Anthropology Commons^™

Exploring The Movement Of People In Postclassic And Historic Period Lamanai Using Stable Isotopes, Alicia E. Donis

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The location of the Maya site of Lamanai on the New River Lagoon in northern Belize strategically situated it to participate in both coastal and inland trade routes and communication. This study of human burials at Lamanai examines the phosphate-oxygen isotope compositions of bone and enamel, which reflect drinking water and hence climatic zones, oxygen- and hydrogen-isotope compositions of modern local water, which provide a baseline for drinking water, and carbon- and nitrogen-isotope compositions of bone collagen, which reflect diet. The combination of isotopic, mortuary, osteological, and artifactual data is used to explore mobility at Lamanai during the Postclassic and …

A Multi-Isotope Investigation Of Two Medieval German Populations: Insight Into The Relationship Among Diet, Disease, And Tissue Isotopic Compositions, Karyn C. Olsen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis investigates the relationship between disease and bone collagen isotope compositions, and uses isotopic analyses of human and faunal bone to examine the diet and geographic associations of two medieval (9th to 16th century) German communities derived from urban (Regensburg, n=111) and rural (Dalheim, n=24) contexts.

The first goal of this research was to determine the reliability of bone collagen isotopic compositions to characterize diet in unhealthy individuals. Examples of bone pathology were selected from two medieval samples and one modern/historic skeletal collection (n=49) in order to measure the extent to which pathology influences intra-skeletal isotopic variability. The carbon- …

Statistical Analysis Of Nonmetric Cranial Trait Interactions In A Skeletal Population Sample From The Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, Lisa C. Brown

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Skeletal nonmetric traits have been used since the 1960s in genetic distance analyses, largely ignoring the potential for intertrait correlation. Using a skeletal population sample from the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, this thesis tests the null hypothesis that intertrait correlation is not occurring in the population at a significant level. Additionally, this thesis tests whether the odds ratio is a suitable statistical test for intertrait correlation. Using the phi coefficient and odds ratio, pairwise comparisons between 39 cranial nonmetric traits were calculated. The results of the statistical analysis show that intertrait correlation is occurring in the Dakhleh Oasis at a significant …

A Micro-Ct Analysis Of The Hominoid Subnasal Anatomy, Arthur M. Klages

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis performed a micro-CT analysis of extant hominoid subnasal anatomy and a review of the subnasal anatomy of the Miocene hominoids. This thesis tested the hypothesis that the extant hominoids exhibit diagnostic morphological patterns of the subnasal anatomy that are phylogenetically informative. The terminology of the subnasal anatomy was revised and new measurements were constructed to analyze the morphology of the hominoid subnasal anatomy. It is suggested that previous analyses of the hominoid subnasal anatomy were limited by technological constraints, poorly constructed measurements, and ambiguous terminology. This micro-CT analysis confirmed that the extant hominoids do exhibit diagnostic patterns of …

A Stable Isotope Investigation Of Palaeodiet And Residential Mobility During The Integration Period, Quito Basin, Ecuador, Carlie Pennycook

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Integration Period (500/600-1532 C.E.) saw pre-Columbian society in the Quito Basin of Ecuador develop more politically and socially complex chiefdoms focused around agricultural production and trade. In this study, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen isotopic analyses of bone and teeth from 115 individuals from the sites of Tajamar (n=73) and Nuevo Aeropuerto Internacional de Quito (NAIQ) (n=42) were performed in order to reconstruct short- and long-term dietary patterns, and residential mobility in the Quito Basin. Emphasis was placed on how/if these large-scale societal changes in the region affected group dietary patterns and individual choices and actions.

The isotopic analysis of …

Foreigners Among The Dead At Túcume, Peru: Assessing Residential Mobility Using Isotopic Tracers, Barbara R. Hewitt

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Inhabited from the Late Intermediate Period (A.D. 1000-1470) until the time of Spanish conquest, Túcume was a religious and ceremonial site that was transformed over time into a major urban centre. Archaeological excavations at Túcume have revealed that hundreds of individuals were victims of human sacrifice at the site, where their remains were interred in distinct groupings that are most likely defined by the motivation behind different sacrificial rites. This research employs biogeochemical, archaeological and ethnohistoric data to explore residential mobility related to human sacrifice in and around the site of Túcume, Peru.

This dissertation has two primary foci: one …

'Deviant' Burials In Archaeology, Jesslyn E. Hodgson

Anthropology Publications

The term ‘deviant’ is used to describe burials that deviate from the normative burial rites of a given society, at a given point in time. The problem with applying such a term to the archaeological record rests predominantly in the fact that the term ‘deviant’ has a negative connotation. This negative connotation insinuates that the individual in the burial context may have been viewed by their society in a negative light, however, through analysis of case studies it is shown that many ‘deviant’ burials are not in fact burials of people viewed as deviant, but ‘different’ burials given to people …