Chemical evidence of dairying by hunter-gatherers in the highlands of Lesotho in the late first millennium AD

The recovery of Early Iron Age artefacts and domestic animal remains from hunter-gatherer contexts at Likoaeng, Lesotho, has been argued to indicate contact between highland hunter-gatherers and Early Iron Age agropastoralist communities settled in lowland areas of southeastern Africa during the second half of the first millennium ad. However, disagreement between archaeozoological studies and ancient DNA means that the possibility that those hunter-gatherers kept livestock themselves remains controversial. Here we report analyses of pottery-absorbed organic residues from two hunter-gatherer sites and one agriculturalist site in highland Lesotho to reconstruct prehistoric subsistence practices. Our results demonstrate the exploitation of secondary products from domestic livestock by hunter-gatherers in Lesotho, directly dated to the seventh century ad at Likoaeng and the tenth century ad at the nearby site of Sehonghong. The data provide compelling evidence for the keeping of livestock by hunter-gatherer groups and their probable incorporation as ancillary resources into their subsistence strategies

A Palaeoenvironmental Investigation of Two Prehistoric Burnt Mound Sites in Northern Ireland

Funded by Road services Northern Ireland, Jacobs and Headland ArchaeologyPeer reviewedPostprin

An archaeological study of the Zimbabwe culture capital of Khami, south-western Zimbabwe

This study sought to understand the archaeology of the Zimbabwe Culture capital of Khami through synchronic and diachronic analyses of its material culture. The research employed a number of methodological approaches that included a review of historic documents, surveying and mapping, excavations, museum collection analysis, and artefact studies, in order to collect datasets from various sections of the site, including the walled and the nonwalled areas. The main indication is that there is a great deal of similarity in material culture distribution across the whole site. An analysis of objects by stratigraphic sequence exposes continuity and change in local and imported objects. Dry stone-wall architectural data suggests that the site was constructed over a long period, with construction motivated by a number of expansionary factors. The study confirms that Khami began as a fully developed cultural unit, with no developmental trajectory recorded at Mapungubwe or Great Zimbabwe, where earlier ceramic units influenced later ones. Consequently, this study cautiously suggests that Khami represents a continuity with the Woolandale chiefdoms that settled in the south-western parts of the country and in the adjacent areas of Botswana. On the basis of the chronological and material culture evidence, Khami is unlikely to have emerged out of Great Zimbabwe. However, more research is needed to confirm these emergent conclusions, and to better understand the chronological and spatial relationships between not just Woolandale and Khami sites but also Khami and the multiple Khami-type sites scattered across southern Zambezia

Strathalan Cave revisited: Stone Age networks and environments at the foot of the Drakensberg, South Africa

The broader Drakensberg is an important region for understanding population dynamics and adaptation between the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Here, we announce our campaign to re-excavate Strathalan Cave in the northeastern Cape of South Africa. Strathalan Cave sits at the foothills of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg at the edge of the Great Escarpment of southern Africa. Well-known for its organic preservation, the site is important for understanding the archaeology of the region. People have occupied Strathalan Cave intermittently from ca. 29 000 years ago (ka), so exploring occupational patterns at sites such as these is a valuable means of understanding Stone Age behaviour during glacial Marine Isotope Stage 2 (ca. 29-14 ka). In this paper, we provide the first detailed description of the geological, geomorphological, sedimentary and environmental context of Strathalan Cave and review previous studies conducted on the site and region. We also introduce the goals of our re-excavation project and present a detailed map of the three cavities that make up the Strathalan Cave complex as part of a new, comprehensive, spatial control system established on site. Given the remarkable preservation of organic materials, Strathalan Cave may provide an important and rare source of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data for this period. Future work at Strathalan will likely contribute to our understanding of the links between settlement patterns and environmental change. This is especially important given that Strathalan sits at the juncture between different environmental and geographic regions

