Ben Marwick
Biographic Data
| ID | 634658 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ben Marwick |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ben |
| FAMILY NAME | Marwick |
| SIGNATURE | BEN MARWICK |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Washington |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7879-4531 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 63 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 509 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 62 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2027 |
| H-INDEX | 12 |
Characterizing Core Morphology and Scar Patterning Within a Unified Spherical Harmonic Framework
Spherical harmonic analysis of faceted spheroids identifies shaping strategies and standardisation at Qianshangying (North China)
Changing the Landscape of Archaeological Publishing
Disseminating research is a key component of scholarly labor, but the costs and benefits of the current structure of academic publishing are underexamined within anthropology. This paper brings together a range of authors from across archaeology and cultural anthropology to summarize current issues in archaeological publishing and offer potential interventions at multiple scales. The paper is divided into five core topics. “Ideology” discusses th…
Between Nomads and Settlers: A Quantitative Analysis of Lithic Assemblages from Tula’i (Tuleii), Zagros, Iran
Is archaeology a science? Insights and imperatives from 10,000 articles and a year of reproducibility reviews
Introducing the Associate Editor of Reproducibility
When a manuscript that uses the R, Python, or similar open-source programming language for data analysis and visualization is accepted with revisions, and when the authors opt in to a reproducibility review, the Associate Editor of Reproducibility (AER) will be asked to review the code and data.The AER can conduct the reproducibility review or invite peer reviewers to do the code review.Here
New Evidence of Human Occupation in Southwest China Since 44,800 Years ago
Lithic technologies at Guanyindong cave, Southwest China: Diversity and innovation during the Chinese Middle Palaeolithic
Women in the Lab, Men in the Field? Correlations between Gender and Research Topics at Three Major Archaeology Conferences
Rising interest in gender equality in society has resulted in greater scrutiny of gender inequality in academic communities. Analysis of authorship of peer-reviewed publications shows that archaeology, like other academic fields, has long been dominated by men. We ask if gender disproportionality is evident in the topics presented by archaeologists at major conferences, particularly the Society of American Archaeology (SAA), the European Associat…
Variation in Use of East Asian Late Paleolithic Weapons: A Study of Tip Cross-sectional Area of Stemmed Points from Korea
The Middle Stone Age Sequence at Klipfonteinrand 1 (KFR1), Western Cape, South Africa
The rock shelter site Klipfonteinrand 1 (KFR1), located on the edge of southern Africa’s Fynbos biome, was initially excavated by John Parkington in 1969. Due to difficulties resolving the stratigraphic sequence, the lack of age estimates, and generally poor organic preservation, the Middle Stone Age (MSA) components of the site have received limited attention. In this paper we report on the re-excavation, dating, palaeoecology, and cultural sequ…
Stone Industries of Mainland and Island Southeast Asia
Archaeological sites with concentrations of flaked stone dating to the last 5 years, associated with anatomically modern Homo sapiens, have been recorded widely across Southeast Asia. Two main types of industries have been documented: those based on knapping the raw stone to produce distinct cores, used for detaching flakes; and those based on flaking the surface of cobbles. Quality of locally available stone underpinned the distinction between t…
Three levels of reproducible workflow remove barriers for archaeologists and increase accessibility
Reproducible research is being implemented at different speeds in different disciplines, and Archaeology is at the start of this journey. Reproducibility is the practice of reanalysing data by taking the same steps and producing the same or similar results. Enabling reproducibility is an important step to ensure research quality and validate interpretations. There are currently many barriers to moving towards reproducible research such as upskill…
Evidence of Levallois strategies on cores at Guanyindong cave, Southwest China during the Late Middle Pleistocene
Robert C. Dunnell's Systematics in prehistory at 50
The year 2021 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Robert C. Dunnell's (Free Press, 1971) diminutive yet dense Systematics in prehistory . At the height of the debate between Culture History and New Archaeology, Dunnell's work sought to address a more fundamental issue that was and still is relevant to all branches of prehistoric archaeology, and especially to the study of the Palaeolithic: systematics. Dunnell himself was notori…
Re-evaluating Pleistocene-Holocene occupation of cave sites in north-west Thailand: New Radiocarbon and Luminescence Dating
