Culture and Ecology of Chaco Canyon and the San Juan Basin

A Broader Perspective 333Among archaeological distributions in Europe,there was much diversity in hunter-gatherer populationsthat previously inhabited the area where theLBK culture is located. Binford suggestedthat much of the cultural diversity extantamong hunter-gatherers was replaced byrelative homogeneity across the same rangeof environmental variability. It is reasonableto imagine that the appearance of anew niche, accompanied by an increase insystem complexity, might well be signaledby the disappearance of some of the characteristicsof the habitat that have beenrendered irrelevant in the new effectiveenvironment. In short, a new niche mayreplace previous multiplicity and diversitywith a larger but relatively morehomogeneous cultural organization (comparedwith the prior system) that isassociated with a considerable shift ineffective environment. (Binford 2001 :203)Evaluation of ethnographic cases led to thegeneralization thatThere does not appear to be a 'selfdefining'constant structuring the numberof persons included in hunter-gathererregional units, dialect groups, or ethnicunits. The data reveal that large-scale,collective human groups co-vary in sizewith environmental variables. Large-scalemacro units are presumably selectivelyconditioned, and the extent to which theycan be thought of as system state indicatorsis also variable. (Binford 2001:225,generalization 7.18)Micro-group Units. Binford recognized thatdepending on the system state condition, variablesfound in one setting may interact in different ways soas to produce either similar or different organizationalproperties among these cases. To better understandhow these differences arose, Binford shifted analyticalscales to see if he could identify a self-defining constant.In the ethnographic database, there is a considerablerange in dispersed residential groups, orgroup 1, household size per 100 km 2 for thosepracticing different subsistence strategies, as follows(Binford 2001:346):mounted huntersagriculturalistsmutualistsegalitarian groups, noinstitutionalized leadersegalitarian groups, withinstitutionalized ieadersranked societies, no elite leadersranked societies, with elite leaders3.6929.6023.9713.1514.8046.7451.08Among plant-gatherers, group 1 size varies withaboveground productivity. People who depend totallyonterrestrial plants tend to be foragers with residentialmobility. They have small group 1 units inhabitats with low primary productivity. For animalcollectors,foods were acquired at some distance fromthe residential camp and transported back. The residentialgroups tended to be large. They have largergroup 1 sizes in low primary production settings. Ina cool, temperate setting and all warmer settings,people who depend on terrestrial animal resources areorganized in terms of forager strategies withresidential mobility. Two thresholds would affectsubsistence strategies (Table 11.1). Between theArctic and Equatorial zones, where either hunting orgathering would be exclusive subsistence patterns,there is a mix in the dependence on ei ther strategy. Atan effective temperature (E.T.) value of 12.75degrees, the growing season is such that plantdominantsubsistence patterns end. Toward the upperend of the warm temperate zone, at an E. T. value of15.25 degrees and 35 degrees latitude, the need forstorage becomes part of the subsistence strategy, butstorage is also found in the archaeological and ethnographicrecord where higher E.T. values are calculated.In these instances, storage is one of severalstrategies that can be adopted when groups need tointensify their food-production levels. This variable,therefore, is correlated both with environment andother variables that suggest intensification. Above thestorage threshold, the dependence on stored foods was