Evaluating the Old Wood Problem in a Temperate Climate: A Fort Ancient Case Study

2014 ◽  
Vol 79 (04) ◽  
pp. 763-775 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Cook ◽  
Aaron R. Comstock
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
American Southwest ◽  
Wood Charcoal ◽  
Arid Climate ◽  
Temperate Climate ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Eastern Woodlands ◽  
Fort Ancient

Abstract Schiffer (1986) first identified the old wood problem for wood charcoal-based dates from archaeological contexts in the American Southwest. The potential for dates to be skewed toward excessively old calendar ages in this region has recently generated reticence in part of the archaeological community towards including wood charcoal dates in general. Some scholars have even begun to cleanse the radiocarbon databases of regions throughout North America, partly with this presumed limitation in mind. However, the issues that contribute to the old wood problem have not been closely examined outside the arid climate of the American Southwest, resulting in some studies excluding hundreds of radiocarbon dates. The present study fills that void by examining the radiocarbon record from four well-dated Fort Ancient sites in southwestern Ohio and southeastern Indiana. Specifically, we test whether or not there are significant differences between wood charcoal and non-wood charcoal assays. Our findings suggest that wood charcoal dates should not be excluded. We explore reasons for this difference in the Eastern Woodlands and propose an ideal dating regime.

Comment on Cook and Comstock's “Evaluating the Old Wood Problem in a Temperate Climate: A Fort Ancient Case Study“

2015 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 610-612
Author(s):  
John P. Hart ◽  
Kevin C. Nolan
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Wood Charcoal ◽  
Temperate Climate ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Careful Selection ◽  
Fort Ancient ◽  
Analytical Errors ◽  
Selection Of

In their recent report, Cook and Comstock (2014) purport to address the "old wood" problem in temperate eastern North America. Here we point out several interpretive and analytical errors in their work. We conclude that careful selection of wood charcoal for radiocarbon assay can result in accurate chronology for events of interest. However, this does not obviate the need to critically assess the extant database of wood charcoal dates in any chronology building effort.

Early Cultigens from Fresnal Shelter, Southeastern New Mexico

1996 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martyn D. Tagg
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Mass Spectrometer ◽  
American Southwest ◽  
Wood Charcoal ◽  
Early Agriculture ◽  
Late Archaic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Desert Regions

Fresnal Shelter is one of few known preceramic sites in southern New Mexico with evidence of early agriculture. Recent tandem accelerating mass spectrometer (TAMS) radiocarbon determinations on corn and bean samples indicate that cultigens were used at this site as early as 2945 ± 55 B.P. In addition to providing more evidence of Late Archaic agriculture in the desert regions of the American Southwest, these new data and other previously unpublished radiocarbon dates from the site also illustrate the problem of relying on wood charcoal dates in association with cultigens to determine the age of early agriculture.

scholarly journals Dendrochronological dates confirm a Late Prehistoric population decline in the American Southwest derived from radiocarbon dates

2020 ◽  
Vol 376 (1816) ◽  
pp. 20190718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erick Robinson ◽  
R. Kyle Bocinsky ◽  
Darcy Bird ◽  
Jacob Freeman ◽  
Robert L. Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
North America ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
American Southwest ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Late Prehistoric ◽  
Population Declines ◽  
Sample Collection ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Radiocarbon Data

The northern American Southwest provides one of the most well-documented cases of human population growth and decline in the world. The geographic extent of this decline in North America is unknown owing to the lack of high-resolution palaeodemographic data from regions across and beyond the greater Southwest, where archaeological radiocarbon data are often the only available proxy for investigating these palaeodemographic processes. Radiocarbon time series across and beyond the greater Southwest suggest widespread population collapses from AD 1300 to 1600. However, radiocarbon data have potential biases caused by variable radiocarbon sample preservation, sample collection and the nonlinearity of the radiocarbon calibration curve. In order to be confident in the wider trends seen in radiocarbon time series across and beyond the greater Southwest, here we focus on regions that have multiple palaeodemographic proxies and compare those proxies to radiocarbon time series. We develop a new method for time series analysis and comparison between dendrochronological data and radiocarbon data. Results confirm a multiple proxy decline in human populations across the Upland US Southwest, Central Mesa Verde and Northern Rio Grande from AD 1300 to 1600. These results lend confidence to single proxy radiocarbon-based reconstructions of palaeodemography outside the Southwest that suggest post-AD 1300 population declines in many parts of North America. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Cross-disciplinary approaches to prehistoric demography’.

Challenging the Evidence for Prehistoric Wetland Maize Agriculture at Fort Center, Florida

2013 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor D. Thompson ◽  
Kristen J. Gremillion ◽  
Thomas J. Pluckhahn
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
South Florida ◽  
Pollen Data ◽  
Historic Period ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Eastern Woodlands ◽  
Work Site ◽  
Maize Agriculture ◽  
Early Evidence

AbstractThe early evidence (2400 ± 105 B.P.) for wetland maize agriculture at the archaeological site of Fort Center, a large earth-work site in South Florida, USA, is frequently cited in discussions of the emergence of agriculture in the Eastern Woodlands of North America. The evidence for maize, however, rests on controversial pollen data; some researchers accept it, others remain skeptical of its identification or chronological placement. We present microbotanical data (pollen and phytoliths), macrobotanical data, and radiocarbon dates from recent excavations from this site. We argue that maize agriculture did not occur until the historic period at this site and that the identification of maize in earlier deposits is likely a result of contamination.

