Ethnoarchaeology among the Efe pygmies,Zaire: Spatial organization of campsites

This paper examines the physical structure of present-day Efe Pygmy campsites through study of the relationships between behavior patterns and their material residues. Campsites consist of five main components: the perimeter, huts, fireplaces, trash heaps, and the central open area enclosed within the arrangement of huts. Most campsite activities are performed within the perimeter, and exterior fireplaces associated with huts are the focus of a variety of daily activities. Refuse is regularly discarded onto trash heaps. Hut size does not correlate with either the number of occupants or their stature. Site population can be estimated using a count of huts, although reoccupation of a recently abandoned camp or a family's moving from one hut to a new one during a single occupation can inflate the count of huts relative to the number of families that lived at the camp at any one time. The spatial organization of campsites is influenced by environment, physical factors (such as human body size), and sociocultural phenomena.     

Ecology and affective behavior: selected results from a quantitative study among Efe foragers of northeast Zaire

This paper reports selected results of a quantitative study of the affective behavior of the Efe, exchange-dependent hunter-gatherers of the Ituri forest in northeastern Zaire. Measures of the amount and kind of affective display were based on systematic, direct observation of the routine behavior of three Efe bands in residential settings (camps), using a new technique to characterize affect-laden behavior according to nonlinguistic information conveyed in the voice. Resulting data provide a direct measure of the affective milieu of a foraging people, providing an objective indicator of the subjective impact of social and ecological conditions, which are thought to affect quality of life. In this paper, measures of "camp mood" are used to explore the psychosocial impact of a 3-month period of acute food shortage that occurred in the Ituri Project study area in 1983. Contrary to expectation, rates of behaviors conveying pleasure did not exhibit significant change, whereas a 44% increase in expressions of displeasure and a 17% drop in use of complaint tones were observed during the period of hunger. This and other findings support the view that systematic, direct observation in natural habitats can increase our understanding, both of the functions of affective behavior, and of the affective dimension of quality of life.