Time uncertainty, site formation processes, and human behaviours: New insights on old issues in High-Resolution Archaeology

Romagnoli, Francesca; Nishiaki, Yoshihiro; Rivals, Florent; Vaquero, Manuel

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2018.04.033

Cited by 21 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…These studies have opened new perspectives to discover a complex and varied economy from geographic, chronological and human standpoint. The research we present here shows not only the management of quartzite at these two Middle-Palaeolithic sites, but also the new wider perspectives this geoarchaeological study can open in archaeological practice (Dibble et al 2017;Romagnoli et al 2018).…”

Section: Both Perspectives Converge In the Characterisation Of Obsidianmentioning

confidence: 70%

From petrographic analysis to stereomicroscopic characterisation: a geoarchaeological approach to identify quartzite artefacts in the Cantabrian Region

Prieto

Yusta

Arrizabalaga

2020

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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Several isolated studies have tried to understand quartzite from an archaeological perspective by applying two different methodological approaches. The first one is based on non-destructive characterisation, aiming to understand human procurement and management of quartzite, without solid geoarchaeological criteria. The second characterised the material from archaeological sites using only petrographic or geochemical perspectives of a limited sample. Currently, both perspectives are unconnected, creating a methodological gap that needs to be solved to study the procurement and management of quartzite in greater depth. The present study, mainly methodological, will explore the gap between petrographic analysis and non-destructive characterisation. Doing so, we could fill this vacuum of information and generate a solid geoarchaeological basis to characterise not only a sample but complete assemblages. To this end, we analyse the lithic assemblages at El Arteu and El Habario, two Middle-Palaeolithic sites in the Cantabrian Region, northern Spain. We summarise the main results derived from petrographic analysis, but especially we will focus on non-destructive criteria to characterise the lithic surfaces of archaeological quartzite using stereoscope microscopy. This process allows us to understand the complete assemblage but also, through technological characterisation, understand the management of different quartzite petrogenetic types in both sites.

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Section: Both Perspectives Converge In the Characterisation Of Obsidianmentioning

confidence: 70%

From petrographic analysis to stereomicroscopic characterisation: a geoarchaeological approach to identify quartzite artefacts in the Cantabrian Region

Prieto

Yusta

Arrizabalaga

2020

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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“…This method has opened up new perspectives on the perception of the spatial organisation of human activities and their temporal relations (Turq et al 2013;Vaquero 2008Vaquero , 2011. This last topic in particular has encouraged a novel reflection on the temporal resolution of archaeological contexts (for discussion, see Romagnoli et al 2018a). Refitting offers a glimpse at the temporal scale that defines the basic units forming archaeological assemblages: the scale of each event.…”

Section: Refits: Still a Privileged Methods For Understanding And Intementioning

confidence: 99%

The challenges of applying refitting analysis in the Palaeolithic archaeology of the twenty-first century: an actualised overview and future perspectives

Romagnoli

Vaquero

2019

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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“…Studies of South African Middle Stone Age sites, for example, demonstrate how microstratigraphic analysis can reveal temporal changes in site use and differences between local and regional trends in occupational intensity at resolutions greater than those achievable by radiocarbon dating (e.g., P. Goldberg et al, 2009; Karkanas et al, 2015; Miller et al, 2013; Romagnoli et al, 2018). This can be aided through the comparison of on‐site and off‐site contexts.…”

Section: How To Improve the Use Of Spd And “Big Data” For Exploring Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Careful consideration also needs to be given to low‐resolution stratigraphic contexts (Romagnoli et al, 2018), rather than merely applying perspectives from high‐resolution sites to these contexts in which the formation processes naturally generate poorly developed palimpsests. Disturbed sites are more common than well‐preserved ones and an apparently undisturbed sedimentary profile may not provide a true representation of the local or regional landscape used or occupied by past humans (Cook‐Hale et al, 2018; Williams, 2019).…”

Section: How To Improve the Use Of Spd And “Big Data” For Exploring Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whilst the use of analogues offers some help (but note the caution from Murray & Walker, 1988), it is problematic to apply analogues at the landscape or regional scale and over long time periods. Social, ecological, formational or other processes that operate at these scales generally rarely leave discrete residues, although separation of these in archaeological palimpsests is always the ideal (Romagnoli et al, 2018).…”

Section: How To Improve the Use Of Spd And “Big Data” For Exploring Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sedimentary unknowns constrain the current use of frequency analysis of radiocarbon data sets in forming regional models of demographic change

Ward

Larcombe

2021

Geoarchaeology

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Statistical manipulation of large radiometric data sets (big data) is increasingly applied to those grand challenges in archaeology that relate to past human‐behavioural dynamics and includes frequency analysis of radiocarbon ages (summed probability distributions [SPDs]). Australian SPD studies use the radiocarbon database “AustArch” to examine regional‐ and continental‐scale demographic change. We review Australian studies, focussing on sampling bias and taphonomic bias, finding that (i) time‐averaged radiometric data cannot simply be correlated across regions, and (ii) sedimentology imposes genuine constraints upon what can be known. Internationally, flaws in SPD use occur in all main research phases, and most importantly, at the initial phase of defining research questions, logic and general approach. Major problems stem from not planning to obtain a sound understanding of the variability of past sedimentary environments, potential occupation sites and site formation processes. Thus, cultural inferences are too often made from archaeological data without due consideration of the natural processes that may explain the data. Highlighting exemplar studies, we present practical approaches to improve SPD use for exploring changes in demography, aimed at reducing uncertainties and reconnecting archaeological, chronological, geological and sedimentary data. Most important is to increase understanding of physical processes and their control on the archaeological record.

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Time uncertainty, site formation processes, and human behaviours: New insights on old issues in High-Resolution Archaeology

Cited by 21 publications

References 33 publications

From petrographic analysis to stereomicroscopic characterisation: a geoarchaeological approach to identify quartzite artefacts in the Cantabrian Region

From petrographic analysis to stereomicroscopic characterisation: a geoarchaeological approach to identify quartzite artefacts in the Cantabrian Region

The challenges of applying refitting analysis in the Palaeolithic archaeology of the twenty-first century: an actualised overview and future perspectives

Sedimentary unknowns constrain the current use of frequency analysis of radiocarbon data sets in forming regional models of demographic change

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