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An Empirical Test for Steward's Model of Great Basin Settlement Patterns

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David Hurst Thomas
David Hurst Thomas*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, The American Museum of Natural History
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Abstract

Julian Steward's theory of Great Basin cultural ecology and settlement patterns has been subjected to empirical validation. Since the only data available to test this hypothesis are archaeological, it was first necessary to determine the artifactual correlates for the posited ethnographic system. These deductive propositions were determined by the BASIN I computer simulation model. On the basis of data obtained in a regional random sampling project in the Reese Valley of central Nevada, over 75% of the nearly 130 deductive predictions were statistically verified. The rejected propositions probably reflect failure of the computer model rather than shortcomings in Steward's theory. The archaeological manifestation of the Shoshonean pattern is defined as the Reese River Subsistence-Settlement System which operated in the central Great Basin from about 2500 B.C. to historic times.

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American Antiquity , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , April 1973 , pp. 155 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1973

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