The style-function dichotomy lies at the heart of the evolutionary archaeology research program. It also is the source of much disagreement about how we should conceive of the processes of culture change. Evolutionary archaeologists tend to view archaeological attributes as either functional, if they respond to selection, or stylistic, if they do not. Others tend to see style and function as operating simultaneously. A resolution to this problem is proposed through development of a formal mathematical model of style- and function-based evolution using a hypothetical example of temporal patterns of ceramic decoration within a community of household-based potters. Simple replicator equations are proposed to describe the household-scale dynamics of change in the relative frequency of ceramic decoration. These low-level dynamics can be distinguished on the basis of whether or not change is correlated with some measure of performance, utility, or payoff. The replicator equations are then used to derive several versions of the Price Equation (Price 1970), a very general and powerful statement about total evolutionary change in any system. At this scale of analysis, total change is similarly partitioned into payoff-correlated (functional) and payoff-independent (stylistic) contributions and it is shown that these processes are likely to operate simultaneously. Tests of the model against simulated data show that it is possible to estimate with considerable accuracy the strength of functional and stylistic contributions to culture change under ideal conditions of site preservation. Further theoretical work is needed, however, to understand how diverse site formation and disturbance processes might impact application of the model in real archaeological settings.

In the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains of North America, researchers have debated the degree to which Paleoindian foragers relied on large-game hunting to fulfill their subsistence needs. This study reviews the zooarchaeological record from 60 sites to test predictions drawn from prey choice models. Results indicate that different site types provide different perspectives on Paleoindian faunal use. Data from kill assemblages can only inform on the exploitation of large game, while the full variety of prey used by Paleoindian foragers is represented at camp localities. In addition, prehistoric foragers varied prey choice based on habitat setting. In the low diversity grasslands of the High Plains and Rolling Hills, prehistoric groups hunted large game almost exclusively. In the more diverse environments of the alluvial valleys and foothill/mountain environments, foragers show higher diversity of faunal use. During the early Holocene, small game made a greater contribution in the diet of Paleoindians, possibly in response to changing environmental conditions and/or increased hunting pressure.

Radiocarbon dates from single-component prehistoric sites often span temporal sequences too long to be accounted for by spatial overlap in the patterning of features. One such example is the SunWatch site, which was long interpreted as a single-component occupation of relatively short duration (15–20 years), although the radiocarbon sequence comfortably spans a 500-year period (ca. A.D. 1000 to 1500). This study compares spatial contexts of the SunWatch radiocarbon dates with other temporal indicators, including architectural rebuilding, feature form and volume, and diagnostic artifact attributes. Two distinct portions of the radiocarbon sequence can be accounted for by reference to these other lines of evidence. Village growth is linked with internal and external processes, including the arrival of a small Mississippian group and the possibility of site reoccupation, common among shifting agricultural systems.

During the middle Sedentary period (ca. A.D. 1000-1070) in the deserts of southern and central Arizona, crowds from near and far regularly gathered at the centers of Hohokam villages to participate in ritual ballcourt festivities. These events were ideal venues for barter and exchange, leading some theorists to hypothesize that periodic marketplaces were associated with the ritual ballgames. Recent ceramic provenance and vessel-form evidence from the Phoenix basin have shown that the production of decorated and utilitarian pots was highly concentrated during this time and large numbers of bowls and jars were evenly distributed to far flung consumers. These findings have supported the marketplace hypothesis, suggesting that an efficient and reliable mechanism was available for moving large numbers of commodities across the region. The high volume of ceramic transactions, however, seems to have placed the Hohokam case beyond the capabilities of nascent marketplaces documented from ethnohistoric and ethnographic evidence. In this paper, we support the idea that market-place barter was a central component of the Hohokam economy by presenting new ceramic data from the lower Salt River valley, which temporally links the demise of the ballcourt ceremonialism with a transformation in the organization of pottery production and distribution. We then examine some unusual circumstances pertaining to the Hohokam regional system that may help to explain how consumers could have so heavily depended on a network of horizontally organized, periodic marketplaces for basic necessities like earthenware containers.

In this paper I explore the potential of cultural inheritance theory to address the specific social contexts of craft production in prehistoric societies. Proponents of agency theory have criticized the “techno-science” approach of scholars working with other theoretical paradigms and their unwillingness or inability to focus on human behavior instead of material remains. By emphasizing the social and contextual nature of technological practices, the critique has successfully high-lighted the need to engender prehistoric technological practices. Cultural inheritance theory, one of several complementary currents in evolutionary archaeology, is particularly well suited to identify specific social contexts of craft production and provides a well-grounded framework for engendering prehistoric technological practices. Neolithic ceramic technology from Valencia, Spain provides a case study.

