Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-pfhbr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-13T19:10:10.815Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Archaeological Use and Abuse of Ecological Concepts and Studies: The Ecotone Example

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Robert E. Rhoades*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721

Abstract

Despite a continuing heavy reliance on general ecology and allied subfields for analytical models and empirical findings, ecological anthropologists remain reluctant to critically evaluate potential pitfalls of borrowing from other disciplines. Through an examination of how archaeologists have superficially and selectively applied the concepts of ecotone and edge effect, it becomes evident why anthropologists must take a closer, critical view of cross-disciplinary terms and studies.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Allee, W. C., Park, O., Emerson, A., Park, T., and Schmidt, K. 1949 Principles of animai ecology, Saunders, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Baerreis, David A., and Bryson, Raid 1965 Climatic episodes and the dating of the Mississippian cultures. Wisconsin Archeologist 46 : 203220.Google Scholar
Barick, F. B. 1950 The edge effect of the lesser vegetation of certain Adirondack forest types with particular reference to deer and grouse, floosevelt Wildlife Bulletin 9 : 1146.Google Scholar
Beecher, W. J. 1942 Nesting birds and the vegetation substrate. Chicago Ornithological Society, Chicago.Google Scholar
Bray, R. J., and Curtis, J. T. 1957 An ordination of the upland forest communities of southern Wisconsin. Ecological Monographs 27 : 325349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butzer, Karl W. 1975 The ecological approach to archaeology : are we really trying? American Antiquity 40 : 106111.Google Scholar
Cleland, Charles E. 1966 The prehistoric animal ecology and ethno zoology of the upper Great Lakes region. University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology, Anthropological Papers No. 29.Google Scholar
Cooter, William S. 1974 Ecotones and broad spectrum economies. Papers in Anthropology 15 : 3754.Google Scholar
Curtis, D. J. 1955 A prairie continuum in Wisconsin. Ecology 36 : 558566.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daubenmire, R. 1966 Vegetation : identification of typal communities. Science 151 : 291298.Google Scholar
Davison, Verne 1946 False principles delay advancement in wildlife management. Journal of Wildlife Management 10 : 296299.Google Scholar
Duffey, E. M. G. Morris, Sheail, J., Lena, Ward, Wells, D. A., and Wells, T. C. E. 1974 Grassland ecology and wildlife management. Chapman and Hall, London.Google Scholar
Fitting, J. E. 1966 Archeological investigations of the Carolinian-Canadian edge area in Michigan. The Michigan Archaeologist 24 : 143149.Google Scholar
Glassow, Michael A. 1972 Changes in the adaptations of southwestern Basketmakers : a systems perspective. In Contemporary archaeology, edited by Mark, P. Leone, pp. 289-302. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Gorman, Frederick 1972 The Clovis hunters : an alternative view of their environment and ecology. In Contemporary archaeology, edited by Mark, P. Leone, pp. 206-221. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Gumerman, George J., and Johnson, R. Roy 1971 Prehistoric human population distribution in a biological transition zone. In The distribution of prehistoric population aggregates, edited by George, Gumerman, pp. 83-102. Prescott College Press, Prescott, Arizona.Google Scholar
Gumerman, George J., Weed, Carol S., and Hanson, John S. 1976 Adaptive strategies in a biological and cultural transition zone : The Central Arizona Ecotone Project, an interim report. University Museum Studies, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Harris, David R. 1969 Agricultural systems, ecosystems and the origins of agriculture. In The domestication and exploitationof plants and animals, edited by Peter, J. Ucko and Dimbleby, G. W., pp. 3-15. Aldine, Chicago.Google Scholar
Harris, David R. 1972 The origins of agriculture in the tropics. American Scientist 60 : 180193.Google Scholar
Hickerson, Harold 1965 The Virginia deer and intertribal buffer zones in the upper Mississippi Valley. In Man, culture and animals, edited by Anthony, Leeds and Andrew, Vayda, pp. 43-65. American Association for the Advancemen : of Science, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Knight, Clifford B. 1965 Basic concepts of ecology. McMillan, New York.Google Scholar
Leopold, Aldo 1933 Game management. Scribner's, New York.Google Scholar
Levy, Marion 1974 New uses of demography. Comparative Studies in Society and History 16 : 110116.Google Scholar
Margalef, Ramon 1968 Perspectives in ecological theory. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Mcintosh, R. P. 1967 The continuum concept of vegetation. Botanical Review 33 : 130187.Google Scholar
McMillan, R. Bruce 1976 The Pomme de Terre study locality : its setting. In Prehistoric man and his environment : a case studyin the Ozark Highland, edited by Raymond Wood, W. and Bruce McMillan, R.. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Odum, Eugene 1959 Fundamentals of ecology. Saunders, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Pitelka, F. A. 1941 Distributions of birds in relation to major biotic communities. American Midland Naturalist 25 : 113137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rhoades, Robert E. 1974 The ecotone concept in ecology and anthropology. Papers in Anthropology 15 : 2336.Google Scholar
Shelford, V. E. 1963 The ecology of North America. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.Google Scholar
Smith, Bruce D. 1976 Twitching : a minor ailment affecting human paleoecological research. In Culture change and continuity, edited by Charles, E. Cleland, pp. 275-292. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Struever, Stuart 1968 Woodland subsistence-settlement systems in the lower Illinois Valley. In New perspectives in archeology, edited by Sally, R. Binford and Lewis, Binford, pp. 285-312. Aldine, Chicago.Google Scholar
Terborgh, John 1971 Distribution on environmental gradients : theory and a preliminary interpretation of distributional patterns in the avifauna of the Cordillera Vilcabamba, Peru. Ecology 52 : 2340.Google Scholar
Thomas, D. H. 1973 An empirical test of Steward's model of Great Basin settlement patterns. American Antiquity 39 : 155176.Google Scholar
Vernberg, John, and Vernberg, Winona 1970 The animal and the environment. Holt Rinehart & Winston, New York.Google Scholar
Watrall, Charles 1976 Ecotones : environmental adaptation strategies in the prehistory of northwestern Minnesota. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, University of Minnesota (Minneapolis).Google Scholar
Whittaker, R. H. 1951 A criticism of the plant association and climatic climax concept. Northwest Science 25 : 1731.Google Scholar
Whittaker, R. H. 1953 A consideration of climax theory : the climax as a population and pattern. Ecological Monographs 23 : 4247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whittaker, R. H. 1956 Vegetation of the Great Smokey Mountains. Ecological Monographs 26 : 180.Google Scholar
Whittaker, R. H. 1967 Gradient analysis of vegetation. Biological Review 42 : 207-264.Google Scholar
Wood, W. Raymond, and Bruce McMillan, R. (editors) 1976 Prehistoric man and his environment : a case study in the Ozark Highland. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar