Elizabeth J. Reitz

Geoarchaeological Evidence from Peru for a 5000 Years B.P. Onset of El Niño

For the tropical west coast of South America, where El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is most pronounced, archaeological and associated paleontological deposits in northern Peru revealed a major climate change at about 5000 years before the present (yr B.P.). The data implied the presence of stable, warm tropical water as far south as 10°S during the early mid-Holocene (about 8000 to 5000 yr B.P.). These data suggest that ENSO did not occur for some millennia preceding 5000 yr B.P., when global and regional climate was warmer than today.

Case Studies in Environmental Archaeology

to Environmental Archaeology.- Environmental Archaeology and Historical Archaeology.- Historical Perspectives On Timbisha Shoshone Land Management Practices Death Valley California.- The Physical Environment and Environmental Change.- Geoarchaeology and Archaeostratigraphy View from a Northwest Coast Shell Midden.- Anatomy of a Southwest Florida Sand Burial Mound Smith Mound at the Pineland Site Complex.- Archaeozoology Art Documents and the Life Assemblage.- Using Land Snails and Freshwater Mussels to Chart Human Transformation of the Landscape an Example from North Mississippi U.S.A.- Climate Change and Archaeology: The Holocene History Of El Nino On The Coast Of Peru.- Human Ecology.- Living on the Margins: Biobehavioral Adaptations in the Western Great Basin.- Pathoecology of Two Ancestral Pueblo Villages.- Nutritional Constraints and Mobility Patterns of Hunter-Gatherers in the Northern Chihuahuan Desert.- Developing Models of Settlement for the Florida Gulf Coast.- Reconstructing Subsistence in the Lowland Tropics A Case Study from the Jama River Valley Manabi Ecuador.- What Seasonal Diet at a Fort Ancient Community Reveals About Coping Mechanisms.- Game Procurement among Temperate Horticulturists The Case for Garden Hunting by the Dolores Anasazi.- The Emergence of Maize Farming in Northwest Mexico.- Social and Economic Strategies.- Meat Consumption and Bone Use in a Mississippian Village.- Who Ate What? Archaeological Food Remains and Cultural Diversity.- Seasonal Slaughter Cycles and Urban Food Supply in the Colonial Chesapeake.- Crop Husbandry Practices in North Americas Eastern Woodlands.- Pets and Camp Followers in the West Indies.

Investigating the Global Dispersal of Chickens in Prehistory Using Ancient Mitochondrial DNA Signatures

Data from morphology, linguistics, history, and archaeology have all been used to trace the dispersal of chickens from Asian domestication centers to their current global distribution. Each provides a unique perspective which can aid in the reconstruction of prehistory. This study expands on previous investigations by adding a temporal component from ancient DNA and, in some cases, direct dating of bones of individual chickens from a variety of sites in Europe, the Pacific, and the Americas. The results from the ancient DNA analyses of forty-eight archaeologically derived chicken bones provide support for archaeological hypotheses about the prehistoric human transport of chickens. Haplogroup E mtDNA signatures have been amplified from directly dated samples originating in Europe at 1000 B.P. and in the Pacific at 3000 B.P. indicating multiple prehistoric dispersals from a single Asian centre. These two dispersal pathways converged in the Americas where chickens were introduced both by Polynesians and later by Europeans. The results of this study also highlight the inappropriate application of the small stretch of D-loop, traditionally amplified for use in phylogenetic studies, to understanding discrete episodes of chicken translocation in the past. The results of this study lead to the proposal of four hypotheses which will require further scrutiny and rigorous future testing.

