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Papers by George R Milner
American Journal of Biological Anthropology
The greatness of America is right under our feet. The American past-the people, battles, industry... more The greatness of America is right under our feet. The American past-the people, battles, industry and homes-can be found not only in libraries and museums, but also in hundreds of archaeological sites that scientists investigate with great care. These sites are not in distant lands, accessible only by research scientists, but nearby-almost every locale possesses a parcel of land worthy of archaeological exploration. Archaeology in America is the first resource that provides students, researchers, and anyone interested in their local history with a survey of the most important archaeological discoveries in North America. Leading scholars, most with an intimate knowledge of the area, have written in-depth essays on over 300 of the most important archaeological sites that explain the importance of the site, the history of the people who left the artifacts, and the nature of the ongoing research. Archaeology in America divides it coverage into 8 regions: the Arctic and Subarctic, the Gr...
New Deal era excavation records and collections from the 1939 to 1941 investigations of the large... more New Deal era excavation records and collections from the 1939 to 1941 investigations of the large Robbins Mound (15Be3) in Boone County, Kentucky, were reexamined to acquire new information on Adena mound construction methods, mortuary practices, and paleodemography. Computer-generated graphics proved to be a particularly effective means of investigating changes over time in the configuration of the cemetery, specifically the location of the mound's apex and its overall shape. This study of WPA era field notes and University of Kentucky Museum of Anthropology specimens demonstrates the continuing research significance of existing museum collections. Adena sites have long excited the imagination of professional and amateur archaeologists alike. This interest can, in part, be attributed to the presence of 'geometric earthworks that some have considered mysterious, calling.them "sacred circles;" the existence of many large, structurally complex, conical burial mounds;...
Current Anthropology, 1987
Theories of the relationship among sedentism, population growth, and resource-selection strategie... more Theories of the relationship among sedentism, population growth, and resource-selection strategies have tended to assign primacy, if only in providing the initial" kick" in an open system, to one of these variables. In contrast, recent work has shown that changes in ...
Journal of Biosocial Science, 1994
The Encyclopedia of Archaeological Sciences
The International Encyclopedia of Biological Anthropology
Heritage Science
Lead-glazed potsherds from archaeological excavations at six Renaissance (1536–1660 CE) sites in ... more Lead-glazed potsherds from archaeological excavations at six Renaissance (1536–1660 CE) sites in southern Denmark and northern Germany have been subjected to etching experiments using 4 wt% acetic acid. The extracts of 45 sherds were analysed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. At one site, the ducal hunting castle of Grøngaard, Pb levels in acid extracts from glazed dishes were so high (up to 29,000 µg Pb cm−2 day−1) that acute toxic effects likely occurred if the dishes were used for serving food containing vinegar. More moderate acid-etching Pb levels were found in dishes from other sites, but they still exceed the WHO critical level if used daily. Acetic acid etching experiments performed on pipkins (three-legged cooking pots with a handle) yielded somewhat lower Pb extract values, averaging ca. 25 µg Pb cm−2 day−1. Taking into account the widespread use of pipkins for cooking, they might easily have led to a higher weekly Pb intake than the use of the moderate-leve...
Additional file 3. Means, relative standard deviations, and relative standard deviations (RSD) fo... more Additional file 3. Means, relative standard deviations, and relative standard deviations (RSD) for each bone microstructure category for each individual.
Paleodemography aims at identifying the demographic patterns and parameters of past populations. ... more Paleodemography aims at identifying the demographic patterns and parameters of past populations. Information about individuals that lived in those populations is mostly derived from archaeological finds. Physical anthropologists assess skeletal remains to estimate the distribution of ages-at-death, from which conclusions about mortality patterns in the past can be obtained. Age-estimation in paleodemography had been controversial and is hampered by several complications, a review of the fields and its problems can be found in Hoppa and Vaupel (2002). Generally age-estimation proceeds in two steps (Koenigsberg and Frankenberg, 2002): One or several age-indicators, i.e., features of the skeleton that change with age, are studied for known-age skeletons. Such a reference sample allows to assess the distribution of the indicator(s) for given ages-at-death and the reference sample is the basis for a calibration procedure. These age-indicators are then determined for the skeletal remains ...
Heritage Science, 2019
We describe a procedure for ascertaining the extent of diagenesis in archaeological human skeleto... more We describe a procedure for ascertaining the extent of diagenesis in archaeological human skeletons through the distribution of Sr, Ba, Cu, Pb, Fe, and Mn in cross-sections of femoral cortical bone. Element mapping is performed through Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Absolute calibrations of element concentrations were obtained using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) on adjacent dissolved bulk bone samples. By comparing a modern individual to five medieval to early modern Danish skeletons, we demonstrate the degree to which concentrations of trace elements are attributable to diagenesis. Invasion from the exterior bone surface into a degraded part of the outer cortical bone is the most frequently occurring diagenetic change. In the archaeological skeletons investigated, diagenetic modification is restricted to, at most, the outer ca. 0.5 mm of bone. In one femur, Haversian channels were filled with diagenetic material, which appears to have entered the bone through a network of cavities largely made up by Haversian and Volkmann's canals.
The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Diet, 2017
In the American midcontinent, the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural economies was l... more In the American midcontinent, the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural economies was long, spanning several millennia, but it took place in a stepwise fashion. Plant remains and human bones provide complementary evidence of a shift to a greater dependence on maize just over a millennium ago. The immediate causes of subsistence change do not appear to have been the same each step of the way, although local population density and intergroup conflict figured prominently in the process. Shifts in lifeways were accompanied by changes in disease experience, although variation in late prehistoric community well-being is not explicable in terms of commonly used archaeological or sociopolitical categories.
American Antiquity, 1984
Mississippian period cemeteries in the American Bottom, Illinois, were divided into three categor... more Mississippian period cemeteries in the American Bottom, Illinois, were divided into three categories representing two distinct social strata. Burial areas for an elite stratum occurred in large, regionally important town-and-mound centers. Locational, organizational, and artifactual criteria distinguish these burial areas from those of a non-elite social stratum. Members of the non-elite social stratum were buried either in cemeteries located within regional centers or in peripherally located cemeteries associated with outlying communities. Mortuary practices in the American Bottom changed somewhat during the several hundred year duration of the Mississippian period. These changes were particularly apparent at peripheral cemeteries. The size and distribution of these cemeteries were related to levels of regional social segmentation and settlement autonomy, which changed throughout the Mississippian period.
American Journal of Biological Anthropology
The greatness of America is right under our feet. The American past-the people, battles, industry... more The greatness of America is right under our feet. The American past-the people, battles, industry and homes-can be found not only in libraries and museums, but also in hundreds of archaeological sites that scientists investigate with great care. These sites are not in distant lands, accessible only by research scientists, but nearby-almost every locale possesses a parcel of land worthy of archaeological exploration. Archaeology in America is the first resource that provides students, researchers, and anyone interested in their local history with a survey of the most important archaeological discoveries in North America. Leading scholars, most with an intimate knowledge of the area, have written in-depth essays on over 300 of the most important archaeological sites that explain the importance of the site, the history of the people who left the artifacts, and the nature of the ongoing research. Archaeology in America divides it coverage into 8 regions: the Arctic and Subarctic, the Gr...
New Deal era excavation records and collections from the 1939 to 1941 investigations of the large... more New Deal era excavation records and collections from the 1939 to 1941 investigations of the large Robbins Mound (15Be3) in Boone County, Kentucky, were reexamined to acquire new information on Adena mound construction methods, mortuary practices, and paleodemography. Computer-generated graphics proved to be a particularly effective means of investigating changes over time in the configuration of the cemetery, specifically the location of the mound's apex and its overall shape. This study of WPA era field notes and University of Kentucky Museum of Anthropology specimens demonstrates the continuing research significance of existing museum collections. Adena sites have long excited the imagination of professional and amateur archaeologists alike. This interest can, in part, be attributed to the presence of 'geometric earthworks that some have considered mysterious, calling.them "sacred circles;" the existence of many large, structurally complex, conical burial mounds;...
Current Anthropology, 1987
Theories of the relationship among sedentism, population growth, and resource-selection strategie... more Theories of the relationship among sedentism, population growth, and resource-selection strategies have tended to assign primacy, if only in providing the initial" kick" in an open system, to one of these variables. In contrast, recent work has shown that changes in ...
