Anthropology Commons^™

A Fusion Of Microscopy Technique In Human Coprolite Analysis: The Dyck Cliff Dwelling And The Arid West Cave, William Darwin Hertzel

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

In the two papers that comprise this thesis, I will discuss the dietary complexes of two separate Southwestern archaeological sites excavated in the 20th century through the medium of coprolite analysis. The fusion of microscopy techniques in this project expands the capability of observation and identification of microremains and their use in reconstructing the dietary habits of past peoples. I intend to highlight the value of integrating three separate methods of microscopy for the identification of diet and any practices for using that information to narrow down a coprologically unstudied site location for samples of lost provenience. Additionally, this project …

Systemic Stress In Mid-Century American Military Service Members: The Impact Of Socioeconomic Status And Military Service Length On The Human Skeleton, Brianna L. Petersen

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

The purpose of this study is to identify how socioeconomic status (SES) and, separately, length of military service, may affect the human skeleton. Specifically, this study considers non-specific indicators of skeletal stress such as periosteal reactions, enamel defects, and skeletal porosity in a sample of World War II decedents. The Exact Logistic Regression test was used to examine the possible association between military service length and the presence of skeletal porosity and periosteal reaction, and Fisher’s Exact Test of Independence was used to evaluate the relationship between SES and presence of enamel defects, skeletal porosity, and periosteal reaction. In total, …

When Your Data Is My Grandparents Singing: Digitisation And Access For Cultural Records, The Pacific And Regional Archive For Digital Sources In Endangered Cultures (Paradisec), Nick Thieberger, Amanda Harris

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

In this paper we discuss the Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC), a research repository that explicitly aims to act as a conduit for research outputs to a range of audiences, both within and outside of academia. PARADISEC has been operating for 19 years, and has grown to hold over 390,000 files currently totaling 150 terabytes and representing 1,312 languages, many of them from Papua New Guinea and the Pacific. Our focus is on recordings and transcripts in the many small languages of the world, the songs and stories that are unique cultural expressions. While …

It Won’T Be Easy, Allison Arkush

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

Interdisciplinary artist Allison Arkush engages a wide range of materials, modalities, and research in her practice. In It Won’t Be Easy, Arkush places and piles her multimedia sculptures throughout the gallery to create installations that overlap ­with her writing and poetry, sometimes layering in (or extending out to) audio and video components. This approach facilitates the probing exploration of prevailing value systems through a flattening of hierarchies among and between humans, the other-than-human, and the inanimate—though no less lively. Her work meditates on and ‘vendiagrams’ things forsaken and sacred, the traumatic and nostalgic. The exhibition title acknowledges that the …

Dismantling Binary Assumptions In Sex Estimation: Uplifting Trans And Gender Diverse Identities In Forensic Anthropology, Audrey Holbeck

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Forensic anthropology is a study within the field of physical anthropology that seeks to apply osteological expertise to legal and criminal situations. One of a forensic anthropologists’ most important jobs is to build a biological profile, consisting of age, biological sex, stature, and ancestry, in correspondence to an unidentified decedent. As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, instances of violence against trans and gender non-conforming individuals are unfortunately prominent, however, there has also been more awareness shed on trans activism. Trans individuals are at a higher risk of being victims of violent crime, and thus, forensic anthropologists …

Climate Change Adaptation, Migration, And Promising Developments For Pacific Island States, Ashley Jonas

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The people of the Pacific Islands face an existential crisis due to climate change, despite the fact that they are the least responsible for contributing to carbon emissions. The effects of climate change, namely sea-level rise, pose a verified threat to low-lying islands, infiltrating water supplies, crops, and infrastructure. As a result, there is a need for improved solutions for adapting to the impacts of climate change and for easier access to legal migration pathways when the consequences are insurmountable. Through comparative discourse analysis of scholarly sources, intergovernmental policies, and non-governmental organizations, the thesis finds that Small Island Developing States …

