The adoption of bone tool technology in the Early Upper Palaeolithic of Europe by Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans has been the focus of considerable debate. In particular this debate has focused on the origins of the technology and the possible implications for the extinction of Neanderthals. This dissertation examines the context of element selection for use as raw material to produce bone tools, related to prey species in the Châtelperronian of the Grotte du Renne, Arcy-sur Cure and the Aurignacian of Abri Cellier, Dordogne. Current research indicates that there was little difference in the subsistence organization of Neanderthals and modern humans. As a more nuanced view of Neanderthal behavior emerges from recent studies, it is becoming apparent that differences between the two hominins are a matter of degree rather than absolute difference. The faunal analysis of the two assemblages in this dissertation found that both Neanderthals and modern humans were pursuing a foraging strategy to obtain prime age herbivores for food. Locally available taxa were taken. Carcasses were processed for meat, marrow and fat. Both assemblages show a preference for non-marrow bearing long bones or long bone shaft fragments to make tools. The raw material was chosen with reference to the mechanical properties of the bones, which exhibit elasticity necessary for use as awls or hide scrapers. Raw material was a by-product of the larger subsistence strategy. There is a difference in the use of antler. This is not used by Neanderthals. In the Aurignacian, it appears that the amount of antler represented by the points and tools at Abri Cellier could be obtained as part of a general foraging strategy. The appearance of bone tools in the Early Upper Palaeolithic has been argued as evidence for `modern' behavior. It might be more profitable to view the adoption of this new technology as a response by two different but related populations to particular ecological problems. It could be argued that the archaeological visibility of bone tools reflects an increasing investment in the production of more effective clothing by both Neanderthals and modern humans.

This thesis examines the comparative abundance of shellfish from archaeological assemblages on the west coast of Vancouver Island in Nuu-chah-nulth territories. Eighteen sites spanning the Nuu-chah-nulth region emphasize the diversity in invertebrate foods that have been consumed 5000-150 years ago: Yaksis Cave, Loon Cave, and Hesquiat Village at Hesquiat Harbour; Chesterman Beach; Spring Cove; Ts’ishaa, Ch’ituukwachisht (North and South), Tl’ihuuw’a, Shiwitis, Huumuuwaa, Maktl7ii, Huts’atswilh, Kakmakimilh, Kiix7iin, and Huu7ii. Invertebrate zooarchaeology is an understudied field that has the potential to impact ecological restoration and conservation efforts. Ubiquity, or frequency of occurrence, provides a measure of abundance for a target taxa or species through a percent presence/absence approach. Regionally conventional methods of invertebrate analysis, including weight-based quantification, primarily favour heavy and robust bivalves, such as clams and mussels, and diminish the presence of other frequently occurring invertebrates. Ubiquity-based quantification shows how frequently ‘other’ shellfish have been utilized over time and across archaeological deposits. Gooseneck barnacles (Pollicipes polymerus) are often considered rare, an unimportant intertidal resource, but ubiquity-based analyses show that they are far more abundant than previously appreciated. A methodological combination of these two approaches shows vastly different perspectives on shellfish abundance, and this has implications for how the dietary role of shellfish is understood and discussed in archaeological discourse. / Graduate / 2020-09-09

Abstract This study seeks to expand the knowledge of Woodland subsistence practices in the Alabama River valley by presenting an analysis of the faunal assemblage from the Indian Hill site, 1WX15. Additionally, this study presents a comparison of 1WX15 to other sites from the Tombigbee, Alabama, and Coosa river valleys in order to present a broad picture of Woodland subsistence in and near the Eastern Gulf Coastal Plain. An intra-site comparison revealed the primary vertebrate resources exploited were mammals and turtles. The substantial amount of turtle fragments suggested the site was occupied during warm months, with a fall and winter occupation possible as well. Feature 38, a domestic dog skeleton, was of special interest. Characteristics of this feature indicated both intentional burial and post-mortem modifications consistent with food refuse. An inter-site comparison demonstrated that three variables were influencing the composition of the faunal assemblages from the Tombigbee, Alabama, and Coosa river valleys. These three variables were seasonality, geography, and time. Seasonality and geography appeared to have greater influence than time. This study has revealed three areas in which Eastern Gulf Coastal Plain faunal analyses are inadequate. There are few Middle Woodland faunal assemblages; those available have very small sample sizes. There are no faunal analyses available outside of alluvial valleys. Finally, there are very few winter assemblages; assemblages in which winter occupation is indicated are mixed with warm season material. Rectifying these shortcomings with future research will provide a more comprehensive picture of Woodland subsistence and variability thereof.

The Pine Hill collection was discovered in the archaeology lab at State University of New York College at Potsdam after remaining unstudied for over 30 years since its initial excavation in the 1960s and 1970s. Pine Hill has been identified as a fifteenth century St. Lawrence Iroquois village site, located in St. Lawrence County, New York. The faunal remains and bone tools from the site indicate food procurement strategies, seasonal activities, the presence of discrete activity areas at the site, and the production and use of a wide range of bone tools. Replication experiments conducted on several bone tool types provide insight about how these tools were made, used, and how quickly they might be discarded. As one of the first reports on a St. Lawrence Iroquois site in the region, this study presents important information about this group.

The Tamaulipan Biotic Province (TBP) is an ecotonal community that has been characterized in the twentieth century as a mixture of plains, woodland, and desert-adapted mammalian taxa. Some authors have proposed that this heterogeneous mixture of animals is a result of human influence on the environment in the post-European contact period. Others have proposed that the characteristically disharmonious mixture of fauna has been present in south Texas since prehistory. By considering the presence of certain key taxa across the archaeological record of the area this thesis demonstrates that the fauna characteristic of the Tamaulipan Biotic Province can be followed back in time as far as the archaeological record allows. This work also provides complete lists of all vertebrate organisms present in the archaeological record of the area, organized by time period and also by archaeological site and citation.

This present research explores the impact of Flannery’s (1969) Broad Spectrum Revolution model within the context of the Levantine Epipalaeolithic, specifically the early (Kebaran) Epipalaeolithic. This model attempts to explain changes in subsistence behaviour associated with the end of the Pleistocene leading up to the development of agriculture. The Jordan valley represents an ideal model for Flannery’s marginal habitat because of the range of different flora and fauna required more intensive resource exploitation strategies. The discussion here focuses on the zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis of two faunal assemblages (representing two sub-horizons) from Urkan e-Rubb IIa, a Kebaran site located in the lower Jordan Valley, and excavated by E. Hovers (Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University Jerusalem), in 1986 and 1988. This site shows evidence of specialised gazelle hunting and processing. Initial interpretations of the site argued for a multi-purpose residential base camp, supported by lithic tool and shell bead manufacturing. Recent discussions of Epipalaeolithic diet breadth have concentrated on the end of the Pleistocene (Munro 2001, 2003, 2004, 2009; Stiner 2001; Stiner & Munro 2002; Stiner et al. 1999, 2000; Stutz et al. 2009) and have been directed towards explaining changing subsistence patterns towards the end of the Epipalaeolithic (i.e. the Natufian), where an increased use of wild cereals and small game has been well documented. The view that it is not until the Natufian that broad spectrum resource strategies were used is questioned here. Major questions that are addressed with this research include: What do the faunal assemblages from Urkan e-Rubb IIa tell us about Kebaran subisistence behaviour? Do broad spectrum models help to shed light on subsistence adaptations at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum? What can recent analyses of Jordan Valley faunal assemblages contribute to the discussion? These are addressed through a detailed zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis of the Urkan e-Rubb IIa fauana, followed by synchronic and diachronic analyses of Levantine Epipalaeolithic assemblages, through a combination of taxonomy-based diversity indices and prey-ranking indices.

This present research explores the impact of Flannery’s (1969) Broad Spectrum Revolution model within the context of the Levantine Epipalaeolithic, specifically the early (Kebaran) Epipalaeolithic. This model attempts to explain changes in subsistence behaviour associated with the end of the Pleistocene leading up to the development of agriculture. The Jordan valley represents an ideal model for Flannery’s marginal habitat because of the range of different flora and fauna required more intensive resource exploitation strategies. The discussion here focuses on the zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis of two faunal assemblages (representing two sub-horizons) from Urkan e-Rubb IIa, a Kebaran site located in the lower Jordan Valley, and excavated by E. Hovers (Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University Jerusalem), in 1986 and 1988. This site shows evidence of specialised gazelle hunting and processing. Initial interpretations of the site argued for a multi-purpose residential base camp, supported by lithic tool and shell bead manufacturing. Recent discussions of Epipalaeolithic diet breadth have concentrated on the end of the Pleistocene (Munro 2001, 2003, 2004, 2009; Stiner 2001; Stiner & Munro 2002; Stiner et al. 1999, 2000; Stutz et al. 2009) and have been directed towards explaining changing subsistence patterns towards the end of the Epipalaeolithic (i.e. the Natufian), where an increased use of wild cereals and small game has been well documented. The view that it is not until the Natufian that broad spectrum resource strategies were used is questioned here. Major questions that are addressed with this research include: What do the faunal assemblages from Urkan e-Rubb IIa tell us about Kebaran subisistence behaviour? Do broad spectrum models help to shed light on subsistence adaptations at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum? What can recent analyses of Jordan Valley faunal assemblages contribute to the discussion? These are addressed through a detailed zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis of the Urkan e-Rubb IIa fauana, followed by synchronic and diachronic analyses of Levantine Epipalaeolithic assemblages, through a combination of taxonomy-based diversity indices and prey-ranking indices.

This masters thesis investigates the environmental/climatic change that is thought to have brought about the economic shift and transition from Palaeolithic economic system of hunting gathering to Neolithic economic system of agriculture and domestication period around 11.000-10.000 years ago. This study uses the collected animal and plant data of the Natufian culture in the Levant region from the previous zooarchaeological and archaeobotanical literature anlyses. It shows a significant mathematical difference in the zooarchaeological assemblage measures between the Early and Late Natufian sites by calculating Economic value parameters of the Early and the Late Natufian sites, a comparison analysis was made in terms of percentage frequencies of animals site by site and between early-late periods. The result shows a significant animal food supply decrease and change-shift shown during the Younger Dryas climatic crisis times of the whole Late Natufian period sites total and early to late site by site individually, compared to whole Early Natufian period sites. It shows there is a possibility that some big-base camp Late Natufian occupation sites were better able to create coping mechanisms against food crisis/food shortage and more successfully than other Late Natufian sites during the climatic food crisis period. It shows supporting with the animal-plant data and changes in the human bones, burial practices, human teeth, diet changes and anthropological studies evidence, a big social-economic-cultural change and a huge food crisis was highly possible and humans highly possibly lived an economic crisis and an highly connected-related social-cultural crisis during the Younger Dryas in the Late Natufian times human societies.

<strong>Abstract</strong> This study seeks to expand the knowledge of Woodland subsistence practices in the Alabama River valley by presenting an analysis of the faunal assemblage from the Indian Hill site, 1WX15. Additionally, this study presents a comparison of 1WX15 to other sites from the Tombigbee, Alabama, and Coosa river valleys in order to present a broad picture of Woodland subsistence in and near the Eastern Gulf Coastal Plain. An intra-site comparison revealed the primary vertebrate resources exploited were mammals and turtles. The substantial amount of turtle fragments suggested the site was occupied during warm months, with a fall and winter occupation possible as well. Feature 38, a domestic dog skeleton, was of special interest. Characteristics of this feature indicated both intentional burial and post-mortem modifications consistent with food refuse. An inter-site comparison demonstrated that three variables were influencing the composition of the faunal assemblages from the Tombigbee, Alabama, and Coosa river valleys. These three variables were seasonality, geography, and time. Seasonality and geography appeared to have greater influence than time. This study has revealed three areas in which Eastern Gulf Coastal Plain faunal analyses are inadequate. There are few Middle Woodland faunal assemblages; those available have very small sample sizes. There are no faunal analyses available outside of alluvial valleys. Finally, there are very few winter assemblages; assemblages in which winter occupation is indicated are mixed with warm season material. Rectifying these shortcomings with future research will provide a more comprehensive picture of Woodland subsistence and variability thereof.

Humans have always been fascinated by wild carnivores. This has led to a unique interaction with these beasts, one in which these key figures played an important role as main icons in state imperialism and domination. At the Classic period site of Teotihuacan, Mexico (A.D. 1-550) this was no exception as large carnivores (mainly eagles, felids, canids and rattlesnake) were sacrificed and deposited as associated offerings in large-scale dedicatory rituals. This study investigates the zooarchaeological remains of nearly two-hundred animals found in offertory chambers at the Moon Pyramid and the Sun Pyramid to question: 1) What were the dynamic ritual processes that took place during the dedication ritual? 2) What changes do we see in the types of human-animal interactions with wild carnivores? 3) How did the participation of animals in ritualized activities lead to the concretion of a stratified sociopolitical landscape? And, 4) what were some of the meanings and functions behind the dedicatory acts? This project applies a multi-methodological approach integrating zooarchaeological, isotopic, and iconographic analyses interpreted in light of existing ethnographic, ethnohistoric, and religious studies literature. The dataset resulting from this dissertation provides the most comprehensive evidence of the central role animals played in rituals linked to monumentalism and state domination. Ferocious carnivores not only participated as victims of sacrifice and ritual paraphernalia, but were also kept in confinement in anticipation to the ritual slaughter. A shift in human-animal interactions, now characterized by dominance and control of the most powerful beast on the landscape, was central to creating a new perception of the animal hierarchy. The fauna deposited at these offering caches were social agents that helped negotiate and maintain social hierarchies, even ascribe meaning into the monuments themselves, through their participation in ritualized performances. / Anthropology