Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Wine and its Origins

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Wine and its Origins Feb 11th 2012, 11:09 Wine is an alcoholic beverage made from grapes; and depending on your definition of "made from grapes" there are at least two independent inventions of the lovely stuff. The oldest known possible evidence for the use of grapes as part of a wine recipe with fermented rice and honey was in China, about 9,000 years ago. Two thousand years later, the seeds (or I suppose pips) of what became the European wine-making tradition began in western Asia. Archaeological Evidence Archaeological evidence of wine-making is a little difficult to come by, of course; the presence of grape seeds, fruit skins, stems and/or stalks in an archaeological site does not necessarily imply the production of wine. Two main methods of identifying wine making that are accepted by scholars are identifying domesticated stocks, and discovering grape processing evidence. The main change incurred during the domestication process of grapes is that the domesticated forms have hermaphrodite flowers. What that means is that the domesticate forms of the grape are able to self-pollinate. Thus, the vintner can pick traits she likes and, as long as she keeps them all on the same hillside, she need not worry about cross-pollination gumming up the works. The discovery of parts of the plant outside its native territory is also accepted evidence of domestication. The wild ancestor of the European wild grape (Vitis vinifera va. sylvestris) is native to western Eurasia between the Mediterranean and Caspian seas; thus, the presence of V. vinifera outside of its normal range is also considered evidence of domestication. Chinese Wines But the story really must start in China. Residues on pottery sherds from the Chinese early Neolithic site of Jiahu have been recognized as coming from a fermented beverage made of a mixture of rice, honey and fruit, radiocarbon dated to ~7000-6600 BC. The presence of fruit was identified by the tartaric acid/tartrate remnants in the bottom of a jar, familiar to anyone who drinks wine from corked bottles today. Researchers could not narrow the species of the tartrate down between grape, hawthorn, or longyan or cornelian cherry, or a combination of two or more of those. Grape seeds and hawthorn seeds have both been found at Jiahu. Textual evidence for the use of grapes (but not grape wine) date to the Zhou Dynasty (ca 1046-221 BC). If grapes were used in wine recipes, they were from a wild grape species native to China-there are between 40 and 50 different wild grape species in China-not imported from western Asia. The European grape was introduced into China in the second century BC, with other imports resulting from the Silk Road. Western Asia Wines The earliest firm evidence for wine-making to date in western Asia is from the Neolithic period site called Hajji Firuz, Iran, where a deposit of sediment preserved in the bottom of an amphora proved to be a mix of tannin and tartrate crystals. The site deposits included five more jars like the one with the tannin/tartrate sediment, each with a capacity of about 9 liters of liquid. Hajji Firuz has been dated to 5400-5000 BC. Sites outside of the normal range for grapes with early evidence for grapes and grape processing in western Asia include Lake Zeriber, Iran, where grape pollen was found in a soil core just before ~4300 cal BC. Charred fruit skin fragments were found at Kurban Höyük in southeastern Turkey by the late 6th-early 5th millennia BC. Wine importation from western Asia has been identified in the earliest days of dynastic Egypt. A tomb belonging to the Scorpion King (dated about 3150 BC) contained 700 jars believed to have been made and filled with wine in the Levant and shipped to Egypt. See: Herbal wines of the Scorpion King European Wine Making In Europe, wild grape (Vitis vinifera) pips have been found in fairly ancient contexts, such as Franchthi Cave, Greece (12,000 years ago), and Balma de l'Abeurador, France (about 10,000 years ago). Excavations at a site in Greece called Dikili Tash have revealed grape pips and empty skins, direct-dated to between 4400-4000 BC, the earliest example to date in the Aegean. A wine production installation dated to ca. 4000 cal BC has been identified at the site of Areni 1 in Armenia, consisting of a platform for crushing grapes, a method of moving the crushed liquid into storage jars and (potentially) evidence for the fermentation of red wine. Read more about the wine production site at Areni-1 Sources Barnard H, Dooley AN, Areshian G, Gasparyan B, and Faull KF. 2011. Chemical evidence for wine production around 4000 BCE in the Late Chalcolithic Near Eastern highlands. Journal of Archaeological Science 38(5):977-984. Broshi, Magen 2007 Date Beer and Date Wine in Antiquity. Palestine Exploration Quarterly 139(1):55-59. Brown, A. G., I. Meadows, S. D. Turner, and D. J. Mattingly 2001 Roman vineyards in Britain: Stratigraphic and palynological data from Wollaston in the Nene Valley, England. Antiquity 75:745-757. Cappellini E, Gilbert M, Geuna F, Fiorentino G, Hall A, Thomas-Oates J, Ashton P, Ashford D, Arthur P, Campos P et al. 2010. A multidisciplinary study of archaeological grape seeds. Naturwissenschaften 97(2):205-217. Figueiral I, Bouby L, Buffat L, Petitot H, and Terral JF. 2010. Archaeobotany, vine growing and wine producing in Roman Southern France: the site of Gasquinoy (Béziers, Hérault). Journal of Archaeological Science 37(1):139-149. Isaksson S, Karlsson C, and Eriksson T. 2010. Ergosterol (5, 7, 22-ergostatrien-3[beta]-ol) as a potential biomarker for alcohol fermentation in lipid residues from prehistoric pottery. Journal of Archaeological Science 37(12):3263-3268. Koh AJ, and Betancourt PP. 2010. Wine and olive oil from an early Minoan I hilltop fort. Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 10(2):115-123. McGovern, P., D.L. Glusker, L.J. Exner, and M.M Voight. 1996. Neolithic resinated wine. Nature 480-481. McGovern, Patrick E., et al. 2004 Fermented Beverages of Pre- and Proto-Historic China. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101(51):17593-17598. Miller, Naomi F. 2008 Sweeter than wine? The use of the grape in early western Asia. Antiquity 82937-946. Valamoti, S. M., M. Mangafa, Ch. Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, and D. Malamidou 2007 Grape-pressings from northern Greece: the earliest wine in the Aegean? Antiquity 81(311):54-61. Origins and Ancient History of Wine, highly recommended.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Hisarlik (Turkey)

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Hisarlik (Turkey) Feb 11th 2012, 11:09 Definition: Hisarlik is the modern name for the ancient site of Troy, located in what is now Turkey. First occupied during the Early Bronze Age, 3000 BC, but certainly most famous as the location of Homer's stories of the Late Bronze Age Trojan War, which occurred either at the time of the level known as Troy VI (1800-1275 BC) or Troy VII (1275-1100 BC). The status of the site as an important regional capital of western Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age has come under some discussion. Because of Hisarlik's connection with Homer, the site has perhaps unfairly been intensively debated. But the site was likely a pivotal one for its day, and, based on Manfred Korfmann's studies, may well be the historic capital of Wilusa. Archaeology at Hisarlik Test excavations were first conducted at Hisarlik by railroad engineer John Brunton in the 1850s and archaeologist/diplomat Frank Calvert in the 1860s. Both lacked the connections and money of their much-better known associate, Heinrich Schliemann, who excavated at Hisarlik between 1870 and 1890. Wilhelm Dorpfeld excavated there between 1893-1894, and Carl Blegen in the 1930s. In the 1980s, a new collaborative team started at the site led by Manfred Korfmann of the University of Tubingen. Sources Archaeologist Berkay Dinçer has several excellent photographs of Hisarlik on his Flickr page. Easton, D. F., J. D. Hawkins, A. G. Sherratt, and E. S. Sherratt 2002 Troy in recent perspective. Anatolian Studies 52:75-109. Jablonka, Peter and C. B. Rose 2004 Late Bronze Age Troy: A Response to Frank Kolb. American Journal of Archaeology 108(4):615-630. Kolb, Frank 2004 Troy VI: A Trading Center and Commercial City? American Journal of Archaeology 108(4):577-614. This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst. Also Known As: Ilion (Early Iron Age name), Troy, Ilium Novum Alternate Spellings: Hissarlik

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Seriation

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Seriation Feb 10th 2012, 11:08 Next, we break apart the bars, and align them so that all of the same colored bars are positioned vertically next to the others. Horizontally, the bars still represent the percentages of musical recording types in each of the junkyards. What this step does is create a visual representation of the qualities of the artifacts, and their co-occurrence at different junkyards. Notice that this figure does not mention what kind of artifacts we're looking at, it just groups similarities. The beauty of the seriation system is that you don't necessarily have to know the dates of the artifacts at all, although it helps to know which is earliest. You derive the relative dates of the artifacts--and the junkyards -- based on the relative frequencies of artifacts within and between sites. What the early practitioners of seriation did was use colored strips of paper to represent the percentages of artifact types; this figure is an approximation of the descriptive analytical technique called seriation. Sources and Further Information Timing is Everything: A Short Course in Archaeological Dating Techniques Sampling in Archaeology Stratigraphy See the bibliography for a list of sources and further reading.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: What is Ecotourism

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What is Ecotourism Feb 10th 2012, 11:08 Tourists visit Huanglong Cave on December 11, 2005 in Zhangjiajie National Park of China's central Hunan province. The limestone cave is Asia's largest, is four stories high, features hundreds of stalagmites and stalactites and measures 15 km long. Andrew Wong / Getty Images Although some travel companies use the term loosely to mean adventure travel or nature travel, there are international standards which have been set to establish the definition of ecotourism. An ecotour is a small, individually guided tour that takes into consideration conservation and preservation issues, donates to the local economy, and teaches the travelers something about the nature and culture of the area in which they are located. The Quebec Declaration on Ecotourism was created at the UN International Year of Ecotourism meetings, where over a thousand people from 132 countries met to discuss issues. The Quebec definition of ecotourism is a firm that: Contributes actively to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage, Includes local and indigenous communities in its planning, development and operation, and contributing to their well-being, Interprets the natural and cultural heritage of the destination to visitors, and Lends itself better to independent travelers, as well as to organized tours for small size groups. The International Ecotourism Society was founded in 1990 to "promote responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people." Its member companies pledge to run tours that: Minimize impact, Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect, Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts, Provide direct financial benefits for conservation, Provide financial benefits and empowerment for local people, Raise sensitivity to host countries' political, environmental, and social climate, and Support international human rights and labor agreements. Ecotourism Companies A list of companies that conduct ecotours as defined by the International Ecotourism Society and have archaeological components to them has been compiled for this project.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Silk Road

