Uthmeier T (2021)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2021
Book Volume: 118
Pages Range: 11-26
The article is dedicated to the discussion of models that describe, and in part explain, different strategies of mobile hunter-gatherer groups to control access to limited resources. After an overview over the most important streams of research concerning territoriality in social sciences, geography, ethnography and archaeology, a short description of the different modes and scales of hunter-gatherer mobility is given. Although studies in cultural anthropology take into account a large array of ecological and social reasons in theory as explanatory factors for the development of territorial behavior, data available in the Palaeolithic record allows best for the specifics of the respective ecological context for the presence or absence of territoriality. The proposed definition of territorial behavior therefore focuses on the influence or control of the access of people to defined geographic areas in order to minimize the probability of conflicts over localized key resources. A survey of the available concepts to defend territory boundaries revealed that Palaeolithic populations with low population densities and high residential mobility most likely have practiced social boundary defense, which is based on a communicative system shared by both insiders and outsiders. The last section of the article discusses the scientific value of behavioral ecology to predict the presence of different modes of territoriality. Because it is based on the availability of resources, return rates and carrying capacities of different habitats, it is supposed that the 'defendability model' with its simple 2 by 2 contingency table may still be valuable in the investigation of Palaeolithic territorial behavior.
APA:
Uthmeier, T. (2021). The movement of groups versus territoriality in the research into prehistoric hunter-gatherers - an overview. Bulletin de la Societe Prehistorique Francaise, 118, 11-26.
MLA:
Uthmeier, Thorsten. "The movement of groups versus territoriality in the research into prehistoric hunter-gatherers - an overview." Bulletin de la Societe Prehistorique Francaise 118 (2021): 11-26.
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