Ni carne ni pescado (consumo de recursos vegetales en la Prehistoria) : análisis de la variabilidad de los conjuntos fitolitológicos en contextos cazadores-recolectores /

Descripció del recurs: el 18-07-2011La Arqueología de cazadores-recolectores se caracteriza aún hoy día por la preeminencia de la denominada "hipótesis del hombre cazador". Ésta ha configurado un modelo de investigación caracterizado por una jerarquización a priori (no necesariamente verificada) de la potencialidad informativa de los diferentes materiales bajo estudio. En esta jerarquización, en la que la industria lítica presenta un rol prioritario, el análisis arqueobotánico se configura como algo accesorio. Paralelamente, el consumo de recursos vegetales resulta secundario en la interpretación histórica de los períodos Paleolítico y Mesolítico. Además, los procesos de trabajo sobre vegetales han sido asociados tradicionalmente y de forma acrítica al trabajo femenino, por lo que se cree que este paradigma de investigación puede ser explicado claramente en términos del androcentrismo imperante en las ciencias sociales y humanas. Más allá de los prejuicios de tipo ideológico, se han esgrimido reiteradamente los problemas de preservación como la causa por la que la inversión de investigación arqueobotánica ha sido siempre relativamente menor en cazadores-recolectores. En este trabajo, planteado teóricamente desde una perspectiva feminista, se presenta el análisis de fitolitos como una vía que permite solventar este problema. La aplicación de este tipo de análisis, se encuentra en pleno desarrollo en nuestra disciplina. En este trabajo se analiza la variabilidad de los conjuntos fitolitológicos mediante la identificación de la existencia de tendencias asociadas a determinados tipos de muestras/contextos (marcadores antrópicos), mediante el desarrollo metodológico de dos áreas de análisis; • la estrategia y representatividad del conteo (análisis microscópico) • la estrategia de muestreo (etapa necesaria y específicamente dirigida por la encuesta arqueológica) Ambas cuestiones son exploradas mediante el análisis de muestras procedentes de varios yacimientos; • yacimientos paleolíticos (El Mirón, Cantabria; Dzeravá Skala, Eslovaquia; Dolni Vestonice - the Brickyard y Bohunice, Chequia) • yacimiento mesolítico (La Bauma del Serrat del Pont, Catalunya) • yacimientos de cazadores-recolectores subactuales (Túnel VII, Argentina)Archaeological research has been deeply conditioned by the hypothesis developed, during the 60's known as "Man the Hunter". This hypothesis has configured a research model in ancient prehistory archaeology that expects the different materials under analysis to produce a differential information production in order to comprehend prehistorical life. Within this hierarchy about the informative capability of the archaeological records, lithics represent a structural axis of ancient hunter-gatherers research, while archaeobotanical studies play a secondary role. Consequently, the study of plant resources consumption has become secondary in the historical interpretation of both Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods. Furthermore, plant resources working processes have been traditionally and acritically associated to women's work. Therefore, it is considered that this paradigm of research can be explained as another evidence of the prevailing androcentrism approach in Social and Human Sciences. On the contrary, preservation arguments have been repeatedly used for justifying a minor research effort in archaeobotanical studies. Theoretically designed from a feminist approach, this research argues that phytolith analysis, which is an application currently under development within our discipline, can be used as a way for solving this problem. Considering that it is still necessary to acquire a basic exploratory knowedge about phytolith assemblages behaviour in archaeological contexts, this research has been focused in the analysis of the variability of phytolith assemblages through the identification of tendences associated to particular kind of samples or contexts (in order to identify anthropic markers). This is carried out by means of the methodological development of two research topics: • the strategy and representativity of the counting procedure during the analysis under the microscope • the sampling strategy during the fieldwork (specifically directed towards archaeology) Both questions are explored through the analyses of samples from different sites: • palaeolithic sites (El Mirón, Cantabria; Dzeravá Skala, Slovak Republic; Dolni Vestonice - the Brickyard and Bohunice, Czech Republic) • mesolithic site (La Bauma del Serrat del Pont, Catalunya) • modern hunter-gatherer site (Túnel VII, Argentina

Fishing during the early human occupations of the Atacama Desert coast : what if we standardize the data?

