Browsing by Author "Orsi, Jared, committee member"

Now showing 1 - 16 of 16

Open Access
A rock and a hard place: exploring Fremont territoriality through the pinnacle architecture of Douglas Creek, Rio Blanco County, Colorado
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Bauer, Joshua A., author; LaBelle, Jason M., advisor; Van Buren, Mary, committee member; Orsi, Jared, committee member
Fremont occupations in northwestern Colorado's Douglas Creek have long captured the attention of travelers and archaeologists. Spanish explorers in the 18th century dubbed its canyon corridor "El Cañon Pintado", due to the impressive rock art peppered throughout. Researchers in the 20th century were captivated by the masonry architecture perched on pinnacle landforms in the area and some wagered that they may have served defensive purposes. This was a warranted premise, considering the known territorial tendencies of Fremont peoples in the Uinta Basin, and the social and environmental changes that occurred around the time of the pinnacle occupations from 1000–1550 CE. This thesis represents the first synthetic study of seven pinnacle structures in Douglas Creek and undertakes to determine whether they were indeed defensive in nature through three research themes. Examined first are the physical conditions associated with the pinnacle sites and finds that they are in naturally defensible settings, such as inconspicuous locations on the landscape and areas with steep slopes, dangerous cliffs, and protective blinds. Architectural components of the structures are then assessed to understand how much planning and effort went into their construction. The results show that the masonry construction attests to attention and care on behalf of the architects, although the structures are not always so meticulously built, perhaps signaling a lack of resources on their part. Finally, viewsheds of each pinnacle site are analyzed, and the results reveal that they provide commanding views of the canyon corridor, arable land, and some storage granaries (another form of masonry architecture attributed to the Fremont). These results suggest that the Douglas Creek Fremont were engaged in a mostly passive form of defensibility but retained the option to actively engage in conflicts. This thesis offers these foregoing insights about the territorial postures assumed by Douglas Creek Fremont during a time of socioeconomic stress stemming from drought, demographic shifts, and increased regional conflicts.
Open Access
Accelerating waters: an Anthropocene history of Colorado's 1976 Big Thompson Flood
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Wright, Will, author; Fiege, Mark, advisor; Orsi, Jared, committee member; Howkins, Adrian, committee member; Baron, Jill, committee member
Scale matters. But in the Anthropocene, it is not clear how environmental scholars navigate between analytical levels from local and regional phenomena on the one hand, to global Earth-system processes on the other. The Anthropocene, in particular, challenges the ways in which history has traditionally been conceived and narrated, as this new geological epoch suggests that humans now rival the great forces of nature. The Big Thompson River Flood of 1976 provides an opportunity to explore these issues. Over the Anthropocene's "Great Acceleration" spike, human activities and environmental change intensified both in Colorado's Big Thompson Canyon and across much of the world. The same forces that amplified human vulnerability to the catastrophic deluge on a micro-level through highway construction, automobile vacationing, and suburban development were also at work with the planetary upsurge in roads, cars, tourism, atmospheric carbon dioxide, and flooding on the macro-level. As a theoretical tool, the Anthropocene offers a more ecological means to think and write about relationships among time and space.
Open Access
Chronology, spatial organization, and mobility at Flattop Butte (5LO34), a prehistoric lithic quarry in the Central Plains of North America
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Madden, Robert J., author; LaBelle, Jason M., advisor; Orsi, Jared, committee member; Van Buren, Mary, committee member
This thesis reports on the results of an archaeological investigation at Flattop Butte (5LO34), a prehistoric lithic quarry located in northeastern Colorado. The site is an important location in the prehistory of the Central Plains of North America because it is the source of Flattop chalcedony, a cryptocrystalline tool stone used by ancient peoples for over 13,000 years, since the time that humans first entered the region. Sources of high-quality tool stone are uncommon, and separated by vast distances, in the Central Plains. This fact made Flattop Butte an essential destination for ancient, Indigenous Native American groups operating in the region, who visited it again and again for millennia, each time leaving evidence of their presence. Despite this importance, Flattop Butte has been the subject of only cursory archaeological investigation prior to the work reported here. Indeed, the vast majority of what is known about Flattop Butte comes not from the site itself, but rather from distant locations where Flattop chalcedony is found in the archaeological assemblages of ancient groups who used this lithic material for tool making. This thesis then represents an attempt to begin to lift the veil on Flattop Butte, and to explore it as an important archaeological site in its own right. It is a place that has much to say about the ancient peoples of the Central Plains, but only if some sense can be made of the seemingly incomprehensible mass of intermixed cultural materials and byproducts that were deposited on its surface and in its depths over hundreds of generations. With this goal in mind, the archaeological investigation reported here was designed to gather evidence at Flattop Butte relevant to three foundational research questions. The first is the chronology of use of the site, i.e., when was Flattop Butte used as a lithic source, and when were particular locations at the site used for these purposes? The second research question relates to spatial organization, i.e., where at the site did ancient groups carry out their lithic procurement activities, and did they segregate this work into separate, specialized activity areas? The final question relates to the effect, if any, that quarrying tool stone at Flattop Butte had on the mobility patterns of the ancient groups that visited the site for this purpose. Specifically, were these groups engaged in "embedded" procurement incidental to their subsistence rounds, having little impact on their overall mobility patterns, or were they engaged in "direct" procurement, making special trips to the site having significant impacts on their mobility patterns? Evidence relevant to these questions was gathered at Flattop Butte through survey and excavation. In addition, a literature review of the offsite use of Flattop chalcedony through time was conducted. The results of these efforts are reported here. On the question of chronology, it was found that Flattop Butte was continuously exploited as a lithic source in all prehistoric periods, for over 13,000 years. In addition, specific locations were identified at the site with evidence suggesting specific activities that took place at specific times, including a possible Paleoindian period secondary reduction workshop, two possible Archaic period workshops, and a Late Prehistoric period quarry pit. On the question of spatial organization, evidence was gathered suggesting that at various times ancient peoples organized their production of lithic materials at Flattop Butte into distinct task locations – quarry pit areas, secondary reduction workshops, and habitations – that were placed at a distance from each other on the butte. Finally, on the question of mobility, evidence suggests a high level of both logistical organization and labor investment in lithic production at Flattop Butte, as well as frequent long-distance transport of Flattop chalcedony, indicating that some of the groups that acquired Flattop chalcedony at the site were engaged in special-purpose "direct" procurement, around which their mobility patterns had to be arranged.
Open Access
Civil rights, policy diffusion and the coevolution of immigration and public health in the American food system
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Welsh, Edward S., author; Velasco, Marcela, advisor; Duffy, Robert, advisor; Orsi, Jared, committee member
This research uses the 'policy diffusion framework' to analyze the mechanisms and motivations behind policymaking in the American food system and draw conclusions about the relationship between the policy process and civil rights. It also utilizes analytical concepts lent by historic institutionalism such as process tracing and critical junctures to create a narrative of policy evolution from a cross-case analysis of the most salient issues facing the food system including immigration and public health policies. A case study of the northern Colorado food system details a series of policy adoptions in these issue areas, offering metrics for measuring equality. I hypothesize that the policy diffusion process in the real world has a causal relationship with the civil rights of immigrants and migrants working in food service. I ask the research question, what is the relationship between the policymaking process and civil rights in the food system, and what mechanisms of policy diffusion are active? I find that the policy diffusion process has the best outcomes for civil equality when there is a diversity of stakeholders who take a collaborative approach to the process and share information quickly and often. But, when decisionmakers bias the process by excluding or favoring sets of stakeholders, then the information flow is crippled and policy outcomes negatively affect civil rights.
