Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Food And Sovereignty: Enacting Mino-Bimaadiziwin In Gaa-Waabaabiganikaag, Zaryn Prussia

Anthropology Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

The Manito Topos Project: Place Naming And Toponymic Silencing In The Sierras Of Northern Nuevo México And Southern Colorado, Len N. Beké

Spanish and Portuguese ETDs

This dissertation reports on documentary research on vernacular toponymies in Manito communities in Nuevo México and Colorado. These toponymies are erased, obscured and delegitimized in official maps. Within the study area, vernacular antecedents for 49.5% of official names for natural features were documented, along with 280 previously unmapped names. These data were compared to the state-sanctioned toponymy to determine a typology of linguistic mechanisms of toponymic silencing. While a majority of official toponyms are based on Manito oral tradition, only 15.4% of the labels for natural features represent unaltered versions of names in that tradition. This dissertation theorizes the conceptual …

A Zooarchaeological Metadata Analysis Of Animal Domestication In The Neolithic Northern Levant, Ashlyn R. Cartier

University Scholar Projects

This project compiles and examines 17 published faunal assemblages spanning the Epipaleolithic to the Pottery Neolithic in the Northern Levant to uncover early trends in animal management practices. Through a close examination of indices tracking the proportions of low and high-ranked prey, wild versus domestic game, and taxonomic diversity, it is possible to examine the trends in and deduce the approximate timing of the shift toward early animal management practices. To examine the conditions from which this phenomenon emerged, analyses of hunting intensity and taxonomic tradeoffs were implemented. Hunting intensity provides an analysis of low and high-ranked prey to examine …

The Impacts Of Site Formation Processes On Excavation Methodology: The Study Of A World War Ii B-24 Crash Site In Munster, Germany, Alicia J. Lawson

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Academic partnerships between universities and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) are a recent development to provide top research universities resources to assist in recovering and identifying MIA service members since World War II. A University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL)/DPAA Partner excavation revisited a WWII B-24H crash site in Münster, Germany in the summer of 2022. B-24H [redacted] crashed into three agricultural fields on 23 March 1945. Utilizing quantitative and qualitative data collected on the incident-related and archaeological osseous remains and artifacts recovered from the fields and the fields’ land use history, this thesis focuses on analyzing the site formation processes …

Nebraska’S Medico-Legal System: A Death Investigation Analysis, Ashley Novak

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

A large part of the founding of the United States of America focused on the idea of state control over their internal affairs. For this reason, the United States is home to a largely decentralized medico-legal system. The State of Nebraska hosts a coroner-based death investigation system as is written into their legislation regarding the establishment of their medico-legal system. By studying legislation, federal and state reports, as well as publications by academics within the field, merits and weaknesses of the Nebraskan coroner system can be uncovered. Additional considerations and understandings that are needed to be understood include: understanding what …

A United, Not A Divider: Community, Identity, Performance & The Tomato Krewe Parading Group Of East Nashville's Tomato Art Festival, Allison Cate

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis is an ethnographic study of the “Tomato Krewe,” a social group that participates in the parade of East Nashville’s annual Tomato Art Festival. Drawing on participant-observation, interviews, and my own experiences as a member of the krewe and resident of East Nashville, I examine krewe members’ narratives about the festival, the material culture that they create for the parade, and the levels of performance that they engage in while parading. Central to my analysis is how krewe members understand the Tomato Art Festival as an expression of East Nashville identity.

Alfred Russel Wallace Notes 26: Confessions Of A 'Wallace Enthusiast', Charles H. Smith

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

The author’s longstanding interest in the life and thought of Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) is profiled in three ways, through: (1) a brief factual review of its history (2) a discussion of some problems with the way Wallace has been treated over the years, and (3) a consideration of the author’s personal experience with the paranormal, and how this has made him, if not always a full believer, more patient with divergent explanations of the type Wallace was famous for.