Fisher-hunter-gatherers built the large earthwork at Poverty Point ca. 3500 cal. B.P. Based on the massive quantities of exotic rock and construction regularities with earlier regional mound complexes, Kenneth Sassaman proposes that builders were a cosmopolitan multiethnic collective with geographically extensive origins. Close examination of Poverty Point's goods fails to support his multiethnic model and suggests that a local communal structure prevailed in Poverty Point's homeland.

The archaeological site of Aztalan in southeastern Wisconsin is a large, palisaded complex of mounds and other structures along the banks of the Crawfish River in Jefferson County. The unusual nature of this settlement has been noted for many years and the origin of the inhabitants has been the subject of considerable debate. The similarities between the materials at Aztalan and other Mississippian period sites to the south in Illinois have long been noted. The largest center of the Mississippian culture at Cahokia near East St. Louis, Illinois, has often been cited as the likely home of the founders of Aztalan. Using strontium isotopes in human teeth and bone we examine the question of migration and the possibility of nonlocal individuals among the skeletal remains from Aztalan. Our results suggest that there were a number of foreign individuals among the locals. The isotopic signal for some of the foreigners matches values from Cahokia, but does not prove that this was their place of origin.

A four-year program of remote sensing at the Double Ditch State Historic Site (32BL8) demonstrates the utility of combined prospecting methods for understanding complex settlements when combined with traditional excavation methods. Magnetic gradiometry revealed countless subterranean storage pits, hearths, and two previously unknown fortification systems that vastly increase the settlement's area and projected population to perhaps 2,000 individuals. Electrical resistance surveys helped define middens, other depositional areas, houses, and earth-borrowing pits. Ground-penetrating radar yielded details about ditch, house, and mounded midden interior forms. Aerial survey from a powered parachute acquired high-resolution digital color and thermal infrared imagery. The former distinguished houses, borrow pits, and ditches from middens and fill areas by changes in vegetation; the latter did the same through temperature variations that also highlighted historic excavations. High-resolution topographic survey allowed documentation of topographic expressions caused by ditches, houses, borrow pits, and mounds. The remote sensing program reduced excavation costs by targeting features. Excavations confirmed anomaly identifications and established a chronology that documents late-fifteenth-century origins to an ultimate contraction in the eighteenth century, with abandonment after a smallpox outbreak about A.D. 1785. Evidence suggests that large mounds formed integral components of the village"s defenses. Excavations also reveal extensive earth moving for mound building, earthlodge coverings, and other reasons still unclear. This practice caused the truncation or obliteration of many earlier archaeological features and forces realization that long-occupied settlements were fluid through time with continual reworking of deposits, and complex depositional, use, and formation histories.

The timing of the adoptions of maize and squash across eastern North America has been a topic of long-standing interest among archaeologists and paleoethnobotanists. The use of flotation for macrobotanical remains beginning in the 1960s and 1970s coupled with the application of accelerator mass spectrometry dating beginning in the 1980s has led to substantial revisions of knowledge about the history of these crops in the region. A complementary source of evidence for the crops' histories in the eastern North America comes from opal phytoliths. Analysis of phytolith assemblages recovered from charred food residues has shown that maize and squash were being used in central New York well before the macrobotanical record indicates. In combination with previously analyzed samples, 16 additional residue assemblages help to clarify the history of maize and squash in central New York. The results indicate that maize and squash were being used in New York by 2270 B.P. and 2945 B.P., respectively.

Based on a simple model of lithic procurement, reduction, and use, we generate predictions for patterns in source diversity and average distance-to-source measurements for flaked stone assemblages left behind by small-scale and residentially mobile populations. We apply this model to geochemical data from obsidian artifacts from three regions in western North America. As predicted, results show markedly different patterns in the geochemical composition of small flakes, large flakes, and formal tools. While small flakes and tools tend to have greater source diversity and are on average farther from their original source, the large flake assemblage is composed of fewer and closer sources. These results suggest that a failure to include very late stage reduction (e.g., pressure flakes) and microdebitage in characterization studies may bias interpretations about the extent of residential mobility and/or trade patterns because more distant sources will be underrepresented.