Humla, one of the most remote regions in the Himalayan nation of Nepal, has undergone tremendous upheaval due to the Maoist insurgency of 1996-2006. As a result, numerous groups from rural Nepal such as those from Humla, have been displaced or chosen to migrate to urban areas, seeking to improve their lives or simply to survive. Pressure from Maoists has caused the displacement of many individuals who make up the community of Humlis now living in Kathmandu. This study aims to understand these causes of displacement and migration, as well as its consequences for Humlis. As a consequence of displacement and migration, significant changes occur in the lifestyle of Humlis. This change itself can be a source of stress. Other sources of stress in their new environment may be physical or behavioral, structural, or psychosocial. From understanding what sources of stress exist in the environment of displaced Humlis, interventions may be introduced which address and mitigate these sources of stress, and thereby decrease the risk of stress-related negative health outcomes in this community.

When assessing ancestry in a forensic context, individuals are generally classified into one of four categories: belonging to European, African, Asian, or Native American ancestry. With only these four assessments, individuals from Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands are usually phenotypically classified as Asian. While the oceanic regions of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands will most likely have trait frequencies similar to those of mainland Asia because of their shared ancestral lineages, there is still a great deal of variability in this region that could cause these trait frequencies to differ. To address this variability, sixteen morphoscopic traits were recorded using the program Osteoware (2011). Skeletal specimens include (n=135) from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and (n=30) from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, for a total of (n=165). Populations collected include individuals from Island Southeast Asia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. These were compared closely with data on 7 morphoscopic traits collected for mainland Asians (n=74), as well as for 5 morphoscopic traits of larger groups found throughout the world: American Indian, African American, European American, and Eskimo groups. The results indicated that the trait distributions of the Pacific were not similar to any of the other larger groups of the world for all five traits examined. Further, it was found that 7 out of 9 traits were significantly different in their frequencies between mainland Asians and groups of the Pacific. A clinal pattern of trait expression was noted across the geography on a west-east orientation for 6 traits. In correspondence analyses and cluster analyses, the Southeast Asians, Melanesians, and Polynesians were found to be more similar to each other than to mainland Asia. The Melanesians and the Southeast Asians showed the greatest correlation of morphoscopic trait frequency distribution. Overall, the Pacific group had a higher inclination for larger posterior zygomatic tubercles and a much higher prevalence of a straight zygomaticomaxillary suture than other groups of the world examined. The expression of these traits should be kept in mind when estimating the biological affinity of an individual.

Positive identification of unknown individuals is highly important in the medicolegal field. Comparison of antemortem and postmortem radiographs is a popular and successful method of making a positive identification, but these methods are often extremely limited due to a lack of antemortem records. A positive identification method utilizing a type of radiograph that is more common in the antemortem record would be very useful for forensic anthropologists and other medicolegal professionals and could increase the likelihood of the individual in question being identified. Panoramic dental radiographs are commonly included in the standard dental exam and provide a clear view of the maxillary sinus region. Visual analysis of the maxillary sinus region of panoramic radiographs was performed by creating an online radiographic matching survey using sets of two radiographs from seven individuals and individual radiographs from seven other individuals. A total of 47 undergraduate and graduate students participated in the online survey. The results from this survey were used to calculate percentages correct for different variables and perform one-way ANOVA and chi-square analyses on the data using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). A preliminary geometric morphometrics analysis was also performed on the maxillary sinus outline shape using Shape 1.3. Results from both the visual and geometric analysis of maxillary sinus shape indicate that elements of the maxillary sinus area could be used as a relatively accurate method for positively identifying unknown individuals.

This thesis is an exploration of housing as a social and environmental determinant of health and draws example from one Manitoban First Nation community. Aboriginal people across Canada suffer a disproportionate burden of morbidity and mortality relative to the rest of the country. Literature on the social determinants of health is reviewed with emphasis on the role of housing conditions in achieving and maintaining good health, followed by the historical context for Canadian Aboriginal settlement patterns and the current housing crisis. Local history and the results from a 2010 housing survey of the Sayisi Dene First Nation are described. Crowding, in-home water availability, housing design, and building materials are identified as risk factors for health problems, whereas occupant behavior appears to have little effect on conditions. Recent popular challenge to the longstanding and ongoing effects of colonialism sheds light on the degree to which all Canadians accept these pervasive circumstances.

Archaeological research of Housepit 1 at the S7istken site in the Middle Fraser region of the British Columbia Plateau has been ongoing since the summer of 2010. Housepit 1 is one of eight housepits at the site, and to date it has been excavated in near entirety. This has provided a large faunal assemblage mostly comprised of stored salmon remains, and also a lithic assemblage that has proven to be a useful measure of late prehistoric lifeways from the perspective of technological organization and lithic design strategies. Housepit 1 was occupied twice between about 350-300 B.P., which is the proto-historic era in the Middle Fraser. This timeframe bridges the preceding abandonment of winter village seasonally sedentary and logistically mobile patterns, and then a later reemergence of that pattern carried into the historic Fur Trade era. The research presented here studies technological organization and lithic design to view lifeways during the transitional times of the proto-historic era, and establish knowledge of how sedentary or mobile people living in Housepit 1 were during their times at the S7istken site.

This study examines the Brave Heart Society and the ways in which Brave Heart women collectively approaches trauma-healing outside of the programmatic structures of federally funded tribal systems. National statistics speak to the contemporary struggles impacting most US Indigenous populations in the present-day. Such struggles are residual symptoms rooted in a long history of domination and US imperialism. These data indicate that most tribes have not fully recovered from federally imposed systems of deprivation. Within the context of the Ihanktonwan Dakota community in southeastern South Dakota, the nuanced ways in which trauma impedes development and community wellness is both realized and unrealized by community members. Additionally this small community lacks the available resources to adequately treat trauma through culturally tailored approaches and frameworks. Breaking existing intergenerational cycles of trauma requires both collective and individual action. More clinical approaches integrating cultural practice and spirituality are needed for US Indigenous populations, however such approaches should be developed by the respective populations in need.

Archaeological evidence of prehistoric bear hunting and bear veneration in the northern Rocky Mountains and northwestern Plains is presented. Ethnographic documents and the writings of trappers, traders, and explorers are assessed in order to establish an interpretative framework to help decipher archaeological contexts in the region that include bear remains and rock art depicting bears. Examining prehistoric archaeological contexts in Montana and Wyoming within this framework suggests evidence of bear hunting and veneration similar to the regional ethnographic record. Data trends imply there may be a relationship between such sites and variables like site location, seasonality, function, and age. Contexts with bear remains were regularly located along stream corridors, and several sites showed winter occupation and hints of the ritual treatment of bear skulls and paws. An apparent increase in hunting during the Late Prehistoric Period was likely affiliated with warfare and healing. Compatible theoretical approaches are articulated in an effort to more clearly understand bear hunting and veneration in ecologic, symbolic, and utilitarian terms. Possible motivations include economic, social signaling, bear power attainment, and revenge incentives. Multiple archaeological signatures are forwarded at the conclusion that may indicate bear veneration, help identify and locate such sites, and enlighten our knowledge of specific hunting practices and potential motives.

The investigations in the royal palace of Cancuen provide an invaluable set of data concerning our understanding of ancient Maya architecture and sociopolitical organization, because architecture constitutes one of the most important material remains of past societies. In this study, a structural approach has defined the royal palace of Cancuen as a built environment, multifunctional space and social stage for the nobility, where residential, political, economic, and religious activities took place. Although Cancuen was initially a minor center controlled by other major Maya cities, it became the main center of the Pasion river under the reign of ruler Taj Chan Ahk, during the mid 8th century. This florescence is well represented by its royal palace, one of the largest in the Maya Lowlands. Unlike other Maya palace, this one was built at once as a complex set of spaces that responded to particular political strategies. Together with other contemporary centers, Cancuen experienced changes in its sociopolitical organization and economic regime, being reflected in the proliferation of multi-roomed buildings that served as means to integrate rising secondary elites and other non-royal political actors. This case study demonstrates that the structural interpretation of architecture, particularly elite and public architecture, can reveal a great deal about the political and social structure of ancient societies.

This thesis, dealing with the migration and kinship structure of contemporary French Canada, presents the results of eleven months' work by an anthropologist. It is self-consciously written within a certain theoretical framework or tradition, which can be codified under two words: culture and function. In the first place, this means that I expected, throughout doing the work, to find a variation in both structure and character between the French Canadian norm and that of ether societies. This expectation, or assumption, is the core of the cultural approach; ether postulates, such as that culture is learned, follow from the observation of difference.

The use of calcium oxide (lime) in both agricultural and burial customs has been seen since the Iron Age. Due to this usage, the myth stating that the application of this chemical will expedite the complete destruction of human remains developed. This myth, in conjunction to historical and contemporary instances of its usage related to criminal activities has demonstrated a need to better understand the interactions of this chemical with bony tissue, particularly as it relates to saw cutmarks. Using pig elements as proxies for human remains, this research aims to systematically examine the degenerative effects resulting from the application of calcium oxide to bone with traumatic defects, specifically as it pertains to class characteristics commonly found in saw cutmarks on bone. At the conclusion of a four week duration while utilizing two depositional contexts, the saw cutmarks on the remains did not display any significant alterations that may be attributed to the chemical application of calcium oxide.