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Archaeological Anthropology

Theses/Dissertations

2016

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Articles 31 - 60 of 74

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Unsung Evolutionist: Charles Rau's Swiss Lake Dwelling Collection At The Smithsonian Institution, Liam C. Murphy May 2016

The Unsung Evolutionist: Charles Rau's Swiss Lake Dwelling Collection At The Smithsonian Institution, Liam C. Murphy

Theses and Dissertations

During the second half of the nineteenth century, museums and collectors around the world engaged in a collecting frenzy focused on objects from the Swiss Alpine sites known as Pfahlbauten. Romantic reconstructions of these sites captured the antiquarian imagination and resulted in an artifact diaspora. Charles (Carl) Rau, a German-American archaeologist who became the first Curator of Antiquities at the Smithsonian Institution (SI), collected several hundred Neolithic and Bronze Age artifacts from the lake dwelling sites of Robenhausen and Auvernier, donating this material as well as his library to the SI upon his death in 1886. This thesis investigates the …

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Late Prehistoric Lithic Economies In The Prairie Peninsula: A Comparison Of Oneota And Langford In Southern Wisconsin And Northern Illinois, Stephen Wayne Wilson May 2016

Late Prehistoric Lithic Economies In The Prairie Peninsula: A Comparison Of Oneota And Langford In Southern Wisconsin And Northern Illinois, Stephen Wayne Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an examination of the environmental settlement patterns and the organization of lithic technology surrounding Upper Mississippian groups in Southeastern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. The sites investigated in this study are the Washington Irving (11K52) and Koshkonong Creek Village (47JE379) habitation sites, contemporaneous creekside Langford and Oneota sites located approximately 90 kilometers apart. A two-kilometer catchment of Washington Irving is compared to that of the Koshkonong Creek Village to clarify the nature of environmental variation in Langford and Oneota settlement patterns and increase our understanding of Upper Mississippian horticulturalist lifeways. Lithic tool and mass debitage analyses use an …

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A Gnawing Problem: Does Rodent Incisor Microwear Record Diet Or Habitat?, Salvatore Samuel Caporale May 2016

A Gnawing Problem: Does Rodent Incisor Microwear Record Diet Or Habitat?, Salvatore Samuel Caporale

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Dental microwear has been shown to reflect food preferences and habitat in extant vertebrates, and its analysis has been applied to fossil assemblages to infer paleodiet and paleoenvironment. Such reconstructions are, of course, only as good as the extant baseline used to infer relationships between wear pattern and diet/habitat. This study tests, through dental microwear texture analysis, the potential of modern rodent lower incisors to reveal those relationships, and evaluates the extent to which effects of diet and habitat can be parsed from the signal. Microwear texture profiles were created for individual lower rodent incisors (n=430) using confocal profilometry and …

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Trade And Transport In Late Roman Syria, Christopher Wade Fletcher May 2016

Trade And Transport In Late Roman Syria, Christopher Wade Fletcher

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the relative notoriety and miraculous level of preservation of the Dead Cities of Syria, fundamental questions of economic and subsistence viability remain unanswered. In the 1950s Georges Tchalenko theorized that these sites relied on intensive olive monoculture to mass export olive oil to urban centers. Later excavations discovered widespread cultivation of grains, fruit, and beans which directly contradicted Tchalenko’s assertion of sole reliance on oleoculture. However, innumerable olive presses in and around the Dead Cities still speak to a strong tradition of olive production. This thesis tests the logistical viability of olive oil transportation from the Dead Cities to …

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Consumerism And Ceramics At The Stephen Field Farmstead, Walworth County, Wisconsin, Kathleen Elizabeth Bindley May 2016

Consumerism And Ceramics At The Stephen Field Farmstead, Walworth County, Wisconsin, Kathleen Elizabeth Bindley

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the expression of consumer behavior and choice through ceramic archaeological remains from the Stephen Field Farmstead (47WL351) site, a nineteenth-century farmstead located in East Troy Township, Walworth County, Wisconsin, with emphasis placed on the ceramics recovered from Feature One, a stone-lined privy vault. Ceramics were collected in 2010, 2011, and 2013, during field investigations conducted by the Wisconsin Historical Society-Museum Archaeology Program. The collection is permanently housed at the East Troy Area Historical Society, but is currently on loan to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. An inventory of the ceramic vessels from Feature One at the Stephen Field …

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The Prehistoric Economics Of The Kautz Site: A Late Archaic And Woodland Site In Northeastern Illinois, Peter John Geraci May 2016

The Prehistoric Economics Of The Kautz Site: A Late Archaic And Woodland Site In Northeastern Illinois, Peter John Geraci

Theses and Dissertations

The Kautz Site (11DU1) is a multi-component archaeological site located in the DuPage River Valley in northeastern Illinois. It was inhabited at least six different times between the Late Archaic and Late Woodland periods ca. 6000-1000 B.P. The site was excavated over the course of three field seasons between 1958 and 1961, but the results were never made public. This thesis seeks to document the archaeology of the Kautz Site in order to better understand the site’s economic history. An environmental catchment analysis was conducted to evaluate the level of time and energy needed to acquire important resources like water, …

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The Cambria Connection: Identifying Ceramic Production And Community Interaction In Late Prehistoric Minnesota, Ad 1050-1300, Katy Jean Mollerud May 2016

The Cambria Connection: Identifying Ceramic Production And Community Interaction In Late Prehistoric Minnesota, Ad 1050-1300, Katy Jean Mollerud

Theses and Dissertations

The Cambria phase (AD 1050-1300) is an archaeological complex primarily centered on the elevated terraces of the Minnesota River in south-central Minnesota. Cambria phase pottery demonstrates technical and stylistic influences from several different late prehistoric cultures, and although the Cambria phase is currently classified as part of the Initial Middle Missouri Variant, certain affinities are evident between the grit-tempered, rolled rim ceramics at Cambria and the Powell-Ramey series at Cahokia. Although this pottery is a minority ware at Cambria, it is ubiquitous in the site literature, where it is interpreted as evidence for interaction with the Mississippian world. However, the …

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Powell Mound, Titterington, And The Cahokia Ceramic Collection At The Milwaukee Public Museum, Erin Pruhs May 2016

Powell Mound, Titterington, And The Cahokia Ceramic Collection At The Milwaukee Public Museum, Erin Pruhs

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis elucidates Milwaukee Public Museum documentation and archival correspondence between Paul F. Titterington and William C. McKern regarding the destruction of the Powell Mound at the Cahokia site in southern Illinois. Titterington was a respected avocational archaeologist known for his work in the Mississippi Valley and McKern served as an Assistant Curator in Anthropology at the Milwaukee Public Museum during the time of the Cahokia donations. From 1927 through 1941, Titterington and McKern exchanged correspondence concerning Cahokian archaeology and the Powell Mound. During this time, Titterington donated a variety of Cahokian artifacts to the MPM including ceramics, lithics, agricultural …

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Ceramic Diversity And Its Relation To Access To Market For Slaves On A Plantation, Rebecca L. Aucoin May 2016

Ceramic Diversity And Its Relation To Access To Market For Slaves On A Plantation, Rebecca L. Aucoin

Honors Theses

A study of the diversity of ceramics found on a plantation at a slave house in relation to the access to market that slave had could lead to a better understanding of the life and culture of slaves. A high diversity of ceramics at sites might indicate slaves purchased their own ceramics. At a number of sites located in the Natchez District in Mississippi, a study was conducted to identify samples of ceramic sherds to determine if slaves were able to purchase their own dish ware. The results of the study indicated that slaves at Mount Locust Plantation likely had …

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Assessing Wyoming’S Public Perceptions And General Attitudes Towards Archaeology, And Statewide Trends In Looting, Kayla M. Bradshaw May 2016

Assessing Wyoming’S Public Perceptions And General Attitudes Towards Archaeology, And Statewide Trends In Looting, Kayla M. Bradshaw

Culminating Projects in Cultural Resource Management

This research was conducted with the purpose of gathering and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data related to archaeological looting and public opinion regarding archaeology and cultural heritage preservation legislation in Wyoming. Areas of the state in which impacts of looting are most prevalent and the trends in these activities, as well as statewide trends, were identified. Randomly selected residents (n = 2,040) in these areas were then targeted by an anonymous survey, which was implemented with the purpose of assessing public knowledge pertaining to cultural resource legislation and archaeology. The anonymous survey was also distributed to Wyoming Archaeological Society and …

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Recreating Richard Iii: The Power Of Tudor Propaganda, Heather Alexander May 2016

Recreating Richard Iii: The Power Of Tudor Propaganda, Heather Alexander

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Because it signified the violent transition from the Plantagenet to Tudor dynasty, the death of King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth’s Field was a monumental event. After five centuries, his skeleton was rediscovered by an archaeological team at a site, formerly the location of the Greyfriars Priory Church. The presentation uses the forensic evidence to examine the extent to which the perceived image of Richard III is the result of Tudor propaganda.

