A Microstratigraphic Approach To Evaluating Site Formation Processes At Eagle Cave 41vv167

Dry rockshelters in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands (LPC) provide a unique setting for archaeological research, preserving otherwise perishable artifacts and organic materials within the site deposits. However, many of the excavations done in the LPC were conducted during the 1930s and 1960s when the focus was recovering unique prehistoric items and/or chronology. The excavation methods during these times were unrefined, data was not reported in great detail, and little effort was made to discuss or interpret site formation processes. My thesis research focused on the northern sector of Eagle Cave, which was first sampled during the 1963 excavations by the University of Texas at Austin. The goal of my thesis research was to use a “microstratigraphic” approach to evaluate the natural and cultural processes that led to the accumulation of the strata in this sector of Eagle Cave, focusing on the source of sediments in each stratigraphic layer, methods of transport of the sediments, and the specific natural and cultural processes responsible for forming and/or reorganizing the deposits. The microstratigraphic approach included recording stratigraphy in high resolution (i.e., “splitting” rather than “lumping” strata) and the collection and analysis of micromorph samples to examine in situ stratigraphy. Multiple lines of evidence, including data derived from the stratigraphic documentation, geoarchaeological sampling, macrobotanical and faunal identification, constituent size distribution, and radiocarbon dating, were used to evaluate the various formation processes. The 75 stratigraphic layers defined, recorded, and sampled in UT North were categorized into general strat types such as discrete ash lenses, thick ash deposits, refuse midden, earth oven heating element remnants, and limestone spall deposits. The results of the analyses revealed that some of our initial impressions of the deposits were incorrect, the most significant being that the “thick ash deposits” contained far less wood ash than what was initially though. The results of the analyses indicate that the deposits in UT North are comprised of natural sediments derived from both inside and outside the shelter (e.g., limestone spall, aeolian silt- and sand-sized grains), biogenic deposits derived from animals (e.g., feces), and anthropogenic materials brought in to the shelter by humans for plant processing and baking (e.g., rock, fuel, foodstuffs, alluvium to cap earth oven), animal butchering, consumption, and tool manufacture (i.e., faunal remains), and stone tool production (i.e., lithics debris and tools). The reorganization of deposits through time in this portion of the rockshelter is primarily a result of prehistoric cleanout activities and pit digging, although bioturbation from animal burrowing also contributed a substantial amount of reorganization. This thesis provides an initial evaluation of the formation processes that led to the accumulation of the strata in Eagle Cave. However, my research focused on one small area of the shelter and additional analyses need to be completed on the samples from the central portion of the shelter to get a better picture of the various formation processes at play. Subsequent 2015–2016 Eagle Cave investigations have done just this and have benefited from my hard-won lessons.

Practical and Theoretical Geoarchaeology provides an invaluable overview of geoarchaeology and how it can be used effectively in the study of archaeological sites and contexts. Taking a pragmatic and functional approach, this book presents: a fundamental, broad-based perspective of the essentials of modern geoarchaeology in order to demonstrate the breadth of the approaches and the depth of the problems that it can tackle. the rapid advances made in the area in recent years, but also gives the reader a firm grasp of conventional approaches. covers traditional topics with the emphasis on landscapes, as well as anthropogenic site formation processes and their investigation. provides guidelines for the presentation of field and laboratory methods and the reporting of geoarchaeological results. essential reading for archaeology undergraduate and graduate students, practicing archaeologists and geoscientists who need to understand and apply geoarchaeological methodologies. Artwork from the book is available to instructors online at: www.blackwellpublishing.com/goldberg “This is one of the best textbooks that I have read in years. I enjoyed reviewing it, and found it well-written and thorough in its coverage of the traditional earth science aspects of geoarchaeology. The non-traditional aspects were intriguing and equally thorough... I predict that this book will become the textbook of choice for geoarchaeology classes for several years.” Geomorphology 101 (2008) 740–743

The first look at the prehistory of Texas by 16 professional archaeologist.

The end of the Pleistocene era brought dramatic environmental changes to small bands of humans living in North America: changes that affected subsistence, mobility, demography, technology, and social relations. The transition they made from Paleoindian (Pleistocene) to Archaic (Early Holocene) societies represents the first major cultural shift that took place solely in the Americas. This event—which manifested in ways and at times much more varied than often supposed—set the stage for the unique developments of behavioral complexity that distinguish later Native American prehistoric societies. Using localized studies and broad regional syntheses, the contributors to this volume demonstrate the diversity of adaptations to the dynamic and changing environmental and cultural landscapes that occurred between the Pleistocene and early portion of the Holocene. The authors' research areas range from Northern Mexico to Alaska and across the continent to the American Northeast, synthesizing the copious available evidence from well-known and recent excavations.With its methodologically and geographically diverse approach, From the Pleistocene to the Holocene: Human Organization and Cultural Transformations in Prehistoric North America provides an overview of the present state of knowledge regarding this crucial transformative period in Native North America. It offers a large-scale synthesis of human adaptation, reflects the range of ideas and concepts in current archaeological theoretical approaches, and acts as a springboard for future explanations and models of prehistoric change.

In August 1576, in the midst of an outbreak of the plague, the Spanish Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún and twenty-two indigenous artists locked themselves inside the school of Santa Cruz de Tlaltelolco in Mexico City with a mission: to create nothing less than the first illustrated encyclopedia of the New World. Today this twelve-volume manuscript is preserved in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence and is widely known as the Florentine Codex. A monumental achievement, the Florentine Codex is the single most important artistic and historical document for studying the peoples and cultures of pre-Hispanic and colonial Central Mexico. It reflects both indigenous and Spanish traditions of writing and painting, including parallel columns of text in Spanish and Nahuatl and more than two thousand watercolor illustrations prepared in European and Aztec pictorial styles. This volume reveals the complex meanings inherent in the selection of the pigments used in the manuscript, offering a fascinating look into a previously hidden symbolic language. Drawing on cuttingedge approaches in art history, anthropology, and the material sciences, the book sheds new light on one of the world’s great manuscripts—and on a pivotal moment in the early modern Americas.

Boyd seed a way that hunter-gatherer artists expressed their belief systems; provided a mechanism for social and environmental adaptation; and acted as agents in the social, economic, and ideological affairs of the community. She offers detailed information gleaned from the art regarding the nature of the Lower Pecos cosmos, ritual practices involving the use of sacramental and medicinal plants, and hunter-gatherer lifeways.

Annotation Fossil finds from 10 years of research show the effects of climate change on North American mammals during the Pleistocene era, about one million to 400,000 years ago.

International archaeologists examine early Stone Age tools and bones to present the most holistic view to date of the archaeology of human origins.