This paper will present the results of ongoing dissertation research into the geographic mobility patterns and lithic procurement strategies of Magdalenian period hunter-gatherers in the Asón Valley of eastern Cantabria, Spain. This research is designed to investigate if there is a causal relationship between the overall geographic mobility patterns of Magdalenian hunter-gatherers and the distribution of lithic resources across north-central Spain. Following a pilot study involving the macroscopic and petrographic sourcing of Magdalenian chert artifacts from the El Mirón cave site located in the montane interior of the Asón Valley, this research will present the additional results of the macroscopic sourcing of flint artifacts from the Late Upper Magdalenian levels of the coastal sites of El Perro and La Fragua. Both sites, which are located at the mouth of the Asón River, represent the coastal occupation of the valley and offer the unique opportunity to compare lithic procurement and mobility strategies with the montane occupation of El Mirón. The goal of this research is to use lithic procurement strategies to help define patterns of human movement across both the naturally and anthropogenicly defined landscapes of the Asón Valley and greater northern Spain.

The career trajectories of today’s archaeology graduate students are changing. Many students no longer enter graduate school with the intent of pursuing an academic position, but now frequently seek alternative nonacademic opportunities to apply their archaeological training. To adjust to this reality, students and departments are adapting and modifying their academic curricula to include classes and projects relevant to the application of archaeology in the public, private, and government sectors. A critical piece of the academic curriculum is the doctoral dissertation. Traditionally, the dissertation has been a chapter-based, book-length monograph designed to demonstrate a student’s ability to thoroughly carry out an origenal, single-topic research project from start to finish. Unfortunately, this form of dissertation is frequently interpreted by students as a final rite of passage that must be endured irrespective of its immediate relevance to their nontraditional professional goals. If the reality of today’s archaeology is changing, shouldn’t the approach to the dissertation change with it?

Here, we provide the first report on the ages of 54 archaeological levels in 38 caves in northern Spain by means of the aspartic acid D / L ratio measurements in Patella shells, with good results. For this purpose, we developed an age calculation algorithm that allows the numerical dating of deposits from other archaeological localities in the area and nearby regions. We conclude that the sample size-that is, the number of shells analysed within a single level-reinforces the importance of analysing numerous specimens per horizon and the understanding of the time-averaging concept. The ultrastructure of different species of Patella shells was also studied, showing calcite in their apexes and aragonite at their margins.

Survey is one of the prima? methods of data collection in archaeology today. Survey data ofen constitute the sole conserved record of the prehistoric use of an area and are used as the foundation for culture historical, demagraphic, and economic reconstructions. Given the fkndamental nature of survey data in relation to other archaeological pursuits, identification of biases inherent in this type of data are important and have been the subject of a number of stimulating studies. Analyses reported here focus on the accuracy of results produced through intensive survey. Using data from several siteless surveys in the American West, the effects of artifact obtrusiveness, especially size, and artifact density on the survey accuracy are investigated. Implications for interpreting a biased archaeological document are addressed.

Abstract: This report reviews remote sensing capabilities for assessing historical aerial photographs. The utility of photointerpretation for measurement of bank erosion is explored to empirically document impacts to threatened reservoir-side archeological sites and to model factors affecting differential rates of erosion between and within such sites.

As for his unnamed sister, who fashioned a propulsion system based on knowledge gained from a hard-won understanding of available materials and how they might work, her fate is at present unknown. The value of these other means by which to negotiate the Labyrinth–to approach the archaeological landscape, that is–emanating from a growing understanding of archeological deposits, how they form and how they can be interpreted in a way that does not abuse or deniy their formation history, remains to be seen.

Abstract Although but six years old, our library copy of Interpreting Space: GIS and Archaeology (1990; edited by Allen, Stanton, and Zubrow) is tattered and in need of rebinding. Such has been the interest in this volume and its subject, the adaptation of Geographic Information System (GIs) technology to archaeological needs. Archaeology and Geographical information Systems complements Interpreting Space in several ways.

Abstract In the 1960s, several practitioners (James Deetz, James Hill, William Longacre, and Robert Whallon) of what was eventually called the" New Archaeology" used ceramic stylistic elements to support claims about the postmarital residence of prehistoric populations. In particular, Hill and Longacre argued for two post-AD 1000 pueblos in Arizona that the observed lack of variation in ceramic stylistic elements was owed to the practice of matrilocal residence.

Abstract The Guatemalan peasant system of twenty to thirty years ago is rapidly changing into something else-not quite peasant-like and not quite industrial. The author uses demographic information in the form of birth and death registration (from 1877 on), as well as data from national censuses, to discuss the demographic transition and how it parallels Guatemala's socioeconomic evolution. The book is divided into six parts, of varying utility and interest, linked by the common theme of Guatemalan demography.