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05 Jun 2023
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SEAHORS: Spatial Exploration of ArcHaeological Objects in R Shiny

Analyzing piece-plotted artifacts just got simpler: A good solution to the wrong problem?

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Frédéric Santos, Jacqueline Meier and Maayan Lev

Paleolithic archaeologists habitually measure 3-coordinate data for artifacts in their excavations. This was first done manually, and in the last three decades it is usually performed by a total station and associated hardware. While the field recording procedure is quite straightforward, visualizing and analyzing the data are not, often requiring specialized proprietary software or coding expertise. Here, Royer and colleagues (2023) present the SEAHORS application, an elegant solution for the post-excavation analysis of artifact coordinate data that seems to be instantly useful for numerous archaeologists. SEAHORS allows one to import and organize field data (Cartesian coordinates and point description), which often comes in a variety of formats, and to create various density and distribution plots. It is specifically adapted to the needs of archaeologists, is free and accessible, and much simpler to use than many commercial programs. The authors further demonstrate the use of the application in the post-excavation analysis of the Cassenade Paleolithic site (see also Discamps et al., 2019). 

While in no way detracting from my appreciation of Royer et al.’s (2023) work, I would like to play the devil’s advocate by asking whether, in the majority of cases, field recording of artifacts in three coordinates is warranted. Royer et al. (2023) regard piece plotting as “…indispensable to propose reliable spatial planimetrical and stratigraphical interpretations” but this assertion does not hold in all (or most) cases, where careful stratigraphic excavation employing thin volumetric units would do just as well.

Moreover, piece-plotting has some serious drawbacks. The recording often slows excavations considerably, beyond what is needed for carefully exposing and documenting the artifacts in their contexts, resulting in smaller horizontal and vertical exposures (e.g., Gilead, 2002). This typically hinders a fuller stratigraphic and contextual understanding of the excavated levels and features. Even worse, the method almost always creates a biased sample of “coordinated artifacts”, in which the most important items for understanding spatial patterns and site-formation processes – the small ones – are underrepresented. Some projects run the danger of treating the coordinated artifacts as bearing more significance than the sieve-recovered items, preferentially studying the former with no real justification. Finally, the coordinated items often go unassigned to a volumetric unit, effectively disconnecting them from other types of data found in the same depositional contexts.  

The advantages of piece-plotting may, in some cases, offset the disadvantages. But what I find missing in the general discourse (certainly not in the recommended preprint) is the “theory” behind the seemingly technical act of 3-coordinate recording (Yeshurun, 2022). Being in effect a form of sampling, this practice needs a rethink about where and how to be applied; what depositional contexts justify it, and what the goals are. These questions should determine if all “visible” artifacts are plotted, or just an explicitly defined sample of them (e.g., elongated items above a certain length threshold, which should be more reliable for fabric analysis), or whether the circumstances do not actually justify it. In the latter case, researchers sometimes opt for using “virtual coordinates” within in each spatial unit (typically 0.5x0.5 m), essentially replicating the data that is generated by “real” coordinates and integrating the sieve-recovered items as well. In either case, Royer et al.’s (2023) solution for plotting and visualizing labeled points within intra-site space would indeed be an important addition to the archaeologists’ tool kits.

 

References cited 

Discamps, E., Bachellerie, F., Baillet, M. and Sitzia, L. (2019). The use of spatial taphonomy for interpreting Pleistocene palimpsests: an interdisciplinary approach to the Châtelperronian and carnivore occupations at Cassenade (Dordogne, France). Paleoanthropology 2019, 362–388. https://doi.org/10.4207/PA.2019.ART136

Gilead, I. (2002). Too many notes? Virtual recording of artifacts provenance. In: Niccolucci, F. (Ed.). Virtual Archaeology: Proceedings of the VAST Euroconference, Arezzo 24–25 November 2000. BAR International Series 1075, Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 41–44.

Royer, A., Discamps, E., Plutniak, S. and Thomas, M. (2023). SEAHORS: Spatial Exploration of ArcHaeological Objects in R Shiny Zenodo, 7957154, ver. 2 peer-reviewed and recommended by Peer Community in Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7929462

Yeshurun, R. (2022). Intra-site analysis of repeatedly occupied camps: Sacrificing “resolution” to get the story. In: Clark A.E., Gingerich J.A.M. (Eds.). Intrasite Spatial Analysis of Mobile and Semisedentary Peoples: Analytical Approaches to Reconstructing Occupation History. University of Utah Press, pp. 27–35. 

 

SEAHORS: Spatial Exploration of ArcHaeological Objects in R ShinyROYER, Aurélien, DISCAMPS, Emmanuel, PLUTNIAK, Sébastien, THOMAS, Marc<p style="text-align: justify;">This paper presents SEAHORS, an R shiny application available as an R package, dedicated to the intra-site spatial analysis of piece-plotted archaeological remains. This open-source script generates 2D and 3D scatte...Computational archaeology, Spatial analysis, Theoretical archaeologyReuven Yeshurun2023-02-24 16:01:44 View
12 Dec 2022
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Can growth in captivity alter the calcaneal microanatomy of a wild ungulate?

Mobility in pigs: A microanatomical perspective

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Max Price and Ignacio A. Lazagabaster

Pig domestication and husbandry involved complex processes of introduction, introgression, and feralization that challenge our understanding of human/suid interactions in ancient times. This challenge is a constant stimulus for the development of novel methods and techniques to illuminate aspects of early pig husbandry, such as human-induced changes in mobility. Using geometric morphometrics, Harbers et al. (2020) have shown that the calcaneus records a plastic response to reduced mobility and hence to human management. In the present study, Cottereau et al. (2022) explore the possibility that a similar plastic response to different mobility regimes can be observed in the microanatomy of the calcaneus using CT scans. Their research utilizes a sample of calcanei obtained from Mesolithic specimens, and also from recent suids kept in natural habitat, large pen, and stall. Their results suggest that bone microanatomy is more affected by population differences than by mobility patterns, as illustrated by the similarity between Mesolitic boar calcanei and their difference from recent, free wild boar. 


This is an important negative result, and, as Max Price has remarked in his review, such results are biased against in the scientific literature. Beyond the merit of its careful planning and execution, I find the study thought-provoking, as it marks a scale threshold below which the plastic signal of mobility is lost. At the same breath, the close similarity between Mesolithic boars in the microanatomical scale opens a door to the investigation of inter-population anatomical differences beyond that threshold. 

 

References

Cottereau R, Ortiz K, Locatelli Y, Houssaye A, Cucchi T (2022), bioRxiv, 504790, ver. 5 peer-reviewed and recommended by Peer Community in Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.08.22.504790

Harbers H, Neaux D, Ortiz K, Blanc B, Laurens F, Baly I, Callou C, Schafberg R, Haruda A, Lecompte F, Casabianca F, Studer J, Renaud S, Cornette R, Locatelli Y, Vigne J-D, Herrel A, Cucchi T (2020) The mark of captivity: plastic responses in the ankle bone of a wild ungulate (Sus scrofa). Royal Society Open Science, 7, 192039. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.192039

 

Can growth in captivity alter the calcaneal microanatomy of a wild ungulate?Romain Cottereau, Katia Ortiz, Yann Locatelli, Alexandra Houssaye*, Thomas Cucchi*<p style="text-align: justify;">Reduced mobility associated with captivity induce changes in biomechanical stress on the skeleton of domesticated animals. Due to bone plasticity, the morphology and the internal structure of the bones can respond t...Neolithic, ZooarchaeologyNimrod Marom2022-08-26 20:29:01 View
18 Oct 2024
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Virtual Reality Tours as an Immersive Approach to Archaeology in Higher Education

A roadmap for implementing VR-based teaching courses in archaeology

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by 3 anonymous reviewers

Virtual Reality (VR), as a component of Extended Reality (XR), enables the visualization and exploration of archaeological sites and artifacts that are otherwise inaccessible or lost due to time, decay, or physical access constraints. As is common in archaeology, when a new technology becomes available, it is incorporated into the archaeologist's toolbox, but there remains a need to identify workflows and best practices.
The paper entitled 'Virtual Reality Tours as an Immersive Approach to Archaeology in Higher Education,' authored by Robert Stephan, Aviva Doery, and Caleb Simmons, presents a significant scholarly contribution to the practical integration of VR (360-degree recordings) in college archaeology courses, starting with the upcoming course titled 'Seven Wonders of Ancient Greece.' The manuscript includes a well-structured and up-to-date literature review and a relevant discussion on enhancing accessibility to international study experiences through VR technology. It explicitly outlines the phases of the project yet to be implemented and details the steps for implementing VR in educational settings, from device requirements to the evaluation of knowledge acquisition, including equipment cost and technological accessibility. The paper demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of the broader implications of integrating such technologies into mainstream curricula. 
Although the reusability of geolocated and timestamped 360-degree recordings is not directly addressed, this paper serves as a solid handbook and a valuable roadmap for researchers and educators aiming to establish VR-based teaching projects in archaeology.

References

Robert Stephan, Aviva Doery, Caleb Simmons (2024) Virtual Reality Tours as an Immersive Approach to Archaeology in Higher Education. Zenodo, ver.3 peer-reviewed and recommended by PCI Archaeology https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13255252

Virtual Reality Tours as an Immersive Approach to Archaeology in Higher EducationRobert Stephan, Aviva Doery, Caleb Simmons<p>In recent years, virtual reality (VR) has emerged as a powerful technology with the potential to impact higher education. This paper examines the use of VR as a teaching tool in college classrooms, with a specific focus on its ability to provid...Antiquity, Classic, Europe, Mediterranean, Theoretical archaeologyThomas Huet2024-08-07 16:28:41 View
28 Aug 2023
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Geometric Morphometric Analysis of Projectile Points from the Southwest United States

2D Geometric Morphometrics of Projectile Points from the Southwestern United States

Recommended by based on reviews by James Conolly and 1 anonymous reviewer

Bischoff (2023) is a significant contribution to the growing field of geometric morphometric analysis in stone tool analysis. The subject is projectile points from the southwestern United States. Projectile point typologies or systematics remain an important part of North American archaeology, and in fact these typologies continue to be used primarily as cultural-historical markers. This article looks at projectile point types using a 2D image geometric morphometric analysis as a way of both improving on projectile point types but also testing if these types are in fact based in measurable reality. A total of 164 point outlines are analyzed using Elliptical Fourier, semilandmark and landmark analyses. The author also uses a network analysis to look at possible relationships between projectile point morphologies in space. This is a clever way of working around the predefined distributions of projectile point types, some of which are over 100 years old. Because of the dynamic nature of stone tools in terms of their use, reworking and reuse, this article can also provide solutions for studying the dynamic nature of stone tools. This article therefore also has a wide applicability to other stone tool analyses.

Reference

Bischoff, R. J. (2023) Geometric Morphometric Analysis of Projectile Points from the Southwest United States, SocArXiv, a6wjc, ver. 8 peer-reviewed and recommended by Peer Community in Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/a6wjc

Geometric Morphometric Analysis of Projectile Points from the Southwest United StatesRobert J. Bischoff<p style="text-align: justify;">Traditional analyses of projectile points often use visual identification, the presence or absence of discrete characteristics, or linear measurements and angles to classify points into distinct types. Geometric mor...Archaeometry, Computational archaeology, Lithic technology, North AmericaAdrian L. Burke2022-12-18 03:38:14 View
02 Feb 2024
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Implementing Digital Documentation Techniques for Archaeological Artifacts to Develop a Virtual Exhibition: the Necropolis of Baley Collection

Out of the storeroom and into the virtual

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Alicia Walsh and 1 anonymous reviewer

This paper (Raykovska et al. 2023) discusses the digital documentation techniques and development of a virtual exhibition for artefacts retrieved from the necropolis of Baley, Bulgaria. The principal aim of this particular project is a solid one, trying to provide a solution to display artefacts that would otherwise remain hidden in museum storerooms. The paper describes how through a combination of 3D scanning and photogrammetry high quality 3D models have been produced, and provide content for an online virtual exhibition for the scientific community but also the larger public. It is a well-written and concise paper, in which the information on developed methods and techniques are transparently described, and various important aspects of digitization workflows, such as the importance of storing raw data, are addressed.

The paper is a timely discussion on this subject, as strategies to develop digital artefact collections and what to do with those are increasingly being researched. Specifically, it discusses a workflow and its results, both in great detail. Although critical reflection on the process, goals and results from various perspectives would have been a valuable addition to the paper (cf., Jeffra 2020, Paardekoper 2019), it nonetheless provides a good practice example of how to approach the creation of a virtual museum. Those who consider projects concerning digital documentation of archaeological artefacts as well as the creation of virtual spaces to use those in for research, education or valorisation purposes would do well to read this paper carefully.

References

Jeffra, C., Hilditch, J., Waagen, J., Lanjouw, T., Stoffer, M., de Gelder, L., and Kim, M. J. (2020). Blending the Material and the Digital: A Project at the Intersection of Museum Interpretation, Academic Research, and Experimental Archaeology. The EXARC Journal, 2020(4). https://exarc.net/ark:/88735/10541 

Paardekooper, R.P. (2019). Everybody else is doing it, so why can’t we? Low-tech and High-tech approaches in archaeological Open-Air Museums. The EXARC Journal, 2019(4). https://exarc.net/ark:/88735/10457/ 

Raykovska, M., Jones, K., Klecherova, H., Alexandrov, S., Petkov, N., Hristova, T., and Ivanov, G. (2023). Implementing Digital Documentation Techniques for Archaeological Artifacts to Develop a Virtual Exhibition: the Necropolis of Baley Collection. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10091870

Implementing Digital Documentation Techniques for Archaeological Artifacts to Develop a Virtual Exhibition: the Necropolis of Baley CollectionRaykovska Miglena, Jones Kristen, Klecherova Hristina, Alexandrov Stefan, Petkov Nikolay, Hristova Tanya, Ivanov Georgi<p>Over the past decade, virtual reality has been quickly growing in popularity across disciplines including the field of archaeology and cultural heritage. Despite numerous artifacts being uncovered each year by archaeological excavations around ...Ceramics, Computational archaeology, Conservation/Museum studiesJitte Waagen2023-06-12 14:02:44 View
16 May 2024
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A return to function as the basis of lithic classification

Using insights from psychology and primatology to reconsider function in lithic typologies

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO, and ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Vincent Delvigne and 1 anonymous reviewer

The paper “A return to function as the basis of lithic classification” by Radu Iovita (2024) is a contribution to an upcoming volume on the role of typology and type-thinking in current archaeological theory and praxis edited by the PCI recommenders. In this context, the paper offers an in-depth discussion of several crucial dimensions of typological thinking in past and current lithic studies, namely:

  • “common sense” in archaeology, discussed based on earlier proposals by influential anthropologist Clifford Geertz (1975),
  • “function”, argued by the author to be the “fundamental property of tools”,
  • “cognitive” aspects, said to be reflected in the “property we naturally use to classify” stone tools and then argued to be grounded in function,
  • “traceology” as an archaeological bundle of methods and practices to determine (tool) function, discussing the current status of this research perspective in archaeology and its future.

Discussing and importantly re-articulating these concepts, Iovita ultimately aims at “establishing unified guiding principles for studying a technology that spans several million years and several different species whose brain capacities range from ca. 300–1400 cm³”.

