Geophysical techniques, such as ground-penetrating radar (GPR), have been successfully used by law enforcement agencies to locate graves and forensic evidence. However, more controlled research is needed to better understand the potential and limitations of this technology in the forensic context. The goal of this study was to determine the potential of GPR using both a 250 MHz and 500 MHz antennae to monitor eight controlled graves with six different burial scenarios using pig carcasses as human proxy cadavers. In addition, a conductivity meter was employed to determine the applicability of using this technology to locate unmarked graves. For the conductivity meter, the data was processed using an EM38 program in conjunction with the SURFER program to display a conductivity contour map of the grid. For the GPR imagery, reflection profile data was processed using the program REFLEXW while horizontal slices were processed using the GPR-SLICE program. Results indicate that the conductivity meter is not a viable option in the detection of clandestine graves when other geophysical tools are available. For the GPR, results indicate that while graves can still be detected after a two-year period, there is a marked decrease in the response, or resolution, of the burial scenarios. Furthermore, burials with grave goods interred along with the carcasses were far more likely to be detected than burials that were interred with no accompanying grave goods. When comparing the performance of the two antennae, the 250 MHz antenna provided increased resolution for large cadavers buried in deep graves.

The study of hieroglyphic texts is vital to the interpretation of the ancient Maya and how their worldview contributed to their daily lives. Hieroglyphic decipherment has been an arduous undertaking and a wide variety of the Late Classic Maya writing styles has also been documented. When specific hieroglyphic phrases are not fully understood it has been necessary to utilize other sources of information to help increase the understanding of these texts. The “lubat” glyphic phrase has been utilized in multiple mediums throughout the Late Classic period and is described as an artist’s signature. This artist signature is directly related to specific iconographic elements and themes that represent a cosmological view of the ancient Maya. This thesis demonstrates the connection between the lu-bat glyphic phrase and iconographic themes indicative of liminal powers exercised by the social elites in terms of the underworld. This connection is strengthened through the evaluation of the associated texts and iconographic analysis. While interpretations of the lu-bat glyphic phrase have suggested that it represented an artist’s signature, a concise articulation of the hieroglyphic values for the lu-bat glyphic phrase has not yet be achieved. The iconographic imagery involved with this glyph demonstrates an interactive level between the conduit being and liminal actions. This interaction depicts the individual involved as a direct medium for the ritual activities of the elites in terms of the underworld.

The use of Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) technology is revolutionizing Maya archaeology, as it penetrates through thick vegetation prevalent in Maya environments, uncovering the structures and features below. At the site of El Mirador in the Petén Department of Guatemala, lidar data has been analyzed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map features, such as residential buildings and quarries, that other technologies like satellite imagery have missed. El Mirador is a large site dating to the Preclassic through Post Classic periods (1000 BCE to 1500 BCE) and is argued to have the largest monumental architecture built by the Lowland Maya, but the nature of socioeconomic and political coordination at the site is poorly understood. Through analysis of quarry and residential structure volumes outlying areas of El Mirador at various distances from the city center, this research seeks to understand more about the nature of coordination at the site in terms of limestone production. Buffer zones of 150m and 300m were created around a central residence group in each selected area. This research shows that zones closer to the city center produced a greater volume of limestone than those further away; however, the quarries within each buffer zone did not produce enough stone even for the structures within their immediate zone. The total quarry volumes in the 150m buffer zones are greater than the combined volumes in the area between the 150m and 300m buffers, indicating a measure of coordination from each central structure group. Further research of quarrying at residential groups could help uncover the nature of supra-household coordination at Preclassic sites where the exact nature of elite involvement in quarrying is still not completely understood.

Many areas of the world are experiencing the effects of the water crisis. The water crisis is a widespread phenomenon whereby many regions are experiencing a shortage of water, lacking access to clean potable water. This study uses existing literature to examine the ways in which the ecological knowledge of ancient civilizations can be applied to modern water management in attempt to address the current water crisis. The literature reviewed for this study, stemming from notable books and peer reviewed journals, were published between 1882 and the present year. As part of a purposive sample, the following civilizations were chosen: Tenochtitlan (presently Mexico City), Angkor, and Petra. Past and present water management in the three locations are examined, as well as their impact on industry and social systems. Findings within the literature indicate that ancient methods of water management are able to provide water for populations of equal or greater size than their modern counterparts. Similarly, some studies have determined that modern water systems are problematic in their production of waste by-products, and inefficiency in water collection and distribution. The implications determined from the results of this study are discussed, as well as the limitations that arose throughout the review. The study seeks to fill the gap in literature connecting ancient water management techniques to modern practices, helping establish suggestions for reforms to address the current water crisis in the process.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Caribbean island of Tobago was contested by several European powers. Among them was an unlikely colonizer, the small Duchy of Courland, located in the western part of modern-day Latvia, which established the New Courland colony on the west coast of Tobago, in May 1654. The aim of this study was to determine the exact geographic location of this settlement through examination of historical texts, maps, and geographic information systems (GIS) data. Remote sensing and GIS methods were used to map the Courlander Fort Jacob on the site of an earlier Dutch fortification, Nieuw Vlissingen. Subsequently, a predictive model was created in ArcGIS to analyze the probability of a 17th-century animal-powered sugar mill location on the territory of an 18th-century British sugar estate. Several locales were identified as matching the model criteria. The results of this study contribute to the knowledge about the New Courland colony and can be used in the design of a future archaeological fieldwork project.

<p>This dissertation contributes to Indigenous archaeology, particularly along the Northwest Coast, the Coast Salish region and the territory of the Squamish Nation. I examine the regional archaeological sequence and provide an Indigenous perspective of time and space of Squamish Nation territory. Closer examination of this region’s archaeological record focuses on the occurrence of suitable igneous tool stone sources and their use over the past 10,000 years. A full understanding of these lithic sources comes from three different perspectives Squamish Nation culture, the archaeological and geological records.</p> <p>I propose that lithic sources are important places of the Squamish Nation cultural landscape and that the distributions of certain material types is linked to Squamish Nation place names and oral histories. Expanding this concept outward, I consider the distribution of the occurrence of these materials from 25 archaeological sites ranging from sea level ocean shore to mountainous alpine contexts. I then examine lithic source materials and artifacts from these sites on a visual and chemical basis (X-Ray Fluorescence) to illustrate the varying importance of certain lithic materials across Squamish Nation territory. Resulting analysis demonstrates that these materials have varying spatial and temporal distributions that relate to predominant themes of Squamish Nation oral history, concepts of Transformation and Mythical Beings. Material distributions, place names, oral history related to the region’s archaeological record are discussed under different theoretical frameworks of the Northwest Coast building from culture history, processual, post processual, and humanist perspectives cumulating at a Indigenous perspective of lithic sources and flaked stone artifact distributions.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>This thesis uses stable isotopic analysis to identify diet, geographic origins and long-term residency in a sub-sample of the Smith’s Knoll skeletal collection, soldiers who died during the June 6^th 1813 Battle of Stoney Creek. The major objectives of this study have been to differentiate between two major modes of dietary consumption, one wheat-based, the other maize-based, in an attempt to decipher British colonial from American soldiers. These objectives were paired with stable oxygen and strontium isotopes, two isotopic elements presently used to identify migration and regional origins. Oxygen isotopic results from teeth suggest that, as children, 5 individuals may have originated in North America. Nine individuals have isotopic signatures indicative of both a North American or United Kingdom origins. The isotopic composition from bone collagen and phosphate suggest similar geographic origins, with diets composed of both wheat- and maize-based foods. Bone phosphate values indicate that 2 individuals possibly resided in North America. The remaining 20 individuals have bone values indicative of long-term residency in both geographic regions with a significant amount of dietary mixing. These results suggest that other military participants, soldiers from the King’s 8^th Regiment and Canadian militiamen, may also be represented in this study. Prior investigations have omitted this crucial information, focusing their historic research primarily on the British 49^th Regiment. The data presented in this thesis offers a broader geographic, pan-nationalistic perspective on the possible infantrymen and militiamen who fought during the battle, including select Canadian militiamen from the Niagara region and the King’s 8^th Regiment from Britain.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>In many interpretations of hunter-gatherer settlement systems, archaeologists have assumed implicitly or explicitly that a pattern of mobilitybased on seasonally-scheduled movements between different site locations waspracticed. This pattern of mobility is often characterized as a seasonal round, where different locations are used during specific times of the year for different purposes. An implication of this pattern of mobility is that short-term occupation sites are visited annually, approximately at the same time each year and longer-term residential sites can span multiple seasons. To interpret seasonality, indirect indicators are often used but the high-resolution methods presented in this study provide direct evidence of seasonal site occupation. The Pacific Northwest Coast provides an ideal landscape to examine seasonality since many of the staple resources, particularly salmon, were available on a seasonal basis. Contrary to longstanding assumptions of regular seasonal movement between sites, the analysis of shell samples from multiple archaeological sites from distinct regions in British Columbia show complex patterns of multi-seasonal occupation at smaller campsites and specific seasonal or multi-seasonal emphasis in occupation and/or shellfish harvest at longer-term residential sites.</p> <p>To identify patterns of shellfish harvest, stable oxygen isotope analysis and high-resolution sclerochronology were applied to the bivalve <em>Saxidomus gigantea</em> (butter clam). Combined with shell growth increment analysis to examine relative levels of harvest pressure, local rates of shellfish collecting are also interpreted. To examine regional variability in seasonality and resource use in British Columbia, three environmentally and historically distinct areas were selected spanning approximately 6000 years of history. These regions include the central coast in the tradition territory of the Heiltsuk, and two areas on the northern coast, specifically the Dundas Islands Group and Prince Rupert Harbour in the traditional territory of the Tsimshian. The results of the analysis show site-specific trends in shellfish harvesting on the central coast; a pattern which is not as clear on the northern coast. Sites on the Dundas Islands show multi-seasonal collection and a stronger emphasis on winter shellfish harvesting. The results also show that shellfish were harvested more intensively in the Dundas Islands area relative to the central coast. The pattern of seasonal shellfish harvesting on the mainland coast at village sites in Prince Rupert Harbour is similar to the pattern found at long-term residential sites on the central coast. With respect to the dietary importance of clams, another longstanding issue in Northwest Coast archaeology, the results show a mix of patterns including casual resource use at most campsites, intensive multi-season harvest in some regions and strategic multi-season harvest and spring consumption at some residential sites.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This dissertation analyzes the basalt ground stone industry at the archaeological site of Tres Zapotes, Mexico. Artifacts and by-products were recovered in the excavations conducted by a University of Kentucky project directed by Christopher Pool. All contexts were examined, and the corpus of this study comprises the whole sequence of production, use, and discards of basalt such as by-products of manufacture, unfinished and finished tools, and discarded artifacts. In this opportunity was possible to study over time a change from the Early/Middle Formative period (Olmec occupation) a centralized and exclusionary political economic system to the Late/Terminal Formative period (Epi-Olmec occupation) when there was a corporate system. This work applied contemporary concepts in social sciences such as agency, practice theory, technological choice, and chaîne opératoire. The variation of raw materials over time was studied recoding physical characteristics and a sample of artifacts was analyzed with X-ray florescence in order to see variation in acquisition of rocks over time.

Using archaeological and ethnohistorical data, this dissertation examines the character of the relationship between the Late Postclassic (ca. AD 1250-1520) frontier center of Totogal, located in the western Tuxtla Mountains (Toztlan) of southern Veracruz, Mexico, and the expanding Aztec Empire. Traditional models of imperialism examine frontiers from a core perspective that limits the autonomy and agency of groups in the path of expansion. Recent ethnographic, ethnohistoric, and archaeological studies of other boundaries, however, suggest that considerable room for negotiation exists within the space of interactions, whether asymmetrical amounts of power characterize the home bases of those groups. I argue that elites at Totogal, using imperial symbols and markers of their own high status, sponsored feasts and rituals for the non-elite public, during which they brokered the potentially conflicting interests of the Aztecs and the tribute paying population of the Tuxtlas. The invitation of the public to feasts and rituals that combined imperial and local elite symbols (and possibly green obsidian), naturalized the relationship between local elites and imperial representatives with non-elite occupants of Totogal and nearby settlements by establishing a reciprocal system of gifting whereby food and drink, served in the context of elaborate religious and commensal rituals, provided a benefit to the Tuxteco public which, along with other exotic highland goods, was viewed as an acceptable exchange for the local tribute items that the empire desired. This study is an important application of current anthropological perspectives on boundaries, borders, and frontiers to the Aztec Empire. It is also a critical examination of the types of strategies individuals and groups living in boundary regions can enact in situations of contact and change. While studies of modern groups in boundary regions have addressed identity construction and manipulation, and other dynamic social, political, and cultural processes that take place, they do not typically or systematically examine how the negotiations that are enacted in boundary zones are materialized—how changing identities are represented symbolically through the use of particular products or consumption patterns. It is in this area that archaeological perspectives on boundary zone interactions can make important contributions to the modern world.