Hunter Gatherer Fisher Research Articles

We Came for the Lake—Late Pleistocene Landscape Reconstruction in Lieth Moor, District Pinneberg, Germany

The Lieth Moor area, located in the district of Pinneberg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, is a hotspot of Late Palaeolithic settlement activity. The exceptional abundance of archaeological sites is commonly attributed to the presence of a large palaeolake. However, in the Weichselian Late glacial, there were numerous large lakes in Schleswig-Holstein. Thus, a well-founded explanation for the find concentration in Lieth Moor is still lacking, and forming a research desideratum until today. To improve our understanding of this Late Pleistocene landscape and its appeal to hunter–gatherer groups of that time, we conducted a large-scale archaeogeophysical study focusing on a possible ford of the potential palaeolake. We employed Ground-Penetrating Radar and Electromagnetic Induction measurements, supplemented by existing legacy drill-probing data, to identify and map limnic gyttja (organic lake mud) sediments and their spatial distribution within the area. The findings of our study indicate that during the Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene, the Lieth Moor area comprised a cluster of small ponds rather than a continuous lake. These ponds likely interconnected during periods of increased water levels. The presence of dry islands within the region corresponds with archaeological evidence, suggesting that Late Palaeolithic communities visited some of these islands. The absence of the previously postulated palaeolake places the known findings within a completely new palaeoenvironmental context: instead of the previously suspected ford, we assume that the proximity to the Elbe Palaeovalley played a decisive role in the repeated habitation of Lieth Moor. This area, rich in fresh water and fish, along with the dune chain situated to the west, serving as both a vantage point and windbreak, presented an ideal location for awaiting animals migrating along the river Elbe and/or as a resting place within the settlement system of mobile hunter–fisher–gatherer groups.

Sedentary people or short time events? High resolution radiocarbon chronology from a Late Mesolithic dwelling site in Western Norway

A Late Mesolithic (LM: 6500–4000 BCE) site with two dwellings and a midden were investigated on the coast of Western Norway. Occupation took place at repeated intervals on this site for nearly 2000 years, and 69 radiocarbon samples provide insight into the occupation patterns of a hunter gatherer fisher (HFG) settlement. In addition to traditional Bayesian modelling, we implemented an activity event analysis that enables us to measure the statistical consistency of datings and provide a proxy for the minimum number of events (MNE) necessary to account for the radiocarbon record of the site. The MNE perspective allows us to project the intermittent occupation pattern expected of an HFG settlement, offering a more nuanced perspective on the extent of sedentism in the late Mesolithic.

ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN COMPUTATIONAL MODELLING OF THE SUB-NEOLITHIC BOUNDARY: CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER DYNAMICS GOVERNING THE ADAPTIVE MORPHOGENESIS OF CULTURE

The Sub-Neolithic hunter-gatherer-fisher (HGF) groups and Corded Ware (CW) agro-pastoralgroup interactions within the Lithuanian portion of the Neman Basin around ~3000 BC did not follow the same patterns of agriculturalisation seen elsewhere in Europe during Neolithization. The variation of interaction in this agricultural frontier zone provides valuable insight into the way information exchange between groups drives the exchange of intercultural information and how information exchange between groups ultimately the adaptive morphogenesis of culture. This article’s primary author has already studied this outlier behaviour and the Unified Agricultural Frontier Model (UAFM) was proposed in volume 45 of this journal (Troskosky et al. 2019). The article presented in this volume is a companion piece to the 2019 publication which further explains and tests the mechanics underlying the UAFM. The UAFM applies self-organised criticality (SOC) to the hypothesis that marked cultural shifts are most likely to occur in response to increased levels of stress affect within a society. Stress affect is defined as the dissonance between encultured expectations of reality and phenomenologically lived reality within a population. To test this hypothesis, The Arithmetic Logarithm Illustrating Cultural Exchange (ALICE) model was developed; it provides confirmation that information exchange drives the behaviour of the UAFM across frontier zones. This model provides strong computational confirmation that information drives the behaviour of the UAFM across frontier zones. Theoretically, ALICE supports a general model for information flow between different cultures, facilitating corresponding cultural changes across any frontier. It models how increased levels of stress affect within interacting groups can lead to shifts of societal behaviour marked by a pattern of periods of equilibrium alternating with periods of disequilibrium. The results from the ALICE model and logical extrapolation of their effects in the UAFM demonstrate support for the eight new archaeological testable governing dynamics for information-driven adaptive morphogenesis of culture. Keywords: Archaeology, Eastern Baltic, Neolithisation, Information Science, Computational Modeling, Self Organized Criticality, Frontier Zone Dynamics, Sub-Neolithic, Corded Ware, Cultural Morphogenesis

The spread of rice to Japan: Insights from Bayesian analysis of direct radiocarbon dates and population dynamics in East Asia

The shift from foraging to agriculture as an economic way of life can be influenced by multiple ecological and cultural factors. The introduction of rice cultivation in Japan appears to have facilitated a dietary and cultural transition from the Jomon to the Yayoi cultural repertoire (10th/4th century BCE). Here we examine how rice spread across the Yayoi cultural arena (Kyushu, Shikoku, and Honshu regions) using Bayesian modelling applied to a set of radiocarbon (14C) dates obtained from carbonized rice grains. The combined results of radiocarbon analysis and archaeological data suggest that rice could have appeared in the Central Highlands already in the 11th century BCE when the region was occupied by people of the Final Jomon culture group and was mainly used for ritual purposes. It then appeared in western Japan (northern Kyushu) in the 9th century BCE and continued to disperse discontinuously across eastern Japan. This dispersal pattern likely results from the fusion of Jomon hunter–fisher–gatherer groups in eastern Japan with cultural traits introduced from the Eurasian mainland. The main driving factors for the immigration of early rice farmers into Japan (starting around 1000 BCE) appears to have been sociopolitical. Transformations in China led to the dissemination of rice farmers into the Korean Peninsula about 500 years earlier. The main drivers likely comprised: (i) the eastward expansion of the Shang dynasty (ca. 1600–1400 BCE); (ii) the eastward expansion of the Zhou kingdom, accompanied by the establishment of satellite states, such as Lu (Shandong Province) and Yan (Beijing), following the defeat of the Shang in 1045 BCE; and (iii) the strengthening of local states during the early 8th century BCE after the weakening of the Zhou, due to conflicts with agropastoralists from the Asian steppes. In addition, it is likely that the gradual middle–late Holocene decrease in summer monsoon precipitation negatively affected agricultural yields in the regions located closer to the summer monsoon boundary, such as the middle Yellow River, and thus further fostered the observed population dynamics including the spread of rice farmers to the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

Natural and anthropogenic impact on the formation of archaeological layers in a lake shore area: case study from the Serteya II site, Western Russia

The article presents the results of a study on archaeological structures and horizons developed in the palaeolake shore-zone of the Serteya II site that was occupied intermittently and to a greater or lesser intensity from the Mesolithic up to the Middle Ages. The Serteya II site is a multilayer complex used by hunter–fisher–gatherer communities in the 9th–8th mill. BC, and from the end of the 7th till the end of the 3rd mill. BC. The article is focused on the particularities of the formation of archaeological layers and the reconstruction of the ancient environment in different periods of time. The study of the sets of artefacts, their state of preservation, as well as the traits of archaeological features, may indicate the peculiarities of the formation of different sedimentological units. Based on the results of complex natural-scientific research it was possible to reconstruct the palaeo-ecology of changing water regimes as well as changes in environmental conditions.

Lacustrine, fluvial and slope deposits in the wetland shore area in Serteya, Western Russia

The article presents the results of a study on sediment deposition processes in the palaeolake shore zone, at the multilayered Serteya II archaeological site in Western Russia. In recent years, geomorphological, palaeopedological and palaeoecological research was undertaken in strict cooperation with archaeological fieldwork. The Serteya II site occupies a substantial area of a kame terrace and biogenic plain within a palaeolake basin. From an archaeological point of view, the site is represented by few Mesolithic artefacts, but mostly by remnants of hunter–gatherer–fisher communities attributed in the Russian scientific tradition to the Neolithic period and dated from 6300 BC to 2000 BC. Later, the area was used by people in the Bronze Age, Early Iron Age and Early Middle Ages. The integration of archaeological and multidisciplinary palaeoenvironmental research allowed the natural and human induced deposition of mineral-organic and minerogenic sediments to be reconstructed, as well as the development of structures in the lake shore zone. The changes from lacustrine to fluvial system were documented and the human impact is recorded mostly in the acceleration of slope processes.

