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

Abstract

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.

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

“…Prentiss et al . [27,49] argue that this pattern of PII was favoured by the socio-economically competitive conditions of the second Malthusian period. However, given that it was initiated at the BR3 demographic peak under apparently highly productive resource conditions, they are unable to reject the scalar-stress/managerial mutualism hypothesis.…”

“…Raw data and additional data representing outcomes of multivariate statistical analyses are available as electronic supplementary material [64].…”

“…BP intra-house inequality emerged under conditions of population packing and intensive harvest and processing of fish and artiodactyl resources and persisted for four generations. Prentiss et al [27,49] argue that this pattern of PII was favoured by the socio-economically competitive conditions of the second Malthusian period. However, given that it was initiated at the BR3 demographic peak under apparently highly productive resource conditions, they are unable to reject the scalar-stress/managerial mutualism hypothesis.…”

Inequality on the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America measured by house-floor area and storage capacity

“…As inequalities can be difficult to detect, research now emphasises "persistent institutionalized inequality (PII)", meaning "differential access to power or resources involving institutionalisation of status hierarchies by hereditary privileges or positions such as social classes, castes, hereditary titles, or heritable differences in wealth" (Mattison et al 2016: 185). In the Pacific Northwest, for example, recent work focuses on heritable differences in material wealth as foundational to PII (Prentiss et al 2018a). Such research increasingly uses large archaeological datasets for temporally and spatially broad comparative studies of social inequality (e.g.…”

“…In the Pacific Northwest, for example, recent work focuses on heritable differences in material wealth as foundational to PII (Prentiss et al . 2018a). Such research increasingly uses large archaeological datasets for temporally and spatially broad comparative studies of social inequality (e.g.…”