Developing a Landscape History as Part of a Survey Strategy: A Critique of Current Settlement System Approaches based on Case Studies from Western New South Wales, Australia

Holdaway, Simon; Fanning, Patricia

doi:10.1007/s10816-008-9051-y

Cited by 30 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…In 1999, using previously tested protocols ( [11], [12]), we surveyed the terrace surface at ND by establishing a grid of 1 m x1 m squares across an area of approximately 700 square metres. The grid was oriented N-S, using an electronic total station set up over a permanent bench mark established in the northeast corner using GPS (relative to WGS 84).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the past ten years, the Western New South Wales Archaeology Program (WNSWAP) has been developing not only new ways of recording and analysing this extensive surface (i.e., open site) record ( [5], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16]), but also a chronology of occupation based on radiocarbon dating of charcoal from the hearths and Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of the surfaces on which the archaeological record now rests ( [17], [18], [19]). As indicated in Figure 1, we have studied these surface artefact assemblages from a number of locations across a large area of western NSW.…”

Section: Location and Description Of The Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

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A geomorphic framework for understanding the surface archaeological record in arid environments

2007

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We present data from Australian study areas that support episodic nonequilibrium as a suitable model for developing a theoretical and methodological framework for interpreting the surface archaeological record. According to this model, long periods of little or no geomorphic activity are punctuated by catastrophic events that erode or deposit sediments, and hence remove or cover up surface stone artefact deposits discarded by Indigenous people in the past. We demonstrate the impact of a single rainfall event on the surface archaeological record at one of our western New South Wales study locations. We then use the results of Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) of sediments underlying the artefact deposits and radiocarbon dating of associated heat-retainer hearths to suggest that both landscape chronology and the surface archaeological record are reflections of a series of episodic events such as this rain event. We conclude that, at least in our study area, the archaeological record is discontinuous in time because geomorphic events have removed the record equating to particular time periods. This process is cumulative so that the record of recent times is much more common when compared to that from earlier times. The episodic nature of geomorphic processes also has an effect on human behaviour, such that occupation of place is discontinuous. The methods by which the archaeological record is surveyed and interpreted need to take into account these spatial and temporal landscape discontinuities.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Location and Description Of The Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

A geomorphic framework for understanding the surface archaeological record in arid environments

2007

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“…New lines of evidence are required to expand the debate and, thus, there is a need for innovative research that critically assesses monolithic models and implements broader regional research designs (Kealhofer and Grave 2008;Stark 2006). Settlement pattern studies allow archaeologists to articulate dynamic relationships among sites at local and regional levels, which is often not possible through excavations alone (e.g., Billman and Feinman 1999;Holdaway and Fanning 2008;Marcus and Flannery 1996;Sinopoli 2006;Underhill et al 2008).…”

Section: Applications Of Heterarchy: Methodological Refinementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Variation and Dynamics in Metal Age and Protohistoric Central Thailand: A Regional Perspective

Eyre¹

2010

asi

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Southeast Asia is one major region where applications of sociopolitical frameworks emphasizing progressive development and increasing degrees of social hierarchy have been argued as inadequate for understanding past societies. Settlement systems in Thailand that existed throughout the period of technological change incorporating the bronze and iron ages have not yet been investigated from a heterarchical viewpoint. While reconnaissance and systematic surveys conducted over the past few decades in Thailand have discovered hundreds of prehistoric sites, a recent survey stressing intensive methodologies to test heterarchical and hierarchical frameworks for best fit with settlement patterns in the region of Kok Samrong-Takhli Undulating Terrain (KSTUT) in the eastern side of the Upper Chao Phraya River Valley has revealed unexpected patterns of land use and settlement systems. This article discusses the methodology and results of the KSTUT Survey in central Thailand. A two-stage survey, a reconnaissance survey followed by a 58 km 2 intensive survey, was conducted in order to locate sites across different landscapes, to identify subregional ceramic variation and possibly geographic shifts in ceramic subregions over time, and to determine evidence for economic specialization among sites of varying sizes. The 25 sites dating between 2000 b.c. and a.d. 1000 provide evidence for a prehistoric settlement system emphasizing long-lived, often large, but heterarchically related occupations. Sharp changes including the appearance of site hierarchy occurred rapidly just prior to the protohistoric period c. a.d. 400, about 1000 years later than previously thought.

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“…But, the lithic density at Tor at-Tareeq upper is neither among the highest nor the lowest of the seven site occupations. One of the reasons that these contradictions exist is that these so-called lithic measures of level of mobility do not consider the movement of lithics across the landscape, that is, the fact that lithic artifacts are both transported into and exported out of sites (e.g., Roth and Dibble, 1998;Holdaway and Fanning, 2008;Turq et al, 2013). Nor do they incorporate the idea of timeaveraging (Bailey, 1983(Bailey, , 2007Wandsnider, 1992;Stern, 1994;Holdaway and Wandsnider, 2006;Lucas, 2012).…”

Section: Time-averaging and Interpretation Contextsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Epipaleolithic lithics, time-averaging, and site interpretations: Wadi al-Hasa region, Western Highlands of Jordan

al-Nahar

Olszewski

2016

Quaternary International

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a b s t r a c tThe lithic assemblages from the Wadi al-Hasa region Early Epipaleolithic site occupations reveal longterm patterning as well as distinctions. These assemblages are records of time-averaged deposition of multiple activities in these persistent places in the landscape. In this paper we examine the characteristics of the lithic assemblages from the rockshelters at Tor Sageer, Yutil al-Hasa, and KPS-75, as well as the open-air context in front of the rockshelter at KPS-75 and the open-air site at Tor at-Tareeq. There are several cross-cutting variables that can be considered, including exterior versus interior spaces, temporal slices within the Early Epipaleolithic (e.g., Nebekian and Qalkhan), and the issues of time-averaging. A number of lithic measures often are used in these contexts to examine concepts such as the relative mobility of prehistoric hunteregatherereforager groups (e.g., blank-to-core ratios, lithic densities, and stone raw materials) and thus their settlement systems, although these measures can produce contradictory results. We argue instead that lithic assemblages ("occupations") that are the result of accumulations in site layers must be assessed using the framework of time-averaging because such accumulations are not a record of an individual event but of long-term deposition and discard at locales in the landscape. The Hasa region Early Epipaleolithic site occupations are not unique in being such accumulations, as most researchers combine the lithics from layers to form analytical units. In this regard, consideration of time-averaging should be applied more broadly to Levantine site occupation lithic assemblages and their interpretation(s).

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Developing a Landscape History as Part of a Survey Strategy: A Critique of Current Settlement System Approaches based on Case Studies from Western New South Wales, Australia

Cited by 30 publications

References 55 publications

A geomorphic framework for understanding the surface archaeological record in arid environments

A geomorphic framework for understanding the surface archaeological record in arid environments

Social Variation and Dynamics in Metal Age and Protohistoric Central Thailand: A Regional Perspective

Early Epipaleolithic lithics, time-averaging, and site interpretations: Wadi al-Hasa region, Western Highlands of Jordan

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