Bodies Of Water: Politics, Ethics, And Relationships Along New Mexico's Acequias, Elise Trott

Anthropology ETDs

Growing public attention to global economic and environmental instability and collapse have brought new urgency to a classic activity of anthropology: looking for alternative economic and environmental models in other ways of life. This dissertation is a case study of the complex and sometimes contradictory ways in which New Mexico’s acequias (communally-managed irrigation ditches) are produced, experienced, and contested as an alternative form of living, creating community, and relating ethically to the environment. Drawing on over six years of participant observation and in-depth interviews with Nuevomexicano (Spanish- and Mexican-descendant), indigenous, and non-indigenous acequia users and organizers in North-Central New Mexico …

The Past In The Present: Federal Implementation Of The Native American Graves Protection And Repatriation Act, Erin J. Hudson

Anthropology ETDs

This dissertation examines the implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act by federal agencies. Specifically, it examines the processes that archaeologists, working in different geographic regions and for different federal agencies, use to complete NAGPRA actions and determine cultural affiliation. A total of nine case studies from two regions (US Southwest and Pacific Northwest) and three federal agencies (USDA Forest Service, National Park Service, and US Army Corps of Engineer) were used to document the complete NAGPRA process as it occurs in real situations, to identify the processes and lines of evidence used to complete those actions, …

Paradise Found? Local Cosmopolitanism, Lifestyle Migrant Emplacement, And Imaginaries Of Sustainable Development In La Manzanilla Del Mar, Mexico, Jennifer Cardinal

Anthropology ETDs

The southern Jalisco, Mexico coast is experiencing a transition as much of the beach-front land is being privatized for luxury resort development. In this dissertation I consider sustainable development in the coastal community of La Manzanilla del Mar in the context of this shifting social and material landscape. La Manzanilla is a tourism destination of approximately 1,700 residents, including an estimated 300 foreign residents. These foreign residents have been categorized as lifestyle migrants by social scientists, and lifestyle migration is distinguished from labor and forced migration as the consumption-based form of migration practiced primarily by the middle and upper classes …

Forests On The Edge: Forest Restoration And Concepts Of Nature In Northern New Mexico, Jordan W. Stone

Geography ETDs

Dozens of catastrophic forest fires have impacted New Mexican communities over the last two decades, threatening humans, property, and livelihoods. Ecologically, forest systems are stressed by historically unprecedented tree density, drought, increased temperature, and dwindling ecological diversity, further increasing fire danger. An increasingly common response to these threats is to actively manage New Mexico’s forests using mechanical tree thinning and prescribed fire, with a goal of “restoring” forests to a healthier ecological state. Restoring forests is both a scientific and cultural act. While the science is well studied, land managers often struggle to understand how human values impact forest restoration …

Changes In Middle Holocene Shellfish Harvesting Practices: Evidence From Labouchere Bay (49-Pet-476), Southeast Alaska, Mark R. Williams

Anthropology Graduate Student Publications

This paper uses zooarchaeology and community paleoecology to interpret the invertebrate assemblage from a middle Holocene shell midden in Southeast Alaska. The composition of midden 13.3 at Labouchere Bay (AHRS# 49-PET-746), which was occupied between 6,500 and 2,500 calendar years before present, reflects changes in how the human inhabitants of the site interacted with intertidal shellfish communities. The amount of shellfish from soft substrate habitats (mudflats) did not change significantly over time, while the amount of shellfish from hard substrate habitats (rocky tide pools) declined. This trend in the relative abundance of these shellfish in the midden may have been …

Data For The Distribution Of Flat-Backed Canteens, Kristina L. Whitney

Anthropology Graduate Student Publications

Since water transport vessels are often a highly conservative vessel form, the appearance of a new water vessel shape—the flat-backed canteen—in the American Southwest around the time of Spanish arrival raises questions concerning its introduction. These data are the basis of a study aimed at documenting the presence of the flat-backed canteen in the American Southwest from the sixteenth through twentieth centuries and explores changes in their distribution and use through time. A total of 128 flat-backed canteens were analyzed from archaeological and ethnographic collections, while 97 additional New World canteens were documented through an extensive literature review. Its contemporary …

Rabbit Exploitation In The Middle Paleolithic At Gruta Nova Da Columbeira, Portugal, Milena M. Carvalho

Anthropology Graduate Student Publications

Differences in subsistence between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans may suggest key behavioral changes during the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition. In this paper, I present archeozoological and stable isotopic analyses of Oryctolagus cuniculus (European wild rabbit) remains from levels 6, 7, 8 and 9 of Gruta Nova da Columbeira, a Mousterian cave site located in central Portugal. I use these data to explore two alternative hypotheses: 1. Anatomically modern humans gained a competitive advantage over Neanderthals by exploiting a broader-spectrum diet including small prey items such as the rabbit and 2. Neanderthals already on occasion practiced a broad-spectrum diet …

Historic And Modern Eastern Pacific Green Sea Turtle Stable Isotopes, Cyler Conrad, Laura Pagès Barceló, Jeffrey A. Seminoff, Calandra N. Turner Tomaszewicz, Marie J. Labonte, Brian M. Kemp, Emily Lena Jones, Michael Stoyka, Kale Bruner, Allen G. Pastron

Anthropology Datasets

Stable isotope data, specimen photographs and R script for the Gold Rush-era sea turtle specimens from San Francisco, California. The stable isotope data are saved as .csv files. R script is provided as a zip file (OQ_SeaTurtle-master.zip) created from the repository developed and hosted at https://github.com/cylerc/OQ_SeaTurtle. Note: Some stable isotope data provided during analyses are from previously published sources (see .csv files and manuscript for references). This repository dataset is described in the manuscript: Conrad, C., L. Pagès Barceló, J.A. Seminoff, C.N. Turner Tomaszewicz, M.J. Labonte, B.M. Kemp, E.L. Jones, M. Stoyka, K. Bruner and A.G. Pastron. in press. …