Papers by Rebecca Schwendler
In 1934, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp DPE-203-C/SCS-7-C was established along McMurdo G... more In 1934, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp DPE-203-C/SCS-7-C was established along McMurdo Gulch near Castle Rock, Colorado. Over the next seven years, CCC enrollees dramatically transformed the surrounding landscape with diverse water and erosion control features. The conservation techniques the CCC shared with local farmers and ranchers overhauled agricultural practices and reinvigorated the Depression-era economy. Today, suburban housing developments are encroaching on this historic vernacular landscape. Since 2014, PaleoWest Archaeology has worked with SLV Castle Oaks, LLC (SLV), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the State Historic Preservation Officer to record and preserve the remains and legacy of CCC Camp DPE-203-C/SCS-7-C. Combining archaeological inventory, historical research, engineering drawings, and public education, PaleoWest has identified the camp and dozens of features and guided preservation and interpretation efforts. Extensive and complex, these CCC features should not be considered mere remnants of the past, but integral elements of the modern landscape.
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Journal of Anthropological Research, 2007
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Mémoires de la Société préhistorique française, 2005
... contexts. Auteur(s) / Author(s). SCHWENDLER Rebecca H. (1) ; Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs... more ... contexts. Auteur(s) / Author(s). SCHWENDLER Rebecca H. (1) ; Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs / Author(s) Affiliation(s). ... ornements. C'est pourquoi les personnes auraient pu les utiliser pour indiquer des identités individuelles ou collectives. ...
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Quaternary International, 2012
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The SAA archaeological record, 2009
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In 1934, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp DPE-203-C/SCS-7-C was established along McMurdo G... more In 1934, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp DPE-203-C/SCS-7-C was established along McMurdo Gulch near Castle Rock, Colorado. Over the next seven years, CCC enrollees dramatically transformed the surrounding landscape with diverse water and erosion control features. The conservation techniques the CCC shared with local farmers and ranchers overhauled agricultural practices and reinvigorated the Depression-era economy. Today, suburban housing developments are encroaching on this historic vernacular landscape. Since 2014, PaleoWest Archaeology has worked with SLV Castle Oaks, LLC (SLV), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the State Historic Preservation Officer to record and preserve the remains and legacy of CCC Camp DPE-203-C/SCS-7-C. Combining archaeological inventory, historical research, engineering drawings, and public education, PaleoWest has identified the camp and dozens of features and guided preservation and interpretation efforts. Extensive and complex, these CCC features should not be considered mere remnants of the past, but integral elements of the modern landscape.
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University of New Mexico Ph.D. dissertation, 2004
See the full document under Thesis Chapters.
This dissertation study uses the circulation of exo... more See the full document under Thesis Chapters.
This dissertation study uses the circulation of exotic lithic raw materials, items of personal ornamentation, and portable decorated objects to investigate the nature and extent of hunter-gatherer social interactions across six countries in Western Europe during the Late Glacial Magdalenian period (ca. 17,000-11,000 uncalibrated BP). Specifically, it includes maps showing the sources of lithic and other raw materials (e.g., lignite, amber, fossil and marine shells) and the sites in which they have been found. It also identifies numerous examples of items of personal ornamentation (e.g., contours decoupes, rondelles, pendants) and portable decorated objects (e.g., spearthrowers, engraved plaquettes) that exhibit similar forms and/or motifs and provides maps showing the distributions of those similar objects during different phases of the Magdalenian. Finally, it evaluates whether population density, represented by site density, was correlated with intensity of visual display and use of individual versus group signaling. The study is informed by a combination of theoretical perspectives, including "social identification via comparison" and "costly signaling," as well as by ethnographic data on hunter-gatherer object circulation and visual display.
Included are 647 occupations from 509 sites located in Cantabrian Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Sites or levels within sites are assigned to one of three Magdalenian phases - Lower (ca. 17,000-14,500 BP), Middle (ca. 14,500-13,000 BP), or Upper (ca. 13,000-11,000 BP). All exotic lithic and other raw materials, items of personal ornamentation, and portable decorated objects currently known from these sites are included in this study. Microsoft Access and Manifold Geographic Information System 5.0 are used to organize and display the relevant data, and to create maps showing the distribution of sites, raw material sources, and items of personal ornamentation and portable decorated objects that exhibit similar forms and/or decorations.
