The Evolution of Complex Hunter-Gatherers on the Kodiak Archipelago

Abstract

The A. presents a model for the emergence of complex hunter-gatherers and evaluates it with archaeological evidence from the Kodiak Archipelago in the Alaskan North Pacific. Taking a socio-ecological perspective grounded in evolutionary ecology, the model makes predictions about the evolution of increasingly sedentary and aggregated hunter-gatherer life-ways and the emergence of institutionalized social inequality, prestige economics, warfare and elite trade on the North Pacific Rim. The Kodiak trajectory provides a means for evaluating arguments about the causes of emergent complexity and social inequality. The A. argues that the emergence of complexity requires a variable landscape with productive, stable and defendable resource patches punctuated by less productive and stable zones. The Kodiak case illustrates the importance of technology and demographic characteristics in the creation of such an environment. Ultimately, it is political competition and not a direct form of population pressure that facilitates the establishment of ranked and stratified societies.

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