Hunter-gatherer mobility and technological landscapes in southernmost South America: a statistical learning approach.

The present work aims to quantitatively explore and understand the relationship between mobility types (nautical versus pedestrian), specific technological traits and shared technological knowledge in pedestrian hunter–gatherer and nautical hunter–fisher–gatherer societies from the southernmost portion of South America. To that end, advanced statistical learning techniques are used: state-of-the-art classification algorithms and variable importance analyses. Results show a strong relationship between technological knowledge, traits and mobility types. Occupations can be accurately classified into nautical and pedestrian due to the existence of a non-trivial pattern between mobility and a relatively small fraction of variables from some specific technological categories. Cases where the best-fitted classification algorithm fails to generalize are found significantly interesting. These instances can unveil lack of information, not enough entries in the training set, singular features or ambiguity, the latter case being a possible indicator of the interaction between nautical and pedestrian societies.

A case of nonvenereal treponematosis in a pre‐Hispanic adult from north‐eastern Argentina

AbstractThis article presents a case of treponemic disease in a skeleton of a female adult found at Los Tres Cerros 1 archaeological site (Upper Delta of Paraná River, Entre Ríos, Argentina). This site was occupied by hunter–gatherer–fisher groups that also practised horticulture during the Late Holocene (ca. 1227–560 years BP). A macroscopic description of bone lesions is complemented with data from X‐rays and CT scans. Different types of lesions were observed in the left ulna, femora, right patella, tibiae, and fibulae. In addition, two remodelled depressions surrounded by bony thickening and porosities were found in the frontal bone. Some lesions registered in the skull were associated with caries sicca. In the differential diagnosis, chronic leg ulcers, Paget's disease, tuberculosis, leprosy, osteomyelitis, and treponematosis were considered. The analyses indicate that most of the injuries may be compatible with nonvenereal forms of treponematosis. Few cases of treponemic disease were recorded in Argentina's bioarchaeological collections of pre‐Hispanic populations. Specifically, in the north‐eastern region, two skeletons with treponematosis have so far been reported. The present study provides new evidence of treponematosis in the Delta of the Paraná River. Therefore, this case adds to the scant evidence of pre‐Hispanic treponematosis that exists for these latitudes.

An experimental ethnoarchaeology and analytical approach to fire-related management strategies in a hunter–fisher–gatherer society from the southern tip of Tierra del Fuego (Argentina)

ABSTRACTThis paper presents a synthetic overview of the results of a multidisciplinary approach –archaeological, experimental and ethnographic – that provides new insights into the fire-related management strategies (from firewood procurement to fire use and cleaning activities) adopted by Yamana groups. We bring to the fore the significance of recent results from a chemical, GC-MS and GC-C-IRMS analysis of combustion residues recovered from Túnel VII and Lanashuaia I, two shell-midden excavated in the framework of several Spanish-Argentinean, Experimental Ethnoarchaeology projects developed in Tierra del Fuego Island (Argentina). The molecular and fatty acids isotopic composition allow characterizing the different combustion structures from the perspective of intensity or food processing, informing also about post-depositional factors. Results allow for a critical evaluation of ethnographic sources and thus of direct observation.

Hunter-Gatherer Variability: Developing Models for the Northern Coasts

Hunter-fisher-gatherer (HFG) variability has received a lot of attention. We review the key developments in the theories of variability, which have usually resulted in binary classifications. We argue that a range of variation based on the degree of territorial ownership is preferable to these classifications. Hunter-fisher-gatherers of the world’s northern coasts have only been partially explored in this way with regard to variability. A major reason for this is that such coastal groups use boats, so normative models of inland terrestrial foraging are not immediately applicable. We suggest that the Saxe-Goldstein hypothesis, the cautious linking of territoriality to funerary behaviour, may be a useful avenue to explore. Much work has been done by scholars of the northern coasts on boats and maritime transport, and some conclusions could be extrapolated to regions farther south.

