Anthropology Commons^™

Differential Diagnosis Of Metastatic Bone Disease: A Case Study From The Ceaf Identified Skeletal Collection Of The University Of Pernambuco, Brazil [Diagnóstico Diferencial Da Doença Óssea Metastática: Um Estudo De Caso Da Coleção Esqueleto Identificado Do Ceaf Da Universidade De Pernambuco, Brasil], Evelyne Pessoa Soriano, Marcus Vitor Diniz De Carvalho, Emília Alves Do Nascimento, Rodrigo Araújo De Queiroz, Carina Marques, Eugénia Cunha

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study aims to discuss the occurrence of pathological changes found in a skeleton from the Center for Studies in Forensic Anthropology (CEAF) Identified Skeletal Collection, Faculty of Odontology, University of Pernambuco (FOP/UPE), Brazil. The skeleton of a 47-year-old male that died in 2014 was macroscopically examined, and the differential diagnosis was performed based on clinical and paleopathological criteria. Lesions that were predominantly osteoclastic were observed in a multifocal pattern, mainly on the skull (29.6% of the total of lesions observed), pelvic bones (22.2%), and vertebrae (25.9%). The lesions morphology consists of elliptical osteolytic foci and areas of coalescent porosity, …

New Research Suggests Cat And Dog ‘Moms’ And ‘Dads’ Really Are Parenting Their Pets: Here’S The Evolutionary Explanation Why, Shelly Volsche

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Have you noticed more cats riding in strollers lately? Or bumper stickers that read, “I love my granddogs”? You’re not imagining it. More people are investing serious time, money and attention in their pets.

It looks an awful lot like parenting, but of pets, not people.

Can this kind of caregiving toward animals really be considered parenting? Or is something else going on here?

Public And Community Archaeology In The Pacific Northwest, Douglas C. Wilson

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The author reflects on the integration of multiple communities of Pacific Northwest archaeological practitioners in a single setting at Portland State University’s (PSU) Archaeology Roadshow. Pioneered by Dr. Virginia Butler, since 2011 this program has integrated agencies, tribes, museums, private-sector CRM firms, archaeology volunteers, elementary schools, and the students of PSU’s Public Archaeology class, to provide exhibits, hands-on activities, and an opportunity for collectors to interact with experts in artifact identification.

On The Past 40 Years Of Archaeology In The Pacific Northwest, Virginia L. Butler

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Butler reviews changes she has witnessed in the practice of archaeology in the Pacific Northwest since her 1975 field school at Lind Coulee. While enormous changes have occurred in technology (e.g., computers, GIS), analytic methods (e.g., aDNA, isotope geochemistry), and research questions and goals, the most profound change has been the increasing role of tribes and Indigenous peoples. Enlarging the scope of “who” does archaeology gives us new insights about our collective past, but also supports justice, equity and inclusion, values of increasing importance to society at large.

Recovering Salmon: Zooarchaeology And Oral Tradition In The Documentation Of Extirpated Cultural Keystone Species In The Upper Klamath Basin, Douglas Deur, Perry Chocktoot Jr.

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

As this special issue attests, Dr. Virginia Butler and her students have made significant and lasting contributions to the study of human-environment relationships over deep time in the Pacific Northwest. Beyond this, their contributions suggest the potential of archaeological research to engage the public and to address pressing natural resource issues of our time. Their investigations of Pacific salmon harvests in the Klamath River Basin are an important case in point. Applying the methods of zooarchaeology to the study of anadromous fish in the Upper Klamath Basin, Butler and her students provide clear corroboration of Tribal oral tradition. In turn, …

Reflections On The State Of Northwest Archaeology: Essays In Honor Of Virginia Butler: Introduction, Shelby L. Anderson, Jeremy Spoon

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introduction to the Fall 2021 issue of Journal of Northwest Anthropology. Essays in Honor of Virginia L. Butler, Portland State University.

Virginia Butler: Commitment, Service, And Mentoring At Portland State University, 1993–2020, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Teasing Apart Impacts Of Human Activity And Regional Drought On Madagascar’S Large Vertebrate Fauna: Insights From New Excavations At Tsimanampesotse And Antsirafaly, Laurie R. Godfrey, Brooke Crowley, Kathleen M. Muldoon, Stephen J. Burns, Nick Scroxton, Zachary S. Klukkert, Lovasoa Ranivoharimanana, Jamie Alumbaugh, Matthew Borths, Natalie Vasey

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Madagascar experienced a major faunal turnover near the end of the first millenium CE that particularly affected terrestrial, large-bodied vertebrate species. Teasing apart the relative impacts of people and climate on this event requires a focus on regional records with good chronological control. These records may document coeval changes in rainfall, faunal composition, and human activities. Here we present new paleontological and paleoclimatological data from southwestern Madagascar, the driest part of the island today. We collected over 1500 subfossil bones from deposits at a coastal site called Antsirafaly and from both flooded and dry cave deposits at Tsimanampesotse National Park. …

Bayesian Assessment Of Northern Alaskan Chronological Issues: Implications For Future Research, Thomas J. Brown, Shelby Anderson, Justin Andrew Junge, Jonathan Duelks

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Cultural interaction and exchange across the Bering Strait of northern Alaska played a central role in the emergence of Arctic maritime adaptations. Yet poor chronological control limits our ability to explore processes of cultural change over the last 5000years. We address this problem by synthesizing the available radiocarbon record for the region, carrying out Bayesian analysis of a regional radiocarbon database, and analyzing the BAR-1 (Birnirk) site using new dates published in this paper. Our synthesis and our illustrative analysis of the BAR-1 site highlights several intriguing temporal and spatial trends with implications for interaction between cultural groups. Our analysis …

Ten Years On: Engaging The Public Through The Archaeology Roadshow, Virginia L. Butler, Lyssia Merrifield, Virginia Parks, Shelby Anderson

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Public engagement is a critical part of archaeologists’ tool kit for encouraging people to look beyond the glittering but superficial appeal of “artifacts” to appreciate and respect the peoples and cultures that made them. Engagement takes many forms—from museum exhibits, archaeological site tours, K–12 curriculum, and social media to heritage tourism, documentary films, and more. Whatever the medium or approach, a common goal is to increase the public’s understanding of the broader values archaeology strives to promote (e.g., scientific literacy, cultural diversity, civic engagement, critical thinking) and to open the door for discussion of the ethical and moral issues surrounding …

Lidar Predictive Modeling Of Pacific Northwest Mound Sites: A Study Of Willamette Valley Kalapuya Mounds, Oregon (Usa), Tia Rachelle Cody, Shelby Anderson

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Archaeologists need new methods to survey large areas and overcome environmental and archaeological barriers to site discovery in heavily forested regions. LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology is one possible solution to these challenges as LiDAR digitally clears away vegetation, facilitating large-scale remote sensing survey. The Calapooia Watershed, located in the southern Willamette Valley of Oregon, is an ideal area to utilize LiDAR. While valley lowlands are cleared for agriculture, riverine areas remain heavily wooded and are known to contain hundreds of low-lying earthwork features created by pre-colonial Kalapuyan people. To assess the potential application of LiDAR in this region, …

Behavioral Ecology Of The Family: Harnessing Theory To Better Understand Variation In Human Families, Paula Sheppard, Kristin Snopkowski

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Researchers across the social sciences have long been interested in families. How people make decisions such as who to marry, when to have a baby, how big or small a family to have, or whether to stay with a partner or stray are questions that continue to interest economists, sociologists, demographers, and anthropologists. Human families vary across the globe; different cultures have different marriage practices, different ideas about who raises children, and even different notions of what a family is. Human behavioral ecology is a branch of anthropology that is particularly interested in cultural variation of family systems and how …

Pet Parenting In The United States: Investigating An Evolutionary Puzzle, Shelly Volsche

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Fertility rates continue to decline globally amidst the second demographic transition, marked by urbanization, increased educational attainment, and most importantly, a new flexibility in life-course organization. As a result, some individuals are choosing to bring companion animals in the home rather than raising children. Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore whether these transitions result in differential companion animal attachment and caregiving behavior in the homes of parents (or those who desire to become parents) and nonparents or childfree “pet parents.” Methods A total of 917 respondents completed an online survey via Qualtrics that included demographic questions, the …

Fertility Intentions And Outcomes In Indonesia: Evolutionary Perspectives On Sexual Conflict, Kristin Snopkowski, James Joseph Nelson

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Differential fertility preferences for men and women may provide insights into human sexual conflict. We explore whether pairbonded couples have different preferences for future offspring, which socioecological factors are associated with these preferences, and who achieves their desired fertility over time. We utilise the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS), a longitudinal survey which collected data from 1993 to 2015, to compare desired future fertility for 9655 couples and follow couples who had divergent preferences. The majority of couples (64.8%) want the same number of future offspring. In 20.7% of couples, husbands want more future offspring than their wives, while the …

Understanding Short-Term Household Recoveries From The 2015 Nepal Earthquakes: Lessons Learned And Recommendations, Jeremy Spoon, Drew Gerkey, Ram B. Chhetri, Alisa Rai, Umesh Basnet, Chelsea E. Hunter

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

We assess tangible and intangible disaster recovery dynamics following the 2015 Nepal earthquakes and aftershocks in order to understand household adaptive capacity and transformation. We randomly selected 400 households in four communities across two highly impacted districts for surveys and interviews at 9 months and 1.5 years afterwards and returned at 2.5 years to share and discuss results. We found that household recoveries were heterogenous, context specific, and changing. Tangible hazard exposure, livelihood disruption, and displacement and intangible place attachment and mental well-being influenced recoveries. We also illustrate challenges related to government programs, housing designs and codes, and outside aid.

Americans Adopted Fewer Pets From Shelters In 2020 As The Supply Of Rescue Animals Fell, Shelly Volsche

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Demand for new pets certainly seemed to spike when the COVID-19 pandemic reached the United States in early 2020 and forced many Americans to spend more time isolated.

But adoptions from animal shelters and rescues actually fell 17% to approximately 1.6 million in 2020 from over 1.9 million in 2019, according to Shelter Animal Counts, a nonprofit that tracks data regarding animals that spend time in shelters.

How did Americans end up welcoming fewer rescued animals into their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic? The short answer is that there weren’t enough furry friends to go around.

Tribal Revegetation Project Final Project Report: 92-Acre Area, Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Complex, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Jeremy Spoon, Brittany Kruger, Richard Arnold, Kate Monti Barcalow, Tribal Revegetation Committee, Trc

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Nuwu (Southern Paiute), Newe (Western Shoshone), and Nuumu (Owens Valley Paiute) are linguistically related, Numic-speaking peoples who are part of the broader Uto-Aztecan language group. Numic peoples view the land as a holistic, living, sentient being with feelings and purpose. The land is personified with human characteristics and it needs to be experienced to be understood through “learning by doing.” Numic peoples do not support ground disturbing activities within their ancestral lands, including activities tied to the storage of low-level radioactive waste or classified materials on the NNSS, which they view as culturally inappropriate. These deep-rooted ancestral connections are the …

Cancers As Rare Diseases: Terminological, Theoretical, And Methodological Biases, Carina Marques, Charlotte Roberts, Vitor M. J. Matos, Jane E. Buikstra

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective

Was cancer a rare disease in the past? Our objective is to consider the various terminological, theoretical, and methodological biases that may affect perceptions of the rarity of cancer in the past.

Materials and methods

We discuss relevant malignant neoplastic biomedical and paleopathological literature and evaluate skeletal data. We selected 108 archaeological sites (n = 151 cancer cases) with published malignant neoplasms and that were amenable to calculating cancer crude prevalence. Furthermore, datasets from four medieval/postmedieval Portuguese and 12 postmedieval UK sites were used to compare age-adjusted rates for metastatic bone disease and tuberculosis.

Results

In the literature review, …

Decreased Cortisol Among Hikers Who Preferentially Visit And Value Biodiverse Riparian Zones, Ellie Opdahl, Kathryn Demps, Julie A. Heath

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

While outdoor recreationists often report increases to their well-being for time spent in nature, the mechanisms through which local ecologies affect human health have been difficult to quantify, and thus to manage. We combine data from pre-post salivary cortisol measures, GPS tracks, visitor photos, and surveys from 88 hikers traversing several types of landscape within peri-urban public lands in southwest Idaho, USA. We find that time in biodiverse riparian areas and areas of perceived aesthetic value correlates with decreases in salivary cortisol and improved well-being for hikers. Wildlife sightings were not associated with changes in salivary cortisol, but were associated …

The Revival Of Reindeer Herding In The North Baikal Highlands, Republic Of Buryatia, John P. Ziker

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper summarizes work with two Evenki reindeer herding collectives in the Severo-Baikal’skoe nagor’e in July, 2010. Ethnographic work with reindeer herder groups Oron and Uluki, both established in the early 1990s in the Kholodnoe community, highlighted two variations on the traditional Evenki approach to reindeer herding evincing numerous commonalities. Both groups relied on natural and human-made features of the landscape to habituate reindeer to areas where reindeer herding had been abandoned for close to 20 years. Reindeer herders and reindeer mutually determine seasonal and daily mobility patterns, and reindeer herding activities are leveraged to conduct big-game hunting and furbearer …

Cultural And Spiritual Significance Of Nature: Guidance For Protected And Conserved Area Governance And Management, Bas Verschuuren, Josep-Maria Mallarach, Edwin Bernbaum, Jeremy Spoon, Steve Brown, Radhika Borde, Jessica Brown, Mark Calamia

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The cultural and spiritual significance of nature has been defined as the spiritual, cultural, inspirational, aesthetic, historic and social meanings, values, feelings, ideas and associations that natural features and nature in general have for past, present and future generations of people – both individuals and groups. These guidelines respond to a growing need to make conservation more inclusive, effective and socially just by accommodating multiple worldviews; by treating natural and cultural heritage as interlinked; and by suggesting ways for engaging and empowering all relevant groups and stakeholders in protected area design, governance and management. The guidelines also assist with creating …

Tempo And Mode Of Neolithic Crop Adoption By Palaeolithic Hunter-Gatherers Of Taiwan: Ethno-Archaeological And Behavioural Ecology Perspectives, Pei-Lin Yu

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Archaeological evidence from the Early Taiwan Neolithic facilitates the development and assessment of predictive statements about habitat-related variance in the initial adoption of agriculture. This paper summarises archaeological research about Taiwan’s terminal Palaeolithic and early Neolithic periods, and derives working expectations from human behavioural ecology models of diet breadth, opportunity cost, and future discounting, as well as ethno-archaeological research. Expectations are evaluated using Lewis Binford’s hunter-gatherer database. Results allow for the prediction that selective forces during the Neolithic transition of Taiwan favoured mixed economies that varied according to the properties of the local habitat, the social and subsistence organisation of …