Occupants of the Great Basin 13- 6 kya cannot be understood by direct analogy with ethnographic G... more Occupants of the Great Basin 13- 6 kya cannot be understood by direct analogy with ethnographic Great Basin foragers because they lived in climatic circumstance and at population densities utterly unlike those of recent times. Archaeological evidence dating earlier than 8 kya suggests that hunter-gatherers were highly mobile with hunting oriented lithic technology and lacking milling equipment, but acquired a broad spectrum of faunal prey and tended to camp near wetland environments. Debate about the adaptive implications of these traits often devolves to whether they are best characterized as Paleo-Indian, Paleoarchaic, or Prearchaic in comparison to subsequent Archaic (broad-spectrum foraging) adaptations. At the transition from Early to Middle Holocene, the Great Basin witnessed higher effective temperatures and reduced aquatic resource zones. Most archaeologists agree that the proliferation of milling equipment marks inception of the Archaic, but the relative importance of terrestrial fauna and aquatic resources, and the effects of climatic aridity on human occupation and mobility remain unclear (Grayson 2011).
Here we develop an environmental frame of reference (Binford 2001) to model regional Late Pleistocene through Middle Holocene subsistence and mobility based on climatic variables inferred from paleoenvironmental proxies. Our goal is to develop expectations about the range of hunter-gatherer adaptations feasible under climatic scenarios posed for the Late Pleistocene and Early-to Middle Holocene Great Basin.We proceed in four steps: 1) extrapolate a geographic grid from a global climatic model to capture climatic variability across the Great Basin and compare with weather station records to assess how well the model captures current climate; 2) alter monthly precipitation and temperature to reflect climatic parameters of Bølling-Allerød, Younger Dryas, Early Holocene, and Middle Holocene climatic scenarios, and assess their accuracy against independent paleoenvironmental proxies; 3) predict hunter- gatherer subsistence and mobility under the current climate model and compare to 38 hunter-gatherers groups falling within the Great Basin using the Environmental Calculations program [ENVCALC2.1] (Binford and Johnson. 2014); and 4) generate expectations about hunter-gatherer subsistence and mobility under each of the four paleoclimatic models.
This work models the prehistoric archaeological sensitivity of northern Railroad Valley, treats t... more This work models the prehistoric archaeological sensitivity of northern Railroad Valley, treats the Gravel Bar Site and the Trap Springs Archaeological Complex, and addresses regional cultural management over an area of 527,175 acres. The model universe includes a large playa basin, portions of the Duckwater, Currant, Bull Creek, and Hot Springs drainages, and adjacent flanks of the White Pine, Grant, Duckwater, and Pancake Ranges. To model human behavior in such complexity requires understanding environmental variability in time and space. We created a fine-grained classification of prehistoric resources and their distributions, allowing the use of optimal foraging theory to predict prehistoric foraging behavior. Data used in our model and its development includes soil and range type descriptions developed by the Natural Resource Conservation Service to define unique habitats (each offering a particular suite of plant and animal resources to prehistoric foragers), and abiotic facto...
... the Owens Valley survey indicates con-siderable variability in the role of pinyon ... the for... more ... the Owens Valley survey indicates con-siderable variability in the role of pinyon ... the forager-collector model offered no satisfactory explanation for the change of pinyon ... FORAGING AND PREHISTORIC PINYON UTILIZATION 237 for anticipating circumstances where logistic ...
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Utah, 1996. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [555]-584)... more Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Utah, 1996. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [555]-584). Includes abstract. Microfilm. s
A tremendous amount has been learned about the Prearchaic (before 9000 BP) Great Basin since we
a... more A tremendous amount has been learned about the Prearchaic (before 9000 BP) Great Basin since we advocated a perspective of sexual division of labor based on Human Behavioral Ecology a decade ago. Many investigators have taken our advice and a few have challenged our assumptions and inferences. One of the most substantive critiques has been that we misunderstood the paleoenvironmental parameters of ungulate populations during the PleistoceneeHolocene Transition (PHT). Simultaneously, behavioral ecologists have advanced our understanding of sexual division of labor among modern foragers, but these studies appear to have gone unnoticed by Great Basin prehistorians. We review findings of the last ten years and suggest that the key to understanding patterning in the PHT still relies on understanding (a) variability in men's and women's foraging goals, (b) the abundance and distribution of large prey, (c) how changing environmental parameters effect both the division of labor and the distribution of resources, and (d) the relative influence of search and handling costs on residence time in PHT wetlands. We suggest that consideration of how paleoenvironmental variability structured sexual division of labor remains key to fully understanding Prearchaic lifeways in the Great Basin.
