Broadfield, Douglas C.

Chimpanzees have long been documented as using population-specific
vocalizations, implying learning rather than just genetics in chimpanzee calls. In order
for population-specific vocalizations to arise, diachronic change, or evolution, of the
various features of the vocalizations must occur. When a population is split, as they were
in the current study, there are changes of social structure, environment, and emotional
stress (all factors which can lead to rapid phonological change in humans). These factors
can act as a catalyst for punctuated diachronic change. A vocal survey was performed on
two groups of chimpanzees who had been separated from each other two years prior to
the research. The results of the survey revealed significant differences between the two
groups' vocalizations. These results make a case for diachronic change in chimpanzee
vocalizations, the seed of population-specific calls.

With the purpose of studying the impact of the cranial base upon the prognathism of
the upper maxilla on a sample of 120 cephalograms, the Facial Depth Cephalometric
Analysis (FDCA) was used to measure these craniofacial structures and find ethnic, sex,
age, and location differences. The cephalograms obtained from a previous data of
existing populations of Caucasians and African descents (30 men, 30 women), and a
dated population of European descents of the Denver Growth Study (15 men, 15 women
during their childhood and adolescence); were used to evaluate the facial depths and the
cranial base angle. The Pearson coefficient correlation and student "t" test demonstrated
that only S-FC depth affected the facial prognathism (P<0.01), Africans and women
presented the greatest prognathism (P<0.01), women had the biggest Ba-S-Na angle
(P<0.05) and the shortest S-N length (P<0.01), finally, adolescents showed a growth ofSN
length after the age of 10 (P<0.02).

Humans wean earliest of the apes yet the eruption of their permanent teeth
occurs the latest, resulting in an extended period of time where human children must
dissipate occlusal loads through a maxilla which includes two sets of dentition. The
objective of this study was to gauge whether the developing permanent teeth act as an
additional pillar of support in the human face. Finite element models of a human
child and chimpanzee infant from the same dental eruption stage were loaded
according to 8 different regimes designed to test the effects of material properties.
The results show that the architecture and material properties of the immature
dentofacial complex have an effect on the dissipation of masticatory loads. One
mechanism that may allow human children to chew adult foods earlier is the
reduction of stress in bone through the preferential dissipation of loads via stiff
material properties (enamel of permanent teeth).

This study explores the application of two methods of spectroscopy; Near Infrared
spectroscopy (NIR) and Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTIR) as alternative approaches
for measuring glucocorticoid metabolites in chimpanzee feces. The goals of this study
were twofold: The first was to determine if cortisol can be identified within the NIR
and/or FTIR spectra of chimpanzee fecal hormone extract in ethanol solution. The second
objective was to determine the capability of NIR and FTIR to predict FGM
concentrations obtained using standard laboratory methods. Fecal glucocorticoid
concentrations measured by Enzyme Immunoassay were used as the reference data of
partial least square (PLS) regression of fecal extract NIR spectra and FTIR spectra. Low
accuracies (NIR: R2 = 0.152; FTIR: R2 = 0.199) were obtained from regression models
using data from both methods. Though this study did not successfully demonstrate the feasibility of using NIR and FTIR to qualify and quantify FGMs, it is likely not a
reflection of the capabilities of the technology, but rather of appropriate sample types and
preparation methods.

Diagnosing the sex of subadult skeletal material is a difficult task for bioarchaeologists and forensic anthropologists. Metric and nonmetric techniques have been tested utilizing both fetal (Boucher 1957, Weaver 1980) and juvenile (Loth and Henneberg 2001, Weaver 1980) skeletal remains. Some metric techniques show promise in estimating the sex of juvenile skeletons, but most are found to be lacking in adequate accuracies (Holcomb and Konigsberg 1995, Weaver 1980). Nonmetric techniques have been found to be more accurate, performing better than chance (Loth and Henneberg 2001, Mittler and Sheridan 1992, Weaver 1980). This study adds to this conversation, utilizing the Hamann-Todd Osteological Collection at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, testing the accuracy of eight nonmetric traits of the subadult mandible and ilium for use in forensic investigations and bioarchaeological research.

New data on human skeletal remains from Site 35 in Salango, Ecuador is combined with existing data presented by Jastremski 2006 to compile a more comprehensive report about the health conditions of the people from this locale. Site 35, which is associated with the Manteno culture that flourished in the Integration period from A.D. 500 – 1532, has been determined to comprise a singular population that is represented by a minimum of 27 individuals.
<br>In addition to more comprehensive conclusions about Site 35, this thesis uses the compiled data from Site 35 in an extended comparison of health among prehistoric sites from six additional sites to observe general trends over time and across geography. Through an in-depth analysis of six distinct health traits, it can be concluded that the most dramatic trend observed across time was a decline in the overall quality of health.
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Those who practice within the field and those who wish to discredit the field have long debated the field of paleodemography. In 1999 and again in 2000, researchers who used paleodemographic analysis assembled in Rostock, Germany to amend the present issues and change the way research is conducted in the future (Hoppa and Vaupel 2002). As a result of these meetings, researchers created the Rostock Manifesto. While many scholars accepted the change in the suite of methodologies carried out under the new guidance, little has been said on the effectiveness of the manifesto. In this thesis, I argue that the Rostock Manifesto, at the very least, is effective in changing the results of paleodemographic research both qualitatively and quantitatively. Unfortunately, due to the nature of paleodemographic research it cannot be said of how effective the manifesto is.

This thesis is a paleopathological survey of ancient Peruvian crania housed at the
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts. Chapter one discusses the significance of this research, work prior to this thesis’s formulation, and defines paleopathological and bioarchaeological terms relevant to this thesis. Chapter two presents this thesis’s materials and methods. Of the 196 Peruvian crania in this study sample, 11 case studies are presented. Chapter three reports a case of probable scurvy and likely anemia comorbidity. This case study is accompanied by a critical analysis and review of the literature surrounding scurvy, a detailed macroscopic examination, and a rigorous differential diagnosis process. Chapter four offers cases representing pseudopathology, hematopoietic disease, infectious disease, joint disease, neoplastic disease, trauma, and trauma-induced disease. Chapter five presents a summary of this thesis.

Human handedness is likely related to brain lateralization and major cognitive innovations in human evolution. Identifying handedness in the archaeological record is,
therefore, an important step in understanding our cognitive evolution. This thesis reports
on experiments in identifying knapper handedness in lithic debitage. I conducted a blind
study on flakes (n=631) from Acheulean handaxes replicated by right- and left-handed
flintknappers. Several flake characteristics significantly indicated handedness, with a
binary logistic regression correctly predicting handedness for 71.7% of the flakes.
However, other characteristics were not associated with handedness. This is a result of
personal knapping styles, as additional analyses show that individual knappers associate
with some attributes better than handedness does. Continued work on these methodologies will enable analysis of Paleolithic assemblages in the future, with the ultimate goal of tracking population-level hominid handedness rates through time and using them as a proxy for cognitive evolution and language acquisition.

The long call frequency of male mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) varies across individuals. In a forest environment where visual contact is impossible at greater distances the long call is utilized for inter-group spacing and for male-male communication. As lower frequencies are capable of traveling longer distances, it is quite possible that there is a correlation between group size and long call frequency. This link lies in the premise that smaller groups have fewer individuals thus fewer males, and spread out less over the course of each day while obtaining food resources, thus the distance these males call over their lifespan is generally less than the males in a larger group. This thesis investigates the relationship between group size and long call frequency in mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) on Isla de Ometepé, Nicaragua.