In this study the sexual dimorphism in canines of a human population from Medieval Delft is analyzed. The buccolingual diameter, mesiodistal diameter, crown height and total length of the canines...Show moreIn this study the sexual dimorphism in canines of a human population from Medieval Delft is analyzed. The buccolingual diameter, mesiodistal diameter, crown height and total length of the canines of 74 individuals were measured, as well as the maxilla-alveolar breadth and length. The sex of the specimen was known through earlier performed ancient DNA analysis. The measurements were analyzed in graphs and Student’s T Tests were performed. It was found that even though the maxillo-alveolar breadth and length did not show any significant differences between males and females, the buccolingual and mesiodistal diameter as well as the root length did show a significant difference. Sexual dimorphism in the dentins is an interesting topic and has been studied by several researchers. Most of these researchers find some sort of dimorphism between males and females. The amount of dimorphism, however, varies per population. To use the canines, or dentins in general, as a sex indicator the analysis has to be compared and verified by a different standard method of sex determination. This study confirms those findings.Show less
The Taíno peoples were discovered by Columbus in 1492, although for a long time he thought to have arrived at the islands surrounding the Japanese coast. He became very interested in the peoples he...Show moreThe Taíno peoples were discovered by Columbus in 1492, although for a long time he thought to have arrived at the islands surrounding the Japanese coast. He became very interested in the peoples he met and ordered Fray Ramón Pané to live among the people of two caciques. As a result one of the most important reports were written about the Taíno and the first ethnological work in the Americas. This work knows a history of many problems. These started during the writing period and ended with the disappearance of the original manuscript, after Fernando Columbus handled it. The term Taíno is used for almost all cultures found on the Greater Antilles, the Bahamas and a couple of the Lesser Antilles. However, this term, Taíno, should be used with great care. The area is not as homogeneous as first thought. There are differences is language, religion practices and sociopolitical structures and as of yet no element has found that characterizes this area as a whole. This term can be regarded as similar to the term Europe, a certain landmass that possesses several distinct cultural groups. The word Taíno is used here for the two communities in which Pané resided for a couple of years and where he wrote his reports. The Taíno were a society that showed great creativity and energy, they were the most developed in the Caribbean region. They had complex chiefdoms and lived in a hierarchical society. Their religion had evolved as well. Among others Pané wrote about the myths of the Taíno. Stevens-Arroyo has ordered these stories into two groups, creation myths and hero myths. All of these have larger themes and smaller elements in them, important for the community that acts and reacts on them. These themes will be compared to myths found on the mainland of South America to find out where the Taíno, according to the myths, could have originated from.Show less
The Aztecs, people living in the Valley of Mexico at the arrival of the Spaniards, are a well-discussed group which is believed to have had an elaborate ritual way of living in which sacrifices...Show moreThe Aztecs, people living in the Valley of Mexico at the arrival of the Spaniards, are a well-discussed group which is believed to have had an elaborate ritual way of living in which sacrifices took place. The Spanish Conquistadores have documented many rituals in which victims are described to have been decapitated after their still pumping hearts were ripped out of their chests. Being described as cruel acts of the Devil, sacrifice was not tolerated among the Europeans and caused a lot of commotion and highly exaggerated cases on which people tended to rely completely since there are no real Aztec primary sources. While so many things have been written about these ceremonies and the personality of the Aztecs themselves, one starts to wonder what really happened during Aztec reign since these Spanish texts seemed to be highly biased with the influence of Christianity. This was what researchers started to wonder a few decades ago when another perspective on the matter kicked in. Anthropologists started to view things in their own perspective, using the Aztec world view as their guideline. The Aztecs shared this great belief in their pantheon of gods and the fact that their deities had sacrificed themselves in order to create the fifth sun in which the Aztecs lived. In order to pay of their debts to the gods, the Aztecs sacrificed impersonators of their deity to show that they were willing to give up the most precious thing, namely the human body. To be able to state if this is really the best way to analyze human sacrifice and to be able to state that this really happened, archaeological evidence has been searched for and was found in the offering of a child which showed signs of sacrifice by the extraction of the heart. This showed that there is upcoming evidence on the actual happening of human sacrifice but this thesis also shows that nowadays not everyone is relying completely on the sources of the Conquistadores anymore. However some still do and should keep in mind that Spanish sources are not just to be taken for granted but should be read with great care and caution.Show less
