Archaeological Anthropology Commons^™

No Smoking Please? Campus Cigarette Butt Collection As An Archaeological Field Exercise, G. Logan Miller

Journal of Archaeology and Education

A major component of archaeological education should involve engaging students in fieldwork. In this paper, I present a fieldwork exercise designed to be easily implemented in a number of situations. The basic concept of the exercise is to identify places where smoking occurs on campus through the collection of material remains related to this activity. The goal of the activity is to provide students with additional fieldwork opportunities in which they can be actively involved in the research design, implementation, and analysis of modern archaeological remains. Throughout the paper, I present tips and lessons learned through the initial implementation of ...

From Maya Pyramids To Paleoindian Projectile Points: The Importance Of Public Outreach In Archaeology, D Clark Wernecke, Thomas J. Williams

Journal of Archaeology and Education

Public outreach in archaeology can have a valuable impact on education, culture, society and even on the economy. However, it should not be relegated to the addendum of our research projects. Here we present two case studies that the authors have been actively involved in where outreach was a central part of the investigations. Following this, we outline a basic framework for conducting outreach in both the short- and long-term. While these are not perfect examples, they are intended to get archaeologists, as a community, thinking about the real and practical implications of conducting public outreach. Beyond the educational value ...

Archaeology Of Void Spaces, Cory Look

All Graduate Works by Year: Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The overall goal of this research is to evaluate the efficacy of pXRF for the identification of ancient activity areas at Pre-Columbian sites in Antigua that range across time periods, geographic regions, site types with a variety of features, and various states of preservation. These findings have important implications for identifying and reconstructing places full of human activity but void of material remains. A synthesis for an archaeology of void spaces requires the construction of new ways of testing anthrosols, and identifying elemental patterns that can be used to connect people with their places and objects. This research begins with ...

Environmental Diversity And Resource Use In The Salton Basin Of The Colorado Desert, Lindsay A. Porras

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Prehistoric life in the Colorado Desert endured a variety of environmental extremes. Episodic flooding and shifts in the course of the Colorado River resulted in the infilling of the Salton Basin and created a large freshwater lake known as Lake Cahuilla. Settlement along the different segments of the lakeshore is considered variable and may reflect accessibility to nearby viable resources. Remains from archaeological excavations at lakeshore sites show that lacustrine resources and fishing opportunities attracted prehistoric groups to the ancient lake. How prehistoric groups organized themselves and utilized lakeshore and nearby resources offer opportunities to explore the subsistence and mobility ...

The Impact Of The Medieval Climatic Anomaly On The Archaeology At Edwards Air Force Base, Jessica Amanda Porter-Rodriguez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

A series of severe and prolonged droughts occurred throughout the Northern Hemisphere between approximately 1150 BP to 600 BP. This phenomenon is referred to as the Medieval Climatic Anomaly and has been shown to have differentially impacted various regions of the world. Previous studies have suggested causal links between the Medieval Climatic Anomaly and observed culture change.

The goal of this study was to examine the Antelope Valley region of the Mojave Desert for evidence of impacts on human populations related to the Medieval Climatic Anomaly. To achieve this goal, a sample selection of archaeological sites was chosen from lands ...

Investigation Into The Suspected Late Holocene Decline In Obsidian Use At Sites On Edwards Air Force Base, Richard Gerard Bark

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Archaeological investigations at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) have been ongoing for more than 40 years. Yet the findings from the vast majority of those efforts are available only as grey literature that is known only to a relative few. The primary purpose of this thesis was to investigate a late Holocene decline in obsidian frequency reported by researchers working in the Bissell Basin and Rosamond Dry Lake region of Edwards AFB near the turn of the 21^st century. A secondary purpose of this thesis was to shine a light on an area of the western Mojave Desert that ...

Characterizing Muscupiabit (Ca-Sbr-425/H) And Its Place In The Greater Serrano Settlement System, Robert D. Grenda

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

First excavated in 1938, the site of Muscupiabit (CA-SBR-425/H) has long been a subject of archaeological research in the San Bernardino Mountains. Previous excavations at the site have either been unpublished or limited in scope. A primary goal was to obtain a radiocarbon date for the site, giving a definitive age to the site. Other goals included determining the population size of Muscupiabit as well as the function of the site and its place in the Serrano settlement system.

To obtain dateable material, an excavation was conducted in hopes of locating a thermal feature. An intact thermal feature was ...

Correlating Ethnographic Data With Spatial Analysis Of Archaeological Sites: A Case Study From Ca-Ora-507 And The Aliso Creek Region, Matthew V. Stever

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Ethnographers in the early 20th century compiled notes and published reports and books concerning the cultures and life-ways of the California Indians. Among these are the Juaneño (Acjachemen) and Gabrielino (Tongva) peoples.

This study aimed to correlate ethnographic data with methods of spatial archaeology and GIS analysis to test if the privately owned resource collecting areas and tribal boundaries described in the ethnographies could be seen archaeologically. Centered on CA-ORA-507 (an ancient chert quarry), the study shows that the boundaries between these resource areas are culturally derived as well as a part of the greater pattern of sites on the ...

Seeing The Forest And The Trees: Tracing Fuel Use And Landscape Change On The Eastern Pequot Reservation 1740-1850, Kalila Herring

Graduate Masters Theses

Gathering fuel wood was a regular chore for most people throughout time and certainly was a part of life for people living in 18th- and 19th-century Connecticut. During this period, the landscape was being altered due to rapidly expanding agriculture and, by circa 1850, would be at the peak of deforestation. During this period, the Eastern Pequot, a Native American nation in North Stonington, were living on their reservation (established in 1683) in a colonial environment and dealing with timber theft, a reduced land base, overseer control, and the overall environmental changes occurring in Connecticut. This thesis examines the charred ...

Smoking As A Form Of Persistence In A Christian Nipmuc Community, Jessica Ann Rymer

Graduate Masters Theses

The goal of this thesis is to determine the role that smoking played in the gatherings taking place at the Sarah Burnee/Sarah Boston farmstead and what its presence meant for the Nipmuc who gathered there. Previous work has firmly established that the farmstead functioned as a site of communal feasting for the Hassanamesco Nipmuc using ceramic and faunal evidence, and Heather Law in her 2008 thesis suggested that the site may have operated as an “informal tavern” based on her analysis of the glass assemblage. In all of these studies clay tobacco pipe fragments were utilized for stem bore ...

In Situ 2017: University Of Pennsylvania Undergraduate Research Journal, Samantha Sharon Ashok, Ivana Kohut, Jessie Lu, Emma Mcnamara, Arielle Mae Pierson

In Situ

No abstract provided.

If Pits Could Talk: An Analysis Of Features From The Figura Site (Aghk-52), Kelly Gostick

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis examines the features and spatial patterning of features across the Figura site (AgHk-52), a Late Woodland, Younge Phase Western Basin site, dating to the 13^th century AD. The features from this site were analyzed to gain insight into these unique contexts and how they can, in turn, advance our understanding of life at the Figura site. Given the clean and ordered settlement pattern of the site, the spatial relationships of features to other settlement patterns – such as residential and non-residential areas, inside and outside the palisade – could be analyzed. The site was divided into defined residential and ...

Rocks And Residues: Rekindling The Past Microscopy Of Flint Flakes, Sean Deryck, Bruce Hardy

Bruce Hardy

Exactly when and where humans gained control over fire has been an archaeological dispute for years. What is undisputed is how profound of an impact this discovery had on human evolution, influencing everything about how people lived. It provided protection and warmth, allowed for cooking, and likely changed social structures as a whole. Determining when this milestone was reached, and thus how exactly it impacted our past, requires a way to discern if fires were started incidentally, or opportunistically controlled. This can be done by examining the tools that would have been used to make the fires: strike-a-lights, or pieces ...

Supplementing Maize Agriculture In Basketmaker Ii Subsistence: Dietary Analysis Of Human Paleofeces From Turkey Pen Ruin (42sa3714), Jenna M. Battillo

Anthropology Theses and Dissertations

This research explores the factors that motivated increasing reliance on maize during the Basketmaker II period in the North American Southwest. Through the analysis of 44 human paleofeces from Turkey Pen Ruin, Utah, I investigate resource choice and nutritional supplementation of maize before the advent of bean horticulture. In order to discern what resources provided caloric and nutritional supplementation to maize, all paleofecal specimens were analyzed for pollen and macrofossil content, and 20 were further sampled for PCR analysis targeted at several select animal and plant species. Eight paleofecal specimens from various stratigraphic layers were directly AMS dated in order ...

Bivalve Stories And Snail Tales: Reconstructing The Late Archaic Environment At The Tomoka Complex, Northeast Florida, Steven R. England

Kentucky Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Mollusks inhabit specific ecological niches and can be used as proxies for past environmental conditions. Changes in the composition of molluscan assemblages register changing ecological conditions and offer an opportunity to examine human responses to environmental change. This paper presents the preliminary analysis molluscan species from the Late Archaic Tomoka Complex in Northeast Florida. Changes in the species composition and frequency of mollusks coupled with the available radiometric assays are used to reconstruct the environmental conditions during the occupation of the Tomoka Complex and, importantly, the environmental conditions attending Late Archaic mortuary mound construction.

Geochemical Sourcing Of The Laprele Mammoth Kill Site, Meghan M. Kent 7606010

Honors Theses AY 16/17

Red ochre pigment, or the mineral hematite, is commonly recovered from Early Paleoindian sites in the American west. Although it is clear that early peoples in the New World were transporting pigments from place to place, the inability to date to determine ochre provenance has limited our understanding of the natural sources of ochre that were in use, as well as the distances over which ochre was transported. This work is a pilot study in sourcing of ochre from the La Prele Mammoth site, a 12,900 year old human occupation in Converse County, Wyoming. Excavations at this mammoth kill ...

European Bog Bodies: From The Iron Age Peat Bog To The 21st Century, Samantha E. Brown

Honors Theses AY 16/17

Well preserved bodies dating from the prehistoric era to the 19^th century have been found across northwestern Europe; specifically, in the peat bogs of Ireland, Great Britain and Denmark. These discoveries were especially prevalent in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries when mass peat extraction was at its height. Many of these finds have been dated to the Iron Age and have previously been attributed to patterns of ritual violence. This paper focuses on three finds from the Iron Age: Graubelle man, Tollund man, and the Weerdinge couple.

This project intends to exhibit the types of ...

The Anthropocene, Overview, Scott W. Schwartz

Open Educational Resources

This presentation offers an overview of the developing concept of The Anthropocene -- a term coined to describe our current geological epoch, in which human impact on the planet will leave a permanent trace.

Forget-Me-Not: American Consumerism And Its Impact On Philadelphia Gravestones, 1800-1930, Melissa A. Elgendy

School of Arts & Sciences Theses

This thesis investigates the relationship between the growing consumer ideology brought about by the American Industrial Revolution and changing gravestone characteristics in Philadelphia, PA between 1800-1930. Examining their connection uncovers how consumerism impacted individual’s sense of self and viewed their place in society, which are then reflected in material culture.

The Power Of Place: Colonization Of The Anglo-Saxon Landscape By Royal And Religious Ideologies, Samantha Leggett

Journal of Literary Onomastics

No abstract.