Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Part of: Society for American Archaeology

This collection contains the abstracts from the 2015 annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Most files in this collection contain the abstract only. The Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology provides a forum for the dissemination of knowledge and discussion. The 80th Annual Meeting was held in San Francisco, California from April 15-19, 2015.


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  • Collaborative Archaeology in the Classroom (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Carolyn Dillian.

    This is an abstract from the "Collaborative and Community Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Collaborative archaeology is part of a movement that draws on the skills, knowledge, and requests of all stakeholders. Archaeologists are finally recognizing that this represents responsible practice, with benefits for all, and more and more are allocating time, money, and resources toward collaborative projects. Yet, the importance of...

  • Community Engaged Scholarship and the Oklahoma Public Archaeology Network (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Bonnie Pitblado. Delaney Cooley. Horvey Palacios. Bobi Deere. Kaylyn Moore.

    This is an abstract from the "Collaborative and Community Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Oklahoma Public Archaeology Network (OKPAN), founded in 2016, recently engaged in strategic planning that has helped streamline our programs and increase the breadth of our community engagement. In our paper, we highlight two initiatives that have proved particularly effective at empowering communities that have traditionally been excluded...

  • Finder-Collectors: Untapped Potential for Collaborative Engaged Scholarship (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Suzie Thomas. Anna Wessman.

    This is an abstract from the "Collaborative and Community Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Avocationals including metal detectorists can be defined as finder-collectors. This includes people who keep collections, including objects they have themselves found, but also possibly objects that they have acquired through purchasing, swapping, gifting, or by other means. This category expressly does not include people who loot but does include...

  • Holding Ground: Reconsidering the Sensitivity of Backdirt in the Context of NAGPRA (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Rebecca Hawkins. Krystiana Krupa. Jayne-Leigh Thomas.

    This is an abstract from the "Collaborative and Community Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. When the remains of Native ancestors, or sacred and ceremonial objects, are screened from backdirt or backfill, what implications does this have for the soil in which they rested? Backdirt is usually considered unimportant after screening, but should, perhaps, archaeologists more carefully consider the ethical implications of the ways that...

  • The Impact of COVID on Community Collaboration on the Navajo Nation (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Ronald Maldonado.

    This is an abstract from the "Collaborative and Community Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In 1999, the Navajo Nation Historic Preservation Department (NNHPD) became a Tribal Historic Preservation Office, under 36 CFR Part 800, Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act 1966, as amended. This action enabled the Navajo Nation to enforce the Navajo Nation Cultural Resource Protection Act (CRPA), Navajo Nation Code Title 19...

  • Improving Educational Accessibility through Collaborative Archaeology (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Emily Dean.

    This is an abstract from the "Collaborative and Community Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This presentation focuses on Southern Utah University's forays into community-engaged archaeology through public-private partnerships and collaborative work with federal and state agencies and nonprofit groups in the Colorado Plateau region. Southern Utah University is a small, public, regional, undergraduate institution with many first-generation...

  • Introduction to Symposium: Collaborative and Community Engaged Scholarship and Case Studies (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Charles Bello.

    This is an abstract from the "Collaborative and Community Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This presentation is an introduction to our ninth symposium on “Collaborative and Community Engaged Scholarship (CES)”—an important topic in our profession, encompassing a growing diversity of activities and best practices. Conducting research (and other types of historic preservation endeavors) in effective partnership with a wide spectrum of...

  • Toward a Balanced Public History in the Ohio Country: Collaborative Interpretation of the Histories of the Shawnee Nations at Great Council State Park (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kevin Nolan. Talon Silverhorn. Glenna J. Wallace. Joseph Blanchard. Garet Couch.

    This is an abstract from the "Collaborative and Community Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In 2020, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) started planning for the state’s 76th state park focused on the late-eighteenth-century Shawnee town of Chillicothe on the Little Miami River. ODNR was committed to working collaboratively with the three Shawnee Nations to design the park and its interpretive content. Over the last two...

  • A View from the Bridge: The Role of Anthropological Consultation in the Twenty-First Century (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Howard Higgins. Brenda Ireland. Sandra Marian.

    This is an abstract from the "Collaborative and Community Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Many Indigenous groups that underwent the deleterious effects of colonialism and forced acculturation are now in the process of repatriating their traditional knowledge and culture and reclaiming their unique identities, social structures, and governance. In Canada, this process of self-determination is within the context of the United Nations...

  • Collaborative and Community Archaeology: Introduction and Some Case Studies (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kevin Nolan. Charles Bello.

    This is an abstract from the "Collaborative and Community Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Collaborative and Community Engaged Scholarship (CES) continues to be an important topic in our profession, encompassing a growing diversity of activities. This session displays a commitment to the concept of conducting research and historic preservation in effective partnership with a wide spectrum of stakeholders as a matter of fairness, ethics,...

  • Collaborative Survey of Delaware Cultural Sites in Northeastern Oklahoma (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Brice Obermeyer. Susan Bachor.

    This is an abstract from the "Collaborative and Community Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In 2019, the Delaware Tribal Historic Preservation Office (DTHPO) partnered with East Stroudsburg University (ESU) to conduct noninvasive surveys of seven significant cultural and religious sites in Oklahoma. With support from the National Park Service (NPS), the DTHPO-led survey utilized ESU equipment and training to conduct the survey with...

  • Development and Praxis of Community-Based Archaeology at Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Katherine Seeber.

    This is an abstract from the "Collaborative and Community Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over the last four years Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park (HMFP), the site of the first Free Black Town in America (est. 1861), has begun a plan to develop the area into a heritage destination. HMFP aims to reconstruct some of the original buildings, develop educational programs, and have a walking and guided tour, among other things....

  • Digging for Community Engagement (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jeffrey White.

    This is an abstract from the "Collaborative and Community Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Community engagement in anthropology and archaeology is extremely important in this day and age, just as it has been in the past; through community engagement, we have the ability to pass along the importance of conserving and preserving our shared (?) archaeological heritage as well as pointing out the importance of every human being's ethnicity,...

  • Engaging Communities through Conflict: A Case Study in the Development of Truly Engaged Scholarship in Two Communities (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Christine Thompson. Nancy Knapke. Brice Obermeyer. Diane Hunter. Nekole Alligood.

    This is an abstract from the "Collaborative and Community Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Initiation of community engaged scholarship is not an event. It is often a long-term developmental process, requires recursive planning and assessment, and often engages multiple communities. We present a case study of a research project that grew into a community and collaborative archaeological endeavor that balances engagement between two...

  • Reinvigorating the National Register: Toward Multivocality in the Production of National Histories (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kelsey Hanson. Steve Baumann. Todd Scissons. Octavius Seowtewa. T. J. Ferguson.

    This is an abstract from the "Collaborative and Community Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Most American archaeology is driven by the proverbial goal of listing properties on the National Register of Historic Places. As the comprehensive “list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of protection,” the National Register is a prestigious means of creating and memorializing our national history. After almost 55 years of implementation,...

  • Asiatic Echoes - The Identification of Ancient Chinese Pictograms in pre-Columbian North American Rock Writing, 3rd edition 2021 (2021)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text John Ruskamp.

    This book introduces previously unrecognized ancient written evidence that in pre-Columbian times multiple intellectual exchanges took place between Asiatic and North American populations. Using the novel integration of the legal concept of substantial similarity with the comparative statistical tool of Jaccard's Index of Similarity the Chinese origin of 107+ North American petroglyphs and pictographs is established. Here is the long sought sinographic proof that Asiatic explorers not only...

  • Prehistoric Plant Utilization in Southeastern New Mexico: A unique publication merging academic and public interests (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only William Whitehead.

    The investigation of plant use, in southeastern New Mexico, in prehistory has been widely covered, this project continues this tradition by synthesizing and compiling all of the information to date in the region. The Carlsbad Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management, administrators of the Permian Basin Mitigation Program, is sponsoring the publication of a reference book on prehistoric plant use in Southeastern New Mexico. This free text will bring together recent work in radiocarbon...

  • A New View of the Desert - The Permian Basin Programmatic Agreement Research Program in Southeastern New Mexico (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Martin Stein.

    The research program described in this paper is providing much needed new information for a portion of southeastern New Mexico that was previously understudied. The program is funded by an innovative approach to Section 106 compliance which trades redundant survey information for monetary contributions to a dedicated research account. The Permian Basin Programmatic Agreement (PA) has been in effect for six years. The purpose of the PA (formerly the Permian Basin Memorandum of Agreement or MOA)...

  • The Digital Legacy of Public Archaeology in the Phoenix Basin, Arizona (2015)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text M. Scott Thompson. Jon Czaplicki. Lauren Jelinek.

    Federal undertakings, particularly flood control and water transmission projects, have served as the impetus for some of the largest public archaeology projects in Arizona since the 1950s. The Central Arizona Project, a 336 mile diversion canal that distributes water from the Colorado River into central and southern Arizona, was the largest and most costly transmission system constructed in the United States. It took nearly 25 years to identify and mitigate the cultural resources within the...

  • In the Morning House: The Redhorn Cycle Depicted in Rock Art from Kentucky (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sarah Sherwood. Jan Simek. Alan Cressler.

    This presentation reports on a new rock art site from Kentucky, brought to the authors' attention by local citizens. Inside a large sandstone rockshelter, more than a dozen black pictographs show several anthropomorphic characters. These images bear distinctive features and regalia associated with the "Redhorn Cycle" hero narrative reported by Paul Radin in 1948 from his ethnographic work among the Ho-Chunk. The rock art from this "Morning House" strongly resembles well-known Mississippian...

  • Soul Expression: Speech-Breath in Pecos River Style Rock Art (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Carolyn Boyd.

    Pecos River style rock art was produced in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of southwest Texas and Coahuila, Mexico during the Archaic beginning around 2700 BC. This style is characterized by finely executed anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures arranged in highly-ordered, complex compositions. Pecos River style anthropomorphs are frequently portrayed with a series of dots emanating upwards from an open mouth. Zoomorphic figures of felines and deer are also represented with this pictographic...

  • Different Methods for Different Strokes: Petroglyphs in the Northern Cape, South Africa (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Silvia Tomaskova. Muzi Msimanga.

    Our 2017 fieldwork in the Northern Cape, South Africa presented us with a dilemma: how do methods of rock art research aimed at studying image making help us understand petroglyphs that may not be "images". The site Wildebeest Kuil near Kimberley, Northern Cape has two discrete areas of engravings: an area covered with distinct images of animals, humans, "geometric patterns" (80% of engravings), and a second adjacent area covered with peckings and stone modifications that do not easily translate...

  • Rock Art in the High Rock Country: a Contextual View (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Melinda Leach.

    Prehistoric rock art increasingly is understood to be embedded in complex cultural systems of social routines, kin networks, economic landscapes, technological change, seasonal population movements, domestic and task-specific foraging behaviors, and variable gendered activities. The Holocene record of occupation and use of the High Rock Country in the Northern Great Basin provides an opportunity to explore such complex contexts of rock art. Rich lithic sources, strategic locations for hunting,...

  • Rock Art at Chalcatzingo, Morelos: Methodology and Techniques for Recording, Documenting and Elaborating Preservation Strategies (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Julio Amador.

    This presentation describes the process of recording and documenting the pictographs found at the site of Chalcatzingo, Morelos, in central Mexico. It shows the way in which state of the art technology is used for the first time at the site for this purpose. Iconographic analysis, landscape archaeology and the analysis of painting techniques and materials are as well employed to enrich the interpretation of rock art at the site. Upon this basis we elaborate a hypothesis about their relations...

  • A Feasibility Analysis of Rock Art Recorded Thus Far for the Alexandria Project (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jerod Roberts. Victoria Roberts. Amanda M. Castañeda. Carolyn Boyd.

    The Lower Pecos Canyonlands of southwest Texas is home to over 350 identified rock art sites depicting multiple styles, complexity, and intricacy. In 2017, Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center launched the Alexandria Project, a three year mission to revisit each known rock art site in Val Verde County and perform baseline documentation, with the aim to answer overarching questions requiring a large and consistent dataset. Our documentation methods utilize Structure from Motion 3D...

  • Research Questions Driving Rock Art Recording Methodology in the Alexandria Project (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Victoria Roberts. Jerod Roberts. Charles Koenig. Karen Steelman.

    For over twenty years, Shumla Archaeological Research & Education Center has studied and promoted the preservation of rock art in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands along the U.S.-Mexico border. In July 2017, Shumla launched the three-year Alexandria Project designed to gather an extensive dataset from over 350 known rock art sites in Val Verde County, where the majority of US sites are located. Research questions driving data collection reflect two main aspects: geospatial distribution and...

  • A Mesoamerican Culture Hero Legend in Western U.S. Rock Art (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Marsha Sims.

    Research ties Mesoamerican search for ancestors to U.S. rock art. A hero in Mexican Aztec legend fought his sister, Coyolxauhqui, and the titans, decapitating her, rolling her body down the mountain, and leaving her head on the mountain. Coyolxauhqui is a floating head on Mesoamerican murals, decapitated and dismembered on the Coyolxauhqui stone. She was the moon, queen, and an avatar of their Earth Mother. She is commemorated in Basketmaker and later rock art in Colorado and Utah at 5 Faces and...

  • Pictographs on Artery Lake, Bloodvein River System, Extreme Northwest Ontario, Canada: (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Lenville Stelle.

    The pictographs of the Bloodvein River, Artery Lake, Ontario offer an important view of rock art design and purpose during the late prehistoric period and perhaps continuing well into the nineteenth century. All images are finger applied and utilize iron oxide based pigment. The sites appear to be of varying function. The largest and most complex consists of seven or eight panels and may reveal a narrative of healing associated with the Fourth Degree of the Midewiwin or Ojibwe Grand Medicine...

  • Plaster Art: "Graffiti" in a Sage’s Chamber at El Castillo acropolis of Xunantunich, Belize (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Leah McCurdy. M. Kathryn Brown.

    In 2016, we discovered a sage’s chamber in the El Castillo acropolis at the ancient Maya site of Xunantunich, Belize. In the Late Classic Tut Building on the east side of El Castillo, all interior and exterior plaster walls are incised with "graffiti." The total number of elements documented is nearly 300 with themes ranging from human and animal forms to glyphs and multi-figure scenes. We expect to encounter more in future field seasons. Based on a variety of factors, we view this as practice...

  • Dating the Spirit Men: Radiocarbon Dating Saltwater Rock Art of the Yanyuwa People in Northern Australia (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Karen Steelman. Liam Brady. John Bradley. Amanda Kearney.

    Working with Yanyuwa elders, we collected seven rock painting samples for radiocarbon dating from Kamadarringabaya rock shelter on Vanderlin Island in the southwest Gulf of Carpentaria (Northern Territory). Hand motifs – prints and stencils – dominate the site, covering the shelter walls and roof, and are said by Yanyuwa to be the hands of the Namurlajanyugku spirit beings. In control experiments, negligible levels of humic acid contamination were shown to be present in the unpainted rock;...

  • Petroglyphs on the Periphery: Rock Art in the Canadian Maritimes (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Bryn Tapper.

    Ongoing investigation of the Algonquian rock art of the Canadian Maritimes reveals that while some sites, such as Kejimkujik Lake, are well documented as a result of longstanding conservation strategies, these and other petroglyph sites have yet to be adequately and comprehensively framed within their archaeological, ethnohistorical and ethnographic contexts. Combining a landscape archaeology approach with theoretical positions emerging from the ‘ontological turn’ in archaeology, my research...

  • Portable X-ray Fluorescence of Lower Pecos Mobiliary Art: New Insights Regarding Chaîne Opératoire, Context, and Chronology (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Amanda Castañeda. Charles Koenig. Karen Steelman. Marvin Rowe.

    Painted pebbles are the primary mobiliary art found in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of southwest Texas and northern Mexico. Previous studies of these artifacts have focused on stylistic variation of the imagery and interpretation of the role these artifacts played within Lower Pecos societies. The focus of this study is the use of portable X-ray fluorescence on Lower Pecos painted pebbles to conduct elemental analyses, providing insight into the chaîne opératoire of painted pebble production....

  • In-Situ pXRF Analysis of Episodic Pictograph Production (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only David Whitley. Tony Quach.

    Yokuts ethnography indicates that pictograph sites passed from father to son to grandson within shamanic lineages, suggesting episodic painting at these locations. This practice is archaeologically supported by motif superimpositions and minor stylistic differences at sites. An in-situ pXRF study of red motifs was conducted at site CA-TUL-2871, Springville, CA, in the hopes of analytically distinguishing painting episodes, based on the assumption that chemically dissimilar pigments may have been...

  • Documentation, methodology and interpretation of rock art from Castle Rock Community, Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Colorado (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Radoslaw Palonka.

    Thirteenth century A.D. in the central Mesa Verde region was a time of socio-cultural transformations, climatic changes, and increasing conflicts and violence that took place shortly before the final depopulation of the region. Since 2011 the Sand Canyon-Castle Rock Community Archaeological Project is being conducted and it focuses on the analysis and reconstruction of the settlement and social structure in a community of forty Ancient Pueblo sites dated to the thirteenth century. The project...

  • Enhancing Access to Arabian Rock Art Archives (2018)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sandra Olsen.

    Petroglyphs and inscriptions have been investigated in the Arabian Peninsula at least since 1879, when Lady Anne and Wilfrid Blunt crossed the An Nafud desert and stopped at the now famous site of Jubbah in northern Saudi Arabia. Since that time explorers from England, Belgium, Germany, the US, and the Saudi Department of Antiquities, have recorded images from north to south. Archival materials, including field notes, photographs and letters are available at various institutions, but there is no...

  • Integrating Petrographic and INAA Compositional Data: Chupadero Black-on-white Ceramic Production and Distribution in the Salinas and Sierra Blanca regions of New Mexico (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Tiffany Clark. Suzanne Eckert.

    Ceramic research in the American Southwest is increasingly relying on both mineralogical and chemical compositional data to answer questions regarding pottery production and exchange. Due to differences in the structure and nature of these datasets, integrative studies that attempt to incorporate information on both types of compositional data often produce confusing and sometimes seemingly contradictory results. This paper explores the recently developed ‘mixed-mode’ method of data analysis,...

  • Laboratory Techniques for the Detection of Human Parasites in Archaeological Samples. (2015)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Jeremy Pye.

    Parasites have had a significant impact on the course of human history. Activities of a variety of parasites throughout the world can lead to lethargy, dementia, malabsorption of nutrients, bowel obstruction, internal bleeding, blindness, physical disability and deformation, and many other symptoms of disease. Furthermore, parasites have caused the deaths of countless individuals, have resulted in the abandonment of settlements, and have even affected the outcome of wars. The effect that...

  • Micro Analyses of 17th Century Adobe Bricks from the “New” Church at Pecos, New Mexico (2015)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Linda Scott Cummings. Peter Kováčik. Jennifer Milligan. Cody Dalpra. R. A. Varney.

    The clash of Pueblo farmers and Spanish missionaries in central New Mexico marks the transition from prehistoric maize farming to the modern era along the Rio Grande River. The interaction between Native Americans and Spanish was not totally either peaceful or confrontational. The first church, built in the 1620s, was later burned during the Pueblo Revolt when Spanish were forced to leave, then rebuilt when relations improved. Four bricks from the new church (Mission de Nuestra Senora de los...

