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The bow and arrow, population, environment, and seeds: Intensification in southwest Wyoming

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Abstract

The massive literature on hunter-gatherer intensification usually considers population increase, environmental productivity, or technological innovation as its major drivers, though researchers disagree on which initiates the process. The examination of the Late Holocene Uinta phase of the southern Wyoming Basin documents the intensification process and the relationship of technological innovation, population increase, and environmental change. The introduction and complete adoption of the bow and arrow from 1800 to 1500 cal BP coincides with the sharp increase of radiocarbon dates and population growth, as well as climatic change from Neoglacial cooling to warmer and wetter conditions. Of these factors, the introduction of a significant new technology appears to have been the initial force in the process. The intensification process resulted in the Late Holocene population reducing their foraging efficiency to include low return-rate seeds of weedy species leading to the possible privatization of some resources and the transformation of their adaptive strategy to a delayed-return system that incorporated storage, reduction of residential mobility, and a longer-term occupation of certain locations.

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... Maize had arrived to the region by 2.3 ka (Hart and Lovis, 2013). At 1.6 ka, the bow-and-arrow was introduced and widely adopted (Nassaney and Pyle, 1999;Railey, 2010;Smith, 2021;Tomka, 2013) and at 1.0 ka, maize became a focal resource (Emerson et al., 2020). ...
... Maize has been grown in the Midwest since at least 2.3 ka (Hart and Lovis, 2013), and although it did not become a focal resource until ~ 950 CE (1 ka) (Emerson et al., 2020), the increase in population growth rate beginning around ~2.1 ka (Fig. 2) suggests that the arrival of maize to the region had greater impact than previously thought (e.g., Hart and Lovis, 2013). Population growth accelerated again at 350 CE (1.6 ka), around the time when the bow-and-arrow was widely adopted (Nassaney and Pyle, 1999;Railey, 2010;Tomka, 2013;Smith, 2021). This is consistent with observations in southwest Wyoming, where the introduction of the bow-and-arrow between 1.8 and 1.5 ka was found to coincide with resource intensification and population growth (Smith, 2021). ...
... Population growth accelerated again at 350 CE (1.6 ka), around the time when the bow-and-arrow was widely adopted (Nassaney and Pyle, 1999;Railey, 2010;Tomka, 2013;Smith, 2021). This is consistent with observations in southwest Wyoming, where the introduction of the bow-and-arrow between 1.8 and 1.5 ka was found to coincide with resource intensification and population growth (Smith, 2021). ...
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... On one side, many researchers argue that human populations respond mainly to climate-driven changes in the productivity and reliability of ecosystems and, thus, limit on those populations' supply of food (e.g., Kelly et al., 2013;Lima et al., 2020;Prentiss et al., 2018;Puleston et al., 2014;Tallavaara & Jørgensen, 2021;Tallavaara & Seppä, 2011). On the opposing side, many researchers acknowledge that climate may impact the supply of food available from ecosystems; however, these researchers emphasize the effects of cultural evolution and/or the adoption of new forms of resource extraction on raising the limits of a population's supply of food (Bettinger, 2015;Boserup, 1981;Cohen, 1995;Freeman et al., 2021;Peralta et al., 2022;Shennan et al., 2013;Smith, 2021;Wood, 1998Wood, , 2020. As noted by Kirch et al. (2012), moving the above debate forward requires evaluating models of population growth with the many long-term "experiments" of social, technological, and climate changes documented in the past. ...
... For example, Bettinger (2015) argues that foraging populations in the western US were limited in growth until the compound bow diffused to those populations (Bettinger, 2015). The diffusion of the compound bow then initiated a set of linked changes in group size, sharing behavior, plant resource use, and increased fertility over mortality (Bettinger, 2015), generating population growth (see also Smith, 2021, for an application of this model in prehistoric Wyoming). ...
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Despite years of debate, the factors that control the long-term carrying capacity of human populations are not well understood. In this paper, we assess the effect of changes in resource extraction and climate-driven changes in ecosystem productivity on the carrying capacity of hunter-gatherer populations in a terrestrial and coastal ecosystem. To make this assessment, we build time-series estimates of changes in resource extraction using stable isotopes and ecosystem productivity using paleoclimate models and geomorphic records of flood events. These estimates of resource extraction and ecosystem productivity allow us to assess a complex model of population expansion that proposes linked changes between population density, resource extraction, and intensification. We find that changes in resource extraction had a larger effect on carrying capacity in both the terrestrial and coastal ecosystems than climate drivers of ecosystem productivity. Our results are consistent with the idea that both Malthusian limits on resources and Boserupian pressures to reorganize economic systems operate in hunter-gatherer populations over the long term. Our data and analysis contribute to evaluating complex models of population growth and subsistence change across archaeological cases.
... Intensification theory has been widely applied to explain the evolution of hunter-gatherer and agricultural economies in diverse ecological, temporal, and social settings across the world (Binford 2001;Bird et al. 2016;Broughton 1994;Broughton et al. 2011;Flannery 1969;Gonzalez-Insuasti and Caballero 2007;Hard and Katzenberg 2011;Janz 2016;Reynard and Henshilwood 2017;Smith 2021;Thurston and Fisher 2007; Bettinger , 2019. provides the most relevant summary of intensification theory and how archaeologists have applied intensification to addressing questions of populationresource dynamics. ...
