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Middle and Late Holocene Hunting in the Great Basin: A Critical Review of the Debate and Future Prospects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Bryan Hockett
Bryan Hockett*
Affiliation:
Bureau of Land Management, Elko Field Office, 3900 East Idaho Street, Elko, Nevada 89801
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Abstract

Recent papers published in American Antiquity and elsewhere have debated whether there were more artiodactyls available to human foragers during the relatively cool and moist Late Holocene compared to the relatively warm and dry Middle Holocene in the Great Basin. If so, how did human foragers respond to changes in artiodactyl abundance, and what explanations may be offered to account for any changes in human behavior across the Middle Holocene-Late Holocene boundary? A critical examination of the data used in this debate does not support the interpretation that human foragers across the Great Basin intensified artiodactyl hunting during the Late Holocene relative to Middle Holocene levels. Depending on location and setting, individual sites occupied during the Middle Holocene may show decidedly more intensive artiodactyl hunting at this time. At other sites, artiodactyl hunting remained consistent throughout the Middle and Late Holocene, while small game hunting and gathering significantly varied. New data presented below suggest that a change from encounter or ambush hunting involving small family groups to the communal hunting of pronghorn by larger numbers of people occurred near the Middle Holocene-Late Holocene boundary. I suggest that changes in social organization and technology also occurred at this time.

Résumé

Résumé

En artículos recientes publicados en American Antiquity y otra partes, ha surgido una discusión con respecto a si había màs artiodáctilos disponibles para los forrajeros humanos durante el ultimo periodo Holoceno relativamente fresco y húmedo, comparado con el clima relativamente caliente y seco en el Holoceno Medio en el Cuenca Grande. Si es asi ¿cómo los forrajeros humanos respondieron a los cambios en abundancia de los artiodàctilos, y qué explicaciones se pueden ofrecer para a los cambios del comportamiento humano a través del Holoceno Medio-Holoceno Tardío Todo parece coincidir en que los climas frescos y húmedos del Holoceno Tardío fomentaron mayores densidades demogràficas de artiodàctilos. Un punto de vista es que los cazadores respondieron intensificando la caza de artiodáctilos, privilegiàndolos sobre presas de caza más pequeñas tal como los leporinos. Según esta visión, estos datos apoyan modelos tales como “opción de la presa” diseñada para probar si los forrajeros eligen los alimentos sin tomar en cuenta valores calóricos. Desde otro punto de vista, los cazadores intensificaron la caza de los artiodáctilos durante el Holoceno Tardío porque les dio mayor acceso a las hembras, de tal manera aumentando su aptitud selectiva. Un examen crítico de estos datos, sin embargo, no apoya la interpretacín de que los forra jeros humanos de la Cuenca Grande intensificaron la caza de los artiodáctilos durante el Holoceno Tardío y el Holoceno Medio. Dependiendo de la localizacion, los sitios ocupados durante el Holoceno Medio demuestran una caza decididamente más intensiva de los artiodáctilos, siendo constante a través del periodo, mientras que la caza de presas pequeñas varió per ceptiblemente. Los datos presentados aquí de 31 trampas aborígenes de antílope y 15 punto s de "proyectiles de matanza" situados en el norte-centro de la Cuenca Grande sugiere que un cambio de estrategia en la caza, variando del encuentro ó la emboscada de la presa, lo que implicaba a grupos pequeños de la familia, hacia la caza comunal del antílope, por mayor número de gente, ocurrió cerca del Holoceno Medio-Holoceno Terminal. Basado sobre estos datos, sugiero que los cambios en la organización y la tecnología social tambien ocurrieron en este tiempo. Discuto que se deben desarrollar nuevos modelos para describir y explicar adecuadamente los cambios en preferencias humanas de caza durante el Holoceno Medio y el Holoceno Tardío de la Cuenca Grande. Estos nuevos modelos requieren la evaluación y la incorporación del récord arqueológico regional y deben incluir el conocimiento actual sobre las relaciones sociales de las maneras, el comportamiento humano, la influencia de la tecnología y de la nutrición y las tendencias demográficas.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 70 , Issue 4 , October 2005 , pp. 713 - 731
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2005

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