Anthropology Commons^™

Ceramic Morphological Organization: Quiddity Of Shape For Hickory Engraved Bottles, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR: Archaeology

This study expands upon a previous analysis of the Clarence H. Webb collection, which resulted in the identification of two Caddo bottle shapes used in the manufacture of Hickory Engraved (HE) bottles. The current sample of Caddo bottles adduces three-dimensional meshes from the HE specimens in the Webb collection, as well as 14 new meshes from six sites and one collection; all of which fall under the purview of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Results confirm that HE bottle shape differs significantly by site in some cases, that the two discrete shapes identified in the previous …

Lithic Morphological Organization: Gahagan Bifaces From Texas And Louisiana, Robert Z. Selden Jr., John E. Dockall, Harry J. Shafer

CRHR: Archaeology

This study is focused upon an analysis of Gahagan biface morphology and enlists the three largest samples of these bifaces, to include that of the type site (Gahagan Mound) as well as the Mounds Plantation and George C. Davis sites. Results indicate a significant difference in Gahagan biface morphology at the Mounds Plantation site when compared with Gahagan bifaces from the Gahagan Mound and George C. Davis sites. A test of morphological integration indicates that the bifaces are significantly integrated, meaning that those traits used to characterize their shape (blade and base) vary in a coordinated manner. Tests for allometry …

A Preliminary Study Of Smithport Plain Bottle Morphology In The Southern Caddo Area, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR: Archaeology

This study expands upon a previous analysis of the Clarence H. Webb collection, which resulted in the identification of two discrete shapes used in the manufacture of the base and body of Smithport Plain bottles. The sample includes the Smithport Plain bottles from the Webb collection, and four new bottles: two previously repatriated specimens in the Pohler Collection, and two from the Mitchell site (41BW4) to test whether those specimens align morphologically with the Belcher Mound or Smithport Landing specimens. Results indicate significant allometry and a significant difference in Smithport Plain body and base shapes for bottles produced at the …

Geometric Morphometrics Of Gary Dart Points From The Davy Crockett National Forest, David A. Foxe, Robert Z. Selden Jr., Juanita D. Garcia

CRHR: Archaeology

Three-dimensional scans of Gary dart points recovered from the Davy Crockett National Forest are employed in tests of basal morphology by site, size (allometry), and asymmetry. Variability in basal morphology for Gary points from sites on the Davy Crockett National Forest is presented and compared to specimens from the published type books. The hypothesis that Gary basal morphology differs between sites containing Woodland-era sand temped ceramics and those where no sand tempered ceramics were recovered is then tested and the results discussed.

Addressing Survey Bias: Maxent Models And Public Archaeology At The Davy Crockett National Forest, Juanita D. Garcia, Robert Z. Selden Jr., David A. Foxe

CRHR: Archaeology

Over the past 30+ years, compliance-based archaeological projects conducted on the Davy Crockett National Forest have yielded an impressive contribution to the archaeological record. However, those efforts were limited to specific survey areas based upon specific needs. To begin to address survey bias and the impact that it can have on site probability models, a stratified random sample of 50 locations was generated for the forest. In early 2018, a public archaeology (Passport-in-Time) project was used to engage interested volunteers who assisted in testing these sample locations. These results, as well as other new data, were added to the maxent …

Beaver Lake Projectile Point, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR: Archaeology

This is a Paleoindian Period Beaver Lake projectile point (approx. 10,500-9,500 B.P.) of Ft. Payne chert discovered in Perry County, Tennessee. It is associated with state site number 40PY312 and context of find is a shoreline bank on the Tennessee River near Linden, Tennessee. Site 40PY312 is also associated with hundreds of early stage reduction flakes of Ft. Payne chert. The point is important because of its Paleoindian cultural affiliation of which very little is known, and also by the fact it has been re-purposed from a projectile point to an end-scraper. The re-purposing of projectile points is a very …

Ceramic Analysis At Ike's Cut, Bahamas Compared With Ft. Liberte, Haiti And El Mango, Cuba, Melissa A. Kays

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis compares pottery from Ike's Cut, Inagua, Bahamas with assemblages from the site of El Mango, Cuba, analyzed by Ashley Brooke Persons and the site of Ft. Liberte, Haiti, analyzed by Irving Rouse.

