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Protected: Arsenic And Old Pelts: Deadly Pesticides In Museum Collections, Alice B. Kehoe, Marshall Joseph Becker

Anthropology & Sociology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Common Goods In Uncommon Times: Water, Droughts, And The Sustainability Of Ancestral Pueblo Communities In The Jemez Mountains, New Mexico, Ad 1100-1700, Michael Aiuvalasit

Anthropology Theses and Dissertations

Adapting our infrastructure and institutions to climate change is a crucial dilemma for modern society. Archaeologists should be well positioned to address this issue with examples from the past. Yet, too often when we find that cultural changes are synchronous with climate variation, such as abandonment of a region during a drought, we advance causal arguments to what may merely be correlations. I argue that identifying proxies for resource management in the archaeological record, particularly for resources managed by collective action and vulnerable to climate change, can help to address this problem. To test this approach I studied water management …

Cosmology Performed, The World Transformed: Mimesis And The Logical Operations Of Nature And Culture In Myth In Amazonia And Beyond, Deon Liebenberg

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

By analyzing myths from around the world to build an argument regarding the relation between cosmology and community, Amazonian myths are set within a broader set of mythic imageries. Lévi-Strauss showed how a structural description of myth should fully incorporate the entire set of variant arrangements through which its elements or terms could be related to one another. Despite the criticism to which his approach has been subject, the notion that certain kinds of logical operations could be gleaned in the organization of myth continues to yield valuable insights. In this paper, I contend that the mimetic representation of empirically …

Biological Distance Between Flexed And Supine Burials At The Ancient Greek City Of Himera Using Dental Nonmetric Data, Jessica Czapla

Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal at the University of Northern Colorado

We investigate potential differences in genetic relatedness of flexed and supine burials from Himera, a Greek colony on Sicily (648-409 BCE), using biodistance analysis of nonmetric dental traits to explore whether locals adopted Greek burial styles, Greek and local customs hybridized, and/or each group maintained distinct burial styles. In other contexts, supine burials have been associated with Greeks, and flexed burials have been interpreted as representing indigenous individuals. Thus, we hypothesize that supine burials will be more closely related to Greeks from Euboea (indirect founders of Himera) and flexed burials will be genetically distinct, possibly representing locals. To test our …

The Small But Healthy Hypothesis: Evidence Of Skeletal Stress And Adaptation In Himera, Sicily, Tessa Smith

Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal at the University of Northern Colorado

Physical anthropologists are interested in the concept of health in skeletal populations because it helps interpret past human behavior and biological adaptations. Since health is difficult to assess, we use markers of physiological stress in skeletal remains as a proxy for health. Generally, skeletons with more markers of physiological stress (paleopathology) and shorter stature (stunted individuals) are interpreted as being less “healthy.” However, some argue that being shorter does not automatically imply poor health. This study will test the “small but healthy” hypothesis by analyzing a sample size of 14 individuals from Himera, Sicily (six females and eight males) that …

Prismatic Blade Production In The Lower Cacaulapa Valley, Honduras: Implications For A Late Classic Political Economy, William J. Mcfarlane, Edward M. Schortman

Anthropology Papers and Presentations

Investigations of ancient political economies frequently focus on craft production. How manufacturing is organized can provide critical insights on more than the economy because social interactions and political processes are also involved. Here we consider how the acquisition, fabrication, and distribution of obsidian blades figured in the political strategies of craftworkers and elites within the Late Classic (AD 600–800) lower Cacaulapa Valley, northwestern Honduras. This evidence provides insights into the organization of craft manufacture across southeastern Mesoamerica and suggests that current models do not capture the varied production strategies that may be pursued within the same polity.