The Woodcliff Experiment: Zooarchaeological Applications Using A Legacy And Cultural Resource Management (Crm) Faunal Collection, Matthew Zmijewski

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Legacy archaeological collections are often underutilized despite their valuable research utility. Archeologists might pass over these collections for research due to the age of recovery, along with the manner in which they were sampled and excavated. This thesis argues that significant archaeological research questions can be answered using these collections. To demonstrate their research potential, the author analyzes past subsistence behaviors and seasonality of occupations using the faunal remains from the Woodcliff site (25SD31). Woodcliff is a A.D. 1650-1750 Protohistoric Pawnee village located in eastern Nebraska. The faunal collection derived from excavations at the site constitute both a legacy and …

Toward A More Holistic Understanding Of Uranium-Related Views And Experiences Of Residents In The Four Corners Region Of The United States, Matthew J. Barnett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Research on rural Four Corners Region (FCR) residents’ views about uranium production has focused mainly on predominately-White communities in the northern portion of the region. Meanwhile, residents in the southern part of the region, which includes the Navajo Nation and other tribal nations and communities, have dealt with the worst environmental and health effects of the uranium boom. Through a series of three studies in the southern part of the FCR, I explore the uranium-related views and experiences of racially diverse FCR residents.

In the first paper of this dissertation, I used 53 interviews to explore how sociodemographic factors (e.g., …

Sociosexual Behaviors Of Chimpanzees Vs. Bonobos: Are They The Key To Explaining Human Sociosexual Behaviors?, Libby Ware

Senior Honors Projects

We share 99% of our DNA with bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), which are also very closely related to each other, sharing a last common ancestor about one million years ago. Both of them are more closely related to humans than either of them is to gorillas or orangutans. Because of our close evolutionary connections, chimpanzees and bonobos serve as models for our ancestors, and as windows into our ancient past and “human nature.” Other than being similar in appearance, chimps and bonobos are very social, living and cooperating in groups. But their differences have long been emphasized. …

An Examination Of Parental Transmission On Young Voters’ Political Party Affiliation, Parenting Style Mediations, Kelly J. Truax '23

Honor Scholar Theses

This paper examines the relationship of parental transmission and young voter’s political affiliation by examining parental and offsprings’ political affiliations within the United States. Correlations between both maternal and paternal political affiliations with offspring political affiliations were significant. Paternal types of authoritative and permissive parenting acted as mediators of parental transmission. Examining literature from psychological, political science, historical, and sociological tests, the thesis explores how young voters’ develop their political affiliations. Suggestions from the text emphasize the importance of examining voters’ identities, historical events, and the priorities of the generation to understand young voters’ political behavior.

The Process And Me: Creating A Film About Archaeology, Jack Woods '23

Honor Scholar Theses

The film I created is entitled “The Bomb: The 2022 Trasimeno Regional Archaeological Project.” It documents the research methods used to ethically excavate an archaeological site and presents Professor Rebecca Schindler and Pedar Foss’s research from Castiglione del Lago, Italy. The stakes of the project are as follows: I wanted to create an entertaining documentary about the process of ethically excavating an archaeological dig site through the 2022 Trasimeno Regional Archaeology Project (TRAP) in Castiglione del Lago, Italy. This thesis contains three parts: Analysis of Archaeology in the Media, where I analyze two TV shows about archaeology as the main …

The Intermountain West Lgbtq+ Oral History Project: The Folklorization Of Queer Theory, John Priegnitz

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Following the passing of a friend who witnessed firsthand the transformation of Salt Lake City’s Queer community from the 1950s to 2020, I created the Intermountain West LGBTQ+ Oral History Project to document the queer experience within the Intermountain West. Since beginning the project in 2020, I have documented several diverse stories that intersect class, race, sexuality, gender, faith, and politics. By documenting the queer experience, a marginalized community will have their voices heard and preserved for the enlightenment of future generations. This presentation provides an overview of my project and its preliminary findings.

