Excavations (Archaeology)

The unimpressive archaeological record of the last Mayan pre-Hispanic period has been traditionally interpreted as one of a society in decadence. However, archaeological remains evidencing stylistic homogenization across regions and documentary accounts written during the conquest describing thriving markets and entrepreneurial people have indicated to some a mercantile society linked by extensive networks of communication. Under the weaker political environment of this period, it is expected that a mercantile environment presented more competition and more ceramic producers. This research used petrographic analysis and XRD of the pottery of Mayapan the last Maya capital, to detect ceramic compositional groups, which research has associated with the number of pottery producers. The number of producers is usually taken as a reflection of the degree of competition. This research found multiple compositional groups and the use of fewer ceramic materials that nonetheless are technologically advantageous, suggesting a more competitive and pragmatic society.

During pre-Columbian times, the Lake Okeechobee Region was home to people of the Belle Glade culture. The lake provided an area rich in resources that facilitated not only the hunter-gatherer-fisher lifestyle of the people but also supported increased cultural complexity. Over time, people participated in an exchange network, trading materials with cultural groups from a variety of locations. This thesis provides an analysis of those non-local artifacts, their probable points of origins and the type of exchange that facilitated the movement of these goods into the region.

Preacher's Cave, an archaeological site in North Eleuthera, Bahamas, is arguably one of the most important historical places in that country. This large cave, isolated in a natural setting, has long been associated in the popular imagination with the first English colonists who shipwrecked in the Bahamas in 1648 and laid the foundation for the modern nation. Before the present work, no systematic scientific archaeological work had ever been conducted at this site. While Project Director for the Preacher's Cave archaeological investigations in 1991, 1992, 2005, 2006, and 2007, I acted as liaison between the Bahamian Government, local island constituents, and the team of scholars who accomplished the work, organizing all aspects of the excavations. By analyzing the recovered material assemblage from these excavations, we were able to prove that the seventeenth-century English Puritans not only used Preacher's Cave for shelter in the first period of colonization, but altered the natural rock formations of the cave for use as the first church in the Bahamas. These excavations, in conjunction with the written record, also suggest that the area surrounding the site is the location of the first free black community in the country. Finally the scientific investigation confirmed Preacher's Cave as a prehistoric burial spot for the Lucayan people who lived in the islands before Columbus landed in 1492. These burials are unique because they were recovered with grave goods and one of the five Lucayan burials appears to be a victim of human sacrifice. No where else in the country do these three compelling narratives come together and form the basis for the development of a National Heritage Tourism Site.

Lithic projectile armatures represent a significant innovation over thrusted spears in the subsistence strategies of hominins. Previous researchers have disagreed over the timing of the appearance of projectile weapons in the archaeological record (Brooks 2006; Shea 2006). To discover when projectile technology first appears in the Levant, I have compared tip cross-sectional areas, weights, and tip penetrating angles (three variables useful for discriminating between projectile and thrusting weapons) of pointed Blades, Levallois points, and Mousterian points with analogs from known and suspected chipped stone projectile points. Results indicate that pointed Blades from Tabun and Skhul caves are statistically indistinguishable from other suspected projectile point types. Levallois and Mousterian points from Tabun and Skhul are also statistically indistinguishable from suspected projectile types when the lower halves of the populations are compared. Consequently, I conclude that points from Tabun and Skhul caves fall within the known and suspected range of variation of projectile point morphology.