Geo-Ethnoarchaeology of Pastoral Sites: The Identification of Livestock Enclosures in Abandoned Maasai Settlements
Geo-Ethnoarchaeology of Pastoral Sites: The Identification of Livestock Enclosures in Abandoned Maasai Settlements
复制标题
DOI：
10.1006/jasc.2002.0853
复制
发表时间：
2003-04
影响因子：
2.8
通讯作者：
R. Shahack‐Gross;F. Marshall;S. Weiner
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
R. Shahack‐Gross;F. Marshall;S. Weiner
非洲最早的粮食生产者是流动的牧民，他们留下了有限的考古痕迹。因此，研究该地区粮食生产传播的考古学家很难区分早期的牧民和与他们交往的狩猎采集者。这项地理民族考古学研究通过识别牲畜圈地的沉积物以及牧区的独特沉积物，有助于解决该问题。在目前有人居住和最近废弃的马赛牲畜围场内及其周围采集了沉积物样本，年龄从 1 到 40 年不等。场地废弃二十至三十年后，围护结构和区域沉积物之间没有明显差异。然而，对围护沉积物的微形态、矿物学和植硅体分析可以将围护沉积物与区域沉积物区分开来。我们的结果表明，独特的起伏微层状结构是围护沉积物的特色。围场沉积物，尤其是少量沉积物，还含有稀有矿物一水方解石 (CaCO3·H2O)。此外，在相对于区域沉积物的围护结构中还发现了大量以植硅体形式存在的蛋白石（SiO2·nH2O）。这些差异可能会保留在考古记录中，这种方法将有助于更好地了解畜牧业在非洲和其他地方的传播。
The earliest food producers in Africa were mobile pastoralists who left limited archaeological traces. As a result archaeologists studying the spread of food production in the region have difficulty distinguishing early pastoralists from hunter-gatherers with whom they interacted. This geo-ethnoarchaeological study contributes to the resolution of the problem through identification of sediments distinctive of livestock enclosures, and thus of pastoral settlements. Sediments were sampled in and around currently occupied and recently abandoned Maasai livestock enclosures ranging in age between one and 40 years. Twenty to thirty years after site abandonment, there is no visible difference between enclosure and regional sediments. Micromorphological, mineralogical, and phytolith analyses, of enclosure sediments, however, allow differentiation of enclosure from regional sediments. Our results show that a unique undulating microlaminated structure is distinctive of enclosure sediments. Enclosure sediments, especially small stock, also contain a rare mineral, monohydrocalcite (CaCO3 . H2O). In addition, large amounts of opal (SiO2 . nH2O), in the form of phytoliths, are found in enclosure relative to regional sediments. These differences are likely to be preserved in the archaeological record, and this approach will allow better understanding of the spread of pastoralism in Africa and elsewhere.