M.Sc. Rock Art Studies (by research) in the Rock Art Research Institute, School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies (GAES), Faculty of Science University of the Witwatersrand. Johannesburg, 2016. / Northern Sotho, Khoekhoe, and San rock art occur together in many shelters across South Africa’s Limpopo province. In some cases, specimens of the rock art of these traditions can be seen to be painted directly over one another. By studying such occurrences on the Makgabeng plateau, this project assesses whether the superimposition of rock art among different painting traditions can reveal new insights regarding the painters and their relationships with ‘others’. By looking at how the social life of the rock art is manipulated through superimposition, this study aims to uncover how this manner of consumption reflects upon the nature of the interaction among people of different painting traditions. / LG2017

University of the Witwatersrand Submitted in fulfilment of the degree of Master of Science (Archaeology) by research. Rock Art Research Institute; School of Geography, Archaeology, and Environmental Studies. Johannesburg, 2017. / Southern Africa’s Orange River has been a frontier-zone for centuries, acting as a socially formative and often volatile expression of its surrounds. Communities of the region have competed, compounded, and admixed for as long as competing influences have obliged it, contributing over hundreds of years to a background milieu of generally-coherent beliefs and practices; ‘frontier ideologies’ that dealt in the expression and mediation of identity, and the configuration of responses to tumultuous social and ecological conditions. The common core of these ideologies allowed frontier societies to respond to one another in familiar terms, even if other channels of meaning were inaccessible. One of the contributors to these ideologies were the |Xam, most well-known for their contributions to the shamanistic approach to interpretation of rock art in the Maloti-Drakensberg mountains of South Africa. While analogy has allowed them to speak on behalf of the artists of this disparate tradition, they are products of the area surrounding the Orange River during the nineteenth century. Accordingly, they demonstrate the fundamental features of a frontier society; they evaluate contact with other communities relative to themselves, and formulate appropriate expressions of identity to enact in response. The application of their ethnography is somewhat burdened by their application to the rock art of the Maloti-Drakensberg, however, which casts their motivations in specific, ritualised terms. This thesis considers a very different body of rock art to the one conventionally interpreted by the shamanistic approach, but located in a historical and regional context intimately linked to the |Xam informants; specifically, the rock art of the Strandberg hills, in the Northern Cape province, South Africa. This body of art is one dominated by horses, distributed as a structure that spans much of the site, and manufactured with visibility in mind. This thesis finds that these images were products of the frontier ideologies that inhabited the region, and the adaptive practices that emerge from them. Accordingly, the art is characterised as a record of inhabitation, an expression of identity, and the mediation of contact with a changing landscape, in keeping with the behaviours that had marked interactions between communities in the region for long before many of the images were placed on the Strandberg. / MT 2017

This dissertation explores the emergence of figuration in prehistoric China. It approaches the topic by focusing on image-makers’ engagement with the materials they used to fashion figural works. Chapter 1 presents a survey of zoomorphic and anthropomorphic images created from the Epipaleolithic through the Neolithic periods. It highlights a multiplicity of forms, materials and representational approaches while uncovering recurring patterns. Chapter 2 introduces the principal theories scholars have applied to discuss this corpus, and draws out their similarity with paradigms used in Western scholarship on prehistoric art. The discussion further draws attention to a bi-directional influence exerted on the reception of prehistoric imagery in Europe and China. Chapter 3 focuses on images produced prior to or around 5,000 BCE, and repositions their emergence in the context of broader interests in materiality and representation. The analysis uncovers trends and explores circumstances that notably led image-makers separated in time and space to represent human heads as flat entities. Chapter 4 investigates the role of pareidolia in the emergence of images. It reveals that perceptive imagination informed the creation of some works, when craftspeople drew inspiration from forms in raw materials or artifacts. Chapter 5 explores the possibility that image-makers sought to achieve material-representation synergies. The discussion presents a new taxonomic model addressing materiality and the sensory channels through which figurative images are perceived, and it describes how these factors possibly constituted a core aspect of mimesis. The analysis proposes that some image-makers employed both visual and tactile qualities of substances to represent animals and human beings.

No description available.

[Truncated abstract] Environmental changes have had major impacts on past human societies across the globe, and a better understanding of this human-environment interaction is necessary for building societies with resilience towards future environmental change, and to effectively conserve areas of natural environments into the future. Regions such as the Yangtze delta, that have a long history of rice cultivation (dating to at least ca. 7000 BP) and a high density of prehistoric sites, provide an ideal backdrop to study both long-term human-environment interactions, and the environmental impacts of agricultural societies. This study aims to provide Holocene palaeoenvironmental reconstructions for three study sites in the Yangtze delta region, with the principle objectives of detecting human activity – particularly that associated with the development of rice agriculture – and identifying environmental changes within the palaeoenvironmental records. A parallel aim is to develop the use of quantitative biomarker and compound specific isotope analyses in Holocene palaeoenvironmental investigations, including in the detection of early agricultural environments, through analysis of sedimentary deposits. Palaeoenvironmental records for the three study sites, Qingpu, Guangfulin and Liangzhu, cover the time period from ca. 12,000 to ca. 400 BP. '...' Greater proportions of coniferous and deciduous taxa early in the records (prior to ca. 7000 BP) indicate comparatively cooler conditions, while the increased abundance of Chenopodiaceae during that time suggests both cooler conditions and a greater marine influence in the region. Palaeoenvironmental data obtained during this study suggest agriculture in the delta region to have gradually increased in importance from ca. 7000 – 2400 BP. The Guangfulin study site yielded the earliest evidence of agricultural activity, dating to ca. 7000 BP, principally in the form of a corresponding increase in Poaceae (Oryza comp.) abundance and decline of arboreal forest taxa. Subsequent periods of agricultural intensification are noted at ca. 5360 BP at Liangzhu and ca. 4700 BP at Guangfulin. Following the final period of intensification at Qingpu and Guangfulin (ca. 2400 BP), the extent of cultivated land in the delta region may have been comparable to modern times. Technological development during the early dynasties, particularly the greater availability of iron tools, is likely to have been a major factor driving the agricultural intensification detected ca. 2400 BP. The large tracts of natural vegetation detected by this research prior to ca. 2400 BP, would have afforded a degree of resilience to the human inhabitants of the delta region. Following the contraction of natural vegetation in the delta region, societies would have gained some resilience through access to the extensive trade network of the Chinese state. Resilience acquired through these means may, in part, account for the longevity of agricultural societies in the Yangtze delta region of China.

This thesis describes a systemic approach to the study of shell remains, using material from the site of Shag Point (J43/11), in North Otago. This approach analyses the relationship between sampling, identification, quantification, and site formation processes. An historical and methodological framework is used to assess the analysis of shell-bearing deposits in New Zealand, and provide innovative solutions to bias. Historical research outlines the common research methods in New Zealand, which are relevant to Shag Point. Methodological research outlines the range of potential research methods used in the study of shell-bearing deposits. Reviewing the data from Shag Point, sampling, identification, quantification, and site formation processes are used to assess the quality of data from the site. Data from coastal sites are commonly used to generate regional level syntheses. These syntheses do not deal with all of the possible sources of bias in shell-bearing deposits. Cumulative sampling is used to assess representativeness. The data from Shag Point are indicative of a representative sample. The site is compared to three other coastal southern South Island assemblages: the nearby Shag River Mouth, Pleasant River, and Pounawea. The data from Shag River Mouth may be representative; the same cannot be said for the Pleasant River and Pounawea archaeological assemblages, thus hampering regional-level syntheses.

This thesis sets out to examine issues of selectivity and availability in fishing and shellfish gathering by pre-European Maori at Triangle Flat in western Golden Bay. Faunal remains from four archaeological sites have revealed new and valuable information about economic subsistence practices in this region. It is proposed that exploitation of these important coastal resources was based on factors other than the availability of, proximity to resource patches. Evidence from the Triangle Flat sites is compared to that from Tasman Bay and the southern North Island to gain a regional perspective on fishing and shellfish gathering strategies. The most definitive evidence for selective targeting is provided by tuatua, an open beach species that has been found to dominate in sites based adjacent to tidal mud and sand flats. Also of interest is the dominance of mud snail in a site that is adjacent to large cockle and pipi beds. When regional sites were examined it was found that this pattern was also recorded for the site of Appleby in Tasman Bay. Selectivity in fishing strategies is also apparent with red cod and barracouta dominating the Triangle Flat assemblages. This pattern conforms to evidence from both eastern Golden Bay and Tasman Bay but does not reflect evidence from the southern North Island. Of particular interest is the apparent dearth of snapper in the sites at Triangle Flat, since snapper abounds in the area today. An explanation based on climatic change is considered to be the most feasible. This indicates that enviromentalal availability was at least in part responsible for the archaeological evidence of fishing. The consistency of the catch of red cod and barracouta in Golden Bay, and the pattern of shellfishing preferentially for tuatua suggests that cultural choice was also a significant selective factor.

