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Archaeological Anthropology

2017

Central Washington University

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Human Dispersal From Siberia To Beringia: Assessing A Beringian Standstill In Light Of The Archaeological Evidence, Kelly E. Graf, Ian Buvit Dec 2017

Human Dispersal From Siberia To Beringia: Assessing A Beringian Standstill In Light Of The Archaeological Evidence, Kelly E. Graf, Ian Buvit

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

With genetic studies showing unquestionable Asian origins of the first Americans, the Siberian and Beringian archaeological records are absolutely critical for understanding the initial dispersal of modern humans in the Western Hemisphere. The genetics-based Beringian Standstill Model posits a three-stage dispersal process and necessitates several expectations of the archaeological record of northeastern Asia. Here we present an overview of the Siberian and Beringian Upper Paleolithic records and discuss them in the context of a Beringian Standstill. We report that not every expectation of the model is met with archaeological data at hand.

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Vertebrate Faunal Analysis Of The Anderson Creek Site (45kp233), Robert Holstine Jan 2017

Vertebrate Faunal Analysis Of The Anderson Creek Site (45kp233), Robert Holstine

All Master's Theses

The Anderson Creek archaeological site (45KP233) was excavated by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) in 2015, as part of a fish passage replacement project in Puget Sound. Faunal analysis of remains from this excavation was completed by the author in collaboration with Dr. Megan Partlow. Analysis documented a variety of mammal and fish remains, consisting primarily of salmon, flatfishes, deer and elk. In addition to general faunal results reported to WSDOT, I discuss bone fragmentation, herring in regional sites, and the value of 1/16” fine screen sampling and analysis. To address the last, I compared fish identifications from …

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Comparing A Surface Collection To An Excavated Collection In The Lower Skagit River Delta At 45sk51, Sherri M. Middleton Jan 2017

Comparing A Surface Collection To An Excavated Collection In The Lower Skagit River Delta At 45sk51, Sherri M. Middleton

All Master's Theses

In the Puget Sound Lowland of the Pacific Northwest, archaeologists have investigated a shift in settlement and subsistence patterns occurring in the mid-Holocene Epoch. The artifacts used as the evidence of this shift are interpreted with a concept known as resource intensification. This shift in artifact frequencies has been studied only in the last thirty years and in limited areas of the Puget Sound Lowlands. An opportunity to investigate a site dating to after the shift presented itself when Central Washington University acquired the Lower Skagit River Delta Surface Collection (LSRDSC). This artifact assemblage was collected from a plow-zone surface …

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The Hidden History Of Western Washington Logging Camps: St. Paul And Tacoma Lumber Company’S Camp #5 Ca. 1934-1947, Kayley Bass Jan 2017

The Hidden History Of Western Washington Logging Camps: St. Paul And Tacoma Lumber Company’S Camp #5 Ca. 1934-1947, Kayley Bass

All Master's Theses

Despite the importance of logging to Washington State’s heritage, there is little information on the life in the logging industry and the lumbermen who helped shape western Washington. The St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company (SPTLC) harvested the Kapowsin Timberlands from the early 1900s to the late 1950s. The logging camps located within these timberlands can provide information on the organization of these industry camps as well as on the daily lives of the men that would help build one of the most important industries in Washington. This thesis employed archaeological and historical approaches to understand this period of history. …

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Data Potential Of Archaeological Deposits At The Chelan Station Site, Matthew J. Breidenthal Jan 2017

Data Potential Of Archaeological Deposits At The Chelan Station Site, Matthew J. Breidenthal

All Master's Theses

The Chelan Station Site (45CH782/783), located along the Rocky Reach of the Columbia River, includes lithic and faunal artifacts buried beneath volcanic tephra from Mt. Mazama (6,830 BP). Artifacts were inadvertently discovered in buried soils within a secondary alluvial terrace during construction of a pipeline to supply water to the Beebe Springs Fish Hatchery. This thesis stems from participation in original field work and includes the author’s own models of early land forms and site formation. The study reviews the construction monitoring and archaeological testing of both sites, and documents the archaeological data potential early occupations of the vicinity. The …

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Tracing Ainu And Pre-Ainu Cultural Continuity Through Cladistic Analysis Of Faunal Assemblages, Christopher Lowry Jan 2017

Tracing Ainu And Pre-Ainu Cultural Continuity Through Cladistic Analysis Of Faunal Assemblages, Christopher Lowry

All Master's Theses

Cladistics (Hennig 1950, 1965, 1966), a method for establishing evolutionary relationships, is used to compare faunal assemblages from Jōmon (14,000-500 BC; 14,000–2700 cal. BP), Epi-Jōmon (3rd – 7th century; 2700-1500 cal. BP), Satsumon (7th century - 13th century AD; ca. 1500-800 cal. BP), and Ainu (13th century AD – present) period components (Habu et al. 2011; Matsumura 2006; Ōnishi 2014; Weber et al. 2013) from sites in Central Hokkaido, Japan using Generalized Frequency Coding methods (Smith & Gutberlet 2001). Associations of site components follow geographic rather than temporal trends, showing similarities in animal use across these time periods but differentiated …

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Talus Features Of The Middle Columbia River: Typological And Locational Analyses, Jeremy Ripin Jan 2017

Talus Features Of The Middle Columbia River: Typological And Locational Analyses, Jeremy Ripin

All Master's Theses

The form and function of talus features of the Columbia Plateau are the subject of archaeological investigations and cultural resource evaluation and protection programs. Depressions excavated in talus slopes, most often circular to oval in shape, are called talus pits. Pit features are also located in colluvium and alluvial fans, and at the base of cliff overhangs. Over 568 of these features have been documented for 48 sites within the project area of the Priest Rapids and Wanapum reservoirs. Pits may have been used for hunting blinds, storage (food and/or equipment), burial, and/or and spirit questing. The size of pits …

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Forager And Collector Strategies In The Yakima Uplands: An Analysis Of Archaeological Assemblages From Testing Projects On The U.S. Army Yakima Training Center, Wa., John M. Davis Jan 2017

Forager And Collector Strategies In The Yakima Uplands: An Analysis Of Archaeological Assemblages From Testing Projects On The U.S. Army Yakima Training Center, Wa., John M. Davis

All Master's Theses

Despite nearly 40 years of testing projects on the Yakima Training Center, there remains little understanding of human adaptations and subsistence patterns through time in the Yakima Uplands. Additionally, there is a need for a managerial testing review. Assemblage data from fifty-one discrete components spanning the Holocene allowed an economic site type model to be built. Results indicate a shift towards intensive upland resource procurement systems beginning 2,200 cal B.P. Assemblage artifact dimensions do not correlate with Site Type but do reflect expected changes associated with a transition from forager to collector systems. Assemblage data only appear complete at 10m …

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Upland Land Use And Intersite Lithic Assemblage Variation Across Two Rockshelter And Three Open-Air Archaeological Sites In Mount Rainier National Park, Caitlin Limberg Jan 2017

Upland Land Use And Intersite Lithic Assemblage Variation Across Two Rockshelter And Three Open-Air Archaeological Sites In Mount Rainier National Park, Caitlin Limberg

All Master's Theses

Two sites from the Late Holocene period, the Fryingpan and Berkeley Rockshelters, are analyzed using an evolutionary archaeology model to test hypotheses about site-type expectations. Under the existing theoretical model, rockshelter sites on the slopes of Mount Rainier were used for a more limited activity set than some open-air sites. Rockshelter sites are thought to be places of short-term occupancy consistent with hunting and/or overnight residence activities. Large open-air sites with relatively dense and materially diverse lithic artifacts are thought to be longer-term residential base camps. Technological and functional paradigmatic lithic classifications are used to measure how rockshelter and larger …

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