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Rangifer have the greatest circumpolar distribution of any living ungulate and have played an important role in the lives of many Arctic Indigenous communities for thousands of years. Given the prolific nature of Rangifer remains in many Arctic archaeological contexts, and their continued importance in many contemporary Arctic Indigenous societies, this species has the potential to be an important source of information about past Arctic human-animal-environment interactions. Given the noted influence of local and global climatic shifts on Rangifer ecology in the present, knowledge of the palaeoecology and palaeobiogeography of such a key prey-species, coupled with an indication of palaeoclimatic context, may provide valuable insights into animal-human interactions, human subsistence activities and landscape use in the past. The aims of this thesis are three-fold. The first is to explore Rangifer isotopic variability, and to indicate the utility of this species as a palaeoclimatic proxy, by isotopically analysing modern samples from across the circumpolar North. The second aim is to investigate the palaeoecology and palaeobiogeography of caribou from the pre-contact Little Ice Age (15th–17th century AD) Yup'ik village site of Nunalleq, Western Alaska, in order to determine their ranging patterns and to identify if these patterns are similar to those seen in modern caribou in the area today. The third aim brings both of these aims together in order to undertake the first multi-isotopic investigation of archaeological Rangifer in North America to provide an indication of the palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic context of Nunalleq. This information, in conjunction with the caribou palaeoecological and palaeogeographical knowledge, will inform on caribou-environment and caribou-human interactions at the site. To that end, bulk bone bioapatite δ18OCO3 and δ18OPO4, and bulk bone collagen δ13C, δ15N and δ34S isotope analysis is undertaken on Rangifer from five modern herds from across the circumpolar North to explore the relationships between stable isotope ratios and environmental factors. The data presented here suggest that Rangifer bioapatite δ18O is a potentially useful proxy for regional climate. Intra and inter-population variability in these isotopic systems suggests the potential of using these to distinguish between herds and environments, particularly δ18O and δ34S. Sequential strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and oxygen (δ18OCO3) isotope data from caribou (Rangifer sp.) tooth enamel from Nunalleq are analysed in order to reconstruct caribou movement patterns in this region during the Little Ice Age. The data presented here suggests these Nunalleq caribou undertook some seasonal movements. Comparison with observational data of the local herd in the region today suggests a shift in calving area and range use between the late Holocene period represented by the site and the present day. Finally, bulk bone bioapatite δ18OPO4 and bulk bone collagen δ13C and δ15N on caribou from the site are used to reconstruct palaeotemperature for the area surrounding Nunalleq and to inform on additional palaeoenvironmental considerations. The data generated in this thesis provide new empirical data for future research in isotope zooarchaeology and significant baseline data for use in palaeodietary and palaeoenvironmental interpretation of fossil Rangifer. The isotopic data complement the wealth of data derived from other research at Nunalleq, illuminating the influence of changing climatic conditions on prey-species palaeoecology and human–animal interactions at the site.

One taphonomic problem plaguing archaeologists and physical anthropologists, whether their research is in North American cultures or hominid sites in Africa, is the difficulty in distinguishing bone altered by burning and heating from bone altered by soil processes. Archaeologists working to understand the recent prehistory of the Southern Oregon Coast face the same challenge. Two relatively new tools were investigated to determine their usefulness to resolving this problem. These are scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). SEM has been well-tested in African sites and experimental studies to identify hominid-created cut marks on bone and to reconstruct heating temperatures of burnt bone. However, SEM and its ability to sample chemistry, as well as XRD's ability to detect diagentic alteration in bone minerals, have not been tested on material from coastal Oregon. The purpose of this research was: (1) to test these methods to see whether they could distinguish between burning and soil alteration, using cervid bone from site 35CS43 near Bandon, Ore., as a test sample, and (2) to see whether the result, paired with archaeological, ethnographic, taphonomic and faunal evidence, could be used to understand how the Coquille were procuring, processing and cooking cervids as insights into their adaptation. The outcome suggests that SEM and XRD, without use of other evidence, are unable to distinguish between burning and soil alteration because the similarities between the two lie not only in changes to the bone's macrostructure (discoloration) but also in bone chemistry, where it was hoped differences could be found. However, these techniques, when paired with the other lines of evidence, did provide insights in understanding the taphonomy and the Coquille's use of cervids - the interaction of bone and soil; the extent of mimicry between burning and soil alteration; and ultimately that discoloration of cervid bone at 35CS43 was likely due to soil alteration, that burning as the result of fire roasting was most likely not occurring at the site, and that the Coquille employed other methods of cooking. / Graduation date: 2003

Thesis (B.S.)--University of Wisconsin -- La Crosse, 2009. / Also available online. Includes bibliographical references (p. 26-28).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2003. / Title from title page screen (viewed Mar. 29, 2004). Thesis advisor: Walter E. Klippel. Document formatted into pages (ix, 135 p. : ill. (some col.)). Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-127).

Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2002. / Bibliography: leaves 228-242.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2002. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 314-326). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

The Turner Farm site (located on North Haven Island, Penobscot Bay, on the central Maine coast), excavated under the direction of Dr. Bruce Bourque of the Maine State Museum, has revealed occupations from 3300 B.C. to European contact.Zoological material has been collected, identified and analyzed with artifactual data. The faunal remains of this site has been compared with existing archaeological and zoological data from coastal Maine. Conclusions have been presented about the subsistence of the site and the central Maine area in general.

This thesis records the study of over one thousand selected, bone, antler and ivory artifacts from the Upper Palaeolithic in Britain and Belgium, with particular reference to manufacture. The methods used include the experimental manufacture and use of certain bone and antler artifacts, and the recording of the traces produced. This information is used as a reference collection with which to compare the archaeological material. Both the experimental and the archaeological implements are examined either with the aid of a handlens, or at a variety of magnifications using an optical microscope and a scanning electron microscope. Upper Palaeolithic bone tool types as a whole are considered for comparative purposes, as are some ethnographic artifacts. The artifacts studied here are ordered into twenty-six different tool types, each of which is discussed in turn; this includes a description of the raw materials used, of the identifiable traces of manufacture and their interpretation, and of the identifiable traces of use, and their interpretation. The regional and chronological distribution of the specimens is also considered, as is any variation in each type, for example in size or in the raw materials used. Some regional and chronological patterning is found, but in the absence of reliable contextual information, its interpretation is often speculative. It is concluded that a large scale programme of radiocarbon accelerator dating of actual artifacts is required to solve this problem.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Arizona, 2006.