Cotton Blight Identification With Ground Framed Canopy Photo-Assisted Multispectral Uav Images, Changwei Wang, Yongchong Chen, Zhipei Xiao, Xianming Zeng, Shihao Tang, Fei Lin, Luxiang Zhang, Xuelian Meng, Shaoqun Liu

Faculty Publications

Cotton plays an essential role in global human life and economic development. However, diseases such as leaf blight pose a serious threat to cotton production. This study aims to advance the existing approach by identifying cotton blight infection and classifying its severity at a higher accuracy. We selected a cotton field in Shihezi, Xinjiang in China to acquire multispectral images with an unmanned airborne vehicle (UAV); then, fifty-three 50 cm by 50 cm ground framed plots were set with defined coordinates, and a photo of its cotton canopy was taken of each and converted to the L*a*b* color space as …

Study On The Thermospheric Density Distribution Pattern During Geomagnetic Activity, Lirong Yin, Lei Wang, Lijun Ge, Jiawei Tian, Zhengtong Yin, Mingzhe Liu, Wenfeng Zheng

Faculty Publications

The atmospheric density of the thermosphere is a fundamental parameter for spacecraft launch and orbit control. Under magnetic storm conditions, the thermospheric atmospheric density experiences significant fluctuations, which have a negative impact on spacecraft control. Exploring thermospheric density during geomagnetic storms can help to mitigate the effects of such events. Research on the inversion of accelerometer measurements for different satellites and the variations of atmospheric density under extreme conditions is still in its infancy. In this paper, the distribution of atmospheric density during three geomagnetic storms is investigated from the inversion results of the Swarm-C accelerometer. Three major geomagnetic storms …

Multidecadal Pre- And Post-Collapse Dynamics Of The Northern Larsen Ice Shelf, Shujie Wang, Hongxing Liu, Richard B. Alley, Kenneth Jezek, Patrick Alexander, Karen E. Alley, Zhengrui Huang, Lei Wang

Faculty Publications

Rapid retreat of Antarctic ice shelves in a warmer climate remains challenging to predict, contributing to uncertainties in projections of sea level rise. The collapse of the Larsen B Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula in 2002 was perhaps the most dramatic example of ice shelf retreat on record. Despite a general consensus that regional climate warming is associated with ice shelf collapse, knowledge of the precise details leading to and following collapse is limited. Here we examine a comprehensive set of satellite observations, modeling experiments, and climate reanalysis data to elucidate calving behavior, flow dynamics, and mechanical conditions of …

Spirits And Spirituality: Temperance And Racial Uplift In Nineteenth-Century Nantucket, Ma, John T. Crawmer

Graduate Masters Theses

Studies of alcohol consumption have shown alcohol’s role in defining social boundaries based on class and ethnicity, but few have interrogated alcohol in the context of race. During the early-19th century, free black communities were encouraged to refrain from alcohol as part of a larger project of racial uplift. Black societies and churches perceived intemperance as not only immoral but a threat to community survival. Excavations of the Nantucket African Meeting House noted a considerable lack of alcohol bottles, but it was unclear whether temperance was equally observed at the neighboring Boston-Higginbotham House. This research uses a minimum number of …

We Are Gullah: A Community Approach To Preserving Gullah Geechee Historical Sites Of Significance, Peter Gaytan

All Theses

The National Register of Historic Places is an inventory established by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 that identifies architectural and archaeological sites significant to American history. The National Register was created to encourage the documentation, evaluation, and protection of America’s historic resources. Over 96,000 historic properties, sites, and structures are currently listed on the National Register. Despite the number of historic places listed on the National Register there is still an overwhelmingly low number of sites listed on the National Register relating to underrepresented communities. This thesis assessed the definition of significance laid out in the National Register …

The Variability Of Age Between Townhouse And Residential Burials For Cherokee Of The Southern Appalachian Region, Madeline Lopez-Elwell