Las investigaciones sobre …

Corncobs In The Campfire: Evidence Of Cultivation Of Zea Mays At 44ch62, The Randy K Wade Site, Olivia A. Mehalko, Cameron E. Reuss

Undergraduate Publications

In 20 years of excavation, the Randy K. Wade site (44CH62) has only produced indirect evidence of the cultivation of corn (Zea mays) in the Late Woodland village. This indirect evidence consists primarily of corncob impressions on Dan River pottery. In the summer of 2017, an intact hearth was excavated which contained the preserved remains of multiple charred corncobs- the first direct evidence of corn. The hearth also contained remains of other organic materials such as charred corn kernels, bark, sticks, bone fragments, and acorns. This paper will examine the direct evidence for corn cultivation at the Wade site and …

Seeing Prehistory Through New Lenses: Using Geophysical And Statistical Analysis To Identify Fresh Perspectives Of A 15th Century Mandan Occupation, Amber Marie Mitchum

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Great Plains prehistoric research has evolved over the course of a century, with many sites like Huff Village (32MO11) in North Dakota recently coming back to the forefront of discussion through new technological applications. Through a majority of its studies and excavations, Huff Village appeared to endure as the final stage in the Middle Missouri tradition. Long thought to reflect only systematically placed long-rectangular structure types of its Middle Missouri predecessors, recent magnetic gradiometry and topographic mapping data revealed circular structure types that deviated from long-held traditions, highlighting new associations with Coalescent groups. A compact system for food capacity was …

Facing The Sun, Frank Prendergast, Muiris O'Sullivan, Ken Williams, Gabriel Cooney

Articles

December 2017 marked 50 years since archaeologist Michael J. O’Kelly first observed the solar illumination of the burial chamber in the Neolithic passage tomb at Newgrange during the period of the winter solstice. O’Kelly subsequently recorded direct sunlight entering Newgrange through the ‘especially contrived slit which lies under the roof-box at the outer end of the passage roof’ on 21 December 1969. The discovery of this historic phenomenon, dating back over 5,000 years, captured the public interest and imagination at that time and ever since. In this major article published in the Winter 2017 edition of Archaeology Ireland (date of …

A Microdebitage Analysis Of The Winterville Mounds Site (22ws500), Stephanie Leigh-Ann Guest

Master's Theses

The Winterville Mounds site (22WS500) was a civic ceremonial center of 23 mounds and is located near Greenville in northwest Mississippi. Winterville excavations as field schools are ongoing since 2005 under the direction of Dr. H. Edwin Jackson of The University of Southern Mississippi. Examination of the >1/4" (6.35 mm) mesh screened lithic material provided mixed results of reduction stages and lacked variety of non-local materials (Guest 2006, Winter 2009, McClendon 2012). Authors of these analyses called for the examination of the 1/16” (1.58 mm) water-screened lithic material to identify reduction stages and traces of non-local materials to provide evidence …

Archaeological Overview & Assessment Pullman National Historical Monument, Timothy Scarlett, Steven A. Walton

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The Archaeological Overview and Assessment (Archaeological O&A, or simply O&A) is a Baseline Research Report within the National Park Service's Culture Resource Management system. This report presents basic research results intended to help support planning regarding and management of park cultural resources, as well as supporting interpretive programming. The National Park Service defines an Archaeological O&A as a report which "describes and assesses the known and potential archaeological resources in a park area. The overview reviews and summarizes existing archaeological data; the assessment evaluates the data. The report assesses past work and helps determine the need for and design of …

Human Dispersal From Siberia To Beringia: Assessing A Beringian Standstill In Light Of The Archaeological Evidence, Kelly E. Graf, Ian Buvit

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

With genetic studies showing unquestionable Asian origins of the first Americans, the Siberian and Beringian archaeological records are absolutely critical for understanding the initial dispersal of modern humans in the Western Hemisphere. The genetics-based Beringian Standstill Model posits a three-stage dispersal process and necessitates several expectations of the archaeological record of northeastern Asia. Here we present an overview of the Siberian and Beringian Upper Paleolithic records and discuss them in the context of a Beringian Standstill. We report that not every expectation of the model is met with archaeological data at hand.

