Cited by 401Pleistocene-Era Hominins and ArchaeologyArchaeological and Geological StudiesLanguage and cultural evolution

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Boundary Conditions for Paleolithic Social Systems: A Simulation Approach

Wobst, H. Martin·1974·American Antiquity

DOI 10.2307/279579

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Abstract

Pleistocene societies are viewed in this paper as manifestations of band society from which Paleolithic archaeologists can generate hypotheses about this cultural system and against which they can evaluate the validity of general cultural explanations. A general model is posited toward the isolation of Paleolithic societies in the archaeological record. Their numerical size is predicted from Monte Carlo simulations of model populations, and ways are discussed in which distinguishable equilibrium states of such societies can be predicted in time and space. Under the assumption of maximal constraints, simulations are used to predict the size and longevity of social units. The frequency of settlements produced during an equilibrium state of a society is simulated and the utility of survey for activity areas outside the settlements is demonstrated. The models developed in this paper are intended to stimulate deductive research in Paleolithic archaeology.

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Background
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Background
PINE BARRENS AND POSSUM’S RATIONS: EARLY ARCHAIC SETTLEMENT IN THE NORTH CAROLINA SANDHILLS
Moore, C. R., & Irwin, J. D. (2013) · Southeastern Archaeology · doi:10.1179/sea.2013.32.2.002 · Cited by 6
Early Farming Communities
Bintliff, J. L. (2012) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781118255179.ch3 · Cited by 4
Territory Size in Canis lupus: Implications for Neandertal Mobility
Walker, C. S., & Churchill, S. E. (2014) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-7460-0_12 · Cited by 7
“This territory estimate, however, is based on population sizes between 175 (the lowest viable breeding population: Wobst 1974) and 300 Neandertals (an estimate derived from Steele’s (1996) equation predicting range size from group size based on carnivore and primate models), and thus are not…”
Background
Settlement and Communities
Carr, C. (2008) · doi:10.1007/978-0-387-77387-2_3 · Cited by 7
Neanderthals in the Outermost West: Technological adaptation in the Late Middle Palaeolithic (re)-colonization of Britain, Marine Isotope Stage 4/3
Sykes, R. W. (2016) · Quaternary International · doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.12.087 · Cited by 12
Aspects of Early Hominid Sociality: an Evolutionary Perspective
Clark, G. (2008) · Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association · doi:10.1525/ap3a.1997.7.1.209 · Cited by 6
Stone Age settlement on Svalbard? A re-evaluation of previous finds and the results of a recent field survey
Bjerck, H. B. (2000) · Polar Record · doi:10.1017/s003224740001620x · Cited by 6
New Directions in Americanist Archaeology
Graves, M. W. (1994) · American Antiquity · doi:10.1017/s0002731600059321 · Cited by 6
How Bedrock‐Controlled Channel Migration Can Structure Selective Preservation of Archaeological Sites: Implications for Modeling Paleoindian Settlement
Herrmann, E. W. (2015) · Geoarchaeology · doi:10.1002/gea.21537 · Cited by 6
“Consequently, as is the case in most regions, assessing and documenting patterns of group mobility, subsistence practices, cultural affiliations, and population dynamics across and within regions is based mainly on comparisons of lithic assemblages (Wobst, 1974; Anderson & Hanson, 1988; Tankersley, 1989, 1996, 1998; K…”
Background
Gene-Culture Linkages and the Developing Mind
Lumsden, C. (1983) · Springer series in cognitive development · doi:10.1007/978-1-4613-9490-7_3 · Cited by 6
Examining the distance-decay effect on obsidian lithic technological organization and its implications for raw material transportation: A case study from the Upper Paleolithic of Northeast Asia
Hou, Z., Xu, T., Obie, M., Guo, B.-H., Zhao, Y., Gao, X., & Seong, C. (2024) · Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports · doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104631 · Cited by 5
How Long was the Mesolithic–Neolithic Overlap in Western Scotland? Evidence from the 4th Millennium bc on the Isle of Islay and the Evaluation of Three Scenarios for Mesolithic–Neolithic Interaction
Mithen, S. (2022) · Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society · doi:10.1017/ppr.2022.3 · Cited by 5
“This is the combined population from a network of interbreeding communities, potentially dispersed over a large spatial area (Wobst 1974).”
Background
Using functional groups to predict the spatial distribution of large herbivores on the Palaeo‐Agulhas Plain, South Africa, during the Last Glacial Maximum
Brooke, C. F., Marean, C. W., Wren, C. D., Fritz, H., & Venter, J. A. (2022) · Journal of Quaternary Science · doi:10.1002/jqs.3430 · Cited by 5
“In analysing this relationship between humans and large herbivores, it is conceivable that we have underestimated the effect of humans somewhat, even though we have distributed humans throughout the PAP at high densities (0.05 persons per km2; Wobst 1974).”
BackgroundMethodInfluential
Procurement and mobility during the Late Pleistocene: Characterising the stone-tool assemblage of the Picamoixons site (Tarragona, NE Iberian Peninsula)
Soto, M. (2016) · doi:10.2218/jls.v3i2.1782 · Cited by 5
“All these results allowed us to establish the mobility type and dimensions of the procurement territories (Dyson-Hudson 1978; Féblot-Augustins 2009; Grove 2009; 2010; Wobst 1974).”
Result
Visualising Large-Scale Behaviours: Presenting 4D Data in Archaeology
Murgatroyd, P. (2013) · Visual Heritage in the Digital Age · doi:10.1007/978-1-4471-5535-5_13 · Cited by 5
The Social and Material Life of Neanderthals
Gamble, C. (2011) · Vertebrate paleobiology and paleoanthroplogy series/Vertebrate paleobiology and paleoanthropology series · doi:10.1007/978-94-007-0415-2_15 · Cited by 7
Far-reaching hunter-gatherer networks during the Last Glacial Maximum in Western Europe
de la Torre, M. S., Mangado, X., Castillo-Jiménez, S., Cuartero, F., Hewitt, R. J., Luque, L., Gratuze, B., Almeida, M., Herrero, M. D. A., Constans, G., et al. (2026) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.adz7697 · Cited by 5
Artefact analysis
Djindjian, F. (2018) · Clifton Quarry, Worcestershire · doi:10.2307/j.ctvh1ds3h.13 · Cited by 4
“Examples of simulation methods in archaeology are unfortunately limited but are of great interest: Doran (1970), Thomas (1972), Ammermann and Cavalli-Sforza (1973), Wobst (1974), Zubrow (1975), Hassan (1977), Jochim (1976), Hodder ed.”
Background
People and fire management in South Norway during the Lateglacial
Selsing, L. (2018) · Journal of Archaeological Science Reports · doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.01.017 · Cited by 4
A Short History of the Beginnings of Mathematics in Archaeology
Djindjian, F. (2015) · CRC Press eBooks · doi:10.1201/b18530-4 · Cited by 10
The Importance of Reading Ernest: Applying Burch’s Study of Interregional Interaction to Inuvialuit Ethnohistory
Friesen, T. (2013) · Arctic Anthropology · doi:10.1353/arc.2012.0018 · Cited by 4
Why the Muddle in the Middle Matters: the Language of Comparative and Direct in Human Evolution
Gowlett, J. A. J. (1997) · Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association · doi:10.1525/ap3a.1997.7.1.49 · Cited by 4
The Decline of the Tainos. Critical revision of the demographical-historical sources
Danubio, M. (1987) · doi:10.1007/bf02442235 · Cited by 4
The Ecological Perspective in Highland Mesoamerican Archaeology
Blanton, R. (1983) · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-505980-0.50018-5 · Cited by 4
High-precision Dating of Abrigo de La Boja (Murcia, Spain): Implications for the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic Transition and the Culture-stratigraphy of Upper Pleistocene Iberia
Zilhão, J., Ageby, L., Badal, E., Gomes, L., Martín-Lerma, I., Steier, P., Wild, E., Angelucci, D., Villaverde, V., & Zapata, J. (2025) · Quaternary Environments and Humans · doi:10.1016/j.qeh.2025.100085 · Cited by 3
The effect of the 8.2 ka cold event on Fennoscandian hunter-gatherer metapopulation inferred from climatic, environmental, and archaeological signals
Manninen, M. A., Kaaronen, R. O., Eronen, J. T., & Tallavaara, M. (2025) · Quaternary Environments and Humans · doi:10.1016/j.qeh.2025.100065 · Cited by 1
Evidence of an age and/or gender-based division of labor during the Last Glacial Maximum in Iberia through rabbit hunting
Seuru, S., Burke, A., & Pérez, L. (2024) · Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports · doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104560 · Cited by 3
A Landscape Approach to Reconstructing Territorial Mobility during the Parkhill Phase in Southern Michigan and Ontario
Carr, D. H. (2017) · PaleoAmerica · doi:10.1080/20555563.2017.1379824 · Cited by 3
Strangers With Benefits
Salvatore, J. F., Meltzer, A. L., March, D. S., & Gaertner, L. (2016) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167216678860 · Cited by 11
“…demes, bands), which is estimated to have ranged from 20 to 130 members (Aiello & Dunbar, 1993; Caporael, 2007; Marlow, 2005; Tattersall, 2012; Wobst, 1974), falls perilously below the estimated minimum-necessary size for a population of mammals to remain viable (3,876 members; Traill,…”
Background
Aggregation, abandonment, and community dynamics in the American Southwest
Speth, J. (2000) · doi:10.1080/00988157.2000.9978252 · Cited by 3
“Anthropologists were also noting the same magic number in territorial maps of hunter-gatherers (e.g., Wobst 1974).”
Background
Geography and prehistory, a survey of the literature with a select bibliography
Goudie, A. (1976) · doi:10.1016/0305-7488(76)90055-4 · Cited by 3
Obsidian and the emergence of microlithic technology in Korea
Seong, C., & Chong, D. (2025) · Journal of Archaeological Science Reports · doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2025.105229 · Cited by 1

Authors: Wobst, H. M.
Corresponding author: Wobst, H. Martin
Venue: American Antiquity
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Published: 1974-04
Volume: 39
Issue: 2Part1
Pages: 147-178
ISSN: 0002-7316 (ISSN-L)
2325-5064
DOI: 10.2307/279579
OpenAlex: W2330955097
Cited by: 401
References: 0
Citations by year: 2026: 5 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 18
FWCI: 32.01
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Licence: www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 15635 d)
Locations: American Antiquity (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Anthropology › Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology (arts and humanities) › Archaeological and Geological Studies
Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
Keywords: Monte Carlo simulation, population size, archaeological record, equilibrium states

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Boundary Conditions for Paleolithic Social Systems: A Simulation Approach

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