Anthropology Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collection

http://hdl.handle.net/1903/2742

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 57

A SYNTHESIS OF PROJECTILE POINT CHARACTERISTICS AND DISTRIBUTION ACROSS THE LANDSCAPE IN THE LOWER TOMBIGBEE RIVER BASIN, ALABAMA
(2023) Gergely, Kenneth Eugene; Palus, Matthew; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This thesis examined projectile point characteristics from selected archaeological sites in the Lower Tombigbee River Basin in Choctaw and Washington counties, Alabama. The distribution of temporally diagnostic projectile points was examined to address landscape use during the Paleoindian through Late Woodland periods. The projectile point analysis focused on size and shape characteristics, lithic raw material type, thermal alteration, and evidence of damage, resharpening, and reuse. This data was compared to the morphometric attributes of projectile point types established in relevant peer-reviewed sources (. The spatial analysis considered the environmental setting of each site, including the specific creek drainage watershed and other hydrological data, topography, lithic resource availability, and other characteristics associated with site selection. The resulting data was applied to current models on Native American settlement and land use and to theories on technological organization and lithic tool manufacture, to assess the relationship between projectile point variability, site distribution, and settlement patterns in the Lower Tombigbee River Basin. This research adds to the archaeological record and fills gaps in understanding the early Native American presence in southwestern Alabama and the Lower Tombigbee River Basin.
Creating Effective and Sustainable Public Archaeology: An Analytical Roadmap
(2023) Henderson, Breanna; Palus, Matthew; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Archaeology is the study, and by extension, the story of cultures, and everyone deserves access to their stories and those of their ancestors. The better one understands archaeology, culture, and history, the better one understands themselves and those around them. Thus, this thesis seeks to identify what approaches are needed to create sustainable, effective, and engaging public archaeology programs. Due to the extreme importance of further efforts of inclusion, collaboration, and diversity within archaeology, which will be explained and explored within the following chapters, this analysis will quantify the myriad of ways in which public archaeology can be achieved and showcase that it is possible to provide impactful programs for a variety of communities and audiences, no matter how lavish or frugal one’s budget may be.Over the course of this thesis, six public archaeology programs will be examined through twelve metrics. The programs featured are The Estate Little Princess Archaeology Project, Archaeology in the Community, Nome Archaeology Camp, The Sugarland Ethno-History Project, the Texas Archeological Stewardship Network, and Project Archaeology. All six programs involve some level of collaboration with other archaeological and/or educational entities. The metrics were designed after careful consideration of the current public archaeology models proposed by Colwell (2016) and Atalay (2012). Colwell’s Collaborative Continuum and Atalay’s Community-Based Participatory Research models are more inclusive and diverse in their scope than Grima’s Multi-Perspective Model. All three models will be discussed in this thesis. Lastly, the metrics used are not meant to be rigid or to be used for “grading” each program on any sort of scale, but rather to highlight the methods required to create and sustain effective public archaeology. Each public archaeology program should be individualized to fit its specific audience, leaving participants with a greater respect or connection to the past, depending on where they fit within a given narrative. It is hoped that this thesis will inspire more to get involved in public archaeology and help to showcase that it can be achieved at any level.
WORLD WAR II MINIDOKA INCARCERATION CAMP GARDENS: EVIDENCE OF LOYALTY TO THE UNITED STATES OR REBELLING AGAINST THEIR INCARCERATION
(2023) Nelson, Isla Stevenson; Palus, Matthew; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Following the fatal attack on Pearl Harbor in February 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. Executive Order 9066 authorized the War Department to “prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons [of Japanese ancestry] may be excluded” (Roosevelt 1942). Over 110,000 Japanese immigrants, Issei, and second-generation Japanese Americans, Nisei, were removed from their homes and incarcerated at isolated relocation centers located in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming (Burton 2005; Burton et al. 1999; Burton and Farrell 2001). One of these locations was the Minidoka Relocation Center, located in south central Idaho in Jerome County and is the focus of my thesis. The two types of gardens that I researched were Japanese-style ornamental gardens and the Western-style victory gardens planted and maintained by the incarcerees. Using archaeological evidence, historic photographs, oral histories, the diary from Arthur Kleinkopf (the education superintendent at Minidoka) and comparing typical Japanese-Style and Western-Style garden designs, I will discuss what the data reveals about the garden design at the Minidoka Incarceration Camp. Despite their unjust incarceration and the policy of forced Americanization within the Minidoka Incarceration Camp, were the incarcerees compliant or were they politically resisting this incarceration through their gardens?
A Landscape Illuminated: An Archaeological Investigation into the Built Landscape of Split Rock Lighthouse
(2023) Tooker, Scott; Palus, Matthew; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Placed into operation in 1910, Split Rock Lighthouse originally sat atop a rocky landscape devoid of any lawn. Over the years, the men who worked at the lighthouse undertook the massive endeavor of building a level and functional landscape that is seen today. These landscape building efforts are documented in historic logbooks and diaries and the changes are clearly visible through historic photography. This thesis is an investigation into how the landscape was built, when it was built, and where the building took place. Utilizing historic documentation, archaeological fieldwork, and GIS technology, I demonstrate when the building occurred, the seasonal nature of landscape building at the lighthouse, where most fill materials were added, and begin exploring where the soils may have come from. This investigation treats the landscape as an archaeological artifact to paint a richer picture of the lives of the historic lighthouse keepers of Split Rock Lighthouse.
Future-making in the City of Gastronomy: Food Heritage and the Narrative Commons
(2023) Platts, Ellen Jane; Lafrenz Samuels, Kathryn; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
In December 2015, Tucson, Arizona was designated a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy. It joined the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Creative Cities Network, a program that helps cities use cultural heritage for economic development. This dissertation undertakes an ethnography of Tucson as a City of Gastronomy, examining how this designation has inflamed tensions around the kinds of stories that are told about Tucson, to whom, and to what end. Drawing on extended fieldwork in Tucson, ethnographic methods of interviewing and participant-observation, and archival research, this dissertation explores the dissonance that emerges when stories of the past, present, and future are tapped for use by new actors to new ends. Welding together theoretical approaches based in commons scholarship and Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of capital, this study presents the concept of the food heritage narrative commons, a socio-political space within which overarching narratives built upon food heritage objects, practices, and stories are contested, reconciled, subordinated, or come into co-existence. I argue that caring for the narrative commons is important for encouraging polyvocality, challenging received thought, imagining different ways of being, and maintaining space for productive dialogue. This dissertation examines an enclosure of the narrative commons in the wake of and facilitated by the UNESCO designation. I argue that the UNESCO designation introduced a specific form of symbolic capital as elaborated by Bourdieu that I call gastronomic capital, the value of being associated with the designation. This gastronomic capital empowered ‘Tucson’s Food Story,’ one particular narrative associated with the designation, to drown out others, enclosing the narrative commons, and facilitating economic gain for those able to wield gastronomic capital. Pushback against this process from communities (re)producing alternative narratives, however, points towards models for better governance of the narrative commons, structured by what I call an ethic of careful difference. In examining the interactions between ideas of heritage, narratives, and commons, this dissertation demonstrates the role that fostering a diversity of narratives, each building upon the past, plays in engaging multiple, diverse experiences and ways of being in the world in productive tension towards building different, transformative futures.
CHRONIC SUFFERING: CHRONIC ILLNESS, DISABILITY, AND VIOLENCE AMONG MEXICAN MIGRANT WOMEN
(2022) Guevara, Emilia Mercedes; Getrich, Christina M; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This dissertation seeks to better understand how Mexican migrant women who work in the Maryland crab industry make sense of chronic illnesses such as diabetes, asthma, and musculoskeletal pain while at the same time living spatially and temporally complicated lives as circular temporary migrant laborers. I explore how immigration and labor policies and practices, constrained and conditional access to resources and care, and exposure to multiple forms of violence structure their chronic illness experiences and entanglements of biological and social processes that intersect. Together, these embodied biological and social processes coalesce into what I describe as problemas crónica-gendered “chronic problems” – and other disruptions that migrant women endure across time and transnational space. I describe how problemas crónicas manifest themselves throughout the lives and migratory careers of Mexican migrant women and how they grapple with obstacles as they seek care, renegotiate their identities, and re/build their lives.
INVESTIGATION OF SUBSURFACE FEATURES AT 15TM35: THE BIBB ESCAPES/GATEWOOD PLANTATION
(2023) VonStrohe, Doug; Palus, Matthew; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The Bibb Escapes/Gatewood Plantation (15TM35) is located on private property in Bedford, Trimble County, in the Outer Bluegrass Region of Kentucky. Recently, the site has been added to the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program due to the historical association with an escaped enslaved man, Henry Bibb. Henry, his wife Malinda, and their daughter were owned by William Gatewood. After multiple failed attempts of fleeing slavery, the Bibb family was sold down the Ohio River and were separated. Henry eventually escaped to Canada and became a prominent figure in the African-American community and abolitionist circuit. Bibb wrote his autobiography detailing his successful and failed attempts of escaping slavery and made mentions of his time on the Gatewood Plantation. Other archival data shows there were approximately one dozen enslaved persons on the Gatewood Plantation throughout the antebellum time period, but not much else is known about them.The Oldham County History Center has sponsored public archaeological excavations at the site since 2005, including public excavations and a summer field school for high school students. Early excavations uncovered a stone chimney and presumably a summer kitchen with a possible pit cellar. Recent public excavations documented an area of interest that includes a separate activity area indicating a structure with three subsurface features. For this thesis I hypothesize the area of interest to be the location of the quarters for the enslaved people on the Gatewood Plantation. Other queries include: what is the form and function of this building and how do the features function within the whole Gatewood Plantation? Do the cultural materials represent the antebellum time period? Can the cultural materials demonstrate the change in occupancy or indicate specific behaviors of the occupants of the structure? Excavation of the features and analysis of the cultural materials was conducted to answer the research questions. The results of the fieldwork and analysis supported by historical documentation of the Gatewood Plantation and compared to other similar, local, and regional sites strongly indicate a positive response to the hypothesis. This investigation provides important information regarding past components of slave quarters within farmsteads of the Upland South. The archaeological work at 15TM35 also adds insight to the historic context of the region and to the history of Henry Bibb and the enslaved community he was part of.
RECENT TIMBERING ACTIVITY AS A VARIABLE IN PREDICTIVE MODELING
(2023) Plent, Samuel Gerard; Palus, Matthew M; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This thesis explores how the presence of recent timbering activities affects the predictive power of predictive models in regard to precontact archaeological sites. Predictive models have been used to assess the likelihood of identifying cultural resources in a given area for decades. A county-wide predictive model has not been created for any county in the state of Georgia. This research applies what is known about predictive modeling to Henry County, Georgia and assesses its accuracy. It then seeks to test predictive power of another environmental variable in order to further refine the process of predicting the location of precontact archaeological sites. The thesis focuses its efforts in Henry County, Georgia, which has multiple instances of pine silviculture areas that have been surveyed for cultural resources after being harvested. Timber has been an important natural resource in Georgia since the nineteenth century. The management of forests for the timber industry began in 1875 with the establishment of the American Forestry Association. The timbering and replanting of these areas can occur as often as every 15 to 30 years. This process can disturb soils and buried resources. Elevation, soil, and hydrology data was collected from multiple public sources including the United State Geological Survey (USGS) and the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA, NRCS). Archaeological site and previous survey data was taken from the Georgia Natural Archaeological and Historic Resources Geographic Information Systems (GNAHRGIS). The environmental data was combined to create a set of predictive models for predicting the likelihood of an area to contain a precontact archaeological site using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Each predictive model was tested for accuracy using previously collected archaeological data. The predictive model found to be most accurate was analyzed within multiple areas containing recent timbering activities that have been previously surveyed for cultural resources. It appears that the presence of recent timbering activities does not negatively affect the predictive power of a predictive model regarding precontact archaeological sites. This is demonstrated by showing that a predicative model for the entirety of Henry County, Georgia does not lose accuracy when applied to multiple areas that have been timbered prior to survey for cultural material. Predictive models can be powerful tools in the Cultural Resource Manager’s toolkit. However, many may be reticent to apply these tools to areas that have seen large-scale industrial ground disturbing activities. This thesis has demonstrated that predictive models can still be useful tools in areas recently affected by large-scale timbering activities. While systematic survey is still necessary, this can be helpful in matters of scoping, budgeting, and planning
The Effect of Landscape Evolution on the Visibility of the Archaeological Record: A Case Study from Deeply Buried Site CA-SLO-16, Morro Bay, California
(2023) Bales, Emily Marie; Palus, Matthew; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Morro Bay, California is a biotically-diverse region with a rich cultural history. In the archaeological community, there is an ongoing debate over the probable cause for an occupational hiatus in the region during the Middle Period (2600-1000 BP). This case study addresses this disparity and presents the results of a single component, deeply buried, Middle Period archaeological site. This thesis highlights how landform age, landscape evolution, and geoarchaeological methodology can affect the probability of identifying deeply buried archaeological sites. Interdisciplinary data (e.g., seismology, geology, geography, paleoseismology) have proven useful in making a significant contribution in the understanding of a previously unknown period of occupation in Morro Bay.
THE VIRGINIA PEASANTRY: A STUDY OF FARMS IN STAFFORD AND CAROLINE COUNTIES, THE EIGHTEENTH THROUGH THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
(2023) Roberts, Catherine; Leone, Mark; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This dissertation reports the results of a study on family farms that existed in Stafford and Caroline counties, Virginia, between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. A framework based on the characteristics of the Latin American peasantry, as outlined by Eric Wolf (Wolf 1955, 1966), was applied to the data for this study. This research aims to expound on the current literature on farmstead archaeology and the understanding of a community with little formal history. While many local historians recognized the need to compile and publish their counties’ histories, few outside researchers were interested in writing about either county.
DYNAMIC REFLECTIONS OF CAPITALISM AND CLASS IDENTITY AT THE PENNS NECK COMMUNITY: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PERSISTENCE OF DUTCH-AMERICAN TRADITIONS ON FAMILY-OPERATED FARMS AT PENNS NECK, MERCER COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
(2022) Andrews, Zachary Schaller; Palus, Matthew M.; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Recent archaeological investigations conducted at Penns Neck, a community originally established by the descendants of Dutch immigrants in northern Mercer County, New Jersey, revealed evidence of prosperous late-colonial and post-revolutionary family networks extending from the mid eighteenth to the twentieth century. The presence of domestic residences and family-owned farming operations at Penns Neck, including those at the Schenk-Jewell farmhouse and the Covenhoven-Silvers-Logan house, provide the opportunity to examine the development of late eighteenth and nineteenth century rural communities, particularly with Dutch-heritage backgrounds, and to help explore the nuanced link between traditions utilized by farming households and larger institutional and socio-economic systems that operated within these farming communities. The research question addressed by this thesis is: what were the traditional elements of cultural identity embraced by Dutch communities, especially at Penns Neck, and how were traditions changed and adapted to the pursuit of capitalistic enterprises and ideologies. Using a Marxist approach coupled with ideas from world systems theory, analysis of consumption patterns, landscape design, and class relations can peer into the economic and social realities transpiring at these sites exposing ties to larger governing, and invisible, networks of power expressed within the community. Patterns of consumption, wealth distribution, and labor relations at Penns Neck show an intermeshing of traditional values and ideas that both resist and sway to general socio-economic pressures and circumstances emerging across the region. Spatial and temporal analysis of artifacts, architectural forms, and landscape development show clear attempts by the capitalist farmers to naturalize/solidify their place within the social-economic order, in which symbols supporting capitalistic ideologies were ingrained in the landscape. This contrasts with earlier community members that used social institutions outside the farm to raise social and political capital, rather than solely economic capital, in the community to climb and hold positions of the social hierarchy. Despite the profound changes occurring on the landscape during the occupation of the site by the Schenck and Jewell families, some traditions remain, including the use of value systems and institutions, material culture by type, and symbols that reflect the family’s Dutch ethnic heritage. At large, the study follows Wurst and Mrozowski (2016) that capitalism in not a fixed entity, but a dynamic and multi-faceted totality that both shapes and conforms to the society that embraces it, even at the community level; the cultural expression of agrarian families on the Penns Neck landscape help depict and provide an example of the dynamic nature of capitalism from the eighteenth to the twentieth century and the nuanced experience that emerging capitalistic institutions and pursuits had on