Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

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 …

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

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 …

Reconstructing The Vocal Capabilities Of Homo Heidelbergensis, A Close Human Ancestor, Austin Blake Stanley

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The discovery of 5,500 Homo heidelbergensis fossil specimens at the Sima de los Huesos archaeological site in Spain has opened up the opportunity for research to be conducted on the vocal capabilities of this species. Previous research has revealed that the range of vowel sounds an individual can produce, known as the vowel space, is directly affected by the dimensions of the vocal tract. The vowel spaces of two hominins, Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis, have been reconstructed through previous research. However, the vowel space of Homo heidelbergensis has not yet been reconstructed. In this research, I aim to …

New Courland, Tobago: A Gis Analysis Of A 17th-Century Settlement, Amanda Sumner

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Caribbean island of Tobago was contested by several European powers. Among them was an unlikely colonizer, the small Duchy of Courland, located in the western part of modern-day Latvia, which established the New Courland colony on the west coast of Tobago, in May 1654. The aim of this study was to determine the exact geographic location of this settlement through examination of historical texts, maps, and geographic information systems (GIS) data. Remote sensing and GIS methods were used to map the Courlander Fort Jacob on the site of an earlier Dutch fortification, Nieuw …

Reconstructing Ancient Burials At Loma Don Genaro, Alexandra M. Kulenguski

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis reconstructs and analyzes a Classic period (AD 250-800) burial collection from the archaeological site of Loma Don Genaro in Oaxaca, Mexico. This research aims to address two main questions: 1.) What information about the burial collection is available through the archaeological archives? 2.) What does this information tell us about social organization during the Classic period at Loma Don Genaro? In order to address these questions, the following objectives were explored: to reconstruct ancient burials using archival material; to describe the burial demography across the site; to describe variation in grave goods; to relatively date and order the …

Feeding The Children: A Paleodietary Reconstruction Of Juveniles From Kuelap, Peru, Marley Denierio

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Before reaching adulthood, every individual experiences a period of dependency, the juvenile period, during which they rely on the older, more experienced members of their society for their security, subsistence and care. This juvenile period is an important stage of life for human physical and physiological development. In bioarchaeology, there has been limited research conducted on juveniles, particularly, the development of their own social identity and influences. The research method of stable carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) isotope analysis is used to reconstruct the paleodiet of juveniles to determine their dietary composition. Specifically, this research is focused on Kuelap, located …

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 …

Ceramic Analysis At Ike's Cut, Bahamas Compared With Ft. Liberte, Haiti And El Mango, Cuba, Melissa A. Kays

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis compares pottery from Ike's Cut, Inagua, Bahamas with assemblages from the site of El Mango, Cuba, analyzed by Ashley Brooke Persons and the site of Ft. Liberte, Haiti, analyzed by Irving Rouse.

The Ike's Cut site was a seasonally occupied location on the largest bank on Inagua, and was utilized for its access to marine resources. The migrants living here brought with them Meillacoid ceramics that were manufactured somewhere in the Greater Antilles. The objective of this research was to evaluate whether the ceramics at Ike's Cut share more in common with either the Hispaniolan or Cuban assemblages. …

Mobility And Collapse: Stable Isotope Analysis Of Oxygen-18 Isotopes From Ancient Mexico, Melanie L. St. Pierre

Honors Undergraduate Theses

When a society experiences a collapse, political authority becomes decentralized, large settlements often become abandoned, economic specialization decreases; and monumental building projects, artistic, and literary achievements slow drastically. The Rio Verde Valley, a coastal floodplain located in the region of Oaxaca in Southwest Mexico, experienced such a collapse at the end of the Terminal Formative period (150 BC to 250 AD). A period of decentralization followed, with regional centers becoming the main seats of authority throughout the region. My aim is to understand how this collapse affected residential population mobility in the lower Rio Verde Valley between the pre-collapse Terminal …

A Method For Determining Damage Within Historic Cemeteries: A First Step For Digital Heritage, Justin E. Malcolm

Honors Undergraduate Theses

While it is true that historic cemeteries are places that contain a wealth of knowledge about the history of a community they are sometimes not well maintained. The information within can be lost as grave-markers are damaged either by natural causes or human interaction. In larger cemeteries preserving these significant places can sometimes be difficult due to a number of different factors. Therefore focusing preservation efforts on specific locations where damage is more likely to occur is crucial to ensure that the monuments that are the most at risk are preserved. One possible way of accomplishing this is through the …