Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Social Cooperation and Resource Management DynamicsAmong Late Hunter-Fisher-Gatherer Societies in Tierra del Fuego (South America)

  • Published:
Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper presents the theoretical basis and first results of an agent-based model (ABM) computer simulation that is being developed to explore cooperation in hunter–gatherer societies. Specifically, we focus here on Yamana, a hunter-fisher-gatherer society that inhabited the islands of the southernmost part of Tierra del Fuego (Argentina–Chile). Ethnographical and archaeological evidence suggests the existence of sporadic aggregation events, triggered by a public call through smoke signals of an extraordinary confluence of resources under unforeseeable circumstances in time and space (a beached whale or an exceptional accumulation of fish after a low tide, for example). During these aggregation events, the different social units involved used to develop and improve production, distribution and consumption processes in a collective way. This paper attempts to analyse the social dynamics that explain cooperative behaviour and resource-sharing during aggregation events using an agent-based model of indirect reciprocity. In brief, agents make their decisions based on the success of the public strategies of other agents. Fitness depends on the resource captured and the social capital exchanged in aggregation events, modified by the agent’s reputation. Our computational results identify the relative importance of resources with respect to social benefits and the ease in detecting—and hence punishing—a defector as key factors to promote and sustain cooperative behaviour among population.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The initial state for all simulations corresponds to a population of 50 cooperators and 50 defectors randomly distributed in the space. The core parameters {vision, social-capital-versus-meat-sensitivity, prob-beached-whale} are explored by setting the rest of the parameterisation: {people-density = 0.002 (82 agents); beach-density = 0.5; prob-random-move = 1; distance-walked-per-tick = 4; signal-range = 50; rounds-per-generation = 50; prob-mutation = 0.025; history-size = 10; history-past-discount = 0.8; tournament-size = 5}. The time limit for a simulation is 105 ticks and 50 replications have been run for each experiment.

References

  • Agorsah, K. E. (1990). Ethnoarchaeology: the search for a self-corrective approach to the study of past human behaviour. The African Archaeological Review, 8, 189–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aldenfender, M. (2001). Andean pastoral origins and evolution: the role of ethnoarchaeology of pastoralism. In L. A. Kuznar (Ed.), Ethnoarchaeology of Andean South America. Contributions to Archaeological Method and Theory (pp. 19–30). Ann Arbour: Oxbow.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alexander, J. M. (2008). Cooperation. In S. Sarkar & A. Plutynski (Eds.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Biology Malden. MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Apicella, C. L., Marlowe, F. W., Fowler, J. H., & Christakis, N. A. (2012). Social networks and cooperation in hunter–gatherers. Nature, 481(7382), 497–501. doi:10.1038/nature10736.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Axelrod, R. M. (1986). An evolutionary approach to norms. American Political Science Review, 80(4), 1095–1111. doi:10.2307/1960858.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Axelrod, R. M. (1997). The complexity of cooperation. Agent-based models of competition and collaboration. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Axtell, J. (1979). Ethnohistory: an historian’s viewpoint. Ethnohistory, 26(1), 3–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Béyries, S. (1997). Ethnoarchéologie: un mode d’expérimentation. Préhistoire anthropologie méditerranéenne (pp. 185–196). Aix-en-Provence: Université de Provence-CNRS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Béyries, S. & Pétrequin, P. (2001). Ethnoarchaeology and its transfers. Papers from a session held at the European Association of Archaeologists Fifth Annual Meeting in Bournemouth. Bournemouth.

  • Binford, L. (1977). Introduction. In L. Binford (Ed.), For Theory Building in Archaeology (pp. 1–10). New York: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bliege Bird, R., & Smith, E. A. (2005). Signalling theory, strategic interaction and symbolic capital. Current Anthropology, 46(2), 221–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a Theory of Practise. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. (2003). Origins of human cooperation. In P. Hammerstein (Ed.), The Genetic and Cultural Origins of Cooperation (pp. 429–443). Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyd, R., & Richerson, P. J. (2005). Solving the puzzle of human cooperation. In S. Levinson (Ed.), Evolution and Culture (pp. 105–132). Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyd, R., Gintis, H., & Bowles, S. (2010). Coordinated punishment of defectors sustains cooperation and can proliferate when rare. Science, 328, 617–620. doi:10.1126/science.1183665.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bridges, T. (1870, March 28th). Personal Diaries. References: Ref Type: Unpublished Work.

  • Bridges, T. (1870, October 26th). Personal Diaries. References: Ref Type: Unpublished Work.

  • Bridges, T. (1871, November 20th). Personal Diaries. References: Ref Type: Unpublished Work.

