DOCSLIB.ORG

Isotopic and Zooms Analysis of Seventh–Tenth Century AD Ivory from Kwazulu-Natal

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Isotopic and Zooms Analysis of Seventh–Tenth Century AD Ivory from Kwazulu-Natal Afr Archaeol Rev DOI 10.1007/s10437-016-9232-0 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Earliest Evidence for the Ivory Trade in Southern Africa: Isotopic and ZooMS Analysis of Seventh–Tenth Century AD Ivory from KwaZulu-Natal Ashley N. Coutu & Gavin Whitelaw & Petrus le Roux & Judith Sealy # The Author(s) 2016. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract KwaGandaganda, Ndondondwane and Wosi strontium isotope analysis to explore the origins and were major Early Farming Community settlements in procurement of this ivory, in combination with what is today the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) to Africa. These sites have yielded, among other remains, identify the species of animals from which it was de- abundant evidence of ivory and ivory working dating to rived. All of the ivory studied using ZooMS was ele- the seventh–tenth centuries AD,pre-datingbyapproxi- phant, despite the presence of hippopotamus remains on mately 200 years the better-known ivory artefacts from all three sites. Some ivory was probably obtained from sites in the Limpopo River Valley and surrounding elephant herds that lived close to the sites, in the densely regions. We report the results of carbon, nitrogen and wooded river valleys favoured by both elephants and early farmers. Other material came from savannah en- Time period: Early Iron Age vironments further afield. Ivory found at these three sites Country and region discussed: South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal was drawn from different catchments, implying a degree of landscape/resource partitioning even at this early Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10437-016-9232-0) contains supplementary stage. These communities clearly invested substantial material, which is available to authorized users. effort in obtaining ivory from across the region, which : speaks to the importance of this commodity in the econ- A. N. Coutu (*) J. Sealy omy of the time. We suggest that some ivory items were Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Private for local use, but that some may have been intended for Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa e-mail: [email protected] more distant markets via Indian Ocean trade. A. N. Coutu Résumé Les sites de KwaGandaganda, Ndondondwane BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, et Wosi ont été des peuplements majeurs de York YO10 5DD, UK communautés d’agriculteurs précoces dans ce qui est. G. Whitelaw aujourd’hui la province de KwaZulu-Natal, en Afrique KwaZulu-Natal Museum, Private Bag 9070, du Sud. Ces sites ont donné, parmi d’autres vestiges, des Pietermaritzburg 3200, South Africa preuves abondantes d’ivoire et d’ivoire travaillé datant G. Whitelaw des siècles VIIe à Xe de notre ère, ce qui précéde, par School of Social Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private environ 200 ans, des artéfacts d’ivoire mieux connus Bag X54001, Durban 4000, South Africa provenants de sites de la vallée du Limpopo et des régions environnantes. Ici nous rapportons des résultats P. le Roux ’ ’ ’ Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, d analyses d isotopes de carbone, d azote et de stron- Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa tium, en combinaison avec de la zooarchéologie par Afr Archaeol Rev spectrométrie de masse (ZooMS) pour identifier les beads, glazed ceramics and other luxury goods. How espèces d’animaux à partir de lesquelles l’ivoire and where did trans-oceanic trade to and from southern archéologique a dérivé, et aussi pour explorer ses Africa first begin? Was ivory from KwaZulu-Natal origines et ses marchés. Tout l’ivoire étudié en utilisant linked to such a network, several centuries earlier? de la ZooMS a dérivé d’éléphant, malgré la présence de Here, we try to gain a better understanding of patterns vestiges d’hippopotame sur les trois sites. Une partie de of ivory procurement by analysing the stable carbon cet ivoire a probablement été obtenu à partir des (13C/12C) and nitrogen (15N/14N) isotope compo troupeaux d’éléphants qui vivaient près des sites dans sition of archaeological ivory from the sites of les vallées densément boisées qui étaient les favoris des KwaGandaganda, Ndondondwane and Wosi, together éléphants aussi bien que ceux des agriculteurs précoces. with strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr). Carbon and nitrogen D’autre matériel est. provenu de milieux de savane plus isotopes reflect the diets the elephants consumed, éloignés. L’ivoire trouvé aux trois sites est., donc, informing us about the habitats in which they lived and provenu de différents bassins versants, ce qui implique thus the likely catchment