Department of Anthropology and Geography

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https://hdl.handle.net/10217/100326

These digital collections contain publications, theses, and dissertations from the Department of Anthropology and Geography. Due to departmental name changes, materials from the following historical department are also included here: Anthropology.

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Open Access
5000 years at Crow's Roost in eastern Colorado
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1992) McDonald, Robert A., author; Jennings, Calvin H., advisor; Leyendecker, Liston, committee member; Zier, Christian, committee member; Theodoratus, Robert, committee member
Many areas on the high Plains of eastern Colorado have had little prehistoric research conducted on them. One of the areas where there is insufficient information about local prehistory is the area between the two major river drainages, the Arkansas and the Platte. Crow's Roost, a large sandstone cliff, located east of Colorado Springs, Colorado, is situated near this dividing line, known as the Palmer Divide. A series of prehistoric sites at Crow's Roost has been investigated over a period of five years by the Anthropology Department, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. These investigations indicate that there has been prehistoric occupation at this locality dating back at least 5400 years. This study presents an interpretation of the culture history, and of recent paleoclimatic fluctuations for this locality.
Open Access
5MF6255: excavations at an early archaic basin house site in the Yampa River Valley, Moffat County, Colorado
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Slaughter, Stephanie, author; LaBelle, Jason, advisor; Zeidler, James, committee member; Fiege, Mark T., committee member
Metcalf Archaeological Consultants, Inc., excavated site 5ME6255 in the late summer and early fall of 2006. The site had been discovered during the open trench inspection of Wyoming Interstate Company’s Piceance Basin Expansion Project pipeline. As observed in the trench, the site contained a dark cultural stain located about 1.6 m below bladed surface, which was identified as a possible basin house. Its stratigraphic position within a zone of heavy calcium carbonate deposits suggested an age of 7000 BP or greater, placing the site firmly within the Pioneer period of the Archaic era. Very few sites of this age have been excavated in northwestern Colorado, making 5MF6255 important for establishing basic information about this period of prehistory, regardless of whether or not it was a basin house. A total of 104 complete and partial 1 m by 1 m units were excavated in one large block to explore the contextual integrity of the feature, the nature of the stain, and search for any associated ancillary features. Results of excavation revealed the site consisted of three basin houses, one of which had two rooms, as well as 15 other pit features. A preliminary charcoal sample from the upper layers of the south end of the initially identified basin house was submitted for radiocarbon analysis and returned two intercept dates of 7935-8070 cal BP and 8084-8159 cal BP (2-sigma), dating the site to the early Pioneer Period of the Archaic Era. It is one of the oldest basin house known in the northern Colorado River basin area. Cultural material recovered from the site is described, and the research contributions resulting from these investigations are detailed, iii including its place in the chronology of northwestern Colorado, paleoenvironmental data obtained for the project as a whole is described, settlement and subsistence strategies are discussed, and finally, morphology of both the house features and pit features are detailed. A short comparison of this site to other Pioneer-era sites in the regions is also discussed, placing the site within the context of the larger early Archaic adaptive strategies of the region.
Open Access
A binary approach to the analysis of prehistoric bison distribution and paleoecology in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) McKetta, Suzanne B., author; LaBelle, Jason M., advisor; Glantz, Mica, committee member; Cotrufo, Francesca, committee member
Bison exploitation is at the heart of prehistoric hunter-gatherer subsistence on the Great Plains and can reveal robust information regarding patterns of migration, chronology, and variability in paleoclimate. However, despite association with human subsistence practices, bison population and distribution patterns across time and space are unclear. This thesis presents a study of prehistoric bison distribution and population ecology in archaeological and natural contexts in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming. Two methods are used here to reconstruct the diet and distributions of prehistoric bison populations. The first method involves identifying the known distribution of bison in archaeological and natural settings in the study area through an analysis of archival documentation. Cultural chronologies based on archaeological associations have long been valuable in regional research, but can be imprecise and of insufficient resolution for constructing detailed sequences of prehistoric events. Therefore, to expand knowledge of the regional archaeological distribution of bison, this research utilized a total of 272 archaeological sites containing faunal remains. In addition, 291 calibrated radiocarbon dates were used to compile and analyze bison presence and absence through sum probability distributions and statistical analyses. The second method explores the paleoecology of bison through the use of carbon (13C/12C) and nitrogen (15N/14N) stable isotopes analysis of bone collagen from 35 prehistoric bison specimens. Stable isotopes analysis helps to characterize bison distribution and ecology through reconstruction of bison dietary forage and is compared with paleoclimate data in order to identify trends in bison migration and population patterns. This study adds significant chronological information to the regional record of bison presence in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming and helps to correlate bison distribution patterns with the paleoclimate record.