De late oudheid was een bewogen periode voor Rome. Oude zekerheden stonden op de tocht en werden vervangen door andere. De stad had sterk geleden onder verschillende oorlogen en had haar status als...Show moreDe late oudheid was een bewogen periode voor Rome. Oude zekerheden stonden op de tocht en werden vervangen door andere. De stad had sterk geleden onder verschillende oorlogen en had haar status als hoofdstad verloren aan Constantinopel. Dit alles leidde tot een afname van de bevolking en de financiële draagkracht, met als gevolg een stedelijk landschap dat steeds verder aftakelde omdat de middelen voor onderhoud simpelweg niet meer voorhanden waren. Dit alles betekende ook een klap voor de identiteit van de bewoners van de eeuwige stad. Het leven ging echter door en men had zich te verzoenen met de nieuwe situatie. In deze zoektocht naar de bevestiging van eigenheid en identiteit van de Romeinse bevolking nam het stedelijke culturele erfgoed en de eeuwenoude geschiedenis van de stad een belangrijke rol in. Dit was alom vertegenwoordigd in het stedelijke landschap en de oude ambten en overheidsinstellingen en weerspiegelde een roemrijk verleden. Het uitgangspunt van dit onderzoek was het verkrijgen van inzicht in het gebruik van cultureel erfgoed, geschiedenis en een collectief cultureel geheugen in de vormgeving van een identiteit en zelfbeeld van de laat-antieke bewoners van Rome. Om dit inzicht te verkrijgen, werden uitingen van ‘’Erinnerungskultur’’, herinneringscultuur, onderzocht. Dit betreft een concept dat werd uitgewerkt in het boek: ‘’Das Kulturelle Gedächtnis’’ van Jan Assmann dat betrekking heeft op de rol van geschiedenis en herinnering op de vorming van identiteit. Binnen dit theoretisch kader werden het stedelijke landschap van Rome, de literatuur en de beeldende kunst van deze periode onder de loep genomen in de zoektocht naar uitingen van Erinnerungskultur. Dergelijke uitingen bleken alom vertegenwoordigd in deze categorieën. De omgang met het stedelijke landschap van de stad werd gekenmerkt door een sterke neiging tot restauratie en conservering van de oude situatie. Als afspiegeling van een roemrijk verleden werd het behoud van het stedelijke landschap op een lijn gesteld met het behoud van Rome’s oude luister. Identiteit en het culturele geheugen die deze vormgaf, werden onderhouden en versterkt door de conservering van de mnemotopen, de plaatsen van herinnering, die samen het stedelijke landschap vormden. Ook het gebruik van oude traditionele symbolen van Romeinse identiteit maakte een herleving door gedurende de late oudheid. De literatuur en beeldende kunst uit deze periode droegen op deze wijze sterk bij aan de verbreiding en instandhouding van het idee van het hebben van een gezamenlijk verleden en identiteit. Uit de bevindingen van het onderzoek kan worden opgemaakt dat gedurende de late oudheid de geschiedenis en het culturele erfgoed van Rome een belangrijke en actieve rol speelden in de vorming en bevestiging van identiteit en zelfbeeld van de Romeinen. Door middel van een actieve wisselwerking met dit erfgoed en deze geschiedenis waren ze in staat een identiteit vorm te geven die op verschillende manieren tot uitdrukking kwam. Deze uitingen, zoals de zorg voor het stedelijke landschap, het in stand houden van tradities en het gebruik van een specifiek Romeinse beeldtaal,waren niet enkel uitingen van deze identiteit maar functioneerden ook als vormende krachten achter deze identiteit. Het zijn getuigenissen van het verleden die herinneringen aan dit verleden oproepen en op die manier functioneren als drijvende krachten bij het tot stand komen van een collectieve culturele identiteit en geheugen binnen de Romeinse samenleving.Show less
The Bandkeramik culture came to the Netherlands as a complete package. This new culture settled itself at the Graetheide plateau in the south of the Netherlands on the fertile loess grounds. Geleen...Show moreThe Bandkeramik culture came to the Netherlands as a complete package. This new culture settled itself at the Graetheide plateau in the south of the Netherlands on the fertile loess grounds. Geleen-Janskamperveld is one of these Bandkeramik settlements. All aspects of the Bandkeramik culture are very similar between the different settlements so models are very suitable to analyzee the Bandkeramik culture. One of these aspects which has different models, is the settlement structure. The Hofplatz model is used for centuries as the main model for the Bandkeramik culture. Within this model clusters of houses represent successive houses and thus continuity on a single location. There is still some disagreement whether one or several houses were in use at one time within such a cluster. Rück proposed a different model in which the settlement is structured along lines. He also proposed a different reconstruction of the houses and he assumes a longer use-life for the individual houses: up till a 100 years instead of the 25 years which is used most. Within this research a use-wear study of the flint artefacts found at Geleen-Janskamperveld is executed with the hope of finding some specialization between different houses. This information could help with finding which of these models is best suitable for this excavation. Some use-wear study was already done in the past. The results of the previous study are used for this new research. The predominant contact material found at Geleen-Janskamperveld is hide, followed by cereal harvesting tools. This is in line with other Bandkeramik sites in the Netherlands which were studied in the same way. Other contact materials like wood, reed, bark, meat, bone, clay, mineral materials and the mysterious contact materials which produces ‘polish 10’ and ‘polish 23’ were also recognised. Unfortunately no real specialization was found between the different houses of Geleen-Janskamperveld. The rest of the analysis therefore is based on the literature. Rück proposed new models for different aspects of the settlement. He argues that houses were built on poles instead of on the ground. His main argument, steep slopes on which the houses were built in Bandkeramik times, is not valid for the Dutch LBK. His argument about the duration of a house generation is more plausible. The old arguments for a house generation are a bit outdated. Houses probably would have last longer. A visual analysis is executed to find possible settlement structures at Geleen-Janskamperveld. This resulted in several maps which clearly show that the model of Rück is not plausible for this excavation. No real alignments are apparent. A model in which clusters of several houses success each other is more plausible. This is supported by other features such as ditches.Show less
