Download or read book Isotopic Landscapes in Bioarchaeology written by Gisela Grupe and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-03-10 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work takes a critical look at the current concept of isotopic landscapes ("isoscapes") in bioarchaeology and its application in future research. It specifically addresses the research potential of cremated finds, a somewhat neglected bioarchaeological substrate, resulting primarily from the inherent osteological challenges and complex mineralogy associated with it. In addition, for the first time data mining methods are applied. The chapters are the outcome of an international workshop sponsored by the German Science Foundation and the Centre of Advanced Studies at the Ludwig-Maximilian-University in Munich. Isotopic landscapes are indispensable tracers for the monitoring of the flow of matter through geo/ecological systems since they comprise existing temporally and spatially defined stable isotopic patterns found in geological and ecological samples. Analyses of stable isotopes of the elements nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, strontium, and lead are routinely utilized in bioarchaeology to reconstruct biodiversity, palaeodiet, palaeoecology, palaeoclimate, migration and trade. The interpretive power of stable isotopic ratios depends not only on firm, testable hypotheses, but most importantly on the cooperative networking of scientists from both natural and social sciences. Application of multi-isotopic tracers generates isotopic patterns with multiple dimensions, which accurately characterize a find, but can only be interpreted by use of modern data mining methods.
Download or read book Across the Alps in Prehistory written by Gisela Grupe and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-05-23 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the heart of this book is the matter of how isotopic landscapes combined with data mining enriches insights on prehistoric migration and cultural transfer. Isotopic mapping is an indispensable tool for the assessment of mobility and trade in the past, but is limited by eco-geographic redundancies. An interdisciplinary research group focuses on the archaeological isotopic landscape of a reference region of outstanding importance, namely the transalpine migration route via the Brenner Pass which has been in use since the Mesolithic. Over the period of several cultural epochs, cremation was either the most common or exclusive burial custom practiced. For the first time, a systematic and large scale investigation of cremated remains was being conducted in the field of prehistoric migration research.87Sr/86Sr, 208Pb/204Pb, 207Pb/204Pb, 206Pb/204Pb, 208Pb/207Pb, 206Pb/207Pb and – if applicable - also δ18O were measured in human and animal skeletal finds, an isotopic map was established, and innovative methods of data mining and similarity research have been applied to accomplish this novel approach to studying prehistoric migration and culture transfer. The book has interdisciplinary appeal and scholars working in bioarchaeology, physical anthropology and computer applications in life sciences will find it of particular interest.
Download or read book Isotopic Investigations of Pastoralism in Prehistory written by Alicia R. Ventresca Miller and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-18 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pastoralists were a vital economic and social force in ancient societies around the globe, transforming landscapes poorly suited for agriculture into spaces of vast productive potential while simultaneously connecting mobile and sedentary communities alike across considerable distances. Drawing from the rich archaeological records of Asia, Africa, and Europe, Isotopic Investigations of Pastoralism in Prehistory brings together the latest studies employing heavy and light stable isotopic analyses of humans and animals to investigate pastoralist diets, movement, and animal management strategies. The contributions presented in this volume highlight new methodological developments while simultaneously drawing attention to the diverse environmental factors that contribute to isotopic variation in human, plant, and animal tissues. Particular attention is paid to how pastoralist decisions regarding animal pasturing and mobility can be teased out of complex isotopic datasets, and also to the challenges in extracting information on the scales of human mobility in pastoralist landscapes. This volume will appeal to scholars in archaeology, anthropology, and ecology, as well as those with interests in animal management.
Download or read book Isotopic Proveniencing and Mobility written by T. Douglas Price and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-03-30 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides a state-of-the-art presentation and discussion of procedures, especially what works and what doesn’t — on isotopic proveniencing, learned over the last 30 years. The volume focuses on application, not method, to emphasize to the reader the wide range of questions that can be addressed using isotopic proveniencing. Topics covered include samples, baselines, isoscapes, and place of origin. Isotopic proveniencing has become almost standard procedure in the analysis of archaeological burials as a means of distinguishing locals from foreigners. The combination of isotopic proveniencing and DNA has moved archaeological interest in migration and mobility to the fore, but there is very little synthetic work published for either technology.The field has evolved and new procedures and guidelines have emerged that have not been widely heard and this volume seeks to rectify this. The contributors have been selected from among the leaders in the field, those with active research and hands-on experience with the technology. This volume is of relevance to archaeologists.
Download or read book Isoscapes written by Jason B. West and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-11-25 with total page 495 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stable isotope ratio variation in natural systems reflects the dynamics of Earth systems processes and imparts isotope labels to Earth materials. Carbon isotope ratios of atmospheric CO2 record exchange of carbon between the biosphere and the atmosphere; the incredible journeys of migrating monarchs is documented by hydrogen isotopes in their wings; and water carries an isotopic record of its source and history as it traverses the atmosphere and land surface. Through these and many other examples, improved understanding of spatio-temporal isotopic variation in Earth systems is leading to innovative new approaches to scientific problem-solving. This volume provides a comprehensive overview of the theory, methods, and applications that are enabling new disciplinary and cross-disciplinary advances through the study of "isoscapes": isotopic landscapes. "This impressive new volume shows scientists deciphering and using the natural isotope landscapes that subtly adorn our spaceship Earth.", Brian Fry, Coastal Ecology Institute, Louisiana State University, USA "An excellent timely must read and must-have reference book for anybody interested or engaged in applying stable isotope signatures to questions in e.g. Anthropology, Biogeochemistry, Ecology, or Forensic Science regarding chronological and spatial movement, changes, or distribution relating to animals, humans, plants, or water.", Wolfram Meier-Augenstein, Centre for Anatomy & Human Identification, University of Dundee, UK "Natural resources are being affected by global change, but exactly where, how, and at what pace? Isoscapes provide new and remarkably precise answers.", John Hayes, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA "This exciting volume is shaping a new landscape in environmental sciences that is utilizing the remarkable advances in isotope research to enhance and extend the capabilities of the field.", Dan Yakir, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
Download or read book Exploring Human Behavior Through Isotope Analysis written by Melanie M. Beasley and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-06-23 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited volume compiles a series of chapters written by experts of isotopic analysis in order to highlight the utility of various isotope systems in the reconstruction of past human behaviors. Rather than grouping contributions by specific isotopes or analytical techniques, as many isotope review articles are arranged, the volume organizes chapters by broadly defined themes of archaeological research. These include: paleodiet and life histories, human-animal interactions, and migration and mobility. In this sense, the book is arranged with the intent of being as much question based as method based. Chapters under these themes provide background information on the principles of the techniques and on the theoretical underpinnings of the research; yet they are written with the non-specialist in mind and attempt to convey these ideas clearly and succinctly. In addition to the case studies and reviews, three chapters provide greater context to the field of isotopic archaeology, discussing its history, basic principles, and future potential. The volume aims to serve as a reference source for students and practicing archaeologists seeking to apply isotopic studies to their own research projects or to act as a reader for courses in archaeological science. Chapter 6 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.
Download or read book New Developments in the Bioarchaeology of Care written by Lorna Tilley and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-08-22 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New Developments in the Bioarchaeology of Care evaluates, refines and expands existing concepts and practices in the developing field of bioarchaeological research into health-related care provision in the past. Evidence in human remains that indicates an individual survived with, or following, a serious pathology suggests this person most likely received some form of care from others. This observation was first made half a century ago, but it is only in the last five years that health-related caregiving has been accepted as a topic for bioarchaeology research. In this time, interest has grown exponentially. A focus on care provides a dynamic framework for examining the experiences of disease and disability in the past - at the level of the individual receiving care, and that of the community providing it. When caregiving can be identified in the archaeological record, bioarchaeologists may be able to offer unique insights into aspects of past lifeways. This volume represents the work of an international, diverse, cross-disciplinary group of contributors, each bringing their own particular focus, style and expertise to analyzing past health-related care. Nineteen chapters offer content that ranges from an introduction to the basic 'bioarchaeology of care' approach, through original case studies of care provision, to new theoretical perspectives in this emerging area of scholarship. This book creates a synergy that challenges our thinking about past health-related care behaviors and about the implications of these behaviors for understanding the social environment in which they took place.
Download or read book Subsistence and Society in Prehistory written by Alan K. Outram and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-10-24 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explains how recent scientific advances have revolutionised our understanding of prehistoric diet, economy and society.
