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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Trace Element Analysis Of Human Dentition From The Elite Meroitic Cemetery At Sedeinga, Sudan To Determine Dietary Consumption And Cultural Behaviors, Tiffany Lee Aug 2018

Trace Element Analysis Of Human Dentition From The Elite Meroitic Cemetery At Sedeinga, Sudan To Determine Dietary Consumption And Cultural Behaviors, Tiffany Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Minimal research has been conducted on the human skeletal remains from this site, and this research is aimed toward adding knowledge of the Nubian culture for the period between the 1st c. AD to the 4th c. AD, particularly focusing on answering the following questions: 1) Was intra- individual variation present in dietary consumption or cultural behaviors based on elements found within an individual's multiple molars after analysis; 2) Was an inter-individual variation apparent, based on developmental age through permanent molars, that indicated a distinction between dietary consumption against all individuals; and 3) Based on known medicinal and cosmetic use …


Native American Occupation Of The Singer-Hieronymus Site Complex: Developing Site History By Integrating Remote Sensing And Archaeological Excavation, Claiborne Sea Aug 2018

Native American Occupation Of The Singer-Hieronymus Site Complex: Developing Site History By Integrating Remote Sensing And Archaeological Excavation, Claiborne Sea

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Located on a ridgetop in central Kentucky, the Singer-Hieronymus Site Complex consists of at least four Native American villages. The Native Americans who lived there are called the “Fort Ancient” by archaeologists. This study examined relationships between these villages, both spatially and temporally, to build a more complete history of site occupation. To do this, aerial imagery analysis, geophysical survey, and archaeological investigations were conducted. This research determined there were differences among villages in terms of their size, however other characteristics—internal village organization, village shape, radiometric dates, and material culture—overlapped significantly. Additionally, landscape-scale geophysical survey identified at least three potentially …


Utilizing Ground-Penetrating Radar In The Delineation And Cultural Resource Management Of Eroding Maine Coastal Shell Middens, Jacquelynn F. Miller May 2018

Utilizing Ground-Penetrating Radar In The Delineation And Cultural Resource Management Of Eroding Maine Coastal Shell Middens, Jacquelynn F. Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Shell middens along the Maine coast archive up to 5000 years of cultural and climatic change, but the record is continually and rapidly lost to the sea through climate-driven coastal erosion and sea-level rise. These sites were constructed by the ancestors of Maine Tribes, and are composed of centimeters to meters of clam (Mya arenaria) and/or oyster (Crassostrea virginica) shells, other faunal remains, and cultural materials. Shell middens record human interaction with the environment and early coastal occupation and adaptation. The faunal remains reflect paleoenvironmental conditions and the distribution of extinct and extant forage-species along the western Gulf of Maine. …


Malaria In The Prehistoric Caribbean : The Hunt For Hemozoin., Mallory D. Cox May 2018

Malaria In The Prehistoric Caribbean : The Hunt For Hemozoin., Mallory D. Cox

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the increase in resistance to anti-malarials and global warming trends expanding the habitation range of the mosquito vector, research highlighting the biogeographical contexts of infected populations is critical to understanding epidemiological patterns. A bioarchaeological approach to epidemiology can shed light on previous disease patterns and aid in the prediction of future outbreaks of diseases like malaria. Currently, there is no direct evidence of malaria in the Americas prior to European contact; however, skeletal, archaeological, paleoenvironmental, historic, and ethnohistorical evidence strongly suggest the presence of Plasmodium spp. malaria in indigenous Caribbean skeletal remains held in the Yale Peabody Museum of …


Weathering The Storm: Effects Of Storm Periods On Ancient Populations Of Coastal Florida, Brett Parbus Jan 2018

Weathering The Storm: Effects Of Storm Periods On Ancient Populations Of Coastal Florida, Brett Parbus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understanding human response to natural disasters is a core problem for environmental archaeologists. Hurricanes are often devastating to coastal populations, and recognizing behavioral change in response to these major storm events provides context for the resilience and adaptability of ancient coastal people. This research project focuses on retrodicting periods of increased storm frequency and intensity for regions of the Florida coast and comparing those storm periods to the existing archaeological record in order to determine if there are correlations between increased storminess and periods of site abandonment and/or changes in subsistence strategy. These potential correlations may aid in our understanding …


Making An Impression: A Formal Analysis Of The Contextual And Iconographic Characteristics Of Ancient Mexican Ceramic Stamps, Elizabeth Rose Lyon Peabody Jan 2018

Making An Impression: A Formal Analysis Of The Contextual And Iconographic Characteristics Of Ancient Mexican Ceramic Stamps, Elizabeth Rose Lyon Peabody

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ceramic stamps are a rare, yet widely distributed, artifact class within ancient Mexico. However, there has only been limited scholarly research on these objects and much current research is minimally supported. Depicting a wide range of iconography, including metaphysical, floral, and faunal designs, the function and meaning of these stamps, also known as estampias, pintaderas, and sellos, in ancient Mexican life remain an archaeological mystery. This paper examines the contextual, chronological, and iconographic characteristics of ancient Mexican ceramic stamps as well as the distributional trends of those characteristics. This study is comprised of 83 stamps of varying design that date …


Searching Through Debris: A Mass Analysis From The Carter Robinson Mound Site In Lee County, Virginia, Robert Capps Jan 2018

Searching Through Debris: A Mass Analysis From The Carter Robinson Mound Site In Lee County, Virginia, Robert Capps

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Mississippian period is one of the most widely studied periods in the prehistoric Southeast, but there are areas such as the Mississippian frontier that have not been explored in great detail. Carter Robinson is a Mississippian chiefdom located on the frontier in southwest Virginia during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. To better understand the people living at this site a mass analysis was conducted to examine the lithic debris left behind by the people living there. The purpose of this thesis is to identify the degree of tool production at Carter Robinson and to identify areas of tool production, …


An Archaeological Exploration Of Agriculture, Trade, And Indigenous Relationships At A Seventeenth-Century New England Site, Jasmine Coreen Saxon Jan 2018

An Archaeological Exploration Of Agriculture, Trade, And Indigenous Relationships At A Seventeenth-Century New England Site, Jasmine Coreen Saxon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A multi-method approach including ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry, historical research, excavations, and artifact analyses was used to gather data at a 17th century archaeological site in South Glastonbury, Connecticut. Interpretation of these data provided evidence that the Europeans who occupied this site were involved in a variety of activities such as agriculture, trade, and developing Indigenous relationships. These activities included cultivating an agricultural surplus instead of relying on subsistence farming, access to trading networks that extended throughout the Colonies and into Europe, and cohabitation with the Indigenous peoples in the area. This research led to an examination of various historical narratives …


A Shifting Island Landscape: Changes In Land Use And Daily Life In The 19th And 20th Century Village Of Inishark, Co. Galway, Ireland, Lauren Marie Couey Jan 2018

A Shifting Island Landscape: Changes In Land Use And Daily Life In The 19th And 20th Century Village Of Inishark, Co. Galway, Ireland, Lauren Marie Couey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates changes to village spatial arrangement and land use patterns in the nineteenth and twentieth century village of Inishark, Co. Galway, Ireland. To understand how spatial changes within the historic village were shaped by interactions between villagers and outside groups, including landlords and government agencies, a landscape approach was utilized. An examination of historic maps, valuation documents, and Irish Census documents, combined with ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey and archaeological excavation, were used to understand how historical pressures impacted island life. Inishark's geographic isolation creates a unique case study to understand the impact of historical pressures on rural Irish …


Analysis Of Prehistoric Ceramics From A Fourteenth-Century Native American House, Carter Robinson Site (44le10), Lee County, Virginia, Emily J. Warner Jan 2018

Analysis Of Prehistoric Ceramics From A Fourteenth-Century Native American House, Carter Robinson Site (44le10), Lee County, Virginia, Emily J. Warner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chiefdoms located on the frontier of the Mississippian world have not been examined in great detail, yet they have the potential to provide evidence for the emergence of hierarchy and the interaction of hierarchical and egalitarian societies. Frontiers can help identify the emergence and maintenance of power in southeastern chiefdoms. Carter Robinson (44le10) is a frontier site that can help understand the degree of interaction between hierarchical and non-hierarchical groups nearby. This thesis will analyze the ceramics at structure 6 based on the 2015 excavation at Carter Robinson located in Lee County, Virginia. The use of attribute and morphological analyses …


A Landscape Of Death: A Comparison Of Non-Adult To Adult Burials At The Late Bronze Age Site Of Tell El-Far'ah (South), Rebecca Reeves Jan 2018

A Landscape Of Death: A Comparison Of Non-Adult To Adult Burials At The Late Bronze Age Site Of Tell El-Far'ah (South), Rebecca Reeves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to determine whether there are any differences in the burial practices for non-adults and adults at the Late Bronze Age site of Tell el-Far'ah (South) in modern day Israel. The archaeology of childhood together with various methods of analyses, including geospatial and statistical techniques, were utilized to address the main research question focused on the spatial differences and relationships between non-adult and adult burials. There are missing children in the archeological record. Tell el-Far'ah (South) is an example of this phenomenon. Reasons vary from taphonomy to potential infanticide. Based on the currently available data, it seems that …


Snapshots Of Confinement: Memory And Materiality Of Japanese Americans' World War Ii Era Photo Albums, Whitney J. Peterson Jan 2018

Snapshots Of Confinement: Memory And Materiality Of Japanese Americans' World War Ii Era Photo Albums, Whitney J. Peterson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The US government's incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II denied over 120,000 people basic rights and civil liberties. Limits on owning cameras inflicted unique hardship as people were unable to photographically document their lives as they had before the war. My research focuses on photographs that people managed to take and acquire in the camps, investigating the role of snapshot photography in remembering and understanding World War II experiences of incarceration. The photo albums I researched are housed in museum collections at two former sites of confinement: Manzanar National Historic Site in the Eastern Sierra of California and …


Characteristics And Functions Of Non-Mound Mississippian Sites: A Case Study Of Fitzner North End (9sn256), Lindsey R. Hinson Jan 2018

Characteristics And Functions Of Non-Mound Mississippian Sites: A Case Study Of Fitzner North End (9sn256), Lindsey R. Hinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Mississippian time period (A.D. 900-1600) in the Southeast of North America began with the development of ranked societies where the elite governed from and resided in administrative centers with earthen mounds and no formal bureaucracy. Much of the remaining population lived at smaller, non-mound sites. Given that the majority of people in these polities lived at non-mound sites, it is important to understand these places and their contexts. Current literature does not provide a clear architectural grammar of how these sites are defined socially or archaeologically. Due to variations in socio-political organization, and amount of excavation and research, site …


Deviating From The Standard: The Relationship Between Archaeology And Public Education, Rhianna M. Bennett Jan 2018

Deviating From The Standard: The Relationship Between Archaeology And Public Education, Rhianna M. Bennett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent studies of the public perception of archaeology shows that while it is a popular and valued discipline, it is still greatly misunderstood. Over the last few decades, archaeologists have sought new and innovative ways to establish archaeological literacy, promote community engagement, and conduct outreach, with the K-12 classroom being one such avenue of focus. Archaeology’s mysterious and exciting reputation among the general public, along with its interdisciplinary applicability, allows educators to draw interest in students and teach a variety of lessons through the lens of archaeology. This thesis outlines survey results of educators and archaeologists on their method, frequency, …


Lowcountry Identities, Labor, And Material Culture: An Archaeological Survey Of 38ja1138, Zachary W. Dirnberger Jan 2018

Lowcountry Identities, Labor, And Material Culture: An Archaeological Survey Of 38ja1138, Zachary W. Dirnberger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Archaeologists have long struggled with understanding the relationship between material culture and actual, emic identity. Early practitioners assumed that there was a one-to-one correspondence between the two and that a suite of artifacts recovered archaeologically could be matched with a specific ethnic affiliation or peoples that produced and utilized those artifacts. Later generations of archaeologists challenged this view by demonstrating how mutable and historically situated identity is, and how often material culture crosscuts ethnic boundaries. Historical archaeologists have played a central role in this debate. In this thesis, I examine 38JA1138, a largely undocumented late eighteenth-century site in Jasper County, …