Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Seeking After Empire: Bioarchaeologists And American Indians In The New Millennium, Michelle Dawn Hamilton

Doctoral Dissertations

New and amended cultural resource laws are changing the academic and scientific landscape of North American bioarchaeology and archaeology. The passage of the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act in 1990 was an important watershed event in the history of the discipline of biological anthropology, and the increasingly successful utilization of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act by federally recognized sovereign tribes is resulting in unanticipated legal restrictions on the scientific collection of bioarchaeological data from American Indian skeletal remains and mortuary site settings.

The evolving relationships between bioarchaeologists and American Indians is examined in the context …

Biological And Statistical Variation In Age Estimation From Pubic Symphyseal Morphology With Regard To Individual Identification And Demographic Profiling, Erin H. Kimmerle

Doctoral Dissertations

Population variation in the morphological aging process of the pubic symphysis has generated much debate. The question of whether age parameters derived from an American population will reliably estimate age-at-death for East European skeletal populations is important since the ability to accurately estimate an individual’s age-at-death hinges on what standard is used. Consequently, successful age estimation, individual identification, and demographic profiling rests on the ability to correctly define the skeletal parameters of age-at-death.

The purpose of this study is to assess the aging process of American and East European populations and to determine what age parameters should be applied to …

A Test Of The Multiregional Hypothesis Of Modern Human Origins Using Basicranial Evidence From Indonesia And Australia, Authur C. Durband

Doctoral Dissertations

Proponents of the Multiregional Hypothesis of modern human origins have consistently stated that the material from Australasia provides one of the most compelling examples of regional continuity in the human fossil record. According to these workers, features found in the earliest Homo erectus fossils from Java can be traced through more advanced hominids from Ngandong and are found in both fossil and recent Australian Aborigines. For this study, non-metric observations will be used to determine the degree of similarity between earlier Homo erectus from Sangiran, the Ngandong fossils (including the Sambungmacan hominids), and fossil/modern Australian Aborigines in the cranial base. …

Molecular Anthropology And The Punta Lobos Assemblage: Dna-Based Sex-Typing Of Juveniles From Ancient Hair Samples, Adriane Michelle Scola

Masters Theses

The recent proliferation of techniques suitable for DNA recovery in ancient samples has prompted anthropological researchers to explore molecular-based investigations of human remains from archaeological contexts. The study demonstrates the utility of ancient DNA analysis to strengthen a site-specific demographic profile from the Punta Lobos assemblage. DNA extraction via a silica-based extraction technique from juvenile hair bulb samples and further DNA amplification via high cycle-number PRC was undertaken to genetically type individual sex. Morphologically intermediate subadult samples were typed as biological males when amplification was successful. The inclusion of preliminary amplification results form a mitochondrial DNA marker suggests that DNA …

Seeking After Empire: Bioarchaeologists And American Indians In The New Millenium, Michelle Dawn Hamilton

Doctoral Dissertations

New and amended cultural resource laws are changing the academic and scientific landscape of North American bioarchaeology and archaeology. The passage of the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act in 1990 was an important watershed event in the history of the discipline of biological anthropology, and the increasingly successful utilization of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act by federally recognized sovereign tribes is resulting in unanticipated legal restrictions on the scientific collection of bioarchaeological data from American Indian skeletal remains and mortuary site settings.

The evolving relationship between bioarchaeologists and American Indians is examined in the context …

Preliminary Report On The Faunal Remains And Taphonomic Analysis Of Plover's Lake Cave, Cradle Of Humankind, South Africa, Juliet Krueger Brophy

Masters Theses

This study examines a sample faunal assemblage from Plover’s Lake Cave, South Africa, and uses the faunal identification and taphonomic indicators to determine the bone accumulating agents and make inferences about their behavior and environment. Fossil assemblages can be dramatically affected by ancient bone collectors as evident by their taphonomic signatures. The taphonomic overprint given to a site is typically due to episodic factors and the paleoenvironmental reconstructions that are based upon these assemblages must take into account any biases the accumulating agents may impart. After performing several analyses involving bone modification and taxonomic abundance, I suggest three accumulators were …

Molecular Anthropology And The Punta Lobos Assemblage: Dna-Based Sex-Typing Of Juveniles From Ancient Hair Samples, Adriane Michelle Scola

Masters Theses

The recent proliferation of techniques suitable for DNA recovery in ancient samples has prompted anthropological researchers to explore molecular-based investigations of human remains from archaeological contexts. This study demonstrates the utility of ancient DNA analysis to strengthen a site-specific demographic profile from the Punta Lobos assemblage. DNA extraction via a silica-based extraction technique from juvenile hair bulb samples and further DNA amplification via high cycle-number PCR was undertaken to genetically type individual sex. Morphologically indeterminate subadult samples were typed as biological males when amplification was successful. The inclusion of preliminary amplification results from a mitochondrial DNA marker suggests that DNA …

Estimation Of Skeletal Age-At-Death From Dental Root Translucency, Debra A. Prince

Doctoral Dissertations

Estimating the biological profile for an unknown individual is a crucial part of forensic anthropology, bioarchaeology and paleodemography. The current research deals with one aspect of the biological profile: estimation of skeletal age-at-death. Several methods are available to estimate skeletal age-at-death, but most involve placing a skeletal element into a phase category. This type of phase-oriented age estimation, in addition to improper statistical methodology, leads to several problems: 1) observer subjectivity; 2) large age ranges and open-ended intervals; 3) stages that overlap one another; 4) aging bias; 5) age mimicry; and 6) taphonomic problems. Solutions to these methodological and statistical …

Differentiation Of Fragmented Bone From South East Asia: The Histological Evidence, Derek Christian Benedix

Doctoral Dissertations

“The skeletal remains of some other animals, particularly when fragmentary, are often difficult to distinguish from human bones and teeth” (White 1991:3, emphasis mine).

Archaeological sites yield evidence that may be culturally modified items such as lithic tools, pottery, beads, buttons, watches, wedding rings, to items in nature classified by Dart (1957) as osteodontokeratic. Osteodontokeratic remains (or bone, tooth, and horn) are osseous human or animal elements that have either been modified tools or strictly osseous tissue itself. Bones of human and non-human origin comprise a significant portion of an assemblage. Deciphering the spatial context of the various forms …

A Comparison Of Knee Joint Size, Obesity, And Osteoarthritis Involving Two Recent Skeletal Samples, Jeffrey Reed Huber

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was two-fold: to examine secular change in the size of the knee joint during the last century in White males and females, and to compare the prevalence of knee osteoarthritis over the same time frame. In addition, a specific effort was made to determine a relationship between the modern rise in obesity and knee osteoarthritis. The sample included 291 males and 140 females from both the Robert J. Terry Collection and the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection.

The results indicate no consistent secular change in direction or location between White males and females. Although …

Secrets In Common: Intellectual Foundations Of The Lodge That Found Billet In The Dens And Klaverns, Damien Borg

Masters Theses

Secrets in Common is an anthropological history that undertakes to explain the similarities of membership and ideology between the Freemasons and two formations of the Ku Klux Klan. The work is divided into seven sections. It was compiled from both extant, which was of principle significance, and secondary printed material. After many hours of reading and countless attempts at “understanding,” three short ethnographic narratives were compiled: they makeup the central axis of the material. The first narrative describes the Freemasons, while the second two are on the “Reconstruction Klan” and the “Klan of the ‘20’s,” henceforth referred to as Kuklux …

A Comparison Of Knee Joint Size, Obesity, And Osteoarthritis Involving Two Recent Skeletal Samples, Jeffrey Reed Huber

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was two-fold: to examine secular changes in the size of the knee joint during the last century in White males and females, and to compare the prevalence of knee osteoarthritis over the same time frame. In addition, a specific effort was made to determine a relationship between the modern rise in obesity and knee osteoarthritis. The sample included 291 males and 140 females from both the Robert J. Terry Collection and the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection.

The results indicate no consistent secular change in direction or location between White males and females. Although …

Effects Of Group Composition And Mating Season On The Agonisitic And Affiliative Behavior Of Rhesus Macaques (Macaca Mulatta), Lauren Dawn Cox

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine what, if any, were the effects of group composition and mating season on grooming and aggression in captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Three groups of rhesus macaques were observed during the summer of 2003. The behavior of these three groups was compared in order to determine if any group differences were present. The following January, two of these groups (one had been disbanded) were observed again to determine if behavior varied in the mating season.

The results suggest that the number of intergroup fights has an inverse relationship to intragroup …

The Roots Of Healing: Archaeological And Historical Investigations Of African-American Herbal Medicine, Erin Brooke Hamby

Doctoral Dissertations

(From “Chapter 1: Introduction.” No abstract available.)

The archaeology of the African Diaspora holds promise for providing new information on a voiceless past. During the past 30 years, numerous African-American archaeological sites have yielded a wealth of information about lifeways among the enslaved. Studies have focused upon ethnicity, dominance/resistance, plantation social structure, and cultural identity (Singleton and Bograd 1995). Numerous requests from archaeologists for the implementation of innovative theoretical and methodological frameworks are promoting the cultivation of a dialogue between scholars and descendant African-American communities. Epperson (1998:116) argues that archaeologists of the Africa Diaspora should work to create “archaeologies that …