Interdependence and Power

Complexity in Hunter-Gatherer/Farmer Exchanges

Dados Bibliográficos

ID9216985
AutoresMatthew Boyd (0000-0003-2997-5090, Department of Archaeology, Univenity of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta TlN 1N4), Matt Boyd (0000-0002-1387-5047, autor correspondente)
Ano1998
Volume43
Fascículo165
Páginas311-319
Data de publicação1998-08-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoPlains Anthropologist (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0032-0447 • E-ISSN: 2052-546X
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/2052546.1998.11931874
OpenAlexW2512747105
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas11
Referências citadas11

In recent years, socioeconomic relations between horticulturists and hunter-gatherers have received greater attention in the archaeological literature. These relations have been probed primarily from theoretical perspectives that emphasize adaptation and dietary optimization. For example, the exchange of bison meat for maize between hunters and farmers is seen as an efficient means of acquiring protein in otherwise carbohydrate-rich diets, and carbohydrates in protein-abundant diets. On the surface, such cases in the social world seem to mimic examples of interdependence in the natural world, and they appear to presume a degree of equality between participants. It is argued here that relations of power and conflict may develop against the background of interdependence and adaptive exchange. A brief examination of the historic bison-corn exchange network in the Northern Plains is presented. Available data on the early phase (ca. 1730s-1810) ofMandan-Hidatsa and Cree-Assiniboin exchanges suggest that this interdependent system was characterized by oscillating conflict over time. Moreover, conflict and inequality may be at least in part attributed to the use of subsistence and non-subsistence monopoliesas tools for socioeconomic leverage. Archaeologists must be sensitive to the potential presence of similar processes prehistorically if the complexity of culture-contact scenarios is to be appreciated

Agriculture · Archaeology · Economic geography · Geography · Hunter-gatherer · Interdependence · Leverage (statistics) · Population · Power (physics) · Social science · Sociocultural evolution · Socioeconomic status · Sociology · Subsistence agriculture · Anthropology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Computer Science · Demography · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology