Integrating geochemistry and micromorphology to interpret feature use at Dust Cave, a Paleo‐Indian through middle‐archaic site in Northwest Alabama

Abstract

The authors develop an integrated method using geochemistry and micromorphology to examine the use of archaeological features at Dust Cave, a Paleo-Indian through Middle Archaic (10,650-3600 cal. B.C.) site in northwest Alabama. Samples analyzed using ICP-AES for aluminum (Al), barium (Ba), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), sodium (Na), phosphorous (P), strontium (Sr), sulfur (S), and zinc (Zn) and suggest that cultural features differ chemically from geogenic sediments in several ways: (a) K-means cluster analyses indicate that features of known origin and suspected features of the same origin cluster together, thereby allowing for a preliminary separation into discrete functionalities; (b) phosphorus serves as an indicator of human occupation intensity; and (c) Sr/Ca and K/P ratios help identify anthropogenic materials. Micromorphological observations allow for a finer subdivision of feature types and help highlight postdepositional processes affecting cave sediments, and interpretation of activity at the site. These findings show that feature diversity and occupation intensity increased through time, peaking during the Middle Archaic.

Micromorphology revealsin situMesolithic living floors and archaeological features in multiphase sites in central Sudan

“…Therefore, the sedimentary infilling of these pits should be regarded as a human waste deposit (Courty, Goldberg, & Macphail, 1989). Primary ashy concentrations and coarse charcoal have been disrupted, and only a few remains are detectable in thin section as coatings and small reworked nodules with embedded micro-charcoals (Homsey & Capo, 2006). Moreover, the absence of stone structural layers confirms that the origin of the fill was not a fireplace.…”

“…Moreover, the absence of stone structural layers confirms that the origin of the fill was not a fireplace. Evidence of hearth cleaning and ash dumping is reported at several prehistoric contexts (Schiegl et al, 2003;Homsey & Capo, 2006;Meignen, Goldberg, & Bar-Yosef, 2007;Goldberg et al, 2009) and in ethnographic studies (Gallay, 1991). For instance, garbage pits were described in the Sudan at Shabona (Clark, 1989) and at several localities in the central Sahara, where they are filled by bones and are clustered outside the limits of Pastoral/Neolithic sites (Cremaschi & Zerboni, 2011).…”

Ethnoarchaeological analysis of Arctic fish processing: chemical characterization of soils on Nelson Island, Alaska

“…Although soil phosphate analysis has been very useful for prospection and site identification, chemical analysis of soils using a wider variety of elements and molecules is becoming increasingly common at archaeological sites (e.g. Aston et al, 1998a;Barba, 1986;Bull et al, 1998;Entwistle and Abrahams, 1997;Ferná ndez et al, 2005;Guttmann et al, 2008;Homsey and Capo, 2006;Isaksson, 1998;Manzanilla and Barba, 1990;Middleton, 2004;Sampietro and Vattuone, 2005;Simpson et al, 1998;Wells, 2004). Multi-element characterization of soils allows archaeologists to move beyond identifying the presence or absence of human activity to identifying specific archaeological activities as part of the holistic study of ''cultural soilscapes'' (Wells, 2006).…”

Stratigraphy and palaeoenvironment of Stajnia Cave (southern Poland) with regard to habitation of the site by Neanderthals

“…The av er age phos pho rus con tent in the lay ers is >10%. Phos pho rus is de rived mainly from the de struc tion of bone frag ments and fae ces an i mals, and due to chem i cal weath er ing (Homsey and Capo, 2006;Migaszewski and Ga³uszka, 2007). The low est per cent age con tent of phospho rus is noted in lay ers B6 and C6: 2.3 and 2%, re spec tively, and in lay ers C7 and D2: 5 and ~6%, re spec tively, which may in di rectly in di cate a cooler and drier cli mate with a de creased num ber of an i mals.…”