Material Culture and Technology (Other Keyword)
426-450 (718 Records)
This is an abstract from the "The Current State of Archaeological Research across Southeast Asia" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper presents the results of the metallurgical analysis of 43 fragments of bronze artifacts recovered from Bronze Age sites in northern Vietnam. It represents the largest systematic study undertaken so far of early north Vietnamese bronzes using a range of archeo-metallurgical techniques. The artifacts, which are...
Methods for the Application of Structure from Motion (SfM) 3D models for the Recording and Consolidation of Archaeological Architecture. (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Towards a Standardization of Photogrammetric Methods in Archaeology: A Conversation about 'Best Practices' in An Emerging Methodology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Photogrammetry is the process of generating 3-Dimensional digital models from still photographs. The process is applied in a variety of field and lab settings for documenting the archaeological record. Currently, there is a need for focus on individual...
Mexico’s Heritage through Pixar’s Film *Coco (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The archaeology of media frames the analysis of the film *Coco, a 3D, animated, fictional movie inspired by Day of the Dead, or Día de Muertos, in Mexico, released by Pixar Animation Studios in 2017, a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios. This paper analyzes the tensions and contradictions within Pixar’s most successful movie at the box office in taking a stand...
Microanalytical Insights into Pigment Selection and Preparation in British Columbia Rock Art (2018)
Pictographs are important archaeological locales that can provide insight into histories of mineral use and pigment preparation. We present the results of a series of microanalytical explorations of a pictograph panel at Boling Point, Babine Lake, British Columbia. Examination by high-resolution microanalysis (SEM-EDS, TEM, FTIR, micro-Raman) has revealed evidence pertaining to source selection of the iron-oxides used to produce the pictographs, the weathering and condition of the panels, and...
Microblade Industries of Northeastern Asia During the Holocene: Case Study of the Ust’-Khaita site in Eastern Siberia (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Microblade industries emerge around 20,000 BP and spread rapidly throughout Northeast Asia and Beringia. However, at the turn of the Pleistocene-Holocene, microblade industries disappear in some areas while persisting in other regions until the late Holocene. The reasons behind the uneven disappearance of microblade industries are not clear, and to...
The Middle Horizon Occupation of Pan de Azúcar de Nivín, Middle Casma Valley, Peru (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Casma State Material Culture and Society: Organizing, Analyzing, and Interpreting Archaeological Evidence of a Re-emergent Ancient Polity" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Since 2017, the Proyecto de Investigación Arqueológica Nivín has conducted architectural mapping, limited test excavations, surface collection, and analysis of associated materials from sites located in the middle Casma Valley. The research goals are...
Middle Paleolithic Land Use in the Northern Adriatic: Preliminary Data from the Open-Air Site of Campanož (Croatia) (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 site of Campanož, located in the south of the Istrian peninsula, is a relatively new discovery of the Middle Paleolithic record of Croatia. Because it is a stratified open-air site, its discovery has opened questions regarding Middle Paleolithic land use in a region that has until now been heavily biased toward cave...
Mineralogy Without Minerals: A Proposed Methodology for Reconstructing the Original Compositions of Highly Altered Ceramic Bodies Using Thin Section Petrography (2018)
The rock and mineral fragments present in archaeological pottery, whether naturally occurring in the clay component or intentionally added as a temper, often serve as the primary geologic basis for provenance ascription in petrographic analysis. In certain contexts, however, the original compositional characteristics of pottery have been highly altered through technological or postdepositional processes. In these situations, accurate characterization and sourcing of original raw material...
Miniature Folsom Points from the Lindenmeier Site, Colorado (2018)
Among the Folsom artifacts excavated by Frank Roberts at the Lindenmeier site in Colorado are several unusually small projectile points, both fluted and unfluted. This paper explores the hypothesis that these miniature points are toys. To do so, we review the ethnographic literature on miniature weapons and contextualize the production and use of such objects. Second, we compare the small Folsom artifacts to full-size points from a typological and technological point of view. Finally, we discuss...
Miskwabik’s Journey beyond Minong: Copper Production Systems among Hunger-Gatherers in the Northern Lake Superior Basin 4,000–6,000 Years Ago (2023)
This is an abstract from the "From Hard Rock to Heavy Metal: Metal Tool Production and Use by Indigenous Hunter-Gatherers in North America" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over the past 10,000 years, hunter-gathers in the Lake Superior Basin have utilized primary and secondary deposits of native (elemental) copper in a production and exchange network that spanned across and beyond the North American Midcontinent. The production system that...
Mobility, Land Use, and Technological Organization at the Site of Yangshang, Gansu, China (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The excavation in Yangshang site generated a high-resolution record in the West Loess Plateau of China, and demonstrated that ancient human occupied this region at least since MIS7. In looking for evidence of possible changes in the mobility, land use, and organization of lithic technology that may have been concurrent with the paleoenvironment changes...
Molecular Characterization of Pine Pitch on Treated Water Vessels in the Four Corners Region (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The use of pitch to coat historic water vessels represents the complex relationships between indigenous peoples and native plants in the American Southwest. Chemical analyses and comparisons were conducted with the intention of sourcing the pitch coating to a specific conifer species. Ponderosa (Pinus ponderosa) and Piñon (Pinus edilus), two species of the...
