ANTH195 Midterm
Where are raised fields found in S. America and Mesoamerica?
Rio Guayas (Florencio Delgado) Feed 100,000 people 3,5 K BP Power of chiefs to receive labor Fields clustered around prehispanic communities, construction at the behest of local chiefs??? Orinoco Amazons Lake Titicaca Colombia MesoA Venezuelan llanos Seasonally inundated savannas Construction of these fields began several hundred years after maize cultivation (1000BC vs. 500 AD) Development of these extensive ag systems accompanied rise of prehispanic chiefdoms in Middle Orinoco Guyanas region Especially coast region btw mouths of Amazon and Orinoco Modified to fit eccentricities of local drainage conditions Variety of plants, including maize to support a large human population High Andes near Titicaca, Tiwanuku Empire Live around altiplanos! Many meters above sea level! Only extremely hardy crops can cursive Crops can be devastated by bitter FROSTS! Pampa Koani - many raised fields Reclaim waterlogged land AND protect crops from cold air!! Casma Valley, North Coast of Peru 2 sets of raised fields on opposite margins of lower river valley Work camp established by Chimu Empire Reclaim waterlogged lands Ironic because this area is usually known for trouble with droughts and not abundant rainfall → this area constructed after major El Nino?
How were alcoholic beverages made in S. America and Mesoamerica in antiquity? What were some of the meanings and purposes associated to alcoholic beverages like chicha?
Ritual and ceremonial purpose E.g. San Jacinto Potable liquid avoiding contaminated water Highly nutritious Fermented cereals, manioc and fruits particularly palms Chewing corn enzymes in saliva Alcohol Sobering array of fermented beverages - chicha Chicha de maiz - many portions of prehispanic Andes Chicha made from manioc - across lowland S America Many plants fermented - quinoa, cactus fruits, fruits of california pepper tree
Las Vegas, Ecuador 10,000-6,000 BP
Santa Elena Peninsula, west of Guayaquil, Ecuador - by Kate Stotehert Wide range of marine resources Inclusive early domesticates - arrowroot, squash, manioc Ceramic figures sedentary, and didn't need to travel too far. The people of the Las Vegas culture used tools like bottle gourds and grinding stones to prepare and eat food and water. Tools tended to be generalized to carry out a wide variety of subsistence tasks. Also used a lot of shells. Bottle gourd, arrowroot, squash Shell middens → shell mounds
Chinchorro, Atacama Desert on Pacific Coast 7kBP (8000-7000 ya)
Sedentary occupants of Pacific Coast → high reliance on marine resources This was evidence of change into complex belief systems. Surfer's ear The mummification of children in the site was suggested to be a sign that mummification was not withheld to the elite of society. Suggests complex notions by the living about the dead - meaning unclear Extensive engagement among living, dead, and corpse Own mortality different than bilateral forms of life and death Ancestor veneration? Not as much about being feted by descendents like Inca → mummies were eventually buried
What are the new technologies, cultural and subsistence changes that characterize the Archaic?
Start of some sedentary trends and domestication Houses, burials, mounds = sedentary Broad-spectrum diet Introducing coastal diverse flora and fauna subsistence specializations and regionalizations Dependence on hunted food lessened Triad of plant crops developed - maize, beans, squash New tools needed to process plants (vs. sharper lithics of before) e.g. grinding stones Domestication "testing water" We manipulate plants BUT plants manipulate US Species extinctions → hunters, fishermen (especially this), collectors, horticulturalists Changes in material culture - small points, ground stone, manos + metals, axes Clay ovens where they cooked food = important site! FIRST POTTERY into arch record Tending house gardens and animals Rituals in ceremonial grounds → new architectural patterns and settlements
What are raised fields and explain how they work?
Strategy to sustain floods and droughts by reclaiming seasonal flooding plains --> Increases yield Mounding up wet soils, flanked by furrows Passive irrigation maintain temperatures Development of raised fields occurred long after initial introduction of crops and farming → response to need to intensify and increase ag surpluses Decision to invest in these projects made by chiefdoms, states, and empires, and non-hierarchical village communities
Archaeological Anthropology
Studies and interprets the behavioral culture practices of past/extinct societies through their preserved remains 50+ years = archaeological remain in the US Ecological and subsistence reconstruction Look at human and societal changes across time Historical archaeology access to textual data - e.g. Spanish lying about indigneous cultures Modern garbage
What is the paleoclimate and why do many archaeologists specialize in paleoclimatic reconstructions?
Study of climates for which direct measurements were not taken - reconstruction of ancient climates prior to widespread availability of ancient records Can study evolution of current climate
What about Llamas and Alpacas?
The Peruvian and Bolivian Andes 10k BP
sambuquis
These types of mounds are found along coastal Brazil and northern Uruguay (e.g. Jabuticabeira II, Santa Marta). More generally tend to be found along seacoasts, embayments, and lagoons. People lived close to the coast and tended to be very sedentary, because they got most of their resources from the coast (namely fishing). Made of tons of mollusk shells and other materials like oyster, clam, mangrove mussel shells No apparent social stratification because there were no apparent differences in funerary treatments. The funeral areas were "collective," and isolated burials were rare. The presence of the large mounds does however, point to emerging social complexity and increased sedentism.
San Jacinto, Colombia 6k BP
This site is located southeast of Cartagena, inland of the Caribbean in the low-lying savanna, near the Magdalena River. Earliest known ceramics in South America - WAY earlier than Monagrillo Fiber-tempered ceramics (and early shell-tempered ceramics, much better temper) Ceremonial, not utilitarian large quantities of botanical materials that researchers were able to gain a broader understanding of the transition from foraging to agriculture Using camps seasonally - snails, shells Becomes more sedentary using and managing local species, Were becoming more sedentary, evidence of some preconditions for agriculture The site was excavated by Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo and Renee Bonzani.
Why was farming developed in S. America and Mesoamerica? What were the engines of change to push populations into an agricultural and more sedentary lifestyle?
To sustain larger populations? Surplus food for local elites? Cultivation before domestication Specific genera were chosen even here Food collectors forced to become farmers??? Near East hypothesis rejected Developed from broad-spectrum foraging adaptations Increased population, decreased landmasses? Certain aspects of cultivated foods attracted people to become farmers Higher yields of ag foods → surpluses useful for development of social elites, products that could be used in feasts or exchange Either-or, push vs pull models We are unsure! May be as divergent as different plants and animals that became the foundations of ag on the continent
Monte Verde
Tom Dillehay 14k BP Bog area - preserves things well Creek side Bog Wooden housing and tools Plant remains medicines, distinct locations → Clovis not first, or only tradition Small initial pop of spear-using Paleoindians → multiple populations moved into New World with different subsistence strategies
Pedra Furada
Tried to challenge Clovis First Toca do Bocqueirio da Pedra Furada - Niede Guidon Large cave in sedimentary fragmentations - layers stretch back to Pleistocene dates in excess of 32,000> Cobble and flake "tools" were the artifacts Could they have been created when natural nodules from upper cave? 32k BP - controversial dates Rock shelters Do have human occupations Later pictographs by humans Organic matter → were the "tools" found modified by humans or just natural flakes?
What are fishtail points and where are they found?
Type of projectile point found in Middle and more commonly South America (Fell's Cave, Salar punta Negra, Quebrada Jaguay, Quebrada Tacahuay, El Jobo)
What is Teosinte and how is it related to the domestication of maize?
Used in Guila Naquitz 4250BC, Balsas Drainage Balsas River people grew MASS amounts of grass teosinte → transformed into maize Wild ancestor to maize Ritual useCan produce hybrids OG domestication 9000 ya Has fruit case Controlled by single genus of tiny ears → thousands that branch a lot Branching gene (regulatory gene) Putting gene into maize makes it more branches and vice versa microfossils on maize grind surface stones → like seeds, highly diagnostic Can tell corn vs teosinte
What is swidden agriculture/slash and burn agriculture? When was it first used?
Widely across tropical forests Often imitate ecological diversity Enormous variations Kuikuru people of Central brazil Campa people of Gran Pajonal Cutting and burning vegetation improves soil nutrients in poor soils Mutli cop - up to 2 dozen crops "Space-extensive" agrosystem Nutrients are easily exhausted Have multiple fields - one for cultivation, one for prep planting, and one to lie fallow Part adaptation to poor soils covered by heavy vegetation - tropical forests have leached away nutrients and mature forests quickly recycle organic matter as bacteria, lichens, and fungi consume fallen plant matter Farmers cut down brush and leave tall trees standing Burn slash piles → crops raised btw charred stumps May have diffused in S American with 3 crops (bitter manioc, sweet manioc, maize)
When were these main tubers domesticated and where?
Yams Cauca Valley Colombia 8k BP Oca, Cubois, Ibias, Arracacha, Potatoes Peru, Ecuador, and Colombian Andes at High elevations
Las Vegas, San Jacinto, and Pena Roja
all manipulated and modified environment long before transition to agricultural villages
Biological Anthropology
biological or physical investigations human/diversity across time and space, involving human origins Primatology - study of biology, evolution, behavior, and social life of primates Forensic anthro - identification of modern human remains/crime scenes, human rights cases)
Taima-Taima
challenged but did not overturn Clovis first Jose Maria Cruxent Excavated spring-fed bog thought to attract humans and animals since the Pleistocene Bones from mastodon, ground sloth, gigantic armadillo - some cut, burned and broken Radiocarbon dating dated bones 16k-13k BP Super early Points → beautiful and well made → different from Clovis Can date bones but not points Butchered mastodon and artifacts
Pena Rojas
demonstrated hunter gatherers could live in tropical rainforests Excavations uncovered plant foods, especially fruits and nuts from different palm trees (royal palm!) Can make nuts into beverages yay! Foragers who practiced small-scale domestic gardening → broad-spectrum foraging strategy
Agriculture
economic system dependent on farming at large scale
Cultural Anthropology
human societies + cultures in order to explain/identify similarities and differences Focuses on living/or recently living cultures Participant observation - Malanowski Studies the ways people identify themselves in their societies and world → worldviews Cross-cultural comparisons
Cultivation
intentional preparation of soils and planting
Characteristics of the Archaic
intro of pottery into SOME places Didn't rely as heavily on megafauna More sedentary Selecting for some characteristics in plants --> did not revolutionize --> subtle integration Broad-Spectrum diet
maguey
maguey from agave plant - staple food ensuring survival if there was no game Maguey sap important Fiver good for tools Useful for baskets Potable liquid - fermented beverages often more clean than water sometimes Squash Cactus beans Avocados Used by early Archaic Foragers at Guila Naquitz and Valley of Oaxaca Indicated reliance on plant food Used in Morelos, the highlands Small farming hamlets on piedmont slopes, apparently used ag terracing to secure crops Maguey often planted on outer edge of terrace to secure soil and enhance productivity of plot Guila Naquitz How many maguey plants were used For baskets and tequila as a potable drinking source
Linguistic Anthropology
study of language in its social and cultural context across space and time Studies the biological processes and evolution of speech, brain structures, and other tissues Quipu! Telling stories as well!
El Nino
wet, floods, warm current
Academic goals of archaeology
1) Culture History Sequence of events How artifacts change over time Explain why events happened 2) Lifeways reconstruction - tech, subsistence, exchange, settlement, social organization, ideology etc Individual level 3) Culture process - theoretic models of lifeways
What methods are used by archaeologists to identify the plant species and their uses of these plants in antiquity?
1) Flotation - separate hydrophobic from hydrophilic materials 2) Genetic/DNA 3) Microbotanical remains Palynology Phytoliths (silica bodies don't decay) Starch anlysis Can tell domestic vs. wild
Arrowroot, Squash, Bottleguard
10k BP Northern S. America and Panama
What is the date of these ceramics?
2500 BC The earliest found evidence of pottery was south of Acapulco in Puerto Marquez and dates back to 2400 BC
Where was domestication and farming invented?
3 S America regions Northern S America Southern andean highlands Western Amazonia Probably was a response to changing climate post-Pleistocene → evidence by apparent synchronicity 11000-9000 years ago Way domesticated were incorporated into ancient economies different
Describe the earliest form of human mummification. What are the dates for these earliest mummies? How come these mummies are so well preserved after so long? What do these mummies tell us about cultural changes occurring during the Archaic?
