Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Human Decomposition Ecology At The University Of Tennessee Anthropology Research Facility, Franklin Edward Damann

Doctoral Dissertations

The University of Tennessee Anthropology Research Facility (ARF) is well known for its unique history as a site of human decomposition research in a natural environment. It has been integral to our understanding of the processes of human decomposition. Over the last 30 years 1,089 bodies have decomposed at this 1.28 acre facility, producing a density of 850 corpses per acre of land. This project evaluated the abiotic and biotic characteristics of the soil exposed to various levels of human decomposition in order to determine the effect on the physicochemical properties and the indigenous bacterial communities.

Specifically, 75 soil samples …

Geophysical Study At Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park, Manchester, Tennessee, Stephen Jay Yerka

Masters Theses

The Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park covers over 800 acres within Manchester, Tennessee, and is owned and managed by the Tennessee Division of State Parks. The central archaeological site within the park boundary is The Old Stone Fort mounds that enclose about 50 acres on a plateau above the convergence of the Big Duck and the Little Duck Rivers. The hilltop enclosure dates to the Middle Woodland Period, and radiocarbon dates obtained at the site range from the first to the fifth century A. D. Because of its size and apparent complexity, previous investigations of the site have been …

Faunal Remains From The Pine Hill Site (Ps-6), St. Lawrence County, New York, Jessica Lee Vavrasek

Masters Theses

The Pine Hill collection was discovered in the archaeology lab at State University of New York College at Potsdam after remaining unstudied for over 30 years since its initial excavation in the 1960s and 1970s. Pine Hill has been identified as a fifteenth century St. Lawrence Iroquois village site, located in St. Lawrence County, New York. The faunal remains and bone tools from the site indicate food procurement strategies, seasonal activities, the presence of discrete activity areas at the site, and the production and use of a wide range of bone tools. Replication experiments conducted on several bone tool types …

East Meets West: Middle Eastern Muslims In The Southeastern United States, Jessica Lee Winslow

Masters Theses

Muslims of Middle Eastern and Turkish origin, whether longtime immigrants, recent refugees, or students living in America temporarily, are an important part of the changing ethnic and religious landscape in the Southeast U.S. In the aftermath of 9/11, much attention has been shifted upon Islam and the Middle East. Discrimination and a lack of mutual understanding and tolerance between the selected populations and native-born, non-Muslim Americans are persistent problems. The Knoxville Turkish Cultural Center and the Istanbul Center of Atlanta recognize and reflect the contemporary need for intercultural and interfaith awareness, education, and dialogue to promote tolerance. I argue that …

A Vegetation History From Emerald Pond, Great Abaco Island, The Bahamas, Based On Pollen Analysis, Ian Arthur Slayton

Masters Theses

Emerald Pond (26° 32' 12" N, 77° 06' 32" W) is a vertical-walled solution hole in the pine rocklands of Great Abaco Island, The Bahamas. In 2006, Sally Horn, Ken Orvis, and students recovered an 8.7 m-long sediment core from the center of the pond using a Colinvaux-Vohnout locking piston corer. AMS radiocarbon dates on macrofossils are in stratigraphic order and indicate that the sequence extends to ca. 8400 cal yr BP. Basal deposits consist of aeolian sands topped by a soil and then pond sediment, suggesting that the site began as a sheltered, dry hole during a Late Pleistocene …

A Faunal Analysis Of 1wx15, The Indian Hill Site, Wilcox County, Alabama, Elizabeth Ellen Lovett

Masters Theses

Abstract

This study seeks to expand the knowledge of Woodland subsistence practices in the Alabama River valley by presenting an analysis of the faunal assemblage from the Indian Hill site, 1WX15. Additionally, this study presents a comparison of 1WX15 to other sites from the Tombigbee, Alabama, and Coosa river valleys in order to present a broad picture of Woodland subsistence in and near the Eastern Gulf Coastal Plain.

