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The application of phytolith and starch grain analysis to understanding formative period subsistence, ritual, and trade on the Taraco Pennisula, Highland Bolivia
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2006)
This thesis employs microfossil data to add to our understanding of three factors (agricultural intensification, ritual, and trade) viewed as critical in the development of the Tiwanaku state during the preceding Formative ...
Agent-based modeling of the spread of the 1918-1919 Spanish Flu in three Canadian fur trading communities
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2006)
In this project, an agent-based computer simulation was developed to model the spread of the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic within and among three Aboriginal communities in central Manitoba. Data from model simulations ...
Assessing "lithic sound" to predict a rock's ease of flaking
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2006)
Objective information concerning "lithic sound's" properties of pitch, duration, and intensity, can inform archaeologists about a stone's candidacy for human use, and whether or not lithic material at a site has been heat ...
Agent-based modeling of seasonal population movement and the spread of the 1918-1919 flu: the effect on a small community
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2004)
Agent-based modeling provides a new approach to the study of virgin soil epidemics like the 1918-1919 flu. By using this bottom-up simulation approach, a landscape can be created and populated with a heterogeneous group ...
Longitudinal assessment of age-related change in the dental pulp chamber and age estimation using dental radiographs
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2007)
This dissertation presents a new and practical method of adult age estimation with successful tests of its validity and repeatability. Six qualitative criteria evident in oral radiographs were developed from 37 subjects ...
Establishing the perimortem interval: correlation between bone moisture content and blunt force trauma characters
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2006)
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] When determining the time of occurrence of skeletal injuries forensic anthropologists know that antemortem skeletal injuries are recognized by evidence ...
The Spoon Toe Site (11MG179): Middle Woodland gardening in the lower Illinois River Valley
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2005)
This thesis is an examination of archaeobotanical remains from the Spoon Toe site, a Middle Woodland Massey phase site located in the uplands above the Lower Illinois River valley in Morgan County in western Illinois. The ...
Habitual subsistence practices among prehistoric Andean populations: fishers and farmers
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2006)
This research tested the hypothesis that it is possible to differentiate fishers from farmers using muscle marker patterns. Muscle markers are imprints (tuberosities, grooves, and/or bony projections) left on the skeleton ...
An analysis of the 1875-1877 scarlet fever epidemic of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2004)
An epidemic of scarlet fever on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada between 1875 and 1877 is analyzed in the context of a larger, world-wide pandemic of scarlet fever that occurred between 1825 and 1885. Data derived ...
Lumbosacral transitional vertebrae: classification of variation and association with low back pain
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2005)
The association of lumbosacral transitional vertebrae (LSTV) and low back pain, commonly referred to as Bertolotti's syndrome (Bertolotti, 1917), has a controversial history. LSTV are caused by the overlap or shift of ...
Determining the relations between canine crown height and root basal diameters and root length: implications for the hominin fossil record
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2006)
Canine reduction in hominins is one of the original apomorphies to appear in hominin evolution. Canine crown size is sexually dimorphic in most primates, sexual dimorphism is linked strongly to sexual selection; therefore ...
Diet, subsistence and health: a bioarchaeological analysis of Chongos, Perú
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2009)
It is possible to assess important archaeological questions about prehistoric individuals and groups, learning a great deal about their lives through bioarchaeological analysis of human skeletal remains. This dissertation ...
Prehispanic agriculture and climate on the Pacific slope of Guatemala
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2009)
The relationship between agriculture and social complexity is a complicated one through both time and space; this is no less true in prehispanic Mesoamerica. Human occupation of the Pacific Coast of Gualtemala prior to ...
The validity of morphological features and osteological markers in reconstructing habitual activities
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2007)
Bony morphological features have been used to reflect biomechanical behavioral patterns among archaeological populations. Of most recent ones is the anterior femoral curvature (AFC). It has been proposed as a valid indicator ...
A stroll through the park: evaluating the usefulness of phytolith and starch remains found on medieval sherds from Wicken, Northamptonshire, England
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2007)
Survey artifacts are used by a variety of archaeologists studying any number of interesting topics. The focus of this masters thesis is to test the usefulness of plant remains found on artifacts recovered during archaeological ...
A Diocletianic Roman castellum of the Limes Arabicus in its local context: a final report of the 2001 Da'janiya survey
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2007)
The Roman fort at Da'janiya is the largest and best-preserved fortification on the Roman limes between the two legionary forts at Lejjun and Udruh. The fort at Da'janiya is something of an anomaly, since at just over 100 ...
The north smelter at Titelberg: post-imperial bronze recycling in Belgic Gaul
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2007)
The Titelberg in modern Luxembourg was not only the largest oppidum of the late Iron Age in Gallia Belgica, but the most long-lived, with occupations from La Tène II continuous for centuries, ultimately prospering due to ...
Dietary analysis of archaeological hair samples from Peru
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2007)
This research determined whether diet is distinguishable from diagenesis through trace element analysis of hair samples from ancient inhabitants of Peru. Factor scores were associated with meat, vegetables and grains, salt, ...
Mitochondrial ancient DNA analysis of Lawson cave black bears (Ursus americanus)
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2009)
The distribution of black bear (Ursus americanus) in southern and central Missouri has been controversial. This controversy centers on two questions: 1) Where does the historical species fit into the continental phylogeography; ...
A comparison of Nebo Hill and Sedalia points
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2006)
Classification of Nebo Hill and Sedalia points as separate types has been the subject of debate among archaeologists. Some argue that identification of two point types is erroneous and there is only one type with a wide ...