Environmental archaeology final exam

zooarchaeology

• study of animals as they relate to the archaeological record

• uses animal remains to study the relationship between people and animals in the past

• combination of paleontology and archaeology

zooarchaeology vs. archaeozoology

• zooarchaeology: emphasis on people first, how did people use animals

• archaeozoology: emphasis on animals first, what animals were present, paloecology

faunal analysis

• study of bones from archaeological site

• bones and their analysis come first then broader research questions

• looking at taphonomic processes from living populations to recovery and reporting

why is taphonomy important

need to understand how bones are modified through many different agents to get to human modification and usage

human vs non-human modifications

• need taphonomy to distinguish human vs non-human modifications

• more appropriately food usage vs other modifications

• look for specific marks and signs of alteration

  • cut marks, burning, weathering, fracturing

cut marks and other abrasions

• cut marks with stone tools leave a distinctive patterning

  • V-shaped, repeated strokes in same direction

  • feathering diverging ends

• other abrasion causes

  • wind abrasions

  • non-human causes during animal’s life

  • plow scarring

  • scavenger gnawing

burning

• burned and charred bone

  • black or dark grey

  • fires from 200 - 400 C

• calcined bone

  • white to blue

  • fires over 400 C

• unaltered bone

  • brown/tan, sometimes blackish mineral deposits

  • fires under 200 C

bone fracturing

• need to distinguish between fresh and dry fractures

• fresh fractures

  • obtuse or acute edges

  • rarely right angles

  • helical in shape

• dry fractures

  • right angles

  • crumbly and irregular along edges

  • longitudinal or transverse in shape

identification

• use comparative collection for your region

• try to identify to lowest taxonomic level possible

• often only possible to give class and size

• also may try to age and sex individuals

quantification

• NISP: number of identifiable/individual specimens

• MNI: minimum number of individuals

• weight = weight of specimens by taxa and/or part

animal resource management

• hunting and fishing can directly affect prey ecology and populations

• can determine human selection or not based on prey profile

• can also offer sustainability models

• human role in extirpation or extinction

megafauna overkill

• idea that when humans spread around the globe they were responsible for the extinction of large land animals

• assume bigger game would be more targeted

• supported in some areas not others

north american megafauna overkill

• 48 large mammal species in Pleistocene, 36 extinct by Holocene

• close timing between human arrival and extinction led by overkill hypothesis

• but not much actual evidence for human hunting of megafauna

pleistocene rewilding

• based on megafauna overkill hypothesis

• north american environment adapted to Pleistocene fauna that humans wiped out

• after extinction important niches left unoccupied

• need to reintroduce analogous species to increase sustainability

moa in new zealand

• moa were a large, flightless bird extinct shortly after human arrival

  • human arrival circa 1300 AD

  • extinct by mid 1400s AD

• evidence for predation of moa and their eggs

• Haast’s eagle also went extinct

antelope in the levant

• humans also likely extirpated antelope from the levant

• antelope kites led to mass herd level kills

• no sign of preferential killing (all ages and sexes)

• selecting only best cuts

overhunting and resource depression

• intense predation can impact prey species

• change in size, change in abundance, change in age/sex profiles, end point: extinction/extirpation or domestication

mass hunting but not overkill

Mass hunting does not necessarily lead to overkill even with mammals, bison jumps are archaeological sites with evidence for the mass killing of bison, basically entire herds were driven off a cliff to their death by native people who would harvest meat from them for consumption, numerous examples of this

Also evidence for game traps similar to antelope kites, the walls were used for buffalo and antelopes, also maybe elk. Also evidence that native people in the northeast cleared the underbrush up to a certain point in forests but would leave heavy underbrush in some places to drive herds of deer into; not sure if there is good evidence for this impacting populations but clearly did not lead to extirpation or extinction

sustainable fishing

• herring fishing amongst the Coast Salish to manage populations which were more abundant

• kelp gardens to keep population high but still harvesting more than enough food

  • managed kelp gardens to catch large amounts of fish

  • did not harvest all roe or all fish

• can help to show levels of fish prior to colonial over fishing and more sustainable practices

