The Potential Applications of Tooth Cement Increment Analysis in Historical Archaeology

The study of incremental structures in animal teeth is an analytical technique that is receiving increased attention from zooarchaeologists working in many parts of the world. The seasonal and annual cycles in the formation of tooth increments makes them ideal for determining the age of an animal when it was killed and the season of its death. This type of information can contribute significantly to interpretations of past animal husbandry practices. A sample of eight domestic animal teeth from the Wilkinson Backlot Site in dowtown Boston, Massachusetts, were studied in this fashion. Microscopic examination of the increment pattern of the cement on the roots of the teeth allowed age and season of death to be estimated. The results suggest that this analytical technique has a great deal of promise for the analysis of historical faunal assemblages, particularly for determining seasonal patterns in animal slaughtering

Interpreting Social Organization at Industrial Sites: An Example from the Ohio Trap Rock Mine

Historical archaeologists have frequently tried to interpret aspects of the social organization of production from artifacts at industrial sites. These studies have encompassed a variety of issues: the role of skilled immigrants, the effects of de-skilling work, and the ways workers resisted work discipline or used material culture to express their autonomy. Some recent studies protray the organization of production and the forces of industrialization as the overarching determinants of domestic assemblage pattering, while other studies emphasize factors such as household composition, household lifecycle, and the gender organization of labor. This paper reviews several studies of artifact assemblages from industrial sites, focusing in detail on the Ohio Trap Rock Mine Site. This review suggests both the promise and potential pitfalls of trying to use archaeological materials to understand the organization of industrial communities

Introduction

A brief overview of the publications in this volume. This includes the awards for excellence in service, the winners of the student paper ocmpetition, the paper topics of the volume including use of material culture from a 19th century laborer\u27s home, archaebiology and urban salvage archaeology in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Phase I Archaeological Intensive Survey of Hassanamesitt Woods Property, Grafton, Massachusetts

The Center for Cultural and Environmental History conducted a Phase I archaeological intensive survey of the Hassanamesitt Woods property in Grafton, Massachusetts from October 2004 through January 2005. Documentary evidence has suggested that the property may contain remains of the church for the Praying Indian village of Hassanamisco, established by John Eliot in 1660. Historical deed research has also placed several Nipmuc families on the property in the early 18th century, suggesting the area was resettled by the original inhabitants of Hassanimisco in the aftermath of King Philip\u27s War. Throughout the course of the 18th and 19th centuries the property was subsequently parceled out for agricultural purposes to white landowners. Nipmuc presence on the property however endured until the end of the 19th century. During the 20th century the property was utilized predominantly for orchards before reverting to its current state of woodland. The survey of the 203+ acre property on the southern slope of Keith Hill consisted of shovel testing and a GPS survey of above ground features in order to identify historic and prehistoric resources and make recommendations for the future management of the property. A total of 386 test pits were excavated on 10m and 20m intervals covering approximately 74 acres and identifying six historic sites and one prehistoric site. The prehistoric site is composed of a well-defined lithic quarry, while the historic sites consist of the remains of 18th, 19th, and 20th century residential, agricultural, and low level industrial activities. The highest concentration of residential material has been identified as the remains of 18th and 19th century Nipmuc settlement. No 17th century component related to John Eliot\u27s church or meeting house was recovered. Several aboveground features were located, including cellar holes, wens, extensive stone walls, stone retaining walls, and cobbled terraces. Because the property is not slated for large-scale development it is recommended that no further immediate archaeological testing is needed. However, the archaeological remains related to 18th and 19th century Nipmuc settlement offer an opportunity to investigate Native American resettlement after the abandonment of Hassanamisco. Future archaeology may also help with public interpretation of the property within the context of long term land use from the Prehistoric Archaic period through the Early Modem period. Data gathered during this Phase I survey provides a starting point for the public interpretation of the Hassanamesitt Woods property and allows for the proper management of the property in terms of trail placement and low impact construction

