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American Antiquity
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THE CULTURAL EVOLUTION OF MATERIAL WEALTH-BASED
INEQUALITY AT BRIDGE RIVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA
Anna Marie Prentiss, Thomas A. Foor, Guy Cross, Lucille E. Harris, and Michael Wanzenried
A fundamental problem for anthropological archaeology lies in defining and explaining the evolutionary origins of so
inequality. Researchers have offered a range of models emphasizing variability in the roles of managers, aggrandizers, eco
logical variability, and historical contexts. Recent studies suggest that the form of emergent inequality may have varied s
nificantly between groups, implying that pathways to inequality may have varied as well. Unfortunately it has been difficu
to test many of these models using archaeological data given their requirements for fine-grained assessments of sp
tiotemporal variability in many data classes. Recent research at the Bridge River site in British Columbia provides th
opportunity to explore the utility of a range of explanatory models associated with early social inequality. Results of
study suggest that inequality, measured as significant variability in accumulation of a range of material wealth items, cam
late to the Bridge River site (ca. 1200-1300 cal. B.P.) and was associated with a period of demographic packing and app
ent declining access to some critical subsistence resources. Assessment of interhousehold variability in demography, wealt
accumulation, and occupational longevity suggests that markers of significant affluence manifested only in newly est
lished houses. An important implication is that material wealth-based inequality may not have been hereditary in nature a
Bridge River during the period prior to 1100 cal. B.P.
La definición y explicación de los orígenes evolutivos de la desigualdad social son problemas fundamentales para la arqu
ología antropológica. Diferentes investigadores han proporcionado una gama de modelos que enfatizan la variabilidad en
roles de administradores y aggrandizers, versatilidad ecológica, y de los contextos históricos. Estudios recientes sugieren qu
la forma de desigualdad emergente pudo haber variado notablemente entre los grupos, lo cual implica que los caminos hacia
la desigualdad pudieron haber variado también. Desafortunadamente ha sido difícil probar estos modelos usando datos arque
ológicos, debido a que estos requieren detalladas evaluaciones sobre variabilidad espacio-temporal en diferentes clases
datos. Investigaciones recientes en el sitio Bridge River (Columbia Británica) ofrecen la oportunidad de explorar la utilid
de un rango de modelos explicativos asociados a desigualdad social temprana. Los resultados sugieren que la desigualda
medida como variabilidad significativa en cuanto a acumulación de artículos de lujo, se presentó deforma tardía en Brid
River (1200-1300 AP); y que ésta es asociada a un periodo de concentración demográfica y a una aparente declinación
el acceso a recursos de subsistencia. La evaluación de variabilidad demográfica entre viviendas, acumulación de riquezas
longevidad ocupacional sugieren que los marcadores de afluencia se manifestaron solamente en casas recién establecid
Una implicación importante es que la desigualdad basada en riqueza material pudo no haber sido hereditaria en el sitio Bridg
River durante el periodo anterior a 1100 AP.
(Mid-Fraser) Canyon of British Columbia villages offers the opportunity to develop and test
Socialpriorinequality evolved
to European contact intheoretical
(Teit 1906). Long the Middle Fraser
models of emergent sons.
inequality (PrentissArchaeological research in the Mid-Fraser
before the coming of Europeans, the ancient peo- and Kuijt 2012; Prentiss et al. 2007).
pie of the Mid-Fraser Canyon constructed large vil- Our research is concerned with the emergence
lages (or towns) and their chiefs presided over of material wealth-based inequality. By emer
massive households of sometimes 50 or more per- gence we mean development of a new or previ
Anna Marie Prentiss ■ Department of Anthropology, The University of Montana, Missoula, Montana 59812
(anna.prentiss@umontana.edu)
Thomas A. Foor ■ Department of Anthropology, The University of Montana, Missoula, Montana 59812
Guy Cross ■ Terrascan Geophysics, 4506 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6R 1R3
Lucille E. Harris ■ Department of Anthropology, 19 Russell Street, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S
2S2
Michael Wanzenried ■ Department of Anthropology, The University of Montana, Missoula, Montana 59812
542
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WEALTH-BASED INEQUALITY AT BRIDGE RIVER 543
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544 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 77, No. 3, 2012
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Prentiss et al.] WEALTH-BASED INEQUALITY AT BRIDGE RIVER 545
w j&SÇ í '' _
J$W£f*k&PT - \ P ' 'V --•■• -*'.''"
:>* :jpr><*§. * * keaile-y
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CREEK site
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. _ r>l
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tion. Clark and Blake's (1994) model is a partie- ganize economically and/or militarily agains
ularly good fit since it asserts that institutionalized neighbors (e.g., Oliver 1962). Initial appearance
inequality in human societies is an unexpected through a competition for prestige, mates, an
outcome of competition between individuals. This resources followed by further evolution under
interesting scenario implies that social rules for say group selection for military advantage implies
structuring inequality come about as a by-product an exaptive process,
of struggles for wealth, influence, and reproduc
tive success by individuals within emerging The Br¡dge R¡ver s¡te and
transegalitarian communities. Under many see- Mid-Fraser Archaeology
narios this process would develop under more
adverse resource conditions implying fitness re- The Middle Fraser (Mid-Fraser) Canyon of
ductions during the transition period (e.g., Arnold British Columbia (Figure 1) contains a number of
1993). This presents the possibility that inequal- large and well-preserved winter villages that pr
ity could come about in a maladaptive or at best, vide abundant evidence for an in situ develop
non-aptive (per Gould and Vrba 1982) process, ment of wealth-based inequality during the past
Once stabilized it could conceivably have group 2,000 years (Prentiss and Kuijt 2012). The major
beneficial effects (e.g., Henrich and Boyd 2008), sites include Keatley Creek, Bridge River, Bell,
for example, if it permitted one group to better or- Seton Lake, McKay Creek, and Kelly Lake
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546 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 77, No. 3, 2012
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Prentiss et al.] WEALTH-BASED INEQUALITY AT BRIDGE RIVER 547
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548 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 77, No. 3, 2012
Figure 3. Map of occupation patterns at the Bridge River site including updates from Prentiss et al. (2008) based upon
radiocarbon dating results of 2008-2009 field investigations (Table 3). Note in particular addition of Housepit 20 to BR
2, Housepit 25 to BR 3 and Housepit 54 to BR 4.
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Prentiss et al.] WEALTH-BASED INEQUALITY AT BRIDGE RIVER 549
cological research suggests that declining salmon mestic activity areas (places where families con
in the eastern Pacific during the Medieval Warm ducted household work associated with artifact
period (ca. 1200-700 cal. B.P.) was a conse- manufacture and use, cooking, and food storage
quence of natural processes operating beyond hu- in a sample of BR 2 and 3 houses of different sizes
man control (e.g., Chatters et al. 1995; Finney et from northern and southern areas of the village
al. 2002; Patterson et al. 2005). Second, deer re- (Figure 5-7; Table 1). Excavations in these area
mains shift in nearly all houses from a pattern of were highly successful and typically resulted in
largely complete skeletal representation to a pat- identification of complex stratified sequences of
tern dominated by lower limbs (Carlson 2010; buried floors (often with domestic activity areas
Ward 2011), also similar to patterns recognized at include cache pits filled with refuse). Stratified
Keatley Creek for these dates and considered to floor/roof sequences (Figures 8-10) were highly
be a likely consequence of intense local prédation variable and ranged from very thin single floors
and resource depression (Prentiss et al. 2007). (Housepits 24 and 25) to stratified floor sequences
Normally this kind of change in foraging practice (Housepits 11, 16, 20, 54), some interspersed
implies a local population facing reduced local ac- with buried roof deposits (Housepits 16, 20, and
cess to its critical food sources, in this case salmon 54). While only a limited sample of houses was
and deer (e.g., Broughton 1994). Further work is investigated, we are satisfied that the range of
