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abstract: Bioarchaeologists often use dental data and spatial analysis of cemeteries to infer the biological and social structure of ancient communities. This approach is commonly referred to as biological distance (“biodistance”) analysis. While permanent crown data feature prominently in these efforts, few studies have verified the accuracy of biodistance methods for recognizing child relatives using deciduous teeth. Thus, as subadults comprise an essential demographic subset of mortuary assemblages, deciduous phenotypes may represent a critical but underutilized source of information on the underlying genetic structure of past populations. The goal of the dissertation is to​ quantitatively analyze the developmental program underlying deciduous phenotypes and​ to evaluate their performance in accurately reconstructing known genealogical relationships.​ This project quantifies morphological variation of deciduous and permanent tooth crowns from stone dental casts representing individuals of known pedigree deriving from three distinct populations: European Canadians, European Australians, and Aboriginal Australians. To address the paucity of deciduous-focused validation research, phenotypic distances generated from the dental data are subjected to performance analyses (biodistance simulations) and compared to genetic distances between individuals. While family-specific results vary, crown morphology performs moderately well in distinguishing relatives from non-relatives. Comparisons between deciduous and permanent results (i.e., Euclidean distances, Mantel tests, multidimensional scaling output) indicate that deciduous crown variation provides a more direct reflection of the underlying genetic structure of pedigreed samples. The morphology data are then analyzed within a quantitative genetic framework using maximum likelihood variance components analysis. Novel narrow-sense heritability and pleiotropy estimates are generated for the complete suite of deciduous and permanent crown characters, which facilitates comparisons between samples, traits, dentitions, arcades, antimeres, metameres, scoring standards, and dichotomization breakpoints. Results indicate wide-ranging but moderate heritability estimates for morphological traits, as well as low to moderate integration for characters within (deciduous-deciduous; permanent-permanent) and between (deciduous-permanent) dentitions. On average, deciduous and permanent homologues are more strongly genetically correlated than characters within the same tooth row. Results are interpreted with respect to dental development and biodistance methodology. Ultimately, the dissertation empirically validates the use of dental morphology as a proxy for underlying genetic information, including deciduous characters. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2017

In skeletal studies of prehistoric populations of Chile’s semiarid north, it is common practice for physical anthropologists to visually categorize crania as dolichophallic and brachycephalic which are then attributed to cultures or time periods based on the observed shape. The validity of this classification is still debated and poses several questions regarding the prehistory of Chile. The goal of this study is to investigate the craniofacial variation in populations representing the Archaic period and Intermediate-Late periods of Chile’s semiarid north using morphometric analysis. The samples comprise two collections from the Museo Arqueologico de La Serena in La Serena, Chile. The Archaic period dates from 10,000 BC to 300 AC. The Intermediate-Late period dates from 900 AC to 1500 AC. The Archaic period included 87 crania, while the Intermediate-Late period included 78 crania. Cranial vault modification was practiced in all prehistoric populations, and modified individuals comprise ~4.6% of the Archaic period sample and ~74.4% of the Intermediate-Late period sample. Individuals observed to be dolichocephalic are associated with the Archaic period, while brachycephalic individuals are associated with the Intermediate-Late period. Previous studies have shown that individuals with intentional cranial modification, annular and tabular, exhibit predictable changes in the craniofacial complex due to compensatory growth and shape changes related to peripheral structures of the cranial vault. A form of tabular modification is seen in both periods included in this sample, with the Intermediate-Late period sample being dominated by this modification. All craniometric landmarks were recorded using a Microscribe™ 3D digitizer, with exclusion of mandibular landmarks. MorphoJ was utilized to analyze the geometric morphometric data. Coordinates using the Microscribe were recorded in order to investigate the differences in shape of the craniofacial complex between the two samples. Two separate analyses were performed, one with all landmarks recorded and one excluding landmarks prosthion, alveolon, ectomolare and zygion. The results of both Canonical Variate analyses and associated Mahalanobis Distance values (2.699 and 2.9316) indicates statistically significant differences (p<0.001) between the two samples. It is also evident that shape changes along CV1, increases in minimum frontal breadth, upper facial breadth, and nasal height, correspond with characteristics associated with brachycephalism and tabular cranial vault modification. The large range of variation of the Intermediate-Late period sample is speculated to be a result of multiple small populations moving toward the coast possibly due to a change in climate. These small populations exhibited various morphologies which were influenced by nonrandom environmental factors. The Mahalanobis distances of the different cultural groups also indicate statistically significant differences. This method has the potential to be used in conjunction with others to identify cultural context and significance of remains in archaeological contexts in Chile. In the event of repatriation acts this method could also be used to attribute individuals to corresponding cultures and be donated to the appropriate community or facility.

abstract: Providing an environmental context to early hominins is as important as describing the hominin fossils themselves, because evolutionary processes are tightly linked to everchanging ecosystems that vary across space and through time. An optimal understanding of ecosystems changes is critical to formulate and test hypotheses regarding human evolution and adaptation. Fortunately, the fossil record has yielded abundant remains of mammals which can be used to explore the possible causal relationships between environmental change and mammal – including hominin –evolution. Although many studies have already been conducted on this topic, most of them are framed at large spatial and temporal scales. Instead, this dissertation focuses on the evolution and paleoecology of only one group of mammals (the Suidae) in a specific geographical area (lower Awash Valley in Ethiopia) and within a constrained time frame (3.8–2.6 Ma). Three dissertation papers address: 1) changes in suid taxonomic composition in relation to Late Pliocene faunal turnover ~2.8 Ma in the Lee-Adoyta basin, Ledi-Geraru; 2) comparisons of suid diets from Hadar (~3.45–2.95 Ma) with respect to those of Kanapoi (~4.1 Ma, West Turkana, Kenya); 3) the dietary ecology of the suids from Woranso-Mille (~3.8–3.2 Ma). Results of these papers show that 1) after ~2.8 Ma there is a replacement of suid species that is coupled with low relative abundance of suids. This is compatible with more open and/or arid environments at this time; 2) suid dietary breadth was broader in Hadar than in Kanapoi, but this is mostly driven by the dietary niche space occupied by Kolpochoerus in Hadar, a suid genus absent from Kanapoi; 3) suid diets vary both temporally and geographically within the lower Awash Valley. Kolpochoerus incorporates more C4 resources (e.g., grasses) in its diet after ~3.5 Ma and in general, suids after ~3.5 Ma in Woranso-Mille had C4-enriched diets in comparison with those from nearby Hadar and Dikika. Presumably, the changes in suid communities (relative abundance and taxonomic composition) and dietary shifts observed in suids were triggered by climatic and habitat changes that also contributed to shape the behavioural and morphological evolution of early hominins. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2018

The bioarchaeology of prehistoric south Florida has been an area of archaeological interest for the last century because of the interplay between ancient populations and the unique environment of the Everglades. The purpose of this study is to analyze the pathology, demography and mortuary practice of the ancient Southeast Florida aboriginal population at Miami One to assess the similarity of Miami One to other south Florida populations during the prehistoric period. The Miami One site (8DA11) is one of many related sites located along the shore of the Miami River. It was continuously occupied from the Late Archaic (ca.1000 B.C.) through the Glades II period (1000 A.D.). Archaeological material associated with the Glades III period (ca. A.D. 1200) was also present. A large quantity of human remains was recovered and half of this collection is being temporarily housed at the University of South Florida. The burials were secondary and commingled in nature, having been recovered from solution holes which served as natural ossuaries. A total of forty-nine adults and fourteen juveniles are reported. Nineteen cases of osteoarthritis related to age and injury are described. Thirty-two cases of infection are described, including periostitis, osteomyelitis, and a possible treponemal infection. Seven cases of trauma are also present. Radiographic evidence demonstrates a low frequency of metabolic disruptions in the population. Dental pathology consists mostly of severe attrition, abscessing, calculus and very few caries, all consistent with a hunter-gatherer subsistence pattern. Mortuary data, including demography, pathology, type of burial, burial location and burial artifacts, are compared to that of five other contemporaneous sites and an earlier site associated with the Glades culture in southeast Florida. The data gathered in this study are consistent with those of the six additional sites, indicating that the local culture is indeed part of the larger Glades culture assigned to southeast Florida and that these groups are culturally heterogeneous.

Houses and lineages are both named, corporate units of social organization defined in part on the connection between people and place. They are distinguished from one another by the relative emphasis on biological descent in societies organized on the basis of corporate group membership. Over the past 15 years, researchers have debated whether ancient Maya social organization was characterized by house or lineage organization. Drawing on ethnographic, epigraphic, and archaeological data, researchers have concluded that the ancient Maya had some characteristics of house societies, but that biological descent was an important principle. One relevant line of evidence conspicuously absent from this debate is biological distance analysis as a means of identifying patterns of biological relatedness within sites. In this chapter we review intracemetery analyses from Mesoamerica, focusing on the Maya area, and discuss what, if any, insight such analyses of biological spatial organization might bring to bear on the house versus lineage debate. We suggest that the use of biological distance analysis will not resolve debates about the relevant importance of house and biological lineage in ancient Maya society, but increasing incorporation of intracemetery analyses within existing research programs will help identify those the circumstances in which biological kinship was emphasized in Maya society. As such, intracemetery biodistance adds an important and independent line of evidence that is currently underutilized in studies of ancient Maya social organization.

Dental anthropology played a seminal role in early studies of the peopling of the New World, and was a foundation of the early three wave model proposed by Greenberg, Turner and Zegura. In recent years, however, developments in anthropological genetics, craniometry, and archaeological discoveries have largely omit-ted dental anthropology from debates regarding Native American origins. Here we consider this situation and reassert dental anthropology's relevance to the topic by presenting an inter-individual analysis of Paleoindian and Paleoamerican dentitions. A small set of dental morphological variables was used to estimate Gower similarity coefficients between individual specimens. The resulting similarity matrix was ordinated using multidimensional scaling; all analyses were per-formed in Clustan v. 7.05. While results should be considered preliminary, patterns of variation suggest morphological similarity along both coasts of North and South America with a somewhat distinct grouping of North American Paleoindians deriving from more inland portions of the continent. This pattern is consistent with recent genetic scenarios, notably the bicoastal model presented by O'Rourke and Raff (2010), which indicates that Paleoindians may have taken multiple migration routes from Beringia, moving along both coasts as well as through the ice free corridor. Future studies may build on this work to reintegrate dental data and analysis into research concerning the peopling of the New World.

Presented in the session “Boundary Bodies: Critically Thinking the Body in Contemporary Osteoarchaeology.” The last 10 years have seen an increase in high-profile historical forensic cases in the popular press, an area of investigation called forensic biohistory. This area typically involves effort to positively identify the famous dead (such as the case Richard III), of to characterize matters of facts surrounding famous historical remains (Mozart’s cause of death) or historical events (such as the Donner party and the Mountain Meadows Massacre in the Western United States), forensic biohistory remains undertheorized and under-considered as a locus of investigation in its own right. Such consideration is worthwhile however because forensic biohistory offers a unique opportunity for anthropologists to engage the public. Bodies of the famous dead serve as boundary objects through which various interested parties (including scientists) intersect. This potential is, however, coupled with a unique set of ethical challenges that researches must face because frequently we are asked to serve as arbiters and judges of the validity of narratives surrounding the bodies in question. In the presentation we discuss forensic biohistory as a district area of research and highlight some of the potential opportunities and challenges that define it as a whole.

Presented in the session “Smoke, Flames, and the Human Body in Mesoamerican Ritual Practice”

Presented in the Gray Fossil Site Lecture Series