Mechanisms and Models of Agropastoral Spread During the Neolithic in the West Mediterranean: The Cardial Spread Model

abstract: This dissertation examines the various factors and processes that have been proposed as explanations for the spread of agriculture in the west Mediterranean. The expansion of the Neolithic in the west Mediterranean (the Impresso-Cardial Neolithic) is characterized by a rapid spread of agricultural subsistence and material culture from the southern portion of the Italian peninsula to the western coast of the Iberian peninsula. To address this unique case, four conceptual models of Neolithic spread have been proposed: the Wave of Advance, the Capillary Spread Model, the Maritime Pioneer Colonization Model and the Dual Model. An agent-based model, the Cardial Spread Model, was built to simulate each conceptual spread model in a spatially explicit environment for comparison with evidence from the archaeological record. Chronological information detailing the arrival of the Neolithic was used to create a map of the initial arrival of the Neolithic (a chronosurface) throughout the study area. The results of each conceptual spread model were then compared to the chronosurface in order to evaluate the relative performance of each conceptual model of spread. These experiments suggest that both the Dual and Maritime Pioneer Colonization models best fit the available chronological and spatial distribution of the Impresso-Cardial Neolithic. For the purpose of informing agent movement and improving the fit of the conceptual spread models, a variety of paleoenvironmental maps were tested within the Cardial Spread Model. The outcome of these experiments suggests that topographic slope was an important factor in settlement location and that rivers were important vectors of transportation for early Neolithic migration. This research demonstrates the application of techniques rare to archaeological analysis, agent-based modeling and the inclusion of paleoenvironmental information, and provides a valuable tool that future researchers can utilize to further evaluate and fabricate new models of Neolithic expansion.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Anthropology 201

Renbaan cave : stone tools, settlement and subsistence

This project describes and interprets the results from the Renbaan Cave excavation and situates the site in the context of contemporary Later Stone Age studies in the southwestern Cape. It is designed to complement the research of professor John Parkington. It is argued that settlement and subsistance patterns at Renbaan Cave reflect similar patterns to those noted at other small cave/shelter sites in the research area. The availability of radiocarbon dates however, forces us to reconsider and question our previous perception of the distribution and occupation of late Holocene sites in the southwestern Cape. Important behavioural information has been located in the analysis of the stone artefact assemblage and new avenues of enquiry are suggested

Studies in South Carolina Archaeology: Essays in Honor of Robert L. Stephenson

This multi-article volume was edited by Albert C. Goodyear, III, and Glen T. Hanson. Contents: Foreword.....ix Preface.....xi List of Contributors.....xiii List of Figures.....xv List of Tables.....xix South Carolina Human Remains as an Archaeological Resource: An Update - Ted A. Rathbun.....1 The Earliest South Carolinians - Albert C. Goodyear, III, James L. Michie, and Tommy Charles.....19 Pattern and Process in the Middle Archaic Period of South Carolina - Dennis B. Blanton and Kenneth E. Sassaman.....53 An Archaeological Overview of the South Carolina Woodland Period: It\u27s the Same Old Riddle - Michael B. Trinkley.....73 Sea Level Change, Estuarine Development and Temporal Variability in Woodland Period Subsistence-Settlement Patterning on the Lower Coastal Plain of South Carolina - Mark J. Brooks, Peter A. Stone, Donald J. Colquhoun, and Janice G. Brown.....91 The Mississippian in South Carolina - David G. Anderson.....101 Cofitachequi: Ethnohistorical and Archaeological Evidence - Chester B. DePratter.....133 From Archaeology to Interpretation at Charles Towne - Stanley South.....157 English-Spanish Conflict in 17th Century Carolina: A Theoretical Perspective - Michael Hartley.....169 Colonoware Ceramics: The Evidence from Vaughan and Curriboo Plantations - Patrick H. Garrow and Thomas R. Wheaton.....175 Lowcountry Plantations, the Catawba Nation, and River Burnished Pottery - Leland G. Ferguson.....185 An Examination of Historic Ceramic Seriation: A Case Study from the Savannah River Region of South Carolina - Richard D. Brooks and Glen T. Hanson.....193 Approaches to Archaeological Investigation of Charleston, South Carolina - Martha A. Zierden and Jeanne A. Calhoun.....207 Settlement Function and Archaeological Patterning in a Historic Urban Context: The Woodrow Wilson House in Columbia, South Carolina - Kenneth E. Lewis .....225 The Law and the Amateur in Resource Management - Alan Albright.....253 Index.....261https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/archanth_anthro_studies/1009/thumbnail.jp