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Full-Text Articles in Anthropology

Using Fiber-Optic Reflectance Spectroscopy (Fors) To Identify Human Decomposition Fluid Characteristics In Plant Leaves And Soil, Anielle Duncan Dec 2023

Using Fiber-Optic Reflectance Spectroscopy (Fors) To Identify Human Decomposition Fluid Characteristics In Plant Leaves And Soil, Anielle Duncan

Masters Theses

Anthropologists may be asked by law enforcement or family members to assist in the search for missing deceased individuals. The search areas are often in harsh, rugged terrain for which some technologies, such as ground penetrating radar, cannot be used. Fiber-optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) is a portable instrument that can collect information on plants and soil in the surrounding environment, even in austere environments. This study aimed to test whether FORS could be used to identify decomposition fluid in nearby plants and soil in the visible near-infrared (VNIR) and short-wave infrared (SWIR) spectral regions. Using FORS to analyze the spectral …


Burned But Not Forgotten: Foodways Analysis Of Cooking Spaces From The First Kitchen On Thomas Jefferson’S Monticello Plantation, Peggy Marie Humes Dec 2023

Burned But Not Forgotten: Foodways Analysis Of Cooking Spaces From The First Kitchen On Thomas Jefferson’S Monticello Plantation, Peggy Marie Humes

Masters Theses

This thesis research evaluates the macrobotanical assemblage identified in soil samples from contexts collected throughout the South Pavilion kitchen space (44AB089) at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello plantation in Charlottesville, Virginia. My primary research objectives strive to establish what types of plant remains are represented in soil samples recovered from three stratigraphically assigned temporal periods in this late eighteenth-century kitchen space. As the first kitchen at Monticello, where enslaved cooks prepared meals influenced by African American and French dishes for the Jefferson family until 1809, this site can help better establish an understanding of the cultural foodways and dishes within this time …


Urbanization On The Landscape Of The Old City: An Archaeological Investigation Of Site 40kn223 In Knoxville, Tennessee, Garrett B. Wamack Aug 2023

Urbanization On The Landscape Of The Old City: An Archaeological Investigation Of Site 40kn223 In Knoxville, Tennessee, Garrett B. Wamack

Masters Theses

In this thesis, I examine the effects of urbanization on the landscape and the people who lived upon it at archaeological site 40KN223 within the Old City in Knoxville, Tennessee. This landscape analysis focuses particularly on the decades from 1850 to 1920 during the birth and growth of the Old City. Amid the rising tides of commercialization, industrialization, and the flood-prone waters of First Creek, residents established a working-class neighborhood on the fringe of a substantial African American community. I examine this neighborhood and the transformation of its immediate landscape to understand how urbanization impacted its transformation, to learn who …


Beyond Burial - Transforming Death: A New Ritual Of Farewell And The Ecological Return Of The Body To Nature, Chang Xie Jun 2023

Beyond Burial - Transforming Death: A New Ritual Of Farewell And The Ecological Return Of The Body To Nature, Chang Xie

Masters Theses

Burial and funeral culture have been shaped by human self-awareness and reflect an anthropocentric worldview. The modern funeral industry's multi-billion-dollar enterprise is based on the principle of protecting, sanitizing, and beautifying the corpse to promote the idea of human exceptionalism. However, this practice overlooks the natural process of decay and the potential beauty in returning the body to the earth, with which the body shares the same chemical basis as the earth itself. Modern science has provided Eco-friendly green burial methods, such as soil modification, ice burial, and water burial, making it suitable to contribute to natural ecology using human …


City As Cemetery, Siqiao Zhao Jun 2023

City As Cemetery, Siqiao Zhao

Masters Theses

The traditional funeral service industry has enormous environmental and financial costs. In contrast, green burial, and Natural Organic Reduction (NOR), accelerate the human body’s degradation and reduce toxic substances in the land, assuming responsibility for our burden on the earth. They provide a gateway between us and the processes of nature and ask us to set aside self-consciousness to accept our oneness with the universe. By gifting our bodies back to the earth, where decomposition enriches soils and nurtures the growth of other life forms, we honor those who have transitioned to another state by continuing the cycle of renewal. …


