Anthropology Commons^™

Sharing, Subsistence, And Social Norms In Northern Siberia, John Ziker

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The majority of families in Ust’-Avam in northern Siberia are dependent on subsistence hunting, fishing, and trapping and have been part of a vertically integrated industrial economy in a remote area of the former Soviet Union. Thus, the results from behavioral games conducted there in 2003—the dictator game (DG), the ultimatum game (UG), and the third-party punishment game (TPG)—lend themselves to comparison with other indigenous hunter-gatherers, as well as with working communities in other nation-states.

An Empirical Comparison Of Knowledge And Skill In The Context Of Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Kathryn Demps

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background

We test whether traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) about how to make an item predicts a person’s skill at making it among the Tsimane’ (Bolivia). The rationale for this research is that the failure to distinguish between knowledge and skill might account for some of the conflicting results about the relationships between TEK, human health, and economic development.

Methods

We test the association between a commonly-used measure of individual knowledge (cultural consensus analysis) about how to make an arrow or a bag and a measure of individual skill at making these items, using ordinary least-squares regression. The study consists of …

Obsidian Hydration Analysis Of Artifacts From Six Sites Between Walters Ferry And King Hill, Idaho., Mark G. Plew

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

During the past ten years excavations have been conducted at a number of archaeological sites along the Snake River between Meiba and King Hill, Idaho. Though the majority of point types from these sites are typologically of Late Archaic age (2000-150 BP) few have produced little datable organic material, though all have produced obsidian artifacts and debitage. In some instances projectile points of what are typologically Early and Middle Archaic age have been recovered. This report discusses the results of obsidian hydration analysis of 32 specimens from six sites between Walters Ferry and King Hill, Idaho. The purpose of the …

Geographic Information Systems Correlation Modeling As A Management Tool In The Study Effects Of Environmental Variables’ Effects On Cultural Resources, Brian Wallace

Anthropology Graduate Projects and Theses

Utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) offers the field of Cultural Resource Management greater capacity in managing resources. New regression analysis tools recently released in ESRI ArcGIS software offer potential for determining more accurate statistical analyses of the relationships between cultural material and environmental variables. The contemporary trend of federal cultural resource managers and GIS analysts working with smaller budgets is to allocate fiscal resources for tools which will enable them to continue successfully managing their resource. ArcGIS software continues to be the industry standard in managing spatial data to accurately represent the existence, condition, and location of cultural material. With …

Alluvial Stratigraphy And Geoarchaeology In The Big Fork River Valley, Minnesota: Human Response To Late Holocene Environmental Change, Christopher Hill, George (Rip) Rapp, Zhichun Jing

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Late Quaternary geomorphology and stratigraphy of the Big Fork River valley, within the Rainy River basin of northern Minnesota, reveals evidence of prehistoric human interaction with late Holocene riverine environments. By 11000 ¹⁴C B.P., deglaciation made the region inhabitable by human groups using Clovis artifacts. Human habitation would also have been possible during the Moorhead low water stage of glacial Lake Agassiz, starting at 10500 ¹⁴C B.P. Near its confluence with the Rainy River, the valley floor of the Big Fork valley consists of a floodplain complex and two terraces. The multi-component stratified Hannaford site is situated …

Changing Gender Roles And Economies In Taimyr, John P. Ziker

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article is an inquiry into the extent to which, and how, roles of men and women in indigenous communities in north-central Siberia have changed along with the changing economic and political context from the 1917 Communist Revolution to the post-Soviet era. The starting point for this investigation is archived data from the 1926/27 Polar Census of Siberia. Fieldwork conducted in the region in the 1990s and 2000s provides comparative materials. During this 80-year period, the development of centralized settlements and regional urban areas brought increasing professionalization of traditional economic activities and greater involvement of the indigenous population in civil …

Late Glacial Landscape Ecology In Central North America, Christopher L. Hill

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The transition from full glacial to interglacial conditions along the southern margin of the Laurentide ice sheet resulted in dramatic changes in landscapes and biotic habitats. Strata and landforms resulting from the Wisconsin Episode of glaciation in the area directly west of Lake Superior indicate a context for late Pleistocene biota (including human populations) connected to ice margins, proglacial lakes, and postglacial drainage systems. Late Glacial landscape features that have the potential for revealing the presence of Paleoindian artifacts include abandoned shorelines of proglacial lakes in the Superior and Agassiz basins and interior drainages on deglaciated terrains. The linkage between …

Geologic Framework And Glaciation Of The Central Area, Christopher L. Hill

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

During the Late Pleistocene, the Laurentide ice sheet extended over the western interior Plains and Great Lakes region in the central of North America. This central area generally encompasses the northwestern interior Plains of North America, extending from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the western Great Lakes and Hudson Bay in the east (figs. 1-2). It includes parts of the Mackenzie River, Missouri River, and Mississippi River systems. Deglaciation of this region led to the development of landscape that were inhabited by Rancholabrean faunal communities including human groups.

Late Tertiary To Quaternary Geology And Landscape Evolution Along The Snake River Plain, Southwestern Idaho, Christopher L. Hill

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The geology of the Snake River Plain in the vicinity of Melba and Murphy, in southwestern Idaho, provides evidence for changes that have occurred over the last several million years, during the late Cenozoic. Here, the local and regional geology is described and interpreted within the context of events that have contributed to the present-day landscape.

Geologic Framework And Glaciation Of The Eastern Area, Christopher L. Hill

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Late Pleistocene landscapes in glaciated eastern North America include changing ice margins, fluctuating lake and sea levels, and deglaciated physical settings that were inhabited by a variety of extinct (Rancholabrean) fauna. The glaciated East of North America consists of the mid-continent from Hudson Bay to south of the Great Lakes and extends eastward to the Atlantic coast. Glaciers were present along the Atlantic coast from southern New York north to Labrador.

Geologic Framework And Glaciation Of The Western Area, Christopher L. Hill

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The geological framework for western North America consists of physical landscapes (geomorphic features) and stratigraphic sequences that can be used to provide a basis for understanding the chronologic and environmental context for Late Pleistocene human populations. The Western Area includes the region of North America from the Pacific coast to the Rocky Mountains and parts of the Great Basin and Colorado plateau (figs. 1-2).

Geology Of Centennial Valley And Stratigraphy Of Pleistocene Fossil-Bearing Sediments, Christopher L. Hill

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper is based on stratigraphic studies conducted at the Merrell Locaility and other locations in Centennial Valley. The Merrell Locality is situated in southwest Montana, on the western end of Centennial Valley (Figure 30). It is notable for containing the fossil vertebrate remains of mammoth (Mammuthus cf. M. columbi), scimitar cat (a member of the sabretooths, Homotherium serum), horse (Equidae) and Yesterday's camel (Camelops cf. hesternus), as well as other plant and animal fossils of Pleistocene age (Dundas 1990; Dundas, Hill, and Batten 1996). Summaries and reports of research conducted at the locality include …

Geochronology Of Merrell Locality Strata And Regional Paleoenvironmental Contexts, Christopher L. Hill

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

An assessment of the age of the deposits and the fossils incorporated within them at the Merrell Locality is based on radiocarbon measurements from bone and tusk collagen and organic sediments (Table 3 and Figures 75-76), and luminescence measurements on sediments (Feathers, this report). Nine radiocarbon dates are available from the site; seven are finite and two are infinite. The finite dates range from ca. 49,000 to 19,000 ¹⁴C yr. B. P. (Figure 75).

Spatial Distribution Of Pleistocene And Holocene Faunal Remains, South Block Excavations, Christopher L. Hill, David C. Batten

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The fossil remains of mammoth and other Pleistocene fauna found along and near the escarpment of the west shore of Lima Reservoir in Centennial Valley have been the subject of field investigations since the 1980s. Summaries or earlier studies conducted at the locality are presented in various published and unpublished sources including Albanese, Davis, and Hill (1995), Bump (1995), Davis and Batten (1996), Dundas (1989, 1990, 1996), Hill and Albanese (1996), and Hill, Davis, and Albanese (1995).

Nonmarket Cooperation In The Indigenous Food Economy Of Taimyr, Arctic Russia: Evidence For Control And Benefit, John Ziker

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Empirical data on food sharing in native Dolgan, Nganasan, and Nenets communities in Siberia provide evidence for hunter control over big game and fish, as well as likely benefits of inter-household sharing. Most food sharing occurs with kin and, thus, kin-selection-based nepotism cannot be ruled out. Reciprocal inter-household sharing at meals occurs less often. Social context is discussed.

Identification Of Immunoreactive Material In Mammoth Fossils, Mary Higby Schweitzer, Christopher L. Hill, John M. Asara, William S. Lane, Seth H. Pincus

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The fossil record represents a history of life on this planet. Attempts to obtain molecular information from this record by analysis of nucleic acids found within fossils of extreme age have been unsuccessful or called into question. However, previous studies have demonstrated the long-term persistence of peptides within fossils and have used antibodies to extant proteins to demonstrate antigenic material. In this study we address two questions: Do immunogenic/antigenic materials persist in fossils? and; Can fossil material be used to raise antibodies that will cross-react with extant proteins? We have used material extracted from a well-preserved 100,000-300,000-year-old mammoth skull to …

Special Language In Shoshoni Poetry Songs, Jon P. Dayley

English Literature Faculty Publications and Presentations

The language in Shoshoni poetry songs, called newe hupia, may differ substantially from ordinary speech in many ways, phonologically, morphologically, syntactically, semanticly [sic] and pragmatically.