Department of Anthropology (Fredericton)

Pages

A GIS approach to ancestral Wabanaki canoe routes and travel times
A GIS approach to ancestral Wabanaki canoe routes and travel times
by Christopher E. Shaw, A GIS-based approach to modeling ancestral Wabanaki canoe routes and travel times during the Maritime Woodland period (3150–550 BP) of prehistory is developed in this thesis using least-cost analysis (LCA). These results are integrated into regional discussions of hunter-gatherer mobility, seasonal transhumance, and pre-contact territoriality, with an emphasis on how seasonal and annual variability in riverine paddling conditions may have impacted route selection and travel times between Maritime Woodland period archaeological sites. This thesis concludes that regional models of hunter-gatherer travel practices should account for the ways Indigenous peoples reacted dynamically to contingency in environmental conditions, as well as the ways riverine paddling conditions impacted the social landscape on short time scales., M.A. University of New Brunswick, Department of Anthropology, 2018.
A geometric morphometric approach to cranial variation in 18th to 19th century skeletal populations form the St.Lawrence Region, Canada
A geometric morphometric approach to cranial variation in 18th to 19th century skeletal populations form the St.Lawrence Region, Canada
by Jessica White, This study examines the use of geometric morphometrics in assessing cranial morphology of 18th to 19th century populations from Montréal and Sainte-Marie; where three-dimensional coordinates of 18 landmarks were obtained. Additionally dental metrics were also used to complement the cranial analyses. This study attempted to determine whether high resolution measurements improve the ability to detect patterning and variation. Using principal component analysis (PCA), facilitated by Paleontological Statistics (PAST) software, this research determined that there were no significant differences between Montréal and Sainte-Marie cranial morphology. There were cranial length differences within the populations, likely caused by the diverse immigration and admixture of individuals in the St. Lawrence region, confirmed using comparative European populations. However, it was difficult to determine any definitive potential causative factors of the observed cranial similarities or differences due to small sample sizes. Dental analysis using SPSS was in agreement with cranial analyses, where overall there were minimal differences between the dentition of Montréal and Sainte-Marie individuals. KEYWORDS: geometric morphometrics; biological anthropology; skeletal remains; cranial variation; cranial morphology; cranial coordinates; Montréal; Sainte-Marie; St. Lawrence region.
A late Maritime woodland Peskotomuhkati fishery from the mainland Quoddy region, southwestern New Brunswick, Canada
A late Maritime woodland Peskotomuhkati fishery from the mainland Quoddy region, southwestern New Brunswick, Canada
by W. Jesse Webb, The nature of precontact Indigenous fisheries and their significance to subsistence economies, seasonal mobility, and diachronic cultural change remain underdeveloped in the archaeology of the Maritime Peninsula, northeastern North America. This thesis presents an analysis of a precontact fishery from BgDs-15, a small shell-bearing site located on the northern mainland of Passamaquoddy Bay, southwestern New Brunswick, Canada. Several hundred bones recovered during the 2004 field excavations and over 3,000 fish remains from midden column and bulk feature samples were examined. Most of these fish bones are attributable to Atlantic tomcod (Microgadus tomcod Walbaum, 1792) and unidentified, tomcod-sized gadids, with some herring (Clupeidae) present. Multiple lines of complementary evidence, including taxonomic composition, relative abundances, skeletal element frequency, seasonality, and the ethnohistoric record were examined to produce a high-resolution analysis of the BgDs-15 fishery and provide insight into ancestral Peskotomuhkati settlement-subsistence strategies during the Late Maritime Woodland period (ca. 1350–550 BP).
A radiographic exploration of vitamin D deficiency at the eighteenth-century fortress of Louisbourg, NS
A radiographic exploration of vitamin D deficiency at the eighteenth-century fortress of Louisbourg, NS
by Jessica Hinton, The French colonial experience of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries has been well-studied from an anthropological and historical perspective; however, the lived realities of children during this period have received little scholarly attention. This study aims to highlight these earliest years of life through a paleopathological analysis of 23 adult individuals from two cemetery sites in Atlantic Canada. Dental radiography and macroscopic techniques identified indicators of childhood vitamin D deficiency in 14 individuals from the Block 3 Fortress of Louisbourg, NS (c.1713-1723) and Plaisance, NL (c.1662-1713) skeletal samples. A variety of cultural and environmental factors are considered as to why vitamin D deficiency was so common during this period in Atlantic Canada. This tangible evidence of childhood vitamin D deficiency provides a rare and intimate glimpse into the lives of French colonial children and enhances our knowledge of the childhood experience in early colonial Canada.
