Worldwide (Geographic Keyword)

151-175 (310 Records)

Introduction: Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Charles Kolb. Kostalena Michelaki. Sandra López Varala.

This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In any academic discipline, the sociology of knowledge, involving the creation and sustenance of networks, is often as important as the knowledge itself to discover and disseminate scientific information. This session celebrates and reveals the critical role of Frederick R. Matson (†), Charles C. Kolb, and Louana M. Lackey (†) in creating and...


Introduction: Out-of-the Box Archaeology Session (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Ran Boytner.

This is an abstract from the "Archaeology Out-of-the-Box: Investigating the Edge of the Discipline" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In 2017, a group of leading archaeologists published a manifesto calling for the advancement of synthetic archaeology. In their manifesto, they wrote that "Among the benefits that archaeologists should deliver to the public are rigorous, evidence-based narratives of what happened in the past and how these events shaped...


Investigating Climatic Dimensions of the Archaeological Past with Undergraduates Using CADGAP (Climatic Analogs Data Gathering Project) (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Lewis Messenger.

Bryson and Murray’s (1979) Climates of Hunger ignited my interest in climate change and human cultural discontinuities over time. Later, as a junior faculty in an undergraduate institution fostering collaborative research between faculty and students, I was encouraged to share my climate-related research methodology with my students. This led to development of a teaching strategy that integrates the study of climate change into the anthropology curriculum in two specific courses, one oriented...


Investigating the Future of Adult Age Estimation (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Mary Maisel. Katherine Dunning. Jonathan Bethard.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. According to Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994), there are seven primary categories for the age estimation of osteological remains. However, other age categorization schemes exist which differ slightly in their strategies. Moreover, life stages over 50 years of age are poorly represented among most categorization schemes. It was observed that comparative...


Investigation of Thermal Alteration of Dry Bone via Spectroscopic Analysis (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Giulia Gallo.

This is an abstract from the "Animal Resources in Experimental Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The initial status of bone prior to burning and thermal alteration influences the resultant chemical and structural composition, monitored in this study with Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) with an attenuated total reflectance (ATR) attachment. Fresh, fully hydrated mammalian cortical bone and dry mammalian cortical bone, with...


The Invisibly Disabled Archaeologist (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Laura Heath-Stout.

This is an abstract from the "Archaeologies of Health, Wellness, and Ability" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. At an SAA conference, one is not likely to see wheelchair users, American Sign Language interpreters, copies of the program rendered in Braille, or attendees accompanied by personal care assistants. One might think that all archaeologists are nondisabled; after all, we prize fieldwork and physical exertion. Yet, archaeologists with...


Is Digital Always Better? Metrics for Evaluating and Understanding Digital Methods (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Teresa Ingalls. Danny Gregory.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. "Paperless archaeology" is becoming increasingly normal. Professionals in both academic and corporate spheres have turned to digital methodology as a means to organize and manage their projects and collect data. Normal field equipment now includes tablets and laptops using customized databases, apps for creating spatial data on site, digital cameras, and a...


Is Digital Data Different? (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Jeremy Huggett.

This is an abstract from the "Archaeological Vision in the Age of Big Data" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological data is notoriously tricksy: while we appreciate it is always incomplete, frequently unreliable, often replete with unknown unknowns, we nevertheless make the best of what we have and use it to build our theories and extrapolations about past events. Are data in a digital environment any different? Is there any reason to think...


Is Pseudoreplication a Problem for Experimental Studies of Bone Surface Modification? (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Stephen Merritt.

This is an abstract from the "Animal Resources in Experimental Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In 1984, Stuart Hurlbert defined pseudoreplication as “the use of inferential statistics to test for treatment effects with data from experiments where either treatments are not replicated (though samples may be) or replicates are not statistically independent” (Pseudoreplication and the Design of Ecological Field Experiments, *Ecological...


Is There a Place for Mock Digs in Archaeological Outreach? (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Meredith Langlitz. Ben Thomas.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Mock digs have been a staple of archaeologically-themed outreach for years but also an area of growing concern for professional archaeologists with expertise in public education. The activity is discouraged by some because it is suggestive of treasure hunting and emphasizes digging in a field that is so much more than that. While concerns about mock digs are...


Is Traditional Pollen Analysis Obsolete? (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Mary Bryant.

For more than 100 years, palynologists have relied on the traditional method of pollen analysis to provide essential information on paleodiets, paleoenvironments, archaeology, and other research such as forensics. The past traditional method has focused on the of light and scanning electron microscopy and then used those results to obtain information and values which palynologists can use to interpret those. During the past decade, some scientists have turned to using other techniques such as...


Isotopic Analysis for Palaeodiet and Geolocation (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Tamsin O'Connell.

Isotopic analysis as a method of assessing diet or geographical origin is now ubiquitous in archaeology, to the point where seemingly no project is complete without it. The relative ease of sample preparation and increasing prevalence of isotope mass specs has contributed to its rapid growth. Yet despite its ease of execution, it is not a cut-and-dried technique, and data interpretation can be complex. The greater use by specialists and non-specialists has resulted in studies that range from...


Justifying the Destruction: Ethical Data Access and Reuse (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Allison Densmore.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The inherently destructive nature of archaeological excavations and the massive data output create a complex problem for data management in archaeology. Data are often limited to use by the original researchers or only made accessible to academics through paywalled publications. The archaeological record is a non-renewable resource. Thus, this...


Key Factors Impacting the Efficacy of Canine Resources on Archaeological Surveys (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Paul Martin. Lisa Lee.

This is an abstract from the "Canine Resources for the Archaeologist" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Canine resources, used alone or as part of a multidisciplinary approach, are proven to be effective at assisting archaeologists in locating human remains. Just as geophysical instruments and analysts have limitations and factors that impact their success on surveys, so do canine teams. This paper will examine the key factors that determine...


Kids and Excavations: Affordances and Constraints (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Jeanne Moe.

This is an abstract from the "Archaeology Education: Building a Research Base" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In 2016, fourth graders from an elementary school excavated four square meters of their playground over two days of school in anticipation of construction and complete replacement of the landscaping. The students had experienced some instruction with Project Archaeology: Investigating Shelter prior to the excavation. The excavation was...


LCT Movement due to Animal Locomotion: Model Experiments in a Trail Box (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Joseph Wayman.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Experiments were performed using a scale model animal footstep simulator and similarly scaled lithic LCTs (Long Cutting/Core Tools) to test the hypothesis that the devices were manufactured for the purpose of being deployed in the path of target animals to damage their feet and make them easier to kill and use as a resource (Wayman 2010).


Learning about the Ancient World: Introducing Archaeogaming Education Modules (AEMs) as Classroom Resources (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Paige Brevick.

This is an abstract from the "Digitizing Archaeological Practice: Education and Outreach in the Archaeogaming Subdiscipline" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Humanities education at the grade-school level, particularly that of the ancient past, has frequently been characterized as lacking in new technologies and teaching tools. Additionally, the subject of the ancient world itself can be complex and intimidating for teachers who may be unfamiliar...


Leaving Knowledge Behind: A Feasible Role for Archaeology in the Age of Climate Warming? (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only R.G. Matson.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. What archaeological knowledge might be significant in our climate emergency? I examine this question using climate “triage.” Optimistically, climate warming restricted to a 2°C increase would allow humans to adapt without destroying the global connections that support the modern economic system. A somewhat greater temperature increase could allow some...


The Legacy of the Oceans: Past Marine Exploitation and the Sustainable Development Agenda (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Jon Henderson.

This is an abstract from the "HumAnE Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. SDG14 Life Below Water recognises the economic and social benefits that sustainable use of marine resources can provide including enhanced food security, sustainable energy generation, and poverty eradication through marine orientated livelihood opportunities. While environmental sciences and ecological approaches have had a major role in the development of solutions,...


Leveraging DNA Capabilities for Lithic Analysis: Experimental Results and Best Practices (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Bethany Potter. Caroline Kisielinski. Justin Tackney. Dennis O'Rourke. Frederic Sellet.

This is an abstract from the "Old Technology, New Methodology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper outlines the results of a multipart experiment in obtaining DNA deposited on lithics to address questions regarding localized resource use. Previous publications hypothesize that DNA molecules can be preserved in microcracks in lithics and suggest that questions regarding resource exploitation can be addressed with lithics. The goal of this...


Lithic Residue Analysis in 2018: Prospects and Challenges (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Gilliane Monnier.

Lithic residue analyses have produced exciting results in recent years: microscopic bits of plant and animal tissue adhering to stone tools tens of thousands of years old; the remains of hafting materials such as bitumen and birch-bark pitch; and fiber technology from the Paleolithic, to mention but a few. Yet, for many archaeologists these results seem ‘too good to be true’. How can biological materials be preserved for thousands of years in temperate environments? How can they appear, under...


Lithics3D: An R Package for Lithic Analysis (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Cornel Pop.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. An increasing number of studies are demonstrating the advantages and potential of 3D data acquisition and analysis techniques for documenting and understanding drivers of morphological variability in lithic assemblages. Applications of 3D geometric morphometrics, for instance, are challenging and refining traditional classifications and promise to open new...


Machine Learning the Visual Rhetoric of the Trade in Human Remains (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Shawn Graham. Damien Huffer.

There is a thriving online trade, and collector community, that seeks specimens of numerous categories of human remains. This commerce is facilitated by posts on new social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Etsy, and, until recently, eBay and operates within a complex ethical and legal landscape. This presentation will share key results of ongoing work to data mine these online markets on both new social media and multi-lingual e-commerce platforms. In particular, we are interested in the...


Man and Machine – New Methods for Excavation, Documentation and Reconstruction of 29 Medieval and Renaissance Boat Wrecks from Oslo Harbour, Norway (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Hilde Vangstad.

Since 2003, the Norwegian Maritime Museum has had several extensive excavations in the area of Bjørvika in the harbour of Oslo as a measure to document archaeological remains before being removed or covered during the rapid urban development of the area. This paper will discuss two of the major sites that have yielded 29 well-preserved boat wrecks and large areas of previously unknown harbour constructions of timber. Boats and constructions date to the 16th and early 17th century and varies from...


Managing the Current Mass Extinction for Human Populations (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Darcy Bird. Jacob Freeman.

This is an abstract from the "Global Perspectives on Climate-Human Population Dynamics During the Late Holocene" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Recent analyses of large sample of radiocarbon ages illustrate the potential of these records to investigate general problems in human ecology. While much of the current literature focuses on the relationship between local ecology shifts and population booms or busts, no one has yet to address the general...