Although documentary evidence provided by ethnographers makes reference to the source of adhesives, sealants, dyestuffs and medicines used by the communities of the Great Basin, much of it is sporadic and unspecified. However, observations of amorphous deposits surviving on stone tools, ceramics, basketry and wooden artefacts have prompted an investigation of their identity, procurement and use. The aim initially is to study samples from a number of archaeological and ethnographic contexts from the region. Comparative material includes higher plant and insect resins. The study provides a unique opportunity to document use patterns in plant and animal resources in the Great Basin region.
We compare domestic architectural features in New England and the Maritime Peninsula to investigate the relationship between the adoption of horticulture and its relationship to social and settlement change during the Woodland Period. Horticulture was not practiced on the Maritime Peninsula until after European contact, despite cultural and environmental similarity to New England. In New England, horticulture has been implicated in profound social and settlement changes. However, aggregated villages, a unit typically investigated for evidence of social change, have proven elusive in the archaeological record. We compiled and analyzed a dataset of dwelling features instead of relying on identifiable villages. This novel quantitative approach uses dwelling feature shape and size as a proxy for social and settlement change, considering these changes at the scale of the house. We find that, during the Woodland Period, dwelling size was overall slightly larger in New England than on the Maritime Peninsula, but ranges heavily overlapped. After the introduction of horticulture, however, dwellings in New England grew in size overall and assumed bimodally distinct larger and smaller forms, which likely necessitated a restructuring of social and economic behavior. This pattern correlates maize horticulture with changes in social and economic lifestyle in Late Woodland New England.
Archaeologists from quite a few departments in the University of Toronto and from the Greater Toronto Area archaeological community use the Archaeology Centre as a hub for collaboration and for organizing member-led group activities. In April 2017, the Lithics Interest Group hosted its annual Knap-In and Goat Roast, this year augmented by a trip to the nearby Niagara Escarpment for chert to knap. Beginning with this new chert sourcing expedition, through flintknapping, food processing, and finally cooking via delightful communal barbecue the Lithics Interest Group members were able to get a sense of a few of the stages a lithic artifact goes through as it may be used before its discard into the archaeological record.
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