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Papers by al schwitalla

Research paper thumbnail of Violence among foragers: the bioarchaeological record from Central California

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Research paper thumbnail of Archaic Violence in Western North America: The Bioarchaeological Record of Dismemberment, Human Bone Artifacts, and Trophy Skulls from Central California. In: Terry Jones and Mark Allen, editors, Violence and Warfare among Hunter-Gatherers

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Research paper thumbnail of The Bioarchaeological Record of Craniofacial Trauma in Central California Native Populations. In: Terry L. Jones and Mark Allen, editors, Violence and Warfare among Hunter-Gatherers

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Research paper thumbnail of Violence among foragers: The Bioarchaeological record from central California

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Research paper thumbnail of Trophy-taking and dismemberment as warfare strategies in prehistoric central California

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2009

We document evidence for trophy-taking and dismemberment with a new bioarchaeological database fe... more We document evidence for trophy-taking and dismemberment with a new bioarchaeological database featuring 13,453 individuals from prehistoric central California sites. Our study reveals 76 individuals with perimortem removal of body parts consistent with trophy-taking or dismemberment; nine of these individuals display multiple types of trophy-taking and dismemberment for a total of 87 cases. Cases span almost 5,000 years, from the Early Period (3000–500 BC) to the Late Period (AD 900–1700). Collectively, these individuals share traits that distinguish them from the rest of the population: a high frequency of young adult males, an increased frequency of associated trauma, and a tendency towards multiple burials and haphazard burial positions. Eight examples of human bone artifacts were also found that appear related to trophy-taking. These characteristics suggest that trophy-taking and dismemberment were an important part of the warfare practices of central Californian tribes. Temporally, the two practices soared in the Early/Middle Transition Period (500–200 BC), which may have reflected a more complex sociopolitical system that encouraged the use of trophies for status acquisition, as well as the migration of outside groups that resulted in intensified conflict. Overall, trophy-taking and dismemberment appear to have been the product of the social geography of prehistoric central California, where culturally differentiated tribes lived in close proximity to their enemies. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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Research paper thumbnail of Archaeological perspectives on the effects of medieval drought in prehistoric California

Quaternary International, 2008

Inspired by Stine's [1994. Extreme and persistent drought in California and Patagonia during Medi... more Inspired by Stine's [1994. Extreme and persistent drought in California and Patagonia during Mediaeval Time. Nature 369, 546–549.] findings from Mono Lake and Graumlich's [1993. A 1000-year record of temperature and precipitation in the Sierra Nevada. Quaternary Research 39, 249–255.] tree-ring study from the southern Sierra Nevada, California archaeologists have for over a decade been investigating the possibility that prehistoric societies were noticeably impacted by severe droughts during the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (MCA; cal A.D. 800–1350). Decreased production at obsidian sources, dramatic increases in bead production, trade, and sociopolitical complexity in the Channel Islands, and subsistence changes on the central coast were among the trends attributed to drought-related demographic stress by researchers in the 1990s. Review of more recent archaeological research shows that as the search for signs of unusual cultural changes during the MCA has broadened, some of these early patterns (e.g. violence and health problems) have been found to be more complicated and regionally varied than previously thought while others (e.g., settlement disruption, deterioration of long distance trade, and population movements) have been further corroborated.

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Research paper thumbnail of Violence among foragers: the bioarchaeological record from Central California

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Archaic Violence in Western North America: The Bioarchaeological Record of Dismemberment, Human Bone Artifacts, and Trophy Skulls from Central California. In: Terry Jones and Mark Allen, editors, Violence and Warfare among Hunter-Gatherers

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Research paper thumbnail of The Bioarchaeological Record of Craniofacial Trauma in Central California Native Populations. In: Terry L. Jones and Mark Allen, editors, Violence and Warfare among Hunter-Gatherers

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Research paper thumbnail of Violence among foragers: The Bioarchaeological record from central California

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Trophy-taking and dismemberment as warfare strategies in prehistoric central California

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2009

We document evidence for trophy-taking and dismemberment with a new bioarchaeological database fe... more We document evidence for trophy-taking and dismemberment with a new bioarchaeological database featuring 13,453 individuals from prehistoric central California sites. Our study reveals 76 individuals with perimortem removal of body parts consistent with trophy-taking or dismemberment; nine of these individuals display multiple types of trophy-taking and dismemberment for a total of 87 cases. Cases span almost 5,000 years, from the Early Period (3000–500 BC) to the Late Period (AD 900–1700). Collectively, these individuals share traits that distinguish them from the rest of the population: a high frequency of young adult males, an increased frequency of associated trauma, and a tendency towards multiple burials and haphazard burial positions. Eight examples of human bone artifacts were also found that appear related to trophy-taking. These characteristics suggest that trophy-taking and dismemberment were an important part of the warfare practices of central Californian tribes. Temporally, the two practices soared in the Early/Middle Transition Period (500–200 BC), which may have reflected a more complex sociopolitical system that encouraged the use of trophies for status acquisition, as well as the migration of outside groups that resulted in intensified conflict. Overall, trophy-taking and dismemberment appear to have been the product of the social geography of prehistoric central California, where culturally differentiated tribes lived in close proximity to their enemies. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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Research paper thumbnail of Archaeological perspectives on the effects of medieval drought in prehistoric California

Quaternary International, 2008

Inspired by Stine's [1994. Extreme and persistent drought in California and Patagonia during Medi... more Inspired by Stine's [1994. Extreme and persistent drought in California and Patagonia during Mediaeval Time. Nature 369, 546–549.] findings from Mono Lake and Graumlich's [1993. A 1000-year record of temperature and precipitation in the Sierra Nevada. Quaternary Research 39, 249–255.] tree-ring study from the southern Sierra Nevada, California archaeologists have for over a decade been investigating the possibility that prehistoric societies were noticeably impacted by severe droughts during the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (MCA; cal A.D. 800–1350). Decreased production at obsidian sources, dramatic increases in bead production, trade, and sociopolitical complexity in the Channel Islands, and subsistence changes on the central coast were among the trends attributed to drought-related demographic stress by researchers in the 1990s. Review of more recent archaeological research shows that as the search for signs of unusual cultural changes during the MCA has broadened, some of these early patterns (e.g. violence and health problems) have been found to be more complicated and regionally varied than previously thought while others (e.g., settlement disruption, deterioration of long distance trade, and population movements) have been further corroborated.

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