Groundstone Analysis At The Rock Camp Site, Lacy Ann Padilla

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The use of mortar and pestles has long been associated with acorn processing in California. Based on ethnographic and archaeological evidence, groundstone was used to process a multitude of resources, including small mammals. Twenty groundstone artifacts recovered from the Rock Camp Site in the San Bernardino Mountains were analyzed for protein residues using the crossover immunological electrophoresis (CIEP) method. Using previously obtained data from the Summit Valley, a comparative analysis was done to determine if processing small mammals on groundstone was a common occurrence throughout the San Bernardino Mountain region.

Household Chipped Stone Technology At South Cape (23cg8): A Mississippian Hinterland Site In Southeast Missouri, Deseray L. Helton

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Mississippian archaeology is characterized by a longstanding bias towards studying large, mound-bearing sites as opposed to small hinterland sites. Although this bias has diminished in recent decades, research on hinterland sites is still relatively uncommon. This study helps correct that bias through an analysis of flaked stone technological organization at South-Cape (23CG8), a Mississippian hinterland site in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. A sample of flaked stone artifacts from two house features at the site was analyzed. The results indicate that residents at South Cape generally acquired and consumed higher quantities of local lithic raw material than of supra-local lithic raw material. …

Fire-Affected Rock In Inland Southern Californian Archaeology: An Investigation Into Diagnostic Utility, Shannon Renee Clarendon

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The post-firing variability of fire-affected rock (FAR) recovered from a stone-cooking platform within a prehistoric stone grill was examined. This examination tested the physical properties of FAR recovered from site CA-SBR-3773, located the Crowder Canyon Archaeological District in San Bernardino County, California. There is a lack of archaeological research in this area of Southern California; however, this project established a fundamental perspective of thermal feature reuse and episodes of firing activity for prehistoric cooking features by examining the physical changes FAR experienced due to various heat exposures. Regional archaeologists often encounter these features as they speckle the landscape of upland …

Mapping The Landscape For Archaeological Detection, Preservation, And Interpretation: A Case Study In High Resolution Location Modeling From The Blue Mountains Of Northeastern Oregon, Trent Skinner

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Archaeological location modeling (ALM) is an important tool in most survey strategies, and has contributed substantially to economizing efforts to locate and characterize the archaeological record. The increasing availability of high resolution (<3m) airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) data has the potential to refine the application and ultimately the role of ALM. This research tests the precision and accuracy gained by incorporating lidar derived data into an ALM. The site records and other environmental data used in this study were all generated over the last four decades by the resource specialists of the Malheur National Forest. The Weights-of-Evidence (WofE) probability method (Bonham-Carter 1994) was used to produce two ALMs; one based on a 10m digital elevation model (DEM) created from satellite imaging, and the second from a 3m resolution lidar derived DEM. Independent variables (e.g., slope, aspect, distance to water, etc.) commonly used in ALM were largely replaced by index variables (e.g., slope position classification, topographic wetness index, etc.). The final models were classified into areas of high, medium, and low archaeological potential, then cross-validated against a reserved random dataset. Models were then compared using the Kvamme gain statistic and site to area frequency ratio. The 3m model demonstrated a significant improvement over the results obtained from the 10m model and the current probability model used in the study area. A number of factors including model resolution, statistical methodology, and the character of the independent and dependent variables all contributed to the increase in precision and accuracy. The incremental improvement in modeling efficiency demonstrated here will create time and cost saving in the management and preservation of cultural resources, and ultimately contribute to a better understanding of patterns of past human land use.

