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Hunter-Gatherer Population Expansion and Intensification: Malthusian and Boserupian Dynamics

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Abstract

Despite years of debate, the factors that control the long-term carrying capacity of human populations are not well understood. In this paper, we assess the effect of changes in resource extraction and climate-driven changes in ecosystem productivity on the carrying capacity of hunter-gatherer populations in a terrestrial and coastal ecosystem. To make this assessment, we build time-series estimates of changes in resource extraction using stable isotopes and ecosystem productivity using paleoclimate models and geomorphic records of flood events. These estimates of resource extraction and ecosystem productivity allow us to assess a complex model of population expansion that proposes linked changes between population density, resource extraction, and intensification. We find that changes in resource extraction had a larger effect on carrying capacity in both the terrestrial and coastal ecosystems than climate drivers of ecosystem productivity. Our results are consistent with the idea that both Malthusian limits on resources and Boserupian pressures to reorganize economic systems operate in hunter-gatherer populations over the long term. Our data and analysis contribute to evaluating complex models of population growth and subsistence change across archaeological cases.

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Data Availability

The data used in this analysis are available at Freeman et al. (2023) and as part of the SI appendix.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for financial support from the National Science Foundation, grants: BCS-1535841 and IBSS-L:1520308. This study was also undertaken by PEOPLE 3000, a working group of the Past Global Changes (PAGES) project, which in turn received support from the Swiss Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The authors would like to thank the Texas Archaeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin, and their staff for providing access to samples. Finally, the authors would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments and contribution to improving the manuscript.

Funding

Financial support was received from the National Science Foundation, grants: BCS-1535841 and IBSS-L:1520308.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anthropology Program, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA

    Jacob Freeman

  2. The Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA

    Jacob Freeman

  3. Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA

    Raymond P. Mauldin & Mary Whisenhunt

  4. Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA

    Robert J. Hard & Kristina Solis

  5. School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    John M. Anderies

  6. School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    John M. Anderies

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Contributions

JF, RPM, RJH, and JMA designed the research; JF, RPM, RJH, RS, and MW collected the data; JF conducted the analysis and interpretation of data; JF drafted the manuscript; and all authors contributed to manuscript revisions.

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Correspondence to Jacob Freeman.

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Freeman, J., Mauldin, R.P., Hard, R.J. et al. Hunter-Gatherer Population Expansion and Intensification: Malthusian and Boserupian Dynamics. J Archaeol Method Theory (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-023-09617-6

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