Anthropology

This thesis analyzes the processes and rationales of ritual creation among contemporaryGermanic Neopagans (Heathens). It is based on ethnographic fieldwork from May– September, 2023 at Raven's Knoll, a campground near Eganville, Ontario that hosts Heathen festivals. I identify selection criteria used to determine which cultural practices to adopt, adapt, or omit from rituals. I analyze both rituals and selection criteria as configurations or collections of interchangeable components that I call cultural configurants. Leaders and participants assembled rituals at the Heathen festival, Stone and Flame Gathering, guided by five criteria: inclusivity, Lore accuracy (ancient Germanic aesthetics), resonance (feeling right), woo (religious experience), and pragmatism (circumstantial adjustment). Inclusivity and pragmatism dominated, while Lore accuracy determined an omnipresent aesthetic.

Author Keywords: Cultural Dynamics, Germanic Neopaganism, Ritual

This study explores the connection between the historical occurrences and the landscape changes on Main Duck Island, located at the eastern end of Lake Ontario. This research is conceptualized within the framework of Maritime Cultural Landscapes (MCL) to understand the relationship between the landscape and Lake Ontario. To explore this relationship, the study integrates spatial and archaeological methods such as GIS-based paleoshoreline modeling to understand the landscape change over time, analysis of air photographs, visibility analysis (viewshed) to understand island mobility, archaeological reconnaissance survey to discover and rediscover archaeological sites on the island, and ceramic analysis of surface finds to identify decorative motifs to establish cross cultural similarities between finds on mainland Canada and New York. This study is significant in contextualizing historical events such as Indigenous and non-Indigenous migration with landscape changes and archaeological data. Ultimately, the study corroborates past environmental conditions that have influenced the island's morphology with contemporary ones.

Author Keywords: Archaeological Reconnaissance survey, GIS (Geographic Information Systems), Island Archaeology, Maritime Cultural Landscapes, Paleoshoreline Modelling, Viewshed Analysis

The aim of this thesis is to explore the human/animal relationship at the walled and moated shwe myo taw, or "royal golden city," at the ancient Burmese capital of Bagan, Myanmar, which flourished from the 11th – 14th centuries CE, in the ecological area known as Myanmar's Central Dry Zone. This thesis achieves its objectives by applying an ethnoarchaeological based research strategy, examining the human/animal relationship within ten contemporary yet traditional villages, and house compounds, surrounding the remains of the ancient capital city. The traditional villages include Thae Pyin Taw, Shwe Hlaing, Zee Oo, Kon Sin Kyi, Kon Tan Gyi, Minnanthu, Hpauck Sein Pin, Thuhtaykan, East Pwa Saw, and West Pwa Saw. The premise of this thesis is that through a better understanding of the material correlates of human/animal relationships in the traditional villages of today can help settlement archaeologists interpret specific aspects of the archaeological record that may relate to these same types of relationships in the past. This study is part of the broader Integrated Socio-Ecological History for Residential Patterning, Agricultural Practices, and Water Management at the Medieval Burmese Capital of Bagan, Myanmar project (IRAW@Bagan).

Author Keywords: Animal-human relationship, Archaeology, Bagan, Ethnoarchaeology, Myanmar, Zooarchaeology

This research presents stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data of camelid fiber (n=238) from the coast of Arica, the Lluta Valley, and Azapa Valley – all located in the hyper-arid core of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. Samples included are attributed to the Formative (1000 BCE– 200 CE), Middle (200 CE – 1000CE), and Late Intermediate (1000 CE – 1450 CE) periods. The principal aim of this research was to determine whether camelid fiber uncovered at archaeological sites on the coast were likely obtained from locally managed camelid herds, or whether fiber was traded from the highlands. The majority of samples are consistent with a highland origin; however, a small group of samples is consistent with having come from animals herded outside the highlands, possibly locally in the coastal river valleys. There was also an increase in fiber δ13C between the Formative and Late Intermediate Periods, indicating an increased reliance on maize and agricultural intensification between these periods.

Author Keywords: Camelid, Carbon, Chile, Keratin, Nitrogen, Stable isotope analysis

This thesis employs zooarchaeological, taphonomic, and spatial analysis to reconstruct subsistence behaviors of Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals using layer V of Abric del Pastor as a case study. Located in Alcoy, Alicante, Spain, Abric del Pastor is a cave shelter with occupation layers dated from MIS 5 through 3. The faunal assemblage is examined on two time scales: i) a longer time frame focused on large scale human occupation and use and ii) another, shorter time frame in an attempt to distinguish possible shorter anthropogenic events. The layer V assemblage is comprised of at least two occupation events, Occupation A and Occupation B. These are two relatively well-preserved anthropogenic accumulations dominated by medium sized taxa. In these occupations, the carcasses were likely transported from a separate kill site to the cave shelter to be processed and consumed. The taxonomic and taphonomic patterns uncovered in these occupation events are similar suggesting consistent behavioral patterns throughout Layer V. Ultimately, the faunal assemblage is typical of other MIS 5-3 rock shelters in the Iberian Peninsula. By examining the subsistence practices of layer V, dated to MIS 4, this work aims to fill a gap in the MIS 4 Iberian Peninsula literature and add to the conversation on how early hominins adapted to the changing climate.

Author Keywords: Abric del Pastor, Iberian Peninsula, Middle Paleolithic, Palimpsest, Time Perspectivism, Zooarchaeology

Mortuary archaeology presents a unique opportunity to compare cultural and biological factors within burial assemblages. This study expands upon the previous bioarchaeological research in the eastern portion of the Southern Maya Lowlands through a comparative mortuary analysis that highlights burial trends between the site of Ka'kabish, Belize, and surrounding settlements. Ka'kabish spans from the Middle Formative through to the Postclassic periods (ca. 800 BC to AD 1500) and signifies a diverse social-strata with burials ranging from a variety of ritual and domestic complexes. Ka'kabish displays a preference for primary interments of non-extended positioning, greater chultun (subterranean chambers) use than displayed regionally, potential ancestor veneration, and demonstrates a transition from public, monumental burials, to private, domestic burials, from the Middle/Late Formative to the Postclassic periods. Inter-site comparisons demonstrate that Ka'kabish's mortuary patterns do not directly fit within a specific regional trend; rather, Ka'kabish displays a wide range of influences from many sites in the surrounding lowlands.

Author Keywords: Belize, Ka'kabish, Lowlands, Maya, Mortuary, Southern

Low-density urbanism is ubiquitous in the industrialized world, with suburbs and sprawling urban zones like the American Northeastern Seaboard being classified as such. Due to outsized environmental impacts and perceived unsustainability, this settlement pattern is often maligned. As one of the few prominent examples of agrarian-based low-density urbanism, the ancient Maya can provide a much-needed case study on the sustainability of low-density urbanism. Therefore, a thorough assessment of the universality of low-density urbanism among the ancient Maya is warranted. Maps of 11 Maya sites were collected from published sources, digitized, and used to calculate household group densities. No significant difference was observed between Classic and Postclassic sites, but sites in the northern Lowlands were significantly denser than those in the southern Lowlands. Additionally, no significant inverse correlation was found between site density and area, which would be expected if low-density urbanism was universal among the ancient Maya.

Author Keywords: Household Archaeology, Low-Density Urbanism, Maya, Settlement Archaeology

The ancient Maya utilized aspects of their landscape within their religious rituals and ceremonies, including caves. The study of ritual cave use is known as Maya cave archaeology and archaeologists in this subfield suggest that all holes in the earth, be it natural or man-made were viewed as ritually significant spaces to the ancient Maya (Brady and Layco 2018). This thesis analyzes the mortuary pattern of a chultun in relation to natural cave rituals and/or burials to determine if both types of subterranean spaces functioned in ritually similar ways. Through excavation of a dual-chambered chultun at the site of Ka'kabish, this research established a parallel pattern between burials found in natural caves and the burials within a chultun/artificial cave. In so doing, this thesis provides much needed data in support of applying Maya cave archaeology theories and practices in the excavation and study of ancient Maya chultuns.

Author Keywords: Belize, cave burials, chultuns, Maya archaeology, Maya cave archaeology, mortuary archaeology

This thesis presents the excavation and analysis of Structure D-6 at the Maya city of Ka'kabish in what is now North-Central Belize. Structure D-6, together with Structure D-7, comprise the site's only known ballcourt. Performance theory is used in tandem with the existing literature about the Mesoamerican ballcourt's crucial function within the legitimization strategies of Maya elites to understand Ka'kabish's position in its political landscape. Comparisons are also made between Ka'kabish and Lamanai's markers of elite activity to judge the plausibility of various degrees of political integration between the two sites. This study is significant as North-Central Belize is traditionally overlooked by scholars of the ancient Maya in favor of the more extensively analyzed Central Petén and Yucatan Peninsula, leading to simplified, static constructions of the region's political history. The findings of this study suggest a more dynamic, complex past for these cities and this area than previously thought.

Author Keywords: Ballcourts, Belize, Classic Maya, Monumental Architecture, Performance Theory, Sociopolitical Organization

This research represents the first stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of human bone collagen (n = 29) from the Escape Site (AD 300 - 1000), Saint Vincent. As a two-pronged investigation, this research had the following goals: (1) determining the ideal pretreatment for poorly preserved bones and (2) reconstructing the Escape Site sample population diet. By incorporating powdered specimens, shorter demineralizations and increased acid:sample exposure, higher collagen yields were produced, thereby expanding the sample size for isotopic analysis. Notably, the elemental data suggests that not all isolated collagen was biogenic and was perhaps contaminated by non-collagenous proteins. This highlighted the importance of using multiple criteria to rigorously evaluate collagen based on the full quality indicator profile. In the end, 5 individuals yielded useable isotope data which was consistent with a broad spectrum diet relying primarily on C3 plants as well as terrestrial, reef, nearshore and freshwater fauna. Within the broad region, the Escape Site data was comparable to other islands from the Lesser Antilles and Cuba emphasizing the influence of regional biodiversity as well as the likelihood that the studied population contributed and benefitted from the extensive Saladoid trade networks which existed at the time.

Author Keywords: Caribbean, Collagen, Escape Site, Human diet, Saladoid, Stable isotope analysis