Focusing on the Old Wood Problem: A Response to Hart and Nolan

2015 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 613-614
Author(s):  
Robert A. Cook ◽  
Aaron R. Comstock
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Wood Charcoal ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Ohio Valley ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Analytical Errors

Our recent paper demonstrated that radiocarbon assays sampled from wood charcoal were not systematically skewed when compared to non-wood samples from the same site. This suggests that the “old wood” problem may not be quite as problematic in the temperate Middle Ohio Valley as many suspect. In their comment, Hart and Nolan missed our broader point and mischaracterized our findings. Specifically, we did not suggest that our findings apply to the entirety of eastern North America, nor did we make analytical errors. A thorough reading of our paper clearly supports the following rebuttal. Our main point is that scholars should think twice before discarding radiocarbon dates from wood charcoal, for in some contexts they are the most useful means of determining important chronological information. Despite the suggestion to the contrary, “old wood” concerns do form elements of several hygiene protocols, including Nolan's (2012).

Alligator Mound: Geoarchaeological and Iconographical Interpretations of a Late Prehistoric Effigy Mound in Central Ohio, USA

2003 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradley T. Lepper ◽  
Tod A. Frolking
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Late Woodland ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Late Prehistoric ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Archaeological Investigation ◽  
Fort Ancient ◽  
Effigy Mound

Alligator Mound is an animal effigy mound in central Ohio, USA. Since Ephraim Squier and Edwin Davis first recorded and mapped it in 1848, many have speculated regarding its age and meaning, but with remarkably little systematic archaeological investigation. Many scholars have assumed the Hopewell culture (c. 100 BC-AD 400) built the mound, based principally on its proximity to the Newark Earthworks. The Hopewell culture, however, is not known to have built other effigy mounds. Limited excavations in 1999 revealed details of mound stratigraphy and recovered charcoal embedded in mound fill near the base of the mound. This charcoal yielded radiocarbon dates that average between AD 1170 and 1270, suggesting that the Late Prehistoric Fort Ancient culture (c. AD 1000-1550) made the mound. This result coincides with dates obtained for Serpent Mound in southern Ohio and suggests that the construction of effigy mounds in eastern North America was restricted to the Late Woodland and Late Prehistoric traditions. Ethnographic and ethnohistoric analogies suggest that the so-called 'Alligator' might actually represent the Underwater Panther and have served as a shrine for invoking the aid of supernatural powers.

Migrant Diplomacies: Rethinking Diplomacy Beyond State-Centric Perspectives. A Civic Bi-Nationality Experience from North America

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Alejo
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Mexico City ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Interdisciplinary Dialogue ◽  
Contemporary Politics ◽  
Migrant Activism ◽  
Point Of Departure

There is a pressing need to extend our thinking about diplomacy beyond state-centric perspectives, as in the name of sovereignty and national interests, people on move are confronting virtual, symbolic and/or material walls and frames of policies inhibiting their free movement. My point of departure is to explore migrant activism and global politics through the transformation of diplomacy in a globalised world. Developing an interdisciplinary dialogue between new diplomacy and sociology, I evidence the emergence of global sociopolitical formations created through civic bi-nationality organisations. Focusing on the agent in interaction with structures, I present a theoretical framework and strategy for analysing the practices of migrant diplomacies as an expression of contemporary politics. A case study from North America regarding returned families in Mexico City provides evidence of how these alternative diplomacies are operating.

Water scarcity and sustainability in the arid area of North America: Insights gained from a cross border perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Yáñez-Arancibia ◽  
John W. Day
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
North America ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Economic Change ◽  
American Southwest ◽  
Arid Area ◽  
Border Region ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Sharp Focus ◽  
The Face

The arid border region that encompasses the American Southwest and the Mexican northwest is an area where the nexus of water scarcity and climate change in the face of growing human demands for water, emerging energy scarcity, and economic change comes into sharp focus.

From converts to cooperation: Protestant internationalism, US missionaries and Indian Christians and ‘Professional’ social work between Boston and Bombay (c. 1920–1950)

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Michael Phillipp Brunner
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
North America ◽  
Social Gospel ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Concerns ◽  
High Phase

Abstract The 1920s and 30s were a high phase of liberal missionary internationalism driven especially by American-led visions of the Social Gospel. As the missionary consensus shifted from proselytization to social concerns, the indigenization of missions and the role of the ‘younger churches’ outside of Europe and North America was brought into focus. This article shows how Protestant internationalism pursued a ‘Christian Sociology’ in dialogue with the field’s academic and professional form. Through the case study of settlement sociology and social work schemes by the American Marathi Mission (AMM) in Bombay, the article highlights the intricacies of applying internationalist visions in the field and asks how they were contested and shaped by local conditions and processes. Challenging a simplistic ‘secularization’ narrative, the article then argues that it was the liberal, anti-imperialist drive of the missionary discourse that eventually facilitated an American ‘professional imperialism’ in the development of secular social work in India. Adding local dynamics to the analysis of an internationalist discourse benefits the understanding of both Protestant internationalism and the genesis of Indian social work and shows the value of an integrated global micro-historical approach.

The Role of the Sport Psychology Consultant: A Case Study of Ultra-Distance Running

1989 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 254-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Bull
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Training Program ◽  
Sport Psychology ◽  
Crisis Intervention ◽  
Psychological Profile ◽  
Mental Training ◽  
Descriptive Framework ◽  
Ongoing Evaluation

This article presents a case study describing the contribution of a sport psychology consultant to an ultra-distance runner’s attempt to complete 500 miles (800 kilometers) in 20 days through the deserts of North America. The contribution can be considered in four phases that provide a descriptive framework for the role of a sport psychology consultant: (a) establishing a rapport with the athlete, (b) formulating a psychological profile, (c) evaluating the demands of the athletic pursuit and planning an appropriate mental training program, and (d) ongoing evaluation of progress and crisis intervention.

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