So here is the abstract for my paper as it stands. I actually ended up borrowing most of it from my dissertation proposal, so writing it wasn’t that difficult as I thought it would be. I’ve censored out the names out of paranoia, even though I know nobody can possibly get access to all the data I did and write a similar disseration to mine before I finish this coming year (fingers crossed!).

Dustin

The Context of Death: Burial Ritualism in the ******* Valley
R. Dustin Cushman

This paper discusses the preliminary findings of the author’s dissertation, which entails a re-examination of Late Woodland (900AD to 1620AD) and Contact (1620AD to early 18th century) Native American burials from the ******** Valley. Statistical analyses such as principal component analysis and correspondence analysis were used to infer patterns within and across sites that detail the extent to which burial rites vary and may relate to different groups, communities or clan divisions within ******* society. Such patterns also add to a better understanding of early ******** cultural systems and how they may relate to later historic divisions of ****** and ******* ********.

Bio: B.A. in Anthropology from George Mason University (97), M.A. in Anthropology from Temple University (03), PhD candidate at Temple University.