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The southern Siberian Turkic groups were mostly unknown to outsiders when the Swedish scientist Johan Peter Falck (1732–1774) visited their settlements in the early 1770s. Falck led one of the expeditions dispatched between 1768 and 1774 by the Russian Academy of Sciences to different parts of the Russian Empire. As a botanist, zoologist, ethnographer and linguist, during his jour­neys he recorded information not only about the environment but also about the peoples he met and their political and social organisation, as well as ethnographic data. Falck’s rich and detailed travelogue was published posthumously and soon forgotten, while the rich data remained unat­tended for almost two centuries. In recent years, mainly biologists have rediscovered the materials, yet ethnobiological data is also plentiful. Knowledge about the environment is crucial for survival, and the complex relationship between humans and their environment is often reflected in names given to living organisms and places or in perceptions of the surroundings. This article focuses on Siberian Turkic folk knowledge among the Chulym Tatars, Kacha, Soyan, and Teleut, based on the observations by Johan Peter Falck in the 1770s. Ethnobiological and linguistic materials are used in an effort to at least partly reconstruct the cognitive world in which these peoples lived and created their concepts of the environment. The article is a preliminary contribution to the study of historical ethnoecology and ethnobiology.

Coastal prehistoric hunter-gatherers in Atlantic Iberia were particularly important to understanding Paleolithic human innovation and resilience. This study will focus on Middle and Upper Paleolithic adaptations to the Iberian Atlantic border. Elements such as intensity and diversity of marine foods, site location, distance to shore, submerged platform, and bathymetry are discussed for the region between Gibraltar and the Gulf of Biscay.

This paper is an introduction to the topical collection dealing with the Post-glacial human subsistence and settlement patterns: insights from bones. The context of the Lateglacial and Early Holocene (ca. 16,000–6000 cal BP) in Europe offers the possibility to examine the response of terrestrial ecosystems to dramatic climatic changes and the evolution of subsistence among hunter-gatherers facing phases of environmental instabilities. The contributors of this special issue developed and applied diverse approaches to provide regional and chronological elements to the knowledge of the available biotopes and their exploitation by human populations over the Lateglacial and Early Holocene in Europe. Their studies provide local information on animal recolonization of septentrional areas in Europe, change in habitat of large games, and human dietary adaptation to new biotopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synchronized demographic and behavioral patterns among distinct populations is a well-known, natural phenomenon. Intriguingly, similar patterns of synchrony occur among prehistoric human populations. However, the drivers of synchronous human ecodynamics are not well understood. Addressing this issue, we review the role of environmental variability in causing human demographic and adaptive responses. As a case study, we explore human ecodynamics of coastal hunter-gatherers in Holocene northern Europe, comparing population, economic, and environmental dynamics in two separate areas (northern Norway and western Finland). Population trends are reconstructed using temporal frequency distributions of radiocarbondated and shoreline-dated archaeological sites. These are correlated to regional environmental proxies and proxies for maritime resource use. The results demonstrate remarkably synchronous patterns across population trajectories, marine resource exploitation, settlement pattern, and technological responses. Crucially, the population dynamics strongly correspond to significant environmental changes. We evaluate competing hypotheses and suggest that the synchrony stems from similar responses to shared environmental variability. We take this to be a prehistoric human example of the "Moran effect," positing similar responses of geographically distinct populations to shared environmental drivers. The results imply that intensified economies and social interaction networks have limited impact on long-term hunter-gatherer population trajectories beyond what is already proscribed by environmental drivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pregnancy is the most delicate stage of human life history as well as a common target of food taboos across cultures. Despite puzzling evidence that many pregnant women across the world reduce their intake of nutritious foods to accomplish cultural norms, no study has provided statistical analysis of cross-cultural variation in food taboos during pregnancy. Moreover, antenatal practices among forager and agriculturalists have never been compared, despite subsistence mode being known to affect staple foods and lifestyle directly. This gap hinders to us from understanding the overall threats attributed to pregnancy, and their perceived nutritional causes around the world. The present study constitutes the first cross-cultural meta-analysis on food taboos during pregnancy. We examined thirty-two articles on dietary antenatal restrictions among agricultural and non-agricultural societies, in order to: (i) identify cross-culturally targeted animal, plant and miscellaneous foods; (ii) define major clusters of taboo focus; (iii) test the hypothesis that food types and clusters of focus distribute differently between agricultural and non-agricultural taboos; and (iv) test the hypothesis that food types distribute differently across the clusters of taboo focus. All data were analysed in SPSS and RStudio using chi-squared tests and Fisher's exact tests. We detected a gradient in taboo focus that ranged from no direct physiological interest to the fear of varied physiological complications to a very specific concern over increased birth weight and difficult delivery. Non-agricultural taboos were more likely to target nondomesticated animal foods and to be justified by concerns not directly linked to the physiological sphere, whereas agricultural taboos tended to targed more cultivated and processed products and showed a stronger association with concerns over increased birth weight. Despite some methodological discrepancies in the existing literature on food taboos during pregnancy, our results illustrate that such cultural traits are useful for detecting perception of biological pressures on reproduction across cultures. Indeed, the widespread concern over birth weight and carbohydrate rich foods overlaps with clinical evidence that obstructed labor is a major threat to maternal life in Africa, Asia and Eurasia. Furthermore, asymmetry in the frequency of such concern across subsistence modes aligns with the evolutionary perspective that agriculture may have exacerbated delivery complications. This study highlights the need for the improved understanding of dietary behaviors during pregnancy across the world, addressing the role of obstructed labor as a key point of convergence between clinical, evolutionary and cultural issues in human behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present evidence that people in small‐scale mobile hunter‐gatherer societies cooperated in large numbers to produce collective goods. Foragers engaged in large‐scale communal hunts and constructed shared capital facilities; they made shared investments in improving the local environment; and they participated in warfare, formed enduring alliances, and established trading networks. Large‐scale collective action often played a crucial role in subsistence. The provision of public goods involved the cooperation of many individuals, so each person made only a small contribution. This evidence suggests that large‐scale cooperation occurred in the Pleistocene societies that encompass most of human evolutionary history, and therefore it is unlikely that large‐scale cooperation in Holocene food producing societies results from an evolved psychology shaped only in small‐group interactions. Instead, large‐scale human cooperation needs to be explained as an adaptation, likely rooted in distinctive features of human biology, grammatical language, increased cognitive ability, and cumulative cultural adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Intersecciones en Antropología is the property of Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Intersecciones en Antropología is the property of Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Intersecciones en Antropología is the property of Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the current study, different geochemical and biological proxies, including pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, ostracods and molluscs, from an AMS radiocarbon-dated sediment core from Lake Ochaul (54°14′N, 106°28′E; 641 m a.s.l.) are presented and discussed. Ochaul is a fresh-water lake and an archaeological site situated ca. 100 km northwest of Lake Baikal in the upper reaches of the Lena River. The 260-cm-long sedimentary record presented here spans the Lateglacial–Holocene interval, between ca. 13,500 cal yr BP and the present. The reconstructions of the postglacial vegetation and lake system development are discussed along with the regional climate dynamics and the hemispheric-scale environmental changes. During the Allerød interstadial the region around Lake Ochaul was dominated by sparse taiga forests. Cooling during the Younger Dryas led to a more open tundra landscape where trees formed patchy forest stands in climatically favourable environments. This facilitated a rapid spread of forests at the onset of the Early Holocene during which the study region was probably characterized by seasonally dry climate controlled by the interplay of higher insolation, lower global sea levels and remaining ice sheets in the North Atlantic region. After thermal and moisture optimum conditions and a maximum spread of forests during the Middle Holocene, continuous cooling and a trend to more open forests landscapes marked the Late Holocene. These long-term trends were interrupted by several relatively short episodes of change in the vegetation and algal records, which coincide with short-term (centennial-scale) Northern Hemisphere cooling/drying phases. This shows that the regional vegetation reacted sensitively to these climate oscillations. Six AMS radiocarbon dates of bone material of large herbivorous animals from the Ochaul archaeological site located at the northern shore of the lake provide important information about prehistoric hunter-gatherers and indicate that activities at the site took place at ca. 27,780–27,160 cal yr BP (95% probability range) as well as during the Mesolithic (ca. 8850–8450 cal yr BP), Early, Middle and Late Neolithic (between ca. 6840 and 5490 cal yr BP) and the Iron Age (ca. 2120–1930 cal yr BP). Our results demonstrate that despite major environmental transformations following the Last Glacial Maximum, Lake Ochaul and the Malaya Anga River valley remained attractive