Inter-Societal Food Acquisition Among Egalitarian Societies: an Ecological Study of Plains/Pueblo Interaction in the American Southwest. (Volumes I and II).

Abstract

Egalitarian societies are rarely entirely self-sufficient for subsistence. The conditions fostering interdependence, however, have yet to be studied systematically. By utilizing ecological models, this research explains the contexts and processes which maintain inter-societal subsistence resource acquisition. Two ecological models based on mutualism and competition, are developed which explain two distinct situations of interdependence involving food procurement. In the first situation, a buffering strategy based on interterritorial food acquisition dampens periodic perturbations in local food supplies. In the second, societies with different adaptations (e.g., hunter-gatherers and horticulturalists) occupy conjoining ecozones, and specialize on the production, procurement, and regular exchange of subsistence goods. The concept of mutualism, a relationship in which both parties benefit, is applicable to this situation. The models are evaluated with ethnographic information concerning food exchange among egalitarian societies. The implications of the mutualistic model are then tested with both archaeological and computer simulated data concerning the late prehistoric (AD 1400-1600) exchange system between Pueblo horticulturalists in central New Mexico and hunter-gatherers on the Sourthern High Plains. Computer simulations of corn production at a Pueblo and bison acquisition by a Plains b and are developed to measure the relative costs and benefits of exchange of protein from the Plains for calories from the pueblos. Based on the simulations, it is concluded that under a certain range of climatic conditions, exchange for food between Plains and Pueblo populations is a stable, reliable subsistence strategy. However, while Plains hunter-gatherers derive a clear benefit from exchange, the protein benefit to the Pueblo population may not be as significant. Possibly other Plains products, such as bison hides, may have been more important to the Puebloans. In contrast to the current emphasis by archaeologists on nutritional stress as a causal mechanism in the evolution of egalitarian societies, the mutualistic model demonstrates that interactive systems also develop in the absence of stress. Thus, the concept of mutualism is significant for an explanation of the evolution of inter-societal interaction.