Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Pvc-Lot-015-E-011, Russell Smith

Four Valleys Archive

No abstract provided.

Commmunity, Ecology, And Modernity: Faunal Analysis Of Skútustaðir In Mývatnssveit, Northern Iceland, Megan Hicks

All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The dissertation examines the archaeofaunal remains from Skútustaðir, a middle to high-status farm in Mývatnssveit, Northern Iceland, to understand the experience of rural communities and their ecologies during Iceland’s transition from regulated colonial exchange to a capitalist economy during the 17^th through 19^th centuries. Archaeofaunal analysis is used to reconstruct changes in the ways that people herded, hunted, fished, providing insights into how they managed their local environments for subsistence and novel contexts of exchange. In addition to archaeofaunal analysis, primary textual sources are explored to assess how the Skútustaðir household and its rural community mobilized long-term ...

Impacts Of Resource Fluctuations And Recurrent Tsunamis On The Occupational History Of Čḯxwicən, A Salishan Village On The Southern Shore Of The Strait Of Juan De Fuca, Washington State, U.S.A, Ian Hutchinson, Virginia L. Butler, Sarah K. Campbell, Sarah L. Sterling, Michael A. Etnier, Kristine M. Bovy

Sarah L. Sterling

A summed probability density function (spdf), generated from the catalog of 101 radiocarbon ages on wood and charcoal from the Čḯxwicən archaeological site (Washington State, USA), serves as a proxy for the site's occupational history over the last 2500 years. Significant differences between spdfs derived from a null model of population growth (a bootstrapped logistic equation) and the observed index suggest relatively less cultural activity at Čḯxwicən between about 1950–1750 cal BP, 1150–950 cal BP, and 650 to 550 cal BP; and increased activity between about 1350–1250 cal BP and 550–500 cal BP. Peaks in ...

Building A Landscape History And Occupational Chronology At Čḯxwicən, A Coastal Village On The Strait Of Juan De Fuca, Washington State, U.S.A., Sarah K. Campbell, Sarah L. Sterling, Dennis E. Lewarch

Sarah L. Sterling

Geoarchaeological analysis at Čḯxwicən, an ancestral Klallam village near Port Angeles in northwestern Washington State, U.S.A., highlights the resilience of coastal foragers and their connection to place. Ancestral Klallam peoples occupied ever-changing beach and spit landforms growing within the shelter of Ediz Hook on the Strait of Juan de Fuca (SJDF) for 2700 years. Geoarchaeological methods were employed to define seven chronostratigraphic zones that chronologically structure the cultural deposits and allow them to be correlated to a sequence of beach development and to markers for tsunami that overtopped the site. Initial habitation prior to 1750 BP utilized a ...

The Archaeology Of Mississippian Vulnerability And Resilience In The New Madrid Seismic Zone, Michelle Megan Rathgaber

Theses and Dissertations

This work examines the vulnerability and resilience of Mississippian people in the Central Mississippi Valley to the large-scale New Madrid seismic zone earthquakes of the late15th to early 16th century. This is done using the theory of eventful archaeology/anthropology to look at cultural materials both before and after an event (such as an earthquake and sand blows) to look for evidence of changes to the schema and resources on which a society relies. If changes are present, the event can be labeled as such, if there are no changes, it means that the society affected did not see the ...

Teaching With Technology: Digital Tools For Archaeological Education, Caroline Gardiner

Journal of Archaeology and Education

Recent technological advances have greatly altered how scholars record, study, and educate the public about cultural resources. Data can now be instantly recorded, analyzed, and widely shared. Digital tools can help create multimedia, interactive products that have contributed greatly to education and outreach initiatives worldwide.

Both the National Park Service (NPS) and the National Council for Preservation Education (NCPE) are dedicated to studying, preserving, and educating the public about cultural resources. A recent internship project between these two institutions produced online lesson plans that educated students about cultural materials and the various methodologies scholars use to study them within archaeology ...