  • Micro analyses of 17th Century adobe bricks from the "new" church at Pecos, New Mexico. (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Cody Dalpra. Linda Scott Cummings. R. A. Varney. Peter Kovácik. Jennifer Milligan.

    The clash of Pueblo farmers and Spanish missionaries in central New Mexico marks the transition from prehistoric maize farming to the modern era along the Rio Grande River. The interaction between Native Americans and Spanish was not totally either peaceful or confrontational. The first church, built in the 1620s, was later burned during the Pueblo Revolt when Spanish were forced to leave, then rebuilt when relations improved. Four bricks from the new church (Mission de Nuestra Senora de los...

  • Public Outreach and Pipeline Archaeology in the Western United States (2015)
    DOCUMENT Full-Text Susan Chandler.

    Cultural resource companies are increasingly tasked with disseminating the results of their archaeological research to the public. Because the nature of the archaeological record differs for each compliance project and because there are many different "publics" who can be identified, archaeologists have taken several different approaches to public outreach. In the last decade, Alpine Archaeological Consultants, Inc. has created a variety of public outreach products that describe what was...

  • Ethnic Chinese at Central Pacific Railroad Maintenance Camps (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Michael Polk.

    The Central Pacific Railroad was completed in May 1869 due, in large part, to the work of thousands of ethnic Chinese railroad workers. After the railroad was complete, it was necessary to upgrade the railroad and carry out maintenance on the far flung transportation network. Railroad documents, previous excavations of ethnic Chinese worker camps in Nevada and recently recorded camps near Promontory Summit, Utah, show that Chinese workers continued to be employed for decades after 1869. It is...

  • Immigration Service Records and the Archaeology of Chinatown, The Dalles, Oregon (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Rick McClure.

    As a key transportation hub and supply center on the Columbia River during the 19th century, the city of The Dalles, Oregon attracted significant numbers of overseas Chinese workers and merchants. By the 1880s a distinct "Chinatown" district had emerged. Enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Act included close monitoring of the population by Federal agents. Records of the Immigration Service housed at the Seattle branch of the National Archives include the case files for many community residents....

  • Identity and Isolation: The Material Realities of an (almost) Isolated Household in Sandpoint, Idaho (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Molly E Swords. Mark Warner.

    A great deal of archaeology conducted on Chinese immigrant communities in the United States has documented the persistence of an array of traditional cultural practices after arrival.  Recent work in Sandpoint, Idaho has identified a Chinese household/business whose material world contrasts with what many other archaeologists have previously reported on.  What was identified was an amalgamation of continued use of Chinese goods with the incorporation of an array of western habits, particularly...

  • Scraping Our Way To The Past: A Methodological Approach For Chinese Rural Work Camps (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Mary L. Maniery.

    Recovering meaningful information from ephemeral, short-term work camps in the west is challenging, given the brief occupation time, absence of shelters other than tents or portable structures, and informal layout and design.  One methodological approach that has proved effective for research at camps with shallow or no subsurface deposits focuses on exposing and investigating the horizontal deposits across the sites.  Archaeological studies of Chinese occupied camps related to mining, railroad...

  • Railroad Camps in the High Sierras (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only John P. Molenda.

    Railroad construction camps occupied by Chinese laborers have been investigated archaeologically since the 1960s. The upcoming 150 year anniversary of the construction of the first transcontinental railroad has spurred renewed interest in these sites. This paper will discuss what we have learned from previous studies of railroad work camps and how they inform current interpretations, with special emphasis on drawing connections between the archaeological record and theoretical frameworks for...

  • Plant and Animal Consumption in the Market Street Chinatown, San Jose, California (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Ryan Kennedy.

    The Market Street Chinatown was a major urban Chinese community in nineteenth century San Jose, California. From 1866 to 1887, the community housed and served as a home base to several thousand Chinese residents and laborers. Excavated in the 1980s, the Market Street Chinatown yielded an incredibly rich collection of material culture as well as faunal and floral remains. This paper examines food consumption and food choice amongst Market Street’s nineteenth century Chinese residents. The author...

  • Urban Life Through the Lens of Glass: A Brief Analysis of Glass Tableware and Flaked Objects from the 19th Century San Jose Market Street Chinatown, California (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Nathan Acebo.

    The Market Street Chinatown archaeological collection offers a diverse assemblage of artifacts that shed light on the urban social lives of Overseas Chinese communities in San Jose, California during the late 19th century (1866-1887). Glass objects constitute a considerable percentage of the total archaeological collection and includes a massive assortment of medicinal and cuisine containers, architectural features, and domestic objects. The bricolage collection of glass permits discriminate...

  • "Rebuilding" Chinatown in The Dalles, Oregon (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Eric B. Gleason.

    Uncovered during ongoing efforts to restore the last standing Chinese operated laundry and merchandise store in The Dalles, Oregon, test excavation at site 35WS453 has exposed the deep roots of a largely vanished community. The thick stratified deposits at the site are the product of nearly a century’s worth of intensive occupation, followed by a long period of near abandonment. By coupling archival research with the archaeological record, we are gaining a clearer understanding of the site...

  • Exploring Healthcare Practices of Chinese Railroad Workers in North America (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sarah C Heffner.

    Chinese laborers on the North American transcontinental railroads performed dangerous and labor-intensive work, and many died or were seriously injured as a result of explosions, cave-ins, and severe and unpredictable weather. These workers received meager wages and may have faced additional health risks from ethnic violence and malnutrition. Little is known about how these individuals treated their injuries and ailments and, to this date, not a single document written by a Chinese railroad...

  • What Have We Done, What Are We Doing, and Where Are We Going with Overseas Chinese Archaeology? (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Douglas Ross.

    According to this session’s organizers there is no dominant Overseas Chinese narrative, but rather one characterized by diversity. They perceive this diversity as a strength and seek to highlight the range of both Chinese experiences and recent archaeological approaches to their lives. Papers address topics ranging from lifeways of urban merchants to healthcare practices of rural railroad workers, consumer habits of Chinatown residents, and the role of burned sites in creating highly politicized...

  • Getting Burned: Fire, Politics, and Cultural Landscapes in the American West (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Chelsea E. Rose.

    The National Historic Landmark town of Jacksonville, Oregon is celebrated for its nineteenth century past.  While saloons, hotels, and shops survive as testament to the days of the Oregon gold rush, the selective preservation of the built environment has created a romanticized frontier landscape.  A sleepy park now covers the once bustling Chinese Quarter, which burned to the ground in 1888. Recent public archaeology excavations revealed the remains of a burned building, and led to a fruitful...

