Estimating age at death accurately can be invaluable in answering important questions in fields such as paleoanthropology, bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology. Sternal rib ends have received a great deal of research attention as an area that uniformly changes with age. The most popular methods developed in this area were developed by Iscan and coworkers (1984, 1985) using the right, fourth rib. However, the accuracy of this method has been called into question using different ribs (Yoder et al., 2001). The right, second, fourth and eighth ribs from the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection were examined using the Iscan et al. (1984, 1985) methods. Wilcoxon rank sum tests demonstrate that there is a significant difference between scores obtained using the right, fourth rib and the second and eighth ribs. In order to better understand these differences, a transition analysis was performed. This analysis showed that the second rib was significantly over-aged using the Iscan methods, while the eighth rib was consistently under-aged, although in some cases not significantly.

A good deal of what we know regarding the prehistoric Mississippian period (1000-1600 AD) in the Southeastern United States has been provided for by mortuary studies. Archaeological investigations have uncovered what appears to be differential treatment in burial practices among some subsets of community populations. The argument has been made that those individuals buried in ceremonial mounds or interred with finely crafted or exotic grave goods make up the “elite” sector of a population while those with less spectacular burial treatment are “commoners.” The purpose of this research is to determine if health status differs by burial location at the Late Mississippian Cox site of Anderson County, Tennessee. The site consists of one mound and an associated village. This study does not assume social rank is associated with burial location, but instead adopts a biocultural perspective to ascertain if differences in health status by burial location suggest possible differences in social status. A skeletal sample of 230 individuals was analyzed. Thirty-nine individuals were exhumed from the mound and 191 from the village. Sex, age, and health status were evaluated for each individual. Health status was determined by observing porotic hyperostosis, cribra orbitalia, dental disease, infectious disease, and linear enamel hypoplasias. An overall health score based on these characteristics was then calculated for each individual. Logistic regression as well as chi-square analyses were performed to determine any correlation between health status and burial location. There was no statistically significant difference between burial locations as they related to overall health status. Porotic hyperostosis was the only pathology to differ significantly by burial location (p=0.0005). Dental disease, infection, and linear enamel hypoplasias affected both mound and village samples similarly. Possible evidence for the presence of both tuberculosis and treponematosis among the site’s occupants was noted. A logistic regression of health score indicated that at any given age, if an individual exhibits one less pathology, he or she is 1.5 times more likely to be buried in the mound. However, social inequality in this late prehistoric community is not supported by any findings of biological inequality.

The evidence for bone grease processing in Wisconsin's Driftless Area is addressed. A four-fold methodology for the identification of grease production is developed. This methodology includes an examination of: (1) bone fragment size, (2) fracture patterns, (3) overall taphonomy, and (4) archaeological context. The methodology is applied to the analysis of eight Driftless Area faunal assemblages and is also used to reevaluate previous accounts of grease production. Based upon the analysis, evidence for grease manufacture is present and ubiquitous at seven Archaic/Woodland sites. Evidence for grease production is also present in five Oneota assemblages from the La Crosse area. Grease production is interpreted through a behavioral ecology framework, with particular reference to the prey-as-patch model. This model implies that increases in carcass processing intensity are associated with reductions in kill frequencies. It is suggested that in certain circumstances, the predictions of the model maybe inaccurate. These inaccuracies are highlighted by evidence from Archaic and Woodland sites that indicates grease production was not related to lower kill rates, but instead associated with intensive fall harvests and processing white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). At this time, processing multiple animals simultaneously could have produced large quantities of grease and lowered production costs. The grease was stored for use during the spring and winter, when deer were lean and very low in fat content, and few other fat or carbohydrate sources would have been available. Grease production on the Oneota sites occurred in a different cultural context. Here, bone grease manufacture was sporadic and associated with fall-winter seasonal indicators. This means that grease production occurred when the La Crosse area Oneota appeared to have abandoned their villages to pursue American bison (Bos bison) in the prairies of Minnesota. It is suggested that certain individuals (particularly, the young, elderly and sick) likely stayed behind. Faced with more limited hunting abilities, large mammal kills may have been uncommon. Consistent with predications of the prey-aspatch model, these individuals intensively processed the carcasses of single animals, including bone grease manufacture. Here, fat would have been a critical winter resource and used to supplement stored agricultural products.

The purpose of this research is to investigate bilateral asymmetry within the New Lisbon Skeletal Collection, and to correlate observed levels with demographic and socioeconomic variables. The New Lisbon Collection is a historic skeletal assemblage of birthdates spanning 1805 – 1975, sourced primarily from Lisbon, Portugal. Metric long bone measurements of length and dimension were taken on a juvenile subsample (n = 82) and an adult subsample (n=248), and asymmetry indices were calculated incorporating both right and left and scaling for size. For the juvenile samples the objective was to investigate lateralization during growth and development. No significant difference could be found between the sexes, suggesting that males and females were responding similarly to external stressors. Close correlation was found between age and clavicle and humerus asymmetry, which may be related to increasing participation in unimanual activities. Moderately differences in asymmetry between causeof- death categories, coupled with the presence of both directional and fluctuating asymmetry suggests a population experiencing environmental instability and/or scarcity. In the adult subsample, the main objectives were to examine difference in asymmetry between groups, and track temporal change in asymmetry. Mechanical loading stress appears to be the source of adult asymmetry. This is supported by higher asymmetry observed in manual laborers, and in comparison against modern skeletal material. No difference could be determined between the sexes, which may be attributed to high physical workloads recorded for all historic Portuguese. In temporal analysis, asymmetry significantly increases during years 1890 – 1919, coinciding with an era of significant socioeconomic and political transition in Portugal. Ultimately, bilateral asymmetry in the New Lisbon Collection reflects a population experiencing moderate to high levels of environmental and mechanical stress.

This purpose of this study was to examine flake tools from Archaic, Woodland, Mississippian, and Cherokee components at the Townsend project (sites 40BT89, 40BT90, 40BT91, and 40BT94) in Blount County, Tennessee and to determine the functions of these flake tools and whether these tools are actually expedient. Also, any changes that may have occurred through time in the function of these tools was assessed, as well as how these changes might apply to surrounding archaeological sites. A stepwise microwear examination was conducted, which included three levels of analysis: macroscopic examination, stereoscopic examination, and incident light examination. All 1,723 flake tools were examined macroscopically, 883 flake tools were examined stereoscopically, and only 82 flake tools were examined using the incident light microscopic examination. It was found that the flake tools from the Townsend project can be divided into two different modes of flake tools, selected tools and shaped tools. Selected tools can be defined as those that do not exhibit evidence of intentional retouch and seem to have been used for varying functions. This group of tools includes scrapers, blades and blade-like flakes, humpbacked scrapers, ovate scrapers, and wedges. In contrast to selected tools, shaped tools can be defined as those exhibiting evidence of intentional retouch and specialized functions. This group of tools includes incurvate scrapers, drills, and gravers.

The purpose of this study was to document the ethnohistory of the leprosarium Hansen Home and to examine the local knowledge ofleprosy in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis. Kittitians often responded to questions about leprosy in 2000 with the statement "it's not catching." In 2002, the research goal was to address leprosy from a Kittitian vantage point. Through the lens of anthropological inquiry, archival materials were examined and a variety of stories were gathered about Hansen Home and the local knowledge of leprosy. The latter task was accomplished with ethnographic techniques, particularly semi-structured interviews. The accounts collected were multilayered, exposing culturally significant aspects of identity construction and blame assignment. As the local knowledge of leprosy was revealed, a clearer interpretation of this contagion was attained. A consistent trend has been the Othering of leprosy; assigning blame to the Other for bringing leprosy to St. Kitts and more specifically to Sandy Point. Leprosy is currently defined in the context of St. Kitts as not contagious. This is a reflection of Kittitians' ability to cope with leprosy and is a testament to the success of the public health care delivery agenda set in St. Kitts and Nevis. Despite their efforts to eradicate the disease, the legacy of leprosy still affects many people today. This thesis describes the medical pluralism of the local knowledge of leprosy, which is influenced by both biomedical and ethnomedical knowledge. Furthermore, this thesis describes life for the person with leprosy who lived on both the inside and outside of Hansen Home. It also describes a gradual shift in understanding contagion in St. Kitts, from a point of highly contagious to an understanding of not contagious.

The purpose of this research was to test Weaver’s method of sex estimation using the auricular surface on neonatal skeletal remains of varying ages. The age of the individual was used to examine whether or not there existed a stronger correlation between age and elevation than sex and elevation. By assessing these relationships, it could be determined if Weaver’s method is more appropriate for individuals of certain ages more than individuals of other ages. Juvenile skeletons (n = 167) ranging in age from fourteen weeks post-conception to twenty years of age were assessed from two skeletal collections, and the results were analyzed using 2x2 contingency tables and logistic regressions. Weaver’s method yielded a 45.16% accuracy for determining sex in females and a 56.14% accuracy for estimating sex in males. These accuracies, close to chance, do not compare to Weaver’s original study which generated a 75% accuracy for determining sex of female fetuses and a 92% accuracy for determining sex in males fetuses. When age was incorporated into the analyses, unlike suggestions made by previous researchers, there was no correlation between it and auricular surface elevation.

Dust Cave, located in northern Alabama, was occupied seasonally for approximately 7,000 years, spanning five cultural occupations beginning with the Late Paleoindian period (12,650-11,200 cal B.P.) and extending into the Benton period (6,500-5,600 cal B.P.) (Sherwood et al. 2004). Due to the exceptional preservational environments found within the cave, the well preserved organic materials recovered from the site have provided a better understanding of both cultural and economic aspects of prehistoric life including subsistence strategies and mobility. My research focuses on these aspects of life during the Eva/Morrow Mountain (8,400-6,000 cal B.P.) and Benton (6,500-5,600 cal B.P.) components at Dust Cave through the analysis of botanical remains. My objectives are to contribute to a better understanding of foraging adaptations and strategies used by hunter-gatherers in northern Alabama during the Middle Archaic period. Also, by further comparison of these materials to previously analyzed botanical materials from the site’s earlier occupations I attempt to show that hunters-gatherers adapted their subsistence strategies in response to a changing environmental and cultural landscape. I do so through the application of a diet breadth model. Developed within evolutionary ecology, diet breadth models attempt to predict how changing environments affect resource selectivity and explain resource selectivity by assuming that individuals make choices to acquire the most valuable resources in terms of their energetic return rates (Bettinger 1987:132). Results of this research show that through time hunter-gatherers foraged more efficiently by focusing their subsistence practices on more highly ranked food resources in terms of energetic return rates (kcal/hr). Evidence is provided by the absence of edible seeds, a lower ranked resource, from the Middle Archaic diet as efforts were focused on more highly ranked food resources, like hickory nuts, in response to changing cultural and environmental conditions. More efficient foraging practices allowed individuals and groups living in resource rich areas to maximize their return rates and increase their genetic fitness by providing more time for individuals to participate in non-foraging activities, which would have provided these individuals with evolutionary advantages over individuals and groups that occupied less favorable environments.

From 1999 to 2002, the Transportation Center at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, conducted a number of archaeological investigations associated with the widening of State Route 73 (U.S. 321) through Townsend, Tennessee. The excavations at the Townsend sites resulted in the recovery of a large assemblage of chipped and ground stone tools. A lithic resource survey of the upper Little River drainage was undertaken to identify the likely source areas of raw materials used for the manufacture of the chipped and ground stone tools recovered during the Townsend excavations. These data were then used to identify local versus non-local materials use by prehistoric peoples in Tuckaleechee Cove. The results of this research are presented in this thesis.

Physical anthropologists and bioarchaeologists often seek to generate biological profiles of individuals represented by skeletal remains. One particularly informative component of the biological profile is skeletal age-at-death. Age-at-death estimation is vital to numerous contexts in both paleodemography and forensic anthropology. Throughout the history of the discipline, numerous authors have published methods for adult age-at-death estimation. These methods have proved invaluable, but they are not free from error. As a result, workers have continually worked to improve the methodological toolkit for estimating age-at-death. In June of 1999, researchers gathered in Rostock, Germany for the sole purpose of evaluating and testing age-at-death estimation methods. The hallmark of this symposium was a theoretical framework known as the Rostock Manifesto published in volume edited by Hoppa and Vaupel (2002a) entitled Paleodemography: age distributions/rom skeletal samples. Included in this work was a new age-at-death estimation method called transition analysis published by Boldsen and colleagues. Transition analysis utilizes traits of the pubic symphysis, auricular surface, and cranial sutures to produce likelihood age-at-death estimates. In their publication, Boldsen et al. (2002) report a remarkable correlation between estimated age and real age in addition to asserting that this method adequately ages individuals in the 5O+ years category. This purpose ofthis research was to perform a validation study of the transition analysis method by utilizing 225 skeletons from the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection curated by the Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee. Data were collected in the manner of Bolds en et al. (2002) and used to generate age-at- death estimates. These results were then statistically compared to known ages from the Bass Collection. Results from the study were not as favorable as those published by Boldsen and colleagues. Correlation coefficients were low and analyses of data using the forward continuation ratio, ordinal cumulative pro bit, and unrestrictive cumulative probit models suggest such problems arise from a combination of the method's statistical framework and its lack of applicability.