• more sustainable practices for herring

agriculture and hunting

• agriculture creates new niches

• deer, rabbits, rodents, birds

• greater exploitation of garden attracted animals

• agriculture may have led to loss of habitat for other animals or groups of people

social elements of hunting

• humans hunt primarily in groups, which allows for killing of larger prey or more animals

• hunting is a social activity

• whole animal butchering could indicate resource stress but may see only high valued parts being taken back to other locations

• hunting may be gained social status

• can determine which parts are more valued and who gets them

• after domestication hunting moves from necessity to prestige

seasonality

• when was a site occupied at the most basic level and for how long

• what were people’s subsistence strategy was (were they moving throughout the year to be nearer to ripening or spawning or just generally in season plant, or relying on stored goods throughout the year)

• seasonality can explain community organization - were people dispersing into smaller units during the winter or vice versa

• how were people exploiting the environment throughout the year

• how much food they were harvesting or growing

how do archaeologists study seasonality

• generally food remains most helpful - most reflective of actual seasons and what people had access to

• zooarchaeology better paleoethnobotonay

  • plant resources more storable than animal resources

  • any plant can be stored for a long time, so finding these resources is not necessarily indicative of the time a year a site was occupied since it is much easier to transport dried plants

• animal resources can be stored for a long period of time as well, but you are generally not transporting the bones to the next site, so it is less likely for archaeologists to recover the bones

seasonality and paleoethnobotany

• how do we use food resources to study seasonality

• ripening schedule most important with plants

• storability and processing of plant

• general storage patterns and movement patterns

• you would need to know the above to analyze the past

• good to know how frequently people were moving their camps

• these questions make determining seasonality from plant remains difficult but not impossible to determine a lot more variables at play, this is why animal remains can be better

shawnee minisink, hawthorn plums, seasonality

•Shawnee Minisink is located in the Upper Delaware Valley

•Large Paleoindian (14,000 to 11,000 years ago) encampment

•Hearth contained numerous Hawthorn plum pits dating to approximately 13,000 years ago

•Assumed to be fall encampment for Hawthorn plum and maybe fish or shellfish harvesting

animals and seasonality

•although seasonality can be determined from plants in some cases you need to be more careful when using it becaus there are many more factors that can go into the seasonality of an occupation - especially when agriculture is introduced - many more factors come into play when determining seasonality

Stored meat unlikely to be transported on the bone, so animals present less of an issue

AND

•Many animals produce growth structures that vary by season

•Cementum on teeth

•Seasonal Growth Structures

•Mollusk Shells Growth Increments

•Juvenile growth patterns

•Migrations

Dental cementum

• method for determining the season in which an animal was killed is to examine the dental cemetum

•Anchors tooth into root

•Deposited throughout lifetime with different seasonal growth rates

•Similar to tree rings

•Wider bands in warmer months, narrower in colder months

•Thin sectioned, stained and examined under high powered microscope

seasonal growths

• some animals also produce seasonal growth structures besides cementum that can be used in determining seasonality of when an animal was killed

•Primarily Cervids

•Deer, elk, moose, caribou - deer shed their antlers in january or february after mating season

•Pronghorn too

•Growth and shedding highly scheduled by the season

•Examine frontal bones for antler development stages

mollusk and shellfish

• analysis is based on primary data such as the taxonomic attribution of the animals in the study assemblage, the number of taxa present (richness), the anatomical portions represented, NISP, weight, measurements, modifcations

•Little to know preparation

•Need to be careful older shells or shells in acidic soils do not disintegrate

•Identify using reference collections and manuals

•Series of standardized measurements

•Can be correlated to growth rates and harvest patterns

mollusk shell growth pattern

•Some mollusk species grow similar to trees

growth inderminate meaning never stop growing until dead

oysters bad because no growth structures but often found with attached parasitic snail which can be used; these structures are laid down incrementally

•Clams, scallops, snails

•Ways to determine seasonality

•Examining incremental growth structures under microscope

•Size

•Isotopic analysis

• growth is not constant - responds to tidal, daily seasonal, and annual rhythms, stress

fish otoliths

•Fish ear growths (aragonitic ear structures)

•Distinctive and identifiable to fish species

•Grow seasonally in fish

•Can be used to determine age

•Age profiles also useful in determining harvest patterns and population stress

•Also changes in climate/environment

juvenile maturity

•Animals that only produce one litter a year

•Growth is usually regular in first year

•Teeth eruptions

•Epiphyseal fusion

migration patterns

•Many economically important birds migrate throughout the year

•Ducks, geese, swans, passenger pigeons etc.

