Browsing by Subject "archaeology"
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Item A comparison of clovis caches(Texas A&M University, 2006-04-12) Lassen, Robert DetlefThe Clovis caches in this study consist of assemblages of tools left behind in an area either for future use or as ritual offerings. Clovis caches are the earliest of such assemblages known in North America. This research specifically examines a sample of four caches: East Wenatchee from Douglas County, Washington; Anzick from Park County, Montana; Simon from Camas County, Idaho; and Fenn, inferred to be from Sweetwater County, Wyoming. The artifact types in this study include fluted points, bifaces, blades, flakes, bone rods, and miscellaneous. The variables used in this study include maximum length, mid-length and maximum width, thickness, (length*width*thickness)/1000, length/width, and width/thickness; using millimeters as the basic measurement unit. This study utilizes five methods in the study of the caches: descriptive statistics, factor analysis, cluster analysis, correspondence analysis, and geoarchaeology. The descriptive statistics reveal the most prominent trends that become more apparent in the subsequent statistical analyses. Such trends include East Wenatchee containing the largest points but the smallest bifaces, Anzick and Simon having significant biface variation, Fenn tending to be average in most respects, and bone rods being larger in East Wenatchee than they are in Anzick. The factor analysis explores the relationships between the variables and assigns them to larger components. Length, width, thickness, and length*width*thickness comprise the size component, and length/width and width/thickness make up the shape component. The cluster analysis examines the artifacts within each site and between all sites to identify the most appropriate grouping arrangements based on similarities in artifact measurements. The general results show that fluted points form three clusters according to size more than shape, bifaces are highly variable but have no obvious clusters, and bone rods form three clusters with the first two being strictly divided by site. The correspondence analysis shows that the differences in count data between caches appear to relate to the geographic distances between them. Finally, geoarchaeological analysis posits that East Wenatchee has no discernable pit feature, Anzick contains only one human burial, Simon was not deposited in a pluvial lake, and Fenn would have been shallowly buried but was probably disturbed by erosion.Item A Necessary Duty, A Hideous Fault: Digital Technology and the Ethics of Archaeological Conservation(2010-07-14) Smith, Megan H.Archaeological conservation is the process by which conservators prevent deterioration of archaeological remains and provide insight into the nature of recovered material. This thesis examines the effect of digital technology upon the ethics of the conservation profession and upon the attitude of the lay-public towards archaeology. The ethical issues raised by the use of digital technology are discussed, particularly the ways in which these issues differ from those raised by traditional conservation methods. Technological advancements, particularly those occurring in the 20th century, changed the way artifacts are conserved and studied. Conservation arose out of a craft-restoration tradition and evolved into a profession which, in addition to necessary artistic and aesthetic considerations, uses a demonstrable scientific method in order to preserve artifacts. The creation of guidelines for practice and various codes of ethics is the turning point in this evolution, marking the point after which conservation became a scientific profession. Advances in computer technology have permitted the widespread use of devices such as 3-D scanners, digital CT scanners, and digital cameras in the conservation of archaeological artifacts. All of these pieces of equipment produced digital files which must be stored. Currently, the pace of technological change renders most data inaccessible within ten years, and data conservation problems such as storage, access, and file format have not been adequately addressed by the professional conservation community. There is a distinct lack of formal ethical guidelines concerning these issues; this thesis concludes that there is an extreme need for measured consideration before digital methods are used in archaeological conservation. The creation of high-fidelity replicas presents a problem for the museum audience. The public connects with artifacts on an emotional level which is altered when a replica is displayed instead of an original. Digital reconstructions abound in popular culture, heavily influencing public opinion, and often resulting in widespread misperception of the information which can be extracted from archaeological evidence. As a result, conservators of the future must be cautious when creating digital artifacts, and must be meticulously careful to make the nature of digital reconstruction clear to the audience, in order to avoid spreading misinformation.Item A Parametric Model of the Portuguese Nau(2012-02-14) Cook, CharlesThis interdisciplinary research project combines the fields of nautical archaeology and computer visualization in order to create an interactive virtual reconstruction of a Portuguese nau. Information about the shipbuilding process is gathered from 16th and 17th century treaties by Fernando Oliveira and Joao Batista Lavanha, as well as from Dr. Filipe Castro (Texas A&M Department of Anthropology). Eight registered tonnage formulas from the 15th to 17th century are used to estimate the cargo capacity of the nau. Using this information, I develop an algorithm that creates a parametric computer model of a nau hull and calculates its registered tonnage. This parametric model allows the user to choose between the Oliveira and Lavanha hull shapes, adjust parameters to fine tune the hull shape further, and save the information about the hull shape for future editing. The eight registered tonnage estimates are compared to the volume of the parametric hull model below a generic waterline. The process I use to adapt the information provided by the two shipbuilding treatises into an algorithm determines the hull shape of a nau. This allows for projects in the future to introduce other shipbuilding approaches and information as it becomes available to this parametric model.Item Analysis of site structure and post-depositional disturbance at two Early Holocene components, Richard Beene site (41BX831), Bexar County, Texas(Texas A&M University, 2004-09-30) Mason, James BryanTwo deeply buried, well-stratified, and well-dated components dating to the Early Holocene period were excavated at the Richard Beene site (41BX831) in Bexar County, Texas. This thesis utilizes both qualitative (interpretation of maps) and quantitative (unconstrained clustering) spatial analysis techniques to identify site structure and assess post-depositional disturbance by analyzing patterns among artifact categories, selected artifacts, and features from these components. Results of spatial analysis are compared to expectations of the archaeological record based on previous research. Each component revealed a distinct pattern. The Lower Medina component (ca. 6900 B.P.) is well preserved and spatial analysis showed clear distinctions between domestic and peripheral zones. The Upper Perez component (8800 B.P.) is a fluvial lag deposit of displaced artifacts and fire-cracked rock features. Results of spatial analysis confirmed that most, if not all, of this component is disturbed, revealing no site structure.Item Conservation of waterlogged linoleum(Texas A&M University, 2005-02-17) Coke, BobbyeJo EvonLinoleum has been around for over a hundred years. With its invention by Frederick Walton in the 1860?s a new means of durable floor covering was introduced to the world. This new invention was promoted as durable, hygienic, and easy to maintain. In agreement with the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, a study was commissioned to seek the best means to conserve linoleum from a canal boat excavated in the summer of 2002 in Lake Champlain. The Sloop Island Canal Boat is part of an excavation project that is studying the ways of life on the lake. Conserving waterlogged linoleum is a new area of study in conservation, and there is very little information dealing with the topic. This study will provide a baseline for the conservation of linoleum.Item Constructive hierarchy through entitlement: inequality in lithic resource access among the ancient Maya of Blue Creek, Belize(Texas A&M University, 2005-02-17) Barrett, Jason WallaceThis dissertation tests the theory that lithic raw materials were a strategic resource among the ancient Maya of Blue Creek, Belize that markedly influenced the development of socio-economic hierarchies at the site. Recent research has brought attention to the role of critical resource control as a mechanism contributing to the development of political economies among the ancient Maya. Such research has been primarily focused on the control of access to water and agricultural land. The examination of lithic raw materials as a critical economic resource is warranted as stone tools constituted a fundamental component of the ancient Maya economy. My research objectives include measuring raw material variability in the Blue Creek settlement zone and its immediate environs, assessing the amount of spatial and temporal variability present in the distribution of various raw materials, determining the degree to which proximity to a given resource influenced the relative level of its use, and testing whether differential resource access relates to variability in aggregate expressions of wealth. To meet these objectives, I examined 2136 formal stone tools and 24,944 pieces of debitage from excavations across the Blue Creek settlement zone, and I developed a lithic raw material type collection using natural outcrops. Significant spatial and temporal differences were observed in the use of various raw materials. Control of critical resources under conditions of scarcity is shown to have caused social stratification among the ancient Maya of Blue Creek. Initial disparities in use-right arrangements based on first occupancy rights produced substantial, accumulative inequality in economic capability and subsequent achievements. During the Early Classic period, these disproportionate allowances ultimately undermined the more egalitarian structure observed during the Preclassic. The Early Classic period at Blue Creek is characterized by increasing extravagance among the elites and increasing disenfranchisement throughout the hinterlands when compared to earlier periods. This suggests that elites at the site only became fully able to convert their resource monopolies into substantial gains in power, prestige, and wealth during the Classic period.Item Foreign Influences and Consequences on the Nuragic Culture of Sardinia(2010-07-14) Choltco, Margaret E.Although it is accepted that Phoenician colonization occurred on Sardinia by the 9th century B.C., it is possible that contact between Sardinia?s indigenous population and the Levantine region occurred in the Late Bronze Age (LBA). Eastern LBA goods found on the island are copper oxhide ingots and Aegean pottery. Previously, it has been suggested that Mycenaeans were responsible for bringing the eastern goods to Sardinia, but the presence of Aegean pottery shards does not confirm the presence of Mycenaean tradesmen. Also, scholars of LBA trade have explained the paucity of evidence for a Mycenaean merchant fleet. Interpretations of two LBA shipwrecks, Cape Gelidonya and Uluburun, indicate that eastern Mediterranean merchants of Cypriot or Syro-Canaanite origin, transported large quantities of oxhide ingots from the Levant towards the west. It remains possible that similar itinerant merchants conducted ventures bringing eastern goods to Sardinia while exploring the western Mediterranean. Trade in eastern goods may have stimulated the advancement that occurred in Nuragic culture in the LBA, resulting in the emergence of an elite social stratum in the Nuragic society. Archaeological evidence, such as elitist burials and increasingly complex architecture, supports the idea of cultural change due to internal competition. This ?peer-polity? effect may have been incited because of limited accessibility to the exotic eastern goods and the ?ownership? to the rights of this exchange.Item Geoarchaeological investigations at the McNeill-Gonzales site (41VT141), Victoria County, Texas(2009-06-02) Aiuvalasit, Michael JohnThe McNeill-Gonzales site is a stratified multi-component prehistoric site in Victoria County, Texas. The site is located in approximately 2 meters of fine sand that mantle a fluvial terrace of the Guadalupe River. Geoarchaeological investigations were conducted at this site to determine the stratigraphy of the archaeological deposits, the processes that led to the formation of the site, and the integrity of the archaeological deposits. Three Holocene deposits of fine sand are mantling the tread and slope of a Pleistocene fluvial terrace of the Deweyville Formation. Granulometric studies and the stratigraphic position of the sands suggest the deposits are eolian in nature. Artifacts from the Late Paleoindian period (10,000 B.P.) to the Historic period were found in generally good stratigraphic position and made possible the correlation of the three deposits of fine sand across the site. There is evidence of bioturbation across the entire site and disturbance by colluvial action on the southeastern slopes of the site; however, intact human burials, hearth features, and artifacts in stratigraphic position indicate that secondary processes have not completely compromised the integrity of the archaeological deposits.Item On the periphery of the periphery: household archaeology at Hacienda Tabi, Yucatan, Mexico(Texas A&M University, 2006-10-30) Sweitz, Samuel RandlesThe archaeological remains at Hacienda Tabi provide an opportunity to study the effects of large-scale societal changes on the lives of the Maya who worked on the hacienda. The households, represented by the ruins of the worker??????s village surrounding the main hacienda grounds, were at the core of late colonial/independence era Maya life. These households were subject to the forces of acculturation that accompanied the rise and supremacy of the hacienda system during the late eighteenth century. Archaeological excavations at Hacienda Tabi have revealed a re-orientation of social organization during this period. Prior to the formation of the hacienda system, domestic and social organization focused on kinship and extended family subsistence organization. Social status, wealth, and power in pre-hacienda communities were predicated on issues of age, sex, and familial rank within both the extended family and community. The hacienda system brought about fundamental changes in the organization and relations of production. These changes, e.g. the separation of producer from the means of production and commodity based production versus subsistence based production, changed the basis and therefore the form of Yucatecan social organization. Under the new system, the nuclear family rather than the extended family or community became the prime unit of social organization. In the hacienda community status was based on occupation and one??????s place within the newly established labor hierarchy. The changing realities of social organization found under the hacienda system are reflected in the settlement patterns and material remains of the workers?????? village at Hacienda Tabi. The material culture and types of housing excavated and recorded at Tabi underscore the inequalities engendered within the hacienda system of production. The research conducted at Hacienda Tabi has illuminated the changes associated with Yucatan??????s articulation into the greater world system.Item Site Formation Processes at the Buttermilk Creek Site (41BL1239), Bell County, Texas(2010-10-12) Keene, Joshua L.The archaeological literature warns against trusting the context of artifacts found within a vertisol due to the constant mixing of sediments caused by the shrink/swell properties of clays. These churning processes were thought to be the defining characteristic of vertisols until only the past few decades. It is now apparent that vertisols vary drastically based on a wide spectrum of variables and are fully capable of forming without churning processes. The Buttermilk Creek Site, Block A represents a prime example of a minimally developed vertisol. In addition, the site itself is a heavily occupied lithic quarry that has been almost continuously inhabited since Clovis and possibly Pre-Clovis times. This thesis takes a detailed look at the sediments and distribution of lithic artifacts from Block A of the Buttermilk Creek site to address the two following research objectives: 1) to determine if the archaeological context within the floodplain sediments at Block A has been disturbed by post-depositional processes, and 2) to identify discrete occupation surfaces within the vertic floodplain sediments at the site. These objectives are addressed using a variety of methods, including: 1) plotting the stratigraphic position of diagnostic artifacts, 2) determining the size distribution of debitage and artifact quantities throughout the floodplain deposits, 3) examining the distribution of cultural versus non-cultural lithic material, 4) recording the presence or absence of heat alteration in the deposits, 5) creating maps showing the degree of fissuring across the site, 6) analyzing differences in patination on artifacts, and 7) analyzing the presence of calcium carbonate on artifacts from all levels. Results from these analyses show that, despite the classification of sediments at Block A as a vertisol, vertical displacement of artifacts is largely absent. Chronologically ordered diagnostic points, consistently size sorted artifacts, and a lack of constant mixing of calcium carbonate throughout the profile suggest that artifacts found as deep as 20 cm below the Clovis-aged horizon represent intact cultural horizons. These oldest components found in Block A may represent some of the earliest known evidence of people in the New World.Item Success at