the day-to-day lives of the community members. The archaeological data collected for the analysis was largely acquired during the Phase II site evaluation of the Schenk-Jewell Farm Site (28ME408), Covenhoven-Silvers-Logan House Site (28ME410), and Lower Harrison Street Domestic Site (28ME413) by the Ottery Group during the summer and winter of 2021, which yielded an artifact assemblage dating as early as the mid-eighteenth century extending across multiple family generations up to the twentieth century. The archaeological investigation revealed evidence of the original location of the main houses and multiple structural features associated with the former outbuildings in the adjacent work yards. Historical documentation, including state land records, census and tax records, deeds and wills, maps and aerials, and historic photos, were analyzed, to contextualize the archaeological data and the family histories in a way that addresses the themes of this thesis. Archaeological sites, located in both Old World and New World contexts, that were identified during the literature review were compared in an attempt to identify Dutch-American cultural patterns present across the sites. While the analysis was successful in tracing certain elements of Dutch cultural continuity, that is in the occurrence of ceramic types and architectural forms, of the early families settling at Penns Neck, these traditions were challenged and refitted to accommodate the needs of emerging farming operations, which attempted to capitalize on the connection of Penns Neck into a wider regional economy during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
STRANDED AND SANDED IN: DRONE MOUNTED AERIAL MAGNETOMETER IDENTIFICATION OF BURIED AND SUBMERGED SHIPWRECKS ON THE NEW JERSEY COAST
(2022) Davis, Cullan Matthew; Palus, Matthew; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
An estimated 3,000 to 7,000 shipwrecks have occurred off the coast of New Jersey, with hundreds occurring within the littoral zone. These sites have subsequently been buried by natural sand movement and beach replenishment projects or exist in a partially buried state within the surf zone. While terrestrial and vessel-mounted magnetometer surveys are not feasible in this shallow environment, the development of ultra-sensitive drone and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based remote sensing platforms has provided the potential ability to rapidly identify these cultural materials for compliance and planning of weather and climate change resiliency projects. This thesis proves the capabilities of a MAGPi ML-4 atomic magnetometer, initially designed to detect small, buried munitions and unexploded ordinance of approximately eight pounds of ferrous material, to accurately and rapidly identify multiple of types of shipwrecks in the high energy coastal environment where traditional survey methods are precluded when coupled with a Matrice 600 Pro 6-rotor drone. This thesis also proved the ability for this setup to effectively bridge the gap between terrestrial and underwater archaeological surveys as presented in the littoral zone, while producing data of sufficient quality to promote the development of the theoretical understanding of the relationship between shipwrecks and the larger maritime cultural landscape. Three shipwrecks were used for data collection, representing vessels comprised of iron, wood, and steel. Additional measurements of individual ferromagnetic objects commonly found in association with shipwreck archaeological sites were taken and analyzed using predictive modeling based on magnetic detectability algorithms created from prior remote sensing surveys to determine what material can be detected using the magnetometer and UAV platform. The results of this thesis confirm the predicted capabilities of the equipment used and provides detection ranges to establish a framework to future research, including a determination on the minimum amount of wooden hull material with iron fasteners required to exist in an archaeological context to be detectable.
DO CULTURAL RESOURCE LAWS & FEDERAL REGULATIONS ADD CONSTRAINTS TO NATIVE AMERICAN TRUST LAND MANAGEMENT AND TRUST LAND DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES?
(2022) Ferris-George, Wendy; Palus, Matthew M; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This research was conducted to evaluate the way cultural resource management laws and federal regulations impact Native American trust land management. Tribal trust land is land that has been set aside for the exclusive use and benefit of a tribe but is owned by the United States. Trust lands were once the aboriginal lands, exclusively controlled and managed by individual tribes through traditional land management practices. Traditional land management is a part of cultural and heritage resource management because the resources promoted by these practices are integral to traditional cultural practices that are repetitious. Current regulatory laws have a negative impact on Native American people by restricting their ability to manage tribal trust land with traditional land management tools, like fire. In addition, these laws cause time delays and economic losses to tribes who are in the process of development for economic purposes. Federal administrative agencies, such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), were established to administer Native American programs as part of the executive branch of government. The BIA is responsible for regulating compliance with federal laws on trust lands. Native American Tribes and their traditional practitioners are challenged by overlapping cultural resource compliance laws and federal regulations. Tribes express that there are social and economic impacts to the people who rely on the land for purposes of religious and economic well-being
LOST LABOR: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE INTERPRETATION OF IRISH CANAL WORKER HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY AT THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL
(2022) Hauber, Samuel; Palus, Matthew M; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal would not exist without the labor of thousands of Irish immigrants in the 19th century. Through a framework of labor history, critical archaeology, and public history this study sought to improve interpretation of these canal workers. Archaeological and visitation data were analyzed to form recommendations for improvements to the parks interpretive materials on this subject. Labor history may have begun with the intent to balance historical narratives which had previously focused on powerful individuals. But continuing the trend of narrating specific groups experiences within history limits the perspective on these groups and perpetuates the issue of narrow, marginalizing, perspectives on complex history. The archaeological record from the C&O Canal construction can fulfill the parks interpretive mission through critical archaeology and labor theory. The interpretive potential of the archaeological findings, combined with the knowledge of visitation trends, form an exciting opportunity to build upon an evolving interpretive art which began with Freeman Tilden.
Introducing Respect in NAGPRA Repatriation Efforts
(2022) Ulmer, Jessica Alayne; Lafrenz Samuels, Kathryn; Palus, Matthew; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This thesis addresses the repatriation efforts of the Texas Historical Commission (THC) over the legacy collections subject to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) housed at THC’s Curatorial Facility for Artifact Research. The passage of NAGPRA provided a formal process for tribes to reclaim their ancestors. This led to the question addressed in this thesis: how is this change in perspective reflected in the best practice methodology developed by the Texas Historical Commission (THC) in preparing a collection for repatriation prior to the notice of inventory? The THC is dedicated to following the spirit of NAGPRA as well as the letter of the law to make a new model on records compilation, rehousing efforts and consultation with the tribes during the repatriation process. The methods in the model were compiled while acknowledging that the human remains were once ancestors with living descendants that have burial customs different from Anglo-American burials. Best practices are a process and can be altered with new information. Through these repatriation efforts, the THC has provided a model for best practices and methodology to follow which can be applied throughout the United States.
An Investigation of Maize at Four Sites (LA 20241, LA 38597, LA 112766, and LA 131202) in Eddy County, New Mexico
(2022) Granados, Suzan Marie; Palus, Matthew; Hockersmith, Kelly; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
A topic of interest for many New Mexico archaeologists is the introduction and domestication of maize in the Southwest. This investigation adds to the archaeological record of when and to what extent maize was integrated into the subsistence of southeastern New Mexico prehistoric groups. Currently, the accepted date range for the introduction of maize in southeast New Mexico is 500–200 BC (Vierra 2020). Preliminary results of this investigation indicate the presence of maize in the Permian Basin of southeastern New Mexico dating to 2501 +/-125 calibrated (cal) BC; 1000 years prior to the earliest maize site recorded in the archaeological record for the area. The significance of this early date is twofold 1) the Middle Archaic date in comparison to other old maize sites in the area; and 2) the Middle Archaic date challenges the currently accepted migration patterns of maize into southeastern New Mexico. Dr. Jonathan Mabry’s 2008 study suggest that maize was introduced no later than 2100 BC in the southwest; however, Mabry states that maize use did not become common in the North American southwest until around 1400 BC (Mabry 2008). This investigation focuses on a case study of four sites, LA 20241, LA 38597, LA 112766, and LA 131202, in what is now known as Eddy County within the Permian Basin of southeastern New Mexico. I chose these sites because of my direct involvement in the data recovery field investigation and curation. I spent several weeks directing the excavation at Sites LA 112766 and LA 131202. and served as the laboratory manager for processing the artifact collections and flotation samples for all four sites. Evidence recovered from these four archaeological sites in southeast New Mexico, specifically Eddy County, suggest that maize use was low through the Archaic period and did not increase until AD 700–850 (Diehl 1996, Miller 2016, Railey 2016). This thesis demonstrates that maize was present much earlier in the archaeological record than previously reported for southeastern New Mexico. The analysis of macrobotanical, phytolith, and starch remains, and ceramics, and radiocarbon dates from cultural features at Sites LA 20241, LA 38597, LA 112766 and LA 131202 were examined to answer the question: when and to what extent was maize integrated into the subsistence of southeastern New Mexico prehistoric groups? A radiocarbon date from Feature 5, at Site LA 112766, indicates evidence of maize as early as 2501 +/-125 calibrated (cal) BC. Additionally, radiocarbon dates identified six Late Archaic features and thirteen Early Formative features that contained maize residue collectively from Sites LA 20241, LA 38597, LA 112766, and LA 131202. Lastly, Site LA 20241 had a single Late Formative feature that yielded maize residue. This thesis will focus on the signature of maize in the archaeological record of Archaic and Formative groups of southeastern New Mexico.
THE CLOISTERED INFRASTRUCTURE OF THE OHIO & ERIE CANAL: AN ANALYSIS AND INVENTORY OF THE CANAL WITH A THEORETICAL LANDSCAPE ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS APPROACH
(2022) Waugh, Mason Richard; Palus, Matthew M; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The period of the 1820s and 1830s experienced a burst of canal construction across Ohio. The Ohio & Erie Canal connected the Cuyahoga River to Akron, and thence southward to Portsmouth along the Ohio River. The opening of the canal allowed early settlers within Ohio to easily transport products, effectively lowering the costs of goods and increasing the profitability of businesses utilizing the thoroughfare. Towns near the canal flourished as commodities previously difficult to obtain were now brought from long distances. These improvements that the Ohio & Erie Canal brought, as well as the context and significance of the canal, have been thoroughly documented in historical literature. A few intact portions of the Ohio & Erie Canal are currently included on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and listed on the Ohio State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) online Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping system. Several Cultural Resource Management (CRM) compliance surveys have also identified and documented canal remnants. However, most portions of the canal are not inventoried or listed on the SHPO online GIS mapping system. Few components of the canal are listed on the NRHP and within Scioto County there are only two locks represented on the NRHP. The general location of the Ohio & Erie Canal is well documented on historical maps; however, the placement of stream crossings and ancillary components (culverts, weirs, bridges) are poorly understood or perhaps cloistered, communicating little to the outside world as they are currently known. A series of plat maps was recorded in the early 1900s by the Canal Commission of the State of Ohio. Plat maps of the Ohio & Erie Canal in Scioto County were obtained for this project and were provided by the Ohio History Connection (2022). No large-scale effort to my knowledge has been made to georeference the plat maps of the Ohio & Erie Canal and analyze archaeological potential using Historical GIS (hGIS), which uses historical documents such as plat maps to answer questions about the past or to inventory canal features based on their location. To address the lack of recorded ancillary structures on the southern descent of the Ohio & Erie Canal, a total of 35 separate portions of the canal plat maps were georeferenced to the modern landscape to identify archaeological potential, ancillary structure locations, and to support recommendations for new contributing resources to the NRHP-listed historic districts. Seven separate categories of ancillary canal components or features which could be extrapolated from the canal plat maps were assigned GPS coordinates. The seven categories consisted of aqueducts, buildings, bridges, culverts, inlets, locks, and waste weirs. These components represent 70 individual features correlating to what was indicated on the canal plat maps through stations 1770-2660 in Scioto County. The inventory of these features breaks down the Ohio & Erie Canal component types and lists coordinates to increase accessibility of the information for future researchers and planners. A cross comparison of the portions of the canal currently listed on the NRHP and the SHPO online GIS mapping system is also completed and contained in this thesis. With the previously inventoried canal components and the newly georeferenced portions of the canal analyzed, this thesis assists further studies in assessing archaeological potential along the canal. Lastly, a recommendation is made suggesting which ancillary components along the canal could be contributing elements to the discontinuous or incomplete NRHP listing. This thesis attempts to provide interested researchers a better understanding of the ancillary components of the canal and how these components should be evaluated for NRHP eligibility. The Ohio & Erie Canal was not simply a historical waterway providing transportation of commodities, but also an early historical engineering feat containing a culmination of various structures whose design was to maintain water levels and one of the first mass engineering attempts in Ohio to manage the landscape and communities around the canal. Culverts along the canal are not only important, but they are also necessary for understanding how the Ohio & Erie Canal operated, how it adapted to certain topographical challenges, and were essential to the functioning of the canal. Removing culverts along the canal would not have allowed the canal to function due to the necessity of proper water levels. The public dissemination of the georeferenced data included in this thesis is intended to be a lasting benefit to gongoozlers, historians, researchers, and planners alike. As such this data will be made available by allowing the georeferenced maps and associated layers available through ArcGIS Pro. The map package in ArcGIS Pro is available upon request by contacting the author of this thesis.
PERSISTENCE OF FORM: A MATERIAL ETHNOGRAPHY THROUGH THE ARCHITECTURE OF ANAHEIM’S 20TH CENTURY LANDSCAPE
(2022) Reed, Dean Joseph; Palus, Matthew M.; Samuels, Kathryn L.; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
During the mid-20th century, Anaheim was one of many small unincorporated communities within southern California that would undergo a transition from a rural agricultural community into an industrial and commercial suburban sprawl. Previous works in cultural heritage resource management and local historical research within the City have been primarily centered around their local historic districts or larger commercial areas. However, the areas within proximity to these culturally defining areas have been largely undocumented. Those that have been documented have been studied under the regulatory lens of the National Historic Preservation Act or the California Environmental Quality Act. As a result, they are interpreted as just a product general growth of the City in the post-World War II era and determined ineligible for treatment or protection as historic resources. However, properties of this type are often examined as material culture that is independent of its surroundings. They have not been thoroughly examined for their data potential outside of the regulatory lens, nor has their connection to each other and the greater Anaheim landscape been considered fully. The analysis of architecture is useful in helping us understand production and use of space within the built environment. A further analysis, with the application of theory based in social production, space and place, and landscape may elaborate further on the broader social structures, allow a fuller understanding of the past, and help unpack the notion of material culture as a product. An approximately one-mile segment of East Lincoln Avenue, located near the center of Anaheim, exhibits a variety of the City’s vernacular architecture. In what ways did the City’s development allow these buildings to persist, and what processes were at play in their reconfiguration? Material culture, as a social product, requires a broader theoretical lens, a need to understand cultural resources as a part of a landscape, and a more in depth look into the individual. As the mid-20th century landscape emerges in the historical record, the importance of understanding the social factors that were at play are relevant to their preservation, especially as each phase of construction becomes overshadowed by the next, even to this day.
WESSELMAN FARM, AN ARCHAIC SITE ON THE LOWER GREAT MIAMI RIVER, HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO
(2022) Mahoney, Leeanne; Palus, Matthew; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Wesselman Farm is a previously unidentified precontact site in Hamilton County, Ohio. The site is an early Late Archaic period (4330 ± 30 to 4080 ± 30 BP [4959 - 4462 cal BP]) habitation site with dense midden development situated on a summit over the Great Miami River. This research was inspired by a small box of stone tools that a family had collected since the 1940s as they plowed the fields on their 15.38-hectare (38.00 acre) historic farmstead. The landowner’s collection, archival research, geophysical survey, archaeological excavations, and radiocarbon dates each contributed valuable information in locating and interpreting this incredible archaeological site. The data also allows an understanding of the role this site had within the larger Archaic settlement system of extreme southwest Ohio and changes our understanding of Archaic settlement distribution theory.
Ałhił nda’ jilnishgo, Naa’nish ła eti’ Working Together, Gets Work Done THE NAVAJO APPROACH TO CULTURAL RESOURCES AND HERITAGE MANAGEMENT ON THE NAVAJO-GALLUP WATER SUPPLY PIPELINE
(2021) Billie, Tamara; Lafrenz Samuels, Katheryn; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Since the mid-1800s, non-Navajo and Non-Indigenous archaeologists and researchers dictated the Navajo people's history a Western scientific lens. The Indigenous Archaeology movement of the 1970s and 1980s gave Indigenous people a voice not present before in modern archaeology. The campaign incorporated values important to Native people like oral traditions, landscapes, and sacred places. The revitalization effort has impelled the Navajo Nation's Heritage and Historic Preservation Department to reclaim its heritage. The Navajo THPO is unique in that it decides what is significant to Navajo history, archaeology, and culture. This Navajo approach to heritage is apparent in the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Pipeline project. As the waterline weaves a path through a culturally rich landscape, the Navajo THPO uses its tribal laws and Federal legislation to manage and protect its cultural resources.

Browse

Recent Submissions