required to fully understand change in plant har- contexts identified with aid of geophysical re
vesting practices. connaissance yielded sufficient data for an initial
All told, it would appear that the Bridge River examination of the timing and pr
village grew significantly, developed geometric gent inequality at Bridge River,
arrangements of houses, and eventually suffered
some forms of subsistence stress between 1800 Ethnographic Framework
and 1100 cal. B.P. The history of nearby Keatley Ethnographies provide substantial
Creek (Prentiss et al. 2007) implies the possibility ing inequality in traditional socie
of social evolution favoring expanding material Fraser area (Kennedy and Bouchard
wealth-based inequality during this time. But we 1998; Teit 1900, 1906). Archa
cannot consider this without further analysis of in- drawn from these records to
ter-household variability in wealth/status markers, chaeological frames of reference f
the archaeological record (Alexander 1992,200
Inequality at Bridge River Prentiss 2000; Prentiss and Kuijt 201
traditional villages occupied by St'át'imc (Upp
The 2007-2009 excavations at Bridge River were Lillooet) and other ethnograph
designed to develop data permitting us to assess tioned economically as classic
the evolution of inequality in BR 2 and 3 house- Binford 1980) harvesting salmon,
holds (excavation details are outlined in Prentiss other items for winter survival an
et al. 2010). Briefly our approach was to use geo- ciopolitical ventures. St'át'imc vill
physical methods (Cross 2004,2005,2010; Pren- ganized socially using a system of in
tiss et al. 2008; Prentiss et al. 2010) to identify do- achieved statuses. Hereditary ch
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550 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 77, No. 3, 2012
\ 26
' so \ 25
I \
VwL
140 ]
120 '
100\
_ R""°r>c, Gr>J
~ Sun^yBKMn,
^ Hou»<=#Rim
2008 «W 2009.
Figure 5. Bridge River site highlighting housepits excavated in 2008-2009 field seasons.
heads of descent groups, termed "clans" by Teit chiefs served such roles as war chief, hunt chief
(1906), which could make up an entire village or etc. Elite (hereditary and achieved) familie
could be dispersed over multiple villages owned critical fishing rocks and likely controlled
(Kennedy and Bouchard 1978). Achieved status access to other segments of the landscape lik
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Prentiss et al.] WEALTH-BASED INEQUALITY AT BRIDGE RIVER 551
AA-2
| ^ (2008/9)
-
NO | tO |
=2
NO
NO
8 shl
T . , . f
75 80 85 90
AA-1 (2008) AA-2 (2008) AA-3 (2009)
AA-1 (2009)
AA-2 (2009)
AA-3 (2009)
SI
-
75 80 85 90
»
35 40 45 50 55 60
AA-1
(2009) o
AA-2 (2009)
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552 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 77, No. 3, 2012
Occupation Neighborhood
Occupation Neighborhood House Size
House Size
Note: Medium 10-14.99 m. maximum diameter across rim crests; larger 15+ m. maximum diameter across rim crests.
deer hunting locales and lithic quarries (e.g., lishment of patron-client relationships) as a means
Morice 1893). of preventing demographic loss.
Much as described by Ames (2006) for the Our challenge as archae
Northwest Coast, families sought to preserve sta- better understanding of
ble households socioeconomically through house- ied in the past, how they
hold production activities and exchange partner- reflected in material cu
ships. Solid household economies and good site provides an ideal opp
leadership could translate into effective political goals. In order to accom
ventures including hosting of public ceremonies ate measures that replica
like potlatches or "scrambles" (Kennedy and ganization. Drawing fro
Bouchard 1978). Well-functioning households tion it is clear that e
were also in a better position to attract new mem- successful if they main
bers (whether by marriage, adoption, or estab- source procurement loca
Figure 8. Housepit 24 Area 3 stratigraphie profile illustrating thin single BR 3 floor (Stratum II) capped by roof/rim an
roof deposits (Strata III and V). Features 1 and 5 are cache pits containing among other things remains of two butchered
domestic dogs.
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Prentiss et al.] WEALTH-BASED INEQUALITY AT BRIDGE RIVER 553
Figure 9. Housepit 11 Area 2 stratigraphie profile illustrating multiple BR 2 floors (Strata IIA sequence) capp
gle roof (Stratum Va) and subsequent BR 4 floor (Stratum II) and roof deposit (Stratum V). Note Feature
capped by three episodes of hearth construction.
produce excess quantities of goods for winter sub- things being equal, we could expect th
sistence, exchange, and potlatching. While salmon ethnographic pattern (e.g., Teit 1906) i
was the core food resource, mammals were highly then markers for access to the most sou
sought after to relieve the monotony of dried fish foods (e.g., mammals) should correlat
but also as a feasting item. Favored mammals in- dicators of other material wealth (rare
cluded deer and other ungulates, but apparently gious lithic raw materials and artifacts). In
could also include dogs on some occasions (e.g., highly sought foods and material weal
Prentiss et al. 2003). Establishment of positive correlate with population density and
relationships between village groups could result house large numbers of persons (e.g., ho
in access to a variety of nonlocal goods such as size). Elite households should generat
rare lithic raw materials, artifacts, and foods. These scores on all of these items while poor
in turn could be used to signify household and in- would likely score lower.
dividual status (Teit 1906). Households needed
Measuring Variability in Subsistence, Material
to maintain enough members to facilitate the labor
Wealth,
needed during critical food harvesting and pro and Relative Population Density
cessing seasons (e.g., during the late summer sock- We employed a number of indices to
eye salmon run) but also to produce goods for variation in subsistence, material wealth, a
give-away in potlatches or exchange contexts, ative demographics (Tables 2 and 3). Su
Thus, there was a systemic relationship between variability was measured directly with a
household demographics, subsistence and goods index much like that of Broughto
production activities, and political ventures bring- whereby total NISP taxonomically iden
ing in new goods signaling status. mammalian elements per housepit component
If this social framework was operating in the were divided by the sum of total NISP mammals
past we should be able to measure archaeological and NISP fish (again relying only upon specimens
variability in these dimensions that should corre- to which a genus level taxon could be identified),
late with one another in predictable ways. All This index allows us to gain insight into access to
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554 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 77, No. 3, 2012
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Prentiss et al.] WEALTH-BASED INEQUALITY AT BRIDGE RIVER 555
Exc.
Prest. N-L Prest. Bifaces M/ CP/ Cubic
Component Items RM RM Total tools M+F sq.cma FCR Meters
"thousands.
: Prestige; N-L = Non-Local; RM = Raw Material; CP = Cache pit volume in cm3; sq. cm = square centime
ters excavated; M = Mammal NISP for taxonomically identifiable elements; F = Fish NISP for taxonomically identifiable
elements; FCR = Fire-Cracked Rock; sq. cm. = square centimeters; Exc. = Excavated.
Table 3. Data Measuring Variability in Material Wealth and Relative Population Density.
Note: Prest. = Prestige; N-L = Non-Local; RM = Raw Material; CP = Cache pit; Mam. = Mammal; FCR = Fire-Cracked
Rock.