Open Access
Confederate military strategy: the outside forces that caused change
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Varnold, Nathan, author; Gudmestad, Robert, advisor; Orsi, Jared, committee member; Black, Ray, committee member
When addressed with military strategy the first thought is to drift towards the big name battlefields: Shiloh, Perryville, Stones River, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga. Our obsession with tactics and outcomes clouds our minds to the social, cultural, and political factors that took place away from the front lines. Less appealing, but no less important to understanding the war as a whole, this study incorporates non-military factors to explain the shift of Confederate military strategy in the Western Theater. Southern citizens experienced a growth of military awareness, which greatly influenced the military policies of Richmond, and altered how Confederate generals waged war against Union armies. The geography of Mississippi and Tennessee, and the proximity of these states to Virginia, also forced Western generals to pursue aggressive military campaigns with less than ideal military resources. Finally, the emotions and personal aspirations of general officers in the Army of Tennessee, and the Western Theater as a whole, produced a culture of failure, which created disunion and instability in the Western command structure. Confederate generals pursued aggressive military campaigns due to a combination of social, cultural, political, and military factors.
Open Access
"Considering the sickness of my children, my heart was exceedingly sunk": fatherhood and children's health in colonial New England, 1660–1785
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) LeDoux, Libby, author; Little, Ann, advisor; Orsi, Jared, committee member; Hutchins, Zach, committee member
A reading of Puritan fathers' personal writings from 1660–1785 indicates a larger ethic of loving, hands-on fatherhood. When fathers wrote about their children in their personal writings, it was most often related to their children's spiritual and physical health. By providing for their children in times of physical distress, Puritan fathers participated in the private life of their families and formed intimate bonds with their children. This thesis challenges the narratives that present the distribution of household labor as divided between the public and private. It rejects the assumption that caring for children was women's work and sickrooms were women's spaces. The fathers examined in this thesis were mentally, emotionally, and physically present throughout their children's illnesses. Fathers' detailed descriptions of their children's physical health and the medicine given to them to ease their suffering makes it clear that the sickroom was not strictly a place for women. In addition to physical remedies, fathers also employed spiritual methods to cure their children in hopes of earning God's favor. Fathers had to reckon with the religious aspects of physical disease. They ruminated on the possible causes for disease, sought for religious meaning in their children's illnesses, and worried for the sanctification of their children's souls. At its core, this thesis tells the story of fathers who loved their children. It does not paint these fathers as men who cared for their children because of an internalized goal of living up to an abstract concept of ideal Puritan manhood or paternal power. A reading of these diaries does not unveil a series of emotionally distant patriarchal authoritarians. These men were hands-on fathers who deeply loved their families and wanted to protect their children at all costs.
Open Access
Masculinity in a nineteenth century western mining town: gendered relations of power in a red-light district, the Vanoli Sporting Complex (5OR30), Ouray, Colorado
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Burnette, Richard T., author; Van Buren, Mary, advisor; Kwiatkowski, Lynn, committee member; Orsi, Jared, committee member
The historical artifact collection recovered from the Vanoli Sporting Complex site (5OR30), a brothel district adjacent to the Second Street red-light district in Ouray, Colorado, in the United States, has stimulated a number of anthropological questions regarding the social processes enabling the rapid growth and long-term sustentation of sporting-male commerce in Colorado mining towns in the latter-half of the nineteenth-century. Potentially representing the real economic engine responsible for the viability of tenuous western mining towns, prostitution was tacitly accepted by moral Victorian elites, underscoring the entrenched nature of masculine ideologies and customs. The class-based regulatory structures adopted to exploit and control the illicit commerce would have an alienating influence over the lives of prostitutes, significantly altering the relations of power forged between men and women in these urbanized mining towns. Ironically, the pervasiveness of long-standing homocentric paradigms in western historical literature has continued to mask the socio-cultural and economic significance of masculine social institutions in numerous industrial sub-regions emerging in the mining west. Benefiting from the advances made in the discourse on gender and power, this archaeological study assesses the changing life ways of prostitutes within a brothel district, providing a unique perspective on gendered relations of power in a western mining context.
