Donald L. Hardesty

The Niche Concept: Suggestions for Its Use in Human Ecology

The Hutchinsonian concept of the ecological niche can be made operational for studies in human ecology by defining it in terms of thedistinctive ways of using resources for subsistence that set “cultural species” apart. Subsistence variety, the number of resources used for subsistence, and how much each is depended on are measures of distinctiveness, and the amount of variety present can be defined as thewidth of the ecological niche. The calculation of niche width from subsistence data is discussed, and examples are given from several human groups with reference to total resource variety, resource variety in space, and resource variety in time. The importance of selecting niche dimensions for niche width measurement is stressed, and examples are given of width differences resulting from measuring variety in quantity (biomass or calories) and variety in quality (protein, essential minerals, etc.). Finally, some implications of niche width measurements for human ecology are discussed.

Historical archaeology in the next millenium: A forum

Historical archaeologists should focus their future research efforts on a set of central problems surrounding the emergence of the modern world. Such problems include environmental change, technological change, ethnogenesis, and distinctive patterns of social interaction. Professionalism is an additional issue discussed.

Evolution on the Industrial Frontier

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses several issues about the process of social and technological change on the industrial frontier. An explanatory framework grounded in the principles of evolution and ecology may provide insight into the border dynamics of even complex, industrial societies. The chapter also discusses the extent to which environment affects group differences on the frontier. The most common scenario of the frontier has colonists moving into a radically new environment for which their traditional behavior is poorly suited. Geographical differences in local frontier environments suggest that the adaptive behavior of colonists should vary greatly from place to place; however, the industrial frontier environment is often quite different. Industrial centers sending out the colonists attempt to control frontier environments as much as possible by establishing transportation and communication ties to national and international networks.

Evaluating site significance in historical mining districts

During the last several years, intensified mining of low grade ore deposits in the American West has created an explosion of CRM-related archaeological research. The evaluation of historic mining sites, however, has been plagued with a number of problems. Perhaps the most important is the lack of a coherent research design for assessing significance under National Register criterion (d). Other problem areas are related to scale, inventory, integrity, the lack of a comparative data base, and mining landscapes.

Toward an Historical Archaeology of the Intermountain West

Since the 1970s, the amount of historic sites research in the Intermountain West has increased dramatically on a wave of mining and exploration for gas and oil. The conduct of historical archaeology in the region, however, continues to be site-specific and serendipitous without the benefit of regional research strategies. Several interpretive themes that might provide a regional framework are considered in this paper, including the evolution of hydraulic society, uncertain enterprises and boom-bust cycles, the legacy of conquest, frontier urbanism, and dependency upon the federal government.

Commentary: Interpreting Variability and Change in Western Work Camps

Work camps are among the most common social formations of the modern world and have roots deep in antiquity. Kinship and tribute relations organized the earliest work camps, but wage labor and industrial capitalism played the key role since the 19th century. Most work camps in the modern world are associated with extraction industries (logging, mining, and whal ing) or construction projects (dams, canals, and railroads). The workers living in the camps typically have short lives, age-sex structures dominated by young adult males, distinctive lifestyles, and social hierarchies based on cultural identities and class relations.

Historic Sites Archaeology on the Western American Frontier: Theoretical Perspectives and Research Problems

Historic sites archaeology in the western United States is booming but continues to be conducted ad hoc. The demands of assessing significance for cultural resource management purposes suggests that integrative research problems must be identified. One set of such problems emerge from the frontier concept. The use of synecological models from general ecology is proposed as a new framework within which to better understand frontier phenomena. As an illustration, one aspect of Frederick Jackson Turners “frontier thesis” — the homogenization of frontier behavior — is examined in this light and related to historic sites research. In addition patterns of frontier colonization are studied with models of island biogeography developed by the late Robert MacArthur and E. O. Wilson.

GOALS OF ARCHAEOLOGY, OVERVIEW

The most fundamental goal of archaeology is the documentation of the physical remains of the human past. Another key goal is placing past humanity in a historical, geographical, and chronological context. The explanation of past variability and change in the human condition is another goal that drives the practice of archaeology. Finally, the preservation and management of the physical remains of the human past and using the archaeological record to plan for a sustainable future constitute other goals of archaeology.

The Archaeology of Maritime Landscapes

As a book,The Archaeology of Maritime Landscapes originated in papers given at the Society for Historical Archaeology 2008 Conference on Historical and Underwater Archaeology. The underlying theme of the papers, now chapters making up an anthology, is the application of the concept of the “Maritime Cultural Landscape” as proposed and developed by Norwegian archaeologist Christer Westerdahl. Maritime cultural landscapes “combine physical aspects of landscape and seascape to analyze the culture of maritime peoples within a spatial context” (p. 4). The approach integrates maritime history and ethnography with the archaeological record of past maritime systems to explore how “people perceived and understood the sea and used this knowledge and understanding to order and constitute the landscape and societies that they lived in” (p. 5). The first few chapters of the book are mostlyconcerned withmodeling prehistoric site locations associated with the earliest human migration into the Americas. In chapter 1, “Searching for Santarosae: Surveying Submerged landscapes for Evidence of Paleocoastal Habitation off California’s Northern Channel Islands,” Jack Watts, Brian

CULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Cultural Resource Management is the theory and practice of managing, preserving, and interpreting cultural resources within a social and legal context. ‘Cultural resources’ refers to a wide variety of material and nonmaterial expressions of human social groups and cultures in the environment. Compliance or rescue archaeology is the most common practice of CRM but it also includes architectural and engineering documentation, public history, and landscape history. Compliance with the National Environmental Protection Act and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act is the cornerstone of the practice of CRM in the United States but also includes practices associated with other laws and policies, historic buildings and structures, landscapes and places, and other cultural resources.