Established chronologies indicate a long-term 'Hoabinhian' hunter-gatherer occupation of Mainland Southeast Asia during the Terminal Pleistocene to Mid-Holocene (45 000-3000 years ago). Here, the authors re-examine the 'Hoabinhian' sequence from north-west Thailand using new radiocarbon and luminescence data from Spirit Cave, Steep Cliff Cave and Banyan Valley Cave. The results indicate that hunter-gatherers exploited this ecologically diverse re…
Open data on beads, pendants, blanks from the Ceramic Age Caribbean
The paper 'A database of lapidary artifacts in the Caribbean for the Ceramic Age' by Queffelec et al. [1] presents a description of a dataset of nearly 5000 lapidary artefacts from over 100 sites. The data are dominated by beads and pendants, which are mostly made from Diorite, Turquoise, Carnelian, Amethyst, and Serpentine. The raw material data is especially valuable as many of these are not locally available on the island. This holds great pot…
A Bayesian networks approach to infer social changes from burials in northeastern Taiwan during the European colonization period
Tektite geoarchaeology in mainland Southeast Asia
Tektites formed by an extraterrestrial impact event in Southeast Asia at 0.78 Ma have been found in geological contexts and archaeological sites throughout Australia, East and Southeast Asia. At some archaeological sites, especially in Bose Basin, China, and An Khe, Vietnam, tektites have been interpreted as in situ in primary deposits, marking the age of deposit formation, and thus the age of artefacts in those deposits. We argue that tektites a…
Holocene grinding stones at Madjedbebe reveal the processing of starchy plant taxa and animal tissue
World Heritage sites on Wikipedia: Cultural heritage activism in a context of constrained agency
UNESCO World Heritage sites are places of outstanding significance and often key sources of information that influence how people interact with the past today. The process of inscription on the UNESCO list is complicated and intersects with political and commercial controversies. But how well are these controversies known to the public? Wikipedia pages on these sites offer a unique dataset for insights into public understanding of heritage contro…
Luminescence chronology and lithic technology of Tianhuadong Cave, an early Upper Pleistocene Paleolithic site in southwest China
Tianhuadong is a cave site located in the northwest of Yunnan Province, China. Since 2010, several surveys and one test excavation have yielded more than 1000 stone artifacts. The lithic assemblage shows some features of Levallois and Quina technologies, similar to those found in Middle Paleolithic sites in the Western Hemisphere. In this study, we summarize the lithic industry and propose a reliable chronology for the site using optically stimul…
Over-research and ethics dumping in international archaeology | Nghiên cứu mang tính lối mòn và sự tha hóa về mặt đạo đức trong khảo cổ học quốc tế | ိုင်ငံတကာေရှးေဟာင်းသုေတသနပညာရပ်မှ မဆီေလျာ်ေသာ သုေ…
Among public health researchers two ethical concerns have recently stimulated discussion: “overresearch” and “ethics dumping”. Over-research refers to a situation where the host community are not benefiting from research activity conducted by outsiders. Ethics dumping refers to doing research deemed unethical in a researcher’s home country in a foreign setting with laxer ethical rules. We briefly review the origins of these terms and explore thei…
Tool-Driven Revolutions in Archaeological Science
There is an argument in philosophy of science that revolutions in science are either idea-driven or tool-driven. We explore this debate in light of recent efforts by many scientific disciplines to embrace methods to improve the reproducibility of their research. One of the most profound changes driven by this concern for reproducibility and transparency is from analysing data using tools dependent on point-and-clicking with a mouse in closed sour…
Standardization of ceramic shape: A case study of Iron Age pottery from northeastern Taiwan
The archaeology, chronology and stratigraphy of Madjedbebe (Malakunanja II): A site in northern Australia with early occupation
Computational Reproducibility in Archaeological Research: Basic Principles and a Case Study of Their Implementation
What attributes are important for the measurement of assemblage reduction intensity? Results from an experimental stone artefact assemblage with relevance to the Hoabinhian of mainland Southeast Asia
Early modern human lithic technology from Jerimalai, East Timor
Putslaagte 1 (PL1), the Doring River, and the later Middle Stone Age in southern Africa's Winter Rainfall Zone
New Directions in Archaeological Science
Archaeological Science meetings will have a personality of their own depending on the focus of the host archaeological fraternity itself. The 8th Australasian Archaeometry meeting follows this pattern but underlying the regional emphasis is the continuing concern for the processes of change in the landscape that simultaneously effect and illuminate the archaeological record
Element concentrations and magnetic susceptibility of anthrosols: Indicators of prehistoric human occupation in the inland Pilbara, Western Australia
