Hypotheses
- Among foragers, mobility magnitude will be negatively associated with technological complexity (27, 33).Shott, Michael - Technological organization and settlement mobility: an ethnographic examination, 1986 - 2 Variables
This study tests the relationship between mobility and technology among foragers, with the intent of applying findings to the archaeological record. In data analysis, mobility frequency is differentiated from mobility magnitude, and technological diversity is differentiated from technological complexity. Results suggest that mobility frequency is negatively associated with technological diversity while mobility magnitude is negatively associated with technological complexity.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Human bodies are designed to function well for about seven decades in the environment in which our species evolved (2)Gurven, Michael - Longevity Among Hunter-Gatherers: A Cross-Cultural Examination, 2007 - 2 Variables
This article seeks to reevaluate the widespread assumption that hunter-gatherers lack the longevity that people in the modern, industrialized world enjoy. Through modeling life expectancy, mortality, and other demographic trends among extant hunter-gatherer, gatherer-horticulturalists, and horticulturalists societies they are able to challenge this belief. The authors conclude that longevity is a "novel feature of Homo sapiens" and that seven decades seems to be the natural lifespan of a human.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Technological complexity is negatively associated with residential mobility (2).Collard, Mark - Risk, mobility or population size?: Drivers of technological richness among ..., 2013 - 2 Variables
This paper builds off previous research into the effect of population size and resource risk on complexity of subsistence technology by investigating the relationship between these independent variables and total number of material items and techniques used by various western North American hunter-gatherer groups. This tally of total technological complexity is found to be insignificantly related to population size or residential mobility; however, there is a significant correlation in the expected direction between technological complexity and one measure of resource risk (mean annual temperature during driest month). Tying this finding to previous analyses of subsistence technologies, the authors theorize that environmental risk is a pervasive driver of technological ingenuity and cultural evolution.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - The gender of weaver will be associated with loom complexity (33).O'Brian, Robin - Who weaves and why? weaving, loom complexity and trade, 1999 - 2 Variables
This article examines the relationship between craft specialization, technological complexity, the gendered division of labor, and trade. Seeking to understand the shift from women to men as primary weavers, the author finds that trade is a strong predictor but technological complexity of looms is not.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - The gender of weaver will be associated with trade (33).O'Brian, Robin - Who weaves and why? weaving, loom complexity and trade, 1999 - 2 Variables
This article examines the relationship between craft specialization, technological complexity, the gendered division of labor, and trade. Seeking to understand the shift from women to men as primary weavers, the author finds that trade is a strong predictor but technological complexity of looms is not.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - The frequency of hunter-gatherer movement is associated with implement diversity.Read, Dwight - An Interaction Model for Resource Implement Complexity Based on Risk and Num..., 2008 - 5 Variables
In this paper, the authors analyzed data on 20 hunter-gatherer groups in order to understand the factors that influence the diversity and elaborateness of their tool assemblages. They used data collected by a variety of ethnographers to draw inferences about the complexity of implement assemblages and how it is affected by ecological constraints, modes of resource procurement, group movement, and population size. Regression analysis showed that the two strongest predictors of implement complexity were growth season (GS) (as a proxy for risk) and the number of annual residential moves (NMV). With the understanding that NMV and GS are likely not independent, the authors created addition and interaction models to understand how these variables may work in tandem to influence implement diversity and elaborateness. The results show that a shorter growing season (higher risk) and a lower number of moves are correlated with greater implement complexity. This analysis also divided the hunter-gatherers into two subgroups: a subgroup characterized by higher diversity of complex implements and more elaborate individual implements than predicted by the model, and a subgroup characterized by lower diversity and less elaborateness than predicted. These subgroups were found to correspond with the distinction between foragers (groups that move more-or-less as a unit while gathering) and collectors (groups that gather (logistically from a more-or-less fixed settlement), with the higher diversity subgroup being made up mostly of collectors and the lower diversity subgroup being made up mostly of foragers. Finally, the authors suggest that under conditions where population growth leads to increased density, foraging strategies will tend to shift to collector strategies in conjunction with increased elaborateness of implements to exploit resources with greater intensity.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - The frequency of hunter-gatherer movement is associated with implement elaborateness.Read, Dwight - An Interaction Model for Resource Implement Complexity Based on Risk and Num..., 2008 - 6 Variables
In this paper, the authors analyzed data on 20 hunter-gatherer groups in order to understand the factors that influence the diversity and elaborateness of their tool assemblages. They used data collected by a variety of ethnographers to draw inferences about the complexity of implement assemblages and how it is affected by ecological constraints, modes of resource procurement, group movement, and population size. Regression analysis showed that the two strongest predictors of implement complexity were growth season (GS) (as a proxy for risk) and the number of annual residential moves (NMV). With the understanding that NMV and GS are likely not independent, the authors created addition and interaction models to understand how these variables may work in tandem to influence implement diversity and elaborateness. The results show that a shorter growing season (higher risk) and a lower number of moves are correlated with greater implement complexity. This analysis also divided the hunter-gatherers into two subgroups: a subgroup characterized by higher diversity of complex implements and more elaborate individual implements than predicted by the model, and a subgroup characterized by lower diversity and less elaborateness than predicted. These subgroups were found to correspond with the distinction between foragers (groups that move more-or-less as a unit while gathering) and collectors (groups that gather (logistically from a more-or-less fixed settlement), with the higher diversity subgroup being made up mostly of collectors and the lower diversity subgroup being made up mostly of foragers. Finally, the authors suggest that under conditions where population growth leads to increased density, foraging strategies will tend to shift to collector strategies in conjunction with increased elaborateness of implements to exploit resources with greater intensity.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Diversity and complexity of toolkits used by farming and herding groups will be positively associated with risk of resource failure (2).Collard, Mark - Risk of resource failure and toolkit variation in small-scale farmers and he..., 2012 - 11 Variables
Prior research by Oswalt (1973, 1976) and Torrence (1983, 2001) has suggested that risk of resource failure is a significant predictor of toolkit complexity and diversity among hunter-gatherers. In this paper, the same relationship is tested among small-scale herding and farming groups. However, no significant correlation is discovered between any measure of resource risk and any measure of toolkit complexity. The researchers suggest that this absence may be the result of greater reliance on non-technological diversification methods among farmers (i.e. spatial diversification, mixed farming, intercropping), or of other unaccounted-for sources of risk (i.e. intergroup raiding and warfare).
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Complexity of material culture will be negatively associated with use of relational estimations of time (30).Overmann, Karenleigh A. - Material scaffolds in numbers and time, 2013 - 8 Variables
This paper examines the relationship between the complexity of a society's material culture and its development of cognitive technologies for numeration and timekeeping. The researcher claims that the resulting positive correlation between these variables as support for a theory of material culture as 'scaffolding' for number concepts, providing tangible, shareable, manipulable forms for abstract numerical constructions.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Social differentiation will be positively associated with violent crime (249).Leavitt, Gregory C. - General evolution and Durkheim's hypothesis of crime frequency: A cross-cult..., 1992 - 16 Variables
This paper is an investigation into the relationship between social differentiation as a proxy for societal 'development' and various categories of crime. A positive relationship is interpreted by the author as empirical cross-cultural support for Durkheim's theory that these two factors will increase together as parallel processes of 'sociocultural evolution'.
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