Showing papers in "Current Anthropology in 1981"
TL;DR: The emergence of a hereditary elite class in Bronze Age Europe is now widely interpreted in terms of the redistributive activities of a managerial ruling class as mentioned in this paper, which goes against a uniformitarian understanding of what ruling classes do in complex societies.
Abstract: The emergence of a hereditary elite class in Bronze Age Europe is now widely interpreted in terms of the redistributive activities of a managerial ruling class. This fuctionalist account of elite origins goes against a uniformitarian understanding of what ruling classes do in complex societies. It also is poorly suited to the concrete evidence for Bronze Age cultures in Europe. The rise of hereditary, superordinate social strata in prehistoric Europe is better understood as a consequence of the development of capital-intensive subsistence techniques. Plow agriculture, Mediterranean polyculture, irrigation, and offshore fishing limited the possibility of group fission and thereby gave leaders the opportunity to exploit basic producers over the long term. The observations that capital-intensification preceded elite emergence and that areas with greater intensification exhibited greater social inequalities confirm this nonfuctionalist account of the development of stratification in later prehistoric Europe.
181 citations
TL;DR: The transition from the Pleistocene to the Mesolithic was analyzed in broad ecological terms as discussed by the authors, and it is shown that the diversification of the resource base reached a maximum in a number of areas, and increased diversity could only be achieved by devising efficient means to exploit r-selected types of resources.
Abstract: The transition from Pleistocene to Archaic/Mesolithic is analyzed in broad ecological terms. The trend throughout most of the Pleistocene toward increasing technological diversity is linked to the expectable ecological tendency to increase resource reliability. The advent of culture enabled man to increase resource reliability by diversifying his resource base. Resources were largely of the K-selected type, economical to procure with simple technology but generally subject to overexploitation. By the end of the Pleistocene the diversification of the resource base had reached a maximum in a number of areas, and increased diversity could only be achieved by devising efficient means to exploit r-selected types of resources. It is this shiff in emphasis that characterizes the Archaic/Mesolithic. This change resulted in increases in sedentism, population density, and competition; occupation of new habitats; diversification of resource use in low-resource-density areas and specialization of resource use in area...
165 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a trial model for the evolution of specialization in pottery production is presented, together with test implications for the archaeological recognition of specialized production, and a partial test of the model is made using ceramic data from the Maya site of Barton Ramie, Belize.
Abstract: Craft specialization, a concomitant of evolving social complexity, is regarded as a process of regulating variety in extractive or productive activities. A trial model for the evolution of specialization in pottery production is presented, together with test implications for the archaeological recognition of specialized production. Emphasis is on standardization vs. variability or diversity in decorative, technological, and formal pottery attributes. A partial test of the model is made using ceramic data from the Maya site of Barton Ramie, Belize. Specialization is hypothesized to begin in "elite" goods, which are also more elaborated, while "utilitarian" goods are more standardized.
152 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a cross-culturally viable definition of tourism is offered, which conceives of the tourist as a person at leisure who travels and of tourism as a variety of leisure activity.
Abstract: This paper provides a critical evaluationof the growing number of anthropologically oriented studies of tourism and proposes a conceptual framework for future studies. A cross-culturally viable definition of tourism is offered. This definition, which conceives of the tourist as a person at leisure who travels and of tourism as a variety of leisure activity, suggest a transactional view of tourism that involves an encounter between tourist-generating and host societies. Such an encounter may be conceived of as a process or a system. Following this definition, it is possible ot identify tourism at all levels of sociocultural complexity. At present it does not seem possible to discover the causes of tourism, but one can begin to account for intra-or intersocietal touristic variability. Anthropological consideration of this latter is not well developed. Rather, interest has been centered on the consequences of tourism for host societies, particularly in the developing world. So far, thought, these studies hav...
135 citations
TL;DR: The most probable interpretation of the evidence is that the hominids at Olorgesailie systematically and repeatedly hunted and butchered giant gelada baboons, the first evidence of such a behavior in the fossil record.
Abstract: Primate fossils from the Acheulian handaxe site at Olorgesailie, Kenya, are analyzed in an attempt to evaluate Isaac's suggestion that Locality DE/89 B preserves the remains of the hunting and butchering of giant gelada baboons. The age and sex structure of the 90 individuals suggests that attritional mortality occurred. This evidence is consistent with predation on small numbers of individuals at a time by either hominids or carnivores. A comparative method of analyzing breakage patterns is used. The type and frequency of breaks on each skeletal element are compared statistically with those on the same skeletal elements of primates from broadly contemporaneous sites where hunting and butchering are not suggested to have occured but where carnivore activity and other sources of damage have occurred. Some aspects of the breakage pattern on the Olorgesailie baboon material are significantly different from those at the nonhominid sites. The breaks in question could have occurred during disarticulation of the...
