Environmental Archaeology. The journal of human palaeoecology

Volume 3 Published December 1998

The Annual Round: an Overview of the AEA Conference 1994

T. P. O'Connor

The content and main themes of the conference are reviewed in brief. Several papers raised the need for further data from experimentation and modern analogues. The ethnohistorical record is clearly a valuable source of information, though not necessarily of direct analogues for the past, and papers presented here reminded us of the ways in which storage of seasonally acquired resources may result in year-round use, and thus a loss of evidence for seasonal behaviour in the archaeological record. The social importance of seasonality was rather missing from the conference papers, though the point was raised in discussions during the conference.

Keywords: SEASONALITY, MODERN ANALOGUES, ETHNOHISTORICAL RECORD, STORAGE

Four seasons fill the measure of the year;

There are four seasons in the mind of man.

John Keats The Human Seasons

Writing the final summary paper of a conference devoted to seasonality seems an appropriately autumnal task. One reviews the bountiful crop of ideas and wisdom which the conference produced, stressing a few particular lessons which have been learned, tasting again some of the more piquant products, and then the mind inevitably turns to the future and the following seasons of growth. Perhaps the analogy should not be carried too far, however, for fear that the prose, like autumn leaves, will become rather over-coloured! The importance and relevance of the topic of seasonality has been well reflected by the diversity of papers presented at the conference, by the wide range of material specialisms represented, and by the geographical distribution of the papers. This diversity presents a challenge in itself - how to summarise such a disparate series of presentations - but at least three general points can be made.

First, it is clear from paper after paper that we simply do not know enough about the modern world to generate detailed and internally consistent interpretations of our archaeological data. Several apparently simple matters of fact frustratingly compromised different lines of research, ranging from the normal time of lambing in Ligurian sheep, through the colonising behaviour of different species of beetles, to the cut marks characteristic of a particular way of processing cod. Over the couple of days of the conference, a great deal of modern information was brought to bear, often to very good effect, but in the end the 'unknowns' seemed to outweigh the certainties. An optimist might observe that this serves to remind us that environmental archaeology is a science, not a philosophy.

The clear message is that we need more work, and perhaps more rigorous work, on modern analogues of all kinds, even though the AEA has been this way before (Robinson 1990). Some of the information which we need will be obtainable through direct experiment, such as chopping up cod, or by observation of modern systems, such as recording the colonisation of a specific habitat by invertebrates. The use of modern analogues has been subject to criticism over the years, some of it specific (Cameron 1978), some more general (Gee and Giller 1991), and in some areas of environmental archaeology there has been an increased emphasis on the internal analysis of the archaeological data (e.g. see Evans 1991). This is undoubtedly to the benefit of the discipline, but there are none the less matters of verifiable, observable fact which can be acquired by modern observation, even if the inferential use of those facts in interpretation of the archaeological record then requires caution. At least seasonal behaviour and its consequences have the advantage that they are by definition relatively short-term processes, bringing the experimentation and observation required into the realm of a feasible research project. This is not always so in environmental archaeology: Darwin may have been able to spend a lifetime watching worms bury rocks, and the Experimental Earthwork Project was conceived for the long term (Crabtree 1990), but few of us could expect funding support for such work today. There is good news and bad news, then, for further research into seasonality. The good news is that the modern data may be largely obtainable; the bad that there is an awful lot of it to obtain.

The second, though related, general point is the value of the ethnohistorical record, and the increasing use which environmental archaeology is making of it. Several of us referred in passing to seasonal killing, as if it were a simple event. It took Mervyn Watson's paper to remind us of the wide range of very specific activities and specialised artefacts which hide behind that term. The same point has been made repeatedly and forcefully by Binford (1978) on the basis of his Nunamiut studies, though European colleagues seem, perhaps wisely, to have avoided drawing general lessons from a study of a circum-polar people with a highly specialised lifeway. The other point which Watson's paper raised was that killing and storing a pig is quite a difficult business, and I will return to storage below. Over the last few years, AEA conferences have increasingly included ethnohistorical papers, and this must be seen as an encouraging trend, especially when the observations made from the recent past are shown to have direct applicability to the understanding of the archaeological record. This process, as much as the collection of new experimental results, is a part of the gathering of analogue data which our discipline so clearly needs. The ethnohistorical record additionally offers information on processes which are too slow or lengthy to be examined by direct experimentation, or which require systems which can no longer be replicated. On that last point, incidentally, how many papers on prehistoric subsistence along the Atlantic seaboard of Europe take account of the eruptive 20th century spread of fulmar Fulmarus glacialis and its effect on the historically recorded subsistence patterns to which reference is often made? In this particular case, the ethnohistorical record may be of a system which differed markedly from that which prevailed at an earlier date: the prehistoric biogeography of fulmars thus joins the list of things which we need to know. Two papers nicely illustrated that the boundary between archaeology and ethnography is indistinct. Suzanne Needs-Howarth's study of Ontario peoples just pre-contact placed the archaeological record immediately adjacent to the historical record, whilst Ina Plug's survey of Late Iron Age Southern Africa merged a lengthy archaeological record into the present day, a reminder that just as landscapes can have tremendous time-depth, so can the human activities which go on in them.

The third point which recurred was the complicating effect of storage. Again, it was the strangely topical subject of the fate of the Great White Ulster Boar which pointed up that seasonal slaughter of animals may necessitate a complex storage technology. By extension, successful storage may obscure seasonal resource collection in the archaeological record, because we tend to rely on seasonality of resource use as a guide to seasonality of acquisition. Perhaps this is why there were far more papers dealing with animal remains at this conference than papers dealing with plants? Plants may be highly seasonally available, but are often readily stored and thus not seasonally used, whereas animals might present more of a storage problem, and thus need to be used when available. The obvious example to consider are the Old World cereals such as wheat and barley. These are highly seasonal resources, like maize or mangetti nuts, yet of little use to us as indicators of seasonal activity because their comparative ease of storage allows year-round utilisation. Before drawing any conclusions about seasonal activities or seasonal occupation at a site, therefore, we have to consider very carefully the resources which are being used as seasonal evidence and their potential for long-term storage. Thus we return to James Barrett's cod, their seasonal availability, and the evidence from knife-cuts which might indicate processing for salting or smoking, and hence their storage. In the case of vertebrates, processing for storage may involve dismantling the resource and thus generating a distinctive waste deposit. The Plains Indians and their exploitation of buffalo is a case in point. This activity was highly seasonal, though substantial amounts of meat and fat may have been stored and thus not seasonally used (Reeves 1990, 169-70). None the less, the processing of the freshly-killed buffalo ensured the deposition of most of the skeleton at the kill-site (e.g. Frison 1974), with little evidence of the subsequent consumption of stored buffalo, in the form of dried meat or pemmican, surviving into the archaeological record.

There was one thing missing from the conference. In modern societies, seasonal activity often serves a social role as well as, or instead of, being driven by need. Yet in our reading of the archaeological data, we tend to assume that the use of a particular seasonal resource indicates that the resource was needed. In some cases, it may have been the activity itself which served a useful function, rather than the product. Examples are not hard to find. The collection of autumn hedgerow fruits such as Rubus and Prunus species is still widespread, but rarely out of necessity. In Shetland a couple of years ago, I was pleasantly surprised to find a household which still preserved part of the summer's catch of fish by salting and drying, despite the availability and greater facility of a modern freezer. Human societies mark the passage of the seasons in various ways, whether by bringing something particular into the diet, or by noting the arrival of the first storks or cuckoos. Even in groups which practise communal seasonal hunting of prey, and which clearly rely on the meat thus obtained, there is a social function to the gathering of people, not least a widening of the exchange of genes (Driver 1990).

