J Archaeol Sci 32 (8)

The authors argue that foraging theory provides archaeology with a set of tools for investigating the constraints that influenced procurement decisions of the past, and that the prey-choice model, which has been used extensively by archaeologists, has limitations given the nature of archaeological data. The paper suggests that the seldom-used Marginal Value Theorem (MVT) is a valuable tool for examining the ecological constraints on foraging decisions and merits further archaeological application. Ethnoarchaeological and experimental cases are presented demonstrating how patch--gains curves can be generated from quantitative data on butchering return rates and handling times. Results indicate that such curves are diminishing return functions. This provides a basis for examining the linkage between processing intensity and resource fluctuation. This model allows archaeologists to address the relationship between attribute-states of faunal remains and predicted optimal post-acquisition decisions. The MVT can be applied to archaeological studies of foraging behaviour and processing intensity as it can be used to estimate the set of environmental constraints in which a given kill was made. This approach may also identify the degree to which certain currencies, such as fat, are optimized at the expense of others, such as total caloric intake.

The authors argue that observations pertaining to particular stages of the lithic chaîne opératoire, or reconstructions of the entire operational sequence at a particular site, can be used to develop a detailed understanding of past human cognitive capabilities, technological sophistication, mobility, and land use. The ``reduction sequence'' is a specific stage of the chaîne opératoire that many archaeologists have attempted to measure. It is argued that many of these attempts fail to recognize that ``reduction'' is a three-dimensional process, and thus should be measured with an appropriate three-dimensional unit: volume. This paper presents a new methodology for measuring and defining reduction in unifacial stone tools that reconstructs the original volume of a modified blank, allowing a realistic percentage of volume loss to be calculated.

It has been suggested that certain growth anomalies in dendrochronological sequences could offer ``proxy'' absolutely dated records of major, climatically effective, volcanic eruptions. However, this assertion has been widely disputed given the lack of a direct, positive, causal connection. The hypothesis that the required connection may be chemically encoded in individual annual growth rings from dated sequences is explored both via review of existing literature on dendrochemical techniques, and by LA-ICP-MS chemical analysis of two tree ring sequences. It is concluded that dendrochemistry provides a promising means by which absolute dates may one day be attributed to key volcanic eruptions of pre-modern times.