Jan F. Simek

Mousterian fires from Grotte XVI (Dordogne, France)

A new study from the Dordogne decisively identifies and confirms the use of fires in a Mousterian context; and the thick ashy deposit, identified as the remains of burnt lichen, clarifies the real nature of those distinctive deposits, known from other sites of the era.

Integrating pattern and context in spatial archaeology

Traditional approaches to intrasite spatial analysis in archaeology have concentrated on identifying associations among classes of artifacts over a site surface. This focus has tended to ignore the possible effects of contextual constraints on inter-class relationships, for example the “gravity effects” of hearth features on object deposition. Consequently, sets of co-occurring artifact classes defined in space are usually ascribed behavioural significance as “tool kits”, even though they may represent unrelated objects simply discarded into the same spatial location. This paper attempts to illustrate this problem through contextual integration of artifact and feature distributions. Quantitative methods are employed to carry out contextual spatial analysis of artifact distributions from the Upper Palaeolithic rockshelter site Le Flageolet I (Dordogne, France). Results indicate that associations among artifact classes in space might be constrained by feature locations at Le Flageolet I and that contextual interpretations are warranted for the observed inter-class relations.

Interpreting Spatial Patterns at the Grotte XV

Since the early 1970s the analysis of the spatial distribution of artifacts has been an important research concern for many archaeologists. In particular, techniques for mathematically defining spatial patterns within archaeological sites have received much attention. Methods employed to investigate spatial patterning were selected because of a priori notions concerning the primary cause of the patterning. Thus anticipated interpretations determined the technique used to examine the patterns, and explanation was in some ways predetermined.

Arms Too Short to Box with God

The 1980s have witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of published prehistories proporting to explain events that occurred in Europe during the Upper Pleistocene. These prehistories usually comprise models for how the Paleolithic record was formed. In constructing these models, several theoretical positions have been invoked to provide interpretive frameworks. But nearly all recent prehistories, regardless of approach, are phrased exclusively in terms of past human behavior. Rarely do they take into account the myriad nonbehavioral and historical factors that might have contributed to patterns observed today in the Paleolithic record. In this chapter, we discuss some of the generative processes that make European Paleolithic data problematic for the reconstruction of past behavioral events; furthermore, we suggest that Paleolithic archaeologists resist the urge to interpret the record using behavioral models before assessing other formation processes.

The context of early southeastern prehistoric cave art : A report on the archaeology of 3rd unnamed cave

In the deep recesses of 3rd Unnamed Cave, a karst cavern in Tennessee, evidence for an ancient association between dark zone cave art and chert mining has recently been documented, The art comprises petroglyphs on the ceiling of a chamber more than 1 km from the cave entrance. On the floor below the art, natural sediments were excavated prehistorically to obtain high-quality chert nodules. Radiocarbon age determinations place the mining during the Terminal Archaic period. Studies in lithic technology, geoarchaeology, and petroglyph description are presented.

Partitioning chi-square for the analysis of frequency table data: an archaeological application

Abstract Archaeologists often wish to compare observed frequency distributions with expectations generated by a model. We describe a technique of partitioning chisquare which yields information about goodness of fit to a model and about homogeneity among populations simultaneously, and which is often superior to other commonly used methods of evaluating frequency data. The technique is demonstrated with data from the Upper Paleolithic rockshelter Le Flageolet I. The results suggest selective raw material use by the Aurignacian occupants.

PREHISTORIC ROCK ART FROM PAINTED BLUFF AND THE LANDSCAPE OF NORTH ALABAMA ROCK ART

Abstract Painted Bluff in northern Alabama is one of the richest and most elaborate open-air rock art localities in the Eastern Woodlands, rivaling some of the Southeast’s dark zone cave art sites discovered over the past several decades. Known for more than a century, the site has never seen detailed documentation until now. Painted Bluff contains motifs similar to iconography associated with Mississippian ceremonial objects, and a radiocarbon age determination (cal A.D. 1300–1440) would indicate contemporary use of the site. More than 80 images were painted on the cliffs, most using red mineral pigments but some reflecting polychromatic use of differently colored minerals. We present examples of the Painted Bluff artwork and discuss the site in the broader context of prehistoric rock art on the southern Cumberland Plateau and in northern Alabama.

Sacred landscapes of the south-eastern USA: prehistoric rock and cave art in Tennessee

Systematic field exploration in Tennessee has located a wealth of new rock art�some deep in caves, some in the open air. The authors show that these have a different repertoire and use of colour, and a different distribution in the landscape�the open sites up high and the caves down low. The landscape has been reorganised on cosmological terms by the pre-Columbian societies. This research offers an exemplary rationale for reading rock art beyond the image and the site.

1st unnamed cave : a Mississippian period cave art site in east Tennessee, USA

The well-protected walls and floors of deep caves are some of the few places where human markings on soft materials — sands, muds, clays — survive archaeologically. Since 1979, a special group of caves in the eastern United States has been reported with ‘mud-glyphs’ or prehistoric drawings etched in wet mud. Here, the seventh of these mud-glyph caves is described; once again, its iconography connects it to the ‘Southern Cult’ or ‘Southeast Ceremonial Complex’ of the Mississippian period.

FIRST REPORTED SAMPLES FROM THE RADIOCARBON LABORATORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE CENTER FOR ARCHAEOMETRY AND GEOCHRONOLOGY : DATES FROM THE MCCROSKY ISLAND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE (40SV43), SEVIER COUNTY, TENNESSEE, USA

This study presents the results of archaeological samples submitted for dating at the recently constructed University of Tennessee Center for Archaeometry and Geochronology (UTCAG) radiocarbon dating laboratory (Knoxville, Tennessee, USA). The samples selected for this initial study were obtained from excavations at the McCrosky Island site (40SV43) in Sevier County, Tennessee, USA. Three of the samples dated were split between the UTCAG laboratory and another laboratory to assess the UTCAG laboratory protocols. In an effort to further validate the laboratory methods employed, several other samples were submitted without prior knowledge of contextual data. The dates obtained for these samples were then compared to their association with recovered artifacts and/or archaeological context.