Neolithic (Other Keyword)
126-150 (386 Records)
Archaeological and paleoecological analyses demonstrate that human-caused fires have long-term influences on global terrestrial and atmospheric systems. For millennia, humans have intentionally burned landscapes to drive game, clear land, engage in warfare, and propagate beneficial plant and animal species. Around the world, Neolithic transitions to agriculture often coincided with increases in fire frequency and changes in vegetation community composition and distribution. Although this...
Food storage and processing. A cross-cultural study of the Neolithic/Formative period of Central Europe and the USA (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. We introduce the start of an international project focusing on the interpretation of prehistoric food preparation and storage in cross-cultural perspective—both different prehistoric cultures and different traditions of archaeological research. We consider archaeological patterns in Central Europe (the European temperate zone) and in US Southwest,...
From materiality to space: monumental enclosures, exploited mineral resources and territoriality during the Michelsberg Culture (Neolithic, 4200-3700 BC, France and Germany) (2015)
The Michelsberg Culture saw the onset of major enonomic, social, technological and cultural transformations in agricultural societies around 4200 BC Cal. The most striking feature is without doubt the appearance in the landscape of large sites enclosed by complex systems of ditches and palissades. On the other hand, different modes of production and the exploitation of flint and salt show not only networks of raw material procurement but also a new organisation of territories and the role of...
From Present-Day Fields to Ancient Samples…and Back Again: Strategies for Establishing Principles of Interpretation in Plant Stable Isotope Work (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Challenges and Future Directions in Plant Stable Isotope Analysis in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Plant stable isotope analysis presents a series of ‘middle range’ challenges for archaeologists, but also unique opportunities for reconstructing ancient agroecologies. Here we focus on the potential and limitations of modern crop studies for informing interpretation of archaeobotanical cereal and pulse...
From Settlement to City: Two Issues Related to Phases I of the Site of Sanxingdui, Southwest China (2015)
Since the first archeological excavation in 1934, the site of Sanxingdui has been explored in 16 separate field projects, exploring an area of nearly 10000 m2. Due to various reasons, only the data of 5 excavations (Yueliangwan in 1934 and 1963, Sanxingdui in 1980, the Sanxingdui sacrificial pits in 1986, and Rensheng cemetery in 1998) have been published, reporting only on 3000 m2 of excavation surface containing mainly Bronze Age remains. Our understanding of the Neolithic period (Phase I) at...
From the green belt: an appraisal on the circulation of western Iberian variscite (2017)
The Western half of the Iberian Peninsula plays a significant role for understanding the production and circulation of "green stone objects" (mainly variscite adornments, but also some jadeite axe heads) during the Neolithic and Copper Age of Western Europe. This importance lies in the presence in the area of two out of the three prehistoric variscite mines in Europe. Through an extensive review of the variscite adornments found in the archaeological contexts of Western Iberia, we will try to...
From the Mouths of Babes: Weaning, Diet, and Stress in Neolithic Northern Vietnam (2019)
This is an abstract from the "The Health and Welfare of Children in the Past" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Neolithic agricultural transition has been found to have a negative effect on human health in many parts of the world. However, numerous bioarchaeological studies in Southeast Asia have shown a different pattern of health changes. Changing weaning practices have been argued to have major effects on population health and fertility around...
Functional Riddles, Chipped Stone Technologies, and Fiber Processing in the Late Sixth and Fifth Millennium BCE in Turkmenistan and Northwestern Europe (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Cordage, Yarn, and Associated Paraphernalia" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Use-wear and residue analysis draws attention to complexities of technological processes that otherwise remain out of reach archaeologically. Enigmatic wear traces described by microwear analysts as “polish 23,” “polish 10,” and “polis non familiar” occur on distinctive chipped stone tools from Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic sites in...
A Functional Study of 'jiandiping' (Pointed base) Amphorae (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Technology and Design in 4th and 3rd Millennium BCE China" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. There have been many debates on the function of jiandiping (or pointed base) amphorae of the Yangshao Culture in the Wei River valley. Although analyses of plant residue suggested that the amphorae might have been used as wine vessels, their function and the usage are still in doubt. Based on the observations of typological...
Genetic Species Identification of Large Birds from the Dadiwan Neolithic Site in Northern China (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. We present information and insight drawn from the Neolithic of northern China (ca. 8,000 – 5,000 BP) about the manner by which large, meaty birds (including potential precursors of the domestic chicken) were drawn into the human biome. Long before they were essential staples, they (along with a range of different, but similar birds) were an occasional, and...
Geochemical Provenance Analysis of Pre-Younger Dryas Pottery from Southern Japan Using Neutron Activation (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Due to the availability of detailed tephrochronology, southern Kyushu of southern Japan, has among the most reliable dates for pottery from the late Pleistocene in East and Northeast Asia. Pottery from the Incipient Jomon Period is found below Satsuma Tephra dated to ca. 12,800 cal BP. In our previous study, we conducted petrographic and microprobe analysis of...
Geological Knowledge about Jadeite Jade (Jadeitite) for the Study of Jadeitite Artifacts (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Two Approaches to Archaeological Jades: Source Characterization and Social Valuation" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Jadeite jade (jadeitite) is an important material for archeological objects from the middle Jōmon period (~5000–3500 BCE) through the Kofun period (250–710 CE) in Japan. During the last two decades, in the field of geological science, studies of jadeitite worldwide have brought new knowledge about its...
The Geology of Nephrite Jade in China and Its Sourcing for Archaeological Comparisons (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Two Approaches to Archaeological Jades: Source Characterization and Social Valuation" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The occurrence of nephrite is primarily linked to ophiolite locations around the world and is associated with serpentinite (S-nephrite); however, most nephrite in China is associated with metamorphosed magnesian limestone (dolomarble) deposits (D-nephrite). Characterizing D-nephrite by chemical...
