Archaeological Anthropology Commons^™

Lessons Learned From Educational Research Of A National Science Foundation Research Experiences For Undergraduates, Carol E. Colaninno, John H. Chick, Matthew Feldmann

Journal of Archaeology and Education

Participation in an archaeological field school is the entry point to a professional career in the discipline. Despite the importance of field schools, few scholars have investigated achieved student-learning outcomes or lasting impacts on students from participation in archaeological field research. We report on the educational design, learning objectives, and results of three years of formative and summative assessments for an interdisciplinary, archaeology and ecology research program for undergraduate students. Our learning objectives include promoting scientific literacy and communication, critical thinking and STEM skills, and capacities in archaeological and ecological interdisciplinarity. Using developed rubrics that account for both critical thinking …

The Rhetorical Functions Of Levantine Burial Practices During The Chalcolithic Period: Form, Function, And Symbolism As A Pedagogical Tool, Moline Mallamo

Honors Theses

This undergraduate honors thesis project explores the rhetorical implications of burial practices from the southern Levant during the Chalcolithic period. The purpose of this thesis is to expound upon research that has already been conducted in order to offer additional, and sometimes alternative, theories to what currently exists in the literature. I argue that the forms and functions of the burial techniques were used, at least partially, as “tools” to teach cultural and religious beliefs regarding life, death, and the afterlife to the individuals in the community. The inferred relationship between the materiality and symbology of these burial practices provides …

Moche Juvenile Burial Patterns, Audrey J. Deluca

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis examines Moche juvenile burial patterns as documented in the published literature. Reports of cemeteries and other burial excavations were compiled in order to identify the position of children in Moche society as well as ideology surrounding children and childhood. The data collected spans six valleys and fourteen archaeological sites along the north coast of Peru. This investigation revealed 191 juvenile burials dating from A.D. 200 – 850. The variables documented for each burial include site, period, age, sex, burial position, orientation, burial encasing, and description of grave goods, as well as documenting adult individuals buried with juveniles. This …

Reflecting On Pasuc Heritage Initiatives Through Time, Positionality, And Place, Scott R. Hutson, Céline Lamb, Daniel Vallejo-Cáliz, Jacob Welch

Anthropology Faculty Publications

This paper reports on heritage initiatives associated with a 12-year-long archaeology project in Yucatan, Mexico. Our work has involved both surprises and setbacks and in the spirit of adding to the repository of useful knowledge, we present these in a frank and transparent manner. Our findings are significant for a number of reasons. First, we show that the possibilities available to a heritage project facilitated by archaeologists depend not just on the form and focus of other stakeholders, but on the gender, sexuality, and class position of the archaeologists. Second, we provide a ground-level view of what approaches work well …

Anthropology 240 Essentials Of Archaeology, Timothy Pugh

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Fort Ancient And Woodland Pottery From The Hahn Site, Hamilton County, Ohio: A Petrographic Analysis Of Chronological Changes In Ceramic Temper, Shelby C. Lutz

Honor Scholar Theses

Thousands of pottery sherds have been excavated by the Cincinnati Museum Center from the Hahn Site (Ohio Archaeological Site #33HA10), located near Newtown, Ohio. These potsherds, created by Native Americans, show a variety of temper materials, including fragments of limestone, shell, grog, and rock debris from glacial outwash. To better understand changes in the pottery-making technique, transitions and advancements in temper material, and possible economic and trade indicators, ceramic petrography and geochemical analyses were used to determine temper variability. A single archaeological feature from the site was chosen as a case study, Feature 146. This feature is a depression that …

Cultural And Reproductive Success And The Causes Of War: A Yanomamö Perspective, Raymond B. Hames

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Inter-group competition including warfare is posited to be a key force in human evolution (Alexander, 1990; Choi & Bowles, 2007; Wrangham, 1999). Chagnon's research on the Yanomamö is seminal to understanding warfare in the types of societies characteristic of human evolutionary history. Chagnon's empirical analyses of the hypothesis that competition for status or cultural success is linked to reproduction (Irons, 1979) and warfare attracted considerable controversy. Potential causal factors include “blood revenge”, mate competition, resource shortages or inequality, and peace-making institutions (Boehm, 1984; Keeley's (1997); Meggitt, 1977; Wiessner and Pupu, 2012; Wrangham et al., 2006). Here we highlight Chagnon's contributions …

The Temporal Relevance Of Scraping And Polishing Of Trincheras Pottery Sherds In The Alter Valley, Sonora, México, Eta Pastreich

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis focuses on the classification of Trincheras plainware pottery. Trincheras plainware ceramics classifications and their applications have been reexamined in recent years due to an expansion of research. My participation in laboratory research of recently excavated Trincheras pottery was conducted during the 2018 field season of Proyecto Tradicíon Trincheras- in Sonora, México. This project was led by Randall McGuire and Elisa Villalpando. I organized two preliminary studies on ceramics from the Sonoran sites of La Potranca (SON:F:2:4) and San Martin (SON:F:2:82). This paper attempts to illustrate the chronological and typological relevance of scraping and polishing, and the significance of …

A Review Of The Mandible, Emily Hill

Anthropology Department Scholars Week

A Review of The Mandible by Emily Hill

The mandible is one of the 22 bones in the human skull. This paper aims to encapsulate the basic features of the human mandible while also addressing the evolution and morphological mandibular variation between mammals. It also aims to address the role that anthropology and all its sub-disciplines has played in the exploitation and erasure of Indigenous peoples. There must be a significant push to decolonize the field of osteology. The mandible is useful for forensic applications such as post-mortem identification. In a rapidly expanding technological world, new ways of studying the …

Colonialism In Perspective: A Comparative Bioarchaeological Study Of Quality Of Life Before And During Roman Conquest, Meredith M. Amato

Student Publications

This paper analyzes the current bioarchaeological data that has been gathered from populations that lived before and in the midst of the Roman Empire. Case studies are taken from multiple areas within the boundaries of the empire, including Italy itself, Britain, Gaul (what is today known as France), Spain, North Africa, and the Near East. Geography and other factors make each individual’s experience of colonialism different, and the data that can be taken from human remains shows that colonialism was an unequal system that cannot be given a single, strict definition.

The Dead Actually Tell Many Tales: How Archaeologists Have Used Scientific Analysis To Study Scandinavian Burials, Claire F. Benstead

Student Publications

Archaeologists often employ techniques from scientific fields to better analyze historical and prehistorical sites. Here we explore how developments in scientific analysis have changed and improved our understanding of past societies. With a specific focus on the study of Scandinavian burials, we review the history of Scandinavian archaeology and how the field is constantly changing as a result of new and more nuanced analysis. From the Bronze Age to the Viking Age, we analyze how new information challenges previous assumptions about Scandinavian societies.

Idaho First: How Archaeological Discoveries On The Lower Salmon River Change Our Perspectives On The Peopling Of The Americas (Slides), Loren Davis

The Idea of Nature Public Lecture Series

Who were the First Idahoans? Archaeological research at the Cooper’s Ferry site on the Lower Salmon River indicates that Western Stemmed Tradition people were living in the Columbia River basin between 16,560 and 15,280 years ago until about 13,000 years ago. This exciting discovery is strong evidence for the deep antiquity of human entry into North America during the late Ice Age: a time that horses and other charismatic megafauna roamed Idaho. The First Idahoans arrived before the opening of an ice-free corridor, which favors the hypothesis of boat-supported migration from the Bering Strait down the Pacific coast.

Compositional Analysis By Pxrf Of Obsidian Artifacts From Picuris Pueblo (Ta-111) In Taos County, New Mexico, Matthew Boulanger

Anthropology Research

No abstract provided.

Macro And Microscopic Lithic Analysis Of The Pinto Basin Site Ca-Riv-52 Collection, Bernardo Alexander Renteria Iv

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands, California holds the Pinto Basin archaeological collection. The Pinto Basin assemblage is a legacy collection for the Pinto point and related point types in the Mojave. The collection contains many artifacts including projectile points, drills, knives, manos, pestles, metates, hammerstones, and scrapers originally collected from the Mojave Desert during the late 1920’s. This thesis research investigates the morphological characteristics of a sub-sample of chipped stone lithics by examining and comparing the metric elements of chipped stone lithics in relation to previously reported projectile point types. Lithics originate from the southern extent of Joshua …

