On territoriality in hunter-gatherers

Cashdan's intention of using an evolutionary framework to examine cross-cultural variations in territorial defense is admirable, but her argument about the applicability of available models, her own model, and the data used to support it (CA 24:47-66) are all severely flawed. Specifically, Cashdan makes three errors. First, she erroneously assumes that only humans (and only some human groups) limit access to social groups. Second, she erroneously equates access to social group membership with access to the resources that the social group believes it has rights over. Third, she treats subjective impressions and interpretations as if they were data accurately gathered to address the topic of concern.