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Silk Road Feb 9th 2012, 11:08 The Silk Road (or Silk Route) refers to the network of trade routes crossing Asia, first reported to have been used during the Han Dynasty [206 BC-220 AD] in China. Over 4500 kilometers (2800 miles) of roadway are known, in three major trails between Chang'an in China and Rome in Italy. Using a series of way stations and oases, the Silk Road spanned the 1900 kilometers (1200 miles) of the Gobi Desert of Mongolia and the mountainous Pamirs (the 'Roof of the World') of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Important stops on the Silk Road included Kashgar, Turfan, Yarkand, Dunhuang, and the Merv Oasis. Although called the Silk Road, a wide variety of material goods were carried along its tracks, including silk, precious gems and metals like jade and gold, horses, apricots, melons, raisins, ceramic lustreware, and lacquerware. More importantly, the Silk Road also carried people, and so its use spread technological advances such as medical science from India and religions such as Buddhism and Islam. It was probably also along the Silk Route where industrial espionageâ€"the secret of silk manufactureâ€"was passed. For more detailed information see the article Along the Silk Road. The Domestication of Silkworms How the Romans Got Silk Silk Road in Ancient History Sites: Merv Oasis, Chang'an, Palmyra Trade Goods: Lustreware, Wootz steel, silk, horses Sources Dani, Ahmad H. 2002 Significance of Silk Road to human civilization: Its cultural dimension. Journal of Asian Civilizations 25(1):72-79. Liu, Z., et al. in press. Influence of Taoism on the invention of the purple pigment used on the Qin terracotta warriors. Journal of Archaeological Science. Powell, William F. 1996. Silk Route. Pp. 646-648 in Brian Fagan (ed). 1996. The Oxford Companion to Archaeology. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Llama and Alpaca

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Llama and Alpaca Feb 9th 2012, 11:08 Four camelids are recognized in South America today, two wild and two domesticated. The two wild forms, the larger guanaco (Lama guanicoe) and the daintier vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) diverged from a common ancestor some two million years ago, an event unrelated to domestication. Genetic research indicates that the smaller domesticate, the alpaca (Lama pacos L.), is the domesticated version of the smaller wild form, the vicuña; while the larger domesticate llama (Lama glama L) is the domesticated form of the larger guanaco. Physically, the line between llama and alpaca has been blurred as a result of deliberate hybridization between the two species over the last 35 years or so, but that hasn't stopped researchers from getting to the heart of the question. All four of the camelids are grazers or browser-grazers, although they have different geographic distributions today and in the past. Historically and in the present, the camelids were all used for meat and fuel, as well as wool for clothing and a source of string for the use in the quipu. The Quechua (the state language of the Inca) word for dried camelid meat is ch'arki, from whence by way of Spanish "charqui" comes our English term jerky. Llama and Alpaca Domestication The earliest evidence for domestication of both llama and alpaca comes from archaeological sites located in the Puna region of the Peruvian Andes, at between ~4000-4900 meters (13,000-14,500 feet) above sea level. At Telarmachay Rockshelter, located 170 kilometers (105 miles) northeast of Lima, faunal evidence from the long-occupied site traces an evolution of human subsistence related to the camelids. The first hunters in the region (~9000-7200 years ago), lived on generalized hunting of guanaco, vicuña and huemul deer. Between 7200-6000 years ago, they switched to specialized hunting of guanaco and vicuña. Control of domesticated alpacas and llamas was in effect by 6000-5500 years ago, and a predominant herding economy based on llama and alpaca was established at Telarmachay by 5500 years ago. Evidence for domestication of llama and alpaca accepted by scholars is changes in dental morphology, the presence of fetal and neonatal camelids in archaeological deposits, and an increasing reliance on camelids indicated by frequency of camelid remains in deposits. Wheeler has estimated that by 3800 years ago, the people at Telarmachay based 73% of their diet on camelids. Llama (Lama glama, Linnaeus 1758). The llama is the larger of the domestic camelids, and resembles the guanaco in almost all aspects of behavior and morphology. Llama is the Quechua term for L. glama, which is known as qawra by Aymara speakers. Domesticated from the guanaco in the Peruvian Andes some 6000-7000 years ago, the llama was moved into lower elevations by 3800 years ago, and by 1400 years ago, they were part of herds on the northern coasts of Peru and Ecuador. In particular, the Inca used llamas to move their imperial pack trains into southern Colombia and central Chile. Llamas range in height from 109-119 centimeters (43-47 inches) at the withers, and in weight from 130-180 kilograms (285-400 pounds), and in the past, llamas were used as beasts of burden, as well as for meat, hides and fuel from their dung. They have upright ears and a leaner body with less woolly legs than the alpacas. According to Spanish records, the Inca had a heriditary caste of herding specialists, with an emphasis placed on breeding animals with specific colored pelts for sacrificing to different deities. Information on flock size and colors are believed to have been kept using the quipu. Herds were both individually-owned and communal. Alpaca (Lama pacos Linnaeus 1758) The alpaca is considerably smaller than the llama, and most resembles the vicuña in aspects of social organization and appearance. Alpacas range from 94-104 cm (37-41 in) in height and about 55-85 kg (120-190 lb) in weight. Archaeological evidence suggests that, like llamas, alpacas were domesticated first in the Puna highlands of central Peru about 6,000-7,000 years ago. Alpacas were first brought to lower elevations about 3,800 years ago and are in evidence at coastal locales by 900-1000 years ago. Their smaller size rules out their use as beasts of burden, but they have a fine fleece that is prized throughout the world for its delicate, light-weight, cashmere-like wool that comes in a range of colors from white, through fawn, brown, grey and black. The Role of Alpacas and Llamas Archaeological evidence suggests that both llamas and alpacas were part of a sacrificial rite in Chiribaya culture sites such as El Yaral, where naturally mummified animals were found buried beneath housefloors. Evidence for their use in Chavín culture sites such as Chavín de Huántar is somewhat equivocal, but seems likely. Quechua and Aymara speaking herders today subdivide their herds into llama-like (llamawari or waritu) and alpaca-like (pacowari or wayki) animals, depending on physical appearance. Cross breeding of the two has attempted to increase the amount of alpaca fiber, which is of a higher quality; and the fleece weight (a llama trend). The upshot has been to decrease the quality of alpaca fiber from a pre-conquest weight similar to cashmere to a thicker weight which fetches lower prices in international markets. Sources This glossary entry is a part of the guide to Animal Domestication, and the Dictionary of Archaeology. Barberena R, Francisco Zangrando A, Gil AF, Martínez GA, Politis GG, Borrero LA, and Neme GA. 2009. Guanaco (Lama guanicoe) isotopic ecology in southern South America: spatial and temporal tendencies, and archaeological implications. Journal of Archaeological Science 36(12):2666-2675. Hernán Juan M. In press. Modelling demographic dynamics and cultural evolution: The case of the early and mid-Holocene archaeology in the highlands of South America. Quaternary International: in press. Kadwell M, Fernandez M, Stanley HF, Baldi R, Wheeler JC, Rosadio R, and Bruford MW. 2001. Genetic analysis reveals the wild ancestors of the llama and the alpaca. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences 268(1485):2575-2584. Morales M, Barberena R, Belardi JB, Borrero L, Cortegoso V, Durán V, Guerci A, Goñi R, Gil A, Neme G et al. . 2009. Reviewing humanâ€"environment interactions in arid regions of southern South America during the past 3000 years. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 281(3â€"4):283-295. Pollard GC, and Drew IM. 1975. Llama Herding and Settlement in Prehispanic Northern Chile: Application of an Analysis for Determining Domestication. American Antiquity 40(3):296-305. Stahl PW. 1999. Structural density of domesticated South American camelid skeletal elements and the archaeological investigation of prehistoric Andean Ch'arki. Journal of Archaeological Science 26:1347-1368. Weinstock J, Shapiro B, Prieto A, Marín JC, González BA, Gilbert MTP, and Willerslev E. 2009. The Late Pleistocene distribution of vicuñas (Vicugna vicugna) and the “extinction” of the gracile llama (“Lama gracilis”): New molecular data. Quaternary Science Reviews 28(15â€"16):1369-1373. Wheeler JC. 1995. Evolution and present situation of the South American Camelidae. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 54(3):271-295.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: What is a Caucasoid?

