Human behavioral ecology and archaeology

It was nice to see that a paper on “Behavioral ecology and archaeology” by Doug Bird (Stanford University) and Jim O’Connell (University of Utah) is now available in the “Online first” section of the Journal of Archaeological Research. The manuscript has been worked on for a few years, so it’s nice to finally see it in press, crystallized and for all to enjoy.

It’s a long read, but a well worth one, and it documents in great detail the virtues of employing that theoretical perspective to solve a wide range of archaeological problems. It’s especially interesting to see the temporal and topical breadth of archaeological research problems that can productively be investigated using HBE. There’s a lot to digest here, all of which is delightful food for though – and application! I personally especially like HBE because it allows archaeology to be connected to both to anthropology and biology, and also because – unlike so many other approaches in archaeology – it allows for the generation of explicit empirically testable hypotheses.

I’m sure to have more thoughts on this one after I’ve gone through it again, so check back soon!