The archaeological record of the Pleistocene/Holocene transition (PHT) demonstrates that the tech... more The archaeological record of the Pleistocene/Holocene transition (PHT) demonstrates that the technology and mobility of Prearchaic hunter-gatherers differed dramatically from later Holocene foragers, suggesting a hunting-oriented subsistence. However, meager PHT faunal assemblages imply a generalized, broad-spectrum diet. Ethnographic analogy fails to provide a behavioral frame- work for understanding this discrepancy because the resource structure of the PHT differed utterly from the ethnographic present. Palaeoenvironmental data alone are incapable of retrodicting ancient diets without an understanding of foraging costs in extinct resource landscapes. This paper reviews recent studies using behavioral ecology as a theoretical framework for simulating foraging behavior in a PHT resource landscape. The simulation for Railroad Valley, Nevada, suggests the explanation for the diversity of subsistence remains in PHT records lies in different foraging strategies for men and women, rather than risk aversion alone. Furthermore, the simulation suggests that Prearchaic hunter-gatherers enjoyed a narrower diet breadth than later foragers, prompting the mobility and technological proles evinced in the PHT archaeological record.
ABSTRACT Archaeologists often assume that large ungulates are inherently highly ranked prey becau... more ABSTRACT Archaeologists often assume that large ungulates are inherently highly ranked prey because of their size, especially attractive to hunters using sophisticated capture technologies common after the late Pleistocene. Between 1840 and 1907, over 10,000 dromedary camels were imported to Australia, and today feral populations number well over a million. Although contemporary Aboriginal hunters in Australia'‘s Western and Central Deserts regularly encounter camels, they rarely pursue them. We present data on camel encounter and pursuit rates, with comparisons of energetic search and handling efficiency relative to other foraging options among Martu, the Traditional Owners of a large region of the Western Desert. We then explore some hypotheses concerning the determinants of prey rank and the technological and social contexts that influence resource value. In some respects the case runs counter to common expectations about hunting large ungulates, and highlights the special kinds of opportunity costs that large game acquisition might entail in many contexts. The data should therefore provide insight into the socio-ecological contexts of large ungulate hunting and its archaeological signatures.
Report to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Servise and U.S. Dept. of Navy, Feb 1995
This document expands and elaborates an earlier model (Raven and Elston 1989, Raven 1990) that
p... more This document expands and elaborates an earlier model (Raven and Elston 1989, Raven 1990) that
predicted locations of prehistoric archaeology at Stillwater Marsh by analyzing the economic foraging
potential of resource distributions therein. The present excercise encompasses the 2,300,000 acres of the
ethnographic foraging territory of the Toedokado Paiute. Habitat types as derived from modem soil,
range, vegetation, and wildlife descriptions approximate the resource landscape of this territory as it
existed about A.D. 1850. Foraging opportunities available to ethnographic hunter-gatherers are
evaluated in light of optimal foraging theory, an evaluation which serves to generate predictions
about the archaeological record of habitat types. A preliminary survey of selected lands administered
by three Federal agencies assays the predictive power of the model. The effects of paleoenvironmental
variability on prehistoric foraging opportunities are modeled as well.
Occupants of the Great Basin 13- 6 kya cannot be understood by direct analogy with ethnographic G... more Occupants of the Great Basin 13- 6 kya cannot be understood by direct analogy with ethnographic Great Basin foragers because they lived in climatic circumstance and at population densities utterly unlike those of recent times. Archaeological evidence dating earlier than 8 kya suggests that hunter-gatherers were highly mobile with hunting oriented lithic technology and lacking milling equipment, but acquired a broad spectrum of faunal prey and tended to camp near wetland environments. Debate about the adaptive implications of these traits often devolves to whether they are best characterized as Paleo-Indian, Paleoarchaic, or Prearchaic in comparison to subsequent Archaic (broad-spectrum foraging) adaptations. At the transition from Early to Middle Holocene, the Great Basin witnessed higher effective temperatures and reduced aquatic resource zones. Most archaeologists agree that the proliferation of milling equipment marks inception of the Archaic, but the relative importance of terrestrial fauna and aquatic resources, and the effects of climatic aridity on human occupation and mobility remain unclear (Grayson 2011).