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Tracking Trajectories: Charting Changes Of Late Archaic Shell Ring Formation And Use, Martin Peter Walker May 2016

Tracking Trajectories: Charting Changes Of Late Archaic Shell Ring Formation And Use, Martin Peter Walker

Masters Theses

For the past fifty years the shell rings of the North American, southeastern, Late Archaic period, have been a continuous object of archaeological research. They have been studied within contexts of the initial creation and use of ceramics in North America, mounding and monumentality of hunter-gatherers, early sedentism and social complexity, forager feasting, ritual, and ceremonialism, and human-environment interactions. The aim of this project was to bring together the cumulative data generated by this continuous research focus and centralize it within a single database, the Late Archaic Shell Rings Repository. In utilizing this consolidated data set, it is possible to …

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A Geoarchaeological Analysis Of Ground Stone Tools And Architectural Materials From Mitrou, East Lokris, Greece, Lee Bailey Anderson May 2016

A Geoarchaeological Analysis Of Ground Stone Tools And Architectural Materials From Mitrou, East Lokris, Greece, Lee Bailey Anderson

Masters Theses

Important but seldom asked questions in the study of practice in Bronze Age Aegean society (ca. 3100-1100 B.C.) pertain to the acquisition and usage of stone material in architecture and ground stone tools. My main research questions are, “How did people’s choice of stone material change over time?” and “Why did stone usage change over time?” During the 2013 and 2014 study seasons at Mitrou, I studied the stone inclusions in clayey architectural materials, as well as stone types used in the site’s architecture, and stone types used for ground stone tools at the site. My geological identifications allowed me …

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Commingled Tombs And Arcgis: Analyzing The Mortuary Context And Taphonomy At Bronze Age Tell Abraq, Maryann Calleja May 2016

Commingled Tombs And Arcgis: Analyzing The Mortuary Context And Taphonomy At Bronze Age Tell Abraq, Maryann Calleja

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The use of global positioning systems (GPS) and mapping software are commonplace in today’s archaeology. Artifacts and human remains can be plotted on maps and digitized immediately on sites allowing for instant analysis. Yet, the use of GPS in some locations may not be feasible due to natural or human-made terrain features such as canopy cover, densely built urban environments, caves, or other environments where satellite access may be limited. Additionally, prior to the widespread use of GPS, field archaeologists had to rely solely upon systematic, detailed notes and sketches. Such was the case at the Bronze Age tomb at …

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Sablefish (Anoplopoma Fimbria) Scarcity And Zooarchaeological Data Quality In Northwest Coast Archaeological Sites, Reno Nims Apr 2016

Sablefish (Anoplopoma Fimbria) Scarcity And Zooarchaeological Data Quality In Northwest Coast Archaeological Sites, Reno Nims

Dissertations and Theses

Sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) is a scarcely represented species in Northwest Coast archaeology, but its remains are abundant at Tse-whit-zen, a large, Lower Elwha Klallam village in modern Port Angeles, WA that was occupied over the past 2,800 years. Because sablefish flesh has high nutritional value and it can be easily captured from nearshore waters in its juvenile form, sablefish should have been pursued where it was available. Therefore, the scarcity of sablefish in many Northwest Coast archaeological sites could indicate this species was not abundant in past fisheries. However, current zooarchaeological reports do not contain sufficient information on …

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The Hetzel-Hunter Quarry: A Case Study In The Use Of Photogrammetry To Reevaluate Previously Excavated Sites, Catherine G. Kinsley Apr 2016

The Hetzel-Hunter Quarry: A Case Study In The Use Of Photogrammetry To Reevaluate Previously Excavated Sites, Catherine G. Kinsley

