This thesis is an effort to provide the US Forest Service with a tool to effectively and efficiently protect and manage the cultural resource heritage of the Kisatchie National Forest. The development and subsequent evaluation of modeling efforts are vital to the archaeology of the region. There are two goals of this modeling project: to evaluate the active US Forest Service Predictive Model and secondly, if warranted, which it was, to improve upon previous models in the region. To do so 23 environmental variables were analyzed, many of which are inter-related, to develop a new set of probability zones while considering temporal and geographic variability in the Forest. The variables of distance to frequently flooded soils and distance to permanent streams proved the most significant and each play a prominent role in the creation of the proposed 2011 Kisatchie National Forest Model. The proposed model constructed within exhibits ideal gain values for each probability zone while accounting for the geographic and temporal variability present within the Kisatchie National Forest. The recommendation of this thesis is for the implementation of the proposed 2011 Kisatchie National Forest model in favor of both the 1995 Fort Polk Predictive Model and the 2010 Fort Polk Predictive Model for the Kisatchie National Forest and its surrounding region.

A growing trend in Mississippian research in the archaeology of the southeastern United States stresses the need to shift away from categorizing generalizations (e.g., the concept of chiefdoms) that have been used to characterize Mississippi-period (A.D. 1000-1600) societies and advocates elucidating the unique occupational histories of Mississippian communities. This dissertation follows this trend with the goal of identifying and interpreting the particular historical and developmental trajectory of the Yon mound and village site (8Li2), a Fort Walton Mississippian site situated in the middle Apalachicola River valley, northwest Florida. Since its initial recording by Clarence Bloomfield Moore at the turn of the 20th century, Yon has been intermittently investigated by various researchers, but the data from these multiple investigations until now have been severely underreported or not reported at all. In this dissertation, these archaeological data from Yon are synthesized and used to identify the site's particular developmental history. The study proceeds through a careful examination of Yon's radiocarbon dates, artifact assemblage, platform mound construction, structural remains, and to a lesser extent, subsistence data, in an effort to tease apart its occupational components and contextualize them within the wider Fort Walton and Mississippian milieu. To this end, particular attention is given to the wider Fort Walton manifestation of the Apalachicola-lower Chattahoochee River valley and the Rood and later Lamar Mississippian regional variants that were located upriver from Yon in the upper reaches of the lower Chattahoochee River valley. This study demonstrates that Yon emerged rather precipitously as a Middle Fort Walton period center circa A.D.1200, a time marked by initial mound construction and the first intense village occupation at the site, which was preceded only by a very small, pre-Fort Walton, Swift Creek occupation there around A.D. 320. Probable antecedent events at a nearby Fort Walton mound center, Cayson (8Ca3), as well as contact with Rood Mississippian groups to the north are hypothesized as influencing Yon's Middle Fort Walton development and florescence. Evidence indicates that this initial Middle Fort Walton occupation was followed by an occupation of Lamar groups. Regional data and radiocarbon evidence from Yon suggest that this Lamar component likely began during protohistoric times (circa A.D. 1600) and continued into the late seventeenth to early eighteenth centuries. It is hypothesized that this Lamar occupation was the result of Lamar groups migrating down the lower Chattahoochee-Apalachicola River in the wake of European contact. As a whole, this study represents the most complete documentation of the occupational history of any Fort Walton mound center to date. As such, it can provide an important foundation for future studies of Fort Walton mound centers and sites in the Apalachicola-lower Chattahoochee River region.

The present study examines the spatial relationship between archaeological sites on the island of Roatán, Honduras and their topographical and biophysical location, as well as how these relationships are and continue to be impacted by the island's current socioeconomic context. Despite several studies and explorations conducted on the island's history, archaeology, and geography since the early twentieth century, little is known of its place and role within the larger cultural and socioeconomic spheres of interaction in this region: Mesoamerica and the Intermediate Area. Previous archaeological research has shown that hilltops on Roatán were chosen in prehispanic times for the location of the largest and most prominent sites, and several hypotheses have been put forward to explain the unique location of these sites. Despite the island's potential for addressing questions regarding the culture and history of this poorly understood region of Honduras, Roatán's status as Honduras' top tourist destination has resulted in the altering of its landscape in irreversible ways, including the destruction of archaeological sites. Given this unique situation, site preservation and the study of settlement patterns on Roatán are intricately related, and they both need to be carried out simultaneously if research into the past of this island is to continue, since without immediate site preservation what little we can learn on prehispanic settlement patterns might be lost. Using data compiled from previous archaeological research on Roatán, as well as data acquired through pedestrian survey carried out during the 2009 season of the University of South Florida (USF)'s Project Roatán, I have developed a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) geodatabase in order to provide a broader perspective on both prehispanic and modern settlement patterns. An analysis of site locations with regards to their topography shows that the majority of sites recorded on Roatán are in fact located on hilltops, an observation which, when complemented with other archaeological and ethnohistoric data from northeast Honduras, suggests a possible ritual importance of these spaces. An analysis of current settlement and urban growth patterns shows the degree to which development has encroached upon previously untouched areas of the island, which has impacted an increasing number of archaeological sites. I analyze the various factors and agents that have resulted in this situation, and highlight the need to carry out archaeological research that has heritage management and site preservation as one of its core priorities. These efforts must address the various components that define the management of archaeological heritage in Roatán and Honduras, including local socioeconomic context, national and international policy and law, as well as the various stakeholders with vested interests in cultural heritage. Due to the lack of adequate structures for managing and preserving archaeological resources on Roatán, I argue that approaches such as community participation and increased engagement from the part of researchers outside of Honduras' heritage management sphere are adequate and realistic short-term solutions to the pressing issue of protecting archaeological sites constantly in danger of being affected or destroyed.

Monticello, the plantation home of Thomas Jefferson, was also home to more than 100 African American slaves between 1771 and 1826. As many as 40 members of this community lived and worked on Mulberry Row, once a bustling avenue of residential and industrial activity adjacent to the Palladian mansion. Archaeological excavations in 1957 and 1982–-1983 uncovered the remains of Mulberry Row's nailery, where preteen and teenaged enslaved "“nail boys”" manufactured nails for internal use and sale. These excavations revealed surprisingly high amounts of domestic artifacts, particularly ceramics and glass, indicating the young nailers also may have lived inside the nailery. This study investigates whether the nail boys maintained some semblance of childhood through ongoing participation in their parents'’ households or fully took on the mantle of adulthood by forming a household of their own, independent of their parents, as expressed in the local production and consumption of household goods. This question is explored within the contexts of the archaeology of slavery, household archaeology, and the archaeology of children. The intersection of these three themes provides a richer and more realistic understanding of the boys'’ complex lives. In this study, artifact abundance indices and Pearson residuals are used to compare artifacts from the nailery to artifacts from industrial and dwelling sites across Monticello plantation. I hypothesized that if the nail boys were participating in food production and consumption, the abundance of refined and utilitarian ceramics and glass would be similar to or higher than the abundance of those artifacts in dwelling sites. If the abundance of the nailery artifacts was lower than those for dwelling sites and was therefore more similar to those for industrial sites, the nail boys probably did not participate in domestic activities. The indices and residuals reveal a high abundance of refined ceramics and glass in the nailery and a low abundance of utilitarian ceramics, which would have been needed to cook and store food. The data suggest the nail boys engaged in the consumption of food and associated artifacts but participated in little or no food production. It is likely that their age and gender prevented them from fully engaging in food production within the nailery. This project adds to the fledgling research into slave children, who have traditionally been ignored by childhood, slave, and household archaeologists.

Spanish Indian is a generic term that has been used repeatedly in written documents over the past three centuries to describe a range of different social, ethnic, and economic groups in the southeastern United States. In this thesis, a comparative analysis of the material culture from Cuban fishing ranchos of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries on the west coast of Florida addresses the ways in which specific Spanish Indian artifact assemblages fit into the archaeological record. Three archaeological assemblages from known Rancho sites are detailed and analyzed. In addition, this thesis details a public archaeology project undertaken in conjunction with the Florida Public Archaeology Network, which led to the development of a traveling exhibit and public presentation on the origins of local place names. The thesis also provides suggestions for how historical archaeologists might contend with difficulties in determining and documenting identity at early historical sites in coastal Florida. The research undertaken for this thesis demonstrates a pressing need for additional data collection and research in the field. As it currently stands, however, the preliminary analysis conducted in this thesis indicates an economic basis for cultural interaction and intermarriage rather than an actual cultural synthesis, creolization, or ethnogenesis, which would imply shared cultural systems of belief and meaning. This thesis is also a proposal for a typology of ranchos. Through a cross-comparison of the similarities and differences in subsistence strategies and labor practices, a research design for rancho archaeology is outlined.

This thesis argues that literary theory applied to political cartoons shows that cartoons are reasoned arguments. The rhetorical devices used in the cartoons mimic verbal devices used by essayists. These devices, in turn, make cartoons influential in that they have the power to persuade readers while making them laugh or smile. It also gives examples of literary theorists whose works can be applied to political cartooning, including Frederick Saussure, Mikhail Bakhtin, and Wolfgang Iser. Not only do those theorists' arguments apply to text, they also apply to pictorial representations. This thesis also discusses changes in the cartoon art form over the 250 years that American political cartoons have existed. Changes have occurred in both the way text and pictorial depictions have been presented by artists. This thesis makes some attempt to explain why the changes occurred and whether they have been for the better.

Keywords: Animalisierung, Einfühlung, Ethology, Expressionism, Painting, German Modernism In this study I deploy the perspective of ethology to examine Franz Marc's paintings of animals. To perceive animals ethologically means acknowledging that animals feel, think, experience, and imagine the world. Ethology has come to include interpretive pursuits as well as traditional field studies, and as I show, Marc's practice encompassed both aspects of this evolving discipline. To establish the presence of ethology in the humanities I give a "case study" of what I call "retroactive ethology" in the work of J.M. Coetzee. I present an account of Marc's deep knowledge about real live animals. I offer an assessment of the inspiration Marc drew from Post-Impressionism and Egyptian art and show how Marc modernizes animal painting by demolishing long-standing conventions of the genre. I offer some ideas to more fully explain two important terms Marc uses, Animalisierung and Einfühlung. Throughout my paper I keep conceptual and historical observations closely tied to Marc's own words and images. Thus by reading and looking closely, we are able to see Marc as a dedicated and innovative ethologist whose implicit environmental commitment offers great comment upon contemporary discussions of the representation of the animal.

Investigating the organization of production systems can reveal much about a society, in particular how resources and labor were allocated, and the influence that economic, political, social, and ceremonial institutions had on the production process. Interpreting the nature of specialized production is useful for understanding how production was organized. In turn, the degree of standardization exhibited by the goods being produced is used to determine the nature of specialization. While archaeological research regarding specialized production has expanded over time to incorporate a wide range of societies, such research is often focused on complex societies. The research presented here focuses on the small-scale, or non-stratified, community that once inhabited the Kolomoki site, a Middle to Late Woodland period site in Early county, Georgia. This thesis utilizes a three-dimensional laser scanner to document Weeden Island pottery from Kolomoki. The digital images created by the scanner were used to measure incising and punctation marks. The measurements were then analyzed in order to determine the extent of standardization among the decorative attributes. Results suggest that standardization varies among different subsamples of pottery. However, the overall degree of standardization is relatively low, thus suggesting that specialized production may not have existed, or was very limited, at Kolomoki. Despite the limited extent of standardization among the decorative attributes, the results of this research, especially in conjunction with previous research, suggest that some pottery may have been afforded special attention during the production process. In particular, pottery from mound proveniences, and socially valued goods, notably sacred and prestige items, demonstrate higher degrees of standardization. This leads to the conclusion that the production of Weeden Island pottery was likely influenced by ritual and ceremonial activity within the Kolomoki community. This thesis contributes to a greater understanding of specialization in non-stratified Woodland period societies in the southeastern United States.

The purpose of this project was to record the private archaeological collection of the Keene family, which was previously unknown to the professional community. While at the two sites, Keene Redfield site (8Ja1847) and Keene Dog Pond site (8Ja1848), in Jackson County, northwest Florida, USF archaeologists also conducted field investigations to look for prehistoric cultural materials in undisturbed contexts. This research was conducted at the request of the Keene family. The field crew systematically documented, cataloged and photographed each artifact in the Keene collection while at the sites. Surface survey and testing were also carried out in order to determine site boundaries, occupation and function. Over 1,000 artifacts from every time period from the transitional Paleo-Indian/Early Archaic through the Mississippian were documented from the collection. Field investigations resulted in the location and investigation of undisturbed cultural strata below the plow zone, enabling the researchers to obtain radiocarbon dates from these deposits. Evidence of hunting and gathering activities and of tool processing including repair, sharpening and possible re-use was found at both sites. This work allowed for the publication of two previously unknown, rich archaeological sites and for a better understanding of the prehistoric activities and functions of this region of the southeast. While participating in this public archaeology project, several other similar opportunities presented themselves, providing USF archaeologists with the ability to maintain a presence in the area to continue public archaeology efforts to engage the community and encourage appropriate participation and good stewardship of these types of private sites.

This study examines painted leaves and fragments that were extracted from a set of choir books created in the last decade of the fifteenth century for the basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome. These remnants are currently housed within various library and museum collections throughout Europe and the United States. The set is agreed upon generally by scholars to have been commissioned by Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia, 1431-1503), who was pope from 1492 to 1503, as a gift to the church during his time as pontiff. The choir books for Santa Maria in Aracoeli contain the bulk of the known body of work by the enigmatic illuminator Fra Antonio da Monza. The best known items from this set of choir books are a complete gradual (or book of chants for the Mass) currently housed in the Getty Museum, called the Ludwig Aracoeli Manuscript, and a montage of cuttings in the Albertina Museum, Vienna, that features a miniature of the Pentecost. These are studied in the context of the artistic patronage of Alexander VI, and political and diplomatic gift cultures in papal Rome during the last decade of the Quattrocento. Alexander VI's gift to Santa Maria in Aracoeli served multiple functions. It advanced church music, but is also an example of a pontiff using custom luxury books for cultural diplomacy. The intent of the choir books was to build social relationships and augment the prestige of Alexander VI's regime with a local audience. Alexander VI sought to acknowledge the symbolic resonance of Santa Maria in Aracoeli and attempted to recuperate the site's importance for his reign through the gift. This study argues that the choir books were commissioned by the pontiff to promote his cultural and religious authority through abbellimento or "embellishment", the practice of commissioning ostentatious liturgical objects and additions to religious ceremonies for the purpose of developing esteem for an ecclesiastical office. This thesis argues that another purpose of the bestowment was to appease the Observant Franciscans in charge of the basilica in anticipation of Alexander VI's reforms of the Franciscan order.