Cultural Elaboration in Prehistoric Coastal Peru: An Example of Evolution in a Temporally Variable Environment

Author: Kornbacher K.D.

Source: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Volume 18, Number 3, September 1999 , pp. 282-318(37)

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Abstract:

Cultural elaborations in the form of monumental architecture and complex mortuary practices occur very early in the archaeological record of Peru. Models relying on resource abundance or stress have been unable to generate testable explanations that account for such phenomena. In 1989, Robert Dunnell proposed the idea that “wasteful” cultural elaborations (such as monumental architecture and mortuary complexes) develop and persist in temporally variable environments as a result of natural selection. Further development of this idea has resulted in application of a bet-hedging model (derived from evolutionary biology) to the explanation of cultural phenomena. The model basically holds that a phenotypic consequence of selection for reduced fitness variance in temporally fluctuating environments is the allocation of energy to nonsubsistence- or reproduction-related pursuits. The specific expectation derived from the model and investigated here is that periods of increased interannual variability in an already unpredictable environment should be followed closely in time by archaeological evidence of increases in energy allocation to “wasteful” pursuits. Using published data, I examine aspects of the Peruvian paleoenvironmental and archaeological records at two different scales to begin to test this specific expectation and to assess more generally the explanatory potential of the bet-hedging model. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195

Publication date: 1999-09-01