THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC OF THE CENTRAL RUSSIAN PLAIN: A STUDY OF FLUCTUATIONAL TRAJECTORIES OF CULTURE CHANGE (ARCHEOLOGY, HUNTER-GATHERERS, CULTURAL EVOLUTION).
Item
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Title
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THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC OF THE CENTRAL RUSSIAN PLAIN: A STUDY OF FLUCTUATIONAL TRAJECTORIES OF CULTURE CHANGE (ARCHEOLOGY, HUNTER-GATHERERS, CULTURAL EVOLUTION).
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Identifier
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AAI8409419
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identifier
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8409419
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Creator
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SOFFER-BOBYSHEV, OLGA.
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Contributor
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Eric Delson | Gregory A. Johnson
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Date
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1984
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Anthropology, Archaeology
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Abstract
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This work examines prehistoric hunter and gatherer adaptations on the Late Pleistocene Central Russian Plain and offers both a culture history for the area as well as explanations for changes in human adaptations through time. It is an exercise in synthetic processual anthropology, views human adaptation as a multi-component system, and uses insights from both evolutionary cultural ecology and historic materialism to examine and model the functioning of and inter-relationships between the various components of Upper Paleolithic cultures. Biologic, geographic, geologic, and archaeologic data are presented on twenty nine major archaeologic sites found in the study area. This record spans some 14,000 years of occupation from approximately 26,000 B.P. to about 12,000 B.P. Pertinent data are used to model (1) Late Pleistocene environments, and (2) subsistence strategies employed by Upper Paleolithic groups. The results reveal that hunters and gatherers in the area were logistically organized in their subsistence pursuits and relied heavily on storage in their economies. A classification of the archaeological sites and a modeling of the settlement systems indicate that groups on the Central Russian Plain practice seasonal residential mobility. An examination of changes in their subsistence and settlement strategies show (1) a linearization of settlements along the river valleys, (2) an intensification in the procurements and storage of economically important resources, and (3) the rise of specialized exploitation of fur bearers through time. The reconstruction of socio-political integration in the area indicates both that these Late Pleistocene hunters and gatherers were hierarchically organized and that this hierarchization increased through time. Increasing socio-political differentiation was accompanied by (1) a change from nuclear to extended families, (2) increasing specialization in production, (3) the rise of long distance exchange networks, (4) a possible rise in economic inequality, (5) socio-cultural integration of the area, (6) the appearance of monumental architecture, and (7) the development of corporate ritual behavior. Finally, data from the Central Russian Plain show that the patterning of culture change through the Upper Paleolithic period followed a fluctuational rather than a directional trajectory.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Anthropology
