G S Mccall
Biographic Data
| ID | 7419 |
|---|---|
| NAME | G S Mccall |
| GIVEN NAMES | G S |
| FAMILY NAME | Mccall |
| SIGNATURE | MCCALL G S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Tulane University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3717-2407 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 62 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 379 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 62 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1969 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
E-lorgesailie: An Agent-Based Simulation Model of Acheulean Lithic Raw Material Procurement and Handaxe Deposition Patterns
The striking archaeological patterning associated with Acheulean handaxes has been the subject of investigation for more than two centuries. Since the earliest days of the field, Paleolithic archaeologists have noticed the tendency for some Acheulean sites to take the form of large biface concentrations, while other contemporaneous sites (often in close spatial proximity) have few or none. This paper explores the potential significance of this pa…
Hominin Population Structure, Mating Systems, and Intrasexual Competition: Implications for Craniofacial Robusticity and the Self-Domestication Hypothesis
The self-domestication hypothesis has made significant contributions to our thinking about hominin evolution and ecology. It has struggled, however, to find compelling and testable causes of reductions in hominin aggression and violent behavior. This paper examines variability among hominin mating systems and imbalances in operation sex ratios (OSRs) as a potential factor influencing levels of aggression resulting from male intrasexual competitio…
Mullet ( Mugil cephalus): Fishing, community wellbeing, and resilience in Southeast Louisiana
Methods you can count on: A simulation experiment showing the advantages generalized linear modeling (GLM) over the linear regression of log-transformed count data
Left high and dry: The negative impacts of Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) home elevation policies on coastal communities in lower Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana
In recent years, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has sought to enforce home elevation policies more strictly across coastal Southeast Louisiana. These policies are meant to protect homes from flooding resulting from tropical storms. Such policies, however, are widely reviled by coastal community residents. This paper presents the results of ethnographic research conducted in Lower Plaquemines Parish investigating the reasons why co…
Material conditions and human freedom: David Graeber and David Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021)
The Prehistory of Private Property: Implications for Modern Political Theory
This book examines the origin and development of the private property rights system from prehistory to the present day to debunk three widely accepted false beliefs about the private property system: that inequality is natural, inevitable, or incompatible with freedom; that capitalism is more consistent with negative freedom than any other conceivable economic system; and that there is something “natural” about the private property system. That i…
The Prehistory of Private Property: Implications for Modern Political Theory
Examines the origin and development of the private property rights system from prehistory to the present day Traces the origin and development of the private property rights system from prehistory to the present day showing that it was not the product of 'appropriation' and 'voluntary trade' but of a long history of violent aggression Reviews the long history of contradictory explanations why inequality is supposedly natural and inevitable or an …
Editor’s Lair: Introduction to Experiments in Stone Tool Analysis
Editor’s Lair: Introduction to Experiments in Stone Tool Analysis." Lithic Technology, 46(4), p. 259
African Stone Age
Editor’s Lair
The place is full of cabbages”: An analysis of the Irish Late Mesolithic stone tool technology from Kenure, Co. Dublin
Editor’s Lair
Nasty and Brutish? an Empirical Assessment of the Violence Hypothesis
This chapter empirically investigates two hypotheses often used to support the claim that virtually everyone is better off in state society than they could reasonably expect to be in any stateless environment. “The strong violence hypothesis” is the claim that violence in stateless societies is necessarily intolerable. “The weak violence hypothesis” is the claim that violence in stateless societies tends to be higher than in state society. Sectio…
Modern Political Philosophy and Prehistoric Anthropology: Some Preliminary Issues
Because this book involves two very different academic disciplines, political philosophy and anthropology, some background about the relevant topics in each one is helpful. In this chapter, Section 1 introduces the relevant political theory. Section 2 discusses some of the anthropological methods and conceptual issues involved in the examination of the evidence relevant to these philosophical arguments. Section 3 discusses how the state and the s…
Prehistoric Myths in Modern Political Philosophy
This book shows how—despite significant equivocation—the most influential justifications of government and of private property rely on the seldom-questioned empirical premise that this book calls, “the Hobbesian Hypothesis.” That is, everyone in a society with a government and/or a private property rights system is better off than anyone could be in a society without those institutions. In other words, the “Lockean Proviso” is fulfilled—whether b…
The Hobbesian Hypothesis in Anthropology
This chapter explores how Hobbesian ideas affected the development of anthropology and how “the Hobbesian hypotheses” (the claim that everyone is better off in a state society with a private property system than they could reasonably expect to be in any society without either of those institutions) has appeared in the history of anthropological thought and in popular anthropology. Although many of the issues discussed remain the subject of debate…
Geochemical source evaluation of archaeological chert from the Carson mounds site in northwestern Mississippi using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF)
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
Myths about the State of Nature and the Reality of Stateless Societies
This article argues the following points. The Hobbesian hypothesis, which we define as the claim that all people are better off under state authority than they would be outside of it, is an empirical claim about all stateless societies. It is an essential premise in most contractarian justifications of government sovereignty. Many small- scale societies are stateless. Anthropological evidence from them provides sufficient reason to doubt the trut…
The Evolution of Equality: Rethinking Variability and Egalitarianism Among Modern Forager Societies
Using hunter-gatherer societies as a focus, we argue for a heuristic continuum of egalitarian social systems ranging between relatively strong and weak forms. Weak egalitarianism is characterized by an absence of real political hierarchy, and limited differences between individuals in terms of rank, status, wealth, or power, while strongly egalitarian societies are characterized by these with some combination of powerful sharing and leveling norm…
Mystery islands. Discovering the ancient Pacific, by Tom Koppel
The Institute of Pacific Studies (IPS) at The University of the South Pacific (USP) was known for many things. It was where Islanders with insufficient secondary school education in their own count
African Stone Age
New Approaches to the Study of Surface Paleolithic Artefacts: A Pilot Project at Zebra River
NEW APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF SURFACE PALEOLITHIC ARTEFACTS: A PILOT PROJECT AT ZEBRA RIVER (BAR International Series 2270), edited by Terry Hardaker. London: Archaeopress, 2011, 244 pp. (Paperbac
Evaluating indices of curation for Archaic North American bifacial projectile points
This paper addresses the definitions of the term “curation” and the utility of various techniques for its quantification based on morphometric, isometric, and geometric characteristics of bifacial projectile points. The definitions were evaluated through the comparative application of curation indices to a collection of Archaic projectile points from the Southwestern United States. Bifacial projectile points from the Walt Jones Farm site (10Br9),…
Behavioral ecological models of lithic technological change during the later Middle Stone Age of South Africa
Still Bay and Howiesons Poort Foraging Strategies: Recent Research and Models of Culture Change
Ethnoarchaeology and the Organization of Lithic Technology
Handaxe-Hurling Hominids: An Unlikely Story
The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies
Once again, we anthropologists are confronted by the mixed bag that is Jared Diamond's scholarship. In this most recent effort, Diamond offers his most expansive and wide-ranging discussion yet. Th
Multivariate perspectives on change and continuity in the Middle Stone Age lithics from Klasies River Mouth, South Africa
An Experimental Examination of the Potential Function of Early Stone Age Tool Technology and Implications for Subsistence Behavior
This paper presents; an experimental examination of the potential function of Early Stone Age (ESA) stone tool technology. The discussion situates the behavior associated with ESA technology within the context of evidence for subsistence activities from faunal remains. On the basis of this experiment, I argue that: (I) many tasks associated with carcass processing in situations of secondary carcass access could have been carried out with equal ef…
Image of Limited Good, or Expectation of Reciprocity? [and Comments and Reply]
Foster's limited-good model has been both widely accepted and roundly criticized. Upon superficial examination, certain behavior patterns among the Mopan Maya of southern Belize seem to reflect the presence of a limited-good cognition. With closer scrutiny, however, much contrary evidence emerges, and the behavior patterns in question appear, instead, to stem from what is tentatively termed the expectation of circumstantially balanced reciprocity…
Re-examining the South African Middle-to-Later Stone Age transition: Multivariate analysis of the Umhlatuzana and Rose Cottage Cave stone tool assemblages
This paper explores the nature and timing of the Middle Stone Age/Later Stone Age transition in South Africa and considers some of the potential causes of this technological reorganisation. It uses multivariate statistical methods to re-examine two important case studies: Umhlatuzana in KwaZulu-Natal, described by Kaplan (1989), and Rose Cottage Cave in the Free State, described by Clark (1997). Consistent with these previous analyses, it conclud…
Revisiting the Individual in Prehistory: Idiosyncratic Engraving Variation and the Neolithic Slate Plaques of the Iberian Peninsula
Experiments in replicating facsimiles of Late Neolithic engraved slate plaques from southwestern Iberia suggest that variation related to fine-motor skills is greater between individual engravers than within the work of a single engraver. This implies that the work of different individuals producing certain classes of material culture may be distinguishable on the basis of repetitive, idiosyncratic traits. These studies also generate otherwise un…
Handaxes Still Don't Fly
More Thoughts on the Ik and Anthropology [and Reply]
Refitting Rate as a Tool for Investigating Geological and Behavioral Aspects of Site Formation: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations
This paper presents a comparative approach to lithic refitting research. The paper examines a broad set of refitting studies with the aim ofbuilding frames of reference for making archaeological inferences on the basis of refitting analysis results. The paper looks at some of the methodological problems inherent in constructing these comparative frameworks and settles primarily on refitting rate as a way of making comparisons across excavations o…
Nuclear Nativity: Rituals of Renewal and Empowerment in the Marshall Islands
The leading authority on the lifeways of the Enewetak people explores the rituals, customs, and meanings of the Kurijmoj festival. Illuminating the empowering aspects of rituals involved in feasts, competitive games, speeches, dances, songs of apocalypse, and gift giving, Carucci offers a wealth of insights into a celebration the Enewetak people have made uniquely their own
Evaluating indices of curation for Archaic North American bifacial projectile points
This paper addresses the definitions of the term “curation” and the utility of various techniques for its quantification based on morphometric, isometric, and geometric characteristics of bifacial projectile points. The definitions were evaluated through the comparative application of curation indices to a collection of Archaic projectile points from the Southwestern United States. Bifacial projectile points from the Walt Jones Farm site (10Br9),…
European impact on Easter Island: Response, recruitment and the Polynesian experience in Peru
Myths about the State of Nature and the Reality of Stateless Societies
This article argues the following points. The Hobbesian hypothesis, which we define as the claim that all people are better off under state authority than they would be outside of it, is an empirical claim about all stateless societies. It is an essential premise in most contractarian justifications of government sovereignty. Many small- scale societies are stateless. Anthropological evidence from them provides sufficient reason to doubt the trut…
The Evolution of Equality: Rethinking Variability and Egalitarianism Among Modern Forager Societies
Using hunter-gatherer societies as a focus, we argue for a heuristic continuum of egalitarian social systems ranging between relatively strong and weak forms. Weak egalitarianism is characterized by an absence of real political hierarchy, and limited differences between individuals in terms of rank, status, wealth, or power, while strongly egalitarian societies are characterized by these with some combination of powerful sharing and leveling norm…
New Approaches to the Study of Surface Paleolithic Artefacts: A Pilot Project at Zebra River
NEW APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF SURFACE PALEOLITHIC ARTEFACTS: A PILOT PROJECT AT ZEBRA RIVER (BAR International Series 2270), edited by Terry Hardaker. London: Archaeopress, 2011, 244 pp. (Paperbac
Changing Views of Drakensberg San Rock Art: Examining Landscape Use, Ritual Activity, and Contact through Multivariate Content-Based Spatial Analysis
This paper presents a multivariate statistical and spatial analysis of rock art site content and composition for the Didima Gorge, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In presenting an experimental set of methodological approaches, the paper attempts to identify categories of rock art sites based on their image content and other archaeological characteristics, and then explores how these types might have related to various social, religious, and economic…
Paradise Postponed: Essays on Research and Development in the South Pacific
Left high and dry: The negative impacts of Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) home elevation policies on coastal communities in lower Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana
In recent years, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has sought to enforce home elevation policies more strictly across coastal Southeast Louisiana. These policies are meant to protect homes from flooding resulting from tropical storms. Such policies, however, are widely reviled by coastal community residents. This paper presents the results of ethnographic research conducted in Lower Plaquemines Parish investigating the reasons why co…
Material conditions and human freedom: David Graeber and David Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021)
In Memory of George H. Odell
Kinship and Environment on Easter Island: Some Observations and Speculations
The Txistulari in Basque Culture1
American Anthropological Interest and Prospects in Basque Studies
On Hultkrantz and His Critics
Scandinavia's Nefa
Image of Limited Good, or Expectation of Reciprocity? [and Comments and Reply]
Foster's limited-good model has been both widely accepted and roundly criticized. Upon superficial examination, certain behavior patterns among the Mopan Maya of southern Belize seem to reflect the presence of a limited-good cognition. With closer scrutiny, however, much contrary evidence emerges, and the behavior patterns in question appear, instead, to stem from what is tentatively termed the expectation of circumstantially balanced reciprocity…
More Thoughts on the Ik and Anthropology [and Reply]
Studying Voluntary Associations as Adaptive Mechanisms: A Review of Anthropological Perspectives [and Comments and Reply]
In this paper an attempt is made to review selected anthropological studies of voluntary associations, in particular, and common-interest associations, in general. The aim is to show how these groups have been studied as adaptive mechanisms in situations of social, cultural, and technological change, especially in those types of change involving rapid urban growth and large-scale migrations of rural populations to towns and cities. The review is …
European impact on Easter Island: Response, recruitment and the Polynesian experience in Peru
The Eighth Land: The Polynesian Discovery and Settlement of Easter Island
Obituary
Four worlds of experience and action
Paradise Postponed: Essays on Research and Development in the South Pacific
Association and Power in Reciprocity and Requital: More on Mauss and the Maori1
The Future of Migration in the Pacific and Asia
The Future of Migration in the Pacific and Asia
The XVIIth Pacific Science Association Congress met in Honolulu, Hawaii from May 27, to June 1, 1991, with an attendance in excess of 1,500, most of whom presented papers. Honolulu, Geneva of the Pacific Century (as locals are calling it), is able to attract a large number of visitors, easily and relatively cheaply, in addition to the considerable resident talent con? ducting research in the Pacific. There were many well-balanced programs, bringi…
Who Needs the Past? Indigenous Values and Archaeology
Nuclear Nativity: Rituals of Renewal and Empowerment in the Marshall Islands
The leading authority on the lifeways of the Enewetak people explores the rituals, customs, and meanings of the Kurijmoj festival. Illuminating the empowering aspects of rituals involved in feasts, competitive games, speeches, dances, songs of apocalypse, and gift giving, Carucci offers a wealth of insights into a celebration the Enewetak people have made uniquely their own
Jul'hoansi Adaptations to a Cash Economy
Commentary
Handaxe-Hurling Hominids: An Unlikely Story
An Experimental Examination of the Potential Function of Early Stone Age Tool Technology and Implications for Subsistence Behavior
This paper presents; an experimental examination of the potential function of Early Stone Age (ESA) stone tool technology. The discussion situates the behavior associated with ESA technology within the context of evidence for subsistence activities from faunal remains. On the basis of this experiment, I argue that: (I) many tasks associated with carcass processing in situations of secondary carcass access could have been carried out with equal ef…
Multivariate perspectives on change and continuity in the Middle Stone Age lithics from Klasies River Mouth, South Africa
Add shamans and stir? A critical review of the shamanism model of forager rock art production
Behavioral ecological models of lithic technological change during the later Middle Stone Age of South Africa
Handaxes Still Don't Fly
History (36 works) · Archaeology (35 works) · Geography (27 works) · Sociology (26 works) · History (24 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (21 works) · Political science (20 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (17 works) · Law (15 works) · Computer Science (14 works)