Digital Commons Network^™

Videogame Tourism: Spawning The Digital Into The Physical Realm In The British Isles, Heather Rebecca Brinkman

Theses and Dissertations

Video game tourism is in its infancy but growing in popularity. This dissertation is an anthropological study of gamers’ attempts to interact with the physical environments in Scotland that influenced the virtual landscapes to which they have an emotional connection. Seven of the locations I identified as potential field sites provided some form of ethnographic material. I traveled with gamers to these seven sites. While at these sites, I observed and interviewed people that I met as well as did participant observations with those I went with. This project was able to demonstrate that gamers and tourists alike attempt to …

Typological And Iconographic Analyses Of Casas Grandes Pottery At The Milwaukee Public Museum, Samantha Bomkamp

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the results of analyses conducted on 80 ceramic vessels from the

Casas Grandes region (Chihuahua, Mexico) currently housed at the Milwaukee Public Museum

(MPM). This collection, most of which was donated in 1977, was accompanied with little to no

provenience information, and no research has been conducted on the materials since they came

to the Museum. Drawing upon published studies of Casas Grandes pottery, a detailed coding

scheme was developed in order to record formal and stylistic data that could be used to classify

the vessels typologically and chronologically. Fifteen different ceramic types dating to the Viejo …

The Impact Of Gender And Class On Disease And Trauma In 18th Century London: A Case Study Of Three Cemetery Populations, Maria A. Barca

Theses and Dissertations

The bioarchaeological study of paleopathology integrates interdisciplinary approaches, such as gender and class theory, and the study of trauma and disease. Using multiple lines of evidence, this thesis examines the impact of gender and class on skeletal evidence for disease and trauma in three 18th century London cemeteries serving different socio-economic populations. Contemporary written sources for prescribed gender and class roles are tested against the bioarchaeological evidence to investigate the extent to which these norms reflected lived reality or differentially impacted the incidence of trauma and disease in populations of varying socioeconomic status. Conformity to prescribed gender roles should be …

Learning And Expertise Of Equestrians: A Qualitative Assessment Of Combining Humans And Equines In A Sport, Kiley Timler

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the learning and expertise of equestrians. In this work, I use two theories, the first Jean Lave’s concept of apprenticeship or learning by doing. Apprenticeship allows people to gain the knowledge and skill they desire while also being able to become a part of a community. This knowledge and skill are seen as the newcomer becoming the oldcomer. The second theory uses Summerson Carr’s ideas of expertise. She describes expertise through four processes, socialization, evaluation, institutionalization, and naturalization. Overall, she explains expertise as something people do rather than something they possess through performance. Performance allows individuals …

Prehistoric Humans And Elk (Cervus Canadensis) In The Western Great Lakes: A Zooarchaeological Perspective, Rebekah Ann Ernat

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the relationship between humans and elk (Cervus canadensis) in the western Great Lakes region from prehistoric through early historic times, with a focus on Wisconsin archaeological sites. It takes a social zooarchaeological perspective, drawing from archaeological, ecological, biological, historical, and ethnographic sources. I also use optimal foraging theory to examine subsistence-related decisions. Based on my review of 34 Wisconsin archaeological sites or site components, elk diminished in relative dietary importance in prehistoric times as subsistence strategies shifted. The use of their bones, especially scapulae and antlers, in tool production increased. Other roles, as markers of group and …

Investigating The Contents Of A Maya Tomb: An Analysis Of The Milwaukee Public Museum's Ceramic Collection From Chajul, Guatemala, Emma Eisner

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines a collection of 120 artifacts recovered from a tomb at the highland Maya site of Chajul, Guatemala, and currently housed at the Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM). Prior to this study, research on the MPM collection was very limited and there were few publications related to Chajul. The study focuses primarily on the 84 ceramic objects in the Museum’s collection. Detailed analysis of these artifacts was undertaken in order to collect data on their likely dates of production, forms, surface treatment’s, functions, and iconography. Contextual information from the tomb is also considered, including details of its construction as …

Practical Problems And Moral Discourses: An Ethnography Of Breastfeeding, Tara Ann Gallagher

Theses and Dissertations

Universal and bioactive, breastfeeding is a burgeoning biocultural topic because it incorporates biological and social determinants of human behavior. The topic has amassed media attention framed as part of a bigger imagining of motherhood as an idealized state directed at the female body’s performance. This paper questions media and public policy’s role in the dissemination of culture and the symbolic value of breastmilk. This study examines breastfeeding discourses through the lens of an American, mostly white, Midwestern middle-class social structure. Using participant observation data of two postpartum support groups and semi-structured interviews with six primiparous mothers, my data suggests that …

A Collection Divided: An Analysis Of Accession 16082, The Ohio Hopewell Site Collection At The Milwaukee Public Museum, Katrina N. Schmitz

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates and documents sixty-one Ohio Hopewellian objects that form a collection currently housed at the Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM). The objects were excavated from the Hopewell site of Ross County, Ohio which lends its name to a renowned and geographically expansive archaeological cultural horizon. The meaning and interpretation of these MPM objects, and the site itself have evolved over time through decisions made by Native peoples, archaeologists, and museum curators. The MPM’s collection can be used as a conduit enabling discussion of the evolution of interpretations for the entire Hopewell site and the extraordinary number of artifacts which …

German-American Wpa Murals At The Milwaukee Public Museum And National Socialist Schultafeln: A Comparative Analysis, Katherine J. Santell

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis was to systematically examine and compare the themes and styles present in the Works Progress Administration (WPA) paintings housed in the Milwaukee Public Museum to a selection of National Socialist Schultafeln in Germany. The research conducted on the WPA paintings concentrated on pieces from the A.O. Tiemann collection and other works by painters who emigrated from Germany in the early 20th century or were of German descent. This was further narrowed to an in-depth analysis of pieces that depict lake dwelling sites of the European Neolithic and Bronze Ages in both US Museums and selected …

Compositional Analysis Of Pottery From Middle Woodland Waukesha Phase Sites In Southeastern Wisconsin And Havana Hopewell Related Sites In Northeastern And Northwestern Illinois, Megan Elizabeth Thornton

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a compositional analysis of a selected sample of Middle Woodland ceramic sherds from sites in southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. The analysis compares the ceramic pastes from Middle Woodland pottery from nine different archaeological sites. These sites include the Peterson, Finch, Alberts, and Crab Apple Point sites in Wisconsin, the Sloan, Albany Village, Blythe, DeWitte/Liphardt Habitation sites in northwestern Illinois, and the Kautz site in northeastern Illinois.

The analysis includes a review of available documentation, as well as descriptions and characterizations of sherds utilizing an attribute-based analysis of metric, morphological, and petrographic data. In southeastern Wisconsin, the …

“Penniless And Unknown”: Temporality Of The Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery - A Gis Analysis, Eric Eugene Burant

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses GIS modeling techniques of spatial data, archaeological data, and historical documentation to determine patterning of material culture associated with interments at the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery (MCPFC), an unmarked cemetery located in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Archaeological excavations at the MCPFC in 1991-1992 and again in 2013 recovered over 2,400 individuals associated with Milwaukee County’s practice of providing burial for institutional residents, unidentified or unclaimed individuals sent from the Coroner’s Office, the remains of cadaverized individuals, and community poor from 1862 through 1925 (Richards 2016).

Previous research identified two distinct material culture classes; grave goods and grave inclusions. …