The role of boron in terrestrial plant physiology is diverse and increasingly well understood, bu... more The role of boron in terrestrial plant physiology is diverse and increasingly well understood, but its role in marine aquatic eukaryotes is less clear. Our research reveals a distinctive and large offset in boron isotopes from seawater, irrespective of seaweed type or season. We show that the offset is consistent with the incorporation of borate from seawater. Boron is a known micronutrient in plants but very few studies have used boron isotopes to investigate boron's role in plant physiology. Seaweed, as the most primitive multicellular plant, has an important role in investigating wider plant adaptations that use boron to meet functional needs. Furthermore, seaweed and other plants are a key base nutrient provider in food webs, supplying boron to consumers and playing a critical role in boron environmental cycling.
The role of boron in terrestrial plant physiology is diverse and increasingly well understood, bu... more The role of boron in terrestrial plant physiology is diverse and increasingly well understood, but its role in marine aquatic eukaryotes is less clear. Our research reveals a distinctive and large offset in boron isotopes from seawater, irrespective of seaweed type or season. We show that the offset is consistent with the incorporation of borate from seawater. Boron is a known micronutrient in plants but very few studies have used boron isotopes to investigate boron’s role in plant physiology. Seaweed, as the most primitive multicellular plant, has an important role in investigating wider plant adaptations that use boron to meet functional needs. Furthermore, seaweed and other plants are a key base nutrient provider in food webs, supplying boron to consumers and playing a critical role in boron environmental cycling.
Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association, 2008
Page 1. PROBLEMS OF CULTURAL CHANGE IN THE LATE AND FINAL JOMON Katheryn C. Twiss Anthropology, U... more Page 1. PROBLEMS OF CULTURAL CHANGE IN THE LATE AND FINAL JOMON Katheryn C. Twiss Anthropology, University of California at Berkeley, 232 Kroeber Hall, Berkeley, CA, USA 94720-3710 ABSTRACT The population ...
In the Neolithic megasite at Çatalhöyük families lived side by side in conjoined dwellings, like ... more In the Neolithic megasite at Çatalhöyük families lived side by side in conjoined dwellings, like a pueblo. It can be assumed that people were always in and out of each others' houses – in this case via the roof. Social mechanisms were needed to make all this run smoothly, and in a tour-de-force of botanical, faunal and spatial analysis the authors show how it worked. Families stored their own produce of grain, fruit, nuts and condiments in special bins deep inside the house, but displayed the heads and horns of aurochs near the entrance. While the latter had a religious overtone they also remembered feasts, episodes of sharing that mitigated the provocations of a full larder.
The Sealand Dynasty ruled in southern Mesopotamia ca. 1740–1460(?) b.c.e., but Sealand archaeolog... more The Sealand Dynasty ruled in southern Mesopotamia ca. 1740–1460(?) b.c.e., but Sealand archaeological deposits are extraordinarily rare, and the dynasty itself is known almost entirely from a limited number of texts. Sealand Dynasty social and ecological practices remain mysterious, and ceremonial activities are at best poorly understood. Faunal remains from the small site of Tell Sakhariya in southern Iraq provide our first glimpse into the Sealand animal socio-economy. Sakhariya's occupants herded and hunted in multiple environmental zones. In pre-Sealand times Tell Sakhariya was an important ceremonial site, and the large-scale food sharing and possible ritual dog burial in its faunal assemblage might indicate that Sakhariya retained ideological significance into the Sealand era. (PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU WOULD LIKE A COPY.)
This paper discusses core concerns in the archaeology of food. It summarizes three key methodolog... more This paper discusses core concerns in the archaeology of food. It summarizes three key methodological issues affecting archaeologists: the fact that different food-related data sets have different relationships to human activity, the fact that the context and character of a sample determines its interpretive utility, and the fact that full integration of multiple data sets remains a challenge. It then explores the definitions of food and feasting as used in archaeology.
Abundance may be a generally good thing, but in a delayed-return society with any pretense to ega... more Abundance may be a generally good thing, but in a delayed-return society with any pretense to egalitarianism it also brings myriad challenges. Individuals or groups who produce or acquire an abundance of resources must determine how to physically preserve and/or socially deploy that abundance, while maintaining at least some appearance of equality and integration with other members of society. In this paper we evaluate strategies for coping with resource abundances at Neolithic Çatalhöyük in central Anatolia: these strategies plausibly included (a) concealment and (b) dispersal of food across relatively broad segments of society.
