Multiple Optima in Hoabinhian flaked stone artefact palaeoeconomics and palaeoecology at two archaeological sites in Northwest Thailand

Citation: Ben Marwick (2013) Multiple Optima in Hoabinhian flaked stone artefact palaeoeconomics and palaeoecology at two archaeological sites in Northwest Thailand. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology (RSS)
Internet Archive Scholar (search for fulltext): Multiple Optima in Hoabinhian flaked stone artefact palaeoeconomics and palaeoecology at two archaeological sites in Northwest Thailand
Tagged: Anthropology (RSS)

Summary

Context:

This article focused on using three models of human behavioral ecology (the Central Place Model, the Patch Choice Model, and the Optimal Dispersion Model) to determine how stone technology changed due to varying climate conditions. The two sites being compared are located in Thailand. The first is a rock shelter, Tham Lod, where the excavated site was 2x4 m and 450 cm deep, and the second is a rock shelter at Ban Rai, where the excavated area was 16 square meters but less deep than Tham Lod. The time periods that are being looked at is the late Pleistocene and early Holocene.

Materials and Methods:

The excavation found many flaked artifacts at both sites, which were used for determining adaptation processes due to changes in the environment. The environmental changes at the sites were recorded using freshwater shells, measuring oxygen isotope ratios. One of the main focuses for this paper was predicting behavior based on the three different models: the Central Place Model, the Patch Choice Model, and the Optimal Dispersion Model. For the Central Place Model, there needed to be measurements of pre-processing. These were measured using ratios of MNF (Minimum Number of Flakes) to cores and by comparing the size distribution of flakes to the size distribution of flake scars on cores. Tham Lod was shown to have more evidence of pre-processing. The Patch Choice Model looked at each site and measured for every 100 years the rate of artifact discard per cubic meter. This allowed for making comparisons of habitation intensity between the two sites. Ban Rai showed higher habitation intensity. Finally, the Optimal Dispersion Model looked at how intensive an assemblage’s reductions was. The intensity was determined by looking at 5 flake variables. These variables were then compared with the oxygen isotope sequences. These results indicated that Tham Lod could have had variation in stone tools due to climate change, however, the results were not significant. The results are also unsubstantial at Ban Rai.

Results:

By using these ecological models, the results were inconclusive. The varying results from the three different models were unable to find a definitive connection between climate change and stone tool variability. Given these inconsistent results, the author looks to use multiple optima in order to modify the models to give a more dependable result.

Theoretical and Practical Relevance

An important contribution that this author made in this article was this idea of multiple optima. The author used the human behavioral ecology models, but instead of using the traditional singular optima point, he applied the idea of multiple optima in order to understand better the results from the models.