Archaeological deposits from Boodie Cave on Barrow Island, northwest Australia, reveal some of th... more Archaeological deposits from Boodie Cave on Barrow Island, northwest Australia, reveal some of the oldest evidence for Aboriginal occupation of Australia, as well as illustrating the early use of marine resources by modern peoples outside of Africa. Barrow Island is a large (202km2) limestone continental island located on the North-West Shelf of Australia, optimally located to sample past use of both the Pleistocene coastline and extensive arid coastal plains. An interdisciplinary team forming the Barrow Island Archaeology Project (BIAP) has addressed questions focusing on the antiquity of occupation of coastal deserts by hunter-gatherers; the use and distribution of marine resources from the coast to the interior; and the productivity of the marine zone with changing sea levels. Boodie Cave is the largest of 20 stratified deposits identified on Barrow Island with 20m3 of cultural deposits excavated between 2013 and 2015. In this first major synthesis we focus on the dating and sedimentology of Boodie Cave to establish the framework for ongoing analysis of cultural materials. We present new data on these cultural assemblages – including charcoal, faunal remains and lithics – integrated with micromorphology, sedimentary history and dating by four independent laboratories. First occupation occurs between 51.1 and 46.2ka, overlapping with the earliest dates for occupation of Australia. Marine resources are incorporated into dietary assemblages by 42.5ka and continue to be transported to the cave through all periods of occupation, despite fluctuating sea levels and dramatic extensions of the coastal plain. The changing quantities of marine fauna through time reflect the varying distance of the cave from the contemporaneous shoreline. The dietary breadth of both arid zone terrestrial fauna and marine species increases after the Last Glacial Maximum and significantly so by the mid-Holocene. The cave is abandoned by 6.8ka when the island becomes increasingly distant from the mainland coast.
We discuss recent seed usage by Martu foragers of Western Australia.The Marginal Value Theorem mo... more We discuss recent seed usage by Martu foragers of Western Australia.The Marginal Value Theorem models conflict between travel and seed handling time.Results indicate that use of motor vehicles allows Martu to drop seeds from diets.Implications for broad-spectrum foraging and mobility strategies are discussed.Seed-reliant, hunting and gathering economies persisted in arid Australia until the mid-twentieth century when Aboriginal foragers dropped seeds from their diets. Explanations posed to account for this “de-intensification” of seed use mix functional rationales (such as dietary breadth contraction as predicted by the prey choice model) with proximate causes (substitution with milled flour). Martu people of the Western Desert used small seeds until relatively recently (ca. 1990) with a subsequent shift to a less “intensive” foraging economy. Here we examine contemporary Martu foraging practices to evaluate different explanations for the dietary shift and find evidence that it resulted from a more subtle interaction of technology, travel, burning practices, and handling costs than captured solely by the prey choice model. These results have implications for understanding the roles of mobility, aggregation behavior, sexual division of labor, and seed use in the broad-spectrum revolutions of arid Australia and the Western United States.
This work models the prehistoric archaeological sensitivity of northern Railroad Valley, treats t... more This work models the prehistoric archaeological sensitivity of northern Railroad Valley, treats the Gravel Bar Site and the Trap Springs Archaeological Complex, and addresses regional cultural management over an area of 527,175 acres. The model universe includes a large playa basin, portions of the Duckwater, Currant, Bull Creek, and Hot Springs drainages, and adjacent flanks of the White Pine, Grant, Duckwater, and Pancake Ranges. To model human behavior in such complexity requires understanding environmental variability in time and space. We created a fine-grained classification of prehistoric resources and their distributions, allowing the use of optimal foraging theory to predict prehistoric foraging behavior. Data used in our model and its development includes soil and range type descriptions developed by the Natural Resource Conservation Service to define unique habitats (each offering a particular suite of plant and animal resources to prehistoric foragers), and abiotic facto...
... the Owens Valley survey indicates con-siderable variability in the role of pinyon ... the for... more ... the Owens Valley survey indicates con-siderable variability in the role of pinyon ... the forager-collector model offered no satisfactory explanation for the change of pinyon ... FORAGING AND PREHISTORIC PINYON UTILIZATION 237 for anticipating circumstances where logistic ...
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Utah, 1996. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [555]-584)... more Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Utah, 1996. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [555]-584). Includes abstract. Microfilm. s
A tremendous amount has been learned about the Prearchaic (before 9000 BP) Great Basin since we a... more A tremendous amount has been learned about the Prearchaic (before 9000 BP) Great Basin since we advocated a perspective of sexual division of labor based on Human Behavioral Ecology a decade ago. Many investigators have taken our advice and a few have challenged our assumptions and inferences. One of the most substantive critiques has been that we misunderstood the paleoenvironmental parameters of ungulate populations during the Pleistocene–Holocene Transition (PHT). Simultaneously, behavioral ecologists have advanced our understanding of sexual division of labor among modern foragers, but these studies appear to have gone unnoticed by Great Basin prehistorians. We review findings of the last ten years and suggest that the key to understanding patterning in the PHT still relies on understanding (a) variability in men's and women's foraging goals, (b) the abundance and distribution of large prey, (c) how changing environmental parameters effect both the division of labor and ...
ABSTRACT Archaeologists often assume that large ungulates are inherently highly ranked prey becau... more ABSTRACT Archaeologists often assume that large ungulates are inherently highly ranked prey because of their size, especially attractive to hunters using sophisticated capture technologies common after the late Pleistocene. Between 1840 and 1907, over 10,000 dromedary camels were imported to Australia, and today feral populations number well over a million. Although contemporary Aboriginal hunters in Australia'‘s Western and Central Deserts regularly encounter camels, they rarely pursue them. We present data on camel encounter and pursuit rates, with comparisons of energetic search and handling efficiency relative to other foraging options among Martu, the Traditional Owners of a large region of the Western Desert. We then explore some hypotheses concerning the determinants of prey rank and the technological and social contexts that influence resource value. In some respects the case runs counter to common expectations about hunting large ungulates, and highlights the special kinds of opportunity costs that large game acquisition might entail in many contexts. The data should therefore provide insight into the socio-ecological contexts of large ungulate hunting and its archaeological signatures.
Archaeological deposits from Boodie Cave on Barrow Island, northwest Australia, reveal some of th... more Archaeological deposits from Boodie Cave on Barrow Island, northwest Australia, reveal some of the oldest evidence for Aboriginal occupation of Australia, as well as illustrating the early use of marine resources by modern peoples outside of Africa. Barrow Island is a large (202km2) limestone continental island located on the North-West Shelf of Australia, optimally located to sample past use of both the Pleistocene coastline and extensive arid coastal plains. An interdisciplinary team forming the Barrow Island Archaeology Project (BIAP) has addressed questions focusing on the antiquity of occupation of coastal deserts by hunter-gatherers; the use and distribution of marine resources from the coast to the interior; and the productivity of the marine zone with changing sea levels. Boodie Cave is the largest of 20 stratified deposits identified on Barrow Island with 20m3 of cultural deposits excavated between 2013 and 2015. In this first major synthesis we focus on the dating and sedimentology of Boodie Cave to establish the framework for ongoing analysis of cultural materials. We present new data on these cultural assemblages – including charcoal, faunal remains and lithics – integrated with micromorphology, sedimentary history and dating by four independent laboratories. First occupation occurs between 51.1 and 46.2ka, overlapping with the earliest dates for occupation of Australia. Marine resources are incorporated into dietary assemblages by 42.5ka and continue to be transported to the cave through all periods of occupation, despite fluctuating sea levels and dramatic extensions of the coastal plain. The changing quantities of marine fauna through time reflect the varying distance of the cave from the contemporaneous shoreline. The dietary breadth of both arid zone terrestrial fauna and marine species increases after the Last Glacial Maximum and significantly so by the mid-Holocene. The cave is abandoned by 6.8ka when the island becomes increasingly distant from the mainland coast.
