The Simple Random Sample (SRS) below consists of traditions that are randomly selected from the Outline of Archaeological Traditions (OAT) compiled by Peter N. Peregrine with the help of a Board of Advisors. The OAT attempted to catalogue all known prehistoric archaeological traditions.

REGION	SUBREGION	TRADITION NAME	OWC	SUBSISTENCE TYPE	BEGIN B.P.	END B.P.
Asia	East Asia	Dawenkou	AF50	horticulturalists	7000	5000
Asia	South Asia	Ganges Neolithic	AQ50	other subsistence combinations	4000	2500
Europe	General Europe	Bell Beaker	E050	intensive agriculturalists	4500	3800
Middle East	Middle East	Iranian Bronze Age	MA50	agro-pastoralists	5000	3500
North America	Arctic and Subarctic	Norton	NA50	hunter-gatherers	3000	1000
North America	Arctic and Subarctic	Proto-Athapaskans	ND50	hunter-gatherers	2000	150
Oceania	Polynesia	Hawaiian	OV50	horticulture to intensive agriculture	800	200
South America	Central Andes	Andean Regional Development	S050	agro-pastoralists	2200	1300
South America	Northwestern South America	Manteño	SD50	horticulturalists	1500	500
South America	Central Andes	Aymara Kingdoms	SF50	agro-pastoralists	900	530
Europe	General Europe	Impressed Ware	E051	primarily hunter-gatherers	6800	6000
Africa	Northern Africa	Late Pleistocene–Early Holocene Maghreb	M050	hunter-gatherers	20000	7500
Asia	Central Asia	Scythian-Sarmatian	MA51	pastoralists	4000	1700
Africa	Northern Africa	Khartoum Neolithic	MS50	other subsistence combinations	5700	3550
North America	General North America	Eastern Arctic Small Tool	N050	hunter-gatherers	4000	2700
North America	Northwest Coast and California	Late Southern California	NS50	hunter-gatherers	3000	150
Middle America and the Caribbean	Northern Mexico	Huatabampo	NU75	primarily hunter-gatherers	1800	500
Middle America and the Caribbean	Maya Area	Classic Maya	NY53	intensive agriculturalists	2100	1100
Oceania	Melanesia	New Guinea Neolithic	OJ50	horticulturalists	10000	100
Middle America and the Caribbean	Caribbean	Late Caribbean	S051	intensive agriculturalists	1000	500
Asia	Central Asia	Eastern Central Asia Neolithic and Bronze Age	AJ50	agro-pastoralists	6000	1500
North America	Eastern Woodlands	Eastern Middle Archaic	NN50	hunter-gatherers	8000	6000
North America	Plains and Plateau	Cascade	NR50	hunter-gatherers	8000	5000
Middle America and the Caribbean	Central Mexico	West Mexico Postclassic	NU76	intensive agriculturalists	1100	480
South America	Northwestern South America	Early Northwest South American Littoral	S060	primarily hunter-gatherers	9000	5500
Asia	South Asia	Central Indian Neolithic	AQ63	other subsistence combinations	5000	3100
Europe	Southeastern Europe	Southeastern Europe Late Chalcolithic	E075	agro-pastoralists	5500	4500
Europe	Scandinavia	Scandinavian Iron Age	E087	other subsistence combinations	2500	1500
Africa	Western Africa	West African Iron Age	FA75	other subsistence combinations	2500	1200
North America	Arctic and Subarctic	Late Tundra	NA45	hunter-gatherers	8000	6000
North America	Eastern Woodlands	Initial Shield Woodland	NC54	hunter-gatherers	3000	600
Asia	Central Asia	Early Nomad	RL60	pastoralists	2800	2300
Middle East	Middle East	Early Dynastic Mesopotamia	MH64	agro-pastoralists	4900	4334
Asia	East Asia	Yayoi	AB80	intensive agriculturalists	2500	1500
Asia	South Asia	Indus Neolithic	AQ40	hunter-gatherers to food producers	7000	5000
Africa	Southern Africa	Wilton	FX50	hunter-gatherers	10000	2000
Africa	Northern Africa	Middle Paleolithic Egypt	MR45	hunter-gatherers	230000	45000
North America	Eastern Woodlands	Hopewell	NP55	horticulturalists	2100	1700
Asia	East Asia	Southeast China Early Neolithic	AF70	primarily hunter-gatherers	9000	5500
Middle East	Middle East	Halafian	M086	agro-pastoralists	7500	7000
Middle America and the Caribbean	Central Mexico	Olmec	NU95	other subsistence combinations	3400	2100
Middle East	Middle East	Akkadian	MH66	agro-pastoralists	4334	4112
North America	Arctic and Subarctic	Paleo-Arctic	ND60	hunter-gatherers	11000	6000
Oceania	Polynesia	Tongan	OU80	horticulturalists	2000	200
North America	Southwest and Basin	Hohokam	NT76	intensive agriculturalists	2000	500
South America	Central Andes	Chimu	SE75	intensive agriculturalists	1100	480

