<p> Behavior is perhaps the most challenging component of an extinct organism to reconstruct and understand. Often in paleoanthropology, researchers primarily have fossils and paleoecological data; however, combining these into models of hominin behavior is difficult in practice. Yet for years archaeologists and wildlife biologists have been using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to model the mobility behavior of humans and other animals. This research seeks to integrate the methodology of cost-distance modeling in GIS into paleoanthropology to understand hominin mobility, specifically investigating if the potential mobility pattern of <i>Australopithecus afarensis</i> can be modeled to understand how they got across Eastern Africa to their known sites. The models created for <i>Au. afarensis</i>, humans, and chimpanzees brought together walking time as a cost factor and modern slope as an impediment to movement. These values were input into the Cost Distance tool in ArcGIS with Laetoli as the source and tested on two study areas, Laetoli and Eastern Africa. Known <i>Au. afarensis</i> sites matched areas of least cost for each potential mobility pattern, which indicated that 1) none of the models could be ruled as the best potential mobility pattern for <i> Au. afarensis</i>, 2) <i>Au. afarensis</i> likely avoided steeper gradients, and 3) modern gradient data were not incompatible with the models. Despite limitations to this study, these models provide a foundation for research into hominin mobility patterns using GIS.</p><p>

<p> There are long-standing debates regarding the history and identity of Ottoman communities that settled in Southeast Europe during the Ottoman period. As with any political expansion, individuals from Anatolia, the capital region of the empire, were likely to have migrated to newly acquired areas as soldiers, administrators, and political leaders. A mass migration of people is, however, not the only process that may have defined the Ottoman communities in Southeast Europe, as historic documents also record the conversion of Europeans to Islam for a variety of reasons. A consensus on whether migration or conversion practices more significantly impacted the biological makeup of Ottoman Europe has not been reached. </p><p> Thus far, the nature and impact of the Ottoman past in Europe have been predominately studied from the evidence and viewpoint of written history. Anthropological methods and theory have the potential to shed light on the population dynamics of this key period however. This dissertation employed advancements from both archaeology and biological anthropology to conduct a regional bioarchaeological analysis of the European Ottoman period, seeking a better understanding of identity in this historic context. </p><p> Two forms of analyses allowed for in-depth inquiry into biological aspects of identity in Ottoman Europe. First, the assessment of biological affinities from four European Ottoman period groups was done using biological distance analyses of craniometric and cranial non-metric morphological variation. These communities, today located in Hungary, Romania, and Croatia, were compared not only to each other, but also to other European and Anatolian populations. The European and Anatolian comparative populations were represented by four skeletal series from Hungary, Austria, Croatia, and Anatolia. The second method, utilized for one of the Ottoman period populations (from Romania), analyzed strontium isotopes from human and faunal dental enamel. Together, these methods provided a dynamic approach for highlighting markers of biological identity and affinity from human skeletal remains. </p><p> The use of biological distance and strontium isotope analyses highlighted a number of interesting patterns in the European Ottoman communities. The Ottoman populations appear diverse in terms of constituting a mix of peoples from different biological backgrounds. This is evident both within a single Ottoman community, as well as between communities located in different parts of the Ottoman territory. Evidence of this diversity was clear between males and females in different Ottoman period populations. Larger than expected between-sex biological differences within the Ottoman communities suggest distinct population histories for males and females. </p><p> The diversity found within and between the four Ottoman period populations analyzed in this research can be used to better understand different social and political processes influencing the demography of Ottoman Europe. With migration and conversion frequently cited as the two main processes contributing to population change in the region, this analysis allowed for the consideration of how unique trajectories of both impacted different individuals and different groups of people in these societies. The biological data highlighted in this study disagree with many simplistic historical conclusions that cite either migration or conversion as the singular process behind the creation of Ottoman communities and the European Ottoman identity. </p><p> Despite historic evidence that immigration from Anatolia and the conversion of Europeans to Islam impacted the demography of European Ottomans, these communities are at times treated as biologically homogeneous ethnic groups. The Ottoman-established Muslim populations in Southeast Europe are not only treated as a distinct group historically, the division between Muslims or &lsquo;Turks&rsquo; and Europeans has been maintained in some modern communities as well. With Islamic relations in some regions of contemporary Europe continuing to deteriorate, long-held notions that European Muslims are the &lsquo;other&rsquo;, trespassers on Christian lands, are unlikely to be assuaged. The creation of the European Muslim identity descending from the Ottoman period includes a complex history that is still not fully understood. Many modern identities are created from a complex amalgamation of biological and cultural processes, both historical and modern in origin, committing diverse peoples into uniform categories. The bioarchaeology of this dynamic period provided new data on groups of people that influenced both the past and present in Southeast Europe. </p><p>

