John P. Hart

Devastating Decline of Forest Elephants in Central Africa

African forest elephants– taxonomically and functionally unique–are being poached at accelerating rates, but we lack range-wide information on the repercussions. Analysis of the largest survey dataset ever assembled for forest elephants (80 foot-surveys; covering 13,000 km; 91,600 person-days of fieldwork) revealed that population size declined by ca. 62% between 2002–2011, and the taxon lost 30% of its geographical range. The population is now less than 10% of its potential size, occupying less than 25% of its potential range. High human population density, hunting intensity, absence of law enforcement, poor governance, and proximity to expanding infrastructure are the strongest predictors of decline. To save the remaining African forest elephants, illegal poaching for ivory and encroachment into core elephant habitat must be stopped. In addition, the international demand for ivory, which fuels illegal trade, must be dramatically reduced.

Domesticated Landscapes: The Subsistence Ecology of Plant and Animal Domestication

Harvesting different species as foods or raw materials calls for differing skills depending on the species being harvested and the circumstances under which they are being taken. In some situations and for some species, the tactics used are mainly behavioral—that is, people adjust, or adapt, their own actions to fit the behavior and circumstances of the species they are taking. Under other circumstances and for other species, the skills and tactics used may call for greater environmental preparation or manipulation. Therefore, instead of trying to distinguish people today and in the past as either “foragers” or “farmers,” it makes sense to define human subsistence behavior as an interactive matrix of species and harvesting tactics, that is, as a provisions spreadsheet.

Phytolith Evidence for Early Maize (Zea Mays) in the Northern Finger Lakes Region of New York

The timing of crop introductions, particularly of maize (Zea mays), has been of long-standing interest to archaeologists working in various regions of eastern North America. The earliest confirmed macrobotanical evidence for maize in New York is A.D. 1000. We report on the results of accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) dating, phytolith analysis, and stable carbon isotope analysis of carbonized cooking residues adhering to the interior surface of pottery sherds from three sites in the northern Finger Lakes region of New York. Maize, squash (Cucurbita sp.), wild rice (Zizania aquatica), and sedge (Cyperus sp.) were identified in phytolith assemblages dating to as early as the first half of the calibrated seventh century A.D. The results demonstrate that low δ13C values on cooking residues cannot be used to preclude the possibility that maize was cooked in vessels. Two of the maize-bean-squash crop triad were present in New York at least 350 years earlier than previously documented, and the Northern Flint Corn Complex was present in New York by at least the first half of the seventh century A.D. This research highlights the potential of cooking residues to provide new insights on prehistoric plant-based subsistence.

Elephants, ivory, and trade.

Trade decisions made by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species must place science over politics. Tanzania and Zambia are petitioning the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to “downlist” the conservation status of their elephants to allow sale of stockpiled ivory. But just 2 years after CITES placed a 9-year moratorium on future ivory sales (1), elephant poaching is on the rise. The petitioning countries are major sources and conduits of Africas illegal ivory (2–4). The petitions highlight the controversy surrounding ivory trade (5) and broader issues underlying CITES trade decisions.

The Age of Common Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) in the Northeastern United States

A radiocarbon date of A.D. 1070 +/- 60 was linked to the remains of maize (Zea mays), beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), and squash (Cucurbita pepo) at the Roundtop site in the Susquehanna River valley of New York by William Ritchie in 1969 and 1973 publications. This date established the presence of beans in the Northeast at an earlier time than in most other areas of the eastern United States, where they are generally rare before A.D. 1300. Subsequently beans have been reported in pre-A.D. 1300 contexts from at least eight other sites in the Northeast. Recent calibrated AMS dates on beans from Roundtop are no earlier than A.D. 1300 (Hart 1999a), Given that the original Roundtop date was responsible for the acceptance of early beans in the Northeast, the AMS dates suggested that beans may not become archaeologically visible there until ca. A.D. 1300. AMS dates on beans from four other sites, reported here, substantiate the Roundtop results. Beans and by extension maize-beans-squash intercropping are not evident in the Northeast before ca. A.D. 1300.