The Ike's Cut site was a seasonally occupied location on the largest bank on Inagua, and was utilized for its access to marine resources. The migrants living here brought with them Meillacoid ceramics that were manufactured somewhere in the Greater Antilles. The objective of this research was to evaluate whether the ceramics at Ike's Cut share more in common with either the Hispaniolan or Cuban assemblages. …

New Courland, Tobago: A Gis Analysis Of A 17th-Century Settlement, Amanda Sumner

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Caribbean island of Tobago was contested by several European powers. Among them was an unlikely colonizer, the small Duchy of Courland, located in the western part of modern-day Latvia, which established the New Courland colony on the west coast of Tobago, in May 1654. The aim of this study was to determine the exact geographic location of this settlement through examination of historical texts, maps, and geographic information systems (GIS) data. Remote sensing and GIS methods were used to map the Courlander Fort Jacob on the site of an earlier Dutch fortification, Nieuw …

The Origin Of Dark Mats At The Sunrise Ridge Borrow Pit Site (45pi408) Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, Sean Stcherbinine

All Master's Theses

The Sunrise Ridge Borrow Pit Site is a precontact archaeological site located in the upland forest soils of Mount Rainier National Park. Site stratigraphy is complicated, consisting of tephra deposits from mostly known origins that are intercalated with dark sediments of unknown origin, referred to here as dark mats. Precontact occupation has been split previously into two components based on the ambiguous depositional history of the dark mats, notably their unknown parent material, depositional environment, and relationship with adjacent tephra strata. Stratigraphic samples from excavation units, features, and one off-site excavation unit was used to investigate these data gaps. Grain …

Solar Alignment And The Irish Passage Tomb Tradition, Frank Prendergast

Book/Book Chapter

A succinct and very useful, illustrated, explanatory guide to the phenomenon of solar alignment in the irish Passage Tomb tradition. Includes a listing of where to visit the 15 known astronomically aligned passage tombs in the 32 counties.

Written by Dr Frank Prendergast who is now Emeritus at the Dublin Institute of Technology, where he researches Irish prehistoric monuments and their landscapes from a cultural astronomy perspective. His current interests and publications are on the meaning of the dark sky in the prehistoric past and on the conservation of archaeological landscapes from light pollution.

Heritage Guides are included free with …

Embedded Procurement And Exchange: Obsidian From Wolf Village Utah, Jacob Jepsen, James R. Allison, Jeffrey R. Ferguson

Faculty Publications

XRF analysis of more than 1500 pieces of obsidian from Wolf Village (42UT273) in the Utah Valley, Utah, shows that the obsidian originated from areas as far north as Bear Gulch, Idaho and as far south as the Mineral Mountains in southern Utah. Most of the obsidian, however, came from two Utah sources: Black Rock, which is 130 km southwest of the site, and Topaz Mountain, about 100 km to the west. The presence or absence of cortex, and the shape of pieces with cortex, shows that procurement was different for the two sources. Cortex on Topaz Mountain artifacts is …

Aerial Imaging Using Uavs (Drones) In Chihuahua And Nayarit, Mexico, To Map And Archive Archaeological Sites, Michael T. Searcy, Scott Ure, Michael Mathiowetz, Haylie Ferguson, Jaclyn Eckersley, Mauricio Garduno Ambriz, Jose Carlos Beltran Medina, Jorge Morales Monroy

Faculty Publications

In 2017, we used UAVs (drones) to record eight archaeological sites from the air. As this type of technology becomes more refined, we have found that it is especially useful in carrying out three specific tasks: contour mapping, archiving site conditions, and identifying architecture. This paper reports our findings resulting from aerial images captured while flying archaeological sites in Nayarit and Chihuahua, Mexico.