  • Bridges, T. (1872, January 2nd) Personal Diaries. References: Ref Type: Unpublished Work.

  • Bridges, T. (1872, January 15th) Personal Diaries. References: Ref Type: Unpublished Work.

  • Bridges, T. (1872, March 19th) Personal Diaries. References: Ref Type: Unpublished Work.

  • Bridges, T. (1872, May 5th) Personal Diaries. References: Ref Type: Unpublished Work.

  • Bridges, T. (1872, June 14th). Personal Diaries. References: Ref Type: Unpublished Work.

  • Bridges, T. (1876, May 26th) Personal Diaries. References: Ref Type: Unpublished Work.

  • Bridges, T. (1877, June15th) Personal Diaries. References: Ref Type: Unpublished Work.

  • Bridges, T. (1877, July 17th). Personal Diaries. References: Ref Type: Unpublished Work

  • Bridges, T. (1933). The Yamana-English dictionary. Zaguier y Urruti Editions.

  • Briz, I. (2010). Etnoarcheologia: che cosa, come, verso dove? Quaderni di Thule, IX, Atti del XXXI Convegno Internazionale di Americanistica (Perugia, 2009) (pp. 549–559). Perugia: CSACA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briz, I., Álvarez, M., Zurro, D., & Caro, J. (2009). Meet for lunch in Tierra del Fuego: a new ethnoarchaeological project. Antiquity, 83(322): http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/briz322/.

  • Carballo, D. M., Roscoe, P., & Feinman, G. M. (2012). Cooperation and collective action in the cultural evolution of complex societies. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. doi:10.1007/s10816-012-9147-2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, N. (2009). Reviving Witiko (Windigo): an ethnohistory of "Cannibal Monsters" in the Athabasca District of Northern Alberta, 1878–1910. Ethnohistory, 56(3), 355–394.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman, A. M. (2010). European encounters with the Yamana people of Cape Horn, before and after Darwin. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • David, N., & Kramer, C. (2001). Ethnoarchaeology in Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davidson, I. (2006). Arqueología etnohistórica. In I. Briz, I. Clemente, X. Terradas, A. Toselli, A. Vila, & D. Zurro (Eds.), Etnoarqueología de la Prehistoria: más allá de la analogía, Treballs d’Etnoarqueologa, 6 (pp. 257–271). Madrid: CSIC.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Rojas, J. L. (2008). La Etnohistoria de América. Los indígenas, protagonistas de su historia. Buenos Aires: Editorial SB.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Waal, F. B. M., & Suchak, M. (2010). Prosocial primates: selfish and unselfish motivations. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B: Biological Sciences, 365(1553), 2711–2722. doi:10.1098/rstb.2010.0119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durkheim, E. (1909). Lec¸ons sur la morale. Textes 2: Religion, morale, anomie (pp. 292–312). Paris: Editions de Minuit.

    Google Scholar 

  • Durkheim, E. (1917). Introduction a` la morale. Textes 2: Religion, morale, anomie (pp. 313–331). Paris: Editions de Minuit.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edmonds, B. (2001). The use of models—making MABS actually work. In S. Moss & P. Davidsson (Eds.), Multi-Agent-Based Simulation, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence 1979 (pp. 15–32). Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elliott, E., & Kiel, L. D. (2002). Exploring cooperation and competition using agent-based modelling. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 99(Suppl 3), 7193–7194. doi:10.1073/pnas.102079099.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, J. M. (1999). Agent-based computational models and generative social science. Complexity, 4(5), 41–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Estévez, J., & Vila, A. (1996). Etnoarqueología: el nombre de la cosa. In J. Estévez & A. Vila (Eds.), Encuentros en los conchales fueguinos (pp. 17–23). Barcelona-Madrid: UAB-CSIC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Field, S. A. (1998). Human altruism: group selection should not be ignored. Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems, 21(2), 125–131. doi:10.1016/S1061-7361(00)80002-8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gould, R. A. (1980). Living Archaeology, New Studies in Archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gumerman, G. J., Swedlund, A. C., Dean, J. S., & Epstein, J. M. (2003). The evolution of social behaviour in the prehistoric American Southwest. Artificial Life, 9(4), 435–444. doi:10.1162/106454603322694861.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gusinde, M. (1937). Die Feuerland-Indianer, II: Die Yamana. Mödling. Buenos Aires: CAEA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henrich, J. (2004). Cultural group selection, coevolutionary processes and large-scale cooperation. Journal of Economic Behaviour & Organisation, 53(1), 3–35. doi:10.1016/S0167-2681(03)00094-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henrich, J., & Boyd, R. (2001). Why people punish defectors: weak conformist transmission can stabilise costly enforcement of norms in cooperative dilemmas. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 208(1), 79–89. doi:10.1006/jtbi.2000.2202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henrich, J., & Gil-White, F. J. (2001). The evolution of prestige: freely conferred deference as a mechanism for enhancing the benefits of cultural transmission. Evolution and Human Behaviour, 22(3), 165–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henrich, J., & Henrich, N. (2006). Culture, evolution and the puzzle of human cooperation. Cognitive Systems Research, 7(2–3), 220–245. doi:10.1016/j.cogsys.2005.11.010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henrich, J., Boyd, R., Bowles, S., Camerer, C., Fehr, E., Gintis, H., & McElreath, R. (2001). Cooperation, reciprocity and punishment in fifteen small-scale societies. American Economic Review, 91(2), 73–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, K. (2002). Altruistic cooperation during foraging by the Ache, and the evolved human predisposition to cooperate. Human Nature, 13(1), 105–128. doi:10.1007/s12110-002-1016-3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huxley, T. H. (1888). The struggle for existence in human society. Collected Essays (Vol. 9) (pp. 195–236). London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hyades, P. & Deniker, J. (1891). Antropologie et Ethnographie. Mission Scientifique du Cap Horn (1882–1883). Paris: VII.

  • Ingold, T. (1988). Notes on the foraging mode of production. In T. Ingold, D. Riches, & J. Woodburn (Eds.), Hunter-Gatherers I. History, evolution and social change (pp. 269–314). Oxford: Berg Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Izquierdo, L. R., Izquierdo, S. S., Galan, J. M., & Santos, J. I. (2009). Techniques to Understand Computer Simulations: Markov Chain Analysis. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 12(1): 6, http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/12/1/6.html

  • Kohler, T. A., & van der Leeuw, S. E. (2007). The model-based archaeology of socionatural systems. Santa Fe, N.M: School for Advanced Research Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohler, T. A., Cockburn, D., Hooper, P. L., Bocinsky, R. K., & Kobti, Z. (2012). The coevolution of group size and leadership: an agent-based public goods model for Prehispanic Pueblo Societies. Advances in Complex Systems, 15(1 & 2), 1150007. doi:10.1142/S0219525911003256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kropotkin, P. (1902). Mutual aid. London: William Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lothrop, S. (1928). The Indians of Tierra del Fuego. Nueva York: Museum of the American Indians, Heye Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lull, V. (1988). Hacia una teoría de la representación en arqueología. Revista de Occidente, 81, 62–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lull, V. (2005). Marx, Producción, Sociedad y Arqueología. Trabajos de Prehistoria, 62(1), 7–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malinowski, B. (1961). Argonauts of the Western Pacific. New York: Dutton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martial, L. F. (1888). Histoire du voyage. Mission Scientifique du Cap Horn (1882–1883). Paris

  • Marx, K., & Engels, F. (1977). The German Ideology. London: Lawrence and Wishart.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mauss, M. (1931). La cohe´sion sociale dans les socie´te´s polysegmentaires. Communication pre´sente´e a` l’Institut franc¸ais de sociologie. Extrait du Bulletin de l’Institut français de sociologie, 1, 1931. In J. M. Tremblay (Ed.), Les classiques des sciences sociales.

  • Melis, A. P., & Seemann, D. (2010). How is human cooperation different? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B: Biological Sciences, 365, 2663–2674. doi:10.1098/rstb.2010.0157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mithen, S. (1994). Simulating prehistoric hunter–gatherer societies. In N. Gilbert & J. Doran (Eds.), Simulating Societies. The computer simulation of Social Phenomena (pp. 165–193). London: UCL Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Narotzky, S. (2007). The project in the model. Reciprocity, social capital and the politics of ethnographic realism. Current Anthropology, 48(3), 403–424.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nowak, M. A. (2006). Five rules for the evolution of cooperation. Science, 314(5805), 1560–1563. doi:10.1126/science.1133755.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nowak, M. A., & Sigmund, K. (2000). Cooperation versus competition. Financial Analysts Journal, 56, 13–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ohtsuki, H., & Iwasa, Y. (2004). How should we define goodness?—reputation dynamics in indirect reciprocity. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 231(1), 107–120. doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2004.06.005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orquera, L., & Piana, E. (1999). La vida material y social de los Yámana. Buenos Aires: Eudeba.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orquera, L., & Piana, E. (2009). Sea nomads of the beagle channel in Southernmost South America: over 6000 years of coastal adaptation and stability. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 4(1), 61–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orquera, L., Legoupil, D., & Piana, E. (2011). The litoral adaptation on the Southern end of South America. Quaternary International, 239(1–2), 61–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Politis, G. (2007). Nukak. Ethnoarchaeology of an Amazonian people. Walknut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Premo, L. S. (2010). Equifinality and explanation: the role of agent-based modelling in positivist archaeology. In A. Costopoulos & M. Lake (Eds.), Simulating change: archaeology into the twenty-first century (pp. 28–37). Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roux, V. (2007). Ethnoarchaeology: a non-historical science of reference necessary for interpreting the past. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 14(2), 153–178. doi:10.1007/s10816-007-9030-8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sigmund, K. (2007). Punish or perish? Retaliation and collaboration among humans. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 22(11), 593–600. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2007.06.012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skyrms, B. (2004). The stag hunt and the evolution of social structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, E. A., & Bliege Bird, R. (2005). Costly signalling and cooperative behaviour. In H. Gintis, S. Bowles, R. Boyd, & E. Fehr (Eds.), Moral sentiments and material interests: the foundations of cooperation in economic life (pp. 115–148). Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sugden, R. (2012). Altruistic punishment as an explanation of hunter–gatherer cooperation: how much has experimental economics achieved? Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 35(1), 40. doi:10.1017/S0140525X11000902.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tarpy, D. R., Gilley, D. C., & Seeley, T. D. (2004). Levels of selection in a social insect: a review of conflict and cooperation during honey bee (Apis mellifera) queen replacement. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology, 55(6), 513–523. doi:10.1007/s00265-003-0738-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thorne, B. L. (1997). Evolution of eusociality in termites. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 28, 27–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello, M., Melis, A., Tennie, C., Wyman, E., & Herrmann, E. (2012). Two key steps in the evolution of human cooperation. The interdependence hypothesis. Current Anthropology, 53(6), 673–692.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warneken, F., Hare, B., Melis, A. P., Hanus, D., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Spontaneous altruism by chimpanzees and young children. PLoS Biology, 5(7), e184. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • West, S. A., El Mouden, C., & Gardner, A. (2011). Sixteen common misconceptions about the evolution of cooperation in humans. Evolution and Human Behaviour, 32(4), 231–262. doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2010.08.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilensky, U. (1999). NetLogo. Evanston: Centre for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modelling, Northwestern University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, E. O., & Hölldobler, B. (2005). Eusociality: origin and consequences. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102(38), 13367–13371. doi:10.1073/pnas.0505858102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, R. (2011). Nadie pierde: la Teoría de Juegos y la Lógica del Destino Humano. Barcelona: Tusquets.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zurro, D., Álvarez, M., Salvatelli, L., & Briz, I. (2010). Agregación y cooperación social en sociedades cazadoras-recolectoras-pescadoras: un experimento etnoarqueológico en Tierra del Fuego. Revista de Arqueología Americana, 28, 171–194.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Luis R. Izquierdo and Dr. F. J. Miguel Quesada for their helpful advice and comments on this paper. The authors acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (projects CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 SimulPast-CSD2010-00034 and HAR2009-06996) as well as from the Argentine Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (project PIP-0706) and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (project GR7846). The authors especially appreciate the help and cooperation of Dr. Natalie P. Goodall and the Bridges-Goodall family, who gave us the opportunity to access the diaries of Rv. T. Bridges. Sara Casamiquela and Javier Ruiz helped with the ethnographical sources. The fruitful discussions held during the SimulPast project enriched these pages. Finally, the authors wish to thank their anonymous reviewers for their valuable and constructive comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICREA-IMF-CSIC, CASES, C/ de les Egipcíaques, 15, 08001, Barcelona, Spain

    Ivan Briz i Godino

  2. Department of Archaeology, University of York, The King’s Manor, York, Y01 7EP, UK

    Ivan Briz i Godino

  3. INSISOC, Universidad de Burgos, Edif. “La milanera”. C/ Villadiego, s/n., 09001, Burgos, Spain

    José Ignacio Santos & José Manuel Galán

  4. Dept. d’Arqueologia i Antropologia, CASES, IMF-CSIC. C/ de les Egipcíaques, 15, 08001, Barcelona, Spain

    Jorge Caro & Débora Zurro

  5. CONICET-CADIC, Bernardo Houssay, 200, 9410, Ushuaia, Argentina

    Myrian Álvarez

Authors
  1. Ivan Briz i Godino
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. José Ignacio Santos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. José Manuel Galán
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jorge Caro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Myrian Álvarez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Débora Zurro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ivan Briz i Godino.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Briz i Godino, I., Santos, J.I., Galán, J.M. et al. Social Cooperation and Resource Management DynamicsAmong Late Hunter-Fisher-Gatherer Societies in Tierra del Fuego (South America). J Archaeol Method Theory 21, 343–363 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-013-9194-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-013-9194-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation