Material Culture and Technology (Other Keyword)
151-175 (718 Records)
Our understanding of Early Bronze Age copper smelting in the Southern Aegean has improved dramatically in the last two decades through a combination of fieldwork, laboratory analyses and experimental reconstructions (Betancourt 2006, Bassiakos, 2007, Pryce 2007). The currently accepted model for primary copper production has been largely based on the outcome of an experimental campaign (Pryce et al. 2007). While this study accepts the value of experimental archaeology it challenges the current...
Copper Trade Network from Canada to South America (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Pre-contact copper manufacture and trade in the Americas is poorly understood. To remedy this, over the last decade I have compiled a master database of over 85,000 pre-contact copper artifacts recovered from across the Americas, with source materials from museums, online, and private collections. I present an overview of the pre-contact copper industry in...
Cordage as Ship Fastener: The Roman-Era Northwestern Adriatic Tradition of Sewn Boats (2024)
This is an abstract from the "The Ties That Bind: Cordage, Its Sources, and the Artifacts of Its Creation and Use" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Across the globe and over the millennia, cordage has been used as a key element to fasten the hulls of wooden plank boats and ships. As such, cordage has been an integral element of naval technology. Furthermore, the communal nature of constructing sewn plank boats arguably puts cordage at the heart of...
Core Variability in the Middle Stone Age of East Africa (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 made major contributions to the study of cores and their relation to flake morphology. Other experimental studies have shown that repeated core morphologies may be the result of a complex series of learned steps, which are culturally transmitted (e.g., K. L. Ranhorn, PhD...
Creating 3D Models of Artifacts and Features using Photogrammetry (2018)
During the 2015 and 2016 University of Texas at San Antonio Field Schools we made use of new low-cost photogrammetry techniques to document metates and rock ring features at Early Agricultural period sites along the Upper Gila River in southeastern Arizona. We systematically photographed a number of ground stone tools and rock ring features using point-and-shoot cameras. These photos were then processed using Agisoft’s Photoscan software to produce colored 3D computer renders of the artifacts...
Crucibles in the Antebellum Assemblage and Imagination: Unique Finds from a French Quarter Archaeological Investigation (2024)
This is an abstract from the "*SE New Orleans and Its Environs: Historical Archaeology and Environmental Precarity" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In 2017, the University of New Orleans located two privy shafts in a French Quarter house lot: one brick-lined privy shaft superimposed upon the other unlined privy pit. The contents of the two fill episodes were temporarily distinct, one from the early-nineteenth century and the other from the...
Crushing Traditional Hohokam Ceramic Typology: Grog Temper in the Early Formative Period (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Preliminary analysis of ceramic artifacts from Early Formative contexts at AZ T:12:70(ASM) (Pueblo Patricio) in Phoenix, Arizona, identified grog (crushed sherds) in addition to local tempering materials. Four sherds selected for petrographic analysis from radiocarbon-dated contexts confirmed the identified material is grog. Subsequent single-grain optical...
Cultural Dimensions of Toolstone Variability in the Santa Barbara Channel Region, California (2018)
The Santa Barbara Channel region of southern California lacks reliable sources of high quality toolstone except in a few prominent locations. The nearest obsidian sources are hundreds of miles away, and local chert can be highly variable in quality and availability. Monterey chert, common to both the northern Channel Islands and the adjacent mainland, varies widely in terms of inclusions, color, and consistency; Franciscan chert from the mainland is similarly troublesome for tool-makers on a...
The Cummings Site: An Early Woodland Occupation in the Etowah River Valley of North Georgia (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Cummings (9BR710) is a multi-component site with occupations dating from the Late Archaic through the Middle Mississippian periods. It is located about three kilometers northwest of the Etowah Indian Mounds in Bartow County, Georgia. The site is situated about 500 meters from the Etowah River. Over the past five years archaeological investigations have...
Curated Lithic Tools from the Lakeview Group (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Current excavations at the Lakeview group in southwestern Colorado have sparked interest in a fresh look at the Ida Jean site and Wallace Ruin collections. The Ida Jean and Wallace sites, part of the Lakeview group, are two Chaco-style great houses that were occupied during the Pueblo II and III time periods (AD 900-1300). However, both sites have many...
Current Paleoindian Research in Sonora (2019)
This is an abstract from the "The Paleoindian Southwest" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological investigations over the past 15 years have revealed that approximately 13,000 years ago the northern half of the state of Sonora was an important and significant Clovis territory. Currently, 140 Clovis projectile point have been documented within Sonora; 50 as isolated finds and 90 having been recovered from six sites. A variety of site contexts...
Current Perspectives on the Western Stemmed Tradition and Clovis in the Mojave Desert (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Current Perspectives on the Western Stemmed Tradition-Clovis Debate in the Far West" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper summarizes the spatial and temporal distribution, technology, and subsistence patterns of Clovis/fluted and Western Stemmed tradition sites and isolates in the southern Great Basin, particularly the Mojave Desert. Fluted and Western Stemmed Tradition (WST) points/sites occur throughout the...
The Curse of Classic: Rethinking the Agency of Maya Ceramic Production (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Misinformation and Misrepresentation Part 1: Reconsidering “Human Sacrifice,” Religion, Slavery, Modernity, and Other European-Derived Concepts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Rooted in the Eurocentric concept of Classical antiquity, the “Classic” period is considered to have epitomized Maya civilization, standing in contrast to the developments that characterize the periods that came before and after. This dichotomy...
