A broad examination of the synthetic results of ceramic ethnoarchaeology reveals that research has centered on the factors that influence variation in the production, use, and discard of whole pottery vessels. Far less common are ceramic ethnoarchaeological studies that investigate the various ways that broken vessels become incorporated into the archaeological record. Archaeologists who would like to apply the findings of ceramic ethnoarchaeology, therefore, are faced with the daunting prospect of determining the relevance of those findings for archaeological phenomena. In this paper, I first examine the relationship between ceramic ethnoarchaeological research on whole vessels and archaeological methods for determining annual accumulation rates of sherds for sites in southwestern Colorado. I then present an alternative method that analyzes contextual variation between use and discard assemblages at two sites in the Grand Canyon area and explore the consequences of all these studies for evaluating assumptions about vessel use-life, systemic inventories, and annual accumulation rates. I conclude with some archaeologically led suggestions about how ceramic ethnoarchaeologists might expand their research designs to make the results of their studies resonate more strongly with, and hence be more useful to, archaeologists who analyze bucketfuls of potsherds.

We report measurements made on eight corncobs (Zea mays) excavated in the 1890s from Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Seven of these corncobs were analyzed previously in a geochemical study aimed at determining the locations of the fields in which they were grown. We report radiocarbon dates obtained on these seven corncobs. Comparing the morphologies of the eight corncobs with other archaeological samples of corn from the San Juan Basin supports observations that Pueblo Bonito cobs are larger and have more kernel rows than some other basin samples. The radiocarbon dates preclude the possibility that these seven corncobs represent modern or historic period maize. The dates presented do not support a previous interpretation that there was a change over time in the locations where this corn may have been grown. Not ruling out other possibilities, the dates obtained, the special characteristics of this corn, and its presence in older rooms in Pueblo Bonito argue for continued use of Pueblo Bonito for special purposes over many centuries. In Pueblo belief, as among many indigenous agricultural cultures of the Americas, corn is an important source of sacred power.

The recovery of anomalous (red-slipped, shell/grog/sandstone-tempered) pottery from three sites in the Upper Mississippi Valley (UMV) prompted a petrographic analysis of thin sections of 21 vessels from these sites. The goal was to evaluate their possible derivation from the American Bottom, the nearest locality where such pottery commonly occurs. Among the 12 UMV vessels tempered with shell (nine red slipped), ten were determined, based on comparisons to thin sections of stylistically similar pottery from the American Bottom, to have essentially identical physical compositions. Additionally, four vessels suspected of being limestone-tempered were determined to have been tempered with a type of sandstone that out-crops only farther south in Illinois and Iowa. Of the three UMV sites, only the Fisher Mounds Site Complex (FMSC) produced the presumed exotic pottery in undisturbed, dated contexts. The petrographic evidence is consistent with the C-14 age and lithic assemblage at FMSC in suggesting an actual influx of people from the American Bottom into the UMV. The time of this influx, the Edelhardt phase of the Emergent Mississippian/Terminal Late Woodland period, ca. cal A.D. 1000-1050, is earlier than previously believed, i.e., precedes the main Mississippian period in the American Bottom.

Archaeobotanical analysis remains one of the least-utilized strategies for investigating the lifeways of African diasporic peoples despite the fact that the field of African diaspora archaeology has grown exponentially over the last 30 years. We consider the botanical remains from the Rich Neck Slave Quarter site as constituting a significant line of evidence for illuminating the nature of plant use among enslaved Afro-Virginians. As a result of the ambitious flotation program undertaken during the excavation of the Rich Neck site, the botanical assemblage provides evidence allowing for interpretations of the role of plants in enslaved subsistence and potential medicinal practices. Our research illustrates that Afro-Virginians actively participated in the creation of cultural practices related to plant use, and strategically shifted their production activities in response to both internal and external factors that influenced their lives within the context of plantation slavery.

