What’s New in Applications of Evolutionary Theory to the Zooarchaeological Record of Hunter-Gatherers?

Abstract The use of evolutionary models in zooarchaeological analysis is a well-established practice but the last few decades have witnessed modifications to existing foraging theory and insights from other evolutionary perspectives. Traditional applications of foraging theory continue to be successfully applied in zooarchaeological contexts, but researchers are increasingly focused on re-evaluating and exploring how trade-offs are made under circumstances of nutritional limitations, risk, sociopolitical constraints, and future returns from resource management. This review casts current and new perspectives within an optimality framework to promote and facilitate the integration of multiple perspectives in addressing far-reaching questions about the evolution of the human condition at different scales. This review also identifies central challenges to the application of different models, some of which can be addressed through high-resolution modeling, ethnographic, experimental, and ethnoarchaeological research. Going forward, researchers should consider the potential value of using complementary approaches, alternative currencies, and different goals and constraints. Future research trends should consider modifying existing perspectives to accommodate and include the multiple currencies, the full-range of different kinds of interactions hunter-gatherers have with animals and other populations, and, where possible, Indigenous Systems of Knowledge and Traditional Knowledge Systems.