•Presence can help to indicate season

seasonality and sedentism

•Can use seasonality to determine degree of sedentism

•Differential relationship with and impacts on environment

•Year-round occupation may extract larger toll on local environment

•More mobile less extractive

seasonal resource usage

•Seasonality, foodways, and inequality

•Seasonal slaughter patterns in Colonial society

•Urban vs rural meat distribution

•Greater reliance on wild species in rural areas than urban

•Distribution changes seasonally

seasonal ceremonialism

•Shell mounds and heaps common along Atlantic and Pacific Coast

•Probably constructed seasonally

•Many over thousands of years

•Marked important places and times of seasonal gahtering

seasonality and inequality

•Urban vs rural meat distribution

•Greater reliance on wild species in rural areas than urban

•More wealth in urban areas at this time

•Not just urban vs rural

•Fish in Philadelphia

•Seasonality at Mississippian sites

seasonal resource stress

•Resource variability season-to-season can be seen archaeologically

•Bone fracture patterns in Norse Greenland vs Norse Iceland

•Greater extraction of marrow and bone grease in Greenland

•Could be tied to seasonal resource availability

seasonality and environmental reconstruction

•Incremental growth structures can record environmental change

•Oxygen isotopes and El Niño

•Oxygen isotopes recorded in fish and shellfish incremental growth structures in Peru

•Used to determine onset of El Niño

•Linked to rise of formative cultures

aquaculture

•Intentional cultivation of shellfish and fish

•Primarily shellfish like mussels, clams, and oysters

•Measured through changes to shell size

•Or lack of change

domestication in animals

•Selection of genetic, morphological or behavioral traits beneficial to humans

•Also human control over breeding and survival of domesticated species

•Humans also own these animals and familiarize themselves with them

•Continuum not a dichotomy

•Managed populations

•Tame animals

•Mutualistic relationship

•Both parties benefit from the relationship

animal vs plant domestication

•Behavior most important factor in animals domestication

•Resource potential probably most important in plants

•Some animals cannot be domesticated

•All plants in theory could probably be domesticated

morphological and genetic selection

•Smaller brain size=dumber

•Shorter limb length=can’t run as far

•Fatter=more food resources, also linked to shorter limbs and increased sedentism/lack of mobility

•Grow and reproduce more quickly

•Changes to coat color and growth

•Reduced or absent horns and tusks=less dangerous

•Neoteny=cuter and less dangerous

genetic evidence for domestication

•Tracing when and where animals first domesticated

•Reconstruct genome of both wild and domesticated versions of animals

•Often find multiple domestication events

•Dogs

pathways to domestication

commensal pathway

•Animals attracted to human settlements for refuse scavenging or other hunting opportunities

•Eventually develop mutually beneficial, close social and economic relationship

•Two Examples: Dogs and Cats

commensal pathway: dog

•Dogs are the original and only preagricultural domesticate

•Tamer or more outcast wolves likely attracted to human settlements for food scraps

•Provide protection, companionship, and cleanup for people, eventually more tame and cuter animals selected

commensal pathway: cat

•Cats domesticated around 10,000 years ago

•Probably attracted to mice in villages attracted agricultural surplus

•Debate over level of domestication in cats

•Not as severe changes to cranial morphology

•Feral cat populations booming

•Maybe only semi-domesticated

Prey pathway

•Most major livestock species

•Human initiated management from prey populations

•Shift from hunting to managing herds (selected hunting) to control of breeding

•Behavior is a large factor in domestication of these animals

prey pathway: goats

•Domesticated in the Near East (Zagros Mountains) or Anatolia

•Likely transitioned from just prey to being herded 12-13000 years ago with managed hunting

•People likely had genetic impact from the management even before morphological changes appeared

Directed pathway

•Latest pathway exploited by people, probably after other domesticates used or even on domesticated species

•Focused on secondary and work resources

•Actively managing and selective breeding of species with directed goal likely

•None of the tradition morphological markers are found in directed pathways

directed pathway: horses

•Domesticated on Eurasian Steppe multiple times

•No clear morphological changes

•No clear age or sex selection patterns either

•Wild horses likely captured and tamed and bred for specific traits

farming without domestication

•Shellfish, especially oysters

•Sterile

•Dependent on humans for protection

•Farmed

•But are they domesticated?