Γλύκοπικρος & Bittersweet: An Autoethnographic Approach To Studying Abroad In Greece, Margaret Rieckman

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The purpose of this study is to answer the question: How can reflection via an autoethnographic approach promote sought-after outcomes of a semester studying abroad? Through an anthropological lens, I completed field work, kept field notes, and wrote a reflexive blog to navigate the social processes of learning to belong in another place within the context of a multicultural environment of study abroad program with Erasmus students. Through autoethnography as a methodology and a text, I utilized linguistic analysis to identify key themes that represent my transformative experience. The personal, emotional, and intellectual growth I experienced was made transformative by …

Striving Towards Authenticity In The Self Through Dress And Appearance: Stories Of Latina Adolescent Immigrants, Mary Alice Casto, Jennifer Paff Ogle, Maricela Demirjyn, Amanda Morales, Sarah Silvas-Bernstein

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Faculty Publications

We sought to explore how Latina adolescent immigrants experience immigration across adolescence as they seek to know and express their authentic selves through dress and appearance. Our work was informed by theories of acculturation, identity, and authenticity. Participants included 12 immigrant women who identified as Latina and who immigrated before age 16. Open-ended interviews focused on participants’ memories of their immigration experiences during adolescence. Data were analyzed using constant comparison processes. Findings revealed that, for participants, the typical challenges of adolescence were complicated by immigration that included constructing an authentic identity at the intersection of two cultures. Immigration produced a …

Accessing 3d Data, Francesca Albrezzi, John Bonnett, Tassie Gniady, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Lisa Snyder

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

The issue of access and discoverability is not simply a matter of permissions and availability. To identify, locate, retrieve, and reuse 3D materials requires consideration of a multiplicity of content types, as well as community and financial investment to resolve challenges related to usability, interoperability, sustainability, and equity. This chapter will cover modes, audiences, assets and decision points, technology requirements, and limitations impacting access, as well as providing recommendations for next steps.

Population Sustainability In Rural Great Plains Towns, Andrew Husa

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

As researchers look to define a narrative of population decline throughout the region, the rural Great Plains towns that have been able to sustain their populations and attract new residents have seemingly gone unnoticed. This article features case studies from six rural Nebraska towns that address key questions regarding the population sustainability of rural Great Plains towns. Along with a discussion on the significance of geographic location in population growth or decline, this study includes several examples of how rural towns have used their locations to their advantage, created more job opportunities, enticed new residents to move in, and/or dealt …

Exploring 3d Data Reuse And Repurposing Through Procedural Modeling, Rachel Opitz, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Karin Dalziel, Jessica Dussault, Greg Tunink

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Most contemporary 3D data used in archaeological research and heritage management have been created through ‘reality capture,’ the recording of the physical features of extant archaeological objects, structures, and landscapes using technologies such as laser scanning and photogrammetry (Garstki 2020, ch.2; Magnani et al. 2020). A smaller quantity of data are generated by Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) projects, and even fewer data are generated through procedural modeling, the rapid prototyping of multi-component threedimensional (3D) models from a set of rules (Figure 8.1.). It is unsurprising therefore that in archaeology and heritage, efforts around digital 3D …

Considering The Needs, Challenges, And Assets Of School Systems In Rural Meatpacking Communities During Covid-19: The Roles Of Schools As Vehicles Of Community, Edmund T. Hamann, Amanda R. Morales, Ricardo Martinez

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

For more than 40 years, the relocation of meatpacking from urban to rural communities and the related change of who works in these high-risk, modestly compensated positions has brought Spanish-speaking and African and Asian refugee populations to communities like the seven focal Nebraska communities we consider here. These seven, five rural and two part of multi-county metropolitan areas, all have majority Latinx school enrollments and they all have been particularly hard hit by both the first and third waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. They were each also foci of a special new course we co-taught in December 2020 called: “Pandemics, …