Vertebrate Fauna and Socioeconomic Status

One of the problems that can be addressed through analysis of data from an archaeological deposit is the identification of the socioeconomic status of the site’s previous occupants. Since many historic sites lack information on the identity of the previous occupants, reliance must be placed upon the excavated remains themselves for clues of socioeconomic status. Consequently archaeologists have been delineating characteristics that will serve to identify the socioeconomic status of the former occupants from archaeological data. To define status markers from faunal remains, it is necessary to recognize that the contents of trash deposits have been subjected to a variety of biasing influences. However, in historical archaeology little attention has been paid to factors that influence faunal deposits other than socioeconomic status. In a discussion of socioeconomic status and faunal assemblages, variables that affect the deposition and survival of bones, as well as those that influence the human choices that produced those deposits, should be considered. These variables may be roughly divided into those that affect the survival of bones, those that affect the recovery and interpretation of faunal deposits, and those that affect choice of foodstuffs. When data available from plantations on the Atlantic coastal plain are studied with these variables in mind, it can be seen that more work needs to be done before the influence of socioeconomic status can be determined from vertebrate faunal remains.

Fishing down the food web : A case study from St. Augustine, Florida, USA

Comparing zooarchaeological data for Native American, Spanish, and British occupations with modern fisheries data from St. Johns County, Florida (USA) shows differences in the use of marine resources from 1450 B.C. through A.D. 2000. Changes in biomass contribution, diversity, types of fishes used, and trophic levels of sharks, rays, and bony fishes suggest that the pattern described as “fishing down marine food webs” (Pauly et al. 1998) may have been present in the St. Johns County area as early as the eighteenth century. A change in the size and growth habits of Atlantic croaker (Sciaenidae: Micropogonias undulatus) occurred early in this sequence, indicating an impact on this specific fish. However, overharvesting of fishes is not the only explanation for these observations. Climate and cultural changes are additional explanations for the patterns observed that should receive closer attention. Exploring these alternative explanations is made possible by a zooarchaeological record that permits us to study fishing habits and fish behavior before large-scale industrial fishing began.

Urban/Rural Contrasts in Vertebrate Fauna From the Southern Atlantic Coastal Plain

A review of archaeological faunal data from urban and rural settings on the southern Atlantic coastal plain indicates that contrasts in these collections reflect the urban or non-urban setting of each site within this natural setting. These contrasts may be seen in the data despite probable differences in socioeconomic status of the sites’ occupants. Apparently, urban households consumed more meat from domestic animals than did rural households, regardless of social status. Rural faunal deposits are more diverse than urban ones and contained large amounts of fish instead of domestic animals. Data for this analysis are taken from 16 archaeological sites excavated at Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; St. Simons Island, Georgia; and elsewhere on the Georgia coast. The combined samples contained 1576 individuals from sites occupied between the mid-18th century and the mid-19th century.

Historical changes in age and growth of Atlantic croaker, Micropogonias undulatus (Perciformes: Sciaenidae)

Abstract Archaeological excavations near St Augustine, Florida, U.S.A. recovered 415 otoliths from Atlantic croaker, Micropogonias undulatus (Perciformes: Sciaenidae), which were caught by Native American and Hispanic peoples living in the area. Age determination using growth increments of otoliths and correlated size information were used to construct size distributions, age distributions, growth rates and season of capture. During a 3000 year time span, coastal Indians captured Atlantic croaker 1–10 years old ranging from about 13–39 cm total length. Marginal increments of otoliths revealed that most fish were caught from January to May, during or shortly after the period of annulus formation. Numbers and size ranges of otoliths in each archaeological sample were quite small, suggesting that Indian fishing was probably done by individuals or small groups. Gears and methods used by Indians were selective for small, young croaker or were inefficient in areas where large fish occurred. The absence of large, old croaker and nearshore coastal species in Prehispanic collections suggest that Indians fished predominantly in the estuary. Spanish interaction with coastal Indian tribes resulted in changes in the size and age composition of the Atlantic croaker catch. Post-contact, older (up to 15 years) and larger (up to 46 cm, tip of the jaw to the end of the caudal fin—TL) croaker formed a large portion (> 30%) of the catch, suggesting that fishing effort was more extensive throughout estuaries and nearshore coastal waters and may have employed other gears and methods. Marginal increments of otoliths suggest that fishing occurred primarily in winter and spring but may have extended year-round. Comparing information from these collections with modern studies indicates that age and growth of Atlantic croaker have changed dramatically, perhaps in response to exploitation or habitat alteration. In earlier centuries, Atlantic croaker grew more slowly, perhaps an indication of density-dependent growth, and lived much longer (15 years versus 7 years). Differences in age and size class composition of Prehispanic, First Spanish Period, and modern catches are consistent with those of a species whose rates of exploitation have increased. Future research of environmental conditions and the biology of Atlantic croaker and other fishes during these early periods may provide explanations for the dramatic changes in the biology of Atlantic croaker observed in this study.

