A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, 2014. / Early contact between Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers at Holkrans rock shelter (BFK 1), in the Vredefort Dome, North West Province, South Africa, and food producers occurred within the last 500 years. Evidence presented in this study suggests that a more probable time frame was sometime between the early 16th and 17th centuries AD. Holkrans chronology comprises two phases, pre-ceramic and ceramic, with three superimposed components: a lower, pre-contact/ pre-ceramic period; a middle, early contact/ ceramic period; and a terminal period. Use-wear analysis of lithics from the lower and middle components provided the medium through which changes or continuity in cultural and behavioural practices between the pre-contact/ pre-ceramic and early-contact/ ceramic periods were interpreted, with a view to shedding light on the nature and impact of contact on the shelter’s hunter-gatherers with food producers. The results of analysis, supported by additional archaeological evidence, suggest that the Holkrans hunter-gatherers experienced early contact and subsequent interaction with food producers as an ‘extended pioneer phase’. Over time, as food producers subdued land and began to permanently settle in the area, the Holkrans hunter-gatherers appear to have maintained this extended pioneer phase; that is, a primarily hunter-gatherer way of life up to the terminal occupation of the shelter, probably in the early 19th century. iii

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 258-275).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 316-324). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

The goal of this study is to develop a general theoretical perspective for the archaeological study of intersocietal interaction among hunter-gatherers. Several theoretical frameworks have been offered for the study of interaction, including acculturation, ecological interdependency, peer polity interaction, world-system theory, and a number of more particularist approaches. Although all offer valuable insights, only world-system theory has the potential for application to all types and scales of intersocietal interaction, past and present. The perspective developed here represents an experimental modification of the world-system perspective, with the addition of aspects of previous hunter-gatherer studies, most of which are strongly influenced by cultural ecology. / This theoretical perspective is used to develop a model of change in hunter-gatherer world-systems. Particularly important factors in this model are the density and spatio-temporal distribution of subsistence resources, and the availability of "preciosities" (exchanged objects of high value). These factors are hypothesized to affect hunter-gatherer world-systems in terms of three variables: (1) "breadth", the number of interacting regional groups; (2) "depth", the relative importance of the interaction to each regional group; and (3) "internal differentiation", the degree of variability among regional groups within the interacting system. Finally, the model is tested on the archaeological and ethnographic records of the Inuit inhabitants of Herschel Island, northern Yukon Territory, and adjacent regions during the "contact period" of the past 500 years. The test predictions are largely supported by the data, which indicate that the increasing availability of preciosities and the changing distribution of subsistence resources during the contact period caused the indigenous world-system to increase in depth and breadth, and to begin to change in pattern of internal differentiation.

In recent years, heated debates about the definition and evolutionary role of simple, egalitarian hunter-gatherer societies have assumed a central place in hunter-gatherer studies. Since household dynamics are bound to be fundamental in arguments about these issues, the present study examines social change in terms of household integration in Air Bah, a resettlement village of newly sedentary Lanoh hunter-gatherers and forest collectors of Peninsular Malaysia. The Lanoh have accepted inequality more readily than cooperation and binding relationships. Household integration has remained partial because, even in households of self-aggrandizers, younger men retain their individual autonomy. This incomplete household integration, in turn, continues to affect kinship group and village integration, preventing Air Bah from developing into a centralized "village community." These findings suggest substantial revisions in our understanding of the sociality and evolutionary significance of the "simplest" hunter-gatherer societies.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Anthropology, 2006. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on June 19, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 481-508). Also issued in print.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 60-67).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 205-237).

Thesis (M.A)--Washington State University, May 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on May 28, 2009). "Department of Anthropology." Includes bibliographical references (p. [47]-56).