Evolution

and Prehistory
This page intentionally left blank
 8e
Evolution
and Prehistory
The Human Challenge

WILLIAM A. HAVILAND
University of Vermont

DANA WALRATH
University of Vermont

HARALD E. L. PRINS
Kansas State University

BUNNY MCBRIDE
Kansas State University

Australia • Brazil • Canada • Mexico • Singapore • Spain • United Kingdom • United States
 Evolution and Prehistory: The Human Challenge, Eighth Edition
William A. Haviland, Dana Walrath, Harald E. L. Prins, Bunny McBride

Senior Acquisitions Editor: Lin Marshall Production Service: Robin Hood

Editorial Assistant: Jessica Jang Text Designer: Lisa Buckley
Technology Project Manager: Dave Lionetti Photo Researcher: Billie L. Porter
Marketing Manager: Caroline Concilla Copy Editor: Jennifer Gordon
Marketing Assistant: Mary Anne Payumo Cover Designer: Larry Didona
Marketing Communications Manager: Shemika Britt Cover Image: Background image: © Philippe Bourseiller/Altitude;
Project Manager, Editorial Production: Jerilyn Emori remaining images, clockwise from top left: © SuperStock, Inc./Super-
Creative Director: Rob Hugel Stock; © Tek Image/Photo Researchers, Inc.; © Digital Vision/Getty
Images; Robert Jurmain; © age fotostock/SuperStock; © Masterfile;
Art Director: Maria Epes
© Heinz Plenge/Peter Arnold, Inc.
Print Buyer: Judy Inouye
Text and Cover Printer: Courier Corporation/Kendallville
Permissions Editor: Bob Kauser
Compositor: Newgen–Austin

© 2008, 2005 Thomson Wadsworth, a part of The Thomson Corpora- Thomson Higher Education
tion. Thomson, the Star logo, and Wadsworth are trademarks used 10 Davis Drive
herein under license. Belmont, CA 94002-3098
USA
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright
hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—
For more information about our products, contact us at:
graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
Thomson Learning Academic Resource Center
taping, Web distribution, information storage and retrieval systems, or
1-800-423-0563
in any other manner—without the written permission of the publisher.
For permission to use material from this text or product, submit a
Printed in the United States of America request online at http://www.thomsonrights.com.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 11 10 09 08 07 Any additional questions about permissions can be submitted by
e-mail to [email protected].
ExamView ® and ExamView Pro® are registered trademarks of FS-
Creations, Inc. Windows is a registered trademark of the Microsoft
Corporation used herein under license. Macintosh and Power Macin-
tosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Used herein
under license.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2006938005

Student Edition:
ISBN-13: 978-0-495-38190-7
ISBN-10: 0-495-38190-X
Dedicated to
the World’s Indigenous Peoples
in Their Quest for Human Rights
Putting the World in Perspective
Although all humans that we know about are capable
of producing accurate sketches of localities and regions
with which they are familiar, cartography (the craft of
mapmaking as we know it today) had its beginnings in
13th century Europe, and its subsequent development
is related to the expansion of Europeans to all parts of
the globe. From the beginning, there have been two
problems with maps: the technical one of how to depict
on a two-dimensional, flat surface a three-dimensional
spherical object, and the cultural one of whose world-
view they reflect. In fact, the two issues are inseparable,
for the particular projection one uses inevitably makes
a statement about how one views one’s own people and
their place in the world. Indeed, maps often shape our
perception of reality as much as they reflect it.
In cartography, a projection refers to the system of
intersecting lines (of longitude and latitude) by which
part or all of the globe is represented on a flat surface.
There are more than 100 different projections in use to-
day, ranging from polar perspectives to interrupted “but-
terfl ies” to rectangles to heart shapes. Each projection
causes distortion in size, shape, or distance in some way
or another. A map that shows the shape of land masses
correctly will of necessity misrepresent the size. A map
that is accurate along the equator will be deceptive at the
poles.
Perhaps no projection has had more influence on
the way we see the world than that of Gerhardus Merca-
tor, who devised his map in 1569 as a navigational aid
for mariners. So well suited was Mercator’s map for this
purpose that it continues to be used for navigational
charts today. At the same time, the Mercator projection
became a standard for depicting land masses, something
for which it was never intended. Although an accurate
navigational tool, the Mercator projection greatly exag-
gerates the size of land masses in higher latitudes, giv-
ing about two-thirds of the map’s surface to the north-
ern hemisphere. Thus, the lands occupied by Europeans
and European descendants appear far larger than those
of other people. For example, North America (19 mil-
lion square kilometers) appears almost twice the size of
Africa (30 million square kilometers), while Europe is
shown as equal in size to South America, which actually
has nearly twice the land mass of Europe.
A map developed in 1805 by Karl B. Mollweide was
one of the earlier equal-area projections of the world.
Equal-area projections portray land masses in correct rel-
ative size, but, as a result, distort the shape of continents
more than other projections. They most often compress

vi
and warp lands in the higher latitudes and vertically improvement over the Van der Grinten, the Robinson
stretch land masses close to the equator. Other equal- projection still depicts lands in the northern latitudes
area projections include the Lambert Cylindrical Equal- as proportionally larger at the same time that it depicts
Area Projection (1772), the Hammer Equal-Area Projec- lands in the lower latitudes (representing most third-
tion (1892), and the Eckert Equal-Area Projection (1906). world nations) as proportionally smaller. Like European
The Van der Grinten Projection (1904) was a com- maps before it, the Robinson projection places Europe at
promise aimed at minimizing both the distortions of the center of the map with the Atlantic Ocean and the
size in the Mercator and the distortion of shape in equal- Americas to the left, emphasizing the cultural connec-
area maps such as the Mollweide. Allthough an improve- tion between Europe and North America, while neglect-
ment, the lands of the northern hemisphere are still em- ing the geographical closeness of northwestern North
phasized at the expense of the southern. For example, in America to northeast Asia.
the Van der Grinten, the Commonwealth of Independent The following pages show four maps that each con-
States (the former Soviet Union) and Canada are shown vey quite different “cultural messages.” Included among
at more than twice their relative size. them is the Peters Projection, an equal-area map that has
The Robinson Projection, which was adopted by been adopted as the official map of UNESCO (the United
the National Geographic Society in 1988 to replace the Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organi-
Van der Grinten, is one of the best compromises to date zation), and a map made in Japan, showing us how the
between the distortion of size and shape. Although an world looks from the other side.

vii
 The Robinson Projection
The map above is based on the Robinson Projection, which is used
today by the National Geographic Society and Rand McNally.
Although the Robinson Projection distorts the relative size of
land masses, it does so to a much lesser degree than most other
projections. Still, it places Europe at the center of the map. This
particular view of the world has been used to identify the location
of many of the cultures discussed in this text.

viii
ix
 AUST
GREENLAND GERMANY
ICELAND DENMARK
UNITED NORWAY
STATES NETHERLANDS
BELGIUM
UNITED
KINGDOM
CANADA
IRELAND

FRANCE
SWITZERLAND

IT
AL
SPAIN
PORTUGAL
UNITED STATES SLOVE

TUNISIA

O
CC
RO
MO
ALGERIA
THE
BAHAMAS
MEXICO
WESTERN
SAHARA

A
NI
HAITI

ITA
CUBA
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

UR
MA
JAMAICA MALI
BELIZE NIGE

GUATEMALA HONDURAS SENEGAL

EL SALVADOR NICARAGUA GAMBIA
GUINEA-BISSAU
GUINEA

R
COSTA RICA

GE
NI
PANAMA VENEZUELA FRENCH GUIANA SIERRA LEONE
LIBERIA

COLOMBIA IVORY COAST

BURKINA FASO
GUYANA GHANA
SURINAM TOGO
BENIN
ECUADOR

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

BRAZIL

PERU

BOLIVIA

PARAGUAY
CHILE

ARGENTINA

URUGUAY

ANTARCTICA

The Peters Projection

The map above is based on the Peters Projection, which has been adopted as the official
map of UNESCO. While it distorts the shape of continents (countries near the equator are
vertically elongated by a ratio of two to one), the Peters Projection does show all continents
according to their correct relative size. Though Europe is still at the center, it is not shown as
larger and more extensive than the third world.

x
 TRIA CZECHOSLOVAKIA

EN
ED
SW FINLAND
RUSSIA
ESTONIA AZERBAIJAN
LATVIA
LITHUANIA ARMENIA
POLAND BELARUS GEORGIA
KAZAKHSTAN
ROMANIA
UKRAINE KIRGHIZSTAN
HUNGARY MOLDOVA
TAJIKISTAN MONGOLIA
SERBIA UZ NORTH
BULGARIA BE
LY

KI KOREA
MONTENEGRO ST
TU AN
MACEDONIA SOUTH
RK
ENIA ALBANIA ME KOREA
GREECE TURKEY NI
ST PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC
AN
BOSNIA-
HERZEGOVINA SYRIA OF CHINA
CROATIA AFGHAN-
LEBANON IRAN ISTAN JAPAN
IRAQ
ISRAEL
BHUTAN
AN
ST NEPAL
JORDAN
BAHRAIN KI
PA
LIBYA KUWAIT
EGYPT
MYANMAR
INDIA
QATAR TAIWAN
SAUDI OMAN
ARABIA
UNITED
ARAB BANGLA- LAOS
ER EMIRATES DESH
CHAD
SUDAN N
ME THAILAND
YE
VIETNAM PHILIPPINES
DJIBOUTI CAMBODIA
A
RI

CENTRAL ETHIOPIA BRUNEI

AFRICAN
REPUBLIC MALAYSIA
SRI LANKA
LIA
MA

CAMEROON PAPUA
SO

SINGAPORE NEW
UGANDA GUINEA
GABON
CONGO INDONESIA
KENYA
RWANDA
BURUNDI
DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA
CONGO
MALAWI

ANGOLA

ZAMBIA

MADAGASCAR
NAMIBIA
ZIMBABWE
BOTS-
WANA

AUSTRALIA
MOZAMBIQUE
SWAZILAND
LESOTHO
SOUTH
AFRICA

NEW ZEALAND

ANTARCTICA

xi
 GREENLAND

NORWAY

ICELAND GERMANY
DENMARK

EN
ED
NETHERLANDS

ND
SW
BELGIUM RUSSIA

LA
FIN
ESTONIA
UNITED LATVIA
KINGDOM
LITHUANIA ARMENIA
IRELAND POLAND BELARUS GEORGIA AZERBAIJAN
HUNGARY KAZAKHSTAN
CZECHOSLOVAKIA ROMANIA
AUSTRIA UKRAINE KIRGHIZSTAN
SWITZERLAND MOLDOVA
MONGOLIA
FRANCE SERBIA TAJIKISTAN NORTH
UZ
ITA

BULGARIA BE KOREA
LY

KI
SPAIN TU ST
PORTUGAL SLOVENIA MACEDONIA RK AN SOUTH
ME
CROATIA GREECE TURKEY NIS KOREA
TAN PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA ALBANIA SYRIA OF CHINA
TUNISIA MONTENEGRO LEBANON IRAN AFGHAN-
ISRAEL IRAQ ISTAN JAPAN
MOROCCO NEPAL BHUTAN
KUWAIT AN
ST
ALGERIA JORDAN
BAHRAIN KI
LIBYA EGYPT PA MYANMAR
WESTERN SAUDI
SAHARA INDIA TAIWAN
ARABIA
UNITED

AN
QATAR
MAURITANIA
M
SUDAN ARAB VIETNAM
MALI NIGER O EMIRATES BANGLA-
SENEGAL CHAD EN DESH LAOS PHILIPPINES
GAMBIA CENTRAL YEM
GUINEA- AFRICAN DJIBOUTI THAILAND
NIGERIA REPUBLIC SOMALIA
BISSAU CAMBODIA BRUNEI
ETHIOPIA
GUINEA MALAYSIA
SIERRA LEONE SRI LANKA PAPUA
DEMOCRATIC NEW
LIBERIA UGANDA SINGAPORE
REPUBLIC OF KENYA GUINEA
IVORY COAST CONGO INDONESIA
BURKINA FASO RWANDA
GHANA TANZANIA
BURUNDI
TOGO CONGO
MALAWI
BENIN
CAMEROON ANGOLA ZAMBIA
EQUATORIAL MADAGASCAR
GUINEA NAMIBIA ZIMBABWE
GABON
AUSTRALIA
BOTSWANA MOZAMBIQUE
SWAZILAND
SOUTH
AFRICA LESOTHO

ANTARCTICA

Japanese Map
Not all maps place Europe at the center of the world, as this
Japanese map illustrates. Besides reflecting the importance the
Japanese attach to themselves in the world, this map has the virtue
of showing the geographic proximity of North America to Asia, a
fact easily overlooked when maps place Europe at their center.

xii
 GREENLAND

UNITED
STATES

CANADA

UNITED STATES

THE
BAHAMAS
MEXICO HAITI
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
CUBA
JAMAICA
BELIZE NICARAGUA
GUATEMALA
EL SALVADOR VENEZUELA FRENCH GUIANA
HONDURAS
COSTA RICA COLOMBIA
PANAMA
GUYANA
ECUADOR SURINAM

BRAZIL
PERU
BOLIVIA

PARAGUAY

CHILE

ARGENTINA URUGUAY

NEW ZEALAND

ANTARCTICA

xiii
 The Turnabout Map
The way maps may reflect (and influence) our thinking is exemplified by the “Turnabout Map,” which places the South
Pole at the top and the North Pole at the bottom. Words and phrases such as “on top,” “over,” and “above” tend to be
equated by some people with superiority. Turning things upside down may cause us to rethink the way North Ameri-
cans regard themselves in relation to the people of Central America. © 1982 by Jesse Levine Turnabout Map™—Dist. by
Laguna Sales, Inc., 7040 Via Valverde, San Jose, CA 95135

xiv
Brief Contents
1 The Essence of Anthropology 2
2 Biology and Evolution 24
3 Living Primates 50
4 Field Methods in Archaeology and Paleoanthropology 80
5 Macroevolution and the Early Primates 104
6 The First Bipeds 124
7 Early Homo and the Origins of Culture 148
8 Pre-Modern Humans and the Elaboration of Culture 178
9 The Global Expansion of Homo sapiens and Their Technology 200
10 The Neolithic Transition: The Domestication of Plants and Animals 220
11 The Emergence of Cities and States 242
12 Modern Human Diversity: Race and Racism 264
13 Human Adaptation to a Changing World 284
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Preface xxv Anthropology Applied: In the Belly of the Beast: Reflections
on a Decade of Service to U.S. Genetics Policy
Commissions 42
CHAP TER 1 The Essence of Anthropology 2
Natural Selection 42
The Development of Anthropology 4 The Case of Sickle-Cell Anemia 45
The Anthropological Perspective 5 Natural Selection, Time, and Nonadaptive
Anthropology and Its Fields 7 Traits 47
Biocultural Connection: The Anthropology of Questions for Reflection 48
Organ Transplantation 7 Suggested Readings 48
Physical Anthropology 8 Thomson Audio Study Products 48
Cultural Anthropology 9 The Anthropology Resource Center 48
Anthropology Applied: Forensic Anthropology:
Voices for the Dead 10
Archaeology 12
Linguistic Anthropology 14
Anthropology, Science, and the Humanities 14
Anthropologists of Note: Franz Boas, Matilda Coxe
Stevenson 15
Fieldwork 16
Original Study: Fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa:
Traditional Healers on the Front Line 16
Anthropology’s Comparative Method 18
Questions of Ethics 18
Anthropology and Globalization 19
Questions for Reflection 21
Suggested Readings 21
Thomson Audio Study Products 22
The Anthropology Resource Center 22

CHAP TER 2 Biology and Evolution 24

The Classification of Living Things 26
The Discovery of Evolution 29
Heredity 32 CHAP TER 3 Living Primates 50
The Transmission of Genes 32 Methods and Ethics in Primatology 52
Biocultural Connection: The Social Impact of Genetics Our Mammalian (Primate) Heritage 52
on Reproduction 35 Biocultural Connection: Ethics of Great Ape Habituation
Cell Division 35 and Conservation: The Costs and Benefits of
Original Study: Ninety-Eight Percent Alike: Ecotourism 53
What Our Similarity to Apes Tells Us Primate Taxonomy 55
about Our Understanding of Genetics 38 Establishing Relationships among the Primates
Evolution, Individuals, and Populations 39 through Genetics 55
The Stability of the Population 39 Primate Characteristics 57
Evolutionary Forces 40 Primate Dentition 57
Mutation 40 Sensory Organs 58
Genetic Drift 41 The Primate Brain 60
Gene Flow 41 The Primate Skeleton 60
xvii
xviii Contents

The Living Primates 62 CHAP TER 4Field Methods in

Lemurs and Lorises 63 Archaeology and Paleoanthropology 80
Tarsiers 63
New World Monkeys 64 Recovering Cultural and Biological Remains 82
Old World Monkeys 64 The Nature of Fossils 83
Small and Great Apes 65 Burial of the Dead 84
Primate Social Behavior 67 Original Study: Whispers from the Ice 84
The Group 68 Searching for Artifacts and Fossils 87
Anthropologists of Note: Jane Goodall, Kinji Imanishi 69 Site Identification 87
Original Study: Reconciliation and Its Cultural Archaeological Excavation 89
Modification in Primates 70 Anthropology Applied: Cultural Resource Management 90
Internal Interaction and Bonding 71 Excavation of Fossils 92
Sexual Behavior 71 State of Preservation of Archaeological and
Reproduction and Care of Young 72 Fossil Evidence 92
Play 73 Sorting Out the Evidence 93
Communication 74 Biocultural Connection: Kennewick Man 96
Home Range 74 Dating the Past 96
Learning 75 Methods of Relative Dating 97
Use of Objects as Tools 76 Methods of Chronometric Dating 99
Hunting 76 Chance and the Study of the Past 101
Primate Conservation and the Question Questions for Reflection 101
of Culture 77 Suggested Readings 101
Questions for Reflection 78 Thomson Audio Study Products 102
Suggested Readings 78 The Anthropology Resource Center 102
Thomson Audio Study Products 79
The Anthropology Resource Center 79
CHAP TER 5 Macroevolution
and the Early Primates 104
Macroevolution and the Process of Speciation 106
Original Study: The Unsettling Nature of
Variational Change 108
Constructing Evolutionary Relationships 109
The Nondirectedness of Macroevolution 110
Continental Drift and Geological Time 111
Early Mammals 111
The Rise of the Primates 113
True Primates 115
Oligocene Anthropoids 116
Miocene Apes 116
Biocultural Connection: Nonhuman Primates and
Human Disease 117
Anthropologists of Note: Allan Wilson 120
Miocene Apes and Human Origins 121
Questions for Reflection 122
Suggested Readings 123
Thomson Audio Study Products 123
The Anthropology Resource Center 123
 Contents xix

CHAP TER 6 The First Bipeds 124 CHAP TER 7 Early Homo
Original Study: Is It Time to Revise the System of and the Origins of Culture 148
Scientific Naming? 128 Early Representatives of the Genus Homo 150
The Anatomy of Bipedalism 129 Lumpers or Splitters 152
The Pliocene Fossil Evidence: Australopithecus Differences Between Early Homo and
and Other Bipeds 131 Australopithecus 153
Anthropologists of Note: Louis S. B. Leakey, Lower Paleolithic Tools 154
Mary Leakey 132 Anthropology Applied: Paleotourism and
East Africa 133 the World Heritage List 155
Central Africa 137 Olduvai Gorge and Oldowan Tools 155
South Africa 137 Sex, Gender, and the Behavior of Early Homo 156
Robust Australopithecines 138 Biocultural Connection: Sex, Gender, and
Australopithecines and the Genus Homo 140 Female Paleoanthropologists 157
Environment, Diet, and Australopithecine Hunters or Scavengers? 158
Origins 140 Original Study: Humans as Prey 159
Humans Stand on Their Own Two Feet 142 Homo erectus 161
Biocultural Connection: Evolution and Human Birth 143 Homo erectus Fossils 162
Questions for Reflection 146 Physical Characteristics of Homo erectus 162
Suggested Readings 146 Relationship among Homo erectus, Homo habilis,
Thomson Audio Study Products 147 and Other Proposed Fossil Groups 164
The Anthropology Resource Center 147 Homo erectus from Africa 165
Homo erectus from Eurasia 165
Homo erectus from Indonesia 166
Homo erectus from China 166
Homo erectus from Western Europe 167
The Culture of Homo erectus 167
The Acheulean Tool Tradition 168
Use of Fire 169
Hunting 172
Other Evidence of Complex Thought 172
The Question of Language 173
Tools, Food, and Brain Expansion 174
Questions for Reflection 175
Suggested Readings 175
Thomson Audio Study Products 176
The Anthropology Resource Center 176

CHAP TER 8 Pre-Modern Humans

and the Elaboration of Culture 178
The Appearance of Modern-Sized Brains 180
Levalloisian Technique 181
The Neandertals 182
Javanese, African, and Chinese Archaic
Homo sapiens 185
Middle Paleolithic Culture 186
The Mousterian Tradition 186
Anthropology Applied: Stone Tools for Modern
Surgeons 187
Biocultural Connection: Paleolithic Prescriptions
for the Diseases of Civilization 188
xx Contents

The Symbolic Life of Neandertals 189 CHAP TER 10The Neolithic Transition:
Speech and Language in the The Domestication of Plants
Middle Paleolithic 190
and Animals 220
Culture, Skulls, and Modern Human Origins 191
The Multiregional Hypothesis 192 The Mesolithic Roots of Farming
The Recent African Origins or and Pastoralism 222
“Eve” Hypothesis 192 The Neolithic Revolution 223
Reconciling the Evidence 193 Domestication: What Is It? 223
Anthropologists of Note: Berhane Asfaw, Xinzhi Wu 194 Evidence of Early Plant Domestication 224
Race and Human Evolution 198 Evidence of Early Animal Domestication 225
Questions for Reflection 198 Beginnings of Domestication 225
Suggested Readings 199 Why Humans Became Food Producers 226
Thomson Audio Study Products 199 The Fertile Crescent 226
The Anthropology Resource Center 199 Other Centers of Domestication 229
Anthropology Applied: The Real Dirt on
Rainforest Fertility 232
CHAP TER 9The Global Expansion of Food Production and Population Size 232
Homo sapiens and Their Technology 200 The Spread of Food Production 233
Upper Paleolithic Peoples: The First Modern Biocultural Connection: Breastfeeding, Fertility,
Humans 202 and Beliefs 234
Upper Paleolithic Technology 204 Culture of Neolithic Settlements 235
Upper Paleolithic Art 207 Jericho: An Early Farming Community 235
Biocultural Connection: Altered States, Art, Neolithic Material Culture 235
and Archaeology 209 Social Structure 236
Anthropologists of Note: Margaret Conkey 210 Neolithic Culture in the Americas 237
The Neolithic and Human Biology 237
Original Study: Paleolithic Paint Job 211
Original Study: History of Mortality and
Other Aspects of Upper Paleolithic Culture 213
Physiological Stress 238
The Spread of Upper Paleolithic Peoples 213
The Americas 215 The Neolithic and the Idea of Progress 240
Major Paleolithic Trends 217 Questions for Reflection 241
Questions for Reflection 217 Suggested Readings 241
Suggested Readings 218 Thomson Audio Study Products 241
Thomson Audio Study Products 218 The Anthropology Resource Center 241
The Anthropology Resource Center 218
CHAP TER 11 The Emergence
of Cities and States 242
Defi ning Civilization 244
Tikal: A Case Study 247
Surveying and Excavating the Site 248
Evidence from the Excavation 249
Original Study: Action Archaeology and the Community
at El Pilar 250
Cities and Culture Change 251
Agricultural Innovation 251
Diversification of Labor 252
Central Government 252
Social Stratification 256
The Making of States 257
Anthropology Applied: Tell It to the Marines: Teaching
Troops about Cultural Heritage 258
 Contents xxi

Ecological Approaches 258 CHAP TER 13 Human Adaptation

Action Theory 259 to a Changing World 284
Civilization and Its Discontents 259
Biocultural Connection: Social Stratification and Diseases Human Adaptation to Natural Environmental
of Civilization: Tuberculosis 260 Stressors 287
Questions for Reflection 261 Anthropologists of Note: Peter Ellison 288
Suggested Readings 261 Adaptation to High Altitude 289
Thomson Audio Study Products 262 Adaptation to Cold 290
The Anthropology Resource Center 262 Adaptation to Heat 290
The Development of Medical Anthropology
in a Globalizing World 290
CHAP TER 12Modern Human Diversity: Science, Illness, and Disease 291
Race and Racism 264 Original Study: Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death
The History of Human Classification 266 in West Africa 293
Anthropologists of Note: Fatimah Jackson 268 Evolutionary Medicine 295
Race as a Biological Concept 268 Symptoms as a Defense Mechanism 296
The Concept of Human Races 269 Evolution and Infectious Disease 296
The Social Significance of Race: Racism 271 The Political Ecology of Disease 297
Race and Behavior 271 Mad Cow, Kuru, and Other Prion Diseases 299
Race and Intelligence 271 Globalization, Health, and Structural Violence 300
Population Size, Poverty, and Health 300
Original Study: A Feckless Quest for the
Basketball Gene 272 Biocultural Connection: Picturing Pesticides 303
Studying Human Biological Diversity 274 The Future of Homo sapiens 304
Culture and Biological Diversity 277 Questions for Reflection 305
Skin Color: A Case Study in Adaptation 278 Suggested Readings 305
Thomson Audio Study Products 306
Biocultural Connection: Beans, Enzymes, and Adaptation
The Anthropology Resource Center 306
to Malaria 279
Race and Human Evolution Revisited 281
Glossary 307
Questions for Reflection 282
Bibliography 312
Suggested Readings 282
Index 330
Thomson Audio Study Products 283
The Anthropology Resource Center 283
This page intentionally left blank
Features Contents
Anthropologists of Note Anthropology Applied
Franz Boas, Matilda Coxe Stevenson 15 Forensic Anthropology: Voices for the Dead 10
Jane Goodall, Kinji Imanishi 69 In the Belly of the Beast: Reflections on a Decade of
Allan Wilson 120 Service to U.S. Genetics Policy Commissions 42
Louis S. B. Leakey, Mary Leakey 132 Cultural Resource Management 90
Berhane Asfaw, Xinzhi Wu 194 Paleotourism and the World Heritage List 155
Margaret Conkey 210 Stone Tools for Modern Surgeons 187
Fatimah Jackson 268 The Real Dirt on Rainforest Fertility 232
Peter Ellison 288 Tell It to the Marines: Teaching Troops about
Cultural Heritage 258
Original Studies
Fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa: Traditional Healers on Biocultural Connections
the Front Line 16 The Anthropology of Organ Transplantation 7
Ninety-Eight Percent Alike: What Our Similarity The Social Impact of Genetics on Reproduction 35
to Apes Tells Us about Our Understanding of Ethics of Great Ape Habituation and Conservation:
Genetics 38 The Costs and Benefits of Ecotourism 53
Reconciliation and Its Cultural Modification in Kennewick Man 96
Primates 70 Nonhuman Primates and Human Disease 117
Whispers from the Ice 84 Evolution and the Human Birth 143
The Unsettling Nature of Variational Change 108 Sex, Gender, and Female Paleoanthropologists 157
Is It Time to Revise the System of Scientific Paleolithic Prescriptions for the Diseases of
Naming? 128 Civilization 188
Humans as Prey 159 Altered States, Art, and Archaeology 209
Paleolithic Paint Job 211 Breastfeeding, Fertility, and Beliefs 234
History of Mortality and Physiological Stress 238 Social Stratification and Diseases of Civilization:
Action Archaeology and the Community at Tuberculosis 260
El Pilar 250 Beans, Enzymes, and Adaptation to Malaria 279
A Feckless Quest for the Basketball Gene 272 Picturing Pesticides 303
Dancing with Skeletons: Life and Death in
West Africa 293

xxiii
This page intentionally left blank
Preface
Evolution and Prehistory is designed for introductory an- more open-minded outlook on the world and a critical
thropology courses at the college level. While focusing but constructive perspective on human evolution and
on biological anthropology and archaeology, a four-field adaptation. To paraphrase the poet T. S. Eliot: After all
approach is central to this book. By emphasizing the our explorations, they will come home and know the
fundamental connection between human biology and place for the fi rst time.
culture, the archaeology student learns more about the More than ever before, students need anthropologi-
biological basis of human cultural abilities and the many cal tools to step out of culture-bound ways of thinking
ways that culture has impacted human biology, past and acting so that they can gain tolerance and respect
and present. Similarly, this combination provides more for other ways of life. Thus, we have written this text, in
of the cultural context of human evolutionary history, large part, as a tool to help students make sense of our in-
the development of scientific thought, and present-day creasingly complex world and to navigate through its in-
biological diversity than a student would get in a course terrelated biological and cultural networks with knowl-
restricted to biological anthropology. There has been edge and skill, whatever professional path they take. We
much debate about the future of four-field anthropology. see it as a guide for people entering the often bewilder-
In our view, its future will be assured through collabora- ing maze of global crossroads in the 21st century.
tion among anthropologists with diverse backgrounds,
as exemplified in this book.
It is common for students to enter an introductory
anthropology class intrigued by the general subject but A DISTINCTIVE APPROACH
with little more than a vague sense of what it is all about.
Thus, the first and most obvious task of our text is to Two key factors distinguish Evolution and Prehistory from
provide a thorough introduction to the discipline—its other introductory texts: our integrative presentation of
foundations as a domain of knowledge and its major in- the discipline’s four fields and a trio of unifying themes
sights into the rich diversity of humans as a culture-mak- that tie the book together to prevent students from feel-
ing species. In doing this, we draw from the research ing lost.
and ideas of a number of traditions of anthropological
thought, exposing students to a mix of theoretical per-
spectives and methodologies. Such inclusiveness reflects
our conviction that different approaches offer distinctly
Integration of the Four Fields
important insights about human biology, behavior, and Unlike traditional texts that present anthropology’s four
beliefs in the past and in the present. “fields”—archaeology, linguistics, cultural anthropology,
If most students start out with only a vague sense and physical anthropology—as if they were relatively
of what anthropology is, they often have less clear—and separate or independent, our book takes an integrative
potentially more problematic—views of the superiority approach. This reflects the comprehensive character of
of their own culture and its place in the world. A second- our discipline, a domain of knowledge where members
ary task for this text, then, is to prod students to appre- of our species are studied in their totality—as social crea-
ciate the rich complexity and breadth of human biology tures biologically evolved with the inherent capacity of
and behavior. Along with this is the task of helping them learning and sharing culture by means of symbolic com-
understand why there are so many differences and simi- munication. This approach also reflects our collective
larities in the human condition, past and present. Top- experience as practicing anthropologists who recognize
ics ranging from primate conservation, globalization that we cannot fully understand humanity in all its fas-
and notions of progress, social consequences of the Hu- cinating complexity unless we appreciate the systemic
man Genome Project, race and racism, and how gender interplay among environmental, physiological, material,
roles relate to biological variation all benefit greatly from social, ideological, psychological, and symbolic factors,
the fresh and often fascinating insights gained through both past and present.
anthropology. This probing aspect of our discipline is For analytical purposes, of course, we have no choice
perhaps the most valuable gift we can pass on to those but to discuss physical anthropology as distinct from ar-
who take our classes. If we, as teachers (and textbook au- chaeology, linguistics, and sociocultural anthropology.
thors), do our jobs well, students will gain a wider and Accordingly, this text focuses primarily on biological an-

xxv
xxvi Preface

thropology and archaeology, but the links between biol- or builds on imperialism). Attention to both forms
ogy and culture, past and present, are shown repeatedly. of global domination—colonialism and globaliza-
Among many examples of this integrative approach, tion—runs through Evolution and Prehistory, cul-
Chapter 12, “Modern Human Diversity: Race and Rac- minating in the fi nal chapter where we examine
ism,” discusses the social context of “race”and recent cul- the biological challenges humans face in today’s
tural practices that have impacted the human genome. rapidly changing human-made environments. We
Similarly, material concerning linguistics appears not examine the social distribution of health and dis-
only in the chapters on living primates (Chapter 3), early ease in the world today, discussing this in terms of
Homo and the origins of culture (Chapter 7), pre-modern structural violence that is linked to the globalized
humans and the elaboration of culture (Chapter 8), and world order.
the emergence of cities and states (Chapter 11). These
chapters include material on the linguistic capabilities of
apes, the emergence of human language, and the origin
of writing. In addition, every chapter includes a Biocul- PEDAGOGY
tural Connection feature to further illustrate the inter-
Evolution and Prehistory features a range of learning
play of biological and cultural processes in shaping the
aids, in addition to the three unifying themes described
human experience.
above. Each pedagogical piece plays an important role
in the learning process—from clarifying and enlivening
the material to revealing relevancy and aiding recall.
Unifying Themes
In our own teaching, we have come to recognize the
value of marking out unifying themes that help students Accessible Language and
see the big picture as they grapple with the great array a Cross-Cultural Voice
of concepts and information encountered in the study
of human beings. In Evolution and Prehistory, we employ What could be more basic in pedagogy than clear com-
three such themes. munication? In addition to our standing as professional
anthropologists, all four co-authors have made a spe-
1. We present anthropology as a study of human- cialty of speaking to audiences outside of our profes-
kind’s responses through time to the funda- sion. Using that experience in the writing of this text, we
mental challenges of survival. Each chapter is consciously cut through a lot of unnecessary jargon to
framed by this theme, opening with a Challenge speak directly to students. Manuscript reviewers recog-
Issue paragraph and photograph and ending with nized this, noting that even the most difficult concepts
Questions for Reflection tied to that particular are presented in prose that is straightforward and easy
challenge. for today’s fi rst- and second- year college students to un-
2. We emphasize the integration of human culture derstand, without feeling they are being “spoken down
and biology in the steps humans take to meet these to.” Where technical terms are necessary, they appear
challenges. This Biocultural Connection theme in bold-faced type, are carefully defi ned in the narrative,
appears throughout the text—as a thread in the and are defi ned again in the running glossary in simple,
main narrative and in a boxed feature that high- clear language, as well as appearing in the glossary at the
lights this connection with a topical example for end of the book.
each chapter. Accessibility involves not only clear writing but also
3. We track the emergence of globalization and its an engaging voice or style. The voice of Evolution and
disparate impact on various peoples and cul- Prehistory is distinct among introductory texts in the
tures around the world. While European colo- discipline, for it has been written from a cross-cultural
nization was a global force for centuries, leaving perspective. This means we strove to avoid the typical
a significant, often devastating, footprint on the Western “we–they” voice in favor of a more inclusive one
affected peoples in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, that will resonate with both Western and non-Western
decolonization began about 200 years ago and students and professors. Moreover, the book highlights
became a worldwide wave in the mid-1900s. Since the theories and work of anthropologists from all over
the 1960s, however, political-economic hegemony the world. Finally, its cultural examples come from in-
has taken a new and fast-paced form, namely glo- dustrial and postindustrial societies as well as nonindus-
balization (in many ways a concept that expands trial ones.
 Preface xxvii

Challenge Issues and as location of fossil sites and global distribution of phe-
notypic traits—this edition introduces a new and highly
Questions for Reflection engaging map feature: Globalscape. Appearing in four
Each chapter opens with a Challenge Issue and accom- chapters, Globalscape charts the global flow of people,
panying photograph, which together carry forward the goods, and services, as well as pollutants and pathogens.
book’s theme of humankind’s responses through time to Showing how the world is interconnected through hu-
the fundamental challenges of survival within the con- man activity, this feature contributes to the text’s glo-
text of the particular chapter. And each chapter closes balization theme with topics geared toward student
with Questions for Reflection relating back to the Chal- interests. Each one ends with a “Global Twister”—a
lenge Issue presented on the chapter’s opening page. question that prods students to think critically about
These questions are designed to stimulate and deepen globalization.
thought, trigger class discussion, and link the material to The Globalscape features in Evolution and Prehis-
the students’ own lives. tory are: “A Global Body Shop?,” which investigates hu-
man organ trafficking around the world; “Gorilla-Hand
Ashtrays?,” which shows how mining for the cell phone
component coltan is linked to gorilla habitat destruction;
Chapter Preview “Iraqi Artifacts in New York City?,” which explores the
In every chapter the page facing the opening Challenge effects of the war in Iraq on the precious Mesopotamian
Issue and photo presents three or four preview questions artifacts that were housed in the National Museum in
that mark out the key issues covered in the chapter. Be- Baghdad; and “Healthy Border Crossings?,” which re-
yond orienting students to the chapter contents, these ports on the transfer of Brazil’s highly regarded HIV/
questions provide study points useful when preparing AIDS programs to Portuguese- speaking countries in
for exams. Africa.
In addition to this innovative new feature, all the
text’s maps have been redrawn with a fresh palette to
Visuals help color-blind readers, as well as with attention to
accurate representation on two dimensions of the geo-
Maintaining a key pedagogical tradition of the Haviland graphic areas that together make up our world.
et al. textbooks, Evolution and Prehistory is richly illus-
trated with a notable array of maps, photographs, and
figures. This is important since humans—like all pri-
mates—are visually oriented, and a well-chosen image Integrated Gender Coverage
may serve to “fi x” key information in a student’s mind. In contrast to many introductory texts, Evolution and Pre-
Unlike some competing texts, all of our visuals are in history integrates rather than separates gender coverage.
color, enhancing their appeal and impact. Thus, material on gender-related issues is included in
every chapter. The result of this approach is a measure of
Photographs gender-related material that far exceeds the single chap-
This edition features a hard-sought collection of new ter that most books contain.
and truly compelling photographs—with a greater num- Why is the gender-related material integrated? Be-
ber of them sized larger to increase their effectiveness. cause concepts and issues surrounding gender are al-
With some of the images, we provide longer-than-usual most always too complicated to remove from their
captions, tying concepts directly to visuals in a way that context. Moreover, spreading this material through all
helps students to see the rich photographic content and of the chapters has a pedagogical purpose, for it empha-
then hang on to the information. We have retained our sizes how considerations of gender enter into virtually
popular “Visual Counterpoint” feature—side-by-side everything people do. Further, integration of gender
photos to compare and contrast features from around into the book’s “biological” chapters allows students to
the world. grasp the analytic distinction between sex and gender,
illustrating the subtle influence of gender norms on bi-
ological theories about sex difference. Gender-related
Maps material ranges from discussions of gender roles in evo-
In addition to our various map features—“Putting the lutionary discourse and studies of nonhuman primates,
World in Perspective” map series, locator maps, and dis- to homosexual behavior in the animal kingdom, same-
tribution maps providing overviews of key issues such sex marriage, and the contributions of female biological
xxviii Preface

anthropologists and archaeologists to new interpreta- Original Studies

tions of human biology and culture throughout space Written expressly for this text, or selected from ethnog-
and time. Through a steady drumbeat of such cover- raphies and original works by anthropologists, these
age, this edition avoids ghettoizing gender to a single studies present concrete examples that bring specific
chapter that is preceded and followed by resounding concepts to life and convey the passion of the authors.
silence. Each study sheds additional light on an important an-
thropological concept or subject area found in the chap-
ter where it appears. Notably, these boxes are carefully
Glossary integrated within the flow of the chapter narrative, sig-
naling students that their content is not extraneous or
The running glossary is designed to catch the student’s supplemental. Appearing in twelve chapters, Original
eye, reinforcing the meaning of each newly introduced Studies cover a wide range of topics, evident from their
term. It is also useful for chapter review, as the student titles: “Fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa: Traditional Healers
may readily isolate the new terms from those introduced on the Front Line” by Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala; “Ninety-
in earlier chapters. A complete alphabetical glossary is Eight Percent Alike: What Our Similarity to Apes Tells
also included at the back of the book. In the glossaries Us about Our Understanding of Genetics” by Jonathan
each term is defi ned in clear, understandable language. Marks; “Reconciliation and Its Cultural Modification
As a result, less class time is required for going over in Primates” by Frans B. M. de Waal; “Whispers from
terms, leaving instructors free to pursue other matters the Ice” by Sherry Simpson; “The Unsettling Nature of
of interest. Variational Change” by Stephen Jay Gould; “Is It Time
to Revise the System of Scientific Naming?” by Lee R.
Berger; “Humans as Prey” by Donna Hart; “Paleolithic
Special Boxed Features Paint Job” by Roger Lewin; “History of Mortality and
Our text includes four types of special boxed features: Physiological Stress” by Anna Roosevelt; “Action Archae-
Biocultural Connections, Original Studies, Anthropol- ology and the Community at El Pilar” by Anabel Ford;
ogy Applied, and Anthropologists of Note. Every chap- “A Feckless Quest for the Basketball Gene” by Jonathan
ter contains three of the features: a Biocultural Connec- Marks; and “Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West
tion, along with two of the others. These are carefully Africa” by Katherine Dettwyler.
placed and introduced within the main narrative to alert
students to their importance and relevance—and to en- Anthropology Applied
sure that they will be read. These succinct and compelling profi les illustrate anthro-
pology’s wide-ranging relevance in today’s world and
give students a glimpse into a variety of the careers an-
Biocultural Connections
thropologists enjoy. Featured in seven chapters, they in-
Now appearing in every chapter, this signature feature
clude: “Forensic Anthropology: Voices for the Dead”; “In
of the Haviland et al. textbooks illustrates how cultural
the Belly of the Beast: Reflections on a Decade of Service
and biological processes interact to shape human biol-
to U.S. Genetics Policy Commissions” by Barbara Koe-
ogy, beliefs, and behavior. It reflects the integrated bio-
nig and Nancy Press; “Cultural Resource Management”
cultural approach central to the field of anthropology
by John Crock; “Paleotourism and the World Heritage
today. The thirteen Biocultural Connection titles hint
List”; “Stone Tools for Modern Surgeons”; “The Real
at the intriguing array of topics covered by this feature:
Dirt on Rainforest Fertility” by Charles Mann; and “Tell
“The Anthropology of Organ Transplantation”; “The
It to the Marines: Teaching Troops about Cultural Heri-
Social Impact of Genetics on Reproduction”; “Ethics of
tage” by Jane C. Waldbaum.
Great Ape Habituation and Conservation: The Costs and
Benefits of Ecotourism” by Michele Goldsmith; “Ken-
newick Man”; “Nonhuman Primates and Human Dis- Anthropologists of Note
ease”; “Evolution and Human Birth”; “Sex, Gender, and Profi ling pioneering and contemporary anthropologists
Female Paleoanthropologists”; “Paleolithic Prescriptions from many corners of the world, this feature puts the
for the Diseases of Civilization”; “Altered States, Art, work of noted anthropologists in historical perspective
and Archaeology”; “Breastfeeding, Fertility, and Beliefs”; and draws attention to the international nature of the
“Social Stratification and Diseases of Civilization: Tuber- discipline in terms of both subject matter and practitio-
culosis”; “Beans, Enzymes, and Adaptation to Malaria”; ners. This edition highlights twelve distinct cultural and
and “Picturing Pesticides.” biological anthropologists, primatologists, and archae-
 Preface xxix

ologists: Berhane Asfaw, Franz Boas, Margaret Conkey, closes with a section titled “Anthropology and Globaliza-
Peter Ellison, Jane Goodall, Kinji Imanishi, Fatimah tion,” in which we show the relevance of anthropology
Jackson, Louis S. B. Leakey, Mary Leakey, Matilda Coxe to several of today’s most significant social and political
Stevenson, Allan Wilson, and Xinzhi Wu. issues.

Chapter 2: Biology and Evolution

EIGHTH EDITION CHANGES This reorganized and streamlined chapter covers the
same topics as in the seventh edition but does so with
AND CHAPTER HIGHLIGHTS more efficiency allowing for the elaboration of some top-
The pedagogical features described above strengthen ics. The comparison of religious accounts of creation to
each of the thirteen chapters in Evolution and Prehistory, the science of evolution, for example, has been expanded
serving as threads that tie the text together and help to cover creation stories from diverse cultures. Biologi-
students feel the holistic nature of the discipline. In ad- cal mechanisms at the cellular level are explored early
dition, the engagingly presented concepts themselves in the chapter, leaving the ways that evolutionary forces
provide students with a solid foundation in the principles work on populations to the end of the chapter, thus set-
and practices of anthropology today. ting the stage for the discussion of mammalian, primate,
The text in hand has a significantly different feel to and human evolution that follows in later chapters. Up-
it than previous editions. Although still rich and varied dated photos illustrate the concept of homology more
in content, it is less “busy,” for the narrative has been clearly. In the history of human classification section, we
streamlined, the boxed features are more fluidly incor- present this history including alternate taxonomies be-
porated, and the photographs are fewer in number but ing used today by practicing anthropologists. The text
greater in size and quality. does not favor one classificatory system so that the text
All chapters have been revised extensively—with the can work for professors using either hominid or hominin
word count streamlined by about 15 percent, the data to refer to humans and ancestral bipeds. The work of
and examples updated, and the chapter openers refreshed Rosalind Franklin is included in the history of the dis-
with new, up-to-date Challenge Issues and related photo- covery of DNA. Clear new figures on protein synthesis
graphs. In addition to these overall changes, each chap- and mitosis/meiosis will help students grasp these el-
ter has undergone specific modifications and additions. egant biological processes. This chapter’s boxed features
The inventory presented below provides brief previews emphasize the importance of culture in interpreting and
of the chapter contents and changes in this edition. implementing new genetic knowledge. They include
a Biocultural Connection titled “The Social Impact of
Genetics on Reproduction” and an Original Study by
Chapter 1: The Essence of Anthropology
Jonathan Marks, “Ninety-Eight Percent Alike: What Our
The book’s opening chapter introduces students to the
Similarity to Apes Tells Us about Our Understanding of
holistic discipline of anthropology, the unique focus of
Genetics.” A new Anthropology Applied feature, “In the
each of its four fields, and the common philosophical and
Belly of the Beast: Reflections on a Decade of Service to
methodological approaches they share. Touching briefly
U.S. Genetics Policy Commissions” by Barbara Koenig
on fieldwork and the comparative method, along with
and Nancy Press, discusses their contributions as cul-
ethical issues and examples of applied anthropology
tural anthropologists to U.S. national genetics policy.
in all four fields, this chapter provides a foundation for
the archaeology and paleoanthropology field methods
chapter. An Anthropology Applied box on forensic an- Chapter 3: Living Primates
thropology and archaeology illustrates the importance This beautifully illustrated chapter on the diversity of
of forensics in the investigations of international human living primates has also been streamlined and reorga-
rights abuses. Two boxed features help illustrate the in- nized to make room for some new material. The chapter
terconnection of biology and culture in the human expe- opens with a new section on methods and ethics in pri-
rience: Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala’s compelling Original matology and a new Biocultural Connection by gorilla
Study, “Fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa: Traditional Heal- expert Michele Goldsmith on the ethics of great ape ha-
ers on the Front Line,” and a Biocultural Connection bituation and conservation in the context of ecotourism.
highlighting Margaret Lock’s cross-cultural research on Basic characteristics of the primate order and classifica-
human organ transplantation. The impact of the Biocul- tory schemes are explored including new material on
tural Connection is strengthened by a new Globalscape, baboon behavior. A new Globalscape feature connects
which profi les a particular organ donor. The chapter mining for the cell phone component coltan to gorilla
xxx Preface

habitat destruction so that students will connect their son on molecular clocks; an Original Study by Stephen
actions to protecting our endangered primate cousins. Jay Gould titled “The Unsettling Nature of Variational
The chapter’s Challenge Issue and closing section also Change,” and a Biocultural Connection titled “Nonhu-
focus on the critical issue of primate conservation today. man Primates and Human Disease” that explores the
The chapter includes an Anthropologists of Note box on ethical implications of using our closest living relatives
Jane Goodall and Kinji Imanishi along with an excellent for medical research.
Original Study by Frans de Waal titled “Reconciliation
and Its Cultural Modification in Primates.”
Chapter 6: The First Bipeds
The anatomy of bipedalism, the derived trait character-
Chapter 4: Field Methods in Archaeology istic of the human line, opens this chapter, which then
and Paleoanthropology proceeds to trace the various species of biped that lived
This chapter clearly conveys the key methodological in Africa during the Pliocene. Revised diagrams illustrate
techniques. It also explores the philosophical approach the differences in the pelvic and lower limb structures of
necessary for successful collaboration between scientists contemporary humans, the other apes, and Australopithe-
and local peoples and for the successful resolution of the cus. The chapter explores both the history of discovery
complex questions about who owns the past. Cultural of various australopithecenes and provides a clear dis-
Resource Management (CRM) is featured in the text nar- cussion of gracile versus robust forms. The text develops
rative and also in a new Anthropology Applied feature critical thinking skills through its discussion of hominid
by archaeologist John Crock about CRM work that un- versus hominin classificatory schemes and a presentation
covered the fi rst St. Lawrence Iroquoian village in the of alternate phylogenies. The chapter’s Original Study
state of Vermont. The ratio of time between lab work by Lee Berger titled “Is it Time to Revise the System of
and excavation is illustrated with the new “Lucy’s baby” Scientific Naming?” also expands on this debate. An ex-
fossils discovered in 2000 and then studied extensively cellent discussion of gendered interpretation of the fossil
before the release of the fi rst report on this amazing fi nd record returns to a theme emphasized in the text: Paleo-
in September 2006. The Biocultural Connection on Ken- anthropology is a science of discovery that incorporates
newick Man is updated to include new developments developments in a variety of disciplines. The chapter’s
on scientific and legislative fronts. The Kennewick con- box features emphasize the vitality of paleoanthropol-
troversy is compared to the cooperation between local ogy. They include an Anthropologists of Note box on the
people and archaeologists specializing in Native Ameri- extraordinary contributions of Louis and Mary Leakey
cans presented in the chapter’s excellent Original Study, to paleoanthropology and a Biocultural Connection ti-
“Whispers from The Ice” by Sherry Simpson. A new fig- tled “Evolution and Human Birth.”
ure on paleomagnetic reversals makes this dating tech-
nique more accessible for the introductory student. Chapter 7: Early Homo and
the Origins of Culture
Chapter 5: Macroevolution This chapter synthesizes and combines the content of
and the Early Primates Chapters 7 and 8 on Homo habilis and Homo erectus from
Building on the evolutionary principles laid out in Chap- the seventh edition. While these two species figure
ter 2, this chapter provides an excellent overview of prominently in the chapter, grouping them together al-
macroevolutionary mechanisms and also provides a con- lows us to provide a nuanced discussion of lumping ver-
cise, clear discussion of mammalian primate evolution. sus splitting approaches to the fossil record and to pro-
New diagrams illustrating cladogenesis and anagenesis vide alternate taxonomies. It also allows for a continuous
help students with these concepts. A more thorough and streamlined discussion of the trend of increasing
discussion of heterochrony and homeobox genes shows cranial capacity and a reliance on culture that is true for
students how very contemporary molecular investiga- Homo’s fi rst 2 million or so years. The chapter has an ex-
tions can shed light on the distant past. A revised time- panded section on gendered interpretations of the fossil
line helps students grasp geological time and the major record and a new Biocultural Connection, “Sex, Gender,
events that occurred in the evolutionary history of the and Female Paleoanthropologists,” that documents the
earth and its inhabitants. Also, the writing has been important work done since the 1970s to bring a focus on
tightened throughout the chapter so that the same infor- women in human evolutionary history. The Anthropol-
mation is conveyed in fewer pages. Interesting features ogy Applied box, “Paleotourism and the World Heritage
for this chapter include an Anthropologist of Note box List,” discusses the importance of paleoanthropologi-
on the pioneering work of New Zealander Allan Wil- cal research to people today. A new Original Study by
 Preface xxxi

Donna Hart provides a brief version of her thesis (from box on Margaret Conkey. The chapter also examines the
her book Man the Hunted, co-authored with Robert Suss- biological evidence for the appearance of “modern” hu-
man) that selective pressure from carnivores played a mans. A new figure and text about mitochondrial DNA
role in increasing brain size over the course of human make this material more accessible for students. The
evolution. The chapter also features recent research on material on the spread of humans to Australia and the
the effects of the myosin gene mutation on anatomical Americas has been expanded as well.
changes in the genus Homo. The chapter’s figures and lo-
cator maps clearly explain the anatomical changes and
geographic distribution of the genus Homo during its first Chapter 10: The Neolithic Transition:
2 million years on the planet. The Domestication of Plants
and Animals
Chapter 8: Pre-Modern Humans Chapter 10 concentrates on the drastic cultural changes
that occurred at the Neolithic transition with the do-
and the Elaboration of Culture
mestication of animals and plants along with the devel-
This chapter provides a discussion of the fossil evidence
opment of settlements in villages. The chapter’s theme
of the genus Homo leading into and during the Middle
beginning with the Challenge Issue is the unexpected
Paleolithic, effectively tying together the debates around
deleterious consequences of this culture change in terms
the relationship between biological change and cultural
of overall human health. The chapter features a new
change. The fate and history of the Neandertals is ex-
Anthropology Applied box, “The Real Dirt on Rainfor-
plored in detail with an examination of the evidence for
est Fertility.” It focuses on the work by a team of inter-
alternative taxonomies for this infamous fossil group.
national archaeologists on ancient farming techniques
The chapter also presents the two major theories to ac-
in the Amazon forest that may make this region more
count for the appearance of anatomically modern Homo
productive in the future. The Biocultural Connection
sapiens. New features include an improved diagram that
“Breastfeeding, Fertility, and Beliefs” and the Original
presents the Levalloisian tool-making technique and a
Study by Anna Roosevelt, “History of Mortality and
new figure on mitochondrial DNA. An expanded discus-
Physiological Stress,” both illustrate the ways that cul-
sion on the evolution of language links recent genetic
tures shape human biology. The discussion of the Me-
work on the FOXP2 gene with the primate language
solithic that preceded the Neolithic is streamlined and
studies of Sue Savage-Rumbaugh. The recent genetic
better organized. As well, there is a clear examination of
work on the Y chromosome and African origins by Spen-
the complex relationship between food production and
cer Wells is also included. The chapter’s global focus is
population growth.
apparent in the Anthropologist of Note box, which fea-
tures Ethiopian paleoanthropologist Berhane Asfaw and
Chinese paleoanthropologist Xinzhi Wu. The Biocul- Chapter 11: The Emergence of
tural Connection “Paleolithic Prescriptions for the Dis-
Cities and States
eases of Civilization” has a new home in this chapter as
This chapter on cities and states draws parallels between
does the Anthropology Applied feature “Stone Tools for
ancient and modern cities while exploring the origins of
Modern Surgeons.”
this very human way of life. A new Globalscape feature
explores the effects of the war in Iraq on the precious
Chapter 9: The Global Expansion of Mesopotamian artifacts that were housed in the Na-
Homo sapiens and Their Technology tional Museum in Baghdad and a recent sting operation
This chapter includes new diagrams featuring the blade used to reclaim some of these Mesopotamian wonders in
technique and the use of the spear-thrower along with New York City. New discoveries of Olmec writing are in-
examples of ancient human creativity, which convey the cluded in the chapter along with a classic case study of ar-
range and complexity of human cultural capabilities in chaeological work at Tikal. The chapter’s Original Study,
the Upper Paleolithic. A new Biocultural Connection, “Action Archaeology and the Community at El Pilar,”
“Altered States, Art, and Archaeology,” links some of the illustrates another means through which archaeological
images of cave art from the distant and more recent past projects can contribute to the lives of humans today. A
to trancing states that are part of the healing traditions new Anthropology Applied feature by Jane Waldbaum,
of many cultures. The Original Study “Paleolithic Paint president of the American Archaeological Institute, de-
Job” examines techniques used to create ancient cave scribes their program in which military personnel are
art. The important work on gender in the archaeologi- given basic training in archaeology in order to preserve
cal record is featured through an Anthropologist of Note our shared global heritage.
xxxii Preface

Chapter 12: Modern Human Diversity: tive ecologist Peter Ellison is featured in the Anthropolo-
Race and Racism gist of Note box. The Chapter’s Original Study “Danc-
Chapter 12 has been streamlined considerably by mov- ing Skeletons” is an excerpt from Katherine Dettwyler’s
ing all sections about the biological effects of pollution monograph of the same name and focuses on childhood
and other human-made threats to the new Chapter 13. growth, nutrition, and disease categories in Mali. The
In addition, the chapter has been restructured so that the Biocultural Connection “Picturing Pesticides” features
sections on biological diversity are all grouped together Elizabeth Guillette’s work on the neurological effects of
at the end of the chapter rather than sprinkled through- pesticide exposure in Yaqui children. This chapter also
out. The chapter now opens with a history of human features a new Globalscape on the transfer of Brazil’s
classification that emphasizes how culture shapes hu- highly regarded HIV/AIDS programs to Portuguese-
man interpretation of biology. It goes on to explore the speaking countries in Africa.
effects of racism setting the stage for an examination of
biological diversity that takes culture into account at all
levels. The boxed features for this chapter are all new as
well. Material on Ashley Montagu and Frans Boas has
SUPPLEMENTS
been moved into the body of the text, making room for a Evolution and Prehistory comes with a strong supplements
new Anthropologist of Note on the diverse work of Fati- program to help instructors create an effective learning
mah Jackson. A new Original Study by Jonathan Marks, environment both inside and outside the classroom and
“A Feckless Quest for the Basketball Gene,” explores the to aid students in mastering the material.
dangers of stereotyping the abilities of any so-called race.
Finally a new Biocultural Connection, “Beans, Enzymes,
and Adaptation to Malaria,” explores the complex inter- Supplements for Instructors
play between fava beans and G-6-PD deficiency as ad-
aptations to malaria and the folklore surrounding fava Online Instructor’s Manual and Testbank
beans. The Instructor’s Manual offers detailed chapter outlines,
lecture suggestions, key terms and student activities
such as InfoTrac College Edition exercises and Internet ex-
Chapter 13: Human Adaptation ercises. In addition, there are over seventy-five chapter
to a Changing World test questions including multiple choice, true/false, fi ll-
This new chapter weaves together the anthropological in-the-blank, short answer and essay.
study of human adaptation by biological and medical
anthropologists with cutting-edge work in evolutionary ExamView Computerized
medicine and the political ecology of health and disease. and Online Testing
It examines the way that human alteration of the envi- Create, deliver, and customize tests and study guides
ronment is leading to disease in our species and how po- (both print and online) in minutes with this easy to use
litical and social forces impact the distribution of health assessment and tutorial system. ExamView offers both
and disease among human populations. The biocultural a Quick Test Wizard and an Online Test Wizard that
theme characteristic of the entire textbook is explored guide you step-by-step throughout the process of creat-
in depth here through drawing out the connections be- ing tests, while its unique “WYSWYG” capability allows
tween human health and political and economic forces, you to see the test you are creating on screen exactly as
both globally and locally. it will print or display online. You can build tests of up to
The chapter begins with classic anthropological 250 questions using up to twelve question types. Using
work on genetic, developmental, and physiological ad- ExamView’s complete word processing capabilities, you
aptation to natural stressors such as high altitude and can enter an unlimited number of new questions or edit
extreme cold and heat. It then explores the challenges existing questions.
of the rapidly changing human-made environment
characteristic of the world today. The chapter provides
students with an introduction to the biological and cul- Multimedia Manager for Anthropology:
tural approaches of medical anthropology that gives A Microsoft PowerPoint Link Tool
them a framework to think about health challenges in This new CD-ROM contains digital media and Microsoft
an era of globalization. New figures include one on the PowerPoint presentations for all of Wadsworth’s © 2008
human pattern of growth and development and one on introductory anthropology texts, placing images, lec-
human population size through time. Work of reproduc- tures, and video clips at your fi ngertips. This CD-ROM
 Preface xxxiii

includes preassembled Microsoft PowerPoint presenta- Online Resources for

tions, and charts, graphs, maps, line art, and images with
a NEW zoom feature for all Wadsworth © 2008 anthro- Instructors and Students
pology texts. You can add your own lecture notes and Anthropology Resource Center
images to create a customized lecture presentation. This online center offers a wealth of information and
useful tools for both instructors and students in all four
Wadsworth Anthropology Video Library fields of anthropology. It includes interactive maps,
Qualified adopters may select full-length videos from an learning modules, video exercises, breaking news in an-
extensive library of offerings drawn from such excellent thropology, and a case study forum with short synopses
educational video sources as Films for the Humanities and of case studies and critical thinking questions written
Sciences. by the authors. For instructors, the Resource Center in-
cludes a gateway to time-saving teaching tools, such as
ABC Anthropology Video Series an image bank, sample syllabi, and more. To get started
This exclusive video series was created jointly by Wads- with the Anthropology Resource Center, students and
worth and ABC for the anthropology course. Each video instructors are directed to www.thomsonedu.com where
contains approximately 60 minutes of footage originally they can create an account through 1Pass.
broadcast on ABC within the past several years. The
videos are broken into short 2- to 7-minute segments, Anthropology Online:
perfect for classroom use as lecture launchers or to illus- Book Companion Website
trate key anthropological concepts. An annotated table Go to www.thomsonedu.com/anthropology and click
of contents accompanies each video, providing descrip- on Evolution and Prehistory to reach the website that ac-
tions of the segments and suggestions for their possible companies this book. This website offers many study
use within the course. aids, including self-quizzes for each chapter and a prac-
tice fi nal exam, crossword puzzles, flashcards, as well as
A Guide to Visual Anthropology links to anthropology websites and information on the
Prepared by Jayasinhji Jhala of Temple University, this latest theories and discoveries in the field.
guide provides a compendium of fi fty of the most out-
standing classic and contemporary anthropological
fi lms. The guide describes the fi lms, tells why they are
Thomson InSite for Writing
important, and gives suggestions for their use in the and Research with Turnitin
classroom. Originality Checker
InSite features a full suite of writing, peer review, online
grading, and e-portfolio applications. It is an all-in-one
AIDS in Africa DVD
tool that helps instructors manage the flow of papers
Southern Africa has been overcome by a pandemic of un-
electronically and allows students to submit papers and
paralleled proportions. This documentary series focuses
peer reviews online. Also included in the suite is Turn-
on the new democracy of Namibia and the many actions
itin, an originality check that offers a simple solution for
that are being taken to control HIV/AIDS. Included in
instructors who want a strong deterrent against plagia-
this series are four documentary fi lms created by the
rism, as well as encouragement for students to employ
Periclean Scholars at Elon University: (1) Young Struggles,
proper research techniques. Access is available for pack-
Eternal Faith, which focuses on caregivers in the faith
aging with each copy of this book. For more informa-
community; (2) The Shining Lights of Opuwo, which shows
tion, visit http://insite.thomson.com.
how young people share their messages of hope through
song and dance; (3) A Measure of Our Humanity, which de-
scribes HIV/AIDS as an issue related to gender, poverty, InfoTrac College Edition
stigma, education, and justice; and (4) You Wake Me Up, a InfoTrac College Edition is an online library that of-
story of two HIV-positive women and their acts of cour- fers full-length articles from thousands of scholarly and
age helping other women learn to survive. Thomson/ popular publications. Among the journals available are
Wadsworth is excited to offer these award-winning fi lms American Anthropologist, Current Anthropology, and Cana-
to instructors for use in class. When presenting topics dian Review of Sociology and Anthropology. To get started
such as gender, faith, culture, poverty, and so on, the with InfoTrac College Edition, students are directed to
fi lms will be enlightening for students and will expand http://thomsonedu.com where they can create an ac-
their global perspective of HIV/AIDS. count through 1Pass.
xxxiv Preface

Supplements for Students at home. Through the use of video clips, 3-D animations,
sound, and digital images, students can actively partici-
Study Guide pate in twelve labs as part of their physical anthropology
The Study Guide includes learning objectives, detailed and archaeology course. The labs and assignments teach
chapter outlines and key terms to aid in student study; students how to formulate and test hypotheses with ex-
activities such as InfoTrac College Edition exercises and ercises that include how to measure, plot, interpret, and
Internet exercises to help students apply their knowl- evaluate a variety of data drawn from osteological, be-
edge, and over fi fty practice test questions per chapter havioral, and fossil materials.
including multiple choice, true/false, fi ll-in-the-blank,
short answer, and essay questions.
Case Studies
Basic Genetics for Anthropology CD-ROM:
Case Studies in Archaeology,
Principles and Applications (Stand Alone
edited by Jeffrey Quilter
Version), by Robert Jurmain and Lynn Kilgore These engaging accounts of cutting-edge archaeologi-
This student CD-ROM expands on such biological con-
cal techniques, issues and solutions—as well as studies
cepts as biological inheritance (genes, DNA sequencing,
discussing the collection of material remains—range
and so on) and applications of that to modern human
from site-specific excavations to types of archaeology
populations at the molecular level (human variation and
practiced.
adaptation, that is, to disease, diet, growth, and devel-
opment). Interactive animations and simulations bring
these important concepts to life for students so they
can fully understand the essential biological principles
Modules in Physical Anthropology
required for physical anthropology. Also available are Each free-standing module is actually a complete text
quizzes and interactive flashcards for further study. chapter, featuring the same quality of pedagogy and il-
lustration that are contained in Thomson Wadsworth’s
Hominid Fossils CD-ROM: An Interactive Atlas, physical anthropology texts.
by James Ahern
The interactive atlas CD-ROM includes over seventy-five Coming Fall of 2007, Evolution of the Brain:
key fossils important for a clear understanding of hu- Neoroanatomy, Development, and Paleontology!
man evolution. The QuickTime Virtual Reality (QTVR)
“object” movie format for each fossil enables students to Human Environment Interactions
have a near-authentic experience of working with these by Cathy Galvin
important fi nds, by allowing them to rotate the fossil Cathy Galvins provides students with an introduction
360 degrees. Unlike some VR media, QTVR objects are to the basic concepts in human ecology, before discuss-
made using actual photographs of the real objects and ing cultural ecology, human adaptation studies, human
thus better preserve details of color and texture. The fos- behavioral ecology—including material on systems ap-
sils used are high-quality research casts and real fossils. proaches and cognitive and critical approaches—and
The organization of the atlas is nonlinear, with three political ecology. She concludes the module with a dis-
levels and multiple paths, enabling students to see how cussion of resilience and global change as a result of
the fossil fits into the map of human evolution in terms human–environment interactions today and the tools
of geography, time, and evolution. The CD-ROM offers used.
students an inviting, authentic, learning environment,
one that also contains a dynamic quizzing feature that Primate Evolution Module
will allow students to test their knowledge of fossil and by Robert Jurmain
species identification, as well as provide more detailed Robert Jurmain examines primate evolution as it has de-
information about the fossil record. veloped over the last 60 million years, helping students
understand the ecological adaptations and evolutionary
Virtual Laboratories for Physical Anthropology, relationships of fossil forms to each other and to contem-
4th edition, by John Kappelman porary primates. Using what they know about primate
The new edition of this full color, interactive online anatomy and social behavior, students will learn to “flesh
product provides students with a hands-on computer out” the bones and teeth that make up the evolutionary
component for completing lab assignments at school or record of primate origins.
 Preface xxxv

Forensics Anthropology Module: mates. Students will learn about the common laboratory
A Brief Review by Diane France methods used to study genetic variation and evolution
Diane France explores the myths and realities of the in molecular anthropology. Examples are drawn from
search for human remains in crime scenes, what should up-to-date research on human evolutionary origins and
be expected from a forensic anthropology expert in the comparative primate genomics to demonstrate that sci-
courtroom, some of the special challenges in mass fatal- entific research is an ongoing process with theories fre-
ity incident responses (such as plane crashes and terrorist quently being questioned and re-evaluated.
acts) and what students should consider if they want to
pursue a career in forensic anthropology.

Molecular Anthropology Module by Leslie Knapp

Leslie Knapp explores how molecular genetic methods
are used to understand the organization and expression
of genetic information in humans and nonhuman pri-
This page intentionally left blank
Acknowledgments
In this day and age, no textbook comes to fruition with- Sheri Youngberg, and Gretchen Gross. And to research
out extensive collaboration. Beyond the shared endeav- librarian extraordinaire Nancy Bianchi and colleagues
ors of our author team, this book owes its completion to Yvette Pigeon, John Fogarty, Lewis First, Martin Ot-
a wide range of individuals, from colleagues in the disci- tenheimer, Harriet Ottenheimer, and Michael Wesch
pline to those involved in the production process. We are for engaging in lively discussions of anthropological and
particularly grateful for the remarkable group of manu- pedagogical approaches. Also worthy of note here are
script reviewers listed below. They provided unusually the introductory anthropology teaching assistants who,
detailed and thoughtful feedback that helped us to hone through the years, have shed light for us on effective
and re-hone our narrative. ways to reach new generations of students.
Our thanksgiving inventory would be incomplete
Tara Devi S. Ashok, University of Massachusetts,
without mentioning individuals at Wadsworth Publish-
Boston
ing who helped conceive this text and bring it to frui-
René Bobe, State University of New York
tion. Special gratitude goes to Senior Acquisitions Editor
University at Buffalo
Lin Marshall for her vision, vigor, and anthropological
Joanna Casey, University of South Carolina
knowledge and to Developmental Editor Julie Cheng
Barbra E. Erickson, California State University,
for her calming influence and attention to detail. Our
Fullerton
thanks also go out to Wadsworth’s skilled and enthusi-
Mikel Hogan, California State University, Fullerton
astic editorial, marketing, design, and production team:
Frank Hutchins, Spalding University
Eve Howard (Vice President and Editor-in-Chief), Dave
Alison Rautman, Michigan State University
Lionetti (Technology Project Manager), Jessica Jang (Edi-
Melissa Remis, Purdue University
torial Assistant), Caroline Concilla (Executive Marketing
Michael Shott, University of Northern Iowa
Manager), as well as Jerilyn Emori (Content Project Man-
Suzanne Spencer-Wood, Oakland University
ager) and Maria Epes (Executive Art Director).
We carefully considered and made use of the wide range In addition to all of the above, we have had the in-
of comments provided by these individuals. Our deci- valuable aid of several most able freelancers, including
sions on how to utilize their suggestions were influenced Christine Davis of Two Chicks Advertising & Marketing,
by our own perspectives on anthropology and teaching, and our expert and enthusiastic photo researcher Billie
combined with the priorities and page limits of this text. Porter, who was always willing to go the extra mile to
Thus, neither our reviewers, nor any of the other anthro- fi nd the most telling and compelling photographs, and
pologists mentioned here, should be held responsible for our skilled graphic designer Carol Zuber-Mallison of
any shortcomings in this book. They should, however, be ZM Graphics, who can always be relied upon to deliver
credited as contributors to many of the book’s strengths. fi ne work and great humor. We are especially thankful
Thanks, too, go to colleagues who provided mate- to have had the opportunity to work once again with
rial for some of the Original Study, Biocultural Connec- copyeditor Jennifer Gordon and production coordinator
tion, and Anthropology Applied boxes in this text: John Robin Hood, who bring calm efficiency and grace to the
Crock, Katherine A. Dettwyler, Anabel Ford, Michele demands of meeting difficult deadlines.
Goldsmith, Barbara Koenig, Suzanne LeClerc-Madlala, And fi nally, all of us are indebted to family mem-
Charles C. Mann, Jonathan Marks, Nancy Press, Sherry bers who have not only put up with our textbook pre-
Simpson, Frans B. M. de Waal, and Jane C. Waldbaum. occupation, but cheered us on in the endeavor. Dana
Among these individuals we particularly want to ac- had the tireless support and keen eye of husband Peter
knowledge our admiration, affection, and appreciation Bingham—along with the varied contributions of their
for our mutual friend and colleague Jim Petersen whose three sons Nishan, Tavid, and Aram Bingham. As co-
work on the archaeology of the Amazon is featured in author spouses under the same roof, Harald and Bunny
the piece by Charles Mann. Jim’s life came to an abrupt have picked up slack for each other on every front to help
and tragic end while returning from fieldwork in Brazil. this project move along smoothly. But the biggest debt of
We have debts of gratitude to office workers in our gratitude may be in Bill’s corner: For more than three de-
departments for their cheerful help in clerical matters: cades he has had invaluable input and support in his text-
Debbie Hedrick, Karen Rundquist, Emira Smailagic, book tasks from his spouse Anita de Laguna Haviland.

xxxvii
This page intentionally left blank
About the Authors
While distinct from one another, all four members of
this author team share overlapping research interests
and a similar vision of what anthropology is (and should
be) about. For example, all are “true believers” in the
four-field approach to anthropology and all have some
involvement in applied work.
WILLIAM A. HAVILAND is Professor Emeritus at the
University of Vermont, where he founded the Depart-
ment of Anthropology and taught for thirty-two years.
He holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of
Pennsylvania. Authors Bunny McBride, Dana Walrath, Harald Prins, and William
He has carried out original research in archaeol- Haviland
ogy in Guatemala and Vermont; ethnography in Maine
and Vermont; and physical anthropology in Guatemala.
This work has been the basis of numerous publications co-edited some books, and authored “The Mi’kmaq:
in various national and international books and journals, Resistance, Accommodation, and Cultural Survival”
as well as in media intended for the general public. His (1996). He also made award-winning documentaries and
books include The Original Vermonters, coauthored served as president of the Society for Visual Anthropol-
with Marjorie Power, and a technical monograph on an- ogy and visual anthropology editor of the “American
cient Maya settlement. He also served as technical con- Anthropologist.” Dr. Prins has won his university’s most
sultant for the award-winning telecourse, Faces of Culture, prestigious undergraduate teaching awards and held the
and is coeditor of the series Tikal Reports, published by Coff man Chair for University Distinguished Teaching
the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology Scholars (2004–05). Most recently, Dr. Prins was selected
and Anthropology. as Professor of the Year for the State of Kansas by the
Besides his teaching and writing, Dr. Haviland Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
has lectured to numerous professional, as well as, non- Active in human rights, he served as expert witness in
professional audiences in Canada, Mexico, Lesotho, Native rights cases in the U.S. Senate and various Cana-
South Africa, and Spain, as well as in the United States. A dian courts, and was instrumental in the successful fed-
staunch supporter of indigenous rights, he served as ex- eral recognition and land claims of the Aroostook Band
pert witness for the Missisquoi Abenakis of Vermont in of Micmacs (1991).
an important court case over aboriginal fishing rights.
Awards received by Dr. Haviland include being DANA WALRATH is Assistant Professor of Family Medi-
named University Scholar by the Graduate School of the cine at the University of Vermont and a Women’s Studies
University of Vermont in 1990, a Certificate of Apprecia- affi liated faculty member. She earned her Ph.D. in An-
tion from the Sovereign Republic of the Abenaki Nation thropology from the University of Pennsylvania and is
of Missisquoi, St. Francis/Sokoki Band in 1996, and a a medical and biological anthropologist with principal
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Center for Re- interests in biocultural aspects of reproduction, the cul-
search on Vermont in 2006. Now retired from teaching, tural context of biomedicine, genetics, and evolutionary
he continues his research, writing, and lecturing from medicine. She directs an innovative educational program
the coast of Maine. at the University of Vermont’s College of Medicine that
brings anthropological theory and practice to fi rst-year
HARALD E. L. PRINS (Ph.D., New School 1988) is a medical students. Before joining the faculty at the Uni-
University Distinguished Professor of Anthropology versity of Vermont in 2000, she taught at the University
at Kansas State University and guest curator at the Na- of Pennsylvania and Temple University. Her research
tional Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institu- has been supported by the National Science Founda-
tion. Born in The Netherlands, he studied at universities tion, Health Resources and Services Administration, the
in Europe and the United States. He has done extensive Centers for Disease Control and the Templeton Founda-
fieldwork among indigenous peoples in South and North tion. Dr. Walrath’s publications have appeared in Cur-
America, published dozens of articles in five languages, rent Anthropology, American Anthropologist, and American
xxxix
xl About the Authors

Journal of Physical Anthropology. An active member of the publications include Women of the Dawn (1999) and Molly
Council on the Anthropology of Reproduction, she has Spotted Elk: A Penobscot in Paris (1995). Collaborating
also served on a national committee to develop women’s with Native communities in Maine, she curated various
health-care learning objectives for medical education museum exhibits based on her books. The Maine state
and works locally to improve health care for refugees legislature awarded her a special commendation for sig-
and immigrants. nificant contributions to Native women’s history (1999).
A community activist and researcher for the Aroostook
BUNNY MCBRIDE (M.A. Columbia University, 1980) is an Band of Micmacs (1981–91), she assisted this Maine Indian
award-winning author specializing in cultural anthropol- community in its successful efforts to reclaim lands, gain
ogy, indigenous peoples, international tourism, and na- tribal status, and revitalize cultural traditions. Currently,
ture conservation issues. Published in dozens of national McBride serves as co-principal investigator for a National
and international print media, she has reported from Af- Park Service ethnography project, guest curator for an
rica, Europe, China, and the Indian Ocean. Highly rated exhibition on the Rockefeller Southwest Indian Art Col-
as a teacher, she served as visiting anthropology faculty lection, oral history advisor for the Kansas Humanities
at Principia College, the Salt Institute for Documentary Council, and board member of the Women’s World Sum-
Field Studies, and since 1996 as adjunct lecturer of an- mit Foundation, based in Geneva, Switzerland.
thropology at Kansas State University. McBride’s many
Evolution
and Prehistory
1 The Essence
of Anthropology
CHALLENGE ISSUE
It is a challenge to make sense of
who we are. Where did we come
from? Why are we so radically dif-
ferent from other animals and so
surprisingly similar to others? Why
do our bodies look the way they
do? How do we explain so many
different beliefs, languages, and
customs? What makes us tick?
As just one of 10 million species,
including 4,000 fellow mammals,
we humans are the only creatures
on earth with the mental capac-
ity to ask such questions about
ourselves and the world around
us. We do this not only because
we are curious but also because
knowledge has enabled us to
adapt to radically contrasting en-
vironments all across the earth
and helps us create and improve
our material and social living
conditions. Adaptations based on
knowledge are essential in every
culture, and culture is our species’
ticket to survival. Understanding
humanity in all its biological and
cultural variety, past and present,
is the fundamental contribution
of anthropology. This contribu-
tion has become all the more im-
portant in the era of globalization,
when appreciating our common
humanity and respecting cultural
differences are essential to human
survival.
 CHAPTER PREVIEW

What Is Anthropology? How Do Anthropologists How Does Anthropology

Anthropology, the study of human- Do What They Do? Compare to Other
kind everywhere, throughout time, Anthropologists, like other scholars, Disciplines?
produces knowledge about what are concerned with the descrip- In studying humankind, early
makes people different from one tion and explanation of reality. anthropologists came to the conclu-
another and what they all share in They formulate and test hypoth- sion that to fully understand the
common. Anthropologists work eses—tentative explanations of complexities of human thought,
within four fields of the discipline. observed phenomena—concerning feelings, behavior, and biology, it
While physical anthropologists humankind. Their aim is to develop was necessary to study and compare
focus on humans as biological reliable theories— interpretations or all humans, wherever and when-
organisms (tracing evolutionary explanations supported by bodies of ever. More than any other feature,
development and looking at bio- data—about our species. These data this unique cross-cultural, long-term
logical variations), cultural anthro- are usually collected through field- perspective distinguishes anthro-
pologists investigate the contrasting work—a particular kind of hands-on pology from other social sciences.
ways groups of humans think, feel, research that makes anthropologists Anthropologists are not the only
and behave. Archaeologists try to so familiar with a situation that they scholars who study people, but they
recover information about human can begin to recognize patterns, are uniquely holistic in their ap-
cultures—usually from the past—by regularities, and exceptions. It is proach, focusing on the interconnec-
studying material objects, skeletal also through careful observation tions and interdependence of all as-
remains, and settlements. Mean- (combined with comparison) that pects of the human experience, past
while, linguists study languages— anthropologists test their theories. and present. It is this holistic and
communication systems by which integrative perspective that equips
cultures are maintained and passed anthropologists to grapple with an
on to succeeding generations. Practi- issue of overriding importance for
tioners in all four fields are informed all of us today: globalization.
by one another’s fi ndings and united
by a common anthropological per-
spective on the human condition.

3
4 Chapter One/The Essence of Anthropology

F or as long as they have been on earth, people have

sought answers to questions about who they are,
where they come from, and why they act as they do.
Throughout most of human history, though, people re-
This is not to say that people have been unaware of
the existence of others in the world who look and act
differently from themselves. The Bible’s Old and New
Testaments, for example, are full of references to diverse
ancient peoples, among them Babylonians, Egyptians,
lied on myth and folklore for answers, rather than on Greeks, Jews, and Syrians. However, the differences
the systematic testing of data obtained through careful among these people pale by comparison to those among
observation. Anthropology, over the last 150 years, has any of the more recent European nations and (for exam-
emerged as a tradition of scientific inquiry with its own ple) traditional indigenous peoples of the Pacific islands,
approaches to answering these questions. Simply stated, the Amazon rainforest, or Siberia.
anthropology is the study of humankind in all times and
places. While focusing primarily on Homo sapiens—the
human species—anthropologists also study our ances-
tors and close animal relatives for clues about what it
means to be human.

THE DEVELOPMENT
OF ANTHROPOLOGY
Although works of anthropological significance have
a considerable antiquity—two examples being cross-
cultural accounts of people written by the Greek his-
torian Herodotus about 2,500 years ago and the North
African Arab scholar Ibn
THOMSON AUDIO Khaldun nearly 700 years
STUDY PRODUCTS ago—anthropology as a
Take advantage of distinct field of inquiry is
the MP3-ready Audio Lecture a relatively recent product
Overviews and comprehensive of Western civilization. In
audio glossary of key terms the United States, for exam-
for each chapter. See the ple, the fi rst course in gen-
preface for information on eral anthropology to carry
how to access this on-the-go credit in a college or uni-
study and review tool. versity (at the University
of Rochester in New York)
© Documentary Educational Resources

was not offered until 1879. If people have always been

concerned about themselves and their origins, and those
of other people, then why did it take such a long time for
a systematic discipline of anthropology to appear?
The answer to this is as complex as human history.
In part, it relates to the limits of human technology.
Throughout most of history, people have been restricted
in their geographic horizons. Without the means of trav-
Anthropologists come from many corners of the world and carry out
eling to distant parts of the world, observation of cul- research in a huge variety of cultures all around the globe. Dr. Jaya-
tures and peoples far from one’s own was a difficult—if sinhji Jhala, pictured here, hails from the old city of Dhrangadhra in
not impossible—undertaking. Extensive travel was usu- Gujarat, northwest India. A member of the Jhala clan of Rajputs, an
ally the exclusive privilege of a few; the study of foreign aristocratic caste of warriors, he grew up in the royal palace of his
peoples and cultures was not likely to flourish until im- father, the maharaja. After earning a bachelor of arts degree in India,
proved modes of transportation and communication he came to the United States and earned a master’s in visual studies
from MIT, followed by a doctorate in anthropology from Harvard. Cur-
could be developed. rently a professor and director of the programs of Visual Anthropology
and the Visual Anthropology Media Laboratory at Temple University, he
anthropology The study of humankind in all times and places. returns regularly to India with students to film cultural traditions in his
own caste-stratified society.
 The Anthropological Perspective 5

With the invention of the magnetic compass for use because of its focus on the interconnections and interde-
aboard better-equipped sailing ships, it became easier to pendence of all aspects of the human experience in all
determine geographic direction and travel to truly far- places and times—both biological and cultural, past and
away places and meet for the fi rst time such radically dif- present. It is this holistic perspective that best equips
ferent groups. It was the massive encounter with hitherto anthropologists to broadly address that elusive phenom-
unknown peoples—which began 500 years ago as Euro- enon we call human nature.
peans sought to extend their trade and political domina- Anthropologists welcome the contributions of re-
tion to all parts of the world—that focused attention on searchers from other disciplines and in return offer their
human differences in all their amazing variety. own fi ndings for the benefit of these other disciplines.
Another significant element that contributed to the Anthropologists do not expect, for example, to know
emergence of anthropology was that Europeans gradu- as much about the structure of the human eye as anato-
ally came to recognize that despite all the differences, mists or as much about the perception of color as psy-
they might share a basic humanity with people every- chologists. As synthesizers, however, anthropologists
where. Initially, Europeans labeled societies that did not are prepared to understand how these bodies of knowl-
share their fundamental cultural values as “savage” or edge relate to color-naming practices in different human
“barbarian.” Over time, however, Europeans came to societies. Because they look for the broad basis of human
recognize such highly diverse groups as fellow members ideas and practices without limiting themselves to any
of one species and therefore relevant to an understand- single social or biological aspect, anthropologists can ac-
ing of what it is to be human. This growing interest in quire an especially expansive and inclusive overview of
human diversity, coming at a time when there were in- the complex biological and cultural organism that is the
creasing efforts to explain things in scientific terms, cast human being.
doubts on the traditional explanations based on religious The holistic perspective also helps anthropologists
texts such as the Torah, Bible, or Koran and helped set stay keenly aware of ways that their own culture’s per-
the stage for the birth of anthropology. spective and social values may influence their research.
Although anthropology originated within the histor- As the old saying goes, people often see what they be-
ical context of European culture, it has long since gone lieve, rather than what appears before their eyes. By
global. Today, it is an exciting, transnational discipline maintaining a critical awareness of their own assump-
whose practitioners come from a wide array of societies tions about human nature—checking and recheck-
all around the world. Societies that have long been stud- ing the ways their beliefs and actions might be shaping
ied by European and North American anthropologists— their research—anthropologists strive to gain objective
several African and Native American societies, for exam- knowledge about people. Equipped with this awareness,
ple—have produced anthropologists who have made and anthropologists have contributed uniquely to our under-
continue to make a mark on the discipline. Their distinct standing of diversity in human thought, biology, and be-
perspectives shed new light not only on their own cul- havior, as well as our understanding of the many things
tures but also on those of others. It is noteworthy that humans have in common.
in one regard diversity has long been a hallmark of the While other social sciences have concentrated pre-
discipline: From its earliest days both women and men dominantly on contemporary peoples living in North
have entered the field. Throughout this text, we will be American and European (Western) societies, anthro-
spotlighting individual anthropologists, illustrating the pologists have traditionally focused on non-Western peo-
diversity of these practitioners and their work. ples and cultures. Anthropologists believe that to fully
understand the complexities of human ideas, behavior,
and biology, all humans, wherever and whenever, must
THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL be studied. A cross-cultural and long-term evolutionary
perspective not only distinguishes anthropology from
PERSPECTIVE other social sciences, but also guards against the danger
Many academic disciplines are concerned in one way or that theories of human behavior will be culture-bound:
another with our species. For example, biology focuses
on the genetic, anatomical, and physiological aspects of
organisms. Psychology is concerned primarily with cog- holistic perspective A fundamental principle of anthropol-
nitive, mental, and emotional issues, while economics ogy: that the various parts of human culture and biology must
examines the production, distribution, and management be viewed in the broadest possible context in order to understand
their interconnections and interdependence.
of material resources. And various disciplines in the hu-
culture-bound Theories about the world and reality based on
manities look into the artistic and philosophical achieve- the assumptions and values of one’s own culture.
ments of human cultures. But anthropology is distinct
6 Chapter One/The Essence of Anthropology

VISUAL COUNTERPOINT

© Marie-Stenzel/National Geographic Image Collection

© Michael Newman/PhotoEdit/All rights reserved

Although infants in the United States typically sleep apart from their parents, cross-cultural research
shows that co-sleeping, of mother and baby in particular, is the rule. The photo on the right shows a Nenet
family sleeping together in their chum (reindeer-skin tent). Nenet people are arctic reindeer pastoralists
living in Siberia.

that is, based on assumptions about the world and reality These benefits may lead us to ask, Why do so many
that come from the researcher’s own particular culture. mothers continue to sleep apart from their infants? In
As a case in point, consider the fact that infants in North America the cultural values of independence and
the United States typically sleep apart from their par- consumerism come into play. To begin building indi-
ents. To most North Americans, this may seem normal, vidual identities, babies are provided with rooms (or at
but cross-cultural research shows that co-sleeping, of least space) of their own. This room of one’s own also
mother and baby in particular, is the rule. Only in the provides parents with a place for the toys, furniture, and
past 200 years, generally in Western industrial societies, other paraphernalia associated with good parenting in
has it been considered proper for parents to sleep apart North America.
from their infants. In a way, this practice amounts to a Anthropology’s early emphasis on studying tradi-
cultural experiment in child rearing. tional, non-Western peoples has often led to fi ndings that
Recent studies have shown that separation of mother run counter to generally accepted opinions derived from
and infant in Western societies has important biological Western studies. Thus, anthropologists were the fi rst to
and cultural consequences. For one thing, it increases the demonstrate
length of the child’s crying bouts. Some mothers incor-
that the world does not divide into the pious and
rectly interpret the cause as a deficiency in breast milk
the superstitious; that there are sculptures in jun-
and switch to less healthy bottle formulas; and in ex-
gles and paintings in deserts; that political order
treme cases the crying may provoke physical abuse. But
is possible without centralized power and princi-
the benefits of co-sleeping go beyond significant reduc-
pled justice without codified rules; that the norms
tions in crying: Infants also nurse more often and three
of reason were not fi xed in Greece, the evolution
times as long per feeding; they receive more stimulation
of morality not consummated in England. . . .
(important for brain development); and they are appar-
We have, with no little success, sought to keep
ently less susceptible to sudden infant death syndrome
the world off balance; pulling out rugs, upsetting
(SIDS or “crib death”). There are benefits to the mother
tea tables, setting off firecrackers. It has been the
as well: Frequent nursing prevents early ovulation after
office of others to reassure; ours to unsettle.2
childbirth, and she gets at least as much sleep as mothers
who sleep without their infants.1 Although the fi ndings of anthropologists have often
challenged the conclusions of sociologists, psychologists,
1Barr, R. G. (1997, October). The crying game. Natural History, 47. and economists, anthropology is absolutely indispens-
Also, McKenna, J. J. (2002, September-October). Breastfeeding and able to them, as it is the only consistent check against
bedsharing. Mothering, 28–37; and McKenna, J. J., & McDade, T.
(2005, June). Why babies should never sleep alone: A review of the
co-sleeping controversy in relation to SIDS, bedsharing, and breast 2Geertz, C. (1984). Distinguished lecture: Anti anti-relativism.
feeding. Pediatric Respiratory Reviews 6(2), 134–152. American Anthropologist 86, 275.
 Anthropology and Its Fields 7

culture-bound assertions. In a sense, anthropology is to

these disciplines what the laboratory is to physics and d p
A
e p
chemistry: an essential testing ground for their theories. li LI
L NG

li
A Y A N

p
G THR U
UR OLO

e
p
O

ANTH ULT

d
P

IS LOG
PO
RO
e a

TIC
s r c

C
e
ANTHROPOLOGY AND ITS FIELDS

h
R

Y
Theories
Individual anthropologists tend to specialize in one of

s
Me
ARC

GY
ie
four fields or subdisciplines: physical anthropology, ar-

PO AL
h

LO
o d olo

HA

C
chaeology, linguistic anthropology, or cultural anthro-

SI
O

A
Y

E
LO

d
pology (Figure 1.1). Some anthropologists consider ar- PH RO

p
GY

e
T H

p
li AN

li
chaeology and linguistics as part of the broader study e p
d p
of human cultures, but, archaeology and linguistics also A
have close ties to biological anthropology. For example,
while linguistic anthropology focuses on the cultural Figure 1.1
aspects of language, it has deep connections to the evo- The four fields of anthropology. Note that the divisions among them
lution of human language and the biological basis of are not sharp, indicating that their boundaries overlap. Moreover, each
speech and language studied within physical anthropol- operates on the basis of a common body of knowledge. All four are
ogy. Each of anthropology’s fields may take a distinct ap- involved in theory building, developing their own research methodolo-
proach to the study of humans, but all gather and ana- gies, and solving practical problems through applied anthropology.
lyze data that are essential to explaining similarities and
differences among humans, across time and space. More- conducting research together. In this book, examples of
over, all of them generate knowledge that has numerous how anthropology contributes to solving a wide range
practical applications. of the challenges humans face appear in Anthropology
Within the four fields are individuals who practice Applied features.
applied anthropology, which entails using anthropo- One of the earliest contexts in which anthropologi-
logical knowledge and methods to solve practical prob- cal knowledge was applied to a practical problem was
lems, often for a specific client. Applied anthropologists
do not offer their perspectives from the sidelines. In-
applied anthropology The use of anthropological knowledge
stead, they actively collaborate with the communities in and methods to solve practical problems, often for a specific client.
which they work—setting goals, solving problems, and

Biocultural
Connection The Anthropology of Organ Transplantation
In 1954, the first organ transplant oc- Brain death relies upon the absence body rather than in the brain. They resist
curred in Boston when surgeons removed of measurable electrical currents in the accepting a warm pink body as a corpse
a kidney from one identical twin to place brain and the inability to breathe without from which organs can be harvested.
it inside his sick brother. Though some technological assistance. The brain-dead Further, organs cannot be transformed
transplants rely upon living donors, individual, though attached to machines, into “gifts” because anonymous donation
routine organ transplantation depends still seems alive with a beating heart is not compatible with Japanese social
largely upon the availability of organs and pink cheeks. North Americans find patterns of reciprocal exchange.
obtained from individuals who have died. brain death acceptable, in part, because Organ transplantation carries far
From an anthropological perspective, personhood and individuality are cultur- greater social meaning than the purely
the meanings of death and the body vary ally located in the brain. North American biological movement of an organ from
cross-culturally. While death could be comfort with brain death has allowed for one individual to another. Cultural and
said to represent a particular biological the “gift of life” through organ donation biological processes are tightly woven
state, social agreement about this state’s and subsequent transplantation. into every aspect of this new social
significance is of paramount importance. By contrast, in Japan, the concept of practice.
Anthropologist Margaret Lock has ex- brain death is hotly contested and organ (Based on M. Lock (2001). Twice dead:
plored differences between Japanese and transplants are rarely performed. The Organ transplants and the reinvention of
North American acceptance of the bio- Japanese do not incorporate a mind– death. Berkeley: University of California
logical state of “brain death” and how it body split into their models of themselves Press.)
affects the practice of organ transplants. and locate personhood throughout the
8 Chapter One/The Essence of Anthropology

the international public health movement that began in The fossilized skeletons of our ancestors allow pa-
the 1920s, marking the beginning of medical anthropol- leoanthropologists to reconstruct the course of human
ogy—a specialization that brings theoretical and applied evolutionary history. They compare the size and shape
approaches from the fields of cultural and biological an- of these fossils to one another and to the bones of living
thropology to the study of human health and disease. species. With each new fossil discovery, paleoanthropol-
The work of medical anthropologists sheds light on the ogists have another piece to add to human evolutionary
connections between human health and political and history. Biochemical and genetic studies add considerably
economic forces, both globally and locally. Examples to the fossil evidence. As we will see in later chapters, ge-
from this specialization appear in some of the Biocul- netic evidence establishes the close relationship between
tural Connections featured in this text, including the humans and ape species—chimpanzees, bonobos, and
one presented in this chapter, “The Anthropology of Or- gorillas. Genetic analyses indicate that the human line
gan Transplantation.” originated 5 to 8 million years ago. Physical anthropol-
ogy therefore deals with much greater time spans than
Physical Anthropology archaeology or other fields of anthropology.

Physical anthropology, also called biological anthropol- Human Growth, Adaptation, and Variation
ogy, is the systematic study of humans as biological or- Another specialty of physical anthropologists is the
ganisms. Traditionally, biological anthropologists con- study of human growth and development. Anthropolo-
centrated on human evolution, primatology, growth gists examine biological mechanisms of growth as well
and development, human adaptation, and forensics. To- as the impact of the environment on the growth process.
day, molecular anthropology, or the anthropological Franz Boas (see Anthropologists of Note box, page 15), a
study of genes and genetic relationships, is another vital pioneer of anthropology of the early 20th century, com-
component of biological anthropology. Comparisons pared the heights of European immigrants who spent
among groups separated by time, geography, or the fre- their childhood in “the old country” to the increased
quency of a particular gene can reveal how humans have heights obtained by their children who grew up in the
adapted and where they have migrated. As experts in the United States. Today, physical anthropologists study the
anatomy of human bones and tissues, physical anthro- impacts of disease, pollution, and poverty on growth.
pologists lend their knowledge about the body to applied Comparisons between human and nonhuman primate
areas such as gross anatomy laboratories, public health, growth patterns can provide clues to the evolutionary
and criminal investigations. history of humans. Detailed anthropological studies of
the hormonal, genetic, and physiological basis of healthy
Paleoanthropology growth in living humans also contribute significantly to
Human evolutionary studies (known as paleoanthro- the health of children today.
pology) investigate the origins and predecessors of the Studies of human adaptation focus on the capacity
present human species, focusing on biological changes of humans to adapt or adjust to their material environ-
through time to understand how, when, and why we be- ment—biologically and culturally. This branch of physi-
came the kind of organisms we are today. In biological cal anthropology takes a comparative approach to hu-
terms, we humans are primates, one of the many kinds mans living today in a variety of environments. Humans
of mammal. Because we share a common ancestry with are remarkable among the primates in that they now
other primates, most specifically apes, paleoanthropolo- inhabit the entire earth. Though cultural adaptations
gists look back to the earliest primates (65 or so million make it possible for our species to live in some environ-
years ago) or even the earliest mammals (225 million mental extremes, biological adaptations also contribute
years ago) to reconstruct the complex path of human to survival in extreme cold, heat, and high altitude.
evolution. Paleoanthropology unlike other evolutionary Some of these biological adaptations are built into
studies, takes a biocultural approach, focusing on the in- the genetic makeup of populations. The long period of
teraction of biology and culture. human growth and development provides ample oppor-
tunity for the environment to shape the human body.
physical anthropology Also known as biological anthropol- These developmental adaptations are responsible for some
ogy. The systematic study of humans as biological organisms. features of human variation such as the enlargement
molecular anthropology A branch of biological anthropology of the right ventricle of the heart to help push blood to
that uses genetic and biochemical techniques to test hypotheses the lungs among the Quechua Indians of highland Peru.
about human evolution, adaptation, and variation. Physiological adaptations are short-term changes in re-
paleoanthropology The study of the origins and predecessors
sponse to a particular environmental stimulus. For ex-
of the present human species.
biocultural Focusing on the interaction of biology and culture. ample, a person who normally lives at sea level will un-
dergo a series of physiological responses if she suddenly
 Anthropology and Its Fields 9

moves to a high altitude. All of these kinds of biological all parts of the world, many primate species are endan-
adaptation contribute to present-day human variation. gered. Primatologists often advocate for the preservation
Variation in visible traits such as height, body build, of primate habitats so that these remarkable animals will
and skin color, as well as biochemical factors such as continue to inhabit the earth with us.
blood type and susceptibility to certain diseases, contrib-
ute to human biological diversity. Still, we remain mem-
bers of a single species. Physical anthropology applies all Cultural Anthropology
the techniques of modern biology to achieve fuller un- Cultural anthropology (also called social or sociocul-
derstanding of human variation and its relationship to tural anthropology) is the study of customary patterns in
the different environments in which people have lived. human behavior, thought, and feelings. It focuses on
Research in physical anthropology on human varia- humans as culture-producing and culture-reproducing
tion has debunked false notions of biologically defi ned creatures. Thus, in order to understand the work of the
races—a notion based on widespread misinterpretation cultural anthropologist, we must clarify what we mean
of human variation. by culture—a society’s shared and socially transmitted
ideas, values, and perceptions, which are used to make
Forensic Anthropology sense of experience and which generate behavior and are
One of the many practical applications of physical an- reflected in that behavior. These standards are socially
thropology is forensic anthropology: the identification learned, rather than acquired through biological inheri-
of human skeletal remains for legal purposes. Although tance. Because they determine, or at least guide, normal
they are called upon by law enforcement authorities to day-to-day behavior, thought, and emotional patterns of
identify murder victims, forensic anthropologists also the members of a society, human activities, ideas, and
investigate human rights abuses such as systematic geno- feelings are above all culturally acquired and influenced.
cides, terrorism, and war crimes. These specialists use The manifestations of culture may vary considerably
details of skeletal anatomy to establish the age, sex, and from place to place, but no person is “more cultured” in
stature of the deceased; forensic anthropologists can also the anthropological sense than any other.
determine whether the person was right- or left-handed, Cultural anthropology has two main components:
exhibited any physical abnormalities, or experienced ethnography and ethnology. An ethnography is a detailed
trauma. While forensics relies upon differing frequen- description of a particular culture primarily based on
cies of certain skeletal characteristics to establish popu- fieldwork, which is the term anthropologists use for on-
lation affi liation, it is nevertheless false to say that all location research. Because the hallmark of ethnographic
people from a given population have a particular type of fieldwork is a combination of social participation and
skeleton. (See the Anthropology Applied feature to read personal observation within the community being stud-
about the work of several forensic anthropologists and ied, as well as interviews and discussions with individual
forensic archaeologists.) members of a group, the ethnographic method is com-
monly referred to as participant observation.
Primatology
Studying the anatomy and behavior of the other primates
helps us understand what we share with our closest liv-
forensic anthropology Applied subfield of physical anthropol-
ing relatives and what makes humans unique. There- ogy that specializes in the identification of human skeletal remains
fore, primatology, or the study of living and fossil pri- for legal purposes.
mates, is a vital part of physical anthropology. Primates primatology The study of living and fossil primates.
include the Asian and African apes, as well as monkeys, cultural anthropology Also known as social or sociocultural
lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers. Biologically, humans are anthropology. The study of customary patterns in human be-
apes—large-bodied, broad-shouldered primates with no havior, thought, and feelings. It focuses on humans as culture-
tail. Detailed studies of ape behavior in the wild indicate producing and culture-reproducing creatures.
culture A society’s shared and socially transmitted ideas, values,
that the sharing of learned behavior is a significant part
and perceptions, which are used to make sense of experience and
of their social life. Increasingly, primatologists designate which generate behavior and are reflected in that behavior.
the shared, learned behavior of nonhuman apes as cul- ethnography A detailed description of a particular culture pri-
ture. For example, tool use and communication systems marily based on fieldwork.
indicate the elementary basis of language in some ape fieldwork The term anthropologists use for on-location research.
societies. participant observation In ethnography, the technique of
Primate studies offer scientifically grounded per- learning a people’s culture through social participation and per-
sonal observation within the community being studied, as well as
spectives on the behavior of our ancestors, as well as
interviews and discussion with individual members of the group
greater appreciation and respect for the abilities of our over an extended period of time.
closest living relatives. As human activity encroaches on
10 Chapter One/The Essence of Anthropology

Anthropology Applied
Forensic Anthropology: Voices for the Dead
Clyde C. Snow, Karen Burns, Amy Zelson Mundorff,
and Michael Blakey

Forensic anthropology is the analysis ernment to help with the identification of

of skeletal remains for legal purposes. remains of the desaparecidos, or “disap-
Law enforcement authorities call upon peared ones,” the 9,000 or more people
forensic anthropologists to use skeletal who were eliminated by government
remains to identify murder victims, death squads during seven years of mili-
missing persons, or people who have tary rule. A year later, he returned to give
died in disasters, such as plane crashes. expert testimony at the trial of nine junta
Forensic anthropologists have also members and to teach Argentineans how
contributed substantially to the inves- to recover, clean, repair, preserve, photo-
tigation of human rights abuses in all graph, x-ray, and analyze bones. Besides
parts of the world by identifying victims providing factual accounts of the fate of
and documenting the cause of their victims to their surviving kin and refuting
death. the assertions of revisionists that the

© Susan Meiselas/Magnum Photos

Among the best-known forensic massacres never happened, the work of
anthropologists is Clyde C. Snow. He has Snow and his Argentinean associates was
been practicing in this field forty years, crucial in convicting several military of-
first for the Federal Aviation Administra- ficers of kidnapping, torture, and murder.
tion and more recently as a freelance Since Snow’s pioneering work,
consultant. In addition to the usual police forensic anthropologists have become
work, Snow has studied the remains of increasingly involved in the investigation
General George Armstrong Custer and of human rights abuses in all parts of the
his men from the 1876 battlefield at world, from Chile to Guatemala, Haiti, Physical anthropologists do not just study
Little Big Horn, and in 1985 he went to the Philippines, Rwanda, Iraq, Bosnia, and fossil skulls. Here Clyde Snow holds the
Brazil, where he identified the remains Kosovo. Meanwhile, they continue to do skull of a Kurd who was executed by Iraqi
of the notorious Nazi war criminal Josef important work for more typical clients. security forces. Snow specializes in foren-
Mengele. In the United States these clients include sic anthropology and is best known for his
work identifying victims of state-sponsored
He was also instrumental in estab- the Federal Bureau of Investigation and
terrorism.
lishing the first forensic team devoted city, state, and county medical examiners’
to documenting cases of human rights offices.
abuses around the world. This began in Forensic anthropologists specializ-
1984 when he went to Argentina at the ing in skeletal remains commonly work
request of a newly elected civilian gov- closely with forensic archaeologists.

Ethnographies provide the information used to

make systematic comparisons among cultures all across
the world. Known as ethnology, such cross-cultural re-
search allows anthropologists to develop anthropologi-
cal theories that help explain why certain important dif-
ferences or similarities occur among groups.

Ethnography
Through participant observation—eating a people’s food,
sleeping under their roof, learning how to speak and be-
© Bruce Broce

have acceptably, and personally experiencing their habits

Sociologists conduct structured interviews and administer ques-

ethnology The study and analysis of different cultures from a tionnaires to respondents, while psychologists experiment with sub-
comparative or historical point of view, utilizing ethnographic ac- jects. Anthropologists, by contrast, learn from and often collaborate
counts and developing anthropological theories that help explain with informants. The researcher here is Dutch anthropologist Harald
why certain important differences or similarities occur among Prins, a coauthor of this book. Doing fieldwork among the Plains
groups. Apache Indians in Oklahoma, he is using a camera to document part of
the community’s oral history project with tribal chief Alfred Chalepah.
 Anthropology and Its Fields 11

The relation between them is rather like been many executions, she excavated Just a short walk away, construction
that between a forensic pathologist, the remains of a man’s body found lying workers in lower Manhattan discovered
who examines a corpse to establish time on its side facing Mecca, conforming to a 17th- and 18th-century African burial
and manner of death, and a crime scene Islamic practice. Although there was no ground in 1991. Archaeological inves-
investigator, who searches the site for intact clothing, two threads of polyester tigation of the burial ground revealed
clues. While the forensic anthropologist used to sew clothing were found along the horror of slavery in North America,
deals with the human remains—often the sides of both legs. Although the showing that even young children were
only bones and teeth—the forensic threads survived, the clothing, because it worked so far beyond their ability to
archaeologist controls the site, record- was made of natural fiber, had decayed. endure that their spines were fractured.
ing the position of all relevant finds and “Those two threads at each side of the Biological archaeologist Michael Blakey,
recovering any clues associated with the leg just shouted that his family didn’t who led the research team, notes:
remains. In Rwanda, for example, a team bury him,” says Burns.b Proper though
Although bioarchaeology and fo-
assembled in 1995 to investigate a mass his position was, no Islamic family would
rensics are often confused, when
atrocity for the United Nations included bury their own in a garment sewn with
skeletal biologists use the population
archaeologists from the U.S. National polyester thread; proper ritual would
as the unit of analysis (rather than the
Park Service’s Midwest Archaeological require a simple shroud.
individual), and incorporate cultural
Center. They performed the standard In recent years two major anthropo-
and historical context (rather than
archaeological procedures of mapping logical analyses of skeletal remains have
simply ascribing biological character-
the site, determining its boundaries, occurred in New York City dealing with
istics), and report on the lifeways of
photographing and recording all surface both past and present atrocities. Amy
a past community (rather than on a
finds, and excavating, photographing, Zelson Mundorff, a forensic anthropolo-
crime for the police and courts), it is
and recording buried skeletons and as- gist for New York City’s Office of the
bioarchaeology rather than forensics.c
sociated materials in mass graves. a Chief Medical Examiner, was injured in
In another example, Karen Burns of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack Thus, several kinds of anthropologists
the University of Georgia was part of a on the World Trade Center. Two days later analyze human remains for a variety of
team sent to northern Iraq after the 1991 she returned to work to supervise and purposes, contributing to the documen-
Gulf War to investigate alleged atroci- coordinate the management, treatment, tation and correction of atrocities
ties. On a military base where there had and cataloguing of people who lost their committed by humans of the past and
lives in the attack. present.
a
Conner, M. (1996). The archaeology of
b c
contemporary mass graves. SAA Bulletin Cornwell, T. (1995, November 10). Skeleton Blakey, M. Personal communication, Octo-
14(4), 6, 31. staff. Times Higher Education, 20. ber 29, 2003.

and customs—the ethnographer seeks to understand a the islands of the Pacific Ocean, the Indian reservations
particular way of life to a far greater extent than any non- of North America, the deserts of Australia, and so on.
participant researcher ever could. Being a participant ob- However, as the discipline of anthropology developed
server does not mean that the anthropologist must join in response to the end of colonialism since the mid-20th
in a people’s battles in order to study a culture in which century, peoples and cultures in industrialized nations,
warfare is prominent; but by living among a warlike including Europe and the United States, also became a
people, the ethnographer should be able to understand legitimate focus of anthropological study. Some of this
how warfare fits into the overall cultural framework. shift occurred as scholars from non-Western nations be-
She or he must observe carefully to gain an overview came anthropologists. An even more significant factor is
without placing too much emphasis on one part at the globalization, a worldwide process that rapidly transforms
expense of another. Only by discovering how all aspects cultures—shifting, blurring, and even breaking long-
of a culture—its social, political, economic, and religious established boundaries between different peoples.
practices and institutions—relate to one another can the Ethnographic fieldwork has changed from anthropo-
ethnographer begin to understand the cultural system. logical experts observing, documenting, and analyzing
This is the holistic perspective so basic to the discipline. people from distant “other places” to collaborative efforts
The popular image of ethnographic fieldwork is among anthropologists and the communities in which
that it occurs among people who live in far-off, isolated they work, producing knowledge that is valuable not only
places. To be sure, much ethnographic work has been in the academic realm but also to the people being stud-
done in the remote villages of Africa or South America, ied. Today, anthropologists from all parts of the globe
12 Chapter One/The Essence of Anthropology

employ research techniques similar to those developed practices in the past, as well as human, plant, and ani-
in the study of traditional non-Western peoples to inves- mal remains, some of which date back 2.5 million years.
tigate a wide range of cultural niches, including those in The details of exactly how these traces were arranged
industrial and postindustrial societies—from religious when they were found reflect specific human ideas and
movements to confl ict resolution, street gangs, schools, behavior. For example, shallow, restricted concentra-
corporate bureaucracies, and health-care systems. tions of charcoal that include oxidized earth, bone frag-
ments, and charred plant remains, located near pieces
Ethnology of fire-cracked rock, pottery, and tools suitable for food
Although ethnographic fieldwork is basic to cultural an- preparation, indicate cooking and food processing. Such
thropology, it is not the sole occupation of the cultural remains can reveal much about a people’s diet and sub-
anthropologist. Largely descriptive in nature, ethnog- sistence practices. Together with skeletal remains, these
raphy provides the raw data needed for ethnology—the material remains help archaeologists reconstruct the bio-
branch of cultural anthropology that involves cross- cultural context of human life in the past.
cultural comparisons and theories that explain differ- Archaeologists can reach back for clues to human
ences or similarities among groups. behavior far beyond the mere 5,000 years to which his-
Intriguing insights into one’s own beliefs and prac- torians are confi ned by their reliance on written records.
tices may come from cross-cultural comparisons. Con- Calling this time period “prehistoric” does not mean
sider, for example, the amount of time spent on domes- that these societies were less interested in their history
tic chores by industrialized peoples and traditional food or that they did not have ways of recording and transmit-
foragers (people who rely on wild plant and animal ting history. It simply means that written records do not
resources for subsistence). Anthropological research now exist. That said, archaeologists are not limited to
among food foragers has shown that they work far less the study of societies without written records; they may
at domestic tasks, and indeed less at all subsistence pur- also study those for which historic documents are avail-
suits, than do people in industrialized societies. Urban able to supplement the material remains. In most liter-
women in the United States who were not working for ate societies, written records are associated with govern-
wages outside their homes put 55 hours a week into their ing elites rather than with farmers, fishers, laborers, or
housework—this despite all the “labor-saving” dishwash- slaves. Although written records can tell archaeologists
ers, washing machines, clothes dryers, vacuum cleaners, much that might not be known from archaeological evi-
food processors, and microwave ovens; in contrast, ab- dence alone, it is equally true that material remains can
original women in Australia devoted 20 hours a week to tell historians much about a society that is not apparent
their chores.3 from its written documents.
Considering such cross-cultural comparisons, one Although most archaeologists concentrate on the
may think of ethnology as the study of alternative ways human past, some of them study material objects in con-
of doing things. But more than that, by making system- temporary settings. One example is the Garbage Project,
atic comparisons, ethnologists seek to arrive at scientific founded by William Rathje at the University of Arizona
conclusions concerning the function and operation of in 1973. This carefully controlled study of household
cultural practices in all times and places. Today many waste continues to produce thought-provoking informa-
cultural anthropologists apply such insights in a variety tion about contemporary social issues. Among its accom-
of contexts ranging from business to education to gov- plishments, the project has tested the validity of survey
ernmental interventions to humanitarian aid. techniques, upon which sociologists, economists, and
other social scientists and policymakers rely heavily.
For example, in 1973 conventional techniques were
Archaeology used to construct and administer a questionnaire to fi nd
out about the rate of alcohol consumption in Tucson. In
Archaeology is the field of anthropology that studies hu-
one part of town, 15 percent of respondent households af-
man cultures through the recovery and analysis of ma-
firmed consumption of beer, but no household reported
terial remains and environmental data. Material prod-
consumption of more than eight cans a week. Analysis of
ucts scrutinized by archaeologists include tools, pottery,
garbage from the same area, however, demonstrated that
hearths, and enclosures that remain as traces of cultural
some beer was consumed in over 80 percent of house-
holds, and 50 percent discarded more than eight empty
3Bodley, J. H. (1985). Anthropology and contemporary human problems
(2nd ed., p. 69). Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield. cans a week. Another interesting fi nding of the Garbage
Project is that when beef prices reached an all-time high
in 1973, so did the amount of beef wasted by households
archaeology The study of human cultures through the recovery
and analysis of material remains and environmental data. (not just in Tucson but in other parts of the country as
well). Although common sense would lead us to suppose
 Anthropology and Its Fields 13

© David Simchock/vagabondvistas.com

Few places have caused as much speculation as Rapa Nui, a tiny volcanic island in the middle of the
southern Pacific Ocean. Better known as Easter Island, it is one of the most remote and remarkable places
on earth. The landscape is punctuated by nearly 900 colossal stone “heads,” some towering to 65 feet. The
islanders call them moai, and they have puzzled visitors ever since Dutch seafarers first discovered the
island on Easter Day, 1722. By then, it was a barren land with a few thousand people for whom the moai
were already ancient relics. Since the 1930s, anthropologists have used evidence from many subfields,
especially oral traditions and archaeological excavations, to reconstruct a fascinating but troubling island
history of environmental destruction and internal warfare.4

just the opposite, high prices and scarcity correlate with the protection of cultural resources and involves sur-
more, rather than less, waste. Such fi ndings are impor- veying and/or excavating archaeological and historical
tant for they demonstrate that ideas about human behav- remains threatened by construction or development.
ior based on conventional interview-survey techniques For example, in the United States, if the transportation
alone can be seriously in error. Likewise, they show that department of a state government plans to replace an
what people actually do does not always match what inadequate highway bridge, steps have to be taken to
they think they do. identify and protect any significant prehistoric or his-
In 1987, the Garbage Project began a program of ex- toric resources that might be affected by this new con-
cavating landfi lls in different parts of the United States struction. Federal legislation passed since the mid-1960s
and Canada. From this work came the fi rst reliable data now requires cultural resource management for any
on what materials actually go into landfi lls and what building project that is partially funded or licensed by
happens to them there. And once again, common beliefs the U.S. government. As a result, the practice of cultural
turned out to be at odds with the actual situation. For ex- resource management has flourished. Many archaeolo-
ample, biodegradable materials such as newspapers take gists are employed by such agencies as the U.S. Army
far longer to decay when buried in deep compost land- Corps of Engineers, the National Park Service, the U.S.
fi lls than anyone had previously expected. This kind of Forest Service, and the U.S. Soil and Conservation Ser-
information is a vital step toward solving waste disposal vice to assist in the preservation, restoration, and salvage
problems.5 of archaeological resources.
Archaeologists are also employed by state historic
Cultural Resource Management preservation agencies. Moreover, they consult for engi-
While archaeology may conjure up images of ancient neering firms to help them prepare environmental im-
pyramids and the like, much archaeological research pact statements. Some of these archaeologists operate
is carried out as cultural resource management. This out of universities and colleges, while others are on the
branch of archaeology is tied to government policies for staffs of independent consulting fi rms. Finally, some ar-
chaeologists now also work for American Indian nations
4For more information, see the following: Anderson, A. (2002). involved in cultural resource management on reserva-
Faunal collapse, landscape change, and settlement history in Re- tion lands.
mote Oceania. World Archaeology 33(3),375–390; Van Tilburg, J. A.
(1994). Easter Island: Archaeology, ecology, and culture. London: Brit-
cultural resource management A branch of archaeology tied
ish Museum Press.
to government policies for the protection of cultural resources and
5Details about the Garbage Project’s past and present work can involving surveying and/or excavating archaeological and histori-
be seen on its website:http://info-center.ccit.arizona.edu/~bara/ cal remains threatened by construction or development.
report.htm.
14 Chapter One/The Essence of Anthropology

Linguistic Anthropology ANTHROPOLOGY, SCIENCE,

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the human spe- AND THE HUMANITIES
cies is language. Although the sounds and gestures made
Anthropology has been called the most humane of the
by some other animals—especially by apes—may serve
sciences and the most scientific of the humanities—a
functions comparable to those of human language, no
designation that most anthropologists accept with pride.
other animal has developed a system of symbolic com-
Given their intense involvement with people of all times
munication as complex as that of humans. Language al-
and places, it should come as no surprise that anthropol-
lows people to preserve and transmit countless details of
ogists have amassed considerable information about hu-
their culture from generation to generation.
man failure and success, weakness and greatness—the
The field of anthropology that studies human lan-
real stuff of the humanities. While anthropologists steer
guages is called linguistic anthropology. Linguists may
clear of an impersonal scientific approach that reduces
deal with the description of a language (such as the way
people and the things they do and think to mere num-
a sentence is formed or a verb conjugated), the history of
bers, their quantitative studies have contributed substan-
languages (the way languages develop and change with
tially to the scientific study of the human condition. But
the passage of time), or with language in relation to social
even the most scientific anthropologists always keep in
and cultural contexts. All three approaches yield valu-
mind that human societies are made up of individuals
able information about how people communicate and
with rich assortments of emotions and aspirations that
how they understand the world around them. The ev-
demand respect.
eryday language of English-speaking North Americans,
Beyond this, anthropologists remain committed to
for example, includes a number of slang words, such as
the proposition that one cannot fully understand another
dough, greenback, dust, loot, bucks, change, and bread, to
culture by simply observing it; as the term participant
identify what an indigenous inhabitant of Papua New
observation implies, one must experience it as well. This
Guinea would recognize only as “money.” The profusion
same commitment to fieldwork and to the systematic col-
of names helps to identify a thing of special importance
lection of data, whether it is qualitative or quantitative, is
to a culture.
also evidence of the scientific side of anthropology. An-
Anthropological linguists also make a significant
thropology is an empirical social science based in obser-
contribution to our understanding of the human past. By
vations about humans. But what distinguishes anthro-
working out relationships among languages and exam-
pology from other sciences are the diverse ways in which
ining their spatial distributions, they may estimate how
scientific research is conducted within anthropology.
long the speakers of those languages have lived where
Science, a carefully honed way of producing knowl-
they do. By identifying those words in related languages
edge, aims to reveal and explain the underlying logic,
that have survived from an ancient ancestral tongue,
the structural processes that make the world “tick.” It is
they can also suggest not only where, but how, the speak-
a creative endeavor that seeks testable explanations for
ers of the ancestral language lived. Such work shows lin-
observed phenomena, ideally in terms of the workings
guistic ties between geographically distant groups such
of hidden but unchanging principles, or laws. Two basic
as the people of Finland and Turkey.
ingredients are essential for this: imagination and skepti-
Linguistic anthropology is practiced in a number of
cism. Imagination, though capable of leading us astray, is
applied settings. For example, linguistic anthropologists
required to help us recognize unexpected ways phenom-
have collaborated with indigenous communities and eth-
ena might be ordered and to think of old things in new
nic minorities in the preservation or revival of languages
ways. Without it, there can be no science. Skepticism is
lost during periods of oppression by dominant societies.
what allows us to distinguish fact (an observation veri-
Anthropologists have helped to create written forms of
fied by others) from fancy, to test our speculations, and
some languages that previously existed only by word of
to prevent our imaginations from running away with us.
mouth. These examples of applied linguistic anthropol-
In their search for explanations, scientists do not as-
ogy represent the kind of true collaboration that is char-
sume that things are always as they appear on the sur-
acteristic of much anthropological fieldwork today.
face. After all, what could be more obvious than that the
earth is a stable entity, around which the sun travels ev-
linguistic anthropology The study of human languages, ery day? And yet, it isn’t so.
looking at their structure, history, and/or relation to social and Like other scientists, anthropologists often begin
cultural contexts. their research with a hypothesis (a tentative explana-
empirical Based on observations of the world rather than on tion or hunch) about the possible relationships between
intuition or faith.
certain observed facts or events. By gathering various
hypothesis A tentative explanation of the relation between
certain phenomena. kinds of data that seem to ground such suggested ex-
planations on evidence, anthropologists come up with a
 Anthropology, Science, and the Humanities 15

Anthropologists of Note
Franz Boas (1858–1942)
Matilda Coxe Stevenson (1849–1915)

Franz Boas was not the first to teach two generations of great anthropologists,
anthropology in the United States, but including numerous women and ethnic
it was he and his students, with their minorities.
insistence on scientific rigor, who made As a Jewish immigrant, Boas recog-

© Smithsonian Institution Photo # 56196

anthropology courses a common part nized the dangers of ethnocentrism and
of college and university curricula. Born especially racism. Through ethnographic
and raised in Germany, where he studied fieldwork and comparative analysis, he
physics, mathematics, and geography, demonstrated that white supremacy
Boas did his first ethnographic research theories and other schemes ranking non-
among the Inuit (Eskimos) in Arctic European peoples and cultures as inferior
Canada in 1883–1884. After a brief were biased, ill-informed, and unscien-
academic career in Berlin, he came to tific. Throughout his long and illustrious
the United States. There, after work in academic career, he not only promoted
museums interspersed with ethnographic anthropology as a human science but
research among Kwakiutl Indians in the also as an instrument to combat racism since World War II more than half the
Canadian Pacific, he became a professor and prejudice in the world. presidents of the now 12,000-member
at Columbia University in New York City Among the founders of North Amer- American Anthropological Association
in 1896. He authored an incredible num- ican anthropology were a number of have been women.
ber of publications, founded professional women who were highly influential Recording observations on film as
organizations and journals, and taught among women’s rights advocates in well as in notebooks, Stevenson and
the late 1800s. One such pioneering an- Boas were also pioneers in visual an-
thropologist was Matilda Coxe Steven- thropology. Stevenson used an early
son, who did fieldwork among the Zuni box camera to document Pueblo Indian
Indians of Arizona. In 1885, she founded religious ceremonies and material cul-
the Women’s Anthropological Society in ture, while Boas photographed Inuit
Washington, D.C., the first professional (Eskimos) in northern Canada in 1883
association for women scientists. Three and Kwakiutl Indians from the early
years later, hired by the Smithsonian’s 1890s for cultural as well as physical
Bureau of American Ethnology, she be- anthropological documentation. Today,
came one of the first women in the world these old photographs are greatly valued
© Bettmann/Corbis

to receive a full-time official position in not only by anthropologists and histo-

science. rians, but also by indigenous peoples
The tradition of women being ac- themselves.
tive in anthropology continues. In fact,

theory—an explanation supported by a reliable body suggested it is strongly motivated to verify it, and this
of data. In their effort to demonstrate linkages between can cause one to unwittingly overlook negative evidence
known facts or events, anthropologists may discover and unanticipated fi ndings. This is a familiar problem in
unexpected facts, events, or relationships. An important all science as noted by paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould:
function of theory is that it guides us in our explorations “The greatest impediment to scientific innovation is usu-
and may result in new knowledge. Equally important, ally a conceptual lock, not a factual lock.”6 Because cul-
the newly discovered facts may provide evidence that ture provides humans with their concepts and shapes our
certain explanations, however popular or fi rmly believed very thoughts, it can be challenging to frame hypotheses
to be true, are unfounded. When the evidence is lacking or develop interpretations that are not culture-bound.
or fails to support the suggested explanations, anthro- By encompassing both humanism and science, the disci-
pologists are forced to drop promising hypotheses or pline of anthropology can draw on its internal diversity
attractive hunches. In other words, anthropology relies to overcome conceptual locks.
on empirical evidence. Moreover, no scientific theory, no
matter how widely accepted by the international com- 6Gould, S. J. (1989). Wonderful life (p. 226). New York: Norton.
munity of scholars, is beyond challenge.
Straightforward though the scientific approach may
theory In science, an explanation of natural phenomena, sup-
seem, its application is not always easy. For instance, ported by a reliable body of data.
once a hypothesis has been proposed, the person who
16 Chapter One/The Essence of Anthropology

Fieldwork cultural comfort zone into a world that is unfamiliar and

sometimes unsettling. Anthropologists in the field are
All anthropologists are aware that personal and cultural likely to face a host of challenges—physical, social, men-
background may shape their research questions and, tal, political, and ethical. They may have to deal with the
more importantly, modify or even distort their actual physical challenge of adjusting to unfamiliar food, cli-
observations. Engaging in such critical self-reflection, mate, and hygiene conditions. Typically, anthropologists
they rely on a technique that also has proved success- in the field struggle with such mental challenges as lone-
ful in other disciplines: They immerse themselves in the liness, feeling like a perpetual outsider, being socially
data to the fullest extent possible. In the process, anthro- clumsy and clueless in their new cultural setting, and
pologists become so thoroughly familiar with even the having to be alert around the clock because anything
smallest details that they may begin to identify possible that is happening or being said may be significant to
relationships and underlying patterns in the data. Recog- their research. Political challenges include the possibility
nition of such suspected relationships and patterns en- of unwittingly letting oneself be used by factions within
ables anthropologists to frame meaningful hypotheses, the community or being viewed with hostility by gov-
which then may be subjected to further testing on loca- ernment authorities who may suspect the anthropologist
tion or “in the field.” Within anthropology, such field- is a spy. And there are ethical dilemmas: what to do if
work brings additional rigor to the concept of total im- faced with a cultural practice one fi nds troubling, such as
mersion in the data. female circumcision; how to deal with demands for food
Touched upon above in our discussion of cultural an- supplies and/or medicine; how to handle the temptation
thropology, fieldwork is also characteristic of the other to use deception to gain vital information; and so on.
anthropological subdisciplines. Archaeologists and pa- At the same time, fieldwork often leads to tangible
leoanthropologists excavate sites in the field. A biologi- and meaningful personal, professional, and social re-
cal anthropologist interested in the effects of globaliza- wards, ranging from lasting friendships to vital knowl-
tion on nutrition and human growth will reside in the edge and insights concerning the human condition that
particular community of people selected for study. A make positive contributions to people’s lives. Some-
primatologist might live among a group of chimpanzees thing of the meaning of anthropological fieldwork—its
or baboons just as a linguist will study the language of usefulness and its impact on researcher and subject—is
a people by living among them and sharing their daily conveyed in the following Original Study by Suzanne
life. Fieldwork, being on location and fully immersed Leclerc-Madlala, an anthropologist who left her familiar
in another way of life, challenges the anthropologist to New England surroundings two decades ago to do AIDS
be constantly aware of the possible ways that otherwise research among Zulu-speaking people in South Africa.
unsuspected cultural factors may influence the research Her research interest has changed the course of her own
questions, observations, and explanations. life, not to mention the lives of individuals who have
Fieldwork requires researchers to step out of their HIV/AIDS and the type of treatment they receive.

Original Study
By Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala

Fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa: Traditional Healers

KwaZulu-
on the Front Line Natal

In the 1980s, as a North American an- that I could to make a difference, and
UE
IQ
MB

thropology graduate student at George this culminated in earning a Ph.D. from ZIMBABWE
Indian
A
MOZ

Washington University, I met and married the University of Natal on the cultural BOTSWANA Ocean
a Zulu-speaking student from South construction of AIDS among the Zulu. NAMIBIA
SWAZILAND
Africa. It was the height of apartheid, The HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa became
KwaZulu-
and upon moving to that country I was my professional passion. Atlantic SOUTH Natal
classified as “honorary black” and forced Faced with overwhelming global Ocean AFRICA

to live in a segregated township with my health-care needs, the World Health LESOTHO
husband. The AIDS epidemic was in its Organization passed a series of resolu-
infancy, but it was clear from the start tions in the 1970s promoting collabora- of modern medicine by a ratio of 100 to 1
that an anthropological understanding tion between traditional and modern or more. Given Africa’s disproportionate
of how people perceive and engage with medicine. Such moves held a special burden of disease, supporting partnership
this disease would be crucial for develop- relevance for Africa where traditional efforts with traditional healers makes
ing interventions. I wanted to learn all healers typically outnumber practitioners sense. But what sounds sensible today
 Anthropology’s Comparative Method 17

was once considered absurd, even hereti- tures and convince them of the superior- previously healers reused the same razor
cal. For centuries Westerners generally ity of modern medicine. Yet, today, few on many clients. Some healers claim
viewed traditional healing as a whole lot of the 6,000-plus KwaZulu-Natal healers they have given up the practice of biting
of primitive mumbo jumbo practiced by who have been trained in AIDS education clients’ skin to remove foreign objects
witchdoctors with demonic powers who say they would opt for less collaboration; from the body. It is not uncommon today,
perpetuated superstition. Yet, its practice most want to have more. especially in urban centers like Durban,
survived. Today, as the African continent Treatments by Zulu healers for HIV/ to find healers proudly displaying AIDS
grapples with an HIV/AIDS epidemic of AIDS often take the form of infusions training certificates in their inner-city
crisis proportion, millions of sick people of bitter herbs to “cleanse” the body, “surgeries” where they don white jackets
who are either too poor or too distant to strengthen the blood, and remove mis- and wear protective latex gloves.
access modern health care are proving fortune and “pollution.” Some treatments Politics and controversy have dogged
that traditional healers are an invaluable provide effective relief from common South Africa’s official response to HIV/
resource in the fight against AIDS. ailments associated with AIDS such as AIDS. But back home in the waddle-and-
Of the world’s estimated 40 million itchy skin rashes, oral thrush, persistent daub, animal-skin-draped herbariums
people currently infected by HIV, 70 per- diarrhea, and general debility. Indigenous and divining huts of traditional healers,
cent live in sub-Saharan Africa, and the plants such as unwele (Sutherlandia the politics of AIDS holds little relevance.
vast majority of children Here the sick and dying
left orphaned by AIDS are are coming in droves to be
African. From the 1980s treated by healers who have
onward, as Africa became been part and parcel of
synonymous with the community life (and death)
rapid spread of HIV/AIDS, since time immemorial. In
a number of preven- many cases traditional heal-
tion programs involved ers have transformed their
traditional healers. My homes into hospices for
initial research in South AIDS patients. Because of
Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal the strong stigma that still
province—where it is esti- plagues the disease, those
mated that 36 percent of with AIDS symptoms are of-
the population is HIV in- ten abandoned or sometimes
fected—revealed that tra- chased away from their
© Kerry Cullinan

ditional Zulu healers were homes by family members.

regularly consulted for They seek refuge with heal-
the treatment of sexually ers who provide them with
transmitted disease (STD). comfort in their final days.
I found that such diseases, Medical anthropologist Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala visits with “Doctor” Koloko Healers’ homes are also
along with HIV/AIDS, in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This Zulu traditional healer proudly displays becoming orphanages as
were usually attributed to her official AIDS training certificate. healers respond to what has
transgressions of taboos been called the “third wave”
related to birth, pregnancy, marriage, frutescens) and African potato (Hy- of AIDS destruction: the growing legions
and death. Moreover, these diseases were poxis hemerocallidea) are well-known of orphaned children.
often understood within a framework of traditional medicines that have proven The practice of traditional healing in
pollution and contagion, and like most immuno-boosting properties. Africa is adapting to the changing face
serious illnesses, ultimately believed to Both have recently become available of health and illness in the context of
have their causal roots in witchcraft. in modern pharmacies packaged in tablet HIV/AIDS. But those who are suffering go
In the course of my research, I investi- form. With modern anti-retroviral treat- to traditional healers not only in search
gated a pioneer program in STD and HIV ments still well beyond the reach of most of relief for physical symptoms. They go
education for traditional healers in the South Africans, indigenous medicines to learn about the ultimate cause of their
province. The program aimed to provide that can delay or alleviate some of the disease—something other than the im-
basic biomedical knowledge about the suffering caused by AIDS are proving to mediate cause of a sexually transmitted
various modes of disease transmission, be valuable and popular treatments. “germ” or “virus.” They go to find answers
the means available for prevention, the Knowledge about potentially infec- to the “why me and not him” questions,
diagnosing of symptoms, the keeping of tious bodily fluids has led healers to the “why now” and “why this.” As with
records, and the making of patient refer- change some of their practices. Where most traditional healing systems world-
rals to local clinics and hospitals. porcupine quills were once used to give wide, healing among the Zulu and most
Interviews with the healers showed a type of indigenous injection, patients all African ethnic groups cannot be sepa-
that many maintained a deep suspicion are now advised to bring their own sew- rated from the spiritual concerns of the
of modern medicine. They perceived AIDS ing needles to consultations. Patients individual and the cosmological beliefs of
education as a one-way street intended provide their own individual razor blades the community at large. Traditional heal-
to press them into formal health struc- for making incisions on their skin, where CONTINUED
18 Chapter One/The Essence of Anthropology

CONTINUED

ers help to restore a sense of balance be- of healing than that offered by modern can facilitate, like no other discipline, the
tween the individual and the community, medicine. type of understanding that is urgently
on one hand, and between the individual Traditional healing in Africa is flour- needed to address the AIDS crisis.
and the cosmos, or ancestors, on the ishing in the era of AIDS, and under- (By Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala. Adapted
other hand. They provide health care that standing why this is so requires a shift in part from S. Leclerc-Madlala (2002).
is personalized, culturally appropriate, in the conceptual framework by which Bodies and politics: Healing rituals in the
holistic, and tailored to meet the needs we understand, explain, and interpret democratic South Africa. In V. Faure (Ed.),
and expectations of the patient. In many health. Anthropological methods and Les cahiers de ‘I’IFAS, No. 2. Johannesburg:
ways it is a far more satisfactory form its comparative and holistic perspective The French Institute.)

ANTHROPOLOGY’S through time. Anthropologists examine a global sample

of societies in order to discover whether or not hypoth-
COMPARATIVE METHOD eses proposed to explain cultural phenomena or biologi-
The end product of anthropological research, if properly cal variation are universally applicable. However, cross-
carried out, is a coherent statement about a people that cultural researchers depend upon data gathered by other
provides an explanatory framework for understanding scholars as well as their own. Similarly, archaeologists
the beliefs, behavior, or biology of those who have been and biological anthropologists rely on artifacts and skel-
studied. And this, in turn, is what permits the anthropol- etal collections housed in museums, as well as published
ogist to frame broader hypotheses about human beliefs, descriptions of these collections.
behavior, and biology. A single instance of any phenom-
enon is generally insufficient for supporting a plausible
hypothesis. Without some basis for comparison, the hy-
QUESTIONS OF ETHICS
pothesis grounded in a single case may be no more than The kinds of research carried out by anthropologists, and
a particular historical coincidence. On the other hand, a the settings within which they work, raise a number of
single case may be enough to cast doubt on, if not re- important moral questions about the potential uses and
fute, a theory that had previously been held to be valid. abuses of our knowledge. Who will utilize our fi ndings
For example, the discovery in 1948 that aborigines living and for what purposes? Who decides what research ques-
in Australia’s northern Arnhem Land put in an average tions are asked? Who, if anyone, will profit from the re-
workday of less than 6 hours, while living well above a search? For example, in the case of research on an ethnic
level of bare sufficiency, was enough to call into question or religious minority whose values may be at odds with
the widely accepted notion that food-foraging peoples dominant mainstream society, will governmental or cor-
are so preoccupied with fi nding scarce food that they porate interests use anthropological data to suppress that
lack time for any of life’s more pleasurable activities. The group? And what of traditional communities around the
observations made in the Arnhem Land study have since world? Who is to decide what changes should, or should
been confirmed many times over in various parts of the not, be introduced for community “betterment”? And
world. who defi nes what constitutes betterment—the commu-
Hypothetical explanations of cultural and biologi- nity, a national government, or an international agency
cal phenomena may be tested through comparison of like the World Health Organization? What are the limits
archaeological, biological, linguistic, historical, and/or of cultural relativism when a traditional practice is con-
ethnographic data for several societies found in a par- sidered a human rights abuse globally?
ticular region. Carefully controlled comparison pro- Then there is the problem of privacy. Anthropolo-
vides a broader basis for drawing general conclusions gists deal with matters that are private and sensitive, in-
about humans than does the study of a single culture or cluding things that individuals would prefer not to have
population. The anthropologist who undertakes such a generally known about them. How does one write about
comparison may be more confident that events or fea- such important but delicate issues and at the same time
tures believed to be related really are related, at least protect the privacy of the individuals who have shared
within the area under investigation; however, an expla- their stories? The American Anthropological Associa-
nation that is valid in one area is not necessarily so in tion (AAA) maintains a Statement of Ethics, which is
another. regularly examined and modified to reflect the practice
Ideally, theories in anthropology are generated from of anthropology in a changing world. This educational
worldwide comparisons or comparisons across species or document lays out the rules and ideals applicable to an-
 Anthropology and Globalization 19

thropologists in all the subdisciplines. While the AAA nication costs, faster knowledge transfers, and increased
has no legal authority, it does issue policy statements on trade and fi nancial integration among countries. Touch-
research ethics questions as they come up. For example, ing almost everybody’s life on the planet, globalization
recently the AAA recommended that field notes from is about economics as much as politics, and it changes
medical settings should be protected and not subject to human relations and ideas as well as our natural envi-
subpoena in malpractice lawsuits. This honors the ethi- ronments. Even geographically remote communities
cal imperative to protect the privacy of individuals who are quickly becoming more interdependent through
have shared their stories with anthropologists. globalization.
Anthropologists recognize that they have special ob- Doing research in all corners of the world, anthro-
ligations to three sets of people: those whom they study, pologists are confronted with the impact of globalization
those who fund the research, and those in the profession on human communities wherever they are located. As
who expect us to publish our fi ndings so that they may be participant observers, they describe and try to explain
used to further our collective knowledge. Because field- how individuals and organizations respond to the mas-
work requires a relationship of trust between fieldwork- sive changes confronting them. Anthropologists may
ers and the community in which they work, the anthro- also fi nd out how local responses sometimes change the
pologist’s fi rst responsibility clearly is to the individuals global flows directed at them.
who have shared their stories and the greater commu- Dramatically increasing every year, globalization
nity. Everything possible must be done to protect their can be a two-edged sword. It may generate economic
physical, social, and psychological welfare and to honor growth and prosperity, but it also undermines long-
their dignity and privacy. This task is frequently com- established institutions. Generally, globalization has
plex. For example, telling the story of a group of people brought significant gains to higher-educated groups in
gives information both to relief agencies who might help wealthier countries, while doing little to boost develop-
them and to others who might take advantage of them. ing countries and actually contributing to the erosion of
While anthropologists regard as basic a people’s traditional cultures. Upheavals born of globalization are
right to maintain their own culture, any connections key causes for rising levels of ethnic and religious con-
with outsiders can endanger the cultural identity of the fl ict throughout the world.
community being studied. To overcome these obstacles, Since all of us now live in a global village, we can no
anthropologists frequently collaborate with and contrib- longer afford the luxury of ignoring our neighbors, no
ute to the communities in which they are working, al- matter how distant they may seem. In this age of global-
lowing the people being studied to have some say about ization, anthropology may not only provide humanity
how their stories are told. with useful insights concerning diversity, but it may also
assist us in avoiding or overcoming significant problems
born of that diversity. In countless social arenas, from
ANTHROPOLOGY schools to businesses to hospitals to emergency centers,
anthropologists have done cross-cultural research that
AND GLOBALIZATION makes it possible for educators, businesspeople, doctors,
A holistic perspective and a long-term commitment and humanitarians to do their work more effectively.
to understanding the human species in all its variety The wide-ranging relevance of anthropological
is the essence of anthropology. Thus, anthropology is knowledge in today’s world may be illustrated by three
well equipped to grapple with an issue that has overrid- quite different examples. In the United States today, dis-
ing importance for all of us at the beginning of the 21st crimination based on notions of race continues to be a
century: globalization. This term refers to worldwide serious issue affecting economic, political, and social re-
interconnectedness, evidenced in global movements of lations. Far from being a biological reality, anthropolo-
natural resources, human labor, fi nance capital, informa- gists have shown that the concept of race emerged in the
tion, infectious diseases, and trade goods (including hu- 18th century as a device for justifying European domi-
man organs as described in this chapter’s Globalscape). nance over Africans and American Indians. In fact, dif-
Although worldwide travel, trade relations, and infor- ferences of skin color are simply surface adaptations to
mation flow have existed for several centuries, the pace different climatic zones and have nothing to do with
and magnitude of these long-distance exchanges has physical or mental capabilities. Indeed, geneticists fi nd
picked up enormously in recent decades; the Internet, in
particular, has greatly expanded information exchange
globalization Worldwide interconnectedness, evidenced in
capacities.
global movements of natural resources, trade goods, human labor,
The powerful forces driving globalization are tech- fi nance capital, information, and infectious diseases.
nological innovations, lower transportation and commu-
20 Chapter One/The Essence of Anthropology

GLOBALSCAPE
Arctic
Ocean

ASIA

NORTH EUROPE
AMERICA

Atlantic
Ocean

AFRICA Bangalore Pacific

Pacific Ocean
Mandya
Ocean

Indian
SOUTH Ocean
AMERICA

AUSTRALIA
© K. Bhagya Prakash in Frontline, Vol. 49, No. 7

ANTARCTICA

A Global Body Shop? Lakhsmamma, a mother in southern India’s rural village of Holalu,
near Mandya, has sold one of her kidneys for about 30,000 rupees ($650). This is far below the
average going rate of $6,000 per kidney in the global organ transplant business. But, the bro-
ker took his commission, and corrupt officials needed to be paid as well. Although India passed
a law in 1994 prohibiting the buying and selling of human organs, the business is booming. In
Europe and North America, kidney transplants can cost $200,000 or more, plus the waiting
list for donor kidneys is long, and dialysis is expensive. Thus, “transplant tourism” to India and
several other countries caters to affluent patients in search of “fresh” kidneys to be harvested
from poor people like Lakshmamma, pictured here with her daughter.
Global Twister Considering that $650 is a fortune in a poor village like Holalu, does medi-
cal globalization benefit or exploit people like Lakshmamma who are looked upon as human
commodities?

far more biological variation within any given human sexual unions the benefits and protections afforded by
population than among them. In short, human “races” marriage.7 In some societies—including Spain, Canada,
are divisive categories based on prejudice, false ideas of Belgium, and the Netherlands—same-sex marriages are
differences, and erroneous notions of the superiority of considered socially acceptable and allowed by law, even
one’s own group. Given the importance of this issue, though opposite-sex marriages are far more common.
race and other aspects of biological variation will be dis- As individuals, countries, and states struggle to de-
cussed further in upcoming sections of the text. fi ne the boundaries of legal protections they will grant
A second example involves the issue of same-sex to same-sex couples, the anthropological perspective on
marriage. In 1989, Denmark became the fi rst country
to enact a comprehensive set of legal protections for
same-sex couples, known as the Registered Partner- 7Merin, Y. (2002). Equality for same-sex couples: The legal recognition of
gay partnerships in Europe and the United States. Chicago: University
ship Act. At this writing, more than a half-dozen other
of Chicago Press; “Court says same-sex marriage is a right” (2004,
countries and some individual states within the United February 5), San Francisco Chronicle; current overviews and updates
States have passed similar laws, variously named, and on the global status of same-sex marriage are posted on the Inter-
numerous countries around the world are considering net by the Partners Task Force for Gay & Lesbian Couples at www
or have passed legislation providing people in homo- .buddybuddy.com.
 Suggested Readings 21

marriage is useful. Anthropologists have documented vided among several states, primarily Turkey, Iraq, and
same-sex marriages in many human societies in various Iran. The modern boundaries of these states were drawn
parts of the world, where they are regarded as accept- up after World War I, with little regard for the region’s
able under appropriate circumstances. Homosexual be- ethnic groups or nations. Similar processes have taken
havior occurs in the animal world just as it does among place throughout the world, especially in Asia and Af-
humans.8 The key difference between people and other rica, often making political conditions in these countries
animals is that human societies entertain beliefs regard- inherently unstable.
ing homosexual behavior, just as they do for hetero- As we will see in later chapters, states and nations
sexual behavior—beliefs that specify when, where, how, rarely coincide, nations being split among different
and with whom sexual relations are appropriate or “nor- states, and states typically being controlled by members
mal.” An understanding of global variation in marriage of one nation who commonly use their control to gain
patterns and sexual behavior does not dictate that one access to the land, resources, and labor of other nation-
pattern is more right than another. It simply illustrates alities within the state. Most of the armed confl icts in the
that all human societies defi ne the boundaries for social world today, such as the many-layered confl icts among
relationships. the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, are of this sort and
A fi nal example relates to the common confusion are not mere acts of tribalism or terrorism, as commonly
of nation with state. Anthropology makes an important asserted.
distinction between these two: States are politically or- As these examples show, ignorance about other
ganized territories that are internationally recognized, peoples and their ways causes serious problems through-
whereas nations are socially organized bodies of people, out the world, especially now that we have developed
who putatively share ethnicity—a common origin, lan- a global system of fast information exchange and mass
guage, and cultural heritage. For example, the Kurds transportation that greatly increase our interaction and
constitute a nation, but their homeland (Kurdistan) is di- interdependence. Anthropology offers a way of looking
at and understanding the world’s peoples—insights that
8Kirkpatrick, R. C. (2000). The evolution of human homosexual be- are nothing less than basic skills for survival in this age
havior. Current Anthropology 41, 384. of globalization.

Questions for Reflection Suggested Readings

1. Anthropology uses a holistic approach to explain all aspects Bonvillain, N. (2000). Language, culture, and communication:
of human beliefs, behavior, and biology. How might anthro- The meaning of messages (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
pology challenge your personal perspective on the following Prentice-Hall.
questions: Where did we come from? Why do we act in cer- An up-to-date text on language and communication in a cul-
tain ways? What makes us tick? tural context.
2. From the holistic anthropological perspective, humans have
one leg in culture and the other in nature. Are there examples Fagan, B. M. (1999). Archeology: A brief introduction (7th ed.).
from your life that illustrate the interconnectedness of human New York: Longman.
biology and culture? This primer offers an overview of archaeological theory and
3. Globalization can be described as a two-edged sword. How methodology, from field survey techniques to excavation to
does it foster growth and destruction simultaneously? analysis of materials.
4. The textbook defi nitions of state and nation are based on sci-
entific distinctions between both organizational types. How- Jones, S., Martin R., & Pilbeam, D. (Eds.). (1992). Cambridge
ever, this distinction is commonly lost in everyday language. encyclopedia of human evolution. New York: Cambridge Univer-
Consider, for instance, the names United States of America and sity Press.
the United Nations. How does confusing the terms contribute This comprehensive introduction to the human species covers
to political confl ict? the gamut of biological anthropology, from genetics, prima-
5. The Biocultural Connection in this chapter contrasts differ- tology, and the fossil evidence to a detailed exploration of con-
ent cultural perspectives on brain death, while the Original temporary human ecology, demography, and disease. Contri-
Study features a discussion about traditional Zulu healers and butions by over seventy scholars.
their role in dealing with AIDS victims. What do these two ac-
counts suggest about the role of applied anthropology in deal- Kedia, S., & Van Willigen, J. (2005). Applied anthropology: Do-
ing with cross-cultural health issues around the world? mains of application. New York: Praeger.
22 Chapter One/The Essence of Anthropology

Compelling essays by prominent scholars on the potential, ing to class, doing laundry, or studying at your desk, you now
accomplishments, and methods of applied anthropology in have the freedom to choose when, where, and how you inter-
domains including development, agriculture, environment, act with your audio-based educational media. See the preface
health and medicine, nutrition, population displacement and for information on how to access this on-the-go study and re-
resettlement, business and industry, education, and aging. The view tool.
contributors show how anthropology can be used to address
today’s social, economic, health, and technical challenges.

Peacock, J. L. (2002). The anthropological lens: Harsh light, soft

The Anthropology Resource Center
focus (2nd ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. www.thomsonedu.com/anthropology
This lively and innovative book gives the reader a good under- The Anthropology Resource Center provides extended learn-
standing of the diversity of activities undertaken by cultural ing materials to reinforce your understanding of key concepts
anthropologists, while at the same time identifying the unify- in the four subfields of anthropology. For each of the four sub-
ing themes that hold the discipline together. Additions to the disciplines, the Resource Center includes dynamic exercises
second edition include such topics as globalization, gender, including video exercises, map exercises, simulations, and
and postmodernism. “Meet the Scientists” interviews, as well as critical thinking
questions that can be assigned and e-mailed to instructors.
The Resource Center also provides breaking news in anthro-
pology and interesting material on applied anthropology to
Thomson Audio Study Products help you link what you are learning to the world around you.
Enjoy the MP3-ready Audio Lecture Overviews for
each chapter and a comprehensive audio glossary of
key terms for quick study and review. Whether walk-
This page intentionally left blank
2 Biology and Evolution

CHALLENGE ISSUE
Monumental sculptures of
DNA, the molecule that con-
tains the human genetic
code, grace a variety of pub-
lic spaces today. They illus-
trate the molecular struc-
ture of DNA as well as its
profound social meaning.
Through sculptures like this
one, from the Lawrence Hall
of Science (a public science
museum and research center
for education at the Univer-
sity of California, Berkeley),
the structure of DNA be-
comes internalized as a nor-
mal part of daily life. Will the
scientific understanding of
the human genetic code fun-
damentally reshape our un-
derstanding of what it means
to be human? How much
of our lives are dictated by
the structure of DNA? And
what will be the social conse-
quences of depicting humans
as entities programmed by
their DNA? Individuals and
societies can answer these
challenging questions us-
ing an anthropological per-
spective that emphasizes the
connections between human
biology and culture.
© Charles C. Benton
 CHAPTER PREVIEW

What Is Evolution? What Is the Molecular What Are the

Although all living creatures ulti- Basis of Evolution? Forces Responsible
mately share a common ancestry, Scientists began to understand the for Evolution?
they have come to differ from one mechanics of heredity and how Four evolutionary forces—mutation,
another through the process of evolution works in populations long genetic drift, gene flow, and natural
evolution. Biological evolution refers before molecular biologists identi- selection—account for change in the
to genetic change over successive fied the genetic basis of evolutionary genetic composition of populations.
generations. The process of change change. With the discovery of DNA Random mutations introduce new
is characterized by descent with (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecules in genetic variation into individual
modification, as descendant popula- 1953, scientists came to understand organisms. Gene flow (the introduc-
tions come to differ from ancestral how genetic information is stored in tion of new gene variants from other
ones. As a population’s genetic varia- the chromosomes of a cell. Genes, populations), genetic drift (random
tion changes from one generation to specific portions of DNA molecules, changes in frequencies of gene vari-
another, genetic change is reflected direct the synthesis of the protein ants in a population), and natural
in visible differences between molecules upon which all living selection shape genetic variation at
organisms. organisms depend. the population level. Natural selec-
tion is the mechanism of evolution
that results in adaptive change,
favoring individuals with genetic
variants relatively better adapted to
local environment conditions.

25
26 Chapter Two/Biology and Evolution

A common part of the mythology of most peoples

is a story explaining the appearance of humans
on earth. The accounts of creation recorded in the Bible’s
Book of Genesis, for example, explain human origins. A
hypotheses drawn from evolutionary theories. Through
their research, scientists have deciphered the molecular
basis of evolution and the mechanisms through which
evolutionary forces work on populations of organisms.
Scientific accounts of evolution also differ from the tradi-
vastly different example, serving the same function, is tional Judeo-Christian-Islamic creation story in that it sit-
the traditional belief of the Nez Perce, a people native to uates humans fi rmly within the natural world. Though
eastern Oregon and Idaho. For the Nez Perce, humanity scientific theories of evolution treat humans as natural
is the creation of Coyote, a trickster-transformer inhabit- biological organisms, at the same time historical and cul-
ing the earth before humans. Coyote chased Wishpoosh, tural processes also shape evolutionary theory and our
the giant beaver monster, over the earth, leaving a trail understanding of it.
to form the Columbia River. When Coyote caught Wish-
poosh, he killed him, dragged his body to the riverbank,
and cut it into pieces; each body part transformed into
one of the various peoples of this region. The Nez Perce THE CLASSIFICATION
were made from Wishpoosh’s head, thus conferring on
them great intelligence and horsemanship.1
OF LIVING THINGS
Creation stories depict the relationship between hu- The development of biology and its central concept, evo-
mans and the rest of the natural world, sometimes re- lution, provide an excellent example of the ways that
flecting a deep connection among people, other animals, historical and cultural processes can shape scientific
and the earth. In the traditional Nez Perce creation story, thought. As the exploitation of foreign lands by Euro-
groups of people derive from specific body parts—each pean explorers, including Columbus, changed the pre-
possessing a special talent and relationship with a par- vailing European approach to the natural world, the dis-
ticular animal. By contrast, the story of creation depicted covery of new life forms challenged the previously held
in the Book of Genesis emphasizes human uniqueness notion of fi xed, unchanging life on earth. The invention
and the concept of time. Creation is depicted as a series of instruments such as the microscope to study the pre-
of actions occurring over the course of six days. God’s viously invisible interior of cells led to new levels of ap-
fi nal act of creation is to fashion the first human from the preciation of the diversity of life on earth.
earth in his own image before the seventh day of rest. Before this time, Europeans organized living things
This linear creation story from the Book of Gen- and inanimate objects alike into a ladder or hierarchy
esis—shared by Jews, Christians, and Muslims—differs known as the Great Chain of Being—an approach to na-
from the cyclical creation stories characteristic of the ture fi rst developed by Aristotle in ancient Greece over
Hindu religion, which emphasize reincarnation and the 2,000 years ago. The categories were based upon visible
cycle of life, including creation and destruction. The similarities, and one member of each category was con-
diversity of life on earth comes from three gods—Lord sidered its “primate” (from the Latin primus), meaning
Brahma, the creator; Lord Vishnu, the preserver; and the first or best of the group. For example, the primate of
Lord Shiva, the destroyer and re-creator—all of whom rocks was the diamond, and the primate of birds was the
are part of the Supreme One. When Lord Brahma sleeps eagle, and so forth. Humans were at the very top of the
the world is destroyed, then re-created again when he ladder, just below the angels.
awakes. Similarly, some sort of supreme being is integral This classificatory system was in place until Carl von
to creation according to the intelligent design movement Linné, writing with a Latin pen name Carolus Linnaeus,
centered at the Discovery Institute, a conservative think developed the Systema Naturae or system of nature in the
tank based in Seattle, Washington. 18th century, classifying all living things. A professor of
Evolution, the major organizing principle of the bio- medicine and botany in Sweden, Linnaeus prepared and
logical sciences, also accounts for the diversity of life on prescribed medicinal plants as did other physicians of
earth. However, evolution differs from creation stories in the time. He arranged for his students to join the major
that it explains the diversity of life in a consistent scien- European voyages such as Captain James Cook’s circum-
tific language, using testable ideas (hypotheses) that are navigation of the globe so they could bring back new me-
grounded in verifiable evidence. Contemporary scien- dicinal plants and other life forms. Von Linné’s compen-
tists make comparisons among living organisms to test dium reflected a new understanding of life on earth and
of the place of humanity among the animals.
1Clark, E. E. (1966). Indian legends of the Pacific Northwest (p. 174). Linnaeus noted the similarity among humans, mon-
Berkeley: University of California Press. keys, and apes, classifying them together as primates.
 The Classification of Living Things 27

An unforeseen consequence of
the exploitation of foreign lands
by European explorers beginning
with Columbus (here at the court of
Spain) was a change in the approach
to the natural world. New life forms
challenged the previously held
notion of fixed, unchanging life on
earth. Another unforeseen conse-
quence was the widespread death
of American Indians from exposure
to Old World infectious diseases the
explorers brought with them to the
New World.
© Art Resource, NY

But instead of being the fi rst or the best of the animals Linnaeus based his classificatory system on the fol-
on earth, primates are just one of several kinds of mam- lowing criteria:
mal, animals who suckle or nurse their young and pos-
1. Body structure: A Guernsey cow and a Holstein cow
sess body hair or fur (though this body hair is very fi ne
are the same species because unlike a cow and a
in humans). Besides humans, primates include the other
horse, they have identical body structure.
mammals to which humans are most closely related:
lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, and apes. In other 2. Body function: Cows and horses give birth to live
words, Linnaeus classified living things into a series of young. Although they are different species, they
categories that are progressively more inclusive on the are closer than either cows or horses are to chick-
basis of internal and external visual similarities. ens, which lay eggs and have no mammary glands.
Species are the smallest working units in biologi- 3. Sequence of bodily growth: At the time of birth—or
cal classificatory systems. Species are defi ned as repro- hatching out of the egg—young cows and chickens
ductively isolated populations or groups of populations resemble their parents in their body plan. They
capable of interbreeding to are therefore more closely related to each other
THOMSON AUDIO produce fertile offspring. than either one is to the frog, whose tadpoles
STUDY PRODUCTS Species are subdivisions
Take advantage of of larger, more inclusive
the MP3-ready Audio Lecture groups, called genera (sin-
mammal The class of vertebrate animals distinguished by bod-
Overviews and comprehensive gular, genus). Humans,
ies covered with fur, self-regulating temperature, and in females
audio glossary of key terms for example, are classified milk-producing mammary glands.
for each chapter. See the in the genus Homo and primate The group of mammals that includes lemurs, lorises,
preface for information on species sapiens. This bino- tarsiers, monkeys, apes, and humans.
how to access this on-the-go mial nomenclature, or two- species The smallest working unit in the system of classification.
study and review tool. part naming system, mir- Among living organisms, species are populations or groups of
rors the naming patterns populations capable of interbreeding and producing fertile viable
offspring.
in many European societies where individuals possess
genus, genera (pl.) In the system of plant and animal classifica-
two names—one personal and the other reflecting their tion, a group of like species.
membership in a larger group of related individuals.
28 Chapter Two/Biology and Evolution

VISUAL COUNTERPOINT
© Fritz Polking/Peter Arnold, Inc.

© Dana Walrath
The wings of birds and butterflies exemplify analogy. Both are used for flight and share similar appearance
due to their common function. However, the course of their development and their structure differs.

undergo a series of changes before attaining the acquired different functions: The human hand and bat
basic adult form. wing are homologous structures.
During their early embryonic development, ho-
Modern taxonomy, or the science of classification
mologous structures arise in a similar fashion and pass
(from the Greek for naming divisions), while retaining
through similar stages before differentiating. The wings
the structure of the Linnaean system, is based on more
of birds and butterfl ies look similar and have a similar
than body structure, function, and growth. Today, scien-
function (flying): These are analogous, but not homolo-
tists also compare protein structure and genetic material
gous, structures because the butterfly wing does not de-
to construct the relationship among living things. Such
velop from a forelimb.
molecular comparisons can even be made between spe-
Through careful comparison and analysis of organ-
cies of parasites, bacteria, or viruses, allowing scientists
isms, Linnaeus and his successors have grouped species
to classify or trace the origins of particular diseases, such
into genera and also into even larger groups such as
as SARS (sudden acute respiratory syndrome) or HIV
families, orders, classes, phyla, and kingdoms. Each tax-
(human immunodeficiency virus).
onomic level is distinguished by characteristics shared
In addition, cross-species comparisons identify ana-
by all the organisms in the group. Table 2.1 presents the
tomical features of similar function as analogies, while
main categories of contemporary taxonomy applied to
anatomical features that have evolved from a common
the classification of the human species, with a few of the
ancestral feature are called homologies. For example,
more important distinguishing features noted for each
the hand of a human and the wing of a bat evolved from
category.
the forelimb of a common ancestor, though they have
Taxonomies are human ways of organizing the nat-
ural world. Because taxonomies reflect scientists’ under-
standing of the evolutionary relationships among living
things, these classificatory systems are continually under
taxonomy The science of classification.
construction. With new scientific discoveries, taxonomic
analogies In biology, structures possessed by different organ-
isms that are superficially similar due to similar function; without categories have to be redrawn, and scientists often differ
sharing a common developmental pathway or structure. in their acceptance of a particular category. The classifi-
homologies In biology, structures possessed by two different cation of humans contains a prime example of a taxon-
organisms that arise in similar fashion and pass through similar omy under construction.
stages during embryonic development though they may possess Humans are placed in the hominoid or ape super-
different functions. family with chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and gib-
hominoid The taxonomic division superfamily within the old
bons, due to physical similarities such as broad shoul-
world primates that includes gibbons, siamangs, orangutans, goril-
las, chimpanzees, bonobos, and humans. der, absent tail, and long arms. Human characteristics
such as bipedalism (walking on two legs) and culture
 The Discovery of Evolution 29

VISUAL COUNTERPOINT

© BIOS Hugeut Pierre/Peter Arnold, Inc.

© Yvette Pigeon

An example of homology: The same bones of the mammalian forelimb differentiate into the human arm
and hand and the bat wing. These structures have the same embryonic origin but come to take on differ-
ent functions.

led scientists to think that all the other apes were more
closely related to one another than any of them were to
THE DISCOVERY OF EVOLUTION
humans. Thus, humans and their ancestors were classi- Just as European seafaring and exploitation brought
fied in the hominid family to distinguish them from the about an awareness of the diversity of life across the
other apes. As will be discussed in more detail in later earth, the digging involved in construction and min-
chapters, genetic and fossil studies have shown that hu- ing, which came with the onset of industrialization in
mans are more closely related to African apes (chimps, Europe, brought about an awareness of change in life
bonobos, and gorillas) than they are to orangutans and forms through time. Through cutting a railway line or
gibbons. Some scientists then proposed that African apes some other work involving moving the earth, all sorts
should be included in the hominid family, with humans of fossils, or preserved remains, of past life forms were
and their ancestors distinguished from the other Afri- brought into the light.
can hominoids at the taxonomic level of subfamily, as At fi rst, the fossilized remains of elephants and gi-
hominins. ant saber-toothed tigers in Europe were interpreted ac-
Although all scientists today agree about the close cording to religious doctrine. For example, the early
relationship among humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, 19th-century theory of “catastrophism” invoked natural
and gorillas, they differ as to whether they use the term
hominid or hominin to describe the taxonomic grouping of
humans and their ancestors. Museum displays and much hominid African hominoid family that includes humans and
of the popular press tend to retain the old term hominid, their ancestors. Some scientists, recognizing the close relation-
emphasizing the visible differences between humans and ship of humans, chimps, bonobos, and gorillas, use the term
the other African apes. Scientists and publications using hominid to refer to all African hominoids. They then divide
hominin (such as National Geographic) are emphasizing the hominid family into two subfamilies: the Paninae (chimps,
the importance of genetics in establishing relationships bonobos, and gorillas) and the Homininae (humans and their
ancestors).
among species. These word choices are more than name
hominin The taxonomic subfamily or tribe within the primates
games: They reflect theoretical relationships among that includes humans and our ancestors.
closely related species.
 30 Chapter Two/Biology and Evolution

TABLE 2.1 CLASSIFICATION OF HUMANS

Taxonomic Category to Which

Category Humans Belong Biological Features Used to Define and Place Humans in this Category

Kingdom Animalia Humans are animals. We do not make our own food (as plants do) but depend upon
intake of living food.

Phylum Chordata Humans are chordates. We have a notochord (a rodlike structure of cartilage) and
nerve chord running along the back of the body as well as gill slits in the embryonic
stage of our life cycle.

Subphylum* Vertebrata Humans are vertebrates possessing an internal backbone, with a segmented spinal
column.

Class Mammalia Humans are mammals, warm-blooded animals covered with fur, possessing mammary
glands for nourishing their young after birth.

Order Primates Humans are primates, a kind of mammal with a generalized anatomy, relatively large
brains, and grasping hands and feet.

Suborder Anthropoidea Humans are anthropoids, social, daylight-active primates.

Superfamily Hominoidea Humans are hominoids with broad flexible shoulders and no tail. Chimps, bonobos,
gorillas, orangutans, gibbons, and siamangs are also hominoids.

Family Hominidae Humans are hominids. We are hominoids from Africa, genetically more closely related to
Subfamily Homininae chimps, bonobos, and gorillas than to hominoids from Asia. Some scientists use hominid
to refer only to humans and their ancestors. Others include chimps and gorillas in this
category, using the subfamily hominin to distinguish humans and their ancestors from
chimps and gorillas and their ancestors.

Genus Homo Humans have large brains and rely on cultural adaptations to survive. Ancestral fossils
Species sapiens are placed in this genus and species depending upon details of the skull shape and inter-
pretations of their cultural capabilities. Genus and species names are always italicized.

*Most categories can be expanded or narrowed by adding the prefix “sub” or “super.” A family could thus be part of
a superfamily and in turn contain two or more subfamilies.

events like the Great Flood of the Bible to account for

the disappearance of these species in European lands.
With industrialization, however, Europeans became
more comfortable with the ideas of change and progress.
© Karel Havlicek/National Geographic Image Collection

In hindsight, it seems inevitable that someone would hit

upon the idea of evolution. So it was that, by the start of
the 19th century, many naturalists had come to accept
the idea that life had evolved, even though they were
not clear about how it happened. It remained for Charles
Darwin (1809–1882) to formulate a theory that has with-
stood the test of time.
Grandson of Erasmus Darwin (a physician, scientist,
poet, and originator of a theory of evolution himself ),
Charles Darwin tried several careers on for size before
The large-scale movement of earth in 19th-century Europe, due to undertaking the work for which he is so well known. He
mining and construction of railroad lines, unearthed fossils such as began the study of medicine at the University of Edin-
mastodons. Such discoveries indicated that life forms of the past were burgh, Scotland but dropped out after two years. Next,
not the same as the present and that change had occurred. he went to Christ’s College, Cambridge, to study theol-
ogy. He then left Cambridge to take the position of natu-
ralist and companion to Captain Fitzroy on the H.M.S.
notochord A rodlike structure of cartilage that, in vertebrates, is
replaced by the vertebral column. Beagle, on an expedition to various poorly mapped parts
of the world.
 The Discovery of Evolution 31

The voyage lasted for almost five years, taking Dar- unpublished. The two scientists jointly presented their
win along the coasts of South America, to the Galapa- fi ndings.
gos Islands, across the Pacific to Australia, and then However straightforward the idea of evolution by
across the Indian and Atlantic oceans to South America natural selection may appear, the theory was (and has
before returning to England in 1836. Observing the tre- continued to be) a source of considerable controversy.
mendous diversity of living creatures as well as the as- The most contentious question of human origins was
tounding fossils of extinct animals, Darwin began to avoided by Darwin, who limited his commentary in the
note that species varied according to the environments original work to a single sentence near the end: “much
they inhabited. The observations he made on this voy- light will be thrown on the origin of man and his his-
age, his readings of Sir Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geol- tory.” The feisty Thomas Henry Huxley, however, took
ogy (1830), and the arguments he had with the orthodox up the subject of human origins explicitly through com-
and opinionated Fitzroy all contributed to the ideas cul- parative anatomy of apes and humans and an examina-
minating in Darwin’s most famous book, On the Origin of tion of the fossils in his book, On Man’s Place in Nature,
Species. This book, published in 1859, over twenty years published in 1863.
after he returned from his voyage, described a theory Two problems plagued Darwin’s theory through-
of evolution accounting for change within species and out his career. First, how did variation arise in the fi rst
for the emergence of new species in purely naturalistic place? Second, what was the mechanism of heredity by
terms. which variable traits could be passed from one genera-
Darwin added observations from English farm life tion to the next? Ironically, some of the information Dar-
and intellectual thought to the ideas he began to develop win needed, the basic laws of heredity, were available by
on the Beagle. He paid particular attention to domesti- 1866, through the experimental work of Gregor Mendel
cated animals and farmers’ practice of breeding their (1822–1884), an obscure monk, working in the monas-
stock to select for specific traits. Darwin’s theoretical tery gardens in Brno, a city in the southeast of today’s
breakthrough derived partly from an essay by econo- Czech Republic.
mist Thomas Malthus (1766–1834), which warned of the Mendel, who was raised on a farm, possessed two
potential consequences of increased human population. particular talents: a flair for mathematics and a passion
Malthus observed that animal populations, unlike hu- for gardening. As with all farmers, Mendel had an intui-
man populations, remained stable, due to a large propor- tive understanding of biological inheritance. He went a
tion of animal offspring not surviving to maturity. step farther, though, in that he recognized the need for
Darwin combined his observations into the theory a more systematic understanding. Thus, at age 34, he be-
of natural selection as follows: All species display a gan careful breeding experiments in the monastery gar-
range of variation, and all have the ability to expand be- den, starting with pea plants.
yond their means of subsistence. It follows that, in their Over eight years, Mendel planted over 30,000 plants
“struggle for existence,” organisms with variations that —controlling their pollination, observing the results,
help them to survive in a particular environment will re- and figuring out the mathematics behind it all. This al-
produce with greater success than those without them. lowed him to predict the outcome of hybridization, or
Thus, as generation succeeds generation, nature selects breeding that combined distinct varieties of the same
the most advantageous variations, and species evolve. species, over successive generations, in terms of basic
So obvious did the idea seem in hindsight that Thomas laws of heredity. Though his fi ndings were published in
Henry Huxley, one of the era’s most prominent scien- 1866 in a respected scientific journal, no one seemed to
tists, remarked, “How extremely stupid of me not to recognize the importance of Mendel’s work during his
have thought of that.”2 lifetime.
As often happens in the history of science, Darwin Interestingly, a copy of this journal was found in
was not alone in authoring the theory of natural selec- Darwin’s own library with the pages still uncut (jour-
tion. A Welshman, Alfred Russel Wallace, independently nals were printed on long continuous sheets of paper and
came up with the same idea at the same time while on then folded into pages to be cut by the reader), an indica-
a voyage to the Malay archipelago in Southeast Asia to tion that the journal had never been read. In 1900, cell
collect specimens for European zoos and museums. Ac- biology had advanced to the point where rediscovery of
cording to his autobiography, a theory of evolution came Mendel’s laws was inevitable, and in that year three Eu-
to Wallace while he was in a feverish delirium from ma- ropean botanists, working independently of one another,
laria. He shared excitedly his idea with other scientists in
England, including Darwin, whose own theory was yet
natural selection The evolutionary process through which fac-
tors in the environment exert pressure, favoring some individuals
2Quoted in Durant, J. C. (2000, April 23). Everybody into the gene over others to produce the next generation.
pool. New York Times Book Review, p. 11.
32 Chapter Two/Biology and Evolution

rediscovered not only the laws but also Mendel’s original

paper. With this rediscovery, the science of genetics be-
gan. Still, it would be another fi fty-three years before the
molecular mechanisms of heredity, and the discrete units
of inheritance, would be discovered. Today, a compre-
hensive understanding of heredity, molecular genetics,

© Vittorio Luzzati/National Portrait Gallery, London

and population genetics support evolutionary theory.

HEREDITY
In order to understand how evolution works, one has to
have some understanding of the mechanics of heredity,
because heritable variation constitutes the raw material
for evolution. Our knowledge of the mechanisms of he-
redity is fairly recent; most of the fruitful research into British scientist Rosalind Franklin’s pioneering work in x-ray crystal
the molecular level of inheritance has taken place in the photography played a vital role in unlocking the secret of the genetic
past five decades. Although some aspects remain puz- code in 1953. Without her permission, Franklin’s colleague Maurice
zling, the outlines by now are reasonably clear. Wilkins showed one of her images to James Watson. In his book
The Double Helix, Watson wrote, “The instant I saw the picture my
mouth fell open and my pulse began to race.” While her research was
The Transmission of Genes published simultaneously in the prestigious journal Nature in 1953
alongside that of James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins,
Today we defi ne a gene as a portion of the DNA mol- only the gentlemen received the Nobel Prize for the double-helix
ecule containing a sequence of base pairs that is the fun- model of DNA in 1962.
damental physical and functional unit of heredity. Inter-
estingly, the molecular basis of the gene was not known regation, which states that pairs of genes separate and
at the turn of the 20th century when biologists coined keep their individuality and are passed on to the next
the term from the Greek word for “birth.” generation, unaltered. Another of his laws—that of inde-
Mendel had deduced the presence and activity of pendent assortment—states that different traits (under
genes by experimenting with garden peas to determine the control of distinct genes) are inherited independently
how various traits are passed from one generation to the of one another.
next. Specifically, he discovered that inheritance was par- Mendel’s laws were abstract formulations based on
ticulate, rather than blending, as Darwin and many others statistical frequencies of observed characteristics such as
thought. That is, the units controlling the expression of color and texture in generations of plants. His inferences
visible traits come in pairs, one from each parent, and re- about the mechanisms of inheritance were confi rmed
tain their separate identities over the generations rather through the discovery of the cellular and molecular basis
than blending into a combination of parental traits in off- of inheritance in the fi rst half of the 20th century. When
spring. This was the basis of Mendel’s fi rst law of seg- chromosomes, the cellular structures containing the
genetic information, were discovered at the start of the
20th century, they provided a visible vehicle for separate
gene A portion of the DNA molecule containing a sequence of transmission of traits proposed in Mendel’s law of inde-
base pairs that is the fundamental physical and functional unit of pendent assortment.
heredity. It was not until 1953 that James Watson and Fran-
law of segregation The Mendelian principle that variants of cis Crick found that genes are actually portions of mol-
genes for a particular trait retain their separate identities through
ecules of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)—long strands of
the generations.
law of independent assortment The Mendelian principle that which form the chromosomes. DNA is a complex mol-
genes controlling different traits are inherited independently of ecule with an unusual shape, rather like two strands of
one another. a rope twisted around each other with ladderlike steps
chromosome In the cell nucleus, the structure visible during between the two strands. X-ray crystallographic photo-
cellular division containing long strands of DNA combined with a graphs of the DNA molecule created by British scientist
protein. Rosalind Franklin contributed significantly to decipher-
DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid. The genetic material consisting of
ing the molecule’s structure.
a complex molecule whose base structure directs the synthesis of
proteins. Alternating sugar and phosphate molecules form the
backbone of these strands, connected to each other by
 Heredity 33

four base pairs: adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine

(usually written as A, T, G, and C). Connections between
the strands occur between so-called complementary
pairs of bases (A to T, G to C; see Figure 2.1). Sequences
of three complementary bases specify the sequence of
amino acids in protein synthesis. This arrangement also
confers upon genes the unique property of being able
to replicate or make exact copies of themselves. As long
as no errors are made in this replication process, cells
within organisms can divide to form daughter cells that
P—Phosphate S A T S are exact genetic copies of the parent cell.
S—Sugar P P How is the DNA recipe converted into a protein?
A—Adenine S G C S Through a series of intervening steps, each three-base se-
T—Thymine P P
G—Guanine S T A S quence of a gene, called a codon, specifies production of
C—Cytosine P P a particular amino acid, strings of which build proteins.
S C G S
Because DNA cannot leave the cell’s nucleus (Figures 2.2
and 2.3), the directions for a specific protein are fi rst con-
verted into ribonucleic acid or RNA in a process called
transcription. RNA differs from DNA in the structure of
its sugar phosphate backbone and in the presence of the
base uracil rather than thymine. Next the RNA travels
to the ribosomes, the cellular structure (see Figure 2.2)

codon Three-base sequence of a gene that specifies a particular

amino acid for inclusion in a protein.
RNA Ribonucleic acid; similar to DNA but with uracil substi-
tuted for the base thymine. Transcribes and carries instructions
Figure 2.1 from DNA from the nucleus to the ribosomes where it directs
This diagrammatic representation of a portion of deoxyribonucleic acid protein synthesis. Some simple life forms contain RNA only.
(DNA) illustrates its twisted ladderlike structure. Alternating sugar and transcription Process of conversion of instructions from DNA
phosphate groups form the structural sides of the ladder. The connect- into RNA.
ing “rungs” are formed by pairings between complementary bases— ribosomes Structures in the cell where translation occurs.
adenine with thymine and cytosine with guanine.

Nuclear membrane Figure 2.2

Cell
Mitochondria DNA Nucleus Structure of a generalized eukaryotic, or
membrane
nucleated, cell, illustrating the cell’s three-
dimensional nature. DNA is located in the
nucleus. Because DNA cannot leave the
nucleus, genes must first be transcribed
into RNA, which carries genetic informa-
tion to the ribosomes, where protein syn-
thesis occurs. Note also the mitochondria,
which contain their own circular chromo-
somes and mitochondrial DNA.

Endoplasmic
reticulum with
ribosomes

Cytoplasm
34 Chapter Two/Biology and Evolution

Glu

amino acids joined

by peptide bonds Met
Pro CU
C tRNA U
A Asp
U

G G G C U A anticodon
mRNA AUG CCC GAU GAA CAA

codon

Figure 2.3
Codons (a sequence of three bases) are transcribed into the comple-
mentary codons of RNA. In the ribosomes, these codons specify par-
ticular amino acids that are strung together to form chains that create
the primary structures of proteins.

© Leonard Lessin/Peter Arnold, Inc.

where translation of the directions found in the codons

into proteins occurs. For example, the sequence of CGA
specifies the amino acid arginine, GCG alanine, CAG
glutamine, and so on.
There are twenty amino acids, which are strung to-
gether in different amounts and sequences to produce an In addition to the twenty-two pairs of somatic or body chromosomes,
almost infi nite number of different proteins. This is the humans possess one pair of sex chromosomes for a total of forty-six
chromosomes. In the lower right corner is the pair of sex chromosomes
so-called genetic code, and it is the same for every living found in the normal male phenotype: a larger X chromosome (left) and
thing, whether it be a worm or a human being. In ad- smaller Y. The female phenotype is determined by the presence of two
dition to the genetic information stored in the chromo- X chromosomes. Offspring inherit an X chromosome from their moth-
somes of the nucleus, complex organisms also possess ers but either an X or a Y from their fathers, resulting in approximately
cellular structures called mitochondria, each of which equal numbers of male and female offspring in subsequent genera-
has a single circular chromosome. The genetic material tions. Though the Y chromosome is critical for differentiation into a
male phenotype, compared to other chromosomes the Y is tiny and
known as mitchondiral DNA or mtDNA has figured promi- carries little genetic information.
nently in human evolutionary studies. On the other end
of the spectrum, simple living things without nucleated
cells, such as the retrovirus that causes AIDS, contain gen, and so on and on.”3 Almost everything in the body
their genetic information only as RNA. is made of or by proteins.
Thus, when we speak of the gene for a human blood
Genes and Alleles type in the A-B-O system, we are referring to the por-
A sequence of chemical bases on a molecule of DNA (a tion of a DNA molecule that is 1,062 “letters” long—
gene) constitutes a recipe for the production of RNA, a medium-sized gene—that specifies production of an
which in turn can direct the production of specific enzyme, a particular kind of protein that initiates and di-
proteins. As science writer Matt Ridley puts it, “Pro- rects a chemical reaction. This particular enzyme causes
teins . . . do almost every chemical, structural, and molecules involved in immune responses to attach to
regulatory thing that is done in the body: they generate the surface of red blood cells. Alternate forms of genes,
energy, fight infection, digest food, form hair, carry oxy- known as alleles exist, in this case corresponding to
the specific blood type (the A allele and B allele). Genes,
then, are not really separate structures, as had once been
translation Process of conversion of RNA instructions into imagined, but locations, like dots on a map. These genes
proteins. provide the recipe for the many proteins that keep us
genetic code The sequence of three bases (a codon) that specifies alive and healthy.
the sequence of amino acids in protein synthesis.
enzyme Protein that initiates and directs chemical reactions.
allele Alternate form of a single gene. 3Ridley, M. (1999). Genome: The autobiography of a species in 23 chap-
ters (p. 40). New York: HarperCollins.
 Heredity 35

Biocultural
Connection The Social Impact of Genetics on Reproduction
While pregnancy and childbirth have social impact of prenatal (before birth) through which fluid, containing cells
been traditional subjects for cultural genetic testing in North America. Her from the developing embryo, is drawn
anthropological study, the genetics work illustrates how biological knowledge from the womb of a pregnant woman.
revolution has raised new questions for is generated and interpreted by humans The chromosomes and specific genes are
the biocultural study of reproduction. At every step of the way. then analyzed for abnormalities. Rapp
first glance, the genetics revolution has Prenatal genetic testing is conducted traces the development of amniocen-
simply expanded biological knowledge. most frequently through amniocente- tesis from an experimental procedure
Individuals today, compared to a hundred sis, a technique developed in the 1960s to one routinely used in pregnancy in
years ago, can now see their own genetic the United States. For example, today
makeup even to the level of base pair pregnant women over the age of 35 rou-
sequence. A deeper look illustrates that tinely undergo this test because certain
this new biological knowledge has the ca- genetic conditions are associated with
pacity to profoundly transform cultures. older maternal age. Trisomy 21 or Down
In many cultures, the social experi- syndrome, in which individuals have an
ence of pregnancy and childbirth has extra 21st chromosome, can be easily
changed dramatically as a result of identified through amniocentesis.
the genetic revolution. New reproduc- Through ethnographic study Rapp
tive technologies (NRTs) allow for the shows that a biological fact (such as
genetic assessment of fertilized eggs and an extra 21st chromosome) present
embryos (the earliest stage of animal “potential parents” with new reproduc-
development), with far-reaching social tive choices. She also illustrates how
consequences. These NRTs have also be- genetic testing may lead to the labeling
Courtesy of Rayna Rapp

come the object of anthropological study of disabled people as undesirable. Rapp’s

as cultural anthropologists study the anthropological investigation of the
social impact of biological knowledge. social impact of amniocentesis illustrates
For more than twenty years, anthro- the complex interplay between biological
pologist Rayna Rapp has studied the knowledge and cultural practices.

The human genome—the complete sequence of hu- hepatitis, anemias, and some neurological disorders.4
man DNA—contains 3 billion chemical bases, with about Other junk DNA consists of decaying hulks of once-
20,000 to 25,000 functioning genes, a number similar to useful but now functionless genes: damaged genes that
that found in most mammals. Of the 3 billion bases, hu- have been “turned off.” As cells divide and reproduce,
mans and mice are about 90 percent identical. Both spe- junk DNA, like known genes, also replicates. In the
cies have a mere three times as many genes as in the fruit replication process mistakes are made fairly frequently,
fly, but half the number of genes found in the rice plant. adding or subtracting repeats of the four bases: A, C, G,
In other words the number of genes or base pairs does and T. This happens with some frequency and differ-
not explain every difference among organisms. ently in every individual. As these “mistakes” accumu-
At the same time, those 20,000 to 25,000 human late over time, each person develops his or her unique
genes account for only 1 to 1.5 percent of the entire ge- DNA fi ngerprint.
nome, indicating that scientists still have far more to
learn about how genes work. Frequently, genes them-
selves are split by long stretches of DNA that are not part Cell Division
of the known protein code. The 1,062 bases of the A-B-O In order to grow and maintain good health, the body
blood group gene, for example, are interrupted by five cells of an organism must divide and produce new cells.
such stretches. In the course of producing proteins, these Cell division is initiated when the chromosomes repli-
stretches of DNA are metaphorically snipped out and left
on the cutting-room floor. 4Amábile-Cuevas, C. F., & Chicurel, M. E. (1993). Horizontal gene
Some of this seemingly useless, noncoding DNA (of- transfer. American Scientist 81, 338.
ten called junk DNA) has been inserted by retroviruses.
Retroviruses are some of the most diverse and widespread genome The complete structure sequence of DNA for a species.
infectious entities of vertebrates—responsible for AIDS,
36 Chapter Two/Biology and Evolution

cate, forming a second pair that duplicates the original Mitosis Meiosis I
pair of chromosomes in the nucleus. To do this, the DNA
metaphorically “unzips” between the base pairs—ade-
nine from thymine and guanine from cytosine—follow-
ing which each base on each now-single strand attracts
Chromosomes
its complementary base, reconstituting the second half become distinct
of the double helix. Each new pair is surrounded by a as nuclear membrane
membrane and becomes the nucleus that directs the ac- disappears
tivities of a new cell. This kind of cell division is called
mitosis, and it produces new cells that have exactly the
same number of chromosome pairs, and hence genes, as
did the parent cell. Chromosomes Homologous pairs
Like most animals, humans reproduce sexually. One align at midline align at midline
reason sex is so popular, from an evolutionary perspec-
tive, is that it provides opportunity for increased genetic
variation. All animals contain two copies of each chro-
mosome, having inherited one from each parent. In hu-
mans this involves twenty-three pairs of chromosomes.
Sexual reproduction can bring beneficial alleles together, Chromosomes split Homologous chromosomes
purge the genome of harmful ones, and allow beneficial into two chromatids and move to opposite poles
move to opposite poles
alleles to spread without being held back by the baggage
of disadvantageous variants of other genes. Without sex-
ual reproduction, we would lack genetic diversity, with-
out which we would be more open to attack by various
microbes. Nor would we be able to adapt to changing
environments.
Because of its importance to survival, human socie- Two daughter cells Two daughter cells each
each possess with half the number of
ties have always regulated sexual reproduction in some same number chromosomes as original cell
ways. Recently, the science of genetics has had a tremen- of chromosomes
as original cell Meiosis II
dous impact on social aspects of reproduction, as seen in
this chapter’s Biocultural Connection.
When new individuals are produced through sexual
reproduction, the process involves the merging of two
cells, one from each parent. If two regular body cells,
each containing twenty-three pairs of chromosomes, Chromosomes align at midline
were to merge, the result would be a new individual
with forty-six pairs of chromosomes; such an individual
surely could not survive. But this increase in chromo-
some number does not occur, because the sex cells that
join to form a new individual are the product of a differ-
ent kind of cell division, called meiosis. Chromosomes split into chromatids and move to opposite poles
Although meiosis begins like mitosis, with the rep-
lication and doubling of the original genes in chromo-
somes, it proceeds to divide that number into four new
cells rather than two (Figure 2.4). Thus each new cell has
only half the number of chromosomes with their genes
Four daughter cells (gametes). The original chromosome
number is re-established through fertilization

mitosis A kind of cell division that produces new cells having Figure 2.4
exactly the same number of chromosome pairs, and hence copies Because a chromatid can replicate itself, mitosis (a) results in daughter
of genes, as the parent cell. cells that are exact copies of the parent cell. In meiosis (b) the first
meiosis A kind of cell division that produces the sex cells, each of division halves the chromosome number. The second meiotic division
which has half the number of chromosomes found in other cells of is essentially like mitosis and involves the separation of chromatids.
the organisms. Chromosomes in red originally came from one parent, those in blue
from the other.
 Heredity 37

found in the parent cell. Human eggs and sperm, for ex- The dominance of one allele does not mean that the
ample, have only twenty-three single chromosomes (half recessive one is lost or in some way blended. A type A
of a pair), whereas body cells have twenty-three pairs, or heterozygous parent (AO) will produce sex cells contain-
forty-six chromosomes. ing both “A” and “O” alleles. (This is an example of Men-
The process of meiotic division has important im- del’s law of segregation, that alleles retain their separate
plications for genetics. Because paired chromosomes are identities.) Recessive alleles can be handed down for gen-
separated, two different types of new cells will be formed; erations before they are matched with another recessive
two of the four new cells will have one-half of a pair of in the process of sexual reproduction and show up in the
chromosomes, and the other two will have the second phenotype. The presence of the dominant allele simply
half of the original chromosome pair. At the same time, masks the expression of the recessive allele.
corresponding portions of one chromosome may “cross All of the traits Mendel studied in garden peas
over” to the other one, somewhat scrambling the genetic showed this dominant-recessive relationship, and so for
material compared to the original chromosomes. some years it was believed that this was the only rela-
Sometimes, the original pair is homozygous, pos- tionship possible. Later studies, however, have indicated
sessing identical alleles for a specific gene. For example, that patterns of inheritance are not always so simple. In
if in both chromosomes of the original pair the gene for some cases, neither allele is dominant; they are both co-
A-B-O blood type is represented by the allele for type A dominant. An example of co-dominance in human he-
blood, then all new cells will have the “A” allele. But if the redity can be seen also in the inheritance of blood types.
original pair is heterozygous, with the “A” allele on one Type A is produced by one allele; type B by another. A
chromosome and the allele for type B blood on the other, heterozygous individual will have a phenotype of AB,
then half of the new cells will contain only the “B” allele; because neither allele can dominate the other.
the offspring have a 50-50 chance of getting either one. It The inheritance of blood types points out another
is impossible to predict any single individual’s genotype, complexity of heredity. Although each of us has at most
or genetic composition, but (as Mendel originally discov- two alleles for any given gene, the number of possible al-
ered) statistical probabilities can be established. leles is by no means limited to two. Certain traits have
What happens when a child inherits the allele for three or more allelic forms. For example, over a hundred
type O blood from one parent and that for type A from alleles exist for hemoglobin, the blood protein that car-
the other? Will the child have blood of type A, O, or ries oxygen. Only one allele can appear on each of the
some mixture of the two? While Mendel’s original ex- two homologous chromosomes, so each individual is
periments did not include traits with multiple alleles (as limited to two genetic alleles.
in the A-B-O blood system) his work answered many of
these questions. Polygenetic Inheritance
Mendel discovered that certain alleles are able to So far, we have spoken as if the traits of organisms are de-
mask the presence of others; one allele is dominant, termined by just one gene. However, multiple genes con-
whereas the other is recessive. Actually, it is the traits trol most physical traits—such as height, skin color, or li-
that are dominant or recessive, rather than the alleles ability to disease. In such cases, we speak of polygenetic
themselves; geneticists merely speak of dominant and inheritance, where the respective alleles of two or more
recessive alleles for the sake of convenience. Among
your biological relatives you can trace classic examples
of visible traits governed by simple dominance such as a
widow’s peak (dominant), attached earlobes (recessive), homozygous Refers to a chromosome pair that bears identical
or the presence of hair on the back of the middle section alleles for a single gene.
of each fi nger (dominant). A person with a widow’s peak heterozygous Refers to a chromosome pair that bears different
may be either homozygous or heterozygous because alleles for a single gene.
the presence of one allele will mask the allele for an un- genotype The alleles possessed for a particular trait.
phenotype The observable or testable appearance of an organ-
peaked hairline. Similarly, one might speak of the allele
ism that may or may not reflect a particular genotype due to the
for type A blood as being dominant to the one for type O. variable expression of dominant and recessive alleles.
An individual whose blood-type genes are heterozygous, dominance The ability of one allele for a trait to mask the pres-
with one “A” and one “O” allele, will have type A blood. ence of another allele.
In other words, the heterozygous condition (AO) will recessive An allele for a trait whose expression is masked by the
show exactly the same physical characteristic, or phe- presence of a dominant allele.
notype, as the homozygous (AA), even though the two hemoglobin The protein that carries oxygen in the red blood
cells.
have a somewhat different genetic composition, or geno-
polygenetic inheritance When two or more genes contribute
type. Only the homozygous recessive genotype (OO) to the phenotypic expression of a single characteristic.
will show the phenotype of type O blood.
38 Chapter Two/Biology and Evolution

genes influence phenotype. Because so many genes are difficulties inherent with reconciling visible traits with
involved, each of which may have alternative alleles, it their underlying genetic bases.
is difficult to unravel the genetic underpinnings of any As biological anthropologist Jonathan Marks dem-
continuous trait. For this reason, characteristics subject onstrates in the following Original Study, tracing the
to polygenetic inheritance exhibit a continuous range of relationship between genetics and continuous traits is a
variation in their phenotypic expression and illustrate mystery still to be unraveled.

Original Study
By Jonathan Marks

Ninety-Eight Percent Alike: What Our Similarity to

Apes Tells Us about Our Understanding of Genetics
It’s not too hard to tell Jane Goodall from ferent they look from us. But when requires a frame of reference. In other
a chimpanzee. Goodall is the one with the chimpanzee was a novelty, in the words, we should be asking: “How similar
long legs and short arms, a prominent 18th century, scholars were struck by the are a human and a chimp, compared to
forehead, and whites in her eyes. She’s overwhelming similarity of human and what?” Let’s try and answer the ques-
the one with a significant amount of hair ape bodies. And why not? Bone for bone, tion. How similar are a human and a
only on her head, not all over her body. muscle for muscle, organ for organ, the chimp, compared to, say, a sea urchin?
She’s the one who walks, talks, and wears bodies of humans and apes differ only in The human and chimpanzee have limbs,
clothing. subtle ways. And yet, it is impossible to skeletons, bilateral symmetry, a central
A few decades ago, however, the say just how physically similar they are. nervous system; each bone, muscle, and
nascent field of molecular genetics rec- Forty percent? Sixty percent? Ninety- organ matches. For all intents and pur-
ognized an apparent paradox: However eight percent? Three-dimensional beings poses, the human and chimpanzee aren’t
easy it may be to tell Jane Goodall from a that develop over their lifetimes don’t 98 percent identical, they’re 100 percent
chimpanzee on the basis of physical char- lend themselves to a simple scale of identical.
acteristics, it is considerably harder to tell similarity. On the other hand, when we compare
them apart according to their genes. Genetics brings something different the DNA of humans and chimps, what
More recently, geneticists have been to the comparison. A DNA sequence is does the percentage of similarity mean?
able to determine with precision that hu- a one-dimensional entity, a long series We conceptualize it on a linear scale, on
mans and chimpanzees are over 98 per- of A, G, C, and T subunits. Align two which 100 percent is perfectly identical,
cent identical genetically, and that figure sequences from different species and and 0 percent is totally different. But
has become one of the most well-known you can simply tabulate their similarities; the structure of DNA gives the scale a
factoids in the popular scientific litera- if they match 98 out of 100 times, then statistical idiosyncrasy.
ture. It has been invoked to argue that the species are 98 percent genetically Because DNA is a linear array of those
we are simply a third kind of chimpanzee, identical. four bases—A, G, C, and T—only four pos-
together with the common chimp and But is that more or less than their sibilities exist at any specific point in a
the rarer bonobo; to claim human rights bodies match? We have no easy way to DNA sequence. The laws of chance tell us
for nonhuman apes; and to explain the tell, for making sense of the question that two random sequences from species
roots of male aggression. “How similar are a human and a chimp?” that have no ancestry in common will
Using the figure in those ways, how- match at about one in every four sites.
ever, ignores the context necessary to Thus, even two unrelated DNA se-
make sense of it. Actually, our amazing quences will be 25 percent identical, not
genetic similarity to chimpanzees is a sci- 0 percent identical. (You can, of course,
entific fact constructed from two rather generate sequences more different than
more mundane facts: our familiarity that, but greater differences would not
with the apes and our unfamiliarity with occur randomly.) The most different two
genetic comparisons. DNA sequences can be, then, is 75 per-
To begin with, it is unfair to juxtapose cent different.
the differences between the bodies of Now consider that all multicellular life
people and apes with the similarities on earth is related. A human, a chimpan-
in their genes. After all, we have been zee, and the banana the chimpanzee is
comparing the bodies of humans and eating share a remote common ancestry,
By Jonathan Marks (2000)

chimpanzees for 300 years, and we have but a common ancestry nevertheless.
been comparing DNA sequences for less Therefore, if we compare any particular
than 20 years. DNA sequence in a human and a banana,
Now that we are familiar with the sequence would have to be more
chimpanzees, we quickly see how dif- than 25 percent identical. For the sake
 Evolution, Individuals, and Populations 39

of argument, let’s say 35 percent. In differences among genomes. Genetic to the pattern we encounter anatomi-
other words, your DNA is over one-third evolution involves much more than cally. In spite of the shock the figure of
the same as a banana’s. Yet, of course, simply replacing one base with another. 98 percent may give us, humans are
there are few ways other than genetically Thus, even among such close relatives as obviously identifiably different from, as
in which a human could be shown to be human and chimpanzee, we find that the well as very similar to, chimpanzees. The
one-third identical to a banana. chimp’s genome is estimated to be about apparent paradox is simply a result of
That context may help us to assess the 10 percent larger than the human’s; how mundane the apes have become, and
98 percent DNA similarity of humans and that one human chromosome contains a how exotic DNA still is.
chimpanzees. The fact that our DNA is fusion of two small chimpanzee chro- (By Jonathan Marks (2000, May 12).
98 percent identical to that of a chimp is mosomes; and that the tips of each 98% alike (what our similarity to apes
not a transcendent statement about our chimpanzee chromosome contain a tells us about our understanding of genet-
natures, but merely a decontextualized DNA sequence that is not present in ics). Chronicle of Higher Education, B7.)

and culturally interpreted datum. humans.
Moreover, the genetic comparison is In other words, the pattern we en-
misleading because it ignores qualitative counter genetically is actually quite close

EVOLUTION, INDIVIDUALS, variants available to that population—appears to remain

stable over time.
AND POPULATIONS Although some alleles may be dominant to others,
At the level of the individual, the study of genetics shows recessive alleles are not just lost or destroyed. Statisti-
how traits are transmitted from parent to offspring, cally, an individual who is heterozygous for a particular
enabling a prediction about the chances that any given gene with one dominant (A) and one recessive allele (a)
individual will display some phenotypic characteristic. has a 50 percent chance of passing on the dominant al-
At the level of the group, the study of genetics takes on lele, and a 50 percent chance of passing on the recessive
additional significance, revealing how evolutionary pro- allele. Even if another dominant allele masks the pres-
cesses account for the diversity of life on earth. ence of the recessive allele in the next generation, the re-
A key concept in genetics is that of the population, cessive allele nonetheless will continue to be a part of the
or a group of individuals within which breeding takes gene pool.
place. It is within populations that natural selection oc- Because alleles are not “lost” in the process of re-
curs, as some members contribute a disproportionate production, the frequency of the different alleles within
share of the next generation. Over generations, the rela- a population should remain exactly the same from one
tive proportions of alleles in a population changes (bio- generation to the next in the absence of evolution. In
logical evolution) according to the varying reproductive 1908, the English mathematician G. H. Hardy (1877–1947)
success of individuals within that population. In other and the German obstetrician W. Weinberg (1862–1937)
words, at the level of population genetics, evolution can worked this idea into a mathematical formula called the
be defi ned as changes in allele frequencies in popula- Hardy-Weinberg principle. The principle algebraically
tions. This is also known as microevolution. demonstrates that the percentage of individuals homozy-
Four evolutionary forces—mutation, gene flow, ge- gous for the dominant allele, homozygous for the reces-
netic drift, and natural selection—are responsible for the sive allele, and heterozygous will remain the same from
genetic changes that underlie the biological variation
present in species today. As we shall see, variation is at
the heart of evolution. These evolutionary forces create population In biology, a group of similar individuals that can
and pattern diversity. and do interbreed.
evolution Changes in allele frequencies in populations; also
known as microevolution.
gene pool All the genetic variants possessed by members of a
The Stability of the Population population.
In theory, the characteristics of any given population Hardy-Weinberg principle Demonstrates algebraically that
should remain stable. For example, generation after gen- the percentage of individuals that are homozygous for the domi-
nant allele, homozygous for the recessive allele, and heterozygous
eration, the bullfrogs in a farm pond look much alike,
should remain constant from one generation to the next, provided
have the same calls, and exhibit the same behavior when that certain specified conditions are met.
breeding. The gene pool of the population—the genetic
40 Chapter Two/Biology and Evolution

one generation to the next provided that certain specified

conditions are met. These conditions include that mat-
ing is entirely random; that the population is sufficiently
large for statistical averages to express themselves; that
no new variants will be introduced into the population’s
gene pool; and that all individuals are equally successful
at surviving and reproducing. The last four conditions
are equivalent to the absence of evolution. Geographi-
cal, physiological, or social factors may favor mating be-
tween certain individuals over others.
Thus, changes in the gene pools of populations,
without which there could be no evolution, can and do
take place. The mechanisms by which these changes
might lead to the formation of new species will be dis-
cussed in detail in Chapter 5.

