resource intensification (Other Keyword)
1-4 (4 Records)
Socio-political development in aboriginal California follows a trajectory quite different from that in much of western North America, culminating in very small socio-political units, in some places independent family groups approximating those characteristic of the Great Basin. The key development leading to this family-level organization was in both places the privatization of stored plant food, which incentivized the intensive use of plant foods (pinyon and acorn) that were abundant but costly...
Demographic Collapse and Deintensification in Protohistoric Alta California (2017)
Decreased human population densities associated with European exploration and colonialism in western North America may explain the historic observations of bountiful game that contrasts so drastically with the archaeological record on resource intensification. At Kathy’s Rockshelter in the northern Sierra Nevada foothills, California, there is a clear prehistoric trend towards resource depression of artiodactyls and increased dependence on small mammals, freshwater mussels, geophytes, and other...
Ecology, Territoriality, and the Emergence of Acorn and Maize Economies in Western North America (2017)
Ethnographic populations throughout Western North American sometimes relied on strategies and institutions to protect resources, patches, and territories for exclusive use. But explaining why and identifying when these exclusionary practices emerged (and dissolved) in the past remains difficult. Based on predictions from ecological and evolutionary theory, individuals should only engage in territorial behavior when the benefits of exclusive use, such as subsistence gains, are worth the costs of...
Resource Intensification, Sedentism, Storage, and Ranking: A Visual Synopsis of Pacific Northwest History and Theory (2015)
Resource intensification is a concept used in explanations of sedentism, storage, social ranking and hierarchy. Within the Pacific Northwest treatment of these concepts have developed through three orientations: evolutionary-ecology, political economy, and social agency. We compare performance criteria (dynamic and empirical sufficiency, and tolerance limits) for both synthetic works and archaeological studies. Our poster-sized visual synopsis is intended to elicit comment and revision that...