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What is a Caucasoid? Feb 9th 2012, 11:08 Just what is a caucasoid, anyway? Kennewick Man Table of Contents | Part 1: What is the Kennewick Man Controversy About? | Part 2: What is a Caucasoid? | Part 3: But is the Kennewick Man Caucasoid? It may come as a surprise that the Kennewick Man is not the only, nor even the oldest human skeletal material we've recovered from the American continents. Indeed, there have been several, and somewhere in the range of seven to twelve of them dating between 8,000-11,000 years BP are adequately complete to allow full description. These include individuals from the Spirit Cave and Wizards Beach sites in Nevada; Hourglass Cave and Gordon's Creek in Colorado; the Buhl Burial from Idaho; and some others from Texas, California, and Minnesota, in addition to the Kennewick Man materials. All of them, in varying degrees, have traits that are not necessarily what we think of as "Native American;" some of these, like Kennewick, have been tentatively identified as "Caucasoid." The Origins of Human Beings To explain what a "Caucasoid" is, we'll have to go back in time a little--say 100,000 years or so. However, one of the reasons that physical anthropologists feel its so important to be able to study Kennewick man and his cohorts is that the theory is changing as I write this. Since the genetic investigations of the African "Eve" and a few other recent studies, understanding of the genesis of humankind and human "race" has undergone a substantial change, and is still, to be frank, in flux. What I'm about to lay out for you is the prevailing theory--but by no means the last or even the only current theory regarding human evolution. Somewhere between 50,000 and 150,000 years ago, anatomically modern humans--Homo sapiens--appeared in Africa. Every single human being alive today is descended from this single population--and there is hardly any argument about that. At the time we are speaking, Homo sapiens wasn't the only species occupying the earth. Depending on which paleoanthropologist you speak to, there was at least one and perhaps several others (Homo neanderthalensis, Homo erectus, Homo rhodesiensis). There is some evidence, in a couple of places, that at least Neanderthals, modern humans and even Homo erectus shared our planet as recently as 40,000 years ago; Flores Cave may indicate H. Erectus as recently as 18,000 years BP. The tricky part is we don't really know the details of how these other species fit into our own evolutionary history. Did they impart some genetic material to us or not? That remains to be seen. Isolated Bands What we do know is that sometime after the appearance of modern Homo sapiens, some of us began to leave Africa and colonize the rest of the planet. As we spread out over the earth, little bands of us became geographically isolated, and began to adapt, as humans do, to their surroundings. Little isolated bands, together adapting to their geographic surroundings and in isolation from the rest of the population, began to develop regional patterns of physical appearance, and it is at this point that "races," that is, different characteristics began to be expressed. Changes in skin color, nose shape, limb length and overall body proportions occurred partly as a reaction to latitudinal differences in temperature, aridity, and amount of solar radiation. It is these characteristics that determine the "races" of our species; paleoanthropologists prefer to express it as "geographical variation," and that seems like a pretty good way to look at it. Generally, and I mean generally, the four major geographic variations are Mongoloid (generally considered northeastern Asia), Australoid (Australia and perhaps southeast Asia), Caucasoid (western Asia, Europe and northern Africa), and Negroid or African (sub-Saharan Africa). Bear in mind that these are broad patterns only and that both physical traits and genes vary more within these geographical groups than they do between them. Thanks to Robert Franciscus, Shirley Schermer and Robin Lillie at the University of Iowa for assistance with this article; errors are the sole responsibility of Kris Hirst. Kennewick Man Table of Contents | Part 1: What is the Kennewick Man Controversy About? | Part 2: What is a Caucasoid? | Part 3: But is the Kennewick Man Caucasoid?

