Seasonality and Resource "Stress" Among Hunter-Gatherers

Archaeological Signatures

Bibliographic Data

ID23634865
AuthorsDavid R Yesner (corresponding author)
Year2020
Pages151-167
Publication date2020-08-25
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueKey Issues in Hunter-Gatherer Research (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.4324/9781003134961-10
OpenAlexW3080276623
ISBN9781003134961
LanguageEN
Citations received6

Evidence for episodic seasonal population stress is widespread among hunter-gatherers in arctic, temperate, and arid regions where resource seasonality existed. Greater sedentism, larger populations, and the resulting greater intensification of local resource exploitation among such societies elevated seasonal resource imbalances to a different level; technological and settlement pattern solutions were sought, but their effect was limited. Archaeological signatures of such intermediate-level stress episodes depend on whether the response is biological and/or cultural in nature. The participants in the original Man the Hunter Conference considered the nutritional status of hunter-gatherers on the basis of data available at that time. Abundant evidence is available to corroborate this linkage between biological and archaeological signatures of seasonal stress in both the Maine and Alaskan coastal groups. In Maine, there is evidence from Moshier Island itself for intensification of the subsistence base, with increased utilization of shellfish in general, as well as the decreasing size of individuals.

Archaeology · Biology · Geography · Resource (disambiguation) · Seasonality · Computer Science · Ecology · History · Indigenous Studies and Ecology

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