Human Behavioral Ecology at the Coastal Margins: Global Perspectives on Coastal & Maritime Adaptations

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Human Behavioral Ecology at the Coastal Margins: Global Perspectives on Coastal & Maritime Adaptations," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Coastlines and islands are hypothesized to have been critical in our species’ earliest migrations out of Africa as well as the initial colonization of the New World. A wealth of archaeological evidence reflects the importance of these dynamic environments for past human societies, yet interpretation of behavior continues to rely on theoretical models developed based on terrestrial foraging behavior. In this session, we ask discussants from around the world to consider if/how human behavioral adaptations may vary with respect to the unique conditions, constraints, and context of Coastlines. Local case studies presented will offer insight on current conceptualizations of coastal and maritime adaptations. Participants will collaboratively take on development of theoretical concepts that engage the unique trajectory of social, political, and demographic feedbacks connected to coastal settings such as settlements, procurement, and exchange. Our goal is to identify and remedy potential conceptual gaps in the application of existing theoretical models when applied to habitation of coastal settings and use of their resources. Critical topics include the unique challenges faced by coastal and maritime societies, including: ecological risks and resilience of coastal environments, economic balance between coastal and terrestrial resource needs, technological innovation and transmission of knowledge, among others.

Other Keywords
Zooarchaeology • Coastal and Island Archaeology  • Human Behavioral Ecology • Archaic • Geoarchaeology • Shell Middens • Underwater Archaeology • Hunter-Gatherers • Theory • Mobility

Geographic Keywords
South America (Continent) • Republic of Panama (Country) • Barbados (Country) • Netherlands Antilles (Country) • Aruba (Country) • Department of Martinique (Country) • Republic of El Salvador (Country) • Department of Guadeloupe (Country) • Antigua and Barbuda (Country) • Belize (Country)

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-13 of 13)

  • Documents (13)
Documents
  • Archaeology and Behavioral Ecology of Maritime Hunter-gatherers of the Northeast Pacific Rim (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Shannon Tushingham.

    This is an abstract from the "Human Behavioral Ecology at the Coastal Margins: Global Perspectives on Coastal & Maritime Adaptations" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Human-behavioral ecology (HBE) provides a powerful framework for understanding human adaptations under differing environmental and socio-economic circumstances. In this paper I summarize influential HBE models and approaches as they have been applied to understanding the behavior and...

  • Assessing Shellfish Discard for Discerning between Field Processing or Residential Relocation in the Subtropical Pacific Coast of South America (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only César Méndez. Amalia Nuevo Delaunay.

    This is an abstract from the "Human Behavioral Ecology at the Coastal Margins: Global Perspectives on Coastal & Maritime Adaptations" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Variability in site structure and shellfish assemblages from hunter-gatherer sites in the Pacific coast of Los Vilos (31°50 ’S, South America) has been attributed to changes in field processing decisions across the Holocene. However, these changes have not been evaluated considering...

  • Central Place Foraging Models and Early Holocene Coastal Adaptations in the Western Mediterranean (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Javier Fernanddez-Lopez De Pablo. Elodie Brisset.

    This is an abstract from the "Human Behavioral Ecology at the Coastal Margins: Global Perspectives on Coastal & Maritime Adaptations" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this paper we use a Central Place Foraging Model to evaluate the impact of environmental changes on subsistence and mobility strategies in the Mesolithic period in the Western Mediterranean. We focus on the analysis of the of El Collado site because of its position in the interface...

  • Coastal Paleoindians in the Southeastern US? Envisioning Early People on the Now-Drowned Continental Shelves (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jessi Halligan.

    This is an abstract from the "Human Behavioral Ecology at the Coastal Margins: Global Perspectives on Coastal & Maritime Adaptations" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological data have demonstrated that the Southeastern United States were occupied by at least 14,550 years ago, but evidence of these first people is limited to far inland and upland settings as more than half of Florida’s peninsula was drowned between 18,000-5500 cal BP. Recent...

  • Coastal Resource Use During the Prehistoric Times in the Amami and Okinawa Archipelagos, Japan (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Hiroto Takamiya. Takeji Toizumi. Taiji Kurozumi.

    This is an abstract from the "Human Behavioral Ecology at the Coastal Margins: Global Perspectives on Coastal & Maritime Adaptations" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Ryukyu archipelago, Japan, is located between Kyushu and Taiwan islands, stretching approximately 1200 km. The Amami and Okinawa archipelagos occupy the central part of the Ryukyu archipelago. Astonishingly, Homo sapiens settled these islands as early as ca. 30,000 years ago. Based...

  • Foragers, Herders and Harvesters: Modeling Shifts in Late Holocene Subsistence Strategies on South Africa’s West Coast (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Genevieve Dewar. Brian Stewart.

    This is an abstract from the "Human Behavioral Ecology at the Coastal Margins: Global Perspectives on Coastal & Maritime Adaptations" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Western Cape coastline of South Africa has been inhabited by hunter-gatherers for over 120,000 years, making it an excellent place to test models of human behavioural ecology. Of particular interest is the transition at 2000 years ago from a sedentary maritime strategy focused on...

  • From the Forest to the Steppe: Mobility Strategies of Late-Marine Hunters (Alacaluf) in the Strait of Magellan, Chile (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Manuel J. San Román. Flavia Morello. Victor Sierpe. María José Barrientos. Jimena Torres.

    This is an abstract from the "Human Behavioral Ecology at the Coastal Margins: Global Perspectives on Coastal & Maritime Adaptations" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this paper we discuss the characteristics of marine hunter-gatherer peopling (Alakaluf) in the Strait of Magellan (52°30'- 54°00'S) during the last 2000 radiocarbon years. Focusing on zooarchaeological information and other sources of evidence, we evaluated the modalities of use of...

  • Holocene Human Adaptations on the Pacific Coast of Central America (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Hector Neff.

    This is an abstract from the "Human Behavioral Ecology at the Coastal Margins: Global Perspectives on Coastal & Maritime Adaptations" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Holocene human adaptations to the Pacific coast of southern Mesoamerica and Central America are documented at a number of locations from southern Mexico to Panama. Evidence comes from Archaic-Period shell mounds, Early Formative sites at the edge of dry land behind the mangrove...

  • Human Behavioral Ecology and the Complexities of Arctic Foodways (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Catherine F. West. Ben Fitzhugh.

    This is an abstract from the "Human Behavioral Ecology at the Coastal Margins: Global Perspectives on Coastal & Maritime Adaptations" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this paper we will examine whether Arctic and Subarctic coasts have unique characteristics in the context of human behavioral ecology (HBE). We start with a review of the variability in maritime adaptations around the circumpolar north, and then examine efforts to apply HBE models...

  • Maritime to the Max: The Keys to Success for Small Island Populations in the Caribbean (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only John Crock.

    This is an abstract from the "Human Behavioral Ecology at the Coastal Margins: Global Perspectives on Coastal & Maritime Adaptations" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The land-sea dichotomy has structured many historic debates surrounding coastal populations in the pre-Columbian Caribbean. Settlement, subsistence, exchange and cultural affiliation have all been measured on a terrestrial versus marine continuum which often undervalues the primacy of...

  • The People of the Lagoon: Sambaquis and Ecological Management on the Southern Brazilian Coast (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Paulo DeBlasis. Maria Dulce Gaspar.

    This is an abstract from the "Human Behavioral Ecology at the Coastal Margins: Global Perspectives on Coastal & Maritime Adaptations" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Sambaquis (shellmounds) are conspicuous structures at ecologically productive and diversified coastal settings along the Brazilian extended seashore. We have studied one of those hot spots in some detail. At Santa Marta lagoon area, on the southern coast, mound builders have long...

  • Swordfish Hunting as Prestige Signaling within Middle Holocene Fishing Communities of the Atacama Desert Coast? (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Diego Salazar. Carola Flores-Fernandez.

    This is an abstract from the "Human Behavioral Ecology at the Coastal Margins: Global Perspectives on Coastal & Maritime Adaptations" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Since around 8500 years BP, the archaeological record on the Southern Coast of the Atacama Desert shows evidence of growing population density and low residential mobility. A maritime specialization process is also evident by a rich set of specialized tools, and a pronounced increase...

  • What Makes a Forager Turn Coastal? An Agent-Based Approach to Coastal Foraging on the Dynamic South African Paleoscape (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Colin Wren. Curtis Marean. Eric Shook. Kim Hill. Marco Janssen.

    This is an abstract from the "Human Behavioral Ecology at the Coastal Margins: Global Perspectives on Coastal & Maritime Adaptations" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Gram for gram, coastal shellfish have significant benefits over many terrestrial resources. They are higher in calories, fats, and proteins than most plants and are available in denser and more predictable patches than mammals. However, there are costs to foraging coastal shellfish....