EVOLUTIONARY FORCES
Mutation X-Men © 2000 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved

The ultimate source of evolutionary change is mutation

of genes because mutation constantly introduces new
variation. Although some mutations may be harmful or
beneficial to individuals, most mutations are neutral. But
in an evolutionary sense, random mutation is inherently
positive, as it provides the ultimate source of new genetic
variation. New body plans—such as walking on two legs
compared to knuckle-walking like our closest relatives,
chimpanzees and gorillas—ultimately depended on ge-
netic mutation. A random mutation might create a new Mutagens—such as pollutants, preservatives, cigarette smoke, radia-
allele that creates a modified protein making a new bio- tion, and even some medicines—threaten people in industrial societies.
logical task possible. Without the variation brought in While the mutations from these environmental hazards are generally
through random mutations, populations cannot change negative, mutation is overall a positive force in evolutionary terms, as
over time in response to changing environments. the ultimate source of all new genetic variation. The positive side of
mutation is fictionalized in the special talents of the X-Men.
For sexually reproducing species like humans, the
only mutations of any evolutionary consequence are those
occurring in sex cells, since these cells form future gener-
ations. Mutations may arise whenever copying mistakes heritance. Genes controlling DNA repair therefore form
are made during cell division. This may involve a change a critical part of any species’ genetic makeup.
in a single base of a DNA sequence, or at the other ex- Because no species has perfect DNA repair, new mu-
treme, relocation of large segments of DNA, including tations arise continuously, so that all species continue
entire chromosomes. As you read this page, the DNA in to evolve. Geneticists have calculated the rate at which
each cell of your body is being damaged.5 Fortunately, various types of mutant genes appear. In human popula-
DNA repair enzymes constantly scan DNA for mistakes, tions, they run from a low of about five mutations per
slicing out damaged segments and patching up gaps. million sex cells formed, in the case of a gene abnormal-
These repair mechanisms prevent diseases like cancer ity that leads to the absence of an iris in the eye, to a high
and ensure that we get a faithful copy of our parental in- of about a hundred per million, in the case of a gene in-
volved in a form of muscular dystrophy. The average is
5Culotta, E., & Koshland, D. E., Jr. (1994). DNA repair works its about thirty mutants per million. Environmental factors
way to the top. Science 266, 1,926. may increase the rate at which mutations occur. These
include certain dyes, antibiotics, and chemicals used in
the preservation of food. Radiation, whether of indus-
mutation Chance alteration of genetic material that produces
new variation. trial or solar origin, represents another important cause
of mutations. There is even evidence that stress can raise
 Evolutionary Forces 41

mutation rates, increasing the diversity necessary for se- These random events ultimately result in changes
lection if successful adaptation is to occur.6 in frequencies of gene variants in a population, defi ned
In humans, as in all multicellular animals, the very as the evolutionary force of genetic drift. The effects of
nature of genetic material ensures that mutations will oc- genetic drift are most powerful in small populations. A
cur. For instance, the fact that genes are split by stretches particular kind of genetic drift, known as the founder
of DNA that are not a part of that gene increases the effect, may occur when an existing population splits up
chances that a simple editing mistake in the process of into two or more new ones, especially if one of these new
copying DNA will cause mutations. To cite one example, populations is founded by a particularly small number of
no fewer than fi fty such segments of DNA fragment the individuals. In such cases, it is unlikely that the gene fre-
gene for collagen—the main structural protein of the quencies of the smaller population will be representative
skin, bones, and teeth. One result of this seemingly inef- of those of the larger one.
ficient situation is that it becomes possible to shuffle the Isolated island populations may possess limited vari-
gene segments themselves like a deck of cards, putting ability due to the founder effect. For example, in 1790,
together new proteins with new functions. Although nine British sailors from the H.M.S. Bounty, six Tahitian
individuals may suffer as a result, mutations also confer men, and eight or nine Tahitian women settled on Pit-
versatility at the population level, making it possible for cairn Island in the South Pacific. These individuals pos-
an evolving species to adapt more quickly to environ- sessed only a small fraction of the total genetic variation
mental changes. It is important to realize that mutations in either Great Britain or Tahiti. After a confl ict between
occur randomly and thus do not arise out of need for the Tahitians and the British, the population was fur-
some new adaptation. ther reduced to one British man, Alexander Smith, the
women, and some children. Thus today’s island popula-
tion descended from a small number of individuals with
Genetic Drift a very narrow gene pool, which results in high frequency
Genetic drift refers to chance fluctuations of allele fre- of some genetic traits.
quencies in the gene pool of a population. These changes Genetic drift is likely to have been an important fac-
at the population level come about due to random events tor in human evolution, because until 10,000 years ago
at the individual level. Over the course of their lifetime, all humans were food foragers who probably lived in
each individual is subject to a number of random events relatively small, self-contained populations. Whenever
affecting its survival. For example, an individual squir- biological variation is observed, whether it is the dis-
rel in good health and possessed of a number of advanta- tant past or the present, it is always possible that chance
geous traits may be killed in a forest fi re; a genetically events of genetic drift can account for the presence of
well-adapted baby cougar may not live longer than a this variation.
day if its mother gets caught in an avalanche, whereas
the weaker offspring of a mother that does not die may
survive.
Gene Flow
In a large population, such accidents of nature are Another factor that brings change to the gene pool of
unimportant; the accidents that preserve individuals a population is gene flow, or the introduction of new
with certain alleles will be balanced out by the accidents alleles from nearby populations. Interbreeding allows
that destroy them. However, in small populations, such “road-tested” genes to flow in and out of populations,
averaging out may not be possible. Because human popu- thus increasing the total amount of variation pres-
lations today are so large, we might suppose that human ent within the population. Migration of individuals or
beings are unaffected by chance events. Although it is groups into the territory occupied by others may lead
true that a rock slide that kills five campers whose home to gene flow. Geographical factors also affect gene flow.
community has a total population of 100,000 is not statis- For example, if a river separates two populations of small
tically significant, a rock slide that kills five hunters from mammals preventing interbreeding, these populations
a small group of food foragers could significantly alter
frequencies of alleles in the local gene pool. The group
size of typical food foragers (people who hunt, fish, and genetic drift Chance fluctuations of allele frequencies in the
gene pool of a population.
gather other wild foods for subsistence) tends to vary be-
founder effect A particular form of genetic drift deriving from a
tween about twenty-five and fi fty. small founding population not possessing all the alleles present in
the original population.
gene flow The introduction of alleles from the gene pool of one
6Chicurel, M. (2001). Can organisms speed their own evolution? population into that of another.
Science 292, 1,824–1,827.
42 Chapter Two/Biology and Evolution

Anthropology Applied
In the Belly of the Beast: Reflections on a Decade of Service to U.S. Genetics Policy Commissions

By Barbara A. Koenig and Nancy Press

Medicine is in the midst of a foundational the field of applied anthropology has should not be minimized. It seems likely,
transformation based on the science of a history of complicity with colonial in fact, that all aspects of health-care
genomics. In an odd bit of chance, we authorities as well as a contemporary practice—research into disease etiology,
as anthropologists have been involved political economy that rewards collabora- public health screening, clinic-based
in a process to consider and institute tion with institutions that promote social prevention and treatment, modes of
regulation regarding the introduction inequality. In addition, many anthropol- reproduction, and development of per-
of new genetic tests into the market- ogy practitioners are funded by federal sonalized therapeutics—are in the process
place and into clinical practice. Each “soft money,” which may inadvertently of being transformed.
of us has served on a variety of federal sap anthropology’s independent voice “High throughput technologies” for
policy bodies in the field of genetics, of its vigor by affecting the choice genetic analysis will allow for the testing
charged with the oversight of new of research agendas, methods, and of hundreds if not thousands of genes
genetic tests. Barbara Koenig served conclusions. simultaneously. And what is tested for
on the Secretary’s Advisory Commit- We cannot claim to be exempt from will not be confined to a narrow range of
tee on Genetic Testing (SACGT); Nancy any of these charges. Both of us “serve” “genetic diseases”—such as Huntington
Press served on the precursor group to government authorities; both are funded disease or cystic fibrosis. As the genetic
the SACGT, the National Institutes of through grant money from the National component to more and more conditions
Health, Department of Energy Task Force Institutes of Health (NIH). In fact, we are is located, differential levels of individual
on Genetic Testing, and more recently always consciously poised between two susceptibility to common diseases—and
has worked on efforts related to specific disturbing possibilities: First, that we may common environmental elements—will
genetic technologies, such as population- be collaborating and providing “cover” be the target of testing. In addition, the
based testing for cystic fibrosis carrier for the institutions and practices we seek pathways to testing will also expand
status. to critique and influence; and second, beyond the physician–patient encounter.
There is a commonly held assumption that we may be making no difference at They will include the hospital patholo-
that anthropologists should be engaged all, either on the level of policy or the gist’s lab, where a cancerous tumor may
in policy because we offer a unique voice level of anthropological theory. be examined for indications of a familial
that otherwise would remain silent. But We are aware of the potentially perni- cancer predisposition, or to DNA samples,
the difficulties and uneasy relationships cious effects of the genetics revolution, perhaps easily obtained at home by a
that a policy orientation in anthropology but we also believe that the magnitude of consumer rubbing the inside of her cheek
can entail have also been well described. the potential improvement that genetics with a little swab and mailing it directly
For example, it has been pointed out that can bring to the broad arena of medicine to a biotechnology company.

will begin to accrue random genetic differences from portant because it keeps populations from developing
their isolation. If the river changes course and the two into separate species.
populations can interbreed freely again, new alleles that
may have been present in only one population will now
be present in both populations due to gene flow.
Natural Selection
Among humans, social factors such as mating rules, Although the factors discussed above may produce
intergroup confl ict, and our ability to travel great dis- change in a population, that change would not necessar-
tances affect gene flow. For example, the last 500 years ily make the population better adapted to its biological
have seen the introduction of alleles into Central and and social environment. Genetic drift, for example, often
South American populations from both the Spanish produces strange characteristics that have no survival
colonists and the Africans whom Europeans imported value; mutant genes may be either helpful or harmful to
as slaves. More recent migrations of people from East survival, or simply neutral. Natural selection, the evolu-
Asia have added to this mix. When gene flow is present, tionary force described by Darwin, accounts for adaptive
variation within populations increases. Throughout the change. Adaptation is a series of beneficial adjustments
history of human life on earth, gene flow has been im- to the environment. As we will explore throughout this
textbook, humans adapt to their environment through
culture as well as biology. When biological adaptation
occurs at a genetic level, natural selection is at work.
adaptation A series of beneficial adjustments to the
environment.
Natural selection refers to the evolutionary process
through which genetic variation at the population level
 Evolutionary Forces 43

There is also the danger that genetics Our training and techniques, developed accessible to the social scientist as to the
will increase the medicalization of daily from thirty-five years between us of epidemiologist.
life: as increasing ability to communicate studying doctors and the biomedical We have also used the insights of
disease risk numbers to perfectly healthy industrial complex, remind us of the medical anthropology about the concept
people; or as more and more tests be- need to understand why people act the of “risk” in biomedicine to try to bring to
come available for testing prenatally to way they act and believe what they the fore more hidden perils of genetics.
detect, but not treat, traits and condi- believe; to examine what social role they While psychologists on these boards, or
tions; or as advances in testing increase are occupying and what the forces are involved in other ELSI conversations, may
the likelihood of various sorts of insur- that shape and drive that social role; express concern about the possibility
ance discrimination. to remember that no individual is to of psychological damage to living with
Genetics is particularly dangerous blame and no one is assigned to a pre- uncertainty, it is only an anthropologi-
because of the way it captures the public existing villain category. These tech- cal voice that raises the issue of why the
imagination, linking the glamour of high niques—that is, creating an ethnography idea of parsing one’s “risk” for various
technology with the allure of the fortune of the policy group—can also suggest things has become such a central focus in
teller. But, unusually, genetics presents where a lever can be applied to change medicine.
a case in which there has been public the process. So, are these real accomplishments?
awareness, from the very beginning of As anthropologists we have helped Is this a worthwhile tradeoff? Per-
the Human Genome Project, that its these policy groups frame questions haps only the reader can answer that
power might, in fact, be hazardous. This such as, Why are we doing this testing? question. As participant observers in the
led to the immediate establishment of What health outcome will accrue to a national genetics policy debate, some-
the Ethical, Legal and Social Implications person tested? What are the psychologi- times we refer to our work as digging
(ELSI) branch of what became the Na- cal and social benefits (or risks) to the away in the genetics policy trenches.
tional Human Genome Research Institute person and his/her family in doing the A better metaphor might come from
(NHGRI). test? How do people value, and how does the title, In the Belly of the Beast, a
As anthropologists on national ge- society value, and why might society book by Jack Henry Abbott containing
netics policy committees, we both felt value the provision of genetic informa- letters to Norman Mailer about life in
accepted. And such social acceptance tion absent a clear health outcome prison. To us, it seems a useful and ap-
should not be discounted, because social benefit? That is, the concept of clinical propriate place for a medical anthropolo-
acceptance seems to be a sine qua non utility provides a research agenda, and gist to be.
for functioning in such a policy forum. it is a research agenda that is as key and

is shaped to fit local environmental conditions. In other may be sterile, or they may produce offspring that do not
words, instead of a completely random selection of indi- survive after birth. For example, among the Uganda kob,
viduals whose traits will be passed on to the next gen- a kind of antelope native to East Africa, males that are
eration, there is selection by the forces of nature. In the unable to attract females form bachelor herds in which
process, the frequency of genetic variants for harmful they live out their lives. As members of a herd, they are
or nonadaptive traits within the population is reduced reasonably well protected against predators, and so they
while the frequency of genetic variants for adaptive traits may survive to relatively old ages. They do not, however,
is increased. Over time, changes in the genetic structure pass on their genes to succeeding generations.
of the population are visible in the biology or behavior of Change in the frequency with which certain genetic
a population, and such genetic changes can result in the variants occur in human populations can be a very slow
formation of new species. process. For example, if an environment changed such
In popular writing, natural selection is often thought that a recessive allele that had been present in humans at
of as “survival of the fittest,” a phrase coined by British a modest frequency suddenly became lethal, this allele’s
philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820–1903). The phrase im- frequency would still decrease only gradually. Even with
plies that the physically weak, being unfit, are eliminated complete selection against those homozygous for this al-
from the population by disease, predation, or starvation. lele, the allele would persist in the offspring of hetero-
Obviously, the survival of the fittest has some bearing on zygotes. In the fi rst several generations, the frequency
natural selection. But there are many cases in which indi- of the allele would decrease at a relatively rapid rate.
viduals survive, and even do quite well, but do not repro- However, with time, as the frequency of the recessive
duce. They may be incapable of attracting mates, or they allele drops, the probability of forming a recessive ho-
 44 Chapter Two/Biology and Evolution

Across the globe, newborn

babies weigh on average
between 5 and 8 pounds.
Stabilizing selection seems
to be operating here to keep
infant size well matched to
the size of the human birth
canal for successful child-
birth. Natural selection can
promote stability as well as
change.
© Camile Tokerud/Getty Images

mozygote also drops, so that it would take many genera- By extrapolation, biologists assume that the same
tions to realize even a small decrease in allele frequency. mechanisms work on behavioral traits as well. It seems
This is compounded by the fact that a human generation reasonable that individuals in a group of vervet monkeys
takes about twenty-five years (forty generations would capable of warning one another of the presence of preda-
span over a thousand years). Nevertheless, even such tors would have a significant survival advantage over
small and slow changes can have a significant cumula- those without this capability. However, such situations
tive impact on both the genotypes and phenotypes of have constituted an enigma for evolutionary biologists
any population. who typically see individuals as “survival machines,” act-
By contrast the social impact of genetics is some- ing always in their own self-interest. By giving an alarm
times quite rapid, as people face the challenges posed by call, an individual calls attention to itself, thereby becom-
the scientific study of the human genome, described in ing an obvious target for the predator. How, then, could
this chapter’s Anthropology Applied feature. altruism, or concern for the welfare of others, evolve in
As a consequence of the process of natural selection, which individuals place themselves at risk for the good
populations generally become well adapted to their en- of the group? One biologist’s simple solution substitutes
vironments. Anyone who has ever looked carefully at money for reproductive fitness to illustrate one way in
the plants and animals that survive in the deserts of the which such cooperative behavior may come about:
western United States can cite many instances of adap-
You are given a choice. Either you can receive $10
tation. For example, members of the cactus family have
and keep it all or you can receive $10 million if
extensive root networks close to the surface of the soil,
you give $6 million to your next door neighbor.
enabling them to soak up the slightest bit of moisture;
Which would you do? Guessing that most selfish
they are able to store large quantities of water when-
people would be happy with a net gain of $4 mil-
ever it is available; they are shaped so as to expose the
lion, I consider the second option to be a form
smallest possible surface to the dry air and are generally
of selfish behavior in which a neighbor gains
leafless as adults, thereby preventing water loss through
an incidental benefit. I have termed such selfish
evaporation; and a covering of spines discourages ani-
behavior benevolent.7
mals from chewing into the juicy flesh of the plant.
Desert animals are also adapted to their environ- Natural selection of beneficial social traits was prob-
ment. The kangaroo rat can survive without drinking ably an important influence on human evolution, since in
water; many reptiles live in burrows where the tempera- the primates some degree of cooperative social behavior
ture is lower; most animals are nocturnal or active only became important for food-getting, defense, and mate
in the cool of the night. attraction. Indeed, anthropologist Christopher Boehm

altruism Acts of selflessness or self-sacrificing behavior. 7Nunney, L. (1998). Are we selfish, are we nice, or are we nice be-
cause we are selfish? Science 281, 1,619.
 Evolutionary Forces 45

argues, “If human nature were merely selfish, vigilant

punishment of deviants would be expected, whereas
the elaborate prosocial prescriptions that favor altruism
would come as a surprise.”8
Natural selection may also promote stability, rather
than change. Stabilizing selection occurs in populations
that are already well adapted or where change would be
disadvantageous. In cases where change is disadvanta-
geous, natural selection will favor the retention of allele
frequencies more or less as they are. However, the evo-
lutionary history of most forms of life is not one of con-
stant change, proceeding as a steady, stately progression

© Meckes/Ottawa/Photo Researchers, Inc.

over vast periods of time; rather, it is one of prolonged
periods of relative stability or gradual change punctu-
ated by shorter periods of more rapid change (or extinc-
tion) when altered conditions require new adaptations or
when a new mutation produces an opportunity to adapt
to some other available environment. According to the
fossil record, most species survive somewhere between
3 and 5 million years.9
Many of the creation stories traditionally offered to Sickle-cell anemia is caused by abnormal hemoglobin, called hemoglo-
explain observable cases of adaptation rely heavily on the bin S. Those afflicted by the disease are homozygous for the “S” allele,
purposeful acts of a supreme being as described earlier. causing their red blood cells to “sickle.” Co-dominance is observable
The “Just So” stories of Rudyard Kipling such as “How with the sickle and normal alleles. Heterozygotes make some percent-
age of normal hemoglobin and some percentage of sickle hemoglobin.
the Leopard Got His Spots,” or the elephant his trunk,
Shown here is a sickle hemoglobin red blood cell among normal red
are literary caricatures of this approach. Ironically, be- blood cells.
cause specific examples of adaptation can be difficult to
prove at times, scientists will sometimes suggest that
their colleagues’ scenarios about adaptation are “Just So” tion of geneticists in Chicago when it was observed that
stories. most North Americans who suffer from it are of African
The adaptability of organic structures and functions, ancestry. Investigation traced the abnormality to popula-
no matter how much a source of wonder and fascination, tions that live in a clearly defi ned belt across central Af-
nevertheless falls short of perfection. This is so because rica where the sickle-cell allele is found at surprisingly
natural selection can only work with what the exist- high frequencies.
ing store of genetic variation provides; it cannot create Geneticists were curious to know why such a harm-
something entirely new. In the words of one evolution- ful hereditary disability persisted in these populations.
ary biologist, evolution is a process of tinkering, rather According to the theory of natural selection, any alleles
than design. Often tinkering involves balancing benefi- that are harmful will tend to disappear from the group,
cial and harmful effects of a specific allele, as the case of because the individuals who are homozygous for the
sickle-cell anemia illustrates. abnormality generally die—are “selected out”—before
they are able to reproduce. Why, then, had this seem-
ingly harmful condition remained in populations from
The Case of Sickle-Cell Anemia central Africa?
Among human beings, a particularly well-studied case of The answer to this mystery began to emerge when
an adaptation paid for by the misery of many individu- it was noticed that the areas with high rates of sickle-
als brings us to the case of sickle-cell anemia, a pain- cell anemia are also areas in which falciparum malaria
ful disease in which the oxygen-carrying red blood cells is common (Figure 2.5). This particularly deadly form
change shape (sickle) and clog the fi nest parts of the cir-
culatory system. This disorder fi rst came to the atten-
stabilizing selection Natural selection acting to promote sta-
bility, rather than change, in a population’s gene pool.
8Boehm, C. (2000). The evolution of moral communities. School of
sickle-cell anemia An inherited form of anemia caused by a
American Research, 2000 Annual Report, 7.
mutation in the hemoglobin protein that causes the red blood cells
9Thomson, K. S. (1997). Natural selection and evolution’s smoking to assume a sickle shape.
gun. American Scientist 85, 516.
46 Chapter Two/Biology and Evolution

Malarial areas
Sickle-cell anemia areas
Areas with both malaria
and sickle-cell anemia

Figure 2.5
The allele that, in homozygotes, causes sickle-cell anemia makes heterozygotes resistant to falciparum
malaria. Thus, the allele is most common in populations native to regions where this strain of malaria is
common.

of malaria causes high fevers that significantly interfere alleles, collapse and clumping of the abnormal red cells
with the reproductive abilities of those who do not ac- blocks the capillaries and creates tissue damage—caus-
tually die from the disease. Moreover, it was discovered ing the symptoms of sickle-cell disease. Affl icted individ-
that the same hemoglobin abnormalities are found in uals commonly die before reaching adulthood.
people living in parts of the Arabian Peninsula, Greece, The homozygous dominant condition (HbA HbA;
Algeria, Syria, and India—all regions where falciparum normal hemoglobin is known as hemoglobin A, not to be
malaria is (or was) common. confused with blood type A) produces only normal mol-
Further research established that the abnormal he- ecules of hemoglobin whereas the heterozygous condi-
moglobin was associated with an increased ability to sur- tion (HbA HbS) produces some percentage of normal and
vive the effects of the malarial parasite; it seems that the some percentage of abnormal hemoglobin. Except under
effects of the abnormal hemoglobin in limited amounts low oxygen or other stressful conditions, such individu-
were less injurious than the effects of the malarial para- als suffer no ill effects. The heterozygous condition can
site. Thus, selection favored heterozygous individuals actually improve individuals’ resilience to malaria rela-
(HbA HbS). The loss of alleles for abnormal hemoglobin tive to the “normal” homozygous condition.
caused by the death of those homozygous for it (from This example points out how adaptations tend to be
sickle-cell anemia) was balanced out by the loss of alleles specific; the abnormal hemoglobin was an adaptation to
for normal hemoglobin, as those homozygous for it ex- the particular parts of the world in which the malarial
perienced reproductive failure. parasite flourished. When Africans adapted to that re-
Expression of normal versus sickle hemoglobin in a gion were brought to North America, where in recent
heterozygous individual represents an example of incom- times falciparum malaria is almost never seen, what had
plete dominance. The sickle abnormality is caused by a been an adaptive characteristic became an injurious one.
change in a single base pair in the DNA of the hemoglo- Where there was no malaria to attack those with normal
bin gene. The resulting mutant allele codes for an amino hemoglobin, the abnormal hemoglobin became compar-
acid substitution in the hemoglobin protein that leads atively disadvantageous.
red blood cells to take on a characteristic sickle shape. Although the rates of sickle-cell trait are still rela-
In homozygous individuals with two sickle-hemoglobin tively high among African Americans—about 9 percent
 Evolutionary Forces 47

show the sickling trait—this represents a significant de-

cline from the approximately 22 percent who are esti-
mated to have shown the trait when the first slaves were
brought from Africa. A further decline over the next sev-
eral generations is to be expected, as selection pressure
continues to work against the frequency of the sickle-cell
allele.
This example also illustrates the important role cul-
ture may play even with respect to biological adaptation.
In Africa, falciparum malaria was not a significant prob-

Otorohanga Zoological Society

lem until humans abandoned food foraging for farming
a few thousand years ago. In order to farm, people had
to clear areas of the natural forest cover. In the forest,
decaying vegetation on the forest floor had imparted an
absorbent quality to the ground so that the heavy rain-
fall of the region rapidly soaked into the soil. But once
This x-ray showing the unusually large size of a kiwi egg illustrates
stripped of its natural vegetation, the soil lost this qual-
that evolution does not proceed by preplanned design but rather by a
ity. Furthermore, the forest canopy was no longer there process of tinkering with preexisting body forms.
to break the force of the rainfall, and so the impact of the
heavy rains tended to compact the soil further.
The result was that stagnant puddles commonly
formed after rains, providing the perfect breeding en- Nevertheless, kiwi eggs probably did not evolve
vironment for the type of mosquito that is the host to such large size because it is adaptive. Kiwis evolved from
the malarial parasite. These mosquitoes then began to large, moa-sized ancestors, and in birds, egg size reduces
flourish and transmit the malarial parasite to humans. at a slower rate than does body size. Therefore, the out-
Thus, humans unwittingly created the kind of environ- sized eggs of kiwi birds seem to be no more than a de-
ment that made a hitherto disadvantageous trait, the ab- velopmental by-product of a reduction in body size.10
normal hemoglobin associated with sickle-cell anemia, Similarly, an existing adaptation may come under strong
advantageous. selective pressure for some new purpose, as did insect
wings. These did not arise so that insects might fly, but
rather as structures that were used to “row,” and later
Natural Selection, Time, skim, across the surface of the water.11 Later, the larger
ones by chance proved useful for purposes of fl ight. In
and Nonadaptive Traits both these cases, what we see is natural selection operat-
Although it is true that all living organisms have many ing as “a creative scavenger, taking what is available and
adaptive characteristics, it is not true that all character- putting it to new use.”12
istics are adaptive. All male mammals, for example, pos- As primatologist Frans de Waal notes, “Evolution is a
sess nipples, even though they serve no useful purpose. magnificent idea that has won over essentially everyone
To female mammals, however, nipples are essential to in the world willing to listen to scientific arguments.”13
reproductive success, which is why males have them. We will return to the topic in Chapter 5, as we look at
The two sexes are not separate entities, shaped indepen- how the primates evolved to produce the many species
dently by natural selection, but are variants upon a single in the world today. First, however, we will survey the
body plan, elaborated in later embryology. Precursors of living primates (in Chapter 3) in order to understand the
mammary glands are built in all mammalian fetuses, en- kinds of animals they are, what they have in common,
larging later in the development of females, but remain- and what distinguishes the various forms.
ing small and without function in males.
Nor is it true that current utility is a reliable guide to 10Gould, S. J. (1991). Bully for brontosaurus (pp. 109–123). New York:
historical origin or future use. For one thing, nonadap- Norton.
tive characters may be co-opted for later utility follow- 11Kaiser, J. (1994). A new theory of insect wing origins takes off.
ing origins as developmental consequences of changing Science 266, 363.
patterns in embryonic and postnatal growth. The unusu- 12Doist, R. (1997). Molecular evolution and scientific inquiry,
ally large size of a kiwi’s egg, for example, enhances the misperceived. American Scientist 85, 475.
survivability of kiwi chicks, in that they are particularly 13de Waal, F. (2001). Sing the song of evolution. Natural History
large and capable when hatched. 110(8), 77.
48 Chapter Two/Biology and Evolution

Questions for Reflection This beautifully written, meticulously researched book pro-
vides an in-depth historical and sophisticated cultural analysis,
1. Has a scientific understanding of the human genetic code as well as a deeply felt personal account of the geneticization
challenged you to rethink your conception of what it means to of reproduction in America. It demonstrates the importance
be human? How much of your life, or of the lives of the people of cultural analyses of science without ever resorting to an
around you, is dictated by the structure of DNA? antiscientific stance.
2. Creation myths and evolutionary theories for human ori-
gins share a number of features but differ in critical ways. Is it Ridley, M. (1999). Genome: The autobiography of a species in 23
possible for spiritual and scientific models of human origins to chapters. New York: HarperCollins.
co-exist? How? Written just as the mapping of the human genome was about
3. What do you think about genetic testing for diseases? Would to be announced, this book made the New York Times best-
you like to know if you carry the recessive allele for a harmful seller list. The twenty-three chapters discuss DNA on each of
condition? the twenty-three human chromosomes. A word of warning,
4. The four evolutionary forces—mutation, genetic drift, gene however: The author uncritically accepts some ideas (one ex-
flow, and natural selection—all exert effects on biological vari- ample relates to IQ). Still, there’s much food for thought here.
ation. Some are at work in individuals while others function at
the population level. Compare and contrast these evolutionary Zimmer, C. (2001). Evolution: The triumph of an idea. New
forces, outlining their contributions to biological variation. York: HarperCollins.
5. The frequency of the sickle-cell allele in populations pro- This is the companion volume to the seven-part television se-
vides a classic example of adaptation on a genetic level. De- ries broadcast by PBS in fall 2001 covering a broad range of
scribe the adaptive benefits of this deadly allele. Are mutations topics in modern evolutionary biology in a readable manner.
good or bad? Though it may pay too much attention to the tension between
contemporary biblical literalism and the life sciences, it pro-
vides a good basic reference.
Suggested Readings
Berra, T. M. (1990). Evolution and the myth of creationism. Stan-
ford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Thomson Audio Study Products
Written by a zoologist, this book is a basic guide to the facts in Enjoy the MP3-ready Audio Lecture Overviews for
the debate over evolution. It is not an attack on religion but a each chapter and a comprehensive audio glossary of
successful effort to assist in understanding the scientific basis key terms for quick study and review. Whether walk-
for evolution. ing to class, doing laundry, or studying at your desk, you now
have the freedom to choose when, where, and how you inter-
Eugenides, J. (2002). Middlesex: A novel. New York: Farrar, act with your audio-based educational media. See the preface
Straus and Giroux. for information on how to access this on-the-go study and re-
view tool.
This fascinating novel explores the lives of a family carrying
a recessive allele that results in hermaphroditic phenotype in
the third generation. It demonstrates the intersection of genet-
ics and culture, deals with age-old questions of nature versus The Anthropology Resource Center
nurture, and explores the importance of the cultural meaning
given any phenotypic state. www.thomsonedu.com/anthropology
The Anthropology Resource Center provides extended learn-
ing materials to reinforce your understanding of key concepts
Gould, S. J. (1996). Full house: The spread of excellence from Plato
in the four subfields of anthropology. For each of the four sub-
to Darwin. New York: Harmony.
disciplines, the Resource Center includes dynamic exercises
In this highly readable book, Gould explodes the misconcep- including video exercises, map exercises, simulations, and
tion that evolution is inherently progressive. In the process, “Meet the Scientists” interviews, as well as critical thinking
he shows how trends should be read as changes in variation questions that can be assigned and e-mailed to instructors.
within systems. The Resource Center also provides breaking news in anthro-
pology and interesting material on applied anthropology to
Rapp, R. (1999). Testing the woman, testing the fetus: The social help you link what you are learning to the world around you.
impact of amniocentesis in America. New York: Routledge.
This page intentionally left blank
3 Living Primates

CHALLENGE ISSUE
Other primates have long
fascinated humans owing to
our many shared anatomical
and behavioral characteris-
tics. Our similarities are evi-
dent in the way these Japa-
nese macaques, a species of
Old World monkey, enjoy a
hot tub on a cold day, much
in the same way that a human
would. Our differences, how-
ever, have had devastating
consequences for our closest
living relatives in the animal
world. As a result of human
destruction of primate habi-
tats and hunting of primates
for bush-meat or souvenirs,
seventy-six primate species
are now in danger of extinc-
tion. In the 21st century, hu-
mans face the challenge of
making sure that other pri-
mates do not go extinct due
to human actions.

Fotostock/SuperStock
 CHAPTER PREVIEW

What Is the Place of What Are the Why Do Anthropologists

Humanity among the Characteristics of the Study the Social Behavior
Other Animals? Primates Inhabiting of Primates?
Biologists classify humans as belong- the World Today? The study of the social behavior of
ing to the primate order, a mamma- Compared to other mammals, pri- primates has contributed signifi-
lian group that also includes lemurs, mates possess a relatively unspecial- cantly to ecology and evolutionary
lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, and apes. ized anatomy, while their behavioral theory. In addition, analysis of the
Among the primates, humans are patterns are diverse and flexible. behavior of monkeys and apes living
most closely related to the apes, par- Although the earliest primates were today—especially those most closely
ticularly to chimpanzees, bonobos, active at night and tree dwelling, rel- related to us—provides important
and gorillas. A common evolution- atively few of today’s primates still clues from which to reconstruct the
ary history is responsible for the behave in this way. Most primate adaptations and behavior patterns
characteristics shared by humans groups today live in social groups involved in the emergence of our
and other primates. By studying the and are quite active in the day. Brain earliest ancestors. The more we
anatomy, physiology, and molecular expansion and development of vis- know about our nearest living rela-
structure of the other primates, we ual acuity in place of a reliance on tives, the more it becomes clear that
can gain a better understanding of sense of smell accompanied this be- many of the differences between
what human characteristics we owe havioral shift. While some primates apes and humans reflect differences
to our general primate ancestry and still live in the trees, many species in degree of expression of shared
what traits are uniquely human. today are ground dwelling; some characteristics.
move into the trees only to forage
or to sleep at night. A relatively long
period of growth and development
allows young primates to learn the
behaviors of their social group.

51
52 Chapter Three/Living Primates

T he diversity of life on earth attests to the fact

that the challenge of survival can be solved in
many ways. In evolutionary terms, survival means con-
tinued existence of the species beyond one individual’s
in the field, while minimizing physical disruption. Pri-
matologists gather hair, feces, or other body secretions
left by the primates in the environment for later analysis
in the laboratory. These analyses provide invaluable in-
formation about characteristics such as dietary habits, or
lifespan. It includes reproducing subsequent generations genetic relatedness among a group of individuals.
and avoiding extinction. Over the course of countless Work with captive animals provides more than
generations, each species has followed its own unique knowledge about the basic biology of primates. It has
journey, an evolutionary history including random turns also allowed primatologists to document the “human-
as well as patterned adaptation to the environment. Be- ity” of our closest living relatives. Many of the amazing
cause new species are formed as populations diverge linguistic and conceptual abilities of primates became
from one another, closely related species resemble one known through captive animal studies. Individual pri-
another due to their more recent common ancestry. In matologists have devoted their careers to working with
other words, closely related species have shared a longer primates in captivity, teaching the primate to commu-
part of their evolutionary journey together. With each nicate through pictures on a computer screen or with
step, living creatures can only build on what already ex- American Sign Language. Of course, even compassion-
ists, making today’s diversity a product of tinkering with ate captivity imposes stress on primates. Still, the knowl-
ancestral body plans, behaviors, and physiology. edge gained through these studies will contribute ulti-
In this chapter we will look at the biology and be- mately to primate conservation and survival.
havior of the primates, the group of animals to which At fi rst glance it might seem that work with cap-
humans belong. By doing so, we will gain a firm under- tive animals is inherently less humane when compared
standing of those characteristics we share with other to field studies. But as noted in this chapter’s Biocultural
primates, as well as those that distinguish us from them Connection, even field studies raise important ethical is-
and make us human. By studying social behavior, com- sues for primatologists to consider. Primatologists must
munication, and tool use among our primate cousins to- maintain an awareness of how their presence affects the
day, we draw closer to an understanding of how and why behavior of the group. For example, does becoming toler-
humans developed as they did. ant of human observers make the primates more vulner-
able? Primates habituated to humans commonly range
beyond established preserves and come in close contact
METHODS AND ETHICS with other humans who may be more interested in hunt-
ing than observation. Contact between primates and hu-
IN PRIMATOLOGY mans can also expose endangered primates to infectious
Just as anthropologists employ diverse methods to study diseases carried by humans. Whether working with pri-
humans, primatologists today use a variety of methods mates in captivity or in the field, primatologists seriously
to study the biology, behavior, and evolutionary history consider the well-being of the primates they study.
of our closest living relatives. Some primatologists con-
centrate on the comparative anatomy of ancient skel-
etons, while others trace evolutionary relationships by OUR MAMMALIAN
studying the comparative physiology and genetics of liv-
ing species. Primatologists study the biology and behav-
(PRIMATE) HERITAGE
ior of living primates both in their natural habitats and in Biologists classify humans within the primate order, a
captivity in zoos, primate research colonies, or learning subgroup of the class Mammalia. The other primates
laboratories. include lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, and apes. Hu-
The classic image of a primatologist is someone like mans—together with chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas,
Jane Goodall, a world-renowned British researcher who orangutans, gibbons, and siamangs—form the homi-
has devoted her career to in-depth observation of chim- noids, colloquially known as apes, a superfamily within
panzees in their natural habitat. While documenting the the primate order. As hominoids, humans are a kind
range and nuance of chimpanzee behavior, she has also of ape!
championed primate habitat conservation and humane The primates are only one of several kinds of mam-
treatment of primates in captivity. This philosophy of mals, such as rodents, carnivores, ungulates (hoofed
conservation and preservation has led to further innova- mammals), and so on. Primates, like other mammals,
tions in primate research methods. For example, prima- are intelligent animals, having more in the way of brains
tologists have developed a number of noninvasive meth- than reptiles or other kinds of vertebrates. This in-
ods that allow them to link primate biology and behavior creased brain power, along with the mammalian pattern
 Biocultural
Connection Ethics of Great Ape Habituation and Conservation:
The Costs and Benefits of Ecotourism

By Michele Goldsmith
For the past ten years I have been Unfortunately, gorillas are still Another effect on behavior may be
studying the impact of habituation for hunted for a number of reasons. Gorillas an artificial increase in group size. For
the purpose of ecotourism on mountain who have lost their fear of humans are example, a group of some forty-four ani-
gorillas living in Bwindi Impenetrable especially vulnerable. Five Bwindi goril- mals now exist in the Virungas where the
National Park, Uganda. “Habituation” las habituated for research were found average group size is usually ten individu-
refers to the acceptance by wild animals dead, having been killed by poachers als. Furthermore, it is thought that, due
of a human observer as a neutral element for a young infant. In addition, humans to their fear of humans, nonhabituated
in their environment. Habituation allows have also brought great instability and adult male gorillas that would normally
the natural behavior of a species to be warfare to areas where gorilla popula- challenge other dominant males are ei-
observed and documented. Although in- tions live. Sudden evacuation of research ther deterred from presenting a challenge
formation from habituated primates has and tourist sites leaves behind habituated or are less successful in their challenge
been instrumental in providing a wealth gorillas who become easy targets for the against habituated groups.
of information for research and conser- poacher’s gun. Perhaps the biggest threat to habitu-
vation, little attention has ated great apes is disease. There
been given to the costs these are over nineteen viruses and
animals bear when their fear eighteen parasites that are
of humans is removed. As a known to infect both great apes
behavioral ecologist, great and humans. These diseases
ape researcher, and conser- have been responsible for be-
vationist, I am interested tween sixty-three and eighty-
in how their lack of fear seven ape deaths in habituated
of humans influences both groups (both research and
their behavior and their tourist groups) in the Virun-
Courtesy Michele L. Goldsmith/Photograph ©Katherine Hope

well-being. gas, Bwindi, Mahale, Tai, and

All great apes are listed Gombe.c As for the gorillas in
as “endangered species,” Bwindi, it has been shown that
and some subspecies (such the prevalence of parasites
as Gorilla gorilla beringei) such as Crytopsporidium and
are “critically endangered.”a Giardia are most prevalent in
Therefore, attempts at habituated groups living near
research and conservation, humans along the border of
such as ecotourism, should the park.
improve local population In highlighting the costs
numbers and conditions. of habituation in field prima-
Although I study how ha- tology, as a great ape prima-
bituation influences primate tologist, I know full well the
behavior, it is important to benefits that have come out of
note that even the habituation process With regard to long-term changes in this process. Weighing these costs and
itself impacts primate behavior. For ex- ecology and behavior, my research has benefits as a biological anthropologist,
ample, during the habituation process, a shown that the diet, nesting, and ranging I wonder if primatological field studies
group of western lowland gorillas exhib- patterns of habituated gorilla groups on endangered great apes for the sake of
ited fear in their vocalizations, increased are different from other “wild” gorillas understanding humans is still a viable op-
their aggressive behavior, and changed in the same study area. The Nkuringo tion. Perhaps primatologists should study
their daily ranging pattern.b Such stress group, habituated in 1998 for tourism apes only when it directly benefits the
can lead to loss of reproductive function that started in 2004, lives near the edge welfare and conservation of the study
and a weakened immune system. The pro- of the protected preserve. These gorillas animals, rather than our interest or curi-
cess can also be dangerous to the people spend close to 90 percent of their time osity in learning more ourselves. Ethical
performing the habituation process as outside the national park, in and around considerations are crucial as the numbers
many of them have been charged, bitten, human-inhabited areas and farms. These of great apes in the wild continue to
and hit. behavioral changes have many costs to dwindle. Habituation may not be an ape’s
a
the gorillas, such as increased contact salvation.
International Union for Conservation of Na-
ture and Natural Resources (IUCN). (2000).
with humans and human waste, con-
b
Blom, A., et al. (2001). A survey of the apes flict with farmers that could result in c
Butynski, T. M. (2001). Africa’s great apes. In
in the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park, Central injury, increased exposure to hunting as B. Beck et al. (Eds.), Great apes and humans:
African Republic. African Journal of Ecology these areas are mostly open fields, and The ethics of co-existence (pp. 3–56). Wash-
39, 98–105. increased risk of disease transmission. ington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
 54 Chapter Three/Living Primates

cient respiratory system featuring a separation between

the nasal (nose) and mouth cavities (allowing them to
breathe while they eat), a diaphragm to assist in draw-
ing in and letting out breath, and an efficient four-
chambered heart that prevents mixing of oxygenated
and deoxygenated blood.
Mammals possess a skeleton in which the limbs are
positioned beneath the body, rather than out at the sides.
This arrangement allows for direct support of the body
and easy flexible movement. The bones of the limbs have
joints constructed to permit growth in the young while
simultaneously providing strong, hard joint surfaces that
will stand up to the stresses of sustained activity. Mam-
mals stop growing when they reach adulthood, while
reptiles continue to grow throughout their lives.
The teeth of mammals and reptiles also differ. Rep-
tiles possess identical, pointed, peglike teeth while mam-
mals have teeth specialized for particular purposes:
incisors for nipping, gnawing, and cutting; canines for
ripping, tearing, killing, and fighting; premolars that
may either slice and tear or crush and grind (depend-
ing on the kind of animal); and molars for crushing and
grinding (Figure 3.1). This enables mammals to eat a
wide variety of food—an advantage to them, since they
require more food than reptiles to sustain their high
activity level. But they pay a price: reptiles have unlim-
© Peter Arnold, Inc.

ited tooth replacement throughout their lives, whereas

mammals are limited to two sets. The fi rst set serves the
immature animal and is replaced by the “permanent” or
adult teeth. The specializations of mammalian teeth al-
Nursing their young is an important part of the general mammalian
tendency to invest high amounts of energy into rearing relatively
few young at a time. The reptile pattern is to lay many eggs, with the
young fending for themselves. Interestingly, ape mothers, such as
this one, tend to nurse their young for up to four or five years. The
practice of bottle-feeding infants in the United States and Europe is a
massive departure from the ape pattern. Although the health benefits
of breastfeeding for mothers (such as lowered breast cancer rates)
and children (strengthened immune systems) are clearly documented,
CROCODILE
cultural norms have presented obstacles to breastfeeding. Across the JAW Identical teeth
globe, however, women nurse their children on average for about three
years.
CHIMPANZEE 3 molars 2 premolars
JAW
of growth and development, forms the biological basis 1 canine
2 incisors
of the flexible behavior patterns typical of mammals.
In most species, the young are born live, the egg being
retained within the womb of the mother until the em-
bryo achieves an advanced state of growth. Once born,
the young receive milk from their mothers’ mammary
glands, the structures from which the class Mammalia Figure 3.1
gets its name. During this period of infant dependency, The crocodile jaw, like jaws of all reptiles, contains a series of identi-
young mammals are able to learn some of the things cal teeth. If a tooth breaks or falls out, a new tooth will emerge in its
place. Mammals, by contrast, possess precise numbers of specialized
they will need for survival as adults. teeth, each with a particular shape characteristic of the group, as
Relative to other members of the animal kingdom, indicated on the chimpanzee jaw: Incisors in front are shown in blue,
mammals are highly active. This activity is made pos- canines behind in red, followed by two premolars and three molars in
sible by a relatively constant body temperature, an effi- yellow (the last being the wisdom teeth in humans).
 Primate Taxonomy 55

low species and evolutionary relationships to be identi- though some larger forms existed in the past. The pro-
fied through dental comparisons. simians also retain certain features common among
Evidence from ancient skeletons indicates that the nonprimate mammals, such as claws and moist, naked
fi rst mammals appeared over 200 million years ago as skin on their noses, not retained by the anthropoids.
small nocturnal (active at night) creatures. The earliest In Asia and Africa, all prosimians are nocturnal and
primatelike creatures came into being about 65 million arboreal creatures—again, like the fossil primates. The
years ago when a new mild climate favored the spread of isolated but large island of Madagascar, off the coast of
dense tropical and subtropical forests over much of the Africa, however, is home to a variety of diurnal ground-
earth. The change in climate and habitat, combined with dwelling prosimians. In the rest of the world, the diur-
the sudden extinction of dinosaurs, favored mammal nal (active in daytime) primates are all anthropoids. This
diversification, including the evolutionary development group is sometimes called the higher primates, because
of arboreal (tree-living) mammals from which primates they appeared later in evolutionary history and because
evolved. of a lingering belief that the group including humans
The ancestral primates possessed biological char- was more “evolved.” From a contemporary biological
acteristics that allowed them to adapt to life in the for- perspective, no species is more evolved than any other.
ests. Their relatively small size enabled them to use The anthropoid suborder is further divided into two
tree branches not accessible to larger competitors and infraorders; the Platyrrhini, or New World monkeys;
predators. Arboreal life opened up an abundant new and the Catarrhini, consisting of the superfamilies Cer-
food supply. The primates copithecoidea (Old World monkeys) and Hominoidea
THOMSON AUDIO were able to gather leaves, (apes). Although the terms New World and Old World re-
STUDY PRODUCTS flowers, fruits, insects, bird flect a Eurocentric vision of history (whereby the Ameri-
Take advantage of eggs, and even nesting cas were considered new only to European explorers
the MP3-ready Audio Lecture birds, rather than having to and not to the indigenous people already living there),
Overviews and comprehensive wait for them to fall to the these terms have evolutionary and geological relevance
audio glossary of key terms ground. Natural selection with respect to primates, as we will see in Chapter 5.
for each chapter. See the favored those who judged Old World monkeys and apes, including humans, have
preface for information on depth correctly and gripped a 40 million-year shared evolutionary history in Africa
how to access this on-the-go the branches tightly. Those distinct from the course taken by anthropoid primates in
study and review tool. individuals who survived the tropical Americas. “Old World” in this context rep-
life in the trees passed on resents the evolutionary origins of anthropoid primates
their genes to the succeeding generations. Although the rather than a political or historical focus on Europe.
earliest primates were nocturnal, today most primate
species are diurnal (active in the day). The transition to
diurnal life in the trees involved important biological ad- Establishing Relationships among
justments that helped shape the biology and behavior of the Primates Through Genetics
humans today.
Molecular evidence has confi rmed the close relationship
between humans and other primates. Genetic compari-
sons have also challenged evolutionary relationships that
PRIMATE TAXONOMY
Anthropologists use two classificatory systems to cat-
egorize primate species. The older system, dating back nocturnal Active at night and at rest during the day.
to the time of Linnaeus, is based on visible physical char- arboreal Living in the trees.
acteristics, while a more recent system depends upon diurnal Active during the day and at rest at night.
genetic analyses. The Linnaean system divides primates Prosimii A suborder of the primates that includes lemurs,
lorises, and tarsiers.
into two sub-orders: the Prosimii (from the Latin for
Anthropoidea A suborder of the primates that includes New
“before monkeys”), which includes lemurs, lorises, and World monkeys, Old World monkeys, and apes (including
tarsiers, and the Anthropoidea (from the Greek for “hu- humans).
manlike”), which includes monkeys, apes, and humans. grade A general level of biological organization seen among
This division was based on the overall similarity of the a group of species, useful for constructing evolutionary
body plans within each group, a phenomenon biologists relationships.
refer to as a grade. Platyrrhini An anthropoid infraorder that includes New World
monkeys.
The prosimians have also been called the lower pri-
Catarrhini An anthropoid infraorder that includes Old World
mates because they resemble the earliest fossil primates. monkeys, apes, and humans.
On the whole, prosimians are cat-sized or smaller, al-
56 Chapter Three/Living Primates

TABLE 3.1 TWO ALTERNATIVE TAXONOMIES FOR THE PRIMATE ORDER: DIFFERING IN PLACEMENT OF TARSIERS

Suborder Infraorder Superfamily (family) Location

I.
Prosimii Lemuriformes Lemuroidea (lemurs, indriids, and Madagascar
(lower primates) aye-ayes)
Lorisiformes Lorisoidea (lorises) Asia and Africa
Tarsioidea (tarsiers) Asia

Anthropoidea Platyrrhini (New World monkeys) Ceboidea Tropical Americas

(higher primates) Catarrhini Cercopithecoidea (Old World Africa and Asia
monkeys)
Hominoidea (Apes and humans) Africa and Asia (humans worldwide)

II.
Strepsirhini Lemuriformes Lemuroidea (lemurs, indriids, and Madagascar
aye-ayes)
Lorisiformes Lorisoidea (lorises) Asia and Africa

Haplorhini Tarsiiformes Tarsioidea (tarsiers) Asia

Platyrrhini (New World monkeys) Ceboidea Tropical Americas
Catarrhini Cercopithecoidea (Old World Africa and Asia
monkeys)
Hominoidea (Apes and humans) Africa and Asia (humans worldwide)

had been inferred from physical characteristics. Labora- Most relevant to human evolution, however, are
tory methods involving genetic comparisons range from the evolutionary relationships established from the mo-
scanning species’ entire genomes, to comparisons of the lecular evidence among the hominoids. On the basis of
precise sequences of base pairs in DNA or amino acids in tests with blood proteins and DNA, it has been shown
proteins. that among the apes, the bonobo, chimpanzee, and go-
Such research led to the proposal of a new primate rilla are closest to humans; next comes the orangutan,
taxonomy (Table 3.1). A close genetic relationship was then the smaller apes (gibbons and siamangs), Old World
discovered between the tarsiers—nocturnal tree dwell- monkeys, New World monkeys, tarsiers, and then fi nally
ers who resemble lemurs and lorises—and monkeys and the lemurs and lorises (Figure 3.2).
apes.1 The taxonomic scheme reflecting this genetic rela- Though the DNA sequence of humans and African
tionship places lemurs and lorises in the suborder Strep- apes is 98 percent identical, the organization of DNA into
sirhini (from the Greek for “turned nose”). Tarsiers are chromosomes differs between humans and the other
placed with monkeys and apes in the suborder Haplo- great apes. Bonobos and chimps, like gorillas and orang-
rhini (Greek for “simple nose”). Although this classifica- utans, have an extra pair of chromosomes compared
tory scheme accurately reflects genetic relationships, it to humans, in which two medium-sized chromosomes
is still useful to make comparisons between “grades,” or have fused together to form chromosome 2. (The chro-
general levels of organization in the older prosimian and mosomes are numbered according to their size as they
anthropoid classification. are viewed microscopically, so that chromosome 2 is the
second largest of the human chromosomes.) Of the other
1Goodman, M., et al. (1994). Molecular evidence on primate phy- pairs, eighteen are virtually identical between humans
logeny from DNA sequences. American Journal of Physical Anthropol- and the genus Pan, whereas the remaining ones have
ogy 94, 7. been reshuffled.
Overall, the differences are fewer than those between
gibbons (with twenty-two pairs of chromosomes) and
Strepsirhini In the alternate primate taxonomy, the suborder siamangs (twenty-five pairs of chromosomes)—closely
that includes the lemurs and lorises without the tarsiers.
related species that, in captivity, have produced live hy-
Haplorhini In the alternate primate taxonomy, the suborder that
includes tarsiers, monkeys, apes, and humans. brid offspring. Although some studies of molecular simi-
larities have suggested a closer relationship between Pan
 Primate Characteristics 57

Lemurs and lorises

Primate Dentition
The varied diet available to arboreal primates—shoots,
Tarsiers
leaves, insects, and fruits—did not require specializa-
New World monkeys tions of the teeth seen in other mammals. In most pri-
Old World monkeys
mates (humans included), on each side of each jaw, in
front, are two straight-edged, chisel-like broad teeth
Siamangs called incisors (see Figure 3.3). Behind the two incisors is
Common
Gibbons a canine tooth, which in many mammals is large, flaring,
ancestor
and fanglike. The canines are used for defense as well as
Orangutans for tearing and shredding food.
Gorillas In humans, canine tooth size is relatively small, al-
though it has an oversized root, suggestive of larger
Bonobos
canines some time back in our ancestry. Behind the ca-
Chimpanzees nines are the premolars and molars (the “cheek teeth”)
for grinding and chewing food. Molars erupt through
Humans
the gums while a young primate is maturing (6-year mo-
Figure 3.2
lars, 12-year molars, and wisdom teeth in humans). Thus
the functions of grasping, cutting, and grinding were
Based on molecular similarities and differences, a relationship can be
established among various primate groups. Based on molecular evi- served by different kinds of teeth. The exact number of
dence, tarsiers are more closely related to monkeys and apes than premolars and molars and the shape of individual teeth
to the lemurs and lorises that they resemble physically. Present think- differ among primate groups (see Table 3.2).
ing is that the split between the human and African ape lines took The evolutionary trend for primate dentition has
place between 5 and 8 million years ago. been toward a reduction in the number and size of the
teeth. The ancestral dental formula or pattern of tooth
type and number in mammals consisted of three inci-
and humans than either has to gorillas, others disagree, sors, one canine, five premolars, and three molars (ex-
and the safest course at the moment is to regard all three pressed as 3-1-5-3) on each side of the jaw, top and bot-
genera as having an equal degree of relationship (the two tom, for a total of forty-eight teeth. In the early stages
species of genus Pan are, of course, more closely related of primate evolution, one incisor and one premolar were
to each other than either is to gorillas or humans).2 lost on each side of each jaw, resulting in a dental pattern
of 2-1-4-3 in the early fossil primates. This change differ-
entiated the primates from other mammals.
Over the millennia, as the fi rst and second premolars
PRIMATE CHARACTERISTICS became smaller and eventually disappeared altogether,
While the living primates are a varied group of animals, the third and fourth premolars grew larger and added a
they do share a number of features. We humans, for ex- second pointed projection, or cusp, thus becoming “bi-
ample, can grasp, throw, and see in three dimensions cuspid.” In humans, all eight premolars are bicuspid, but
because of shared primate characteristics. Compared to in other Old World anthropoids, the lower fi rst premolar
other mammals, primates possess a relatively unspecial- is not bicuspid. Instead, it is a specialized, single-cusped
ized anatomy while their behavioral patterns are diverse tooth with a sharp edge to act with the upper canine as
and flexible. a shearing mechanism. The molars, meanwhile, evolved
Many primate characteristics are useful to arboreal from a three-cusp pattern to one with four and even five
animals, although (as any squirrel knows) they are not cusps. The five-cusp pattern is characteristic of the lower
essential to life in the trees. For animals preying upon molars of living and extinct hominoids (Figure 3.3). Be-
the many insects living on the fruit and flowers of trees cause the grooves separating the five cusps of a homi-
and shrubs, however, primate characteristics such as noid lower molar looks like the letter Y, hominoid lower
dexterous hands and keen vision would have been enor- molars are said to have a Y5 pattern. In humans there has
mously adaptive. Life in the trees, along with the visual
predation of insects, played a role in the evolution of pri-
mate biology. dental formula The number of each tooth type (incisors, ca-
nines, premolars, and molars) on one half of each jaw. Unlike
other mammals, primates possess equal numbers on their upper
2Rogers, J. (1994). Levels of the genealogical hierarchy and the and lower jaws so the dental formula for the species is a single
problem of hominid phylogeny. American Journal of Physical Anthro- series of numbers.
pology 94, 81.
58 Chapter Three/Living Primates

3 molars
3 premolars

1 canine
2 incisors

6 front teeth
project to form
dental comb
PROSIMIAN
JAW

3 molars 2 premolars

1 canine
2 incisors

Molar
4
5 3
GORILLA 1 2
JAW
Tounge

Figure 3.3
© Tom Brakefield/Corbis

Because the exact number and shape of the teeth differs among
primate groups, teeth are frequently used to identify evolutionary
relationships and group membership. Prosimians (top), with a dental
formula of 2-1-3-3, possess two incisors, one canine, three premolars,
and three molars on each side of their upper and lower jaws. Also,
lower canines and incisors project forward, forming a “dental comb,” Though the massive canine teeth of some male anthropoids such as
which they use for grooming. A dental formula of 2-1-2-3, typical of this mandrill are serious weapons, they are used more often to com-
Old World monkeys and apes, can be seen in the gorilla jaw (bottom). municate rather than to draw blood. Raising his lip to flash his canines
Note the large projecting canines. On one of the molars, the cusps are to young members of the group will get them in line right away. Over
numbered to illustrate the Y5 pattern found in hominoids. the course of human evolution, overall canine size and sexual dimor-
phism of the canines reduced. Nevertheless, we associate projecting
canines with drawing blood.
been some departure from the Y5 pattern associated with
the reduction in tooth and jaw size such that the second
and third molars generally have only four cusps. Four- The canines of most primates develop into long,
and five-cusp molars economically combined the func- daggerlike teeth that enable them to rip open tough
tions of grasping, cutting, and grinding in one tooth. husks of fruit and other foods. In many species, males
The evolutionary trend for human dentition has possess larger canine teeth compared to females. This
generally been toward economy, with fewer, smaller, sex difference is an example of sexual dimorphism—
more efficient teeth doing more work. Thus our own differences between the sexes in the shape or size of a
thirty-two teeth (a 2-1-2-3 dental formula shared with the feature. These large canines are used frequently for so-
Old World monkeys and apes) are fewer in number than cial communication. All an adult male gorilla or baboon
those of some, and more generalized than those of most, needs to do to get a youngster to be submissive is to raise
primates. However, this trend does not indicate that spe- his upper lip to display his large, sharp canines.
cies with more teeth are less evolved, only that their evo-
lutionary history followed different trends.
Sensory Organs
sexual dimorphism Within a single species, differences in the The primates’ adaptation to arboreal life involved
shape or size of a feature for males and females in body features
changes in the form and function of their sensory or-
not directly related to reproduction such as body size or canine
tooth shape and size.
gans. The sense of smell was vital for the earliest ground-
dwelling, night-active mammals. It enabled them to op-
 Primate Characteristics 59

erate in the dark, to sniff out their food, and to detect

hidden predators. However, for active tree life during
daylight, good vision is a better guide than smell in judg-
ing the location of the next branch or tasty morsel. Ac-
cordingly, the sense of smell declined in primates, while
vision became highly developed.
Travel through the trees demands judgments con-
cerning depth, direction, distance, and the relationships
of objects hanging in space, such as vines or branches.
Monkeys, apes, and humans achieved this through bin-
ocular stereoscopic color vision (Figure 3.4), the ability
to see the world in the three dimensions of height, width,
and depth. Binocular vision (in which two eyes sit next
to each other on the same plane so that their visual fields
overlap), together with nerve connections that run from
each eye to both sides of the brain, confers complete
depth perception characteristic of three-dimensional
or stereoscopic vision. This arrangement allows nerve
cells to integrate the images derived from each eye. In-
creased brain size in the visual area in primates, and a
greater complexity at nerve connections, also contribute
to stereoscopic color vision.
Visual acuity, however, varies throughout the pri-
mate order both in terms of color and spatial perception.
Prosimians, most of whom are nocturnal, lack color vi- Primary receiving area
sion. The eyes of lemurs and lorises (but not tarsiers) are for visual information
capable of reflecting light off the back of the retina, the
surface where nerve fibers gather images in the back of Figure 3.4
the eye to intensify the limited light available in the for- Anthropoid primates possess binocular stereoscopic vision. Binocular
est at night. In addition, prosimian vision is binocular vision refers to overlapping visual fields associated with forward-
without the benefits of stereoscopy. Their eyes look out facing eyes. Three-dimensional or stereoscopic vision comes from
binocular vision and the transmission of information from each eye
from either side of their muzzle or snout. Though there to both sides of the brain.
is some overlap of visual fields, their nerve fibers do not
cross from each eye to both halves of the brain.
By contrast, monkeys, apes, and humans possess search of food. The anthropoids especially have the least-
both color and stereoscopic vision. Color vision markedly developed sense of smell of all land animals. Though
improves the diet of these primates compared to most humans can smell fear, distinguish perfumes, and even
other mammals. The ability to distinguish colors pro- distinguish family members from strangers, our brains
motes the identification of food by allowing anthropoid have come to emphasize vision rather than smell. Pro-
primates to choose ripe fruits or tender immature leaves simians, by contrast, still rely more on smell than on vi-
due to their red rather than green coloration. In addition, sion, possessing numerous scent glands for marking ob-
anthropoid primates possess a unique structure called jects in their territories.
the fovea centralis, or central pit, in the retina of each Arboreal primates also possess an acute sense of
eye. Like a camera lens, this feature enables the animal touch. An effective feeling and grasping mechanism
to focus on a particular object for acutely clear percep-
tion without sacrificing visual contact with the object’s
binocular vision Vision with increased depth perception from
surrounding. two eyes set next to each other allowing their visual fields to
The primates’ emphasis on visual acuity came at the overlap.
expense of their sense of smell. Smells are processed in stereoscopic vision Complete three-dimensional vision (or
the forebrain, a part of the brain that projects into the depth perception) from binocular vision and nerve connections
snout of animals depending upon smells. A large pro- that run from each eye to both sides of the brain allowing nerve
truding snout, however, may interfere with stereoscopic cells to integrate the images derived from each eye.
fovea centralis A shallow pit in the retina of the eye that enables
vision. But smell is an expendable sense to tree-dwelling
an animal to focus on an object while maintaining visual contact
animals in search of insects; they no longer needed to live with its surroundings.
a “nose to the ground” existence, sniffi ng the ground in
60 Chapter Three/Living Primates

helps prevent them from falling and tumbling while are in the retina, mammalian vision is processed in the
speeding through the trees. The early mammals from brain, permitting integration with information received
which primates evolved possessed tiny touch-sensitive through sound, touch, taste, and smell.
hairs at the tips of their hands and feet. In primates, sen- If the evolution of visual acuity led to larger brains, it
sitive pads backed up by nails on the tips of the animals’ is likely that the primates’ insect predation in an arboreal
fi ngers and toes replaced these hairs. setting also played a role in enlargement of the brain.
This would have required great agility and muscular co-
ordination, favoring development of the brain centers.
The Primate Brain Thus it is of interest that much of the higher mental fac-
These changes in sensory organs have corresponding ulties are apparently developed in an area alongside the
changes to the primate brain. In addition, an increase in motor centers of the brain.3
brain size, particularly in the cerebral hemispheres—the Another related hypothesis that may help account
areas supporting conscious thought—occurred in the for primate brain enlargement involves the use of the
course of primate evolution. In monkeys, apes, and hu- hand as a tactile organ to replace the teeth and jaws or
mans, the cerebral hemispheres completely cover the snout. The hands assumed some of the grasping, tear-
cerebellum, the part of the brain that coordinates the ing, and dividing functions of the jaws, again requiring
muscles and maintains body balance. development of the brain centers for more complete
One of the most significant outcomes of this devel- coordination.
opment is the flexibility seen in primate behavior. Rather
than relying on reflexes controlled by the cerebellum,
primates constantly react to a variety of features in the
The Primate Skeleton
environment. Messages from the hands and feet, eyes The skeleton gives animals with internal backbones, or
and ears, as well as from the sensors of balance, move- vertebrates, their basic shape or silhouette, supports the
ment, heat, touch, and pain, are simultaneously relayed soft tissues, and helps protect vital internal organs (Fig-
to the cerebral cortex. Obviously the cortex had to evolve ure 3.5). In primates, for example, the skull protects the
considerably in order to receive, analyze, and coordinate brain and the eyes. A number of factors are responsible
these impressions and transmit the appropriate response for the shape of the primate skull as compared with those
back down to the motor nerves. The enlarged, respon- of most other mammals: changes in dentition, changes
sive, cerebral cortex provides the biological basis for flex- in the sensory organs of sight and smell, and increased
ible behavior patterns found in all primates, including brain size. The primate braincase, or cranium, tends to
humans. be high and vaulted. A solid partition exists in anthro-
The reasons for the increased capacity of the brain poid primates between the eye and the temple, afford-
for learning are many, but they likely began as the earli- ing maximum protection to the eyes from the contrac-
est primates, along with many other mammals, began to tion of the chewing muscles positioned directly next to
carry out their activities in the daylight hours. Prior to the eyes.
65 million years ago, mammals seem to have been noc- The foramen magnum (the large opening at the
turnal in their habits. The extinction of the dinosaurs base of the skull through which the spinal cord passes
and climate change at that time opened new ecologi- and connects to the brain) is an important clue to evo-
cal niches—a species’ way of life considered in the full lutionary relationships. In most mammals, as in dogs
context of its environment, including other species, ge- and horses, this opening faces directly backward, with
ology, climate, and so on. With the change to a diurnal the skull projecting forward from the vertebral column.
life, the sense of vision took on greater importance, and In humans, by contrast, the vertebral column joins the
so visual acuity was favored by natural selection. Unlike skull toward the center of its base, thereby placing the
reptile vision, where the information-processing neurons skull in a balanced position as required for habitual up-
right posture. Other primates, though they frequently
cling, sit, or hang with their bodies upright, are not as
ecological niche A species’ way of life considered in the full fully committed to such posture as humans and so their
context of its environment, including factors such as diet, activity, foramen magnum is not as far forward.
terrain, vegetation, predators, prey, and climate.
In anthropoid primates, the snout or muzzle portion
vertebrate An animal with a backbone including fish, amphib-
ians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. of the skull reduced as the acuity of the sense of smell
cranium The braincase of the skull.
foramen magnum A large opening in the skull through which
the spinal cord passes and connects to the brain. 3Romer, A. S. (1945). Vertebrate paleontology (p. 103). Chicago: Uni-
versity of Chicago Press.
 Primate Characteristics 61

Figure 3.5
All primates possess the same ancestral vertebrate limb pattern as seen in reptiles and amphibians, con-
sisting of a single upper long bone, two lower long bones, and five radiating digits, as seen in this gorilla
(right) skeleton. Most other mammals such as bison (left) have modified this pattern in some way. Bison
have lost all but two of their digits, and the second long bone in the lower portion of the limb is reduced.
Note also that in bison (as in most mammals) the skull projects forward from the vertebral column, but in
the semi-erect gorilla, the vertebral column is further beneath the skull.

declined. The smaller snout offers less interference with animal with an excellent prehensile (grasping) device
stereoscopic vision; it also enables the eyes to take a fron- for use when moving from branch to branch. The struc-
tal position. As a result, primates have flatter faces than tural characteristics of the primate foot and hand make
some other mammals. grasping possible; the digits are extremely flexible, the
Below the primate skull and the neck is the clavi- big toe is fully opposable to the other digits in all but
cle, or collarbone, a bone found in ancestral mammals humans and their immediate ancestors, and the thumb
though lost in mammals such as cats. The size of the is opposable to the other digits to varying degrees.
clavicle is reduced in quadrupedal primates like monkeys The retention of the flexible vertebrate limb pattern
that possess a narrow sturdy body plan. In the apes, by in primates was a valuable asset to evolving humans. It
contrast, it is broad, orienting the arms at the side rather was, in part, having hands capable of grasping that en-
than at the front of the body and forming part of the abled our own ancestors to manufacture and use tools
suspensory hanging apparatus of this group (Table 3.2). and to embark on the evolutionary pathway that led to
The clavicle also supports the scapula (shoulder blade) the revolutionary ability to adapt through culture.
and allows for the muscle development that is required
for flexible, yet powerful, arm movement—permitting
large-bodied apes to hang suspended below the tree
branches and to brachiate, or swing from tree to tree. clavicle The collarbone connecting the sternum (breastbone)
with the scapula (shoulder blade).
The limbs of the primate skeleton follow the same
suspensory hanging apparatus The broad powerful shoul-
basic ancestral plan seen in the earliest vertebrates. der joints and muscles found in all the hominoids, allowing these
Other animals possess limbs specialized to optimize a large-bodied primates to hang suspended below the tree branches.
particular behavior such as speed. In each primate arm scapula The shoulder blade.
or leg, the upper portion of the limb has a single long brachiation Using the arms to move from branch to branch,
bone, the lower portion two long bones, and then hands with the body hanging suspended beneath the arms.
or feet with five radiating digits. Their grasping feet prehensile Having the ability to grasp.
opposable Able to bring the thumb or big toe in contact with the
and hands have sensitive pads at the tips of their digits,
tips of the other digits on the same hand or foot in order to grasp
backed up (except in some prosimians) by flattened nails. objects.
This unique combination of pad and nail provides the
 62 Chapter Three/Living Primates

TABLE 3.2 PRIMATE ANATOMICAL VARIATION AND SPECIALIZATION

Locomotor Tail and

Primate Dental Formula and Pattern and Other Skeletal
Group Skull and Face Specializations Morphology Specializations

Earliest fossil Eye not fully surrounded by bone 2-1-4-3

primates

Prosimians Complete ring of bone surrounding eye 2-1-3-3 Hind leg dominance Tail present
Dental comb for for vertical clinging
grooming and leaping
Upper lip bound down to the gum
Long snout

Anthropoids Forward facing eyes fully enclosed in bone

Free upper lip
Shorter snout

New World 2-1-3-3 Quadrupedal Prehensile

monkeys (grasping) tail

Old World 2-1-2-3 Quadrupedal Tail present

monkeys Four-cusped molars

Apes 2-1-2-3 Suspensory hanging No tail

Y5 molars on lower jaw apparatus

To sum up, what becomes apparent when humans

are compared to other primates is how many of the char-
acteristics we consider distinctly human are not in fact
uniquely ours; rather, they are variants of typical pri-
mate traits. The fact is, we humans look the way we do
because we are primates, and the differences between us
and others of this order—especially the apes—are more
differences of degree than kind.

THE LIVING PRIMATES

Except for a few species of Old World monkeys who live
in temperate climates and humans who inhabit the en-
tire globe, the living primates inhabit warm areas of the
world. We will briefly explore the diversity of the five
natural groupings of living primates: (1) lemurs and lo-
rises, (2) tarsiers, (3) New World monkeys, (4) Old World
monkeys, and (5) apes. Each group’s distinctive habitat,
biological features, and behavior will be examined.
Lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers are the living primates
whose anatomy and behavior most closely resembles the
© Reuters/Getty Images

ancestral primate condition. Monkeys, apes, and humans

resemble one another more than any of these groups re-
semble lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers. New World and Old
World species are separated from one another at the clas-
Humans are able to grasp and throw things as they do because of
sificatory level of infraorder: the Platyrrhini (New World
characteristics of their hands and shoulders inherited from ape ances- monkeys) and Catarrhini (Old World monkeys, apes, and
tors. The suspensory hanging apparatus also allows humans to hang humans). Humans are remarkably like monkeys, but we
from “monkey bars,” which should really be called “ape bars.” are even more like the other apes, in appearance.
 The Living Primates 63

VISUAL COUNTERPOINT
© Dani/Jeski/Animals Animals Earth Scenes All rights reserved

© David Haring/OSF/Animals Animals

Wherever there is competition from anthropoid primates, prosimian species, such as this loris on the right,
retain the arboreal nocturnal pattern of the earliest fossil primates. Notice its large eyes, long snout, and
moist split nose—all useful in its relatively solitary search for food in the trees at night. Only on the large
Island of Madagascar off the eastern coast of Africa, where no anthropoids existed until humans arrived
there, have prosimians come to occupy the diurnal ground-dwelling niche. Prosimians still rely on smell,
marking their territory and communicating through “smelly” messages left for others with a squirt from
glands located on their wrists. Though a dependence on smell is a characteristic typical of the earliest fos-
sil primates and the insectivores from which primates evolved, it would be incorrect to think of prosimians
as “less evolved.”

Lemurs and Lorises lemurs and lorises have three premolars and molars, re-
sulting in a dental formula of 2-1-3-3.
Although lemurs are restricted to the island of Madagas- The hind legs of lemurs and lorises are longer than
car (off the east coast of Africa), lorises range from Af- their front legs, and when they move on all fours, the
rica to southern and eastern Asia. Only on Madagascar, forelimbs are in a palms-down position. Some species
where there was no competition from anthropoid pri- can also move from tree to tree by vertical clinging and
mates until humans arrived, are lemurs diurnal, or ac- leaping. First they hang onto the trunk of one tree in an
tive during the day; lorises, by contrast, are all nocturnal upright position, with their long legs curled up tightly
and arboreal. like springs and their heads twisted to look in the direc-
All these animals are small, with none larger than a tion they are moving. They propel themselves into the
good-sized dog. In general body outline, they resemble air, do a “180,” and land facing the trunk on their tree of
rodents and insectivores, with short pointed snouts, large choice.
pointed ears, and big eyes. In the anatomy of the upper With their distinctive mix of characteristics, lemurs
lip and snout, lemurs and lorises resemble nonprimate and lorises appear to occupy a place between the anthro-
mammals, in that the upper lip is bound down to the poid primates and insectivores, the mammalian order
gum, and the naked skin on the nose around the nostrils that includes moles and shrews.
is moist and split. They also have long tails, with that of a
ring-tail lemur somewhat like the tail of a raccoon.
Lemurs and lorises have typical primate “hands,”
Tarsiers
although they use them in pairs, rather than one at a Outwardly, tarsiers resemble the lemurs and lorises. Mo-
time. Sensitive pads and flattened nails are located at the lecular evidence, however, indicates a closer relationship
tips of the fi ngers and toes, although they retain a claw to the monkeys, apes, and humans. The head, eyes, and
on their second toe, sometimes called a grooming claw, ears of these kitten-sized arboreal creatures are huge in
which they use for scratching and cleaning. Lemurs and proportion to the body. They have the remarkable abil-
lorises possess another unique structure for grooming: a ity to turn their heads 180 degrees, so they can see where
dental comb made up of the lower incisors and canines, they have been as well as where they are going. The dig-
which projects forward from the jaw and which can be its end in platelike adhesive discs. Tarsiers are named for
run through their fur. Behind the incisors and canines, the elongated tarsal, or foot bone, that provides leverage
 64 Chapter Three/Living Primates

which comes their name of platyrrhine (from the Greek

for “flat nosed”) monkeys. All are arboreal and possess
long tails, which in some groups are prehensile or grasp-
ing and used as a fi fth limb. The naked skin on the under-
sides of their tails resembles the sensitive skin found at
the tips of our fi ngers and is even covered with whorls
like fi ngerprints. These features and a 2-1-3-3 dental for-
mula (three, rather than two, premolars on each side of
each jaw) distinguish them from the Old World mon-
keys, apes, and humans.
Platyrrhines walk on all fours with their palms down
and scamper along tree branches in search of fruit, which
© Michael Dick/Animals Animals

they eat sitting upright. Although New World monkeys

spend much of their time in the trees, they rarely hang
suspended below the branches or swing from limb to
limb by their arms and have not developed the extremely
long forelimbs and broad shoulders characteristic of
the apes.

With their large eyes, tarsiers are well adapted for nocturnal life. If
humans possessed eyes proportionally the same size as tarsiers relative Old World Monkeys
to the size of our faces, our eyes would be approximately the size of
oranges. In their nocturnal habit and outward appearance, tarsiers Old World or catarrhine (from the Greek for “sharp
resemble the lemurs and lorises. Genetically, however, they are more nosed”) primates are characterized by noses with closely
closely related to monkeys and apes, causing scientists to rework the spaced, downward-pointing nostrils. The Old World
suborder divisions in primate taxonomy to reflect this evolutionary
monkeys, divided from the apes at the taxonomic level
relationship.
of superfamily, possess a 2-1-2-3 dental formula (two,
rather than three, premolars on each side of each jaw)
for jumps of 6 feet or more. Tarsiers are mainly noctur- and nonprehensile tails. They may be either arboreal
nal insect eaters and so occupy a niche that is similar to or terrestrial, using a quadrupedal pattern of locomo-
that of the earliest ancestral primates. In the structure of tion on the ground or in the trees in a palms-down po-
the nose and lips, and the part of the brain governing vi- sition. Their body plan is narrow with hind limbs and
sion, tarsiers resemble monkeys. forelimbs of equal length, a reduced clavicle (collar-
bone), and relatively fi xed and sturdy shoulder, el-
bow, and wrist joints. The arboreal species include the
New World Monkeys guereza monkey, the Asiatic langur, and the strange-
New World monkeys live in tropical forests of South and looking proboscis monkey. Some are equally at home
Central America. They are characterized by flat noses on the ground and in the trees, such as the macaques, of
with widely separated, outward-flaring nostrils, from which some nineteen species range from tropical Africa

Grasping hands and three-dimensional vision en-

able primates like these South American monkeys
to effectively lead active lives in the trees. In
some New World monkey species, a grasping or
prehensile tail makes life in the trees even easier.
The naked skin on the undersides of their tails
resembles the sensitive skin found at the tips of
our fingers and is even covered with whorls like
fingerprints. This sensory skin allows New World
monkeys to use their tails as a fifth limb.
© Courtesy of Dana Walrath
 The Living Primates 65

The behavior of baboons, a

kind of Old World monkey,
has been particularly well
studied. There are several
distinct species of baboon,
each with their own social
rules. In the troops of
hamadryas baboons (pic-
tured), the sacred baboons
of ancient Egypt, each male
has a harem of females
over which he dominates.
Female hamadryas baboons,
if transferred to a troop
of olive baboons, where
females are less submis-
sive, maintain the passive
behaviors learned in their
© Paul van Gaalen/zefa/Corbis

original troop. But a female

olive baboon placed in the
hamadryas troop quickly
learns submissive behaviors
in order to survive.

and Asia to Gibraltar on the southern coast of Spain to

Japan.
Some species of baboon, a kind of Old World mon-
key, have been of particular interest to paleoanthropolo-
gists because they live in environments similar to those
in which humans may have originated. These baboons
have abandoned trees (except for sleeping and refuge)
and are largely terrestrial, living in the savannahs, des-
erts, and highlands of Africa. They have long, fierce faces
and eat a diet of leaves, seeds, insects, and lizards. They
live in large, well-organized troops comprised of related
females and adult males that have transferred out of
other troops. Other species of baboons live in different
environments.

Small and Great Apes

The apes of the hominoid superfamily are the closest liv-
ing relatives we humans have in the animal world. Like
© Gerard Lacz/Peter Arnold, Inc.

us, apes are large wide-bodied primates with no tails. As

described earlier in this chapter, apes possess a shoulder
anatomy specialized for hanging suspended below tree
branches. All apes possess this suspensory hanging appa-
ratus, though among apes only small lithe gibbons and
talented gymnasts swing from branch to branch in the
pattern known as brachiation. At the opposite extreme While all apes or hominoids possess a suspensory hanging apparatus
are gorillas, which generally climb trees, using their pre- that allows them to hang from the branches of the forest canopy, only
hensile hands and feet to grip the trunk and branches. the gibbon is a master of brachiation—swinging from branch to branch.
The nonhuman hominoids can also walk bipedally for brief periods of
While smaller gorillas may swing between branches, in time when they need their arms free for carrying something, but they
large individuals swinging is limited to leaning outward cannot sustain bipedal locomotion for more than 50 to 100 yards.
while reaching for fruit and clasping a limb for support. Hominoid anatomy is better adapted to knuckle-walking and hanging
Still, most of their time is spent on the ground. All apes in the trees.
 66 Chapter Three/Living Primates

except humans and their immediate ancestors possess Borneo spend most of their time alone (except in the
arms that are longer than their legs. case of females with young), as they have to forage over
In moving on the ground, the African apes “knuckle- a wide area to obtain sufficient food. By contrast, fruits
walk” on the backs of their hands, resting their weight and insects are sufficiently abundant in the swamps of
on the middle joints of the fi ngers. They stand erect Sumatra to sustain groups of adults and permit coordi-
when reaching for fruit, looking over tall grass, or in any nated group travel. Thus, gregariousness is a function of
activity where they fi nd an erect position advantageous. habitat productivity.4
The semi-erect position is natural in apes when on the Gorillas, found in equatorial Africa, are the largest of
ground because the curvature of their vertebral column the apes; an adult male can weigh over 450 pounds, with
places their center of gravity, which is high in their bod- females about half that size. The body is covered with a
ies, in front of their hip joint. Thus, they are both “top thick coat of glossy black hair, and mature males have
heavy” and “front heavy.” Though apes can walk on two a silvery gray upper back. There is a strikingly human
legs, or bipedally, for short distances, the structure of the look about the face, and like humans, gorillas focus on
ape pelvis is not well suited to support the weight of the things in their field of vision by directing the eyes rather
torso and limbs for more than several minutes. than moving the head.
Gibbons and siamangs, the small apes that are native Gorillas are mostly ground dwellers, but the lighter
to Southeast Asia and Malaya, have compact, slim bodies females and young may sleep in trees in carefully con-
with extraordinarily long arms compared to their short structed nests. Because of their weight, adult males spend
legs and stand about 3 feet high. Although their usual less time in the trees but raise and lower themselves
form of locomotion is brachiation, they can run erect, among the tree branches when searching for fruit. Goril-
holding their arms out for balance. Gibbon and siamang las knuckle-walk, using all four limbs with the fi ngers of
males and females are similar in size, living in family the hand flexed, placing the knuckles instead of the palm
groups of two parents and offspring. of the hand on the ground. They stand erect to reach for
Orangutans are found in Borneo and Sumatra. They fruit, to see something more easily, or to threaten per-
are considerably taller than gibbons and siamangs and ceived sources of danger with their famous chest-beating
are much heavier, with the bulk characteristic of the displays. Though known for these displays to protect the
great apes. In the closeness of the eyes and facial promi- members of their troop, adult male silverback gorillas
nence, an orangutan looks very humanlike. The people are the gentle giants of the forest. As vegetarians, goril-
of Sumatra gave orangutans their name, “person of the las devote a major portion of each day to eating volumes
forest,” using the Malay term oran, which means “per- of plant matter to sustain their massive bodies. Although
son.” On the ground, orangutans walk with their fore- gorillas are gentle and tolerant, bluffi ng is an important
limbs in a fists-sideways or a palms-down position. They part of their behavioral repertoire.
are, however, more arboreal than the African apes. Al- Chimpanzees and bonobos are two closely related
though sociable by nature, the orangutans of upland species of the same genus (Pan), pictured frequently
throughout this chapter. Bonobos are restricted in their
distribution to the rainforests of the Democratic Repub-
lic of Congo. The common chimpanzee, by contrast,
is widely distributed in the forested portions of sub-
Saharan Africa. Chimpanzees and bonobos are probably
the best known of the apes and have long been favorites
in zoos and circuses. In the past, bonobos were known as
pygmy chimpanzees—not because they are smaller than
the common chimps but due to prejudices linking Afri-
can pygmy people to the apes.
Although thought of as particularly quick and clever,
all four great apes are of equal intelligence, despite some
differences in cognitive styles. More arboreal than go-
© John Giustina

rillas, but less so than orangutans, chimpanzees and

bonobos forage on the ground much of the day, knuckle-
walking like gorillas. At sunset, they return to the trees,
The least well known of the great apes, orangutans also possess in-
where they build their nests.
credible intellectual capacities. This adult male holds a stick from which
he has stripped off all side twigs so that he can use it as a probe to 4Normile, D. (1998). Habitat seen as playing larger role in shaping
extract termites, ants, or honey. behavior. Science 279, 1,454.
 Primate Social Behavior 67

GLOBALSCAPE
Arctic
Ocean

ASIA

NORTH EUROPE
AMERICA

Atlantic
Austin,Texas Ocean

AFRICA Pacific
Pacific Ocean
Ocean
Democratic
Uganda
Republic Indian
of Congo Rwanda
SOUTH Ocean
AMERICA

AUSTRALIA

ANTARCTICA

© Martin Harvey/Peter Arnold, Inc.

Gorilla Hand Ashtrays? Tricia, a 20- pioneered field studies of the gorillas
year-old from Austin, Texas, blogs: “At in the 1970s, gorilla hand ashtrays and
that party did you meet the guy from heads remain coveted expensive souve-
South Africa that looked like an exact nirs for unsavory tourists. A poacher can
replica of Dave Matthews (only skinnier) sell these body parts and the remaining
who was talking about gorilla hand bush-meat for a handsome profit.
ashtrays?”a The unnamed guy was talk- Today, logging and mining in gorilla
ing about one of the many real threats habitats not only destroy these forests,
to gorillas in the wild. With no natural but roads make it easier for poachers to
access the gorillas. Local governments in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
enemies, human actions alone are
of Rwanda and Uganda in partnership Recycling will reduce the amount of new
responsible for the shrinking population
with the Fossey Fund and the Bush Meat coltan needed.
size of gorillas in their natural habitats
in Rwanda, Uganda, and the Congo. Project have set up poaching patrols and Global Twister Encouraging recycling
Despite conservation work, begun by community partnerships to protect the of cell phones and discouraging poach-
the late primatologist Dian Fossey who endangered gorillas. Thousands of miles ing both will impact gorilla survival.
away, Tricia and her friends can also help How would you go about convincing the
a
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm by recycling their cell phones. The min- average cell phone user or the poacher
?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid eral coltan that is found in cell phones to change their habits and/or livelihood
=40312227. Accessed July 3, 2006. is mined primarily from gorilla habitats to protect endangered gorillas?

Observations of primates in their natural habitats

PRIMATE SOCIAL BEHAVIOR over the past decades have shown that social organiza-
In addition to the physical resemblance between human tion, learning, reproduction and care of the young, and
beings and other catarrhine primates, striking similari- communication among our primate relatives have many
ties in social behavior also exist. These primates spend similarities to humans, differing in degree, rather than
more time reaching adulthood compared to many other in kind. Because the full range of primate behavior is be-
mammals. During their lengthy growth and develop- yond the scope of this book, we shall focus upon the be-
ment, young primates learn the behaviors of their social havior of those species most closely related to humans:
group. bonobos, chimpanzees, and gorillas.
68 Chapter Three/Living Primates

The Group have known since birth to join another group.5 Other
females may also temporarily leave their group to mate
Primates are social animals, living and traveling in with males of another group. Among bonobos, adoles-
groups that vary in size from species to species. Among cent females appear to always transfer to another group,
chimps and bonobos, the largest social organizational where they promptly establish bonds with females of
unit is the community, composed of fi fty or more indi- their new group. While biological factors such as the
viduals who collectively inhabit a large geographic area. hormonal influences on sexual maturity play a role in
Rarely, however, are all these animals together at one adolescent migration, the variation across species, and
time. Instead, they are usually found ranging singly or within the chimpanzees in dispersal patterns, indicates
in small subgroups consisting of adult males together, fe- that differences may also derive from the learned social
males with their young, or males and females together traditions of the group.
with young. In the course of their travels, subgroups may Relationships among individuals within the ape
join forces and forage together, but sooner or later these community are relatively harmonious. In the past, pri-
subgroups break up again into smaller units. When they matologists believed that male dominance hierarchies,
do, some individuals split off and others join, so that the in which some animals outrank and could dominate oth-
new subunits may be different in their composition from ers, formed the basis of primate social structures. They
the ones that initially came together. noted that physical strength and size play a role in deter-
The gorilla group is a “family” of five to twenty indi- mining an animal’s rank. By this measure males gener-
viduals led by a mature, silver-backed male and including ally outrank females.
younger (black-backed) males, females, the young, and However, the gender-biased cultures of the human
occasionally other silverbacks. Subordinate males, how- primatologist contributed disproportionately to this the-
ever, are usually prevented by the dominant male from ory, with its emphasis on domination through superior
mating with the group’s females. Thus, young silver- size and strength. Male dominance hierarchies seemed
backs often leave their natal group—the community “natural” to the early primatologists who often came
they have known since birth—to start their own social from human social systems organized according to simi-
group by winning outside females. If the dominant male lar principles. With the benefit of detailed field studies
is weakening with age, however, one of his sons may re- over the last forty years, many of which were pioneered
main with the group to succeed to his father’s position. by female primatologists like Jane Goodall (see Anthro-
Alternatively, an outside male may take over the group. pologists of Note), the nuances of primate social behav-
Unlike chimpanzees, gorillas rarely fight over food, ter- ior and the importance of female primates has been doc-
ritory, or sex but will fight fiercely to maintain the integ- umented. High-ranking (alpha) females may dominate
rity of the group. low-ranking males. In groups such as bonobos, females
In many primate species, including humans, adoles- dominate overall. While strength and size contribute
cence is a time during which individuals change the re- to an animal’s rank, other important factors include the
lationships they have had with their natal group. Among rank of its mother and effectiveness at creating alliances
primates this change takes the form of migration to new with other individuals. For males, drive or motivation to
social groups. In many species, females constitute the achieve high status also influences rank. For example, in
core of the social system. For example, offspring tend the community studied by Goodall, one male chimp hit
to remain with the group to which their mother, rather upon the idea of incorporating noisy kerosene cans into
than their father, belongs. Among gorillas, male ado- his charging displays, thereby intimidating all the other
lescents leave their natal groups more frequently than males.6 As a result, he rose from relatively low status to
females. However, adolescent female chimpanzees and the number one (alpha) position.
bonobos are frequently the ones to migrate. Among bonobos, female–female bonds play an im-
In two Tanzanian chimpanzee communities stud- portant role in determining rank. Further, the strength
ied, about half of females may leave the community they of the bond between mother and son may interfere with
the ranking among males. Not only do bonobo males
community A unit of primate social organization composed defer to females in feeding, but alpha females have been
of fi fty or more individuals who inhabit a large geographic area observed chasing high-ranking males. Alpha males even
together. yield to low-ranking females, and groups of females form
natal group The group or the community an animal has inhab- alliances in which they may cooperatively attack males,
ited since birth.
dominance hierarchies An observed ranking system in pri-
mate societies ordering individuals from high (alpha) to low stand-
5Moore, J. (1998). Comment. Current Anthropology 39, 412.
ing corresponding to predictable behavioral interactions including
domination. 6Goodall, J. (1986). The chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of behavior
(p. 424). Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
 Primate Social Behavior 69

Anthropologists of Note
Jane Goodall (b. 1934)
Kinji Imanishi (1902–1992)

In July 1960, Jane Goodall arrived with becoming one of the most dynamic field
her mother at the Gombe Chimpanzee stations for the study of animal behavior
Reserve on the shores of Lake Tangan- anywhere in the world.
yika in Tanzania. Goodall was the first Although Goodall is still very much in-
of three women Kenyan anthropologist volved with her chimpanzees, she spends
Louis Leakey sent out to study great apes a good deal of time these days lectur-
in the wild (the others were Dian Fossey ing, writing, and overseeing the work of
and Birute Galdikas, who were to study others. She also is heavily committed to

© Bunataro Imanishi
gorillas and orangutans, respectively); her primate conservation, and no one is more
task was to begin a long-term study of dedicated to efforts to halt the illegal
chimpanzees. Little did she realize that, trafficking in chimps nor a more eloquent
more than forty years later, she would champion of humane treatment of cap-
still be at it. tive chimpanzees.
Born in London, Jane grew up and Kinji Imanishi, a naturalist, explorer,
was schooled in Bournemouth, England. and mountain climber, profoundly influ- humans and other animals. Second,
As a child, she dreamed of going to live enced primatology in Japan and through- rather than focusing on the biology of
in Africa, so when an invitation arrived out the world. Like all Japanese scholars, individual organisms, Imanishi suggested
to visit a friend in Kenya, she jumped he was fully aware of Western methods that naturalists examine “specia” (a spe-
at the opportunity. While in Kenya, she and theories but developed a radically cies society) to which individuals belong
met Leakey, who gave her a job as an different approach to the scientific study as the unit of analysis. Rather than focus-
assistant secretary. Before long, she was of the natural world. ing on time, Imanishi emphasized space
on her way to Gombe. Within a year, the He dates his transformation to a in his approach to the natural world. He
outside world began to hear the most youthful encounter with a grasshopper: highlighted the harmony of all living
extraordinary things about this pioneer- “I was walking along a path in a valley, things rather than conflict and competi-
ing woman: tales of tool-making apes, and there was a grasshopper on a leaf tion among individual organisms.
cooperative hunts by chimpanzees, and in a shrubbery. Until that moment I had Imanishi’s research techniques, now
what seemed like exotic chimpanzee rain happily caught insects, killed them with standard worldwide, developed directly
dances. By the mid-1960s, her work had chloroform, impaled them on pins, and from his theories: long-term field study
earned her a doctorate from Cambridge looked up their names, but I realized of primates in their natural societies us-
University, and Gombe was on its way to I knew nothing at all about how this ing methods from ethnography.
grasshopper lived in the wild.”a In his Imanishi and his students conducted
© Michael Nichols/National Geographic Image Collection

most important work, The World of Living pioneering field studies of African apes,
Things, first published in 1941, Imanishi and Japanese and Tibetan macaques, long
developed a comprehensive theory about before Louis Leakey sent the first Western
the natural world rooted in Japanese primatologists into the field. Japanese
cultural beliefs and practices. primatologists were the first to document
Imanishi’s work challenged Western the importance of kinship, the complex-
evolutionary theory in several ways. First, ity of primate societies, patterns of social
Imanishi’s theory, like Japanese culture, learning, and the unique character of
does not emphasize differences between each primate social group. Because of the
work by Imanishi and his students, we
a
Heita, K. (1999). Imanishi’s world view. Jour- now think about the distinct cultures of
nal of Japanese Trade and Industry 18(2), 15. primate societies.

to the point of infl icting blood-drawing injuries.7 Thus, relies upon a struggle between living creatures rather
instead of the male dominance characteristic of chimps, than peaceful coexistence. By contrast, noted Japanese
one sees female dominance. primatologist Kinji Imanishi (see Anthropologists of
Western primatologists’ focus on social rank and at- Note) developed a harmonious theory of evolution and
tack behavior may be a legacy of the militaristic, com- initiated field studies of bonobos that have demonstrated
petitive nature of the societies in which evolutionary the importance of social cooperation rather than compe-
theory originated. To a certain degree, natural selection tition. As the work of Dutch primatologist Frans de Waal
illustrates in the following Original Study, reconciliation
7de Waal, F., Kano, T., & Parish, A. R. (1998). Comments. Current after an attack may be even more important from an
Anthropology 39, 408, 410, 413. evolutionary perspective than the actual attack.
70 Chapter Three/Living Primates

Original Study
By Frans B. M. de Waal

Reconciliation and Its Cultural Modification in Primates

Despite the continuing popularity of the tween former opponents not long after a two males in proximity seems intentional
struggle-for-life metaphor, it is increas- conflict. This is somewhat different from on the part of the female. She then
ingly recognized that there are draw- definitions in the dictionary, primarily be- begins grooming the other male, and the
backs to open competition, hence that cause we look for an empirical definition first male grooms her. Before long, the
there are sound evolutionary reasons that is useful in observational studies—in female disappears from the scene, and
for curbing it. The dependency of social our case, the stipulation that the reunion the males continue grooming: She has in
animals on group life and coopera- happen not long after the conflict. There effect brought the two parties together.
tion makes aggression a socially costly is no intrinsic reason that a reconciliation There exists a limited anthropological
strategy. The basic dilemma facing many could not occur after hours or days, or, in literature on the role of conflict resolu-
animals, including humans, is that they the case of humans, generations. tion, a process absolutely crucial for the
sometimes cannot win a fight without Let me describe two interesting elabo- maintenance of the human social fabric
losing a friend. rations on the mechanism of reconcilia- in the same way that it is crucial for
This photo shows what may happen tion. One is mediation. Chimpanzees are our primate relatives. In human society,
after a conflict—in this case between two the only animals to use mediators in con- mediation is often done by high-ranking
female bonobos. About 10 minutes after flict resolution. In order to be able to me- or senior members of the community,
their fight, the two females approach diate conflict, one needs to understand sometimes culminating in feasts in which
each other, with one clinging to the other relationships outside of oneself, which the restoration of harmony is celebrated. c
and both rubbing their clitorises and gen- may be the reason why other animals fail The second elaboration on the recon-
ital swellings together in a pattern known to show this aspect of conflict resolution. ciliation concept is that it is not purely
as genito-genital rubbing, instinctive, not even in our
or GG-rubbing. This sexual animal relatives. It is a learned
contact, typical of bono- social skill subject to what
bos, constitutes a so-called primatologists now increasingly
reconciliation. Chimpanzees, call “culture” (meaning that the
which are closely related to behavior is subject to learn-
bonobos (and to us: bonobos ing from others as opposed to
and chimpanzees are our genetic transmission.d To test
closest animal relatives), usu- the learnability of reconcilia-
© Amy Parish/Anthro-Photo

ally reconcile in a less sexual tion, I conducted an experiment

fashion, with an embrace and with young rhesus and stumptail
mouth-to-mouth kiss. monkeys. Not nearly as concilia-
There is now evidence for tory as stumptail monkeys,
reconciliation in more than rhesus monkeys have the repu-
twenty-five different primate tation of being rather aggressive
species, not just in apes but Two adult female bonobos engage in so-called GG-rubbing, a sexual and despotic. Stumptails are
also in many monkeys. The form of reconciliation typical of this species. considered more laid-back and
same sorts of studies have tolerant. We housed members of
been conducted on human children in For example, if two male chimpanzees the two species together for 5 months.
the schoolyard, and of course children have been involved in a fight, even on a By the end of this period, they were a
show reconciliation as well. Research- very large island as where I did my stud- fully integrated group: They slept, played
ers have even found reconciliation in ies, they can easily avoid each other, but and groomed together.
dolphins, spotted hyenas, and some instead they will sit opposite from each After 5 months, we separated them
other nonprimates. Reconciliation seems other, not too far apart, and avoid eye again, and measured the effect of their
widespread: a common mechanism found contact. They can sit like this for a long time together on conciliatory behavior.
whenever relationships need to be main- time. In this situation, a third party, such The research controls—rhesus
tained despite occasional conflict.a,b as an older female, may move in and try monkeys who had lived with one an-
The definition of reconciliation used in to solve the issue. The female will ap-
animal research is a friendly reunion be- proach one of the males and groom him c
for a brief while. She then gets up and Reviewed by Frye, D. P. (2000). Conflict
management in cross-cultural perspective.
a
walks slowly to the other male, and the
de Waal, F. B. M. (2000). Primates—A natural In F. Aureli & F. B. M. de Waal, Natural conflict
heritage of conflict resolution. Science 28,
first male walks right behind her. resolution (pp. 334–351). Berkeley: University
586–590. We have seen situations in which, if of California Press.
b
Aureli, F., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2000). Natural the first male failed to follow, the female d
See de Waal, F. B. M. (2001). The ape and the
conflict resolution. Berkeley: University of turned around to grab his arm and make sushi master. New York: Basic Books, for a
California Press. him follow. So the process of getting the discussion of the animal culture concept.
 Primate Social Behavior 71

other, without any stumptails—showed other rhesus monkeys who had gone This was in effect an experiment on
absolutely no change in the tendency through the same experience, these social culture: We changed the culture of
to reconcile. Stumptails showed a high rhesus monkeys reconciled as much as a group of rhesus monkeys and made it
rate of reconciliation, which was also stumptails do. This means that we created more similar to that of stumptail monkeys
expected, because they also do so if a “new and improved” rhesus monkey, by exposing them to the practices of this
living together. The most interesting one that made up with its opponents other species. This experiment also shows
group was the experimental rhesus far more easily than a regular rhesus that there exists a great deal of flex-
monkeys, those who had lived with monkey.e ibility in primate behavior. We humans
stumptails. These monkeys started come from a long lineage of primates
out at the same low level of reconcilia- e
de Waal, F. B. M., & Johanowicz, D. L. (1993).
with great social sophistication and a
tion as the rhesus controls, but after Modification of reconciliation behavior well-developed potential for behavioral
they had lived with the stumptails, and through social experience: An experiment modification and learning from others.
after we have segregated them again so with two macaque species. Child Development

that they were now housed only with 64, 897–908.

Individual Interaction and Bonding grooming, but in West Africa they do not. However hy-
gienic it may be, grooming is also an important gesture
One of the most notable primate activities is grooming, of friendliness, submission, appeasement, or closeness.
the ritual cleaning of another animal’s coat to remove Embracing, touching, and jumping up and down are
parasites, shreds of grass, or other matter. The grooming forms of greeting behavior among chimpanzees. Touch-
animal deftly parts the hair of the one being groomed ing is also a form of reassurance.
and removes any foreign object, often eating it. Interest- Gorillas, though gentle and tolerant, are also aloof
ingly, different chimp communities have different styles and independent, and individual interaction among
of grooming. In one East African group, for example, adults tends to be quite restrained. Friendship or close-
the two chimps groom each other face to face, with one ness between adults and infants is more evident. Among
hand, while clasping their partner’s free hand. In another bonobos, chimpanzees, and gorillas, as among most
group 90 miles distant, the hand clasp is unknown. In other primates, the mother–infant bond is the strongest
East Africa, all communities incorporate leaves in their and most long-lasting in the group. It may endure for
many years—commonly for the lifetime of the mother.
Gorilla infants share their mothers’ nests but have also
been seen sharing nests with mature, childless females.
Bonobo, chimpanzee, and gorilla males are attentive to
juveniles and play a role in their socialization. Bonobo
males even carry infants on occasion. Their interest in a
youngster does not elicit the nervous reaction from the
mother that it does among chimps. The latter may relate
to the occasional infanticide on the part of chimpanzee
males, a behavior never observed among bonobos.

Sexual Behavior
Most mammals mate only during specified breeding sea-
sons occurring once or twice a year, but many primate
species are able to breed at any time during the course
© Anita de Laguna Haviland

of the year. Among the African apes, as with humans,

no fi xed breeding season exists. In chimps, sexual activ-
ity—initiated by either the male or the female—occurs

Grooming is an important activity among all catarrhine primates, as grooming The ritual cleaning of another animal’s coat to re-
shown here. Such activity is important for strengthening bonds among move parasites and other matter.
individual members of the group.
72 Chapter Three/Living Primates

frequently during estrus, the period when the female is each other, or one may rub his scrotum against that of
receptive to impregnation. In chimpanzees, estrus is sig- the other. They have also been observed “penis fenc-
naled by vivid swelling of the skin around the genitals. ing”—hanging face to face from a branch and rubbing
Bonobo females, by contrast, appear as if they are fertile their erect penises together as if crossing swords. Among
at all times due to their constantly swollen genitals and females, genital rubbing is particularly common. As
interest in sex. Gorillas appear to show less interest in described in this chapter’s Original Study, the primary
sex compared to either the chimp or bonobos. function of most of this sex, both hetero- and homo-
By most human standards, chimps’ sexual behavior sexual, is to reduce tensions and resolve social confl icts.
is promiscuous. A dozen or so males have been observed Since the documentation of a variety of sexual activities
to have as many as fi fty copulations in one day with a among bonobos, field studies by primatologists working
single female in estrus. For the most part, females mate with other species are now recording a variety of sexual
with males of their own group. Dominant males try to behaviors among these species as well.
monopolize females in full estrus, although cooperation In gorilla families, the dominant silverback has ex-
from the female is usually required for this to succeed. In clusive breeding rights with the females, although he
addition, an individual female and a lower ranking male may allow a young silverback occasional access to a
sometimes form a temporary bond, leaving the group to- low-ranking female. In one group studied in Rwanda,
gether for a few “private” days during the female’s fertile in which there was more than one adult male, a single
period. Interestingly, the relationship between reproduc- male fathered all but one of ten juveniles.9 So it is that
tive success and social rank differs for males and females. a young silverback must leave “home,” luring partners
In the chimpanzee community studied by Goodall, about away from other established groups, in order to have re-
half the infants were sired by low- or mid-level males. Al- productive success.
though for females high rank is linked with successful Although the vast majority of primate species are
reproduction, social success—achieving alpha male sta- not monogamous—bonded exclusively to a single sex-
tus—does not translate neatly into the evolutionary cur- ual partner—in their mating habits, many smaller spe-
rency of reproductive success. cies of New World monkeys, a few island-dwelling popu-
In contrast to chimpanzees, bonobos (like humans) lations of leaf-eating Old World monkeys, and all of the
do not limit their sexual behavior to times of female fer- smaller apes (gibbons and siamangs) appear to mate for
tility. Whereas the genitals of chimpanzee females are life with a single individual of the opposite sex. None
swollen only at times of fertility, female bonobo genitals of these species is closely related to human beings, nor
are perpetually swollen. The constant swelling, in effect, do monogamous species ever display the degree of sex-
conceals the females’ ovulation, or moment when an ual dimorphism—anatomical differences between males
egg released into the womb is receptive for fertilization. and females—that is characteristic of our closest primate
Ovulation is also concealed in humans, by the absence of relatives, or that was characteristic of our own ancient
genital swelling at all times. ancestors. Evolutionary biologists propose that sexual
Concealed ovulation in humans and bonobos may dimorphism (for example, larger male size in the apes,
play a role in the separation of sexual activity for social beautiful feathers as in peacocks) relates to competition
reasons and pleasure from the purely biological task of among males for access to females. The variation in ape
reproduction. In fact, among bonobos (as among hu- reproductive behavior suggests that social processes con-
mans) sexuality goes far beyond male–female mating tribute to reproductive success as much as variation in a
for purposes of biological reproduction. Primatologists biological feature such as body size.
have observed virtually every possible combination of
ages and sexes engaging in a remarkable array of sexual
activities, including oral sex, tongue-kissing, and mas- Reproduction and Care of Young
saging each other’s genitals.8 Male bonobos may mount The average adult female monkey or ape spends most
of her adult life either pregnant or nursing her young,
8de Waal, F. (2001). The ape and the sushi master (pp. 131–132). New times at which she is not sexually receptive. Apes gener-
York: Basic Books. ally nurse each of their young for about four years. After
her infant is weaned, she will come into estrus periodi-
cally, until she becomes pregnant again. Many human so-
estrus In some primate females, the time of sexual receptivity cieties modify the succession of pregnancy and lactation
during which ovulation is visibly displayed.
ovulation Moment when an egg released from the ovaries into by a variety of cultural means.
the womb is receptive for fertilization.
monogamous Mating for life with a single individual of the
opposite sex. 9Gibbons, A. (2001). Studying humans—and their cousins and para-
sites. Science 292, 627.
 Primate Social Behavior 73

Among primates, as among some other mammals,

Prenatal period Adult period
females generally give birth to one infant at a time. Nat- Infantile period Female reproductive period
ural selection may have favored single births among pri- Juvenile period
mate tree dwellers because the primate infant, which has 80
a highly developed grasping ability (the grasping reflex
can also be seen in human infants), must be transported 70
about by its mother, and more than one clinging infant
would interfere with movement in the tree tops. Only 60
among the smaller nocturnal prosimians, the primates

Average life expectancy

closest to the ancestral condition, are multiple births 50
common. Among the anthropoids, only the true mar-

in years
moset has a pattern of habitual twinning. Other species
40
like humans will twin occasionally. In marmosets, both
parents share infant care, with fathers doing most of the
30
carrying.
Primates follow a pattern of bearing few young, but
20
devoting more time and effort to the care of each indi-
vidual offspring. Compared to other mammals such as
mice, which pass from birth to adulthood in a matter of 10

weeks, primates spend a great deal of time growing up. 5

As a general rule, the more closely related to humans the
3 18 24 34 38
species is, the longer the period of infant and childhood Gestation in weeks
dependency (Figure 3.6). For example, a lemur is depen- Mouse Lemur Macaque Chimp Human
dent upon its mother for only a few months after birth,
while an ape is dependent for four or five years. A chim- Figure 3.6
panzee infant cannot survive if its mother dies before it A long life cycle, including a long period of childhood dependency, is
reaches the age of 4 at the very least. During the juve- characteristic of the primates. In biological terms, infancy ends when
nile period, young primates are still dependent upon the young mammals are weaned, and adulthood is defined as sexual
maturation. In many species, such as mice, animals become sexually
larger social group rather than on their mothers alone,
mature as soon as they are weaned. Among primates, a juvenile period
using this period for learning and refi ning a variety of for social learning occurs between infancy and adulthood. For humans,
behaviors. If a juvenile primate’s mother dies, he or she the biological definitions of infancy and adulthood are modified ac-
will be “adopted” by an older male or female member of cording to cultural norms.
the social group.
The long interval between births, particularly among
the apes, results in small population sizes in our closest takes along the way, learning to modify their behavior
relatives. A female chimpanzee, for example, does not based on the reactions of other members of the group.
reach sexual maturity until about the age of 10, and once Each member of the community has a unique physical
she produces her fi rst live offspring, there is a period of appearance and personality. Youngsters learn to match
five or six years before she will bear another. Thus, as- their interactive behaviors according to each individual’s
suming that none of her offspring die before adulthood, social position and temperament. Anatomical features
a female chimpanzee must survive for at least twenty or common to all monkeys and apes—such as a free upper
twenty-one years just to maintain the size of chimpan- lip (unlike lemurs and cats, for example)—allow for var-
zee populations at existing levels. In fact, chimpanzee ied facial expression, contributing to communication be-
infants and juveniles do die from time to time, and not tween individuals.
all females live full reproductive lives. This is one reason
why apes are far less abundant in the world today than
are monkeys.
Play
A long slow period of growth and development, Frequent play activity among primate infants and ju-
particularly among the hominoids, also provides op- veniles is a means of learning about the environment,
portunities. Born without built-in responses dictating learning about social skills, and testing a variety of be-
specific behavior in complex situations, the young mon- haviors. Chimpanzee infants mimic the food-getting
key or ape, like the young human, learns how to strate- activities of adults, “attack” dozing adults, and “harass”
gically interact with others, and even manipulate them adolescents.
for his or her own benefit—by trial and error, observa- Observers have watched young gorillas do somer-
tion, imitation, and practice. Young primates make mis- saults, wrestle, and play various organized games such
74 Chapter Three/Living Primates

as jostling for the position on top of a hillside or follow-

ing and mimicking a single youngster. One juvenile, be-
coming annoyed at repeated harassment by an infant,
picked it up, climbed a tree, and deposited it on a branch
from which it was unable to get down on its own, until
its mother came to retrieve it.

