History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons^™

Archaeogaming And The Re-Use Of Digital Archaeological Materials: Generating Serious Games For The Villas Of Roman Sicily, Kaitlyn Kingsland

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With 10 million copies sold and 500 million dollars of revenue, the 11th installment of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (2018), showed how a videogame based on ancient Greek history and archaeology can make a splash in popular culture and that the distant past can become an extinguishable source of infinite engaging gaming narratives. As pedagogic and research counterparts to videogames of this kind, serious games and archaeogames focusing on Greek and Roman civilizations move from different premises, though aspiring to the same level of success. Serious games, created for a primary purpose other than sole entertainment, have …

Historical Archaeology At The Chalmers Institute, Mississippi's First University, Antosia Briggs

Honors Theses

This study presents a basic description and analysis of the artifacts collected from the 2015 archaeological excavation conducted in Holly Springs, Mississippi at the Chalmers Institute site. The thesis includes history and background on Holly Springs as a city to orient the reader. This text also includes information regarding the program, Preserve Marshall County, as their work regarding the building and site ties directly into the ability of the student archaeologists being able to excavate in 2015 as well as the future of the building. This study analyzes the artifacts found based on the frameworks of the archaeology of institutional …

Aging An Ancient Maya Population From Actuncan, Belize Using Dental X-Rays, Kaitlyn Nicole Cash

Honors Theses

My goal is to determine an accurate age at death estimation of an ancient Maya population from the archaeological site of Actuncan, Belize. This was done by measuring the lengths of the coronal pulp cavities in the individuals’ teeth. I used X-Ray images to measure the coronal pulp cavities of the teeth and estimated age using multiple regression formulae for premolars, molars, and incisors to make age estimations. The formulae came from two studies, Ikeda et al. (1985) and Drusini (2008), that form the basis of my research. Ikeda et al. (1985) was the first to use this aging method, …

Dulce Sueños De Tierra, Sweet Dreams Of Earth, Jordany Genao

Theses and Dissertations

Jordany's paper congregates their archival research into an art practice that examines the decolonial impulse to excavate the self and produce autonomy. Using ceramics to reference and re-animate Taino ritual objects found in museums, resulting in alternative museology, their work seeks to honor Caribbean ancestors by subverting colonial history.

Skin Echoes, Andreia Santana

Theses and Dissertations

Santana’s explores the intersection of biology and identity, incorporating living matter and performative gestures into installations to reflect on social constructs of history and gender. By observing water and its qualities of defying Western dichotomies, Skin Echoes focuses on the material interchanges across bodies and the wider material world.

Ancient Migrations In West Mexico: Mtdna Analyses, Patricio Gutiérrez Ruano

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Despite the mounting evidence that suggests The Aztatlán tradition in West Mexico was a major cosmopolitan region during the Postclassic period (AD 900-1521) with connections to the rest of what is now Mexico, archaeologists have characterized items in West Mexico as culturally distinct from the rest of Mesoamerica. Recently, endogenous, and exogenous material culture has been interpreted as movement and exchange of goods and ideas between subregions and surrounding areas, all of which mention physical contact and trade were involved between Aztatlán and elsewhere. This has included interacting with areas as far as the U.S. Southwest, as well as in …

Re-Curation And Recognition: Addressing The Curation Crisis Through The Garnet Ghost Town, Jocelyn A. Palombo

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As universities, federal curation facilities, public museums, and private collections struggle to create space on their shelves curators and archaeologists continuously evaluate what must continue to be stored and what needs to be deaccessioned. Utilizing a collection housed at the University of Montana I explore strategies for combating this issue. The collection originates from the Garnet Ghost Town and has been in the university’s care since its excavation. The objectives of this project are to obtain new information and incorporate innovative techniques to learn more about the collection itself and provide an updated analysis to one of Montana’s most complete …

The Coming Of The Anatolians: Mobility, Conflict, And Piracy In The Early Bronze Age Aegean, Natalie M. Yeagley

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the possibility that piracy was practiced in the Aegean Sea region in the Early Bronze Age (c. 3000-2000 BCE), by utilizing archaeological evidence to examine the prevalence and nature of violence in this region in this period. Piracy was most likely an aspect of the great surge in mobility, wealth, and conflict that characterized the extension of the Anatolian Trade Network (ATN) from the eastern Aegean into the central and western Aegean around 2550/2500-2100 BCE. I will trace the movement and examine the impact of tangible materials such as Anatolian architecture, metals, ceramics, and ships, and their …

Plants And People: Foraging To Farming Foodway Transition From Late Archaic To Early Woodland In Western North Carolina, U.S.A., Catherine Linn Herring

Masters Theses

During the Late Archaic to Early Woodland Transition, 3,200 years B.P. [Before Present], some gathering communities in the Eastern Woodlands began to increase their cultivation of plants. While archaeologists have located several sites in the Upper Tennessee River Valley and near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee that explicitly show an increase in plant cultivation, less research has focused on the North Carolina Appalachian Summit Region. This paper uses paleoethnobotanical data and spatial analysis of site locations to explore cultivation and settlement patterns in Jackson and Swain Counties, North Carolina. Data include site locations obtained from the North …

By Her Hands: An Analysis Of The Hidden Labor Of Black Women At The Hugh Craft House Site In Holly Springs, Mykayla Williamson

Honors Theses

This project unearths the hidden labor of Black women by analyzing architectural remains, artifacts, and primary and secondary documentary evidence surrounding the urban antebellum Hugh Craft House site in Holly Springs, Mississippi. This project considers the gap in theorizing the hidden labor of Black women in the seldom-researched setting of urban slavery. It also draws on household and Black feminist archaeology theories to uncover the hidden labor in the domestic spheres that the enslaved women were actively shaping. Research methods included watching clips of Behind the Big House tour interpretations; taking a Craft House tour in Holly Springs; looking at …

A Gis Approach To Landscape Scale Archaeoacoustics, Kristy Elizabeth Primeau

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This research presents the development and critical assessment of an Archaeoacoustics Toolbox for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology written in the Python programming language, and applies this methodology to cross cultural case studies exploring the importance of soundsheds in an anthropological-archaeological context. As counterpoint to a common critique of experiential theoretical approaches the Soundshed Analysis and Soundshed Analysis-Variable Cover tools provide a replicable means of modeling baseline estimates of the experience of sound. Testing against modern acoustical studies establishing scientific accuracy, and explanations of the sound physics calculations performed by the tools are provided. The tools are then applied to …

How We Talk About Archaeology In The Digital Age, Michael Messina

Student Research Submissions

Abstract

Archaeology is known for the research, study, excavation, and exploration of the past. Often the present advancements at hand are not thought about when it comes to this field of study. This paper aims to shine a light on how the digital era has progressed the ways in which the archaeological field opened up like never before due to the all of the social mediums in which archaeologists can share their research and findings. Theory is explored both new and old on globalization within the field and how everything arrived to where it is now. Questions are researched through …

An Ideology Of Racism: Community Representation, Segregation, And The Historical Cemeteries Of Panama City, Florida, Ethan David Mauldin Putman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mortuary research in historical archaeology has always acknowledged the cultural and symbolic links between cemeteries and the people who created them. Studies across multiple disciplines focus on what data can be gained about past societies from historical cemeteries, and they tend to ascribe to an understanding of the ‘cemetery-as-model.’ This idea of the local burial ground as a mirror of the community that formed it seems reasonable, even logical, but few of these studies have taken the time to compare the historical context of the societies in question to the results of their cemetery analyses. The assumption of the cemetery …

“A Certain Brauch:” German-Georgian Palatine And Rhenish Immigrant Houses In Columbia County, New York And Their Vernacular Architectural Roots, Andrew J. Roberge

Senior Projects Spring 2022

In this archaeological and architectural survey of 18th Century Palatine and Rhenish immigrant houses in New York's Hudson Valley, specifically in Columbia County, I track the development of three houses from their earliest vernacular forms to those touched by the Georgian influence. The Georgian worldview, stemming from European Enlightenment ideals, began permeating colonial American society in the 18th Century. It's influence first began to touch the wealthy and elite most connected with mother Europe, and then trickled into more common society. I chronicle and analyze Germantown, NY's Reformed Sanctity Church Parsonage, Germantown, NY's Simeon Rockefeller House, and Clermont, NY's "Stone …

Analysis Of Artifacts And Storage Organization: Clinton Lock 2, Hannah Curtis

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

For this project, we are hoping to address the potential problems and help refine future work between the storage in the Cummings Center and the Anthropology Department. Some of the research questions that we have are: What is in the Cummings Center from the Anthropology Department? What type of techniques is the most beneficial in storing archaeological material? How are the items stored in the Cummings Center? Is this method of storage going to protect or damage the artifact? Do we still need to keep this material, returned to its original owner, or can it be deaccessioned? We plan to …

Linear Programming Analysis And Diet Breadth Modeling At Bridge River, British Columbia, Sean Patrick Boyd

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Studies in diet breadth modeling and patch choice have been and continue to be a hot topic of interest among practitioners of human behavioral ecology and the set of data available at Bridge River can certainly add to these debates and discussions that have been dominating anthropology in the past few decades. The faunal assemblage of Housepit 54’s 17 anthropogenic floors have provided researchers with a plethora of data that clearly indicates periods of resource depletion and partial to full site abandonment. Using Linear Programming and Diet Breadth Modelling I analyze the most represented species in the record and establish …

