Flotation Techniques for the Recovery of Small-Scale Archaeological Remains

1968 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Struever
Keyword(s):  
Small Animal ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Water Separation ◽  
Small Plant ◽  
Animal Remains ◽  
Animal Bone ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
Flotation Technique

AbstractThis paper outlines the procedures and equipment necessary for applying a simple flotation technique to recover animal bone, seeds, and other small cultural remains lost in the normal screening of soils from archaeological sites. Soil is initially processed in the field by a water-separation technique. The resulting concentrate is later treated, in the laboratory, by chemical flotation, to separate faunal from plant remains.This simple, inexpensive technique enables processing of soil in quantity, thereby allowing recovery of small plant and animal remains from midden or feature fills where they occur in very low densities.It is argued that, without use of such a flotation procedure, inferences about prehistoric subsistence patterns from faunal and floral remains are sharply biased in favor of larger animals and in favor of hunting, over natural plant food collecting, since conventional screens are not adequate for recovery of most plant remains or small animal bones.

The Cyrenaican Prehistory Project 2010: the fourth season of investigations of the Haua Fteah cave and its landscape, and further results from the 2007–2009 fieldwork

2010 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 63-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graeme Barker ◽  
Annita Antoniadou ◽  
Simon Armitage ◽  
Ian Brooks ◽  
Ian Candy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Macrobotanical Remains ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
Ground Based Lidar ◽  
Deep Sounding

AbstractThe paper reports on the fourth (2010) season of fieldwork of the Cyrenaican Prehistory Project, and on further results of analyses of artefacts and organic materials collected in the 2009 season. Ground-based LiDar has provided both an accurate 3D scan of the Haua Fteah cave and information on the cave's morphometry or origins. The excavations in the cave focussed on Middle Palaeolithic or Middle Stone Age ‘Pre-Aurignacian’ layers below the base of the Middle Trench beside the McBurney Deep Sounding (Trench D) and on Final Palaeolithic ‘Oranian’ layers beside the upper part of the Middle Trench (Trench M). Although McBurney referred to the upper part of the Deep Sounding as more or less sterile, the 2010 excavations found evidence for small-scale but regular human presence in the form of stone artefacts and debitage, though given the sedimentary context the latter are unlikely to represent in situ knapping. The excavations of Trench M extended from the basal Capsian layers investigated in 2009 through Oranian layers to the transition with the Dabban Upper Palaeolithic. Some 17,000 lithic pieces have been studied from the Capsian and Oranian layers excavated in Trench M, in an area measuring less than 2 m by 1 m by 1.1 m deep, along with numerous animal bones, molluscs, and macrobotanical remains, as well as occasional shell beads. Preliminary studies of the lithics, bones, molluscs, and plant remains are revealing the changing character of late Pleistocene (Oranian) and early Holocene (Capsian) occupation in the Haua Fteah. Alongside the work in the Haua Fteah, the project continued its assessment of the Quaternary and archaeological sequences of the Cyrenaican coastland and completed a transect survey of surface lithic materials and their landform contexts from the pre-desert across the Gebel Akhdar to the coast, with a new focus on the al-Marj basin. Significant differences are emerging in patterns of Middle Palaeolithic and later hominin occupation and palaeodemography.

Taphonomy of owl pellet deposition

1990 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 629-637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karla D. Kusmer
Keyword(s):  
Small Animal ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Skeletal Element ◽  
Animal Remains ◽  
Owl Pellets

Remains derived from owl pellets are a major source of small-animal remains in paleontological and archaeological sites. Pellet remains are examined here to further develop workable strategies for extracting taphonomic information from microvertebrate assemblages. Study of the remains of three wild owl species yielded characteristic patterns of bone fragmentation and skeletal element representation. At the assemblage level, owl-derived assemblages are shown to differ quantitatively from other assemblages. The possible variability to be expected in owl-derived assemblages is examined and the patterns are contrasted with those produced by other depositional agents. The patterns can be useful in the identification of owl-deposited remains in some assemblages; however, overlap with patterns produced by other mechanisms may complicate analysis.

