Hunter-gatherer economic complexity and “population pressure”: A cross-cultural analysis

This paper examines the relaionship between “population pressure” and socioeconomic complexity among hunter-gatherers. Population pressure is defined as the ratio between population density and the density of available resources. Socioeconomic complexity is measured by means of several correlated variables: storage-dependence, sedentism, social inequality, and use of a medium of exchange. Correlations between these variables are calculated from an ethnographic sample of 94 hunter-gatherer groups. The correlations between population pressure and socioeconomic complexity are found to be extremely high. Two major types of hunter-gatherers exist which are distinguished by a number of variables and may be termed “simple” and “complex.” Transitional groups between these two types are quite rare. It is also noted that population pressure does not arise in continental climates where famine mortality is common because of high-amplitude changes in productivity from year to year. It is argued that population pressure is a necessary and sufficient condition for and the efficient cause of socioeconomic complexity. The widespread disavowal by archaeologists of population pressure as a possible explanation for the prehistoric development of complex hunter-gatherers has no basis in ethnographic fact.     

Coercion and Warfare in the Rise of State Societies in Southern Zambezia

Researchers have raised a wide range of variables to account for the emergence and governance of complex polities. Warfare and investment in military power, along with an expansionist ideology, are often raised as catalysts for the emergence of state societies and hierarchical forms of leadership. In southern Africa’s Zambezian region, complex polities arose during the Later Iron Age, presently dated to the early second millennium CE. Wealth accumulation in the form of arable land for grazing cattle, as well as the development of a highly regulated elite ideology coupled with favorable climatic conditions, factored into this trajectory of sociopolitical development. This paper explores the role coercion may have played in cultural changes associated with increased political complexity in Zambezia. Coercive and persuasive leadership is often challenging to recognize archaeologically. Do we have sufficient visible datasets to support coercive power and conflict as a dominant factor for cultural change in this region? Was conflict a significant driver of change in the prehistoric Shashi-Limpopo Basin? How does the evidence stand up to scrutiny when evaluated against known archaeological signatures for warfare?     

The cost-effectiveness of certain methods of recovering macroscopic organic remains from archaeological deposits

In a survey, carried out to investigate the cost-effectiveness of the main methods used to recover macroscopic organic remains from archaeological deposits, it was found that sampling and recovery methods employed varied widely between individual workers. Sample type, recovery method and experience of the worker influenced the time taken to produce identified material, but it was clear that this is an expensive activity which must be justified in terms of information output.     

Microwear analysis of experimental flint tools: a test case

Recent attempts to infer the functions of prehistoric stone tools have centred on the study of microscopic traces of wear on the surfaces of these tools. One method of “microwear analysis” involving high magnification and an incident light microscope is tested in this paper. Modern flint tools made and used in ways thought relevant to prehistory were produced by a lithic technologist and after cleaning given to the microwear specialist who attempted to infer their use. A high degree of agreement between inferred and actual uses was achieved and this encouraging result has important implications for the study of microwear on prehistoric tools where no such independent check is available.