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Molecular Anthropology And The Punta Lobos Assemblage: Dna-Based Sex-Typing Of Juveniles From Ancient Hair Samples, Adriane Michelle Scola

Masters Theses

The recent proliferation of techniques suitable for DNA recovery in ancient samples has prompted anthropological researchers to explore molecular-based investigations of human remains from archaeological contexts. The study demonstrates the utility of ancient DNA analysis to strengthen a site-specific demographic profile from the Punta Lobos assemblage. DNA extraction via a silica-based extraction technique from juvenile hair bulb samples and further DNA amplification via high cycle-number PRC was undertaken to genetically type individual sex. Morphologically intermediate subadult samples were typed as biological males when amplification was successful. The inclusion of preliminary amplification results form a mitochondrial DNA marker suggests that DNA …

Preliminary Report On The Faunal Remains And Taphonomic Analysis Of Plover's Lake Cave, Cradle Of Humankind, South Africa, Juliet Krueger Brophy

Masters Theses

This study examines a sample faunal assemblage from Plover’s Lake Cave, South Africa, and uses the faunal identification and taphonomic indicators to determine the bone accumulating agents and make inferences about their behavior and environment. Fossil assemblages can be dramatically affected by ancient bone collectors as evident by their taphonomic signatures. The taphonomic overprint given to a site is typically due to episodic factors and the paleoenvironmental reconstructions that are based upon these assemblages must take into account any biases the accumulating agents may impart. After performing several analyses involving bone modification and taxonomic abundance, I suggest three accumulators were …

Molecular Anthropology And The Punta Lobos Assemblage: Dna-Based Sex-Typing Of Juveniles From Ancient Hair Samples, Adriane Michelle Scola

Masters Theses

The recent proliferation of techniques suitable for DNA recovery in ancient samples has prompted anthropological researchers to explore molecular-based investigations of human remains from archaeological contexts. This study demonstrates the utility of ancient DNA analysis to strengthen a site-specific demographic profile from the Punta Lobos assemblage. DNA extraction via a silica-based extraction technique from juvenile hair bulb samples and further DNA amplification via high cycle-number PCR was undertaken to genetically type individual sex. Morphologically indeterminate subadult samples were typed as biological males when amplification was successful. The inclusion of preliminary amplification results from a mitochondrial DNA marker suggests that DNA …

A Comparison Of Knee Joint Size, Obesity, And Osteoarthritis Involving Two Recent Skeletal Samples, Jeffrey Reed Huber

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was two-fold: to examine secular change in the size of the knee joint during the last century in White males and females, and to compare the prevalence of knee osteoarthritis over the same time frame. In addition, a specific effort was made to determine a relationship between the modern rise in obesity and knee osteoarthritis. The sample included 291 males and 140 females from both the Robert J. Terry Collection and the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection.

The results indicate no consistent secular change in direction or location between White males and females. Although …

Secrets In Common: Intellectual Foundations Of The Lodge That Found Billet In The Dens And Klaverns, Damien Borg

Masters Theses

Secrets in Common is an anthropological history that undertakes to explain the similarities of membership and ideology between the Freemasons and two formations of the Ku Klux Klan. The work is divided into seven sections. It was compiled from both extant, which was of principle significance, and secondary printed material. After many hours of reading and countless attempts at “understanding,” three short ethnographic narratives were compiled: they makeup the central axis of the material. The first narrative describes the Freemasons, while the second two are on the “Reconstruction Klan” and the “Klan of the ‘20’s,” henceforth referred to as Kuklux …

Effects Of Group Composition And Mating Season On The Agonisitic And Affiliative Behavior Of Rhesus Macaques (Macaca Mulatta), Lauren Dawn Cox

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine what, if any, were the effects of group composition and mating season on grooming and aggression in captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Three groups of rhesus macaques were observed during the summer of 2003. The behavior of these three groups was compared in order to determine if any group differences were present. The following January, two of these groups (one had been disbanded) were observed again to determine if behavior varied in the mating season.

The results suggest that the number of intergroup fights has an inverse relationship to intragroup …

A Comparison Of Knee Joint Size, Obesity, And Osteoarthritis Involving Two Recent Skeletal Samples, Jeffrey Reed Huber

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was two-fold: to examine secular changes in the size of the knee joint during the last century in White males and females, and to compare the prevalence of knee osteoarthritis over the same time frame. In addition, a specific effort was made to determine a relationship between the modern rise in obesity and knee osteoarthritis. The sample included 291 males and 140 females from both the Robert J. Terry Collection and the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection.

