The goal of this dissertation is to discuss relationships between the sociocultural environment and nutritional status outcomes in an urban industrialized city with high rates of poverty. The purpose is to highlight the complex web of factors shaping nutritional status outcomes and move beyond cause and effect approaches to nutrition in an environment where obesity is a central nutritional concern. To accomplish this goal, I examine a range of factors that relate to adolescent nutritional practices and nutritional status outcomes in a sample population of adolescents living in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I discuss connections between social locations such as age, gender, geographic area, and socioeconomic status. I also highlight the range of nutritional status outcomes observed in the sample population, while examining broader social, political, and economic aspects of the lives of adolescents that differentially shape nutrition-related experiences in the city. Finally, I demonstrate that adolescents occupy a complex social location in which autonomy, advice, and influence from sociocultural and political-economic factors shape their diet and exercise practices and nutritional status outcomes in multi-faceted, and at times unexpected, ways. In doing so, I emphasize the benefits of a localized, rather than a globalized approach to nutritional concerns such as obesity.

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Orangutan Species Survival Plan® aims to maintain 100 Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) in captivity. Because investment in breeding these lineages is high, properly managing sociality of potential mothers is essential. This study assessed how behaviors of a captive breeding female at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo changed from pre-gestation through the offspring’s sixth month of age to improve breeding recommendations. The infant Bornean orangutan was born September 2016. Results indicate that during breeding, the mother socialized most with two adult females. During pregnancy, the pregnant female socialized in less energy-consuming ways, i.e. grooming. Post-partum socialization and proximity data suggest a shift in female affiliation. The presence of another female with maternal experience may be beneficial to the rearing of new offspring. These results can help guide socialization management for pregnant captive orangutans to improve breeding outcomes.

The human bony pelvis has evolved into its current form through competing selective forces. Bipedalism and parturition of large headed babies resulted in a form that is a complex compromise. While the morphology of the human pelvis has been extensively studied, the changes that have occurred since the adoption of the modern form, the secular changes that continue to alter the size and shape of the pelvis, have not received nearly as much attention. This research aims to examine the changes that have altered the morphology of the human bony pelvic girdle of individuals in the United States born between 1840 and1981. Secular changes in the human skeleton have been documented. Improvements in nutrition, decreased disease load, exogamy, activity, climate, and other factors have led to unprecedented growth in stature and weight. The size and shape of the pelvic canal, os coxa, and bi-iliac breadth were all examined in this study. Coordinate data from males and females, blacks and whites were digitized. Calculated inter-landmark data was analyzed using traditional metric methods and the coordinate data was analyzed using 3D geometric morphometrics. After separating the samples into cohorts by sex and ancestry, results indicate that there is secular change occurring in the modern human bony pelvis. Changes in shape are significant across the groups while only white males exhibit increases in size. The dimensions of the pelvic canal have changed over time. The birth canal is becoming more rounded with the inlet anteroposterior diameter and the outlet transverse diameter becoming longer. These diameters, once limiters, are believed to have led to an adoption of the rotational birth method practiced by modern humans. In addition, the bowl of the pelvis is becoming less flared. Childhood improvements in nutrition and decreases in strenuous activity may be the cause of the dimension changes in the bony pelvis. The similar changes across both sexes and ancestries indicate a similar environmental cause. However, it is likely a combination of factors that are difficult to tease apart. Whether the increases continue remains to be determined.

TVA/WPA excavations in East Tennessee in the 1930s uncovered archaeological sites critical for shaping theories about the prehistory of the region. Based on the archaeology of three of these sites, Hixon (AD 1155-1285), Dallas (AD 1350-1450), and Rymer (AD 1400-1600) in the Chickamauga Basin, early researchers concluded that each settlement resulted from migrations of biologically unrelated people into the area (Lewis and Lewis, 1941, 1946). Testing of this supposition using biological distance analysis (Weston, 2005) suggested that the sites instead represented biological continuity in the Chickamauga Basin. In this study, cranial and postcranial non-metric traits are used to examine biological distance between the three Chickamauga Basin sites and an extra-regional site from the Watts Bar Basin, using Mahalanobis D2 with a tetrachoric correlation matrix. Results of this four-group study differed dramatically from the expected structure of biological relationships between the sites, suggesting that the Hixon population was completely unrelated biologically to the populations in both the Chickamauga and Watts Bar Basins. In fact, these results combined with ceramic decorative styles present at the Hixon site suggest the population may have immigrated from Etowah in Bartow County, Georgia, with a continued shared cultural identity with Etowah providing sufficient barrier to mate exchange with the other East Tennessee sites examined here. Results of both cranial and postcranial non-metric biological distance analyses indicate the strongest genetic affiliations for all four sites to be between Dallas in the Chickamauga Basin and DeArmond in Watts Bar, despite great geographical separation of the settlements. In addition, an introduction to the skeletal biology of Watts Bar is presented via osteological examination of pathology and trauma of the DeArmond site. Smith (2003) recorded low levels of interpersonal and high levels of intrapersonal violence during the Dallas phase in the Chickamauga Basin. Results from DeArmond demonstrate similar rates and patterns, most likely reflecting a temporal trend in the region. The DeArmond skeletal remains exhibit low levels of metabolic stress but remarkably high levels of infectious disease. It appears that while all of the DeArmond individuals had access to high protein food resources regardless of status, status had little effect on preventing the spread of infection at the site.

