Dukha Mobility in a Constructed Environment

Past Camp Use Predicts Future Use in the Mongolian Taiga

Bibliographic Data

ID2096052
AuthorsR Haas (0000-0002-7742-2127, University of California, Davis, corresponding author), Todd A Surovell (0000-0001-6587-8621, University of Wyoming), Matthew J O’brien (0000-0001-8882-9865, California State University, Chico), Matthew J O''Brien, Matthew J O'Brien
Year2019
Volume84
Issue2
Pages215-233
Publication date2019-04-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Antiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7316 • E-ISSN: 2325-5064
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/aaq.2018.88
OpenAlexW2943773670
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited25

Diverse theoretical perspectives suggest that place plays an important role in human behavior. One recent perspective proposes that habitual and recursive use of places among humans may be an emergent property of obligate tool use by our species. In this view, the costs of tool use are reduced by preferential occupation of previously occupied places where cultural materials have been discarded. Here we use the model to generate five predictions for ethnographic mobility patterns. We then test the predictions against observations made during one month of coresidence with a residentially mobile Dukha family in the Mongolian Taiga. We show that (1) there is a strong tendency to occupy previously used camps, (2) previously deposited materials are habitually recycled, (3) reoccupation of places transcends kinship, (4) occupational hiatuses can span decades or longer, and (5) the distribution of occupation intensity among camps is highly skewed such that most camps are not intensively reoccupied whereas a few camps experience extremely high reoccupation intensity. These findings complement previous archaeological findings and support the conclusion that the constructed dimensions of human habitats exert a strong influence on mobility patterns in mobile societies

Archaeology · Economic geography · Ethnography · Geography · Kinship · Perspective (graphical) · Property (philosophy) · Sociology · Taiga · Anthropology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Computer Science · Forestry · Geographies of human-animal interactions · History · Primate Behavior and Ecology

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