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Interpreting δ13C Values Obtained on SOM from Ancient Maya Reservoirs and Depressions North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2022-12-25 Kenneth Barnett Tankersley, Nicholas P. Dunning, David L. Lentz, Christopher Carr, Liwi Grazioso, Liwi Grazioso, Trinity L. Hamilton, Kathryn Reese-Taylor
elemental analyzer (EA) Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry was used to measure ∂13C values on soil organic matter from reservoirs and depressions at the ancient Maya urban centers of Tikal, Guatemala ...
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The meaning of imprecision: A reconsideration of marked colonoware in South Carolina North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2022-12-02 Christopher T Espenshade
A review of marked Colonoware recovered in South Carolina shows a very low level of precision. This lack of concern with aesthetics runs contrary to expectations for potters intent on placing impor...
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The manufacture process of war clubs: Replicating indigenous technological systems of conflict from the Lower Colorado Basin North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2022-11-03 Joseph B Curran
This study provides a multi-disciplinary framework operationalizing the study of weaponry through experimental archaeology. In this scenario, I focus on war clubs, a type of Indigenous weapon commo...
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The Eads earthwork: Implications for Hopewell ceremonialism North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2022-10-13 Kenneth Barnett Tankersley, Stephanie A Meyers, Shahad Mohammed Albalushi, Jr., Shaima Saif Salim Alhabsi, Paris Shea Bowers, Isabella L Burton, Austin Clay Matthew Loukinas, Samantha Leigh Ward, Sean Chaney
Eads (33Ct750) is a recently discovered Hopewell hilltop earthwork, which encloses ∼10 ha above the Bares Run-O’Bannon Creek-Little Miami River confluence area. Eads falls within the interquartile ...
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Using tiny artifacts to answer big questions: Machine learning, microdebitage, and household spaces at Tamarindito North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2022-08-22 Phyllis S. Johnson, Markus Eberl, Rebecca Estrada Aguila, Charreau Bell, Jesse Spencer-Smith
The spatial analysis of microdebitage (measuring less than 6.3 mm) can identify areas where stone tools were knapped at archaeological sites. These tiny artifacts tend to become embedded in the loc...
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Studying lithic microdebitage with a dynamic image particle analyzer North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2022-06-30 Markus Eberl, Phyllis Johnson, Rebecca Estrada Aguila
Lithic microdebitage has great archaeological potential to elucidate ancient stone tool production. So far, archaeologists have collected soil samples, separated them into size fractions, and analy...
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The paso del indio site (VB-4), Puerto Rico: A site for change North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2022-06-16 Mark R Barnes
The Paso del Indio site, discovered and partially mitigated in the midst of a major highway construction project, is the largest and deepest stratified, multi-component prehistoric site found to da...
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Late Woodland feasting and social networks in the lower Missouri River region North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2022-05-31 Brad Logan
Feasting and its function among small scale societies have received little attention among many descriptive and theoretical studies of this activity. Evidence of feasting focused on large roasting ...
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Refining Interpretations of the Conowingo Site (18CE14): Ground Stone Analysis of the Stearns Collection North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2022-03-30 Katherine M. Sterner, Caillete Rose
The Conowingo site (18CE14) is described in the literature as a Late Archaic-Late Woodland seasonal base camp supported by a series of exploitive procurement camps supplying non-local lithic materi...
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Correlation of regional late woodland triangle projectile point variation and native American ethnic group territories in the central middle Atlantic North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2022-03-29 Jay F. Custer
The shapes and sizes of 983 Late Woodland triangular projectile points from four indigenous Native American different ethnic groups of the central Middle Atlantic region (Unami Lenapi – Lower Delaw...
