Anthropology Commons^™

Exploring The Spatial Autocorrelation In Soil Moisture Networks: Analysis Of The Bias From Upscaling The Texas Soil Observation Network (Txson), Yaping Xu, Cuiling Liu, Lei Wang, Lei Zou

Faculty Publications

Microwave remote sensing such as soil moisture active passive (SMAP) can provide soil moisture data for agricultural and hydrological studies. However, the scales between station-measured and satellite-measured products are quite different, as stations measure on a point scale while satellites have a much larger footprint (e.g., 9 km). Consequently, the validation for soil moisture products, especially inter-comparison between these two types of observations, is quite a challenge. Spatial autocorrelation among the stations could be a contribution of bias, which impacts the dense soil moisture networks when compared with satellite soil moisture products. To examine the effects of spatial autocorrelation to …

Comparison Of Middle Woodland Settlement Models In Georgia And Ohio, Bryan A. Moss*

Symposium of Student Scholars

During the Middle Woodland period (200 BC – AD 400), there was an increase of cultural complexity and the rise of a mortuary cult throughout much of eastern North America. This cult included a wide interaction network called the Hopewellian Interaction Sphere, which dates to the Middle Woodland period in the Mid-West. This interaction, which reached into the Southeast, involved the exchange of information between groups in both regions. This project uses spatial analysis through Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to identify patterns in site layout and organization by comparing settlements in both regions. The focus of testing will be between …

Utilizing Carbon And Nitrogen Stable Isotopes To Examine Elite Juvenile Diet Of Individuals From Meroitic Sai Island, Sudan, Anelis Diaz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Limited research has assessed the lived experiences of juveniles during the Nubian Meroitic Period (300 BCE - 350 CE). Therefore, the focus of this research is to examine dietary patterns throughout development of elite juveniles from Sai Island, Sudan to identify if dietary variations exist throughout development that may be a result of social differences within the juvenile population. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses of tooth dentin from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd molars of 11 adult individuals interred at cemetery 8-B-52.B on Sai Island are utilized to examine diet through the life course. As each tooth corresponds to …

Population Differences In Human Mandibular Growth, Madison Hubbart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Mandibles are one of the most common bones encountered in the human archaeological record. Variation in mandibular morphology is often associated with differences in subsistence strategy as masticatory stresses influence bone growth and development. Bone growth is stimulated by bone modeling, the process by which formation and resorption occur through the uncoupled activities of osteoblasts and osteoclasts, respectively. There is a limited understanding of bone modeling patterns in humans due to a lack of quantitative data and small sample sizes. The aim of this research was to address the question: is there a shared bone modeling pattern in the mandible …

Identifying The Main Causes For Support Of Crime Control Theater Forms, And Understanding How To Correct The Public’S Perception, Erisjames M. Elliott

CMC Senior Theses

Much research has been completed on the forms of crime control theater (CCT), and the impact that the existence of CCT laws have on society. Research on CCT laws has shown that they are definitively unsuccessful in providing the safety they were created to provide. This thesis will utilize completed research to explain the main psychological phenomena holding people back from decreasing their support for CCT laws. It will also describe proven methods of correcting misinformation in order to change the perceptions of people who support crime control theater laws, and provide suggestions for how research should be continued.

Deities’ Rights?, Deepa Das Acevedo

Faculty Articles

A brief commotion arose during the hearings for one of twenty-first-century India’s most widely discussed legal disputes, when a dynamic young attorney suggested that deities, too, had constitutional rights. The suggestion was not absurd. Like a human being or a corporation, Hindu temple deities can participate in litigation, incur financial obligations, and own property. There was nothing to suggest, said the attorney, that the same deity who enjoyed many of the rights and obligations accorded to human persons could not also lay claim to some of their constitutional freedoms. The lone justice to consider this claim blandly and briefly observed …

Genomic Data From Paquimé: Understanding The Cultural And Genetic Ties Of The Site, Meradeth Snow, Michael Seary, Jakob Sedig, Jose Luis Punzo-Diaz

Faculty Publications

Paquimé, located in the Casas Grandes region of Northern Mexico, presents a rich cultural tradition with ties to populations to the South and North. Ancient mitochondrial DNA from Paquime’s occupants has not provided evidence of large-scale in-migration that led to the fluorescence of the site, as some scholars have hypothesized. This paper focuses on nuclear genomes that have been sequenced for 20+ Paquimé individuals, further demonstrating the complexity of the region and of the city. The emerging data (collected with approval from the Mexican Consejo de Arqueología) presents a clearer view both of the population’s genetic relationships with those to …

Meta-Analysis Of Scent Detection Canines And Potential Factors Influencing Their Success Rates, Molly Marie Jaskinia

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Objective: This is a meta-analysis focused on the success rates of scent detection canines and potential factors that could influence their accuracy. A series of statistical analyses were conducted to determine if certain demographic factors, such as the dog’s gender, age, and breed, have an effect on a scent dog’s accuracy during a search. Or if more circumstantial factors, like the dog’s level of experience in scent work, the type of target scent, and their handler’s awareness of the target’s location, affect the outcome of the search.

