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Item Open Access Archaeological investigations of high altitude sites near Monarch Pass, Colorado(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1990) Hutchinson, Lewis A., author; Eighmy, Jeffrey, advisor; Benedict, James B., committee member; Leyendecker, Liston, committee memberThe tundra and upper forest border north of Monarch Pass. in the central Colorado Rocky Mountains. contains a cluster of twelve sites. One of the sites. Water Dog Divide Game Drive, is an extensive system of rock alignments and associated hunting blinds. This site and other smaller systems in the Monarch site area are at present the southernmost documented examples of prehistoric timberline game drives along the Continental Divide. Cultural materials include projectile points. other flaked tools, groundstone and a broken ceramic vessel. Temporal periods indicated are 3000 B.C. to the historic. Two hunting blinds were excavated and three radiocarbon dates were obtained with corrected dates ranging from 900 A.D. - 1640 A.O. Four of the rock walls in the largest drive site contain a number of remnant wooden posts or sewels apparently used to help delineate the rock walls. It is hypothesized that the area was utilized on a seasonal basis to camp and communally hunt large game animals (bison, mule deer, elk. and mountain sheep). The sites may have been visited by peoples from the Plains. Great Basin. and Southwestern culture areas.Item Open Access 5000 years at Crow's Roost in eastern Colorado(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1992) McDonald, Robert A., author; Jennings, Calvin H., advisor; Leyendecker, Liston, committee member; Zier, Christian, committee member; Theodoratus, Robert, committee memberMany areas on the high Plains of eastern Colorado have had little prehistoric research conducted on them. One of the areas where there is insufficient information about local prehistory is the area between the two major river drainages, the Arkansas and the Platte. Crow's Roost, a large sandstone cliff, located east of Colorado Springs, Colorado, is situated near this dividing line, known as the Palmer Divide. A series of prehistoric sites at Crow's Roost has been investigated over a period of five years by the Anthropology Department, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. These investigations indicate that there has been prehistoric occupation at this locality dating back at least 5400 years. This study presents an interpretation of the culture history, and of recent paleoclimatic fluctuations for this locality.Item Open Access The Claude C. and A. Lynn Coffin Lindenmeier collection: an innovative method for analysis of privately held artifact collections and new information on a Folsom campsite in northern Colorado(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2002) Gantt, Erik M., author; Todd, Larry, advisor; Van Buren, Mary, committee member; Albright, John, 1937-, committee memberThe Claude C. and A. Lynn Coffin Lindenmeier collection contains 1,125 pieces, 1,122 of which are chipped stone artifacts, collected from the Lindenmeier Folsom campsite between 1924 and the mid 1950s. A. Lynn Coffin, Judge Claude C. Coffin, and C. K. Collins are credited with discovering Lindenmeier adding historical significance to this collection. Furthermore, the size of the Coffin family assemblage from Lindenmeier is significant in comparison to the other known artifacts from the site curated by the Smithsonian and the Fort Collins Museum. The Coffin family assemblage from Lindenmeier more than three times as large as that held by the Fort Collins Museum (n=333) (Ambler 1999), more than four times that collected by the Denver Museum of Natural History (n=278) (Cotter 1978), and a significant portion of the number of diagnostic artifacts held by the Smithsonian (Wilmsen and Roberts 1978). Included with the collection is the 'Folsom Man' scrapbook compiled by Judge Claude C. Coffin. This scrapbook contains a wealth of unpublished information on the history of the initiation of professional investigations at the site. The scrapbook is summarized and many of the letter[s] and photographs contained within are presented here. Access to the Claude C. and A. Lynn Coffin materials is highly controlled, because of the stewardship concern for preserving the integrity of the artifacts, and has necessitated a new recording methodology to record basic information about the collection. In response to this need, an image based computer measurement method using the SigmaScan Pro 5.0 image analysis program was developed. This is presented here along with an assessment of the validity and comparability of the methodology. It is shown that the image and computer based method, which allows rapid initial photographic data collection, is valid and comparable to that of a caliper based measurement method. The results from the computer based method are also shown to have a high degree of internal consistency and to be comparable with measurements from analyses on other collections from the site. The results from the documentation of this important assemblage are then compared to and combined with the data from the Major Roy G. Coffin collection, housed at the Fort Collins Museum, and the Smithsonian collection from the site. General trends of donation behavior on the part of the Coffin family are discussed, and comparisons are drawn between relative frequencies of artifact types represented in the Coffin family collection and the Smithsonian collections. Information on post-Folsom occupations at the site is amended based on artifact types.Item Open Access Responses to climate variability of the livestock sector in the north-west province, South Africa(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2002) Hudson, Jerry Wayne, author; Kathleen, Galvin, advisor; Smith, Freeman M. (Freeman Minson), 1939-, committee member; Magennis, Ann, committee memberThe goal of this study is to compare management drought strategies, including the use of climate forecasts, of livestock farmers in commercial areas with livestock farmers in adjacent communal areas within the western region of the North-West Province of the Republic of South Africa. In this rural semi-arid to arid region of the southern Kalahari, the majority of people make their living from animal production. It is shown that commercial farmers have a greater number of strategic options and greater accessibility to natural and human resources including pasture lands, water, and information. This research demonstrates that in this relatively homogeneous ecological setting, farmers' animal management responses to drought and use of climate forecasts are highly variable due to human factors such as culture, production goals, history, government policy, and market constraints. A human ecological framework is used to explain research findings and examine results within existing ecological, economic, ethnic, and historical constraints faced by local populations.Item Open Access Prehistoric archaeological investigations at Perdiz Creek: an inter-landscape comparative analysis in the southern Trans-Pecos region of southwestern Texas(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2004) Cason, Samuel, author; Mallouf, Robert J., committee member; Fiege, Mark, committee memberA 2000 Texas Archeological Society field school collected information from the Marfa Plains in the Southern Trans-Pecos region of southwestern Texas, using pedestrian survey and subsurface test excavations. This investigation presents archaeological data from Perdiz Creek, a portion of the field school project, using a landscape scale analysis in addition to site-specific information. The Perdiz Creek landscape is compared to an additional landscape unit, noting differences in feature distributions and environmental contexts. Course-grained observations are used to construct hypotheses concerning mobility patterns in different landscape settings. Finally, recommendations are made in regard to how landscape level analyses might proceed in future investigations and how this may contribute to an understanding of prehistoric behavioral diversity in the Southern Trans-Pecos and hunter-gatherer studies in general.Item Open Access The Frazier site: an agate basin occupation and lithic assemblage on the Kersey Terrace, northeastern Colorado(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2004) Slessman, Scott A., author; Todd, Lawrence C., 1954-, advisor; Zier, Christian J., committee member; Hill, Matthew G. (Matthew Glenn), committee member; Eighmy, Jeffrey L., committee member; Kelly, Eugene Francis, committee memberThe Frazier site was discovered by Frank Frazier in 1965, and was excavated from 1965 to 1967 by the Denver Museum of Natural History under the direction of H. Marie Wormington. An analysis of the lithic assemblage and a description of the excavations are provided in this thesis because this information has never been published in any detail. The Frazier site is an Agate Basin bison kill-butchery site located near the town of Kersey, Colorado. The Frazier site is important not only because it is one of a few Agate Basin sites on the Northwest Plains, but also because it was the last major excavation directed by H. Marie Wormington for the Denver Museum of Natural History. The Frazier collection is comprised of 1,161 lithic artifacts and 20,012 pieces of bone. Interpretations of Agate Basin activities at the Frazier site are based on the analysis of the lithic material (debitage and tools), and the raw material composition of the collection. In addition to a traditional lithic analysis, the Frazier collection is inspected through the use of minimum nodule analysis (MNA). An examination of the spatial distribution of cultural remains indicates that several distinct activity areas are located at the site. The results of the analysis are used to compare the Frazier data with other Paleoindian sites in the region, particularly with Agate Basin period sites. Unlike the other long-term, multiple-event Agate Basin localities (Agate Basin site, Hell Gap site), the results of the analysis indicate that the Frazier site represents a single-event, short-term bison kill-butchery and processing occupation. The Frazier site therefore offers a different view of Agate Basin behavior on the Plains. Aspects of Agate Basin lithic technology, subsistence, site structure and function, and mobility at a kill/processing site are discussed.Item Open Access White South Africans in Colorado: understandings of apartheid and post-apartheid society(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2005) Weeber, Christine A., authorThis pilot study focuses on the experiences of two white