This manuscript presents an attempt to evaluate the intensity of fire through spatial patterning and thermoluminescence methodology. Previous studies of Layer II-6 Level 2 at the Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov suggested that hominins differentiated their activities across space, including multiple activities around a hearth reconstructed on the basis of the distribution of burned flint ...

This paper presents unexpectedly early dates for a Tupiguarani settlement in Southeastern Brazil. One radiocarbon dating of 1740 +/- 90 yr BP (1820-1390 cal yr BP) was already available for the Morro Grande site (Araruama, southeastern coast of Rio de Janeiro State). Two new dates, obtained from charcoal samples, are reported here. An age of 2920 +/- 70 yr BP (3220-2790 cal yr BP) was obtained ...

In a remarkable work of social history called More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave, Ruth Cowan examines the effects of new technologies in the kitchen. Her main conclusion: new technologies like stoves (which were invented in the 18 century and replaced traditional cooking on the open hearth) did not generally make less work for mother....

An extensive series of 44 radiocarbon (14C) and 37 optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages have been obtained from the site of Riwi, south central Kimberley (NW Australia). As one of the earliest known Pleistocene sites in Australia, with archaeologically sterile sediment beneath deposits containing occupation, the chronology of the site is important in renewed debates surrounding the colo...

This paper addresses the question of domesticity in the context of the increasingly nomadic condition of the world population. The history of the idea of domesticity is traced and the particular case of the hearth is addressed in detail. The paper speculates as to how user-centric information and communication technology might simulate the social and cultural value held by the traditional heart...

Located near the edge of the Pacific coastal plain in the far southeastern corner of Chiapas, Mexico, is the large pre-Columbian ceremonial center known as Izapa. Situated on the terrace of a small stream tributary to the Rio Suchiate, the border river between Mexico and Guatemala, the site consists of more than 130 mounds sprawled over several hectares of lush tropical lowland at the base of t...