The Evolution of Complex Hunter-Gatherers

This book makes a contribution to the developing field of complex hunter-gatherer studies with an archaeological analysis of the development of one such group. It examines the evolution of complex hunter-gatherers on the North Pacific coast of Alaska. It is one of the first books available to examine in depth the social evolution of a specific complex hunter-gatherer tradition on the North Pacific Rim and will be of interest to professional archaeologists, anthropologists, and students of archaeology and anthropology.

1 The Evolution of Complex Hunter-Gatherers.- 1.1. Introduction.- 1.2. The North Pacific Rim.- 1.2.1. Causality.- 1.3. Theoretical Orientation.- 2 The Kodiak Environment.- 2.1. The Physical Environment.- 2.2 Geology.- 2.3. Ecology.- 2.4. Temporal Dimensions of Environmental Variability.- 3 A Historical Framework.- 3.1. Overview.- 3.2. Ocean Bay I and II (7500-3500 BP).- 3.3. Ocean Bay to Kachemak Transition.- 3.4. Early Kachemak/Old Kiavak (3200-2500 BP).- 3.5. Late Kachemak /Three Saints Phase (2500-800 BP).- 3.6. Kachemak-Koniag: Transition, Discontinuity or Replacement?.- 3.7. Koniag (800-200 BP).- 3.8. Alutiiq/Russian-America (AD 1784-1864).- 3.9. Alutiiq/US America (AD 1867-present).- 3.10. Summary.- 4 Complex Hunter-Gatherers on the Kodiak Archipelago.- 4.1. Introduction.- 4.2. Feast and Famine for the Kodiak Alutiiq.- 4.3. Potlatch Feasting.- 4.4. Gender Relations.- 4.5. Leadership.- 4.6. Property Ownership.- 4.7. Trade.- 4.8. Warfare.- 4.9. Slavery.- 4.10. Summary.- 5 Colonization.- 5.1. Background.- 5.2. Maritime Adaptation.- 5.3. Evidence for the Earliest Occupants of Kodiak.- 5.4. Lifeways of Early Holocene Coastal Peoples.- 6 Modeling Emergent Complexity on the North Pacific.- 6.1. Introduction.- 6.2. Modeling Kodiak Social Evolution.- 6.3. Conclusion.- 7 The Sitkalidak Archaeological Survey Project.- 7.1. Project Goals.- 7.2. Methods.- 7.3. Site Chronology.- 7.4. Material Analysis.- 7.5. Excavations.- 8 Site Scale Analyses.- 8.1. Introduction.- 8.2. Component Frequencies as a Measure of Changing Settlement Density.- 8.3. Site Size Measures of Population Aggregation.- 8.4. Site Function Variability.- 8.5. Settlement Patterns.- 8.6. Summary.- 9 Social Inequality and Demography.- 9.1. House Attributes as a Measure of Social Variability.- 9.2. Trends inPopulation Change.- 9.3. Summary.- 10 Reconciliation, Extension, and Implications.- 10.1. Interrogating the Model.- 10.2. Overtures to Emergent Properties.- 10.3. Summary and Conclusion.- Appendices.- Appendix A.- Appendix B.- Appendix C.- Appendix D.- Endnotes.- References.