Radiocarbon Test For Demographic Events In Written And Oral History, Kevan Edinborough, Marko Porčić, Andrew Martindale, Thomas J. Brown, Kisha Supernant, Kenneth M. Ames

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

We extend an established simulation-based method to test for significant short-duration (1–2 centuries) demographic events known from one documented historical and one oral historical context. Case study 1 extrapolates population data from the Western historical tradition using historically derived demographic data from the catastrophic European Black Death/bubonic plague (Yersinia pestis). We find a corresponding statistically significant drop in absolute population using an extended version of a previously published simulation method. Case study 2 uses this refined simulation method to test for a settlement gap identified in oral historical records of descendant Tsimshian First Nations communities from the Prince …

Examining Limestone Use At Byrd Hammock South (8wa30), Wakulla County, Fl, Lucie R. Berryhill

LSU Master's Theses

In this thesis, I examine the limestone deposits identified at Byrd Hammock South during the Summer 2015 excavations conducted by Louisiana State University (LSU) and Florida State University (FSU). The site under investigation is the Byrd Hammock site (8WA30) in Wakulla County, Florida. Byrd Hammock is a multi-component site located only four miles north of the Gulf Coast and is close to other Swift Creek sites including Block-Sterns (8LE484) and Harrison Ring (8BY1359) (Russo, Hadden, and Dengel 2009). Like several other sites or site complexes on the Florida panhandle, Byrd Hammock has two large burial mounds that were placed on …

P-04 Animation Of The Cultural Landscape Of Hisban And Vicinity In The Longue Duree, Oystein Labianca

Celebration of Research and Creative Scholarship

In today’s markets, archaeological publishing must include on-line presentation of findings using various technologies for rendering results, such as 3-D visualization and animation media. The goal of the present project is to build capacity here at the Institute of Archaeology in deployment of animation technologies for rendering of archaeological findings and narratives. To this end I have assembled a team of two graduate students with significant computer skills (Jared Wilson and Stanley Lebrun) and one undergraduate student (Paul Roschman) who will collaborate with me to animate, using Esri CityEngine software, the story of long-term change in the cultural landscape of …

Evaluating Causes Of Error In Landmark-Based Data Collection Using Scanners, Brian M. Shearer, Siobhan B. Cooke, Lauren B. Halenar, Samantha L. Reber, Jeannette E. Plummer, Eric Delson, Melissa Tallman

Publications and Research

In this study, we assess the precision, accuracy, and repeatability of craniodental landmarks (Types I, II, and III, plus curves of semilandmarks) on a single macaque cranium digitally reconstructed with three different surface scanners and a microCT scanner. Nine researchers with varying degrees of osteological and geometric morphometric knowledge landmarked ten iterations of each scan (40 total) to test the effects of scan quality, researcher experience, and landmark type on levels of intra- and interobserver error. Two researchers additionally landmarked ten specimens from seven different macaque species using the same landmark protocol to test the effects of the previously listed …

Human-Environment Interactions: Sea-Level Rise And Marine Resource Use At Eleanor Betty, An Underwater Maya Salt Work, Belize, Valerie Renae Feathers

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Dissertation excavations were performed in the spring of 2013 at the underwater site of Eleanor Betty in Paynes Creek National Park, Belize. The marine environment preserved wooden architecture associated with the salt works. Excavation goals included: 1) excavating and defining the boundaries of the submerged shell midden; 2) collecting sediment samples for paleoenvironmental analyses; and 3) recovering cultural remains to determine the site’s purpose (residence versus production workshop).

Four transects were added to the existing transect from excavations performed during the 2011 field season. The shell midden measured 5 meters in length (north-to-south throughout all transects) by 0.5-to-1 meters in …

A Real Rock Star, Mike James

Indian Head Rock Project

An article published in Ashland Daily Independent discussing the documentary film on the Indian Head Rock by Steve Middleton from November 2, 2017.

Gis Analysis Of Dvāravatī Dharmacakras And The Rise Of Buddhism In Thailand, Areerut Patnukao

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores how GIS as well as spatial and statistical analyses could be used to advance the understanding of Dvāravatī settlement and Dharmacakras locations. The research employs archaeological and geographical parameters to measure and quantify the patterns of Dvāravatī settlements, Dharmacakra locations, their interrelationship, and their relationship with environmental setting. The different types of spatial analyses, parameter settings within each analysis, and approaches are used to examine and explore the differences and commonalities of these variables at three different geographic levels: national, regional, and river basin levels.

