Prehistoric people

Carbon Blacks. Carbon black is one of the oldest pigments known. It was used by prehistoric peoples for painting pictures on cave walls, and commercially produced by the Chinese as early as 3000 BC. 

Bones of 19 individuals were analyzed for strontium, rubidium and zinc. The number of samples was limited by the availability of bone after the stable isotope analyses were completed. Strontium was analyzed in order to test for trophic level, and to compare to other results obtained in the region on prehistoric peoples (Katzenberg 1984). Rubidium is not expected in human bone, so its presence acts as a measure of contamination. The use of zinc as a paleodi-etary indicator has been questioned recently (Ezzo 1994) and we were interested to see if there was any relationship between zinc content in food and bone. 

The existence and use of batteries is thought to have roots in prehistoric times, whereby, through archeological discoveries, it was discovered that prehistoric people had created an electrochemical cell that would qualify, under today s definition, as a battery. A curiosity found in Baghdad in 1932 was probably representative of battery technology dating as far back as 2500 years.1 Such a primitive... 

DI-MS using El was applied to the characterisation of natural substances in ancient adhesives to obtain molecular information on these substances in order to identify them [19]. DI-MS has considerable potential for extending the knowledge of the various natural resources used by prehistoric people for making adhesives. 

The use of color by prehistoric peoples was also addressed in Willoughby s discussion of textiles found at the Mississippian temple mound sites of Etowah, Georgia and Spiro, Oklahoma (colored textiles. Kuttruff proposed that the complexity of these textiles including the colored patterning and design motifs is indicative of sophisticated artisanship and status differences that were expressed through clothing (73), but her study did not involve the identification of colorant types. Saltzman (14) identified madder as the dye plant that had been used to color some of the Spiro textiles. 

While some of the Mississippian textiles are of similar structure to the Middle Woodland textiles, others are very complex materials and are lace-like in appearance. Many of the materials from Etowah are preserved by mineralization, and display green-colored deposits on their surfaces. Bast fiber, rabbit hair, and feathers have been identified (2, 11). The textiles from these two sites selected for analysis are representative of the complexity of structure and fineness of yarns seen in the materials they provide evidence of the sophisticated technology of prehistoric people in all phases of fiber collection, processing, yarn spinning, fabric manufacture and, when present, coloration. 

The sources of obsidian exploited by prehistoric peoples were almost entirely restricted to more recent volcanic eruptions due to the hydration process. Few obsidian sources are greater than 10 million years old, and many are less than 100,000 years of age. In addition to the Andes Mountains of South America, obsidian is found in the Mediterranean, Turkey, Africa, central Europe, central Mexico, western United States, Alaska, Japan, and the islands of the South Pacific. 

Jugs that held beer and wine have been found dating back to 3500 b.c. It was easy enough for prehistoric peoples to make alcohol. Mixtures of water and berries left alone in the sun turned into alcohol. Alcohol had its medicinal qualities as well. It was used as a disinfectant, to stimulate the flow of milk in nursing mothers, and to remedy a variety of illnesses. 

One aspect of this project is the analysis of the stone tools and manufacturing debris recovered from excavated sites. In addition to standard typological and attribute analysis, a program of identification and source determination for lithic materials using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and petrography was carried out. The purpose of this research program was to provide insights into questions about ancient human behavior Where, when, why, and how did prehistoric peoples use the natural resources in their environs (2) ... 

Ambler, J. R. The Anasazi Prehistoric People of the Four Corners Region Museum of Northern Arizona Flagstaff, AZ, 1977. 

Types of twined fabric structures composed of bast or phloem fibers and feathers were identified in prehistoric fabrics of southeastern North America by chemical and physical analyses and technical fabrication studies. Fabrics and either partially or completely mineralized pseudomorphs after fabric from the Tunacunnhee and Etowah sites in Georgia (dated respectively A.D. 150 95 years and about A.D. 1200) were examined. The work confirms the presence of at least two types of twined structures for the earlier Hopewell site and intricately constructed re-plied yarns and twined fabric for the later Mississippian one. The study of fabrics from both sites provides evidence of the kinds of materials produced and used by prehistoric peoples of the region during a 1000-year interlude. 

Although both sites are in the same geographic area (Figure 1), they differ greatly in age and cultural expression. The Tunacunnhee site, dated A.D. 150 95 years, represents the Hopewell tradition (I), whereas Etowah, in use between A.D. 900 and A.D. 1400, is considered to be of the Middle Mississippian period (7). Taken together, the two sites and their fabrics provide evidence of the kinds of materials produced and used by certain prehistoric people of the region. Both sites are expressions of major cultural traditions in southeastern North America, and both contain direct fabric evidence. These facts underscore the importance of... 

The second example appears to be the same octagonal openwork as seen on the fabric bundle. It certainly resembles more closely the section of the Etowah bundle than other schematic illustrations (9,12,16). The intricately structured fabric bundle remains an example of high achievement in fabrics of the prehistoric peoples of southeastern North America. 

It is evident from the work completed, however, that direct fabric evidence, whether fabric or pseudomorph after fabric, contains much data about prehistoric fabrics of southeastern North America. The information gleaned from their study can be used to reconstruct the cultural implications of fabric manufacture and use among the prehistoric peoples of the region. 

Leather is also a natural material whose modem day use ranges from the mundane to, shall we say, the exotic. (Googling leather, not to mention nylon, quickly gets you to the far comers of the web.) Prehistoric peoples used the skins of animals to protect their bodies from the elements, but after a relatively short period of time the skins would have decayed and rotted away. At some unknown point in history, it was discovered that the bark of certain trees (containing tannin or tannic acid) could be used to convert raw skins into what we recognize today as leather. The Iceman" discovered in the Italian Alps several years ago, dating from at least 5,000 BC, was clothed in very durable leather. 

An area of human nutrition that promises to benefit from stable carbon isotope techniques is paleonutrition, or the study of past diets. Until recently, methods of studying diets of prehistoric people were based largely on the recovery of fragile and poorly preserved plant and animal... 

Despite its harsh arctic and subarctic climate, the coast of present-day Labrador has been the home of peoples from several cultural traditions for over 7000 years. Most of the archaeological evidence— the tools and implements left by the prehistoric inhabitants of this area— consists of a variety of lithic (rock) artifacts. The variety of naturally occurring lithic materials utilized indicates that these prehistoric peoples were keen observers of their environment. As in many other parts of the world, the Indian and Eskimo peoples along the Labrador coast found and used the relatively soft, carvable soapstone. Soapstone is a hydrous... 

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. 

In Europe and the Middle East, the appearance of copper artifacts in the archaeological record is significant enough that the term Chalcolithic - or Copper Age -was added to the tripartite stone-bronze-iron age system. Other regions such as the upper peninsula of Michigan, which has an abundance of native copper, also recognize ancient Copper cultures (Fig. 3.7). Copper must have been an attractive and useful material to prehistoric peoples. The earliest examples of copper are in the form of pendants and jewelry. 

The place of origin of prehistoric people can also be determined. The isotopic proveniencing of human remains, using ratios of strontium isotopes, has been employed in archaeology for approximately 20 years. Strontium isotope analyses have been used successfully in a number of studies. The basic principle involves comparison of isotope ratios in human tooth enamel with local levels in bone or other materials. Because isotopic ratios vary geographically, values in human teeth (marking place of birth) that differ from the local ratio (place of death) indicate migration. This method of analysis is described in more detail in Chap. 8, Provenience and Provenance. 

Paleoethnobotany The study of plant use by both living and prehistoric peoples. Paleontology Study of fossil animals. 

Prehistoric peoples made pottery, and contrary to the Bible admonition in Jeremiah 19 11, as one breaks a potter s vessel, so that it can never be mended, they often used rosin to reassemble broken vessels to retain food buried with the dead, as we know from remnants found in archaeological digs. 

There are those who envision prehistoric peoples as gmnting, stooping, quasi-humans with hair in unusual places, so there are no doubt those who would take exception to the title with which this chapter begins. Prehistoric implies before written record. If we define science as the systematic recording and interpretation of observed phenomena, then prehistory is prescience— prehistoric chemist is an erudite oxymoron— and we are forced to jump to the first millennium bce for our story to begin. 

Humanity has always devised ways of trying to make life a little better or easier. In the broad sense, prehistoric people practiced chemistiy beginning with the use of fire to produce chemical changes like burning wood, cooking food, and firing potteiy and bricks. Clay was shaped into useful utensils and baked to form water-resistive haid forms as crude jars, pitchers, and pots as far back as 5000 bc [2]. 

Some prehistoric peoples had taken to living over water for defence. The pile-dwellers of the Italian and German lakes stood within the wide invasion route south of the Alps. Their use of timber baulks driven through sediments into the grip of firmer strata or onto hardpan was appropriated by Roman engineers to deal with the concentrated loads of bridge piers and abutments built over water. 

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