Identification of Cultural Site Formation Processes through Microdebitage Analysis

1987 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 772-783 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen L. Hull
Keyword(s):  
Soil Samples ◽  
Site Formation ◽  
Site Formation Processes ◽  
Formation Processes ◽  
Northern Plains ◽  
Tool Manufacture ◽  
Refuse Disposal ◽  
Interpretive Method ◽  
A Site

Methods for recognition of site formation processes are slowly being developed. Ethnoarchaeological data on refuse disposal suggest that comparison of the distribution of large and small objects across a site may be an interpretive method because size is often a factor in determining whether an object becomes primary or secondary refuse. To test this in the field, I carried out microdebitage analysis on soil samples from a stone circle site in the Northern Plains. Comparison of the microdebitage and macroflake distributions indicates the utility of microdebitage analysis for study of use and disposal in lithic tool manufacture areas.

A Comment on Microdebitage Analyses and Cultural Site-Formation Processes among Tipi Dwellers

1989 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 851-855 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert R. Janes
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Soil Samples ◽  
Site Formation ◽  
Site Formation Processes ◽  
Formation Processes ◽  
Formation Model ◽  
Northern Plains ◽  
Tool Manufacture ◽  
Widespread Distribution ◽  
Model Research

A recent report by Hull (1987) on the microdebitage analysis of soil samples from a stone-circle site in the Northern Plains indicates the utility of such analyses for the study of use and disposal in lithic-tool-manufacture areas. Its value could have been heightened through greater awareness of recent research on the ethnoarchaeology of tipi use and of site-formation studies in general. Various factors were overlooked in Hull's analysis, including the intentional disposal of refuse away from the place of use, the widespread distribution of secondary refuse as a result of smearing and blending, the distinction between occupation and abandonment refuse, and the effects of rodent disturbance within tipis. The fact that these factors were not considered weakens the applicability of Hull's site-formation model. Research among the Slavey Dene of the western Canadian Subarctic suggests that tipis are better viewed as generalized activity centers, embracing a variety of human activities and events, none of which have strict spatial definition. This helps to explain the weak or nonexistent patterning noted by Hull.

Soils and Landscape Evolution

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vance T. Holliday
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Evolution ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
Site Formation ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Site Formation Processes ◽  
Formation Processes ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
External Component ◽  
A Site

Soils and archaeological sites are intimately related to the landscape. Investigating soils across past and present landscapes provides a means of reconstructing and understanding the regional environmental and geomorphic context of archaeological site settings and specific site locations, regional site formation processes, and aspects of the resources available to people in a region. Archaeological sites tend to occupy small segments of the landscape, but human activity may affect a much larger area, and in any case, people wander far and wide from sites, interacting with the environment—including the landscape. Thus, no matter whether a site is just a lithic scatter or bone bed or if it is a tell, understanding the regional landscape is an important part of understanding a site and human behavior, and soils are an important means of understanding a landscape. Soils are also important in reconstructing the evolution of landscapes and, consequently, the evolution of archaeological sites. That is, landscape evolution is an important external component of site-formation processes. Landscapes form the physical framework or underpinning for people and their activities and their resulting sites. As landscapes evolve, so do human activities and so do sites. Soils are key to recognizing and interpreting the evolutionary processes that shape the landscape and associated archaeological sites. Furthermore, the concept of landscape evolution also 1) is a logical continuation of the discussion of soil stratigraphy (chapters 5, 6) because it places soil stratigraphy in three or even four dimensions; 2) is a complement to the discussion of soils as environmental indicators (chapter 8), because landscape evolution can be linked to environmental change and because the evolution of the landscape itself, regardless of changes in other factors, represents a change in the environment from a human perspective; and 3) provides yet another means for predicting site locations. The discussion in this section, therefore, represents an integration of some of the principals outlined previously. Some of the studies presented in other chapters, such as the work on the Loess Plateau of China (chapters 6 and 8), and at Harappa and along the Ravi River (chapter 4), are good examples of landscape reconstructions for very large regions and are not repeated here.

Archaeomorphological Mapping

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Jacques Delannoy ◽  
Bruno David ◽  
Robert G. Gunn ◽  
Jean-Michel Geneste ◽  
Stéphane Jaillet
Keyword(s):  
Social Engagement ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Site Formation ◽  
Site Formation Processes ◽  
Formation Processes ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Performative Space ◽  
History Of ◽  
Temporal Dimensions ◽  
A Site

Understanding the rock art of a cave or rock shelter requires positioning the art in its landscape setting. This involves both spatial and temporal dimensions because a site’s layout changes through time, necessitating an examination of site formation processes. In this chapter, the authors present a new approach—archaeomorphology—that unites archaeological and geomorphological methods to explore the history of the objects and spaces that make up a site. Archaeomorphological mapping allows researchers to track through time the changing configuration of sites, including rock surfaces, the morphogenic forces at work, and, with this, the changing spatial contexts of the art on its surfaces. Archaeomorphology shifts attention away from the site as a ‘natural’ canvas upon which inscriptions were made to its social engagement as an actively constructed architectural and performative space.

A Prehistoric Ford near Rough Castle, Falkirk

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-103
Author(s):  
JAMIE HAMILTON ◽  
CIARA CLARKE ◽  
ANDREW DUNWELL ◽  
RICHARD TIPPING
Keyword(s):  
Coal Mining ◽  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Site Formation ◽  
Site Formation Processes ◽  
Formation Processes ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Small Stream ◽  
Mining Project ◽  
First Millennium

This report presents the results of the excavation of a stone ford laid across the base of a small stream valley near Rough Castle, Falkirk. It was discovered during an opencast coal mining project. Radiocarbon dates and pollen analysis of deposits overlying the ford combine to indicate a date for its construction no later than the early first millennium cal BC. Interpreting this evidence was not straightforward and the report raises significant issues about site formation processes and the interpretation of radiocarbon and pollen evidence. The importance of these issues extends beyond the rarely investigated features such as fords and deserve a larger place in the archaeological literature.

The Archaeological Record

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manjil Hazarika
Keyword(s):  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Northeast India ◽  
Site Formation ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Site Formation Processes ◽  
Formation Processes ◽  
Site Structure ◽  
Reserve Forest ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
Ways Of Life

This chapter elaborates the data and results of the explorations conducted in the Garbhanga Reserve Forest. The area has been intensively surveyed for the location of potential archaeological sites and the collection of ethnographic data in order to draw direct historical analogies. An ‘area-approach’ study has been conducted in order to formulate a general model for archaeological site structure, locations, geomorphic situations, and site formation processes that can be used for archaeological study in the hilly landscape of Northeast India. Present-day agricultural implements have been analysed and compared with Neolithic implements in order to reconstruct ancient farming culture by way of undertaking systematic study of modern peasant ways of life in the study area. The ideological significance of stone artefacts as ‘thunderstone’ in Northeast India and among the Karbis has also been discussed.

Quantifying the threat to archaeological sites from the erosion of cultivated soil

Antiquity ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 80 (309) ◽  
pp. 658-670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith Wilkinson ◽  
Andrew Tyler ◽  
Donald Davidson ◽  
Ian Grieve
Keyword(s):  
World Wide ◽  
Site Formation ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Site Formation Processes ◽  
Formation Processes ◽  
Know How ◽  
The Past ◽  
Nuclear Weapons Testing ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
Soil Movements

Ploughing is probably the greatest agent of attrition to archaeological sites world-wide. In every country, every year, a bit more is shaved off buried strata and a bit more of the past becomes unreadable. On the other hand, people must eat and crops must be planted. How can the fields be best managed to get the best of both worlds? Perhaps the most pressing need for resource managers is to know how quickly a particular field is eroding: negotiation and protection is then possible. Up to now that has been difficult to measure.The new procedure presented here, which draws on the unexpected benefits of nuclear weapons testing, shows how variation in the concentration of the radioisotope 137Cs can be used to monitor soil movements over the last 40 years. The measurements allow a site's ‘life expectancy’ to be calculated, and there are some promising dividends for tracking site formation processes.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document