Getting the Chronology Correct: Bayesian Chronological Analysis of Initial Ceramic Deposits in Island Southeast Asia (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. Throughout his career Steve Athens has been concerned with generating archaeological chronologies that, because of their precision and validity, add to our understanding of the past. Steve was never one to generate dates of dubious quality simply to produce a table in a report. In this spirit, and...
Grasses Are Always Greener: The Technology of Herding and Mobility among Neolithic Pastoralists in South Arabia (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Farm to Table Archaeology: The Operational Chain of Food Production" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The development of pastoralism still features a number of gaps in the archaeological record. Principally, herders invest in the maintenance of a resource base capable of supporting their herds. While pursuing these resources through both intensive and extensive land management strategies, they impact vegetation...
Green Treasures from the Magic Mountains: The Use of Jadeitite and Other Alpine Rocks in Neolithic Europe (2017)
The results of a major, French-led international research program investigating the use of jadeitite and other Alpine rocks in Neolithic Europe - Project JADE and JADE2 - are summarized. The significance of the green color of most of these rocks, and of the montane location of their sources, is discussed in terms of the belief systems of the people who made, exchanged, and used the axe- and adze-heads and disc-rings made of these materials. The ways in which these materials were recognized in...
Ground Stone Tools from the Hanjing and Shunshanji Sites (2018)
The Shunshanji and Hanjing sites are located in the northern part of the middle reaches of the Huaihe River, in Sihong county, Jiangsu Province, China. The two sites date to 8500-7700BP, the middle Neolithic period of China, and the distance between them is about 5 kilometers. Charred rice was recovered during flotation at both sites, and domesticated rice spikelet bases were found in a unit of the Hanjing site. Meanwhile, we revealed some features related to cultivation activities. All the...
Ground Stones in Ritual Contexts in the Central China Neolithic: Use-wear Analysis and Residue Analysis of Artifacts in Burials (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Burial practices provide important evidence for understanding the social and symbolic connections between the dead and the living. The presentation of artifacts in burials and their functions can provide crucial information of meanings in ritual practices. In this study, I apply use-wear analysis and residue analysis to a sample of grinding stones,...
Guardians in Life and Death: Dogs at Neolithic Çatalhöyük and Beyond (2018)
Dogs often occupy a spiritually ambiguous position in human-animal relations. Domestic but not livestock, they typically share human space and diet more than most herd animals. They are more likely to be considered persons, with souls – a trait they share with wild animals. Here I examine the spiritual status of dogs in early Near Eastern herding societies, as livestock-keeping spread through the region and it became possible to situate dogs in relation to other domestic animals as well as wild...
The Heat Treatment of Flint in the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic Site of Yiftahel (Lower Galilee, Israel) and Its Social Interpretation (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Recent examination of the lithic collection from the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (MPPNB) site of Yiftahel (10,100-9,250 BP cal.) has revealed a relatively large number of flint artifacts showing traces of intentional heating. Heat treatment of siliceous stones is a worldwide phenomenon that was mainly used during the initial stages of chaîne opértoire for...
A Hierarchical Bayesian Approach for Estimating Gini Coefficients from House Floor Area: A Case Study from Prehistoric Japan (2023)
This is an abstract from the "To Have and Have Not: A Progress Report on the Global Dynamics of Wealth Inequality (GINI) Project" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Robust quantitative measures of wealth inequality are pivotal for investigating long-term social and economic changes from a comparative perspective. Notwithstanding criticisms on its reliability as a proxy of wealth inequality, the application of Gini coefficients on house size data has...
Hippos, Cows and CAARI: Alan Simmons’ impact on Cypriot Archaeology (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Pushing the Envelope, Chasing Stone Age Sailors and Early Agriculture: Papers in Honor of the Career of Alan H. Simmons" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. When Alan Simmons first arrived on Cyprus in 1985, the Cypriot Neolithic was considered a poorly understood and uninteresting backwater lagging behind the developments of the Levant mainland. IN the mid-1908s, The Khirokitia Culture (KC) was thought to be the first...
A Historical-Processual Approach to Household Architecture in the Northern U.S. Southwest. (2015)
The transition from lightly built, short-term or ephemeral structures to substantially built, sophisticated dwellings occurred between A.D. 400 and 1400 in the Ancient Pueblo Southwest. At the early end of this period, most dwellings were occupied by a single household and may have only lasted for about a decade. By the end of this period, nearly the entire population of the northern Southwest lived in multi-household, apartment-style dwellings that housed entire villages for generations. This...
The History of the Fox Farm Experiment and Its Ramifications for Understanding the Origins of Domesticated Animals (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Questioning the Fundamentals of Plant and Animal Domestication" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Domestic and wild animals are distinguished primarily by behavioral changes difficult to discern in archaeological remains. Domestication syndrome describes the suite of behavioral and morphological changes proposed to consistently accompany domestication, including skeletal changes. It is largely based on an experiment in...
Holocene Floodplain Development of Qujiang, Zhejiang, China in the Context of Early Human Occupation of Jinhua Basin (2018)
The Qujiang drains mountainous terrain in Zhejiang Province of east-central China. Shangshan cultures have been identified on floodplain terraces and earth mounds within the Qujiang valley. The choice of settlement in the area (10,000+ years BP) is constrained by several geographical factors, including topography, climate, access to water resources and human factors. The relationship between cultural occupation sites and river dynamics over the Holocene is poorly known in this region. Lateral...