Technology as Human Social Tradition: 15 Trait-Based Datasets of Hunter-Gatherer Material Culture (Northwest Siberia, Pacific Northwest Coast, Northern California)

Peter Jordan

doi:10.11141/ia.56.3

Technology as Human Social Tradition: 15 Trait-Based Datasets of Hunter-Gatherer Material Culture (Northwest Siberia, Pacific Northwest Coast, Northern California). Data Paper

Peter Jordan

Referee statement by Anna Marie Prentiss

Cite this as: Jordan, P. 2021 Technology as Human Social Tradition: 15 Trait-Based Datasets of Hunter-Gatherer Material Culture (Northwest Siberia, Pacific Northwest Coast, Northern California). Data Paper, Internet Archaeology 56. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.56.3

Summary

Snow on ground, hunters wrapped up against the cold unpack a sledge of butchered meat — Hunters returning to a base camp with a butchered moose carcass on a sledge. The meat will be stored in the raised cache house located on the left. Variability in the design features of these cache houses was surveyed across different family groups and dialect communities. Image credit: Peter Jordan

How are particular material culture traditions passed from one generation to the next? This digital archive supports "Technology as Human Social Tradition: Cultural Transmission among Hunter-Gatherers" (Jordan 2015) published by University of California Press. The archive consists of 15 Excel files which were used to conduct in-depth analysis of the factors driving diversity and change in material culture traditions. Each file contains a high-resolution survey of the design features of one material tradition practised by groups living in a geographic region. Three regions are investigated: Northwest Siberia (storage platforms, shrines, skis); Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada (houses, canoes, basketry-matting); Northern California (basketry, houses, ceremonial dress).

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Keywords: hunter-gatherer, material culture, diversity, change, technology
Accepted: 30 November 2020. Published: 24 March 2021
Funding: This data paper was funded by Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Associated archive: Technology as Human Social Tradition: Trait-Based Datasets of Hunter-Gatherer Material Culture (Northwest Siberia, Pacific Northwest Coast, Northern California) hosted by ADS

Corresponding author: Peter Jordan
peter.jordan@ark.lu.se
Lund University

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