Caves and Rockshelters (Other Keyword)
1-25 (241 Records)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeology is of great public interest, but a lack of approachable academic and popular materials may deter public engagement with our field and our research, meaning archaeologists must develop innovative means of communication. It is also vital that we make our work more accessible to local community members, whose history we are often excavating. Digital...
3D Photogrammetry and Woodland Mud Glyphs from 19th Unnamed Cave, Alabama (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Technique and Interpretation in the Archaeology of Rock Art" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The production of 3D models with photogrammetry has seen some recent application in rock art studies as a means of documenting sites and presenting them to the public. However, the use of photogrammetric models as data sources for discovery and analysis has received little attention. In this paper, we present work at 19th...
3D Scanning the Virgin Mary in the Toast: Using Handheld Digital Imaging Technologies to Explode the Myth of Pareidolic Illusions in the Ancient Maya Underworld (2018)
Cave archaeologists around the world are increasingly utilizing many new platforms and techniques to document subterranean artwork, including digital imaging and scanning technologies. In this presentation I demonstrate a portable and cost-effective approach to digital imaging of parietal art. To this end, I used an Occipital Structure Sensor 3D scanner, mounted on an iPhone 6, to document various monumental modified speleothem sculptures in the subterranean realm of the ancient Maya of Belize,...
Accessing the Inaccessible: Valuing Virtual Reality and Remote Access to Pleito Cave (2018)
This presentation showcases the contemporary value of Virtual Reality as a means to experience difficult to access, sensitive cultural sites for different stakeholder groups including researchers, land owners, and Native groups. Here, we show the enhanced virtual reality environment of Pleito Cave, a fragile world class rock art site with accessibility limitation. We discuss how scientific research can be translated into VR data sets to speak to diverse communities and different needs, providing...
Acoustic Effects at Las Cuevas Cave (Western Belize): An Archaeoacoustic Analysis of a Maya Cave (2018)
The site of Las Cuevas (western Belize) has been identified as a mid-sized, Late Classic ceremonial and administrative center. Interestingly, given the importance of caves in Maya religion, the underneath part of the site has a large cave system. Research so far on this cave has focused on aspects that are common in cave archaeology: 1/ structures - in this case on the one hand the series of platforms built around a central, sunk cenote and on the other the walls subdiving the narrow part of...
Acts of Nature and Culture: Caves, Performance, and Transformation (2018)
The role of performance in disaster risk reduction provides the focus for evocative recent discussions of somatic experience, embodied knowledge, and climate change (e.g., Cosgrove and Kelman 2017). In this paper, I’d like to expand this perspective on the perception of dynamic environments through consideration of how material residues in caves link to large-scale transformations in the complexly entwined natural and cultural landscapes outside of the caves. I draw on four seemingly disparate...
Additional Insights into the Significance of Cave Formations: The Case of Balamkú (2023)
This is an abstract from the "The Subterranean in Mesoamerican Cultural Landscapes" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. As part of its investigation of subterranean Chichén Itzá, the Gran Acuífero Maya (GAM) unsealed the entrance to Balamkú Cave in 2018. The entrance, located in a sinkhole, had been sealed and buried in an apparent act of deliberate termination. In addition, the entire first chamber of the cave including a staircase was buried with...
The Allegory of Xibalba: Confronting Shadowy Realities in the ancient Maya Underworld (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Technique and Interpretation in the Archaeology of Rock Art" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Cave archaeologists around the world are increasingly utilizing many new platforms and techniques to document subterranean artwork, including digital imaging and scanning technologies. In this presentation I "throw shade" at these high-tech approaches by revisiting and focusing upon the oldest of the old-school technologies...
Alm Shelter: A Preliminary Report on a Deeply Stratified Rockshelter in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Alm rockshelter, located at the mouth of Paintrock Canyon in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, contains a well-stratified cultural sequence spanning roughly 11,000 years (Late Paleoindian through the Late Prehistoric). Preliminary analyses demonstrate that the site was occupied and used variably over this time, particularly in periods of population growth and...
Analysis and Comparison of the Paleo-ecological Reconstruction of Simpson Springs to the Archaeological Record of Camels Back Cave in the Bonneville Basin of Utah (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. We present a case study that utilizes paleoecological data to further our understanding of the archaeological record in the Bonneville basin of western Utah. We report paleoecological data from Simpson Springs, including pollen, charcoal, and elemental data. We provide the first pollen record from cultural sediments at Camels Back Cave. The data from the...
Analysis of Culturally Derived Speleothem by INAA: An Analytic Approach to Sourcing (2018)
Recent investigations in various surface and underground cave sites indicate the existence of extensive political, economic, religious and military exchanges between polities in the Maya lowlands of Belize. The occurrence of "foreign" materials at surface and cave sites have become an increasingly well-documented phenomenon (Brady et al. 1997) and are indicative of transport of speleothems during ancient Maya cave visitations. This phenomenon has raise several questions such as the spatial...
Analyzing Images from the Jebel Qara Environment: Preserving Painted Rock Art in the Cave Shelters of Southern Arabia (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Interdisciplinary Approaches to Rock Art Documentation, Research, and Analysis" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Protected in cave shelters, Dhofar's painted rock art in Oman are well-preserved and give an unprecedented glimpse into Arabia's pre-Islamic history. The pictographs and accompanying South Arabian inscriptions, which extend from the coastal plain to the Rub' Al Khali desert and to the Jebel Qara mountains at...
Ancient DNA Analyses and the Human Population of Western Europe during and after the Last Glacial Maximum: Major Contributions from El Mirón Cave (Cantabria, Spain) (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Interdisciplinary Research into the Late Pleistocene of Europe" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Pioneering genomic analyses of bone and dental calculus from the 19,000-year-old Magdalenian “Red Lady” skeleton in El Mirón Cave, along with DNA from other Late Upper Paleolithic human remains provide critical information supporting the archeologically based theory of human range southward contraction and northward...
Apophatic Archaeology: The Materiality, Phenomenology, and Textuality of Caves in Early Medieval Britain (2024)
This is an abstract from the "New Work in Medieval Archaeology, Part 2: Crossing Boundaries, Materialities, and Identities" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Although most discussions surrounding humans and caves in Britain begin in prehistory and end with the Roman period, archaeologists have uncovered evidence for early medieval activity across the island. Still, early medieval historians face a methodological problem in which—compared to the...
Archaeological Evidence for the Use of Maize in Cave Ritual (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Defining Perishables: The How, What, and Why of Perishables and Their Importance in Understanding the Past" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Variations in the deposition of maize remains have been noted in different Maya caves. These vary from the discovery of small immature cobbs, 3 to 5 cm in length, which appear to represent first fruit rituals to large deposits of mature cobbs in ritual contexts that appear to have...
Archaeological Evidence in the Caves and Cenotes of the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Underwater and Coastal Archaeology in Latin America" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Since prehistoric times, the caves of the Yucatán Peninsula have been the locus of regular visit by animals but as well by the first humans populating the continent. Thousands of years later, the Maya culture would establish its cities around the cenotes and the few bodies of surface water. The Maya culture has developed over the...
Archaeological Excavation and Survey at Cherokee Ranch, Douglas County, Colorado (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In cooperation with the Cherokee Ranch and Castle Foundation, Metropolitan State University – Denver has conducted excavation and survey on the Foundation’s property near Sedalia, CO since 2014. Excavations have taken place at the Cherokee Mountain Rock Shelter (5DA1001) that was previously partly excavated in the 1970s. Artifacts and radiocarbon assays...
Archaeological Investigations of the Archaic and Paleoindian Occupations at Hall’s Cave, Texas (2018)
Hall’s Cave is a well-studied paleontological site that has provided a detailed climatic record for the Texas Hill-country from the late Pleistocene through the Holocene. There have been no discussions, however, of the archaeological record of the cave deposits. Archaeological excavations at Hall’s Cave conducted in 2017 revealed a 3 m thick, well-stratified sequence of sediments derived from the watershed outside the cave. Early deposits ranging from 18,000 to14,000 cal yr B.P. contain the...
Archaeological, Paleoenvironmental, and Geoarchaeological Investigations of Hall’s Cave, Texas (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Hall’s Cave, located in central Texas, contains a 4 m thick geological record extending back to 20,000 cal yr B.P. Within these sediments is an archaeological record dating from the historic period to approximately 10,500 cal yr B.P. with living surfaces containing artifacts and animal bones associated with hearths. Over 60 hearth features, including over 40...
The Archaeology of Skiles Shelter (41VV165) (2024)
This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Eagle Nest Canyon, Texas: Papers in Honor of Jack and Wilmuth Skiles" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Skiles Shelter (41VV165) is a small south-facing rockshelter near the mouth of Eagle Nest Canyon. While the site lacks the extensive organic preservation typical of dry rockshelters in the region, it is notable for its Pecos River style rock art, diversity of bedrock milling features, and prominent...
Archaeometric Studies of Rock Paintings in Colombia, South America: Geochemical and Mineralogical Characterization (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Geochemical studies of rock paintings in Colombia help to reflect on the technological processes used by the painting peoples to make these representations. With the use of analytical techniques, the chemical and molecular composition of pigments and of possible raw materials used in their manufacture are identified. Geochemical and mineralogical analyses...
Ashes in Western US Rockshelters (2018)
Following the analysis of Newt Kash Kentucky shelter and other ash and sandal shrines in the eastern US as menstrual retreats, the author examines a number of caves and shelters around the Great Basin paying particular attention to their ash and sandal content. Both items may constitute fertility petitions left at retreat and medicine shelters such as Cowboy Cave, Hogup Cave, and High Rolls. The ash may represent the burning of fertility offerings, including menstrual pads and diapers.
Assessing Earth Oven Intensification in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of Southwest Texas (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Hot Rocks in Hot Places: Investigating the 10,000-Year Record of Plant Baking across the US-Mexico Borderlands" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Earth oven baking begins in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of southwest Texas around 10,000 years ago and becomes a prominent component of hunter-gatherer life throughout the Holocene. We know plant baking played an important role within Lower Pecos lifeways because earth oven...
Assessing Production Components of the Pre-Still Bay Lithic Assemblage from Sibhudu Cave, South Africa. (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. At Sibhudu Cave, the Still Bay technocomplex is found ~71,000 years ago and its formal tool component is dominated by bifacial points, while the deposit below, which Wadley (2012) called the pre-Still Bay, has a low density of bifacial points. The Pre-Still Bay has many flakes with few bifacial points, and it dates to between about 74,000 and 80,000 years...
An Assessment of Water Resources at Chichen Itza (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Studies in Mesoamerican Subterranean Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Water has long been recognized as a critical but scarce resource in the Yucatan. At Chichen Itza, water resources have not received the attention they deserve. Traditionally, because of the focus on the Sacred Cenote, the Cenote Xtoloc became by default the profane cenote. Clearly, such a simplistic and culture-bound dichotomy tells us...