Christopher S. Peebles

Some Archaeological Correlates of Ranked Societies

The evolutionary stage designated chiefdom or ranked society is examined for its utility in archaeological research. The concept of redistribution is abandoned as an indicator of chiefdoms. A cybernetic model of chiefdoms is presented, and measures of mortuary differentiation, ritual-regulatory networks, subsistence autonomy, and part-time craft specialization are proposed as indicators of this type of socio-political organization.

Mound Construction Chronology at Angel Mounds Episodic Mound Construction and Ceremonial Events

Abstract Mound F was the second-largest platform mound at Angel Mounds (12Vg1), a Mississippian town in southwestern Indiana. It consisted of a simple truncated pyramid shape, but excavations in 1939–1942 and 1964–1965 revealed at least two platforms that once contained buildings buried within it. Each of these mounds and buildings were successively larger than the preceding. The first platform mound (informally known as the inner mound) was <1 m high and include at least two buildings. Thatch from one building yielded a 14C age of 900 B.P. Other 14C ages indicated that the inner mound was buried ca. 750 B.P. when a second ca. 2 m high platform (informally known as the primary mound) was built. Features and structural elements from a large, multichambered building on this surface yield 14C ages between 680 and 530 B.P. A final ca. 3–4 m mound (informally known as the secondary mound) was built over the Primary Mound soon after 530 B.P. No building was found on the secondary mound’s upper platform. Compared to other earthworks at Angel Mounds, the building on the inner mound platform is among the earliest recorded. It also corresponds with the initial construction of Mound A, which implies that earthwork construction was among the first community tasks undertaken after the site was founded. Unlike Mound A, the vast majority of which was constructed during one episode, Mound F indicates multiple construction and use phases. Each of these probably reflected a significant ceremonial or community event, the final of which may have been part of a “ceremonial closing” of the site.

High performance computing: delivering valuable and valued services at colleges and universities

Supercomputers were once regarded as being of very limited use - of interest to a very few national centers and used by a small fraction of researchers at any given university. As scientific research becomes more and more dependent upon management and analysis of massive amounts of data, advances in human knowledge will become increasingly dependent upon use of high performance computers and parallel programming techniques. Indiana University has undergone a transformation over the past four years, during which the capacity, use, and number of users of High Performance Computing (HPC) systems has dramatically increased. HPC systems are widely viewed as valuable to the scholarly community of Indiana University - even by those researchers who do not use parallel programming techniques. Economies of scale and vendor partnerships have enabled Indiana University to amass significant HPC systems. Carefully implemented strategies in delivery of consulting support have expanded the use of parallel programming techniques. Such techniques are of critical value to advancement of human knowledge in many disciplines, and it is now possible for any institution of higher education to provide some sort of parallel computing resource for education and research.