of this material. Strontium un certain degré de partitionnement de la paysage et des isotopes reflect the geological substrates on which the ressources, même à ce stade précoce. Ces communautés animals lived. Did the ivory derive from local elephant ont clairement investi des efforts considérables populations, or was it sourced from further afield, pre- dans l’obtention de l’ivoire de toute la région, ce sumably in response to greater demand? Did Early Iron qui témoigne l’importance de cette denrée dans Age communities use ivory from hippopotamus (Hippo- l’économie de cette époque. Nous suggérons que cer- potamus amphibius) and/or warthog (Phacochoerus tains articles manufacturés de l’ivoire étaient proba- africanus), as well as elephant (Loxodonta africana)? blement à l’usage local, mais que d’autres peuvent avoir Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) enables été destinés à des marchés plus éloignés via le commerce us to identify even very small fragments of ivory to de l’océan Indien. species. Here, we present the first such analyses in south- ern African archaeology. Keywords Elephant . Carbon . Nitrogen . Strontium . Early Farming Community. Early Iron Age Early Farmers in KwaZulu-Natal Introduction The first farmers arrived in KwaZulu-Natal c. AD 400 as part of an expansion southwards from East Africa In this paper, we report on the earliest and most south- through the eastern coastal regions of the subcontinent erly evidence for ivory trade in precolonial Africa. The (Huffman 2007, pp. 331–359; Phillipson 1977;Russell sites of KwaGandaganda, Ndondondwane and Wosi in et al. 2014). Links with East Africa are attested by the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal (Fig. 1) remarkable similarities between the earliest South Afri- have yielded large quantities of waste chips from ivory can ceramics and Kwale ware from Kenya and Tanzania working (Fig. 2) and a number of (mostly fragmentary) (Huffman 2007, p. 122; Maggs 1980). These commu- ivory artefacts (Figs. 3 and 4). This evidence dates from nities brought with them domesticated cattle and small the Msuluzi and Ndondondwane phases of the Early stock, as well as crops such as sorghum and millet. Iron Age sequence, c. seventh–tenth centuries AD.Ivory These are tropical grains adapted to summer rainfall con- seems surprisingly abundant, so an intriguing question ditions, so farming communities settled in the northern and is the destination of this material. Overlapping with the eastern parts of South Africa, where it is possible to grow later part of this time period, we see similar evidence of these crops without irrigation. These groups also brought ivory working at the site of Schroda (tenth–eleventh knowledge of iron smelting and iron working and were the centuries AD) further to the north in the Limpopo River first societies in South Africa to live in settled villages. Valley, and thereafter at K2, close to Mapungubwe Hill The chronological sequence of early farming com- (Hanisch 1980, 1981;Raath2014; Voigt 1983). The munities in KwaZulu-Natal is based on the identifica- Limpopo River Valley is well known to have been part tion of sequential ceramic assemblages, tightly anchored of a trans-Indian Ocean trade network, exporting local in a series of radiocarbon dates. The earliest phase is products that likely included ivory in exchange for glass called Mzonjani (AD 400–600), followed by Msuluzi Afr Archaeol Rev Fig. 1 Upper map shows location of wildlife reserves (black dots) with modern elephant populations that yielded the published ivory isotope data referenced in Fig. 10. White dots indicate locations of archaeological sites in KwaZulu- Natal (KwaGandaganda, Wosi and Ndondondwane—the latter two incorporated into one white dot at this scale). Base map of vegetation cover from GlobCover © European Space Agency 2010 and UCLouvain (GlobCover 2008). Lower map is shaded by vegetation bioregions according to Mucina and Rutherford (2006) with white dots indicating loca- tions of archaeological sites men- tioned in the text (Kwa KwaGandaganda, Wos Wosi, Ndo Ndondondwane, Msu Msuluzi Confluence, Mag Magogo, Mhl Mhlopeni). Dark shading to the west of the sites represents sub- escarpment grassland (dark green in online version), lighter shading where the sites are located repre- sents sub-escarpment savanna, shading northeast of the sites where Ulundi is located repre- sents lowveld savanna (blue in online version) and shading where Durban is located repre- sents the Indian Ocean coastal belt (brown in online version) (650–780), Ndondondwane (780–910) and Ntshekane variables such as biomass productivity (de Boer et al. (910–1030), each named for the site at which it was first 2013). In KwaZulu-Natal, high-resolution diatom re- identified (Whitelaw 2013). cords from Lake Sibaya (Fig. 1) indicate that conditions The few Mzonjani phase sites are found near the between AD 750 and 1000 were generally wetter than coast. From the Msuluzi phase onwards, settlements today, with a marked spike in rainfall between AD 790 were located mainly within river valleys which provided and 830 (Stager et al. 2013). Vegetation in the deeply deep, fertile soils for agriculture and ready access to incised river valleys occupied by Early Farming Com- water. These habitats would also have been prime ele- munities was denser than it is currently.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Nadia CV 09:17:19