2000b) as those raw materials recognized ethno- We employ three indirect measures of rela
graphically to have special value for performance tive housepit demographics (numbers and densi
characteristics but also other factors (e.g., color, ties of persons per house). Housepit diameter
luster, etc.). For purposes of our analysis we in- (measured as maximum diameter between rim
elude copper, obsidian, nephrite, and steatite.1 crests) has often been considered to be a good
Another potential measure of wealth could be ac- marker of demographics assuming that the larger
cess to lithic raw material that is highly useful in the house the greater number of inhabitants (Bin
manufacturing chipped stone tools but that do ford 1990). Indeed, large houses are routinely as
not occur in the Bridge River valley or immedi- sumed to not only reflect highest numbers of in
ately adjacent mountains. There are many lithic habitants but generally, highest status in
raw material types present in the Bridge River site Mid-Fraser archaeology (Sheppard and Muir
lithic assemblages, but very few can be confi- 2010). Measuring density of persons per housepit
dently associated with extralocal sources requir- is probably impossible for archaeologists but we
ing trade, travel to other valleys, and in some can gain some idea of potential variability in rel
eases probably some kind of sociopolitical or ative density using two additional measures. We
economic agreements with neighboring village developed a cache pit index consisting of exca
groups. Three of these are obsidian, Fountain Val- vated cache pit volume (cubic cm) per square
ley pisolite, and Hat Creek jasper (Hayden et al. meter of excavated floor as a crude measure of
1996). Our final wealth measure is the count of storage capacity assuming greater storage capac
these three raw material types per cubic meter of ity reflects greater numbers of consumers. Per
each excavated housepit component. formance of this index could be adversely af
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556 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 77, No. 3, 2012
Correlation Prestige Items 1.000 .799 .636 .068 .697 .380 .529
Non-Local Raw Mats. .799 1.000 .560 .205 .877 -.015 .084
Prestige Raw Mats. .636 .560 1.000 .540 .379 .695 .471
Biface .068 .205 .540 1.000 .185 .152 -.314
Mammal .697 .877 .379 .185 1.000 -.238 -.141
Cache Pit .380 -.015 .695 .152 -.238 1.000 .798
FCR .529 .084 .471 -.314 -.141 .798 1.000
Sig. (1-tailed) Prestige Items .009 .045 .436 .027 .177 .089
Non-Local Raw Materials .009 .074 .313 .002 .486 .422
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Prentiss et al.] WEALTH-BASED INEQUALITY AT BRIDGE RIVER 557
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558 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 77, No. 3, 2012
25 3 25 3
24 3 10 1
20 3 35 2
54 3 40 7
16 3 70 6
20 2 20 4
54 2 50 5
11 2 40 11
2.5
2.5
1.5
1
Factor
One
One 0.5
0.5
Scores
0
* 1 '
♦ 40 60 80
-0.5 36.2£ ♦ 40 60 80
-1
-1.5
Floor Thickness
Figure 11. Plot of Factor One scores against maximum housepit floor thickness per occupation component.
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Prentiss et al.] WEALTH-BASED INEQUALITY AT BRIDGE RIVER 559
2.5
1.5
Factor
Factor One QOne
5 Q
Scores
0 0 H , , '
, ^ T
4 6 8 10 12
-0.5 -0.5 4
_» A+ 6 8 10 12
-1
-1.5
Number of Floors
Figure 12. Plot of number of Factor one scores versus excavator identified housepit floors per occupation component.
houses in this final time (BR 3) brought with it the access coincided in early BR 3 times (ca.
first appearance of quantitatively obvious material 1200-1300 cal. B.R). It may have created the
wealth-based inequality as new households (e.g., conditions whereby some family groups simply
Housepits 24 and 25) apparently collected prestige chose to leave the village while others developed
objects more effectively than others and appear to new strategies for survival. One option could
have put on feasts.4 Finally, it is also at this time have been establishment of new social networks
that we see the first appearance of large extra- of cooperators engaged in controlling access to
mural ovens5 likely used for meat, fish, and berry crucial food resources. This would help to explain
roasts (Dietz 2004). why only newly established housepits like House
All things considered, it would appear that the pits 24 and 25 would retain large
Bridge River village followed a similar history to guíate assemblages, while others (
that of Keatley Creek where we also recognize 20, and 54) would see declines in the
subsistence change and emergent inequality in the vestment in new social arrangem
same time frame. However, there are also some in- be marked by signs of costly si
teresting differences. Drawing on current data, Boone 1998) as manifested in possib
significant quantities of prestige items and other Housepits 24 and 25.
