Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Understanding Chaco: A Digital, Archival Approach, Stephen Plog, Carrie Heitman

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

MANY ASPECTS OF Chacoan prehistory remain unclear due to the inaccessibility of unpublished excavation records and photographs for the earliest excavations and explorations. As a result, key unanswered questions about the nature of Chaco itself and individual Chaco villages and towns—small- rather than large-scale issues—have become more, rather than less, significant over time. Despite the magnitude of the excavations at Pueblo Bonito and Pueblo del Arroyo and the amount and range of materials recovered, our knowledge of why these sites were built and how they were used remains remarkably uncertain or, at best, highly contested. To explore some of these …

Modeling For Management In A Compliance World, Christopher D. Dore, Luann Wandsnider

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

In practice, compliance-driven cultural resource “management” and its requirements for resource location, evaluation, impact assessment, and mitigation manifests a fundamentally different use of geospatial predictive modeling than do research-oriented investigations. This difference primarily results from the lack of an iterative research design. In research-oriented modeling, iterations of model building and model testing gradually build a more robust model and lead to an increased understanding of the variables that condition human spatial behavior in the past. In a compliance environment, spatial models are rarely built and evaluated; rather, once built, they are applied in a single iteration. An assumption is made …

Kinship And The Dynamics Of The House: Rediscovering Dualism In The Pueblo Past, Carrie Heitman, Stephen Plog

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Temporal Scales And Archaeological Landscapes From The Eastern Desert Of Australia And Intermontane North America, Simon J. Holdaway, Luann Wandsnider

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Time gets much less attention than space in discussions of archaeological scale. This may seem strange in a primarily historical discipline for which the demonstration of human antiquity is something of a defining moment (Grayson, 1983). Part of the reason may lie in the nature of time. Time unfolds along a continuum, and the way observers perceive time depends on their location and the scales they adopt. Compare the contemporary Western experience of earth time, for example, with time at the scale of the universe. A person traveling at the speed of light would experience a different time (Hawking, 1998; …

Mediterranean Landscape Archaeology Past And Present, Effie F. Athanassopoulos, Luann Wandsnider

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Recent studies of Mediterranean landscapes have emphasized their diversity, their fragmentation, and the high degree of contact between their diverse areas, that is, their connectivity (Horden and Purcell 2000). Moreover, the Mediterranean landscape record is recognized for its length and richness and the opportunity it offers to study long-term interaction between humans and their landscape, however landscape is defined. At the same time, the particular histories of archaeological perspectives that have dominated fieldwork in the region make it difficult to compare with other areas, for example, the New World. Thus, with this volume, our intent is to address issues of …

Artifact, Landscape, And Temporality In Eastern Mediterranean Archaeological Landscape Studies, Luann Wandsnider

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Intensive survey over the last several decades has detailed an archaeological surface record in the Mediterranean that Cherry (1983:395, emphasis in original) describes as "likely to consist of a virtually continuous spatial distribution of material over the landscape, but a distribution extremely variable in density." In addition, geoarchaeological work, often coupled with survey, has demonstrated just how dynamic Mediterranean surfaces have been. Both of these field practices, intensive survey and geoarchaeology, were carried out in part to enable regional settlement pattern studies, to collect accurate, reliable, and precise data about past settlements and their location with respect to each other …

Adaptive Responses Of Paleoindians To Cold Stress On The Periglacial Northern Great Plains, Alan J. Osborn

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Archaeologists' cumulative knowledge about Paleoindians has grown substantially during the past two decades, and accomplishments have been impressive. I find, however, that much of the research regarding the archaeology of the Paleoindian period is primarily descriptive and highly particularistic. In this essay, I propose that our understanding of Paleoindian artifact assemblages, associated ecofactual materials, and human remains can be more meaningful within a broader biophysical context. We must ask how the archaeological record of the Late Glacial period might provide paleoanthropologists with greater insights into early hunter-gatherer anatomy, physiology, diet, health, and behavior. I propose that our understanding of hunter-gatherer …

Hunter-Gatherers In Jackson Hole, Wyoming: Testing Assumptions About Site Function, Kenneth P. Cannon, Dawn R. Bringelson, Molly Boeka Cannon

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

The settlement-subsistence pattern of hunter-gatherers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, has been viewed historically as an economic system organized around the altitudinal distribution of seasonally ripening food crops and has come to be known as high country adaptation (HCA). Although this study does not take issue with the basic tenet of the modelhunter- gatherer movement through altitudinal zones for the exploitation of seasonally available resources-we critically assess the normative functional interpretations presented by previous investigators. We examine artifacts in three lithic assemblages from southern Jackson Hole in terms of the organization of technology as a means to investigate each locale's function …

