Theses - Archaeology

Permanent URI for this collection

https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/221739

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 114

Embargo
Neanderthal and Modern Human Adaptations to Climate Change in Southwest Asia: Climate Reconstruction of Marine Isotope Stage 5 to 3 based on small mammal records from Shanidar Cave (Iraqi Kurdistan)
Tilby, Emily; Tilby, Emily [0000-0002-9735-7510]
Understanding the link between environmental and climatic fluctuations and changes in hominin populations and their distribution is one of the major challenges facing archaeologists and palaeoanthropologists. One notable key demographic event is the expansion of Homo sapiens (‘Modern Humans’) and the extinction of Neanderthals in Eurasia between 50,000 to 30,000 years BP (Higham et al. 2014). The exact causes of Neanderthal extinction are still widely debated, but one widely considered theory is that Neanderthals were less able to cope with rapid climate change in this period than Modern Humans. Within this context the overall aim of this thesis is to investigate the potential of microfaunal remains to provide high resolution and localised records of the environment and climate experienced by Neanderthals and Modern Humans using Shanidar cave in the Zagros mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan famously excavated by Ralph Solecki in 1951-1960. The project analyses 2592 microfaunal remains collected in renewed excavations at the site (2015-2018) from a stratigraphic sequence dated from c.85,000 to 30,000 years ago including from sediments adjacent to Neanderthal skeletal remains dating to c.75,000-50,000 years ago and overlying sediments associated with Baradostian archaeology assumed to be associated with Modern Humans. A variety of methods is applied to the material: taphonomic studies of breakage and digestion patterns of teeth and long bones to investigate the role of different predators in the formation of the assemblage; species presence and absence; changes in species abundance; shape change in the Arvicoline component using geometric morphometric methods; and changes in Arvicoline tooth enamel thickness. The sequence is dominated by one species, Microtus c.f. socialis, and displays a relatively constant taphonomic signature, though breakage from rockfall increases in the upper section of the stratigraphic sequence. The study indicates that the broad environmental conditions remained relatively constant throughout the sequence, with no major faunal turnover, though smaller fluctuations in community composition occurred. The smaller fluctuations indicate that the conditions in the earliest part of the sequence were relatively humid and vegetated, and that conditions became progressively arid, with occasional periods of humidity. The sequence has allowed some inferences to be drawn about the link between environment and hominin occupation of the cave. It appears that Neanderthals and Modern Humans preferentially occupied the cave, and in the case of Neanderthals more intensively, when environmental conditions were humid, with more vegetation. There are hints that Modern Humans were also able to occupy the site at times when conditions were harsher, though both groups are absent in the most arid periods. The findings of this thesis emphasise the importance of investigating local environmental signals in addition to global signals, as the former may provide a different perspective on the conditions experienced by past individuals and populations.
Open Access
Traits and Trees: Exploring the edges of phylogenetic methods
Yaxley, Keaghan
Phylogenetic methods are central to the study of biology and in recent years more formal techniques involving computational methods have been developed and widely applied. While these have focused on building the Tree of Life from molecular data, other approaches have extended to phenotypes, behaviour, cultural evolution, and languages. However, underlying these methods, are some issues that relate to the structure and nature of the trees. This thesis sets out to explore some of these issues, and particularly how trees behave under conditions which may stretch the boundaries of phylogenetic approaches. In the first set of analyses, I tackle the problem of asymmetry in trees. It has been observed in many contexts that phylogenetic trees are asymmetrical – that is, descendants are not shared equally across sister clades. This asymmetry, known as phylogenetic imbalance, has been widely studied but primarily concerning trees that include only living lineages. In this chapter, I look at trees that include both extinct and extant lineages and explore how diversification dynamics and preservation biases influence phylogenetic imbalance. Trees were simulated and sampled under a variety of diversification and preservation models and compared with a range of empirical phylogenies. I find that while multiple model combinations can make combined-evidence phylogenies more imbalanced, only a few make them as imbalanced as empirical trees. The second set of analyses also looks at combined-evidence trees. In this case, I explore the impact of imbalance, and specifically long branches, on the ability of current methods to resolve combined-evidence phylogenies. Including extinct lineages appears to mitigate some of the problems associated with long branches and thus improve reconstructions of highly imbalanced trees. Another aspect of phylogenetic methods relates to how trees can be used to explore ecological and evolutionary patterns. A simple assumption might be that lineages that are more distantly related will also be more different in terms of their phenotypes and their ecological functions, however, empirical support for this is mixed. Using a near-complete morphological database and phylogeny for birds, and over 16000 bird assemblage recordss, I systematically explore the relationship between phylogenetic diversity and functional dispersion. Globally, I find that while phylogenetic diversity and functional dispersion are negatively correlated the relationship varies with latitude and longitude and is largely driven by the morphological constraints placed on birds by migration. Recently uplifted tropical mountains show exceptional levels of functional dispersion and regions with exceptionally high phylogenetic diversity fall along established biogeographical boundaries. These analyses indicate the power of linking phylogenetic approaches with morphological studies on a global scale. Phylogenetic approaches were developed initially for biological systems where gene-based heritability is well-understood. Anthropologists and linguists have also applied these methods to contexts where different systems of heritability are in place – for example, vertical transmission of material culture. The evolution of stars in the galaxy offers an interesting and untested field in which to explore the applicability of phylogenetic methods in an entirely new setting. Using separate chemical surveys of Milky Way stars, I evaluate the phylogenetic signal within each dataset and systematically explore how measurement error influences the resolution of two stellar phylogenies. The broader implications of these analyses are discussed in terms of the power, potential and limits of phylogenetic methods, and, how the structures of trees themselves provide more than simply an opportunity to rebuild the Tree of Life.
Embargo
Social Transformations and Ceramic Production during the 4th millennium BCE in the Shahrizor Plain and Bazyan Valley, Iraqi Kurdistan. A Geochemical and Petrographic Study.
Lewis, Michael; Lewis, Michael [0000-0001-6998-9257]
The Late Chalcolithic (c.4400-3200 BCE) in Mesopotamia featured new forms of socio-political and economic organisation, increasing material cultural homogeneity, resource accumulation and (re)-distribution. The Uruk Phenomenon (traditionally dated to c.3600-3200 BCE) is characterised by the presence of a distinctive suite of southern material culture including pottery, architectural styles, and accounting devices across northern Mesopotamia. This phenomenon remains a key, yet contentious issue in archaeological literature following three decades of debate: Current arguments for the transmission of the Uruk Phenomenon are however, primarily based on evidence from archaeological investigations on the Middle Euphrates and include emulation, trade or exchange, and transhumance. Despite the influx of archaeological investigations into Iraqi Kurdistan over the last decade, the majority of current discussion on the processes and transmission of this phenomenon is based upon investigations along the Middle Euphrates. The mechanisms underpinning the transmission of the Uruk Phenomenon, or how it was maintained within Iraqi Kurdistan remain poorly understood. This thesis investigates the effects of the Uruk Phenomenon upon local communities in Iraqi Kurdistan. I analyse pottery assemblages from three sites located in the Shahrizor, and Bazyan Valley of Iraqi-Kurdistan. Detailed analysis of the pottery assemblages allows for identification of chronologically sensitive forms, to allow for more accurate relative dating of future assemblages in the region. Using an adapted version of the chaîne opératoire, I utilise ceramic petrography to investigate provenance which I couple with pXRF for bulk ceramic composition, and to compliment the petrographic study. FTIR enables examination of pottery firing temperature. This PhD provides new insights into the Uruk Phenomenon’s transmission. I demonstrate variable local responses to a supraregional network, through active choices in the pottery production of local communities. Furthermore, I explore the ways that Iraqi Kurdistan, a regionally diverse area interacted with and was influenced by southern Mesopotamia, and vice versa. Material cultural transformations are deemed locally driven and inspired, despite arguments that southern Mesopotamian influence meant elimination of local traditions and homogenisation of material culture, particularly pottery. My approach takes a regional view focussing upon one area of Iraqi-Kurdistan to assert that local patterns should be understood and assimilated to understand the larger picture of this highly complex, regionally diverse process.
Open Access
Fibre Production Among the Coastal Hunter-gatherers of South America’s West Coast: New Narratives from Plant Fibre Technologies
Alday Mamani, Camila
This research investigates textile technologies among the people of the coastal Andean Preceramic Period (10,000 – 3,500 BP) by studying the technological production of bast fibre artefacts from six archaeological sites in Peru and Chile. The raw materials, technological processes and manufacturing techniques were identified through archaeobotanical, structural and morphological analyses to reconstruct the chaîne opératoire of bast fibre production. By analysing fibre materials from archaeological sites of different ages and locations, this study finds the dominant use of wild-gathered plants in the production of nets and gathering bags, as well as clothing, mats and yarn. Bast fibres from Typha sp. leaves and Schoenoplectus sp. stems were used to make these artefacts, although bast fibres – likely from stems of an unidentified species from Apocynaceae (Asclepias sp.) plant family were used in a few artefacts.. Remains of the ‘epidermis’ of bast fibres in the artefacts indicate decortication as a method of extracting bast fibres from the plants, while the presence of cut marks reveals that sharp tools were used to process the fibres. Splicing was the technique to produce thread and the patterns in manufacturing techniques through techniques such as looping and twining, which remained fairly consistent at the sites found along the Pacific coast. Together, these features suggest a fairly standardised production method for fibre artefacts in the Preceramic Period that enabled me to suggest that bast fibre technologies represent a long-term ‘technological tradition’ among the coastal hunter-gatherers of the Preceramic Period. Furthermore, this research shows that new elements were being added to fibre production, such as camelid hair and various pigments near the end of the Preceramic Period, which coincided with the appearance of more elaborate artefacts. The function of the fibre artefacts in coastal activities is also crucial for understanding the social dimensions of the marine subsistence strategies that developed during this period. Through this work I discuss how coastal hunter-gatherer groups articulated marine subsistence activities by proposing two alternative theoretical frameworks: ‘Points of Ecological Awareness’ (PEA) and a dance metaphor that are inspired by spatial and ecological dynamics that bast fibre production as a technological system posed. I use dance to explain the social dynamics of coastal hunter-gatherer groups by establishing the conceptual tools and the analytical lens that I will be using when characterising Preceramic social dynamics, with an emphasis on the chaîne opératoire as collective actions across the Pacific coastal landscape. The concept of ‘PEA’ – a term for the collective of the non-human world of plants, animals, geological and meteorological forces – conveys information about ecological behaviours and actions. These ecological entities grow and change cyclically with the varying climatic conditions of the Pacific coastline throughout the millennia of the Preceramic Period, creating a network of intersubjectivity among the coastal hunter-gatherer groups. Ultimately, I argue that plant fibre technologies founded the ecological and technological knowledge for advancement of textile production. That, in turn, has enabled me to propose that wild-gathered textile technology offered templates to textile crops, and r to stress that plant-fibre textiles are the first art forms on the Pacific coast, and are undoubtedly predecessors to the long-standing textile tradition in the Andean Region. That also constituted socio-economic and ecological foundations for the shift from wild Typha sp., Schoenoplectus sp. and Apocynaceae plants to cotton (G.Barbadense.). That shift from wild plant to domesticated raw materials impacted the ecology, economy and technology of the early communities of South America’s west coast, raising questions of the critical implications of the Preceramic fibre textile technologies had in our understanding of the social and economic dynamics of early coastal communities of the Peru-Chile area.
Embargo
Paranthropus paradoxes: Patterns of morphological variation in East African 'robust australopithecines'
Nadal Urias, Lucia
The genus Paranthropus represents an iconic taxon in the hominin fossil record. Its early discovery, together with its morphological distinctiveness, have defined this genus as a unique hominin lineage parallel to our own. Paranthropus boisei, who lived in East Africa between 2.3 and 1.4 million years ago, stands out amongst ‘robust australopithecines’ for its hyper expression of the megadont features diagnostic of the genus, while its vast dental and mandibular hypodigm makes it the best represented species in the early hominin fossil record. Yet, while megadont traits allow the clear identification of fossils as Paranthropus rather than Homo or Australopithecus, their expression is far from homogenous. This has resulted in a paradox of a seemingly morphologically ‘well-defined’ species that, nevertheless, encompasses a large intraspecific variability that does not always respect this definition. This paradox has been at the centre of conflicting interpretations regarding the evolutionary history and taxonomy of P. boisei. This work represents a critical examination of the degree of variation in the size and shape of mandibles assigned to P. boisei combining anatomical descriptions, high-resolution imaging, landmark-based 3D geometric morphometrics, and machine learning methodologies. Comparisons of ca. 60% of all original P. boisei fossil mandibles to those of living hominoids reveal the first sex estimation of individual fossils with an associated statistical likelihood, and a unique expression of sexual dimorphism in the extinct group. Further analyses reveal that the high morphological variability observed is structured independently of sexual dimorphism. In contrast, this thesis presents a novel interpretation to this variability and recognizes two distinct craniomandibular ecomorphotypes within the species’ hypodigm, typified by the two most emblematic cranial specimens ascribed to P. boisei (i.e. OH 5 and KNM-ER 406). Moreover, this work discusses the potential evolutionary scenarios leading to the morphological and ecological differences underlying this partitioning with significant implications for our current understanding of the taxonomical affinities, ecological interpretations and evolutionary history of P. boisei. Finally, this thesis presents the first description of two P. boisei mandibles from the site of Koobi Fora, Kenya, and discusses these new fossil hominin specimens in the context of the ecomorphotypes identified.
Restricted
Stepping over the threshold of time: The Brezhnev era and the rise of the heritage temporality (1964-1982)
Weppel, Simon
The present thesis investigates the concept of temporality and its applicability within the scope of heritage studies. It argues that cultural notions of time, or temporalities, are of considerable consequence for the emergence of heritage, understood as a discursive formation, in any given society. Taking as its case study the example of the Brezhnev-era Soviet Union, the study examines the relationship between changing notions of time and the rise of a sensibility for heritage preservation in the Soviet 1960s to 1980s. The thesis offers a historical discourse analysis based on visitor guidebooks and brochures related to three museums dedicated to Vladimir Lenin, settings its findings in contrast with the wider literature on the Brezhnev period. Noting that a rise of concern for heritage preservation matters in the Soviet Union coincided with a broader turn towards discourses of tradition and history, the dissertation explores the common roots of a number of features of late Soviet culture. The work builds on the theoretical tools developed by Reinhart Koselleck and Francois Hartog to offer a perspective on the cultural phenomenon of heritage through the prism of temporality. In doing so, it formulates the notions of the ‘heritage temporality’ - a cultural relationship to time it argues is a precondition for the emergence of heritage - and of the ‘chronotope’, a methodological tool facilitating analysis of a given heritage site’s temporal and spatial aspects.
Open Access
Production and Consumption of Middle Islamic Ceramics (1000-1500 CE) in Western Asia: Regional Practices in an Interconnected World
Kaercher, Kyra
The thesis presents a stylistic and technological study on Western Asian ceramics dating from 1000–1500 CE. The production and consumption of ceramics is used as a proxy to explore how social practices at the local level were formulated within the broader framework of Islam. The Islamic world has been studied as a relatively cohesive whole, due to the perceived connectivity of religion. This top-down approach favors elites (economic or political), larger cities, and precious materials (silk, porcelain, metals, etc.). This bias is mirrored in archaeological research which tends to focus on large palaces/castles/mosques, capital and large cities, and prestige goods. This dissertation focuses on the full repertoire of ceramic assemblages, not just glazed wares, to emphasize the potters’ choices in creating the ceramics, as well as the consumers’ choices in acquiring and using the ceramics. Both choices (production and consumption) are influenced by a myriad of factors, including vessels’ function, environment, and socio-cultural contexts. For this dissertation, I have three main questions: (1) What is the range of ceramic technology and style across Western Asia in the Middle Islamic period? How can the study of ceramic technology elucidate the ceramic traditions existing at these sites/regions? What is the structure of ceramic craft organization in these areas? (2) How can the ceramic traditions in combination with social dimensions of ceramic production be used to connect sites, regions, and interregional areas? How does the consumption of ceramics indicate links between these areas? (3) What can the study of ceramic traditions in the Middle Islamic period tell us about the connections between rural areas and larger urban areas? This dissertation focuses on 12 ceramic assemblages from various sites across Western Asia, all dating from 1000 – 1500 CE. These ceramics are recovered from both survey and excavation of sites of different natures, including eight rural sites (Erbil Plain Archaeological Survey (seven sites), Firuzabad), three intermediate types of sites (Nippur, Hasanlu, Chal Tarkhan), and a capital city (Rayy). The majority of the assemblages are from rural sites, but a few are from non-rural sites to lend a comparative edge and help define what is and is not rural. The ceramics are analyzed using a combination of macroscopic observation, thin-section petrography, portable X-Ray fluorescence (pXRF), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR). These analyses are specifically selected to establish the potential provenience of the ceramics, reconstruct technical choices and social practices, and characterize production and consumption traditions. This area has been discussed as a homogenous whole (from 600 CE to present) under the assumption that the spread of Islam brought all areas under the larger cultural mainframe. However, this dissertation shows that there is heterogeneity in both ceramic consumption and production. The established overarching links do not seem to be influenced by the spread of Islam as the ceramic traditions identified (forms, fabrics, functions) also are present before the rise of Islam in these areas. This bottom-up approach marks significant contributions to Islamic Archaeology by shedding light on the diversity of dynamics that existed in local areas and among local populations and how these local dynamics play in the interconnected societies of Western Asia during the Middle Islamic period.
Restricted
Archaeology in the British Mandate of Palestine between WWI and WWII
Torp-Hansen, Thomas Løth
The administration of archaeology in the Mandate of Palestine took place in a very particular situation, both within the British Empire and outside of it. The Department of Antiquities (DAP) operated within the rules and framework of a bureaucracy answerable to the directions and ideals of the League of Nations on whose behalf the British Government had accepted responsibility for the administration of Palestine. The international scrutiny entailed in this unusual situation affected the administrative decision-making process, the recording of that process, and its resulting policies. This dissertation addresses what the practices of the DAP tell us about the ways that the Department and the Palestine Government related to and were affected by the mandate principles of archaeology, and the international community of the League of Nations. Those practices in turn tell us about the efficacy of the mandate antiquity laws and principles followed. This enables us to identify a number of core challenges and aims, and how these were administered and adjusted over time: securing archaeological standards, observing international obligations, and administering land and expropriations. Overall, this study is a contribution to archaeological historiography and to discussions of the formation of disciplinary knowledge and practices within a particular setting, and the role this had in advancing the procedures of archaeology in the region. The study traces the points at which individuals and small-scale organisations and institutions met larger and broader political forces, providing insight into the reality of a local, ‘colonial’ time and place. This is done through a close critical reading of archived documents, informed by their historical context, most of which were archived by the DAP. The analysis first identifies major themes and patterns in a chapter that ranges across several excavation projects. The subsequent chapters then offer deeper insight into selected thematic problems through case studies of specific sites – Shiloh, Tell Fara, Tell Ajul, Balata, and Et-Tell. The study concludes that the administration of archaeology in Palestine conducted itself according to mandate principles – and took on the nature of a ‘mandate’ department, often in opposition to other parts of the administration. This policy of the DAP reveals that the antiquity laws were efficient tools with which to secure the observance of archaeological standards, international obligations, and religious neutrality, while they were considerably less well adjusted to handle issues of land administration and expropriations. The administrative focus on proper standards and procedures became part of modernising the archaeological approaches that had been in use until the advent of mandate oversight.
Embargo
The Last Elephant Catchers: (In)Visible Indigenous Heritage in Thailand
Santikarn, Alisa
This thesis explores the imbalances of power that create a national Authorised Heritage Discourse (AHD) and the subsequent effects of this. It does so by examining the consequences of imposing state values onto Indigenous and minority communities, whose definitions of heritage, and relationships with the environment can often come into conflict with the national AHD. The central research question, therefore, asks: What impact does the Authorised Heritage Discourse have on Indigenous and minority communities and their heritage? This question is addressed by examining the impact of the Thai state’s AHD—influenced by Western and local, historically derived values—on the elephant-related traditions of the Indigenous Kui people of Northeast Thailand, utilising ethnographic fieldwork. The endangerment of the Asian elephant, the loss of Thailand’s wild forests, and the government’s failure to recognise and protect Kui culture within the national AHD have all contributed to the end of the centuries-old Kui tradition of capturing elephants from the wild. The loss of this practice has precipitated the endangerment of three further aspects of Kui heritage and traditional knowledge: the role of the hmor chang, the ‘elephant doctors’ who ventured into the forests to capture the elephants; knowledge of making the Pakam rope— used to lasso the elephants; and finally, the phasaa phi pa, the ‘forest spirit language’, spoken by the hmor chang. This research explores the community-level responses to this cultural endangerment brought about by the imposition of the State AHD, primarily through the lenses of adaptation and loss. These more localised responses are further dictated by AHDs that emerge at the level of the province and community itself. This main research question is divided into three parts: 1.1 How does the State’s definition and valorisation of heritage exclude communities, and how might this endanger their heritage? This first part examines how Kui culture sits within the national AHD. It considers the State’s limited definitions of heritage and the boundaries of nature/culture, revealing how these are incompatible with Kui heritage as their culture conflicts with the nation’s normative value structures and perceptions of cultural heritage and the ‘Thai’ identity. 1.2 How do communities respond to the endangerment of their heritage? In this second question, the three examples of endangered Kui heritage are considered, alongside examples of new spaces for cultural preservation and heritagisation that have emerged to preserve, adapt and appropriate Kui elephant heritage. 1.3 How do responses to cultural endangerment impact perceptions of authenticity? This final question explores diverging opinions within the Kui community over the authenticity of traditions that have been adapted in response to endangerment and whether the endangered traditions should be preserved at all. In addition to exploring the issues of (in)visibility, (mis)recognition, and appropriation that many communities face in their relationship with modern nation-states, this thesis ultimately questions the very nature of ‘cultural heritage’.
Open Access
Beyond Meaning. An Artefact Approach to the Neolithic Figurines from Tell Sabi Abyad (Syria) and Ҫatalhöyük (Turkey)
Arntz, Monique; Arntz, Monique [0000-0003-3451-2699]
For the Neolithic in the Near East figurines are our primary, at times only, source of visual representations of humans and animals at many sites. More than purely utilitarian objects, figurines are thought to provide insight into the more intangible aspects of past life such as ritual, cosmology, identity and social processes. In most approaches, there has often been a focus on figurines as static images. However, placing prime importance on representation ignores the importance of interactions between people and materials. In this thesis it is argued that through an artefact and life biography approach we can more productively analyse figurines as a process; from production, use, to final deposition. Better insight into these aspects will allow us to more fully comprehend how figurines operated in their respective social contexts. Any statement on figurine practices needs to incorporate all types of figurines and furthermore a nuanced view on differences in figurine practices needs to be substantiated by analysis of different sites. Therefore, this thesis features the corpora of two Neolithic sites: Tell Sabi Abyad (Syria) and Çatalhöyük (Turkey) both inhabited through the 8th to 6th millennia. The different social settings at these sites make them an interesting case study to analyse differences in figurine practices. The result is a comprehensive overview of the complete life biographies of all clay figurines found at both sites, looking at material properties, production, use-wear traces and depositional contexts which are then compared between figurine types and analysed through time. Synthesising these findings yielded a detailed insight into figurine practices at the two case study sites, showing some common practices but also marked differences potentially linked to more household practices at Çatalhöyük and community practices at Tell Sabi Abyad. Furthermore, life biographies of figurines at the two sites are variable and changes through time are observed at both sites. This thesis not only offers a detailed and nuanced picture of figurine practices at these two sites, but it also exemplifies that generalised statements about figurine practices in the Near East need to be reassessed through intra-site, artefact approach studies.
Embargo
Survey Archaeology on the Yorkshire Wolds: An integrated remote sensing approach to Late Iron Age and Romano-British landscapes
Maw, Eleanor
This thesis investigates the archaeological landscape of the Yorkshire Wolds as revealed through newly gathered non-invasive survey evidence, with a view to re-evaluating how its rural communities evolved throughout the Late Iron Age and Romano-British period. The research utilises data derived from four large-scale geophysical surveys undertaken across key parts of this landscape, integrated within an extensive aerial photographic study that collates evidence from both new and existing sources. This evidence is contextualised within previous archaeological research, demonstrating the potential of large-scale remote sensing for developing a more nuanced interpretation of past landscapes when integrated with even limited pre-existing excavation evidence. Through the collection, integration and contextualisation of these extensive new datasets, the thesis is able to provide unique insight into both this complex landscape and the processes which underlie the formation of its archaeological record. The first three chapters outline the key research framework, situating it within the current state of knowledge and outlining the methods employed - including details of a bespoke gradiometry cart system designed and built in collaboration with Dominic Powlesland and the Landscape Research Centre during the initial stages of this research. A further five chapters present the results of both the geophysical and aerial remote-sensing surveys, before summarising the implications for both our understanding of this unique archaeological environment and broader approaches to the study of Iron Age and Romano-British landscapes.
Embargo
First World War memory and national mythmaking in capital cities - horizontality and verticality in London, Paris, and Budapest
Kocsis, Andrea; Kocsis, Andrea [0000-0003-4270-3911]
The thesis investigates the influence national WWI commemorations had on the urban landscape in capital cities, London, Paris and Budapest. It analyses how the urban space has changed its physical, symbolic and temporal layers during the hundred years between the end of WWI war and the WWI centenary celebrations, following the changes in national memory narratives. The research relies on memorials inaugurated in London, Paris and Budapest since 1914, newspapers published during the recent centenary years, archive documents, and commemorative events held during the Centenary Armistice Day in the capital cities studied. The mixed-method research applied Critical Discourse, Content and GIS Analyses to the collected sources, and has been facilitated by computational techniques. Regarding the theoretical framework, the thesis defines vertical and horizontal means of communicating memory narratives, as well as vertical and horizontal changes in the urban landscape. The thesis follows this verticality and horizontality in the three cities with the help of textual, visual, spatial and ethnographic sources.
Open Access
Testing Terraces: Managing and Sustaining the Agrarian Environment in the Maltese Archipelago
Bennett, Jeremy
Agricultural terracing, the intentional creation of stepped fields on a hillslope, is ubiquitous in a variety of arid, semi-arid and wet regions in the world. Superficially, it is observable as a significant investment in wide scale landscape alteration for agriculture. However, it represents more than the sum total of its constituent parts – appearing symbolic of the complex social dynamics intrinsically linked to environmental adaptations and technological change (Geertz 1963). As a practice which represents a fundamental step in the human appropriation of the natural landscape, agricultural terracing remains remarkably under-examined. Crucially, terraces can be considered as one of the earliest forms of landscape alteration for human gain – specifically where humans adapt the landscape to suit their needs, as opposed to by-product change. As such, terraced environments can be classed as an ‘anthroscape:’ an environmental aesthetic which is dominated by the infrastructural effects of contemporary human ecology. To this effect, the central theme of this thesis was to establish if agricultural terracing acts as a fundamental part of the resilience of fragile landscapes in the Mediterranean and beyond. The investigation of agricultural terraces demands a rigorous and multi-faceted approach in order to elucidate a full range of scientific observations such as form, function, variation, chronology and social management. Nowhere is this more relevant than in the Maltese archipelago where terraces are, somewhat paradoxically, extant in use and enigmatic archaeologically. As such, this thesis employs an appropriate archaeological methodology to examine terraces from both geoarchaeological and social perspectives. By combining these methodologies, terrace function is objectively analysed, in terms of landscape/geomorphic process, and the attached, contributing/reflexive, social machinations can be examined. In doing so, a scientific and socially relevant understanding of terracing practices has been achieved. This thesis utilises archaeological excavation and geoarchaeological sampling to enable an exploration of terrace soil stratigraphy and geochemistry – observing the variation down-profile, down-slope and between geological regions. Analytical methods used were Particle Size Analysis, Loss-on-Ignition, Ion Chromatography, pH and X-Ray Diffraction. These data were analysed for statistical correlation to indicate salient factors affecting terraced soils in the Maltese Islands. Developing from this, a comparison with 19th Century cadastral land quality assessment and a modern logistic regression analysis study (Alberti et al., 2018) facilitates the application of geoarchaeological observations to the iii understanding of the social ecology of terraces. This is framed by an exploration of the cognitive origins of the human appropriation of environments.
Open Access
Human Occupation and Changing Environments During the Middle to Later Stone Ages: Soil Micromorphology at the Haua Fteah, Libya
(2011-11-11) Inglis, Robyn Helen
Environmental change has been cited as a key factor in controlling dispersals throughout human evolution. Shifting environments potentially controlled movements of late Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA) modern human populations during Marine Isotope Stages 5–2 (MIS5–2) both within, and out of, Africa. Understanding the environmental context of the occupations at the Haua Fteah rockshelter, Libya (one of the key cultural sequences in North Africa), will allow the assessment of environmental controls on the replacement of populations carrying MSA technologies by those with LSA industries, and the analysis of their relative abilities to adapt to a range of environments. Cave sediments result from the complex interplay between anthropogenic and ‘natural’ influences, and thus potentially contain high-resolution histories of environmental change which can be directly linked to the archaeology they contain. This thesis combines geoarchaeological techniques of bulk sedimentology (percent loss on ignition organics, magnetic susceptibility, particle size and percent calcium carbonate) and thin section soil micromorphology to produce a multi-scalar robust site formation history. Through field descriptions and bulk sedimentology, it traces the response of the shelter to global environmental change over the last glacial cycle. Within this long-term framework, micromorphological analysis is used to examine specifically the conditions leading up to and during the replacement of the later MSA with the early LSA Dabban. The results demonstrate the potential for integrating such analyses into rockshelter investigations, both for environmental reconstruction as well as for highlighting the major taphonomic issues integral to all on-site palaeoenvironmental analyses and archaeological excavations. The sedimentary history of the shelter appears to show that relatively high-density MSA occupation at the Haua Fteah during the later part of MIS5a in mesic conditions was curtailed by the onset of cooling in the glacial conditions of MIS4. Environmental and landscape fluctuations in MIS3, reflecting rapid global climatic shifts, were accompanied by even lower occupation density for both MSA populations and the LSA Dabban, which appears during this period, indicating that this period was inhospitable to populations with both industries. Subsequently, the occupation intensity of the Dabban increases markedly with the onset of MIS2, indicating that the Jebel Akhdar acted as a refuge during full glacial conditions for LSA populations, yet not for MSA populations during MIS4. This geoarchaeological study of the Haua Fteah therefore potentially highlights a technological advantage of LSA industries which allowed modern human populations to adapt to a wider range of environments than was possible with MSA technology, an ability which may potentially have aided their global dispersal.
Open Access
Visible Tools, Invisible Crafts: An analysis of textiles tools, textile production, and textile organisation along the south coast of Iron Age Britain
Ferrero, Lewis
Textile production was an essential element of society in prehistory, supplying people with clothing, furnishings, and utilitarian items like sails, straps, and sacking. The fragility of textiles means few examples of prehistoric fabrics survive in Britain and northwest Europe outside of some special conditions. Thus tools that produced textiles are the main source of information on textiles created and how these were made. Textile tools also provide evidence that textile fragments cannot: where production occurred and how it was organised. Identifying areas and modes of production provides insight into how settlements and craft were organised; e.g. whether a craft and workers were independent or controlled by social elites. Analysis of tools can indicate levels of skill required for production, quality, and quantity of goods, providing evidence on the economy these tools contributed to. This study focuses on textile craft as an economic activity and its organisation during the Iron Age’s period of social change and development, c.800 BC - AD 43. This period of expansion saw changes in craft production and tools, and development of new forms of settlement across Britain and Europe. This thesis presents a unique study on textile tools from various settlement forms across Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire and Kent in Britain, via analysis of such tools and their regional distribution. Five sites per county were chosen based on the number of textile tools, except Kent where few excavations discovered more than one or two textile tools. Comparing tool materials with local geology indicates the importance of textile production compared to other crafts at each site, indicating the status of textile work and its workers across the south coast. Data collected from the tools demonstrates what textiles were most likely produced at the selected sites, identifying areas with specialist workers and areas of basic household production, and highlighting how these communities organised this craft.
