Modifying landscapes and mass kills: Human niche construction and communal ungulate harvests

Abstract

This special issue of Quaternary International includes case study consideration of communal ungulate hunting structures situated in open alpine, tundra, grassland, and desert settings in North America and the Near East. Along with being constructed in a variety of different environments, the mass kill structures described in this issue of QI also exhibit variation in design, as each was specifically tailored to capture a particular prey species, with target species including bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis), bison (Bison bison), caribou (Rangifer tarandus), pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) gazelle (Gazella spp.), and onager (Equus hemionus). In this introductory article I employ the interrelated concepts of niche construction and traditional ecological knowledge to provide a broader frame of reference for consideration of the underlying similarities and sophistication of these diverse ungulate drive structures, and bring them into clearer focus as comprising important and integral components in the overall socioeconomic systems of the small-scale human societies that constructed them. Requiring detailed understanding of local landscapes and patterns of seasonal movement and flight behavior of prey species, such structures were constructed to reduce acquisition effort and increase the predictability of prey species by channeling and constraining their movement for easier harvesting. This was accomplished by creating structural modifications to the landscape designed to direct the prey into killing zones or enclosures.