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what was the typical population of ancient camps?

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  • what was the typical population of ancient camps?

    not quite sure where to post this question.
    does anyone know what the typical population of ancient camps along smaller creeks were? I live in south central il near the Kaskaskia river and there are lots of smaller creeks that empty into it.

  • #2
    That is a pretty hard question to answer.The population of a camp would vary I would say from the age of occupation to the type of camp it was.Plus you can't rule out the possibilities of multiple occupancies. These camps could be used for many things from hunting to fishing abodes to exploratory or for just lay over camps on a travel route.The possibile answers to this question has many variables to be considered which makes it pretty difficult to answer.What was once a camp could have become a village...mjm

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    • #3
      Kidd, welcome to AH.com :welcome:
      The question you pose is not easy to answer. Time periods changed as to how big or small camps were. Culture and agriculture. plays apart. Hunter gathers were the smallest group that followed the game. Once the horse was introduced then the groups got bigger.   http://cahokiamounds.org/learn/  had 20,000 people or more.
      Look to the ground for it holds the past!

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      • #4
        thanks for the replies.....and the welcomes.  I've collected stuff for years, mostly surface finds from walking fields....and Cahokia is awesome....I think I've been there 15 times........always learn something new.
        one of the spots I hunt on def has different periods of occupation , found stuff ranging from archaic to Mississippian on this particular place.
        have a dandy lil Cahokia point I found there in fact.  i'm tending to find more arcahaic stuff here, which got me to thinking if it was occupied longer by the archaic or if there was a larger group here.
        the spot is off a lil creek that empties about 1-2 miles downstream into the Kaskaskia river .

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        • #5
          IMO depending on the region Like in the west you have seasonal camps. Then another layer is time frame of returning. That is to say not depleting the game from an area. It is not to say they did not go through and camp for a short periods and gather nuts and berries that replenish.  Where you are at  Agriculture was more a staple. Any large group that sustains a year around location would deplete the game unless they domesticated a heard for culling.
          Look to the ground for it holds the past!

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          • #6
            Welcome to the forum.
            As a convenience, anthropologists usually regard the oldest form of societal organisation as a “Band”, defined as group of kin-related households occupying a particular region, that come together periodically on an ad hoc basis, but which do not yield their sovereignty to the larger collective. Prior to that, people lived as “Nuclear Family” groups (parents plus dependent children) and then “Expanded Family” groups (including non-dependent relatives and spouses).
            A “Band” is characterised as:
            - The oldest and least complicated form of political organization
            - Small in size, usually numbering less than a few hundred people, and often less than a hundred
            - Having no formal, centralized political system
            - Having its people organized into politically autonomous extended family groups
            - Having families that usually camp together but with members that may frequently go off in smaller groups for periods of time
            - Marrying mostly between members of the same band
            - Settling intra-band conflicts informally through gossip, ridicule, direct negotiation, or mediation
            - Making decisions affecting the band via participation of all its adult members and with emphasis on achieving consensus rather than simple majority
            - Egalitarian, but with informal acknowledgement of leaders by virtue of their abilities, who serve in that capacity only as long as they retain the community's confidence
            - Shamanistic religious organisation
            - Usually found among mobile hunter-gatherers, food foragers and other nomadic societies
            - Living in temporary camps and with no architecture beyond temporary shelters
            That’s regarded as the typical organization for Native Americans in the Palaeo period. As we move into the Archaic, group numbers progressively move into the low thousands and we begin to see permanent villages and associations to other permanent structures such as burial mounds, shrines etc. Bands begin to aggregate to a truly “Tribal” culture but still with the possibilities for smaller subunits to depart on a temporary basis, living in camps for hunting, raiding and other purposes. As we move into “Chiefdoms” the permanent settlement numbers become larger still (up to 20,000 and beyond in some cases) and with the possibility for large temporary gatherings related to alliances, communal hunting, festivities and such. The combined temporary Sioux/Cheyenne/Arapaho camp at the Little Bighorn for example was around a mile and a half long by a quarter-mile wide with some 1,200 lodges and perhaps as many as 10,000 people. The numbers had been swelled by thousands of Indians leaving reservation lands to join Sitting Bull’s ranks for the summer buffalo hunt.
            I keep six honest serving-men (they taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.

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            • #7
              I have read as we entered the Archaic with introduction of domestication of plants and more plentiful smaller game/food sources, social organizations started to become more permanent and as a result, larger.  With these larger communities, there were seasonal camps.  In the Fall and Winter they may move into the hills to harvest nuts and hunt game for the Winter.  The forested areas also helped shelter from the colder weather.  In the warmer months groups would congregate along rivers for mussels/fish.  The particular size of these groups or camps I would think would be dependent on the original social population and how plentiful the resources were, as well as geographic/physiographic factors.  I guess the best way to respond to your questions is that it would be site specific.

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              • #8
                painshill wrote:

                Welcome to the forum.
                As a convenience, anthropologists usually regard the oldest form of societal organisation as a “Band”, defined as group of kin-related households occupying a particular region, that come together periodically on an ad hoc basis, but which do not yield their sovereignty to the larger collective. Prior to that, people lived as “Nuclear Family” groups (parents plus dependent children) and then “Expanded Family” groups (including non-dependent relatives and spouses).
                A “Band” is characterised as:
                - The oldest and least complicated form of political organization
                - Small in size, usually numbering less than a few hundred people, and often less than a hundred
                - Having no formal, centralized political system
                - Having its people organized into politically autonomous extended family groups
                - Having families that usually camp together but with members that may frequently go off in smaller groups for periods of time
                - Marrying mostly between members of the same band
                - Settling intra-band conflicts informally through gossip, ridicule, direct negotiation, or mediation
                - Making decisions affecting the band via participation of all its adult members and with emphasis on achieving consensus rather than simple majority
                - Egalitarian, but with informal acknowledgement of leaders by virtue of their abilities, who serve in that capacity only as long as they retain the community's confidence
                - Shamanistic religious organisation
                - Usually found among mobile hunter-gatherers, food foragers and other nomadic societies
                - Living in temporary camps and with no architecture beyond temporary shelters
                That’s regarded as the typical organization for Native Americans in the Palaeo period. As we move into the Archaic, group numbers progressively move into the low thousands and we begin to see permanent villages and associations to other permanent structures such as burial mounds, shrines etc. Bands begin to aggregate to a truly “Tribal” culture but still with the possibilities for smaller subunits to depart on a temporary basis, living in camps for hunting, raiding and other purposes. As we move into “Chiefdoms” the permanent settlement numbers become larger still (up to 20,000 and beyond in some cases) and with the possibility for large temporary gatherings related to alliances, communal hunting, festivities and such. The combined temporary Sioux/Cheyenne/Arapaho camp at the Little Bighorn for example was around a mile and a half long by a quarter-mile wide with some 1,200 lodges and perhaps as many as 10,000 people. The numbers had been swelled by thousands of Indians leaving reservation lands to join Sitting Bull’s ranks for the summer buffalo hunt.
                  Roger, this is what i like about your posts
                i gain so much knowledge from reading them

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                • #9
                  Foxkidd4444 wrote:

                  not quite sure where to post this question.
                  does anyone know what the typical population of ancient camps  along smaller creeks were? I live in south central il near the Kaskaskia river and there are lots of smaller creeks that empty into it.
                    13.46
                  Hong Kong, but from Indiana/Florida

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                  • #10
                    some very interesting replies!

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