3 types of mummification practices within Chinchorro culture Black mummies→ most elaborate, replace clay and animal hides with the skin or face of the people, throw people into tar pits and preserved the body with a manganese paste and ochre, which preserved the bones as well as some of the organs and soft tissues, the bone itself creates the frame for the figure Wet bog, left to decay, remove bones, reassemble in wooden frame Facial features and genitals recreated with clay, skin using animal hides or original facial skin, manganese paste for preservation 5000-2800BC Red mummies→ less elaborate, extracted organs and put them in containers, placed the bodies around hot rocks to dry and preserve it Framework and stuffed with feathers, hairs Skulls treated with manganese and painted with red ochre 2000BC Only paste by 1700BC Name for era of mummy??? → more simplified, not really using the bones for a frame, limited maintenance of the organs and soft tissues, no longer use tar to preserve the corpse, mummification mostly simplified but still includes the clay mask Bandage Mummies Mud-Covered Mummies
What are Llanos de Moxos? What products were farmed there and how?
3.4 K BP Clark Erickson and John Walker Flooding fields Raised forest islands Canals and raised fields Investment in labor Squash, manioc, sweet potatoes, palms, peanuts, maize Southeastern headwaters of the Amazon Anthropogenic landscape Stunning achievement of raised fields - sooo much labor Maize, manioc, sweet potato, mate etc Macrobotanical remains e.g. starch grains, and phytoliths from squash, peanuts, cotton, yams, palms, and staples of maize and manioc Many hose mounds large mound constrictions, raise causeways flanked by canals, deep ring ditches → substantial human presence transforming landscape Defensive walls suggest conflict, no evidence for emergence of chiefdoms
Tomatoes
4k S. America, Peru Andes and Mesoamerica
What is the terracing system and why was it used? What does terracing allows humans to do and to prevent?
5.4 K BP Upper Zana Valley oldest (coastal Peru) Oldest irrigation as currently known in S America Access to water solution! Especially in arid coasts of Western S America Transport also nutrients through silt Allows cultivation in steep slopes and less fertile soils Social networks resulted from water networks explosive growth of human settlements Associated to monumental architecture
Manioc/Yuca/Cassava
5.8k BP Amazon - originated here Important S American tuber
38. What is the maximum age to reliably carbon date materials?
50,000 years
Where was cacao domesticated? How have the perspectives on the domestication of cacao changed in the last two years? When was cacao first domesticated? Why were Central American societies like the Maya previously believed to have domesticated cacao?
5kBP in funeral offerings In Ecuador one of earliest domesticates in South and North America (dog and llama are earliest) Shifts by 1,400 miles and 1,500 years Cacao long linked to Maya and other ancient MesoA civilizations (chocolate companies like Maya Gold) Maya continued to domesticated the already domesticated cacao to suite their tastes Turned it into an ART FORM (currency and rituals)
Chili peppers
6K BP Mesoamerica and S. America
Achira
6k BP Peru
What is the origin of cotton? Why does become important during the Formative?
6k BP Zana Valley, coastal valley of Peru Independently domesticated 50 species in Asia, Africa, America Used for its fibers Can survive exposure to seawater Propensity for long-distance travel "Enthusiasm for promiscuous hybridization" Becomes extremely important in the Formative → continues to be after conquest Cloths, wealth distinction, trade Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Colombia textile industries Preserve well in dry climates e.g. Atacama Tell stories - have mythologies in textiles that you can see in iconography Modern production of textiles - issues in ecological changes
Peanuts
8.5k BP Peru
Pedra Pintada
A site in the Brazilian Amazon that demonstrates that there were groups contemporary with the Clovis culture that were living in South America in a rain-forest environment Amazon originally believed to be too complicated a place for Paleoindian people Anna Roosevelt Many caves, cave paintings Multiple levels 10k early for Amazon Excavated test pits 20 different major layers that could be grounded into 4 main sets Pleistocene layer sealed btw 2 sandy layers that lacked cultural materials or organic matter that could have been mixed with Paleoindian layer and contaminated with radiocarbon samples Lowest level of Caverna etc etc contemporary with Clovis sites of N America
Late Archaic (5k-4k BP) Tehuacan Valley
Abejas phase Campsites more sedentary
Bett J Meggers hot hypothesis
Amazon forest could never have had large settlements due to environmental limits, no large interior cities in the Amazon Tropical forest only allows culture to evolve to "Tropical Forest level" - more highly evolved culture attempted to settle will default to this --> Evidence for more complex prehisstoric Amazonian societies Kurkuru and Campa were moving their camps for non-agricultura reasons → more variation among swidden users that Meggers thought Swidden not the only ag strategy used in tropical forests (e.g. raised bed or drained field ag)
Arroyo-Kalin moden
Arboriculture in Early to Mid Holocene → more spatially intensive through time Earliest ag = household gardens, maize + sweet manioc probably grown in midden heaps and household gardens early in Holocene by people in tropical forests Bitter manioc requires drier + open habitats → swidden used to replicate those habitats in tropical forests
What are the first ceramics in Mesoamerica tell us about the societies there? What were these early ceramics used for?
Associated to more sedentary societies → from foraging to sedentary agriculture --> Larger vessels to carry and high investment to discard for mobile foragers First for serving and storing liquids, porous → alter more heat resistance for cooking → also highly ceremonial Large vessels good for grain storage, water supply in permanent residents, for softening and cooking dried maize, fermenting beveraghes made of mashed grains or ripening maguey sap
What are some of the cultivated plants associated to hallucinogenic substances originating in the Americas? What is the traditional use of these plants?
Ayahuasca - mix with other things, potent! San Pedro - cactus in parts of north Mexico and south US Produce mascalin? Peyote Produce mascalin? Angel's trumpet Vines of the soul Ritual transformation by shamans Other beings e.g. jaguars Witchcraft accusations, attacking other shamans? Healing
What are mammoth kills and where is evidence of this Paleoindian technique being used in Mesoamerica?
Basin of Mexico Santa isabel Iztapan and Tepexpan 11k BP Stalked beasts to cliffs and swamps Thought to prove Overkill Hypothesis Didn't happen everywhere, or as frequently as thought → not necessarily the cause
Yams
Cauca Valley Colombia 8k BP
Guitarrero cave (Arroyo Seco 2?) 12k BP
Change from deer → camelids 12k BP Guanaco, vicunas → llamas and alpacas 10k BP One of earliest domesticates Domesticates as chilies and beans later size by 6000 BP Various sites camelids became more common after 8500-5300 BP - important for diet! Especially in altiplano sites as people colonized higher elevations → shift in emphasis from deer → camelids (diet) Showed in Guitarrero Cave First short term shelter → became more permanently occupied Showed increasing importance of camelids for diet, though deer was principal game
Pacific Coastal Plains in Soconusco 5500BC
Chiapas areas in Mexico and Guatemala Shell mounds to dry marine products Also serving inland sites communication Pacific Coastal Plain - Laguna Chantuto and adjacent swamps in the Soconusco region 1) shell mound sites/ "shell midden sites" 2) Vuelta Limon and other inland sites (served by shell mound sites) Slash and burn cultivation Preceramic site Early Formative Soconusco would become key region for production of MesoA's most sophisticated pottery
What are the earliest dates for the evidence of humans in MesoAmerica?
Chiquihuite Cave in Mexico has artifacts that date 30,000 (earliest date) years ago (NOT south America)
Where and how were guinea pigs domesticated
Colombia and the Andes and then into the Caribbean ~6k BP
How are social distinctions beginning to be notable during the archaic?
Complex funerary practices, different treatments
What are the applied goals of archaeology
Conveying past through archaeology Proper way to do archaeology Archaeology is a profession Public education Museums TV shows etc etvc
How were these early ceramics made? What are fiber-tempered ceramics?
Cover baskets with clay then fired Technique must have been known to mobile foragers as evidences by baskets lined with some clay for waterproofing → must have burned at some point
Middle Archaic Tehuacan Valley (8k-5k BP)
Coxcatlan phase Domesticates increase Maize ancestor appears
What is the difference between cultivation and agriculture?
Cultivation becomes agriculture after the planting of domesticated species in prepared fields
Fields of Anthro
Cultural Linguistic Archaeological Biological And some say APPLIED??? (though all should be applied)
How did farming revolutionize plant managing, hunting and gathering strategies?
Did NOT REVOLUTIONIZE subsistence strategies → just added in the broad spectrum Mosaic-like pattern with multiple areas of early independent ag → diversity of early food-producing economies Probably was a response to changing climate post-Pleistocene → evidence by apparent synchronicity 11000-9000 years ago
Other domesticated species?
Dogs likely came with humans
Microverticality
Dramatic change in elevation, changes of temperatures → can walk down and get tropical fruit, can fo back up and get something different → can have that mobility!
La Nina
Drought, cold current
What were the earliest plants domesticated in the Americas? Where? When?
Earliest crops - suite of root crops, fruits, gourds, legumes, and seed plants Arrowroot, Squash, Bottleguard: 10k BP Northern S. America and Panama Peanuts 8.5k BP and Achira 6k BP Peru Manioc 5.8k BP Amazon Chili peppers 6K BP Mesoamerica and S. America Tomatoes - 4k S. America, Peru Andes and Mesoamerica NOT ITALIAN LOL
El Fin del Mundo
End of the World First Clovis site outside the US Clovis sites outside of N America important Megafauna and human tools 12k Shows how Clovis spread
What are Amazonian Dark Earths?
Extensive modified soils for cultivation using discarded foods including fish as well as ceramics Found on top od very different types of soils From various geomorphological settings even in placces where organics are unlikely to accumulate Contain potsherds Anthrosols and in some cases actually archaological sites~ Densest concentrations along major rivers and their tributaries → other water things Very varied in depth and configuration → various community organizations and different cultural activities Amazon not a pristine landscape, not resource-poor or unpopulated but broadly occupied and shaped by people!
Where was tobacco first domesticated? Why it is so widely distributed? How is it used traditionally?
First domesticated in norther S. America - 8 K BP Over half tobacco species native to S America Wild varieties from Andes Ecuador to Chile More widespread than maize! As far as Canada Continues to be Ritual drug, Chew, snugg, smoke, drink Yopo - stimulant to ritual/spiritual workings Highly ritualized → as is majority of food products
Nukak people
Forest subtly transformed Used 113 species of plant Casual discard of wild palm seeds Human waste, charcoal, and other organic debris → anthrosols/terra preta/dark earth → would become even more extensive with slash and burn farming later → ideal soil for plants Removing hard shells of some palm buts and accidentally dropping the seeds Germinate more rapidly than unshelled plants → clusters of foods → wild orchards in Amazon Cut down palm trees to acquire nuts → Rainforest transformed!
Who use the term Archaic in archaeological research in America first? How did the meaning of the term Archaic changed since then?
Gordon Willey and Phillip Phillips 10kBP-4kBP/~500-2500BC Hunter-gatherers were using diverse animals + plants but didn't farm/domesticate TERM CHANGES Archaic people did some experimental horticulture if not agriculture For some places their definition rings true, for some it doesn't Initial Paleoindians also hunted diverse game and used marine resources and grinding technologies
Where are the first ceramics found in Mesoamerica? How are they similar or different from the ceramics in Soconusco, San Jacinto and Monagrill
Guerrero Pacific Coast Ceramics occurred more commonly 3,900 BP as far as Acapulco Earliest ceramics in mesoA in Puerto Marques Also fiber-tempered Puerto Marques as old as 2400BC, earliest MesoA example Another shell midden site "Pox pottery" - pockmarks on interior surface where bits of fiber temper burned away in firing process Exterior has red slip similar to Initial Formative ceramics from coastal Socunusco and pottery found in Ecuador and dating even earlier
Where was Maize domesticated and when?
Guila Naquitz 4250 BC wild ancestor Teosinte in Balsas Drainage, Oaxaca highlands 4250BC
Camarones 14
High rates of infant mortality due to arsenic poisoning during pregnancy and early childhood from arsenic-polluted water and resources The mummified corpses are a means to preserve their loved ones and cope with the loss of their children First mummies were the bodies of infants and fetuses killed by arsenic poisoning Camarones 14 site - oldest known Rio Camarones contains lots of arseniccc Arsenic poisoning for pregnant women 20-25 percent infant mortality, nearly double that of modern nations Mummification helped assuage grief
Why are tubers so important for the origins of domestication, farming, and essential foods from South America?