Movement of lithics by trampling: An experiment in the Madjedbebe sediments, northern Australia
Cultural taxonomies in the Paleolithic-Old questions, novel perspectives
The bond mechanism between steel and concrete can be compromised during a fire and is one of the least investigated phenomena in concrete research. In this work we present a thorough review of the experimental data available on this topic. The results from the tests reported by a number of researchers have been systematically collected in a database. This work also reports the results obtained in the bond strength tests carried out on four batche…
Ground‐penetrating radar and burial practices in western Arnhem Land, Australia
A GPR survey was carried out in advance of archaeological excavations at Madjedbebe (formerly known as Malakunanja II), a sandstone rock shelter in western Arnhem Land (Australia) containing numerous Aboriginal burials. GPR revealed subsurface patterning of rocks in the shelter deposits and archaeological excavation demonstrated that these were related to burials. Post‐excavation, GIS and statistical analysis further elucidated the relationship b…
Change or Decay? An interpretation of late Holocene archaeological evidence from the Hamersley Plateau, Western Australia
Data collected from the Hamersley Plateau over the last four decades are examined for patterns in the archaeological record. Data relating to the timing of the archaeological appearance of backed artefacts, seed‐grinding technology and rock art are currently too few to indicate major cultural changes with certainty. Increases in numbers of radiocarbon dates from archaeological sites on the Hamersley Plateau are evident in the late Holocene. This …
Pleistocene Exchange Networks as Evidence for the Evolution of Language
Distances of raw material transportation reflect how hominid groups gather and exchange information. Early hominids moved raw materials short distances, suggesting a home range size, social complexity and communication system similar to primates in equivalent environments. After about 1.0 million years ago there was a large increase in raw material transfer distances, possibly a result of the emergence of the ability to pool information by using …
A Standard for the Scholarly Citation of Archaeological Data as an Incentive to Data Sharing
How do archaeologists share their research data, if at all? We review what data are, according to current influential definitions, and previous work on the benefits, costs, and norms of data sharing in the sciences broadly. To understand data sharing in archaeology, we present the results of three pilot studies: requests for data by e-mail, review of data availability in published articles, and analysis of archaeological datasets deposited in rep…
Keeping your Edge: Recent Approaches to the Organisation of Stone Artefact Technology
The past twenty five years has seen the development of interesting and productive new research avenues and the opening up of new ground in approaches to, and interpretations of, stone artefacts. Far beyond the description, listing and enumeration of artefact types, these developments have focused on the situational variables which structure stone artefact assemblages. Theory articulating stone artefacts with past behaviors has made possible new m…
Holocene grinding stones at Madjedbebe reveal the processing of starchy plant taxa and animal tissue
The Middle Stone Age Sequence at Klipfonteinrand 1 (KFR1), Western Cape, South Africa
The rock shelter site Klipfonteinrand 1 (KFR1), located on the edge of southern Africa’s Fynbos biome, was initially excavated by John Parkington in 1969. Due to difficulties resolving the stratigraphic sequence, the lack of age estimates, and generally poor organic preservation, the Middle Stone Age (MSA) components of the site have received limited attention. In this paper we report on the re-excavation, dating, palaeoecology, and cultural sequ…
Evidence of Levallois strategies on cores at Guanyindong cave, Southwest China during the Late Middle Pleistocene
Standardization of ceramic shape: A case study of Iron Age pottery from northeastern Taiwan
Re-evaluating Pleistocene-Holocene occupation of cave sites in north-west Thailand: New Radiocarbon and Luminescence Dating
Established chronologies indicate a long-term 'Hoabinhian' hunter-gatherer occupation of Mainland Southeast Asia during the Terminal Pleistocene to Mid-Holocene (45 000-3000 years ago). Here, the authors re-examine the 'Hoabinhian' sequence from north-west Thailand using new radiocarbon and luminescence data from Spirit Cave, Steep Cliff Cave and Banyan Valley Cave. The results indicate that hunter-gatherers exploited this ecologically diverse re…
How to Use Replication Assignments for Teaching Integrity in Empirical Archaeology
The value of new archaeological knowledge is strongly determined by how credible it is, and a key measure of scientific credibility is how replicable new results are. However, few archaeologists learn the skills necessary to conduct replication as part of their training. This means there is a gap between the ideals of archaeological science and the skills we teach future researchers. Here we argue for replications as a core type of class assignme…
