Copyright (c) 2009 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/chilton_elizabeth Recent documents in Elizabeth S. Chilton en-us Fri, 28 Aug 2009 22:14:13 PDT 3600 http://works.bepress.com/chilton_elizabeth/3 http://works.bepress.com/chilton_elizabeth/3 Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:33:31 PDT Issues of chronology, technology, and subsistence have long dominated discussions of the peopling of the Americas, to the near exclusion of more anthropological topics. For example, little attention has been given to the social implications of an unpeopled landscape for understanding and indigenous sex roles and gendered relationships of the first Native Americans. There has been some recent discussion of the sexual division of labor among Paleo-Indians--and even women's fertility (MacDonald 1998; Surovell 2000; Waguespack 2005). However, many of these approaches are fraught with biological and environmental determinism as well as gender stereotypes. Taking a page from queer theory, in this paper I seek to (1) explore that which does not "make sense" from my 21st Century, feminist perspective, in terms of modeling Paleo-Indian colonization, and (2) move away from heteronormative and sociobiological assumptions in considering paleodemography--e.g., the assumption that the only unit of analysis that matters for modeling demography is the heterosexual, monogamous couple. Instead, I seek alternative, less "comfortable" and less "logical" behavioral and biological parameters from which to build more complex and less ethnocentric mathematical models, which can then be tested against the archaeological record. What I outline here is a research prospectus--a plan for a plan of action, rather than new data or a corrective interpretation. I begin with a retrospective. Elizabeth S. Chilton http://works.bepress.com/chilton_elizabeth/2 http://works.bepress.com/chilton_elizabeth/2 Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:34:33 PDT Staple isotope analysis of human bone is the most direct way to assess the level of maize consumption in the ancient North American diet. However, destructive analysis of human remains is often neither possible nor advisable because of NAGPRA and the concerns of native peoples. Recent studies indicate that dogs may serve as proxies for human diets. In this paper we discuss the results of stable isotope analysis of seven dogs from northeastern North America, dating to the Woodland and Contact periods (A.D. 1000-1700). Expanding this preliminary study will shed much needed light on prehistoric maize horticulture in New England. Elizabeth S. Chilton http://works.bepress.com/chilton_elizabeth/1 http://works.bepress.com/chilton_elizabeth/1 Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:34:33 PDT In the 17th century, what is now known as the town of Deerfield marked the center of the homeland of the Pocumtuck people. The story of the Pocumtuck has been largely a footnote to the history of the English expansion into the Connecticut River Valley. Ethnohistoric representations have been scanty and archaeological sites scarce. Here we report on our efforts to write an archaeology of the Pocumtuck homeland. We describe long-term research at the Pine Hill site-a multicomponent site located at the center of the historic homeland-and summarize findings on Late Woodland artifact variability, feature function, and subsistence. Arthur S. Keene