<p> Zacpet&eacute;n is a Lowland Maya site in the Central Pet&eacute;n Lakes Basin of Guatemala that was an important center for the Kowoj, a Maya ethnic group with strong ties to Mayap&aacute;n. The purpose of this study is to examine how Zacpet&eacute;n functioned to meet its economic needs while creating and sustaining a communal identity between the Postclassic (A.D. 1250 to 1540) and Early Colonial (A.D. 1541 to 1697) periods. At this time, a complex political economy existed across the Maya Lowlands. However, social and economic connections across the Central Pet&eacute;n varied according to the degree of regional political integration. When communities were united under a single polity, economic and political power was vested in regional institutions, and the identity of individual communities was strongly influenced by outside forces. In periods of socio-economic autonomy, the relations of production were retained by individual communities, facilitating the formation of a localized identity. </p><p> Under an interactional perspective, communities are seen as the combination of people, place, and premise created through regularized, but not predetermined, interactions. By looking at the archaeological record, the interactions of the past can be inferred from the study of lithic artifacts. The Zacpet&eacute;n lithics were examined according to their physical, geochemical, technological, use-wear, and spatial attributes. Based on this analysis, it is argued that the acquisition, production, and distribution of stone tools at Zacpet&eacute;n during the Late Postclassic and Early Colonial periods were highly autonomous, community-based activities. Most of the stone tools at Zacpet&eacute;n were produced and used by individual households, though several cottage industries in the community specialized in the production of obsidian blades, chert bifaces, and millstone tools. Through community interactions, the Kowoj at Zacpet&eacute;n made clear attempts to maintain their own identity despite regional influences exerted by Itz&aacute; during the Late Postclassic Period and the Spanish during the Early Colonial Period. As the Kowoj interacted through economic activities associated with the production and distribution of stone tools, a highly localized identity was created and reinforced.</p>

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In recent years, zooarchaeology has started to move beyond purely economic interpretations towards a social zooarchaeology. In particular, these `social' interpretations have often concentrated upon Associated Bone Groups (ABGs), also referred to as `special animal deposits' or `animal burials', rather than upon the disarticulated and fragmented faunal remains more commonly recovered from archaeological sites. Previous studies of these ABG deposits have largely been limited to a single period and a small sample of sites. The majority of studies have also been concentrated on the Wessex region and have not examined in detail the osteological composition of these deposits. The purpose of this thesis is to move beyond these limitations. Therefore, it investigates the nature of ABGs from the Neolithic to the Medieval period for the contrasting regions of southern England and Yorkshire. This has been achieved by collecting detailed information for ABGB from publicly available sourcesa nd analysing it utilising modern database technology. Overall, data from 2,062 ABGs have been collected, 1,863 from the southern England region and 199 from Yorkshire. Although the majority of previous literature concerns Iron Age deposits, in fact the largest proportion of ABGB from both regions comes from Romano-British sites. Furthermore, their nature is highly variable within and between periods and regions. The previous interpretation of these deposits is also an important factor. Currently, ABG deposits from prehistoric and Romano-British contexts are commonly viewed as the results of ritual activities. I iowever, deposits of more recent date are more often considered to be the result of mundane actions. The review of previous literature shows that the interpretation of these deposits is changeable and linked to development in archaeological paradigms. This study collected data on ABGs published from the 1940's onwards, allowing these changes in interpretation to be tracked and, importantly, to review the links between the nature of the deposit and its interpretation. Results show that the interpretation of these deposits is influenced by key publications and current periodbased assumptions, with ritual interpretations often only given at a meta-level.F or example, Iron Age deposits are seen as `ritual', yet this does not provide information on the actions and the associated meaning and agenda which created them. This thesis shows that each ABG is unique, and to apply a meta-level interpretation to all ABGs, even from the same period, would be inaccurate and inappropriate. A biographical approach to the investigation of these deposits is developed, which leads to a more considered and informed view and can help us move away from a generalized interpretation. A biographical approach shows there is no standard type of ABG, which means there can be no standard interpretation. There are trends in the creation of ABGs, but each bone group is created by specific actions and it is the investigation of these individual events that moves us closer to the societies we wish to understand. This study has shown the value of not only utilising specialist data, but integrating such knowledge with other archaeological evidence. Use of this methodology will enable us to move beyond the perceived economic straightjacket towards a social zooarchacology.

This thesis is a study of the industrial archaeology of the Purbeck Stone Industry, set within the context of local social and economic history and informed especially by an engineering perspective on the quarrying and mining operations. A wide range of existing published sources and archive evidence has been evaluated, placing the work in the context of existing knowledge, and an extensive field survey of stone extraction and related industrial sites in the Purbeck area has been undertaken,including the creation of a large photographic archive. Major buildings in which Purbeck stone has been used as a constructional material have also been examined to illustrate the market for the material at various historical periods and to show how the various types of stone were able to be used, and the relationship of potential use to methods of extraction and working. The study examines all aspects of the extraction and working of the stone in Purbeck, illustrating how masons quarried, dressed and carved the stone before it was transported to its major markets, and examines the techniques of quarrying, mining, working, carving and transporting the stone providing a much improved understanding of this neglected area of the industry. In addition, the effect of the industry on the local community is examined, and the roles of the craft guild, landowners and stone merchants evaluated and explained. The importance of transport is also stressed, and the changing technical approaches to the movement of this heavy raw material are considered. Finally the thesis explores some important aspects of twentieth century stone production, noting the importance of changes in planning laws, apprentice training and stone conservation and how these relate to the future prospects for the industry.

In order to adopt an efficient bipedal posture and method of locomotion, the human skeleton has evolved a curved vertebral column and a stable, compact male pelvic girdle. Adaptive vertebral curves and the force of gravity render it susceptible to injury and degenerative change. This study examines if there is any association between pelvic size and shape and the distribution, type and severity of vertebral degenerative disease. Four documented North- west European, middle-class skeletal samples from the eighteenth and nineteenth century were examined. Pelvic shape and size were recorded, the latter of which necessitated the measurementof 93 dimensions. The severity and distribution of osteophytes, porosity and eburnation in the vertebral column were recorded. Statistical analysis was undertaken of relationships between pelvic measurements and tile sex and age at death of individuals as well as correlations between the measurements themselves. The relationship between pelvic shape and degenerative disease was also investigated. The correlation between measurements in the pelvis and disease were examined and a mechanism was created to display this relationship. Results demonstrated that this sample exhibited significant din-iorphic differcrices in pelvic measurements and pelvic shape between the sexes. Significant correlations were found between age and pelvic dirriensions in five (331/o)sacral, 29 (94%) innominate and four (25%) reconstructed pelvis measurements. Correlations were small but positive for both sexes in the sacrum and innorninate. In the reconstructed pelvis, significant correlations were again small, but Positive in females and negative in males, suggesting that although a larger pelvis may be selected for in older females, the opposite is occurring with males. This supports the theory of an evolutionary effect selecting for females with larger pelves and males with more compact pelves. Statistical analyses of tile relationship between pelvic shape and the severity or presence/absence of degenerative disease were limited and not deemed to have any statistical ment. A 'signpost' configuration was created to graphically display results of correlations between individual measurements and disease. Results suggest that osteophytosis was the most common type of disease encountered and the superior and inferior body surfaces were the main areas affected, particularly in the lower half of the thoracic and lumbar regions. All, correlations, except one, were positive, implying a positive association between those measurements and the degree of degenerative change. Patterning of the correlations was identified and discussed and statistical differences between correlations at levels of maximum and minimum curvature were examined. Results suggest that particular pelvimetry plays a significant role in this at levels of maximum and minimuni curvature. Discriminant function analysis was employed to explore the predictive ability of combinations of measurements to predispose to the development and severity of osteophytosis on the superior vertebral body surface. Contrived data was then used to test this model and was successful in predicting an expected level of expression of pathological change.

The need to control and manipulate fire appears to be a fundamental human technology, as important today as it once was to our ancestors. It is therefore unsurprising that evidence for the human use of fire in discrete facilities, commonly known as campfires and hearths, is an often observed and necessarily recorded phenomenon during archaeological research. Despite the apparent ubiquity of such features, only limited research has been devoted to understanding the anthropogenic activities that generated them. In response, a research programme is initiated which focuses on the archaeological record of the small fire features or localised thermal features (LTFs) built by the prehistoric hunter-gatherer groups living on and around the Southern High Plains of North America. The aim of the programme is to examine the extent to which variation in the construction, use, and archaeological expression of these features is valuable for understanding the subsistence activities of human groups in the past. Four analytical strands of research (a taxonomic key, ethnographic research, experimental research, and fieldwork) are utilised to explore this topic. The generation of a taxonomic key results in a common vocabulary by which previously recorded and newly identified LTFs are described and assessed; ethnographic research underscores the range in technologies that can be represented by LTFs; specific features types are recorded by detailed fieldwork; and the physical processes by which these signatures were created is examined by experimental research. The results demonstrate that variation in the archaeological record of these features is easily identifiable and extremely useful for understanding hunter-gatherer technology, subsistence, and demography. A significant conclusion, based on preliminary application to a second geographic area, shows the potential for similar projects to be usefully applied to other regions in which hunter-gatherer populations were once extant.

This research project focuses on the Neolithic pottery of the Isle of Man and its relationship to that used in neighbouring parts of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales (the Irish Seaprovince). The Manx pottery has not been studied as a complete corpus since the early 1930s, since which time the quantity and diversity of material available has increased dramatically. This project therefore served the initial function of cataloguing, recording and illustrating the available material. In addition, since the Manx pottery was last studied, the aims and methodologies of ceramic analysis have changed significantly, with many more approaches to the data being available to the analyst. This study was therefore able to explore the Manx data from a variety of perspectives so as to produce a biographical view of the pottery used during the Middle, Late, and final phases of the Manx Neolithic from production through to discard. The stages in the life history of the vessels which were analysed were: choice of materials, resource procurement,vessel building, decoration,use and discard. At each of these stages the approach adopted to ceramics by Manx potters and pottery users were compared with practises current in other parts of the Irish Seaprovince. This comparison indicated that the nature of the relationship between Manx and non-Manx pottery altered throughout the Neolithic. In the Early Neolithic the Manx did not adopt pottery, despite it being a common place in the rest of the Irish Seaprovince. In the Middle Neolithic, Manx pottery compared closely with that of surrounding areas,albeit with evidence for an individual approach to decoration. This contrasts greatly with the situation in the Late Neolithic when the Isle of Man adopted a unique ceramic repertoire which differed greatly in terms of form, decoration, and the roles which it served,from that current elsewhere. By the end of the Neolithic, the Isle of Man had, however, abandoned these innovative practises and adopted instead the more widely accepted Beaker pottery style. Throughout this study the reasons behind these changing relationships were explored within a broader social context.

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