scholarly journals Resolution and the detection of cultural dispersals: development and application of spatiotemporal methods in Lowland South America

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Riris ◽  
Fabio Silva
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Demographic Models ◽  
Spatial Gradients ◽  
Macro Scale ◽  
Reflexive Practice ◽  
Radiocarbon Data ◽  
Bivariate Regression ◽  
Cultural Expansion

AbstractInferring episodes of expansion, admixture, diffusion, and/or migration in prehistory is undergoing a resurgence in macro-scale archaeological interpretation. In parallel to this renewed popularity, access to computational tools among archaeologists has seen the use of aggregated radiocarbon datasets for the study of dispersals also increasing. This paper advocates for developing reflexive practice in the application of radiocarbon dates to prehistoric dispersals, by reflecting on the qualities of the underlying data, particularly chronometric uncertainty, and framing dispersals explicitly in terms of hypothesis testing. This paper draws on cultural expansions within South America and employs two emblematic examples, the Arauquinoid and Tupiguarani traditions, to develop an analytical solution that not only incorporates chronometric uncertainty in bivariate regression but, importantly, tests whether the datasets provide statistically significant evidence for a dispersal process. The analysis, which the paper provides the means to replicate, identifies fundamental issues with resolution and data quality that impede identification of pre-Columbian cultural dispersals through simple spatial gradients of radiocarbon data. The results suggest that reflexivity must be fed back into theoretical frameworks of prehistoric mobility for the study of dispersals, in turn informing the construction of more critical statistical null models, and alternative models of cultural expansion should be formally considered alongside demographic models.

Absence of Last Glacial Maximum Records in Lowland Tropical Forests

1998 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Pierre Ledru ◽  
Jacques Bertaux ◽  
Abdelfettah Sifeddine ◽  
Kenitiro Suguio
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Tropical Forests ◽  
Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Sedimentation Rate ◽  
Glacial Maximum ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Pollen Records ◽  
The Last Glacial

Environmental conditions of the lowland tropical forests during the last glacial maximum (LGM) between ca 20,000 and 18,000 14C yr B.P., are reevaluated in terms of dating control and lithology analyzed in seven pollen records from South America. The reevaluation shows that probably in none of the published records are LGM sediments present or abundant. This conclusion is based on the occurrence of abrupt lithologic changes coupled with changes in sedimentation rate interpolated from radiocarbon dates. These findings suggest that the LGM was represented probably by a hiatus of several thousand years, indicative of drier climates than before or after.

scholarly journals Radiocarbon Chronology of Late Neolithic Settlements in the Tisza-Maros Region, Hungary

Radiocarbon ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 859-866 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ede Hertelendi ◽  
Ferenc Horváth
Keyword(s):  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Unique Type ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Radiocarbon Data ◽  
Stratigraphic Position ◽  
European Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Chronology ◽  
Developmental Phases

We investigated chronological questions of five Late Neolithic settlements in the Hungarian Tisza-Maros region. Fifty new radiocarbon dates provide an internal chronology for the developmental phases of the tell settlements, and place them into the wider framework of the southeastern European Neolithic. An example is presented of how a unique type of stratigraphic excavation helps the interpretation of radiocarbon data, which are in contradiction with the stratigraphic position of the samples.

Flora and Vegetation

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth R. Young ◽  
Paul E. Berry
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
Ecological Zones ◽  
Spatial Gradients ◽  
Central Brazil ◽  
Alexander Von Humboldt ◽  
Middle Latitudes ◽  
Air Temperatures ◽  
Land Surfaces

South America’s shape, size, and geographic position, now and in the past, have acted to influence the development of diverse coverings of land surfaces with plants of different sizes, adaptations, and origins. Underlying geologic structures have been exposed to weathering regimes, thereby resulting in a multiplicity of landforms, soil types, and ecological zones. The most notable large-scale features are the Andes, which curl along the western margin of the continent, and the broad swath of the Amazon lowlands in the equatorial zone. However, there are also extensive, more ancient mountain systems in the Brazilian Shield of east-central Brazil and the Guiana Shield in northern South America. The interplay of environmental factors has given rise to a panoply of vegetation types, from coastal mangroves to interior swamplands, savannas, and other grasslands, deserts, shrublands, and a wide array of dry to moist and lowland to highland forest types. The narrower southern half of South America is also complex vegetationally because of the compression of more vegetation types into a smaller area and the diverse climatic regimes associated with subtropical and temperate middle latitudes. Alexander von Humboldt began to outline the major features of the physical geography of South America in his extensive writings that followed his travels in the early nineteenth century (von Humboldt, 1815–1832). For example, he first documented the profound influences of contemporary and historical geologic processes such as earthquakes and volcanoes, how vegetation in mountainous areas changes as elevation influences the distributions of plant species, and the effect of sea surface temperatures on atmospheric circulation and uplift and their impacts on precipitation and air temperatures (Botting, 1973; Faak and Biermann, 1986). His initial insights, in combination with modern observations (Hueck and Seibert, 1972; Cabrera and Willink, 1973; Davis et al., 1997; Lentz, 2000), still serve to frame our synthesis of the major vegetation formations of South America. In this chapter, we relate vegetation formations to spatial gradients of soil moisture and elevation in the context of broad climatic and topographic patterns.