Searching Through Debris: A Mass Analysis From The Carter Robinson Mound Site In Lee County, Virginia, Robert Capps

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Mississippian period is one of the most widely studied periods in the prehistoric Southeast, but there are areas such as the Mississippian frontier that have not been explored in great detail. Carter Robinson is a Mississippian chiefdom located on the frontier in southwest Virginia during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. To better understand the people living at this site a mass analysis was conducted to examine the lithic debris left behind by the people living there. The purpose of this thesis is to identify the degree of tool production at Carter Robinson and to identify areas of tool production, …

The Art Of The Spearthrower: Understanding The Andean Estólica Through Iconography, Zachary R. Critchley

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

Spearthrower devices held a role around the world as a primary weapon and tool before slowly falling out of favor in certain areas for other projectile weapons. While it is widely accepted that spearthrowers were used by the people of the ancient central Andes, comparatively little research has gone into the role that they had as weapons of war, hunting tools, and objects of ceremonial reverence. In addition, the Andes developed a unique style of spearthrower and have produced many examples of spearthrowers with exceptional craftsmanship, leading me to believe that these tools were given special reverence.

This thesis compiles …

Zero To Hero: Elite Burials And Hero Cults In Early Iron Age Greece And Cyprus, Alina M. Karapandzich

Senior Independent Study Theses

Adulation of heroes, including the flawed, militaristic, authoritative men of Homeric epic, was an important feature of ancient Hellenic culture. This phenomenon is reflected in cults and shrines built in the Archaic period. How did these so-called “hero cults” form, and can Early Iron Age (EIA) elite burials form a connection between the tomb cults of the Late Bronze Age (LBA) and the hero cults of the Archaic and later Classical periods? The purpose of this study is to examine EIA burials whose elite goods and archaeologically visible tombs reflect the burial of a “heroic” person. In doing so, I …

The Historical Evaluation And Significance Of The Old Joerger Ranch, Martis Valley, California, Hope Caroline Schear

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

United States history is full of adventure and pioneering but building the regional histories of the nation allows one to dig deeper into what it took to make this country develop socially and economically. In the mid 1800’s California experienced a boom like never before. In 1848, mill workers found gold at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California, which led to a huge influx of people and population spike that changed California forever. Once the Gold Rush subsided, agriculture replaced gold in California as a wealth generator. Early settlers discovered that the mild climate of the region allows a wide variety …

Deviating From The Standard: The Relationship Between Archaeology And Public Education, Rhianna M. Bennett

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Recent studies of the public perception of archaeology shows that while it is a popular and valued discipline, it is still greatly misunderstood. Over the last few decades, archaeologists have sought new and innovative ways to establish archaeological literacy, promote community engagement, and conduct outreach, with the K-12 classroom being one such avenue of focus. Archaeology’s mysterious and exciting reputation among the general public, along with its interdisciplinary applicability, allows educators to draw interest in students and teach a variety of lessons through the lens of archaeology. This thesis outlines survey results of educators and archaeologists on their method, frequency, …

The Sylvan Blindspot: The Archaeological Value Of Surface Vegetation And A Critique Of Its Documentation, John S. Harris

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Surface vegetation at archaeological sites is a resource overlooked in cultural resource management. Drawing upon comparative documentary surveys of site forms and human surveys of 161 archaeologists in 12 U.S. states, this thesis explores why surface vegetation offers archaeological data potential; how archaeological documentation is an artifact of archaeologists, shaped by various subjectivities; and how improvements can be made for vegetal description in cultural inventory site forms. The surveys offer a critique on how the site form records are a product of disciplinary training oversights, differing work background experience, cultural bias, limitations in botanical knowledge, regional differences in U.S. archaeological …

