Yes

This paper examines community reorganization in the Late Natufian period with reference to a general ecological model that links changes in resource scarcity with social reorganization. This model explains why community reorganization should occur in times of subsistence stress, and provides a basis for generating multiple competing hypotheses to explain the nature of that transformation. One hypothesis, that Natufian communities responded to subsistence stress by centralizing land tenure, intensifying subsistence production, and redistributing subsistence goods, is not supported. An alternative hypothesis, that an unequal distribution of land within Natufian communities allowed some segments of the population to endure subsistence stress while forcing others to migrate to more marginal areas, explains more variability in the archaeological record, and withstands preliminary testing with multiple lines of archaeological evidence.

No description available.

The osteological material under study consists of 510 skeletal remains dating from the Early Neolithic (6000 BC) to the Early Iron Age (1100-700 BC). It comes from nine different cemeteries and burial locations extending from the coastal to the inland areas of the study region. The current thesis attempts to explore two major issues: 1) the reconstruction of aspects of life history and 2) the treatment and manipulation of the deceased as revealed by the human skeletal remains. With regard to the former, the investigation of demographic parameters, patterns of health and oral status as well as diet have been considered. In short, local conditions defined by environmental and social constraints probably affected the general quality of life reconstructed for the study populations. There is an overall tendency however, towards declining levels of health and oral status in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age populations, while certain assemblages provide high levels of infant and child mortality, possibly associated with a type of anaemia. There is also a substantial involvement of the upper skeleton in work patterns, possibly related to activities such as food acquisition, processing and preparation. Meanwhile, the evidence for dietary patterns from the Neolithic-Early Bronze Ages to the Late Bronze-Early Iron Ages is consistent with an overall shift from a high reliance on meat consumption to a diet based on carbohydrate foodstuffs. The evaluation of the manipulation of the deceased, alongside the evidence for mortuary differentiation through time, reveals a striking transformation from the practice of single inhumations in the Early Bronze Age to multiple/secondary burials in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age assemblages, suggesting a shift in emphasis from individual to lineage-group identity. Furthermore, the integration of biological inferences with the evidence of mortuary behaviour provides further insights into sex roles and the position of subadults, otherwise invisible, in the living community.

This thesis is a systematic examination from a historical point of view of the rich diversity of forms and images of the lion motif in Chinese space and social life. Drawing on textual, linguistic and archaeological sources, it addresses the fundamental problem inherent in the study of the lion motif in China, that is, why a foreign import was adopted, transformed and assimilated into an existing culture and how it was then widely rendered in various forms and images as though it had been an indigenous image all along. The examination begins with a search for the origins, names for and appearance of the real lion in China and a comparison of this with the images, roles and powers of the ideological lion in the Chinese mind. It proceeds through an investigation into the liking of the ruling class for lions as tomb guardian beasts in their search for a better afterlife. The thesis then focuses on the adoption of the lion motif by ordinary people as a means of approaching the divine and gaining recognition, in the process of which the image of a ferocious beast was gradually transformed into that of a rotund pet. The pet-like ??look?? of the lion came to be associated with various vernacular cultures of Southern China and assumed a unique style during Ming (1368??1644), when the form and image of the animal became a living concept with little emphasis on its physical appearance. In other words, what perpetuated the significant role of the lion in Chinese space and social life was its conceptual image, not its physical shape. Two case studies, one based in Kinmen and the other in Sydney, further demonstrate that the physical appearance of the lion motif has little effect on the power and mechanism of the mighty animal in the Chinese mind. What matters most, when placing the lion motif in front of an entry way, is the reiteration or reenactment of the conceptual image of the lion through symbols, rituals and ??traditional?? beliefs by which this particular animal motif has become an enduring legacy of Chinese communities around the world. The thesis, then, summarises the changes in the lion motif and its transformation from a physical object to a living concept free from image and form constraints as a gradual process of Chinese perception that integrated the real animal with the imagined animal, strange and unfamiliar phenomena, and the dominant and popular cultures. The context of this integration may have been significantly influenced by the bureaucratic metaphor of the ruling class. The lasting meaning and significance of the lion motif, however, is due to the vision and determination of ordinary people, who are as much prone to seeking a comfortable space and the promise of a better life as have been their rulers.

This thesis is a systematic examination from a historical point of view of the rich diversity of forms and images of the lion motif in Chinese space and social life. Drawing on textual, linguistic and archaeological sources, it addresses the fundamental problem inherent in the study of the lion motif in China, that is, why a foreign import was adopted, transformed and assimilated into an existing culture and how it was then widely rendered in various forms and images as though it had been an indigenous image all along. The examination begins with a search for the origins, names for and appearance of the real lion in China and a comparison of this with the images, roles and powers of the ideological lion in the Chinese mind. It proceeds through an investigation into the liking of the ruling class for lions as tomb guardian beasts in their search for a better afterlife. The thesis then focuses on the adoption of the lion motif by ordinary people as a means of approaching the divine and gaining recognition, in the process of which the image of a ferocious beast was gradually transformed into that of a rotund pet. The pet-like ??look?? of the lion came to be associated with various vernacular cultures of Southern China and assumed a unique style during Ming (1368??1644), when the form and image of the animal became a living concept with little emphasis on its physical appearance. In other words, what perpetuated the significant role of the lion in Chinese space and social life was its conceptual image, not its physical shape. Two case studies, one based in Kinmen and the other in Sydney, further demonstrate that the physical appearance of the lion motif has little effect on the power and mechanism of the mighty animal in the Chinese mind. What matters most, when placing the lion motif in front of an entry way, is the reiteration or reenactment of the conceptual image of the lion through symbols, rituals and ??traditional?? beliefs by which this particular animal motif has become an enduring legacy of Chinese communities around the world. The thesis, then, summarises the changes in the lion motif and its transformation from a physical object to a living concept free from image and form constraints as a gradual process of Chinese perception that integrated the real animal with the imagined animal, strange and unfamiliar phenomena, and the dominant and popular cultures. The context of this integration may have been significantly influenced by the bureaucratic metaphor of the ruling class. The lasting meaning and significance of the lion motif, however, is due to the vision and determination of ordinary people, who are as much prone to seeking a comfortable space and the promise of a better life as have been their rulers.

During prehispanic times (1250 B.P. - 1521 A.D), Mesoamerica was the most powerful nation in the entire America continent. One of the most important ethnic groups was the Zapotecs located in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Their history started in those days and it has not ended. The ancient Zapotec gave human femora from the dead special treatments. This thesis seeks to understand the cultural meaning of human femora within ancient Zapotec belief systems, especially the cultural meaning when special treatment of femora was involved in mortuary rituals and practices long after the death of the individual. To understand when this practice began, who did it, why they did it, and what was the significance of human femora for the Zapotecs, it was necessary to know where those femora came from, from ancestors or captives. This research included bioanthropological methodologies considering sex, age and minimum number of individuals, to determine if this practice had a pattern, and also observations on whether human femora had cultural and natural taphonomic modifications. The data were collected from publications from Lambityeco, Mitla, Monte Albán and San Miguel Albarradas, Oaxaca. The results demonstrated that ancient Zapotecs used ancestors' remains as part of their rituals, particularly the femur. Therefore we still lack any bioanthropological evidence for Zapotecs taking human captives.

This research examines the mortuary customs of the Oaxaca Barrio, one of the foreign settlements in the ancient city of Teotihuacan. The Oaxaca Barrio is associated with the Zapotec homeland in the state of Oaxaca, southern Mexico (roughly 290 miles); but many questions remain unanswered about its origins and development. The mortuary customs of the Oaxaca Barrio show how Zapotec migrants adapted to living in Teotihuacan over a considerable period of time, maintaining aspects of their homeland identity, but also generating a new cultural repertoire by which members of the enclave redefined themselves. The presence of Zapotec people in Teotihuacan has at least three distinct moments or contexts: its origins in a time of Zapotec expansion (200 B.C), the formal settlement of the Oaxaca Barrio (A.D 100), and much later in time, when the barrio shows a hybridization process with singular characteristics (A.D 300). I address in this research two important questions: Why did Zapotec migrants keep their mortuary traditions? How did migrant identity change over time? To answer these questions I present in five chapters general characteristics of the Oaxaca Barrio, theoretical concepts, and archaeological evidence that support the analysis and discussion developed about this foreign group, and finally its mortuary customs and the relationship with its ethnicity. The Zapotec migration to Teotihuacan is important because social, political, economic and ideological aspects are involved, and this topic is not only useful to archaeological studies (in one of the most important cities in Mesoamerica), also it is helpful to anthropological research about modern migrations, and studies of identity and ethnicity in the contemporary world. In Chapter I, I present a general view of the Oaxaca Barrio in Teotihuacan, the chronology and a brief review of the situation in the Zapotec area and Teotihuacan at the moment of the Oaxaca Barrio's foundation, and a general idea of the mortuary customs in each place; also in this chapter I mention the objectives of this investigation and its limits. Chapter II mentions the main theoretical concepts related with this investigation: ethnicity and hybridization, I also approach the main ideas and hypotheses about the political and social structure in the Oaxaca Barrio. Later in Chapter III, I describe the most important archaeological evidence found in each compound excavated until now in the Oaxaca Barrio, and Chapter IV shows the archaeological record of mortuary customs identified in this foreign settlement; in this section I describe four important and basic elements in the mortuary system: type of burial, offerings and practice of funerary rites, and urns. And finally in Chapter V, I present the discussion of each element, making a comparison with funerary practices and characteristics in the Zapotec area, mainly Monte Alban, and Teotihuacan culture; also in this last chapter I mention how could be the syncretism-hybridization process of this foreign settlement, mainly identified through its funerary customs.

Diversity of Chachapoya mortuary practices is not well understood archaeologically, even though the region has received some attention for the monumental constructions and visually striking mortuary complexes located high on open cliff faces. This may be due to the difficult accessibility and often poor state of preservation consistent with many Chachapoya mortuary and occupation sites. This thesis reconstructs mortuary practices at La Petaca in the Chachapoyas region of Peru, applying paleodemographic and GIS methodological approaches to facilitate and improve the bioarchaeological study of commingled skeletal remains in an open, disturbed communal funerary context. Research focused on SUP CF-01, a natural cave context utilized as a group burial. The sample of human remains retrieved from SUP CF-01 (n= 8182) estimated an MNI of 43 adults and 12 juveniles, including a range of demographic categories. By employing a total station to record the cave structure, and a GIS to analyze the deposit of commingled remains, this thesis was able to measure the distances between paired elements and to explore possible post-depositional practices that could have created this commingled and disturbed deposit. This bioarchaeological analysis incorporating demographic and spatial analysis indicated that this collective burial was a primary context, and most likely a result of a gradual accumulation of complete bodies and movement of later skeletonized elements to make room for successive burials. When compared to other mortuary contexts at this complex, including a comparative secondary cave context and over 120 constructed mausoleums, it appears that all community members were included in the mortuary practices at this complex.

Mortuary analysis has been used in the past to understand social status and social organization. The need for a scientific way to undertake mortuary analysis in achaeology is necessary because too often social status is assumed. This thesis attempts to demonstrate that there is a scientific approach that can be taken in mortuary analysis through the investigation of energy expenditure, a dimension that can measure the attributes of status. The mortuary analysis in this study is carried out using a scientific approach involving the amount of energy expended on burials by looking at burial type, grave goods, and special placement of the burials. Through the use of archival data, this thesis investigates differences seen in the burial population of Lyon’s Bluff (22OK520) in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi through mortuary analysis that looks at burial type, grave goods, and special placement of the burials. Local farmsteads are used as a comparative basis. Through the creation of a paradigm with dimensions of burial treatments and modes of grave goods, it is possible to place all burials at a particular site or group of sites in categories that show the amount of energy expended on burials. From this, comparisons can be made with age and sex, stature, cranial deformation, and spatial location that can aid in the interpretation of mortuary data at a site. The results of this research suggest that at Lyon’s Bluff and the farmsteads used in this study there is an increase in the energy expended on burials through time. This type of research is applicable to both past and future mortuary analysis when there is well-documented information on burial type and burial inclusions.