Yesterday's issue of Science reports on finds on California's Northern Channel Islands pointing to early seafaring and a diversified maritime economy of West Coast Paleoindians:
Three archaeological sites on California’s Channel Islands show that Paleoindians relied heavily on marine resources. The Paleocoastal sites, dated between ~12,200 and 11,200 years ago, contain numerous stemmed projectile points and crescents associated with a variety of marine and aquatic faunal remains. At site CA-SRI-512 on Santa Rosa Island, Paleocoastal peoples used such tools to capture geese, cormorants, and other birds, along with marine mammals and finfish. At Cardwell Bluffs on San Miguel Island, Paleocoastal peoples collected local chert cobbles, worked them into bifaces and projectile points, and discarded thousands of marine shells. With bifacial technologies similar to those seen in Western Pluvial Lakes Tradition assemblages of western North America, the sites provide evidence for seafaring and island colonization by Paleoindians with a diversified maritime economy.
Through Talking Alaska I learned of the discovery of a very old burial in Alaska, announced last week by the University of Alaska Fairbanks:
A newly excavated archaeological site in Alaska contained the cremated remains of one of the earliest inhabitants of North America. The site may provide rare insights into the burial practices of Ice Age people and shed new light on their daily lives.
A recent discovery at the archaeological site of Espíritu Pampa, Vilcabamba, in the Cuzco region, was announced by the Peruvian Ministry of Culture. Archaeologists uncovered tombs containing items with Wari as well as Nazca characteristics.
Espíritu Pampa is located in the high jungle northwest of Cuzco. The site was known tot the Spaniards as Vilcabamba Viejo, and is also called the last stronghold of the Incas, since this is were the last Inca ruler Tupac Amaru was captured in 1572.
The Washington Post writes "Scientists find evidence discrediting theory Amazon was virtually unlivable", discussing some archaeological research that supports the idea that large populations who adapted their environment lived in the pre-Columbian Amazon rain forest. It's a good thing research like this is brought to the attention of the general public.
An interesting article by a Peruvian/American team of archaeologists/ethnohistorians was published online this week in American Anthropologist : Traces of a Lost Language and Number System Discovered on the North Coast of Peru. The abstract reads:
The New York Times reports on important advances in Maya archaeology. Arlen and Diane Chase, anthropologists at the University of Central Florida, used LIDAR to map the area of the Classic Maya city Caracol in Belize.
Tuesday, 27 April, 2010 to Thursday, 29 April, 2010
Next week the Archaeological-Anthropological and Linguistic Focus on the Americas (ALFA) congress will be held in Leiden. There will be presentations given by scholars and PhD students, on a variety of topics ranging from monumental stone sculptures in Nicaragua to Mapuche derivational morphology. There's also a masterclass by Jesper Nielsen on Iconography of Religious Narrative, and a film cycle on indigenous culture in Mexican cinema. See the attached program for details.
A recent discovery at the archaeological site of Espíritu Pampa, Vilcabamba, in the Cuzco region, was announced by the Peruvian Ministry of Culture. Archaeologists uncovered tombs containing items with Wari as well as Nazca characteristics.