Chipping Through Time: The Evolution Of Lithic Spatial Organization At The Bridge River Pithouse Village, British Columbia, Ethan P. Ryan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Archaeological investigations at Housepit 54 within the Bridge River site have, to date, exposed 15 discreet floors primarily dating to ca. 1500-1000 cal. B.P. In this thesis, the spatial distributions of lithic artifacts from every floor are examined. Questions will be addressed specifically towards formation processes and the potential relationships between the patterning of lithic distributions as they relate to hearth-centered activity areas or domestic areas and fluctuations in estimated population. In addition, this thesis explores spatial organization as a cultural trait or concept that can be transmitted through time. Using the same methodological and theoretical approach for each floor, …

California Creek Quarry: Regional Persepctives And Uas Mapping, David A. Schwab

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Western Montana hosts an abundance of lithic deposits useful for precontact stone tool manufacturing. Lithic sources likely factored prominently into patterns of settlement, trade, subsistence and mobility for past populations in the region. The mining of these lithic resources results in a unique land use area, a prehistoric quarry. Prehistoric quarries in Western Montana have received very little research or spatial documentation. This may be due in part to their abundance and often overwhelming size and extent. Providing even basic spatial documentation for large quarries can be prohibitively time consuming and expensive. One such understudied quarry site is the California …

Preservation For Future Generations: Digital Technologies, Digitalization, And Experiments With Consumers As Producers Of Industrial Heritage Documentation, Mark Dice

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

As digital documentation and recording technologies have evolved, so has the perception that they are segregated and intended primarily for use in either engineering/scientific or amateur/consumer applications. In contrast to this notion, the three-dimensionality afforded by these technologies differs only when considering them in the order of priorities; laser scanners and related image acquisition technologies document and visualize while inversely, consumer cameras visualize and document. This broad field of digital acquisition technologies has evolved into a heterogeneity of tools that all capture aspects of the physical world with a line drawn between them becoming blurred. Within this evolution, these tools …

Kinetic Landscape And Unalloyed Potential: Rethinking The Extractive Landscape Of Michigan's Native Mass Copper Mining Industry, Sean Gohman

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This dissertation examines the extractive landscape and persistent lifespan of native mass copper mining in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The historic native copper mining industry of Michigan lasted for over a century, though its impacts on the landscape can be broken into two distinct, though overlapping, phases of extractive practice: mass mining and disseminated lode mining. Each mined specific native copper deposits, utilized related but specialized technologies, and relied upon different sources of energy to power its practices. A first, formative phase of mass mining exploited fissures of pure metallic copper using traditional technology and organic sources of fuel. A second …

Corncobs In The Campfire: Evidence Of Cultivation Of Zea Mays At 44ch62, The Randy K Wade Site, Olivia A. Mehalko, Cameron E. Reuss

Undergraduate Publications

In 20 years of excavation, the Randy K. Wade site (44CH62) has only produced indirect evidence of the cultivation of corn (Zea mays) in the Late Woodland village. This indirect evidence consists primarily of corncob impressions on Dan River pottery. In the summer of 2017, an intact hearth was excavated which contained the preserved remains of multiple charred corncobs- the first direct evidence of corn. The hearth also contained remains of other organic materials such as charred corn kernels, bark, sticks, bone fragments, and acorns. This paper will examine the direct evidence for corn cultivation at the Wade site and …

Legacy - December 2017, South Carolina Institute Of Archaeology And Anthropology--University Of South Carolina

SCIAA Magazine - Legacy & PastWatch

Contents:

Oemler Pottery: A Prehistoric Mystery.....p. 1
Director's Notes.....p. 2
Reconstructing Hawthorne: A New Documentary Film.....p. 3
Tracking Hernando de Soto.....p. 4
The Last Morning of the War: Archaeology on the Appomattox Court House Battlefield.....p. 7
Archaeology in South Carolina: Exploring the Hidden Heritage of the Palmetto State.....p. 9
The First Radiocarbon Dates from 38FA608.....p. 10
Port Royal Sound Stone Fleet Survey...p. 12
Update on Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Development Project: Ground-Truthing Operations.....p. 15
ART/SCIAA Donors Update August 2016-December 2017.....p. 18 Please Support the New Stanley South Student Archaeological Research Endowment Fund.....p. 20