•Deer herd domestication/farming

why domestication

•allowed for people to be able to obtain

Primary Products

•Meat, blood, fat, hides, horns

•Secondary Products:

•Milk, Wool, Feathers, Eggs, Dung

•Work:

•Pull/Carry Plow, Cart, Load, Person

primary product domestication

•Goats: Meat (also milk but primarily meat)

•Cows (?): meat during prey pathway phase of domestication for some species

•Sheep (?): likely meat during the prey pathway phase of domestication

•Pig: Meat

•Fowl(?): Maybe meat at first but also eggs

secondary product domestication

•Sheep(?): Wool during direct pathway phase of domestication

•Cows (?): Milk during direct pathway phase of domestication

•Alpaca: Fur coat (although also some meat)

•Turkey (?): Eggs and feathers may have been primary reason but also meat

•Other fowls (?): Eggs likely important domestication factor

work

•Dogs: Hunting, sled pulling, protection

•Cats: Protection of stored grain

•Llamas: Probably meat originally but important for load carrying at certain points

•Horses: Transportation, Plowing

•Cows: Plowing (during direct pathway phase of domestication)

archaeological signals of domestication

•Direct:
• Bone changes in the shape and proportion of some skull traits
• Body size changes as humans select for growth rates, proportion
• Age and sex proportions in herd

•Indirect:
• Architecture: corrals, sheds, fodder storage
• Soil changes: the archaeology of dung
• Context: burials of whole animals, artistic renderings of animals
controlled by humans

pastoralism

•Many animal domestications linked to agriculture/plant domestication

•But not all!

•Pastoralism= raising animals in without use of agriculture, generally highly mobile

Pastoralism Environmental Impact

•Extirpation of wild species to make room for pastoral animals

•Expansion of grasslands and desertification(?)

•Not as severe as agriculture though

agricultural expansion and animals

•Domesticated animals played large role in expansion of agriculture

•Increase in arable land

•Field clearance

•Transportation

•Fertilizer and Fuel

•Animals encouraging plant domestication

•Llama and potatoes and quinoa

food security

•Domesticated animals did increase food security

•Milk and eggs especially

•But also meat

•Age and sex profiles key in looking for secondary resource importance

•Also can see status through distribution of animal parts

disease transfer

•Domesticated animals are major pathway of disease into humans

•Tuberculosis

•Brucellosis

•Small Pox

how is global warming created

•Livestock major source of greenhouse gas emissions

•Cows and other livestock produce methane largely emitted by belching

•Also being fed farmed products

•Farming is also major greenhouse gas source

global warming and shellfish

•Shellfish farming can help combat global warming and pollution

•Sequester carbon

•Little to no carbon emission

•Habitat protection

•Clean up waters

geoarchaeology

•Stratigraphy and Pedogenesis

•Environmental Reconstruction and Human Impacts

•Climate Change

•Meaning in the environment

•Sourcing Studies

•Trade and movement

•Remote Sensing

•Landscape Modification

paleoethnobotany

•Seeds and Nuts

•Domestication

•Wood charcoal and Dung

•Forest and land management practices

•Microbotanical remains

•Environmental Reconstruction

•Missing food pieces

•Agricultural field relocation

zooarchaeology

•Hunting

•Overhunting and resource management

•Domestication

•Land impacts

•Adverse affects

•Seasonality

•Sedentism

•Inequality

•Environmental reconstruction

what can we learn by combining methods

•Reconstructing foodways and daily practice

•Habitus

•Foodways and impact on environment

•Environmental reconstruction and human impacts

•Climate change or people changing climate?

•Modern impacts

habitus

•Sociological concept comprising socially engrained habits, skills, conceptions, practices etc.

•That which we take for granted or assume to be true because of our background

•Agency back to people but assumed norms

daily practices

•Why focus on routine practices surrounding food in particular?

•Daily practices more likely to shape environment or landscape

•Small scale events pile up for big impact

•And more closely related to environmental perceptions

foodways reconstruction

•Subsistence farming economies centered around food production

•Even true in societies with more craft specialization

•Biggest impact on environmental systems is food production

•Definitely in the past

•Still partially true today too

foodways reconstruction

•Production

•Agricultural fields and pasture lands

•Geoarchaeology- field locations, size and structure

•Paleoethnobotany- what was being grown, what was replaced

•Zooarchaeology- what animals were being raised

•Wild resources too!

•Processing and storage

•Mostly on rooftops or away from homes

•Storage at household, not for full year

•Cooking

•Conducted at household level

•Varied by season

combined envrionmental reconstruction

•Can be done with just one method

•Geoarchaeology: flood regimes, coastline change, other climate proxies

•Paleoethnobotany: plant community reconstruction, fire regimes

•Zooarchaeology: Faunal community reconstructions, incremental growth structures

•More powerful when combined!

yellow river valley

•Tracking environmental change in region over 6,000+ year period

•Changes in dynastic rule often attributed to environmental factors

•But environmental change in region was almost wholly anthropogenic

•Site/local-8000-5000 years ago

•Changing landcover

•Tied to swidden agriculture and millet production

•Eventually caused increased flooding in region

•Tributary/regional→ 5000 to 2200 BP

•River basin wide → 2200-2000 years ago onward

archaeology and the modern world

•Is archaeology for archaeology’s sake still viable in the modern world?

•If not, what can archaeology contribute to the modern world?

archaeology and the experience economy

•Archaeology still of interest to people in the modern world

•But not the sides of archaeology we wish were!

•Discipline needs to cater more toward public interests than academic ones

•Extreme example although not entirely wrong

•Depends on how you define the public

what else can archaeology contribute

•Understanding human-environment interactions!

•In the past and present

•Food security

•Long-term environmental and landcover change

food insecurity

•Food insecurity=insufficient food resource, linked to persistent poverty

•Common narrative focuses on climate

•Primarily drought

•Actual causes are colonialism and global economic systems

bali and green revolution

•Complex system of rise paddies dictating when to plant and harvest rice

•Guided by Water Temple system

•Abandoned by Indonesian during Green Revolution

•Led to massive crop failure

•Return to system has led to return to improved yields

indigenous agricultural systems

•Traditional, Indigenous farming systems more sustainable than modern farming methods

•Locally adapted

•More diverse diets

•Improve food security

•Improve biodiversity

•Only 10 million hectares worldwide

•Archaeology can help reestablish these practices where lost

raised fields

•Raised fields in Lake Titicaca basin completely abandoned after

•Food insecurity very high in region

•Reconstructed raised fields averaged about 2.5x more potatoes per year than average

three sisters productivity

•Historical accounts document 40 bushels of maize per acre

•European farmers similar yields by the 1950s

•Experimental results found 50-75 bushels may be more accurate

•Not to mention beans and squash!

•Archaeology can help map these systems and show other foods

archaeology and environmental reconstruction

•Improving scale of environmental reconstructions

•Smaller time and areal scale

•Good for areas with limited environmental proxies

•Can better input human impacts into these systems

•Environmental change vs human impact on environment

•Needed to help model future change

landcover change and people

•Mapping land cover change globally

•Human induced landcover change

•Agriculture, pastoralism, etc.

•Landcover changes affect environment on global scale

•Reduced or increased biodiversity

•Water and Air Quality

•Climate through land-atmosphere interactions

defining the anthropocene

•Generally tied to Industrial Revolution

•Highly Eurocentric

•Archaeology complicates this picture

•“Wherever humans have trodden, the natural environ- ment is somehow different, sometimes in barely perceptible ways, sometimes in dramatic ways"

secondary product revolution

• people started using animals for secondary products

• strayed away from only primary uses