Archaeological Anthropology Commons^™

Teaching: Natural Or Cultural?, David F. Lancy

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

In this chapter I argue that teaching, as we now understand the term, is historically and cross-culturally very rare. It appears to be unnecessary to transmit culture or to socialize children. Children are, on the other hand, primed by evolution to be avid observers, imitators, players and helpers—roles that reveal the profoundly autonomous and self-directed nature of culture acquisition (Lancy in press a). And yet, teaching is ubiquitous throughout the modern world—at least among the middle to upper class segment of the population. This ubiquity has led numerous scholars to argue for the universality and uniqueness of teaching as a …

Medieval Nemea: Building A Public Digital Resource, Lauren A. Vagts, Effie Athanassopoulos

UCARE: Research Products

This site presents medieval ceramics from the excavations at the site of Nemea, in southern Greece. We have created a digital resource with results and artifacts from archaeological excavations conducted in the 1970s and 1980s, which have remained unpublished. The website incorporates a variety of materials, including excavation notebooks, maps, data bases, photographs, and 3D models of ceramics. Omeka was selected as the software for this project for several reasons. Omeka offers the Dublin Core metadata as a way to standardize and organize digital data, allowing its users access to a well-developed platform. Omeka is also an open source software …

Integrative 3d Recording Methods Of Historic Architecture: Burg Hohenecken From Southwest Germany, Aaron C. Pattee

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

This research explores the methodology and application of photogrammetric and laser-scanning recording methods to a castle ruin, with the primary purpose of digitally preserving the castle. Both methods generated interactive 3D models via the combination of still images (photogrammetry) and precise laser measurements (laser-scanning), which were then combined into a single model. The case study is the medieval castle ruin Burg Hohenecken located in the city of Kaiserslautern in southwest Germany. The castle was active from 1212-1689, as one of over fifty castles within the region of the Pfalz. The inhabitants included the noble von Hoheneck family and various …

Usda-Unl Artifacts Roadshow: The Development Of A 2d Archive Of Great Plains Projectile Points, Maia Behrendt

UCARE: Research Products

The Archaeological Survey is primarily concentrated through Federal and State lands. Nebraska like much of the Great Plains is overwhelmingly privately owned. As a consequence less than 1% of the state has been subject to professional survey. Private land owners, however, know of many archaeological sites that have not been documented. Engagement with the public about sites and about collected artifacts thus has the potential to greatly increase knowledge of the past.

Over the past three years the University of Nebraska and the USDA Forest Service have conducted “Artifacts Roadshows” to talk with land owners about private artifact collections. These …

German Pows Make Colorado Home: Coping By Craft And Exchange, Christopher Michael Morine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

From 1943 to 1946, the U.S. government held over 3,000 German POWs at Camp Trinidad in southern Colorado. In 2013 and 2014, archaeological fieldwork, interviews, and archival research were conducted in order to better understand the daily lives of those incarcerated at the camp. The information gathered about artifacts, environmental features, and personal narratives, reveals insights into the lesser known details of the prisoners' lives. Despite the U.S. military rules and regulations and efforts by American personnel within camp, prisoners created goods they wanted or needed. Acquiring the necessary goods was accomplished through modification of available goods, through scavenging the …

Common Ground: Uniting Archaeology And Secondary Social Studies Curricula, Jeremy Allen Haas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Archaeologists have been attempting to establish stronger connections with communities for several decades. Concepts such as stewardship can be presented to a larger audience, and archaeology can be a valuable tool for public education. Public schools across the nation are struggling to improve with limited resources. Archaeology can provide teachers with inexpensive resources that improve student learning while simultaneously helping teachers meet more rigorous standards. Using historical, archaeological, and cultural resources from the World War II Japanese American internment camp, Amache, I created a new supplementary curriculum that focused on the experience of Japanese and Japanese Americans during that era. …

Chronology, Climate, And Fremont Maize Farming In The Great Salt Lake Region, Christopher J. Allison, James R. Allison

