Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Houses Built For Gods: Articulations Of Urban Hokora In Kyoto, Steele Engelmann

Anthropology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Amidst the urban landscape of Kyoto, Japan, there are thousands of hokora, small neighborhood shrines. This study uses social theories of pilgrimage and space to examine the articulation of hokora, community, and personal desire. As sites of local pilgrimage, hokora form networks of communal, but also individual, aspirations across the urban spiritual landscape of the city. This thesis argues that communities are connected to the larger social structures of Kyoto through hokora. As such, neighborhoods are reproduced and displayed through their hokora’s entanglements with the urban, social, and religious landscapes of Kyoto. Therefore, this study deploys an ethnographic approach to …

Early Village Communities: Fort Ancient Village Formation In The Middle Ohio Valley, Marcus Schulenburg

Theses and Dissertations

How do people form communities, and how do these communities change, persist, interact, and re-form during times of dramatic social change? This dissertation is an analysis of two early Fort Ancient villages in southwest Ohio and southeast Indiana dating to the Late Precontact period. These sites represent some of the first appearances of villages in the Middle Ohio Valley, ca. AD 1050, and offer a case study in the development and social responses of people living in large, permanent settlements. The study examines these settlements for signs of communities that might exist within the village as well as signs of …

Developing A Methodology For Evaluating The Sensitivity Of Rock Imagery Sites To Vandalism In Washington County, Ut, Erin C. Haycock

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This study uses statistical analysis to examine the relationship between the characteristics of rock imagery (also known as rock art) sites and intentionally caused damages in Washington County, Utah. This project aims to create an index for public land managers to respond proactively to vandalism at rock imagery sites. Included here is an analysis of the severity and frequency of damage to the sites and an inventory of the types of site damage to determine the most common and destructive types of vandalism. Site attributes such as the number of figures in a panel, the type of images, and panel …

Pompeiian Mill-Bakeries: Spatial Organization And Social Interaction, Madeleine Rubin

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines bread production and the daily lives of those who worked in mill-bakeries during the first century CE. Bread was the staple food across the ancient Mediterranean; however, there is little textual evidence about those who produced the bread that fed the Roman Empire. The most significant body of evidence relating to the lives of mill-bakers is the archaeological remains of mill-bakeries from the city of Pompeii, preserved by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE. This thesis analyzes the spatial organization of bread production within these mill-bakeries and applies the methodologies of spatial syntax – a …

Sustaining Community And Identity Through Food At The University Of Maine, Elizabeth Dudevoir

Honors College

International students often travel thousands of miles to attend the University of Maine. Foodways become a way to sustain one’s communal and self-identity. Food is more than nourishment: certain dishes also tell stories and become building blocks for conversation. Here, I focus on how international students use food as a vehicle to build community and understand the role of food to comfort and engage individuals. I also consider access to culturally significant ingredients, as the greater Orono/Bangor area lacks markets and stores that carry certain products. Through interviews, individuals shared their foodways and experiences as international graduate students at the …

Evaluating The Integration Of Traditional And Western Medicine In Rural Ghana: The Role Of Healers And The Government, Teresa Nicole Lemon

Poster Presentations

A question of pressing importance for the healthcare system in Ghana is the integration between biomedicine, which is unreachable for many rural citizens, and traditional medicine, which fills in the gaps in access for rural and non-rural citizens seeking care and is utilized by 70% of the population. The WHO promotes integrated health systems and created strategies to assist governments in their efforts.

The Ghanaian government did create policies to aid in integration, but their attempt to integrate was unsuccessful. This, along with other factors, has led some scholars to consider the government’s efforts as “tokenistic”; however, they do not …

Numerical Variations In The Thoracic And Lumbar Vertebrae Within The John A. Williams Skeletal Collection, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, Nc (Usa), Leanna Annette Sanford

Anthropology Department: Theses

This research is on how human variation can lead to the identification of remains based on skeletal variation. The data were collected by performing a morphoscopic trait study of the John A. Williams (J.A.W.) Documented Human Skeletal Collection at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, NC (USA). Morphoscopic traits are nonmetric traits, visually identified using the knowledge of osteology. The study was performed to study variation of the vertebral column, specifically focusing on morphoscopic traits of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae. The focus of this research is centralized on the presence of numerical variations in the vertebral column such as eleven …

The Kruger Collection Reimagined: A Case Study In 3d Scanning And Interactive Exhibit Design, Annissa Davis

Anthropology Department: Theses

This thesis examines the use of 3D modeling in museum exhibition to create exploratory exhibits that facilitate unique relationships between the visitors and the collection beyond what is provided by the collection’s in person counterparts. Typical use of 3D modeling in museums is currently often representative rather than exploratory. By employing a Digital Humanities lens to approach the development of a digital exhibition utilizing 3D technology and interactive elements created in a video game engine (Unity), this thesis project evaluates these potential new relationships. Using the Eloise Kruger Collection of Miniatures as a case study, the following text details the …

Chromosome 7 Microdeletions: A Literature Review, Catherine Davi

ALL - Honors Theses

Microdeletions, deletions of part of a chromosome that are too small to be detected by light microscopy using conventional cytogenetic methods, have become a hot topic for geneticists over the past decade or so. Occurring in around one in every 4000 live births, some of these microdeletions do not allow for a viable offspring, while others have distinctive developmental consequences. Many of the genes on chromosome 7 play a large role in the early development of the head, face, and limbs and more generally on cell growth and division (Bethesda 2022). This research study reviews known microdeletions on the seventh …

Dendrochronological Analysis Of The Duncan Tavern, Paris, Kentucky, Usa, Delaney Ballard, Maegen Rochner

Undergraduate Research Events

Duncan Tavern is a historical structure located at 323 High Street in Paris, Kentucky in Bourbon County. The structure currently serves as the headquarters for the Kentucky Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (KSDAR). KSDAR maintains that Duncan Tavern was originally built in the mid-1790s; the land was purchased in 1792 by Joseph Duncan, a civilian armorer in the Revolutionary War. Although Duncan Tavern has been listed on the National Register of Historical Places since 1973, a dendrochronological study of this structure was requested to quantitatively examine the legitimacy of archival and anecdotal claims about the construction history. …

The World Reborn: A Phenomenological Study Of 12th Unnamed Cave, Tennessee Through Photogrammetry, 3d Gis, And Archaeoacoustics, Jordan L. Schaefer

Doctoral Dissertations

Traditional methods for analyzing rock art locations within caves tend to rely on two-dimensional (2D) mapping methods. While useful, these techniques do not effectively capture the phenomenology, or experiential characteristics, of caves as physical spaces. This dissertation therefore adopts a three-dimensional perspective to study the distribution of rock art inside 12th Unnamed Cave, a dark-zone cave art site in Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau region, with the goal of identifying why certain types of images appear in their respective contexts. Photogrammetry is used to produce a three-dimensional (3D) model of the cave’s interior, on which surveyed rock art locations are georeferenced for …

Someone To Keep Me: Emotions, Labor, Trauma, And Orphanhood In Haiti, Hannah Mackynzie Archer

Doctoral Dissertations

In Haiti, the orphan occupies an important place in humanitarian discourse and practice as the key figure underlying the institution of the orphanage. Crucial to the orphanage and the orphan is work done by house mamas as nannies for the children, drawn primarily from the same communities and economic backgrounds as orphans. This ethnography explores how interactions between orphans, nannies, and volunteers are woven into a system of emotions produced by orphans, managed by nannies, and consumed by volunteers. Furthermore, how the intricacies of racial, gendered, and age-based inequalities, underlying these emotional exchanges, presume to reproduce discourses about the proper …

41 For Freedom: Ballistic Missile Submariners And The Nuclear Deterrent Shield During The Cold War, Jeremy Daniel Long

Masters Theses

Ballistic missile “boomer” submarines were developed in the 1960s as a response to the Soviet launch of the Sputnik satellite which proved the Soviet Union could launch a missile targeting anywhere on Earth. They made use of new nuclear power technology which allowed submarines to stay underwater indefinitely, limited only by the food they could carry to feed their crews. Ballistic missile submarines have served continuously since 1960, patrolling the ocean as the second-strike capability that makes nuclear deterrence possible. The men who served aboard the “41 for Freedom” ballistic missile submarines made innumerable sacrifices and contributed greatly to national …

How Gender Affirming Care Affects The Current Sex Estimation Standards In Forensic Anthropology: A Preliminary Study, Dakota Taylor

Anthropology Department: Theses

Current sex estimation standards in forensic anthropology are based on individuals whose gender matches their biological/osteological sex, also known as Cisgendered individuals. Recently, transgender individuals have started to become more common in the forensic context due to the increase in hate crimes and violence. This research builds upon past research done on how facial feminization surgery can affect both visual and metric methods, where it was found that forensic anthropologists should rely on the visual methods if they suspect someone to be transgender due to it being more accurate and being able to clearly state the scars left on the …

The Osteobiography Of Human Remains From The Seaview And Indian Town Trail Archaeological Sites, Maggie M. Klemm

Anthropology Department: Theses

Extensive site surveys and excavations on the Island of Barbuda led by Sophia Perdikaris have identified over 62 sites spanning from the Archaic time period to Historic times. Over the last 18 years, these multidisciplinary teams have focused on mapping all sites and performing rescue excavations on sites threatened by sea level rise, erosion or development. Two such sites are the Saladoid site of Seaview (BA016) and the Troumassoid site of Indian Town Trail (BA01). The dunes surrounding the site of Seaview receive the brunt of storms and hurricanes. In 1998 hurricane Georges exposed skeletal material now part of the …

A Manual On The Planning And Integration Of Archaeological Methods In To Outdoor Forensic Search Investigations, Jonathan Robert Garcia

Anthropology Department: Theses

As archaeology and its applications into forensic contexts develop into the growing discipline of forensic archaeology, an increasing amount of literature has resulted stemming from research on the integration of common archaeological methods. However, much of this literature is intended for professional archaeologists or forensic anthropologists who are well experienced in their respective disciplines. Emerging literature generally does not consider those who leads efforts at forensic scenes in the outdoors such as law enforcement officers who often lack a background in archaeology or forensic anthropology. This thesis seeks to resolve this dilemma by creating a new and accessible manual. The …

Lived Experiences, Migration Journey, Religiosity, And Spirituality Depicted In Drawings By Latino Children And Youth Crossing The U.S. Mexican Border: A Qualitative Study., Doroty Magalhaes Sato

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Widespread violence forces thousands of Central American children to endure a hazardous journey toward the U.S. Border seeking refuge. In the Latino community, faith serves as a social movement of resistance against oppression, playing a vital role in migration. There is a paucity of research documenting this experience and children's overall journey. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the lived experience of crossing international borders, religiosity, and spirituality depicted in Latino children's drawings used as coping methods to endure the journey toward the U.S. southern border. This investigation employed Art-based approaches to give voices to children's experiences by analyzing 63 …

The Use Of Laja In Construction In Ancient Mesoamerica: A View From The Southern Gulf Lowlands Of Veracruz, Mexico, Lauren Smith

Honors College Theses

The archaeology of the southern Gulf lowlands of Veracruz, Mexico is notable for its research pertaining to the Olmec culture (Jaime-Riveron 2016; Loughlin 2012; Pool 2006). The region was home to the Colossal Olmec Heads: large, easily identifiable sculptures crafted from the volcanic rock of the Tuxtlas Volcanic Field. The use of volcanic resources in such grand presentations may instill a bias in the research of some archaeologists, but it is important to consider how these and other volcanic resources might have been used in everyday life (e.g., Jaime-Riveron 2016: 86). The consolidated volcanic ash in this region is referred …

Wellbeing, Mental Health, And Natural Resource Dependency In Rural Utah, Kristen Rene Koci

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This dissertation examines wellbeing, mental health, and natural resource (NR) dependency in rural Utah. The following questions are asked: How do wellbeing and mental health vary throughout the state of Utah, including by rural-urban location? What concerns do applied practitioners have regarding mental health in rural parts of the state? How do chronic stress and social dislocation contribute to mental health outcomes in rural NR dependent communities in the state? Four studies were conducted to pursue these research questions.

The first two studies use data from the Utah Wellbeing Survey to explore wellbeing and mental health in Utah communities over …

Hunting For Agriculture: Unraveling Ecological Motivations In The Transition To Farming By The Fremont Cultural Complex, Ryan Mcgrath

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This study explored the profound human history shift from foraging to agriculture, focusing on Utah's Fremont cultural complex. Utilizing the Prey-Rank Model, we investigated whether dwindling encounter rates with high-rank prey prompted the Fremont's adoption of agriculture. We quantified past resource trends by analyzing the Utah archaeofaunal database to discern if ecological conditions influenced this transition. If confirmed, it suggests adaptive responses to a decline in high-ranked game led to a more resource-intensive survival strategy. This research provides crucial insights into the motivations behind the Fremont's agricultural adoption, enhancing our understanding of human-environment interactions and adaptations throughout history.

Protein Residue Analysis In Archaeology: A Geological Contamination Experiment, Theresa Popp

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Protein residue analysis has been used by archaeologists for decades to explore ancient diets and hunting behaviors based on proteins deposited on tools and artifacts, however, protein contamination of buried artifacts has been assumed but lacked formal study. Through a contamination experiment testing different geological contexts (e.g. water movement and freeze-thaw), possible routes of protein contamination within soil were identified, adversely impacting protein residue analysis conducted on buried artifacts. Protein was found to move through soil in large enough concentrations to elicit positive protein residue results on sterile artifacts that never made direct contact with the protein source used in …

Pre-Columbian Soil Management, Settlement, And Land Use In Amazonia: Insights Using Micro-Regional Predictive Modelling In Gurupá, Brazil., Lauren Zacks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The results of a micro-regional predictive model of terra preta sites in the municipality of Gurupá are presented here. A Maximum Entropy approach was selected and modified to fit a presence-background model, rather than a presence-absence model typical of binary classifications. 13 known terra preta sites were used as input samples for the relative suitability model, with explanatory variables in the respective categories of topography, hydrology, soil type and vegetation index. A 30m spatial resolution DEM served as the basis for the former two categories, while additional TauDEM analysis was performed for the hydrology category. A Sentinel-2A mosaicked quarterly composite …

Guns Over Kids: How Florida Lawmakers Trade Child Human Rights For Financial Gain, Brynn Rose Baker

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

In 2023, school shooters killed or injured 249 individuals across 346 school shootings. These school shootings typically spark temporary outrage and public calls for action. In response, the National Rifle Association (NRA) weaponizes mental health, isolating these violent crimes and barring effective and popular gun control measures. The NRA has infiltrated American politics and become a powerful lobbying force, primarily through their support of pro-Second Amendment candidates via donations and campaigning on their behalf. After the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Florida, a group of survivors created the activist group, March For Our Lives (MFOL), which encourages …

The History Of Gender-Biased Clinical Testing And Its Effects On Pharmaceutical Drug Efficacy, Kathryn E. Olson

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Concerns about potential risks that clinical research could impose to women of childbearing potential have long dictated pharmaceutical clinical trials. In the United States, women were not allowed to participate in clinical trials for decades, which has had major implications on the pharmaceutical industry today. Due to this oversight, men and women are commonly prescribed drugs at the same dosage despite many sex-specific differences in how male/female bodies respond to drugs during exposure. It is now known that female bodies metabolize drugs much slower than male bodies, which means that women who are prescribed drugs at the same rate as …