Twiss, K., Wolfhagen, J., Madgwick, R., Foster, H., Demirergi, A., Russell, N. Everhart, J., Pear... more Twiss, K., Wolfhagen, J., Madgwick, R., Foster, H., Demirergi, A., Russell, N. Everhart, J., Pearson, J, Mulville, J. 2017. Horses, Hemiones, Hydruntines? Assessing the Reliability of Dental Criteria for Assigning Species to Southwest Asian Equid Remains. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 27: 298-304.
Many faunal assemblages across southwest Asia contain the remains of multiple wild equid species, which may reflect individual prehistoric human populations' use of different hunting and/or landscape exploitation strategies. Accurate equid species assignments are therefore important. This paper tests the extent to which zooarchaeologists agree on equid species assignments made using commonly used zooarchaeological dental identification criteria. Seven zooarchaeologists individually use published criteria to assign species to equid teeth from Neolithic Çatalhöyük in central Anatolia, then use Fleiss' kappa to measure our reliability of agreement. We assess our degrees of agreement for species assignments made using scanned images versus actual specimens and for mandibular teeth versus maxillary teeth. Having failed to achieve significant agreement, we conclude that zooarchaeologists should be cautious about species assignments made using these methods.
This study presents the results of a major data integration project bringing together primary arc... more This study presents the results of a major data integration project bringing together primary archaeozoological data for over 200,000 faunal specimens excavated from seventeen sites in Turkey spanning the Epipaleolithic through Chalcolithic periods, c. 18,000-4,000 cal BC, in order to document the initial westward spread of domestic livestock across Neolithic central and western Turkey. From these shared datasets we demonstrate that the westward expansion of Neolithic subsistence technologies combined multiple routes and pulses but did not involve a set ‘package’ comprising all four livestock species including sheep, goat, cattle and pig. Instead, Neolithic animal economies in the study regions are shown to be more diverse than deduced previously using quantitatively more limited datasets. Moreover, during the transition to agro-pastoral economies interactions between domestic stock and local wild fauna continued. Through publication of datasets with Open Context (opencontext.org), this project emphasizes the benefits of data sharing and web-based dissemination of large primary data sets for exploring major questions in archaeology (Alternative Language Abstract S1).
The measurement of stable carbon (d13C) and nitrogen (d15N) isotopes of caprine bone collagen fro... more The measurement of stable carbon (d13C) and nitrogen (d15N) isotopes of caprine bone collagen from the Neolithic sites of Catalhoyuk and Asikli Hoyuk in south-central Anatolia have allowed examination of exploitation and herding practices of sheep and goats. The isotope values from protodomestic caprines at Asikli Hoyuk suggests that these animals were consuming very similar foods to each other and were all confined to the same or similar environments with no access to C4 plants. At Catalhoyuk, the results show how the caprine management strategy develops
from the strategy seen at Asikli Hoyuk into a more varied practice at an early stage as the site grows with an increasing dietary contribution obtained from C4 plants. No change in diet is isotopically discernible at Asikli Hoyuk. Interestingly, no distinction could be made between the diets of sheep and goats at either site. Therefore, such studies are a useful method of examining the development of early herding or management
strategies of caprines in the Near East.
Over the course of three field seasons (2008-2010), the Arabian Human Social Dynamics Project (AH... more Over the course of three field seasons (2008-2010), the Arabian Human Social Dynamics Project (AHSD) excavated a series of above ground small-scale monuments in order to assess their use. The ultimate goal of these excavations is to develop an understanding of the distribution of small-scale monuments across the southern Arabian landscape. These monuments offer a rare glimpse into the ritual and social lives of nomadic pastoralists.
In order to understand what activities took place at these monuments, one must assess the extent to which their contents reflect intentional deposition. Faunal remains are among the most commonly uncovered materials inside these monuments: it is important to establish whether they represent intentional offerings placed in the monuments by ancient pastoralists or caprines that inadvertently fell into open monuments and were unable to free themselves. This paper reports the inventories of faunal remains from these monuments and considers the role taphonomy has played in shaping our understanding of mobile peoples.
The role of boron in terrestrial plant physiology is diverse and increasingly well understood, bu... more The role of boron in terrestrial plant physiology is diverse and increasingly well understood, but its role in marine aquatic eukaryotes is less clear. Our research reveals a distinctive and large offset in boron isotopes from seawater, irrespective of seaweed type or season. We show that the offset is consistent with the incorporation of borate from seawater. Boron is a known micronutrient in plants but very few studies have used boron isotopes to investigate boron's role in plant physiology. Seaweed, as the most primitive multicellular plant, has an important role in investigating wider plant adaptations that use boron to meet functional needs. Furthermore, seaweed and other plants are a key base nutrient provider in food webs, supplying boron to consumers and playing a critical role in boron environmental cycling.
The role of boron in terrestrial plant physiology is diverse and increasingly well understood, bu... more The role of boron in terrestrial plant physiology is diverse and increasingly well understood, but its role in marine aquatic eukaryotes is less clear. Our research reveals a distinctive and large offset in boron isotopes from seawater, irrespective of seaweed type or season. We show that the offset is consistent with the incorporation of borate from seawater. Boron is a known micronutrient in plants but very few studies have used boron isotopes to investigate boron’s role in plant physiology. Seaweed, as the most primitive multicellular plant, has an important role in investigating wider plant adaptations that use boron to meet functional needs. Furthermore, seaweed and other plants are a key base nutrient provider in food webs, supplying boron to consumers and playing a critical role in boron environmental cycling.
Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association, 2008
Page 1. PROBLEMS OF CULTURAL CHANGE IN THE LATE AND FINAL JOMON Katheryn C. Twiss Anthropology, U... more Page 1. PROBLEMS OF CULTURAL CHANGE IN THE LATE AND FINAL JOMON Katheryn C. Twiss Anthropology, University of California at Berkeley, 232 Kroeber Hall, Berkeley, CA, USA 94720-3710 ABSTRACT The population ...
In the Neolithic megasite at Çatalhöyük families lived side by side in conjoined dwellings, like ... more In the Neolithic megasite at Çatalhöyük families lived side by side in conjoined dwellings, like a pueblo. It can be assumed that people were always in and out of each others' houses – in this case via the roof. Social mechanisms were needed to make all this run smoothly, and in a tour-de-force of botanical, faunal and spatial analysis the authors show how it worked. Families stored their own produce of grain, fruit, nuts and condiments in special bins deep inside the house, but displayed the heads and horns of aurochs near the entrance. While the latter had a religious overtone they also remembered feasts, episodes of sharing that mitigated the provocations of a full larder.
The Sealand Dynasty ruled in southern Mesopotamia ca. 1740–1460(?) b.c.e., but Sealand archaeolog... more The Sealand Dynasty ruled in southern Mesopotamia ca. 1740–1460(?) b.c.e., but Sealand archaeological deposits are extraordinarily rare, and the dynasty itself is known almost entirely from a limited number of texts. Sealand Dynasty social and ecological practices remain mysterious, and ceremonial activities are at best poorly understood. Faunal remains from the small site of Tell Sakhariya in southern Iraq provide our first glimpse into the Sealand animal socio-economy. Sakhariya's occupants herded and hunted in multiple environmental zones. In pre-Sealand times Tell Sakhariya was an important ceremonial site, and the large-scale food sharing and possible ritual dog burial in its faunal assemblage might indicate that Sakhariya retained ideological significance into the Sealand era. (PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU WOULD LIKE A COPY.)
This paper discusses core concerns in the archaeology of food. It summarizes three key methodolog... more This paper discusses core concerns in the archaeology of food. It summarizes three key methodological issues affecting archaeologists: the fact that different food-related data sets have different relationships to human activity, the fact that the context and character of a sample determines its interpretive utility, and the fact that full integration of multiple data sets remains a challenge. It then explores the definitions of food and feasting as used in archaeology.
Abundance may be a generally good thing, but in a delayed-return society with any pretense to ega... more Abundance may be a generally good thing, but in a delayed-return society with any pretense to egalitarianism it also brings myriad challenges. Individuals or groups who produce or acquire an abundance of resources must determine how to physically preserve and/or socially deploy that abundance, while maintaining at least some appearance of equality and integration with other members of society. In this paper we evaluate strategies for coping with resource abundances at Neolithic Çatalhöyük in central Anatolia: these strategies plausibly included (a) concealment and (b) dispersal of food across relatively broad segments of society.
Twiss, K., Wolfhagen, J., Madgwick, R., Foster, H., Demirergi, A., Russell, N. Everhart, J., Pear... more Twiss, K., Wolfhagen, J., Madgwick, R., Foster, H., Demirergi, A., Russell, N. Everhart, J., Pearson, J, Mulville, J. 2017. Horses, Hemiones, Hydruntines? Assessing the Reliability of Dental Criteria for Assigning Species to Southwest Asian Equid Remains. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 27: 298-304.