It was expected that regions with low population density would have low levels of visual signaling, with an emphasis on individual displays, while regions with high population density would demonstrate high levels of visual signaling, and an emphasis on group displays. Different kinds of analyses are performed on each of the object categories, for each Magdalenian phase, with the results examined individually and collectively.
Expectations for the relationship between population density and visual display are inconsistently met, so it is suggested that time since colonization, more than population density alone, may influence object circulation and visual signaling. Accordingly, a three-phase model for the use of visual display is offered. Based on the model and on current interpretations of variability in degree of hunter-gatherer egalitarianism, it is suggested that the Magdalenian of Western Europe was a mix of societies that (1) enforced social equality, 2) allowed for achieved inequality, and 3) developed institutionalized social hierarchy. In conclusion, future avenues of investigation are suggested for studying the relationships among length of habitation, population density, resource structure, and use of object circulation and visual display.
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Le Magdalenien moyen a laisse dans les Pyrenees une grande quantite d'objets perfores et decores,... more Le Magdalenien moyen a laisse dans les Pyrenees une grande quantite d'objets perfores et decores, comme des contours decoupes, des rondelles en os, et des baguettes a motif en spirale. A cette epoque-la, la region des Pyrenees etait un centre de recolonisation et vraisemblablement de croissance demographique, les gens du Magdalenien ont ainsi probablement utilise les objets visibles et decores dans des interactions sociales diverses. Les perforations, les ornamentations, les petites dimensions, et le poids liger des rondelles suggerent qu 'elles etaient suspendues - comme objets de bijouterie, parures des vetements, churingas, jetons, ou autres ornements. C'est pourquoi les personnes auraient pu les utiliser pour indiquer des identites individuelles ou collectives. Les rondelles perforees sont les plus abondantes dans les gisements du Magdalenien moyen des Pyrenees francaises, mais quelques exemplaires sont connus dans d'autres regions d'Europe et dans des contextes du Magdalenien superieur. Quelques gisements d'Europe du Nord, en particulier, ont livre des rondelles avec des dimensions et des decors similaires, en pierre, en bois de renne et en ivoire. D'autres etudes avaient combine les rondelles de toutes les epoques, regions geographiques et materiaux. En contraste, cet article met l' accent sur ces differences pour examiner :
1) les tendances spatiales et temporelles des decorations des rondelles;
2) les differentes possibles utilisations des rondelles par des individus et des groupes; and
3) les relations sociales parmi les habitants de regions differentes du monde magdalenien de l 'Europe occidentale.
Des tests du X realises sur des combinaisons variables de 341 bards de ronde demontrent qu'il n'y a presque aucune difference significative parmi les gisements des Pyrenees, mais que quelques decors du centre des rondelles se groupent par region et epoque. Par exemple, les gisements du Magdalenien moyen des Pyrenees ont moins de decorations centrales, et surtout radiales, que l'on aurait attendu par hasard vis-a-vis des rondelles de gisements non pyreneens. Lorsque l 'on analyse les decors des gisements qui ont beaucoup de rondelles, le gisement magdalenien moyen quercinois de Montastruc a plus de decors rayonnants qu'attendu statistiquement, tandis que le gisement magdalenien moyen perigourdin de Laugerie-Basse a plus de decors figuratifs et le gisement magdalenien superieur allemande de Gonnersdorf a plus de decors en cercles concentriques. En combinaison, ceci suggere que les Magdaleniens qui avaient leurs relations sociales dans les Pyrenees auraient utilise une large gamme de variations de decors de rondelles pour indiquer des identites individuelles. Par contre, sur une region geographique plus vaste, ils auraient employe des decors centraux des rondelles pour indiquer leur adhesion a un groupe regional. Au meme moment, l'utilisation des memes types de decorations a travers l'Europe occidentale pendant le Magdalenien moyen et superieur - bien qu'avec quelques accents regionaux differents - renforce l'idee que les Magdaleniens participaient a des reseaux sociaux vastes et qui se recouvrent.
Perforated bone disks are among the notable artistic hallmarks of Middle Magdalenian deposits in the French Pyrenees, yet examples are known from elsewhere in Europe and from Upper Magdalenian contexts. Some contemporaneous northern European sites, in particular, also have yielded similarly sized and decorated disks made of stone, antler, and ivory. The disks' perforations, decorations, small sizes, and light weights suggest that they were suspended - as jewelry, clothing ornaments, noisemakers, tokens, or other visible adornments. Previous studies have lumped together examples from all time periods, geographic regions, and materials. In contrast, this paper highlights those differences to discuss:
1) spatial and temporal trends in disk decorations,
2) different potential uses of disks by individuals and groups, and
3) social relationships among inhabitants of different regions of Magdalenian Western Europe.
