The objective of this thesis was to develop new approaches and perspectives in resolving historical information from natural archives. Paleolimnology, the study of past aquatic environments using lake sediment cores, has greatly advanced our understanding of previous environments. This thesis intended to expand the range of historical information that may be used in paleolimnology and for historical reconstructions. Here I used pond sediments and a bat guano deposit as natural archives that recorded a history of events that I interpreted using a combination of chemical and biological measurements. In particular, I applied sterols and stanols as novel approaches for interpreting historical information in natural archives. First, I examined the chemical and biological composition of lake sediments to track the human occupation of Dorset and Thule people in Canada’s High Arctic. As predicted, sterols, stanols, cadmium, copper, and zinc increased in sediments deposited during known periods of human occupation owing to nutrient addition, whereas these increases were absent in reference sites. These methods were further corroborated in a study of 20th century human occupation at Resolute Bay by examining similar constituents in waterbodies that received wastewater discharge. Second, I used δ15N and δ13C to track the agricultural history of Jamaica using a 4,300-year-old bat guano deposit. I then used C/N, δ13C, and sterol and stanol ratios to detect two periods of increased frugivory relative to insectivory-based foraging. Metals normalized to titanium increased during the Industrial Revolution and 206Pb/207Pb values tracked the introduction and subsequent ban of leaded gasoline. I also examined the same chemical constituents in fresh bat guano from frugivorous, insectivorous, and sanguinivorous bats. C/N values decreased and cholestanol, cholesterol, and cholesterol/(cholesterol+sitosterol) values increased in bat guano according to trophic level. This thesis demonstrated the strength of examining several independent lines of evidence to reconstruct historical activities in both High Arctic waterbody sediments and a bat guano deposit. I showed that human activities were traceable within natural archives over several thousand years thus demonstrating that the multi-proxy approach is a powerful tool that can conduct a broad range of analyses in various natural archives.

La investigación se propone analizar las estrategias de manipulación presentes en la cobertura de la etapa terrestre (1880 - 1881) de la Guerra del Guano y el Salitre (1879 - 1883) publicadas en el semanario La Ilustración española y americana. Para ello, se identifican las estrategias discursivas utilizadas por el medio, basándose en el nexo histórico y cultural que se tenía con los países protagonistas del conflicto (Chile, Perú y Bolivia) al ser estos sus ex colonias, aprovechando el contexto bélico que conlleva una carga emocional negativa debido a la sensación de peligro. El principal objetivo de este trabajo consiste en identificar, catalogar y analizar las características de las estrategias discursivas utilizadas en la narración de esta guerra, siendo una de las primeras investigaciones que abarca el cómo fue cubierto por la prensa extranjera uno de los conflictos más recordados en la historia del país. / The research aims to analyze the manipulation strategies present in the coverage of the terrestrial stage (1880-1881) of the Guano and Saltpeter War (1879-1883) published in the weekly La Ilustracion española y americana. For this, the discursive strategies used by the medium are identified, property in the historical and cultural nexus that was had with the countries leading the conflict (Chile, Peru and Bolivia) as these are their former colonies, taking advantage of the warlike context that entails a negative emotional charge due to the feeling of danger. The main objective of this work is to identify, catalog and analyze the characteristics of the discursive strategies used in the narration of this war, being one of the first investigations that covers how one of the most remembered conflicts in the world was covered by the foreign press. the history of the country. / Tesis

<p>The rationale of this study is to apply light stable isotope chemistry towards investigations that require temporally high-resolution data. High-resolution (or high sampling frequency) data sets, are critical for testing environmental and/or paleoenvironmental hypotheses that seek to explain processes occurring over rapid or short time intervals. The investigation of climate variation (e.g., seasonality, El Niño, deglaciation), animal migration and physiology, and disturbance ecology (e.g., fire, flooding) benefits from the recovery of proxy information at decadal to subannual resolutions. The type of material used also dictates a spatial scale. Herein are presented four studies that utilize high-resolution light stable isotope profiles with contrasting temporal and spatial scales. The first study employs advances in three-dimensional computer-controlled micromilling to recover ~daily to weekly deposited carbonate from small (~1 cm) mollusc shells. Stable oxygen isotope values from freshwater mollusc shells are predictably related to the local environment of growth using previously published temperature-fractionation relationships, providing a paleoclimate record of temperature and precipitation. The second study investigates variation in stable carbon isotope values from Aplodinotus grunniens otoliths, for which high-resolution patterns were critical in assessing metabolic rate as the governing control. The third study employs high-resolution stable oxygen and carbon isotope values to determine chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) seasonal and ontogenetic migration in Lake Ontario and its tributaries. Lastly, high-resolution stable hydrogen and carbon isotope values of chitin derived from Mexican free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis) guano are presented, providing a record of abrupt climate change. Thus, this thesis reports on promising new research avenues for paleoclimatology, paleoecology, and modern ecology.

A mediados del siglo XVIII, como parte del proyecto reformista del gobierno Borbónico se dio inicio al proceso de secularización de doctrinas en el mundo colonial. Un proceso histórico que ha sido interpretado en forma general como un fenómeno que respondía al constante conflicto entre ambos cleros y/o a la propia tendencia secularizadora dieciochesca. El presente trabajo busca hacer una relectura de este fenómeno, partiendo de la siguiente interrogante:¿Cómo puede ser entendido el conflicto por el control de las parroquias de indios conocidas como doctrinas a lo largo del periodo colonial Hispanoamericano; y que se intensificó durante el siglo XVIII? Se propone buscar la respuesta a esta pregunta mediante un estudio microhistórico, combinado con una reconstrucción de redes de poder, que aborda lo sucedido en la Secularización de una doctrina específica, Guano, en el corregimiento de Riobamba, parte de la Real Audiencia de Quito en el año 1754. En este estudio microhistórico se explora la pugna por las doctrinas, entendida como una expresión de tensión que se manifestaba en varias dimensiones y escalas entre y dentro del Estado, Iglesia y redes de poder local. Así se trata del estudio de un problema general visto a través de un análisis de escala microscópica.

<p>The rationale of this study is to apply light stable isotope chemistry towards investigations that require temporally high-resolution data. High-resolution (or high sampling frequency) data sets, are critical for testing environmental and/or paleoenvironmental hypotheses that seek to explain processes occurring over rapid or short time intervals. The investigation of climate variation (e.g., seasonality, El Niño, deglaciation), animal migration and physiology, and disturbance ecology (e.g., fire, flooding) benefits from the recovery of proxy information at decadal to subannual resolutions. The type of material used also dictates a spatial scale. Herein are presented four studies that utilize high-resolution light stable isotope profiles with contrasting temporal and spatial scales. The first study employs advances in three-dimensional computer-controlled micromilling to recover ~daily to weekly deposited carbonate from small (~1 cm) mollusc shells. Stable oxygen isotope values from freshwater mollusc shells are predictably related to the local environment of growth using previously published temperature-fractionation relationships, providing a paleoclimate record of temperature and precipitation. The second study investigates variation in stable carbon isotope values from Aplodinotus grunniens otoliths, for which high-resolution patterns were critical in assessing metabolic rate as the governing control. The third study employs high-resolution stable oxygen and carbon isotope values to determine chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) seasonal and ontogenetic migration in Lake Ontario and its tributaries. Lastly, high-resolution stable hydrogen and carbon isotope values of chitin derived from Mexican free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis) guano are presented, providing a record of abrupt climate change. Thus, this thesis reports on promising new research avenues for paleoclimatology, paleoecology, and modern ecology.

Pocas son las investigaciones respecto al momento inicial de la migración china al Perú. La tesis demuestra cómo esta se produjo en la historia del Perú y del valle del Jequetepeque, así como, las razones que llevaron a los migrantes chinos hacia esa región. Probado el maltrato hacia la comunidad migrante china, esta tesis amplía el horizonte de la investigación y la ubica en su contexto histórico. Parte de la hipótesis que el desarrollo de la economía mundial del siglo XIX, incluida la del Perú, necesitaba mano de obra, y que la población china manejaba la migración laboral, como un mecanismo de subsistencia. Así, la investigación efectuada permite concluir que los grandes comerciantes peruanos enlazados a los terratenientes y a la burocracia estatal diseñaron un circuito comercial vinculando la migración china con la comercialización del guano. Que la migración china fue mucho más variada que la sola fuerza laboral agrícola y que, pese a la gran barrera del idioma, los migrantes demostraron lo benéfico de su trabajo para el país. Que, aun cuando, el contrato que portaban contenía arcaicos elementos serviles, los migrantes no fueron considerados esclavos y se convirtieron en una competencia no deseada para la mano de obra nativa. Que las perturbaciones, producto de la debilidad institucional y de la subsistencia de una estructura social e ideas del antiguo régimen afectaron el normal desenvolvimiento del proceso, pese a lo cual, en 1856, se abrió un momento de migración libre y voluntaria al Perú para los trabajadores chinos, tanto como para cualquier otro migrante extranjero. Que investigar la historia de la migración china al Perú permite conectar la historia regional con la historia global, en especial la del Pacífico.