Download or read book Multispecies Archaeology written by Suzanne E. Pilaar Birch and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-07 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Multispecies Archaeology explores the issue of ecological and cultural novelty in the archaeological record from a multispecies perspective. Human exceptionalism and our place in nature have long been topics of academic consideration and archaeology has been synonymous with an axclusively human past, to the detriment of gaining a more nuanced understanding of one that is shared. Encompassing more than just our relationships with animals, the book considers what we can learn about the human past without humans as the focus of the question. The volume digs deep into our understanding of interaction with plants, fungi, microbes, and even the fundamental building blocks of life, DNA. Multispecies Archaeology examines what it means to be human—and non-human—from a variety of perspectives, providing a new lens through which to view the past. Challenging not only the subject or object of archaeology but also broader disciplinary identities, the volume is a landmark in this new and evolving area of scholarly interest.
Download or read book Theoretical Approaches in Bioarchaeology written by Colleen M. Cheverko and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-08-20 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theoretical Approaches in Bioarchaeology emphasizes how several different theoretical perspectives can be used to reconstruct the biocultural experiences of humans in the past. Over the past few decades, bioarchaeology has been transformed through methodological revisions, technological advances, and the inclusion of external theoretical frameworks from the social and natural sciences. These interdisciplinary perspectives became the backbone of bioarchaeology and strengthened the discipline’s ability to address questions about past biological and social dynamics. Consequently, how, why, and when to apply external theory to studies of past populations are central and timely questions tied to future developments of the discipline. This book facilitates ongoing dialogues about theoretical applications within the field and interdisciplinary connections between bioarchaeology, biological anthropology, and other disciplines. Each chapter highlights how a theoretical framework originating from a social or natural science connects to past and future bioarchaeological research. For scholars and archaeologists interested in the theoretical applications of bioarchaeology, this book will be an excellent resource.
Download or read book Archaeology and Ancient Religion in the American Midcontinent written by Brad H. Koldehoff and published by University Alabama Press. This book was released on 2018-11-06 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analyses of big datasets signal important directions for the archaeology of religion in the Archaic to Mississippian Native North America Across North America, huge data accumulations derived from decades of cultural resource management studies, combined with old museum collections, provide archaeologists with unparalleled opportunities to explore new questions about the lives of ancient native peoples. For many years the topics of technology, economy, and political organization have received the most research attention, while ritual, religion, and symbolic expression have largely been ignored. This was often the case because researchers considered such topics beyond reach of their methods and data. In Archaeology and Ancient Religion in the American Midcontinent, editors Brad H. Koldehoff and Timothy R. Pauketat and their contributors demonstrate that this notion is outdated through their analyses of a series of large datasets from the midcontinent, ranging from tiny charred seeds to the cosmic alignments of mounds, they consider new questions about the religious practices and lives of native peoples. At the core of this volume are case studies that explore religious practices from the Cahokia area and surrounding Illinois uplands. Additional chapters explore these topics using data collected from sites and landscapes scattered along the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys. This innovative work facilitates a greater appreciation for, and understanding of, ancient native religious practices, especially their seamless connections to everyday life and livelihood. The contributors do not advocate for a reduced emphasis on technology, economy, and political organization; rather, they recommend expanding the scope of such studies to include considerations of how religious practices shaped the locations of sites, the character of artifacts, and the content and arrangement of sites and features. They also highlight analytical approaches that are applicable to archaeological datasets from across the Americas and beyond.
Download or read book Different Times Archaeological and Environmental Data from Intra Site and Off Site Sequences written by Zoï Tsirtsoni and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2020-06-18 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Proceedings from Session II-8 of the XVIII UISPP Congress, Paris, 2018, questioning temporal correlations between intra-site and off-site data in archaeology-related contexts. The word ‘site’ describes here archaeological sites – usually settlements – where recent research has produced information on the duration and timing of human presence.
Download or read book Stable Isotopic Evidence for Landscape Environmental Reconstructions Kapthurin Formation Kenya written by David Edward Leslie and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Activity Diet and Social Practice written by Sarah Schrader and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-12-05 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Day-to-day activities are important in the development of social identities, the establishment of social standing, and the communal understanding of societal rules. This perspective is broadly referred to as practice theory and relates to the power of an overarching social structure and the individual actors that exist within it. Practice theory has made an important contribution to anthropological and archaeological research as these fields are particularly interested in daily life and the importance of these actions. This volume argues that practice theory can also be used in a bioarchaeological context through the examination of human skeletal remains and the archaeological context in which they were excavated. Bioarchaeology offers a unique perspective on these day-to-day experiences—skeletal tissue is constantly undergoing a process of change and, as a living biological system, it can adapt to external forces. Furthermore, bioarchaeological studies are multi-scalar and can examine individuals, groups, or entire populations. Using osteological indicators of activity patterns (entheseal changes, osteoarthritis) and dietary isotopes (carbon, nitrogen) as examples, this book addresses patterns of everyday life in the ancient past. Physical activities and food consumption are actions that are carried out on a daily basis. While bioarchaeology does not have the ability to recreate specific day-to-day activities, we can assess broad trends in everyday life. The volume illustrates these points using examples from the Ancient Nile Valley. Through the examination of over 800 Egyptian and Nubian individuals from five different archaeological sites, the research addresses patterns of everyday life as they relate to social inequality, agency, and practice. Beyond osteological indicators of activity and dietary patterns, this book also discusses additional methods that can be pursed to draw attention to daily life. Lastly, this book also highlights the applicability of and potential contribution that practice theory can make to this area of research.
Download or read book Handbook of Landscape Archaeology written by Bruno David and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-06-03 with total page 720 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over 80 archaeologists from four continents create a benchmark volume of the ideas and practices of landscape archaeology, covering the theoretical and the practical, the research and conservation, and encasing the term in a global framework.
Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology written by Vera Tiesler and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-05-23 with total page 771 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume brings together a range of contributors with different and hybrid academic backgrounds to explore, through bioarchaeology, the past human experience in the territories that span Mesoamerica. This handbook provides systematic bioarchaeological coverage of skeletal research in the ancient Mesoamericas. It offers an integrated collection of engrained, bioculturally embedded explorations of relevant and timely topics, such as population shifts, lifestyles, body concepts, beauty, gender, health, foodways, social inequality, and violence. The additional treatment of new methodologies, local cultural settings, and theoretic frames rounds out the scope of this handbook. The selection of 36 chapter contributions invites readers to engage with the human condition in ancient and not-so-ancient Mesoamerica and beyond. The Routledge Handbook of Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology is addressed to an audience of Mesoamericanists, students, and researchers in bioarchaeology and related fields. It serves as a comprehensive reference for courses on Mesoamerica, bioarchaeology, and Native American studies.
Download or read book Leporids Landscapes and Social Environmental Dynamics in Arid North America written by Andrew D. Somerville and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Environmental conditions provide significant constraints and opportunities for human behavior. Paleoenvironmental studies are thus an important component of archaeological investigations seeking to understand the organization, development and decline of past societies. This dissertation develops a method of paleoenvironmental research that uses stable isotope analysis of jackrabbit and cottontail (Leporidae) bones to quantify aspects of the landscapes in which they lived. The project then applies the technique to a sample of bones excavated from four archaeological sites in desert ecosystems of North America to obtain information about human-leporid and human environmental relationships through time. Site locations include Pueblo Grande (Arizona, USA), La Ferrería (Durango, Mexico), La Quemada (Zacatecas, Mexico), and Teotihuacan (Mexico, Mexico). Results are explored across multiple temporal and spatial scales to refine the method and improve our understanding of the long-term dynamics of social-environmental systems within arid and semi-arid landscapes. Results of baseline analyses on modern bones demonstrate significant correlations between stable oxygen isotope values and moisture variables (precipitation and humidity), and between stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values and temperature variables (min, max, and mean temperature), indicating the utility of leporids as paleoenvironmental proxies. Two primary conclusions result from analyses on archaeological specimens. First, results from La Ferrería leporids demonstrate changes through time suggesting a shift towards wetter conditions during the Las Joyas (AD 850-1000) phase, a period characterized by increasing population and new architectural construction. Importantly, these findings link social development in the region with environmental change. Secondly, results from Teotihuacan demonstrate rising carbon isotope values concomitant with the growth of the city, likely reflecting human modifications to the landscape, and falling carbon isotope values following its sociopolitical collapse. Notably, during the peak of population and complexity of Teotihuacan leporids from the residential complex of Oztoyahualco demonstrate significantly higher stable carbon isotope values than other contexts, supporting previous assumptions that residents there specialized in rabbit management or breeding. By using stable isotope values from jackrabbit and cottontail bones from modern and archaeological contexts, this dissertation improves our understanding of the baseline factors that influence bone isotope ratios and provides new information on the social-environment dynamics of the ancient New World.
