The research presented here seeks to better understand the relationship between the Macon Plateau site and Mossy Oak ceramics. The Early Mississippian period in central Georgia was a time of great change with emerging political centralization and social ranking. This thesis aims to better understand Macon Plateau’s relationship with outlying areas. To accomplish this objective the ceramic assemblage site from the site of Mossy Oak (11 Bi 17) is revisited and reanalyzed using spatial analysis and detailed investigations of Vining Simple Stamped pottery. Rather than taking a top-down, elite-focused approach, this thesis explores the impact of horizontal relationships between groups present at the inception of social institutions and social inequality at the dawn of the Early Mississippian and the rise of Macon Plateau.

Although group-living is widespread in animals, the degree of social complexity varies markedly within and among taxa. One important precondition for the evolution of higher forms of social complexity is increasing group size. However, this imposes a challenge: finding sufficient food for growing numbers of individuals. One hypothesis is that the (in)ability to avoid resource competition as group size increases, could partly explain variation in social complexity among vertebrates. Increasingly, evidence suggests that resource competition can be reduced via three forms of individual specialisation. These are foraging niche specialisation, specialisation to a role under division of labour (DoL), and as a mediator of these two, personality variation. Yet few studies have directly investigated the role of these specialisations in mediating the costs of increasing group size in social vertebrates. In this thesis, I first review the evidence to date that specialising to a foraging niche, and/or to a task under DoL, is (1) mediated via personality variation and (2) can be a means of reducing competition, generated by increasing group size, in social species (Chapter 2). Then, using the cooperative breeding chestnut-crowned babbler (Pomatostomus ruficeps) as my model system, I empirically test some of the hypotheses posed in this review, regarding foraging niche specialisation and associations with personality variation. In Chapter 3, I show that babblers do show personality variation in traits likely to facilitate niche segregation, and in Chapter 4 that variation among individuals within groups is sufficient to lead to intragroup niche specialisation. However, I find that the level of variation within groups is not associated with group size. Then in Chapter 5, I show that in a direct measure of foraging niche, there is only limited evidence for intragroup specialisation, and again that any specialisation is not associated with larger group sizes. I therefore find no evidence that niche specialisation is a means through which babblers can overcome the costs of increasing group size. I discuss the implications of these results for the rise of social complexity in this system, and social vertebrates generally.

This study examines the origins of complex societies in Mesoamerican archaeology, and the “mother culture” versus “sister cultures” debate and whether or not the sharing of ideas and materials, from one or multiple sources, catalyzed internal changes toward greater complexity for some early centers during Formative times, prior to the emergence of cities and states. The examination includes pottery analyses and other contextual observations from the Tayata site, in the Mixteca Alta region, as a marker for larger regional and macroregional developments, and as a means of evaluating the Olmec-centric (mother culture) versus pan-Mesoamerican (sister cultures) viewpoints. Tayata is an ideal case study to examine the emergence of complex societies and interregional interaction for early Mesoamerica because of its initial dates of occupation, its location in one of the “nuclear areas” in the emergence of Mesoamerican civilization, and because of its relationships with other regions and contemporaneous sites. The central research question guiding this study concerns the origin of early decorated, well-finished pottery in the Mixteca Alta, and whether they were imported products from other regions, or local copies, or if it was a simultaneous and mutually influential tradition present not only in the Mixteca Alta and greater Oaxaca area but also in different Mesoamerican regions. The focus of this study is Area A of Tayata, where excavations in 2004 revealed one of the largest pre-urban Formative centers in the Mixteca Alta. Tayata’s growth in social complexity is evident by 900/850 BC, when the site expanded significantly and initiated the construction of non-residential buildings and public spaces far in excess of prior phases of occupation. This data set includes architectural features and other deposits, which permit an analysis that compares the presence, and characteristics of pottery in different contexts. Data generated from this study come from 166 sherds selected for macroscopic fabric analysis, then 141 used for portable X-ray fluorescence analysis (pXRF), and then 60 for applying instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), show relevant and potential conclusions to understand the local, regional and macroregional exchange and production of pottery. The sample includes utilitarian vessels, such as tecomates, jars, and braziers, and non-utilitarian vessels, such as well-finished vessels of gray and white wares, and focus on pan-Mesoamerican pottery styles identified across Early and Middle Formative times. Samples were from diverse contexts excavated at two different compounds, where Compound 1 shows the earliest material (ca. 1400 BC) and presents clear evidence of multi-craft production; and Compound 2 has later occupation, from Middle Formative to the beginning of Late/Terminal Formative, and its contexts correspond to an elite residence, an adjacent temple, and cremated human and animal burials. Multiple lines of evidence, including pottery production, multicrafting, goods and routes of exchange, architecture, and funerary practices, support the idea that Tayata in the Mixteca Alta, was immersed in social transformations observed across different regions during the Early/Middle Formative (ca. 1400 – 350 BC). Tayata’s interactions with multiple areas related to its local development, showing particularly similarities with the Central Valley of Oaxaca in public constructions, such as the one-room temple, and rituals, such as feasting and funerary practices. Results of macroscopic, contextual, and compositional analyses from Tayata’s pottery, show that pottery production at this site followed both regional and macroregional traditions. Tayata’s imported pottery was primarily associated with a Pacific-coast exchange route that crossed the lowland coastal Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the mountainous Nejapa/Yautepec region, and the highland Central Valleys of Oaxaca, and from there reaching the north of the Mixteca Alta, being a corridor of influence in both goods and ideas to the Formative centers in the region.

Utilising previously unpublished ceramic evidence from the important Late Cypriot settlement of Enkomi, this thesis focuses on the impact on Cypriot social organisation of increased involvement with the complex societies of the eastern Mediterranean at the beginning of the Late Cypriot period, c. 1650 BCE. The main focus is on one aspect of the material culture: the first appearances of wheelmade pottery and the relationship of the wheelmade ceramics to the remainder of the assemblage. The introduction of wheelmade pottery has long been seen as a component of the 'social complexity package' and considered to be indicative of highly complex societies, along with full-time specialisation and mass production. The ceramic and settlement evidence from Enkomi is addressed in detail to evaluate the degree of social complexity present for the initial stages of settlement transformation on Cyprus from MCIII-LCIIB, prior to the appearance of urban centres during LCIIC. The extent of excavation at Enkomi, compared to other sites of the period, and the wealth of finds from both mortuary and settlement contexts has led to assumptions about the site's relative importance to the processes of change occurring on Cyprus. The notion of Enkomi as a pre-eminent town or as an archaic state is questioned in relation to the evidence from other settlements. The thesis is divided into four parts. Part 1 discusses the theoretical background for social complexity and outlines the explanatory models which have been developed for the Late Cypriot. I address the importance of trade, and briefly outline the modes of contact and social organisation in the eastern Mediterranean region in order to provide a framework for the interaction of Cyprus within this sphere. I also discuss the significance that has been placed on the appearance of wheel made ceramics in archaeological assemblages. The identification of wheel made ceramics is more complex than is often assumed and an important distinction should be made between pottery with the superficial appearance of being wheelmade and pottery that is actually wheelmade. Part 2 assesses the evidence of ceramics and settlement from other early LC sites in order to investigate whether Enkomi may be considered to have played a dominant role on the island in terms of site hierarchy or control over resources. A brief summary of the evidence of the ceramic and settlement evidence for the EC-MC and the LCllC-lllA periods is provided for comparative purposes. In Part 3 the Enkomi settlement and ceramic evidence is considered in detail. The combined evidence indicates a more complex sequence of construction, occupation and abandonment than has been assumed. Additionally, the adoption of wheelmade pottery is found to be a sporadic and gradual process, with the handmade and wheelmade versions of the ceramic wares manufactured concurrently from LCl-LCIIB. The conclusions reached are presented in Part 4. The processes by which Cyprus came to play an important role within the trading networks of the Late Bronze Age are more complex and gradual than generally acknowledged. A combination of settlement and ceramic evidence indicates that social organisation during LCI remained small-scale with regional traditions persisting and limited influence between the emergent polities on the island. During LCllA-B, the degree of intra-island contacts increased and a uniform material culture is adopted, developing into a series of highly structured urban polities by LCIIC. It does not appear likely that any site or region exercised islandwide control during LCI and the autonomous polities of LCIIC therefore represent a continuation of the social organisation from the preceding periods, rather than a devolution of centralised control.

Este trabalho avalia, desde uma perspectiva bioarqueológica, diversos indicadores ósseos de estresse e de violência física nas populações que foram sepultadas na península de Paracas, costa sul do Peru, durante o final do Horizonte Temprano (400 a.C - 100 d.C). Tal período é essencial na história da complexificação social dos Andes Centrais, porque coincide com o colapso da tradição Chavín que previamente integrava diversas organizações políticas, causando fragmentação regional e surgimento de sociedades diversificadas com elites disputando o poder. Durante o final do Horizonte Temprano várias regiões andinas exibiram arquitetura defensiva, altas frequências de traumas violentos e iconografia que incluía cenas de violência e de possível conflito. Além disso, dados publicados para outros sítios contemporâneos da região sugerem a existência de um período de crise com profundas mudanças sociopolíticas. Para nos aproximarmos do impacto que teve esse processo na qualidade de vida das pessoas sepultadas na península de Paracas, foram estimadas a estatura adulta, prevalências de hipoplasias do esmalte dentário, cribra orbitalia, hiperostose porótica, lesões do periósteo, traumas, trepanações cranianas e modificação intencional do crânio, numa coleção de 307 esqueletos escavados por J.C Tello entre 1925-1930. Esses indivíduos foram sepultados durante duas fases consecutivas: Cavernas (sítio Cerro Colorado) e Necrópolis (sítios Warikayán e Arena Blanca). Durante o período Cavernas observamos menor estatura adulta masculina e maiores prevalências nos indicadores de estresse e de traumas cranianos em comparação ao período Necrópolis. Nesta última fase, que coincide com o aparecimento de grupos associados à tradição Topará, observamos variação no tipo geral de modificação craniana, menor exposição aos traumas cranianos, aumento da estatura masculina e redução na prevalência de indicadores ósseos de estresse, sugerindo melhoras nas condições gerais de vida. Esta pesquisa fornece novos dados para compreender o impacto das mudanças nos processos de complexificação social sobre a qualidade de vida que aconteceram nos Andes Centrais / This research uses a bioarchaeological perspective to analyze various skeletal stress markers and violence-related trauma in the populations buried on the Paracas peninsula, south coast of Peru, during the final Early Horizon period (400 B.C - AD.100). This period, in the complex social history of Andean population is transformative because of the decline of the highland Chavin culture that previously integrated various socio-political organizations, which led to regional fragmentation and local elites vying for political control. During this period were found, defensive architecture, high prevalence of cranial trauma, and warrior iconography in various Andean archaeological sites. In addition, published data for contemporaneous sites suggests a crises period that lead to major sociopolitical changes. To assess the impact this process had on the quality of life, this study estimates the adult stature and prevalences of enamel hypoplasia, cribra orbitalia, porotic hyperostosis, periosteal lesions, skeletal trauma, cranial trepanation, and cranial vault modification in 307 skeletons from the J.C Tello collection, excavated between 1925 and 1930 on the Paracas peninsula. Those individuals were buried in two successive cultural periods: Cavernas (Cerro Colorado site) and Necrópolis (Warikayán and Arena Blanca sites). In the Cavernas period a shorter male stature and a higher prevalence in the stress markers and cranial trauma were observed. The subsequent Necropolis period, influenced by Topará groups, showed differences in cranial vault modification types, significant reduction of cranial trauma, increases in male stature, and lower prevalence of skeletal stress markers. This findings suggest a more stable period with better life conditions. These results provide new insight into the impact of social complexity on the development of Andean population\'s quality of life

abstract: This study frames research on board games within a body of anthropological theory and method to examine the long-term social changes that effect play and mechanisms through which play may influence societal change. Drawing from ethnographic literature focusing on the performative nature of games and their effectiveness at providing a method for strengthening social bonds through grounding, I examine changes in the places in which people engaged in play over the course of the Bronze Age on Cyprus (circa 2500¬–1050 BCE), a period of increasing social complexity. The purpose of this research is to examine how the changes in social boundaries concomitant with emergent complexity were counteracted or strengthened through the use of games as tools of interaction. Bronze Age sites on Cyprus have produced the largest dataset of game boards belonging to any ancient culture. Weight and morphological data were gathered from these artifacts to determine the likelihood of their portability and to identify what type of game was present. The presence of fixed and likely immobile games, as well as the presence of clusters of portable games, was used to identify spaces in which games were played. Counts of other types of artifacts found in the same spaces as games were tabulated, and Correspondence Analysis (CA) was performed in order to determine differences in the types of activities present in the same spaces as play. The results of the CA showed that during the Prehistoric Bronze Age, which has fewer indicators of social complexity, gaming spaces were associated with artifacts related to consumption or specialty, heirloom and imported ceramics, and rarely played in public spaces. During the Protohistoric Bronze Age, when Cyprus was more socially complex, games were more commonly played in public spaces and associated with artifacts related to consumption. These changes suggest a changing emphasis through time, where the initiation and strengthening of social bonds through the grounding process afforded by play is more highly valued in small-scale society, whereas the social mobility that is enabled by performance during play is exploited more commonly during periods of complexity. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2016

The low frequency and often unique topographic setting of small circular stone ring structures of the late Paiján phase (ca. 11,200-9800 cal BP) necessitate a reconsideration of their nature and meaning at sites in several north coast valleys of Perú. It was previosly thought that they were exclusively domestic in function; however, it is now hypothesized that some may be multifunctional, including ritual activities. / La baja frecuencia y, a menudo, el único entorno topográfico en el que se encuentran muchas pequeñas estructuras de planta circular demarcadas con alineamientos de piedra de la fase Paiján Tardío (c. 11.200-9800 cal AP) hacen necesaria una reconsideraciónde su naturaleza y significado en los sitios correspondientes en varios valles de la costa norte del Perú. Con anterioridad se pensaba que estas estructuras eran exclusivamente domésticas respecto de su función; sin embargo, en la actualidad se pueden plantear hipótesis acerca de que algunas de ellas pudieron haber tenido un carácter multifuncional, lo que incluyó actividades rituales.

The central issue of this paper is that social complexity in South Andean hunter-gatherers is related to an emergent process of regional economic intensification that began in the Middle Holocene period. This process involved a strategy of economic specialization in the use of wild camelids, followed by a diversifying strategy related to the domestication of plants and animals, and the subsequent establishment of long-distance exchange networks. Taking into account this model, this paper assesses the social strategies involved in the generation of heterogeneous social organization and its main components. / En este trabajo se propone que la complejidad social en los grupos de cazadores-recolectores surandinos es un producto del proceso de intensificación económica que se dio en la región a partir del Holoceno Medio. Este proceso involucró una estrategia de especialización económica en el uso de los camélidos silvestres, seguida por otra de diversificación relacionada con la domesticación de animales y plantas, y el establecimiento de un sistema de intercambio a larga distancia. A partir de esta propuesta se tratarán de evaluar las estrategias sociales involucradas en la generación de una organización social heterogénea y se discutirán sus componentes más relevantes.

abstract: Arguments of human uniqueness emphasize our complex sociality, unusual cognitive capacities, and language skills, but the timing of the origin of these abilities and their evolutionary causes remain unsolved. Though not unique to primates, kin-biased sociality was key to the success of the primate order. In contrast to ancestral solitary mammals, the earliest primates are thought to have maintained dispersed (non-group living) social networks, communicating over distances via vocalizations and scent marks. If such ancestral primates recognized kin, those networks may have facilitated the evolution of kin-biased sociality in the primate order and created selection for increased cognitive and communicative abilities. I used the gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus) to model whether vocalizations could have facilitated matrilineal and patrilineal kin recognition in ancestral primates. Much like mouse lemurs today, ancestral primates are thought to have been small-bodied, nocturnal creatures that captured insects and foraged for fruit in the thin, terminal ends of tree branches. Thus, the mouse lemur is an excellent model species because its ecological niche is likely to be similar to that of ancestral primates 55-90 million years ago. I conducted playback experiments in Ankarafantsika National Park, Madagascar testing whether mouse lemur agonistic calls contain matrilineal kin signatures and whether the lemurs recognize matrilineal kin. In contrast to large-brained, socially complex monkeys with frequent coalitionary behavior, mouse lemurs did not react differently to the agonistic calls of matrilineal kin and nonkin, though moderate signatures were present in the calls. I tested for patrilineal signatures and patrilineal kin recognition via mating and alarm calls in a colony with known pedigree relationships. The results are the first to demonstrate that a nocturnal, solitary foraging mammal gives mating calls with patrilineal signatures and recognizes patrilineal kin. Interestingly, alarm calls did not have signatures and did not facilitate kin recognition, suggesting that selection for kin recognition is stronger in some call types than others. As this dissertation is the first investigation of vocal kin recognition in a dispersed-living, nocturnal strepsirrhine primate, it greatly advances our knowledge of the role of vocal communication in the evolution of primate social complexity. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Anthropology 2014