Carbonised Plant Remains from Two Iron Age Sites in Central Hampshire

1980 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 321-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Monk ◽  
P. J. Fasham
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Systematic Sampling ◽  
Data Presentation ◽  
Animal Remains ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Subsistence Patterns

In recent years increasing attention has been focused on the palaeoeconomic interpretation of prehistoric sites, and a number of projects have been carried out both in Britain and abroad on plant and animal remains from archaeological sites with a view to interpreting subsistence patterns and activities of early communities. Though large-scale, systematic sampling and recovery of palaeoethnobotanical data has been carried out on several sites in the last ten years, the practice is still not widespread and has yet to be judged by its results. Fundamental issues relating to sampling, recovery and data presentation still require attention. Although studies of palaeoeconomic material have been done on Iron age sites in southern Britain, for example at Portway (Murphy 1977a) and Abingdon (Parrington 1978), as yet little evaluation of this evidence has taken place. The aim of this paper is to present, assess and compare the evidence from two such studies of different types of Iron Age site.

Faunal Analysis in African Archaeology

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica C. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Faunal Analysis ◽  
Human Diet ◽  
African Archaeology ◽  
Hunting And Gathering ◽  
Animal Remains ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Identification Analysis

Faunal analysis (or zooarchaeology) in African archaeology is the identification, analysis, and interpretation of the remains of animal bones recovered from archaeological sites in Africa. Its methods and theoretical underpinnings derive from archaeology, paleontology, biology, and geochemistry, and they extend across all faunal categories. Much of the work in African faunal analysis concerns large-bodied mammalian taxa, but the approach encompasses analysis of fish, shellfish, birds, reptiles, and indeed all animal remains found in association with archaeological sites. The diversity of research encompassed within faunal analysis is also especially high in Africa, where the earliest reported archaeological site is far older than the earliest archaeological site outside of Africa. The extra time depth affords the African archaeological record a wide arena of research questions that are answerable using faunal data. Major themes in African faunal analysis include the origins of unique components of human diet and hunting ability, reconstruction of the transition from hunting and gathering to food production, and analysis of the historical use of animals in trade, exchange, and social status.

scholarly journals New Radiocarbon Dates from Ancestral Caddo Sites in Cherokee, Fannin, Hopkins, Nacogdoches, and Wood Counties, Texas

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
Native Americans ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
East Texas ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Animal Remains ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
Ams Dating ◽  
Organic Remains

In order to continue to expand the utility of the East Texas Radiocarbon Database to better understand the age of archaeological components at sites, as well as temporal trends in settlement by Native Americans in East Texas, archaeologists need to seek out samples wherever such samples can be obtained. This includes organic remains (i.e., plant and animal remains) from intact archaeological deposits as well as organic remains preserved in well-maintained curated collections. This article presents the results of AMS dating of plant remains or animal bones at five different ancestral Caddo sites in East Texas.

A view from the Greek side

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-50
Author(s):  
Gunnel Ekroth
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Religion ◽  
Bone Material ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Animal Bone ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Integrated Study ◽  
Written Sources

This paper addresses the animal bone material from ancient Qumran, from the comparative perspective of zooarchaeological evidence recovered in ancient Greek cult contexts. The article offers an overview of the paramount importance of animal bones for the understanding of ancient Greek religion and sacrificial practices in particular, followed by a review of the Qumran material, taking as its starting point the zooarchaeological evidence and the archaeological find contexts. The methodological complications of letting the written sources guide the interpretation of the archaeological material are explored, and it is suggested that the Qumran bones are to be interpreted as remains of ritual meals following animal sacrifices, as proposed by Jodi Magness. The presence of calcined bones additionally supports the proposal that there was once an altar in area L130, and it is argued that the absence of preserved altar installations in many ancient sanctuaries cannot be used as an argument against their ever having been present. Finally, the similarities between Israelite and Greek sacrificial practices are touched upon, arguing for the advantages of a continued and integrated study of these two sacrificial systems based on the zooarchaeological evidence.