The importance of marine versus terrestrial foods in prehistoric Pacific and New Zealand diets, and the adaptation of the Polynesian diet to new enviroments, is examined through the analysis of the ratios in human bone of the stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur. In particular, this study seeks to obtain quantitative information which could provide answers to five main questions, relating to the subsistence focus of the early Lapita colonists in the Pacific, the significance of suger cane in the diets of early Pacific populations, the proportions of reef versus open ocean and terrestrial versus marine foods in these diets, and the identification of populations with pronounced marine or pronounced terrestrial diets. One hundred and nineteen samples of human bone from 13 sites throughtout the Pacific and New Zealand were processed. Nitrogen values were obtained directly from bone powder, while carbon values were determined from collagen produced by digesting bone powder in phosphoric acid. Sulphur evaluations were determined from a BaSo⁴ precipitate, produced after combustion of the collagen samples in a Parr bomb. Interpretation of results is approached from a comparative point of view, which enables the proportions of marine and terrestrial foods in the diets of each study group to be assessed in relation to the diets of all the other groups. Additional information on the composition of the diets is gained by comparing the stable isotope values obtained in this study with published values of other human populations, and of marine and terrrestrial plants and animals. The potential of stable isotope analysis to identify the composition of prehistoric New Zealand and Pacific diets is confirmed. A unique marine adaptation is revealed from the analysis of the Chatham Islands Moriori who appear to have focused almost exclusively on marine resources. In contrast, a highly terrestrial diet is suggested for groups from Nebira in Papua New Guinea and Lake Rotoiti in New Zealand.

There is a general belief that a decline in health of prehistoric people occurred with the adoption and intensification of agriculture. However, recent bioarchaeological research in Southeast Asia does not seem to fit this model. An investigation of subadult health is particularly useful to assess this issue because immature individuals are very responsive to environmental changes. The increase of archaeological investigation in this region has provided an adequate sample to address this important aspect of human health using subadults. The aim of this thesis was to produce a synthesis of subadult health and disease from late prehistoric Mainland Southeast Asia and assess whether there was evidence for a change in health with agricultural intensification. The samples, comprising a total 325 individuals, are from seven sites in Thailand, six from the Northeast and one from the Southeast coast, and collectively span from c. 4000 to 1500 B.P. Two hypotheses were developed based on previous bioarchaeological research in Southeast Asia. Firstly, there would be maintenance in health with the intensification of agriculture. Secondly, contrary to the first hypothesis, an increase in infectious disease in the later samples was predicted. A biocultural research approach was used, where health and disease were assessed in relationship to evidence of the natural and cultural milieu. A comparative analysis of health indicators was carried out among the sites to assess whether there were any changes in health over time in response to environmental changes. Non-specific indicators of health were used in the assessment of palaeodemography, growth, growth disruption, dental health and skeletal pathology. Analysis of mortality, fertility, growth, growth disruption and dental health found no differences among the sites that could be explained by temporality. These results support the first hypothesis, that health was maintained. The skeletal pathology results tentatively suggested an increase in these indicators in the later sites. An analysis of multiple indicators of stress in the populations indicated a possible decline in health, interpreted with environmental evidence suggesting an increase of infectious disease at the later sites. However, they suggest that the earliest site of Khok Phanom Di had extremely poor health. Thus, the second hypothesis was only partially supported. Environmental evidence was used to provide possible explanations for these results. The heterogeneity of the health indicators support recent interpretations of localised environments of the sites. Also, retention of a broad-spectrum subsistence economy with agriculture may have overridden some of these changes that were seen in other parts of the world. Khok Phanom Di and the later sites were undergoing major changes in their natural and cultural environment, which could have resulted in an increase of infectious disease. These health results are consistent with suggestions that Khok Phanom Di was a distinct genetic population from those at the Northeast Thai sites. This biocultural interpretation emphasises the importance of understanding the environmental context in which these people lived.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 220-247). Also available on the Internet.