Should I stay or should I go? The emergence of partitioned land use among human foragers

Taking inspiration from the archaeology of the Texas Coastal Plain (TCP), we develop an ecological theory of population distribution among mobile hunter-gatherers. This theory proposes that, due to the heterogeneity of resources in space and time, foragers create networks of habitats that they acces...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2019-07, Vol.14 (7), p.e0218440-e0218440
Main Authors: Freeman, Jacob, Anderies, John M, Mauldin, Raymond P, Hard, Robert J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Anthropology
Archaeology
Behavior
Biology and Life Sciences
Cemeteries
Coastal ecology
Coastal plains
Coding
Cycles
Dynamic models
Earth Sciences
Ecology
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Ecosystem
Ecosystem biology
Ecosystems
Feedback
Foraging habitats
Habitats
Heterogeneity
History
History, Ancient
Homes and haunts
Human spatial behavior
Humans
Hunter-gatherers
Hunting and gathering societies
Investments
Land use
Land use controls
Landscape
Models, Biological
Plains
Population
Population density
Population distribution
Population Dynamics - history
Residential density
Shortages
Social change
Social Change - history
Social interactions
Social Sciences
TCP/IP (Network protocols)
Texas
Theory
Time allocation
Time management
United States
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Summary:Taking inspiration from the archaeology of the Texas Coastal Plain (TCP), we develop an ecological theory of population distribution among mobile hunter-gatherers. This theory proposes that, due to the heterogeneity of resources in space and time, foragers create networks of habitats that they access through residential cycling and shared knowledge. The degree of cycling that individuals exhibit in creating networks of habitats, encoded through social relationships, depends on the relative scarcity of resources and fluctuations in those resources. Using a dynamic model of hunter-gatherer population distribution, we illustrate that increases in population density, coupled with shocks to a biophysical or social system, creates a selective environment that favors habitat partitioning and investments in social mechanisms that control the residential cycling of foragers on a landscape. Our work adds a layer of realism to Ideal Distribution Models by adding a time allocation decision process in a variable environment and illustrates a general variance reduction, safe-operating space tradeoff among mobile human foragers that drives social change.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0218440