Anthropology
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/10342/56
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item Open Access Dead Men Tell No Tales, but Animal Bones Do: a Faunal Analysis of Queen Anne’s Revenge(East Carolina University, August 2024) Mayfield-Loomis, JayThe Golden Age of Piracy was a historic period ranging from 1650 to 1720 CE which saw the rise of piracy across the Atlantic Ocean in response to the growing and changing global political climate. Since its end, pirates have become cultural symbols of rebellion and adventure as the lack of information about them leads to an air of mystery that many people seek to fill with tales. One pirate remains one of the most infamous in both history and fantasy: Blackbeard and his ship the Queen Anne’s Revenge. Archaeology has allowed us to interpret the material history that pirates have left behind in an attempt to establish and understand a pirate culture and reveal what was previously unknown. Part of the pirate culture yet to be fully established is their sustenance and how they survived as a criminal group who did not have standard access to ports to purchase provisions. Zooarchaeology, the study of faunal remains in context with human material culture, allows for us to interpret part of the diet within a site. Using Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge and comparing the faunal remains with those from contemporary ships La Belle and Earl of Abergavenny, we can study what a pirate diet looked like in comparison to other contemporary legal vessels.Item Open Access Constructing Cultural Chronology in the North Carolina Coastal Plain: Stratigraphic Investigations at Barber Creek (31pt259)(East Carolina University, July 2024) Maldonado, AmandaBarber Creek is a stratified prehistoric site located on a relict sand dune in eastern North Carolina. Previous research has determined multiple components are present at Barber Creek, however, two previous analyses into the chronological sequence identified varying numbers of occupation zones. The purpose of this study was to reconstruct the stratigraphic and cultural chronology of the central portion of Barber Creek and compare the results to the previous investigations from other portions of the site. This study identified three occupation zones buried in approximately one meter of aeolian sands. These occupation zones date to the Early Archaic, Middle to Late Archaic, and Early to Middle Woodland periods. The results of this research are consistent with the two previous analyses and solidify the occurrence of three occupation zones at Barber Creek. Interestingly, the previous stratigraphic analyses conducted on Barber Creek have lacked Middle/Late Archaic period diagnostic artifacts. A stemmed biface was identified during this study and is the closest evidence for the presence of a Middle/Late Archaic period at Barber Creek. After more than a decade of research, we have established a strong understanding of the stratigraphic and chronological sequence of Barber Creek however much can still be learned about who could have utilized the site and for what purposes throughout the three occupation components.Item Open Access Digging Deeper: Excavation and Analysis of Features West of Battery A at Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site(East Carolina University, July 2024) Johnson, Mike E.Brick and ballast stone features located in an area to the west of Battery A at Fort Anderson within the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic site are believed to have been the location of barracks for troops during the American Civil War. Within the last twenty years, archaeological excavations have been performed at the site providing extensive data. However, the number of military artifacts recovered is somewhat limited when compared with archaeological assemblages at similar Civil War barracks sites. This has left the answer to the research question unconfirmed regarding the site’s occupants. Additional research was conducted to more clearly determine the occupants of this area to the west of Battery A, presently interpreted as a barracks site. During the 2017 ECU Summer Field School additional excavations were performed west of Battery A at the location of an undisturbed brick and ballast stone feature. Analysis of the material recovered once again revealed little by way of military artifacts. However, certain artifacts are suggestive of an early to mid-nineteenth century occupation of the site sometime before the Civil War. Subsequent archaeological analysis and historical research relevant to the site suggest that the area west of Battery A was the location of a settlement for enslaved African Americans associated with Orton Plantation during the Antebellum Period in the decades prior to Fort Anderson’s construction during the American Civil War.Item Open Access An Eighteenth-Century Archaeology of Socioeconomics in Historic Bath, NC(East Carolina University, 2023-04-28) Scattergood, Chloe SStudying the consumer choices of colonial North Carolinians can indicate much about their lives and status. Archaeological excavations of two eighteenth-century warehouses in Historic Bath can tell us about merchants and their clientele. The material from these warehouses suggests notable wealth disparity, not unlike today, in North Carolina's first established town.Item Open Access The Content and Structure of Reputation Domains Across 2 Human Societies: A View from the Evolutionary Social Sciences(2021) Schacht, Ryan; Garfield, Zachary H.; Post, Emily R.; Ingram, Dominique; Uehling, Andrea; Macfarlan, Shane J.Item Open Access Efects of Family Planning on Fertility Behaviour Across the Demographic Transition(2021) Schacht, Ryan; Kramer, Karen L.; Hackman, Joe; Davis, Helen E.Item Open Access PIRATES IN THE GRAVEYARD OF THE ATLANTIC: CONSERVATION AT THE QUEEN ANNE’S REVENGE LAB(East Carolina University, 8/5/2020) Eckert, BrandonThe Anthropology Department at East Carolina University offers an internship option for the partial fulfillment of the requirements of a master's degree. As a result of the academic partnership between East Carolina University and the Queen Anne's Revenge Conservation Laboratory, an internship in archaeological conservation was made possible. While conservation and archaeology are often viewed as separate disciplines, the methods and theory in conservation are integral to the goals of archaeology both in the field and the laboratory. Since 2003, the QAR Conservation Lab on ECU's West Research Campus has served as the primary facility for the management and conservation of artifacts recovered from the Queen Anne's Revenge shipwreck in Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina. An internship at the QAR Lab provides students with hands-on exposure to the routine operations of a conservation facility. This includes daily and weekly duties, as well as personal projects and special artifact treatments. The skills developed as a result of this experience are highly important for archaeologists in both field and laboratory settings, but also for archaeologists responsible for the management of museum collections.Item Open Access THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE SOCIAL SAFETY NET AT THE PITT COUNTY HOME(2020-08-12) Grubb, MurielThe Pitt County Poor Farm, also known as the Pitt County Home, was established in the early nineteenth century to feed and house the local poor population of Pitt County, North Carolina, prior to the establishment of the federal welfare system. The farm was continuously occupied and reorganized several times before it was closed in 1965. Four seasons of archaeological and cartographic work on the site have narrowed down the location of the poor farm buildings and expanded the interpretation of what life in rural eastern North Carolina was like for this underprivileged, disenfranchised population. The findings from Pitt County are comparable to other contemporary poor farm and farmstead sites throughout the country during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.Item Open Access THE PATTERNING OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN US CITIES AND COUNTIES(East Carolina University, 2020-06-22) Pabst, JenniferSexual violence against women is a global public health concern; yet determining its patterning is still largely understudied. Previous research has been useful in identifying key contributors of sexual violence, including the adult sex ratio, which is the ratio of adult men to adult women in a population, as well as elements of gender inequality. However, a more comprehensive and place-based understanding of sexual violence is still needed. Data from the U.S. Census and the National Incident Based Reporting System were used to explore the patterning of sexual violence against women in cities and counties in the United States. Through the use of generalized linear mixed models, the data were analyzed to assess the individual and joint impact that sex ratio and gender inequality have on sexual violence. The results indicated a positive association between both imbalanced sex ratios and gender inequality on sexual violence. Furthermore, models considering the two variables jointly were found to best fit the data, highlighting the benefits of including both for a more comprehensive understanding of sexual violence against women. The hope is that this research can assist in efforts to both better quantify and diminish rates of sexual violence against women.Item Open Access SEEKING HEALTHCARE? PERCEPTIONS AND BELIEFS AMONG AFRICAN AMERICANS(East Carolina University, 2020-06-22) High, JazminMultiple studies have documented health and healthcare disparities between African Americans and whites in the United States. Many studies have traced these disparities to socioeconomic barriers such as age, income, and level of education. However, it has been found that when variables such as income, access, and insurance are controlled for, health and healthcare disparities remain. A growing body of literature suggests African Americans possess certain health beliefs and perceptions regarding concepts of health, illness, and the healthcare system that influence health and health seeking behaviors. Using empirical generalizations and theory from medical anthropology, this study expands on this growing body of literature by investigating health seeking behavior among African American adults in rural eastern North Carolina, as well as exploring African Americans' perceptions and health beliefs to see how they relate to health seeking behavior. Interviews were conducted with 20 African Americans in two rural eastern counties in North Carolina (Halifax County and Northampton County). Through data analysis, I identified a pattern of health seeking behavior. In addition, thematic analysis revealed that African Americans possess certain health beliefs (e.g. The Body Will Heal Itself) and negative perceptions of the healthcare system (e.g. African Americans do not receive equal treatment), which also influences health seeking behavior. These perceptions and beliefs influenced the timing and decision to seek care. Ultimately, this research sheds light on several factors influential in African Americans' health behaviors that may exacerbate racial disparities in health and healthcare. Consequently, health professionals and policy makers should develop and apply individually appropriate and culturally sensitive policies and interventions.Item Open Access HOW WOMEN IN THE ANDEAN HIGHLANDS OF PERU USE RELIGION TO MAKE HEALTHCARE DECISIONS(East Carolina University, 2019-08-23) Cullen, Chelsea EReligious syncretism is common in Andean highlands. Andean highland women and key informants were interviewed to study the influence Christianity has exerted on women's choice of medical care, i.e. modern medicine vs. traditional medicine. The data were collected during a summer study abroad program in the Callejon de Huaylas of Peru. The overall goal of the project has been to understand the influence that Spanish colonization and Christianity has had on how local women make healthcare decisions. Andean women are marginalized in Andean society and must manage the combined stresses of the household and intensive agricultural practices.Item Restricted Measuring and Assessing Food Insecurity Among East Carolina University Undergraduate Students(East Carolina University, 2019-07-02) Midgette, Willa G.Food insecurity has long been an issue nationwide, however, there has been little emphasis placed on food insecurity among college students. This thesis employed a cross-sectional survey of 1,170 randomly selected undergraduate students, utilizing a variation of the USDA Adult Food Security Survey Module to assess to determine the prevalence of food insecurity among undergraduate students at East Carolina University, and utilized bivariate analysis to assess the relationship between several demographic, academic and lifestyle variables and food insecurity status, as well as the relationship between food insecurity and academic success. The thesis found that food insecurity status is significantly affected by race, first-generation student status, Pell grant eligibility, financial aid use and use of a meal plan, and found that academic performance is negatively impacted by food insecurity. Additionally, this thesis utilized 10 interviews of undergraduate students to assess how current eating and grocery shopping habits and pre-college food security influenced current food security status and assessed how students cope with food insecurity. The study found that students who were food insecure early in life are more likely to be food insecure in college. Finally, this thesis assessed the feelings about and barriers to using the on-campus food pantry at East Carolina University.Item Open Access Metabolic Disease in Subadult Skeletal Remains from Late Ottoman-Era Tell Hisban, Jordan(East Carolina University, 2019-07-25) Edwards, Emily ArleneThe site of Tell Hisban in Jordan was seasonally occupied by nomadic agropastoral tribes for over a thousand years. In the latter half of the 1800s, the Ottoman Empire instituted the Tanzimat, a series of reforms intended to solidify control over the region, including a new system of private land ownership. This new land law conflicted with traditional tribal-based land rights and resulted in intensification of agricultural production and diminished pastoralism in the regional economy. During this period of economic change, at least 62 individuals were interred in ruins on Tell Hisban, of which 55% were non-adults. Many long bones and cranial elements of non-adults within these commingled remains display evidence of vitamin C (scurvy) and D (rickets) deficiencies at a greater frequency than pre-Tanzimat or earlier regional cemeteries. Increased agricultural production may have impacted the availability of traditional foods high in ascorbic acid that prevented scurvy in past groups, and increased reliance on cereals, which lack key macronutrients. The resulting shift in diet would have disproportionately affected individuals more susceptible to nutritional stressors, such as pregnant women, infants, and weaning children. In the case of rickets, these nutritional stressors may have been exacerbated by cultural barriers which limited an individual's exposure to sunlight and may have resulted in the surprising presence of rickets in this high-ambient UV radiation environment. Together with genetic predispositions to scurvy or rickets, these biocultural changes likely contributed to increased frailty in the form of metabolic disease for infants and young children within this population compared to earlier groups at Tell Hisban and contemporary populations in other areas of Jordan and Israel.Item Open Access Bioarchaeological Analysis of a Historic North Carolina Family Cemetery(East