Digital Commons Network^™

Archaeology Of Yellowstone's Cascade Corner: Findings And Diet Breadth Modeling, William Brent Powell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the summer of 2025, archaeologists from the University of Montana conducted a pedestrian survey through the southwest corner of Yellowstone National Park to take inventory of cultural resources. Over nearly 50 miles of trail survey, the team identified and recorded 17 new archaeological sites, mostly consisting of sparse lithic scatters on the surface. The findings indicate recurrent use of the Bechler area since the Paleoindian period. This thesis aims to provide a comprehensive and detailed report on those findings, followed by an interpretation of the data through the lens of optimal foraging theory and diet breadth modeling. The first …

The Birth Of Afghanistan: From Ancient Persia To A Modern-Day Multiethnic And Linguistic Country, Tyler A. Worm

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis offers a comprehensive historical analysis of the formation and evolution of Afghan identity from antiquity through the early medieval period, emphasizing the region’s role as a dynamic crossroads of civilizations. It traces the origins of Afghan populations to Indo-Iranian pastoralist migrations and examines the successive influence of major imperial formations, including the Median and Achaemenid Persian empires, the conquests of Alexander and the Seleucid period, and the rise of the Kushan, Parthian, and Sasanian states. Through this longue durée approach, the study demonstrates how Afghanistan’s geographic position facilitated continuous cultural interaction, economic exchange, and political contestation, producing a …

Preserving Their Institutions While Living Among Strangers: Heritage Adaptation Exhibited Within Missoula, Montana’S Chinese Community, 1860 – 1940, Sophia Hattie Etier

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation by publication reconstructs the history, cultural institutions, and adaptive strategies of Missoula, Montana’s Chinese community between 1860 and 1940, arguing that the population underwent a long-term, multi-generational process of heritage adaptation shaped by exclusion, isolation, and demographic decline. Drawing from Kalervo Oberg’s 1954 culture shock model, the study proposes a new theoretical framework—heritage shock—that extends the four-stage adjustment process from individuals to cultural communities. This model demonstrates how diasporic populations collectively navigate periods of arrival, crisis, adjustment, and long-term adaptation when confronted with sustained external pressures. Using an interdisciplinary methodology that integrates archival research, archaeological and faunal analysis, …

Expectations In The Preservation Of Dna And Bacterial Organisms In Differential Montana Burials, Kaylee M. Hinds

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study investigates patterns of decomposition and biomolecular preservation in domestic pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) proxies under varying burial conditions in a cold, seasonal climate. Conducted at the Lubrecht Experimental Forest in western Montana, the project aims to evaluate DNA degradation, microbial activity, and environmental influences across shallow, deep, surface, and secondary burial contexts. Three pigs were placed in distinct burial treatments (surface exposure, partial burial, and full burial), with a fourth site later added following bear disturbance and carcass relocation. Environmental monitoring included temperature, and soil sampling before and throughout the decomposition process. Systematic sampling of bone, soft tissue, …

Continental Violence And The "Oregon Question": George Frederick Ruxton And The Nineteenth-Century Pacific Northwest, Rory Orion Johnson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper builds on recent efforts to depict Indigenous polities across North America in their international relations with European and Euro-American colonists and their centralized governments. It examines George Frederick Ruxton, a private English citizen and former army lieutenant, as he developed his response to the U.S.-British Oregon dispute while living in London in early 1846. He concluded that continental warfare was imminent and took overt steps to influence British policy, which he believed could halt U.S. expansion and definitively resolve the “Oregon Question.”

Skeletal Dna Mapping Of The Post-Cranial Skeleton For The Identification Of Human Remains In A Modern Forensic Context, Mykala Denise Ward

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Human identification is a central goal of forensic anthropology and forensic molecular anthropology, particularly when remains are skeletonized, fragmented, degraded, or otherwise visually unidentifiable. Although skeletal elements such as teeth, the petrous portion of the temporal bone, and major long bones are commonly prioritized for DNA sampling, they are not always available, intact, or suitable for destructive analysis. This dissertation evaluates DNA preservation across the post-cranial skeleton to determine whether anatomical location, biological sex, and age-at-death influence DNA quantity and downstream forensic genetic success.

Surface cortical bone samples were collected from predetermined anatomical locations across four modern skeletonized individuals. DNA …

Pestilent Air, Contagious Evil: Infectious Disease In Early Modern Poland, Danielle Marie Airola

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The individuals buried in the cemetery of Czysty Square and the population of the vanished village of Gać lived and died during the early modern period in what is now modern-day Poland. Epidemics broke out repeatedly during this time, and the skeletal remains of several individuals buried in Czysty Square’s cemetery display pathological changes suggestive of infectious disease. These non-specific morphological changes created a need for DNA testing to search for pathogens associated with these lesions. In contrast, Gać’s population declined over time until the village’s abandonment. This has led to a hypothesis of an epidemic having contributed to the …

Characterizing Regional Human Necromicrobiome Communities In A Semi-Arid Desert To Inform Postmortem Interval (Pmi) Estimation, Georgia Rane Swelstad

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Accurate estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI) remains challenging in forensic anthropology, particularly in arid and high-elevation environments where decomposition processes and insect activity are highly variable. Postmortem microbial succession has emerged as a promising alternative framework for PMI estimation. However, the effects of climate and elevation on microbial decomposition dynamics remain insufficiently characterized.

This study examines skin-associated microbial succession in human remains decomposing at the Forensic Investigation Research Station (FIRS) in western Colorado, a semi-arid, high-elevation environment. Microbial samples collected from five anatomical sites during the early postmortem interval are analyzed using 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing, and …

Illusions Of Fairness And Sacrifice, Brady Schwertfeger

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The American West is a shifting landscape. An incongruous expanse of isolation and urbanity, wilderness and extraction, wealth and welfare, clear water and fire. Fifteen years ago, I moved to my mother’s ancestral homeland of Montana, and have been here ever since. Before that, I was born and raised in Texas, both the West and the South (and often something else entirely), depending on who you ask. My experiences in this region have shaped me indelibly, and have inspired this collection of essays built around culture, politics, and justice in the West. “Pinedale, Wyoming” considers the musician as itinerant wanderer …

Montana Kaimin, November 20, 2025, Students Of The University Of Montana, Missoula

Montana Kaimin, 1898-present

Student newspaper of the University of Montana, Missoula.

November 2025 News Releases, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of University Relations

University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present

No abstract provided.

Montana Kaimin, October 9, 2025, Students Of The University Of Montana, Missoula

Montana Kaimin, 1898-present

Student newspaper of the University of Montana, Missoula.

Discovering The Doctrine Of Discovery, Douglas Lind

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The doctrine of discovery is a concept in crisis. A principle of public international law associated with the so-called Age of Discovery, the doctrine of discovery is commonly said to have authorized European nations to claim the lands of indigenous peoples and establish settlements on the basis of “discovery” alone. Today, with good reason, the doctrine is widely condemned. The United Nations has denounced it as “the very foundation of genocide.” Describing its manifest injustices against indigenous cultures, dominion, and sovereignty as “devastating, far-reaching and intergenerational,” the UN Economic and Social Council has called for the doctrine to be categorically …

Uses And Abuses Of Johnson V. M’Intosh In Native American Land Rights Cases: Investigative Insights From The Indian Law Justice Files, John P. Lavelle

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The 200th anniversary of the foundational Indian law decision Johnson v. M’Intosh has come and gone, with many scholars contributing criticism and commentary. The dominant focus has been the case’s notorious embrace of the so-called “doctrine of discovery,” an odious theory for rationalizing European nations’ claims of superior rights to lands occupied by Indigenous Native American peoples. Commanding less attention, however, is the Johnson decision’s core protective legal feature, i.e., its reinforcing the United States government’s duty to guard against the alienation of Indian lands through private, unauthorized acquisitions.

Discovering The Doctrine Of Discovery, Douglas Lind

Montana Law Review

No abstract provided.

Nasx 105h.04: Introduction To Native American Studies, Erin D. Rosenkrance

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Anty 515.01: Theories And Methods In Bioanthropology, Elizabeth A. Bews

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Hstr 210e.01: History Of The Bible, Nathaniel B. Levtow

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Spns 201.05: Intermediate Spanish I, Micaela O. Downey

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Cjus 125n.H51: Fundamentals Of Forensic Science, Lacy J. Hazelwood, Kaylee M. Hinds

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Ot 520.01: Occupation Across Life Stages And Diverse Populations, Kimberly A. Mckearnan

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Anty 220s.01: Culture And Society, G. G. Weix

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Anty 310.01: Human Variation, Meredeth H. Snow

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Anty 406x.01: Contemporary Issues Of Indigenous Peoples, S. Neyooxet Greymorning, Kevin T. Inglesby

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Anty 510.01: Seminar In Human Variation And Evolution, Meredeth H. Snow

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Anty 101h.50: Anthropology And The Human Experience, Erin D. Rosenkrance

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Anty 122s.01: Race And Minorities, Gregory R. Campbell

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Anty 213n.00: Biological Anthropology Lab, Elizabeth A. Bews, Courtney C. Manthey

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Anty 600.01: Issues In Cultural Heritage, Gregory R. Campbell

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Ling 270s.01: Introduction To Linguistics, Mizuki Miyashita

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.