On optimal use of a patchy environment: archaeobotany in the Argentinean Andes (Argentina)

Abstract

In this paper, optimal foraging theory is used to interpret wild plant collecting behaviors using experimental data and remains recovered from eleven archaeological sites in the Argentine Andes. Using simple techniques believed to approximate those of traditional hunting and gathering societies, I collected and processed twelve plant species endemic to southern Mendoza Province to assess their utility as human food resources. Experimental collection and processing events were timed and total caloric yield weighed against post-encounter handling time to determine each resource's relative rank. In addition, I calculated maximum transport distances to better understand which resources are likely to be recovered in the archaeological record. The results suggest that the distance that must be traveled to reach each plant gathering site determines the whether particular plants will be collected since people should maximize caloric yield relative to both handling costs and transport distance. I conclude by cautioning that optimal foraging theory does not explain all of the variation in hunter-gatherer plant collection, but suggest that the value of the approach lies in its capacity to provide testable hypotheses of foraging behavior and behavioral changes likely to occur under different circumstances.