for large herbivores and for prehistoric hunter-gatherers, even during the Middle Neolithic cultural "hiatus" (ca. 6660–6060 cal yr BP) in Cis-Baikal, as documented by the published archaeological records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taiwan is known as the homeland of the Austronesian-speaking groups, yet other populations already had lived here since the Pleistocene. Conventional notions have postulated that the Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers were replaced or absorbed into the Neolithic Austronesian farming communities. Yet, some evidence has indicated that sparse numbers of non-Austronesian individuals continued to live in the remote mountains as late as the 1800s. The cranial morphometric study of human skeletal remains unearthed from the Xiaoma Caves in eastern Taiwan, for the first time, validates the prior existence of small stature hunter-gatherers 6000 years ago in the preceramic phase. This female individual shared remarkable cranial affinities and small stature characteristics with the Indigenous Southeast Asians, particularly the Negritos in northern Luzon. This study solves the several-hundred-years-old mysteries of 'little black people' legends in Formosan Austronesian tribes and brings insights into the broader prehistory of Southeast Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of cultural ecosystem services (CES) for indigenous peoples is considered a key factor determining the effectiveness of conservation strategies in areas they inhabit. We conducted a study of the CES of the Maniq indigenous community in the rainforest of southern Thailand to determine the degree to which they depend on CES using single and group interviews and field observations. We established the Maniq rely on and engage with 11 CES in their daily lives: rituals, beliefs, myths and stories, aesthetics, spiritual values, language, wisdom, knowledge and transmission, inspirations, social relationships, and recreation. Understanding of the values attributed to these CES is essential for government environmental policies to effectively manage the ecosystem while respecting Maniq local ecological knowledge (LEK) and ethnic and cultural identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of human-gatherers societies' demography used to be a difficult task due to the lack of direct evidence to support the estimations. This is the case of several human groups from Pacific Patagonia whose historical population size estimations are controversial. This study estimated the historical population size for the Kawésqar people using direct and indirect evidence. Thus, we collated past estimations from experts and encounter rates distribution in time and space to generate a statistical approximation for population size. We used weights to include the reliability of such past estimations under three modeling scenarios. Our results indicate that the historical population ranged roughly between 3700 and 3900 individuals before the massive contact with Chileans and European people. The approach developed here for combining and integrating different evidence for estimating population in Kawésqar people, emerges as a promising and valuable tool to study the demography of other hunter-gatherer societies in South America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New and improved methods for obtaining chronometric dates for southern African hunter-gatherer rock paintings raise questions about how researchers can use the new dates to say more about the past. Traditionally, however, differences of opinion about the necessity of robust and reliable chronological frameworks for integrating rock art and excavated deposits separate those who think chronology is key from those who see it as an unnecessary obsession. This article takes a step back and scrutinizes the concept of integration itself. It shows that the ideas behind the desire to integrate rock art and excavated materials have a much longer history in South Africa than is usually acknowledged; that there is no consensus among researchers about what integration actually means; and argues that integration is a questionable research objective. The article challenges some of the assumptions implicit in the conventional view of integration and suggests that we need better tools for thinking about the relationships between rock art and excavated materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among social anthropologists, there is virtual consensus that the food-sharing practices of smallscale non-agricultural groups cannot be understood in isolation from the broader repertoire of leveling strategies that prevent would-be dominants from exercising power and influence over likely subordinates. In spite of that widespread view, quantitatively rigorous empirical studies of food sharing and cooperation in small-scale human groups have typically ignored the internal connection between leveling of income and political power, drawing inspiration instead from evolutionary models that are neutral about social role asymmetries. In this paper, I introduce a spatially explicit agent-based model of hunter-gatherer food sharing in which individuals are driven by the goal of maximizing their own income while minimizing income asymmetries among others. Model simulation results show that seven basic patterns of inter-household food transfers described in detail for the Hadza hunters of Tanzania can be simultaneously reproduced with striking accuracy under the assumption that agents selectively support and carry on sharing interactions in ways that maximize their income leveling potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little Muck Shelter in the middle Limpopo Valley has an unusually large density of scrapers that increase in frequency from the last few centuries BC into the first millennium AD, and then decline in the early second millennium. Scraper densities rise even when all other artefact categories decline. Backed tools, on the other hand, occur in low frequencies and it is unclear why. In this report, we present an analysis of the backed tool morphology and a preliminary examination of macro-fractures. We show that the backed tools are broadly similar to those found at other sites in the area but occur in different densities. We also identify diagnostic impact fractures on 10 of the 27 backed tools, which may indicate hunting. Our analysis demonstrates the potential of such a study in understanding the function of the shelter; for example, the low frequency of backed tools and abundance of scrapers may underscore the site's function as a trade or exchange centre. The results help guide further research at the shelter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolutionary history of African hunter-gatherers holds key insights into modern human diversity. Here, we combine ethnographic and genetic data on Central African hunter-gatherers (CAHG) to show that their current distribution and density are explained by ecology rather than by a displacement to marginal habitats due to recent farming expansions, as commonly assumed. We also estimate the range of huntergatherer presence across Central Africa over the past 120,000 years using paleoclimatic reconstructions, which were statistically validated by our newly compiled dataset of dated archaeological sites. Finally, we show that genomic estimates of divergence times between CAHG groups match our ecological estimates of periods favoring population splits, and that recoveries of connectivity would have facilitated subsequent gene flow. Our results reveal that CAHG stem from a deep history of partially connected populations. This form of sociality allowed the coexistence of relatively large effective population sizes and local differentiation, with important implications for the evolution of genetic and cultural diversity in Homo sapiens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching likely evolved in humans to facilitate the faithful transmission of complex tasks. As the oldest evidenced hunting technology, spear hunting requires acquiring several complex physical and cognitive competencies. In this study, we used observational and interview data collected among BaYaka foragers (Republic of the Congo) to test the predictions that costlier teaching types would be observed at a greater frequency than less costly teaching in the domain of spear hunting and that teachers would calibrate their teaching to pupil skill level. To observe naturalistic teaching during spear hunting, we invited teacher–pupil groupings to spear hunt while wearing GoPro cameras. We analysed 68 h of footage totalling 519 teaching episodes. Most observed teaching events were costly. Direct instruction was the most frequently observed teaching type. Older pupils received less teaching and more opportunities to lead the spear hunt than their younger counterparts. Teachers did not appear to adjust their teaching to pupil experience, potentially because age was a more easily accessible heuristic for pupil skill than experience. Our study shows that costly teaching is frequently used to transmit complex tasks and that instruction may play a privileged role in the transmission of spear hunting knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Anthropology Magazine is the property of University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Over the last half century, anthropologists have vigorously debated the adaptive motivations underlying food acquisition choices and food-sharing among hunter-gatherer groups. Numerous explanations have been proposed to account for high-levels of generosity in food-sharing, including self- and family-provisioning, reciprocity, tolerated theft and pro-social- or skill-signaling. However, few studies have asked foragers directly and systematically about the motivations underlying their foraging and sharing decisions. We recruited 110 Hadza participants and employed a combination of free-response, yes/no, ranking and forced-choice questions to do just this. In free-response answers, respondents typically gave outcome-oriented accounts of foraging motive (e.g., to get food) and moralistic accounts of sharing motive (e.g., I have a good heart). In ranking tasks, participants gave precedence to reciprocity as a motive for sharing food beyond the household. We found small but clear gender differences in foraging motive, in line with previous predictions: women were more likely than men to rank family-provisioning highly whereas men were more likely than women to rank skill-signaling highly. However, despite these gender differences, the relative importance of different motivations was similar across genders and skill-signaling, sharing and family-provisioning were the most important motivators of foraging activity for both men and women. Contrary to the expectations of tolerated theft, peer complaints and requests for food ranked very low. There are several compelling reasons that evolutionary thinkers, typically interested in ultimate-level adaptive processes, have traditionally eschewed direct and explicit investigations of motive. However, these data may yet provide important insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista del Museo de Antropología is the property of Museo de Antropologia - IDACOR and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract Background Food insecurity is a widespread public health concern in many communities of sub-Saharan Africa. This study involved the Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania, the only ethnic group in the country that has traditionally subsisted on hunting and gathering. In recent years, however, these communities have adopted mixed foraging economies. Information on how this change affects household food security is rather limited. The aim of this study was to assess the status of food security and the factors influencing household food security in the Hadza hunter-gatherer communities. Methods A cross-sectional study of 200 households was conducted in Mkalama district, Tanzania. Sampled householders represented individuals whose livelihood is mainly dependent on foraging (n = 129), beekeeping (n = 30) and farming (n = 41). Food security was measured by assessing food availability (Months of Adequate Food Provisioning (MAHFP)), food access (Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS)) and food utilization (Dietary Diversity Scores (DDS)). Results Mean MAHFP was lower (p = 0.000) in predominantly foraging households (8.4 ± 1.1) compared with those involved in beekeeping (8.7 ± 1.6) or farming (9.6 ± 1.9). Based on HFIAS indicator, the prevalence of food insecurity varied with the household’s main activity (83.0% foraging, 46.7% beekeeping and 26.8% farming). Further, regression analyses show that the farming households were more likely to be food secure than the foraging households (OR = 10.7, p = 0.01). Dietary diversity scores also varied significantly with household’s main activity. About 65% of households (86% foraging, 63.3% beekeeping and 2.4% farming) consumed diets below the critical value of ≤ 4 food groups 24 h prior to survey. Social demographic characteristics and livelihood options are strong predictors of household food security. Conclusion All indicators used to assess food security point to high level of food insecurity in households mainly subsisting on foraging compared with beekeeping and farming. The primary dependence on foraging is associated with a longer period of food shortage, high prevalence of food insecurity conditions and low consumption of food varieties. Livelihood diversification coupled with provision of agricultural support services is necessary for the development of a secure future of the Hadza communities.

Since ancient times Andean societies have formed an intimate relationship with volcanoes, the beginnings of which can be traced right back to the initial peopling of the region. By studying rocks used for stone tools and other everyday artifacts, we explore the volcanic landscapes of early hunter-gatherer groups (11,500–9,500 cal BP) of the highlands of the Atacama Desert (22–24°S/67–68°W). Petrological classification of the lithic assemblages of three Early Holocene archaeological sites showed the procurement of a great diversity of volcanic and subvolcanic rocks, including pumice, granitic rocks, micro-diorites, a large variety of tuffs and andesites, dacites, cherts, basalts, obsidians, among others. Field surveys enabled us to detect many of their sources related to volcanic features such as craters, maars, caldera-domes, lava flows, probable hydrothermal deposits, and ignimbrites. In these places, we also document large quarry-workshops and campsites from different periods, indicating intense and repeated human occupation over time. By comparing the artifacts with geological samples collected in the field, it was possible to assign the source of origin of a large part of the archaeological assemblages. Our data suggest that the volcanic features of the Atacama highlands were integrated into the mobility and interaction networks of ancient hunter-gatherer groups at an early date.

Mainland Southeast Asia experienced a long, sustained period of foraging economy before rice and millet farming spread into this area prior to 4,000 years BP. Although hundreds of individuals from dense cemeteries are found in several hunter-gatherer sites in Guangxi, Southern China, and Northern Vietnam, dating from the early to middle Holocene (ca. 9,000–4,500 years BP), so far, little has been known about food sources in these pre-farming contexts. In particular, plant food resources have been unclear, although they likely were crucial to supporting rather large populations of hunter-gatherers in this region. To investigate this issue, micro plant remains, including starches and phytoliths, were recovered from stone tools excavated at the Cai Beo site in Ha Long Bay of coastal Northeastern Vietnam, and those findings revealed new understanding of the ancient diet. Examinations of those residues indicated that the hunter-gatherers at Cai Beo as early as 7,000–6,000 years BP exploited a broad spectrum of plants, such as taros, yams, acorns, palms, and more. This study exemplifies how maritime hunter-gatherers interfaced with the local plants and generated population growth from about 7,000 to 4,500 years BP. The results help us to conceptualize the early exploitation, management, and potential cultivation of subtropical and tropical plants over the broad geography of Asia and the Pacific before the arrival of rice and millet farming. In particular, the result validates the significance of roots and tubers in the ancient subsistence economy of Southeast Asia. Moreover, from the archaeological context of 4,500 to 4,000 years BP, the rice discovered in this study represents one of the earliest known in Mainland Southeast Asia.