The notion that tool function should dictate classification is not new (e.g. Gebauer 1987). It is particularly noteworthy, however, that the paper engages carefully with various relevant contributions on the topic from non-Anglophone research traditions. First, its considering works on lithic typologies published in other languages, such as Russian (Sergei Semenov), French (Georges Laplace), and German (Joachim Hahn). Second, it takes up the ideas of two French techno-anthropologists, in particular: 

  • Anthropologist of technics François Sigaut's (1940-2012) distinction of form, function, and “fonctionnement” (Sigaut 1991). Iovita proposes to draw and recast this tripartition, splitting the notion of function into “structural function” (a concept encompassing biological function as well as the “interface between the tool and its environment”), “operation” (which “relates to learning the function of artifacts from others and representing them through their motor associations”), and "designer-intended function” (DIF). Iovita shows how these distinctions can be used to clarify the ways and the grounds on which we build lithic typologies.
  • Structural anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss' (1908-2009) concept of “bricolage”, influentially proposed and developed in his La pensée sauvage (Lévi-Strauss 1962); this concept was also much discussed by North American anthropologist Clifford Geertz and more recently critically re-considered in the English-speaking literature thanks to a new translation of Lévi-Strauss' original text (Lévi-Strauss 2021).

Interestingly, Iovita grounds his argumentation on insights from primatology, psychology and the cognitive sciences, to the extent that they fuel discussion on archaeological concepts and methods. Results regarding the so-called “design stance” for example play a crucial role: coined by philosopher and cognitive scientist and philosopher Daniel Dennett (1942-2024), this notion encompasses the possible discrepancies between the designer’s intended purpose and the object's current functions. DIF, as discussed by Iovita, directly relates to this idea, illustrating how concepts from other sciences can fruitfully be injected into archaeological thinking.

Lastly, readers should note the intellectual contents generated on PCI as part of the reviewing process of the paper itself: both the reviewers and the author have engaged in in-depth discussions on the idea of (tool) “function” and its contested relationship with form or typology, delineating and mapping different views on these key issues in lithic study which are worth reading on their own.

References

Gebauer, A. B. (1987). Stylistic Analysis. A Critical Review of Concepts, Models, and Interpretations, Journal of Danish Archaeology, 6, p. 223–229.

Geertz, C. (1975). Common Sense as a Cultural System, The Antioch Review, 33 (1), p. 5–26.

Iovita, R. (2024). A return to function as the basis of lithic classification. Zenodo, 7734147, ver. 5 peer-reviewed and recommended by Peer Community in Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7734147

Lévi-Strauss, C. (1962). La pensée sauvage. Paris: Plon.

Lévi-Strauss, C. (2021). Wild Thought: A New Translation of “La Pensée sauvage”. Translated by Jeffrey Mehlman & John Leavitt. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.

Sigaut, F. (1991). “Un couteau ne sert pas à couper, mais en coupant. Structure, fonctionnement et fonction dans l'analyse des objets” in 25 Ans d'études technologiques en préhistoire : Bilan et perspectives, Juan-les-Pins: Éditions de l'association pour la promotion et la diffusion des connaissances archéologiques, p. 21-34.

A return to function as the basis of lithic classificationRadu Iovita<p>Complex tool use is one of the defining characteristics of our species, and, because of the good preservation of stone tools (lithics), one of the few which can be studied on the evolutionary time scale. However, a quick look at the lithics lit...Ancient Palaeolithic, Lithic technology, Theoretical archaeology, TraceologySébastien Plutniak2023-03-14 19:01:40 View
02 May 2024
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ARIADNEplus Visual Media Service 3D configurator: toward full guided publication of high-resolution 3D data

ARIADNEplus Visual Media Service 3D configurator: a new tool for the visual organisation of 3D datasets

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Sebastian Hageneuer, Vayia Panagiotidis, Erik Champion and Martina Trognitz

The manuscript "ARIADNEplus Visual Media Service 3D configurator: toward full guided publication of high-resolution 3D data​" by Potenziani et al. [1] provides an excellent introduction to the Visual Media Service 3D Configurator.  This is an exciting tool, focused on cultural heritage, that forms part of the Visual Media Service, a web-based platform for uploading a range of complex data sets, including high-resolution images, Reflectance Transformation Imaging images and 3D models and transforming them into an appropriate format for interation and visualisation on the web.  The 3D Configurator Tool provides researchers with a wizard which assist with the presentation of 3D models.

This manuscript provides a history and context for the development of the Visual Media Service and previous related tools such as 3DHOP, Nexus and Relight/OpenLIME.  It also provides detailed information about the functionality of the 3D Configurator, including the Alignment, Material & Light, Navigation, Interface and Annotation steps.  The Discussion section provides information about applications and users of the Visual Media Service, current limitations and planned future developments.

Reviewers Hageneuer, Champion, Trognitz and Panagiotidis all provided important suggestions to the authors which have improved the clarity and scope of this manuscript.  While this manscript does not present a case study using this tool, I recommend it to readers as a detailed and clear introduction to the Visual Media Service 3D configurator which may inspire them to use this for their own research.

References

[1] Potenziani, M., Ponchio, F., Callieri, M., and Cignoni, P. (2024). ARIADNEplus Visual Media Service 3D configurator: toward full guided publication of high-resolution 3D data. Zenodo, 8075050, ver. 5 peer-reviewed and recommended by Peer Community in Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10894515​

ARIADNEplus Visual Media Service 3D configurator: toward full guided publication of high-resolution 3D data Potenziani, Marco; Ponchio, Federico; Callieri, Marco; Cignoni, Paolo<p>The use of digital visual media in everyday work is nowadays a common practice in many different domains, including Cultural Heritage (CH). Because of that, the presence of digital datasets in CH archives and repositories is becoming more and m...Computational archaeologyIan Moffat2023-06-23 17:37:47 View
26 Mar 2024
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What is a form? On the classification of archaeological pottery.

Abstract and Concrete – Querying the Metaphysics and Geometry of Pottery Classification

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO, and ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by 2 anonymous reviewers

“What is a form? On the classification of archaeological pottery” by P. Boissinot (1) is a timely contribution to broader theoretical reflections on classification and ordering practices in archaeology, including type-construction and justification. Boissinot rightly reminds us that engagement with the type concept always touches upon the uneasy relationship between the abstract and the concrete, alternatively cast as the ongoing struggle in knowledge production between idealization and particularization. Types are always abstract and as such both ‘more’ and ‘less’ than the concrete objects they refer to. They are ‘more’ because they establish a higher-order identity of variously heterogeneous, concrete objects and they are ‘less’ because they necessarily reduce the richness of the concrete and often erase it altogether. The confusion that types evoke in archaeology and elsewhere has therefore a lot to do with the fact that types are simply not spatiotemporally distinct particulars. As abstract entities, types so almost automatically re-introduce the question of universalism but they do not decide this question, and Boissinot also tentatively rejects such ambitions. In fact, with Boissinot (1) it may be said that universality is often precisely confused with idealization, which is indispensable to all archaeological ordering practices. 

Idealization, increasingly recognized as an important epistemic operation in science (2, 3), paradoxically revolves around the deliberate misrepresentation of the empirical systems being studied, with models being the paradigm cases (4). Models can go so far as to assume something strictly false about the phenomena under consideration in order to advance their epistemic goals. In the words of Angela Potochnik (5), ‘the role of idealization in securing understanding distances understanding from truth but […] this understanding nonetheless gives rise to scientific knowledge’. The affinity especially to models may in part explain why types are so controversial and are often outright rejected as ‘real’ or ‘useful’ by those who only recognize the existence of concrete particulars (nominalism). As confederates of the abstract, types thus join the ranks of mathematics and geometry, which the author identifies as prototypical abstract systems. Definitions are also abstract. According to Boissinot (1), they delineate a ‘position of limits’, and the precision and rigorousness they bring comes at the cost of subjectivity. This unites definitions and types, as both can be precise and clear-cut but they can never be strictly singular or without alternative – in order to do so, they must rely on yet another higher-order system of external standards, and so ad infinitum. 

Boissinot (1) advocates a mathematical and thus by definition abstract approach to archaeological type-thinking in the realm of pottery, as the abstractness of this approach affords relatively rigorous description based on the rules of geometry. Importantly, this choice is not a mysterious a priori rooted in questionable ideas about the supposed superiority of such an approach but rather is the consequence of a careful theoretical exploration of the particularities (domain-specificities) of pottery as a category of human practice and materiality. The abstract thus meets the concrete again: objects of pottery, in sharp contrast to stone artefacts for example, are the product of additive processes. These processes, moreover, depend on the ‘fusion’ of plastic materials and the subsequent fixation of the resulting configuration through firing (processes which, strictly speaking, remove material, such as stretching, appear to be secondary vis-à-vis global shape properties). Because of this overriding ‘fusion’ of pottery, the identification of parts, functional or otherwise, is always problematic and indeterminate to some extent. As products of fusion, parts and wholes represent an integrated unity, and this distinguishes pottery from other technologies, especially machines. The consequence is that the presence or absence of parts and their measurements may not be a privileged locus of type-construction as they are in some biological contexts for example. The identity of pottery objects is then generally bound to their fusion. As a ‘plastic montage’ rather than an assembly of parts, individual parts cannot simply be replaced without threatening the identity of the whole. Although pottery can and must sometimes be repaired, this renders its objects broadly morpho-static (‘restricted plasticity’) rather than morpho-dynamic, which is a condition proper to other material objects such as lithic (use and reworking) and metal artefacts (deformation) but plays out in different ways there. This has a number of important implications, namely that general shape and form properties may be expected to hold much more relevant information than in technological contexts characterized by basal modularity or morpho-dynamics.

It is no coincidence that ‘fusion’ is also emphasized by Stephen C. Pepper (6) as a key category of what he calls contextualism. Fusion for Pepper pays dividends to the interpenetration of different parts and relations, and points to a quality of wholes which cannot be reduced any further and integrates the details into a ‘more’. Pepper maintains that ‘fusion, in other words, is an agency of simplification and organization’ – it is the ‘ultimate cosmic determinator of a unit’ (p. 243-244, emphasis added). This provides metaphysical reasons to look at pottery from a whole-centric perspective and to foreground the agency of its materiality. This is precisely what Boissinot (1) does when he, inspired by the great techno-anthropologist François Sigaut (7), gestures towards the fact that elementarily a pot is ‘useful for containing’. He thereby draws attention not to the function of pottery objects but to what pottery as material objects do by means of their material agency: they disclose a purposive tension between content and container, the carrier and carried as well as inclusion and exclusion, which can also be understood as material ‘forces’ exerted upon whatever is to be contained. This, and not an emic reading of past pottery use, leads to basic qualitative distinctions between open and closed vessels following Anna O. Shepard’s (8) three basic pottery categories: unrestricted, restricted, and necked openings. These distinctions are not merely intuitive but attest to the object-specificity of pottery as fused matter. 

