Risk and Invention in Human Technological Evolution

Fitzhugh, Ben

doi:10.1006/jaar.2001.0380

Cited by 139 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 61 publications

(50 reference statements)

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“…What does not appear to be in evidence, at least in terms of the attributes examined here, is an increase in variation immediately preceding the appearance of new implement types around 5,000 years ago of the kind Fitzhugh (2001) argues should occur as innovation increases in relation to heightened risk. This suggests either that periods of technological innovation were perhaps too rapid to be detectable in archaeological assemblages, or that that they did not take place in this case.…”

Section: Standardization In Production Systemsmentioning

confidence: 58%

“…The mean round-trip travel cost from settlement to resource locations, weighted by the probability of locating the resource, is given by d. 11 2.2. Illustration of the relationship between stochastic variation and risk sensitivity, after Fitzhugh (2001). A: hypothetical return rate from foraging over time, B: sigmoid curve representing utility / time (gain rate) for foraging.…”

Section: List Of Figuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Modifying the design of technologies can enhance certain performance characteristics to solve different technological problems (Fitzhugh 2001;Hayden et al 1996).…”

Section: Design Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The change in technology toward pronounced individual provisioning points to the use of mechanisms that evolved to cope with decreased certainty over access to resources like food, water and stone, and increased logistical mobility to reconcile the differences between the location of people and fluctuating resources. Interestingly, Fitzhugh (2001) predicts that foragers facing less than minimum subsistence returns are more likely to focus efforts on improving technologies that enhance capture rate of larger, high-ranked prey, but as these are driven to decline, the focus should shift to hardier, and more reproductively stable r-selected species. The appearance of points after 5,000 BP, and around the time of intensified climatic variation, may represent an instance in which foragers attempted first to improve success rates in hunting larger, higher ranked game such as macropods, but were also led to improve handling times for more reliable, lower ranking resources like seeds (as represented by a later rise in the frequency of grindstones) once high ranked game became depleted.…”

Section: 000 To 8000 Bpmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lithics in the land of the lightning brothers : The Archaeology of Wardaman Country, Northern Territory

Clarkson¹

2007

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terra australis 25Terra Australis reports the results of archaeological and related research within the south and east of Asia, though mainly Australia, New Guinea and island Melanesia -lands that remained terra australis incognita to generations of prehistorians. Its subject is the settlement of the diverse environments in this isolated quarter of the globe by peoples who have maintained their discrete and traditional ways of life into the recent recorded or remembered past and at times into the observable present.Since the beginning of the series, the basic colour on the spine and cover has distinguished the regional distribution of topics as follows: ochre for Australia, green for New Guinea, red for South-East Asia and blue for the Pacific Islands. From 2001, issues with a gold spine will include conference proceedings, edited papers and monographs which in topic or desired format do not fit easily within the original arrangements. All volumes are numbered within the same series. List of volumes in Terra AustralisVolume 1: Burrill Lake and Currarong: Coastal Sites in Southern New South Wales. R.J. Lampert (1971) Volume 2: Ol Tumbuna: Archaeological Excavations in the Eastern Central Highlands, Papua New Guinea. J.P. White (1972) Volume 3 6.7. Cores found at quarries associated with lancet flakes. Note the large amounts of cortex on both cores, the cortical platform on one (A) and the single conchoidal scar on the platform of the other (B). 92 6.8. Conjoined quartzite cores and lancet flakes from A: a quarry near Wynbarr waterhole (Site 17), B and C: a quarry near Garnawala 2. Illustration C shows the actual conjoined core, while A and B show reconstructions of the original nodules and the series of flake removals taken as a slice through the centre of the platform. 93 6.9. Graphs showing the mean and standard deviations for changes in various aspects of scraper morphology as reduction intensity increases, as measured using Kuhn's GIUR or % perimeter retouched. A: mean retouched edge angle, B: % step terminated retouch, C: % perimeter retouched, D: curvature of the retouched edge, and E: % with notches. 96 6.10. Graphic depiction of changes to the frequency and evenness with which retouch is distributed across eight segments as retouch increases. 97 6.11. A reduction model for scrapers from Wardaman Country. A-C: increasing reduction. 98 6.12. Graphs showing the selection of a restricted range of flake shapes for scraper manufacture. A: marginal angle and elongation, and B: marginal angle and cross-section. 100 6.13. Changes in the morphology of points over the reduction sequence. A and B: changes in weight, and C: changes in the % of perimeter retouched. 103 6.14. Changes in point cross-section measured in two ways. A: lateral cross-section (width:thickness ratio), and B: longitudinal cross-section (length:thickness ratio). ForewordAlthough Chris Clarkson journeyed to the remote Victoria River region of the Northern Territory to investigate the prehistoric past, it is not the exotic location of the s...

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Section: Standardization In Production Systemsmentioning

confidence: 58%

Section: List Of Figuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Modifying the design of technologies can enhance certain performance characteristics to solve different technological problems (Fitzhugh 2001;Hayden et al 1996).…”

Section: Design Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: 000 To 8000 Bpmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lithics in the land of the lightning brothers : The Archaeology of Wardaman Country, Northern Territory

Clarkson¹

2007

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“…As a result, Edinbrough argues that cultural transmission processes, sensitive to population sizes, are influencing point form attributes at this time. Fitzhugh and Trusler, meanwhile, draw on Fitzhugh's (2001) earlier "risk innovation model" to suggest that changes in technology are most probable when conditions favor risk-prone experimentation. Such a situation, the authors argue, is likely to occur in situations where the risk of using a known technological solution is relatively high.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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2009

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Sociopolitical Effects of Bow and Arrow Technology in Prehistoric Coastal California

Kennett¹,

Lambert²,

Johnson³

et al. 2013

Evolutionary Anthropology

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Bow and arrow technology spread across California between ∼AD 250 and 1200, first appearing in the intermountain deserts of the Great Basin and later spreading to the coast. We critically evaluate the available data for the initial spread in bow and arrow technology and examine its societal effects on the well-studied Northern Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California. The introduction of this technology to these islands between AD 650 and 900 appears to predate the appearance of hereditary inequality between AD 900 and 1300. We conclude, based on the available data, that this technology did not immediately trigger intergroup warfare. We argue that the introduction of the bow and arrow contributed to sociopolitical instabilities that were on the rise within the context of increasing population levels and unstable climatic conditions, which stimulated intergroup conflict and favored the development of hereditary inequality. Population aggregation and economic intensification did occur with the introduction of the bow and arrow. This observation is consistent with the hypothesis that social coercion via intra-group "law enforcement" contributed to changes in societal scale that ultimately resulted in larger groups that were favored in inter-group conflict. We argue that the interplay between intra-group "law enforcement" and inter-group warfare were both essential for the ultimate emergence of social inequality between AD 900 and 1300.

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Risk and Invention in Human Technological Evolution

Cited by 139 publications

References 61 publications

Lithics in the land of the lightning brothers : The Archaeology of Wardaman Country, Northern Territory

Lithics in the land of the lightning brothers : The Archaeology of Wardaman Country, Northern Territory

Untitled

Sociopolitical Effects of Bow and Arrow Technology in Prehistoric Coastal California

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