    Nadia C. Neff, PhD Student Department of Anthropology [email protected] University of New Mexico (970) 488 – 9932 Anthropology Annex B06E Albuquerque, New Mexico EDUCATION AND TRAINING University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM PhD Student 2019 – present Department of Anthropology Archaeology Subfield Fort Lewis College Durango, CO Visiting Instructor of Anthropology 2017 – 2019 Department of Anthropology University of York York, United Kingdom Master of Science, Bioarchaeology 2014 – 2016 Department of Archaeology Graduated with Merit Fort Lewis College Durango, CO Bachelor of Art, Anthropology 2009 – 2013 Department of Anthropology Graduated with Honors RESEARCH EXPERIENCE PhD Student 2019 - present University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM Advisors: Dr. Osbjorn Pearson, Dr Keith Prufer Rodents! Using stable isotopes to model dietary and environmental change from the Paleoindian period to the Mayan Collapse in modern Belize. – Currently studying the utility of using stable isotopes in rodent remains as a proxy for studying human dietary and environmental activity. Masters Student 2014 – 2016 University of York, York, United Kingdom Advisor: Dr. Matthew Collins Identifying potential sites of conflict through the analysis of possible human bone fragments via ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry). – Studied the applications of using ZooMS for the identification of human bone fragments in archaeological and forensic contexts. Nadia C. Neff | [email protected] | (970) 488 – 9932 1 – Combined traditional field survey and documentation methods with biomolecular protein analysis to create human bone scatter maps to identify possible sites of conflict. – Research based on a case study involving the Battle of Towton (1461) site. Collagen extraction method testing in highly degraded bone fragments – Tested collagen extraction methods (HCl demineralization versus AmBiC surface washing) on highly degraded bone fragments found in surface and top soil finds.
    [Show full text]
  • Combined Osteomorphological, Isotopic, Adna, and Zooms Analyses of Sheep and Goat Remains from Neolithic Ulucak, Turkey DOI: 10.1007/S12520-018-0624-8
    The University of Manchester Research Combined osteomorphological, isotopic, aDNA, and ZooMS analyses of sheep and goat remains from Neolithic Ulucak, Turkey DOI: 10.1007/s12520-018-0624-8 Document Version Accepted author manuscript Link to publication record in Manchester Research Explorer Citation for published version (APA): Pilaar Birch, S. E., Scheu, A., Buckley, M., & Çakrlar, C. (2018). Combined osteomorphological, isotopic, aDNA, and ZooMS analyses of sheep and goat remains from Neolithic Ulucak, Turkey. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0624-8 Published in: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences Citing this paper Please note that where the full-text provided on Manchester Research Explorer is the Author Accepted Manuscript or Proof version this may differ from the final Published version. If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the Research Explorer are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Takedown policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please refer to the University of Manchester’s Takedown Procedures [http://man.ac.uk/04Y6Bo] or contact [email protected] providing relevant details, so we can investigate your claim. Download date:23. Sep. 2021 Combined
    [Show full text]
  • Archaeology of Ancient Israelite Religion(S): an Introduction
    religions Editorial Archaeology of Ancient Israelite Religion(s): An Introduction Avraham Faust Department of General History, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel; [email protected] Received: 28 May 2020; Accepted: 4 June 2020; Published: 15 June 2020 Keywords: archaeology; Israelite religion; Bible; biblical archaeology; Near Eastern archaeology; archaeology and religion; temples; cult Israelite religion has always fascinated scholars. Hundreds of books and thousands of articles have attempted to shed light on its various aspects. Initial studies used the Bible as their main source of information and attempted to read it critically in order to learn about the religion of ancient Israel. With the advent of modern research in the Near East, mainly in Mesopotamia, more and more information on other Ancient Near Eastern religions was accumulated. The new data were initially used to illuminate Israelite religious practices as described in the Bible, but gradually led to the questioning of some of the accepted truisms that were based on the biblical narrative. Subsequently, new information was collected mainly through archaeological excavations, and archaeology, mainly in the land of Israel, had gradually become a major player in the study of ancient Israelite religion(s) and religious practices.1 The accumulating material evidence opened new research vistas and changed the scholarly discourse. The biblical framework for the study of ancient Israelite religion was gradually deserted by many, not only giving rise to much more critical approaches but also resulting in the abandonment of the view that one can speak of an Israelite religion in the singular, and many today prefer to speak about Israelite religions.2 Another important development was a broadening of the perspective, and the growing importance given to the local social context in which religious was practiced.
    [Show full text]
  • Species Identification Using Zooms, with Reference to the Exploitation Of
    DANISH JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 2018, VOL. 7, NO. 2, 139–153 https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2018.1468154 RESEARCH ARTICLE Species identification using ZooMS, with reference to the exploitation of animal resources in the medieval town of Odense Luise Ørsted Brandta, Kirstine Haasea,b and Matthew J. Collins c,d aCentre for Urban Network Evolutions, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; bDepartment of Cultural Heritage, Odense City Museums, Odense, Denmark; cEvoGenomics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; dBioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry) is increasingly being used as a method for Received 30 January 2018 species identification of archaeological and historical remains. The method identifies species Accepted 19 April 2018 – from the peptide mass fingerprint of extracted collagen the principal protein of bone, ivory, KEYWORDS dentine, leather, and parchment. ZooMS has the advantages that it is a fast and simple method, ZooMS; species that requires only small sample sizes or even non-destructive sampling. The taxonomic resolution identification; collagen; of the method varies, but ZooMS is diagnostic for most domesticated animals and for the middle age; animal relatively depauperate Scandinavian fauna, although some groups (seals, martens) cannot be resources; long distance resolved, and it cannot discriminate some domesticates (dog, cattle) from their wild counterparts. trade; zooarchaeology; In this article, we overview the method and demonstrate the value of ZooMS and illustrate our archaeology points via a case study of 20 samples from 12th to 14th century layers in the Danish medieval town of Odense. Four artefacts were tested by a non-destructive eraser technique because of their uniqueness, but only one could be identified.
    [Show full text]
  • An Integrated Stable Isotope Study of Plants and Animals from Kouphovouno, Southern Greece: a New Look at Neolithic Farming
    ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Title: An integrated stable isotope study of plants and animals from Kouphovouno, southern Greece: a new look at Neolithic farming Author affiliations: Petra Vaiglova – University of Oxford Dr Amy Bogaard – University of Oxford Prof Matthew Collins – University of York Prof William Cavanagh – University of Nottingham Prof Christopher Mee – University of Liverpool Prof Josette Renard – Universté Paul-Valéry Montpelier 3 Dr Angela Lamb – NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, British Geological Survey Dr Rebecca Fraser – University of Oxford Corresponding author details: Petra Vaiglova University of Oxford, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 (0) 758 597 4160 Abstract: This paper presents the first study that combines the use of ancient crop and animal stable isotopes (carbon and nitrogen) and Zooarchaeology Mass Spectrometry species identification (ZooMS) for reconstructing early farming practices at Kouphovouno, a Middle-Late Neolithic village in southern GreeceMANUSCRIPT (c. 5950-4500 cal. BC). Debate surrounding the nature of early farming predominantly revolves around the intensity of crop cultivation: did early farmers move around the landscape while practicing temporary farming methods such as slash and burn agriculture or did they create more permanent fields by investing high labor inputs into smaller pieces of land that produced higher crop yields? The need to address these questions using a direct assessment of the intensity and scale of cultivation is apparent, and an integrated stable isotope approach provides such an opportunity. The results of this study support the model of small-scale mixed farming, where crop cultivation and animal husbandry are closely integrated.