Open Access
A biocultural examination of trauma from the Colorado State Insane Asylum skeletal collection, 1879-1899
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Leavitt-Reynolds, Alissa Anne, author; Magennis, Ann L., advisor; Van Buren, Mary, committee member; Fiege, Mark T., committee member
This thesis uses a biocultural approach to study skeletal trauma present in the Colorado State Insane Asylum (CSIA) Skeletal Collection from 1879 to 1899. The biocultural approach utilizes both the physical remains and historic documentary material present for this collection to connect the skeletal findings with the cultural environment in which the individuals lived and died. Of the 166 individuals present (both complete and incomplete), 69% in the collection show at least one instance of trauma, while 31% show no evidence of trauma. This trauma rate includes both fractures and dislocations, or acute trauma, in addition to chronic trauma (Schmorl's Nodes). Males have the highest traumatic injury rates, with 40% of the sample having one or more fractures or dislocations. Females show a rate of 29% for acute trauma, while indeterminate sex individuals have a rate of 38%. The trauma results were then compared with contemporary, mostly Euroamerican, skeletal collections from the Albany Almshouse and the Oneida Asylum in New York to reveal that while all three institutions show similar rates of chronic trauma, the CSIA Collection has much higher rates of acute trauma -- nearly double that of the other populations. Ultimately, the analysis of trauma as undertaken in this research provides yet another line of evidence to better understand and contextualize the health and health risks of individuals and populations from the nineteenth-century American West, and more specifically, those in institutionalized care during that time.
Open Access
A cross-generational study of video gaming: players' cultural models, felt stigma, and subjective well-being
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Smarr-Foster, Cheryl, author; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, advisor; Kent, Suzanne, committee member; Mao, KuoRay, committee member
Video game players are oftentimes stigmatized as being lazy, unhealthy, immature, addicts, and other negative stereotypes. In this thesis, I question how conflicting cultural understandings might influence such stigmatization, thereby impacting the subjective well-being of video game players from different generational/age groups. I examine how cognitive anthropological theories and methods can inform sociological ideas about how stigma and labeling might emerge from generational differences in cultural norms and values. I investigate this idea using cognitive anthropological notions of shared and socially transmitted models of reality held in individual minds, i.e., cultural models (D'Andrade, 1995). I also looked at cultural consensus (Weller, 2007) to understand culturally accepted thoughts and behaviors, and cultural consonance (Dressler W, 2005) to explore how low cultural consensus might manifest through social stigmatization and impact video game players' sense of well-being. From this point of view, video game players, who don't behave per culturally consensual notions about what constitutes good and proper behavior by playing video games can be low in "cultural consonance" and stigmatized as deviant. I explain how cultural models around video gaming are influenced by popular media and misunderstandings about video game players in general. I provide examples to show how these misunderstandings might inform inappropriate medical diagnoses of so-called "addiction" (Kardefelt-Winther, 2017). Furthermore, I show how not being "consonant" with mainstream understandings or "models" of the good life might lead to what are interpreted as characteristic signs of addiction: e.g., withdrawal from family and friends (stigmatizing social-networks) and concealing the behavior (stigma management). This thesis is divided into six chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to video game play and offers my own perspective to elucidate my interest, expertise, and unintentional, yet probable, biases. Chapter one includes an overview of the problem, theory, and methods. Chapter two provides a brief history of video games in the USA, video game genres, video game stigma, demographics of video game players, and descriptions of interviewees. Chapter three is a discussion of the cognitive anthropological approach, and a briefing on how cultural models (D'Andrade, 1995), cultural consensus (Weller, 2007), and cultural consonance (Dressler, 2005) can impact subjective well-being (Diener, 1985). This chapter also includes a discussion on sociological theories of stigma, labeling, and moral panic (Cohen, 1972/1980), and stigma management (Herek, 1996). I also discuss generations and age groups, explaining my reason for grouping players into three age categories; Late Millennials (18-27), Early Millennials (28-37) GenX and Boomers (38 +), as well as the importance of including age variables in video game studies. Chapters four explains my three-phase iterative research methods of data collection and analysis (participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and field surveys). Chapter five includes results and discussion, and chapter six concludes and summarizes this study.
Open Access
A dietary analysis of a human skeletal sample from Kichpanha, Belize
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Hill, Dustin, author; Magennis, Ann, advisor; Fisher, Christopher, committee member; Kelly, Eugene, committee member
The purpose of this study is to improve the understanding of diet at the Maya site of Kichpanha, Belize. Archaeological investigations began at Kichpanha in the late 1980s and continued into the early 1990s. During these investigations much was learned about the history of occupation at Kichpanha and a fairly large skeletal assemblage was recovered. However, preservation of the skeletal material was poor due to the moist conditions and alkalinity of the soil at the site. This made traditional osteological analysis of the recovered remains difficult and limited the types of research that could be carried out on these materials. Previous osteological analyses of these remains concluded that the prevalence of dietary stress or illness among subadults in this population was high as was evident from the high rates of porotic hyperostosis and enamel hypoplasias in the skeletal sample. Frequently these skeletal pathologies among prehistoric populations in the Americas are related to a heavy reliance on maize resulting in iron deficiency anemia. Dental analysis looking at caries rates and calculus also support the hypothesis that the inhabitants of Kichpanha relied heavily on maize. Further analysis of the plant residues found in the dental calculus from individuals from Kichpanha provides direct evidence that maize was part of their diet, but other C3 plants were also included in the diet. The carbon stable isotope data analyzed in this study suggests that maize may not have comprised as large of a proportion of the diet at Kichpanha as the previous osteological data had suggested. Instead the isotope data seems to indicate that the proportion of C3 plants and protein sources in the diet at Kichpanha was relatively high when compared to other Maya sites and that the diet at Kichpanha was fairly stable throughout the site's occupation.
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
A stronghold of strong medicine: place attachment and the South Unit, Badlands National Park
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Bills, Amanda M., author; Sherman, Kathleen Pickering, advisor; Browne, Katherine E., committee member; Fiege, Mark, committee member
This thesis explores the relationship between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the White River Badlands of South Dakota. Through constant interaction the Oglala Lakota have built a place attachment to these badlands located on the South Unit of Badlands National Park. Described through qualitative interviews, the contentious past of the South Unit colors this attachment, but the possibility of creating a new park on the South Unit offers the Oglala Sioux Tribe the unique opportunity to re-create a sense of place for the youth of the Reservation that is not based on a history of dispossession but rather on the precedent-setting repossession of national park land through the creation of the first Tribal National Park in the United States.
Open Access
A vision of transformation: women's organizing and development in Guatemala
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Bludau, Meaghan Beth, author; Browne, Katherine E., 1953-, advisor; Sherman, Kathleen A., committee member; Taylor, Peter Leigh, 1959-, committee member
This thesis presents an analysis of research I conducted with Somos Mujeres, a community-based women's organization in Guatemala. The sisters who founded the organization subscribe to a comprehensive model of women's development that attempts to address the underlying social, economic, and political factors that perpetuate women's inequality. I examine the evolution of Somos Mujeres' mission and programs, and I explore the impact of the organization on the lives of women who join. I argue that this holistic approach holds the promise of broad change. However, formidable barriers prevent the organization from implementing its mission. Lack of resources, limited access to the global handicraft market, as well as pressure from outside funding organizations undercut the organization's ability to implement its vision. This study highlights the challenges community-based organizations face at the ground level as they negotiate the development sphere. I argue that the mission and programming of Somos Mujeres is shaped not simply by the interests of the women the organization serves, but also by the agendas of powerful donor institutions, and I consider potential avenues of change that could provide community-based organizations greater power to determine the course of their own development.
