Daniel Dugas
New Mexico State University, Geography, Faculty Member
Research Interests:
This document expands and elaborates an earlier model (Raven and Elston 1989, Raven 1990) that predicted locations of prehistoric archaeology at Stillwater Marsh by analyzing the economic foraging potential of resource distributions... more
This document expands and elaborates an earlier model (Raven and Elston 1989, Raven 1990) that
predicted locations of prehistoric archaeology at Stillwater Marsh by analyzing the economic foraging
potential of resource distributions therein. The present excercise encompasses the 2,300,000 acres of the
ethnographic foraging territory of the Toedokado Paiute. Habitat types as derived from modem soil,
range, vegetation, and wildlife descriptions approximate the resource landscape of this territory as it
existed about A.D. 1850. Foraging opportunities available to ethnographic hunter-gatherers are
evaluated in light of optimal foraging theory, an evaluation which serves to generate predictions
about the archaeological record of habitat types. A preliminary survey of selected lands administered
by three Federal agencies assays the predictive power of the model. The effects of paleoenvironmental
variability on prehistoric foraging opportunities are modeled as well.
predicted locations of prehistoric archaeology at Stillwater Marsh by analyzing the economic foraging
potential of resource distributions therein. The present excercise encompasses the 2,300,000 acres of the
ethnographic foraging territory of the Toedokado Paiute. Habitat types as derived from modem soil,
range, vegetation, and wildlife descriptions approximate the resource landscape of this territory as it
existed about A.D. 1850. Foraging opportunities available to ethnographic hunter-gatherers are
evaluated in light of optimal foraging theory, an evaluation which serves to generate predictions
about the archaeological record of habitat types. A preliminary survey of selected lands administered
by three Federal agencies assays the predictive power of the model. The effects of paleoenvironmental
variability on prehistoric foraging opportunities are modeled as well.