Additional Formats

Topics and Cultures in eHRAF: This printable PDF document is an overview of all the topics on cultural and social life, and all cultures, past and present, currently covered in HRAF’s cross-cultural online databases. It serves as handy reference for librarians, educators, and researchers.

Excel format: A comprehensive list of the 46 SRS tradition names currently included in the eHRAF Archaeology database. The excel format also includes sequence and installment numbers, OWC codes, region coverage (including subregions), date coverage (beginning and ending dates for the cultural materials), and subsistence type. This list in excel format is versatile because you can sort the spreadsheet to your needs and add or delete any columns you like. The sequence numbers for each culture name make the excel table useful for generating a subset of the simple random sample from eHRAF. Visit the Cross-Cultural Research section to learn more about random sampling.

Access to the archaeological traditions in the eHRAF Archaeology database requires membership (or temporary password). Contact hraf@yale.edu for access to eHRAF Archaeology.

Subsistence Classification

Hunter-gatherers — also called foragers; depend almost entirely (75% or more) on hunting, gathering, and fishing for subsistence

Hunter-gatherers to food producers — during the tradition the people began as hunter-gatherers and became dependent on food production (55% or more) by the end of the tradition. Food production includes combinations of hunting, gathering, fishing, pastoralism, horticulture, and intensive agriculture

Primarily hunter-gatherers — depend mostly on hunting, gathering and fishing (55% percent or more)

Horticulturalists — depend mostly (55% or more) on simple agriculture (extensive or horticulture). Horticulture frequently requires a long fallow period. This category includes any type of agriculture that is not primarily (55% or more) intensive.

Agro-pastoralists — not any of the above. Pastoralism and horticulture/intensive agriculture combined contribute at least 75% or more to the economy.

Pastoralists — depend mostly (55% or more) on herding or pastoralism

Horticulture to intensive agriculture — at the beginning of the tradition, people depended mostly (55% or more) on horticulture and by the end of the tradition they depended mostly (55% or more) on intensive agriculture.

Intensive agriculturalists — depend mostly (55% or more) on intensive agriculture. Intensive agriculture means a variety of techniques are used so that fields can be permanently cultivated. These techniques can include irrigation, terracing, crop rotation, plows, and/or some sort of agriculture.

Other subsistence combinations — includes other combinations of hunting, fishing, gathering, pastoralism, horticulture, and intensive agriculture

Not assigned — not enough information

Where can Traditions, Regions, Subsistence and Sample types be found in eHRAF?

Overviews of the archaeological traditions can be found in the Browse Tradition section of eHRAF Archaeology, or searched in combination with subjects and keywords in Advanced Search.

In eHRAF Archaeology, a search query can be refined by sample and subsistence type. This is done after a search in the culture results page.