We consider the provocative idea of whether urbanism as a condition or process is visible in Nort... more We consider the provocative idea of whether urbanism as a condition or process is visible in Northern tsimshian archaeology. We define the condition of urbanism through four traits, each of which we associate with measurable variables. We explore changes in these across the study area in 100-year time bins over 6000 years. We also consider urbanism as a process that includes five kinds of relations. We consider these through six chronological stanzas visible in our metric data. While there is evidence of changes towards urbanism, we argue that urbanism as a condition is not evident in our data. We propose that urbanism involves a suite of causes and trajec-tories with multiple potential outcomes, not all of which achieve the threshold of cities.
We consider the provocative idea of whether urbanism as a condition or process is visible in Nort... more We consider the provocative idea of whether urbanism as a condition or process is visible in Northern tsimshian archaeology. We define the condition of urbanism through four traits, each of which we associate with measurable variables. We explore changes in these across the study area in 100-year time bins over 6000 years. We also consider urbanism as a process that includes five kinds of relations. We consider these through six chronological stanzas visible in our metric data. While there is evidence of changes towards urbanism, we argue that urbanism as a condition is not evident in our data. We propose that urbanism involves a suite of causes and trajec-tories with multiple potential outcomes, not all of which achieve the threshold of cities.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA, 2017
We extend an established simulation-based method to test for significant short-duration (1–2 cent... more We extend an established simulation-based method to test for significant short-duration (1–2 centuries) demographic events known from one documented historical and one oral historical context. Case study 1 extrapolates population data from the Western historical tradition using historically derived demographic data from the catastrophic European Black Death/bubonic plague (Yersinia pestis). We find a corresponding statistically significant drop in absolute population using an extended version of a previously published simulation method. Case study 2 uses this refined simulation method to test for a settlement gap identified in oral historical records of descendant Tsimshian First Nations communities from the Prince Rupert Harbour region of the Pacific Northwest region of British Columbia, Canada. Using a regional database of n = 523 radiocarbon dates, we find a significant drop in relative population using the extended simulation-based method consistent with Tsimshian oral records. We conclude that our technical refinement extends the utility of radiocarbon simulation methods and can provide a rigorous test of demographic predictions derived from a range of historical sources.
Prince Rupert Harbour (PRH), on the north Pacific Coast of British Columbia, contains at least 15... more Prince Rupert Harbour (PRH), on the north Pacific Coast of British Columbia, contains at least 157 shell middens, of which 66 are known villages, in an area of approximately 180 km2. These sites span the last 9500 yr and in some cases are immense, exceeding 20,000 m2 surface area and several meters in depth. Recent archaeological research in PRH has become increasingly reliant on radiocarbon dates from marine shell for developing chronologies. However, this is problematic as the local marine reservoir effect (MRE) remains poorly understood in the region. To account for the MRE and to better date the Harbour’s sites, we propose a ΔR of 273±38 for the PRH area, based on our work at the site of Kitandach (GbTo-34), a massive shell midden-village centrally located within the Harbour. We followed the multiple paired sample approach for samples from specific contexts and ensured contemporaneity within the groups of marine and terrestrial materials by statistically assessing for outliers using the χ2 test. Taking together, the results for this and previous studies, it appears the MRE was fairly constant over the past 5000 yr.
Excavations at the late prehistoric-early historic Chinookan sites of Meier and Cathlapotle in th... more Excavations at the late prehistoric-early historic Chinookan sites of Meier and Cathlapotle in the Greater Lower Columbia Region recovered several hundred metal artifacts. Portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was used initially to quickly determine metal type. Then a sample of copper artifacts was subjected to another round of XRF analysis to identify the presence of native copper and, or, chronologically sensitive copper metals. No native copper artifacts were identified and the lack of Muntz metal, a specific type of brass patented in the 1830s, corroborates the dating of material from both sites as no later than the early historic period. Meier and Cathlapotle were important sites for the indigenous working of trade copper, some of which was likely destined for Native communities further inland. This trade copper was a highly valued prestige good in the Plateau and Pacific Northwest and it moved rapidly through Native trade networks in advance of other non-Native trade goods and continued to be used for personal adornment and incorporated into burials into the nineteenth century.
... The Wintu & their neighbors: A very small world-system in northern California. Po... more ... The Wintu & their neighbors: A very small world-system in northern California. Post a Comment. CONTRIBUTORS: Author: Chase-Dunn, Christopher K. Author: Mann, Kelly M. (b. 1971, d. ----. PUBLISHER: University of Arizona Press (Tucson). SERIES TITLE: YEAR: 1998. ...
