Recent archaeological studies show that pre-Columbian communities began modifying Southwestern Amazonia approximately 3,500 years ago. In lowland Bolivia, a recently mapped network of fish weirs in West Central Llanos de Mojos (WCM) demonstrates how ancient Mojeño groups built artificial earthworks to harness seasonal flooding and catch fish. In the eastern region of Baures, a similar complex of fish weirs has been studied since the 1990s, generating questions about how this system may function in a different hydrological and anthropogenic setting. Similarly, previous research within WCM has focused on the fields and forest islands that pre-Columbian populations built to elevate themselves and their crops from the floodwaters that consume the landscape. However, water is still a necessity for communities, and the dry season beginning in early summer can leave the landscape in a state of drought. This begs the question, were inhabitants also participating in large-scale environmental transformations to domesticate wetlands and increase their duration and scale? This proceeds from the assumption that weirs were not only interacting with water to catch fish but controlling its flow and accumulation to expand wetland habitats and resources more broadly. Using a combination of spatial data and statistical analysis, this study defines potential wetlands within the region, distinguished by two unique patterns of fish weirs, stacks and networks. Results indicate that these wetlands have the capacity to affect water flow and accumulation for over 600 m2 of land but maintain differences in their sizes and relationships to major bodies of water and nearby anthropogenic features.

The use of rapid digital documentation technologies remains in its infancy, although it promises to change the course of future archaeological work. With rising sea levels, the natural deterioration of historic sites and structures, and the lack of proper funding for historic and cultural sites, more of these sites are at risk of destruction. With the implementation of rapid digital documentation methods, researchers can address risks associated with data loss. To date, only a handful of cultural resource management (CRM) firms use these technologies, citing the lack of use as too expensive or difficult to learn. Using rapid digital documentation methods including, three-dimensional (henceforth 3D) modeling, photogrammetry, Geospatial Information Systems (GIS), and HABS/HAER documentation, this project assessed the overall utility of rapid digital documentation in supporting cultural heritage work. This research also explored a new method for HABS/HAER creation that cuts fieldwork time down to two to three days at the most. This research proved that these rapid digital documentation technologies could be helpful to federal agencies, CRM firms, and low-budget archaeological investigations. This project also compared two software used for photogrammetry, Agisoft Metashape and Meshroom, at the site to see the cost/benefit of conducting both methods of 3D modeling on an archaeological and historic site. This comparison determined that Metashape was the better program and worth the expense. This research was illuminated through a case study of the Juniper Springs Recreation Area within the Ocala National Forest and focused on applying these rapid digital documentation methods on a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) site prime for a National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) nomination.

In Brazil, the largest escaped slave community in the Americas incorporated multiple settlements into a united federation. This was Palmares, named for the palm forests where community members sheltered in the Captaincy of Pernambuco. Encompassing nine individual villages at its height in the mid-1600s, only one known settlement has been extensively studied by archaeologists. The remaining eight have not been definitively located. Through historiography, spatial analysis, and remote sensing techniques, the locations of the eight unknown sites of Palmares may be estimated using geographic information science. Introducing spatial analysis into the current body of Palmares literature offers new insights and further assists in the archaeological study of subaltern agency and communities. Incorporating qualitative historical and archaeological documentation into quantitative geographic research methods illuminates the potential for integrative archaeological work to impact the study of escaped slave communities.

The Migration Period (375 to 568 CE) of Central and Eastern Europe was a tumultuous time politically, culturally, and socially. Historical and archaeological evidence provide support for the large-scale movement of multiple tribes and groups, including the Gepids and Avars, although biogeochemical evidence for mobility is currently limited for these populations. Mobility can impact individual and group health and identity, and has socio-political implications for broader regions involved. As such, identifying the extent and scale of mobility within a given population can provide nuanced insights into multiple aspects of life and society in the past. To investigate mobility in a population during and immediately following the Migration Period, bulk stable isotope analysis of stable carbon and oxygen were conducted on skeletal remains of Gepidic and Avar period individuals (n = 24) from the Hungarian site of Berettyóújfalu. Paired tooth enamel and bone bioapatite samples were analyzed, in order to reconstruct both early and later life values. The results of these multi-isotope and multi-tissue analyses indicate that there are statistically significant differences between paired bone (later life) and tooth enamel (earlier life) bioapatite values, providing evidence for change across the life course. Additionally, there is some tentative evidence that the females at the site may have been more mobile than the males, although further research is needed to corroborate this. Broadly, this research provides a meaningful contribution to the growing literature on isotopic variation and mobility in Gepidic and Avar communities, and thus creates a more nuanced image of life in Migration Period Hungary more generally.

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Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes special report study entitled: Cave dwelling in China. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis supervisor: E. Arthur Bettis, III. Includes bibliographic references (p. 102-107).

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Abstract & scope of work of the special study report missing. Includes special report study entitled : Cave dwelling in China. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) research conducted in coastal environments is one area that is lacking in archaeology. Surveys conducted in this type of environment afford the opportunity to evaluate the practical use GPR under field conditions. Coastal environments are effective for this evaluation because they offer a host of conditions that GPR surveys do not normally encounter at one time. The relationship of the land to the coast, sub-surface conditions and reliable survey areas create a "perfect storm" to test how practical the use of GPR is in coastal environments. This research is a study of homestead cemeteries situated within the boundaries of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), using GPR. The research has three main goals. The first is to utilize GPR to identify if there are any unknown burials at CCAFS. The second is to test the practical effectiveness of GPR in coastal environments where high water table, geology and saline conditions can limit the capability of the technique to resolve subsurface features. The third is to correlate data from the GPR survey with ethnographic information to enhance the protection and maintenance with what is already available for the cemeteries. Research methods include field-based geophysical data collection in addition to archival and ethnographic historic research. The field component, to which this research pertains, entailed an on-site GPR survey at the nine sites on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This was followed by analysis of the information from the survey using standard processing software. Subsequently, a thorough archival search was completed to link historic and ethnographic information with the archaeological data obtained on the cemeteries. The final result of this research was a report that provides a detailed description of the results of the GPR survey of the cemeteries at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

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