Many faunal assemblages across southwest Asia contain the remains of multiple wild equid species, which may reflect individual prehistoric human populations' use of different hunting and/or landscape exploitation strategies. Accurate equid species assignments are therefore important. This paper tests the extent to which zooarchaeologists agree on equid species assignments made using commonly used zooarchaeological dental identification criteria. Seven zooarchaeologists individually use published criteria to assign species to equid teeth from Neolithic Çatalhöyük in central Anatolia, then use Fleiss' kappa to measure our reliability of agreement. We assess our degrees of agreement for species assignments made using scanned images versus actual specimens and for mandibular teeth versus maxillary teeth. Having failed to achieve significant agreement, we conclude that zooarchaeologists should be cautious about species assignments made using these methods.
This study presents the results of a major data integration project bringing together primary arc... more This study presents the results of a major data integration project bringing together primary archaeozoological data for over 200,000 faunal specimens excavated from seventeen sites in Turkey spanning the Epipaleolithic through Chalcolithic periods, c. 18,000-4,000 cal BC, in order to document the initial westward spread of domestic livestock across Neolithic central and western Turkey. From these shared datasets we demonstrate that the westward expansion of Neolithic subsistence technologies combined multiple routes and pulses but did not involve a set ‘package’ comprising all four livestock species including sheep, goat, cattle and pig. Instead, Neolithic animal economies in the study regions are shown to be more diverse than deduced previously using quantitatively more limited datasets. Moreover, during the transition to agro-pastoral economies interactions between domestic stock and local wild fauna continued. Through publication of datasets with Open Context (opencontext.org), this project emphasizes the benefits of data sharing and web-based dissemination of large primary data sets for exploring major questions in archaeology (Alternative Language Abstract S1).
The measurement of stable carbon (d13C) and nitrogen (d15N) isotopes of caprine bone collagen fro... more The measurement of stable carbon (d13C) and nitrogen (d15N) isotopes of caprine bone collagen from the Neolithic sites of Catalhoyuk and Asikli Hoyuk in south-central Anatolia have allowed examination of exploitation and herding practices of sheep and goats. The isotope values from protodomestic caprines at Asikli Hoyuk suggests that these animals were consuming very similar foods to each other and were all confined to the same or similar environments with no access to C4 plants. At Catalhoyuk, the results show how the caprine management strategy develops
from the strategy seen at Asikli Hoyuk into a more varied practice at an early stage as the site grows with an increasing dietary contribution obtained from C4 plants. No change in diet is isotopically discernible at Asikli Hoyuk. Interestingly, no distinction could be made between the diets of sheep and goats at either site. Therefore, such studies are a useful method of examining the development of early herding or management
strategies of caprines in the Near East.
Over the course of three field seasons (2008-2010), the Arabian Human Social Dynamics Project (AH... more Over the course of three field seasons (2008-2010), the Arabian Human Social Dynamics Project (AHSD) excavated a series of above ground small-scale monuments in order to assess their use. The ultimate goal of these excavations is to develop an understanding of the distribution of small-scale monuments across the southern Arabian landscape. These monuments offer a rare glimpse into the ritual and social lives of nomadic pastoralists.
In order to understand what activities took place at these monuments, one must assess the extent to which their contents reflect intentional deposition. Faunal remains are among the most commonly uncovered materials inside these monuments: it is important to establish whether they represent intentional offerings placed in the monuments by ancient pastoralists or caprines that inadvertently fell into open monuments and were unable to free themselves. This paper reports the inventories of faunal remains from these monuments and considers the role taphonomy has played in shaping our understanding of mobile peoples.
In the Neolithic megasite at Çatalhöyük families lived side by side in conjoined dwellings, like ... more In the Neolithic megasite at Çatalhöyük families lived side by side in conjoined dwellings, like a pueblo. It can be assumed that people were always in and out of each others’ houses – in this case via the roof. Social mechanisms were needed to make all this run smoothly, and in a tour-de-force of botanical, faunal and spatial analysis the authors show how it worked. Families stored their own produce of grain, fruit, nuts and condiments in special bins deep inside the house, but displayed the heads and horns of aurochs near the entrance. While the latter had a religious overtone they also remembered feasts, episodes of sharing that mitigated the provocations of a full larder.
Kommensalität – das gemeinsame Essen und Trinken in einem gemeinsamen physischen und sozialen Rah... more Kommensalität – das gemeinsame Essen und Trinken in einem gemeinsamen physischen und sozialen Rahmen spielt eine fundamentale Rolle im menschlichen Alltagsleben. Diese zentrale Bedeutung macht Kommensalität zu einem besonders wichtigen Ausgangspunkt für die Erforschung sozialer Beziehungen und politischer Mechanismen. Um die in jüngster Zeit in der Archäologie und verwandten Disziplinen zu beobachtende einseitige Fokussierung auf Feste und andere besondere kommensale Anlässe zu relativieren, sollte der Blick auf Alltagskommensalität gerichtet werden, in deren Rahmen sich entscheidende Prozesse sozialer Reproduktion abspielen. Ich werde zwei besondere Formen von kommensalen Praktiken hervorheben, Gastfreundschat und die Zuteilung von bzw. Versorgung mit Lebensmitteln (“provisioning”), die in vielen Facetten in den Beiträgen dieses Bandes diskutiert werden. Schließlich erörtere ich den in der Archäologie weitgehend vernachlässigten Forschungsbereich Hunger und dessen Implikationen für die Nutzung von Kommensalität als Machtinstrument.
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(PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU WOULD LIKE A COPY.)
Many faunal assemblages across southwest Asia contain the remains of multiple wild equid species, which may reflect individual prehistoric human populations' use of different hunting and/or landscape exploitation strategies. Accurate equid species assignments are therefore important. This paper tests the extent to which zooarchaeologists agree on equid species assignments made using commonly used zooarchaeological dental identification criteria. Seven zooarchaeologists individually use published criteria to assign species to equid teeth from Neolithic Çatalhöyük in central Anatolia, then use Fleiss' kappa to measure our reliability of agreement. We assess our degrees of agreement for species assignments made using scanned images versus actual specimens and for mandibular teeth versus maxillary teeth. Having failed to achieve significant agreement, we conclude that zooarchaeologists should be cautious about species assignments made using these methods.
from the strategy seen at Asikli Hoyuk into a more varied practice at an early stage as the site grows with an increasing dietary contribution obtained from C4 plants. No change in diet is isotopically discernible at Asikli Hoyuk. Interestingly, no distinction could be made between the diets of sheep and goats at either site. Therefore, such studies are a useful method of examining the development of early herding or management
strategies of caprines in the Near East.
In order to understand what activities took place at these monuments, one must assess the extent to which their contents reflect intentional deposition. Faunal remains are among the most commonly uncovered materials inside these monuments: it is important to establish whether they represent intentional offerings placed in the monuments by ancient pastoralists or caprines that inadvertently fell into open monuments and were unable to free themselves. This paper reports the inventories of faunal remains from these monuments and considers the role taphonomy has played in shaping our understanding of mobile peoples.
(PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU WOULD LIKE A COPY.)
Many faunal assemblages across southwest Asia contain the remains of multiple wild equid species, which may reflect individual prehistoric human populations' use of different hunting and/or landscape exploitation strategies. Accurate equid species assignments are therefore important. This paper tests the extent to which zooarchaeologists agree on equid species assignments made using commonly used zooarchaeological dental identification criteria. Seven zooarchaeologists individually use published criteria to assign species to equid teeth from Neolithic Çatalhöyük in central Anatolia, then use Fleiss' kappa to measure our reliability of agreement. We assess our degrees of agreement for species assignments made using scanned images versus actual specimens and for mandibular teeth versus maxillary teeth. Having failed to achieve significant agreement, we conclude that zooarchaeologists should be cautious about species assignments made using these methods.
from the strategy seen at Asikli Hoyuk into a more varied practice at an early stage as the site grows with an increasing dietary contribution obtained from C4 plants. No change in diet is isotopically discernible at Asikli Hoyuk. Interestingly, no distinction could be made between the diets of sheep and goats at either site. Therefore, such studies are a useful method of examining the development of early herding or management
strategies of caprines in the Near East.
In order to understand what activities took place at these monuments, one must assess the extent to which their contents reflect intentional deposition. Faunal remains are among the most commonly uncovered materials inside these monuments: it is important to establish whether they represent intentional offerings placed in the monuments by ancient pastoralists or caprines that inadvertently fell into open monuments and were unable to free themselves. This paper reports the inventories of faunal remains from these monuments and considers the role taphonomy has played in shaping our understanding of mobile peoples.