We discuss recent seed usage by Martu foragers of Western Australia.The Marginal Value Theorem mo... more We discuss recent seed usage by Martu foragers of Western Australia.The Marginal Value Theorem models conflict between travel and seed handling time.Results indicate that use of motor vehicles allows Martu to drop seeds from diets.Implications for broad-spectrum foraging and mobility strategies are discussed.Seed-reliant, hunting and gathering economies persisted in arid Australia until the mid-twentieth century when Aboriginal foragers dropped seeds from their diets. Explanations posed to account for this “de-intensification” of seed use mix functional rationales (such as dietary breadth contraction as predicted by the prey choice model) with proximate causes (substitution with milled flour). Martu people of the Western Desert used small seeds until relatively recently (ca. 1990) with a subsequent shift to a less “intensive” foraging economy. Here we examine contemporary Martu foraging practices to evaluate different explanations for the dietary shift and find evidence that it resulted from a more subtle interaction of technology, travel, burning practices, and handling costs than captured solely by the prey choice model. These results have implications for understanding the roles of mobility, aggregation behavior, sexual division of labor, and seed use in the broad-spectrum revolutions of arid Australia and the Western United States.
This work models the prehistoric archaeological sensitivity of northern Railroad Valley, treats t... more This work models the prehistoric archaeological sensitivity of northern Railroad Valley, treats the Gravel Bar Site and the Trap Springs Archaeological Complex, and addresses regional cultural management over an area of 527,175 acres. The model universe includes a large playa basin, portions of the Duckwater, Currant, Bull Creek, and Hot Springs drainages, and adjacent flanks of the White Pine, Grant, Duckwater, and Pancake Ranges. To model human behavior in such complexity requires understanding environmental variability in time and space. We created a fine-grained classification of prehistoric resources and their distributions, allowing the use of optimal foraging theory to predict prehistoric foraging behavior. Data used in our model and its development includes soil and range type descriptions developed by the Natural Resource Conservation Service to define unique habitats (each offering a particular suite of plant and animal resources to prehistoric foragers), and abiotic facto...
... the Owens Valley survey indicates con-siderable variability in the role of pinyon ... the for... more ... the Owens Valley survey indicates con-siderable variability in the role of pinyon ... the forager-collector model offered no satisfactory explanation for the change of pinyon ... FORAGING AND PREHISTORIC PINYON UTILIZATION 237 for anticipating circumstances where logistic ...
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Utah, 1996. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [555]-584)... more Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Utah, 1996. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [555]-584). Includes abstract. Microfilm. s
A tremendous amount has been learned about the Prearchaic (before 9000 BP) Great Basin since we a... more A tremendous amount has been learned about the Prearchaic (before 9000 BP) Great Basin since we advocated a perspective of sexual division of labor based on Human Behavioral Ecology a decade ago. Many investigators have taken our advice and a few have challenged our assumptions and inferences. One of the most substantive critiques has been that we misunderstood the paleoenvironmental parameters of ungulate populations during the Pleistocene–Holocene Transition (PHT). Simultaneously, behavioral ecologists have advanced our understanding of sexual division of labor among modern foragers, but these studies appear to have gone unnoticed by Great Basin prehistorians. We review findings of the last ten years and suggest that the key to understanding patterning in the PHT still relies on understanding (a) variability in men's and women's foraging goals, (b) the abundance and distribution of large prey, (c) how changing environmental parameters effect both the division of labor and ...
ABSTRACT Archaeologists often assume that large ungulates are inherently highly ranked prey becau... more ABSTRACT Archaeologists often assume that large ungulates are inherently highly ranked prey because of their size, especially attractive to hunters using sophisticated capture technologies common after the late Pleistocene. Between 1840 and 1907, over 10,000 dromedary camels were imported to Australia, and today feral populations number well over a million. Although contemporary Aboriginal hunters in Australia'‘s Western and Central Deserts regularly encounter camels, they rarely pursue them. We present data on camel encounter and pursuit rates, with comparisons of energetic search and handling efficiency relative to other foraging options among Martu, the Traditional Owners of a large region of the Western Desert. We then explore some hypotheses concerning the determinants of prey rank and the technological and social contexts that influence resource value. In some respects the case runs counter to common expectations about hunting large ungulates, and highlights the special kinds of opportunity costs that large game acquisition might entail in many contexts. The data should therefore provide insight into the socio-ecological contexts of large ungulate hunting and its archaeological signatures.
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