Sandia Cave in New Mexico was excavated in the late 1930s by Frank Hibben, who described a unique type of chipped stone artifact-the “Sandia point”-in association with a faunal assemblage that included extinct Pleistocene species. The site was interpreted as a late Pleistocene Paleoindian hunting station, making it the earliest human occupation known in America at the time. Despite the pivotal role the faunal assemblage has played in interpretations of the site, there was never a confirmed behavioral association between the artifacts and the fossils. A subsequent series of controversies about the age of the site and the integrity of the stratigraphy has since pushed Sandia Cave into obscurity. Results from a recent taphonomic study of the large and small mammal assemblages from the original excavations are reported here. These show that the majority of the fauna were accumulated by nonhuman agents (carnivores, raptors, and rodents), but that a small proportion of large mammal fragments retain human modification. The three major points of controversy are discussed in light of these and other findings, and it is shown that Sandia Cave remains an important datapoint in archaeological, paleontological, and paleoecological studies of the region.

Floods and droughts and their effects on Hohokam canal systems and irrigation agriculture play a prominent role in many cultural-historical interpretations of the Hohokam trajectory in the lower Salt River valley (modern-day Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area). Catastrophic floods and associated geomorphic stream channel changes may have contributed to settlement and population changes and the substantial depopulation of the lower Salt River valley ca. A.D. 1450 or later. In this study, archaeological data on Hohokam domestic architecture is used to infer changes in prehistoric population growth rates from ca. A.D. 775 through 1450 in the most thoroughly documented canal system in the Salt River valley. Changes in growth rates are compared to the retrodictions of annual streamflow discharge volumes derived from tree-ring records. Contrary to expectations, population growth rates increased as the frequency, magnitude, and duration of inferred flooding, drought, and variability increased. These results challenge existing assumptions regarding the relationship among floods and droughts, conditions for irrigation agriculture, and population change in the lower Salt River valley.

In a series of recent publications, Truncer (1999, 2004a, 2004b, 2006) presents a hypothesis that during what he interprets as the peak period of use (2500-1500 cal. B.C.) in eastern North America, steatite (soapstone) vessels were specialized cooking tools used to process mast. A key component of Truncer's hypothesis building is his interpretation of an analysis of fatty acids extracted from charred residue adhering to four steatite sherds, which he interpreted to be consistent with mast. This is the only component of his hypothesis building that directly links steatite vessel use to mast processing. Here we convey the results of a reassessment of Truncer's analytical results and the results of our own analysis of phytoliths and fatty acids extracted from charred residue adhering to three sherds from the Hunter's Home site. Our results undermine this key component of Truncer's hypothesis building and therefore the hypothesis itself.

We describe an experimental test and archaeological application of the solid geometry method for the interpretation of cortical surface area in lithic assemblages proposed by Dibble et al. (2005). Experimental results support the method's accuracy while archaeological application to assemblages from western New South Wales, Australia suggests a repeated pattern of the selective removal of artifacts away from their location of manufacture. These findings shed light on the role curation and mobility play in the use and eventual discard of those artifact classes for which conventional measures of curation are not applicable. The results raise new questions about Aboriginal technological organization and land use, while simultaneously highlighting the complex relationship between past human behavior and archaeological assemblage content.

The Thule migration from Alaska to the eastern North American Arctic is central to the understanding of Inuit history. However, despite decades of study, its timing remains controversial, with recent reappraisals suggesting that it may have occurred much later than the date of A.D. 1000 most often assumed for it. In this paper, we present newly obtained radiocarbon dates from two early Thule sites, Nelson River (OhRh-1) and Washout (NjVi-2), located on the Beaufort Sea and Amundsen Gulf coasts. This region is crucial to any understanding of the migration, because Thule Inuit would have had to pass through it in order to reach the eastern Arctic. Nelson River in particular has long been considered a good candidate for the earliest Thule site east of Alaska, based on a number of lines of evidence including the presence of both Natchuk and Sicco harpoon heads. In this paper, we present new dates for Nelson River and Washout that demonstrate that neither site was occupied before the thirteenth century A.D. The new dates have profound implications for Arctic archaeology, because they strengthen the case for a thirteenth-century migration, and by doing so demonstrate that it was more rapid and widespread than has generally been believed. The dates also suggest that the "Classic" Thule period is a relatively brief phenomenon, lasting perhaps only 200 years or less, before being rapidly reorganized into the diversity of Inuit societies encountered in later Arctic history.

