Gheo-Shih: An Archaic Macroband Camp in the Valley of Oaxaca

Gheo-Shih, an Archaic site in the Valley of Oaxaca, was a 1.5 hectare open-air macroband camp near the Mitla River. It was repeatedly occupied in the summer rainy season during the period (cal.) 7500–4000 BC, possibly by 25–50 people. At other times of the year the local population dispersed in smaller, family-sized groups, occupying microband camps in caves and rockshelters. The available macrofossil and palynological data suggest that between 5000 and 4000 BC, the inhabitants were cultivating maize, squash, gourds, and (possibly) runner beans, while continuing to collect wild plants and hunt deer, rabbit, and mud turtle.

This site report describes the discovery of Gheo-Shih and the subsequent research carried out there: a systematic surface pickup, a series of test pits, targeted excavations, and analysis of the materials recovered.

Tribal Pastoralists in Transition: The Baharvand of Luristan, Iran

Frank Hole and Sekandar Amanolahi-Baharvand

AP 100

In the spring of 1973, the Baharvand tribe from the Luristan province of central western Iran prepared to migrate from their winter pastures to their summer camp in the mountains. Seasonal migration in spring and fall had been their way of life for as long as anyone in the camp could remember. They moved their camp and their animals—sheep, goats, horses, donkeys, and chickens—in order to find green pastures and suitable temperatures. That year, one migrating family in the tribe allowed an outsider to make the trip with them.

Cueva Blanca: Social Change in the Archaic of the Valley of Oaxaca

Kent V. Flannery and Frank Hole

M 60

Archaeologists Flannery and Hole excavated a series of Archaic sites in the Valley of Oaxaca, including Cueva Blanca, as part of a project on the prehistory and human ecology of this region of Mexico. This cave yielded artifacts from the Late Pleistocene through the Early Archaic to the Late Archaic.

Elamite and Achaemenid Settlement on the Deh Luran Plain: Towns and Villages of the Early Empires in Southwestern Iran

Henry T. Wright, James A. Neely

M 47

The Deh Luran Plain, nestled in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains close to the modern border between Iraq and Iran, had a long and rich prehistory, beginning with the local development of villages dependent upon rainfall farming and herding in the 8th millennium BC. This volume continues the account of the plain from the later 3rd millennium BC to the middle of the 1st millennium BC. It contains detailed site maps and descriptions, aerial and satellite images of major sites, statistics and drawings of ceramics, and discussions of the historical sources.

Prehistory and Human Ecology of the Deh Luran Plain: An Early Village Sequence from Khuzistan, Iran

Frank Hole, Kent V. Flannery, James A. Neely

M 1

In the early 1960s, archaeologists Frank Hole, Kent V. Flannery, and James A. Neely surveyed the prehistoric mounds in Deh Luran and then excavated at two sites: Ali Kosh and Tepe Sabz. The researchers found evidence that the sites dated to between 7500 and 3500 BC, during which time the residents domesticated plants and animals. This volume, published in 1969, was the first in the Museum’s Memoir series—designed for data-rich, heavily illustrated archaeological monographs.