We discuss gendered division of labour in nuclear households as a bargaining problem, where male and female partners bargain over labour inputs and resulting leisure time. We hypothesize that outside options - an individual's fallback options for welfare outside their household, such as kin support - affects this bargaining process, providing those with greater outside options more leverage to bargain for leisure time. In two hunter-gatherer populations, the BaYaka and Agta, we take social capital as the determinant of outside options, using a generative model of the Nash bargaining problem and Bayesian multilevel logistic regression to test our hypothesis. We find no evidence for an association between social capital and division of leisure in either population. Instead, we find remarkable equality in the division of leisure time within households. We suggest the potential role of sex-egalitarian norms, non-substitutability of subsistence labour, bilocality and behaviours which maintain gender equality in immediate-return hunter-gatherers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universal formal education is a major global development goal. Yet hunter-gatherer communities have extremely low participation rates in formal schooling, even in comparison with other marginalized groups. Here, we review the existing literature to identify common challenges faced by hunter-gatherer children in formal education systems in the Global South. We find that hunter-gatherer children are often granted extensive personal autonomy, which is at odds with the hierarchical culture of school. Hunter-gatherer children face economic, infrastructural, social, cultural, and structural barriers that negatively affect their school participation. While schools have been identified as a risk to the transmission of hunter-gatherer values, languages, and traditional knowledge, they are also viewed by hunter-gatherer communities as a source of economic and cultural empowerment. These observations highlight the need for hunter-gatherer communities to decide for themselves the purpose school serves, and whether children should be compelled to attend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the results of an interdisciplinary study conducted at the Pedernales-5 site, situated in the Salar de Pedernales basin (26°S; 3356 masl), dated from 10,510−10,749 to 11,201−11,612 cal. BP. Unlike other Late Pleistocene and Holocene sites in the Andean Puna, where vicuñas (Vicugna vicugna) were the primary prey, at Pedernales-5, the zooarcheological assemblage consists almost exclusively of flamingo (Phoenicopteridae) and bird remains. Through the analysis of lithic and bone artifacts, archeobotanical remains, pigment composition, and paleoenvironmental data, we propose that the emphasis on flamingo exploitation cannot be solely explained by alimentary consumption but also served cultural and symbolic purposes related to the acquisition of feathers, hides, and bones. The unique archeological context of Pedernales-5 offers a distinctive perspective on human dynamics in the Andean highlands during the Early Holocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A much-needed regional perspective is used to frame investigations of hunter-gatherer-fisher-emergent horticulturalists in the Archaic period. • Ethnographic corollaries from tropical biomes are used as a theoretical framework. • Geospatial data is harnessed to explore questions of land use and mobility through GIS. • Archaic territory sizes were likely large and population density low during this time period. • A model of seasonal land-use in the region is put forward for future testing. The Archaic period has not been as widely studied in Mesoamerica as it has been in other parts of the Americas. This problem stems from intractable issues such as low archaeological visibility and high post-depositional disturbance. And, while existing Archaic data from northern Belize indicates that foraging groups practiced diverse adaptations, little theoretical effort has been dedicated toward developing frames of reference for understanding the coupled human-landscape interactions ongoing during this period. Here, we outline a multi-method approach for situating hunter-gatherer-fisher-emergent horticultural land use behaviors, including comparative ethnographic data, extant archaeological information, and geospatial modeling. We set out a series of assumptions and expected material correlates for the archaeological record and develop a site suitability model for heuristically exploring existing data, as well as for predicting areas of high archaeological potential for future work. In this way, we are answering the call for more intensive, regional studies that take a holistic approach to understanding foraging practices at multiple scales. The site suitability model described here can be used as an effective way to conduct research remotely during times of travel restrictions and is widely applicable to a range of study areas both in and outside of Mesoamerica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating past and present human adaptation to the Congo Basin tropical forest can shed light on how climate and ecosystem variability have shaped human evolution. Here, we first review and synthesize