"Periphery" as centre : long-term patterns of intersocietal interaction on Herschel Island, Northern Yukon Territory

• Main Author: Friesen, Trevor Max
• Other Authors: Savelle, James M. (advisor)
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: McGill University 1995
• Subjects: Hunting and gathering societies; Social evolution; Inuit > Yukon > Hershel Island; Yukon; Herschel Island; Herschel; inuit
• Online Access: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=40125

The goal of this study is to develop a general theoretical perspective for the archaeological study of intersocietal interaction among hunter-gatherers. Several theoretical frameworks have been offered for the study of interaction, including acculturation, ecological interdependency, peer polity interaction, world-system theory, and a number of more particularist approaches. Although all offer valuable insights, only world-system theory has the potential for application to all types and scales of intersocietal interaction, past and present. The perspective developed here represents an experimental modification of the world-system perspective, with the addition of aspects of previous hunter-gatherer studies, most of which are strongly influenced by cultural ecology. This theoretical perspective is used to develop a model of change in hunter-gatherer world-systems. Particularly important factors in this model are the density and spatio-temporal distribution of subsistence resources, and the availability of "preciosities" (exchanged objects of high value). These factors are hypothesized to affect hunter-gatherer world-systems in terms of three variables: (1) "breadth", the number of interacting regional groups; (2) "depth", the relative importance of the interaction to each regional group; and (3) "internal differentiation", the degree of variability among regional groups within the interacting system. Finally, the model is tested on the archaeological and ethnographic records of the Inuit inhabitants of Herschel Island, northern Yukon Territory, and adjacent regions during the "contact period" of the past 500 years. The test predictions are largely supported by the data, which indicate that the increasing availability of preciosities and the changing distribution of subsistence resources during the contact period caused the indigenous world-system to increase in depth and breadth, and to begin to change in pattern of internal differentiation.