Open Access
Material culture, social networks, and the Chinese of Ouray, Colorado, 1880-1920
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Knee, Alexis Ryan, author; Van Buren, Mary, advisor; Orsi, Jared, committee member; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, committee member
This study examines a sample of artifacts recovered from the Vanoli Site (5OR30) encompassing a privy and trash midden located directly behind an historic Chinese laundry. Previous research in Overseas Chinese archaeology has focused on historically large Chinese communities and processes of acculturation, resulting in a homogenous perception of past Overseas Chinese experiences. The purpose of this project is to explore the small, historic Chinese community of Ouray, Colorado, and work to understand their past experiences in terms of social interaction rather than acculturation. Borrowing concepts from social network theory, artifacts recovered from behind the Chinese laundry drive the reconstruction of past social relationships. When these relationships are placed within the context of Ouray and the United States at the time, they can lead to an understanding of past experiences. Quantitative analyses included organizing artifacts by material type, stylistic traits, function and minimum number of items. The production, acquisition and use contexts were also determined for artifacts when possible. Using historical sources, qualitative analyses began with researching the local context of Chinese living in Ouray and the attitudes of Ouray residents towards them. The social meanings of activities associated with excavated artifacts were understood within the contexts of China, the United States and Ouray at the time. These contexts, combined with identified patterns in the assemblage drove the reconstruction of several possible past social relationships. These relationships reveal that Chinese living in Ouray likely shared many of the same experiences as Chinese living in larger communities, specifically negative experiences stemming from racism and labor discrimination. However, they also likely had experiences that were unique to Ouray and were not completely dependent on ethnicity. Rather, a combination of factors, including occupation, place of business and residence, social status (within Chinese and Euroamerican communities), personal relationships, and wealth, seem to have had a more meaningful impact on experiences and whether those experiences were positive or negative. This was likely the case for most people living in the area. This study suggests that a close examination of local and historical contexts combined with archaeological evidence is necessary to illuminate Overseas Chinese experiences, and in doing such, could alter current perceptions of early Asian American history.
Open Access
Power in the pasture: energy and the history of ranching in western South Dakota
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Howe, Jenika, author; Fiege, Mark, advisor; Orsi, Jared, committee member; Richburg, Robert W., committee member
Transitions in the use of energy transformed the landscape, labor, and domestic life of cattle ranching in western South Dakota from the late-nineteenth to the middle of the twentieth centuries. The introduction of new energy sources to the Black Hills spurred the expansion of European Americans into the region, while helping to displace native peoples like the Lakotas. Changing energy use also intensified ranch labor in the pastures and in the household, drawing individual ranches into new connections with their surroundings. Examining cattle ranching through the lens of energy provides new insights into the momentum of energetic systems in societies, affording historians a way to understand past energy use as they consider present and future environmental concerns.
Open Access
Prehistoric land use, site placement and an archaeological legacy along the foothills of the Colorado Northern Front Range
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Holland, Caitlin A., author; LaBelle, Jason, advisor; Van Buren, Mary, committee member; Orsi, Jared, committee member
This research takes place in the Colorado Front Range foothills in Northern Colorado. Previous artifact collections were recovered in past decades from sixty-six prehistoric sites and isolated finds within a bounded geographical area that includes the Dakota and Lyons hogbacks west of the city of Loveland in Larimer county. The first part of this thesis presents the artifact collections used in this analysis of Edison Lohr (1947), Lauri Travis (1986; 1988), Calvin Jennings (1988), and the work of the Center for Mountain and Plains Archaeology (2015-2017). The second part of this thesis explores the cultural chronology of the region and that of the study area. The study area reflects mostly the ephemeral behavior of indigenous groups along with small diverse activity sites that date between the Folsom period and Protohistoric era, with most sites dating between the Early Archaic and the Early Ceramic periods. Environmental variables that could have played a role in indigenous settlement and mobility patterns are evaluated, such as desirable raw material used for grinding tools. Only eight sites illustrate long-term intensive reoccupation of the foothills. The data shows that this landscape is a temporary exploitation space for indigenous groups passing through to access the Southern Rocky Mountains to the west or the Great Plains to the east.