Faculty Publications

Archaeologists usually say that Fremont maize farming in the Great Salt Lake region began at about AD 400, and that a mid-1100s drought caused the ancient inhabitants of the region to give up farming. But radiocarbon dates from the region do not support these dates. The earliest dated maize and the earliest dated human skeletal remains with bone chemistry suggesting maize consumption both suggest that maize was not grown in the region until after AD 600. Also, recently obtained dates on maize from Fremont villages indicate that farming in the region continued into the AD 1200s. If the end of …

Geophysical Survey Of Wisconsin Burial Site Bro-0033 Wixom Cemetery, Rock County, Wisconsin, Peter N. Peregrine

Archaeological Reports

No abstract provided.

Pressing: Where The Objective Meets The Subjective, Mariana Parisca

Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted

Through this essay I describe the theoretical and anthropological ideas that led to the creation of the Cushing Series. An interest in the obsession with photography in popular culture leads to an understanding of the permeation of structured reasoning beyond scientific research and into everyday life. Taking evidence from photography, and philosophy of science I establish the limitations of structured reasoning, both as a way of perceiving the world and as an understanding of identity, and define surface and frame as its physical representation. Using Sartre’s existential theory and phenomenological anthropology I then describe the infinite subjective existence of …

How Has The Domestication Of Dogs Impacted Native North American Culture And Way Of Life?, Mikaela E. Reisman

Senior Honors Projects

Dogs, as the only domestic mammal in North America, were a part of the life and culture of the people who migrated to the Americas from Eurasia. Originally domesticated from Eurasian wolves, the uses of dogs expanded once the Native American ancestors spread throughout the continents. I investigate the kinds of dogs Native Americans bred over thousands of years and how these dogs impacted native North American culture, through a review of recent genetic, biological, archaeological, oral historical, and historical evidence and research.

Evidence of Native American use of dogs ranges from hunting, to companionship, to using their fur for …

Phase I Archaeological Survey Of The Lawrence University Banta Bowl, Outagamie County, City Of Appleton, Wisconsin, Peter N. Peregrine

Archaeological Reports

No abstract provided.

Wrestling With Tradition: Japanese Activities At Amache, A World War Ii Incarceration Facility, Zachary Allen Starke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I employ archaeological analyses, archival research, and oral histories to investigate traditional Japanese practices that were performed at Amache, a World War II Japanese American incarceration facility. I argue that these inter-generational practices helped to bridge a cultural gap that existed between several generations of Japanese Americans. For many incarcerated Japanese Americans, their first exposure to many traditional activities occurred during incarceration. The resulting social environment incorporated aspects of Japanese, Japanese American, and mainstream American influences, all of which were adapted to conditions during incarceration. Similarly, archaeological analyses allow for the investigation of traditional practice features. These provide evidence regarding …

Saffron Cod (Eleginus Gracilis) In North Pacific Archaeology, Megan A. Partlow, Eric Munk

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Saffron cod (Eleginus gracilis) is a marine species often found in shallow, brackish water in the Bering Sea, although it can occur as far southeast as Sitka, Alaska. Recently, we identified saffron cod remains in two ca. 500-year-old Afognak Island midden assemblages from the Kodiak Archipelago. We developed regression formulae to relate bone measurements to total length using thirty-five modern saffron cod specimens. The archaeological saffron cod remains appear to be from mature adults, measuring 22–45 cm in total length, and likely caught from shore during spawning. Saffron cod may have been an important winter resource for Alutiiq people living …

Determination Of Site Functionality And Subsistence Patterns At The Bray Archaeological Site (45pi1276) In Edgewood, Washington, David J. Sheldon

All Master's Theses

Resource intensification, or the logistical approach to the mass capture and extension of food resources through storage, is first evident for marine resources of the Northwest Coast during the Locarno Beach Phase (LBP) (ca. 3,500 BP to ca. 2,400 BP). Plant resource intensification is evident by 4,000 BP within the interior of the Pacific Northwest, but until recently there has been little evidence to support early intensification of plant use in the Puget Sound during the LBP. Test excavations conducted as part of a damage assessment of the Bray Site indicated that the site may contain the earliest known evidence …

