Coastal and Island Archaeology (Other Keyword)
151-175 (277 Records)
Where cultural resources are increasingly threatened by the effects of a changing climate, the old model of preservation in place is no longer sustainable. For resource managers charged with the preservation of our cultural heritage, effective stewardship demands that managers are in a position to make data-driven decisions to prioritize the deployment of scarce financial resources to the most vulnerable cultural resources. Nowhere in Virginia are the effects of climate change more apparent than...
Los que viven donde sopla el verdadero viento: Bahía Tepoca, Sonora, Archaeology of the Coast in the Gulf of California (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Transcending Boundaries and Exploring Pasts: Current Archaeological Investigations of the Arizona-Sonora Borderlands" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The archaeology of the middle coast of the Gulf of California offers an opportunity to document and investigate processes of human mobility that highlight a deep relationship between humans, sea and desert. The area defined as Bahía Tepoca confirms a cultural significance...
Lucayan Paleoethnobotany: Dynamism and Stability in the Bahama Archipelago (2018)
Since the first overviews of Lucayan paleoethnobotany were published, the means and sites of archaeological recovery have expanded and the body of finds has increased. In this presentation, we summarize these findings, evaluate the current body of knowledge, discuss the contexts in which they were recovered, analyze their recovery methods, and examine their economic and social uses. We discuss the evidence for "transported landscapes," cultivation management systems, wild plant collection...
Manihiki & Rakahanga: Archaeological Research on a Dual-Atoll Cluster in East Polynesia (2018)
Archaeological fieldwork was completed on the atolls of Manihiki and Rakahanga, in the northern Cook Islands, from May to July of 2015 and from July to November of 2017. This includes survey and mapping on six islets, the documentation of extant and past fish traps and fishponds, lagoon to ocean shovel test sampling, and the excavation of habitation and resource production sites. This work identified village centers on each atoll and preliminary analyses indicate that the coral-cluster landscape...
Manufacture Marks on Shell Fishhooks: Technological Knowledge and Tradition of Coastal and Maritime Societies along the Pacific Coast of Chile (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Fishhooks on Choromytilus chorus shells (mussel) can be found along the northern coast Chile (18° to 30° Lat. S) and were manufactured between 7500 and 4000 yrs cal BP. Manufacture marks on these artefacts are prominent features to observed, describe, and compare. In this way, the study of shell fishhooks’ manufacture techniques allows us not only to...
Marine Turtle Consumption: From Ancient Taboo to Conservation Management (2018)
Remains of marine turtles occur regularly in the archaeological record. They provide insights into ancient subsistence and community practices. They also contain crucial information that can be used to create baselines for conservation. Their explanatory power is increased when the species exploited are identified. Here we describe an osteomorphological method which allows us to analyze fragmented postcranial elements of common Cheloniidae (Caretta Caretta and Chelonia mydas) to species and...
Maritime Mobility during the Western Mediterranean Iron Age (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Mediterranean Archaeology: Connections, Interactions, Objects, and Theory" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Research on the topic of seafaring in the western Mediterranean during the Iron Age has often focused on Greek, Etruscan, Roman, and Phoenician activity. By contrast, the maritime endeavors of other coastal populations have largely been ignored. Yet, historical accounts and archaeological evidence indicate that...
The Maritime Mode of Production: The Role of Seafaring in Bronze Age Societies (2018)
As exemplified by Viking and Bronze Age societies in northern Europe, we model the political dynamics of raiding, trading, and slaving as a maritime mode of production (MMP). It includes political strategies to control trade by owning boats and financing excursions, thus permitting chiefs to channel wealth flows and establish decentralized, expansive political networks. Such political institutions often form at edges of world systems, where chieftains support mobile warriors, who were...
Maritime to the Max: The Keys to Success for Small Island Populations in the Caribbean (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Human Behavioral Ecology at the Coastal Margins: Global Perspectives on Coastal & Maritime Adaptations" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The land-sea dichotomy has structured many historic debates surrounding coastal populations in the pre-Columbian Caribbean. Settlement, subsistence, exchange and cultural affiliation have all been measured on a terrestrial versus marine continuum which often undervalues the primacy of...
Martha’s Vineyard Beach Economy: Scavenged Seals and Washed-up Whales at the Frisby Butler Site (2018)
Marine mammals, including whales and seals, were a source of meat, blubber, baleen, and bone to the settlers of Martha’s Vineyard from the earliest occupation until the historic period. Numerous species of whales have been observed in New England’s shallow waters, including migratory species like the North Atlantic Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis) and other marine mammals like the Harbor seal (Phoca vitulina). During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Wampanoag on Martha’s Vineyard and...
