The St. Louis site, located in the Plains–Parkland transition zone along the South Saskatchewan River, in Saskatchewan, Canada, is a multiple‐component site consisting of stratified floodplain alluvium with multiple, weakly developed soils. Human occupation at the site spans the Late Paleoindian to Middle Precontact periods (10,000–5,000 14C yr B.P.), a time poorly represented archaeologically on the Northern Plains. The dearth of early–middle Holocene‐age archaeological sites is often attributed to reduced inhabitability of the Northern Plains during the Hypsithermal, a period of maximum aridity and limited water availability. Stable isotope and phytolith data from the site indicate increased temperatures during the Hypsithermal and an expansion of Northern Plains grasslands into north‐central Saskatchewan. Although characterized by increased xeric conditions, human occupation at the St. Louis site, as well as the predominance of C3 grasses, attests to the habitability of Northern Plains river systems during this time period. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The transformation of food ingredients into meals corresponds to complex choices resulting from the interplay of environmental and cultural factors: available ingredients, technologies of transformation, cultural perceptions of food, as well as taste and food taboos. Project PLANTCULT (ERC Consolidator Grant, GA 682529) aims to investigate prehistoric culinary cultures from the Aegean to Central Europe by focusing on plant foods and associated food preparation technologies spanning the Neolithic through to the Iron Age. Our paper offers an overview of the lines of investigation pursued within the project to address plant food preparation and related stone tool technologies. The wide range of plant foods from the area under investigation (ground cereals, breads, beer, pressed grapes, split pulses, etc.) suggests great variability of culinary preparations. Yet, little is known of the transformation technologies involved (e.g., pounding, grinding, and boiling). Changes in size and shape of grinding stones over time have been associated with efficiency of grinding, specific culinary practices and socioeconomic organisation. Informed by ethnography and experimental data, as well as ancient texts, PLANTCULT integrates archaeobotanical food remains and associated equipment to address these issues. We utilize a multifaceted approach including the study of both published archaeological data and original assemblages from key sites. We aim to develop methods for understanding the interaction of tool type, use-wear formation and associated plant micro- and macro- remains in the archaeological record. Our experimental program aims to generate (a) reference material for the identification of plant processing in the archaeological record and (b) ingredients for the preparation of experimental plant foods, which hold a key role to unlocking the recipes of prehistory. Plant processing technologies are thus investigated across space and through time, in an attempt to explore the dynamic role of culinary transformation of plant ingredients into shaping social and cultural identities in prehistoric Europe.
This chapter investigates burial practices and cultural identity at the cemetery of Langada on Kos and discusses the evidence for diachronic changes in the context of Koan Late Bronze Age society. More specifically, through an in-depth study of excavation data, this contribution reconsiders three significant aspects of the Langada burial arena. The first one concerns tomb type, size, shape, and spatial distribution. The second and the third aspects concern, respectively, evidence for tomb reuse and mortuary treatments. The analysis of these features is used to compare burial practices, characterize societal structure, and better understand cultural developments. The results of this research imply that the gradual formation of a Mycenaean identity on Kos was the outcome of a long-term process of integration between Greek mainland and local funerary traditions, which came to fruition during Late Helladic IIIA2 and Late Helladic IIIB. During these phases, Mycenaean identity functioned to bind a well-organized Koan society. In the successive Late Helladic IIIC period, on the other hand, the identification of greater variability in material evidence and burial practices suggests that, while Mycenaean culture remained important, Koan society had a more fluid character and a looser structure.
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