Four distinct approaches are incorporated in this study. Chi-Square analysis shows significant …

Forming Community Partnerships, Lori Foley

CHAR

In the event of a disaster, regardless of the type or scope, the first response is always local. For the institutions and organizations charged with safeguarding the nation’s cultural and historic resources – museums, historical societies, libraries, and municipal offices, to name just a few – building relationships with local first responders and emergency managers before disaster strikes is key to ensuring the safety of staff and collections. State emergency management agencies are also collaborating with their state cultural agencies to protect these valuable and vulnerable resources. The resulting emergency networks better position the local community and the state to …

Lessons Learned From Culture In Crisis; Or Protecting The Past To Save The Future, Laurie Rush

CHAR

At the midpoint of the second decade of the 21^st century, the world is experiencing deliberate destruction of cultural property at a scale not seen since the Second World War. Future protection and preservation of cultural heritage depends on learning from tragedy and applying these lessons as pro-actively as possible. First, we are discovering that no matter the threat, there are people who risk their lives to save artifacts and features of their culture, and the motives for this courage are retrospectively clear. For a community to survive a conflict or disaster as a corporate entity, elements of shared …

Keynote Address - When Violent Nonstate Actors Target Cultural Heritage Sites, Victor Asal

CHAR

Why would organizations attack or kill people at cultural heritage sites or destroy such sites? Using data from the Big Allied and Dangerous insurgent dataset that has data on 140 insurgent organizations from 1998-2012, and data from the Global Terrorism Database, this presentation examines the factors that make insurgent groups more likely to attack such sites or kill people at such sites. We look at the impact of organizational ideology, organizational structure and power as well as country level factors.

Mitigation, Response And Recovery, Richard Lord

CHAR

Abstract: Hurricane Harvey ravaged Texas and Louisiana nearly five years after Superstorm Sandy devastated the East Coast and caused 53 deaths, destroyed or severely damaged 100,000 Long Island homes, and left an estimated $42 billion in damages across New York State.

This session will provide an overview of the disaster relief and assistance programs available under the Stafford Act, when they are triggered, and how private non-profit and cultural institutions can plan for natural hazards and take full advantage of available aid. There will also be discussion of the NYS Hazard Mitigation Plan, the Community Risk and Resiliency Act, and …

Informing Responders Using Gis And Gps, Deidre Mccarthy

CHAR

Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in August 2005 and created the single largest disaster for cultural resources that the United States has witnessed since the inception of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) in 1966. Notably, the NHPA created the National Register of Historic Places, our nation’s catalog of important cultural resources. The NHPA also stipulates that any federal undertaking which may adversely affect National Register eligible resources be mitigated. For the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Katrina created the largest compliance project ever under Section 106 of the NHPA.

Although causing a great deal of damage, Katrina also …

Keynote Address: Climate Change: From Global To New York Scale, Christopher D. Thorncroft

CHAR

This talk is concerned with the science and impacts of climate change from global to New York scales. It will provide an assessment of how the climate has changed over the past Century based on a purely observational perspective. The scientific basis for anthroprogenic climate change will be explained and discussed including a description of the “greenhouse effect” and why it is important for life on this planet. We will briefly discuss global and local consequences of a warmer climate and what we need to be prepared for going forward in the coming decades.

Opening Keynote Address: Using Data To Understand Cultural Destruction, Brian I. Daniels

CHAR

Brian I. Daniels, Ph.D, Penn Cultural Heritage Center, University of Pennsylvania Museum.

Why is cultural heritage targeted in conflict? Under what circumstances? By whom? Today, due in part to the recent notorious instances of cultural destruction in the Middle East and North Africa, there is perhaps more attention among the broader scientific community than ever before about the phenomenon of cultural loss. At the same time, there are many significant data and analytical gaps. Little social science literature about cultural destruction exists and many critical questions—and avenues of research—are, as of yet, unstudied. A primary reason for this lack …