scholarly journals Archaeological Central American maize genomes suggest ancient gene flow from South America

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (52) ◽  
pp. 33124-33129
Author(s):  
Logan Kistler ◽  
Heather B. Thakar ◽  
Amber M. VanDerwarker ◽  
Alejandra Domic ◽  
Anders Bergström ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
South America ◽  
Central America ◽  
Central American ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Rock Shelter ◽  
Maize Varieties ◽  
American Maize ◽  
Modern Maize

Maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) domestication began in southwestern Mexico ∼9,000 calendar years before present (cal. BP) and humans dispersed this important grain to South America by at least 7,000 cal. BP as a partial domesticate. South America served as a secondary improvement center where the domestication syndrome became fixed and new lineages emerged in parallel with similar processes in Mesoamerica. Later, Indigenous cultivators carried a second major wave of maize southward from Mesoamerica, but it has been unclear until now whether the deeply divergent maize lineages underwent any subsequent gene flow between these regions. Here we report ancient maize genomes (2,300–1,900 cal. BP) from El Gigante rock shelter, Honduras, that are closely related to ancient and modern maize from South America. Our findings suggest that the second wave of maize brought into South America hybridized with long-established landraces from the first wave, and that some of the resulting newly admixed lineages were then reintroduced to Central America. Direct radiocarbon dates and cob morphological data from the rock shelter suggest that more productive maize varieties developed between 4,300 and 2,500 cal. BP. We hypothesize that the influx of maize from South America into Central America may have been an important source of genetic diversity as maize was becoming a staple grain in Central and Mesoamerica.

scholarly journals Relative sea-level changes in crete: reassessment of radiocarbon dates from Sphakia and west Crete

2002 ◽  
Vol 97 ◽  
pp. 171-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Price ◽  
Tom Higham ◽  
Lucia Nixon ◽  
Jennifer Moody
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Isotopic Fractionation ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Catastrophic Earthquake ◽  
Radiocarbon Data ◽  
Calendar Dates

This article is concerned with the recognition and dating of Holocene relative sea-level changes along the coast of west Crete (an island located in the active Hellenic subduction arc of the southern Aegean) and in particular in Sphakia. Radiocarbon data for changes in sea levels collected and analysed previously must (a) be recorrected to take into account isotopic fractionation, and (b) recalibrated by using the new marine reservoir value. These new radiocarbon dates are analysed using Bayesian statistics. The resulting calendar dates for changes in sea level are younger than previously assumed. In particular the Great Uplift in western Crete in late antiquity must be dated to the fifth or sixth century AD, not to AD 365. Moreover, recent work on tectonics suggests that the Great Uplift need not have been accompanied by a catastrophic earthquake. Finally, we consider the consequences of the Great Uplift for some coastal sites in Sphakia.

scholarly journals The origins of agriculture in Iberia: a computational model

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvador Pardo Gordó ◽  
Joan Bernabeu Aubán ◽  
Oreto García Puchol ◽  
Michael Barton ◽  
Sean M. Bergin
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Computational Model ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Origins Of Agriculture ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Radiocarbon Data ◽  
Alternative Hypotheses ◽  
Modelling Environment ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Late Mesolithic

Here we discuss the importance of using the rich and growing database of high-precision, audited radiocarbon dates for high-resolution bottom-up modelling to focus on problems concerning the spread of the Neolithic in the Iberia. We also compare the spread of the Late Mesolithic (so-called Geometric) and the Early Neolithic using our modelling environment. Our results suggest that the source of radiocarbon data used to evaluate alternative hypotheses plays an important role in the results and open up new lines of research for the future.

scholarly journals Did the Megafauna Range to 4300 BP in South America?