Landform boundary effects on Holocene forager landscape use in arid South Australia
Adaptations to sea level change and transitions to agriculture at Khao Toh Chong rockshelter, Peninsular Thailand
Late Holocene Climate Change And Human Behavioural Variability In The Coastal Wet-Dry Tropics Of Northern Australia: Evidence from a pilot study of oxygen isotopes in marine bivalve shells from archae…
Previously it has been argued that midden analysis from three geographically distinct coastal regions of tropical northern Australia (Hope Inlet, Blyth River, Blue Mud Bay) demonstrates that changes through time in Aboriginal mollusc exploitation reflect broader coastal environmental transformations associated with late Holocene climatic variability (Bourke et al. 2007). It was suggested that, while a direct link between environmental change and …
Self-image, the long view and archaeological engagement with film: An Animated Case Study
Academic engagement with popular constructions of archaeology in film is often in the style of analysing the self-image of archaeologists and archaeology. Two distinctive types of this narcissistic approach are identified in the current literature: a negative and defensive approach and a positive and forgiving approach. Both of these approaches have yielded substantial insights about the public perception of archaeology and will undoubtedly conti…
Is archaeology a science? Insights and imperatives from 10,000 articles and a year of reproducibility reviews
Thesis Abstracts
Pleistocene Exchange Networks as Evidence for the Evolution of Language
Distances of raw material transportation reflect how hominid groups gather and exchange information. Early hominids moved raw materials short distances, suggesting a home range size, social complexity and communication system similar to primates in equivalent environments. After about 1.0 million years ago there was a large increase in raw material transfer distances, possibly a result of the emergence of the ability to pool information by using …
Element concentrations and magnetic susceptibility of anthrosols: Indicators of prehistoric human occupation in the inland Pilbara, Western Australia
What attributes are important for the measurement of assemblage reduction intensity? Results from an experimental stone artefact assemblage with relevance to the Hoabinhian of mainland Southeast Asia
Three Styles of Darwinian Evolution in the Analysis Of Stone Artefacts: Which One to Use in Mainland Southeast Asia
Our understanding of flaked stone artefacts from assemblages in mainland Southeast Asia is constrained by a shortage of robust and flexible theory to generate suitable methods of analysis. I review three candidate theories derived from Darwinian evolutionary principles to identify the most suitable for investigating flaked stone artefacts from mainland Southeast Asia. The demands of the theory are compared with the evidential constraints of the a…
Stone artefacts and recent research in the archaeology of mainland Southeast Asian hunter-gatherers
In recent decades the study of stone artefact technology has made many technical advances and substantial contributions to the archaeology of many regions. Until recently, mainland southeast Asian has benefited little from these advances, in part because of the paucity of evidence and in part because of prevailing conceptual frameworks that were poorly suited to the available evidence. The Middle Pleistocene record has a very sparse lithic record…
[Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Forager Organizations in Southeast Asia] Beyond Typologies: The reduction thesis and its implications for lithic assemblages in Southeast Asia
Biogeography of Middle Pleistocene hominins in mainland Southeast Asia: A review of current evidence
New Directions in Archaeological Science
Archaeological Science meetings will have a personality of their own depending on the focus of the host archaeological fraternity itself. The 8th Australasian Archaeometry meeting follows this pattern but underlying the regional emphasis is the continuing concern for the processes of change in the landscape that simultaneously effect and illuminate the archaeological record
Change or Decay? An interpretation of late Holocene archaeological evidence from the Hamersley Plateau, Western Australia
Data collected from the Hamersley Plateau over the last four decades are examined for patterns in the archaeological record. Data relating to the timing of the archaeological appearance of backed artefacts, seed‐grinding technology and rock art are currently too few to indicate major cultural changes with certainty. Increases in numbers of radiocarbon dates from archaeological sites on the Hamersley Plateau are evident in the late Holocene. This …
Cultural Transmission and Material Culture: Breaking Down Boundaries edited by Miriam Stark, Brenda Bowser, and Lee Horne
Self-image, the long view and archaeological engagement with film: An Animated Case Study
Academic engagement with popular constructions of archaeology in film is often in the style of analysing the self-image of archaeologists and archaeology. Two distinctive types of this narcissistic approach are identified in the current literature: a negative and defensive approach and a positive and forgiving approach. Both of these approaches have yielded substantial insights about the public perception of archaeology and will undoubtedly conti…