Terraforming and monumentality in hunter-gatherer-fisher societies

Terraforming and monumentality have been integral to the practices of many hunter-gatherer-fisher (HGF) societies around the world. Both mobile and sedentary HGFs were capable of producing large, p...

Immovable food storage facilities, knowledge, and landscape in non-sedentary societies: Perspectives from northern Michigan

Physical food storage in immovable facilities, typically categorized as large-scale storage, is used as a scarcity mitigation strategy by some small-scale, relatively low density, non-sedentary hunter–gatherer (and low-level horticulturalist) societies. When mobile societies rely on immovable food storage facilities, they face particular technological and landscape placement challenges that must be navigated to reduce the risks of facility failure and realize scarcity mediation. We explore how the materiality and spatial positioning of immovable food storage facilities themselves can encode knowledge necessary for these facilities to form a reliable food storage system. We suggest immovable food storage facilities be understood as emplaced features, that is, as features whose placement in the landscape is the result of, but also subsequently the producer of, socioecological knowledge. We explore these ideas through a case study in the northern Great Lakes region. During the Late Precontact period (ca. AD 1000/1100–1600), socioeconomic shifts pushed communities into increasingly spatially and seasonally restricted annual mobility rounds. The region’s relatively low density, egalitarian, non-sedentary hunter–gatherer–fisher and low-level horticulturalist societies turned to physical food storage in immovable facilities, in the form of subterranean cache pits, to circumvent the risks posed by socioecological variability. Exploring one inland lake landscape in detail, we find cache pit storage facilities were purposefully planned and built in ways that successfully navigated the technological and landscape placement challenges of immovable food storage in this specific setting. We found the enduring presence and use of these immovable food storage facilities in the landscape encoded and transmitted knowledge about sustaining successful food storage across spatially and temporally dispersed groups. Cache pits were emplaced features that served to enhance community well-being in the increasingly restricted socioeconomic context of Late Precontact.

From virtual survey to real prospection: Kawésqar mobility in the Fuego-Patagonia seascape across terrestrial passages

Abstract PreCaPas (Prehistoric Canoeists' Passages Project) is based on the use of geo-computing tools for the detection, description, and evaluation of the presence of terrestrial passages from prehistoric canoeists: the Kawesqar People, hunter–fisher–gatherer groups from the Fuego-Patagonia region of Chile. In this southern region, the heuristic value of terrestrial passages would be more than an expeditious route to shorten the distances involved in coastal navigation or to avoid certain geographic obstacles: terrestrial canoeists' passages were an efficient and timely solution for connecting remote areas. Therefore, if we could identify potential passages, we would be able to establish new vital information about the possible mobility of these people along the seascape complex. For this purpose, we revisited ethnographical information to make a quantitative and qualitative characterization of these potential crossing places, and therefore, we elaborated spatial predictions about expected places where a terrestrial passage could be located.

Seasonality and function of Mesolithic valley-bottom sites: Results from Galgenbühel/Dos de la Forca, Adige valley (South Tyrol, Italian Alps)

Seasonal mobility connected to a scheduled resource exploitation is a recurrent topic in the interpretation of the Early Mesolithic settlement pattern of the Adige Basin in the South Eastern Alps. Nevertheless direct archaeological seasonality data are scarce. This work presents new results from seasonal dating on faunal remains from the Sauveterrian site of Galgenbühel/Dos de la Forca in the Adige Valley (Northern Italy) frequented between 9265 ± 70 and 8454 ± 46 BP uncal. (8699–7459 BC cal.) by hunter–gatherer–fisher communities. An effort to collect and combine multifold data in order to dispose of complementary evidence for the interpretation, was made. Analyses are based on the incremental bone growth structures of the fish remains, tooth eruption/shedding and bone fusion of juvenile macromammals as well as on the presence of migrating birds. Results highlight a general preponderance of data referring to spring and summer throughout the stratigraphic sequence, whilst autumn–winter evidence is sporadic.The reasons for a marked spring–summer occupation of the site, best documented by the fish sample, partly the result of targeted catches, are most likely related to the predominant wetland economy. Seen in a regional perspective, the results break up with the dichotomy of “winter-valley bottom” and “summer-mountain territories” used to explain the relationship between low- and highland sites. A first comparative analysis between neighboring valley bottom rock-shelters based on macrofaunal ecology and economy as well as shelter exposition, suggests a higher variability in site function, and maybe also occupation season, as prospected so far.

Using combined biomolecular methods to explore whale exploitation and social aggregation in hunter–gatherer–fisher society in Tierra del Fuego

Cetaceans were an important food and raw material resource for the South American hunter–gatherer–fisher (HGF) communities of Tierra del Fuego. Historic ethnographic evidence suggests that relatively mobile HGF groups came together in large numbers to exploit carcasses from individual cetacean stranding events. Substantial accumulations of whale bones within shell middens in the Lanashuaia locality of the Beagle Channel suggests that these social aggregation events may also have occurred in pre-historic periods. The difficulty in assigning taxonomic identifications to the fragmentary whale remains, however, made it difficult to explicitly test this hypothesis. Here, we applied two different biomolecular techniques, collagen peptide mass fingerprinting (ZooMS) and ancient mitochondrial DNA analysis to 42 archeological bone fragments from the Lanashuaia locality to provide accurate species identifications. There was a clear correspondence between ZooMS and DNA results, identifying five different cetacean species (Southern bottlenose, blue, humpback, right, and sei whale) as well as human and sea lion remains. The biomolecular results were not conclusively consistent with HGF social aggregation, revealing an unexpectedly diverse range of cetaceans within the Lanashuaia middens. However, the results could not fully refute the hypothesis that cetacean remains can be used as anthropic markers of aggregation events, as the observed species and haplotypes revealed potential shared exploitation of some whale resources between midden sites.

Sclerochronology of Busycon sinistrum: late prehistoric seasonality determination at St. Joseph Bay, Florida, USA

Recent archaeological investigations indicate that coastal Fort Walton cultures in the St. Joseph Bay region of northwest Florida emphasized marine and estuarine foraging. These late prehistoric, Mississippi-period (A.D. 1000–1500) peoples collected fish, shellfish, and other aquatic resources. At the Richardson's Hammock site (8Gu10), radiocarbon-dated to about A.D. 1300, large, predatory gastropods were a major subsistence component. This adaptation is in sharp contrast with that of contemporaneous inland Fort Walton societies, who relied on maize agriculture, and raises the question whether coastal groups were separate hunter–gatherer–fisher populations or migrated seasonally from inland farming villages. We perform stable oxygen and carbon isotope sclerochronology on lightning whelks (Busycon sinistrum) to determine the seasonality of Fort Walton foraging and to compare the environment of prehistoric St. Joseph Bay with that of the modern bay. Oxygen isotope profiles suggest that shellfish collecting was relegated primarily to the summer months, producing a scheduling conflict with the primary growing season for maize in northwest Florida. Thus, coastal and inland Fort Walton sites probably represent separate culture groups. The relationship between δ18Oshell and δ13Cshell indicates similar environmental and climatic conditions between prehistoric St. Joseph Bay and today. However, modern whelks are depleted in 13C compared to Fort Walton whelks, which reflects both twentieth century CO2 emissions and years of dredging and wastewater pollution entering the bay.

Genesis and occupancy of a shell midden on Paraná State coast, Brazil

The publications related to pedological characterization of shell middens are rare, and there are no comprehensive studies. The objective of the present study was to understand habits and intensity of seasonal human occupancies and genesis of stratigraphic levels of an archaeological site on Paraná State coast, Brazil. The formation of the shell midden by hunter–fisher–gatherer groups over thousands of years followed only a few patterns of interaction with the environment, which would facilitate the studies of correlations with other middens of the Brazilian coast. In addition to strategies of searching food, the Amerindian also diversified their activities to improve life quality, including cooking certain foods and the placement of insulating material on the midden. The evolution of the genesis of layers was much more dependent on the depositional period than the post-depositional interval. During the post-depositional period, only the formation of silicate in the clay fraction of the more superficial layers was favored.

Multicomponent analyses of a hydatid cyst from an Early Neolithic hunter–fisher–gatherer from Lake Baikal, Siberia

Calcified biological objects are occasionally found at archaeological sites and can be challenging to identify. This paper undertakes the differential diagnosis of what we suggest is an Echinococcus granulosus hydatid cyst from an 8000-year-old mortuary site called Shamanka II in the Lake Baikal region of Siberia. Echinococcus is a parasitic tapeworm that needs two hosts to complete its life cycle: herbivores and humans are intermediate hosts, and carnivores such as dogs, wolves, and foxes are definitive hosts. In the intermediate host the Echinococcus egg hatches in the digestive system, penetrates the intestine, and is carried via the bloodstream to an organ, where it settles and turns into an ovoid calcified structure called a hydatid cyst. For this object, identification was based on macroscopic, radiographic, and stable isotope analysis. High-resolution computed tomography scanning was used to visualize the interior structure of the object, which is morphologically consistent with the E. granulosus species (called cystic Echinococcus). Stable isotope analysis of the extracted mineral and protein components of the object narrowed down the range of species from which it could come. The stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of the object's protein, and stable carbon isotope ratio of the mineral, closely match those of the likely human host. Additionally, the δ13C protein-to-mineral spacing is very low, which fits expectations for a parasitic organism. To our knowledge this is the first isotopic characterization of a hydatid cyst and this method may be useful for future studies. The hydatid cyst most likely came from a probable female adult. Two additional hydatid cysts were found in a young adult female from a contemporaneous mortuary site in the same region, Lokomotiv. This manuscript ends with a brief discussion the importance of domesticated dogs in the disease's occurrence and the health implication of echinococcal infection for these Early Neolithic hunter–fisher–gatherers.

Immediate replacement of fishing with dairying by the earliest farmers of the northeast Atlantic archipelagos

The appearance of farming, from its inception in the Near East around 12 000 years ago, finally reached the northwestern extremes of Europe by the fourth millennium BC or shortly thereafter. Various models have been invoked to explain the Neolithization of northern Europe; however, resolving these different scenarios has proved problematic due to poor faunal preservation and the lack of specificity achievable for commonly applied proxies. Here, we present new multi-proxy evidence, which qualitatively and quantitatively maps subsistence change in the northeast Atlantic archipelagos from the Late Mesolithic into the Neolithic and beyond. A model involving significant retention of hunter–gatherer–fisher influences was tested against one of the dominant adoptions of farming using a novel suite of lipid biomarkers, including dihydroxy fatty acids, ω-(o-alkylphenyl)alkanoic acids and stable carbon isotope signatures of individual fatty acids preserved in cooking vessels. These new findings, together with archaeozoological and human skeletal collagen bulk stable carbon isotope proxies, unequivocally confirm rejection of marine resources by early farmers coinciding with the adoption of intensive dairy farming. This pattern of Neolithization contrasts markedly to that occurring contemporaneously in the Baltic, suggesting that geographically distinct ecological and cultural influences dictated the evolution of subsistence practices at this critical phase of European prehistory.

At the Malthusian ceiling: Subsistence and inequality at Bridge River, British Columbia

The Bridge River Village, located in the Middle Fraser Canyon of British Columbia, was established and grew to maximum size during the period of ca. 1800–1100cal. B.P. Village expansion occurred in two distinct stages resulting in a stepped pattern of demographic growth. We suggest that this could reflect two distinctly different periods, the first (Bridge River 2) a relatively comfortable equilibrium with little subsistence stress; the second (Bridge River 3) a truly Malthusian ceiling associated with reduction in critical subsistence resources, social change, and eventual abandonment. In this paper we explore the interactions between resource productivity, food harvest and storage, animal husbandry, demographic growth, and socio-political change in the late Holocene Middle Fraser Canyon. The study provides us with the opportunity to compare and contrast histories of hunter–gatherer–fisher people with that of other complex hunter–gatherers and agriculturalists on similar demographic scales.