Exam 1 Flashcards
FISHING
lots of variabilities, simplest GRAB A FISH, most complex (boats and traps), tends to be high protein low energy resource
UNILINEAR EVOLUTIONISM
belief that human populations move in a linear fashion from savagery to barbarism to civilization, minority groups tend to fall into savage while white is civilization, 19th century, after Darwin, adopted by marx
HISTORICAL PARTICULARISM
Boas, opposite unilinearism felt people were forcing into molds, societies are not based around stage in evolution but are instead the product of their location and history (for example interaction with neighbors) relies on diffusion, more about rejecting evolutionism
CULTURE AREAS
Krober student of Boas, regions with multiple societies that share broad, social, economic, and political similarities but not language or ideology (ex plains vs great basin groups)
CULTURAL ECOLOGY
Stewart,student of Krober, how the shared enviorment creates a culture area (why they share tools but not langue)
“MAN THE HUNTER” CONFERENCE
1966 Chicago, goal to build a model of generalized HG society, Lee and Devore, combine all info on HGs and create a paleolithic model, realization they are too diverse, variability does not only come form exposure, exposed the shortcomings of this approach
CARRYING CAPACITY
number of foragers that can be supported before returns fall below a viable threshold
JOINER RULE
people will join a group until the cost outweighs the benefit
FLUX
Trumbull, people can come and go as they please, in a modern world you cant just leave but in an HG group if you are in debt you can just go
AGGREGATION
coming together of multiple groups, communal hunting, accidental meetings at watering holes, information exchange, maintain social networking
PATCH
difficult to define but the territory of resource concentration
CURRENCY
Resource that foragers are seeking to maximize-Usually calories but could be other things
EXPIDIENT TECH
made quickly and cheaply to solve an issue when it is encountered, fast, at hand raw materials
RELIABLE TECH
tools specifically designed for a targeted encounter , you know what you are going to find and the tool can not fail, expensive designs
MAINTAINABLE TECH
designed to be repaired easily
RETURN RATE
Ratio of currency returns to acquisition costs, Amount of food collected per unit time
OPPORTUNITY COST
Trade-off in pursuing one resource instead of another, you can only invest into one thing at a time
OPTIMAL FORAGING THEORY
Microeconomic perspective on foraging behavior•Foragers seek to maximize some currency (usually calories) calories in terms of acquisition cost (usually time)•Framework for predicting / explaining foraging behavior•Now mostly subsumed with human behavioral ecology theoretical framework
BAND AKA MICRO
Modal group size = 25-aka “band” or “microband” BIRDSELL
DIALECTAL TRIBE AKA MACRO
Modal tribal size = 500-aka “dialectical tribe”-aka “macroband”- BIRDSELL
HUNTING
one thought to be main source of calories, thought to separate animals from human, only about 30% calories from from hunting, huge varieties, varies in return rates, common in some groups and not others, ambush (planned), pursuit (not planned),disadvantaging (river crossing)
GATHERING
most calories, scholars ignored value, sometimes people know where to look and other times don’t
SEARCH/SEARCH COST
predictable vs random distributed, space time, some things “cost” more to find but are valuable after finding
ORIGINAL AFFLUENT SOCIETY
Belief HGS were thriving, material comfort, need to only work 20 hours a week so lots of leisure but
this only focussed on food an not the other stuff you need to survive, Sahlins
FOOD SHARING
Altruism
ETHNOGRAPHIC ANALOGY
looking at modern groups to create analogy for past
MARGINAL VALUE THEOREM
model that usually describes the behavior of an optimally forgaing individualin a system where resources are located in discrete seperate patches divided by areas with no matches, determine time spent, increased time when patches are further apart or have poor resoruce