The Music Of Democratic Kampuchea: Revolution Songs As Public Pedagogy, Anissa Jade Lesh May 2023

The Music Of Democratic Kampuchea: Revolution Songs As Public Pedagogy, Anissa Jade Lesh

Masters Theses

The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 utilized a variety of methods to ensure control over the country and its people. Among these methods were the creation and dissemination of revolutionary songs which extolled the virtues of the CPK, instilled fear, and provided explicit instructions on how to serve the Ângka (the organization). While scholars unanimously recognize the use of music as public pedagogy during the regime, there are very few works which explore the songs, their lyrics, or how the music itself reflected their intended sociopolitical purpose. Through the transcription, translation, and analysis …


Anthropology In A Rural Archive: A Study That Moves Along And Against The Archival Grain, Julian W. Mcdaniel May 2023

Anthropology In A Rural Archive: A Study That Moves Along And Against The Archival Grain, Julian W. Mcdaniel

Masters Theses

Anthropologists have long engaged with archival materials in order to provide historically accurate information that might assist in the production of ethnographic projects. Archives are unique institutions where historical data can be found that contributes valuable information about particular groups of people; however, archives themselves are again and again being controlled by a higher power, particularly that of the State, and this act of ownership contributes to acts of omission that misconstrue historical narratives as well as descriptions of the people and places depicted within an archive. In this project, I engage with an archive located in a rural town …


Comparison Of Male And Female Rib Sternal Ends And The Effects Of Aging Using Elliptical Fourier Analysis, Marta M. Paulson May 2023

Comparison Of Male And Female Rib Sternal Ends And The Effects Of Aging Using Elliptical Fourier Analysis, Marta M. Paulson

Masters Theses

Sex and age make up two of the main tenets of the biological profile. Most anthropologists would argue that sex is one of the most important aspects of the profile. When creating a biological profile, the first step is to estimate sex of the individual because this can affect age estimation using the os coxa or estimations of stature. Past studies have noted that even though ribs carry out the same function in males and females there are morphological differences that can affect age estimation using the ribs. This study uses Elliptical Fourier analysis to compare differences in overall shape …


A Handy Study Of Secular Change In Metacarpals Using The Terry Collection And Utk Donated Skeletal Collection, Helen E. Martin May 2023

A Handy Study Of Secular Change In Metacarpals Using The Terry Collection And Utk Donated Skeletal Collection, Helen E. Martin

Masters Theses

Hand morphology reflects an individual’s physical interaction with the world around them. Technological innovation, improved nutrition and health, changes levels of physical activity, and other environmental factors provoke secular change in skeletal morphology. This study elaborates on previous secular change research that has documented the narrowing of the American skeletal form in recent American history, and it contributes new information to this field by focusing on metacarpals. By utilizing a dataset comprising individuals from the Robert J. Terry Collection (N=213) and adults from the UTK Donated Skeletal Collection (N=180), this study examines metacarpal morphology for secular change over a 170-year …


Creating And Implementing Strategies For Nrhp Eligibility Assessment At The Fort Polk Military Reservation, Matthew Thomas Hoover May 2023

Creating And Implementing Strategies For Nrhp Eligibility Assessment At The Fort Polk Military Reservation, Matthew Thomas Hoover

Masters Theses

Large U.S. military installations, such as Fort Polk military reservation in south-central Louisiana, have for decades been the sites of cultural resource management (CRM) investigations, primarily due to the corpus of federal legislation developed to protect archaeological resources. These projects have yielded massive amounts of material and geospatial data and allowed researchers to develop sophisticated methodologies for analyzing site distribution, lithic tool manufacture, and many other avenues of inquiry. However, the cultural chronology represented on Fort Polk is still not well understood, and as a result assignation of National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)significance to sites on Fort Polk has …