Craniometric Variation Research Articles

The study of residential practices among prehistoric hunters and gatherers

Abstract The post‐nuptial residential practices of hunting and gathering peoples have recently been the subject of some controversy. While some have maintained that prehistoric hunters and gatherers were probably virilocal for the most part, other investigators believe that a more flexible approach to residence would have been adaptively favourable. Because of the contact period disruption of these societies, the answers to such questions will depend largely on the work of prehistorians. A variety of techniques developed by archaeologists and physical anthropologists for the study of residential patterns in prehistoric hunting and gathering societies are briefly reviewed, and an approach focusing on craniometric variability is described and illustrated.