Late Archaic Totemism in the Greater American Southwest

2004 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy J. Coulam ◽  
Alan R. Schroedl
Keyword(s):  
Grand Canyon ◽  
Social Attitudes ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
American Southwest ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Late Archaic ◽  
Green River

Split-twig figurines, willow branches bent to resemble miniature animals and dating between 2900 B.C. and 1250 B.C., have been found at 30 Late Archaic period archaeological sites in the Greater American Southwest. Two different and geographically distinct construction styles, Grand Canyon and Green River, have been identified for split-twig figurines. Application of ethnographic analogy to the current split-twig figurine archaeological record supports the postulate that the two different styles of split-twig figurines served two different functions. The Grand Canyon-style figurines generally functioned as increase totems whereas the Green River-style functioned as social totems. This is the first example of increase totemism reported for the region. Ritual and social attitudes toward the animal and totem eventually ended and the last split-twig figurine was discarded around 1250 B.C.

scholarly journals Contextualizing Ancestral Pueblo Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo spp.) Management

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyler Conrad
Keyword(s):  
Meleagris Gallopavo ◽  
American Southwest ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Ancestral Pueblo ◽  
Global Perspectives ◽  
Animal Management ◽  
Human Management ◽  
Human Animal

AbstractPenning turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo spp.) in the Ancestral Pueblo American Southwest/Mexican Northwest (SW/NW) involved the creation or use of a variety of spaces and contexts throughout AD 1–1600 and into the post-contact era. Turkey pens, or captivity, occur through simple tethering, reuse of abandoned pit houses or surface rooms, or creation of pens within villages, plazas, and elsewhere. Turkey dung, droppings, and eggshells are fundamental for determining the presence or absence of pens at archaeological sites. In this paper, I review the archaeological record for turkey pens and focus on three main questions: (1) how are turkey pens identified in the SW/NW, (2) if turkey pen construction or evidence for turkey captivity shifts through time, and (3) what the record of turkey penning informs us regarding the long-term human management of these birds and global perspectives on human–bird/human–animal management. Ancestral Pueblo peoples created an adaptive and flexible strategy for turkey penning, which successfully integrated these birds into ceremonial and socioeconomic processes for approximately 1600 years.

scholarly journals Differences in 14C Age Between Stratigraphically Associated Charcoal and Marine Shell from the Archaic Period Site of Kilometer 4, Southern Peru: Old Wood or Old Water?

Radiocarbon ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas J Kennett ◽  
B Lynn Ingram ◽  
John R Southon ◽  
Karen Wise
Keyword(s):  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Late Archaic ◽  
Southern Peru ◽  
Coastal Desert ◽  
14C Age ◽  
Long Term Preservation ◽  
Marine Shell

Consistently large differences occur in the calibrated 14C ages of stratigraphically associated shell and charcoal samples from Kilometer 4, an Archaic Period archaeological site located on the extreme south coast of Peru. A series of nine shell and charcoal samples were collected from a Late Archaic Period (~6000–4000 BP) sector of the site. After calibration, the intercepts of the charcoal dates were ~100–750 years older than the paired shell samples. Due to the hyper-arid conditions in this region that promote long-term preservation of organic material, we argue that the older charcoal dates are best explained by people using old wood for fuel during the Middle Holocene. Given this “old wood” problem, marine shell may actually be preferable to wood charcoal for dating archaeological sites in coastal desert environments as in southern Peru and Northern Chile.

Loom weights in Archaic South Italy and Sicily: Fice case studies

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 123-155
Author(s):  
Hedvig Landenius Enegren
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Experimental Archaeology ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Site Specificity ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
South Italy ◽  
Local Traditions ◽  
Tool Technology

Textiles are perishables in the archaeological record unless specific environmental conditions are met. Fortunately, the textile tools used in their manufacture can provide a wealth of information and via experimental archaeology make visible to an extent what has been lost. The article presents and discusses the results obtained in a research project focused on textile tool technologies and identities in the context of settler and indigenous peoples, at select archaeological sites in South Italy and Sicily in the Archaic and Early Classical periods, with an emphasis on loom weights. Despite a common functional tool technology, the examined loom weights reveal an intriguing inter-site specificity, which, it is argued, is the result of hybrid expressions embedded in local traditions. Experimental archaeology testing is applied in the interpretation of the functional qualities of this common artefact.

scholarly journals Predicting wildfire impacts on the prehistoric archaeological record of the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico, USA

Fire Ecology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan M. Friggens ◽  
Rachel A. Loehman ◽  
Connie I. Constan ◽  
Rebekah R. Kneifel
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Fire Effects ◽  
Burn Severity ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Jemez Mountains ◽  
Archaeological Materials

Abstract Background Wildfires of uncharacteristic severity, a consequence of climate changes and accumulated fuels, can cause amplified or novel impacts to archaeological resources. The archaeological record includes physical features associated with human activity; these exist within ecological landscapes and provide a unique long-term perspective on human–environment interactions. The potential for fire-caused damage to archaeological materials is of major concern because these resources are irreplaceable and non-renewable, have social or religious significance for living peoples, and are protected by an extensive body of legislation. Although previous studies have modeled ecological burn severity as a function of environmental setting and climate, the fidelity of these variables as predictors of archaeological fire effects has not been evaluated. This study, focused on prehistoric archaeological sites in a fire-prone and archaeologically rich landscape in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico, USA, identified the environmental and climate variables that best predict observed fire severity and fire effects to archaeological features and artifacts. Results Machine learning models (Random Forest) indicate that topography and variables related to pre-fire weather and fuel condition are important predictors of fire effects and severity at archaeological sites. Fire effects were more likely to be present when fire-season weather was warmer and drier than average and within sites located in sloped, treed settings. Topographic predictors were highly important for distinguishing unburned, moderate, and high site burn severity as classified in post-fire archaeological assessments. High-severity impacts were more likely at archaeological sites with southern orientation or on warmer, steeper, slopes with less accumulated surface moisture, likely associated with lower fuel moistures and high potential for spreading fire. Conclusions Models for predicting where and when fires may negatively affect the archaeological record can be used to prioritize fuel treatments, inform fire management plans, and guide post-fire rehabilitation efforts, thus aiding in cultural resource preservation.

Flake Dispersal Experiments: Noncultural Transformation of the Archaeological Record

1983 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 553-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Bowers ◽  
Robson Bonnichsen ◽  
David M. Hoch
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Time Lapse ◽  
Primary Factor ◽  
Frost Heave ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Alaska Range ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Present Test

Time lapse studies of frost action effects on arctic and subarctic surficial archaeological sites have been conducted from 1973 to the present. Test plots of experimentally produced flakes were constructed in 1973 in the Tangle Lakes Region of the Central Alaska Range and subsequently remapped and photographed in 1974, 1976, and 1980. Similar test plots were laid out in the arctic foothills province of the Brooks Range. Observations made during the study period include: (1) flake displacements of as much as 20 cm/yr; (2) average minimum movement is 4 cm/yr; and (3) upslope movements were observed, suggesting that slope is not the primary factor in flake displacements. Frost heave, needle ice and, possibly, wind appear to be the dominant forces responsible for dispersals. It is argued that these and other natural processes can restructure the archaeological record into patterns that easily can be mistaken for those produced by human activity.

A Multi-proxy assessment of the impact of climate change on Late Holocene (ca 4500-3800 BP) Native American villages of the Georgia coast

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carey James Garland ◽  
Victor D Thompson ◽  
Matthew C Sanger ◽  
Karen Y Smith ◽  
Fred T Andrus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Atlantic Coast ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
Late Archaic ◽  
Shell Ring ◽  
Shell Rings ◽  
Georgia Coast ◽  
The Impact

Circular shell rings along the Atlantic Coast of southeastern North America are the remnants of some of the earliest villages that emerged during the Late Archaic Period (5000 – 3000 BP). Many of these villages, however, were abandoned during the Terminal Late Archaic Period (ca 3800 – 3000 BP). Here, we combine Bayesian chronological modeling with multiple environmental proxies to understand the nature and timing of environmental change associated with the emergence and abandonment of shell ring villages on Sapleo Island, Georgia. Our Bayesian models indicate that Native Americans occupied the three Sapelo shell rings at varying times with some generational overlap. By the end of the complex’s occupation, only Ring III was occupied before abandonment ca. 3845 BP. Ring III also consists of statistically smaller oysters ( Crassostrea virginica ) that people harvested from less saline estuaries compared to earlier occupations. These data, when integrated with recent tree ring analyses, show a clear pattern of environmental instability throughout the period in which the rings were occupied. We argue that as the climate became unstable around 4300 BP, aggregation at shell ring villages provided a way to effectively manage fisheries that are highly sensitive to environmental change. However, with the eventual collapse of oyster fisheries and subsequent rebound in environmental conditions ca. 3800 BP, people dispersed from shell rings, and shifted to non-marine subsistence economies and other types of settlements. This study provides the most comprehensive evidence correlations between large-scale environmental change and societal transformations on the Georgia coast during the Late Archaic period.

scholarly journals Otkrivanje homerovskog koda / Discovering the Homeric code

2020 ◽  
pp. 67-82
Author(s):  
Salmedin Mesihović
Keyword(s):  
Archaic Period ◽  
Late Archaic ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Trojan War ◽  
Alter Ego ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Made In

From the late Archaic period of Hellenic history to modern times, a large number of papers, studies, and books dealing with the Iliad and the Odyssey have been published. One reason for this is that Homer’s epics offer so many opportunities for exploration. This was also the motivation for writing this paper which deals with the question of the appearance of Thersites in the Iliad. Thersites appears in only one episode, with unusual speech and behavior in relation to what other characters in the epic say and do. This conspicuous and unique appearance of his must have been the result of a certain hidden desire of the author of the Iliad himself. It is possible that in fact Thersites in this case served as a kind of alter ego of the author who sought to conceal, within the aristocratic and elitist milieu for which the epic itself was made, in a very skillful way his real opinion of the Trojan War and the aristocracy. Thersites and his rage could also represent a kind of hidden Homeric code, of which there may be several more in the Iliad.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document