Radiocarbon data may support a Malthus-Boserup model of hunter-gatherer population expansion.

• A ratchet model of hunter-gatherer population growth is proposed. • Radiocarbon data from Texas support the ratchet model of hunter-gatherer population growth. • Results suggest that a common dynamic underlies population gowth in hunter-gatherer and industrializing populations. Describing and explaining the population growth trajectories of prehistoric hunter-gatherers is an important research problem. Large radiocarbon data sets provide one empirical starting point for describing these trajectories; however, explaining trajectories of growth must always take place within the context of theory. In this paper, we formalize a ratchet model of long-term, mean population growth among hunter-gatherers and evaluate the plausibility of that model using two extensive radiocarbon data sets from Central Texas and the Texas Coastal Plain. Our analysis suggests that hunter-gatherer populations in these regions displayed waves of population growth separated by periods of population saturation and competition for resources. Our model and results suggest that hunter-gatherer populations in Texas may have experienced multiple demographic transitions to successively higher levels of population saturation (carrying capacity). Our results derive from a general model, a set of methods applicable across archaeological regions, and provide a basis for hypotheses that may explain changes in the socioecology of hunter-gatherers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]