genetic, palaeoclimatological, linguistic and historical data on the peopling of the Congo Basin. While forest fragmentation led to the increased genetic and geographical divergence of forest foragers, these groups maintained long-distance connectivity. The eventual expansion of Bantu speakers into the Congo Basin provided new opportunities for forging inter-group links, as evidenced by linguistic shifts and historical accounts. Building from our ethnographic work in the northern Republic of the Congo, we show how these inter-group links between forest forager communities as well as trade relationships with neighbouring farmers facilitate adaptation to ecoregions through knowledge exchange. While researchers tend to emphasize forager–farmer interactions that began in the Iron Age, we argue that foragers' cultivation of relational wealth with groups across the region played a major role in the initial occupation of the Congo Basin and, consequently, in cultural evolution among the ancestors of contemporary peoples. This article is part of the theme issue 'Tropical forests in the deep human past'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paleoethnobotanical perspectives are essential for understanding past lifeways yet continue to be underrepresented in Paleoindian research. We present new archaeobotanical and radiocarbon data from combustion features within stratified cultural components at Connley Caves, Oregon, that reaffirm the inclusion of plants in the diet of Paleoindian groups. Botanical remains from three features in Connley Cave 5 show that people foraged for diverse dryland taxa and a narrow range of wetland plants during the summer and fall months. These data add new taxa to the known Pleistocene food economy and support the idea that groups equipped with Western Stemmed Tradition toolkits had broad, flexible diets. When viewed continentally, this work contributes to a growing body of research indicating that regionally adapted subsistence strategies were in place by at least the Younger Dryas and that some foragers in the Far West may have incorporated a wider range of plants including small seeds, leafy greens, fruits, cacti, and geophytes into their diet earlier than did Paleoindian groups elsewhere in North America. The increasing appearance of diverse and seemingly low-ranked resources in the emerging Paleoindian plant-food economy suggests the need to explore a variety of nutritional variables to explain certain aspects of early foraging behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discovery and development of metal as a tool medium is a topic of global interest. A fundamental research goal involves establishing the timing of human experimentation with naturally occurring copper ore, which is commonly associated with sedentary, agrarian-based societies. However, in North America, there is well-documented millennia-scale exploitation of copper as tool media by small, seasonally mobile hunter-gatherer groups in the western Great Lakes. Archaeologists have suggested that Late Paleoindian groups may have begun using copper as a tool medium almost immediately after they entered the Lake Superior basin. However, only a few radiocarbon dates support such early use of copper. Here, we use optimal linear estimation modeling to infer the origin date for copper tool production in North America. Our results show that the invention of copper as a tool media likely occurred shortly after the first pioneering populations encountered copper ore during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. The origin dates modeled here (ca. 8100 RCYBP) reveal several important features about the behavior of pioneering hunter-gatherer populations. Moreover, our results suggest that this phenomenon represents the earliest known use of metal for utilitarian copper tool production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of Indigenous people in Indiana is usually told as a story that begins in the late seventeenth century, with the arrival of French colonizers exploring regional lakes and rivers to secure territory, trade, and souls. This well-known narrative disregards over ten thousand years of Indiana's past and overlooks the experiences of the first people who settled throughout the state. Ancestral Native Americans created communities and made use of Indiana's abundance for millennia before the first Europeans claimed the region. How they lived, who they were, and the history they made are largely found in archaeological studies rarely included in historical narratives of Indiana. To better understand the history of Native Americans in Indiana, Dawn G. Marsh moves away from a narrative that begins with European colonization and extends the framework of the state's history to the first peopling of the state. This study, based in both history and archaeology, offers a more holistic and balanced story of Indiana's first people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaic period hunter-gatherers of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of southwest Texas and Coahuila, Mexico, created complex rock art murals containing elaborately painted anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures. These figures are frequently portrayed with dots or lines emanating out of or into their open mouths. In