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    Nestor Miguel López Galdamez
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    Arqueología

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    Arqueología

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    65 views11 pages

    Flannery 1968

    Uploaded by

    Nestor Miguel López Galdamez
    Arqueología

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
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    ert Frat 3A Recomtroton of Northern Rlo Grande Prise. Ameen Ane ‘roplst vo 9p 200227. Wor, Fret ed Bd Red sr Aeratve Rectan of Northern Rio Grinde Preity. 5 Pate vol ton 9p. LATS Watey, Gorton 8 10 Prine Setlement Pater fa the Vick Vale, Per, Rares of ‘Aseria Etelogy, Ba 18 {Se Arnel! Sulage Excavation on te Masia Det Buty, Lor Alamos Canty, New Macca, Lot Alamar Stee Latestory, LA-306. 6s el ANTHROPOLCGY GR DULTE LIBRARY Archeological Systems Theory and Early Mesoamerica KENT V, FLANNERY University of Michigan INTRODUCTION ‘As work on the eatly parads of Mescamesican prehistory progresses, ‘and we learn more about the foo-collactors and early food-poduees ofthat retin, our mental image of thee ancent peoples bas been greatly modified, ‘We no longer thnk of the preceamicplant-olectors asa ragged and sruly brand of nomads; inten, they appear as practiced and iageious team of ay botalste who know how to wring the most out ofa supecially beak eniron- tment. Nor do we sil pleture the Formative peoples asa happy group of ithe frown farmers dancing around thelr cornlds and thatched buts; we 20 the, rather, as avery compler series of eampettive enc groups wit inter~ ral socal ranking and grestpreocepaton with stats iconograpby, water fire, and the accumulation of lxary gods. Hopefully, as careful studies bring these people into shaper foe, they wil begin to mike more ose tec of comparable nian groups surviving in the ethnographic presen. “Among other thing, the new data from Mesoamerica strain some ofthe ‘theoretical models we wed in the pst to view caltre and exltate change, One of these war the model of caltre adapted to pacticular environmental Zone: “oak woodland”, “meaqulte grassland”, “semitropical thorn scab", ‘trpial fore”, and so on. New data suggest, fist, tbat primitive peosles rarely edaptto whole environmental snes” (Coe and Flannery 1966: 650). ‘ext, as argued in this article, it appears that sometines group’ basic “adaptation” may not even be ‘o the “nicroenvionments” witha 2 2036, ‘bu ater toa small sere of plan and animal genera whose ranges cosa several environments. or Avotber model badly strated by our new dta is that of clture change during he tansion from fod collecting to sodeatary agicltre. Past works soften atrbutd this to the “ascovery” that planted seeds would sprout (GtacNetsh 1964 a: 533), o to the results of a long series of “experiments” ‘vith plant ealvation, Nether ofthese explanations is whllysatisying. We Irnow of no human group on earth to printve that they ae ignorant of the connection between plants and the seeds fm which Oey grow, and this is parislanly tue of groups dependent (as were the highland Mesoamerican {ood-colactos) on intensive willation of seasoal plant reoarces,Fordher- ‘ore, Ind I Bard to beleve that “experiments with eulvation” were carried cn only with those punts tat eventually became clivar, since during the food-colectng era those plats do not even seem to have been the principal foods wed, In fact, they seem to have been less important than many wid plant which never became domesticated. Obviously, something beds “se ‘ove and enperiments” evolved. T believe tha this parod of transition from food-allecing to selentary? agriculture, which began by $000 B.C. and ended prot to 1500 B.C, can best be characterized as one of gradual change ina seis of procurement systems, regulated by to mechani called seasonality and scheduling. X would strve that none of the changes which took place during this period arose de nov, but were the eeu of expansion or contraction of previously-eiting systems. 1 would argue further thatthe use of an eccaytem model enables to 380 aspects ofthis prehistoric cltre change which ae not superficially apparent. 1 the couse ofthis paper T will attempt to aply, on a preistorie time level, the kind of eonytem analysis advocated most recently by Vayda (1964) and Rappaport (1967), with modifeation imposed by the nature of the archeological da, Man and the Southern Highlands of Mexico wll be viewed 26 a single compler system, composed of many subsystems which ‘mutually infuenced each other over a perod of ove seven millenia, between 8000 B.C. and 20008.C, This systems apprcach il Include the use ofboth he “rat” and “seca” eyberetics (Maruyama 1963) s8.8 model for explain. ing pre-historic eultue change ‘The first eyberetics involves the study of regulatory mechanisms and ‘negative feedback” processes which promate eqllbeum, end counteract eviaton from stable stations overlong periods of time. The seed eyber- eis is the sty of postive feedback” processes which amplity deviations, causing systems to expand and eventually reach stability at higher levels. Because am a5 dstresed as anyone by the esoteric terminology of systems ‘theory, Ihave teed to substitute sie Eaglsh synonyms wherever possible. PROCUREMENT SYSTEMS IN THE PRECERAMIC (HUNTING AND GATHERING) ERA et ws tein by coniaing te sbtene patter ofthe fonts and Snciien ciate” wh cupid the Sruthern Highlands of Men ‘een £009 and 200 BC “he eves of on xt are plat and anal renal peeved i dy cave nthe Valey of Onaca (Hany, Ki, Rib, aod Wiliams Sper) and he Vay of ehuncdn (MaeNn 19611962, 969). Reerat {es we Galt Nols Cave, Coors, andthe Marne Rock Sher {het yn te Vay of Oca), a ecNeis now ons Coxe iim Puno Adj, £1 lg, and Sin Meo Cave, whose food remain fave ben atl eared (Cll 1965; Si 1968), Tes of ossnds Of plats tnd anna ones ore ever fo these caves, we ary Terme 00nd 1900 meters In eeain and oct in envionment 38 Avene aoemperte ok woodland, cats der nd en-rope thar fort Secure tof he aerial as not Ben pbs in etal yet, ty conchins mt be considered teat. inary a taro thse caves net tat = tan an nial gers we lng re prtant han ter ear ‘ess of local environment, These plants and animals were the focal points of & Set of prociemen HST ach f which may become oe comor “Beni OF The total ecosystem of the food collecting era. They were heavily uti- “HEsE "anploted” ste term uly ployed ote ation was at 2 oncay stm Man warns erecting ens rom Ms envio Sheth prpting ot an Hoe ofeach gen wes art of ten {Th towed he later to sure, even fori apt of enya, Many of tse patterns have survied tothe preset dy, aiog Yn {pouo ik the Pte and Sosone (Stora 1955 Cape 6) o he Tera Samara of mrtienMexco (Pennington 1963), chs ving uo poxtsate Som ofthe elas bu into teem, whic led te wi pee Tecnu inpn o inet (gros, ber srl cig np ee) and feces sks net ‘carrying: bays; Storage PIG, roasting pits, etc.). In thaty cases, these imple~ ‘Eon avd falta were so nla howe oe ia the ethnographic preset ip Utunteca peers of western North Aaa hat rele ite i lity is encomsre in ecnstuctng the tins fhe ences prosreret sen. © 1 Prawre “Literally hundreds of plant species were wed by the food- lar pi 3 to 4 feet in dlameter and of equal dept, is nod with stones and fueled with some slow-burning wood, ke oak. When the stones are red-hot, ‘the pt lined with maguey lenves which have een trimmed off the “heat ofthe plant. The maguey hearts are placed in the pit, covered with grass and ‘aguey leaves and finaly a layer of ert, which eels the resting pt and ‘bold inthe eat. After one to ive ays, depending on the age and quantity’ of 0 gies, he ting teat andthe bts are fe: a a ip tend hey whi scp ine lomo "a ae Si Dasmest spn, Eee fe sg pcan ca be etc tcuy tngnent trig stated hua es rom Corean Cave (cate 10833) “Zp of be Vly fC, i et Inn suber Mex te, igi ta he tne to et td ete agin ae as eS amcicmce, er quite The pet begin oe ater se, ene ie sere yo of oy ot TA eteutan kpc te ern pa wh ste ad Weta oar con The sending pf forces a dow Poe eee cnn at any tne of the yar Te ge amber of Sarena ese init oto Ind of he ert otatg ee sendy ww att tthe eat po a [Sept eae or rating Patchett mane (voy procs) can be ended ele ‘was of major importance, for in some regions there is little else available in_ Tey a ato srng he a ote dy stn oe dicey tht gues et fering oer ng pe infec 08 ‘ting saul ferentain mets Unt te pnt hawt were nny TREE erp snayr and had ong dest oo ther pal. Ts ‘the maguey continued to thrive on the hillsides of the southern highlands ia ica ee satan hres o he pera oe: hy Eta torre ot te ding ane Sick ZCaans mar recwmest. Org xl ofa et four yc ween tec and Ons at fh spar Ree ee ai vey eouren a Meio Sata Meare a ‘under the generic terms Jitahaya and tuna, but tbe best Known “tuna” is TF me Sarr te petuypa (Optic pp) te sina ect of Nene eee acot ccs tal pes te oer Betad edhe yao, depron ld bute ner your evs tay be peed encontd dig any se ey. read tet ak ad fo tke ps before the mes em a nd ea nn omen wh a ‘Sc, ban anal en, oly fnd tel sped. Te fas ie Spgs indune of the Teuacins aver costed oven seks wed cE Mons or ee page of te sam (se, per wel Sotmescatin. Tae pins em be sagt of he taped Sp net bag or aku ey eat be ae orn. By sundry, he Stated ose! mets Colgan 98 118) bat 1 cvgtally ft begs tort Tes worth noting, however, that harvest of most tf tae id rts mst be done qlckly and Tntensivelybecaze of compet- ton tom wid animals rather than spolage. "The arvesting and esting of cc fet, no matter how intensive it may ‘be des not appear omnis the available stads of acts no ede sub «gent geaeratins of tuna and pitahaya—for the seds from which the past SF popagted alt ineitably survive the hams digestive tract and eae sn the feces oeprout that very yar Tt even possible that sue haves aze benef forthe prickly pear and eslumoar cat, in floding them ‘maximum seed disper, This only one example ofthe sel-pepetuating ‘ature of some ofthe procurement systens operating In preceramie Mexico ‘System 32 Tree Legume Prcoremext, Mesut sa moody lege which peters the deep alluvial ol of valley ors and iver food plains in the big {ands Daig the Jue to Avgust rainy seson it bers hundreds of pote “Bich, while sil green and tender, canbe chewed, or boiled into kid of “pF ealed “met” in the Oaaca and Tebuacin Valley), ‘Sieh ef mesjulte extended from atleast the Southern Mesian High- lands (bere we found itn eaves neat Mila) noth tothe Gest American Southwest, where it was eidet at Gypsum Cave and rated sites (Haring ton 1933), Gusjs, whose ele pods mature in roughly the same season, Saracerie il lpes and canyons, and were abusdant in both the Mita and ‘Tehuacin caves (C. Earle Smith, personal exmmuricatin). ‘The amount of fod avaiable when mesauite nd gues are atthe pe of thr pod-bearngseaon is toy impresive,Botaist James Schoen, standing outside oe of our Mila caves in 1966 dig the optimum mesquite tisjeseaon, personaly cormonicsted to his spin cat ami of for nan coud have alte a weds apply of egme pos here “practically ‘without moving thee fee.” ‘The podesrng pattem of manque and gua demands a seasonal, l= nas, and ti atersive pei of electing, The pods canbe handpicked, and probebly were arsported fn the many types of bskets and nt earying ‘bags recovered inthe Onxaca and Tehuncin caves MacNeth 1964 a: $33; Finney, sopublsed data), Both pds and sats can be ded ad stored fet tong pelos, but they must be picked at the appropriate ime or they wil, ‘eveaten by animal, Ike der, rabbit, and rngtaled ext 1, Mena ‘Mamnals were an important year-round resource in ancient Mesoamerica, ‘where winters ae so mild that many animals never hibernate, as they €0 at n amore northern Intitdes, Dee, pcery, abit, racons, opassoms, skunks {Pound sq, and lrg poket gophers mee common inthe prebistor Felse (Fane, nd). However, wherever we ave adequate spl of ehcp anal ones rom he Souter Hans of Mex, appears Ibat he following generation al: whet Geers toatl ab- tits were far and aay fhe most important game mao i all periods nd most hunting techtlogy In the presale (ond Formative) eas was ftsgnd to recoveries gota, Our Sacto of wid anal expose ttn wl erfre center on Uae animals “Stem 4 Wheat Der Procerement Tha whittled era major food resource alt ine cies fo be Mesamerien' most portant”, stn Spc ar a sia de tothe wd age of last fonds ie fad acoplabl, and it pricene even In the ied Welty of fan sttenent od under etree orig presure Whtetalld deer ccar incvery habla in Mesure, ut tr igbst populations reine ine, tak woodlands of the Sera Made, Te op als Tore, sch a8 those “of the Towland Maya area, are the least suitable habitats for this deer. Within “Mescamerie proper, highest peste populations woul have been nares Tike te montan onan the Valo Msc, Publ, Telus, sac, and Goerero ‘These det ave rltivey smal home range, and albogh they often spend past of te yg hours hg in ices, hey can be usted he Teraag aod eveing when they come ot to forage Der have known tas Song which they tel within ir hme ranges and where ambi haters an wat for them. In other words hey are suscep to daylight nt, on fot by mien armed with thing mote opted thn a ato een a feehardned sen sch ated by the Clases of he Gis Dep tio (Lowe 1990). 00 fp of hte can std an acu bares of 39 to 0 per cent of the deer popelton witout diminishing in murbers (Leopold 1989: $18). Archelogal data (Flmery, 6) szst tint te enters of the‘Tebuac sod Ouaca Valleys id ot practice any Kind of cone fervaon but led male, fel, fawn and even prezant det (sind fated by sll reoans of teem fxs). Tas doe oot seem to Have depleted lal deer poulatons In ny way. In fs, by thing te beds ing tes of optim lat resnarea avait 1 may even ave prevent: the stavtionof eer daring he hart of he ys. ‘Sytem 3: Cotton Procarement, Ihave seady cused the ely of Mexican coon TE previo pape (Flannery 1968) and wil ol recpiaate bil Nee: couanal are avlae year-round (Wough most, Shundan in the sung seson) and can best be aken by meas of traps or 8 svoes, Throwing sticks are leo efetve and the Indians of northern Mexico tee a Sgure-fur rock trap or “dendfal? (Pennington 1963: 90 and Pate Sat) Tr the Tedckn caves there were fragments of whited sticks and ‘ber foops or lip knots which nay be trap fragments (BaeNelsh 19640: 533, and personal communieaton); sillar fragments showed wp in one of out (ara caves in 1966, The bet feature of eottntll raping is thatthe only Investment of lnbor i in tbe manufacture and setting ofthe tap; it works for you wile you go aboot other tas. And cottntals are such prolific breoers that no amount of trapping is Hey to wipe them out REGULATORY MECHANISMS “The ecoeytem in which the hunters and collectors of ancent Mexico part= CSpated included many regulatory mechanisns, which kept he sytem sucess {ul yet counteracted deviation from the etalished pater, Twill seus only to of thee—seazonaliy” and "scheduling", “Seasonality” was imposed on rman hy the nature ofthe wil resources themselves; “Scheduling” was 2 cul- tural activity whch resolved cone between procurement systems 1 Seasonatary ‘The most important division ofthe Mesoamerican year area wie season (Oar to My), Which is dy, and a sumer sexson Jue 10 Sey- fexber)hen mest the snmil rain al. Many eile plants and anima ofthe aren are avaabe only during one season, or part of & season. For ‘xampl in the emia highlands of Bfxio seme plant ke the fookote fr kapo tee (Cela pri) x well st many species of elma cat, ‘bea fr he late wine en efore the rls begin o that thle sed val proat that mike yer. Other te {be chupenite (Cytocarpa sp.) bear tl ater the summer eso, othe ests dona trong te ter and sprout rng he following yx ‘These diferenes, which ate of adaptive talue to the plant (allowing ech ‘ect to owe an sed il ring the te of year when tis ast aan tien), omert predetermined the alecting edule ofthe reagi- tur bands fn Mesomerin fla tar Tadlans had tobe able to pred to within week or tro when the matron of ta plant woud tae place, tnd then thy would ave fo hares furs efore the plans were een 1 Bt eden ot ote sal mammal Macheth (1964 196) Bas sow sme of he ways in which aman mop ected to snooty, Darng the ny season ares where. may ” ke the oak (Queens 9p.) and_ ‘wild plant resources were available, they ofton came together in large groupe {TH MacNee mcrband pbablycosaig of ates of elated Tamas (teal 1985. Chap. 4), Dang tbe bar ofthe dey zen, shen fey ele punts are arate, the group Fragmented to “ier Tend Wich fave boon inde fay vos ‘Thow small on ““Beaitered out widely over the landscape, utilizing resources too meager to ppt a macroend. Ts easulyesced att rants mae mpl or ours coverage ayo ant evel eoutrsed y teds towed pep Ion incesse which ight hae been fered by the intensive harvests of thevinysenon matcands Ths peels never get the pnt whee {bey eo elotvelyoweseach he fod renee, MacNee (968 $e) posts tn tina 200086 he popiation of he Tebaetn Vay wes higher than 2020 person, n an area 40 square es Seasons ‘ven seasonally. Tt appens that there are times ofthe year when a number of resouters ae avalsBe imutaneoely,produclag a itaation in which there {some tose forthe ime and labor ofthe group. Division of labor along the ines of er, wth men bunting and women collecting, i one commen slu- tion to these cont, but not al canes reso enly resolved "The soliton for more complex statins may be elle “scheduling, and St nyolves a dackon ae to the Flative mers of tro or mor courses of ato. Such “echeduling dacone” are made constantly by all human groups op all levels of complexity, often withowt any awareness that 2 decison is beng made’, ‘eis not necesly tre thatthe lower the level of soca complexity the fewer the confit decisions, for hunting and gathering eroupe of arid Ameria fd many scheduling problems to resave. Food gabering bands of the Great Basi, for example, often depended on “Scouting reports” rom relatives who ‘had passed Croup certain arena several weeks in advance. If they otzed an nus high concentration of antelope or rabbit n particular valle, oF Hf they saw that a partir stand of wild frit would come ripe within the next two weeks, they would advise otber sated bands of foragers about this resource (Steward 1955: 105-106) Often, while they descended the aren ‘orbarvest that parila specie, new reports would come in from ober aexs ‘concerning stil another resource, Tle was ot the Mod of “hit and miss pat- 1s Bani tern of expeitation one might thik, for the Great Basin nan had rough dea that acorns and piyon nots would be avallable inthe autumn, wid legumes and races inthe rainy recon, and 9 a, The oulines of a chat, lee with confit, were presant; the scouting reprts helped resolve com. fits and gave predsion tothe dates of each kindof resoures exploitation, {epending on lndvidua variations in growing teascn from year to yext, "These fndvidl variations, which are a common feature of arid environ. ments, combined withthe scheduling pattern to make it unlely that spel zation in any one resource would develop. Ths prevented over-utlization of ‘key plants or animals, nd malntalned a more even balance betmeen varied resources, Becaue acheduling ean opportunistic mechanism it promoted sar ‘vel epteof annual variation, but atte same tet supportd the sltas ‘20: unepeiliznd tiation oft whole range of plants and animals whose avallbilty is erate over the long run, Tn this sense, scheduling acted to counteract deviations which might have resulted In ether (1) starvation, of (2) amore effective adaptation. BVIDENCE FOR SCHEDULING IN THE FOOD.COLLECTING AND “INCIPIENT CULTIVATION” ERAS (8000-2000 B.C.) ‘Thanks to the plants and animal bones preserved in the dry caves of (Osraca and Tebsaci, we can ote tll ich Season a given occupation oor sma nid down in. Becae ofthe work of botanists Ike Farle Sith Lawrence ‘Kaplan, and James Schoenwete, we know the season during which each plant i available, and hence when is harvest must have taken place, Eves the use of animal resources ean often be dated seasonally; for example inthe ‘Tehuacin Valley, we studied the seasonality of deer hunting bythe conten ofthe antlers, hich indicates the time of year when the animal was killed. “Assuming that each ocupaton Boor in ven eave represents the debris ofa sage encampment, usually dating to a single season (an assumption that {seems tobe borne ot by the quantity and nature of the refuse), the combina ‘Non of plant and animal remains oberved ina given level tal us something about prehistre scheduling decons. Analyses of our Oaxaca caves and ‘MacNets Tehuscdn Caves, by roughly the same group of specialists (Mac+ [Nelsh 1962, 19640; Flannery, nd), suggest the following tentative genera leatons: (1) Dry szeson comps (October-March), depending on thelr elevation above sea Tee, may have great caches of fll and winter plants—for example, ‘cor in the Mia are, o¢ Ct pods inthe Coxatén area—but in general ‘hey Tack the variety sen in rlay season levels. And peshaps mot sigli- 6 ‘antl, they havea high percentage of those plants whic, although not pr ‘alr tasty, are avaiable yearsound: maguey, prickly pear eal, Cie toot, and so on, These are the socalled “starvation” plants, which ean be ‘eaten Inthe heat of the dy season when litle ele is avalable, These sm levels alto tend to have high percentages of deer bon. Some, in fact, hav Iie refose beyond maguey quids and whitetailed der. (2). Rainy seas camps (May-Sepemiver, 38 might be expected, show ‘eat quantities of the plats avallable at that tine of the year: meiqute ‘naj, amaranth, wild avocado, zapots, and soon. They also tend tobe ict ‘in small fauna Ike cottontal,oppesum, skunk, raccoon, gopher, and black ‘iguana. Although der are often preset in these camps, they frequently repre: sent only a small percentage ofthe maim Invideal animal a the debris [Nor are the “starvation” plants partclarly plentiful im these rany-aeason level (8) What these genealizatons avgget, for the most part, Is that scheduling gave preference to the seasonality’ the plant spcis colcted; and when conflict stvatios arose, it was the avimel ezleitaton that was cartaled T would reconstruct the patter a8 follows: ‘A, Te ne dy eon nd xy ys, tee tps of ‘of wild plant foods These lcallatd recoures wee fae ‘sively barvested nd eaten or cached a Dey cate to maar ths sppest to have been a “macreband” activity. Because “all bands” pated In these harvest, Ile deer hunting wat done; instead the Indians set taps in the vicinity of the planteolecting camp, an act= wity which does ot confit with Intensive plant arvess the hay dee Iaunting woul 1B. Tn the late fall and winter, most plants have ceased to bear fruit, ‘ie doer Bunting at is Bert. Since thsi the mating seson, male det « bo normally forage by thnelves) fall in withthe doce and fawns, ' making the average herd larger, and slnce (iy I also the season when the desduous vegetation ofthe hightands sheds its leaves, the dee can ‘bemoreexallyYellowed by hunters‘As te dry season wens oo, however, the date grow warlr and range farther and farber back into the mown ns, This he leanest time ofthe year in terms of plant resourees, and ‘mas evidently inthis ceason that man turned most esvily to Pants ‘valableyeat round ke the root ofthe Ctba (which canbe baked lie rect maaioe) ofthe heat of the maguey plant (which canbe roasted). 1S These appear to ave been "mlcroband” activites, ._ By cheming rots and magvey ests, the preceraml forager managed fo last util the lat spring growing seas, at which ponte could wal Tow in encts fut again. sentially, his “schedule” was Keyed to the seasonal availablity of ertain wid plants, which climared a those tines ” ofthe yar hich were best sulted fr soll game trapping. He scheduled Sis mest Intensive deer ating for the seasons when big plant harvests trere eat a contctng factor. ‘D._ Cilmatie uetuaton, delay inte eany season, or pero increases Inthe doer herds steven loealitie probaly kept the plete more com plex than eave painted, but this eannot be detected inthe arebelog- Ratrecord: The extant evaluton of new bugy el, baskets, projectile points, scrape, carrying loops, and other artifacts rom the caves of ‘he Southern Highlands suggest slow but continual Innovation, To what vient thes innovations increased the productivity ofthe system I not esr, ‘Because the major adaptation was toa ses of wild genera which cos ‘xt several environmental boundaries the geographic extent ofthe ester Alserbed above was very grt. Tht adaptation is dearly reflected In the tecinolgial sphere, Trplements and felis of striking silty can be found tn veions which eer signfceny In altitude and rainfall, so long as the ive sie eateries of plants and animal are present. This canbe s+ tented by an examination of the Coxctlin Phase (5000-3000 B.C.) as it represented at Covcatlin Cave, Puebla (MacNelsh 1962) and at Cueva Blanca, Oncaca (Fannety, Kirkby, Kirkby, and Wilms, 1967) ‘Coneatlin Cave, type site for the phase, occurs at 975 totes in an arid tropical forest characterized by dence stands of columnar cacti; apo tees (Ceiba poriflio); ehupandla (Cortocarge sp.) exeahueo (Siderxylon 4p); and sbundant Legumioese, Borserscest, and Amacardiacee (Smith 1963 bs Fig. 31), Cueva Blanca occurs at 1900 meters in temperate woodland sone with eattered cals; Dadonea; ocosilo (Foupuera); wild zapote (Diospyrs); and other tees whlch (judging by archeological remains) may originally have included hackberey (Celts) and pinyon pine tin site of environmental diferencs, implements at the two sites are ‘early Hentcal; even the seasonal deer Bunting pattern and the sie of the fxcamped group are the same, Inthe past, such entity would have Inspired {he tadonal explanation: “a sinlar adaptation to sina arid eniron- rent.” But as seen above, the to envvonments are pot that similar. The important point i thatthe bac adaplation was not toa zone or even blo- ‘ope within a sone, Dut to ive cxtealextegores—hietall deer, cottonts!, rmaguey, tree legumes, prickly pear and organ cactus. These genera range {Brough many sone, as id the Indians who hunted them, ate them, prop tated their seeds, and weeded out ther dying members. TH Is not to say that biotopes were unimportant they played ele, but dey were also eras cut bya very important system, 8 Sexeonlty and scheduling, 25 examined her, were part ofa eviation- cnunteracting” feedback syste. They prevented intensfetion of any one ‘rocureent apse tothe pint where de wild genus was threatened at the “Sone fine, they melataine a suficienty high level of proarement ficiency fp there was litle presure for change, Under the ecosystem operating in the Southern Merican Highlands during the later part ofthe foodcolecting era, ‘here was litle ikeibood that man would exhaust his own food reoures oF that bi population would grow beyond what the wild vegetation and fauna ‘would support Matntniniog ch nar-eqolibrium condtlons isthe purpose of eviaton-counteactng process POSITIVE FEEDBACK AND CULTURE CHANGE Under conditions of full-scheved and permanentiymalntaned eqie bum, pedistrie cultures might never have changed, That they did change mas do at lent in part tothe existence of postive feedback or “devaton~ iplifyng” proceses, These Maruyama (1963: 164) describes as “all pro- esses of muta easel relatonship hat amplify an isignieant or acidentat Initial kick, bold wp deviation and diverge fom the intl condition,” ‘Such “insgncant ot acidental nial Hicks” were a veries of genetic changes which took place in one ot two species of Mescareicn plants which ‘were of use to man, The expletation of these plants had been a relatively tminor procurement sytem compared with that of maguey, cats fruits dee, for tee legumes, but positive feedback following thse nal genetic changes ‘caused one mor system to grow all out of proportion to the others, and ‘rentuallyto change the whole eesjstam ofthe Soutern Merican Highlands ‘Let us now examine tht system. ‘System 6: Wild Grass Procerement. One como activity ofthe Soode

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