Glossary

Mesolithic A period in the development of human technology between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods of the Stone Age.

Neolithic A period in the development of human technology that is traditionally the last part of the Stone Age.

Seasonality Part of a year a in which particular activity takes place.

Upper Palaeolithic The third and last subdivision of the Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age.

Younger Dryas The Younger Dryas stadial, named after the alpine/tundra wildflower Dryas octopetala, and also referred to as the Big Freeze.

Information on the seasonal duration of occupation at an archaeological site is crucial to our understanding of how the former inhabitants lived. Was residence at the site year-round, or for one season only? This is an important question because, with evidence that a site was seasonally occupied, it becomes possible to identify other sites within the area which might have been used by the same community. The archaeologist can then work toward understanding the annual settlement pattern of a community in past times. Examples from hunting-gathering communities in the recent past show that seasonal mobility was a common response to the fluctuating availability of food, water, or other essential resources, and that several sites may have been occupied in a seasonal round. Herding peoples too may have extensive seasonal movements, and even now in Europe, certain communities move between winter and summer pastures, moving from lowland to upland with the change of seasons. Appropriate archaeological studies can elucidate much about the life histories of these communities and their seasonal changes. In all but modern, energy-dependent societies, there was some degree of fluctuation in the availability of many foods according to the season of the year. Modern high-energy expenditure in refrigeration and transport allows most foods to be used throughout the year. In earlier times, few sorts of food could be stored for long-term use, mainly cereal staples such as wheat, maize and rice, which are characteristic of settled farming peoples. Even so, it should not be assumed that all sites with evidence of charred cereals were permanently occupied as cereals can be exchanged or transported away from the site where they were grown. Evidence for the seasonal use of certain foods allows the archaeologist to build up a picture of landscape use, but only when all of the evidence has been carefully considered can an interpretation of the settlement be made. Archaeological evidence for the seasonal occupation of sites is seldom unequivocal.

Anthropological studies with recent huntinggathering peoples show that a seasonal abundance of a particular food may bring many people together at one site, followed by their dispersal to other sites when supplies become sparse. The scarcity of a vital commodity such as water can also bring larger numbers of people together. A few hunting-gathering communities are also known who were able to live a sedentary life, though without agriculture. This adaptation is possible only where an exceptional local biodiversity is found, with different foods of high-energy value being available through much of the year and with some forms of food storage practiced, these usually involving the drying, salting, and smoking of foodstuffs. Studies of surviving hunting-gathering peoples are of immense value in highlighting a range of possible adaptations to seasonal abundance and scarcity, though no peoples of the recent past can be taken as the exact parallel of those from earlier times (see Ethnoarchaeology). Apart from these few rather special situations, the storage of large amounts of high-energy foods only became widespread with the emergence of agriculture, when wholly sedentary life could emerge.

The evidence for seasonal occupation at archaeological sites is most often found from the remains of animals and plants, usually present as food wastes, and careful excavation methods are used to ensure good samples. Most organisms grow and change in response to the changing seasons, and frequently it is possible to identify the time of year in which each foodstuff was collected. The principal techniques of study are as follows:

1. The determination of age at death from the juvenile dentition in mammals. Many species of wild mammals have a marked birth season and, under similar environmental conditions, this would have been the same in the past. From studies of modern mammal populations, we can establish the rate of bone and tooth development and use this to predict the death season in which a deer or antelope was killed by ancient hunters. The natural variation in birth date and growth rate must be considered and as the young mammal approaches maturity, there is a declining precision in the method. Obviously, it is essential to have detailed evidence from modern comparative studies of the same species. Given these cautions, this is a valuable technique.

2.  The presence at a site of bones from fetal, neonatal (newborn), or very juvenile mammals from species with a well defined birth season. The problem here lies in identifying the age of the young mammal from the development of the bones, which might be from a late term fetus through to a month or so of age. Modern comparative studies are again important.

3.  Bone growth in the young mammal. This technique was first used over 70 years ago in studying reindeer bones from an archaeological site near Hamburg in Germany. Newborn mammals have small bones while bones from the adult form are much larger. In deer, births are highly seasonal and most growth is complete within a year or two. In this method, measurements are taken from the juvenile bones and more adult bones, and these are plotted in a visual form. When a site was permanently occupied, there will be bones of all sizes from the very young to the fully adult. On the other hand, if bones are found corresponding to only certain size groups, there is good evidence that no animals were killed at certain times of the year. A large number of measurements are needed for this test. Again, comparative studies of the same modern mammals will allow the season of killing to be inferred.

4.  The study of incremental growth structures in hard tissues. Variations in growth rate may be recorded in animal tissues, influenced by the changing seasons. For example, seasonally related variation in growth is found in the dental cement of mammals, in the otoliths (ear stones) of fishes, and in fish vertebrae and scales, as well as in the shells of mollusks.

5.  The antlers of deer grow and are cast (shed) in an annual cycle, which is determined by changing day length. Unshed antlers can be used to determine season of death, while the presence of cast antlers cannot as the site inhabitants could collect these antlers, saving them as a valuable raw material. The presence of shed antlers need bear no relation to the season of occupation at a site. Use of this method requires caution.

6.  The presence of bones from migratory animals at an archaeological site, from species with well-known seasonal movements. These are usually migratory birds and fishes.

7.  The determination of oxygen isotope ratios from marine mollusc shells, which are often found in archaeological sites as discarded food waste. This isotope ratio in the sea is dependant upon temperature. During the shell growth, the prevailing isotope ratio is fixed so that measurements on a sample series taken through a suitable shell can be used to determine the annual fluctuations in water temperature and, at the shell margin, to fix the season of the year in which death occurred.

8.  The presence of seeds or fruits from species of potential food value, which show evidence of charring or other human interference. The fruiting bodies and some other structures in plants are highly seasonal in their development and, given good archaeological samples, this is a highly valuable and informative technique.

9.  Evidence from other markedly seasonal events, such as the production of pollen. The problem here lies in the abundance of pollens in many archaeological deposits and the difficulty of relating pollen deposition to cycles of human activity.

The determination of season of occuPation from these methods is seldom clear-cut and often different interpretations of the data are possible. Obviously, it is preferable that several methods should be brought to bear on the problem and the account below focuses on some specific examples where interpretations of seasonal or sedentary settlement have been made at particular sites.