Dukha Mobility in a Constructed Environment: Past Camp Use Predicts Future Use in the Mongolian Taiga
Diverse theoretical perspectives suggest that place plays an important role in human behavior. One recent perspective proposes that habitual and recursive use of places among humans may be an emergent property of obligate tool use by our species. In this view, the costs of tool use are reduced by pr...
Published in: | American Antiquity |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2019
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2018.88 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0002731618000884 |
id |
crcambridgeupr:10.1017/aaq.2018.88 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crcambridgeupr:10.1017/aaq.2018.88 2024-06-09T07:49:53+00:00 Dukha Mobility in a Constructed Environment: Past Camp Use Predicts Future Use in the Mongolian Taiga Haas, Randall Surovell, Todd A. O'Brien, Matthew J. 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2018.88 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0002731618000884 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms American Antiquity volume 84, issue 2, page 215-233 ISSN 0002-7316 2325-5064 journal-article 2019 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2018.88 2024-05-15T13:05:44Z Diverse theoretical perspectives suggest that place plays an important role in human behavior. One recent perspective proposes that habitual and recursive use of places among humans may be an emergent property of obligate tool use by our species. In this view, the costs of tool use are reduced by preferential occupation of previously occupied places where cultural materials have been discarded. Here we use the model to generate five predictions for ethnographic mobility patterns. We then test the predictions against observations made during one month of coresidence with a residentially mobile Dukha family in the Mongolian Taiga. We show that (1) there is a strong tendency to occupy previously used camps, (2) previously deposited materials are habitually recycled, (3) reoccupation of places transcends kinship, (4) occupational hiatuses can span decades or longer, and (5) the distribution of occupation intensity among camps is highly skewed such that most camps are not intensively reoccupied whereas a few camps experience extremely high reoccupation intensity. These findings complement previous archaeological findings and support the conclusion that the constructed dimensions of human habitats exert a strong influence on mobility patterns in mobile societies. Article in Journal/Newspaper taiga Cambridge University Press American Antiquity 84 2 215 233 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
Diverse theoretical perspectives suggest that place plays an important role in human behavior. One recent perspective proposes that habitual and recursive use of places among humans may be an emergent property of obligate tool use by our species. In this view, the costs of tool use are reduced by preferential occupation of previously occupied places where cultural materials have been discarded. Here we use the model to generate five predictions for ethnographic mobility patterns. We then test the predictions against observations made during one month of coresidence with a residentially mobile Dukha family in the Mongolian Taiga. We show that (1) there is a strong tendency to occupy previously used camps, (2) previously deposited materials are habitually recycled, (3) reoccupation of places transcends kinship, (4) occupational hiatuses can span decades or longer, and (5) the distribution of occupation intensity among camps is highly skewed such that most camps are not intensively reoccupied whereas a few camps experience extremely high reoccupation intensity. These findings complement previous archaeological findings and support the conclusion that the constructed dimensions of human habitats exert a strong influence on mobility patterns in mobile societies. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Haas, Randall Surovell, Todd A. O'Brien, Matthew J. |
spellingShingle |
Haas, Randall Surovell, Todd A. O'Brien, Matthew J. Dukha Mobility in a Constructed Environment: Past Camp Use Predicts Future Use in the Mongolian Taiga |
author_facet |
Haas, Randall Surovell, Todd A. O'Brien, Matthew J. |
author_sort |
Haas, Randall |
title |
Dukha Mobility in a Constructed Environment: Past Camp Use Predicts Future Use in the Mongolian Taiga |
title_short |
Dukha Mobility in a Constructed Environment: Past Camp Use Predicts Future Use in the Mongolian Taiga |
title_full |
Dukha Mobility in a Constructed Environment: Past Camp Use Predicts Future Use in the Mongolian Taiga |
title_fullStr |
Dukha Mobility in a Constructed Environment: Past Camp Use Predicts Future Use in the Mongolian Taiga |
title_full_unstemmed |
Dukha Mobility in a Constructed Environment: Past Camp Use Predicts Future Use in the Mongolian Taiga |
title_sort |
dukha mobility in a constructed environment: past camp use predicts future use in the mongolian taiga |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2018.88 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0002731618000884 |
genre |
taiga |
genre_facet |
taiga |
op_source |
American Antiquity volume 84, issue 2, page 215-233 ISSN 0002-7316 2325-5064 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2018.88 |
container_title |
American Antiquity |
container_volume |
84 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
215 |
op_container_end_page |
233 |
_version_ |
1801382789934743552 |