Mark your calendars! Friday, April 17th, there are several sessions relating to E&SEA archaeology at the SAA meetings:
Use-wear, Experimental Archaeology, and Residue Analysis in the People’s Republic of China: A Session in Memory of George H. Odell
Room: Imperial Ballroom A
Time: 8:00am-11:15am
Chair: Geoffrey Cunnar and Qiang Wang
Abstract: This symposium is dedicated to the memory of George H. Odell and the influence his publications and friendship had on scholars around the world. The session’s focus is on the analysis of use-wear traces and residue traces on various artifact types from the Peoples Republic of China. A number of scholars have been engaged in these types of analyses and their methods and results will be of interest to the international community. The topic is not restricted to a particular artifact class. Therefore papers addressing use-wear and/or residue analysis on bone tools, ground stone tools, flaked stone tools, ornaments, ceramics and other artifact types are encouraged. Papers should strive to integrate the analysis into broader interpretations of meaning in terms of the organization of production, production technology, function, style, chaîne opératoire, craft specialization or other appropriate theoretical constructs. Analytical approaches utilizing ethnoarchaeological and or experimental archaeological approaches are encouraged. There are no restrictions on time period or geographical area. Papers ranging from the analysis of Home erectus remains to the Dynastic period are encouraged.
8:00 Residue Analysis in Chinese Paleolithic Studies: Perspectives and Case Studies (Ying Guan and Xing Gao)
8:15 Experimental Research Concerning the Production of Early Holocene Ostrich Shell Beads at the Shui Donggou Site, Ningxia, China (Chunxue Wang, Yinmin Yang, Chunxue Wang, Xing Gao and Ning Wang)
8:30 Analysis of Plant Micro-Botanical Remains from the Jiahu, Peiligang and Tanghu Sites in the Upper Reaches of the Huaihe River (Juzhong Zhang, Ling Yao, Yuzhang Yang and Weiya Li)
8:45 Use-Wear Analysis of Ground Stone Tools from the Jiahu Site (Qi-Long Cui, Juzhong Zhang and Yuzhang Yang)
9:00 Plant Resource Utilization at the Shunshanji Site in Jiangsu Province Based on the Analysis of Plant Remains (Yuzhang Yang, Weiya Li, Chenglong Yin, Zhijie Cheng and Juzhong Zhang)
9:15 The Diversity of Botanical Food of the Hemudu People: Evidence from an Examination of Food Residues in a Fu pot (Wei Ge and Weijin Huang)
9:30 The Kuahuqiao and Hemudu Bone Spades: Use Contexts and Beyond (Liye Xie, Leping Jiang and Weijin Huang)
9:45 Use-Wear Analysis on the Stone Tools from the Dongshancun Site (Zhuang Lina and Zhou Runken)
10:00 Ancient Human Herbivorous Diet Reflected by the Analysis of Starch Grains from the Xijincheng Site, Bo’ai County, Henan province, China (Qiang Wang, Dong Li, Qing Wang, Mingqi Li and Xiaoyan Yang)
10:15 Interpretation of Burial M33 at the Longshan Site of Liangchengzhen (Geoffrey Cunnar and Fengshi Luan)
10:30 An Experimental Study of Lithic Use-Wear Multi-stage Formation (Hong Chen, Xiaoling Zhang and Chen Shen)
10:45 Chen Shen (Discussant)
11:00 Li Liu (Discussant)
The Dynamism of Contact and Exchange in Early Central and East Asia
Room: Continental Ballroom Parlor 7
Time: 1:00pm-3:45pm
Chair: Andrew Womack and TzeHuey Chiou-Peng
Abstract: In recent years, an increasing number of new methods and analyses have been made available to assist in exploring issues pertaining to contact and exchange in the archaeological studies of the eastern Eurasian continent. Borderland and Frontier Studies, for instance, offer new ways of examining places where interaction and exchange created conditions that are neither exclusively of the steppe or sown. This in turn has led to the reassessment or abandonment of many paradigms that once dominated the archaeology of these regions. This session aims to bring together scholars working across regions such as these in Central and Eastern Asia. In looking at contact and exchange presenters in this session will not only focus on the movement of goods and raw materials, but will also explore spatial patterning in the transmission of ideas and technology, and the social behavior of objects throughout these regions during the prehistoric and early historic periods.
1:00 Why Moving Starch? Trans-Eurasian Exchange of Starchy Crops in Prehistory (Xinyi Liu)
1:15 Into the Distance: Initial Observations from the Dornod Mongol Survey (Joshua Wright, William Honeychurch and Amartuvshin Chunag)
1:30 Pastoral Communities Thrived in a Rocky Valley of the Tian-Shan Mountains—New Survey Results of the Dense Pastoralist Sites in the Mohuchahan Valley of Xinjiang, China (Yu Qi Li)
1:45 Local Communities in the Northeastern Frontier of the Central Plain during the Late Second and Early First Millennium BC (Yan Sun)
2:00 The Bead Strings with Jade Huang Pendents of the Zhou Period of China: Revived Tradition or Adopted Fashion (Tsuimei Huang)
2:15 Beauty and Adornment in Fertile Lands and Desert: Toiletries from Burials of Han China and Her Western Neighbors (Sheri Lullo)
2:30 Contact and Exchange in Northern China: A Case Study on the Tomb of a Zoroastrian Priest, Kang Ye (512-571 CE) (Mandy Jui-man Wu)
2:45 Territorial Barriers in Central Asia: Investigating the “Long Wall” of Bukhara (Uzbekistan), (Sören Stark)
3:00 Michael Frachetti (Discussant)
3:15 Katheryn Linduff (Discussant)
3:30 Questions and Answers
Cross-cultural Encounters/Entanglements in Island Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific
Room: Continental Ballroom Parlor 8
Time: 1:00pm-4:15pm
Chair: Stephen Acabado
Abstract: Cultures in island Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific had intense encounters with neighboring groups as well as with European colonizers through time. These interactions had both benign and hostile aspects. For the islands in insular Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific, these interactions have shaped the history and identity of the peoples who inhabit the region. This session aims to discuss the archaeological signatures that have implications in how we understand the complex cross cultural interactions in this part of the world. We solicit submissions of papers that deal with Neolithic migrations, Islamization, pre-colonial slavery and trade, European encounters, and highland-lowland contacts.
1:00 Investigating Social Practices, Community and Interaction in the Philippine Islands during the Metal Age (Sandy De Leon)
1:15 Evidence of Precolonial Cosmology from the Philippines (Grace Barretto-Tesoro)
1:30 Negotiating Power at the Spanish-Philippine Frontier: What Evidence of Indigenous Prestige Economies Reveals about Indigenous-Colonial Interaction (Cecilia Smith)
1:45 Early Spanish Colonialism in Manila: A Historical Archaeology Viewpoint (Ellen Hsieh)
2:00 Islamic Trade and Entrepots in the Second Millennium Philippines Archipelago (John Peterson)
2:15 Early Maritime Involvement of Butuan with Other Southeast Asian Polities and China (Mary Jane Louise Bolunia, Rey Santiago and Alfredo Orogo)
2:30 In Search of Southeast Asia’s trade network: Comparative Ceramic Analysis (Jared Koller and Kaoru Ueda)
2:45 Prehistoric Mobility and Population Movements in Palau: New Data from aDNA and Stable Isotope (Sr, Pb) Analysis (Scott Fitzpatrick, Jessica Stone, Justin Tackney, John Krigbaum and Greg Nelson)
3:00 Ending the Antiquity Debates: The “Short History” Model of the Ifugao Rice Terraces, Philippines (Mikhail Echavarri and Stephen Acabado)
3:15 Rice Terraces as Defensive Structures: Landscape Modeling in Hapao, Ifugao (Wolfgang Alders and Jared Koller)
3:30 Global Connections: Beads and the Interaction Network of the Ifugao, Cordillera, Philippines (Madeleine Yakal and Jacy Moore)
3:45 Infant Health and Burial Practices in Late Prehistoric and Contact Period Kiyyangan, Ifugao (Adam Lauer and Alexandra McDougle)
4:00 Questions and Answers
Evolution and Ecology in Oceania
Room: Continental Parlor 1
Time: 1:00pm-4:00pm
Chair: Robert DiNapoli and Alex Morrison
Abstract: The diverse islands of Oceania are model locations for the study of human ecology and evolution. This session addresses the dynamic interaction between the prehistoric inhabitants of Oceania and their island environments. Papers in this session will address theoretical and substantive issues from a range of ecological and evolutionary approaches. We also welcome submissions with a focus on new methods used to address ecological and evolutionary questions. These may include, but are not limited to, geospatial techniques, genetics, geochemical and isotopic methods, paleoecological techniques, and simulation modeling. Geographically, the papers in the session will encompass the whole of Oceania. Session contributions will explore a variety of topics across diverse island ecosystems, for example, responses to climate change, social network and community analysis, human impacts on island environments, socio-cultural evolution, cultural transmission, niche construction, and settlement and mobility. Synthesis and review papers are also welcome.
1:00 Prehistoric Fishing Declines at Chelechol ra Orrak, Palau: Resolving Issues of Anthropogenic Impacts and Long-Term Resource Sustainability (Christina Giovas, Scott Fitzpatrick, Osamu Kataoka and Meagan Clark)
1:15 Artifact Networks, Cultural Transmission, and Polynesian Settlement (John O’Connor)
1:30 Despotism, Cooperation, and the Evolution of Social Hierarchy in Prehistoric Hawai‘I (Robert DiNapoli)
1:45 The View from Rapa: Behavioral Ecology and Fortifications in Polynesia (Brian Lane)
2:00 The Evolution of “hyper-locality” on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) (Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo)
2:15 Agent Based Modeling (ABM) Approaches to Understanding Prehistoric Forager Ecology in Tokelau (Darby Filimoehala)
2:30 Modeling Climate Impacts and Human Predation on Marine Populations Using Prey Age Profiles: An Agent Based Model (Christopher Filimoehala, Alex Morrison and Melinda Allen)
2:45 Developing a Microfossil Key for Fiji from Modern Herbarium Specimens (Rebecca Hazard and John Dudgeon)
3:00 Ring Graph Analyses of Early Communities on Rapa Nui Measuring the Distribution of Stone-lined Earth Ovens (umu) (Damion Sailors)
3:15 Examining The Temporal Scale of Human-Environmental Relationships on Ofu Island, Manu‘a Group, American Samoa (Seth Quintus and Jeffrey Clark)
3:30 Further evidence for a Terrestrial-Focused Protein Diet in Prehistoric Rapa Nui (John Dudgeon, Rebecca Hazard and Amy Commendador)
3:45 Prehistoric Diet on Rapa Nui via Stable Isotope Analyses of Bone Collagen and Carbonate (Amy Commendador, John Dudgeon and Bruce Finney)