Marine Ventures - Archaeological Perspectives on Human-Sea Relations - Hein B. Bjerck

Marine Ventures - Archaeological Perspectives on Human-Sea Relations - Hein B. Bjerck

5. On the Applicability of Environmental and Ethnographic Reference Frames: An Example from the High-latitude Seascapes of Norway and Tierra del Fuego

Marine Ventures - Archaeological Perspectives on Human-Sea Relations - Hein B. Bjerck

Heidi Mjelva Breivik [+-]
Department of Historical Studies, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Heidi Mjelva Breivik holds a PhD in archaeology from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. Her research focusses Early Stone Age with emphasis on marine foragers, human–environment relations, technology and settlement patterns.
Hein B. Bjerck [+-]
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
Hein B. Bjerck is professor in archaeology (research and teaching) at the NTNU University Museum in Trondheim. His research is focussed on early marine foraging (Marine Ventures project), and large scale excavation projects (Ormen Lange project). Bjerck is also involved in research on the recent past, and project member in Ruin Memories, After Discourse and Objects Matter.
A. Francisco J. Zangrando [+-]
Laboratory of Anthropology CADIC-CONICET
Atilio Francisco Zangrando is a full-time researcher at CADIC-CONICET (Argentina), and part-time lecturer at the University of Buenos Aires. His current research focuses on marine hunter-gatherers in southern South America, and includes coastal archaeology, settlement patterns, zooarchaeology and stable isotopes.
Ernesto L. Piana
National University of Tierra del Fuego

Description

Predictions about hunter-gatherer behavior are often derived from ethnographically documented cases coupled with environmental data. These predictive models are, however, largely based on pedestrian hunter-gatherers with a terrestrial subsistence strategy. We explore if these reference frames are applicable also to boat-using marine foragers in high-latitude seascapes by studying the mobility patterns of the marine foragers of Early Mesolithic central Norway, and the “canoe people” of southern Tierra del Fuego. Through archaeological environmental measures we find that both groups practiced a residential mobility type (forager strategy) with occasional logistical expeditions (collector strategy). Both had a narrow foraging radius and moved frequently, but returned to the same places. The mobility practiced by our marine foragers challenge the predictive hunter-gatherer models: In cold environments, forager behavior seems to be rare and long distance residential moves are expected. A high mobility frequency is found when food abundance is low, and extreme reuse of settlements is associated with an uneven distribution of critical resources. These factors do not seem to have structured the mobility of our foragers in the predicted way. The study entices us conclude that adaptive behavior among boat-using marine foragers in high-latitude seascapes does indeed follow a different set of rules than the land-based predictive models present.

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Citation

Breivik, Heidi; Bjerck, Hein; Zangrando, A. Francisco J. ; Piana, Ernesto. 5. On the Applicability of Environmental and Ethnographic Reference Frames: An Example from the High-latitude Seascapes of Norway and Tierra del Fuego. Marine Ventures - Archaeological Perspectives on Human-Sea Relations. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 75-94 Nov 2016. ISBN 9781781791363. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=24553. Date accessed: 28 Mar 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.24553. Nov 2016

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