The late pre-Hispanic period in the US Southwest (A.D. 1200–1450) was characterized by large-scale demographic changes, including long-distance migration and population aggregation. To reconstruct ...how these processes reshaped social networks, we compiled a comprehensive artifact database from major sites dating to this interval in the western Southwest. We combine social network analysis with geographic information systems approaches to reconstruct network dynamics over 250 y. We show how social networks were transformed across the region at previously undocumented spatial, temporal, and social scales. Using well-dated decorated ceramics, we track changes in network topology at 50-y intervals to show a dramatic shift in network density and settlement centrality from the northern to the southern Southwest after A.D. 1300. Both obsidian sourcing and ceramic data demonstrate that long-distance network relationships also shifted from north to south after migration. Surprisingly, social distance does not always correlate with spatial distance because of the presence of network relationships spanning long geographic distances. Our research shows how a large network in the southern Southwest grew and then collapsed, whereas networks became more fragmented in the northern Southwest but persisted. The study also illustrates how formal social network analysis may be applied to large-scale databases of material culture to illustrate multigenerational changes in network structure.
A recent study by Frahm (2013) on the application of portable XRF (PXRF) for chemical characterization of obsidian ignores fundamental issues of reliability and validity in the measurements, and ...justifies “internally consistent” measurements as acceptable. We argue this form of science is unacceptable, point out several flaws in Frahm's paper, and provide some examples of PXRF measurements that are valid and reliable and conform to international standards as published.
► Frahm (2013) argues “internally consistent” measurements are acceptable for PXRF of obsidian. ► We argue this form of science is unacceptable. ► We point out flaws in Frahm's manuscript. ► We demonstrate that PXRF of obsidian can produce reliable and valid data.
X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry in Geoarchaeology provides a comprehensive overview of XRF applications in archaeology and anthropology. Expert contributors provide detailed information on the newest ...tools and techniques used in the field.
Arakawa and colleagues (2011) use temporal changes in obsidian source patterns to link the late thirteenth-century abandonment of the Mesa Verde region to Ortman's (2010, 2012) model of Tewa ...migration to the northern Rio Grande. They employ Anthony's (1990) concept of reverse migration, inferring that an increase in Mesa Verde–region obsidian from a specific Jemez Mountain source reflects the scouting of an eventual migration path. Weaknesses of this inference are that only obsidian data from the Mesa Verde region were used in its development and that the model does not consider the complexities of previously documented patterns of settlement and stone raw material use in the northern Rio Grande. By examining source data from parts of northwestern and north-central New Mexico, we find that the patterning seen in the Mesa Verde obsidian data is widespread both geographically and temporally. The patterns are more indicative of a change in acquisition within a down-the-line exchange system than a reverse migration stream. Population trends on the southern Pajarito Plateau, the probable source of the acquisition change, suggest ancestral Keres rather than Tewa involvement in thirteenth-century obsidian distribution.
Arakawa y otros (2011) usa los cambios temporales en el patrón de las fuentes de obsidiana para ligar el tardío abandono de la región de Mesa Verde al modelo de la migración Tewa al norte del Río Grande propuesto por Ortman (2010, 2012). Ellos emplean el concepto de Anthony (1990) de migración inversa, infiriendo eso por un incremento en la región de Mesa Verde de obsidiana proveniente de fuentes específicas localizadas en las Montañas Jemez, lo que refleja la exploración de una eventual ruta de migración. La debilidad de esta inferencia está en que solamente se usan datos de la obsidiana de Mesa Verde y el modelo no considera la complejidad de patrones de asentamiento y materias primas líticas usadas en el norte del Río Grande y que han sido previamente documentados. Examinando datos de partes del noroeste y el norte-centro de Nuevo México, nosotros encontramos que el patrón observado en los datos de la obsidiana de Mesa Verde están muy difundidos tanto geográficamente como temporalmente. Los patrones son indicativos más de un cambio en la obtención dentro de (a down-the-line) de un sistema de intercambio que de un flujo de migración inversa. La tendencia poblacional en el sur de la Pajarito Plateau y el probable cambio en la fuente de obtención, sugiere el involucramiento de los Keres ancestrales en lugar de los Tewas en la distribución de la obsidiana en el siglo trece.
