Anthropology Commons^™

A Tribute To Sibby Whitten, Rachel Corr, Michelle Wibbelsman, Michael Uzendoski, Norman Whitten

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

Urarina Society, Cosmology, And History In Peruvian Amazonia, Bret Gustafson

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

Now We Are Citizens: Indigenous Politics In Postmulticultural Bolivia, Katinka Weber

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

Farmstead And Household Archaeology At The Barrett Farm, Concord, Massachusetts, Thomas P. Mailhot

Graduate Masters Theses

Changes in the landscape across the Barrett farmstead in Concord, Massachusetts, are examined and related to changes in the household during the 1850s and 1860s. Although the Barrett family had a long and prosperous tradition of farming in Concord, this changed at the end of the 19th-century, as the farm was reduced in size and the operation reduced in scale. The majority of artifacts and data recovered from an excavation in 2007 by UMass Boston dealt with the 19th-century occupation of the farmstead. Changes in the household and across the farmstead in the 19th-century can be seen archaeologically through the …

Flint At The Fort: Investigating Raw Material Scarcity And Locations Of Lithic Activity At Monhantic Fort, John M. Kelly

Graduate Masters Theses

The Monhantic Fort site on the Mashantucket Pequot reservation in southeastern Connecticut has yielded many insights into Pequot life in the late 17th century. This fortified village, occupied during King Philip's War, has given archaeologists a glimpse of the domestic practices and organization of the people who lived within as well as details about how they engaged with military expeditions. In this thesis, I examine the lithic assemblage from Monhantic Fort. This assemblage, comprised of European flint employed to create tools like gunflints and strike-a-lights, can be used to investigate how the Pequots utilized new stone tool technologies and negotiated …

A Viking Age Political Economy From Soil Core Tephrochronology, Kathryn Anne Catlin

Graduate Masters Theses

Saga accounts describe Viking Age Iceland as an egalitarian society of independent household farms. By the medieval period, the stateless, agriculturally marginal society had become highly stratified in exploitative landlord-tenant relationships. Classical economists place the origin of differential wealth in unequal access to resources that are unevenly distributed across the landscape. This irregularity is manifested archaeologically as spatial variations in buried soil horizons, which are addressed through thousands of soil cores recorded across Langholt in support of the Skagafjörður Archaeological Settlement Survey. Soil accumulation rates, a proxy for land quality, are derived from tephrochronology and correlated with archaeological and historical …

From Gunboat To Garbage Can: The Conservation Of A Cannonball Part 2, Ashley Deming

Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Quarterly Reporter - June 2011, South Carolina Institute Of Archaeology And Anthropology--University Of South Carolina

Sport Diver Newsletters

Contents:

Allendale 2011..... p.1
July Reports Due..... p.2
June Artifact Identification Workshop..... p.2
Upcoming Events..... p.3
SDAMP News..... p.3
Field Training Course Part I & II..... p.4
Diver Safety..... p.5
Feature Article..... p.6
Allendale Stories..... p.7
Conservation Corner..... p.11
Hobby Diver of the Quarter..... p.13
Letters to the Editors..... p.14
Notes from the Editor..... p.14

Breasts Are For Feeding: An Anthropological, Archaeological Examination Of Breastfeeding, Blaize A. Uva

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

The Ecology Of San Luis Obispo: A Children's Book, Heidi Van Campen

Social Sciences

San Luis Obispo is one of the most loved places in the world by its residents and visitors. Located halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo is the heart of California's Central Coast. However, this paper is not about the present-day cities or residents. It is an ecological history; the story of life and land over time.

Historians tend to treat nature as the setting for history, rather than a participant. Ecology is a history written knowing that we shape our environment and it shapes us.

This is a story of the ecology of San Luis Obispo.

Nutrition And Stature: The Residents Of The Island Of Gotland, Sweden Killed In The Battle Of Wisby, 1361, Michelle A. Miller

Masters Theses

This research examines stature in order to assess the socio-economic status of Gotland, an island (and municipality) off the coast of Sweden, before the 1360's. Gotland was known as a wealthy and autonomous peasant republic although it was loosely ruled by the Swedish Crown. In 1361, the Danish Army laid siege on the seaport city of Wisby to obtain its riches. Three days after the battle, the approximately 1800 dead Gotlanders were tossed haphazardly into five common graves. Archaeological excavations took place from 1905-1930 by Bendt Thordeman, among others. The human remains were analyzed in 1937. Osteological analysis in the …

Factors Controlling Pre-Columbian And Early Historic Maize Productivity In The American Southwest, Part 2: The Chaco Halo, Mesa Verde, Pajarito Plateau/ Bandelier, And Zuni Archaeological Regions, Larry Benson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Chemical and nutrient analyses of 471 soil samples from 161 sites within four archaeological regions (Pajarito Plateau/Bandelier, Zuni, Mesa Verde, and the Chaco Halo) were combined with historical climate data in order to evaluate the agricultural productivity of each region. In addition, maize productivity and field-life calculations were performed using organic-nitrogen (N) values from the upper 50 cm of soil in each region and a range (1–3%/year) of N-mineralization rates. The endmember values of this range were assumed representative of dry and wet climate states. With respect to precipitation and heat, the Pajarito Plateau area has excellent agricultural potential; the …

Recent Archaeological Survey And Excavation Around The Greater Kalokol Area, West Side Of Lake Turkana: Preliminary Findings, Amanuel Beyin

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

After the long period of arid conditions in the terminal Pleistocene, the global climate turned to wet and humid at the onset of the Holocene Interglacial ~10 ka BP (Gasse 2000; Hassan 1997). Under the wet and intermittently dry conditions of the early Holocene (10-6 ka BP), lakeshores, seashores and rivers became attractive for human exploitation in many parts of the world (Erlandson 2001). In Africa, sites associated with aquatic intensification have been reported in the Sahelian-Saharan belt, dating roughly from 9500-5000 years BP (Holl 2005). The Turkana Basin in northern Kenya became a mega-lake in the early Holocene, with …

A Three-Step Method For Teaching The Principles Of Evolution To Non-Biology Major Undergraduates, Cameron M. Smith

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

A method for teaching the principles of evolution in a 50-minute lecture for undergraduate non-biology majors is described. The method “unpacks” evolution into three observable, factual occurrences: replication (R, reproduction), variation (V, differences between parent and offspring and siblings), and selection (S, nonrandom differential survival of offspring). This method has been particularly effective in demonstrating to students that evolution is the factual, unintended consequence of three independent phenomena (R, V, S).

The Terminal Classic At El Mirador, Peten, Guatemala., Richard M. Allen

Theses and Dissertations

Recent excavations uncovered numerous small rooms constructed on top of the Danta Acropolis at El Mirador, Guatemala. The characteristics of the settlement and the material items indicated that it was a late occupation and lacked the features associated with large Maya polities and Classic Maya culture. This thesis focused on describing the continuities and changes that occurred from the Late Classic to the Terminal Classic at El Mirador based on the ceramic assemblage and architecture. Significant continuity and stability of the pottery making community is reflected in the ceramic assemblage. Additionally, it was desirable to gain an understanding of how …

Illuminating Distinction: Rural Modernization And The Invention Of The Countryside In Cajamarca, Perú, Jade Severson

Senior Theses

The district of La Encañada, located deep within the Andean sierra north of the city of Cajamarca, is in a state of transition. As the beneficiary of a 2006 collaborative project between ITDG-Soluciones Prácticas and the European Union, nine of the district’s communities received a solar panel stipulated for placement on each community’s local centro educativo, a school serving students at both the primary and secondary grade levels. Investment in solar panels was intended to complement a much more integral project designed to harness the resources available in the district and to thus empower peasant men and women and their …

Cacao Use And The San Lorenzo Olmec, Terry G. Powis, Ann Cyphers, Nilesh W. Gaikwad, Louis Grivetti, Kong Cheong

Faculty Articles

Mesoamerican peoples had a long history of cacao use—spanning more than 34 centuries—as confirmed by previous identification of cacao residues on archaeological pottery from Paso de la Amada on the Pacific Coast and the Olmec site of El Manatí on the Gulf Coast. Until now, comparable evidence from San Lorenzo, the premier Olmec capital, was lacking. The present study of theobromine residues confirms the continuous presence and use of cacao products at San Lorenzo between 1800 and 1000 BCE, and documents assorted vessels forms used in its preparation and consumption. One elite context reveals cacao use as part of a …

Waking Up To The Present: Vipassana Meditation And The Body, Craig Geffre

Senior Theses

Using ethnographic methods I examine the process of learning vipassana meditation, a form of meditation in which the practitioner focuses on their bodily sensations, and the ways in which learning this form of meditation affects the practitioner's daily life. I employ reflexivity alongside an ethnography of the particular to capture my experiences as the student of a Thai Theravada Buddhist monk who teaches at a temple in Portland, Oregon. Through this process I have found that learning vipassana meditation pervades numerous aspects of daily life, extending beyond direct instruction and meditation practice, bringing about perceptual changes in reality as learned …

Inflammatory Gene Variants In The Tsimane, An Indigenous Bolivian Population With A High Infectious Load, Sarinnapha Vasunilashorn, Caleb E. Finch, Eileen M. Crimmins, Suvi A. Vikman, Jonathan Stieglitz, Michael Gurven, Hillard Kaplan, Hooman Allayee

ESI Publications

The Tsimane of lowland Bolivia are an indigenous forager-farmer population living under conditions resembling pre-industrial European populations, with high infectious morbidity, high infection and inflammation, and shortened life expectancy. Analysis of 917 persons ages 5 to 60+ showed that allele frequencies of 9 SNPs examined in the apolipoprotein E (apoE), C-reactive protein (CRP), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) genes differed from some European, African, and north Asian-derived populations. The apoE2 allele was absent, whereas four SNPs related to CRP and IL-6 were monomorphic: CRP (rs1800947, rs3093061, and rs3093062) and IL-6 (rs1800795). No significant differences in apoE, CRP, and IL-6 variants across age …

