Microartifacts

Marketplaces are locations where multiple people meet to transfer goods amongst each other, but scholars have questioned the antiquity and significance of this method of exchange in early state societies.  Archaeologists can address this debate through the direct identification of ancient marketplace venues, but this has proven to be challenging due to many possible variations in their physical manifestation and site transformation processes.  In this dissertation, I offer a model for investigating marketplaces using the Classic Maya (AD 600-900) as a case study.  I developed an intensive research strategy that was inspired by Hirth’s (1998) configurational approach and which combines multiple techniques and lines of evidence to gain an in-depth view of venues posited to be marketplaces.  This also included a refined set of archaeological correlates to identify a marketplace.  Application of this methodology took place at the site of Buenavista del Cayo, Belize where the East Plaza, the largest public plaza in the site core, was investigated with extensive geophysical and systematic shovel test surveys and horizontal excavations during which, macroartifacts, microartifacts, and soil samples for chemical analysis were collected.  Multiple lines of evidence recovered from the north sector of the East Plaza meet expectations of a marketplace and include: 1) linearly distributed microdaub and postholes indicating the presence of daub-covered walls; 2) spatial separation of the highest densities of chert, limestone, obsidian, and organics; and 3) stone tool production that focused on the finishing stage.  These kinds of evidence are indicative of a marketplace where stalls divided vendor-producers who sold chert bifaces, limestone bifaces, obsidian blades, and organic items.  The identification of the Buenavista marketplace confirms that the Classic Maya engaged in marketplace exchange and allows for analysis of the exchange system directly from the marketplace itself.  Staple goods were exchanged in the East Plaza marketplace indicating it served as a location to provision households. As dependencies increased between households and marketplace vendors, the marketplace likely became an institution of Buenavista economies.  Centrally located, the marketplace would have been a potential source of wealth and power for ruling elites and a hub of communication for the settlement.

This article takes a micro-archaeology approach to investigating household production strategies using data derived from Early to Middle Postclassic (A.D. 900–1350) houses from Xaltocan, Mexico, an island capital in the northern Basin of Mexico. I examine household production strategies by integrating multiple lines of evidence including microartifacts, soil chemistry, and macroartifact remains to document a diversity of household production activities, including the manufacture of goods that are typically invisible archaeologically such as foods and perishable goods. Next, I consider changes in subsistence practices through time in order to understand household scheduling and labor allocation strategies. The results indicate that households in pre-Aztec Xaltocan not only pursued diverse economic strategies, but also engaged in multiple types of production activities, including the manufacture of food products and other utilitarian goods derived from lake resources. I conclude that households were fundamental to economic development in ancient political economies and were enmeshed in broader systems of power and networks of exchange.

Microartifacts, defined as artifacts measuring less than ¼ inch, are rarely studied by archaeologists, yet they are an important artifact class. While people often throw out larger artifacts when they clean up, the smaller pieces are generally overlooked and tend to stay where they are dropped. These tiny remains may represent the foods cooked by prehistoric peoples in hearths. This study investigates microartifacts from the archaeological site of Dust Cave (10,650-3,600 BCE), located in northwest Alabama, in order to better understand the cooking methods used by the people who lived there. With previous research in the macro remains and ethnographic studies, microartifacts help in our understanding of the prehistoric cooking methods at Dust Cave. Current researchers have identified four feature types and have hypothesized that the hearths were multi-purpose, each with its own specific use. With ethnographic data and microartifact analysis, the previous hypotheses are being supported and challenged.

Since first introduced in the late-1970s (Hassan 1978), microartifact analysis has been employed predominantly in academic contexts for the purpose of examining site formation processes. As is evident from the studies included in the present volume, several research techniques have been utilized and suggested, and these methods vary greatly in complexity. Which of these methods are most appropriate outside academic contexts? Is the study of microartifacts appropriate within CRM contexts? A study conducted in 2012 at an Archaic site in Meade County, Kentucky applied microartifact analysis to test whether this method is not only valuable but also practical in Cultural Resource Management (CRM) contexts. The results of this analysis suggest that data derived from microartifact analyses may result in an altered
perception of the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) eligibility of certain lithic scatters that, lacking such analyses, may have been considered insignificant and, therefore, ineligible for the NRHP.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: 2022 Society for American Archaeology Conference
Session Title: New Directions in Microdebitage Analysis
Phyllis S. Johnson and Markus Eberl

The analysis of microdebitage (measuring less than 6 mm) has demonstrated potential for offering compelling insights into ancient stone tool production practices, economic strategies, and the spatial organization of production. Even so, the intensive labor and costs associated with microdebitage analysis have prevented broad acceptance of this method in archaeological research, even amongst lithic analysts. Because of this, a plethora of unanswered questions remain regarding the practice of stone tool production in prehistory and the resultant formation processes of spaces where microdebitage is recovered in the archaeological record. In response, this session explores: 1) innovative methodological approaches to microdebitage analysis that contribute to increased efficiency and replicability of the methods used and robustness of the data produced; and/or 2) novel theoretical applications to microdebitage datasets.

Plaza spaces in site centers have been a focus of recent research, especially in the realm of marketplace studies. Historic data indicate that large, easily accessible plazas located in the core of a site could have been used for multiple purposes such as economic transactions, political meetings, or religious ceremonies. Archaeological evidence for these different functions and their related activities can be distinct but they also can be very similar. Because of this, multiple, independent lines of evidence are needed to support interpretations of how a plaza was
used in the past. In 2006 the West Plaza at the site of Chan was investigated through broad scale excavations to determine the types of activities that took place there and the function of the plaza within the site. Based on macro and microartifact analysis and architectural data it appears that the West Plaza was used for ritual purposes. Evidence for rituals includes two stone mosaic circular pavements, a stela, an altar, and charred organic resin associated with these features. Analysis to establish whether other types of activities, such as marketplace exchange, were also taking place is unclear.

Shared identities create deep historical ties to community spaces and can facilitate or constrict political expansion. This research examines the relationship between the ways in which families engaged local landscapes and developed shared identities at Actuncan, Belize, during the Terminal Classic period, a time when the city experienced population growth as surrounding centers declined. The nature and location of activity patterns in and around three residential groups allow inferences about shared practices and the expression of identities that those activities enabled and constrained. Importantly, this research includes investigations of both residential groups and architecturally free areas. It uses multiple methods to explore activities and to produce overlapping datasets, including excavation and analysis of macroartifacts, microartifacts, and soil chemical residues. The results suggest that Actuncan residents used not only the formal patio spaces of residential groups but also the interstitial spaces between them. Moreover, one residential group, Group 1, appears to have been a locus for distinct activities including sequential burials and, possibly, affiliative ritual practices connected to ancestral landscape use. Understanding relationships among residents is an important foundation for exploring broader political dynamics, including relationships between residents and rulers and how rulers created, legitimized, and maintained power and authority.

The archaeological site of Dhiban, Jordan is characterized by a complex legacy of colonial dominance by foreign empires, with occupation ranging from the Late Bronze Age (1500-1200 BCE) into the present. This turbulent history is reflected in its archaeological record, necessitating a much greater detailed system of analysis than ‘standard’ analytical practices for unraveling site use. Using archaeological data excavated from Dhiban's Middle Islamic occupation (1000-1450 CE), this paper introduces the initial steps of a larger project assessing the cost-benefits of conducting a more detailed analysis of excavated site material against the more ‘standard’ processes of analysis. The introduced methods focus on a ‘micro-debris’ analysis, using items
ranging between <4 mm and 1 mm in size, to be used in conjunction with the more standard ‘heavy fraction’ analysis of items >4 mm in size for site interpretation. Although this paper provides only preliminary data and a speculative interpretation designed only to demonstrate the use of these methods, it appears that ‘micro-debris’ does not simply reflect the types and quantities of artifacts appearing in the ‘heavy-fraction’ materials, but rather represents different types of site activities then those found in ‘standard’ analyzed samples. The larger project works to expand on the pilot study introduced in this paper and to construct a solid narrative on greater social and economic trends, including the impact of state actions on local communities throughout this tumultuous, arid region, providing a much more comprehensive understanding of the daily lives of the people of Jordan’s past.

In this poster, we present heavy fraction data from a barrel-vaulted room from the archaeological site of Dhiban, Jordan, dating to the Middle Islamic period (12th - 15th centuries CE).  We argue for the analysis of material residues smaller than four millimeters (“microdebris”) deriving from flotation samples collected in the course of archaeological excavation. Relatively little is known about daily life during the Middle Islamic period outside of written sources. High-resolution investigation of both large and small residues facilitates the identification of past cultural activities in this context. Our analysis reveals that smaller residue sizes often provide information distinct from larger residue sizes, especially in the ubiquity or presence of different materials. Ceramics are abundant in larger fraction sizes, yet they are relatively infrequent in smaller residue sizes, probably due to depositional practices. Remains of marine vertebrates and invertebrates that provide evidence of long-distance trade and water-resource use are rarely found in larger residue sizes, but are present even in the smallest remains. Our research suggests that the analysis of microdebris is a valuable source of data that supplements the interpretation of past cultural practices.