Structured Worlds: The Archaeology of Hunter-Gatherer Thought and Action

223 Pages·2014·5.08 MB·English

by  Aubrey Cannon

Structured Worlds
Approaches to Anthropological Archaeology
Series Editor: Thomas E. Levy, University of California, San Diego

Editorial Board
Guillermo Algaze, University of California, San Diego
Geoffrey E. Braswell (University of California, San Diego)
Paul S. Goldstein, University of California, San Diego
Joyce Marcus, University of Michigan

This series recognizes the fundamental role that anthropology now plays in archaeology and also integrates the strengths of various
research paradigms that characterize archaeology on the world scene today. Some of these different approaches include ‘New’ or
‘Processual’ archaeology, ‘Post-Processual’, evolutionist, cognitive, symbolic, Marxist, and historical archaeologies. Anthropological
archaeology accomplishes its goals by taking into account the cultural and, when possible, historical context of the material remains
being studied. This involves the development of models concerning the formative role of cognition, symbolism, and ideology in
human societies to explain the more material and economic dimensions of human culture that are the natural purview of
archaeological data. It also involves an understanding of the cultural ecology of the societies being studied, and of the limitations and
opportunities that the environment (both natural and cultural) imposes on the evolution or devolution of human societies. Based on
the assumption that cultures never develop in isolation, Anthropological Archaeology takes a regional approach to tackling
fundamental issues concerning past cultural evolution anywhere in the world.

Published

Archaeology, Anthropology and Cult: The Sanctuary at Gilat, Israel
Edited by Thomas E. Levy

Connectivity in Antiquity: Globalization as a Long Term Historical Process
Edited by Øystein LaBinaca and Sandra Arnold Scham

Israel’s Ethnogenesis: Settlement, Interaction, Expansion and Resistance
Avraham Faust

Axe Age: Acheulian Tool-making from Quarry to Discard
Edited by Naama Goren-Inbar and Gonen Sharon

New Approaches to Old Stones: Recent Studies of Ground Stone Artifacts
Edited by Yorke M. Rowan and Jennie R. Ebeling

Prehistoric Societies on the Northern Frontiers of China: Archaeological Perspectives on Identity Formation and Economic
Change during the First Millennium BCE
Gideon Shelach

Dawn of the Metal Age: Technology and Society during the Levantine Chalcolithic
Jonathan M. Golden

Metal, Nomads and Culture Contact: The Middle East and North Africa
Nils Anfnset

Animal Husbandry in Ancient Israel—A Zoo-archaeological Perspective: Herd Management, Economic Strategies and Animal
Exploitation
Aharon Sassoon

Ultimate Devotion: The Historical Impact and Archaeological Expression of Intense Religious Movements
Yoav Arbel

Structured Worlds: The Archaeology of Hunter-Gatherer Thought and Action
Edited by Aubrey Cannon

Early Bronze Age Goods Exchange in the Southern Levant: A Marxist Perspective
Ianir Milevski

Agency and Identity in the Ancient Near East: New Paths Forward
Edited by Sharon R. Steadman and Jennifer C. Ross
Structured Worlds

The Archaeology of Hunter-Gatherer Thought and Action

Edited by

Aubrey Cannon
First published 2011 by Equinox, an imprint of Acumen

P ublished 2014 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
7 11 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© Editorial matter and selection Aubrey Cannon 2011; individual contributions, the contributors.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any
electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notices
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and
using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or
methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they
have a professional responsibility.

To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any
liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or
otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in
the material herein.
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

ISBN 978-1-84553-080-8 (hardback)

T ypeset and copyedited by Forthcoming Publications Ltd
Contents

Contributors vii
Acknowledgments ix

1. Introduction
Aubrey Cannon 1

2. Material Culture Perspectives on the Worldview
of Northern Hunter-Gatherers
Peter Jordan 11

3. Humans, Material Culture and Landscape: Outline to an Understanding
of Developments in Worldviews on the Scandinavian Peninsula,
ca. 10,000–4500 BP
Ingrid Fuglestvedt 32

4. Cosmology and Everyday Perception in Northwest Coast Production,
Reproduction, and Settlement
Aubrey Cannon 54

5. The Structured World of the Niitsitapi: The Landscape as Historical
Archive among Hunter-Gatherers of the Northern Plains
Gerald A. Oetelaar and D. Joy Oetelaar 69

6. Landscape Learning and Lithic Technology: Seasonal Mobility,
Enculturation and Tool Apprenticeship among the Early Palaeo-Eskimos
S. Brooke Milne 95

7. Making Space in the Late Mesolithic of Britain
Lesley McFayden 116

8. Why Does Difference Matter? The Creation of Personhood
and the Categorisation of Food among Prehistoric Fisher-Gatherer-Hunters
of Northern Europe
Liliana Janik 128

9. Using Worldwide Samples in Understanding the Mesolithic–Neolithic
Transition in Northern Europe
Helena Knutsson 141
vi STRUCTURED WORLDS

10. Figurines, Circular Settlements and Jomon Worldviews
Naoko Matsumoto 168

11. The Involution of Complexity in Jomon Japan
Simon Kaner 183

12. Conclusion
Aubrey Cannon 204

Index 209
Contributors

Aubrey Cannon, Department of Anthropology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L9,
Canada.

Ingrid Fuglestvedt, Department of Archaeology, University of Oslo, 0315 Oslo, Norway.

Liliana Janik, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3DZ,
United Kingdom.

Peter Jordan, Department of Archaeology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UF
Scotland, United Kingdom.

Simon Kaner, Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, Norwich, NR1
4DW, United Kingdom.

Helena Knutsson, Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Uppsala,
SE-752 10 Uppsala, Sweden.

Naoko Matsumoto, Department of Archaeology, Okayama University, Okayama, 700-8530,
Japan.

Lesley McFadyen, School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester,
Leicester, LE1 7RH, United Kingdom.

S. Brooke Milne, Department of Anthropology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T
5V5, Canada.

Gerald A. Oetelaar and D. Joy Oetelaar, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary,
Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada.
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Acknowledgments

This volume began as a session I organized for the 69th Annual Meeting of the Society for
American Archaeology in Montreal, Canada in 2004. Most of the original contributors to that
session submitted their papers to this volume. Their contributions have been joined by those of
other invited contributors, Simon Kaner, Lesley McFadyen and Gerald and Joy Oetelaar. I
thank all the contributors for their willingness and ability to contribute to this volume, and the
patience of those who had to wait longer than others to see this volume finally come together. I
also want to thank Thomas Levy, series editor, and Janet Joyce, of Equinox Books, for their
patience and support. The final editing of this volume owes a great deal to the editorial
assistance efforts of Katherine Cook, of McMaster University, and I thank her for her skilled
and patient efforts in helping to bring this volume to its completion. The quality of the final
product benefitted enormously from the copy-editing and production skills of Duncan Burns.
For myself and on behalf of all the contributors, I thank him for his skilled efforts, meticulous
attention to detail and keen eye.

Aubrey Cannon