Hunter-Gatherer Intensification and Long-Term Demography: A SW Wyoming Case Study

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The intensification of production by human groups has occurred at various times around the globe. Intensification correlates with increases in population size, increased labor investment in food production, and decreased residential mobility; the opposite (de-intensification) correlates with decreases in population size, decreased labor investments in food production, and increased residential mobility. The exact causes that lead human groups to intensify/de-intensify are not always easily understood; potential factors include climate change, resource availability, and changes in social order. Using Southwest Wyoming as a case study, we construct datasets from archaeological sites dating to the Early to Mid-Holocene and use them to evaluate a model of intensification based on climate and investments in place-based infrastructure. The results of our analysis are important for developing a theory for better understanding the factors that lead human groups to intensify/de-intensify, which can be applied to other archaeological case studies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25059