Carolina University, 2019-07-02) Long, MadisonThe Gause Cemetery at Seaside, located in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, purportedly contains members of a wealthy and influential planter family, the Gause's, who died during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In 2017, a Gause descendant requested excavation of the cemetery by East Carolina University as part of an extensive genealogical project that will culminate in the reburial of the human skeletal remains. During the first season of excavation, three adult individuals were recovered from the cemetery, and excavation in 2018 uncovered five additional graves containing seven individuals. Six out of the seven individuals recovered in 2018 are subadults, one 6-8 years of age, one 7-8 years of age, another 1.5 years old, and three term infants. All individuals at the site display skeletal evidence of childhood non-specific stress indicators, such as linear enamel hypoplasias in the adults and children, and/or periostitis or porotic hyperostosis in the children. This evidence, along with the simultaneous burial of two of the newborns and the 6-8 year old child in the same grave possibly due to a disease epidemic based on historical evidence, suggests that even "elite" 18th and 19th century landowning families experienced childhood frailty in North Carolina.Item Open Access Archaeological Investigations of an Early American Farmstead: The Wiley Smith Site (31MG2098)(East Carolina University, 2019-07-02) Schmitz, Kelsey AWhile farmsteads are relatively abundant in the historic and archaeological record, there are many issues with the current practices used to identify, evaluate, record, and study them. However, farmsteads represent a way of life that was once customary to much of the American population, and therefore deserve adequate archaeological attention. This thesis studied a late colonial/early federal period farmstead located in the Uwharrie National Forest in Montgomery County, North Carolina, that was once owned by the sheriff of Montgomery County, Wiley Smith. This project utilized artifact analyses, historical documentation, and comparative analyses to test whether or not this farmstead operated as a truly subsistence-based unit, or whether the Smith household was instead a part of the ever-growing consumerist population of the early nineteenth century. High frequencies of decorated, mass-produced historic ceramics serve as indication that the Smith household had moved well-beyond a colloquial, subsistence lifestyle and was actively participating in the emerging consumerist and commercialist American that had begun to dominate American society. Finally, a comparative analysis of multiple historical homesteads/farmsteads within the Uwharrie National Forest identify five patterned traits. These traits relate to the landscape, geography and topography, and artifacts from farmsteads in this region, and provide the groundwork for additional, broader comparative research to establish a North Carolina Piedmont farmstead pattern.Item Open Access QR Codes and the Public: Tools for Education at Historic Brunswick Town(East Carolina University, 2019-07-02) Byrnes, KimberlyPublic interpretation is an integral aspect of the archaeological process, and modern technology has made it easier than ever to communicate information with the general public. Technological advancements have been an aid to museums, but not all facilities may be able to afford the newest technological advancements. Quick response (QR) codes offer a cost-effective way for every museum to implement new technology into their displays. This paper identifies the visitor use of and response to QR codes aimed at explaining the archaeological process at the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson Historic Site. It is determined that QR codes are an effective new technology which museums with smaller budgets can invest securely in.Item Open Access As The Sun Sets, We Remain: A Bioarchaeological Analysis of the Gause Cemetery at Seaside(East Carolina University, 2019-07-02) Quintana, Jorge RIn 2014, USA Today reported that the search for family roots was the second most popular hobby in the U.S.. The concomitant recognition by the general public of the forensic and bioarchaeological value of human skeletal remains has, in a few cases, proffered osteological analysis as another form of genealogical research. This study focuses on the excavation of a small cemetery of a politically and economically prominent family in Sunset Beach, NC at the request of a descendant. The osteobiographical approach utilized here provides a detailed, contextualized study of the physical remains to complement other historical data on the family. Three brick burial vaults were excavated in 2017, recovering the skeletal remains of three potential adult ancestors of the descendant. The adult female (25-34 years old) and two adult males (25-25 years old and 30-39 years old) have paleopathology profiles expected of free landowners in the antebellum Southeastern U.S. based on comparative samples, with almost no lesions indicative of infectious diseases and malnutrition but with poor dental health. In addition, material remains and burial contexts suggest internment the late 18th to early 19th