Quantifying hunter–gatherer intensification: a zooarchaeological case study from Arctic Canada

This paper presents the analysis and interpretation of one instance of hunter–gatherer economic intensification, based on three sites in the Mackenzie River Delta, Northwest Territories, Arctic Canada. Quantification of the very well-preserved archaeofaunas from these sites allows a particularly high-resolution analysis of intensification, because faunal resources represent nearly 100% of all food consumed in the region. Exploratory multivariate statistics are applied to the samples, in order to assess the degree to which they vary, and the degree to which faunal variability coincides with chronological relationships among the contexts. The archaeofaunas are then assessed in relation to three component strategies of intensification [after Morrison, K., 1994. The intensification of production: archaeological approaches. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 1 (2), 111–159]: “specialization,” the economic focus on a narrow range of resources; “diversification,” the increasing reliance on a broader range of resources; and “investment,” the development of new technologies and procurement strategies. Results indicate that in the Mackenzie Delta case, the economy remained specialized throughout the sequence, but diversification and investment increased during later periods.