99 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the social characteristics of the instances of homicide, attempted homicide, and forced suicide for family honour that occurred in Israel between May 1973 and December 1978 are discussed. But the authors focus on Arab Muslims.
Abstract: Homicide of patrilateral kin on the justification of "restoring the family honour" is here differentiated from other assaults on family members. It is also distinguished from vendetta, which, though aimed at the restoration of family honour, affects strangers. This study outlines the social characteristics of the instances of homicide, attempted homicide, and forced suicide for family honour that occurred in Israel between May 1973 and December 1978. The findings disclose a systematic subjection of the custom to a normative code. It is largely limited to Arab Muslims. Murder by kin is here a consequence of forbidden sexual associations that impinge on a group's esteem. The sensitivity of the groups to their daughters' propriety is a matter of honour not in an absolute sense, but in concrete reference to groups above or below them on the social scale. The killing is, moreover, not a mere punitive response, but a consequence of a shift in the kin group's position on the social ladder; with social mobility t...
92 citations
TL;DR: It is explored the possibility that incipient forms of labor division had a firm biological/ecological foundation in the nonhuman primates well before a social/cultural overlay developed in the hominid line, to recast labor division as one of the many evolutionary continuities binding humans to other primates.
Abstract: "Division of labor" has traditionally been regarded as an exclusively human economic institution. Serious consideration of the possibility that incipient forms of labor division may occur in various primate species has been hampered by the conviction that its present expression and prehistoric origin are linked only to human ancestry and society and that it is therefore not susceptible to cross-species analysis. Now that sex differences in the performance of subsistence activities have been documented in a broad spectrum of living primates, new speculations about the evolutionary emergence of this trait can be examined in a wider comparative framework that includes hominids, pongids, and cercopithecids. Here we focus on prevalent commonalities in pongid and hominid approaches to range utilization and resource explotation, using evidence assembled mainly from long-term studies of chimpanzees and orangutans, in order to recast labor division as one of the many evolutionary continuities binding humans to oth...
84 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, African plant-food genera exploited by Homo, Pan, and Papio have been cataloged and analyzed to provide an estimation of the size and composition of the fundamental plantfood niche of the early hominids.
Abstract: African plant-food genera exploited by Homo, Pan, and Papio have been catalogued and analyzed to provide an estimation of the size and composition of the fundamental plant-food niche of the early hominids. Results to date include recognition of more than 100 widely distributed African plant genera which are the best known candidates for plant-food exploitation by the Plio/Pleistocene hominids of eastern and southern Africa. An analysis of staples reveals that fruits would be the most common type of plant part contributing to the early hominid plant-food diet. Six plant genera (four providing edible fruits) are the first genera to be identified as members of the most probable early-hominid fundamental plant-food niche. Potential interspecies competition for plant-food staples has also been estimated. It is highly significant and must be considered in models predicting the realized niche of these primates and the early hominids.
78 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, IsaAC et al. discuss the possible misuse and errors of cumulative percentage frequencv graphs for the comparison of prehistoric artefact assemblages, and propose a method to improve the performance of such graphs.
Abstract: of man the tool-maker," in Human origins. Edited by G. LI. Isaac and E. McCown, pp. 1-54. Menlo Park: Benjamin. ISAAC, G. LL., and R. CORRUCCINI. n.d. Notes on experiments in multivariate analyses of early stone industries. MS. ISAAC, G. LL., and J. W. K. HARRIS. 1978. "Archaeology" in Koobi Fora Research Project, vol. 1. Edited by M. G. Leakey and R. E. F. Leakey. Oxford: Clarendon Press. KERRICH, J. E., and D. L. CLARKE. 1967. Notes on the possible misuse and errors of cumulative percentage frequencv graphs for the comparison of prehistoric artefact assemblages. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 33:57-69. LEAKEY, M. D. 1971. Olduvai Gorge. Vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. -. 1975. "Cultural patterns in the Olduvai sequence," in After the australopithecines. Edited by K. W. Butzer and G. LI. Isaac, pp. 495-542. The Hague: Mouton.
74 citations
TL;DR: To the extent that tooth size rises above the level of that found in the most typical Autronesian-speakers, the language deviates from hypothetical Proto-Austronesian, which suggests that the original population of New Guinea and some adjacent islands continued in situ from well back into the Pleistocene.
Abstract: Tooth size in Oceania varies from a minimum equivalent to the figure for the pre-Chinese inhabitants of Taiwan to a maximum equivalent to the figure for large-toothed Australian Aborigines. The minimum figure is found among the easternmost and weternmost inhabitants, and the maximum figure occurs in the highlands of New Guinea. Elsewhere, intermediate figures are evident, and it is apparent that the populations in which they can be observed display phenotypes that are intermediate in pigmentation and hair form between those on the Asian mainland and those whose identification with an equatorial habitat can be traced back into the Pleistocene. In addition, it is evident that the small-toothed populations speak languages that are most closely related to hypothetical Proto-Austronesian While the largest-toothed populations speak languages that are not related to Austronesian at all. To the extent that tooth size rises above the level of that found in the most typical Autronesian-speakers, the language deviat...
64 citations
TL;DR: Analysis in incest avoidance illustrates the inadequacy of efforts to reduce to irrelevance genetic determinants.
Abstract: Although it has repeatedly been demonstrated that behavior is best understood as a function of the interrelatedness of nature and nurture, many social scientists persist in posing these determinants adversatively and then contend that genes and biology are, at best, minor determinants of behavior. Analysis in incest avoidance illustrates the inadequacy of efforts to reduce to irrelevance genetic determinants. Man and many other species exhibit strong tendencies to avoid incest. Conspecifics who are intimately associated during the infancy and childhood of one or both do not find each other sexually attractive if alternative mates are available. Migration shortly after puberty, usually by the male, is characteristics of social primates. Incest vere seldom occurs, and when it does the copulatory act differs markedly from normal mating. Incest within intact human families is rare. Inbreeding with other close relatives is inhibited by human awareness of inbreeding depression, not by any apparent genetic predi...
TL;DR: Bonobos possess specializations quite different from those present in either Miocene apes or the earliest known hominids and should not be considered as suitable living models of the primitive hominoid or hominid condition.
Abstract: Neontological, biochemical, and paleontological data indicate that the bonobo, Pan paniscus, is a specialized form that possesses relatively small teeth, is quadrupedally adapted, and is only minimally sexually dimorphic. The various specializations of bonobos could be adaptations to ecological restrictions encountered in the terrestrial island of tropical forest that comprises their home range. Bonobos possess specializations quite different from those present in either Miocene apes or the earliest known hominids and should not be considered as suitable living models of the primitive hominoid or hominid condition.
TL;DR: The most successful reform occurs in those districts in which the resident landlord's estate was less than one-sixth the size of the district's average estate as mentioned in this paper, while reform measured in terms of reduced frequency of subleasing is strikingly high.
Abstract: success of reform is the extent to which rural lands were previously held by absentee, as opposed to resident, landlords. While there are no direct data on the percentage of landlords resident in the communities in which they held land or on the percentage of the land they held in contrast to absentee landlords, one may make limited inferences on the basis of the known differences between the average size of the estates of the resident landlords surveyed and the average size of all estates resumed for the district. The most successful reform occurs in those districts in which the resident landlord's estate was less than one-sixth the size of the district's average estate. It would appear, then, that absentee landlords were more readily divested of their estates, a point corroborated by case-study evidence in which the loss of land by absentee landlords is recorded (Rosin 1978:476,481). Least success in reform occurs in those districts in which the resident landlord's estate is as much as one-fourth to one-half the size of the average estate. In some of these districts, while reform measured in terms of proprietary rights assumed by the tenant cultivators is relatively low, reform measured in terms of reduced frequency of subleasing is strikingly high. Case studies suggest the processes involved. Landlords who have retained title to their lands either have increasingly become engaged in its cultivation, often in an atmosphere of heated competition with their previous tenants, or have allowed their lands to fall out of production temporarily, eventually to be sold to peasant cultivators. They have avoided subleasing for fear of loss of title to a mobilized tenant community ready to encourage its members to file appeals and litigate for title to lands they work. These findings reaffirm the general success of the initial Rajasthan land-reform program in removing intermediaries and eventually giving title to land to those who cultivate it, whether previous tenants or resident landlords. They suggest the importance of the program as a model for those concerned with tenurial reform as a basis for agrarian development, while indicating the limitations of such a program in areas of small holdings and high population density, where agrarian classes are in sharp competition for limited land and water.
TL;DR: A pilot survey of red cell enzyme and serum protein groups and the identification of the carbonic anhydrase-1 variant with CA, Guam.
Abstract: CAVALLI-SFORZA, L. L., L. A. ZONTA, F. Nuzzo, L. BERNINI, W. W. W. DE JONG, P. MEERA KHAN, A. K. RAY, L. N. WENT, M. SINISCALCO, L. E. NIJENHUIS, E. VAN LOGHEM, and G. MODIANO. 1968. Studies on African Pygmies. 1. A pilot investigation of Babinga Pygmies in the Central African Republic. American Journal of Human Genetics 21:252-74. HORAT, S., K. OMOTO, T. JUji, H. SONOZAKI, H. MITSUI, S. MISAWA, J. S. SUMPAICO, and A. S. MERCADO. 1981. The HLA antigens of two Negrito populations in the Philippines. Tissue Antigens. In press. MATSUMOTO, H., T. MIYAZAK1, K. OMOTO, S. MISAWA, S. HARADA, M. HIRAI, J. S. SUMPAICO, P. M. MEDADO, and H. OGONUKI. 1979. Population genetic studies of the Philippine Negritos. 2. Gm and Km allotypes of three population groups. American Journal of Human Genetics 31:70-76. OMOTO, K. 1980. Genetic variants of red cell enzymes as potential anthropological markers in the western Pacific. Hemoglobin 4:75560. OMOTO, K., S. MISAWA, S. HARADA, J. S. SUMPAICO, P. M. MEDADO, and H. OGONUKI. 1978. Population genetic studies of the Philippine Negritos. 1. A pilot survey of red cell enzyme and serum protein groups. American Journal of Human Genetics 30:190-201. OMOTO, K., S. UEDA, K. GORIKI, N. TAKAHASHI, S. MISAWA, and I. G. PAGARAN. 1981. Population genetic studies of the Philippine Negritos. 3. Identification of the carbonic anhydrase-1 variant with CA, Guam. American Journal of Human Genetics 33:105-11.
TL;DR: The discovery of the Petralona cave and its Archanthropus skeleton marked a new stage in palaeoanthropological research in Greece; the work is still in its infancy, but remarkable progress has already been made as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The only materials available within a short distance of the cave are limestone, quartz, and bauxite. Only limestone was found inside and in the vicinity of the cave; quartz and bauxite were brought from a distance of several kilometers. Quartz and limestone tools are known from many parts of the world; bauxite tools are found for the first time at Petralona. One bauxite tool from Layer 11 is of particular interest; it is a kind of knife, weighted towards the base and ending in a double-edged blade one side of which is polished by use. This tool could only have been used in the right hand. All of the cave's cultural layers contain traces of fire-burnt animal bones, ashes, and burnt stones. These were particularly abundant in Layer 11. Layer 24, near the base of the cave's stratigraphy, has been dated by palaeomagnetism to ca. 950,000 B.P., and this date correlates with the layer's fauna. Traces of fire from the same layer have been dated by electron spin resonance to about 1,000,000 B.P.; thus these are the oldest traces of fire known. (For details on recent work, see Anthropos 7.) The new evidence from Greece is by no means restricted to Petralona. Rich Lower Palaeolithic material has been found in various parts of the country, including the Aegean islands. One result is that the Early Acheulean, with its characteristic handaxes, can no longer be seen as a Western European phenomenon derived from North Africa; instead, it seems more likely that there was local development of stone tool industries in different parts of the world at various times. The same may well apply to man himself. The Pikermi fauna of the Upper Miocene is known from Hungary to Iran, and it includes a semierect ape known as Helladopithecus; finds of this species have been made in Greece. The creature was about 65% erect, more than today's primates but less than Australopithecus; it is therefore possible that it may constitute a forerunner of the latter. Cultural remains far older than those of Petralona have recently been uncovered near Perdikas, in the Ptolemais basin (Macedonia), associated with the remains of an extinct elephant. The elephant lay in coarse sand which formed the ninth layer of the local sequence. The younger seventh layer has been dated by palaeomagnetism to between 2,900,000 and 3,300,000 years B.P. About 30 tools were found among the elephant bones, particularly in areas such as the rib cage. The tools included two quartz choppers which had been brought from a source at least 10 km distant; in addition, two bone tools were found in the left orbit, one of them, made from a fibula of the extinct horse Pliohippus, having pierced it. Judging by its measurements and the pattern of its molar ridges, the elephant belonged to the species Archidiskodon meridionalis; it was about 5 m long and stood 4 m high. Both tusks were missing and had been broken off after death. It is impossible to be sure whether the elephant was actually killed or merely scavenged by man, but the presence and location of tools and the displacement of the bones are proof of human activity. Given the date for a subsequent layer, the Pliocene tools from Perdikas are the oldest yet found, but they show no great differences in technique from the Lower Pleistocene tools from Petralona. The discovery of the Petralona cave and its Archanthropus skeleton marked a new stage in palaeoanthropological research in Greece; the work is still in its infancy, but remarkable progress has already been made. Southeastern Europe is emerging as an area of crucial importance in studies of early man. One can predict with confidence that further finds will alter the picture profoundly.
