Stephen L. Black

HUNTER-GATHERER EARTH OVENS IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD: FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS

Abstract Remains of earth ovens with rock heating elements of various sizes and configurations are common at hunter-gatherer sites around the world. They span the last 30,000 years in the Old World and some 10,000 years in the New World. Although various foods were baked in these ovens, plants predominate. Earth ovens are ethnographically well documented as family-size and bulk cooking facilities, but related technology and its archaeological signatures remain poorly understood and understudied. These ubiquitous features are often mischaracterized as generic cooking facilities termed hearths. It is proposed that, in fact, most rock “hearths” are heating elements of earth ovens. Reliable identification and interpretation of earth ovens requires documentation of heating elements, pit structure, rock linings, and various remnants thereof. Fundamental technological concepts for investigating their archaeological signatures include thermodynamics, construction designs, and life cycles in systemic context, as informed by ethnographic, archaeological, and experimental data. Earth oven technology explains well the primary purpose of labor-intensive thermal storage for long-term cooking and conserving fuel. Information from the extensive archaeological record of earth ovens on the Edwards Plateau of south-central North America illustrates these points.

Relationships between Early Preclassic and Early Middle Preclassic Phases in Northern Belize: A Comment on “Lowland Maya Archaeology at the Crossroads”

In a recent paper, Marcus (1983) provides a timely synthesis of the rapidly accumulating body of data from various projects in the Maya Lowlands. One of the specific problems discussed by Marcus is that of temporal and cultural definition of the Swasey phase at the sites of Cuello and Colha, and its relationship to other early components. Our comment presents new data from Colha that were not available to Marcus. These data have significantly expanded our understanding of the earliest occupations at the site and have important implications ,for intersite comparisons.

Beyond the Square Hole

ABSTRACT The accurate and precise collection of three-dimensional (3D) context and provenience data is of critical importance for archaeologists. Traditional square-hole methods are being augmented by new digital techniques to increase the accuracy and precision with which 3D data are collected. Structure from Motion (SfM) photogrammetry is an emerging digital technique that is becoming more widespread for collecting 3D data of archaeological sites and features. We are using handheld digital cameras and ground-based SfM to record accurate and precise 3D context and provenience data at the scale of the excavation unit and profile during rockshelter excavations in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of Texas. By combining SfM with traditional excavation methods, we collect 3D data on excavation units, layers, features, and profiles without excavating in grid-bound square units. SfM provides a straightforward and flexible method to excavate based on the stratigraphy and logistical pragmatics, which further aids in assigning precise context and provenience to recovered artifacts and samples. This article describes how ground-based SfM serves as a basic recording tool during excavation and shows that, by applying ground-based SfM methods to excavation, archaeologists can collect more, and more accurate, data than with traditional square-hole methods. La colección exacta y precisa del contexto y de los datos de procedencia en tres dimensiones (3D) de objetos y rasgos es de importancia crítica para la arqueología. Los métodos tradicionales a base de unidades cuadradas están siendo aumentados por nuevas técnicas digitales que tienen el objetivo de mejorar la exactitud y la precisión con las que se recogen los datos en 3D. La fotogrametría de estructura a partir del movimiento (Structure from Motion; SfM) es una técnica digital emergente que está cada vez más generalizada para recoger datos en 3D de sitios y rasgos arqueológicos. Utilizamos cámaras digitales portátiles con SfM terrestre para registrar los datos en 3D exactos y precisos de contexto y procedencia a la escala de la unidad de excavación y del perfil durante las excavaciones de abrigos rocosos en los cañones del Lower Pecos, Texas. Mediante la combinación de SfM con los métodos de excavación tradicionales, recogemos los datos en 3D de unidades de excavación, capas, rasgos y perfiles sin excavar en unidades limitadas por una cuadricula tradicional. La SfM proporciona un método sencillo y flexible para excavar basado en la estratigrafía y las consideraciones prácticas, lo que ayuda aún más la asignación de contexto preciso y procedencia a los materiales culturales y muestras recuperados. En este artículo se describe como la SfM terrestre sirve como una herramienta básica de grabación durante la excavación, y como por medio de la aplicación de métodos de SfM terrestre a la excavación, los arqueólogos pueden recoger datos más abundantes, y más precisos, de lo que se puede recoger con los métodos tradicionales usando las unidades de excavación cuadradas.

Battles of the Red River War: Archeological Perspectives on the Indian Campaign of 1874 (review)

diaries also include a wealth of insight on antebellum army life in the Lone Star State and the relationships between officers posted here. This is a lavishly produced, handsome publication worth every penny of its hardcover cost. Mark McGarry did an excellentjob on the books design and layout. The coverjacket design is attractive and sophisticated. TomJonass maps provide important context and orientation for the reader and rank among the finest this reviewer has seen. The sixteen pages ofwell-reproduced color and black-andwhite images include twenty-three plates from the original expedition report. The plates, which depict period landscapes, plants, and Native Americans, represent some of the earliest use of chromolithography. In sum, Wallace and Hevlys work, painstakingly edited and annotated, is certain to become a classic and oft-consulted reference tool for those interested in the history, ethnohistory, and natural history of nineteenth-century Western America and Texas. And that is a sizable audience.