Brewing Behind Barbed Wire: An Archaeology Of Saké At Amache, Christian Driver

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

After the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, approximately 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry living on the west coast of the United States were forcibly removed from their home communities. These people were designated as "evacuees" by the U.S. Government and were incarcerated within a network of federal government facilities the largest of which were internment centers operated by the War Relocation Authority that held mostly U.S. citizens. The Granada Relocation Center (Amache) was the smallest of these internment centers. The presence of saké at Amache indicates that Japanese Americans continued important practices of daily life despite …

A History Of Transplants: A Study Of Entryway Gardens At Amache, David Holden Garrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous research shows that during the period of Japanese American internment gardening became a popular activity for the interned. Primarily approached historically, little work has been conducted to archaeologically analyze the efforts of landscaping by former internees. Gardening activity can paint a better picture of Japanese American identity during the period of forced confinement. This research investigates internee gardens methodologically through surface survey, ground penetrating radar, excavation, oral history, soil chemistry, archaeobotany, and palynology. The thorough investigation of landscaping efforts of internees builds upon knowledge of expression within Japanese American relocation centers, as well as the understanding of a lineage …

The Fall Of Teotihuacan, Elizabeth P. Ale

Undergraduate Research Posters

In this project I present a survey of multiple theories regarding the dissolution of the ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan. This complex city-state was established around 100 BCE and became one of the largest and most powerful sites in Mesoamerica. Located about 25 miles northeast of what is today known as Mexico City, Teotihuacan was home to many advanced technological and social structures, including a pyramid called The Pyramid of the Sun that boasted a base as large as the Great Pyramid of Giza’s. At some time between the 7^th and 8^th century CE, Teotihuacan went into decline. …

Beyond The Horizon: The Limitless Potential Of 3d Technology In Archaeology, Rebecca Bowman

Undergraduate Research Posters

My research started during the summer of 2014 with a joint internship at VCU’s Virtual Curation Lab and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources under the supervision of Dr. Bernard K. Means and Katherine Ridgway. The purpose of my research was to conduct a comparative study between the virtual and physical process of mending, or repairing, artifacts. I was granted access to three different vessel fragments which were improperly mended in the 1960s. It was my goal to remove the previous adhesive adhered to the sherds and replace it with a safer adhesive. Simultaneously, I brought the previously mended sherds …

Introducing The Fremont, James R. Allison

Faculty Publications

“Fremont” is a label archaeologists use for the northern con- temporaries of Ancestral Pueblo people. Fremont peoples lived mostly in what is now the state of Utah, in the eastern Great Basin and on the northern Colorado Plateau. Their range extended slightly beyond the modern borders of Utah. Sometime during the first few centuries A.D., people began growing maize (corn) in the region. The first farmers might have been immigrants from the south, or indigenous hunter-gatherers who incorporated maize into their diet; most archaeologists think evidence shows a combination of both patterns. Over the next several hundred years, people across …

Geophysical Survey Of Wisconsin Burial Site Ou-0122: Outagamie County Insane Asylum Cemetery, Peter N. Peregrine

Archaeological Reports

No abstract provided.

Geophysical Survey Of Wisconsin Burial Site Bou-0017 Freedom Moravian Cemetery, Peter N. Peregrine

Archaeological Reports

No abstract provided.

Working With Clay, Rosemary A. Joyce, Julia A. Hendon, Jeanne Lopiparo

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Evidence from sites in the lower Ulua valley of north-central Honduras, occupied between a.d. 500 and 1000, provides new insight into the connections between households, craft production, and the role of objects in maintaining social relations within and across households. Production of pottery vessels, figurines, and other items in a household context has been documented at several sites in the valley, including Cerro Palenque, Travesía, Campo Dos, and Campo Pineda. Differences in raw materials, in what was made, and in the size and design of firing facilities allow us to explore how crafting with clay created communities of practice made …

From Monuments To Ruins: An Analysis Of Historical Preservation In Jordan, Mason Seymore

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The city of Amman, Jordan manages a plethora of archaeological sites that date back several millennia. Unfortunately, with the limited resources the government has at its disposal, the city is unable to conserve the sites in the best way possible. Because of this, a public disconnect between the value of history and attempts that are made to preserve it has emerged. This study explored the effects of historical conservation in Jordanian society. More specifically, the study focused on the relationship between how the public and the government perceives historical conservation efforts in Jordan. This study attempted to answer two research …

Historical Archaeology: Methods, Meanings And Ambiguities, Christopher R. Decorse

Anthropology - All Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Analysis Of Paleoindian And Terminal Archaic Lithic Assemblages From Southeastern Connecticut To Determine Diagnostic Debitage Attributes, Colleen Mcalister

Honors Scholar Theses

The Paleoindian and Terminal Archaic periods can be differentiated on the basis of projectile point typology. This study was conducted to determine whether these two stone tool production periods could also be distinguished based solely on debitage, or the by-products of stone tool production. Goals included accurately analyzing and classifying stone tool flakes from an Early Paleoindian site, a Late Paleoindian site, and two Terminal Archaic sites, based on morphology, material, and possible geographical sources. The methods used here will help future researchers to classify sites as Paleoindian or Terminal Archaic in the initial site exploration phase.

New Hampshire College's World War I Training Camp: An Archaeological Investigation, Jillian M. Price

Honors Theses and Capstones

In May 1918, New Hampshire College received the first of five detachments of World War I draftees to their newly-established training camp. Under a War Department program that converted colleges to vocational training centers, these men trained as army carpenters, engineers, electricians, and mechanics. During their stay on campus, these men built two barracks to serve as their own housing. In the summer of 2012, and archaeological investigation uncovered the remains of these barracks, recovering architectural materials and evidence of soldiers' leisure activities. This paper discusses the history of the vocational training camp program, analyzes its impact on local communities …

'Deviant' Burials In Archaeology, Jesslyn E. Hodgson

Anthropology Publications

The term ‘deviant’ is used to describe burials that deviate from the normative burial rites of a given society, at a given point in time. The problem with applying such a term to the archaeological record rests predominantly in the fact that the term ‘deviant’ has a negative connotation. This negative connotation insinuates that the individual in the burial context may have been viewed by their society in a negative light, however, through analysis of case studies it is shown that many ‘deviant’ burials are not in fact burials of people viewed as deviant, but ‘different’ burials given to people …

Reevaluating The Late Classic Lu-Bat Glyphic Phrase: The Artist And The Underworld, Patrick Carroll

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study of hieroglyphic texts is vital to the interpretation of the ancient Maya and how their worldview contributed to their daily lives. Hieroglyphic decipherment has been an arduous undertaking and a wide variety of the Late Classic Maya writing styles has also been documented. When specific hieroglyphic phrases are not fully understood it has been necessary to utilize other sources of information to help increase the understanding of these texts. The “lubat” glyphic phrase has been utilized in multiple mediums throughout the Late Classic period and is described as an artist’s signature. This artist signature is directly related to …

Book Review Of "Site Du Palais De L'Lntendant Chantier-Ecol De L'An 2000" By Marie-Michelle Dionne, Desiree-Emmanuelle Duchaine And Richard Lapointe, Pauline Desjardins

Northeast Historical Archaeology

A book review of this volume which deals with the research conducted in historical archaeology at the Universite Laval in Quebec City, Canada.

Book Review Of "Unearthing Gotham: The Archaeology Of New York City" By Anne-Marie Cantwell And Diana Dizerega Wall, Nancy J. Brighton

Northeast Historical Archaeology

A book review of Unearthing Gotham, which illustrates the over 11,000 years of prehistory and history represented by artifacts and archaeological remains recovered from beneath the streets of New York City.