TL;DR: The early states in the Voltaic Basin, in The early state. as discussed by the authors, edited by H. J. Claessen and P. Skalnik, pp. 469-94.
Abstract: M. 1968. Bantu genesis: Archeological reflections. Journal of African History 9: 1-11. PRESSAT, R. 1973. Population. Harmondsworth: Penguin. SKALNfK, P. 1978. \"Early states in the Voltaic Basin,\" in The early state. Edited by H. J. M. Claessen and P. Skalnik, pp. 469-94. The Hague: Mouton. STEINHART, E. I. 1978. \"Ankole: Pastoral hegemony,\" in The early state. Edited by H. J. M. Claessen and P. Skalnik, pp. 131-50. The Hague: Mouton. -. n.d. \"From 'empire' to state: The emergence of the Kingdom of Bunyoro-Kitara: c. 1350-1890,\" in The study of the state. Edited by H. J. M. Claessen and P. Skalnik. The Hague: Mouton. In press. THOMLINSON, R. 1965. Population dynamics: Causes and consequences of world demographic change. New York: Random House. VAN NOTEN, F. 1978. The early Iron Age in the interlacustrine region: The diffusion of iron technology. MS. WRIGLEY, E. A. 1969. Bevolkingsvraagstukken in heden en verleden. Antwerpen: De Haan en Meulenhoff.
TL;DR: Paromomys maturus, Phenacolemur praecox, Pronothodectes matthewi, Carpodaptes hazelae, Elphidotarsius florencae, and Microsyops latidens were compared with the mandibular first molars of two extant chiropters, the molar morphology of which is very different from that of the primates but may be similar adaptationally to that of Picrodus.
Abstract: Paromomys maturus, Phenacolemur praecox, Pronothodectes matthewi, Carpodaptes hazelae, Elphidotarsius florencae, and Microsyops latidens. They were also compared with the mandibular first molars of two extant chiropters, Lonchophylla thomsi and Choeroniscus intermedius, the molar morphology of which is very different from that of the primates but may be similar adaptationally to that of Picrodus. From polar-coordinate drawings of the occlusal surface, ten Fourier harmonics were generated for each tooth. Because symmetry cannot be imposed, the power functions were used. To analyze the re-
TL;DR: In this paper, the La Riera sample was used to test hypotheses concerning variability among Upper Paleolithic/Mesolithic artifact assemblages and to define and begin to explain changing hunter-gatherer adaptations to the coastal region at the end of the Wurm and the beginning of the Holocene.
Abstract: Excavations were conducted at La Riera to test hypotheses concerning variability among Upper Paleolithic/Mesolithic artifact assemblages and to define and begin to explain changing hunter-gatherer adaptations to the coastal region at the end of the Wurm and the beginning of the Holocene. The 36 strata contain assemblages that can be assigned to Aurignacian(?), Solutrean, Magdalenian, Azilian, and Asturian culture-stratigraphic units. However, there is considerable nontraditional variability and great similarity between certain "Solutrean" and "Lower Magdalenian" assemblages. Shifts in raw-material procurement patterns are noted, and the variable lithic-debris fractions reflect changing tool-manufacturing activities. All these indices suggest differing uses of the cave or fundamental alterations in settlement-subsistence systems and cast doubt on the stric validity of the classic "cultural" subdivision scheme for the Stone Age of western Europe. Palynological and sedimentological analyses trace a series of...
TL;DR: In this paper, a new theory based on sociobiological studies of altruism is proposed, and it is shown that altruism evolves more easily when the coefficient of relationship is higher.
Abstract: The emergence of the monogamous family in human societies is not satisfactorily explained by traditional theories of its "natural" character or economic origins. This paper proposes a new theory based on sociobiological studies of altruism, a behaviour well-known in man and nonhuman primates. The starting point is the evolution of altruism, a behaviour which increases the chance of survival of the recipient at some cost to the performer. Altruism can evolve if directed towards close relatives: though the altruist may die because of an altruistic deed, the genes identical to his own by common descent which are present in his relatives in proportion to their coefficient of relationship have an increased chance of survival owing to his behaviour. It is evident that altruism evolves more easily when the coefficient of relationship is higher. This coefficient is much higher in a polygamous family than in a promiscuous group and much higher in a monogamous family than in a polygamous one. If we consider the imp...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed the Acheulean assemblages of Ramat Yiron in terms of five primary categories: shaped tools, miscellaneous trimmed artifacts, utilized pieces, cores, and debitage.
