Although the peoples of Ice Age Europe undoubtedly considered the drawings, engravings and other imagery created during that long period of prehistory to be deeply meaningful, it is difficult for people today to discern with any degree of accuracy or reliability what those meanings may have been. Grand theories of meaning have been proposed, criticized, and in some cases rejected.

The development over the last few decades of modern cognitive science presents us with another angle of approach to this difficult problem. In this dissertation I review two related cognitive science theories, Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Conceptual Integration Theory (Blending Theory), and ask whether they provide a basis for informed interpretations of that imagery.

This inquiry presents serious epistemological obstacles. I argue that some of the underpinnings of metaphor theory, specifically the notions of primary metaphors and image schemas, utilized together with a theory of meaning based upon embodied cognition, have applicability universal enough to warrant their use in connection with this period of "deep time." They provide a means to understand some aspects of the construction of meaning in Ice Age Europe, and they offer a more sound scientific basis for interpretations of the physical experience of apprehending the imagery. I also contend that blending theory can provide a template for assessing some claims about the meanings of specific pieces of Ice Age imagery. Finally, drawing further on blending theory as well as modern work on the anthropology of culture contact situations, I apply cognitive science to claims regarding the presumed interactions between, and relative cognitive capabilities of, anatomically modern humans and Neandertals in Europe at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic.

This dissertation research addresses the cultural dynamics of contact and the changing social landscapes between `San-speaking' foragers and ancestral `Bakgalagadi' farmers who lived in the Metsemothlaba River valley of southeastern Botswana on the fringe of the Kgalagadi Desert, c. 500-200 years ago. Using a practice approach to examine the material remains of their daily lives, this research demonstrates the everyday dynamic of contact as well as the wider social and economic connections both groups developed and maintained over time.

Archaeological materials analyzed in this research are faunal remains, ceramics, ostrich eggshell beads, glass beads, metal jewelry and tools, and stone tools. Together, these evidence the nature and degree of contact between the foragers who lived at AK47 shelter and farmers who lived at Botlhano Fela, located in close proximity to each other on Thamaga Hill, and their connections to the global trade networks flourishing in southern Africa before the arrival of Europeans to the area.

This research explores the persistence of identities via their material culture to demonstrate that equations of particular types of artifacts to specific groups obscures the realities and practicalities of their daily lives. With material signatures of interaction between different groups, this research looks at how these new materials may have functioned within the object world of the foragers by their acquisition and use, as well as how these good may have allowed the negotiation of new or affirmation of old identities.

For the past three decades, efforts to interpret Klamath Basin rock art symbols using ethnographic literature and concepts of sacred landscapes have advanced our understanding of the art. This approach, however, is limited by the assumption that the rock art symbols meant the same thing in every social and land use context. From my research of the past decade I have inferred that rock art designs are not distributed randomly across the landscape. Instead, rock art displays appear to vary predicatively across three archaeologically-defined contexts that I have identified as settlement sites, frequently used areas and special use areas. In the research presented here, I use this apparent pattern to propose a context model for the rock art of the Klamath Basin and suggest that Klamath Basin shamans situated their varied repertoire of sacred symbols within these distinctive contexts in order to structure the way people encountered and experienced them. Understanding how rock art is patterned on the landscape has led to refined interpretations in an area where relatively little rock art research has been done.

This study examines the spatial and technological practices of hunter-gatherers in the Late Magdalenian period at the central Pyrenean cave site of Les Eglises (c. 11,800 BP). The site is a palimpsest of four main stratigraphic levels for this period of occupation and is thought to represent a relatively short time span for a Paleolithic site (years or possibly decades). Because excavation was carried out in the 1960s and 1970s and spatial coordinates were noted for many of the finds, the site provides an opportunity for fine-grained spatial analysis. It also has the potential to inform with regard to the technological practices associated with stone tool production and whether those may have changed over a probable narrow period of time. In order to explore the technological side, an analysis of the majority of stone tools was carried out and is presented here. The spatial data are analyzed using a Geographic Information System (GIS) and a method used to identify clustering called Kernel Density Estimation. In theoretical terms, my concern here is to link the production of technology and space with the practices that produced them, in part by drawing on the spatial theory of Henri Lefebvre, the practice theory of Pierre Bourdieu, as well as the work of André Leroi-Gourhan and of Actor-Network Theory.