This fused dimension of pottery also leads to a recognition that shapes have geometric properties that emerge from the forced fusion of the plastic material worked, and Boissinot (1) suggests that curvature is the most prominent of such features, which can therefore be used to describe ‘pure’ pottery forms and compare abstract within-pottery differences. A careful mathematical theorization of curvature in the context of pottery technology, following George D. Birkhoff (9), in this way allows to formally distinguish four types of ‘geometric curves’ whose configuration may serve as a basis for archaeological object grouping. The idealization involved in this proposal is not accidental but deliberately instrumental – it reminds us that type-thinking in archaeology cannot escape the abstract. It is notable here that the author does not suggest to simply subject total pottery form to some sort of geometric-morphometric analysis but develops a proposal that foregrounds a limited range of whole-based geometric properties (in contrast to part-based) anchored in general considerations as to the material specificity of pottery as quasi-species of objects.

As Boissinot (1) notes himself, this amounts to a ‘naturalization’ of archaeological artefacts and offers somewhat of an alternative (a third way) to the old discussion between disinterested form analysis and functional (and thus often theory-dependent) artefact groupings. He thereby effectively rejects both of these classic positions because the first ignores the particularities of pottery and the real function of artefacts is in most cases archaeologically inaccessible. In this way, some clear distance is established to both ethnoarchaeology and thing studies as a project. Attending to the ‘discipline of things’ proposal by Bjørnar Olsen and others (10, 11), and by drawing on his earlier work (12), Boissinot interestingly notes that archaeology – never dealing with ‘complete societies’ – could only be ‘deficient’. This has mainly to do with the underdetermination of object function by the archaeological record (and the confusion between function and functionality) as outlined by the author. It seems crucial in this context that Boissinot does not simply query ‘What is a thing?’ as other thing-theorists have previously done, but emphatically turns this question into ‘In what way is it not the same as something else?’. He here of course comes close to Olsen’s In Defense of Things insofar as the ‘mode of being’ or the ‘ontology’ of things is centred. What appears different, however, is the emphasis on plurality and within-thing heterogeneity on the level of abstract wholes. With Boissinot, we always have to speak of ontologies and modes of being and those are linked to different kinds of things and their material specificities. Theorizing and idealizing these specificities are considered central tasks and goals of archaeological classification and typology. As such, this position provides an interesting alternative to computational big-data (the-more-the-better) approaches to form and functionally grounded type-thinking, yet it clearly takes side in the debate between empirical and theoretical type-construction as essential object-specific properties in the sense of Boissinot (1) cannot be deduced in a purely data-driven fashion.

Boissinot’s proposal to re-think archaeological types from the perspective of different species of archaeological objects and their abstract material specificities is thought-provoking and we cannot stop wondering what fruits such interrogations would bear in relation to other kinds of objects such as lithics, metal artefacts, glass, and so forth. In addition, such meta-groupings are inherently problematic themselves, and they thus re-introduce old challenges as to how to separate the relevant super-wholes, technological genesis being an often-invoked candidate discriminator. The latter may suggest that we cannot but ultimately circle back on the human context of archaeological objects, even if we, for both theoretical and epistemological reasons, wish to embark on strictly object-oriented archaeologies in order to emancipate ourselves from the ‘contamination’ of language and in-built assumptions.

 

Bibliography

1. Boissinot, P. (2024). What is a form? On the classification of archaeological pottery, Zenodo, 7429330, ver. 4 peer-reviewed and recommended by Peer Community in Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10718433

2. Fletcher, S.C., Palacios, P., Ruetsche, L., Shech, E. (2019). Infinite idealizations in science: an introduction. Synthese 196, 1657–1669. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-018-02069-6

3. Potochnik, A. (2017). Idealization and the aims of science (University of Chicago Press). https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226507194.001.0001

4. J. Winkelmann, J. (2023). On Idealizations and Models in Science Education. Sci & Educ 32, 277–295. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-021-00291-2

5. Potochnik, A. (2020). Idealization and Many Aims. Philosophy of Science 87, 933–943. https://doi.org/10.1086/710622

6. Pepper S. C. (1972). World hypotheses: a study in evidence, 7. print (University of California Press).

7. Sigaut, F. (1991). “Un couteau ne sert pas à couper, mais en coupant. Structure, fonctionnement et fonction dans l’analyse des objets” in 25 Ans d’études Technologiques En Préhistoire. Bilan et Perspectives (Association pour la promotion et la diffusion des connaissances archéologiques), pp. 21–34.

8. Shepard, A. O. (1956). Ceramics for the Archeologist (Carnegie Institution of Washington n° 609).

9. Birkhoff G. D. (1933). Aesthetic Measure (Harvard University Press).

10. Olsen, B. (2010). In defense of things: archaeology and the ontology of objects (AltaMira Press). https://doi.org/10.1093/jdh/ept014

11. Olsen, B., Shanks, M., Webmoor, T., Witmore, C. (2012). Archaeology: the discipline of things (University of California Press). https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520954007

12. Boissinot, P. (2011). “Comment sommes-nous déficients ?” in L’archéologie Comme Discipline ? (Le Seuil), pp. 265–308.

What is a form? On the classification of archaeological pottery.Philippe Boissinot<p>The main question we want to ask here concerns the application of philosophical considerations on identity about artifacts of a particular kind (pottery). The purpose is the recognition of types and their classification, which are two of the ma...Ceramics, Theoretical archaeologyShumon Tobias Hussain2022-12-13 15:04:45 View
09 Dec 2024
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Latest updates on the study of the Middle Palaeolithic Lithic assemblages of Cardina- Salto do Boi site (Côa Valley, Portugal)

Fresh insights into the Middle Paleolithic of the Côa Valley (Portugal) and the importance of quartz

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Marta Arzarello, Davide Delpiano and 1 anonymous reviewer

The Middle Palaeolithic period represents a crucial phase in the Prehistory of Europe, marked by the dominance of Neanderthal populations and their adaptive strategies. In Portugal, this period is characterized by a wealth of archaeological sites that provide valuable insights into the lifeways, technology, and environmental adaptations of its inhabitants (Aubry et al., 2011; J. L. Cardoso & Cascalheira, 2024; Cascalheira et al., 2022; Zilhão, 2001; Zilhão et al., 2021). One of the most significant is Gruta da Figueira Brava, located near the modern coastline: recent research has highlighted its role as a key site for understanding coastal adaptation by Neanderthals (Zilhão et al., 2020). Almonda Cave System is another pivotal area (Marks et al., 2001; Marks et al., 1994), offering a long stratigraphic sequence that includes Middle Palaeolithic layers . A prominent site is also and Foz do Enxarrique (Cunha et al., 2019), rich in lithic artifacts indicating a reliance on local hunting and foraging . The lithic technology of the Middle Palaeolithic in Portugal is largely characterized by the widespread use of the Levallois method, with variations reflecting local adaptations and raw material availability. Quartz, quartzite and flint were commonly used, indicating a strategic selection of materials based on functionality and proximity.

The Côa Valley, located in northern Portugal, is renowned for its rich archaeological record spanning from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Upper Palaeolithic (Aubry et al., 2012, 2016). The region’s significance lies not only in its rock art but also in its evidence of human occupation and technological development during the Pleistocene. Middle Palaeolithic sites in the Côa Valley are characterized by lithic assemblages associated with Neanderthal populations. These sites reveal a predominance of quartzite and flint tools, typical of Middle Palaeolithic technology. Excavations at sites like Cardina-Salto do Boi have uncovered stratified deposits with stone tools and faunal remains, shedding light on subsistence strategies and mobility patterns. As shown by the work presented by Patricia Ramos & Thierry Aubry, the tools from these layers exhibit a range of core reduction techniques, including Levallois flaking. The chosen approach for studying the lithic assemblage emphasizes the significance of raw materials in defining the technological behaviours employed by Neanderthal groups. Specifically, the study highlights the intensive use of quartz as a primary resource. The classification of different types of quartz, based on defined criteria and categories, reveals variations in material selection and technological practices across the analysed layers. This detailed analysis allows for a deeper interpretation of the technological strategies adopted by Neanderthal groups at the Cardina-Salto do Boi site. The work of Patricia Ramose and Thierry Aubry demonstrates how the Middle Palaeolithic record of the Côa Valley continues to provide interesting insights into Neanderthal life in the Iberian Peninsula. 

 

References

Aubry, T., Barbosa, A. F., Luís, L., Santos, A. T., and Silvestre, M. (2016). Quartz use in the absence of flint: Middle and Upper Palaeolithic raw material economy in the Côa Valley (North-eastern Portugal). Quaternary International, 424, 113–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.067

Aubry, T., Dimuccio, L. A., Almeida, M., Neves, M. J., Angelucci, D. E., and Cunha, L. (2011). Palaeoenvironmental forcing during the Middle–Upper Palaeolithic transition in central-western Portugal. Quaternary Research, 75, 66–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2010.11.002

Aubry, T., Luís, L., Llach, J. M., and Matias, H. (2012). We will be known by the tracks we leave behind: Exotic lithic raw materials, mobility and social networking among the Côa Valley foragers (Portugal). Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 31(4), 528–550. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2012.05.003

Cardoso, J. L., and Cascalheira, J. (2024). 40,000 years later: what we know about the presence of Neanderthals in Portuguese territory and their extinction. Academia das Ciências de Lisboa. https://doi.org/10.58164/qhdw-y588

Cascalheira, J., Gonçalves, C., and Maio, D. (2022). The spatial patterning of Middle Palaeolithic human settlement in westernmost Iberia. Journal of Quaternary Science, 37(2), 291–299. https://doi.org/10.1002/JQS.3286