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The ugly truth about pipe stem bore diameter dating North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2022-03-10 Jay F. Custer
The usual practice of presenting and considering age estimates derived from pipe stem bore diameters as individual point estimates is incorrect, misleading, and ignores the true nature of the data set. Consideration of the age estimates as a range of values described by the mean and standard deviation correctly and more accurately reflects the nature of the data set, the probabilistic characteristics
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Another tool in the experimental toolbox: On the use of aluminum as a substitute for chert in North American prehistoric ballistics research and beyond North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2022-01-25 Metin I. Eren, Lawrence Mukusha, Julie Lierenz, Michael Wilson, Michelle R. Bebber, Michael Fisch, Trent True, Michael Kavaulic, Robert S. Walker, Briggs Buchanan, Alastair Key
Experimental archaeology continues to mature methodologically and theoretically. Around the world, practitioners are increasingly using modern materials that would have been unavailable to prehistoric people in archaeological experiments. The use of a modern material substitute can offer several benefits to experimental method, design, control, replicability, feasibility, and cost, but it should be
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Geochronological aspects of terminal Late Fort Ancient sites in the Little Miami-Ohio Rivers confluence area and their archeological significance North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2021-11-18 Kenneth Barnett Tankersley, Louis Herzner
A geochronological approach is used to examine the temporal and spatial parameters of terminal Late Fort Ancient (∼1450 –1750 CE) habitation sites in the Little Miami-Ohio Rivers confluence area. We use a Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates, microtephrochronology, a biostratigraphic indicator (Bison bison), and ethnohistorical records to examine terminal Late Fort Ancient sites in this region. Circular
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The Visibility of Sound: Acoustic Archaeology in the Blue Ridge Mountains North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2021-11-08 Carole L. Nash, PhD, RPA
Waterfalls are documented among Indigenous peoples as settings for the intergenerational transfer of knowledge and locations sacred to life transitions. Eastern Woodlands ethnographic literature identifies waterfalls as places where life emerges in the presence of danger, requiring the acknowledgement of those who travel near them. In the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains, ceramic-bearing Middle and Late
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Shell bead crafting at Greater Cahokia North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2021-10-23 Laura Kozuch
Shell beads were important to Mississippians, and thousands of beads were found mostly associated with burials. Here I synthesize data on shell bead workshops from Greater Cahokia, along with crafting techniques. Different bead types required different tools, which, in conjunction with shell remains, allow the differentiation of columella versus disk bead workshops. Perishable drill tips were probably
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Book Review: Magdalena de Cao: An Early Colonial Town on the North Coast of Peru by Jeffery Quilter North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2021-10-11 Mark R. Barnes, PhD.
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Book Review: Trowels in the Trenches: Archaeology as Social Activism by Christopher P Barton North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2021-10-09 Rachael Kiddey
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Overview: Lithic quarries in Pennsylvania: the archaeology of tool stone procurement North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2021-08-30 Paul A. Raber
This collection of papers, published in numbers 3 and 4 of this volume of North American Archaeologist, reflects recent research into the development of pre-contact period quarries in Pennsylvania and the surrounding Middle Atlantic region.
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Geochemical analysis of colonoware and brick artifacts from Brook Green Plantation using portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2021-07-21 Alexis Widdifield, David T Palmer, Carolyn D Dillian
This study used data collected using a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer to examine ceramic artifacts found during the excavation of historic Brook Green Plantation, in Georgetown County, South Carolina. Excavations at this site yielded culturally significant artifacts associated with African and African American people held in bondage during the 19th century. The geochemical composition of
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Matthew C Reilly (2019) Archaeology Below the Cliff, Race, Class, and Redlegs in Barbadian Sugar Society North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2021-04-07 Mark R Barnes
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Effigy mounds and rock art of midcontinental North America: Shared iconography, shared stories North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2021-02-27 Bradley T Lepper, Robert F Boszhardt, James R Duncan, Carol Diaz-Granados
The effigy mounds of the Upper Midwest and the Ohio Valley long have been regarded as distinct and independent cultural developments. A review of effigy mound iconography in both regions reveals similarities suggesting that they are elements of a shared cultural tradition. Comparisons with rock art imagery from the Upper Midwest and Missouri, the inferred centers of this artistic and ceremonial florescence
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Sourcing the source: Bald eagle jasper quarries and the houserville habitation complex North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2021-02-20 Jr. Timothy M Murtha, Barry E Scheetz
The construction of a road extension of Park Avenue through the Pennsylvania State University’s agricultural fields offered an opportunity to reinvestigate, in more detail, the Tudek jasper quarry site (36CE238). The original investigation was led by Dr. James Hatch and graduate students from the University’s Department of Anthropology. Initial studies yielded in excess of 27,000 artifacts that were
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The King’s Jasper Quarry, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2021-01-26 Kurt W Carr, R Michael Stewart, William Schindler, III
The King’s Quarry site (36LH2), located in the Reading Prong region of eastern Pennsylvania, is one of six remaining jasper quarries mapped by the late James Hatch and reported in 1994. Several archaeological investigations were conducted there in preparation for a housing development. These investigations included controlled surface collections, hand excavated test units, and extensive mechanical
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Power, security, and exchange: Impacts of a Late Holocene volcanic eruption in Subarctic North America North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2021-01-12 Todd J Kristensen, John W Ives, Kisha Supernant
We synthesize environmental and cultural change following a volcanic eruption at A.D. 846–848 in Subarctic North America to demonstrate how social relationships shaped responses to natural disasters. Ethnohistoric accounts and archaeometric studies reveal differences in human adaptations in the Yukon and Mackenzie river basins that relate to exertions of power over contested resources versus affordances
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Broadening perspectives on regional quarry-related studies North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2021-01-05 R Michael Stewart
Any productive or technological activity takes place in a social context and is embedded in a history of native practices, perceptions, and use of multiple landscapes. This paper explores topics that supplement and build upon technological and cultural historical approaches to quarry research. Briefly considered are: quarries as common ground and loci of group interaction; a taskscape/landscape approach
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The exploitation of quartzite in the Lower Juniata and Susquehanna Valleys: Outcrops and cobble sources North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-12-25 Paul A Raber
Studies at 36JU104 on the Juniata River and 36DA159 on Susquehanna River allow a comparison of the use of quartzite outcrops and river cobble sources. Travelers through the Lewistown Narrows camped at 36JU104 for over 8000 years and used Tuscarora quartzite from nearby outcrops mainly for expedient tools. At 36DA159 the inhabitants used easily obtainable stream cobbles of Tuscarora quartzite for both
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The procurement of quartz as a tool stone North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-12-22 Thomas R Lewis
The archaeological data suggest that the procurement of quartz was often times not a random or adventitious event, but rather an organized task of exploitation targeting geologic exposures which afforded good quality material in terms of composition, form, and quantity. In the absence of professionally collected data on quartz quarries or quartz extraction areas, an inferential approach can be substituted
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Models for prehistoric lithic quarry development North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-12-21 Brian L Fritz
Archaeologists have struggled to find meaningful and cost effective ways to analyze and interpret prehistoric quarry sites. Quarry site deposits typically contain large quantities of broken rock fragments that generally lack morphological attributes commonly used for lithic debitage analysis. Remnants of quarry pits often overlap and converge, forming complex cultural landscapes that are difficult
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The problem of undersampling for models of archaeological occupations derived from shovel testing and its consequences for significance determinations North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-12-17 Jeffrey S Alvey
Archaeologists working in the Eastern United States routinely employ shovel testing as a method for site discovery and delineation in areas of dense ground cover, and as a means of collecting information on the kinds and numbers of artifacts and features present at a site. This sampling strategy is employed in the context of Section 106 compliance, as well as in academic research. This paper presents
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Identifying animate stones and sacred landscapes: Twenty-five years of native pipestone-quarries research in the American midcontinent North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-12-13 Thomas E Emerson, Randall E Hughes, Kenneth B Farnsworth, Sarah U Wisseman
This paper assesses our current understanding of the native use of the major midcontinental United States pipestone quarries based on over two decades of research. Our studies indicate that combining chemical and mineralogical techniques such as shortwave infrared spectroscopy (SWIS), thin-section petrography, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) have identified pipestones with similar chemical compositions
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Over the hills and far away: Middle to Late Woodland archaeology and toolstone conveyance at Hyre Mound (46RD1), West Virginia North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-12-09 Richard L Rosencrance, Amy J Hirshman
The archaeology of the eastern West Virginia uplands remains significantly understudied compared to other areas of the Appalachian Plateau. Bettye Broyles’ excavations at the Hyre Mound site (46RD1) in 1963 recovered a variety of artifacts within and directly adjacent to a burial mound but the excavations remain largely unpublished. We provide a report of Broyles’ excavations, new radiocarbon dates
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Aboriginal plant use in the central Rocky Mountains: Macrobotanical records from three prehistoric sites in Birch Creek Valley, eastern Idaho North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-10-27 Brooke S Arkush, Denise Arkush
