Arlene Rosen

Followers

Following

Public Views

Interests

Uploads

Papers by Arlene Rosen

Les fouilles de Ain Mallaha (Eynan) de 2003 à 2005 : quatrième rapport préliminaire

This paper reports on the three seasons of excavations conducted at Eynan (Ain Mallaha) from 2003... more This paper reports on the three seasons of excavations conducted at Eynan (Ain Mallaha) from 2003 to 2005. It is also aimed at recording the laboratory work that took place since the last report published (Valla et al. 2004). Following the presentation of new '4C dates, the paper describes Early Natufian burials (Locus 239), one of which includes two decorated skeletons in a plastered grave. The next sections are devoted to analyses of Final Natufian findings. Because most of the sequence inside each excavated structure is now known, special interest is devoted to the succession of the phases in their occupation. This results in a dynamic vision, which suggests that some buildings (possibly houses) were used intermittently, whereas others may have been occupied on a more continuous basis. Among new features uncovered during those last seasons, a fire pit in structure 228 and a structure that includes a deep mortar in working position are worth mentioning. New graves are describe...

Download

Palm springs on the Rio Grande: Insight into Archaic forager plant use from phytoliths recovered from a Late Holocene alluvial section in northern New Mexico

PLOS ONE, 2021

In this study we present new evidence from phytolith studies for the presence ofSabal sp. (likely... more In this study we present new evidence from phytolith studies for the presence ofSabal sp. (likelyminor), an allochthonous plant, around Tesuque Creek in northern New Mexico during the early part of the Late Holocene, in the vicinity of known Late Archaic hunter-gatherer communities using the area at that time. We analyzed phytoliths from sediments taken from an alluvial section on the east side of Tesuque Creek dating to c. 3600–2400 cal. BP. The phytoliths demonstrated a change over time from a succulent dominated landscape to a shrubby one, with the later introduction of high densities of palmetto phytoliths associated with marshy deposits and adjacent burn levels. This evidence suggests a more diverse resource landscape available to local hunter-gatherer groups than previously understood, and may have implications for the early management of microenvironments, plant communities. This evidence demonstrates the value of phytolith analysis from alluvial sections for understanding hu...

Download

Emergence of corpse cremation during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Southern Levant: A multidisciplinary study of a pyre-pit burial

PLOS ONE, 2020

Renewed excavations at the Neolithic site of Beisamoun (Upper Jordan Valley, Israel) has resulted... more Renewed excavations at the Neolithic site of Beisamoun (Upper Jordan Valley, Israel) has resulted in the discovery of the earliest occurrence of an intentional cremation in the Near East directly dated to 7031-6700 cal BC (Pre-Pottery Neolithic C, also known as Final PPNB, which spans ca. 7100-6400 cal BC). The funerary treatment involved in situ cremation within a pyre-pit of a young adult individual who previously survived from a flint projectile injury. In this study we have used a multidisciplinary approach that integrates archaeothanatology, spatial analysis, bioanthropology, zooarchaeology, soil micromorphological analysis, and phytolith identification in order to reconstruct the different stages and techniques involved in this ritual: cremation pit construction, selection of fuel, possible initial position of the corpse, potential associated items and funerary containers, fire management, post-cremation gesture and structure abandonment. The origins and development of cremation practices in the region are explored as well as their significance in terms of Northern-Southern Levantine connections during the transition between the 8th and 7th millennia BC.

Download

Deir el-Balah: A Geological, Archaeological, and Historical Reassessment of an Egyptianizing 13th and 12th Century B.C.E. Center

Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 2006

Page 1. Deir el-Balah: A Geological, Archaeological, and Historical Reassessment of an Egyptianiz... more

The earliest Bronze Age culture of the south-eastern Gobi Desert, Mongolia

Antiquity, 2019

Download

Mongolian “Neolithic” and Early Bronze Age ground stone tools from the northern edge of the Gobi Desert

Journal of Lithic Studies, 2016

The transition from the Mongolian Neolithic to the Bronze Age is not well understood. Within Ikh ... more The transition from the Mongolian Neolithic to the Bronze Age is not well understood. Within Ikh Nart Nature Reserve, over a period of five years, we identified a number of sites with dense surface artefact scatters and features that seem to represent this transition period. Evident in those concentrations are characteristic microblade cores, microblades, “thumbnail" flake scrapers, projectile points, ground stone tools, and stone features of unknown function. Between 2012 and 2014 we collected ground stone artefacts from four sites and sediment samples from three sites. With permission of Mongolian authorities, the artefacts from one site and sediment samples from three sites were sent for botanical analyses to the University of Texas, Austin, Environmental Archaeology Laboratory. Preliminary results indicate that plant remains are present on the ground stone artefacts: dendritic long-cells from a deep pore of one artefact and starch grains from the pores of six of the seven a...

Download

Introduction to the Special Issue 'The Anthropocene in the Longue Duree

The Holocene, 2015

Download

Modifying the marsh: Evaluating Early Epipaleolithic hunter-gatherer impacts in the Azraq wetland, Jordan

The Holocene, 2015

The ecological impacts of human activities have infiltrated the whole of the ‘natural world’ and ... more The ecological impacts of human activities have infiltrated the whole of the ‘natural world’ and precipitated calls for a newly defined geological epoch – the Anthropocene. While scholars discuss tipping-points and scale, viewed over the longue durée, it is becoming clear that we have inherited the compounding consequences of a constructed environment with a long history of human landscape modification. By linking phytolith and micro-charcoal evidence from sediments in the Azraq Basin, Jordan, we discuss potential Early Epipaleolithic (23,000–17,400 cal. BP) human–environment interactions in this wetland. Our analyses reveal that during the Last Glacial Maximum, Levantine hunter-gatherers could have had a noticeable and increasing impact on their environment. However, further work needs to be undertaken to assess the range, frequency, intensity, and intentionality of marsh disturbance events. We suggest that the origin of ‘persistent places’ and larger aggregation settlements in the...

Download

Environmental and cultural change in the Yiluo basin, east-central China

Archaeology International, 2001

New arch aeological discoveries in Hen an Province south of the Huanghe (Yellow) River are reveal... more

Download

Macro-Economic Cycles Related to Climate change in Dynastic China

Quaternary Research, 2015

Investigations of the relationships between climate and human history often place more emphasis o... more Investigations of the relationships between climate and human history often place more emphasis on the science of climate change than on understanding human socio-economic processes, and therefore suffer from superficial results and an unbalanced perspective. This is partly due to the lack of high-resolution data concerning long-term socio-economic processes. Here, we base our study of climate and society on a series of 2130-yr-long economic proxy data from China with decadal resolution. The economy was associated significantly with temperature and precipitation at the two predominant bands of 100 and 320 yr. The phase transition of economic states was influenced positively by long-term temperature change combined with triggering effects of short-term changes in precipitation. However, climatic impact on economy should not be recognized as simple causality but some driving-response relation coupled with meditation by human agency at multiple scales. A model of ‘adaptive cycles’ impl...

Download

Early Bronze Age Tel Erani: An Environmental Perspective

Tel Aviv: Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University, 1991

An understanding of the environmental context is a necessary component in the study of ancient so... more An understanding of the environmental context is a necessary component in the study of ancient societies. Climatic conditions and the surrounding landscape played a critical role in pre-industrial economies, influencing agricultural yield, available resources, and in some cases technological change. Therefore, at any given site, it is important to reconstruct the physical landscape and climate, which were often quite different from those of the present day This is especially true for the Chalcolithic period and Early Bronze Age in the Near East which straddle the transition between the lusher environments of the early Holocene and the modern desiccation of the later Holocene. A geoarchaeological study was undertaken at Tel Erani during the 1987 excavation season in order to reconstruct the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age environment and agricultural opportunities in the immediate vicinity of the site. In addition, micro artefacts from living-floor sediments were analyzed for information on building functions and site formation processes.

Phytolith Evidence for Cereal Cultivation at Horvat Galil and Nahal Beset

Tel Aviv: Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University, 1997

Les sites neolithiques de Galilee sont connus pour leurs phytolithes abondantes et bien conservee... more Les sites neolithiques de Galilee sont connus pour leurs phytolithes abondantes et bien conservees provenant de feuilles, de tiges, de balles et d'enveloppes d'herbes (dont des cereales), de roseaux et de palmiers. Etant donne que ces sites n'ont livre que peu d'echantillons de restes macro-botaniques, l'analyse des phytolithes peut largement contribuer a l'etude paleobotanique de cette periode. Une etude d'essai a ete conduite sur les sites PPNB de Horvat Galil et de Nahal Beset. Les resultats obtenus doivent cependant etre confirmes par l'analyse d'un plus grand nombre d'echantillons.

Earliest floral grave lining from 13,700–11,700-y-old Natufian burials at Raqefet Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013

Flowering plants possess mechanisms that stimulate positive emotional and social responses in hum... more Flowering plants possess mechanisms that stimulate positive emotional and social responses in humans. It is difficult to establish when people started to use flowers in public and ceremonial events because of the scarcity of relevant evidence in the archaeological record. We report on uniquely preserved 13,700–11,700-y-old grave linings made of flowers, suggesting that such use began much earlier than previously thought. The only potentially older instance is the questionable use of flowers in the Shanidar IV Neanderthal grave. The earliest cemeteries ( ca . 15,000–11,500 y ago) in the Levant are known from Natufian sites in northern Israel, where dozens of burials reflect a wide range of inhumation practices. The newly discovered flower linings were found in four Natufian graves at the burial site of Raqefet Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel. Large identified plant impressions in the graves include stems of sage and other Lamiaceae ( Labiatae ; mint family) or Scrophulariaceae (figwort fami...

Download

BA" Guide to Artifacts: Microartifacts and the Study of Ancient Societies

The Biblical Archaeologist, 1991

ABSTRACT Artifacts like amphorae, terracottas, inscribed bowls and structural remains garner much... more ABSTRACT Artifacts like amphorae, terracottas, inscribed bowls and structural remains garner much attention from archaeologists, who learn much about the history of a particular site and era from these relics. Often overlooked, however, are microartifacts, or pebble- and sand-sized artifactual remains. Microartifacts are a great source of information about building functions, the delineation of activity areas and the processes involved in site formation.

Middle Paleolithic Behavioral Organization: 1993 Excavation of Tor Faraj, Southern Jordan

Journal of Field Archaeology, 1996

Page 1. Middle Paleolithic Behavioral Organization: 1993 Excavation of Tor Faraj, Southern Jordan... more

Identifying Ancient Irrigation: a New Method Using Opaline Phytoliths from Emmer Wheat

Journal of Archaeological Science, 1994

ABSTRACT A vital factor in the rise of the first state societies is the development of complex fa... more ABSTRACT A vital factor in the rise of the first state societies is the development of complex farming systems employing labour-intensive irrigation. Ancient irrigation is, however, difficult to recognize archaeologically. Here we report a new method for identifying ancient irrigation based on recognizing the increased deposition of silica in irrigated cereals. Our experiments showed that emmer wheat grown with irrigation in semi-arid plots produced phytoliths with greater numbers of silicified cells per phytolith than wheat that was dry-farmed. The presence of such large multi-celled phytoliths in semi-arid archaeological sites can be used as evidence for prehistoric irrigation.

The Social Response to Environmental Change in Early Bronze Age Canaan

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 1995

... 1 shows locations of sites mentioned in the text) (Kempinski 1978, 1989; Esse 1989, 1991; Fin... more

[Special section on the Yiluo project] THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPLEX SOCIETIES IN CHINA: A STUDY FROM THE HUIZUI SITE

Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association, 2007

Download

The geoarchaeology of Holocene environments and land use at Kazane Höyük, S.E. Turkey

Geoarchaeology, 1997

Geoarchaeological investigations at Kazane Höyük, SE Turkey demonstrate a record of Holocene envi... more

Climate change, adaptive cycles, and the persistence of foraging economies during the late Pleistocene/Holocene transition in the Levant

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Jan 6, 2012

Climatic forcing during the Younger Dryas (∼12.9-11.5 ky B.P.) event has become the theoretical b... more Climatic forcing during the Younger Dryas (∼12.9-11.5 ky B.P.) event has become the theoretical basis to explain the origins of agricultural lifestyles in the Levant by suggesting a failure of foraging societies to adjust. This explanation however, does not fit the scarcity of data for predomestication cultivation in the Natufian Period. The resilience of Younger Dryas foragers is better illustrated by a concept of adaptive cycles within a theory of adaptive change (resilience theory). Such cycles consist of four phases: release/collapse (Ω); reorganization (α), when the system restructures itself after a catastrophic stimulus through innovation and social memory--a period of greater resilience and less vulnerability; exploitation (r); and conservation (K), representing an increasingly rigid system that loses flexibility to change. The Kebarans and Late Natufians had similar responses to cold and dry conditions vs. Early Natufians and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A responses to warm an...

Download

Arlene Rosen

Uploads

Papers by Arlene Rosen

Log In