Les Eglises is typically considered to be a specialized ibex hunting camp, but much less attention has been paid to the fact that the Magdalenians hunted other species – primarily birds and fish – and what that might imply about the occupants of the site and the specific composition (age/gender of individuals) of the group or groups who visited it. Additionally, the areal extent of the occupation changed between the stratigraphic levels and at times those changes were relatively dramatic.

In service of the goal of providing a more nuanced account of the site, special attention is paid to the small scale practices of manufacturing stone tools, their spatial clustering, and their relation to the location of faunal remains, as well as the location of “formal tools” made of both stone and bone. Based on multiple lines of evidence, it is argued that the site is in fact more complex than generally assumed, and that at least in the most spatially extensive stratigraphic level, was an aggregation site, even if a smaller example of such a site. On a higher level, for mobile hunter-gatherers like the Magdalenians at Les Eglises, every site implicates the wider landscape in that it aggregates materials that include both humans and non-humans (e.g. raw materials for stone tools, gathered plants, and hunted animals) from localities near and far, drawing disparate elements into close association and thus producing new spaces.

This dissertation explores the archaeological context of the PCN (Pecked Curvilinear Nucleated) tradition of marking boulders as it appears in the landscape of the Coastal Ranges of Northern California. Located on the over 2150 hectare property of the University of California Hopland Research and Extension Center (HREC) are five boulders or clusters of boulders that exhibit cultural markings, including some cupules, which were placed in the distant past on a specific type of boulder, in distinctive shapes and forms. By using a landscape archaeology and ritual theory framework, I explore the prehistoric activities that took place at the more than 30 identified prehistoric sites, through the archaeological context provided by more than 3000 catalogued artifacts excavated and collected from the sites. After subjecting the data to various technological methods, the results of various archaeological testing (obsidian hydration, chemical sourcing, AMS dates, soil testing techniques, and recording techniques) are reported, discussed and interpreted. A final objective and contribution of this study is to present a contextual model for application to similar archaeological sites.

The following chapters are a dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley. This dissertation is a project that attempts to develop a template for implementing an “Indigenous archaeological” research paradigm for the Navajo Nation. The first chapter is a reflexive narrative, which is intended to situate the project within the field and within the wider socio-economic politics of becoming an “indigenous archaeologist.” In the next chapter, a description and analysis of Indigenous archaeological concepts and practices that can be used to create a Navajo approach to archaeology are discussed. Following this chapter is a presentation of a case study on the anthropological and archaeological historical legacy that has created and perpetuated the displacement of Navajo people in the prehistory of the Southwestern US; which will include examples of influential projects that has shaped Navajo displacement from the past. The fourth chapter will present a research design adopted by the Navajo Nation Council that will guide research on Navajo prehistory and history, and one which will allow for a uniquely Navajo perspective and history. The concluding chapter will discuss some of the wider implications of the research and provide recommendations for working with tribal communities to create tribally centered archaeological practices.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA) established a mechanism for repatriating ancestral Native American human remains and three other categories of special objects already curated by federally funded institutions. NAGPRA is undoubtedly an important piece of human rights legislation recognizing the historical mistreatment of Native American dead. Yet, the process of repatriation, arguably the most salient piece of NAGPRA, highlights larger questions about the construction of tribes, as an analytic category through archaeological and ethnographic evidence. Indeed, this federal law changed the nature of the archaeo-legal landscape. Before NAGPRA, archaeological expertise was used in the context of the National Historic Preservation Act or Archaeological Resources Protection Act, for example. Post NAGPRA the political involvement of archaeology has expanded and archaeological and anthropological methods and theories now occupy a unique place in the archaeo-legal landscape. In particular, the corner stone methods and theories by which archaeologists and anthropologists link contemporary social and cultural groups to their ancestors, together commonly known as cultural affiliation, have become particularly important.

