Ecological Constraints Among Hunter-Gatherer Societies:

An initial foray into Dow-Eff Modelling using Binford’s Hunter-

Gatherer Data

Amber L. JohnsonTruman State University

ajohnson@truman.edu

Binford 2001• 339 cases, global

distribution• Approximately 200

variables measuring aspects of subsistence, mobility, group size, social organization

• Another 400 variables measuring aspects of the environment

• Used to develop regression equations using environment to project HG properties

Binford’s 339 Hunter-Gatherer Cases

Binford’s 142 Case Sample

Hunter-gatherer subsistence specialty by latitude and population density

Binford (2001) Projection Strategy• Pairs of regression equations averaged for

final projection

TO PROJECT R2 for 339 R2 for 142 Avg R2

GATHERING .873 .911 .892

FISHING .827 .803 .815

HUNTING .798 .785 .792

DENSITY .763 .729 .746

TO PROJECT

Binford Avg R2

Dow-Eff R2

Binford N Vars Used339/142

Dow-EffN Vars Used

GATHERING .892 .915 14/6 11

FISHING .815 .829 11/4 9

HUNTING .792 .805 11/7 9

DENSITY .746 .818 10/8 11

Binford Models Compared to Dow-Eff Models

DV = Log10 (Gathering)Binford Model 2001

[R2=.892]

CVTEMPLCVTEMPLCOKLMLBAR5LWACCESSPERWLTGPERWRETRUNGRCSNOWACWRET

ELEVCMATTEMPLPTOAELPTORUNLSNOWACSUCSTAB2

Dow-Eff Model 2014 [R2=.915]

CVTEMPLCVTEMPLCOKLMLBAR5LWACCESSPERWLTGPERWRETRUNGRCSNOWACWRET

LATI

DV = FishingBinford Model 2001

[R2=.815]

SDTEMPLCOKLMGATHERINGDEFPERLDEFPERLSNOWACRRCORR2RUNGRCWRET

LGATHERLPTORUNPTORUN

Dow-Eff Model 2014 [R2=.829]

SDTEMPLCOKLMGATHERINGDEFPERLDEFPERLSNOWACRRCORR2RUNGRCWRET

DV = HuntingBinford Model 2001

[R2=.792]

TRANGEFISHINGLWATRGRCMEDSTABPGROWWATDWATRGRCWRET

LEXPREYLMEANELVGROWCRLOWLWACCESSPTOAEPERWLTGRRCORR2

Dow-Eff Model 2014 [R2=.805]

TRANGEFISHINGLWATRGRCMEDSTABPGROWWATDWATRGRCWRETLATI

DV = Log10 (Density)Binford Model 2001

[R2=.746]

HIRXLCVTEMPTEMPLCOKLM FISHINGGATHERINGLBIO5LSSTAB2MEDSTABPERWRET

RLOWBAR5WACCESSLDEFPERLRUNOFF

Dow-Eff Model 2014 [R2=.818]

HIRXLCVTEMPTEMPLCOKLMFISHINGGATHERINGLBIO5LSSTAB2MEDSTABPERWRET

LATI

CONCLUSIONS

• Hunter-gatherer subsistence and population density are heavily conditioned by ecology

• Dow-Eff models perform better than standard regression models [measured by R2] using the same variables

• New tools present opportunities to learn more

Acknowledgments

For rapid problem solving…• Doug White (kept me from crashing right out of the

garage)• Anthon Eff (made sure I had all the variables I needed in

the LRB file)• Lukasz Lacinski (got the Galaxy web interface working

smoothly with LRB)

For laying the foundation…• Lewis Binford