Illuminating high elevation seasonal occupational duration using diversity in lithic raw materials and tool types in the greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, USA Publication date: March 2020 Source: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Volume 57 Author(s): Rachel Reckin, Lawrence C. Todd Abstract This paper offers a method for estimating relative occupational duration at high elevations using lithic tool and raw material diversity. Presuming high elevation occupations are seasonal, we adapt methods traditionally used to estimate occupational duration for individual sites to the scale of landscapes, using data from the Beartooth and Absaroka Mountains of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Essentially, we work to understand how much of foragers’ seasonal rounds they were spending at high elevations. Averaged over the Holocene, the Beartooths appear to experience longer high elevation occupational duration than the Absarokas. In addition, Beartooths occupational durations are longest during the Early Archaic, likely related to the Early Holocene Warming. In the Absarokas, meanwhile, occupational durations are longest during the cooler, wetter Middle Archaic. Indeed, seasonal occupational durations consistently differ between the two ranges, suggesting diversity in mountain adaptations despite their similarities in resources and climate. Finally, the evidence suggests a gradual mid-to-late Holocene migration of Shoshonean peoples from the south and west rather than a sudden, unidirectional Numic Expansion.

Royal funerals, ritual stones and participatory networks in the maritime Tongan state Publication date: March 2020 Source: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Volume 57 Author(s): Geoffrey Clark, Mathieu Leclerc, Phillip Parton, Christian Reepmeyer, Elle Grono, David Burley Abstract Archaic states were unstable entities and centralisation was threatened by fragmentation particularly at the death of semi-divine leaders. Royal funerals were therefore important state events as they engaged a significant proportion of the population in participatory behaviours and networks that linked individuals of different class and group affiliations to the politico-religious system. In the ancient Tongan state (CE 1250–1800), royal funerals involved the placement of exotic volcanic stones (kilikili) on the grave to mark the end of public mourning – a practice still followed by the Tongan royal family. To investigate the antiquity of the patterned ritual practice and the funerary contribution of specialists and non-specialists, we examined the composition of kilikili stones from chiefly tombs of known age. Analysis shows that voyages of 150 km were made to collect funerary stones from volcanic islands in Central Tonga for ~700 years. The development of royal tombs shows an increase in practical and ritual funerary activity that was likely overseen by a royal undertaker clan and participatory networks that spanned and integrated the scattered population of the Tongan maritime state.

Late Pleistocene human occupation in the Maloti-Drakensberg region of southern Africa: New radiocarbon dates from Rose Cottage Cave and inter-site comparisons Publication date: December 2019 Source: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Volume 56 Author(s): Emma Loftus, Justin Pargeter, Alex Mackay, Brian A. Stewart, Peter Mitchell Abstract Rose Cottage Cave, near Lesotho’s western border with South Africa, is a rare archive of late Pleistocene hunter-gatherer behavioural variability in a montane environment, a setting that is poorly represented in regional ethnographic archives. Here, we present an updated chronology for the site based on high-resolution AMS radiocarbon dates and Bayesian and Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) methods. We draw on broader anthropological approaches to lithic evidence and behavioural modelling to test hypotheses about hunter-gatherer provisioning and mobility systems across the Maloti-Drakensberg Escarpment environmental transect. We compare the modelled ages and stone tool evidence from Rose Cottage Cave to other well-dated archaeological sequences in the region, including the comparably well-dated site of Sehonghong in highland Lesotho, as well as Ha Makotoko, Ntloana Tšoana, and Strathalan sites A and B. These comparisons reveal differences in the organization of lithic technologies and activity traces across the region, which can be explained by a combination of responses in hunter-gatherer mobility to local environmental gradients and climate shifts during the climatically variable late Pleistocene. Our results shed light on the relationship between patterns of behavioural change and palaeoenvironmental variability in southeastern southern Africa specifically, and on hunter-gatherer behavioural variability in montane environments more generally.