The most salient example this is Bonnichsen v. U.S., 367 F.3d 864 (9th Cir. 2004). In 2004, after almost a decade of litigation, the 9th Circuit in decided the final disposition of approximately 9,000 year old human remains. Popularly known as "Kennewick Man" or "The Ancient One" the remains were inadvertently discovered by four students watching a boat race from the banks of the Columbia River in Kennewick, Washington. The county coroner initially identified the remains as Caucasoid. However, the discovery of an a Clovis spear point in Kennewick Man's hip suggested this identification might not be correct. After further testing, the age of the remains were found to be approximately 9,000 years old. The Army Corps of Engineers, on whose property the remains were found, decided, based on the age of the the remains, that Kennewick Man should be repatriated to area tribes. Subsequently, a group of archaeologists and anthropologists sued claiming that the remains were so old and because the original characterization of Kennewick Man was Caucasoid, cultural affiliation to a modern tribe could not be established within the meaning of NAGPRA and thus the statute did not apply. The central question for the court to consider was whether or not Kennewick man was a Native American.

Relying heavily on archaeological and anthropological evidence, the Court decided that Kennewick Man was not Native American. It is not surprising that the Court would draw heavily upon these disciplines. Indeed, much of the justification for their existence and importance has been their ability to tell us about ancestral pasts and cultural lineages. While archaeology has long played a key role in contributing to national narratives, in both positive and negative ways, NAGPRA paced a new emphasis on political involvement of these disciplines in defining who is Native American. As a result, their taken for granted's are called into question.

The starting point for my broader inquiry into the traditional models and methods of cultural affiliation, is a single site, CA-SJo-42. The objects excavated from CA-SJo-42 are curated at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley (PAHMA) and date from roughly the Late to the Historic Period (A.D. 1500-1830). CA-SJo-42 is located in a border area separating the Sacramento and the San Joaquin Valleys (The Delta) - a border that coincides with the anthropologically, linguistically, and archaeologically defined "cultural" border separating the Plains Miwok and Northern Valley Yokuts peoples. CA-SJo-42 is the ideal starting point for exploring the empirical foundations of cultural affiliation because it is a collection that the Tachi Yokuts Tribe, a federally recognized tribe, has requested be repatriated but is tenuously labeled culturally unidentifiable by the Hearst Museum. The reason for this designation points to the heart of my analysis.

Despite the best efforts of PAHMA, traditional culture area maps and archaeological typologies provide few answers to the complex interplay of people and objects their data suggest. The goal of this dissertation is to better understand the empirical footings for cultural affiliation within American archaeology. Specifically, I ask two related questions: can we discover cultural differences in the archaeological record and how might dynamic cultural interaction and between-group differences be remodeled to better understand border interactions and group identity? To do this, I address two sets of interrelated issues. First, I examine the theoretical underpinnings for cultural affiliation and examine how data were used to construct and reify a certain notion of cultural boundaries. Second, I reflect on the ways in which cultural interaction and between-group differences might best be represented. I ask how complex social relationships, especially in border areas, can be remodeled so they better incorporate and interpret the variation that often exists among archaeological, linguistic, and ethnohistoric evidence. This, I hypothesize, could provide the foundations for more nuanced archaeological and legal understandings of identity.

Through the case study of the Tsodilo World Heritage Site in Botswana, I investigate the relationship between heritage conservation and tourism development. This is done by analyzing what I argue are the opposing conservation aims of World Heritage status and the commodifying tendencies that this status encourages on cultural heritage through increased tourism. More specifically, "intangible heritage" (criterion vi of the World Heritage cultural listing criteria) is addressed as governments and NGOs in southern Africa are increasingly relying upon cultural heritage tourism to assist in the "development" of socially and economically marginalized populations. I discuss the transformation of local and national heritage sites into World Heritage sites through the processes of place making and heritage making, and I contend that heritage management plans for these sites do more than "manage," but rather accelerate cultural change and change in heritage values, especially for those sites designated for their intangible heritage.

In this dissertation, I also elaborate on issues of ethnicity and nationalism and women and development through an examination of the production of a heritage management plan at Tsodilo modeled on community-based natural resource management (CBNRM). Indeed, the significance of the tourism industry to Botswana's economy, coupled with the contentious relations that the government has with its ethnic minorities, foregrounds a critical examination of the politics of heritage and conservation in the country. Furthermore, due to Botswana's nationalist stance on identity politics as well as the globalizing processes of development, the gender roles of the country's ethnic minorities are being transformed as they progressively enter a market economy through their varied inductions into the tourism industry. As local communities living near Tsodilo are increasingly consigned to self-reliance through tourism development, I question whether commodification of the site's intangible heritage ultimately works against the conservation aims of World Heritage and, if so, in what specific ways. The case study of heritage and tourism at Tsodilo provides a window to looking at "development" in southern Africa, as well as how national narratives of inclusion and legitimacy produce a dilemma for the promotion of heritage tourism among Botswana's ethnic minorities.

The Tolay Archaeology Project (TAP), of which this dissertation is a part, is a multi-year, Community-Based, Participatory Research Project that seeks to support the work of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria (FIGR) within the Tolay Valley. The Tolay Valley is the location of a sacred lake to FIGR where doctors healed sick people with charmstones for thousands of years. Tolay Lake was the repository for these charmstones and is a sacred place to the contemporary tribe. Coast Miwok and other indigenous peoples traveled to Tolay to participate in ceremonies up to 1870 when the lake was drained by William Bihler. In the years following the draining of this lake, Coast Miwok and neighboring tribal people maintained stories and memories about Tolay, even though the charmstones and the sicknesses within them deterred many California Indian people from visiting the lake. Today, FIGR and the Sonoma County Regional Parks Department (SCRPD) are collaboratively planning the development of this area as Tolay Lake Regional Park, and are conducting studies of biological and cultural resources to learn more about how to appropriately manage and interpret these resources. This dissertation addresses the need for more information about Tolay’s environmental and cultural history by conducting low-impact archaeology to answer questions about environmental change, indigenous land management, and the ways in which Coast Miwok people navigated settler colonialism in the nineteenth century to reaffirm connections to the valley.

The relationships between Native Americans and archaeologists have been fraught with over a century of contention. Avocational and professional archaeologists have repeatedly removed Native American ancestors from the ground and written Native American histories from Western perspectives without meaningfully consulting tribes. Community-based approaches to archaeology are strategies that some archaeologists are now employing to find the commonalities between their values and the values of Native American communities to forge ethical pathways forward in cultural resource preservation and research. The approach that I developed for this dissertation project in collaboration with FIGR is rooted in responsive justice and community- and desire-based research practices. This approach involved establishing and adhering to core research values and working with tribal committees to ensure that the research continues to be relevant and worthwhile to the tribe. Unlike much of the early research from the past century that did damage to cultural resources and did not meaningfully consult tribes, this dissertation research was designed, conducted, and written with constant feedback and collaboration from FIGR’s citizen committees. I have found that research co-produced with Native American communities can lead to richer understandings of the past and can positively impact the lives of many different peoples today.

In this dissertation, I summarize the history of indigenous archaeologies, including community-based or community engaged research. I present my own process for community-engaged research with FIGR in which my research was continually reevaluated and reworked. I then review the regional traditions and theoretical considerations in California archaeology and situate the TAP within this larger body of research within the state. I offer a brief overview of previous research in the Tolay Valley to contextualize the approach taken in the TAP and present results from extensive non-invasive and low impact strategies (such as terrestrial LiDAR, geophysical survey, surface pedestrian survey, and intensive surface collection) as well as limited excavation and augering. I expand my discussion of the paleoethnobotanical and faunal results, which show how a grassland/shrubland environment was maintained at Tolay for thousands of years. I also expand on evidence from the Historic Period within the Tolay Valley, and show how Coast Miwok people maintained their connections to the Tolay Valley and refused settler colonial ways of engaging with land within the valley. These data and narratives were utilized to generate histories for tribal youth hikes and public interpretation at Tolay, supported the review of the master plan documents for Tolay Lake Regional Park, and will inform ecological restoration efforts at Tolay in the future.