Page 1. Aboriginal -- Slavery on the Northwest Coast of North America Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. ...... more Page 1. Aboriginal -- Slavery on the Northwest Coast of North America Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. ... 2. SlaveryNorthwest Coast of North AmericaHistory. 3. Indians of NorthAmericaNorthwest Coast of North America Economic conditions. ...
... The general editors of the series are Michael Blake and RG Matson, both faculty members in th... more ... The general editors of the series are Michael Blake and RG Matson, both faculty members in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology ... Barry Kaye and David I. Cole-Hamilton Footing the Bill: Conservation Costs in the Private Sector/340 Katherine Singley Contributors/357 ...
Page 1. THE EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL RANKING ON THE NORTHWEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA Kenneth M. Ames T... more Page 1. THE EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL RANKING ON THE NORTHWEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA Kenneth M. Ames The small, hierarchically organized societies on the Northwest Coast provide excellent examples of the ...
We consider the provocative idea of whether urbanism as a condition or process is visible in Nort... more We consider the provocative idea of whether urbanism as a condition or process is visible in Northern tsimshian archaeology. We define the condition of urbanism through four traits, each of which we associate with measurable variables. We explore changes in these across the study area in 100-year time bins over 6000 years. We also consider urbanism as a process that includes five kinds of relations. We consider these through six chronological stanzas visible in our metric data. While there is evidence of changes towards urbanism, we argue that urbanism as a condition is not evident in our data. We propose that urbanism involves a suite of causes and trajec-tories with multiple potential outcomes, not all of which achieve the threshold of cities.
We consider the provocative idea of whether urbanism as a condition or process is visible in Nort... more We consider the provocative idea of whether urbanism as a condition or process is visible in Northern tsimshian archaeology. We define the condition of urbanism through four traits, each of which we associate with measurable variables. We explore changes in these across the study area in 100-year time bins over 6000 years. We also consider urbanism as a process that includes five kinds of relations. We consider these through six chronological stanzas visible in our metric data. While there is evidence of changes towards urbanism, we argue that urbanism as a condition is not evident in our data. We propose that urbanism involves a suite of causes and trajec-tories with multiple potential outcomes, not all of which achieve the threshold of cities.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA, 2017
We extend an established simulation-based method to test for significant short-duration (1–2 cent... more We extend an established simulation-based method to test for significant short-duration (1–2 centuries) demographic events known from one documented historical and one oral historical context. Case study 1 extrapolates population data from the Western historical tradition using historically derived demographic data from the catastrophic European Black Death/bubonic plague (Yersinia pestis). We find a corresponding statistically significant drop in absolute population using an extended version of a previously published simulation method. Case study 2 uses this refined simulation method to test for a settlement gap identified in oral historical records of descendant Tsimshian First Nations communities from the Prince Rupert Harbour region of the Pacific Northwest region of British Columbia, Canada. Using a regional database of n = 523 radiocarbon dates, we find a significant drop in relative population using the extended simulation-based method consistent with Tsimshian oral records. We conclude that our technical refinement extends the utility of radiocarbon simulation methods and can provide a rigorous test of demographic predictions derived from a range of historical sources.
Prince Rupert Harbour (PRH), on the north Pacific Coast of British Columbia, contains at least 15... more Prince Rupert Harbour (PRH), on the north Pacific Coast of British Columbia, contains at least 157 shell middens, of which 66 are known villages, in an area of approximately 180 km2. These sites span the last 9500 yr and in some cases are immense, exceeding 20,000 m2 surface area and several meters in depth. Recent archaeological research in PRH has become increasingly reliant on radiocarbon dates from marine shell for developing chronologies. However, this is problematic as the local marine reservoir effect (MRE) remains poorly understood in the region. To account for the MRE and to better date the Harbour’s sites, we propose a ΔR of 273±38 for the PRH area, based on our work at the site of Kitandach (GbTo-34), a massive shell midden-village centrally located within the Harbour. We followed the multiple paired sample approach for samples from specific contexts and ensured contemporaneity within the groups of marine and terrestrial materials by statistically assessing for outliers using the χ2 test. Taking together, the results for this and previous studies, it appears the MRE was fairly constant over the past 5000 yr.
Excavations at the late prehistoric-early historic Chinookan sites of Meier and Cathlapotle in th... more Excavations at the late prehistoric-early historic Chinookan sites of Meier and Cathlapotle in the Greater Lower Columbia Region recovered several hundred metal artifacts. Portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was used initially to quickly determine metal type. Then a sample of copper artifacts was subjected to another round of XRF analysis to identify the presence of native copper and, or, chronologically sensitive copper metals. No native copper artifacts were identified and the lack of Muntz metal, a specific type of brass patented in the 1830s, corroborates the dating of material from both sites as no later than the early historic period. Meier and Cathlapotle were important sites for the indigenous working of trade copper, some of which was likely destined for Native communities further inland. This trade copper was a highly valued prestige good in the Plateau and Pacific Northwest and it moved rapidly through Native trade networks in advance of other non-Native trade goods and continued to be used for personal adornment and incorporated into burials into the nineteenth century.