Ending The Cycle Of Child Sex Slavery In Cambodia, Carmen Marie Murphy

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

As I had the chance to visit Cambodia and talk to actual victims, I planned to use ethnographic methodology to incorporate testimonies and personal interaction to supplement the lack of specific research in this field. I believed ethnography would be an effective method as it takes a holistic perspective of all contributing factors, such as history, geography, religion, government, and population. My plan was to conduct an ethnographic case study of Cambodia using current scholarship on these areas, and then contribute my personal experiences. To ensure quality control and unbiased research. I used contextualization by conducting my research in Cambodia, …

Making Wku A Fair Trade University, Matthew John Vaughan

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Many products consumed on college campuses such as coffee and chocolate come from developing countries where producers are often paid insufficiently and exploited. Fair Trade certification of products guarantees producers a fair price and other social benefits. The objective of my CE/T project is to initiate a successful campaign to increase awareness of Fair Trade among students at WKU and gain "Fair Trade University" recognition for WKU. My efforts have included establishing a permanent Fair Trade Steering Committee, organizing campus-wide awareness events and partnering with campus groups to promote Fair Trade education and awareness. In this final account, I review …

Mercer, Fannie (Guy), 1855-1940 - Collector (Sc 176), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) Manuscripts Small Collection 176. Printed invitation, 15 June 1932, to Miss Sarah Leat for a July 4th ball at B. Vance's Hotel, Bowling Green, Kentucky, and newspaper clipping, 1929, concerning the invitation. Also holographic copy of lyrics of "Old Folks at Home."

Masculinity In Musicals: A Comparison Between The 1950s And Present Day, Emily M. Eisenbrey

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This project compares and contrasts ideas of masculinity in musicals from the 1950s to those of present day. Current musicals have allowed for more expressions of masculinity while musicals from the 1950s provided a narrower definition of masculinity. This paper explores the current perception that straight men don’t enjoy musicals and breaks down why this perception exists. Multiple lines of evidence are used to examine the connection between masculinity and male audience attendance of musicals. These lines of evidence are: masculinity research, script analysis, performance analysis, reviews of musicals, and original surveys.

The Technocratic Birthing Model As Seen In Reality Television And Its Impact On Young Women Age 18-24, Michelle Elizabeth Farber

Honors Scholar Theses

In the Western ethnomedical tradition, childbirth follows the technocratic model, a concept developed by Davis-Floyd (1992). Within such a system, the woman’s body produces a fetus, much like a machine produces and product, and is delivered unto society by the physician (mechanic) in the proper manner and time. This cultural conception of birth has lead to a society in which maternal and child health has suffered, as many of the practices employed by a physician during a managed labor and delivery are not backed by evidence-based medicine. This thesis argues that reality television shows, specifically A Baby Story enable the …

Ragland, Mark S. (Fa 559), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 559.  Paper:  "Influence of Popular Culture on the Subject of Art," done by Mark S. Ragland as part of a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.  Includes an interview done by Ragland with artist and art educator Michael Taylor about the influence of popular culture on art, with particular emphasis on the pop art genre.

A New Paradigm: Brazilian Catholic Eco-Justice Activism In The Neoliberal Age, Lena R. Connor

Environmental Analysis Program Mellon Student Summer Research Reports

This paper analyzes how traditional liberation theology in Brazil has been adapted in the neoliberal age to encompass ecological goals and rhetoric. In this research report, I first examine the work of prominent Brazilian ecotheologians, Ivone Gebara and Leonardo Boff. I then look into the applications of such ecological liberation theology in Catholic activism in Brazil, focusing on the role of religious advocacy in dam controversies, land reform, and mining.

Upper Pleistocene Human Dispersals Out Of Africa: A Review Of The Current State Of The Debate, Amanuel Beyin

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Although there is a general consensus on African origin of early modern humans, there is disagreement about how and when they dispersed to Eurasia. This paper reviews genetic and Middle Stone Age/Middle Paleolithic archaeological literature from northeast Africa, Arabia, and the Levant to assess the timing and geographic backgrounds of Upper Pleistocene human colonization of Eurasia. At the center of the discussion lies the question of whether eastern Africa alone was the source of Upper Pleistocene human dispersals into Eurasia or were there other loci of human expansions outside of Africa? The reviewed literature hints at two modes of early …

Book Review Of "The Archaeology Of North American Farmsteads" By Mark Groover, Louann Wurst, Dustin Conklin

Northeast Historical Archaeology

No abstract provided.

Book Review Of "The Archaeology Of Institutional Confinement" By Eleanor Conlin Casella, Sherene Baugher

Northeast Historical Archaeology

No abstract provided.

Book Review Of "The Archaeology Of Race And Racialization In Historic America" By Charles E. Orser, Paul A. Shackel

Northeast Historical Archaeology

No abstract provided.