Browsing by Subject "Antiquities"
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Item Collection management plan and artifact analysis of a central Texas German ranch, Hedwig's Hill (41MS3), Mason County(Texas Tech University, 1997-08) O'Brien, Karen LynnThe Hedwig's Hill Collection is a classic example of an uncared-for, under-researched collection within a museum setting. Generated in 1971, this collection sat unprocessed within various storage conditions and facilities of the Museum of Texas Tech University. In 1979, a portion of the Collection was removed for conservation purposes. However, no work was ever completed and boxes full of artifacts were misplaced for 18 years before being relocated. During this time, artifacts were broken or destroyed through abuse and lack of care. Because of the current state of the collection (disorganized, improperly housed), basic collections management and simple preventive conservation procedures provide the basis for reestablishing the integrity of this collection. Processing the Hedwig's Hill Collection and conducting research on the objects adds valuable information for the interpretation of the site and for historical data on the types of materials used during the time period (1855 to 1930). Although rare, in-depth reports on historical materials from similar houses (early western frontier settlements) have been conducted in San Antonio (Durrenberger, 1965) and Victoria County (Fox and Livingston, 1979), Texas and at a farm house in Arizona (Fontana and Greenleaf, 1962). The main goal of this study is to bring the Hedwig's Hill Collection under control. This goal is reached through implementing standard, managed care over the Collection and gaining an understanding of the extent of the Collection in terms of the kinds of materials, amounts of materials, and condition of materials. A second goal is to use the Collection to demonstrate the potential for research of a collection that had been uncared for previously.Item Excavation and preliminary analysis of a Maya Burial at the Medicinal Trail archaeological site, Belize, Central America(2011-05) Drake, Stacy Marie; Valdez, Fred, Jr., 1953-; Creel, DarrellThe following report describes the excavation and preliminary analysis of Burial 5 at Group A of the Medicinal Trail archaeological site in northwest Belize. The excavation of Burial 5 occurred over the duration of the 2009 and 2010 field seasons, and this report focuses on the 2010 portion of this excavation, which was conducted within the field laboratory at the Programme for Belize Archaeology Project. In this report, I describe the methods utilized during the 2010 excavation and preliminary analysis processes. I also discuss some of the theory relevant to Maya mortuary practices as they relate to my interpretations of the findings from Burial 5.Item Expecting epiphany : performative ritual and Roman cultural space(2011-05) Arney, Jane Katherine; Clarke, John R., 1945-; Davies, Penelope J.When ancient people entered a temple or other sacred space, how did the art and architecture of the site work upon their senses as mediators of divine presence? This thesis demonstrates that the ancient perception of the deity's actual presence in visual images created a tension that was intensified by the spatial environment and the theatricality of ritual performance. Visual representations acted in concert with cultic ritual to manipulate the visitor through a revelatory experience and create the phenomenon of epiphany. Epiphany, from the Greek word epiphaneia, is the visible manifestation of the deity. Epiphany in the ancient world could manifest as miracles, signs and natural phenomena; however, my thesis will focus primarily on visual epiphany of deity. My aim is to describe how the elements of the built environment and performative ritual combined to create not only the expectation but the actualization of an epiphanic experience for the beholder. The phenomenon of visual epiphany has been largely overlooked until relatively recently. Scholarly examination of temples and other ritual spaces has focused more on archaeological description, formal analysis, mythic narrative, and social and political structures. There has been very little exploration of the actual ritual and neuro-phenomenological experience of religious participants as it relates to the visual environment. With this work my aim is to contribute to the scholarly knowledge of the ancient viewer's experience of epiphany as it was shaped by sacred space and mediated by religious ritual in the ancient world.Item 'Tab' figurines and social identity at La Blanca(2011-05) Long, Michael James, 1985-; Guernsey, Julia, 1964-; Stuart, DavidThis thesis examines a special group of Middle Preclassic (900-600 BC) figurines excavated at La Blanca, an early Mesoamerican site on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala. Figurines at La Blanca are ubiquitous and derive from both elite and non-elite household contexts. Because of their widespread distribution, archaeologists associate figurines with daily practice and household ritual in ancient Mesoamerica. They represent a rare opportunity to examine materializations of the human body across social strata, and because their depositional contexts do not seem to suggest ritual care, their context of use remains enigmatic. With the dawn of the Middle Preclassic period, the community at La Blanca was at the center of a dramatic transition: in addition to the reconfiguring of political, social, and economic structures, the nature of personhood was profoundly transformed during this period. I argue that figurines were actively involved in the ongoing negotiation of social identity and personhood at La Blanca during this important transitional period. I specifically discuss a group of figurines from La Blanca called 'tab' figurines, which are remarkable for their exaggerated sexual characteristics and distinct approach to depicting the human form. I examine the 'tab' figurine assemblage in depth and examine how aspects of their context, form, and function helped their makers negotiate social identity at La Blanca.