ref: 2003/1 (1)

Food sharing past and present: archaeological evidence for economic and social interactions

James G Enloe
Department of Anthropology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA
james-enloe@uiowa.edu

Keywords: food sharing, hunter/gatherers, Palaeolithic, faunal analysis, refitting

Abstract

Food sharing has been proposed as a fundamental basis for the evolution of human behaviour, and a universal characteristic of modern hunters and gatherers. Various theoretical models contrast immediate vs delayed consumption, or sharing vs storage, with the inference that these may be seen as mutually exclusive phenomena. A survey of cross-cultural evidence for sharing in the ethnographic literature indicates quite a range of variation in actual practice of food sharing among modern hunters and gatherers. While competing theories attribute this behaviour to ideological or ecological bases, most ideological models are very difficult to test in the archaeological record. The difficulty lies first in establishing that food sharing took place, as opposed to mere assertion that it did, and second in demonstrating linkages between perceived patterns in the archaeological record and explanatory models said to account for the practice. Faunal remains from a late Upper Palaeolithic archaeological site are used to examine food sharing. The spatial patterning of the distribution of portions of individual reindeer carcasses from level IV-20 of Pincevent indicates aspects of food sharing in stages of multi-tiered distribution. These results are compared with those from other methods for investigating food sharing in prehistory. Indices based on minimum numbers of individuals from the individual household locations at Pincevent are shown to underrepresent severely the food sharing interactions that are indicated by carcass refitting. Carcass refitting is suggested as an appropriate and feasible method for investigating food sharing on other archaeological sites.

References

ref: 2003/1 (2)

Stone Age hunter–fisher–gatherers at Zvejnieki, northern Latvia: radiocarbon, stable isotope and archaeozoology data

Gunilla Eriksson
Archaeological Research Laboratory, Stockholm University, Greens villa, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden
gerik@arklab.su.se

Lembi Lõugas
Institute of History, Rüütli 6, EE10130 Tallinn, Estonia
lembi14@mail.ee

Ilga Zagorska
Institute of Latvian History, Department of Archaeology, Akademijas laukums 1, Riga LV 1050, Latvia
arnis@hq.vsaa.lv

Keywords: Latvia, burials, Mesolithic, Neolithic, palaeodiet, stable isotopes, archaeozoology, AMS radiocarbon dating

Abstract

The Zvejnieki Stone Age1 complex in northern Latvia includes one of the most significant hunter–fisher–gatherer cemeteries in northern Europe in terms of both the exceptional number of individuals buried there and the extremely long period of use: more than 300 individuals interred over a period of at least four millennia. New results of archaeozoological studies and palaeodiet investigations performed on the Zvejnieki human remains are presented here, together with 18 new radiocarbon dates. It is clear from the stable isotope analyses that the Zvejnieki people were heavily reliant on freshwater fish until the end of the Early Neolithic, when the consumption of fish declined somewhat, although it still made an important contribution to the diet. The Late Neolithic individuals in Corded Ware flexed burials at Zvejnieki and elsewhere in Latvia show a distinct dietary pattern, pointing towards animal husbandry. The faunal remains found in settlement layers confirm the trends revealed by bone chemistry, whereas the archaeozoological analyses of faunal remains in graves, mostly in the form of tooth pendants, show a different picture, emphasising the importance of big game hunting. This illustrates the discrepancy between the symbolic world, as expressed by burial customs, and everyday life, as revealed by stable isotope data and refuse layers.

References

ref: 2003/1 (3)

Inland foragers and the adoption of maize agriculture in the upper Great Lakes of North America

John M O’Shea
Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1079, USA
joshea@umich.edu

Keywords: Great Lakes, earthwork, farmer-forager, Michigan, ritual

Abstract

This paper considers the late prehistoric adoption of maize agriculture by coastal groups in the upper Great Lakes of North America. The goal is to investigate the social and economic consequences on inland hunter-gatherers that do not adopt agriculture. In addition to the expected restructuring of seasonal and geographical exploitation patterns, the inland groups develop a new regional aggregation ritual that fosters exchange and alliances with the coastal farmers. The central focus of this new social institution is a series of large circular earthworks that, in combination with ephemeral structures, burial mounds and clusters of cache pits, form a complex ritual precinct. The interactions surrounding this aggregation ritual permitted inland hunter-gatherers indirectly to gain access to rich coastal resources that could no longer be exploited directly and also provided a means for the acquisition of maize and other durable trade materials.

References

ref: 2003/1 (4)

Hunter-gatherer interactions: mutualism and resource partitioning on the Island of Newfoundland

MAP Renouf
Archaeology Unit, Memorial University of Newfoundland,
St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada A1C 5S7
mapr@mun.ca

Keywords: hunter-gatherers, mutualism, resource partitioning, Newfoundland

Abstract

This paper examines the interaction of two prehistoric cultures, Recent Indian and Palaeoeskimo, who co-existed on the Island of Newfoundland in northeastern Canada. I argue that their relationship was both complementary and competitive, based on their different economic patterns (niche differentiation), both of which included an emphasis on the same coastal resources (niche overlap). The implication of this is that the behavioural characteristics (niche) of one culture affected the niche of the other. I frame these arguments within ecological models of species interactions. I conclude by applying these models to the historic Beothuk Indians of Newfoundland.

References

ref: 2003/1 (5)

Rock-art and relationships: an introduction

Paul Faulstich
Environmental Studies, Pitzer College, 1050 N Mills Avenue, Claremont, CA 91711, USA
paul_faulstich@pitzer.edu

Paul SC Taçon
Anthropology, Australian Museum, 6 College Street, NSW 2010, Australia
pault@austmus.gov.au

Sven Ouzman
Anthropology, 232 Kroeber Hall, University of California at Berkeley, CA 94720-3710, USA
& Rock Art Department, National Museum, South Africa
ouzman@uclink.berkeley.edu

Keywords: rock-art, colonialism, landscape, ecology, AURA congress

Abstract

This paper introduces to the Before Farming readership a selection of 14 rock-art-centric papers arranged around three key human relationships. These comprise the relationships people have with other people (colonialism), relationships people have with places (landscape), and relationships that people have with other animals and with plants (ecology). Rock-art is a theoretically-informed artefact capable of illuminating aspects of past and contemporary human behaviour in new and insightful ways. The papers presented in this and the next two issues of Before Farming were originally presented at the Australian Rock Art Research Association (AURA) conference held in Alice Springs, Australia, July 2000. The issues these papers address represent and extend contemporary anthropological and archaeological concerns with time, place and identity. We hope that the papers will also provide material for contemplation, contestation and questing.

ref: 2003/1 (6)

Indigenous images of a colonial exotic: imaginings from Bushman southern Africa

Sven Ouzman
Anthropology, 232 Kroeber Hall, University of California at Berkeley, CA 94720-3710, USA
& Rock Art Department, National Museum, South Africa
ouzman@uclink.berkeley.edu

Keywords: Southern Africa, Bushman, reverse gaze, colonialism

Abstract

Rock-art is a powerful and theoretically informed artefact that allows non-rock-art producing people an understanding of the worldview of the rock-artists. But the flow of information in such rock-art researches – ‘us’ observing ‘them’ via `their’ artefacts is often asymmetrical and can be disempowering to the rock-art-producing individuals and communities past and present. Fortunately, rock-art is also able to balance and even reverse this asymmetry. For example, there are certain ‘contact’ period Bushman rock engravings and rock paintings in southern Africa that were produced at and after the time of the colonisation of southern Africa by non-Bushmen. Some of the power relations between indigenes and colonists are made explicit in the form of rock-paintings and rock-engravings. Specifically, much of this rock-art shows how the Bushmen imagined and imaged the colonists.

ref: 2003/1 (7)

Rock-paintings of exotic animals in the Sydney Basin, New South Wales, Australia

John Clegg and Simon Ghantous
School of Archaeology, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
jcless@mail.usyd.edu.au

Keywords: Australia, Aboriginal rock-painting, sheep, bull

Abstract

Four possible ‘first sight’ Aboriginal rock-art depictions of what may be sheep from the eponymous Sheep Shelter in the Sydney basin, Australia are examined in the light of the nature of colonial contact/invasion. A ‘common sense’ approach, with a view to future multivariate analysis, is used to consider alternative identifications of these images. Relevant comparative rock-art from Bull Cave and Devil’s Rock are used to extend and nuance this identification.

ref: 2003/1 (8)

Colonial collections of portable art and intercultural encounters in Aboriginal Australia

Sally K May
Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
sally.may@anu.edu.au

Keywords: American-Australian Scientific Expedition, Australia, portable art

Abstract

From March to November 1948, 17 scientists made up the American-Australian Scientific Expedition (AASEAL) to Aboriginal North Australia. This expedition collected over 50,000 archaeological, ethnographic and natural history specimens from indigenous Australians. By examining a history of colonial collection strategies – especially those informed by modernism – it is possible both to understand the dynamics of AASEAL, from field experiences and encounters, collection strategies and general colonial attitudes towards indigenous Australians, to intercultural encounters.

ref: 2003/1 (9)

The history and future of New Zealand Maori rock-art – a tribal perspective

Gerard O’Regan
Culture & Identity Manager, Ngai Tahu Development Corporation, Te Waipounamu House, 158 Hereford Street, Box 13-046, Christchurch, New Zealand
Gerard.O’Regan@ngaitahu.iwi.nz

Keywords: New Zealand, Maori, Ngai Tahu, rock-art custodianship

Abstract

Colonisation, dispossession, land claims and cultural resurgence. These are all phases in the recent colonial and post-colonial history of New Zealand Maori rock-art. The greatest concentration of this rock-art is found on New Zealand’s South Island and was made by the ancestors of the Ngai Tahu Whanui tribe. Rock-art represents a visual art heritage for a people who have not maintained the Maori wood carving traditions for which the North Island tribes are renowned. With a view to protecting the works of our ancestors and enriching the lives of present and future generations, Ngai Tahu Whanui is today at the fore of exploring inclusive ways to research, document, manage and promote Maori rock-art.

© Western Academic & Specialist Press Ltd 2003