Investigating the organization of production systems can reveal much about a society, in particular how resources and labor were allocated, and the influence that economic, political, social, and ceremonial institutions had on the production process. Interpreting the nature of specialized production is useful for understanding how production was organized. In turn, the degree of standardization exhibited by the goods being produced is used to determine the nature of specialization. While archaeological research regarding specialized production has expanded over time to incorporate a wide range of societies, such research is often focused on complex societies. The research presented here focuses on the small-scale, or non-stratified, community that once inhabited the Kolomoki site, a Middle to Late Woodland period site in Early county, Georgia. This thesis utilizes a three-dimensional laser scanner to document Weeden Island pottery from Kolomoki. The digital images created by the scanner were used to measure incising and punctation marks. The measurements were then analyzed in order to determine the extent of standardization among the decorative attributes. Results suggest that standardization varies among different subsamples of pottery. However, the overall degree of standardization is relatively low, thus suggesting that specialized production may not have existed, or was very limited, at Kolomoki. Despite the limited extent of standardization among the decorative attributes, the results of this research, especially in conjunction with previous research, suggest that some pottery may have been afforded special attention during the production process. In particular, pottery from mound proveniences, and socially valued goods, notably sacred and prestige items, demonstrate higher degrees of standardization. This leads to the conclusion that the production of Weeden Island pottery was likely influenced by ritual and ceremonial activity within the Kolomoki community. This thesis contributes to a greater understanding of specialization in non-stratified Woodland period societies in the southeastern United States.

Magistro darbe tiriama kertinių miško buveinių vertė alternatyviųjų kaštų metodu Darbo objektas – Kauno miškų urėdijos, girininkijų kertinės miško buveinės. Darbo tikslas – alternatyviųjų kaštų metodu įvertinti VĮ Kauno miškų urėdijos negaunamas pajamas dėl kertinių miško buveinių įsteigimo bei šių buveinių medieninės funkcijos kapitalizuotos vertės sumažėjimą dėl taikomų ūkinės veiklos apribojimų. Darbo metodai – Ištisinis statistinis metodas – duomenų apie kertines miško buveines rinkimui bei apdorojimui, alternatyviųjų kaštų metodas - kertinių miško buveinių ekonominiams skaičiavimams, taikant Faustmano miško žemės vertės formulę, naudojant MS EXCEL skaičiuoklę. Darbo rezultatai. Iš 1 ha kertinių miško buveinių dėl ūkinės veiklos apribojimų negaunamos vidutinės metinės pajamos svyruoja nuo 66 Lt/ha drebulynuose iki 208 Lt/ha ąžuolynuose. Negaunamų pajamų vertę labiausiai lemia vyraujanti medžių rūšis, esamas tūris ir medyno amžius. Vidutinės prarandamos metinės pajamos iš 1ha - 156 Lt. Visame kertinių miško buveinių plote vidutinės metinės prarandamos pajamos sudaro 205885 Lt. Dėl negaunamų pajamų sumažėja kapitalizuota medynų, patekusių į kertines miško buveines, vertė. Vertinant pagal Faustmano miško žemės vertės skaičiavimo metodą, visų kertinių buveinių kapitalizuota medieninės funkcijos vertė sumažėja 21,3 mln. Lt (vidutiniškai 24,7 tūkst. Lt/ha), lyginant su IV miškų grupei taikomu ūkiniu režimu. Tokia didelė vertė gali būti paaiškinta didele brandžių ąžuolynų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Value of woodland key habitat using the method of alternative costs is analyzed in the Master work. The object of the work – Kaunas state forests, woodland key habitat of state forests. The aim of the work – to evaluate decrease of annual income from timber and capitalized value of the stands in woodland key habitats in Public Institution Kaunas state forest enterprise because of restrictions applied to woodland key habitats. Methods of the work – continuous statistic method was used for collecting and processing data of woodland key habitat, alternative costs method was used for economic calculations of woodland key habitat applying Faustan formula of forest land value, using MS EXCEL spreadsheet. The results of the work. Average value of revenues of woodland key habitats of 1ha fluctuates according to dominant types of trees from 66 Lt/ha in aspen stands to 208 Lt/ha in oak stands. The value mostly depends on dominating tree species, age and volume of the stand. The average decrease of average annual revenues is 156 Lt/ha. The total average annual income lost by enterprise is 205885 Lt. Decrease of capitalised timbeer supply value of stands in woodland key habitats is as high as 21.3 mill. Lt, or 24.7 thou. Lt/ha, comparing to management practice applied to stands of IV forest group. Such a high value can be explained by big share of mature oak stands in woodland key habitats. Comparing to previous management regime, the decrease of the value is 13.8 mill. Lt.

Forty-four wolves in 3 boreal forest sites in Ontario were monitored via GPS radiotelemetry during 2010 and 2011 to examine spatial responses to variation in prey density. Home ranges were defined using a Brownian bridge utilization distribution, and a resource utilization function was calculated for each pack in winter and summer, based on habitat, topography, and prey density. Wolf territories were smaller where moose density was higher. Third order selection (within home range) varied by pack and season. Wolves generally selected for sloping areas, areas near water, and stands with deciduous or regenerating forest, but selected against areas with dense conifer cover. Roads were most important in summer, especially in those territories with large road networks. Habitat use in a mild winter was similar to habitat use in summer. Variable resource selection among packs emphasizes the adaptable, generalist nature of wolves even in the relatively homogenous the boreal shield. / National Science and Engineering Research Council, Ontario Graduate Scholarships, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources - Wildlife Research and Development Section, Center for Northern Forest Ecosystem Research, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Canadian Forest Service, Forest Ecosystem Science Cooperative

No description available.

No description available.

This study explores the importance of culture in Northern in contemporary Aboriginal development. This study interviewed a sample of Lac La Ronge Indian Band members living in the community of Lac La Ronge about their perceptions of two central culture values: northern pimâcihowin (making a living) and mitho-pimâtisiwin (the good life) and its relevance to the LLRIB Band developments. This is significant because northern First Nations have unique local histories and perspectives, and they continue to earn a living and self-sufficiency through traditional ways of living on the land (commercial fishing and trapping, hunting) and adapting new ways to their way of life, such as pursuing training, employment, and business opportunities. Using a methodology called snowball sampling from community contact referrals, nine participants agreed to participate in this study. The questionnaire for this study focused on the interviewees’ perceptions of Cree culture and northern ways of life, pimâtisiwin (life), and whether they thought principles of pimâcihowin (making a living) influenced or should continue to influence LLRIB members and leaders to achieve mitho-pimâtisiwin (the good life). The literature and findings suggest that Cree culture, pimâtisiwin (life) and its connection to the land, and the concept of pimâcihowin (making a living) are still relevant today. Overall, this study suggests that concern for northern Cree pimâtisiwin (life), the land and pimâcihowin (livelihood or making a living), strongly influenced and will likely continue to be important for LLIRB efforts to develop its people and communities thus contributing to their innovative social and developments that blend local values and principles.

This thesis explores the life history of six isolated skulls interred in Mound 3 of the Elizabeth site, a Middle Woodland site in the lower Illinois valley. This study employs analyses of osteological features, stable and radiogenic isotopes, and biodistance for a cross-section of the Mound 3 population (n=15), including the isolated crania. Isotopic results reveal significant variation in lead isotope ratios in enamel, and interpretively meaningful variation in strontium values. However, bone carbonate oxygen values are not significantly different. Carbon isotope values from bone carbonate revealed only sex-based dietary differences. Biodistance data indicate relatively genetic homogeneity at the site, although significant variation was present in two of the isolated crania. Ultimately, data indicate that two of the six isolated skulls likely originated from elsewhere in the valley, but that the population likely resided in the Elizabeth site vicinity in the decade preceding death, and were not outsiders.

This thesis should serve as a comprehensive site report for both Porter’s Bar (8Fr1) and Green Point (8Fr11) mounds in northwest Florida. These prehistoric burial mounds and their associated village shell midden are determined to have been constructed during two different time periods, Middle Woodland and Early Woodland, respectively. This is the first time that all materials and data have been described and compiled for both sites, despite the fact that they were both originally recorded over a century ago and described differently later by multiple researchers. The mounds served as an important ceremonial center along Apalachicola Bay some 1500 years ago, beginning perhaps during the Early Woodland (1200 B.C. – A.D. 250) and continuing through the Middle Woodland (A.D. 250 – A.D. 650). Evidence indicates an earlier Late Archaic component, and a much later historic nineteenth-century component. People living here probably experienced slightly different coastlines as sea levels fluctuated. The village midden associated with the two mounds extends for nearly 300 meters along the bay shore and has been damaged by sea-level change, while other parts have been borrowed for road material. The mounds have been damaged by looting and residential construction. All known materials and data from the two sites are presented and compared, including burial styles and associated funerary goods. Ceramic types and tempers indicate that Green Point mound was one of the few built during the Early Woodland known in the region. The same population may have constructed Porter’s Bar during Middle Woodland times, perhaps a century or two later, and included artifacts that are rarely found in the research area. Potential areas of further investigation are noted, but time is limited as the midden will probably be inundated within the next fifty years.

The Woodland-period (ca. 1000 B.C. to A.D. 1050) fisher-hunter-gatherers of the Crystal River drainage on Florida’s Big Bend Coast are well known among southeastern archaeologists for their elaborate shell mound architecture, maritime lifeway, and exotic exchange goods. Recent archaeological investigations at the Crystal River site have employed high-resolution topographic mapping, geophysical surveys, trench excavations, and coring to model the temporality of mound construction and occupation at the site; this work has set the stage for subsequent research focusing on community structure, resource extraction, and human-ecosystem dynamics. However, like many central and north peninsular Gulf Coast sites, our understanding of Crystal River lacks robust environmental context. Various geologists and archaeologists have proposed that several major sea-level oscillations transpired during the late Holocene at scales that would have heavily impacted coastal habitation; however, the paleoenvironmental reconstructions available for the Gulf Coast disagree dramatically about the timing, extent, and general pattern of sea-level history, which discourages the use of non-localized (or averaged) reconstructions for archaeological interpretation. This study investigates palynological remains recovered from midden and wetland core samples taken at Crystal River site to provide a record of vegetation response to both externally driven environmental changes (i.e. sea-level and climate flux) and anthropogenic landscape alterations throughout the first millennium A.D. Results show that stratified midden deposits and wetland soils at Crystal River site contain intact fossil pollen assemblages that span the site’s occupational history and extend into pre- and post-abandonment periods. The pollen data suggest that local communities experienced substantial environmental changes that reorganized the composition and geographic distribution of coastal ecosystems. These transformations align well with broadly recognized climatic episodes (i.e. the Roman Warm Period, Vandal Minimum, and Medieval Warm Period). In contrast, the Crystal River drainage experienced a unique pattern of sea-level flux that does not approximate oft-cited sea-level records developed elsewhere on Florida’s Gulf Coast, or the averaged sea-level curves for the Gulf Coast. Additionally, the microbotanical remains preserved within midden soils at Crystal River site may speak to the roles of particular plants as subsistence, technological, medicinal, and/or ceremonial resources.

Clearing of trees from the so-called caatinga woodland that characterizes the vegetation of the semi-arid region of northeast Brazil offers possibilities for increasing forage production. This research analyzed the first-year effects of clearing caatinga on dry season forage for goats and sheep. In addition, factors affecting litter decomposition on cleared and uncleared caatinga were assessed to evaluate the viability of deferring grazing of forages during the wet season for use later in the dry season. Removing the trees resulted in a sixfold increase in production of herbaceous vegetation, however, 88 percent of the increased yield on the cleared areas was in the form of stems from herbaceous vegetation. Seventy-two percent of the stems were unpalatable to goats and sheep because of the massive size of those stems. Leaf litter from trees was an important component of the diets of goats and sheep during the dry season and clearing reduced production of this forage threefold. Clearing resulted in increased decomposition of leaf litter. Changes in microclimate played only a minor role in this difference. The reduction in the amount of leaf litter from trees relative to litter from herbs had the greatest effect on decomposition rates of dry season forage because tree litter decomposed less rapidly than did herbaceous litter. The slow decomposition of leaf litter during the dry season suggests that deferment. of cleared or uncleared caatinga for use as forage in the latter part of the dry season is feasible. An analysis of the diets of esophageally fistulated goats and sheep indicated that clearing may be a viable alternative for improving the amount and the in vitro dry matter digestibility of the forage consumed during the dry season the first-year post-treatment. These increases were attributed to an absolute greater abundance of preferred herbaceous forages (i.e., foliage and leaf litter) and to the persistent green foliage on coppicing woody plants. Dietary nitrogen appeared to limit intake, and clearing did not improve availability of this nutrient to sheep and goats at the higher levels of grazing pressure applied in this study. Other ecosystem considerations such as watershed protection and long-term community stability must also be considered in decisions to remove the tree canopy of the caatinga.