Geoarchaeology (Other Keyword)
26-50 (619 Records)
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. While Indigenous copper use in the Southeast United States is well documented in later Woodland and Mississippian periods, far less is known about earlier metallurgical practices and exchange. This paper documents our current state of knowledge and considers the importance of...
Ancient Water Collection and Storage in the Elevated Interior Region of the Maya Lowlands (2016)
The Elevated Interior Region (EIR) of the Maya Lowlands posed especially difficult challenges for year-round ancient human occupation and urbanization. Accessible surface and groundwater sources are rare and a 5-month dry season necessitated the annual collection and storage of rainwater in order to concentrate human population. Here we review ancient Maya water storage adaptation in the EIR including urban and hinterland reservoirs as well as residential scale tanks and cisterns. Large...
Answers in the Dirt: Taphonomy, Preservation Bias, and Pastoralism at Iron Age Nichoria, Greece (2017)
The assumed increase of cattle in Dark Age Nichoria has been a key piece of evidence for the "cattle-ranching" model of Dark Age Greek economy. New zooarchaeological analysis, however, demonstrates a distribution of more robust skeletal specimens which are likely the result of preservation bias, rather than economic reliance on cattle. Geoarchaeological analysis of "archival" soils retrieved from uncleaned bones provides some confirmation and additional detail: the abundance of cattle bones at...
The Anthropogenic and Geogenic Coproduction of Seismically Triggered Soft Sediment Deformation Structures (SSDS) in Helike, Greece (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Political Geologies in the Ancient and Recent Pasts: Ontology, Knowledge, and Affect" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Factors of earthquakes in archaeology are often relegated to disaster and collapse narratives. Causality runs from the “natural” extreme to its human impacts. Following political ecology and Science and Technology Studies literatures and using the case of Helike, Greece, from the third millennium BCE to...
Anthropogenic Fire and the Origins of Agricultural Landscapes during the Neolithic Period (7,700–4,500 cal. BP) in Eastern Spain (2018)
Humans have intentionally set fires for millennia to transform the arrangement and diversity of resources within their landscapes, often altering the relationship between fire and ecosystems at multiple scales. Although scholars regularly identify human-altered fire regimes through paleoecological studies, archaeological research has not yet fully incorporated the spatial, temporal, and cultural dimensions of human-caused fire into discussions of the development of agricultural landscapes. This...
The Anthropogenic Wetlands of Northwestern Belize: Decades of Research and New Horizons for Study (2023)
This is an abstract from the "2023 Fryxell Award Symposium: Papers in Honor of Timothy Beach Part II" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. It is now clear that wetlands were critical resources for populations throughout human history in the Maya Lowlands of Belize and adjacent regions, and that these wetlands serve as important ecosystems and cultural heritage zones today. In northwestern Belize, decades of research have transformed our understanding of...
Archaeological Excavations in the Carrizo Wash Valley, East-Central Arizona: Data Recovery on the Fence Lake Mine Transportation Corridor, Volume II (2004)
Between May 15 and October 11, 2002, SWCA Environmental Consultants (SWCA) conducted archaeological data recovery at 11 sites along the proposed Fence Lake Mine Transportation Corridor (FLTCA) between the New Mexico state line and the Coronado Generating Station in St. Johns, Apache County, Arizona. The project was conducted for the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District (SRP). The lead federal agency was the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Socorro Resource Area, New...
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 Open Air Hunter-Gatherer Sites in the Serranopolis Region, Brazil: An Interpretation of the Landscape (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The archaeological region of Serranópolis in Southestern Goias/Brazil stands out for its cultural material in rock shelter sites occupied by groups of hunter-gatheres and agricultural ceramists from 10,400 B.P to 915 B.P. The purpose of this paper is to verify the low frequency and visibility of open air sites, applying variables such as landscape, geology,...
Archaeological Resources Located on Windward and Leeward Sand Dunes Adjacent to Playas and Ephemeral Lakes: A Limited Case Study from the Western Shoreline of the Salton Sea (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. There are many locations in Southern California where ephemeral lakes formed during the Late Pleistocene, then desiccated during the latter part of the Holocene: the Cronese Lakes, Lake Manly in Death Valley, Lake Thompson near Lancaster, and many others. Some geological studies have shown that prevailing winds become turbulent over desert flats and as a...
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...
Archaeology in a Cretaceous Swamp (2015)
During the Late Paleocene and Early Eocene, a tropic/sub-tropic forest located in a large swamp was located in present day east-central Colorado. Overtime the swamp was enveloped by subsequent volcanic eruptions which resulted in the creation of the Paleosol-Dawson Arkose formation. The primary area of this geological formation is located in Elbert County, between Colorado Springs and the small town of Agate on the plains of Colorado. Large stands of tropical wood, including sycamore, walnut,...
Archaeology in the Age of the Anthropocene: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (2018)
The 2016 decision by the Working Group on the Anthropocene of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) to designate an Epoch based on a Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) fixed at AD1950 is significant for managing global ecological systems moving forward. There is no serious scientific debate on whether humans have impacted the global ecology, but regardless of the ICS decision to anchor the so-called "Golden Spike" to the advent of the nuclear age, humans are known...