Theses & Honors Papers

Archaeology is constantly evolving and as new technologies develop it becomes possible to examine sites in ways that were previously unknown. Photogrammetry, a still-developing technology, has the potential to become an invaluable tool that can provide new information when applied to sites that were excavated more than 50 years ago. The Hetzel-Hunter quarry in Clifton, Virginia is a prehistoric soapstone quarry that was originally excavated in 1894 by the Bureau for American Ethnography. By using photogrammetry to produce a 3D map of the site that details aspects ranging from the general shape of the quarry to the grooves in the …

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Buried Dreams: Refitting And Ritual At The Mount Albert Site, Southern Ontario, Kyle D. Forsythe Feb 2016

Buried Dreams: Refitting And Ritual At The Mount Albert Site, Southern Ontario, Kyle D. Forsythe

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Few intact Middle Archaic sites have been investigated in Southwestern Ontario and attention has focused on large, multicomponent sites, which are difficult to interpret. This thesis focuses on recent work that has been conducted on an undisturbed, single-component Brewerton site in Mount Albert south of Lake Simcoe, where the lithic assemblage presents an unprecedented view of lifeways in the Middle Archaic (ca. 5000-4500 B.P.). Notable is the presence of high numbers of fragmented formal flaked stone tools - moreso than is consistent with solely tool production activities. The thesis evaluates the possibility that the artifacts were intentionally destroyed as part …

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Connectivity: An Ecological Paradigm For The Study Of Bronze Age, Slobodan Mitrović Feb 2016

Connectivity: An Ecological Paradigm For The Study Of Bronze Age, Slobodan Mitrović

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

“Connectivity: an ecological paradigm for the study of Bronze Age” addresses the relationship between historic and prehistoric people, and the landscapes they inhabited, moved about, and continue to inhabit. It suggests alternative methodological approaches that have broader ramifications for the discipline of (Bronze Age) archaeology. By engaging the code and innovations stemming from ecology and digital technology, the research questions concern the interface – referred to as connectivity – between the archaeological sites, resources, networks of communication, and the conditions of archaeological knowledge acquisition. Drawing on published and new data, the aim of the project is to put forward a …

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Patterns In Dental Health: Investigating Dental Disease At The Archaeological Site Of Kuelap In Chachapoyas, Peru, Vu Tran Jan 2016

Patterns In Dental Health: Investigating Dental Disease At The Archaeological Site Of Kuelap In Chachapoyas, Peru, Vu Tran

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social organization influences individual well-being and overall community health, which may lead to health disparities that manifest in teeth. The research in this thesis explores social variability by analyzing patterns in dental disease at the archaeological site of Kuelap in Chachapoyas, Peru. The ancient Chachapoya (AD 900-1535) were a complex society but the nature of that complexity is not well understood based on traditional archaeological correlates. Since burials at Kuelap lack grave goods that are often used to discriminate variation in social status or identity, bioarchaeological dental proxies were tested. The dental remains of 106 individuals (7 subadults, 54 adult …

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The People Of Stone: A Study Of The Basalt Ground Stone Industry At Tres Zapotes And Its Role In The Evolution Of Olmec And Epi-Olmec Political-Economic Systems, Olaf Jaime-Riveron Jan 2016

The People Of Stone: A Study Of The Basalt Ground Stone Industry At Tres Zapotes And Its Role In The Evolution Of Olmec And Epi-Olmec Political-Economic Systems, Olaf Jaime-Riveron

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

This dissertation analyzes the basalt ground stone industry at the archaeological site of Tres Zapotes, Mexico. Artifacts and by-products were recovered in the excavations conducted by a University of Kentucky project directed by Christopher Pool. All contexts were examined, and the corpus of this study comprises the whole sequence of production, use, and discards of basalt such as by-products of manufacture, unfinished and finished tools, and discarded artifacts. In this opportunity was possible to study over time a change from the Early/Middle Formative period (Olmec occupation) a centralized and exclusionary political economic system to the Late/Terminal Formative period (Epi-Olmec occupation) …

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A Reflection Of Maya Representation, Distribution, And Interaction: Ceramic Figurines From The Late Classic Site Of Cancuén, Petén Department, Guatemala, Erin L. Sears Jan 2016