Egyptian Textiles And Their Production: ‘Word’ And ‘Object’, Maria Mossakowska-Gaubert

Zea E-Books Collection

This volume presents the results of a workshop that took place on 24 November 2017 at the Centre for Textile Research (CTR), University of Copenhagen. The event was organised within the framework of the MONTEX project—a Marie Skłodowska-Curie individual fellowship conducted by Maria Mossakowska-Gaubert in collaboration with the Contextes et Mobiliers programme of the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in Cairo (IFAO), and with support from the Institut français du Danemark and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Twelve essays are arranged in 4 sections: I. Weaving looms: texts, images, remains; II. Technology of weaving: study cases; III. Dyeing: terminology and …

Conch Calls Into The Anthropocene: Pututus As Instruments Of Human-Environmental Relations At Monumental ChavíN, Miriam A. Kolar

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Pututus, conch shell musical horns, are known in the Andes as annunciatory devices enabling their players to call across long distances. Beyond their iconic call, the sonic and gestural versatility possible in pututu performance constitutes dynamical evidence for prehistorical uses and site-specific cultural valuations of these multifaceted ritual instruments. Pututus appear in drawings created during the Spanish conquest and colonization of the Andes, and intact shell horns have been excavated from monumental architecture in Perú preceding the Inca by more than two millennia. At the late Andean Formative center at Chavín de Huántar, Perú, a well-preserved ceremonial complex active …

Impacts Of Invasive Rats On Hawaiian Cave Resources, Francis G. Howarth, Fred D. Stone

International Journal of Speleology

Although there are no published studies and limited data documenting damage by rodents in Hawaiian caves, our incidental observations during more than 40 years of surveying caves indicate that introduced rodents, especially the roof rat, Rattus rattus, pose significant threats to vulnerable cave resources. Caves, with their nearly constant and predictable physical environment often house important natural and cultural features including biological, paleontological, geological, climatic, mineralogical, cultural, and archaeological resources. All four invasive rodents in Hawai‘i commonly nest in cave entrances and rock shelters, but only the roof rat (Rattus rattus) habitually enters caves and utilizes areas …

Aggregates, Formational Emergence, And The Focus On Practice In Stone Artifact Archaeology, Zeljko Rezek, Simon J. Holdaway, Deborah I. Olszewski, Sam C. Lin, Matthew J. Douglass, Shannon P. Mcpherron, Radu Iovita, David R. Braun, Dennis Sandgathe

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

The stone artifact record has been one of the major grounds for investigating our evolution. With the predominant focus on their morphological attributes and technological aspects of manufacture, stone artifacts and their assemblages have been analyzed as explicit measures of past behaviors, adaptations, and population histories. This analytical focus on technological andmorphological appearance is one of the characteristics of the conventional approach for constructing inferences from this record. An equally persistent routine involves ascribing the emerged patterns and variability within the archaeological deposits directly to long-term central tendencies in human actions and cultural transmission. Here we re-evaluate this conventional approach. …

The Rise And Fall Of A Parallel-Walled Structure: Assessing The Site Sequence At Pachamta, Teresa Raczek, Prabodh Shirvalkar, Esha Prasad, Lalit Pandey

Faculty and Research Publications

In this article, we investigate the chronology of a large parallel-walled mudbrick structure at the site of Pachamta in Rajasthan, India. Pachamta is larger than the contemporaneous Harappan site of Kalibangan and part of a society collectively known as the Ahar Culture. Recent excavations at Pachamta provided an opportunity to elaborate on the available dates for this society and to investigate the chronology of an enigmatic parallel-walled structure. The chronology and function of such prominent structures remains murky, although scholars have suggested that these buildings served as public storage because they resemble the granary at Harappa. Through excavation, our team …

Teaching Archaeology With Inclusive Pedagogy, Maxine H. Oland

Journal of Archaeology and Education

Introductory archaeology courses are attractive general education offerings at many colleges and universities, and teach students about human diversity in the past and present. Yet many professors struggle to manage the tremendous diversity within the classroom. This article incorporates inclusive pedagogy models, particularly Universal Design for Learning and Teaching Across Cultural Strengths, to propose an inclusive model of education in archaeology classes. An emphasis is placed on large introductory lecture classes, where many students are exposed to academic archaeology for the first time.