  • Chinese Railroad Workers in Wyoming and Mongolia, 1890-1955 (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Dudley Gardner. Adreanna Jensen.

    Chinese railroad laborers, who worked overseas, left a distinct archaeological foot print where ever they lived. Here we want to look at how this footprint is manifested in Mongolia and Wyoming (1890-1955). This comparison considers the similarity in topography and the dissimilarity in the land the immigrants worked in. What is intriguing is the similarity in material culture and spatial organization. We want to briefly present the similarities and dissimilarities between the two experiences,...

  • Knowing My House: An Indigenous Theory and Practice of Being (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kathryn Arthur.

    The Gamo, who live in the highlands on the edge of the southern Ethiopian rift valley, are known for their unique and beautiful household architecture. Tourists ogle their oval basket-like grass houses and peer inside for mere minutes hoping to observe some secret moment or practice previously unknown to them. Similarly many archaeologists long to feel beneath their trowels a widespread hard surface indicative of a house floor. We remove the tangible aspects of the home, bit by bit, hoping to...

  • Using geochemistry, phytoliths and ethnographic analogy to interpret Neolithic settlements in southwest Asia (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Emma Jenkins. Sarah Elliott. Samantha Allcock. Carol Palmer. John Grattan.

    Our understanding of Neolithic sites in southwest Asia is often impeded by the lack of preservation of biological evidence. As a result, they often consist of a series of structures, the construction and function of which, remains elusive. In order to address this problem we conducted a study which used phytoliths and geochemistry from an ethnographic site in Jordan, Al Ma’tan, to determine if certain building construction techniques and anthropogenic activities leave specific phytolith and...

  • Seeds for the gods: chía (Salvia hispanica) in Teotihuacan ritual offerings (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Diana Martinez-Yrizar. Carmen Cristina Adriano-Morán.

    Over the last decades, as a result of archaeological research inside of the Sun and the Moon pyramids in Teotihuacan, significant concentrations of chía (Salvia hispanica) seeds have been recovered in association with ritual contexts. This is particularly true in Offering 2, pit 59 of the Sun Pyramid and in Burial 6 of the Moon Pyramid. The archaeological artifacts were similar in both contexts, for example Tlaloc vessels, projectile points, pyrite disks and faunal remains, among others. In this...

  • Residue Analysis of Plastered Floors and Function of the Rooms at Teopancazco, Teotihuacan (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Luis Barba. Linda Manzanilla. Agustin Ortiz. Alessandra Pecci.

    Teopancazco is a neighborhood center at Teotihuacan. It was excavated in the framework of the project Teopancazco "Teotihuacan. Elite y Gobierno" directed by Linda R. Manzanilla between 1997 and 2005). Samples from the plastered floors of the compound have been analysed at the Laboratorio de Prospección Arqueológica of the UNAM (Mexico) in order to understand the chemical enrichments of floors and the spatial distribution of activities. We show here the results of the analyses of the Xolalpan...

  • The People Who Harvest Together, Live Together. Ethnoarchaeological considerations on a Late Chalcolithic archaeobotanical assemblage from Çadır Höyük, Turkey (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Madelynn Von Baeyer.

    This paper presents archaeobotanical data from the Late Chalcolithic (LC) archaeobotanical assemblage at Çadır Höyük, a mounded site on the north central Anatolian plateau with almost continuous occupation from the Middle Chalcolithic through the Byzantine period. The analysis will focus on both descriptive and quantitative data from samples dating to around 3600 B.C.E. from a communal cooking area at Çadır. It will examine how archaeobotanical analysis can be used as a line of evidence to...

  • Starch Grain Analysis of Bedrock Mortars in California: Implications to Our Understanding of California Prehistory (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Justin Wisely.

    Starch grain analysis is a growing field in California archaeology, with the potential to significantly add to our understanding of prehistoric peoples. Using a non-destructive extraction method for field sampling bedrock mortars, I was able to extract microscopic plant residues from the mortar surface for analysis. The subsequent identifications were made using my ethnographically-informed comparative collection of modern native plants. The results of this research indicate that the function of...

  • Modelling Anthropic Activity Markers: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Plant-Related Domestic Activities (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Carla Lancelotti. Abel Ruiz Giralt. Jonas Alcaina Mateos. Juan José García-Granero. Alessandra Pecci.

    The concept of Anthropic Activity Markers as ethnography-derived models to interpret archaeological activities has seen a remarkable development in recent years. In this talk we present the results of MoMArq (Modelización de Marcadores de Actividades Antrópicas: de lo etnográfico a o arqueológico), a multidisciplinary project that combined cross-cultural studies with analyses of phytoliths, starch, multi-element geochemistry and spot-tests to analyse domestic plant-related activities in the...

  • Detecting the functions of patios in a Classic Maya regal palace at La Corona, Guatemala. (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Maxime Lamoureux St-Hilaire. Marcello A. Canuto. Tomás Barrientos. Clarissa Cagnato.

    Classic Maya regal palaces were political institutions with many functions, ranging from domestic and ceremonial to administrative. This paper presents the results of the multi-facetted study of three adjoining patios of the palace at the Classic Maya Center of La Corona, Guatemala. Research suggests that these patios, dating to final phases of occupation in the Late Classic (8th and 9th centuries AD), were open spaces dedicated to activities relating to the preparation of food, the manufacture...

  • Exploring the Changing Roles of Maya E-groups: Geochemical Analysis of E-group Plaster Floors at Actuncan, Belize (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Borislava Simova. E. Christian Wells. Lisa LeCount.

    E-Groups were among the first monumental spaces constructed in Middle Preclassic Maya centers and served as important venues for negotiating social interactions and political integration of newly settled peoples. Starting in the Late Preclassic period, their roles began to shift. At some sites, such as Tikal and Uaxactun, votive offerings signifying communal ritual were replaced with dedicatory stelas or royal interments marking exclusionary practices and political appropriation of these spaces....

  • Hadiya:wa: Do You Hear What Traditional Pueblo Cultural Advisors Are Saying? (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kurt F. Anschuetz. Kurt E. Dongoske.

    Archaeological collaboration with traditional Pueblo communities faces many practical challenges. Archaeologists typically expect cultural practitioners to accept what archaeology entails as a scientific discipline and its approach to understanding the past. Within traditional Pueblo perspectives, archaeological excavation might not be an appropriate measure for mitigating adverse effects in the federal Section 106 compliance process. Rather than asserting the primacy of their preferences and...