Cremated animal remains and shattered pottery. Rare ritual deposits from the Middle to Late Bronze Age at Aalst – Siesegemkouter (Belgium)

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arne Verbrugge ◽  
Maaike Groot ◽  
Koen Deforce ◽  
Guy De Mulder ◽  
Wouter Van der Meer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Multidisciplinary Approach ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Low Countries ◽  
Early Date ◽  
Animal Remains ◽  
Animal Bone ◽  
Maintenance Practice ◽  
Organic Remains

Abstract Archaeological research at Aalst – Siesegemkouter revealed several pits within a Middle to Late Bronze Age settlement. Most of them hardly contained any artefacts, but one exception showed a structured stratigraphy with an abundance of finds, including a large amount of shattered pottery, charcoal and calcined animal bone. The study of this assemblage, and comparison with two other pits showing similarities, provides strong indications of a closing deposit or another type of ‘site maintenance practice’. In the Low Countries, comparable contexts generally date from the Iron Age, suggesting that the finds from Aalst – Siesegemkouter represent early forerunners of this ritual practice. On top of this early date, the large volume of cremated animal bone represents an almost unique characteristic for which, until now, parallels from the Metal Ages have hardly been found, even on a Northwestern European scale. In general, the role played by organic remains in ritual contexts from these periods and regions is poorly understood, often due to bad preservation conditions or the lack of a multidisciplinary approach.

scholarly journals Biodiversity of Early Holocene large mammals from the territory of Bulgaria according to remains from archaeological sites

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadezhda Karastoyanova
Keyword(s):  
Early Holocene ◽  
General Idea ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Large Mammals ◽  
General Picture ◽  
Wild Mammals ◽  
Animal Remains ◽  
Good Sample ◽  
Major Factors

Animal remains from archeological sites give a rather good sample of data, showing habitats and biodiversity during the early Holocene . In multiple settlements in the Eastern Balkans, there are numerous remains of wild mammals that were hunted by humans through the prehistory (7200-5800 BP). This gives a general idea of the habitats around and near the settlements. Such deposits of animal remains are the main source of data on fauna during this period and give us information on the processes leading to the extinction of some species. This paper analyzes more than 26000 animal remains (bones, horns, antlers and teeth) from large mammals from orders: Аrtiodactyla, Perissodactyla and Carnivora from 4 still unpublished deposits from Bulgaria. I summarize data from already published remains from 33 sites in East Balkans. These analyses provide a general picture of both habitats and biodiversity and some of the major factors that caused extinction of some large mammals in Bulgaria during the early Holocene.

scholarly journals Printable microscale interfaces for long-term peripheral nerve mapping and precision control

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy M. Otchy ◽  
Christos Michas ◽  
Blaire Lee ◽  
Krithi Gopalan ◽  
Jeremy Gleick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Peripheral Nerves ◽  
Small Animal ◽  
Implantable Devices ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Current Steering ◽  
Channel Current ◽  
Bioelectronic Medicine ◽  
Small Animal Models ◽  
High Degree

ABSTRACTThe nascent field of bioelectronic medicine seeks to decode and modulate peripheral nervous system signals to obtain therapeutic control of targeted end organs and effectors. Current approaches rely heavily on electrode-based devices, but size scalability, material and microfabrication challenges, limited surgical accessibility, and the biomechanically dynamic implantation environment are significant impediments to developing and deploying advanced peripheral interfacing technologies. Here, we present a microscale implantable device – the nanoclip – for chronic interfacing with fine peripheral nerves in small animal models that begins to meet these constraints. We demonstrate the capability to make stable, high-resolution recordings of behaviorally-linked nerve activity over multi-week timescales. In addition, we show that multi-channel, current-steering-based stimulation can achieve a high degree of functionally-relevant modulatory specificity within the small scale of the device. These results highlight the potential of new microscale design and fabrication techniques for the realization of viable implantable devices for long-term peripheral interfacing.

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