This Master’s Thesis Report is a discussion of the ideas and processes that I have researched and explored during the past three years at the University of Texas at Austin. This exploration has led to a body of work that examines how materials, images and processes address the boundaries between physical and spiritual worlds. Fundamental to that inquiry is the use of mythology as a tool to decode and interpret signs that point to an experience of the transcendent that is outside the realm of language. / text

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In May-June 1978 and 1979 surface collections were undertaken at Jensen's Farm, an early twentieth century homesteading site twenty miles north of Dauphin, Manitoba, to determine the extent to which the results obtained through site surface collection could: 1) be replicated in terms of the frequencies and spatial distributions of artifact classes recovered, and 2) consistently isolate the location, size, shape, and function of the original features known to have existed at Jensen's Farm. Frequency tables, chi-square, and SAS-produced artifact plots were used in conjunction with scale drawings of Jensen's Farm to assess the results obtained. The results suggest that, even on a highly disturbed site such as Jensen's Farm, it is possible to replicate the general rank-order of artifact classes recovered and the general patterns and dispersions of artifacts plotted. Acceptable ranges of variation, rather than results of no significant statistical difference, should be expected given the indeterminate nature of intervening factors and the basic incomparability of artifact fragments as comparative units. Correspondence to the original Jensen's Farm features proved to be a partial one in terms of both the artifact content recovered and the spatial distributions plotted. Based on the results obtained here, it is advocated that surface collection be conducted wherever irreversible resource management decisions are to be made or where time and funding permit the luxury.

This thesis analyses the flaked stone assemblage from the Hiikwis site complex (DfSh-15 and DfSh-16) in Barkley Sound, British Columbia. The Hiikwis flaked stone assemblage is anomalous within Barkley Sound due to the presence of relatively abundant flaked stone in late contexts. Prior to Hiikwis, the most recent flaked stone in Barkley Sound dated to approximately 2000 BP. Hiikwis has flaked stone beginning at approximately 2800 BP and lasting until the final occupation of the site in the early 1900s. Artifacts are classified based on a descriptive lithic analysis and then the behavioural implications of the assemblage are discussed through use of the chaîne opératoire and theories of technological organization and design theory. Spatial and temporal differences become apparent throughout the site and demonstrate changes in the types of tools used over time. The Hiikwis site complex is compared to other sites within the region, as well as beyond. A discussion of the attributes of the West Coast culture type and the Gulf of Georgia traditions makes it clear that the findings at Hiikwis support the Wakashan Migration Hypothesis. In turn, this assemblage calls for a re-evaluation of the West Coast culture type, while suggesting that there may be other unexcavated sites in Barkley Sound with flaked stone in recent components. / Graduate

Many adult concepts can be represented in taxonomies hierarchical systems in which concepts are differentiated into varying levels of abstraction (e.g., musical instrument, wind instrument, flute) related by class inclusion (a flute is a wind instrument and a wind instrument is a musical instrument). Indeed, most natural kinds (e.g., whale, tree) and artifacts (e.g., flute, truck) are generally believed to fall within taxonomies. Moreover, in real world contexts, concepts are probably rarely learned as explicitly contrasting sets existing completely outside of known taxonomies (that is, one might not learn cats vs. dogs without also learning that both are types of animals, and that both include more specific subcategories). Surprisingly, relatively little research has been done on the learning of categories that are hierarchically structured. The present study began an investigation into how adults learned new concepts that are hierarchically structured. In Experiment 1, participants learned to classify items at one taxonomic level then at a later time classified items at either the same or a different level. The results suggested that people were unable to clearly detect the relationship among alternate levels of the hierarchy prior to exposure of those levels. However, results in Experiment 1 also suggested that learning multiple categories might lead to deeper understanding of how features transfer or generalize to higher taxonomic levels. The remaining experiments addressed more explicitly the influence of hierarchical structures on category learning by including prototype and control items, along with artificial and knowledge-based category labels. Results from these experiments indicated that, at least within the parameters of this study, prior experience cued by knowledge-based category labels interacted adversely with abstract materials and interfered with mapping of item information to categories. Moreover, when the relationship between categories and item information is unclear, generalization might be one important means by which people categorize.

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Sealstones are one of the most important types of artifacts discovered in the Aegean Bronze Age. Their practical use for recording and administrating purposes, their association with identity, prestige and social status, their possible religious or ritual connotations speak clearly for their importance and value. The fact that they are deposited, among other artifacts in tombs, accompanying their owners, demonstrate this value not only in life but also in death. Especially in the pre-palatial period in Crete a large number of seals have come to light, coming mostly from mixed contexts in the Mesara and Asterousia, in south Crete. The Minoan pre-palatial sealstones from Archanes-Phourni comprise an important corpus of artifacts for many reasons. They come from a site in the North of the island, in contrast to the majority of pre-palatial seals. The excavation and recording techniques used offer the opportunity to study the seals in their context, which is dated with relative certainty. The study of these seals, in comparison with the published ones from the south of the island, may offer significant information about important aspects of life in this period. The examination of materials, shapes, motifs, style groups and consumption patterns of seals may present us with useful insights about craft specialization and technology, internal and external exchange, economic organization and administration, religion and ritual, social differentiation and organization in the pre-palatial period. The study of this multiple and complex role of sealstones can offer us valuable information about the period before the first palaces.

In the early hours of 1 January 1863, USS Westfield grounded hard in the sand off the northeast side of Pelican Spit in Galveston Bay, Texas. The gunboat was building up steam to cut off two Confederate cottonclads before they reached the other Union ships in the bay. Hours later, an explosion ripped through the hull, sinking the vessel in the shallow water. Scuttled by the captain, William B. Renshaw, Westfield lay in the sands of Galveston Bay until the remains were excavated in 2009 and 2010 by PBS&J, now Atkins Global, under the supervision of the Texas Historical Commission and the U.S. Navy. The artifacts were brought to the Conservation Research Laboratory on Texas A&M University’s Riverside Campus where they were sorted, documented, and conserved. This thesis begins with a detailed account of Westfield’s history, starting with the vessel’s use as a New York ferryboat, the conversion to a gunboat and commission in the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, and, finally, the explosion and sinking during the Second Battle of Galveston and subsequent Confederate salvage attempts. Following this is a summary of the conservation methods used for Westfield artifacts, including an experiment on the treatment of waterlogged cast iron from the ship. A catalog of the artifacts, providing research on the various types of materials in the collection and a short summary of the artifact types, is also presented.