Let's go fishing: A quantitative analysis of subsistence choices with a special focus on mixed economies among small-scale societies.

The transition to agriculture is regarded as a major turning point in human history. In the present contribution we propose to look at it through the lens of ethnographic data by means of a machine learning approach. More specifically, we analyse both the subsistence economies and the socioecologica...

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Autores principales:	Virginia Ahedo, Débora Zurro, Jorge Caro, José Manuel Galán
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/536b90cc355d469280c3ac5d2fa0012e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:536b90cc355d469280c3ac5d2fa0012e2021-12-02T20:18:46ZLet's go fishing: A quantitative analysis of subsistence choices with a special focus on mixed economies among small-scale societies.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0254539https://doaj.org/article/536b90cc355d469280c3ac5d2fa0012e2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254539https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203The transition to agriculture is regarded as a major turning point in human history. In the present contribution we propose to look at it through the lens of ethnographic data by means of a machine learning approach. More specifically, we analyse both the subsistence economies and the socioecological context of 1290 societies documented in the Ethnographic Atlas with a threefold purpose: (i) to better understand the variability and success of human economic choices; (ii) to assess the role of environmental settings in the configuration of the different subsistence economies; and (iii) to examine the relevance of fishing in the development of viable alternatives to cultivation. All data were extracted from the publicly available cross-cultural database D-PLACE. Our results suggest that not all subsistence combinations are viable, existing just a subset of successful economic choices that appear recurrently in specific ecological systems. The subsistence economies identified are classified as either primary or mixed economies in accordance with an information-entropy-based quantitative criterion that determines their degree of diversification. Remarkably, according to our results, mixed economies are not a marginal choice, as they constitute 25% of the cases in our data sample. In addition, fishing seems to be a key element in the configuration of mixed economies, as it is present across all of them.Virginia AhedoDébora ZurroJorge CaroJosé Manuel GalánPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 8, p e0254539 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Virginia Ahedo Débora Zurro Jorge Caro José Manuel Galán Let's go fishing: A quantitative analysis of subsistence choices with a special focus on mixed economies among small-scale societies.
description	The transition to agriculture is regarded as a major turning point in human history. In the present contribution we propose to look at it through the lens of ethnographic data by means of a machine learning approach. More specifically, we analyse both the subsistence economies and the socioecological context of 1290 societies documented in the Ethnographic Atlas with a threefold purpose: (i) to better understand the variability and success of human economic choices; (ii) to assess the role of environmental settings in the configuration of the different subsistence economies; and (iii) to examine the relevance of fishing in the development of viable alternatives to cultivation. All data were extracted from the publicly available cross-cultural database D-PLACE. Our results suggest that not all subsistence combinations are viable, existing just a subset of successful economic choices that appear recurrently in specific ecological systems. The subsistence economies identified are classified as either primary or mixed economies in accordance with an information-entropy-based quantitative criterion that determines their degree of diversification. Remarkably, according to our results, mixed economies are not a marginal choice, as they constitute 25% of the cases in our data sample. In addition, fishing seems to be a key element in the configuration of mixed economies, as it is present across all of them.
format	article
author	Virginia Ahedo Débora Zurro Jorge Caro José Manuel Galán
author_facet	Virginia Ahedo Débora Zurro Jorge Caro José Manuel Galán
author_sort	Virginia Ahedo
title	Let's go fishing: A quantitative analysis of subsistence choices with a special focus on mixed economies among small-scale societies.
title_short	Let's go fishing: A quantitative analysis of subsistence choices with a special focus on mixed economies among small-scale societies.
title_full	Let's go fishing: A quantitative analysis of subsistence choices with a special focus on mixed economies among small-scale societies.
title_fullStr	Let's go fishing: A quantitative analysis of subsistence choices with a special focus on mixed economies among small-scale societies.
title_full_unstemmed	Let's go fishing: A quantitative analysis of subsistence choices with a special focus on mixed economies among small-scale societies.
title_sort	let's go fishing: a quantitative analysis of subsistence choices with a special focus on mixed economies among small-scale societies.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/536b90cc355d469280c3ac5d2fa0012e
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Let's go fishing: A quantitative analysis of subsistence choices with a special focus on mixed economies among small-scale societies.

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