In prehistory

Carbon known as a substance in prehistory (charcoal, soot) but not recognized as an element until the second half of the eighteenth century. 

Cohen, M. (1977). The Food CaIsIs in Prehistory. New Haven Yale University Press. 

Wright, L.E. and Schwarcz, HP. 1998 Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in human tooth enamel identifying breastfeeding and weaning in prehistory. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 106 1-18. 

Burroughs, W. J. (2005), Climate Change in Prehistory The End of the Reign of Chaos, Cambridge Universtiy, Cambridge, UK. 

Dunnell, R. (1971), Systematics in Prehistory, The Free Press, New York. 

Mukherjee, A. J., Copley, M. S., Berstan, R. and Evershed, R. P. (2005) Interpretation of 813C values of fatty acids in relation to animal husbandry, food processing and consumption in prehistory. In The Zooarchaeology of Fats, Oils, Milk and Dairying (Eds Mulville, J. and Outram, A. K.), Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp. 77 92. 

The precise methods for the preparation of tar in prehistory are not well understood. Archaeological and documentary evidence exists for sophisticated and large-scale methods of manufacture in the Medieval period (Kurzweil and Todtenhaupt, 1991). A number of simpler methods involving heating in sealed pottery vessels have been proposed and tested (Kurzweil and Todtenhaupt, 1990). However, these processes would leave little trace in the archaeological... 

Baez, H., Castro, M.M., Benaventeb, M.A., Kintze, P., Cirimelee, V., Camargo, C. and Thomas, C. (2000). Drugs in prehistory chemical analysis of ancient human hair. Forensic Science International 108 173-179. 

Child, A.M., Gillard, R.D., Hardman, S.M., Pollard, A.M., Sutton, P.A. and Whittaker, D.K. (1993). Preliminary microbiological investigations of some problems relating to age at death determinations in archaeological teeth. In Archaeometry Current Australasian Research, ed. Fankhauser B.L. and Bird J.R., Occasional Papers in Prehistory, Australian National University, Canberra, pp. 85-90. 

The adventitious discovery, in prehistory, of the analgesic soporific and the euphoriant properties of the dried sap from the flower bulb of the poppy, papaver somnifemm, has been treated too often elsewhere to warrant repetition. By the nineteenth century organic chemistry had advanced far enough so that the active principle from opium had been isolated, purified, and crystallized. Increasing clinical use of this compound, morphine (1-1), and its naturally occurring methyl ether codeine (1-2) disclosed a host of side effects, the most daunting of which was, and stUl is, these compounds propensity for inducing physical dependence. 

Van Strydonck, M. Boudini, M. Ervynck, A. In World Islands in Prehistory. International Insular Investigations, V Deia Conference of Prehistory, Waldren, W. H., Ensenyat, J. A., Eds. British Archaeological Reports Oxford, 2002 Vol. 1095, pp 189-197. 

Helbaek, H. 1969. Plant collecting, dry-farming and irrigation agriculture in prehistoric Deh Luran. In Prehistory and Human Ecology of the Deh Lurah Plain, Memoirs of the Museum of Anthropology (F. Hole, K.V. Flannery, and J.F. Neely, eds), pp. 386-426. University of Michiagan, Ann Arbor, MI. 

Obsidian, a volcanic glass, is generally formed when volcanic lava comes in contact with water. Often the lava pours into a lake or an ocean and is cooled quickly. This process produces a glassy texture. Many studies are devoted to the determination of source sites as it is a very widespread material in prehistory used for tools [36]. Coote et at. [37] examined 120 specimens by means of proton-induced y-ray emission (PIGE) and found that the F/Na ratio is well suited to distinguish between different source sites. Melanesian obsidian was studied using the same method [38,67]. 

The vocation of shaman is found in nearly all archaic cultures, from the Australian aborigines to the Jivaro Indians of central Ecuador and Pern to the Yakut tribes of Siberia. It is believed to have originated among these Siberian peoples, though its diffusion into other cultures must have taken place very early in prehistory for, along with sorcerers, magicians, and priests, shamanism can be counted among the oldest of professions. 

Clay was commonly used for making pottery in prehistory. Silts are sometimes used in ceramics and are a basic component in building materials such as mud daub, mud bricks, adobe, and fired brick. Sods, soil, and other sediments were used in the construction of earthworks by prehistoric peoples for walls, tombs, and other monuments. For example, the early civilizations of China used rammed earth to build house foundations and enormous city walls. Silt was packed down in wood frames using heavy wooden rammers and layer after layer built up. Parts of the Great Wall of China were built using rammed earth more than 2,000 years ago and remain standing today. 

There are in fact four kinds of cannibalism recorded in archaeological remains. These include survival cannibalism in cases of extreme starvation, ritualized, saaifice-related cannibalism such as associated with the Aztec, reverential funerary cannihalisin, and warfare-driven cannibalism, such as that seen among the Anasazi Indians. There is in fact evidence for cannibahsm in almost every society and time period in prehistory. 

Fig. 8.9 An obsidian core and two blades. This glasslike stone produces very shatp edges and was a highly desired raw material in prehistory...

Flint A hard siliceous stone that breaks in predictable ways to produce sharp flakes, common raw material for stone tools in prehistory. 

Earle. Timothy K., and Jonathan E. Ericson (eds.) 1977. Exchange Systems in Prehistory. New York Academic Press. 

Weigand, P.C., G. Harbottle, and E.V. Sayre. 1977. Turqouise sources and source analysis in Mesoamerica and the Southwestern USA. In Exchange Systems in Prehistory, T.K Earle, and J.E. Ericson (eds.) New York Academic Press. 

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