Keeping your Edge: Recent Approaches to the Organisation of Stone Artefact Technology
The past twenty five years has seen the development of interesting and productive new research avenues and the opening up of new ground in approaches to, and interpretations of, stone artefacts. Far beyond the description, listing and enumeration of artefact types, these developments have focused on the situational variables which structure stone artefact assemblages. Theory articulating stone artefacts with past behaviors has made possible new m…
Multiple Optima in Hoabinhian flaked stone artefact palaeoeconomics and palaeoecology at two archaeological sites in Northwest Thailand
High resolution analyses of flaked stone artefact technology coupled with palaeoecological reconstruction from oxygen isotope analyses of freshwater shells from two rockshelter in the highlands of Northwest Thailand are described. Previously undocumented scales of technological variation are observed in response to environmental variation across the prehistoric landscape and through time. Three models of human behavioural ecology are used to test…
Late Holocene Climate Change And Human Behavioural Variability In The Coastal Wet-Dry Tropics Of Northern Australia: Evidence from a pilot study of oxygen isotopes in marine bivalve shells from archae…
Previously it has been argued that midden analysis from three geographically distinct coastal regions of tropical northern Australia (Hope Inlet, Blyth River, Blue Mud Bay) demonstrates that changes through time in Aboriginal mollusc exploitation reflect broader coastal environmental transformations associated with late Holocene climatic variability (Bourke et al. 2007). It was suggested that, while a direct link between environmental change and …
Putslaagte 1 (PL1), the Doring River, and the later Middle Stone Age in southern Africa's Winter Rainfall Zone
Ground‐penetrating radar and burial practices in western Arnhem Land, Australia
A GPR survey was carried out in advance of archaeological excavations at Madjedbebe (formerly known as Malakunanja II), a sandstone rock shelter in western Arnhem Land (Australia) containing numerous Aboriginal burials. GPR revealed subsurface patterning of rocks in the shelter deposits and archaeological excavation demonstrated that these were related to burials. Post‐excavation, GIS and statistical analysis further elucidated the relationship b…
Peer Comment
Peer comment on Vlog to Death: Project Eliseg's Video-Blogging by Joseph Tong, Suzanne Evans, Howard Williams, Nancy Edwards and Gary Robinson
The archaeology, chronology and stratigraphy of Madjedbebe (Malakunanja II): A site in northern Australia with early occupation
The Walandawe Tradition from Southeast Sulawesi and Osseous Artifact Traditions in Island Southeast Asia
Mortuary Caves and the Dammar Trade in the Towuti–Routa Region, Sulawesi, in an Island Southeast Asian Context
Archaeological evidence from survey and cave excavation in the Towuti-Routa region of Sulawesi suggests the following sequence of late Holocene cultural change. Settled communities whose subsistence included an agricultural component had established themselves by the early centuries a.d. and began the use of caves for mortuary purposes. Extended inhumations are the oldest attested mortuary practice, overlapping in time with secondary burials in l…
Palaeoecology and Forager Subsistence Strategies during the Pleistocene – Holocene Transition: A Reinvestigation of the Zooarchaeological Assemblage from Spirit Cave, Mae Hong Son Province, Thailand
This reanalysis uses the zooarchaeological assemblage recovered from Spirit Cave to understand hunter-gatherer use and occupation at the site during the Pleistocene - Holocene transition. We analyze bone fragmentation, sample size, and relative abundance to establish the preservation and overall composition of the remaining fauna. Identification of several new taxa, including roundleaf bats (Hipposideros larvatus and bicolor), elongated tortoise …
Computational Reproducibility in Archaeological Research: Basic Principles and a Case Study of Their Implementation
Adaptations to sea level change and transitions to agriculture at Khao Toh Chong rockshelter, Peninsular Thailand
Movement of lithics by trampling: An experiment in the Madjedbebe sediments
Understanding post-depositional movement of artefacts is vital to making reliable claims about the formation of archaeological deposits. Human trampling has long been recognised as a contributor to post-depositional artefact displacement. We investigate the degree to which artefact form (shape-and-size) attributes can predict how an artefact is moved by trampling. We use the Zingg classification system to describe artefact form. Our trampling sub…
Archaeology (51 works) · Geography (40 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (34 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (26 works) · History (26 works) · Geology (22 works) · Pleistocene (18 works) · History (17 works) · Biology (16 works) · Computer Science (16 works)