Anthropology Commons^™

Burial Practices In Southern Appalachia., Donna W. Stansberry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted in an attempt to determine whether certain burial practices are unique to the people of Southern Appalachia. Eight individuals were interviewed, including a minister and a funeral director. As a result of the research, it was found that, although a strong sense of community and religion still prevails, making certain burial rituals distinctive to the people of Southern Appalachia, they are slowly eroding due to the growing presence of the modern American funeral industry.

Qualitative research methods were used to analyze a segment of the Southern Appalachian population, with literature reviews of related material and in-depth …

Seeking After Empire: Bioarchaeologists And American Indians In The New Millennium, Michelle Dawn Hamilton

Doctoral Dissertations

New and amended cultural resource laws are changing the academic and scientific landscape of North American bioarchaeology and archaeology. The passage of the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act in 1990 was an important watershed event in the history of the discipline of biological anthropology, and the increasingly successful utilization of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act by federally recognized sovereign tribes is resulting in unanticipated legal restrictions on the scientific collection of bioarchaeological data from American Indian skeletal remains and mortuary site settings.

The evolving relationships between bioarchaeologists and American Indians is examined in the context …

Biological And Statistical Variation In Age Estimation From Pubic Symphyseal Morphology With Regard To Individual Identification And Demographic Profiling, Erin H. Kimmerle

Doctoral Dissertations

Population variation in the morphological aging process of the pubic symphysis has generated much debate. The question of whether age parameters derived from an American population will reliably estimate age-at-death for East European skeletal populations is important since the ability to accurately estimate an individual’s age-at-death hinges on what standard is used. Consequently, successful age estimation, individual identification, and demographic profiling rests on the ability to correctly define the skeletal parameters of age-at-death.

The purpose of this study is to assess the aging process of American and East European populations and to determine what age parameters should be applied to …

A Test Of The Multiregional Hypothesis Of Modern Human Origins Using Basicranial Evidence From Indonesia And Australia, Authur C. Durband

Doctoral Dissertations

Proponents of the Multiregional Hypothesis of modern human origins have consistently stated that the material from Australasia provides one of the most compelling examples of regional continuity in the human fossil record. According to these workers, features found in the earliest Homo erectus fossils from Java can be traced through more advanced hominids from Ngandong and are found in both fossil and recent Australian Aborigines. For this study, non-metric observations will be used to determine the degree of similarity between earlier Homo erectus from Sangiran, the Ngandong fossils (including the Sambungmacan hominids), and fossil/modern Australian Aborigines in the cranial base. …

Molecular Anthropology And The Punta Lobos Assemblage: Dna-Based Sex-Typing Of Juveniles From Ancient Hair Samples, Adriane Michelle Scola

Masters Theses

The recent proliferation of techniques suitable for DNA recovery in ancient samples has prompted anthropological researchers to explore molecular-based investigations of human remains from archaeological contexts. The study demonstrates the utility of ancient DNA analysis to strengthen a site-specific demographic profile from the Punta Lobos assemblage. DNA extraction via a silica-based extraction technique from juvenile hair bulb samples and further DNA amplification via high cycle-number PRC was undertaken to genetically type individual sex. Morphologically intermediate subadult samples were typed as biological males when amplification was successful. The inclusion of preliminary amplification results form a mitochondrial DNA marker suggests that DNA …

Seeking After Empire: Bioarchaeologists And American Indians In The New Millenium, Michelle Dawn Hamilton

Doctoral Dissertations

New and amended cultural resource laws are changing the academic and scientific landscape of North American bioarchaeology and archaeology. The passage of the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act in 1990 was an important watershed event in the history of the discipline of biological anthropology, and the increasingly successful utilization of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act by federally recognized sovereign tribes is resulting in unanticipated legal restrictions on the scientific collection of bioarchaeological data from American Indian skeletal remains and mortuary site settings.

The evolving relationship between bioarchaeologists and American Indians is examined in the context …

Preliminary Report On The Faunal Remains And Taphonomic Analysis Of Plover's Lake Cave, Cradle Of Humankind, South Africa, Juliet Krueger Brophy

Masters Theses

This study examines a sample faunal assemblage from Plover’s Lake Cave, South Africa, and uses the faunal identification and taphonomic indicators to determine the bone accumulating agents and make inferences about their behavior and environment. Fossil assemblages can be dramatically affected by ancient bone collectors as evident by their taphonomic signatures. The taphonomic overprint given to a site is typically due to episodic factors and the paleoenvironmental reconstructions that are based upon these assemblages must take into account any biases the accumulating agents may impart. After performing several analyses involving bone modification and taxonomic abundance, I suggest three accumulators were …

Molecular Anthropology And The Punta Lobos Assemblage: Dna-Based Sex-Typing Of Juveniles From Ancient Hair Samples, Adriane Michelle Scola

Masters Theses

The recent proliferation of techniques suitable for DNA recovery in ancient samples has prompted anthropological researchers to explore molecular-based investigations of human remains from archaeological contexts. This study demonstrates the utility of ancient DNA analysis to strengthen a site-specific demographic profile from the Punta Lobos assemblage. DNA extraction via a silica-based extraction technique from juvenile hair bulb samples and further DNA amplification via high cycle-number PCR was undertaken to genetically type individual sex. Morphologically indeterminate subadult samples were typed as biological males when amplification was successful. The inclusion of preliminary amplification results from a mitochondrial DNA marker suggests that DNA …

Estimation Of Skeletal Age-At-Death From Dental Root Translucency, Debra A. Prince

Doctoral Dissertations

Estimating the biological profile for an unknown individual is a crucial part of forensic anthropology, bioarchaeology and paleodemography. The current research deals with one aspect of the biological profile: estimation of skeletal age-at-death. Several methods are available to estimate skeletal age-at-death, but most involve placing a skeletal element into a phase category. This type of phase-oriented age estimation, in addition to improper statistical methodology, leads to several problems: 1) observer subjectivity; 2) large age ranges and open-ended intervals; 3) stages that overlap one another; 4) aging bias; 5) age mimicry; and 6) taphonomic problems. Solutions to these methodological and statistical …

Differentiation Of Fragmented Bone From South East Asia: The Histological Evidence, Derek Christian Benedix

Doctoral Dissertations

“The skeletal remains of some other animals, particularly when fragmentary, are often difficult to distinguish from human bones and teeth” (White 1991:3, emphasis mine).

Archaeological sites yield evidence that may be culturally modified items such as lithic tools, pottery, beads, buttons, watches, wedding rings, to items in nature classified by Dart (1957) as osteodontokeratic. Osteodontokeratic remains (or bone, tooth, and horn) are osseous human or animal elements that have either been modified tools or strictly osseous tissue itself. Bones of human and non-human origin comprise a significant portion of an assemblage. Deciphering the spatial context of the various forms …

Effects Of Group Composition And Mating Season On The Agonisitic And Affiliative Behavior Of Rhesus Macaques (Macaca Mulatta), Lauren Dawn Cox

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine what, if any, were the effects of group composition and mating season on grooming and aggression in captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Three groups of rhesus macaques were observed during the summer of 2003. The behavior of these three groups was compared in order to determine if any group differences were present. The following January, two of these groups (one had been disbanded) were observed again to determine if behavior varied in the mating season.

The results suggest that the number of intergroup fights has an inverse relationship to intragroup …

Secrets In Common: Intellectual Foundations Of The Lodge That Found Billet In The Dens And Klaverns, Damien Borg

Masters Theses

Secrets in Common is an anthropological history that undertakes to explain the similarities of membership and ideology between the Freemasons and two formations of the Ku Klux Klan. The work is divided into seven sections. It was compiled from both extant, which was of principle significance, and secondary printed material. After many hours of reading and countless attempts at “understanding,” three short ethnographic narratives were compiled: they makeup the central axis of the material. The first narrative describes the Freemasons, while the second two are on the “Reconstruction Klan” and the “Klan of the ‘20’s,” henceforth referred to as Kuklux …

A Comparison Of Knee Joint Size, Obesity, And Osteoarthritis Involving Two Recent Skeletal Samples, Jeffrey Reed Huber

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was two-fold: to examine secular change in the size of the knee joint during the last century in White males and females, and to compare the prevalence of knee osteoarthritis over the same time frame. In addition, a specific effort was made to determine a relationship between the modern rise in obesity and knee osteoarthritis. The sample included 291 males and 140 females from both the Robert J. Terry Collection and the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection.

The results indicate no consistent secular change in direction or location between White males and females. Although …

A Comparison Of Knee Joint Size, Obesity, And Osteoarthritis Involving Two Recent Skeletal Samples, Jeffrey Reed Huber

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was two-fold: to examine secular changes in the size of the knee joint during the last century in White males and females, and to compare the prevalence of knee osteoarthritis over the same time frame. In addition, a specific effort was made to determine a relationship between the modern rise in obesity and knee osteoarthritis. The sample included 291 males and 140 females from both the Robert J. Terry Collection and the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection.

The results indicate no consistent secular change in direction or location between White males and females. Although …

A Comparison Of Human Femoral Neck Cortical Bone: Walkers Vs. Non-Walkers, Meghan M. Moran

Masters Theses

This empirical project examines human inferior femoral neck cortical bone and the response in this region to mechanical loading in association with bipedalism. It is suggested that habitual activity induces cortical bone hypertrophy. A radiographic analysis of femoral neck cortical bone was completed using two samples of individuals. One group following a normal developmental trajectory of walking was compared to another who has never walked as a result of cerebral palsy (CP) or spina bifida (SB). Two research questions were addressed: (1) Is the amount of femoral neck inferior cortical bone equal to or different from that seen in the …

Who Are "The Japanese"?: Negotiation Of Identity Among Nikkei In Brazil, Chihiro Nagasue

Masters Theses

When Japanese immigrants arrived in Brazil in the beginning of the 20th century, they recognized, for the first time, that they were "Japanese" and different from other ethnic people since it was rare for them to meet ethnically foreign people in Japan. In the ethnically and linguistically foreign country of Brazil, the Nikkei have had to constantly redefine their identity by resisting and accommodating dominant pressures and ideologies such as the Brazilian assimilation policies before and during the Second World War as well as the essentialist ideology of Nihonjinron (what it means to be Japanese). As a result of globalization, …

Eating Ethnicity: Examining 18th Century French Colonial Identity Through Selective Consumption Of Animal Resources In The North American Interior, Rory J. Becker

Masters Theses

Cultural identities can be created and maintained through daily practice and food consum.ption is one such practice. People need food in order to survive, but the types of food they eat are largely determined by the interaction of culture and their environment. By approaching the topic of subsistence practices as being culturally constituted, the study of foodways provides an avenue to examine issues of cultural identity through selective consumption. Eating certain foods to the exclusion of others is one method for establishing social distance between peoples and is simultaneously a reflection of this relationship and the types of interactions that …

Athletic Amenorrhea: Prevalence And Awareness Among Female Athletes At Western Michigan University, Michele R. Chupurdia

Masters Theses

Women who participate in competitive sports are under enormous pressure to maintain an extremely low body weight through diet and exercise. While exercise is viewed as widely beneficial to women of all ages, the pressure to succeed in sports by achieving or maintaining an unrealistically low body weight through food restriction and high intensity training may lead some women to develop eating disorders, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis.

The research conducted for this thesis and presented here investigates female college athletes (18-24 years) from Western Michigan University, a Division I school, who are undergoing strenuous training. The goal of this study is …

Wife Battering In Contemporary Cairo: An Exploratory Study In Rights And Perceptions, Iman Mohamed Eissa

Archived Theses and Dissertations

The universal phenomenon of wife battering has calamitous consequences on the battered woman, usurping her security, human agency and autonomy, thus relegating her to a secondary status citizen, incapable of contributing to the community's development. Research on wife battering in Egypt is very limited. The goal of this thesis is to explore battered women's lives in contemporary Cairo, focusing on battered wives' perceptions of abuse in relation to discrimination against women in Egypt and women's citizenship rights within the Egyptian state. This study was conducted using a qualitative research methodology. Ten in depth, semi-structured interviews were carried out with battered …

Living With Family And Foreigners: Egypt Female Tourist Guides' Narratives On Their Family, Work, And Identity, Junko Toriyama

Archived Theses and Dissertations

This is an ethnographic research project on Egyptian female tourist guides. Based on over forty semi-structured interviews, the study attempted to gain an insight into Egyptian female tourist guide's everyday life, especially focusing on her gender relations from two different angles; discourses and practices. Tourist guiding in Egypt is a relatively new occupation, as it was created to serve the demands of a growing international tourism industry. In one respect, it is an occupation to buff er two different cultures. The occupation offers a gender neutral criteria and gender neutral responsibility, and many women as well as men are working …

Power, Positionality, And Conceptions Of Stewardship And Ownership In The Cleanup Of Nomans Land Island, Massachusetts, Michael Greenberg

Honors Theses

One of the most pressing issues facing Indigenous groups today, especially in the intimate New Engl'and communilties of the northeastern United States, is their ongoing struggle to reclaim and preserve sovereignty on land they once cultivated as stewards but now live on under the encroachment of larger States. In recent years, the United States government has sought to deal with issues of Native American sovereignty through granting federal recognition to tribes, thus creating a relationship of "nation-to-nation status" between a tribal government and the national government. This relationship generates a complex power structure on global, national, regional, and tribal levels, …

The Roots Of Healing: Archaeological And Historical Investigations Of African-American Herbal Medicine, Erin Brooke Hamby

Doctoral Dissertations

(From “Chapter 1: Introduction.” No abstract available.)

The archaeology of the African Diaspora holds promise for providing new information on a voiceless past. During the past 30 years, numerous African-American archaeological sites have yielded a wealth of information about lifeways among the enslaved. Studies have focused upon ethnicity, dominance/resistance, plantation social structure, and cultural identity (Singleton and Bograd 1995). Numerous requests from archaeologists for the implementation of innovative theoretical and methodological frameworks are promoting the cultivation of a dialogue between scholars and descendant African-American communities. Epperson (1998:116) argues that archaeologists of the Africa Diaspora should work to create “archaeologies that …