Malthusian cycles among semi-sedentary Fisher-Hunter-Gatherers: The socio-economic and demographic history of Housepit 54, Bridge River site, British Columbia

Emergence of persistent institutionalized inequality at the Bridge River site, British Columbia: the roles of managerial mutualism and coercion

“…Its population had also peaked at an estimated 44 people and storage capacity measured in relatively volume of cache pits was also at its high [26]. Subsistence resources were productive, as indicated by peak returns on salmon and continued high returns on artiodactyls [49]. Thus, it would appear that during that brief generation, Housepit 54 was highly successful and that success was felt at the level of family subsistence economies throughout the house, while one family group also exhibited signs of significant material wealth.…”

“…Artiodactyls provided a significant alternative to fish during annual subsistence cycles [55] and were also important feasting items [30]. Bifaces and projectile points provide an independent measure of hunting preparation [25,45,49]. Sockeye salmon were the keystone food resource to all Mid-Fraser peoples [56,57].…”

“…Rapid growth occurred during early BR3 before the second Malthusian period developed, with its pattern of subsistence resource intensification and inter-house social inequality. Housepit 54 inhabitants persisted across the first Malthusian period by engaging in higher rates of winter residential mobility, while nearly all other houses in the village were abandoned [26,49]. Housepit 54 then grew substantially during early BR3 as the rest of the village was re-populated.…”

“…BP intra-house inequality emerged under conditions of population packing and intensive harvest and processing of fish and artiodactyl resources and persisted for four generations. Prentiss et al [27,49] argue that this pattern of PII was favoured by the socio-economically competitive conditions of the second Malthusian period. However, given that it was initiated at the BR3 demographic peak under apparently highly productive resource conditions, they are unable to reject the scalar-stress/managerial mutualism hypothesis.…”

Theoretical plurality, the extended evolutionary synthesis, and archaeology

“…Evolutionary analysis considered most broadly provides us with a wide range of frameworks and methodological approaches that permit us to answer a diverse range of questions about human cultural diversity and history (87). I have explored relationships between demography, subsistence, and social change in village-scale settlements using theoretical models drawn from HBE including foraging theory, demographic ecology, and socioecology (145). CTT is very useful in helping us to understand intergenerational change in cultural practices as with the evolution of house architecture and tool-making traditions within and between communities (84,146).…”