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Biological and Physical Anthropology Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Biological and Physical Anthropology

The Structural Violence Of Maya Sacrifice: A Case Study Of Ritualized Human Sacrifice At Midnight Terror Cave, Belize, C. L. Kieffer Nail Mar 2018

The Structural Violence Of Maya Sacrifice: A Case Study Of Ritualized Human Sacrifice At Midnight Terror Cave, Belize, C. L. Kieffer Nail

Anthropology ETDs

The site of Midnight Terror Cave is located in the karstic Roaring Creek Valley near the village of Springfield in the Cayo District of Belize. The site was discovered in 2006 and fieldwork was conducted by the Western Belize Regional Cave Survey Project and California State University, Los Angeles, between 2008 and 2010. This dissertation focuses on the osteological analysis of the bones of 118 individuals recovered and recorded at the site. The osteological, contextual, and demographic evidence is framed within ritual and costly signaling theory of structural violence and viewed with the ethnohistoric and ethnographic literature of the ancient …


A Stable Isotope Analysis Of Faunal Remains From Special Deposits On Ontario Iroquoian Tradition Sites, Laura Booth Dec 2014

A Stable Isotope Analysis Of Faunal Remains From Special Deposits On Ontario Iroquoian Tradition Sites, Laura Booth

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The deliberate interment of bears, deer, and dogs on Ontario Iroquoian Tradition sites (900-1650 AD) suggests these animals had social and ideological meaning. This thesis uses stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis from bone collagen of faunal remains from both special and refuse contexts on eight sites in Southern Ontario to investigate the possible relationship between an animal’s burial context, diet, and value. Results indicate that most animals consumed a diet typical for their species regardless of context, suggesting the ideological value of specially deposited animals was augmented through human-animal interactions other than dietary manipulation. Bears from the Dorchester site …


Sacred Heart: A Stable Isotope Analysis Of Childhood, Diet, And Mobility At A Nineteenth Century Ontario Cemetery, Emily Wells Aug 2014

Sacred Heart: A Stable Isotope Analysis Of Childhood, Diet, And Mobility At A Nineteenth Century Ontario Cemetery, Emily Wells

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis uses stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen derived from bone collagen and tooth dentin to study infant feeding behaviour, diet, and mobility at the 19th century Sacred Heart Cemetery in Ingersoll, Ontario, in use from 1848 to 1880. d15N and d13C bone values indicate a diet high in protein with a mix of C3 and C4 plants. The most significant source of dietary C4 plants is through secondary consumption, via livestock raised on maize fodder. The dietary profile of the Sacred Heart population is similar to two contemporary Ontario populations. …