Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Rethinking Holocene Ecological Relationships Among Caribou, Muskoxen, And Human Hunters On Banks Island, Nwt, Canada: A Stable Isotope Approach, Jordon S. Munizzi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation explores the ecology of caribou (Rangifer tarandus spp.) and muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus), and its relevance to human hunters on Banks Island, NWT, Canada, over the last 4000 years, primarily through the isotopic analysis of modern and archaeological faunal remains.

First, we establish baseline carbon and nitrogen isotope relationships between modern vegetation and caribou and muskox bone collagen using Bayesian mixing models. The models indicate that dwarf shrub (Salix arctica) does not contribute significantly to bone collagen isotopic compositions in either species, while sedges and yellow lichen (Cetraria tilesii) do. These findings …

The Richness Of Food: A Zooarchaeological Analysis Of Huaca Santa Clara And Huaca Gallinazo, North Coast Of Peru, Arwen M. Johns

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis is a zooarchaeological study examining the entangled nature of human-animal relations within processes of food production, preparation, and consumption at Huaca Santa Clara and Huaca Gallinazo in the Virú Valley, North Coast of Peru. It assesses how the consumption of animal products influenced social differentiation and identities during early state development in the Early Intermediate Period (200B.C.E – 800 C.E.). This thesis takes a social zooarchaeological approach and utilizes the framework of relational ontology to emphasize the social and symbolic roles of animals. Faunal remains suggest that individuals at Huaca Santa Clara had comparatively equal access to animal …

Cultural Constructions Of Nature: Animal Representation And Use In Early Iron Age Southeastern Slovenia, Adrienne C. Frie

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the place of animals in the cultural world of Early Iron Age southeastern Slovenia (800-300 BCE) by analyzing animal iconography and faunal remains in archaeological contexts. The central questions are: What types of human-animal relationships characterized Early Iron Age Slovenia, and how were these relationships intertwined with conceptions about animals in local cultural frameworks? I examine the conception of the animal world and its symbolic significance through quantitative and qualitative analyses of animal depictions on artifacts as well as faunal remains from mortuary contexts. The analysis is structured to answer a series of empirical questions that provide …

Zooarchaeology Of The Scandinavian Settlements In Iceland And Greenland: Diverging Pathways, Thomas Mcgovern, Konrad Smairowski, George Hambrecht, Seth Brewington, Ramona Harrison, Megan Hicks, Frank J. Feeley, Brenda Prehal, James Woollett

Publications and Research

The Scandinavian Viking Age and Medieval settlements of Iceland and Greenland have been subject to zooarchaeological research for over a century, and have come to represent two classic cases of survival and collapse in the literature of long-term human ecodynamics. The work of the past two decades by multiple projects coordinated through the North Atlantic Biocultural Organization (NABO) cooperative and by collaborating scholars has dramatically increased the available zooarchaeological evidence for economic organization of these two communities, their initial adaptation to different natural and social contexts, and their reaction to Late Medieval economic and climate change. This summary paper provides …

Medieval Iceland, Greenland, And The New Human Condition: A Case Study In Integrated Environmental Humanities, Steven Hartman, A.E.J. Ogilvie, Jón Haukur Ingimundarson, A.J. Dugmore, George Hambrecht, Thomas Mcgovern

Publications and Research

This paper contributes to recent studies exploring the longue durée of human impacts on island landscapes, the impacts of climate and other environmental changes on human communities, and the interaction of human societies and their environments at different spatial and temporal scales. In particular, the paper addresses Iceland during the medieval period (with a secondary, comparative focus on Norse Greenland) and discusses episodes where environmental and climatic changes have appeared to cross key thresholds for agricultural productivity. The paper draws upon international, interdisciplinary research in the North Atlantic region led by the North Atlantic Biocultural Organization (NABO) and the Nordic …

Zooarchaeological And Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction Of Newly Excavated Middle Pleistocene Deposits From Elandsfontein, South Africa, Frances L. Forrest

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Increased consumption of animal tissue is arguably one of the most important adaptive transitions in early hominin behavior. A dietary shift toward regular tool-assisted meat consumption and increased competition with the carnivore paleoguild likely helped shape many important hominin adaptations such as foraging patterns, habitat preferences, and social behaviors. Yet, the ecological and behavioral implications for increased hominin carnivory remain poorly understood. This dissertation examines the zooarchaeological and paleoenvironmental history of an important Acheulean hominin locality, Elandsfontein, South Africa (ca. 1.0 – 0.6 Ma). The goal is to begin addressing under-investigated aspects of Acheulean hominin behavioral ecology and place Acheulean …

Before Abandonment: Social Change In Pre-Colonial Housepit 54, Bridge River Site (Eerl4), British Columbia, Kathryn L. Bobolinski

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Housepit 54 at the Bridge River pithouse village in south-central British Columbia provides a glimpse into the complex cultural practices that occurred in this area in the past. This village, which includes approximately 80 semi-subterranean structures, was occupied during four periods, approximately 1800- 1600 cal. B.P., 1600-1300 cal. B.P., 1300-1000 cal. B.P. and 500-100 cal. B.P, firmly placing the site within both a historic and a pre-Colonial context. The two pre-Colonial floors, IIb (1288-1058 cal B.P.) and IIa (1184-1050 cal B.P.), that represent the occupation of Housepit 54 directly prior to the pre-Colonial villages abandonment are the focus of this …