    [Show full text]
  • Whalebone Gaming Pieces: Aspects of Marine Mammal Exploitation in Vendel and Viking Age Scandinavia
    European Journal of Archaeology 21 (4) 2018, 612–631 This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work. Whalebone Gaming Pieces: Aspects of Marine Mammal Exploitation in Vendel and Viking Age Scandinavia 1 2 3 ANDREAS HENNIUS ,RUDOLF GUSTAVSSON ,JOHN LJUNGKVIST AND 4 LUKE SPINDLER 1Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, Sweden 2Societas Archaeologica Upsaliensis, Uppsala, Sweden 3Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, Sweden 4BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, UK Discussions of pre-Viking trade and production have for many decades focused on products made of precious metals, glass and, to some degree, iron. This is hardly surprising considering the difficulties in finding and provenancing products made of organic matter. In this article we examine gaming pieces made from bone and antler, which are not unusual in Scandinavian burials in the Vendel and Viking period (c. AD 550–1050). A special emphasis is placed on whalebone pieces that appear to dominate after around AD 550, signalling a large-scale production and exploitation of North Atlantic whale pro- ducts. In combination with other goods such as bear furs, birds of prey, and an increased iron and tar production, whalebone products are part of an intensified large-scale outland exploitation and indicate strong, pre-urban trading routes across Scandinavia and Europe some 200 years before the Viking period and well before the age of the emporia.
    [Show full text]
  • Identifying Archaeological Bone Via Non- Destructive Zooms and the Materiality of Symbolic Expression: Examples from Iroquoian Bone Points
    Identifying Archaeological Bone via Non- Destructive ZooMS and the Materiality of Symbolic Expression: Examples from Iroquoian Bone Points Item Type Article Authors McGrath, K.; Rowsell, K.; Gates St-Pierre, C.; Tedder, Andrew; Foody, G.; Roberts, C.; Speller, C.; Collins, M. Citation McGrath K, Rowsell K, Gates St-Pierre C et al (2019) Identifying Archaeological Bone via Non-Destructive ZooMS and the Materiality of Symbolic Expression: Examples from Iroquoian Bone Points. Scientific Reports. 9(1): 11027. Rights (c) 2019 The Authors. This is an Open Access article distributed under the Creative Commons CC-BY license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Download date 26/09/2021 16:53:22 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10454/17265 Identifying Archaeological Bone via Non-Destructive ZooMS and the Materiality of Symbolic Expression: Examples of Iroquoian Bone Points Krista McGrath*1; Keri Rowsell1,2; Christian Gates St-Pierre3; Andrew Tedder4; George Foody5; Carolynne Roberts1; Camilla Speller1,6; Matthew Collins1,7 1 BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK 2 London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK 3 Département d’anthropologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada 4 School of Chemistry & Bioscience, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK 5 School of Applied Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK 6 Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada 7 EvoGenomics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark * corresponding author: [email protected] KM, KR, CGS, CS and MC designed and performed the research. KM, KR, AT, GF, CR and CS performed data analysis. KM, KR, CGS, CS and MC wrote the paper; all authors were involved in reviewing the manuscript.
