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Maori moko : a costly signal?
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2010)
Costly signaling theory (CST) addresses cultural behaviors that are risky or apparently wasteful but which may serve to convey important fitness--related information. Recent studies have expanded the application of CST to ...
Paleoethnobotany of Buena Vista: a case study of ritual feasting in late Preceramic Peru
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2010)
This project examines plant macroremains, phytoliths and starch remains recovered from special archaeological and architectural contexts at Buena Vista (11°43'51.72"S, 76°58'5.45"W) , an inland site in the lower Chilló́n ...
The eyes of the world are upon us : the role of visual images in the fight over Alberta's oil sands
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
In the controversy over the mining of the Alberta oil sands, tourism has become a tool used by both those who want to stop further development of the oil sands and perhaps also by those who want it to continue. The goal ...
"Send only your serious cases" : delivering flu to Toronto: an anthropological analysis of the 1918-19 influenza epidemic in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2010)
This project looks at the 1918-19 pandemic influenza experience in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Based on historical records (most notably death registries and archival material) this work strives to understand the social, ...
The identification of prehistoric Amazonian slash-and-burn cultivation practices using agent-based modeling
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2010)
The Amazonian Slash-and-Burn Model and the Succession Model, both agentbased models, were developed to help address how much influence prehistoric Amazonian populations practicing slash-and-burn cultivation had on their ...
Gender, ethnicity, infrastructure, and the use of financial institutions in Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2012)
An important process is underway in the expansive, rugged, and sparsely populated province of Kalimantan Barat, Indonesian Borneo—the rapid spread of formal financial institutions. Banks are becoming increasingly available ...
Life in the late Intermediate Period at Armatambo, Peru
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
This study examines the ability of the ruling class to provide for the health of their subjects through labor in the Late Intermediate Period site of Armatambo. The thesis of this dissertation is that the development of ...
Built to measure : reconstructing an ancient measurement system from extant architecture at Casas Grandes
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2010)
The standardization hypothesis purports that goods manufactured by specialists exhibit less variation than products manufactured by more generalized, household-level producers. V. Gordon Childe posited that as specialization ...
Anatomical refitting using metric comparison on white tailed deer (odocoileus virginianus) and mule deer (odocoileus hemionus)
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2010)
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Anatomical refitting of zooarchaeological animal skeletons has been used by archaeologists to monitor the spatial distribution of skeletal elements ...
Reconstructing activity patterns in prehistoric Jomon people using long bone cross-sectional geometry
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2010)
This thesis uses long bone diaphyseal morphology to test hypotheses regarding behavior and functional adaptation among Jomon period hunter-gatherers from the Yoshigo site in Japan. Cross-sectional properties of Jomon femora ...
Paleozoological stable isotope data for modern management of historically extirpated Missouri black bears (Ursus americanus)
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2010)
Human population growth and intensification of resource extraction during the 19th century changed the American landscape. Deforestation, residential sprawl and hunting activities impacted the behavior and sometimes the ...
Population history at the microscale : craniometrics of the Cayo Santiago macaques
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
Being able to understand the effects of relatedness on adult cranial morphology has implications for inferring population histories, and for informing us about the influence of social behaviors on these patterns of population ...
Treatment and transmission factors affecting tuberculosis incidence in the emerging economies of the post-Soviet Baltic republics, 1989-2009
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
Tuberculosis (TB) has re-emerged as a global public threat since the 1980s, rising in incidence throughout the world, coinciding with the rise of HIV. Political instability and economic depression exacerbate the effects ...
Genetic and maternal effects on neonatal survival in the western lowland gorilla
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2014)
Quantitative genetic analyses of primate life history traits provide valuable evolutionary insights with conservation and biomedical relevance. Analyzing the proportion of variation in neonatal survival influenced by genes ...
Cut mark pattern differentiation between the lower Paleolithic and the Holocene and its implications
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2015)
Previous research proposed that an archaeological site's faunal assemblage cut mark angle patterning may vary based on the butchering and meat-sharing behaviors of the hominins that created the archaeological assemblage. ...
Mid-Holocene climate change in three cave sites from central Missouri from mammalian body mass distributions
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2015)
The Mid-Holocene was a dynamic period of changing environments. The climate was becoming more dry (Xeric), and prairie grassland was encroaching into areas previously inhabited by deciduous forest. Mammal taxa were changing ...
Is 2d:4d a stable trait during child development?
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2015)
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The second digit to fourth digit (2d:4d) ratio is a sexually dimorphic trait in humans that has been widely used to study male/female differences in ...
Late woodland cultural adaptations in the lower Missouri River valley : archery, warfare, and the rise of complexity
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2015)
The introduction of the bow and arrow into prehistoric Missouri during the Late Woodland Period was a major event that possibly changed the entire Middle Woodland social dynamic and settlement pattern arrangement such that ...
Understanding and defining ethnic identity: Ahiska/Meskhetian Turks in a Midwestern American city
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2015)
Ahiska/Meskhetian Turks are an ethnic group from the region of Meskhetia (Ahiska) in the Caucasus, now in southern Georgia that borders Turkey. Ahiska/Meskhetian Turks have been forced to relocate multiple times in their ...
Modeling the spread of the 1918 Influenza pandemic in a Newfoundland community
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2015)
Infectious disease epidemics have played and continue to play important roles in human populations. At different geographical levels, the spread of epidemics are affected by multiple demographic, social, cultural, political, ...