  • Fortifying A Community through Public Archaeology: The Collaboration of Public and Private Organizations to Preserve, Protect, and Promote a Spanish-American War Fort on a South Carolina Sea Island. (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Phillip Ashlock. Dawn Chapman Ashlock.

    In a collaborative partnership among the surrounding community, local government, private non-profit groups, and professional organizations, the first archaeological investigations involving Phase III data recovery excavations were conducted at Fort Fremont in advance of the development of a local government sponsored interpretive center. Entrenched in a maritime forest along the Port Royal Sound, Fort Fremont is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and enhances the coastal...

  • Managing Cultural Resources within Protected Areas (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sunny Ngirmang. Camilla Borrevik. Calvin Emesiochel. Errolflynn Kloulechad. Derek Benjamin.

    A goal for cultural heritage management is to advance the comprehensive preservation, conservation and management of cultural resources, defined as the broad array of stories, knowledge, people, places, structures, objects, and the associated environment that contribute to the maintenance of cultural identity and/or reveal the prehistoric, historic and contemporary human interactions with an ecosystem. Involving the state and local community in regular management, activities, and projects should...

  • "Come Together, Right Now:" The Oklahoma Public Archaeology Network and Its Role in Oklahoma Public Archaeology (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Meghan Dudley. Allison Douglas. Bonnie Pitblado.

    Like many other states, Oklahoma has a long history of productive public archaeology, with citizen and professional stakeholders working side-by-side to further archaeological research and preservation. However, the changing nature of archaeology (most particularly the shift to a heavy emphasis on compliance work) has led to miscommunication and misunderstanding among the many stakeholders in Oklahoma’s archaeological community and to less-productive working relationship among them than existed...

  • Local Archaeology Societies in the UK (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Hayley Roberts.

    Local archaeology societies in the UK are unique. They are a product of the British political and legal system combined with cultural attitudes to the past and the development of the archaeological profession. They are a melting pot of inexperienced beginners, expert volunteers, professional archaeologists and everybody in between. As a unique form of public and community archaeology, they allow volunteers to have a significant positive impact for and on both archaeology and society. This...

  • Displays of identity: A community-engaged approach to studying identity through photo diaries (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Shaina Molano. Kimberly Munro.

    This study is part of a larger research project, which looks at displays of social identity and the effects of influence from outside contemporaneous groups in pre-Columbian Peru. In studying past communities, we look beyond our own interpretations of "who" we perceived people to be and begin asking questions that reveal who they thought they were and how they chose to advertise that to those deemed "other." The nature of this research requires working closely with contemporary local...

  • Exploring 'Helicopter' Consulting (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only James Herbert. Sean Connuaghton.

    Large-scale cultural resource management on the Northwest Coast stands at the crossroads among resource development, for-profit resource management, and Indigenous control and consent. Recent legal cases, specifically in British Columbia, highlight the need for consultants, industry and Indigenous governments to plan for future development together. This paper follows a line of inquiry from our previous work, exploring how the ‘fly in, fly out’ nature of consulting practices alienates...

  • Empowering Tribal Youth in Cultural Heritage Management (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only David Guilfoyle. Genevieve Carey. Raven Willoya-Williams. Michael Bernard. Sherry Kime.

    We examine a multi-year cultural heritage training program developed by Elders, youth and archaeologists in the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska. The program aims to embed cultural protocols and knowledge into methods of cultural heritage management (CHM). The program demonstrates the benefits of collaborative approaches that provide the foundation for more effective CHM, while at the same time providing direct social outcomes. We examine how this was established via a case study of one of the...

  • Introduction to session and opening remarks (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Charles Bello.

    Introduction to session and opening remarks

  • Long Days Journey into Night, Government to Government Consultation under Section 106, on the Navajo Nation (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Ronald Maldonado.

    Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended requires that the Federal Agencies consult with American Indian Tribes on a Government to Government basis. There are numerous guidelines and trainings on how this should be accomplished under the law, but these do not consider the Tribal point of view. American Indian Tribes are sovereign Nations and expect to be treated as such, expecting long term relationships with Federal Agencies. During my tenure with the Navajo...

  • The Jemez Mountains Ethnohistoric Assessment: a Critical Examination of an Alternative Approach to Consultation (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Howard Higgins. J. Michael Bremer.

    Most consultation occurs as part of NEPA and/or Section 106 compliance. That is, there is a predefined, location specific undertaking that concerns traditional communities, such as Native American entities, who are contacted and with whom consultation occurs. This is not, however, the only, or even the best, process by which traditional peoples may be included in consultations with land managers. Some land managing agencies have recently been adopting more proactive approaches. One example of...

  • Community Archaeology at the Heart Mountain Relocation Camp, Park County, Wyoming (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only J. Gregory Smith. Lawrence Todd. Brian Liesinger.

    Heart Mountain was one of ten confinement camps established by the U.S. government during World War Two to incarcerate Japanese Americans living on the West Coast of the United States. Located in northwest Wyoming, the camp had a peak population of nearly 11,000 incarcerees, making it the third largest settlement in the state at that time. The Park County Historic Preservation Commission recently partnered with the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center to carry out mapping and test excavations at...

  • Working Together to Save Our Culture: Creating a Tribal Register of Historical Places (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Robert O'Boyle. Erich Longie. Dianne Desrosiers.

    Not long ago, the Spirit Lake Oyate and Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate were a single band, part of the Dakota Nation, living in the homeland we had occupied for millennia. Manifest Destiny, greed, and racism led to war and the establishment of reservations. Over the decades, the US Government separated our people as they divided the land for settlement. Today, we are working together to bring our people back together based on the places that matter the most. Together the Spirit Lake Tribe and the...

  • Collaboration Continues: Revisiting Archaeology between CRM Archaeologists and First Nations Communities in the Pacific Northwest (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Stephanie Huddlestan. Amanda Marshall.

    First Nation’s heritage concerns are at the forefront of many large-scale and controversial development projects across the province of British Columbia. How developers and Cultural Resource Management (CRM) Archaeologists choose to address these concerns can significantly impact working and political relationships. CRM archaeologists are on the front lines balancing and navigating complex, and sensitive socio-political heritage issues. Our small CRM company, Kleanza Consulting Ltd. (Kleanza),...

  • Cheval Bonnet: A Crow Calling Card in Blackfeet Country (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only James D. Keyser.