The Halibee member of the Upper Dawaitoli Formation of Ethiopia's Middle Awash study area features a wealth of Middle and Later Stone Age (MSA and LSA) paleoanthropological resources in a succession ...of Pleistocene sediments. We introduce these artifacts and fossils, and determine their chronostratigraphic placement via a combination of established radioisotopic methods and a recently developed dating method applied to ostrich eggshell (OES). We apply the recently developed
Th/U burial dating of OES to bridge the temporal gap between radiocarbon (
C) and
Ar/
Ar ages for the MSA and provide
C ages to constrain the younger LSA archaeology and fauna to ∼24 to 21.4 ka. Paired
C and
Th/U burial ages of OES agree at ∼31 ka for an older LSA locality, validating the newer method, and in turn supporting its application to stratigraphically underlying MSA occurrences previously constrained only by a maximum
Ar/
Ar age. Associated fauna, flora, and
fossils are thereby now fixed between 106 ± 20 ka and 96.4 ± 1.6 ka (all errors 2σ). Additional
Ar/
results on an underlying tuff refine its age to 158.1 ± 11.0 ka, providing a more precise minimum age for MSA lithic artifacts, fauna, and
fossils recovered ∼9 m below it. These results demonstrate how chronological control can be obtained in tectonically active and stratigraphically complex settings to precisely calibrate crucial evidence of technological, environmental, and evolutionary changes during the African Middle and Late Pleistocene.
Liebmann's (2017) essay on the relationship between Jemez Pueblo and the Valles Caldera of northern New Mexico seems to imply that the Jemez Pueblo had an exclusive relationship with the caldera, ...particularly Redondo Peak, and the major obsidian source Cerro del Medio (CDM). This is curious given that abundant obsidian provenance studies from the region exhibit equal to or nearly equal proportions of Cerro del Medio obsidian that are not considered ancestral to Jemez Pueblo. Liebmann's regional perspective based on landscape theory appears flawed by a lack of regionally specific data. El ensayo de Liebmann (2017) sobre la relación entre Jemez Pueblo y los Valles Caldera del norte de Nuevo México parece implicar que Jemez Pueblo tenía una relación exclusiva con la caldera, particularmente Redondo Peak, y la principal fuente de obsidiana de Cerro del Medio. Esto es curioso, dado que abundantes estudios de procedencia de obsidiana llevados a cabo en la región muestran proporciones casi iguales de obsidiana de Cerro del Medio en sitios que no se consideran ancestrales a Jemez Pueblo. La perspectiva regional de Liebmann basada en la teoría del paisaje parece defectuosa por la falta de datos regionales específicos.
Direct evidence of the presence of the Mexican indigenous soldiers that accompanied the Coronado entrada into what is now the United States has remained invisible. Dolan and Shackley's recent ...examination of the presence of four obsidian blades produced from obsidian sources in the Sierra de Pachuca in Hidalgo state of Mexico, was the first intensive examination of artifacts that could directly signal the presence of Mexican indigenous soldiers north of Mexico, although only two had adequate provenience. Since then, three obsidian artifacts, produced from the Zinapécuaro obsidian source from Michoacán state of México were recovered and determined to be from that source by XRF at Piedras Marcadas Pueblo in the Middle Rio Grande valley in Albuquerque, New Mexico, besieged by Coronado and his soldiers in the winter of AD 1540-1541. This is the best direct evidence of artifacts transported by the "indios amigos" to the Middle Rio Grande valley.
In this paper we evaluate the relative analytical capabilities of SEM-EDS, PIXE and EDXRF for characterizing archaeologically significant Anatolian obsidians on the basis of their elemental ...compositions. The study involves 54 geological samples from various sources, together with an archaeological case study involving 100 artifacts from Neolithic Çatalhöyük (central Anatolia). With each technique the artifacts formed two compositional groups that correlated with the East Göllü Dağ and Nenezi Dağ sources. The non-destructive capabilities of these methods are emphasized (albeit with certain analytical limitations in the case of SEM-EDS), suggesting important new techniques for Near Eastern obsidian provenance studies.
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