Archaeologists use the term 'seasonality' to mean refer to the part of a year when a particular activity took place. Many prehistoric cultures were part time or full time nomads, and they moved as the climate grew warmer or colder throughout the year, or followed animal species such as deer or bison, or changed residences to tend crops or exploit specific resources.
An archaeologist may determine the seasonality of a site from the organic artifacts she finds (presence or absence of certain species), physical indicates in the bones and teeth of animal remains, or, more recently oxygen isotope analysis. Important early scholars in determining seasonality included G.R. Willey and Howard Winters.
Sources for Seasonality
This glossary entry is part of the About.com Guide to Subsistence Studies.
Cross, John R.1988 Expanding the scope of seasonality research in archaeology. Pp. 55-63 in MASCA: Coping with Seasonal Constraints, edited by Rebecca Huss-Ashmore. University of Pennsylvania: Philadelphia.
Humphreys, A. J. B. 1987 Prehistoric seasonal mobility: What are we really achieving?
Leatherman, Thomas L., Thomas, R. Brooke, and Luerssen, Susan. 1988. Challenges to seasonal strategies of rural producers: Uncertainty and conflict in the adaptive process. Pp 9-20 in MASCA: Coping with Seasonal Constraints, edited by Rebecca Huss-Ashmore. University of Pennsylvania: Philadelphia
Messer, Ellen. Seasonal hunger and coping strategies: An anthropological discussion. Pp 131-141 in MASCA: Coping with Seasonal Constraints, edited by Rebecca Huss-Ashmore. University of Pennsylvania: Philadelphia
Speth, John D. 1990 Seasonality, resource stress, and food sharing in so-called "egalitarian" foraging societies. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 91:48-188.