Statistical analyses of decorations demonstrate that there are virtually no inter-site differences within the Pyrenees, but that some center decorations do cluster by region and time period. This suggests that Magdalenians interacting within the Pyrenees may have used disk decorations to indicate individual identities. In contrast, they may have used disk center decorations to indicate regional group membership during inter-regional interactions. Still, the use of the same kinds of disk decorations across Western Europe during the Middle and Upper Magdalenian, albeit with different regional emphases, reinforces the view that Magdalenians participated in wide-reaching and overlapping social networks.
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Magdalenian hunter-gatherers in western Europe ca. 17-12,000 BP navigated complex and diverse soc... more Magdalenian hunter-gatherers in western Europe ca. 17-12,000 BP navigated complex and diverse social landscapes, as the Magdalenian was characterized by marked changes in climate, topography, resource structure, and population distribution. Over the course of its 5,000 years, people from southwestern regions moved eastward and northward to (re-)colonize even the highest elevations and latitudes. This study uses a combination of ethnographic evidence and the circulation of exotic lithic raw materials, personal adornments, and portable decorated objects to identify diversity in Magdalenian social organization. While societies in some geographic regions, at certain times, were characterized by enforced social equality (e.g., Middle Magdalenian Eastern France), others allowed for inter-personal social competition and achieved inequality (e.g., Lower Magdalenian Cantabrian Spain and Upper Magdalenian West-central Germany), and some may have seen institutionalized social hierarchy (e.g., Middle Magdalenian Pyrenees, Upper Magdalenian Southwestern France). The Magdalenian evidence generally suggests that societies in newly (re-)colonized areas are characterized by marked social competition and negotiation, whereas those in more well-established areas tend toward more formalized and stable relationships. Examining the Magdalenian in this light expands our understanding of diversity in communal foraging economies and processes of colonization.
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Books by Rebecca Schwendler
Highway Archaeology and Creative Mitigations: Celebrating 60 Years of CRM , 2016
As part of a plan to reconstruct and rehabilitate a segment of the New Mexico (NM) 53 corridor in... more As part of a plan to reconstruct and rehabilitate a segment of the New Mexico (NM) 53 corridor in Cibola County, the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) District 6 proposed straightening a reverse S curve in the road a few miles east of El Morro National Monument. Numerous related construction activities, including roadway widening, the addition of shoulders, and drainage structure extensions and replacements, were involved. Because the project included funds from the Federal Highway Administration it was subject to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, and the NMDOT required an intensive Class III cultural resource inventory of the proposed area of potential effects. That inventory resulted in the recording of two prehistoric archaeological sites on opposite sides of NM 53. Both were recommended eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The proposed road straightening was slated to run directly through LA 153714, the site located on the south side of the road and partly within State Trust Land managed by the New Mexico State Land Office (SLO). The NMDOT and SLO determined that appropriate mitigation for this adverse effect would be full excavation. As part of a NMDOT on-call contract, SWCA Environmental Consultants conducted data recovery activities at LA 153714 on February 9, 2007 and then between March 27, 2007 and August 10, 2007.
LA153714 first appeared to comprise a modest surface scatter of artifacts associated with three basalt masonry structures interpreted during inventory as field houses. However, excavation revealed an assemblage of thousands of artifacts associated with 45 diverse and largely overlapping cultural features. Because the excavators’ understanding of the size and nature of LA 153714 metamorphosed each week during excavation, the field crew named the site Hokona, a permutation of the Hopi word Hookona meaning monarch butterfly. Although a small site, Hokona illustrates the complex population dynamics and the use of small outlying settlements in the El Morro Valley during the 13th and 14th centuries A.D.
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Thesis Chapters by Rebecca Schwendler
University of New Mexico unpublished PhD dissertation, 2004
This dissertation study uses the circulation of exotic lithic raw materials, items of personal or... more This dissertation study uses the circulation of exotic lithic raw materials, items of personal ornamentation, and portable decorated objects to investigate the nature and extent of hunter-gatherer social interactions across six countries in Western Europe during the Late Glacial Magdalenian period (ca. 17,000-11,000 uncalibrated BP). Specifically, it includes maps showing the sources of lithic and other raw materials (e.g., lignite, amber, fossil and marine shells) and the sites in which they have been found. It also identifies numerous examples of items of personal ornamentation (e.g., contours decoupes, rondelles, pendants) and portable decorated objects (e.g., spearthrowers, engraved plaquettes) that exhibit similar forms and/or motifs and provides maps showing the distributions of those similar objects during different phases of the Magdalenian. Finally, it evaluates whether population density, represented by site density, was correlated with intensity of visual display and use of individual versus group signaling. The study is informed by a combination of theoretical perspectives, including "social identification via comparison" and "costly signaling," as well as by ethnographic data on hunter-gatherer object circulation and visual display.
Included are 647 occupations from 509 sites located in Cantabrian Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Sites or levels within sites are assigned to one of three Magdalenian phases - Lower (ca. 17,000-14,500 BP), Middle (ca. 14,500-13,000 BP), or Upper (ca. 13,000-11,000 BP). All exotic lithic and other raw materials, items of personal ornamentation, and portable decorated objects currently known from these sites are included in this study. Microsoft Access and Manifold Geographic Information System 5.0 are used to organize and display the relevant data, and to create maps showing the distribution of sites, raw material sources, and items of personal ornamentation and portable decorated objects that exhibit similar forms and/or decorations.
It was expected that regions with low population density would have low levels of visual signaling, with an emphasis on individual displays, while regions with high population density would demonstrate high levels of visual signaling, and an emphasis on group displays. Different kinds of analyses are performed on each of the object categories, for each Magdalenian phase, with the results examined individually and collectively.
Expectations for the relationship between population density and visual display are inconsistently met, so it is suggested that time since colonization, more than population density alone, may influence object circulation and visual signaling. Accordingly, a three-phase model for the use of visual display is offered. Based on the model and on current interpretations of variability in degree of hunter-gatherer egalitarianism, it is suggested that the Magdalenian of Western Europe was a mix of societies that (1) enforced social equality, 2) allowed for achieved inequality, and 3) developed institutionalized social hierarchy. In conclusion, future avenues of investigation are suggested for studying the relationships among length of habitation, population density, resource structure, and use of object circulation and visual display.
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Papers by Rebecca Schwendler
This dissertation study uses the circulation of exotic lithic raw materials, items of personal ornamentation, and portable decorated objects to investigate the nature and extent of hunter-gatherer social interactions across six countries in Western Europe during the Late Glacial Magdalenian period (ca. 17,000-11,000 uncalibrated BP). Specifically, it includes maps showing the sources of lithic and other raw materials (e.g., lignite, amber, fossil and marine shells) and the sites in which they have been found. It also identifies numerous examples of items of personal ornamentation (e.g., contours decoupes, rondelles, pendants) and portable decorated objects (e.g., spearthrowers, engraved plaquettes) that exhibit similar forms and/or motifs and provides maps showing the distributions of those similar objects during different phases of the Magdalenian. Finally, it evaluates whether population density, represented by site density, was correlated with intensity of visual display and use of individual versus group signaling. The study is informed by a combination of theoretical perspectives, including "social identification via comparison" and "costly signaling," as well as by ethnographic data on hunter-gatherer object circulation and visual display.
Included are 647 occupations from 509 sites located in Cantabrian Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Sites or levels within sites are assigned to one of three Magdalenian phases - Lower (ca. 17,000-14,500 BP), Middle (ca. 14,500-13,000 BP), or Upper (ca. 13,000-11,000 BP). All exotic lithic and other raw materials, items of personal ornamentation, and portable decorated objects currently known from these sites are included in this study. Microsoft Access and Manifold Geographic Information System 5.0 are used to organize and display the relevant data, and to create maps showing the distribution of sites, raw material sources, and items of personal ornamentation and portable decorated objects that exhibit similar forms and/or decorations.
It was expected that regions with low population density would have low levels of visual signaling, with an emphasis on individual displays, while regions with high population density would demonstrate high levels of visual signaling, and an emphasis on group displays. Different kinds of analyses are performed on each of the object categories, for each Magdalenian phase, with the results examined individually and collectively.