Volume Abstract

This volume presents research conducted at the convergence of two projects: the first a survey, inventory, and assessment of historic sites located within the boundaries of the Finger Lakes National Forest, a small national forest located in central New York; the second a pedagogical experiment conducted in the spring of 1998, the goal of which was to assess how a rather typical CRM project could be used to train graduate students in archaeology in manipulating Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to control and interpret archaeological data. This convergence resulted in the construction of a GIS-based data management system for historic-period cultural resources in the Finger Lakes National Forest. The final product of this project is an integrated GIS database that can now be used by the Forest Service to manage data concerning the historic sites so far identified in the Finger Lakes National Forest. This volume describes how this was accomplished and suggests how GIS can be used by historical archaeologists to control and interpret data on a regional scale. This volume is organized to demonstrate how a regional archaeological GIS database was constructed and how the database was used to interpret the historical and archaeological record of the abandoned farmstead community once located on Burnt Hill, the southern extent of the Hector Backbone, a ridge located within the Finger Lakes National Forest. Following an introduction outlining the project and defining what CIS is and how it was used in this project, Chapter 2 by Patrick Heaton presents an overview of the Euroamerican settlement history of the Hector Backbone. Heaton follows this presentation in Chapter 3 with an account of how archival materials were used to interpret the changing nature of the agricultural political economy of rural New York in the 19th and early-20th centuries. In Chapter 4, Mark Smith and James Boyle use archaeological evidence to analyze the layout of farmsteads in the Burnt Hill Study Area. Chapter 5, by Karen Wehner and Karen Holmberg, describes the various ways historic map data were used to analyze change in the rural settlement pattern of the Burnt Hill Study Area. In Chapter 6, Janet Six, Patrick Heaton, Susan Malin-Boyce, and James Delle analyze the artifacts recovered during the surface collections of sites located in project area. The final substantive chapter, by Thomas Cuddy, explores how one of ArcView\u27s modules, the Spatial Analyst, can be used to help interpret various kinds of archaeological data. The appendix, by Tom Cuddy, discusses the how-to element of the project, introducing those elements of ArcView integrated into our project and using our example to suggest guidelines on how to create a CIS project in ArcView. One goal of the appendix is to familiarize readers with GIS and ArcView terminology as well as the various elements of the application discussed throughout the volume

Lightweight XML-based query, integration and visualization of distributed, multimodality brain imaging data

A need of many neuroimaging researchers is to integrate multimodality brain data that may be stored in separate databases. To address this need we have developed a framework that provides a uniform XML-based query interface across multiple online data sources. The development of this framework is driven by the need to integrate neurosurgical and neuroimaging data related to language. The data sources for the language studies are 1) a web-accessible relational database of neurosurgical cortical stimulation mapping data (CSM) that includes patient-specific 3-D coordinates of each stimulation site mapped to an MRI reconstruction of the patient brain surface; and 2) an XML database of fMRI and structural MRI data and analysis results, created automatically by a batch program we have embedded in SPM. To make these sources available for querying each is wrapped as an XML view embedded in a web service. A top level web application accepts distributed XQueries over the sources, which are dispatched to the underlying web services. Returned results can be displayed as XML, HTML, CSV (Excel format), a 2-D schematic of a parcellated brain, or a 3-D brain visualization. In the latter case the CSM patient-specific coordinates returned by the query are sent to a transformation web-service for conversion to normalized space, after which they are sent to our 3-D visualization program MindSeer, which is accessed via Java WebStart through a generated link. The anatomical distribution of pooled CSM sites can then be visualized using various surfaces derived from brain atlases. As this framework is further developed and generalized we believe it will have appeal for researchers who wish to query, integrate and visualize results across their own databases as well as those of collaborators

Project 400: The Plymouth Colony Archaeological Survey, Report on the 2014 Field Season, Burial Hill Plymouth, Massachusetts

In May and June of 2014, a field school from the University of Massachusetts Boston, in partnership with Plimoth Plantation, undertook a second season of work in Plymouth, Massachusetts, as part of Project 400: The Plymouth Colony Archaeological Survey, a site survey and excavation program leading up to the 400th anniversary of New England’s first permanent English settlement in 1620, the founding of Plymouth Colony. This work was conducted under permit #3384 from the State Archaeologist’s office at the Massachusetts Historical Commission. The 2014 work focused on the eastern edge of Burial Hill along School Street in downtown Plymouth and consisted of ground penetrating radar survey and excavation (3 STPs and 9 EUs). Burial Hill, formerly Fort Hill, is understood as the location of the original fort built by the English colonists, and the walls that enclosed the fort and town stretched down the hill towards the harbor. The precise locations of any of these features have never been archaeologically identified. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the land on the eastern edge of the hill along School Street was sold to individuals who built houses and stables, all demolished by the early 20th century. Our test excavations were designed to see if any 17th-century features or deposits existed either under the floors of these buildings or in the strip of land between the backs of the buildings and the burials, which begin roughly 20 meters from the street. During the 2014 season, we did not locate any 17th-century features or deposits. The 2014 excavation units tested the footprints of 4 different 19th-century building lots (an 1827 school and three barn or stable buildings), all of which were demolished between 1882 and 1901. With the exception of the school, the buildings completely filled the 30 foot deep lots that existed along School Street. The excavations revealed that the buildings had been cut into the hill, destroying any earlier deposits that might have existed in those areas. Because of their particular construction and the area topography, there was almost no trash deposition behind the buildings, up the slope of Burial Hill. As each building was taken down, its footprint was filled, first to create a level surface, then to create a regular slope for this edge of Burial Hill. Each building appears to have been filled individually, since the deposits within each building footprint were quite different from each other. Material to fill these substantial building footprints must have been brought in from elsewhere; the slag in EU3 is the clearest evidence of this. Although we found flaked tools (a quartz flake drill, a rhyolite unifacial scraper, and quartz Small Stemmed points) in the topsoil and fill layers of EUs 8 and 9 and chipping debris (quartz and rhyolite) in all excavation units, we found no in-situ Native artifacts or features. With the exception of the large metal pieces in EU2 and some related deposits in EU9 which seem to be primary trash deposits, most other deposits contained either predominantly architectural materials (brick, nails, window glass), or a mixture of architectural materials and redeposited sheet refuse (ceramics and glass in small fragments). One of the only in situ, non-fill deposits that we encountered was the test pit that we dug below the building floor layer of EU2 which uncovered an associated late 18th or early 19th century pipe bowl and a dog skeleton, either a burial or an animal that died below the floor. From other units, there were a number of interesting small finds such as buttons, pins, an 1874 Indian Head penny, and buckles, including an early 20th-century Red Cross pin. Other notable artifacts include fragments of six possible gravestones in both slate and marble. One of these is decorated and appears to be a fragment of a slate Medusa style design from the Soule family of carvers, probably from the 1750s or 1760s. An analysis of all of the bone and tooth fragments recovered during the field season confirmed that the whole collection consisted of the remains of common animals (cat, dog, rat, duck, chicken, sheep/goat, pig, and cow) and included no human remains. EU7, located in the lot that held the 1827 school, yielded a significant collection of small finds related to the school including pen nibs, slate pencils, and a possible compass fragment. The report illustrates these materials and presents comparative research on the archaeology of school sites and artifacts

