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.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Anthropology)--Vanderbilt University, May 2010. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1999. / Bibliography: leaves 220-238.

Thesis (M.S.H.P.)--Ball State University, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Apr. 16, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. [69]-73).

The purpose of this essay is to investigate syncretism in burial mounds that were active burial places during the Iron Age and the change of religion from pre-christianity to christianity in Mälardalen. The study consists of a comparative analysis of two burial mounds that was recycled and has two different burials pracites on its primary and secondary graves. The essay is a literature study and based on fieldwork reports from excavations of the two burial mounds and the burial fields Spånga RAÄ 193 and Valsta RAÄ 59. Tombs can have been a visible power symbol in the landscape during the Iron Age. A physical link between the dead and the living, between people and the ownership of the earth and the odal concept. The grave ship during the Iron Age had a great variety. Concepts like syncretism can be difficult interpreted because it was used as a concept in religious history from the beginning. It deals with the process of diffrents religions meet and the consequences of that meeting.

O município de Ilhabela, localizado na região insular do litoral norte do estado de São Paulo, nunca havia sido alvo de estudos voltados para o entendimento do panorama da ocupação sambaquieira, sendo considerado ausente de sambaquis, ou área de ocupação periférica. A realização de estudos de arqueologia da paisagem no arquipélago de Ilhabela resultou na localização de diversos sambaquis implantados a céu aberto ou associados a abrigos na Ilha de São Sebastião, na Ilha dos Búzios e na Ilha da Vitória. Os sambaquis dessa região são predominantemente de pequeno porte e alguns com feição muito terrosa, mas revelam a manutenção das práticas culturais tipicamente sambaquieiras como as já estabelecidas para o sul do país. As datações muito tardias dos sítios dessa região, principalmente aqueles localizados nas ilhas mais afastadas do continente, revelam que a região insular ofereceu condições para um estabelecimento sambaquieiro mais prolongado, enquanto que o continente contíguo guarda os sambaquis mais antigos, ainda que muitos tenham sido destruídos durante o período colonial conforme atestado por documentação do período. O final da presença sambaquieira em Ilhabela tem relação direta com a chegada de povos jês ao litoral, dominando e resignificando áreas de domínio e marcos paisagísticos sambaquieiros até mesmo nas ilhas mais distantes. / The municipality of Ilhabela, located at the insular region of São Paulo\'s north coast, had never been the object of studies dedicated to understanding the overview of the shell mound builders settlements, frequently being considered either an area with absence of shell mounds or an area of peripheral occupation/settlement. The attainment of studies within the field of Landscape Archaeology at the archipelago of Ilhabela resulted in the localization of several shell mounds, both open air or related to shelters in the following islands: Ilha de São Sebastião, Ilha dos Búzios and Ilha da Vitória. Although the shell mounds in this area are predominantly small, some of them presenting quite earthy features, they demonstrate the maintenance of cultural practices typically related to shell mound builders, such as those established for the southern portion of the country. The very late dates obtained for the sites in this area, mainly for those located at the islands more distant to the continent, evidence that the insular region provided conditions for a prolonged settlement of shell mound builders. The contiguous continent holds the older shell mounds, although many of them were destroyed during the colonial period, as attested by historical documentation. The end of shell mound builders presence at Ilhabela relates directly related to the arrival of jê populations at the coast, dominating and redefining landmarks and areas previously dominated by shell mound builders, even in remote islands.

Este trabalho procurou por evidências das ocupações sambaquieiras para fora dos sambaquis, buscando eventos de ocupação relativos aos concheiros, mas externo a eles em áreas de alta dinâmica sedimentar. Para tanto se consorciou o radar de penetração de solo (GPR) ao sistema de navegação global por satélite (GNSS), funcionando em modo cinemático de tempo real (RTK), em um esforço de sensoriamento remoto em meio a um campo de dunas no Município de Jaguaruna, no litoral de Santa Catarina. Conseguimos, através do sensoriamento, realizar prospecções arqueológicas e encontrar estruturas marginais aos concheiros, previstas em estudos anteriores que apontavam a remobilização de material processados em outras áreas para dentro dos sambaquis. Encontramos, mapeamos, escavamos, descrevemos e amostramos essas estruturas peri-sambaquieiras no entorno do Sambaqui da Figueirinha II de forma a apresentarmos um panorama da distribuição espacial e temporal destas estruturas. / The work presented here searched for evidences of mound builder\'s occupation outside the shell mounds itself, in search of events related to the shell mounds, but external to it in a very dynamic area. We have integrated the GPR and GNSS-RTK technologies in order to take the archaeological research regarding the shell mound cultures outside the mounds, by remote sensing areas in which extensive sand dunes are found in search of evidence regarding the mound builder\'s settlement in the areas surrounding the mounds, which the existence was predicted in previous studies. In this sense, we integrate the technologies and carried out the sensing of the Figueirinha Region in Santa Catarina State. We have found, mapped, excavated, described and sampled the extra-mounds archaeological occurrences surrounding the Figueirinha II shell mound, in order to presenting an overview of the spatial and chronological distributions of such structures.

