Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Prehistoric Use Of Hubbards Cave, Warren County, Tennessee, Erin Elizabeth Pritchard

Masters Theses

Hubbards Cave, in Warren County, Tennessee, contains evidence of a prehistoric gypsum mine. Such evidence is rare in the southeastern United States and few caves have been identified as prehistoric mineral extraction locations. Evidence of mining at Hubbards was documented using a total station laser transit and ArcView ã GIS program in order to identify and evaluate prehistoric activities throughout the cave. While much of the archaeological evidence pertaining to the prehistoric occupation of the cave has been removed as a result of later saltpeter (KNO 3) mining, traces of prehistoric evidence are documented in an attempt to interpret prehistoric …

Pecos Revisited: A Modern Analysis Of Earnest Hooton’S, The Indians Of Pecos Pueblo, Katherine Elizabeth Weisensee

Masters Theses

The extensive data recorded by Earnest Hooton (1930) during his years of work on the analysis of the remains recovered from Pecos Pueblo provides an excellent database for reconsidering his conclusions within a modern context. The first issue addressed in re-examining Hooton’s data relates to the sex estimations made for the Pecos sample. Researchers, specifically Ruff (1991), questioned the highly biased sex ratio that Hooton reported for the sample. Using the craniometric and postcranial metrics data that Hooton collected it was possible to re-evaluate Hooton’s sex estimations by utilizing discriminant functionanalysis in order to establish a more accurate sex ratio …

Privies, Pigs, Rubbish, And Quacks: The Archaeology Of Late Nineteenth And Early Twentieth Century Public Health In Knoxville, Tennessee, Tanya Alexandra Faberson

Masters Theses

Progressive Era (circa 1890-1920) public health reformers attempted to regulate urban sanitation by supporting reactionary public health policies and laws. Archaeologists and historians have often assumed that legislation has immediate impact on behavior when the intended legislative outcome is beneficial. Even so, in Knoxville, Tennessee, the ethnohistorical and archaeological evidence does not strongly associate implementations of sanitation legislation and changes in behavior. This suggests complex social processes underlying the reform movement and people's reaction to it in the urban sphere.

Using sanitation ordinances drawn from Knoxville City Council minutes and sanitarian literature, findings indicate that sanitation reform targeted specific social …

The Accuracy Of U.S. Age Estimation Standards When Used To Age U.S. And Bosnian Skeletal Samples, Megan Lagrou

Masters Theses

As forensic anthropologists are increasingly becoming involved in human rights work abroad, it is critical to evaluate the applicability of the established US.derived age estimation standards to other populations. This research examines the impact that population variation has on the accuracy of several skeletal age indicators, specifically, the rate of medial clavicular epiphyseal fusion (Webb and Suchey 1985), and the progression of morphological change of the sternal rib end (Iscan, et al. 1984b; 1985), and the pubic symphysis (Brooks and Suchey 1990).

Previous research by Simmons, et al. ( 1999) demonstrated that a Bosnian sample displayed a pattern of morphological …

The Involvement Of The Forensic Anthropologist In Human Rights Issues, Sarah Catherine Hughes

Masters Theses

The theme chosen for the 2001 American Academy of Forensic Sciences meeting, War Crimes and Other Acts Against Humanity, has highlighted the recent involvement of scientists in the investigation of gross human rights violations. Genocide, political murders, and mass killings rage throughout the world: Rwanda, Bosnia, the former Yugoslavia, Serbia, and Kosovo being only the most recent examples. Forensic anthropology is a field that was established to aid in the identification of human remains once visual recognition is lost. Most often this applies to medico-legal investigations of unexplained deaths. Of recent, however, forensic anthropologists have become involved in identifying …

Reassessment Of Cranial Plasticity In Man: A Modern Critique Of Changes In Bodily Form Of Descendants Of Immigrants, Corey Shepard Sparks

Masters Theses

The reconstruction of biological relationships in humans using the cranium relies on the assumption that the multivariate distances derived from cranial data have a genetic component. This notion has been criticized by some authors based mainly upon one study of Franz Boas. This study focused on the idea that within one generation the cranial form of a population can be significantly altered by a sudden change in the environment. Boas.s original study has been cited for the past ninety years as evidence of cranial plasticity.

A modern critique of Boas.s original study has been long overdue and is pursued herein …

Exploring The Social Dimensions Of Grog-Temper Use At The Ink Bayou Site (3pu252): A Plum Bayou Culture Site In Central Arkansas, Eric Chadwick Drake

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the social implications involved with the technological decision to use grog (crushed potsherds) as a ceramic tempering agent by potters affiliated with the Plum Bayou culture of central Arkansas. The analytical technique of point-counting ceramic thin sections is used to search for patterns of grog-temper use at a single Plum Bayou culture site, the Ink Bayou site (3PU252). While the thermal properties of grog-temper may help to explain the variability of use observed at the Ink Bayou site, the social implications of producing grog-tempered pots are best illuminated by the sequence of productive operations employed by the …

The Wreck Of The Rockaway: The Archaeology Of A Great Lakes Scow Schooner, Kenneth R. Pott

Masters Theses

During the 19th century, Great Lakes shipping played a vital role in the development of the economies of the United States and Canada. Regional shipyards built thousands of vessels to distribute coal, lumber, grain, iron ore and other goods throughout the Great Lakes network. In time, certain designs were selected for the advantage they offered over others employed in the same trade. The scow schooner was one class of carrier which attained a high level of use in the Lakes region.

This study examines the scow schooner Rockaway and the economic factors which influenced the building and use of this …

An Analysis Of The Lithic Assemblage From The Armintrout-Blackman Site (20ae812), Allegan County, Michigan, Arthur L. Desjardins

Masters Theses

Middle Woodland period Hopewell manifestations in western Michigan were mainly concentrated in the St. Joseph, Grand and Muskegon River Valleys. By constrast, the Kalamazoo River valley is lacking in a significant Hopewell expression, suggesting this area was peripheral to Hopewell developments elsewhere in western Michigan. The Armintrout-Blackman site (20AE812) is a Middle Woodland period encampment in the middle segment of the Kalamazoo River valley and has yielded artifacts bearing Hopewell stylistic attributes. More specifically, this thoroughly excavated site exhibits spatial separation of temporally sensitive ceramic components, reflecting early Havana-Hopewell through late Middle Woodland occupations. This project examines such a situation …

A Histological Approach To Taphonomy: The Freeze-Thaw Cycle And Water Immersion, William A. Souchick

Masters Theses

Previous taphonomic studies have failed to fully study how freeze-thaw cycles, fresh water immersion and salt water immersion affect bone microstructure. Knowledge of how these environs modify bone can help narrow post mortem interval estimations or allow medico legal investigators to differentiate between perimortem damage and damage caused by the surroundings. To date, previous studies of water immersion and freeze-thaw cycles have failed either to relate their findings to forensic taphonomy or to address how bone microstructure was modified. This study was conducted to determine how bone was modified by freeze-thaw cycles and water immersion and to apply the findings …