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper explores how age relates to the burial practices of the Cherokee people and the structures that are significant to this aspect of their culture. It supports the assertion that, at a certain age Cherokee males gain enough prestige to be buried with structures that reflect that. In this specific capstone, I will analyze at what age males gain social status within the Southern Appalachian Cherokee. To do this analysis, I will examine various variables such as sex and non-perishable grave goods and the relationship with burial places. Using the Symbolic Interactionism theory to emphasize the significance of Cherokee …

Geophysical, Archaeological, And Geospatial Investigations At Presidio Los Adaes, 18th Century Capital Of Spanish Texas, Robert Linam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Presidio Los Adaes (16NA16), located in present day northwest Louisiana, served as the capital of Spanish Texas for much of the 18th century. Maps and historical documents provide architectural plans for the fort and other buildings on the site but differ in the size and location of several buildings. In 2009, a geophysical survey of the site with ground penetrating radar, magnetometry, electrical resistance, and electromagnetic induction showed good preservation of architectural foundations. Visual assessment of the maps and geophysical data, information from archaeological excavations, and spatial statistics suggests that the fort was originally built as specified by the architect, …

Interpreting San Cecilio: Ritual And Discourse In A Granadan Celebration., Martha M. Popescu

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

The romería de San Cecilio is an annual, local short pilgrimage and celebration of the patron saint of Granada, a city in Andalusia, Spain. The romería takes place at the Abbey of Sacromonte, a monastery built on top of the site where San Cecilio’s remains were found as part of the famous discoveries of the Lead Books of Granada in the late sixteenth century. These books were ultimately declared to be Islamic forgeries, yet the romería persists today as a granadino, or Granadan, tradition. Consisting of both a Mass at the Abbey as well as a popular celebration, the …

Rock Or Relic? Lithic Technology And Social Life In The Mimbres Mogollon Region Of Southwestern New Mexico, Jeffrey Dylan Clark Person

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This research project investigates stone tool technology at pithouse and pueblo sites in the Mimbres Mogollon region of southwestern New Mexico. Starting around AD 550, people in this area were shifting from mobile foragers who moved in seasonal rounds to sedentary village farmers. This process of subsistence change sparked further changes in material culture and social organization across the Mimbres region. The dissertation focuses on lithic debitage, the stone flakes and rock shatter that resulted from reducing stone cores into usable cutting and scraping tools. Debitage from three Mimbres sites, the Harris site, La Gila Encantada, and Elk Ridge were …

Gendered Bodies, Engendered Lives: Bioarchaeological Exploration Of The Intersectionality Of Gender, Health, And Trauma At Turkey Creek Pueblo, Arizona (Ad 1225-1286), Claira Elizabeth Ralston

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation examines the relationships between sex, gender, and health at Turkey Creek Pueblo (AD 1225-1286), the earliest aggregated Pueblo community in the Point of Pines region of east central Arizona, to better understand their roles in producing differential health outcomes. To gain a view of these interactions, I use osteological, mortuary, and ethnohistoric data to explore how gender, as a social institution, informed divisions of labor and experiences with traumatic injury at Turkey Creek Pueblo, because this site was occupied during a socially dynamic and important period in the pre-contact American Southwest. Using these data, I explore how sex, …

The Scaling Method: Body Mass Reconstruction Of East African Hominins, Julianna Rose

Anthropology Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis details a series of novel methods developed to estimate body masses of hominin fossils using 3-D point cloud registration software. All analyses were conducted through 3-D modeling software that supported the remote study of five fossil femora from East Africa. The fossil computer models were repeatedly aligned with anatomically modern human femora to determine their scaling relationship with the objective of using the scaling factor of the human references to estimate the body mass of the fossils, on the basis of the femoral head breadth. Body mass estimates obtained through this technique were compared to estimates using more …

