Evolving Complexity and Environmental Risk in the Prehistoric Southwest

Description

Editors: Tainter, Joseph A. and Tainter, Bonnie Bagley

Publisher: Addison Wesley

Pub Date: 1996

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Fair to Good.  Binding tight.  No marks, tears, bends or folds.  Without dust jacket, as issued.  Spine sun-faded.  Very light edge and corner wear.  Appears unused.

Notes: Proceedings of the Workshop “Resource Stress, Economic Uncertainty, and Human Response in the Prehistoric Southwest, ” Held February 25-29, 1992 in Santa Fe, NM.  Proceeding Volume XXIV, Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Science of Complexity.   “Complexity is generally understood to refer to such things as the size of a society, the number and distinctiveness of its parts, the variety of specialized social roles that it incorporates, the number of distinct social personalities present, and the variety of mechanisms for organising these into a coherent, functioning whole.  Augmenting any of these dimensions increases the complexity of a society.  Hunter-gatherer societies (by way of illustrating one contrast in complexity) contain no more than a few dozen distinct social personalities, while modern European censuses recognize 10,000 to 20,000 unique occupational roles, and industrial societies may contain overall more than 4,000,000 different kinds of social personalities.”  (Pages 5-6)  “In the context of adaptation to the natural environment, I consider stress to be the consequences that arise when the energy needs of a human population are not met.  the term ‘energy needs’ in this case includes the nutrients people must consume, energy for other physical needs (such as cooking and heating), and energy required to fund extrasomatic aspects of the cultural system (e.g. trade, ceremonies, prestige goods)>  Risk is the likelihood that energy needs will not be met…” (Page 15)