Poison Hunting Strategies And The Organization Of Technology In The Circumpolar Region, Alan J. Osborn

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

INUPIAT ESKIMO WHALERS are allowed to kill up to 50 bowhead whales every year in the arctic waters off Barrow, Alaska. Some of the older bowheads are more than 20 m in length and weigh more than 50 tons. Since 1981 the Inupiat have found at least six lance and harpoon end blades embedded within the thick blubber that insulates these magnificent mammals (Raloff 2(00). These archaeological weapon points included projectiles fashioned from chipped stone, ground slate, ivory, and iron. Wildlife biologists have suspected that whales may live to be quite old. One can only imagine their surprise, however, once …

Niche: A Productive Guide For Use In The Analysis Of Cultural Complexity, Lewis R. Binford

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

THIS CHAPTER EXPLORES some of the interpretative implications of a failure to consider the potential causes for organized variability among cultural systems. The niche concept is considered useful when exploring organizational similarities and differences among cultural systems and central to a productive discussion regarding the differences between living systems that are biologically as opposed to culturally organized. Some interesting issues regarding systems complexity are focused upon through a discussion of mutualism and what is implied by the term when students of cultural systems use the idea.

Solving Meno's Puzzle, Defeating Merlin's Subterfuge: Bodies Of Reference Knowledge And Archaeological Inference, Luann Wandsnider

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

THE MIND OF Lewis Binford is nimble and constantly evolving. In part, one can map Binford's prodigious intellectual growth by looking at the research trajectories of his students, who often continue on paths they began under his tutelage. In my case, certainly, this is very true. When I arrived at the University of New Mexico in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Binford was exploring the nature of the archaeological record: how to understand past human organization at a supra-ethnographic scale, what we might learn from bones and site structure, and how to reliably give meaning to the archaeological record. …

Mobility, Sedentism, And Intensification: Organizational Responses To Environmental And Social Change Among The San Of Southern Africa, Robert K. Hitchcock

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

HUNTER-GATHERER ADAPTATIONS included mobility strategies that were geared toward mapping people on to both resources and other people. There are factors that condition the ways in which people position themselves on the landscape and move over it. Mobility strategies are organizational responses to the structural properties of the natural and social environments (Binford 1980, 2001). The logistical component of a settlement system, in which task-specific groups range out from residential locations for purposes of obtaining food, raw materials, or information, is related to the organization of production of a society as well as to the distribution of critical resources in …

Women’S Work, Child Care, And Helpers-At-The-Nest In A Hunter-Gatherer Society, Raymond Hames, Patricia Draper

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Considerable research on helpers-at-the-nest demonstrates the positive effects of firstborn daughters on a mother’s reproductive success and the survival of her children compared with women who have firstborn sons. This research is largely restricted to agricultural settings. In the present study we ask: “Does ‘daughter first’ improve mothers’ reproductive success in a hunting and gathering context?” Through an analysis of 84 postreproductive women in this population we find that the sex of the first- or second-born child has no effect on a mother’s fertility or the survival of her offspring. We conclude that specific environmental and economic factors underlay the …

Solving Meno’S Puzzle, Defeating Merlin’S Subterfuge: Bodies Of Reference Knowledge And Archaeological Inference, Luann Wandsnider

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

THE MIND OF Lewis Binford is nimble and constantly evolving. In part, one can map Binford's prodigious intellectual growth by looking at the research trajectories of his students, who often continue on paths they began under his tutelage. In my case, certainly, this is very true. When I arrived at the University of New Mexico in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Binford was exploring the nature of the archaeological record: how to understand past human organization at a supra-ethnographic scale, what we might learn from bones and site structure, and how to reliably give meaning to the archaeological record. …

Solving The Puzzle Of The Archaeological Labyrinth: Time Perspectivism In Mediterranean Surface Archaeology, Luann Wandsnider

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

This chapter critiques the currently embraced paradigm in Mediterranean surface archaeology of regional/settlement pattern studies – seated in flat-time functional metaphysic. As shown by Mediterranean archaeologists, that chronotype does not deal well with either complexity or history. And, attending methods, also as demonstrated by Mediterranean archaeologists, do not consistently accommodate or satisfactorily assign meaning to the varied archaeological landscape. But another formational metaphysic exists and seems better to comprehend the complex, historical world and to acknowledge landscape variation.This chapter argues for approaches to the Mediterranean landscape that accept and embrace a time perspectivism.