Expectations for the relationship between population density and visual display are inconsistently met, so it is suggested that time since colonization, more than population density alone, may influence object circulation and visual signaling. Accordingly, a three-phase model for the use of visual display is offered. Based on the model and on current interpretations of variability in degree of hunter-gatherer egalitarianism, it is suggested that the Magdalenian of Western Europe was a mix of societies that (1) enforced social equality, 2) allowed for achieved inequality, and 3) developed institutionalized social hierarchy. In conclusion, future avenues of investigation are suggested for studying the relationships among length of habitation, population density, resource structure, and use of object circulation and visual display.
1) les tendances spatiales et temporelles des decorations des rondelles;
2) les differentes possibles utilisations des rondelles par des individus et des groupes; and
3) les relations sociales parmi les habitants de regions differentes du monde magdalenien de l 'Europe occidentale.
Des tests du X realises sur des combinaisons variables de 341 bards de ronde demontrent qu'il n'y a presque aucune difference significative parmi les gisements des Pyrenees, mais que quelques decors du centre des rondelles se groupent par region et epoque. Par exemple, les gisements du Magdalenien moyen des Pyrenees ont moins de decorations centrales, et surtout radiales, que l'on aurait attendu par hasard vis-a-vis des rondelles de gisements non pyreneens. Lorsque l 'on analyse les decors des gisements qui ont beaucoup de rondelles, le gisement magdalenien moyen quercinois de Montastruc a plus de decors rayonnants qu'attendu statistiquement, tandis que le gisement magdalenien moyen perigourdin de Laugerie-Basse a plus de decors figuratifs et le gisement magdalenien superieur allemande de Gonnersdorf a plus de decors en cercles concentriques. En combinaison, ceci suggere que les Magdaleniens qui avaient leurs relations sociales dans les Pyrenees auraient utilise une large gamme de variations de decors de rondelles pour indiquer des identites individuelles. Par contre, sur une region geographique plus vaste, ils auraient employe des decors centraux des rondelles pour indiquer leur adhesion a un groupe regional. Au meme moment, l'utilisation des memes types de decorations a travers l'Europe occidentale pendant le Magdalenien moyen et superieur - bien qu'avec quelques accents regionaux differents - renforce l'idee que les Magdaleniens participaient a des reseaux sociaux vastes et qui se recouvrent.
Perforated bone disks are among the notable artistic hallmarks of Middle Magdalenian deposits in the French Pyrenees, yet examples are known from elsewhere in Europe and from Upper Magdalenian contexts. Some contemporaneous northern European sites, in particular, also have yielded similarly sized and decorated disks made of stone, antler, and ivory. The disks' perforations, decorations, small sizes, and light weights suggest that they were suspended - as jewelry, clothing ornaments, noisemakers, tokens, or other visible adornments. Previous studies have lumped together examples from all time periods, geographic regions, and materials. In contrast, this paper highlights those differences to discuss:
1) spatial and temporal trends in disk decorations,
2) different potential uses of disks by individuals and groups, and
3) social relationships among inhabitants of different regions of Magdalenian Western Europe.
Statistical analyses of decorations demonstrate that there are virtually no inter-site differences within the Pyrenees, but that some center decorations do cluster by region and time period. This suggests that Magdalenians interacting within the Pyrenees may have used disk decorations to indicate individual identities. In contrast, they may have used disk center decorations to indicate regional group membership during inter-regional interactions. Still, the use of the same kinds of disk decorations across Western Europe during the Middle and Upper Magdalenian, albeit with different regional emphases, reinforces the view that Magdalenians participated in wide-reaching and overlapping social networks.
Books by Rebecca Schwendler
LA153714 first appeared to comprise a modest surface scatter of artifacts associated with three basalt masonry structures interpreted during inventory as field houses. However, excavation revealed an assemblage of thousands of artifacts associated with 45 diverse and largely overlapping cultural features. Because the excavators’ understanding of the size and nature of LA 153714 metamorphosed each week during excavation, the field crew named the site Hokona, a permutation of the Hopi word Hookona meaning monarch butterfly. Although a small site, Hokona illustrates the complex population dynamics and the use of small outlying settlements in the El Morro Valley during the 13th and 14th centuries A.D.
Thesis Chapters by Rebecca Schwendler
Included are 647 occupations from 509 sites located in Cantabrian Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Sites or levels within sites are assigned to one of three Magdalenian phases - Lower (ca. 17,000-14,500 BP), Middle (ca. 14,500-13,000 BP), or Upper (ca. 13,000-11,000 BP). All exotic lithic and other raw materials, items of personal ornamentation, and portable decorated objects currently known from these sites are included in this study. Microsoft Access and Manifold Geographic Information System 5.0 are used to organize and display the relevant data, and to create maps showing the distribution of sites, raw material sources, and items of personal ornamentation and portable decorated objects that exhibit similar forms and/or decorations.
It was expected that regions with low population density would have low levels of visual signaling, with an emphasis on individual displays, while regions with high population density would demonstrate high levels of visual signaling, and an emphasis on group displays. Different kinds of analyses are performed on each of the object categories, for each Magdalenian phase, with the results examined individually and collectively.
Expectations for the relationship between population density and visual display are inconsistently met, so it is suggested that time since colonization, more than population density alone, may influence object circulation and visual signaling. Accordingly, a three-phase model for the use of visual display is offered. Based on the model and on current interpretations of variability in degree of hunter-gatherer egalitarianism, it is suggested that the Magdalenian of Western Europe was a mix of societies that (1) enforced social equality, 2) allowed for achieved inequality, and 3) developed institutionalized social hierarchy. In conclusion, future avenues of investigation are suggested for studying the relationships among length of habitation, population density, resource structure, and use of object circulation and visual display.
This dissertation study uses the circulation of exotic lithic raw materials, items of personal ornamentation, and portable decorated objects to investigate the nature and extent of hunter-gatherer social interactions across six countries in Western Europe during the Late Glacial Magdalenian period (ca. 17,000-11,000 uncalibrated BP). Specifically, it includes maps showing the sources of lithic and other raw materials (e.g., lignite, amber, fossil and marine shells) and the sites in which they have been found. It also identifies numerous examples of items of personal ornamentation (e.g., contours decoupes, rondelles, pendants) and portable decorated objects (e.g., spearthrowers, engraved plaquettes) that exhibit similar forms and/or motifs and provides maps showing the distributions of those similar objects during different phases of the Magdalenian. Finally, it evaluates whether population density, represented by site density, was correlated with intensity of visual display and use of individual versus group signaling. The study is informed by a combination of theoretical perspectives, including "social identification via comparison" and "costly signaling," as well as by ethnographic data on hunter-gatherer object circulation and visual display.
Included are 647 occupations from 509 sites located in Cantabrian Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Sites or levels within sites are assigned to one of three Magdalenian phases - Lower (ca. 17,000-14,500 BP), Middle (ca. 14,500-13,000 BP), or Upper (ca. 13,000-11,000 BP). All exotic lithic and other raw materials, items of personal ornamentation, and portable decorated objects currently known from these sites are included in this study. Microsoft Access and Manifold Geographic Information System 5.0 are used to organize and display the relevant data, and to create maps showing the distribution of sites, raw material sources, and items of personal ornamentation and portable decorated objects that exhibit similar forms and/or decorations.
It was expected that regions with low population density would have low levels of visual signaling, with an emphasis on individual displays, while regions with high population density would demonstrate high levels of visual signaling, and an emphasis on group displays. Different kinds of analyses are performed on each of the object categories, for each Magdalenian phase, with the results examined individually and collectively.
Expectations for the relationship between population density and visual display are inconsistently met, so it is suggested that time since colonization, more than population density alone, may influence object circulation and visual signaling. Accordingly, a three-phase model for the use of visual display is offered. Based on the model and on current interpretations of variability in degree of hunter-gatherer egalitarianism, it is suggested that the Magdalenian of Western Europe was a mix of societies that (1) enforced social equality, 2) allowed for achieved inequality, and 3) developed institutionalized social hierarchy. In conclusion, future avenues of investigation are suggested for studying the relationships among length of habitation, population density, resource structure, and use of object circulation and visual display.
1) les tendances spatiales et temporelles des decorations des rondelles;
2) les differentes possibles utilisations des rondelles par des individus et des groupes; and
3) les relations sociales parmi les habitants de regions differentes du monde magdalenien de l 'Europe occidentale.