Altres ajuts: Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICThis work was funded by the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID)/Beca Doctorado en el Extranjero/DOCTORADO BECAS CHILE/2018-72190047. S.R. received financial support from the Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (ANID, Chile), Millennium Nucleus UPWELL [Millennium Science Initiative Program UPWELL- NCN19_153].The Atacama Desert coast (18-30° S) presents one of the earliest chronologies in the South America region, whose first occupations date from ~ 13,000 cal BP. Since that time, coastal and marine resources have been a common component at sites along the littoral zone. Fish species have been particularly important, as have the fishing technologies developed and used by the coastal communities. However, even though several archaeological sites have been studied, there is no systematic macro-regional analysis of early fisheries along the Atacama Desert coast. Furthermore, differences in theoretical and methodological approaches, as well as research objectives, hinder comparisons between ichthyoarchaeological assemblages. Here, we present a comparative analysis of the Atacama Desert fish data obtained from publications and gray literature from ten archaeological sites dating from the Terminal Pleistocene to the Early Holocene. Through the standardization of contextual and ichthyoarchaeological information, we compared data using NISP, MNI, and weight to calculate fish density, richness, and ubiquity, in order to identify similarities and differences between assemblages. This exploratory approach aims to contribute to studies of fish consumption in the area, as well as proposing new methodological questions and solutions regarding data heterogeneity in archaeozoology

Metodología de excavación y análisis de concheros : experiencias acumuladas después de 20 años de estudios etnoarqueológicos en la Costa Norte del Canal Beagle (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina)

Los estudios etnoarqueológicos llevados a cabo en yacimientos Yámana de la costa norte del Canal Beagle (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina), han permitido desarrollar una metodología de excavación y análisis de concheros potencialmente aplicable en yacimientos similares de la Península Ibérica. El estudio de los restos malacológicos integrando diferentes técnicas de análisis, permite obtener un reflejo detallado sobre las dinámicas de formación de estos yacimientos y las estrategias organizativas de los grupos de cazadores recolectores pescadores que los generaron.The ethonoarchaeological studies of the Yamana sites from the north coast of the Beagle Channel (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina), has allowed us to develop a particular excavation methodology and a shellmidden analysis method potentially applicable to similar sites from the Iberian Peninsula. The study of mollusc remains, integrating different analytic techniques, permits us to obtain detailed information about the site formation and the organization strategies of the hunter-gatherers-fishers that generated shellmiddens in the area

Robustness of cooperation to movement patterns in a hunter-fisher-gatherer model

Most societies often face social dilemmas in which there can be contradictions between individual interests versus those of the community as a whole. Hunter-fisher-gatherer societies can be considered as paradigmatic examples of these phenomena. The fact that many of these societies tend to live permanently disaggregated produces a specific need for maintaining the social tissue as well as for reproducing social and economic knowledge and values that depend on individual behaviour. Therefore, aggregation events are of special relevance as they represent the optimal occasion to deal with specific social aspects that in these cases need extraordinary circumstances to be held. Our case of study is focused on cooperative processes developed by historical hunterfisher- gatherer-societies from the Beagle channel (Tierra del Fuego), that developed their existence mainly through an economy focused on the exploitation of coastal and maritime resources. Yamana households moved across the territory in their canoes in search for needed resources. In spite of this, Yamana society has different ways to strength social cohesion: visiting each other or because of the celebration of different types of ceremonies. Initiation ceremonies were of special relevance, and the need for maintaining the group meanwhile these rituals were being developed became essential. The finding of a beached whale, and the subsequent aggregation event that took place through a public call, created the ideal context for the development of economic and social processes in a cooperative way

Cueva de Benzú (Ceuta). Nuevas aportaciones al estudio de las sociedades tribales en el área norteafricana del Estrecho de Gibraltar.

El estudio de las ocupaciones neolíticas en el área del Estrecho de Gibraltar está alcanzando un renovado interés. Nosotros creemos que había contactos entre las sociedades tribales de ambas orillas. La Cueva de Benzú (Ceuta) está siendo excavada desde el año 2002 por un equipo interdisciplinar de investigadores de la Universidad de Cádiz, y otras universidades y centros. Aportamos en este trabajo novedades al estudio funcional de la tecnología lítica y al análisis de los fi tolitos. Los niveles neolíticos de la Cueva de Benzú se relacionan con los interesantes registros de la zona de Tánger y Tetuán y en el ámbito peninsular con los del área atlántica-mediterránea de las Bahías de Cádiz y Málaga, en contextos del VIº milenio a.n.e.. Recent studies about the Neolithic occupations in the area of the Strait of Gibraltar are having a renewed interest. We believe there were contacts between tribal societies of both borders. The Cave of Benzú (Ceuta) is being excavated from year 2002 by an interdisciplinary group of investigators belonging to the University of Cadiz, and others universities and centers. We contributed in this work new features in the use wear analysis of the líthic technology and in the analysis of the phytoliths. The Neolithic levels of the Cave of Benzú are relationed to the interesting registers from the zone of Tánger and Tetuán and in the South of Iberian Peninsula with other documented in the Atlantic-Mediterranean area of the Bays of Cadiz and Malaga, in contexts of the VIº millennium B.C