Abstract: A43, 664 from A63). These were analyzed in terms of five primary categories: shaped tools, miscellaneous trimmed artifacts, utilized pieces, cores, and debitage. Further analysis was focused on shaped tools, miscellaneous trimmed artifacts, cores, core scars, debitage flakes, debitage exhausted cores, and their scars. From 12 to 34 qualitative and quantitative variables (subdivided into a great number of secondary ones) were recorded and tested; a total of 146 main attributes was examined across categories. On the basis of this lithic analysis, the following interpretation for the Avivim sites is suggested: The two assemblages are largely similar. They represent a flint flake technology, most probably Acheulean, emphasizing relatively small shaped tools. Limitations on the immediate availability of abundant raw material apparently led to highly intensive utilization of cores, reflecting a concept focused upon avoidance of waste. Yet, the scarcity of systematically reduced cores, the high frequency of irregularities in the manufacturing process, and the high degree of intra-attribute variation point to considerable technological inefficiency, resulting in waste in practice. This is particularly apparent in the high proportion of exhausted cores that had not been fully exploited as they might have been had the reduction process throughout been more standardized. Thus there seems to have been an inherent contradiction between intention and execution. The possibilitv exists, however, that some sort of immediate need dictated the casualness in production. Interassemblage variability is on the whole rather low. A few characteristics hint, however, at somewhat more systematic-standardized artifact processing at A63 than at A43, where the configuration of the core and shapedtool components also shows less variety. The cause is tentatively considered to have been some functional specificity the nature of which is as yet unclear. A number of hypothetical options are offered concerning the role and status of the Avivim sites' occupants, of which the following is provisionally favored here pending the analysis of the Acheulean assemblages from the neighboring Ramat Yiron. The Avivim occupants were part and parcel of an Acheulean group (or several such groups) camping regularly on the northern and/or eastern edge of Ramat Yiron. The sites contain evidence of some specific activities carried out by that group (or those groups) during comparatively short stays, probably in winter months (December to February). To endure the extremely harsh midwinter typical of the high mountain region, the group(s) would have moved from the plateau, where weather conditions were virtually unbearable, to the Avivim slope for better shelter and procurement of the necessary subsistence needs. Consequently, the artifactual assemblages of Avivim presumably reflect the requirements of a somewhat different ecology than that of the plateau. Methodologically, the analysis of the Avivim assemblage is a pilot study aimed at providing building blocks for a comprehensive model for analysis of the Acheulean assemblages of Ramat Yiron. The whole plateau has by now been intensively surveyed, and random samples have been drawn from eight prolific sites. One of these (Y25, Mitzpeh Yiron), on the eastern edge of the plateau, is a huge complex of concentrations covering an area of about 15,000 m2 and including nine clusters of some sort of construction debris represented by basalt stone formations (Ohel 1980). It is expected that the study of the Ramat Yiron assemblages will elucidate the interrelationships of the sites on both sides of Nahal Aviv.
TL;DR: In this article, different criteria based on conformance with laws of energy are proposed to classify elements pertaining to the various categories of infrastructure/structure/superstructure and mental/behavioral, emic/etic, and culture/nature dichotomies.
Abstract: Harris's cultural materialistic strategy of research must be more explicit in recognizing that it deals with nonlinear events that are constantly modified by natural-selective processes. These processes require a different kind of explanation, called here "selection explanation." Moreover, the tripartite notion of infrastructure/structure/superstructure and the mental/behavioral, emic/etic, and culture/nature dichotomies do not allow unambiguous classification of elements pertaining to the various categories. Different criteria based on conformance with laws of energy are proposed.
TL;DR: The myths of the pre-Columbian Mesoamericans follow a pattern that is well known to historians of religion as discussed by the authors, which corresponds to the pattern of the day: the original paradise is the afternoon; the sin is the penetration and fertilization of the earth by the setting sun; the consequence is night; the sacrifice of the hero causes the sun to rise again.
Abstract: The myths of the pre-Columbian Mesoamericans follow a pattern that is well known to historians of religion. At the time of creation, all created beings, whether people or gods, lived together with the Supreme Couple in a paradise in which death was unknown. As a result of a sin-usually the first sexual relations-the creatures were exiled to earth and darkness, and death made its appearance. The sacrifice of a hero became necessary-one who, like the sun, would perish and rise again and triumph over death and darkness so that contact would be reestablished with the Supreme Couple, light would return to the world, and creatures would have the possibility of an after life. This cyclically repeated pattern corresponds to the pattern of the day: the original paradise is the afternoon; the sin is the penetration and fertilization of the earth by the setting sun; the consequence is night; the sacrifice of the hero causes the sun to rise again. The "historical" accounts reveal again and again the same story and th...
TL;DR: Short statements-normally from 300 to 1,000 words-of research results and conclusions are welcomed, but should make clear reference to the location of such data (published or unpublished) so that interested readers may refer to the material.
Abstract: [The Editor welcomes short statements-normally from 300 to 1,000 words-of research results and conclusions. Such statements should not include detailed supporting data, but should make clear reference to the location of such data (published or unpublished) so that interested readers may refer to the material. Sentences hould be specific rather than vague. Abstracts of theses may be included, provided they present conclusions rather than only describe what was done. The date of submission will be printed, as well as the address of the contributor, so that colleagues may correspond.EDITOR.]
TL;DR: In 1958-59 and in 1977-78, the authors undertook holistic ethnographic studies of a village in northern India and found that profound technoenvironmental change occurred in the 18-year period between the two studies.
Abstract: In 1958-59 and in 1977-78, we undertook holistic ethnographic studies of a village in northern India. Profound technoenvironmental change occurred in the 18-year period between the two studies. Wit...
TL;DR: A far-reaching frontier culture area emerged along the eastern periphery of southern Mesoamerica during the Late Postclassic as mentioned in this paper, with the frontier commencing along the borders of the Quinche and Cakchiquel conquest states, and a principal variable in the development of the frontier cultural pattern was militaristic expansionism.
Abstract: A far-reaching frontier culture area emerged along the eastern periphery of southern Mesoamerica during the Late Postclassic. Here linguistically diverse peoples (e.g., Rabinal, Pokom, Akahal, Xinca) shared a pattern in material culture. With the frontier commencing along the borders of the Quinche and Cakchiquel conquest states, it is theorized that a principal variable in the development of the frontier cultural pattern was militaristic expansionism. Ethnohistory chronicles that the Quiche and Chakchiquel displaced Pokom and Akahal peoples, who in turn displaced others. Migrations into these borderlands from the Epiclassic onward had established a frontier cultural base that was reformulated under the pressures generated by Late Postclassic expansions. Adaptation to militaristic pressures is suggested by sites demonstrating linear regression in various indexes of political centralization/militarization. Proximity to conquest states is more signifant than ethnicity in predicting the values of these index...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors pose a simple but fundamental and neglected demographic question: how many men women and children were involved in the initial expansion through the tropical forest belt, and the most likely solution seems to be a clockwise expansion around the forest fringe from Nigeria to the interlacustrine region; but this too could have been accomplished with few men.
Abstract: The present paper poses a simple but fundamental and neglected demographic question: how many men women and children were involved? This issue is of central importance particularly if one assumes--as many Africanists do--that the initial expansion was through the tropical--forest belt. Movements of large groups on this route seem almost impossible though there is some evidence (Hiernaux 1968:514) that small groups of (swidden) agriculturalists may have traversed the forest. A hypothesis that bigger groups traversed the forest upstream along the rivers (e.g. Kuper and van Leynseele 1978) requires the assumption that the people altered their subsistence system (from [swidden] agriculture to fishing and back to agriculture again) which Is very unlikely to have been the case. In any case if many people--say 1000 or more--are needed to account for the presumably rapid expansion from the second center (be it in Katanga or in the interlacustrine region) the most likely solution seems to be a clockwise expansion around the forest fringe from Nigeria to the interlacustrine region; but this too could have been accomplished with few men. (excerpt)
TL;DR: A revisionist view of North American Indian societies and prehistory suggests that by the 1st millennium A. D. nearly all these peoples had evolved sophisticated and effective techniques of food production as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Anthropological discussions of North American Indians and archaeological interpretation of North American prehistory tend to be distorted by biases, some the "cant of conquest," others derived from the structuring principles of the European tradition. Tripartite schemata such as the Three-Age model and premises of oppositional dualism such as the contrast between primitive and civilized should be assumed to come from these structuring principles and subjected to critical examination. A revisionist view of North American Indian societies and prehistory suggests that by the 1st millennium A. D. nearly all these peoples had evolved sophisticated and effective techniqes of food production. The exception was in the high latitudes, where environmental conditions did not permit food production and adaptations focussed on perfecting harvesting techniques for natural populations. Throughout the continental core and the Pacific Drainage, but not in the high latitudes, societies were stratified and "urbanized" in th...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors make a few remarks concerning the possibility of comparability of transitions in systems of agricultural production between societies differing in technological and economic complexity that are analyzable on a synchronic axis and of the historical stages that can be reconstructed in the agriculture of a single society.