Cunha, P. P., Martins, A. A., Buylaert, J. P., Murray, A. S., Gouveia, M. P., Font, E., Pereira, T., Figueiredo, S., Ferreira, C., Bridgland, D. R., Yang, P., Stevaux, J. C., and Mota, R. (2019). The lowermost Tejo River terrace at Foz do Enxarrique, Portugal: A palaeoenvironmental archive from c. 60–35 ka and its implications for the last Neanderthals in westernmost Iberia. Quaternary, 2(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/quat2010003

Marks, A. E., Bich, N., Ferring, C. R., and Zilhão, J. (1994). Upper pleistocene prehistory in portuguese estremadura: Results of preliminary research. Journal of Field Archaeology, 21(1), 53–68. https://doi.org/10.1179/JFA.1994.21.1.53

Marks, A., Monigal, K., and Zilhão, J. (2001). The lithic assemblages of the Late Mousterian at Gruta de Oliveira, Almonda, Portugal. Trabalhos de Arquelogia, 17, 145–154.

Patrícia O. S. Ramos, and Thierry J. Aubry (2024) Latest updates on the study of the Middle Palaeolithic Lithic assemblages of Cardina- Salto do Boi site (Côa Valley, Portugal) . OSF preprints, ver. 11 peer-reviewed and recommended by PCI Archaeology https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/s3jd2

Zilhão, J. (2001). Middle Paleolithic settlement patterns in Portugal. In N. Conard (Ed.), Settlement dynamics of the Middle Palaeolithic and Middle Stone Age (pp. 597–608). Kerns Verlag.

Zilhão, J., Angelucci, D. E., Araújo Igreja, M., Arnold, L. J., Badal, E., Callapez, P., Cardoso, J. L., d’Errico, F., Daura, J., Demuro, M., Deschamps, M., Dupont, C., Gabriel, S., Hoffmann, D. L., Legoinha, P., Matias, H., Monge Soares, A. M., Nabais, M., Portela, P., … Souto, P. (2020). Last Interglacial Iberian Neandertals as fisher-hunter-gatherers. Science, 367(6485). https://doi.org/10.1126/SCIENCE.AAZ7943

Zilhão, J., Angelucci, D. E., Arnold, L. J., d’Errico, F., Dayet, L., Demuro, M., Deschamps, M., Fewlass, H., Gomes, L., Linscott, B., Matias, H., Pike, A. W. G., Steier, P., Talamo, S., and Wild, E. M. (2021). Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal). PLoS ONE, 16(10 October). https://doi.org/10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0259089

 

Latest updates on the study of the Middle Palaeolithic Lithic assemblages of Cardina- Salto do Boi site (Côa Valley, Portugal) Patrícia O. S. Ramos, Thierry J. Aubry<p>Cardina-Salto do Boi (Guarda, Portugal) is one of the few studied sites with Middle Palaeolithic occupations in the Côa Valley. These span MIS 6 to MIS 3, which constitutes a favourable circumstance for studying dwelling dynamics diachronically...Lithic technology, Middle PalaeolithicSara Daffara2024-03-30 10:16:56 View
09 Oct 2024
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Experiences from the BItFROST Project: Developing a 3D repository at the Museum of Cultural History

Keeping 3D data usable - the BitFROST project

Recommended by ORCID_LOGO based on reviews by Alphaeus Lien-Talks and 1 anonymous reviewer

3D technologies are now standard methods for documenting artefacts and archaeological sites. In order to make the resulting digital cultural heritage accessible to current and future generations, a long-term approach to data management is required, with continuous adjustments and consideration of the changing needs of the users. This is the conclusion of the authors Bonelli and colleagues [1], who present a project in which such a holistic approach was applied in practice.

Introduced is the BitFROST platform (Bridging Research Across Heritage Studies) of the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo. This self-hosted platform has been in existence since 2021 and is dedicated to optimising the long-term storage and reuse of 3D data. The project arose from the museum's legal obligations and long tradition of keeping archaeological information usable. The platform was developed with explicit consideration of user feedback to fulfil the different expectations and needs at an early stage. The BitFROST project is therefore a wonderful illustration of how change management should be practised.

The article repeatedly provides brief insights into the functionalities and best practices of the platform but is particularly impressive due to its in-depth contextualisation within the state-of-the-art of digital data management. The authors show a high level of expertise and provide numerous references to further literature. The results of the user feedback are also extensively analysed, and it is explained how, for example, individual technical competence or institutional awareness lead to a great diversity of needs and how this can be counteracted with cooperation, ongoing training and continuous development (as mentioned above).

I recommend this article as a very interesting case study and a well-researched white paper on complex digital data management.

References

Bonelli L., Pantos G. A.s, Indgjerd H., Uleberg E. (2024) Experiences from the BItFROST Project. Zenodo, ver.5 peer-reviewed and recommended by PCI Archaeology https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8310062

Experiences from the BItFROST Project: Developing a 3D repository at the Museum of Cultural HistoryPantos George Alexis, Bonelli Letizia, Indgjerd Hallvard, Uleberg Espen<p>The Museum of Cultural History has been maintaining records and publishing its catalogues since the early 19th century. In recent years the institution has been working to improve data standardisation through adoption of common vocabularies, an...EuropeKristin Kruse2023-09-01 22:33:23 View