This article presents the results of a program of radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modeling from the precontact Yup'ik site of Nunalleq (GDN-248) in subarctic southwestern Alaska. Nunalleq is deeply stratified, presenting a robust relative chronological framework of well-defined individual house floors abundant in ecofacts suitable for radiocarbon dating. Capitalizing on this potential, we present the results of one of the first applications of Bayesian statistical modeling of radiocarbon data from an archaeological site in the North American Arctic. Using these methods, we demonstrate that it is possible to generate robust, high-resolution chronological models from Arctic archaeology. Radiocarbon dates, procured prior to the program of dating and modeling presented here, suggested an approximately three-century duration of occupation at the site. The results of Bayesian modeling nuance this interpretation. While it is possible that there may have been activity for almost three centuries (beginning in the late fourteenth century), occupation of the dwelling complex, which dominates the site, was more likely to have endured for no more than a century. The results presented here suggest that the occupation of Nunalleq likely encompassed three generations beginning cal AD 1570–1630 before being curtailed by conflict around cal AD 1645–1675.

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This paper focuses on plain, stylistically unvaried pottery from three Late Neolithic sites from the Mondego Plateau, Portugal, and investigates ceramic production and exchange among small-scale prehistoric societies by means of thin-section petrography and chemical analysis (INAA). The results show that the majority of the pottery was made with widely available, granite-derived sedimentary clays, but petrographic differences between fabrics indicate collection at multiple locations within these deposits. Variation in chemical composition is consistent with site-specific sourcing areas, while comparison with data from earlier sites in the Mondego and surrounding mountains suggests that such sources were geographically restricted within the plateau. In contrast, the small percentage of vessels produced with residual clays of metamorphic and intermediate igneous origin, which outcrop over 10 km and 30 km from the archaeological sites, demonstrates that plain pottery did circulate during the Neolithic beyond the funerary sphere. This is the product of the routines of mobility and social networks of Neolithic groups across the wider landscape, which involved the exchange of 'mundane'vessels. Finally, the study demonstrates that micro-regional provenance studies can provide significant insights into prehistoric social landscapes if the data are interrogated beyond simplistic classifications of local and non-local. of prevailing theoretical perspectives, both in archaeology more generally and ceramic analytical studies in particular, rather than essentially an issue of limitation of the methods.A long-standing assumption governing the way in which this pottery continues to be perceived in such contexts is that it is 'mundane', utilitarian and locally produced for a group's own consumption. Its production is assumed to be largely self-evident, guided by the requirements of expedience, 'low cost', functionality and culture. In the absence of discrete stylistic categories, the relevance of prehistoric pottery is often reduced to a limited range of questions, particularly chronology, cultural identity and aspects of subsistence economy (e.g., storage). Crucially, its contribution to more complex social interpretations has been seen as negligible for two main reasons. First, 'mundane' pottery is not expected to have circulated through exchange. Given its common appearance, wide availability and use, and lack of special labour investment, it is thought unlikely to have participated in wealth or prestige economies. Second, this class of materials is considered not to provide information about social distinctions. Issues of access, status and other meanings become difficult or impossible to address when ceramic categories with different geographical distributions (wide/restricted, regional/local) and different perceived production costs or skill (plain/decorated, coarse/fine) cannot be distinguished. 'Mundane' pottery is equated with domestic production and use, and is therefore viewed as removed from political concerns and so...

AB ST R ACT : Mineralogical and chemical compositions of residual and sedimentary clays (bulk and <2 mm fraction) from the Nelas region (schist, aplite-pegmatites, granites and Tertiary sediments from both Mondego River margins), Portugal, were studied, aiming to establish indicators for raw materials in ancient ceramic provenance studies. The mineralogy of bulk material does not provide a clear distinction between samples. Among clay minerals, kaolinite dominates, except in the aplitepegmatites where illite prevails. Smectite was only found in sediments of the left river bank.A more successful result was the geochemical differentiation of clay types. The weathered schist presents greater enrichment in Cr, whereas the clay fraction of aplite-pegmatites shows enrichment in all the chemical elements studied. The sediments and weathered granites are not easy to differentiate; the best geochemical indicators are U (lower contents in clay-size fraction of sediments) and REE patterns in both bulk and clay-size fraction.

The contrast between monumentalized burials and almost invisible settlements has dominated Neolithic studies in western Europe, reinforcing an artificial divide between ceremonial and economically productive landscapes. By combining a material culture approach with a landscape scale, comparative artefact studies can trace connections between people, places, and social contexts. This paper investigates social networks in Late Neolithic Portugal by examining artefact provenance, biographies, and deposition on the Mondego Plateau. It focuses on three sites and four object categories characteristic of this period. The study reveals great diversity of raw materials, circulation of everyday objects, and regional availability of resources previously thought to be imports. It suggests that people used dispersed resource areas in an integrated way, and that exchange was an integral part of routine life. Evidence for links across the region is not restricted to tombs. Burial assemblages resulted from a complex web of social relations that preceded, accompanied, and followed the actions surrounding death. Understanding these places and fundamental questions about Neolithic social production and reproduction requires reconnecting tombs and settlements into wider lived landscapes.