Resilience and the population history of the Kuril Islands, Northwest Pacific: A study in complex human ecodynamics.

ABSTRACT: Living in remote places can strain the adaptive capacities of human settlers. It can also protect communities from external social, political and economic forces. In this paper, we present an archaeological population history of the Kuril Islands. This string of small volcanic islands on the margins of the Northwest Pacific was occupied by maritime hunting, fishing and gathering communities from the mid-Holocene to recent centuries. We bring together (1) 380 new and previously published archaeological radiocarbon dates, (2) a new paleodemographic model based on a radiocarbon-timestamped temporal frequency distribution of archaeological deposits, (3) recently published paleoclimate trends, and (4) recently published archaeological proxy evidence for changes in the extent of social networks.

SUBMITTER: Fitzhugh B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5215057 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature