Jelmer W. Eerkens

Point Typologies, Cultural Transmission, and the Spread of Bow-and-Arrow Technology in the Prehistoric Great Basin

Decrease in projectile point size around 1350 B.P. is commonly regarded as marking the replacement of the atlatl by the bow and arrow across the Great Basin. The point typology most widely employed in the Great Basin before about 1980 (the Berkeley typology) uses weight to distinguish larger dart points from smaller, but similarly shaped, arrow points. The typology commonly used today (the Monitor typology) uses basal width to distinguish wide-based dart points from narrow-based arrow points. The two typologies are in general agreement except in central Nevada, where some dart points are light, hence incorrectly typed by the Berkeley typology, and in eastern California, where some arrow points are wide-based, hence incorrectly typed by the Monitor typology. Scarce raw materials and resharpening may explain why dart points are sometimes light in central Nevada. That arrow point basal width is more variable in eastern California than central Nevada likely reflects differences in the cultural processes attending the spread and subsequent maintenance of bow-and-arrow technology in these two localities.

Techniques for assessing standardization in artifact assemblages : Can we scale material variability?

The study of artifact standardization is an important line of archaeological inquiry that continues to be plagued by the lack of an independent scale that would indicate what a highly variable or highly standardized assemblage should look like. Related to this problem is the absence of a robust statistical technique for comparing variation between different kinds of assemblages. This paper addresses these issues. The Weber fraction for line-length estimation describes the minimum difference that humans can perceive through unaided visual inspection. This value is used to derive a constant for the coefficient of variation (CV = 1.7 percent) that represents the highest degree of standardization attainable through manual human production of artifacts. Random data are used to define a second constant for the coefficient of variation that represents variation expected when production is random (CV = 57.7 percent). These two constants can be used to assess the degree of standardization in artifact assemblages regardless of kind. Our analysis further demonstrates that CV is an excellent measure of standardization and provides a robust statistical technique for comparing standardization in samples of artifacts.

Reduction strategies and geochemical characterization of lithic assemblages : A comparison of three case studies from western North America

Based on a simple model of lithic procurement, reduction, and use, we generate predictions for patterns in source diversity and average distance-to-source measurements for flaked stone assemblages left behind by small-scale and residentially mobile populations. We apply this model to geochemical data from obsidian artifacts from three regions in western North America. As predicted, results show markedly different patterns in the geochemical composition of small flakes, large flakes, and formal tools. While small flakes and tools tend to have greater source diversity and are on average farther from their original source, the large flake assemblage is composed of fewer and closer sources. These results suggest that a failure to include very late stage reduction (e.g., pressure flakes) and microdebitage in characterization studies may bias interpretations about the extent of residential mobility and/or trade patterns because more distant sources will be underrepresented.

Privatization, small-seed intensification, and the origins of pottery in the western Great Basin

“Brownware” pottery technologies became widely used in the Great Basin around 600 years ago. A significant increase in the use of small seeds within the subsistence economy took place about the same time. I suggest that these two events are linked, that people consciously chose to focus on seeds because they could be privatized, that is, they could be individually owned and were not subject to unrestricted sharing. Pots were an integral component of this process because they could be individually made and owned and could be used within domiciles, placing food preparation and storage out of view from others in the community. Privatization of a staple food resource may have been a response to increased population size and, hence, the number of freeloaders, new village kinship organizations, and a desire to create surplus on the part of aggrandizers.

THE PRESERVATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF PIÑON RESINS BY GC-MS IN POTTERY FROM THE WESTERN GREAT BASIN*

Gas chromatography – mass spectrometry analysis of a sherd from the Nevada Test Site revealed a high quantity of terpenes, including sesquiterpenoids and diterpenoids, demonstrating that pinon resins were prepared in the pot in prehistoric times. The presence of these biomarkers allowed for a very specific identification of the products prepared in the pot, a level of detail not often achieved in lipid residue analysis. That the terpenes are relatively unoxidized demonstrates that they are quite stable over long periods of time. The study also shows that sherds on the surface of archaeological sites can preserve lipids and terpenes and are amenable to organic residue analysis.