ethnic groups within the South African immigrant population, Afrikaners and English-speakers, who came of age during two different phases of apartheid, between 1958-1978 and 1979-1993. Race, ethnicity, generational standing, class, and nationalism remain important fault lines, so my analysis is structured to differentiate between the entrenchment and reproduction of these identities during apartheid and the disruption of these in the post-apartheid era and in people's migration to the U.S. Using a phenomenological approach, I investigate three issues: experiences of being white, the culture of apartheid, and immigration. Among the themes that emerged from my interviews are the "schizophrenic" nature of life under apartheid; guilt and responsibility; questions of truth, propaganda, and brainwashing; "Afropessimism" and racism; what it meant to be white under apartheid versus the present 'box of being white'; the 'push factors' of affirmative action and crime; and perspectives of race and racism in the U.S. versus South Africa. I also examine whiteness in these two white ethnic groups and as perceived by black and Colored (mixed race) informants. My research addresses the question of whether or not essential characteristics of whiteness exist, cross-culturally, based on a history of whiteness-as-domination. By applying Pierre Bourdieu's practice theory to whiteness studies, I attempt to account for the complexities of whiteness in this population. Patterns within this population show how historical ideologies of whiteness as-domination shaped the habitus of whites during apartheid. Yet, important exceptions to these patterns point to how people's habitus can change, moving whites out of the 'box of being white,' which remains a significant push factor for emigration out of post-apartheid South Africa.Item Open Access High altitude stone and wood structures of northwestern Wyoming: examples from the upper Greybull River area in the central Absaroka Mountains(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007) Kinneer, Christopher C., author; Todd, Lawrence C., 1954-, advisor; Dean, Denis J., committee member; LaBelle, Jason M., committee member; Zier, Christian J., committee memberThis thesis presents the results of archaeological investigations of seven sites with structures identified near the headwaters of the Greybull River in the Absaroka Mountains of northwestern Wyoming. These structures have in common a construction style that consists entirely of dry-laid and/or aligned locally available stone and, in some cases, wooden elements. Investigations, analyses and interpretations of high altitude stone structure sites are often framed by categorical assumptions about site and structure functions. Assumed functions often include game drives, ceremonial localities, location markers, architectural remnants, and windbreaks. These ascribed functions condition the types of data that are gathered, and thus the results of the analyses and interpretations are often self-fulfilling. No single, best, or functionally provable argument, beyond a possible association with hunting, will be provided for the newly presented sites and structures, as too little is known about the builders' cultural and/or temporal affiliations. Rather, conclusions with respect to site and/or structure function will be oriented around pattern recognition and comparative discussion.Item Open Access Excavations at the Gilligan's Island shelters (5FN1592), Fort Carson Military Reservation (FCMR), Fremont County, Colorado(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2008) Anderson, Cody Mitchell, author; Eighmy, Jeffrey L., advisor; Zier, Christian J., committee member; Fiege, Mark T., committee memberThis thesis examines the surface and subsurface archaeological work undertaken in 2002 at the Gilligan's Island site (5FN1592), located at the base of the Rocky Mountains on the Fort Carson Military Reservation, eastern Fremont County, Colorado. Permission was granted by Fort Carson to conduct an excavation at this site in order to determine its potential to produce significant subsurface occupational remains. Excavations focused on two connecting rock shelters at the base of a prominent cliff face. Four interconnecting grid units were positioned in a trench-like fashion through the central midline of each shelter proper. Deposition of excavated units ranges up to 1.3 meters in depth. These trenches exposed deeply stratified prehistoric materials including multiple intact features. The radiocarbon data (based on conventional uncalibrated dates) identified three prehistoric cultural components: Middle Archaic period (ca. 4240-3010 B.P.), Late Archaic period (ca. 2230-1880 B.P.), and Developmental period (ca. 1390- 1070 B.P.). A historic component is also evident and is associated with probable looting activities in the shelters.Item Open Access The Protohistoric period in northcentral Colorado: analysis of the Lykins Valley Site (5LR263)(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2008) Newton, Cody Collins, author; LaBelle, Jason M., advisorThe Lykins Valley Site (5LR263) is a Protohistoric-aged site that contains both items of European manufacture and items such as stone tools associated with precontact indigenous technology. The site is a small group campsite occupied in a single event or multiple annual events possibly by a Cheyenne