... The Wintu & their neighbors: A very small world-system in northern California. Po... more ... The Wintu & their neighbors: A very small world-system in northern California. Post a Comment. CONTRIBUTORS: Author: Chase-Dunn, Christopher K. Author: Mann, Kelly M. (b. 1971, d. ----. PUBLISHER: University of Arizona Press (Tucson). SERIES TITLE: YEAR: 1998. ...
Page 1. Aboriginal -- Slavery on the Northwest Coast of North America Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. ...... more Page 1. Aboriginal -- Slavery on the Northwest Coast of North America Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. ... 2. SlaveryNorthwest Coast of North AmericaHistory. 3. Indians of NorthAmericaNorthwest Coast of North America Economic conditions. ...
... The general editors of the series are Michael Blake and RG Matson, both faculty members in th... more ... The general editors of the series are Michael Blake and RG Matson, both faculty members in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology ... Barry Kaye and David I. Cole-Hamilton Footing the Bill: Conservation Costs in the Private Sector/340 Katherine Singley Contributors/357 ...
Page 1. THE EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL RANKING ON THE NORTHWEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA Kenneth M. Ames T... more Page 1. THE EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL RANKING ON THE NORTHWEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA Kenneth M. Ames The small, hierarchically organized societies on the Northwest Coast provide excellent examples of the ...
Featuring case studies of prehistoric and historic sites from Mesoamerica, China, the Philippines... more Featuring case studies of prehistoric and historic sites from Mesoamerica, China, the Philippines, the Pacific, Egypt, and elsewhere, Frontiers of Colonialism makes the surprising claim that colonialism can and should be compared across radically different time periods and locations. This volume challenges archaeologists to rethink the two major dichotomies of European versus non-European and prehistoric versus historic colonialism, which can be limiting, self-imposed boundaries. By bringing together contributors working in different regions and time periods, this volume examines the variability in colonial administrative strategies, local forms of resistance to cultural assimilation, hybridized cultural traditions, and other cross-cultural interactions within a global, comparative framework. Taken together these essays argue that crossing these frontiers of study will give anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians more power to recognize and explain the highly varied local impacts of colonialism.
Chapter in edited volume covering contact-era aboriginal habitation at Middle Village, Washington... more Chapter in edited volume covering contact-era aboriginal habitation at Middle Village, Washington, near the mouth of the Columbia River. Excavation and analysis of features and artifacts reveal similarities to and differences from contemporary levels at important sites upriver ( though within the same Chinookan cultural region) at the Meier and Cathlapotle villages. The volume is 'Frontiers of Colonialism', edited by C.D. Baule (University Press of Florida, 2017).
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Papers by Kenneth Ames
metal type. Then a sample of copper artifacts was subjected to another round of XRF analysis to identify the presence of native copper and, or, chronologically sensitive copper metals. No native copper artifacts were identified and the lack of Muntz
metal, a specific type of brass patented in the 1830s, corroborates the dating of material from both sites as no later than the early historic period. Meier and Cathlapotle were important sites for the indigenous working of trade copper, some of which was likely destined for Native communities further inland. This trade copper was a highly valued prestige good in the Plateau and Pacific Northwest and it moved rapidly through Native trade networks in advance of other non-Native trade goods and continued to be used for personal adornment and incorporated into burials into the nineteenth century.
metal type. Then a sample of copper artifacts was subjected to another round of XRF analysis to identify the presence of native copper and, or, chronologically sensitive copper metals. No native copper artifacts were identified and the lack of Muntz
metal, a specific type of brass patented in the 1830s, corroborates the dating of material from both sites as no later than the early historic period. Meier and Cathlapotle were important sites for the indigenous working of trade copper, some of which was likely destined for Native communities further inland. This trade copper was a highly valued prestige good in the Plateau and Pacific Northwest and it moved rapidly through Native trade networks in advance of other non-Native trade goods and continued to be used for personal adornment and incorporated into burials into the nineteenth century.
This volume challenges archaeologists to rethink the two major dichotomies of European versus non-European and prehistoric versus historic colonialism, which can be limiting, self-imposed boundaries. By bringing together contributors working in different regions and time periods, this volume examines the variability in colonial administrative strategies, local forms of resistance to cultural assimilation, hybridized cultural traditions, and other cross-cultural interactions within a global, comparative framework. Taken together these essays argue that crossing these frontiers of study will give anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians more power to recognize and explain the highly varied local impacts of colonialism.