Rock art, performance and Palaeolithic cognitive systems. The example of the Grand Panel palimpsest of Cussac Cave, Dordogne, France Publication date: December 2019 Source: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Volume 56 Author(s): Valérie Feruglio, Camille Bourdier, Marc Delluc, Pascal Mora, Norbert Aujoulat, Jacques Jaubert Abstract This paper investigates the cognitive role of the palimpsest in cave art through the case of the Cussac Cave Grand Panel, the main engraved assemblage from this sepulchral and decorated site dated from the Middle Gravettian period (31,200–28,700 cal BP). The technical, thematic and formal unity of this monumental panel yields evidence of a short time-span for its creation. The accurate study of the superimpositions in situ and on a high resolution 3D model leads to the conception of a Harris matrix like model. It attests to a global structuring based on privileged themes interactions (taxa associations, animation and scale of depictions, relative chronology). Considering Cussac Cave Grand Panel palimpsest as a dynamic composition, the paper discusses agency and practice of accumulation in one place in Palaeolithic cave art. In the perspective of “art as action” the dynamic composition could be considered as a performance which raises the question of the audience. The monumentality of the depictions, the physical space of the chamber and the panel setting would suggest two agents: the engraver as primary agent acting towards a potential collective audience as a secondary agent. In this social context we assume that the palimpsest could have been used as a way to share and reinforce common concepts in the community. Whatever the particular semantic content of Cussac cave rock art, this study testifies to the collective dimension of cave art palimpsests, unlike most works so far which considered these specific compositions as the expression of an individual relationship to the parietal images. Thus it brings new elements of discussion on the socio-cultural functions of cave art production and cave art sites in the Palaeolithic societies of Western Europe.

In Pursuit of Māori Warfare: New archaeological research on conflict in pre-European contact New Zealand Publication date: December 2019 Source: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Volume 56 Author(s): Mark D. McCoy, Thegn N. Ladefoged Abstract In the landmark book Māori Warfare, Vayda (1960) used oral traditions and historical documents to characterize conflict in New Zealand as a cycle of fights over prime agricultural lands driven by population pressure. We examine the archaeological evidence for when Māori warfare took on the character described by Vayda, specifically when were there fortifications across the landscape leaving few opportunities for expansion to unfortified lands to counter food-shortages. We present a critical review of research relevant to the nature and motivations of conflict and the results of excavations we conducted in the Bay of Islands region. We find that Vayda’s cycle of warfare is first evident around AD 1650, more than a century after the first fortifications were constructed in AD 1500. Explaining the origins of conflict requires a more nuanced model of environmental, cultural, and historical factors that shaped the degree and frequency of conflict.

Teotihuacan neighborhoods’ expansion in Northwestern Mexico. Cultural implications and social processes from ceramic analysis of El Mezquital-Los Azules, Guanajuato Publication date: December 2019 Source: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Volume 56 Author(s): Brigitte Faugère, Daniel Pierce, Héctor Cabadas-Báez Abstract From the beginning of our era, the multi-ethnic capital of the central plateau, Teotihuacan, served as a great religious center and a hub for artisanal production and consumption. By AD 200, Teotihuacan entered a phase of expansion, which took different forms depending on the quality of resources and the political importance of the particular regions to which its influence spread. This paper examines the specific role of one site located along a key trade route in north central Mexico. Our study utilizes a multi-method approach, combining typological, archaeometric (NAA and petrography) and iconographic data from ceramics from the site of El Mezquital- Los Azules (Guanajuato) to improve our understanding of the mechanisms of the Teotihuacan expansion in Northwestern Mexico. The results of these ceramic analyses allow us to distinguish imports from imitations, and provide a better understanding of the possible messages conveyed by the iconography of the imitations. Based upon our findings, we argue that this commercial staging post was an emanation of the neighborhoods of Teotihuacan, and was integrated in its constantly evolving social fabric.

