Is it Intensification Yet? Current Archaeological Perspectives on the Evolution of Hunter-Gatherer Economies

Originally designed to explain causes of increased productivity in agricultural systems, the concept of intensification has become widely linked to hunter-gatherer archaeology. Worldwide, recent applications show that progress has been made with regard to recognizing, describing, and modeling the declining foraging efficiency predicted by traditional intensification models that take into account confounding factors like taphonomy, environmental change, and differential foraging goals. Less progress has been made in explaining intensification due to problems of identifying primacy in the environmental, demographic, technological, and social mechanisms that lead to increased production. These problems are confounded by imprecise usage of the concept ‘‘intensification,’’ which runs the gamut from behaviors that either increase or decrease efficiency as the means of increasing productivity. Resolving these problems hinges on unpacking the very concept of intensification as currently applied to hunter-gatherer archaeology. This requires much greater specificity with regard to efficiency and adherence to a Boserupian perspective that declining efficiency marks intensification processes. Alternative modes of increasing production that do not necessarily entail declining efficiency—specialization, diversification, and innovation—also must be taken into account to explain the evolution of hunter-gatherer economies.