xv, 275 p. : ill., maps. A print copy of this title is available through the UO Libraries under the call numbers: KNIGHT E78.O6 W55 1993 / This study addresses the problem of prehistoric culture change in interior southwest Oregon as reflected in subsistence/settlement patterns. Eighty-three sites, excavated during cultural resource management projects, constitute the database. This study also demonstrates the applicability of cultural resource management data to questions of regional interest and of general importance to anthropology. Two contrasting subsistence/settlement regimes are modeled based on regional ethnographic and archaeological studies. One pattern is that of a mobile subsistence regime; the other is that of a more sedentary regime associated with permanent villages and the collection and processing of foods for over-winter storage. The first is reflected in the archaeological record by a settlement system consisting of seasonal camps and short-term task sites; the second is represented by a settlement system consisting of villages, seasonal camps, and task sites. To test these models against available data, sites were first placed in functional categories (village, seasonal camp, task site) based on qualitative and quantitative assessments of their archaeological assemblages. This analysis represents the first quantitative assessment of a large database of archaeological sites in this region, and also provide a means of testing previous archaeologists' intuitive judgments about site type. Quantitative measures distinguishing sites, based on the density and diversity of stone tools present in their assemblages include: (a) density measures for chipped stone artifacts; (b) a multidimensional scaling exercise which distinguishes sites based on assemblage diversity (richness and evenness); and (c) cobble and groundstone density measures compared with excavated feature data. The quantitative analysis also offers a methodological contribution for avoiding problems associated with comparison of archaeological samples of greatly varying sizes. Next, sites were assigned to the Middle Archaic (6,000-2,000 BP) or Late Archaic (2,000-150 BP) period. Finally, a comparison of site types manifest in the two periods shows that the predominant settlement pattern during the Middle Archaic consisted of seasonal camps and task sites, indicating a more mobile subsistence/settlement regime. A more sedentary, village-centered regime, appeared along major waterways at the end of the Middle Archaic, and spread throughout the region during the Late Archaic. / Committee in charge: D. Melvin Aikens, Chair; Don E. Dumond; Ann Simonds; Patricia F. McDowell

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This thesis examines the causes and processes of culture change in complex society in ancient Mesoamerica. Facets of political and social change are attributed to the effects of competition for status, power and prestige. The position is taken that, although competition is not directly observable, it is visible in its patterned effects on the material record. Thus, the study examines the uses of material culture in sociopolitical terms, and then attempts to explain socio-political interaction and change using the archaeological remnants of material culture. The archaeological record for Kaminaljuyu and vicinity within the Valley of Guatemala is used as a test case. Essentially, status competition, underwritten by material and consensual support, leads to efforts to promote economic production and population size. Responses to increases in polity scale and complexity lead to political adjustment and change. A processual model is proposed which focuses on change within and between two dominant economic and status support systems, the local subsistence system and the regional wealth trade system. Relevant social variables are linked to archaeological materials to enable operationalization of the theory. Thus political support is represented by aspects of settlement (population size and distribution) and by economic production (land use, craft production). Status demonstration is represented by construction activity and-political maintenance is represented by the provision of administrative space. The main findings for Kaminaljuyu are that: 1) Long-distance wealth trade in commodities and status goods was associated with maximization of all types of economic production, centralization of political power, rural population increase and population dispersal. 2) The local subsistence system was associated with decentralization of political power, localized economic productivity, centralization of population (crowding) and possible social conflict. The method also led to the investigation of and insights into the record for Kaminaljuyu. The analysis demonstrated a two-period cycle of socio-political change, each cycle conforming to the sequence of change proposed in the model. This pattern conforms to well-known cycles of political centralization and decentralization. This approach was useful for investigating the archaeological record for this type of complex polity. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

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by Pheriba Kay Stacy. / Typescript. / M.A. Florida State University 1967 / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 167-175).

This paper presents a refined methodology for distinguishing the stone points of arrows from the stone points of spear thrower darts in archaeological assemblages from the Great Basin. The methodology was developed from a sample of 111 complete stone points collected during the archaeological reconnaissance and testing of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Harney County, Oregon, 1971-1974. The points were measured for five metric variables and frequency histograms of each variable were generated by computer. The effectiveness of each variable as an index of functional class (i.e., arrow point vs. dart point) was judged on the basis of the apparent bimodality of its curve and the t-test. The variables of weight and neck width showed significant bimodality, confirming the work of previous researchers. A new variable, stem thickness, also showed significant bimodality. All three can be considered useful indices of functional class. They also appear to be functionally independent. An attempt was made at developing a multivariable index of point function, using a multivariable clustering analysis, the K-means test. Results of the K-means test were inconclusive but showed promise for further development.