Hunter-Gatherers/Foragers (Other Keyword)
1-25 (286 Records)
The earliest occupations in the Salt Puna —a high elevation desert in the Andes Mountains — date to the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary and are relevant to the discussion of the timing of the first exploration and colonization of South American elevations above 3500m, as well as the relationship between mountain environments and other ecological areas. The wooden shafts used in the extractive technologies of the earliest hunter-gatherers originated outside the Puna, in the eastern lowlands....
The Absence (or Presence) of Footwear during the Eastern Great Basin Archaic (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Approaches to Archaeological Footwear" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Excluding much younger examples of distinctive Fremont-era and Promontory Phase moccasins, footwear of any sort seems to be largely, if not entirely, absent from the archaeological record of the Eastern Great Basin during the preceding millennia. This apparent pattern stands in sharp contrast to the well attested and venerable woven sandal...
Adding to the Paleoenvironmental Framework for Early Settlement of Interior Alaska: New Perspectives on Local Changes in Vegetation and Hydrology from Plant Wax N-Alkanes (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of Alaska, the Gateway to the Americas" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Many paleoenvironmental reconstructions from interior Alaska are based on pollen assemblages from lacustrine cores, which are sometimes challenging to relate directly to terrestrial conditions experienced by early human occupants. Here we use compound-specific stable isotope analysis of plant wax n-alkanes (δ13C wax and δDwax values) to...
After the Ice Age in the Ozarks (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Fluted point techno-complexes of the Ozarks include Clovis, Gainey, Folsom, and Dalton. Folsom point-making people are comparatively less well represented in the interior Ozarks possibly because of the lack of grasslands and bison. In this presentation, we explain the origins and evolution of Clovis technology and the exploitation of lithic resources from...
Analysis of the Faunal Distribution at the Weed Lake Ditch site (35HA341), Southeastern Oregon (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Weed Lake Ditch is an open-air site located on the relict shores of Pluvial Lake Malheur in the Harney Basin of southeastern Oregon. Excavations by the University of Nevada, Reno and the Center for the Study of the First Americans (CSFA) have revealed multiple stemmed points and crescent lithic technology in buried contexts. Faunal remains from the site are...
Ancient Genomics of Hunter-Gatherers at Lake Baikal: Shamanka II Case Study (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Northeast Asian Prehistoric Hunter-Gather Lifeways: Multidisciplinary, Individual Life History Approach" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This talk will discuss the utility of ancient genomic data to gain insight into prehistoric hunter-gatherer lifeways and social organization at Lake Baikal. Specifically, we will focus on familial relationships in a putative massacre instance from the Early Bronze Age at the cemetery...
Approaches to Lithic Technology: How Archaeological Practice Influences Interpretation of Past Lifeways through the Lens of Kharaneh IV (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. Cultural affiliation and change in the Epipaleolithic (EP) period of Southwest Asia has historically been marked through microlithic stone tool technologies, where stone tool manufacturing is focused on the production of a large number of small bladelets then retouched into various microlith types. While researchers...
Archaeological Science or Scientific Archaeology: Where Does "Science" Lie in Stone Artefact Research? (2018)
Archaeological science is defined as the use of scientific techniques, typically derived from the natural sciences, in archaeology. In lithic research, archaeological science studies have investigated topics ranging from identifying raw material sources, assessing artefact function and technology, to modelling socio-cultural and evolutionary changes. However, this method-centred definition of archaeological science has also led to a focus on the "sciency" appeal of techniques over basic...
Archaic Copper Economy and Exchange in the Western Great Lakes: A Comparative Study from Two Wisconsin Localities (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This research presents the results of an analysis of a large privately curated collection of Archaic period (Old Copper Complex) copper from the Western Great Lakes. Results from metric, LA-ICP-MS chemical characterization, and radiometric dating analyses will be presented. The data set is drawn from a collection of over 2000 formal copper tools recovered by a...
Assessing a Minimally Invasive Method for Ancient DNA Sampling of Paleolithic Bone and Antler Tools by Micro-CT Scan and Density Measurements (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Animal Resources in Experimental Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Osseous objects are among the most frequent archaeological remains recovered from Upper Paleolithic (UP) sites. Their analysis is thus essential to obtain insights into crucial aspects of the Pleistocene hunter-gatherer’s lifestyle, including human subsistence, social behavior, prehistoric humans’ practical/symbolic choices, and the...
Assessing Cortex at the Beaucoup Site (24PH188/189) in Northern Montana (2018)
Although archaeological analyses of lithic assemblages generate large quantities of data, it can be difficult to equate the observations with past behaviors. One variable state regularly recorded is that of cortex. The presence/absence of cortex is often linked to reduction intensity with variable cortical frequencies linked to early or late stage reduction and potentially reflective of residential mobility. However, we lack reliable markers or values to support our interpretations. Recently,...
Assessing Variability in Toolkit Functionality: Differential Wear Patterns on Projectile Technologies from Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Interior Alaska (2018)
Much of the early theoretical framework for our understanding of the colonization and occupation of interior Alaska has been established on technological variability in lithic assemblages of the region. This initial research has been limited in scope, focusing on the presence or absence of microblades. Recent research has sought to push beyond the significance of debatably diagnostic tool forms, microblades, in defining cultural complexes and has attempted to more fully address models of...
