Fish, Game, and the Foundations of Complexity in Forager Society: The Evidence From New Guinea

Abstract

Drawing ethnographic data from the foraging communities of New Guinea, an underused resource in hunter-gatherer research, this article examines the relationship between subsistence form and four aspects of cultural complexity: density, settlement size, settlement form, and settlement permanence. On the basis of global data, it is commonly proposed that in forager communities, these characteristics are directly related to the degree of dependence on aquatic resources. For serendipitous reasons, the New Guinea data allow these propositions to be assessed with some precision, and the results strongly corroborate them. The implications of these findings for understanding the generation of complexity in forager societies are briefly discussed.

The evolution of inequality

“…We argue in detail that population pressure, which is commonly associated with inequality, is insufficient to generate it in the absence of differential control of productive resources or other important forms of wealth that can be transmitted to descendants. Similarly, although agriculture is often thought to produce inequality, we note several counter‐examples, including the existence of egalitarian small‐scale horticultural societies with extensive land use, as well as persistent inequality in purely foraging economies, as exemplified by cases in western North America, Florida, coastal New Guinea, and elsewhere . While we agree that there is an increased likelihood of PII in societies that practice intensive agriculture using plows, animal labor, and irrigation, we see agriculture as corollary rather than causal.…”

“…Thus, patron‐client systems can emerge when clients accept subordinate positions via interactions with wealthier patrons as the best available choice. Technological innovation can also favor increased monopolization of status and wealth by elites, as among the Chumash of the central California coast, among whom hereditary chiefs financed and controlled the planked canoes used to trade between the mainland and the Channel Islands . In fact, the need for differential control of resource patches posited in the patron‐client model can be generalized to include control of trading networks, specialized technology, or any other defensible resource that contributes substantially to subsistence .…”

“…Although there is variation across the sites of the Middle Fraser Canyon, it appears that after 1,000 years of prior occupation, PII emerged as specific households exercised relatively greater control Florida, coastal New Guinea, and elsewhere. 16,[23][24][25] While we agree that there is an increased likelihood of PII in societies that practice intensive agriculture using plows, animal labor, and irrigation, 26 we see agriculture as corollary rather than causal.…”

“…Technological innovation can also favor increased monopolization of status and wealth by elites, as among the Chumash of the central California coast, among whom hereditary chiefs financed and controlled the planked canoes used to trade between the mainland and the Channel Islands. 25,54,77 In fact, the need for differential control of resource patches posited in the patron-client model can be generalized to include control of trading networks, specialized technology, or any other defensible resource that contributes substantially to subsistence. 32 However established, once inequality is institutionalized, patrons can use their economic power to bolster their position, through alliance formation with elites in other groups, controlling nonkin labor through hire or slavery and other means (all evident in Northwest Coast Indian societies, 54 among others).…”

Is increased energy utilization linked to greater cultural complexity? Energy utilization by Australian Aboriginals and traditional swidden agriculturalists

“…If such aspects are considered, there is evidence that other factors than energy utilization may be important for cultural complexity. Evidence from New Guinea has for instance shown that cultural complexity among hunter gatherers (measured in terms of population related aspects) may be dependent on the utilization of protein rich aquatic food resources (Roscoe 2006). It has also been pointed out that specific technologies and trade can be conducive to cultural complexity (e.g.…”