Here we develop an environmental frame of reference (Binford 2001) to model regional Late Pleistocene through Middle Holocene subsistence and mobility based on climatic variables inferred from paleoenvironmental proxies. Our goal is to develop expectations about the range of hunter-gatherer adaptations feasible under climatic scenarios posed for the Late Pleistocene and Early-to Middle Holocene Great Basin.We proceed in four steps: 1) extrapolate a geographic grid from a global climatic model to capture climatic variability across the Great Basin and compare with weather station records to assess how well the model captures current climate; 2) alter monthly precipitation and temperature to reflect climatic parameters of Bølling-Allerød, Younger Dryas, Early Holocene, and Middle Holocene climatic scenarios, and assess their accuracy against independent paleoenvironmental proxies; 3) predict hunter- gatherer subsistence and mobility under the current climate model and compare to 38 hunter-gatherers groups falling within the Great Basin using the Environmental Calculations program [ENVCALC2.1] (Binford and Johnson. 2014); and 4) generate expectations about hunter-gatherer subsistence and mobility under each of the four paleoclimatic models.
This work models the prehistoric archaeological sensitivity of northern Railroad Valley, treats t... more This work models the prehistoric archaeological sensitivity of northern Railroad Valley, treats the Gravel Bar Site and the Trap Springs Archaeological Complex, and addresses regional cultural management over an area of 527,175 acres. The model universe includes a large playa basin, portions of the Duckwater, Currant, Bull Creek, and Hot Springs drainages, and adjacent flanks of the White Pine, Grant, Duckwater, and Pancake Ranges. To model human behavior in such complexity requires understanding environmental variability in time and space. We created a fine-grained classification of prehistoric resources and their distributions, allowing the use of optimal foraging theory to predict prehistoric foraging behavior. Data used in our model and its development includes soil and range type descriptions developed by the Natural Resource Conservation Service to define unique habitats (each offering a particular suite of plant and animal resources to prehistoric foragers), and abiotic facto...
... the Owens Valley survey indicates con-siderable variability in the role of pinyon ... the for... more ... the Owens Valley survey indicates con-siderable variability in the role of pinyon ... the forager-collector model offered no satisfactory explanation for the change of pinyon ... FORAGING AND PREHISTORIC PINYON UTILIZATION 237 for anticipating circumstances where logistic ...
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Utah, 1996. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [555]-584)... more Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Utah, 1996. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [555]-584). Includes abstract. Microfilm. s
A tremendous amount has been learned about the Prearchaic (before 9000 BP) Great Basin since we
a... more A tremendous amount has been learned about the Prearchaic (before 9000 BP) Great Basin since we advocated a perspective of sexual division of labor based on Human Behavioral Ecology a decade ago. Many investigators have taken our advice and a few have challenged our assumptions and inferences. One of the most substantive critiques has been that we misunderstood the paleoenvironmental parameters of ungulate populations during the PleistoceneeHolocene Transition (PHT). Simultaneously, behavioral ecologists have advanced our understanding of sexual division of labor among modern foragers, but these studies appear to have gone unnoticed by Great Basin prehistorians. We review findings of the last ten years and suggest that the key to understanding patterning in the PHT still relies on understanding (a) variability in men's and women's foraging goals, (b) the abundance and distribution of large prey, (c) how changing environmental parameters effect both the division of labor and the distribution of resources, and (d) the relative influence of search and handling costs on residence time in PHT wetlands. We suggest that consideration of how paleoenvironmental variability structured sexual division of labor remains key to fully understanding Prearchaic lifeways in the Great Basin.
