The Evolution of Complex Hunter-Gatherers: Archaeological Evidence from the North Pacific

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Springer Science & Business Media, Jul 31, 2003 - History - 332 pages
Complex hunter-gatherers have captivated anthropological and archaeological interest in the past two decades. Where it was once commonplace to view hunting and gathering as little more than a starting point for social evolution, today scholars appreciate great diversity in past and present hunter-gatherer societies. The challenge of explaining the development of complexity in hunter-gatherer groups breathes new life into hunter-gatherer studies, focusing not only on adaptive variation but also on evolution and history. This book makes a contribution to the developing field of complex hunter-gatherer studies with an archaeological analysis of the development of one such group. This book examines the evolution of complex hunter-gatherers on the North Pacific coast of Alaska. It strives to account for the dynamics and processes that transformed a population from low density, disaggregated, relatively mobile, and relatively egalitarian organizations into the demographically dense, sedentary, aggregated, militaristic, and ranked/stratified populations around the North Pacific by the time of ethnographic contact. To do so, this book examines seven thousand years of archaeological history on the Kodiak Archipelago - a region that 250 years ago was part of a broader phenomenon of complex hunter-gatherers ringing the North American Pacific Northwest Coast from California to the Aleutian Islands. This is one of the first books available to examine in depth the social evolution of a specific complex hunter-gatherer tradition on the North Pacific Rim. As such, it provides readers with an intimate look at archaeological evidence integrated into a problem-oriented study of emergent complex hunter-gatherers. It will be of interest to professional archaeologists, anthropologists, students of archaeology and anthropology, and general readers interested in social evolution, complex hunter-gatherers, and/or Alaskan prehistory.
 

Contents

The Evolution of Complex HunterGatherers
1
111 Social ComplexityA Definition
2
12 The North Pacific Rim
4
121 Causality
5
13 Theoretical Orientation
8
The Kodiak Environment
11
22 Geology
12
23 Ecology
16
Effects of Technological and Labor Intensification
115
624 Act IVEmergence of Social Asymmetry
121
63 Conclusion
129
The Sitkalidak Archaeological Survey Project
133
722 Site Identification
136
723 Site Documentation
138
724 Analytical Units and Precision
139
73 Site Chronology
141

232 Littoral Ecozone
19
233 Marine Ecozone
21
234 Riverine Ecozone
27
24 Temporal Dimensions of Environmental Variability
29
242 Subseasonal Variation
32
244 Long Scale Variation
36
A Historical Framework
39
32 Ocean Bay I and II 75003500 BP
40
33 Ocean Bay to Kachemak Transition
46
34 Early KachemakOld Kiavak 32002500 BP
47
35 Late KachemakThree Saints Phase 2500800 BP
49
Transition Discontinuity or Replacement?
53
37 Koniag 800200 BP
54
38 AlutiiqRussianAmerica AD 17841864
58
39 AlutiiqUS America AD 1867present
63
310 Summary
66
Complex HunterGatherers on the Kodiak Archipelago
67
42 Feast and Famine for the Kodiak Alutiiq
68
43 Potlatch Feasting
70
44 Gender Relations
74
45 Leadership
76
46 Property Ownership
79
47 Trade
81
48 Warfare
83
49 Slavery
84
410 Summary
85
Colonization
87
53 Evidence for the Earliest Occupants of Kodiak
90
531 Estimating the Timing of Colonization
91
54 Lifeways of Early Holocene Coastal Peoples
99
Modeling Emergent Complexity on the North Pacific
101
612 Outline of Theoretical Orientation
104
62 Modeling Kodiak Social Evolution
105
621 Act IA Beginning
106
622 Act IIInitial Effects of Circumscription
111
732 Typological Dating
146
74 Material Analysis
148
75 Excavations
149
751 Tanginak Spring Site KOD 481
150
752 Bear Island Site KOD 564
156
753 Partition Cliff Site KOD 473
161
754 Lighthouse Site KOD 089
164
Site Scale Analyses
171
83 Site Size Measures of Population Aggregation
174
832 Number of Houses Per Site
180
84 Site Function Variability
182
841 Site Functions from Spatial and Geographical Parameters
183
842 Artifacts Assemblage Character
187
85 Settlement Patterns
191
86 Summary
199
Social Inequality and Demography
201
92 Trends in Population Change
210
922 The CarbonDate Frequency Method
213
93 Summary
217
Reconciliation Extension and Implications
219
101 Interrogating the Model
220
The Second ActExpansion to DensityDependence
227
The Third ActDensityDependence or Near Extinction?
230
The Fourth ActCompetition and Cooperation in a New World Order
231
102 Overtures to Emergent Properties
234
103 Summary and Conclusion
238
Appendix A
245
Appendix B
257
Appendix C
267
Appendix D
271
Endnotes
293
References
297
Index
323
Copyright

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Page 305 - Series 4. 1988b, Trends and Traditions in Alaskan Prehistory: A New Look at an Old View of the Neo-Eskimo. In The Late Prehistoric Development of Alaska's Native People, edited by RD Shaw, RK Harritt and DE Dumond, pp.
Page 303 - G. 1996: This old house: cultural complexity and household stability on the northern north-west coast of North America.

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