A J Ammerman
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 1734 |
|---|---|
| NOME | A J Ammerman |
| PRENOMES | A J |
| SOBRENOME | Ammerman |
| ASSINATURA | AMMERMAN A J |
| AFILIAÇÕES | Colgate University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9255-6078 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 56 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 624 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 56 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 1971 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2021 |
| ÍNDICE H | 12 |
Returning to the Rate of Spread of Early Farming in Europe
The aim of the comment is to address the misrepresentations of our work on the Neolithic transitions that are found in a recent article by Manen and coauthors in Radiocarbon . There are a fair number of them as indicated in the comment. The purpose of the comment is (1) to set the record straight, (2) to clarify several misconceptions that have persisted in the literature for some time, and (3) to comment briefly on the convergence between our ow…
The east bank of the Tiber below the Island
Beneath the Basilica of San Marco
On Giacomo Boni, the origins of the Forum, and where we stand today
The pioneer in excavating early sites in the Roman Forum was Giacomo Boni (b. Venice 1859; d. Rome 1925). He lived through the turbulent years when the new nation of Italy was starting to find its stride. A number of puzzles associated with his life and work, in particular the origins of the Forum, are starting to be better understood; by digging more deeply into archives in Milan, Rome and Venice, it has been possible to make gains. A conference…
The longitudinal study of land-use at Acconia
This article presents the results of the longitudinal study of land-use conducted at Acconia in southern Italy between 1980 and 2007. This is the first of several articles planned on the landscape dynamics that took place there over a span of 27 years. Here we trace the sequence of the steps in the work of the Acconia Survey and the evolution in our thinking that led to the start of the longitudinal study, outline the fieldwork conducted at Accon…
New light on the production of decorated roofs of the 6th c. B.C. at sites in and around Rome
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
The clay beds in the Velabrum and the earliest tiles in Rome
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Prehistoric Cyprus
Prehistoric Cyprus: longer durée and transformation - François Briois, Catherine Petit-Aupert & Pierre-Yves Pechoux. Études Chypriotes: Histoire des Campagnes d'Amathonte I. L'occupation du sol au Néolithique. 260 pages, 109 colour & b&w illustrations. 2005. Paris: De Boccard; 2-86958-194-7 paperback. - Joanne Clarke (ed.). Archaeological Perspectives on the Transmission and Transformation of Culture in the Eastern Mediterranean (Levant Supplemen…
Finding the early Neolithic in Aegean Thrace
Using a new approach that combines high-quality coring with AMS dating, the authors are mapping the start of the Neolithic in Aegean Thrace - a missing link in the arrival of agriculture in Europe. The method also revealed the edge of the marine transgression dating to some 2900 years ago, implying that sites located near the coast in early Neolithic times have in all likelihood been lost to the sea
The Early Mediterranean Village
Tracing the Origin and Spread of Agriculture in Europe
The origins of early farming and its spread to Europe have been the subject of major interest for some time. The main controversy today is over the nature of the Neolithic transition in Europe: the extent to which the spread was, for the most part, indigenous and animated by imitation (cultural diffusion) or else was driven by an influx of dispersing populations (demic diffusion). We analyze the spatiotemporal dynamics of the transition using rad…
New light on Aetokremnos
The note reconsiders the environmental setting of Aetokremnos, the controversial site of pre-Neolithic age on the island of Cyprus. Some 12,000 years ago when the sea level was lower, the site was not situated right on the coast in an island-like context as its excavators have claimed. Instead, it was located near the top of a tall cliff at the back of a wide coastal plain. At the time there were, in addition, actively forming dune fields just in…
That Sinking Feeling
It is well known that Venice has always had an intimate association with the sea. Despite the historical interest the origins of the city have, until relatively recently, remained cloaked in obscurity. Until the mid-1980s Venice remained one of the few major historical cities in Europe where urban archaeology had yet to uncover significant information. Over the last two decades the situation has changed as shown by fifteen sites with early levels…
Archaeologies of Memory
Preliminary Estimate of the Reservoir Age in the Lagoon of Venice
The Lagoon of Venice was formed about 6000 years ago due to the marine transgression associated with the late Pleistocene sea level rise. Already by the time of the Republic of Venice (727–1797 AD) it was recognized that the future of the city and its many historical buildings was strongly correlated with the future of the lagoon itself. During the centuries many engineering projects such as modification of the fluvial systems, construction of co…
Sea-level change and the archaeology of early Venice
The threatened city of Venice, plauged by rising sea levels and subsiding ground, has been the subject of recent archaeological investigation. Studies of buried archaeological sites yield new evidence on trends in sea-level change for the Lagoon of Venice and provide important insight into how early habitation responded to such change
Environmental archaeology in the Velabrum, Rome
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
New directions in central Mediterranean obsidian studies
Mediterranean obsidian-provenance studies are changing in direction and focus of modern research, with characterization of the Sardinian sources, application of minimally destructive and inexpensive analytical techniques, analysis of complete or large parts of assemblages, and the integration of provenance data with reduction technology and use-wear traces
Visibility and Site Recovery in the Cecina Valley Survey, Italy
One of the key issues in survey methodology today is the relationship between surface visibility and the discovery of archaeological sites on the landscape. As part of the Cecina Survey in central Italy, a treatment of visibility, which includes aspects of both geomorphology And ground cover, is developed in order to evaluate the strength of this relationship in quantitative terms. The results at Cecina show a strong positive relationship between…
Abandonment of Settlements and Regions
The Comitium in Rome from the Beginning
One of the most important sites in early Rome was the Comitium, the place of assembly on the north side of the Forum. By combining evidence on the elevations of the natural land surface from previous excavations by Boni and Romanelli with the results of new fieldwork, the natural relief of the site can be reconstructed for the first time. This shows, among other things, a large outcrop of volcanic rock on the west side of the site—a position just…
The Eridanos Valley and the Athenian Agora
The northwest corner of the Agora was one of the key nodes in the ancient city of Athens, the place where the Panathenaic Way passed between the Royal Stoa and the Painted Stoa. Two water courses in underground channels met there as well. Previous studies have been limited by the high modern water table in the area. In the course of four seasons of fieldwork, the natural relief in this part of the city has now been mapped. In all, 41 cores were t…
The Dynamics of Modern Land Use and the Acconia Survey
At a time when surface visibility is one of the key issues for archaeological surveys in the Mediterranean world, it is of interest to look more closely at the character of modern land use. In this case study of the Acconia area in southern Italy, the mapping of land use on a field-by-field basis was carried out in two different years (1980 and 1989). As part of the analysis, use is made of a transition matrix to summarize the patterns of continu…
More on the origins of Venice
Three years ago, ANTIQUITY reported a first archaeological insight into the origins of Venice. The city's historical records, famously good and full for its flourishing, say very little about the beginnings. This second report includes direct evidence from Piazza San Marco, the heart of the city
On the ocean
It is a rare occasion to review a book that is destined to become a classic for the scholar and the common reader alike. On one level, the aim of On the Ocean is to compare and contrast two quite d
The Neolithic Transition and the Genetics of Populations in Europe
This book explores the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture as a way of life and the implications of this neolithic transition for the genetic structure of European populations. Originally published in 1984. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts…
Measuring the Rate of Spread of Early Farming in Europe
A large body of information on early farming in Europe and the Near East has accumulated during the last twenty years of prehistoric research. The economies of most early farming settlements in Europe are characterised by the use of various domesticated species (wheat, barley, sheep, cattle and pig) combined with the exploitation of wild plants and animals. The view generally held sees early farming of the type practised in Europe as having origi…
Surveys and Archaeological Research
Infrastructures are material forms that allow for the possibility of exchange over space. They are the physical networks through which goods, ideas, waste, power, people, and finance are trafficked. In this article I trace the range of anthropological ...Read More
Heuristic Approaches to Spatial Analysis in Archaeology
This article discusses an approach to spatial analysis which is more closely tailored to archaeological objectives and archaeological data than are more 'traditional' quantitative techniques such as nearest neighbor analysis. Heuristic methods, methods which make use of the problem context and which are guided in part by intuitively derived 'rules,' are discussed in general and with reference to the problem of spatial analysis in archaeology. A p…
A study of obsidian exchange networks in Calabria
Recent survey work in Calabria which has revealed the extensive use of obsidian at Neolithic sites raises questions about models of exchange systems that have been previously advanced. Rather than being tied to a land‐based route through northern Sicily, obsidian appears to have moved in a radial pattern by boat from the island of Lipari to various points along the west coast of Calabria. The percentage of obsidian observed at a site does not fol…
On the 'Making' of an Assemblage of Stone Tools
An attempt is made to view an assemblage of stone tools as something in the process of being generated over time. A formal model is developed which includes variables such as activities and tool types and also draws attention to somewhat less visible variables that enter into the formation of an assemblage such as the dropping rates of tools and mapping relations between tool types and activities. Implications of the model for the interpretation …
The Eridanos Valley and the Athenian Agora
The northwest corner of the Agora was one of the key nodes in the ancient city of Athens, the place where the Panathenaic Way passed between the Royal Stoa and the Painted Stoa. Two water courses in underground channels met there as well. Previous studies have been limited by the high modern water table in the area. In the course of four seasons of fieldwork, the natural relief in this part of the city has now been mapped. In all, 41 cores were t…
Plow-Zone Experiments in Calabria, Italy
The experiments reported here were carried out in the Acconia area of southern Italy between 1977 and 1983. They represent the first long-term study of the effects of plowing on material seen on the surface of a site. A series of observations was made at a site over a period of six years in order to monitor the dynamics of patterns of surface material placed at the site by the researchers. The specific questions examined include the ratio of surf…
Replicated Collection of Site Surfaces
The replicated collection of the surface of a site provides one way of learning more about a site during survey work. Examples of the use of this technique at 2 sites in southern Italy are presented. The suggestion is made that the site surface in some cases can be viewed as operating as a biased multinomial sampling process. A statement of this hypothesis in formal terms is given
Abandonment of Settlements and Regions
Visibility and Site Recovery in the Cecina Valley Survey, Italy
One of the key issues in survey methodology today is the relationship between surface visibility and the discovery of archaeological sites on the landscape. As part of the Cecina Survey in central Italy, a treatment of visibility, which includes aspects of both geomorphology And ground cover, is developed in order to evaluate the strength of this relationship in quantitative terms. The results at Cecina show a strong positive relationship between…
The Dynamics of Modern Land Use and the Acconia Survey
At a time when surface visibility is one of the key issues for archaeological surveys in the Mediterranean world, it is of interest to look more closely at the character of modern land use. In this case study of the Acconia area in southern Italy, the mapping of land use on a field-by-field basis was carried out in two different years (1980 and 1989). As part of the analysis, use is made of a transition matrix to summarize the patterns of continu…
New light on Aetokremnos
The note reconsiders the environmental setting of Aetokremnos, the controversial site of pre-Neolithic age on the island of Cyprus. Some 12,000 years ago when the sea level was lower, the site was not situated right on the coast in an island-like context as its excavators have claimed. Instead, it was located near the top of a tall cliff at the back of a wide coastal plain. At the time there were, in addition, actively forming dune fields just in…
Paleolithic Culture and Culture Change
A debate concerning the meaning of stone artifact and assemblage variability during the Paleolithic has been in progress for some time now. This paper attempts to link theory and method in suggesting specific methods for the investigation of whether stone tools can act as markers of culturally bounded social units, i.e., ethnic groups, in the past. Hypotheses are formulated based on the theory of culture tradition, and test implications are deduc…
On the Neolithic transition in Europe
Ammerman & Cavalli-Sforza's ‘wave of advance’ model figured in the Indo-European Special Section in the September ANTIQUITY . One of its architects here comments on how his model was presented there, and makes some wider proposals
On the Origins of the Forum Romanum