or Comanche group. Temporal analysis of the site indicates that the site was occupied shortly after A.D. 1800. This analysis of the Lykins Valley site is used as a stepping-off point to address larger questions about native acceptance of European technologies, the degree to which the western-central Great Plains were actually impacted by European intrusion and site types of the Protohistoric Period. This study finds that the region including Lykins Valley was not greatly affected by direct European contact until after the beginning of the 1800's, coinciding with the fur trade era. The Protohistoric occupation of 5LR263 exemplifies a native group that was fully equestrian, had somewhat integrated European technology into their culture via trade good acquisition, but was still reliant on pre-contact technology.Item Open Access From souvenir to sundance: perceptions and participation of residents in cultural tourism on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2009) Graham, Melanie Ann, author; Pickering, Kathleen Ann, 1958-, advisor; Browne, Katherine E., 1953-, committee member; Gloeckner, Gene William, 1950-, committee memberCultural tourism development on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota has the potential to increase access to the cash economy for Pine Ridge residents, as well as the potential to create negative social, cultural and economic impacts that threaten to overshadow any benefits. In the effort to develop responsible and culturally appropriate tourism, it is critical to understand how tourism impacts the daily lives of residents, and how they participate in these economic activities. Surveys and interviews with households (n=47) and business owners (n=43) explore how a Pine Ridge economy that is embedded in Lakota values of reciprocity and generosity interacts with and contradicts the global economy. Results reveal that this sample of residents expresses a generally positive attitude regarding tourism, as well as a strong consensus that the greatest potential for exploitation lies in the commercialization of Lakota spirituality. Additionally, the experiences of business owners demonstrate that tourism does increase access to the cash economy, but it is only a marginal improvement in local sources of supplemental income when entrepreneurs lack the resources necessary to compete in the difficult business environment on Pine Ridge. Understanding and responding to the experiences of local residents will enable communities to mitigate the negative impacts of tourism in order to maximize the positive outcomes, resulting in a tourism sector on the reservation that is responsible, accountable and undeniably Lakota.Item Open Access How the past can be present for our future: archaeological interpretation for the public, the Lindenmeier Folsom site in northern Colorado(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Parks, Erin Margaret, author; LaBelle, Jason M., advisor; Todd, Lawrence C., 1954-, committee member; Bright, Alan D., committee memberThe Lindenmeier site is a significant Paleoindian prehistoric site located north of Fort Collins, Colorado in Larimer County. Lindenmeier was discovered in 1924 by Judge C.C. Coffin and later surveyed and excavated beginning in 1934 by Frank H.H. Roberts, Jr. and the Smithsonian Institution (Roberts 1936). The site uncovered thousands of lithic materials dating to the Folsom period that included 468 known Folsom projectile points (Ambler 1999; Gantt 2002; Wilmsen and Roberts 1978). The private ranch Lindenmeier is located on was purchased by the City of Fort Collins Natural Areas Program. Lindenmeier is now part of the Soapstone Prairie Natural Area and open to the public. Developing an appropriate cultural resource interpretation is essential because Lindenmeier is now open to the public. The opening of Lindenmeier created a necessary examination of other Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene interpretive sites within the Great Plains region. I examined six sites for this analysis: Lubbock Lake Landmark in Lubbock, Texas; Hudson-Meng near Crawford, Nebraska; the Mammoth site in Hot Springs, South Dakota; Blackwater Draw near Clovis, New Mexico; Pine Bluffs Windows on the Past Interpretive Center and Museum in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming; and Murray Springs near Sierra Vista, Arizona. Each of these six sites were visited and documented by examining three topics: archaeology, visitation, and public interpretation. Examination of archaeology at each site focused on the information visitors are receiving about the archaeological record and archaeological methods at the sites. The examination of archaeology provides a framework for public programs of the site. Second, visitation explores the type of people visiting the site, the reasons people are visiting, what types of facilities are offered to visitors, and site integrity and security. Examining visitation helps determine the logistics of management approach to the interpretation. Third, public interpretation analyzes how information is presented to visitors. Public interpretation includes educational materials such as brochures, interpretive panels, interpretive trails, and exhibits. Public interpretation also covers how the site is funded, associations with organizations, and how information is presented. The results of archaeology, visitation, and public interpretation analysis from the six sites are compared and contrasted. The results of that analysis are then used to make ideal recommendations for the cultural resource interpretation of Lindenmeier. Overall, examining interpretive sites dating to the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene period in the Great Plains region will provide the best model for Lindenmeier's interpretation.Item Open Access Hip Hop family in the underground: the words and actions of the True School community in Atlanta, Georgia(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Kumar, Andrew Anil, author; Browne, Katherine E., 1953-, advisor; Snodgrass, Jeffrey G., committee member; Breaux, Richard M., committee memberHip Hop Culture is the fastest growing culture on earth. Around the world, people of multiple ethnicities, religions, economic backgrounds, and political affiliations consume and produce Hip Hop music and culture for a range of reasons. The music and art surrounding the culture has been intimately tied to the entertainment industry, and Hip Hop's national and international dissemination speaks volumes about the processes and outcomes of globalization. It is for this reason that the vehicle of Hip Hop is a useful tool to analyze a wide range of topics like gender, class, ethnicity, business, and performance to name a few. In my thesis I explore underground Hip Hop culture in Atlanta Georgia. My analysis draws on fieldwork I conducted from 2008 to 2009 and includes data from participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and a survey. In Atlanta Georgia, a group of underground Hip Hop practitioners and consumers who are affiliated with a socially conscious movement within the culture known as "True School," form a tight network. This network is rooted in deep local connections to one another reinforced by multiple exchanges of resources and information as well as commitment to a community ethos that is tied to the True School Movement.Item Open Access A vision of transformation: women's organizing and development in Guatemala(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Bludau, Meaghan Beth, author; Browne, Katherine E., 1953-, advisor; Sherman, Kathleen A., committee member; Taylor, Peter Leigh, 1959-, committee memberThis thesis presents an analysis of research I conducted with Somos Mujeres, a community-based women's organization in Guatemala. The sisters who founded the organization subscribe to a comprehensive model of women's development that attempts to address the underlying social, economic, and political factors that perpetuate women's inequality. I examine the evolution of Somos Mujeres' mission and programs, and I explore the impact of the organization on the lives of women who join. I argue that this holistic approach holds the promise of broad change. However, formidable barriers prevent the organization from implementing its mission. Lack of resources, limited access to the global handicraft market, as well as pressure from outside funding organizations undercut the organization's ability to implement its vision. This study highlights the challenges community-based organizations face at the ground level as they negotiate the development sphere. I argue that the mission and programming of Somos Mujeres is shaped not simply by the interests of the women the organization serves, but also by the agendas of powerful donor institutions, and I consider potential avenues of change that could provide community-based organizations greater power to determine the course of their own development.Item Open Access Growing pains: the local food movement in northern Colorado(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) McNamara, Maureen Catherine, author; Browne, Katherine E., advisor; Sherman, Kathleen A., committee member; Raynolds, Laura, committee memberGlobal food and agribusiness corporations exhibit significant control over food production and consumption. Around the world, people contest this corporate food regime through efforts like local food movements. Critics often undermine the power of localism movements and claim that local food is a short-term trend that will not impact the larger market. In my thesis, I explore the local food movement in Northern Colorado. My analysis draws on fieldwork I conducted in 2009-2010 and includes data from participant observation, semi-structured interviews (n=23) and an online survey (n=67). In Northern Colorado, local food producers and advocates are passionate about and committed to growing the local food system. The strong network of producers ensures that the movement stays rooted in and develops as an integral part of the community. Despite producers' enthusiastic and collaborative energies, local food is not for the most part economically viable. Producers, consumers, and advocates in Northern Colorado are faithful to local food, but individual commitments cannot counter the powerful forces that shape food production and consumption. In order for local food to challenge the global agro-food structures, the movement has to adopt a more political and economically focused approach that moves beyond consumer education and marketing strategies.Item Open Access Divinely masculine: Neopaganism and gender identity in contemporary America(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Enberg, Jessica