C. Britt Bousman

Hunter-Gatherer Adaptations, Economic Risk and Tool Design

The purpose of this essay is to explore why huntergatherers develop and change their techno-logical strategies, and to determine if we, as archaeologists, can make more sense out of the observations we so fondly make on prehistoric stone tools. I present a series of relationships that are used to construct a general hypothetical model about the technological propensities employed by hunter-gatherers, and suggest some observations that could be made on stone tools for ultimately testing these hypotheses. Detailed and rigorous tests of these models cannot be presented in this paper, but a first approximately has been attempted (Bousman 1991). This essay should be viewed as a preliminary exploratory effort at hypothesis building, and rigorous proofs must wait.

The Chronological Evidence for the Introduction of Domestic Stock into Southern Africa

This essay reviews radiocarbon dates associated with the earliest evidence of domestic stock in southern Africa and reviews existing models for their introduction in light of the current evidence. Two primary models exist for the introduction of domestic stock into southern Africa: an early Khoisan wave and an Early Iron Age source. Neither model is completely supported by the evidence. Available chronological evidence suggests that Khoisan and Iron Age herders simultaneously ushered domestic stock into the northern and eastern regions of southern Africa. Early Iron Age groups in southern Zambia are likely external sources. Khoisan herders exclusively introduced domestic stock into Namibia and the Cape. However, in the northern and eastern regions of southern Africa, stock possession and transfers probably were complex and involved both Khoisan and Iron Age groups.

First hominine remains from a ~1.0 million year old bone bed at Cornelia-Uitzoek, Free State Province, South Africa

We report here on evidence of early Homo around 1.0 Ma (millions of years ago) in the central plains of southern Africa. The human material, a first upper molar, was discovered during the systematic excavation of a densely-packed bone bed in the basal part of the sedimentary sequence at the Cornelia-Uitzoek fossil vertebrate locality. We dated this sequence by palaeomagnetism and correlated the bone bed to the Jaramillo subchron, between 1.07 and 0.99 Ma. This makes the specimen the oldest southern African hominine remains outside the dolomitic karst landscapes of northern South Africa. Cornelia-Uitzoek is the type locality of the Cornelian Land Mammal Age. The fauna contains an archaic component, reflecting previous biogeographic links with East Africa, and a derived component, suggesting incipient southern endemism. The bone bed is considered to be the result of the bone collecting behaviour of a large predator, possibly spotted hyaenas. Acheulian artefacts are found in small numbers within the bone bed among the fossil vertebrates, reflecting the penecontemporaneous presence of people in the immediate vicinity of the occurrence. The hominine tooth was recovered from the central, deeper part of the bone bed. In size, it clusters with southern African early Homo and it is also morphologically similar. We propose that the early Homo specimen forms part of an archaic component in the fauna, in parallel with the other archaic faunal elements at Uitzoek. This supports an emergent pattern of archaic survivors in the southern landscape at this time, but also demonstrates the presence of early Homo in the central plains of southern Africa, beyond the dolomitic karst areas.

Paleoenvironmental change in central Texas : The palynological evidence

Analysis of pollen spectra from Boriack and Weakly bogs provides a 16,000 year sequence for central Texas. Fluctuations between grass and arboreal pollen indicate that numerous shifts between forest, woodland, and open plant communities occurred during this span. Open communities were present at the Last Glacial Maximum, and between 12,000-13,000 BP, 9000-10,000 BP, and 8000-2500 BP. A two-phased mid-Holocene dry interval occurred with extremes recorded at 6500 BP and 5000 BP. Examination of arboreal and grass pollen frequencies verifies that the structure of Pleistocene plant communities is not the same as Holocene communities; modern analogs may not exist for these Pleistocene communities. Comparisons between shifts in the fossil pollen assemblages and climatic simulations indicate that orbital parameters as well as glacial meltwater routing may have had important effects on past plant communities.

The Palaeoindian-Archaic transition in North America: new evidence from Texas

The transition from Palaeoindian to Archaic societies in North America is often viewed as a linear progression over a brief but time-transgressive period. New evidence from the Wilson-Leonard site in Texas suggests social experimentation by Palaeoindians over a 2500-year period eventually resulted in Archaic societies. The process was neither short nor linear, and the evidence shows that different but contemporaneous lifeways existed in a variety of locales in the south-central US in the Early Holocene.

The Holocene Phytolith Record from Morgan Playa in the Rolling Plains of Texas

Phytolith analyses of playa-fill sediments from Morgan Playa yield strong evidence for Holocene vegetation and climate change. Morgan Playa is located in the Rolling Plains of Garza County, north-central Texas. Backhoe excavation of the small (about 3.2 hectares) basin exposed 250 cm of Holocene age sediments. A strongly developed Early Holocene paleosol occurs at the base (205-250 cm) of the profile. Dark gray-brown, clayey playa sediments compose the upper 205 cm. A single bulk radiocarbon sample from 170-180 cm dating to 6840 +/- 140 yrs BP (Beta-48207) provides limited chronological control. Compositional changes in grass phytolith assemblages are used to define four bio-stratigraphic zones. Phytolith assemblages from the lowest zone, correlated with a paleosol, represent a mixed grass prairie. Climatic estimates derived from this zone suggest an annual temperature near present levels but significantly greater(+100 mm) annual precipitation than today. A transitional zone (145-205 cm) shows increase in warm-season short grasses (grama and buffalo grasses) and Aristida (three-awn). This change is associated with increasing aridity during the Middle Holocene. Warm-season short-grass phytoliths dominate the bulk of the profile (15-145 cm). Climatic estimates for this zone include both lower annual precipitation (-50 mm) and significantly higher (+3°C) annual temperatures than today. Reduction in short-grass phytolith percentages and an increase in phytolith percentages from cool-season grasses characterize the upper 15 cm of deposit. It is unclear whether this upper zone is the result of climate change or historic land use. The Morgan Playa record demonstrates the utility of phytolith analysis for inferring paleoclimatic change in a region where pollen analysis is unfruitful and unreliable.

Stable Carbon Isotopes from Archaic Human Remains in the Chihuahuan Desert and Central Texas

Abstract The distribution of δ13C values from human remains recovered in the eastern Chihuahuan Desert and central Texas demonstrates the existence of at least two distinct coeval dietary populations during the Early and Late Archaic. We employed a novel statistical technique, norma probability plots, to identify distinct dietary populations. δ13C values from one population in the Lower Pecos and Trans-Pecos regions of Texas reflect the long-term use of Chihuahuan Desert C4 and CAM plants. A second group, consisting of all the central Texas individuals and some individuals from the Lower Pecos, depended heavily on C3 plants more common in the Edwards Plateau or in the oak-pine forests in Mexico. The wide range of stable carbon isotope ratios from the Lower Pecos region of the eastern Chihuahuan Desert forces a reconsideration of hunter-gatherer settlement and social organization models proposed for that region. This study highlights the need to conduct more research on hunter-gatherer prehistoric diets and social organization.

Assigning Context to Artifacts in Burned-Rock Middens

Abstract Accumulations office-cracked rock and carbon-stained sediment in pits mark locations of past cooking and heating facilities around the world. While the specific functions of these features may vary, the use of stones as heating elements in earth ovens is common. After repeated use, debris in the form of fire-cracked stones, charcoal, ash, sediment, carbonized plant fragments, and other materials accumulates to form low mounds known in the U.S. Southern Plains and the Southwest as burned-rock middens. The middens may include artifacts some introduced inadvertently with sediment used to form an earthen cap to seal the pit oven. The sediment and included artifacts for this insulating cap may be borrowed from other parts of the site. After the cooking is complete, the earthen cap is peeled open and all materials redistributed by trampling and slope wash. Artifacts and other materials in burned-rock middens, therefore, may not represent discrete events or periods directly associated with use of the ovens.

Paleoindian Archaeology and the Index of Texas Archaeology

ABSTRACT The five-volume set of Wilson-Leonard reports and other Paleoindian studies are now available for download on the Index of Texas Archaeology (ITA). ITA is a part of Stephen F. Austin State University’s institutional repository, and provides searchable, regional cultural resource management reports in a pdf format through The Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress). Reports are indexed in CrossRef and Altmetric. These reports are easily located and downloaded in Google and Google Scholar without visiting the ITA site. All reports on ITA are open access, and thus available at no cost.

New radiocarbon dates and the herder occupation at Kasteelberg B, South Africa

Abstract The archaeological sequence at Kasteelberg B, in the Western Cape of South Africa, spans a millennium and covers several distinct occupational phases in the early pastoralist settlement history of the region. Attempts to understand that history through coordinating archaeological, linguistic and genetic evidence have proved problematic. The refined programme of radiocarbon dating presented here sheds further light on the different phases of occupation. More remarkably, it suggests, despite changes in material culture, the persistence of a single population over time, rather than population replacement as has been previously conjectured.