ANTH 3 Week 5

why do people move?

• when populations deplete local resources, it can be more cost-effective to just move to another place instead of recultivating

• consumption —> depletion —> movement

population ecology

• the study of what factors affect populations and how/why they change over time

• how/what/why individual characteristics and behaviors have population level effects

• why people move

habitat selection

• small changes in population can have the effect of pushing a threshold where it is more beneficial to move to a less suitable environment than to sustain density in a more suitable environment

evidence for habitat selection theory

• exponential population growth

• first settlements occur in the most suitable areas

• negative human impacts on envrionment

humans in southeast asia, indonesia, and australia

50,000 BP or earlier

the southern route

human migration out from africa, through india, to southeast asia and australia (not connected by glacial advances, possibly crossed by h. florensiensis on rafts 60,000BP)

ecotone

convergence of diverse resources

sahul

supercontinent including australia & papua new guinea during ice ages

• coast lines

• rivers

• arid interior

important early sites: majedbebe and willandra lakes (Mungo Man)

sunda

supercontinent connecting southeast asia during the ice ages

majedbebe

early sahul site, 65,000BP (too old for radiocarbon dating— used OSL/thermoluminescence = debatable age), had simple flake tools

lake mungo and willandra lakes

early sahul site, 40,000-45,000BP, human burials, lots of artifacts

majedbebe dating controversy

• used OSL, not radiocarbon dating

• date is much older than any nearby sites

holocene occupation of sahul

10,000BP occupation of arid sites on coastlines or inland near rivers/springs

sahul occupation occurrence

• likely driven by resource depletion

• diversity of habitats

human migration to americas

• crossed bering land bridge from siberia, crossing of cordilleran ice sheet inland corridor during glacial minimum (13-14,000BP)

• pacific coastal corridor (17,500-16,000BP)

siberian artifacts

• scrapers, diuktai microblade technology (elongated flakes)

• wood

• bone (antler spear with stone edges)

• flesh

preserved due to permafrost

genetic research for migration to the americas

• ancestry information about the first americans

• age estimates using molecular clock (population contact, divergence, migration)

• collaboration with living indigenous people

mitochondrial DNA and y-chromosome evidence for earliest americans

• came from asia

• founder effect (population bottleneck)

• all native americans descended from 5 maternal lines (haplogroups ABCDX)

• all native americans descended from 2 paternal lines (haplogroups QC)

• no earlier than 17,500BP

clovis points

• 13,000BP

• fluted end (thin base breaks inside animal causing it to bleed out)

• used for large game hunting (mammoths)

monte verde, chile

american site containing tools (stem points, hammer stones, flake tools, peat bag) that predates clovis points, 14,500BP, providing evidence for the pacific coastal corridor hypothesis

peat

rich, anoxic, inorganic sediments

kelp highway

pacific coastal corridor hypothesis: colonization of the americas predating the bering land path took place along the rich pacific coast via boat, using marine resources supported by kelp due to relatively barren terrestrial offerings

White sands, NM

footprints found 23,000BP, evidenced human migration way before the clovis barrier (13,000BP), but may have been confounded by lake radiocarbon

did people or climate kill off the megafauna

• lost 60,000BP from sahul

• 80% of southeastern sahul exhibits cohabitation, showing that humans likely did NOT cause extinction

• human pressure and water access? drying conditions led to unsupported plants and unsupported herbivorous megafauna?

ancient stone tools hint at settlers’ epic trek to north america

• projectile point at Cooper’s Ferry, Idaho 16,000BP, predates canada ice-free corridor

• monte verde caves, paisley caves OR, predates canada ice-free corridor

• projective points resemble those in Japan, may suggest travel around the pacific rim

eva

• first human specimen found in the americas

• 13,500BP

• found in underwater cave, suggested intentional burial

colombian mammoth

• mammoth found with clovis point

• 4x meat consumption of today

• spear arm made with cane, thrown using atl atl

clovis hunting

• high vantage point

• settled near water access

• 13,000BP

sporomyla

last for many thousands of years, can be counted to estimate animals

• 13,500BP: less spores = intense hunting?

Kennewick man

• 8,500BP Columbia river, WA

• local tribes wanted him reburied

• scientifically significant, examined by Owsley at smithsonian

• diet of marine mammals

• robust, 40 year old, atl atl thrower

• established community

• cranium differed from anatomy of current native americans

  • genetic sequencing confirmed relation

modes of subsitence

• foraging

• horticulture

• pastoralism

• intensive agriculture

foodways

eating habits and culinary practices of cultural groups concerning production and consumption of food

paleoethnobotany

Study of behavioral and ecological interactions between past people and plants, micro- (pollen, ceramic residues) and macrobotanical analysis (seeds, leaves, wood)

pathimetry

underwater topography, used to theorize migration pathways (distance, travel costs)

transition from pleistocene to holocene

• 13,000BP—>10,000BP

• decline of big game, major extinctions (woolly mammoth) perhaps due to comet impact (indicated by Asia/North America dark layer in stratigraphy)

• increase in smaller fauna (hippos, elephants, horses, reindeer, bison, aurochs - cattle progenitor, small game)

• warming climate, increased CO2 levels, increased plant life