“Man, I Will Miss This Place”: An Ethnographic Account Of Place-Making On Dickson Street Through Men’S Bathroom Graffiti, Ethan S. Brown

Anthropology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Walking into a public bathroom, often we are faced with interesting, unique, and easily ignorable cases of residual humanity: bathroom graffiti. These writings, academically known as latrinalia, offer scholars a unique portrait of the people who form an immediate culture and community. By providing opportunities to produce individual and collective identities, local folklore, and contesting narratives of space, latrinalia allows authors to carve out personal or cultural place out of the impersonal materiality of space. Utilizing traditional methods of ethnographic fieldwork, latrinalia in the men’s bathrooms of three bars along the famed Dickson Street in Fayetteville, Arkansas is approached …

Fatty Females And Muscular Males: Investigating Human Sexual Dimorphism Across The Upper And Lower Skeleton, Brooklin Edwards

Anthropology Undergraduate Honors Theses

The sexual dimorphism profile of human body composition produces a unique pattern. Compared to other primates, humans have a mild size dimorphism; however, human males have a particularly muscular upper body and human females have a permanent fatty composition. These findings have resulted in varying interpretations related to sexual selection, mating systems, and male competition. Using humerus and femur measurements collected from 9 primate species, we investigated how the pronounced sexually dimorphic tissue composition of humans influences skeletal elements compared to the other primates. We hypothesized that over the course of human evolution, human females developed a body composition that …

Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis For Archaeological Site Detection: A Case Study For The Chicama Valley, Peru, Cesca Craig

Anthropology Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study represents a first attempt at applying geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) for the detection of extant archaeological sites in the Chicama River Valley located in northern coastal Peru. This region is characterized by the presence of mound-like archaeological sites dispersed throughout large-scale agricultural fields. High-resolution multispectral imagery from Planet Labs was used in this study because of its high spatial and temporal resolution and availability at no cost through Planet’s Education and Research Program. The main goal for this study was to explore GEOBIA as an approach to archaeological site detection and assess the feasibility of developing exportable …

An Exploration Of The Correlation Between Body Mass And Skeletal Measurements Of The Long Bone Joints And Diaphyses, Caroline Genius

Honors Theses

Body mass is a characteristic of the human body that can aid in narrowing down potential identifications of unidentified individuals. However, when faced with skeletal remains, body mass is not easily ascertained, especially when the remains are incomplete. This research explores the potential correlation between body mass and long bone dimensions in order to aid in identification efforts. The limited research done prior has been conducted almost exclusively on the lower limbs—therefore, one of the primary foci of this study is to assess the efficacy of using the joint surfaces and shaft measurements of the upper limbs. Five long bones …

Commodification Of Korean Culture In The West: Orientalism In The Era Of Modern Social Media, Samantha Giudice

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

South Korea, hereafter referred to as Korea, lies within the Korean Peninsula. It currently boasts a population of 53 million people residing within 38,724 square miles and a GDP of 1.811 trillion US dollars, making it the 13^th largest economy in the world. Since the Korean War to today Korea has turned into a major economic and cultural epicenter remaining at the center of technological advancements and pop culture production. While the exportation of this pop culture has allowed the economy grow at unprecedented rates, it has also led to less favorable interactions with Korean culture by people all …

Nepantla – Examining The Sacred Middle Ground Of Syncretism, Jose Luis Garcia Iii

Theses and Dissertations

As a result of historical traumas caused by the Spanish invasion of Mexico, the autonomy of its Indigenous peoples has been replaced by a Eurocentric identifier based on a colonial language and theologies. Because of the vastness surrounding the Nahua pantheon, Spanish and Church officials relied on guided syncretism as means of correcting their methodologies in converting Mexico’s Indigenous population. This thesis examines syncretism as a process of religious mixing and its residual cultural changes that affected Mexico’s Indigenous populations. This ethnographic research argues that syncretism as an overarching, universalized term is insufficient to describe this process in the Chalma …