The archaeological record of the Pleistocene/Holocene transition (PHT) demonstrates that the tech... more The archaeological record of the Pleistocene/Holocene transition (PHT) demonstrates that the technology and mobility of Prearchaic hunter-gatherers differed dramatically from later Holocene foragers, suggesting a hunting-oriented subsistence. However, meager PHT faunal assemblages imply a generalized, broad-spectrum diet. Ethnographic analogy fails to provide a behavioral frame- work for understanding this discrepancy because the resource structure of the PHT differed utterly from the ethnographic present. Palaeoenvironmental data alone are incapable of retrodicting ancient diets without an understanding of foraging costs in extinct resource landscapes. This paper reviews recent studies using behavioral ecology as a theoretical framework for simulating foraging behavior in a PHT resource landscape. The simulation for Railroad Valley, Nevada, suggests the explanation for the diversity of subsistence remains in PHT records lies in different foraging strategies for men and women, rather than risk aversion alone. Furthermore, the simulation suggests that Prearchaic hunter-gatherers enjoyed a narrower diet breadth than later foragers, prompting the mobility and technological proles evinced in the PHT archaeological record.
ABSTRACT Archaeologists often assume that large ungulates are inherently highly ranked prey becau... more ABSTRACT Archaeologists often assume that large ungulates are inherently highly ranked prey because of their size, especially attractive to hunters using sophisticated capture technologies common after the late Pleistocene. Between 1840 and 1907, over 10,000 dromedary camels were imported to Australia, and today feral populations number well over a million. Although contemporary Aboriginal hunters in Australia'‘s Western and Central Deserts regularly encounter camels, they rarely pursue them. We present data on camel encounter and pursuit rates, with comparisons of energetic search and handling efficiency relative to other foraging options among Martu, the Traditional Owners of a large region of the Western Desert. We then explore some hypotheses concerning the determinants of prey rank and the technological and social contexts that influence resource value. In some respects the case runs counter to common expectations about hunting large ungulates, and highlights the special kinds of opportunity costs that large game acquisition might entail in many contexts. The data should therefore provide insight into the socio-ecological contexts of large ungulate hunting and its archaeological signatures.
Report to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Servise and U.S. Dept. of Navy, Feb 1995
This document expands and elaborates an earlier model (Raven and Elston 1989, Raven 1990) that
p... more This document expands and elaborates an earlier model (Raven and Elston 1989, Raven 1990) that
predicted locations of prehistoric archaeology at Stillwater Marsh by analyzing the economic foraging
potential of resource distributions therein. The present excercise encompasses the 2,300,000 acres of the
ethnographic foraging territory of the Toedokado Paiute. Habitat types as derived from modem soil,
range, vegetation, and wildlife descriptions approximate the resource landscape of this territory as it
existed about A.D. 1850. Foraging opportunities available to ethnographic hunter-gatherers are
evaluated in light of optimal foraging theory, an evaluation which serves to generate predictions
about the archaeological record of habitat types. A preliminary survey of selected lands administered
by three Federal agencies assays the predictive power of the model. The effects of paleoenvironmental
variability on prehistoric foraging opportunities are modeled as well.
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Conference Presentations by David Zeanah
Here we develop an environmental frame of reference (Binford 2001) to model regional Late Pleistocene through Middle Holocene subsistence and mobility based on climatic variables inferred from paleoenvironmental proxies. Our goal is to develop expectations about the range of hunter-gatherer adaptations feasible under climatic scenarios posed for the Late Pleistocene and Early-to Middle Holocene Great Basin.We proceed in four steps: 1) extrapolate a geographic grid from a global climatic model to capture climatic variability across the Great Basin and compare with weather station records to assess how well the model captures current climate; 2) alter monthly precipitation and temperature to reflect climatic parameters of Bølling-Allerød, Younger Dryas, Early Holocene, and Middle Holocene climatic scenarios, and assess their accuracy against independent paleoenvironmental proxies; 3) predict hunter- gatherer subsistence and mobility under the current climate model and compare to 38 hunter-gatherers groups falling within the Great Basin using the Environmental Calculations program [ENVCALC2.1] (Binford and Johnson. 2014); and 4) generate expectations about hunter-gatherer subsistence and mobility under each of the four paleoclimatic models.
Papers by David Zeanah
advocated a perspective of sexual division of labor based on Human Behavioral Ecology a decade ago.
Many investigators have taken our advice and a few have challenged our assumptions and inferences.