Becoming Neolithic or Being a Hunter-Gatherer? Reframing the Origins of Agriculture through a Longue Durée Perspective (2018)
Searching for the origin points of major cultural revolutions and transitions has long been a driver of archaeological research, yet led to research focused on perceived boundaries, rather than continuity. Research into the origins of so-called modern human behavior, the origins of social complexity, the earliest domesticates, among others, all focus on defining moments of change that may be undetectable in the archaeological record. Perhaps some of the most enduring archaeological questions...
Beyond Good Grey Culture: Rethinking Early Woodland Origins in the Lower Mississippi Valley (2018)
The origins of Early Woodland cultures have long been poorly understood, but recent data from sites in the Yazoo and Tensas basins, and from sites along the coast are providing new perspectives on the development of the Woodland tradition in the Lower Mississippi Valley. In this paper we summarize Steve Williams’ contributions to understanding Woodland origins and update his work with new data. In contrast to earlier thinking, recent research shows that Woodland peoples in the Lower Mississippi...
Bifacial Technology in Central-South Patagonia: A Preliminary Insight into Hunter-Gatherer Behavior during the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition and Early Holocene in the Deseado Massif and Nearby Spaces (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Bifaces can be useful in different kinds of situations. For example, they can be part of a curated strategy for peopling of new environments, as well as during their colonization. The knowledge of their distribution around the landscape, taking into account raw materials involved as well as their manufacturing stages and discard causes, compared with lithics...
Big Pictures, Broad Questions, and Archaeological Knowledge along the Steppe and the Forest in the Southern Argentinean Patagonia (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Patagonian Evolutionary Archaeology and Human Paleoecology: Commending the Legacy (Still in the Making) of Luis Alberto Borrero in the Interpretation of Hunter-Gatherer Studies of the Southern Cone" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Luis Alberto Borrero changed the way archaeological knowledge was produced in Southern Patagonia (and beyond). We consider three analytical units that underlie his legacy: the landscape, the...
A Biogeographic Approach to Hunter-Gatherer Dispersion Constraints in Northern Patagonia (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Patagonian Evolutionary Archaeology and Human Paleoecology: Commending the Legacy (Still in the Making) of Luis Alberto Borrero in the Interpretation of Hunter-Gatherer Studies of the Southern Cone" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Northwest Patagonia late Holocene human occupation was almost a "barrier" against farmer dispersion, at least during the last 1500 years BP. The causes for this remain unclear and are...
Bipolar Reduction Revisited (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over the past 20 years, the recognition and implications of bipolar reduction debitage in the archaeological record have finally been accepted as an important consideration in lithic analysis. Although, this was far from a straight path. In some prehistoric contexts, it is critical that bipolar debitage be recognized to prevent a misinterpretation of aspects...
Bite into This: Interproximal Wear Facets in Middle-Holocene Hunter-Gatherers (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Northeast Asian Prehistoric Hunter-Gather Lifeways: Multidisciplinary, Individual Life History Approach" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this dental anthropology project, the use of interproximal wear facets of teeth will be measured and studied to assess changes in facet size between Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Early Bronze Age hunter-fisher-gatherer populations. These populations hail from the Latvian Stone Age...
Bloody Sharp Rocks: Optimization of aDNA Extraction from Experimental Lithic Artifacts (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Species detection using DNA recovered from lithic artifacts could indicate the manner in which tools were utilized and ultimately enhance our understanding of the mobility strategies and subsistence patterns employed by past peoples. Geneticists and archaeologists in the 1980s and 1990s managed to successfully extract DNA from lithics, using both modern...
Body Modifications among San Hunter-Gatherers: A Relational Practice and Subsistence Strategy (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Body Modification: Examples and Explanations" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Body modifications are a well-known aspect of various cultural practices among the historically and ethnographically known San hunter-gatherers of Southern Africa, but not until recently have such practices been analyzed within an interpretative framework that gives reason to suggest that they were mostly performed to ensure harmonious...
Buck Lake, Archaeological Research, and Subsistence and Settlement Patterns at Mount Rainier National Park (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. For the past two decades, research directed at establishing onset of human use, patterned use of montane habitats, integration into lowland subsistence and settlement systems, and temporal change has been imbedded into CRM practices at Mount Rainier National Park. Once thought to be of little value...
Built Environments in the Middle and Early Upper Paleolithic (2019)
This is an abstract from the "More Than Shelter from the Storm: Hunter-Gatherer Houses and the Built Environment" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Hunter-gatherers are mobile because their resources shift based on season or by ecological zone. This mobility means that their built environments are ephemeral and their mark on the land is light. Many of the traces of structures or land modifications are therefore invisible within the archaeological...
Built Environments of Epipalaeolithic Southwest Asia: A Life History of Place (2019)
This is an abstract from the "More Than Shelter from the Storm: Hunter-Gatherer Houses and the Built Environment" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A place is structured and given meaning through human experiences at both individual and group levels. Places are created through repeated human action and made tangible in the landscape by material culture. These places become part of a built environment, marked by daily routines or habitus. At the...
The Butchering Patterns Present at the Bull Creek Camp: A Late Paleoindian Site in Oklahoma (2018)
Bull Creek, located in the panhandle of Oklahoma, is a rare late Paleoindian camp on the Southern Plains. Two separate occupation levels apparent at the camp indicate two seasons of habitation. The lower camp, dominated by bison bone, is the focus of this analysis. Bone tools and distinct butcher marks provide evidence of butchering behavior 9,000 years ago on the Southern Plains of Oklahoma. This poster describes the findings of butchering processes at the site. Large sections of bison are...