Using Behavioral Ecology to Understand Mobility among Prehistoric Andean Hunter-Gatherers

In his monograph Toward a Behavioral Ecology of Lithic Technology (2009), Todd Surovell models mathematically the economics of prehistoric hunter-gatherers’ production, use, and discard of lithic technologies. Although there is great potential in his models to extend our understanding of hunter-gatherer mobility patterns and landscape use, they have received little empirical testing in the decade since publication. This talk describes the application of one subset of his models—those that use proportions of the lithic assemblage to estimate site occupation length—to a diachronic study of Cunchaicha, a stratified, multi-component prehistoric rock shelter of the Peruvian Andes.