Anthropology Commons^™

Monhantic Fort Gunflints: Continuity Or Change In Mashantucket Pequot Lithic Manufacturing Patterns Due To European Contact, Scott E. Williams

Master's Theses

Abstract Monhantic Fort was a late seventeenth century fortified village located on the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation in southeastern Connecticut and was occupied between 1675-1680 during the time of King Philip’s War. The objectives of this study are to reconstruct Pequot behaviors related to production, maintenance, use, and discard of gunflints and other lithic tools made from European flint at Monhantic Fort and further if their patterns of manufacture and technologies were altered through contact with Europeans. As a number of the lithic tools, including the gunflints, recovered at Monhantic Fort had similar morphologies it was first necessary to determine exactly …

Faunal Remains From The Pine Hill Site (Ps-6), St. Lawrence County, New York, Jessica Lee Vavrasek

Masters Theses

The Pine Hill collection was discovered in the archaeology lab at State University of New York College at Potsdam after remaining unstudied for over 30 years since its initial excavation in the 1960s and 1970s. Pine Hill has been identified as a fifteenth century St. Lawrence Iroquois village site, located in St. Lawrence County, New York. The faunal remains and bone tools from the site indicate food procurement strategies, seasonal activities, the presence of discrete activity areas at the site, and the production and use of a wide range of bone tools. Replication experiments conducted on several bone tool types …

Geophysical Study At Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park, Manchester, Tennessee, Stephen Jay Yerka

Masters Theses

The Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park covers over 800 acres within Manchester, Tennessee, and is owned and managed by the Tennessee Division of State Parks. The central archaeological site within the park boundary is The Old Stone Fort mounds that enclose about 50 acres on a plateau above the convergence of the Big Duck and the Little Duck Rivers. The hilltop enclosure dates to the Middle Woodland Period, and radiocarbon dates obtained at the site range from the first to the fifth century A. D. Because of its size and apparent complexity, previous investigations of the site have been …

Recommendations For The Chamlidere Petrified Forest Management Plan, Fatma Ertem

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anything inherited from our ancestors or from nature can be considered as our heritage. Heritage can be classified as cultural and natural heritage. Turkey has been the cradle of many civilizations, religions, and ethnic groups because of the unprecedented natural heritage and critical geopolitical location of Anatolia. Given all the treasure of cultural and natural heritage in Turkey, heritage management practices have not been emphasized as they deserve. A petrified forest was found in Chamlidere, Ankara (Turkey) in 2004. Chamlidere petrified forest preserves information related to the biodiversity of forests in the Galatian Volcanic Province during the Early-Middle Miocene. When …

Violence, Symbols, And The Archaeological Record: A Case Study Of Cahokia's Mound 72, Kathryn Koziol

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Acts of violence are not always easily distinguished in their form. Given the additional difficulties caused by the obscure nature of the archaeological record, it is no wonder that interpretations of these behaviors are so skewed both between and within fields of research. There is little consistency in this academic dialogue, which prevents researchers from grappling with the larger perspectives that should be approached. For instance, just how far back in our human history have events such as genocide occurred? Are these modern in origin? The scale of ancient events and our anthropological scopes need more adjustment to the unique …

Gentility And Gender Roles Within The 18th-Century Merchant Class Of Newport, Rhode Island, Nicki Hise

Graduate Masters Theses

The Capt. Thomas Richardson household rose to prominence in Newport, Rhode Island during the community’s golden age of prosperity in the 18th century when Newport quickly became one of the leading seaports in the New World. However, all prosperity halted due to the hardships and damage Newport suffered during the American Revolutionary War. Much of the city’s property and economic success was destroyed at the hands of occupying British troops, and the Rhode Island community was never able to fully recover. Like others in colonial Newport, Capt. Thomas Richardson achieved genteel status as a merchant, distiller, and slave ship owner …

A Faunal Analysis Of 1wx15, The Indian Hill Site, Wilcox County, Alabama, Elizabeth Ellen Lovett

Masters Theses

Abstract

This study seeks to expand the knowledge of Woodland subsistence practices in the Alabama River valley by presenting an analysis of the faunal assemblage from the Indian Hill site, 1WX15. Additionally, this study presents a comparison of 1WX15 to other sites from the Tombigbee, Alabama, and Coosa river valleys in order to present a broad picture of Woodland subsistence in and near the Eastern Gulf Coastal Plain.

An intra-site comparison revealed the primary vertebrate resources exploited were mammals and turtles. The substantial amount of turtle fragments suggested the site was occupied during warm months, with a fall and winter …

Denison House: Women's Use Of Space In The Boston Settlement, Heather Marie Capitanio

Graduate Masters Theses

Established in 1892, Denison House Settlement in Boston, Massachusetts was the third college settlement of its kind in the United States. Like other settlement houses of the time, Denison House was established as a base for community refurbishment and statistical study. Located at 93 Tyler Street in the rundown South Cove area of Boston, it offered its lower class "neighbors" a variety of activities and facilities within its perimeters. Judging only from late nineteenth-century attitudes and mores, one would assume that the women who worked and lived at Denison House would have been turned away by the poor residents of …

Entertaining, Dining, And Novel Drinking: Rural Gentility And The Reverend John Hancock's Household, Lexington, Massachusetts, 1700-1750, Katie Lynn Kosack

Graduate Masters Theses

The rise of refined behavior paralleled the expansion of colonial markets and consumer choice. Objects related to the refined consumption of food and drink took center stage in the transformation of colonial entertaining. The availability of new foodstuffs and the associated equipage transformed sociability and the meaning of eating and drinking. These changes coupled with the high level of social mobility in eighteenth century Massachusetts, meant that performances with novel objects became dynamic symbols of one's social status. Utilizing Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital, this work explores how Rev. John Hancock, minister of Lexington, Massachusetts, expressed his social status through …

Beef, Mutton, Pork, And A Taste Of Turtle: Zooarchaeology And Nineteenth-Century African American Foodways At The Boston-Higginbotham House, Nantucket, Massachusetts, Michael Andrew Way

Graduate Masters Theses

In 1774, nearly ten years before slavery was abolished in Massachusetts, an emancipated African American weaver named Seneca Boston purchased a tract of land in the Newtown section of Nantucket, Massachusetts. It is here that over the next thirty years Seneca Boston and his Wampanoag wife, Thankful Micah, would build a house, now known as the Boston-Higginbotham House, and raise six children. The Boston-Higginbotham House was home to the descendents of Seneca Boston and Thankful Micah for over one hundred years. Throughout the 19th century a vibrant and active African American community was developing in Newtown, and several generations of …

"A Good Sized Pot": Early 19th Century Planting Pots From Gore Place, Waltham, Massachusetts, Rita A. Deforest

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis looked at the elite status of cultivating gentlemen at the site of the Gore Place greenhouse through the medium of planting pots. The goal of this thesis was to analyze the planting pot remains and to subsequently answer three questions: what kinds of activities were performed in the greenhouse, who was conducting those activities, and most importantly, how they played in to Christopher Gore's self presentation as having elite status. This project analyzed over 2,000 pot sherds found during the excavation of the 1806 Gore Place greenhouse. The outcome of a minimum vessel count of the planting pots …

A Macrobotanical Analysis Of Native American Maize Agriculture At The Smith's Point Site, Kelly A. Ferguson

Graduate Masters Theses

The Smith's Point site was a seasonally inhabited Native American encampment in Yarmouth, Massachusetts occupied from the Middle Woodland through the early Colonial periods. Excavations at the site in the early 1990s yielded the remains of a multi-component site including both an agricultural field and an adjacent living area. The macrobotanical remains from the agricultural and living area features were examined for this thesis project in order to investigate subsistence practices at the site. The findings show that Native Americans actively shaped these ecological niches for purposes such as maintaining and improving their subsistence base. These landscape management activities included …

Is There Evidence For The Observation And Use Of Astronomy At The Harris Site In The Mimbres Valley?, Denise Ruzicka