... There are many different interpretations of intensification , but for this paper I assume that population increase is the primary driver that causes a decline in foraging efficiency rather than change of technology (Smith 2021). When considering the early Holocene record of earth oven construction in Eagle Cave, I evaluate two hypotheses relating to population increases and intensification: ...
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The remains of earth ovens are ubiquitous features in the Holocene archaeological record of North America and continue to be integral components of Indigenous lifeways. However, on a continental scale we lack a broad understanding of earth oven timing, chronology, morphological variation, and the role(s) these features played within Indigenous cultures—especially during the early Holocene. This dissertation focuses on three aspects of early Holocene earth ovens: 1) earth ovens in Eagle Cave, Texas; 2) experimental study of Agave lechuguilla processing; and 3), early Holocene thermal features from Wyoming. Eagle Cave contains a stratified record of early Holocene earth oven processing, and I evaluate whether Indigenous peoples were intensifying earth oven construction to cope with regional population growth or hosting social aggregations. Data analyses indicate earth oven use is likely related to both scenarios. To supplement the Eagle Cave analysis, I describe earth oven experiments for Agave lechuguilla evaluating how varying construction costs can shift our perception of earth oven cooking. This experimental study indicates that foragers can maximize caloric return rates by sharing construction costs, and Agave lechuguilla ovens likely generated considerably more food than previously recognized. To place the Eagle Cave data into a broader context, I compile the record of early Holocene thermal features in Wyoming. This analysis indicates earth ovens became a critical technology for Indigenous peoples in Wyoming soon after the Pleistocene, and variation in oven technology demonstrates that Indigenous people used different oven configurations to cook different foods during the early Holocene.
... However, the decline in prey size in the Howiesons Poort, coupled with the reversal of the decline in post-Howiesons Poort assemblages [126], may also explain the appearance and disappearance of the bow. The bow introduction followed a decline in prey size in North America after 2000 B.P. [127][128][129]. In spite of the fact that bows were used in the Old World before humans migrated to America, they first appeared here more than ten thousand years after humans arrived. ...
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This paper examines the hypothesis that changes in hunting weapons during the Paleolithic were a direct response to a progressive decline in prey size. The study builds upon a unified hypothesis that explains Paleolithic human evolutionary and behavioral/cultural phenomena, including improved cognitive capabilities, as adaptations to mitigate declined energetic returns due to a decline in prey size. Five selected case studies in Africa and Europe were analyzed to test this hypothesis, focusing on the relative presence of megaherbivores (>1000 kg) in the transition between the Acheulean/Early Stone Age and the Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age. The findings indicate a decline in megaherbivores’ presence and biomass contribution in the studied transition period associated with the introduction of Levallois technology. We review the evolution of hunting weapons, including wooden-tipped and stone-tipped spears and bows and arrows. Analysis of tip size and breakage patterns indicate a reduction in point size over time, aligning with the declining prey size. We propose that changes in hunting weapons and strategies were driven by the practical and ontological incentives presented by the availability and size of prey. Developing smaller, more precise weapons required increased cognitive capacities, leading to the parallel evolution of human cognitive abilities.
... 16;Rose, 2001). In North America, some researchers argue that the earliest bows coincide with the onset of agriculture, but the causal link is not always clear, nor can we assume the same pattern holds for South America (Bettinger, 2013;Bingham and Souza, 2013;Grund and Huzurbazar, 2018;Smith, 2021;VanPool and O'Brien, 2013). Kitchel et al.'s (2022) argument for an early adoption of the bow offers data to support what was previously an informal consensus among many archaeologists working in the region. ...
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This book was funded by the EU 7th Framework Programme (7FP), TropicMicroArch 623293 Project (http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/187754_en.html). The book will be Open Access, thanks to FP7 post-grant Open Access (https://www.openaire.eu/postgrantoapilot).
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This book was funded by the EU 7th Framework Programme (7FP), TropicMicroArch 623293 Project (http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/187754_en.html). The book will be Open Access, thanks to FP7 post-grant Open Access (https://www.openaire.eu/postgrantoapilot).
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Even after decades of spearthrower studies, researchers have relatively little reliable data on spearthrower performance, and yet prehistoric lifeways are often reconstructed through consideration of the capabilities of such weapon systems. Experimental study and considered dependence on ethnographic knowledge clarify the realities of the spearthrower in use.
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A cross-cultural survey of hunter-gatherers is conducted with particular emphasis on housing, mobility, and subsistence as these features vary with ecological settings and with particular environmental variables. Implications are drawn for investigations of variability as it is documented archaeologically. Particular emphasis is given to the features listed above, and to arguments in the literature that cite these variables and seek to evaluate the relative "complexity" of ancient sociocultural systems known from archaeological materials.
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Suggests that population growth and circumscription have everything to do with extensification/intensification options. They work together to the advantage of populations that choose to intensify. -after Author