Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

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 …

Local Production And Developing Core Regions: Ceramic Characterization In The Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Western Mexico, Anna S. Cohen, Amy J. Hirshman, Daniel E. Pierce, Jeffrey R. Ferguson

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

A core region is the first place for expected shifts in archaeological materials before, during, and after political changes like state emergence and imperial consolidation. Yet, studies of ceramic production have shown that there are sometimes limited or more subtle changes in the ceramic economy throughout such political fluctuations. This article synthesizes recent efforts to address political economic changes via geochemical characterization (neutron activation analysis; NAA) in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin in western Mexico. This region was home to the Purépecha state and then empire (Tarascan; ca. AD 1350-1530), one of the most powerful kingdoms in the Americas before European …

Examining Segregation Between Chinese And Euroamerican Residences Using Suitability Modeling Within The Built Environment At Terrace, Utah: A Case Study, Kelly N. Jimenez

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Suitability modeling is a useful approach for exploring human interactions with their environments. Within a geographic information system (GIS) environment, locations are weighted relative to each other, resulting in a landscape hierarchy that displays regions from least to most suitable. Suitability modeling is used in various disciplines, from urban planning to natural resources, but a gap exists in research concerning social human behavior. This method can especially contribute to the investigation of social inequality at archaeological sites by considering multiple attributes within a site. In this thesis, I use method to determine social inequality between cultural groups at the historic …

Assessing The Relationship Between Geophytes And The Archaeological Presence Of Maize In North America, Paige Dorsey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis investigates the possible relationship between the archaeological presence of maize, in the United States, and historical environmental variables, rainfall and temperature, in addition to the number of underground plants that store energy and nutrients, in a given area. The thought behind this is that where the abundance of these underground plant species is highest, the lower the number of archaeological sites containing maize because such resources were a more attractive alternative food than maize. Conversely, where geophytes are less abundant, archaeological instances of maize should be more abundant because maize is a better option in such environments for …

An Analysis Of Obsidian Artifacts From The Black Mountain Redoubt (48fr6463): A Late Archaic To Late Prehistoric Shoshone Campsite In Northwestern Wyoming, Mary Margaret Hagen Erlick

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The Black Mountain Redoubt is a small Late Archaic through Late Prehistoric campsite in northwestern Wyoming associated with a series of communal bighorn sheep hunting traps. A diverse tools assemblage along with several house features indicates a wide range of activities specifically associated with bighorn sheep hunting. We use a 100 percent analysis of the obsidian formal tool and debitage assemblage as a test of obsidian conveyance in western Wyoming. Obsidian artifacts come from the five major regional sources but are dominated by Obsidian Cliff materials in keeping with the Yellowstone Plateau conveyance zone. In contrast, obsidian from Malad, Idaho …

A Tale Of Two Sandals: Analysis Of Two Sandals From The Gordon Keller Collection, Emily Morris-Larsen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This paper presents a comparative analysis of sandals from the Utah State University Museum of Anthropology Gordon Keller collection. The sandals were recovered by Dr. Gordon Keller during fieldwork in southeastern Utah. Through a discussion and analysis of sandal styles and their temporal reaches, how these sandals relate to known specimens and greater Desert West sandal trends is uncovered. One sandal is a plaited vegetable fiber sandal, believed to be yucca. Pending radiocarbon analysis, stylistically the sandal appears to date to approximately 1200 AD. The second is a pair of unusual leather hide sandals, constructed in a shape more common …

Debitage Attributes, Obsidian Source Analysis, And Prehistoric Mobility In Southeastern Idaho, Ben Joaquin Zumkeller

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study is to complement existing knowledge on prehistoric mobility in eastern and southern Idaho. I add specific detail regarding the use of Skull Canyon and its well-known Birch Creek rockshelters during hunter-gatherers’ logistical foraging rounds.

In addition, my research is a case study in combining debitage attribute analysis and intensive toolstone sourcing to read prehistoric mobility. Prior research has looked to obsidian toolstone sourcing to understand prehistoric eastern and southern Idaho mobility. However, no prior research has involved sourcing an entire, stratified assemblage of prehistoric debitage.

I collected flake attribute data from all 2,846 pieces of …

Synchronization Of Energy Consumption By Human Societies Throughout The Holocene, Jacob Freeman, Jacopo A. Baggio, Erick Robinson, David A. Byers, Eugenia Gayo, Judson Byrd Finley, Jack A. Meyer, Robert L. Kelly, John M. Anderies

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

We conduct a global comparison of the consumption of energy by human populations throughout the Holocene and statistically quantify coincident changes in the consumption of energy over space and time—an ecological phenomenon known as synchrony. When populations synchronize, adverse changes in ecosystems and social systems may cascade from society to society. Thus, to develop policies that favor the sustained use of resources, we must understand the processes that cause the synchrony of human populations. To date, it is not clear whether human societies display long-term synchrony or, if they do, the potential causes. Our analysis begins to fill this knowledge …

Teaching: Natural Or Cultural?, David F. Lancy

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

In this chapter I argue that teaching, as we now understand the term, is historically and cross-culturally very rare. It appears to be unnecessary to transmit culture or to socialize children. Children are, on the other hand, primed by evolution to be avid observers, imitators, players and helpers—roles that reveal the profoundly autonomous and self-directed nature of culture acquisition (Lancy in press a). And yet, teaching is ubiquitous throughout the modern world—at least among the middle to upper class segment of the population. This ubiquity has led numerous scholars to argue for the universality and uniqueness of teaching as a …

The Baker Cave Bison Remains: Bison Diminution And Late Holocene Subsistence On The Snake River Plain, Southern Idaho, Ryan P. Breslawski

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis investigates that paleoecology of southern Idaho bison and their role in prehistoric subsistence with two articles. The first article investigates the trajectory of bison diminution in southern Idaho with bison morphometrics from Baker Cave, a late Holocene archaeological site. Results indicate that local bison followed a diminution trend mirroring the diminution trend documented on the Great Plains. This suggests that similar bottom up ecosystem controls acted on bison in both the Great Plains and in southern Idaho through the Holocene.

The second article examines the role of bison in seasonal subsistence strategies. I hypothesize that winter fat scarcity …

Babies Aren’T Persons:” A Survey Of Delayed Personhood., David F. Lancy

David Lancy

To better understand attachment from a cross-cultural and historical perspective, I have amassed over 200 cases from the ethnographic and archaeological records that reveal cultural models (D'Andrade and Strauss 1992) of infancy. The 200 cases represent all areas of the world, historical epochs from the Mesolithic to the present and all types of subsistence patterns (Appendix 1). The approach is inductive where cases with similar models of infancy are clustered into archetypes. My principal finding from this analysis is that, in the broadest overview, infants are, effectively, placed on probation and not immediately integrated into the society. Attachment failure is …

Care And Feeding: An Exploration Of How Archaeology Site Stewardship Program Volunteers And Managers Define Priorities, Britt Mcnamara

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

State and federal agencies increasingly rely on site stewardship programs to protect archaeological resources, and site stewardship programs rely on volunteers to do this work. Given the importance of volunteers to site stewardship programs, especially in the wake of budget cuts and “sequesters,” this paper asks: how do managers and volunteers define site stewardship program priorities and how do differences in their opinions impact program success? In this paper, I briefly review the literature on site stewardship programs and volunteerism and present the results of my exploratory ethnographic research on this question. I close with a discussion about how differing …

Intensification, Storage, And The Use Of Alpine Habitats In The Central Great Basin: Prehistoric Subsistence Strategies In The Toquima And Toiyabe Ranges, Tod W. Hildebrandt

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Alpine villages are extremely rare in the Great Basin. To date, villages located at elevations above 10,000 ft. are only known to occur in the White Mountains and the Toquima Range. Demographic forcing has been used to explain the existence of these villages, but this proposition does not identify the selective pressures that led to the establishment of high-elevation villages in some ranges but not others. Comparison of artifact distributions and environmental structure in the Toquima Range, where a village exists, and the Toiyabe Range, where one does not, is consistent with the hypothesis that alpine villages were subsidized by …

Late Prehistoric Technology, Quartzite Procurement, And Land Use In The Upper Gunnison Basin, Colorado: View From Site 5gn1.2, Jonathan Mitchell Peart

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis presents the results from archaeological test excavations at site 5GN1.2. The focus of this research is to evaluate Stiger’s Late Prehistoric settlement-subsistence hypothesis. According to Stiger, post-3000 B.P. occupations of the Upper Gunnison Basin were limited to big-game hunting forays originating from base camps located outside of the basin. Test excavations at 5GN1.2 documented archaeological deposits reflecting aboriginal occupation during the Late Prehistoric between about 3000 and 1300 years ago. Archaeological features include four hearths associated with abundant small-mammal remains, burnt plant seeds, stone tools and stone tool manufacturing debris.

Archaeological evidence rules out site 5GN1.2 as a …

Prehistoric Uinta Mountain Occupations, U.S. Forest Service, Clay Johnson, Byron Loosle

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

Examines a number of sites revealing how people from a particular period utilized different uplands resources, elevation, and settings as they made the transition to a more sedentary life-way. These Uinta Mountains sites represent hitherto little know portions of regional settlement and subsistence patterns, and complement the more extensive published research on lowland occupations

Dolores Archaeological Program: Anasazi Communities At Dolores: Early Small Settlements In The Dolores River Canyon And Western Sagehen Flats Area, U.S. Bureau Of Reclamation

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

This volume reports on a series of investigations on the Dolores River Canyon and the western Sagechen Flats area of the Dolores Project. Included in the collection are an overview of the Grass Mesa Locality with a summary of Dolores Archaeological Program systematizing the results of the 1979-1980 Grass Mesa Locality Testing Program, and reports that describe excavations undertaken between 1979-1983. The excavated sites reported include Lemoc Shelter, Prince Hamlet, and Hamlet de la Olla.

Seedskadee Project: Remote Sensing In Non-Site Archeology., U.S. National Park Service

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

A cultural resources inventory survey of the lands near the Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge.

Prehistory Of Long Valley, Idaho, United States Department Of Agriculture, Forest Service

Archaeology/Anthropology

This thesis deals with a group of artifact collections gathered by local amateurs from a series of sites along the western shoreline of Cascade Reservoir. This study uses these artifacts as a basis to put together a preliminary view of Long Valley prehistory. Outlines of the basic artifact types are formulated and placed into a chronology based upon typological comparisons and obsidian hydration. Previous archaeological work, the ethnohistory, and local geology of the valley are discussed and related ot the sites, used in this study, in order to determine their patterns and characteristics. From these efforts directions for further research …

Background To Historic And Prehistoric Resources Of The East Mojave Desert Region, U.S. Bureau Of Land Management

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

historic and prehistoric resources of the east mojave desert region