Hunter-Gatherer Economy in Prehistory
A European Perspective

The study of hunters and gatherers has become an increasingly popular and central topic of research.

Geoff Bailey (Edited by)

9780521106207, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 April 2009

256 pages
27.9 x 21 x 1.4 cm, 0.59 kg

It has been said that for 99 per cent of their cultural history human societies have made their living through the collection of wild resources. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that the study of hunters and gatherers has become an increasingly popular and central topic of research. Within archaeology it has created an international focus for people working in many different areas of the world. At the same time it has provided a meeting ground for a range of disciplines, all concerned in one way or another with aspects of human behaviour. However, analysis of the prehistoric record has inevitably lagged behind the development of fresh theoretical perspectives. Hunter-gatherer economy in prehistory seeks to bridge this gap by combining the discussion of recent developments in ecological and social theory with the analysis of prehistoric data from many of the classic areas of palaeolithic studies in Europe.

1. Hunter-gatherer behaviour in prehistory: problems and perspectives Geoff Bailey
Part I. Primary data sources: problems of theory and method: 2 Editorial
3. Time budgeting and hunter-gatherer technology Robin Torrence
4. Mortality models and the interpretation of horse population structure Marsha Levine
5. The calculation and interpretation of ungulate age profiles from dental crown heights Richard G. Klein, Kathryn Allwarden and Cornelia Wolf
Part II. Spatial organization of the subsistence economy: 6. Editorial
7. Epirus revisited: seasonality and inter-site variation in the Upper Palaeolithic of north-west Greece Geoff Bailey, Pat Carter, Clive Gamble and Helen Higgs
8. Site variability and prehistoric economy in Levante Iain Davidson
9. Boreal phase settlement/subsistence models for Cantabrian Spain Geoffrey A. Clark
10 Sedentary hunters: the Ertebolle example Peter Rowley-Conway
Part III. Long-term economic change: demographic and environmental factors: 11. Editorial
12. Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherer adaptations in Cantabrian Spain Geoffrey A. Clark and Lawrence G. Straus
13. Economic change in Late Pleistocene Cantabria Geoff Bailey
14. Further reflections on adaptive change in Cantabrian prehistory Lawrence G. Straus and Geoffrey A. Clark
15. Late Pleistocene economies of the French Pyrenees Paul G. Bahn
Part IV. Social interaction and economic change: large-scale perspectives: 16. Editorial
17. Social network systems amongst hunter-gatherers considered within southern Norway Marcie Madden
18. Culture and society in the Upper Palaeolithic of Europe Clive Gamble
19. Palaeolithic cave art in ecological perspective Michael A. Jochim
20. Palaeolithic archaeology - some problems with form, space and time Martin Wobst.

Subject Areas: Archaeology [HD]