A utilização dos produtos provenientes de elasmobrânquios é demonstrada desde os primeiros grupos que habitaram o nosso litoral. Pode-se afirmar estas relações com o estudo dos sítios arqueológicos denominados sambaquis, que foram utilizados pelos grupos de pescadores-coletores do litoral. Analisamos sete sambaquis localizados no litoral do Estado de São Paulo: sambaqui Maratuá, sambaqui do Mar Casado, sambaqui do Buracão, sambaquis Cosipa e sambaqui Piaçaguera (Baixada Santista), sítio Tenório e sítio do Mar Virado (Litoral Norte). Foram analisados 15.447 elementos faunísticos de elasmobrânquios, onde se identificou 16 espécies: tubarão-mangona - Carcharias taurus, tubarão-raposa - Alopias vulpinus, tubarão-branco - Carcharodon carcharias, anequim - Isurus oxyrinchus, Carcharhinus sp., tubarão-cabeça-chata - C. leucas, tubarão-fidalgo - C. obscurus, cação-baleeiro - C. plumbeus, tubarão-tigre - Galeocerdo cuvier, tubarão-azul - Prionace glauca, cação-frango - Rhizoprionodon sp., tubarão-martelo - Sphyrna tiburo, raia-serra - Pristis sp., raia-morcego - Aetobatus narinari, raia-sapo - Myliobatis goodei e raia-ticonha - Rhinoptera bonasus. Os grupos de pescadores-coletores utilizam os dentes, vértebras e ferrões dos tubarões e raias principalmente como instrumentos e adornos. A identificação de espécies de elasmobrânquios em sambaquis demonstra a relação e utilização destes pelo homem, conseqüentemente apresentando grande significância para vários grupos costeiros não só de nossa costa como em todas as regiões do mundo / The use of the originating products of elasmobranchs is demonstrated by them from the first groups that lived in our coast. It is possible to affirm these relations with the study of the archaeological so-called shell mounds, which were used by the groups of fishing-gatherers of the coast. We analyse seven shell mounds located in the coast of the State of São Paulo: sambaqui Maratuá, sambaqui do Mar Casado, sambaqui do Buracão, sambaquis Cosipa, sambaqui Piaçaguera, sítio Tenório e sítio do Mar Virado. 15.447 elements elasmobranchs faunal remains were analysed, where one identified 16 species: sandtiger shark - Carcharias taurus, thresher shark - Alopias vulpinus, white shark - Carcharodon carcharias, shortfin mako - Isurus oxyrinchus, Carcharhinus sp., bull shark - C. leucas, dusky shark - C. obscurus, sandbar shark - C. plumbeus, tiger shark - Galeocerdo cuvier, blue shark - Prionace glauca, sharpnose shark - Rhizoprionodon sp., bonnethead shark - Sphyrna tiburo, sawfish - Pristis sp., bat ray - Aetobatus narinari, eagle ray - Myliobatis goodei e cownose ray - Rhinoptera bonasus. The groups of fishig-gatherers use the teeth, vertebrae and spines of the sharks and you shine principally like instruments and adornments. The identification of species of elasmobranchs in shell mounds, it demonstrates the relation and use of this for the human being, consequently presenting great signification for several coastal groups not only of our coast I eat in all the regions of the world

In the Arctic tundra, wood ants play an important ecological role in aerating the soil, cycling nutrients, for seed dispersal and, as biological control by preying on forest pest insects during outbreaks. The increase in temperature, caused by climate change, is positively associated with ant abundance.  This could accelerate the wood ants’ effects on the ecosystem, with potentially dramatic consequences for associated taxa. It is, however, still unclear to what extent the ants influence the vegetation and arthropod community. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects ants have on the Arctic tundra ecosystem and how climate change may modify these effects. The study was conducted in Abisko national park, north Sweden, were two study sites were selected: one at low altitude and one at high altitude. I found that wood ants had a substantial effect on the vegetation community close to the mound, with a positive effect on different kind of vascular plant species, and a negative effect on rushes, mosses, and lichens. All the arthropods taxonomic orders and most of the families were positively affected by the presence of ant mounds. Ant mound abundance and volume were positively related with annual insolation and GPP, which indicates that climate change will increase ant abundance in the Arctic tundra. Thus, my results suggest that future climate change will have significant effects on Arctic tundra vegetation and arthropod communities, via positive effects on ant abundance.

A series of tufa mounds is found within the northern basin of Lake Abert, located within southeastern Oregon. The mounds have been divided into 3 main groups and 1 sub-group (A1, A2, B, and C) based upon spatial and textural considerations. Mound groups appear at two different elevations: the 1310 meter elevation (Groups A2, B, and C), and the 1318 meter elevation (Group A1). Published carbon age dating of the Lake Abert 1325 meter strandline and the 1310 meter strandline indicates that the mounds were formed during the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene. Facies analysis and mineralogical analysis of the mounds indicates that the mounds were primarily formed subaqueously during a lake regression, supporting oxygen isotope data from previous researchers. Magnetometer data within Groups A1 and A2 suggests that the mounds are associated with a series of magnetic lows which are oriented in joint sets (NW-SE, and N-S) which match the orientation of faulting within the region. While there appears to be another early mound building episode, no direct evidence confirms this.