Open Access
Absolute and relative chronology of a complex alpine game drive site (5BL148), Rollins Pass, Colorado
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Meyer, Kelton A., author; LaBelle, Jason M., advisor; Glantz, Michelle M., committee member; Breidt, F. Jay, committee member
Native American alpine game drive sites are recognized along major mountain travel corridors in Colorado's Southern Rockies. The Rollins Pass project area, located east of Winter Park, represents the densest concentration of alpine game drive sites in North America. Game drives at Rollins Pass vary in terms of size, frequency and diversity of features and artifacts, but also landform context. Past game drive research at Rollins Pass and elsewhere in the Colorado Front Range demonstrates that hunter-gatherer groups reoccupied some sites for centuries and even millennia, creating an amalgamation of material culture over the course of time. However, chronological reconstructions in alpine environments are limited by poor preservation, lacking stratigraphy, and the ephemeral nature of hunter-gatherer occupations at high altitudes. This thesis considers an investigation of the largest game drive at Rollins Pass, 5BL148, with a focus on chronology reconstruction. A relative occupation span is provided with an analysis of chipped stone tools and jewelry. Lichenometry is used to determine the age of lichen colonization events on stone walls, and radiocarbon dates on faunal remains and charcoal are used as absolute chronological measures. A spatial analysis of the artifact and feature assemblage is further used to identify evidence for distinct or temporally overlapping occupation episodes. The results indicate that 5BL148 represents a palimpsest of hunter-gatherer occupations, beginning in the Early Archaic era and ending in the Protohistoric era.
Open Access
Agrarian transition in the uplands of central Vietnam: drivers of market-oriented land-use and land-cover change
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Saylor, Kirk, author; Leisz, Stephen, advisor; Galvin, Kathleen, committee member; Boone, Randall, committee member
This study presents an analysis of changing land-use and land-cover in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam for the period in recent decades, during which rural upland communities have become partially integrated into commodity markets. Market integration has resulted from the extension of transportation network infrastructure under the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) project completed in mid-2006. This project has improved market connectivity and accessibility between rural and urban areas, creating flows of goods, information, and money induce agrarian transition and influence land-use / land-cover change processes. Analysis of satellite imagery over the last decade shows some signs of possible agricultural intensification along the Highway 9 corridor, while elsewhere in the study area a clear and consistent trendline cannot be ascertained. Confounding factors include usability of imagery, temporal gaps in collection, and the resolution of available and usable imagery. The pattern of changing land-cover emerging along Highway 9 is hypothesized to result from changing land rents, where lower transportation costs and higher agricultural prices increase the profitability of cash cropping, incentivizing local populations to engage in market-oriented production. Such a microeconomic response would be consistent with von Thünen's extrinsic theory of land rent, as well as the multi-scalar frameworks of teleconnections and telecoupling. These dynamics are explored at the village level through a spatially explicit agent-based model that simulates household decision-making using empirically-fitted rules, to better understand the process of transition from subsistence cropping to a mixed mode of production with cash cropping.
Open Access
An analysis of stone circle site structure on the Pawnee National Grassland, Weld County, Colorado
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Long, Jennifer K., author; LaBelle, Jason, advisor; Sibold, Jason, committee member; Ore, Janet, committee member
The purpose of this research is to create a context of stone circle site information on the Pawnee National Grassland that will contribute to the overall study of this valuable resource within Colorado, as well as throughout the Great Plains region. These data will provide a solid base for future research to be conducted on stone circles in Colorado. In order to better understand stone circle site structure, cluster analysis was utilized to expose patterns for three analyses which included overall site structure based on the landforms on which the site resides, stone circle gap direction as compared to overall site structure, and comparing prevailing wind directions and the portion of the stone circles with the highest stone counts. To accomplish this, center points were collected with a GPS unit for each of the 249 stone circles recorded. Attributes were then documented including exterior diameters, circle definition, gap direction, stone counts per octant, and associated artifacts and features. To determine overall site structure, nearest neighbor analysis was run in ArcGIS 9.3 yielding a spatial pattern of clustered, dispersed, or random. Next, an attribute was included in the cluster analysis using the spatial autocorrelation test with the gap direction in degrees. This analysis also yielded a result of clustered, dispersed, or random. Finally, for the wind direction analysis, rose diagrams were created to compare each stone circle feature with the prevailing wind directions. The findings for the site structure based on landform types consisted of the lowland sites being random in pattern, or consisting of less than three features. The midland sites were dispersed, and the highland sites were clustered or random. When comparing overall site structure with the direction of the gap, the random and clustered sites had a random pattern for gap direction. The dispersed site, however, had a clustered pattern. The clusters consisted of three stone circles facing the same direction, though each cluster faced a different direction. Finally, the result for prevailing wind direction and the highest stone counts was inconclusive. Additional research is necessary to provide more conclusive interpretations of this analysis.
