Anthropology Commons^™

Puisi Lisan Masyarakat Banda Eli Ketahanan Budaya Di Maluku Setelah Perang Pala, Timo Kaartinen

Antropologi Indonesia

This article asks the question how Banda displaced from the Banda Islands due to colonization of Banda by the VOC in 1621, maintain their existence as a sustainable cultural group. Banda communities play an important role in maritime commerce in the eastern part of Indonesia at the beginning of the colonial period. They survive as one cultural group in two villages on the islands of Kei. The traditional songs of the two villages center on the sea voyage. The argument is that Banda people are mobilized by oral traditions that reveal the kinship ties of Banda people with their partners …

Recipes Of Resolve: Food And Meaning In Post-Diluvian New Orleans, Jessica Claire Menck

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

In 2005 the city of New Orleans experienced catastrophic flooding as a result of the failure of the federal levee system following Hurricane Katrina. This was an immediate disaster that evolved into a longer-term crisis as the city, state, and national government struggled to respond to the event. This study focuses on one part of managing crisis: meaning making. Specifically, the study investigates meaning making within the food community of New Orleans, asking the questions: is food a way for individuals and groups to make meaning following critical change events such as the failure of the federal levee system in …

Astronomical Implications For The Mound Of The Cross At Paquimé, Chihuahua, Mexico, Michael T. Searcy, David Derrick

Faculty Publications

The fourteenth-century site of Paquimé represents the apogee of the Casas Grandes cultural tradition. Monumental architecture such as effigy mounds and ball courts contrast sharply with other sites in the U.S. Southwest/Northwest Mexico. In particular, the Mound of the Cross, a cardinally aligned mound structure, suggests that those at Paquimé were aware of and may have tracked celestial bodies as part of a seasonal round. Findings also suggest that the alignment of the cross can be attributed to solar patterns that are different than today’s due to earth’s precessional cycle.

Low Frequency Temperature Variability And Native American Horticulture In The Northern Southwest And Eastern Great Basin, James R. Allison

Faculty Publications

Recent paleoclimatic studies reconstruct low-frequency variability in temperature that may have affected the success of Native American horticulture. Potential effects of this temperature variability include shifts in the range of elevations within which horticulture was viable, and changes in the northern limits of horticulture- based economies. This paper examines radiocarbon dates and other chronological data from Fremont and Puebloan sites in Utah, eastern Nevada, and northwestern Arizona, comparing the low-frequency temperature reconstructions with the timing of expansion and contraction in the northern frontier of maize horticulture and temporal shifts in the elevations of farming settlements.

The Prison Fix: Race, Work, And Economic Development In Elmira, New York, Andrea R. Morrell

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Based on more than a year of ethnographic and archival research in Elmira, New York and, to a lesser extent, New York City, this dissertation analyzes the social, economic, and political processes through which Elmira, New York was transformed by the construction of the Southport Correctional Facility in 1988 as a project of economic development during a period of massive expansion of the New York State prison system. It focuses on the unfolding of the project of mass incarceration and its impact on the lives of Elmira's citizens and workers, as well as the men incarcerated in Elmira's prisons and …

A Morphometric Assessment Of The Intended Function Of Cached Clovis Points, B. Buchanan, J. D. Kilby, B. B. Huckell, Michael J. O'Brien, M. Collard

History Faculty Publications (Archived)

A number of functions have been proposed for cached Clovis points. The least complicated hypothesis is that they were intended to arm hunting weapons. It has also been argued that they were produced for use in rituals or in connection with costly signaling displays. Lastly, it has been suggested that some cached Clovis points may have been used as saws. Here we report a study in which we morphometrically compared Clovis points from caches with Clovis points recovered from kill and camp sites to test two predictions of the hypothesis that cached Clovis points were intended to arm hunting weapons: …

An Assessment Of The Impact Of Hafting On Paleoindian Point Variability, B. Buchanan, Michael J. O'Brien, J. D. Kilby, B. B. Huckell, M. Collard

History Faculty Publications (Archived)

It has long been argued that the form of North American Paleoindian points was affected by hafting. According to this hypothesis, hafting constrained point bases such that they are less variable than point blades. The results of several studies have been claimed to be consistent with this hypothesis. However, there are reasons to be skeptical of these results. None of the studies employed statistical tests, and all of them focused on points recovered from kill and camp sites, which makes it difficult to be certain that the differences in variability are the result of hafting rather than a consequence of …

Risk Of Resource Failure And Toolkit Variation In Small-Scale Farmers And Herders, M. Collard, A. Ruttle, B. Buchanan, Michael J. O'Brien

History Faculty Publications (Archived)

Recent work suggests that global variation in toolkit structure among hunter-gatherers is driven by risk of resource failure such that as risk of resource failure increases, toolkits become more diverse and complex. Here we report a study in which we investigated whether the toolkits of small-scale farmers and herders are influenced by risk of resource failure in the same way. In the study, we applied simple linear and multiple regression analysis to data from 45 small-scale food-producing groups to test the risk hypothesis. Our results were not consistent with the hypothesis; none of the risk variables we examined had a …

Identitas Tionghoa Muslim Indonesia Pasca-Orde Baru: Melampaui Batas-Batas Kategori Peranakan Dan Totok, Afthonul Afif

Antropologi Indonesia

The dramatic change in some important aspects of this country after the collapse of New Order Regime, primarily in the political aspect, provided larger opportunity to Indonesian Chinese in constructing their real identity, included to the Indonesian Chinese Muslim. In one hand, Indonesian Chinese Muslim tended to re-strengthen their cultural identity shown by articulating some features of their ethnic identity, and they show more the involvement in developing discourse of national building and the life of majority group by using their Islamic identity in the other hand. At this point, they then could not be categorized as ‘peranakan’ and ‘totok’, …

Slimplexity: A Glimpse Inside The Hive Mind Of Snohetta, Noel Brady

Articles

Simplexity is an interview with Craig Dykers cofounder of Snohetta. The firm has a unique structure in Architecture circles with a Hive Mind like structure. In addition its parallel interests in Architecture and Landscape Design has meant that both professional strands have equal parity in the firms operation.

Seeking Status: Low Socioeconomic Status Pattering At Mont Repose Plantation, Jasper County, South Carolina, Marsha Katherine Welch

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Throughout the last 12 years, research and excavations have been ongoing at Mont Repose Plantation in Coosawhatchie, South Carolina. Previous research hasfocused on two areas of the plantation, while other areas have been excavated, yet left unstudied. One of the areas needing more study is the N870 block, first opened during the 2000 field season, and hypothesized to include a slave cabin. In order to investigate this claim the present researcher directed an extension of the N870 block during the 2011 field season to assess the area and determine if it was, in fact, a slave cabin. By conducting a …

Beechwood, The Book, Jeffrey S. Morris

Cleveland Memory

From the forward by Darrell A.Young: "The city fathers have been called visionaries. The city has been studied by architects, planners, engineers and the like from all over the country. What is it about Beachwood that has attracted so much attention?

To be certain, there is something magical that has taken place over the last 80 years in Beachwood and Jeffrey Morris has finally documented the historical blueprint from which we can study and learn. This book is the first opportunity to understand our heritage and to delve into the intellect that forged this wonderful community."

Word Diffusion And Climate Science, R. A. Bentley, P. Garnett, Michael J. O'Brien, W. A. Brock

History Faculty Publications (Archived)

As public and political debates often demonstrate, a substantial disjoint can exist between the findings of science and the impact it has on the public. Using climate-change science as a case example, we reconsider the role of scientists in the information-dissemination process, our hypothesis being that important keywords used in climate science follow "boom and bust" fashion cycles in public usage. Representing this public usage through extraordinary new data on word frequencies in books published up to the year 2008, we show that a classic two-parameter social-diffusion model closely fits the comings and goings of many keywords over generational or …

Tipping Points Among Social Learners: Tools From Varied Disciplines, R. A. Bentley, Michael J. O'Brien

History Faculty Publications (Archived)

There is a long and rich tradition in the social sciences of using models of collective behavior in animals as jumping-off points for the study of human behavior, including collective human behavior. Here, we come at the problem in a slightly different fashion. We ask whether models of collective human behavior have anything to offer those who study animal behavior. Our brief example of tipping points, a model first developed in the physical sciences and later used in the social sciences, suggests that the analysis of human collective behavior does indeed have considerable to offer.

Cultural Evolutionary Tipping Points In The Storage And Transmission Of Information, R. A. Bentley, Michael J. O'Brien

History Faculty Publications (Archived)

Human culture has evolved through a series of major tipping points in information storage and communication. The first was the appearance of language, which enabled communication between brains and allowed humans to specialize in what they do and to participate in complex mating games. The second was information storage outside the brain, most obviously expressed in the "Upper Paleolithic Revolution" - the sudden proliferation of cave art, personal adornment, and ritual in Europe some 35,000-45,000 years ago. More recently, this storage has taken the form of writing, mass media, and now the Internet, which is arguably overwhelming humans' ability to …

Adult Learners In A Novel Environment Use Prestige-Biased Social Learning, C. Atkisson, Michael J. O'Brien, A. A. Mesoudi

History Faculty Publications (Archived)

Social learning (learning from others) is evolutionarily adaptive under a wide range of conditions and is a long-standing area of interest across the social and biological sciences. One social-learning mechanism derived from cultural evolutionary theory is prestige bias, which allows a learner in a novel environment to quickly and inexpensively gather information as to the potentially best teachers, thus maximizing his or her chances of acquiring adaptive behavior. Learners provide deference to high-status individuals in order to ingratiate themselves with, and gain extended exposure to, that individual. We examined prestige-biased social transmission in a laboratory experiment in which participants designed …

Genes, Culture, And Agriculture: An Example Of Human Niche Construction, Michael J. O'Brien, K. N. Laland

History Faculty Publications (Archived)

Theory and empirical data from a variety of disciplines strongly imply that recent human history involves extensive gene-culture coevolution, much of it as a direct result of human agricultural practices. Here we draw on niche construction theory (NCT) and gene-culture coevolutionary theory (GCT) to propose a broad theoretical framework (NCT-GCT) with which archaeologists and anthropologists can explore coevolutionary dynamics. Humans are enormously potent niche constructors, and understanding how niche construction regulates ecosystem dynamics is central to understanding the impact of human populations on their ecological and developmental environments. We use as primary examples the evolution of dairying by Neolithic groups …

Beveled Projectile Points And Ballistics Technology, C. P. Lipo, R. C. Dunnell, Michael J. O'Brien, V. Harper, J. Dudgeon

History Faculty Publications (Archived)

Explanations for beveled blade edges on projectile points have been debated in North America archaeology since the first systematic description of lithic assemblages in the nineteenth century. Debate has centered around two opposing perspectives. One views beveled edges as features of projectile points that cause them to spin during flight. The other views beveling as a product of edge resharpening that is done unifacially to conserve scarce resources. Here we use a fluid-dynamics model to simulate the effect beveling has on projectiles. Expectations derived from this modeling are evaluated using wind-tunnel experiments. Our findings indicate that beveling produces in-flight rotation …

Statistical Analyses Cannot Be Divorced From Archaeological Theory: A Reply To Potter, A. Mesoudi, Michael J. O'Brien

History Faculty Publications (Archived)

Potter criticizes our experimental study of the roles played by indirect bias and guided variation in shaping prehistoric Great Basin projectile point variation. His criticisms are technically correct from the standpoint of statistical convention, but he fails to understand the theoretical rationale of our study. Without such an understanding, hi s assertion that our conclusions are questionable is incorrect. Here we point out again (1) how our experimental work bridges the gap between cultural-transmission theory and the empirical record and (2) why our conclusions are indeed valid.

Development And Application Of Methods Used To Source Prehistoric Southwestern Maize: A Review, Larry Benson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Archaeological cobs free of mineral contaminants should be used to source the soils in which they were grown. Mineral contaminants often contain much higher concentrations of metals than vegetal materials and can alter a cob’s apparent metal and heavy-isotope content. Cleaning a cob via immersion in an acid solution for more than a few minutes will result in the incongruent and sometimes complete leaching of metals, including strontium (Sr), from the cob. When using ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr to determine the location of potential agriculture fields, it is best to either integrate several depth-integrated soil samples or to integrate several …