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Elements of Culture
• The Cultural Ecological Paradigm– “Culture is Man’s extrasomatic means of
adaptation” – White 1951– Culture is shared, learned, & integrated– Culture is influenced by environment
Subsistence Strategies
• Hunting and Gathering (Foraging)– Relies on natural plants and animals in environment– Small group size (20-50)– Low population density (1/50 sq miles to 5/1 sq mile)– Politically simple
• Bands or tribes, almost always egalitarian
– High mobility, usually seasonal• Housing tipis, wigwams, wickiups• Low amounts of wealth• Baskets, bladders, skins (parfleches)
– Lack of food storage– May be technologically simple or surprisingly complex
Subsistence Strategies
• Pastoralism– Relies on domesticated animals and sometimes crops– Medium group size (up to several hundred)– Low to medium population density – Politically more complex
• Tribes or Chiefdoms, but generally egalitarian– High mobility, often seasonal
• Housing like yurts or tipis, but can be semi-permanent• Higher amounts of wealth due to draft animals• Products from animal parts common
– Lack of food storage “on the hoof”– May be technologically simple or surprisingly complex)– Not seen in North America
• Ducks, Turkeys, Dogs, Cavies, Llamas only domesticates
Subsistence Strategies
• Horticulture– Relies on simple cultigens, usually local in origin– Medium group size (several hundred people)– Medium to high population density (50/1sq mile & up)– Politically and socially complex
• Tribes and Chiefdoms, but generally egalitarian• High kin importance
– Sedentary• Housing Longhouses, Pueblos, Daub and Wattle• Higher amounts of wealth and status goods• Pottery, farming and processing tools
– Pottery, baskets, or boxes for food storage– Often technologically complex in arts and
subsistence items
Subsistence Strategies
• Agriculture– Relies on more developed, often imported, cultigens– High group size (hundreds to thousands of people)– High population density (500/1sq mile & up)– Politically and socially complex
• Chiefdoms and States, always stratified• High kin importance and non-kin rulership
– Sedentary• Housing Longhouses, Pueblos, Daub and Wattle, Earth Lodges• Higher amounts of wealth and status goods• Pottery, farming and processing tools
– Pottery, baskets, or boxes for food storage– Often technologically complex in arts and subsistence items
• Monumental Architecture, Sciences, Writing, Public Works
Religious Beliefs
• What is Religion?– A set of rituals, rationalized by myth, that
mobilizes supernatural powers• Ritual –
Patterns of behavior and timing with religious purpose
• Myth –
Sacred narrative with supernatural actors
Occurred long ago
Tells how things came to be
More on Religion
• Functionalist Explanations– Psychological– Social– Cognitive
• Types of Religious Belief– Animism (supernatural spirits)– Animatism (Impersonal force)– Magic (pseudoscience)– Witchcraft (accidental? influence of Force)