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Human Behavioral Ecology and Historical Contingency: A Comment on the Diablo Canyon Archaeological Record

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

William R. Hildebrandt ,
Kelly R. McGuire  and
Jeffrey S. Rosenthal
William R. Hildebrandt
Affiliation:
Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., 2727 Del Rio Place, Suite A, Davis, CA 95618
Kelly R. McGuire
Affiliation:
Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., 2727 Del Rio Place, Suite A, Davis, CA 95618
Jeffrey S. Rosenthal
Affiliation:
Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., 2727 Del Rio Place, Suite A, Davis, CA 95618
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Abstract

Using data from a single site along the central California coast (CA-SLO-2), Jones et al. (2008) critique our use of human behavioral ecology to explain changing hunting and fishing adaptations in prehistoric California and the Great Basin. Instead, they argue that human adaptations tend to stay relatively stable over time until they are influenced by historical contingencies. We question the utility of using data from a single site, and expand the sample with information from several deposits along the south-central coast. This expanded sample documents a dynamic evolutionary sequence characterized by increasing residential stability accompanied by hunting and fishing in more distant resource patches. Access to these patches, both terrestrial and marine, was made possible by changes in social organization and technology. Many of these behaviors appear to have incurred high costs, and are potentially explained with reference to costly signaling theory.

Resumen

Resumen

Utilizando los datos de un solo sitio a lo largo de la costa central de California (CA-SLO-2), Jones et al. (2008) critican nuestro uso de la ecología del comportamiento humano para explicar el cambio en las adaptaciones relativas a la caza y la pesca en California y la Gran Cuenca durante los tiempos prehistóricos. Sostienen en cambio, que las adaptaciones humanas tienden a permanecer relativamente estables en el tiempo hasta que se ven influenciadas por las contingencias históricas. Lo que cuestionamos es la utilidad de utilizar los datos de un solo sitio, y la ampliación de la muestra con información de varios depósitos o sedimentos a lo largo de la costa sur-central. Esta muestra ampliada documenta una secuencia dinámica evolutiva caracterizada por el aumento de la estabilidad residencial acompañada de la caza y la pesca en parajes más distantes. El acceso a estos parajes, tanto terrestres como marinos, fue posible gracias a los cambios en la organización social y a la tecnología. Muchos de estos comportamientos parecen haber incurrido en costos elevados, y son potencialmente explicados con referencia a costosas teorías de señalización.

Type
Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 75 , Issue 3 , July 2010 , pp. 679 - 688
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2010

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