Archaeological Anthropology Commons^™

Paleopathology At The Shady Grove Site (22qu525): A Study Of Health In The Upper Yazoo Basin During The Middle Mississippian Period, Christopher Brady Davis

Master's Theses

The Mississippian Period (AD 1000-1539) is characterized by increasingly sedentary populations, mound building, ranked societies, and intensified agriculture. As agriculture spread throughout the Eastern Woodlands, it led to widespread health consequences, including poor nutrition and increased levels of infection. Also, environmental shifts during the Mississippian Period (AD 1000-1539) caused drier conditions, potentially leading to crop failures further exacerbating nutritional problems.

This thesis focuses on the health of the Shady Grove site in the Upper Yazoo Basin, a Middle to Late Mississippian medium sized mound center where an ossuary containing up to 100 individuals was excavated in 2010. Focusing only on …

Head And Shoulders Above The Rest: Birch-Bark Hats And Elite Status In Iron Age Europe, Cara Melissa Reeves

Theses and Dissertations

As competition between Celtic elites increased in Iron Age continental Europe (c. 800-25/15 BC), ornamentation of the head figured prominently in status displays across the Celtic world. Mortuary and iconographic contexts reveal that headgear made of both metal and organic materials marked elite status, but materials varied regionally by gender and age throughout the Iron Age. The purpose of this project was to capitalize on the rare opportunity provided by birch-bark hats from west-central European elite burials to investigate organic headgear and the possibility that different types of headgear may have marked different social positions within the elite class. Birch-bark …

You Are What You Eat: Gastronomy And Geography Of Southern Spain, Katherine F. Perry

Honors Theses

Using empirical and numeric data, this study explores the use of food as a proxy to understand the cultural-historical geography of southern Spain. After spending three months in Granada, Spain, I compiled the most commonly used thirty-five ingredients from a selection of Spanish cookbooks and contextualized them within the broader history of Spain. The elements of traditional Andalucían cooking fit into three primary chapters of Iberian history: Roman occupation, the Moorish invasion beginning in the 8^th century, and the Columbian exchange, or the exchange of goods that took place between the Americas and Old World following European discovery of …

The Influence Of Iron On Arctic Thule Migration Patterns, Alina T. Aquino

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Arctic scholars have yet to fully understand the reasons behind the migration of Thule culture from the western to the eastern Arctic. This rapid movement across such a vast area into environmentally diverse regions marks a critical period of cultural change that is usually summarized by two theoretical positions. Ecological theories postulated environmental changes placed selective pressures on traditional food sources that required Thule hunters to follow migrating prey. Theories that focused on material acquisition alternately proposed the Thule followed the trail of meteoric iron eastward into northwestern Greenland.

This research sought to examine the eastward Thule migration from another …

A Comparative Faunal Analysis Of British Military Contexts At Brimstone Hill Fortress, St. Kitts, West Indies, Callie Roller Bennett

Masters Theses

The Caribbean island of St. Kitts was one of the wealthiest colonies in the British Empire during the late 17^th through early 19^th centuries because of its production and export of sugar. The British sought to defend the island from foreign invaders by building a large military fortification on the island called Brimstone Hill Fortress. Built beginning in 1690, the fort was home to a community of enslaved Africans, British army officers, British Royal Engineers, and enlisted soldiers up until its abandonment in the mid 1800s. To feed such a diverse workforce, the British military utilized imported provisions …

The Painted Motifs Of Cypriot Ceramic Art: A Study Of Iconography & Identity, Paige Bockman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The aim of this master’s thesis is to explore the iconography of Chalcolithic (c. 3900-2300 cal. BC) Cyprus using ceramic motifs and identify their potential use in revealing differences between the cultural identity present at archaeological sites, as well as the possible causes of such variation. By exploring the existence and origins of subtle differences between the iconographic repertoires of related sites, the study seeks a better understanding of the movement of both ideas and symbols, and how the meaning of symbols developed within the context of a site.