A Material Science Consideration of New World Encounters: Multi-method Approaches to the Archaeology of the Caribbean (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Following a recent review of excavated materials from the island of Mona (Puerto Rico), this paper examines the transformation of cultural and technological practices brought about by New World encounters. We focus on the affective material conditions that emerge in the 16th century Caribbean by applying a materials science approach to the newly integrated...
Middle Holocene Projectile Points from the Santa Cruz County Coast of Northern Monterey Bay, California. (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Current Insights into Pyrodiversity and Seascape Management on the Central California Coast" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A group of Middle Holocene aged archaeological sites along the Santa Cruz County Coast have produced a large number of chert and obsidian projectile points. Sites SCR-3, SCR-7, SCR-10 and SCR-40 have the same range of point types and materials, and are all within 10 miles radius of each other. ...
Mission Period Glass Beads from the Northern Channel Islands of California (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Glass beads were an important trade item and symbol of culture contact for Native Americans in coastal California and the Channel Islands where people had manufactured shell and stone beads for some 10,000 years. Glass bead assemblages from the northern Channel Islands, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, and San Miguel, all entered the collections of the Smithsonian’s...
Mito y rito, en tanto política y gobierno, en la costa de los Andes Centrales durante el Tawantinsuyu (2018)
Las formaciones sociales de carácter imperial se articulan desde sus propias dinámicas, reproducidas desde sus relaciones y su territorio. Estos mecanismos deben ir reformulándose en el proceso de expansión, integrando las dinámicas sometidas políticamente, desarrollándolas y transformándolas, originando nuevas formas políticas dentro los antiguos procesos regionales y en el propio centro imperial. El caso particular del Tawantinsuyu parece generar tres tradiciones integradoras diferenciadas, y...
Modeling Climate, Ocean Productivity and Human Population Dynamics on the North Pacific Rim (2019)
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. We explore human population trends for several maritime regions around the North Pacific Rim over the last several thousand years. These data show correlated but oscillating patterns of populations from the eastern to the western Pacific. Two alternative models explain the patterns of population peaks and...
Modeling the Early Settlement of Yap, Western Caroline Islands (2018)
In recent decades, increased research on the early human settlement of islands in western Micronesia (northwest tropical Pacific) has resulted in a relatively clear picture of the Palau and the Mariana Islands being settled between ca. 3200-2800 years cal BP. Despite an increased understanding of when the two major archipelagos were settled, human arrival in Yap, a group of four small islands situated between the two other islands groups, remains unclear. New radiocarbon dates from the southern...
Monitoring, Planning, and Treating Archaeological Sites for Climate Change (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Beyond Triage: Prioritizing Responses to Climate Change Impacts on Archaeological Resources" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Fort Eustis portion of Joint Base Langley-Eustis is a peninsula of 8,000 acres bounded by Skiffes Creek, the Warwick River, and the James River on Virginia's coastal plain. The installation has 233 identified archaeological sites. Thirty-one sites are subject to erosion by the surrounding...
The Msikaba Red Sand Dunes: Middle Pleistocene Lithic Technological Variability in Pondoland, South Africa (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Recent Advances and Debates in the Pleistocene Archaeology of Africa" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Msikaba Red Sand Dunes along South Africa's Pondoland coast are a recently discovered open-air site complex that documents Middle Pleistocene lithic technological and morphological change. The deposit comprises ancient dune surfaces stacked over time with repeated sea-level highstand events. Initial excavations and...
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...
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...
Natural and Anthropogenic Effects on Coastal Environments along the East Cape of Baja California Sur, Mexico (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Palaeoeconomic and Environmental Reconstructions in Island and Coastal Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Changes to coastal environments from natural and anthropogenic factors have influenced human subsistence and settlement patterns throughout the Baja California peninsula. These changes are visible both in the archaeological record and present-day human settlements. We discuss long-term human-environment...
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 Paradigms: Site Location and Settlement Patterns in Watery Environments from the Pacific Northwest Coast and Southern Patagonia (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Negotiating Watery Worlds: Impacts and Implications of the Use of Watercraft in Small-Scale Societies" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Reconstructing past seafaring presents major challenges. Beyond the archaeological invisibility of watercraft, a key issue is that theoretical models and archaeological predictions concerning aquatic movement are less developed than for terrestrial cases. We apply an explorative and...
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...
Nearshore Paleoceanographic Conditions and Human Adaptation on the Coast of the Atacama Desert (Chile, 25°S) During the Early and Middle Holocene (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Palaeoeconomic and Environmental Reconstructions in Island and Coastal Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The transition period between the Early and Middle Holocene is associated with important changes in climate and human dynamics around the world. The coast of the Atacama Desert (Chile, 25°S) is not an exception. Early Holocene archaeological sites show evidence of a generalized coastal economy that...