    Cheval Bonnet is a small petroglyph site on Cut Bank Creek, just east of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation that shows a Crow Indian coup counting scene and three other horses, two of which can be identified as the products of Crow artists by their form and the stylized war bonnet worn by each animal. Located in a hidden canyon adjacent to a major stream crossing, the site represents a "calling card" similar to other biographic images drawn both as petroglyphs and arborglyphs during the late...

  • It’s all a bit retro: Investigating early phase rock art on the Dampier Archipelago, Northwest Australia. (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Meg Berry.

    Murujuga, located off the northwest coast of Australia, possesses one of the largest and most vibrant open air rock art galleries on the planet. On Murujuga, low erosion rates, durable geology, and growing evidence from the wider region has allowed for archaeological contextualization of rock art into deep time; giving researchers the opportunity to investigate both the changing social dynamics of groups and the stimuli for this change over thousands of years. The main objective of this paper is...

  • Landscape, settlement patterns and rain and fertility symbolism in rock art: a comparative analysis between Chalcatzingo and Cerros de Trincheras in Mexico (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Julio Amador.

    Abstract In this paper we present a systematic comparative analysis of the most characteristic cultural traits of sites, apparently distant in time and space, that share fundamental aspects, concerning basic geomorphological and landscape features, settlement patterns, and rain and fertility symbolism depicted in rock art. The direct association between political power and religious authority, social prestige and the privilege of presiding ritual performances appears to be evident. While in...

  • Portable X-Ray Fluorescence (pXRF) and Photogrammetric Studies In Illinois Rock Art Research (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Mark Wagner. Kayleigh Sharp.

    Illinois rock art studies conducted in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries typically used drawings, tracings, and print photography to record prehistoric petroglyphs and pictographs. These types of studies have been replaced in recent years by a variety of new methods including digital photography, DSTRETCH enhancement, photogrammetry, pXRF analysis, and other technologies. These new techniques have greatly enhanced our ability to quickly and accurately record rock art sites in comparison to...

  • Apishapa Rock Art and Soul Capture (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Thomas Huffman. Frank Earley.

    Rather than a western extension of the Plains Village tradition, the Apishapa phase was more likely an eastern extension of the Great Basin Desert culture. Among other things, Great Basin origins explain the Apishapa foraging economy that focused on small mammals, antelope and deer, and meager horticulture. Insubstantial structures and temporary rock shelter habitations attest to residential mobility. As others have noted, Archaic rock art in the Great Basin and Apishapa areas are remarkably...

  • Rock Art as Ritual Communicator: A Theoretical Evaluation (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Mary Brown.

    Archaeologists typically dissect rock art stylistically, symbolically, and chronologically. Symbols, in particular, lead to studies of representational imagery, entoptic phenomena, or religious icons. What remains underexplored is the concept of animism and its related behavioral activities. This paper applies a behavioral theory of communication to study the interactions between people and things. It uses performance characteristics analysis to determine the activities associated with...

  • Tobacco Related Imagery in Montana and Wyoming (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Lawrence Loendorf.

    Pictographs and a few petroglyphs of tobacco plants, tobacco gardens and tobacco headdresses are found at a dozen sites across Montana and Wyoming. Very similar images painted on Crow Indian Tobacco Society pipe bags, moccasins and other clothing strongly suggest the pictographs and petroglyphs were made by the Crow. High concentrations of tobacco pollen at one site suggest it was the location of a tobacco garden

  • Advanced Imaging of Saudi Arabian Petroglyphs: How Science Informs Art. (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sandra Olsen.

    How petroglyph images are recorded in the field is instrumental for analysis, archiving and publishing data. Being prepared to implement multiple advanced imaging techniques provides numerous advantages. Because lighting conditions, preservation and manufacturing techniques vary from one petroglyph locality to the next, having the flexibility to apply different imaging options as appropriate greatly facilitates data retrieval. Many archaeological projects require that the bulk of the image...

  • Recording and Interpreting Mississippian Rock Imagery at Painted Bluff, Alabama (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Johannes Loubser.

    As part an overall effort by the Tennessee Valley Authority to conserve, manage, and present Middle Mississippian era pictographs and petroglyphs to a visiting public, Stratum Unlimited recorded 101 motifs from 47 panels at Painted Bluff, a steep south-facing limestone cliff overlooking the Tennessee River in northeastern Alabama. Results from the recording include an assessment of pictograph and petroglyph techniques, types and numbers of motifs, stratigraphic overlap and sequencing of...

  • Lesser Antillean Windward Island Rock Art and Prehistoric Cultural Systems (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Michele Hayward. Frank Schieppati. Michael Cinquino.

    Two data sets-Jonsson Marquet's proposed chronological framework for rock art of the Windward Islands and Alistair Bright's reconstruction of settlement, socio-political and exchange networks within the same region-provide a context for examining the interrelationships among the material cultural correlates (petroglyphs, settlement types, pottery) of various aspects of the area's, as well as inter-area prehistoric cultural components.

  • The Shaman in the Cave? Testing for entoptic imagery in Upper Paleolithic geometric rock art. (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Genevieve Von Petzinger.

    It has been proposed that much of the rock art of Upper Paleolithic (UP) Europe can be interpreted as the result of shamanistic visions and related spiritual practices (e.g., Lewis-Williams and Dowson 1998; Clottes and Lewis-Williams 2001; Lewis-Williams 2002; Whitley 2005). This theory is based on a combination of analogy with modern hunter-gatherer groups, and recent neuroscience studies on the universality of human physiological response when in a trance state. Specific geometric signs found...

  • Neandertal artists? Exploring misconceptions about Neandertal symbolic capacities through rock art studies. (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Amy Chase. Genevieve von Petzinger. Oscar Moro Abadia.

    The question of whether Neandertals created art is one that is currently under debate within the field of prehistoric art studies. Originally thought to be brutish and unintelligent, Neandertals have recently come to be acknowledged as complex humans with symbolic capacities, through discoveries of Neandertal-associated modern behaviours including burials, pigment use, and ornament creation. One of the last hold outs separating the symbolic and artistic abilities of Neandertals from those of...

  • Memory and Materiality in Rock Art and Ghost Dance Performances (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Alex Ruuska.

    In this paper, I examine the materiality of memory practices as expressed in rock art associated with the Ghost Dance in the Great Basin, Colorado Plateau, and Eastern California. Building on Jeff Malpas’ (2010) claim that "place is perhaps the key term for interdisciplinary research in the arts, humanities, and social sciences in the 21st C." (Creswell 2015:1), and Susan Kuchler’s perspective of ‘landscape as memory’ in which embodied experiences "govern the mnemonic transmission of land-based...

  • Places, paths and territories: Exploring the multifunctional nature of northeastern Ontario rock art (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only François Gagnon. Dagmara Zawadzka.

    The rock art of northeastern Ontario is less well-known than its counterpart in northwestern Ontario. However, recent explorations of the numerous lakes and meandering rivers in the Canadian Shield have led to the identification of previously unknown sites, as well as to the proper documentation of previously known sites, thus increasing greatly the sample and allowing for the emergence of a more complex regional picture. As an example, the rock art of Temagami area is discussed. This large...

  • The Rock Art of Haitian Vodou (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Patrick Wilkinson.

    This research is part of a larger ethno-archaeological investigation of the use of caves in modern Haitian Vodou rituals in Northern Haiti. This paper explores the modern rock art left in the caves as a result of Vodou ceremonies, in particular paint and veve (veve are symbols drawn out with cornstarch used to call various spirits to ceremonies, and are an intrinsic part of Vodou). The art in question included both permanent and ephemeral works, ranging from simple graffiti to caves painted...

  • Method and Theory in the Archaeology of Interior Salish Rock Art Sites on the British Columbia Plateau. (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Chris Arnett.

    Interior Salish rock art sites on the British Columbia Plateau are multi-component assemblages which include the geomorphology, the rock art and other surface and subsurface elements such as trails, manuports, petroforms, hearths, lithics, radiocarbon dates, flora and fauna. Defining the inter-relationships of these components is essential to understanding the site formation process. In addition, direct historical and cultural continuity between these sites and Interior Salish descendant...

  • "An Arson, A Wig, and a Murder": The Search for Particia Calloway (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Dana D. Kollmann.

    Patricia Calloway was reported missing from Henderson, Kentucky on March 3, 1993. She was last seen in the company of her brother-in-law, Gene Calloway. On October 17, 2012, arrest warrants were executed for Gene and his wife Debra for the felony counts of homicide, kidnapping, tampering with evidence, and retaliation against a participant in a legal process. Debra was convicted, but Gene died while awaiting trial. Prior to his death, Gene prepared a crudely drawn map of the body disposal...

  • Searching for Standards: Federal Efforts Regarding Crime Scene Investigation with Input from Archaeology (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kimberlee S. Moran.

    In 2009 the National Research Council released a damning report on the state of forensic science in the United States. The end result has been a six year mission to develop national standards and best practice for the myriad of forensic specialties. Coordinated by the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), scientific working groups (SWGs) brought together practitioners, academics, and other stakeholders from around the country to draft documents outlining standard terminology...

  • Forensic Techniques to Investigate Museum and Archaeological Samples (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Shanan S. Tobe. Courtney Mower. Anna Dhody. Carolyn Rando. Kimberlee S. Moran.

    Forensic biologists utilize the latest DNA technologies to deal with low level, difficult, and degraded samples on a regular basis. In fact, forensic testing is specifically designed and validated to be robust under conditions that would cause most other genetic testing to fail. It is therefore no surprise that forensic genetic techniques can assist museums with research questions regarding their collections. Here we discuss how, using forensic techniques and testing, we were able to analyze...

  • A Student’s Perspective on the Unidentified Persons Project, San Bernardino, California (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Molly Kaplan.

    Beginning in 2006 as a response to California Senate Bill 297, the Unidentified Persons Project is the first statewide attempt to apply modern DNA analysis to cold cases in San Bernardino County. In 2014 the project became an accredited field school through the Institute of Field Research and proceeded to have two consecutive field seasons in the summers of 2014 and 2015. This paper will present a student’s perspective on the most-recent 2015 field season and will discuss both the rewards and...

  • Authentication of Museum-Curated Tsantsas Utilizing Next Generation Sequencing Technology (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Courtney Mower. Anna Dhody. Kimberlee S. Moran. Shanan S. Tobe.

    The Shuar, native to Northern Peru and Southern Ecuador, prepared shrunken heads to serve as trophies following battle, in response to their cultural beliefs. Authentic shrunken heads (tsantsas) were prepared in a precise manner and exhibit key morphological characteristics. Forgeries, including primates and inauthentic human preparations, were marketed to tourists and private collectors to profit from the "savage" image surrounding the Shuar. Inauthentic shrunken heads were prepared in a...

  • Further Defining the Role of the Forensic Archaeologist (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Eric E. Young.

    As the use of archaeologists in forensic matters grows, it is important to define the role the archaeologist ought to play in such situations. Archaeologists should educate law enforcement personnel as to their utility in investigations. It is important that archaeologists understand their usefulness in criminal matters, and even more importantly, archaeologists should understand their limitations in investigations. There is a need to establish guidelines as to what archaeologists should/should...

  • Is There Strength in Numbers? An Evaluation of the Complementary Roles of Archaeologists and Anthropologists in Forensic Contexts (2017)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Craig T. Goralski.

    This paper explores the training and education that forensic anthropologists and forensic archaeologists have traditionally received, and how it is put into practice in forensic contexts. The substantial differences in theory, method, and practice between the two sub-disciplines will be summarized and how these differences shape what each can contribute in the field will be discussed. This paper will argue that although some overlap between the two sub-disciplines exists, contemporary...

  • Variability in Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Ratios in Banana Yucca (Yucca Baccata) from Cedar Mesa, Utah: Environmental, Inter-Organ and Processing-based Effects (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Michael Lewis. RE Burrillo. Joan Brenner Coltrain.

    Recent stable isotope and phytolith studies suggest that desert succulents (in particular Yucca sp. and Opuntia sp.) were a non-trivial component of Ancestral Puebloan diets. However, isotopic variability in such resources is poorly documented. We present 𝜹C13 and 𝜹N15 values for fruits and seeds of thirty modern Banana Yucca (Yucca baccata) specimens from Cedar Mesa, Utah. Experimental roasting and simulated mastication of yucca ‘crowns’ allow separate assays of whole tissue, fiber, and...

  • Martu Ethnoarchaeology: Foraging, Site Structure and the Scales of Constraint on Human Behavior (2015)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Brian Codding. Christopher Parker. Rebecca Bliege Bird. David Zeanah. Douglas Bird.

    In his watershed 1995 publication, O’Connell outlined the utility of approaching ethnoarchaeology through a general theory of behavior by noting the disparity between studies examining faunal remains and those attempting to explain site structure. While the former was finding great success by drawing on models from behavioral ecology, the later was stagnant and lacking a general theory of behavior. Drawing on ethnoarchaeological data collected with Martu Aboriginal foragers, we highlight a...