Handling dead bodies: Investigating the formation process of a collective burial from Neolithic Tepecik-Çiftlik, Central Anatolia (Turkey) Publication date: December 2019 Source: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Volume 56 Author(s): Ali Metin Büyükkarakaya, Yasin Gökhan Çakan, Martin Godon, Yılmaz Selim Erdal, Erhan Bıçakçı Abstract There are only a few collective burials that include a large number of individuals during the PPN (Pre-Pottery Neolithic) and PN (Pottery Neolithic) settlements of the Near East. However, analyses of this type of burial are highly important since they provide enormous information about a variety of cultural and biological aspects of a society. In this study, a large collective burial from Tepecik-Çiftlik is evaluated. The main goal of this study is to examine and understand the formation process of this burial. Following excavation, the human skeletal remains were curated and analyzed. In this analysis, at least 42 individuals were documented in the burial. A calculation of the Most Likely Number of Individuals (MLNI) has indicated there may be as many as 47 individuals present. The burial includes both sexes and all age groups, with the exception of infants below the age of 1.5 years. In summary, we argue that the final stage of the burial was formed through multiple factors and the reasons behind the complexity of this assemblage include successive burials over time, movement of the primary burials by human agents, and the secondary deposition of several individuals.

Building communities. Presenting a model of community formation and organizational complexity in southwestern Anatolia Publication date: December 2019 Source: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Volume 56 Author(s): Dries Daems Abstract In this paper, a model of community formation and organizational complexity is presented, focusing on the fundamental role of social interactions and information transmission for the development of complex social organisation. The model combines several approaches in complex systems thinking which has garnered increasing attention in archaeology. It is then outlined how this conceptual model can be applied in archaeology. In the absence of direct observations of constituent social interactions, archaeologists study the past through material remnants found in the archaeological record. People used their material surroundings to shape, structure and guide social interactions and practices in various ways. The presented framework shows how dynamics of social organisation and community formation can be inferred from these material remains. The model is applied on a case study of two communities, Sagalassos and Düzen Tepe, located in southwestern Anatolia during late Achaemenid to middle Hellenistic times (fifth to second centuries BCE). It is suggested that constituent interactions and practices can be linked to the markedly different forms of organizational structures and material surroundings attested in both communities. The case study illustrates how the presented model can help understand trajectories of socio-political structures and organizational complexity on a community level.

Remembering a sacred place – The depositional history of Hilazon Tachtit, a Natufian burial cave Publication date: December 2019 Source: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Volume 56 Author(s): Hadas Goldgeier, Natalie D. Munro, Leore Grosman Abstract Hilazon Tachtit Cave served as a cemetery for at least 28 individuals and an arena for interment rituals and other activities. The nature of the activities in the cave, their frequency and their recurrence over time, demonstrate that this site was an important sacred place on the Late Natufian (ca. 12,000 cal. BP) landscape of the western Galilee of Israel. Using a GIS-based approach, we examine the distribution and density of small flint chips and other microartifacts within the site to ascertain the location, timing and intensity of activities. From this, we reconstruct the depositional history and the order of burial and ritual events in the cave. We then explore the role of collective memory in the formation and continued use of the cave as a unique cemetery. Our results show that the memory of the initial burial event shaped the future use of the cave, its importance as a site for human burial and ritual performance, and its place as a sacred locale for the Late Natufian community.

Animal penning and open area activity at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey Publication date: December 2019 Source: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Volume 56 Author(s): Marta Portillo, Aroa García-Suárez, Arkadiusz Klimowicz, Marek Z. Barański, Wendy Matthews Abstract Over the last few decades a variety of geoarchaeological methods and ethnoarchaeological and experimental approaches have demonstrated the fundamental importance of animal dung deposits for reconstructing past human life-ways. Through simultaneous examination in micromorphological thin-section and integrated phytolith and faecal spherulite analyses, this study provides direct evidence for animal management and organisation of space at Neolithic Çatalhöyük by examining livestock penning deposits across the settlement. The identification of new extensive areas of penning distributed within the boundaries of the early occupation of the site suggests greater proximity to and management of herds immediately prior to a phase of settlement expansion, access to wider networks and resources, and increased exploitation of the wider landscape. Phytolith assemblages from in situ dung accumulations also provide new insights into foddering/grazing practices showing highly variable herbivorous regimes, including both dicotyledonous and grass-based diets with an important proportion of grasses used as fodder and/or grazing during the early occupation of Çatalhöyük. This study provides direct evidence of the proximity of humans and herds, continuity and change in animal management strategies and farming practices, and concepts of space at the site.