Materials and Methods: A dataset was created from 37 different articles consisting of …

Reading Legal Ethnographies To Re-Map Legal Pluralism: A Pospisilian Corrective To The Prevailing Dichotomous Description Of Afghanistan’S Legal Order, Tomas Ledvinka, James M. Donovan

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This article explores several ethnographies (both academic and para-academic) of Afghanistan’s traditional justice (jirgas and shuras) in order to illuminate contrasts of their conceptual approaches at different periods of the country’s history. In this genealogy we identify ethnographic observations of the levels at which various sociolegal authorities operate and which often elude standard international ontology. The article takes the legal ethnographies as signposts for a conceptual reframing of the legal situation in the country by drawing upon Pospisil’s legal-anthropological conceptual approach which offers an alternative to generic global legal models based on binary oppositions such as formal–informal, state–non-state or official–traditional. …

"It's Still Easy To Get": An Anthropological Analysis Of Nicotine Activist Efforts And User Perspectives In Central Florida, Saoulkie Bertin

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The absence of federal government consensus on various nicotine policy matters, such as the legality of menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes, gives rise to distinct agendas, policy landscapes, and public attitudes at the state and local levels. As a result, nicotine activist groups and interested stakeholders are actively engaged in shaping the future of nicotine policy and use. This thesis explores the culture of local activist groups in Central Florida to understand how they influence nicotine-related policy change and set the tone for nicotine use in their communities. Drawing on data collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with activist …

Reconstructing Oral Health In Pre-Hispanic Peru: Antemortem Tooth Loss And Caries As Possible Evidence Of Dental Care In Túcume, Peru, Amy Rodriguez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Evidence of dental manipulation dates back several centuries and is identifiable through modification of human skeletal remains and the remnants of ancient tools. The act of caring for dental patients, on the other hand, is much more abstract and not as explicitly documented throughout history. Through the analysis of skeletal dentition of individuals from Pre-Hispanic Peru, this research aims to understand possible early forms of dental care practices. Specifically, by calculating the frequency of common dental pathology, I evaluated the possible presence of dental care in Túcume, Peru, during the Late Intermediate Period (1000 to 1500 AD) and what this …

Beauty In Sorority Life: An Anthropological Analysis Of Beauty Ideals And Body Modification, Delaney C. Mclinden

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Sororities are social organizations on college campuses categorized by selective membership and exclusive social events for active members. This research focuses on how sorority members' ideas about beauty relate to their appearance management behaviors in order to gauge how sorority culture contributes to their understanding of physical beauty. Ethnographic

data collection took place at a university in the southeastern United States. I conducted 17 semi- structured interviews with members of different sororities and participant observation at sorority

recruitment events. There's a common thread that connects every interview: beauty and appearance carry importance. Sorority culture encourages women to put "effort" into …

Chemical Analysis For Phytochemical Residues On Ceramics From Cape Canaveral Archaeological Sites, Jacob Woodard

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study aims to contribute to the field of paleoethnobotany in Florida archaeology by presenting a novel approach to chemical residue analysis using UV-vis spectroscopy. The project's main goals are to develop a spectroscopic method for analyzing ceramics to identify phytochemical residues and present the findings of chemical analysis applied to ceramics from the Cape Canaveral archaeological mitigation project (CCAMP). The study focuses on two sites, the Penny site (8BR158) and Burns site (8BR85) in Florida's Indian River region.

While organic residue analysis (ORA) has been applied to various materials and regions, limited research ORA on has been conducted within …

Plants And Environment: A Paleoethnobotanical Analysis Of The Vosburg Site (21fa002), Jaelyn Elizabeth Stebbins

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Recognized archaeologically by their distinct material culture, Oneota sites exist in many ecological zones across the Upper Midwest during the late Precontact period, c. 1000-1700 CE. Consequently, the sites are hardly homogenous. Across localities, Oneota groups are recognized as food producers who grew Zea mays (maize), Cucurbita pepo (squash), and later Phaseolus vulgaris (bean). The utilization of other wild and domesticated botanical resources across localities is not as well documented.. While extensive paleoethnobotanical analyses have been completed for the late Precontact period in southeastern Minnesota (Schirmer) and southwestern Wisconsin (Arzigian), little is known about plant utilization by Oneota groups on …

Chain As A Missing Artifact: Enslavement And Restraint On The Hernando De Soto Expedition, Chester B. Depratter, James B. Legg

Faculty & Staff Publications

The passage of the Hernando de Soto expedition (1539-1543) though the southeastern United States resulted in a scatter of artifacts distributed along the route. These materials were gifted or traded to, or taken by Native Ameri­cans, or were simply lost as Soto and his company moved from place to place. Perishable items such as clothing, fabrics, and wooden objects disappeared long ago. Non-perishable items such as weaponry, chainmail, coins, nails, bells, and a wide array of other metal objects have been recovered by both avocational and professional archae­ologists at scattered sites along the route. One class of non-perishable artifact associated …

Indigenous American Fishing Traditions At The First Spanish Capital Of La Florida: Santa Elena (1566–1587 Ce), South Carolina, Usa, Elizabeth J. Reitz, Chester B. Depratter

Faculty & Staff Publications

Abstract

Few studies of post-Columbian animal economies in the Americas elaborate on the influence of traditional Indigenous knowledge on colonial economies. A vertebrate collection from Santa Elena (1566–87 CE, South Carolina, USA), the original Spanish capital of La Florida, offers the opportunity to examine that influence at the first European-sponsored capital north of Mexico. Santa Elena’s animal economy was the product of dynamic interactions among multiple actors, merging preexisting traditional Indigenous practices, particularly traditional fishing practices, with Eurasian animal husbandry to produce a new cultural form. A suite of wild vertebrates long used by Indigenous Americans living on the southeastern …

Smoke, Air, Fire, Energy (Safe) In Rural California: Critical Reflections On An Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration, Deepti Chatti, Carisse Geronimo, Cassidy Barrientos, Jana Ganion, Malcolm Moncheur, Peter Alstone Phd, Shawn Bourque, Tanya Garcia, Tesfayohanes Yacob

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

This article provides a synthesis of the interconnected problems of tenuous energy access, wildfires, and exposures to high air pollution in Indigenous communities in rural California through the lens of ongoing collaborative research being carried out by researchers at Cal Poly Humboldt, Schatz Energy Research Center, Karuk Department of Natural Resources, and the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe. The collaboration is funded by the Strategic Growth Council of the state of California, and we hope is the beginning of a longer term relationship between all partners. We are an interdisciplinary team of researchers drawing on energy engineering, air pollution science, and …

An Archeozoological Analysis Of The Vosburg Site In Southern Minnesota, Madison M. Rutter

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The Blue Earth Oneota is a poorly defined taxon located in southern Minnesota. Few large-scale excavations have been conducted in the Blue Earth region, leading to gaps in the overall understating of western Oneota lifeway systems. This research utilizes archeozoological analysis on the zoological assemblage from the Vosburg site (21FA02), a Blue Earth Oneota site located in Faribault County. The Vosburg site is a large habitation site that has been excavated by Wilford in 1938 and 1947, Dobbs in 1979, and Schirmer in 2012. Legacy data from the 1938, 1947, and 1979 excavations was analyzed and compared to the zoological …

Fox Lake – Havanoid Interaction: An Analysis Of Eleanor Site Pottery, Rahman Abdullayev

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Through the analysis of pottery remains found at the Eleanor archaeological site, the study investigates the relationship between the Fox Lake culture and the Havanoid phases. The relationship between the Fox Lake complex of the southwestern prairie area and the Havanoid phases of the eastern woodlands is poorly understood in southern Minnesota. Despite it is potential to provide information about this relationship, the Eleanor site (21NL30) collection was never thoroughly studied after the excavation.

Richard Strachan conducted excavations at the Eleanor site between 1976 and 1978. A total of 124 pottery sherds were examined, with 76 being rim sherds and …

Revisiting The Blue Earth Oneota Taxon, Samuel Marcucci

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Clark Dobbs’ 1984 dissertation on Blue Earth Oneota settlement patterns is often the go-to treatment for the Blue Earth taxon. Since the publication of his work, new methods of archeological research have been employed within the field and new data have been uncovered from both Blue Earth sites in Minnesota and Oneota sites throughout the Midwest. This thesis attempts to ask if the modern archeology of Blue Earth Oneota is still comprehended by Dobbs’ 1984 publication. Feature analysis of material recovered from refuse pit features during the 2012 excavation at the Vosburg site (21FA02) was utilized in this research along …