signs of affluence appear first in the newly estab- In contrast, current data from
lished houses of Bridge River, not the older pre- (Prentiss et al. 2007) seem to indicat
sumably well-established houses as seen at Keat- wealth was accumulated in large hous
ley Creek. Outdoor cooking ovens appear after ready been in existence for a numbe
1300 cal. B.P. at Bridge River while this is ap- thus implying a different comp
proximately the time when they disappear at Keat- whereby long-lived households pe
ley Creek. Finally, Bridge River was abandoned at vantage of prior social standing in
least a century if not earlier than Keatley Creek. In- to outcompete neighbors (e.g.,
deed, the abandonment process may have been un- Within this scenario it is even pos
derway even as inequality expanded.6 that the breakdown and final aban
These data may imply somewhat different his- Bridge River could have offered be
tories for emergent inequality in the two villages, households at Keatley Creek if som
Our current evidence suggests that population River peoples made moves to oth
packing and the beginnings of a decline in salmon sought refuge with those large ho
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560 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 77, No. 3, 2012
whenthe
Our understanding of reoccupied centuries later the
evolution ofsamemateri
village
appearsat
wealth-based inequality to have been characterized
Bridge River by the offers
ethno
plications for theoriesgraphic
of pattern that likely included
emergent hereditary in
inequality. I
equality (Prentiss et al. 2010;
evident that simple deterministic Reininghaus 2010).
models (resou
conditions, packing, This
and prompts us to ask, was the Mid-Fraser
personality types)aban a
problematic given thedonment an accident temporarily
possibility that disturbing a
emergent
long-lived
equality may have taken adaptation (e.g., Hayden
somewhat and Ryder pa
different
1991)?
even in villages 10 km Or could it mark
apart. To afully
more interesting his
underst
the cultural trappings
torical of inequality
process? we will
If so, then future researchers need
look beyond ecological
need conditions to consider
to further consider the impacts of the events
of 1100-1200 cal. B.P. on later
derlying historical/evolutionary developments in
processes.
the Mid-Fraser
Historical/evolutionary Canyon.
pathways are alway
constrained by previous designs; brand new
velopments do not simply
Acknowledgments. arise out
The 2007-2009 field of at
investigations nothi
the
(e.g.,Goldschmidt's [1940]
Bridge River site"hopeful monsters
were conducted under a partnership agree
ment with the Bridge River (Xwisten) Band and with the gen
even in cultural contexts. This implies that pr
eral encouragement of the St'át'imc Nation. We thank in par
ous developments provided structural constrai
ticular Saul Terry, Bradley Jack and Gerald "Bobo" Michel.
on future evolutionary
Funding forpathways
this research was providedand that
by the National Sci u
tended consequences and (Award
ence Foundation cultural
No. BCS-0713013).exaptati
Final profile
maps also
(Rosenberg 2009) may were drafted by Eric Carlson,
have beenLee Reininghaus, and Lisa
importan
Smith. GIS maps of the Bridge River site were produced by
Our data suggest that there had always been
Matt Hogan. A large number of students from The University
least some variability in household size, forag
of Montana, Simon Fraser University, and the University of
returns, and ability Michigan
to accumulate
participated in the project both injewelry
the field and lab an
other so-called prestige
oratory. objects.
We thank all of them It isdedication
for their possibleand hard t
the large houses thatwork. Radiocarbon dating was completed
originally evolved by the NSF Arizona
as an
AMS Facility, University of Arizona. Raven Garvey translated
fective way to shelter cooperating extended k
the abstract into Spanish. We thank Alison Rautman, Ken
groups and to organize defense and labor, now
Ames, Michael Lenert, and four anonymous peer reviewers for
came a tool for defining group
their comments success and we
on the manuscript.
(Prentiss 2009, 2011). Rules for food-shari
evolved as strategies for insuring all commun
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Alexander,
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establishing new netwo
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