The Cutting Edge: Versatility and Preference for the Semi-Lunar Knife in the Southern New England Archaic (2018)
Semi-lunar knives, or ulus, have been considered a diagnostic tool of the Laurentian Late Archaic in the Northeast since William Ritchie’s 1940 report on the Robinson and Oberlander No. 1 sites in upstate New York. Archaeological research conducted since Ritchie’s definition of the Laurentian Aspect demonstrate semi-lunar knives were used in New England long before 5,000 B.P. and occur in both coastal and interior settings. Recently identified semi-lunar knife fragments from a coastal Laurentian...
Dart Points and Chusquea Shafts in the Argentine South Puna (2024)
This is an abstract from the "The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This presentation focuses on the use of the atlatl and dart system since the earliest known occupations in the Salt Puna of NW Argentina ca. 9800–7000 BP, specifically in the region of Antofagasta de la Sierra (Catamarca)....
Data-Mining Quartz and Quartzite: Should We Have Standard Protocols for Measuring and Reporting on Lithic Assemblages? (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Debitage Analysis: Case Studies, Successes, and Cautionary Tales" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Raw materials are the lowest common denominator of any debitage analysis. And yet, the fracture mechanics of eccentric raw materials are not always fully considered when performing inter-/intra-assemblage comparisons. The fracture mechanics as one constraint to be respected by the knappers greatly influence archaeological...
Dating the Emergence and Decline of Middle Woodland Blade Technology (2018)
Prepared core and blade industries emerge in various times and places throughout the prehistory of North America. One of these is in association with the Hopewell phenomenon of the Eastern Woodlands. As such, they are often recognized as a Middle Woodland "index fossil" and a key materialized indication of Hopewell ceremonialism. However, few formal tests of their occurrence across space and time exist. Drawing on published reports, as well as an extensive review of the unpublished gray...
The Deconstruction of Technical Behavior: Assessing the Significance of Low-Cost Technologies in the Upper Paleolithic (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Expedient Technological Behavior: Global Perspectives and Future Directions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Expedient technologies are linked to low-cost behaviors, aimed at producing stone artifacts with low technical complexity and minimal temporal requirements. Traditionally, these have been associated with assemblages characterized by simple production systems mainly geared toward obtaining flakes. In recent...
Defining petrographic fabrics among regional wares at La Quemada, Zacatecas, Mexico (2018)
Situated in the Malpaso Valley of Zacatecas, Mexico, the site of La Quemada was one of a series of polities that developed along the northern frontier of Mesoamerica during the Epiclassic period (A.D. 500-900). Widely distributed ceramic wares suggest interaction among northern frontier polities, but it remains unknown whether they are the product of widely recognized social categories (i.e., shared style) or direct, face-to-face interaction among individuals (i.e., shared composition)....
The Development of Plain and Monochrome Wares in Protohistoric Bronze Age Cyprus (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. This paper will explore the development of the locally produced Plain and Monochrome ware pottery at the Protohistoric Bronze Age (1700-1200 BC) sites of Episkopi-Phaneromeni and Episkopi-Bamboula in Southwestern Cyprus. The Protohistoric Bronze Age is a dynamic time for pottery production on Cyprus. It is...
Diachronic Changes in Late Pleistocene Ochre Technology at Mochena Borago Rockshelter, SW Ethiopia (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Excavations of the Late Pleistocene levels at Mochena Borago Rockshelter in SW Ethiopia, dating >50–35ka, have revealed one of the densest concentrations of modified ochre in eastern Africa. Here we consider technological variations of ochre and associated processing tools through studies of use-wear, trace elemental signatures, and artifact spatial...
Diaguita Pottery, Technological Traditions and Changes during the Late Intermediate and Late Periods: A Petrographical and Chemical Approach (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Studies of Diaguita pottery have advanced towards the definition of decorative styles. In this regard, new studies and radiocarbon dating from the El Olivar archaeological site have significantly contributed to a new understanding of pottery traditions and chronological assignments of ceramic styles. The purpose of this work is to explore pottery...
Did Skilled Local Potters Emulate Inka Polychrome Ceramic Style and Pottery Paste? Code Declassification Through Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Alfareros deste Inga: Pottery Production, Distribution and Exchange in the Tawantinsuyu" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Based on Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA), we tried to decode Inka polychrome ceramics from northern Chile valleys, traditionally assumed of having been introduced by the Inka State from the Lake Titicaca region (more than 500 km away). The results show that these conspicuous Inka...
Did the student become the master? The development of the glaze technology in Cyprus during the 13th to 17th centuries AD (2019)
This is an abstract from the "The Movement of Technical Knowledge: Cross-Craft Perspectives on Mobility and Knowledge in Production Technologies" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Despite marking the beginning of glazed ware production in Cyprus in the 13th century, the Paphos-Lemba production was a short-lived one and was replaced by other productions in the Famagusta, Lapithos, and Nicosia region. However, we know very little about the glaze...
Did You Sleep Well? – The Body, the Senses and the Ancient Egyptian Headrest (2018)
This paper explores the possibility to extract information about sensory experiences inherent in the material culture of ancient Egypt which are often overlooked due to the difficulty to track them in the material. By implementing new intellectual frameworks like New Materialism and the consequent application of methodologies from archaeology and anthropology we gain insight in the actions of ancient bodies. Taking inspiration from Latour’s actants (2005), Barad’s agential realism (2007) and...