    [Show full text]
  • Archeologie Van Een in De 17De Eeuw Zwaar Geteisterde Stad
    Archeologie in Vlaanderen VU - 1999/2000, 231-276 De Visserskaai te Oostende (prov. West-Vlaanderen): archeologie van een in de 17de eeuw zwaar geteisterde stad Marnix Pieters, Liesbet Schietecatte, Anton Ervynck, Wim Van Neer1 & Danielle Caluwé met bijdragen van Frans De Buyser, Jérôme Eeckhout , David Houbrechts & Luc Muylaert 1 Inleiding onder de Visserskaai (fig. 1) archeologisch bege­ leid3. Hierbij werd informatie ingewonnen over Van september 1998 tot en met februari 1999 de Oostendse versterkingen aan de oostkant van werden door het Instituut voor het Archeologisch de stad en hun evolutie gedurende de periode Patrimonium van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap 16de-19de eeuw. De opgravingen documenteer­ (IAP) en de stad Oostende de graafwerken voor den tegelijkertijd ook verschillende aspecten van de aanleg van de ondergrondse parkeergarage de materiële cultuur w.o. de ceramiekconsump- tie en de voedselvoorziening van de stedelingen gedurende dezelfde periode. Enkele eerste resul­ taten4 van dit onderzoek werden bondig gepu­ bliceerd in de tentoonstellingscatalogus ‘Met Grof Geschut. Vestingbouw langs de Noordzee.’ van de gelijknamige tentoonstelling die in de Vene- tiaanse Gaanderijen van Oostende liep van 13.06.1999 tot 26.09.1999. Na een korte situering van de Oostendse stadsversterkingen en van hun uit historische bronnen gekende militaire lotgevallen, worden in een tweede luik de resultaten van het archeo­ logisch onderzoek voorgesteld. Het onderzoek 1 IUAP-project P4 / 12, Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika, 3080 Tervuren. 2 Jérôme Eeckhout en David Houbrechts zijn ver­ bonden aan het Laboratoire de Dendrochronologie de l’Université de Liège, Quai Roosevelt, lb — B- 4000 Liège. 3 Het onderzoek werd wegens de grote tijdsdruk uitgevoerd in minder gunstige omstandigheden.
    [Show full text]
  • Draft Program
    Draft Program From Anthrosphere to Lithosphere (and back again): A Celebration of the Career and Research of Terry O’Connor The 36th Annual Association for Environmental Archaeology Conference Friday 6th November, 2015 5.00 pm – Registration 6.00 pm – Keynote presentation (Don Brothwell, Mark Maltby, Naomi Sykes, Lee G. Broderick) 7.00 pm – Drinks reception Saturday 7th November, 2015 9.00 am – Registration 9.40 am – Digestive Taphonomy in Archaeobotany: A Gnawing Problem (Don O’Meara) 10.00 am – A Feast of Ducks? The Taphonomic History of Faunal Remains from Oakington Anglo- Saxon Cemetery (James Nottingham, James Morris & Duncan Sayer) 10.20 am – Profiling Taphonomic History through Bone Fracture Analysis (Emily Johnson, Pip Parmenter & Alan Outram) 10.40am – What doesn’t Kill me makes me Stronger: How to turn the Taphonomic History of (Sub)Fossil Small Mammal Assemblages into Archaeozoologists’ Favour (Borut Toskan) 11.00 am – coffee 11.40 am – Reading the Bones: Multiple Interpretations of Human Activity in Doghole Cave, Cumbria (Hannah O’Regan, Ian Smith, Kirsty McLeod & Dave Wilkinson) 12.00 pm – Reassessing the Irish Cave Fauna (Ruth Carden) 12.20 pm – Faunal Contextualisation of Mixed Human and Animal Assemblages from the Yorkshire Dales (Erin Kennan & Terry O’Connor) 12.40 pm – Blood from a Stone: Petrosals and Ancient DNA (Victoria Mullin) 1.00 pm – lunch 2.00 pm – Reconstructing Past Herbivore Abundance using Dung Fungal Spores: A Taphonomic Approach (Eline Van Asperen) 2.20 pm – 50 Shades of Gray: Using Biomolecules to Identify
    [Show full text]
  • Italy) Published: Xx Xx Xxxx Virginie Sinet-Mathiot1, Geof M
    www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN Combining ZooMS and zooarchaeology to study Late Pleistocene hominin behaviour at Received: 28 January 2019 Accepted: 25 July 2019 Fumane (Italy) Published: xx xx xxxx Virginie Sinet-Mathiot1, Geof M. Smith 1, Matteo Romandini2,3, Arndt Wilcke4, Marco Peresani3, Jean-Jacques Hublin1 & Frido Welker1,5 Collagen type I fngerprinting (ZooMS) has recently been used to provide either palaeoenvironmental data or to identify additional hominin specimens in Pleistocene contexts, where faunal assemblages are normally highly fragmented. However, its potential to elucidate hominin subsistence behaviour has been unexplored. Here, ZooMS and zooarchaeology have been employed in a complementary approach to investigate bone assemblages from Final Mousterian and Uluzzian contexts at Fumane cave (Italy). Both approaches produced analogous species composition, but difer signifcantly in species abundance, particularly highlighted by a six fold-increase in the quantity of Bos/Bison remains in the molecularly identifed component. Traditional zooarchaeological methods would therefore underestimate the proportion of Bos/Bison in these levels to a considerable extent. We suggest that this diference is potentially due to percussion-based carcass fragmentation of large Bos/Bison bone diaphyses. Finally, our data demonstrates high variability in species assignment to body size classes based on bone cortical thickness and fragment size. Thus, combining biomolecular and traditional zooarchaeological methods allows us to refne our understanding of bone assemblage composition associated with hominin occupation at Fumane. Zooarchaeological analyses use faunal remains to address archaeological questions. Tis provides a wealth of information on local and regional palaeoenvironments, the timing of hominin occupation, and interactions with other species1–5. Most specifcally, such studies have been used to reconstruct hominin diet and subsistence patterns.
    [Show full text]
  • Iron Age Hunting and Herding in Coastal Eastern Africa: Zooms Identification of Domesticates and Wild Bovids at Panga Ya Saidi, Kenya
    Journal of Archaeological Science 130 (2021) 105368 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jas Iron Age hunting and herding in coastal eastern Africa: ZooMS identification of domesticates and wild bovids at Panga ya Saidi, Kenya Courtney Culley a,b,*, Anneke Janzen b,c, Samantha Brown b,d, Mary E. Prendergast e, Ceri Shipton f,g, Emmanuel Ndiema h, Michael D. Petraglia b,a,i, Nicole Boivin b,a,i,j, Alison Crowther a,b a School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia b Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany c Department of Anthropology, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, United States d Institute for Scientific Archaeology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany e Department of Anthropology, Rice University, Houston, Texas, United States f Institute of Archaeology, Gordon Square, University College London, London, United Kingdom g Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia h Department of Earth Sciences, Archaeology Section, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya i Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C, United States j Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: The morphological differentiation of African bovids in highly fragmented zooarchaeological assemblages is a Zooarchaeology major hindrance to reconstructing the nature and spread of pastoralism in sub-Saharan Africa. Here we employ Collagen fingerprinting collagen peptide mass fingerprinting, known as Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS), coupled with Caprines recently published African ZooMS reference datasets, to identify domesticates and wild bovids in Iron Age as­ Cattle semblages at the cave site of Panga ya Saidi in southeast Kenya.
    [Show full text]
  • Maritime Archaeology a Technical Handbook
    SECOND EDITION Maritime Archaeology A Technical Handbook This Page Intentionally Left Blank SECOND EDITION Maritime Archaeology A Technical Handbook Jeremy Green Department of Maritime Archaeology Western Australian Maritime Museum Fremantle, Western Australia Amsterdam Boston Heidelberg London New York Oxford Paris San Diego San Francisco Singapore Sydney Tokyo Elsevier Academic Press 525 B Street, Suite 1900, San Diego, California 92101-4495, USA 84 Theobald’s Road, London WC1X 8RR, UK This book is printed on acid-free paper. Copyright © 2004, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail: [email protected]. You may also complete your request on-line via the Elsevier homepage (http://elsevier.com), by selecting “Customer Support” and then “Obtaining Permissions.” Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Application submitted British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 0-12-298632-6 For all information on all Academic Press publications visit our Web site at www.academicpress.com Printed in the United States of America 040506070809987654321 Contents Preface . xiii Acknowledgments . xv Chapter 1 Introduction to Maritime Archaeology . 1 Chapter 2 Research . 13 I. Project Planning . 13 II. Archival Research . 14 III. Site Research . 18 IV. Preparation . 19 V.
    [Show full text]