Sea: Maritime Votive Offerings and Naval Dedications in Antiquity(2014-06-26) Streuding, Jaclyn HaleyIn ancient Greece and Rome, gods and goddesses were thought to have control over many aspects of the human world. In order to influence or appease the divine, Greeks and Romans regularly performed religious rituals. These rituals, which included prayer, sacrifice, and the offering of non-consumable votive objects, constituted an integral part of ancient Greco-Roman religion. Material remains of religious activity, as well as the testimonies of ancient writers, help elucidate the significance of ancient Greco-Roman religious ritual. While almost any occasion, such as birth, marriage, hunting, and harvest, was cause for invoking divine assistance, it was in times of anxiety and danger that religious ritual became a fundamental necessity. Seafaring, which is the focus of the present study, is one such example of a hazardous yet necessary activity that likely affected many individuals in the ancient world at one time or another. Although it is impossible to observe ancient religious beliefs and practice directly, one can observe it indirectly through the excavation and interpretation of material remains. Since prayer and sacrifice generally are not visible in the archaeological record, the votive offering becomes the most informative component of ritual in the understanding of past religious behavior. Therefore, this thesis examines archaeological and literary evidence for votive offerings and dedications that are naval or maritime in nature. Maritime votive offerings encompass small, portable objects such as metal and terracotta ship models, as well as naval equipment, such as anchors. These objects likely represented thank-offerings given to the divine by seafarers after the fulfillment of a previous request for safe passage at sea, although offerings could have also been made by sailors seeking protection in anticipation of a future sea voyage. Naval dedications, on the other hand, include naval spoils, such as the detached ram or prow ornament taken from an enemy?s ship, and in some instances, a whole ship, to commemorate a naval victory. Upon examination of this evidence, it is possible to draw some preliminary conclusions about past religious practices and also gain insight into the actions and motivations of the people who performed them.Item The Passenger Steamboat Phoenix: An Archaeological Study of Early Steam Propulsion in North America(2012-08-31) Schwarz, George 1977-The advent of steam contributed heavily to the economic transformation of early America, facilitating trade through the transportation of goods along the country?s lakes, rivers, and canals. Serious experimentation with steam navigation began in the last quarter of the 18th century. By the turn of the 19th century, fledgling US steamboat companies vied for control of navigation rights in the country?s northern waterways. The second steamboat to be launched on Lake Champlain, Phoenix, operated as a passenger steamer between 1815 and 1819, when she caught fire and sank in the lake. The intention of this study is to advance our knowledge of early steamboat design and use in the United States through the archaeological investigation of the country?s earliest-known steamboat wreck. As little is known about the development of these early steam vessels, the study of Phoenix offers a unique opportunity to gain new information related to steamboat design in the early 19th century as well as a glimpse into life on the lakes and rivers of North America during this era. The dissertation presents detailed information on Phoenix?s construction, operation, and sinking based on historical and archaeological analysis and interpretation. In combination with the available archival record and analytical comparisons with steamboats of similar size and age, a more comprehensive understanding of the developmental phases of steam travel and its impact on early America can be gained.Item The search for ancient hair: a scientific approach to the probabilities and recovery of unattached hair in archaeological sites(2009-05-15) Turner-Pearson, KatherineA recent upsurge exists of archaeologists using ancient hair as a research tool, with new uses of this previously discarded archaeological material being introduced annually. Human hair deteriorates extremely slowly, and since the average modern human sheds approximately one hundred hairs per day, there should be copious amounts of hair debris left behind after humans leave a site; it is just a matter of how much of the hair survives in the archaeological environment. Most loose hair recovered from archaeological sites, however, is found fortuitously and in many cases, because archaeologists were not actively searching for ancient hair, it is possible they tainted the hair they later tested in ways that compromised their data, or more importantly contaminated their samples with modern hair and did not test ancient hair at all. No standardized method has previously been established for searching for ancient hair in an archaeological site. This paper considers (a) a method of soil extraction in the field that avoids contamination with modern hair and elements that might hinder later test data; (b) the processing of samples in the laboratory while continuing sample integrity; (c) identification of the types of soils and environments that are most favorable to hair preservation; and (d) an examination of the relevance of hair extraction from sites including the practicality and research potential. This paper examines five archaeological sites, using three different methods of hair extraction, examining the pros and cons of each. This should enable future researchers to find a method that works best for their particular site. It also analyzes the soil chemistry of the sites in order to study the soil and hair survival relationship, so that scientists can better determine which soils hold the best potential for hair survival. Laboratory methods that avoid contamination of the samples are also outlined in order to help researchers keep sample integrity after leaving the archaeological site.