Restricted
Human behavioural dynamics in island rainforests: evidence from the Raja Ampat Islands, West Papua
Gaffney, Dylan; Gaffney, Dylan [0000-0003-4869-9730]
During the Late Pleistocene and Holocene (over the past c. 100,000 years), Homo sapiens dispersed into a wide array of novel, challenging environments. Remarkable adaptive flexibility encouraged humans to improvise social and technical behaviours, while niche constructing tendencies enabled them to reshape their ecologies. However, the rate and scale at which humans could transform their behaviours and environments in the deep past remains unclear. This thesis explores how humans came to frequent one particularly challenging environment — small-island rainforests — for the first time. The research examines the peopling of Wallacea and the circum-New Guinea Islands, with new evidence from the Raja Ampat Islands, which lie at the interface of these two biogeographic regions known as Lydekker’s Line. The thesis first introduces adaptive flexibility and niche construction theory, plus provides an overview of the Raja Ampat Archaeological Project. It critically analyses literature on the ecological implications of islands and tropical forests for human occupation, and emphasises how these environments fluctuate through time and stimulate behavioural flexibility. It then provides a novel reappraisal of the linguistic, genetic, and archaeological evidence for human dispersals through Wallacea and New Guinea, as different human populations passed back and forth across a major biogeographic line. Next, it examines how settlement behaviours have changed in the northern Raja Ampats, particularly in the recent past, drawing on historical and ethnographic evidence; it also examines how site distributions are patterned, building on original site reconnaissance survey. Chronostratigraphic and palaeoecological data from new cave excavations in the northern Raja Ampats are presented to examine how their use has fluctuated across c. 50,000 years of occupation, alongside environmental changes including marine transgressions and shifting forest cover. This is followed by exploration of how foraging practices transformed through the millennia, drawing principally upon zooarchaeological analyses. How people’s technological behaviours changed through time is then addressed primarily through bone tool, lithic, and ceramic analyses, particularly during the Holocene. A synthesis of the new evidence discusses how it can be understood within the regional context of Wallacea and New Guinea, and in a global comparative framework. A conclusion highlights the contribution made to understanding how humans transformed their behaviours and the insular forest ecologies they inhabited, and considers how we can model the temporal dynamics of human behaviour over the longue durée.
Embargo
Foraging ecology and population structuring of baleen whales in the western South Atlantic and eastern South Pacific
Buss, Danielle Lia; Buss, Danielle [0000-0001-5362-240X]
Baleen whales are highly mobile marine predators that are still recovering from unsustainable exploitation between the 18th and 20th centuries. There remain considerable gaps in our understanding of the migration, foraging localities, prey choice and population connectivity of whales in the Southern Hemisphere as they recover, the impact of these populations on marine ecosystems, and how they are likely to respond to the ongoing climate crisis. Historic information on population connectivity, distribution and diet prior to exploitation provides a baseline and idealised endpoint against which to assess present-day whale populations. In this thesis, I taxonomically identified historic whalebone assemblages using biomolecular techniques, conducted stable isotope analysis of bone collagen and baleen, and analysed whaling catch locality data to: (i) provide a baseline on the isotopic niches of baleen whales across the western South Atlantic and eastern South Pacific; (ii) document historic patterns of resource partitioning between whale species; and (iii) identify whether sulfur isotopes can be used to infer site fidelity to feeding grounds. In addition, (iv) I combine DNA metabarcoding, population genetics and stable isotope analysis to compare foraging patterns, genetic diversity, and population structure of present-day and pre-exploited populations of the sei whale, Balaenoptera borealis, in the western South Atlantic. Historic isotopic niches and latitudinal feeding ground ranges suggest whale species partition resources in their western South Atlantic and eastern South Pacific feeding grounds. Fin and humpback whales appear to be ecological generalists relative to Antarctic blue whales and sei whales, thus potentially less vulnerable to ongoing environmental change. Historic and present-day populations of sei whales in the western South Atlantic were similar in terms of diet, genetic diversity, and population structure, with isotopic analyses and distribution inferred from historic catch patterns suggesting these whales may be more ecologically specialised than first thought, and therefore vulnerable to environmental perturbations. These inferences provide an important contribution to inform priority assessments for conservation management.