Abstract: (but not necessarily) in a relationship of domination/subordination. Thus my intention was simply to make a few remarks concerning the possibility of comparability of transitions in systems of agricultural production between societies differing in technological and economic complexity that are analyzable on a synchronic axis and of the historical stages that can be reconstructed in the agriculture of a single society. There is one last point I would like to comment upon. It has to do with the unequal access to the literature that we have in peripheral countries, which is one more aspect of the difficulty ofdoing certain kinds of research and of the preference for other kinds of study. I have been unable to examine the papers mentioned by Andrianov in his comment or by Gunda (CA 21:323-24) in his, because the journals and books they mention are not available in Venezuelan libraries. Precisely one of the achievements of a publication like CA is that it enables researchers from distant places and working in very different cultural contexts to come into contact and engage in fruitful dialogue.
TL;DR: Forni as discussed by the authors showed that pyrophilous colonizing plants such as spontaneous cereals and, following them, herbivorous animals spread rapidly in the environment created, perhaps unconsciously, by man through the use of specific techniques.
Abstract: by GAETANO FORNI via Keplero 33, 20124 Milano, Italy. 3 VI 80 Rindos's article (CA 21:751-65) certainly represents the most organic, multivalued, and global hypothesis of the process of the origins and development of agriculture. It has the further advantage of bringing to light the instability of agricultural systems, an aspect not previously considered by researchers. Keeping in mind that the author is still developing the argument, the following observations may be useful: 1. A glance at works published in languages other than English would have allowed the author to see other aspects of the process and other approaches. The contrast between rational and irrational orientations has been analyzed by Lanternari (1954-55, 1959). I have examined the relation between the religious and the technoeconomic aspects of the process (Forni 1961, 1962, 1975, 1976) and have pointed out its affective (1964), esthetic (1976), psychoanalytic (1971), and ethological (1971, 1977) aspects. The most significant result of these researches is the evidence they provide of the close interaction froms their beginnings between cultivation and animal husbandry (Forni 1976). Furthermore, through detailed analysis of the pre-Semitic and pre-Indo-European linguistic substratum using the techniques of linguistic paleontology, I have shown (1979a, b, c) how words such as \"grass,\" \"prairie,\" \"seedling,\" \"bud,\" \"spring,\" \"herbivorous animal,\" \"to burn,\" \"to cultivate,\" \"to harrow,\" and \"to plow\" can be assigned to a common stem, or at least a closely interrelated group of stems, that goes back at least to the Epipaleolithic-Mesolithic (18,000-12,000 B.C. in the Near East). It is apparent from this work that the ancient and widespread hunting technique of raising game by fire and the development of pyrophilous plants, documented ethnographically by Bartlett (1955-61) and archaeobotanically by Lewis (1972), underlies both animal husbandry and cultivation, even if at the unconscious level, and that there is a historical genetic dependency between burning, harrowing, plowing, and cultivation (Forni 1979a, b, c). 2. The results of the above-mentioned research show how, in naturalistic terms, agriculture belongs to the field of symbiotic relationships in a broad sense, but the plants (and the animals) that have entered into symbiosis with man are of the \"colonizing\" type, that is, they belong to the category of plants (and animals) that rapidly and massively invade areas in which the former vegetation has suddenly been eliminated by destructive vents such as fire, flood, and landslide. This means that the above studies documenting the coincidence of burning and cultivation show that the invasion precedes the symbiosis. Pyrophilous colonizing plants such as the spontaneous cereals and, following them, herbivorous animals spread rapidly in the environment created, perhaps unconsciously, by man through the use of specific techniques. Thus agriculture begins with the use of fire as an instrument of hunting and gathering, and with it is born, through coevolution, the symbiosis of the hunter-gatherer with colonizing plants and herbivorous animals. In Rindos's article, the relationship between the colonizing process and symbiosis, both in a typological and in a chronological sense, is not clear, and neither is the relationship between animal husbandry and plant cultivation. 3. The author's emphasis seems to present a picture of
TL;DR: Short statements-normally from 300 to 1,000 words-of research results and conclusions are welcomed, but should make clear reference to the location of such data (published and unpublished) so that interested readers may refer to the material.
Abstract: [The Editor welcomes short statements-normally from 300 to 1,000 words-of research results and conclusions. Such statements should not include detailed supporting data, but should make clear reference to the location of such data (published and unpublished) so that interested readers may refer to the material. Sentences should be specific rather than vague. Abstracts of theses may be included, provided they present conclusions rather than only describe what was done. The date of submission will be included, as well as the address of the contributor, so that colleagues may correspond.-EDITOR.]