Biological and Physical Anthropology Commons^™

Death On The Horizon: Osteoethnography Of The People Of Akhetaten, Alissa Michelle Bandy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to define and implement osteoethnography. Osteoethnography is the analysis and description of an ancient culture through the bioarchaeological and archaeological evidence, utilizing cultural anthropological theories and techniques. An osteoethnographic narrative is presented in this dissertation, which describes the embodied lives of the people of the 18th Dynasty Egyptian city of Akhetaten, now known as Amarna, founded in 1355 B.C.E. by the Pharaoh Akhenaten. Osteoethnography looks at how people are shaped by and shape their environment, how culture impacts health, and how culture informs the lives of its practioners. Osteoethnography employs life course theory, and …

That Other Form Of Madness: A Multidisciplinary Study Of Infectious Disease Within The Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery, Helen Marie Werner

Theses and Dissertations

Between the years of 1882 and 1925, the Milwaukee County Poor Farm buried several

thousand members of Milwaukee’s indigent population in what would later be designated

Cemetery II. In 1991 and early 1992, after discovery of the cemetery during construction of parts

of the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center, 1,649 burials were excavated. The graves had long

been abandoned and the headstones bulldozed, leaving a register of burials without any obvious

way of associating each individual with their identity. A copy of the register is curated at the

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Archaeological Research Laboratory. The Milwaukee

County Poor Farm was a …

The Bioarchaeology Of Instability: Violence And Environmental Stress During The Late Fort Ancient (Ad 1425 - 1635) Occupations Of Hardin Village, Amber Elaine Osterholt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Conflict, poor health, environmental instability, captive taking, and culture change are all potential contributors for the abandonment of the Middle Ohio River Valley at the end of the Protohistoric Period in eastern North America. This project investigated the relationship between these factors among the Fort Ancient community of Hardin Village. The data presented in this study use bioarchaeological analysis to reveal how environmental and cultural instability influenced communities to leave their homeland. Bioarchaeology was well suited for this investigation because it links the most direct evidence of violence and poor health and nutrition (skeletal injuries and evidence of disease) to …

Disease And De Soto: A Bioarchaeological Approach To The Introduction Of Malaria To The Southeast Us, Kelly Marie Schaeffer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is well known through documentation in historical accounts that numerous diseases were introduced to the Americas during the time of Spanish and French exploration. Diseases such as smallpox, measles and yellow fever have been credited in playing a role in the Spanish conquest of the New World through drastic Native American population decline. Many researchers have studied the biological consequences of European contact, some using direct skeletal analyses to study changes in Native American health and disease. However, one major population disease that has not been part of these discussions is malaria. This is mostly due to the current …

Maize And Bone: An Evaluation And Expansion Of A Proposed Model For The Differential Diagnosis Of Pellagra In Human Remains, Myra G. Miller

Master's Theses

This study attempts to test and expand a previous study to establish a differential diagnosis of pellagra in human remains (Paine & Brenton, 2006a). Seven individuals with documented pellagra and nine individuals randomly selected for comparison from the Hamann-Todd Osteological Collection were evaluated for caries, alveolar bone loss, periostitis, osteoporosis, cribra orbitalia, and porotic hyperostosis. Results indicate that the pellagra sample had lower rates of caries and alveolar bone loss, and higher rates of periostitis of the tibia and fibula in relation to the comparison sample. No osteoporosis, cribra orbitalia, or porotic hyperostosis was found in the pellagra sample. No …

Experimental Immunology And The Potential For Osteopathological Reconstructions : Pursuing An Experimental Foundation For The Skeletal Inflammatory Index., Megan Elizabeth Duncanson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Individuals who mount a strong inflammatory response may produce a shift in the systemic levels of inflammatory mediators, which may lead to a potential hyper-inflammatory phenotype (HIP). Systemic inflammation can increase severity in local inflammatory processes detected in bone lesions. This thesis investigated in vitro if human immune cells pre-treated with inflammatory inducers would affect the inflammatory response against Porphyromonas gingivalis or Staphylococcus aureus (both associated with osteological lesions). We exposed human peripheral blood mononuclear cells to bacterial lysates, or pro-inflammatory cytokines. Sequentially, we exposed the same culture to either P. gingivalis or S. aureus. The final expression of …

Assessing Craniofacial Variation And Sexual Dimorphism In A Skeletal Sample From Medieval Prussia, Carrisa Sue Pritchard

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The objective of this study is to assess the degree of craniofacial variation and sexual dimorphism exhibited by a skeletal sample of 32 adult (14 probable female, 16 probable male, 2 indeterminate) crania from Bezławki, a medieval (14th-15th century) Prussian cemetery site located in modern northeastern Poland. Christian Crusaders were actively colonizing the region during this time period; therefore, the cemetery is likely to include both indigenous Prussians and settlers. It is currently unknown whether the skeletal sample at Bezławki represents a morphologically homogenous or heterogeneous group.

To address this question, three-dimensional cranial landmark data were collected using a Microscribe. …