Sedentism, Population Growth, and Resource Selection in the Woodland Midwest: A Review of Coevolutionary Developments [and Comments and Reply]

O’Brien, Michael J.; Braun, David P.; Bronson, Bennet; Charles, Douglas K.; Dunnell, Robert C.; Milner, George R.; Rindos, David

doi:10.1086/203509

Cited by 41 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Some earlier arguments in evolutionary archaeology (e.g., Dunnell 1980;O'Brien andHolland 1990, 1992) took a similar stance. It was the exclusion of human agency from the equation that led some archaeologists (e.g., Watson 1986) to question the usefulness of evolutionary archaeology for answering nontrivial questions about the past, echoing concerns expressed by early advocates of niche construction (Lewontin 1982(Lewontin , 1983.…”

Section: Using Niche Construction Within Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 89%

“…There is an alternative, however. Instead of searching for a prime mover for plant domestication, we can focus attention, at least initially, on the co-evolutionary interactions that exist between humans and plants (e.g., Rindos 1980Rindos , 1984O'Brien 1987;O'Brien and Wilson 1988). More specifically, we can treat plant domestication by humans as a special case or as a subset of all cases of co-evolved mutualism between animals and plants.…”

Section: Using Niche Construction Within Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Niche Construction Theory and Archaeology

Laland

O’Brien

2010

J Archaeol Method Theory

265

142

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Niche construction theory (NCT) is a relatively new development within evolutionary biology, but one that has important implications for many adjacent fields of research, including the human sciences. Here, we present a broad overview of NCT and discuss its application to archaeology. We begin by laying out the basic arguments of NCT, including a historical overview, focusing on how it affects understanding of human behavior and evolution. We then consider how NCT can be used to inform empirical research and how it might profitably be applied in archaeology, using as a case study the origins of agriculture. We suggest that the unrivaled potency of human niche construction, compared with that of other species, means that archaeologists need not be mere consumers of biological insights but can become important contributors to evolutionary theory. The Niche Construction Perspective within Evolutionary BiologyNiche construction theory (NCT) is a fledgling branch of evolutionary biology that places emphasis on the capacity of organisms to modify natural selection in their environment and thereby act as co-directors of their own, and other species', evolution. It is best regarded as an alternative means of thinking about evolutionary problems rather than as a discrete field of evolutionary enquiry. In the same way that advocates of the gene's-eye perspective (Williams 1966;Dawkins 1976) argued that

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Section: Using Niche Construction Within Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Using Niche Construction Within Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Niche Construction Theory and Archaeology

Laland

O’Brien

2010

J Archaeol Method Theory

265

142

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Here, it is recognized that significant deviations from stable and stationary population conditions are to be expected in circumstances where groups are undergoing marked changes in sociopolitical organization, subsistence strategies, etc. (Sattenspiel and Harpending, 1983;Buikstra et al, 1986;Howell, 1986;Caldwell et al, 1987;O'Brien, 1987). However, given the relative long-term stability of Green River Archaic cultural and environmental adaptations, the assumptions of stable and stationary population dynamics are justified (Winters, 1974;Weiss and Smouse, 1976).…”

Section: Multifactorial Summary Age Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Paleodemography of the Carlston Annis (Bt‐5) Late Archaic skeletal population

Mensforth

1990

American J Phys Anthropol

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The study presents a demographic assessment of the Carlston Annis (Bt-5) Late Archaic hunting and gathering population recovered from the banks of the Green River in west-central Kentucky. The shell midden habitation and cemetery site originally yielded the remains of 390 individuals. Radiocarbon dates place site occupation between 3,000 and 4,500 y.b.p. The skeletal sample consisted of 354 individuals ranging in age from 7 months in utero to 70 + years. Subadults were aged by seriation of dental and skeletal developmental criteria. Adult ages were determined by the multifactorial summary age method that employed 1) five indicators of adult skeletal age at death, 2) the procedure of age indicator seriation, and 3) differential weighting of age assessments as determined by principal components analysis. Adult sex diagnoses were based on qualitative assessment of pelvic and cranial morphological criteria. The Bt-5 life table analysis yields an E0 of 22.4 years, crude birth of 45, mean family size of 3.3, gross reproductive rate of 2.7, generation length of 26.6 years, and B of .076, indicating a healthy population with a substantial capability to replace succeeding generations. Survivorship profiles and demographic parameters that compare the Carlston Annis (Bt-5) and Indian Knoll (Oh-2) skeletal series are presented. Both populations display type II survivorship curves, with high infant mortality and early onset of elevated mortality rates in adults. Major differences between Bt-5 and Oh-2 demographic parameters concern adult sex ratio and adult age distribution over 30 years. These differences are interpreted to reflect census errors in the Oh-2 demographic reconstruction that were possibly introduced by selective methodological biases and/or taphonomic factors.

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“…Whereas the abundance of Woodland sites in the CRV study area attests to activity along the major river valleys and major tributaries (sensu Jenensky, 1979;O'Brien, 1987;Munson, 1988), the observation that artifactual contexts dating to earlier periods are underrepresented in existing records predicates a reexamination of the prehistoric land-use patterns in the upper Midwest (Stafford, 1994;Stafford and Creasman, 2002, and references therein). Some workers have suggested that exploitation of bottomland locales was not a chief component of local prehistoric economies during certain periods.…”

Section: Prehistoric Landuse and Settlement Models For The Crvmentioning

confidence: 97%

Archaeological site distribution by geomorphic setting in the southern lower Cuyahoga River Valley, northeastern Ohio: Initial observations from a GIS database

et al. 2004

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In this study, we compiled unpublished archival documentation of archaeological site locations from the southern part of the Cuyahoga River Valley in northeastern Ohio, USA, registered at the State of Ohio Historic Preservation Office into a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) database. Using digitized soil shapefiles to generate a geomorphic data layer, we assessed the spatial and temporal distribution of 79 known archaeological sites by landform association. This digital compilation indicates that Woodland period, Late Prehistoric, and Historic sites occur in most geomorphic settings along the river valley. In contrast, Paleoindian and Archaic sites only occur on Wisconsinan cut terraces and in upland interfluve settings, indicating that most of these documented sites are in primary contexts and have not been reworked. We discuss the distribution of archaeological sites in the study region as a function of various factors, including cultural activities, taphonomic processes, landform development, and the nature and extent of the original archaeological surveys. Observed spatial patterns of known sites clearly reflect local geomorphological controls; artifactual contexts from the earlier prehistoric periods are underrepresented in the database. We conclude that additional site surveys, as well as the excavation and documentation of new sites in this part of Ohio, are required to understand local prehistoric economies and to ascertain patterns of culturally mediated land use. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Sedentism, Population Growth, and Resource Selection in the Woodland Midwest: A Review of Coevolutionary Developments [and Comments and Reply]

Cited by 41 publications

References 0 publications

Niche Construction Theory and Archaeology

Niche Construction Theory and Archaeology

Paleodemography of the Carlston Annis (Bt‐5) Late Archaic skeletal population

Archaeological site distribution by geomorphic setting in the southern lower Cuyahoga River Valley, northeastern Ohio: Initial observations from a GIS database

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