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Seriation, Superposition, and Interdigitation: a History of Americanist Graphic Depictions of Culture Change
Get PDFHistories of Americanist archaeology regularly confuse frequency seriation with a technique for measuring the passage of time based on superposition - percentage stratigraphy - and fail to mention interdigitation as an important component of some percentage-stratigraphic studies. Frequency seriation involves the arrangement of collections so that each artifact type displays a unimodal frequency distribution, but the direction of time\u27s flow must be determined from independent evidence. Percentage stratigraphy plots the fluctuating frequencies of types, but the order of collections is based on their superposition, which in turn illustrates the direction of time\u27s flow. Interdigitation involves the integration of sets of percentage-stratigraphy data from different horizontal proveniences under the rules that (1) the order of superposed collections cannot be reversed and (2) each type must display a unimodal frequency distribution. Ceramic stratigraphy is similar to occurrence seriation, as both focus on the presence-absence of types with limited temporal distributions - index fossils - but the former uses the superposed positions of types to indicate the direction of time\u27s flow, whereas occurrence seriation does not
Basic Incompatibilities Between Evolutionary and Behavioral Archaeology
Get PDFSchiffer (1996) recently proposed that, despite some incompatibilities, considerable common ground exists between behavioral archaeology and evolutionary or selectionist, archaeology. He concludes that there is no fundamental reason why the two approaches cannot work in concert to explain human behavioral change. There are, however, several important reasons why the two programs, at least as currently conceived, cannot work together in any thoroughly integrated fashion. Although both programs employ inference, behavioral archaeology conflates the distinct roles of configurational and immanent properties, searches for nomothetic answers to questions about human behavior, overlooks historical contingency when inferring and explaining the nature of past behavior, and in some cases seems to fall back on vitalism as the mechanism of change. Evolutionary archaeology employs immanent properties inferentially, explicitly acknowledges the importance of the historical contingencies of configurational properties, explains human behavior as being time- and spacebound, and calls upon selection and drift (transmission) as the mechanisms of change. Any attempt to integrate the two approaches must begin by addressing these basic differences
Parasites, Porotic Hyperostosis, and the Implications of Changing Perspectives
Get PDFCribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis traditionally have been viewed (at least by archaeologists) as indicators of chronic iron deficiency anemia resulting from a dependency upon maize. Recent interpretations, however, have sought to explain these conditions as an evolutionary, adaptive response to intestinal parasites rather than as a consequence of poor nutrition. Thus diet is eliminated as a contributing factor. This model, however, adopts too simplistic a view of evolution. Furthermore, it concomitantly severs the well-documented link that exists between cranial lesions and cereal-based subsistence. A more realistic approach would be to incorporate both diet and pathogens (bacterial as well as parasitic) into a symbiotic model that acknowledges the important role of parasites in the etiology of cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis, while maintaining the diagnostic value of these conditions as hallmarks of early agriculture
The Role of Adaptation in Archaeological Explanation
Get PDFAdaptation, a venerable icon in archaeology, often is afforded the vacuous role of being an ex-post-facto argument used to »explain» the appearance and persistence of traits among prehistoric groups- A position that has seriously impeded development of a selectionist perspective in archaeology. Biological and philosophical definitions of adaptation- A nd by extension, definitions of adaptedness-vary considerably, but all are far removed from those usually employed in archaeology. The prevailing view in biology is that adaptations are features that were shaped by natural selection and that increase the adaptedness of an organism. Thus adaptations are separated from other features that may contribute to adaptedness but are products of other evolutionary processes. Analysis of adaptation comprises two stages: Showing that a feature was under selection and how the feature functioned relative to the potential adaptedness of its bearers. The archaeological record contains a wealth of information pertinent to examining the adaptedness of prehistoric groups, but attempts to use it will prove successful only if a clear understanding exists of what adaptation is and is not
An Archaeological Survey on the Xoxocotlan Piedmont, Oaxaca, Mexico
Get PDFSurface survey on the piedmont near the present village of Xoxocotlan, Oaxaca, Mexico, has revealed the pattern of prehistoric settlement around an irrigation canal that distributed water from a dammed reservoir located on the flanks of Monte Alban. Intensive systematic collection techniques have permitted quantitative statements to be made about the density of occupation and the contribution of the irrigation system to the food supply of Monte Alban