Are obsidian subsources meaningful units of analysis?: temporal and spatial patterning of subsources in the Coso Volcanic Field, southeastern California

Archaeologists frequently assign artifacts to chemically discrete subsignatures of major obsidian sources. While the technical ability to do so has been demonstrated, it remains to be shown that such information is behaviorally meaningful. Indeed, some analysts choose not to make such determinations under the presumption that the data are not anthropologically relevant. Using a case study from the Coso Volcanic Field, which has at least four distinct subsignatures, we examine this problem and conclude that subsource identification can be useful and quite interesting. This is particularly so when large datasets encompassing spatially expansive areas can be assembled and statistically analyzed.

Common Pool Resources, Buffer Zones, and Jointly Owned Territories: Hunter-Gatherer Land and Resource Tenure in Fort Irwin, Southeastern California

Anthropologists have described, but seldom explained, the existence and persistence of common pool resource systems among hunting and gathering populations. Land tenure practices in the Fort Irwin area of the Mojave desert, California are explored. Ecological, ethnographic, archeological, and ethnohistoric information suggests that this area was jointly owned and intermittently used by several distinct ethnic groups. Although the region was important as a buffer against resource shortfall during certain seasons, sporadic use and meager and variable resource yield may have made exclusive ownership difficult and costly. A jointly managed region with common pool resources better served surrounding groups, while simultaneously creating a spatial buffer to diffuse social tensions. Following presentation of the Fort Irwin case, the paper considers the formation of such land tenure practices among hunting and gathering populations.

Pre-Inca mining in the Southern Nasca Region, Peru

Guided by modern miners of the region the authors track down pre-Inca mining sites in the Southern Nasca Region of Peru. In the hinterlands away from both modern and ancient roads they find a surprising number of small sites serving the pre-Inca industry, principally in the Nasca period. Drawing analogies from modern practice they are able to distinguish the ancient sites dedicated to exploration, extraction or production.

Stable Isotope Provenance Analysis of Olivella Shell Beads From the Los Angeles Basin and San Nicolas Island

ABSTRACT Production of marine shell beads in island and coastal settings was an important activity in prehistory, with important political and economic ties. Currently, there are few methods to track beads to their locus of production. Examining the spatial distribution of bead types provides one method of doing so. Chemical and stable isotopic methods provide an additional and independent means of testing hypotheses generated by spatial distributions. We use stable oxygen, carbon, and strontium isotope data to reconstruct provenance zones for 18 Olivella biplicata beads from the Los Angeles Basin and San Nicolas Island, California. We compare the results to isotopic data from modern and radiocarbon-dated whole shells collected along the Pacific Coast. Results indicate that all 18 beads were manufactured from shells growing in open coast locations south of Point Conception. Differences in isotopic composition between bead types suggest that not all were produced in the same location. Some, such as callus beads (K1), have highly variable composition, suggesting production in a range of locations. Others, such as thin lipped (E1), seem to have been produced in more restricted regions.

The Prehistoric Development of Intensive Green-Cone Pinon Processing in Eastern California

Abstract The upland piñon zone has long been an important source of data for archaeological theorybuilding in the Western Great Basin. Recent excavations in the piñon zone on Sherwin Summit eastern California, the traditional homeland of the Owens Valley Paiute, have shed much light on the role of rock rings and charcoal stains in green-cone piñon processing and storage. Radiocarbon dating points to a late prehistoric intensification of green-cone processing in the area (ca. 500–100 b.p., uncalibrated), which we suggest is the result of scheduling conflicts during late summer and fall. Green-cone procurement allowed local residents to harvest piñon earlier in the season, freeing time to harvest irrigated and wetland seeds, to participate in annual festivals, and to hunt.