Currently, Cypriot Chalcolithic sites are believed to be largely homogeneous in …

The Taphonomic Factors On Human Remains Inside Chullpas: Marcajirca, Peru, Samantha Lauren Lininger

Masters Theses

This study explored the taphonomic factors that contributed to the preservation of human skeletal remains inside ancient above-ground tomb in Marcajirca, Peru. This study incorporated one hundred and eighteen bones from three chullpas. Five taphonomic factors were examined: bone type, plant activity, root presence, weathering, and cultural factors. Surface layers inside each chullpa were analyzed using Geographic Information System (GIS) software. Chi-square tests were employed to investigate preservation and taphonomic factors. The results from the statistical tests indicated that there was a significant difference in the taphonomic factors on different bone types. Chullpa 6 was significant because it was unique …

A Localized Approach To The Origins Of Pottery In Upper Mesopotamia, Elizabeth Gibbon

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

The Projekti Arkeologjike I Shkodres (Pash): Combining Paleoenvironmental And Archaeological Data From A Balkan Lacustrine Landscape, The University Of Maine Anthropology Department

Cultural Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series

The Projekti Arkeolojike i Shkodres (PASH) conducted five years of interdiciplinary, diachronic field research (2010-2014) in the Northern Albanian region of Shkoder, targeting the plain and hills that ring Shkodra Lake. The project was designed to address changes in landscape, settlement, and land use, beginning in prehistory. Intensive archaeological survey of 16 square kilometers identified 15 sites of all periods, many of them multicomponent, and 175 prehistoric burial mounds. Four mounds and three sites were targeted for test excavations, allowing the beginnings of a regional absolute chronology. A program of geological coring is helping to clarify the varying size of …

Site 23ja275: Preliminary Report Of Investigations, June 15 - July 9, William Mcfarlane

Anthropology Papers and Presentations

During the summer of 2015 the Johnson County Community College Midwest Archaeological Field School conducted investigations at 23JA275. 23JA275 is located in southwestern Jackson County, Missouri along the bank of Longview Lake, which is part of the Little Blue River. Based on the presence of diagnostic lanceolate points, the site is associated with the Nebo Hill phase and dates to the Late Archaic. This report summarizes the scope of fieldwork and presents the preliminary findings of our efforts. Our results confirm that 23JA275 is a relatively large (15000 m2) seasonally occupied Late Archaic residential camp. Although significant bioturbation has occurred, …

Archeological Investigation At Yanaguana Garden In Hemisfair Park, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, Ross C. Fields, Aaron R. Norment, Amy E. Dase

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

This report describes archeological efforts done under six work orders for the development of Yanaguana Garden at HemisFair Park in downtown San Antonio, Texas. All of the projects were done by Prewitt and Associates, Inc. (PAI), for Adams Environmental, Inc. (AEI), and the City of San Antonio, Transportation and Capital Improvements (CoSA-TCI), under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 6846 (issued April 14, 2014). As described below, the Yanaguana Garden project is the first phase of a planned redevelopment of HemisFair Park for mixed-use purposes. Planning for how to deal with cultural resources during this redevelopment began in 2012 when PAI prepared …

A Wampum Belt Sent To Edward Jenner, M.D., Marshall Joseph Becker

Anthropology & Sociology Faculty Publications

Following a program of vaccination for several First Nations peoples, representatives of these Five Nations tribes met with officials at Fort George, Upper Canada in 1807 to present formal thanks to Edward Jenner. These elders also wished to send to Jenner a belt of wampum and a string of wampum as a gift, in return for his gift of vaccination. Information regarding the possible configuration of that belt, and the ultimate disposition of these two examples of wampum, provide insights into examples of these Native American items that may still survive in European collections.

Issue 67, Autumn 2015, Society Of Bead Researchers

The Bead Forum: Newsletter of the Society of Bead Researchers

The Bead that Gives Its Power to Priests in Dogon Country, by Tonia Marek • The Glass Bead Sequences at Mapela Hill, Zimbabwe: A Preliminary Report, by Rina Faria • Borneo International Beads Conference 2015, by Deborah Zinn • The Omphalos of Delphi, by Karlis Karklins.