The excavations made by Boni and Gjerstad at the socalled Equus Domitiani provide the main body of evidence on the origins of the Forum Romanum. Gjerstad interpreted Strata 23–28 at the base of his sounding in the center of the Forum as layers that witnessed early hut habitation. It was held that Stratum 22, which represents the first gravel pavement of the Forum, was laid down on top of the hut strata. Recent environmental studies in the center …
Sea-level change and the archaeology of early Venice
The threatened city of Venice, plauged by rising sea levels and subsiding ground, has been the subject of recent archaeological investigation. Studies of buried archaeological sites yield new evidence on trends in sea-level change for the Lagoon of Venice and provide important insight into how early habitation responded to such change
Neolithic Settlement Patterns in Calabria
Descriptive Statements, Covering Laws, and Theories in Archaeology [and Comments and Reply]
The paradigm for explanation in archaeology presented by the "new archaeologists" is reviewed and shown to need further elaboration. It is argued that that presentation has overemphasized the form of explanatory arguments and insufficiently considered their content. Not all explanatory arguments provide intuitively satisfactory explanations of particular observations. Instead, intuitively satisfactory explanations require general theories which s…
The clay beds in the Velabrum and the earliest tiles in Rome
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Environmental archaeology in the Velabrum, Rome
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Taking Stock of Quantitative Archaeology
Infrastructures are material forms that allow for the possibility of exchange over space. They are the physical networks through which goods, ideas, waste, power, people, and finance are trafficked. In this article I trace the range of anthropological ...Read More
Neutron activation analysis of obsidian from two Neolithic sites in Italy
A Neolithic Household at Piana di Curinga, Italy
The report gives the first detailed description of an early Neolithic house in the Western Mediterranean. Among the wattle-and-daub structures excavated at Piana di Curinga, a settlement of Impressed Ware Neolithic age located on the Tyrrhenian coast of southern Italy, the best preserved is the one found in Area H at the site. Excavations here have led to the recovery of more than one ton of baked daub fragments representing the walls of the stru…
New directions in central Mediterranean obsidian studies
Mediterranean obsidian-provenance studies are changing in direction and focus of modern research, with characterization of the Sardinian sources, application of minimally destructive and inexpensive analytical techniques, analysis of complete or large parts of assemblages, and the integration of provenance data with reduction technology and use-wear traces
Measuring the Rate of Spread of Early Farming in Europe
A large body of information on early farming in Europe and the Near East has accumulated during the last twenty years of prehistoric research. The economies of most early farming settlements in Europe are characterised by the use of various domesticated species (wheat, barley, sheep, cattle and pig) combined with the exploitation of wild plants and animals. The view generally held sees early farming of the type practised in Europe as having origi…
On the 'Making' of an Assemblage of Stone Tools
An attempt is made to view an assemblage of stone tools as something in the process of being generated over time. A formal model is developed which includes variables such as activities and tool types and also draws attention to somewhat less visible variables that enter into the formation of an assemblage such as the dropping rates of tools and mapping relations between tool types and activities. Implications of the model for the interpretation …
Late pleistocene population dynamics
Figuring Anthropology
Descriptive Statements, Covering Laws, and Theories in Archaeology [and Comments and Reply]
The paradigm for explanation in archaeology presented by the "new archaeologists" is reviewed and shown to need further elaboration. It is argued that that presentation has overemphasized the form of explanatory arguments and insufficiently considered their content. Not all explanatory arguments provide intuitively satisfactory explanations of particular observations. Instead, intuitively satisfactory explanations require general theories which s…
Replicated Collection of Site Surfaces
The replicated collection of the surface of a site provides one way of learning more about a site during survey work. Examples of the use of this technique at 2 sites in southern Italy are presented. The suggestion is made that the site surface in some cases can be viewed as operating as a biased multinomial sampling process. A statement of this hypothesis in formal terms is given
Paleolithic Culture and Culture Change
A debate concerning the meaning of stone artifact and assemblage variability during the Paleolithic has been in progress for some time now. This paper attempts to link theory and method in suggesting specific methods for the investigation of whether stone tools can act as markers of culturally bounded social units, i.e., ethnic groups, in the past. Hypotheses are formulated based on the theory of culture tradition, and test implications are deduc…