M., author; Snodgrass, Jeffrey G., advisor; Margolf, Diane Claire, committee member; Browne, Katherine E., 1953-, committee member; Pickering, Kathleen Ann, 1958-, committee memberThis research is focused on how men use religion to define their gender identity. Specifically, this paper looks at the religion Neopaganism. Out of the 1960s and 1970s Counter Cultural and New Religious Movements rose Neopaganism, an earth-based religion in which the Goddess(es) and the God(s) are venerated, nature's yearly cycle of seasons are celebrated, and magic is practiced. This paper will discuss how the Feminist and Men's Movement that arose from the 1960s and 1970s affected gender roles in the U.S. and prompted the study of U.S. Masculinities. From these studies it was determined that men's gendered identities could no longer be understood in terms of a singular masculinity, but as several masculinities. These masculinities are placed into two categories: the hegemonic masculinity, or the ascendant and dominant masculinity in the U.S. culture, and subordinate masculinities, which are those that differ from the hegemonic masculinity in terms of ethnicity, sexuality, religion, class position and marital status. The focus of this paper is how men in Neopaganism use religion to define their subordinate masculinities. The research group for this study consisted of five men and four women, with the main focus on the male informants. The ethnographic methodologies included observation, participation, and 36 in-depth, open-ended interviews. The main findings include the following: the male informants have what they consider to be strong feminine sides; while the male informants acknowledged there is a U.S. male stereotype they do not believe in a strict gender role for men and women; all the male informants were looking for balance of masculine and feminine in their lives; the balance they sought had more meaning for them when found through religion because it offered divine justification for how they perceived themselves as men; and the Neopagan environment in which they participate offers both a safe haven for them to express their true gender identity without fear, retribution, ridicule or judgment.Item Open Access Tree-rings, historic documents, and interpreting past landuse and environments in the Upper Greybull River Watershed, northwestern, Wyoming(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Reiser, Marcy L., author; Todd, Lawrence C., 1954-, advisor; LaBelle, Jason M., committee member; Coleman, Robert O., committee member; Sherman, Kathleen A., committee memberSet in a high montane Engelmann spruce parkland in the central Absaroka Mountains of northwestern Wyoming, this thesis combines dendrochronology, archaeology, and data from historic documents to explore past human activity and climate in the Upper Greybull River Watershed. Based on early Euro-American accounts of the region, and its rugged remoteness, this harsh environment might seem an unlikely place for past human groups to survive and thrive. However, research conducted in the area since 2002, as part of the Greybull River Sustainable Landscape Ecology (GRSLE) project, reveals a dynamic environment rich with both prehistory and history and one that illuminates the past but just as quickly obscure and erase it. As a snapshot of ongoing research, this thesis presents tree-ring crossdating results for four historic cabins and associated structures collected prior to the Little Venus fire of 2006, including crossdates from a historic cabin that burned to the ground. Crossdating results are also presented for culturally modified trees in the area, including culturally peeled trees, and for a "ghost forest," which may represent the remnants of an ancient forest that succumbed to fire in the late-1400s to mid-1600s. Based on these crossdated samples, a preliminary standardized index of annual tree-ring growth, or master chronology, has been established which extends the tree-ring chronology back to 1260. This master chronology was then compared to historic documents from the region and accounts by early settlers of environmental conditions in the Upper Greybull River Watershed. This comparison has resulted in a more complex and nuanced understanding of past climate and human landuse, as well as highlighting stories about the past that only trees and historic accounts can tell. This thesis is part of an ongoing and urgent effort to collect, preserve and crossdate tree-ring samples from this fire-prone region. Like much of the West, forests in this area have been devastated by a recent bark beetle epidemic, posing a significant threat to cultural resources, especially those made of wood.Item Open Access 5MF6255: excavations at an early archaic basin house site in the Yampa River Valley, Moffat County, Colorado(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Slaughter, Stephanie, author; LaBelle, Jason, advisor; Zeidler, James, committee member; Fiege, Mark T., committee memberMetcalf Archaeological Consultants, Inc., excavated site 5ME6255 in the late summer and early fall of 2006. The site had been discovered during the open trench inspection of Wyoming Interstate Company’s Piceance Basin Expansion Project pipeline. As observed in the trench, the site contained a dark cultural stain located about 1.6 m below bladed surface, which was identified as a possible basin house. Its stratigraphic position within a zone of heavy calcium carbonate deposits suggested an age of 7000 BP or greater, placing the site firmly within the Pioneer period of the Archaic era. Very few sites of this age have been excavated in northwestern Colorado, making 5MF6255 important for establishing basic information about this period of prehistory, regardless of whether or not it was a basin house. A total of 104 complete and partial 1 m by 1 m units were excavated in one large block to explore the contextual integrity of the feature, the nature of the stain, and search for any associated ancillary features. Results of excavation revealed the site consisted of three basin houses, one of which had two rooms, as well as 15 other pit features. A preliminary charcoal sample from the upper layers of the south end of the initially identified basin house was submitted for radiocarbon analysis and returned two intercept dates of 7935-8070 cal BP and 8084-8159 cal BP (2-sigma), dating the site to the early Pioneer Period of the Archaic Era. It is one of the oldest basin house known in the northern Colorado River basin area. Cultural material recovered from the site is described, and the research contributions resulting from these investigations are detailed, iii including its place in the chronology of northwestern Colorado, paleoenvironmental data obtained for the project as a whole is described, settlement and subsistence strategies are discussed, and finally, morphology of both the house features and pit features are detailed. A short comparison of this site to other Pioneer-era sites in the regions is also discussed, placing the site within the context of the larger early Archaic adaptive strategies of the region.Item Open Access Green practice: development of a cultural model for contemporary western Buddhism at the eyes of compassion Sangha and their engagement with climate change issues(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Burd, Megan M., author; Snodgrass, Jeffrey, advisor; Sherman, Kathleen, committee member; Sarenac, Darko, committee memberAs Buddhism moves globally, many shifts in the practice are currently taking place. This thesis examines both historical anthological concepts regarding Buddhist practices and societies, as well as contemporary analysis of the development of Buddhism in the United States and beyond. Working with several Buddhist practitioners in Colorado, the question of how practitioners of Buddhism engage with the issue of climate change. Responses and contemporary research are fused to create a cognitive model of how contemporary Buddhists in a particular Sangha group might think about and engage with the issue. A picture on how these Buddhist practitioners engage with and enact their thoughts on issues of climate change derive from this cultural model, as well as from surveys, interviews, and participants observations.Item Open Access Archaeological investigation from a private artifact collection located in northeastern Colorado(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Frederick, Amy R., author; Todd, Lawrence C., advisor; Branton, Nicole, committee member; MacDonald, Brad, committee memberThe research and publication resulting from this project contributes to the archaeology of northeastern Colorado. This collection has never been analyzed, and the land had never been previously surveyed. This research contributes to the general theory of archaeology by helping to develop a method for working with amateur archaeologists or collectors. It also provides information on behaviors of a collector: his knowledge of archaeological resources, what attributes he looks for in choosing locations to collect artifacts from, (i.e. land forms, known collection locality, etc.), and what type of artifacts are collected. This research model can be used to predict what types of artifacts one can expect to find on federal, state, and private lands that have been looted or collected, and help explain the lack of bifaces, formal tools, and diagnostic artifacts at many sites on the Plains. Artifact collecting is a hobby of many individuals and it is important to understand how this behavior affects the archaeological record. Many features cannot be assigned to a cultural group or time period without the contextual information gained from diagnostic artifacts that are often surface collected from sites. The purposive sampling method used to record the landowner’s property only includes areas that the landowner has surface collected from for decades. The archeological survey and site inventories fail to represent the landscape variety, diversity of site types, and full range of archaeological resources that one would expect to find distributed over the landowner’s property. This thesis addresses the following questions. What types of activities have occurred at the collection sites over the years? What brings the landowner, Dirk Hunter to these locations? What types of artifacts are collected by Dirk? What site types are present? What tool types and lithic materials are represented within each site and over the project area? What is the cultural history of the area based on the diagnostic artifacts found within the Private Collection? This analysis of a private artifact collection provides evidence that meaningful interpretations can be drawn from private artifact collections.