Osl And Ceramic Analysis At The Humphrey Site, Ryan Mathison

Anthropology Department Theses and Dissertations

The Sand Hills of Nebraska are a unique environment located in the west-central portion of Nebraska. This portion of North America has long supported human life. One group in particular that called the Sand Hills home are the Dismal River people. Dismal River is the name that archaeologists gave to a group of horticulturalists that lived in circular structures on the sand dunes, often near the rivers, in the Sand Hills. This group, while generally known through archaeology, also has a potential historic or ethnographic presence in the form of the Cuartalejo Apache visited by Ulibarri, and potentially mentioned by ...

Communities Of Consumption On The Southeastern Mesoamerican Border: Style, Feasting, And Identity Negotiation In Prehispanic Northeastern Honduras, Whitney Annette Goodwin

Anthropology Theses and Dissertations

Prehispanic northeastern Honduran communities were situated at the border between southeastern Mesoamerica and lower Central America. Previous studies of pottery style suggest that local groups shifted their affiliation from north to south at the end of the Classic period (ca. AD 1000). This study examines the contexts in which pottery, as a medium for style, was used, and how the food people prepared, stored, or served in these vessels offers a perspective complementary to pottery style for understanding how identity was actively negotiated in this region. In this view, other parts of the foodways system – the foods chosen to be ...

The Ethnohistory Of Freshwater Use On Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile), Sean W. Hixon, Robert J. Dinapoli, Carl P. Lipo, Terry L. Hunt

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

Sources of drinking water on islands often present critical constraints to human habitation. On Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile), there is remarkably little surface fresh water due to the nature of the island’s volcanic geology. While several lakes exist in volcanic craters, most rainwater quickly passes into the subsurface and emerges at coastal springs. Nevertheless, the island sustained a relatively large human population for hundreds of years, one that built an impressive array of monumental platforms (ahu) and statues (moai). To understand how Rapanui acquired their scarce fresh water, we review ethnohistoric data from first European arrival (1722) through ...

The Ethnohistory Of Freshwater Use On Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile), Carl P. Lipo

Carl Lipo

The Collapse Of Empire At Gordion In The Transition From The Achaemenid To The Hellenistic World, Elspeth R. M. Dusinberre

Classics Faculty Contributions

Gordion, ancient capital of Phrygia, was a large and thriving city of secondary importance during the period of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (ca 550–333 BC). Recent work makes possible a reconsideration of the site: evaluating its architecture, finds and use of landscape within and after the socio-economic and administrative context of the Achaemenid imperial system enables the following new overview. During the Achaemenid period, Gordion’s populace participated in the broad cultural exchanges enabled by the imperial system and may have emphasised animal husbandry. When Alexander’s conquest led to the collapse of the Achaemenid administrative infrastructure, the impact ...

Late Classic Soil Conservation And Agricultural Production In The Three Rivers Region, Byron Smith, Stanton Morse

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

Agricultural production during the Classic Period (c.1,700 to 1050 BP) in the Central Maya Lowlands was comprised of a variety of techniques that were used to satisfy dietary needs and to stimulate its subsistence economy. The complexity of those methods was a consequence of a variable topography and previous forest management practices that likely resulted in wide-spread deforestation, and subsequently large-scale erosion which limited arable land. The Classic Maya solution to limitations in arable land, augmented by increased erosion seems to have come in the form of geotechnical constructions placed in a variety of positions along the contours ...

Mapping Maya Hinterlands: Lidar Derived Visualization To Identify Small Scale Features In Northwestern Belize, Jeremy Mcfarland, Marisol Cortes-Rincon Ph.D.

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

This paper will discuss the processes and methods of relief visualization of LiDAR-derived digital elevation models (DEM’s) and classification of secondary data to identify archaeological remains on the ancient Maya landscape in northwestern Belize. The basis of the research explores various Geographic Information System (GIS) and cartographic techniques to visualize topographical relief. Graphic terrain maps assist archaeologists with predictive settlement patterns. The Relief Visualization Toolbox (RVT 1.3) aids to visualize raster DEM datasets in the predictive identification and interpretation of small-scale archaeological features. This dataset and methodology can be utilized to answer questions of population estimates, mobility costs ...

Sexual Dimorphism In Homo Erectus Inferred From 1.5 Ma Footprints Near Ileret, Kenya, Brian Villmoare, Kevin G. Hatala, William Jungers

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Sexual dimorphism can be one of the most important indicators of social behavior in fossil species, but the effects of time averaging, geographic variation, and differential preservation can complicate attempts to determine this measure from preserved skeletal anatomy. Here we present an alternative, using footprints from near Ileret, Kenya, to assess the sexual dimorphism of presumptive African Homo erectus at 1.5 Ma. Footprint sites have several unique advantages not typically available to fossils: a single surface can sample a population over a very brief time (in this case likely not more than a single day), and the data are ...

Service Learning In Archaeology And Its Impact On Perceptions Of Cultural Heritage And Historic Preservation, Kyle P. Freund, Laura K. Clark, Kevin Gidusko

Journal of Archaeology and Education

This paper focuses on a for-credit cemetery recording class taught at Indian River State College (IRSC) and on the impact of the project on student perceptions of cultural heritage and historic preservation. One of the goals in creating this service learning course was to promote student awareness of the destructive risks that many historic cemeteries face and to impart the importance of stewardship over the archaeological record. To assess the effectiveness of the course in meeting this goal, a series of five interviews with students enrolled in the class were conducted to get participants to discuss their motivations and perceptions ...

The Applications Of Gis On Lithic Raw Material Source Analysis, Sydney James, Carolyn Dillian

Honors Theses

Raw material sourcing has long been used to identify patterns of trade and exchange in archaeological research. More recently, geographic information systems (GIS) have provided other ways for archaeologists to identify these patterns through data visualization and various spatial statistical analyses. While these methods are frequently used individually, the combined use of these methods has potential to more closely examine the relationships between raw material sources and archaeological sites; this should be considered a necessary measure for methods of spatial analysis. This research applies existing raw material source data to quantitative GIS analysis as a way to demonstrate this claim.

The Coastal Route: The Role Of The Pacific Northwest Coastline In Facilitating Human Travel Into The Americas, Andrew Nye, Carolyn Dillian

Honors Theses

How Homo sapiens first entered North America has historically been attributed to a crossing of Beringia and a subsequent movement south through an ice-free corridor in Canada. Biological and physical research of the history of the area suggests an ice free corridor could not have existed in the same time frame as the first human settlements. These biological constraints would not have been present along the North West coast of the continent. New archaeological discoveries show early human settlement along the North West coast. Used together, this new evidence supports a coastal human migration instead of an inland route into ...

A Community-Based Approach To Archaeological Site Preservation In A Changing Climate: A Proposed Risk Assessment Along The Lower Columbia, Phillip Daily, Virginia L. Butler

Student Research Symposium

Global climate change is an increasing threat to cultural resources, especially in coastal areas. Archaeologists have responded with risk assessments that gauge these threats and create preservation priorities for land managers. However, most assessments do not include input from descendant communities, which limits their potential value and relevance to archaeologists and tribal partners. We are in the initial stages of developing a risk assessment model for the Lower Columbia that includes a process for collaborating with tribes. In addition to incorporating the existing archaeological and ethnohistorical data typically used in risk assessments, our project will also incorporate indigenous stakeholder priorities ...

Honey Or Vinegar: Oneota Interaction In The Central And Northeastern Plains, Benjamin Shirar

Culminating Projects in Cultural Resource Management

Abstract

Beginning AD 1150 and extending until European contact, the archaeological culture referred to as “Oneota” underwent an explosive spread across the American midcontinent. As Oneota ideas, people, or some combination thereof moved westward, they encountered people from other cultures. Along the western frontier of Oneota culture, evidence suggests that relations between Oneota and Plains indigenes took a variety of forms. To better understand how various environmental and cultural factors may have informed the decision-making process with regard to inter-group interaction, four sites along this western Oneota periphery were selected for analysis: Shea and Sprunk in eastern North Dakota, White ...

Lithic Technological Organization At The Aztalan Site (47-Je-0001), Robert William Vander Heiden

Theses and Dissertations

Chipped stone artifacts represent just one aspect of a complex framework of behavioral adaptations to social and environmental forces, each requiring significant investments of both time and energy. This project consists of a complete lithic analysis of all chipped stone materials recovered by University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee field schools during 1984, 2011, and 2013 from the Aztalan site (47JE01), located in Southeastern Wisconsin. This assemblage includes 1,202 pieces of lithic debitage and 200 chipped stone tools. Through employing individual flake analysis of all debitage, this thesis has produced a large database of information that can provide valuable insight into the ...

Minors In The Mines: Archaeological Indicators Of Child Labor In Prehistoric Mining Contexts In Europe, Nikita K. Werner

Theses and Dissertations

Developing a theoretical and methodological framework for the study of children, childhood, and child labor in prehistory has two goals. The first is to reintegrate children into cultural narratives in light of the increased popularity of the topic among archaeologists; the second is to equip researchers with the tools to apply developing theories to prehistoric populations in which there is material and physical evidence of child labor. Using the prehistoric mining complex of Hallstatt in alpine Austria as a case study, this thesis highlights how a reevaluation of existing data can provide a more inclusive interpretation of childhood even in ...

"Buried...Like A Human Being" At The Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery: A Bioarchaeological Approach To Defining Fetal And Infant Personhood Through Biological Development, Historical Discourse, And Diapering, Brianne Charles

Theses and Dissertations

The ambiguity of life is visible in the complex sets of beliefs that cultures develop around abortion, stillbirth, and neonatal death. This research grew out of ambiguities surrounding bioarchaeological methods of age estimation among fetal and infant remains and the need for additional lines of evidence to define what a prenatal or postnatal age contextually means, how these definitions were upheld or challenged, and what impact these definitions had on the mortuary treatment of these bodies.

Discernment between fetal and infant skeletal remains is important to forensic investigations and bioarchaeological questions of personhood, infant mortality, and maternal health. However, skeletal ...

Using Historic Glo Data And Gis To Assess The Potential For Local Bison Bison Near Two Wisconsin Late Prehistoric Oneota Localities, Andrew Michael Saleh

Theses and Dissertations

Bison (Bison bison) remains are rare in the archaeological record of Wisconsin. This thesis uses a Geographic Information System (GIS) to better understand native vegetation near sites with reported bison bone to assess their ecological viability to support local bison herds. The distribution of bison bone recovered in archaeological contexts in Wisconsin can be summarized as follows: few sites report bison remains, the archaeological contexts that do report bison are clustered in a few Late Prehistoric period locations (approximately A.D. 1300-1650), and bison remains are rare in comparison to other fauna at those sites (Arzigian et al. 1989; Boszhardt ...

Community Identity, Culinary Traditions And Foodways In The Western Great Lakes, Jennifer R. Haas

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation project examines for evidence of substantial differences in community and community identity, as expressed through culinary traditions and foodways, of Early and Middle Woodland populations in the western Great Lakes region from circa 100 BC to AD 400. The research compares culinary traditions and foodways of Early and Middle Woodland populations in southeastern Wisconsin using multiple lines of fined grained material data derived from the Finch site (47JE0902). As an open air Early to Middle Woodland (ca 100 BC to AD 400) domestic habitation, the Finch site serves as a case study for elucidating culinary traditions and foodways ...

Spheroidal Carbonaceous Particles In A Virginia Mill Pond Provide A Record Of Local And Regional Coal Combustion, Kayla Cahoon

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCP), a constituent of coal fly ash, are a sensitive indicator of local and regional coal combustion archived in lake sediments. Their unique morphology and chemical composition are not replicated by any naturally occurring substance on Earth. SCP accumulation in sediments has also been correlated to accumulation of heavy metals such as Mn, Fe, Ti, and Pb. We reconstructed SCP accumulation in a former mill pond in Williamsburg, VA, Lake Matoaka, and find a bimodal distribution with peaks c. 1790 and c. 1953. We believe that our study is the first to identify SCPs in sediments prior ...

Rediscovering Brazil: The Marajoara Style In Modernist Art And Design, Alyson Brandes

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

During the Portuguese rule of Dom Pedro II until 1889, through the years of the First Brazilian Republic (1889-1930) and into the First Vargas Regime (1930-1945), Brazil struggled to solidify a strong national identity that would finally unify the country and legitimize its rich cultural heritage. The discovery and excavation of Marajó Island in the 1870s provided evidence of a great, ancient civilization, and inspired Brazilian Art Deco and early Modernist artists. Polychrome ceramic urns, vessels, and tangas (female pubic covers) were among the most abundant archaeological finds, many with zoomorphic and geometric motifs that show the cultural importance of ...

Variation In The Configuration Of The Middle Snake River And Its Relationship To Prehistoric Fishing Site Locations, Joseph Wardle

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The configuration of the various elements of a river system can have significant impacts on the availability, abundance, and nutritional profitability of aquatic organisms utilized as food by groups of human foragers. These factors may have influenced the location and timing of prehistoric fishing along the Middle Snake River in southern Idaho during the Late Archaic when use of fish as a resource increased (beginning approximately 1500 B.P.). Previous work has established a relationship between physiographic features of the Middle Snake River channel and the presence of fishing sites. To improve on future studies of this type, it is ...

Anthropogenic Landscapes Of Amazonia : A Spatial Analysis Of Landscape Modification And Settlement Organization At Macurany, Brazil., M. Grace Ellis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic landscapes are the product of complex human-environment processes that form distinct features in the landscape, which materially preserve and reflect human behavior. Anthropogenic landscapes in Amazonia likely date back to human colonization of the region around 16,000 BP. Since colonization, humans have been marking, modifying, managing, and engineering the landscape resulting in a mosaic of anthropogenic landscape features across Amazonia. The diversity of ancient landscapes documented in Amazonia reflects the cultural heterogeneity that existed in the past. This research explores the complex human-environmental processes that form distinct, identifiable, lasting features on the landscape and what these features can ...

The Elite Meroitic Experience On Sai Island, Sudan: Using Stable Isotope Analysis To Identify Patterns Related To Sex And Age For The Interpretation Of Social Identity, Alexandria Brock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The research conducted for this thesis utilized stable isotope analysis to reconstruct the diet of 35 individuals from an elite Meroitic (350 BC – 300 AD) cemetery (site 8.B.5A) located on Sai Island, Sudan, with a focus on adult age categories and biological sex, to understand intraclass variation in diet. Stable carbon and nitrogen values from human bone collagen were used to understand elite social organization, social practice, and gender roles in the Meroitic period through the lens of social identity and post-processual theories. The samples were grouped based on biological sex, median age, and assigned age categories (young ...

Chemical Composition Of Preclassic-Period Maya Slips: Analysis And Interpretation Of Flores Waxy Ware And Paso Caballo Waxy Ware Sherds From Holtun, Guatemala Using Pxrf Spectrometry, Anna Kebler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Slip, a fluid suspension of clay that is applied to the surface of a piece of ceramic, allows for increased control over the functional and aesthetic properties of a finished vessel. The potter can select a slip to provide a more appealing color, texture, and/or luster to the vessel's surface, while maintaining the favorable functional qualities of the paste. Though slip color has long been used as an attribute for classification in the Maya lowlands, only recently have the raw materials of slips been used to inform studies of production and exchange, with much of this work using ...