Archaeological Anthropology Commons^™

Ceramics And Glass Beads As Symbolic Mixed Media In Colonial Native North America, Gregory A. Waselkov, David W. Morgan, Billie Coleman

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

During the 17th and 18th centuries, Native Americans rarely adorned ceramic objects with glass beads, despite the millions of beads introduced by Europeans through trade. Bead-decorated ceramics have been reported from only nine sites in North America, perhaps due to a tendency for archaeologists to overlook or misclassify bead-inlaid pottery. The 40 artifacts represent widely divergent ethnic groups separated from each other culturally, as well as by great distances in space and time. Yet they display a remarkable consistency in the pattern of bead arrangement and use of color. Colored glass beads stand in for human eyes in effigy smoking …

Revisiting The Nelson Site: Recent Archeological Investigations And Material Analysis, Jason Reichel

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The Nelson Site (21BE24) is situated on a low terrace along the southern boundary of the Blue Earth River, approximately 2 miles west of the city of Mankato, Minnesota (Appendix A, Figures 1 and 2). Initial survey of the site in 1973 identified the site as a single component Terminal Woodland habitation site associated with cultural entities centered in the Mississippi River Valley of Iowa and Wisconsin. However, subsequent analysis and additional archaeological investigations conducted in 2011 and 2013 identified additional components of the site and recognized variations in decorative elements from pottery recovered from previous surveys, which differed from …

Controversy In Skeletal Biology: The Use Of Pathological And Osteological Markers As Evidence For Activity Patterns, Anna Alioto

The Hilltop Review

One of the most pressing controversies today within a multitude of disciplines in biological anthropology including bioarchaeology, paleoanthropology and especially skeletal biology is whether or not physical activity patterns of individuals can be inferred from skeletal material and what types of activities can be reconstructed from that data (Jurmain et al., 2011). While many authors have published articles that incorporated the use of pathological and osteological markers as evidence for activity patterns, there is still much dispute within the skeletal biological community on the validity and the accuracy of the techniques used. This paper will discuss what types of markers …

Maya Construction History: Explorations Through Buildings Archaeology And Conservation, Leah M. Mccurdy

Sociology & Anthropology Faculty Publications - Archive

No abstract provided.

The Relevance Of Maize Pollen For Assessing The Extent Of Maize Production In Chaco Canyon, Carrie C. Heitman, Phil R. Geib

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Opinion is hardly unanimous, but many authors endorse the idea that Chaco Canyon is and was a marginal place for growing corn (Zea mays), a chief source of food energy for Puebloan groups in the Southwest. Poor soils with “toxic” levels of salts, inadequate and unpredictable precipitation, and a short growing season have all been identified as contributing to the agricultural marginality of the place (Benson 2011a; Bryan 1954; Force et al. 2002; Judd 1954:59–61). Benson has been the most vocal proponent of this view of late, and his research has culminated in the conclusion that “the San Juan Basin, …

Procedural Modeling For Ancient Maya Cityscapes: Initial Methodological Challenges And Solutions, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Rachel Plessing

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Digital reconstruction of 3D cityscapes is expensive, time-consuming, and requires significant expertise. We need a 3D modeling approach that streamlines the integration of multiple data types in a time-efficient and low-cost manner. Procedural modeling—rapid proto-typing of 3D models from a set of rules— offers a potential solution to this problem because it allows scholars to create digital reconstructions that can be quickly updated and used to test and formulate alternative hypotheses that are derived from and linked to underlying archaeological data. While procedural modeling is being used to visualize ancient Roman, Etruscan, and Greek cities, in the Maya region the …

Paleoindian Predictive Model For Yellowstone National Park, Matthew R. Nelson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Greater Yellowstone Region was a destination for nomadic hunter-gatherers for at least 12,000 years. Archaeological sites representing the whole spectrum of time, cultures, and activities, have been found throughout the region. Within Yellowstone National Park a number of Paleoindian projectile points and other related cultural materials have been recorded, however, only a handful of buried Paleoindian sites have been identified and excavated. Considering the nature of the archaeological record in the area, some interesting questions surface about the value of the information recorded on the Paleoindian sites. In terms of Yellowstone National Park (YNP) Paleoindian archaeology, is it possible …

Temper, Mounds, And Palisades: The Walford Site (22su501) Of Sunflower County, Mississippi, Kimberly Nicole Harrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Walford site is a multicomponent site with Archaic, Woodland and Mississippian components located in the northern Yazoo Basin of Mississippi. The site has been recorded by several surveys, and was subjected to salvage excavations from 2003–2007. This excavation confirmed multiple components identified in previous surveys, and added a wider chronological range and occupation area. Current excavations also identified a palisade constructed before all of the adjacent Mississippian structures, as well as one of the mounds. Using stratigraphy, GIS, and ceramic analysis, the date of this palisade was determined to be Late Woodland or Early Mississippian.

An Architectural Perspective On Structured Sacred Space—Recent Evidence From Iron Age Ireland, Frank Prendergast

Book/Book Chapter

N/A

Keflavík On Hegranes: Cemetery Excavation—Interim Report2015, Guðný Zoega, Douglas J. Bolender, Brian N. Damiata, John M. Steinberg

Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research Publications

The summer of 2015 was the first of three planned years of excavations at the early Christian cemetery at farm Keflavík on Hegranes in the region of Skagafjörður, North Iceland. The excavation is the third phase of Skagfirska kirkjurannsóknin (Skagafjörður Church Project) and is a collective effort of the Skagafjörður Heritage Museum and the Fiske Center of the University of MassachusettsBoston. The collective project goes by the name Skagafjörður Church and Settlement Survey (SCASS). The excavation season started on the 6thof July and finished on the 14thof August. The first two weeks were spent cleaning the surface and removing a …

The Bear Creek Site (45ki839), A Late Pleistocene–Holocene Transition Occupation In The Puget Sound Lowland, King County, Washington, Robert E. Kopperl, Amanda K. Taylor, Christian J. Miss, Kenneth M. Ames, Charles M. Hodges

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Bear Creek site in Redmond, Washington, yields important information about settlement, subsistence, and technology in the Puget Lowland during the late Pleistocene–Holocene transition. The lithic assemblage is dominated by expedient flake technology, but also contains bifaces and retouched tools. Ongoing analyses focus on site formation, procurement strategies of lithic raw materials, production of flake tools, and technological comparisons of Bear Creek stemmed and concave-base points with other Paleoarchaic technologies of western North America

Fish Remains From The Beatty Curve Site (35kl95), Virginia L. Butler, J. Tait Elder, Daniel Mcgowan Gilmour, Alexander E. Stevenson, Camilla F. Speller

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The archaeological record of fish in the Upper Klamath Basin is important for several reasons. First it is important to descendant indigenous people in the region. Nineteenth century explorer accounts and ethnographic records highlight the importance of fish to subsistence and overall lifeways of Klamath basin people in the 19th and 20th centuries before major habitat destruction (Gatschet 1890; Spier 1930; Lane and Lane Associates 1981; Deur 2003b). Ancient fish bone records emphasize the long-term relationships between fish and Native Americans and the range and diversity of fish species used, which have been in great decline over the past several …

Holocene Settlement History Of The Dundas Islands Archipelago, Northern British Columbia, Bryn Letham, Andrew Martindale, Duncan Mclaren, Thomas Brown, Kenneth M. Ames, David J.W. Archer, Susan Marsden

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

As this article demonstrates, the Dundas Islands have been home to humans for at least eleven thousand years. This occupation was at times very extensive; this relatively small group of islands was likely home to a population of several thousand people by about two thousand years ago. While geographically on the “outer shores” of Northern Tsimshian traditional territory, these islands were in no way marginal as locations for settlement. We outline the settlement history of the archipelago by presenting the results of the Dundas Islands Archaeological Project, including the radiocarbon dating program results combined with data from three previous small-scale …

Archéologie Du Cap Espenberg Où La Question Du Birnirk Et De L’Origine Du Thulé Dans Le Nord‐Ouest De L’Alaska, Claire Alix, Owen K. Mason, Nancy H. Bigelow, Shelby L. Anderson, Jeffrey Rasic, John F. Hoffecker

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Résumé en français

Le cap Espenberg est une flèche littorale au large de la mer des Tchouktches dans le nord‐ouest de l’Alaska contenant les vestiges de 4000 ans d’occupations humaines et de changements climatiques. Les recherches archéologiques et paléoenvironnementales qui sont menées depuis 2009 dans le cadre d’un projet pluridisciplinaire apportent des informations nouvelles sur la chronologie des occupations du dernier millénaire et documente l’émergence de la culture thuléenne directement antérieure et ancestrale aux Inuit/Inupiat d’aujourd’hui, dans un contexte d’intensification des conditions cycloniques contemporain du petit âge glaciaire. Parallèlement, ces recherches posent la question de la nature de l’occupation Birnirk …

Metal And Prestige In The Greater Lower Columbia River Region, Northwestern North America, H. Kory Cooper, Kenneth Ames, Loren G. Davis

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Excavations at the late prehistoric-early historic Chinookan sites of Meier and Cathlapotle in the Greater Lower Columbia Region recovered several hundred metal artifacts. Portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was used initially to quickly determine metal type. Then a sample of copper artifacts was subjected to another round of XRF analysis to identify the presence of native copper and, or, chronologically sensitive copper metals. No native copper artifacts were identified and the lack of Muntz metal, a specific type of brass patented in the 1830s, corroborates the dating of material from both sites as no later than the early historic period. Meier …

Visions Of Substance: 3d Imaging In Mediterranean Archaeology, Brandon R. Olson, William R. Caraher

Digital Press Books

With the advent of low-cost and easy to use 3D imaging tools, the discipline of archaeology is on the cusp of a major change in how we document, study, and publish archaeological contexts. While there are a growing number of volumes dedicated to this subject, Visions of Substance: 3D Imaging in Mediterranean Archaeology represents an accessible and conversational introduction to the theory and practice of 3D imaging techniques in a Mediterranean and European context.

Curatorial Implications Of Ophyra Capensis (Order Diptera, Family Muscidae) Puparia Recovered From The Body Of The Blessed Antonio Patrizi, Monticiano, Italy (Middle Ages), Johnica J. Morrow, Diesel A. Baldwin, Leon G. Higley, Dario Piombino-Mascali, Karl J. Reinhard

Karl Reinhard Publications

The discovery of dipteran remains on mummified individuals can lead to either cause for curatorial concern or to a better understanding of the individual’s post-mortem environment. The present study analyzed insect remains associated with the body of a unique medieval mummy of religious significance, that of the Blessed Antonio Patrizi da Monticiano. A total of 79 puparia were examined and all were identified as Ophyra capensis (Diptera: Muscidae). Additionally, a desiccated moth (Lepidoptera: Tineidae) was encountered. Puparia of O. capensis would be associated with normal decomposition shortly after the death of the mummified individual, and not an infestation beginning during …

Excavations Of Mound B: A Ridge-Top Mound At The Carson Site, A Mississippian Mound Center In The Northern Yazoo Basin, Samuel Henri Butz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Beads And Pendants From Sedeinga, Nubia, Joanna Then-Obłuska

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

Excavations conducted during the 2009-2014 seasons at the burial site of Sedeinga, Nubia, produced 3,400 beads and pendants of various materials which date to the Late Napatan and Meroitic periods, ca. 400 B.C.-A.D. 300. The chronological, geographical, and political situation of the site made the bead assemblage exceptionally rich in organic and inorganic materials as well as the technologies used to make the objects. During a period dominated by faience and glass in bead production, the use of organics and stones indicates strong links with the neighboring Nubian deserts, an overland connection with the Red Sea coast, and, surprisingly, an …

Pvn Op 418 Excavation Report, Edward Schortman

Four Valleys Archive

No abstract provided.