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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Summed Radiocarbon Calibrations As A Population Proxy: A Critical Evaluation Using A Realistic Simulation Approach, Daniel A. Contreras, John Meadows
Summed Radiocarbon Calibrations As A Population Proxy: A Critical Evaluation Using A Realistic Simulation Approach, Daniel A. Contreras, John Meadows
Daniel A. Contreras
The logic of using summed radiocarbon (14C) calibrations (cumulative probability density functions for large numbers of calibrated 14C dates) as proxies for past populations rests on the presumption of a proportional relationship between population size and the production, and subsequent preservation, recovery, and analysis, of 14C-datable material. Critiques of this approach have generally focused on the various problems that may undermine the validity of this assumption. Here, instead, we presume a perfect correspondence between population size and the quantity of datable material produced at any given time, and explore the question of how well summed 14C calibrations can track demographic …
(Re)Constructing The Sacred: Landscape Geoarchaeology At Chavín De Huántar, Peru, Daniel A. Contreras
(Re)Constructing The Sacred: Landscape Geoarchaeology At Chavín De Huántar, Peru, Daniel A. Contreras
Daniel A. Contreras
Chavín de Huántar is a first millennium B.C.E. Central Andean ceremonial center set in a steep mountainous landscape that is at once dynamic and, traditional Andean belief systems would suggest, sacred and animate. Landscape geoarchaeology at the site serves to examine both of these factors, characterizing the site’s dynamic environment while also examining the ways in which Chavín’s inhabitants interacted with their fraught surroundings. Using mapping of geomorphic hazards, the character and chronology of the site’s construction and expansion, and ethnohistoric information on the relationships of indigenous Andean peoples to their environments, I discuss ways of examining this interaction. Landscape …
(Before And) After The Flood: A Multiproxy Approach To Past Floodplain Usage In The Middle Wadi El-Hasa, Jordan, Daniel A. Contreras, Vincent Robin, Regina Gonda, Rachel Hodara, Marta Dal Corso, Cheryl Makarewicz
(Before And) After The Flood: A Multiproxy Approach To Past Floodplain Usage In The Middle Wadi El-Hasa, Jordan, Daniel A. Contreras, Vincent Robin, Regina Gonda, Rachel Hodara, Marta Dal Corso, Cheryl Makarewicz
Daniel A. Contreras
Floodplains are an important feature of arid landscapes, enabling intensive agricultural activity by providing a locale with a consistent and largely predictable water source that is accessible without costly infrastructural modifications. Floodplain agriculture, although likely an important part of ancient agri- cultural systems in the Near East, is notoriously difficult to detect, as the dynamic environments in which floodplains are situated means that these geomorphic features are rarely preserved. However, recent survey in the Wadi el-Hasa, Jordan has revealed a preserved fragment of floodplain surface indicating past floodplain usage during the 7the8th century cal AD. A multi-proxy analysis that incorporates …