Des tests du X realises sur des combinaisons variables de 341 bards de ronde demontrent qu'il n'y a presque aucune difference significative parmi les gisements des Pyrenees, mais que quelques decors du centre des rondelles se groupent par region et epoque. Par exemple, les gisements du Magdalenien moyen des Pyrenees ont moins de decorations centrales, et surtout radiales, que l'on aurait attendu par hasard vis-a-vis des rondelles de gisements non pyreneens. Lorsque l 'on analyse les decors des gisements qui ont beaucoup de rondelles, le gisement magdalenien moyen quercinois de Montastruc a plus de decors rayonnants qu'attendu statistiquement, tandis que le gisement magdalenien moyen perigourdin de Laugerie-Basse a plus de decors figuratifs et le gisement magdalenien superieur allemande de Gonnersdorf a plus de decors en cercles concentriques. En combinaison, ceci suggere que les Magdaleniens qui avaient leurs relations sociales dans les Pyrenees auraient utilise une large gamme de variations de decors de rondelles pour indiquer des identites individuelles. Par contre, sur une region geographique plus vaste, ils auraient employe des decors centraux des rondelles pour indiquer leur adhesion a un groupe regional. Au meme moment, l'utilisation des memes types de decorations a travers l'Europe occidentale pendant le Magdalenien moyen et superieur - bien qu'avec quelques accents regionaux differents - renforce l'idee que les Magdaleniens participaient a des reseaux sociaux vastes et qui se recouvrent.
Perforated bone disks are among the notable artistic hallmarks of Middle Magdalenian deposits in the French Pyrenees, yet examples are known from elsewhere in Europe and from Upper Magdalenian contexts. Some contemporaneous northern European sites, in particular, also have yielded similarly sized and decorated disks made of stone, antler, and ivory. The disks' perforations, decorations, small sizes, and light weights suggest that they were suspended - as jewelry, clothing ornaments, noisemakers, tokens, or other visible adornments. Previous studies have lumped together examples from all time periods, geographic regions, and materials. In contrast, this paper highlights those differences to discuss:
1) spatial and temporal trends in disk decorations,
2) different potential uses of disks by individuals and groups, and
3) social relationships among inhabitants of different regions of Magdalenian Western Europe.
Statistical analyses of decorations demonstrate that there are virtually no inter-site differences within the Pyrenees, but that some center decorations do cluster by region and time period. This suggests that Magdalenians interacting within the Pyrenees may have used disk decorations to indicate individual identities. In contrast, they may have used disk center decorations to indicate regional group membership during inter-regional interactions. Still, the use of the same kinds of disk decorations across Western Europe during the Middle and Upper Magdalenian, albeit with different regional emphases, reinforces the view that Magdalenians participated in wide-reaching and overlapping social networks.
LA153714 first appeared to comprise a modest surface scatter of artifacts associated with three basalt masonry structures interpreted during inventory as field houses. However, excavation revealed an assemblage of thousands of artifacts associated with 45 diverse and largely overlapping cultural features. Because the excavators’ understanding of the size and nature of LA 153714 metamorphosed each week during excavation, the field crew named the site Hokona, a permutation of the Hopi word Hookona meaning monarch butterfly. Although a small site, Hokona illustrates the complex population dynamics and the use of small outlying settlements in the El Morro Valley during the 13th and 14th centuries A.D.
Included are 647 occupations from 509 sites located in Cantabrian Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Sites or levels within sites are assigned to one of three Magdalenian phases - Lower (ca. 17,000-14,500 BP), Middle (ca. 14,500-13,000 BP), or Upper (ca. 13,000-11,000 BP). All exotic lithic and other raw materials, items of personal ornamentation, and portable decorated objects currently known from these sites are included in this study. Microsoft Access and Manifold Geographic Information System 5.0 are used to organize and display the relevant data, and to create maps showing the distribution of sites, raw material sources, and items of personal ornamentation and portable decorated objects that exhibit similar forms and/or decorations.
It was expected that regions with low population density would have low levels of visual signaling, with an emphasis on individual displays, while regions with high population density would demonstrate high levels of visual signaling, and an emphasis on group displays. Different kinds of analyses are performed on each of the object categories, for each Magdalenian phase, with the results examined individually and collectively.
Expectations for the relationship between population density and visual display are inconsistently met, so it is suggested that time since colonization, more than population density alone, may influence object circulation and visual signaling. Accordingly, a three-phase model for the use of visual display is offered. Based on the model and on current interpretations of variability in degree of hunter-gatherer egalitarianism, it is suggested that the Magdalenian of Western Europe was a mix of societies that (1) enforced social equality, 2) allowed for achieved inequality, and 3) developed institutionalized social hierarchy. In conclusion, future avenues of investigation are suggested for studying the relationships among length of habitation, population density, resource structure, and use of object circulation and visual display.