the landscape history of the Wadi Faynan in southern Jordan over the past 200,000 years. The particular focus of the project is the long-term history of inter-relationships between landscape and people, as a contribution to the study of processes of desertification and environmental degradation. The geomorphological and palaeoecological studies have now established the outline sequence of landform changes and climatic fluctuations in the late Pleistocene and Holocene. The complex field system WF4 has now been recorded in its entirety in terms of wall construction, suiface artefacts, and hydrological features, as well as most of the outlying field systems. From these studies, in combination with the analysis of the suiface artefacts, an outline sequence of the water utilization and management strategies they represent can now be discerned. Ethnoarchaeology is als...
45 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors address questions of site abandonment processes, using examples of pastoral structures on the threshold of the archaeological context, recorded during ethnoarchaeological research in eastern Spain and conclude that the abandonment of seasonal pastoral sites is the product of wider reorientations in landscape exploitation, visible at the inter-site level.
Abstract: This paper addresses questions of site abandonment processes, using examples of pastoral structures on the threshold of the archaeological context, recorded during ethnoarchaeological research in eastern Spain. Current views of abandonment behaviour are seen as deficient with respect to the Mediterranean pastoral economy. A selection of 'small' pastoral corral sites and their environs was planned and recorded in detail, and the data supplemented with ethnographic data collected among the contemporary agro-pastoral community. Abandonment behaviour is examined at three scales of analysis: the abandonment of the agro-pastoral 'landscape', patterns of structural disintegration, and the material assemblages of abandonment, including coral 'furniture' and portable material culture. The study concludes that the abandonment of 'small', seasonal pastoral sites is the product of wider re-orientations in landscape exploitation, visible at the inter-site level. At the intra-site scale, abandonment is viewed as a multi-phase process resulting in complex yet structured material assemblages requiring behavioural interpretation.
18 citations
TL;DR: Bororo and cultural continuity Cultural continuity and discontinuity is a fascinating issue in archaeological investigation, especially in regions where native populations are still present, as in the case of southeastern Mato Grosso as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Bororo and cultural continuity Cultural continuity and discontinuity is a fascinating issue in archaeological investigation, especially in regions where native populations are still present, as in the case of southeastern Mato Grosso. Since there is no necessary correlation between archaeological cultures and self-conscious ethnic groups (Hodder 1978; 1982; Jones 1997), research in areas where a link between ethnographically andlor ethnohistorically known groups and the archaeological record can be established presents a significant challenge for the study of processes involved in cultural continuities, ruptures, and the maintenance or abandonment of stylistic boundaries. This is especially true in a context of colonial impact on native populations, as in the case of the Bororo society.
15 citations
TL;DR: Arnold, Dean E. Arnold, William A. Longacre and James M. Skibo as discussed by the authors, ed. Kalinga Ethnoarchaeology: Expanding Archaeological Method and Theory. Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994.
Abstract: Arnold, Dean E. Ecology and Ceramic Production in an Andean Community. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. xxxi + 278 pp. including notes, references, and index. $64.95 cloth. Longacre, William A. and James M. Skibo, eds. Kalinga Ethnoarchaeology: Expanding Archaeological Method and Theory. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994. xvi + 250 pp. including references and index. $49.50 cloth.
10 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an ethnoarchaeological project at al-Hiba on the edge of the marshes in southern Iraq examines some of the ways that such evidence enriches conventional ideas of the relation between behavior and material remains, of the interpretation of materials in the archaeological record and of both the process and nature of change.
Abstract: An ethnoarchaeological project at al‐Hiba on the edge of the marshes in southern Iraq examines some of the ways that ethnoarchaeological evidence enriches conventional ideas of the relation between behavior and material remains, of the interpretation of materials in the archaeological record and of both the process and nature of change. The author stresses the importance of the visual in recording and understanding ethnographic detail and believes that only long‐term, intensive observation can protect us from pur own preconceptions, the pitfalls of relying on biased, ignorant, or culture‐protective informants or the danger of questionnaires which are too easily manipulated by intention or accident.