Resilience of small-scale societies’ livelihoods: a framework for studying the transition from food gathering to food production

The origins of agriculture and the shift from hunting and gathering to committed agriculture is regarded as one of the major transitions in human history. Archeologists and anthropologists have invested significant efforts in explaining the origins of agriculture. A period of gathering intensification and experimentation and pursuing a mixed economic strategy seems the most plausible explanation for the transition to agriculture and provides an approach to study a process in which several nonlinear processes may have played a role. However, the mechanisms underlying the transition to full agriculture are not completely clear. This is partly due to the nature of the archeological record, which registers a practice only once it has become clearly established. Thus, points of transitions have limited visibility and the mechanisms involved in the process are difficult to untangle. The complexity of such transitions also implies that shifts can be distinctively different in particular environments and under varying historical and social conditions. In this paper we discuss some of the elements involved in the transition to food production within the framework of resilience theory. We propose a theoretical conceptual model in which the resilience of livelihood strategies lies at the intersection of three spheres: the environmental, economical, and social domains. Transitions occur when the rate of change, in one or more of these domains, is so elevated or its magnitude so large that the livelihood system is unable to bounce back to its original state. In this situation, the system moves to an alternative stable state, from one livelihood strategy to another.This paper is the result of a two-day workshop funded by ICREA (Catalan Higher Research Institution) and organized at the ICTA (Institute for Environmental Studies) of the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the Department of Humanities of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. The workshop was cofounded by the SimulPast project (former Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, CSD2010-00034). CL, DZ, MM, and JJGG are part of CaSEs (Complexity and Socio-Ecological Dynamics Research Group), a Grup de Recerca Emergent of the Generalitat de Catalunya (SGR-e 1417). CL is currently a UPFellow; JJGG was supported by a JAE PreDOC PhD scholarship (Spanish National Research Council and European Social Fund) and the SimulPast project.Peer Reviewe

Heinrich Event 2 (ca. 24 ka BP) as a chrono-climatic anchor for the appearance of Epipaleolithic backed bladelets microlith industries in the Southern Levant

The Early Epipaleolithic (EEP) of the Southern Levant, roughly dated to 25-18 ka BP, is characterized by microlithic industries with highly variable synchronic and geographic techno-typological characteristics, the chronology of which remains poorly understood. Here, we present the results from excavations at Idan VII, a well-preserved site amongst a cluster of newly discovered EEP occurrences in the hyper-arid Arava Valley, Israel. The finds are embedded within the Late Pleistocene Lisan Formation lacustrine sediments, an extensively studied paleo-hydroclimatic archive in the Rift Valley. This unique situation enables contextualization of the archaeological finds within the detailed paleo-climatic chronology. The data presented include the stratigraphy (geomorphology and micro-geoarchaeology), relative (related to paleo-lake curve) and absolute (radiocarbon and U–Th) chronology, and archaeological (lithics, faunal and botanical) remains. The results demonstrate that the Idan EEP occurrences are situated within a localized relatively short-lived paleo-wetland area adjacent to Lake Lisan, during or immediately after the extremely cool and locally dry Heinrich Event 2 (H2), ca. 24 ka BP. The results are critically examined with respect to available radiocarbon dates from EEP archaeological sites in the Southern Levant. These, together with the geomorphological evidence, indicate that the Idan VII assemblage, while superficially resembling the so-called ‘Late Kebaran’ industry, actually significantly predates its most pertinent techno-typological analogs, highlighting the necessity of re-evaluating the “Kebaran complex”. Rather, it is coeval with the local, but unrelated ‘Masraqan’ and ‘Nebekian’ industries at the very onset of the EEP, demonstrating the high degree of Last Glacial Maximum hunter-gatherer cultural diversity then present in the Levant. In contextualizing the results within the Northern Hemisphere chrono-climatic framework, we conclude that within the Southern Levant, the H2 provides a solid chrono-climatic anchor for the appearance of fully-fledged backed bladelets microlithic industries, which probably reflects a technological change in composite projectile hunting gear that occurred during the EEP

Tracking kelp-type seaweed fuel in the archaeological record through Raman spectroscopy of charred particles: examples from the Atacama Desert coast