Este trabalho avalia, desde uma perspectiva bioarqueológica, diversos indicadores ósseos de estresse e de violência física nas populações que foram sepultadas na península de Paracas, costa sul do Peru, durante o final do Horizonte Temprano (400 a.C - 100 d.C). Tal período é essencial na história da complexificação social dos Andes Centrais, porque coincide com o colapso da tradição Chavín que previamente integrava diversas organizações políticas, causando fragmentação regional e surgimento de sociedades diversificadas com elites disputando o poder. Durante o final do Horizonte Temprano várias regiões andinas exibiram arquitetura defensiva, altas frequências de traumas violentos e iconografia que incluía cenas de violência e de possível conflito. Além disso, dados publicados para outros sítios contemporâneos da região sugerem a existência de um período de crise com profundas mudanças sociopolíticas. Para nos aproximarmos do impacto que teve esse processo na qualidade de vida das pessoas sepultadas na península de Paracas, foram estimadas a estatura adulta, prevalências de hipoplasias do esmalte dentário, cribra orbitalia, hiperostose porótica, lesões do periósteo, traumas, trepanações cranianas e modificação intencional do crânio, numa coleção de 307 esqueletos escavados por J.C Tello entre 1925-1930. Esses indivíduos foram sepultados durante duas fases consecutivas: Cavernas (sítio Cerro Colorado) e Necrópolis (sítios Warikayán e Arena Blanca). Durante o período Cavernas observamos menor estatura adulta masculina e maiores prevalências nos indicadores de estresse e de traumas cranianos em comparação ao período Necrópolis. Nesta última fase, que coincide com o aparecimento de grupos associados à tradição Topará, observamos variação no tipo geral de modificação craniana, menor exposição aos traumas cranianos, aumento da estatura masculina e redução na prevalência de indicadores ósseos de estresse, sugerindo melhoras nas condições gerais de vida. Esta pesquisa fornece novos dados para compreender o impacto das mudanças nos processos de complexificação social sobre a qualidade de vida que aconteceram nos Andes Centrais / This research uses a bioarchaeological perspective to analyze various skeletal stress markers and violence-related trauma in the populations buried on the Paracas peninsula, south coast of Peru, during the final Early Horizon period (400 B.C - AD.100). This period, in the complex social history of Andean population is transformative because of the decline of the highland Chavin culture that previously integrated various socio-political organizations, which led to regional fragmentation and local elites vying for political control. During this period were found, defensive architecture, high prevalence of cranial trauma, and warrior iconography in various Andean archaeological sites. In addition, published data for contemporaneous sites suggests a crises period that lead to major sociopolitical changes. To assess the impact this process had on the quality of life, this study estimates the adult stature and prevalences of enamel hypoplasia, cribra orbitalia, porotic hyperostosis, periosteal lesions, skeletal trauma, cranial trepanation, and cranial vault modification in 307 skeletons from the J.C Tello collection, excavated between 1925 and 1930 on the Paracas peninsula. Those individuals were buried in two successive cultural periods: Cavernas (Cerro Colorado site) and Necrópolis (Warikayán and Arena Blanca sites). In the Cavernas period a shorter male stature and a higher prevalence in the stress markers and cranial trauma were observed. The subsequent Necropolis period, influenced by Topará groups, showed differences in cranial vault modification types, significant reduction of cranial trauma, increases in male stature, and lower prevalence of skeletal stress markers. This findings suggest a more stable period with better life conditions. These results provide new insight into the impact of social complexity on the development of Andean population\'s quality of life