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The Ducks Nest Site: A Small Mississippian Site In Warren County, Tennessee, Gerald Wesley Kline

Masters Theses

Archaeological investigations conducted at the Ducks Nest site (40WR4), situated on a ridge in the Barren Fork drainage in the Eastern Highland Rim of Middle Tennessee, resulted in the excavation of a small Mississippian component consisting of two superimposed wall trench structures and six features. These cultural remains and the artifacts and ecofacts recovered in association are described and discussed. It is concluded that the Ducks Nest site was occupied on a year round basis over a limited number of years during the first half of the twelfth century A.D. by a small social group that was trophically self-sufficient.

A Multivariate Analysis Of Palatal Measurements In Four Populations, David M. Glassman

Masters Theses

This study presents a multivariate analysis based on sets of twenty-six palatal measurements from males and females of three racial groups. The analysis examines the occurrence and degree of inter- and intrapopulational relationships. Morphological interpretations are provided whenever possible for the multivariate functions and factors identified. Additionally, discriminant functions from which individuals may be classified into their proper racial and sexual group are calculated and their degree of accuracy discussed.

The data for this investigation were obtained from two skeletal collections. Representatives of Negro and White populations were provided from the Terry Collection housed at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural …

Archeological Site Survey Of The Lower Kalamazoo River Basin: Results Of The 1976 Field Season, Phillip D. Neusius

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Lithic Assemblage Of The Hacklander Site, Allegan County, Michigan, Jerrel H. Sorensen

Masters Theses

Introduction

Orientation

In A History of American Archaeology Willey and Sabloff (1974) outline the development of archaeological method and theory in the Western Hemisphere. The authors defined 5 periods through which they traced advances in archaeology from the time Europe first discovered the New World. Each other these periods is characterized by certain attitudes and orientations toward archaeological data. Old ideas changed as new information, new tools of discovery, and new ways of interpretation and explanation transformed archaeology into what it is today.

Archaeologists are now in the Explanatory Period (Willey and Sabloff 1974:178). This period's theoretical orientation can be …

The Mississippian Component At The Eoff I Site, Normandy Reservoir, Coffee County, Tennessee, Lloyd Norris Chapman

Masters Theses

Analysis of the Mississippian component features from the Eoff I site in the Normandy Reservoir, upper Duck River, Coffee County, Tennessee, has indicated that the component represents an Early ,Mississippian Banks phase occupation dating from between A.D. 1068 and A.D. 1170. The spatial distribution of features at the site along with the artifactual content of these features suggests that a major cluster of features was placed in consistent arrangement with each of two semisubterranean structures. A storage zone is possibly indicated by a cluster of features with morphological characteristics usually associated with storage facilities and also by the significantly larger …

Ethnography For Archaeology: A Functional Interpretation Of An Upper Great Lakes Prehistoric Fishing Artifact, Donald E. Weston

Masters Theses

Introduction and Problem

One of the basic and challenging tasks in archaeology is the interpretation of artifacts and the reconstruction of prehistoric cultures. Difficulties arise primarily because (1) not all past human behavior is manifest in the archaeological record, and (2) that which remains is only adequately represented. Our success at understanding prehistory is further limited by differential preservation, lack of representative samples, and loss of contextual data. Even with the use of sophisticated recovery techniques, vigorous analysis, and statistical manipulation it is seldom possible to arrive at neat reconstructions. Prehistory is, after all, the indirect study of human behavior …

Anthropological Approaches To The Study Of Nepali Shamanism, Christopher J. Busick

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Anatomical Alterations Of The Pelvis: The Significance When Determining Childbirth And Sex, Connie Lynn Hall

Masters Theses

Research concerned with the osteological alterations in the pelvic girdle thought to be associated with pregnancy and parturition is fairly recent. Much of the research in this area has dealt with the osteological alterations seen on the anterior and posterior pubic facies. The research on the sacroiliac joint has leaned toward the preauricular sulcus of the ilium. Consequently, data pertaining to the osteological alterations thought to be associated with pregnancy and parturition seen on the lateral margins of the anterior face of the first through third sacral vertebrae are not complete. It is my intention in this thesis to demonstrate …

A Functional Analysis Of The Temporomandibular Joint In Homosapiens Sapiens And Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis, Janice Lynn Foxworthy

Masters Theses

Analysis of the temporomandibular region in Homo sapiens neanderthalensis reveals diagnostic morphological differences in comparison to the morphological pattern typically expressed in the temporomandibular joint region of Homo sapiens sapiens. The temporomandibular joint region in Neandertals is characterized by a (1) thickened tympanic ring, petrosal area, mandibular fossa roof, and temporal squama; (2) pronounced postglenoid process; (3) more oval external auditory meatus, directed anteriorly and superiorly, positioned relatively higher on the temporal bone; (4) wide shallow glenoid fossa; (5) formation of the glenoid fossa wall; and (6) prominently developed articular eminence. This thesis concentrates on the morphological variations expressed …

An Archaeological Survey Of The Middle Nolichucky River Basin, Calvert W. Mcilhany Iii

Masters Theses

A cultural history of the middle Nolichucky River Basin has been defined based on data obtained during a 1977 survey of 41 prehistoric archaeological sites. The area was sparsely occupied during the Paleo-Indian period, at least 10,000 years ago. More intensive occupations followed during the Early Archaic through Mississippian periods. Representative areas within four generalized biogeographic zones were examined with particular emphasis on locating prehistoric archaeological sites and lithic raw material sources. The small size of the cultural material sample and limited number of sites examined do not provide sufficient data to make specific conclusions about patterns of settlement and …

The Ceramics Of The Sand Point Site (20bg14) Baraga County, Michigan: A Preliminary Description, Lawrence G. Dorothy

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.