The University of Tennessee Anthropology Research Facility (ARF) is well known for its unique history as a site of human decomposition research in a natural environment. It has been integral to our understanding of the processes of human decomposition. Over the last 30 years 1,089 bodies have decomposed at this 1.28 acre facility, producing a density of 850 corpses per acre of land. This project evaluated the abiotic and biotic characteristics of the soil exposed to various levels of human decomposition in order to determine the effect on the physicochemical properties and the indigenous bacterial communities. Specifically, 75 soil samples were taken to determine abiotic properties. A biological matrix was generated for the 40 samples inside the facility based on sequencing of the 16S rDNA gene. The identified taxonomy was evaluated for differences among decomposition bins and taxa. Results of the abiotic soil properties demonstrated few differences among the predefined bins of decomposition density. Significant differences were observed between samples inside the facility to the negative control, and to those samples taken below actively decomposing corpses. When taken together, the abiotic data demonstrated a temporal shift away from control, with the greatest deviation at 18 to 24 months. After which time, the samples became more similar to control samples. Similarly, the biotic data remained concordant with the abiotic data, but demonstrated significant differences between the areas of high decomposition to those with no history of decomposition. The high decomposition bins were marked by high levels of chemoorganotrophic and sulfate-reducing bacteria, and a reduction in Acidobacteria, indicating a change in the community of underlying bacteria in response to carcass enrichment and ammonification of the soil. Thirty years of decomposition research at the ARF has forced a shift in the underlying bacterial community in response to the enrichment of the soil with increased nitrogen and carbon-containing compounds. The baseline data presented in this work provides a control dataset for further exploration regarding the biogeochemical relationships among microbial organisms, soil characteristics, and cadaver decomposition. Within this relationship exists the potential for developing new models relating to postmortem interval estimation and clandestine grave location.

A study of bilateral variation among individuals from three populations was conducted. One sample consisted of 174 Cashinahua Indians who reside along the Curanja River in the Peruvian rain forest. A second group was composed of 286 students from anthropology classes at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Eighty-six families, including 372 individuals, constituted the third sample. Four laterality traits - handedness, armfolding, handclasping, and mid-phalangeal hair - were analyzed by population and by individual family. The most interesting variation occurred in the frequency of right and left handclasping and in the presence or absence of mid-phalangeal hair. The percentage of left and right armfolders among the populations was fairly stable. Handclasping and armfolding do not seem to be related to handedness, however, conflicting data on the relationship between armfolding and handclasping showed that further study is needed. The Cashinahua differed more from the two Tennessee populations than the latter two did from each other. In particular, the frequency of mid-digital hair among the Cashinahua was very low, which is consistent with data from other American Indian groups. The two Tennessee populations, on the other hand, compared with other Caucasoid samples in hair frequency. Analysis of the family data provided some evidence for the heritable character of the handclasping trait and strong evidence for the heritability of the mid-phalangeal hair trait. Armfolding and handedness, on the other hand, did not seem to reflect a strong genetic character.

Nomadic pastoralism is an ancient subsistence strategy, historically balanced and in continuity with sedentary societies. Sedentarization of nomads occurs normally because of ecological disasters, economic opportunities, urbanization, and government policy. In this paper, I examine the effect of changing land use patterns on nomadic pastoral populations in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, using biogeographic methodology to further explore the contemporary relationship between humans and their environments. Nomadic population information gleaned from diverse ethnographic studies, and GIS data on anthropogenic biome distributions, were used to calculate changes in nomadic population, area of developed land, and nomadic/sedentary population density over the last century in seven countries. There was a significant decrease in the proportion of national populations practicing nomadic pastoralism (paired t-test, p=0.0038, n=7), but no significant overall change in total nomadic populations (paired t-test, p=0.41, n=7); nomadic population decreased in all countries but Sudan and Somalia. There was also no significant change in undeveloped land available for nomadic pastoralism (mean change -12.5%, S.D. ±15.8, paired t-test p=0.07, n=7), though the area of land available for nomadic pastoralism decreased in most countries. There was a negative linear correlation between land development and nomadic population when Somalia and Sudan were omitted (r2=0.84). Nomadic population density decreased in most countries, but increased in Somalia and Sudan. Some nomadic populations may be experiencing an extinction debt effect, where habitat loss combines with increased population density (Somalia, Sudan), but in most others where the population seemed to decrease more rapidly than would be expected due to habitat loss (Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, Iraq, and Afghanistan). The variable relationship between density and habitat loss implies that social factors often overshadow the ecological: though there is a correlation between habitat loss and nomadic population decline, causation is unclear. Despite the limitations of this study, nomadic populations do seem to have a natural balance with their cultural and biological environments that is disrupted by changes in social dynamics with sedentary populations and their subsequent environmental impacts. The loss of cultural diversity inherent in this disruption may decrease the flexibility and adaptability of the overall biosocial human ecosystem.

A study of bilateral variation among individuals from three populations was conducted. One sample consisted of 174 Cashinahua Indians who reside along the Curanja River in the Peruvian rain forest. A second group was composed of 286 students from anthropology classes at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Eighty-six families, including 372 individuals, constituted the third sample.Four laterality traits - handedness, armfolding, handclasping, and mid-phalangeal hair - were analyzed by population and by individual family.The most interesting variation occurred in the frequency of right and left handclasping and in the presence or absence of mid-phalangeal hair. The percentage of left and right armfolders among the populations was fairly stable. Handclasping and armfolding do not seem to be related to handedness, however, conflicting data on the relationship between armfolding and handclasping showed that further study is needed.The Cashinahua differed more from the two Tennessee populations than the latter two did from each other. In particular, the frequency of mid-digital hair among the Cashinahua was very low, which is consistent with data from other American Indian groups. The two Tennessee populations, on the other hand, compared with other Caucasoid samples in hair frequency.Analysis of the family data provided some evidence for the heritable character of the handclasping trait and strong evidence for the heritability of the mid-phalangeal hair trait. Armfolding and handedness, on the other hand, did not seem to reflect a strong genetic character.

The forensic examination of wounds is one of the key elements of analysis performed by forensic anthropologists and forensic pathologists. Gross examination and histological analysis can be used to determine the timing of the wound and its cause. While forensic pathologists are trained to analyze hard and soft tissue wounds, forensic anthropologists, bioarchaeologists, and paleopathologists, focus on hard tissue. Forensic anthropologists have the added benefit of potentially working with residual soft tissue and would benefit from the incorporation of microscopy techniques that take advantage of the soft tissue to better understand perimortem events. Little research has been published that examines if any healing processes, the defining characteristic of an antemortem wound that do not progress beyond the time of death, are preserved within the tissues beyond death and how long they may be visible. The objectives of this study were to examine if the use of multiple stains will allow earlier visualization of healing processes in skeletal fractures than gross examination and to observe the length of time microscopic healing structures remain visible after death. A total of 224 slides from 19 specimens representing both fractured and un-fractured bones for control samples were taken from nine autopsied individuals at the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office and analyzed using four stains: Hemotoxylin and eosin (H&E), trichrome, Prussian blue, and elastin stain. Slides were analyzed using a set of 14 scored variables and evaluated with nonparametric statistical tests and cluster analyses. H&E, trichrome, and elastin stains were useful in examining wound age and survival time categories were significantly different for presence of elastin and presence of hemorrhage. H&E and trichrome stains proved useful for observing residual healing structures after death and time cohorts after time of autopsy were significantly different for 11 variables. Results from this study support further testing with larger sample sizes, including samples with a wider range of survival time, to better predict survival times of fractures and time since death.

The town of Nuñoa, located in the southern Peruvian Andes, has been the ongoing focus of anthropological research. Household surveys of diet and food security (n=69) administered during 2012 are analyzed here and compared to past studies from previous decades. Study results show clearly that the amount and diversity of new foods available in the area has increased dramatically, but also gives evidence for continued disparate access to certain types of food along class lines. Socioeconomic status had a significant negative correlation with food insecurity and poor households more frequently consumed both potatoes and other cheap, high carbohydrate foods such as rice, noodles, and flour. In contrast, foods eaten significantly more often by wealthier households included cheese, fish, and vegetables, all of which have become much more available since dietary surveys were conducted in the late 1960s. It is likely that many rural families have migrated into the center of town looking for steady employment, which has decreased dietary seasonality and increased reliance on market access.