Death Scene Insect Succession In Nebraska: A Guidebook, Erin Bauer, Larry Barksdale, Emma Sidel, Justine Laviolette

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Insect behavior can be helpful to law enforcement in determining time of death, manner of death, location, and environment related to human or other animal victims found at a death scene. They may also provide clues about other aspects associated with an investigation (i.e., fly specks, suspect DNA). The study of how insects and related arthropods can aid in legal investigations is known as forensic entomology. Although this includes both civil applications, such as urban (i.e., maggots in mortuaries or insect structural damage) or stored product (i.e., illness from food contamination) entomology, this manual focuses on criminal applications, such as …

Women And The Mealing Room: Presenting A Comparative Analysis Of Female Spaces Across The Chacoan Landscape, Olivia H. Thomsen

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

In the two papers presented in this thesis, I examine mealing facility architecture both within and beyond Chaco Canyon. Both ethnographic and archaeological evidence tie the secular and sacred action of grinding corn to the gendered labor of women in modern and Ancestral Pueblo societies. In both chapters I utilize the defining elements of context, scale, association, and access to measure the ways in which corn grinding facilities in various Chacoan sites are similar and dissimilar to one another.

In chapter 2, I examine the dichotomy between great and small houses located within Chaco Canyon regarding mealing facilities. Utilizing legacy …

Understanding Religious Tolerance In Yongchang, China, Liming Gao

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The formation of China is a process of national integration and a fusion of different beliefs. However, under Chairman Mao (1949-1976) and specifically during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), people were reeducated to focus on Communism and expel remnants of traditional Chinese culture including the various religions. Although, after the Cultural Revolution, China reinstated its policy of religious freedom, there were still strict laws against religion. Despite such circumstances, Chinese people still practice their religious beliefs. The Yongchang area, located in Gansu Province in the northwest of China is a typical region of Chinese culture. At the same time, compared to …

Experiences In Archaeology, Social Justice, And Democratic Principles: The 2016-2019 Archaeological Field School At The University Of Hawai'i West O'Ahu, William Belcher, Suzanne Falgout, Joyce Chinen, Robert Kalani Carriera, Johanna Fuller

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

From 2016 to 2019, the University of Hawai‘i West O‘ahu conducted archaeological field schools at Honouliuli National Historic Site to teach our students basic archaeological skills. Because the site was the largest Japanese and Japanese American concentration camp on O‘ahu, the field school initiated a program related to social justice and democratic principles for the imprisonment of US citizens and legal residents based on racial and national profiling. The demography of O‘ahu created a special bond to the incarcerees’ stories and the students of Asian and Hawaiian descent. Through field trips, student discussion, and curriculum development, we focused on the …

A Walk Through History: Interactive Tours Of The University Of Nebraska-Lincoln’S Historic City Campus, Emily Vanek

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The main purpose of the creation of an interactive walking tour of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) city campus was to bring to light the history of some of its most important buildings, as well as to bring awareness to some of the buildings that no longer stand as digital heritage. A key emphasis is to help preserve the contributions of the namesakes of these buildings as they are often just as valuable as the history of the buildings themselves. The scope of this project includes a website that is the main hub of information, and two digital forms of …

Multi-Agent Scavenging Patterns In Hawai‘I: A Forensic Archaeological And Skeletal Case Study, Jennifer F. Byrnes, William Belcher

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Knowledge of the behavior of local fauna can aid forensic investigators in developing awareness of site formation processes. In Hawai‘i, little has been published on the effects of feral domestic pig (Sus scrofa) and feral domestic dog (Canis familiaris) scavenging and bone dispersal on field recovery and laboratory observations. In this Pacific tropical setting, the most consequential terrestrial taphonomic agents are pigs and dogs, both in terms of hard tissue modification and dispersal of remains across the landscape. In 2017, an archaeologist discovered the remains of an unidentified decedent on the island of Kauaʻi, State of Hawai‘i during a cultural …

Teaching Digital Cultural Heritage And Digital Humanities The Current State And Prospects, S. Münster, K. Fritsche, F. Apollonio, B. Aehnlich, V. Schwartze, R. Smolarski

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Digital literacy and technology education has gained much relevance in humanities and heritage related disciplines during the recent decades. Against this background, the purpose of this article is to examine the current state of educational programs in digital cultural heritage and related disciplines primarily in Europe with supplemental information from the US. A further aim is to highlight core topics, challenges, and demands, and to show innovative formats and prospects

Urbanization Of The Salt Plains: Early Industry And Material Culture Of The Kauffman Neighborhood, June Weber

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

The material history of Lincoln, Nebraska has previously been addressed through several theses and papers, however, the Kauffman collection up to this point has not been thoroughly analyzed and summarized as a whole. Through this thesis, the results of data from the features excavated will be compared with the analysis of artifact collections revealing the social dynamics of both the individual household and the neighborhood itself. Census data and Sanborn maps will be integrated in order to better visualize changes in household composition and size throughout time. Primarily by analyzing glass bottles and ceramic assemblages found within individual privies, cisterns, …

Expedient Gis And 3d Technology To Promote Public Awareness Of European Crypts As Digital Heritage, Ruth Grady

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

The thesis is investigation of GIS and 3D technology as ways to expediently document and disseminate information on European crypts as digital heritage. Digital technologies afford new opportunities to find, document, preserve, and share our past creating a wide and growing range of digital texts, databases, audio, video, illustrations, and software. While there are a wide range of digital technologies and digital data types employed in cultural heritage, 3D technologies such as lidar scanning are increasingly becoming a critical component to record cultural heritage. The case study focuses on two Sicilian crypts—Santa Maria Dell’Itria dei Cocchieri and Capuchin Church—located in …

Quantification Of The Mincer Et Al. 1993 Method Of Age Estimation For The Purpose Of Increasing The Reliability And Accuracy Of Scores Within The System, Bailey Oettel

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

There is currently a need to test new methods of increasing the accuracy and reliability of the stages scored by users of subjective methodologies within the forensic sciences. One way this can be done is through the quantification of these subjective stages through metric measurements and the application of sectioning points. This research assesses the quantification of the subjective stages within the Mincer et al. (1993) method of age estimation through odontometric measurements and the application of sectioning points. In this study, five odontometric measurements taken from radiographs of fifty-five third mandibular molars from thirty-nine individuals were used to establish …

Recovery Method For Mites Discovered In Mummified Human Tissue, Jessica Smith

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Much like other arthropods, mites have been discovered in a wide variety of forensic and archaeological contexts featuring mummified remains. Their accurate identification has assisted forensic scientists and archaeologists in determining environmental, depositional, and taphonomic conditions that surrounded the mummified remains after death. Consequently, their close association with cadavers has led some researchers to intermittently advocate for the inclusion of mites in archaeological site analyses and forensic case studies. However, despite their potential value, mites have been underutilized with a variety of reasons for the lack of inclusion of mites in archaeological and forensic analyses. Chief amongst these reasons is …

Modesty And Security: Attributes Associated With Comfort And Willingness To Engage In Telelactation, Adetola F. Louis-Jacques, Ellen J. Schafer, Taylor A. Livingston, Rachel G. Logan, Stephanie L. Marhefka

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

The objectives were to identify conditions under which mothers may be willing to use telelactation and explore associations between participant characteristics, willingness, and beliefs regarding telelactation use. Mothers 2–8 weeks postpartum were recruited from two Florida maternal care sites and surveyed to assess demographics, breastfeeding initiation, and potential telelactation use. Analyses included descriptive statistics and logistic regression models. Of the 88 participants, most were white, married, earned less than USD 50,000 per year, had access to technology, and were willing to use telelactation if it was free (80.7%) or over a secure server (63.6%). Fifty-six percent were willing to use …

