From Dirt to Behavior: Papers in Honor of David B. Madsen
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)
The diverse contributions of David B. Madsen to archaeology and virtually all of its subfields are remarkable. In over 150 publications he has greatly enhanced our understanding of prehistoric peoples and the environments in which they lived. Among others, he has investigated the peopling of North America, Quaternary paleoecology, Pleistocene extinctions, the evolution of desert environments in western North America and western China, forager and farmer adaptive strategies and migration, and prehistoric insect procurement and use. Incorporating ceramics, pollen, fauna, lithics, and/or dirt, his interdisciplinary and theoretically-driven approaches have shaped how we investigate and interpret prehistoric biotic communities, climate change, and archaeological records, especially the human behaviors that created them. This symposium presents a similarly diverse collection of papers in honor of the significant and ongoing contributions of David B. Madsen.
Other Keywords
Great Basin •
Paleoenvironments •
Migration •
Lithic Technology •
Basketry •
Zooarchaeology •
Paleoecology •
Cultural Evolution •
Early Archaic •
Fremont
Geographic Keywords
North America - Great Basin •
South America •
East/Southeast Asia •
North American - Basin Plateau
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-8 of 8)
- Documents (8)
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Another F-----g Basket Baper: Decorated Specimens from Huaca Prieta, Peru (2016)
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Recent analysis of the basketry assemblage derived from the re-excavation of Huaca Prieta, Peru indicate the production of several highly complex “wall” types concurrently with escalating cultural complexity at this unique coastal site. These basketry variations include two expressions of twining which are presently unparalleled in South America. Both types also exhibit blue dyed elements and appear to have been intentionally dismembered before deposition. The technical attributes, chronological...
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The Bonneville Basin and Snake River Plain Connection: Early Archaic Lithic Technology, Geochronology, and Obsidian Procurement at Bonneville Estates and Veratic Rockshelters (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Though often considered parts of two different culture areas, the upper Snake River Plain of southeastern Idaho and the Bonneville Basin of the eastern Great Basin may have more similarities in land use and lithic technology than usually thought. In fact, commonalities can be easily documented in projectile point chronologies, subsistence patterns, and even the use of some of the same obsidian sources. In this paper, we consider the early Archaic period, when comparable ecological changes...
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Complexes, Colonizations, and Climates: Paleoenvironmental Perspectives on Human Biogeography (2016)
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From the Desert West of the US to Asia’s Tibetan Plateau, David B. Madsen’s work focuses on better understanding the perennial anthropological and ecological problems of migration and human biogeography through robust paleoenvironmental and archaeological collaborations. An essential aspect of this body of work is challenging assumptions of homogeneity in cultural and ecological associations in order to consider how they co-evolved through space and time. Current research from the Great Basin...
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Continuing the Search for Pre-Clovis Aged Cutmarked Bones in the Great Basin: Recent Results (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Hockett and Jenkins (2013) suggested that two bones directly AMS dated prior to the Clovis era (ca. > 13,100 calendar years ago) recovered from the Paisley Caves, Oregon, displayed stone tool cutmarks. Since this publication, additional bones were identified as possibly exhibiting cutmarks from Paisley Cave #2. In addition, in the 1950’s Phil Orr recovered a number of burned large mammal bones from Pleistocene-aged deposits in several caves flanking the eastern margins of the Winnemucca Lake...
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From Dirt to Behavior: An Introduction (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This paper presents an introduction to the life and times of David B. Madsen and a collection of presentations that celebrate his significant contributions. Perhaps best known for his unparalleled investigations of Great Basin paleoecology and Fremont period farmers and foragers, Madsen’s voluminous and enduring record also includes books and articles on late Pleistocene-Holocene paleontology, the peopling of North America, the Asian Upper Paleolithic and the transition to agriculture, the...
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Gear Selectivity and Mass Harvested Minnows: Evidence from the Northern Great Basin (2016)
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Madsen and Schmitt’s seminal 1998 article challenged the assumption that small animals and fish in archaeological assemblages of the Great Basin provides evidence for diminished foraging efficiency. Energetic return rates for density dependent species instead may be a function of harvesting technique. The Northern Paiute of the Great Basin exploited seasonally aggregated tui chub minnows (Gila bicolor) using gill nets, seines and scoops. This study presents a simulated mass harvesting experiment...
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Just How Depressed were the Fremont? (2016)
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Some of David Madsen’s earliest work centered on understanding variation in Fremont lifeway’s, especially subsistence. Current models of Fremont subsistence continue to emphasize geographic and temporal variation in subsistence but also identify resource depression of large game resulting from over-hunting and increases in population. In this paper I present zooarchaeological data from 15 archeological sites on the eastern shore of Great Salt Lake spanning the Fremont interval. These data do not...
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Where is the evidence for selection? (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Few dispute that the Tibetan Plateau represents one of the harshest environments on the planet. It is reasonable to expect that human colonization of the Plateau entailed exposure to strong selective pressures. Successful colonization of the Plateau therefore implies the development of adaptations in response to these selective pressures. Genetic, physiological and morphological data from Plateau populations are consistent with a general model for biological adaptation under strong selective...