A Reflection Of Maya Representation, Distribution, And Interaction: Ceramic Figurines From The Late Classic Site Of Cancuén, Petén Department, Guatemala, Erin L. Sears

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

This project explores intersecting spheres of technological, stylistic and contextually patterned relationships expressed by ceramic figurines associated with the major Maya polity Cancuén. Cancuén is situated by assessing its external contacts by reference to figurines recovered from several Late Classic settlements, and hieroglyphic texts recorded as interacting polities. By focusing on these sites along connecting waterways, I attempt to discern directions of influence and change with regard to figurine use patterns relative to those seen in other ceramic representations. Traditional archaeological criteria were used to obtain excavated figurines at specific sites. Stylistic and technological information are augmented through an intensive …

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Knife River Flint Distribution And Identification In Montana, Laura Evilsizer Jan 2016

Knife River Flint Distribution And Identification In Montana, Laura Evilsizer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

An examination of the spatial, temporal, and functional distribution of Knife River flint in Montana, and a study in misidentification of Knife River flint in archaeological assemblages. Lithic sourcing has the potential to provide a plethora of information to archaeologists: resource procurement strategies, mobility patterns, trade networks, and the preferencing of particular lithic material types. However, without proper identification it is impossible to study the distribution of lithic materials from their source. Knife River flint, a brown chalcedony, is a particularly fascinating material, geologically occurring in a small area, but culturally distributed over a large area. I analyze the distribution …

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A Comparison Of Shovel Testing And Surface Collection As Archaeological Site Discovery Methods: A Case Study Using Mississippian Farmsteads, Cameron Smith Howell Jan 2016

A Comparison Of Shovel Testing And Surface Collection As Archaeological Site Discovery Methods: A Case Study Using Mississippian Farmsteads, Cameron Smith Howell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Shovel testing and controlled surface collection are commethods of archaeological site investigation that are generally approved by state and federal agencies as well as the academic community for cultural resource management projects and research. While both techniques are equally utilized, little research has been conducted on how equivalent these techniques are in terms of their efficacy for finding site. This thesis seeks to find a way to compare these techniques by creating mathematical models to describe how well the methods behave when tested on known datasets generated from Mississippian period farmsteads. The predicted performance can then be compared to real …

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From Turkeys To Tamales: Paleoindian To Preclassic Period Faunal Use At Maya Hak Cab Pek Rockshelter In Southern Belize, Stephanie Raye Orsini Jan 2016

From Turkeys To Tamales: Paleoindian To Preclassic Period Faunal Use At Maya Hak Cab Pek Rockshelter In Southern Belize, Stephanie Raye Orsini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Very little is known about Paleoindian and Archaic subsistence strategies of the people of Mesoamerica prior to the development of ceramics. Rockshelters with good preservation and stratigraphic deposits can provide excellent contexts for a comparative faunal analysis though time. In February of 2014 the Bladen Paleoindian and Archaic Project (BPAP), directed by Dr. Keith Prufer, began excavations at the rockshelter Maya Hak Cab Pek (MHCP). The site has evidence for human activities from the Paleoindian period (11,500 BC to 8,000 BC) through the Preclassic Maya period (2,000 BC to AD 250). This research uses zooarchaeological analysis to investigate animal use …

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Dogs Are Expensive: Cost-Benefit Perspectives On Canid Ownership At Housepit 54, Bridge River, British Columbia, Ben B. Chiewphasa Jan 2016

Dogs Are Expensive: Cost-Benefit Perspectives On Canid Ownership At Housepit 54, Bridge River, British Columbia, Ben B. Chiewphasa

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The presence of dogs in the Housepit 54 (HP 54) faunal assemblage of the Bridge River site (EeRl4) raises questions regarding their roles within Canadian Plateau prehistory, specifically their contributions to networked household economies. Ethnohistoric sources often cite dogs as “jacks of all trades,” household entities that can act as beasts of burden, hunters, prized companions, or as a husbanded food resource. The 2012-2014 field seasons yielded variation in dog frequencies throughout 10 superimposed floors (IIj-IIa); these fluctuations occurred alongside changing densities of ungulates and salmon remains. The thesis incorporates multivariate analyses to determine how dogs could have allowed HP …

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The Western Stemmed Point Tradition: Evolutionary Perspectives On Cultural Change In Projectile Points During The Pleistocene-Holocene Transition, Lindsay D. Scott Jan 2016

The Western Stemmed Point Tradition: Evolutionary Perspectives On Cultural Change In Projectile Points During The Pleistocene-Holocene Transition, Lindsay D. Scott

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In this thesis I analyze the cultural techniques of Paleoindians in North America by examining the diversification and fusion of stemmed projectile point traditions using an evolutionary analysis. The Western Stemmed Point tradition has an extensive regional and temporal distribution throughout the Intermountain West and High Plains during the Paleoindian period. In an effort to determine how stemmed projectile point technologies relate to each other, I applied a phylogenetic approach to construct heritable patterns of projectile point histories. By measuring the physical traits of those points and using a macro-evolutionary theoretical approach, changes in artifact form can be acquired and …

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Archaeological Investigations And Historical Survey, Fort Wilkins Historic State Park: Keweenaw County, Michigan, Eric T. Pomber Jan 2016

Archaeological Investigations And Historical Survey, Fort Wilkins Historic State Park: Keweenaw County, Michigan, Eric T. Pomber

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Michigan Technological University has been performing archaeological and historical surveys at Fort Wilkins Historic State Park as part of a multi-year contract since 2013 with each year’s work focused on different properties held by the Park. The 2015 field season focused on the 6 acre Copper Harbor Range Lighthouse (20KE33) property immediately west of Fanny Hooe Creek resulting in the identification of eight archaeological features through a combination of pedestrian survey, shovel pit testing, and excavation. Among the features identified are the Astor House (20KE83), an early hotel in the region which was noted in the writings of travelers visiting …

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Powering An Industry: The History Of The Calumet And Hecla Electrical System And The Environmental Consequences Left Behind, Emma M. Zawisza Jan 2016

Powering An Industry: The History Of The Calumet And Hecla Electrical System And The Environmental Consequences Left Behind, Emma M. Zawisza

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The Calumet and Hecla Copper Mining Company in Houghton County, Michigan, was established in 1865 and closed its doors in 1968. This company was a major contributor in developing secondary copper processing and used these methods to produce copper even when its underground mines were closed. C&H built its own electrical transmission system that could have rivaled many during its time. This allowed the company to have the ability to produce and control its electrical network and expand, but it had major environmental effects. Polychlorinated biphenyl compounds (PCBs), used in transformer oil and other components were produced between about 1930 …

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Fluorine Dating Of Human Bone At The Pre-Columbian Maya Cemetery Of Caves Branch Rockshelter, Belize, Morgan Isaacs Jan 2016

Fluorine Dating Of Human Bone At The Pre-Columbian Maya Cemetery Of Caves Branch Rockshelter, Belize, Morgan Isaacs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis tests the ion-selective electrode fluorine dating method on the remains from the Maya mortuary site Caves Branch Rockshelter (CBR) in Belize. CBR is a cemetery containing at least 400 burials from the late Preclassic to the Postclassic periods. The intensive use and reuse of the site has disturbed the burial matrices, making it difficult to seriate the burials. Fluorine dating analyzes the amount of fluorine that has accumulated in bone over time. In principle, an older burial will contain more fluorine from groundwater than a more recently buried bone; however, this principle must be tested at each site …

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Linearly Stressed To Death: Consideration Of Early Childhood Stress As A Main Contributor To The Regional Variability In Classic Maya Mortuary Profiles, Nicholas Billstrand Jan 2016

Linearly Stressed To Death: Consideration Of Early Childhood Stress As A Main Contributor To The Regional Variability In Classic Maya Mortuary Profiles, Nicholas Billstrand

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Late and Terminal Classic periods were times of great social, economic, and political change in Maya civilization. Scholars have suggested that increasing levels of dietary stress during this time may have been the result of ecological instability, drought, warfare, and significant levels of population movement across the Maya lowlands. All of these processes may have affected human health and left measurable markers of stress in human skeletal material. The burial population recovered from two sites on Ambergris Caye, located near the coast of Belize, have significantly more sub-adult individuals than sites in inland Belize, such as Actuncan, suggesting the …

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