Mongol Trappings: Analysis of Archaeological Leather from Northern Mongolia (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this study, we examined leather excavated from the Mongol period (1206-1368) cemetery of Dood Tsakhir located in Khuvsgul province, Mongolia. This cemetery had been looted in the recent past, yet there was quite good preservation. Leather fragments from clothing, footwear, and tools were recovered and analyzed using ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by Mass...
Monitoring Cultural Change through Ceramics: A Data Comparison from Typology, Sourcing of Pastes, and Symmetry Analysis of Ceramics from the Prehispanic Tarascan Region (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences 2024" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. As a common material and highly plastic technology, in Mesoamerica ceramics are used to define spatial and chronological units of past social, political, and economic structures. In the present study, we compare (1) the use of the type-variety classification as a “chaîne opératoire,” (2) the use of INA and thin-section petrography in sourcing...
A Morphometric Comparison of Copper versus Stone Weapon Tips from the Old Copper Culture (2023)
This is an abstract from the "From Hard Rock to Heavy Metal: Metal Tool Production and Use by Indigenous Hunter-Gatherers in North America" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Old Copper Culture in the western North American Great Lakes region is one of the few areas in the world in which people produced both copper and stone weapon tips. However, a robust quantitative comparison of these implements has, to our knowledge, never been conducted....
Multifunctional Obsidian Blades: Exploring Use-Wear of Maya Blades from the Quiché Basin, Guatemala (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Use-wear analysis is a valuable method for understanding the various functions of stone tools, a central concern in lithic analysis. This poster focuses on the results of a use-wear study of 50 Late Postclassic (AD 1250-1525) prismatic obsidian blades from two Maya sites in the Utatlan/Q'umarkaj region of the Quiché Basin in highland Guatemala: Ismachi and...
Music and Sound Practices in the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Advances in Puebla/Tlaxcala Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. More than a means for communication, sound, and music contributed to the formation of identities in the Puebla-Tlaxcala valley during the Late Postclassic to early colonial period. In particular, sonic assemblages contain multisensorial data that can be used to identify how knowledge and musical practices are shared among communities. These...
Musket Ball Analysis at Fort St. Joseph (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Firearms and ammunition were used by military officers, traders, European settlers, and Native Americans in hunting and warfare throughout New France. To better understand military forts, trading posts, and European settlements, flintlock-related objects can be examined to determine the types of firearms being used at Fort St. Joseph, who was using them...
The Narrow Point Tradition and Long-Term Continuity in the Northeast (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Narrow Point tradition extends across a wide area of eastern North America and its signature point type is one of the most frequently found in Archaic contexts in New England. Decades of research on the relationship between Narrow Points and other types of the Late Archaic Period has not yet produced a consensus regarding their use and origins. However,...
Neolithic Resource Use and Adaptation in the Eastern Gobi Desert: A Functional Analysis of Axes and Adzes (2021)
This is an abstract from the "New Directions in Mongolian Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Flaked and ground stone axes and adzes first appeared in the eastern Gobi Desert at 8.0 cal BP and were incorporated into the technological package. At the same time, changes in local ecological conditions reflect a transition from continuous grass/shrub-steppe across the Mongolian Plateau to the development of dispersed patches of dune-field...
Neolithic Tales from the Eastern Mediterranean Basin: A Graduate Student’s Experience under Dr. Alan H. Simmons at the University of Nevada Las Vegas in the 1990s (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. The Las Vegas Valley in southern Nevada experienced unprecedented growth in the 1990's. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) was not immune to this progress and as a result began to attract the attention of top researchers, professors, and graduate students out...
Nephrite Jade Mapping in Southeast Asian Prehistory: Petrological and Mineralogical Study of Stone 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. On-site and laboratory geochemical analyses have been carried out on jade and jade-like artifacts including unfinished pieces in the mainland of Southeast Asia by p-XRF and SEM-EDS respectively. In Vietnam, the results from more than 100 analyses show that the lingling-Os and double animal-headed...
New Data on Archaic Period Chronology and Raw Material Variation from a Stratified Archaic Site in the Appalachian Summit Region (2018)
Excavations completed by AECOM documented deeply stratified Archaic deposits at the Weatherman Site (31YC31) in the Appalachian Summit Region of North Carolina. This site is located at 2,500 feet above sea level (10 miles north of Mt. Mitchell, the tallest peak east of the Mississippi River) and is situated in the floodplain of the South Toe River, which flows west to become the Nolichucky River and eventually the Tennessee River. The youngest Archaic component at the Weatherman Site is a Late...
A New Gauge: More on Formative Period Textiles and Technologies (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Textile Tools and Technologies as Evidence for the Fiber Arts in Precolumbian Societies" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. While considerable research has been conducted on the importance of textiles in Classic and Postclassic Mesoamerica, little study has been done on textiles among Early or Middle Formative period cultures, mainly due to scanty preservation. As noted in previous research, however, depictions of...
New Insights from a Reanalysis of the Flaked-Stone Assemblage from the Neolithic Site of Wadi Shu’eib, Jordan (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the ongoing research on the Neolithic of the Southern Levant, flaked-stone assemblages continue to play a key role in interpretations of social organization and interaction. Despite the prominence of research on lithic assemblages during the Neolithic, few comprehensive studies come from the large settlements with long, continuous occupation spans (2,000...