This leads nicely to my closing point. One of the strengths of this conference has been that seasons are on a human scale. By considering seasonality of human behaviour, we have been forced to look at the interplay between people and their environment on a timescale which would have been significant to the people concerned. Put another way, we are brought into the timescale and processes of the people whom we are studying. This is rare enough in archaeology, and perhaps more so in environmental archaeology, where all too often our frame of reference is long-term or large-scale environmental change which no doubt had effects on the human populations of the time, but would not have been apparent year-to-year in the direct way which might lead to a specific human response. The boundary, if one exists, between environmental archaeology and palaeoecology is a vague and shifting one. The topic of seasonality, however, placed all of the papers at this conference firmly on the side of environmental archaeology, by focussing attention on people and their interaction with their environment.

References

Binford, L. R. 1978. Nunamiut Ethnoarchaeology. New York: Academic Press.

Cameron, R. A. D. 1978. Interpreting buried land-snail assemblages from archaeological sites - problems and progress, pp. 19-24 in Brothwell, D. R., Thomas, K. D. and Clutton-Brock, J. (eds.), Research Problems in Zooarchaeology (Institute of Archaeology Occasional Publications 3). London: Institute of Archaeology.

Crabtree, K. 1990. Experimental earthworks in the United Kingdom, pp. 225-36 in Robinson, D. E. (ed.), Experimentation and Reconstruction in Environmental Archaeology. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Driver, J. C. 1990. Meat in due season: the timing of communal hunts, pp. 11-33 in Davis, L. B. and Reeves, B. O. K. (eds.), Hunters of the Recent Past. London: Unwin Hyman.

Evans, J. G. 1991. An approach to the interpretation of dry-ground and wet-ground molluscan taxocenes from central-southern England, pp. 75-90 in Harris, D. R. and Thomas, K. D. (eds.), Modelling Ecological Change. London: Institute of Archaeology.

Frison, G. C. 1974. The Casper Site: a Hell Gap Bison Kill on the High Plains. New York: Academic Press.

Gee, J. H. R. and Giller, P. S. 1991. Contemporary community ecology and environmental archaeology, pp. 1-12 in Harris, D. R. and Thomas, K. D. (eds.), Modelling Ecological Change. London: Institute of Archaeology.

Reeves, B. O. K. 1990. Communal bison hunters of the Northern Plains, pp. 168-94 in Davis, L. B. and Reeves, B. O. K. (eds.) Hunters of the Recent Past. London: Unwin Hyman.

Robinson, D. E. (ed.) 1990. Experimentation and Reconstruction in Environmental Archaeology. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

On the Difficulty of Detecting Seasonal Slaughtering of Sheep

T.P. O'Connor

This paper questions whether the seasonal slaughtering of sheep can be identified in archaeological data from temperate Europe. Earlier work is reviewed, and the ethnohistorical record examined to determine the factors which have influenced seasonality of killing, with the aim of deciding what patterns of seasonal killing might potentially be reflected in the archaeological data. A consideration of the resolution of age-attribution methods shows whether the potential evidence can actually be discerned in archaeological material, and with what precision. Finally, some published data are reconsidered.

Keywords: SHEEP, EUROPE, SEASONAL SLAUGHTER, DENTAL ERUPTION AND ATTRITION

Analysis of Dental Cementum Rings as an Approach to Azilian Hunting Strategies

H. Martin

Perfected by biologists, the analysis of dental cementum rings allows us to know the precise age of the animals studied as well as their season of death. Cementum deposits are layers of various density formed regularly during the animal's life. Large, translucid deposits (observed with polarized light), growing during the good season (spring, summer, autumn), alternate with thin, opaque ones that grow during the bad season (winter). Used to study two French Azilian sites, La Fru and Campalou, this method gives us a better understanding the hunting behaviour of these two human groups. Thus, the Azilian hunters who established their camp in the La Fru and Campalou rockshelters hunted around the site, killing ibex. However, these two groups of predators preferred red deer. Taking advantage of the hunting opportunities offered by the environment, hunters at both sitesmade opportune captures to the detriment of summer herds of hinds and young. Also, at Campalou, they continued their predation during the rut, concentrating on young animals, probably young males temporarily alone because of the mating season.

Keywords: CEMENTOCHRONOLOGY, SEASONALITY, CAMPALOU, LA FRU, HUMAN HUNTING BEHAVIOUR

Dale Serjeantson

Three aspects of bird bones can be used as evidence for seasonality: (1) the presence or absence of bones of seasonal migrants or of resident species most easily or most economically caught in a single season; (2) medullary bone, found in the bones of females at the time of lay; (3) juvenile bones, recognised by elements still not fused or ankylosed, or by porosity of the articular ends. The evidence must be interpreted with care: bones may not be anthropogenic in origin, or they may be from species which could be stored or traded. In interpreting seasonal occupation of the site the bird bone evidence must be used only in conjunction with all other sources of evidence.

Keywords: BIRD BONES, SEASONALITY, FOWLING, BREEDING, MEDULLARY BONE

Insects in Urban Waste Pits in Viking York: Another Kind of Seasonality

Harry Kenward and Frances Large

A large number of samples of deposits with anoxic waterlogging from pits of Anglo-Scandinavian (mid 9th to mid 11th C) date at 16-22 Coppergate, York, have been analysed for their content of insect remains. In order to investigate the prospects of determining the duration of exposure of foul deposits, an attempt has been made to establish whether any components of the insect fauna can be regarded as indicators either of particular seasons of formation of the deposits or of a minimum period of exposure. Two approaches have been employed: (a) using published data concerning the period in which adult insects are active and (b) estimation of the time required for the development of the observed death assemblages. The first approach appears to be limited by available information concerning the modern adult activity period. The information obtained suggests that few relevant species have short activity periods and that active adults of many are present through much of the year. Consideration of the second approach has shown the need for modelling of community and death assemblage development, and some preliminary attempts are made towards this end.

Keywords: PITS, INSECT DEATH ASSEMBLAGES, COMMUNITY STRUCTURE, FAECES, DISEASE

Seasonality in a Scottish Diet

Finbar McCormick

A mid-eighteenth century housebook from a Scottish estate provides daily information concerning the food consumed by the household. This allows us to consider the meat diet of the family and their servants in terms of seasonality. It shows that few foods are eaten consistently throughout the year.

Keywords: DIET, LIVESTOCK, SCOTLAND, SEASONALITY

The Role of the Pig in Food Conservation and Storage in Traditional Irish Farming

Mervyn Watson

The intention of this paper is to provide possible reference points for archaeologists interested in the seasonality of pig meat production and livestock management, by discussing the seasonality of pig production and pig meat preservation in Ireland in the past 250 years. It looks at the role of the pig on Irish farms, concentrating on the native Irish Greyhound pig and Large White Ulster and examines the relationship between crop and livestock management by focusing on the influence of the potato on pig production. As well as discussing the suitability of the potato as a fodder for fattening pigs, it looks at the results of Irish farmers relying on the potato as a food source for both humans and animals, particularly during times of seasonal shortage.

The paper also assesses the influence of climate and technology on the seasonality of pig meat production, outlining methods of slaughtering, curing and storage. Finally, the paper discusses the effects of growing competitive markets on Irish pig production.

Keywords: SEASONALITY, PIG PRODUCTION, CURING, STORAGE AND PRESERVATION

Changing Harvest Dates in Post-medieval Ireland

Jonathan Bell

During the last three centuries, agricultural writers and other commentators on Irish life frequently criticised Irish farmers for the late date at which they began to harvest both hay and grain. This paper will outline the reasoning behind these criticisms and the defence given by farmers in return. It will be argued that the rationality of common practice is demonstrated by the willingness of farmers to change the dates of harvest once changes in other practice made this desirable. The physical evidence for change will be described, and the paper will conclude with a discussion of possible implications of this for archaeology.

Key words:HAY, GRAIN, HARVEST, CLIMATIC INFLUENCES

Fishing: Evidence for Seasonality and Processing of Fish for Preservation in the Northern Isles of Scotland During the Iron Age and Norse Times

Ruby Cerón-Carrasco

Evidence from fish remains recovered from two sites in the Northern Isles of Scotland is compared to modern data on fish ecology and ethnographic evidence to assess seasonality in terms of resource availability and its implications for economic activities.

Key words: FISH ECOLOGY, FISH PROCESSING, RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, SEASONALITY

Transhumance in Hellenistic Thessaly

H. Reinder Reinders and Wietske Prummel

The relatively mild winters in the Almirós-Soúrpi Plain, due to the vicinity of the Pagasitic Gulf, implied excellent conditions for the winter pasturing of the flocks of the (semi-)nomadic Sarakatsanéi and Vláchi and of the villages and the Turkish manors in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Present-day specialized pastoralists still graze their flocks in the stubble fields and the foothills surrounding the plain.

The Óthris mountain range, which marks the border between the Mediterranean climate of the south and the continental climate of the Thessalian plains, has a moderate altitude and lies at a short distance from the surrounding plains. Nowadays, the pastoralists of the surrounding plains and those of the villages on the slopes of the mountains take their flocks to the pastures of the Óthris in the summertime. All of the people who keep animals are specialized pastoralists. They include Sarakatsanéi, Vláchi and villagers. Usually it is only the men and shepherds who accompany the flocks on their journeys between the summer and winter pastures: transhumance proper. Occasionally entire families or small pastoral communities move to the summer pastures, but this type of (semi-)nomadism is in decline; it is mostly practised by the elder members of the families.

The faunal remains from six houses of New Halos show that the meat of sheep, goats, cattle, pigs and probably equids, too, was consumed. Cattle, sheep and goats were the most important in terms of meat. Sheep and goats, and possibly cattle too, yielded milk for human consumption. It will have been necessary to take the cattle into the Óthris mountains in the hot season to ensure a sufficient milk yield. The Óthris may have provided a good quantity of acorns and other fruits for pigs in the autumn. Game may have been hunted in the Óthris.

The pollen record obtained for a sample from a backswamp near New Halos shows a decrease in deciduous trees and an increase in evergreen trees like Kermes oak around 2890 ± 70 BP. Samples from the basin of Mavrikopoúla in the Óthris showed a decrease in Hungarian oak and an increase in bracken around 2940 ± BP. These changes were caused by human interference, namely burning and grazing. Two literary sources attest to the use of summer pastures in the Óthris in Hellenistic times: the Demeter hymn of Kallimachos and the myth of Kerambos in the Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis.

The moderate altitude of the Óthris and the short distance to the surrounding plains suggest transhumance proper rather than (semi-)nomadism. The increase in population in Hellenistic times and the number of towns around and in the Óthris make it likely that there were sufficient urban centres with markets where the products of specialized pastoralists could be sold.

Keywords: THESSALY, HELLENISTIC HALOS, TRANSHUMANCE, FAUNAL REMAINS, ETHNOARCHAEOLOGY

Seasonal Aspects of Bronze and Iron Age Communities at Ra's al-Hadd, Oman

Caroline R. Cartwright

Excavations of third millennium BC and later settlement, burial and workshop sites have been carried out at Ra's al-Hadd, Oman in 1988-9 and 1992 under the direction of Dr J. Reade. These excavations form part of the Joint Hadd Project, a multi-disciplinary programme of research co-directed by Dr S Cleuziou, Dr J Reade and Professor M Tosi; the Ra's al-Hadd portion of the Joint Hadd project is sponsored by the British Museum and the Ministry of National Heritage and Culture, Sultanate of Oman and the Ra's al-Junayz portion by I.S.M.E.O and the C.N.R.S.

Environmental evidence from the Ra's al-Hadd sites includes charcoal, charred fruits and seeds, mammal and fish bones, land and marine molluscs. Evaluation of pollen samples is in progress. This paper examines aspects of the on-going environmental research which aims not only to re-create patterns of resource exploitation through time, but also to chart possible seasonal variability in cultural, subsistence, economic and trading terms. Some comparisons will be made with the dynamics of the present system of seasonal resource exploitation by the Ra's al-Hadd community.