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Blombos Cave

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Blombos Cave Feb 9th 2012, 11:08 Blombos Cave is a site at the very tip of South Africa where great strides in understanding the development of modern human beings are being taken these days. While much of the recent press attention has been on the scholarly debate on whether humans evolved once in Africa (the Out of Africa theory), or several times all over the world (the multiregional hypothesis), a quiet revolution has occurred centered on what it means to be human. Blombos Cave and the Creative Explosion For several decades--probably since the discovery of the Lascaux Caves in France--archaeologists believed that while anatomically modern Homo sapiens evolved somewhere between 100,000-150,000 years ago, humans didn't actually develop modern behaviors and thought processes until around 50,000-40,000 years ago. This event, known in some scientific circles as the "creative explosion," was announced by what researchers saw as a sudden blossoming of symbolic thought. What researchers mean by symbolic thought is the ability to identify--and create--representations of things. Thus, the theory went, a species really not much smarter than other hominids of the time suddenly began painting bison and mammoth on cave walls in France. Evidence of the flowering of modern human behavior is held to including fishing, the manufacture of bone tools, the use of decoration, and the production of art. Modern Behaviors in Africa Part of the trouble was, none of the major scientists was really doing much research in Africa-there was a lot to be investigated in France, after all; but in retrospect the neglect of Africa is a little weird, since we've known for a very long time that that's where the earliest humans evolved. Then, evidence of an earlier flourishing of the creative mind began to appear, in southern Africa south of the Zambezi River, dated to the Middle Stone Age, 70,000 years ago and more. Similar artifact collection types-known as assemblages in archaeological parlance-alled Howiesons Poort and Stillbay have been found at sites such as the Klasies River Caves, Boomplaas, and Die Kelders Cave I in South Africa. These sites included sophisticated bone tools, backed blades, a careful selection of raw material for stone tools and the use of a punch technique; but most of these were controversial in one respect or another. That was until Blombos Cave. Modern Behaviors at Blombos Cave Since 1991, South African researchers led by Christopher Henshilwood have been working at the Blombos Cave site. Artifacts found there include sophisticated bone and stone tools, fish bones, and an abundance of used ochre. Ochre has no known economic function; it is almost universally accepted as a source of color for ceremonial, decorative purposes. Read about 100,000 Year Old Paint Pots at Blombos Cave The Blombos Cave layers containing used ochre are dated 70,000 to 80,000 years before the present. Most recently (April of 2004), a cluster of deliberately perforated and red-stained shell beads dating to the Middle Stone Age has been found, and is being interpreted as personal ornaments or jewelry for the occupants of Blombos. The best and most likely interpretation of these finds, and numerous others throughout Africa, is that the growth of the human symbolic thought was a slow process that continued throughout the Middle Stone Age in Africa. How that flourishing of creative thought left Africa is still under discussion, but one way may have been through the Southern Dispersal Route. Flint Knapping at Blombos Cave On October 28, 2010, researchers writing in Science magazine reported the discovery of advanced flint knapping. The photo essay "Flint Knapping Technology at Blombos Cave" includes a description of the cave, a discussion of what pressure flaking is, and the evidence identified at Blombos for pressure flaking. Oh, and a bibliography, of course, with some great photos from the research team. Sources Blombos Cave is part of the Guide to the Middle Paleolithic, and the Howiesons Poort/Stillbay complex, as well as the Dictionary of Archaeology. See the official Blombos Cave website for a great deal of information and photos about the ongoing excavations by Chris Henshilwood. Thanks to Chris Hardaker for the suggestion and assistance in producing this article; to Scott MacEachern for his improvements, and to the (unwitting) members of Palanth-L whose fabulous archives were very helpful indeed. A brief bibliography has been collected for this project.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Easter Island

