Anthropology Commons^™

Investigating The Late Woodland Climate Of Old Tampa Bay, Florida, Jaime Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Tampa Bay and the broader Central Gulf Coast region of Florida bear evidence of site reduction and population decline during the onset of the Late Woodland period (AD 500-1000). Concomitantly, Weeden Island culture flourished to the north, while climatic instability loomed to the south. It is unclear if the site abandonments in the area between the two are related to social or cultural change, an unstable climate, or a combination thereof. Interdisciplinary research has provided evidence for climate change and sea level regression during the sixth and seventh centuries in Southwest Florida, but these variables have yet to be investigated …

Analyzing Pre-Inhumation Breakage Ceramics At Lamanai, Belize: A Conjunctive Approach, Ryan Enger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During the Terminal Classic period (9th-10th centuries A.D.), the ancient Maya at Lamanai, Belize, began to practice pre-inhumation breakage of ceramics in mortuary contexts. Previously, the custom had been to bury whole vessels with the deceased. This conspicuous shift in behavior suggests important changes in beliefs regarding the role of ceramics in death and interment at a pivotal moment in ancient Maya culture history. Despite this significant change, there has been no published research conducted specifically on these vessels. In fact, there has been no clearly delineated set of characteristics for what qualifies as a pre-inhumation breakage vessel (PBV). This …

Mirrors As Portals: Images Of Mirrors On Ancient Maya Ceramics, Julie Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Maya believed there were multiple worlds in addition to the human world. Portals connected these worlds and allowed active engagement between the Maya and their gods. Without portals and the ability to communicate between the worlds the Maya belief system could not function. Evidence suggests the Maya believed reflective surfaces – mirrors and water surfaces – were portals to spiritual worlds. In this thesis, I examine the portrayal of mirrors as portals in Maya art, focusing on mirrors in scenes painted on ceramics. Combining archaeological, iconographical, and linguistic data I argue that mirrors functioned in service to ritual as …

Utilizing Geographic Information Systems To Record And Analyze Osteoarthritis Data In Joints Of The Arm: A Methodology For Dry Bones, Adam Biernaski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common pathologies encountered in dry bone contexts. However, even with the wealth of publications on documenting the presence of OA from skeletons, these studies prove to be largely incomparable due to different scoring methodologies and procedures in calculating prevalence. The standardization of a new OA data collection procedure would mitigate variability in evaluating, scoring, and calculating the prevalence of OA, thus allowing accurate comparison between studies. However, this level of data collection has often been described as unwieldy and lacking concordance. This research outlines a new methodology that utilizes Geographic Information Systems (GIS) …

Whose Community Museum Is It? Collaboration Strategies And Identity Affirmation In The Amache Museum, Ting-Chun (Regina) Huang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Amache Museum is a preservation project that has multiple communities involved in preserving Amache history. It represents Japanese American as well as American history and is owned and maintained by the Amache Preservation Society (APS), which is comprised of local Granada High School students. By approaching the Amache Museum as a community museum and noticing its distinct collaborative strategy, this thesis investigates the community collaborations and the identity affirmations within the museum, and addresses the question of whose community museum the Amache Museum represents. My research explores the overlapping conceptual models of the Amache Museum: community museum and ecomuseum, …

Bluegrass And Old-Time In Catalonia: An Ethnographic Case Study Of Aesthetic Communitas, Michael J. Luchtan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This is an ethnographic case study of a musical community in Catalonia centered around the performance of bluegrass and old-time music. By using Victor and Edith Turners’ ideas of normative communitas, this paper identifies an aesthetic communitas model which describes a community centered around a performative genre. Through participant observation in the 16th Annual Al Ras Bluegrass and Old Time Music Festival and interviews with local musicians, fans, venue owners, and luthiers, the ethnographic narrative details the characteristics of the aesthetic communitas in Catalonia and searches for associations of Appalachia that accompany the cross-cultural manifestation of bluegrass and old-time music …