Open Access
An examination of Middle Woodland pre-mound contexts in the Ohio and southeast regions
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) King, Artemis, author; Henry, Edward, advisor; Hausermann, Heidi, committee member; Riep, David, committee member
Mounds are one of the oldest forms of monumental architecture in North America and have been the fascination of archaeologists and antiquarians for centuries due to their large scale and association with intricate craft goods. However, much research into mounds has focused on their use as repositories for human remains or as potential platforms for elite housing and other architecture. This is true of the Hopewell archaeological culture of the Middle Woodland period, 300 BCE-500 CE, which has been the focus of archaeological inquiry due to its large ceremonial sites and material network of items coming to the Midwest and Southeast from as far as the Rocky Mountains or the Gulf Coast. Using legacy data for 13 sites throughout Ohio and the Southeast, I examine variability in pre-mound contexts to expand on mound research by focusing on this pre-natal stage which represents the activities that people conducted before the construction of the monument itself. Using a binary model of presences and absences, I look at 26 pre-mound attributes found across the 13 sites and 64 mounds in the study and use multivariate analysis in ArcGIS as an exploratory and pattern revealing tool. I argue that these contexts are incredibly varied, and that this lack of homogeneity is material evidence of the decisions made by people to overcome dissonance created by encountering varying cultural values for these important ritual events as well as evidence for a lack of a clear Hopewell model in either the Ohio and Southeast regions, instead arguing that both regions should be included in the larger discussion of Middle Woodland ceremonialism and exchange, rejecting a core and periphery model.
Open Access
Arabic-speaking U.S. college students' comprehension of English emotional tone: a psychological anthropological approach
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Bombaci, Brendan Muir, author; Snodgrass, Jeffrey G., advisor; Browne, Katherine E., committee member; Thaut, Michael H., committee member
Emotional tone in Western languages (i.e., the Germanic and Romance group) is influenced by the Western musical scale. Studies have shown that as differences increase between Western and non-Western languages, overall comprehension of emotional gesture and emotional tone decreases (the “linguistic proximity” hypothesis), though ratios between percentages of perception correctness for different emotions is fairly universal (the “in-group advantage hypothesis”), revealing cross-cultural mechanisms that obscure or reveal certain emotions to outsiders. Training in Western music helps Western children and non-Western youth and adults to better recognize Western emotional tone. Social Anxiety and Major Depression have been correlated with reduced emotional tone comprehension, and music therapy is known to relieve these disorders’ symptomology. For Westerners and non-Westerners alike, musical exposure and training may help not only emotional tone proficiency but also mental well-being. Studying Arabic speakers’ comprehension of Western emotional tone was novel as an exhaustive search uncovered only two studies on emotional tone recognition by Arabic language speakers (using Web of Science and Academic Search Premiere). Also,here are strict sanctions in Islam on the relation of musical tones to emotion or kinesthetic action like dance (via the “tawhid” tenet), limiting conservative adherents’ Western media exposure and possibly affecting their vocal tone expression as well. My convenience-sampled study subjects were in gender-balanced groups: 12 Arabic international college students and 19 American college student controls. Research methods included (1) an English emotional tone discrimination test using recordings of one actor’s and one actress’ vocalizations of six emotionally different statements, accompanied by semi-structured and recorded debriefing interviews, (2) participant observation, and (3) quantitative survey instruments to measure cultural affinity (ARSAA II survey), musical genre affinity and performance experience, and mental health (DASS 42 survey). I performed descriptive statistical analysis on the quantitative data, and then theme analysis on the qualitative data to reveal both culturally shared and also personal reasons for response choices. The “linguistic proximity” hypotheses was validated for Arabic speakers, as Arabic students scored 50% lower than American students in accuracy on the emotional tone recognition tests, with Arabic females scoring lower than Arabic males. Statistically significant correlates to low emotion recognition scores include, in rank order, those of higher Arabic than American cultural affinity, those of higher Arabic compared to American musical affinity, English language experience, and anxiety level (the latter mostly with Saudi females). High affinity for Arabic culture may lead to integration issues relative to the American educational system and religious mandates forbidding developing certain kinds of interpersonal