The Ogoni Of Nigeria, A. Olu Oyinlade, Jeffery M. Vincent

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

The Ogoni are a minority ethnic people who live in the Western Niger Delta Region of southern Nigeria. During the 1970s, Ogoniland, or the Ogoni Nation, became part of the Rivers State of Nigeria. There are approximately 500,000 Ogoni who represent less than 0.05 percent of Nigeria's 100 to 120 million people. The population density of this region equals 1,233 people per square mile, making it one of the most densely populated areas of Nigeria. Reliable information about the origin of the Ogoni is limited. Archaeological and oral historical evidence suggests that the Ogoni have inhabited the area for over …

The Rwandese, Clea Msindo Koff, Ralph J. Hartley

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

The Rwandese are a set of peoples who live in the country of Rwanda in eastern central Africa who today number an estimated 7.9 million.2 Rwanda is a small country that has the highest population density (numbers of people per square-mile) in Africa. All Rwandese speak Rwanda (Kinyarwanda), and some speak French, Swahili, or English. Rwandese identify with three population groups called Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa. Today, these labels are used as ethnic identifiers; however, in the past they designated an individual's occupation. It is not clear if the words Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa existed in ancient times when people …

Introduction To Endangered Peoples Of Africa And The Middle East : Struggles To Survive And Thrive, Robert K. Hitchcock, Alan J. Osborn

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Endangered Peoples of Africa and the Middle East: Struggles to Survive and Thrive is about human populations residing in Africa and the Middle East, a diverse region that is connected geographically, culturally, and historically. The African continent is vast and covers 11.7 million square miles, or an area slightly larger than the combined area of the United States and South America (Table 1). Today, the African continent is home to some 771 million people distributed within fifty-four separate countries. Of the world's continents, Africa is by far the most diverse culturally. In Sudan, for example, there are over 200 ethnic …

Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project: Report Of The 2002 Season, Nicholas Rauh, Luann Wandsnider, F. Sancar Ozaner, Michael Hoff, Rhys Townsend, Matthew Dillon, Mette Korsholm, Hulya Caner

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

The Rough Cilicia Archaeological Project conducted archaeological and geoarchaeological research in the Gazipaşa area from July 20 through 1 September 2001. Several goals were met this season. Under the direction of Michael Hoff and Rhys Townsend, detailed plans were completed of monumental structures at the sites of Asar Tepe, Lamos, and Selinus. At Lamos, in particular, the team made a number of finds, including the discovery of an inscribed statue base of large size in a small podium complex on a hill above the so-called "stadium."

The Fort Clark Archeology Project, 2000-2001 Historical Archeological Investigations., William J. Hunt Jr.

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Historical archeological work during the summers of 2000 and 2001 has been directed toward development and installation of a series of interpretive panels relating to the history, archeology, and peoples living at Fort Clark. In anticipation of this, investigations in 2000 included small scale testing and large scale geophysical surveys at the village and both trading posts. Fieldwork in 2001 was more focused and utilized geophysical survey data from both years to guide a multi-university field school excavation at Fort Clark. Excavation goals were to clarify the structural history and evolution of the post, discern functional change in one portion …

Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project: Report Of The Year 2000 Season, Nicholas K. Rauh, Luann Wandsnider

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

During the 2000 season the RCASP Survey Team surveyed approximately five square kilometers in the vicinity of Lamos and along the ridges surrounding the Adanda River valley in interior Rough Cilicia. Geoarchaeological inspection of beach, lagoon, and terrace deposits of the Hacimusa River was conducted by F. Sancar Ozaner and Hülya Caner. Together Ozaner and Caner identified the locations where geomorphological trenches would be excavated during the 2001 season. Caner also collected surface sediments from lagoonal deposits of the Hacimusa and Bickici Rivers for further analysis. Under the direction of Michael Hoff and Rhys Townsend, a preliminary architectural map was …

Sandal Types And Archaic Prehistory On The Colorado Plateau, Phil R. Geib

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Perishable artifacts provide an alternative to projectile pointsfor examining spatial patterns in Archaic material culture between northern and southern portions of the Colorado Plateau of the North American Southwest. This is so because they possess a potential great variety of specific construction and design attributes and can be directly dated to establish independent chronolo- gies of development. The analysis and dating of a collection of warp-faced plain weave sandals from Chevelon Canyon, Ari- zona demonstrates the potential utility of perishable artifacts to our understanding of prehistory. The collection provides an importantfirst sample of early Archaicfootwearfor the southern Colorado Plateau. AMS …

Late Prehistoric High Plains Foragers: Starving Nomads, Affluent Foragers?, Luann Wandsnider

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Past human groups of the High Plains have been variously characterized as starving nomads and affluent foragers. In fact, these terms do not capture the multi-faceted nature of the human foraging experience on the High Plains. Relying on human ecology and archaeological interpretations, this paper examines the coping strategies used by Late Prehistoric foragers in the high variance environment of the High Plains, which was relatively less variable during the early part of the Late Prehistoric time period and more variable in the later part.

