Anthropology Commons^™

Excavating Legal Landscapes: Juridical Archaeology And The Politics Of Bureaucratic Materiality In Bogotá, Colombia, Federico Pérez

University Honors College Faculty Publication and Presentations

In Bogota, urban planners employ the notion of juridical archaeology to describe the difficulties associated with the implementation of the city's profuse and contradictory building regulations.

Empires Of The Turning Tide: A History Of Lewis And Clark National Historical Park And The Columbia-Pacific Region, Douglas Deur

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This book illuminates the history of the many people who together have called this region home, and their relationships with the park landscapes, waters, and natural resources that continue to set the Columbia-Pacific region apart.

Incidence Of An Astronaut Not Closing The Pressure Garment Visor On Reentry, Cameron M. Smith

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Audiovisual records of a Project Mercury pilot's activities during an orbital flight indicate that his visor was left open during reentry and descent to the sea surface, phases of flight during which cabin pressure loss was to be mitigated by suit pressurization; however the suit could not have been pressurized with the visor open. Thus, for a presently unknown reason, a critical safety step—sealing the visor and making a pressure suit integrity test before re-entry—was overlooked in this flight, a fact itself unreported in any flight review or historical documents known to the author. The lesson is clear: even a …

Contested Landscapes: An Analysis Of Using The National Historic Preservation Act (Nhpa) For Traditional Cultural Properties (Tcps) In The Western United States, Kate Monti Barcalow

Anthropology Theses

In this paper, I predominately use a political ecology lens to evaluate the use of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) in facilitating American Indians' engagement with ancestral lands now federally governed. I look at how agencies can implement effective consultation that lessens the power imbalance between tribes and the federal government that is inherent in the NHPA, as well as help alleviate conflict between tribes, agencies, and various public interest groups regarding proper land management and use. From July 2014 through December 2014, I conducted eleven semi-structured interviews of participants involved with five Traditional Cultural Places or Properties (TCPs) …

Study Of Prestige And Resource Control Using Fish Remains From Cathlapotle, A Plankhouse Village On The Lower Columbia River, J. Shoshana Rosenberg

Dissertations and Theses

Social inequality is a trademark of Northwest Coast native societies, and the relationship between social prestige and resource control, particularly resource ownership, is an important research issue on the Northwest Coast. Faunal remains are one potential but as yet underutilized path for examining this relationship. My thesis work takes on this approach through the analysis of fish remains from the Cathlapotle archaeological site (45CL1). Cathlapotle is a large Chinookan village site located on the Lower Columbia River that was extensively excavated in the 1990s. Previous work has established prestige distinctions between houses and house compartments, making it possible to examine …

A Minority Within A Minority: A Kurdish Refugee In Portland, Oregon, Seth Thomas

Student Research Symposium

This paper is a narrative approach to the experience of Kurdish refugees in Portland, Oregon, focusing specifically on the experiences of Nihad Abdul Rahman, a 40 year old Kurdish refugee born and raised in Baghdad. Nihad arrived in Portland on January 18th, 2015, five years after beginning his refugee application process with the International Organization of Migration (personal communication, February 23, 2015). The qualitative nature of this paper is expressed through the indefinite article of the title: “A Kurdish Refugee.” Nihad receives refugee assistance from Lutheran Community Services Northwest (LCSN), a non-Profit NGO in Portland, Oregon that is one of …

Lambda Alpha Anthropology Honors Society (Lab): Bridging The Gap Between Coursework And Career, Adriana Stein, Stefanie Berganini

Student Research Symposium

Many anthropology majors gain an academic familiarity with the subject through coursework, but lack an understanding of how to utilize their anthropological skills outside of academia in future careers. To remedy this issue, the Lambda Alpha Beta Honor Society (LAB), a student-led anthropology organization at Portland State University, provides opportunities for participation in events that get students involved with our local community, such as non-profit organizations and local cultural institutions. Some of these organizations include the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), Clark Public Utilities, The Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge, Potluck in the Park, and Habitat for Humanity. As an …

Migrant Remittances, Population Ageing And Intergenerational Family Obligations In Sri Lanka, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

As Sri Lanka’s population ages, its migrant women face a difficult choice: should they work abroad to remit money to provision their families, or should they stay at home to look after elderly kin? Although numerous studies have explored migration’s effects on children, fewer works focus on issues of elder care. This essay presents contextualizing information on transnational migration from Sri Lanka and the rapid ageing that is transforming the country’s population structure from a pyramid with many youth and few elders into a column. Using qualitative ethnographic data gathered from a labour-sending village in southern Sri Lanka, this anthropological …

Kwakwaka’Wakw “Clam Gardens”: Motive And Agency In Traditional Northwest Coast Mariculture, Douglas Deur, Adam Dick, Kim Recalma-Clutesi, Nancy J. Turner

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast of North America actively managed natural resources in diverse ways to enhance their productivity and proximity. Among those practices that have escaped the attention of anthropologists until recently is the traditional management of intertidal clam beds, which Northwest Coast peoples have enhanced through techniques such as selective harvests, the removal of shells and other debris, and the mechanical aeration of the soil matrix. In some cases, harvesters also removed stones or even created stone revetments that served to laterally expand sediments suitable for clam production into previously unusable portions of the tidal zone. …

Age Determination Of Modern And Archaeological Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus Tshawytcha) Using Vertebrae, Anthony Raymond Hofkamp

Dissertations and Theses

Incremental growth rings in X-rays of salmon vertebrae have been used since the 1980s to age Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) remains from archaeological sites in the Pacific Northwest. These age estimates, paired with generalized life history patterns, have been used to determine salmon species, season of capture and in turn season of site occupation. This approach relies on a variety of assumptions, the most fundamental of which is that rings represent true years. Archaeologists using vertebral age determination techniques have failed to adequately test this assumption and present their methodologies. This thesis assesses the validity of using incremental …

Conceptualizing Risk And Effectiveness: A Qualitative Study Of Women’S And Providers’ Perceptions Of Nonsurgical Female Permanent Contraception, Elizabeth K. Harrington, Diane Gordon, Isabel Osgood-Roach, Jeffrey T. Jensen, Jennifer Aengst

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective: Novel approaches to nonsurgical permanent contraception (NSPC) for women that are low cost and require no incision or hysteroscope/surgical equipment could improve access to, and the acceptability of permanent contraception (PC). To better understand opportunities and limitations for NSPC approaches, we examined women's and OB/GYN providers' perceptions of NSPC in Portland, OR.

Study Design: Semi-structured, qualitative interviews were conducted with 40 women recruited from outpatient clinics with purposive sampling, and a focus group was conducted with 9 OB/GYNs in academic and community practice. Transcripts were coded and inductively analyzed with a grounded theory approach.

Results: The majority of women …

Interest In Nonsurgical Female Permanent Contraception Among Men In Portland, Oregon And Eastern Maharashtra, India, Elizabeth K. Harrington, Diane Gordon, Pramod Bahulekar, B.S. Garg, Isabel Osgood-Roach, Jeffrey T. Jensen, Jennifer Aengst

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective: We examined the men’s attitudes and perceptions toward the concept of nonsurgical female permanent contraception (NSPC), or novel approaches to permanent contraception (PC) that do not require incisions or surgical equipment/hysteroscope.

Study design: Cross-sectional survey of married/partnered men in Portland, OR and rural eastern Maharashtra, India. Descriptive analysis was performed.

Results: In India (N=150), most men (80%) anticipated their partners would undergo PC in the future, compared to 30% in Portland (N=170). About a third (39.6% in India, 82% in Portland) reported being uncomfortable with PC for partners due to the need for surgery. Most men …

Pressure Test Results Regarding Convolute Elbow Segments And Biomedical Monitoring, Cameron M. Smith

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Pacific Spaceflight’s Mark II / III pressure garment (model Gagarin with one newly-built elbow segment on the left arm) was pressurized to evaluate the mobility allowed by the newly-installed convolute arm compared to the right arm’s older convolute elbow segment. Additionally a new helmet hold-down cable system was tested, as well as the C02 scrubbing system and heart rate, Sp02, suit’s exhausted gas C02 levels and a new communication system. At pressures of 2.3psi – 2.5psi the helmet hold-down cable came free of the new hardware (a sailboat’s one-way cleat system), raising the helmet ring explosively. This resulted from the …

