Desert Peoples Archaeological Perspectives

This comparative overview of hunter-gatherer societies in desert landscapes: 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 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

Global Deserts in Perspective

1

(14)

Mike Smith

Peter Veth

Peter Hiscock

Lynley A. Wallis

Part I Frameworks

15

(64)

Theoretical Shifts in the Anthropology of Desert Hunter-Gatherers

17

(17)

Thomas Widlok

Pleistocene Settlement of Deserts from an Australian Perspective

34

(24)

Peter Hiscock

Lynley A. Wallis

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

58

(21)

Peter Hiscock

Sue O'Connor

Part II Dynamics

79

(80)

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

81

(19)

Douglas W. Bird

Rebecca Bliege Bird

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

100

(16)

Peter Veth

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

116

(26)

Jo McDonald

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

142

(17)

Luis Alberto Borrero

Part III Interactions

159

(142)

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

161

(16)

Anne I. Thackeray

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

177

(29)

Kathryn Przywolnik

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

206

(16)

Karim Sadr

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

222

(21)

Mike Smith

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

Pablo A. Marquet

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

261

(15)

Andrew B. Smith

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

276

(17)

Alistair Paterson

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