Who’S Buried In Custer’S Grave?, P. Willey, Douglas D. Scott

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

On 10 October 1877, the year after the Battle of the Little Bighorn, General George A. Custer’s coffin was transported from a temporary grave in Poughkeepsie, NY, by steamer and cortege to permanent interment in the U.S. Military Academy’s Post Cemetery. The ceremony included the appropriate military and funerary rituals. There were, nevertheless, reasons to believe that Custer’s skeleton may not have been in the coffin—thus, he may have missed his own funeral. Custer’s remains, or part of them, may have been overlooked during the exhumation and left on the battlefield, only to be recovered around 1940. These bones, as …

The Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project: Report Of The 1999 Season, Nicholas K. Rauh, Luann Wandsnider

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

In 1999 the team turned attention to an area of mountainous rural hinterland behind Iotape and some 500 m above the valley of the Delice Çay and the village of Kahyalar.Employing coarse interval survey methodology we conducted a sweep of a network of ridges extending from a peak known locally as Nergis Tepesi to the village of Kahyalar below. When evidence of past human activity or disturbances was observed by the team, especially architectural remains or ceramics clusters of more than one sherd per square meter, the area became designated as a 'site', if only for purposes of recording. Once …

Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project: Report Of The 1998 Season, Michael Hoff, Nicholas K. Rauh, Rhys Townsend, Luann Wandsnider

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

During the 1998 season the Rough Cilicia Survey team shifted the focus of our research to the discovery and analysis of rural sites and rural field tracks in the southern coastal portion of the survey zone (between ancient Selinus, modern Gazipasha, and ancient Nephelion (modern Muzkent). To learn more about historic landscape use in the area, the field team surveyed 21 transects comprising more than 17 linear kilometers of survey terrain. To record our finds we employed GPS tracking devices to track our progress on 1:5000 topographical maps acquired from the Tapu ve Kadastro Genel Müdürlügü (all sites are identified …

Review Of The Prehistoric Pueblo World A.D. 1150-1350, Edited By Michael A. Adler. Tucson: The University Of Arizona Press, 1996. 279 Pages, Alan J. Osborn

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Excerpt:

This volume provides the reader with very useful summaries and overviews of the archaeological record for the prehistoric Pueblo III period. It also introduces the reader to a broad range of research topics-models of demographic change, population aggregation, local and regional “abandonment,” architectural variation, settlement layout(s), living space, aspects of community integration, ceramic assemblages, land-use practices, carrying capacity, conflict, exchange, and macro regional interaction-that have been addressed recently in this area. In addition, this volume contains data about settlement numbers, sizes, and distributions for seventy-the districts within twelve regions. Districts were delineated on the basis of archeological patterns, established …

Review Of Sanumá Memories: Yanomami Ethnography In A Time Of Crisis. Alcida Rita Ramos. Madison: University Of Wisconsin Press, 1995. Xx, 346 Pp. (Paper)., Raymond B. Hames

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

As I have done considerable research among the Yanomamö,1 it was with anticipation that I received notice of Alcida Ramos' publication of Sanumá Memories. This work is a useful contribution to the large and still expanding research on the Yanomamö, an Amazonian people who have become a classic case study for anthropology and the social sciences. They are probably the most widely read about tribal people in the world, largely a consequence of Napoleon Chagnon's immensely popular ethnography Yanomamö: The Fierce People (first published in 1968 and the most recent edition in 1992).

The Yanomamö have become a focal point …

Describing And Comparing Archaeological Spatial Structures, Luann Wandsnider

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Quantitative archaeological spatial analysis today is radically different from that introduced more than 20 years ago. Today spatial analysis is couched in more general formational terms that include earlier functional pursuits. Today spatial analysts (1) focus on individual formationally sensitive artifact or element attributes, rather than on types; (2) use distributional rather than partitive methods and techniques; (3) consider a suite of such attributes to construct the formational history of archaeological deposits; and, least commonly, (4) undertake comparative spatial analysis. An elaboration of the latter tactic is proposed here, that of characterizing spatial structure in terms of structural elements (or …

Ams Dating Of Plain Weave Sandals From The Central Colorado Plateau., Phil R. Geib

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

AMS radiocarbon dates on plain-weave sandals from caves of the central Colorado Plateau are reported. The sandals range in age from about 6900 to 3200 B.P. (ca. 5700-1450 cal. B.C.). The findings strengthen a case for both population and cultural continuity during the Archaic period, and support a related argument that middle Archaic break in the occupancy of several important shelters such as Cowboy Cave resulted from settlement pattern change and not regional abandonment. The dates demonstrate that living accumulations within some shelters of lower Glen Canyon resulted from Archaic foragers and not Puebloan farmers as previously claimed. Benchmark Cave, …