Chapter 2 – Mid-Holocene climate and culture change in coastal Peru

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the history of study and the current status of Mid-Holocene climatic and cultural change along the Peruvian coast, with a focus on major transitions at ca. 5800 and 3000 cal yr BP that correlate temporally with changes in El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) frequency. It begins with presenting the Peruvian archaeological record of Holocene El Nino frequency variation, considering several hypotheses to explain the data. Based on the archaeological record, it is concluded that for some time prior to 5800 years ago, the coast of Peru, north of 10°S latitude, was characterized by permanent warm water. From these data, it is hypothesized that El Nino did not operate for some period before 5800 cal yr BP; after that time, conditions as essentially the same as today were seen. Present-day climatic variability on interannual time scales in the tropics is dominated by ENSO, which involves both the atmosphere and the ocean in the tropical Pacific (e.g., Maasch, in press). Through teleconnections, extratropical climatic variability on these time scales is also impacted by ENSO. Continuous natural Holocene paleoclimate archives from northern Peru, Ecuador, and the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean are difficult to find, privileging anthropogenic deposits from archaeological sites. Although precisely dating these records is difficult, climatic change determined from them is consistent. The regional paleoclimate records are presented.

What Are We Measuring in the Zooarchaeological Record of Prehispanic Fishing Strategies in the Georgia Bight, USA?

ABSTRACT People promote environmental change through behaviors such as habitat alteration and over-exploitation; they adapt to environmental changes for which they are not responsible; and they implement cultural changes that may be either causes or consequences of local environmental conditions. Thus, communities and populations could be impacted by interactions and feedbacks to stimuli and responses of both anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic origin. Given the complexity of these phenomena, many archaeologists and ecologists focus on one or two variables. Due to growing interest in the long-term historical record offered by archaeological data, it is timely to pose the question: “What are we measuring in the zooarchaeological record of fishing strategies?” Our answer is that we are measuring interrelated social and ecological patterns and processes influencing long-term social and ecological dynamics. We demonstrate the complexity of these measurements with a case study focusing on zooarchaeological data that show a trend for increasing diversity and decreasing mean trophic level in fishes between 2500 BC to AD 1565 in the Georgia Bight (USA). The conceptual framework we follow identifies gaps in our knowledge that limit our ability to distinguish between correlations and causal factors underlying this trend; but the framework itself enables us to clearly identify weaknesses that need to be resolved in order to explain the trends themselves.

Zooarchaeological analysis of a free African community: Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose

Vertebrate remains from Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, near St. Augustine, Florida, provide a unique opportunity to examine African foodways at what may have been the first legally sanctioned, free, African town within the boundaries of what today is the United States of America. The collection contained 28,592 bones and an estimated 281 individuals. When data from Mose are compared to those from the nearby Nombre de Dios Native American village, it is clear that the refuse from Mose contained a higher percentage of domestic animals than did Native American refuse, although the subsistence strategies practiced by each group were similar in other respects. Compared to residents of St. Augustine, the people at Mose may have used less domestic meat. Slaves on coastal plantations later had greater access to domestic meat than did the residents of Mose and St. Augustine. These data suggest a high degree of self-sufficiency at Mose.