Thesis (M Arch)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2008. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Christopher Livingston. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-170).

This thesis presents a contextual analysis of Neolithic art and architecture in Orkney. Focussing upon the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site, it details the results of original fieldwork at three sites with in situ dressed and decorated stonework: Maeshowe, Skara Brae and the Ness of Brodgar. It combines the re-interpretation of known architecturally-situated carvings with primary data from new survey and excavation work, and reports the discovery of many previously unrecorded examples. This study reveals a diversity of stoneworking practices at these three sites which contradicts a broad catch-all term of 'art', demanding a more nuanced investigation. Previous studies have discussed the in situ decoration at Maeshowe and Skara Brae, but these have never been compared in detail, and the long histories of attention at these sites have led to questions over the authenticity of their carvings. The discovery of hundreds of comparable, in situ decorated stones from sealed Neolithic deposits during excavations at the Ness of Brodgar demolishes these doubts. The insight that this fieldwork has allowed is crucial. Excavation exposes aspects of the architecture which normally remain hidden, and allows the recording of decoration and stoneworking in situ, and as it is first revealed. This takes the discussion beyond the surface to allow an understanding of how stones were worked and decorated as part of the processes of construction and occupation. This challenges many narratives of Neolithic art and architecture, which have tended to focus upon superficial aspects of visual form, overlooking the ways in which buildings and stones came to be worked, carved, built and appreciated. It allows an exploration of how buildings and carvings emerge though process, and how the temporality of the working, decoration and appreciation of particular stones relates to the wider context of art and architecture in Neolithic Orkney.

The town of Coloma, Montana was settled in the early 1890s as the home of several gold mining companies and their associated employees. Like so many boom towns, the residents had all but abandoned Coloma by 1916. This initial boom phase for Coloma transpired during a critical point in the emergence of modern capitalism, specifically in changing corporate managerial practices. A multi-company open town, Coloma lacked many of the typical characteristics of a paternalistic community, such as scrip and strictly segregated housing. Instead of outright domineering and controlling managerial practices, companies at Coloma manipulated and coerced their work forces through the control of the food provisioning system. This study demonstrates that companies at Coloma dominated the purchase, distribution, and consumption of food through the establishment of a centralized store and company-associated boardinghouses. Companies also offered meals as a type of labor mobilization feast to entice and retain labor populations. to explore the varying degrees of manipulation, this study employs the concept of the system of provision to organize a multi-scalar analysis that addresses the importation, distribution, preparation, and consumption of food products at Coloma. Through the lens of food distribution, this study examines archaeological materials and historical documents to show the extent to which Coloma's companies employed manipulative managerial practices.

No description available.

No description available.

The sixteenth-century port of Nombre de Dios in Panama played a crucial role in the colonization of America. From 1519 to 1597, Nombre de Dios was the Atlantic port connecting Spain with the southern Pacific colonies in America. Even though its importance to Spain's New World colonial settlement has been widely recognized, there has never been systematic historical or archaeological research undertaken to document this colonial town and describe its establishment and subsequent development and abandonment.;This study employs a comparative approach to early Spanish urban settlement in Latin America, and combines archaeological and archival data to explain the unique history of Nombre de Dios. Archaeological examination and documentary analysis has revealed the town's physical layout, its location and geographical features, and the settlement's place within the region's trade network. Findings relating to Nombre de Dios are compared to evidence from Cartagena and Veracruz, two of Spain's other sixteenth-century ports-of-call, providing important information regarding the factors responsible for the slow development of Nombre de Dios, and its abandonment before the end of the century.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.