Dissertation
The benefit of the gift: exchange and social interaction in the Late Archaic western Great Lakes
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
05/2009
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000005606
Abstract
Foraging societies with low population densities would seem an unlikely context in which to find extensive, continental scale, exchange systems featuring formal and standardized methods and materials of interaction. Yet, in the Late Archaic of the North American Midcontinent, this situation unfolds. How does formalized exchange function in such dispersed, small scale foraging societies? How does it help to create larger social entities and increasing sociopolitical complexity? How do such systems develop, what do they do, and why? In this study, a synthesis of anthropological theory on exchange and evolutionary theory of cooperative behavior is developed to produce a model of exchange with several testable predictions. These predictions include that differential access to exchange benefits will exist within and between communities, that exchange is inherently risky to participants and their communities, the frequency and scale of exchange will increase as trust is established and validated, exchange of material goods creates opportunities and incentives for social change, and conflict between communities is expected when trust is lost or undermined. These are then examined through a methodologically diverse set of studies involving analysis of lithic and copper artifacts to examine changes affecting Late Archaic societies in the western Great Lakes between 4000 and 2000 years ago. Data from the Late Archaic Riverside site, Middle Archaic Reigh site, and sites of the Late Archaic Burnt Rollways phase are examined to understand the production and movement of copper and lithic exchange materials, access to and benefits from exchange networks, and social changes accompanying the development of such systems of interaction. This study demonstrates that the Burnt Rollways phase is socially distinct from, and not interacting with, their downstream neighbors at Reigh and Riverside, while Riverside is engaged in a formal system of interaction and ritual with communities as distant as the lower Ohio River valley. As a consequence of this interaction network, Riverside exhibits differential access to benefits, standardization and ritualization of materials of interaction including formalized bifaces of Wyandotte chert and copper beads, intensification of exchange through time, significant social changes emphasizing the growing importance of women and children, and conflict.
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Details
- Title
- The benefit of the gift
- Creators
- Mark Andrew Hill
- Contributors
- Andrew I. Duff (Chair)William Andrefsky (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Graduate SchoolTim A. Kohler (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Department of AnthropologyWilliam A. Lovis (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Department of Anthropology
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 439
- Identifiers
- 99901054739301842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation