Thesis (M. Med. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2009. / Title from title screen (site viewed July 6, 2010). PDF text: iii, 227 p. : col. ill. ; 4 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3366068. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Charlotte, NC, 2002. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 235-246).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-114).

Thesis (M.A.)--Eastern Illinois University. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 26-29).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 1985. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [87]-96).

No description available.

Archaeological excavations were conducted by EASE Archaeology at the Knowe of Skea on the island of Westray between 2000 and 2009 and discovered a multi-phase site with evidence for activity dating from the Neolithic through to the Viking era. Excavations revealed that the site had been used as a burial ground for a prolonged period during the Iron Age. Human remains recovered during the first seasons of excavations were radiocarbon dated to the turn of the first millennium BC/AD. These dates highlighted the significance of this burial ground; burial evidence of Iron Age date is sparse in Atlantic Scotland and often overlooked due to the lack of a recognisable, dominant burial rite. Burials of individuals of all ages, including a very high number of infants, were recovered and represent the largest known collection of burials of this date from Scotland. Iron Age research in Atlantic Scotland has traditionally been dominated by study and discussion of the impressive stone-built architecture of domestic buildings and working places of a population about which very little is actually known. Examination of the burials from this site and comparisons with similar sites in the Orkney Islands is building a greater understanding of the treatment of the dead in this region during a period for which so little evidence exists. The burials had been placed in the rubble of earlier collapsed buildings which appears to be a common feature of many Iron Age burials in the Orkney Islands and north-eastern Scotland. Site records, photographs and views of excavators were consulted and combined with the results of the osteological analysis to determine burial patterns at the site according to age, sex or burial location. The large volume of infant remains recovered from the site created the possibility to investigate such high infant mortality and the general health of infants and children. High numbers of infant burials can often lead to suggestions of infanticide; the likelihood of this is also discussed. The results of basic stable isotope analysis (13C and 15N) were examined to interpret breastfeeding and weaning practice. The evidence provided in the results of isotopic analysis was also used to interpret the diet of this population and compared with archaeological evidence of diet from excavation of domestic sites across Atlantic Scotland. Of particular interest was the extent to which the population of the islands may have exploited marine and other wild resources when compared with similar dietary studies in the rest of Scotland and Britain. Results of osteoarchaeological analysis of the human skeletal remains from the Knowe of Skea allowed a deeper understanding of the lifestyle and health of a population for which there has been little evidence to date.

This thesis addresses the question of an impoverished record for the Orcadian Bronze Age. It presents the first comprehensive synthesis of this period, which is overshadowed by its neighbours. Factors that influenced the formation of the archaeological record in Orkney are investigated. The effects of agricultural improvement on archaeological survival, not previously examined in detail in an Orcadian context, are shown to have been particularly significant. It is found that destruction of sites of all periods took place on a large scale, especially in the 19th century, and that this went largely unrecorded, which has not hitherto been fully appreciated or understood. Critical evaluation of the chronology and scale of land improvement is shown to be of particular importance in understanding archaeological distributions of Bronze Age evidence. Areas of archaeological survival of Bronze Age relict landscapes in largely marginal areas are identified and the implications of site densities in these landscapes are examined. The apparently high density of Bronze Age occupation in these marginal areas may be a result of population pressure or social control. Burial-related evidence is examined in light of the changing burial practices in the late 3rd millennium BC and thereafter. The exotic artefactual assemblage, especially metalwork, in both funerary and non-funerary contexts, is examined to discover possible explanations for its nature. Typologies of Bronze Age settlements are proposed and their developmental trajectories and relationships are investigated. It is found likely that some at least of Orkney’s numerous broch sites could be the culmination of a multi-period settlement with roots in the second or third millennia BC. It is proposed that excavation of such sites may identify remains of the ‘missing’ high-status sites of the Orcadian Bronze Age. The chronology, function and distribution of burnt mounds, and their relationship with settlements and funerary sites is examined. It is found that there is an association between burnt mounds and settlements, and burnt mounds and funerary sites, in Orkney’s relict landscapes, and that this relationship may be applicable to the wider Orkney landscape. A dearth of excavated and published sites, lack of diagnostic artefact assemblages and concomitant lack of chronological resolution are found to present difficulties in treating ‘the Bronze Age’ as anything other than a unitary period in Orkney. Understanding of Bronze Age Orkney suffers from limited excavation. There are no obvious high-status settlements and an absence of artefact types found contemporarily elsewhere in the British Isles. The current paradigm of the fragmentation of society at the end of the Neolithic inferred from this is examined and the evidence found to be equivocal. Alternative explanations for the apparent discontinuity exhibited at some sites towards the end of the 3rd millennium cal BC are explored. Recommendations for future research are made.

No description available.