Before Farming: the archaeology and anthropology of hunter-gatherers

ref: 2002/3_4 (1)

Coastal hunter-gatherers and social evolution: marginal or central?

Geoff Bailey
School of Historical Studies, Archaeology, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle NE1 7RU, UK
g.n.bailey@ncl.ac.uk

Nicky Milner
School of Historical Studies, Archaeology, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle NE1 7RU, UK
n.j.milner@ncl.ac.uk

Keywords: coastlines, marine resources, palaeodiet, stable isotopes, Mesolithic/Neolithic transition

Abstract

General accounts of global trends in world prehistory are dominated by narratives of conquest on land: scavenging and hunting of land mammals, migration over land bridges and colonisation of new continents, gathering of plants, domestication, cultivation, and ultimately sustained population growth founded on agricultural surplus. Marine and aquatic resources fit uneasily into this sequence of social and economic development, and societies strongly dependent on them have often been regarded as relatively late in the sequence, geographically marginal or anomalous. We consider the biases and preconceptions of the ethnographic and archaeological records that have contributed to this view of marginality and examine some current issues focusing on the role of marine resources at the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition of northwest Europe. We suggest that pre-existing conventions should be critically re-examined, that coastlines may have played a more significant, widespread and persistent role as zones of attraction for human dispersal, population growth and social interaction than is commonly recognised, and that this has been obscured by hunter-gatherer and farmer stereotypes of prehistoric economies.

References

ref: 2002/3_4 (2)

Climate, floods and river gods: environmental change and the Meso–Neolithic transition in southeast Europe

Clive Bonsall
School of Arts, Culture & Environment, University of Edinburgh, Old High School,
Infirmary Street, Edinburgh EH1 1LT
C.Bonsall@ed.ac.uk

Mark G Macklin
Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Wales, Aberystwyth SY23 3DB
mvm@aber.ac.uk

Robert W Payton
School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, University of Newcastle upon Tyne,
Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU
r.w.payton@ncl.ac.uk

Adina Boroneant
Institute of Archaeology “V Pârvan”, Str Henri Coandã 11, sect 1, Bucuresti, România

Keywords: climate, rivers, floods, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Iron Gates, southeast Europe

Abstract

A conspicuous gap in the radiocarbon record of the Iron Gates Mesolithic suggests that many riverbank sites were abandoned between c 8250 and 7900 cal BP.1 This period of site abandonment is linked to increased flooding along the Danube, which can be correlated with a distinct global climatic oscillation. The implications of these environmental changes for the interpretation of Lepenski Vir and the timing of the Meso–Neolithic transition in the northern Balkans are examined. There is growing evidence of climatic instability during the Holocene and its effects on river systems. We suggest that climate-related flooding had a significant impact on human settlement and use of riverine environments in southeast Europe during the middle Holocene, and may even have been an important stimulus of culture change.

References

ref: 2002/3_4 (3)

Hunting and feasting: health and demographic consequences

Brian Hayden
Archaeology Department, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
bhayden@sfu.ca

Keywords: hunter/gatherers, feasting, demography, nutrition, transegalitarian societies

Abstract

With the advent of surplus-based feasting among transegalitarian hunter/gatherers, major changes have taken place in other aspects of society. The most dramatic changes involve the private (or corporate group) ownership of resource procurement locations and resource products. Control over these resources was used to improve individual chances of survival, successful reproduction, and quality of life. Therefore, generalised sharing was curtailed wherever possible, creating real inequities in nutrition, health, and reproductive potentials. The nature of the advantages derived from surplus-based feasting and the character of ownership versus sharing are explored using data from the North American Northwest.

References

ref: 2002/3_4 (4)

Food for the living, food for the dead

Lars Larsson
Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Lund, Sandgatan 1, SE-223 50 LUND, Sweden
Lars.Larsson@ark.lu.se

Keywords: food, mortuary practice, Mesolithic, Scandinavia

Abstract
In several graves from the two Late Mesolithic cemeteries at Skateholm, southernmost Sweden, remains of food in the form of fish bones were found. Samples of bones appear in the digestive region of the interred but also as gifts to the interred and at different levels in the grave pit deposited during the process of filling in. How do these remains relate to the refuse from the occupation layers of the sites located above or close to the graves? Similarities and differences in food distribution patterns may provide a perspective on cosmology, including everyday life in hunter-gatherer societies, and on the importance of food in mortuary practice.

References

ref: 2002/3_4 (5)

Palaeoecological reconstruction and hominid land use of the Lake Natron basin during the Early Pleistocene

Clare Downey
Instituto de Estudios Europeos, Colegio Mayor San Agustín, Avenida de Séneca, 7
28040 Madrid, Spain

Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo*
Departamento de Prehistoria, Facultad de Geografía e Historia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain
mdr00008@teleline.es

* to whom correspondence should be addressed

Keywords:resource patch, corridors, land use, carcasses, competition, riparian habitats, highlands, archaeological sites, Early Acheulian.

Abstract

Land use models ecologically derived from modern east African savanna dynamics have been used for modelling Olduvai Gorge in the Early Pleistocene, and provide an ecological framework in which archaeological hypotheses could be tested (Peters & Blumenschine 1995; Blumenschine & Peters 1998). The present work applies the same ecologically derived criteria to a first-generation model of hominid land use in west Lake Natron, geographically close to the Olduvai region. In this area, Plio-Pleistocene archaeological sites have been discovered at Peninj. This information widens and helps refine the ecological scope used for Olduvai, given the proximity in space and the similar chronology for the palaeoecosystems analysed. Several important environmental and geological factors and variables differentiate Peninj from Olduvai. A lower altitude, lower precipitation, a more open environment, fewer plant resources, and greater competition with carnivores for prey would have made Peninj an ecologically unique location. Hominids at Peninj probably exhibited a different behaviour than those at Olduvai to overcome the selective criteria that made adaptation more difficult.

References