Digital Commons Network^™

On Dark Skinned Jesus Of Nazareth: Why Color Matters, Nicholas Berkel

MA Theses

This thesis examines the historical, religious, and cultural consequences of portraying Jesus as white within Christian art. Although Western art has overwhelmingly depicted Christ with white skin, archaeological, and contextual evidence supports a dark-skinned Jesus rooted in the ethnogeography of first century Palestine. The persistence of a White Jesus has shaped religious imagination and perception for centuries, reinforcing racial hierarchy and legitimizing systems of white supremacy. Through an interdisciplinary analysis combining biblical studies, Christian iconography, ethnography of ancient Semitic, Greco-Roman, and Egyptian peoples, medieval symbolism, modern mass-produced imagery, and Black thought, this study demonstrates how Jesus’ original complexion was gradually …

The Symbolic Language Of Militarized Orthodoxy In Patriarchal Sermons, Architecture, And Pseudo-Historical Memory, Oleksandr Lukyanenko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article is devoted to a comprehensive cultural and religious analysis of the processes of militarization of religious worldview in modern Russia using the example of public speeches of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, as well as the symbolic space of the Main Temple of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Particular attention is paid to the study of the mechanisms of sacralization of war through the integration of historical memory, Orthodox rhetoric and the state ideology of the “Russian world”. The study analyzes the peculiarities of the interpretation of World War II as the sacred foundation of modern Russian …

Interpreting “Vampire” Burials In Medieval Eastern Europe, Arleen Chau

UROP Posters

Since the early twentieth century, various atypical or deviant graves have been excavated across Eastern Europe, particularly in Poland. These discoveries have prompted much speculation, as the individuals were interred with items such as sickles placed over their necks or abdomens, along with other mortuary artifacts not considered normative compared to those found in typical community burials. Such practices suggest that these individuals were regarded as deviant or pariahs within their social contexts. Consequently, many have been quick to label these as “vampire burials,” interpreting them as measures intended to keep the dead from rising. However, this definition is problematic, …

Neanderthals And Their Exhibitions Of Fine Art: Unpacking Neanderthal Art On The European Continent, Jacob T. Simpson

UROP Posters

This research project aims to bridge the gap between anatomically modern humans and our closest genetic relative, Neanderthals. By analyzing research literature on artistically symbolic artifacts potentially created by these ancient humans (focusing on populations in Europe) I hope to offer a superior speculation of Neanderthal intellect. Neanderthals potential capability to create artistic objects could transform our understanding of them and their cognitive abilities, and raise philosophical questions on what it means to be human.

Counter-Mapping A Sugar Mill In Mascarilla, Afro-Ecuadorian Ancestral Territory Of The Chota Valley, Andrea E. Chavez Chuquimarca

Graduate Masters Theses

This project examines the legacies of the colonial hacienda (estate) system in the community of Mascarilla, situated in the Ancestral Territory of the Chota Valley, Carchi Province, in the northern highlands of Ecuador. This study is framed within the first half of the 20th century, during the early stages of industrialization in Ecuador, and the last period in which the Trapiche de Mascarilla was still functioning. These elements will be viewed through the lens of the archaeological feature of the trapiche (panela production facility), serving as a referential space of history under the huasipungo system (debt-peonage). The interconnected components of …

Archaeology Of Roads: A Case Study Of The 18th-Century Surosowan–Tasikardi Old Road In Banten Lama As The Sultan’S Road, Destian Pandu Dwicahyo Santoso Putro, Ghilman Assilmi

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

Archaeological studies on roads in Indonesia remain relatively limited, although international research indicates that roads are not merely transportation infrastructure, but also embody social, political, and symbolic dimensions. A significant example is the ancient road in Banten Lama, which connects the Surosowan Palace with the artificial lake of Tasikardi. This study aims to present archaeological data and identify the distinctive characteristics of royal roads compared to common roads, applying a landscape archaeology approach within a post-processual paradigm. The research stages include data collection, processing, and interpretation through qualitative methods, encompassing literature review and field observation. The analysis shows that the …

The Athena Parthenos: A Historiographical Critique Of The History Of The Athena Parthenos, Aubrie Louis

Saint John’s Preparatory School Student Work

This paper analyzes how the Athena Parthenos disappeared and the historical limitations found when trying to learn about how it disappeared. To answer this question, this paper will use 4 theories created for the purpose of looking further into what happened to the Athena Parthenos and how they show the various limitations of our knowledge of history. This paper will look into people who saw the Athena Parthenos and replicas used to learn more about it today. This will stem from its known existence, from before the 1st century CE, into our modern world. Our results showed there is no …

A Burlesque: The Shimmering Body Of Revealing, Lola Montgomery

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

A Burlesque: The Shimmer Manuscript is a hybrid critical–creative work that examines burlesque as an embodied methodology and a mode of knowledge production. Drawing from my two decades as a performer–scholar, the work reframes glamour, desire, and adornment as epistemological practices rather than theatrical ornamentation. The project is significant in that it expands understandings of performance studies, autotheory, and feminist aesthetics by foregrounding the performer’s body as an intelligent, sensing, world-making apparatus.

The methodology is creative practice research and archive-driven, integrating backstage documentation, AI-assisted photomontage, and theoretical reflection. The work draws from poststructuralist and feminist frameworks (Irigaray, Deleuze & Guattari, …

Un-Imagining The Anglo Southwest And The Impossibility Of Trans-Scription, Lynnette M. Maphies

Art & Art History ETDs

This thesis is an interrogation of the Anglo Southwest as a problematic and persistent regional and national construct. I propose that the Anglo Southwest emerged at a pivotal moment in the late nineteenth century during which Americanist approaches to geography, anthropology, and the arts, were being shaped to define the region and determine the production and distribution of knowledge. This resulted in an Anglo view of the Southwest as uninhabited, silent, and imaginary, which omitted the actuality of silencing Native voices, cultural appropriation, and the taking of resources and land. Army surgeon and amateur ethnographer Washington Matthews (1843–1905) serves as …

The Paleoecology Of The Lower Chincha Valley, Peru Using Pollen, Phytolith, And Geomorphological Analyses, Christine L. Bergmann

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research is a part of a larger project, undertaken by the Programa Arqueológico Chincha (i.e., PACH). The focus of the project centered on the societal, economic, political, and environmental mechanisms involved in the advent of social complexity on the south coast of Peru, specifically in the Chincha Valley. PACH comprehensively studied archaeological sites in the upper, middle, and lower valleys. One of the sites studied was Pozuelo. Pozuelo is a type site located in the lower Chincha Valley (and the focus of this dissertation). Pozuelo possesses the earliest ceramics, domestic activities, and mound structures in the Chincha Valley. Furthermore, …

A Bioarchaeological Study Of The Individuals From The Városfalva Burial Mound In Transylvania, Romania (15th-19th Century), Vanessa C. Reeves

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the lives and deaths of the Szekler people recovered from a burial mound in the Transylvanian village of Városfalva. The Transylvanian plateau is located in present day Romania, and is protected on the east and the south by the Carpathian Mountains. The Szekler people arrived in this area around 1000 CE, and were a nomadic group originating in the Asian Steppes region who later intermarried with various migratory groups as they moved across the Eurasian plains. The Szeklers eventually banded together with the proto-Hungarian Magyar peoples and settled in the Carpathian Basin, the easternmost frontier of the …

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

Fort Brooke After 200 Years: A Public Heritage Approach, Alex F. Fawbush

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fort Brooke, established in 1824 at the mouth of the Hillsborough River, shaped the growth of Tampa and Florida’s west coast for nearly sixty years and served as the nucleus for the forced removal of Indigenous people. Though the Fort itself has long since vanished beneath the modern city, archaeology has preserved its legacy. Excavations since the 1970s have uncovered rich assemblages of ceramics, glass, military equipment, faunal remains, and domestic refuse. These materials reveal daily life at the post, highlighting the interactions of soldiers, Seminoles, African Americans, white settlers, and Cuban fishermen, while also uncovering the deeper prehistoric, referred …

Combatting Road Accidents And Fatalities : The Colonial State, Voluntary Organisations, And Road Safety In Northern Rhodesia, 1940s-1964, Mbozi Santebe

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) experienced an increase in the use of motor vehicles from the late 1920s. Consequently, there was a rapid increase in the occurrence of road accidents from the 1940s onwards. The rise in cases of accidents attracted attention of the colonial state and other stakeholders that embarked on measures to improve road safety. Using a corpus of archival sources, this article examines the measures that the colonial state and voluntary organisations undertook to improve road safety in Northern Rhodesia from the 1940s to 1964. It contributes to scholarly works on the use of motor vehicles in Africa …

Dynamics Of Infanticides Among The Ngoni Of Tanzania, 1850s-1916, Andrew S. Kasambala, Oswald J. Masebo

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

Infanticide is one of the key factors in explaining changes in human populations since the antiquity. This paper examines dynamics of infanticide practices among the Ngoni of Tanzania from the late pre- colonial to the end of German colonial rule in 1916. Relying on primary and secondary sources, it argues that while infanticide remained a critical problem in Songea from the 19th century to the end of German colonialism in 1916, the context in which it was practiced and the interventions devised to alleviate it changed over time. While it was primarily practiced in Songea by pre-Ngoni communal based clans …

Criteria For Rejecting Ideas In African Philosophy : A Historical And Epistemological Analysis, Eric C. Mgalula

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

The rejection of African ideas remains a pivotal debate in African philosophy, centring on tensions between universalist epistemologies and culturally specific criteria. This study synthesizes fragmented discussions into a cohesive framework, interrogating when and why African ideas may be deemed inadequate. It critiques contemporary African scholarship that rigidly adheres to indigenous traditions under decolonial and nationalist imperatives, advocating instead for a balanced approach that harmonizes intellectual rigor with cultural authenticity. Through a historical analysis of key thinkers—from Tempels and Hountondji to Wiredu and Oyewumí—this article historicizes the evolution of evaluative criteria in African philosophy, challenging colonial legacies and romanticized traditionalism. …

Engineering Inefficiencies And Technical Dependency : A Vital Lens In Understanding Power Outages In Postcolonial Tanzania, 1960s-1990s, Emanuel L. Mchome

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

This article examines how the construction of power infrastructure in the 1960s-1980s shaped the future functioning of the Tanzanian power grid from the 1990s. The article is based on oral sources and archival material collected from the Swedish National Archives in Stockholm, the Tanzania National Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO), the East Africana Section of the Wilbert Chagula Library at University of Dar es Salaam, the Rufiji Basin Development Authority (RUBADA) and the World Bank online sources. The article argues that engineering inefficiencies of some Western planners and builders of TANESCO’s power grid who failed to consider local ecological issues …

Ambiguous Bodies: Third Gender Expressions In Ancient Maya Art, Jayme Horne

Theses

This thesis examines the interpretations of Lintels 23, 24, and 25 from Yachilán, Drawing 18 from Naj Tunich, and Stela H from Copán, with a specific focus on third gender expression. These artworks depict figures that blend masculine and feminine attributes, from costuming to actions, to present intentionally ambiguous representations of the body that all ancient Maya people would have understood. Third gender expression is defined through the blending of masculine and feminine signifiers. It is a gender identity for people who do not identify as male or female, but rather as neither, both, or a combination of male and …

Immersive Art, Nature, And Afrofuturism: Cultivating Wellness And Cultural Awareness, Jojo Abenaavi Wright

Theses

This research demonstrates how Afrofuturistic art, combined with nature and scent, enables powerful methods to transform African Diaspora perceptions and support holistic wellness through sensory-emotional engagement. The project introduces The Next Narrative: An Immersive Journey Through Black Time as a multisensory immersive exhibition that combines Afrofuturistic aesthetics with Harlem Renaissance cultural elements. The exhibition presents salons as a sequence that allows visitors to experience time through visual, sonic, and atmospheric transitions. The three senses of touch, scent, and sound operate as fundamental tools for grounding and transformation, which disable analytical thinking while using bodily experiences to perform decolonial memory work. …

V.1 Fall 2025, Center For Arts & Language, Students Of Risd, Risd Archives

All Student Newspapers

v.1 is a publishing platform for the ongoing work, ideas, discussions, debates, and aspirations of students at the Rhode Island School of Design. The Fall 2025 issue contains articles on the intersection of the natural world and human experience, technology, identity, immigration, activism, divestment, institutional history, political resistance, decolonization, and the digital vs. physical realms. The issue contains experimental poetry, visual essays, and reflections on the "nature of publication".

77 | Khirbat ‘Amra: A Rural Site From The Hellenistic To Early Islamic Periods In The BeʼEr Sheva‘ Valley, Itamar Taxel, Noé D. Michael

IAA Reports—Monograph Series of the Israel Antiquities Authority

This volume constitutes the final report of the large-scale salvage excavations directed by Gil Tahal on behalf of the IAA in 1993–1994 at the site of Khirbat ‘Amra, in the north-central area of the Be’er Sheva‛ Valley. The excavations revealed architectural remains and finds dated mainly to the Hellenistic until the Early Islamic periods, in addition to scantier remains or isolated finds from the Chalcolithic period, the Iron Age II and the Ottoman period. Khirbat ‘Amra is one of the largest multiperiod sites in the Be’er Sheva‛ Valley, specifically in the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods. Furthermore, Tahal’s excavations were …

Assertions Of Monastic Identity And Power In The Cloister And Nave Of St. Gall, John D. Treat

The Ozark Historical Review

The Carolingian monastery lived in an unresolved tension between the purity of separation from the world and the benefits to be gained from secular engagement. To confront this dilemma, the parts of the monastery received new layers of symbolic meaning, opening some spaces to lay penetration while shielding others more securely. Here I will examine the monastic cloister and the nave of the abbey church as instances of these two tendencies.

Review Of Jerusalem And Other Holy Places As Foci Of Multireligious And Ideological Confrontation, Rivka Ulmer

Other Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Mollusks From Crusader-Period ‘Akko, The Knights’ Hotel Site, Inbar Ktalav

'Atiqot

This study analyzes mollusk remains collected during the 2007 excavation season at the Knights’ Hotel site in ‘Akko, which was part of a Crusader-period residential neighborhood. A total of 538 shells were identified, including marine shells from the Mediterranean and Red Seas, freshwater shells and land snails. The analysis of these shells sheds light on the lives of the Crusader-period residents of ‘Akko, including their trade connections and use of shells for construction, ornamentation, pigment containers and raw material for the inlay industry.

Middle Bronze Age Human Skeletal Remains From Nahal Rimmonim, Yossi Nagar

'Atiqot

The excavation at Nahal Rimmonim yielded the remains of seven individuals interred in jar burials and a grave dating, respectively, to Middle Bronze Age I–II and III. The MB I–II storage-jar burials were uncovered in a residential area, comprising three infants—a well-documented trait of the period. The MB III remains include the primary burial of four individuals in stone-built graves: three adults and a child aged three–four years.

Nahal Rimmonim: An Intermediate–Middle Bronze Age Village And Pottery Workshop In The Jezreel Valley, Karen Covello-Paran, Yotam Tepper

'Atiqot

The excavations at Naḥal Rimmonim exposed a stratified rural settlement spanning the Intermediate and Middle Bronze Age III. Stratified remains—including domestic structures, installations, a pottery workshop and burials—demonstrate diachronic shifts in site function and organization. The Intermediate Bronze Age strata exhibit substantial domestic activity with evidence of localized adaptation to marshy conditions. In the Middle Bronze Age I–II phases, a specialized potters’ workshop and later domestic structures highlight evolving intrasite spatial planning and craft production, likely tied to economic interactions with nearby Tel Megiddo. Elite tombs with prestige goods from the Middle Bronze Age III, signal socioeconomic ties to urban …

Secondary Use Of Textiles For Wick Production In Light Of The Finds From The Intermediate Bronze Age Cemetery At Newe Efrayim, Naama Sukenik, Yonah Maor, Yaniv Agmon, Yossi Elisha, Gilad Itach

'Atiqot

Three Intermediate Bronze Age wicks discovered in the Newe Efrayim cemetery constitute some of the earliest known archaeological evidence of wick use, an essential object for lighting, yet lacking distinctive features, as it was intended to be burned, making it a rare find. The exceptional preservation of the wicks sheds light on both preservation issues and the technological aspects of wick production in antiquity. The wicks were made from textiles, indicating the maximal reuse of a valuable raw material after it had served its original purpose. These finds offer evidence of material recycling in the ancient world. It is likely …

The Development Of Tin Bronze In The Southern Levant During The Bronze Age, Ilana Peters, Yotam Asscher, Naama Yahalom-Mack

'Atiqot

The paper surveys the development of the use of tin bronze in the Southern Levant, outlining its emergence in the late Early Bronze Age until its eventual predominance in the Late Bronze Age. As there are no tin or arsenical copper sources in the region, the paper discusses the potential sources based on archaeological and textual evidence, including recent analytical data, reflecting a possible correlation between the changes in metal sources and the shift from arsenical copper to tin bronze.

Khallat Abu Ḥalaḥ: The Shells / ח'לת אבו חלאח: ממצא הקונכיות, Inbar Ktalav

Qadum: Journal of Excavation Reports from Israel

The excavations at Khallat Abu Halah uncovered 24 shells, including 14 marine shells from the Mediterranean Sea, two freshwater bivalves—one local and the other originating from the Nile—and eight terrestrial snails. Most of the shells were dated to the Byzantine period but were not found in situ, making it difficult to interpret their use. The Mediterranean shells indicate a connection to the Mediterranean coast, whereas the freshwater bivalve from the Nile suggests connections with Egypt, likely via Caesarea. The terrestrial species are similar to those found in the region today, indicating that the environmental conditions in the area during the …

Khallat Abu ḤAlaḥ: The Coins, Gabriela Bijovsky

Qadum: Journal of Excavation Reports from Israel

A modest number of coins was discovered during the excavations at Khallat Abu Ḥalaḥ, dating from the fourth to the mid-seventh centuries CE. Most of the coins belong to common types that deserve no special discussion. Noteworthy is a rare Alexandrian dodecanummium of Maurice Tiberius. The latest coin is a very worn follis of Heraclius, dated to 624/628 CE.