Description
- Abstract:
- This dissertation examines how colonizing populations of prehistoric food-producing communities adapted to small-island contexts. Taking the Neolithic colonization of the Cyclades (5,000 – 3,200 BC) and the colonization of the Ceramic Age Lesser Antilles (500 BC – AD 500) as case studies, this dissertation explores the diachronic social and spatial organization of human populations in both archipelagoes through the lenses of settlement ecology, behavioral ecology, and island biogeography. A central question is whether the combination of common technologies of food production and movement, combined with the inherent ecological challenges of small islands, made certain logics of organization self-selecting; or, whether processes of insular adaptation in both case studies were entirely context-specific. This and subsidiary questions are considered through bringing to bear on extant data various modes of geospatial analysis and modeling, including density and Proximal Point analysis, gravity and network modeling, and resource-catchment analysis. Conclusions suggest that, despite evident differences, the unique demographic pressures exerted by the Neolithic mode of subsistence in small islands encouraged the adoption of similar strategies of coping and adaptation in both archipelagoes; specifically, expansion of and diversification in settlement systems, with accompanying developments in intra- and inter-site ranking, and social hierarchies.
- Notes:
- Thesis (Ph.D. -- Brown University (2013)
Access Conditions
- Rights
- In Copyright
- Restrictions on Use
- Collection is open for research.
Citation
Leppard, Thomas P.,
"The Logics of Island Life: The Archaeology of Movement, Distance, and Settlement in the Neolithic Aegean and Ceramic Age Lesser Antilles"
(2013).
Graduate Research Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.7301/Z06H4FRV
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Graduate Research Theses and Dissertations
Theses and Dissertations for the Graduate Research department....