There are four known Late Prehistoric burials in Saskatchewan which demonstrate at least two distinct patterns of mortuary behavior prevalent on the Northern Plains. The Bethune burial located near Bethune, Saskatchewan, is an Avonlea burial dating 1389 +/- 40 years BP. This site is the only Avonlea burial known to date in Canada, and only one of three burials now known in North America.<p> The Sisterbutte, Glen Ewen, and Moose Bay burials are all examples of mound burials. The Glen Ewen mound has been dated at 1220 +/- 70 years BP and 1110 +/- 90 years BP, while the Moose Bay mound has been associated with the Kathio and Devils Lake Sourisford burial complexes. The Sisterbutte mound has not been radiocarbon dated, nor are there any diagnostic cultural remains associated with it. This thesis assembles, and re-evaluates, all the accumulated data on Late Prehistoric burials in Saskatchewan.

Termites ecologically engineer their environment by producing termitaria (mounds) used by many other species as dens, lookouts or food sources. The role of termite mounds in biological communities is relatively unknown, despite their ubiquitous nature. I investigated their impact on vertebrates in the Tsavo region of Kenya. Through the characterization of mounds, trapping, direct observation, and collecting microclimate data, I was able to determine the importance of mounds to vertebrates. I found uniform dispersion of mounds, that soil type is correlated with the size of mounds, and that vertebrate activity increases with mound size. I also found no significant differences in overall numbers of animals and species between mound and non-mound areas. Reptiles were found at mound sites significantly more than at non-mound sites, especially the great plated lizard and short-necked skink. I determined that mounds’ microclimate is less variable than that of the ambient. More work is needed to further our understanding of termite mounds' impacts on vertebrates. This study led to discoveries of species not known to be in the area by myself or my affiliated parties.

There are four known Late Prehistoric burials in Saskatchewan which demonstrate at least two distinct patterns of mortuary behavior prevalent on the Northern Plains. The Bethune burial located near Bethune, Saskatchewan, is an Avonlea burial dating 1389 +/- 40 years BP. This site is the only Avonlea burial known to date in Canada, and only one of three burials now known in North America.<p> The Sisterbutte, Glen Ewen, and Moose Bay burials are all examples of mound burials. The Glen Ewen mound has been dated at 1220 +/- 70 years BP and 1110 +/- 90 years BP, while the Moose Bay mound has been associated with the Kathio and Devils Lake Sourisford burial complexes. The Sisterbutte mound has not been radiocarbon dated, nor are there any diagnostic cultural remains associated with it. This thesis assembles, and re-evaluates, all the accumulated data on Late Prehistoric burials in Saskatchewan.

This paper aims to investigate the connection between clearance cairns and burial cairns. From this point of view I try to answer the questions why they are built in the same area and why these two different types of cairns are so similary constructed. Further I consider different theories about mounds of fire-cracked stones.

Gripen Oil &amp; Gas have extended their prospecting license on Gotland to the north end of the island to search for potential hydrocarbon reservoirs. Earlier prospecting has shown that limestone mound structures from Ordovicium have high potential as hydrocarbon reservoirs due to their antiformal shape and the petrophysical properties of the limestone.This study focuses on the petrophysical properties of the intramound lithofacies of the Ordovician mound structures. Analyses are made to determine the density, porosity and ultrasonic velocity of ten drill core samples (both in dry and water-filled state) from different places on Gotland and these factors are compared to see how they affect one another. Seismic reflection data gathered by OPAB (provided by SGU) is also used to locate potential mound structures in northern Gotland.The results show a clear connection between the density and porosity. Increasing porosities also decreases the ultrasonic velocities of the rocks. The saturated samples show higher velocities for the compressional waves than in the dry samples, but the shear wave velocity is similar in both dry and saturated rocks. Acoustic impedance is used to link the petrophysical analysis to the geophysical data by explaining why one reflector can be seen more clearly than others in a seismic section. Using the seismic sections, five possible mounds are found on northern Gotland. Good correlations are found in the petrophysical analyses, but the porosity of the rock does not seem to be the deciding factor in choosing a reservoir. There is no association between a rock’s measured porosity and its potential extraction volume, clearly shown by the low porosity measured in the Risungs drill cores compared to how much volume of oil that has been extracted. Instead, one should look closer at the seismic sections to find mounds with a high degree of fracturing. None of the mounds seen in the seismic sections show any apparent fracturing, and more seismic surveys should be made before deciding where to drill.