The results indicate no consistent secular change in direction or location between White males and females. Although …

A Comparison Of Human Femoral Neck Cortical Bone: Walkers Vs. Non-Walkers, Meghan M. Moran

Masters Theses

This empirical project examines human inferior femoral neck cortical bone and the response in this region to mechanical loading in association with bipedalism. It is suggested that habitual activity induces cortical bone hypertrophy. A radiographic analysis of femoral neck cortical bone was completed using two samples of individuals. One group following a normal developmental trajectory of walking was compared to another who has never walked as a result of cerebral palsy (CP) or spina bifida (SB). Two research questions were addressed: (1) Is the amount of femoral neck inferior cortical bone equal to or different from that seen in the …

Who Are "The Japanese"?: Negotiation Of Identity Among Nikkei In Brazil, Chihiro Nagasue

Masters Theses

When Japanese immigrants arrived in Brazil in the beginning of the 20th century, they recognized, for the first time, that they were "Japanese" and different from other ethnic people since it was rare for them to meet ethnically foreign people in Japan. In the ethnically and linguistically foreign country of Brazil, the Nikkei have had to constantly redefine their identity by resisting and accommodating dominant pressures and ideologies such as the Brazilian assimilation policies before and during the Second World War as well as the essentialist ideology of Nihonjinron (what it means to be Japanese). As a result of globalization, …

Eating Ethnicity: Examining 18th Century French Colonial Identity Through Selective Consumption Of Animal Resources In The North American Interior, Rory J. Becker

Masters Theses

Cultural identities can be created and maintained through daily practice and food consum.ption is one such practice. People need food in order to survive, but the types of food they eat are largely determined by the interaction of culture and their environment. By approaching the topic of subsistence practices as being culturally constituted, the study of foodways provides an avenue to examine issues of cultural identity through selective consumption. Eating certain foods to the exclusion of others is one method for establishing social distance between peoples and is simultaneously a reflection of this relationship and the types of interactions that …

Athletic Amenorrhea: Prevalence And Awareness Among Female Athletes At Western Michigan University, Michele R. Chupurdia

Masters Theses

Women who participate in competitive sports are under enormous pressure to maintain an extremely low body weight through diet and exercise. While exercise is viewed as widely beneficial to women of all ages, the pressure to succeed in sports by achieving or maintaining an unrealistically low body weight through food restriction and high intensity training may lead some women to develop eating disorders, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis.

The research conducted for this thesis and presented here investigates female college athletes (18-24 years) from Western Michigan University, a Division I school, who are undergoing strenuous training. The goal of this study is …

The Documentation Of A Prehistoric Rock Art Site On Pine Mountain In Southeastern Kentucky: An Archaeological Contextual Approach, Anita Spears

Masters Theses

This thesis project was designed to document a previously unrecorded prehistoric rock art site in Eastern Kentucky and to examine the application of a contextual approach to determine the site's placement in a regional culture history. The site consisted of 59 recorded petroglyphs located on boulders and cliff walls above and below a natural waterfall. As the in-situ petroglyphs were not dated by conventional rock art dating methods, the collection of physiographic, geologic, and culture historic data was combined with archaeological survey data to present a contextual picture of the open-air rock art site. As no other sites had been …

Understanding Ethno-Nationalism: Sikh Diasporic Imaginings In Southwest Michigan, Rory G. Mccarthy

Masters Theses

Diaspora as a category is both useful and troublesome for researchers in the discipline of anthropology. It is useful, for it allows anthropologists to approach cultural studies from a position that recognizes flaws in the conception of culture as geographically bounded. Studying diasporic populations, therefore, enables anthropologists to apply new theoretical approaches to culture, without reifying and essentializing social practices. Conversely, using diaspora as a category can homogenize groups by glossing over differences in ethnicity, religion, and migratory expenence.

This study aims at bettering the understanding of diversity within a diasporic population by examining the role that religion plays in …

The Steamboat Industry In Brownsville, Pennsylvania: An Ethnohistorical Perspective On The Economic Change In The Monongahela Valley, Marc Nicholas Henshaw

Masters Theses

This thesis is a detailed ethnohistorical study examining landscape changes in Brownsville Pennsylvania from 1759 to 1925. The changes that occurred in the town were heavily influenced by the flatboat and steamboat industries and the later introduction of the railroad. The catalyst for the shifts in landscape use was derived from the economical transition from a frontier economy and core producer, to mining satellite of the Pittsburgh region.

This study employs the use of period town directories, diaries, maps, photographs, and oral histories to recreate the town and to flesh out gender roles, racial diversity, and class structures both on …

An Intensive Surface Collection And Intrasite Spatial Analysis Of The Archaeological Materials From The Coy Mound Site (3ln20), Central Arkansas, William Glenn Hill

Masters Theses

Surface collected materials from the Coy Mound site (3LN20), Lonoke County, Arkansas, are utilized in order to address questions regarding site temporal occupations, resource utilization, internal site configuration, and the socio-political organization of the Baytown-Coles Creek period Plum Bayou culture. Artifact distribution plots revealed the presence of a mound and plaza site configuration in addition to potential domestic and off-mound midden deposits. While the site organizational plan has implications for a hierarchical socio-political organization, the absence of inter- and intrasite variability in ceramic types and lithic materials support the hypothesis that limited social differentiation was present in Plum Bayou culture …