| Beyond Foraging and Collecting: Evolutionary Change in Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems 2002 Edition Contributor(s): Fitzhugh, Ben (Editor), Habu, Junko (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0306467534 ISBN-13: 9780306467530 Publisher: Springer OUR PRICE: $161.49 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: October 2002 Annotation: Twenty years after the development of the forager/collector model, it is still seen as one of the best tools for understanding variation in hunter-gatherer subsistence-settlement dynamics. The argument that the seasonal or short-term hunter-gatherer mobility should be patterned in predictable ways with respect to spatial and temporal variation in resource availability was a revolution in the study of hunter-gatherer settlement and land use. The research in this volume uses the theory as a starting point and expands the forager/ collector model. It broadens applications for its use in the field by enlarging the areas of: -new geographic zones; |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Archaeology - Science | Life Sciences - General - Social Science | Anthropology - General |
| Dewey: 303.4 |
| LCCN: 2002066908 |
| Series: Fundamental Issues in Archaeology |
| Physical Information: 1.2" H x 6.49" W x 9.55" (1.71 lbs) 442 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: LEWIS R. BINFORD AND AMBER L. JOHNSON The organizers of this volume have brought together authors who have worked on local sequences, much as traditional archaeologists tended to do, however, with the modern goal of addressing evolutionary change in hunter-gatherer systems over long time spans. Given this ambitious goal they wisely chose to ask the authors to build their treatments around a focal question, the utility of the forager-eollector continuum (Binford 1980) for research on archaeological sequences. Needless to say, Binford was flat- tered by their choice and understandably read the papers with a great deal of interest. When he was asked to write the foreword to this provoca- tive book he expected to learn new things and in this he has not been disappointed. The common organizing questions addressed among the contributors to this volume are simply, how useful is the forager-eollector continuum for explanatory research on sequences, and what else might we need to know to explain evolutionary change in hunter-gatherer adaptations? Most sequences document systems change, in some sense. Though we don't necessarily know how much synchronous systemic variability there might have been relative to the documented sequence, most authors have tried to address the problem of within systems variability. In this sense, most are operating with sophistication not seen among traditional culture historians. The primary problem for archaeologists of the generation prior to Binford was how to date archaeological materials. |