Repeated long-term population growth overshoots and recessions among hunter-gatherers

Bibliographic Data

ID12268344
AuthorsJ Freeman (0000-0001-7402-8450, Utah State University, corresponding author), Raymond P Mauldin (Center for Archaeological Research, University of Texas at San Antonio, USA), Raymond Mauldin (0000-0002-3631-0479, The University of Texas at San Antonio), Mary Whisenhunt (0000-0003-4577-3712, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at San Antonio, USA), Robert J Hard (0000-0001-5920-2836, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at San Antonio, USA), John M Anderies (0000-0002-0138-8655, Arizona State University)
Year2023
Volume33
Issue10
Pages1163-1175
Publication date2023-07-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Holocene (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0959-6836 • E-ISSN: 1477-0911
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/09596836231183072
OpenAlexW4383534717
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited67

We propose a model that may explain long-term population growth and decline events among human populations: The intensification of production generates a tradeoff between the adaptive capacity of individuals to generate a surplus of energy to maximize their fitness in the short-run and the long-term capacity of a population as a whole to experience a smooth transition into a demographic equilibrium. The model reconciles the conflicting insights of dynamic systems models of human population change, and we conduct a preliminary test of this model’s implications in Central Texas by developing time-series that estimate changes in human population density, modeled ecosystem productivity, human diet, and labor over the last 12,500 years. Our analysis indicates that Texas hunter-gatherers experienced three long-term population growth overshoots and recessions into quasi equilibria. Evidence indicates that each of these overshoots and recessions associate with changes in diet and labor devoted to processing high density, lower quality resources to unlock calories and nutrients. Over the long-term, population recessions may be necessary for populations to experiment with social and physical infrastructure changes that raise the carrying capacity of their environment

Biology · Carrying capacity · Econometrics · Economics · Macroeconomics · Population · Population growth · Productivity · Recession · Term (time · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Demography · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis · Ecology