Groundstone Analysis At The Rock Camp Site, Lacy Ann Padilla

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The use of mortar and pestles has long been associated with acorn processing in California. Based on ethnographic and archaeological evidence, groundstone was used to process a multitude of resources, including small mammals. Twenty groundstone artifacts recovered from the Rock Camp Site in the San Bernardino Mountains were analyzed for protein residues using the crossover immunological electrophoresis (CIEP) method. Using previously obtained data from the Summit Valley, a comparative analysis was done to determine if processing small mammals on groundstone was a common occurrence throughout the San Bernardino Mountain region.

Trading To Drink And Drinking To Trade: Assessing Alcohol Trade And Consumption In Seventeenth And Eighteenth Century New France, Cara A. Mosier

Masters Theses

Alcohol is one of the most misunderstood commodities used by both Native Americans and Europeans during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in North America. Although documentary sources are available, they can often provide conflicting information on the frequency of alcohol trade and its context of consumption. The archaeological record must be examined in conjunction with the primary and secondary sources to better understand alcohol consumption during this time. My research is conducted to answer the question: what patterns emerge when comparing the archaeological record to the documentary record concerning Native alcohol consumption in the seventeenth and eighteenth century fur trade …

A Microdebitage Analysis Of The Winterville Mounds Site (22ws500), Stephanie Leigh-Ann Guest

Master's Theses

The Winterville Mounds site (22WS500) was a civic ceremonial center of 23 mounds and is located near Greenville in northwest Mississippi. Winterville excavations as field schools are ongoing since 2005 under the direction of Dr. H. Edwin Jackson of The University of Southern Mississippi. Examination of the >1/4" (6.35 mm) mesh screened lithic material provided mixed results of reduction stages and lacked variety of non-local materials (Guest 2006, Winter 2009, McClendon 2012). Authors of these analyses called for the examination of the 1/16” (1.58 mm) water-screened lithic material to identify reduction stages and traces of non-local materials to provide evidence …

Some Observations And New Discoveries Related To Altar 3, Pacbitun, Belize, Sheldon Skaggs, Christophe Helmke, Jon Spenard, Paul F. Healy, Terry G. Powis

Publications and Research

The Pre-Columbian Maya city of Pacbitun, Belize (Fig. 1) is distinguished by the high number of stone monuments (n- 20) identified during the roughly three decades of archaeological research conducted there (Healy et al. 2004:213). Altar 3, recovered in a cache within the main pyramidal structure of the site in 1986, was one of those monuments, but, unlike most of the others from the site, it is carved and bas a short hieroglyphic text. Yet, similar to several of the others, it had been broken in the past and, its pieces scattered. Archaeological excavations in 2016 recovered another piece of …

Feminist Science And Chacoan Archaeology: Reply To Ware., Carrie Heitman

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Ware's comment misses the point of Heitman's (2016) article and further demonstrates the need for feminist science perspectives.

El comentario de Ware no comprende lo fundamental del artículo de Heitman (2016) y demuestra aún más la necesidad de perspectivas científicas feministas.

Landscape-Scale Geophysics At Tel Shimron, Jezreel Valley, Israel, Rachel Grap

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetometry were used at Tel Shimron, an archaeological site in Israel’s Jezreel Valley. GPR primarily measures electric properties while magnetometry measures magnetic properties, making them complementary methods for subsurface prospection. Magnetometry can be collected and processed quickly, making it an ideal landscape-scale reconnaissance tool. It takes more time to collect, process, and interpret GPR data, but the result is a higher resolution dataset. In addition, GPR often works better than magnetometry in desert environments such as the Jezreel Valley. Conventional wisdom suggests that GPR should not be used as a landscape-scale reconnaissance tool unless there is …