Europe: Western Europe (Geographic Keyword)
101-125 (306 Records)
This is an abstract from the "Applying the Power of Partnerships to the Search for America's Missing in Action" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This presentation will discuss search and recovery efforts concerning an isolated, World War II-era burial from the Federal Republic of Germany. This was a project partnership between the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) and Western Carolina University (WCU), coordinated between DPAA, WCU, and...
Fosterage and Mobility at the Early Medieval Irish Monastery on the Island of Illaunloughan: A Bioarchaeological Case Study (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Fosterage and mobility both require creating and breaking social ties. Early medieval Irish texts suggest that mobility and fosterage, which is the practice of children leaving home to be raised and educated, were means by which monastic communities gained members and sustained a prestigious social standing. Examining these practices through biogeochemistry...
Foxes in Retrospect. Unraveling Human-Fox Relationships Through Fox Tooth Ornaments in the Swabian Jura (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Personal ornaments play an important role in our understanding of human cultural and behavioral change during the Upper Paleolithic. Although small, ornaments are often well-preserved, occur in large quantities, vary across space and time, and can shed light on intangible aspects of human lifeways (e.g., identity, relationships, movement, status). However,...
Fragmented Bodies: Early Bronze Age Cremation Burials in Kilmagadwood, Scotland (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. There is a clear dichotomy between the practice of inhumation and the rite of cremation. From an anthropological perspective, a community’s preference for one or another reflects changes in its beliefs system. Conceivably, this occurred during the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age when cremation became dominant. The symbolism that accompanies the...
From Individual to Collective Burial in the Mesolithic of Iberia (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Recent Research on the Paleolithic in the Mediterranean Region" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The transition from individual to collective burial underscores implicit, but poorly understood, changes in social organization within the Mesolithic and between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic. Mosaic in character, this transition is well marked in Cantabria and Portugal, less so in other regions of Iberia. Mortuary...
From the Lab to the Cave and Back: 3D Modeling Finger Flutings (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Finger flutings are lines and markings drawn with the human hand in soft sediments in caves and rock shelters throughout southern Australia, New Guinea, and southwestern Europe that date back to the Late Pleistocene. Over the last two decades, Kevin Sharpe and Leslie Van Gelder developed a method to determine characteristics of the creators, such as age, sex...
From the Mousterian to the Bronze Age: The El Miron Cave Project (Cantabria, Spain), 1996-2018 (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. El Miron Cave has a long, rich cultural sequence dated by 92 radiocarbon assays >46,000-c.500 BP. This large, strategically located site contains traces of Mousterian, Gravettian, Azilian, Mesolithic and historic uses and evidence of more significant occupations of diverse duration, intensity and function throughout the Solutrean, Magdalenian, Neolithic,...
From Topography to Temporality at the Valencina Copper Age Mega-site (Spain): Low-Density Settlement, Gathering Place, or Both? (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Theorizing Prehistoric Large Low-Density Settlements beyond Urbanism and Other Conventional Classificatory Conventions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the last two decades, mega-sites have become a defining feature in the research of Copper Age Iberia, opening up completely new avenues for the analysis of early social complexity in this region. One of the most fascinating cases is the Valencina de la...
From Trinkets to Privileged Artifacts: The Transition in our Understanding of Paleolithic Personal Ornaments (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Culturing the Body: Prehistoric Perspectives on Identity and Sociality" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Among Paleolithic archaeologist, there is general consensus that body adornments are important for exploring the origins of cognitive, artistic and symbolic behavior from an evolutionary perspective. This view contrasts with how Palaeolithic ornaments were perceived during most of the twentieth century when they were...
Further Understanding of Subsistence and Settlement in the Later Mesolithic of Northern England (2018)
We present the results of an integrated study of lithic microwear analysis and lithic sourcing at the large Mesolithic site of Stainton West. Microwear analysis helped to understand why the site was so large and how the occupants supported themselves while at the site. Microwear analysis of 700 artifacts led to 49% identification of use. There is much diversity in tool use: hide working, butchery (meat/fish), impact, antler/bone working, wood working, and plant working. Various patterns were...
The Future of Maritime Archaeology of Portugal: The Strategy for Socialization and Education. The Example of Cascais (2018)
Cascais Municipality has developed a comprehensive program management and valorisation of Underwater Cultural Heritage. Based on Maritime Cultural landscape epistemology it aims to enable a novel approach to integrated management with a dual goal of knowledge and enjoyment. Within methodological lines of this program have grown the actions related to education. From the theory of actor network – has been introduced the theme in the local community, allowing for public enjoyment in situ but,...
Geo-Referenced Spatial Data Analyses on Coastal Erosion Sites: the Final 3D Examination of the Pictish Smithy at the Site of Swandro, Orkney Islands (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Accelerating Environmental Change Threats to Cultural Heritage: Serious Challenges, Promising Responses" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Coastal erosion sites contain the same complexity as any other sites, however, the sequences are often truncated and the recovery conditions require adaptive approaches. During the summer of 2018, the excavation of Structure 3, the ‘Pictish Smithy’, concluded. Here we present the...
Geoarchaeology, the French Paleolithic, and Harold (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Establishing the Science of Paleolithic Archaeology: The Legacy of Harold Dibble (1951–2018) Part II" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Geoarchaeology requires the practitioner to be versed in both geology and archaeology. To do it right necessitates active participation of other specialists on the team, starting with the archaeologist(s). Without them, even the best geoarchaeological endeavors can fall flat. Both of us...
Geographically Broad Social Networks in Southwest Europe during the Solutrean: The Origin of Siliceous Rocks Exploited at Peña Capón (Central Spain) (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Local and/or Exotic Interactions: Symbols, Materials, and Societies" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Solutrean of southwest Europe (∼25,000–20,000 cal BP) is an outstanding case for studying human mobility and social networks within harsh environmental conditions, given its coincidence with the Last Glacial Maximum. However, little is known about these topics in the inland territories of the Iberian Peninsula....
A Geometric Morphometrics Approach to Test Microlith Variability at Cabeço da Amoreira Shellmidden (Muge, Portugal) (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Geometric microliths are one of the most important lithic technological adaptations of the Mesolithic in Westernmost Europe. At Muge shellmiddens, previous studies have revealed great variability in the morphology of these implements, especially the triangles, although the reason for such variability is still unclear. Three hypotheses have been suggested to...
Getting a Handle on Form and Function: Functional Analysis of Aurignacian Formal Tools from Abri Pataud (Périgord, France) (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Examining Spatial-Temporal Variation in the Lithic Technology of the Early Upper Paleolithic" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In Paleolithic Europe, the Aurignacian period marks the beginnings of the production of a multitude of formal tools, each with specific typologies that sometimes have been attributed to one or several functions and actions. Functional studies have shown that morphology does not suffice to infer...
A GIS Approach to Landscape Legibility and Its Role in Late Pleistocene Hominin Dispersals (2018)
The large-scale colonization of unfamiliar environments by Late Pleistocene humans would have required advanced navigational abilities. Archaeological signatures of spatial cognition are difficult to identify in Prehistory, although the presence of well-dated sites can help us track human mobility across the landscape. In this research, we test whether structural properties of the environment played an important role in helping humans navigate new landscapes, providing affordances for wayfinding...
GIS Tools for Intra-spatial Analyses: The Portuguese Mesolithic Cabeço da Amoreira Case Study (2018)
The case of the Portuguese Muge shellmounds (Tagus valley, central Portugal), and specifically the case of the Cabeço da Amoreira site, is one of the most interesting regions to study the last hunter-gatherers in Western Europe. However, these sites, are very large with long and complicated sequences and, until recently, had very little excavation control and thus data were not appropriate for spatial analyses. During the last decade, our team used new and precise excavation techniques resulting...
GIS-Based Approaches to the Study of Castro Architecture (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The term "Castro Culture" refers to a set of evidential trends encountered in the archaeological record of Galicia and northern Portugal from roughly 900 BCE – 200 CE. Conventional definitions of the Castro Culture rely heavily on the architectural characteristics of the castros, a type of hillfort which is thought to represent the primary form of settlement...
Glass: Breathing into Matter (2021)
This is an abstract from the "The Iron Age of Northwest Portugal: Leftovers of Behavior" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Blowing into molten glass gave it form, a breathtaking invention of the first century BCE. Before that, glass vessels were made by using the core-forming technique and by casting, which were more expensive and less efficient methods. Glass blowing enabled the play of forms and color while making glass vessels more accessible to a...
Harold Dibble: Skepticism, Null models, and p < 0.05 (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Establishing the Science of Paleolithic Archaeology: The Legacy of Harold Dibble (1951–2018) Part II" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Harold Dibble thought that one of the most important attributes of a good scientist is deep skepticism. He brought a persistent skepticism to every aspect of his scientific curiosity whether it was in his own field of prehistory or elsewhere. His skepticism also made him argumentative, a...
Harold Dibble’s Approach to Understanding the Middle Paleolithic Archaeological Record: Neanderthals outside the Box (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Establishing the Science of Paleolithic Archaeology: The Legacy of Harold Dibble (1951–2018) Part II" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Harold Dibble was one of the most prominent Paleolithic archaeologists of the last century researching the Middle Paleolithic of Eurasia. While he made significant contributions in a number of important areas, one of his main contributions was to encourage researchers to try to think...
Healing Places and Objects in Irish Archaeology (2018)
The concept of healing—in any time period—has received relatively little attention in Irish archaeology. While bioarchaeologists have examined ailments and injuries in prehistoric and historic Irish populations, discussion and understandings of how, why, and where people sought treatment, and which treatments were deemed successful, remain elusive. This paper will draw on Gesler’s (1992) concept of therapeutic landscapes, most commonly utilized in health geography, in order to examine healing...
Heterogeneity in Late Glacial Environments of Southwest Germany and Implications for Magdalenian Settlement (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. During the Late Glacial (~18-11.6 k cal yr BP), Magdalenian peoples recolonized southwest Germany, which was uninhabited during the Last Glacial Maximum (~27.2-23.5 k cal yr BP). Past research has generally characterized the landscape in this region as tundra or steppe during this time but making smaller-scale interpretations can be difficult due to the nature...
A High-Resolution Investigation of the Middle-Upper Paleolithic Transition at Riparo Bombrin (Balzi Rossi, Liguria) (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Recent Advances in the Prehistory of Liguria and Neighboring Regions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper presents an overview of the results of the 2015-2018 field seasons at Riparo Bombrini, a collapsed rock shelter part of the storied Balzi Rossi site complex in Liguria, immediately next to the border with France. The excavation has sought to capitalize on the insights of the 2002-05 excavations at the site...