One of the most substantive critiques has been that we misunderstood the paleoenvironmental parameters
of ungulate populations during the PleistoceneeHolocene Transition (PHT). Simultaneously,
behavioral ecologists have advanced our understanding of sexual division of labor among modern foragers,
but these studies appear to have gone unnoticed by Great Basin prehistorians. We review findings
of the last ten years and suggest that the key to understanding patterning in the PHT still relies on
understanding (a) variability in men's and women's foraging goals, (b) the abundance and distribution of
large prey, (c) how changing environmental parameters effect both the division of labor and the distribution
of resources, and (d) the relative influence of search and handling costs on residence time in
PHT wetlands. We suggest that consideration of how paleoenvironmental variability structured sexual
division of labor remains key to fully understanding Prearchaic lifeways in the Great Basin.
predicted locations of prehistoric archaeology at Stillwater Marsh by analyzing the economic foraging
potential of resource distributions therein. The present excercise encompasses the 2,300,000 acres of the
ethnographic foraging territory of the Toedokado Paiute. Habitat types as derived from modem soil,
range, vegetation, and wildlife descriptions approximate the resource landscape of this territory as it
existed about A.D. 1850. Foraging opportunities available to ethnographic hunter-gatherers are
evaluated in light of optimal foraging theory, an evaluation which serves to generate predictions
about the archaeological record of habitat types. A preliminary survey of selected lands administered
by three Federal agencies assays the predictive power of the model. The effects of paleoenvironmental
variability on prehistoric foraging opportunities are modeled as well.
Here we develop an environmental frame of reference (Binford 2001) to model regional Late Pleistocene through Middle Holocene subsistence and mobility based on climatic variables inferred from paleoenvironmental proxies. Our goal is to develop expectations about the range of hunter-gatherer adaptations feasible under climatic scenarios posed for the Late Pleistocene and Early-to Middle Holocene Great Basin.We proceed in four steps: 1) extrapolate a geographic grid from a global climatic model to capture climatic variability across the Great Basin and compare with weather station records to assess how well the model captures current climate; 2) alter monthly precipitation and temperature to reflect climatic parameters of Bølling-Allerød, Younger Dryas, Early Holocene, and Middle Holocene climatic scenarios, and assess their accuracy against independent paleoenvironmental proxies; 3) predict hunter- gatherer subsistence and mobility under the current climate model and compare to 38 hunter-gatherers groups falling within the Great Basin using the Environmental Calculations program [ENVCALC2.1] (Binford and Johnson. 2014); and 4) generate expectations about hunter-gatherer subsistence and mobility under each of the four paleoclimatic models.
advocated a perspective of sexual division of labor based on Human Behavioral Ecology a decade ago.
Many investigators have taken our advice and a few have challenged our assumptions and inferences.
One of the most substantive critiques has been that we misunderstood the paleoenvironmental parameters
of ungulate populations during the PleistoceneeHolocene Transition (PHT). Simultaneously,
behavioral ecologists have advanced our understanding of sexual division of labor among modern foragers,
but these studies appear to have gone unnoticed by Great Basin prehistorians. We review findings
of the last ten years and suggest that the key to understanding patterning in the PHT still relies on
understanding (a) variability in men's and women's foraging goals, (b) the abundance and distribution of
large prey, (c) how changing environmental parameters effect both the division of labor and the distribution
of resources, and (d) the relative influence of search and handling costs on residence time in
PHT wetlands. We suggest that consideration of how paleoenvironmental variability structured sexual
division of labor remains key to fully understanding Prearchaic lifeways in the Great Basin.
predicted locations of prehistoric archaeology at Stillwater Marsh by analyzing the economic foraging
potential of resource distributions therein. The present excercise encompasses the 2,300,000 acres of the
ethnographic foraging territory of the Toedokado Paiute. Habitat types as derived from modem soil,
range, vegetation, and wildlife descriptions approximate the resource landscape of this territory as it
existed about A.D. 1850. Foraging opportunities available to ethnographic hunter-gatherers are
evaluated in light of optimal foraging theory, an evaluation which serves to generate predictions
about the archaeological record of habitat types. A preliminary survey of selected lands administered
by three Federal agencies assays the predictive power of the model. The effects of paleoenvironmental
variability on prehistoric foraging opportunities are modeled as well.