Stable Isotope And Ancient Dna Analysis Of Dog Remains From Cathlapotle (45cl1), A Contact-Era Site On The Lower Columbia River, Kenneth M. Ames, Michael P. Richards, Camilla F. Speller, Dongya Y. Yang, R. Lee Lyman, Virginia L. Butler

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study reports ancient DNA (aDNA) and stable isotope analyses of eight dog skeletal elements from the Cathlapotle site on the Lower Columbia River of the western United States. The aDNA analysis confirmed the elements as dogs (Canis lupus familiaris). Two haplotypes were found, both of which group within dog Clade A, and have patchy distributions to the north in British Columbia and as far south as Teotihuacan (Mexico). The isotopic analysis showed that the dogs’ dietary protein was derived almost exclusively from marine sources. Lower Columbia River ethnohistoric accounts and Cathlapotle zooarchaeological records indicate that while marine fish were …

The Changing World In Microcosm: The Dying Languages Of Liberia, Sierra Leone, And Guinea, George Tucker Childs

Applied Linguistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Observers have become increasingly aware of how the world is changing due to the forces of globalization, be it in the form of neo-colonialism, the scramble for natural resources, or the various extractive industries. The recent alarm over Ebola illustrated another pernicious fallout of increased communication and travel. The effect of globalization has also been great on indigenous peoples and their cultures, in particular on what many consider to be an integral component of culture, the local languages.

I report on recent research devoted to the documentation of endangered languages in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia (the Ebola countries). Most …

Yakutat Tlingit And Wrangell-St. Elias National Park And Preserve: An Ethnographic Overview And Assessment, Douglas Deur, Thomas Thornton, Rachel Lahoff, Jamie Hebert

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The National Park Service initiated a series of studies, working in collaboration with park-associated Native communities, to provide basic documentation of the nature of Alaska Native ties to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. The current study represents one of a series of baseline reports on Alaska Native ties to the park. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve includes parts of the traditional territories of three general Alaska Native groups—the Upper Tanana and Ahtna Athabascans and the Yakutat Tlingit. Prior to the current effort, the park completed ethnographic overviews and assessments in the upper Tanana and Ahtna regions, which are …

The Bear Creek Site (45ki839), A Late Pleistocene–Holocene Transition Occupation In The Puget Sound Lowland, King County, Washington, Robert E. Kopperl, Amanda K. Taylor, Christian J. Miss, Kenneth M. Ames, Charles M. Hodges

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Bear Creek site in Redmond, Washington, yields important information about settlement, subsistence, and technology in the Puget Lowland during the late Pleistocene–Holocene transition. The lithic assemblage is dominated by expedient flake technology, but also contains bifaces and retouched tools. Ongoing analyses focus on site formation, procurement strategies of lithic raw materials, production of flake tools, and technological comparisons of Bear Creek stemmed and concave-base points with other Paleoarchaic technologies of western North America

Holocene Settlement History Of The Dundas Islands Archipelago, Northern British Columbia, Bryn Letham, Andrew Martindale, Duncan Mclaren, Thomas Brown, Kenneth M. Ames, David J.W. Archer, Susan Marsden

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

As this article demonstrates, the Dundas Islands have been home to humans for at least eleven thousand years. This occupation was at times very extensive; this relatively small group of islands was likely home to a population of several thousand people by about two thousand years ago. While geographically on the “outer shores” of Northern Tsimshian traditional territory, these islands were in no way marginal as locations for settlement. We outline the settlement history of the archipelago by presenting the results of the Dundas Islands Archaeological Project, including the radiocarbon dating program results combined with data from three previous small-scale …

Archéologie Du Cap Espenberg Où La Question Du Birnirk Et De L’Origine Du Thulé Dans Le Nord‐Ouest De L’Alaska, Claire Alix, Owen K. Mason, Nancy H. Bigelow, Shelby L. Anderson, Jeffrey Rasic, John F. Hoffecker

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Résumé en français

Le cap Espenberg est une flèche littorale au large de la mer des Tchouktches dans le nord‐ouest de l’Alaska contenant les vestiges de 4000 ans d’occupations humaines et de changements climatiques. Les recherches archéologiques et paléoenvironnementales qui sont menées depuis 2009 dans le cadre d’un projet pluridisciplinaire apportent des informations nouvelles sur la chronologie des occupations du dernier millénaire et documente l’émergence de la culture thuléenne directement antérieure et ancestrale aux Inuit/Inupiat d’aujourd’hui, dans un contexte d’intensification des conditions cycloniques contemporain du petit âge glaciaire. Parallèlement, ces recherches posent la question de la nature de l’occupation Birnirk …

Metal And Prestige In The Greater Lower Columbia River Region, Northwestern North America, H. Kory Cooper, Kenneth Ames, Loren G. Davis

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Excavations at the late prehistoric-early historic Chinookan sites of Meier and Cathlapotle in the Greater Lower Columbia Region recovered several hundred metal artifacts. Portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was used initially to quickly determine metal type. Then a sample of copper artifacts was subjected to another round of XRF analysis to identify the presence of native copper and, or, chronologically sensitive copper metals. No native copper artifacts were identified and the lack of Muntz metal, a specific type of brass patented in the 1830s, corroborates the dating of material from both sites as no later than the early historic period. Meier …

Fish Remains From The Beatty Curve Site (35kl95), Virginia L. Butler, J. Tait Elder, Daniel Mcgowan Gilmour, Alexander E. Stevenson, Camilla F. Speller

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The archaeological record of fish in the Upper Klamath Basin is important for several reasons. First it is important to descendant indigenous people in the region. Nineteenth century explorer accounts and ethnographic records highlight the importance of fish to subsistence and overall lifeways of Klamath basin people in the 19th and 20th centuries before major habitat destruction (Gatschet 1890; Spier 1930; Lane and Lane Associates 1981; Deur 2003b). Ancient fish bone records emphasize the long-term relationships between fish and Native Americans and the range and diversity of fish species used, which have been in great decline over the past several …

Flight Test Of Pacific Spaceflight Pressure Garment Mark Ii In Bell 206 Jet Ranger, Cameron M. Smith

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Pacific Spaceflight’s Mark II pressure garment (model Gagarin) was test flown to 17,200 feet MSL (5,242m) while worn and operated by Dr. C.M. Smith. The garment and its portable life support system (PLSS) maintained appropriate pressure, temperature and carbon dioxide levels throughout the 47-minute flight. The suit also provided sufficient elbow mobility, due to its convolute joints, for the suited person to operate the portable life support system’s manual suit pressure setting valve and the hand-held radio.

Chronology And Ecology Of Late Pleistocene Megafauna In The Northern Willamette Valley, Oregon, Daniel Mcgowan Gilmour, Virginia L. Butler, Jim E. O'Conner, Edward Byrd Davis, Brendan J. Culleton, Douglas J. Kennett, Gregory Hodgins

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Since the mid-19th century, western Oregon's Willamette Valley has been a source of remains from a wide variety of extinct megafauna. Few of these have been previously described or dated, but new chronologic and isotopic analyses in conjunction with updated evaluations of stratigraphic context provide substantial new information on the species present, timing of losses, and paleoenvironmental conditions. Using subfossil material from the northern valley, we use AMS radiocarbon dating, stable isotope (δ13C and δ15N) analyses, and taxonomic dietary specialization and habitat preferences to reconstruct environments and to develop a local chronology of events that we then compare with continental …

The Ground Slate Transition On The Northwest Coast: Establishing A Chronological Framework, Joshua Daniel Dinwiddie

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis establishes the earliest appearance of ground slate points at 50 locations throughout the Northwest Coast of North America. Ground slate points are a tool common among maritime hunter-gatherers, but rare among hunter-gatherers who utilize terrestrial subsistence strategies; ground slate points are considered one of the archaeological hallmarks of mid-to-late Holocene Northwest Coast peoples. The appearance of ground slate points in the archaeological record is frequently marked by a concurrent decline in the prevalence of flaked stone points, a phenomenon often referred to as "the ground slate transition." Until now, the specific timing of the appearance of these tools …

Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) Ecological Knowledge Of Piñon-Juniper Woodlands: Implications For Conservation And Sustainable Resource Use In Two Southern Nevada Protected Areas, Brian John Lefler

Dissertations and Theses

Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) have inhabited the southern Great Basin for thousands of years, and consider Nuvagantu (where snow sits) in the Spring Mountains landscape to be the locus of their creation as a people. Their ancestral territory spans parts of Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and California. My research identifies and describes the heterogeneous character of Nuwuvi ecological knowledge (NEK) of piñon-juniper woodland ecosystems within two federal protected areas (PAs) in southeastern Nevada, the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area (SMNRA) and the Desert National Wildlife Refuge (DNWR), as remembered and practiced to varying degrees by 22 select Nuwuvi knowledge holders. I focus …

Exploring Colonization And Ethnogenesis Through An Analysis Of The Flaked Glass Tools Of The Lower Columbia Chinookans And Fur Traders, Stephanie Catherine Simmons

Dissertations and Theses

At the end of the 18th century, Anglo Americans and Europeans entered the mouth of the Columbia River for the first time. There they encountered large villages of Chinookan and other Native Americans. Soon afterwards, the Chinookan People became involved in the global fur trade. Pelts, supplies, and native made goods were exchanged with fur traders, who in return provided Chinookans with a number of trade goods. Over the next 40 years, life changed greatly for the Chinookans; new trade and political alliances were created, foreign goods were introduced, and diseases killed large portions of the population (Hajda 1984; Gibson …

Building And Maintaining Plankhouses At Two Villages On The Southern Northwest Coast Of North America, Emily Evelyn Shepard

Dissertations and Theses

Plankhouses were functionally and symbolically integral to Northwest Coast societies, as much of economic and social life was predicated on these dwellings. This thesis investigates both plankhouse architecture and the production of these dwellings. Studying plankhouse construction and maintenance provides information regarding everyday labor, landscape use outside of villages, organization of complex tasks, and resource management.

This thesis investigates three plankhouse structures at two sites, Meier and Cathlapotle, in the Lower Columbia River Region of the southern Northwest Coast of North America. Methods consisted of digitizing over 1,100 architectural features, creating detailed maps of architectural features, and conducting statistical and …

Assessing Possible Cruise Ship Impacts On Huna Tlingit Ethnographic Resources In Glacier Bay, Douglas Deur, Thomas Thornton

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This report provides a thematic summary of an ethnographic study addressing the effects of cruise ships within Glacier Bay proper on the people known as the Huna Tlingit. Occupying the heart of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Glacier Bay proper is considered to be the core homeland of Huna Tlingit. The Huna occupied the Bay prior to its most recent glaciation and, though they now live nearby in Hoonah and other communities, they have continued to use, occupy, and value the lands and waters within the Bay since the glaciers began to retreat over two centuries ago. Simultaneously, since …

High Latitude Coastal Settlement Patterns: Cape Krusenstern, Alaska, Shelby L. Anderson, Adam Freeburg

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Why, when, and how people developed highly specialized marine economies remains the focus of considerable anthropological research. Study of maritime adaptations at high latitudes has potential to contribute to this debate because low biodiversity and increased resource seasonality at high latitudes made reliance on marine resources particularly risky. New research at the Cape Krusenstern site complex, located in northwest Alaska, offers a rare opportunity to study the evolution of maritime adaptations across the environmentally dynamic mid-to-late Holocene Arctic. Large-scale and systematic survey of this important site complex was undertaken to address questions about the timing and character of early Arctic …

Community Media As A Forum For Resistance: The Case Of The Romero Theater Troupe, Michael Kilman

Anthropology Theses

Over the past several decades, mainstream mass media is increasingly becoming a conduit for the consolidation of political power and not as a vehicle to support and maintain democracy. Representing aspects of a western homogenous culture, mainstream mass media often lacks a means for local representation and can obscure coverage of important local and community issues related to social justice and the effects of structural violence. The Romero Theater Troupe in Denver, Colorado serves as an example of community media that acts as a network of local resistance. The Troupe uses community members instead of actors and a consensus model …