Keywords: OMAN, SEASONALITY, FISHING, PLANT REMAINS

Some Evidence for Seasonality amongst Later Stone Age Hunter-gatherers in Southern Africa

Ina Plug

The Later Stone Age (LSA) period in Southern Africa is characterised by a succession of cultural traditions. The LSA hunter-gatherer populations were ancestral to the present-day San. They moved around in small bands, within a semi-fixed territory visiting open air and shelter sites to coincide with available resources.

The hunter-gatherers filled every niche in the environment, including the high mountains, deserts and semi-deserts, bush savanna and grass lands. They were well aware of the food sources available in their territories during the course of a year and utilized these opportunities. As winters in southern Africa are relatively mild, and most regions have foods available throughout the year, seasonality is difficult to demonstrate.

In only a few instances there is some evidence for seasonal use or seasonality. Age profiles of seals at Elands Bay Cave suggest short occupation periods during late winter and early spring. In the high mountains of South Africa and Lesotho, where winters are cold and frost and snow common, the faunal and floral remains suggest occupation during late spring, summer and early autumn. Abbot's Cave in the semi-arid central Karoo was used as a hunting lodge during September, relating to the lambing season and migratory behaviour of springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis).

Keywords: SEASONALITY, SOUTHERN AFRICA, HUNTER-GATHERERS

Seasonal Variation in Fishing Strategies at Two Middle Iroquoian Village Sites Near Lake Simcoe, Ontario

Suzanne Needs-Howarth and Stephen Cox Thomas

In this paper we present an analysis of fish bones from the Barrie and Dunsmore sites, two fourteenth century AD Iroquoian longhouse villages near Lake Simcoe, Ontario. We use a combination of fish habitat and spawning data to interpret when and where different fish species were obtained. After identifying co-occurrences of species in major features at each site we suggest the existence of three fisheries complexes. There is some overlap in species composition between these complexes. In an attempt to distinguish between them, we also investigate probable technique of capture through fish bone size distribution. We use our findings to identify inter- and intra-site differences in fish procurement.

Keywords: SEASONALITY, FISHING, ONTARIO, IROQUOIAN

Skates and Prickers from the Circular Fortress of Oost-Souburg, The Netherlands (AD 900-975)

Roel C.G.M. Lauwerier and Robert M. Van Heeringen

During the excavation of the circular fortress of Oost-Souburg, the Netherlands, objects of bone and antler were found: combs, needles, spindles, three-pronged objects, bone skates and points. The finds are dated between AD 900 and 975. In this contribution the objects which belong to the winter season, the bone skates and the points, are discussed. The skates occur in various types and are made of a variety of bones. Certain types of skate were used without bindings, others were either designed to be fastened to the feet or possibly were tied only at the heels. The roughly-made points that were found may be the points of the prickers used to propel the skater forward on his skates.

Keywords: MIDDLE AGES, BONE ARTEFACT, BONE SKATE, POINT

Evidence for Seasonality from Coprolites and Recent Faeces?

Caroline Vermeeren

While in search of proof for seasonality from the pollen analysis of coprolites, a comparative study of fox faeces was initiated. Methodology and detailed results of both the coprolites and fox faeces will be published elsewhere, but some critical remarks are presented here. We realise that factors such as sniffing mixtures of pollen from the soil could obscure the results, so that seasonal indicators are difficult to confirm. Exceptions include the special cases in which butterflies and berries had been eaten. They indicate the flowering period of the insect pollinated plants and the fruiting period respectively. Two additional results of the studies were that a tentative reconstruction of the vegetation turned out to be possible, and the presence of cultivated plants could be demonstrated.

Keywords: COPROLITES, FOX FAECES, VEGETATION, CULTIVATED PLANTS, SEASONALITY