The Jackson Purchase region of western Kentucky consists of Coastal Plain sediments near the northern margin of the Mississippi Embayment. Within this region is the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP), a uranium enrichment facility operated by the US Department of Energy. At PGDP, a Superfund site, soil and groundwater studies have provided subsurface lithologic data from hundreds of monitoring wells and borings. Despite preliminary efforts by various contractors, these data have not been utilized to develop detailed stratigraphic correlations of sedimentary units across the study area. In addition, sedimentary exposures along streams in the vicinity of PGDP have not been systematically described beyond the relatively simple geologic quadrangle maps published by the US Geological Survey in 196667. This study integrates lithologic logs, other previous site-investigation data, and outcrop mapping to provide a compilation of near-surface lithologic and stratigraphic data for the PGDP area. A database of borehole data compiled during this study has been provided to PGDP for future research and archival. Developments in understanding near-surface geology include the adoption of nomenclature used by the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS), which separates the Continental Deposits into two distinct units, the Mounds Gravel and Metropolis Formation, based on their unique depositional histories. Additionally, faulting presented on the preliminary Joppa (IL) 7.5-minute quadrangle map, but not mapped on the Joppa (KY) 7.5-minute quadrangle map, appears to have impacted deposition of post-Eocene sediments at the site. These faults are co-linear to zones of irregularity noted in the Cretaceous McNairy Formation structure elevation map created during this study, thick zones of the Mounds Gravel noted in an isopach map from this study, and contaminant plume maps created previously by contractors.

This project was a reanalysis of the prehistoric ceramic collections from two important archaeolegical sites in east central Indiana: Mounds State Park (12-M-2) and the New Castle Site (12-Hn-1). Brief summaries of the two sites and their excavation histories are provided as well as summaries of the various pottery types involved. Specific attention is given to the New Castle Incised type.Previous interpretations regarding the ceramics from the two sties are given, and research from this project has provided new interpretations and information. Specifically, a statistical analysis was conducted, and the results show that the pottery from the two sites was made by peoples of the same culture. However, subtle changes were taking place in the manufacture of the pottery, primarily in the plain sherds.Future research goals are provided and include further excavations at both sites, thermoluminescence dating of sherds and additional study of the plain sherds. / Department of Anthropology

The objective of the study was to determine how visitors perceive park management method alternatives to preserve scenic beauty in Mounds State Park, and how other factors, such asvisitor characteristics and primary purpose for visiting the state park affected their preferences. Additionally, this study has presented a comparison of preferences for park management approaches between park managers and visitors, and a relationship between visitors' perceptions of scenic beauty and other factors. Furthermore, this study explored the contribution of a qualitative analysis. The result showed that visitor preferences for some park management approaches were influenced by sociodemographic characteristics, while visitor preferences for other park management approaches were influenced by the current state of scenic conditions in the park. Differences were observed between park manager's perceptions and visitors' perceptions. Visitors' perceptions of scenic beauty were related to whether or not they had visited the park in the past. Finally, it was clear that qualitative analysis was worthwhile for obtaining information that quantitative data could not provide. / Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management

The aim of this thesis is to establish a chronological framework for the grave-goods, and hence the graves, from all known Anglo-Saxon burial sites in the Upper Thames Region. Such a framework is considered essential to any reconstruction of early Saxon activity in the area and especially to any solution of the problems which surround the origin and early development of Wessex. It is based on a detailed typological study of material from 168 sites within a defined area. This area is bounded approximately on the west by the source of the Thames and the Cotswolds scarp, on the north by the Oxfordshire/Northamptonshire county boundary, on the east by the Thames/ Ouse watershed and the Chilterns scarp, and in the south by the Kennet Valley. The thesis is presented in three volumes, text (I), catalogue (II), and illustrations (III). The text is divided into three parts. Part I is introductory. The subject is set in the context of broader problems and previous hypotheses, and the value of the material to be analysed is assessed. The physical identity of the Upper Thames Region, the problems and methods of cataloguing sites, and the history of their discovery and recording are briefly discussed. Part II, in which the typology and chronology of the grave-goods are established, forms the core of the thesis. It consists of seventeen chapters and a summary chronological chart. The first chapter considers some general methodological problems and outlines the fundamental points of archaeological chronology for the period, on which that of the Upper Thames Region depends. Chapter 2 is a long analysis of brooches. The greatest attention is given to the manufacture and chronology of cast saucer brooches, but the dating of disc brooches is also set on a firmer basis, and there are important comments on all remaining forms (penannular, annular, button, great and small square-headed, small-long, and miscellaneous). Chapters 3 to 8 deal with the other objects found principally in women's graves (pins, finger rings and bracelets, necklaces, combs, toilet items, and bags, boxes, and girdlehung objects); they include discussion of the function of some of these items as well as their dating. Chapter 9 is about belt-equipment. The weapons found in men's graves are discussed in chapters 10 to 14 (swords, seaxes, shields, spears, and miscellaneous); in chapter 12 the first attempt at a typology of English shield bosses, based on computerised numerical taxonomy, is presented, while in chapter 13 Dr. M.J. Swanton's recently published typology of spearheads receives detailed criticism. Knives are briefly considered in chapter 15. Chapter 16, an analysis of the pottery, includes several modifications of Dr.J.N.L.Myres' work. This part concludes with chapter 17 on vessels of glass, metal, and wood. The chronologies thus established help to provide a date of burial for about one third of the catalogued graves and to indicate a date-range for the use of most sites. These data form the basis for deductions, made in Part III, about the history of the Saxon settlement in the Upper Thames Region. The background to this discussion is set out briefly in two sections, one on the nature of the Roman settlement in the Region, the other a critical survey of documentary evidence pertaining to the period. The synthesis deals in turn with the archaeology of the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries, and its possible historical interpretation. It is argued that the initial settlement during the first quarter of the fifth century consisted of a group of Saxons hired as foederati, who were posted at and near Dorchester-on- Thames; in the second quarter of the century their leaders usurped authority from their erstwhile British employers and assumed control of a wide area, planting out groups of settlers, probably including many new immigrants, during the second half of the century throughout most of the Region. These settlements grew in size, number, and wealth; their prosperity is reflected in the emergence of well furnished graves, probably belonging to leading families, the most spectacular of which is the early seventhcentury 'princely' burial at Cuddesdon near Dorchester. During the fifth and sixth centuries the Upper Thames Region appears to have been most closely connected with the other Saxon settlement along and south of the Thames, but in the sixth century connections with the Midlands, especially the West Midlands, were established, and there is some evidence of direct contact with East Kent. In the seventh century the Upper Thames shares the uniform material culture associated with 'Final Phase 1 or 'Proto-Christian' cemeteries. Direct connections between this evidence and documentary history are few, though it is argued forcibly that there is no evidence that the battle a of Badon had any effect on the Saxon settlement of the Upper Thames Region. The archaeological evidence also suggests that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entries relating to the battles fought by Ceawlin and Cuthwulf should not be taken at face value. In a final section the documentary evidence for the history of Wessex is specifically examined in the light of the archaeological conclusions. It is suggested that during the second half of the sixth century one of the leading families of the Upper Thames Region asserted its power not only over an enlarged Upper Thames Region, but also over Hampshire and Wiltshire, thus founding the royal dynasty of Cerdic and Cymric and creating what became known as the kingdom of the West Saxons.

This thesis presents the results of an archaeological investigation of shell matrix sites, and in particular, shell mounds sites that occur around the shores of Albatross Bay, near Weipa on the north western Cape York Peninsula, northern Australia. It is the contention of this thesis that earlier approaches to the investigation of shell mound sites in northern Australia have tended to place too much emphasis on developing long-term explanatory models that gloss over explanations for the specific roles of these unique sites in past economic systems. While long-term explanations represent important contributions, it is argued here that short-term decadal scale modelling of the production systems associated with shell mound formation and use are required in order to fully understand the significance of the mid- to late Holocene emergence of these types of sites. A focus on production – defined in a substantive economic sense – is a suitable avenue through which archaeologists can expand our understanding of the role of these features in past gatherer-hunter societies, and their broader importance on longer-term time scales The thesis thus develops a detailed model of the production strategies associated with the formation of shell mound sites that occur around Albatross Bay, while also considering the broader significance of this model, particularly within the context of Cape York Peninsula. It presents the results of field surveys and excavations carried out around Albatross Bay by the author, as well as a detailed review and analysis of work carried out by others. It is argued that shell mounds are the result of relatively specialised production activities focussing on a very specific resource base: mudflat shellfish species. Shell mounds offered a range of unique benefits for people engaged in these specialised activities, including as camp sites and as specialised activity areas. These events were inherently flexible in size and in terms of timing, reflecting the dynamic nature of the resource base itself; yet the flexible nature of this production strategy also enabled more regular small scale social gatherings, along with a range of social and economic benefits to participants, than would have been otherwise possible. It is proposed that these types of strategies may represent an important characteristic of the production systems employed by gatherer-hunter peoples in late Holocene Cape York. Overall, this thesis makes a significant contribution to both our understanding of late Holocene lifeways at Albatross Bay as well as to our understanding of the broader significance of the emergence of shell mound sites in Cape York. Furthermore, it highlights the range of insights that can come from a focus on short-term modelling of gatherer-hunter lifeways alongside approaches oriented toward longer-term explanations of economic, social and environmental change.