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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Using X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry To Assess Variance In Obsidian Source Distribution In Southern Idaho, Marielle Loryn Pedro Black
Using X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry To Assess Variance In Obsidian Source Distribution In Southern Idaho, Marielle Loryn Pedro Black
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
This study explores the use of portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry to assist in associating artifacts with geological sources of obsidian from Southern Idaho. XRF spectrometry measures trace element abundance within obsidian artifacts, which is then compared, using a variety of statistical techniques, with known obsidian source geochemical profiles. Results from previous obsidian provenance studies have been used in archaeology as a proxy in measuring prehistoric hunter-gatherer mobility. Artifacts from 11 site assemblages were measured using pXRF to augment data for previously analyzed sites and to collect artifact geochemical data from previously unanalyzed sites. Using pXRF …
Out Cold: A Case Study Of Human Skeletal Remains Demonstrating The Importance Of Site Context, Melissa Kidd, Audrey Rogers, Nicole Inghilterra, Beki Jumonville, Samantha H. Blatt
Out Cold: A Case Study Of Human Skeletal Remains Demonstrating The Importance Of Site Context, Melissa Kidd, Audrey Rogers, Nicole Inghilterra, Beki Jumonville, Samantha H. Blatt
College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs Presentations
When excavating human remains, the context of the site can be just as important in understanding the cause of death as the skeletal materials themselves. This research examines the implications of bioarchaeology and forensic contexts in the following case study. A site excavated in the 1980s presented a skeletonized individual with a rifle leaning against a tree. Later identified, this individual was a missing person who disappeared in the winter in the 1920’s. Due to the presence of the rifle, the location of the individual under the tree, and the missing cranium, the manner of death was initially assumed a …
Ethnoarchaeology As A Strategy For Building Frames Of Reference For Research Problems, Pei-Lin Yu
Ethnoarchaeology As A Strategy For Building Frames Of Reference For Research Problems, Pei-Lin Yu
Pei-Lin Yu
Ethnoarchaeology is a powerful strategy for structuring archaeological research questions that uses ethnographic information to make inferences about the material residues of past human activities. Ethnoarchaeology is not a theoretical approach per se, so it can investigate research questions generated from a wide variety of theoretical perspectives. Ethnoarchaeological scopes and scales of research are expanding rapidly in geography, chronology, method, and theoretical stance, from variables conditioning the manufacture of traditional technology to the evolution of symbolic expression and ritual behaviors.
Ice Patch Archaeology And Paleoecology In Glacier National Park, Pei-Lin Yu
Ice Patch Archaeology And Paleoecology In Glacier National Park, Pei-Lin Yu
Pei-Lin Yu
A fragment of basket. The tip of a digging stick. The shaft of an ancient spearthrower. Very rarely do such items preserve in the archeological record, but these works of ingenuity and craftsmanship, reflective of past human presence and lifeways in sub-alpine and alpine environments, have been preserved in nearly perfect condition in ice and snow patches for hundreds—or even thousands—of years. Also locked in the ice are traces of vanished ecosystems: animal scat, bones, horns, antlers, fragments of ancient wood, even entire “frozen forests.”
Implications Of Upper Columbia River Lithic Technology For Prehistoric Fishing In The Rockies, Pei-Lin Yu, Jackie M. Cook
Implications Of Upper Columbia River Lithic Technology For Prehistoric Fishing In The Rockies, Pei-Lin Yu, Jackie M. Cook
Pei-Lin Yu
Lithic tools used for fish processing in North America range from hafted lanceolate bifaces and microlithic blades to handheld lunate tools. Despite use wear and residue analysis, archaeologists still lack diagnostic means to identify archaeological fish processing tools at larger scales, resulting in a dearth of knowledge about past fishing behavior. This paper describes and predicts variability in tool shape using ethnographic fish processing data and functional morphology of tabular quartzite tools from Kettle Falls, a major Columbia River salmon fishery. Gender-specific organization of labor during intensive fish harvest and technological behavior associated with large-scale processing practiced by aquatic-focused foragers …