What Drives the Evolution of Hunter–Gatherer Subsistence Technology? A Reanalysis of the Risk Hypothesis with Data from the Pacific Northwest

Collard, Mark; Buchanan, Briggs; Morin, Jesse; Costopoulos, André

doi:10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199608966.003.0020

Cited by 11 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Variations in material culture would thus be strongly related to the ebb and flow of the populations in question. However, Collard et al (2013a) have recently recommended caution in the use of population size as an explanation for patterns in the Palaeolithic archaeological record, pointing out ambiguities in previous studies of hunter-gatherer groups and the limited testing of models against empirical archaeological data (see also Collard et al, 2005Collard et al, , 2011Collard et al, , 2013bRead, 2012). Palaeolithic archaeologists have clearly benefitted from the demographic data generated from the modelling studies discussed above, as well as the ever-increasing corpus of palaeo-genetic studies which estimate past population sizes and trends (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The demography of the Upper Palaeolithic hunter–gatherers of Southwestern France: A multi-proxy approach using archaeological data

French

2015

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a b s t r a c tDemographic change is increasingly cited as an explanation for many of the patterns seen in the Palaeolithic archaeological record, following the assumption of a relationship between population size and material culture espoused by dual inheritance theory. However, the empirical testing of this relationship relies on the ability to extract information about past population patterns from the archaeological record. Using the extensive and well-studied record of the Upper Palaeolithic (39,500-11,500 cal BP) hunter-gatherers of Southwestern France as a case-study, this paper compares the evidence for changes in relative population size as seen in three popular archaeological proxies for demographic change (site counts, site sizes, and occupation intensity estimates). These proxies present conflicting results across the sequence; a finding which is explored through the impact of taphonomic biases and past research agendas. Numbers of sheltered sites and quantities of retouched stone tools are suggested to be the most reliable demographic proxies. The problem of equifinality of interpretation in archaeological proxies for demography is examined for the Aurignacian and Gravettian periods in the region, with changes in lithic raw material, faunal acquisition strategies, and hunter-gatherer mobility all potentially contributing to the patterns documented.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The demography of the Upper Palaeolithic hunter–gatherers of Southwestern France: A multi-proxy approach using archaeological data

French

2015

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Oswalt's method is powerful because it allows for the measurement of technological complexity cross-culturally. It has been applied to ethnographic data to test a wide range of hypotheses, including hypotheses about the ecological determinants of technological complexity (Collard, Kemery, and Banks 2005;Collard et al 2011;Shott 1986;Torrence 1983Torrence , 1989Torrence , 2000 and the effect of demography on the evolution of technologies (Collard, Kemery, and Banks 2005;Collard et al 2011;Kline and Boyd 2010;Oswalt 1976). Oswalt (1976:229-230) recognized that there are problems with applying his concept of complexity to the archaeological record.…”

Section: Measuring Lithic Technology Complexitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring the Complexity of Lithic Technology

Perreault¹,

Brantingham²,

Kuhn³

et al. 2013

Current Anthropology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…So far, the only ethnographic data-based study that does not support the risk hypothesis is one by Collard et al (2011), which examined hunter-gatherer toolkit richness and complexity in groups from the Pacific Northwest. This study explored the risk hypothesis at a regional rather than a global scale and found that risk did not affect toolkit richness and complexity in comparisons of groups from the coast with groups from the plateau.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The plateau is a riskier environment, and groups in this area were expected to have richer and more complex toolkits than groups on the coast. In their discussion of these unexpected findings, Collard et al (2011) proposed that the effects of environmental risk may be scale dependent, such that when risk differences are large, risk is the most important influence on toolkit structure variation, but when risk differences are small, other factors are more influential as determinants of toolkit structure. They suggested that differences in risk between the populations on the coast and plateau of the Pacific Northwest may be too small for risk to drive differences in toolkit structure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of technological richness in prehistoric Texas: an archaeological test of the population size and environmental risk hypotheses

Buchanan

O’Brien

Collard

2015

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper reports a study that sheds light on an issue that is important for understanding human behavioral evolution-the factors that influence hunter-gatherers' decisions regarding the number and degree of specialization of their tools. Two primary drivers of technological richness and complexity have been proposed in the anthropological literature: population size and environmental risk. In general, ethnographic studies tend to support environmental risk as the primary driver, whereas the limited number of archaeological studies that have been carried out seem to support population size. These findings are difficult to reconcile because problems exist for both sets of studies. The present study was designed with these problems in mind. We used an archaeological dataset to test which of the hypothesized driving factors-population size or environmental risk-best explains changes in technological richness. More specifically, we investigated whether changes in the number of point types in Texas from the first occupation more than 13,000 years ago to the Late Prehistoric period, around 400 years ago, are better explained by environmental risk or by population size. Bivariate correlations and a generalized linear model indicate that temporal changes in point-type richness in Texas are significantly associated with changes in one of our proxies of riskglobal temperature. We found no relationship between temporal changes in point-type richness and changes in population size. Thus, the results derived from this study are consistent with the environmental risk hypothesis and inconsistent with the population size hypothesis.

show abstract

What Drives the Evolution of Hunter–Gatherer Subsistence Technology? A Reanalysis of the Risk Hypothesis with Data from the Pacific Northwest

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

The demography of the Upper Palaeolithic hunter–gatherers of Southwestern France: A multi-proxy approach using archaeological data

The demography of the Upper Palaeolithic hunter–gatherers of Southwestern France: A multi-proxy approach using archaeological data

Measuring the Complexity of Lithic Technology

Drivers of technological richness in prehistoric Texas: an archaeological test of the population size and environmental risk hypotheses

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About