Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Isl (Country) (Geographic Keyword)
326-350 (563 Records)
The principal Tongan island of Tongatapu was the epicentre of a hierarchical and geographically integrated society which some archaeologists contend reached the level of archaic state by AD 1300–1400. Dynastic chiefs affirmed their power and rights to land through monumental construction and a dispersed settlement pattern that fully occupied their inherited territories with lower-ranking members of their kin-based corporate groups. Recent archaeological survey, aided by LiDAR, reveals the...
Movement of People and Its Cultural Reconstructions: Spatial Construction and Cultural Fluidity in Paiwan, Taiwan (2017)
Cultural cognition is figurative, metaphorical, analogical, and participatory in nature. Spatial constructions, presented as figurative patterns, are regarded in this paper as the imagery conceptualization processes. These processes map or encode spatial cognition and relative cultural aspects dwelling in people’s minds onto new lands through daily human activities and physically spatial constitutions when people move. Therefore, analyzing spatial constructions of a social group during...
Moving on from Movius: Recent Research in Pleistocene Archaeology in Myanmar (2017)
For many archaeologists, Myanmar is known as the place where Hallam Movius proposed the Movius Line as a result of his fieldwork in the 1930s. Movius proposed this line as a major cultural boundary of the Palaeolithic era, with bifacial technology present in the west and north, but absent to the south and east. His line continues to have a major influence on contemporary discussions of human evolution in the Eastern Hemisphere. Motivated by debates about the line, and other questions about the...
Moving within the ‘A‘ā: The Influence of Liminality in the Hinterlands of Manukā, Ka‘ū, Hawai‘i Island (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Rethinking Hinterlands in Polynesia" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Situated at the transition between windward and leeward sides of the island of Hawai‘i, Manukā is a tapestry of environmental and sociopolitical gradients perpetually reconfigured by the lava flows from Mauna Loa. As a geographically liminal region, place-names describe it as where "the trade winds of Ka‘ū give way to the gentle breezes of Kona." The...
A Multi-proxy Investigation of Settlement on Pingelap Atoll, Pohnpei State, Federated States of Micronesia (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Pacific atolls are generally regarded as challenging places to live. In addition to being far from other land masses, most have low biodiversity, limited access to freshwater, and are susceptible to extreme weather. However, settlers established residence on atolls in the Micronesian region as early as 2,000 years ago. This paper presents the first major...
Multicomponent analyses of prehistoric Fijian diet: Stable isotopes of bone collagen and carbonate (2017)
Several studies have provided stable isotopic insights into prehistoric Fijian diet via carbon and nitrogen analyses of bone collagen, with recent reports suggesting a diet of predominantly C3 plants though with some individuals exhibiting significant input from lower trophic level marine resources. Here we add to these studies by incorporating both a larger sample size from several sites on Viti Levu and a combined analysis of isotope data obtained from human bone collagen and carbonate. The...
Multiple evidences for variations in subsistence strategy of prehistoric humans from the Guanzhong area in Shaanxi province, China (2017)
Influenced by the continual infiltration of surrounding cultures and the extension of agriculture originating in various independent centers, the multi-cultures and diversified economy had been formed in the Guanzhong area, Shaanxi, in the process of the prehistoric culture evolution. In this paper, the comprehensive analyses of stable isotopes (carbon and nitrogen) of humans and animals and the plant and faunal remains from the different periods and sites in the Guanzhong area will be employed...
Multiscalar Island Colonization Estimates through Bayesian Calibration Models (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Constructing Chronologies II: The Big Picture with Bayes and Beyond" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeologically, island colonization may be estimated at different geographical and temporal scales. Whereas behaviorally, colonization is a single landfall event, identifying the location of this initial landing in the archaeological record is not always possible due to site preservation, taphonomic, and sampling...
The Mystery Dogs of Remote Oceania: An Archaeological and Ethnohistorical View of Domestic Dog Introduction and Loss in the South Pacific (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Current Zooarchaeology: New and Ongoing Approaches" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Domestic dogs comprise one part of the suite of plants and animals transported by voyagers to the islands of Remote Oceania. The distribution of these, and other domesticates, is inconsistent from island to island and from archipelago to archipelago. New archaeological fieldwork, zooarchaeological analysis, and AMS dating demonstrate...
Mythscape: An Ethnohistorical Archaeology of Space and Narrative in the Northern Thai Cultural Landscapes (2017)
A thousand-year old narrative of the Naga in northern Thailand relates how the town known as Yonok came to be destroyed (by an earthquake) after its ruler became unrighteous. Regardless of this divine retribution, the people of the town chose to rebuild. Local chronicles and written documents show that people in the region continue to practice and believe in the narrative today. The Naga is seen as the guardian of the land. It is also seen as the creator and protector of rivers, lands, villages,...
Na Ko`i O Wai`ahukini: Adze Size and Sources of Toolstone at Wai`ahukini Rockshelter (2019)
This is an abstract from the "How to Conduct Museum Research and Recent Research Findings in Museum Collections: Posters in Honor of Terry Childs" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Wai‘ahukini Rockshelter (H8/50-Ha-B21-006), located near South Point on the Island of Hawai‘i, was initially investigated by K. P. Emory, W. Bonk, and Y. Sinoto in the 1950s. The collection has since been curated at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Honolulu, HI....
Narrative or Analysis: identifying scenes in the rock art of the Kimberley and Central Desert, Australia (2017)
Analysis of the composition of figurative motifs within rock art panels holds the potential to provide information on the relationships intended by the artist/s between humans, between humans and animals, or between animals depicted. Two contrasting rock art assemblages from Australia illustrate this potential; the paintings from the remote Kimberley in the tropical northwest, and the diverse geometric assemblage from the arid heart of central Australia. Ethnographic data provides...
Natural-Cultural Contexts of the First Inhabited Seashores of Remote Pacific Oceania: 1500–1100 BC in the Mariana Islands (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Coastal Environments in Archaeology: Ancient Life, Lore, and Landscapes" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. People first migrated to the remote-distance Pacific Islands around 1500 BC, and their ancient sites have provided insights into the physical and cultural world that these people had inhabited. Geoarchaeological investigations have clarified the composition of the coastal landforms and ecosystems, availability of...
Navigating Public LiDAR in Samoa (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Geospatial Studies in the Archaeology of Oceania" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In 2014, The World Bank helped the government of Samoa to launch a climate resilience program. Included in this initiative was the financing of a light detecting and ranging (LiDAR) survey throughout the entirety of the country. Although originally meant solely for national climate information services and hazard mapping, the LiDAR...
Navigating through Asian waters: Comparative study of 17th- and 18th-century porcelain trade in Manila, the Philippines and Banten, Indonesia from an archaeological perspective (2017)
The trade networks in 17th- and 18th-century Southeast Asia are often reconstructed by using European historical sources. As a result, Southeast Asia is frequently portrayed as a way station between Europe and China. However, the comparative study presented here between Ayuntamiento the Spanish government site in Manila, the Philippines and indigenous palace sites in Banten, Java, Indonesia under Dutch indirect rule suggests a far more complex picture and challenges the traditional understanding...
Nearly Two Millennia of Occupation along Ylig Bay, Guam: Archaeological, Osteological, and Paleoenvironmental Data (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Research and CRM Are Not Mutually Exclusive: J. Stephen Athens—Forty Years and Counting" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Through CRM compliance-mandated investigations nearly two millennia of occupation at Ylig Bay, Guam, has been documented. Stratified archaeological deposits at three locales along the northern portion of the embayment reveal late Pre-Latte occupation and a possible decades- to centuries-long hiatus...
Neolithic Development on Jeju Island: Adaptation in a Broad Northeast Asian Perspective (2017)
Jeju Island, locating southwest from the mainland of Korea, documents the earliest Neolithic culture in Korea. The Neolithic period in Jeju can be divided into six phases (Incipient, Initial, Early, Middle, Late, Final). The Gosan-ri type pottery of the Incipient phase has been only identified in Jeju. From the Initial to Final phases, the applique, Youngseon-dong type, Bonggye-ri type, and double-rimmed types of pottery have been found in Jeju, parallel to the Neolithic development along the...
Neolithic human-landscape interactions in eastern China: Preliminary results from Liangchengzhen (2017)
Cultural trajectory of the Yellow River catchment is characterized as complex and integrated feedback process of environment-landscape-human interactions. Landscape history of the Neolithic site, Liangchengzhen, provides a good example of prehistoric agricultural land-use and its impact on local landscape, as well as how the human-landscape process possibly affected rapidly increasing social complexity during the Longshan period and subsequent hiatus in eastern China. Through a combination of...
The Neolithic of the Middle Dadu River Valley in Southwest China: Recent Discoveries and New Insights (2017)
In recent years, a large number of Neolithic remains have been found in the middle reaches of the Dadu River in Southwest China, most importantly in the valleys of Hanyuan and Shimian. Excavations conducted at the settlement cluster around Maiping site have led to the discovery of numerous features and object finds displaying strong local characteristics. This paper introduces these finds, highlighting their importance for understanding of local prehistoric developments. The middle Dadu River...
Neolithic Resource Use and Niche Construction on Jeju Island, Korea (2017)
One of the key subjects in island archaeology is how islanders adapted to isolated environments and sustained with local resource. Jeju Island sites reveal Early Holocene Neolithic settlements, dating 2,000 years prior to any of Neolithic sites in the Korean mainland. Accordingly, Jeju Island offers an opportunity to understand any shift in subsistence strategies amid the changing Early Holocene environments. A sudden appearance of arrowheads and grinding slabs in the Early Holocene Jeju has...
New Archaeological Discoveries in Sichuan Zhou Kehua; Sichuan Provicial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (2017)
Recent years have seen a large number of archaeological discoveries in Sichuan; especially during the construction of the Xiangjiaba Hydropower Station in Yibin, Southern Sichuan, which led to four years of excavation covering an area of over 6000 sq. m. These excavations brought to light a large number of remains from the late Neolithic, Shang, Zhou, Qin, and Han periods, greatly advancing our understanding of local cultural developments. The present paper will introduce some of these recent...
New Archaeological Discoveries of Liao and Jin City Sites in Jilin Province , China (2017)
Archaeology at Liao and Jin sites in western Jilin Province has enormously increased our understanding of Liao and Jin period history and social organization. At the Chengsijiazi site, temple remains were excavated and a ceramic architectural element was found with "Ninth year of Da’an" written on it. This site is the Liao city of Changchunzhou and the Jin city of Xintaizhou. At the Tahu city site, structures lining both sides of the north-south site axis were excavated and many ceramics were...
New archaeological evidence of prehistoric cultural interactions in the middle of Han river valley, central China (2017)
During 2007 - 2009, the Gouwan Site in Xichuan County, Henan province, was excavated by archaeologists from Department of Archaeology, Zhengzhou University. Located in the middle of Han River valley, the site represents prehistoric cultural manifestations of Yangshao, Qujialing, Shijiahe and Wangwan III in their four developmental sequences although remains of the earliest Yangshao are the most abundant. While the Yangshao and Wangwan III were part of north cultural system in the Central Plains,...
New insights into the dynamics of human behaviour during the Last Glacial Maximum and Terminal Pleistocene in the Pilbara, Northwest Australia (2017)
The emerging picture from the Australian archaeological record shows a varied pattern of human responses to the environmental and climatic fluctuations that characterised the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the terminal Pleistocene in arid Australia. Archaeological data suggests a decline in site use and reorganization of human landscape use in correlation to broad shifts in climate and environment. The nature of these changes is complex and requires unpacking on a high-resolution scale as it is...
A new method for the identification of temper in pottery (2017)
This poster presents new research on a novel technique to analyse temper in archaeological ceramics. The outcome of the study was to assess whether petrographic analysis of temper grains can be automated through the combination of mineral mapping and remote sensing. Ten pottery samples were analysed by automated mineral mapping. The output of analysis is an image of mineral distribution, based on 15 micron spot analyses, with a quantification of total abundancies of minerals in the sample. The...