For the Neolithic transition in the Near East and Europe, this paper compares the isochrones predicted by computational models to those obtained by interpolating the archaeological data. This comparison reveals that there is a major inconsistency between the predictions of the models and the archaeological data: according to the models, the Neolithic front would have arrived to Greece in less than half the time interval implied by the data. Our main new results are as follows, (a) This inconsistency can be solved by including only Pre Pottery Neolithic B/C (PPNB/C) sites in the Near East; (b) the model that yields the lowest mean error per site in the arrival time of the Neolithic across the Near East and Europe is obtained by allowing for sea travels up to distances of 150 km; and (c) Mountain barriers have a negligible effect on the spread rate of the Neolithic front at the continental scale.

Archaeological models of increasing sociopolitical complexity have over-privileged processes of centralization in comparison to decentralization. In western Burkina Faso, ethnologists have long been intrigued by several “village societies,” with complex communities characterized by heterogeneous populations (in kin and ethnicity), endogamous socioeconomic specialist groups, diverse ritual systems, and strong village autonomy. Rather than structured by a hierarchical sociopolitical organization, these multifaceted communities are defined by village communalism and an intricate horizontal organization. This paper presents the developmental trajectory of a community ancestral to a modern “village society,” through an exploration of the dynamic political strategies of multifamily houses at the Iron Age archaeological site of Kirikongo, located in Burkina Faso (ca. A.D. 100–1700). Extensions of power by Kirikongo’s founding house in the 1st millennium A.D. led gradually to increasing inequalities and a subversion of common descent. However, in the early 2nd millennium A.D. these developments were rejected through an egalitarian revolution that transformed the identity of the house, leading to an increased importance of the village community and civic institutions. In addition to exclusionary power strategies, I stress the transformative role of egalitarian behaviors in shaping the nature of power and leadership, particularly when derived from collective action by the community.

The Medio period (ca. A.D. 1150–1475) at the primate center of Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico, is characterized by polychrome pottery with elaborate, finely painted designs. This originally was presumed to be the peak of an evolutionary sequence that began with coarse, simple decoration. New research and dating show that this was not the case. Instead, fine painting and an elaborate set of design motifs are added to the older, simpler style at about A.D. 1300. Both types of decoration are produced through the fourteenth century. The addition of the new style is coincident with the rise of Casas Grandes and was one part of a symbolic package that emphasized the prestige of the center. It is further argued that the collapse of the primate center in the fifteenth century saw the demise of its symbolism. The older and simpler part of the Medio period tradition, however, likely continued to be made at small, scattered post-Casas Grandes communities. These have been unrecognizable in surface surveys, as their sparse surface ceramic assemblages contain Medio period utilitarian wares. This has led to the supposition that the Casas Grandes area was abandoned after the fall of the primate center. This long-popular belief may be incorrect.

Economic reforms introduced by the Bourbon Monarchy after A.D. 1750 ushered in an Hispanic social formation in the northern Rio Grande identified as Vecino. Aspects of Vecino gendered economy are examined through a detailed analysis of five ceramic assemblages from the Chama and Taos Valleys of New Mexico. Geochemical (NAA) and stylistic clues identify the ethnic identities of producers and their relationships to Vecino consumers. Evidence for ceramic production by Vecino women during the nineteenth century is evaluated on the basis of detailed paste analysis of plain and micaceous ceramics as well as the occurrence of pottery-producing tools and clay-cleaning debris. Analytical results reveal that Jicarilla women dominated the production of micaceous cook ware to supply Vecino kitchens. Implications for understanding Vecino economics and the constitution of female-based systems of economic value are considered.

Using lithic and faunal data from 33 Cody complex (10,000–8600 14C years B.P.) components from the northern Great Plains, this study explores how Paleoindian land use and foraging strategies varied in relation to resource structure at the regional scale. The analysis of regional-scale faunal and lithic data was undertaken to demonstrate how disparate but related datasets must be considered together to develop a more complete understanding of hunter-gatherer lifeways. Empirical observations from the Cody archaeological record were compared to an optimal foraging theory and temporal resource predictability theory-inspired land-use model. The model predicts, and the data support, a pattern whereby Cody groups in the resource-rich foothill-mountain zone employed a regionally restricted land-use strategy for a protracted portion of the year, made spatially limited movements during which they relied on local toolstone, and expanded diet breadth by hunting a mixture of dispersed bison herds and small-bodied animals. In the comparatively resource-poor plains grasslands and adjacent alluvial valleys, the model predicts and the data indicate that Cody groups employed a nonregionally restricted land-use strategy in which they rapidly moved through regions, relied on nonlocal toolstone sources, made many residential moves over vast areas, and relied on a narrow range ofbiotic resources (primarily bison).

Since the beginning of systematic archaeological studies in southern Patagonia (Argentina and Chile), projectile points have played an important role as cultural markers. A sequence of projectile point types was established according to their changes in size and shape. These stone tools, along with others cultural evidences, served to differentiate a series of “culturai periods” which were, for decades, the frame of reference to understand the cultural evolution in southernmost Patagonia. Although later researches have questioned several of these assumptions, the classical typology of projectile points continued in use until the present day. The goal of this work is to evaluate size and shape variation in two late Holocene projectile point types, known as Fell, Bird, or Magallanes IV and V points or Patagónicas and Ona points, respectively. These two types are compared using geometric morphometries and multivariate statistical analyses. The reliability in the discrimination between types is tested at the light of reduction. The analyses have shown a major incidence of reduction on shape rather than on size, and on blade rather than on stem. However, in average, types IV and V can be distinguished in terms of size, and stem shape despite reduction. Thus, even though successive cycles of use, damage and resharpening have a great influence over size and shape of projectile points, resharpening techniques are specific enough to maintain the differences of size and shape between types, a pattern that is probably related with functional requirements.

Shark teeth are commonly found in mortuary and ritual contexts throughout the Northeast. On the Maritime Peninsula, shark teeth have been identified in mortuary assemblages spanning the Late Archaic through to the Late Woodland periods (ca. 5000 B.P. to 950 B.P.). Beyond the Maritime Peninsula, shark teeth have been recovered from Woodland period contexts ranging from Chesapeake Bay to the Ohio River. Amerindian perspectivism, or cosmológical deixis, provides a framework for understanding the relationship between humans and animals in hunter-gatherer societies. To explore this relationship, we examine engagements between sharks and humans over a period of 5,000 years, within a socioeconomic perspective. We postulate that shark teeth in mortuary contexts were complex, entangled objects that were both mnemonics and instruments. All at the same time, shark teeth were (1) an emblem of a real creature with spectacular predatory abilities, (2) an icon of transformational and spiritual power, (3) a symbol of a society’s maritime way of life, and (4) a tool–a conduit through which a person could gain access to supernatural abilities. When shark teeth were exchanged, all of these properties may have been transferred, suggesting that reinforcing relationships between societies conducting the exchange was as important as gaining access to the supernatural powers of the teeth.

This paper explores processes of settlement aggregation among ancestral Huron-Wendat populations in south-central Ontario, Canada. During the fifteenth century A.D., numerous small communities came together, forming large, fortified village aggregates. In order to understand these processes a multiscalar analytical approach was combined with a conceptual framework emphasizing cross-cultural perspectives on coalescent societies, the archaeology of communities, and historical trajectories of societal change. Regional settlement data are presented to illustrate the movement and increasing size of settlements. In order to determine how individual coalescent communities were formed and maintained, a single village relocation sequence is examined in detail. This sequence illustrates how people constructed, inhabited, and negotiated domestic and public spaces in these new community aggregates. Detailed analyses of the occupational histories of these sites point to the creation of new community-based identities, corporate decision-making structures, and increasing social integration over time. The results of this study demonstrate that while settlement aggregation can be documented at the regional level, only detailed intrasite analyses can identify the small-scale changes in practice that reflect the lived experience of coalescence.

Most recent attempts to understand the complex nature of the prehispanic occupation of Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico often have postulated that the canyon was a center for pilgrimage fairs and ceremonies that attracted hundreds if not thousands of individuals from the surrounding region who may have resided in the canyon for significant periods of time. Scholars first proposed this model in the 1980s based on what they perceived as the unusual nature of Pueblo Alto, a Chacoan great house. In particular, they suggested that normal household activity and refuse disposal could not explain the deposition patterns in the Alto trash mound, the unusual number of ceramic vessels, and characteristics of the fauna recovered from the settlement. We evaluate this argument focusing primarily on the ceramic and faunal evidence and conclude that neither the ceramic nor the faunal data support the occurrence of periodic fairs, festivals, dances or pilgrimages of the scale that have been postulated.

People often imbue their surroundings, including tools, with a “life essence” that makes them active objects. A growing number of archaeologists are beginning to study how such “living” beings impact human behavior. These archaeologists use the term “object agency,” but employ many different ontologicai approaches. We explore this variation, and present a framework comparing different ontologicai models archaeologists use. We adopt an animistic perspective, and evaluate its applicability to the Southwest using ethnographic and archaeological data. We further propose that it is applicable throughout the New World. Puebloan potters consider pots living beings with a spiritual essence that is affected by and that impacts humans. Pottery manufacture is a mutual negotiation between the potter and the clay to create a “Made Being” with its own spiritual and material aspects. We conclude that a similar ontology is reflected in effigy pots and globular jars from the Casas Grandes region. Ultimately we conclude that this perspective provides useful insights into the placement, decoration, and discard of many vessels that have puzzled Southwestern archaeologists for decades.

Early Holocene cultural material at Gerstle River, central Alaska, provides excellent contextual controls for examining variability in radiocarbon dating. Over 4,000 bone and teeth fragments are directly associated with over 7,000 lithic artifacts and 10 discrete charcoal-rich hearths in a thin occupation layer (∼10 cm vertical thickness) within well-stratified loess deposits. Radiocarbon dating of the hearth features indicates overlapping ages at 2σ, suggesting contemporaneity. This study uses the high level of resolution at Gerstle River to evaluate systematic radiocarbon variation due to different materials (collagen and charcoal), different pretreatments of collagen (regular and ultrafiltered), and interlaboratory variation through paired bone and hearth charcoal dates, split samples, and cross-checks. Accurately dating bone collagen is important given the closer association of dated samples with human activities (e.g., butchering) compared with charcoal fragments in certain contexts (e.g., driftwood, paleosols, or alluvial deposits). This study demonstrates the efficacy of bone collagen dating with ultrafiltration to counter potential site-specific contamination. These results also indicate that even in high-resolution situations with little evidence for old-wood effect and contamination, considerable variability can exist among cross-check and even split samples from single pieces of charcoal from short-lived species.

Burned rock features that were used for heat, light, the processing of resources, cooking, roasting, ceremonial purposes, and other functions are encountered all over the world. Over 200 prehistoric fire-altered rock (FAR) features have been documented at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve, an area ethnographically occupied by the Kumeyaay Indians along the central coast of San Diego County in southern California. These features are more densely concentrated at sites within the boundaries of the reserve than at other nearby coastal locations, suggesting an association with a specific resource in the area. Although many FAR features found in southern California and the Southwest are often interpreted as Agave deserti or Yucca whipplei roasting pits, these species are rare at the reserve; the few that exist there today are believed to be modem introductions. We propose that the FAR features in the project area were probably used to process Torrey pine nuts, a high-ranked resource that was valued by the Kumeyaay.

The overkill hypothesis has been criticized using a simple observation–with the exception of New Zealand, there is little evidence for human hunting of extinct Quaternary faunas. We explore the legitimacy of this argument, or what we call the “Associational Critique,” the idea that the paucity of evidence for the subsistence exploitation of extinct taxa weakens or falsifies overkill. Using quantitative and probabilistic models, based on the temporal depth of extinction events, human demography, and taphonomic bias, we ask how many associations with extinct fauna should have been found by this point in time in Australia, North America, and New Zealand. We conclude that such evidence should be rare in Australia, of intermediate abundance in North America, and common in New Zealand, a conclusion very much in accord with the current state of the archaeological record. We reach a similar conclusion using an analysis of the relative frequency of radiocarbon dates from each region dating to the time of coexistence of humans and extinct fauna. We argue that a scarcity of evidence for the exploitation of extinct fauna is not only consistent with overkill but also nearly every other extinction hypothesis that has been proposed, thus rendering the Associational Critique irrelevant.