Radiocarbon ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto L Cione ◽  
Aníbal J Figini ◽  
Eduardo P Tonni
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Buenos Aires ◽  
Bone Sample ◽  
Collagen Content ◽  
Buenos Aires Province ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Fossil Remains ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Bone Preservation ◽  
The City

A date of 4300 ± 90 BP for extinct megafauna in Argentina is discussed. The fossil remains come from the Guerrero Member (area) of the Luján Formation near the city of Luján, Buenos Aires Province. The age of the top of the Guerrero Member is constrained by more than 60 radiocarbon dates obtained from the overlying Río Salado Member of Luján Formation, Las Escobas Formation, and Puesto Callejón Viejo Soil, most of them older than 4300 BP. In view of its low collagen content, the 14C measurement of bone sample from Luján should not be accepted uncritically. Because of the poor bone preservation and the possible introduction of “young” contaminants that were not completely eliminated, the 14C date of 4300 ± 90 BP is not reliable. Both biostratigraphic and 14C dating evidence indicates that the date of 4300 BP for the last representative of extinct megafauna in South America is unsupported.

Radiocarbon Dating in the Arctic

1959 ◽  
Vol 24 (4Part1) ◽  
pp. 365-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Froelich Rainey ◽  
Elizabeth Ralph
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
South America ◽  
Internal Consistency ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
University Of Pennsylvania ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
America South ◽  
University Museum ◽  
The University

The radiocarbon laboratory, operated by the Department of Physics and the University Museum at the University of Pennsylvania, is concentrating its analyses in four fields of archaeology: the Middle East, Middle America, South America, and the Arctic. It is the policy of the laboratory to publish radiocarbon dates only in groups from one specific field after checks and rechecks of related materials result in a certain measure of internal consistency (Ralph 1955: 149-51; Coon and Ralph 1955: 921-2).

Geographic Variation in Fluted Projectile Points: A Hemispheric Perspective

1999 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliet E. Morrow ◽  
Toby A. Morrow
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
South America ◽  
Geographic Variation ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
North American ◽  
South American ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Fluted Points

This paper examines geographic variation in fluted point morphology across North and South America. Metric data on 449 North American points, 31 Central American points, and 61 South American points were entered into a database. Ratios calculated from these metric attributes are used to quantify aspects of point shape across the two continents. The results of this analysis indicate gradual, progressive changes in fluted point outline shape from the Great Plains of western North America into adjacent parts of North America as well as into Central and South America. The South American “Fishtail” form of fluted point is seen as the culmination of incremental changes in point shape that began well into North America. A geographically gradual decline in fluting frequency also is consistent with the stylistic evolution of the stemmed “Fishtail” points. Although few in number, the available radiocarbon dates do suggest that “Fishtail” fluted points in southern South America are younger than the earliest dates associated with Clovis points in western North America. All of these data converge on the conclusion that South American “Fishtail” points evolved from North American fluted points.

scholarly journals THREE GENERATIONS UNDER ONE ROOF? BAYESIAN MODELING OF RADIOCARBON DATA FROM NUNALLEQ, YUKON-KUSKOKWIM DELTA, ALASKA

2018 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 505-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M. Ledger ◽  
Véronique Forbes ◽  
Edouard Masson-Maclean ◽  
Charlotta Hillerdal ◽  
W. Derek Hamilton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Bayesian Modeling ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Three Generations ◽  
The North ◽  
North American Arctic ◽  
Radiocarbon Data ◽  
Bayesian Statistical Modeling

This article presents the results of a program of radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modeling from the precontact Yup'ik site of Nunalleq (GDN-248) in subarctic southwestern Alaska. Nunalleq is deeply stratified, presenting a robust relative chronological framework of well-defined individual house floors abundant in ecofacts suitable for radiocarbon dating. Capitalizing on this potential, we present the results of one of the first applications of Bayesian statistical modeling of radiocarbon data from an archaeological site in the North American Arctic. Using these methods, we demonstrate that it is possible to generate robust, high-resolution chronological models from Arctic archaeology. Radiocarbon dates, procured prior to the program of dating and modeling presented here, suggested an approximately three-century duration of occupation at the site. The results of Bayesian modeling nuance this interpretation. While it is possible that there may have been activity for almost three centuries (beginning in the late fourteenth century), occupation of the dwelling complex, which dominates the site, was more likely to have endured for no more than a century. The results presented here suggest that the occupation of Nunalleq likely encompassed three generations beginning cal AD 1570–1630 before being curtailed by conflict around cal AD 1645–1675.

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