The Road Not Taken
How Early Landscape Learning and Adoption of a Risk-Averse Strategy Influenced Paleoindian Travel Route Decision Making in the Upper Ohio Valley
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2096280 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matthew P Purtill (0000-0003-0233-2626, SUNY Fredonia, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 86 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 133-152 |
| Publication date | 2021-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Antiquity (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-7316 • E-ISSN: 2325-5064 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/aaq.2020.96 |
| OpenAlex | W3114549653 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 82 |
To evaluate a model of the travel-route selection process for upper Ohio Valley Paleoindian foragers (13,500-11,400 cal BP), this study investigates archaeological data through the theoretical framework of landscape learning and risk-sensitive analysis. Following initial trail placement adjacent to a highly visible escarpment landform, Paleoindians adopted a risk-averse strategy to minimize travel outcome variability when wayfaring between Sandy Springs, a significant Ohio River Paleoindian site, and Upper Mercer-Vanport chert quarries of east-central Ohio. Although a least-cost analysis indicates an optimal route through the lower Scioto Valley, archaeological evidence for this path is lacking. Geomorphic and archaeological data further suggest that site absence in the lower Scioto Valley is not entirely due to sampling bias. Instead, evidence indicates that Paleoindians preferred travel within the Ohio Brush Creek-Baker's Fork valley despite its longer path distance through more rugged, constricted terrain. Potential travel through the lower Scioto Valley hypothesizes high outcome variability due to the stochastic nature of the late Pleistocene hydroregime. In this case, perceived outcome variability appears more influential in determining travel-route decisions among Paleoindians than direct efforts to reduce energy and time allocation
Archaeology · Cartography · Escarpment · Geography · Landform · Pleistocene · Terrain · Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
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Risk and decision-making
First Peoples in a New World
The Lifeways of Hunter-Gatherers
Advances in prospect theory
Prospect Theory
Rational choice and the structure of the environment.
The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Hunter-Gatherers
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Migrations and Invasions in Archaeological Explanation
The first Americans
Physiographic Divisions of the United States
Physiographic Divisions of the United States
Diet choice, risk, and food sharing in a stochastic environment
The Younger Dryas and Late Pleistocene peoples of the Great Lakes region
Post-glacial drainage basin evolution in the midcontinent, North America
The use of summed radiocarbon probability distributions in archaeology
Reconsidering the potential role of saline springs in the Paleoindian occupation of Sandy Springs, Adams County, Ohio
The Basics of Least Cost Analysis for Archaeological Applications
Risk-senstive adaptive tactics
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In the Eastern Fluted Point Tradition
The Effects of Sample Bias on Paleoindian Fluted Point Recovery in the United States
Representativity of the Midwestern Paleoindian Sample
Lithic procurement patterning as a proxy for identifying Late Paleoindian group mobility along the Lower Tennessee River Valley
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Pattern or bias? A critical evaluation of Midwestern fluted point distributions using raster based GIS
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Eastern Paleoindian Lithic Resource Use
The Dry Puna as an ecological megapatch and the peopling of South America
Correcting temporal frequency distributions for taphonomic bias
Is it Intensification Yet? Current Archaeological Perspectives on the Evolution of Hunter-Gatherer Economies
Modeling Clovis Landscape Use and Recovery Bias in the Southeastern United States Using the Paleoindian Database of the Americas (Pidba)
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Social learning and technological evolution during the Clovis colonization of the New World
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| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |