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Ethnoarchaeology of Subsistence Space and Gender: A Subarctic Dene Case

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Hetty Jo Brumbach  and
Robert Jarvenpa
Hetty Jo Brumbach
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222
Robert Jarvenpa
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222
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Abstract

The interplay of gender and spatial organization of labor receives little attention in archaeological discussions of huntergatherer society. To help remedy this situation, our ethnoarchaeological research among subarctic Dene (Chipewyan) communities employs a gender-resource mapping approach, including the spatial dimension of hunting for a complex of major subsistence resources. Analysis reveals both profound differences and interconnections between female and male hunters as they procure and process materials and move across the landscape in the sociological context of three team types. The data offer a means of modeling gender dynamics in archaeological contexts as well as rectifying the often invisible role of women in archaeological interpretations of hunting in high-latitude societies. An analysis of historical shifts between “bush-centered” and “village-centered” hunts demonstrates how both women's and men's behavior can be incorporated in site formation processes and general subsistence settlement models, such as Binford's forager/logistical collector framework.

La interactión entre la organizatión espacial del trabajo y la organizatión del trabajo según género recibe poca atención en las discusiones arqueológicas sobre sociedades cazadoras-recolectoras. Para ayudar a remediar esta situatión, nuestra investigatión etnoarqueológica en las comunidades subárticas Dene (Chipewyan) emplea una perspectiva de localizatión geográfica de recursos según género, incluyendo la dimension espacial de la caza para un grupo de recursos principales de subsistencia. El análisis revela tanto profundas diferencias como interconexiones entre cazadores de ambos sexos, a la hora de conseguir y procesar materiales, así como cuando se mueven en su medio dentro del contexte sociológico de tres tipos de équipes. Los datos ofrecen un medio para modelar dinámicas de género en contextes arqueológicos y también rectificar el papel a menudo invisible de las mujeres en las interpretaciones arqueológicas sobre la caza en sociedades de altas latitudes. El análisis de los cambios históricos entre la caza centrada cerca de las aldeas y la caza centrada en el bosque demuestra cómo el comportamiento del hombre y la mujer puede ser incorporado en los procesos de formation de sitios y en modelos de asentamientos basados en la subsistencia, como el marco recolector espontáneo/recolector organizado desarrollado por Binford.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 62 , Issue 3 , July 1997 , pp. 414 - 436
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1997

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