An exploration of archaeological parasites at the 18th century fortress of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia
An exploration of archaeological parasites at the 18th century fortress of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia
by Mattia D. Fonzo, The bioarchaeological sub-discipline of archaeoparasitology explores the impacts of ancient parasites on their human hosts. This thesis research examines the parasite loads of individuals excavated from the 18th century Rochefort Point cemetery at the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Soil samples were collected from within the pelvic region of seven excavated burials, with long-surviving intestinal parasite eggs (Ascaris spp. and Diphyllobothrium spp.) identified, quantified, and examined. Results indicate that four of the seven individuals likely died with a true parasite infection. Overcrowded living conditions, association with various animals (terrestrial and aquatic), differential access to foodstuffs, and poor sanitation practices at the Fortress likely all contributed to the increased spread of intestinal parasites across this community. As the first parasite study of its kind in Canada, this research not only provides a strong methodological foundation for future archaeoparasitological research using pelvic soil samples, but also contributes to our understanding of parasite-host interactions in 18th century Atlantic Canada.
Elomiqahak ponapsq cacahqesiw, a rolling stone is ever bare of moss: lithic sourcing at the Reversing Falls Site in Pembroke, Maine
Elomiqahak ponapsq cacahqesiw, a rolling stone is ever bare of moss: lithic sourcing at the Reversing Falls Site in Pembroke, Maine
by Alexander A. Honsinger, The connection of stone artifacts to geological formations presents archaeologists a unique opportunity to model human settlement patterns, landscape use, and regional socioeconomic relationships. Despite the extensive history of archaeological research in the Quoddy Region, bedrock sources of local lithic raw materials have remained elusive. This thesis presents a petrographic analysis of over 1,500 chipped stone artifacts recovered from Reversing Falls (ME 80.15), a Middle-Late Maritime Woodland period (ca. 2190–1520 BP) shell-bearing site in Cobscook Bay, Maine featuring a synthesis of thin section petroscopy, X-ray diffraction, low-power microscopy, and high-resolution digital photography. Through the integration of artifact petrography and a robust collection of comparative geological specimens, ancestral Passamaquoddy landscape knowledge and exchange systems established throughout the North Atlantic during the Maritime Woodland period are rendered visible.
Etoli-Sehtacuwok: ceramic vessel use at the middle and late Maritime Woodland Period Reversing Falls Site, Cobscook Bay, Maine
Etoli-Sehtacuwok: ceramic vessel use at the middle and late Maritime Woodland Period Reversing Falls Site, Cobscook Bay, Maine
by Trevor Lamb, Fragments of ceramic vessels are one of the most archaeologically persistent objects created by hunter-gatherers during the Maritime Woodland period. These fragments are portions of vessels that would have been useful and important to people living on the Maritime Peninsula in their whole, unbroken form. The transformation of whole vessels into fragments through anthropogenic and natural forces has limited the majority of archaeological studies to questions of technology and style. The application of new analytical methods since the 1980s has expanded the ways archaeologists can examine absorbed and adhered organic residues, and subsequently the ways archaeologists can address questions of container use. Building on a growing body of vessel use data for the Maritime Peninsula, this thesis examines the relationship between ceramic technology and use at the coastal Reversing Falls site in Pembroke, Maine. Recognizing the destructive nature of extracting organic residues from ceramics, this thesis also offers a method for preserving culturally important objects through photogrammetry.
Getting a handle on ground stone: a technological analysis of the ground stone axes, adzes, and gouges in the George Frederick Clarke collection
Getting a handle on ground stone: a technological analysis of the ground stone axes, adzes, and gouges in the George Frederick Clarke collection
by Ashley B. Brzezicki, This research project is based on the technological analysis of a selection of edged, heavy ground stone tools (i.e., axes, adzes, gouges) in the George Frederick Clarke Collection; a private artifact assemblage acquired and curated by the University of New Brunswick. In this research, I use attribute analysis to better understand the linkages between artifact morphology, hafting, tool function, and human behavior. Three key components are offered in this research: 1) the development of a classification scheme for the ground stone axes, adzes, and gouges at the center of this research; 2) the identification of possible haft types for these artifacts, and; 3) the integration of regional data through which interpretations of tool function and human behavior are made possible. As is shown in the research, inferences based on morphology and hafting allow archaeologists to interpret a formerly inaccessible (i.e., due to organic decomposition) component of ground stone tools. I suggest that biconvex tools would have been secured in bound or socketed hafts, whereas plano-convex tools would have been secured in elbow or socketed-elbow hafts, and that depending on the stone/haft orientation, these tools would have been swung differently by the user. With regards to chronology, the research corroborates the dominant interpretation on the Maritime Peninsula that technological changes amongst edged, heavy ground stone tools seem to occur around the same time as shifts in heavy woodworking/birch bark technologies. I conclude that in addition to excavation, future research into use-wear, petrography, and morphology would bring forth new interpretations of a commonly under-studied Pre-Contact technology on the Maritime Peninsula.
It's in the bones: an exploration of human bone protein from the 18th century fortress of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia and its potential applications in bioarchaeological research
It's in the bones: an exploration of human bone protein from the 18th century fortress of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia and its potential applications in bioarchaeological research
by Nicole Hughes, Bioarchaeology has begun to employ biochemical methods as a means to further understand human skeletal remains at a biomolecular level. Specifically, osteocalcin (an abundant, non–collagenous bone protein) is of interest because of its clinically identified relationship with biological factors (i.e., age and sex) and pathological conditions (i.e., trauma and disease) that can be macroscopically observed in archaeological bone. The aim of this study was to extract and quantify osteocalcin from 27 individuals from the Fortress of Louisbourg (1713–1758) skeletal collection to explore whether these clinical trends related to osteocalcin were also visible in archaeological bone. Osteocalcin was successfully extracted from femoral bone samples and interpreted in tandem with sex, age, activity, and evidence of pathology. This study demonstrates the applicability of biochemical analyses as an additional line of evidence when conducting macroscopic skeletal assessments of biological and pathological factors, as well as, represents the first archaeological study of osteocalcin in human skeletal remains from a Canadian context.
Life narrative ethnography of Wolastoqiyik elder Charles Solomon, Medicine Man: an apprenticeship approach
Life narrative ethnography of Wolastoqiyik elder Charles Solomon, Medicine Man: an apprenticeship approach
by B. Luke deMarsh, Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) Elder Charles Solomon’s life as a practitioner and teacher of medicinal plant knowledge in New Brunswick, Canada, is introduced through a life-history ethnographic approach, which argues for the importance of in-depth, long-term research methods in documenting the narrative complexity of Indigenous Knowledge (IK). Support for this research is drawn from IK research and critical ethnographic theory. Insights emerging from the study of Elder Charles Solomon’s work include the importance of interpersonal collaboration in collecting medicinal plants and the dramatic effects of industrialization on medicinal plant gathering areas. Research implications include: the value of combining Indigenous Knowledge research with Western Scientific research, recognition of International law concerning Indigenous Peoples right to practice their cultural traditions including plant harvesting, and the importance of incorporating land-based (groundtruthing) research when conducting an IK study. Key Words: Wolastoqiyik, Maliseet, Indigenous Knowledge, medicinal plants
Macro-regional meadowood: a comparative approach to early woodland lithic tool production in the Maritimes and Ontario
Macro-regional meadowood: a comparative approach to early woodland lithic tool production in the Maritimes and Ontario
by Lauren Cudmore, For several decades, the Archaic─Woodland transition, and, in particular, interpretations of the Early Woodland Meadowood phenomenon, have been controversial aspects of the culture-history sequence for the Northeast. The focus of most past studies has been the identification of diagnostic artifacts, and the spatial and temporal distributions of these diagnostics, leading to conceptions of Meadowood as a homogenous phenomenon encompassing much of the Northeast. The distributions of these diagnostic artifact types have been interpreted at a macroregional scale using a variety of political, social and economic models. In the research reported here, I compared three spatially and chronologically constrained Early Woodland archaeological assemblages from interior New Brunswick (traditional Wolastoq’kew territory) and southern Ontario. I found that similar artifact forms were produced in the two areas during the Early Woodland period, using different lithic reduction strategies applied to different lithic material types. These differences may warrant a broader re-examination of the utility of the Meadowood concept in Maritime Peninsula prehistory.
Stakeholder's risk perceptions pertaining to tidal power: a case study in the Cobscook Bay, Maine, United States
Stakeholder's risk perceptions pertaining to tidal power: a case study in the Cobscook Bay, Maine, United States
by Emma Andrews, This thesis investigates the Cobscook Bay, Maine experience with evaluating, approving, and installing a tidal power device. This was done to understand stakeholder risk perceptions surrounding the Ocean Renewable Power Company's tidal power project, with respect to potential impact on local commercial fisheries. Twenty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted representing various stakeholder groups with data analyzed using a grounded theory approach. The results reveal the region's long and complex history with tidal power and industry in general, which influenced pre-deployment risk perceptions. Risk perceptions post-deployment focused on impacts to livelihood. The analysis showed that the proponent gained a social license for the project due primarily to acceptance of local/traditional knowledge and experience-based expertise. Contrasting the Maine experience with a recent Canadian tidal power project illustrated several important lessons learned for future sustainable development project consultations.

Pages

Zircon - This is a contributing Drupal Theme
Design by WeebPal.