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The Jasper Ridge Reexcavation Experiment: Rates of Artifact Mixing by Rodents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Barbara Bocek
Barbara Bocek*
Affiliation:
Office of Campus Archaeology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-2145
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Abstract

Previous research about rodent disturbance has led to various predictions about the effects of burrowing rodents on site stratigraphy and the relation between material sizes and the degree of displacement by rodents. This brief report describes the reexcavation in 1988 of a 1-x-2-m unit originally excavated and backfilled with clean sifted sediment in 1981. New materials introduced by gophers during the seven-year hiatus help to refine earlier predictions about rodent stratigraphy and also indicate the rate at which small-sized materials may be transported by burrowing activity.

Resumen

Resumen

Previas investigaciones acerca de las perturbaciones producidas por roedores en el registro arqueológico han producido varias predicciones sobre los efectos de los tuneles de roedores en la estratigrafía de sitios y sobre las relaciones entre el tamaño de los materiales y el grado de desplazamiento por obra de estos animales. Este breve informe describe la re-excavación en 1988 de una unidad de 1-x-2-m originalmente excavada y rellenada con sedimentos limpios y tamizados en 1981. Nuevos materiales introducidos por tuzas (Thomomys) durante este intervalo de siete años ayudan a refinar anteriores predicciones acerca de la estratigrafia de roedores e indican la rapidez con que objetos pequeños pueden ser transportados por la actividad de roedores

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 57 , Issue 2 , April 1992 , pp. 261 - 269
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1992

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References

References Cited

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