The Mauna Kea Adze Quarry Complex is the largest-known prehistoric quarry in the Pacific Basin. The main extraction areas are located at an extreme altitude (3,800 m), near the summit of Hawaii's tallest mountain. The Mauna Kea summit region and the quarry are considered by many Hawaiians to be a sacred landscape and archaeologists must consider the ethical tensions involved in conducting Western science in these areas. Although provenance studies of basalt adzes are integral to the examination of pre-contact Hawaiian economics, former studies of Hawaiian adze distribution have been limited in scope, and conventionally relied on destructive petrography and petrology for the analyses. Published geochemical data on the quarry are derived from only eight samples analyzed with destructive methods. In order to better define the variation within the quarry, and to develop a more culturally sensitive approach, we employed nondestructive energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) of whole-rock samples to characterize 820 flakes and 47 geological samples from the quarry complex. This study offers the first reliable estimation of the overall range of geochemical variability in the complex. These results suggest that nondestructive EDXRF can be used to differentiate Mauna Kea basalts from other known Hawaiian quarries, but more characterization of other quarries is necessary to confirm exclusive separation of sources. The results further demonstrate that EDXRF is capable of detecting intra-site geochemical variation in Mauna Kea quarry material.

Lyman et al.’s recent history of graphic depictions of culture change attributes the first use of bar graphs to James Ford in 1935. Ford, though, was anticipated in 1915 by Frederick Sterns, working with pottery from 27 late prehistoric Nebraska phase lodge sites in eastern Nebraska. Sterns used both tabular data summaries and divided bar graphs to show ordered variation over space in vessel neck diameter, types of appendages, and type of decoration. Underlying this analysis was a conception of these dimensions as varying independently of one another. Geographic groups within the Nebraska phase therefore exhibit clinal variation and can be characterized by differing proportions of attributes. Sterns’s work never became very well-known as archaeologists on the Central Plains turned to typological analysis for organizing pottery assemblages.

Understanding the decisions made at toolstone procurement localities is critical to understanding lithic production systems. However, lithic assemblages at procurement sites are typically voluminous, frequently overlapping, and always complex. This paper explores the influence of expected toolstone transport distance on procurement site assemblage variability using a central place theory inspired model from Human Behavioral Ecology. Debitage assemblage diversity is examined for 43 sites in two procurement contexts with different expected overall transport distances. Twenty-six of these sites are from the Canyonlands region of southeastern Utah where toolstone transport distances are expected to be uniformly short; seventeen sites are from the Black Rock desert region of west-central Utah where transport distances are expected to be longer. Observed differences in debitage assemblage diversity from each procurement context are consistent with expectations derived from the model which suggests that procurement site assemblage variability is predictably affected by expected toolstone transport distance.

Coincident with the climatic changes occurring during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, a number of regionally distinct Paleoindian projectile-point styles emerged throughout North America. This paper examines one understudied and poorly understood Late Paleoindian style, the San Patrice point. Although traditionally considered woodland-adapted hunter-gatherers, projectile-point distributions indicate that San Patrice groups, utilizing the same hafting and resharpening technologies, also made significant use of plains resources. Raw material sourcing reveals that while all San Patrice populations focused on local toolstone sources, plains bands were more mobile than those in the woodlands. These findings have implications for our greater understanding of Paleoindian adaptations. While some hunter-gatherers developed specialized, environmentally specific strategies, San Patrice groups adopted more generalized strategies enabling them to succeed in diverse settings.

Interpretation of the Nogahabara I assemblage as a Late Pleistocene abandoned toolkit rests primarily on the premise of a single brief occupation at the site. The limited contextual data presented do not discount a palimpsest of noncontemporaneous assemblages in secondary contexts associated with a lag deposit. Spatial patterning, lithic assemblage patterning, artifact surface alteration, and disparate radiocarbon dates at the site, as well as geological data from the Nogahabara and nearby Kobuk dunes, indicate that the cultural material was subjected to post-depositional disturbance. Alternate hypotheses of site formation and avenues for testing these hypotheses are considered.