this article, we discuss patterns in shape, color, and arrangement of this pictographic element and propose that artists used this graphic device to denote speech, breath, and the soul. They communicated meaning through the image-making process, alternating brushstroke direction to indicate inhalation versus exhalation or using different paint application techniques to reflect measured versus forceful speech. The choices made by artists in the production of the imagery reflect their cosmology and the framework of ideas and beliefs through which they interpreted and interacted with the world. Bridging the iconographic data with ethnohistoric and ethnographic texts from Mesoamerica, we suggest that speech and breath expressed in the rock art of the Lower Pecos was tied to concepts of the soul, creation, and human origins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The uKhahlamba-Drakensberg mountains in the west of KwaZulu-Natal have been home to people for over 25ka years. The primary occupation has, however, been within the last 3ka. Settled primarily by hunter-gatherers, there appears to have been a possible ephemeral pastoralist presence around 2ka and an increasing agriculturist presence during the last 1ka. This paper outlines these occupations, focusing primarily on the northern uKhahlamba-Drakensberg, where most archaeological research has taken place. The emphasis is on the rock shelter excavations at Diamond 1, Driel Shelter, Clarke's Shelter, Collingham Shelter, Good Hope Shelter 1 and Mhlwazini Cave, complemented by reference to open-air and rock shelter surface scatters and rock paintings. Data about the subsistence and material cultural of all these occupants is synthesised to show that the people of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg, but primarily the hunters-gatherers, had a varied diet complemented by rich material cultural assemblages. The Discussion considers, (i), the notion of hunter-gatherer seasonality concluding that the mountains could have been occupied on an all-year basis and, (ii), the possible presence of pastoralists in and adjacent the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg around 2ka years ago, which might have involved the practice of feasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multidisciplinary research suggests that Marine Isotope Stage 5 (~130–74 ka) was an important evolutionary stage in African deep history. Population expansion and growth spurred changes in material culture as well as the exploration of previously unoccupied regions and ecosystems. The archaeological sequence at Melikane Rockshelter (1860 masl) in the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains of highland Lesotho, southern Africa, stretches from the late Holocene back to sub-stage 5a, ~80 ka. The site's earliest strata represent one of the earliest known examples of a sustained human presence in high mountain systems worldwide. This paper deals with the lithic assemblages from those levels, which are currently the oldest radiometrically dated archaeology in Lesotho and one of the few stratified assemblages of Last Interglacial age in the southern African interior. The results of a typo-technological analysis of the assemblages are presented. They suggest that the afromontane foragers who resided at Melikane employed both blade-focussed and bipolar flaking systems, curated a maintainable toolkit suited to frequent residential moves, and used a hybrid provisioning system adapted to their immediate environment. Comparisons with other late Last Interglacial assemblages across the subcontinent suggest that highland populations at this time were largely disconnected from their lowland counterparts. This implies that as Last Interglacial populations in southern Africa expanded into new environments, they also fragmented, adapting to local conditions rather than adhering to a universal technological system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pristine environmental conditions and wide biodiversity are the best evidence of pre-colonial times, before anthropic interference in the Anthropocene. The Galeão shell mound represents the main example of an insular archaeological site located in the context of the Guanabara Bay in the Middle Holocene. The faunal remains from this shell mound were identified through comparative anatomy, to access the ichthyofauna and also amphibian, reptile and mammal paleodiversity. The diagnostic elements revealed the presence of predominantly demersal teleost fish, typical inhabitants of estuarine and marine systems, along with the usual species inhabiting rocky shores and rocky bottoms. Additionally, it revealed an exceptional diversity of sharks, including the presence of pelagic taxa, as well as stingrays. The local wildlife consists of species commonly found in swampy, mangrove, Brazilian restinga and Atlantic forest biomes. This study shows widely practiced fishery and hunting by the Amerindian using the resources of the Guanabara Bay and indicates specific targets during the Middle Holocene. Degradation of coastal environments and/or overfishing threaten the local biodiversity, with species now absent and some with statuses which go from Vulnerable to Critically Endangered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]