Macroecological analysis of recent Kalahari site structure

Summary

In the 1980s, Lewis Binford (1931-2011) started an analysis of hunter-gatherer site structure that was later put on hold in order to organize ethnographic and environmental data to use in the analysis (Binford 2001). Although the frames of reference were constructed, Binford never completed his analysis of site structure. This poster represents an initial attempt to realize Binford’s vision of a controlled analysis of site structure at a large regional scale using data he organized for this project and data organized more recently by Robert Hitchcock. Site structure data comes from the Kalahari Desert Region of Botswana, collected over a period from August, 1976 to July, 2014 during a total of 17 years of work in the field. Variables include site area, distances among huts in and between clusters, numbers of occupants, duration of occupation, seasonality, facilities, and presence of domesticated animals. Key variables in the Kalahari include location, temperature, rainfall, and the presence of surface water, ground water, wild animals, plants, and domestic animals. Activities taking place in each site were recorded. 70 maps were produced, analyzed and compared to the findings of other archaeologists and anthropologists including John Yellen (1977), Lawrence Bartram (1993), and George Silberbauer (1981).

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Archaeological Analysis Using Binford’s Environmental and Ethnographic Frames of Reference

Keywords

Spatial Coverage