Understanding Technology Fit Among People With Hiv Based On Intersections Of Race, Sex, And Sexual Behavior: An Equitable Approach To Analyzing Differences Across Multiple Social Identities, Elizabeth Lockhart, Deanne Turner, Joseph Ficek, Taylor A. Livingston, Rachel G. Logan, Stephanie L. Marhefka

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

HIV disproportionately impacts individuals based on intersecting categories (e.g. gender, race/ethnicity, behavior), with groups most at-risk deemed priority populations. Using weighted effects coding to account for differential group sizes, this study used multilevel mixed logistic models to investigate differences in eHealth use and willingness to use eHealth for HIVrelated information among priority populations. Compared to the sample average, Black men who had sex with women were less likely to use all technologies except cellphones with text-messaging and less likely to be willing to use computers and tablets. White and Hispanic men who had sex with men were more likely to …

These Are My People: An Ethnography Of Quiltcon, Kristin Barrus

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis presents the first ethnography of QuiltCon, the annual fan and artist convention for quiltmakers who identify with and participate in a social phenomenon called the Modern Quilt Movement (MQM) within the 21st century quilt world. QuiltCon (QC) is one product of this movement. This study considers the following questions: What kinds of people attend QC, and what types of experiences and encounters do they expect at the convention? What needs are met at QC for this subset of quiltmakers who attend and for the greater community of Modern quiltmakers? What role does QC play in cementing the identity …

Case Report: Digital Restoration Of Fragmented Non-Human Skull, Gargi Jani, Abraham Johnson, William Belcher

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Reconstruction of fragmented material remains has been given a considerable attention in the fields of archaeology, forensic anthropology, and palaeoanthropology. Fragmented osseous remains are often found in cases of mass disasters, burning incidents, crash incidents, as well as bodily mutilation through criminal and suicidal activities. In cases where the remains are burnt or fragile, the handling of the remains becomes difficult and improper handling may lead to further destruction of the evidence. In such cases, digital restoration of the remains by means of threedimensional technology can be done as it is a non-invasive in nature and minimizes physical handling. It …

A 3d Point Cloud Deep Learning Approach Using Lidar To Identify Ancient Maya Archaeological Sites, Heather Richards-Rissetto, David Newton, Aziza Al Zadjali

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Airborne light detection and ranging (LIDAR) systems allow archaeologists to capture 3D data of anthropogenic landscapes with a level of precision that permits the identification of archaeological sites in difficult to reach and inaccessible regions. These benefits have come with a deluge of LIDAR data that requires significant and costly manual labor to interpret and analyze. In order to address this challenge, researchers have explored the use of state-of-the-art automated object recognition algorithms from the field of deep learning with success. This previous research, however, has been limited to the exploration of deep learning processes that work with only 2D …

Review Of The Investigator: Demons Of The Balkan War (English Translation), By Vladimír Dzuro, Brianna Petersen

Nebraska Anthropologist

The Balkan War is regarded as a very dark period in world history, with death, torture, destruction, and displacement all being methods used to perpetuate violence against multiple groups of people in the area. The Investigator: Demons of the Balkan War by Vladimír Dzuro (hereafter referred to as The Investigator) is a chilling personal account of criminal investigations of the perpetrators of the war that broke out in the former Yugoslavia. Dzuro, initially an employee of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) and later the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), addresses the many horrors of this war, …

Who Counts As A Citizen? Toward An Interdisciplinary Understanding Of Statelessness, Cole S. Kovarik

Nebraska Anthropologist

This paper highlights several limitations of the dominant legal framework for addressing statelessness and incorporates sociological understandings of citizenship and nationality into a revised approach to the issue. The analysis examines various national group dynamics surrounding the issue of statelessness for the Rohingya of Myanmar and concludes that legal citizenship status is neither the sole cause of nor the sole solution for the crisis that has emerged. It concludes with an assessment of the social dynamics that lead to statelessness and recommendations for future research.