Recent excavations at three prehistoric sites in eastern Idaho recovered a moderate amount of culturally-introduced macrobotanical remains, including mountain ball and prickly pear cactus, goosefoot, sunflower, and tobacco, all of which came from contexts dating between 1500 B.C. and A.D. 1000. Within the greater region, cactus, goosefoot, and sunflower were first used by people between ca. 11,000
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Rachel A Horowitz and Grant S McCall (eds) (2019) Lithic Technologies in Sedentary Societies North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-10-26 William Andrefsky
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Fifty years with baskets North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-10-04 James M Adovasio
The year 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of my first publication on prehistoric basketry. Over the past five decades, the field of perishable artifact analysis has evolved dramatically. Though this evolution has not resulted in a geometric increase in the number of practitioners of this still arcane specialty, it has witnessed numerous transformations and enhancements of focus. After a half century
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Colluvial deposition of anthropogenic soils at the Ripley site, Ripley, New York North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-10-04 Curtis McCoy
The Ripley site is a Late Woodland through Historic period Iroquoian site located on a bluff overlooking the southern shore of Lake Erie in Western New York in the town of Ripley. Numerous authors have mentioned the presence of a midden along the eastern slope of the site, where prehistoric inhabitants cast refuse down the slope toward Young’s Run. The primary focus of this research is to examine the
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An introduction to the new Book Review Editor North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-09-30 Delaney Cooley
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New Histories of Village Life at Crystal River Thomas J Pluckhahn and Victor D Thompson (2018) North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-09-24 Mark R Barnes
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Lawn Lake, a high montane hunting camp in the Colorado (USA) rocky mountains: Insights into early Holocene Late Paleoindian hunter-gatherer adaptations and paleo-landscapes North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-09-14 Robert H Brunswig, James P Doerner
The Lawn Lake site is a stratified hunting camp situated on a glacial lake outlet river terrace in Rocky Mountain National Park’s upper subalpine forest zone. Its archaeological assemblage represents 9,000 years of hunter-gatherer use as a summer game and plant processing camp for subalpine forest and nearby alpine tundra resource areas. This article’s focus is on the site’s earliest camp levels which
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The millennia-long use history of triangular bifaces North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-09-10 R Michael Stewart
Relatively small, triangular bifaces often considered to be projectile points have a demonstrable use history that includes the Middle Archaic, Late Archaic, Early Woodland, late Middle Woodland, Late Woodland, and Contact periods of regional archaeology. Radiocarbon dates and other data are used to document this extensive history using the Upper Delaware Valley of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New
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First Encounters: Spanish Explorations in the Caribbean and the United States, 1492–1570 by Jerald T Milanich and Susan Milbrath (eds) (1989) North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-08-23 Karen F Anderson-Córdova
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Which town did it come from?: Sourcing locally-made ceramics in the Mid-Atlantic North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-08-05 Matthew C Greer, Brandi L MacDonald
Historical archaeologists working in the Middle Atlantic rarely use archaeometric techniques to source ceramics. Yet, there are several important research questions we can ask if we sourced more of our ceramics. This article presents the findings from a neutron activation analysis study that sourced 100 presumably locally-made vessels recovered from an early to mid-19th century enslaved quartering
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Cody Complex foragers and their use of grooved abraders in Great Plains and Rocky Mountains of North America North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-04-01 Jason M LaBelle, Cody Newton
Comparison of Late Paleoindian sites of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains reveals 36 site components from 28 sites containing ground stone tools, including nine Cody Complex examples. Much of the ground stone use appears related to generalized activity, as few items have functionally specific forms. However, the Cody components have an unexpectedly higher number of grooved abraders as compared to
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Bioarchaeology of Idaho in perspective: A Late Archaic Burial (10MO84) from the Upper Snake River Plain North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-04-01 Samantha H Blatt, Susanne J Miller, Kenneth C Reid
The fortuitous discovery of an isolated Late Archaic burial (10MO84) in southeastern Idaho is a rare contribution to bioarchaeology of the region. This study describes the osteobiography of this skeleton and contextualizes results to published accounts of bioarchaeology within Idaho, the Great Basin, and the Intermountain West. Analysis suggests that there is much potential variability in burial styles
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New editor’s introduction North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-04-01 Roger W. Moeller
I provide a brief personal introduction including my professional background, interests, and qualifications. I invite authors with a wide diversity of interests to submitted manuscripts to the journal.