Courtland Street, Lake George : A Bioarchaeological Study Of The Skeletal Foot Morphology Of Early Revolutionary War Soldiers, Alexandra Grace Decarlo

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In 2019, an unmarked burial ground was discovered in the town of Lake George, NY. Under the leadership of the Bioarcheology department at the New York State Museum, numerous interments were excavated. A few of the remains had been bisected, leaving only their lower limbs. Additionally, many of the remains were commingled within a large mound of dirt. Upon analysis, the remains recovered from the Courtland Street site were determined to be associated with the Revolutionary War and the early Battle of Quebec in 1775. Due to the state of the remains, it was only possible to focus an analysis …

Typological And Technological Analyses Of Multi-Component Lithic Collection From Eastern Kentucky., Isaac C. Garvin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to perform a typological and technological analysis of the Gibson Collection utilizing statistical analyses and carefully recorded metric data. The Gibson Collection consists of N=472 lithic artifacts from the southern tip of Fleming County in eastern Kentucky, located directly above the Cave Run Reservoir. The main research focus of this project was to assign types to previously unrecorded artifacts with the intention of observing diachronic technological change of eastern Kentucky’s archaeological timeline within the Gibson collection. This thesis uses post-processual archaeological ideology and inquiry as well as statistical analyses and interpretation. Further, through the …

Site Suitability Modeling In The Sand Pine Scrub Of The Ocala National Forest, Jelane M. Wallace

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Central Florida’s Ocala National Forest is the largest remnant of the unique-to-the-region Sand Pine Scrub ecosystem. This ecosystem exhibits a surprising wealth of biodiversity despite what may be characterized as barren, difficult, dry, pyrogenic conditions. Significant prehistoric sites exist throughout the forest, even in the Sand Pine Scrub; however, most are on the margins and few systematic surveys penetrated this ecosystem, until now. I utilized GIS and these recently collected archaeological survey data, in conjunction with other environmental, geological, or historical data in GIS format, to model prehistoric settlement and land use patterns. This model attempts to address questions of …

Ancient Pottery Making At Cerro San Isidro, Nepeña Valley, Peru, Kaitlyn M. Lowrance

LSU Master's Theses

Located in the Nepeña Valley of north-central Peru, Cerro San Isidro was first documented in the 1930s when the valley was initially surveyed. While numerous sites along the valley, particularly those located in the lower valley, have been extensively researched since this initial survey, members of the Proyecto de Investigación Arqueológica Cerro San Isidro (PIACSI) conducted the first formal excavations in 2019. My thesis project analyzes the ceramic artifacts – in particular pottery fragments – from that field season in order to evaluate continuity and change in morphological and technical styles from the Early Horizon through the Late Intermediate Periods …

Challenges Of Repatriation: Asante Artifacts At The American Museum Of Natural History, Abdul-Alim Farook

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Inspired by calls for the repatriation of famous artifacts like the Benin Bronzes and the Elgin Marbles, for this capstone project, I have analyzed and catalogued 250 sampled Asante artifacts at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Through this analysis, I discuss the many ways museums in North America acquired their collections. By doing so, I explore the difficulties that arise in debates surrounding repatriation due to the manner in which these artifacts were acquired. I argue that due to the many different types of donors of the Asante artifacts to the American Museum of Natural History, the Asante …

Greco-Roman Paganism And Women Leaders: The Foundation Of Early Christian Art, Rowan Murry

Honors Theses

In this thesis, I explore the impact of Greco-Roman pagan motifs as well as women leaders and officials on the development of Early Christian art by analyzing catacomb paintings, sarcophagi, and minor arts such as finger rings and carved gemstones. I also discuss surviving primary sources written by Tertullian, Eusebius, St. Jerome, and Clement of Alexandria, to gain a better understanding of anti-art views in the first few centuries of the Church’s rise to power. These anti-art sentiments were often rooted in attempts to disassociate themselves from pagan practices while Early Christian art was emerging amongst the lower classes who …

Comparing Lithic Artifacts And Native American Activity At Stark Farm, An Early Contact Period Site In Northeast Mississippi, Gillian Steeno

Honors Theses

Supposed ancestors of the modern-day Chickasaw, the occupants of Stark Farm inhabited the area known today as Starkville, Mississippi. These Native American peoples left behind archaeological evidence of their occupation, especially in the form of large midden-filled basins. In order to investigate these refuse pits, a lithic analysis was completed using stone typology in order to infer supposed activities. Each of the five contexts are compared to each other to determine which assemblages have similar elements and which ones prove to be unusual in comparison. Through this stone tool analysis, domestic and non-domestic activities and areas in the site can …

Pollen-Vegetation Relationships In Upper Tampa Bay, Jaime E. Zolik

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Archaeological and environmental studies reveal prehistoric human-environmental interactions and resolve baseline conditions for estuaries. Paleoecological proxies, such as pollen, aid archeologists in investigating past vegetation dynamics and human impacts. An issue with collecting this information today is that most present-day estuaries in Tampa Bay have been succeeded by mangrove communities and do not represent baseline vegetation dynamics. This is believed to be the consequences of widespread mosquito ditching. As a result of this, the once complex mangrove, salt marsh, juncus marsh, salt prairie, and coastal upland mosaics were converted to monodominant mangrove forests. Upper Tampa Bay (UTB) park contains some …

Sea-Level Rise And Settlement At Ta’Ab Nuk Na, Belize: Analyses Of Marine Sediment From The I-Line, 4m Transect, Conner B. Flynt

LSU Master's Theses

The ancient Maya of Mesoamerica created a culture with writing, religion, and vast trade networks. These trade networks are evident on the southern coast of Belize, where archaeologists have found sites dedicated to salt making. One of these sites, Ta’ab Nuk Na, was the subject of this thesis. Sediment and charcoal samples were collected from this site by the Underwater Maya Research Group led by Heather McKillop and E. Cory Sills. For my thesis research, I subjected these samples and components within them to loss-on ignition, radiometric dating, and microscopic analysis. Loss-on ignition was used to ascertain organic material percentage …

Seasonality, Labor Organization, And Monumental Constructions: An Otolith Study From Florida’S Crystal River Site (8ci1) And Roberts Island Shell Mound Complex (8ci40 And 41), Elizabeth Anne Southard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent decades, archaeological research has provided evidence that some mounds in the southeastern United States were constructed in short episodes. A large work force would have been required to accomplish these monumental projects. Shell mounds, in particular, provide an opportune type of architecture to investigate whether seasonal aggregations of laborers gathered at sites to engage in large-scale work projects because these mounds are constructed of aquatic resources that leave signatures for what time of the year they were caught or harvested. This study investigates whether the residents of the Crystal River site (8CI1) and Roberts Island (8CI40 and 41) …

To Burn Or Bury? That Is The Question : The Late Bronze Age And Iron Age In Northern Europe, Petra N. Peretin

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Changes in social organization can be studied through several different avenues one ofwhich is through mortuary patterns. Here we will be looking at changes in social organization during the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age in Northern Europe using mortuary and osteological data. If we study how each community interacts, mourns, stores, transports, and buries their dead then we can learn about the underlying mechanisms that transform and maintain a society, and gain insight into the societal and economical shifts of the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age in this region. These changes will be determined by analyzing the distribution …

The Cultural Heritage And Potential For Sustainable Site Development Of Greater Jezreel, Morgan Davidson

Masters Theses

This thesis surveys the historic and cultural significance of the site of Tel Jezreel, Israel and the surrounding environs and proposes a program of conservation and research which will facilitate further study of the site’s history while simultaneously making the area safely accessible to visitors. Particular attention is paid to the role that the tower and church which currently lie in ruins played within the region. Although the tower of Jezreel has been relatively neglected by historians and archaeologists to this point, it represents a very important aspect of the site, namely its continued occupation and importance beyond the biblical …

Antiquity After Repatriation: New Perspectives On The Debate Over Cultural Property, Erin Hood

Honors Thesis

Today, the legacies of 19th century imperialism and colonialism are ever-present inside the West’s most prestigious encyclopedic museums, powerful institutions that continue to retain antiquities illicitly taken from countries during times of colonial rule, economic turmoil, or military conflict. Since the 1970s, more and more countries have come forward to request that Western museums return many of these antiquities. Contentious debates between museums and origin countries have resulted, producing large volumes of scholarship arguing both for and against repatriation. One common factor that links almost all of these arguments, however, is speculation over the fate of antiquities after repatriation.

In …

From Colonial Legacy To Difficult Heritage: Responding To And Remembering An Gorta Mór, Ireland’S Great Hunger, Katherine Elizabeth Shakour

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research has two main components: first, an exploration of how communities react to socio-natural disasters through time, and second, a discussion of how communities constructed the responses to tragedies as heritage over the long term. Disasters are often conceived as short-term, natural catastrophes, but, in reality, they are always social and natural phenomena and often impact communities for years or even decades. Employing archaeological, historical and ethnographic methods, this project examines local, regional, and national responses to social upheaval cause by prolonged food insecurity beginning with a potato blight in 1845 in Ireland. The 1845-1850 Famine was not just …