relationships; however, these associations may also simply reflectthe amount of time spent in America. Quantitative and qualitative data reveal various culturally relative and Arabic-only gender differences in perceptions of English-language encoded emotions. Some Arabic students preferred non-translatable emotional terms, and others said that speed and volume of speech might be more important than intonation for Arabic emotion expression and understanding. Nine out of the 12 (75%) of my Arabic subjects were Saudi Arabian and thus conservative Muslims with little exposure to Western tonalities (let alone “emotional” Arabic music). If their government were made aware of the importance of musical tonality in English language, Islamic “tawhid” strictures on musical expression and exposure might be lifted for students abroad. As it was, many Saudi students I met averred that they enjoyed one or more Western musical genres, which meant they would likely be receptive to such reforms. English language coursework could involve theater and dance attendance, where facial and gestural expressions generally matched dramatized vocal and musical elements. Better English language and emotion comprehension would facilitate better communication and well-being and thus augment students’ abilities to become ambassadors for the Arabic world and to find professional opportunities abroad.
Open Access
Archaeological investigation from a private artifact collection located in northeastern Colorado
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Frederick, Amy R., author; Todd, Lawrence C., advisor; Branton, Nicole, committee member; MacDonald, Brad, committee member
The research and publication resulting from this project contributes to the archaeology of northeastern Colorado. This collection has never been analyzed, and the land had never been previously surveyed. This research contributes to the general theory of archaeology by helping to develop a method for working with amateur archaeologists or collectors. It also provides information on behaviors of a collector: his knowledge of archaeological resources, what attributes he looks for in choosing locations to collect artifacts from, (i.e. land forms, known collection locality, etc.), and what type of artifacts are collected. This research model can be used to predict what types of artifacts one can expect to find on federal, state, and private lands that have been looted or collected, and help explain the lack of bifaces, formal tools, and diagnostic artifacts at many sites on the Plains. Artifact collecting is a hobby of many individuals and it is important to understand how this behavior affects the archaeological record. Many features cannot be assigned to a cultural group or time period without the contextual information gained from diagnostic artifacts that are often surface collected from sites. The purposive sampling method used to record the landowner’s property only includes areas that the landowner has surface collected from for decades. The archeological survey and site inventories fail to represent the landscape variety, diversity of site types, and full range of archaeological resources that one would expect to find distributed over the landowner’s property. This thesis addresses the following questions. What types of activities have occurred at the collection sites over the years? What brings the landowner, Dirk Hunter to these locations? What types of artifacts are collected by Dirk? What site types are present? What tool types and lithic materials are represented within each site and over the project area? What is the cultural history of the area based on the diagnostic artifacts found within the Private Collection? This analysis of a private artifact collection provides evidence that meaningful interpretations can be drawn from private artifact collections.
Open Access
Archaeological investigations of high altitude sites near Monarch Pass, Colorado
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1990) Hutchinson, Lewis A., author; Eighmy, Jeffrey, advisor; Benedict, James B., committee member; Leyendecker, Liston, committee member
The tundra and upper forest border north of Monarch Pass. in the central Colorado Rocky Mountains. contains a cluster of twelve sites. One of the sites. Water Dog Divide Game Drive, is an extensive system of rock alignments and associated hunting blinds. This site and other smaller systems in the Monarch site area are at present the southernmost documented examples of prehistoric timberline game drives along the Continental Divide. Cultural materials include projectile points. other flaked tools, groundstone and a broken ceramic vessel. Temporal periods indicated are 3000 B.C. to the historic. Two hunting blinds were excavated and three radiocarbon dates were obtained with corrected dates ranging from 900 A.D. - 1640 A.O. Four of the rock walls in the largest drive site contain a number of remnant wooden posts or sewels apparently used to help delineate the rock walls. It is hypothesized that the area was utilized on a seasonal basis to camp and communally hunt large game animals (bison, mule deer, elk. and mountain sheep). The sites may have been visited by peoples from the Plains. Great Basin. and Southwestern culture areas.
