Evolution of the Slate Tool Industry at Bridge River, British Columbia

Prentiss, Anna Marie; Goodale, Nathan; Harris, Lucille E.; Crossland, Nicole

doi:10.1017/cbo9781139207775.020

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…The BR3 period offers evidence for emergent wealth-based inequality under conditions of developing subsistence stress. Sample excavations of six BR2 and BR3 housepits revealed a variety of indicators of material wealth-based inequality (Prentiss et al 2012, 2014, 2015). A range of additional evidence suggested that beginning in mid-BR3 times, the village population suffered from subsistence stress associated with a Malthusian ceiling event (Prentiss, Foor, and Hampton 2018; Prentiss et al 2014).…”

Section: Studying the Emergence Of Materials Wealth-based Inequality Amentioning

confidence: 99%

The Evolution of Material Wealth-Based Inequality: The Record of Housepit 54, Bridge River, British Columbia

et al. 2018

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The evolution of material wealth-based inequality is an important topic in archaeological research. While a number of explanatory models have been proposed, rarely have they been adequately tested. A significant challenge to testing such models concerns our ability to define distinct, temporally short-term, residential occupations in the archaeological record. Sites often lack evidence for temporally persistent inequality, or, when present, the palimpsest nature of the deposits often make it difficult to define the processes of change on scales that are fine enough to evaluate nuanced model predictions. In this article, we use the detailed record of Housepit 54 from the Bridge River site, interior British Columbia, to evaluate several alternative hypotheses regarding the evolution of persistent material wealth-based inequality. Results of our analyses indicate that inequality appeared abruptly coincident with a decline in intra-house cooperation associated with population packing and the initiation of periodic subsistence stress. We conclude that persistent inequality in this context was a byproduct of altered social networks linked to a Malthusian transition and ceiling.

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Section: Studying the Emergence Of Materials Wealth-based Inequality Amentioning

confidence: 99%

The Evolution of Material Wealth-Based Inequality: The Record of Housepit 54, Bridge River, British Columbia

et al. 2018

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“…Housepit 24) raised and consumed dogs [47], maintained unique and costly tool forms (e.g. sawed and ground slate scrapers [48]) and hosted feasts, while others (e.g. Housepit 16) had no indicators of dogs, relied upon chipped slate tools and did not leave any evidence of feasting [9,25].…”

Section: Examining Materials Wealth-based Inequality In the Mid-frase...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Emergence of persistent institutionalized inequality at the Bridge River site, British Columbia: the roles of managerial mutualism and coercion

Prentiss

Foor

Hampton

et al. 2023

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Persistent institutionalized inequality (PII) emerged at the Bridge River site by ca 1200–1300 years ago. Research confirms that PII developed at a time of population packing associated with unstable fluctuations in a critical food resource (anadromous salmon) and persisted across multiple generations. While we understand the demographic and ecological conditions under which this history unfolded, we have yet to address details of the underlying social process. In this paper, we draw on Bridge River's Housepit 54 to examine two alternative hypotheses. Hypothesis 1, mutualism, suggests that household heads signalled to maintain and attract new members as a means of supporting the demographic viability of the house. Inequality is indicated by variation in prestige markers but less obviously in economic fundamentals. Hypothesis 2, coercion, asserts that the more successful households developed control over access to critical food resources, forcing others into the choice between emigration and subjugation. Inequality is indicated by inter-family differences in prestige markers and economic fundamentals. Results suggest that inequality emerged under a mutualism scenario but persisted for subsequent generations under more coercive conditions. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Evolutionary ecology of inequality’.

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“…Slate tools are also common in other circumpolar foraging contexts (Gjessing 1942; 1944; Fitzhugh 1974; 1975; Graesch 2007; Prentiss et al . 2015). Many can quite easily be identified as knives, projectiles and other types of artefacts, but their specific function as hunting and processing tools has not been addressed in much detail.…”

Section: Previous Studies Of Slate Knife Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For several millennia tools in coastal northern Norway were predominantly of ground slate, a sedimentary siltstone (Gjessing 1942;Simonsen 1975;Jørgensen 2021). Slate tools are also common in other circumpolar foraging contexts (Gjessing 1942;1944;Fitzhugh 1974;Graesch 2007;Prentiss et al 2015). Many can quite easily be identified as knives, projectiles and other types of artefacts, but their specific function as hunting and processing tools has not been addressed in much detail.…”

Section: Previous Studies Of Slate Knife Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cut Above the Rest: A Multi‐disciplinary Study of Two Slate Knives From Forager Contexts in Coastal Norway

Lentfer¹,

Skandfer

Presslee

et al. 2023

Oxford J Archaeology

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However, details of tool function have relied on morphology and have added little to our understanding of their role in hunting and processing. Here, we demonstrate that it is possible to identify both the use-wear traces and residues from slate knives from northern Norway. By applying a multi-disciplinary approach incorporating experimentation, use-wear and organic residue analyses, we identified residues, including seal hair, and use-traces which indicate the tools were used to process fresh marine mammals.

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Evolution of the Slate Tool Industry at Bridge River, British Columbia

Cited by 7 publications

References 41 publications

The Evolution of Material Wealth-Based Inequality: The Record of Housepit 54, Bridge River, British Columbia

The Evolution of Material Wealth-Based Inequality: The Record of Housepit 54, Bridge River, British Columbia

Emergence of persistent institutionalized inequality at the Bridge River site, British Columbia: the roles of managerial mutualism and coercion

Cut Above the Rest: A Multi‐disciplinary Study of Two Slate Knives From Forager Contexts in Coastal Norway

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