Embargo
Fields and Forests: A Stable Isotope Perspective on the Subsistence Strategies of Past Amazonian Peoples
Hermenegildo, Tiago
The subsistence strategies employed by the ancient peoples of the Amazon have been a fundamental and extensively debated topic since the inception of archaeological research in the region. Despite a general disagreement regarding carrying capacity and human development in past Amazonia, the initial subsistence debate converged upon strategies based on manioc cultivation and fish protein and the functional division of the Amazon territory between productive (várzea) and unproductive (terra firme) areas. These early remarks, however, were based mainly on limited ethnographic analogy supported by scarce archaeological evidence, highly compromising the validity of the proposed theories. Only in recent years, with the improvement of archaeological science techniques, researchers were able to give a new direction to understanding subsistence practices in ancient Amazonia. Yet, very little is known about the life ways of past Amazonian peoples. This thesis contributes to the debate by presenting newly generated bone collagen-derived carbon and nitrogen stable isotope data from populations occupying three different Bolivian and Brazilian Amazon areas – the Llanos de Mojos, the Central and Lower Amazon basin – between around 2000 to 500 years BP. This study also compares the generated data with published stable isotope evidence from populations in other areas of the Amazon as well as other Neotropical lowland forests to build a larger picture of human subsistence practices in the Amazon under the known Neotropical context. Interpretations focus on a multiproxy perspective, relying on extensive contextual fauna and plant remains evidence recovered throughout the Amazon. The results show marked differences between the three areas. In the Lower Amazon, the data from the Maracá population indicate diets based on a combination of unknown C3 plants, supplemented by riverine protein and a potential small maize contribution. In the Central Amazon basin, the evidence from the Hatahara site shows a significant contribution of riverine fauna, as well as mixed plant sources including maize and C3 plants. Lastly, the results from Loma Salvatierra and Mendoza in the Llanos de Mojos display an exceptionally high contribution of maize, potentially a staple between 1300 and 1200 BP, and evidence of maize consumption amongst potentially domesticated muscovy duck (Cairina moschata). The combined stable isotope evidence from the Amazon shows that consumption of maize was more of a norm than an exception, providing a substantial dietary contribution even in the typical várzea context of Hatahara. Furthermore, the combined dietary evidence shows a diversity of subsistence strategies in the Amazon, centred on the cultivation of maize, root crops, and potentially several palm species, indicating that there was not a single adaptive strategy nor a single staple crop employed by all populations throughout the Amazon. The findings in this study significantly improve our understanding of human dietary patterns in Amazonia over the last two millennia, particularly regarding maize cultivation and animal management strategies, and are a fundamental stepping-stone for future stable isotope studies in the Amazon and the lowlands of South America.
Embargo
Living near permanent water in the upper Murray-Darling Basin Implications from the micromorphology of buried soils near artesian springs
Connolly, Malcolm
Understanding links between landscape change and early peoples that lived along Eulo Ridge in the upper Murray Darling Basin, Australia are hampered by poor environmental data and chronological frameworks. To address such issues, steep sided gullies (arroyos), soil micromorphology and pedology, and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating provide a framework for the palaeo-human setting. It considers several questions, including: When did landscapes change and why? How did dry and humid conditions effect the circumstances and behaviours of early peoples living in Australia’s drylands? It is hypothesised that early peoples were able to adjust their behaviours to cope with episodic erosional events and successfully occupy drylands for millennia. This thesis implements a multi proxy approach to reveal evidence of oscillating humid and dry conditions from ~55 Ka to ~0.7 Ka. From 55.9 Ka ± 5.9 Ka BP, humid conditions dominated the region which slowly transitioned into cold frosty dry conditions toward the commencement of the last glacial maximum (LGM). Extreme dry cold conditions characterised the LGM (~24 Ka to ~20 Ka) with people living near groundwater fed pools and groups of springs. From ~20 Ka to ~15 Ka, the region was characterised by intermittent rainfall, fires, and people living near springs. From ~15Ka to ~12 Ka, activations of the monsoons brought wet conditions, mass movement of sediments downslope, and intermittent fires across the region. From ~5 Ka to ~0.7 Ka, conditions were humid with significant landscape changes with dune formation, landslides, and burial of the former land surfaces. This was followed by dry conditions and the familiar boom and bust periods with short humid conditions and long dry phases. The last 1,000 years is seen as a period of significant cultural and behavioural change with larger populations and technological innovations. It is argued that early peoples coped with landscape change by adjusting the extent of their home range to confront the opposing impacts of extreme humid and dry conditions, and implementing new technologies such as a greater use of fire to cope with the continual boom and bust phases. Finally, this study demonstrates that micromorphology is a valuable tool for geoarchaeologists to reconstruct both palaeoenvironments and to decipher the behaviours of early peoples living near springs for long periods of time.
Restricted
Memory, Identity, and the Role of Revival: Tracing Changes in Material Culture of the Ica Society on the Peruvian South Coast (c. 1000–1600 CE)
Morrisset, Sara
The phenomenon of artistic revivals can provide unique insight into the relationship between social memory, identity negotiation, and cultural notions of time. Revivals are often discussed in the context of European and Euro-American cultures from the early Modern Period to the present, but few have explored patterns of revival in the ancient Americas. Based on excavations in the lower Ica Valley on the Peruvian south coast, this dissertation shows how the Ica society engaged in the repeated practice of artistic revivals characterized by the resurgence of styles and designs from their ancestral past. These revivals seem to be linked across time to periods of widespread socio-political change that impacted the Ica Valley, such as the disintegration of the expansionist Wari polity (c. 1000 CE) and the collapse of the Inca Empire (c. 1532 CE). Changes in Ica material culture are analysed through multiple generations over a 600-year time span, allowing for the investigation of the relationships between social memory, identity negotiation, and the role of revival. My work demonstrates that the analysis of artistic revivals in the ancient Americas must take into account indigenous ontologies and different cultural notions of time. Ica revivals reflect a circulatory view of time and space whereby calling on the past can result in the realization of a desired present or future. The analysis of these revivals also contributes to recent discussions of the dynamics of cultural encounters as well as the multiplicity of indigenous reactions to imperial rule and societal collapse. Ultimately, my research illustrates the active role material culture and social memory play in the formation and negotiation of identity through the exploration of revival patterns found in the Ica Valley.

Browse

Recent Submissions