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Click on the column headers below to sort the abstracts.
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| Degree |
Field |
Author |
Chair |
Title |
Date |
Abstract |
| Dissertation |
Archaeology |
Barrett |
Shafer |
Constructive hierarchy through entitlement: inequality in lithic resource access among the ancient Maya of Blue Creek, Belize |
Dec/2004 |
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| Dissertation |
Archaeology |
Boyd |
Shafer |
The Work of Art: Rock Art and Adaptation in the Lower Pecos, Texas Archaic |
Dec/1998 |
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This dissertation presents a study of prehistoric, hunter-gatherer rock art in the Lower Pecos River Region, located at the northeastern reaches of the Chihuahuan Desert within the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The primary objectives of the dissertation are as follows: 1) demonstrate that prehistoric art can be explained through scientific methods, 2) synthesize rock art explanations generated using scientific methods to address issues regarding hunting and gathering lifeways of the lower Pecos Arcahic, 3) demonstrate that rock art production was a mechanism for social and environmental adaptation, and 4) demonstrate that the art and artists of the lower Pecos were active agents in the social, economic and ideological business of the community.
A formal analysis of five rock art panels in the region revealed recurring themes or "motifs." Using ethnological data, hypotheses were formulated to explain three of the motifs identified during the analysis. The hypotheses were tested against the lower Pecos material record and neuropsychological behavior associated with altered states of consciousness, and considered within the context of the social and biophysical environment of the region.
Results of the analysis contributed to the construction of lower Pecos prehistory. The rock art was a vehicle through which intangible assets were shared - individual knowledge became group knowledge. Produced within an egalitarian society in which direct instruction was considered inappropriate, rock art facilitated the "indirect" dissemination of information necessary for successful exploitation of the hunting and gathering niche - information regarding the bio-physical environment, animal behavior, and ecological relationships. Additionally, art and artist were active agents in maintaining, reproducing, and challenging social relations. Artists communicated information regarding the structure of their cosmos, messages from the supernatural realm, and prescriptions for rituals though the art. Production of rock art was an adaptive behavioral response to variable environmental conditions and was ingrained in the technological, social, and ideological business of the hunting and gathering community within which it was produced. |
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| Dissertation |
Archaeology |
Bruchez |
Carlson, David |
Archaeological Investigations, Department of Sololá, Southern Maya Highlands: PreMaya to Postclassic Settlement, Northern Terrestrial Rim and Subsurface Shore Lake Atitlán, Guatemala |
May/1997 |
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| Dissertation |
Archaeology |
Carlson |
Shafer |
Texas Beyond the Periphery: An Archaeological Study of the Spanish Missions During the 18th Century. |
Dec/1994 |
View |
| Dissertation |
Archaeology |
Dering |
Bryant |
Dynamic Variation in Agricultural Practices During the Classic Period in the Tonto Basin, Arizona. |
May/1996 |
View |
| Dissertation |
Archaeology |
Dockall |
Shafer & Solecki |
Technological and Functional Variability of Convergent tools from Nahr Ibrahim, Lebanon: Behavioral Implications for Levantine Mousterian Technological Organization |
May/1997 |
View |
| Dissertation |
Archaeology |
Gang |
Dickson |
Comparative Analysis of Lithic Materials Recovered from Shurmai (GnJm 1) and Kakwa Lelash (GnJm 2) Rockshelters, Kenya |
Dec/1997 |
View |
| Dissertation |
Archaeology |
Hampton |
Bryant & Shafer |
Rock Quarries and the Manufacture, Trade, and Uses of Stone Tools and Symbolic Stones in the Central Highlands of Irian Jaya, Indonesia: Ethnoarchaeological Perspectives |
May/1997 |
View |
| Dissertation |
Archaeology |
Jones |
Bryant |
Pollen Evidence of Prehistoric Forest Modification and Maya Cultivation in Belize. |
Dec/1991 |
View |
| Dissertation |
Archaeology |
Kuehn |
Waters |
The Geoarchaeology of the Little Missouri Badlands: The Late Quaternary Stratigraphic and Paleoenvironmental Context of the Archaeological Record |
May/1995 |
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| Dissertation |
Archaeology |
Meyers |
Carlson, David |
Community, Household, and Status at Hacienda Tabi, Yucatan, Mexico |
Dec/1998 |
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| Dissertation |
Archaeology |
Neyland |
Carlson, David |
A Study of the Cultural Adaptation in Pram-Class Boatbuilding in the Netherlands |
Aug/1994 |
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| Dissertation |
Archaeology |
Pearl |
Dickson |
Late-Pleistocene Archaeological and Geoarchaeological Investigations in the Mukogodo Hills and Ewaso Ng'iro Plains of Central Kenya |
May/2001 |
View |
| Dissertation |
Archaeology |
Pendleton |
Bryant |
Late Holocene Paleoenvironment and Human Ecology in Southwestern New Mexico |
May/1993 |
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| Dissertation |
Archaeology |
Raisor |
Dickson |
Determining the antiquity of dog origins: canine domestication as a model for the consilience between molecular genetics and archaeology |
Aug/2004 |
View |
| Dissertation |
Archaeology |
Reinhard |
Bryant |
Diet, Parasitism and Anemia in the Prehistoric Southwest |
Dec/1988 |
View |
| Dissertation |
Archaeology |
Schroeder |
Carlson, David |
Historical Archaeology in the Grand Prairie Division of Illinois: Environmental, Social, Demographic, and Technological Dimensions of Frontier Development |
May/1995 |
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| Dissertation |
Archaeology |
Sobolik |
Bryant |
Paleonutrition of the Lower Pecos Region of the Chihuahuan Desert |
May/1991 |
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| Dissertation |
Nautical |
Bratten |
Crisman |
The Continental Gondola Philadelphia |
May/1997 |
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| Dissertation |
Archaeology |
Zimmerman |
Bryant & Steele |
Dietary Reconstruction and Subsistence Strategies of Prehistoric Hunter Gatrs of the Texas Gulf Coast |
Dec/1997 |
View |