Journal of Biosocial Science, 1994
The Encyclopedia of Archaeological Sciences
The International Encyclopedia of Biological Anthropology
Heritage Science
Lead-glazed potsherds from archaeological excavations at six Renaissance (1536–1660 CE) sites in ... more Lead-glazed potsherds from archaeological excavations at six Renaissance (1536–1660 CE) sites in southern Denmark and northern Germany have been subjected to etching experiments using 4 wt% acetic acid. The extracts of 45 sherds were analysed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. At one site, the ducal hunting castle of Grøngaard, Pb levels in acid extracts from glazed dishes were so high (up to 29,000 µg Pb cm−2 day−1) that acute toxic effects likely occurred if the dishes were used for serving food containing vinegar. More moderate acid-etching Pb levels were found in dishes from other sites, but they still exceed the WHO critical level if used daily. Acetic acid etching experiments performed on pipkins (three-legged cooking pots with a handle) yielded somewhat lower Pb extract values, averaging ca. 25 µg Pb cm−2 day−1. Taking into account the widespread use of pipkins for cooking, they might easily have led to a higher weekly Pb intake than the use of the moderate-leve...
Additional file 3. Means, relative standard deviations, and relative standard deviations (RSD) fo... more Additional file 3. Means, relative standard deviations, and relative standard deviations (RSD) for each bone microstructure category for each individual.
Paleodemography aims at identifying the demographic patterns and parameters of past populations. ... more Paleodemography aims at identifying the demographic patterns and parameters of past populations. Information about individuals that lived in those populations is mostly derived from archaeological finds. Physical anthropologists assess skeletal remains to estimate the distribution of ages-at-death, from which conclusions about mortality patterns in the past can be obtained. Age-estimation in paleodemography had been controversial and is hampered by several complications, a review of the fields and its problems can be found in Hoppa and Vaupel (2002). Generally age-estimation proceeds in two steps (Koenigsberg and Frankenberg, 2002): One or several age-indicators, i.e., features of the skeleton that change with age, are studied for known-age skeletons. Such a reference sample allows to assess the distribution of the indicator(s) for given ages-at-death and the reference sample is the basis for a calibration procedure. These age-indicators are then determined for the skeletal remains ...
Heritage Science, 2019
We describe a procedure for ascertaining the extent of diagenesis in archaeological human skeleto... more We describe a procedure for ascertaining the extent of diagenesis in archaeological human skeletons through the distribution of Sr, Ba, Cu, Pb, Fe, and Mn in cross-sections of femoral cortical bone. Element mapping is performed through Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Absolute calibrations of element concentrations were obtained using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) on adjacent dissolved bulk bone samples. By comparing a modern individual to five medieval to early modern Danish skeletons, we demonstrate the degree to which concentrations of trace elements are attributable to diagenesis. Invasion from the exterior bone surface into a degraded part of the outer cortical bone is the most frequently occurring diagenetic change. In the archaeological skeletons investigated, diagenetic modification is restricted to, at most, the outer ca. 0.5 mm of bone. In one femur, Haversian channels were filled with diagenetic material, which appears to have entered the bone through a network of cavities largely made up by Haversian and Volkmann's canals.
The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Diet, 2017
In the American midcontinent, the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural economies was l... more In the American midcontinent, the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural economies was long, spanning several millennia, but it took place in a stepwise fashion. Plant remains and human bones provide complementary evidence of a shift to a greater dependence on maize just over a millennium ago. The immediate causes of subsistence change do not appear to have been the same each step of the way, although local population density and intergroup conflict figured prominently in the process. Shifts in lifeways were accompanied by changes in disease experience, although variation in late prehistoric community well-being is not explicable in terms of commonly used archaeological or sociopolitical categories.
American Antiquity, 1984
Mississippian period cemeteries in the American Bottom, Illinois, were divided into three categor... more Mississippian period cemeteries in the American Bottom, Illinois, were divided into three categories representing two distinct social strata. Burial areas for an elite stratum occurred in large, regionally important town-and-mound centers. Locational, organizational, and artifactual criteria distinguish these burial areas from those of a non-elite social stratum. Members of the non-elite social stratum were buried either in cemeteries located within regional centers or in peripherally located cemeteries associated with outlying communities. Mortuary practices in the American Bottom changed somewhat during the several hundred year duration of the Mississippian period. These changes were particularly apparent at peripheral cemeteries. The size and distribution of these cemeteries were related to levels of regional social segmentation and settlement autonomy, which changed throughout the Mississippian period.
Yearbook of Biological Anthropology, 2022