An intra-site comparison revealed the primary vertebrate resources exploited were mammals and turtles. The substantial amount of turtle fragments suggested the site was occupied during warm months, with a fall and winter …

Educators' Perspectives And Approaches To Teaching In Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Classrooms, Karmen Melissa Stephenson

Masters Theses

In recent years the Midway School System in Midway, Tennessee (pseudonyms are used for the town, the school, and the participants in this research), has experienced a significant demographic change that has had both social and academic impacts. An influx of Hispanic students, primarily from Mexico, has brought students who are culturally different and for whom English is not the first language into a school that has traditionally been comprised of almost all white English speaking students. In the era of No Child Left Behind and other large scale educational reforms, this demographic change presents many new challenges to educators …

Biological Affinities And The Construction Of Cultural Identity For The Proposed Coosa Chiefdom, Michaelyn S. Harle

Doctoral Dissertations

This study couples biological data with aspects of material culture and mortuary ritual for several sites within the proposed Coosa chiefdom described by sixteenth-century Spanish accounts to explore how cultural identities were actively constructed and maintained within the region. The primary goal is to examine regional interactions between these communities and their constructions of social identity and sociopolitical dynamics vis à vis their biological affinities. Questions regarding regional interactions between these groups have been a stimulus for archaeological debate. These interactions may have played a crucial role in the construction of separate cultural identities. What is not clear is to …

Secular Change Of The Modern Human Bony Pelvis: Examining Morphology In The United States Using Metrics And Geometric Morphometry, Kathryn R.D. Driscoll

Doctoral Dissertations

The human bony pelvis has evolved into its current form through competing selective forces. Bipedalism and parturition of large headed babies resulted in a form that is a complex compromise. While the morphology of the human pelvis has been extensively studied, the changes that have occurred since the adoption of the modern form, the secular changes that continue to alter the size and shape of the pelvis, have not received nearly as much attention. This research aims to examine the changes that have altered the morphology of the human bony pelvic girdle of individuals in the United States born between …

Locating Human Rights In Post-Genocide Reconstruction: Reconnecting The Global, National And Local, Elizabeth Warrick Guyol-Meinrath

Masters Theses

Despite the ever-expanding criticism of the way the international community conducts its aid missions, it remains clear that humanitarian intervention is necessary for the successful rebuilding of post-genocide nations. As such, the interactions of the international aid community with the national governments and local communities of Cambodia, Guatemala and Rwanda are of particular importance to this thesis. By analyzing these relationships and their resulting policies, it becomes clear that peace cannot last if the survivors are unable to relate to the justice and reconciliation measures implemented. Local cultural norms and traditions, as well as input from survivors, must be the …

Building Bridges In Anthropology: Understanding, Acting, Teaching, And Theorizing, Robert Shanafelt

Southern Anthropological Society Conference Proceedings

Selected Papers from the Annual Meeting of the Southern Anthropological Society, Savannah, Georgia, February, 2010

Haitian Protestant Views Of Vodou And The Importance Of Karacte Within A Transnational Social Field, Bertin M. Louis Jr.

Anthropology Publications and Other Works

The ways that some Haitian Protestants view of Vodou and the importance of karactè (character) have emerged as two interrelated and fundamental aspects of Haitian Protestant worldview within a transnational social field. First, many Haitian Protestants believe the practice of Vodou since the Bwa Kayiman ceremony is the main reason why Haiti is mired in a socioeconomic crisis. Second, the development of a Haitian individual’s karactè through Haitian Protestantism is seen by a growing number of Haitian Protestants in the Bahamas, Haiti and the United States as a remedy that can transform the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere into …

Haitian Americans, Bertin M. Louis Jr.

Anthropology Publications and Other Works

On January 12th, 2010, a 7.0 earthquake devastated Port-au-Prince, Leogane and other parts of Haiti. This natural disaster claimed more than 230,000 lives and left more than 1 million Haitians homeless. As Americans watched horrifying images of devastation, death and destruction, Haitian Americans in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, Florida, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, New York and Chicago, Illinois tried to contact their loved ones. Many people around the world wondered whether or not Haiti, a country with a long, turbulent history was cursed, as the Reverend Pat Robertson stated on his show called the 700 Club; …