Archaeology in the Big Bend of the Green River, KY (2019)
This is an abstract from the "From Middens to Museums: Papers in Honor of Julie K. Stein" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Julie Stein joined the Shell Mound Archaeological Project (SMAP) in western Kentucky in 1977 when Patty Jo Watson and William Marquardt, leaders of the project initiated in 1971, recognized the need to add geoarchaeology to the already interdisciplinary project. I started as a graduate student at Washington University–St. Louis...
Archaeology on Sheppard’s Island: Predictive Modeling and Heritage Preservation in Delaware’s Inter-Tidal Zone (2019)
This is an abstract from the "The Middle Atlantic Regional Transect Approach to Climate Change Impacts on Archaeological Resources" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Delaware Bay is the second largest estuary along the U.S. Atlantic coast and is experiencing some of the gravest effects from sea level rise. Most of the estuarine shoreline is fringed by salt marshes that have been developing for over 2,000 years but are now being lost at a rate of...
Arlington Springs Chronostratigraphy and Implications for Early Human Settlement along North America's Pacific Coast (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. What may be the earliest dated human skeletal remains so far discovered in North America come from the Arlington Springs Site on Santa Rosa Island, California. To corroborate the 13,077-12,656 2-sigma cal BP age of this ancient Native American, stratigraphic investigations were undertaken to place this discovery in its chronological and paleoenvironmental...
Articulating the Big Bend of Florida (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Liquid Landscapes: Recent Developments in Submerged Landscape Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Working from the known to the unknown is a core concept in archaeological prospection and is particularly important in submerged landscapes studies. These landscapes are harder to access and have experienced, potentially, more dramatic changes since they were last occupied. We share here the results of a study in...
"…As the Waves Make Towards the Pebbled Shore": Site Formation Processes on Drowned Coastal Sites and Implications for Preservation, Discovery, and Interpretation (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. Submerged prehistoric sites left behind by coastal groups have the potential to answer multiple critical questions concerning human activities, but locating, excavating, and interpreting such sites brings with it challenges unlike those encountered in coastal settings that remain (for now) terrestrial....
Assessing Archaeological Applications of Curated Sediment Samples: A Case Study at Mesa Portales (2019)
This is an abstract from the "How to Conduct Museum Research and Recent Research Findings in Museum Collections: Posters in Honor of Terry Childs" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This project assesses the research utility of curated sediment samples excavated at Mesa Portales, New Mexico. These archaeological deposits date to the Pueblo III period (1150-1300 AD) and contain evidence suggesting two traditionally estranged cultures, Gallina and...
Assessing Continuity and Change in Paleoindian Landscape use through Time in Indiana: Implications for site Predictive Modeling (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Geoarchaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The recent completion of the Indiana State Historic Preservation Office’s SHAARD database provides researchers with a comprehensive site archive that includes site locations, projectile point typologies, raw material types, and a marginal record of site details. We use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to analyze the distribution of over six hundred Early, Middle, and...
Assessing Island Habitability and Land Use on Polynesia’s Smallest Islands (2015)
In a series of papers Bill Dickinson has outlined the timing of late Holocene sea level fall across the Pacific and its effects on island habitability and human settlement. He proposed that island settlement, particularly in East Polynesia, was constrained, or in some cases impossible, during the mid-Holocene sea level highstand, when low-lying islands (e.g., atolls) were awash and shallow near-shore environments restricted. Stable islets of modern configuration only developed after declining...
Assessing the Potential for a Late Pleistocene–Early Holocene Occupation at the Tahkenitch Landing Site (35DO130), Siuslaw National Forest, Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Archaeology from Western North America" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. While archaeologists hypothesize that early peoples initially migrated into the Americas along the Pacific coast, environmental changes associated with postglacial sea-level rise may have destroyed or obscured such early sites. In coastal areas currently above sea level, early sites are difficult to find due to terrestrial processes of landscape...
AZ BB:13:70 A Buried Middle Archaic Occupation in the Tucson Basin, Southeastern Arizona (2018)
Although long known from surface sites, the Middle Archaic record in the Tucson Basin includes very few in buried alluvial contexts. AZ BB:13:70 is a Middle Archaic occupation site located along Brickyard Arroyo, a deeply incised tributary arroyo of the Santa Cruz River. First discovered in 1975, the site was revisited throughout the early 1980’s and investigated formally in the summer of 1984 after monsoon rains created an extensive exposure of features and artifacts along the arroyo. The site...
Back to ‘Ubeidiya: Renewed Excavations at an Early Pleistocene Site in the Levant (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 'Ubeidiya, Central Jordan Valley, Israel, is one of the earliest prehistoric sites outside Africa. Extensive excavations in the second half of the twentieth century yielded important archaeological, paleontological, and geological data, which provided insights into early Pleistocene hominins’ expansion out of Africa. The primary geological descriptions of...
Bay of Fundy Provenance for Pre-contact Copper Artifacts from the Maritime Peninsula, Northeastern North America (2018)
We used non-destructive laser ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) to compare trace element concentrations in 50 copper artifacts from a variety of pre-contact sites in the Maritime Peninsula (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Maine), to natural copper samples from 16 geological sources in Michigan, Ontario, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the western and eastern regions of the Bay of Fundy. Of particular note is the contrasting composition of Lake...