centuries. Survey also indicated the original cemetery bounds stretch beyond its modern limits, intruded upon by modernization. The detailed osteobiographies presented in this study reflect the benefits and limitations of these data for genealogical research and addresses the ethical issues tied to descendant-initiated excavation of cemeteries.Item Restricted Development of a Method for the Determination of Bisphenol A in Vervet Monkey Hair using LC-MS/MS and LC-UV/Vis(East Carolina University, 2019-05-03) Lindsay, Samuel JosephNo methods for estimating levels of anthropogenic disturbance on non-human primate (NHP) populations were identified within the literature. Such a method would allow for the assessment of human impact on NHP populations. Levels of bisphenol A (BPA) in hair samples was the proposed metric for such a method. Human hair samples were used to validate a procedure found in the literature.1 A methanolic extraction was performed on human hair and the resulting samples were analyzed using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The two extracted samples contained 110.1 and 37.1 pg BPA mg-1 hair. Extracted, spiked samples yielded 913.9 and 885.7 pg BPA mg-1 hair. Control samples of standard yielded 200 times lower than the expected concentration. A control alkaline extraction was attempted but not found to be suitable. Standards over the expected concertation range of prepared extractions were run on a liquid chromatography – ultraviolet visible spectrophotometry (LC-UV/Vis) system were used to generate a standard curve with an R2 value of 0.9993.Item Open Access Rubble Along the Road: Determining the Function and Date of Occupation for a Structure on Orton Plantation(East Carolina University, 2019-05-02) Nimmo, WesleyThere is little known about the daily lives of the enslaved and tenant farming African Americans who lived in the Lower Cape Fear region of North Carolina during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Even on the larger plantations in the region, the locations of their communities are often unknown. A combination of historical research and archaeological investigation was used to gain more insight into the use and dates of occupation of a structure on Orton Plantation, focusing on an area previously identified as a 19th century African American community. The structure excavated during the 2018 University of North Carolina Wilmington archaeological field school was occupied between the late antebellum period and the early 20th century, and was a cabin occupied by enslaved/tenant farming African Americans. Following the structure's identification, an effort was made to reconnect the names of African American individuals who once lived on or near Orton Plantation with three historic communities in the area. These communities were historically known as Dark Branch, Marsh Branch, and Orton. Now that physical evidence of the community at Orton, which was suggested to exist in the historical record, has been found archaeologically, further research questions can be explored surrounding aspects of the African American experience in this region during and directly after the end of slavery.Item Open Access Colors of Primate Pelage: The Independent Evolution of Sexual Dichromatism in the Primate Order(East Carolina University, 2019-05-02) Wilson, Thomas C.There is a large body of research describing the evolutionary importance of plumage coloration among avian species. However, similar datasets are lacking for mammalian pelage. Furthermore, very little research has examined the variations of nonhuman primate (NHP) pelage coloration and patterning. Primatologists have noted conspicuous differences in coloration and patterning among NHPs, including neo-natal coats and sexual dichromatism. Sexual dichromatism refers to the differences in pelage coloration between the sexes of a single species. Sexual dichromatism is rare, but found among some species of lemurs, New World monkeys, and lesser apes. To illuminate the genetic mechanism of NHP sexual dichromatism, I examined published amino acid sequences for the MC1R and OCA2 genes of nine NHP species across multiple genera. This dataset incorporated sexually dichromatic NHPs including white-cheeked gibbons (Nomascus leucogenys), lar gibbons (Hylobates lar), and black howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya). I also examined closely allied monochromatic NHPs including brown lemurs (Eulemur fulvus), long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), black snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti), Mueller’s gibbon (Hylobates muelleri), mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata), and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Comparisons across these species suggest the MC1R gene does not play an important role in pelage coloration. In contrast, the OCA2 sequence of N. leucogenys differed, on average, ~16% from the three monochromatic species. Furthermore, the OCA2 sequences exhibit a low phylogenetic signal, suggesting that this gene may regulate dichromatic pelage. To expand these genetic datasets, I analyzed socioecological variables among these species and found that smaller home-range sizes and dispersal of both sexes may have played a role in the evolution of dichromatic pelage in NHPs.