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis is an archaeoastronomical study of a Late Pithouse Period (A.D. 550-1000) Mimbres-Mogollon site in the American Southwest. It specifically examines whether there is an association between architecture and astronomy at the Harris Site in the upper Mimbres Valley in southwestern New Mexico. The hypothesis for the study is that Mimbres pithouse groups observed astronomical phenomena and used such phenomena to guide the construction of their structures and establish a calendar. The methods used in this investigation include evaluating whether the site placement, the orientation and alignment of structures/houses, and the presence of cultural features on surrounding ridge tops …

Large Mammal Subsistence At Archaeological Site 1ba21, Lindsay Lagrange

Anthropology Undergraduate Senior Theses

For thousands of years American Indians lived and survived in the southeastern part of North America. They used traditional hunting technologies to capture and kill many different species of animals which furnished protein in their diet and raw material for manufacture of clothing and tools. These animals include hundreds of different species of fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals. While these diets were varied depending on geographic location and social affiliation, archaeologists have found patterns in the diets of the Southeastern Indians. They have found and continue to find that many American Indians in the Southeast were eating copious amounts …

Through The Eyes Of A Child: The Archaeology Of Wwii Japanese American Internment At Amache, April Kamp-Whittaker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Children’s lives in the World War II Japanese American Internment Camp, Amache are investigated using a combination of archaeology, oral history, and archival research. As part of internees’ efforts to create a more hospitable environment both children and adults extensively modified the physical landscape. The importance of landscape and place in Japanese culture and for the internee community is examined using the development of gardens around the elementary school as a case study. Internees also developed a rich social landscape that allowed for the socialization of children within Amache. The socialization of children at Amache was being influenced by the …

Biological Affinities And The Construction Of Cultural Identity For The Proposed Coosa Chiefdom, Michaelyn S. Harle

Doctoral Dissertations

This study couples biological data with aspects of material culture and mortuary ritual for several sites within the proposed Coosa chiefdom described by sixteenth-century Spanish accounts to explore how cultural identities were actively constructed and maintained within the region. The primary goal is to examine regional interactions between these communities and their constructions of social identity and sociopolitical dynamics vis à vis their biological affinities. Questions regarding regional interactions between these groups have been a stimulus for archaeological debate. These interactions may have played a crucial role in the construction of separate cultural identities. What is not clear is to …

Does Mean Osteon Size Change With Age, Sex Or Handedness? Analysis Of The Second Metacarpal In A 19th Century Sample From Belleville, Ontario, Canada, Bridget Jennifer Denny

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Histological analysis of cortical bone can be used to provide information on age at death, health status, and the influence of biomechanical forces on bones. Specifically, a better understanding of the variation in mean osteon size can increase our knowledge about the influence of factors such as age and sex associated changes and their effects on bone metabolic functions. Previous studies suggest that these influences are bone specific and have produced varying results regarding the association between osteon size and the variables mentioned above. To date, no research has focused on mean osteon size in metacarpals. The purpose of this …

Trade And Exchange In The Neolithic Near East: Implications Of Obsidian Remains From Ais Yiorkis, Cyprus, Megan M. Melson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Lithic material has proven to be the most prevalent artifact to come out of the Ais Yiorkis strata, but there is also a plentitude of other artifacts, such as fauna, seeds, and the more elusive obsidian bladelets. There are currently about 42 obsidian artifacts (both fragmented and complete) in the Ais Yiorkis collection, and curiously enough, they are all in bladelet form, suggesting these artifacts were traded in from elsewhere due to the lack of obsidian debitage at the site. This obsidian has been sourced to the Chiftlik region in Anatolia (Turkey), which suggests some degree of trade within the …

Health Status Of Infants And Children From The Bronze Age Tomb At Tell Abraq, United Arab Emirates, Kathryn Mary Baustian

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Tell Abraq is significant because it is the largest prehistoric site on the southern coast of the Arabian Gulf. It was strategically important as an ancient port, regionally surrounded by large political centers. Commingled remains were located in a small tomb (6 m) used for a 200 year period (2200-2000 BC). The site was continually occupied from the 3rd millennium BC up to the 1st century AD. In the tomb were minimally 286 adults and 127 subadults. What is extraordinary is the number of pre-term (3rd trimester) infants (n=28, 22%), neonates (n=12, 9%), and infants under 2 years (n=46, 36%). …

Linear Enamel Hypoplasia At Santa Rita Corozal, Belize, Andrew Peter Tetlow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this thesis is an analysis of a sample of dentition collected from the Postclassic Maya site of Santa Rita Corozal in Northern Belize. The goal of this study is to determine what the presence (or absence) of Linear Enamel Hypoplasia (LEH) can demonstrate about the general health (i.e. stress, disease, nutrition, and weaning age) and social status of a single subset of the Late Postclassic (900-1500 CE) Maya living at Santa Rita Corozal. Specifically, this thesis focuses on dentition of thirteen individuals from a large Postclassic platform group. The sample consists of sub-adult and adult female dentition …

More Favorable Combination Of Circumstances Could Hardly Have Been Desired : A Bottom To Top Examination Of The Pittsburgh And Boston Mining Company's Cliff Mine, Sean M. Gohman

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The Cliff Mine, an archaeological site situated on the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan, is the location of the first successful attempt to mine native copper in North America. Under the management of the Pittsburgh & Boston Mining Company from 1845-1879, two-third of the Cliff’s mineral output was in the form of mass copper, some pieces of which weighed over 5 tons when removed from the ground. The unique nature of mass copper and the Cliff Mine’s handling of it make it one of the best examples of early mining processes in the Keweenaw District. Mass copper only constituted 2% of …

Prehistoric Sandals Of The Southern High Plains: Indicators Of Cultural Affinity And Change, Allison N. Rexroth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Perishable artifacts, such as basketry, cordage, and sandals are rare cultural materials due to the environments in which they are preserved and their inherent non-durability. Where recovered, researchers have used them to study expressed identity and trace population movements over time and space. On this premise, previously un-described sandal assemblages from Trinchera Cave, Colorado and the Kenton Caves, Oklahoma/New Mexico were age dated, analyzed, and compared to other known sandal collections throughout North America, including Franktown Cave, Colorado. The study of the rare perishables from all three caves/rockshelters on the Southern High Plains have provided a unique opportunity for the …

Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene Colonization And Regionalization In Northern Perú: Fishtail And Paiján Complexes Of The Lower Jequetepeque Valley, Greg J. Maggard

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Until relatively recently, the view of Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers in the Americas was dominated by the “Clovis-first” paradigm. However, recent discoveries have challenged traditional views and forced reconsiderations of the timing, processes, and scales used in modeling the settlement of the Americas. Chief among these discoveries has been the recognition of a wide range of early cultural diversity throughout the Americas that is inconsistent with previously held notions of cultural homogeneity.

During the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene, the development of widely varying economic, technological and mobility strategies in distinct environments is suggestive of a range of different adaptations and traditions.

It …

Villagers And Archaeologists: An Examination Of Past Behaviors At The Barton Site (21gd02), Emily Hildebrant

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

After a 40 year hiatus, excavations at the Bartron site (21GD02) resumed from May 2008 through June 2008 with new research questions. The primary impetus for this research was an investigation into the nature of the reported wall trench structure (Feature 13), one of the characteristics of the site previously cited as evidence of Mississippian contact or influence in the Red Wing Locality. This structure was hypothesized to be part of Pierre Charles Le Sueur's 1694/95 overwintering post on the southern end of Prairie Island. When excavated three centimeters below the previously excavated depth, the proposed wall trench structure was …

Feminine Identity Confined: The Archaeology Of Japanese Women At Amache, A Wwii Internment Camp, Dana Ogo Shew

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1942, approximately 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were evacuated from the West Coast to ten different internment camps in the interior of the United States. One of these camps was the Granada Relocation Center, otherwise known as Amache, located in southeastern Colorado. Through the analysis of archaeological material, archival documents, and oral histories, this thesis explores the experiences of Japanese American women interned at Amache. Feminine identity was greatly changed and redefined during confinement. These changes in feminine identity are examined in the public and private arenas of daily life within confinement. The construction of new and altered individual …