Thesis (M.A.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2003. / Title from title page screen (viewed Mar. 29, 2004). Thesis advisor: Walter E. Klippel. Document formatted into pages (ix, 135 p. : ill. (some col.)). Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-127).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology, August 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 263-286). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Divinity School, August 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2002. / Bibliography: leaves 228-242.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2002. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 314-326). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

The primary focus of this thesis is to examine the relationship between diet, as reconstructed via stable isotope analysis, and bone lead levels, quantified by trace element analysis for individuals interred at the Royal Naval Hospital Cemetery (RNHC), A.D. 1793-1822, in Antigua, West Indies. Individuals of both African and European ancestries were recovered from this colonial-era cemetery, and samples from their remains were analyzed to determine stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values (as a proxy for diet), and bone lead levels. The data were then compared in order to elucidate any association among the variables. This investigation revealed that the relationship between diet and lead may have been affected by many variables including ancestry, status, agency, and duration of stay in the West Indies. However, from the results presented in this thesis, the strongest correlation between stable isotope signatures and bone lead levels is in the relationship between δ13Ccollagen and lead for individuals consuming a diet primarily consisting of C3 staple starches and C3 fed animals. A secondary focus of this thesis is to estimate the extent to which the individuals interred at the RNHC may have suffered from symptoms of lead poisoning. Through conversion of bone lead levels to blood lead levels, potential symptomatology may be estimated in order to determine the percentage of individuals from the population that may have experienced mild to severe lead poisoning. In this population, a majority of individuals had high enough blood lead levels that they may have suffered from a range of symptoms associated with exposure to lead, which is not inconsistent with historical assertions that lead poisoning was of considerable detriment to the health and well-being of individuals serving in the British military in the colonial Caribbean. This study provides further insight into the health and lifeways of lower-ranking naval personnel and enslaved labourers owned by the Navy in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century West Indies.

There has been historical failure to exploit skeletal data in archaeological syntheses of the Neolithic, compounded by poor or cursory osteological reports. This project aimed to discover what Neolithic Orcadian life was like, arguing from skeletal evidence. Orkney's exceptional site preservation and large skeletal collections present opportunities for detailed analysis. The Orkney environment presented identifiable constraints to Neolithic lifeways. Isbister chambered cairn produced the largest assemblage of human remains from any single British Neolithic site. This was examined alongside other Neolithic collections to discover evidence for, and develop models of Neolithic life. The demographic structure indicates that twice as many adult males were deposited as females. Few young infants were in the assemblage but disproportionately many older children and young adults. Stable light isotope analysis suggested age and sex-related dietary differences with a predominantly terrestrial protein source. Pathological conditions included scurvy, multiple myeloma and osteoarthritis. Trauma and non-specific lesions were common and affected all age and sex groups. Prevalences of pathological conditions seemed high and may reflect a group selected for some reason related to disability or deformity. The interred individuals probably held some special status within their society. The chambered cairns' commingled bones do not indicate an egalitarian society or contemporary ancestor veneration but suggest monumental tombs had some special role possibly related to violent death or supernatural liminality.

Is there such a thing as unadulterated nature? All that surrounds us is culturally modified by man somewhere along our past. But culture is only a fictitious conception itself, created in an attempt to break the world into controllable objects. So in what do we find culture? In everything? In the objects or the stories they embrace? Who chooses what’s worth saving and how to save? Choosing what is culture is made from personal, ingrained dichotomies of what’s important and what is not. A selective eye creates a distorted truth, which could have unintentional long-term effects. This thesis will give a historical account of the archaeological discipline’s development in tending to our cultural heritage. By demonstrating its many complications, with examples of forest remains, I will argue for the need of innovation, communication and documentation. Only then can we get a broader, more varied and slightly less modified picture of the culture we choose to keep.

This thesis presents the results of recent sampling of the Q’umu?xs Village site (DkSf-19) at Comox Harbour, British Columbia. Bucket auger and column sampling was undertaken to ascertain resource use patterns associated with the unique abundance of wooden stake fish traps located in Comox Harbour through zooarchaeological analysis of fish remains. Fish remains were identified and quantified to trace changes in resource use and linked to the chronology of fish trap use. Incorporating the theoretical frameworks of human behavioural ecology (optimal foraging models), intensification, household archaeology, and the archaeology of complex hunter-gatherers, this thesis discusses the use of fish traps in Comox Harbour in relation to larger questions of Northwest Coast social and economic complexity, in particular the emphasis on herring seen in the fish remains.

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