Characterization of Insect Stains Deposited by Calliphora vicina (Diptera: Calliphoridae) on Shirt Fabrics

Despite the fact that necrophagous flies are known to alter bloodstains and create unique artifacts, no research has occurred to date that has examined the characteristics of insect stains on textiles or fabrics. This study represents the first effort to characterize artifacts produced by adult Calliphora vicina Robineau-Desvoidy deposited on a range of shirt fabrics that varied in type, color, orientation, and yarn tension. In general, artifact morphology on any type of fabric was distorted in comparison to those observed on smooth and/or nonporous surfaces in previous studies. Consequently, distinction of artifact type could only be made broadly as digestive artifacts and transfer patterns, in which the latter was predominantly detected as tarsal tracks. None of the artifacts displayed satellite stains typical of human bloodstains found on textiles. Wicking was evident on all fabrics but was most pronounced with dri wick and jersey knit polyester in comparison to cotton knit. Digestive artifacts on any colored fabric, but especially with green and yellow shirt samples, resembled the reported color, size, and morphology of bloodstains generated in laboratory studies on a range of fabrics. Unique digestive artifacts were also detected as small, black, and nearly spherical. These defecatory stains did not appear to wet or wick into any of the fabrics. Digestive artifacts and tarsal tracks differentially interacted with front face stitch loops of clothing fabrics to yield distinct stain patterns. The implications of these observations in reference to bloodstain pattern analysis at crime scenes are discussed.

Lexical semantic constraints on noun roots and noun borrowability

While nouns are thought to be more easily borrowed than verbs, this investigation demonstrates that there may be limitations on noun borrowing into certain languages. The case of Zuni is examined, in which conditions of contact similar to that of neighboring languages nevertheless result in a different treatment of the noun lexicon. The possibility of borrowing natural kind nouns into Zuni exists alongside a tendency against borrowing nouns of the artifact type. It is argued that the source of this tendency against artifact noun borrowing in Zuni is the grammatical complexity of the lexical semantic representation for these nouns: grammatical complexity in Zuni noun roots appears to be dispreferred. These findings belie the claim of Thomason and Kaufman (1988) that “any linguistic feature can be transferred to any other language” given an appropriate degree of contact.

Detection Functions for Archaeological Survey

This paper presents the results of several experiments to investigate how the detection functions of surveyors vary for different artifact types on surfaces with differing visibility when visual surface inspection (“fieldwalking”) is the survey method. As prospecting theory predicts, successful detection declines exponentially with distance away from transects and detection as a function of search time displays diminishing returns. However, these functions vary by visibility, artifact type, and other factors. The incidence of false targets–incorrect identifications of artifacts–has somewhat more impact at greater range but has little or no relationship with search time. Our results provide a rationale for selection of transect intervals and distribution of survey effort, and also facilitate evaluation of survey results, allowing more realistic estimates of how much a survey missed.

The Antiquity of Pearl Shell (Pinctada Sp.) Burial Artifacts in Palau, Western Micronesia

Pearl shell was an important and highly valued resource for producing tools and ornaments in Oceania. One pearl shell artifact type that is quite rare in Micronesia, however, is the crescent-shaped scraper/grater. These artifacts have recently been found in 2 burial caves in Palau, Western Caroline Islands, suggesting they may have played important social and symbolic roles in society. The first direct accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating of this tool type, found in association with an in-situ female burial at the Chelechol ra Orrak site, provides a date of AD 150–270, while associated dates range from 770 BC–AD 180. These dates help contextualize human burials and associated artifacts from one of the earliest and most diverse burial sites in Austronesia.

Spatial and Multivariate Analysis, Random Sampling Error, and Analytical Noise: Empirical Bayesian Methods at Teotihuacan, Mexico

Methods of empirical Bayesian statistical inference can help archaeologists deal with problems inherent in variably-sized and, particularly, small artifact samples. The desirability of systematically controlling random effects of sampling error when mapping estimates of artifact type proportions is emphasized in this paper, and concrete examples are provided using ceramic data from the Central Mexican city of Teotihuacan. A Bayesian approach also may be beneficial for pretreating data destined for other kinds of quantitative analysis, such as exploratory multivariate analysis. Correspondence analysis using observed proportions of different types of pottery in assemblages pertaining to the Xolalpan and Metepec phases produces vague results that suggest little in the way of interpretable structure. However, a parallel analysis using posterior estimates of proportions reveals meaningful associations of ceramic categories that appear to relate to more general dimensions of behavioral variability.

Seriation, Superposition, and Interdigitation: A History of Americanist Graphic Depictions of Culture Change

Histories of Americanist archaeology regularly confuse frequency seriation with a technique for measuring the passage of time based on superposition—percentage stratigraphy—and fail to mention interdigitation as an important component of some percentage-stratigraphic studies. Frequency seriation involves the arrangement of collections so that each artifact type displays a unimodal frequency distribution, but the direction of time's flow must be determined from independent evidence. Percentage stratigraphy plots the fluctuating frequencies of types, but the order of collections is based on their superposition, which in turn illustrates the direction of time's flow. Interdigitation involves the integration of sets of percentage-stratigraphy data from different horizontal proveniences under the rules that (1) the order of superposed collections cannot be reversed and (2) each type must display a unimodal frequency distribution. Ceramic stratigraphy is similar to occurrence seriation, as both focus on the presence-absence of types with limited temporal distributions—index fossils—but the former uses the superposed positions of types to indicate the direction of time"s flow, whereas occurrence seriation does not.