Navigating Mental Health Care Access In Louisville : An Ethnography Of Local Resources And Care Assemblages., Laura Drabelle Valentine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines barriers to care access present in Louisville, Kentucky's community mental health care infrastructure, and how individuals who seek mental health care experience and navigate those barriers. This thesis expands research about the impacts of health care reform following the Affordable Care Act and adds to literature about the political economy of health-seeking behaviors. Drawing on assemblage theory and ethnographic research with both care-providers and care-recipients of Community Mental Health Care Organizations, I argue that both groups attempt to alleviate barriers to care access and facilitate mental health recovery through the development of formal and informal strategies. Examining …

The Doyen Of Dixie: A Survey Of The Banjo Stylings Of Uncle Dave Macon, Corbin F. Hayslett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

David Harrison Macon (1870-1952) is often memorialized for his showmanship rather than his banjo playing. To compartmentalize such a significant American musician yields a wide gap within scholarship about Macon, country music history and the banjo. Macon’s banjo playing, documented through over two-hundred and fifty recordings made between the 1920s and 1950s, represents an array of cultures, eras, ethnicities, and styles all preserved in the repertoire of one of the most prolific country musicians of the 20^th century. This study reveals Macon’s playing by considering such factors as influences that preceded his professional tenure, identifying elements within his playing …

Native American Occupation Of The Singer-Hieronymus Site Complex: Developing Site History By Integrating Remote Sensing And Archaeological Excavation, Claiborne Sea

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Located on a ridgetop in central Kentucky, the Singer-Hieronymus Site Complex consists of at least four Native American villages. The Native Americans who lived there are called the “Fort Ancient” by archaeologists. This study examined relationships between these villages, both spatially and temporally, to build a more complete history of site occupation. To do this, aerial imagery analysis, geophysical survey, and archaeological investigations were conducted. This research determined there were differences among villages in terms of their size, however other characteristics—internal village organization, village shape, radiometric dates, and material culture—overlapped significantly. Additionally, landscape-scale geophysical survey identified at least three potentially …

Community Connections: Public Outreach And Education At The Batesville Mounds Site, Lacy Nicole Mattson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is the result of a goal-driven, applied anthropology project that assisted the City of Batesville in the opening of The Batesville Mounds site as a public park on November 21, 2017. Other goals of this project consisted of providing park planners with historical information on the pre-contact Native American occupation as well as past archaeological investigations at the site and to make recommendations for the future of the Park. In order to facilitate the City in this capacity, comparable mounds sites were visited, surveys and interviews were conducted, an inventory of Batesville Mounds artifacts curated at the University …

Trace Element Analysis Of Human Dentition From The Elite Meroitic Cemetery At Sedeinga, Sudan To Determine Dietary Consumption And Cultural Behaviors, Tiffany Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Minimal research has been conducted on the human skeletal remains from this site, and this research is aimed toward adding knowledge of the Nubian culture for the period between the 1st c. AD to the 4th c. AD, particularly focusing on answering the following questions: 1) Was intra- individual variation present in dietary consumption or cultural behaviors based on elements found within an individual's multiple molars after analysis; 2) Was an inter-individual variation apparent, based on developmental age through permanent molars, that indicated a distinction between dietary consumption against all individuals; and 3) Based on known medicinal and cosmetic use …

The Core Relation Between Hospitality (Philoxenia), Dignity And Vulnerability In Orthodox Christian Bioethics: A Contribution To Global Bioethics, Rabee Toumi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In a pluralistic world, reaching consensus in matters of bioethics has proved to be difficult, especially with the political polarization that nurtures inimical differences. This dissertation argues that a middle ground can be identified between the plurality of value systems in contemporary bioethics based on an anthropological approach. This middle ground that reflects commonalities of the human condition can be explored in relation to the foundational principles of Orthodox Christian anthropology. To identify this middle ground the analysis discusses the core relation between hospitality, dignity, and vulnerability as a contribution to global bioethics.

In general, based on Orthodox Christian theology …

Reconstructing Ancient Lives Using 3d Technology: A Case Study Of Pork And Doughboy Point, Belize, Jane Fiegel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

3D technology can preserve cultural heritage resources and enhance museum collections and exhibits. Through 3D scanning, an exact digital replica of an artifact is created, which can be printed out or used to create a digital display. For this project, 3D scanning was used to reconstruct ancient Maya lives at Pork and Doughboy Point, Belize. By studying and classifying an inventory of selected artifacts, we were able to determine what activities occurred at the site. goal of this project was to showcase the growing importance of 3D technology in cultural preservation and the variety of ways in which it can …

Malaria In The Prehistoric Caribbean : The Hunt For Hemozoin., Mallory D. Cox

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the increase in resistance to anti-malarials and global warming trends expanding the habitation range of the mosquito vector, research highlighting the biogeographical contexts of infected populations is critical to understanding epidemiological patterns. A bioarchaeological approach to epidemiology can shed light on previous disease patterns and aid in the prediction of future outbreaks of diseases like malaria. Currently, there is no direct evidence of malaria in the Americas prior to European contact; however, skeletal, archaeological, paleoenvironmental, historic, and ethnohistorical evidence strongly suggest the presence of Plasmodium spp. malaria in indigenous Caribbean skeletal remains held in the Yale Peabody Museum of …

Crafting Local Food Narratives With Immigrant Voices: Participatory Ethnography Among Somali Bantu Farmers In West Denver, Raymond Alexander Pang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 2013, a non-profit, Re:Vision, established the Ubuntu Farm to work with the local Somali Bantu refugee population. It was supposed to improve access to fresh produce, offer educational opportunities, skill training and more. Early on in 2014, it became clear Re:Vision was not delivering on its promises, and by 2015 the farm had ceased to exist. Using participant observation, interviews with farm participants and staff and a review of publicly accessible financial documents, I argue that Re:Vision maintained a conflict of mission, which contributed to their farms' failings, despite their ability to grow plenty of vegetables. From there, I …

Psychotropic Medications And Children: Perceptions Of Mental Health Professionals, Elinor Jane Brereton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project explores mental health professionals' perspectives on the prescription of psychotropic medications to children. It emphasizes the placement of biomedicine within its larger social, economic, and political context, and the influence these structures have on the way mental illness is conceptualized and treated in children. Eight semi-structured interviews were conducted in Denver, Colorado with psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and a pharmaceutical board member to capture multiple perspectives from different positionalities within the field. Participants discussed factors that they believe influence prescribing practices including: professional role changes, issues of access, limited evidence, cost, and institutional pressures to practice within a …

The Global Dance Network: Reykjaví­K, Iceland, Takes On New Moves, Emily Creek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research is an exploration of the contemporary dance community in Reykjaví­­k, Iceland. The research questions guiding this thesis were founded in a desire to understand how the dance community in Reykjaví­k creates its own agency and meaning within the city of Reykjaví­­k, as well as how the dance community in Reykjaví­k takes imported dance knowledge, localizes it and creates local meaning. With this goal of understanding the ways the community navigates the wider global dance network from its location as a northern island, I utilize concepts from the anthropology of globalization as well as dance anthropology. I specifically employ …

Through The Yoruba Lens: A Postcolonial Discourse Of Female Circumcision, Jennifer Quichocho

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the Western media attention and the critique of female circumcision in sub-Saharan Africa, few studies consider the local populations' traditions, values, and ideologies. Through the Yoruba Lens: A Postcolonial Discourse of Female Circumcision investigates female circumcision practices from a philosophical, Yoruba traditionalist perspective. African philosophy and religion provides an ideological foundation and helps reveal the postcolonial and feminist theoretical framework that continues the academic debate. Framed by LeCompte and Schensul's notion that "ethnography emphasized discovery; it does not assume answers" (2010: 33), my research draws from literature reviews, quantitative data, and interviews. I will present and investigate three hypotheses …

A Shifting Island Landscape: Changes In Land Use And Daily Life In The 19th And 20th Century Village Of Inishark, Co. Galway, Ireland, Lauren Marie Couey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates changes to village spatial arrangement and land use patterns in the nineteenth and twentieth century village of Inishark, Co. Galway, Ireland. To understand how spatial changes within the historic village were shaped by interactions between villagers and outside groups, including landlords and government agencies, a landscape approach was utilized. An examination of historic maps, valuation documents, and Irish Census documents, combined with ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey and archaeological excavation, were used to understand how historical pressures impacted island life. Inishark's geographic isolation creates a unique case study to understand the impact of historical pressures on rural Irish …

An Archaeological Exploration Of Agriculture, Trade, And Indigenous Relationships At A Seventeenth-Century New England Site, Jasmine Coreen Saxon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A multi-method approach including ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry, historical research, excavations, and artifact analyses was used to gather data at a 17th century archaeological site in South Glastonbury, Connecticut. Interpretation of these data provided evidence that the Europeans who occupied this site were involved in a variety of activities such as agriculture, trade, and developing Indigenous relationships. These activities included cultivating an agricultural surplus instead of relying on subsistence farming, access to trading networks that extended throughout the Colonies and into Europe, and cohabitation with the Indigenous peoples in the area. This research led to an examination of various historical narratives …

Looking Through The Trees: An Anthropologist, A Museum, And The Sasquatch, Carissa Kepner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Sasquatch is incredibly popular in American society. This project explores the impact of the Sasquatch phenomenon on those that live in and visit Bailey, Colorado. It focuses on how the Sasquatch Outpost museum contributes to this impact, especially through outdoor activities, visiting the museum, visiting the Outpost general store, and the sharing of sighting stories. This work takes an in-depth look at the concept of the amateur museum, or micromuseum, and how it can contribute to the larger museum world, particularly through the ideas of Outsider Art and serious leisure. By evaluating the processes, exhibits, and procedures of the …

The Spatial Distribution Of Tumuli In The Iron Age Kanak Su Basin, Turkey, Paige Paulsen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project takes the Iron Age tumuli of the Kanak Su Basin in Yozgat, Turkey as a case study for the application of geospatial methods to reconstruct past perceptions of a mortuary landscape. The tumulus fields – landscapes heavily modified by monumental burial mounds – of central Anatolia present an opportunity to investigate how burial practices reflect and create places of collective memory, territorial identity, and the social order. Understanding the nature of Iron Age settlement in the Kanak Su Basin remains an ongoing subject of study in central Anatolian archaeology, especially in regard to how the large, short-lived city …

Analysis Of Prehistoric Ceramics From A Fourteenth-Century Native American House, Carter Robinson Site (44le10), Lee County, Virginia, Emily J. Warner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chiefdoms located on the frontier of the Mississippian world have not been examined in great detail, yet they have the potential to provide evidence for the emergence of hierarchy and the interaction of hierarchical and egalitarian societies. Frontiers can help identify the emergence and maintenance of power in southeastern chiefdoms. Carter Robinson (44le10) is a frontier site that can help understand the degree of interaction between hierarchical and non-hierarchical groups nearby. This thesis will analyze the ceramics at structure 6 based on the 2015 excavation at Carter Robinson located in Lee County, Virginia. The use of attribute and morphological analyses …

Reflectance Transformation Imaging: Documenting Graffiti In The Maya Lowlands, Rachel Gill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the late 19th century, explorers identified graffiti etched in stucco walls of residences, palaces, and temples in the Maya Lowlands. By the mid-20th century, scholars acknowledged that the ancient Maya produced these incised images. Today, archaeologists struggle with documenting these instances of graffiti with precision and accuracy, often relying solely on to-scale line drawings to best represent the graffitied image they see before them. These images can be complex, multilayered, and difficult to see so identifying the sequence of creation of the incisions can be challenging. Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) is a method that uses a moving light source …

Reproductive Rights And Justice Advocacy In Central Florida: Who Is Represented?, Mary Hager

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the racial understanding and social relationships of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida staff and volunteers. As well, this research explores how Planned Parenthood supporters organize and promote diverse advocacy work to promote reproductive justice in social media and volunteer education. Planned Parenthood has been at the forefront of reproductive rights campaigns for over a century, and their work has often tied into contemporary feminist and political issues. Of note, feminists of color have called for a shift from advocacy for "reproductive choice" to "reproductive justice" as a way to identify the needs and predicaments of …

Animals Of The Cloud Forest: Isotopic Variation Of Archaeological Faunal Remains From Kuelap, Peru, Samantha Michell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stable isotopic analyses of faunal remains are used as a proxy for reconstructing the ancient Chachapoya dietary environment of the northeastern highlands in Peru. Archaeologists have excavated animal remains from refuse piles at the monumental center of Kuelap (AD 900-1535). This archaeological site is located at 3000 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l.), where C3 plants dominate the region. The study presented here is one of the few in the Central Andes that uses faunal remains to develop local isotopic baselines, reconstruct resource exploitation, and provide insight into dietary variation. Bone collagen stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopes are used …

Revisiting The Postclassic Burials At Lamanai, Belize: A Second Look At The Unique Ventrally Placed, Legs Flexed Burials., Victoria Izzo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Analysis of unique mortuary patterns is often used to evaluate the social lives of the deceased and also those of the living who placed them there. The Ventrally Placed, Legs Flexed (VPLF) burials at the site of Lamanai in Belize, dating to the Postclassic period (1000 - 1544), have been recorded as a Maya mortuary pattern since the late 1970's. While many researchers have analyzed these skeletal remains, comprehensive and cumulative individual analysis of the VPLF individuals from Lamanai has not been conducted. In this study, I will argue that the VPLF individuals in this study were local to Lamanai, …

Testing The Capability Of Close-Range Photogrammetry To Document Outdoor Forensic Scenes With Skeletal Remains Using Mock Scenarios, Kevin Gidusko

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

More rigorous methodological protocols are needed to document outdoor forensic scenes containing skeletal remains. However, law enforcement protocols rarely provide specific guidelines for processing these scenes. Regardless, the need to preserve contextual information at crime scenes is of paramount importance and it is worth exploring new technological applications that will allow for better documentation. Close-range photogrammetry (CRP) is one option for outdoor scene documentation, more prominently utilized in archaeological contexts, that may provide forensic archaeologists with a tool to better document these scenarios via 3D modeling. To test the efficacy of CRP as documentation tool three mock scenarios representing common …

A Landscape Of Death: A Comparison Of Non-Adult To Adult Burials At The Late Bronze Age Site Of Tell El-Far'ah (South), Rebecca Reeves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to determine whether there are any differences in the burial practices for non-adults and adults at the Late Bronze Age site of Tell el-Far'ah (South) in modern day Israel. The archaeology of childhood together with various methods of analyses, including geospatial and statistical techniques, were utilized to address the main research question focused on the spatial differences and relationships between non-adult and adult burials. There are missing children in the archeological record. Tell el-Far'ah (South) is an example of this phenomenon. Reasons vary from taphonomy to potential infanticide. Based on the currently available data, it seems that …

Making An Impression: A Formal Analysis Of The Contextual And Iconographic Characteristics Of Ancient Mexican Ceramic Stamps, Elizabeth Rose Lyon Peabody

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ceramic stamps are a rare, yet widely distributed, artifact class within ancient Mexico. However, there has only been limited scholarly research on these objects and much current research is minimally supported. Depicting a wide range of iconography, including metaphysical, floral, and faunal designs, the function and meaning of these stamps, also known as estampias, pintaderas, and sellos, in ancient Mexican life remain an archaeological mystery. This paper examines the contextual, chronological, and iconographic characteristics of ancient Mexican ceramic stamps as well as the distributional trends of those characteristics. This study is comprised of 83 stamps of varying design that date …