The Genetic Speciation of Archaeological Fish Bone: A Feasibility Study from Southeast Queensland

Current genetic methods enable highly specific identification of DNA from modern fish bone. The applicability of these methods to the identification of archaeological fish bone was investigated through a study of a sample from late Holocene southeast Queensland sites. The resultant overall success rate of 2% indicates that DNA analysis is, as yet, not feasible for identifying fish bone from any given site. Taphonomic issues influencing the potential of genetic identification methods are raised and discussed in light of this result.

The significance of vivianite in archaeological settings

Vivianite is a bluish mineral sometimes encountered in archaeological deposits. It is notable for its tendency to change color from white or grayish to blue on exposure to air. Vivianite requires specific conditions for its formation-sources of iron, phosphate, and water, as well as low levels of oxygen and sulfide. Microbial activity is also thought to play a part in vivianite formation. The majority of archaeological texts do not discuss vivianite to any great degree, preventing a more detailed interpretation of site conditions and features. Vivianite was found in 25 exhumed burials from the North Brisbane Burial Ground, Queensland, Australia. Research indicated that bone or tissue samples for DNA analysis are best taken from areas distant from vivianite encrustations and that presence of vivianite has implications for artifact conservation. Vivianite at the North Brisbane Burial Grounds helped protect some skeletal and dental elements, preserved the impressions of metal coffin lacing, and also corroborated the oral history of temporary waterlogging and acted as a measure of pollution levels across the site. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Potential misidentification of in situ archaeological tool-residues: starch and conidia

Microscopic identification of organic residues in situ on the surface of archaeological artefacts is an established procedure. Where soil components morphologically similar to use-residue types exist within the soil, however, there remains the possibility that these components may be misidentified as authentic residues. The present study investigates common soil components known as conidia, fungal spores which may be mistaken for starch grains. Conidia may exhibit the rotating extinction cross under cross-polarised light commonly diagnostic of starch, and may be morphologically indistinguishable from small starch grains, particularly at the limits of microscope resolution. Conidia were observed on stone and ceramic archaeological artefacts from Honduras, Palau and New Caledonia, as well as experimental artefacts from Papua New Guinea. The findings act as a caution that in situ analysis of residues, and especially of those less than 5 mu m in size, may be subject to misidentification. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An archaeology of the instant? Action and narrative in microscopic archaeological residue analyses

The discovery and interpretation of microscopic residues on stone artefacts is an expanding front within archaeological science, allowing reconstructions of the past use of specific tools. With notable exceptions, however, the field has seen little theoretical development, relying largely on a rationale in which either individual findings are widely generalized or the age of the site determines the importance of the results. Here an approach to residue interpretation is proposed that draws on notions of narrative, scale, action and agency as one means of expanding the theoretical scope and application of residue studies. It is suggested that the individual resonance of the findings of residue analyses with people in the present day can be used to provide a more nuanced understanding of past actions, which in turn allows both better integration and communication of those findings within and outside the archaeological comm unity, and begins to overcome the problems associated with the typically small sample sizes analysed in stone-tool residue studies.

Tempus: Barriers, Borders, Boundaries: Proceedings of the 2001 Australian Archaeological Association Annual Conference

The conference aimed to provide a forum for the exploration of barriers, borders and boundaries in Australian archaeological methods and practice, frameworks of interpretation and epistemological structures. Sessions were designed to have broad appeal to a range of archaeological stakeholders including academics, consultants, Indigenous peoples, students, cultural heritage managers and policy formulators.

From Midden to Sieve: The Impact of Differential Recovery and Quantification Techniques on Interpretations of Shellfish Remains in Australian Coastal Archaeology

Experimental mechanical sieving methods are applied to samples of shellfish remains from three sites in southeast Queensland, Seven Mile Creek Mound, Sandstone Point and One-Tree, to test the efficacy of various recovery and quantification procedures commonly applied to shellfish assemblages in Australia. There has been considerable debate regarding the most appropriate sieve sizes and quantification methods that should be applied in the recovery of vertebrate faunal remains. Few studies, however, have addressed the impact of recovery and quantification methods on the interpretation of invertebrates, specifically shellfish remains. In this study, five shellfish taxa representing four bivalves (Anadara trapezia, Trichomya hirsutus, Saccostrea glomerata, Donax deltoides) and one gastropod (Pyrazus ebeninus) common in eastern Australian midden assemblages are sieved through 10mm, 6.3mm and 3.15mm mesh. Results are quantified using MNI, NISP and weight. Analyses indicate that different structural properties and pre- and postdepositional factors affect recovery rates. Fragile taxa (T. hirsutus) or those with foliated structure (S. glomerata) tend to be overrepresented by NISP measures in smaller sieve fractions, while more robust taxa (A. trapezia and P. ebeninus) tend to be overrepresented by weight measures. Results demonstrate that for all quantification methods tested a 3mm sieve should be used on all sites to allow for regional comparability and to effectively collect all available information about the shellfish remains.

All in Good Time: Exploring Change in Neanderthal Behavioural Complexity

Since their discovery 150 years ago, Neanderthals have been considered incapable of behavioural change and innovation. Traditional synchronic approaches to the study of Neanderthal behaviour have perpetuated this view and shaped our understanding of their lifeways and eventual extinction. In this thesis I implement an innovative diachronic approach to the analysis of Neanderthal faunal extraction, technology and symbolic behaviour as contained in the archaeological record of the critical period between 80,000 and 30,000 years BP. The thesis demonstrates patterns of change in Neanderthal behaviour which are at odds with traditional perspectives and which are consistent with an interpretation of increasing behavioural complexity over time, an idea that has been suggested but never thoroughly explored in Neanderthal archaeology. Demonstrating an increase in behavioural complexity in Neanderthals provides much needed new data with which to fuel the debate over the behavioural capacities of Neanderthals and the first appearance of Modern Human Behaviour in Europe. It supports the notion that Neanderthal populations were active agents of behavioural innovation prior to the arrival of Anatomically Modern Humans in Europe and, ultimately, that they produced an early Upper Palaeolithic cultural assemblage (the Châtelperronian) independent of modern humans. Overall, this thesis provides an initial step towards the development of a quantitative approach to measuring behavioural complexity which provides fresh insights into the cognitive and behavioural capabilities of Neanderthals.

Molecular archaeology

Advances in technologies such as mass spectrometry and capillary electrophoresis have encouraged the study of ancient lipids and other ancient biomolecules. Now, microarray technology looks set to revolutionise the study of ancient DNA, perhaps with as much impact as that of PCR.