A study of obsidian exchange networks in Calabria
Recent survey work in Calabria which has revealed the extensive use of obsidian at Neolithic sites raises questions about models of exchange systems that have been previously advanced. Rather than being tied to a land‐based route through northern Sicily, obsidian appears to have moved in a radial pattern by boat from the island of Lipari to various points along the west coast of Calabria. The percentage of obsidian observed at a site does not fol…
Surveys and Archaeological Research
Infrastructures are material forms that allow for the possibility of exchange over space. They are the physical networks through which goods, ideas, waste, power, people, and finance are trafficked. In this article I trace the range of anthropological ...Read More
Neolithic Settlement Patterns in Calabria
Reduction Sequences and the Exchange of Obsidian in Neolithic Calabria
Landscape and Society
Introduction to the analysis of mosaic patterns in archaeology
Although much work has been done on the analysis of point patterns in archaeology in recent years, less attention has been paid to those situations where the spatial patterns take the form of a patchwork of subareas or a mosaic. This article indicates how such mosaic patterns can be studied quantitatively and the kinds of things that can be learned from their analysis. Examples to illustrate this are taken from the distributions of wattle and dau…
Heuristic Approaches to Spatial Analysis in Archaeology
This article discusses an approach to spatial analysis which is more closely tailored to archaeological objectives and archaeological data than are more 'traditional' quantitative techniques such as nearest neighbor analysis. Heuristic methods, methods which make use of the problem context and which are guided in part by intuitively derived 'rules,' are discussed in general and with reference to the problem of spatial analysis in archaeology. A p…
The Neolithic Transition and the Genetics of Populations in Europe
This book explores the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture as a way of life and the implications of this neolithic transition for the genetic structure of European populations. Originally published in 1984. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts…
Plow-Zone Experiments in Calabria, Italy
The experiments reported here were carried out in the Acconia area of southern Italy between 1977 and 1983. They represent the first long-term study of the effects of plowing on material seen on the surface of a site. A series of observations was made at a site over a period of six years in order to monitor the dynamics of patterns of surface material placed at the site by the researchers. The specific questions examined include the ratio of surf…
Approaches to Social Archaeology
The Neolithic Transition and the Genetics of Populations in Europe
This book explores the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture as a way of life and the implications of this neolithic transition for the genetic structure of European populations.Originally published in 1984.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the origin…
A Reply to Meiklejohn's Review of The Neolithic Transition and the Genetics of Populations in Europe
A Neolithic Household at Piana di Curinga, Italy
The report gives the first detailed description of an early Neolithic house in the Western Mediterranean. Among the wattle-and-daub structures excavated at Piana di Curinga, a settlement of Impressed Ware Neolithic age located on the Tyrrhenian coast of southern Italy, the best preserved is the one found in Area H at the site. Excavations here have led to the recovery of more than one ton of baked daub fragments representing the walls of the stru…
Old Calabria revisited
It is uncommon for the prehistorian to engage in the writing of culture history in the wider sense of the term - that is, to comment on major works of literature and art in the light of contemporary experience, learning and values. As archaeology has become a more professional field of study, discourse in recent years has come increasingly to have a discipline-centred focus. There is a price to pay for the habit of looking inward: the loss of con…
Reply to comments on population studies and the archaeologist
On the Neolithic transition in Europe
Ammerman & Cavalli-Sforza's ‘wave of advance’ model figured in the Indo-European Special Section in the September ANTIQUITY . One of its architects here comments on how his model was presented there, and makes some wider proposals
Population studies and the archaeologist
Neutron activation analysis of obsidian from two Neolithic sites in Italy
Archaeology (46 obras) · Geography (41 obras) · History (37 obras) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (29 obras) · History (23 obras) · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History (19 obras) · Computer Science (13 obras) · Geology (13 obras) · Archaeological Research and Protection (12 obras) · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology (12 obras)