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Easter Island Feb 9th 2012, 11:08 Easter Island, home of the enormous statues called moai, is a tiny dot of volcanic matter in the South Pacific Ocean. Called by Chileans the Isla de Pascua, Easter Island is known as Rapanui by its inhabitants, today primarily newcomers from Chile and the Polynesian islands. Original Settlement of Easter Island Genetic research has shown that Easter Island was settled by about 40 Polynesians, who landed on the island ~700 AD and went on, undisturbed, for several centuries. During that time, the population grew, reaching a total population of perhaps some 10,000 at its height, ca 1000 AD. The original Easter Islanders were hunters and fishers, relying on the large variety of birds that made the island, covered at the time with a lush palm tree forest, their home. The most striking feature of the island are the moai, over 900 large stone statues or megaliths of faces, between 6 and 33 feet high. Construction of the moai is thought to have begun ~AD 1000-1100 and ended ~AD 1680. Each was carved out of the Rano Raraku quarry, a volcanic crater on Rapanui. More than 300 unfinished moai are still in place there-the largest unfinished statue at Rano Raruku is over 60 feet tall. Moai were moved by the islanders distances of up to 10 miles to prepared sites all over the island, set upright and decorated with inlaid coral eyes and a 'pukao', a hat of red scoria. Ecological Disaster at Easter Island The feverish construction of the moai apparently caused the breakdown of the society. The palm tree forest was cut down for housing and to allow agricultural fields, but primarily, it must be said, to move the enormous moai into place. As the palm trees and shrubs disappeared-18 different plant species went extinct-the birds left, and without palm trees to build canoes, the people were unable to fish. According to dated pollen core samples from an interior lake, the sharpest decline (90%) took place ca 1150-1165 cal AD. After that, the society apparently devolved to warfare, as evidenced by human skeletal remains showing the effects of violence and the presence of stone tool weapons about 1100 AD and increasing over time. The violence was also aimed at the moai, with many of them toppled and broken. The last of the trees were gone ~1475-1500 AD. In The Statues that Walked, however, researchers Hunt and Lip argue that moai construction actually made it possible for the Rapanui to survive in the face of nearly impossible odds. Read the review of The Statues that Walked The records of the rise and fall of Easter Island's population are found in the archaeological remnants of the society: the pollen, skeletal remains, and other elements show that the survivors of the violence were able to adapt to the crisis and rebuilt a system of agriculture based on sweet potatoes and sugar cane. By the time the Dutch landed in 1722, however, the society had recovered and rebuilt peaceful farming communities with a population of about 3,000. But the Dutch and British brought syphilis with them, devastating the population. In 1866, Peruvian kidnappers took half the remaining population away and enslaved them. A year later, they brought 15 survivors back to the island, some of whom had contracted smallpox. By 1872, there were no more than 110 descendants of the original inhabitants of Easter Island. Agriculture on Easter Island Horticulture was being practiced on the island by AD 1300, evidenced by the remains of house gardens, horticultural fields and chicken houses. Crops were tended or grown in a mixed-crop, dryland production systems, growing yams, sweet potatoes, bottle gourd, sugar cane, taro and bananas. "Lithic mulch" was used to increase soil fertility; rock walls and stone circle planting pits helped protect the crops from wind and rain erosion as the deforestation cycle continued. Easter Island Archaeology Ongoing archaeological research about Easter Island concerns the reasons for the environmental degradation and the end of the society about 1500 AD. One study argues that a colonization of the island by the Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) may have exacerbated the end of the palm trees; another says that climatic changes had an effect on the agricultural stability of the economy. The dating of all events at Easter Island is under debate as well, with some researchers arguing the original colonization took place later, or that the birds and palm trees were gone as early as AD 900. Most argue that the major deforestation took place over a period of about 200 years; which 200 years seem to be the biggest question. The precise manner in which the moai were transported across the island-dragged horizontally or walked upright-has also been debated. Both methods have been tried experimentally and were successful in erecting moai. Building Easter Island Statues The statues on Rapa Nui were built from a variety of materials, but primarily volcanic tuff from two quarries, the Puna Pao quarry and the much larger Rano Rakaru quarry. The ahu--the platforms upon which the statues were erected--were painstakingly constructed from beach boulders and dressed flow lava stone walling. Read more about the Rano Rakaru Quarry Sources See the photo essay Moai in their Landscape for more images and information Barnes, S. S., E. Matisoo-Smith, and T. L. Hunt 2006 Ancient DNA of the Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) from Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Journal of Archaeological Science 33:1536-1540. Cole, Anthony and John Flenley 2008 Modelling human population change on Easter Island far-from-equilibrium. Quaternary International 184(1):150-165. Hamilton S, Seager Thomas M, and Whitehouse R. 2011. Say it with stone: constructing with stones on Easter Island. World Archaeology 43(2):167-190. Horrocks, Mark and Joan A. Wozniak 2008 Plant microfossil analysis reveals disturbed forest and a mixed-crop, dryland production system at Te Niu, Easter Island. Journal of Archaeological Science 35(1):126-142. Hunt, Terry L. 2007 Rethinking Easter Island's ecological catastrophe. Journal of Archaeological Science 34:485-502. Hunt, Terry L. and Carl P. Lipo 2006 Late Colonization of Easter Island. Science 311(5767):1603-1606. Lipo CP, and Hunt TL. 2009. A.D. 1680 and Rapa Nui Prehistory. Asian Perspectives 48(2):309-317. Louwagie, Geertrui, Christopher M. Stevenson, and Roger Langohr 2006 The impact of moderate to marginal land suitability on prehistoric agricultural production and models of adaptive strategies for Easter Island (Rapa Nui, Chile). Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 25:290-317. Mann, Daniel, et al. 2008 Drought, vegetation change, and human history on Rapa Nui (Isla de Pascua, Easter Island). Quaternary Research 69(1):16-28. Meith A, and Bork H-R. 2010. Humans, climate or introduced rats - which is to blame for the woodland destruction on prehistoric Rapa Nui (Easter Island)? Journal of Archaeological Science 37(2):417-426. Prebble, M. and J. L. Dowe 2008 The late Quaternary decline and extinction of palms on oceanic Pacific islands. Quaternary Science Reviews 27(27-28):2546-2567.

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Archaeology: The Original Jerky

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The Original Jerky Feb 8th 2012, 10:30 The tasty dried meat product called jerky, available nearly everywhere, and made of nearly every conceivable kind of meat, has a name which is derived from the South American version called ch'arki. Beef Jerky Entree at Jitlada Thai Restaurant, Los Angeles CA. Photo by Ron Dollete Although preserving meat in a smoked, salted or freeze-dried way was certainly not (only) invented in South America, ch'arki refers to a preserved meat from the highland Andes of Peru, and it is and was made primarily (but not exclusively) from llama and alpaca meat. Ch'arki's archaeological history is pretty slim, Jim (if you'll pardon the expression), so we have to rely on ethnographic reports on traditional cooking methods. That makes it a pretty interesting story... Read more about Ch'arki Read about the Schlep Effect, an interpretive methodology derived by archaeologists Read about Llamas and Alpacas

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Knotty Problems

Archaeology: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Knotty Problems Feb 8th 2012, 11:08 In 1532, the Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro "discovered" the Inca empire, known to its inhabitants as Tawantinsuyu. The Tawantinsuyu empire stretched a total length of 2485 miles, essentially the length of the South American continent between the Ancasmayo River at the border of modern day Colombia and Ecuador, all the way to Santiago, Chile. Tawantinsuyu was divided into four provinces, each with its own governor. Kings held their position by divine right; ancestor worship was very elaborate indeed. The economic base of the empire was maize and llamas; an extensive trade network was in place, with state artisans working in gold, textiles, and polychrome ceramics, for selective distribution. The massive empire was connected by a complex series of roads, over 18,000 miles of roads in fact, supported by as many as 2000 way stations. The monumental and communal architecture of the Inca includes some of the most beautiful and technically amazing structures on the planet, such as Ollantaytambo, and the famous city of the clouds Machu Picchu. Irrigation canals, suspension bridges, paved and buttressed roads, and spectacular terraces are all characteristics of the Inca architectural style. The Inca Empire was substantial, sophisticated, and successful. Written Records of the Inca But it did not have what most of the rest of the world would recognize as a writing system. No carved stone, no papyrus, no wedges pressed into clay, no lines painted on potsherds. Nothing like that. If you think about it, a working empire without a writing system would truly be an amazing feat. Empires require accountants. Who owes taxes, who is next in line for the throne, where are the best agricultural fields and how much do they produce? How many people live in each segment of the society? What is the weather like in one section and how do we protect the people from drought or famine? When should we expect the winter? When is a good time to plant? How do we keep all those people, spread out so far along the Andes, in line and in communication with the centers? Furthermore, what about origin myths? What about the thousands of stories that are generated by people that form their religion, their society, their cultural memories? For a society to function, this information must be kept somewhere. Quipu: A Most Unusual System And sure enough, there was, in fact, a writing system among the Inka; but one so strange that it is going to take me all of the remaining words of this article to convince you of the facts. The Inka kept their accounts, their genealogy, their astronomical calculations, and (probably) their stories on a complicated system of cords and knots, called quipu (also spelled khipu). We know this in part because once the Jesuit missionaries of the Spanish Inquisition recognized the range of function of the quipu, they did their best to destroy as many as humanly possible. The description of the quipu as "a system of cords and knots" does not do justice to their complexity; and it is that complexity that is so convincing. Quipus have information stored in them using cord color, cord length, knot type, knot location, cord twist direction. Cords are often plaited in combined colors; cords sometimes have single threads of distinctively dyed cotton or wool woven in. Cords are connected mostly from a single horizontal strand; but subsidiary cords come off the vertical strands in oblique directions. There are only a few hundred Inka period khipu left--and in the intervening centuries, much of the ability to decipher the meaning of the knots and colors has disappeared. A recent collection of articles in a new book called Narrative Threads, edited by Jeffrey Quilter and Gary Urton, describes how a handful of scholars is working towards cracking the code. Most exciting, recent excavations at the newly discovered ancient civilization of Caral have identified the oldest known quipu, dated to 4600 years ago. Source Jeffrey Quilter and Gary Urton. 2002. Narrative Threads. University of Texas Press: Austin.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Abri Pataud (France)

Archaeology: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Abri Pataud (France) Feb 8th 2012, 11:08 Abri Pataud is a karst cave, located at the base of a limestone bluff overlooking the Vézère River in Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, in the Dordogne valley of France. The site has important Upper Paleolithic occupations dated between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago. Open to visitors since 1990, Abri Pataud has a museum which displays many of the objects discovered during the excavations. Discovered in the late 1800s, Pataud was scientifically excavated between 1958 and 1964, under the direction of Hallam L. Movius, then at the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. The site contains nine meters (30 feet) of Upper Paleolithic occupations, including 14 separate levels dated between the Aurignacian and the Solutrean. Many of the occupation levels are segregated by sterile layers laid down when the cave was unoccupied, allowing researchers to identify discrete occupations. Movius' excavations at Abri Pataud are considered to have been innovative and systematic for his time, and because of his detailed maps and manuscripts, researchers have been able to reconstruct and restudy his work, even if the documents are not all published as of yet. Chronology for Abri Pataud A tight chronology for the Aurignacian period at Abri Pataud, consisting of conventional radiocarbon dates on animal bone from the various levels, was published in 2011 (Higham et al), along with calibrated dates (calendar years before the present, abbreviated cal BP). See that reference for date suites. The Aurignacian dates on the following table are taken from Higham et al.; Marquer 2010 provided dates for the later sequences. Level 1, 24,300 cal BP, Lower Solutrean Level 2, 26,300 cal BP, Final Gravettian (or ProtoMagdalenian) with large blades and backed bladelets Level 3, 29,325 cal BP, Recent Gravettian with Microgravette points Level 4, 30,000-32,000 cal BP, Middle Gravettian, with Noailles burins and Raysse burins facies Level 5, 31,960-34,110 cal BP, Early Gravettian (Perigordian), with Gravette points and flechettes de Bayac Level 6, 36,200-36,730 cal BP, Aurignacian, between II and IV technocomplexes Level 7, 36,640-37,320 cal BP, Aurignacian II, burins and burins busqués Level 8, 36,700-37,880 cal BP, Aurignacian II, dominated by scrapers including nose-ended scrapers and Dufour bladelets Levels 9-14, 37,000-42,000 cal BP, Early Aurignacian, predominant scrapers, especially carinate scrapers and retouched blades, including Aurignacian blades. Abri Pataud's archaeological assemblages include a wide diversity of art objects, including paintings, mobile art, rock engravings and beads. Faunal remains are mainly reindeer, but other species including bovines, mammoth, red and roe deer, bear, boar, and chamois have been noted. Hearths were noted in all the occupation levels. Most hearths at the site consisted of high concentrations of dispersed ash, in circular or oval bowl-shaped depressions. They ranged from small (ca 450 square centimeters or 70 square inches) to large (18,000 sq cm or 2,790 sq in), and had depths between 5-20 cm (2-8 in). The older hearths (from levels 11-14) contained a high abundance of burnt bone, suggesting that bone was used as a fuel (see Marquer for additional information on hearths). Gravettian at Abri Pataud Among the important findings at the cave is the Gravettian in evidence at Level 5. Movius' excavations identified a main occupation zone hidden behind a rock fall at the back of the cave, and a refuse midden at the front, where animals were butchered and animal skins were processed. More than 300 pieces of human bone were recovered from the Gravettian layer, all of which belong to Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH). Among these are a complete skull and mandible. This level included a rich variety of stone and bone tools, animal bone refuse and three human teeth. Level 5's assemblage included 54 personal ornaments, made of animal bones and teeth, mammoth ivory and sea shells, in a variety of shapes and sizes. The majority of the ornaments were made from animal teeth, from fox, red deer, reindeer, cattle, ibex, wolf and bear. One perforated human tooth was also recovered and is believed to represent a personal ornament; it is a canine which came from the mandible of an adult AMH. Two other human teeth were recovered, one a deciduous upper left molar from a nine-year old, and an upper left incisor of a 10-month old. Neither was perforated. The Gravettian Level 3 also contained a block on which a venus figurine was carved. This figurine was a low relief carving of a pregnant woman: other engraved rocks in this level were drawings of horse, bison and deer, and various abstract representations. Other Recent Research Animal bone from Level 2 were included in a successful attempt to identify ivory and marine mammal bone from other animal bone and antlers using trace elements of chemical markers (reported in Müller and Reiche 2011). Sources This glossary entry is a part of the guide to Upper Paleolithic, and the Dictionary of Archaeology. Chiotti L, and Nespoulet R. 2004. L’apport méthodologique des fouilles de Hallam L. Movius à l’abri Pataud (Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, Dordogne). XXVIe congrès préhistorique de France. Avignon. p 185-195. Higham T, Jacobi R, Basell L, Ramsey CB, Chiotti L, and Nespoulet R. 2011. Precision dating of the Palaeolithic: A new radiocarbon chronology for the Abri Pataud (France), a key Aurignacian sequence. Journal of Human Evolution 61(5):549-563. Klaric L. 2007. Regional groups in the European Middle Gravettian: a reconsideration of the Rayssian technology. Antiquity 81(311):176â€"190. Marquer L, Otto T, Nespoulet R, and Chiotti L. 2010. A new approach to study the fuel used in hearths by hunter-gatherers at the Upper Palaeolithic site of Abri Pataud (Dordogne, France). Journal of Archaeological Science 37(11):2735-2746. Müller K, and Reiche I. 2011. Differentiation of archaeological ivory and bone materials by micro-PIXE/PIGE with emphasis on two Upper Palaeolithic key sites: Abri Pataud and Isturitz, France. Journal of Archaeological Science 38(12):3234-3243. Vercoutère C, Giacobini G, and Patou-Mathis M. 2008. Une dent humaine perforée découverte en contexte Gravettien ancien à l’abri Pataud (Dordogne, France). L'Anthropologie 112(2):273-283.

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Archaeology: What's Hot Now: Glass History

Archaeology: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Glass History Feb 7th 2012, 11:08 The making of molded or cast glass vessels or objects was first achieved about 1500 BC, and again, it is unclear whether this process was invented in Mesopotamia or Egypt. Glass workshops dated to the Late Bronze Age include sites such as Lisht and Amarna in Egypt. Documentary evidence for controlled production of glass includes offertory lists on Egyptian temples such as Karnak and a mention in the Amarna letters. Glass-making processes were detailed in Mesopotamian cuneiform texts discovered in Nineveh, as part of the Library of King Assurbanipal [668-627 BC]. A primary glass work shop was discovered recently at Piramesses, Egypt; other workshops of the period have been discovered at Amarna. Also of interest is the deposit of molded ingots of glass discovered in the Bronze Age shipwreck called Uluburun. Sources and Further Information A Glass Making Workshop at Qantir details the New Kingdom Egyptian workshop at Piramesses. More detail is also available about the Mesopotamian Library of King Assurbanipal, and in the Uluburun shipwreck report. Rehren, Thilo and Edgar B. Pusch 2005 Late Bronze Age Glass Production at Qantir-Piramesses, Egypt. Science 308:1756-1758. Shortland, A. J. 2007 Who were the glassmakers? Status, theory and method in mid-second millennium glass production. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 26(3):261-274. Shortland, Andrew, Nick Rogers, and Katherine Eremin 2007 Trace element discriminants between Egyptian and Mesopotamian Late Bronze Age glasses. Journal of Archaeological Science 34:781-789. Additional information was gathered from the Bibliography of Glass Making, assembled for this project.

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