Open Access
Archaeological investigations of the River Bluffs Open Space, Windsor, Colorado: a case study in cooperation between artifact collectors, the public, and archaeologists
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Anderson, Jessica E., author; LaBelle, Jason, advisor; Van Buren, Mary, committee member; Manfredo, Michael, committee member
The River Bluffs Open Space, located in Windsor, Colorado has experienced changes to both its environment and its cultural resources throughout history. The Harvester site (5LR12641) and the Weinmeister site (5LR12174), located at the confluence of Fossil Creek and the Cache la Poudre River on the northern boundary of the Open Space, have been affected by agricultural practices from the 1950s until the early 1990s, as well as amateur artifact collecting for nearly the same amount of time. The land now belongs to Larimer County and has been developed as the River Bluffs Open Space and as an extension of the Poudre River Trail. The transition of the Open Space from private land to publicly owned recreation space allows archaeologists and education professionals an opportunity to engage the public in local archaeological education. However, this opportunity would have been impossible without the help and involvement of Garry Weinmeister, the owner of a large extant collection of Native American artifacts collected from the Open Space. The goal of this thesis is to highlight the importance of archaeologists and artifact collectors working collectively towards a better understanding of the past. Each party has specialized knowledge concerning the past, either through independent research and extensive local knowledge, or painstakingly connecting the local idiosyncrasies of the past into a larger methodological and theoretical framework. By combining archaeological survey work on the Harvester site with an extant artifact collection from the Harvester and Weinmeister sites, my thesis research presents a well-rounded archaeological interpretation of the Open Space, which would have been lost without the help of a private collector. To answer specific archaeological questions about the prehistoric uses of the River Bluffs Open Space property, this research addresses the mobility practices of Early Ceramic groups. Movement between two diverse environments, the mountains and the plains, is evident based upon the analysis of the raw materials of 120 projectile points from Weinmeister's private collection. In addition, the analysis of one of the largest assemblages of small, incised, tubular bone beads yet found in eastern Colorado addresses the connections of the River Bluffs Open Space with the Plains Woodland cultures from the Plains of Nebraska and Kansas. This research suggests that the River Bluffs Open Space was part of both eastern and western cultural traditions. Finally, the River Bluffs Open Space was developed for public recreation. Therefore, a chapter of this work is devoted to detailing the importance of archaeological site stewardship. This is completed through detailing the different groups of the public affected by this research, and the creation of an interpretive sign that imparts the archaeological story the River Bluffs Open Space.
Open Access
Architectural patterning in the Purepecha heartland: an intrasite settlement study at the urban center of Sacapu Angamuco, Michoacán, México
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Bush, Jason W., author; Fisher, Christopher, advisor; Van Buren, Mary, committee member; Laituri, Melinda, committee member
The overall goal of this thesis is to examine the architectural patterns of Sacapu Angamuco (Angamuco), a recently discovered Early-Middle Postclassic (A.D. 900-1350) urban settlement in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin (LPB), Michoacán, Mexico that is located on an ancient lava flow, or malpais, and was extensively modified by prehispanic inhabitants to construct thousands of structures such as platforms, mounds, plazas, passages, stairs, and temples. Central to this thesis is how prehispanic residents of Angamuco organized their buildings and social space. The study of architectural remains is one critical component of ancient urbanism which is fundamental to Mesoamerican societies. Angamuco provides a rich opportunity to understand urbanism in the LPB. Understanding the spatial context of buildings and how they are grouped in functionally discernable ways is crucial to interpreting the internal function(s) of the settlement, as well as contributing to regional settlement pattern analyses. This thesis incorporates intensive survey using GPS, GIS, and remote sensing to document architecture and analyze the spatial patterns of architecture at Angamuco using data from the 2010 field season. An overview of relevant definitions and approaches to Mesoamerican urban settlement studies and the study of spatial patterning and classification of architecture is presented. A description of the physical setting of the LPB and Angamuco, the cultural-historical background of the region, and background information on previous archaeological work addressing urbanism, settlement patterns, and architecture in the LPB region is discussed. The research methodology used to collect data on Angamuco's architecture and settlement patterns is reviewed. The core of this work concerns an analysis of Angamuco architecture, beginning with description of the form and function of individual architectural features and analysis of architectural group form and patterning in the study area. Finally, the analysis is synthesized with the questions guiding this research, as well as current knowledge about Postclassic urbanism in the LPB and beyond. Ultimately, it is hoped that work at Angamuco will improve understanding of Postclassic LPB architecture, settlement patterns, and the role of cities before and during the development of the Tarascan Empire.
