The Rice University Pecos Project gathered data from rock art sites located in West Texas along the Rio Grande, Devil's and Pecos rivers. The models used to analyze this information were adapted from semiotic models used to study language, film and rock art in California. A successful attempt was made to systematize classes of observations at twenty-two shelters. Larger issues of framing, symmetry and association were effectively raised. Shaman patterns were illuminated bringing into focus the typology of defining a shaman image. A frequency or pattern of vegemorphs was also suggested along with an association to, what appears to be, typical hunting paraphernalia. The results from the data analysis seem to suggest to the author a gathering component to the art which may reflect women's division of labor and thus metaphorically illustrate more of the totality of the culture than otherwise supposed. The implications of the project suggest that the vision of offering semiotic models to enable a global exchange of interpretations is not a far-fetched goal. Each rock art region must of course continue its own research tradition but it is possible to feed insights into some sort of central reservoir to elucidate 'universals' about rock art such as its use as a communicative device. The author feels the Pecos project reaffirmed the prediction that the patterns and repetitions discovered in West Texas served as such devices for their producers and original viewers.

This thesis reports on three months of excavation and a month of site survey undertaken in 1999--2000 in the central sector of the Middle Senegal Valley that was associated with the historical polity of Takrur. The focus of the research was two-fold: to investigate the earliest permanent or semi-permanent settlement along the Middle Senegal Valley floodplain; and to examine the emergence of larger-scale, more complex settlements in the region. Excavation of the five hectare site of Walalde, provisionally dated to the first century A.D., revealed a much earlier occupation by iron-using cattle herders that began c. 800--550 B.C., and continued until c. 200 B.C. The sequence appears to document the transition from stone- to iron-based technology, with the use of iron objects and stone initially, and evidence for iron production (smelting and forging) from 550--200 B.C. Copper with the distinctive chemical signature of the Akjoujt mines in Mauritania was also present after 550 B.C., attesting to trade and interaction over long distances. The iron and copper at Walalde are among the earliest metals recovered from excavation contexts in West Africa. Other important aspects of the Walalde sequence include ceramic materials and a series of red ochre burials. Excavations at a large cluster of sites at Kaskas revealed a continuation of the Walalde sequence for the period 150 B.C.--A.D. 100, linking the settlement history documented by this field work to the existing archaeological sequence for the region. Iron production was a significant activity at some of these, and fishing was intensively practiced at others. Kaskas may represent the spatial integration of specialist economies (herding, fishing) to achieve greater productivity in a situation of high environmental stress produced by an extreme drought c. 1900 BP. The survey found and documented 22 sites on the transitional zone from floodplain to upland. This adds to our understanding of settlement distributions formerly known primarily from survey on the floodplain.

The purpose of this study was to collect dispersed components of the emergent Maya "modernizing" discourses which focused on the incorporation of their culture into the society of Guatemala and full participation in national and international arenas. Specifically, I focused on the information contained in the ideology, knowledge, values, and goals as defined or produced by a group of Maya professionals who attended an experimental program, Program for Integral Development of the Mayan Population (PRODIPMA), developed and administered by Rafael Landivar University and sponsored by USAID from 1986 to 1993, in Guatemala. This ethnographic account has charted the movements by which our focal group entered the community with a strong consciousness of their cultural identity. Members of this group are currently pursuing the creation of critical pro-Mayan and intercultural discourses. They are steering the direction of institutional activism towards "modernization" according to national and global definitions. I conducted my research using both archival and fieldwork techniques. Interviewing protocols were designed and applied to university authorities, faculty, tutors, and a representative number of indigenous alumni. The study included a conscious in-depth analysis of both the institutional context and the curricular contents to which all the indigenous students were exposed to. All curricular contents were defined to reach Landivar University's academic standards and social goals. Landivar inheritated a Western tradition consisting of European philosophy, science, and methodologies. As a consequence, URL based the academic program on European and American authors, scientists, and philosophers, converting the PRODIPMA program, epistemologically, into a post-colonizing program for indigenous students. However, Landivar University's commitment toward the emergence of an educated and developed multicultural society is based upon its Jesuit-Catholic ideology which, according to their principles, contributes to Guatemala's development through the empowerment of Mayan communities by means of making available their access to "pertinent" education (linguistic and culturally). Mayan modernity consists of openly gaining entry into universities and important job positions while they take advantage of technology and communications to enhance their values, identity, and languages of their culture. Conversely, the official policies of Guatemala continue to retain the privileged status of the Ladinos. The hegemonic Ladino (Spanish) paradigm is upheld socially, politically, and culturally.

This report is based on archaeological and historical research undertaken at an extant nineteenth-century residence, Ashton Villa, Galveston, Texas. The site (41GV65) is now owned by the City of Galveston and administered by the Galveston Historical Foundation as a house museum. Ashton Villa has undergone many modifications since it was first built in 1859. Most recently, the Galveston Historical Foundation has restored the interior of the main house to approximate its appearance at the turn-of-the-century. In addition, they have landscaped the yard and made modifications to provide social and administrative areas for the maintenance of museum activities. The research reported here takes the position that patterning in the archaeological record is to a great extent generated by and within symbolic structures. Working within this theoretical construct, we have shown that consideration of the cultural context informs on the generative principles which underly the social dynamics and produce the archaeological record. We first present an explanation of the original patterning of the built-environment which emphasizes its symbolic referents. Then we proceed to show that changes in the geometry of that facet of the archaeological record are a reflection of the devaluation of the symbolic referent, of its social and economic utility, and the transformation of the symbol into one with renewed vigor, utility and meaning. Secondly, we present evidence, textual as well as archaeological, focusing attention on the impact of status on the form and content of, not only portable artifacts, but on stratigraphy as well. The consideration of the latter is of particular importance to archaeologists concerned with understanding and explaining the complex stratigraphy associated with urban contexts. In addition, we find evidence that cultural affiliations have played a significant role in determining aspects of the material culture.

<p> My study sought to acquire quantitative data from the surface of lithic tools and use that data to discriminate tools used on different contact materials. An experimental archaeological wear production method was conceived, whereby I and several volunteers produced wear on chert, heat-treated chert, and obsidian flakes by using those flakes on several contact materials. The flakes were then analyzed using a laser scanning confocal microscope, which recorded three-dimensional surface data from each tool.</p><p> The data was analyzed using cluster analysis to find the ideal combination of parameters which correctly discriminated the flakes based on use-wear data. After finding acceptable parameters which grouped flakes appropriately through cluster analysis, those groups were subjected to a discriminant analysis. Each analysis returned a p-value under .05, meaning that the clustering based on the parameters Sq and Sfd produced by the cluster analysis was not random, but indicative of these variables&rsquo; ability to discriminate lithic use-wear. The major advantage of the approach developed in this study is that it can quantitatively discriminate use-wear produced by different contact materials on flakes with no a priori information at all.</p>

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