Other Anthropology Commons^™

Gis Is A Tool, Not The Story: The Journey Towards An Ethnographically Informed Gis Analysis Of Frenchman Coulee, Eastern Washington, Joseph T. Gambino

All Master's Theses

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have seen increased use in ethnographic and archaeological studies over the last several decades. Though revolutionary in their ability to predict and document sites of archaeological or cultural significance, they remain limited in their capacity to communicate the full extent of potential values certain geographies offer to both cultural specialists and their communities. These limitations are amplified when attempting to represent how the landscape is experienced within GIS’s statistical framework. In this manuscript I present different approaches to GIS modeling that attempt to identify some of the advantages Frenchman Coulee could have offered to the Indigenous …

Did Our Prehistoric Ancestors Engage In Mortuary Practices?, Regina E. Mcrae

Undergraduate Research Posters

Abstract

Mortuary practice is defined as how humans dispose of and treat their dead. We are familiar with elaborate burials such as the entombment of pharaohs in the pyramids at Giza; Necropolises of the Valley of the Kings and Queens; the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus; the Taj Mahal in India; Viking funeral pyres on boats; and the modern jazz funerals of New Orleans. Caring for our dead is believed to be a modern concept, practiced by Homo Sapiens. However, archeological excavations and scientific analyses show burial practices predate modern man, practiced by our ancient ancestors such as Neanderthal, Homo Naledi, and …