Perimortem Injury in a Chinese American Cemetery: Two Cases of Occupational Hazard or Interpersonal Violence

Accepted manuscript published in the Internet Journal of Biological Anthropology

This study’s aim is to elucidate questions of bioarchaeological importance by highlighting an ethnic group whom helped shape the modern American West. This investigation concerns traumatic injury sustained by two Chinese Americans who died during the late 19th or early 20th centuries in northern Nevada, U.S. There has been little attention given to the “Overseas” Chinese, in either historical or archaeological contexts. The designation “Overseas” is given to those individuals who emigrated from mainland China starting in the 1800s to places around the world. Here, two individuals are described in terms of traumatic, perimortem injury, and other findings of pathological interest. These two individuals would have died from their sustained injuries. Of central importance to this study is to first emphasize the dangerous occupation that many Chinese undertook, such as mining activity or railroad construction. Second, not knowing the exact nature surrounding their deaths, this study investigates possible inter-personal violence that often resulted from antagonistic factions between either the Chinese themselves, or between the Chinese and other immigrants competing for high risk, but lucrative jobs scattered throughout the western United States.

THE FORGOTTEN CHINESE CEMETERY OF CARLIN NEVADA: A BIOANTHROPOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT (Thesis)

Thesis: University of Nevada, Las Vegas Department of Anthropology

The investigation of historical cemeteries enables direct assessment of biological variability, health and disease, and additional insights into populations that have gone relatively undocumented in North America and elsewhere. This thesis examines a historic cemetery located in northern Nevada, in the town of Carlin. A total of 13 well-preserved skeletal individuals were excavated in 1996, all buried within coffins and whose Chinese origin has been confirmed through historical documentation and associated artifacts (Chung et al. 2005). Although the sample size is small, it provides a number of important insights into the health and behavior of early Chinese-American communities, including dental pathologies, generalized bone disease, age and occupational- related pathologies, and trauma. In addition to paleopathological analysis, a craniometric study was conducted to better understand biological variation. This thesis is unique in that there are few comparative populations that have examined skeletal biology of early Chinese Americans.

Thesis Appendices

appendices to my thesis (photos, burial descriptions, etc.)

On the Origins, Timing, and Colonization of North Eurasia

Term Paper for Seminar in Ancient Migrations

The colossal geographic expansion and subsequent colonization of the globe by modern humans over the last approximately 100,000 to 150,000 years has been characterized by debate, complexity, and controversy. Human migration studies have been important to understanding not only the global colonization process, but ultimately, are important in the context of human evolutionary history. Through these studies, whether in a global, regional, or local context, the realization is apparent that migration is affected by both biological and cultural factors, which in turn have an impact on the population’s biology and culture.

In this paper, a local and regional perspective will be offered to account for past migrations, differential demographic processes, origins, and timing of the ancient colonization process in North Eurasia. To understand the broader picture of human migration, we need the ability to elucidate questions of local patterns of demographic change, kinship, and residence patterns. To this end, the quantification of migratory events occurring throughout Asia spatially and temporally must be interpreted within a cultural-specific context, such as the expansion of the Yakuts into parts of Siberia due to the formation of steppe empires such as the Xiongnu in the 2nd century BC, or later the formation of the Mongolian dynasty in the 11th to 13th centuries AD.

Although interpreting these specific context-dependent issues may be difficult, the understanding of how, when, and why humans moved from one area to another must be understood through a broad and holistic window that incorporates all aspects of the human experience, including environmental variance, kinship and inheritance structure, language and cultural trait transmission, and evolutionary processes that have ultimately shaped the population history and structure of North Eurasia.

Remote Sensing Survey of Pineview Park

A geophysical investigation was conducted at Pineview Park located off Rattlesnake Drive immediately to the west of the Rattlesnake Elementary School in Missoula, Montana. The survey was conducted as an attempt to potentially ascertain the presence and extent of burials associated with the historic Missoula County Poor Farm that operated from 1886 to 1936. The Poor Farm was established by Missoula County as an almshouse, a facility operated to care for the sick, indigent, and poor members of the community. Preliminary historical documentation has indicated a substantial number of burials associated with the Poor Farm, perhaps as many as 500. The northwestern corner of the Rattlesnake Elementary School grounds bears the distinct surface depressions of burials and this area is adjacent to the northeastern corner of Pineview Park.
The eastern half of Pineview Park was subjected to a non-invasive and non-destructive remote sensing survey using geophysical techniques. Magnetic (magnetometer) and ground penetrating radar (GPR) technology were employed to identify subsurface anomalies. Six grids were established for the magnetic survey and the GPR data was collected across three grids (fields).

The Central Asian Landscape: Possible Inquiries into the Population History and Structure of Mongolia through Quantitative Genetic Analyses

Human Variation seminar: sorry I don't have references

Mongolia, located in central Asia, has generated variable and extensive genetic analyses, including the possible founding populations of North America, modern ethnogenetic hypotheses for groups currently inhabiting the country and surrounding areas, the likely Y-chromosomal lineage of Genghis Khan and his male-line descendents and the extensive geographic expansion in which it is found, and lastly, the complex processes of unraveling the underlying genetic variation seen in the larger regional context of central Asia. The majority of these studies utilize common genetic markers, such as mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome, which have yielded significant findings in anthropological genetic research.
This paper will make use of existing research on the genetics of Mongolia and central Asia to explore population history and structure of a region that has been inhabited by a diverse mixture of individuals and groups, whom have occupied favorable and unfavorable environments, and who now define clearly demarcated boundaries in the form of nation-states. Central Asia is a vast territory located at the confluence of historical empires and trade, crossed by the famous Silk Road with contacts to the south in India and open to the steppes of the north. This region is essential to understanding complex cultural phenomena such as acculturation, assimilation, languages, overlapping economies, and ways of life that include migrations, expansions and conquests.

American Indian Identity, Blood Quantum and Heritage in the 21st Century: A Bioanthropological Perspective

Identity in American Indian communities has continually been a subject of contentious debate among legal scholars, federal policy-makers, anthropologists, historians, and even within Native American society itself. As American Indians have a unique relationship with the federal government of the United States, their identity has continually been redefined and reconstructed over the last century and a half. This has placed a substantial burden on definitions for legal purposes, tribal affiliation, and on Amerindians trying to self-identify within multiple cultural contexts. This has lead to innumerable problems and contentious debate concerning just who can really be classified as American Indian. To obtain federal recognition and protection, Indians, unlike any other American ethnic group, must constantly prove their identity, which in turn, forces them to adopt whatever Indian histories or identities are needed to convince themselves and others of their Indian identity, and thus their unique cultural heritage. The history of blood quantum (and the antecedent racism) will be investigated in a cultural and legal context. In addition, blood quantum (and other genetic methods) as a way of tracing descent will be critiqued in favor of adopting a cultural-specific approach that allows inclusive membership and criteria not based upon one’s genetic and biophysical makeup.