Life stress and mental disorders in the South African stress and health study

Background. Although stressful life events (SLEs) are associated with psychopathology, the contribution from distal and proximal events and the specificity of their association with common mental disorders require further exploration. We examined the association of recent life events and past adversities to mood, anxiety, substance use and impulse control disorders in South Africa. Methods. Data were analysed from the South African Stress and Health study, a population-based study of mental disorders in a nationally representative sample of 4 351 adults. Psychiatric disorders were assessed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). This included questions covering early and later SLEs (negative life events, relationship stress, partner violence, social strain and adverse events during childhood) and various sociodemographic variables. Logistic regression models were constructed for 3 957 respondents (2 371 female, 1 586 male) with no missing covariate data, to assess life stress and sociodemographic predictors of 12-month and lifetime disorder. Results. Recent negative life events and relationship problems were significant predictors of any 12-month disorder and any lifetime disorder. Physical partner violence predicted any lifetime disorder. There was evidence of specificity for the prediction of mood versus anxiety disorders, with childhood adversity specifically associated with mood disorders but not anxiety disorders. Single marital status was the strongest socio-demographic predictor of any 12-month and any lifetime disorder. Conclusions. Stressful life events, distal and proximal, contribute significantly and independently to the prediction of major psychiatric disorders among South Africans, underscoring the importance of screening adversities in adults with common mental disorders, and of providing appropriate adjunctive interventions

Life stress and mental disorders in the South African stress and health study

Background. Although stressful life events (SLEs) are associated with psychopathology, the contribution from distal and proximal events and the specificity of their association with common mental disorders require further exploration. We examined the association of recent life events and past adversities to mood, anxiety, substance use and impulse control disorders in South Africa. Methods. Data were analysed from the South African Stress and Health study, a population-based study of mental disorders in a nationally representative sample of 4 351 adults. Psychiatric disorders were assessed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). This included questions covering early and later SLEs (negative life events, relationship stress, partner violence, social strain and adverse events during childhood) and various sociodemographic variables. Logistic regression models were constructed for 3 957 respondents (2 371 female, 1 586 male) with no missing covariate data, to assess life stress and sociodemographic predictors of 12-month and lifetime disorder. Results. Recent negative life events and relationship problems were significant predictors of any 12-month disorder and any lifetime disorder. Physical partner violence predicted any lifetime disorder. There was evidence of specificity for the prediction of mood versus anxiety disorders, with childhood adversity specifically associated with mood disorders but not anxiety disorders. Single marital status was the strongest socio-demographic predictor of any 12-month and any lifetime disorder. Conclusions. Stressful life events, distal and proximal, contribute significantly and independently to the prediction of major psychiatric disorders among South Africans, underscoring the importance of screening adversities in adults with common mental disorders, and of providing appropriate adjunctive interventions

Impact of common mental disorders during childhood and adolescence on secondary school completion

There are few data from South Africa and other low- and middle-income countries on how mental disorders in childhood and adolescence may influence different aspects of socio-economic position, including educational attainment. We examined the association between early-onset disorders and subsequent educational achievement in a nationally representative sample of 4 351 South African adults. After adjusting for participant demographic characteristics and traumatic life events, post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder and substance-related disorders were each associated with increased odds of failing to complete secondary education (odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals 2.3, 1.0 - 5.1; 1.7, 1.2 - 2.5, and 1.7, 1.2 - 2.5, respectively). These data point to the role that early-life mental disorders may play in educational achievement and subsequent socio-economic position over the life course