The Role of Future Discounting in Subsistence Decisions: The Case of Hohokam Agave Farming

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Life Is Risky: Human Behavioral Ecological Approaches to Variable Outcomes " session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This presentation will investigate the relevance of future discounting behavior to precolonial subsistence decisions by examining *Agave sp. bajada cultivation among the Hohokam of southern Arizona during the Classic period, AD 1150–1450. The Hohokam Classic period was tumultuous and included a variety of social upheavals that resulted from and precipitated subsistence shortages. During this period, several communities lessened their investment in agave cultivation or substantially shifted production strategies. A program of experimental archaeology demonstrates agave’s higher kcal/hour return than most approaches to maize agriculture, making these changes difficult to interpret based on return rates alone. This paper will argue this counterintuitive behavior is explained by agave’s decade-long maturation period, which made it unattractive relative to more immediate return resources in any context that presented risks to land tenure. This case study illustrates that even slight discounting of future rewards can lead groups to tolerate greater near-term risk and/or lower return rates.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Life Is Risky: Human Behavioral Ecological Approaches to Variable Outcomes

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32322