Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis is concerned with related aspects of physical and settlement changes in the coastal portion of the largest lowland in peninsular Italy, the Tavoliere of Poggia (Apulia). It is an empirical study, summarising the state of archaeological and geographical information, offering new archaeological and sedimentary evidence, and reassessing many interpretations concerning settlement, economic activity and the environment from the mid-Holocene and Early Neolithic times to the present. Formerly there were a number of lagoons in the coastlands, wide open to the Adriatic or almost wholly closed by the barrier island. Today much of this is cultivated land. Before the implications of such a physical change on past settlement and economy can be assessed, the ancient settlement patterns have to be discovered; the buried topography revealed; and the nature and phasing of the sedimentation that has all but obliterated the lagoons outlined. These are the main objectives in the present study. A perhaps wider range of source material than is orthodox in historical geography is investigated to these ends. The study of written and cartographic sources, from the Roman period onward, is intimately combined with the study of field evidence both archaeological and sedimentary. In this way, much of the evidence falls in to place as a better understanding of the former physical environment is achieved. For instance, cognizance of the openness of one lagoon leads to a more accurate interpretation of the route directions of the Roman itineraria and a better coincidence of archaeological and written evidences for lost settlements. But, bearing in mind that the thesis is essentially an interim statement on an active and longterm research programme, no conclusions are attempted although the study has implications reaching beyond the local area. Instead, the three important factors of change - climatic change, changes in sea level, and the anthropogenic factor - are introduced as the basis of the next stage in the research programme.

Research at the site of San Estevan, Belize begins with the premise that more serious attention must be paid to the significance of residential variability in archaeological modelings of the lowland Maya. A classification of structure groupings is used to track the distribution of San Estevan's diverse residential arrangements across the site. Norms of social structure and economic inequality prove inadequate frameworks to account for the spatial and temporal variation manifest by San Estevan's residential classes, nor do they help to explain the spatial regularities underlying the distributions of these classes. I suggest, instead, that the site's residential units best effect divergent organizational strategies adopted by San Estevan's prehispanic domestic groups. Whereas diffuse political authority, impoverished political economies, and kingroup self-sufficiency traditionally have been invoked to account for Maya residential patterns, domestic strategies at San Estevan gained their shape directly in relation to the functions housed in the community's precincts of monumental architecture. I conclude that prehispanic Maya residential distributions formed through stringent economic and political entailments of community life.

Burned rock middens large accumulations of thermally fractured rock are among the most common features in Archaic archaeolgical sites in Central Texas. With a sample of 1654 archaeological sites, the distribution of burned rock midden sites is compared with the occurrence of live oak savanna in an area of approximately 55,800 square kilometers in west central Texas. The objective of this distributional analysis is a preliminary assessment of the hypothesis that burned rock middens relate to prehistoric exploitation of acorns. The similarity of the distribution of burned rock middens to both the modern and postulated Archaic distribution of live oak savanna supports this hypothesis. On this basis, it is Inferred that acorns from Quercus fusiformis and perhaps Q. texana and Q. sinuata, var. breviloba were major foods during at least part of the Archaic period. Burned rock middens are suggested to be accumulations mainly of discarded boiling stone fragments broken from use in stone-boiling of acorn foods. Data on modern areas of live oak savanna are used to show that the acorn production Is quite substantial in some portions of Central Texas and is sufficient in most years to support a population density of 1-3 persons per square kilometer for at least half a year. The implications of this potential are evaluated, especially in regard to the kinds of archaeological remains found at burned rock midden sites. The similarity of the distributions of burned rock middens and live oak savanna suggest that the modern general occurrence of live oak savanna is little changed from that 5000 years ago. The possible loss of oaks in one portion of the study area may reflect either short or long periods of drying conditions at some time since 5000 BP.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Unable to load abstract.

Assessing the timing of seasonal movements by the prehistoric peoples of Otago has long been a problem in the archaeology of this region. The oxygen isotope ratio (18 o/16o) of mollusc shell carbonate is temperature dependent. By sampling successive increments of shell growth, palaeotemperature curves can be constructed to provide �season of death� estimates for individual shells. In this work carbonate samples from the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) were used to estimate the seasonality of four prehistoric fishing sites. A total of 275 samples of shell material were analysed for carbon and oxygen isotope ratios at the Institute of Nuclear Sciences, Lower Hutt. Where fishing and shellfishing were important activities they were consistently associated with the winter season. A model of seasonal activity is presented for the Early part of the prehistoric period.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Anthropology)--Vanderbilt University, May 2007. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Dept. of Economics and Dept. of Sociology/Criminal Justice & Criminology. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2005. / "A dissertation in economics and social science." Advisor: Peter J. Eaton. Typescript. Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed March 12, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 301-324). Online version of the print edition.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 603-641). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (doctoral) - Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, 2001. / This book is a slightly revised version of the doctoral dissertation the author completed in June 2001 and defended at the Faculty of Arts of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in October 2001. Includes bibliographical references (p. 255-285) and index.