The Effects of Holocene Landscape Changes on the Formation of the Archaeological Record in the Fayum Basin, Egypt

Koopman, Annelies; Kluiving, Sjoerd; Holdaway, Simon

doi:10.1002/gea.21538

Cited by 36 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As a way to get around some of these biases, various correction methods have been proposed (e.g., Gilling & Sbonias, ; Nance, ; Shennan, Gardiner, & Oake, ; Terrenato, ; Verhoeven, ; van Leusen, , ). Such studies, moreover, show that not only may surface visibility conditions impact heavily on‐site recovery rates, but that it is also fundamental to take into account the role of Holocene erosional and depositional processes, before attempts are made to infer settlement patterns from field survey data (for a discussion on this theme for Mediterranean landscapes see Barker, ; Bintliff, ; Bintliff, ; Brown, ; Feiken, ; Koopman, Kluiving, Holdaway, & Wendrich, ; Leonardi, ; Potter, ; Sevink, ; Vita‐Finzi, : 237–248, ; Vermeulen & De Dapper, ; Walsh, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing visibility and geomorphological biases in regional field surveys: The case of Roman Aesernia

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Archaeological field survey data can be biased by many factors, such as ground visibility conditions (e.g. vegetation, plowing) and geomorphological processes (erosion, deposition). Both visibility and geomorphological factors need, therefore, to be assessed when patterns of settlement and location preferences are inferred from survey data. Although both factors have been taken into account in a variety of fieldwork projects and studies, their combined effects remain hard to predict. In this paper, we aim to address this issue by presenting a visualization method that helps in evaluating in combination the possible visibility and geomorphological effects in regional, site-oriented field surveys. Capitalizing on first-hand data on both archaeology and soil types produced by the recent Leiden University field survey project in the area of Isernia (Roman Aesernia, Central-Southern Italy), we propose a combined application of statistical tests and geopedological analysis to assess the extent and scale of the main biases possibly affecting the interpretation of the ancient settlement organization. Translating both sets of biases into GIS maps, we indicate the likelihood that negative field survey observations (absence of sites), in specific parts of the landscape, are genuine or rather distorted by biasing factors. The resulting "archaeological detectability" maps allow researchers to formally highlight critical surveyed zones where the recording of evidence is likely unreliable, and thus provide a filter through which archaeologists can calibrate their interpretations of field survey datasets.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing visibility and geomorphological biases in regional field surveys: The case of Roman Aesernia

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As a result, few late Pleistocene surface studies are carried out compared to other periods and parts of the world (e.g. Barton et al 2002;Braun et al 2016;Ebert 1987;Eren et al 2010;Fanning et al 2008;Holdaway et al 2012;Koopman et al 2016;Marks and McCall 2011;Marwick et al 2017;Ozán 2017;Petraglia and Potts 1994;Schick 1986;Thompson et al 2014;Wandsnider and Camilli 1992;Wells 2001). A few notable exceptions aside (e.g.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Open-air preservation of miniaturised lithics: experimental research in the Cederberg Mountains, southern Africa

Phillips

Pargeter

Low

et al. 2018

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Open-air archaeology plays a limited role in southern African Late Pleistocene research, with most studies focused on rock shelter assemblages. Recently, archaeologists have noted discrepancies in the composition of Late Pleistocene lithic assemblages between some of the region's open-air and rock shelter sites. For example, although relatively abundant in rock shelters, Late Pleistocene Later Stone Age (LSA, c. 44-12 kcal. BP) bipolar cores are rare in open-air contexts. In this paper, we assess this discrepancy by testing for differential preservation of specific artefact classes and sizes in semi-arid open-air conditions. We placed a replicated assemblage of miniaturised cores and flakes on an archaeologically sterile sediment surface in the Doring River Valley (South Africa) and recorded their movements over 22 months. Our results indicate that bipolar and freehand cores moved comparable distances within the study interval and that surface slope is the strongest predictor of miniaturised tool movement. We also show that (1) relatively flat lithics move disproportionately more and (2) random artefact orientations do not preclude local (i.e. metre) scale artefact transport. In terms of the archaeology of our study area, the observed clustering of surface artefacts on sediment bodies likely results from their recent exposure. Our data suggest that the paucity of open-air bipolar artefacts in Late Pleistocene LSA assemblages may have more to do with human behavioural variability at landscape scales than differential preservation. Southern Africa's rich rock shelter record is, therefore, unlikely to represent the full suite of prehistoric hunter-gatherer behaviours.

show abstract

“…A detailed description of the sample and recording method is found in (Holdaway and Wendrich, 2017). Detailed studies of the north shore topography were conducted combined with analysis of the character of sediments (Koopman et al, 2016). Intensive recording was conducted at and around the site identified as E29H1 by Wendorf and Schild (1976) demonstrating a more extensive spatial record than was previously identified.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Basket use, raw materials and arguments on early and Middle Holocene mobility in the Fayum, Egypt

Holdaway

2018

Quaternary International

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Fayum Neolithic is well-known because the earliest evidence to date for domesticated wheat and barley in Egypt is found in the Fayum depression, north of present day Lake Qarun. Here, in 1924 and 1925, Gertrud Caton-Thompson and Elinor Gardner identified two Neolithic settlements, which they named Kom K and Kom W. The evidence for early agriculture did not derive from these two settlements, however, but from a series of storage pits which Gardner found quite by accident on a high ridge, north of Kom K. What is less well-known is that apart from domesticated wheat and barley this area also yielded evidence for a well-developed basketry technology. Recent fieldwork by the URU Fayum Project (University of California, Los Angeles; Rijksuniversiteit Groningen; University of Auckland) has provided a wealth of new information on the material remains of the Fayum Neolithic including the plant fibre objects. While animal bones and ostrich egg shell have been preserved both on the surface and in stratified deposits, no animal fibre was found. The well-preserved basketry lined storage pits and their content have been used to argue that the Middle Holocene occupation in the Fayum was characterized by a sedentary society. Recent field work has shown that the basket-lined pits were sealed off in a manner that could have enabled long-term caching. This, as well as more recent insights that long term storage does not equal sedentism, leaves the question open the nature of mobility in which Fayum Neolithic society was involved. The question whether the type of materials, basketry techniques and employment can be used as indicators of a way of life, is addressed in conjunction with the results of the interdisciplinary research team as a whole.

show abstract

The Effects of Holocene Landscape Changes on the Formation of the Archaeological Record in the Fayum Basin, Egypt

Cited by 36 publications

References 33 publications

Assessing visibility and geomorphological biases in regional field surveys: The case of Roman Aesernia

Assessing visibility and geomorphological biases in regional field surveys: The case of Roman Aesernia

Open-air preservation of miniaturised lithics: experimental research in the Cederberg Mountains, southern Africa

Basket use, raw materials and arguments on early and Middle Holocene mobility in the Fayum, Egypt

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About