Mishopshno: Remnants Of The Past A Midden Analysis From Carpinteria, California, Alyssa Del Rosario

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

For this study, my primary goals are to determine the depositional history of a shell midden at the archaeological site of Mishopshno (CA-SBA-07) through accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating, examine the artifacts found at the site, and analyze the midden contents. Mishopshno was initially recorded in the 1920s by David Banks Rogers with the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum. The portions of midden analyzed for this thesis were excavated during construction monitoring of the sewer loop replacement in the Santa Rosa Campground at Carpinteria State Beach, Carpinteria, California.

Over time, significant disturbances have occurred to the site due to resource …

Archaeological Perspectives On Human-Horse Dynamics: Reexamination And Analysis Of The Ca-Sbr-2110 Collection, Gabrielle Nicole Carpentier

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In this thesis, I analyzed the CA-SBr-2110 collection which contains a human and a horse skeleton. The collection was excavated in 1965 from Yermo, California and is currently housed at San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands, California. This research explores human-horse relationships in an archaeological context. The human skeleton was not analyzed in this research due to unknown cultural affiliation and sensitivity towards potential indigeneity. My research examines the horse remains within this collection and utilizes radiocarbon dating on three samples. Dating two samples from the horse provided approximate dates of 1829–1900 cal AD and 1798–1942 cal AD while dating …

Interpreting Geochemical Sourcing In The Northwest Great Basin: The 26wa12962 Sample Study, Tyler Alexander Reinholt

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Located in Northwest Washoe County Nevada along the California and Nevada border, 26WA12962 is an upland spring site consisting of habitation debris and several thousand pieces of debitage on the surface. The purpose of this research project is to interpret energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) results of 80 random samples of obsidian, and fine grain volcanics such as basalt and dacite from the excavations on 26WA12962 that were conducted in 2021. This thesis will investigate if there is a preference for a specific source, as well as assisting in gathering data within a lithic landscape. To accomplish this goal, I …

Distribution And Conveyance Of Late Prehistoric Western Mojave Obsidian Artifacts, Nicholas James Shepetuk

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

There is a significant lack of publication, synthesis, and analysis of existing Late Prehistoric obsidian artifact sourcing data in the western Mojave Desert. However, a wealth of such data exists, especially in non-published archaeological reports produced mainly by cultural resources management firms. The purpose of this study was to test the validity of two regions which are divided roughly by the Mojave River and which are based on Sutton’s (1989) interaction sphere model. The Northwestern Region occupies the portion of the Mojave Desert to the north and west of the Mojave River, while the Eastern Region makes up the area …

Flood Waters Rise: Hurricanes, Disaster Response, And Race Relations In Coastal Alabama, 1906 – 2006, Danielle Leonardi

<strong> Theses and Dissertations </strong>

This thesis examines the changes in social relations after natural disasters, specifically hurricanes. The Hurricane of 1906 caused massive damage to Mobile due to the limited warnings. Tensions before the hurricane were already heightened from the Atlanta Race Riot and boiled over after the storm, resulting in a double lynching. Mobile received very little federal aid after the 1906 hurricane and relief heavily on their own communities and the Alabama National Guard. Hurricane Frederic in 1979 was much different because of its position in the Civil Rights Movement. The government relief was slow due to the overwhelming amount needed, and …

A Grim End For Europe's First Civilization: The Fall Of Minoan Crete, Ashley Arp

Honors Theses

Early popular theories about the collapse of the Minoan civilization center around natural disasters, but geoarchaeological research from the past few decades has disproved these earlier theories. It is evident that the Minoan civilization continued to thrive for around a century after the volcanic eruption and subsequent tsunami that had previously been credited as the cause for the collapse. Evidence of manmade destruction has been uncovered across the island of Crete c. 1450 BCE and this period was quickly followed by a drastic cultural shift that included more Mycenaean elements than had been found on the island previously. These destructions, …