anth205_oct27notes.docx

Becca Alexander October 27th ANTH205-502 Notes ***These notes have both what was on the slide in class and some extra things that he added. Also if there is an * next to a point that means that he said it would ?be a good test question? -some words that look confusing he didn?t explain so I?m guessing they will be in the readings?? Yanamamo Culture Ecology Culture Ecology The study? (definition in book) Cultural Adaptation ?cultural adaptation: the social, technical, and ideological means by which a people adjust to the world that impinges?? Yanamamo Social Adaptations trade/specialization alliances feasts bellicosity The Yanamamo ~20,000 people 250-300 villages Venezuela, main study area Kaobawa?s Bisaasi-teri Upper Orinoco basin Boca Maraca: confluence of Maraca and Orinoco rivers Environment ?foot? Indians- avoid large streams flat terrain villages are hours to days apart dense jungle Travel by means of trails walking without shoes is ?Risky Business? thorns snakes Dry Season Travel September to March May/June: flash flooding (wet season) Feasting Visiting other villages Trading Raiding Temporary Camps Along trails Technology Expedient **crude pottery (only thing you would find archaeologically) shaving with splinter of reed (sunama) Bow Technology palm wood bow staves 5-6ft long bowstrings- make with fiber from tree (pulpbark) quiver- holds arrows, arrow points, fiber, strings, firewood, knife 6ft long shafts- from cultivating cane 2 long black feathers- fletching (makes arrows fly straight) arrow points interchangeable Arrow Points bamboo lancelot- big, durable (main one used) curare- poisoned husu namo- weakened at one inch intervals barbed- bird hunting twig- hunting decorative birds (don?t want to mess up feathers) Specialized? Curare arrow points Quivers Fire drills Etcetera Fishing Pooled fish Poison small streams Hallucinogenic Plants Yakowana tree Add ashes and saliva Hisiomo tree- most highly prized Justicia bushes Ebene- generic term for drugs Drug Use Ebene every day Mokohiro Green mucus Hekura spirits Distinction: Culture vs. Nature Yahi ta rimo- nature Urini ta rimo- culture Shelter: the Shabono Coordinated series of individual houses with communal roof Central plaza Building a Shabono Selecting the site Four main poles set per house Palisades **Bisaasi ka hena ?roofing- leaf people? Village size dependent on: 1) how many people live there 2)politics Wild Animal Food Acquisition fat palm- pith grubs- larvae armadillos Wild Plant Foods palm fruits ripe in February/March wild honey Gardening: Horticulture Horticulture Spend as much time or more time hunting, but 80-90% of food eaten in most areas is from gardening Horticulture Methods Slash-and-burn farming (swwidden farming) Slash-and-burn Farming Wet vs. dry season cut with steel machetes and axes obtained from Ye?kwana and missionaries (over 3,000 machetes in 14 years alone) Gardening: Land Allocation individual family plots headman have larger gardens Plantains now most important- most calories 80-90% previously manioc, maize, tubers dependence Plantain Life Cycle generative process trees only produce one bunch of fruit suckers transported (suckers dug from under tree, big suckers produce new trees faster) Tobacco everyone is addicted to chewing Hori- ?being poor?, literally means to be without tobacco it is defended Cotton Yarn :hammers, clothing female belts foreskin ties (males) Constant Garden Movement gardens only last about 3 years new site: light tree cover, well drained, near drinking water (Shabono and Garden Movement linked) A Cultural Ecology Hypothesis Test: Why Move Gardens So Much? Soil exhaustion in tropical forest habitats A Hypothesis Rejected Soil is NOT exhausted Why move then? Snakes Thorns Gardens: Micro movements Extend old garden Macro movements (fission) Motivated by politics and warfare Group Fission Into two similar sized villages Small move, he borarawa, side-by-side Long move, death If Long Move is Necessary Try to predict disaster, start clearing new garden far away Either constantly move, or mooch from friendly village Population/Village Dispersal Over Time Long term patterns are a result of two things: Enemy ally patterns Fissioning of larger groups into smaller ones How do we explain variability? Two areas Periphery (highlands) Internal (lowlands) Ecological Zones 5 ecological zones demarcated: river bottoms lowlands foothills (more security) mountains (more security) high basin