House Societies among Coastal Hunter-Gatherers: A Case Study of Stone Age Ostrobothnia, Finland

Abstract

In this article I discuss a concept that can be useful for cross-scale comparative research on the origin and evolution of social inequality. Lévi-Strauss' ‘House Society’ concept is theoretically and methodologically useful because of its open and diachronic character. House Societies, used as a framework for explanation, allow comparative research across large temporal and spatial scales. I apply the House Society – adaptive cycle model to the complex hunter-gatherer context from Stone Age Ostrobothnia, Finland. Population aggregation and increased population density, due to environmental circumscription around 6500–6000 cal. bp led to increasing social differences between Houses in Ostrobothnian communities. In the long run, we find a core of large, successful Houses and a second group of smaller less successful Houses. By the end of Stone Age, c. 4000 cal. bp, increasing institutionalization of social differences resulted in population dispersal and a weakened position for Ostrobothnian House Societies in relation to larger entities (trade, exchange).