Archaeological Anthropology Commons^™

Human Settlement And Mid-Late Holocene Coastal Environmental Change At Cape Krusenstern, Northwest Alaska, Shelby Anderson, James Jordon, Adam Freeburg

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Archaeologists hypothesize that mid-late Holocene environmental variability played a role in several significant western Arctic cultural developments including population fluctuations, the evolution of Arctic maritime adaptations, and Arctic-wide migrations. Further evaluation of these hypotheses requires higher resolution archaeological and paleoecological datasets than are currently available. In response, we undertook an interdisciplinary study at Cape Krusenstern, a large coastal site complex in northwest Alaska, which was occupied over the last ca. 5000–6000 years. Our goals were to refine local cultural and paleoenvironmental chronologies and to explore the question of how local environmental change may have influenced local settlement history. The resulting …

An Analysis Of Form And Function Of Ceramic Rim Sherds From La 20,000, A 17th Century Estancia Outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, Caitlin M. Connick

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis examines a sample of ceramic sherds from LA 20,000 to determine the functional uses of the locally made ceramics and their relationship to food preparation, consumption, and identity. LA 20,000, the Sanchez site, is a Spanish colonial estancia, or ranching headquarters, located in La Cienega, New Mexico, roughly 12 miles southwest of Santa Fe and was occupied during the seventeenth century before the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. It is important to understand Pueblo, or native made, ceramics because all ceramic assemblages recovered from 17th-century Spanish sites in New Mexico consist of a majority of native made ceramics. I …

Palynological Investigations Of Agropastoralism And Ecological Change At La 20,000, New Mexico, Anya Gruber

Graduate Masters Theses

How did Spanish colonialism alter the landscape of north-central New Mexico? Agropastoral practices imported by Spanish colonists made indelible impacts on an anthropogenic landscape already shaped by hundreds of years of Pueblo agriculture. However, the precise nature of these changes is poorly understood. This project uses two sets of archaeological pollen data from LA 20,000, a Spanish rancho in New Mexico, to demonstrate how 17th century agriculture and animal husbandry made geographically specific, multifaceted changes to the environment. First, patterns analyzed from a pollen column illuminates fluctuations in plant communities over time, indicating localized ecological shifts. Second, sediments collected from …

“The True Spirit Of Service": Ceramics And Toys As Tools Of Ideology At The Dorchester Industrial School For Girls, Sarah N. Johnson

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis examines the ceramics, both full-scale and toy, and dolls recovered from the Industrial School for Girls (1859-1941) in Dorchester, MA, in order to assess the ways in which the Managers who ran the School used material culture to enculturate the girls, as well as how the girls used material culture to shape their own identities. This site provides a unique opportunity to study the archaeology of a single-gender, and predominately single-class and single-age. The Industrial School for Girls, as an institution whose aim was to better the lives of poor girls and give them economic opportunities, as well …

Rural Sense: Value, Heritage, And Sensory Landscapes: Developing A Design-Oriented Approach To Mapping For Healthier Landscapes, Judith Van Der Elst, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Lily Díaz-Kommonen

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Landscape design needs a novel value system centred on human experience of the landscape rather than simply on economic value. Design-oriented research allows us to shift the focus from mechanistic paradigms towards new sensemaking approaches that value both the sensual and the cognitive in human experience. To move in this direction, we investigate cultural and natural aspects of sensory experience in rural landscapes, arguing that: (1) rural (non-urban) regions offer diverse sensory experiences for optimising human health; and (2) spatial interconnectedness between rural and urban areas means that healthy rural regions are critical for urban development. Our key argument is …

Nature, Place, And Story: Rethinking Historic Sites In Canada By Claire Campbell, Emma K. Morgan-Thorp

The Goose

Review of Claire Campbell's Nature, Place, and Story: Rethinking Historic Sites in Canada.

Explaining Anthropophagy And Social Violence In The Mesa Verde Region Of The American Southwest, Riley Smith

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This thesis is an examination of a controversial problem in anthropology and archaeology – the motives and cultural context of anthropophagy, or cannibalism. Views that the practice was a reflection of a primitive state of humanity have given way to a more ethnographically-informed appreciation of the practice as culturally situated with a diverse set of potential motives. Claims of anthropophagy in the ancient past influence perceptions of both prehistoric and modern groups. Because of the wealth of information gathered from recent excavations, it is now possible to explore the context of, motives for, and consequences of anthropophagy in the American …

Social Organization And Environmental Patterning At Tel Abu Shusha: An Integrated Spatial Approach To Survey Archaeology, Seth Price

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Tel Abu Shusha, located in the Jezreel Valley of Palestine, is a large-scale archaeological site possibly identified as the cities of Biblical Gaba or Roman Gaba Hippaeon/Gaba Philippi. Surface archaeological survey of the surrounding area, conducted by the Jezreel Valley Regional Project during 2017, revealed extensive assemblages of visible settlement features dating primarily to middle and late Islamic periods. This research seeks to answer questions of settlement decision-making and societal organization, by integrating archaeological, textual, environmental, and geospatial data sources. In addition to visual interpretation, Kolmogorov-Smirnov nonparametric tests are used to gain insight on environmental settlement preferences; Ripley’s K analysis …

Many Faiths, One Beginning: Universality In Norse, Maya, Greek And Celtic Faiths

Symposium of Student Scholars

Numerous religious faiths have pervaded the world for much of known human history, but these belief systems often have significant variation in their core tenets, especially with those that have no contact. Religions which are in close proximity to one another tend to have some degree of syncretism, such as having comparable deities, due to having some transmission of their cultures. One group of similar base beliefs is the Indo-Europeans, with its members having been studied for parallels before. To contend with these previous studies, this project will look at the beliefs of the Norse, Greek, and Celtic cultures, all …

Gender And Religion In A Shifting Social Landscape: Anglo-Saxon Mortuary Practices, Ad 600-700, Caroline Palmer

Undergraduate Honors Theses

My thesis examines seventh-century East Anglian mortuary practices and cross-correlates grave goods and human remains to determine whether there was an expression of the sexual division of labor during this period of social and religious change. I argue that gender roles changed as a result of adopting kingdoms and Christianity. Prior to this time period, Anglo-Saxons were primarily pagan and were buried with extensive burial goods. In addition to changes in religious and burial practices, during the Final Phase (600-700 AD) there appears to have been a division of labor that was not as dichotomous in the Migration Phase (450-600 …

Advancements In Archaeology Through Remote Sensing, Austin Valentine

Student Scholarship & Creative Works

One aspect of remote sensing applied to archaeology is through the utilization of aerial photography. Some of the first records of aerial photographs being applied to the discipline of archaeology date back to the late 1920’s. One such example was a series of photographs taken by the famous pilot Col. Charles Lindberg. Col. Lindberg, who was actually fascinated with the field of archaeology, made a series of flights taking photographs of the Chaco Canyon in New Mexico as well as Maya ruins in both Mexico and Guatemala.

Since, archaeology has become a science that can be conducted from both aloft …

The Paul Barker Ethnographic Research In Haiti, 1950s-1960s: Assessing The Usm Vodoucollection, Hannah Marcel

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

The Collection was obtained by Paul Barker, a faculty member of the Gorham State Teachers College, during the period of 1950-1960s (see Figures 1-4, 7). It is compiled of religious artifacts mostly relating to Haitian Vodou, with a few objects from Africa and the Dominican Republic. Haitian Vodouis heavily influenced by aspects of African religions that traveled to the Americas on the slave trade. It shares some characteristics with Louisiana Voodoo, Santeria, and other Afro-Caribbean religions who were also influenced by religions being introduced to the Americas by means of the slave trade. Each religion developed distinct characteristics shaped by …

Rural Sense: Value, Heritage, And Sensory Landscapes: Developing A Design-Oriented Approach To Mapping For Healthier Landscapes, Judith Van Der Elst, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Lily Díaz-Kommonen

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Landscape design needs a novel value system centred on human experience of the landscape rather than simply on economic value. Design-oriented research allows us to shift the focus from mechanistic paradigms towards new sense-making approaches that value both the sensual and the cognitive in human experience. To move in this direction, we investigate cultural and natural aspects of sensory experience in rural landscapes, arguing that: (1) rural (non-urban) regions offer diverse sensory experiences for optimising human health; and (2) spatial interconnectedness between rural and urban areas means that healthy rural regions are critical for urban development. Our key argument is …

More Pipeclay Beads From Norton St Philip, England, Marek Lewcun

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

During the 17th century, Norton St Philip was a major production center for clay tobacco pipes. As a sideline, they also made such items as wig curlers, gaming pieces, and beads. A previous article discussed six beads recovered from pipe-making wasters in fields adjoining the village. Here are described an additional five specimens, each with different decoration.

Sourcing A Unique Man-In-The-Moon Bead, Thomas Stricker, Karlis Karklins, Mark Mangus, Thaddeus Watts

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

Chemical analysis of a unique black bead found in Turkey that depicts the four phases of the moon reveals it most likely originated in the Fichtelgebirge region of Bavaria at some time prior to the early 19th century.

Glass Beads In Iron-Age And Early-Modern Taiwan: An Introduction, Kuan-Wen Wang

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

Archaeological research has revealed a long history of glass bead exchange and use in Taiwan, yet it has seldom been discussed in the literature. This paper provides an introduction to this exchange from the Iron Age (ca. late 1st millennium BC – mid-2nd millennium AD) to the early modern period (ca. AD 1600-1900) by revisiting the archaeological and historical records. It is suggested that changes in bead styles and chemical compositions over time reveal the transition of bead supply in Taiwan, which further reflects two broad phases of bead trade: Phase I) the earlier involvement of Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific …

Florida Cut-Crystal Beads In Ontario, Karlis Karklins, Alicia Hawkins, Heather Walder, Scott Fairgrieve

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

Faceted rock-crystal beads attributed to ca. 1550-1630 have been found at a number of North American archaeological sites, principally in the southeastern United Sates where they are generally termed Florida Cut-Crystal. Finds further to the north are rare. It was, therefore, of great interest to discover three different examples in the bead collections of two 17th-century Huron-Wendat sites in southern Ontario: Le Caron (BeGx-15) and Warminster (BdGv-1). The beads are investigated using a multi-disciplinary approach in an effort to determine how and where they were produced.