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New Directions in the Search for the First Floridians by David K Thulman and Ervan G Garrison (eds) (2019) North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-01-01 Clara Summa
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Optically stimulated luminescence dating of a probable Native American cairn and wall site in Eastern Pennsylvania North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-01-01 James Feathers, Norman Muller
More than 5000 rock structure sites are found in northeastern United States, but their cultural attribution has long been debated. Some argue than many are prehistoric in origin, while others maintain they all date to colonial times. Few have been dated, and of those that have, the association of the dated material and the rocks can be challenged. Here, we provide luminescence analysis on the rocks
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Toward a geography of foodways in the southern Gulf Islands, Pacific Northwest Coast North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2020-01-01 Paul A Ewonus, Camilla F Speller, Roy L Carlson, Dongya Y Yang
Fine-screen animal bone and Pacific salmon ancient DNA (aDNA) results from Northwest Coast shell midden sites, together with other kinds of material culture, can provide detailed information on foodways, site-specific activities, and sociality. Seasonal use of the landscape may also be revealed through an understanding of place in the southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia, Canada. New results from
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Historical Archaeology of the Revolutionary War Encampments of Washington’s Army by Cosimo A Sgarlata, David G Orr and Bethany A Morrison (2019) North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2019-10-01 Christopher T Espenshade
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Holocene faunal procurement and species response to climate change in the Ohio River valley North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2019-10-01 Kenneth B Tankersley, Nichelle Lyle
This paper examines the temporal distribution of 163 distinct species recovered from 21 well-dated Holocene age archaeological sites in the Ohio River valley to determine patterns of faunal resource procurement and their response to periods of climate change. Climate change proxies include bison, long-billed curlew, pine marten, porcupine, prairie vole, and swamp rabbit. While the rice rat may be a
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Environmental implications of middle to late Holocene plains pocket gophers in Southeast Missouri North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2019-10-01 James J Krakker, Linda A Krakker
Plains pocket gopher, Geomys bursarius, a grassland inhabitant, is common among the mammal taxa identified on the southeast Ozark margin at the Lepold site, 23RI59, Ripley County, Missouri. Its presence throughout the midden depth, whether an incidental inclusion or human prey, implies that a favorable habitat existed in the immediate vicinity. As radiocarbon dates indicate midden deposition began
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Relic Hunters: Archaeology and the Public in Nineteenth-Century America by James E Snead North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2019-07-01 Bernard K Means
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The Seagull Bay site—Clovis technology from American Falls on the Eastern Snake River Plain North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2019-07-01 Charles A Speer, Kenneth C Reid, Matthew J Root, Richard E Hughes
The Snake River Plain may have served as a corridor for the earliest colonists spreading throughout the New World. It has been observed that the distribution of Clovis period sites and raw material used to produce diagnostic points reflects a detailed understanding of the environment. During the Terminal Pleistocene, there is little evidence of Clovis hunter-gatherers interacting with mega-fauna in
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Do projectile points get cold? An experimental approach examining composite and stone projectile technology North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2019-07-01 Jacob S Adams, William Andrefsky
Researchers have noted that cold temperatures may have had an impact on hunter-gatherer decisions concerning raw material selection for projectile points. This line of reasoning has been used to explain the phenomenon of projectile points of different materials occurring during the same time period in archaeological contexts that exhibit extreme seasonality. Cold temperatures are assumed to affect
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Jennifer Birch and Victor D Thompson (eds) The Archaeology of Villages in Eastern North America North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2019-04-01 John P. Hart
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Tanya M Peres and Aaron Deter-Wolf (eds) (2019) The Cumberland River Archaic of Middle Tennessee North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2019-04-01 Spencer Pelton
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Mound building and summit architecture at the Carson site, a Mississippian mound center in the southeastern United States North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2019-04-01 Jayur M Mehta
Significant scholarly attention has been paid to monument construction, craft production, and leadership strategies in the Mississippian world (A.D. 1000 to A.D. 1540) of the Southeastern and Midcontinental United States. As new sites are discovered and new data brought into consideration, greater consideration can be made linking the building of large earthen mounds to social and political relationships
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Discovering archaeological landscapes in parks and protected areas North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2019-04-01 Robert S Bristow, Anna Therien
Monitoring cultural resources in parks and protected areas is greatly enhanced using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR). For this example, a pilot inventory of cultural resources is illustrated for the United States National Park Service lands that protect the Appalachian Trail in Massachusetts. In Massachusetts, the trail stretches 145.2 kilometers (90.2 miles) and is protected by nearly 2052 hectares
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Archaeological Perspectives on the French in the New World by Elizabeth Scott (ed.) North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2019-01-01 Mark R Barnes
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Strategies for Quantitative Research: Archaeology by Numbers by Grant S McCall North American Archaeologist Pub Date : 2019-01-01 Heather Rockwell