Highly nutritious Resilient Replanted from shoots it can be artificially selected for desired characteristics Process result in at least 2,500 varieties of potatoes in Andes Dramatically lower testosterone levels Some were given to Inca army to appease them → lower sexual desires when they missed their women Not just for poor and indigenous people
Residential mobility
Home bases, Locations → move once place is depleted Material culture is limited and portable More mobile
Logistic mobility
Home bases, locations, seasonal camps, storage areas, specialized work camps etc etc Tools are less portable and more diverse More sedentary Permanent camps and work parties travel to locations with desired resources and during specific seasons e.g. when plants have fruits or low tides Specialists! Specialized groups go to different places
What are household gardens and how are they used?
Household Gardens Take advantage of previous settlements or garbage-dumped margins of seasonal encampments → anthrosols! Anthropogenic forests! Numerous species of plant encouraged to grow outside of cultivated areas Human agency shaping the forest gardens → a historical record Not wild pristine environments but modified anthropogenic ones Previous occupations, middens fertile soils Wild Orchards as the Nukak
Cooper's Ferry
Idaho Humans present ~16,000 ya More than 1,000 years than scientists thought Predating Clovis First settlers may have traveled down the Pacific COast from NE ASia and then eastward into the continent more than 1,500 years before inland, ice-free corridor opened up Stone tools and artifacts Support for Pacific coastal route Doesn't necessarily refute the idea that an ice-free corridor was used
Characteristics of Paleoindian Period
Lithics, small stone tools --> highly elaborate stone tools Hunters, gathers --> dependence on megafauna (though NOT ALL) Not sedentary No agriculture or domestication No ceramics/pottery --> "Preceramic period" (could include portion of Archaic) First people in New World
What is the importance of the domestication of the potatoes? Where was the potato domesticated and when?
Llanos de Mojos? South America - Andean Domestication of tubers resulted in at least 2,500 varieties of potatoes in Andes Tubers can be replanted from shoots and artificially selected for desired characteristics Some crops have broadly distributed wild relatives → domestication may have occurred independently and repeatedly → accompanied by hybridization as domesticates cross-bred with local varieties Origins of root and tuber crops similarly diffuse (e.g. yams, oca, taro, jicama, illucu, potato) Rich variety in Andean highlands Can be propagated → easy to artificially select and domesticate
Humboldt current
Low salinity ocean current that flows along western coast of S America Cold currents lower dept water Rich in nutrients (most productive) → complex societies Took advantage of this for thousands of years Increasing temperatures → catastrophic consequences → droughts, floods, lack of food sources
Lagoa Santa
Luzia 12k BP Many bones missing - predator attacked? Oldest? → or Kennewick Man 9k BP? (repatriated to indigenous people, some remains burned when Museum of Brazil burned) Lots of comparisons between the two Similarly scrutinized Not indigenous characteristics? S. Pacific and African populations? → No Luzia is genetically associated with Native Americans Evidence for Pacific migrations across the ocean??
How was maize domesticated?
Maize was progressively selected for its potential to earn the highest yield with the least amount of labor Teosinte --> selected for more ears of corn Plants easy to manipulate --> Branching gene (regulatory gene) Putting gene into maize makes it more branches and vice versa Larger ears were encouraged which allowed for greater productivity of the plant, less work for the people, and allowing for greater populations and food security Selected for larger grain → did not disperse from cob → larger stalks and cobs
What is cultural resource management (CRM)
Management and assessment of significant cultural resources Applied archaeology Commonplace - most jobs oriented towards this - why?
What begins to change at the end of the archaic that gave rise to the more complex social organization of the Formative?
Maritime hypothesis - Marine sources along coastal Peru and Chile sufficiently abundant and predictable --> Settlements developed before ceramics adopted Non-domestic "public" architecture Mounds, religious buildings, other special spaces Formative period Agriculture and pottery are criteria Maize!!!!! Public ceremonial architecture Early Form villages grew to certain size and fissioned Pop grew → conflicts Large fissioning occurred before 800 BC → replaced by other means of addressing community conflicts → new social institutions, new forms of religion Critical threshold crossed when societies moved beyond domestic context to include planned sedentary communities and formalized structured public life Social complexity Public monuments Important environmental changes Landscape modification Domestication and spread of plants and animals → development of early states Agriculture spread, populations get big, surpluses → hierarchy of elites can emerge on top by coercion and organize labor Rise of the Chiefdom Coercion Stronger village extorts and bullies the weaker Chief almost always a war leader
What are the main centers of domestication in America?