The Death of Owasco

The Owasco culture is a critical taxon in William A. Ritchies culture history of New York. In its final construction, Owasco was viewed by Ritchie as representing the onset of recognizable northern Iroquoian traits. This interpretation is widely accepted among archaeologists currently working in New York. An examination of the history of the taxon shows that it is nothing more than a subjectively defined unit based on the thoughts of Ritchie and his predecessor Arthur C. Parker. Recent empirical research has shown that the key traits Ritchie used to define Owasco have very different histories than he thought. Owasco does not stand either theoretically or empirically and should be abandoned as a unit of analysis.

The age of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in the northern Eastern Woodlands of North America

This study addresses the lack of chronometric research on the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) to establish precisely the timing of its adoption and spread across the northern Eastern Woodlands of North America. Bean and directly associated maize samples were subjected to accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating. The results show that the common bean apparently spread rapidly upon its introduction to the region, becoming archaeologically visible from the Illinois River valley to southern New England in the calibrated late 13th century AD, some 200–300 years later than previously thought.

Maize, Matrilocality, Migration, and Northern Iroquoian Evolution

The co-occurrence of matrilocality and maize-based agriculture among historical northern Iroquoian groups of New York and southern Ontario has long been of interest to anthropologists and archaeologists. The traditional explanation of this association is that gradual evolution of maize-based agriculture through female labor enhanced female status in families, which resulted in matrilocality. Dean Snow (1995a) recently challenged this in situ hypothesis of matrilocality by arguing that the sudden appearance of maize-based agriculture and matrilocality can only be explained by the migration of ancestral Iroquoian agriculturists into areas already inhabited by other people. Matrilocality arose because it allowed a focus on external warfare by men against the hostile original inhabitants. In contrast, and based on a general model of maize agriculture evolution and the effects of postmarital residence patterns on that model, I argue that neither in situ development hypothesis nor Snows migration hypothesis affect the coevolution of matrilocality and maize agriculture, and that their “sudden” appearance cannot be used as evidence in support of either hypothesis. I also show that current archaeological evidence for maize agriculture and matrilocality support a gradual coevolution of maize agriculture and matrilocality rather than the sudden appearance argued by Snow.

Additional evidence for early cucurbit use in the northern Eastern Woodlands East of the Allegheny Front

Two accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates, 5404 ± 552 B.P. (AA-19129) and 2625 ± 45 B.P. (AA-19128), confirm the presence of mid-Holocene and early late Holocene cucurbit (Cucurbita pepo), respectively, at the Memorial Park site (36CN164) in north-central Pennsylvania. This is the second documented occurrence of mid-Holocene cucurbit and the first documented occurrence of domesticated early late Holocene cucurbit in the northern Eastern Woodlands east of the Allegheny Front. These occurrences help to establish the use of cucurbits in the Northeast on a timescale equivalent to that in the riverine interior, with the exception of the very earliest riverine interior dates. The Northeast has contributed little toward our understanding of prehistoric agricultural evolution in the Eastern Woodlands. The Memorial Park cucurbits and the mid-Holocene cucurbit recently reported at the Sharrow site in Maine indicate that greater efforts are needed to document pre-maize agricultural behavior in this area to increase our knowledge of the full range of pre-maize agricultural behavior in the Eastern Woodlands.

THE FRESHWATER RESERVOIR AND RADIOCARBON DATES ON COOKING RESIDUES: OLD APPARENT AGES OR A SINGLE OUTLIER? COMMENTS ON FISCHER AND HEINEMEIER (2003)

Fischer and Heinemeier (2003) present a hypothesis that the freshwater reservoir effect produces old apparent ages for radiocarbon dates run on charred cooking residues in regions where fossil carbon is present in groundwater. The hypothesis is based in part on their analysis of dates on charred cooking residues from 3 inland archaeological sites in Denmark in relation to contextual dates from those sites on other materials. A critical assessment of the dates from these sites suggests that rather than a pattern of old apparent dates, there is a single outlying datenot sufficient evidence on which to build a case for the freshwater reservoir effect.