Anthropology
Archaeology

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Archaeology on the Threshold

Name: Archaeology on the Threshold
Author: Joseph D. Wardle
ISBN: 9780813069531

Studies in the Processes of Change

Edited by Joseph D. Wardle, Robert K. Hitchcock, Matthew Schmader and Pei-Lin Yu

Published by: University Press of Florida

Incorporating data from across six continents and tracing the human experience from the Late Pleistocene to the present, this volume examines transitional periods of cultural and environmental change through the lenses of archaeology and ethnography.

314 Pages6.00 × 9.0035 b/w illus., 19 tables, notes, bibliography, index

Hardcover
9780813069531
Published: December 30, 2022

$90.00

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PDF
9780813070278
Published: December 30, 2022

(Ebook delivery via Leaf eReader app.)

$180.00

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Description
Authors
Praise
Table of Contents

New perspectives on transitions in human history

This book is about transitional periods of cultural and environmental change as seen through the lenses of archaeology and ethnography. Incorporating data from across six continents and tracing the human experience from the Late Pleistocene to the present, these chapters offer a global comparative perspective on transitional states. Questions of causality are considered, as are hypotheses about the processes of cultural change.

Archaeology on the Threshold focuses on major transitions such as the shift from foraging to agriculture, the adoption of new technologies, the emergence of large-scale societies, the transition from egalitarian to inegalitarian leadership, and changes that occur in socioeconomic and ideological systems as a result of climate change and disease. Theoretical approaches range from processual to postprocessual, humanistic, and interpretive. Methodologies include ethnoarchaeology, the use of ethnographic analogy, cross-cultural comparisons and large-scale data approaches, oral history, the historical record, participant observation, and focus group discussions.

Challenging archaeologists to query long-held assumptions and theoretical positions, this volume aims to refocus inquiry into change-causing and larger evolutionary processes to problematize notions of revolutionary, irrevocable change. These case studies examine and shed light on assumptions regarding the linearity and oscillations of adaptations, with intriguing implications for archaeological inferences.

Joseph D. Wardle is a doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan. Robert K. Hitchcock is professor of anthropology at the University of New Mexico. Matthew Schmader is adjunct professor of anthropology at the University of New Mexico. Pei-Lin Yu is an archaeologist at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and affiliate professor of anthropology at Boise State University.

“Presents novel archaeological perspectives on transitions, both geographic and temporal. Contributors combine a range of theoretical models to understand transitions while employing explicit methodological frameworks in diverse contexts.”—Anna Marie Prentiss, editor of Handbook of Evolutionary Research in Archaeology
“Embodies a strong global comparative perspective on transitional states framed across ethnographic and archaeological foci, their potential causation in different temporal, spatial, and cultural contexts, and innovative perspectives on how to capture and manage pertinent data that allow for strong behavioral inference.”—William A. Lovis, coeditor of Marking the Land: Hunter-Gatherer Creation of Meaning in Their Environment

List of Figures

List of Tables

Introduction
Joseph D. Wardle, Robert K. Hitchcock, Matthew Schmader, and Pei-Lin Yu

Chapter 1. The Role of Theory and Ethnographic Analogies in Understanding Paleoindian Obsidian Acquisition, Mobility, and Mating Strategies in the Great Basin
David W. Zeanah, Brian F. Codding, Douglas W. Bird, Rebecca Bliege Bird, Chloe McGuire, George T. Jones, and Robert G. Elston

Chapter 2. Across Boundaries: Origin of Microblade Technology in Northeastern Asia under the Macroecological Approach
Meng Zhang

Chapter 3. Fragmented Records: Fuego-Patagonian Hunter-Gatherers and Archaeological Change
Luis Alberto Borrero and Fabiana María Martin

Chapter 4. Earth Oven Size and Camas Intensification in the Upper Willamette Valley, Oregon
Joseph D. Wardle

Chapter 5. At the Edges of Food Production: The Archaic to Ancestral Pueblo Transition in Central New Mexico
Matthew Schmader

Chapter 6. At the Pacific Edge and Field’s Margin: Edible Weeds, the Ideal Free Distribution, and Niche Construction in Neolithic Taiwan
Pei-Lin Yu

Chapter 7. Domestic Crop Production among the Ju/’hoansi San of Nyae Nyae, Namibia: Ethnoarchaeological and Ethnographic Perspectives
Robert K. Hitchcock

Chapter 8. Moving Beyond: Using New Methods to Assess Holocene Environmental Change in Northwestern Guyana
Louisa B. Daggers and Mark G. Plew

Chapter 9. On the Edge of Inequality: Economic and Social Boundaries at the Onset of Megalithism in Western Iberia (Fourth Millennium BC)
António Faustino Carvalho

Chapter 10. Megadroughts, Rodents, and Weevils: The Ecological Basis for Ritual Burning during the Iron Age in Southeastern Africa
Alan J. Osborn

Chapter 11. Differentiating Ecological Contexts of Plant Cultivation and Animal Herding: Implications for Culture Process
Amber L. Johnson, Gianna Jamski, Tanigha McNellis, Ruthie Niesen, Anthony Scimeca, and Nick Pruett

List of Contributors

Index

Books

Authors

Journals

On The Site

Books

Authors

Journals

On The Site

Archaeology on the Threshold

Studies in the Processes of Change

Archaeology on the Threshold

Studies in the Processes of Change

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