Mesoamerica Northern South America Andes Amazonia (western)
Where are the earliest ceramics in Central America found?
Mongarillo ceramic complex Fiber-tempered ceramics = first ceramics Covered baskets with clay + cook in fire --> mixing certain materials (tempering) with ordinary clay caused the clay pot to hold together better and make a tougher pot Other types of fiber tempers = sand, shells, better later on) MIDDLE/CENTRAL AMERICA Panama and Nicaragua --> a bit to coastal Ecuador too mixed subsistence and sedentism shell middens There was little to no sign of maize use in their lifestyle and diets throughout this whole period as well The use of sedentism and pottery practices were not thought to be new developments in this area, but rather, a local developments emerging from widespread knowledge ceramics being lined with plant material and a red slip and fired, leaving an imprint of the material after the firing process has burned it away.
What are the earliest dates for the evidence of humans in S. America?
Monte Verde 14,500 ya?!?!?!?!?!?!
What bird species were domesticated in the Americas?
Muscovy Ducks Mesoamerica and South America Turkeys Mesoamerica 2K BP
Tamulipas
North Dry Lands Desert Tradition Small game, seeds, nuts, dry caves with baskets, nets, grinding stones, medicinal herbs, ores, manos, and metates Points, scrappers, knives, made of stone
Guila Naquitz 4250BC
Oaxacan highlands and the Balsas Drainage area Teosinte/Maize Food Beverages --> better and more clean than water Popcorn Plants easy to manipulate --> branching gene *one gene changes size of kernel and casing --> corn outside casing? Branching gene (regulatory gene) Putting gene into maize makes it more branches and vice versa How was maize selected for domestication Maize was progressively selected for its potential to earn the highest yield with the least amount of labor Larger ears were encouraged which allowed for greater productivity of the plant, less work for the people, and allowing for greater populations and food security
How and why is maize widely distributed from its place of origin?
Once domesticated, maize spread and was used wherever it was possible Spread through MesoA by 2000BC climatic shift where conditions allowed it → resulted in larger populations Foraging was still favored as the primary means of subsistence throughout most of the Late Archaic and early formative periods, but by then most communities also had a primary crop that they grew as the region began to warm. → over time there was a decline in the foraging as agricultural practices and agricultural practices and trade networks intensified Law of Least Effort
What are some of the methods archaeologists use to identify the types of species used by humans in antiquity?
Osteology - e.g. guinea pigs pelvis is closer and smaller in wild guinea pigs, domesticates selected for wider pelvises for reproduction Iconography - since Paleoindiands are drawing animals! Ethnohistory - writings, chronicles Biochemistry - chemical analysis on bones
Quebrada de los Burros
Permanent seeping spring - 6 distinct layers Freshwater allowed Archaic forager to stay at the coast Tools reflect mix of pursuits Most relate to fishing (fishing spears), but some stone projectile points indicate hunting Hunted seabirds and large terrestrial game Guanaco and Andean deer Changes in sedentism → initially people lived in Burros most of the year (lower levels show less mobility) → later people were actually more mobile and moved to the coast → hunted when lomas was damp and has a lot of game
Where was coca domesticated? When? What is the use of coca by indigenous societies?
Peru Coast 4.5 K BP Colombia variety of independent domestication traded as far as MesoA Sacred plant Chewing and tea ritual/traditional uses (stimulant and hunger suppressant, elevation sickness) Mix with calcium (shells, limestone, bark). Alkaloids! Coca and limestone from one of the documentaries! Found together in shell Have ast of individuals chewing it in pouch at cheek Trujillo coco - essence of evergreen + other flavors → popular for flavoring medicines and beverages (e.g. Coco-Cola)
Oca, Cubois, Ibias, Arracacha, Potatoes
Peru, Ecuador, and Colombian Andes at High elevations
Early Archaic Tehuacan Valley 10k-8k BP
Plants more important Domestication Ground stone Textiles Baskets Burials
