Desert Peoples Archaeological Perspectives

Desert Peoples: Archaeological Perspectives provides an issues-oriented overview of hunter-gatherer societies in desert landscapes that combines archaeological and anthropological perspectives and includes a wide range of regional and thematic case studies. Brings together, for the first time, studies from deserts as diverse as the sand dunes of Australia, the U.S. Great Basin, the coastal and high altitude deserts of South America, and the core deserts of Africa Examines the key concepts vital to understanding human adaptation to marginal landscapes and the behavioral and belief systems that underpin them Explores the relationship among desert hunter-gatherers, herders, and pastoralists

Peter Veth is Director of Research at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra. He is the author of over 100 articles and books on the archaeology of arid zone hunter-gatherers.

Mike Smith is Director of Research and Development at the National Museum of Australia. He pioneered research into late Pleistocene settlement in the Australian desert and has worked extensively across the arid zone attempting to piece together its human and environmental history.

Peter Hiscock is a Reader in the School of Archaeology and Anthropology at the Australian National University.

Notes on Contributors

vii

1 Global Deserts in Perspective

1

(14)

Mike Smith, Peter Veth, Peter Hiscock, and Lynley A. Wallis

Part I Frameworks

15

(64)

2 Theoretical Shifts in the Anthropology of Desert Hunter-Gatherers

17

(17)

Thomas Widlok

3 Pleistocene Settlement of Deserts from an Australian Perspective

34

(24)

Peter Hiscock and Lynley A. Wallis

4 Arid Paradises or Dangerous Landscapes: A Review of Explanations for Paleolithic Assemblage Change in Arid Australia and Africa

58

(23)

Peter Hiscock and Sue O'Connor

Part II Dynamics

79

(80)

5 Evolutionary and Ecological Understandings of the Economics of Desert Societies: Comparing the Great Basin USA and the Australian Deserts

81

(19)

Douglas W. Bird and Rebecca Bliege Bird

6 Cycles of Aridity and Human Mobility: Risk Minimization Among Late Pleistocene Foragers of the Western Desert, Australia

100

(16)

Peter Veth

7 Archaic Faces to Headdresses: The Changing Role of Rock Art Across the Arid Zone

116

(26)

Jo McDonald

8 The Archaeology of the Patagonian Deserts: Hunter-Gatherers in a Cold Desert

142

(19)

Luis Alberto Borrero

Part III Interactions

159

(142)

9 Perspectives on Later Stone Age Hunter-Gatherer Archaeology in Arid Southern Africa

161

(16)

Anne I. Thackeray

10 Long-Term Transitions in Hunter-Gatherers of Coastal Northwestern Australia

177

(29)

Kathryn Przywolnik

11 Hunter-Gatherers and Herders of the Kalahari during the Late Holocene

206

(16)

Karim Sadr

12 Desert Archaeology, Linguistic Stratigraphy, and the Spread of the Western Desert Language

222

(21)

Mike Smith

13 People of the Coastal Atacama Desert: Living Between Sand Dunes and Waves of the Pacific Ocean

243

(18)

Calogero M. Santoro, Bernardo T. Arriaza, Vivien G. Standen, and Pablo A. Marquet

14 Desert Solitude: The Evolution of Ideologies Among Pastoralists and Hunter-Gatherers in Arid North Africa

261

(15)

Andrew B. Smith

15 Hunter-Gatherer Interactions with Sheep and Cattle Pastoralists from the Australian Arid Zone

276

(17)

Alistair Paterson

16 Conclusion: Major Themes and Future Research Directions

293

(8)

Peter Veth

General Index

301

(2)

Index of Archaelogical Features and Subjects

303

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Desert Peoples Archaeological Perspectives

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials