scholarly journals Rethinking the evidence for early horse domestication at Botai

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
William Timothy Treal Taylor ◽  
Christina Isabelle Barrón-Ortiz
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Dental Development ◽  
Northern Eurasia ◽  
Natural Disturbances ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Human History ◽  
Bit Wear ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
Transformative Impact ◽  
Horse Domestication

AbstractDespite its transformative impact on human history, the early domestication of the horse (Equus caballus) remains exceedingly difficult to trace in the archaeological record. In recent years, a scientific consensus emerged linking the Botai culture of northern Kazakhstan with the first domestication of horses, based on compelling but largely indirect archaeological evidence. A cornerstone of the archaeological case for domestication at Botai is damage to the dentition commonly linked with the use of bridle mouthpieces, or “bit wear.” Recent archaeogenetic analyses reveal, however, that horse remains from Botai are not modern domesticates but instead the Przewalski’s horse, E. przewalskii—warranting reevaluation of evidence for domestication. Here, we compare osteological traits hypothesized to have been caused by horse transport at Botai with wild Pleistocene equids in North America. Our results suggest that damage observed in Botai horse teeth is likely generated by natural disturbances in dental development and wear, rather than through contact with bridle equipment. In light of a careful reconsideration of the mid-Holocene archaeological record of northern Eurasia, we suggest that archaeological materials from Botai are most effectively explained through the regularized mass harvesting of wild Przewalski’s’ horses—meaning that the origins of horse domestication may lie elsewhere.

scholarly journals Predicting wildfire impacts on the prehistoric archaeological record of the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico, USA

Fire Ecology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan M. Friggens ◽  
Rachel A. Loehman ◽  
Connie I. Constan ◽  
Rebekah R. Kneifel
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Fire Effects ◽  
Burn Severity ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Jemez Mountains ◽  
Archaeological Materials

Abstract Background Wildfires of uncharacteristic severity, a consequence of climate changes and accumulated fuels, can cause amplified or novel impacts to archaeological resources. The archaeological record includes physical features associated with human activity; these exist within ecological landscapes and provide a unique long-term perspective on human–environment interactions. The potential for fire-caused damage to archaeological materials is of major concern because these resources are irreplaceable and non-renewable, have social or religious significance for living peoples, and are protected by an extensive body of legislation. Although previous studies have modeled ecological burn severity as a function of environmental setting and climate, the fidelity of these variables as predictors of archaeological fire effects has not been evaluated. This study, focused on prehistoric archaeological sites in a fire-prone and archaeologically rich landscape in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico, USA, identified the environmental and climate variables that best predict observed fire severity and fire effects to archaeological features and artifacts. Results Machine learning models (Random Forest) indicate that topography and variables related to pre-fire weather and fuel condition are important predictors of fire effects and severity at archaeological sites. Fire effects were more likely to be present when fire-season weather was warmer and drier than average and within sites located in sloped, treed settings. Topographic predictors were highly important for distinguishing unburned, moderate, and high site burn severity as classified in post-fire archaeological assessments. High-severity impacts were more likely at archaeological sites with southern orientation or on warmer, steeper, slopes with less accumulated surface moisture, likely associated with lower fuel moistures and high potential for spreading fire. Conclusions Models for predicting where and when fires may negatively affect the archaeological record can be used to prioritize fuel treatments, inform fire management plans, and guide post-fire rehabilitation efforts, thus aiding in cultural resource preservation.

scholarly journals Rain, Riches, and Empire: The Relationship between Nations Ruling Distant Lands, Nations of Great Wealth, and Regions of Regular Moderate Atmospheric Precipitation

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 455-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Bruce Railsback
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Small Proportion ◽  
Average Rate ◽  
Atmospheric Precipitation ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Human History ◽  
Per Capita Gdp ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Human Construction ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Two of the great questions of human history and economics are why some nations held far-flung empires and why some presently enjoy great wealth. One factor that should be included in the inevitably multifactorial answer to these questions is regular moderate precipitation (precipitation with an average rate between 30 and 120 mm for each month). Only a small proportion of Earth’s surface has regular moderate precipitation, and most of that area is in Europe and eastern North America. Strikingly, of the 13 nations that held geographically discontinuous multicontinental transoceanic empires, 12 overlap with regions of regular moderate precipitation. Similarly, of the 20 nations with the greatest per capita GDP in 2015, 16 coincide with regions of regular moderate precipitation. These relationships are presumably rooted in the greater success, or lesser inhibition, of human construction of infrastructure, husbandry of livestock, and cultivation of crops, some combination of which likely allowed industrialization, projection of geopolitical power, and accumulation of wealth. One instructive example is that of China, which has a climate superficially like that of Europe and eastern North America but no regions of regular moderate rainfall, and which neither developed an overseas empire nor is among the world’s nations with greatest per capita GDP. Furthermore, concentration of nations holding empires and wealth in the Northern Hemisphere and their absence from the south can be linked to the coincidence that the Southern Hemisphere’s latitudinal zone of regular moderate rainfall is over the Southern Ocean, where there is little land on which human societies could have enjoyed the benefits of that supportive climate.

Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-194
Author(s):  
Heather Dunn ◽  
Paul Bourcier
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
North American ◽  
American History ◽  
Classification System ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Management Development ◽  
Controlled Vocabulary ◽  
Human History ◽  
The Creation

We present an overview of Nomenclature’s history, characteristics, structure, use, management, development process, limitations, and future. Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging is a bilingual (English/French) structured and controlled list of object terms organized in a classification system to provide a basis for indexing and cataloging collections of human-made objects. It includes illustrations and bibliographic references as well as a user guide. It is used in the creation and management of object records in human history collections within museums and other organizations, and it focuses on objects relevant to North American history and culture. First published in 1978, Nomenclature is the most extensively used museum classification and controlled vocabulary for historical and ethnological collections in North America and represents thereby a de facto standard in the field. An online reference version of Nomenclature was made available in 2018, and it will be available under open license in 2020.

On a Pleistocene human occupation at Pedra Furada, Brazil

Antiquity ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 68 (261) ◽  
pp. 695-714 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Meltzer ◽  
James M. Adovasio ◽  
Tom D. Dillehay
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Special Interest ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
South American ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Peopling Of The Americas ◽  
Monte Verde ◽  
A Site

The last decades of fieldwork have not decisively upset the long-held view that the settlement of the Americas occurred in the very latest Pleistocene, as marked in North America by the Clovis archaeological horizon at about 11,200 years ago, and by a variety of contemporaneous South American industries. Yet there are several sites that may prove to be older, among them Pedra Furada, in the thorn forest of northeastern Brazil, a large and remarkable rock-shelter, whose Pleistocene deposits have been interpreted as containing clear evidence of human occupation.This paper offers a considered view of Pedra Furada from three archaeologists with a wide range of experiences in sites of all ages in the Americas and elsewhere, but who also share a special interest and expertise in the issues Pedra Furada has raised: Meltzer from long study of the peopling of the Americas and the frame of thinking within which we address that issue (Meltzer 1993a; 1993b); Adovasio from his intensive excavations and analysis of the Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania, the prime North American pre-Clovis candidate (Adovasio et al. 1990; Donahue & Adovasio 1990); and Dillehay from his work at the Monte Verde site in Chile, a site in which extraordinary preservation has produced a rich archaeological record with radiocarbon ages in excess of 12,500 years b.p. (Dillehay 1989a; in press). At the invitation of the Pedra Furada team, the three travelled to Brazil last December to participate in an international conference on the peopling of the Americas, and see first-hand the evidence from Pedra Furada.

scholarly journals A Shelterwood—Burn Technique for Regenerating Productive Upland Oak Sites in the Piedmont Region

1999 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 158-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick H. Brose ◽  
David H. Van Lear ◽  
Patrick D. Keyser
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Private Landowners ◽  
Natural Disturbances ◽  
Oak Regeneration ◽  
Surface Fires ◽  
Viable Approach ◽  
Piedmont Region ◽  
Silvicultural Guidelines

Abstract Regenerating oak stands on productive upland sites is widely recognized by foresters as a major problem in hardwood management. Recent research indicates that oak regeneration is more resistant to surface fires than its primary competitors on these sites if burning occurs 3 to 5 yr after a partial overstory harvest. This combination of cutting followed by fire (shelterwood-burn technique) mimics natural disturbances that have occurred in eastern North America for millennia and appears to be a viable approach to regenerating oaks on productive upland sites. This paper presents silvicultural guidelines for applying the shelterwood-burn technique on productive upland sites and discusses its benefits for private landowners and resource professionals. South. J. Appl. For. 16(3):158-163.

An Archaeological Correlate of War

1993 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Peregrine
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Community Organization ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Critical Variable ◽  
Mississippian Period ◽  
Ethnographic Data

War is a critical variable in a large number of theoretical models used in archaeology, yet there has been little research to date on archaeological correlates of war. An archaeological correlate of war based on patterns of community organization is developed and tested using ethnographic data. This correlate is applied to the archaeological record of Mississippian societies in eastern North America, and the presence of warfare during the Mississippian period is confirmed. In addition, it is suggested that the pattern of warfare made evident through Mississippian community organization appears to be one focused solely on riverine centers and not affecting more rural Mississippian communities.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Ryan M. Parish ◽  
Charles H. McNutt
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Monumental Architecture ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Economic Complexity ◽  
Place Memory ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Mississippian Culture

Cahokia’s role in “Mississippianization”—or the rapid advent of monumental architecture; maize-based subsistence practices; a rich iconography; and social, political, and economic complexity—and its spread or adoption throughout the Midwest and Southeast is intriguing. The question of whether what we see in the archaeological record can be described as an “event” or a “process” drives research into examining cultural change and forces us to critically evaluate what exactly is Mississippian. Recent studies are first recognizing that what we call Mississippian culture is incredibly complex, from individual communities to broad regions whose localized development cannot be overshadowed. Second, researchers acknowledge that change is marked by historic figures, events, places, objects, landscapes, memories, traditions, beliefs, and people. The tangled web of change observed in the archaeological record is further obscured by the temporal and spatial scales of the data. However, creative models and collaborative research are elucidating the variability of Mississippianization from inception, spread, and adoption. The Cahokia site, its rise and fall as an early regional influencer of people both locally and abroad, is an important framework within which to study the development of place, memory, events, cultural traditions, and the last millennia of precontact North America.

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