Open Access
Rapid ascent: Rocky Mountain National Park in the Great Acceleration, 1945-present
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Boxell, Mark, author; Fiege, Mark, advisor; Bobowski, Ben, committee member; Howkins, Adrian, committee member; Lindenbaum, John, committee member; Orsi, Jared, committee member
After the Second World War's conclusion, Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) experienced a massive rise in visitation. Mobilized by an affluent economy and a growing, auto-centric infrastructure, Americans rushed to RMNP in droves, setting off new concerns over the need for infrastructure improvements in the park. National parks across the country experienced similar explosions in visitation, inspiring utilities- and road-building campaigns throughout the park units administered by the National Park Service. The quasi-urbanization of parks like RMNP implicated the United States' public lands in a process of global change, whereby wartime technologies, cheap fossil fuels, and a culture of techno-optimism—epitomized by the Mission 66 development program—helped foster a "Great Acceleration" of human alterations of Earth’s natural systems. This transformation culminated in worldwide turns toward mass-urbanization, industrial agriculture, and globalized markets. The Great Acceleration, part of the Anthropocene—a new geologic epoch we have likely entered, which proposes that humans have become a force of geologic change—is used as a conceptual tool for understanding the connections between local and global changes which shaped the park after World War II. The Great Acceleration and its array of novel technologies and hydrocarbon-powered infrastructures produced specific cultures of tourism and management techniques within RMNP. After World War II, the park increasingly became the product and distillation of a fossil fuel-dependent society.
Open Access
Rocky Mountain high: an environmental history of Cannabis in the American West
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Johnson, Nick, author; Fiege, Mark, advisor; Orsi, Jared, committee member; Howkins, Adrian, committee member; Carolan, Michael, committee member
Drugs are plants, too. Every ounce of tobacco, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, alcohol, or even coffee consumed in the United States today is the result of a profound human-plant relationship. The history of these relationships tells us much about how these plants have figured into human history and the human condition. It also illuminates how these plants went from being coveted elements of seductive nature to their current status as controversial and illicit commodities. The general revulsion with which we currently approach drugs, the people who use them, and the plants that produce them has effectively obscured the important place of drugs and drug plants in history. Current histories of Cannabis in the United States treat it first and foremost as the drug marijuana. But by foregrounding the plant that produces it--Cannabis indica--I am able to highlight the many important relationships Americans formed with it throughout the twentieth-century American West, and what these relationships tell us about drug plants and their place in our society. Examining these relationships not only provides fresh insights into relations of race, class, and gender in American history, but it also sheds light on under-examined topics such as cross-cultural contact, the buildup of traditional knowledge, the development of unofficial agriculture and commodity chains, and on the basic desires shared and pursued by all humanity.
Open Access
Spatial abilities of construction and related professionals
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Porter, Dale Scott, author; Makela, Carole, advisor; Glick, Scott, advisor; Quick, Don, committee member; Orsi, Jared, committee member
Researchers have established that spatial ability is a predictor of success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Unknown are the differences of spatial abilities among Construction Professionals comparative to other STEM and Non-STEM Professionals. The purpose of this study is to discover if there are specific activities, experiences, or education that are perceived to improve mental rotation abilities among practicing professionals in construction and related fields. Participants for this study were coded into four groups of professionals consisting of Construction Professionals, Construction Related Professionals, STEM Professionals and Non-STEM Professionals (N = 238). The population from which the sample was drawn came from a purchased national email list organized by Standard Industry Classification (SIC) codes. Utilizing a survey instrument and the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Rotations (PSVT:R), differences in spatial ability were measured among these groups of professionals. A statistically significant difference was found between the mean scores of Construction Professionals and Non-STEM Professionals (p = .016), and an effect size of .031 was reported. No other statistically significant differences in mean scores exist among the four groups. Test results facilitated comparisons of ability with self-attributed activities that enhanced spatial ability. Analysis showed that drawing was attributed more frequently among high scoring individuals (52%) than low scoring individuals (15%) as a useful activity enhancing spatial ability. PSVT:R scores were also compared with the amount of time per day participants made use of their spatial abilities. No statistically significant difference was found. Findings from this study suggest that higher spatial abilities are present among Construction Professionals and add an important dimension to industry recruitment with the potential implementation of spatial ability testing. Construction education curriculum likewise benefits from these findings that suggest drawing as an important activity increasing one's spatial ability.
Open Access
Ten Hispanic homestead sites in southeastern Colorado
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Dorsey, Thomas W., author; Van Buren, Mary, advisor; Eighmy, Jeffrey, committee member; Orsi, Jared, committee member
The U.S. Southwest represents a frontier where different cultural groups have encountered one another in the past and present. Native Americans, Euro-Americans and Hispanics have their place in the history of this region and each approached the use of the landscape differently, based on their perceptions of how to best run a household. This thesis examines the land use patterns of ten Hispanic homestead sites in southeastern Colorado within the framework established by researchers as part of the Hispanic Cultural Landscapes Project. Directed by Richard Carrillo, Minette Church and Bonnie Clark, this group has proposed that meaningful differences exist between Hispanic and Euro-American land use patterns. It uses as evidence domestic site architecture, support structures, artifact assemblages and site placement and organization to distinguish between both groups. Ultimately, the fieldwork performed by the author aimed to test the hypothesis of the research group. The current study can be interpreted as being generally supportive of some of the group’s findings concerning architecture, hearth type and hearth placement while not being particularly supportive of their model for material culture or site placement. A discussion of how the current study fits with previous work by the aforementioned researchers along with additional sources will be undertaken as well.
Open Access
The Gallina of New Mexico: a culture of violence?
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Stanerson, Vlisha L., author; Magennis, Ann L., advisor; LaBelle, Jason, committee member; Orsi, Jared, committee member
This thesis research examines the interpersonal violence occurring within the Gallina cultural group of the Ancestral Pueblo tradition in north-central New Mexico (A.D. 1050-1250/1300). In order to understand actual events of violence, the skeletal material of the Gallina was examined. In-depth analysis of all the remains associated with the Gallina allowed for the creation of a comprehensive view of the age-at-death and sex distribution. Additionally, the use of standard osteological procedures was used to identify and describe traumatic injuries found on the skeletal material attributed to interpersonal violence. These traumas, along with the age-at-death and sex distribution made it possible to compare the Gallina to other samples to determine how prevalent Gallina violence was within the greater Ancestral Pueblo tradition and hypothesize explanations for the violence that are most plausible. The Gallina sample consists of 142 individuals; there are slightly more males than females. There are 86 adults and 36 sub-adults, with a majority of the individuals between the ages of 20 and 40. Of a minimum of 142 individuals, 52 exhibit traumatic injury, though only 17 individuals show clear evidence of interpersonal violence. Twenty-five have been burned, which may or may not have been due to violent events. This is a conservative number as the completeness of the individuals varies and several individuals are fragmented or are missing parts of the skeleton such that if trauma was there it was not observable. This sample demonstrates at least one instance of each of five main types of trauma (blunt force, sharp force, sharp-blunt force, projectile, and cremation), with blunt force trauma and cremation showing the highest frequencies. The violence observed among the Gallina, when compared to that in the La Plata River Valley and the Southwest Basin and Range Region show that the Gallina experienced slightly more violent events, though not overwhelmingly so. As for hypotheses to explain the Gallina violence, domestic violence against women, witchcraft execution, and cannibalism were ruled out as the Gallina did not exhibit all the characteristics of such events. The most logical explanation for the interpersonal violence observed among the Gallina was warfare/conflict, though whether this is intergroup or intragroup violence remains to be explored more carefully.
Open Access
Wealth over health: Superior, Arizona and the Magma mine 1910-1982
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Doucette, Hailey Rae, author; Childers, Michael, advisor; Orsi, Jared, committee member; Martinez, Doreen, committee member
The Magma mine in Superior, Arizona quickly became one of Arizona's most productive underground copper mines in the twentieth century. But the wealth of the company came at the cost of the lives of workers, not only through death but also illness, injury, and in its later years, unfair pay. This thesis traces the history of the Magma mine and its environmental history. As the mine rapidly expanded, it cost miners their livelihood. Chapter one looks at the growth of Superior alongside the Magma mine starting in the 1920s. Chapter two analyzes the events that led to the Magma mine's unionization in 1957 and the strikes that followed. Lastly, chapter three examines the events that led to the closure of the Magma mine in 1982.