The great houses of Chaco Canyon (ca. A.D. 850–1150) are widely assumed to represent cosmological meaning through the orientation of walls and other features to celestial events. Archaeological models of such relationships are considered cosmographic. A prominent feature of these models is a lone pine tree at Pueblo Bonito that has been interpreted as a “tree of life” symbolically connecting the physical and heavenly worlds. This study suggests that this interpretation is inconsistent with contextual data and should be dismissed. Future cosmographic research in Chaco should endeavor to develop methods of independent verification that will strengthen inferences about cosmological symbolism in architecture.

Studies of relationships between archeology and biology in the south-central North America can enhance interpretations of social interactions between foraging and farming groups. The present report analyzes the adult dentition of hunter-gatherer populations from what is now Texas and compares them with adjacent samples of agriculturalists. These agriculturallist samples represent the Southwestern (Mimbres-Mogollon) and Southeastern (Caddo) cultural spheres. Nonmetric dental traits provide a useful means for evaluating the biological similarities between different populations. Mahalanobis distance analysis of these traits, drawn from 902 individuals, reveal relatively little morphological similarity between hunter-gatherer and farming groups. Except for a sample of Archaic foragers from the gulf coastal plain, hunter-gatherer samples are more similar to each other than to adjacent agriculturalists. Results suggest that Archaic populations were morphologically diverse, while there was relatively little gene flow between hunter-gatherer and farming populations during the Late Prehistoric period. The overall dissimilarity between hunter-gatherer, Mimbres, and Caddo samples suggests that each may have arisen from a relatively distant common ancestry.

Late Pleistocene large mammal extinctions in North America have been attributed to a number of factors or combination of factors, primarily climate change and human hunting, but the relative roles of these factors remain much debated. Clo-vis-period hunters exploited species such as mammoth, but many now extinct species such as camels were seemingly not hunted. Archaeological evidence from the Wally’s Beach site in southern Canada, including stone tools and butchered bone, provide the first evidence that Clovis people hunted North American camels. Archaeologists generally dismiss human hunting as a significant contributor to Pleistocene extinctions in North America, but Wally’s Beach demonstrates that human hunting was more inclusive than assumed and we must continue to consider hunting as a factor in Pleistocene extinctions.

Interpreting ritual activity at ancient sites, such as Sun Watch Village in the Middle Ohio Valley, can be difficult without clear and specific historical connections to later groups. This Fort Ancient site yielded evidence of ritual use of dogs and wolves that resemble those documented for several Central Algonquian and Siouan/Plains tribes. Although these ethnographic groups have not been conclusively linked as direct descendants of Middle Ohio valley populations, this information can be used as multiple specific analogies for understanding such “culturally unaffiliated” cases. At Sun Watch Village, local customs of dog and wolf ritualism became established at a time of increasing warfare and the appearance of Mississippians in the Fort Ancient region. Mississippians may have contributed to developing authority positions in individual villages that were coping with local population growth and in-migration of peoples within an increasingly hostile social landscape.

Compositional analysis of copper is used to explore interaction between the Late Archaic occupants of the Northern Lakes region and their contemporaries in eastern and east-central Wisconsin. Copper artifacts from Burnt Rollways phase sites in northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula are compared with the Middle Archaic Reigh and Late Archaic Riverside sites. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analysis of copper demonstrates differential acquisition of resources between Burnt Rollways and their contemporaries and suggests barriers to social interaction between the Northern Lakes and societies in the Lake Winnebago and western Lake Michigan regions.

Kelly and Todd’s (1988) “high-technology forager” model predicts Clovis groups were highly mobile populations that left behind behaviorally consistent records of Clovis fluted points as evidence of their short-term occupations. Anderson’s (1990, 1996) staging-area model predicts that Clovis settlement was more gradual; groups entered the continent and slowed migration to concentrate territorial ranges around resource-rich river valleys, and these staging areas became the demographic foundations for early cultural regionalization. This study analyzes southeastern Clovis point data and biface assemblages from Carson-Conn-Short; Topper, and Williamson to test the technological implications of these two models. Significant subregional variation exists in Clovis point morphology and biface production techniques. This variation suggests the subregions represent distinct populations who distinctly altered aspects of their technology but maintained fundamental elements of the Clovis tradition. These findings are at odds with the high-technology forager model and more closely fit the staging-area model.