The Pacific is a world of islands, so human migrations are necessarily part of the story of this world. It is somewhat surprising therefore to find that there are so many points of contention among archaeologists, linguists and biologists about the role that migrations have played in producing culture change in Pacific prehistory -just how many migrations are we talking about, on what scale, by whom, and when, and which discipline provides more reliable evidence? The specifics of the debate may be local, but the substantive issues have broader applicability. This thesis attempts to contribute to the debate by considering the archaeological evidence for a hypothesised migration during the post-Lapita period of people speaking non-Austronesian languages into the Main Reef and Santa Cruz Islands in the southeast Solomon Islands. It describes the theoretical and methodological difficulties in trying to assess whether cladistic or rhizotic processes best account for culture change. Previously unpublished archaeological material from two Main Reef Islands sites is presented, and is compared with the linguistic and human biological evidence pertinent to the case study. The narratives of cross-cultural encounters during the historic period are examined to investigate how such interactions produce change in cultural traditions, and to assess the archaeological visibility of these contacts. While the archaeological record testifies to cultural borrowings and lendings in the Reef-Santa Cruz case, the argument for either large-scale population intrusion or replacement is not well supported. The archaeological record appears to be in conflict with the prevailing interpretation of history reconstructed from historical linguistics and human genetics.

The Pacific is a world of islands, so human migrations are necessarily part of the story of this world. It is somewhat surprising therefore to find that there are so many points of contention among archaeologists, linguists and biologists about the role that migrations have played in producing culture change in Pacific prehistory -just how many migrations are we talking about, on what scale, by whom, and when, and which discipline provides more reliable evidence? The specifics of the debate may be local, but the substantive issues have broader applicability. This thesis attempts to contribute to the debate by considering the archaeological evidence for a hypothesised migration during the post-Lapita period of people speaking non-Austronesian languages into the Main Reef and Santa Cruz Islands in the southeast Solomon Islands. It describes the theoretical and methodological difficulties in trying to assess whether cladistic or rhizotic processes best account for culture change. Previously unpublished archaeological material from two Main Reef Islands sites is presented, and is compared with the linguistic and human biological evidence pertinent to the case study. The narratives of cross-cultural encounters during the historic period are examined to investigate how such interactions produce change in cultural traditions, and to assess the archaeological visibility of these contacts. While the archaeological record testifies to cultural borrowings and lendings in the Reef-Santa Cruz case, the argument for either large-scale population intrusion or replacement is not well supported. The archaeological record appears to be in conflict with the prevailing interpretation of history reconstructed from historical linguistics and human genetics.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2006. / Supervisor: Shelley R. Saunders. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 285-322).

Thesis (doctoral)--Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht. / Pocket inside back cover contains 20 plates.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Anthropology, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

abstract: Early hominins present an unusual pattern of sexual dimorphism. On one hand, the canine teeth of these species are weakly size-dimorphic, vertically short, and nonhoning, suggesting a social system characterized by infrequent, low-intensity intermale competition and monogamous pair-bonding. On the other hand, marked size variation in skeletal remains attributed to species of Australopithecus is thought to reflect strong body-mass dimorphism, which is more consistent with intense intermale competition. Reconciling these conflicting signals and understanding their adaptive significance is a major goal of paleoanthropology. This dissertation research contributes to this objective by investigating factors that may constrain or reduce canine height in extant anthropoid primates. Two hypotheses regarding the relationship between canine height and other elements of the masticatory system were tested using phylogenetic comparative methods. According to the first hypothesis, canine reduction is a pleiotropic by-product of changes in the sizes of other components of the dentition. With respect to canine height, the results of this study fail to support this idea. There is limited evidence for a relationship between basal canine crown dimensions and incisor and postcanine size, but significant interspecific correlations between these variables are not strong and are restricted primarily to the female maxillary dentition. These results indicate that if pleiotropy influences canine size, then its effects are weak. The second hypothesis proposes that canine reduction is a consequence of selection for increased jaw-muscle leverage. This hypothesis receives some support: there is a clear inverse relationship between canine height and the leverage of the masseter muscle in male anthropoids. Females do not exhibit this association due to the fact that dimorphism in muscle leverage is weak or absent in most anthropoid species; in other words, female muscle leverage tracks male muscle leverage, which is linked to canine height. Leverage of the temporalis muscle is not correlated with canine height in either sex. Two specimens of the 3.0-3.7-million-year-old hominin Australopithecus afarensis fall at or beyond the upper end of the great ape range of variation in masseter leverage, which is consistent with the idea that hominin canine evolution was influenced by selection for increased jaw-muscle leverage. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Anthropology 2010

Due to their phylogenetic position as an outgroup to humans and the other African apes, empirical data from orangutans are an especially valuable comparative tool with which questions about the evolution of human life history and reproductive characteristics can be addressed. Yet few such data are available. In this dissertation, I use endocrinological and behavioral data from 7 female and 3 male orangutans housed at the Woodland Park Zoo in Washington and the Great Ape Trust in Iowa to characterize the ovarian function and reproductive behaviors of captive female orangutans at different points in the life cycle. Ovarian hormone measurements were achieved through the use of non-invasive urine sampling, and assays reveal both intra- and inter-individual variation in hormone production. Results indicate that (1) adolescent females in captivity do not experience a marked period of subfecund estrogen and progesterone levels in association with reproductive maturation, (2) individual females exhibit both "high quality" and "low quality" cycles, including instances of anovulation, in the absence of fluctuating dietary and environmental conditions, (3) mating behaviors vary between individuals and with cycle phase, but are not strongly influenced by absolute ovarian hormone concentrations, and (4) reproductive senescence does not significantly impact the ovarian function and mating behaviors of aging female orangutans. These results demonstrate that many aspects of human reproductive biology and behavior, such as an extended period of mating receptivity, are evolutionarily conserved. They suggest, however, that the decline in human ovarian function in mid-life may be derived and of possible adaptive significance. The potential significance of differences between captive and wild ape populations, and the character, history, and familial relationships of the particular individuals discussed are considered in the interpretation of all data.

Estimation of the biological profile from as many skeletal elements as possible is a necessity in both forensic and bioarchaeological contexts; this includes non-standard aspects of the biological profile, such as body mass index (BMI). BMI is a measure that allows for understanding of the composition of an individual and is traditionally divided into four groups: underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese. BMI estimation incorporates both estimation of stature and body mass. The estimation of stature from skeletal elements is commonly included into the standard biological profile but the estimation of body mass needs to be further statistically validated to be consistently included. The bones of the foot, specifically the first metatarsal, may have the ability to estimate BMI given an allometric relationship to stature and the mechanical relationship to body mass. There are two commonly used methods for stature estimation, the anatomical method and the regression method. The anatomical method takes into account all of the skeletal elements that contribute to stature while the regression method relies on the allometric relationship between a skeletal element and living stature. A correlation between the metrics of the first metatarsal and living stature has been observed, and proposed as a method for valid stature estimation from the boney foot (Byers et al., 1989). Body mass estimation from skeletal elements relies on two theoretical frameworks: the morphometric and the mechanical approaches. The morphometric approach relies on the size relationship of the individual to body mass; the basic relationship between volume, density, and weight allows for body mass estimation. The body is thought of as a cylinder, and in order to understand the volume of this cylinder the diameter is needed. A commonly used proxy for this in the human body is skeletal bi-iliac breadth from rearticulated pelvic girdle. The mechanical method of body mass estimation relies on the ideas of biomechanical bone remodeling; the elements of the skeleton that are under higher forces, including weight, will remodel to minimize stress. A commonly used metric for the mechanical method of body mass estimation is the diameter of the head of the femur. The foot experiences nearly the entire weight force of the individual at any point in the gait cycle and is subject to the biomechanical remodeling that this force would induce. Therefore, the application of the mechanical framework for body mass estimation could stand true for the elements of the foot. The morphometric and mechanical approaches have been validated against one another on a large, geographically disparate population (Auerbach and Ruff, 2004), but have yet to be validated on a sample of known body mass. DeGroote and Humphrey (2011) test the ability of the first metatarsal to estimate femoral head diameter, body mass, and femoral length. The estimated femoral head diameter from the first metatarsal is used to estimate body mass via the morphometric approach and the femoral length is used to estimate living stature. The authors find that body mass and stature estimation methods from more commonly used skeletal elements compared well with the methods developed from the first metatarsal. This study examines 388 `White' individuals from the William M. Bass donated skeletal collection to test the reliability of the body mass estimates from femoral head diameter and bi-iliac breadth, stature from maximum femoral length, and body mass and stature from the metrics of the first metatarsal. This sample included individuals from all four of the BMI classes. This study finds that all of the skeletal indicators compare well with one another; there is no statistical difference in the stature estimates from the first metatarsal and the maximum length of the femur, and there is no statistical between all three of the body mass estimation methods. When compared to the forensic estimates of stature neither of the tested methods had statistical difference. Conversely, when the body mass estimates are compared to forensic body mass there was a statistical difference and when further investigated the most difference in the body mass estimates was in the extremes of body mass (the underweight and obese categories). These findings indicate that the estimation of stature from both the maximum femoral length and the metrics of the metatarsal are accurate methods. Furthermore, the estimation of body mass is accurate when the individual is in the middle range of the BMI spectrum while these methods for outlying individuals are inaccurate. These findings have implications for the application of stature and body mass estimation in the fields of bioarchaeology, forensic anthropology, and paleoanthropology.

The use of geometric morphometrics (GM) in physical anthropology has increased markedly over the recent years. In current studies of secular change, anthropologists have more frequently turned to this technique as it provides scientists with a powerful tool for shape analysis. Secular change is defined as changes in the skeletal biology, usually seen in a population, resulting from shifts in living standards or exposure to a new environmental factor over a short timeframe (Jantz and Meadows Jantz 2000; Weisensee and Jantz 2011). Studies conducted in Europe, Asia, and the United States have shown significant signs of secular change in craniofacial morphology. This thesis will utilize GM analyses of 57 craniofacial landmarks from 313 individuals to determine secular change in the European male populations of the Raymond A. Dart and Pretoria Skeletal Collections located in Johannesburg and Pretoria, South Africa, respectively, with birth years ranging from 1850 to 1956. Craniofacial data points were collected using a 3D Microscribe digitizer, upon which the Generalized Procrustes Analysis (GPA) was used to align all landmarks into one coordinate reference plane. In order to determine the presence of shape change, a Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was run on the Procrustes coordinates of all individuals. Then, a multivariate regression of shape score on year of birth was conducted to determine the magnitude of change as explained over time. Following the multivariate regression, various Canonical Variates Analyses (CVA) were performed to determine whether secular change was occurring. In addition to collecting metric data, ultimate and proximate causes are explored to provide a more holistic understanding of the potential reasons for the changing or unchanging nature of the crania in the ancestrally European South African population. This study hypothesizes these collections will exhibit craniofacial secular change resulting from greater exposure to increased nutrition over time, greater access to healthcare, and socioeconomic and political stability. Additionally, genetic factors could be affecting the development of the crania through time. As many studies use the Dart and Pretoria collections in tandem to understand population-specific traits of modern South Africans, the presence of secular change will greatly affect the way researchers utilize samples for their studies. Forensic anthropologists study collections to create better estimations for elements of the biological profile such as stature, age, and sex. However, failure to take into account secular change would provide erroneous results. This study provides answers regarding the need to account for secular change if necessary. This research indicates that there are some changes occurring in the craniofacial morphology as see by the PCA, but the results of the CVA indicate that this is not necessarily due to secular change. The results do not clearly indicate the presence of secular change. There are many possibilities dictating potentially why. The first possibility is that there are small changes occurring in the craniofacial morphology; however, this is not caused by secular change. There are other variables, potentially genetic, that are influencing these slight changes that we see. Despite other nations with similar economic development trajectories experiencing a definite presence of secular change, the unique history and population structure of European South Africans could be contributing to the lack of secular change present. Another possible reason is the lack of passage of time from the industrialization of the nation. Furthermore, there is potentially not enough data tested to warrant a reliable conclusion that secular change is or is not occurring. With the cranium, the possibility exists that a minimum threshold of specimens is needed in order to have a reliable conclusion.

abstract: The pattern and strength of genetic covariation is shaped by selection so that it is strong among functionally related characters and weak among functionally unrelated characters. Genetic covariation is expressed as phenotypic covariation within species and acts as a constraint on evolution by limiting the ability of linked characters to evolve independently of one another. Such linked characters are "constrained" and are expected to express covariation both within and among species. In this study, the pattern and magnitude of covariation among aspects of dental size and shape are investigated in anthropoid primates. Pleiotropy has been hypothesized to play a significant role in derivation of derived hominin morphologies. This study tests a series of hypotheses; including 1) that negative within- and among-species covariation exists between the anterior (incisors and canines) and postcanine teeth, 2) that covariation is strong and positive between the canines and incisors, 3) that there is a dimorphic pattern of within-species covariation and coevolution for characters of the canine honing complex, 4) that patterns of covariation are stable among anthropoids, and 5) that genetic constraints have been a strong bias on the diversification of anthropoid dental morphology. The study finds that patterns of variance-covariance are conserved among species. Despite these shared patterns of variance-covariance, dental diversification has frequently occurred along dimensions not aligned with the vector of genetic constraint. As regards the canine honing complex, there is no evidence for a difference in the pleiotropic organization or the coevolution of characters of the complex in males and females, which undermines arguments that the complex is selectively important only in males. Finally, there is no evidence for strong or negative pleiotropy between any dental characters, which falsifies hypotheses that predict such relationships between incisors and postcanine teeth or between the canines and the postcanine teeth. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Anthropology 2011