| Sander E. I. Aerts |
ment, i. e. a transform, the contexts need to be defined. Robinson( 1996, 85-88) distinguishes a domestic, peridomestic and natural environment. For practical purposes, the peridomestic and natural areas here are subdivided into a local and a non-local area, to distinguish autochthonous from alloch thonous taxa( figure 1). The domestic area is the local dwelling that is attached to the local peridomestic area. A house in an urban setting would have a property where activities take place that are linked to those in the home. For example, food preparation and consumption results in waste that may be deposited in features in the garden. There are many possible peridomestic features, such as a vegetable plot or a cesspit, or buildings such as stables, which are never domestic dwellings themselves. The local natural area encompasses the natural features in close proximity to or overlapping the peridomestic area. The non-local natural area is located elsewhere, and may be represented through imported
Figure 2. Assemblage movement from and between systemic contexts towards deposition and the distinction between N- and C-transforms. natural resources. The non-local peridomestic area is any peridomestic area not directly attached to the home, and may be represented through imported cultivated resources. These make up five conceptual systemic contexts, while the archaeological context is the waste- or cesspit, a peridomestic feature. The possible movement of arthropods, whether as individuals or within a deposit, between these systemic contexts towards deposition is represented in figure 2, also showing the different trajectories of N- and C-transforms.
The assemblage movement from and between the systemic contexts will ultimately result in deposition in the archaeological context. Therefore, the arthropod assemblage of a pit is an accumulated mixture of assemblages. In order to separate these, the overall assemblage is subdivided into four sub-assemblages.
Sub-assemblages: a division based on systemic context origin Separating species communities allows for a better understanding of a deposit, but it will also make interpretation of the relative abundance of species possible, as there may have been a natural or anthropogenic selective process that resulted in over- or underrepresentation of species. Dumping a weevil-infested bag of grain into a pit will make a vast majority of the sample grain weevil, while this is solely based on one event, possibly blurring out other less abundant species. Although it is useful to identify an event, the superabundance of a taxonomic group might overshadow the ecological implications of smaller groups, for example statistically or in a visual representation.
The four sub-assemblages are based on the original systemic contexts, and have travelled a certain relative distance before deposition. Faunas originating from a non-local source need to pass through the local area before reaching the archaeological context( figure 1). The sub-assemblages are subdivided into synanthropic and natural groups, showing what the relationship in regards to human activity is. In a local systemic context, the ecological implications of taxa can indicate the intermediate actor of deposition, either a natural cause or an anthropogenic one for synanthropic taxa. This does not necessarily account for non-local faunas because a direct importation from a non-local source to the local peridomestic area is likely to be an anthropogenic activity. The sub-assemblages with ecological groups and the depositional implications is given in table 1. p. 24 | VOL II | INTER-SECTION | 2016