Beyond The Nubian Gold: Meroitic Beads Between The Fifth And Sixth Nile Cataracts, Joanna Then-Obłuska

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

More than 2,300 beads and pendants were excavated from 16 graves at the Berber Meroitic cemetery (BMC) during the 2009-2013 seasons. The site lies between the Fifth and Sixth Cataracts, some 150 km north of the kingdom’s capital, Meroe. The cemetery has been dated to between the 2nd century BC and the 3rd century AD. Next to some ostrich-eggshell, stone, and silver beads and pendants, faience, glass, and metal-in-glass dominate the bead assemblage, with the latter type (gold-in-glass and silver-in-glass beads) constituting a quarter of the finds. Some of the metal-in-glass specimens belong to one of the most sophisticated bead …

Stone Beads In Oman During The 3rd To 2nd Millenia Bce: New Approaches To The Study Of Trade And Technology, Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, Dennys Frenez

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

This paper focuses primarily on ancient stone beads found in Oman at sites dating to the 3rd to 2nd millennium BCE, generally dated to the Umm an-Nar and Wadi Suq periods. Archaeological collections were documented to determine the range of variation in the finished objects and if there is evidence for local production of carnelian and other hard-stone beads. A comparative analysis with published materials from other regions was also undertaken to document the bead types in Oman that might have been obtained through trade networks that linked this region to Mesopotamia, Iran, the Indus Valley region, Afghanistan, Egypt, and …

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. …

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 …

Front Matter

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

More On Frit-Core Beads In North America, Karlis Karklins, Adelphine Bonneau

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

This article publishes new findings on frit-core beads in North America, including an initial assessment of their chemical composition. Two new find sites have been added to the inventory, bringing the total to 19. In addition, two new types have been recorded, each with variants. The bead from one of the new sites comes from a context later than the date range attributed to this bead category. Its significance is discussed.

Beads: Journal Of The Society Of Bead Researchers - Volume 30 (Complete)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Constructing Rock Cairns: Modifying And Signifying The Alpine Landscape Of Southeast Alaska, Ralph J. Hartley, Amanda Renner, William J. Hunt Jr.

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

The existence and variability of human-made rock cairns in subalpine and alpine settings of Southeast Alaska is increasingly well documented. Whete these features were constructed prehistorically and prorohistorically is a fundamental component to assessing the socioecological role of these modifications to a landscape that is, for the most patt, devoid of other physical manifestations of past human activities. Based on information compiled from investigations in the northern portion of Baranof Island and vicinity, we explore the physical and social environmental conditions that may underlie decisions to create the cairns, some of which are estimated to have been built approximately 500 …

Data Management In Anthropology: The Next Phase In Ethics Governance?, Igor Boog, J. Henrike Florusbosch, Zane Kripe, Tessa Minter, Peter Pels, Metje Postma, Margaret Sleeboom-Faulkner, Bob Simpson, Hansjörg Dilger, Michael Schönhuth, Anita Von Poser, Rena Lederman, Heather Richards-Rissetto

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Recent demands for accountability in ‘data management’ by funding agencies, universities, international journals and other academic institutions have worried many anthropologists and ethnographers. While their demands for transparency and integrity in opening up data for scrutiny seem to enhance scientific integrity, such principles do not always consider the way the social relationships of research are properly maintained. As a springboard, the present Forum, triggered by such recent demands to account for the use of ‘data’, discusses the present state of anthropological research and academic ethics/integrity in a broader perspective. It specifically gives voice to our disciplinary concerns and leads to …

Using Virtual Reality And Photogrammetry To Enrich 3d Object Identity, Cole Juckette, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Hector Eluid Guerra Aldana, Norman Martinez

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

The creation of digital 3D models for cultural heritage is commonplace. With the advent of efficient and cost effective technologies archaeologists are making a plethora of digital assets. This paper evaluates the identity of 3D digital assets and explores how to enhance or expand that identity by integrating photogrammetric models into VR. We propose that when a digital object acquires spatial context from its virtual surroundings, it gains an identity in relation to that virtual space, the same way that embedding the object with metadata gives it a specific identity through its relationship to other information. We explore this concept …

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 …

Table Of Contents (V. 30, 2018)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

To Produce “A Pleasing Effect:” Taíno Shell And Stone Cibas And Spanish Cuentas In The Early Colonial Caribbean, Joanna Ostapkowicz

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

This article serves as an introduction to the use of beads – both indigenous and European – in surviving examples of body ornaments of the early colonial period Caribbean: a cemí/belt in the collections of Rome’s Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico “L. Pigorini,” a belt from the Weltmuseum Wien, and a cache of beads in a wooden vessel from the collections of the Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, Universidad de Puerto Rico. These artifacts offer insights into how the Taíno may have adopted newly introduced foreign goods, aligning them to their own aesthetics and world view. Glass beads, acquired via …