Social-boundary defence, mountain people and obsidian in the Absaroka and Beartooth mountains of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, USA

Reckin, Rachel; Todd, Lawrence C; Reckin, Rachel; Todd, Lawrence C

doi:https://doi.org/10.3828/hgr.2017.21

Hunter Gatherer Research (2017), 3, (3), 429–458.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3828/hgr.2017.21
Language: English
Pages: 30

Abstract

The model of social-boundary defence predicts that forager groups that can assist each other during times of hardship will maintain close social relationships and permissive access to one another’s foraging range. On the other hand, amongst groups that are likely to experience disaster at the same time, social-boundary defence expects more rigid boundaries of land tenure and less social interaction. In other words, sharing of landscapes and resources between forager groups follows many of the same basic principles as reciprocity between individuals. Under this model, in the mountainous Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), we expect foragers to maintain their closest, most flexible social ties not amongst mountain groups, but between mountain groups and those living in the lower-elevation basins and valleys, who are more likely to be able to help during times of hardship. This paper tests this hypothesis using obsidian source data from the Beartooth and Absaroka Mountains of the GYE. We find that the expectations of social-boundary defence are upheld, and that the closest social connections of those in the Absarokas and the Beartooths may not have been with one another, but with those in surrounding valleys and basins. Specifically, we argue for two potential spatial boundaries of social-defence within the GYE, and for a possible narrowing and shifting of home ranges during the Late Prehistoric Period (1500–200 cal BP).

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