The use of seaweed as fuel has been mentioned in ethnographic and historical sources of different coastal regions. Nevertheless, the archaeological record of seaweed burning is still limited to contexts where preservation is exceptional and macroscopic discrimination of charred remains is possible. Here, we evaluate the effectiveness of Raman spectroscopy in discriminating seaweed vs. plant/wood char. Our dataset (N = 92) consists of modern and archaeological seaweed and plant/wood charred remains, including specimens of unknown origin from the Atacama Desert coast, Northern Chile. The charred samples were processed to obtain 13 parameters which were then fed into five supervised machine learning models. The models, built on samples of known origin (seaweed and plant/wood), performed remarkably well in terms of accuracy, kappa, sensitivity, and specificity. The models were used for final predictions on 10 non-identified archaeological charcoals. Our results suggest that Raman spectroscopy combined with machine learning techniques is a robust methodology for discriminating seaweed and plant/wood charred remains in the archaeological record. The predictions on unknown samples confirm that seaweed was used as fuel in a specific funerary ritual in the southern Atacama Desert coast around 5000 cal BP. Furthermore, charred specimens of Lessonia spp. recovered from combustion features in other northern Chile coastal settlements, suggest that seaweed pyrotechnology developed by Atacama Desert coast people is likely a long-term process. As for coastal archaeology, this work encourages new research on seaweed as an alternative/main fuel in coastal deserts and evaluates possible bias for chronologies from coastal archaeological settlements around the globe.The present study was supported by the Universidad de Tarapacá (Chile) through the research grants UTA MAYOR 3754 (2021–2022) – “Uso de algas como combustible en sitios arqueológicos de la costa desértica de Atacama: una aproximación arqueomética” and UTA MAYOR 367122 (2022–2024) – “Estudio multiproxy para el reconocimiento de algas en rasgos de combustión arqueológicos de la costa del Desierto de Atacama” (Universidad de Tarapacá, Chile). D.Z. received financial support from the Arqueología, desiertos costeros y visibilización de recursos naturales Project (PIE 190405, CSIC) and ARVCODA – Arqueología de los Recursos Vegetales en la Costa del Desierto de Atacama project (Fundación PALARQ, CSIC). The studied samples were obtained during archaeological excavations or samplings performed in the following projects: FONDECYT 1151203; FONDECYT POSTDOC 3150664; and Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 (QB2) project – Compañía Minera Teck Quebrada Blanca S.A

Análisis etnoarqueológico del valor social del producto en sociedades cazadoras-recolectoras

This work was formulated as a consequence of considering the necessity of a value theory (that is, an economical theory), in archaeology. From our materialist perspective, that would allow us to set the basis for an objective analysis of past societies, understanding that only through the knowledge of their material life conditions and their social organization we would be able to know their historical becoming. We were reaching a common index that would make possible to compare different occupations and sites in Tierra del Fuego. This index would be used to make inferences about the amount of work invested in every occupation, amount of work that could be understood as the duration of the occupation or as the amount of people in that camp-site. On the other hand, on the basis of the Main Contradiciton formulation, we could establi sh a mechanism to quantify different participation in the production cycle and the existing differences in the access to the consumption of what has been produced. This will drive us to the formulation of a method to identify social explotation.Este trabajo surgió como consecuencia de varias preocupaciones. En primer lugar, considerábamos, desde hacía ya tiempo, la necesidad de una teoría del valor (económica, por tanto), en Arqueología; preocupación compartida con otros investigadores/as. Desde nuestra perspectiva materialista, ello nos había de permitir sentar las bases para un análisis objetivo de las sociedades prehistóricas, entendiendo que tan sólo a través delconocimiento de Las condiciones materiales de vida, y de la estructuración u organización de las relaciones sociales, podremos llegar a conocer el devenir histórico de las mismas. Buscábamos un índice, un común denominador, que nos permitiera poder comparar diferentes ocupaciones y yacimientos actualmente (y desde hace ya más de una década) en estudio en Tierra del Fuego (Argentina). Este índice debería permitirnos, por un lado realizar inferencias sobre la cantidad de trabajo invertida en cada ocupación de los diferentes asentamientos Yámana. Lo cual podría ser interpretado en clave de ti empo de ocupación o de cantidad de personas ocupando el sitio. Y por otro lado, y sobre la base de la formulación de la Contradicción Principal, podría establecer un mecanismo que nos permitiera cuantificar la participación diferencial en la producción y las disimetrías en el acceso al consumo de lo producido, estableciendo un «cálculo» para la identificación de la explotación. Este último interés tiene mucho que ver con el aceptado concepto de «sociedades igualitarias » aplicado a las sociedades cazadoras recolectoras, concepto cuestionable en tanto que surge de una aproximación androcéntrica. Este trabajo ha sido posible, en el caso de la sociedad Yámana, gracias a la exhaustiva y variada información etnográfica confrontada a una completa información arqueológica. El objetivo final es conseguir generar propuesta metodológica contrastada que nos permita este tipo de acercamientos a sociedades cazadoras-recolectoras prehistóricas