Introducing the “Project”

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Multi-site zooarchaeological comparisons of indigenous contexts in the American Southeast

My self-imposed goal for this project is to establish a guideline for how I will interpret the data for my dissertation. The dataset for this project comes from the Digital Archaeological Record (TDAR), which is an open-source database for archaeological data. The goal for this project was to present some initial analytical methods that allow me to compare pre-contact and post-contact archaeological contexts. Due to still being in the data collection stage of my dissertation research, I decided to use three separate datasets from TDAR in order to replicate some early quantitative considerations for my own research. None of the data in this presentation is my own, nor do I plan on presenting or publishing on any of this data.

Outline for Presented Data

This is a reminder that we will be having our 11th Annual Anthro+ on Saturday, April 10th, 2021 from 9am to 4pm. Please feel free to come! It will be over Zoom, and Nadine or a PASA board member will be sure to send out a link to you all.

We will be having a Graduate Student Happy Hour next Friday (4/2/2021) at 4:00! This will be sent out to all of the current graduate students as well and will be a great chance to meet us all and ask any last minute questions.

Historical and Environmental Background

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Map demonstrating Site Locations

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History of Subsistence Strategies in the Region

One of the huge benefits of living in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) is that there is so much around us, but that also means that the housing situation can be a bit confusing. When it comes to housing think about price, ‘walkability,’ how you plan on commuting to campus, and other priorities.

A lot of our fellow anthropology graduate students have lived with other graduate students during their time here. UMD or DMV housing groups on Facebook are great places to find fellow grad students or young professionals to board with. Also, feel free to reach out to your fellow cohort members! Older cohorts are sometimes looking for roommates as well. PASA will encourage our current graduate students to email your (the new) cohort with any housing options they are aware of.

Impact, or lack there of, of Colonialism

The best bet is to look in southern Montgomery County, Maryland (i.e. Silver Spring and Takoma Park) or Prince George’s County (i.e. College Park, Berwyn Heights, Hyattsville). Not only will you find cheaper housing in this area, but it is all fairly close to campus. Transportation is key in the DMV, and while you might find a cheaper place in say Bethesada or Northern Virginia you’ll have to drive or be on the metro for an hour+.

DC is a bit more expensive, but if you have lots of roommates or are living with a loved one it might be a little more ‘reasonable.’ The three listed DC neighborhoods tend to be the best for price and accessibility to UMD’s campus.

All of the points on the included map are places that graduate students have lived before, or would be a good place to start looking. However, there are plenty of other places to check out! This is just to help narrow down the wide focus, and to visualize it for you all.

Comparing the Subsistence Strategies of the Different Sites

Species List Compared across the sites

ggplot(ByTaxonall, aes(x = reorder(Taxon, n), y = n)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity") + 
  coord_flip() + ggtitle("Species list by Site") + labs(x = "Taxon", y = "NISP") + 
  facet_wrap(~ï..SITE, scales = "free_y")

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Mission San Agustin

ByTaxonsa <- sanaugstin %>% group_by(Taxon) %>% count() %>% arrange (desc(n))
ggplot(ByTaxonsa, aes(x = reorder(Taxon, n), y = n)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity") +
  coord_flip() + ggtitle("Species List for San Augstin") + labs(x = "Taxon", y = "n")

Spanish Fort Site

ByTaxonsp <- spanishfort %>% group_by(Taxon) %>% count() %>% arrange (desc(n))
ggplot(ByTaxonsp, aes(x = reorder(Taxon, n), y = n)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity") +
  coord_flip() + ggtitle("Species List for the Spanish Fort site") + labs(x = "Taxon", y = "n")

Apalachicola

ByTaxona <- apalachicola %>% group_by(Taxon) %>% count() %>% arrange (desc(n))
ggplot(ByTaxona, aes(x = reorder(Taxon, n), y = n)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity") +
  coord_flip() + ggtitle("Species List for the Apalachicola site") + labs(x = "Taxon", y = "n")

All Sites

ggplot(ByTaxonall, aes(x = reorder(Taxon, n), y = n)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity") + 
  coord_flip() + ggtitle("Species list by Site") + labs(x = "Taxon", y = "NISP") + 
  facet_wrap(~ï..SITE, scales = "free_y")

Zooarchaeology and Community Outreach

How should zooarchaeologists incoporate indigenous perspectives?

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Word Clouds

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Variation of Taxonomic/Common Names

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Potential Future Research Directions

Approaching Cut Marks and other signs of Butchering

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How to best address aging and sexing

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Future Zooarchaeological Datasets to Observe?

m <- leaflet()
m <- addTiles(m)
m <- addMarkers(m, lng = -76.9426, lat = 38.9869, popup = "University of Maryland, College Park")
m

Would a comparative project work after my dissertation?

Citations

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###Bibliography

###RPackages