Open Access
Assessing the effects of fluvial abrasion on bone surface modifications using high-resolution 3-D scanning
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Gumrukcu, Merve, author; Pante, Michael, advisor; Glantz, Michelle, committee member; Lacy, Michael, committee member
Cut marks and carnivore tooth marks on fossil bones are important traces of the behavior and ecology of our ancestors. However, these traces are often obscured by other taphonomic processes such as fluvial abrasion. Previous studies on the effect of fluvial abrasion on cut marks suggest that sediment abrasion in fluvial environments can change the overall morphology of cut marks. Thus, analyzing the effects of fluvial abrasion on cut mark and tooth mark morphology is crucial to interpreting archaeological bone assemblages accurately. The objective of this research is to understand the effects of fluvial abrasion on cut marks and mammalian carnivore tooth marks using high-resolution 3-D data. An experimental study was undertaken by tumbling cattle and deer bones in a rock tumbler filled with sand and water. Bones were abraded in a rock tumbler with a sand and water mixture for 152 hours. The 3-D data from cut marks and carnivore tooth marks was collected and analyzed using a white-light confocal profilometer. Qualitative macroscopic analysis shows that bone surfaces became smoother and polished after tumbling. Most cut marks and tooth marks were still visible. Results indicate that 57.1 percent of the cut marks lost their characteristic internal parallel striations and 18.4 percent of the cut marks were highly abraded and reduced to rounded indentations after tumbling. However, 65.3 percent of the cut marks preserved at least one diagnostic feature. Most of the tooth marks (78.3%) preserved all characteristic features, such as crushed internal surfaces, high breadth: depth ratios, and U-shaped cross-sections and 100 percent of the tooth marks carried at least one diagnostic feature after tumbling. Only 21.7 percent of the tooth marks lost one diagnostic feature (crushed internal surface). Quantitative analysis based on the 3-D data also indicates that fluvial abrasion has a greater effect on cut marks than tooth marks. Measurements obtained from 3-D analysis of the cut marks and tooth marks show that some measurements of the micromorphology of cut marks changed significantly after tumbling, while tooth marks were not significantly altered by tumbling. Additionally, multivariate analysis using the measurements of the micromorphology allowed discrimination between cut marks and tooth marks with 100% accuracy before and after tumbling.
Open Access
At the water's edge: an archaeological investigation of playa occupation in the Central Plains
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Matsuda, Marie, author; LaBelle, Jason M., advisor; Henry, Edward, committee member; Payne, Sarah, committee member
Playa research on the American Great Plains has considerable potential to shed light on ancient hunter-gatherer lifeways and subsistence. These lacustrine environments provide a predictable water source and are ecological hubs for many species of mammals, waterfowl, and vegetation. The availability and abundance of resources create an environmental pull within the Plains that is ideal for ancient hunter-gatherer site choice in a region where resources are relatively scarce. This thesis provides an ecological and human behavioral approach to analyze the ancient history of mobile peoples by examining 18 archaeological playa site assemblages totaling 5,052 artifacts from the Central Plains. The lithic assemblages are placed within a geographic and environmental context, taking into consideration elements of site choice such as distance to playa, topographical location, and playa size. The data reveal that site selection includes many complex factors not always determined by resource acquisition or the surrounding environment. The results also illustrate regional differences in playa occupation, specifically that occupations in the South Platte River Basin are more diverse and continuous when compared to playas elsewhere in the Great Plains. The findings from this research casts light on overall hunter-gatherer lifeways and reveals the importance of playas to indigenous groups in the Central Plains over a 12,000-year history.