Diet Optimization Models and Prehistoric Subsistence Change in the Eastern Woodlands
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely afreet reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA 313 761-4700 800.521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Order Number 9302525 Diet optimization models and prehistoric subsistence change in the Eastern Woodlands Gardner, Paul Shellie, Ph.D. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1992 Copyright ©1992 by Gardner, Paul Shellie. All rights reserved. 300 N.ZeebRd. Ann Aibor, MI 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DIET OPTIMIZATION MODELS AND PREHISTORIC SUBSISTENCE CHANGE IN THE EASTERN WOODLANDS by Paul S. Gardner A Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Anthropology. Chapel Hill 1992 Approved by: «^y^-^---»-pJ2hairman fonrt (t^ i^ ln lrU ra visor ^Reader Reader Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. © 1992 Paul S. Gardner ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PAUL SHELLIE GARDNER. Diet Optimization Models and Prehistoric Subsistence Change in the Eastern Woodlands (Under the direction of Bruce Winterhalder). ABSTRACT This dissertation hypothesizes that prehistoric Native Americans in the Eastern Woodlands selected subsistence resources to obtain sufficient energy and nutrients while minimizing the time spent in the food quest. No attempt is made to "prove" the optimization hypothesis; rather it is used to guide the construction of simple mathematical models of optimal diet. The construction, testing and comparison of the modeled optimal diets illuminates the interrelationships among subsistence system variables. The dissertation emphasizes heurism rather than hypothesis testing. In building the models, the costs and benefits of the resources are estimated from their season availability and size, population density, home range size, and nutritional content. Using linear programming, 120 seasonal optimal diet problems are solved under varying conditions of nutritional constraint, human population size, and availability of cultigens. A comparison of the model results to the subsistence remains recovered from Daugherty’s Cave (44Rul4), a stratified rockshelter in southwestern Virginia, shows a limited correlation. The models correctly account for the exploitation of hickory nuts, deer and maize but predict unrealistically narrow diets. The absence of encounter-contingent foraging from the models is considered the principal cause of the poor fit. Calcium and vitamin C are the nutrient needs most costly to fulfill, but the models indicate that at an ordinal level of measurement, the value of the resources Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. does not vary greatly under varying levels of nutrient constraint. Hence nutritional requirements may have had little influence on subsistence choice. However, Chenopodium sp., Iva annua, and Cucurbita pepo may have been seasonally important sources of nutrients as stored foods. Coevolution rather than population pressure is supported as an explanation of agricultural origins, since, even under conditions of low demographic stress, plants of the Eastern Agricultural Complex were selected as part of some optimal diets. In addition, maize was selected as the staple food of all models in which it was available regardless of population size; hence population pressure is not indicated as the cause of its adoption. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Over the course of my graduate studies I have been helped by many people in many ways. I wish to acknowledge especially the members of my doctoral committee, Don Brockington, Joffre Coe, Bob Daniels, Bruce Winterhalder and Richard Yamell. I thank them for their assistance and guidance throughout my graduate career and for the substantive improvements in the dissertation engendered by their comments on earlier drafts. Bruce Winterhalder was instrumental in my receiving funding for the dissertation project and has supported by studies in countless material and immaterial ways. Richard Yamell has shaped my maturation as a scholar and has been an infinite source of quiet inspiration. He has, as well, weathered with his usual good grace the transformation of my dissertation from a promising empirical study of plant remains to a discourse on mathematical modeling. The archaeological fieldwork at Daugherty’s Cave was supported by a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Grant (BNS 82-16386, Bruce Winterhalder. principal investigator), and a R. J. Reynolds Off-Campus Doctoral Research Grant. A grant from the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society allowed the analysis of the nutritional composition of maypops. The excavation of Daugherty's Cave was made possible by the landowner, Mr. Glen Breeding, an outstanding steward of our archaeological heritage. Joe Benthall graciously encouraged my work at Daugherty’s Cave and shared much information concerning his earlier excavations. The UNC Research Laboratories of Anthropology provided field equipment, and Trawick Ward and Steve Davis offered much advice and encouragement. Alan Neebe of the UNC School of Business made available LPSBA, Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. v i his linear programming code for microcomputers, which greatly facilitated the mathematical modeling portion of the dissertation. I have profited from my association with fellow students at the UNC-CH Department of Anthropology. I must mention first Stan Bukowski, Nick Coleman, Gayle Fritz, David Moore, and Dan Simpkins, all of whom assisted me in the excavation of Daugherty's Cave. Nick Coleman must be singled out for his indefatigable good humor during the cold, wet field season of fall 1982. In addition he drafted the map which is the basis of figure A.2. In addition to the above, I have benefited as well from the council, instruction, debate and general camaraderie of my friends Kris Borre. Gayle Fritz. Carol Goland. Annie Holm. Marv Jane Kellum. Anne Larme. Billy Oliver, Stephen Potter, and Greg Waselkov. To my parents. Bill and Ruth Gardner. I owe a special debt for their generous and unfailing support. The dissertation would not have been possible without them. And finally there is Kris Gremillion, who should have poetry here, but instead must make do with my simple thanks. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................... xii LIST OF FIGURES.........................................................................................................xvi Chapter I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND................................................................... 1 OBJECTIVES.............................................................................................................1 ORGANIZATION OF THE DISSERTATION.......................................................2 PRIOR SUBSISTENCE STUDIES..........................................................................4 Impiicit Optimization Approaches ..................................................................4 Climate Change................................................................................................6 Social Approaches ............................................................................................8 Population Growth .........................................................................................