Bulletin Of The Massachusetts Archaeological Society, Vol. 76, No. 2, Massachusetts Archaeological Society

Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society

• The Boats Site Collection Returns to the East (Grace Bello)
• A Glacial Erratic “Quarry Boulder” on Martha’s Vineyard (William E. Moody)
• Changes in the Social, Symbolic and Economic Uses of Wampum in Southern New England as a Result of European Contact (Emily Rux)
• The Westford Pseudo-Knight (Jeffrey Max Henry)

Project 400: The Plymouth Colony Archaeological Survey, Report On The 2014 Field Season, Burial Hill Plymouth, Massachusetts, Christa M. Beranek, Justin A. Warrenfeltz, Richie Roy, David B. Landon, Alexandra Crowder, Katie Wagner

Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research Publications

In May and June of 2014, a field school from the University of Massachusetts Boston, in partnership with Plimoth Plantation, undertook a second season of work in Plymouth, Massachusetts, as part of Project 400: The Plymouth Colony Archaeological Survey, a site survey and excavation program leading up to the 400th anniversary of New England’s first permanent English settlement in 1620, the founding of Plymouth Colony. This work was conducted under permit #3384 from the State Archaeologist’s office at the Massachusetts Historical Commission. The 2014 work focused on the eastern edge of Burial Hill along School Street in downtown Plymouth and …

The Archaeology Of Hassanamesit Woods: The Sarah Burnee/Sarah Boston Farmstead, Stephen Mrozowski, Heather Law Pezzarossi, Dennis Piechota, Heather Trigg, John M. Steinberg, Guido Pezzarossi, Joseph Bagley, Jessica Rymer, Jerry Warner

Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research Publications

Between 2003 and 2013 the Fiske Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Massachusetts Boston conducted an intensive investigation of the Sarah Burnee/Sarah Boston Farmstead on Keith Hill in Grafton, Massachusetts. The project employed a collaborative method that involved working closely with the Town of Grafton, through the Hassanmesit Woods Management Committee, and the Nipmuc Nation, the state recognized government of the Nipmuc people. Yearly excavation and research plans were decided through consultation with both the Nipmuc Tribal Council, their designated representative, Dr. D. Rae Gould, and the Hassanamesit Woods Management Committee. Dr. Gould also played a continuous and …

Situating The Pot And Potter: Ceramic Production And Use At The Silvercreek Sites, Two Early-Late Woodland Sites In Elgin County, Ontario, Katelyn E. Mather

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study examines the pottery from two archaeological sites that date to the beginning of the early Late Woodland period. In order to understand the production and use of ceramic vessels at the sites, a wide range of ceramic attributes are recorded and analyzed. A second component of the research is to understand the settlement patterns at the site, in order to determine how space was organized at the sites. Through these analyses, I situate these sites within the wider context of southwestern Ontario in the 11^th century A.D. I adopt a ‘communities of practice’ approach, and conclude that …

Practice Makes Projectiles: Genesse Biface Technology In Southern Ontario, Kaitlyn C.M. Malleau

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this study I investigate the lithic technology practice communities of what is now southwestern Ontario between 3800 and 3400 B.P., the latter part of the period dubbed “the Broad Point Archaic.” I seek to propose historical processes by which Genesee bifaces might have entered Ontario, and how they were used by past First Nations peoples. I observe both the form (using qualitative and metric traits) and use-wear (using macroscopic diagnostic impact fractures) of Genesee bifaces from seven sites located in southwestern Ontario: Davidson, Sadler, Desjardins, Parkhill, Brodie, R&K, and Hamilton Golf Course. The evidence suggests Genesee bifaces were used …

Prehistoric Drawings In Mammoth Cave, Logan Kistler

Kaleidoscope

During a recent Earthwatch Institute survey of archaeological remains in Mammoth Cave, a project was begun to find and record prehistoric images on the cave walls. I chose to analyze petroglyphs and pictographs on three panels in Main Cave. This article offers a hypothesis for the circumstances surrounding the rock art’s production: the geometric and anthropomorphic figures in Mammoth Cave are representative of a series of visual percepts experienced cross-culturally and caused by various conditions — including sensory deprivation, fatigue, and psychoactive drug use — acting on the ocular anatomy and nervous system. That is, the glyphs might be visual …

Ritual Economy And Craft Production In Small-Scale Societies: Evidence From Microwear Analysis Of Hopewell Bladelets, Logan Miller

Faculty Publications—Sociology and Anthropology

Ritual economy provides a powerful framework for examining aspects of the organization of craft production, especially in the absence of a strong, centralized political economy. This paper outlines the basic tenants of ritual economy and describes how this framework can expand the understanding of the organization of production in small scale societies. I apply these concepts in a case study based largely on microwear analysis of Hopewell bladelets from the Fort Ancient earthworks in southwest Ohio. Microwear analysis from many different localities excavated within and near the earthworks demonstrates that craft production was an important activity conducted using bladelets. Each …