Mark S. Aldenderfer

The Methods and Problems of Cluster Analysis

Cluster analysis methods have a long history. The earliest known procedures were suggested by anthropologists (Czekanowski, 1911; Driver and Kroeber, 1932). Later, these ideas were picked up in psychology. For instance, Zubin (1938) proposed a rather simple method for sorting a correlation matrix which would yield clusters. About the same time, Stephenson (1936) suggested the use of inverted factor analysis to find clusters of people.

The Archaic Period in the south-central Andes

Although the Archaic Period of the south-central Andes is not well-known beyond Latin America, there is much of interest in it to archaeologists working with foraging populations. Like the North American Archaic and European Mesolithic, the Archaic in the region is characterized by ethnic differentiation, changes in the scale and frequency of residential mobility, resource intensification and specialization, and population growth. The origin and evolutionary trajectory of these trends are discussed within the context of the development of ecological complementarity, a strategy of land use that exploits the vertically stratified distribution of resources in the Andean environment.

Middle archaic period domestic architecture from southern peru.

Domestic or residential structures ranging in age from 6040 to 6850 years old have discovered at the open air site of Asana in the high sierra of southern Peru. These are the earliest domestic structures known from the high elevation zones of the south central Andes, and they are contemporaneous with sites with structures on the north Chilean littoral. Analysis of site structure and content suggests that during the Middle Archaic the site was a logistical camp within a dry puna—high sierra settlement system.

Computer programs for performing iterative partitioning cluster analysis

Eight programs which perform iterative partition ing cluster analysis are analyzed; they are discussed in terms of versatility of options, accuracy, and cost. These eight programs contain very different heuristic approaches to finding the optimal partition of a data set; the different heuristic approaches are shown to affect both accuracy and cost of clustering solutions. It was not possible to recommend any one program as generally being preferable, however, because of the striking variability in these programs and the lack of knowledge about iterative partitioning methods.

Computer Programs for Performing Hierarchical Cluster Analysis

This paper analyzes the versatility of 10 dif ferent popular programs which contain hierarchical methods of cluster analysis. The intent of the paper is to provide users with information which can be of assistance when choosing a cluster analysis pro gram. The four dimensions which are emphasized when discussing these programs are (1) agglomera tion vs. division, (2) linkage form, (3) similarity measure, and (4) hierarchical solution vs. single- rank.

Shaping of human brains and behavior

Paleontology![Figure][1] Brain size and shape changes suggest that modern behaviors developed gradually. CREDITS: NEUBAUER ET AL., SCI. ADV. 10.1136/SCIADV.AAO5961 (2018) There is little consensus as to when complex cognitive functions and behaviors appeared during human evolution.

Peopling the Americas: Which way?

Anthropology For much of the 20th century, archaeologists firmly believed that the initial pathway into the Americas was via the “ice-free corridor,” a route from interior Alaska that snaked into the high plains of North America between two massive sheets of ice. Over the past 20 years, this consensus has been challenged and, for many, overturned, by data that support the “kelp highway” hypothesis—i.e., migration along the coastline of western North America. In a comprehensive review of genetic, archaeological, and paleoecological data, Potter et al. argue that both routes should be considered as viable pathways into the Americas. Sci. Adv. 10.1126/sciadv.aat5473 (2018).

An early skull cult from Neolithic Turkey

Anthropology![Figure][1] The massive megalithic buildings of Gobekli Tepe PHOTO: GRESKY ET AL. Veneration of human skulls is well known from many Neolithic sites in Anatolia and the Levant. Gresky et al. discovered a new manifestation of the cult from the important site of Gobekli Tepe, which was occupied between 9600 and 8000 BCE. The site is distinguished by T-shaped monolithic pillars found in massive megalithic buildings. Three skulls were found that show signs of perimortem modification, including deeply incised grooves, circular perforations, cut marks indicative of defleshing, and, in one instance, the application of red ochre. The placement of these modifications indicates that the skulls were likely suspended by cords and displayed in a ritual context. Sci. Adv. 10.1126/sciadv.1700564 (2017). [1]: pending:yes

Engineering Mountain Landscapes: An Anthropology of Social Investment. Laura L. Scheiber and Maria Nieves Zedeño, editors. 2015. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. x + 201 pp.

As an archaeologist who has worked over the course of my career in the Andes and the Himalayas, including the Tibetan Plateau, I found much of what is in this slim volume on the mountain peoples of North America on the one hand not at all surprising, but on the other, intriguing and informative. What did not surprise me is the emphasis indigenous peoples in this region place upon mountains as foundational to their perception of the sacred and the way they create landscapes of memory. People in both the Andes and the Himalayas have deep cognitive and linguistic overlays created by multiple migrations and local creations that highlight mountains as seats of the sacred. What I found intriguing and informative was the way in which many of the authors described just how the peoples of their mountains, especially those who work with foragers or low-level food producers, envisioned their landscapes, and how they placed themselves within it. Foraging peoples are long, long gone where I do my research, so I am quite grateful indeed to have read this book. It helps me to clothe, in a metaphorical sense, the peoples and cultures I have excavated. The volume consists of 11 papers, most of which were first presented at a Society for American Archaeology meeting in 2010. An introduction and conclusion by the editors frame nine contributions. Of these, three (Zedeño et al., Scheiber, Roos) treat the Rocky Mountains, three others (Thomas, Ruuska, Stoffle et al.) deal with the Great Basin, and one each explores the Sierras of Oaxaca (King and Zborover), the Great Plains (Hollenback), and the southern Appalachians (Koener and Sullivan). Without exception, these papers are strongly influenced by ethnography, oral histories told by the living descendants of the ancient peoples in these regions, or ethnohistories written by chroniclers or earlier generations of anthropologists. The glue that holds the volume together is the emphasis each author places, mostly successfully, on the theme of landscape engineering, which the editors define in their introduction as “the modification of the natural environment through sequences of actions and inscriptions aimed at securing and managing tangible and intangible resources for present and future use” (p. 1). They further refine this concept to focus primarily upon the idea of social investment, which describes the way people define their relationship to these landscapes through use, ritual, stories, and the transmission of these relationships to their descendants. This broad definition allows authors to explore the creation of physical facilities, such as hunting blinds, ceremonial sites, or whole villages, as well as the stories that link these places, to key rituals, myths, and traditions that bind descendants to these landscapes. Obviously, ethnography and access to the perceptions and assistance of indigenous peoples makes this enterprise far more successful and enlightening than in areas lacking these resources. Another motivation for the volume is to present case studies that contest the persistent sense often encountered in the literature that mountains are necessarily inaccessible and thus inhibit intensive use by humans. Mountains are indeed hard places to make a living, but a number of chapters in this volume, such those by Thomas, Zedeño et al., and Scheiber, provide useful counterpoints to the perception of mountain landscapes as marginal. A variety of theoretical perspectives are employed: strongly phenomenological approaches (Scheiber, Ruuska, Stoffle et al.), optimal foraging theory (Thomas), explicitly interdisciplinary perspectives that engage with ecological theory and structural anthropology (Zedeño et al., Hollenback), and more traditional cultural historical approaches that are leavened by reference to studies of ethnicity and identity Edited by Victor D. Thompson