The divergence of the two superfamilies belonging to the Infraorder Catarrhini – Cercopithecoidea (Old World monkeys) and Hominoidea (apes, including humans) – is generally assumed to have occurred during the Oligocene, between 38 and 20 million years ago. Genetic studies indicate that this time period was one of active genetic evolution under strong purifying selection for catarrhine primates. This includes selective pressures on the glycoprotein galactosyltransferase 1 (GGTA1) gene and subsequent inactivation "clocked" at approximately 28 ma, possibly prior to the Cercopithecoidea/Hominoidea split. The GGTA1 gene codes for an α1,3 galactosyltransferase (GT) enzyme that synthesizes a terminal disaccharide, αgalactosyl (αGal), found on glycoproteins and glycolipids on the surface of cells in the tissues of most mammals. Currently, catarrhines are the only mammals studied for the terminal αGal residue that do not express this sugar on their cell surfaces. The proposed selective advantage of this mutation for catarrhines is the ability to produce anti-Gal antibodies, which may be an effective immune component in neutralizing αGal-expressing pathogens, as certain helminthes, many bacteria, including those found in primate guts, and some viruses derived from GGTA1 positive species express αGal on their surfaces. However, many viruses are known to utilize host cell carbohydrates in various ways such as binding receptors or attachment proteins, making these moieties "hot spots" for selective evolution. Cell surface αGal may have predisposed ancestral catarrhines to pathogens and toxins that could utilize the terminal sugar moieties on host cells as binding sites or in other capacities during infection. I found that, in fact, the presence or absence of cell surface αGal affects the course of certain viral infections. Infections of paired cell lines with differential expression of GT showed that Sindbis viruses (SINV) preferentially replicate in αGal-positive cells, whereas herpes simplex viruses type 1 and type 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2) preferentially grow in cells lacking αGal. In both cases, differences in infection levels resulted from the ability of the virus to successfully initiate infection. This points to a role for αGal in the early stages of viral infections. I also showed that GT knockout mice infected with HSV-2 had higher viral load and greater pathology compared to WT B6 mice that naturally express αGal. The increased susceptibility of KO mice to HSV-2 was not due to an immune component as differences in viral load and pathology were even more evident in immunocompromised mice. This clearly indicates that αGal expression in cells or animal hosts can affect the course of viral infections. I was not able to further confirm differences in susceptibility to HSV 1 and 2 using mouse backcrosses (KO x WT). Unknown genetic factors, that are independent of αGal expression, may be introduced during the crosses that need to be further investigated. Infections of KO and WT mice with other herpes viruses did not yield definitive data and require further studies with suitable reagents. The mechanism by which GT-dependent differential susceptibility to viruses operates still remains to be deciphered. However, it is clear that susceptibility to certain viral infections is tied to the presence or absence of αGal on the surface of host cells. Overall, these results have implications for the evolution of resistance to viral infections in catarrhines. Pathogens exert great selective pressure on their hosts, and it is possible that a pathogen, able to exploit αGal, could have helped shape primate lineage evolution during the Oligocene.

Empirical data on critical obstetrical dimensions of the pelvis combined with observations of occupationally-related muscular lesions on the skeleton can be used to test the hypothesis that constricted pelvic dimensions and/or patterns of hard labor contribute to early mortality for some women. These data, combined with ethnographic information, allow for a more holistic approach to understanding the quality (how well) and quantity (how long) of life in past populations. The enduring history of populations in the American Southwest offers a unique opportunity to examine long-term patterns of health and lifestyle. Data on the relationships among reproduction, occupational stress, and mortality from eight skeletal samples (n = 188) representing Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) peoples reveal that women worked hard and that many presented compromised pelvic shape. These contracted pelves may have contributed to early death for some young women although many older women were found to have compromised pelvic dimensions as well. This suggests that while maternal mortality may have been a factor in the early deaths of reproductive age women, examination of women's lifestyle and stresses must be used to understand the myriad of stressors beyond pregnancy and parturition that contributed to young women's mortality. When skeletal data are combined with ethnographic information of birth process, corn grinding and other facets of reproduction and work, the complex relationships between pregnancy and parturition, workload and cultural practices, and the incidence of early death for young women are uncovered. Utilizing this biocultural approach to women's reproductive health will, contributes to a better understanding of the combined effects of reproduction and work patterns on women's bodies and women's lives in the past as well as the present.

This dissertation examines the mortality experiences of two emerging industrial cities, Northampton and Holyoke, in the Connecticut River Valley of western Massachusetts, during the period from 1850 through 1910, and the processes that delayed the transition to lower mortality levels in New England. This was a period in which these two towns, and many others in New England, grew rapidly due to early industrialization and urbanization. Death rates rose after the middle of the nineteenth century and stabilized at high levels, only falling again after the turn of the twentieth century. This work is an anthropological enquiry into why life seems to have been more precarious in the emergent cities of New England as mortality was declining throughout western Europe. Some characteristics of these towns, for example, changing occupational, ethnic and age composition, can be ascertained from decennial census data. However, in order to analyze the relationship of mortality to changing population characteristics I use linked individual-level census and death records from 1850 to 1912 to analyze mortality across panels defined by the timing of decennial censuses. I also look at how individuals might have attempted to mitigate the risks of mortality through strategies of household formation and household economies. The use of individual-level linked census-death data in these communities supports detailed analyses of the changing risks of mortality over the emergence and eventual maturation of these industrializing urban centers. I find that the mortality experiences of Holyoke and Northampton were shaped by the processes that formed these unique communities: a large population of young adults, influxes of poorly-paid immigrant labor, densely crowded living and working conditions, and delays in adequate infrastructure, particularly clean water and sanitary sewerage. During the period mortality rose and the most vulnerable groups experienced the worst life chances. Over time, the communities matured. The population aged, growth slowed, outlying areas became accessible to industrial workers through a regional trolley system, and public works were better able to keep pace with population. Death from infectious and parasitic disease became less frequent, and death from chronic or degenerative disease more prevalent.

abstract: This dissertation is an historical analysis of the science of human origins, paleoanthropology, examining the intersection of science and culture around fossil human ancestors (hominins) over the last century and a half. Focusing on fossils as scientific objects, this work examines three controversial fossils from the science’s history asking, how do fossils formulate, challenge, and reconfigure notions of what it means to be human? The introduction reviews the historiography of paleoanthropology and the gaps that exist in the literature. Chapter two examines the first case study, the type specimen of Homo neanderthalensis, known as the Feldhofer Neanderthal, providing a biography of the object from its discovery in Germany in 1856 until its species designation in 1864. Chapter three briefly links the Neanderthal’s story in time and space to the next fossil’s story. Chapter four picks up the story of paleoanthropology in 1924 in South Africa, with the discovery and initial analysis of a specimen nicknamed the Taungs Baby, which was labeled a new hominin species, Australopithecus africanus. Chapter five is another brief chapter connecting the Taungs Baby story in time and space to the final specimen examined in this work at the end of the century. Chapter six examines the final case study, a specimen discovered in 2003 in Indonesia, designated a new species named Homo floresiensis and nicknamed the Hobbit. Through comparing contrasting, and connecting the stories of these three specimens, three major conclusions emerge about the field. First, the fossils themselves play an important role in knowledge production about the hominin past. Second, scientific practice shaped both interpretations of fossils and larger questions of what it means to be human. Third, the scientific practice is itself shaped by local culture, which continually interacts with attempts to establish a global perspective about the human past. The perspective gleaned through the eyes of these three fossils therefore reveals the way shifting, rather than eternally true, claims are embedded in culture and intertwined with the perspectives of the humans conducting the science. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology 2020

No description available.

Excavations at the site of Ixlú in northern Guatemala recovered a series of skulls and dismembered postcrania from a Postclassic (ca. A.D. 1000—1525) Maya temple. The current study considers demography, taphonomy (including mortuary processing), cultural modification and biological distance among the remains in light of ethnohistoric and archaeological data. Doing so addresses who made the deposits, why they were made, and who was interred, and informs on the use of ritual violence in the Postclassic Southern Lowlands. Six skulls were arranged in pairs on the east-west midline of the building, and fifteen skulls were placed in rows in the center of the building. All of the skulls faced east. Four postcrania were placed perpendicular to the skull rows. The skulls and postcrania were primarily late adolescent to young adult males. Three of the individuals exhibited a rare dental trait, supernumerary teeth, indicating that at least some of the individuals were related. The most likely scenario to account for the deposits is that the Itzá, a dominant political group in the area, sacrificed enemy combatants drawn from raiding and buried them as a part of a dedicatory ritual in the temple.

No description available.

Presented in the “Segundo Coloquio Internacional de Bioarqueología.”