Communication
Primates, like many animals, vocalize. They have a great
range of calls that are often used together with move-
ments of the face or body to convey a message. Observers
have not yet established the meaning of all the sounds,
but a good number have been distinguished, such as
warning calls, threat calls, defense calls, and gathering

© Tim Davis/Corbis
calls. The behavioral reactions of other animals hearing
the call have also been studied. Among bonobos, chim-
panzees, and gorillas, vocalizations are emotional rather
than propositional. Much of these species’ communica-
Many ape nonverbal communications are easily recognized by humans
tion takes place by the use of specific gestures and pos- as we share these same gestures.
tures. Indeed, a number of these, such as kissing and
embracing, are in virtually universal use today among
humans, as well as apes. these experiments, bonobos and chimpanzees have been
Primatologists have classified numerous kinds of taught to communicate using symbols, as in the case of
chimpanzee vocalization and visual communication sig- Kanzi, a bonobo who uses a keyboard. Other chimpan-
nals. Facial expressions convey emotional states such as zees, gorillas, and orangutans have been taught Ameri-
distress, fear, or excitement. Numerous distinct vocaliza- can Sign Language. Although this research provoked
tions or calls have been associated with a variety of sensa- controversy, it has become evident that apes are capable
tions. For example, chimps will smack their lips or clack of understanding language quite well, even using rudi-
their teeth to express pleasure with sociable body con- mentary grammar. They are able to generate original ut-
tact. Calls called “pant-hoots” can be differentiated into terances, ask questions, distinguish naming something
specific types used for arrival of individuals or inquiring. from asking for it, develop original ways to tell lies,
Together, these facilitate group protection, coordination coordinate their actions, and even spontaneously teach
of group efforts, and social interaction in general. language to others. Even though they cannot literally
One form of communication appears to be unique speak, it is now clear that all of the great ape species can
to bonobos: the use of trail markers. When foraging, develop language skills to the level of a 2- to 3-year-old hu-
the community breaks up into smaller groups, rejoining man child.11 From such studies, we may learn something
again in the evening to nest together. To keep track of about the origin of human language.
each party’s whereabouts, those in the lead will, at the
intersections of trails or where downed trees obscure
trails, deliberately stomp down the vegetation so as to Home Range
indicate their direction, or rip off large leaves and place Primates usually move about within a circumscribed
them carefully for the same purpose. Thus, they all area, or home range, which is of varying size, depending
know where to come together at the end of the day.10 on the size of the group and on ecological factors such as
Experiments with captive apes, carried out over sev- availability of food. Ranges often change seasonally. The
eral decades, reveal that their communicative abilities number of miles traveled by a group in a day varies. Some
exceed what they make use of in the wild. In some of areas of a range, known as core areas, are used more of-
ten than others. Core areas typically contain water, food
10Recer, P. (1998, February 16). Apes shown to communicate in the
wild. Burlington Free Press, 12A.
11Lestel, D. (1998). How chimpanzees have domesticated humans.
Anthropology Today 12 (3); Miles, H. L. W. (1993). Language and
home range The geographical area within which a group of the orangutan: The “old person” of the forest. In P. Cavalieri &
primates usually moves. P. Singer (Eds.), The great ape project (pp. 45–50). New York: St. Mar-
tin’s Press.
 Primate Social Behavior 75

sources, resting places, and sleeping trees. The ranges of

different groups may overlap, as among bonobos, where
65 percent of one community’s range may overlap with
that of another.12 By contrast, chimpanzee territories, at
least in some regions, are exclusively occupied.
Gorillas do not defend their home range against in-
cursions of others of their kind, although they certainly
will defend their group if it is in any way threatened. In
the lowlands of Central Africa, it is not uncommon to
fi nd several families feeding in close proximity to one
another.13 In encounters with other communities, bono-
bos will defend their immediate space through vocaliza-
tions and displays, but rarely through fighting. Usually,
they settle down and feed side by side, not infrequently
grooming, playing, and engaging in sexual activity be-
tween groups as well.
Chimpanzees, by contrast, have been observed pa-
trolling their territories to ward off potential trespass-
ers. Moreover, Goodall has recorded the destruction of
one chimpanzee community by another invading group.
This sort of deadly intercommunity interaction has never
been observed among bonobos. Some have interpreted
this apparent territorial behavior as an expression of the
supposedly violent nature of chimpanzees. However,
another interpretation is that the violence that Goodall
© Martin Harvey/Peter Arnold, Inc.

witnessed was a response to crowding as a consequence

of human activity.14

Learning
Observations of monkeys and apes have shown learning
abilities remarkably similar to those of humans. Numer- Chimps use a variety of tools in the wild. Here a chimp is using a long
ous examples of inventive behavior have been observed stick stripped of its side branches to fish for termites. Chimps will
among Japanese macaques, as well as among apes. One select a stick when still quite far from a termite mound and modify
its shape on their way to the snacking spot.
newly discovered example is a technique of food ma-
nipulation on the part of captive chimpanzees in the
Madrid zoo. It began when a 5-year-old female rubbed
apples against a sharp corner of a concrete wall in order nuts. For this they use tools: an anvil stone with a level
to lick the mashed pieces and juice left on the wall. From surface on which to place the nut and a good-sized ham-
this youngster, the practice of “smearing” spread to her mer stone to crack it. Not any stone will do; it must be
peers, and within five years, most group members were of the right shape and weight, and the anvil may require
performing the operation frequently and consistently. leveling by placing smaller stones beneath one or more
The innovation has become standardized and durable, edges. Nor does random banging away do the job; the
having transcended two generations in the group.15 nut has to be hit at the right speed and the right trajec-
Another dramatic example of learning is afforded by tory, or else the nut simply fl ies off into the forest. Last
the way chimpanzees in West Africa crack open oil-palm but not least, the apes must avoid mashing their fi ngers,
rather than the nut. According to fieldworkers, the ex-
pertise of the chimps far exceeds that of any human who
12Parish, A. R. (1998). Comment. Current Anthropology 39, 414. tries cracking these hardest nuts in the world.
13Parnell, R. (1999). Gorilla exposé. Natural History 108 (8), 43. Youngsters learn this process by staying near to
14Power, M. G. (1995). Gombe revisited: Are chimpanzees violent adults who are cracking nuts, where their mothers share
and hierarchical in the “free” state? General Anthropology 2(1), 5–9. some of the food. This teaches them about the edibility
15Fernandez-Carriba, S., & Loeches, A. (2001). Fruit smearing by of the nuts, but not how to get at what’s edible. This they
captive chimpanzees: A newly observed food-processing behavior. learn by observing and by “aping” (copying) the adults.
Current Anthropology 42, 143–147. At fi rst they play with a nut or stone alone; later they be-
76 Chapter Three/Living Primates

gin to randomly combine objects. They soon learn, how- Other examples of chimpanzee use of tools involve
ever, that placing nuts on anvils and hitting them with a leaves, used as wipes or as sponges, to get water out
hand or foot gets them nowhere. of a hollow to drink. Large sticks may serve as clubs
Only after three years of futile efforts do they begin or as missiles (as may stones) in aggressive or defensive
to coordinate all of the multiple actions and objects, but displays. Twigs are used as toothpicks to clean teeth as
even then it is only after a great deal of practice, by the well as to extract loose baby teeth. They use these den-
age of 6 or 7 years, that they become proficient in this tal tools not just on themselves but on other individuals
task. They do this for over a thousand days. Evidently, as well.17
it is social motivation that accounts for their persever- In the wild, bonobos have not been observed mak-
ance after at least three years of failure, with no reward ing and using tools to the extent seen in chimpanzees.
to reinforce their effort. At fi rst, they are motivated by a However, the use of large leaves as trail markers may
desire to act like the mother; only later does the desire to be considered a form of tool use. That these animals
feed on the tasty nut-meat take over.16 do have further capabilities is exemplified by a captive
bonobo who has figured out how to make tools of stone
that are remarkably like the earliest such tools made by
Use of Objects as Tools our own ancestors.
A tool may be defi ned as an object used to facilitate some Medicinal use of plants by chimpanzees illustrates
task or activity. The nut cracking just discussed is the their selective use of raw materials, a quality related to
most complex tool-use task known from the field, in- tool manufacture. Chimps that are ill by outward appear-
volving both hands, two tools, and exact coordination. It ance have been observed to seek out specific plants of the
is not, however, the only case of tool use among apes in genus Aspilia. They will eat the leaves singly without
the wild. Chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans make chewing them, letting the leaves soften in their mouths
and use tools. for a long time before swallowing. Primatologists have
Here, a distinction must be made between simple discovered that the leaves pass through their digestive
tool use, as when one pounds something with a conve- system whole and relatively intact having scraped para-
nient stone when a hammer is not available, and tool sites off the intestine walls in the process.
making, which involves deliberate modification of some Although gorillas (like bonobos and chimps) build
material for its intended use. Thus, otters that use un- nests, they are the only one of the four great apes that
modified stones to crack open clams may be tool users, have not been observed to make and use other tools in the
but they are not toolmakers. Not only do chimpanzees wild. The reason for this is probably not that gorillas lack
modify objects to make them suitable for particular pur- the intelligence or skill to do so; rather, their easy diet of
poses, but chimps to some extent modify them to regu- leaves and nettles makes tools of no particular use.
lar and set patterns. They also pick up, and even prepare,
objects for future use at some other location, and they
can use objects as tools to solve new and novel prob-
Hunting
lems. Thus, chimps have been observed using stalks of Although fruits, other plant foods, and invertebrate ani-
grass, twigs that they have stripped of leaves, and even mals constitute the bulk of their diet, both chimps and
sticks up to 3 feet long that they have smoothed down to bonobos will kill and eat other animals such as small
“fish” for termites. They insert the modified stick into a monkeys, something unusual among primates. Chim-
termite nest, wait a few minutes, pull the stick out, and panzee females sometimes hunt, but males do so far
eat the insects clinging to it, all of which requires con- more frequently. When on the hunt, they may spend up
siderable dexterity. Chimpanzees are equally deliberate to 2 hours watching, following, and chasing intended
in their nest building. They test the vines and branches prey. Moreover, in contrast to the usual primate practice
to make sure they are usable. If they are not, the animal of each animal fi nding its own food, hunting frequently
moves to another site. involves teamwork to trap and kill prey particularly
when hunting for baboons. Once a potential victim has
been partially isolated from its troop, three or more adult
16de Waal, F. (2001). The ape and the sushi master (pp. 227–229). New
York: Basic Books.
chimps will carefully position themselves so as to block
off escape routes while another climbs toward the prey
for the kill. Following the kill, most of those present get
tool An object used to facilitate some task or activity. Although a share of the meat, either by grabbing a piece as chance
tool making involves intentional modification of the material of affords, or by sitting and begging for a piece.
which it is made, tool use may involve objects either modified for
some particular purpose or completely unmodified.
17McGrew, W. C. (2000). Dental care in chimps. Science 288, 1,747.
 Primate Conservation and the Question of Culture 77

Whatever the nutritional value of meat, hunting is farms, she was instrumental in successfully moving this
not done purely for protein but for social and sexual rea- troop and two other local troops—130 animals in all—to
sons as well. The giving of meat helps forge alliances be- more sparsely inhabited country 150 miles away. Know-
tween males, and its sharing may be used also to entice a ing their habits, Strum was able to trap, tranquilize, and
receptive female to have sex. In fact, males are more apt transport the animals to their new home while preserv-
to hunt if a fertile female is present, and fertile females ing the baboons’ vital social relationships.
are more successful at begging for meat. Strum’s careful work allowed for a smooth transi-
In bonobos, females are more likely to hunt than tion. With social relations intact, the baboons did not
males. The female hunters regularly share carcasses with abandon their new homes nor did they block the transfer
other females, but less often with males. Even when the of new males, with their all-important knowledge of lo-
most dominant male throws a tantrum nearby, he may cal resources, into the troop. The success of her effort,
still be denied a share.18 Not only do females share the which had never been tried with baboons, proves that
spoils of the hunt with one another, they are also unusual translocation is a realistic technique for saving endan-
in their willingness to share other foods such as fruits. gered primate species. As this method is dependent upon
available land, preserves must be established to provide
habitats for endangered primates.
PRIMATE CONSERVATION Primates are also vulnerable to being hunted for
food or recreation, and by trapping for use as pets and
AND THE QUESTION OF CULTURE for research. Because monkeys and apes are so closely
The more we learn of the behavior of our nearest pri- related to humans, they are regarded as essential for
mate relatives, the more we become aware of the im- biomedical research in which humans cannot be used.
portance to chimps of learned, socially shared practices Ironically, using live primates to supply laboratories can
and knowledge. This raises two important questions: Do be a major factor in their local extinction.
chimpanzees, bonobos, and the other apes have culture? A second strategy to preventing primate extinction
Do we have responsibilities towards preserving the life- is to maintain breeding colonies in captivity. Such colo-
ways of our closest living relatives? nies must carefully provide the kind of physical and so-
The answer to both questions appears to be yes. cial environment that will encourage psychological and
The detailed study of ape behavior has revealed varia- physical well-being, as well as reproductive success. Pri-
tion among groups in use of tools and patterns of social mates in zoos and laboratories do not successfully repro-
engagement that seem to derive from the traditions of duce when deprived of such amenities as opportunities
the group rather than a biologically determined script. for climbing, materials to use for nest building, others
Humans share with the other apes an ability to learn the with which to socialize, and places for privacy.
complex but flexible patterns of behavior particular to a While the sensitivity and knowledge primatologists
social group during a long period of childhood depen- contribute to primate conservation is invaluable, they
dency. While documenting the presence of cultural ca- cannot prevent primate extinction alone. Whole socie-
pacities among primate groups is an important scholarly ties and coordinated global efforts are required. Many of
pursuit, the matter of primate conservation is an urgent the states that contain the natural primate habitats are
concern for all of us. beset by a variety of political and economic problems
At present, no fewer than seventy-six species of pri- that threaten the well-being of their human populations
mates are recognized as being in danger of extinction. as well. Western societies, without primate habitats, have
Included among them are all of the great apes, as well much to contribute to solving these larger issues that af-
as such formerly widespread and adaptable species as fect humans and their primate cousins alike.
rhesus macaques. In the wild, these animals are threat- When it comes to the nonhumans, powerful social
ened by habitat destruction in the name of economic barriers exist that work against the well-being of our ani-
development. mal relatives. In Western societies there has been an un-
As humans encroach on primate habitats, transloca- fortunate tendency to erect what paleontologist Stephen
tion of the primates to a protected area is an excellent Jay Gould refers to as “golden barriers” that set us apart
strategy for primate conservation. The field studies by from the rest of the animal kingdom.19 It is unfortunate,
primatologists for such relocations are invaluable. For for it blinds us to the fact that a continuum exists be-
example, when the troop of free-ranging baboons Shir- tween “us” and “them” (animals). We have already seen
ley Strum studied for fi fteen years in Kenya began raid- that the physical differences between humans and apes
ing people’s crops and garbage on newly established are largely differences of degree, rather than kind. It now

19Quoted in de Waal, F. (2001). The ape and the sushi master (p. 235).
18Ingmanson, E. J. (1998). Comment. Current Anthropology 39, 409. New York: Basic Books.
78 Chapter Three/Living Primates

appears that the same is true with respect to behavior. As This is not to say that we are “just” another ape; ob-
primatologist Richard Wrangham once put it, viously, “degree” does make a difference. Nevertheless,
the continuities between us and our primate kin reflect
Like humans, [chimpanzees] laugh, make up
a common evolutionary heritage and a responsibility to
after a quarrel, support each other in times of
help our cousins today. Because of our common evolu-
trouble, medicate themselves with chemical and
tionary heritage, the biology and behavior of the other
physical remedies, stop each other from eating
living primates, like the contemporary study of genetics,
poisonous foods, collaborate in the hunt, help
provide valuable insight into understanding human ori-
each other over physical obstacles, raid neigh-
gins. The methods scientists use to recover data directly
boring groups, lose their tempers, get excited by
from fossilized bones and preserved cultural remains in
dramatic weather, invent ways to show off, have
order to study the human past are the subject of the next
family traditions and group traditions, make
chapter.
tools, devise plans, deceive, play tricks, grieve,
and are cruel and are kind.20

20Quoted in Mydens, S. (2001, August 12). He’s not hairy, he’s my

brother. New York Times, sec. 4, 5.

Questions for Reflection experts on bonobos, demonstrates ape culture while challeng-
ing human intellectual theories designed to exclude animals
1. Does knowing more about the numerous similarities among from the “culture club.”
the primates including humans motivate you personally to
want to meet the challenge of preventing the extinction of our Fossey, D. (1983). Gorillas in the mist. Burlington, MA: Hough-
closest living relatives? ton Miffl in.
2. Considering some of the trends seen among the primates, The late Dian Fossey is to gorillas what Jane Goodall is to
such as increased brain size or reduced tooth number, why chimpanzees. Fossey devoted years to the study of gorilla be-
can’t we say that some primates are more evolved than oth- havior in the field. This book is about the fi rst thirteen years of
ers? What is wrong with the statement that humans are more her study; as well as being readable and informative, it is well
evolved than chimpanzees? illustrated.
3. Two systems exist for dividing the primate order into sub-
orders because of difficulties with classifying tarsiers. Should
Galdikas, B. (1995). Reflections on Eden: My years with the orang-
classification systems be based on genetic relationships or
utans of Borneo. New York: Little Brown.
based on the biological concept of grade? Is the continued use
of the older terminology an instance of inertia or a difference Birute Galdikas is the least known of the trio of young women
in philosophy? How do the issues brought up by the “tarsier sent by Louis Leakey in 1971 to study apes in the wild. Her
problem” translate to the hominoids? work with the orangutans of Borneo, however, is magnificent.
In this book she presents rich scientific information as well as
4. Given the variation seen in the specific behaviors of chimp,
her personal reflections on a life spent fully integrated with
bonobo, and gorilla groups, is it fair to say that our close rela-
orangutans and the culture of Borneo.
tives possess culture?
5. Many primate species, particularly apes, are endangered
today. Though some features of ape biology may be respon- Goodall, J. (1990). Through a window: My thirty years with the
sible for apes’ limited population size, humans, with an ever- chimpanzees of Gombe. Boston: Houghton Miffl in.
expanding population, share these same biological features. This fascinating book is a personal account of Jane Goodall’s
Besides life cycle biology, what factors are causing endanger- fi rst thirty years experiences studying wild chimpanzees in
ment of primates, and how can humans work to prevent the Tanzania. A pleasure to read and a fount of information on
extinction of our closest living relatives? the behavior of these apes, the book is profusely illustrated
as well.

Suggested Readings Goodall, J. (2000). Reason for hope: A spiritual journey. New
York: Warner Books.
de Waal, F. (2001). The ape and the sushi master. New York: Jane Goodall’s most recent book is a memoir linking her mon-
Basic Books. umental life’s work with the chimpanzees of Gombe to her
This masterful discussion of the presence of culture among inner spiritual convictions. She makes clear her commitment
apes moves this concept from an anthropocentric realm and to conferring chimpanzees with the same rights and respect
ties it instead to communication and social organization. In experienced by humans through the exploration of difficult
an accessible style, Frans de Waal, one of the world’s foremost topics such as environmental destruction, animal abuse, and
 The Anthropology Resource Center 79

genocide. She expands the concept of humanity while provid- have the freedom to choose when, where, and how you inter-
ing us with powerful reasons to maintain hope. act with your audio-based educational media. See the preface
for information on how to access this on-the-go study and re-
view tool.
Rowe, N., & Mittermeier, R. A. (1996). The pictorial guide to the
living primates. East Hampton, NY: Pogonias Press.
Filled with dynamic photographs of primates in nature, this
book also provides concise descriptions (including anatomy, The Anthropology Resource Center
taxonomy, diet, social structure, maps, and so on) for 234 spe-
cies of primates. The book is useful for students and prima- www.thomsonedu.com/anthropology
tologists alike. The Anthropology Resource Center provides extended learn-
ing materials to reinforce your understanding of key concepts
in the four subfields of anthropology. For each of the four sub-
disciplines, the Resource Center includes dynamic exercises
Thomson Audio Study Products including video exercises, map exercises, simulations, and
“Meet the Scientists” interviews, as well as critical thinking
Enjoy the MP3-ready Audio Lecture Overviews for questions that can be assigned and e-mailed to instructors.
each chapter and a comprehensive audio glossary of The Resource Center also provides breaking news in anthro-
key terms for quick study and review. Whether walk- pology and interesting material on applied anthropology to
ing to class, doing laundry, or studying at your desk, you now help you link what you are learning to the world around you.
 Field Methods

4 in Archaeology
and Paleoanthropology

© AP Images/Ou Neakiry

Given the radical changes taking place in the world today, a scientific understanding of
CHALLENGE
ISSUE the past has never been more important. But scientific investigation of ancient remains
challenges us to solve the complex question of who owns the past. In a particularly
chilling example, the Khmer Rouge—the totalitarian regime responsible for the genocide
that killed millions during the 1970s in Cambodia—also threatened to destroy the 12th-
century Buddhist temple of Angkor Wat. Destroying both the people and the temple
were part of the Khmer Rouge’s campaign to eliminate evidence of the past. When this
murderous government was finally ousted, its troops fled to the temple complex, know-
ing that international opinion regarding these spectacular archaeological remains would
afford them some safety. In the chaos that followed, even small temple artifacts became
very expensive collectibles. To whom do such ancient remains belong—to the local gov-
ernment, to the global community, to scientists, to people living in the region, to those
who happen to have possession of them at the moment? At peaceful Angkor Wat today,
collaboration among local people, scientists, local governments, and the international
community not only shields ancient remains from this type of trade and destruction, but
it honors the connections of indigenous people to the places and remains under study.
 CHAPTER PREVIEW

How Are the Physical and Are Human Physical How Are Archaeological
Cultural Remains of Past and Cultural Remains or Fossil Remains Dated?
Humans Investigated? Always Found Together? Calculating the age of physical and
Archaeologists and paleoanthro- Archaeological sites are places con- cultural remains is an essential
pologists investigate our past by taining the cultural remains of past aspect of interpreting the past. Re-
excavating sites where biological human activity. Sites are revealed mains can be dated by noting their
and cultural remains are found. by the presence of artifacts as well stratigraphic position, by measuring
Unfortunately, excavation results in as soil marks, changes in vegeta- the amount of chemicals contained
the site’s destruction. Thus, every tion, and irregularities of the earth’s in fossil bones, or through associa-
attempt is made to excavate in such surface. While skeletons of recent tion with other plant, animal, or cul-
a way that the location and context peoples are frequently associated tural remains. More precise dating
of everything recovered, no matter with their cultural remains, as we methods rely upon advances in the
how small, is precisely recorded. go back in time, the association of disciplines of chemistry and physics
Through careful analysis of the physical and cultural remains be- that use properties such as rates of
physical and cultural remains recov- comes less likely. Fossils are defi ned decay of radioactive elements. These
ered through excavation, scientists as any surviving trace or impression elements may be present in the
make sense of the data and enhance of an organism from the past. Fossils remains themselves or in the sur-
our knowledge of the biology, be- sometimes accompany archaeologi- rounding soil. By comparing dates
havior, and beliefs of our ancestors. cal sites, but many of them predate and remains across a variety of sites,
The success of an excavation also de- the fi rst stone tools or other cultural anthropologists can make inferences
pends upon cooperation and respect artifacts. The human cultural prac- about human origins, migrations,
between anthropologists who are tice of burying the dead, starting and technological developments.
investigating the past and the living about 100,000 years ago, changed Sometimes the development of a
people connected to the sites and the nature of the fossil record, pro- new dating technique leads to an en-
remains being studied. viding relatively complete skeletons tirely new interpretation of physical
as well as information about this and cultural remains.
cultural practice.

81
82 Chapter Four/Field Methods in Archaeology and Paleoanthropology

W hile the focus of anthropology is on peoples

of all places and times, paleoanthropology
and archaeology are the specialties most concerned with
our past. Paleoanthropology and archaeology share a
RECOVERING CULTURAL
AND BIOLOGICAL REMAINS
Archaeologists and paleoanthropologists face a di-
lemma. The only way to thoroughly investigate our past
focus on prehistory, a conventional term used to refer is to excavate sites where biological and cultural remains
to the period of time before written records. For some are found. Unfortunately, excavation results in the site’s
people, the term prehistoric might conjure up images of destruction. Thus, every attempt is made to excavate in
“primitive” cavemen and women, but it does not imply a such a way that the location and context of everything
lack of history or any inferiority—merely a lack of writ- recovered, no matter how small, is precisely recorded.
ten history. Since the next seven chapters of this book These records help scientists make sense of the data and
focus upon the past, this chapter will look at the meth- enhance our knowledge of the past. Knowledge that can
ods archaeologists and paleoanthropologists use to study be derived from physical and cultural remains dimin-
the past. ishes dramatically if accurate and detailed records of the
Most of us are familiar with some kind of archaeo- excavation are not kept. As the U.S. anthropologist Brian
logical material: the coin dug out of the earth, the frag- Fagan has put it:
ment of an ancient pot, the spear point used by some
ancient hunter. Finding and cataloguing such objects is The fundamental premise of excavation is that
often thought to be the chief goal of archaeology. While all digging is destructive, even that done by ex-
this was true in the 19th perts. The archaeologist’s primary responsibility,
therefore, is to record a site for posterity as it is
THOMSON AUDIO and early 20th century,
STUDY PRODUCTS when professional and am- dug because there are no second chances.1
Take advantage of ateur archaeologists alike Archaeologists work with artifacts, any object fashioned
the MP3-ready Audio Lecture collected cultural treasures, or altered by humans—a fl int scraper, a basket, an axe, or
Overviews and comprehensive the situation changed by such things as house ruins or walls. An artifact expresses
audio glossary of key terms the mid-20th century. To- a facet of human culture. Because it is something that
for each chapter. See the day, the aim is to use someone made, archaeologists like to say that an artifact
preface for information on archaeological remains to is a product or representation of human behavior and be-
how to access this on-the-go reconstruct the culture and
liefs or, in more technical terms, artifacts are material
study and review tool. worldview of past human culture.
societies. Archaeologists ex- Artifacts are not considered in isolation; rather, they
amine every recoverable detail from past societies, in- are integrated with biological and ecological remains.
cluding all kinds of structures (not just palaces and tem- And just as important as the artifacts or physical remains
ples), hearths, garbage dumps, bones, and plant remains. themselves is the way they were left in the ground. For
Although it may appear that archaeologists are digging example, what people do with the things they have
up things, they are really digging up human biology, be- made, how they dispose of them, and how they lose them
havior, and beliefs. reflect important aspects of human culture. In other
Similarly, paleoanthropologists who study the physi- words, context allows archaeologists to understand the
cal remains of our ancestors and other ancient primates cultures of the past.
do more than fi nd and catalogue old bones. Paleoanthro- Similarly, context provides important information
pologists recover, describe, and organize these remains about biological remains. It provides information about
to see what they can tell us about human biological which fossils are earlier or later in time than other fossils.
evolution. It is not so much a case of fi nding the ancient Also, by noting the association of ancient human fossils
bones but fi nding out what the bones mean. with the remains of other species, the paleoanthropolo-
gist may make significant progress in reconstructing en-
vironmental settings of the past.
While cultural and physical remains represent dis-
prehistory A conventional term used to refer to the period of tinct kinds of data, the fullest interpretations of the
time before the appearance of written records. Does not deny the
human past require the integration of ancient human
existence of history, merely of written history.
artifact Any object fashioned or altered by humans.
material culture The durable aspects of culture such as tools,
structures, and art. 1Fagan, B. M. (1995). People of the earth (8th ed., p. 19). New York:
HarperCollins.
 Recovering Cultural and Biological Remains 83

© AP Images

In rare circumstances, human bodies are so well preserved that they could be mistaken for recent corpses.
Such is the case of “Ötzi,” the 5,200-year-old “Ice Man,” exposed by the melting of an alpine glacier in the
Tyrolean Alps in 1991. Both the Italian and the Austrian governments felt they had legitimate claims on
this rare find, and they mounted legal, geographic, and taphonomic arguments for housing the body in
their country. These arguments continued as the specimen, just released from the ice, began to thaw.

biology and culture. Often paleoanthropologists and become fossilized. For an organism to become a fossil, it
archaeologists work together to systematically exca- must be covered by some protective substance soon after
vate and analyze fragmentary remains, placing scraps death.
of bone, shattered pottery, and scattered campsites into An organism or part of an organism may be pre-
broad interpretive contexts. served in a number of ways. The whole animal may be
frozen in ice, like the famous mammoths found in Sibe-
ria, safe from the actions of predators, weathering, and
The Nature of Fossils bacteria. Or it may be enclosed in a natural resin exuding
Broadly defi ned, a fossil is any mineralized trace or from evergreen trees, later becoming hardened and fos-
impression of an organism that has been preserved in silized as amber. Specimens of spiders and insects dating
the earth’s crust from past geologic time. Fossilization back millions of years have been preserved in the Baltic
typically involves the hard parts of an organism. Bones, Sea area, which is rich in resin-producing evergreens
teeth, shells, horns, and the woody tissues of plants are such as pine, spruce, or fi r trees.
the most successfully fossilized materials. Although the An organism may be preserved in the bottoms of
soft parts of an organism are rarely fossilized, the casts lakes and sea basins, where the body or body part may
or impressions of footprints, brains, and even whole bod-
ies have sometimes been found. Because dead animals
fossil Any mineralized trace or impression of an organism that
quickly attract meat-eating scavengers and bacteria that has been preserved in earth’s crust from past geological time.
cause decomposition, they rarely survive long enough to
84 Chapter Four/Field Methods in Archaeology and Paleoanthropology

be quickly covered with sediment. An entire organism eating animal drags its remains to a site protected from
may also be mummified or preserved in tar pits, peat, erosion and decay. In caves, conditions are often excel-
oil, or asphalt bogs, in which the chemical environment lent for fossilization, as minerals contained in water drip-
prevents the growth of decay-producing bacteria. ping from the ceiling may harden over bones left on the
Cases in which an entire organism of any sort, let cave floor. In northern China, for example, many fossils
alone a human, is preserved are especially rare. Fossils of Homo erectus (discussed in Chapter 7) and other ani-
generally consist of such things as scattered teeth and mals were found in a cave at a place called Zhoukoudian,
fragments of bones found embedded in rock depos- in deposits consisting of consolidated clays and rock that
its. Most have been altered in some way in the process had fallen from the cave’s limestone ceiling. The cave
of becoming fossilized. Taphonomy (from the Greek had been frequented by both humans and predatory ani-
for “tomb”), the study of the biological and geologi- mals, which left remains of many a meal there.
cal processes by which dead organisms become fossils,
provides systematic understanding of the fossilization
process vital for the scientific interpretations of the fos- Burial of the Dead
sils themselves. Entirely preserved fossil skeletons dating before the cul-
Fossilization is most apt to occur among marine ani- tural practice of burial about 100,000 years ago are quite
mals and other creatures living near water. Concentra- rare. The human fossil record from before this period
tions of shells and other parts of organisms are covered consists primarily of fragmentary remains. The fossil
and completely enclosed by the soft waterborne sedi- record for many other primates is even poorer, because
ments that eventually harden into shale and limestone organic materials decay rapidly in the tropical forests
in the following fashion: As the remains of organisms where they lived. The records are much more complete
accumulate on shallow sea, river, or lake bottoms, they for primates (such as evolving humans) that lived on the
become covered by sediments and silt, or sand. These grassy plains or in savannah environments, where condi-
materials gradually harden, forming a protective shell tions were far more favorable to the formation of fossils.
around the skeleton of the organism. The internal cavi- This was particularly true in places where ash deposited
ties of bones or teeth and other parts of the skeleton fi ll from volcanic eruptions or waterborne sediments along
in with mineral deposits from the sediment immediately lakes and streams could quickly cover organisms that
surrounding the specimen. Then the external walls of died there. At several localities in Ethiopia, Kenya, and
the bone decay and are replaced by calcium carbonate or Tanzania in East Africa, numerous fossils important for
silica. our understanding of human evolution have been found
Unless protected in some way, the bones of a land near ancient lakes and streams, often sandwiched be-
dweller are generally scattered and exposed to the dete- tween layers of volcanic ash.
riorating influence of the elements, predators, and scav- In more recent times, such complete remains, al-
engers. Occasionally, terrestrial animals living near lakes though not common, are often quite spectacular and
or rivers become fossilized if they happen to die next to may be particularly informative. As an example, con-
or in the water. A land dweller may also become fossil- sider the recovery in 1994 of an Eskimo girl’s remains in
ized if it happens to die in a cave, or if some other meat- Barrow, Alaska, described in the Original Study. As seen
in this case study, successful exploration of the past de-
pends upon cooperation and respect between anthropol-
taphonomy The study of how bones and other materials come
to be preserved in the earth as fossils. ogists and the living people with ancestral connections
to the physical and cultural remains being studied.

Original Study
By Sherry Simpson

Whispers from the Ice

People grew excited when a summer that predates the modern community appeared. Her firm, SJS Archaeological
rainstorm softened the bluff known as of Barrow. Left protruding from the Services, Inc., was closing a field season
Ukkuqsi, sloughing off huge chunks of slope was a human head. Archaeologist at nearby Point Franklin, and Jensen
earth containing remains of historic and Anne Jensen happened to be in Barrow offered the team’s help in a kind of
prehistoric houses, part of the old village buying strapping tape when the body archaeological triage to remove the
 Recovering Cultural and Biological Remains 85

body before it eroded completely from the remains, about 3 feet below the
the earth. surface. A shell of clear ice encased the
The North Slope Borough hired her body, which rested in what appeared to
and Glenn Sheehan, both associated with be a former meat cellar. With the low-
Pennsylvania’s Bryn Mawr College, to Arctic pressure play of water from the tanker,
Ocean
conduct the work. The National Science the archaeologists teased the icy casket
Foundation, which supported the 3-year Barrow from the frozen earth, exposing a tiny
Point Franklin project, agreed to fund the foot. Only then did they realize they
autopsy and subsequent analysis of the Arctic Circle had uncovered a child. “That was kind
body and artifacts. The Ukkuqsi excava- of sad, because she was about my
ALASKA
tion quickly became a community event. CANADA
daughter’s size,” says archaeologist
In remarkably sunny and calm weather, Jensen.
Bering
volunteers troweled and picked through Sea The girl was curled up beneath a
the thawing soil, finding trade beads, Anchorage baleen toboggan and part of a cover-
animal bones, and other items. Teenage ing that Inupiat elder Bertha Leavitt
boys worked alongside grandmothers. Pacific identified as a kayak skin by its stitch-
Ocean U.S.
The smell of sea mammal oil, sweet at ing. The child, who appeared to be 5 or
first then corrupt, mingled with ancient 6, remained remarkably intact after her
organic odors of decomposed vegetation. dark passage through time. Her face was
One man searched the beach for artifacts archaeologists, having elders stand beside cloaked by a covering that puzzled some
that had eroded from the bluff, discover- them and identify items and historical onlookers. It didn’t look like human hair,
ing such treasures as two feather parkas. context is like hearing the past whis- or even fur, but something with a feath-
Elder Silas Negovanna, originally of pering in their ears. Elders often know ery residue. Finally they concluded it was
Wainwright, visited several times, “more from experience, or from stories, the a hood from a feather parka made of bird
or less out of curiosity to see what they answers to the scientists’ questions about skins. The rest of her body was delineated
have in mind,” he said. George Leavitt, how items were used or made. “In this muscle that had freeze-dried into a dark
who lives in a house on the bluff, stopped instance, usually the only puzzled people brick-red color. Her hands rested on her
by one day while carrying home grocer- are the archaeologists,” jokes archaeolo- knees, which were drawn up to her chin.
ies and suggested a way to spray water gist Sheehan. Frost particles coated the bends of her
to thaw the soil without washing away A modern town of 4,000, Barrow arms and legs.
valuable artifacts. Tour groups added the exists in a cultural continuum, where “We decided we needed to go talk to
excavation to their rounds. history is not detached or remote but the elders and see what they wanted, to
“This community has a great interest still pulses through contemporary life. get some kind of feeling as to whether
in archaeology up here just because it’s People live, hunt, and fish where their they wanted to bury her right away, or
so recent to their experience,” says oral ancestors did, but they can also buy whether they were willing to allow some
historian Karen Brewster, a tall young fresh vegetables at the store and jet studies in a respectful manner—studies
woman who interviews elders as part of to other places. Elementary school that would be of some use to residents of
her work with the North Slope Borough’s classes include computer and Inupiaq the North Slope,” Jensen says. Working
division of Inupiat History, Language, and language studies. Caribou skins, still with community elders is not a radical
Culture. “The site’s right in town, and ruddy with blood, and black brant car- idea to Jensen or Sheehan, whose previ-
everybody was really fascinated by it.” casses hang near late-model cars outside ous work in the Arctic has earned them
Slowly, as the workers scraped homes equipped with television anten- high regard from local officials who
and shoveled, the earth surrendered nas. A man uses power tools to work on appreciate their sensitivity. The research-
its historical hoard: carved wooden his whaling boat. And those who appear ers feel obligated not only to follow com-
bowls, ladles, and such clothing as a from the earth are not just bodies, but munity wishes, but to invite villagers to
mitten made from polar bear hide, bird- relatives. “We’re not a people frozen in sites and to share all information through
skin parkas, and mukluks. The items time,” says Jana Harcharek, an Inupiat public presentations. In fact, Jensen is
spanned prehistoric times, dated in Eskimo who teaches Inupiaq and nurtures reluctant to discuss findings with the
Barrow to before explorers first arrived her culture among young people. “There press before the townspeople themselves
in 1826. will always be that connection between hear it.
The work prompted visiting elders to us [and our ancestors]. They’re not a “It seems like it’s a matter of simple
recall when they or their parents lived in separate entity.” common courtesy,” she says. Such con-
traditional sod houses and relied wholly The past drew still closer as the sideration can only help researchers, she
on the land and sea for sustenance. archaeologists neared the body. After points out. “If people don’t get along
Some remembered sliding down the hill several days of digging through thawed with you, they’re not going to talk to
as children, before the sea gnawed away soil, they used water supplied by the you, and they’re liable to throw you out
the slope. Others described the site’s use local fire station’s tanker truck to melt on your ear.” In the past, scientists were
as a lookout for whales or ships. For the through permafrost until they reached CONTINUED
86 Chapter Four/Field Methods in Archaeology and Paleoanthropology

CONTINUED

not terribly sensitive about such matters, Providence Hospital. There she as- accounts indicate the dead often were
generally regarding human remains—and sisted with an autopsy performed by wrapped in skins and laid out on the
sometimes living natives—as artifacts Dr. Michael Zimmerman of New York tundra on wooden platforms, rather than
themselves. Once, the girl’s body would City’s Mount Sinai Hospital. Zimmerman, buried in the frozen earth. But perhaps
have been hauled off to the catacombs an expert on prehistoric frozen bodies, the entire family was starving and too
of some university or museum, and relics had autopsied Barrow’s frozen family in weak to remove the dead girl from the
would have disappeared into exhibit 1982, and was on his way to work on the house, Jensen speculates. “We probably
drawers in what Sheehan describes as prehistoric man recently discovered in won’t ever be able to say, ‘This is the way
“hit-and-run archaeology.” the Alps. it was,’” she adds. “For that you need a
“Grave robbers” is how Inupiat Jana The findings suggest the girl’s life was time machine.”
Harcharek refers to early Arctic research- very hard. She ultimately died of starva- The scientific team reported to the
ers. “They took human remains and their tion, but also had emphysema caused elders that radiocarbon dating places the
burial goods. It’s pretty gruesome. But, by a rare congenital disease—the lack girl’s death in about AD 1200. If cor-
of course, at the time they thought they of an enzyme that protects the lungs. rect—for dating is technically tricky in
were doing science a big favor. Thank She probably was sickly and needed the Arctic—the date would set the girl’s
goodness attitudes have life about 100 years before her
changed.” people formed settled whaling
Today, not only scien- villages, Sheehan says.
tists but municipal officials Following the autopsy and
confer with the Barrow Elders the body’s return to Barrow in
Council when local people August, one last request by the
find skeletons from tradi- elders was honored. The little
tional platform burials out on girl, wrapped in her feather
Courtesy of Anne Jensen and Glenn Sheehan

the tundra, or when bodies parka, was placed in a casket

appear in the house mounds. and buried in a small Christian
The elders appreciate such ceremony next to the grave of
consultations, says Samuel the other prehistoric bodies.
Simmonds, a tall, dignified Hundreds of years after her
man known for his carving. death, an Inupiat daughter was
A retired Presbyterian min- welcomed back into the midst
ister, he presided at burial of her community.
ceremonies of the famous The “rescue” of the little
“frozen family,” ancient Inu- girl’s body from the raw forces
In the long cool days of the Alaska summer, archaeologist Anne
piats discovered in Barrow of time and nature means
Jensen and her team excavate artifacts that will be exhibited at the
thirteen years ago. “They newly built Inupiat Heritage Center in Barrow, Alaska. In addition to researchers and the Inupiat
were part of us, we know traditional museum displays honoring the past, the center actively people will continue to learn
that,” he says simply, as if promotes the continuation of Inupiat Eskimo cultural traditions still more about the region’s
the connection between old through innovations such as the elder-in-residence program. culture. Sheehan and Jensen
bones and bodies and living returned to Barrow in winter
relatives is self-evident. In 1994 to explain their findings
the case of the newly discovered body, he extra care all her brief life. The autopsy to townspeople. “We expect to learn just
says, “We were concerned that it was re- also found soot in her lungs from the as much from them,” Sheehan said before
buried in a respectful manner. They were family’s sea mammal oil lamps, and she the trip. A North Slope Cultural Center
nice enough to come over and ask us.” had osteoporosis, which was caused by scheduled for completion in 1996 will
The elders also wanted to restrict a diet exclusively of meat from marine store and display artifacts from the dig
media attention and prevent photographs mammals. The girl’s stomach was empty, sites.
of the body except for a few showing but her intestinal tract contained dirt and Laboratory tests and analysis also
her position at the site. They approved a animal fur. That remains a mystery and will contribute information. The ar-
limited autopsy to help answer questions raises questions about the condition of chaeologists hope measurements of
about the body’s sex, age, and state of the rest of the family. “It’s not likely that heavy metals in the girl’s body will allow
health. She was placed in an orange plas- she would be hungry and everyone else comparisons with modern-day pollution
tic body bag in a stainless steel morgue well fed,” Jensen says. contaminating the sea mammals that
with the temperature turned down to That the girl appears to have been Inupiats eat today. The soot damage in
below freezing. placed deliberately in the cellar provokes her lungs might offer health implications
With the help of staff at the Indian further questions about precontact burial for Third World people who rely on oil
Health Service Hospital, Jensen sent the practices, which the researchers hope lamps, dung fires, and charcoal for heat
girl’s still-frozen body to Anchorage’s Barrow elders can help answer. Historic and light. Genetic tests could illuminate
 Searching for Artifacts and Fossils 87

early population movements of Inupiats. and communities don’t have to be at and when more communities hold scien-
The project also serves as a model for odds,” Sheehan says. “In fact, there are tists to those standards, then everybody
good relations between archaeologists mutual interests that we all have. Sci- will be happier.”
and Native people. “The larger overall entists have obligations to communities. (Adapted from Sherry Simpson (1995, April).
message from this work is that scientists And when more scientists realize that, Whispers from the ice. Alaska, 23–28.)

SEARCHING FOR may be strewn over large areas. Sites are even found un-
derwater. Some examples of sites identified by archaeolo-
ARTIFACTS AND FOSSILS gists and paleoanthropologists are hunting campsites,
Where are artifacts and fossils found? Places containing from which hunters went out to hunt game; kill sites, in
archaeological remains of previous human activity are which game was killed and butchered; village sites, in
known as sites. There are many kinds of sites, and some- which domestic activities took place; and cemeteries,
times it is difficult to defi ne their boundaries, for remains in which the dead, and sometimes their belongings, were
buried.
While skeletons of recent peoples are frequently as-
sociated with their cultural remains, archaeological sites
may or may not contain any physical remains. As we go
back in time, the association of physical and cultural re-
mains becomes less likely. Physical remains dating from
before 2.5 million years ago are found in isolation. This
is not proof of the absence of material culture but rather
that the earliest forms of material culture were not pre-
served in the archaeological record. It is likely that the
earliest tools were made of organic materials (such as the
termiting sticks used by chimpanzees) that were much
less likely to be preserved in the archaeological record.
Similarly, fossils are found only in geological contexts
where conditions are known to have been right for fos-
silization. By contrast, archaeological sites may be found
just about anywhere, perhaps because many date from
more recent periods.

Site Identification
The fi rst task for the archaeologist is actually fi nding sites
to investigate. Archaeological sites, particularly very old
ones, frequently lie buried underground covered by lay-
ers of sediment deposited since the site was in use. Most
sites are revealed by the presence of artifacts. Chance
Courtesy Dana Walrath

may play a crucial role in the site’s discovery, as in the

previously discussed case of the site at Barrow, Alaska.
Usually, however, the archaeologist will have to survey a
region in order to plot the sites available for excavation.
A survey can be made from the ground, but more and
Sometimes archaeological sites are marked by dramatic ruins, such more use is made of remote sensing techniques, many
as this temple from the ancient Maya city of Tikal. Built by piling up of them by-products of space-age technology. Aerial
rubble and facing it with stone blocks held together with mortar, it
towers above the trees. While the scaffolding provides the opportunity
photographs have been used by archaeologists since the
for tourists to appreciate the grandeur of its full height, the benefits 1920s and are widely used today. Among other things,
of learning about the ancient Maya through the experience of such a such photographs were used for the discovery and inter-
climb must be balanced with preserving these archaeological remains. pretation of the huge geometric and zoomorphic (from
 88 Chapter Four/Field Methods in Archaeology and Paleoanthropology

Some archaeological features are

best seen from the air, such as this
figure of a hummingbird made in
prehistoric times on the Nazca
Desert of Peru.
© Corbis

Latin for “animal-shaped”) markings on the coastal des- so that archaeologists looking for the remains of houses
ert of Peru. at this site can use these trees as guideposts.
More recently, use of high-resolution aerial photo- On the ground, sites can be spotted by soil marks,
graphs, including satellite imagery, resulted in the aston- or stains, showing up on the surface of recently plowed
ishing discovery of over 500 miles of prehistoric road- fields. Soil marks led archaeologists to many of the Bronze
ways connecting sites in the four-corners region of the Age burial mounds in northern Hertfordshire and south-
United States (where Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and western Cambridgeshire, England. The mounds hardly
Utah meet) with other sites in ways that archaeologists rose out of the ground, yet each was circled at its core by
had never suspected. This discovery led to a new under- chalky soil marks. Sometimes the very presence of cer-
standing of prehistoric Pueblo Indian economic, social, tain chalky rock is significant.
and political organization. Evidently, large centers in this Documents, maps, and folklore are also useful to
region governed a number of smaller satellite communi- the archaeologist. Heinrich Schliemann, the famous and
ties, mobilized labor for large public works, and saw to controversial 19th-century German archaeologist, was
the distribution of goods over substantial distances. led to the discovery of Troy after a reading of Homer’s
More obvious sites, such as the human-made mounds Iliad. He assumed that the city described by Homer as Il-
or tells of the Middle East, are easier to spot from the ium was really Troy. Place names and local lore often are
ground, for the country is open. But it is more difficult an indication that an archaeological site is to be found in
to locate ruins, even those that are well above ground, the area. Archaeological surveys therefore often depend
where there is a heavy forest cover. Thus, the discovery upon amateur collectors and local people who are usu-
of archaeological sites is strongly affected by local geog- ally familiar with the history of the land.
raphy and climate. Sometimes natural processes, such as soil erosion or
Some sites may be spotted by changes in vegetation. droughts, expose sites or fossils. For example, in eastern
For example, the topsoil of ancient storage and refuse North America erosion along the coastlines and river
pits is often richer in organic matter than that of the sur- banks has exposed prehistoric refuse mounds known
rounding areas, and so it grows distinctive vegetation. as middens, which are fi lled with shells indicating that
At Tikal, an ancient Maya site in Guatemala, breadnut shellfish consumption was common. Similarly, a whole
trees usually grow near the remains of ancient houses, village of stone huts was exposed at Skara Brae in Scot-
land’s Orkney Islands by the action of wind as it blew
away sand.
soil mark A stain that shows up on the surface of recently Though natural forces sometimes expose fossils and
plowed fields that reveals an archaeological site.
sites, human physical and cultural remains are more of-
middens A refuse or garbage disposal area in an archaeologi-
cal site. ten accidentally discovered in the course of some other
human activity. In Chapter 2 we saw how the discovery
 Searching for Artifacts and Fossils 89

Figure 4.1
At large sites cover-
ing several square
miles, a giant grid is
constructed, as shown
in this map of the
center of the ancient
Maya city of Tikal.
Each square of the
grid is one-quarter of
a square kilometer; in-
dividual structures are
numbered according
to the square in which
they are found.

of fossils of extinct animals in Europe from construc- Anthropology Applied feature) is now routinely carried
tion and quarrying played a role in the development of out as part of the environmental review process for fed-
evolutionary theory. Similarly, limestone quarrying at erally funded or licensed construction projects in the
a variety of sites in South Africa early in the 20th cen- United States as it is in Europe.
tury led to the discovery of the earliest humanlike fos-
sils from millions of years ago (see Chapter 6). Smaller Archaeological Excavation
scale disturbances of earth such as plowing sometimes
turn up bones, fragments of pots, and other archaeologi- Once a researcher identifies a site likely to contribute to
cal objects. his or her research agenda, the next step is to plan and
So frequently do construction projects uncover ar- carry out excavation. To begin, the land is cleared, and
chaeological remains that in many countries, including the places to be excavated are plotted as a grid system
the United States, construction projects require govern- (Figure 4.1). The surface of the site is divided into squares
ment approval in order to ensure the identification and
protection of archaeological remains. Archaeological grid system A system for recording data in three dimensions
work known as cultural resource management (see the from an archaeological excavation.
90 Chapter Four/Field Methods in Archaeology and Paleoanthropology

Anthropology Applied
Cultural Resource Management
By John Crock
VERMONT
In the United States and Europe, cultural and eligible for the National Register
resource management or “regulatory” of Historic Places. The effigy, and the
archaeology employs more archaeolo- style and thickness of pottery shards,
CANADA
gists than universities and museums indicated the site dated to the late pre-
combined. This work is mandated by contact or contact period, between about
laws like Section 106 of the National 1400 and 1700. Since the site could not
Historic Preservation Act, which requires be avoided during construction, Phase III VERMONT Atlantic
a cultural resources review for feder- data recovery excavations were neces- Ocean
ally funded or regulated development sary to salvage a sample of the endan-
projects, like the construction of new gered site.
UNITED STATES
highways. These federal requirements It was only during this final phase
have provided the funds for me and of work that the true size and signifi-
many other archaeologists to do what cance of the Bohannon site was revealed.
we love the best: to reconstruct the lives Excavation of large areas uncovered a To salvage as much information as pos-
of people in the past through excava- substantial sample of decorated clay sible from the site before construction,
tion of the material traces they have left pipes and jars. Paleobotanist Nancy Sidell an acre of the project area was stripped
behind. identified corn kernels and parts of corn of topsoil to try to determine more about
For example, the Vermont Agency of plants in hearth and trash pit features at the layout of the site. Hundreds of post
Transportation’s Missisquoi Bay Bridge the site, indicating that the residents of “mold” stains were revealed, from which
project at the northern end of Lake the site grew corn close by. Zooarchae- portions of several longhouses have been
Champlain resulted in the discovery of ologist Nanny Carder identified twenty- reconstructed. A sample of corn kernels
one of the most significant archaeo- four different species in bone refuse from found were radiocarbon dated using
logical sites ever found in Vermont. The the same features, revealing a broad diet accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) to
initial Phase I survey sampling for the of animals ranging from flying squirrel to around AD 1600. Other dates and their
project included the excavation of small black bear. Living floors, trash pits, and error ranges place the site occupation
shovel test pits across the level field that the former location of house posts also between 1450 and 1650.
would one day become the new bridge were identified. We believe the site was occupied just
approach. Seven of the initial prior to 1609, when the first
fifty-seven pits contained Europeans entered the region,
evidence of an archaeological based on the style of the pot-
site, including a total of just tery, the radiocarbon dates, and
eight artifacts. Fortunately, the fact that no European arti-
this limited evidence was facts were recovered. The deco-
enough to document the rated clay pipes and pottery
presence of a pre-contact jars from the site are identical
Native American habitation, to material that has been found
later named the Bohannon at late pre-contact village sites
site after the landowner. along the St. Lawrence River
To determine its size and in Quebec. The inventory of
significance, we conducted artifacts, food resources, and
a Phase II evaluation of house patterns from the site
the site. Native American Image not available due to copyright restrictions all suggest that the people at
deposits were recovered from the Bohannon site were closely
thirty-nine of the additional related to the St. Lawrence
sixty-seven Phase II test pits Iroquoians, a First Nations
excavated. The majority of the people who lived in what is now
artifacts recovered are small Quebec and Ontario.
fragments of clay pottery, From its humble identifica-
including a portion of a turtle tion in the early stages of ar-
head effigy from a pipe or chaeological survey for the new
vessel. It was this artifact, bridge, the Bohannon site has
the likes of which had never yielded an incredible amount of
before been excavated in information; it represents the
Vermont, which helped indi- first St. Lawrence Iroquoian vil-
cate the site was significant lage discovered in Vermont.
 Searching for Artifacts and Fossils 91

To recover very small objects easily

missed in excavation, archaeolo-
gists routinely screen the earth they
remove. Here archaeologists are
using the flotation technique for the
recovery of charred plant remains.
© Tony Arruza/Corbis

of equal size, and each square is numbered and marked they are found. In a gridded site, each square is dug sep-
with stakes. Each object found may then be located pre- arately with great care. Trowels are used to scrape the
cisely in the square from which it came. (Remember, soil, and screens are used to sift all the loose soils so that
context is everything!) The starting point of a grid sys- even the smallest artifacts, such as fl int chips or beads,
tem, which is located precisely in three dimensions, may are recovered.
be a large rock, the edge of a stone wall, or an iron rod A technique employed when looking for very fi ne
sunk into the ground; this point is also known as the ref- objects, such as fish scales or very small bones, is called
erence or datum point.
At a large site covering several square miles, the plot-
ting may be done in terms of individual structures, num- datum point The starting, or reference, point for a grid system.
bered according to the square of a “giant grid” in which

This photo shows a section excavated

through a building at the ancient
Maya site of Tikal and illustrates
stratigraphy. Inside the building’s
base are the remains of walls and
floors for earlier buildings. Oldest are
the innermost and deepest walls and
floors. As time wore on, the Maya
periodically demolished upper por-
tions of older buildings, the remains
of which were buried beneath new
construction.
© William A. Haviland
92 Chapter Four/Field Methods in Archaeology and Paleoanthropology

flotation. Flotation consists of immersing soil in water, To remove newly discovered bones, the paleoan-
causing the particles to separate. Some will float, others thropologist begins uncovering the specimen, using pick
will sink to the bottom, and the remains can be easily and shovel for initial excavation, then small camel-hair
retrieved. brushes and dental picks to remove loose and easily de-
If the site is stratified—that is, if the remains lie in tachable debris surrounding the bones. Once the entire
layers one upon the other—each layer, or stratum, will specimen has been uncovered (a process that may take
be dug separately. Each layer, having been laid down days of back-breaking, patient labor), the bones are cov-
during a particular span of time, will contain artifacts ered with shellac and tissue paper to prevent cracking
deposited at the same time and belonging to the same and damage during further excavation and handling.
culture. Culture change can be traced through the order Both the fossil and the earth immediately surround-
in which artifacts were deposited—deeper layers reveal ing it, or the matrix, are prepared for removal as a single
older artifacts. But, archaeologists Frank Hole and Rob- block. The bones and matrix are cut out of the earth (but
ert F. Heizer suggest, not removed), and more shellac is applied to the entire
block to harden it. The bones are covered with burlap
because of difficulties in analyzing stratigraphy,
bandages dipped in plaster. Then the entire block is en-
archaeologists must use the greatest caution in
closed in more plaster and burlap bandages, perhaps
drawing conclusions. Almost all interpretations
splinted with tree branches and allowed to dry over-
of time, space, and culture contexts depend on
night. After it has hardened, the entire block is carefully
stratigraphy. The refi nements of laboratory tech-
removed from the earth, ready for packing and transport
niques for analysis are wasted if archaeologists
to a laboratory. Before leaving the discovery area, the in-
cannot specify the stratigraphic position of their
vestigator makes a thorough sketch map of the terrain
artifacts.2
and pinpoints the fi nd on geological maps to aid future
If no stratification is present, then the archaeologist digs investigators.
by arbitrary levels. Each square must be dug so that its
edges and profi les are straight; walls between squares
are often left standing to serve as visual correlates of the State of Preservation of
grid system.
Archaeological and Fossil Evidence
The results of excavation depend upon the nature of the
Excavation of Fossils remains as much as upon the excavator’s digging skills.
Although fossil excavating is similar to archaeological Inorganic materials such as stone and metal are more
excavation, some key differences exist. The paleoanthro- resistant to decay than organic ones such as wood and
pologist must be particularly skilled in the techniques bone. Sometimes the anthropologist discovers an as-
of geology, or have ready access to geological expertise, semblage—a collection of artifacts—made of durable
because a fossil is of little value unless its place in the se- inorganic materials, such as stone tools, and traces of
quence of rocks that contain it can be determined. organic ones long since decomposed, such as woodwork
In order to provide all the necessary expertise, pa- (Figure 4.2), textiles, or food.
leoanthropological expeditions these days generally are Climate, local geological conditions, and cultural
made up of teams of experts in various fields in addition practices also play a role in the state of preservation. For
to physical anthropology. Surgical skill and caution are example, our knowledge of ancient Egyptian culture
required to remove a fossil from its burial place without stems not only from their burial practices but from the
damage. An unusual combination of tools and materials effects of climate and soil on the state of preservation.
is usually contained in the kit of the paleoanthropolo- The ancient Egyptians believed that eternal life could be
gist—pickaxes, dental tools, enamel coating, burlap for achieved only if the dead person were buried with his or
bandages, and sculpting plaster. her worldly possessions. Hence, their tombs are usually
fi lled with a wealth of artifacts even including the skel-
2Hole, F., & Heizer, R. F. (1969). An introduction to prehistoric archeol- etons of other humans owned by dynastic rulers.
ogy (p. 113). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Under favorable climatic conditions, even the most
perishable objects may survive over vast periods of time.
Even the earliest Egyptian burials consisting of shallow
flotation An archaeological technique employed to recover very pits in the sand often yield well-preserved corpses. Be-
tiny objects by immersion of soil samples in water to separate cause these bodies were buried long before mummifica-
heavy from light particles.
tion was ever practiced, their preservation can only be
stratified Layered; said of archaeological sites where the remains
lie in layers, one upon another. the result of rapid desiccation, or complete drying out, in
the warm desert climate. The elaborate tombs of the rul-
 Searching for Artifacts and Fossils 93

Figure 4.2
Although the wooden posts of a house may have long since decayed, their positions may still be
marked by discoloration of the soil. The plan shown on the left—of an ancient posthole pattern and
depression at Snaketown, Arizona—permits the hypothetical house reconstruction on the right.

ers of dynastic Egypt often contain wooden furniture, possible to tell the time of year in which the food was
textiles, flowers, and written scrolls on paper made from eaten.
papyrus reeds, barely touched by time, seemingly as Certain climates can obliterate all evidence of or-
fresh looking as they were when deposited in the tomb ganic remains. Maya ruins found in the tropical rain-
as long as 5,000 years ago—a consequence of the region’s forests of Mesoamerica (the geographical area includ-
arid climatic conditions. Of course, the ancient Egyptian ing southern Mexico and northern Central America) are
burial practices selectively preserved more information often in a state of collapse—notwithstanding that many
about the elite members of society than the average are massive structures of stone—as a result of the pres-
individual. sure exerted upon them by the heavy forest vegetation.
The dryness of certain caves is also a factor in the The rain and humidity soon destroy almost all traces of
preservation of coprolites, the scientific term for fossil- woodwork, textiles, or basketry. Fortunately, impres-
ized human or animal feces. Coprolites provide infor- sions of these artifacts can sometimes be preserved in
mation on prehistoric diet and health. From the analysis plaster, and some objects made of wood or plant fibers
of elements preserved in coprolites such as seeds, insect are depicted in stone carvings and pottery figurines.
skeletons, and tiny bones from fish or amphibians, ar- Thus, even in the face of substantial decay of organic
chaeologists and paleoanthropologists can directly de- substances, something may still be learned about them.
termine diets from the past. This information, in turn,
can shed light on overall health. Because many sources
of food are available only in certain seasons, it is even Sorting Out the Evidence
Excavation records include a scale map of all the fea-
tures, the stratification of each excavated square, a de-
scription of the exact location and depth of every artifact
or bone unearthed, and photographs and scale draw-
ings of the objects. This is the only way archaeological
evidence can later be pieced together so as to arrive at
a plausible reconstruction of a culture. Although the
archaeologist or paleoanthropologist may be interested
only in certain kinds of remains, every aspect of the site
must be recorded, whether it is relevant to the particular
investigation or not, because such evidence may be use-
ful to others and would otherwise be permanently lost.
In sum, archaeological sites are nonrenewable resources.
© University of Pennsylvania Museum

The disturbance of the arrangement of artifacts, even by

proper excavation, is permanent.
Looting of sites for personal profit can also cause
permanent loss not only of artifacts but of the sites that
held them. Looting has long been a threat to the archae-
ological record. But today, looting has become a high-

At the Maya site of Tikal, these manikin scepter figures, originally made coprolites Preserved fecal material providing evidence of the
of wood, were recovered from a king’s tomb by pouring plaster into a diet and health of past organisms.
cavity in the soil, left when the original organic material decayed.
 94 Chapter Four/Field Methods in Archaeology and Paleoanthropology

In September 2006, research-

ers announced the discovery of a
spectacular new fossil—the skeleton
of a young child dated to 3.3 million
years ago. The fossil was actually
discovered in the Dikika area of
northern Ethiopia in 2000. Since
then, researchers worked on careful
recovery and analysis of the fos-
silized remains so that when the
announcement was made, a great
deal was already known about
the specimen. Their analyses have
determined that this child, a little girl
about 3 years old who likely died in
a flash flood, was a member of the
Australopithecus afarensis, the
same species as the famous “Lucy”
specimen (see Chapter 6). Due to the
importance of this find, some sci-
entists have referred to this child as
© AFP/Getty images

“Lucy’s baby” though the child lived

about 150,000 years before “Lucy.”

tech endeavor. Avid collectors and fans of archaeological terial to perform these analyses. However, unless DNA is
sites unwittingly aid looting activity through sharing preserved in a stable material such as amber, it will decay
detailed knowledge about site and artifact location over over time. Therefore, analyses of DNA extracted from
the Internet. The Internet has also provided a market for specimens older than about 50,000 years ago become in-
artifacts. creasingly unreliable due to the decay of DNA.
Once the artifact or fossil has been freed from the Archaeologists and paleoanthropologists, as a rule
surrounding matrix, a variety of other laboratory meth- of thumb, plan on at least three hours of laboratory work
ods come into play. For example, dental specimens are for each hour of fieldwork. In the lab, artifacts that have
frequently analyzed under the microscope to examine been recovered must first be cleaned and catalogued—
markings on teeth that might provide clues about diet often a tedious and time-consuming job—before they
in the past. Specimens are now regularly scanned using are ready for analysis. From the shapes of the artifacts
computed tomography (CT scans) to analyze structural as well as from the traces of manufacture and wear, ar-
details of the bone. Imprints or endocasts of the insides chaeologists can usually determine their function. For
of skulls are taken to determine the size and shape of an- example, the Russian archaeologist S. A. Semenov de-
cient brains. voted many years to the study of prehistoric technology.
The genetics revolution has carried over even to an- In the case of a fl int tool used as a scraper, he was able
cient human remains. Anthropologists extract genetic to determine, by examining the wear patterns of the
material from skeletal remains in order to perform DNA tool under a microscope, that the prehistoric individuals
comparisons between the specimen, other fossils, and who used it began to scrape from right to left and then
living people. Small fragments of DNA are amplified scraped from left to right, and in so doing avoided strain-
or copied repeatedly using polymerase chain reaction ing the muscles of the hand.3 From the work of Semenov
(PCR) technology to provide a sufficient amount of ma- and others, we now know that right-handed individuals
made most stone tools preserved in the archaeological
endocast A cast of the inside of a skull; helps determine the size record, a fact that has implications for brain structure.
and shape of the brain. The relationships among populations can also be traced
polymerase chain reaction (PCR) A technique for amplifying through material remains (Figure 4.3).
or creating multiple copies of fragments of DNA so that it can be Bioarchaeology, which seeks to understand past
studied in the laboratory. cultures through analysis of skeletal remains, is a grow-
bioarchaeology The archaeological study of human remains
emphasizing the preservation of cultural and social processes in
the skeleton. 3Semenov, S. A. (1964). Prehistoric technology. New York: Barnes &
Noble.
 Searching for Artifacts and Fossils 95

skull (cranium)

maxilla
mandible
clavicle

scapula
sternum
humerus
S-twist ( \ ) Z-twist ( / )
ribs

Figure 4.3 radius vertebrae

In northern New England, prehistoric pottery was often decorated by ulna
impressing the damp clay with a cord-wrapped stick. Examination of pelvis
cord impressions reveals that coastal people twisted fibers used to sacrum
carpals
make cordage to the left (Z-twist), while those living inland did the op- metacarpals
posite (S-twist). The nonfunctional differences reflect motor habits so
deeply ingrained as to seem completely natural to the cordage makers. phalanges
From this, we may infer two distinctively different populations. femur

patella
ing area within anthropology. It combines the biological
anthropologists’ expertise in skeletal biology with the ar- fibula
chaeological reconstruction of human cultures. Analysis tibia
of human skeletal material provides important insights
tarsals
into ancient peoples’ diets, gender roles, social status,
metatarsals
and patterns of activity. For example, analysis of human
skeletons showed that elite members of society had ac- phalanges
cess to better diets than lower-ranking members of soci-
ety, allowing them to reach their full growth potential.4 Figure 4.4
Gender roles in a given society can be assessed
The complete male and female skeletons differ on average in some
through skeletons as well. In fully preserved adult skel- consistent ways that allow skeletal biologists to identify the sex of
the deceased individual. In addition to noting some of these features
4Haviland W. (1967). Stature at Tikal, Guatemala: Implications for labeled above, learning the basic skeleton will be useful in the chapters
ancient Maya, demography, and social organization. American An- ahead as we trace the history of human evolution.
tiquity 32, 316–325.

Skulls from peoples of the Tiwanaku

empire, who tightly bound the skulls
of their children. The shape of the
skull distinguished people from vari-
ous parts of the empire.
© Kenneth Garrett/National Geographic Image Collection
96 Chapter Four/Field Methods in Archaeology and Paleoanthropology

Biocultural
Connection Kennewick Man
The “Ancient One,” or “Kennewick Man,” Ancient One. Viewing these human bones these bones are researched and analyzed.
both refer to the 9,300-year-old skeletal as belonging to an ancestor, they wish to Their legal challenge is not based on “cul-
remains that were found in 1996 below return them to the earth in a respectful tural affiliation,” which is a very difficult
the surface of Lake Wallula, part of the ceremony. concept when it concerns such ancient
Columbia River, in Kennewick, Washing- This claim was challenged in federal human remains, but focuses on the fact
ton State. This discovery has been the court by a group of scientists, includ- that the region’s Native peoples cannot
center of continuing controversy since ing some archaeologists and biological prove they are direct lineal descendants.
it was made. Who owns these human anthropologists. They view these human Unless such ties have been objectively
remains? Who can determine what shall remains, among the oldest ever discov- established, they argue, Kennewick
be done with them? Do the biological ered in the western hemisphere, as scien- Man should be released for scientific
characteristics preserved in these remains tifically precious, with potential to shed study.
play a role in determining their fate? light on the earliest population move- In 2004 federal court rulings permit-
This particular conflict involves three ments in the Americas. The scientists do ted initial scientific investigations. Just
major parties. Because the skeleton not want to “own” the remains but want as these investigations were wrapping
was found on a location for which the the opportunity to study them. By means up in July 2005, the Senate Indian Af-
United States Army Corps of Engineers is of DNA analysis, for instance, these fairs Committee heard testimony on
responsible, this federal agency first took scientists expect to determine possible a proposal by Arizona Senator John
possession of the remains. Appealing to prehistoric linkages between this indi- McCain to expand the Native American
a new federal law, the Native American vidual and ancient human remains found Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
Graves Protection and Repatriation Act elsewhere, including Asia. Moreover, so that remains such as these would be
of 1990, a nearby American Indian group scientific analysis may determine whether once again prohibited from study. Doug
named the Confederated Tribes of the there actually exists any biological Owsley, the forensic anthropologist from
Umatilla Indian Reservation (represent- connection between these remains and the Smithsonian Institution leading the
ing the region’s Umatilla, Cayuse, and currently living Native peoples, includ- research team, has said that scientific
Walla Walla nations) claimed the remains. ing individuals residing on the Umatilla investigation is yielding even more infor-
Because Kennewick Man was found Indian Reservation. mation than expected. Because conflict-
within their ancestral homeland, they Fearing the loss of a unique scientific ing worldviews are at the center of this
argue that they are “culturally affiliated” specimen, they have filed a lawsuit in controversy, it is unlikely that it will be
with the individual they refer to as the federal court to prevent reburial before easily resolved.

etons, the sex of the deceased individual can be assessed representatives of Native American communities to
with a high accuracy, allowing for comparisons of male work out procedures agreeable to both parties. By con-
and female life expectancy, mortality, and health status. trast, scientists and American Indians sometimes have
These analyses can help establish the social roles of men been unable to move beyond their confl icting views as
and women in past societies. seen with “Kennewick Man,” the 9,300-year-old skeleton
Recently, skeletal analyses have become more diffi- that was dislodged by the Columbia River in Washing-
cult to carry out, especially in the United States, where ton State in 1996. This chapter’s Biocultural Connection
Native American communities now often request the focuses on how this controversy has been playing out in
return of skeletons from archaeological excavations for the federal courts.
reburial as required by federal law. Anthropologists fi nd
themselves in a quandary over this requirement. As sci-
entists, anthropologists know the importance of the in-
Dating the Past
formation that can be gleaned from studies of human With accurate and detailed records of their excavations
skeletons, but as scholars subject to ethical principles, in hand, archaeologists and paleoanthropologists are
they are bound to respect the feelings of those who vest able to deal with a crucial research issue: the question
the skeletons with cultural and spiritual significance. of age. As we have seen, analysis of physical and cultural
New techniques, such as 3D digital images of Native remains is dependent on knowledge about the age of
American skeletons, help to resolve this confl ict as they the artifacts or specimens. How, then, are the materials
allow for both rapid repatriation and continued study of retrieved from excavations reliably dated? Calculating
skeletal remains. This chapter’s Original Study provides the age of physical and cultural remains is an essential
an excellent example of archaeologists consulting with aspect of interpreting the past. Because archaeologists
 Searching for Artifacts and Fossils 97

and paleoanthropologists deal so often with peoples and

events in times far removed from our own, the calendar
of historic times is of little use to them.
Remains can be dated by noting their position in the
earth, by measuring the amount of chemicals contained
in fossil bones, or through association with other plant,
animal, or cultural remains. These are known as relative
dating techniques because they do not establish precise
dates for remains but rather the relationship among a se-
ries of remains. Absolute dating or chronometric dat-
ing (from the Latin for “measuring time”) methods pro-
vide actual dates calculated in years “before the present”
(bp). These methods rely upon advances in the disciplines
of chemistry and physics that use properties such as rates
of decay of radioactive elements. These elements may be
present in the remains themselves or in the surrounding
soil. Absolute dating methods scientifically establish ac-
tual dates for the major events of geological and evolu-
tionary history. By comparing dates and remains across
a variety of sites, anthropologists can reconstruct human
origins, migrations, and technological developments.
Many relative and chronometric techniques are © University of Pennsylvania Museum
available. However, most of these techniques are ap-
plicable only for certain time spans and in certain envi-
ronmental contexts. Bear in mind that each of the chro-
nometric dating techniques also has a margin of error.
Ideally, archaeologists and paleoanthropologists try to
utilize as many methods as are appropriate, given the
materials available and the funds at their disposal. By do-
ing so, they significantly reduce the risk of error. Several Some ancient societies devised precise ways of recording dates that
of the most frequently employed dating techniques are archaeologists have been able to correlate with our own calendar. Here
presented in Table 4.1. is the tomb of an important ruler, Siyaj Chan K’awil II, at the ancient
Maya city of Tikal. The glyphs painted on the wall give the date of the
burial in the Maya calendar, which is the same as March 18, AD 457, in
Methods of Relative Dating the Gregorian calendar.
Of the many relative dating techniques available, stratig-
raphy is probably the most reliable. Stratigraphy is based
on the simple principle that the oldest layer, or stratum, rine test is useful in dating bones that cannot be ascribed
was deposited fi rst (it is the deepest) whereas the newest with certainty to any particular stratum. A shortcoming
layer was deposited last (in undisturbed situations, it lies of this method is that the amount of naturally occurring
at the top). Similarly, archaeological evidence is usually fluorine is not constant, but varies from region to region
deposited in chronological order. The lowest stratum making cross-site comparisons of fluorine values invalid.
contains the oldest artifacts and/or fossils, whereas the This method was vital for uncovering the infamous Pilt-
uppermost stratum contains the most recent ones. Thus,
even in the absence of precise dates, one knows the rela-
relative dating In archaeology and paleoanthropology, desig-
tive age of objects in one stratum compared with the
nating an event, object, or fossil as being older or younger than
ages of those in other strata. Defi ning the stratigraphy another.
of a given site can be complicated by geological activi- absolute or chronometric dating In archaeology and paleo-
ties such as earthquakes that shift the position of strati- anthropology, dates for recovered material based on solar years,
graphic layers. centuries, or other units of absolute time.
Another method of relative dating is the fluorine stratigraphy In archaeology and paleoanthropology, the most
method. It is based on the fact that the amount of fluorine reliable method of relative dating by means of strata.
fluorine dating In archaeology or paleoanthropology, a tech-
deposited in bones is proportional to the amount of time
nique for relative dating based on the fact that the amount of
they have been in the earth. The oldest bones contain fluorine in bones is proportional to their age.
the greatest amount of fluorine and vice versa. The fluo-
98 Chapter Four/Field Methods in Archaeology and Paleoanthropology

TABLE 4.1 ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE DATING METHODS USED BY ARCHAEOLOGISTS AND PALEOANTHROPOLOGISTS

Dating Method Time Period Method’s Process Drawbacks

Stratigraphy Relative only Based on the law of superposition, which Site specific; natural forces, such as
states that lower layers or strata are older earthquakes, and human activity, such as
than higher layers. burials, disturb stratigraphic relationships.

Fluorine analysis Relative only Compares the amount of fluorine from Site specific.
surrounding soil absorbed by specimens
after deposition.

Faunal and floral Relative only Sequencing remains into relative chrono- Dependent upon known relationships
series logical order based on an evolutionary established elsewhere.
sequence established in another region
with reliable absolute dates. Called paly-
nology when done with pollen grains.

Seriation Relative only Sequencing cultural remains into relative Dependent upon known relationships
chronological order based on stylistic established elsewhere.
features.

Dendrochronology About 3,000 years Compares tree growth rings preserved in Requires ancient trees of known age.
BP maximum a site with a tree of known age.

Radiocarbon Accurate Compares the ratio of radioactive 14C Increasingly inaccurate when assessing
⬍ 50,000 BP (with a half-life of 5,730 years) to stable remains from greater than 50,000 years
12
C in organic material. ago.

Potassium argon ⬎ 200,000 BP Compares the amount of radioactive po- Requires volcanic ash; requires cross-
(K-Ar) tassium (40K with a half-life of 1.3 billion checking due to contamination from
years) to stable argon (40Ar). atmospheric argon.

Amino acid 40,000– Compares the change in the number of Amino acids leached out from soil vari-
racemization 180,000 BP proteins in a right- vs. left-sided three- ably cause error.
dimensional structure.

Thermoluminescence Possibly up to Measures the amount of light given off Technique developed for recent materials
200,000 BP due to radioactivity when sample heated such as Greek pottery; not clear how ac-
to high temperatures. curate the dates will be for older remains.

Electron spin Possibly up to Measures the resonance of trapped Works with tooth enamel—not yet devel-
resonance 200,000 BP electrons in a magnetic field. oped for bone; problems with accuracy.

Fission track Wide range of Measures the tracks left in crystals by Useful for dating crystals only.
times uranium as it decays; good cross-check
for K-Ar technique.

Paleomagnetic Wide range of Measures orientation of magnetic par- Large periods of normal or reversed
reversals times ticles in stones and links them to whether magnetic orientation require dating by
magnetic field of earth pulled toward the some other method; some smaller events
north or south during their formation. known to interrupt the sequence.

Uranium series 40,000–180,000 Measures the amount of uranium decay- Large error range.
ing in cave sites.

down hoax in which a human skull and orangutan jaw Relative dating can also be done by establishing se-
were placed together in the earth as false evidence for an quences of plant, animal, or even cultural remains. For
early human ancestor in England (see Chapter 6). these methods, the order of appearance of a succession
(or series) of plants, animals, or artifacts provides relative
dates for a site based on a series established in another
seriation A technique for relative dating by putting groups of
objects into a sequence in relation to one another.
area. An example of seriation based on cultural artifacts
is the Stone–Bronze–Iron Age series established by pre-
 Searching for Artifacts and Fossils 99

historians (see Chapter 11). Within a given region, sites Though scientists can measure the amount of ra-
containing artifacts made of iron are generally more dioactive carbon left in even a few milligrams of a given
recent than sites containing only stone tools. In well- organic substance of a recent specimen, as we get into
investigated culture areas, series have even been devel- the more distant past, the amounts of carbon 14 pres-
oped for particular styles of pottery. ent become so small that it becomes difficult to detect
Similar inferences are made with animal or faunal it accurately. The radiocarbon method can adequately
series. For example, very early North American Indian date organic materials up to about 50,000 years old, but
sites have yielded the remains of mastodons and mam- dates for older material are far less reliable. Of course,
moths—animals now extinct—and on this basis the sites one has to be sure that the organic remains were truly
can be dated to a time before these animals died out, contemporaneous with the archaeological materials. For
roughly 10,000 years ago. For dating some of the earli- example, charcoal found on a site may have gotten there
est African fossils in human evolution, faunal series have from a recent forest fi re rather than more ancient activ-
been developed in regions where accurate chronometric ity; or wood used to make something by the people who
dates can be established. These series can then be used lived at a site may have been retrieved from some older
to establish relative sequences in other regions. Similar context.
series have been established for plants, particularly us- Because there is always a certain amount of error in-
ing grains of pollen. This approach has become known volved, radiocarbon dates (like all chronometric dating
as palynology. The kind of pollen found in any geologic methods) are not as absolute as is sometimes thought.
stratum depends on the kind of vegetation that existed This is why any stated date always has a plus-or-minus
at the time that stratum was deposited. A site or local- (⫾) factor attached to it corresponding to one standard
ity can therefore be dated by determining what kind of deviation above and below the mean value. For example,
pollen was found associated with it. In addition, palynol- a date of 5,200 ⫾ 120 years ago means that there is about
ogy also helps to reconstruct environments in which pre- a 2 out of 3 chance (or a 67 percent chance) that the true
historic people lived. date falls somewhere between 5,080 and 5,320 radiocar-
bon years ago. The qualification “radiocarbon years” is
used because radiocarbon years are not precisely equiva-
lent to calendar years.
Methods of Chronometric Dating The discovery that radiocarbon years are not pre-
Chronometric dating methods rely upon advances in the cisely equivalent to calendar years was made possible by
disciplines of chemistry and physics, allowing scientists another method of absolute dating: dendrochronology.
to calculate the ages of physical and cultural remains. Originally devised for dating Pueblo Indian sites in the
Several methods use naturally occurring radioactive ele- North American Southwest, this method is based on the
ments that are present either in the remains themselves fact that in the right kind of climate, trees add one (and
or in the surrounding soil. only one) new growth ring to their trunks every year.
One of the most widely used methods of absolute The rings vary in thickness, depending upon the amount
dating is radiocarbon dating. This method uses the fact of rainfall received in a year, so that climatic fluctuation
that while they are alive, all organisms absorb radioac- is registered in the growth ring. By taking a sample of
tive carbon (known as carbon 14 or 14C) as well as or- wood, such as a beam from a Pueblo Indian house, and
dinary carbon 12 (12C) in proportions identical to those by comparing its pattern of rings with those in the trunk
found in the atmosphere. Absorption of 14C ceases at the of a tree of known age, archaeologists can date the ar-
time of death, and the ratio between the two forms of chaeological material.
carbon begins to change as the unstable radioactive el- Dendrochronology is applicable only to wooden
ement 14C begins to “decay.” Each radioactive element objects. Furthermore, it can be used only in regions in
decays, or transforms into a stable nonradioactive form, which trees of great age, such as the giant sequoias and
at a specific rate. The amount of time it takes for one-half the bristlecone pine, are known to grow. Radiocarbon
of the material originally present to decay is expressed as
the “half-life.” In the case of 14C, it takes 5,730 years for palynology In archaeology and paleoanthropology, a method of
half of the amount of 14C present to decay to stable nitro- relative dating based on changes in fossil pollen over time.
gen 14. In another 5,730 years (11,460 years total), half of radiocarbon dating In archaeology and paleoanthropology,
the remaining amount will also decay to nitrogen 14 so a technique for chronometric dating based on measuring the
that only one-quarter of the original amount of 14C will amount of radioactive carbon (14C ) left in organic materials found
be present. Thus the age of an organic substance such as in archaeological sites.
dendrochronology In archaeology, a method of chronometric
charcoal, wood, shell, or bone can be measured through
dating based on the number of rings of growth found in a tree
determining the changing proportion of 14C relative to trunk.
the amount of stable 12C.
100 Chapter Four/Field Methods in Archaeology and Paleoanthropology

dating of wood from bristlecone pines dated by dendro- Electron spin resonance, which measures the
chronology allows scientists to correct carbon 14 dates number of trapped electrons in bone, and thermo-
so as to bring them into agreement with calendar dates. luminescence, which measures the amount of light emit-
Potassium-argon dating, another commonly used ted from a specimen when heated to high temperatures,
method of absolute dating, is based on a technique simi- are two additional methods that have been developed to
lar to that of radiocarbon analysis. Following intense fi ll in prehistorical time gaps. Dates derived from these
heating, as from a volcanic eruption, radioactive potas- two methods changed the interpretation of key sites in
sium decays at a known rate to form argon—any previ- present-day Israel vital for reconstructing human origins
ously existing argon having been released by the heating (see Chapter 8).
of the molten lava. The half-life of radioactive potassium A few other chronometric techniques rely on the
is 1.3 billion years. Deposits that are millions of years old element uranium. Fission track dating, for example,
can now be dated by measuring the ratio of potassium to counts radiation damage tracks on mineral crystals. Like
argon in a given rock. amino acid racemization, all these methods have prob-
Volcanic debris at various localities in East Africa lems: They are complicated and tend to be expensive;
is routinely dated by potassium-argon analysis, indicat- many can be carried out only on specific kinds of ma-
ing when the volcanic eruption occurred. If fossils or terials, and some are so new that their reliability is not
artifacts are found sandwiched between layers of vol- yet unequivocally established. It is for these reasons that
canic ash, as they are at Olduvai and other sites in East
Africa, they can be dated with some precision. As with
radiocarbon dates, there are limits to that precision, and
potassium-argon dates are always stated with a plus-
or-minus margin of error attached. The precision of Magnetic
polarity
this method is limited to time periods older than about of lava Magnetic–
200,000 years ago. reversal Millions
Though these radiocarbon and potassium-argon time scale of years ago
methods are extremely valuable, neither technique 0.0

works well during the time period dating from about Brunhes
50,000 years ago to about 200,000 years ago. Because normal
epoch 0.5
this same time period happens to be very important in
human evolutionary history, scientists have developed a
number of other important methods to obtain accurate
dates during this critical period. 1.0
One such method, amino acid racemization, is based
on the fact that amino acids trapped in organic materi- Events
als gradually change, or racemize, after death, from 1.5
left-handed forms to right-handed forms. Thus, the ratio
of left- to right-handed forms should indicate the speci-
Matuyama
men’s age. Unfortunately, in substances like bone, mois- reversal 2.0
ture and acids in the soil can leach out the amino acids, epoch
thereby introducing a serious source of error. However,
ostrich eggshells have proved immune to this problem,
2.5
the amino acids being so effectively locked up in a tight
mineral matrix that they are preserved for thousands of
Gauss
years. Because ostrich eggs were widely used as food, normal
and the shells as containers in Africa and the Middle East, epoch 3.0
they provide a powerful means of dating sites of the later
parts of the Old Stone Age (Paleolithic), between 40,000
and 180,000 years ago. 3.5

potassium-argon dating In archaeology and paleoanthropol- Figure 4.5

ogy, a technique for chronometric dating that measures the ratio Scientists have documented a geomagnetic polarity time scale in
of radioactive potassium to argon in volcanic debris associated which the changes in the earth’s magnetic force—to north or south—
with human remains. have been calibrated. This geomagnetic time scale provides opportuni-
ties to cross-check other dating methods.
 Suggested Readings 101

they have not been as widely used as radiocarbon and

potassium-argon dating techniques.
CHANCE AND THE
Paleomagnetic reversals contribute another inter- STUDY OF THE PAST
esting dimension to absolute dating methodologies by The archaeological and fossil records are imperfect.
providing a method to cross-check dates. This method Chance circumstances of preservation have determined
is based on the shifting magnetic pole of the earth—the what has and what has not survived the ravages of time.
same force that controls the orientation of a compass nee- Thus, the biology and culture of our ancestors are re-
dle. Today, a compass points to the north because we are constructed on the basis of incomplete and, possibly, un-
in a period defi ned as the geomagnetic “normal.” Over representative samples of physical and cultural remains.
the past several million years, there have been extended The problems are further compounded by the role that
periods of time during which the magnetic field of the chance continues to play in the discovery of prehistoric
earth pulled toward the South Pole. Geologists call these remains. Remains may come to light due to factors rang-
periods “geomagnetic reversals.” Iron particles in stones ing from changing sea level, vegetation, or even a local
will be oriented into positions determined by the domi- government’s decision to build a highway.
nant magnetic pole at the time of their formation, allow- In addition, past cultural processes have also shaped
ing scientists to derive broad ranges of dates for them. the archaeological and fossil record. We know more
Human evolutionary history contains a geomagnetic about the past due to the cultural practice of deliberate
reversal starting 5.2 million years ago that ended 3.4 mil- burial. We know more about the elite segments of past
lion years ago, followed by a normal period until 2.6 mil- societies because they have left more material culture
lion years ago; then a second reversal began, lasting until behind. However, as archaeologists have shifted their fo-
about 700,000 years ago when the present normal period cus from gathering treasures to the reconstruction of hu-
began. This paleomagnetic sequence can be used to date man behavior, they have gained a more complete picture
sites to either normal or reversed periods and can be cor- of past societies. Similarly, paleoanthropologists no lon-
related with a variety of other dating methods to cross- ger simply catalog fossils; they interpret data about our
check their accuracy. ancestors in order to reconstruct the biological processes
Establishment of dates for human physical and cul- responsible for who we are today. The challenge of re-
tural remains is a vital part of understanding our past. constructing our past will be met by a continual process
For example, as paleoanthropologists reconstruct hu- of re-examination and modification as anthropologists
man evolutionary history and the movement of the ge- discover new evidence in the earth, among living peo-
nus Homo out of Africa, dates determine the story told ple, and in the laboratory leading to new understanding
by the bones. In the next chapters we will see that many of human origins.
of the theories about human origins are dependent upon
dates. Similarly, as archaeologists dig up material cul-
ture, interpretations of the movement and interactions
of past peoples depend on dating methods to provide a
sequence to the cultural remains.

Questions for Reflection 4. Why is dating so important for paleoanthropologists and

archaeologists? Would an interpretation of physical or cul-
1. How would you answer the challenge of deciding who owns tural remains change depending upon the date assigned to the
the past? Have there been any examples of contested owner- remains?
ship in your community? 5. How have random events as well as deliberate cultural prac-
2. The cultural practice of burial of the dead altered the fos- tices shaped both the fossil and archaeological records? Why
sil record and provided valuable insight into the beliefs and do we know more about some places and peoples than others?
practices of past cultures. The same is true today. What beliefs
are reflected in the traditions for treatment of the dead in your
culture? Suggested Readings
3. Controversy has surrounded Kennewick Man since this
skeleton eroded from the banks of the Columbia River in Fagan, B. M., Beck, C., & Silberman, N. A. (1998). The Oxford
Washington in 1996. Scientists and Native American people companion to archaeology. New York: Oxford University Press.
both feel they have a right to these remains. What kinds of This encyclopedia of archaeology and prehistory contains 700
evidence support these differing perspectives? How should entries written in an engaging style by over 300 experts in
this controversy be resolved? the field. Topics range from fossils to historical sites convey-
102 Chapter Four/Field Methods in Archaeology and Paleoanthropology

ing the field’s critical transition from an amateur to a scientific Thomas, D. H. (1998). Archaeology (3rd ed.). Fort Worth, TX:
discipline. Harcourt Brace.
Some books tell us how to do archaeology, some tell us what
Feder, K. L. (1999). Frauds, myths, and mysteries (3rd ed.). archaeologists have found out, but this one tells us why we
Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. do archaeology. It does so in a coherent and thorough way,
and Thomas’ blend of ideas, quotations, biographies, and case
This very readable book enlightens readers about the many
studies makes for interesting reading.
pseudo-scientific and even crackpot theories about past cul-
tures that all too often have been presented to the public as
“solid” archaeology.
Thomson Audio Study Products
Joukowsky, M. (1980). A complete field manual of archaeology:
Tools and techniques of fieldwork for archaeologists. Englewood Enjoy the MP3-ready Audio Lecture Overviews for
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. each chapter and a comprehensive audio glossary of
key terms for quick study and review. Whether walk-
This book, encyclopedic in its coverage, explains for the nov-
ing to class, doing laundry, or studying at your desk, you now
ice and professional alike all of the methods and techniques
have the freedom to choose when, where, and how you inter-
used by archaeologists in the field.
act with your audio-based educational media. See the preface
for information on how to access this on-the-go study and re-
Sharer, R. J., & Ashmore, W. (2002). Archaeology: Discovering view tool.
our past (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
One of the best presentations of the body of method, tech-
nique, and theory that most archaeologists accept as funda-
mental to their discipline. The authors confi ne themselves The Anthropology Resource Center
to the operational modes, guiding strategies, and theoretical www.thomsonedu.com/anthropology
orientations of anthropological archaeology in a manner well The Anthropology Resource Center provides extended learn-
designed to lead the beginner into the discipline. ing materials to reinforce your understanding of key concepts
in the four subfields of anthropology. For each of the four sub-
Shipman, P. (1981). Life history of a fossil: An introduction to disciplines, the Resource Center includes dynamic exercises
taphonomy and paleoecology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univer- including video exercises, map exercises, simulations, and
sity Press. “Meet the Scientists” interviews, as well as critical thinking
In order to understand what a fossil has to tell us, one must questions that can be assigned and e-mailed to instructors.
know how it came to be where the paleoanthropologist found The Resource Center also provides breaking news in anthro-
it (taphonomy). In this book, anthropologist-turned-science pology and interesting material on applied anthropology to
writer Pat Shipman explains how animal remains are acted help you link what you are learning to the world around you.
upon and altered from death to fossilization.
This page intentionally left blank
5 Macroevolution
and the Early Primates
CHALLENGE ISSUE
In the centuries to come,
humans will face increasing
challenges in maintaining an
ecosystem on earth that can
sustain diverse species. The
principles of macroevolution
and the evolutionary history
of the primate order provide
a foundation for understand-
ing future changes such as
the impact of the formation
of new species and the ex-
tinction of others. Paleoan-
thropologists use fossil, mo-
lecular, and geologic data to
reconstruct the biology and
behavior of extinct groups.
This model of a member of
the extinct ape genus Gi-
gantopithecus, for example,
is based on evidence from
jaw bones and teeth found
in China combined with the
anatomy of living species
such as the gorilla. The teeth
indicate that a vegetarian
ape larger than the gorilla
lived in East Asia at about
the same time that members
of the genus Homo began to
inhabit the region. The model
was created by Hollywood
monster maker Bill Munn
and anthropologist Russell
Ciochon (pictured).

© Russell L. Ciochon
 CHAPTER PREVIEW

What Is Macroevolution? When and Where Did When Did the First
While microevolution refers to the First Primates Monkeys and Apes
changes in the allele frequencies of Appear, and What Appear, and What
populations, macroevolution focuses
Were They Like? Were They Like?
upon the formation of new species
Fossil evidence indicates that the By the late Eocene epoch, about
(speciation) and on the evolution-
earliest primates began to develop 40 million years ago, diurnal anthro-
ary relationships among groups of
around 65 million years ago, when poid primates appeared. Many of the
species. Speciation may proceed
the mass extinction of the dinosaurs Old World anthropoid species be-
in a branching manner, as when
opened new ecological opportuni- came ground dwellers. By the Mio-
reproductive isolation of popula-
ties for mammals. By 55 million cene epoch (beginning 23.5 million
tions prevents gene flow between
years ago, primates inhabited North years ago), apes were widespread
them, leading to the formation of
America and Eurasia, which at that in Asia, Africa, and Europe. While
separate species. Alternatively, in
time were joined together as the su- some of these hominoids were rela-
the absence of isolation, a species
percontinent Laurasia and separated tively small, others were even larger
may evolve without branching in
from Africa. The earliest primates than present-day gorillas. Sometime
response to environmental changes.
were small nocturnal insect eaters between 5 and 8 million years ago,
The accumulation of small changes
adapted to life in the trees. a branch of the African hominoid
from generation to generation may
line became bipedal, beginning the
transform an ancestral species into a
evolutionary line that later produced
new one.
humans.

105
106 Chapter Five/Macroevolution and the Early Primates

T oday, humans are the only primate to have a

global distribution. We inhabit every continent,
including areas as inhospitable as the icy Antarctic or
the scorching Sahara Desert. This extended geographic
The study of these ancestral primates gives us a better
understanding of the physical forces that caused these
early creatures to evolve into today’s primates. It gives
us a fuller knowledge of the processes through which
an insect-eating, small-brained mammal evolved into a
range reflects the adaptability of Homo sapiens. By com- toolmaker, a thinker, a human being.
parison, our relatives in the hominoid superfamily live in
very circumscribed areas of the Old World tropical rain-
forest. Chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas can be found
only in portions of Central and West Africa. Orangutans
MACROEVOLUTION AND
are limited to the treetops on the Southeast Asian islands THE PROCESS OF SPECIATION
of Sumatra and Borneo. Gibbons and siamangs swing While microevolution refers to changes in the allele fre-
through the branches of a variety of Southeast Asian quencies of populations, macroevolution focuses upon
forests. the formation of new species (speciation) and on the
Such comparisons between humans and the other evolutionary relationships among groups of species. To
primates feel natural to biologists and anthropologists understand how the primates evolved, we must fi rst look
today, because they accept that modern humans, apes, at how the evolutionary forces discussed in Chapter 2
and monkeys are descended from the same prehistoric led to macroevolutionary change. As noted in that chap-
ancestors. However, al- ter, the term species is usually defi ned as a population
THOMSON AUDIO most a century and a half or group of populations that is capable of interbreeding
STUDY PRODUCTS ago, when Charles Darwin and producing fertile, viable offspring. In other words,
Take advantage of published Origin of Species species are reproductively isolated. This defi nition, how-
the MP3-ready Audio Lecture (1859), this notion was so ever, is not altogether satisfactory, because in nature iso-
Overviews and comprehensive controversial that Darwin lated populations may be in the process of evolving into
audio glossary of key terms limited himself to a single different species, and it is hard to tell exactly when they
for each chapter. See the sentence on the subject. become biologically distinct without conducting breed-
preface for information on Today, anthropologists, as ing experiments. Furthermore, this defi nition can only
how to access this on-the-go well as the global scientific
be tested among living groups.
study and review tool. community in general, ac- Certain factors, known as isolating mechanisms,
cept that human origins can separate breeding populations and lead to the ap-
are revealed in the evolutionary history of the primates. pearance of new species. Because isolation prevents gene
We now know that much of who we are, as culture- flow, changes that affect the gene pool of one population
bearing biological organisms, derives from our mamma- cannot be introduced into the gene pool of the other.
lian primate heritage. Random mutation may introduce new alleles in one of
Although many of the primates discussed in this the isolated populations but not in the other. Genetic drift
chapter no longer exist, their descendants (discussed in and natural selection may affect the two populations in
Chapter 3), now live in South and Central America, Af- different ways. Over time, as the two populations come
rica, Asia, and Gibraltar at the southern tip of Spain. The to differ from each other, speciation occurs in a branch-
successful adaptation of the primates largely reflects their ing fashion known as cladogenesis (Figure 5.1) (from the
intelligence, a characteristic that provides for behavioral Greek klados meaning “branch” or “shoot”).
flexibility. Other physical traits, such as stereoscopic vi- Some isolating mechanisms are geographical—pre-
sion and a grasping hand, have also been instrumental in venting contact, hence gene flow, between members of
the success of the primates. separated populations. Biological aspects of organisms
Why do paleoanthropologists attempt to recreate can also serve as isolating mechanisms. For example,
primate evolutionary history from ancient evidence? early miscarriage of the hybrid offspring or sterility of
the hybrid offspring, as in the case of closely related spe-
macroevolution Evolution above the species level. cies such as horses and donkeys (producing sterile mules),
speciation The process of forming new species. serve as mechanisms to keep populations reproductively
isolating mechanism A factor that separates breeding popula- isolated from one another.
tions, thereby preventing gene flow, creating divergent subspecies, Isolating mechanisms may also be social rather than
and ultimately (if maintained) divergent species. physical. Speciation due to this mechanism is particu-
cladogenesis Speciation through a branching mechanism
larly common among birds. For example, cuckoos (birds
whereby an ancestral population gives rise to two or more descen-
dant populations. that do not build nests of their own but lay their eggs in
other birds’ nests) attract mates by mimicking the song
 Macroevolution and the Process of Speciation 107

VISUAL COUNTERPOINT
© David Bygott/Kybuyu Partners

© Donna Day/Corbis
Regulatory genes turn other genes on and off, and a mere change in their timing can cause significant
evolutionary change. This may have a played a role in differentiating chimps and humans; for example,
adult humans retain the flat facial profile of juvenile chimps.

Species Species Species

B A or C B

Time Species Species

A A

cladogenesis anagenesis

Figure 5.1
Cladogenesis occurs as different populations of an ancestral species
become reproductively isolated. Through drift and differential selec-
tion, the number of descendant species increases. By contrast, anagen-
© David Scharf/Photo Researchers, Inc.

esis can occur through a process of variational change that takes place
as small differences in traits that (by chance) are advantageous in a
particular environment accumulate in a species’ gene pool. Over time,
this may produce sufficient change to transform an old species into a
new one. Genetic drift may also account for anagenesis.

of the bird species in whose nests they place their eggs.

Thus, cuckoos that are physically capable of mating may Sometimes mutations in a single gene can cause reorganization of an
be isolated due to differences in courtship song behavior, organism’s body plan. Here the “bithorax” homeobox gene has caused
which effectively isolates them from other cuckoos sing- this fruit fly to have two thoraxes and two sets of wings. Another
homeobox gene “antennepedia” caused legs to develop in the place
ing different tunes. Though social rules about marriage
of antennae on the heads of fruit flies.
might be said to impose reproductive isolation among
108 Chapter Five/Macroevolution and the Early Primates

humans, these social barriers have no biological counter- Genes that regulate the growth and development of
part. For humans, no sufficiently absolute or long-lasting an organism may have a major effect on its adult form.
barriers to gene flow exist. Developmental change in the timing of events, a phe-
Because speciation is a process, it can occur at vari- nomenon known as heterochrony (from Latin for “dif-
ous rates. Speciation through the process of adaptive ferent time”), is often responsible for changes in the
change to the environment as proposed in Darwin’s Ori- shape or size of a body part. A kind of heterochrony
gin of Species is generally considered to occur at a slow called neotony, in which juvenile traits are retained in the
rate. In this model, speciation may occur as organisms adult state, may be responsible for some of the visible dif-
become more adapted to their environments. Some- ferences between humans and chimps. Scientists have
times, however, speciation can occur quite rapidly. For discovered certain key genes called homeobox genes
example, a genetic mutation, such as one involving a key that are responsible for large-scale effects on the growth
regulatory gene, can lead to the formation of a new body and development of the organism. If a new body plan
plan. Such genetic accidents may involve material that is happens to be adaptive, natural selection will maintain
broken off, transposed, or transferred from one chromo- this new form during long periods of time rather than
some to another. promoting change.
Paleontologists Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldred
proposed that speciation occurs in a pattern of punctu-
heterochrony Change in the timing of developmental events ated equilibria—the alternation between periods of
that is often responsible for changes in the shape or size of a rapid speciation and times of stability. Often, this con-
body part. ception of evolutionary change is contrasted with specia-
homeobox gene A gene responsible for large-scale effects on tion through adaptation, sometimes known as Darwinian
growth and development that are frequently responsible for major gradualism. A close look at the genetics and the fossil rec-
reorganization of body plans in organisms. ord indicate that both models of evolutionary change are
punctuated equilibria A model of macroevolutionary change
important. Gould, the champion of the punctuated equi-
that suggests evolution occurs via long periods of stability or stasis
punctuated by periods of rapid change. librium model, describes the importance of the Darwin-
ian approach to change in the following Original Study.

Original Study
By Stephen Jay Gould

The Unsettling Nature of Variational Change

The Darwinian principle of natural selec- an inclined plane does not reach the must be conceived as broadly statisti-
tion yields temporal change—evolution in bottom because selection has favored cal and not guaranteed in every case:
the biological definition—by the two- the differential propagation of moving In any generation, the hairiest elephant
fold process of producing copious and versus stable elements of its totality but of all may fall into a crevasse and die.)
undirected variation within a population because gravity dictates this result when Because offspring inherit their parents’
and then passing along only a biased round balls roll down smooth planes.) degree of hairiness, the next generation
(selected) portion of this variation to To illustrate the peculiar properties will contain a higher proportion of more
the next generation. In this manner, the of variational theories like Darwin’s in an densely clad elephants (who will continue
variation within a population at any mo- obviously caricatured, but not inaccurate, to be favored by natural selection as the
ment can be converted into differences description: Suppose that a population climate becomes still colder). This process
in mean values (average size, average of elephants inhabits Siberia during a of increasing hairiness may continue for
braininess) among successive popula- warm interval before the advance of an many generations, leading to the evolu-
tions through time. For this fundamental ice sheet. The elephants vary, at random, tion of woolly mammoths.
reason, we call such theories of change and in all directions, in their amount of This little fable can help us under-
variational as opposed to the more body hair. As the ice advances and local stand how peculiar and how contrary
conventional, and more direct, models conditions become colder, elephants with to all traditions of Western thought
of transformational change imposed by more hair will tend to cope better, by the and explanation the Darwinian theory
natural laws that mandate a particular sheer good fortune of their superior ad- of evolution, and variational theories
trajectory based on inherent (and there- aptation to changing climates—and they of historical change in general, must
fore predictable) properties of substances will leave more offspring on average. sound to the common ear. All the odd
and environments. (A ball rolling down (This differential reproductive success and fascinating properties of Darwinian
 Macroevolution and the Process of Speciation 109

CONTINUED

evolution—the sensible and explainable point A, then constitute a new genera- people still fail to understand, and may
but quite unpredictable nature of the tion around an average point one step even resist, its truly liberal content.
outcome (dependent upon complex and closer to B, then generate a new cloud of (I must leave the issue of liberation for
contingent changes in local environ- random variation about this new point, another time, but once we recognize that
ments), the nonprogressive character of then select “a few good men” once again the specification of morals and the search
the alteration (adaptive only to these un- from this new array—and then repeat for a meaning to our lives cannot be
predictable local circumstances and not this process over and over until I finally accomplished by scientific study in any
inevitably building a “better” elephant in reach B. case, then Darwin’s variational mecha-
any cosmic or general sense)—flow from When one adds the oddity of varia- nism will no longer seem threatening and
the variational basis of natural selection. tional theories in general to our strong may even become liberating in teaching
Transformational theories work in a cultural and psychological resistance us to look within ourselves for answers to
much simpler and more direct manner. If against their application to our own these questions and to abandon a chime-
I want to go from A to B, I will have so evolutionary origin (as an unpredictable rical search for the purpose of our lives,
much less conceptual (and actual) trouble and not necessary progressive little twig and for the source of our ethical values,
if I can postulate a mechanism that will on life’s luxuriant tree), then we can bet- in the external workings of nature.)
push me there directly than if I must rely ter understand why Darwin’s revolution (By Stephen Jay Gould (2000). What does
upon the selection of “a few good men” surpassed all other scientific discoveries the dreaded “E” word mean anyway? Natu-
from a random cloud of variation about in reformatory power and why so many ral History 109 (1), 34–36.)

Gould also described a fundamental puzzle in the Constructing Evolutionary Relationships

fossil record in his Original Study: The precise moment
when variational change led to the formation of a new In addition to designating species in the fossil record,
species—in this case, the woolly mammoth—remained paleoanthropologists and paleontologists construct evo-
elusive. More recent populations may appear sufficiently lutionary relationships among fossil groups. Scientists
changed from ancestral populations to be called different pay particular attention to features appearing more re-
species. The difficulty arises because, given a reasonably cently in evolutionary history that are unique to a line,
good fossil record, one species will appear to grade into calling these features derived. The counterpart to de-
the other without any clear break. This gradual direc- rived traits are ancestral characteristics, which are pres-
tional change over time can occur within a single line, ent not only in the particular species at hand but in an-
without any evident branching, and is called anagenesis cestral forms as well. For example, bilateral symmetry,
(see Figure 5.1). Speciation is inferred as organisms take a body plan in which the right and left sides of the body
on a different appearance over time. are mirror images of each other, is an ancestral trait in
It may be difficult to determine whether variation humans. Because it is a characteristic of all vertebrates
preserved in the fossil record presents evidence of sepa- including fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals, bilateral
rate species. How can we tell whether two sets of fossil- symmetry does not contribute to the reconstruction of
ized bones represent organisms capable of interbreeding evolutionary relationships among fossil primates. In-
and producing viable fertile offspring? Paleoanthropolo- stead, paleoanthropologists pay particular attention to
gists use as many sources of data as possible, checking the recently evolved derived features in order to construct
proposed evolutionary relationships, in order to approxi- evolutionary relationships among fossil groups. For ex-
mate an answer to this question. Today, paleoanthropol- ample, because changes in bones associated with biped-
ogists use genetic data as well as observations about the alism are present only in the human line, these derived
biology and behavior of living groups to support theories features can be used to separate humans and their ances-
about speciation in the past. Thus, reconstructing evo- tors from other hominoids.
lutionary relationships draws on much more than bones
alone. Fossil fi nds are always interpreted against the anagenesis A sustained directional shift in a population’s aver-
backdrop of scientific discoveries as well as prevailing age characteristics.
beliefs and biases. Fortunately the self-correcting nature derived Characteristics that defi ne a group of organisms that did
not exist in ancestral populations.
of scientific investigation allows evolutionary lines to be
ancestral Characteristics possessed by an organism or group of
redrawn in light of all new discoveries and more compel- organisms due to shared ancestry.
ling explanations.
110 Chapter Five/Macroevolution and the Early Primates

VISUAL COUNTERPOINT
© Wolfgang Kaehler/Corbis

© Pete Saloutos/Corbis
The characteristic long legs of prosimians and humans are not the result of a close evolutionary relation-
ship. This is instead the result of convergence of homologous structures.

Sorting out evolutionary relationships among fos- tion. Humans are bipedal while lemurs use their long
sil species may be complicated by a phenomenon called legs to push off and propel them from tree to tree. Hind-
convergent evolution, in which two more distant forms leg dominance appeared separately in these two groups
develop greater similarities. The classic examples of con- and is not indicative of a close evolutionary relationship.
vergence involve analogies discussed in Chapter 2 such Only shared derived features can be used to establish re-
as the wings of birds and butterfl ies, which resemble lationships among groups of species.
each other because these structures serve similar func-
tions. Convergent evolution occurs when an environ-
ment exerts similar pressures on distantly related or- The Nondirectedness of Macroevolution
ganisms causing these species to resemble each other. Among the lay public, evolution is often seen as leading
Distinguishing the physical similarities produced by con- in a predictable and determined way from one-celled or-
vergent evolution from those resulting from shared an- ganisms, through various multicelled forms, to humans,
cestry may be difficult, complicating the reconstruction who occupy the top rung of a ladder of progress. How-
of the evolutionary history of any given species. ever, even though one-celled organisms appeared long
Among more closely related groups, convergence of before multicellular forms, single-celled organisms were
homologous structures can occur as when an identical not replaced by multicellular descendants. Single-celled
structure present within several distinct species takes organisms exist in greater numbers and diversity than
on a similar form in distantly related groups. Among the all forms of multicellular life and live in a greater variety
primates, an example is hind-leg dominance in both le- of habitats.1
murs and humans. In most primates, the hind limbs are As for humans, we are indeed recent arrivals in
either shorter or of the same length as the forelimbs. Le- the world (though not as recent as some new strains of
murs and humans are not as closely related to each other bacteria). Our appearance—like that of any kind of or-
as are humans and chimps for example, but both have ganism—was made possible only as a consequence of a
longer hind limbs related to their patterns of locomo- whole string of accidental happenings in the past. To cite
but one example, about 65 million years ago the earth’s
convergent evolution In biological evolution a process by
which unrelated populations develop similarities to one another
due to similar function rather than shared ancestry. 1Gould, S. J. (1996). Full house: The spread of excellence from Plato to
Darwin (pp. 176–195). New York: Harmony Books.
 Early Mammals 111

climate changed drastically. Evidence suggests that a me- organisms appear approximately 9 months later around
teor or some other sort of extraterrestrial body slammed September 25, followed by the earliest vertebrates around
into earth where the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico now December 20, mammals on December 25, primates on
exists, cooling global temperatures to such an extent as December 29, hominoids at 12:30 pm on New Year’s Eve,
to cause the extinction of the dinosaurs (and numerous bipeds at 9:30 pm, with our species appearing in the last
other species as well). For 100 million years, dinosaurs minutes before midnight. In this chapter, we will con-
dominated most terrestrial environments available for sider human evolutionary history beginning with the ap-
vertebrate animals and would probably have continued pearance of the mammals in the Mesozoic era, roughly
to do so were it not for this event. Although mammals 245 million years ago.
appeared at about the same time as reptiles, they ex- Over such vast amounts of time, the earth itself has
isted as small, inconspicuous creatures that an observer changed considerably. During the past 200 million years,
from outer space would probably have dismissed as the position of the continents has changed through a
insignificant. process called continental drift that accounts for the re-
But with the demise of the dinosaurs, all sorts of op- arrangement of adjacent land masses through the theory
portunities became available allowing mammals to be- of plate tectonics. According to this theory, the con-
gin their great expansion into a variety of species includ- tinents, embedded in platelike segments of the earth,
ing our own ancestors, the earliest primates. Therefore, move their positions as the edges of the underlying plates
an essentially random event—the collision with a comet are created or destroyed (Figure 5.2). Plate movements
or asteroid—made our own existence possible. Had it not are also responsible for geological phenomena such as
happened, or had it happened at some other time (before earthquakes, volcanic activity, and mountain formation.
the existence of mammals), we would not be here.2 Continental drift is important for understanding the
The history of any species is an outcome of many distribution of fossil primate groups whose history we
such occurrences. At any point in the chain of events, will now explore. The shifting orientation of the earth’s
had any one element been different, the fi nal result continents is also responsible for climatic changes in the
would be markedly different. As Gould puts it, “All evo- environment that affected the course of primate evolu-
lutionary sequences include . . . a fortuitous series of ac- tionary history.
cidents with respect to future evolutionary success. Hu-
man brains and bodies did not evolve along a direct and
inevitable ladder, but by a circuitous and tortuous route
carved by adaptations evolved for different reasons, and
EARLY MAMMALS
fortunately suited to later needs.”3 By 190 million years ago—the end of what geologists call
the Triassic period—true mammals were on the scene.
Mammals from the Triassic, Jurassic (135–190 million
years ago), and Cretaceous (65–135 million years ago)
CONTINENTAL DRIFT periods are largely known from hundreds of fossils, es-
pecially teeth and jaw parts. Because teeth are the hard-
AND GEOLOGICAL TIME est, most durable structures, they often outlast other
As described in Chapter 4, context and dating are vital parts of an animal’s skeleton. Fortunately, investigators
for the interpretation of fossils. Because primate evolu- often are able to infer a good deal about the total ani-
tion extends so far back in time, paleoanthropologists mal on the basis of only a few teeth found lying in the
reconstruct primate evolution in conjunction with in- earth.
formation about the geological history of the earth. The For example, as described in Chapter 3, unlike the
scale of geological time is not similar to other concep- relatively homogeneous teeth of reptiles, mammals pos-
tions of time that most humans use in their daily lives. sess distinct tooth types, the structure of which varies
Few of us deal with hundreds of millions of anything, let by species. Knowledge of the way the teeth fit together
alone time, on a regular basis. indicates the arrangement of muscles needed to operate
To understand geological time, astronomer Carl Sa- the jaws. Reconstruction of the jaw muscles, in turn, in-
gan correlated the geological time scale for the history dicates how the skull must have been shaped to provide
of the earth to a single calendar year. In this “cosmic cal-
endar,” the earth itself originates on January 1, the fi rst
continental drift According to the theory of plate tectonics,
the movement of continents embedded in underlying plates on the
2Gould, S. J. (1985). The fl amingo’s smile: Reflections in natural history
earth’s surface in relation to one another over the history of life on
(p. 409). New York: Norton.
earth.
3Ibid., p. 4100.
112 Chapter Five/Macroevolution and the Early Primates

a place for these muscles to attach. The shape of the jaws

and details of the teeth also suggest the type of food that
these animals consumed. Thus, a mere jawbone frag-
A ment with a few teeth contains a great deal of informa-
E tion about the animal from which it came.
A
An interesting observation about the evolution of the

G
mammals is that the diverse forms with which we are
N
A familiar today, including the primates, are the products
of an adaptive radiation, the rapid increase in number
P

of related species following a change in their environ-

ment. This did not begin until after mammals had been
250 million present on the earth for over 100 million years. With the
years ago
mass extinction of many reptiles at the end of the Creta-
ceous, however, a number of existing ecological niches, or
functional positions in their habitats, became available
to mammals. A species’ niche incorporates factors such
LAURASIA as diet, activity, terrain, vegetation, predators, prey, and
climate.
The story of mammalian evolution starts as early
as 230 to 280 million years ago (Figure 5.3). From de-
GO
ND posits of this period, which geologists call the Permian,
WA
NA we have the remains of reptiles with features pointing
LA
ND in a distinctly mammalian direction. These mammal-
200 million like reptiles were slimmer than most other reptiles and
years ago
were flesh eaters. A series of graded fossils demonstrate
trends toward a mammalian pattern such as a reduction
in the number of bones, the shifting of limbs underneath
NORTH
AMERICA EURASIA the body, the development of a separation between the
mouth and nasal cavity, differentiation of the teeth, and
so forth.
AFRICA Eventually these creatures became extinct, but not
SOUTH INDIA before some of them developed into true mammals by
AMERICA
the Triassic period. During the Jurassic period that fol-
lowed, dinosaurs and other large reptiles dominated the
AUSTRALIA
earth, and mammals remained tiny, inconspicuous crea-
65 million ANTARCTICA
tures occupying a nocturnal niche.
years ago
By chance, mammals were preadapted—possess-
ing the biological equipment to take advantage of the
new opportunities available to them through the mass
NORTH ASIA
AMERICA extinction of the dinosaurs and other reptiles 65 mil-
INDIA lion years ago. As homeotherms, mammals possess
AFRICA the ability to maintain a constant body temperature, a
trait that appears to have promoted the adaptive radia-
SOUTH
AMERICA tion of the mammals. Mammals can be active at a wide
AUSTRALIA range of environmental temperatures, whereas reptiles,
as isotherms who take their body temperature from the
Present ANTARCTICA
adaptive radiation Rapid diversification of an evolving popula-
tion as it adapts to a variety of available niches.
preadapted Possessing characteristics that, by chance, are ad-
Figure 5.2 vantageous in future environmental conditions.
Continental drift is illustrated by the position of continents during homeotherm An animal that maintains a relatively constant
several geological periods. At the end of the Cretaceous period some body temperature despite environmental fluctuations.
65 million years ago, the time of the dinosaurs’ extinction, the seas, isotherm An animal whose body temperature rises or falls ac-
opened up by continental drift, created isolating barriers between cording to the temperature of the surrounding environment.
major land masses. During the Miocene epoch, African and Eurasian
land masses reconnected.
 The Rise of the Primates 113

The Kobal Collection/Hammer

Though popular media depict the co-existence of humans and dino-
saurs, in reality the extinction of the dinosaurs occurred 65 million
years ago while the first bipeds ancestral to humans appeared between
5 and 8 million years ago.

The mammalian pattern also differs from reptiles

in terms of how they care for their young. Mammals are
considered k-selected species. This means that they pro-
duce relatively few offspring at a time, providing them
with considerable parental care. A universal feature of
how mammals care for their young is the production of
food (milk) via the mammary glands. Reptiles are rela-
tively r-selected, which means that they produce many
young at a time and invest little effort caring for their
young after they are born. Though among mammals
some species are relatively more k- or r-selected, the rela-
tively high energy requirements of mammals, entailed
by parental investment and the maintenance of a con-
Figure 5.3 stant body temperature, demand more nutrition than
This timeline highlights some major milestones in the evolution of required by reptiles. During their adaptive radiation, the
those mammals from which humans are descended. fruits, nuts, and seeds of flowering plants that became
more common in the late Cretaceous period provided
mammals with high-quality nutrition.

surrounding environment, become progressively slug-

gish as the surrounding temperature drops. Cold global
temperatures 65 million years ago appear to be respon-
THE RISE OF THE PRIMATES
sible for the mass extinction of the reptiles, while mam- Early primates began to emerge during this time of great
mals, as homeotherms, were preadapted for this climate global change at the start of the Paleocene epoch. The
change. distribution of fossil primates on the earth makes sense
The mammalian trait of maintaining constant body only when one understands that the positions of the con-
temperature however, requires a diet high in calories. tinents today differ tremendously from what was found
Based on evidence from their teeth, scientists know in the past (see Figure 5.3). During this period, as noted
that early mammals ate such foods as insects, worms,
and eggs. As animals with nocturnal habits, mammals
have well-developed senses of smell and hearing relative k-selected Reproduction involving the production of relatively
few offspring with high parental investment in each.
to reptiles. Although things cannot be seen as well in
r-selected Reproduction involving the production of large num-
the dark as they can in the light, they can be heard and bers of offspring with relatively low parental investment in each.
smelled just as well.
114 Chapter Five/Macroevolution and the Early Primates

Eras
MESOZOIC CENOZOIC
Epochs
PALEOCENE EOCENE OLIGOCENE MIOCENE PLIOCENE
Old World monkeys
and apes appear as
Prosimian fossil distinctive groups
primates common
in Laurasia
Anthropoid fossil
primates become Evolutionary lines
Mass extinction common in the New to humans, chimps
of dinosaurs and Old World and gorillas split
Adaptive radiation
of mammals begins

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Millions of years ago

Figure 5.4
This timeline depicts some of the major events of primate evolution.

earlier, North America and Eurasia were connected ing to falls that injured or killed the individuals poorly
in the supercontinent called Laurasia. South America, adapted to arboreal life may have been a part of the
Africa, Antarctica, Australia, and the Indian subconti- initial forays into the trees. Natural selection would fa-
nent—previously joined together as the supercontinent vor those that judged depth correctly and gripped the
Gondwanaland—were beginning to separate from one branches strongly. Early primates that took to the trees
another through continental drift. Africa was separated were probably in some measure preadapted by virtue of
from Eurasia by a narrow body of water. behavioral flexibility, better vision, and more dexterous
On land, the dinosaurs had become extinct, and the fi ngers than their contemporaries.
mammals were undergoing the great adaptive radiation Primatologist Matt Cartmill further suggests that
that ultimately led to the development of the diverse primate visual and grasping abilities were also promoted
forms with which we are familiar today. At the same through the activity of hunting for insects by sight. His
time, the newly evolved grasses, shrubs, and other flow- visual predation hypothesis accounts for the observa-
ering plants were undergoing an enormous prolifera-
tion. This diversification, along with a milder climate,
favored the spread of dense, lush tropical and subtropi-
cal forests over much of the earth, including North and
South America and much of Eurasia and Africa. With
the spread of these huge belts of forest, the stage was set
for the movement of some mammals into the trees. For-
ests would provide our early ancestors with the ecologi-
cal niches in which they would flourish. Fossil evidence
of primatelike mammals from the Paleocene forests has
been found in North America and Eurasia. See Figure 5.4
for a full timeline of primate evolution.
One theory for primate evolution, the arboreal hy-
pothesis, proposes that life in the trees was responsible
for enhanced visual acuity and manual dexterity in pri-
© Anita de Laguna Haviland

mates. Misjudgments and errors of coordination, lead-

arboreal hypothesis A theory for primate evolution that pro-

poses that life in the trees was responsible for enhanced visual
acuity and manual dexterity in primates.
visual predation A hypothesis for primate evolution that pro- The appearance of angiosperm plants provided not only highly nutri-
poses that hunting behavior in tree-dwelling primates was respon- tious fruits, seeds, and flowers but also a host of habitats for numerous
sible for their enhanced visual acuity and manual dexterity. edible insects and worms—just the sorts of foods required by mammals
with their high metabolism.
 The Rise of the Primates 115

tion that other tree-dwelling species and hunting species

Postorbital bar
do not necessarily possess the same combination of vi-
sual and manual abilities possessed by the primates. The Orbits face
Larger forward
relatively small size of the early primates allowed them braincase
to make use of the smaller branches of trees; larger, Reduced
heavier competitors, and most predators, could not fol- muzzle
low. The move to the smaller branches also gave them
access to an abundant food supply; the primates were
able to gather insects, leaves, flowers, and fruits directly
Figure 5.5
rather than waiting for them to fall to the ground.
Ancestral features seen in the Eocene genus Adapis are found in pro-
The strong selection in a new environment led to an simians today. Like modern lemurs, it has a postorbital bar, a bony ring
acceleration in the rate of change of primate characteris- around the eye orbit. Note that the orbit is open behind the ring.
tics. Paradoxically, these changes eventually made pos-
sible a return to the ground by some primates, including
the ancestors of the genus Homo.

True Primates
The fi rst well-preserved “true” primates appeared by
about 55 million years ago at the start of the Eocene ep-
och. During this time period, an abrupt warming trend
began on earth, causing many older forms of mammals
to become extinct, to be replaced by recognizable fore-
runners of some of today’s forms. Among the latter was
an adaptive radiation of prosimian primates, of which
Illustration by Nancy J Perkins. Carnegie Museum of Natural History

over fi fty fossil genera are known. Fossils of these crea-

tures have been found in Africa, North America, Europe,
and Asia, where the warm, wet conditions of the Eocene
sustained extensive rainforests. Relative to ancestral
primatelike mammals, these early primate families had
enlarged braincases, slightly reduced snouts, and a some-
what forward position of the eye orbits, which, though
not completely walled in, are surrounded by a complete
bony ring called a postorbital bar (Figure 5.5).
During the Eocene, the fi rst signs of anthropoid pri-
mates also begin to appear in the fossil record. The ear-
liest evidence is of a tiny species Eosimias (pronounced
ee-o-sim-ee-us, Latin for “dawn of the monkeys”) repre-
sented by fossils from China, dated to about 45 million The scientists who discovered tiny leg bones, placed in the genus
years ago. The Chinese fossils represent several species Eosimias, suggest these fossils are the earliest anthropoids. Other
of tiny, insect-eating animals and are the smallest pri- experts do not think such claims can be made from leg bones alone.
Although its bones suggest overall body form, this reconstruction is
mates ever documented.4 Some scientists have chal-
otherwise speculative.
lenged whether these tiny fossils are truly anthropoids
as they are reconstructed largely from foot bones rather
than skulls or teeth. premolars, and three molars on each side of the jaw. The
Numerous fossils from Fayum, Egypt, show a eye orbits have a complete wall, the latter being a feature
unique mix of prosimian and anthropoid characteristics. of anthropoid primates.5
The front teeth resemble those of the Eocene prosimian Although there is still much to be learned about the
primates, with the derived dental formula shared by Old Eocene primates, it is clear that they were abundant, di-
World monkeys and apes of two incisors, a canine, two verse, and widespread. Among them were ancestors of

4Gebo, D. L., et al. (2001). Middle Eocene primate tarsals from 5Simons, E. (1995). Skulls and anterior teeth of Catopithecus (Pri-
China: Implications for haplorhine evolution. American Journal of mates: Anthropoidea) from the Eocene and anthropoid origins. Sci-
Physical Anthropology 116, 83–107. ence 268, 1,885–1,888.
116 Chapter Five/Macroevolution and the Early Primates

today’s prosimians and anthropoids.6 With the end of sessed a larger visual cortex than that found in prosimi-
the Eocene, substantial changes took place among the ans. Relative to its body size, the brain of Aegyptopithecus
primates, as among other mammals. In North America, was smaller than that of more recent anthropoids. Still,
now well isolated from Eurasia, primates became ex- this primate seems to have had a larger brain than any
tinct, and elsewhere their range seems to have been re- prosimian, past or present. Possessed of a monkeylike
duced considerably. skull and body, and fi ngers and toes capable of power-
Climate change affected primate and mammalian ful grasping, it evidently moved about in a quadrupedal,
evolution. Through the late Eocene, climates were be- monkeylike manner.7
coming somewhat cooler and drier, but then tempera- The teeth of Aegyptopithecus suggest that this spe-
tures took a sudden dive, triggering the formation of an cies may be closely related to an ancestor of humans and
ice cap over previously forested Antarctica. The result modern apes. Although no bigger than a modern house
was a marked reduction in the range of suitable environ- cat, Aegyptopithecus was nonetheless one of the larger
ments for primates. At the same time, cold climate led to Oligocene primates. Differences between males and fe-
lower sea levels through the formation of ice caps, per- males include larger body size, more formidable canine
haps changing opportunities for migration of primates. teeth, and deeper mandibles (lower jaws) in the males. In
modern anthropoids, such sexual dimorphism correlates
with social systems in which male competition is high.
Oligocene Anthropoids
During the Oligocene epoch, from about 23 to 34 million New World Monkeys
years ago, the anthropoid primates diversified and ex- The earliest evidence of primates in South America dates
panded their range. Fossil evidence from Egypt’s Fayum from this time. These fossil primates are certainly an-
region has yielded sufficient fossils (more than 1,000) to thropoid monkeys, with the eyes fully encased in bone
reveal that by 33 million years ago, Old World anthro- and limb bones for quadrupedal locomotion. Scientists
poid primates existed in considerable diversity. More- hypothesize that these primates came to South America
over, the cast of characters is growing, as new fossils from Africa, because the earliest fossil evidence of an-
continue to be found in the Fayum, as well as in newly thropoids is from the Old World.
discovered localities in Algeria (North Africa) and Oman Some of the African anthropoids arrived in South
(Arabian Peninsula). At present, we have evidence of at America, which at the time was not attached to any
least sixty genera included in two families. During the other land mass, probably by means of floating masses
Oligocene, prosimian fossil forms became far less promi- of vegetation of the sort that originate even today in the
nent than anthropoids. Only on the large island of Mada- great rivers of West and Central Africa. In the Oligo-
gascar (off the coast of East Africa), which was devoid of cene, the distance between the two continents was far
anthropoids until humans arrived, is prosimian diversity less than it is today; favorable winds and currents could
still evident. In their isolation, they underwent a further easily have carried “floating islands” of vegetation across
adaptive radiation. within a period that New World monkey ancestors could
Fossil evidence indicates that these Old World an- have survived.8 Nearly all living and fossil New World
thropoids were quadrupeds who were diurnal, as evi- primates possess the ancestral dental formula (2-1-3-3)
denced through their smaller orbits (eyes). Many of these of prosimians compared to the derived pattern (2-1-2-3)
Oligocene species possess a mixture of monkey and ape found in Old World anthropoids.
features. Of particular interest is the genus Aegyptopithe-
cus (pronounced “Egypt”-o-pith-ee-kus, Greek for “Egyp-
tian ape”), an Oligocene anthropoid that has sometimes Miocene Apes
been called a monkey with an ape’s teeth. Aegyptopithe- True apes fi rst appeared in the fossil record during the
cus possessed a mosaic of monkey and ape features as Miocene epoch, 5 to 23 million years ago. It was also
well as features shared by both groups. Its lower molars during this time period that the African and Eurasian
have the five cusps of an ape, and the upper canine and land masses made direct contact. For most of the preced-
lower fi rst premolar exhibit the sort of shearing surfaces ing 100 million years, the Tethys Sea, a continuous body
found in monkeys and apes. Its skull possesses eye sock-
ets that are in a forward position and completely pro-
tected by a bony wall, as is typical of modern monkeys 7Ankel-Simons, F., Fleagle, J. G., & Chatrath, P. S. (1998). Femoral
and apes. The endocast of its skull indicates that it pos- anatomy of Aegyptopithecus zeuxis, an early Oligocene anthropoid.
American Journal of Physical Anthropology 106, 421–422.
8Houle, A. (1999). The origin of platyrrhines: An evaluation of the
6Kay, R. F., Ross, C., & Williams, B. A. (1997). Anthropoid origins. Antarctic scenario and the floating island model. American Journal
Science 275, 803–804. of Physical Anthropology 109, 554–556.
 The Rise of the Primates 117

Biocultural
Connection Nonhuman Primates and Human Disease
Biological similarities among humans, cultural processes determine the place comparisons of disease genes. To facili-
apes, and Old World monkeys have led of animals within biomedical research. tate this process, primate cell repositories
to the extensive use of these nonhuman She advocates elimination of the cultural have been established for researchers to
primate species in biomedical research distinction between humans and our obtain samples of primate DNA.
aimed at preventing or curing disease closest relatives for purposes of biomedi- Other biomedical research is far more
in humans. A cultural perspective that cal research. invasive to the individual primate. For
separates humans from our closest living Some biomedical research disturbs ani- example, to document the infectious
relatives is necessary for this research mals minimally. For example, DNA can be nature of kuru, a disease closely related
to occur. Those who fully support these extracted from the hair naturally shed by to Mad Cow disease, the extract from the
research efforts state that biomedical living primates, allowing for cross-species brains of sick humans was injected into
research in a limited number of chimpan- the brains of living chimpanzees. A year
zees or rhesus macaques lessens human and a half later the chimpanzees began
suffering and spares human lives. The to sicken. They had the same classic fea-
successful development of a vaccine for tures of kuru—uncontrollable spasticity,
hepatitis B and hepatitis C through test- seizures, dementia, and ultimately death.
ing with chimpanzees, and current work The biological similarities of humans
on vaccines for HIV, are often cited as Image not available due to copyright restrictions and other primates leading to such
examples of a positive balance between research practices derive from a long
vast human benefits and minimal chim- shared evolutionary history. By com-
panzee suffering. parison, the cultural rules that allow
Others, such as primatologist Jane our closest relatives to be the subjects
Goodall, vehemently disagree with this of biomedical research are relatively
approach. Goodall emphasizes that short-lived.

of water that more or less joined what are now the Medi- ancestor of the human line. Exactly which one is a ques-
terranean and Black seas to the Indian Ocean, created a tion still to be resolved.
barrier to migration between Africa and Eurasia. Once An examination of the history of the “contenders”
joined through what is now the Middle East and Gibral- for direct human ancestor among the Miocene apes
tar, Old World primate groups such as the apes that got demonstrates how reconstruction of evolutionary rela-
their start in Africa could expand their ranges into Eur- tionships draws on much more than bones alone. Scien-
asia. Miocene ape fossil remains have been found every- tists interpret fossil fi nds by drawing on existing beliefs
where from the caves of China, to the forests of France, and knowledge. With new discoveries, interpretations
to eastern Africa where the earliest fossil remains of bi- change.
peds have been found. The fi rst Miocene ape fossil remains were found in
So varied and ubiquitous were the fossil apes of this Africa in the 1930s and 1940s by A. T. Hopwood and the
period that the Miocene has even been labeled by some renowned paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey. These fos-
as the “golden age of the hominoids.” The word hominoid sils turned up on one of the many islands in Lake Victo-
comes from the Latin roots Homo and Homin (meaning ria, the 27,000-square-mile lake where Kenya, Tanzania,
“human being”) and the suffi x oïdes (“resembling”). As a and Uganda meet. Impressed with the chimplike appear-
group, the hominoids get their name from their resem- ance of these fossil remains, Hopwood suggested that
blance to humans. the new species be named Proconsul, combining the Latin
In addition to the Old World anthropoid dental for- root for “before” (pro) with the stage name of a chimpan-
mula of 2-1-2-3 and Y5 molars, hominoids can be char- zee who was performing in London at the time.
acterized by the derived characteristics of having no tail Dated to the early Miocene 17 to 21 million years
and having broad flexible shoulder joints. The likeness ago, Proconsul has some of the classic hominoid features,
between humans and the other apes bespeaks an im- lacking a tail and having the characteristic pattern of
portant evolutionary relationship that, as explained in Y5 grooves in the lower molar teeth. However, the ad-
the Biocultural Connection feature, makes other living aptations of the upper body seen in later apes (including
hominoids vulnerable to human needs in today’s world. humans) were absent. These included a skeletal structure
In the distant past, one of the Miocene apes is the direct adapted for hanging suspended below tree branches. In
118 Chapter Five/Macroevolution and the Early Primates

possess the same basic body plan, adapted to hanging

by their arms from branches or knuckle-walking on the
ground. Humans and their ancestors had an altogether
different form of locomotion: walking upright on two
legs. On an anatomical basis, the fi rst Miocene ape to be-
come bipedal could have come from any part of the vast
Old World range of the Miocene apes.
The second factor at work to pull attention away
from African origins was more subtle and embedded not
in the bones from the earth but in the subconscious of
the scientists of the past. It was hard for these scientists
to imagine that humans originated entirely in Africa. Eu-
ropean scientists in the early 20th century therefore con-
centrated on the various species of European ape—all
members of the genus Dryopithecus (pronounced dry-o-
Figure 5.6 pith-ee-kus). They believed that humans evolved where
Reconstructed skeleton of Proconsul. Note the apelike absence of tail “civilization” developed and that these apes could be the
but monkeylike limb and body proportions. Proconsul, however, was missing link to humans.
capable of greater rotation of forelimbs than monkeys. As we will see in the next chapter, it took many years
for the fi rst bipedal fossils discovered in South Africa in
other words, Proconsul had some apelike features as well the 1920s to be accepted by the scientific community as a
as some features of four-footed Old World monkeys (Fig- key part of the human line. Instead, human origins were
ure 5.6). This mixture of ape and monkey features makes imagined to involve a close link between those who in-
Proconsul a contender for a missing link between mon- vented the first tools and the people responsible for West-
keys and apes but not as a connection between Miocene ern civilization.
apes and later-appearing bipeds. During the 1960s, it appeared as though this Mio-
At least seven fossil hominoid groups besides Procon- cene human ancestor lived in the Siwaliks, the foothills
sul have been found in East Africa from the early to mid- of the majestic Himalayan mountain range along the
dle Miocene. But between 5 and 14 million years ago this northern borders of India and Pakistan, near the ruins
fossil record thins out. It is not that all the apes suddenly of the later Indus Valley civilization. The Himalayas are
moved from Africa to Eurasia, but rather that the envi- some of the youngest mountains of the world. They be-
ronmental conditions made it less likely that any of the gan forming during the Miocene when the Indian sub-
African remains would fossilize. Tropical forests inhab- continent collided with the rest of Eurasia, and they have
ited by chimps and gorillas today make poor conditions been becoming taller ever since.
for the preservation of bones. As mentioned in Chapter 4, In honor of the Hindu religion practiced in the re-
in order to become a fossil, bones must be quickly incor- gion where the fossils were found, the contender was
porated into the earth before any rotting or decomposi- given the name Ramapithecus, after the Indian deity
tion occurs. In tropical forests, the heat, humidity, and Rama and the Greek word for “ape,” pithekos. Rama is
general abundance of life make this unlikely. The bones’ the physical embodiment, or incarnation, of the major
organic matrix is consumed by other creatures before it Hindu god Vishnu, the preserver. He is meant to portray
can be fossilized. what a perfect human can be. He is benevolent, protects
Nevertheless, the scarcity of African fossil evidence the weak, and embodies all noble human characteristics.
from this time period fit well with prevailing notions Features like the relative delicacy and curvature of the
about human origins. Two factors conspired to take the jaw and palate as well as thick tooth enamel led paleo-
focus away from Africa. First, investigators initially did anthropologists David Pilbeam and Elwyn Simons to
not consider that humans were any more closely related suggest that this was the fi rst hominoid to become part
to the African apes than they were to the other intelli- of the direct human line. They suggested that Ramapithe-
gent great ape—the Asian orangutan. Chimps, bono- cus was a bipedal tool user—the earliest human ancestor.
bos, gorillas, and orangutans were thought to be more With these qualities, Ramapithecus was perfectly named.
closely related to one another than any of them were to Other Miocene apes were also present in the foot-
humans. The construction of evolutionary relationships hills of the Himalayas. Sivapithecus was named after the
still relied upon visual similarities among species, much Hindu deity Siva, the god of destruction and regenera-
as it did in the mid-1700s when Linnaeus developed the tion. In the Hindu religion Siva is depicted as an asocial
taxonomic scheme that grouped humans with other pri- hermit who, when provoked, reduces his enemies to
mates. Chimps, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans all smoldering ashes in fits of rage. Though never consid-
 The Rise of the Primates 119

© Art Resource, NY

Miocene ape fossils proposed as direct ancestors to humans in the 1960s from the foothills of the Hima-
layan mountains were named after the Indian deity Rama (shown here in a marriage ceremony with his
brother) as a reference to humanlike qualities observed in the teeth and jaws. Subtle cultural biases in the
earlier 20th century led scientists to expect to find the missing link between the other apes and humans in
one of the cradles of ancient civilization rather than Africa.

ered a human ancestor, Sivapithecus also had the human- ison of the blood proteins of living groups. He worked
like characteristic of thick molar tooth enamel (unlike on serum albumin, a protein from the fluid portion of
the African apes but like the orangutans). Sivapithecus the blood (like the albumin that forms egg whites) that
also had large projecting canine teeth more suitable to can be precipitated out of solution. Precipitation refers
a destroyer than to a human ancestor. The Sivapithecus to when a dissolved substance is removed from a liquid
and Ramapithecus fossils were dated to between 7 and form through chemical transformation into a solid. One
12 million years ago. of the forces that will cause such precipitation is contact
The interpretation of these fossils changed with dis- of this protein with antibodies directed against it. Anti-
coveries in the laboratory. By the 1970s, the use of bio- bodies are proteins produced by organisms as part of an
chemical and genetic evidence to establish evolutionary immune response to an infection. The technique relies
relationships among species had begun. A University on the notion that the stronger the biochemical reaction
of California, Berkeley, biochemist named Vince Sarich between the protein and the antibody (the more precipi-
working in the laboratory of Allan Wilson (see Anthro- tate), the closer the evolutionary relationship. The anti-
pologist of Note) brought molecular techniques to evolu- bodies and proteins of closely related species resemble
tionary studies and developed the revolutionary concept
of a molecular clock. Such clocks help detect when the
branching of related species from a common ancestor
molecular clock The hypothesis that dates of divergences
took place in the distant past.
among related species can be calculated through an examination
Sarich used a molecular technique that had been of the genetic mutations that have accrued since the divergence.
around since the beginning of the 20th century: compar-
120 Chapter Five/Macroevolution and the Early Primates

Anthropologists of Note
Allan Wilson (1934–1991)

Though a biochemist by training, New and a place on the short list for the
Zealander Allan Wilson has made key Nobel Prize.
contributions to anthropology through He developed the notion of a “mo-
his pioneering work in applying the lecular clock” with his graduate student
principles of biochemistry to human Vince Sarich and published the ground-
evolutionary questions. Wilson forged a breaking paper “Immunological Time-
new “hybrid science,” combining fossil Scale for Human Evolution” in the jour-
and molecular evidence with ground- nal Science in 1967. The molecular clock
breaking results. Because the molecular proposes that evolutionary events such
evidence required rethinking long-held as the split between humans and apes
theories about the relationships among can be dated through an examination
fossil groups, Wilson’s work has been of the number of genetic mutations
© Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis

surrounded by controversy. According that accumulated since two species

to those close to Wilson, he enjoyed his diverged from a common ancestor. In
role as an outsider—being on the edges of the 1980s, his laboratory (including
anthropology and shaking things up. Rebecca Cann and Mark Stoneking) was
Wilson was born in Ngaruwahia, also responsible for seminal work with
New Zealand, and grew up on a farm in the mitochondrial Eve hypothesis that
Pukekohe. After attending school in New Allan Wilson (right) observes as a laboratory continues to be widely debated today
Zealand and Australia, he was invited to rabbit is injected. (see Chapter 8).
study biochemistry at the University of Sadly, Wilson died from leukemia at
California, Berkeley, in 1955. His father world’s most creative biochemistry labs. the age of 56. Joseph Felsenstein, one
was reluctant to have his son travel so far In the 1960s, Berkeley was a center of of his biographers, stated in his obitu-
from home, but his mother saw this as an academic liberalism and social protest. ary in the journal Nature, “while others
opportunity for him and encouraged him Wilson’s highly original work was con- concentrated on what evolution could
to head to California. ducted with a similar revolutionary spirit, tell them about molecules, Wilson always
Wilson stayed at Berkeley for the garnering him a MacArthur “genius” looked for ways that molecules could say
next thirty-five years, running one of the award, two Guggenheim fellowships, something about evolution.”

one another more than the antibodies and proteins of In the meantime, Pilbeam continued fossil hunting
distant species. in the Himalayan foothills. Further specimens began
Sarich made immunological comparisons between a to show that Ramapithecus was actually a smaller, per-
variety of species and suggested that he could establish haps female version of Sivapithecus.9 Eventually all the
dates for evolutionary events by calculating a molecular specimens referred to as Ramapithecus were “sunk” or
rate of change over time. By assuming a constant rate absorbed into the Sivapithecus group, so that today Ra-
of change in the protein structure of each species over mapithecus no longer exists as a valid name for a Miocene
time, Sarich used these results to predict times of diver- ape. Instead of two distinct groups, one of which went
gence between related groups. Each molecular clock on to evolve into humans, they are considered males and
needs to be set, or calibrated, by the dates associated females of the sexually dimorphic genus Sivapithecus.
with a known event such as the divergence between pro- A spectacular complete specimen found in the Potwar
simian and anthropoid primates or Old World monkeys Plateau of Pakistan by Pilbeam showed that Sivapithecus
and apes as established by absolute dating methods. was undoubtedly the ancestor of orangutans. This con-
Using this technique, Sarich proposed a sequence of clusion matched well with the molecular evidence that
divergence for the living hominoids showing that human, the separate line to orangutans originated 10 to 12 mil-
chimp, and gorilla lines split roughly 5 million years ago. lion years ago.
He boldly stated that it was impossible to have a separate All of these changes reflect the fact that paleoan-
human line before 7 million years ago “no matter what thropologists participate in an unusual kind of science.
it looked like.” In other words, anything that old would Paleoanthropology, like all paleontology, is a science of
also have to be ancestral to chimps and gorillas as well as
humans. Because Ramapithecus, even with its humanlike 9Pilbeam, D. R. (1987). Rethinking human origins. In R. L. Ciochon
jaws, was dated to between 7 and 12 million years ago, it & J. G. Fleagle (Eds.), Primate evolution and human origins (p. 217).
could no longer be considered a human ancestor. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
 Miocene Apes and Human Origins 121

discovery. As new fossil discoveries come to light, inter-

pretations inevitably change, making for better under-
MIOCENE APES
standing of our evolutionary history. Today, discoveries AND HUMAN ORIGINS
can occur in the laboratory as easily as on the site of an As described above, determining which Miocene apes
excavation. Molecular studies since the 1970s provide a were directly ancestral to humans is one of the key ques-
new line of evidence much the same way that fossils pro- tions in primate evolution. Molecular evidence directs
vide new data as they are unearthed. A discovery in the our attention to Africa between 5 and 8 million years
laboratory, like Sarich’s molecular clocks, can drastically ago (Figure 5.7). Though any fossil discoveries in Africa
change the interpretation of the fossil evidence. from this critical time period have the potential to be the

CATARRHINI
CERCOPITHECOIDS HOMINOIDS

Baboons Macacs Cercopithecus Presbytis Colobus Gibbon- Orangutan Gorilla Chimpanzee Homo
Siamang
0
Australo-
pithecus

Orrorin
tugenensis?
10
Sahelanthropus
MIOCENE

Sivapithecus tchadensis?
(Toumai)

15

Millions of years ago

Proconsul
20

Aegyptopithecus

25
OLIGOCENE

30

35

40

45

Figure 5.7
Although debate continues over details, this chart represents a reasonable reconstruction of evolutionary
relationships among the Old World anthropoid primates. (Extinct evolutionary lines are not shown.)
122 Chapter Five/Macroevolution and the Early Primates

missing link between humans and the other African ape

species, the evidence from this period has until recently
been particularly scrappy. Controversy surrounds the in-
terpretation of many of these new fossil fi nds.
For example, in Chad in the summer of 2002 a team of
international researchers led by Michel Brunet of France
unearthed a well-preserved skull dated to between 6 and

© Michael Brunet
7 million years ago.10 Calling their fi nd Sahelanthropus
tchadensis (“Sahel man of Chad,” referring to the Sahel
region south of the Sahara Desert), the researchers sug-
gested that this specimen represented the earliest known
ancestor of humans, or earliest biped. Nicknamed “Tou- The spectacular recently discovered skull from Chad nicknamed “Tou-
mai,” from the region’s Goran-language word meaning mai” (hope for life) has been proposed as the earliest direct human
“hope for life” (a name typically given to babies born just ancestor. While the 6- to 7-million-year-old specimen is a beautifully
preserved skull and has some derived features, some paleoanthropolo-
before the dry season), this specimen is the only skull gists feel that alone, it does not establish bipedalism, the derived trait
from this time period. characteristic of the human line.
Considering that bipedalism is the derived charac-
teristic that indicates inclusion in the human subfamily,
some paleoanthropologists argue that the relationship
of this specimen to humans cannot be established from
skull bones alone. The research team argues that derived
features such as a reduced canine tooth can be seen in
the face of the Toumai specimen, indicating its status as
a member of the human evolutionary line. Whether or
not this specimen proves to be a direct human ancestor,
© Orban, Thierry/Corbis Sygma.

as the only skull from this time period, it is nevertheless

a very important fi nd.
In 2001, 6-million-year-old fossils discovered in
Kenya by Brigitte Senut and Martin Pickford were also
reported as human ancestors.11 Officially given the spe-
cies name Orrorin tugenensis (Tugensis from the Tugen
hills, Orrorin meaning “original man” in the local lan- These 6 million-year-old fossils, discovered in Kenya in 2001, represent
guage) but nicknamed “Millennium Man,” these speci- a new species, Orrorin tugenensis, that has also been proposed as the
mens have also been surrounded by controversy. earliest human ancestor. Like Toumai these bones are surrounded by
The evidence for Orrorin consists of fragmentary controversy. The thigh bones (femora) strongly suggest bipedalism, and
arm and thigh bones, a fi nger bone, some jaw fragments, the upper arm bone (humerus) may be more like that of humans than
it is like some of the later bipeds. More discoveries and scientific com-
and teeth of at least five individuals. The thigh bones
parisons will solve controversies surrounding both Orrorin and Toumai.
demonstrate possible, but not defi nite, bipedalism. Un-
fortunately, the distal or far ends of the thigh bone that
would prove this are not fully preserved. The humerus than it is like the later bipedal species we will explore
(upper arm) appears to be more like that of humans in the next chapter. Also Orrorin appears to be larger in
size than some of these later bipeds. The way that pa-
10Brunet, M., et al. (2002). A new hominid from the Upper Miocene leoanthropologists determine bipedalism from the fossil
of Chad, Central Africa. Nature 418, 145–151. record will be fully described in the next chapter as we
11Senut, B., et al. (2001). First hominid from the Miocene (Lukeino explore the fossil evidence in Africa from 2.5 to 5 million
formation, Kenya). C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 332, 137–144. years ago.

the extinction of others play in facing this challenge? Will hu-

Questions for Reflection mans be just another primate to go extinct?
1. How can humans face the challenge of maintaining our eco- 2. Why are shared derived characteristics more important
system so that it can sustain diverse species? What role does than shared ancestral characteristics in evolutionary recon-
understanding the impact of the formation of new species and structions? Using the Miocene apes and humans, think about
 The Anthropology Resource Center 123

the ways that conclusions about evolution would change if an- to a detailed exploration of contemporary human ecology, de-
cestral rather than derived characteristics were used to figure mography, and disease. Over seventy scholars from through-
out evolutionary relationships among species. out the world contributed to this encyclopedia.
3. The biological defi nition of a species is a population or a
group of populations that is capable of interbreeding and pro- Mayr, E., & Diamond, J. (2002). What evolution is. New York:
ducing fertile, viable offspring. Why is this defi nition of spe- Basic Books.
cies difficult to apply to the fossil record?
Written for a general educated audience, this engaging book
4. The interpretation of fossil material changes with the dis- provides a comprehensive treatment of evolutionary theory.
covery of new specimens and with discoveries in the labora-
tory. How has that happened? Can you imagine a different
conception of human evolutionary history in the future?
5. An understanding of the changing position of the earth’s Thomson Audio Study Products
continents through the past several hundred million years is
important for the reconstruction of primate evolutionary his- Enjoy the MP3-ready Audio Lecture Overviews for
tory. Do you think the evolutionary history of the primates each chapter and a comprehensive audio glossary of
can be understood without knowledge of continental drift? key terms for quick study and review. Whether walk-
ing to class, doing laundry, or studying at your desk, you now
have the freedom to choose when, where, and how you inter-
act with your audio-based educational media. See the preface
Suggested Readings for information on how to access this on-the-go study and re-
view tool.
Fleagle, J. (1998). Primate adaptation and evolution. New York:
Academic Press.
This beautifully illustrated book is an excellent introduction
to the field of primate evolution, synthesizing the fossil record The Anthropology Resource Center
with primate anatomical and behavioral variation. www.thomsonedu.com/anthropology
The Anthropology Resource Center provides extended learn-
Hartwig, W. C. (2002). The primate fossil record. New York: ing materials to reinforce your understanding of key concepts
Cambridge University Press. in the four subfields of anthropology. For each of the four sub-
This book contains an up-to-date and comprehensive treat- disciplines, the Resource Center includes dynamic exercises
ment of the discovery and interpretation of primate fossils. including video exercises, map exercises, simulations, and
“Meet the Scientists” interviews, as well as critical thinking
questions that can be assigned and e-mailed to instructors.
Jones, S., Martin, R., & Pilbeam, D. (1992). Cambridge ency- The Resource Center also provides breaking news in anthro-
clopedia of human evolution. New York: Cambridge University pology and interesting material on applied anthropology to
Press. help you link what you are learning to the world around you.
This comprehensive introduction to the human species covers
the gamut from genetics, primatology, and the fossil evidence
6 The First Bipeds

CHALLENGE ISSUE
The fossilized remains of the
earliest bipeds from eastern,
southern, and central Africa
challenge us to rethink what
separates us from the other
animals. While it is our intel-
ligence and large brains that
most humans think of first,
the characteristic that sets
us apart is the simple fact
that we walk on two legs.
Clear evidence of bipedal-
ism is preserved in various
aspects of the skeleton and
in footprints that have been
sealed in volcanic ash. From
evidence in fossil skeletons
and from the specimens’ sur-
rounding environment, we
now know that there were
many species of ancient bi-
ped—one of whom eventually
became human. Here an artist
has depicted one of the most
ancient bipeds, from the spe-
cies Ardipithecus ramidus, a
small-brained bipedal forest
ape that is a side branch of
the human evolutionary tree.
Many species of bipedal apes
inhabited the earth for sev-
eral million years before the
larger-brained genus Homo
appeared.
© Gregory Manchess, 2004
 CHAPTER PREVIEW

What Is the Anatomy Who Were the What Role Did

of Bipedalism, and Australopithecines, Bipedalism Play in
How Is It Preserved and What Were Human Evolutionary
in the Fossil Record? They Like? History?
Bipedalism is the shared derived The fossil record indicates that some Numerous theories stressing adapta-
characteristic used to establish time during the early Pliocene, tion have been proposed to account
whether a fossilized hominoid is a beginning 5 million years ago, the for the appearance of bipedalism in
part of the evolutionary line that genus Australopithecus appeared in human evolutionary history. These
produced humans. Evidence for Africa. Australopithecines include theories range from the adaptive
bipedalism is preserved literally a diverse group of fully bipedal spe- advantage of having hands free to
from head to toe. Bipedalism can be cies still possessing relatively small- carry young or wield weapons to
inferred from the forward position sized brains in proportion to their adaptation to damaging buildup
of the large opening in the base of body size. Some of the later aus- of heat in the brain from direct
the skull, a series of curves in the tralopithecines, known as “robust” exposure to the sun in a hot, treeless
spinal column, the basin-shaped forms, possessed particularly large environment. Bipedalism appeared
structure of the pelvis, the angle of teeth, jaws, and chewing muscles in human evolutionary history sev-
the lower limbs from the hip joint and represent an evolutionary dead eral million years before brain size
to the knees, and the shape of the end, disappearing from the fossil expanded.
foot bones. Thus even fragmentary record completely by 1 million years
evidence can prove bipedalism, ago. One of the other australopith-
providing the “right” fragment is ecine species, though it is not clear
preserved. Several groups from which one, appears to be a direct
between 4 and 7 million years ago ancestor of the genus Homo.
have been proposed as the earliest
bipedal human ancestor.

125
126 Chapter Six/The First Bipeds

T hough genetic evidence established that the hu-

man line diverged from those leading to chim-
panzees and gorillas between 5 and 8 million years ago,
for a long time the fossil evidence of the early stages of
human evolution was both sparse and tenuous. Today,
however, several interesting specimens from Africa fi ll
in this important period. Inclusion of any fossil specimen

© Pascal Goetgheluck/Photo Researchers, Inc.

in the human evolutionary line depends upon evidence
for bipedalism (also called bipedality), the defi ning char-
acteristic of the human line. The possible human ances-
tors from the Miocene recently found in Chad (Sahelan-
thropus tchadensis) and Kenya (Orrorin tugenensis), dated
6 to 7 million years ago, were described in the last chap-
ter. In this chapter, we will pick up our story with a di-
verse array of fossil bipeds from the Pliocene—the geo-
logical epoch that began 5 million years ago.
The Taung child, discovered in South Africa in 1924, was the first fossil
Most of the early bipeds are members of the genus specimen placed in the genus Australopithecus. Though Raymond Dart
Australopithecus, a genus that includes species from correctly diagnosed the Taung child’s bipedal mode of locomotion as
eastern, southern, and central Africa. The name for this well as its importance in human evolution, other scientists rejected
group of fossils was coined back in 1924 when the first Dart’s claims that this small-brained biped with a humanlike face was
important fossil from Africa proposed to be a human a direct ancestor to humans. In the early 20th century scientists were
expecting the ancestors to humans to possess large brains and an ape-
ancestor came to light. This unusual fossil, consisting of
like face and to originate from Europe or Asia rather than Africa.
a partial skull and natural
THOMSON AUDIO brain cast of a young indi-
STUDY PRODUCTS vidual, was brought to the Nature. The next month’s issue was fi lled with venomous
Take advantage of attention of Professor Ray- critiques rejecting Dart’s proposal that this specimen rep-
the MP3-ready Audio Lecture mond Dart of the Univer- resented an ancestor to humans. Critiques ranged from
Overviews and comprehensive sity of Wit watersrand in Jo- biased to fussy to sound. Fussy critiques included chas-
audio glossary of key terms hannesburg, South Africa. tising Dart for incorrectly combining Latin and Greek in
for each chapter. See the The “Taung child,” named the genus and species name he coined. Valid criticisms
preface for information on for the limestone quarry included questions concerning inferences made about
how to access this on-the-go in which it was found, was the appearance of an adult of the species based only on
study and review tool. unlike any creature Dart the fossilized remains of a young individual.
had ever seen before. Rec- The biggest stumbling block, however, to the accep-
ognizing an intriguing mixture of ape and human char- tance of Dart’s proposal lay in the realm of bias. Paleoan-
acteristics in this unusual fossil, anatomist Dart proposed thropologists of the early 20th century expected that the
a new taxonomic category for his discovery—Australo- ancestor to humans already had a large brain. Moreover,
pithecus africanus, or southern ape of Africa—suggesting most European scientists expected to fi nd evidence of this
that this specimen represented an extinct form that was large-brained ancestor in Europe or, barring that, Asia.
ancestral to humans. In fact, many scientists of the 1920s even believed
Although the anatomy of the base of the skull in- that the ancestor to humans had already been found in
dicated that the Taung child was probably a biped, the the Piltdown gravels of Sussex, England, in 1910. The
scientific community was not ready to accept the notion Piltdown specimens consisted of a humanlike skull and
of a small-brained African ancestor to humans. Dart’s an apelike jaw that seemed to fit together though the cru-
original paper describing the Taung child was published cial joints connecting the two were missing. They were
in the February 1925 edition of the prestigious journal discovered along with the bones of some other animal
species known to be extinct. Charles Dawson—the ama-
bipedalism The mode of locomotion in which an organism teur archaeologist, paleontologist, and practicing lawyer
walks upright on its two hind legs characteristic of humans and who found these remains—immodestly named them
their ancestors. Eoanthropus dawsoni or “Dawson’s dawn man.” Until the
Australopithecus The genus including several species of early 1950s the Piltdown remains were widely accepted as rep-
bipeds from eastern, southern, and central Africa living between
resenting the missing link between apes and humans
about 1.1 and 4.3 million years ago, one of whom was directly
ancestral to humans. rather than as one of the biggest hoaxes in the history of
science that we know them to be today.
 The First Bipeds 127

The Piltdown forgery was widely

accepted as ancestral to humans, in
large part because it fit with public
expectations that the missing link
would have a large brain and an
apelike face. No one knows with
certainty how many of the “Piltdown
Gang,” scientists supporting this
specimen as the missing link, were
actually involved in the forgery. It is
likely that Charles Dawson had help
from at least one scientist. Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle, the author of the
Sherlock Holmes detective stories,
has also been implicated.
© The Geological Society/NHMPL, London

The reasons for widespread acceptance of Dawson’s tion Piltdown’s authenticity. Ultimately, the application
dawn man were as follows. As Darwin’s theory of evo- of the newly developed fluorine dating method (de-
lution by natural selection began to gain acceptance in scribed in Chapter 4) by Kenneth Oakley and colleagues
the early 20th century, intense interest developed in fi nd- in 1953 proved conclusively that Piltdown was a forgery.
ing traces of prehistoric human ancestors. Accordingly, The skull, which was indeed human, was approximately
predictions were made as to what those ancestors looked 600 years old, while the jaw, which proved to be from an
like. Darwin himself, on the basis of his knowledge of orangutan, was even more recent. Finally, Dart and the
embryology and the comparative anatomy of living apes Taung child were fully vindicated.
and humans, suggested in his 1871 book, The Descent of Today, genetic and fossil evidence both indicate that
Man, that early humans had, among other things, a large the human evolutionary line begins with a small-brained
brain and an apelike face and jaw. bipedal ape from Africa. Numerous international expe-
Although the tools made by prehistoric peoples ditions—including researchers from Kenya, Ethiopia,
were commonly found in Europe, their bones were not. Japan, Belgium, Great Britain, Canada, France, Israel,
A few fossilized skeletons had come to light in France the Netherlands, South Africa, and the United States—
and Germany, but they were not at all like the predicted scoured East, South, and central Africa recovering un-
missing link, nor had any human fossils been discov- precedented amounts of fossil material. This wealth of
ered in England. Given this state of affairs, the Pilt- fossil evidence has allowed scientists to constantly re-
down fi nds could not have come at a better time. Here fi ne our understanding of early human evolution. Today
at last was the long-awaited missing link, and it was al- there is widespread agreement over its broad outline,
most exactly as predicted. Even better, so far as English- even though debate continues over details.
speaking scientists were concerned, it was found in En- What is clear is that the course of human evolu-
glish soil. tion began with a shift toward bipedalism—the shared
In the context of the evidence available in the early derived characteristic distinguishing humans and their
1900s, the idea of an ancient human with a large brain ancestors from the other African apes. As described in
and an apelike face became widely accepted as valid. Chapter 2, many scientists continue to restrict the term
Fortunately, the self-correcting nature of science has “hominid” for humans and the other fossil bipeds while
prevailed, exposing the Piltdown specimens as a forg- others now call these specimens “hominins.” The fol-
ery. The discovery (primarily in South Africa, China, lowing Original Study by Lee Berger, the director of the
and Java) of more and more fossils, of smaller-brained paleoanthropology unit at the University of Witwaters-
bipeds from the distant past, caused scientists to ques- rand in South Africa, weighs the issue.
128 Chapter Six/The First Bipeds

Original Study
By Lee R. Berger

Is It Time to Revise the System of Scientific Naming?

A team of researchers led by paleo- few other criteria, we are separated from that possess a suite of characteristics
anthropologist Meave Leakey sparked a the other apes by being bipedal; Homo such as bipedalism, reduced canine size,
controversy among evolutionary scien- being our generic classification as human; and increasing brain size such as the
tists and the press alike earlier this year and finally sapiens, a species name mean- australopithecines. The Pongidae include
when they announced the discovery of a ing, rightly or wrongly, “wise.” the remaining African great apes includ-
new genus and species of ape-man. They The Linnaean system also recognizes ing gorillas, chimpanzees, and the Asian
named their find Kenyanthropus platy- such groupings as superfamilies and orangutan.
ops, the “flat-faced man of Kenya.” subfamilies. In the case of the human
Ordinarily, the find itself would be lineage, the most often recognized super- New Molecular Evidence
enough to spark a flame of controversy family is the Hominoidea (hominoids), Modern-day genetic research is providing
in the heart of any follower of hu- which includes all of the living apes. It evidence that morphological distinctions
man origins research. But this find also is from this point onward that most of are not necessarily proof of evolutionary
highlighted an ongoing debate within the the present human origins classification relatedness. Recent evidence suggests
scientific community over the adoption debate begins. that humans are in fact more closely
of a new system for naming, ranking, The traditional view has been to related to the chimpanzee and bonobo
and classifying organisms. The debate is recognize three families of hominoid: than either species is to the gorilla.
not confined to ivory tower scientists. the Hylobatidae, the Hominidae, and the Chimps and humans share something
The fossil discovery was widely reported. Pongidae. The Hylobatidae include the like 98 percent of genes, indicating that
The New York Times referred to the new so-called lesser apes of Asia, the gibbons, we share a common ape ancestor.
genus as a “hominid”; National Geo- and siamangs. The Hominidae include Divergence times between the two
graphic reported on the find as a “hom- living humans and typically fossil apes groups based on a molecular clock
inin.” National Geographic suggest that the chimpanzee/
subsequently received several human split occurred between
hundred e-mails complaining 5 and 7 million years ago. In
about the poor editorial work turn, the African apes, includ-
of the staff that had clearly ing humans, are more closely
erred by replacing a “d” with related to each other than any
an “n.” But were they really are to the orangutan.
wrong, and more important, In recognition of these and
does it really matter? other genetic relationships,
some argue that we must over-
Linnaean Classification haul the present morphologi-
The taxonomic classification cally based classification system
system devised by Linnaeus in for one that is more representa-
1758 is still used in modified tive of our true evolutionary
form today. Animals are iden- relationships as evinced by our
tified, in descending order, genes.
as belonging to a kingdom,
phylum, class, order, family, Reworking the Family Tree
genus, and finally a species. This is where the term hominin
This classification system is comes into play. Under the new
based largely on the animal’s classification model, homi-
© Kenneth Garrett/National Geographic Society Images

physical characteristics; noids would remain a primate

things that looked alike were superfamily, as has always been
placed together. In the Lin- the case. Under this hominoid
naean system, humans would umbrella would fall orangutans,
be categorized first as Anima- gorillas, chimps, and humans, all
lia; then Chordata because we in the family Hominidae.
have a backbone; Mammalia In recognition of their
because we have hair and genetic divergence some 11
suckle our young; primates to 13 million years ago, the
because we share with apes, orangutans would be placed in
monkeys, and lemurs certain the subfamily Ponginae, and the
morphological characteristics; African apes, including humans,
Hominidae because, among a Lee Berger excavating at the South African site Sterkfontein. would all be lumped together
 The Anatomy of Bipedalism 129

in the subfamily Homininae. and fossil African apes, which

The bipedal apes—all of the are not so closely related to
fossil species as well as living us based on the molecular
humans—would fall into the evidence we have to date.
tribe Hominini (thus hominin). In the long run, “hominin”
All of the fossil genera, such is likely to win out against the
as Australopithecus, Ardipi- term “hominid.” It is more pre-
thecus, Kenyanthropus, and cise and recognizes the biologi-
Homo, would fall into this cal reality that moves beyond
tribe. physical morphology.
A few evolutionary biolo- Do I like it? Well, I would

© Dr. Fred Spoor/National Museums of Kenya

gists want a more extreme never try to stand in the way
classification, which would of the advancement of science,
include humans and chimpan- but just try saying Hominidae,
zees within the same genus, Homininae, Hominini three
the genus Homo. times fast in front of a first-
year Introduction to Anthropol-
Old Versus New ogy class, and you will have
So hominid or hominin? Is it some sympathy for the scientist
just a matter of semantics who clings to the term “homi-
that only purists should be nid” for a few more years.
worried about? The New York This 3- to 4-million-year-old skull could be another australopith- So what’s in a name? The
Times’ use of “hominid” and ecine or, as its discoverers suggest, a separate genus Kenyanthropus classification debate is not
National Geographic’s use platyops. just a debate for the purist; it
of “hominin” were both right cuts to the very core of our
in the broadest sense. In either the “old” which would by definition certainly understanding of human’s place in nature
or “new” classification system, hominid include the new Kenyanthropus fossils. and our evolutionary relationships with
works; it just means different things. The use of hominin by National our closest living relatives. All hominins
In the old system, hominid refers Geographic is technically more correct are hominids, but not all hominids are
solely to the bipedal ape line. In the new in that it recognizes the relationship of hominins.
classification system it refers to the Kenyanthropus to the other bipedal apes (By Lee R. Berger for National Geographic
broader grouping of all the great apes, and distinguishes it from other living News, December 4, 2001.)

that together maintain the body in an upright posture

THE ANATOMY OF BIPEDALISM by positioning the body’s center of gravity above the legs
For a hominoid fossil to be defi nitively classified as part rather than forward. The curves correspond to the neck
of the human evolutionary line, certain evidence of bi- (cervical), chest (thoracic), lower back (lumbar), and pel-
pedalism—the shared derived characteristic distinguish- vic (sacral) regions of the spine, respectively. In a chimp,
ing humans and their ancestors from the other African the shape of the spine follows a single arching curve.
apes—is required. Bipedalism is associated with ana- Interestingly, at birth the spines of human babies have
tomical changes literally from head to toe (Figures 6.1 a single arching curve as seen in adult apes. As they ma-
and 6.2). ture the curves characteristic of bipedalism appear, the
As noted in the Taung child, evidence of bipedalism cervical curve at about three months on average and the
can even be preserved in the skull. Evidence of walking lumbar curve at around twelve months—a time when
on two feet is preserved in the skull because balancing many babies begin to walk.
the skull above the spinal column in an upright posture The shape of the pelvis also differs considerably be-
requires a skull position relatively centered above the tween bipeds and other apes. Rather than an elongated
spinal column. The spinal cord leaves the skull at its base shape following the arch of the spine as seen in chimps,
through an opening called the foramen magnum (Latin for the biped pelvis is wider and foreshortened so that it can
“big opening”). In a knuckle-walker like a chimp, the fo- provide structural support for the upright body. With a
ramen magnum is placed more toward the back of the wide bipedal pelvis, the lower limbs would be oriented
skull while in a biped it is in a more forward position. away from the body’s center of gravity if the thigh bones
Extending down from the skull of a biped, the spi- (femora) didn’t angle in toward each other from the hip
nal column makes a series of convex and concave curves to the knee, a phenomenon described as “kneeing-in.”
130 Chapter Six/The First Bipeds

Human Chimpanzee

Foramen magnum

Figure 6.1
Bipedalism can be inferred from the position of the foramen magnum,
the large opening at the base of the skull. Note its relatively forward
position on the human skull (left) compared to the chimp skull.

A Cervical vertebra
B Thoracic vertebra
C Lumbar vertebra
D Sacrum
E Ilium A
Pelvis
F Ischium
Homo sapiens Australopithecus Ape
G Pubis B
H Femur
I Tibia

A E
D
B G
F
C
D
E
H
G
F

Figure 6.3
I Examination of the upper hip bones and lower limbs of (from left)
I Homo sapiens, Australopithecus, and an ape can be used to determine
means of locomotion. The similarities of the human and australopith-
ecine bones are striking and are indicative of bipedal locomotion.

Figure 6.2 their stable arched feet and the absent opposable big toe.
Differences between skeletons of chimps and humans reflect their In general, humans and their ancestors possess shorter
mode of locomotion. toes than the other apes.
These anatomical features allow paleoanthropolo-
(Notice how your own knees and feet can touch when gists to “diagnose” bipedal locomotion even in frag-
standing while your hip joints remain widely spaced.) mentary remains such as the top of the shin bone or the
This angling does not continue past the knee to the base of a skull. In addition, bipedal locomotion can also
shin bones (tibia), which are oriented vertically. The re- be established through fossilized footprints, preserving
sulting knee joint is not symmetrical, allowing the thigh not so much the shape of foot bones but the character-
and shin bones to meet despite their different orienta- istic stride used by humans and their ancestors. In fact,
tions (Figure 6.3). Another characteristic of bipeds is bipedal locomotion is a process of shifting the body’s
 The Pliocene Fossil Evidence: Australopithecus and Other Bipeds 131

Figure 6.4
The bipedal gait in some regards is really “serial monopedalism” or locomotion one foot at a time through
a series of controlled falls. Note how the body’s weight shifts from one foot to the other as an individual
moves through the swing phase to heel strike and toe off.

weight from one foot to the other as the nonsupporting by paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey in search of hu-
foot swings forward. While the body is supported in a man origins at Laetoli (see Anthropologists of Note). The
one-legged stance, a biped takes a stride by swinging the shape of the footprints, the linear distance between the
other leg forward. The heel of the foot is the first part heel strikes and toe off, are all quite human.
of the swinging leg to hit the ground. Then as the biped Once bipedalism is established in a fossil specimen,
continues to move forward, he or she rolls from the heel paleoanthropologists turn to other features such as the
toward the toe, pushing or “toeing off ” into the next skull or teeth to establish relationships among the vari-
swing phase of the stride. While one leg is moving from ous fossil groups.
heel strike to toe off of the stance phase, the other leg
is moving forward through the swing phase of walking
(Figure 6.4).
The most dramatic confi rmation of australopith- THE PLIOCENE FOSSIL EVIDENCE:
ecines’ walking ability comes from Laetoli, Tanzania, AUSTRALOPITHECUS AND
where, 3.6 million years ago, three individuals walked
across newly fallen volcanic ash. Because it was damp,
OTHER BIPEDS
the ash took the impressions of their feet, and these were As described in the previous chapter, the Miocene epoch
sealed beneath subsequent ash falls until discovered by was a time of tremendous geological change. The effects
chemist Paul Abell in 1978. Abell was part of a team led of these changes continued into the Pliocene. The steady

Image not available due to copyright restrictions

132 Chapter Six/The First Bipeds

Anthropologists of Note
Louis S. B. Leakey (1903–1972)
Mary Leakey (1913–1996)

Few figures in the history of found the first footprints of

paleoanthropology discovered Australopithecus at Laetoli,
so many key fossils, received Tanzania.
so much public acclaim, or In addition to their own
stirred up as much contro- work, Louis Leakey promoted
© Melville Bell Grosvenor/National Geographic Society Images
versy as Louis Leakey and his a good deal of important work
second wife, Mary Leakey. on the part of others. He made
Born in Kenya of mission- it possible for Jane Goodall
ary parents, Louis received to begin her landmark field
his early education from an studies of chimpanzees; later
English governess and subse- on, he was instrumental in set-
quently was sent to England ting up similar studies among
for a university education. gorillas (by Dian Fossey) and
He returned to Kenya in the orangutans (by Birute Galdikas).
1920s to begin his career He set into motion the fel-
there. lowship program responsible
It was in 1931 that Louis for the training of numerous
and his research assistant paleoanthropologists from
from England, Mary Nicol Africa. Last but not least, the
(whom he married in 1936), began work- and interpreted the fossil material, Mary Leakey tradition has been continued by
ing in their spare time at Olduvai Gorge made the definitive study of the Oldowan son Richard, his wife, Meave, and their
in Tanzania, searching patiently and tools. daughter Louise.
persistently for remains of early human The Leakeys’ important discoveries Louis Leakey had a flamboyant per-
ancestors. It seemed a good place to were not limited to those at Olduvai. sonality and a way of making interpreta-
look, for there were numerous animal In the early 1930s, they found the first tions of fossil materials that frequently
fossils, as well as crude stone tools lying fossils of Miocene apes in Africa at did not stand up well to careful scrutiny,
scattered on the ground and eroding out Rusinga Island in Lake Victoria. Also but this did not stop him from publicly
of the walls of the gorge. in the 1930s, Louis found a number of presenting his views as if they were the
Their patience and persistence were skulls at Kanjera, Kenya, that show a gospel truth. It was this aspect of the
not rewarded until 1959, when Mary mixture of derived and more ancestral Leakeys’ work that generated contro-
found the first fossil. A year later, another features. In 1948, at Fort Ternan, Kenya, versy. Nonetheless, the Leakeys accom-
skull was found, and Olduvai was on its the Leakeys found the remains of a late plished and promoted more work that
way to being recognized as one of the Miocene ape with features that seemed resulted in the accumulation of knowl-
most important sources of fossils impor- appropriate for an ancestor of the bi- edge about human origins than anyone
tant to human evolution in all of Africa. peds. After Louis’ death, a member before them. Anthropology clearly owes
While Louis reconstructed, described, of an expedition led by Mary Leakey them a great deal.

movement of geological plates supporting the African eastern third of the African continent, which experi-
and Eurasian continents resulted in a collision of the enced a cooler and drier climate and a transformation of
two landmasses at either end of what now is the Medi- vegetation from forest to dry grassy savannah.
terranean Sea (Figure 6.5). This contact allowed for the The system also contributed to the volcanic activity
spread of species between these continents. in the region, which provides opportunities for accurate
Associated with this collision is a suite of geologi- dating of fossil specimens. Also in the Miocene, the In-
cal changes that produced the Great Rift Valley system. dian subcontinent, which had been a solitary landmass
This system consists of a separation between geological for many millions of years, came into its present position
plates, extending from the Middle East through the Red through a collision with Eurasia, contributing further
Sea and eastern Africa into southern Africa. Part of rift- to cooler, drier conditions globally. In addition to caus-
ing involves the steady increase in the elevation of the ing global climate change, these geological events also
provided excellent opportunities for the discovery of
savannah Semi-arid plains environment as in eastern Africa. fossil specimens as layers of the earth become exposed
through the rifting process.
 The Pliocene Fossil Evidence: Australopithecus and Other Bipeds 133

Figure 6.5
Australopithecine fossils have been
found in South Africa, Malawi,
Medi Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Chad.
terranean Sea
In the Miocene the Eurasian and
African continents made contact at
the eastern and western ends of what
now is the Mediterranean Sea. As
these land masses met, “rifting” also
occurred, gradually raising the eleva-
tion of the eastern third of Africa. The
CHAD
dryer climates that resulted may have
played a role in human evolution in
the distant past. In the present this
rifting also created excellent geologi-
ETHIOPIA
cal conditions for finding fossils.

KENYA
Indian
Ocean
TANZANIA

Atlantic MALAWI

Ocean

SOUTH
AFRICA

Since Dart’s original fi nd, hundreds of other fos- East Africa

sil bipeds have been discovered, first in South Africa and
later in Tanzania, Malawi, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Chad. Geological and climatic changes in human evolutionary
As they were discovered, many were placed in a variety history have been frequently incorporated in theories
of different genera and species, but now usually all are about the evolution of bipedalism with an emphasis on
considered to belong to the single genus Australopithecus. adaptation to the dry savannah environment. As more
Anthropologists recognize up to eight species of the ge- fossil evidence is discovered from the early Pliocene,
nus (Table 6.1). In addition, some other groups of fossil we increasingly see that some of the early bipeds may
bipeds from the Pliocene epoch (1.6 to 5 million years have inhabited a forested environment. For example,
ago) have been discovered. in 1994 pieces of several individuals were discovered in
First we will describe those species and the austra- 4.4-million-year-old deposits along Ethiopia’s Awash River
lopithecines in the order in which they inhabited the accompanied by fossils of forest animals. Subsequent
earth up to the middle Pliocene (2.5 million years ago) fi nds in the same region date between 5.2 and 5.8 mil-
when the genus Homo first appeared. The East African lion years ago. They are thought to represent early and
and South African evidence will be presented separately later varieties of a single species, Ardipithecus ramidus.
because the dating for East African sites is more reliable. The name is fitting for an ultimate human ancestor as
Next we will examine late-appearing australopithecines,
including a grade of australopithecine found in both
Ardipithecus ramidus One of the earliest bipeds that lived in
eastern and southern Africa that co-existed with the ge- eastern Africa about 4.4 to 5.8 million years ago.
nus Homo.
134 Chapter Six/The First Bipeds

TABLE 6.1 SPECIES OF AUSTRALOPITHECUS *

Species Location Dates Notable Features/Fossil Specimens

†
A. anamensis Kenya 3.9–4.2 mya Oldest australopithecine

A. afarensis Ethiopia and Tanzania 2.9–3.9 mya Well represented in fossil record (Lucy, First Family, Laetoli footprints,
“Lucy’s baby”)

A. africanus South Africa 2.3–3 mya First discovered, gracile, well represented in fossil record (Taung)

A. aethiopicus Kenya 2.5 mya Oldest robust australopithecine (“Black Skull”)

A. bahrelghazali Chad 3–3.5 mya Only australopithecine from central Africa

A. boisei Kenya 1.2–2.3 mya Later robust form co-existed with early Homo (“Zinj”)

A. garhi Ethiopia 2.5 mya Later East African australopithecine with humanlike dentition

A. robustus South Africa 1–2 mya Robust co-existed with early Homo

*Paleoanthropologists differ in the number of species they recognize, some suggesting separate genera.
†
Million years ago.

Ardi means “floor” and ramid means “root” in the local and Mary Leakey, discovered these fossils in 1995 and
Afar language. decided to place them in a separate species from other
Careful examination of the Ardipithecus specimens known australopithecines. Its name means “ape-man of
proved that all early bipeds are not necessarily direct an- the lake,” and it shows particularities in the teeth such as
cestors to later humans. Ardipithecus was much smaller a true “sectorial” premolar tooth shaped to hone the up-
than a modern chimpanzee, but it was chimpanzeelike per canine as seen in apes. As in other australopithecines
in other features, such as the shape and enamel thickness and humans, the enamel in the molar teeth is thick. The
of its teeth. On the other hand, a partially complete skel- limb bone fragments indicate bipedalism.
eton of one Ardipithecus individual suggests that unlike Moving closer to the present, the next species de-
chimpanzees, and like all other species in the human fi ned in the fossil record is Australopithecus afarensis.
line, this creature was bipedal. Given the combination No longer the earliest australopithecine species, it still
of bipedalism and chimpanzeelike characteristics, many remains one of the best known due to the Laetoli foot-
paleoanthropologists consider it a side branch of the hu- prints from Tanzania, the famous “Lucy” specimen and
man evolutionary tree. Fossil evidence shows that over the recent discovery of the 3.3-million-year-old remains
the next several million years, many bipedal species in- of a young child called “Lucy’s baby,” both from Ethio-
habited Africa—making it more accurate to refer to an pia. Lucy consists of bones from almost all parts of a
evolutionary bush rather than a tree. single skeleton discovered in 1974 in the Afar triangle of
The Ardipithecus fi nds along with the Orrorin and Ethiopia (hence the name afarensis). The Afar region is
Toumai specimens described in the previous chapter also famous for the “First Family,” a collection of bones
have begun to provide evidence for the time period be- from at least thirteen individuals, ranging in age from
fore australopithecines appeared. So what are we to infancy to adulthood, who died together as a result of
make of these fossils? Until we have better samples, we some single calamity.
will not know for sure. What seems likely on present At least sixty individuals have been removed from
genetic and fossil evidence is that bipeds evolved from fossil localities in Ethiopia and Tanzania. Specimens
late Miocene apes, becoming distinct by at least 5 mil- from Ethiopia’s Afar region are securely dated by potas-
lion years ago. It seems that more than one line of biped sium argon to between 2.9 and 3.9 million years ago.
appeared at this time, but just how many is not known. Material from Laetoli, in Tanzania, is securely dated to
Australopithecines emerged from this early branching. 3.6 million years ago. Altogether, A. afarensis appears to
In turn, one of these species from the middle Pliocene be a sexually dimorphic bipedal species with estimates of
evolved into the genus Homo. body size and weight ranging between 1.1 and 1.6 meters
The oldest australopithecine species known so far (3½–5 feet) and 29 and 45 kilograms (64–100 pounds),
consists of some jaw and limb bones from Kenya that respectively.1
date to between 3.9 and 4.2 million years ago (see Aus-
tralopithecus anamensis in Table 6.1). Meave and Louise 1McHenry, H. M. (1992). Body size and proportions in early homi-
Leakey, daughter-in-law and granddaughter of Louis nids. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 87, 407.
 The Pliocene Fossil Evidence: Australopithecus and Other Bipeds 135

Figure 6.6
Sexual dimorphism in
canine teeth.

If paleoanthropologists are correct in assuming that though canine size is reduced compared to that of chimps
larger fossil specimens were males and smaller speci- (Figure 6.6).
mens females, males were about 1½ times the size of Nearly 40 percent complete, the Lucy specimen has
females. In this respect, they were somewhat like the provided invaluable information about the shape of the
Miocene African apes, with sexual dimorphism greater pelvis and torso of early human ancestors. A. afarensis’
than one sees in a modern chimpanzee but less than physical appearance was unusual by human standards:
one sees in gorillas and orangutans. Male canine teeth, They may be described as looking like an ape from the
too, are significantly larger than canine teeth of females, waist up and like a human from the waist down (Fig-
ure 6.7). In addition, a forearm bone from Lucy, which
is relatively shorter than that of an ape, suggests that the
upper limb was lighter and the center of gravity lower
in the body than in apes. Still, the arms of Lucy and
other early australopithecines are long in proportion to
their legs when compared to the proportions seen in hu-
mans. Though fully competent as bipeds, the curvature
of the fi ngers and toes and the somewhat elevated posi-
tion of the shoulder joint indicate A. afarensis was more
adapted to tree climbing compared to more recent hu-
man ancestors.
Though she lived about 150,000 years before her
namesake, “Lucy’s baby,” the discovery from Ethiopia
announced in 2006, will add considerably to our knowl-
edge about A. afarensis.2 These fossilized remains of a
young child dated to 3.3 million years ago were discov-
ered in the Dikika area of northern Ethiopia in 2000. Be-
cause the remains of this child, thought to have died in
a flash flood, are particularly well preserved, scientists
© 1965 David L. Brill by permission of Owen Lovejoy

can investigate new aspects of this species’ biology and

behavior. For example, a preserved hyoid bone (located
in the throat region) allows scientists to reconstruct aus-
tralopithecine patterns of vocalization. While the lower
limbs clearly indicate bipedalism, the specimen’s scapula
and long curved fi nger bones are more apelike.
The skull of A. afarensis is relatively low, the fore-
head slopes backward, and the brow ridge that helps give
apes such massive-looking foreheads is also present. The
lower half of the face is chinless and accented by jaws
A 40 percent complete australopithecine skeleton “Lucy,” named after that are quite large, relative to the size of the skull. The
the Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” popular at the time brain is small and apelike, and the general conformation
of discovery, indicates that these australopithecine ancestors were bi- of the skull seems nonhuman. Even the semicircular ca-
pedal. This adult female was only 3½ feet tall, typical of the small size
of female australopithecines. By understanding the shapes of bones,
nal, a part of the ear crucial to maintenance of balance, is
paleoanthropologists have reconstructed the entire skeleton from the
remains that were discovered. (Note the darker color of the actual fos- 2 Zeresenay, A., et al. (2006). A juvenile early hominin skeleton
sil remains, as opposed to the lighter reconstructed portions). from Dikika, Ethiopia. Nature 443, 296–301.
136 Chapter Six/The First Bipeds

Figure 6.7
Trunk skeletons of modern
human, A. afarensis, and
chimpanzee, compared.
In its pelvis, the australo-
pithecine resembles the
modern human, but its rib
cage shows the pyramidal
configuration of the ape.

apelike. Cranial capacity, commonly used as an index of not clear whether australopithecine brain size was larger
brain size for A. afarensis, averages about 420 cubic centi- than a modern ape’s, relative to body size.
meters (cc), roughly equivalent to the size of a chimpan- Much has been written about australopithecine teeth
zee and about one-third the size of living humans.3 Intel- because they are one of the primary means for distin-
ligence, however, is indicated not only by absolute brain guishing between closely related groups. In A. afarensis,
size alone but also by the ratio of brain to body size. Un- unlike humans, the teeth are all quite large, particularly
fortunately, with such a wide range of adult weights, it is the molars. The premolar is no longer fully sectorial as
in A. anamensis, but most other features of the teeth rep-
3Grine, F. E. (1993). Australopithecine taxonomy and phylogeny: resent a more ancestral rather than derived condition.
Historical background and recent interpretation. In R. L. Ciochon For example, the rows of the teeth are more parallel
& J. G. Fleagle (Eds.), The human evolution source book (pp. 201–202). (the ancestral ape condition) compared to the arch seen
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
in the human tooth rows. The canines project slightly,
and a slight space or gap known as a diastema remains
diastema A space between the canines and other teeth allowing
large projecting canines space within the jaw. between the upper incisors and canines as found in the
apes (Figure 6.8).

Figure 6.8
Ape Laetoli-hadar Later Australopithecus and Homo
(Early Australopithecus)
The upper jaws of an ape,
Dental arcade and diastema Australopithecus, and mod-
ern human show important
differences in the shape
of the dental arch and
the spacing between the
canines and adjoining teeth.
Only in the earliest austra-
lopithecines can a diastema
(a large gap between the
upper canine and incisor)
be seen.

Chimpanzee upper jaw AI-200 Human upper jaw

 The Pliocene Fossil Evidence: Australopithecus and Other Bipeds 137

To further complicate the diversity seen in A. afa-

rensis, in 2001 Meave and Louise Leakey announced the Catchment
area
discovery of an almost complete cranium, parts of two
upper jaws, and assorted teeth from a site in northern
Kenya, dated to between 3.2 and 3.5 million years ago.4 Reconstructed
Feet
Contemporary with early East African Australopithecus, 0 surface
the Leakeys see this as a different genus named Kenyan-
thropus platyops (“flat-faced man of Kenya”). Unlike early
20
australopithecines, Kenyanthropus is said to have a small
braincase and small molars set in a large, humanlike, Reconstructed
flat face. But again, there is controversy; the Leakeys see 40 rock overhang
and shaft
the fossils as ancestral to the genus Homo. Other paleo-
anthropologists are not convinced, suggesting that the Present
Leakeys’ interpretation rests on a questionable recon- surface
struction of badly broken fossil specimens.5

Central Africa Limestone

Dated to the same time period as Kenyanthropus platyops

is another recent discovery of an australopithecine from
Figure 6.9
Chad in central Africa. The new species, Australopithe-
Many of the fossil sites in South Africa were limestone caverns con-
cus bahrelghazali, is named after the Arabic name for a nected to the surface by a shaft. Over time, dirt, bones, and other
nearby riverbed and consists of a jaw and several teeth matter that fell down the shaft accumulated inside the cavern, becom-
dated to between 3 and 3.5 million years ago.6 This is the ing fossilized. In the Pliocene, the earth next to the shaft’s opening
fi rst australopithecine discovered in central Africa. With provided a sheltered location for trees that, in turn, may have been
time, perhaps more discoveries from this region will used by predators for eating without being bothered by scavengers.
give a fuller understanding of the role of A. bahrelghazali
in human evolution and their relationship to the possible ure 6.10) described in 1995.8 The other South African
bipeds from the Miocene. remains are difficult to date. A faunal series established
in East Africa places these specimens between 2.3 and
3 million years ago. These specimens are all classified in
South Africa the australopithecine species named by Dart—A. africa-
Throughout the 20th century and into the present, pa- nus, also known as gracile australopithecines.
leoanthropologists have continued to recover australo- The reconstruction of australopithecine biology is
pithecine fossils from a variety of sites in South Africa. controversial. Some researchers think they see evidence
Included in this group are numerous fossils found begin- for some expansion of the brain in A. africanus, while
ning in the 1930s at Sterkfontein and Makapansgat, in ad- others vigorously disagree. Paleoanthropologists also
dition to Dart’s original fi nd from Taung. compare the outside appearance of the brain, as revealed
It is important to note, however, that South African by casts of the insides of skulls. Some researchers sug-
sites, lacking the clear stratigraphy and volcanic ash of gest that cerebral reorganization toward a human con-
East African sites, are much more difficult to date and dition is present,9 while others state the organization of
interpret (Figure 6.9). One unusually complete skull and
skeleton has been dated by paleomagnetism to about 8Clarke, R. J., & Tobias, P. V. (1995). Sterkfontein member 2 foot
bones of the oldest South African hominid. Science 269, 521–524.
3.5 million years ago,7 as was a partial foot skeleton (Fig-
9Holloway, R. L., & de LaCoste-Lareymondie, M. C. (1982). Brain
endocast asymmetry in pongids and hominids: Some preliminary
4Leakey, M. G., et al. (2001). New hominin genus from eastern Af-
rica shows diverse middle Pliocene lineages. Nature 410, 433–440.
5White, T. D. (2003). Early hominids—diversity or distortion? Sci- Kenyanthropus platyops A new proposed genus and species of
ence 299, 1,994–1,997. bipeds contemporary with early australopithecines; may not be
separate genus.
6Brunet, M., et al. (1995).The fi rst australopithecine 2,500 kilome-
gracile australopithecines Members of the genus Australo-
ters west of the Rift Valley (Chad). Nature 16, 378(6554), 273–275.
pithecus possessing a more lightly built chewing apparatus;
7Clarke, R. J. (1998). First ever discovery of a well preserved skull likely had a diet that included more meat than that of the robust
and associated skeleton of Australopithecus. South African Journal of australopithecines.
Science 94, 460–464.
138 Chapter Six/The First Bipeds

discovery of the young A. afarensis specimen will help

scientists to resolve this debate. A current understanding
of genetics and the macroevolutionary process indicates
that a developmental shift is likely to have accompanied
a change in body plan such as the emergence of bipedal-
ism among the African hominoids.
Other South African sites have yielded fossils whose
skulls and teeth looked quite different from the gracile
australopithecines described above. These South African
fossils are known as Australopithecus robustus. They are
notable for having teeth, jaws, and chewing muscles that
are massive (robust) relative to the size of the braincase.
The gracile forms are slightly smaller on average and
lack such robust chewing structures. Over the course
of evolution, several distinct groups of robust australo-
pithecines have appeared not only in South Africa, but
throughout East Africa as well.

Robust Australopithecines
Figure 6.10 The remains of robust australopithecines were first
Drawing of the foot bones of a 3- to 3.5-million-year-old Australo- found at Kromdraai and Swartkrans in South Africa by
pithecus from Sterkfontein, South Africa, as they would have been in paleoanthropologists Robert Broom and John Robinson
the complete foot. Note how long and flexible the first toe (at right) is.
in the 1930s in deposits that, unfortunately, cannot be
securely dated. Current thinking puts them anywhere
the brain is more apelike than human.10 At the moment, from 1 and 1.8 million years ago. Usually referred to as
the weight of the evidence favors mental capabilities for A. robustus (see Table 6.1), this species possessed a char-
all gracile australopithecines as being comparable to acteristic robust chewing apparatus including a sagit-
those of modern great apes (chimps, bonobos, gorillas, tal crest running from front to back along the top of
orangutans). the skull. This feature provides sufficient area on a rela-
Using patterns of tooth eruption in young australo- tively small braincase for attachment of the huge tempo-
pithecines such as Taung, North American paleoanthro- ral muscles required to operate powerful jaws. Because
pologist Alan Mann and colleagues suggested that the it is present in robust australopithecines and gorillas
developmental pattern of australopithecines was more today, this feature provides an example of convergent
humanlike than apelike,11 though some other paleo- evolution.
anthropologists do not agree. Evidence from the recent The fi rst robust australopithecine to be found in East
Africa was discovered by Mary Leakey in the summer of
fi ndings on the paleontology of cerebral dominance. American Jour- 1959, the centennial year of the publication of Darwin’s
nal of Physical Anthropology 58, 101–110. On the Origin of Species. She found it in Olduvai Gorge, a
10Falk, D. (1989). Apelike endocast of “ape-man” Taung. American fossil-rich area near Ngorongoro Crater, on the Serengeti
Journal of Physical Anthropology 80, 335–339. Plain of Tanzania, East Africa. Olduvai is a huge gash in
11Mann A., Lampl, M., & Monge, J. (1990). Patterns of ontogeny in the earth, about 25 miles long and 300 feet deep, which
human evolution: Evidence from dental development. Yearbook of cuts through Plio-Pleistocene and recent geological strata
Physical Anthropology, 33, 111–150. revealing close to 2 million years of the earth’s history.
Mary Leakey’s discovery was reconstructed by her
robust australopithecines Several species within the genus husband Louis, who gave it the name Zinjanthropus boi-
Australopithecus, who lived from 2.5 and 1.1 million years ago in sei (Zinj, an Arabic word for “East Africa,” boisei after
eastern and southern Africa; known for the rugged nature of their the benefactor who funded their expedition). At fi rst, he
chewing apparatus (large back teeth, large chewing muscles, and thought this ancient fossil seemed more humanlike than
a bony ridge on their skull tops for the insertion of these large Australopithecus and extremely close to modern humans
muscles). in evolutionary development, in part due to the stone
sagittal crest A crest running from front to back on the top of
tools found in association with this specimen. Further
the skull along the midline to provide a surface of bone for the
attachment of the large temporal muscles for chewing. study, however, revealed that Zinjanthropus, the remains
of which consisted of a skull and a few limb bones, was
 The Pliocene Fossil Evidence: Australopithecus and Other Bipeds 139

VISUAL COUNTERPOINT
©1985 David L. Brill

©1985 David L. Brill

The differences between gracile and robust australopithecines are related primarily to their chewing ap-
paratus. Robust species have extremely large cheek teeth, large chewing muscles, and a bony ridge on the
top of their skulls for the attachment of large temporal muscles for chewing. The front and back teeth of
gracile species are balanced in size, and their chewing muscles (reflected in a less massive skull) are more
like those seen in the later genus Homo. If you place your own hands on the sides of your skull above your
ears while opening and closing your jaw, you can feel where your temporal muscles attach to your skull. By
moving your hands toward the top of your skull you can feel where these muscles end in humans.

an East African species of robust australopithecine. Al- is somewhat larger; whereas the South African robust
though similar in many ways to A. robustus, “Zinj” is forms are estimated to have weighed between 32 and
now most commonly referred to as Australopithecus boisei 40 kilograms, the East African robusts probably weighed
(see Table 6.1). Potassium-argon dating places this early from 34 to 49 kilograms.
species at about 1.75 million years old. Because the earliest robust skull from East Africa
Since the time of Mary Leakey’s original fi nd, nu- (2.5 million years), the so-called Black Skull from Kenya,
merous other fossils of this robust species have been retains a number of ancestral features shared with ear-
found at Olduvai, as well as north and east of Lake Tur- lier East African australopithecines, it is possible that it
kana in Kenya. Although one fossil specimen often re- evolved from A. afarensis, giving rise to the later robust
ferred to as the “Black Skull” (see A. aethiopicus in Table East African forms. Whether the South African robust
6.1) is known to be as much as 2.5 million years old, some australopithecines represent a southern offshoot of the
date to as recently as 1.1 million years ago. East African line or convergent evolution from a South
Like robust australopithecines from South Africa, African ancestor is so far not settled; arguments can be
East African robust forms possessed enormous molars presented for both interpretations. In either case, what
and premolars. Despite a large mandible and palate, the happened was that the later robust australopithecines de-
anterior teeth (canines and incisors) were often crowded, veloped molars and premolars that are both absolutely
owing to the room needed for the massive molars. and relatively larger than those of earlier australopith-
The heavy skull, more massive even than seen in ecines who possessed front and back teeth more in pro-
the robust forms from South Africa, has a sagittal crest portion to those seen in the genus Homo.
and prominent brow ridges. Cranial capacity ranges Larger teeth require more bone to support them,
from about 500 to 530 cubic centimeters. Body size, too, hence the prominent jaws of the robust australopith-
140 Chapter Six/The First Bipeds

Epochs
MIOCENE PLIOCENE PLEISTOCENE
Australopithecus aethiopicus
Kenyanthropus
Sahelanthropus platyops
tchadensis Australopithecus gahri

Orrorin Australopithecus
tugenensis afarensis Australopithecus boisei

Ardipithecus ramidus Australopithecus Australopithecus Australopithecus

anamensis africanus robustus

6 5 4 3 2 1
Millions of years ago

Figure 6.11
The Pliocene fossil bipeds and the scientific names by which they have been known, arranged according to
when they lived. A. aethiopicus, A. boisei, and A. robustus are all robust australopithecines. Whether all the
different species names are warranted is debated.

ecines. Larger jaws and heavy chewing activity require East Africa added another australopithecine to the mix.
more jaw musculature that attaches to the skull. The Found in the Afar region of Ethiopia, these fossils were
marked crests seen on skulls of the late australopith- named Australopithecus garhi after the word for “surprise”
ecines provide for the attachment of chewing muscles in the local Afar language. Though the teeth were large,
on a skull that has increased very little in size. In effect, this australopithecine possessed an arched dental arcade
robust australopithecines had evolved into highly effi- and a ratio between front and back teeth more like hu-
cient chewing machines. Clearly, their immense cheek mans and South African gracile australopithecines rather
teeth and powerful chewing muscles bespeak the kind of than like robust groups. For this reason, some have pro-
heavy chewing a diet of uncooked plant foods requires. posed that A. garhi is ancestral to the genus Homo. More
This kind of general level of biological organization evidence will be needed to prove whether or not this
shared by separate fossil groups as seen in the robust aus- is true.
tralopithecines is referred to as a grade. The precise relationship among all the australopith-
Many anthropologists believe that, by becoming a ecine species (and other bipeds) that have been defi ned
specialized consumer of plant foods, the late australo- during the Pliocene is still not settled. In this mix, the
pithecines avoided competing for the same niche with question of which australopithecine was ancestral to
early Homo, with which they were contemporaries. In humans remains particularly controversial. A variety
the course of evolution, the law of competitive exclu- of scenarios have been proposed, each one giving a dif-
sion dictates that when two closely related species com- ferent australopithecine group the “starring role” as the
pete for the same niche, one will out-compete the other, immediate human ancestor (Figure 6.12). Though pa-
bringing about the loser’s extinction. That early Homo leoanthropologists debate which species is ancestral to
and late Australopithecus did not compete for the same humans, they agree that the robust australopithecines,
niche is suggested by their co-existence for something though successful in their time, ultimately represent an
like 1.5 million years from about 1 million to 2.5 million evolutionary side branch.
years ago (Figure 6.11).

ENVIRONMENT, DIET, AND

Australopithecines and the Genus Homo
AUSTRALOPITHECINE ORIGINS
A variety of bipeds inhabited Africa about 2.5 million
years ago, around the time the fi rst evidence for the Having described the fossil material, we may now con-
genus Homo begins to appear. In 1999, discoveries in sider how evolution transformed an early ape into Aus-
tralopithecus. Generally, such paleoanthropological re-
constructions rely heavily on the evolutionary role of
natural selection in their hypotheses. The question at
law of competitive exclusion When two closely related spe- hand is not so much why did bipedalism appear as how
cies compete for the same niche, one will out-compete the other,
bringing about the latter’s extinction. did bipedalism allow these ancestors to adapt to their
environment?
 In 1999, Ethiopian paleoanthropolo-
gist Y. Haile Selassie discovered fossil
material placed into the new species
Australopithecus garhi.
© 1998 David L. Brill/Brill Atlanta

Early Homo Early Homo Robust

australopithecines
Robust
A. africanus
fric
ica
ca
can a
australopithecines
Early Homo A. robustus A. boisei
A. garhi?

A. afric
africanus
ic
ca
can A. afri
africanus
ric
ican

A. afarensis
are
en
e ns A. afar
afarensis
are
re
ens A. aethiopicus
A
A. anamensis? C
A. anamensis
am
me
m
Ardipithecus
A
Ardipithecus
A ramidus A. afarensis
A
A ramidus B

Early Homo
Early Homo A. africanus Robust
australopithecines A. boisei
A. africanus A. robustus
A.. garh
garhi
ga
Kenyanthrops
enyanth
ya
platyop
aty
tyops
A. afarensis
A
E A. aethiopicus
D
A. afarensis
afaren
arre

Figure 6.12
The relationship among the various australopithecine (and other) Pliocene groups, and the question of
which group is ancestral to the genus Homo, is debated by anthropologists. Several alternative hypotheses
are presented in these diagrams. Most agree, however, that the robust australopithecines represent an
evolutionary side branch.
142 Chapter Six/The First Bipeds

Hypotheses about adaptation begin with features any of them actually made stone tools. Similarly, experi-
evident in the fossil evidence. For example, the fossil rec- ments with captive bonobos have shown that they are ca-
ord indicates that once bipedalism appeared, over the pable of making crude chipped stone tools, but they have
next several million years the shape of the face and teeth never been known to do so outside of captivity. Thus,
shifted from a more apelike to a humanlike condition. to be able to do something is not necessarily equivalent
To refi ne their hypotheses, paleoanthropologists add to doing it. In fact, the earliest known stone tools, dat-
scientifically reconstructed environmental conditions ing to about 2.5 million years ago, are about 2 million
and inferences made from data gathered on living non- years more recent than the oldest fossils of Australopithe-
human primates and humans to the fossil evidence. In cus. However, Australopithecus certainly had no less intel-
this regard, evolutionary reconstructions involve piec- ligence and dexterity than do modern great apes, all of
ing together a coherent story or narrative about the past. whom make use of tools when it is to their advantage
Sometimes these narratives are tenuous. But as paleoan- to do so. Orangutans, bonobos, chimpanzees, and even
thropologists consider their own biases and incorporate gorillas have all been observed in the wild making and
new evidence as it is discovered, the quality of the narra- using simple tools such as those described in Chapter 3.
tive improves. Most likely, the ability to make and use simple tools is
For many years, the human evolutionary narrative something that goes back to the last common ancestor of
has been tied to the emergence of the savannah environ- the Asian and African apes, before the appearance of the
ment in eastern Africa as the global climate changes of first bipeds.
the Miocene led to increasingly cooler and drier condi- It is reasonable to suppose, then, that australopith-
tions. The size of tropical forests decreased or, more ecine tool use was similar to that of the other great apes.
commonly, broke up into mosaics where patches of forest Unfortunately, few tools that they used are likely to have
were interspersed with savannah or other types of open survived for a million and more years, and any that did
country. The forebears of the human line are thought to would be hard to recognize as such. Although we can-
have lived in places with access to both trees and open not be certain about this, in addition to clubs and objects
country. With the breaking up of forests, these early an- thrown for defense, sturdy sticks may have been used to
cestors found themselves spending more and more time dig edible roots, and convenient stones may have been
on the ground and had to adapt to this new, more open used (as some chimpanzees do) to crack open nuts. In
environment. fact, some animal bones from australopithecine sites in
The most obvious problem facing these ancestors in South Africa show microscopic wear patterns suggesting
their new situation, other than getting from one patch of their use to dig edible roots from the ground. We may
trees to another, was getting food. As the forest thinned also allow the possibility that, like chimpanzees, females
or shrank, the traditional ape-type foods found in trees may have used tools more often to get and process food
became less available to them, especially in seasons of re- than males, but the latter may have used tools more of-
duced rainfall. Therefore, it became more and more nec- ten as “weapons.”12
essary to forage on the ground for foods such as seeds,
grasses, and roots. With reduced canine teeth, early
bipeds were relatively defenseless when down on the Humans Stand on Their Own Two Feet
ground and were easy targets for numerous carnivorous From the broad-shouldered, long-armed, tailless ape
predators. That predators were a problem is revealed by body plan, the human line became fully bipedal. Their
the South African fossils, most of which are from indi- late Miocene forebears seem to have been primates that
viduals that were dropped into rock fissures by leopards combined quadrupedal tree climbing with at least some
or, in the case of Dart’s original fi nd, by an eagle. swinging below the branches. On the ground, they were
Many investigators have argued that the hands of capable of assuming an upright stance, at least on occa-
early bipeds took over the weapon functions of the re- sion (optional, versus obligatory, bipedalism).
duced canine teeth, by enabling them to threaten preda- Paleoanthropologists generally take the negative
tors by using wooden objects as clubs and throwing aspects of bipedal locomotion into account when con-
stones. This quality is shared with many of the other sidering the advantages of this pattern of locomotion.
hominoids. Recall the male chimpanzee (Chapter 3) who For example, paleoanthropologists have suggested that
wielded objects as part of his display to obtain alpha sta- bipedalism makes an animal more visible to predators,
tus. In australopithecines the use of clubs and throwing exposes its soft underbelly or gut, and interferes with the
stones may have set the stage for the much later manu- ability to change direction as instantly while running.
facture of more efficient weapons from bone, wood, and
stone.
Although the hands of the later australopithecines 12Goodall, J. (1986). The chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of behavior
were suitable for tool making, no evidence exists that (pp. 552, 564). Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
 Environment, Diet, and Australopithecine Origins 143

Biocultural
Connection Evolution and Human Birth
Because biology and culture have always the home to the hospital. In the process Cultural beliefs and practices, how-
shaped human experience, it can be a childbirth transformed from something a ever, shape every aspect of birth. Cultural
challenge to separate the influences of woman normally accomplished at home, factors determine where a birth occurs,
each of these factors on human prac- perhaps with the help of a midwife or the actions of the individuals present,
tices. For example, in the 1950s, paleo- relatives, into the high-tech delivery of a and beliefs about the nature of the expe-
anthropologists developed the theory neonate (the medical term for a newborn) rience. When paleoanthropologists of the
that human childbirth is particularly with the assistance of medically trained 1950s and 1960s asserted that human
difficult compared to birth in other personnel. During the 1950s women were childbirth is more difficult than birth
mammals. This theory was based in generally fully anesthetized during the in other mammals, they may have been
part on the observation of a “tight fit” birth process. drawing upon their own North American
between the human mother’s birth Paleoanthropological theories mir- cultural beliefs that childbirth is danger-
canal and the baby’s head, though sev- rored the cultural norms, providing a ous and belongs in a hospital.
eral other primates also possess similarly scientific explanation for the change in A quick look at global neonatal mor-
tight fits between the newborn’s head American childbirth practices. tality statistics indicates that in countries
or shoulders and the birth canal. Never- As a scientific theory, the idea of such as The Netherlands and Sweden,
theless, changes in the birth canal difficult human birth stands on shaky healthy well-nourished women give birth
associated with bipedalism coupled ground. No fossil neonates have ever successfully outside of hospitals as they
with the evolution of large brains were been recovered, and only a handful of did throughout human evolutionary his-
held responsible for difficult birth in complete pelves (the bones forming tory. In other countries, deaths related to
humans. the birth canal) exist. Instead, scientists childbirth reflect malnutrition, infec-
At the same historical moment, must examine the birth process in liv- tious disease, and the low social status of
American childbirth practices were ing humans and nonhuman primates to women, rather than an inherently faulty
changing. In one generation from the reconstruct the evolution of the human biology.
1920s to the 1950s birth shifted from birth pattern.

They also emphasize that bipedalism does not result in explanation is unlikely, however, because female apes,
particularly fast running; quadrupedal chimpanzees and not to mention women among food-foraging peoples,
baboons, for example, are 30 to 34 percent faster than we routinely combine infant care with foraging for food. In-
bipeds. For 100-meter distances, our best athletes today deed, among most food foragers, it is the women who
may attain speeds of 34 to 37 kilometers per hour, while commonly supply the bulk of the food eaten by both
the larger African carnivores that bipeds might run from sexes.
can attain speeds up to 60 to 70 kilometers per hour. The Moreover, the pair bonding (one male attached to
consequences of a serious leg or foot injury are more se- one female) presumed by this model is not characteristic
rious for a biped while a quadruped can do amazingly of terrestrial primates, nor of those displaying the degree
well on three legs. A biped with only one functional leg of sexual dimorphism that was characteristic of Australo-
is seriously hindered—an easy meal for some carnivore. pithecus. Nor is it really characteristic of Homo sapiens. In
Because each of these drawbacks would have placed a substantial majority of recent human societies, includ-
our early ancestors at risk from predators, paleoanthro- ing those in which people forage for their food, some
pologists have tended to ask, what made bipedal locomo- form of polygamy—marriage to two or more individuals
tion worth paying such a high price? Paleoanthropolo- at the same time—is not only permitted, but preferred.
gists have found it hard to imagine bipedalism becoming And even in the supposedly monogamous United States,
a viable adaptation in the absence of strong selective it is relatively common for an individual to marry (and
pressure in its favor; therefore, a number of theories have hence mate with) two or more others (the only require-
been proposed to account for the adaptive advantages of ment is that he or she not be married to them at the
bipedalism. same time).
One once-popular suggestion is that bipedal locomo- Although we may reject as culture-bound the idea of
tion allowed males to gather food on the savannah and male “breadwinners” provisioning “stay-at-home moms,”
transport it back to females, who were restricted from it is true that bipedal locomotion does make transport
doing so by the dependence of their offspring.13 This of bulky foods possible. (See the Biocultural Connection
for another example of the influence of socially defi ned
13Lovejoy, C. O. (1981). The origin of man. Science 211, 341–350. roles and theories about evolution of human childbirth.)
144 Chapter Six/The First Bipeds

Nevertheless, a fully erect biped on the ground—whether hair growth are both adaptations to the heat stress of the
male or female—has the ability to gather such foods for savannah environment.15 Building upon the earlier “ra-
transport back to a tree or other place of safety for con- diator” theory of North American paleoanthropologist
sumption. The biped does not have to remain out in the Dean Falk, Wheeler developed this hypothesis through
open, exposed and vulnerable, to do all of its eating. comparative anatomy, experimental studies, and the ob-
Besides making food transport possible, bipedalism servation that humans are the only apes to inhabit the
could have facilitated the food quest in other ways. With savannah environment.
their hands free and body upright, the animals could Many other animals, however, inhabit the savannah,
reach otherwise unobtainable food on thorn trees too and each of them possesses some mechanism for coping
fl imsy and too spiny to climb. Furthermore, with both with heat stress. Some animals, like many of the car-
hands free, they could gather other small foods more nivores, are active only when the sun is low in the sky,
quickly using both hands. And in times of scarcity, their early or late in the day, or when it is absent altogether at
ability to travel far without tiring would help get them night. Some, like antelope, are evolved to tolerate high
between widely distributed sources of food. Distant body temperatures that would kill humans due to over-
sources of food and water can be located more easily heating of the brain tissue. They accomplish this through
with the head positioned higher than in a quadrupedal cooling their blood in their muzzles through evaporation
stance. before it enters the vessels leading to the delicate tissues
Food may not have been the only thing transported of the brain.
by early bipeds. As we saw in Chapter 3, infants must be According to Wheeler, the interesting thing about
able to cling to their mothers in order to be transported; humans and other primates is that
because the mother is using her forelimbs in locomotion,
We can’t uncouple brain temperature from the
to either walk or swing, she can’t hold her infant as well.
rest of the body, the way an antelope does, so
Chimpanzee infants, for example, must cling by them-
we’ve got to prevent any damaging elevations in
selves to their mother, and even at the age of 4, they make
body temperature. And of course the problem is
long journeys on their mothers’ backs. Injuries caused by
even more acute for an ape, because in general,
falling from the mother are a significant cause of infant
the larger and more complex the brain, the more
mortality among apes. Thus, the ability to carry infants
easily it is damaged. So, there were incredible
would have made a significant contribution to the survi-
selective pressures on early hominids favoring
vorship of offspring, and the ancestors of Australopithecus
adaptations that would reduce thermal stress-
would have been capable of doing just this.
pressures that may have favored bipedalism.16
Another suggestion—that bipedal locomotion arose
as an adaptation for nonterritorial scavenging of meat14 Though the idea that bipedal posture reduces the
—is unlikely. Although it is true that a biped is able to amount of heat from solar radiation to which humans
travel long distances without tiring, and that a daily sup- are exposed is not completely new, Wheeler has scientifi-
ply of dead animal carcasses would have been available cally studied this phenomenon. He took a systematic se-
to early bipeds only if they were capable of ranging over ries of measurements on the exposure of an early biped
vast areas, no evidence exists to indicate that they did like Lucy to solar radiation in upright and quadrupedal
much in the way of scavenging prior to about 2.5 million stances. He found that the bipedal stance reduced expo-
years ago. Furthermore, the heavy wear seen on aus- sure to solar radiation by 60 percent, indicating that a bi-
tralopithecine teeth is indicative of a diet high in tough, ped would require less water to stay cool in a savannah
fibrous plant foods. Thus, scavenging was likely an un- environment compared to a quadruped.
foreseen by-product of bipedal locomotion, rather than Wheeler further suggests that bipedalism made the
a cause of it. human body hair pattern possible. Fur can keep out solar
Yet more recent is the suggestion that our ances- radiation as well as retaining heat. A biped, with reduced
tors stood up as a way to cope with heat stress out in the exposure to the sun everywhere except the head, would
open. In addition to bipedalism, one of the most obvi- benefit from hair loss on the body surface to increase the
ous differences between humans and other living homi- efficiency of sweating to cool down. On the head, hair
noids is our relative nakedness. Body hair in humans is serves as a shield, blocking the solar radiation.
generally limited to a fi ne sparse layer over most of the An objection to the above scenario might be that
body with a very dense cover of hair limited primarily to when bipedalism developed, savannah was not as ex-
the head. Peter Wheeler, a British physiologist, has sug- tensive in Africa as it is today (Figure 6.13). In both East
gested that bipedalism and the human pattern of body
15Quoted in Folger, T. (1993). The naked and bipedal. Discover 14(11),
14Lewin, R. (1987). Four legs good, two legs bad. Science 235, 34–35. Reprinted with permission.
969–971. 16Ibid.
 Environment, Diet, and Australopithecine Origins 145

Late Miocene
through to Pliocene Pleistocene Present

SAVANNAH AND SAVAN NAH

D E S E R T D E S E R T
WOODLAND Lake SAVA
Megachad NNAH,
1 WOODLAND,
RAINF SAVAN N AH SHRUB
OR RAIN
E 2 F OR
S ES RAINFOREST
3
T

T
4 RAINFOREST SAVANNAH,
PLIOCENE SITES

AH
ERT
REFUGIA SAVAN N AH WOODLAND,

NN
1. Afar SAVANNAH

DES
AND SHRUB

VA
2. Lake Turkana WOODLAND MONTANE

SA
3. Lake Baringo 5 FORESTS DESERT
4. Olduvai Region
5. Transvaal, S. Africa

Figure 6.13
Since the late Miocene, the vegetation zones of Africa have changed considerably.

Scalp vein ditions. It merely indicates that bipedalism appeared

Skull
without any particular adaptive benefits at fi rst, likely
through a random macromutation. Bipedalism provided
Emissary vein a body plan preadapted to the heat stress of the savannah
Skull (Diploic) vein environment.
In an earlier era of human evolutionary studies,
Venous sinus Meningeal veins larger brains were thought to have permitted the evolu-
tion of bipedalism. Around the mid-20th century, theo-
ries for the adaptability of bipedalism involved a feedback
loop between tool use, brain expansion, and free hands
brought about by bipedalism. We now know not only
that bipedality preceded the evolution of larger brains by
Brain several million years, but we can also now consider the
possibility that bipedalism may have preadapted human
ancestors for brain expansion. According to Wheeler,
The brain is one of the most metabolically active
External tissues in the body. . . . In the case of humans it
Internal jugular
carotid vein
accounts for something like 20 percent of total
artery energy consumption. So you’ve got an organ
Internal
External jugular producing a lot of heat that you’ve got to dump.
carotid vein Once we’d become bipedal and naked and
artery
achieved this ability to dump heat, that may have
allowed the expansion of the brain that took
Figure 6.14
place later in human evolution. It didn’t cause it,
In humans, blood from the face and scalp, instead of returning directly
to the heart, may be directed instead into the braincase, and then to
but you can’t have a large brain unless you can
the heart. Already cooled at the surface of the skin, it is able to carry cool it.17
away heat from the brain.
Consistent with Wheeler’s hypothesis is the fact that the
system for drainage of the blood from the cranium of the
and South Africa, environments included both closed earlier australopithecines is significantly different from
and open bush and woodlands. Moreover, fossil flora that of the genus Homo (Figure 6.14).
and fauna found with Ardipithecus and the possible hu- Though paleoanthropologists cannot resolve every
man ancestors from the Miocene are typical of a moist, detail of the exact course of human evolution from the
closed, wooded habitat. available data, over time the narrative they have con-
However, the presence of bipedalism in the fos- structed has improved. Human evolution evidently took
sil record without a savannah environment does not
indicate that bipedalism was not adaptive to these con- 17Ibid.
146 Chapter Six/The First Bipeds

place in fits and starts, rather than at a steady pace. To- lion years ago until robust australopithecines became
day we know that bipedalism preceded brain expansion extinct around 1 million years ago, the robust forms un-
by several million years. Bipedalism likely occurred as a derwent relatively little change.18
sudden shift in body plan while the tempo for the evo- Evidently, the pattern in early human evolution has
lution of brain size differed considerably. For example, been relatively short periods of marked change with di-
fragments of an Australopithecus skull 3.9 million years versification, separated by prolonged periods of relative
old are virtually identical to the corresponding parts of stasis or stability in the surviving species. In the follow-
one 3 million years old. Evidently, once a viable bipedal ing chapters, we will trace the next period of change as
adaptation was achieved, stabilizing selection took over, seen in the steady course of brain expansion beginning
and there was little change for at least a few million with the fi rst appearance of the genus Homo 2.5 million
years. years ago until brain size reached its current state.
Then, 2.5 million years ago, change was again in the
works, resulting in the branching out of new forms, in- 18Wood, B., Wood, C., & Konigsberg, L. (1994). Paranthropus boi-
cluding several robust species as well as the first appear- sei: An example of evolutionary stasis? American Journal of Physical
ance of the genus Homo. But again, from about 2.3 mil- Anthropology 95, 134.

Questions for Reflection In this book Falk presents her “radiator theory” to account for
the lag between the appearance of bipedalism and the increase
1. Has the Pliocene fossil evidence showing that bipedalism in the size of the brain over the course of human evolutionary
preceded brain expansion by several million years challenged history.
you to rethink the differences between humans and the other
animals? How have beliefs and biases affected the interpreta- Johanson, D. C., & Edey, M. (1981). Lucy: The beginnings of
tion of this fossil material? humankind. New York: Simon & Schuster.
2. Describe the anatomy of bipedalism, providing examples This book tells the story of the discovery of Lucy and the
from head to toe of how bipedalism can be “diagnosed” from other fossils of Australopithecus afarensis and how they have en-
a single bone. Do you think evidence from a single bone is hanced our understanding of the early stages of human evolu-
enough to determine whether an organism from the past was tion. It reads like a fi rst-rate detective story, while giving an
bipedal? excellent description of australopithecines and an accurate ac-
3. Who were the robust australopithecines? What evidence is count of how paleoanthropologists analyze their fossils.
used to demonstrate that they are an evolutionary dead end?
4. How do paleoanthropologists decide whether a fossil speci- Johanson, D. C., Edgar, B., & Brill, D. (1996). From Lucy to
men from the distant past is male or female? Do our cultural language. New York: Simon & Schuster.
ideas about males and females in the present affect the inter-
This coffee table-sized book includes more than 200 color
pretation of behavior in human evolutionary history?
pictures of major fossil discoveries along with a readable,
5. Do you think that australopithecines were tool users? What intelligent discussion of many of the key issues in paleo-
evidence would you use to support a case for tool use in these anthropology.
early bipeds?
Larsen, C. S., Matter, R. M., & Gebo, D. L. (1998). Human
origins: The fossil record. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.
Suggested Readings This volume covers all the major fossils discoveries relevant
to the study of human origins beginning with the Miocene
Ciochon, R. L., & Fleagle, J. G. (Eds.). (1993). The human evolu- apes. It has detailed drawings and clear brief descriptions of
tion source book. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. each specimen, introducing the reader to the nature of the fos-
In the fi rst four parts of this book, the editors have assembled sil evidence.
articles to present data and survey different theories on the
evolution and diversification of the earliest human ancestors. Zimmer, C. (2005) Smithsonian intimate guide to human origins.
A short editors’ introduction to each section places the various New York: HarperCollins.
articles in context.
This book by science writer Carl Zimmer is an intelligent
and engaging presentation of the evidence of human evolu-
Falk, D. (1992). Braindance. New York: Henry Holt & tion that includes discoveries up to 2005. It is also beautifully
Company. illustrated.
 The Anthropology Resource Center 147

Thomson Audio Study Products The Anthropology Resource Center

Enjoy the MP3-ready Audio Lecture Overviews for www.thomsonedu.com/anthropology
each chapter and a comprehensive audio glossary of The Anthropology Resource Center provides extended learn-
key terms for quick study and review. Whether walk- ing materials to reinforce your understanding of key concepts
ing to class, doing laundry, or studying at your desk, you now in the four subfields of anthropology. For each of the four sub-
have the freedom to choose when, where, and how you inter- disciplines, the Resource Center includes dynamic exercises
act with your audio-based educational media. See the preface including video exercises, map exercises, simulations, and
for information on how to access this on-the-go study and re- “Meet the Scientists” interviews, as well as critical thinking
view tool. questions that can be assigned and e-mailed to instructors.
The Resource Center also provides breaking news in anthro-
pology and interesting material on applied anthropology to
help you link what you are learning to the world around you.
7 Early Homo and the
Origins of Culture

© The Natural History Museum, London

With the appearance of the genus Homo 2.5 million years ago, integrated bio-
CHALLENGE
ISSUE logical and cultural capabilities allowed our ancestors to meet the challenges of
survival. The series of skulls pictured here illustrates the evolutionary trend of
increasing brain size that occurred over the course of the next 2 million years.
Without this brain expansion, reliance on culture could not have occurred. In
turn, the archaeological record, starting with the oldest known artifacts—stone
tools dated to between 2.5 and 2.6 million years ago from Gona, Ethiopia—pro-
vides tangible evidence of culture in the distant past.
 CHAPTER PREVIEW

When, Where, and What Is the Relationship Who Was Homo erectus?
How Did the Genus Between Biological By 1.8 million years ago, brain size
Homo Develop? Change and Cultural along with cultural capabilities
increased considerably, marking
Since the late 1960s, a number of Change in the
sites in South and East Africa have the appearance of the species Homo
Genus Homo?
produced the fossil remains of erectus. Because the earliest fossils
Paleoanthropologists make species
lightly built bipeds all but indistin- identified as Homo erectus come from
designations in the fossil record
guishable from the earlier gracile Africa, this fossil group appears
according to their interpretation of
australopithecines, except that the to have descended directly from
physical traits such as skull shape
teeth are smaller and the brain is Homo habilis. Variation within this
and size combined with archaeo-
significantly larger relative to body taxon has led some scientists to split
logical evidence. Because the
size. The earliest fossils to exhibit H. erectus into separate species.
earliest stone tools appear in the
these trends appeared around archaeological record along with
2.5 million years ago, along with fossil evidence of increased brain
the earliest evidence of stone tool size, paleoanthropologists attribute What Were the
making. Homo habilis or “handy the cultural change—the making Cultural Capabilities
man” was the name given to the first of stone tools—to the associated of Homo erectus ?
members of the genus as a reflec- increase in brain size. The fabrica- Having a larger brain than its
tion of their tool-making capacities. tion and use of stone tools needed to ancestors, Homo erectus became
While paleoanthropologists debate crack open the bones of animals for increasingly able to adapt to differ-
the number of species of early Homo marrow or to butcher dead animals ent challenges through the medium
existing during this time period, required improved eye–hand coor- of culture. Evidence of H. erectus’
most concur that the genus Homo dination and a precision grip. These cultural capabilities is preserved in
developed from one of the smaller- behavioral abilities depended on the the archaeological record through
brained bipedal australopithecines capacity to learn and communicate. better-made tools, a greater variety
in Africa by 2.5 million years ago. This exquisite ability to learn to of tool types, regional diversification
coordinate vision and movement of tool kits, and the controlled use of
depended upon larger, more com- fi re. Through these cultural adapta-
plex brains. tions, life for the genus Homo ap-
pears to have become more secure,
allowing population size to expand.
Evidence of increased reproductive
success can be inferred by the spread
of Homo from Africa into previously
uninhabited regions of Eurasia.

149
150 Chapter Seven/Early Homo and the Origins of Culture

B y 2.5 million years ago, long after the appearance

of bipedalism separated the human evolutionary
line from that of chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas, a
new kind of evolutionary change was set in motion. The
jor biological change, such as the appearance of a new
species. In the fossil record, the evidence for new species
often consists of small changes in the shape or size of the
skull. When we take into account the variation present
today within the species Homo sapiens, we can see why
fossil record reveals an increase in brain size, proceed- reconciling the relation between differences in skulls
ing for the next 2 million years or so. Simultaneously, the and culture change is often a source of debate within
archaeological record begins to provide evidence of in- paleoanthropology.
creased cultural manipulation of the physical world by
these early ancestors through their use of stone tools.
These new bipeds were the fi rst members of the genus
Homo. With the passage of time, they came to intensify EARLY REPRESENTATIVES
their reliance on cultural adaptation as a rapid and effec-
tive way of adjusting to their environments.
OF THE GENUS HOMO
While the evolution of culture became critical for The renowned paleoanthropologists Louis and Mary
human survival, it was intricately tied to underlying Leakey began their search for human origins at Olduvai
biological capacities, specifically the evolution of the hu- Gorge, Tanzania, because of the presence of crude stone
man brain. Increasing brain size and specialization of tools found there. The tools were found in deposits dat-
function (evidence preserved in fossilized skulls), even- ing back to very early in the Pleistocene epoch, which
tually permitted the development of language, plan- began almost 2 million years ago. In 1959, when the
ning, new technologies, and artistic expression. With Leakeys found the bones of the fi rst specimen of robust
the evolution of a brain that made versatile behavior pos- Australopithecus boisei in association with some of these
sible, members of the genus Homo became biocultural tools and the bones of birds, reptiles, antelopes, and pigs,
beings. they thought they had found the remains of one of the
U.S. anthropologist Misia Landau has noted that toolmakers. Fossils unearthed a few months later and a
human evolutionary history follows the narrative form few feet below this fi rst discovery led them to change
of a heroic epic because of their minds. These fossil remains consisted of more than
THOMSON AUDIO the role culture plays in hu- one individual, including a few cranial bones, a lower
STUDY PRODUCTS man evolution. The hero, jaw, a clavicle, some fi nger bones (Figure 7.1), and the
Take advantage of or evolving human, is faced nearly complete left foot of an adult (Figure 7.2). Skull
the MP3-ready Audio Lecture with a series of natural chal- and jaw fragments indicated that these specimens rep-
Overviews and comprehensive lenges that cannot be over- resented a larger-brained biped without the specialized
audio glossary of key terms come from a strictly biolog- chewing apparatus of the robust australopithecines.
for each chapter. See the ical standpoint. Endowed The Leakeys and colleagues named that contempo-
preface for information on with the gift of intelli- rary Homo habilis (Latin for “handy man”) and suggested
how to access this on-the-go gence, the hero can meet that tool-wielding H. habilis may have eaten the animals
study and review tool. these challenges and be- and possibly had the A. boisei for dessert. Of course, we
come fully human. In this don’t really know whether A. boisei from Olduvai Gorge
narrative, culture increasingly separates humans from met its end in this way, but we do know that cut marks
other evolving animals. from a stone tool are present on a 2.4-million-year-old
Differences in the rates of biological and cultural australopithecine mandible from South Africa.1 This
change account for some of the complications and de- was done, presumably, to remove the mandible, but for
bates relating to human evolutionary history. Cultural what purpose we do not know. In any event, it does lend
equipment and techniques can change rapidly with in- credibility to the idea of A. boisei on occasion being dis-
novations occurring during the lifetime of individuals. membered by H. habilis.
By contrast, because it depends upon heritable traits, bio- Subsequent work at Olduvai has unearthed not only
logical change requires many generations. more skull fragments but other parts of the skeleton of
Paleoanthropologists try to decipher whether an H. habilis as well. Since the late 1960s, fossils of the ge-
evident cultural change in the past corresponds to a ma- nus Homo that are essentially contemporaneous with
those from Olduvai have been found elsewhere in Africa
Homo habilis “Handy man.” The fi rst fossil members of the
genus Homo appearing 2.5 million years ago, with larger brains 1White, T. D., & Toth, N. (2000). Cutmarks on a Plio-Pleistocene
and smaller faces than australopithecines. hominid from Sterkfontein, South Africa. American Journal of Physi-
cal Anthropology 111, 579–584.
 Early Representatives of the Genus Homo 151

Juvenile gorilla Olduvai hominin Modern man

Figure 7.1
A comparison of hand bones of a juvenile go-
rilla, Homo habilis from Olduvai, and a mod-
ern human, highlights important differences
in the structure of fingers and thumbs. In the
top row are fingers, and in the second row
are terminal (end) thumb bones. Although
terminal finger bones are more human, lower
finger bones are more curved and powerful.
The bottom row compares thumb length and
angle relative to the index finger.

such as South Africa, Ethiopia, and several sites in Kenya

(Figure 7.3).
The eastern shores of Lake Turkana, on the border
between Kenya and Ethiopia, have been particularly rich
with fossils from earliest Homo. One of the best of these
fossils, known as KNM ER 1470, was discovered by the
River

Leakeys’ son Richard. (The letters KNM stand for Kenya

SUDAN ETHIOPIA
National Museum; the ER, for East Rudolf, the name for
Omo

Lake Turkana during the colonial era in Kenya.) The de-

posits in which it was found are about 1.9 million years Koobi Fora
old; these deposits, like those at Olduvai, also contain (East Turkana)
Lake
crude stone tools. The KNM ER 1470 skull is more mod- Turkana
ern in appearance than any Australopithecus skull and has UGANDA KENYA

a cranial capacity of 752 cubic centimeters. However, the

152 Chapter Seven/Early Homo and the Origins of Culture

Figure 7.2
A partial foot skeleton of Homo habilis
(center) is compared with the same bones
of a chimpanzee (left) and modern human
(right). Note how H. habilis’ bone at the base
of the great toe is in line with the others, as in
modern humans, making for effective walking
but poor grasping.

Epochs
PLIOCENE PLEISTOCENE
Homo habilis

First Oldowan tools appear Homo erectus first appears

Australopithecus aethiopicus

Australopithecus garhi Australopithecus boisei

Australopithecus robustus
Australopithecus africanus

3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 10 .5

Millions of years ago

Figure 7.3
Homo habilis and other early bipeds. When found with fossil specimens, Oldowan tools are always associ-
ated with genus Homo.

large teeth and face of this specimen resemble the earlier cies, and the small cranial capacity of KNM ER 1813 as a
australopithecines. reflection of her small body size.
From this same site another well-preserved skull
from the same time period (KNM ER 1813) possesses a
cranial capacity of less than 600 cubic centimeters but
Lumpers or Splitters
has the derived characteristics of a smaller, less project- Other paleoanthropologists do not agree with placing
ing face and teeth. Generally, specimens attributed to H. specimens as diverse as KNM ER 1813 and KNM ER 1470
habilis have cranial capacities greater than 600 cubic cen- in the single taxonomic group of H. habilis. Instead they
timeters. However, cranial capacity of any individual is feel that the diversity represented in these specimens
also in proportion to its body size. Therefore, many pa- warrants separating the fossils like the larger-brained
leoanthropologists interpret KNM ER 1813 and ER 1470 KNM ER 1470 into a distinct co-existing group called
as a female and male of a very sexually dimorphic spe- Homo rudolphensis. Whether one chooses to call these
 Early Representatives of the Genus Homo 153

The KNM ER 1470 skull—one of

the most complete skulls of Homo
habilis—is close to 2 million years old
and is probably a male; it contrasts
with the considerably smaller KNM
ER 1813 skull, probably a female.
Some paleoanthropologists feel this
variation is too great to place these
specimens in the same species.
©The Natural History Museum, London

or any other contemporary fossils Homo rudolphensis or Differences between Early

Homo habilis is more than a name game. Fossil names
indicate researchers’ perspectives about evolutionary Homo and Australopithecus
relationships among groups. When specimens are given By 2.4 million years ago, the evolution of the genus Homo
separate species names, it signifies that they form part of was proceeding in a direction different from that of Aus-
a reproductively isolated group. tralopithecus. In terms of body size, early Homo differs
Some paleoanthropologists approach the fossil rec- little from Australopithecus. Early Homo had undergone
ord with the perspective that making such detailed bio- enlargement of the brain far in excess of values predicted
logical determinations is arbitrary and that variability on the basis of body size alone. Therefore, early Homo’s
exists within any group.2 Arguing that it is impossible mental abilities probably exceeded those of Australo-
to prove whether or not a collection of ancient bones pithecus. This means that early Homo likely possessed a
and teeth represents a distinctive species, they tend to marked increase in ability to learn and to process infor-
be “lumpers,” placing more or less similar-looking fos- mation compared with australopithecines.
sil specimens together in more inclusive groups. For ex- Because larger brains generate more heat, it is not
ample, gorillas show a degree of sexual dimorphism that surprising to fi nd that H. habilis’ brain was provided with
lumpers attribute to H. habilis. “Splitters,” by contrast, a heat exchanger of a sort not seen in the earliest bipeds
focus on the variation in the fossil record, interpreting or in the apes.4 This heat-exchange system consists of
minor differences in the shape of skeletons or skulls as small openings in the braincase through which veins
evidence of distinctive biological species with corre- pass, allowing cooled blood from the face and scalp to
sponding cultural capacities. Referring to the variable be directed back to the braincase before returning to the
shape of the bony ridge above ancient eyes, South African heart to carry off excess heat as described in Chapter 6
paleoanthropologist Philip Tobias has quipped, “Splitters (see Figure 6.14). This physiologic mechanism prevents
will create a new species at the drop of a brow ridge.”3 damage to the brain from excessive heat.
Splitting has the advantage of specificity while lumping Although early Homo had teeth that are large by
has the advantage of simplicity. We will use a lumping modern standards—or even by those of a half-million
approach in our discussion of early Homo below. years ago—they are smaller in relation to the size of the
skull than those of any australopithecine. Because major
2Miller, J. M. A. (2000). Craniofacial variation in Homo habilis: An brain-size increase and tooth-size reduction are impor-
analysis of the evidence for multiple species. American Journal of
Physical Anthropology 112, 122. 4Falk, D. (1993). A good brain is hard to cool. Natural History
3Personal communication. 102(8), 65.
154 Chapter Seven/Early Homo and the Origins of Culture

tant trends in the evolution of the genus Homo, but not

of Australopithecus, it looks as if early Homo was becom-
ing somewhat more human. Consistent with this are the
indications that the brain of H. habilis was less apelike
and more humanlike in structure. It is probably no ac-
cident that the earliest fossils to exhibit these features ap-
pear close to the same time as the earliest evidence (to be
discussed shortly) for stone tool making and the use of
these tools to process meat.
3
The later robust australopithecines from East and 2
South Africa that co-existed with early Homo evolved 1
into more specialized “grinding machines” as their jaws
and back teeth became markedly larger for processing
plant foods. Robust australopithecine brain size did not
change, nor is there fi rm evidence that they made stone
tools. Thus, in the period between 1 and 2.5 million years
ago, two kinds of bipeds were headed in very different
evolutionary directions: the robust australopithecines,
1 2 3
specializing in plant foods and ultimately becoming ex-
tinct, and the genus Homo, with expanding cranial capac-
ity and a varied diet that included meat. Figure 7.4
By 2.5 million years ago, early Homo in Africa had invented the percus-
sion method of stone tool manufacture. This technological break-
through, which is associated with a significant increase in brain size,
made possible the butchering of meat from scavenged carcasses.
LOWER PALEOLITHIC TOOLS
The earliest stone tools have been found in the vicinity
of Lake Turkana in northwestern Kenya, in southern The makers of these early tools were highly skilled,
Ethiopia, in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, and in Hadar in consistently and efficiently producing many well-formed
Ethiopia— often in the same geological strata as Homo flakes.5 The apparent objective of the task was to obtain
habilis fossils. These earliest identifiable tools consist of large, sharp-edged flakes from available raw materials
a number of implements made using a system of man- with the least effort. Thus, the toolmaker had to have in
ufacture called the percussion method (Figure 7.4). mind an abstract idea of the tool to be made, as well as a
Sharp-edged flakes were obtained from a stone (often a specific set of steps that would accomplish the transfor-
large, water-worn pebble) either by using another stone
as a hammer (a hammerstone) or by striking the pebble 5Ambrose, S. H. (2001). Paleolithic technology and human evolu-
against a large rock (anvil) to remove the flakes. The tion. Science 291, 1,749.
fi nished flakes had two sharp edges, effective for cut-
ting and scraping. Microscopic wear patterns show that
these flakes were used for cutting meat, reeds, sedges,
and grasses and for cutting and scraping wood. Small
indentations on their surfaces suggest that the leftover
© Michael Rogers, Southern Connecticut State University

cores were transformed into choppers, for breaking open

bones, and they may also have been employed to defend
the user. The appearance of these tools marks the begin-
ning of the Lower Paleolithic, the first part of the Old
Stone Age.

percussion method A technique of stone tool manufacture

performed by striking the raw material with a hammerstone or
by striking raw material against a stone anvil to remove flakes.
Lower Paleolithic The fi rst part of the Old Stone Age begin-
ning with the earliest Oldowan tools spanning from about 200,000 The oldest stone tools, dated to between 2.5 and 2.6 million years ago,
or 250,000 to 2.6 million years ago. were discovered in Gona, Ethiopia, in 1996, by Ethiopian paleoanthro-
pologist Silesi Semaw.
 Lower Paleolithic Tools 155

Anthropology Applied
Paleotourism and the World Heritage List

Travel to early fossil sites and to mu- site designation, receiving financial and and 23 mixed sites. Fossil and archaeo-
seums where original fossil specimens political support for maintaining the sites logical sites are well represented on the
are housed is an important part of the if approved. World Heritage List. Sites important for
paleoanthropologist’s life. Increasingly, The tasks of documenting the value human evolution are generally designated
these same destinations are becoming of a fossil site and working to effec- as cultural sites because the knowledge
popular with tourists traveling across tively maintain the site for research and gained from these sites is considered to
the globe. Making sites accessible for tourism fall to the paleoanthropologi- be of cultural importance to the world
tourists while protecting the sites for cal experts. When designated sites are community.
further excavation requires considerable threatened by natural disaster, war, pollu- Occasionally, important fossil
skill and knowledge. tion, or poorly managed tourism, they remains have been recovered within
The paleoanthropologist’s expertise are placed on a danger list, forcing the an area that is designated as a larger
is indispensable for responsible paleo- local governments to institute measures natural reserve. For example, Olduvai
tourism. Features such as footpaths to protect the sites in order to continue Gorge—known for Homo habilis and
for tourists, access roads, and even the receiving UNESCO support. robust australopithecine remains as
numbers of tourists allowed to visit on a Each year approximately thirty new well as Oldowan tools—is within the
given day must be planned carefully so World Heritage sites are designated. In Ngorongoro Conservation Area of Tanza-
that paleotourism does not damage the 2003 the list had grown to 754 sites: nia, as are the Laetoli footprints men-
sites permanently. 149 natural preserves, 582 cultural sites, tioned in Chapter 6.
Since 1972, UNESCO’s The Maasai people have in-
World Heritage List has been habited this region for hundreds
an important part of main- of years. Today, the Maasai near
taining paleoanthropological Olduvai Gorge remind us that
sites for responsible tourism paleotourism affects both the
while preserving these sites present and the past. Respon-
for the global community. The sible tourism at these sites
goal of the World Heritage Image not available due to copyright restrictions promotes public education on
List is “protecting natural the subject of human evolution
and cultural properties of while preserving our common
outstanding value against the heritage for future generations.
threat of damage in a rapidly Paleotourism may also benefit
developing world.” Individual local inhabitants, helping them
states apply to UNESCO for preserve their culture.

mation from raw material to fi nished product. Further- Olduvai Gorge and Oldowan Tools
more, only certain kinds of stone have the flaking prop-
erties that will allow the transformation to take place. Part of what is now Olduvai Gorge was once a lake. Al-
The toolmaker must know about these, as well as where most 2 million years ago, its shores were inhabited not
such stone can be found. The archaeological record also only by numerous wild animals but also by a variety of
provides evidence of thinking and planning, since tool bipeds, including robust australopithecines and H. habi-
fabrication required the transport of raw materials over lis as well as (later) Homo erectus. The gorge, therefore,
great distances. Such planning for the future undoubt- is a rich source of Paleolithic remains as well as a key
edly was associated with natural selection favoring site providing evidence of human evolutionary change.
changes in brain structure. Among the fi nds are assemblages of stone tools that are
At Olduvai and Lake Turkana, these tools are close about 2 million years old. As described in this chapter’s
to 2 million years old. The Ethiopian tools are older at Anthropology Applied, today the Olduvai Gorge is still a
2.5 to 2.6 million years. Before this time, early bipeds vital part of the daily lives of many people.
probably used tools such as heavy sticks to dig up roots The oldest tools found at Olduvai Gorge belong to
or ward off animals, unshaped stones to use as thrown the Oldowan tool tradition and were made by the per-
objects for defense or to crack open nuts, and perhaps
simple carrying devices made of knotted plant fibers.
Oldowan tool tradition The fi rst stone tool industry, begin-
Perishable tools, like unmodified stones, are not pre- ning between 2.5 and 2.6 million years ago.
served in the archaeological record.
 156 Chapter Seven/Early Homo and the Origins of Culture

The stone tools used by Homo habilis included

lava cobbles, choppers, and flakes. Most chop-
pers were probably the result of flakes being
struck from one cobble by another. These flakes
David L. Brill ©The National Geographic Society

were used to remove meat from bones, leaving

cut marks. The cobbles and choppers were used
to break open bones to get at the marrow, as
pictured here.

cussion method described above. Crude as they were, Chimpanzees have a similar problem when out on
Oldowan tools mark an important technological advance the savannah. In such a setting, they spend about a third
for early Homo; previously, they depended on found ob- of their time foraging for insects (ants and termites),
jects requiring little or no modification, such as bones, eggs, and small vertebrate animals. Such animal foods
sticks, or conveniently shaped stones. Oldowan tools not only are easily digestible, but they provide high-
made new additions to the diet possible because, without quality proteins that contain all the essential amino ac-
such tools, early Homo could eat few animals (only those ids, the building blocks of protein. No single plant food
that could be skinned by tooth or nail); therefore, their can provide this nutritional balance. Only a combination
diet was limited in terms of animal proteins. of plants can supply the range of amino acids provided
The advent of Oldowan tools meant more than by meat alone.
merely saving labor and time: They made the addition Lacking long, sharp teeth for shearing meat, our
of meat to the diet on a frequent rather than occasional earliest ancestors likely solved their protein problem in
basis possible. Much popular literature has been written much the same way that chimps on the savannah do
about this penchant for meat in early human evolution, today. Even chimpanzees, whose canine teeth are far
often with numerous colorful references to “killer apes.” larger and sharper than ours or those of early Homo, fre-
Such references are misleading because no one knows quently have trouble tearing through the skin of other
whether these ancestors were very aggressive, as “killer” animals.7 For efficient utilization of meat, our ancestors
suggests. Meat can be obtained, after all, by scavenging needed sharp tools for butchering. The initial use of tools
or by stealing it from other predators. What is significant by early Homo may be related to adaptation to an envi-
is that a dentition such as that possessed by Australopithe- ronment that we know was changing since the Miocene
cus and early Homo is poorly suited for meat eating. With- from forests to grasslands (see Figure 6.13).8 The physi-
out teeth like those possessed by carnivorous animals (or cal changes that adapted bipeds for spending increasing
even chimpanzees), early Homo needed sharp tools for amounts of time on the new grassy terrain may have en-
butchering to eat substantial amounts of meat. couraged tool making.
Increased consumption of animal flesh on the part
of evolving humans was important for human evolution.
On the arid savannah, it is hard for a primate with a hu- SEX, GENDER, AND THE
manlike digestive system to satisfy its protein require-
ments from available plant resources. Moreover, failure BEHAVIOR OF EARLY HOMO
to do so has serious consequences: growth stunting, Paleoanthropological depictions of early Homo from the
malnutrition, starvation, and death. Leaves and legumes 1960s and 1970s focused on “man the hunter,” wielding
(nitrogen-fi xing plants, familiar modern examples be- tools in a savannah teeming with meat, while females
ing beans and peas) provide most readily accessible plant stayed at home tending their young. Because these be-
sources of protein. The problem is that these plants are havioral speculations relate to proposed differences be-
difficult for primates to digest unless they are cooked. tween males and females in the distant past, they were
The leaves and legumes available contain substances generally attributed to biologically determined sex dif-
causing the proteins to pass right through the gut with-
out being absorbed.6 7Goodall, J. (1986). The chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of behavior
(p. 372). Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
6Stahl, A. B. (1984). Hominid dietary selection before fi re. Current 8Behrensmeyer, A. K., et al. (1997). Late Pliocene faunal turnover in
Anthropology 25, 151–168. the Turkana basin, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Science 278, 1,589–1,594.
 Sex, Gender, and the Behavior of Early Homo 157

Biocultural
Connection Sex, Gender, and Female Paleoanthropologists
Up until the 1970s, the study of hu- We now know that such ideas are elaborated on the importance of female
man evolution, from its very beginnings, culture-bound, reflecting the hopes and activities for human evolution. Oth-
was permeated by a deep-seated bias expectations of Euramerican culture in ers have joined in the effort, including
reflecting the privileged status enjoyed the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Zihlman’s companion in graduate school
by men in Western society. Beyond the This recognition came in the 1970s and and later colleague, Nancy Tanner, who
obvious labeling of fossils as particular was a direct consequence of the entry of collaborated with Zihlman on some of
types of “men,” irrespective of the sex a number of highly capable women into her papers and has produced important
of the individual represented, it took the the profession of paleoanthropology. works of her own.
form of portraying males as the active Up until the 1960s, there were few The work of Zihlman and her co-
players in human evolution. Thus, it was women in any field of physical anthropol- workers was crucial in forcing a re-
males who were seen as providers and ogy, but with the expansion of graduate examination of existing “man the hunter”
innovators, using their wits to become programs and changing attitudes toward scenarios, out of which came recognition
ever-more effective providers of food the role of women in society, increas- of the importance of scavenging in early
and protection for passive females. ing numbers of women went on to earn human evolution as well as the value of
The latter were seen as spending their doctorates. One of these was Adrienne female gathering and other activities.
time preparing food and caring for Zihlman, who earned her doctorate at Although there is still plenty to learn
offspring, while the men were get- the University of California at Berkeley about human evolution, thanks to these
ting ahead by becoming ever smarter. in 1967. Subsequently, she authored a women we now know that it was not
Central to such thinking was the idea of number of important papers critical of a case of females being “uplifted” as a
“man the hunter,” constantly honing his “man the hunter” scenarios. She was consequence of their association with
wits through the pursuit and killing of not the first to do so; as early as 1971, progressively evolving males. Rather, the
animals. Thus, hunting by men was seen Sally Linton had published a preliminary two sexes evolved together, with each
as the pivotal humanizing activity in paper on “woman the gatherer,” but it making its own important contribution
evolution. was Zihlman who from 1976 on especially to the process.

ferences rather than the socially defi ned category of gen- cultural and environmental factors. It appears likely that
der. However, the gender roles internalized by the work- the same principle applied to our human ancestors.
ing paleoanthropologist from his or her own culture may Evidence from chimpanzees and bonobos casts fur-
be inadvertently applied to the fossil specimens. Simi- ther doubt on the notion of a strict, sex-based division
larly, until the 1960s, most anthropologists doing field- of labor in human evolutionary history. As described in
work among foragers stressed the role of male hunters Chapter 3, among chimpanzees, females have been ob-
and underreported the significance of female gatherers served participating in male hunting expeditions. Meat
in providing food for the community. As anthropologists gained from the successful hunt of a smaller mammal is
became aware of their own biases, they began to set the shared within the group whether provided by a male or a
record straight, documenting the vital role of “woman female chimpanzee. Among bonobos, females hunt reg-
the gatherer” in provisioning the social group in forag- ularly and share meat as well as plant foods with one an-
ing cultures, past and present. other. In other words patterns of food sharing and hunt-
Paleoanthropologists’ behavioral reconstructions ing behaviors in these apes are variable, lending credit to
from fragments of bone and stone have relied heavily on the notion that culture plays a role in establishing these
observations of living primates, including both human behaviors. Similarly, in our evolutionary history it is
and nonhuman living primates. For example, the obser- likely that culture—the shared learned behaviors of each
vation that food sharing and a division of labor by gender early Homo group—played a role in food-sharing behav-
characterize many modern food foragers has been used iors rather than strict biological differences between the
to support depictions of our male and female ancestors as sexes.
“hunter” and “gatherer,” respectively. However, the di- Though increased consumption of scavenged meat
vision of labor among contemporary food foragers, like on the part of early Homo may have promoted more food
all gender relations, reflects both cultural and biological
factors. Division of labor by food-foraging societies does
gender The cultural elaborations and meanings assigned to the
not conform to fi xed boundaries defi ned through bio- biological differentiation between the sexes.
logically based sex differences. Instead, it is influenced by
158 Chapter Seven/Early Homo and the Origins of Culture

Image not available due to copyright restrictions

sharing among adults, this remains a hypothesis, as does tion to marks on the bones made by slicing, scraping,
the notion that a division of labor characterized early and chopping with stone tools, there are tooth marks
Homo. The fossil and archaeological records provide evi- from gnawing. Some of the gnawing marks overlie the
dence only of cut marks on bones, the stone tools that butcher marks, indicating that enough flesh remained
made these marks, along with information about our an- on the bones after Homo was done with them to attract
cestors’ bodies and brains. No evidence exists to establish other carnivores. In other cases, though, the butcher
defi nitively how procured foods may have been shared. marks overlie the tooth marks of carnivores, indicating
When the evidence is fragmentary, as it is in all pa- that the animals got there fi rst. This is what we would
leoanthropological reconstructions of behavior, gaps are expect if H. habilis were scavenging the kills of other ani-
all too easily fi lled in with behaviors that seem “natural” mals, rather than doing its own killing.
and familiar such as contemporary gender roles. In re- Consistent with this picture is that whole carcasses
constructing the behavior of our ancestors from the dis- are not represented in the fossil record; apparently, only
tant past, current paleoanthropologists today pay care- parts were transported away from the original location
ful attention to the ways in which contemporary gender where they were obtained, again what we would expect
norms and other cultural factors inform their models. if they were “stolen” from the kill of some other animal.
A return to the evidence with an awareness of its lim- The stone tools, too, were made of raw material pro-
its will defi ne which inferences can be legitimately made cured at distances of up to 60 kilometers from where
about behaviors in human evolutionary history. they were used to process the parts of carcasses. Finally,
the incredible density of bones at some of the sites and
patterns of weathering indicate that the sites were used
repeatedly over periods guessed to be on the order of five
Hunters or Scavengers? to fi fteen years.
What do these assemblages of Oldowan tools and broken All of this is quite unlike the behavior of historically
animal bones have to tell us about the life of early Homo? known and contemporary food-foraging peoples or hunt-
First, they tell us that both H. habilis and large carnivo- ers, who typically bring whole carcasses back to camp or
rous animals were active at these locations, for in addi- form camp around a large animal in order to fully pro-
 Sex, Gender, and the Behavior of Early Homo 159

cess it. After processing, neither meat nor marrow (the nus Homo were actually tertiary scavengers—that is,
tissue inside of long bones where blood cells are pro- third in line to get something from a carcass after a lion
duced) is left as they were at Oldowan sites. The bones or leopard managed to kill some prey. Leopards, for ex-
themselves are broken up not just to get at the marrow ample, generally chew a limb from a zebra it has felled
(as at Oldowan sites) but to fabricate tools and other ob- and haul it into the treetops for a relaxed feast. Homo
jects of bone (unlike at Oldowan sites). habilis might have climbed into the trees to scavenge
The picture that emerges of our Oldowan forebears, meat hauled there by a leopard. If the carcass remains
then, is of scavengers, getting their meat from the Lower on the ground, hyenas grab what they can, followed by
Paleolithic equivalent of modern-day road kills, taking vultures who swarm the rotting carcass. By the time a
the spoils of their scavenging to particular places where lightly built H. habilis could get near the carcass of a dead
tools, and the raw materials for making them (often zebra, only bones remained.
procured from faraway sources), had been stockpiled in Fortunately, these tool-wielding ancestors could
advance for the purpose of butchering. At the least, this break open the shafts of long bones to get at the rich
may have required fabrication of carrying devices such marrow inside. A small amount of marrow is a concen-
as net bags and trail signs of the sort (described in Chap- trated source of both protein and fat. Muscle alone, par-
ter 3) used by modern bonobos. Thus, the Oldowan sites ticularly from lean game animals, contains very little fat.
were not campsites or “home bases” at all. Quite likely, Furthermore, as shown in the following Original Study,
H. habilis continued to sleep in trees or rocky cliffs, as do evolving humans may even have been prey themselves;
modern small-bodied terrestrial or semi-terrestrial pri- the selective pressure imposed by predators played a role
mates, in order to be safe from predators. However, the in brain expansion.
advanced preparation for meat processing implied by the
storing of stone tools, and the raw materials for making
tools, attests to considerable foresight and ability to plan marrow The tissue inside of long bones where blood cells are
produced.
ahead.
tertiary scavenger In a food chain, the third animal group (sec-
In addition, microscopic analysis of cut marks on ond to scavenge) to obtain meat from a kill made by a predator.
bones has revealed that the earliest members of the ge-

Original Study
By Donna Hart

Humans as Prey
There’s little doubt that humans, par- lution. One commonly accepted answer damaged hominid skulls as evidence that
ticularly those in Western cultures, think is that our early ancestors were killers our ancestors had been hunters. The fact
of themselves as the dominant form of other species and of their own kind, that the skulls were battered in a peculiar
of life on earth. And we seldom ques- prone to violence and even cannibalism. fashion led to Dart’s firm conviction that
tion whether that view holds true for In fact a club-swinging “Man the Hunter” violence and cannibalism on the part of
our species’ distant past—or even for is the stereotype of early humans that killer ape-men formed the stem from
the present, outside of urban areas. We permeates literature, film, and even much which our own species eventually flow-
swagger like the toughest kids on the scientific writing. ered. In his 1953 article “The Predatory
block as we spread our technology over Man the Hunter purports to be based Transition from Ape to Man,” Dart wrote
the landscape and irrevocably change it on science. Even the great paleontolo- that early hominids were “carnivorous
for other species. gist Louis S. B. Leakey endorsed it when creatures, that seized living quarries by
Current reality does appear to perch he emphatically declared that we were violence, battered them to death, tore
humans atop a planetary food chain. not “cat food.” Another legendary figure apart their broken bodies, [and] dismem-
The vision of our utter superiority may in the annals of paleontology, Raymond bered them limb from limb, . . . . greedily
even hold true for the last 500 years, A. Dart, launched the killer-ape-man devouring livid writhing flesh.”
but that’s just the proverbial blink of an scenario in the mid-20th century with But what is the evidence for Man the
eye when compared to the seven million the help of the best public-relations jug- Hunter? Could smallish, upright creatures
years that our hominid ancestors wan- gernaut any scientist ever had: the writer with relatively tiny canine teeth and flat
dered the planet. Robert Ardrey and his best-selling book, nails instead of claws, and with no tools
“Where did we come from?” and African Genesis. or weapons in the earliest millennia,
“What were the first humans like?” are Dart had interpreted the finds in really have been deadly predators? Is it
questions that have been asked since South African caves of fossilized bones possible that our ancestors lacked the
Darwin first proposed his theory of evo- from savannah herbivores together with CONTINUED
160 Chapter Seven/Early Homo and the Origins of Culture

CONTINUED

spirit of cooperation and desire for social shows punctures from the fangs of a cies still in existence. My study of preda-
harmony? We have only two reliable saber-toothed cat. Another skull, about tion found that 178 species of predatory
sources to consult for clues: the fossilized 900,000 years old, found in Kenya, ex- animals included primates in their diets.
remains of the human family tree, and hibits carnivore bite marks on the brow The predators ranged from tiny but fierce
the behaviors and ecological relationships ridge. A 6-million-year-old hominid, also birds to 500-pound crocodiles, with a
of our living primate relatives. found in Kenya, may well have been killed little of almost everything in between:
When we investigate those two by a leopard. A fragment of a 1.6-million- tigers, lions, leopards, jaguars, jack-
sources, a different view of humankind year-old hominid skull was found in the als, hyenas, genets, civets, mongooses,
emerges. First, consider the hominid fos- den of an extinct hyena, in Spain. A Komodo dragons, pythons, eagles, hawks,
sils that have been discovered. Dart’s first cranium from 250,000 years ago, dis- owls, and even toucans.
and most famous find, the cranium of covered in South Africa in 1935, has a Our closest genetic relatives, chim-
an Australopithecus child who died over depression on the forehead caused by panzees and gorillas, are prey to humans
2 million years ago (called the “Taung a hyena’s tooth. Those and other fossils and other species. Who would have
child” after the quarry in which the fossil provide rock-hard proof that a host of thought that gorillas, weighing as much
was unearthed), has been reassessed large, fierce animals preyed on human as 400 pounds, would end up as cat
by Lee Berger and Ron Clarke of the ancestors. food? Yet Michael Fay, a researcher with
University of the Witwatersrand, in light It is equally clear that, outside the the Wildlife Conservation Society and the
of recent research on eagle predation. West, no small amount of predation oc- National Geographic Society, has found
The same marks that occur on the Taung curs today on modern humans. Although the remnants of a gorilla in leopard feces
cranium are found on the remains of we are not likely to see these facts in in the Central African Republic. Despite
similarly sized African monkeys eaten American newspaper headlines, each year their obvious intelligence and strength,
today by crowned hawk eagles, known 3,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa are chimpanzees often fall victim to leopards
to clutch the monkeys’ heads with their eaten by crocodiles, and 1,500 Tibetans and lions. In the Tai Forest in the Ivory
sharp talons. are killed by bears about the size of griz- Coast, Christophe Boesch, of the Max
C. K. Brain, a South African paleon- zlies. In one Indian state between 1988 Planck Institute, found that over 5 per-
tologist like Dart, started the process of and 1998, over 200 people were attacked cent of the chimp population in his study
relabeling Man the Hunter as Man the by leopards; 612 people were killed by was consumed by leopards annually.
Hunted when he slid the lower fangs of tigers in the Sundarbans delta of India Takahiro Tsukahara reported, in a 1993
a fossil leopard into perfectly matched and Bangladesh between 1975 and 1985. article, that 6 percent of the chimpanzees
punctures in the skull of another austra- The carnivore zoologist Hans Kruuk, of in the Mahale Mountains National Park of
lopithecine, who lived between 1 million the University of Aberdeen, studied death Tanzania may fall victim to lions.
and 2 million years ago. The paradigm records in Eastern Europe and concluded The theory of Man the Hunter as our
change initiated by Brain continues to that wolf predation on humans is still a archetypal ancestor isn’t supported by
stimulate reassessment of hominid fossils. fact of life in the region, as it was until archaeological evidence, either. Lewis R.
The idea that our direct ancestor the 19th century in Western European Binford, one of the most influential fig-
Homo erectus practiced cannibalism was countries like France and Holland. ures in archaeology during the last half
based on the gruesome disfigurement The fact that humans and their ances- of the 20th century, dissented from the
of faces and brain-stem areas in a cache tors are and were tasty meals for a wide hunting theory on the ground that re-
of skulls a half-million years old, found range of predators is further supported constructions of early humans as hunters
in the Zhoukoudian cave, in China. How by research on nonhuman primate spe- were based on a priori positions and not
else to explain these strange on the archaeological record.
manipulations except as relics Artifacts that would verify
of Man the Hunter? But stud- controlled fire and weapons,
ies over the past few years in particular, are lacking until
by Noel T. Boaz and Russell L. relatively recent dates. Because
Ciochon—of the Ross Univer- no hominids possess the dental
sity School of Medicine and equipment or digestive tract
the University of Iowa, re- to eat raw flesh, we need to be
spectively—show that extinct able to cook our meat, but the
giant hyenas could have left Image not available due to copyright restrictions first evidence of controlled fire
the marks as they crunched is from only 790,000 years ago.
their way into the brains of And, of course, there’s also
their hominid prey. the problem of how a small
The list of our ancestors’ hominid could subdue a large
fossils showing evidence herbivore. The first true weapon
of predation continues to we know of is a wooden spear
grow. A 1.75-million-year- about 400,000 years old, al-
old hominid skull unearthed though the archaeologist John
in the Republic of Georgia Shea, of the State University of
 Homo Erectus 161

New York at Stony Brook, likened it to a small beasts within a large and complex Thus an urge to cooperate can clearly be
glorified toothpick. Large-scale, system- ecosystem. seen as a functional tool rather than a
atic hunting of big herbivores for meat Is Man the Hunter a cultural con- Pollyannaish nicety, and deadly competi-
may not have occurred any earlier than struction of the West? Belief in a sinful, tion among individuals or nations may be
60,000 years ago—over 6 million years violent ancestor does fit nicely with highly aberrant behavior, not hard-wired
after the first hominids evolved. Christian views of original sin and the ne- survival techniques. The same is true of
What I am suggesting, then, is a less cessity to be saved from our own awful, our destructive domination of the earth
powerful, more ignominious beginning yet natural, desires. Other religions don’t by technological toys gone mad.
for our species. Consider this alternate necessarily emphasize the ancient savage Raymond Dart declared that “the
image: smallish beings (adult females in the human past; indeed, modern-day loathsome cruelty of mankind to man . . .
maybe weighing 60 pounds, with males a hunter–gatherers, who have to live as is explicable only in terms of his carnivo-
bit heavier), not overly analytical because part of nature, hold animistic beliefs in rous, and cannibalistic origin.” But if our
their brain-to-body ratio was rather which humans are a part of the web of origin was not carnivorous and canni-
small, possessing the ability to stand life, not superior creatures who dominate balistic, we have no excuse for loath-
and move upright, who basically spent or ravage nature and each other. some behavior. Our earliest evolutionary
millions of years as meat walking around Think of Man the Hunted, and you history is not pushing us to be awful
on two legs. Rather than Man the Hunter, put a different face on our past. The bullies. Instead, our millions of years as
we may need to visualize ourselves as shift forces us to see that for most of prey suggest that we should be able to
more like Giant Hyena Chow, or Protein our evolutionary existence, instead of take our heritage of cooperation and in-
on the Go. being the toughest kids on the block, we terdependency to make a brighter future
Our species began as just one of were merely the 90-pound (make that for ourselves and our planet.
many that had to be careful, to depend 60-pound) weaklings. We needed to (By D. Hart (2006, April 21). Humans as
on other group members, and to com- live in groups (like most other primates) prey. Chronicle of Higher Education.)

municate danger. We were quite simply and work together to avoid predators.

Whether as hunters or as the hunted, brain expan-

sion and tool use played a significant role in the evolu-
tion of the genus Homo. Just after 2 million years ago,
bipeds with brains significantly larger than earlier Homo
began to appear in Africa and mark the beginning of the
species Homo erectus.

Image not available due to copyright restrictions

HOMO ERECTUS
In 1887, long before the discovery of Australopithecus and
early Homo in Africa, the Dutch physician Eugene Du-
bois set out to fi nd the “missing link” between humans
and apes. The presence of humanlike orangutans in the
Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), along with cultural
biases against African origins, led him to start his search
there. He joined the colonial service as an army surgeon
and set sail. Several years earlier, the German zoologist Ernst
After several years of searching in vain, Dubois Haeckel, who strongly supported Darwin’s theory of
found fossilized remains consisting of a skull cap, a few evolution, had proposed that if the missing link were
teeth, and a thighbone at Trinil, on the island of Java. Its ever found that it should be placed in the genus Pithecan-
features seemed to Dubois part ape, part human. The thropus (from the Greek pithekos meaning “ape,” anthro-
flat skull, for example, with its low forehead and enor- pus meaning “man”). Believing that his specimens repre-
mous brow ridges, appeared to be like that of an ape; but sented the missing link and that the thighbone indicated
at about 775 cubic centimeters it possessed a cranial ca- this creature was bipedal, Dubois named his fi nd Pithe-
pacity much larger than an ape’s, even though small by canthropus erectus, or “erect ape man.”
modern human standards. The femur, or thighbone, was As with the Taung child, the fi rst australopithecine
clearly human in shape, and its proportions indicated the discovered in the 1920s, many in the scientific commu-
creature was a biped. nity ridiculed and criticized Dubois’ claim, suggesting
162 Chapter Seven/Early Homo and the Origins of Culture

instead that the apelike skull and humanlike femur came western Europe, Georgia (in the Caucasus Mountains),
from different individuals. Controversy surrounded and India, as well as Java (Figure 7.5).
these specimens throughout Dubois’ lifetime. He even- Although remains of H. erectus have been found in
tually retreated from the controversy, keeping the fos- many different places in three continents, “lumpers”
sil specimens stored safely under the floorboards of his emphasize that they are unified by a number of shared
dining room. Ultimately, the discovery of more fossils characteristics. However, because the fossil evidence
provided evidence to support Dubois’ claim fully. In the also suggests some differences within and among popu-
1950s, the Trinil skull cap and similar specimens from lations of H. erectus inhabiting discrete regions of Africa,
Indonesia and China were assigned to the species Homo Asia, and Europe, other paleoanthropologists prefer to
erectus because they were more human than apelike. split H. erectus into several distinct groups, limiting the
species H. erectus only to the specimens from Asia. In
this taxonomic scheme Homo ergaster is used for African
specimens from the early Pleistocene period that others
HOMO ERECTUS FOSSILS describe as early H. erectus (Table 7.1).
Until about 1.8 million years ago, Africa was the only Regardless of species designation, it is clear that be-
home to the bipedal primates. It was on this continent ginning 1.8 million years ago these larger-brained mem-
that the fi rst bipeds, and the genus Homo, originated. It bers of the genus Homo lived not only in Africa but also
was also in Africa that the fi rst stone tools were invented. had spread to Eurasia. Fossil specimens dating to 1.8 mil-
But by the time of Homo erectus, members of the genus lion years old have been recovered from Dmanisi, Geor-
Homo had begun to spread far beyond their original gia, as well as from Mojokerto, Indonesia. Many addi-
homeland. Fossils of this species are now known from tional specimens have been found at a variety of sites in
a number of localities not just in Africa, but in China, Europe and Asia.

Boxgrove (500,000) Zhoukoudian

Ceprano (500,000)
(780,000)? Bilzingsleben (350,000)?
Atapuerca Mauer (500,000)? Dmanisi Lantian
(780,000) (1.8 MYA)? (800,000)?
Ternifine Hexian
(800,000)? (300,000)
Salé Jianshi
(400,000)? (300,000)
Longgupo
(1.8 MYA)
Konso Yuanmou (?)
Gardula
(1.3-1.9 MYA)
Thomas Quarries Melka Kunturé
& Sidi Abderrahman (700,000-1.3 MYA)?
(400,000)? Omo
(1.4 MYA)
Nariokotome
(1.6 MYA) Koobi Fora
(1.8 MYA)
Olduvai Gorge
(1.4 MYA)
Sambungmachan
(<500,000)?
Swartkrans
(1.5 MYA)? Java

MYA = Million Years Ago Sangiran

(1.6 MYA) Trinil Mojokerto
(900,000)? (1.8 MYA)

Figure 7.5
Sites, with dates, at which Homo erectus remains have been found. The arrows indicate the proposed
routes by which Homo spread from Africa to Eurasia.
 Homo Erectus Fossils 163

TABLE 7.1 ALTERNATE SPECIES DESIGNATIONS FOR HOMO ERECTUS FOSSILS FROM EURASIA AND AFRICA

Name Explanation

Homo ergaster Some paleoanthropologists feel that the large-brained successors to H. habilis from Africa and Asia are too
different to be placed in the same species. Therefore, they use H. ergaster for the African specimens, saving
H. erectus for the Asian fossils. Some paleoanthropologists place the recent discoveries from Dmanisi into this
taxon.

Homo antecessor This name was coined by splitters for the earliest Homo fossils from western Europe discovered in Spain;
antecessor is Latin for “explorer” or “pioneer.”

Homo heidelbergensis Originally coined for the Mauer jaw (Mauer is not far from Heidelberg, Germany), this name is now used by
some as a designation for all European fossils from about 500,000 years ago until the appearance of the
Neandertals (Chapter 8).

Physical Characteristics Cranial Capacity

5
of Homo erectus 4

Later Homo
The specific features characteristic of H. erectus are best 3
known from the skull. Interestingly many of the H. erec- 2
tus fossils consist of isolated skull caps as in Dubois’ orig- 1
inal discovery. Cranial capacity in H. erectus ranges from 0
600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400
600 to 1,225 cubic centimeters (average about 1,000 cc).
5
Thus cranial capacity overlaps with the nearly 2-million-
Late H. erectus
4
year-old KNM ER 1470 skull from East Africa (752 cc) and
the 1,000 to 2,000 cc range (average 1,300 cc) for modern 3

human skulls (Figure 7.6). 2

The cranium itself has a low vault (height of the 1
dome of the skull top), and the head is long and narrow. 0
600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400
When viewed from behind, its width is greater than its 5
Middle H. erectus

height, with its greatest width at the base. The skulls of 4

modern humans when similarly viewed are higher than
3
they are wide, with the widest dimension in the region
2
above the ears. The shape of the inside of H. erectus’
1
braincase shows near-modern development of the brain,
0
especially in the speech area. Although some anthropol- 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400
ogists argue that the vocal apparatus was not adequate 5
Early H. erectus

for speech, others argue that asymmetries of the brain 4

suggest the same pattern of right-handedness with left 3
cerebral dominance that, in modern peoples, is corre- 2
lated with the capacity for language.9 1
H. erectus possessed massive brow ridges (Figure 7.7). 0
When viewed from above, a marked constriction or 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400
“pinching in” of the skull can be seen just behind the
massive brow ridges. H. erectus also possessed a sloping Figure 7.6
forehead and a receding chin. Powerful jaws with large Cranial capacity in Homo erectus increased over time, as illustrated by
teeth, a protruding mouth, and huge neck muscles added these bar graphs, shown in cubic centimeters. The cranial capacity of
late Homo erectus overlaps with the range seen in living humans.
to H. erectus’ generally rugged appearance. Nevertheless,
the face, teeth, and jaws of this species are smaller than
those of Homo habilis. its bodily proportions are like ours, it was more heav-
Apart from its skull, the skeleton of H. erectus dif- ily muscled. Stature seems to have increased from the
fers only subtly from that of modern humans. Although smaller size typical of the australopithecines and the ear-
liest members of the genus Homo. The best evidence for
9Holloway, R. L. (1981). The Indonesian Homo erectus brain endo- this comes from a remarkably well-preserved skeleton of
casts revisited. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 55, 521. an adolescent male from Lake Turkana in Kenya. Sexual
164 Chapter Seven/Early Homo and the Origins of Culture

dimorphism in body size also appears to have decreased

FRONT VIEW in H. erectus compared to earlier bipeds. A reduction in
sexual dimorphism may be due to the increase in female
size as an adaptation to childbirth.10
Supra orbital torus
(brow ridge)

Relationship among Homo erectus,

Large face
Homo habilis, and Other Proposed
Fossil Groups
The smaller teeth and larger brains of H. erectus seem
to mark continuation of a trend fi rst seen in Homo ha-
bilis. Increased body size, reduced sexual dimorphism,
TOP VIEW and more “human” body form of H. erectus are newly
derived characteristics. Nonetheless, some skeletal re-
semblance to H. habilis exists, for example, in the long
neck and low neck angle of the thighbone, the long low
vault and marked constriction of the skull behind the
eyes, and smaller brain size in the earliest H. erectus fos-
sils. Indeed, as already noted, it is very difficult to distin-
guish between the earliest H. erectus and the latest H. ha-
Post orbital
constriction bilis fossils. Presumably the one form evolved from the
other, fairly abruptly, around 1.8 to 1.9 million years ago
Brow ridge
(Figure 7.8).
Generally speaking, African H. erectus skulls are sim-
SIDE VIEW ilar to those from Asia; one difference is that their bones
Low forehead aren’t quite as thick; another is that some Africans had
Brow ridge smaller brow ridges. It may be, too, that individuals liv-
ing in Asia were shorter and stockier, on the whole, than
Thick those living in Africa. However, the detailed anatomical
cranial bone
comparisons indicate levels of variation approximating
those seen in H. sapiens.11
Consistent with the notion of a single species is the
Nuchal torus observation that 1.8-million-year-old specimens from
Dmanisi, in the Caucasus—a region that lies more or
less halfway between Africa and Indonesia—show a mix
of characteristics seen in African and Asian H. erectus
REAR VIEW populations.12
Sagittal ridge Overall, it seems that comparisons between African
and Asian populations of Homo erectus possess levels of
variations similar to those seen if modern human popu-
lations from the east and the west are compared. As in
Asia, the most recent African fossils are more derived in
Nuchal appearance, and the oldest fossils (up to 1.8 million years
torus
old) display features reminiscent of the earlier Homo ha-
bilis. Indeed, distinguishing early H. erectus from late

Figure 7.7
10Hager, L. (1989). The evolution of sex differences in the hominid
bony pelvis. Ph. D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.
11Rightmire, G. P. (1998). Evidence from facial morphology for sim-
ilarity of Asian and African representatives of Homo erectus. Ameri-
can Journal of Physical Anthropology 106, 61.
12Rosas, A., & Bermudez de Castro, J. M. (1998). On the taxonomic
affi nities of the Dmanisi mandible (Georgia). American Journal of
Physical Anthropology 107, 159.
 Homo Erectus Fossils 165

Epochs
PLIOCENE PLEISTOCENE
Archaic Homo sapiens
Possibly first use appears in fossil record
of controlled fire
First Oldowan Homo erectus
in Africa Zhoukoudian
tools appear

Evidence of Homo in Evidence

Homo habilis Asia and Indonesia of Homo Evidence of
appears in Europe hunting begins
Acheulean tools
appear

2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 .5

Millions of years ago

Figure 7.8
Timeline of early Homo and the cultural changes from this time period.

H. habilis is problematic—precisely what one would ex-

pect if the one evolved from the other. We will explore
the H. erectus fi nds by region, beginning with the fossil
evidence from Africa.

Homo erectus from Africa

Although our samples of H. erectus fossils from Asia re-
main among the best, several important specimens are
also known from Africa. Fossils now assigned to this
species were discovered there as long ago as 1933, but the
better-known fi nds have been made since 1960, at Oldu-
vai Gorge and at Lake Turkana, Kenya. Among them is
the most complete H. erectus skeleton ever found, that of Image not available due to copyright restrictions
an adolescent boy who died 1.6 million years ago. Paleo-
anthropologists infer the age of this specimen from his
teeth (the 12-year molars are fully erupted) and the state
of maturity of the bones. With a height of about 5 feet
3 inches at adolescence, this specimen was expected to
attain a stature of about 6 feet by adulthood.
Another partial skeleton, this time of an adult, had
diseased bones, possibly the result of a massive overdose
of vitamin A. This excess could have come from eating
the livers of carnivorous animals, for they accumulate
vitamin A in their livers at levels that are poisonous to
human beings. More probable might have been heavy
consumption of bee brood (larvae) and other immature
insects, producing the same result.

Homo erectus from Eurasia wan stone tools were found at this site in 1984, the hunt
Evidence of the spread of H. erectus from Africa into Eur- for fossil specimens began here as well.
asia is well preserved at the interesting site of Dmanisi in Since then, paleoanthropologists have recovered
the Caucasus Mountains of Georgia. Dmanisi was fi rst some remarkable remains that can be accurately dated
excavated as an archaeological site because of its impor- to 1.8 million years ago through past volcanic activity
tance as a crossroads for the caravan routes of Armenia, in the region. In 1999, two well-preserved skulls, one
Persia, and Byzantium in medieval times. When Oldo- with a partial face, were discovered. Thus the early habi-
166 Chapter Seven/Early Homo and the Origins of Culture

GEORGIA

UKRAINE KAZAKHSTAN
RUSSIA Aral
Sea

Black Sea GEORGIA Ca UZBEKISTAN

sp i
Dmanisi an
Sea
ARMENIA TURKMENISTAN
TURKEY
AZERBAIJAN
SYRIA IRAQ IRAN Image not available due to copyright restrictions

tation of this region by members of the genus Homo is

supported at Dmanisi by archaeological, anatomical, and
geological evidence. Because rising sea levels since the
Pleistocene make it impossible for paleoanthropologists
to document coastal routes for the spread of Homo from
Africa to Eurasia, the evidence from Georgia constitutes
the only direct evidence of the spread of evolving hu-
mans from Africa to Europe, and Asia.

Homo erectus from Indonesia

While it took many years for the skull cap and thighbone
discovered by Dubois to be accepted as part of the hu-
cal College. Black was led to this site after purchasing
man line, these specimens are now considered typical
a few ancient humanlike teeth offered for their medici-
Asian Homo erectus. In the 1930s, a number of H. erectus
nal properties from a Beijing drugstore. He set out for
fossils were discovered by German paleoanthropologist
the nearby countryside to discover the “owner” of the
G. H. R. von Königswald at Sangiran, Java. Von Königs-
teeth and perhaps a species of early human ancestor. At a
wald found a small skull that fluorine analysis and (later)
place called Dragon Bone Hill in Zhoukoudian, 30 miles
potassium-argon dating assigned to the Early Pleisto-
from Beijing, on the day before closing camp at the end
cene. This indicated that these fossils were older than
of his first year of excavation, he found one molar tooth.
the Trinil skull cap found by Dubois, dating to approxi-
Subsequently, Chinese paleoanthropologist W. C. Pei,
mately 500,000 to 700,000 years ago.
who worked closely with Black, found a skull encased in
Since 1960, additional fossils have been found in
limestone.
Java, and we now have remains of around forty individu-
Between 1929 and 1934, the year of his death from
als. A long continuity of H. erectus populations in South-
silicosis—a lung disease caused by exposure to silica
east Asia is indicated, from perhaps as many as 500,000
particles in the cave—Black labored along with Pei and
to 1.8 million years ago. Interestingly, the teeth and jaws
French paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in the
of some of the earliest Javanese fossils are in many ways
fossil-rich deposits of Zhoukoudian, uncovering frag-
quite similar to those of Homo habilis.13 When consider-
ment after fragment of ancient remains. On the basis of
ing the spread of H. erectus to Java, it is important to note
the anatomy of that fi rst molar tooth, Black named these
that in the past, lower sea levels resulted in a continuous
fossils Sinanthropus pekinensis, or “Chinese human of
landmass between Indonesia and the Asian continent.
Peking” (Beijing), called “Peking Man” for short at the
time. They are now recognized as an East Asian repre-
Homo erectus from China sentative of H. erectus.
In the mid-1920s another group of fossils from Asia, After Black’s death, Franz Weidenreich, a German
now known as H. erectus, was found by Davidson Black, anatomist and paleoanthropologist, was sent to China by
a Canadian anatomist teaching at Peking Union Medi- the Rockefeller Foundation to continue this work. As a
Jew in Nazi Germany in the early 1930s, Weidenreich had
13Tobias, P. V., & von Königswald, G. H. R. (1964). A comparison sought refuge in the United States. By 1938, Wiedenreich
between the Olduvai hominines and those of Java and some impli- and his colleagues recovered the remains of more than
cations for hominid phylogeny. Nature 204, 515–518. forty individuals, more than half of them women and
 The Culture of Homo Erectus 167

Although the two populations overlap in time, the

majority of the Chinese fossils are, on the whole, not
quite as old as those from Indonesia. Not surprisingly,
Chinese H. erectus is less ancestral in appearance. Its av-
erage cranial capacity is about 1,000 cubic centimeters,
compared to 900 cc for Indonesian H. erectus. The smaller
teeth and short jaw of the Chinese fossil specimens are
further evidence of their more derived status.

Homo erectus from Western Europe

Although the fossil evidence indicates the presence of
the genus Homo on the Eurasian landmass 1.8 million
years ago (at Dmanisi, Georgia), the fossil evidence from
western Europe dates to about 800,000 years ago. The
evidence from the Grand Dolina site in north-central
Spain (see Table 7.1) consists of fragments of four individ-
© John Reader/Photo Researchers, Inc.

uals dating to 780,000 years ago. A skull from Ceprano in

Italy is thought to be approximately the same age if not
older. Again, whether one lumps these specimens into
the inclusive but varied species H. erectus or into several
separate species differs according to the approach taken
by paleoanthropologists with regard to the fossil record.
Some other fossils attributable to H. erectus—such as
a robust shinbone from Boxgrove, England, and a large
The original Homo erectus fossils from Zhoukoudian had been packed lower jaw from Mauer, Germany—are close to half a
for shipment to the United States for safekeeping during World War II, million years old. The jaw certainly came from a skull
but they mysteriously disappeared. Fortunately, excellent casts of the
wide at the base, typical of H. erectus. As might be ex-
specimens and detailed anatomical descriptions (by Weidenreich) were
made before the fossils were lost during the war. pected, these remains are similar to H. erectus material
from North Africa from the same time period. This ob-
servation, and the fact that the earliest evidence of the
children, from the limestone deposits of Zhoukoudian. genus Homo in western Europe comes from Spain and
Most fossils were fragmentary, represented by teeth, Italy, suggests that they arrived there by crossing from
jawbones, and incomplete skulls. A spectacular compos- northern Africa.14 At the time, a mere 6 or 7 kilometers
ite specimen has been reconstructed from the most com- separated Gibraltar from Morocco (compared to 13 ki-
plete remains. World War II (1939–1945) brought a halt lometers today), and islands dotted the straits from Tu-
to the digging, and the original Zhoukoudian specimens nisia to Sicily. The only direct land connection between
were lost during the Japanese occupation of China. The Africa and Eurasia is through the Middle East and into
fossils had been carefully packed by Weidenreich and his Turkey and the Caucasus. Otherwise H. erectus may
team and placed with the U.S. Marines, but in the chaos have come to western Europe by crossing open water.
of war, these precious fossils disappeared. Though evidence (discussed later in this chapter) demon-
Fortunately, Weidenreich had made superb casts strates that H. erectus was capable of crossing open water
of most of the Zhoukoudian fossil specimens and sent by 800,000 years ago, no defi nite proof of such a crossing
them to the United States before the war. After the exists in Europe.
war, other specimens of H. erectus were discovered in
China, at Zhoukoudian and a number of other locali-
ties (see Figure 7.5). The oldest skull is about 700,000
to 800,000 years old and comes from Lantian in central THE CULTURE OF HOMO ERECTUS
China. Even older is a fragment of a lower jaw from a As one might expect given its larger brain, H. erectus
cave in south-central China (Lunggupo) that is as old as outstripped its predecessors in cultural ability. In Af-
the oldest Indonesian fossils. Like some of their Indone- rica, Europe, and Asia, a refi nement of the stone tool-
sian contemporaries, this Chinese fossil is reminiscent of
African H. habilis. In contrast to these ancient remains,
the original Zhoukoudian fossils appear to date between 14Balter, M. (2001). In search of the fi rst Europeans. Science 291,
300,000 and 600,000 years ago. 1,724.
168 Chapter Seven/Early Homo and the Origins of Culture

making technology begun by the makers of earlier flake

and chopper tools is evident. At some point, fi re began
to be used for protection, warmth, and cooking, though
precisely when is still a matter for debate. Finally, there
is indirect evidence that the organizational and planning
abilities of H. erectus, or at least the later ones, were im-
proved over those of their predecessors. Many sites pre-
serve a rich array of archaeological remains without any
fossil specimens. Therefore the following discussion will
draw on larger geographic areas rather than limiting the
discussion only to the specific sites where actual H. erec-
tus fossils have been found.
Paleoanthropological reconstructions of the culture
and behavior of our ancestors differ considerably from
simple interpretations of biological change based on
comparative anatomy. Behavioral reconstructions com-
bine evidence about the environment, archaeological
evidence of tools, hearths, and shelters, with biological

© R. Potts/Smithsonian Institution
data about brain size and structure. Because the cultural
capacity of our ancestors is rooted in biology, paleo-
anthropologists are faced with the challenge of integrat-
ing biology and culture in the interpretation of the frag-
mentary evidence from the past. However, it is in these
reconstructions that paleoanthropologists shift into a
narrative mode, telling the “heroic story” of human evo-
lution in which our ancestors increasingly use their cul- To fabricate this Acheulean hand-axe from flint, the toolmaker imposed
a standardized arbitrary form on the naturally occurring raw material.
tural capabilities rather than biology to survive.
In the following paleoanthropological reconstruc-
tions of the culture of H. erectus, a curious blend of scien-
tific method and storytelling co-exist. In this regard, as Europe. Because the spread of the genus Homo from
with our earlier discussion of gender, paleoanthropolo- Africa into Asia took place before the invention of the
gists must work to keep their own cultural beliefs and hand-axe, it is not surprising to fi nd that different forms
values out of the paleoanthropological reconstructions. of tools were developed in East Asia.
That the Acheulean grew out of the Oldowan tra-
dition is indicated by an examination of the evidence
The Acheulean Tool Tradition discovered at Olduvai Gorge. In Bed I, the lowest level,
Associated with the remains of Homo erectus in Africa, chopper tools were found along with remains of Homo
Europe, and Southwest Asia are tools of the Acheulean habilis. Above, in lower Bed II, the fi rst crude hand-axes
tradition. The signature piece of this tradition fi rst iden- were found intermingled with chopper tools. The more
tified in stone tools discovered at Saint Acheul, France, is fi nished-looking Acheulean hand-axes appear in middle
the hand-axe: a teardrop-shaped tool pointed at one end Bed II together with H. erectus remains.
with a sharp cutting edge all around. Early Acheulean tools represent a significant step
The earliest hand-axes, from East Africa are about beyond the generalized cutting, chopping, and scraping
1.6 million years old. Those found in Europe are no older tools of the Oldowan tradition. The shapes of Oldowan
than about 500,000 years. At the same time that hand- tools were largely controlled by the original form, size,
axes appeared, archaeological sites in Europe became and mechanical properties of raw materials. The shapes
dramatically more common than earlier ones. This sug- of hand-axes and some other Acheulean tools, by con-
gests an influx of individuals bringing Acheulean tech- trast, are more standardized, apparently reflecting ar-
nology with them, implying continued gene flow into bitrary preconceived designs imposed upon a diverse
range of raw materials.15 Overall, sharper points, more
regular cutting edges, and more cutting edge were pro-
duced from the same amount of stone.
Acheulean tradition The tool-making tradition of Homo erectus
in Africa, Europe, and Southwest Asia in which hand-axes were
developed from the earlier Oldowan chopper. 15Ambrose, S. H. (2001). Paleolithic technology and human evolu-
tion. Science 291, 1,750.
 The Culture of Homo Erectus 169

Use of Fire
The use of fi re provides another sign of H. erectus’ de-
veloping culture and technology. The 700,000-year-old
Kao Poh Nam rock shelter in Thailand provides compel-
ling evidence for deliberate controlled use of fi re. Here,
a roughly circular arrangement of fire-cracked basalt
cobbles was discovered in association with artifacts and
animal bones. Because basalt rocks are not native to
the rock shelter and are quite heavy, they probably had
to have been carried in by H. erectus. Limestone rocks,
more readily available in the shelter, cannot be used
for hearths because, when burned, limestone produces
© Michael S. Yamashita/Corbis

quicklime, a caustic substance that causes itching and

burning skin rashes.16 The hearth, located near the rock
shelter entrance, away from the deeper recesses favored
by animals making dens, is associated with bones, show-
ing clear evidence of cut marks from butchering, as well
as burning.
In regions where bamboo was readily available for the fabrication of Homo erectus may have been using fire even ear-
effective tools, the same stone tool industries might not have devel- lier, based on evidence from Swartkrans in South Af-
oped. This contemporary scaffolding demonstrates bamboo’s strength rica. Here, in deposits estimated to date between 1 and
and versatility.
1.3 million years ago, bones have been found that had
been heated to temperatures far in excess of what one
During this part of the Lower Paleolithic, or Old would expect as the result of natural fi res. Natural grass
Stone Age, tool kits began to diversify. Besides hand- fires in the region will not heat bones above 212 degrees
axes, H. erectus used tools that functioned as cleavers Fahrenheit, whereas coals in campfires reach tempera-
(hand-axes with a straight, sharp edge where the point tures from 900⬚ to 1200⬚ F. Consequently, bones thrown
would otherwise be), picks and knives (variants of the into controlled fi res reach higher temperatures. Further-
hand-axe form), and flake tools (generally smaller tools more, the burned bones at Swartkrans do not occur in
made by hitting a fl int core with a hammerstone, thus older, deeper deposits. If these fi res were natural they
knocking off flakes with sharp edges). Many flake tools would be distributed among all archaeological layers.
were by-products of hand-axe and cleaver manufacture. Because the bones indicate heating to such high temper-
Their sharp edges made them useful “as is,” but many atures that any meat on them would have been inedible,
were retouched (modified again by ancient fl int knap- South African paleoanthropologists Andrew Sillen and
pers) to make points, scrapers, borers, and other sorts C. K. Brain suggest that the Swartkrans fi res functioned
of tools. Diversification of tool kits is also indicated by as protection from predators.17 Thus, fire may not have
the smaller numbers of hand-axes in northern and east-
ern Europe where people relied more on simple flaked 16Pope, G. C. (1989). Bamboo and human evolution. Natural History
choppers; a wide variety of unstandardized flakes; and 10, 56.
supplementary tools of bone, antler, and wood. 17Sillen, A., & Brain, C. K. (1990). Old flame. Natural History 4, 10.
In eastern Asia, by contrast, people developed a va-
riety of choppers, scrapers, points, and burins (chisel-like
tools) different from those in western Asia, Europe, and
THAILAND
Africa. Besides direct percussion, anvil (striking the raw
material against a stationary stone) and bipolar percus-
sion (holding the raw material against an anvil, but strik- NEP BHUTAN
AL
ing it at the same time with a hammerstone) methods CHINA
INDIA BURMA
were used in tool manufacture. Although tens of thou- (MYANMAR)
sands of stone tools have been found with H. erectus re- BANGLADESH
LAOS
THAILAND
mains at Zhoukoudian, stone implements are not at Kao Pah Nam
all common in Southeast Asia. Here, favored materials
SRI CAMBODIA
VIETNAM
likely were ones that do not preserve well such as bam- LANKA
boo and other local woods, from which excellent knives, MALAYSIA
Indian Ocean
scrapers, and so on can be made. INDONESIA
 170 Chapter Seven/Early Homo and the Origins of Culture

Archaeologists excavate a hearth

at a rock shelter in Kao Poh Nam,
Thailand. This hearth testifies
to human use of controlled fire
700,000 years ago.
© Geoffrey G. Pope

been “tamed” initially for cooking or to keep people Alternatively, the reduction of tooth size and sup-
warm; such uses may have come later. porting structure may have occurred outside the context
Whatever the reason for H. erectus’ original use of of adaptation. For example, the genetic changes respon-
fi re, it proved invaluable to populations that spread from sible for increasing brain size may also have caused a
the tropics into regions with cooler climates. Not only reduction in tooth size as a secondary effect. Recently,
did fi re provide warmth, but it may have assisted in the researchers at the University of Pennsylvania announced
quest for food. In places like central Europe and China, discovery of a genetic mutation, shared by all humans
food would have been hard to come by in the long, cold but absent in apes, that acts to prevent growth of pow-
winters when edible plants were unavailable and the erful jaw muscles. They calculated that the mutation
large herds of animals dispersed and migrated. One solu- arose between 2.1 and 2.7 million years ago, the pe-
tion could have been to search out the frozen carcasses of riod when early Homo first appeared. They argue that,
animals that had died naturally in the late fall and win- without heavy jaw muscles attaching to the outside of
ter, using long wooden probes to locate them beneath the brain case, a significant constraint to brain growth
the snow, wooden scoops to dig them out, and fi re to was removed. In other words, humans may have devel-
thaw them so that they could be butchered and eaten.18 oped large brains as an accidental by-product of jaw-
Furthermore, such fi re-assisted scavenging would have size reduction.19 Natural selection added to the effects
made available meat and hides of woolly mammoths, of the sudden change of the jaw through the gradual
woolly rhinoceroses, and bison, which were probably be- brain expansion that continued in the genus Homo until
yond the ability of H. erectus to kill, at least until late in some 200,000 years ago. By then, brain size had approxi-
the species’ career. mately tripled and reached the levels of today’s humans.
Perhaps it was the use of fi re to thaw carcasses that Sometimes it is not possible to infer the reasons for an
led to the idea of cooking food. Some paleoanthropolo- anatomical change visible in the fossil record. Instead,
gists suggest that this behavioral change altered the paleoanthropologists must remain content with mak-
forces of natural selection, which previously favored in- ing observations such as that, between early and late
dividuals with heavy jaws and large, sharp teeth (food is H. erectus, chewing-related structures undergo reduction
tougher and needs more chewing when it is uncooked), at a rate markedly above the fossil vertebrate average.20
favoring instead further reduction in tooth size along
with supportive facial structure. 19Stedman, H. H., et al. (2004). Myosin gene mutation correlates
with anatomical changes in the human lineage. Nature 428, 415–418.
18Gamble, C. (1986). The Paleolithic settlement of Europe (p. 387). Cam- 20Wolpoff, M. H. (1993). Evolution in Homo erectus: The question of
bridge, England: Cambridge University Press. stasis. In R. L. Ciochon & J. G. Fleagle (Eds.), The human evolution
 The Culture of Homo Erectus 171

Hypotheses regarding the benefits of certain cul- in advance to protect against the cold would have been
tural innovations such as cooking are another matter crucial to survival.22
altogether. Cooking does more than soften food. It de- With H. erectus came the fi rst evidence of ancestral
toxifies a number of otherwise poisonous plants; alters populations living outside the Old World tropics. With-
digestion-inhibiting substances so that important vita- out controlled use of fi re, it is unlikely that early humans
mins, minerals, and proteins can be absorbed while in could have moved successfully into regions where win-
the gut, rather than just passing through it unused; and ter temperatures regularly dropped to temperate climate
makes high-energy complex carbohydrates like starch levels—as they must have in northern China, the moun-
digestible. With cooking, the nutritional resources avail- tain highlands of central Asia, or most of Europe. Mem-
able to humans were substantially increased and made bers of the genus Homo spread to these colder regions
more secure. some 780,000 years ago.
In the story of human evolution, the biological con- Although considerable variation exists, studies of
sequences of cultural change can sometimes be inferred. modern humans indicate that most people can remain
For example, the partial predigestion of food by cooking reasonably comfortable down to 50 degrees Fahrenheit
also may have allowed a reduction in the size of the di- (10 degrees Celsius) with minimal clothing so long as
gestive tract. To establish this biological change, paleo- they keep active. Below that temperature, hands and
anthropologists do not have the benefit of fossilized di- feet cool to the point of pain.23 Clothing, like many other
gestive tracts. Instead they turn to comparative anatomy aspects of material culture, does not fossilize, so we
of the living hominoids. Despite its overall similarity of have no direct evidence of the kind of clothing worn by
form to those of apes, the digestive tract of modern hu- H. erectus. We only know that it must have been more
mans is substantially smaller. The advantage of this gut sophisticated than was required in warmer climates. In
reduction is that it draws less energy to operate, thereby short, when our human ancestors learned to employ fi re
competing less with the high energy requirements of a to warm and protect themselves and to cook their food,
larger brain. Although a mere 2 percent of body weight, they dramatically increased their geographic range and
the brain accounts for about 20 to 25 percent of energy nutritional options.
consumed at resting metabolic rate in modern human This sort of missing evidence creates controversy
adults.21 around many of the behavioral constructions suggested
Like tools, then, fi re gave people more control over for H. erectus. The Chinese H. erectus site, Zhoukoudian,
their environment. Possibly, H. erectus in Southeast Asia provides an excellent case in point. Many paleoanthro-
used fire, as have more recent populations living there, pologists interpret evidence of fi res, hackberries, and
to keep areas in the forest clear for foot traffic. Cer- animal bones as demonstrating hunting, gathering, and
tainly, the resistance to burning, which is characteristic occupation of this cave site by Homo erectus. Archaeolo-
of many hardwood trees in this forest today, indicates gist Lewis Binford suggests instead that the fi res were
that fire has long been important in their evolution. Fire natural—that due to the presence of bat guano (feces), a
may also have been used by H. erectus, as it was by sub- reliable fuel, high temperature and fi res occurred natu-
sequent members of the genus Homo, not just for protec- rally. He suggests too that the hackberries were brought
tion from animals out in the open but to frighten away into the cave in animal feces and that all the animal re-
cave-dwelling predators so that the fi re-users might live mains including those of humans were brought into this
in the caves themselves. In addition, fire could be used cave by carnivores. However, the well-documented use
to provide warmth and light in these otherwise cold and of controlled fi re by H. erectus 700,000 years ago in Thai-
dark habitations. land, described above, suggests that fi re could have been
Even more, fi re modified the natural succession of in use at Zhoukoudian as well.
day and night, perhaps encouraging H. erectus to stay
up after dark to review the day’s events and plan the
next day’s activities. Though we cannot know whether Hunting
H. erectus enjoyed socializing and planning around Evidence that H. erectus developed the ability to organize
campfires at night, we do have evidence at least of some in order to hunt large animals is suggested by remains
planning behavior. Planning is implied by the existence such as those from the 400,000-year-old sites of Ambrona
of populations in temperate climates, where the ability
to anticipate the needs of the winter season by preparing 22Goodenough, W. H. (1990). Evolution of the human capacity for
beliefs. American Anthropologist, 92, 601.
source book (p. 396). Englewood Cliff s, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 23Whiting, J. W. M., Sodergem, J. A., & Stigler, S. M. (1982). Win-
21Leigh, S. R., & Park, P. B. (1998). Evolution of human growth pro- ter temperature as a constraint to the migration of preindustrial
longation. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 107, 347. peoples. American Anthropologist 84, 289.
172 Chapter Seven/Early Homo and the Origins of Culture

and Torralba, in Spain. At the latter site, in what was an

ancient swamp, the remains of several elephants, horses,
red deer, wild oxen, and rhinoceroses were found. Their INDONESIA
skeletons were dismembered and scattered, a fi nding
that cannot be explained as a result of any natural geo- CAMBODIA
logical process. Therefore, it is clear that these animals VIETNAM
THAILAND
did not accidentally get mired in a swamp where they BRUNEI PHILIPPINES
MALAYSIA
simply died and decayed.24 In fact, the bones are closely SINGAPORE
associated with a variety of stone tools—a few thousand BORNEO
SULAWESI
SUMATRA
of them. Furthermore, there is very little evidence of car- I N
D O N
nivorous animal activity and none at all for the really big JAVA E S I A
Indian BALI
carnivores. Clearly, the genus Homo was involved—not Ocean SUMBAWA FLORES
TIMOR
just in butchering the animals but evidently in killing
them as well.
It appears that the animals were actually driven into cene as a barrier to the passage of animals to and from
the swamp so that they could be easily dispatched. The Southeast Asia. To get to Flores, even at times of low-
remains of charcoal and carbon, widely but thinly scat- ered sea levels, required crossing open water: at mini-
tered in the vicinity, raise the possibility that grass fi res mum 25 kilometers from Bali to Sumbawa, with an ad-
were used to drive the animals into the swamp. In any ditional 19 kilometers to Flores. That early humans did
event, this evidence indicates more than opportunistic just this is indicated by the presence of 800,000-year-old
scavenging. Not only was H. erectus able to hunt, but stone tools.25 Precisely how they navigated across the
considerable organizational and communicative skills deep, fast-moving water is not known, but at the least it
are implied as well. required some sort of substantial raft.
Additional evidence for hunting 400,000 years ago Evidence for a developing symbolic life is sug-
was discovered accidentally in 1995 in the course of strip- gested by the increased standardization and refi nement
mining at Schöningen in northern Germany. Here five of Acheulean hand-axes over time. Moreover, at several
well-constructed and fi nely balanced spears made en- sites in Europe, deliberately marked objects of stone,
tirely of wood, the longest one measuring more than bone, and ivory have been found in Acheulean contexts.
7 feet in length, were found. These are sophisticated These include several objects from Bilzingsleben, Ger-
weapons made by hunters who clearly knew what they many—among them a mastodon bone with a series of
were doing. The nearby bones of more than a dozen regular lines that appear to have been deliberately en-
horses attest to the effectiveness of their weapons. graved. Though a far cry from the later Upper Paleo-
There is no reason to suppose that H. erectus be- lithic cave art of France and Spain, these are among the
came an accomplished hunter all at once. As described earliest Paleolithic artifacts that have no obvious utility
in Chapter 3, coordinated hunting behavior is seen in or model in the natural world.
chimpanzees and bonobos. Presumably, the most an- Such apparently symbolic artifacts became more
cient members of this species, like Homo habilis and aus- common in later phases of the Paleolithic, as more de-
tralopithecines before them, got the bulk of their meat rived forms of the genus Homo appeared on the scene.
through scavenging with occasional hunting of smaller Similarly, the world’s oldest known rock carvings are
prey. As their cultural capabilities increased, however, associated with Acheulean tools in a cave in India.26 Ar-
they could have devised ways of doing their own killing, chaeologist Alexander Marshack argues that the use of
rather than waiting for larger animals to die or be killed such symbolic images requires some sort of spoken lan-
by other predators. As they became more proficient guage, not only to assign meaning to the images but to
predators over time, they would have been able to count maintain the tradition they seem to represent.27 That
on a more reliable supply of meat. such a symbolic tradition did exist is suggested by simi-
lar motifs on later Paleolithic artifacts. It is also in late
Acheulean contexts on three continents that we have our
Other Evidence of Complex Thought
Yet other evidence of H. erectus’ capabilities comes from 25Gibbons, A. (1998). Ancient island tools suggest Homo erectus was
the island of Flores in Indonesia. This island lies east of a seafarer. Science 279, 1,635.
a deepwater strait that has acted throughout the Pleisto- 26Bednarik, R. G. (1995). Concept-mediated marking in the Lower
Paleolithic. Current Anthropology 36, 610–611.
24Freeman, L. G. (1992). Ambrona and Torralba: New evidence and in- 27Marshack, A. (1976). Some implications of the Paleolithic sym-
terpretation. Paper presented at the 91st Annual Meeting, American bolic evidence for the origin of language. Current Anthropology
Anthropological Association, San Francisco. 17, 280.
 The Question of Language 173

earliest evidence for the use of red ochre. More modern

forms of Homo employed this pigment to color symbolic
as well as utilitarian artifacts, to stain the bodies of the
dead, to paint the bodies of the living, and (ultimately) to
make notations and paint pictures.

THE QUESTION OF LANGUAGE

We do not, of course, know anything defi nitive about Hypoglossal
nerve
H. erectus’ linguistic abilities. Still, the evidence for a de-
veloping symbolic life, as well as the need to plan for sea-
sonal changes and to coordinate hunting activities (and
cross stretches of open water), implies improving lin-
guistic competence.
Stone tools provide another interesting source for HYPOGLOSSAL
evidence of evolving humans’ linguistic capabilities. The CANAL

vast majority of the stone tools preserved in the fossil

record were made by right-handed individuals, provid- Homo sapiens
ing evidence of the specialization and lateralization of
the brain. In other primates and most mammals, the Chimpanzee
right and left sides of the brain duplicate each other’s
function; therefore these animals use the right and left
sides of their bodies equally and interchangeably. In hu- Figure 7.10
mans, the emergence of handedness seems closely linked The size of the hypoglossal canal is much larger in humans than in
chimpanzees. The nerve that passes through this canal controls tongue
both ontogenetically (at about the age of 1 year) and evo- movement, and complex tongue movements are involved in spoken
lutionarily with the appearance of language (Figure 7.9). language. All members of the genus Homo after about 500,000 years
Thus evidence of handedness in Lower Paleolithic tools ago have an enlarged hypoglossal canal.

Broca’s area
indicates that the kind of brain specialization required
(language production) for language was well underway.
Motor cortex Parietal lobe The vocal tract and brain of H. erectus are interme-
diate between those of H. sapiens on the one hand and
Frontal lobe earlier Australopithecus on the other. Another clue is the
increasing size of the hypoglossal canal. This passage-
way through the skull accommodates the nerve that
controls tongue movements, so important for spoken
language (Figure 7.10). In contemporary people this is
twice the size that it is in any ape. This characteristic
fi rst appears in fossilized skulls of late H. erectus about
500,000 years ago.28
Possibly, a changeover from reliance on gestural to
spoken language was a driving force in these evolution-
ary changes. The reduction of tooth and jaw size, facili-
Temporal lobe Occipital tating the ability to articulate speech sounds may have
lobe
Hearing
Cerebellum
28Cartmill, M. (1998). The gift of gab. Discover 19(11), 64.
Brain stem

Wernicke’s area
(language comprehension)
hypoglossal canal The opening in the skull that accommodates
the tongue-controlling hypoglossal nerve.
Figure 7.9
Language areas in the left side of the brain.
174 Chapter Seven/Early Homo and the Origins of Culture

also played a role. From an evolutionary standpoint, man body. One can meet these demands on a vegetarian
spoken language could be said to provide some advan- diet, but the overall energy content of a given amount of
tages over a gestural one. Individuals do not have to stop plant food is generally less than that of the same amount
whatever they are doing with their hands to “talk” (use- of meat. Thus, the use of meat, marrow in particular, in
ful to a species increasingly dependent on tool use), and addition to plant foods, ensured the availability of a re-
it is possible to talk in the dark, past opaque objects, or liable source of high-quality protein to support a more
among people whose gaze is concentrated on something highly developed brain.
else (potential prey, for example). In addition, animals that live on plant foods must
With H. erectus, then, we fi nd a clearer manifesta- spend their time eating large quantities of vegetation.
tion of the interplay among cultural, physical, and en- Gorillas, for example, spend all day munching on plants
vironmental factors than ever before. However slowly, to maintain their large bodies. Meat eaters, by contrast,
social organization, technology, and communication have no need to eat so much, or so often. Consequently,
developed in tandem with an increase in brain size and meat-eating bipeds may have had more leisure time
complexity. In fact, the cranial capacity of late H. erectus available to explore and manipulate their environment.
is 31 percent greater than the mean for early H. erectus, a Like lions and leopards, they would have time for activi-
rate of increase more rapid than the average fossil verte- ties other than eating.
brate rate.29 The archaeological record provides us with a tan-
As a consequence of these changes, H. erectus’ re- gible record of our ancestors’ cultural abilities that cor-
source base was enlarged significantly; the supply of meat responds with the simultaneous biological expansion of
could be increased by hunting as well as by scavenging, the brain. Tool making itself puts a premium on manual
and the supply of plant foods was increased as cooking al- dexterity, precision, and fi ne manipulation. Stone tools
lowed the consumption of vegetables that otherwise are provide evidence of handedness that bespeaks special-
toxic or indigestible. This, along with an increased abil- ization and lateralization of the brain associated with
ity to modify the environment in advantageous ways— language. Beginning with the appearance of the genus
for example, by using fi re to provide warmth—undoubt- Homo in Africa 2.5 million years ago, human evolution
edly contributed to a population increase and territorial began a sure course of increasing brain size and increas-
expansion. In all living creatures, any kind of adaptation ing cultural development, each presumably acting to
that enhances reproductive success causes population promote the other.
growth. This growth causes fringe populations to spill The importance of increased consumption of meat
over into neighboring regions previously uninhabited for brain development in early Homo is suggested by the
by the species. Thus, Homo erectus was able to move into size of their brains: The cranial capacity of the largely
areas that had never been inhabited by bipedal primates plant-eating Australopithecus ranged from 310 to 530 cu-
before—fi rst into the warm, southern regions of Eur- bic centimeters (cc); that of the earliest known meat
asia and ultimately into the cooler regions of China and eater, Homo habilis from East Africa, ranged from 580 to
Europe. 752 cc; whereas Homo erectus, who eventually hunted as
well as scavenged for meat, possessed a cranial capacity
of 775 to 1,225 cc.
TOOLS, FOOD, AND Many scenarios about behavioral adaptation in early
Homo, such as the relationship among tools, food, and
BRAIN EXPANSION brain expansion, propose a kind of feedback loop be-
With the appearance of the genus Homo and the tools of tween brain size and behavior. The behaviors made pos-
the Old Stone Age, human evolution began a course of sible by larger brains confer advantages to large-brained
brain expansion through variational change (see Chap- individuals, contributing to their increased reproductive
ter 5) that continued until about 200,000 years ago. By success. Over time, large-brained individuals contribute
this point, brain size had approximately tripled and more to successive generations, so that the population
reached the levels of contemporary people. evolves to a larger-brained form. Natural selection for
During this time period, the increasing cultural increases in learning ability has thus led to the evolution
capabilities accompanying larger brains required paral- of larger and more complex brains over about 2 million
lel improvements in diet. The energy demands of nerve years.
tissue, of which the brain is made, are high—higher, in Though it preceded increases in brain size by sev-
fact, than the demands of other types of tissue in the hu- eral more million years, bipedalism set the stage for the
evolution of large brains and human culture. It freed the
29Wolpoff, M. H. (1993). Evolution in Homo erectus: The question of hands for activities such as tool making and carrying of
stasis. In R. L. Ciochon & J. G. Fleagle (Eds.), The human evolution resources or infants. This new body plan, bipedalism,
source book (pp. 392, 396). Englewood Cliff s, NJ: Prentice-Hall. opened new opportunities for change.
 Suggested Readings 175

VISUAL COUNTERPOINT
© 1993 Mary-Ann Fittipaldi

© Mary Ann Fittipaldi

A power grip (left) utilizes more of the hand while the precision grip (right) relies on the fingers for control,
requiring corresponding organizational changes in the brain.

Questions for Reflection 4. Animals ranging from rabbits to plants have come to oc-
cupy new niches without the benefits of culture. How does the
1. The earliest members of the genus Homo drew upon inte- spread of Homo out of the African continent tell paleoanthro-
grated biological and cultural capabilities to face the chal- pologists anything about this species’ cultural capabilities?
lenges of existence. Provide examples of how early Homo in- 5. Though language itself does not “fossilize,” the archaeolog-
creasingly relied on cultural abilities and how these abilities ical and fossil records provide some evidence of the linguistic
are tied to biological evidence preserved in the fossil record. capabilities of our ancestors. Using the evidence available for
2. Paleoanthropologists can be characterized as either “lump- Homo habilis and Homo erectus, what sort of linguistic abilities
ers” or “splitters” depending upon their approach to the iden- do you think early Homo possessed?
tification of species in the fossil record. Using Homo habilis
and Homo erectus, which of these approaches do you prefer
and why?
3. In his 1871 book Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Suggested Readings
Sex, Charles Darwin stated, “Thus man has ultimately be-
come superior to woman. It is indeed fortunate that the law of Corballis, M. C. (2003). From hand to mouth: The origins
equal transmission of characters prevails with mammals. Oth- of human language. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
erwise it is probable that man would have become as superior Press.
in mental endowment to woman as the peacock is in orna- This book, written by a psychologist, takes the position that
mental plumage to the peahen.” How were the cultural norms facial and manual gestures rather than vocalization are key to
of Darwin’s time reflected in his statement? Can 21st-century the development of language. It brings data from linguistics,
paleoanthropologists speak about differences between the molecular genetics, animal behavior, psychology, and neurol-
sexes in evolutionary contexts without introducing their own ogy to the anthropological question of when human language
cultural biases? arose.
176 Chapter Seven/Early Homo and the Origins of Culture

Delson, E., Tattersal, I., Brooks, A., & Van Couvering, J. Zihlman, A. (2001). The human evolution coloring book. New
(1999). Encyclopedia of human evolution and prehistory. New York: Harper Resources.
York: Garland. Do not be deceived by the title or the book’s visual hands-
Using an A to Z format, this user-friendly encyclopedia in- on format. This book provides an authoritative scientific ap-
cludes over 800 entries relating to human evolution and pre- proach to all aspects of the study of human evolution.
history. It includes excellent diagrams, illustrations, and de-
scriptions of key archaeological sites.
Thomson Audio Study Products
Potts, R. (1997). Humanity’s descent: The consequences of ecologi-
cal instability. New York: Avon. Enjoy the MP3-ready Audio Lecture Overviews for
each chapter and a comprehensive audio glossary of
Written by the director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Hu- key terms for quick study and review. Whether walk-
man Origins Program, this book suggests that environmental ing to class, doing laundry, or studying at your desk, you now
instability was the unifying factor contributing to the acquisi- have the freedom to choose when, where, and how you inter-
tion of human language and culture. act with your audio-based educational media. See the preface
for information on how to access this on-the-go study and re-
Stanford, C. B. (2001). The hunting apes: Meat eating and the view tool.
origins of human behavior. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press.
Though updated and less gender biased, this work revisits The Anthropology Resource Center
the old “Man the Hunter” hypothesis, suggesting that hu-
man intelligence is linked to the acquisition of meat and food www.thomsonedu.com/anthropology
sharing. The Anthropology Resource Center provides extended learn-
ing materials to reinforce your understanding of key concepts
in the four subfields of anthropology. For each of the four sub-
Walker, A., & Shipman, P. (1997). The wisdom of the bones: In disciplines, the Resource Center includes dynamic exercises
search of human origins. New York: Vintage Books. including video exercises, map exercises, simulations, and
This book provides an engaging description of the dis- “Meet the Scientists” interviews, as well as critical thinking
covery of the most complete Homo erectus specimen—the questions that can be assigned and e-mailed to instructors.
Nariokotome Boy from Lake Turkana, Kenya—as well as The Resource Center also provides breaking news in anthro-
placing it within the context of the larger story of human pology and interesting material on applied anthropology to
evolution. help you link what you are learning to the world around you.
This page intentionally left blank
 Pre-Modern Humans

8 and the Elaboration

of Culture

© Mary Evans Picture Library/Alamy

When we imagine the appearance and behavior of members of the genus Homo,
CHALLENGE
ISSUE having brains the size of modern humans and living closer to the present, we
are challenged to avoid imposing contemporary beliefs upon the mysteries of
the past. For example, this early 20th-century portrayal of a Neandertal, based
on the research of paleoanthropologist Marcellin Boule, makes a powerfully
negative statement about the capabilities of this group as well as their distance
from living humans. In looking at this sorry specimen, it is easy to forget that
this portrayal is not derived directly from the fossil remains, but from the col-
lective imagination of early 20th-century Europeans. While paleoanthropolo-
gists uniformly recognize the inaccuracies and biases present in this engraving,
present-day reconstructions of Neandertals still vary tremendously and reflect
the conflicting scientific theories and beliefs about their place in our evolution-
ary history.
 CHAPTER PREVIEW

What Is the Relationship Who Were the What Is the Relationship

Between Brain Size Neandertals, and Between Middle
and Culture Change? What Became of Them? Paleolithic Homo and
Between 200,000 and 400,000 years The Neandertals were large-brained, Modern Homo sapiens?
ago, the brain size of genus Homo robust, muscular members of the Some paleoanthropologists pro-
throughout the Old World began genus Homo from Southwest Asia pose that Neandertals, like other
to reach modern proportions. Still, and Europe whose remains date archaic forms, evolved into ana-
fossil skulls retain a number of from about 30,000 to 125,000 years tomically modern versions of Homo
ancestral features, as well as some ago. The first Neandertals were sapiens as different features of
specialized features typically not discovered in the mid-19th century, modern anatomy arising in other
seen in modern Homo sapiens. Ar- before scientific theories to account regional populations were carried
chaeological evidence shows that as for human evolution had gained to them through gene flow. In this
the human brain reached its modern acceptance. Much debate has sur- framework, human populations
size, cultures throughout the globe rounded the fate of the Neandertals. throughout Africa, Europe, and
had become rich and varied com- Some paleoanthropologists consider Asia contributed to the making of
pared to cultures of earlier members the Neandertals as early members modern humans. Other paleoan-
of the genus Homo. A wide variety of of our species, Homo sapiens. Others thropologists propose that anatomi-
tools for special purposes, objects for suggest that distinctive features in cally modern humans with superior
purely symbolic purposes, ceremo- Neandertal skulls place them out- cultural capabilities appeared first
nial activities, and care for the old side of the evolutionary line leading in Africa about 200,000 years ago,
and disabled existed. The appear- to contemporary people. replacing existing archaic forms as
ance of more sophisticated stone they spread from Africa to the rest
tool industries marks the beginning of the world.
of the Middle Paleolithic. Some of
these large-brained fossils are called
archaic Homo sapiens, while the
place of others in human evolution-
ary history is hotly debated. Paleo-
anthropologists disagree about
whether alterations in the shape
of the skull indicate differences in
brain structure sufficient to affect
the cultural capabilities of these
fossil groups.

179
180 Chapter Eight/Pre-Modern Humans and the Elaboration of Culture

A s well as being a scholar, the anthropologist at-

tempting to piece together the innumerable
parts of the puzzle of human evolution must be a de-
tective, and creative thinker, for the available evidence
dumped (after defleshing their skulls) by their contempo-
raries into a deep cave shaft known today as Sima de los
Huesos (“Pit of the Bones”). This makes it the best pop-
ulation sample from this time period anywhere in the
world (Figure 8.1). The presence of other animal bones
is often scant, enigmatic, or full of misleading and even in the same pit with humans raises the possibility that
contradictory clues. The quest for the origin of modern early humans simply used the site as a dump. Alterna-
humans from more ancient representatives of the genus tively, the treatment of the dead at Atapuerca may have
Homo has elements of a detective story, for it contains involved ritual activity that presaged burial of the dead,
mysteries concerning the emergence of humanity, none a practice that became common after 100,000 years ago.
of which has been completely resolved to this day. The As expected of any population, this one displays
mysteries involve the appearance of the fi rst fossils with a significant degree of variation. Cranial capacity, for
human-sized brains, the identity of the Neandertals, and example, ranges from 1,125 to 1,390 cubic centimeters,
the relationship of changes in the shape of the skull to overlapping the upper end of the range for H. erectus
cultural abilities. and the average size of H. sapiens’ range (1,300 cc). Over-
all, the bones display a mix of features, some typical of
H. erectus, others of H. sapiens, including some incipient
THE APPEARANCE OF Neandertal characteristics. Despite this variation, the
sample appears to show no more sexual dimorphism
MODERN-SIZED BRAINS than displayed by modern humans.2
At various sites in Africa, Asia, and Europe, a number Other remains from Africa and Europe dating be-
of fossils from the genus Homo—primarily skulls, jaws, tween 200,000 and 400,000 years ago have shown a com-
and jaw fragments—have been found that seem to date bination of H. erectus and H. sapiens features. Some—
roughly to between 200,000 and 400,000 years ago. Most such as skulls from Ndutu in Tanzania, Swanscombe
fossil fi nds consist of parts of one or a very few individu- (England), and Steinheim (Germany)—have been clas-
als, the one exception being a large number of bones and sified as H. sapiens, while others—from Arago (France),
teeth from the Sierra de Atapuerca in northern Spain. Bilzingsleben (Germany), and Petralona (Greece), and
Here, at some time between 205,000 and 325,000 years several African sites—have been classified as H. erectus.
ago,1 the remains of at least twenty-eight individuals of Yet all have cranial capacities that fit within the range
both sexes, juveniles as well as adults, were deliberately exhibited by the Sima de los Huesos skulls.

2Lorenzo, C., et al. (1998). Intrapopulational body size variation

1Parés, J. M., et al. (2000). On the age of hominid fossils at the Sima and cranial capacity variation in middle Pleistocene humans: The
de los Huesos, Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain: Paleomagnetic evidence. Sima de los Huesos sample (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). American
American Journal of Physical Anthropology 111, 451–461. Journal of Physical Anthropology 106, 30.

Epoch
PLEISTOCENE
Qafzeh and Skhul
Herto
Levalloisian
technique Neandertals
begins found in
Southwest Asia
Sima de los Huesos Kabwe and Europe Upper Paleolithic
traditions begin

Mousterian tool industries European

Upper
Paleolithic
Large-brained Homo found throughout Old World traditions begin

400,000 300,000 200,000 100,000

Years ago

Figure 8.1
Around 400,000 years ago, large-brained members of the genus Homo began to be found throughout
Africa and Eurasia; corresponding culture changes are evident as well.
 The Appearance of Modern-Sized Brains 181

They tend to lump these fossils into the archaic Homo sa-
piens, a category that reflects both their large brain size
and the ancestral features in the skull. “Splitters” use a
series of discrete names for specimens from this period
that take into account some of the geographic and mor-
phological variation present in these fossils. Both ap-
proaches correspond to statements about evolutionary
relationships among fossil groups.

Levalloisian Technique
With the appearance of large-brained members of the
genus Homo, the pace of culture change began to acceler-
ate. Although hand-axes and other Acheulean tools were
still made, a new method of flake manufacture was in-
vented: the Levalloisian technique, so named after the
French site where such tools were fi rst excavated. Flake
tools produced by this technique have been found widely
in Africa, Europe, Southwest Asia, and even China. In
China, the technique could represent a case of indepen-
dent invention, or it could indicate the spread of ideas
Javier Trueba/Madrid Scientific Films

from one part of the inhabited world to another.

The Levalloisian technique initially involves pre-
paring a core by removing small flakes over the stone’s
surface. Following this, a striking platform is set up by
a crosswise blow at one
THOMSON AUDIO end of the core of stone
STUDY PRODUCTS (Figure 8.2). Striking the
Take advantage of platform removes three or
The fossils from Sima de los Huesos, Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain,
represent the best collection of Homo fossils from this period. With the MP3-ready Audio Lecture four long flakes, whose size
the well-preserved remains of at least twenty-eight individuals, paleo- Overviews and comprehensive and shape have been prede-
anthropologists can interpret these fossils in the context of the range audio glossary of key terms termined by the preceding
of variation seen within this population. for each chapter. See the preparation. What is left,
preface for information on besides small waste flakes,
how to access this on-the-go is a nodule that looks like a
Comparisons of these skulls to those of living peo- study and review tool. tortoise shell. This method
ple or of H. erectus reflect their transitional nature. The produces a longer edge for
Swanscombe and Steinheim skulls are large and robust, the same amount of fl int than the previous ones used by
with their maximum breadth lower on the skull, more evolving humans. The edges are sharper and can be pro-
prominent brow ridges, larger faces, and bigger teeth. duced in less time.
Similarly, the face of the Petralona skull from Greece At about the same time the Levalloisian technique
resembles European Neandertals, while the back of the was developed, hafting—the fastening of small stone bi-
skull looks like H. erectus. Conversely, a skull from Salé faces and flakes to handles of wood—was invented. Haft-
in Morocco, which had a rather small brain for H. sapi- ing led to the development of knives and spears. Unlike
ens (930–960 cc), looks surprisingly modern from the the older handheld tools made simply by reduction (flak-
back. Finally, various jaws from France and Morocco (in ing of stone or working of wood), these new compos-
northern Africa) seem to combine features of H. erectus ite tools involved three components: a handle or shaft,
with those of the later European Neandertals. a stone insert, and the materials to bind them. The ac-
A similar situation exists in East Asia, where skulls
from several sites in China exhibit the same mix of H.
erectus and H. sapiens characteristics. “Lumpers” suggest
that calling some of these early humans “late H. erectus” Levalloisian technique Tool-making technique by which three
or four long triangular flakes were detached from a specially pre-
or “early H. sapiens” (or any of the other proposed species
pared core. Developed by members of the genus Homo transitional
names within the genus Homo) serves no useful purpose from H. erectus to H. sapiens.
and merely obscures their apparently transitional status.
182 Chapter Eight/Pre-Modern Humans and the Elaboration of Culture

Figure 8.2
These drawings show side (left) and top (right) views of the steps in
the Levalloisian technique. Drawing A shows the preparatory flaking
of the stone core; B, the same on the top surface; and C, the final step
© PhotoDisc/Getty Images

of detaching a flake; and D, the final step of detaching a flake of a size

and shape predetermined by the preceding steps.

quisition and modification of each component involved

planned sequences of actions that could be performed at
different times and places. The practice of hafting, the fastening of small stone bifaces and flakes
With this new technology, regional stylistic and tech- to handles of wood, was a major technological advance appearing in
nological variants appear in the archaeological record, the archaeological record at about the same time as the invention of
suggesting the emergence of distinct cultural traditions the Levalloisian technique.
and culture areas. At the same time, the proportions of
raw materials procured from faraway sources increase;
whereas sources of stone for Acheulean tools were rarely remains in the Sima de los Huesos, Atapuerca, already
more than 12 miles away, Levalloisian tools are found up noted. The use of red ochre in ancient burials may relate
to 200 miles from the sources of their stone.3 to its similarity to the color of blood as a powerful sym-
Another development, fi rst identified in Africa, was bol of life.
the use of yellow and red pigments of iron oxide, called
ochre, becoming especially common by 130,000 years
ago.4 The use of ochre may signal a rise in ritual activ-
ity, similar to the deliberate placement of the human
THE NEANDERTALS
Of all the remains of Homo from the Late Pleistocene, the
Neandertals are perhaps the most notorious. Neander-
3Ambrose, S. H. (2001). Paleolithic technology and human evolu- tals are typically represented as the classic cave men, fre-
tion. Science 291, 1,752. quently depicted as brutes in popular media such as car-
4Barham, L. S. (1998). Possible early pigment use in South-Central toons, fi lms, and even natural history museum displays.
Africa. Current Anthropology 39, 703–710. One of the most contentious issues in paleoanthropol-
ogy today concerns whether the Neandertals represent
an inferior side branch of human evolution, that went
Neandertals A distinct group within the genus Homo inhabit- extinct following the appearance of modern humans.
ing Europe and Southwest Asia from approximately 30,000 to
125,000 years ago. Alternatively, descendents of the Neandertals may walk
the earth today.
 The Neandertals 183

Neandertals were an extremely muscular people liv-

ing from approximately 30,000 to 125,000 years ago in
Europe and southwestern Asia. While having brains of
modern size, Neandertals possessed faces distinctively Low forehead
different from those of modern humans. Their large
noses and teeth projected forward. They had prominent
bony brow ridges over their eyes. On the back of their
skull, there was a bunlike bony mass for attachment of Large nasal
powerful neck muscles. These features, not in line with Projecting aperture
classic forms of Western beauty, may have contributed to midface
the depiction of Neandertals as brutes. Their rude reputa-
tion may also derive from the timing of their discovery.
One of the fi rst Neandertals was found in a cave in
the Neander Valley (thal pronounced “tal” means “val-
ley” in German) near Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1856— Large cranial
well before scientific theories to account for human Low forehead capacity
evolution had gained acceptance. (Darwin published his Low, arching
book, On the Origins of Species by Means of Natural Selec- browridges
tion three years later in 1859.)
Initially, experts were at a loss as to what to make
of this discovery. Examination of the fossil skull, a few
ribs, and some limb bones revealed that the individual
was a human being, but it did not look “normal.” Some
people believed the bones were those of a sickly and Occipital
bun
deformed contemporary. Others thought the skeleton Projecting
belonged to a soldier who had succumbed to “water on midface
the brain” during the Napoleonic Wars. One prominent
anatomist thought the remains were those of an idiot
suffering from malnutrition, whose violent temper had
gotten him into many fights, flattening his forehead and Lack of chin
making his brow ridges bumpy.
The idea that Neandertals were somehow de- Figure 8.3
formed or abnormal was given impetus by an analysis This figure depicts features of the skull seen in “classic” Neandertals.
of a skeleton found in 1908 near La Chapelle-aux- Saints
in France. The analysis mistakenly concluded that the
specimen’s brain was apelike and that he walked like an and some scholars now see them as the archaic H. sapiens
ape. Although a team of North American investigators of Europe and Southwest Asia, ancestral to the more de-
subsequently proved that this French Neandertal speci- rived, anatomically modern populations of Europe and
men was that of an elderly male who had suffered from Southwest Asia of the last 30,000 years. For example,
malnutrition, severe arthritis, and other deformities, the paleoanthropologist C. Loring Brace of the University
brutish image has persisted. of Michigan observes that “classic” Neandertal features
To many nonanthropologists, the Neandertal has be- (Figure 8.3) are commonly present in 100,000-year-old
come the quintessential cave man, portrayed by imagi- skulls from Denmark and Norway.5
native cartoonists as a slant-headed, stooped, dim-witted Nevertheless, Neandertals are somewhat distinctive
individual clad in animal skins and carrying a big club as when compared to more recent populations. Although
he plods across the prehistoric landscape, perhaps drag- they held modern-sized brains (average cranial capacity
ging an unwilling female or a dead saber-toothed tiger. 1,400 cc versus 1,300 cc for modern H. sapiens), Neander-
The stereotype has been perpetuated in novels and fi lm. tal skulls are notable for the protruding appearance of
The popular image of Neandertals as brutish and inca- the mid-facial region. The wear patterns on their large
pable of spoken language, abstract or innovative think- front teeth indicate that they may have been heavily
ing, or even planning ahead may, in turn, have influ- used for tasks other than chewing. In many individuals,
enced the interpretation of the fossil and archaeological front teeth were worn down to the stubs of their roots
evidence.
The evidence indicates that Neandertals were no- 5Ferrie, H. (1997). An interview with C. Loring Brace. Current An-
where near as brutish and apelike as originally portrayed, thropology 38, 861.
© 1985 David L. Brill 184 Chapter Eight/Pre-Modern Humans and the Elaboration of Culture

This Neandertal from La Ferrassie in France shows the marked bony ridge above the eyes, the receding
forehead, and heavy wear on the front teeth typical of this fossil group.

by 35 to 40 years of age. The large noses of Neandertals rable to robust individuals who live today. Because brain
probably were necessary to warm, moisten, and clean size is related to overall body mass, heavy robust Nean-
the dry, dusty frigid air of the glacial climate, preventing dertal bodies account for the large average size of the
damage to the lungs and brain as seen in cold-adapted Neandertal brain.
people of recent times. At the back of the skull, the bun- Throughout the previous chapters increasing brain
like bony mass providing attachment for the powerful size was linked to increasing cultural capabilities of the
neck muscles counteracted the weight of a heavy face. genus Homo. Neandertal brain size, like that of other
All Neandertal fossils indicate that both sexes were members of the genus Homo from this time period,
muscular, with extremely robust and dense limb bones. falls at the high end of the range for contemporary hu-
Relative to body mass, the limbs were short (as they are mans. With these and later fossil groups, the challenge
in modern humans native to especially cold climates). for paleoanthropologists is to decide whether changes
Details of the shoulder blades indicate the importance in the shape of the skull indicate changes in cultural
of over-arm and downward thrusting movements. Their capabilities.
arms were exceptionally powerful, and pronounced at- Though the interpretation of Neandertal fossils
tachments on their hand bones attest to a remarkably has changed dramatically compared to when Nean-
strong grip. Science writer James Shreeve suggests that dertals were fi rst discovered, they are still surrounded
a healthy Neandertal could lift an average North Ameri- by controversy. Academic debates relating to their fate
can football player over his head and throw him through rely upon the shape of the Neandertal skeleton and the
the goalposts.6 Their massive dense foot and leg bones relationship between the skeleton and human cultural
suggest high levels of strength and endurance, compa- capacities. Those who propose that the Neandertal line
went extinct emphasize a notion of Neandertal biologi-
6Shreeve, J. (1995). The Neandertal enigma: Solving the mystery of mod- cal difference and cultural inferiority. Those who include
ern human origins (p. 5). New York: William Morrow. Neandertals in our direct ancestry emphasize the sophis-
 Javanese, African, and Chinese Archaic Homo sapiens 185

Paul Jaronski; UM Photo Services

As this face-off between paleoanthropologist Milford Wolpoff and his reconstruction of a Neandertal
shows, the latter did not differ all that much from modern humans of European descent.

tication of Neandertal culture, attributing differences 1,252 ccs, while retaining features of earlier Javanese
in skull shape and body form to regional adaptation to H. erectus.
an extremely cold climate and the retention of ancestral With time, opinion on the dating of these fossils
traits in an isolated population. changed, with most scholars coming to regard them as
considerably earlier than the Neandertals. This opinion
focused attention on their resemblance to H. erectus, so
that when their dating was recently revised (to some
JAVANESE, AFRICAN, time between 27,000 and 53,000 years ago) some con-
AND CHINESE ARCHAIC cluded that this proved a late survival of H. erectus in
Asia, contemporary with H. sapiens elsewhere. But the
HOMO SAPIENS Ngandong skulls remain what they always were: repre-
Other parts of the world were inhabited by variants of sentatives of archaic H. sapiens, with modern-sized brains
archaic H. sapiens lacking the extreme mid-facial projec- in otherwise ancient-looking skulls. Fossils from various
tion and massive muscle attachments on the back of the parts of Africa, the most famous being a 200,000-year-old
skull characteristic of the Neandertals. Skulls found in skull from Kabwe (Zambia), show a similar combination
Java, Africa, and China date from roughly the same time of ancient and modern traits. Equivalent remains have
period. been found at several localities in China.
The eleven skulls found near the Solo River in Ngan- African and eastern Asian contemporaries of the Ne-
dong, Java, are a prime example. Though their dating andertals differ from the Neandertals primarily in their
was not precisely known at the time of their discovery lack of mid-facial projection and massive muscle attach-
in the 1930s, they were generally considered to be South- ments on the back of the skull. Thus, the Neandertals
east Asian equivalents of the Neandertals. These skulls could be said to represent an extreme form of archaic
indicated modern-sized brains ranging from 1,013 to H. sapiens. Elsewhere, the archaics look like robust ver-
186 Chapter Eight/Pre-Modern Humans and the Elaboration of Culture

sions of the early modern populations that lived in the

same regions or like somewhat more derived versions of
the H. erectus populations that preceded them. All appear
to have contained fully modern-sized brains, with their
skulls retaining some ancestral features.

© Musee de Antiquities Nationales, St. Germain-en-Laye, France/Bonora/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library

MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC CULTURE
Adaptations to the environment by Homo from the Mid-
dle Paleolithic, or middle part of the Old Stone Age,
were both biological and cultural, but the capacity for
cultural adaptation was predictably superior to what it
had been in earlier members of the genus Homo. Possess-
ing brains of modern size, these members of the genus
Homo had, as we would expect, greater cultural capabili-
ties than their ancestors. Such a brain played a role in
technological innovations, conceptual thought of consid-
erable sophistication, and, almost surely, communication
through spoken language. In addition to the Levalloisian
traditions already described, the Middle Paleolithic also
included the development of the Mousterian tradition.

The Mousterian Tradition

The improved tool-making capabilities of evolving hu-
mans are represented by various traditions. The Mous-
This assemblage of Mousterian tools from southwestern France show
terian and Mousterian-like tool traditions of Europe,
the range of Mousterian tool types and their workmanship.
western Asia, and North Africa, dating between about
40,000 and 166,000 years ago, are the best known of
these. Comparable traditions are found in China and Ja-
pan, where they likely arose independently from local The Mousterian tradition is named after the Nean-
tool-making traditions. dertal cave site of Le Moustier, in southern France. The
All these traditions represent a technological advance presence of Acheulean hand-axes at Mousterian sites is
over preceding industries. For example, the 16 inches of one indication that this culture was ultimately rooted in
working edge that an Acheulean fl int worker could get the older Acheulean tradition. Mousterian tools are gen-
from a 2-pound core compares with the 6 feet the Mous- erally lighter and smaller than those of earlier traditions.
terian could get from the same core. Mousterian tools Whereas previously only two or three flakes could be
were used by all people—Neandertals as well as other obtained from the entire core, Mousterian toolmakers
members of the genus Homo said to possess more ana- obtained many smaller flakes, which they skillfully re-
tomically modern skulls, in Europe, North Africa, and touched and sharpened. Their tool kits also contained
Southwest Asia during this time period. a greater variety of types than the earlier ones: hand-
At around 35,000 years ago, the Mousterian tradi- axes, flakes, scrapers, borers, notched flakes for shaving
tions were replaced by the Upper Paleolithic traditions wood, and many types of points that could be attached
that will be the subject of the next chapter. As seen in to wooden shafts to make spears. This variety of tools
this chapter’s Anthropology Applied feature, stone tools facilitated more effective use of food resources and en-
continue to be important for humans today. hanced the quality of clothing and shelter.
With the Mousterian cultural traditions, for the
fi rst time members of the genus Homo could cope with
Middle Paleolithic The middle part of the Old Stone Age char- the nearly Arctic conditions that supervened in Eurasia
acterized by the development of the Mousterian tradition of tool as the glaciers expanded about 70,000 years ago. People
making and the earlier Levalloisian traditions. likely came to live in cold climates as a result of a slow
Mousterian tradition The tool industry of the Neandertals
but steady population increase during the Pleistocene.
and their contemporaries of Europe, Southwest Asia, and northern
Africa from 40,000 to 125,000 years ago. Population expansion into previously uninhabited
colder regions was made possible through a series of
 Middle Paleolithic Culture 187

Anthropology Applied
Stone Tools for Modern Surgeons

When anthropologist Irven DeVore of scalpels that his surgeon would use in Obsidian blades are easier to cut
Harvard University was to have some Crabtree’s heart surgery. In 1980, Payson with and do less damage in the process
minor melanomas removed from his face, Sheets at the University of Colorado (under a microscope, incisions made
he did not leave it up to the surgeon prepared obsidian scalpels that were with the sharpest steel blades show torn
to supply his own scalpels. Instead, he used successfully in eye surgery. And ragged edges and are littered with bits
had graduate student John Shea make in 1986, David Pokotylo of the Museum of displaced flesh).b As a consequence,
a scalpel. Making a blade of obsidian (a of Anthropology at the University of the surgeon has better control over
naturally occurring volcanic “glass”) by British Columbia underwent reconstruc- what she or he is doing, and the incisions
the same techniques used by Upper Pa- tive surgery on his hand with blades heal faster with less scarring and pain.
leolithic people to make blades, he hafted he himself had made (the hafting was Because of the superiority of obsidian
this in a wooden handle, using melted done by his museum colleague, Len scalpels, Sheets went so far as to form
pine resin as glue and then lashing it with McFarlane). a corporation in partnership with Boul-
sinew. After the procedure, the surgeon The reason for these uses of scalpels der, Colorado, eye surgeon Dr. Firmon
reported that the obsidian scalpel was modeled on ancient stone tools is that Hardenbergh. Together, they developed
superior to metal ones. a the anthropologists realized that obsidian a means of producing cores of uniform
DeVore was not the first to undergo is superior in almost every way to materi- size from molten glass, as well as a
surgery in which stone scalpels were als normally used to make scalpels: It is machine to detach blades from the
used. In 1975, Don Crabtree, then at 210 to 1,050 times sharper than surgical cores.
Idaho State University, prepared the steel, 100 to 500 times sharper than a
razor blade, and three times sharper than b
Sheets, P. D. (1987). Dawn of a New Stone Age
a
Shreeve, J. (1995). The Neandertal enigma: a diamond blade (which not only costs in eye surgery. In R. J. Sharer & W. Ashmore
Solving the mystery of modern human origins much more but cannot be made with (Eds.), Archaeology: Discovering our past
(p. 134). New York: William Morrow. more than 3 mm of cutting edge). (p. 231). Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield.
© William A. Haviland

© William A. Haviland

These electron micrographs of the tips of an obsidian blade (left) and a modern steel scalpel illustrate the
superiority of the obsidian.

cultural adaptations to cold climate. Under such cold The importance of meat to Mousterian tool makers
conditions, vegetable foods are only rarely or seasonally is indicated by an abundance of associated animal bones,
available, and meat becomes a critical staple. In particu- often clearly showing cut marks. Frequently, the remains
lar, animal fats, rather than carbohydrates, become the consist almost entirely of very large game—wild cattle
chief source of energy. Energy-rich animal fat in the di- (including the European bison known as the aurochs),
ets of cold-climate meat eaters provides them with the wild horses, and even mammoths and woolly rhinocer-
extra energy needed for hunting, as well as for keeping oses. At several sites evidence indicates that particular
the body warm. species were singled out for the hunt. For example, at one
188 Chapter Eight/Pre-Modern Humans and the Elaboration of Culture

Biocultural
Connection Paleolithic Prescriptions for
the Diseases of Civilization
Though increased life expectancy is of old age in wealthy industrialized na- biological change. Our food-forager
often hailed as one of modern civiliza- tions. The prevalence of these “diseases physiology was shaped over millions of
tion’s greatest accomplishments, in of civilization” has increased rapidly over years, while the cultural changes leading
some ways we in the developed world the past sixty years. Anthropologists to contemporary lifestyles have occurred
lead far less healthy lifestyles than our Melvin Konner and Marjorie Shostak rapidly.
ancestors. Throughout most of our and physician Boyd Eaton have sug- Anthropologist George Armelagos
evolutionary history, humans led more gested that our Paleolithic ancestors suggests that the downward trajectory
physically active lives and ate a more have provided a prescription for a cure. for human health began with the earliest
varied low-fat diet than we do now. They They propose that as “stone-agers in human village settlements some 10,000
did not drink or smoke. They spent their a fast lane,” people’s health will improve years ago. When humans began farm-
days scavenging or hunting for animal by returning to the lifestyle to which ing rather than gathering, they often
protein while gathering vegetable foods their bodies are adapted. Such Paleolithic switched to single-crop diets. In addition,
with some insects thrown in for good prescriptions are an example of evolu- settlement into villages led directly to the
measure. They stayed fit through travel- tionary medicine—a branch of medical increase in infectious disease. While the
ing great distances each day over the anthropology that uses evolutionary cultural invention of antibiotics has cured
savannah and beyond. principles to contribute to human many infectious diseases, it also led to
Today we may survive longer but in health. the increase in chronic diseases.
old age are beset by chronic disease. Evolutionary medicine bases its In many cases, alternative treatments
Heart disease, diabetes, high blood pres- prescriptions on the idea that rates of for these conditions stem from evolu-
sure, and cancer shape the experience cultural change exceed the rates of tionary medicine.

site in the French Pyrenees, well over 90 percent of the household tools, also reflect the importance of hunting
faunal assemblage (representing at least 108 animals) con- for these ancient peoples. At the same time, the complex-
sists of large members of the cattle family. These bones ity of the tool kit needed for survival in a cold climate
accumulated at the foot of a steep riverside escarpment, may have decreased the mobility of the users of these
over which the animals were evidently stampeded. possessions. Decreased mobility is suggested by the
Remains found at other Mousterian sites indicate greater depth of deposits and thus longer habitation at
similar mass-hunting techniques. At La Quina in west- Mousterian sites compared with those from the earlier
ern France, a dense accumulation of wild cattle, horse, Lower Paleolithic. Such sites contain evidence of long
and reindeer bones (many with cut marks from butch- production sequences, resharpening and discarding of
ering) occurred at the base of a steep cliff. At another tools, and large-scale butchering and cooking of game.
site in the Channel Islands just off the northwest coast Pebble paving, construction of simple walls, and the dig-
of France, dense deposits of mammoth and woolly rhi- ging of postholes and artificial pits shows how the inhab-
noceros bones indicate use of a deep coastal ravine for itants worked to improve living conditions in some caves
cliff-fall hunting. and rock shelters. This evidence suggests that Mouste-
Clearly, the Neandertals were not merely casual or rian sites were not simply stopovers in peoples’ constant
opportunistic hunters but engaged in carefully planned quest for food.
and organized hunting of very large and potentially In addition, evidence suggests that Neandertal so-
dangerous game.7 This required careful planning, fore- cial organization had developed to the point of providing
thought, and logistical organization. The active lifestyle care for physically disabled members of the group. For
and healthy diet characteristic of ancient hominoids, aus- the fi rst time, the remains of old people are well repre-
tralopithecines, and early Homo continued into the Mid- sented in the fossil record. Furthermore, many elderly
dle and Upper Paleolithic. These ancient lifeways may Neandertal skeletons show evidence of trauma having
provide keys to improving the health of people today, as been treated, with extensive healing of wounds and little
discussed in the Biocultural Connection. or no infection.8
Mousterian hunting implements, which are more One particularly dramatic example is Shanidar Cave
standardized with respect to size and shape than are in Iraq, which includes the remains of a partially blind

7Mellars, P. (1989). Major issues in the emergence of modern hu- 8Conroy, G. C. (1997). Reconstructing human origins: A modern synthe-
mans. Current Anthropology 30, 356–357. sis (p. 427). New York: Norton.
 Middle Paleolithic Culture 189

man (the eye socket indicates serious injury) with a with-

ered upper arm indicating loss of the arm from the el-
bow on down. Remains of another individual found
at Krapina in Croatia suggests the possibility of surgi-
cal amputation of a hand. In La Chapelle, France, fos-
sil remains indicate prolonged survival of a man badly
crippled by arthritis. The earliest example comes from
a 200,000-year-old site in France, where a toothless man
was able to survive probably because others in his group
processed or pre-chewed his food so he could swallow
it. Whether this evidence indicates true compassion on
the part of these early people is not clear; but it is certain
that cultural factors helped ensure survival, allowing in-
dividuals to provide care for others.

The Symbolic Life of Neandertals

Indications of a rich symbolic life of Neandertals exist.
For example, at several sites, there is clear evidence for

© Kenneth Garrett/National Geographic Images

deliberate burial of the dead. This is one reason for the
relative abundance of reasonably complete Neandertal
skeletons. The difficulty of digging an adult-sized grave
without access to metal shovels suggests how important
a social activity this was. Moreover, intentional position-
ing of dead bodies, whatever the specific reason may
have been, constitutes evidence of symbolism.9
To date, at least seventeen sites in Europe, South Af-
rica, and Southwest Asia include Middle Paleolithic buri-
als. For example, at Kebara Cave in Israel, around 60,000 The position of the body and the careful removal of the skull indicate
years ago, a Neandertal male aged between 25 and that the fossil from Kebara Cave in Israel was deliberately buried there
35 years was placed in a pit on his back, with his arms about 60,000 years ago.
folded over his chest and abdomen. Some time later, af-
ter complete decay of attaching ligaments, the grave was
reopened and the skull removed (a practice that, inter- der, as well as facets, like those that appear on a crayon,
estingly, is sometimes seen in burials in the same region from use. A Mousterian “artist” also applied color to the
roughly 50,000 years later). carved and shaped section of a mammoth tooth about
Another example is from Shanidar Cave in Iraq, 50,000 years ago. This mammoth tooth may have been
where evidence was found of a burial accompanied by made for cultural symbolic purposes. In addition, it is
what may have been funeral ceremonies. In the back of similar to objects made of bone and ivory dated to the
the cave a Neandertal was buried in a pit. Pollen analy- later Upper Paleolithic and to the churingas made of
sis of the soil around the skeleton indicated that flowers wood by Australian aborigines.
had been placed below the body and in a wreath about The mammoth tooth, which was once smeared with
the head. Because the key pollen types came from insect- red ochre, has a highly polished face suggesting it was
pollinated flowers, few if any of the pollen grains could handled a lot. Microscopic examination reveals that it
have found their way into the pit via air currents. The was never provided with a working edge for any utilitar-
flowers in question consist solely of varieties valued in ian purpose. Such objects imply, as archaeologist Alexan-
historic times for their medicinal properties. der Marshack observed, “that the Neandertals did in fact
Other evidence for symbolic behavior in Mousterian have conceptual models and maps as well as problem-
culture comes from the naturally occurring pigments: solving capacities comparable to, if not equal to, those
manganese dioxide and the red and yellow forms of found among anatomically modern humans.”10
ochre as described above. Recovered chunks of these pig- Evidence for symbolic activity on the part of Ne-
ments reveal clear evidence of scraping to produce pow- andertals raises the possibility of the presence and use

9Schepartz, L. A. (1993). Language and modern human origins. 10Marshack, A. (1989). Evolution of the human capacity: The sym-
Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 36, 113. bolic evidence. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 32, 22.
Courtesy of Marcel Otte 190 Chapter Eight/Pre-Modern Humans and the Elaboration of Culture

The first musical instrument? There is a strong possibility that this object, found in trash left by Neander-
tals, is the remains of a flute made of bone.

of musical instruments, such as a proposed bone flute had modern-sized brains and a sophisticated Mousterian
from a Mousterian site in Slovenia in southern Europe. tool kit, it might be supposed that they had some form of
This object, consisting of a hollow bone with perfora- language.
tions, has sparked controversy. Some see it as nothing As pointed out by paleoanthropologist Stanley Am-
more than a cave bear bone that was chewed on by car- brose, the Mousterian tool kit included composite tools
nivores—hence the perforations. Its discoverer, French involving the assembly of parts in different configura-
archaeologist Marcel Otte, on the other hand, sees it as a tions to produce functionally different tools. He likens
flute. this ordered assembly of parts into tools to grammatical
Unfortunately, the object is fragmentary; surviving language, “because hierarchical assemblies of sounds
are five holes, four on one side and one on the opposite produce meaningful phrases and sentences, and chang-
side. The regular spacing of the four holes, fitting per- ing word order changes meaning.”12 Furthermore, “a
fectly to the fi ngers of a human hand, and the location composite tool may be analogous to a sentence, but ex-
of the fi fth hole at the base of the opposite side, at the plaining how to make one is the equivalent of a recipe or
natural location of the thumb, all lend credence to the a short story.”13 In addition, the evidence for the manu-
flute hypothesis. While signs of gnawing by animals are facture of objects of symbolic significance supports the
present on this bone, they are superimposed on traces of presence of language in Middle Paleolithic Homo. Ob-
human activity.11 Were it found in an Upper Paleolithic jects such as the colored section of mammoth tooth al-
context, it would probably be accepted as a flute without ready described would seem to have required some form
argument. However, because its early date indicates it of explanation through language.
was made by a Neandertal, the interpretation of this ob- While the archaeological evidence supports the sym-
ject is tied to the larger controversy about Neandertals’ bolic thinking characteristic of language, specific ana-
cultural abilities and their place in human evolutionary tomical features can be examined to determine whether
history. this language was spoken or gestural. Some have argued
that the Neandertals lacked the physical features neces-
sary for speech. For example, an early 20th-century re-
Speech and Language construction of the angle at the base of the Neandertal
in the Middle Paleolithic skull was said to indicate that the larynx was higher in
the throat than it is in modern humans, precluding hu-
Among modern humans, the sharing of thoughts and manlike speech. This reconstruction is now known to be
ideas, as well as the transmission of culture from one faulty. Further, the hyoid bone associated with the mus-
generation to the next, is dependent upon language. Be- cles of speech in the larynx is preserved from a skeleton
cause the Neandertals and other Middle Paleolithic Homo
12Ambrose, S. H. (2001). Paleolithic technology and human evolu-
11Otte, M. (2000). On the suggested bone flute from Slovenia. Cur- tion. Science 291, 1,751.
rent Anthropology 41, 271. 13Ibid.
 Culture, Skulls, and Modern Human Origins 191

from the Kebara Cave burial in Israel. Its shape is identi- The human FOXP2 gene differs from versions of the
cal to that of contemporary humans, indicating that the gene found in chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, rhesus
vocal tract was adequate for speech. macaque, and mouse. While these differences among
With respect to the brain, paleoneurologists, work- living species can be known, applying this knowledge to
ing from endocranial casts, are agreed that Neandertals the earlier members of the genus Homo is far more dif-
had the neural development necessary for spoken lan- ficult. We do not know precisely when in human evo-
guage. Indeed, they argue that the changes associated lution the human form of the FOXP2 gene appeared or
with language began even before the appearance of ar- whether this gene was associated with the formation of a
chaic Homo sapiens,14 as described in previous chapters. new species of Homo.
Consistent is the size of the hypoglossal canal, which In light of these genetic discoveries it is also inter-
in Neandertals is like that of modern humans and un- esting to consider the work done on language capacity
like that of apes.15 As discussed in the previous chapter, in the great apes. For example, in her work with the
this feature is apparent in Homo fossils that are at least bonobo named Kanzi, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh docu-
400,000 years old and indicates an ability to make the mented his ability to understand hundreds of spoken
tongue movements necessary for articulate speech. words and associate them with lexigrams (pictures of
Consistent, too, is an expanded thoracic vertebral words) on a computer display while unable to create the
canal (the thorax is the upper part of the body), a feature sounds himself.18
Neandertals share with modern humans but not early
Homo erectus (or any other primate). This feature sug-
gests the increased breath control required for speech.16 CULTURE, SKULLS, AND
This control enables production of long phrases or single
expirations of breath, punctuated with quick inhalations MODERN HUMAN ORIGINS
at meaningful linguistic breaks. For Middle Paleolithic Homo, cultural adaptive abilities
Another argument—that a relatively flat base in Ne- relate to the fact that brain size was comparable to that
andertal skulls would have prevented speech—has no of people living today. Archaeological evidence indicates
merit, as some modern adults show as much flattening, sophisticated technology, as well as conceptual thought
yet have no trouble talking. Clearly, when the anatomi- of considerable complexity, matching the increased
cal evidence is considered in its totality, there seems no cranial capacity. During this same time period, large-
compelling reason to deny Neandertals the ability to brained individuals with skulls with an anatomically
speak. modern shape began to appear. The earliest specimens
The recent discovery of a “language gene” by Svante with this skull shape—a more vertical forehead, dimin-
Pääbo and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for ished brow ridge, and a chin—appear fi rst in Africa and
Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, adds later in Asia and Europe. Whether the derived features
an interesting new dimension to the study of the evo- in the skull indicate the appearance of a new species with
lution of language.17 The gene, called FOXP2 found on improved cultural capabilities remains a hotly debated
chromosome 7, was identified through the analysis of a question.
family in which members spanning several generations The transition from the Middle Paleolithic to the
have severe language problems. Changes in the gene are tools of the Upper Paleolithic occurred around 40,000
hypothesized to control the ability to make fi ne move- years ago, some 100,000 years or so after the appearance
ments of the mouth and larynx necessary for spoken lan- of the fi rst anatomically modern specimens. The Upper
guage. The identification of this gene in humans allowed Paleolithic is known not only for a veritable explosion
scientists to compare its structure to that found in other of tool industries, but also for clear artistic expression
mammalian species. preserved in representative sculptures, paintings, and
engravings (see Chapter 9). But the earliest anatomically
modern humans used tools of the Middle Paleolithic tra-
14Schepartz, L. A. (1993). Language and modern human origins.
Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 36, 98. ditions like the Neandertals and other archaic forms.
15Cartmill, M. (1998). The gift of gab. Discover 19 (11), 62.
The relationship between cultural developments of
the Upper Paleolithic and underlying biological differ-
16MacLarnon, A. M., & Hewitt, G. P. (1999). The evolution of hu-
man speech: The role of enhanced breathing control. American ences between anatomically modern humans and ar-
Journal of Physical Anthropology 109, 341–363. chaic forms remains one of the most contentious debates
17Lai, C. S. L., et al. (2001). A forkhead-domain gene is mutated in in paleoanthropology. Discussions concerning the fate of
severe speech and language disorder. Nature, 413, 519–523; Enard,
W., et al. (2002). Molecular evolution of FOXP2, a gene involved in 18Savage-Rumbaugh, S., & Lewin, R. (1994). Kanzi: The ape at the
speech and language. Nature 418, 869–872. brink of the human mind. New York: Wiley.
192 Chapter Eight/Pre-Modern Humans and the Elaboration of Culture

the Neandertals and their cultural abilities are integral than their contemporaries elsewhere, as is still true to-
to this debate. Whether or not a new kind of human— day. In Southeast Asia and Australia, by contrast, skulls
anatomically modern with correspondingly superior are consistently robust, with huge cheeks and forward
intellectual and creative abilities—is responsible for the projection of the jaws.
cultural explosion of the Upper Paleolithic is a difficult In this model, gene flow among populations keeps
question to resolve. The biological and cultural evidence the human species unified throughout the Pleistocene.
preserved in fossil and archaeological records, respec- No speciation events remove ancestral populations such
tively, do not tell a simple story. as Homo erectus or Neandertals from the line leading to
On a biological level, the great debate can be distilled Homo sapiens. Although proponents of the multiregional
to a question of whether one, some, or all populations hypothesis accept the idea of continuity from the earli-
of the archaic groups played a role in the evolution of est European fossils through the Neandertals to living
modern H. sapiens. Those supporting the multiregional people, many other paleoanthropologists reject the idea
hypothesis argue for a simultaneous local transition that Neandertals were involved in the ancestry of mod-
from Homo erectus to modern Homo sapiens through- ern Europeans.
out the parts of the world inhabited by members of the
genus Homo. By contrast, those supporting a theory of
recent African origins argue that all contemporary peo- The Recent African Origins
ple are derived from one single population of archaic or “Eve” Hypothesis
H. sapiens from Africa. This model proposes that the im-
proved cultural capabilities of anatomically modern hu- The recent African origins or “Eve” hypothesis (also
mans allowed this group to replace other archaic forms called the out of Africa hypothesis) states that anatomically
as they began to migrate out of Africa some time after modern humans are descended from one specific popu-
100,000 years ago. Both theories are explored in detail lation of H. sapiens, replacing not just the Neandertals
below. but other populations of archaic H. sapiens as our ances-
tors spread out of their original homeland. This idea did
not originate from fossils, but from a relatively new tech-
The Multiregional Hypothesis nique that uses mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to recon-
struct family trees.
As several anthropologists have noted, African, Chi-
Unlike nuclear DNA (in the cell nucleus), mtDNA is
nese, and Southeast Asian fossils of archaic Homo sapiens
located in the mitochondria, the cellular structures that
imply continuity within these respective populations,
produce the energy needed to keep cells alive. Because
from Homo erectus through to modern Homo sapiens,19
sperm contribute virtually no mtDNA to the fertilized
and lend strong support to the interpretation that there
egg, all of mtDNA is inherited only from one’s mother
was genetic continuity in these regions. For example, in
and is not subject to recombination through meiosis
China Pleistocene fossils from the genus Homo consis-
and fertilization with each succeeding generation as is
tently have small forward-facing cheeks and flatter faces
nuclear DNA. Therefore, changes in mtDNA over time
occur only through mutation. By comparing the mtDNA
19Wolpoff, M. H., Wu, X. Z. & Thorne, A. G. (1984). Modern Homo of living individuals from diverse geographic popula-
sapiens origins: A general theory of hominid evolution involv- tions, anthropologists and molecular biologists seek to
ing fossil evidence from East Asia (pp. 411–483). In F. H. Smith &
determine when and where modern H. sapiens origi-
F. Spencer (Eds.), The origins of modern humans. New York: Alan R.
Liss; Wolpoff, M. H., & Caspari, R. (1997). Race and human evolution.
nated (Figure 8.4).
New York: Simon & Schuster; Pope, G. C. (1992). Craniofacial evi- As widely reported in the popular press (including
dence for the origin of modern humans in China. Yearbook of Physi- cover stories in Newsweek and Time), preliminary results
cal Anthropology 35, 291. suggest that the mitochondrial DNA of all living hu-
mans could be traced back to a “mitochondrial Eve” who
lived in Africa some 200,000 years ago. If so, all other
multiregional hypothesis The hypothesis that modern hu-
mans originated through a process of simultaneous local transi- populations of archaic H. sapiens, as well as non-African
tion from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens throughout the inhabited H. erectus, would have to be ruled out of the ancestry of
world. modern humans.
recent African origins or “Eve” hypothesis The hypoth- For many years, the absence of good fossil evidence
esis that all modern people are derived from one single popula- from Africa to support the recent African origins hypoth-
tion of archaic H. sapiens from Africa who migrated out of Africa esis has been a weakness of this theory. In 2003, however,
after 100,000 years ago, replacing all other archaic forms due to
skulls of two adults and one child described as anatomi-
their superior cultural capabilities. Also called the out of Africa
hypothesis. cally modern discovered in 1997 in Ethiopia in East Af-
rica were reconstructed and dated to 160,000 years ago
 Reconciling the Evidence 193

PH OH Thr

Val D-loop
12S
rRNA Cyt b Glu
Phe PL Pro
16S ND6
rRNA

Leu(UUR) ND5
ND1
Ile

© 2001 David L. Brill/Brill Atlanta

Gly Leu(UCN)
Met Ser(AGY)
ND2 His
Ala OL ND4

Trp Tyr ND41

Asp Cys ND3
Ser(UCN) Lys Arg
COX I COX III
ATP6 Gly
The recently discovered well-preserved specimens from Herto, Ethio-
Asp ATP8 pia, provide the best fossil evidence in support of the recent African
COX II origins hypothesis. Though these fossils unquestionably possess an
anatomically modern appearance, they are still relatively robust. In ad-
Figure 8.4 dition, the question of whether the higher skull and forehead indicate
The 16,569 bases in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are organized into superior cultural abilities still remains open.
circular chromosomes present in large numbers in every cell. The
human mtDNA sequence has been entirely sequenced with func-
tional genes identified. Because mtDNA is maternally inherited and
not subject to recombination it can be used to establish evolutionary
molecular evidence upon which it is based has come un-
relationships. However, the effects of population size on the amount of der considerable criticism. Genetic studies indicate that
mtDNA variation preserved, complicates using contemporary mtDNA Africa was not the sole source of DNA in modern hu-
variation to calibrate a molecular clock. mans.21 In addition, because both theories proposed Af-
rican origins for the human line, molecular data could be
interpreted as evidence supporting the African origins
(see Anthropologists of Note).20 The discoverers of these of the genus Homo, rather than the more recent species
fossils called them Homo sapiens idaltu (meaning “elder” Homo sapiens. Both models place ultimate human origins
in the local Afar language). While conceding that these firmly in Africa.
skulls are robust, they believe that these skulls have con- Other assumptions made by DNA analysts are prob-
clusively proved the recent African origins hypothesis, lematic. For example, it is assumed that rates of mutation
relegating Neandertals to a side branch of human evolu- are steady, when in fact they can be notoriously uneven.
tion with these fi nds. Another assumption is that mtDNA is not subject to se-
lection, when in fact variants have been implicated in
epilepsy and a disease of the eye.22 A third is that DNA
RECONCILING THE EVIDENCE is seen as traveling exclusively from Africa, when it is
known that, over the past 10,000 years, there has been
Though the recent African origins hypothesis is the ma- plenty of movement of humans into Africa as well. In
jority position among Western paleoanthropologists, fact, one study of DNA carried on the Y chromosome (the
the theory does not prevail throughout the globe. Chi- sex chromosome inherited exclusively in the male line)
nese paleoanthropologists, for example, favor the multi- suggests that some DNA seen on the Y chromosome
regional hypothesis because it fits well with the fossil dis- of some Africans was introduced from Asia, where it
coveries from Asia and Australia. By contrast, the recent originated some 200,000 years ago.23 Nevertheless, re-
African origins hypothesis depends more upon the inter- cent work on the Y chromosome by anthropologist and
pretation of fossils and cultural remains from Europe,
Africa, and Southwest Asia 21Templeton, A. R. (1995). The “Eve” Hypothesis: A genetic critique
The recent African origins hypothesis can be cri- and reanalysis. American Anthropologist 95 (1), 51–72.
tiqued on several additional grounds. For example, the 22Shreeve, J. (1995). The Neandertal enigma: Solving the mystery of
modern human origins (p. 121). New York: William Morrow.
20White, T., et al. (2003). Pleistocene Homo sapiens from the Middle 23Gibbons, A. (1997). Ideas on human origins evolve at anthropol-
Awash, Ethiopia. Nature 423, 742–747. ogy gathering. Science 276, 535–536.
194 Chapter Eight/Pre-Modern Humans and the Elaboration of Culture

Anthropologists of Note
Berhane Asfaw (b. 1953-)
Xinzhi Wu (b. 1930)

Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1953, University of California, Berkeley, was

Berhane Asfaw is a world-renowned among the earliest fellows in this pro-
paleoanthropologist leading major gram. They first met in 1979 when Asfaw
expeditions in Ethiopia. He is co-leader of was a senior studying geology in Addis
the international Middle Awash Research Ababa. Asfaw obtained his doctorate in
Project, the research team responsible for 1988 and returned to Ethiopia, where he
the discovery of ancestral fossils dating had few Ethiopian anthropological col-
from the entire 6-million-year course of leagues and the government had halted
human evolutionary history, including fossil exploration. Since that time, Asfaw
Ardipithecus ramidus, Australopithecus has recruited and mentored many Ethio-
afarensis, Australopithecus garhi, Homo pian scholars, including Sileshi Semaw
erectus, and, most recently, the Homo sa- (see Chapter 7), and now has about a
piens idaltu fossils from Herto, Ethiopia. dozen on his team. Local scientists can
At the June 2003 press conference, protect the antiquities, keep fossils from
organized by Teshome Toga, Ethiopia’s disappearing, and marshal government
minister of culture, Asfaw described the support.
Herto specimens as the oldest “anatomi- Asfaw’s leadership in paleoanthropol-
cally modern” humans, likening Ethiopia ogy has played a key role in helping the
to the “Garden of Eden.” This conference Ethiopian government to recognize how
marked a shift in the Ethiopian govern- important prehistory is for the country of modern human origins. Interestingly it
ment’s stance toward the paleoanthropo- Ethiopia. builds upon the model for human origins
logical research spanning Asfaw’s career. Xinzhi Wu is one of China’s foremost developed by Franz Weidenreich.
Previous discoveries in the Middle Awash paleoanthropological scholars, contribut- According to Wu, early humans from
were also very important, but the gov- ing to the development of the discipline China are as old if not older than humans
ernment did not participate or support for the past fifty years. As with many anyplace else. He suggests that the
this research. other paleoanthropologists, the study reason more fossils have been found in
Asfaw entered the discipline of of human anatomy has been of vital im- Africa recently is that more excavations
paleoanthropology through a program portance to him. He began his academic are occurring there than elsewhere.
administered by the Leakey Foundation career with a degree from Shanghai Zhoukoudian remains a site of par-
providing fellowships for Africans to Medical College followed by teaching ticular importance for Wu, as it docu-
pursue graduate studies in Europe and in the Department of Human Anatomy ments continuous habitation of early
the United States. Since this program’s at the Medical College in Dalian before humans and one of the earliest controlled
inception in the late 1970s, the Leakey beginning graduate studies in paleoan- use of fire. Wu has predicted that more
Foundation has awarded sixty-eight thropology. He is presently a professor important discoveries will still be made at
fellowships totaling $1.2 million to at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Zhoukoudian as one-third of this site has
Kenyans, Ethiopians, and Tanzani- Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and still not been fully excavated. The Chi-
ans to pursue graduate education in Paleoanthroplogy in Beijing and the hon- nese government has responded to Wu’s
paleoanthropology. orary president of the Chinese Society of suggestions and is presently constructing
Asfaw, mentored by American pa- Anatomical Sciences. a 2.4-square kilometer “Peking Man” ex-
leoanthropologist Desmond Clark at the In addition to managing excavations hibition and paleoanthropology research
in China and other parts of Asia, Wu has area at Zhoukoudian.
played a major role in the development of Wu has welcomed many international
theories about modern human origins in scholars to China to study the Asian
cooperation with scholars internationally. evidence. He also has led efforts to make
He collaborated with Milford Wolpoff descriptions of fossil material available in
of the United States and Alan Thorne of English. Collaborating with U.S. anthro-
Australia in the development of the the- pologist Frank Poirier, he published the
© 1988 David L. Brill

ory of multiregional continuity for mod- comprehensive volume Human Evolution

ern human origins. This theory fits well in China, describing all of the fossil evi-
with the Asian fossil evidence proposing dence and archaeological sites with great
an important place for Homo erectus in accuracy and detail.
 Reconciling the Evidence 195

detected in their supposed ancestors, then we must also

reject any connection between a 40,000- to 62,000-year-
old skeleton from Australia (that everyone agrees is ana-
tomically modern) and more recent native Australians.
In this case, a mtDNA sequence present in an ancient
human seems to have become extinct, in which case we
must allow the same possibility for the Neandertals.26
In short, it is defi nitely premature to remove from mod-
© Newsweek Inc./Artwork © 1988 Braldt Bralds

ern human ancestry all populations of archaic H. sapiens

save those of Africa. Not even the Neandertals can be
excluded.
Though the recent fossil discoveries certainly pro-
vide evidence of the earliest anatomically modern speci-
mens in Africa, they do not resolve the relationship be-
tween biological change in the shape of the skull and
culture change as preserved in the archaeological record.
The changes in the archaeological record and the ap-
pearance of anatomically modern skulls are separated by
The notion of a single African “Eve,” mother of all humans, living a
mere 200,000 years ago, captured the public’s imagination and the
some 100,000 years. The evidence from Southwest Asia
media’s attention. Both the recent African origins hypothesis and is particularly interesting in this regard. Here, at a va-
multiregional continuity hypothesis place the roots of the human line riety of sites dated to between 50,000 and 100,000 years
firmly in Africa. ago, fossils described as both anatomically modern and
Neandertal are present and associated with Mousterian
technology.
geneticist Spencer Wells traces the human lineage to a Nevertheless, recent African origins proponents ar-
single population living in Africa about 60,000 years gue that anatomically modern people co-existed for a
ago.24 time with other archaic populations until the superior
Since 1997, studies of mitochondrial DNA have not cultural capacities of the “moderns” resulted in extinc-
been limited to living people. In that year, mtDNA was tion of the archaic peoples. Especially clear evidence of
extracted from the original German Neandertal remains, this is said to exist in Europe, where Neandertals and
and two other Neandertals have since been studied. Be- “moderns” are said to co-exist in close proximity be-
cause the mtDNA of each of these differs substantially tween 30,000 and 40,000 years ago. However, defi ning
from modern Europeans, many have concluded that fossils as either Neandertals or “moderns” illustrates
there can be no Neandertal ancestry in living humans the difficulty with defi ning a distinct biological species,
and that Neandertals must constitute a separate species given the presence of variation found in humans.
that went extinct. If we think in terms of varied populations, as seen in
But biological anthropologist John Relethford (a spe- living humans today,27 we fi nd that features reminiscent
cialist in anthropological genetics) points out that these of modern humans can be discerned in some of the latest
conclusions are premature.25 For one thing, the average Neandertals. A specimen from Saint Césaire in France,
differences are not as great as those seen among living for example, has a higher forehead and chin. A number
subspecies of the single species of chimpanzee. For an- of other Neandertals, too, show incipient chin develop-
other, the differences between populations separated in ment as well as reduced facial protrusion and smaller
time by tens of thousands of years tell us nothing about brow ridges. Conversely, the earliest anatomically mod-
differences between populations contemporaneous with ern human skulls from Europe often exhibit features
each other. More meaningful would be comparison of reminiscent of Neandertals (see Chapter 9). In addition,
the DNA from a late Neandertal with an early anatomi- some typical Neandertal features such as the occipital
cally modern European. bun are found in diverse living populations today such as
Finally, if we are to reject Neandertals in the ances- Bushmen from Southern Africa, Finns and Lapps from
try of modern Europeans because their DNA cannot be Scandanavia, and Australian aborigines. Accordingly, we
might view the population of this region between 30,000
24Wells, S. (2002). The journey of man: A genetic odyssey. Princeton, and 40,000 years ago as a varied one, with some individu-
NJ: Princeton University Press.
25Relethford, J. H. (2001). Absence of regional affi nities of Neander- 26Gibbons, A. (2001). The riddle of coexistence. Science 291, 1,726.
tal DNA with living humans does not reject multiregional evolu- 27Gould, S. J. (1996). Full house: The spread of excellence from Plato to
tion. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 115, 95–98. Darwin (pp. 72–73). New York: Harmony Books.
196 Chapter Eight/Pre-Modern Humans and the Elaboration of Culture

of a single rather than separate species. Others, of course,

Neandertal Anatomically modern argue that features interpreted as Neandertal-like might
instead be related to this child’s “chunky” build.29
Scientists supporting the hypothesis that Neander-
tals are members of the species Homo sapiens suggest that
the simplest explanation that accounts for all the evi-
X X
dence is that all of these fossils belong to a single varied
population, with some individuals showing more of typ-
ical Neandertal features than others. This accords with
Average ca. 40,000 ca. 30,000 After archaeological evidence that the intellectual abilities of
characteristics to 70,000 to 40,000 30,000 “late Neandertals” were no different from those of “early
of Europeans yrs. ago yrs. ago years ago moderns.”30
at: A B It is difficult to fi nd evidence for something in the
physical or mental makeup of Neandertals that would
Figure 8.5
have prevented them from leading a typical Upper Pa-
Graphically portrayed here is a shift in average characteristics of
an otherwise varied population over time from Neandertal to more
leolithic way of life. In fact, the latest Neandertals of
modern features. Between 30,000 and 40,000 years ago, we would Europe developed their own Upper Paleolithic technol-
expect to find individuals with characteristics such as those of the ogy (the Châtelperronian) comparable to the industries
Saint Césaire Neandertal (A) and the almost (but not quite) modern used by anatomically modern H. sapiens. No earlier than
Cro-Magnon (B; this fossil is discussed in Chapter 9). 36,500 years ago,31 a new Upper Paleolithic technology,
known as the Aurignacian tradition—named after Au-
rignac, France, where tools of this sort were fi rst discov-
als retaining a stronger Neandertal heritage than others, ered—appeared in Europe (Figure 8.6).
in whom modern characteristics are more prominent Though commonly considered to have spread from
(Figure 8.5). Southwest Asia, a recent re-analysis failed to sustain this
A mix of “modern” and Neandertal features is so idea, suggesting instead that the Aurignacian is a dis-
strong in a child’s skeleton recently found in Portugal as tinctively European development.32 Skeletal remains are
to lead several specialists to regard it as clear evidence rarely associated with Aurignacian tools, although ana-
of hybridization, or successful reproduction between the
two groups.28 This would mean that the two forms are 29Tattersall, I., & Schwartz, J. H. (1999). Hominids and hybrids:
The place of Neanderthals in human evolution. PNAS 96 (13),
28Holden, C. (1999). Ancient child burial uncovered in Portugal. 7,117–7,119.
Science 283, 169. 30d’Errico, F., et al. (1998). Neandertal acculturation in Western Eu-
rope? Current Anthropology 39, 521.
31Zilhão, J. (2000). Fate of the Neandertals. Archaeology 53 (4), 30.
Aurignacian tradition Tool-making tradition in Europe and
western Asia at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. 32Clark, G. A. (2002). Neandertal archaeology: Implications for our
origins. American Anthropologist 104 (1), 50–67.

Figure 8.6
Aurignacian Between 30,000 and 36,500 years ago, Upper Paleolithic
Châtelperronian industries developed from the Mousterian tradition by
and other European Neandertals co-existed with the Aurignacian
Upper
Paleolithic industry, usually associated with anatomically modern
industries humans.
developed
by Neandertals
 Reconciling the Evidence 197

©Michael Conye/Getty Images

Living people today such as this native Australian do not all meet the definition of anatomical modernity pro-
posed in the recent African origins model. Some paleoanthropologists suggest that this proves that the defini-
tion is problematic because all living people are clearly full-fledged members of the species Homo sapiens.

tomically modern humans are generally considered the novations of the Upper Paleolithic. Here neither the skel-
makers of these tools. A notable exception to this notion etal nor the archaeological evidence supports cultural
is the central European site of Vindija, Croatia, where difference between the fossil groups or absolute biologi-
Neandertals are associated with an Aurignacian split- cal difference. Although Neandertal skeletons are clearly
bone point.33 present at sites such as Kebara and Shanidar caves, skel-
However, some argue that the Upper Paleolithic etons from some older sites have been described as ana-
technology of the Neandertals was a crude imitation of tomically modern. At the Mount Carmel site of Qafzeh in
the true technological advancements practiced by ana- Israel, for example, 90,000-year-old skeletons are said to
tomically modern humans. In some respects, Neander- show none of the Neandertal hallmarks; although their
tals outdid their anatomically modern contemporaries, faces and bodies are large and heavily built by today’s
as in the use of red ochre, a substance less frequently standards, they are nonetheless claimed to be within the
used by Aurignacian peoples than by their late Neander- range of living peoples. Yet, a statistical study comparing
tal neighbors.34 This cannot be a case of borrowing ideas a number of measurements among Qafzeh, Upper Paleo-
and techniques from Aurignacians, as these develop- lithic, and Neandertal skulls found those from Qafzeh to
ments clearly predate the Aurignacian.35 fall in between the anatomically modern and Neandertal
Neandertals and anatomically modern humans also norms, though slightly closer to the Neandertals.36 Nor
co-existed in Southwest Asia long before the cultural in- is the dentition functionally distinguishable when Qaf-
zeh and Neandertal are compared.37

33Karavani, I., & Smith, F. H. (2000). More on the Neanderthal 36Corruccini, R. S. (1992). Metrical reconsideration of the Skhul IV
problem: The Vindija case. Current Anthropology 41, 839. and IX and Border Cave I crania in the context of modern human
34Bednarik, R. G. (1995). Concept-mediated marking in the lower origins. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 87, 433–445.
Paleolithic. Current Anthropology 36, 606. 37Brace, C. L. (2000). Evolution in an anthropological view (p. 206).
35Zilhão, J. (2000). Fate of the Neandertals. Archaeology 53 (4), 40. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira.
198 Chapter Eight/Pre-Modern Humans and the Elaboration of Culture

While skeletons from another Mount Carmel site of

the same period called Skhul are similar to those from
RACE AND HUMAN EVOLUTION
Qafzeh, they were also part of a population whose con- The Neandertal question can be viewed as more than
tinuous range of variation included individuals with simply a fascinating discussion about interpreting the
markedly Neandertal characteristics. Furthermore, the fossil evidence. It raises fundamental issues about the re-
idea of two distinctly different but co-existing popu- lationship between biological and cultural variation. Can
lations receives no support from the archaeological a series of biological features indicate particular cultural
evidence. Individuals living at Skhul and Qafzeh were abilities?
making and using the same Mousterian tools as those As we examined the fossil record throughout this
at Kebara and Shanidar, arguing against biologically dis- chapter and others, we made inferences about the cul-
tinct groups with different cultural abilities. tural capabilities of our ancestors based on biological fea-
The examination of sites continuously inhabited tures in combination with archaeological features. The
throughout the Upper Pleistocene provides no signifi- increased brain size of Homo habilis noted around 2.5 mil-
cant evidence for behavioral differences between Middle lion years ago supported the notion that these ancestors
Paleolithic and early Upper Paleolithic at these sites. For were capable of more complex cultural activities than
example, the Upper Paleolithic people who used Kebara australopithecines, including the manufacture of stone
Cave continued to live in exactly the same way as their tools. When we get closer to the present, can we make
Neandertal predecessors: They procured the same foods, the same kinds of assumptions? Can we say that only the
processed them in the same way, used similar hearths, anatomically modern humans with high foreheads and
and disposed of their trash in the same way. The only reduced brow ridges and not archaic Homo sapiens, even
evident difference is that the Neandertals did not bank with their modern-sized brains, were capable of making
their fires for warmth with small stones or cobbles as did sophisticated tools and representational art?
their Upper Paleolithic successors.38 Supporters of the multiregional hypothesis argue
Nevertheless, by 28,000 years ago, many of the ex- that we cannot.40 They suggest that using a series of
treme anatomical features seen in archaic groups like biological features to represent a type of human being
Neandertals seem to disappear from the fossil record (Neandertals) with certain cultural capacities (inferior)
in Europe and Southwest Asia. Instead, people with is like making assumptions about cultural capabilities of
higher foreheads, smoother brow ridges, and distinct living humans based on their appearance. In living peo-
chins seemed to have Europe more or less to themselves. ple, such an assumption represents a stereotype at best
However, an examination of the full range of individual or racist prejudice at worst. Supporters of the recent Afri-
human variation across the globe and into the present can origins hypothesis counter that because their theory
reveals contemporary humans with skulls not meeting embraces African human origins, it could hardly be con-
the anatomical defi nition of modernity proposed in the sidered prejudicial.
standard evolutionary arguments.39 Similarly, many Ne- While paleoanthropologists all acknowledge African
andertal features can be seen in living people today such origins for the fi rst bipeds and the genus Homo, consider-
as the occipital buns mentioned earlier. As is usual in hu- able disagreement exists with regard to the interpreta-
man populations, contemporary people and Upper Pa- tion of the relationship between biological change and
leolithic people exhibit considerable physical variability. culture change as we approach the present. The fossil
and archaeological evidence from the Middle Paleolithic
38Corruccini, R. S. (1992). Metrical reconsideration of the Skhul IV does not indicate a simple one-to-one correspondence
and IX and Border Cave I crania in the context of modern human between cultural innovations and a biological change
origins. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 87, 436. preserved in the shape of the skull.
39Wolpoff, M. H., & Caspari, R. (1997). Race and human evolution.
New York: Simon & Schuster. 40Ibid.

Questions for Reflection the past. What aspects of the reconstruction of Middle Paleo-
lithic Homo are the most free from present-day beliefs?
1. When we imagine the appearance and behavior of the mem- 2. What does it mean to be “modern,” biologically or cultur-
bers of the genus Homo that lived closer to the present and pos- ally? How should we defi ne “human”?
sessed brains the size of modern humans, we are challenged 3. Compare and contrast the recent African origins and
to avoid imposing contemporary beliefs upon the mysteries of multi regional hypotheses for the origins of humans. Describe
 The Anthropology Resource Center 199

the kinds of data each of these theories use to support their gests that all contemporary humans evolved from a small pop-
arguments. ulation in Africa about 60,000 years ago.
4. How do you feel personally about the possibility of having
Neandertals as part of your ancestry? How might you relate Wolpoff, M., & Caspari, R. (1997). Race and human evolution.
the Neandertal debates to stereotyping or racism in contem- New York: Simon & Schuster.
porary society?
One of the problems in evaluating the multiregional and re-
5. What is the difference between speech and language? De- cent African origins hypotheses is that many writers misrep-
scribe the evidence for each in Neandertals. resent the former. That is no problem in this book, written by
the leading champions of multiregionalism. The hypothesis
is presented and defended in a straightforward and thorough
way so that anyone can understand it.
Suggested Readings
Shreeve, J. (1995). The Neandertal enigma: Solving the mystery of
modern human origins. New York: William Morrow.
Thomson Audio Study Products
Shreeve is a science writer who has written extensively about
human evolution. This book is engagingly written and covers Enjoy the MP3-ready Audio Lecture Overviews for
most of the major issues in the Neandertal–modern debate. each chapter and a comprehensive audio glossary of
key terms for quick study and review. Whether walk-
ing to class, doing laundry, or studying at your desk, you now
Stringer, C. B., & McKie, R. (1996). African exodus: The origins
have the freedom to choose when, where, and how you inter-
of modern humanity. London: Jonathan Cape.
act with your audio-based educational media. See the preface
Chris Stringer of the British Museum is a leading champion of for information on how to access this on-the-go study and re-
the recent African origins hypothesis; this book is a vigorous view tool.
presentation of his arguments.

Trinkaus, E., & Shipman, P. (1992). The Neandertals: Changing

the image of mankind. New York: Knopf. The Anthropology Resource Center
The senior author of this book is a long-time specialist on the www.thomsonedu.com/anthropology
Neandertals. Eminently readable, the book chronicles the The Anthropology Resource Center provides extended learn-
changing interpretations of these fossils since the fi rst recog- ing materials to reinforce your understanding of key concepts
nized fi nd in 1856. For a good look at what is known about the in the four subfields of anthropology. For each of the four sub-
Neandertals, there is no better place to go than this. disciplines, the Resource Center includes dynamic exercises
including video exercises, map exercises, simulations, and
Wells, S. (2002). The journey of man: A genetic odyssey. Prince- “Meet the Scientists” interviews, as well as critical thinking
ton, NJ: Princeton University Press. questions that can be assigned and e-mailed to instructors.
The Resource Center also provides breaking news in anthro-
Anthropologist and geneticist Spencer Wells presents recent
pology and interesting material on applied anthropology to
genetic evidence from the Y chromosome from all over the
help you link what you are learning to the world around you.
world to support the recent African origins theory. He sug-
 The Global Expansion

9 of Homo sapiens
and Their Technology

CHALLENGE ISSUE
Around 40,000 years ago the
archaeological record be-
comes richer, not only with
varied and sophisticated tool
industries but also with evi-
dence of increased human
creativity, ingenuity, and
problem solving. Spectacular
evidence of early artistic cre-
ativity among our ancestors
appears in exquisite works of
ancient art on cave walls and
in sculptures such as this
23,000-year-old Venus figu-
rine carved from ivory discov-
ered in Brassempouy, France.
Such creations suggest that
humans, as a thoughtful and
self-reflecting species, have
always faced the challenge
of understanding where and
how we fit in the larger nat-
ural system of all life forms,
past and present. This figu-
rine also embodies one of the
classic paleoanthropological
debates: Were the biologi-
cal features evident in both
fossils and in this ancient
artistic expression—features
such as a chin and a high
forehead—at the root of this
creative expression?

Réunion de Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY

 CHAPTER PREVIEW

When Did Anatomically What Was the Culture When and How Did
Modern Forms of of Upper Paleolithic Humans Spread
Homo sapiens Appear? Peoples Like? to Australia and
Although 160,000-year-old fossils Upper Paleolithic cultures gener- the Americas?
from Ethiopia have been described ally include a greater diversity of Around the time of the Upper Paleo-
as anatomically modern, the answer tools than before as well as a greater lithic, humans expanded into new
to this question is quite complex. frequency of blade tools. Pressure regions, most dramatically Australia
Anatomical modernity refers to par- flaking techniques and the use of and the Americas. Expansion into
ticular characteristics in the shape burins to fashion implements of Australia and New Guinea required
of the skull. While all humans today bone and antler became widespread. crossing a deep, wide ocean chan-
are members of a single species, and In Europe, success of large game nel and was thus dependent upon
as such are equally “modern,” some hunting increased with the inven- some sort of watercraft. Spread to
contemporary populations do not tion of the spear-thrower, or atlatl, the Americas involved successful
meet the defi nition of anatomical and nets aided in hunting of small adaptation to Arctic conditions and
modernity used by some paleoan- game. In Africa the earliest small movement over land through north-
thropologists. To exclude contempo- points appropriate for arrowheads eastern Asia to the Americas and/or
rary humans from the species based appear during this time period. the use of watercraft over even more
on the shape of their skulls is an There was as well an explosion of extended distances. Anthropologists
obvious impossibility. By extension, creativity, represented by impressive use archaeological, linguistic, and
the application of this defi nition of works of art discovered in a variety biological evidence to reconstruct
anatomical modernity to the fossil of sites from Africa, Australia, and the spread of humans into these new
record is a source of debate. Still, it Eurasia. regions.
is generally agreed that by 30,000
years ago, Upper Paleolithic popu-
lations in all parts of the inhabited
world showed greater resemblance
to more recent human populations
than earlier large-brained Homo.

201
 202 Chapter Nine/The Global Expansion of Homo sapiens and Their Technology

T he remains of ancient people who looked more

like contemporary Europeans than Neandertals
were fi rst discovered in 1868 at Les Eyzies in France, in
a rock shelter together with tools of the Upper (late) Pa-
superior culture sweeping into Europe and replacing a
primitive local population. This idea was not unlike the
image Europeans had of themselves regarding their co-
lonial expansion.
With the invention of reliable dating techniques in
leolithic. Consisting of eight skeletons, they are com- the 20th century, we now know that many Neandertal
monly referred to as Cro-Magnons, after the rock shel- specimens of Europe and the later Cro-Magnon speci-
ter in which they were found. The name was extended mens date from different time periods. The Middle Pa-
to thirteen other specimens recovered between 1872 and leolithic Mousterian technology is associated with ear-
1902 in the caves of southern coastal France and, since lier fossil specimens and Upper Paleolithic technology
then, to other Upper Paleolithic skeletons discovered in and art with later fossil specimens. Perhaps the most Eu-
other parts of Europe. rocentric aspect of all is that historically this discussion
Because Cro-Magnons were found with Upper Pa- focused on the European fossil evidence. Recent fossil
leolithic tools and seemed responsible for the produc- evidence for early anatomical modernity in Africa, evi-
tion of impressive works of art, they were seen as par- dence of regional continuity from Asia, and associated
ticularly clever when compared with the Neandertals. genetic studies allow paleoanthropologists to develop
The idea that Neandertals theories for the origins of modern humans that are more
THOMSON AUDIO were basically dim-witted complete and more complex.
STUDY PRODUCTS fit comfortably with the
Take advantage of prevailing stereotype of
the MP3-ready Audio Lecture their supposedly brutish
Overviews and comprehensive appearance. Their Mouste-
UPPER PALEOLITHIC PEOPLES:
audio glossary of key terms rian tools were interpreted
THE FIRST MODERN HUMANS
for each chapter. See the
as evidence of cultural in- As noted in Chapter 8, scholars debate whether the tran-
preface for information on
feriority. Hence the idea sition from archaic large-brained Homo to anatomically
how to access this on-the-go
was born of an anatomi- modern H. sapiens took place in one specific population
study and review tool.
cally modern people with a or whether it involved populations living in Africa, Asia,
and even Europe between 40,000 and 100,000 years ago
evolving together. Further, when we refer to modernity
Upper Paleolithic The last part (10,000 to 40,000 years ago) of with regard to these ancient humans, are we consider-
the Old Stone Age, featuring tool industries characterized by long ing the shape of their skulls, their cultural practices, or
slim blades and an explosion of creative symbolic forms.
both?
Cro-Magnon A European of the Upper Paleolithic after about
36,000 years ago. As Upper Paleolithic remains (from various parts of
Africa and Asia as well as Europe) have become better

In the novel and movie Clan of

the Cave Bear, the anatomically
modern heroine is depicted as a tall
blonde beauty while Neandertals
are depicted as dark and sloppy.
These images conform both to the
stereotypes about Neandertals and
aesthetic standards in the Western
dominant culture.
Jonesfilm/Warner Bros/The Kobal Collection
 Upper Paleolithic Peoples: The First Modern Humans 203

VISUAL COUNTERPOINT
© David L. Brill

© David L. Brill
With a high forehead, the Cro-Magnon skull (left) is more like contemporary Europeans than the promi-
nent brow ridge and sloping forehead seen in the Neandertal skull (right). Whether these differences in
skull shape account for their cultural differences rather than their relative age is hotly debated. The more
recent Cro-Magnon skull even preserves evidence of cultural continuity in diet with local contemporary
French people. This skull has evidence of a fungal infection, perhaps from eating tainted mushrooms.
Mushrooms are a tremendous delicacy in this region of France to this day.

understood, it has become clear that the differences from their outer margins. Of course, these features could all
earlier populations have been exaggerated. In the case of be the result of interbreeding between two populations
Europeans, for example, there is some resemblance be- that overlapped in time, rather than simple evolution
tween Cro-Magnons and later populations: in braincase from one into the other. Or, they could represent a single
shape, high broad forehead, narrow nasal openings, and varied population whose average characters were shift-
common presence of chins. But Cro-Magnon faces were ing in a more modern direction. In either case, they do
on average shorter and broader than those of modern not fit with the idea of the complete extinction of the
Europeans, their brow ridges were a bit more promi- older population.
nent, and their teeth and jaws were as large as those Although the Cro-Magnons and Upper Paleolithic
of Neandertals. Some (a skull from the original Cro- peoples from Africa and Asia are now routinely referred
Magnon site, for instance) even display the distinctive oc- to as “anatomically modern,” it is surprisingly difficult
cipital bun of the Neandertals on the back of the skull.1 to be precise about what we mean by this. We think of
Nor were they particularly tall, as their height of 5 feet people with brains the size of modern people, but this
7 or 8 inches (170–175 centimeters) does not fall outside had already been achieved by archaic H. sapiens. Average
the Neandertal range. Similarly, early Upper Paleolithic brain size actually peaked in Neandertals at 10 percent
skulls from Brno, Mladec, and Predmosti, in the Czech larger than the contemporary human average. The re-
Republic, retain heavy brow ridges and Neandertal-like duction to today’s average size correlates with a reduc-
muscle attachments on their backs.2 tion in brawn, as bodies have become less massive over-
Conversely, a late Neandertal from Vindija, north- all. Modern faces and jaws are, by and large, less massive
ern Croatia, shows a thinning of brow ridges toward as well, but there are exceptions. For example, anthropol-
ogists Milford Wolpoff and Rachel Caspari have pointed
1Brace, C. L. (1997). Cro-Magnons “R” us? Anthropology Newsletter out that any defi nition of modernity that excludes Nean-
38(8), 1. dertals also excludes substantial numbers of recent and
2Bednarik, R. G. (1995). Concept-mediated marking in the Lower living aboriginal Australians, although they are, quite
Paleolithic. Current Anthropology 36, 627; Minugh-Purvis, N. (1992). obviously, a contemporary people. The fact is, no multi-
The inhabitants of Ice Age Europe. Expedition 34 (3), 33–34. dimensional diagnosis of anatomical modernity can be
204 Chapter Nine/The Global Expansion of Homo sapiens and Their Technology

both exclusive of archaic populations and inclusive of all happened. In fact, the low level of genetic differentiation
contemporary humans.3 among modern human populations can be explained
It is impossible to know just how much gene flow easily as a consequence of high levels of gene flow.8
took place among ancient human populations, but that Whatever the underlying genetic mechanism, the
some took place is consistent with the sudden appear- appearance of modern-sized brains in archaic Homo was
ance of novel traits in one region later than their appear- related to increased reliance on cultural adaptation. Ul-
ance elsewhere. For example, some Upper Paleolithic timately, this emphasis on cultural adaptation led to the
remains from North Africa exhibit the kind of mid-facial development of more complex tool kits. Technological
flatness previously seen only in East Asian fossils; simi- improvements may also have reduced the intensity of se-
larly, various Cro-Magnon fossils from Europe show the lective pressures that had previously favored especially
short upper jaws, horizontally oriented cheek bones, and massive robust bodies, jaws, and teeth. With new em-
rectangular eye orbits previously seen in East Asians. phasis on elongate tools having greater mechanical ad-
Conversely, the round orbits, large frontal sinuses, and vantages, more effective techniques of hafting, a switch
thin cranial bones seen in some archaic H. sapiens skulls from thrusting to throwing spears, and development
from China represent the fi rst appearance there of traits of net hunting, there was a marked reduction in overall
that have greater antiquity in Europe.4 muscularity. In addition, as the environment changed to
What appears to be happening, then, is that ge- milder conditions from the extreme cold that prevailed
netic variants from the East are being introduced into in Eurasia during the last Ice Age, selective pressure for
Western gene pools and vice versa. Some studies of the short stature as an adaptation to conserve body heat may
Y chromosome in humans (found only in males) indicate have also diminished.
that some DNA carried by this chromosome originated
in Asia at least 200,000 years ago and spread from there
to Africa.5 Other Y chromosome studies indicate African
origins for our species.6 Despite the seeming confl ict, all
UPPER PALEOLITHIC TECHNOLOGY
of these data indicate that gene flow has been an impor- The Upper Paleolithic was a time of great technologi-
tant aspect of human evolutionary history. The multi- cal innovation. Upper Paleolithic tool kits are known
regional hypothesis and recent African origins hypoth- for a preponderance of blade tools, with fl int flakes at
esis differ in terms of whether this gene flow occurred least twice as long as they are wide. The earliest blade
over the course of 200,000 or 2 million years. tools come from sites in Africa, but these tools do not
Not only is such gene flow consistent with the re- make up the majority of the tool types until well into
markable tendency humans have to “swap genes” be- the Upper Paleolithic. New techniques of core prepara-
tween populations, even in the face of cultural barriers tion allowing more intensive production of highly stan-
to gene flow, but it is also consistent with the tendency dardized blades permitted the proliferation of this tool
of other primates to produce hybrids when two subspe- type. The toolmaker formed a cylindrical core, struck
cies (and sometimes even species) come into contact.7 the blade off near the edge of the core, and repeated this
Moreover, without such gene flow, evolution inevitably procedure, going around the core in one direction un-
would have resulted in the appearance of multiple spe- til fi nishing near its center (Figure 9.1). The procedure is
cies of modern humans, something that clearly has not analogous to peeling long leaves off an artichoke. With
this blade technique, an Upper Paleolithic fl int knapper
3Wolpoff, M., & Caspari, R. (1997). Race and human evolution could get 75 feet of working edge from a 2-pound core; a
(pp. 344–345, 393). New York: Simon & Schuster. Mousterian knapper could get only 6 feet from the same-
4Pope, G. C. (1992). Craniofacial evidence for the origin of modern sized core.
humans in China. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 35, 287–288. Other efficient techniques of tool manufacture also
5Gibbons, A. (1997). Ideas on human origins evolve at anthropol- came into common use at this time. One such method
ogy gathering. Science 276, 535–536. was pressure flaking, in which a bone, antler, or wooden
6Wells, S. (2002). The journey of man: A genetic odyssey. Princeton, NJ: tool was used to press rather than strike off small flakes
Princeton University Press. as the fi nal step in stone tool manufacture (Figure 9.2).
7Simons, E. L. (1989). Human origins. Science 245, 1,349. The advantage of this technique was that the toolmaker
had greater control over the fi nal shape of the tool than
blade technique A technique of stone tool manufacture by is possible with percussion flaking alone. The so-called
which long, parallel-sided flakes are struck off the edges of a spe- Solutrean laurel leaf bifaces found in Spain and France
cially prepared core.
pressure flaking A technique of stone tool manufacture in
which a bone, antler, or wooden tool is used to press, rather than 8Relethford, J. H., & Harpending, H. C. (1994). Craniometric varia-
strike off, small flakes from a piece of fl int or similar stone. tion, genetic theory, and modern human origins. American Journal
of Physical Anthropology 95, 265.
 Upper Paleolithic Technology 205

Direction
of force

Striking
platform

Figure 9.2
Two methods used for pressure flaking in which a bone, antler, or
wooden tool is used to press rather than strike off small flakes.

Blade Core Although invented in the Middle Paleolithic, the

burin, a tool with a chisel-like edge like blade tools, be-
Figure 9.1 came more common in the Upper Paleolithic. Burins
During the Upper Paleolithic, a new technique was used to manufac-
facilitated the working of bone, horn, antler, and ivory
ture blades. The stone is worked to create a striking platform; long into such useful things as fishhooks, harpoons, and eyed
almost parallel-sided flakes then are struck around the sides, providing needles, all of which made life easier for H. sapiens, es-
sharp-edged blades. pecially in colder northern regions where the ability to
stitch together animal hides was particularly important
for warmth.
are examples of this technique. The longest of these The spear-thrower, also known by its Aztec name
tools is 13 inches in length but only about a quarter of atlatl, appeared at this time as well. Atlatls are wooden
an inch thick. Through pressure flaking, tools could be
worked with great precision into a variety of fi nal forms,
burin A stone tool with chisel-like edges used for working bone
and worn tools could be effectively resharpened over and and antler.
over until they were too small for further use.

The techniques of the Up-

per Paleolithic allowed for
the manufacture of a wide
variety of tool types. The finely
wrought Solutrean bifaces of
Europe (shaped like the leaf of
a plant) were made using the
pressure technique. Tools such
as eyed needles and harpoons
began to be manufactured out
of bone as well.
Réunion de Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY
© Gianni Dagli Orti/Corbis
206 Chapter Nine/The Global Expansion of Homo sapiens and Their Technology

SPEAR

Wooden shaft Bone or

Launching stone point
hook
Stone weight
ATLATL
Handle

Figure 9.3
Spear-throwers (atlatls) allowed individual Upper Paleolithic people to throw spears at animals from a safe
distance while still maintaining reasonable speed and accuracy. Upper Paleolithic artists frequently com-
bined artistic expression with practical function, ornamenting their spear-throwers with animal figures.

devices, one end of which is gripped in the hunter’s hand, Another important innovation, net hunting, ap-
while the other end has a hole or hook, in or against peared some time between 22,000 and 29,000 years
which the end of the spear is placed. It is held so as to ef- ago.10 Knotted nets, made from the fibers of wild plants
fectively extend the length of the hunter’s arm, thereby such as hemp or nettle, left their impression on the clay
increasing the velocity of the spear when thrown. Using floors of huts when people walked on them. When the
a spear-thrower greatly added to the efficiency of the huts later burned, these impressions, baked into the
spear as a hunting tool (Figure 9.3). earth, provide evidence that nets existed. Their use ac-
With handheld spears, hunters had to get close counts for the high number of hare, fox, and other small
to their quarry to make the kill. Because many of the mammal and bird bones at archaeological sites. Like his-
animals they hunted were large and fierce, this was a torically known and contemporary net hunters, such as
dangerous business. The need to approach closely, and the Mbuti of the Congo, everyone—men, women, and
the improbability of an instant kill, exposed the spear children—probably participated, frightening animals
hunter to considerable risk. But with the spear-thrower, with loud noises to drive them to where hunters were
the effective killing distance was increased; experi- stationed with their nets. In this way, large amounts of
ments demonstrate that the effective killing distance of meat could be amassed without requiring great speed or
a spear when used with a spear-thrower is between 18 strength on the part of the hunters.
and 27 meters as opposed to less than a meter without.9 A further improvement of hunting techniques came
Killing distance can be safely shortened when the kill is with the invention of the bow and arrow, which ap-
assured. The use of poison on spear tips, as employed by peared fi rst in Africa, but not until the end of the Up-
contemporary hunters such as the Hadza of Tanzania per Paleolithic in Europe. The greatest advantage of the
will decrease the risk to a hunter at shorter range. It is bow is that it increases the distance between hunter and
not clear from the archaeological record when this in- prey. Beyond 24 meters, the accuracy and penetration of
novation began though the invention of tiny sharp stone a spear thrown with a spear-thrower is not very good,
blades for dart tips to provide a vehicle for poison deliv- whereas even a poor bow will shoot an arrow further,
ery is clear. The earliest examples of these “microliths” with greater accuracy and penetrating power. A good
began during the Upper Paleolithic in Africa, but did not bow is effective even at nearly 91 meters. Thus, hunt-
become widespread till the Mesolithic or Middle Stone ers were able to maintain more distance between them-
Age, as will be described in detail in Chapter 10. selves and dangerous prey, dramatically decreasing their
chances of being seriously injured by an animal fighting
9Frayer, D. W. (1981). Body size, weapon use, and natural selection
in the European Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic. American Anthro- 10Pringle, H. (1997). Ice Age communities may be earliest known
pologist 83, 58. net hunters. Science 277, 1,203.
 Upper Paleolithic Art 207

Epoch
PLEISTOCENE

Colonization
of Siberia
Use of yellow and Colonization Figurative
red ochre in Africa of Australia art in Europe
Australian
rock art
Colonization
of the Americas

150,000 125,000 100,000 75,000 50,000 25,000

Years ago

Figure 9.4
This timeline indicates the dates for some of the cultural innovations associated with the Upper Paleolithic.

for its life as well as decreasing the chance of startling an archaic H. sapiens and increasingly compelling evidence
animal and triggering its fl ight. of the presence of language or behaviors involving sym-
Upper Paleolithic peoples not only had better tools bolism—such as burials—undercut this notion. Like ag-
but also a greater diversity of types than earlier peoples. riculture, which came later (see Chapter 10), the artistic
The highly developed Upper Paleolithic kit included explosion may have been no more than a consequence of
tools for use during different seasons, and regional varia- innovations made by a people who had the capacity to
tion in tool kits was greater than ever before. Thus, it is make them for tens of thousands of years already.
really impossible to speak of a single Upper Paleolithic In fact, just as many of the distinctive tools that
culture even in Europe, a relatively small and isolated were commonly used in Upper Paleolithic times fi rst ap-
region compared to Asia and Africa. For foot nomads, pear in the Middle Paleolithic, so too do objects of art.
the size of Europe and the rest of the inhabited world In Southwest Asia, a crude figurine of volcanic tuff is
was formidable. Geological features such as mountain some 250,000 years old.11 While some scholars contest
ranges, oceans, and glaciers isolated groups of people whether this was carved, those who believe it is state
from each other. that it indicates that people had the ability to carve all
To understand the Upper Paleolithic, one must make sorts of things from wood, a substance easier to work
note of the many different traditions that made it possi- than volcanic tuff but rarely preserved for long periods
ble for people to adapt ever more specifically to the vari- of time. Furthermore, ochre “crayons” from Middle
ous environments in which they were living. Just how Paleolithic contexts in various parts of the world must
proficient people had become at securing a livelihood have been used to decorate or mark. In southern Af-
is indicated by bone yards containing thousands of ani- rica, for example, regular use of yellow and red ochre
mal skeletons. At Solutré in France, for example, Upper goes back 130,000 years, with some evidence as old as
Paleolithic hunters killed 10,000 horses; at Predmosti in 200,000 years.12 Perhaps pigments were used on people’s
the Czech Republic, they were responsible for the deaths bodies, as well as objects, as the 50,000-year-old mam-
of 1,000 mammoths. The favored big game of European moth-tooth churinga discussed in Chapter 8 might sug-
hunters, however, was reindeer, which they killed in gest. The timeline in Figure 9.4 shows some of the cul-
even greater numbers. tural events of the Upper Paleolithic.
The presence of bone flutes and whistles in sites,
some up to 30,000 years old, documents music played a
role in the lives of Upper Paleolithic peoples. But again,
UPPER PALEOLITHIC ART such instruments may have their origin in Middle Paleo-
Although tools and weapons demonstrate the ingenu- lithic prototypes, such as the probable Neandertal flute
ity of Upper Paleolithic peoples, artistic expression pro-
vides the best evidence of their creativity. Some have 11Appenzeller, T. (1998). Art: Evolution or revolution? Science 282,
argued that artistic expression was made possible by a 1,452.
newly evolved biological ability to manipulate symbols 12Barham, L. S. (1998). Possible early pigment use in South-Central
and make images. However, the modern-sized brains of Africa. Current Anthropology 39, 709.
 208 Chapter Nine/The Global Expansion of Homo sapiens and Their Technology

These 17,000-year-old images,

painted on a wall in the multi-
Rock Painting of a bull and horses, c. 17,000 BC, Prehistoric/Caves of Lascaux, Dordogne, France/

chambered Lascaux Cave in the

Dordogne region of southwest
France, were discovered in 1940 by
4 teenage boys. In addition to the Ice
Age animals depicted here—horses,
wild ox, rhino, and bison—the cham-
bers of Lascaux feature renderings
of many other recognizable species.
The carved and painted interiors of
such caves were often deep under-
ground and difficult to reach. Upper
Paleolithic artists burned animal fat
in sandstone lamps to light their way.
In 1963 Lascaux Cave was closed to
the public because carbon dioxide
The Bridgeman Art Library

from the breath of thousands of

visitors was damaging the ancient
paintings. The French government
built an exact replica of the cave so
that visitors can still experience the
wonder of these ancient works.

discussed in Chapter 8. Although we cannot be sure just altered states of consciousness. These entoptic phenom-
where and when it happened, some genius discovered ena are luminous grids, dots, zigzags, and other designs
that bows could be used not just for killing, but to make that seem to shimmer, pulsate, rotate, and expand and
music as well. Because the bow and arrow is an Upper are seen as one enters a state of trance (sufferers of mi-
Paleolithic invention, the musical bow likely is as well. graines experience similar hallucinations).
We do know that the musical bow is the oldest of all In many recent cultures, geometric designs are used
stringed instruments, and its invention ultimately made as symbolic expressions of genealogical patterns, records
possible the development of all of the stringed instru- of origins, and the afterlife.13 The animals depicted in
ments with which we are familiar today. this art, often with startling realism, are not the ones
The earliest evidence of figurative pictures goes most often eaten. Rather, they are powerful beasts like
back 32,000 years in Europe although they do not be- the eland (a large African antelope), and this power is im-
come common until much later. Pictorial art is probably portant to shamans—individuals skilled at manipulating
equally old in Africa. Both engravings and paintings are supernatural powers and spirits for human benefit—who
known from many rock shelters and outcrops in south- try to harness it for their rain-making and other rituals.
ern Africa, where they continued to be made by Bush- See the Biocultural Connection for more on this fasci-
men peoples until recently. Scenes feature both humans nating topic.
and animals, depicted with extraordinary skill, often in Rock art in Australia goes back at least 45,000 years;
association with geometric and other abstract motifs. the earliest examples consist entirely of entoptic motifs.
Some people still have the seemingly irresistible urge to Later art, as seen in the chapter opening photograph, is
add to existing rock paintings, while others create new largely figurative. But the most famous Upper Paleolithic
sites for what we today call graffiti. art is that of Europe, largely because most researchers of
Because this rock art tradition continues unbroken prehistoric art are themselves of European background.
into the present, it has been possible to discover what The earliest of this art took the form of sculpture and
this art means. There is a close connection between the engravings often portraying such animals as reindeer,
art and shamanism, and many scenes depict visions seen horses, bears, and ibexes.
in states of trance. Distortions in the art, usually of hu- There are also numerous portrayals of voluptuous
man figures, represent sensations felt by individuals in women with exaggerated sexual and reproductive char-
a state of trance, whereas the geometric designs depict acteristics. Many appear to be pregnant, and some are
illusions that originate in the central nervous system in shown in birthing postures. These so-called Venus fig-
ures have been found at sites from southwestern France
entoptic phenomena Bright pulsating forms that are generated
by the central nervous system and seen in states of trance. 13Schuster, C., & Carpenter, E. (1996). Patterns that connect: Social
symbolism in ancient and tribal art. New York: Abrams.
 Upper Paleolithic Art 209

Biocultural
Connection Altered States, Art, and Archaeology
Many human societies today not only play. Commonly, a South African Bush- tunnel or vortex with latticelike sides on
accept the practice of inducing altered man in trance will construe a grid pattern which appear images of animals, humans,
states of consciousness, but actively as markings on the skin on a giraffe and and monsters of various sorts.
encourage it as an accepted means of nested curves as a honeycomb (honey is a Entoptic forms of the earlier stages
contacting and interacting with super- local delicacy, and the auditory sensa- may become integrated into these iconic
natural beings and powers. These induced tion of buzzing that often accompanies images. These are also culture specific:
states do not necessarily depend on trance promotes the illusion). Obviously, Individuals see what their culture dis-
consuming a drug, but they do reflect an we would expect different visual associa- poses them to see, and often the images
individual’s powers of concentration and tions from an Inuit living in the arctic or have high emotional content. Bushmen
imagination. from someone living in Los Angeles. often see the eland, an animal thought
Because all human beings have es- In deeper states of trance, people to be imbued with especially strong po-
sentially the same nervous system—be cease to be observers of their visions and tency, particularly for rain-making. Given
they urban dwellers in the United States, report that they feel as though they have this, one of the things shamans try to
horticulturalists in the Amazon forests, or become, physically or spiritually, part of do in trance is to “capture” elands (“rain
the Upper Paleolithic people who painted them. Though some observers might de- animals”) for purposes of making rain.
cave walls—the visual sensations of the scribe this as an out-of-body experience, In many societies, individuals have
trance experience will be similar. Initially, it is not clear that the individual loses recorded the visions they saw when in
the nervous system often generates a bodily sensation. The individual might trance. The Bushmen are a prime ex-
variety of luminous, pulsating, revolv- report a feeling of passing into a rotating ample; as early as 27,000 years ago, they
ing, and constantly shifting began to paint or engrave their
geometric patterns known visions on rock faces. Such de-
as entoptic phenomena. pictions inevitably include the
Many individuals who have geometric elements and visual
suffered from migraine will distortions that are common
be familiar with such visual components of the trance ex-
sensations. Typical imagery perience. These records have led
includes grids, parallel lines, archaeologists to identify such
© John Van Hasselt/Corbis Sygma

zigzags, dots, nested curves, diverse prehistoric art as the

and filigrees, often in a spiral famous cave paintings of Eu-
pattern. rope, or graffiti etched into the
Often, the brain tries to plaster walls of ancient Maya
“make sense” of these ab- palaces as related to the altered
stract forms, just as it does of state of consciousness known
sensations received in more as trance. The dots and other
usual states of consciousness. Rock art, like these paintings from Australia, may depict things seen geometric patterns preserved in
In this process, known as con- by dancers while in states of trance. Simple geometric designs such the art of the Upper Paleolithic
strual, differences in culture as zigzags, notches, dots, and spirals (as on the cave ceiling) as well may well be the product of
and experience come into as human and animal figures are common in these paintings. trancing in the distant past.

to as far east as Siberia. Made of stone, ivory, antler, or key (see Anthropologist of Note) opened the door to such
baked clay, they differ little in style from place to place, interpretations through her work combining gender the-
testifying to the sharing of ideas over vast distances. Al- ory and feminist theory with the science of archaeology.
though some have interpreted the Venuses as objects Figurative art abounds in the spectacular paintings
associated with a fertility cult, others suggest that they on the walls of 200 or so caves in southern France and
may have been exchanged to cement alliances among northern Spain, the oldest of which date from about
groups. Art historian LeRoy McDermott has suggested 32,000 years ago. Visually accurate portrayals of Ice Age
that the Venus figurines are “ordinary women’s views mammals, including bison, bulls, horses, mammoths,
of their own bodies” and the earliest examples of self- and stags, were often painted one on top of another. Al-
representation.14 Paleolithic archaeologist Margaret Con- though well represented in other media, humans are not
commonly portrayed in cave paintings, nor are scenes
14McDermott, L. (1996). Self-representation in Upper Paleolithic fe- or depictions of events at all common. Instead, the ani-
male figurines. Current Anthropology 37 ,227–276. mals are often abstracted from nature and rendered two-
210 Chapter Nine/The Global Expansion of Homo sapiens and Their Technology

Anthropologists of Note
Margaret Conkey (b. 1943)

research questions as well as challenging behavior in the past rely upon contempo-
the ways that gender affects the practice rary gender norms to fill in blanks left in
of archaeology. the archaeological record. In other words,
Conkey attended Mount Holyoke she is interested in the role of gender
College, graduating in 1965. She is today in shaping the reconstruction of
currently professor in the anthropol- gender in the past. In the archaeologi-
Courtesy of Theresa Babineau

ogy department at the University of cal research she conducts, she is looking
California, Berkeley. She is co-author for clues about gender in the deep past,
(with Joan Gero) of the major 1991 work evidence that is not shaped by gender
that brought feminist perspectives into stereotypes from the present.
archaeology: Engendering Archaeology. For example, she is currently directing
Recently her work in this field brought a field project called “between the caves”
her recognition as one of the “Fifty Most in the French Midi-Pyrenees. The goal
Important Women in Science,” named by of this large-scale project is to provide a
Throughout her career, Margaret Conkey Discover magazine. context for the art and material culture
has blended the science of archaeol- With a particular interest in the Upper of this region’s Cro-Magnons through
ogy with theoretical perspectives from Paleolithic art of Europe, Conkey has surveying the regions between the caves.
feminist scholarship and gender studies. spent decades challenging the traditional With a multidisciplinary international
Her goal has not been to create a sepa- notion that Paleolithic art was made by team, she aims to reconstruct daily life
rate “feminist archaeology” but rather male artists as an expression of spiritual and the environments in which Upper
to practice archaeology as a feminist. beliefs related to hunting activities. She Paleolithic people expressed themselves
This consists of asking different kinds of emphasizes that many reconstructions of through art.

dimensionally—no small achievement for these early would have provided adequate illumination over several
artists. Sometimes the artists made use of bulges and hours.
other features of the rock to impart a more three-dimen- The techniques used by Upper Paleolithic peoples to
sional feeling. Frequently, the paintings are in hard-to- create their cave paintings were unraveled a decade ago
get-at places while suitable surfaces in more accessible through the experimental work of Michel Lorblanchet.
places remain untouched. In some caves, the lamps by Interestingly, they turn out to be the same ones used by
which the artists worked have been found; these are aboriginal rock painters in Australia. Lorblanchet’s ex-
spoon-shaped objects of sandstone in which animal fat periments are described in the following Original Study
was burned. Experimentation has shown that such lamps by science writer Roger Lewin.

VISUAL COUNTERPOINT
© LeRoy McDermott

© LeRoy McDermott

According to art historian LeRoy McDermott, the distortions and exaggerations of the female form visible
in the Venus figurines are a result of the perspective taken by female artists representing their own bodies.
 Upper Paleolithic Art 211

Original Study
By Roger Lewin

Paleolithic Paint Job

Lorblanchet’s recent bid to re-create one human hands stenciled above and below
ENGLAND
of the most important Ice Age images the animals.
GERMANY
in Europe was an affair of the heart as Lorblanchet began thinking about
BELGIUM
much as the head. “I tried to abandon my re-creating the horses after a research
LUX.
skin of a modern citizen, tried to experi- trip to Australia over a decade ago. Not
ence the feeling of the artist, to enter the only is Australia a treasure trove of rock
dialogue between the rock and the man,” art, but its aboriginal people are still
he explains. Every day for a week in the creating it. “In Queensland I learned how FRANCE SWITZ.

fall of 1990 he drove the 20 miles from people painted by spitting pigment onto Atlantic
Ocean
his home in the medieval village of Cajarc the rock,” he recalls. “They spat paint ITALY

into the hills above the river Lot. There, and used their hand, a piece of cloth, or Quercy
Region
in a small, practically inaccessible cave, a feather as a screen to create differ-
he transformed himself into an Upper ent lines and other effects. Elsewhere Mediterranean
SPAIN Sea
Paleolithic painter. in Australia people used chewed twigs
And not just any Upper Paleolithic as paintbrushes, but in Queensland the
painter, but the one who 18,400 years spitting technique worked best.” The rock
ago crafted the dotted horses inside the surfaces there were too uneven for ex- are common in prehistoric art, were
famous cave of Pech Merle. tensive brushwork, he adds—just as they produced by spitting paint around a hand
You can still see the original horses in are in Quercy. held to the wall. But no one had thought
Pech Merle’s vast underground geologic When Lorblanchet returned home he that entire animal images could be cre-
splendor. You enter through a narrow looked at the Quercy paintings with a ated this way. Before he could test his
passageway and soon find ideas, however, Lorblanchet had
yourself gazing across a to find a suitable rock face—the
grand cavern to where the original horses were painted on
painting seems to hang in the a roughly vertical panel 13 feet
gloom. “Outside, the land- across and 6 feet high. With
scape is very different from the help of a speleologist, he
the one the Upper Paleolithic eventually found a rock face in
people saw,” says Lorblanchet. a remote cave high in the hills
“But in here, the landscape and set to work.
is the same as it was more Following the aboriginal
than 18,000 years ago. You practices he had witnessed,
see what the Upper Paleo- Lorblanchet first made a light
lithic people experienced.” No outline sketch of the horses
matter where you look in this with a charred stick. Then he
cavern, the eye is drawn back prepared black pigment for the
to the panel of horses. painting. “My intention had
The two horses face away been to use manganese dioxide,
© Jean Vertut

from each other, rumps as the Pech Merle painter did,”

slightly overlapping, their says Lorblanchet, referring to
outlines sketched in black. one of the minerals ground up
The animal on the right seems This spotted horse in the French cave of Pech Merle was painted by for paint by the early artists.
to come alive as it merges an Upper Paleolithic artist. “But I was advised that man-
with a crook in the edge ganese is somewhat toxic, so I
of the panel, the perfect natural shape new eye. Sure enough, he began seeing used wood charcoal instead.” (Charcoal
for a horse’s head. But the impression the telltale signs of spit-painting—lines was used as pigment by Paleolithic paint-
of naturalism quickly fades as the eye with edges that were sharply demarcated ers in other caves, so Lorblanchet felt he
falls on the painting’s dark dots. There on one side and fuzzy on the other, as could justify his concession to safety.) To
are more than 200 of them, deliberately if they had been airbrushed—instead turn the charcoal into paint, Lorblanchet
distributed within and below the bodies of the brushstrokes he and others had ground it with a limestone block, put the
and arcing around the right-hand horse’s assumed were there. Could you produce powder in his mouth, and diluted it to the
head and mane. More cryptic still are a lines that were crisp on both edges with right consistency with saliva and water.
smattering of red dots and half-circles the same technique, he wondered, and For red pigment he used ochre from the
and the floating outline of a fish. The sur- perhaps dots too? Archeologists had long local iron-rich clay.
realism is completed by six disembodied recognized that hand stencils, which CONTINUED
212 Chapter Nine/The Global Expansion of Homo sapiens and Their Technology

CONTINUED

He started with the dark mane of the and the rock.” He found he could produce ing like that. You feel you are breathing
right-hand horse. “I spat a series of dots sharp lines, such as those in the tail and the image onto the rock—projecting your
and fused them together to represent in the upper hind leg, by spitting into the spirit from the deepest part of your body
tufts of hair,” he says, unself-consciously gap between parallel hands. onto the rock surface.”
reproducing the spitting action as he The belly demanded more ingenuity; Was that what the Paleolithic painter
talks. “Then I painted the horse’s back by he spat paint into a V-shape formed by felt when creating this image? “Yes, I
blowing the pigment below my hand held his two splayed hands, rubbed it into a know it doesn’t sound very scientific,”
so”—he holds his hand flat against the curved swath to shape the belly’s outline, Lorblanchet says of his highly personal
rock with his thumb tucked in to form a then finger-painted short protruding style of investigation, “but the intellec-
straight line—“and used it like a stencil lines to suggest the animals’ shaggy hair. tual games of the structuralists haven’t
to produce a sharp upper edge and a dif- Neatly outlined dots, he found, could not got us very far, have they? Studying rock
fused lower edge. You get an illusion of be made by blowing a thin jet of charcoal art shouldn’t be an intellectual game. It
the animal’s rounded flank this way.” onto the wall. He had to spit pigment is about understanding humanity. That’s
He experimented as he went. “You see through a hole made in an animal skin. why I believe the experimental approach
the angular rump?” he says, pointing to “I spent seven hours a day for a week,” is valid in this case.”
the original painting. “I reproduced that he says. “Puff . . . puff . . . puff. . . . It was (By Roger Lewin (1993). Paleolithic paint
by holding my hand perpendicular to the exhausting, particularly because there job. Discover 14 (7), 67-69. Copyright ©1993
rock, with my palm slightly bent, and I was carbon monoxide in the cave. But The Walt Disney Co. Reprinted with permis-
spat along the edge formed by my hand you experience something special, paint- sion of Discover Magazine.)

Theories to account for the early European cave art the elders to the youths. Furthermore, the transmission
are difficult because they so often depend on conjectural of information might be implied by countless so-called
and subjective interpretations. Some have argued that it signs, apparently abstract designs that accompany much
is art for art’s sake; but if that is so, why were animals so Upper Paleolithic art. Some have interpreted these as tal-
often painted over one another, and why were they so lies of animals killed, a reckoning of time according to a
often placed in inaccessible places? The latter might sug- lunar calendar, or both.
gest that they were for ceremonial purposes and that the These abstract designs, including such ones as the
caves served as religious sanctuaries. spots on the Pech Merle horses, suggest yet another pos-
One suggestion is that the animals were drawn to sibility. For the most part, these are just like the entoptic
ensure success in the hunt, another that their depiction designs seen by subjects in experiments dealing with al-
was seen as a way to promote fertility and increase the tered states of consciousness and that are so consistently
size of the herds on which humans depended. In Alta- present in the rock art of southern Africa. Furthermore,
mira Cave in northern Spain, for example, the art shows the rock art of southern Africa shows the same paint-
a pervasive concern for the sexual reproduction of the bi- ing of new images over older ones, as well as the same
son.15 In cave art generally, though, the animals painted sort of fi xation on large, powerful animals instead of the
show little relationship to those most frequently hunted. ones most often eaten. Thus, the cave art of Europe may
Furthermore, there are few depictions of animals being well represent the same depictions of trance experiences,
hunted or killed, nor are there depictions of animals cop- painted after the fact. Consistent with this interpreta-
ulating or with exaggerated sexual parts as there are in tion, the isolation of the cave and the shimmering light
the Venus figures. on the cave walls themselves are conducive to the sort of
Another suggestion is that rites by which youngsters sensory distortion that can induce trance.
were initiated into adulthood took place in the painted Artistic expression, whatever its purpose may have
galleries. In support of this idea, footprints, most of been, was not confi ned to rock surfaces and portable ob-
which are small, have been found in the clay floors of jects. Upper Paleolithic peoples also ornamented their
several caves, and in one, they even circle a modeled clay bodies with necklaces of perforated animal teeth, shells,
bison. The animals painted, so this argument goes, may beads of bone, stone, and ivory; rings; bracelets; and an-
have had to do with knowledge being transmitted from klets. Clothing, too, was adorned with beads. Quite a lot
of art was probably also executed in perishable materi-
15Halverson, J. (1989). Review of the book Altimira revisited and other als such as wood carving, paintings on bark, or animal
essays on early art. American Antiquity 54, 883. skins, which have not been preserved. Thus, the rarity or
 The Spread of Upper Paleolithic Peoples 213

Pendants and beads for personal

adornment became common in the
Upper Paleolithic. In Europe, most
were made by Cro-Magnons, but
some—like these shown here—were
made by Neandertals. The earliest
undisputed items of personal adorn-
ment are some 40,000-year-old
beads from Africa made from ostrich
egg shell.
© Claudio Vazquez

absence of Upper Paleolithic art in some parts of the in- terials, they did not do so with the regularity seen in the
habited world may be more apparent than real, as people Upper Paleolithic.
elsewhere worked with materials unlikely to survive so
long in the archaeological record.
THE SPREAD OF UPPER
OTHER ASPECTS OF UPPER PALEOLITHIC PEOPLES
Upper Paleolithic peoples expanded into regions previ-
PALEOLITHIC CULTURE ously uninhabited by their archaic forebears. Coloniza-
Upper Paleolithic peoples lived not only in caves and tion of Siberia began about 42,000 years ago, although it
rock shelters, but also in structures built out in the open. took something like 10,000 years before humans reached
In Ukraine, for example, the remains have been found of the northeastern part of that region.
sizable settlements, in which huts were built on frame- Much earlier, possibly by at least 60,000 years ago,
works of intricately stacked mammoth bones. Where people managed to get to Australia, Tasmania, and New
the ground was frozen, cobblestones were heated and Guinea, then connected to one another in a single land-
placed in the earth to sink in, thereby providing sturdy, mass called the Sahul (Figure 9.5).16 To do this, they had
dry floors. Their hearths, no longer shallow depressions to use some kind of watercraft because the Sahul was
or flat surfaces that radiated back little heat, were instead separated from the islands (which are geologically a part
stone-lined pits that conserved heat for extended periods
and made for more efficient cooking. 16Rice, P. (2000). Paleoanthropology 2000—part 1. General Anthro-
For the outdoors, they had the same sort of tai- pology 7 (1), 11; Zimmer, C. (1999). New date for the dawn of dream
lored clothing worn in historic times by Arctic and sub- time. Science 284, 1,243.
Arctic peoples. And they engaged in long-distance trade,
as indicated, for example, by the presence of seashells
Sahul The greater Australian landmass including Australia, New
and Baltic amber at sites several hundred kilometers
Guinea, and Tasmania. At times of maximum glaciation and low
from the sources of these materials. Although Middle sea levels, these areas were continuous.
Paleolithic peoples also made use of rare and distant ma-
 214 Chapter Nine/The Global Expansion of Homo sapiens and Their Technology

Reconstruction of an Upper Paleo-

lithic hut with walls of interlocked
mammoth mandibles.
© Goran Burenhult

of the Asian landmass) of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and

Bali. At times of maximum glaciation and low sea levels,
these islands were joined to one another in a single land-
mass called Sunda, but a deep ocean trench (called the SOUTHEAST Pacific
Ocean
Wallace trench, after Alfred Russel Wallace who, as de- ASIA
scribed in Chapter 2, discovered natural selection at the (SUNDA)
same time as Charles Darwin) always separated Sunda NEW
and Sahul. GUINEA
Anthropologist Joseph Birdsell suggested several
routes of island hopping and seafaring to make the cross- IN
DONESIA
ing between these landmasses.17 Each of these routes
still involves crossing open water without land visible Flores GREATER
on the horizon. The earliest known site in New Guinea AUSTRALIA
dates to 40,000 years ago. Sites in Australia are dated to (SAHUL)
even earlier, but these dates are especially contentious
because they relate back to the critical question about
the relationship between anatomical modernity and the
presence of humanlike culture. Early dates for the habi-
Indian
Ocean
17Birdsell, J. H. (1977). The recalibration of a paradigm for the fi rst
peopling of Greater Australia. In J. Allen, J. Golson, & R. Jones
(Eds.), Sunda and Sahul: Prehistoric studies in Southeast Asia, Melane-
sia, and Australia (pp. 113–167). New York: Academic Press. Figure 9.5
Habitation of Australia and New Guinea (joined together with Tas-
mania as a single landmass called Sahul) was dependent upon travel
Sunda The combined landmass of the contemporary islands of across the open ocean even at times of maximum glaciation when
Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and Bali that was continuous with main- sea levels were low. This figure represents the coastlines of Sahul and
land Southeast Asia at times of low sea levels corresponding to Sunda (Southeast Asia plus the island of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and
maximum glaciation. Bali) now and in the past. As sea levels rose with melting glaciers, sites
of early human habitation were submerged under water.
 The Americas 215

tation of the Sahul indicate that archaic Homo rather than

anatomically modern forms possessed the cultural capac-
ity for navigation to the Sahul. Once in Australia, these
people created some of the world’s earliest sophisticated
Arctic Ocean
rock art, perhaps some 10,000 to 15,000 years earlier than

S
(Ice)

I B
the more famous European cave paintings.

GE
E
Interestingly, considerable physical variation is seen

ID
in Australian fossil specimens from this period. Some

I A
ier

BR
specimens have the high forehead characteristic of ana- Glac
tomical modernity while others possess traits providing

ND
A
excellent evidence of continuity between living aborigi- S K rea)

LA
A and a
nal people and the earlier Homo erectus and archaic Homo L l
A sent

IA
G
sapiens fossils from Indonesia. Willandra Lakes, the fos- re
(P

IN
sil lake region of southeastern Australia far from where R
E r
B ie
the earliest archaeological evidence of human habitation c
la
of the continent was found, is particularly rich with fos- G
sils. The variation present in these fossils illustrates the
problems inherent with making a one-to-one correspon-
dence between the skull of a certain shape and cultural
Be
capabilities. r
Se ing
Other evidence for sophisticated ritual activity in a
0 600 km
early Australia is provided by the burial of a man at least
0 300 miles
40,000 and possibly 60,000 years ago from the Willandra
Lakes region. His body was positioned with his fi ngers
intertwined around one another in the region of his pe- Figure 9.6
nis, and red ochre had been scattered over the body. It The Arctic conditions and glaciers in northeastern Asia and north-
western North America provided opportunity and challenges for
may be that this pigment had more than symbolic value;
ancient people spreading to the Americas. On the one hand, the Arctic
for example, its iron salts have antiseptic and deodoriz- conditions provided a land bridge (Beringia) between the continents,
ing properties, and there are recorded instances in which but on the other hand, these harsh environmental conditions pose
red ochre is associated with prolonging life and is used considerable challenges to humans. Ancient people may have also
medicinally to treat particular conditions or infections. come to the Americas by sea. Once in North America, glaciers span-
One historically known aboriginal Australian society ning a good portion of the continent determined the areas open to
habitation.
is reported to have used ochre to heal wounds, scars,
and burns. A person with internal pain was covered
with the substance and placed in the sun to promote
sweating.
As in many parts of the world, paleoanthropologists of lively debate. This debate draws upon geographic, cul-
conducting research on human evolution in Australia are tural, and biological evidence.
essentially constructing a view of the history of people The conventional wisdom has long been that the
and the world that confl icts with the beliefs of Austra- fi rst people spread into North America over dry land
lian aborigines. The story of human evolution is utterly that connected Siberia to Alaska. This so-called land
dependent on Western conceptions of time, relationships bridge was a consequence of the buildup of great con-
established through genetics, and a defi nition of what it tinental glaciers. As these ice masses grew, there was a
means to be human. While aboriginal creation stories worldwide lowering of sea levels, causing an emergence
account for human origins very differently, paleoanthro- of land in places like the Bering Strait where seas today
pologists in Australia have worked closely with and ad- are shallow. Thus, Alaska became, in effect, an eastward
vocated for Australian aboriginal peoples while conduct- extension of Siberia (Figure 9.6). Climatic patterns of the
ing their research on evolution. Ice Age kept this land bridge, known as Beringia or the
Bering Land Bridge, relatively ice free and covered in-
stead with lichens and mosses that could support herds
of grazing animals. It is possible that Upper Paleolithic
THE AMERICAS peoples could have come to the Americas simply by fol-
While scientists concur that American Indian ances- lowing herd animals.
try can be traced ultimately back to Asian origins, just According to geologists, conditions were right for
when people arrived in the Americas has been a matter ancient humans and herd animals to traverse Beringia
216 Chapter Nine/The Global Expansion of Homo sapiens and Their Technology

between 11,000 and 25,000 years ago. Though this land this estimate on the time it took various other languages
bridge was also open between 40,000 and 75,000 years to spread from their homelands—including Eskimo lan-
ago, there is no evidence that conclusively confirms hu- guages in the Arctic and Athabaskan languages from in-
man migration at these earlier dates. As with the Sahul, terior western Canada to New Mexico and Arizona (Na-
early dates open the possibility of spread to the Americas vajo). Her conclusion is that it would have taken at least
by archaic Homo. 7,000 years for people to reach south-central Chile.19
Although ancient Siberians did indeed spread east- Others suggest people arrived in the Americas closer to
ward, it is now clear that their way south was blocked by 30,000 years ago or even earlier.
massive glaciers until 13,000 years ago at the earliest.18 The picture currently emerging, then, is of people,
By then, people were already living further south in the who may not have looked like modern Native Ameri-
Americas. Thus the question of how people fi rst came to cans, arriving by boats or rafts and spreading southward
this hemisphere has been reopened. One possibility is and eastward over time. In fact, contact back and forth
that, like the first Australians, the first Americans may between North America and Siberia never stopped. In
have come by boat or rafts, perhaps traveling between all probability, it became more common as the glaciers
islands or ice-free pockets of coastline, from as far away melted away. As a consequence, through gene flow as
as the Japanese islands and down North America’s north- well as later arrivals of people from Asia, people living
west coast. Hints of such voyages are provided by a hand- in the Americas came to have the broad faces, promi-
ful of North American skeletons (such as Kennewick nent cheekbones, and round cranial vaults that tend to
Man) that bear a closer resemblance to the aboriginal characterize the skulls of many Native Americans today.
Ainu people of northern Japan and their forebears than Still, Native Americans, like all human populations, are
they do to other Asians or contemporary Native Ameri- physically variable. The Kennewick Man controversy de-
cans. Unfortunately, because sea levels were lower than scribed in Chapter 4 illustrates the complexities of estab-
they are today, coastal sites used by early voyagers would lishing ethnic identity based on the shape of the skull. In
now be under water. order to trace the history of the peopling of the Ameri-
Securely dated objects from Monte Verde, a site cas, anthropologists must combine archaeological, lin-
in south-central Chile, place people in southern South guistic, and cultural evidence with evidence of biological
America by 12,500 years ago, if not earlier. Assuming the variation.
fi rst populations spread from Siberia to Alaska, linguist Although the earliest technologies in the Americas
Johanna Nichols suggests that the fi rst people to arrive remain poorly known, they gave rise in North America,
in North America did so by 20,000 years ago. She bases about 12,000 years ago, to the distinctive fluted spear
points of Paleoindian hunters of big game, such as mam-
moths, mastodons, caribou, and now extinct forms of
18Marshall, E. (2001). Preclovis sites fight for acceptance. Science
291, 1,732. bison. Fluted points are fi nely made, with large channel
flakes removed from one or both surfaces. This thinned
section was inserted into the notched end of a spear shaft
Paleoindian The earliest inhabitants of North America. for a sturdy haft. Fluted points are found from the Atlan-
tic seaboard to the Pacific coast, and from Alaska down
into Panama. The efficiency of the hunters who made
and used these points may have hastened the extinction
of the mammoth and other large Pleistocene mammals.
By driving large numbers of animals over cliffs, they
killed many more than they could possibly use, thus
Monte
Verde wasting huge amounts of meat.
Upper Paleolithic people in Australia and the Ameri-
cas, like their counterparts in Africa and Eurasia, pos-
sessed sophisticated technology that was efficient and
appropriate for the environments they inhabited. As in
other parts of the world, when a technological innova-
tion such as the fluted points begins, this technology is
rapidly disseminated among the people inhabiting the
region.
Monte
Verde

19The fi rst Americans, ca. 20,000 (1998). Discover 19 (6), 24.

 Major Paleolithic Trends 217

particularized devices were made to deal with the differ-

ing conditions of savannah, forest, and shore.
As humans came to rely increasingly on culture as
a means to meet the challenges of existence, they were
able to inhabit new environments. With more efficient
tool technology, human population size could increase
allowing humans to spill over into more diverse environ-
ments. Improved cultural abilities may also have played
Joe Ben Wheat Photo/University of Colorado Museum, Boulder.

a role in the reduction of heavy physical features, favor-

ing instead decreased size and weight of face and teeth,
the development of larger and more complex brains, and
ultimately a reduction in body size and robustness. This
dependence on intelligence rather than bulk provided
the key for humans’ increased reliance on cultural rather
than physical adaptation. The development of concep-
tual thought can be seen in symbolic artifacts and signs
of ritual activity throughout the world.
Through Paleolithic times, at least in the colder
parts of the world, hunting became more important,
and people became more proficient at it. Humans’ intel-
Paleoindians, like their Upper Paleolithic contemporaries in Eurasia, ligence enabled them to develop composite tools as well
were such accomplished hunters that they, too, could kill more animals as the social organization and cooperation so important
than could possibly be used at one time. These bones are the remains for survival and population growth. As discussed in the
of some 200 bison that Paleoindian hunters stampeded over a cliff next chapter, this trend was reversed during the Meso-
8,500 years ago.
lithic, when hunting lost its preeminence, and the gath-
ering of wild plants and seafood became increasingly
important.
As human populations grew and spread, cultural
MAJOR PALEOLITHIC differences between regions also became more marked.
While some indications of cultural contact and inter-
TRENDS communication are evident in the development of long-
Looking at the larger picture, since the time the genus distance trade networks, tool assemblages developed in
Homo appeared, evolving humans came to rely increas- response to the specific challenges and resources of spe-
ingly on cultural, as opposed to biological, adaptation. cific environments.
To handle environmental challenges, evolving humans As Paleolithic peoples eventually spread over all
developed appropriate tools, clothes, shelter, use of fi re, the continents of the world, including Australia and the
and so forth rather than relying upon biological adapta- Americas, changes in climate and environment called
tion of the human organism. This was true whether hu- for new kinds of adaptations. In forest environments,
man populations lived in hot or cold, wet or dry, forest people needed tools for working wood; on the open sa-
or grassland areas. Though culture is ultimately based vannah and plains, they came to use the bow and ar-
on what might loosely be called “brain power” or, more row to hunt the game they could not stalk closely; the
formally, cognitive capacity, it is learned and not car- people in settlements that grew up around lakes and
ried by genes. Therefore, cultural innovations may occur along rivers and coasts developed harpoons and hooks;
rapidly and can easily be transferred among individuals in the sub-Arctic regions they needed tools to work the
and groups. heavy skins of seals and caribou. The fact that culture is
Certain trends stand out from the information an- fi rst and foremost a mechanism by which humans adapt
thropologists have gathered about the Old Stone Age in means that as humans faced new challenges in the Paleo-
most parts of the world. One was toward increasingly lithic throughout the globe, their cultures differentiated
more sophisticated, varied, and specialized tool kits. regionally.
Tools became progressively lighter and smaller, result-
ing in the conservation of raw materials and a better ra-
cognitive capacity A broad concept including intelligence,
tio between length of cutting edge and weight of stone.
educability, concept formation, self-awareness, self-evaluation,
Tools became specialized according to region and func- attention span, sensitivity in discrimination, and creativity.
tion. Instead of crude all-purpose tools, more effective
218 Chapter Nine/The Global Expansion of Homo sapiens and Their Technology

Questions for Reflection origins of the species Homo sapiens and associated cultural
abilities.
1. Upper Paleolithic art suggests that humans have always
been challenged to understand where we fit in the larger sys- White, R. (2003). Prehistoric art: The symbolic journey of human-
tem of life forms, past and present. What are your thoughts kind. New York: Abrams.
about how the impulse to create art relates to human efforts
This sumptuously illustrated volume demonstrates the power
to make sense of our place in nature?
of prehistoric imagery as well as providing a comprehensive
2. What evidence from the Upper Paleolithic supports a one- overview of the theoretical approaches to studying prehistoric
to-one relationship between biological change and culture art. White presents a global survey of prehistoric art and dem-
change? What evidence from the Upper Paleolithic indicates onstrates that Western notions of art have interfered with in-
that culture change in that era is not connected to an un- terpretations of art made in the past.
derlying biological change? Which approach do you think is
correct?
Wolpoff, M., & Caspari, R. (1997). Race and human evolution.
3. Why do you think that most of the studies of prehistoric art
New York: Simon & Schuster.
have tended to focus on Europe? Is it ethnocentrism or biases
about the defi nition of art in Western cultures? This book is a detailed but readable presentation of the multi-
regional hypothesis of modern human origins. Among its
4. Many animals without culture have spread to new environ-
strengths is a discussion of the problem of defi ning what “ana-
ments. What is it about the spread of humans to Australia and
tomically modern” means.
the Americas that tells us about the cultural capabilities of
past people?
5. Do you think that gender has played a role in anthropologi-
cal interpretations of the behavior of our ancestors and the Thomson Audio Study Products
way that paleoanthropologists and archaeologists conduct
their research? Do you believe that feminism has a role to play Enjoy the MP3-ready Audio Lecture Overviews for
in the interpretation of the past? each chapter and a comprehensive audio glossary of
key terms for quick study and review. Whether walk-
ing to class, doing laundry, or studying at your desk, you now
have the freedom to choose when, where, and how you inter-
Suggested Readings act with your audio-based educational media. See the preface
for information on how to access this on-the-go study and re-
Clottes, J., & Bennett, G. (2002). World rock art (conserva- view tool.
tion and cultural heritage series). San Francisco: Getty Trust
Publication.
Written by Jean Clottes, a leading authority on rock art (and
discoverer of the Upper Paleolithic cave art site Grotte de Ca- The Anthropology Resource Center
huvet), this book provides excellent descriptions and beauti-
ful images of rock art from throughout the world, beginning www.thomsonedu.com/anthropology
with the earliest rock art from Australia to rock art from the The Anthropology Resource Center provides extended learn-
20th century. ing materials to reinforce your understanding of key concepts
in the four subfields of anthropology. For each of the four sub-
disciplines, the Resource Center includes dynamic exercises
Dillehay, T. D. (2001). The settlement of the Americas. New York: including video exercises, map exercises, simulations, and
Basic Books. “Meet the Scientists” interviews, as well as critical thinking
In an engaging, clear style, this book provides a detailed ac- questions that can be assigned and e-mailed to instructors.
count of the evidence from South America that has recently The Resource Center also provides breaking news in anthro-
challenged theories about the peopling of the Americas with pology and interesting material on applied anthropology to
particular emphasis on the author’s work in Chile. help you link what you are learning to the world around you.

Klein, R. (2002). The dawn of human culture. New York: Wiley.

While this book covers the entire history of human evolution,
it provides a particular focus on the theory of recent African
This page intentionally left blank
 The Neolithic Transition:

10 The Domestication
of Plants and Animals

© The Art Archive/Dagli Orti

Beginning some time around 10,000 years ago, some of the world’s people em-
CHALLENGE
ISSUE barked on a new way of life, presenting them with a host of new challenges.
By chance rather than design, they developed sedentary communities in which
people relied upon domesticated animals and plants for their livelihood. The
shift from food foraging to food production so drastically transformed human
existence that this cultural period, the Neolithic, has been described as revolu-
tionary. While farming and village life solved some of the challenges of exis-
tence, these cultural innovations have also posed risks to human health, both in
the past and the present. Crowded living conditions and close contact with ani-
mals in Neolithic villages promoted the spread of infectious disease. Diets lim-
ited by reliance on single crops sometimes led to malnutrition and even famine
when these crops failed. In addition to health issues, the development of village
life and the domestication of animals and plants introduced new beliefs, daily
routines, social relationships, and political structures that together continue to
challenge humans globally.
 CHAPTER PREVIEW

When and Where Why Did the Change What Were the
Did the Change from Take Place? Consequences of the
Food Foraging to Food Though the Neolithic transition Neolithic Transition?
Production Begin? can appear to be a cultural advance- Although food production gener-
Independent centers of early plant ment because later cities and states ally leaves less leisure time than
and animal domestication exist in developed from Neolithic villages, food foraging, it does permit some
Africa, China, Mesoamerica, North food production is not necessarily a reallocation of the workload. Some
and South America, as well as South- more secure means of subsistence people can produce enough food
west and Southeast Asia. From these than food foraging. In the Neolithic, to support those who undertake
places, food production spread to farming often limited the diversity other tasks, and so a number of
most other parts of the world. Food of the human diet and required technological developments, such
production began independently at more work than hunting, gather- as weaving and pottery making,
more or less the same time around ing, and fishing. In addition, being generally accompany food pro-
10,000 years ago in these differ- sedentary created new vulnerability duction. In addition, a sedentary
ent places—perhaps a bit earlier to disease. It may be that people did lifestyle in villages allows for the
in Southwest Asia than elsewhere. not become food producers due to construction of more substantial
Though farming has changed dra- clear-cut advantages of this way of housing. Finally, the new modes of
matically over the millennia, crops life. Of various theories that have work and resource allocation re-
people rely on today, such as rice, been proposed, the most likely is quire new ways of organizing peo-
wheat, and maize, originated with that food production came about as ple, generally into lineages, clans,
those earliest farmers. a consequence of a chance conver- and common-interest associations.
gence of separate natural events and
cultural developments.

221
222 Chapter Ten/The Neolithic Transition: The Domestication of Plants and Animals

T hroughout the Paleolithic, people depended ex-

clusively on wild sources of food for their sur-
vival. They followed wild herds and gathered wild plant
foods, relying on their wits and muscles to acquire what
lands of Indonesia to mainland Asia. In some northern
regions, higher temperatures brought about particularly
marked changes, allowing the replacement of tundra
with forests.
In the process, the herd animals—which northern
nature provided. Whenever favored sources of food be- Paleolithic peoples had depended upon for much of their
came scarce, people adjusted by increasing the variety of food, clothing, and shelter—disappeared from many
foods eaten and incorporating less desirable foods into areas. Some, like the reindeer and musk ox, moved to
their diets. colder climates; others, like the mammoths, died out
Over time, the subsistence practices of some people completely. In the new forests, animals were often more
began to change in ways that radically transformed their solitary in their habits. As a result, large cooperative
way of life as they became food producers rather than hunts were less productive than before. Diets shifted
food foragers.1 Food pro- to abundant plant foods as well as fish and other foods
THOMSON AUDIO duction had important im- around lakeshores, bays, and rivers. In Europe, Asia, and
STUDY PRODUCTS plications for humans, for Africa this transitional period between the Paleolithic
Take advantage of it meant that people could and the Neolithic is called the Mesolithic, or Middle
the MP3-ready Audio Lecture lead a more sedentary exis- Stone Age. In the Americas, comparable cultures are re-
Overviews and comprehensive tence. Moreover, by reorga- ferred to as Archaic cultures.
audio glossary of key terms nizing the workload, some New technologies accompanied the changed post-
for each chapter. See the individuals could be freed glacial environment. People began to manufacture
preface for information on from the food quest to de- ground stone tools, shaped and sharpened by grinding
how to access this on-the-go vote their energies to other the tool against sandstone, often using sand as an addi-
study and review tool. tasks. Over the course of tional abrasive. These shaped, sharpened stones were set
thousands of years, food into wooden or sometimes antler handles to make effec-
production and permanent settlement in villages brought tive axes and adzes (a cutting tool for squaring off logs)
about an unforeseen way of life. With good reason, the with a sharp blade set at right angles to a handle. Though
Neolithic, when this change took place, has been called such implements take longer to make, they are less prone
a revolutionary one in human history. to breakage under heavy-duty usage than those made of
chipped stone. Thus, they were helpful in clearing for-
est areas and in the woodwork needed for the creation
THE MESOLITHIC ROOTS OF of dugout canoes and skin-covered boats. Evidence for
the presence of seaworthy watercraft at Mesolithic sites
FARMING AND PASTORALISM indicates that human foraging for food likely took place
By 12,000 years ago, recession of the glaciers that had cov- on the water as well as the land. Thus, it was possible
ered much of the northern hemisphere caused changes to make use of deepwater resources as well as those of
in human habitats globally. As climates warmed and coastal areas, rivers, and lakes.
sea levels rose, many areas flooded that had been above The microlith, a small but hard, sharp, blade, was
sea level during periods of glaciation. This occurred in the characteristic tool of the Mesolithic. Although a
areas such as the Bering Strait, parts of the North Sea, microlithic tradition existed in Central Africa by about
and an extensive land area that had joined the eastern is- 40,000 years ago,2 such tools did not become common
elsewhere until the Mesolithic. Microliths could be mass
1Rindos, D. (1984). The origins of agriculture: An evolutionary perspec- produced because they were small, easy to make, and
tive (p. 99). Orlando: Academic Press. could be fashioned from sections of blades. These small
tools could be attached to arrow or other tool shafts by
using melted resin (from pine trees) as a binder.
Neolithic The New Stone Age; prehistoric period beginning
Microliths provided Mesolithic people with an im-
about 10,000 years ago in which peoples possessed stone-based
technologies and depended on domesticated crops and/or animals. portant advantage over their Upper Paleolithic forebears:
Mesolithic The Middle Stone Age period between the end of the The small size of the microlith enabled them to devise
Paleolithic and the start of the Neolithic; referred to as Archaic a wider array of composite tools made out of stone and
cultures in the Americas. wood or bone. Thus, they could make sickles, harpoons,
Archaic cultures Term used to refer to Mesolithic cultures in arrows, knives, and daggers by fitting microliths into
the Americas. slots in wood, bone, or antler handles. Later experimen-
microlith A small blade of fl int or similar stone, several of which
were hafted together in wooden handles to make tools; wide-
spread in the Mesolithic. 2Bednarik, R. G. (1995). Concept-mediated marking in the Lower
Paleolithic. Current Anthropology 36, 606.
 The Neolithic Revolution 223

ciently abundant to permit people in some parts of the

world to live in larger and more sedentary groups. They
became village dwellers, and some of these settlements
went on to expand into the fi rst farming villages, towns,
and ultimately cities.
© Daniel Lieberman/Anthro-Photo

THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION

The Neolithic, or New Stone Age derives its name from
the polished stone tools that are characteristic of this
period. But more important than the presence of these
tools is the transition from a foraging economy based on
hunting, gathering, and fishing to one based on food pro-
The Natufians from Southwest Asia were the earliest Mesolithic people duction, representing a major change in the subsistence
known to have stored plant foods. Basin-shaped depressions are pre-
practices of early peoples. It was by no means a smooth
served in the rocks outside of their homes.
or instantaneous transition; in fact, the switch to food
production spread over many centuries—even millen-
tation with these forms led to more sophisticated tools nia—and was a direct outgrowth of the preceding Meso-
and weapons such as bows to propel arrows. lithic. Where to draw the line between the two periods
Dwellings from the Mesolithic provide some evi- is not always clear.
dence of a more sedentary lifestyle during this period. One of the fi rst regions to undergo this transi-
By contrast, most hunting peoples, and especially those tion, and certainly the most intensively studied, was
depending on herd animals, are highly mobile. To be Southwest Asia. The remains of domesticated plants
successful, hunters must follow migratory game. People and animals are known from parts of Israel, Jordan,
subsisting on diets of seafood and plants in the milder Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, and Iran, from well before
northern forested environments of this time period did 10,000 years ago.
not need to move regularly over large geographic areas. The transition to relatively complete reliance on do-
In the warmer parts of the world, the collection of mesticates took several thousand years. Archaeological
wild plant foods complemented hunting in the Upper Pa- evidence for food production also exists from other parts
leolithic more than had been the case in the colder north- of the world such as China and the Americas at similar
ern regions. Hence, in areas like Southwest Asia, the Me- or somewhat earlier dates. The critical point is not which
solithic represents less of a changed way of life than was region invented farming first, but rather the independent
true in Europe. Here, the important Natufian culture but more or less simultaneous invention of food produc-
flourished. tion throughout the globe.
The Natufians lived between 10,200 and 12,500
years ago at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea in
caves, rock shelters, and small villages with stone- and Domestication: What Is It?
mud-walled houses. They are named after the Wadi Domestication is an evolutionary process whereby hu-
en-Natuf, a ravine near Jerusalem, Israel, where the re- mans modify, either intentionally or unintentionally,
mains of this culture were fi rst found. They buried their the genetic makeup of a population of plants or animals,
dead in communal cemeteries, usually in shallow pits sometimes to the extent that members of the population
without any other burial objects or decorations. A small are unable to survive and/or reproduce without human
collective shrine is known from one of their villages, a assistance. Domestication is essentially a special case of
10,500-year-old settlement at Jericho in the Jordan River interdependence between different species frequently
Valley. Basin-shaped depressions in the rocks found out-
side homes and plastered storage pits beneath the floors
of the houses indicate that the Natufians were the earli- Natufian culture A Mesolithic culture living in the lands that
est Mesolithic people known to have stored plant foods. are now Israel, Lebanon, and western Syria, between about 10,200
Certain tools found among Natufian remains bear evi- and 12,500 years ago.
dence of their use to cut grain. These Mesolithic sickles domestication An evolutionary process whereby humans mod-
consisted of small stone blades set in straight handles of ify, either intentionally or unintentionally, the genetic makeup of
a population of plants or animals, sometimes to the extent that
wood or bone.
members of the population are unable to survive and/or repro-
The new lifeways of the various Mesolithic and Ar- duce without human assistance.
chaic cultures generally provided supplies of food suffi-
224 Chapter Ten/The Neolithic Transition: The Domestication of Plants and Animals

seen in the natural world, where one species depends on

another (that feeds upon it) for its protection and repro-
ductive success. For example, certain ants native to the
American tropics grow fungi in their nests, and these
fungi provide the ants with most of their nutrition. Like
human farmers, the ants add manure, which provides
nutrients to stimulate fungal growth. They also elimi-
nate competing weeds both mechanically and through
use of antibiotic herbicides.3 The fungi are protected and
ensured reproductive success while providing the ants
with a steady food supply.
Numerous other examples of such cooperation be-
tween species exist, all characterized by mutual benefit.
In plant–human interactions, for instance, domestication
ensures the plants’ reproductive success while providing
humans with food. From a human point of view, domes-
tication involves selection to eliminate thorns, toxins,
and bad-tasting chemical compounds that in the wild had
served to ensure a plant species’ survival and selecting
for larger, tastier edible parts attractive to humans. U.S.
journalist Michael Pollan has turned this idea around by
looking at domestication from a plant’s perspective. He
suggests that domesticated plant species successfully ex-
ploit human desires and considers “agriculture as some-
thing grasses did to people to conquer trees.”4

Evidence of Early Plant Domestication

Domesticated plants generally differ from their wild an-
cestors in ways favored by humans, including increased
size, at least of edible parts; reduction or loss of natural
means of seed dispersal; reduction or loss of protective
devices such as husks or distasteful chemical compounds
that keep animals from eating them; loss of delayed seed
germination (important to wild plants for survival in
times of drought or other adverse conditions of tempo-
rary duration); and development of simultaneous ripen-
ing of the seed or fruit. Many of these characteristics can Teosinte (A), compared to 5,500-year-old maize (B) and modern
be seen in plant remains from archaeological sites. Paleo- maize (C). Teosinte, the wild grass from highland Mexico from which
maize originated, is far less productive and doesn’t taste very good.
botanists can often tell the fossil of a wild plant species Like most plants that were domesticated, it was not a favored food for
from a domesticated one, for example, by studying the foraging people. Domestication transformed it into something highly
shape and size of various plant structures. desirable.
Wild cereals have a very fragile stem, whereas do-
mesticated ones have a tough stem. Under natural con-
ditions, plants with fragile stems scatter their seed for of the seeds that people harvested would have been taken
themselves, whereas those with tough stems do not. from the tough plants. Early domesticators probably
When humans began to harvest wild grain stalks with also tended to select seed from plants having few husks
a sickle, the soft stems would shatter and many seeds or none at all—eventually breeding them out—because
would be lost. Inevitably, though unintentionally, most husking prior to pounding the grains into meal or flour
required extra labor.
Size of plants is another good indicator of the pres-
3Diamond, J. (1998). Ants, crops, and history. Science 281, 1,974– ence of domestication. For example, the large ear of
1,975. corn (maize) we know today is a far cry from the tiny
4Pollan, M. (2001). The botany of desire: A plant’s-eye view of the world. ears (about an inch long) characteristic of earliest maize.
New York: Random House. In fact, the ear of maize may have arisen when a simple
 The Neolithic Revolution 225

gene mutation transformed male tassel spikes of the wild The first of these observations is that the switch to
grass called teosinte into small earliest versions of the fe- food production was not the result of people making cer-
male maize ear.5 Small as these were (an entire ear con- tain discoveries, such as that seeds, if planted, grow into
tained less nourishment than a single kernel of modern plants. Contemporary food foragers are far from igno-
maize), they were radically different in structure from rant about the forces of nature and are perfectly aware of
the ears of teosinte. the role of seeds in plant growth, that plants grow better
under certain conditions than others, and so forth. Physi-
ologist Jared Diamond aptly describes contemporary
Evidence of Early Animal Domestication food foragers as “walking encyclopedias of natural his-
Domestication also produced changes in the skeletal tory with individual names for as many as a thousand or
structure of some animals. For example, the horns of more plant and animal species, and with detailed knowl-
wild goats and sheep differ from those of their domes- edge of those species’ biological characteristics, distribu-
ticated counterparts. Most domesticated female sheep tion, and potential uses.”7 What’s more, they frequently
have no horns at all. Similarly, the size of an animal or its apply their knowledge so as to actively manage the re-
parts can vary with domestication as seen in the smaller sources on which they depend. For example, indigenous
size of certain teeth of domesticated pigs compared to people living in northern Australia deliberately alter the
those of wild ones. runoff channels of creeks so as to flood extensive tracts
A study of age and sex ratios of butchered animals of land, converting them into fields of wild grain. Indige-
at an archaeological site may indicate whether animal nous Australians choose to continue to forage while also
domestication was practiced. Investigators have deter- managing the land.
mined that if the age and/or sex ratios at the site differ A second observation is that a switch from food for-
from those in wild herds, the imbalances are due to do- aging to food production does not free people from hard
mestication. Archaeologists documented a sharp rise in work. In fact, available ethnographic data indicate just
the number of young male goats killed at 10,000-year-old the opposite—that farmers, by and large, work far longer
sites in the Zagros Mountains of Iran. Evidently people hours compared to most food foragers.
were slaughtering the young males for food and saving A fi nal observation is that food production is not nec-
the females for breeding. Although such herd manage- essarily a more secure means of subsistence than food
ment does not prove that the goats were fully domesti- foraging. Seed crops in particular—of the sort originally
cated, it does indicate at least a step in that direction.6 domesticated in Southwest Asia, Central America, and
In the Andean highlands, the high frequency of the Andean highlands—are highly productive but not
bones of newborn llamas at archaeological sites, dating stable from an ecological perspective because of low spe-
to around 6,300 years ago, is probably indicative of the cies diversity. Without constant human attention, their
beginning of domestication. Such high mortality rates productivity suffers.
for newborn animals are uncommon in wild herds but For these reasons, it is little wonder that food forag-
are common where animals are penned up. Under con- ers do not necessarily regard farming and animal hus-
fi ned conditions, the inevitable buildup of mud and fi lth bandry as superior to hunting, gathering, or fishing.
harbors bacteria and viruses that can be deadly to new- Thus, there are some people in the world who have re-
born animals. mained food foragers into the present. However, it has
become increasingly difficult for them, because food-
producing peoples (including postindustrial societies)
Beginnings of Domestication have deprived them of more and more of the land base
necessary for their way of life. For food foragers, as
Over the past forty years, a good deal of information has long as existing practices work well, there is no need to
accumulated about the beginnings of domestication, pri- abandon them especially if their practices are in balance
marily in Southwest Asia, Central America, and the An- with other aspects of their society’s culture. Noting that
des. We still do not have all the answers about how and hunter–gatherers have more leisure time than farmers,
why it took place. Nonetheless, some generally valid ob- U.S. anthropologist Marshall Sahlins has called them
servations can be made that help us to understand how “the original affluent society.”8 Farming brings with it a
the switch to food production may have occurred. whole new system of relationships that disturbs an age-
old balance between humans and nature.
5Gould, S. J. (1991). The fl amingo’s smile: Reflections in natural history
(p. 368). New York: Norton.
6Zeder, M. A., & Hesse, B. (2000). The initial domestication of goats 7Diamond, J. (1997). Guns, germs, and steel (p. 143). New York:
(Capra hircus) in the Zagros Mountains 10,000 years ago. Science 287, Norton.
2,254–2,257. 8Sahlins, M. (1972). Stone age economics. Chicago: Aldine.
226 Chapter Ten/The Neolithic Transition: The Domestication of Plants and Animals

WHY HUMANS BECAME plants to provide enough food for the community. Ac-
cording to this theory, animal domestication began be-
FOOD PRODUCERS cause the oases attracted hungry animals, such as wild
In view of what has been said so far, we may well ask: goats, sheep, and also cattle, which came to graze on
Why did any human group abandon food foraging in fa- the stubble of the grain fields and to drink. Finding that
vor of food production? these animals were often too thin to kill for food, people
Several theories have been proposed to account for began to fatten them up.
this change in human subsistence practices. One older Although Childe’s oasis theory can be critiqued on a
theory, championed by Australian archaeologist V. Gor- number of grounds and many other theories have been
don Childe, is the desiccation (from the Latin “to dry proposed to account for the shift to domestication, it
completely”), or oasis, theory, which is based on climatic remains historically significant as the first scientifically
determinism. Its proponents advanced the idea that the testable explanation for the origins of food production.
glacial cover over Europe and Asia caused a shift in rain Childe’s theory set the stage for the development of ar-
patterns from Europe to northern Africa and South- chaeology as a science. Later theories build on Childe’s
west Asia. When the glaciers retreated northward, so ideas and take into account the role of historical as well
did the rain patterns. As a result, formerly lush regions as environmental circumstances.
of northern Africa and Southwest Asia became dryer,
and people were forced to congregate at oases for water.
Because of the relative food scarcity in such an environ-
The Fertile Crescent
ment, necessity drove people to collect the wild grasses Present evidence indicates that the earliest plant domes-
and seeds growing around the oases, congregating in a tication took place gradually in the Fertile Crescent,
part of Southwest Asia known as the Fertile Crescent the lands just east of the Mediterranean Sea. Archaeo-
(Figure 10.1). Eventually they began to cultivate various logical data suggest the domestication of rye as early as

Figure 10.1
Black Sea
The Fertile Crescent of Southwest
Asia and the area of Natufian
Ha er

culture.
Riv
lys

Cayonu Hallan
Chemi Lake Van
Caspian
Lake Urmia
M O U N TA I N Sea
Hacilar URUS S
TA
Çatalhöyük
Abie Hureyra Zawi Chemi
FERTILE Shanidar
Mureybit CRESCENT ZAGROS
MOUNTAINS
Ti g
M

AREA OF
ris

Jarmo
e

CYPRUS NATUFIAN Eu
s

Riv

ph
ra
o

CULTURE
er

te
p

Mediterranean sR
n

iv
J o rd a
River

Sea er
t
a

Jericho
m

SYRIAN
ia

DESERT
Dead
Sea
LOWER SINAI
EGYPT
Persian
ARABIA Gulf
Ni
le
Ri
ve
r

UPPER Red
EGYPT Sea
ARABIAN
DESERT
Fertile Regions
of Mesopotamia
and Egypt
 Why Humans Became Food Producers 227

13,000 years ago by people living at a site (Abu Hureyra) The use of sickles to harvest grain turned out to
east of Aleppo, Syria, although wild plants and animals have important consequences, again unexpected, for
continued to be their major food sources. Over the next the Natufians. In the course of harvesting, it was inevi-
several millennia they became full-fledged farmers, cul- table that many easily dispersed seeds would be lost at
tivating rye and wheat.9 By 10,300 years ago, others in the harvest site, whereas those from plants that did not
the region were also growing crops. readily scatter their seeds would mostly be carried back
The domestication process was a consequence of a to where people processed and stored them.12 The peri-
chance convergence of independent natural events and odic burning of vegetation carried out to encourage the
other cultural developments.10 The Natufians, whose deer and gazelle herds to feed nearby may have also af-
culture we looked at earlier in this chapter, illustrate fected the development of new genetic variation. Among
this process. These people lived at a time of dramatically plants, heat is known to affect mutation rates. Also, fi re
changing climates in Southwest Asia. With the end of removes individuals from a population, which change
the last glaciation, temperatures not only became signifi- the genetic structure of a group drastically and quickly.
cantly warmer but markedly seasonal as well. Between With seeds for nondispersing variants being carried back
6,000 and 12,000 years ago, the region experienced the to settlements, it was inevitable that some lost seeds
most extreme seasonality in its history, with dry sum- would germinate and grow there on dump heaps and
mers significantly longer and hotter than today. As a con- other disturbed sites (latrines, areas cleared of trees, or
sequence of increased evaporation, many shallow lakes burned-over terrain).
dried up, leaving just three in the Jordan River Valley. As it turns out, many of the plants that became do-
At the same time, the region’s plant cover changed mesticated were “colonizers,” variants that do particu-
dramatically. Environmental instability and seasonal larly well in disturbed habitats. Moreover, with people
dryness favored annual plants, including wild cereal becoming increasingly sedentary, disturbed habitats be-
grains and legumes (such as peas, lentils, and chickpeas). came more extensive as resources closer to settlements
Because they complete their life cycle in a single year, an- were depleted over time. Thus, variants of plants par-
nuals can evolve very quickly under unstable conditions. ticularly susceptible to human manipulation had more
Moreover, they store their reproductive abilities for the opportunities to flourish where people were living. Un-
next wet season in abundant seeds, which can remain der such circumstances, it was inevitable that eventually
dormant for prolonged periods. people would begin to actively promote their growth,
The Natufians, who lived where these conditions even by deliberately sowing them. Ultimately, people
were especially severe, adapted by modifying their realized that they could play a more active role in the
subsistence practices in two ways: First, they probably process by deliberately trying to breed the strains they
burned the landscape regularly to encourage browsing preferred. With this, domestication may be said to have
by red deer and grazing by gazelles, the main focus of shifted from a process that was unintentional to one that
their hunting activities. Burning the landscape removed was intentional.
saplings and weeds and promoted the growth of fresh The development of animal domestication in South-
green grass to lure grazing animals. Second, they placed west Asia seems to have proceeded along somewhat
greater emphasis on the collection of wild seeds from the similar lines in the hilly country of southeastern Turkey,
annual plants that could be effectively stored to see peo- northern Iraq, and the Zagros Mountains of Iran. Large
ple through the dry season. The importance of stored herds of wild sheep and goats, as well as much environ-
foods, coupled with the scarcity of reliable water sources, mental diversity, characterized these regions. From the
promoted more sedentary living patterns, reflected in flood plains of the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates
the substantial villages of late Natufian times. The re- rivers, for example, travel to the north or east takes one
liance upon seeds in Natufian subsistence was made into high country through three other zones: fi rst steppe;
possible by the fact that they already possessed sickles then oak and pistachio woodlands; and, fi nally, high
(originally used to cut reeds and sedges for baskets) for plateau country with grass, scrub, or desert vegetation.
harvesting grain and grinding stones for processing a va- Valleys that run at right angles to the mountain ranges
riety of wild foods.11 afford relatively easy access across these zones. Today, a
number of peoples in the region still graze their herds
of sheep and goats on the low steppe in the winter and
9Pringle, H. (1998). The slow birth of agriculture. Science 282, move to high pastures on the plateaus in the summer.
1,449.
10McCorriston, J., & Hole, F. (1991). The ecology of seasonal stress
and the origins of agriculture in the Near East. American Anthro- 12Blumer, M. A., & Byrne, R. (1991). The ecological genetics and
pologist 93, 46–69. domestication and the origins of agriculture. Current Anthropology
11Olszewki, D. I. (1991). Comment. Current Anthropology 32, 43. 32, 30.
228 Chapter Ten/The Neolithic Transition: The Domestication of Plants and Animals

Figure 10.2
Domestication of sheep resulted in
evolutionary changes that created
more wool. Inset A shows a section,
as seen through a microscope, of
skin of wild sheep, showing the
arrangement of primary (hair) and
secondary (wool) follicles. Inset B
shows a section of similarly enlarged
skin of domestic sheep, showing the
changed relationship and the change
in size of follicles that accompanied
the development of wool.

Prior to the domestication of plants and animals, have increased reproductive success. Variants attractive
people who inhabited this region, like the Natufians, to humans did not arise out of need but at random, as
practiced a subsistence pattern of food foraging. Differ- mutations do. But then humans selectively bred the vari-
ent plants were found in different ecological zones, and eties they favored. In such a way, those features charac-
because of the difference in altitude, plant foods matured teristic of domestic sheep—such as greater fat and meat
at different times in different zones. Many animal spe- production, excess wool, and so on—began to develop.
cies were hunted for meat and hides by these people, By 9,000 years ago, the shape and size of the bones of do-
most notably, the hoofed animals: deer, gazelles, wild mestic sheep had become distinguishable from those of
goats, and wild sheep. Their bones are far more common wild sheep (Figure 10.2). At about the same time, similar
in human refuse piles than those of other animals. This developments were taking place in southeastern Turkey
is significant, for most of these animals naturally move and the lower Jordan River Valley, where pigs were the
back and forth from low winter pastures to high sum- focus of attention.13
mer pastures. Some researchers have recently linked animal do-
People followed these animals in their seasonal mi- mestication to the development of fi xed territories
grations, making use along the way of other wild foods and settlements. Without a notion of resource own-
in the zones through which they passed: palm dates in ership, they suggest that hunters would not be likely
the lowlands; acorns, almonds, and pistachios higher to postpone the short-term gain of killing prey for the
up; apples and pears higher still; wild grains maturing at long-term gain of continued access to animals in the fu-
different times in different zones; woodland animals in ture.14 Eventually, animal species domesticated in one
the forested zone between summer and winter grazing area were introduced into areas outside their natural
lands. All in all, it was a rich, varied fare. habitat.
The archaeological record indicates that, at fi rst, To sum up, the domesticators of plants and animals
animals of all ages and sexes were hunted by the people sought only to maximize the food sources available to
of the Southwest Asian highlands. But, beginning about them. They were not aware of the long-term and revolu-
11,000 years ago, the percentage of immature sheep eaten tionary cultural consequences of their actions. But as the
increased to about 50 percent of the total. At the same process continued, the productivity of the domestic spe-
time, the percentage of female animals eaten decreased. cies increased relative to wild species. Thus they became
Apparently, people were learning that they could in- increasingly more important to subsistence, resulting in
crease yields by sparing the females for breeding, while
feasting on male lambs. This marks the beginning of hu- 13Pringle, H. (1998). The slow birth of agriculture. Science 282,
man management of sheep. 1,448.
As this management of flocks became more efficient, 14Alvard, M. S., & Kuznar, L. (2001). Deferred harvest: The transi-
sheep were increasingly shielded from the effects of nat- tion from hunting to animal husbandry. American Anthropologist 103
ural selection, allowing variants preferred by humans to (2), 295–311.
 Other Centers of Domestication 229

© Anders Ryman/Corbis
The Dani people of New Guinea specialize in growing sweet potatoes,
a crop introduced in the 16th century into a region with a long history
of vegeculture. Today villagers grow more than seventy species of
sweet potato and have incorporated this root crop into many impor-
tant rituals.
Image not available due to copyright restrictions

by about 11,000 years ago.15 It was not until 4,000 years

later, however, that domestic rice dominated wild rice to
become the dietary staple.
In Southeast Asia, decorations on pottery depicting
rice dated to between 5,000 and 8,800 years ago docu-
ment it as the earliest species to be domesticated in this
region. Nevertheless, this region is primarily known for
the domestication of root crops, most notably yams and
taro. Root crop farming, or vegeculture, typically in-
volves the growing of many different species together in
a single field. Because this approximates the complexity
of the natural vegetation, vegeculture tends to be more
stable than seed crop cultivation. Propagation or breed-
ing of new plants typically occurs through vegetative
means—the planting of cuttings—rather than the plant-
ing of seeds.
In the Americas, the domestication of plants began
about as early as it did in these other regions. One spe-
cies of domestic squash may have been grown as early
further intensification of, interest in, and management as 10,000 years ago in the coastal forests of Ecuador; at
of, the domesticates. the same time another species was being grown in an
arid region of highland Mexico.16 Evidently, these devel-
opments were independent of each other. The ecologi-
OTHER CENTERS cal diversity of the highland valleys of Mexico, like the
OF DOMESTICATION
15Pringle, H. (1998). The slow birth of agriculture. Science 282,
In addition to Southwest Asia, the domestication of
1,449.
plants and, in some cases, animals took place indepen-
16Ibid., 1,447.
dently in Southeast Asia, parts of the Americas (Central
America, the Andean highlands, the tropical forests of
South America, and eastern North America), northern
vegeculture The cultivation of domesticated root crops, such as
China, and Africa (Figure 10.3). In China, domestication yams and taro.
of rice was underway along the middle Yangtze River
 230 Chapter Ten/The Neolithic Transition: The Domestication of Plants and Animals

C3 B1
A1

C1
A2
B2

C2

Figure 10.3
Early plant and animal domestication took place in such widely scattered areas as Southwest Asia (A1),
Central Africa (A2), China (B1), Southeast Asia (B2), Mesoamerica (C1), South America (C2), and North
America (C3).

hill country of Southwest Asia, provided an excellent en-

vironment for domestication (Figure 10.4). Movement
of people through a variety of ecological zones as they
changed altitude brought plant and animal species into
new habitats, providing opportunities for “colonizing”
species and humans alike.
Farmers in the Andean highlands of Peru, another
environmentally diverse region, domesticated a variety
of root crops, of which the potato is the best known. An-
dean farmers grew about 3,000 varieties of potato com-
pared to the mere 250 grown in North America today.
South Americans also domesticated guinea pigs, llamas,
alpacas, and ducks, whereas people in the Mexican high-
lands never did much with domestic livestock. They
limited themselves to dogs, turkeys, and bees. American
Indians living north of Mexico developed some of their
own indigenous domesticates. These included local vari-
© Harvey Finkle

eties of squash and sunflower.

Ultimately, American Indians domesticated over
300 food crops, including two of the four most impor-
In coastal Peru, the earliest domesticates were the non-edible bottle tant ones in the world today: potatoes and maize (the
gourd (like the one shown here) and cotton. They were used to make other two are wheat and rice). In fact, America’s indige-
nets and floats to catch fish, which was an important source of food. nous peoples fi rst cultivated over 60 percent of the crops
grown in the world today. They remain not only the de-
 Other Centers of Domestication 231

In Mexico, chili peppers have been

a part of the diet for millennia. Chili
peppers enhance the flavor of foods
and aid digestion by helping with
the breakdown of cellulose in diets
heavy in plant foods. They had other
uses as well: This illustration from
a 16th-century Aztec manuscript
shows a woman threatening her
child with punishment by being
exposed to smoke from chili peppers.
Chili smoke was also used as a kind
of chemical weapon in warfare.
© Bettmann/Corbis

velopers of the world’s largest array of nutritious foods

PERCENTAGE
Wild
but are also the primary contributors to the world’s
Horti- plant Years varied cuisines.17 After all, where would Italian cuisine
CULTIGENS Hunting culture use ago be without tomatoes? Thai cooking without peanuts?
3,000 Northern European cooking without potatoes? Small
Squash Cotton 29% 31% wonder American Indians have been called the world’s
Chili Maize 3,500
Amaranth Beans greatest farmers.18
Avocado Gourd An international team of archaeologists and other
Sapote 4,000 scientists is beginning to decipher the farming meth-
ods used by Indians in the Amazon rainforest. These
Squash Maize 4,500
Chili Beans
ancient methods, which left behind rich dark soils, may
Amaranth Gourd 25% 50% have important applications for humans today, as ex-
Avocado Sapote 5,000
plained in this chapter’s Anthropology Applied. Reviv-
5,500
ing these ancient soil-enrichment techniques could con-
Squash Maize tribute to better global management of rainforests and
Chili Beans
Amaranth Gourd 6,000 climate today.
Avocado Sapote 34% 52% Considering the separate innovations of plant do-
6,500 mestication, it is interesting to note that in all cases peo-
ple developed the same categories of foods. Everywhere,
7,000 starchy grains (or root crops) combine with one or more
Squash legumes: wheat and barley with peas, chickpeas, and len-
Chili
Amaranth 7,500 tils in Southwest Asia; maize with various kinds of beans
Avocado 54% 40% in Mexico, for example. Together the amino acids (build-
8,000 ing blocks of proteins) in these starch and legume com-
binations provide humans with sufficient protein. The
8,500

17Weatherford, J. (1988). Indian givers: How the Indians of the Amer-

Figure 10.4 icas transformed the world (pp. 71, 115). New York: Fawcett Col-
Subsistence trends in Mexico’s Tehuacan Valley show that here, as umbine.
elsewhere, dependence of horticulture came about gradually, over a 18Weatherford, J. (1988). Indian givers: How the Indians of the Americas
prolonged period of time. transformed the world (p. 95). New York: Fawcett Columbine.
232 Chapter Ten/The Neolithic Transition: The Domestication of Plants and Animals

Anthropology Applied
The Real Dirt on Rainforest Fertility
By Charles Mann

IRANDUBA, AMAZÔNAS STATE, BRAZIL— regions, but in the vegetation that covers
Above a pit dug by a team of archaeolo- it. When loggers, ranchers, or farmers GUYANA
gists here is a papaya orchard filled with clear the vegetation, the intense sun and
VENEZUELA

COLOMBIA
unusually vigorous trees bearing great rain quickly decompose the remaining or- SURINAME
clusters of plump green fruit. Below the ganic matter in the soil, making the land FRENCH
Amazon Ri ver GUIANA
surface lies a different sort of bounty: almost incapable of sustaining life—one
hundreds, perhaps thousands, of burial reason ecologists frequently refer to the
urns and millions of pieces of broken tropical forest as a “wet desert.” BRAZIL
ceramics, all from an almost unknown Because terra preta is subject to the PERU
people who flourished here before the same punishing conditions as the sur- BOLIVIA
conquistadors. But surprisingly, what rounding oxisols, “its existence is very

Pacific Ocean

PA
CHILE

R
might be most important about this surprising,” says Bruno Glaser, a chemist

AG
UA
Y
central Amazonian site is not the vibrant at the Institute of Soil Science and Soil ARGENTINA Atlantic
orchard or the extraordinary outpouring Geography at the University of Bayreuth, Ocean
of ceramics but the dirt under the trees Germany. “If you read the textbooks, it URUGUAY
and around the ceramics. A rich, black shouldn’t be there.” Yet according to Wil-
soil known locally as terra preta do Indio liam I. Woods, a geographer at Southern
(Indian dark earth), it sustained large Illinois University, Edwardsville, terra terra preta is called by one member of
settlements on these lands for 2 millen- preta might cover as much as 10 percent the Iranduba team, James B. Petersen of
nia, according to the Brazilian-American of Amazonia, an area the size of France. the University of Vermont, Burlington. a
archaeological team working here. More remarkable still, terra preta appears By understanding how indigenous groups
Throughout Amazonia, farmers prize to be the product of intensive habitation created Amazonian dark earths, these
terra preta for its great productiv- by precontact Amerindian populations. researchers hope, today’s scientists might
ity—some farmers have worked it for “They practiced agriculture here for be able to transform some of the region’s
years with minimal fertilization. Such centuries,” Glaser says. “But instead of oxisols into new terra preta. Indeed,
long-lasting fertility is an anomaly in the destroying the soil, they improved it—and experimental programs to produce “terra
tropics. Despite the exuberant growth that is something we don’t know how to preta nova” have already begun. Popula-
of rainforests, their red and yellow soils do today.” tion pressure and government policies
are notoriously poor: weathered, highly In the past few years, a small but are causing rapid deforestation in the
acidic, and low in organic matter and es- growing group of researchers—geog- tropics, and poor tropical soils make
sential nutrients. In these oxisols, as they raphers, archaeologists, soil scientists,
are known, most carbon and nutrients ecologists, and anthropologists—has been a
James B. Petersen died in 2005 while
are stored not in the soil, as in temperate investigating this “gift from the past,” as working in the Amazon.

starchy grains form the core of the diet and are eaten
at every meal in the form of bread, some sort of food
FOOD PRODUCTION
wrapper (like a tortilla) or a gruel or thickening agent AND POPULATION SIZE
in a stew along with one or more legumes. Being rather Since the Neolithic, human population size has grown
bland, these sources of carbohydrates and proteins are steadily. The exact relationship between population
invariably combined with flavor-giving substances that growth and food production resembles the old chicken
help the food go down. and egg question. Some assert that population growth
In Mexico, for example, the flavor enhancer par ex- creates pressures that result in innovations such as food
cellence is the chili pepper; in other cuisines it may be a production while others suggest that population growth
bit of meat, a dairy product, or mushrooms. Anthropolo- is a consequence of food production. As already noted,
gist Sidney Mintz refers to this as the core-fringe-legume domestication inevitably leads to higher yields, and
pattern (CFLP), noting that only recently has it been higher yields make it possible to feed more people, albeit
upset by the worldwide spread of processed sugars and at the cost of more work.
high-fat foods.19 While increased dependence on farming is associ-
ated with increased fertility across human populations,20
19Mintz, S. (1996). A taste of history. In W. A. Haviland & R. J. Gor-
don (Eds.), Talking about people (2nd ed., pp. 81–82). Mountain View, 20Sellen, D. W., & Mace, R. (1997). Fertility and mode of subsis-
CA: Mayfield. tence: A phylogenetic analysis. Current Anthropology 38, 886.
 The Spread of Food Production 233

much of the clearing as economically pre-Columbian pottery, greet visitors to and microfauna that could be used to
nonviable in the long run as it is ecologi- the airport in the lower Amazon town of transform oxisols into terra preta.
cally damaging. Santarém.
As a rule, terra preta has more “plant- Slash-and-Char
The Good Earth available” phosphorus, calcium, sulfur, Surprisingly, terra preta seems not to
Terra preta is scattered throughout and nitrogen than surrounding oxisols; have been created by the “slash-and-
Amazonia, but it is most frequently found it also has much more organic matter, burn” agriculture famously practiced in
on low hills overlooking rivers—the kind retains moisture and nutrients better, and the tropics. In slash-and-burn, farmers
of terrain on which indigenous groups is not rapidly exhausted by agricultural clear and then burn their fields, using
preferred to live. According to Eduardo use when managed well. the ash to flush enough nutrients into
Neves, an archaeologist at the University The key to terra preta’s long-term the soil to support crops for a few years;
of São Paulo who is part of the Iranduba fertility, Glaser says, is charcoal: Terra when productivity declines, they move
team, the oldest deposits date back more preta contains up to 70 times as much as on to the next patch of forest. Glaser,
than 2,000 years and occur in the lower adjacent oxisols. “The charcoal pre- Woods, and other researchers believe that
and central Amazon; terra preta then ap- vents organic matter from being rapidly the long-ago Amazonians created terra
peared to spread to cultures upriver. By mineralized,” Glaser says. “Over time, it preta by a process that Christoph Steiner,
AD 500 to 1000, he says, “it appeared in partly oxidizes, which keeps providing a University of Bayreuth soil scientist,
almost every part of the Amazon Basin.” sites for nutrients to bind to.” But simply has dubbed “slash-and-char.” Instead of
Typically, black-soil regions cover mixing charcoal into the ground is not completely burning organic matter to
1 to 5 hectares, but some encompass enough to create terra preta. Because ash, in this view, ancient farmers burned
300 hectares or more. The black soils are charcoal contains few nutrients, Glaser it only incompletely, creating charcoal,
generally 40 to 60 centimeters deep but says, “high nutrient inputs via excre- then stirred the charcoal directly into the
can reach more than 2 meters. Almost ment and waste such as turtle, fish, and soil. Later they added nutrients and, in a
always they are full of broken ceramics. animal bones were necessary.” Special process analogous to adding sourdough
Although they were created centuries soil microorganisms are also likely to starter to bread, possibly soil previously
ago—probably for agriculture, research- play a role in its persistent fertility, in enriched with microorganisms. In addi-
ers such as Woods believe—patches of the view of Janice Thies, a soil ecologist tion to its potential benefits to the soil,
terra preta are still among the most who is part of a Cornell University team slash-and-char releases less carbon into
desirable land in the Amazon. Indeed, studying terra preta. “There are indica- the air than slash-and-burn, which has
terra preta is valuable enough that locals tions that microbial biomass is higher in potential implications for climate change.
sell it as potting soil. To the consterna- terra preta,” she says, which raises the (By Charles C. Mann (2002). The real dirt on
tion of archaeologists, long planters full possibility that scientists might be able to rainforest fertility. Science 297, 920–923.
of terra preta, complete with pieces of create a “package” of charcoal, nutrients, Reprinted by permission of the AAAS.)

the reasons behind this illustrate the complex interplay led to growing rates of infectious disease and higher
between human biology and culture in all human activ- mortality. High infant mortality may well have led to
ity. Some researchers have suggested that the availability a cultural value placed on increased fertility. In other
of soft foods for infants brought about by farming pro- words, the relationship between farming and fertility is
moted population growth. In humans, frequent breast- far from simple, as explored in this chapter’s Biocultural
feeding has a dampening effect on mothers’ ovulation, Connection.
inhibiting pregnancy in nursing mothers who breast-
feed exclusively. Because breastfeeding frequency de-
clines when soft foods are introduced, fertility tends to THE SPREAD OF FOOD
increase.
However, it would be overly simplistic to limit the
PRODUCTION
explanation for changes in fertility to the introduction Paradoxically, although domestication increases produc-
of soft foods. Many other pathways can also lead to fer- tivity, it also increases instability. This occurs because
tility changes. For example, among farmers, numerous those varieties with the highest yields become the focus
children are frequently seen as assets to help out with of human attention, while other varieties are less val-
the many household chores. Further, it is now known ued and ultimately ignored. As a result, farmers become
that sedentary lifestyles and diets emphasizing a nar- dependent on a rather narrow range of resources, com-
row range of resources characteristic of the Neolithic pared to the wide range utilized by food foragers. Today,
234 Chapter Ten/The Neolithic Transition: The Domestication of Plants and Animals

Biocultural
Connection Breastfeeding, Fertility, and Beliefs
Cross-cultural studies indicate that farm- supposedly inferior to that of “civilized” the day and night. The resulting pattern
ing populations tend to have higher rates people, could not provide adequate nutri- is breastfeeding in short very frequent
of fertility than hunter–gatherers. These tion for closer birth spacing. bouts.
differences in fertility were calculated in Detailed studies by anthropologists As Konner and Worthman document, a
terms of the average number of children Melvin Konner and Carol Worthman, this pattern of breastfeeding stimulates
born per woman and through the average among the !Kung or Ju’hoansi people of the body to suppress ovulation, or the
number of years between pregnancies or the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa, release of a new egg into the womb for
birth spacing. Hunter–gatherer mothers disproved this theory, revealing instead fertilization. They documented that
have their children about four to five a remarkable interplay between cultural hormonal signals from nipple stimula-
years apart while some contemporary and biological processes in human infant tion through breastfeeding controls
farming populations not practicing any feeding. the process of ovulation. Thus, the aver-
form of birth control have another baby Konner and Worthman combined age number of years between children
every year and a half. detailed observations of Ju’hoansi infant among the Ju’hoansi is not a conse-
For many years this difference feeding practices with studies of hor- quence of nutritional stress. Instead,
was interpreted as a consequence of monal levels in nursing Ju’hoansi moth- Ju’hoansi infant feeding practices and
nutritional stress among the hunter– ers. Ju’hoansi mothers do not believe that beliefs directly affect the biology of
gatherers. This theory was based in part babies should be fed on a schedule, as fertility.
on the observation that humans and recommended by some North American
many other mammals require a cer- child-care experts, nor do they believe
tain percentage of body fat in order to that crying is “good” for babies. Instead, a
Konner, M., & Worthman, C. (1980). Nursing
reproduce successfully. The theory was they respond rapidly to their infants and frequency, gonadal function, and birth spac-
also grounded in the mistaken cultural breastfeed them whenever the infant ing among !Kung hunter-gatherers. Science
belief that the hunter–gatherer lifestyle, shows any signs of fussing both during 207, 788–791.

this range has narrowed further. Modern agriculturists contribute to the geographic spread of farming. Time
rely on a mere dozen species for about 80 percent of the and time again in the past, population growth, followed
world’s annual tonnage of all crops.21 by crop failure, has triggered movements of people from
This dependence upon fewer varieties means that one place to another, where they have re-established their
when a crop fails, for whatever reason, farmers have less familiar subsistence practices. Thus, once farming came
to fall back on than do food foragers. Furthermore, the into existence, its spread to neighboring regions through
likelihood of failure is increased by the common farming such migrations was more or less guaranteed. From
practice of planting crops together in one locality, so that Southwest Asia, for instance, farming spread northwest-
a disease contracted by one plant easily spreads to others. ward eventually to all of Europe, westward to North Af-
Moreover, by relying on seeds from the most productive rica, and eastward to India. Domesticated variants also
plants of a species to establish next year’s crop, farmers spread from China and Southeast Asia westward. Those
favor genetic uniformity over diversity. As a result, if who brought crops to new locations brought other things
some virus, bacterium, or fungus is able to destroy one as well, including languages, beliefs, and new alleles for
plant, it will likely destroy them all. The famous Irish human gene pools.
potato famine of 1845–1850 provides an example of this A similar spread occurred from West Africa, to the
from a more recent time period. The massive potato southeast, creating the modern far-reaching distribu-
crop failure caused the deaths of about 1 million people tion of speakers of Bantu languages. Crops including
due to hunger and disease and forced another 1.5 million sorghum (so valuable today it is grown in hot, dry areas
to abandon their homes and emigrate. The population of on all continents), pearl millet, watermelon, black-eyed
Ireland dropped from 8 million people before the famine peas, African yams, oil palms, and kola nuts (source of
to only 5 million after the famine was over. modern cola drinks) were first domesticated in West Af-
The Irish potato famine illustrates how the combi- rica but began spreading eastward by 5,000 years ago.
nation of increased productivity and vulnerability may Between 2,000 and 3,000 years ago, Bantu speakers with
their crops reached the continent’s east coast and a few
21Diamond, J. (1997). Guns, germs, and steel (p. 132). New York: centuries later reached deep into what is now the coun-
Norton. try of South Africa. Being well adapted to summer rains,
 Culture of Neolithic Settlements 235

VISUAL COUNTERPOINT

© Visum/Timm Rautert/The Image Works

© Irven DeVore/Anthro-Photo

The higher fertility of the Hutterites, a religious farming culture in North America, compared to that of the
!Kung hunter–gatherers from the Kalahari Desert, was originally attributed to differences in nutrition. It is
now known to be related to differences in child-rearing beliefs and practices.

African crops spread no further, for the Cape of South these walls (6½ feet wide and 12 feet high), as well as a
Africa has a Mediterranean climate with winter rains. large rock-cut ditch (27 feet wide and 9 feet deep), an es-
timated 400 to 900 people lived in houses of mud brick
with plastered floors arranged around courtyards. In
CULTURE OF NEOLITHIC addition to these houses, a stone tower that would have
taken 100 people 104 days to build was located inside one
SETTLEMENTS corner of the wall, near the spring. A staircase inside it
A number of Neolithic settlements have been excavated, probably led to a mud-brick building on top. This mas-
particularly in Southwest Asia. The structures, artifacts, sive wall—near mud-brick storage facilities as well as
and food debris found at these sites have revealed much peculiar structures of possible ceremonial significance—
about the daily activities of their former inhabitants as provide evidence of social changes in these early farming
they pursued the business of making a living. Perhaps communities. A village cemetery also reflects the seden-
the best known of these sites is Jericho, an early farming tary life of these early people; nomadic groups, with few
community in the Jordan River Valley of Palestine. exceptions, rarely buried their dead in a single central
location.
Close contact between the farmers of Jericho and
Jericho: An Early Farming Community other villages is indicated by common features in art,
ritual, use of prestige goods, and burial practices. Other
Excavations at the Neolithic settlement that later grew to evidence of trade consists of obsidian and turquoise from
become the biblical city of Jericho revealed the remains Sinai as well as marine shells from the coast, all discov-
of a sizable farming community inhabited as early as ered inside the walls of Jericho.
10,350 years ago. Here, in the Jordan River Valley, crops
could be grown almost continuously, due to the presence
of a bounteous spring and the rich soils of an Ice Age lake Neolithic Material Culture
that had dried up some 3,000 years earlier. In addition,
flood-borne deposits originating in the Judean highlands Various innovations in the realms of tool making, pot-
to the west regularly renewed the fertility of the soil. tery, housing, and clothing characterized life in Neolithic
To protect their settlement against these floods and villages. All of these are examples of material culture.
associated mudflows, as well as invaders, the people of
Jericho built massive walls of stone around it.22 Within Tool Making
Early harvesting tools were made of wood or bone into
22Bar-Yosef, O. (1986), The walls of Jericho: An alternative interpre- which razor sharp fl int blades were inserted. Later tools
tation. Current Anthropology 27, 160. continued to be made by chipping and flaking stone, but
 236 Chapter Ten/The Neolithic Transition: The Domestication of Plants and Animals

during the Neolithic period, stone that was too hard to foragers in Japan were making pottery by 13,000 years
be chipped was ground and polished for tools. People ago, long before it was being made in Southwest Asia.
developed scythes, forks, hoes, and simple plows to re- The manufacture of pottery requires artful skill and
place their digging sticks. Mortars and pestles were used considerable technological sophistication. To make a
to grind and crush grain. Later, when domesticated an- useful vessel requires knowledge of clay: how to remove
imals became available for use as draft animals, plows impurities from it, how to shape it into desired forms,
were redesigned. Along with the development of diverse and how to dry it in a way that does not cause cracking.
technologies, individuals acquired specialized skills for Proper fi ring is tricky as well; it must be heated to over
creating a variety of implements including leatherworks, 600 degrees Fahrenheit so that the clay will harden and
weavings, and pottery. resist future disintegration from moisture, but care must
be taken to prevent the object from cracking or even ex-
Pottery ploding as it heats and later cools down.
Hard work on the part of those producing the food would Pottery is decorated in various ways. For example,
also support other members of the society who could designs can be engraved on the vessel before fi ring, or
then apply their skills and energy to various craft special- special rims, legs, bases, and other details may be made
ties such as pottery. In the Neolithic, different forms of separately and fastened to the fi nished pot. Painting is
pottery were created for transporting and storing food, the most common form of pottery decoration, and there
water, and various material possessions. are literally thousands of painted designs found among
Because pottery vessels are impervious to damage the pottery remains of ancient cultures.
by insects, rodents, and dampness, they could be used
for storing small grain, seeds, and other materials. More- Housing
over, food can be boiled in pottery vessels directly over Food production and the new sedentary lifestyle brought
the fi re rather than by such ancient techniques as drop- about another technological development—house build-
ping stones heated directly in the fi re into the food being ing. Because they move frequently, most food foragers
cooked. Pottery was also used for pipes, ladles, lamps, show little interest in permanent housing. Cave shelters,
and other objects, and some cultures used large vessels pits dug in the earth, and simple lean-tos made of hides
for disposal of the dead. Significantly, pottery containers and tree limbs serve the purpose of keeping the weather
remain important for much of humanity today. out. In the Neolithic, however, dwellings became more
Widespread use of pottery, which is made of clay and complex in design and more diverse in type. Some Neo-
fi red in very hot ovens, is a good, though not foolproof, lithic peoples constructed houses of wood, while others
indication of a sedentary community. It is found in abun- built more elaborate shelters made of stone, sun-dried
dance in all but a few of the earliest Neolithic settlements. brick, or poles plastered together with mud or clay.
Its fragility and weight make it less practical for use by Although permanent housing frequently goes along
nomads and hunters, who more commonly use woven with food production, there is evidence that substan-
bags, baskets, and animal hide containers. Nevertheless, tial housing could exist without food production. For
there are some modern nomads who make and use pot- example, on the northwestern coast of North America,
tery, just as there are farmers who lack it. In fact, food people lived in substantial houses made of heavy planks
hewn from cedar logs, yet their food consisted entirely
of wild plants and animals, especially salmon and sea
mammals.

Clothing
© Ankara Archaeological Museum/Ara Guler, Istanbul

During the Neolithic, for the first time in human history,

clothing was made of woven textiles. The raw materials
and technology necessary for the production of clothing
came from several sources: flax and cotton from farm-
ing; wool from domesticated sheep, llamas, or goats;
silk from silk worms. Human invention contributed the
spindle for spinning and the loom for weaving.

Social Structure
This pottery vessel from Turkey was made around 7,600 years ago. Pigs Evidence of all the economic and technological devel-
were under domestication as early as 10,500 to 11,000 years ago in opments listed thus far have enabled archaeologists to
southeastern Turkey. draw certain inferences concerning the organization of
 The Neolithic and Human Biology 237

Sometimes Neolithic villages got together to carry

out impressive communal works. Shown here is
Stonehenge, the famous ceremonial and astronom-
ical center in England, which dates back to about
4,500 years ago. Its construction relates to the new
attitudes toward the earth and forces of nature
associated with food production.
© John Kegan

Neolithic societies. Although indication of ceremonial ago. The potter’s wheel was not used by early Neolithic
activity exists, little evidence of a centrally organized people in the Americas. Instead, elaborate pottery was
and directed religious life has been found. Burials, for ex- manufactured by hand. Looms and the hand spindle ap-
ample, show a marked absence of social differentiation. peared in the Americas about 3,000 years ago.
Early Neolithic graves were rarely constructed of or cov- None of these absences indicate any backwardness
ered by stone slabs and rarely included elaborate objects. on the part of Native American peoples, many of whom,
Evidently, no person had attained the kind of exalted sta- as we have already seen, were highly sophisticated farm-
tus that would have required an elaborate funeral. The ers and plant breeders. Rather, the effectiveness of exist-
small size of most villages and the absence of elaborate ing practices was such that they continued to be satisfac-
buildings suggest that the inhabitants knew one another tory. When food production developed in Mesoamerica
very well and were even related, so that most of their and the Andean highlands, it did so wholly indepen-
relationships were probably highly personal ones, with dently of Europe and Asia, with different crops, animals,
equal emotional significance. and technologies.
A general picture emerges that Neolithic societies Outside Mesoamerica and the Andean highlands,
were relatively egalitarian with minimal division of la- hunting, fishing, and the gathering of wild plant foods
bor but did have some development of new and more remained important elements in the economy of Neo-
specialized social roles. Villages seem to have been made lithic peoples in the Americas. Apparently, most Ameri-
up of several households, each providing for most of can Indians chose not to make as complete a change
its own needs. The organizational needs of society be- from a food-foraging to a food-producing mode of life,
yond the household level were probably met by kinship even though maize and other domestic crops came
groups. to be cultivated just about everywhere that climate
permitted.

Neolithic Culture in the Americas

In the Americas the shape and timing of the Neolithic THE NEOLITHIC
transition differed compared to other parts of the world.
For example, Neolithic agricultural villages were com-
AND HUMAN BIOLOGY
mon in Southwest Asia between 8,000 and 9,000 years Although we tend to think of the invention of food pro-
ago, but similar villages did not appear in the Americas duction in terms of its cultural impact, it obviously had
until about 4,500 years ago, in Mesoamerica (southern a biological impact as well. From studies of human skel-
Mexico and northern Central America) and the central
Andes. Moreover, pottery, which developed in South-
Mesoamerica The region encompassing southern Mexico and
west Asia shortly after plant and animal domestication, northern Central America.
did not emerge in the Americas until about 4,500 years
238 Chapter Ten/The Neolithic Transition: The Domestication of Plants and Animals

etons from Neolithic burials, physical anthropologists humans, with fi ne fl int drills.23 Whether dentistry ac-
have found evidence for a somewhat lessened mechani- companied an increase in dental decay brought about by
cal stress on peoples’ bodies and teeth. Although there the dietary shift of this period remains to be seen. This
are exceptions, the teeth of Neolithic peoples show less would parallel the clear evidence for a marked overall de-
wear, their bones are less robust, and osteoarthritis (the terioration in health and mortality during the Neolithic.
result of stressed joint surfaces) is not as marked as in the Anthropologist Anna Roosevelt sums up our knowledge
skeletons of Paleolithic and Mesolithic peoples. Though of this in the following Original Study.
Neolithic teeth show less wear, recent discoveries from
Pakistan provide the earliest evidence of human den- 23Coppa, A., et al. (2006). Early Neolithic tradition of dentistry. Na-
tistry: tiny holes made in the molar teeth of ancient live ture 440, 755–756.

Original Study
By Anna Roosevelt

History of Mortality and Physiological Stress

Although there is a relative survival rates in a few regions:
lack of evidence for the Paleo- Europe, North America, and
© Alan H. Goodman, Hampshire College

lithic stage, enough skeletons the eastern Mediterranean. At

have been studied that it this stage, wild foods are still
seems clear that seasonal and consumed periodically, and a
periodic physiological stress variety of plants are cultivated,
regularly affected most pre- suggesting the availability of
historic hunting-gathering adequate amounts of differ-
populations, as evidenced ent nutrients. Based on the
by the presence of enamel increasing frequency of tooth
hypoplasias [horizontal linear disease related to high carbo-
defects in tooth enamel] and Harris lines near the ends of these youthful thigh bones, found in a hydrate consumption, it seems
Harris lines [horizontal lines prehistoric farming community in Arizona, are indicative of recovery that cultivated plants probably
near the ends of long bones]. after growth arrest, caused by famine or disease. increased the storable calorie
What also seems clear is supply, removing for a time
that severe and chronic stress, with high physiological stress during the Mesolithic. any seasonal or periodic problems in food
frequency of hypoplasias, infectious Thus, it seems that both hunter–gather- supply. In most regions, however, the
disease lesions, pathologies related to ers and incipient agriculturalists regularly development of agriculture seems not to
iron-deficiency anemia, and high mortal- underwent population pressure, but only have had this effect, and there seems to
ity rates, is not characteristic of these to a moderate degree. have been a slight increase in physiologi-
early populations. There is no evidence of During the periods when effective ag- cal stress.
frequent, severe malnutrition, and so the riculture first comes into use, there seems Stress, however, does not seem to
diet must have been adequate in calories to be a temporary upturn in health and have become common and widespread
and other nutrients most of until after the development
the time. of high degrees of sedentism,
During the Mesolithic, population density, and reli-
the proportion of starch in the ance on intensive agriculture.
diet rose, to judge from the At this stage in all regions
increased occurrence of cer- the incidence of physiologi-
tain dental diseases, but not cal stress increases greatly,
© Alan H. Goodman, Hampshire College

enough to create an impover- and average mortality rates

ished diet. At this time, diets increase appreciably.
seem to have been made up Most of these agricultural
of a rather large number of populations have high fre-
foods, so that the failure of quencies of porotic hyper-
one food source would not be ostosis and cribra orbitalia
catastrophic. There is a pos- [bone deformities indicative of
sible slight tendency for Pa- chronic iron-deficiency ane-
leolithic people to be healthier mia], and there is a substantial
and taller than Mesolithic Enamel hypoplasias, such as those shown on these teeth, are indica- increase in the number and
people, but there is no appar- tive of arrested growth caused by famine or disease. These teeth are severity of enamel hypoplasias
ent trend toward increasing from an adult who lived in an ancient farming community in Arizona. and pathologies associated
 The Neolithic and Human Biology 239

with infectious disease. Stature in many crops. Populations seem to have grown by the instability of the agricultural
populations appears to have been con- beyond the point at which wild food system, and chronic lack of food due to
siderably lower than would be expected resources could be a meaningful dietary both population growth and economic
if genetically determined height maxima supplement, and even domestic animal expropriation by elites. The increases in
had been reached, which suggests that resources were commonly reserved for infectious disease probably reflect both
the growth arrests documented by pa- farm labor and transport rather than for a poorer diet and increased interpersonal
thologies were causing stunting. diet supplementation. contact in crowded settlements, and it is,
Accompanying these indicators of It seems that a large proportion of in turn, likely to have aggravated nutri-
poor health and nourishment, there is most sedentary prehistoric populations tional problems.
a universal drop in the occurrence of under intensive agriculture underwent (By Anna C. Roosevelt (1984). Population,
Harris lines, suggesting a poor rate of chronic and life-threatening malnutrition health, and the evolution of subsistence:
full recovery from the stress. Incidence and disease, especially during infancy and Conclusions from the conference. In
of carbohydrate-related tooth disease childhood. The causes of the nutritional M. N. Cohen & G. J. Armelagos (Eds.),
increases, apparently because subsis- stress are likely to have been the poverty Paleopathology at the origins of agri-
tence by this time is characterized by a of the staple crops in most nutrients culture (pp. 572–574). Orlando: Academic
heavy emphasis on a few starchy food except calories, periodic famines caused Press.)

human waste accumulate. These are not a problem for

small groups of people who move about from one camp-
site to another. Moreover, airborne diseases are more
easily transmitted where people are gathered into vil-
lages. Another factor, too, was the close association be-
tween humans and their domestic animals, a situation
conducive to the transmission of some animal diseases
to humans. A host of life-threatening diseases—includ-
© Polak Matt/Corbis Sygma

ing smallpox, chicken pox, and in fact all of the infectious

diseases of childhood that were not overcome by medi-
cal science until the latter half of the 20th century—were
transmitted to humans through their close association
with domestic animals (Table 10.1).

Like many infectious diseases, mad cow disease is a result of domes-

tication and human manipulation of animal diets. In this case the
infectious particle is not a virus or bacteria, but rather a prion—a newly TABLE 10.1 DISEASES ACQUIRED FROM
discovered infectious protein particle. Prions were introduced to cows DOMESTICATED ANIMALS
through their feed, which included ground remains of other animals
with the infected prions. By eating infected beef, the disease may be Animal with Most Closely
transmitted to humans. Human Disease Related Pathogen

Measles Cattle (rinderpest)

For the most part, the crops on which Neolithic
peoples came to depend were selected for their higher Tuberculosis Cattle
productivity and storability rather than their nutritional Smallpox Cattle (cowpox) or other
value. Moreover, as already noted, their nutritional livestock with related pox
shortcomings would have been exacerbated by their sus- viruses
ceptibility to periodic failure, particularly as populations
grew in size. Thus, the worsened health and mortality Influenza Pigs, ducks
of Neolithic peoples is not surprising. Some have gone Pertussis (“whooping cough”) Pigs, dogs
so far as to assert that the switch from food foraging to
Some of the diseases that humans have acquired from domestic
food production was the worst mistake that humans
animals. Close contact with animals provides a situation in
ever made!
which variants of animal pathogens may establish themselves
Another key contributor to the increased incidence in humans.
of disease and mortality was probably the new mode of
life in Neolithic communities. Sedentary life in fi xed vil- Source: Diamond, J. (1997). Guns, germs, and steel (p. 207). New York:
lages brings with it sanitation problems as garbage and Norton.
240 Chapter Ten/The Neolithic Transition: The Domestication of Plants and Animals

The abnormal hemoglobin responsible for sickle- Cohen and George Armelagos put it, “Taken as a whole,
cell anemia, discussed in Chapter 2, provides another indicators fairly clearly suggest an overall decline in the
example of the impact of food production on human bi- quality—and probably in the length—of human life as-
ology. Other abnormal hemoglobins are associated with sociated with the adoption of agriculture.”25
the spread of farming from Southwest Asia westward Rather than imposing ethnocentric notions of prog-
around the Mediterranean as well as eastward to India, ress on the archaeological record, it is best to view the
and also with the spread of farming in Southeast Asia. advent of food production as but one more factor con-
In all these regions, changes in human gene pools took tributing to the diversification of cultures, something
place as a biological response to malaria, which had be- that had begun in the Paleolithic. Although some socie-
come a problem as a result of farming practices. ties continued to practice various forms of hunting, gath-
Higher mortality rates in Neolithic villages were ering, and fishing, others became horticultural—small
offset by increased fertility, for population growth ac- communities of gardeners working with simple hand
celerated dramatically at precisely the moment that tools and using neither irrigation nor the plow. Horti-
health and mortality worsened. The factors responsible culturists typically cultivate a variety of crops in small
for higher birthrates have already been discussed in this gardens they have cleared by hand. Some horticultural
chapter. societies, however, developed agriculture. Technologi-
cally more complex than horticultural societies, agricul-
turalists practice intensive crop cultivation, employing
THE NEOLITHIC AND plows, fertilizers, and possibly irrigation. They may use a
wooden or metal plow pulled by one or more harnessed
THE IDEA OF PROGRESS draft animals, such as the horse, oxen, or water buffalo,
Despite the fact that the overall health of Neolithic to produce food on larger plots of land. The distinction
peoples often worsened as a consequence of this cul- between horticulturalist and intensive agriculturalist is
tural shift, many view the transition from food foraging not always an easy one to make. For example, the Hopi
to food production as a great step upward on a ladder Indians of the North American Southwest traditionally
of progress. In part this interpretation is due to one of employed irrigation in their farming while at the same
the more widely held beliefs of Western culture: that hu- time using basic hand tools.
man history is basically a record of steady progress over Pastoralism arose in environments that were too
time. To be sure, farming allowed people to increase the dry, too grassy, too steep, too cold, or too hot for effective
size of their populations, to live together in substantial horticulture or intensive agriculture. Pastoralists breed
sedentary communities, and to reorganize the workload and manage migratory herds of domesticated grazing
in ways that permitted craft specialization. This is not animals, such as goats, sheep, cattle, llamas, or camels.
progress in a universal sense but, rather, a set of cultural For example, the Russian steppes, with their heavy grass
beliefs about the nature of progress. Each culture, after cover, were not suitable to farming without a plow, but
all, defi nes progress (if it does so at all) in its own terms. they were ideal for herding. Thus, a number of peoples
Whatever the benefits of food production, however, living in the arid grasslands and deserts that stretch from
a substantial price was paid.24 As anthropologists Mark northwestern Africa into Central Asia kept large herds
of domestic animals, relying on their neighbors for plant
24Cohen, M. N., & Armelagos, G. J. (1984). Paleopathology at the foods. Finally, some societies went on to develop civili-
origins of agriculture. Orlando: Academic Press; Goodman, A., & zations—the subject of the next chapter.

Armelagos, G. J. (1985). Death and disease at Dr. Dickson’s mounds.

horticulture Cultivation of crops carried out with simple hand
Natural History Magazine 94(9), 12–18.
tools such as digging sticks or hoes.
agriculture Intensive crop cultivation, employing plows, fertil- 25Cohen, M. N., & Armelagos, G. J. (1984). Paleopathology at the
izers, and/or irrigation. origins of agriculture: Editors’ summation. In Paleopathology at the
pastoralism Breeding and managing migratory herds of domes- origins of agriculture (p. 594). Orlando: Academic Press.
ticated grazing animals, such as goats, sheep, cattle, llamas, or
camels.
 The Anthropology Resource Center 241

Questions for Reflection MacNeish, R. S. (1992). The origins of agriculture and settled life.
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
1. The changed lifeways of the Neolithic included the domesti- MacNeish was a pioneer in the study of the start of food pro-
cation of plants and animals as well as settlement into villages. duction in the New World. In this book, he reviews the evi-
How did these cultural transformations both solve the chal- dence from around the world in order to develop general
lenges of existence while creating new challenges for humans laws about the development of agriculture and evolution of
of the past and today? settled life.
2. Why do you think some people of the past chose not to
make the change from food foragers to food producers? What Rindos, D. (1984). The origins of agriculture: An evolutionary
problems existing in today’s world have their origins in the perspective. Orlando: Academic Press.
lifeways of the Neolithic?
This is one of the most important books on agricultural ori-
3. Though human biology and culture are always interacting, gins. After identifying the weaknesses of existing theories,
the rates of biological change and culture change uncoupled Rindos presents his own evolutionary theory of agricultural
at some point in the history of our development. Think of ex- origins.
amples of how the differences in these rates had consequences
for humans in the Neolithic and in the present.
Zohary, D., & Hopf, M. (1993). Domestication of plants in the
4. Why are the changes of the Neolithic sometimes mistak-
Old World (2nd ed.). Oxford: Clarenden Press.
enly associated with progress? Why have the social forms that
originated in the Neolithic come to dominate the earth? This book deals with the origin and spread of domestic plants
in western Asia, Europe, and the Nile Valley. Included is a spe-
5. Although the archaeological record indicates some differ-
cies-by-species discussion of the various crops, an inventory of
ences in the timing of domestication of plants and animals in
remains from archaeological sites, and a conclusion summa-
different parts of the world, why is it incorrect to say that one
rizing present knowledge.
region was more advanced than another?

Suggested Readings Thomson Audio Study Products

Enjoy the MP3-ready Audio Lecture Overviews for
Childe, V. G. (1951). Man makes himself. New York: New
each chapter and a comprehensive audio glossary of
American Library.
key terms for quick study and review. Whether walk-
In this classic, originally published in 1936, Childe presented ing to class, doing laundry, or studying at your desk, you now
his concept of the Neolithic revolution. He places special em- have the freedom to choose when, where, and how you inter-
phasis on the technological inventions that helped transform act with your audio-based educational media. See the preface
humans from food gatherers to food producers. for information on how to access this on-the-go study and re-
view tool.
Coe, S. D. (1994). America’s first cuisines. Austin: University of
Texas Press.
Writing in an accessible style, Coe discusses some of the more
important crops grown by Native Americans and explores
The Anthropology Resource Center
their early history and domestication. Following this she de- www.thomsonedu.com/anthropology
scribes how these foods were prepared, served, and preserved The Anthropology Resource Center provides extended learn-
by the Aztec, Maya, and Incas. ing materials to reinforce your understanding of key concepts
in the four fields of anthropology. For each of the four fields,
Diamond, J. (1997). Guns, germs, and steel. New York: Norton. the Resource Center includes dynamic exercises including
video exercises, map exercises, simulations, and “Meet the Sci-
This Pulitzer Prize-winning best-seller tries to answer the
entists” interviews, as well as critical thinking questions that
question, Why are wealth and power distributed as they are
can be assigned and e-mailed to instructors. The Resource
in the world today? For Diamond, the answer requires an un-
Center also provides breaking news in anthropology and in-
derstanding of events associated with the origin and spread of
teresting material on applied anthropology to help you link
food production. Although Diamond falls into various ethno-
what you are learning to the world around you.
centric traps, he provides a great deal of solid information on
the domestication and spread of crops and the biological con-
sequences for humans.
11 The Emergence
of Cities and States

CHALLENGE ISSUE
With the emergence of cit-
ies and states, people began
to face the challenge of so-
cial stratification in which
a ruling elite controls the
means of subsistence and
many other aspects of daily
life, often resulting in the
Image not available due to copyright restrictions
oppression of others. While
the people of such societies
are interdependent, the elite
classes have disproportion-
ate access to and control of
all resources including hu-
man labor. The centralized
governments that emerged
with cities and states have
commonly used their power
to mobilize and supervise la-
bor for the construction of
large-scale dwellings, monu-
ments, and military works, all
of which served to strengthen
or extend their rule. One
such monumental under-
taking was the Great Wall
of China, a 4,163-mile wall
built over 2,000 years ago,
for protection from plunder-
ing nomadic peoples to the
north.
 CHAPTER PREVIEW

When and Where What Changes in Why Did Cities

Did the World’s Culture Accompanied Develop into States?
First Cities Develop? the Rise of Cities? Ancient cities developed into what
Cities are urban settlements with Four basic cultural changes mark anthropologists call civilizations:
well-defi ned centers and populations the transition from Neolithic village societies in which large numbers
that are large, dense, and diversi- existence to life in urban centers: of people live in cities, are socially
fied both economically and socially. agricultural innovation, as new stratified, and are governed by
They are characteristic of civiliza- farming methods were developed; centrally organized political systems
tions that developed independently diversification of labor, as more called states. A number of theories
in Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas. people were freed from food produc- have been proposed to explain why
Between 4,500 and 6,000 years ago, tion to pursue a variety of full-time civilizations develop. For example,
cities began to develop in China, craft specialties; the emergence of population growth led to competi-
the Indus and Nile valleys, Meso- centralized governments to deal tion for space and scarce resources.
potamia, Mesoamerica, and the with the new problems of urban life; This competition favored the de-
central Andes. The world’s oldest and the emergence of social classes, velopment of centralized authority
cities were those of Mesopotamia, as people were ranked according to control resources and, inciden-
but one of the largest was located in to the work they did or the posi- tally, organized warfare. Some civi-
Mesoamerica. tion of the families into which they lizations, though, appear to have
were born. developed as a result of unifying
beliefs and values. In some cases, the
self-promoting actions of powerful
individuals may have played a role.
Thus, it may be that civilizations
arose in different places for different
reasons.

243
 244 Chapter Eleven/The Emergence of Cities and States

A walk down a busy street of a city such as New

York or San Francisco brings us in contact with
numerous activities essential to life in North American
society. Sidewalks are crowded with people going to
ity. If strikes, bad weather, or acts of violence cause one
service to stop functioning, other services can dete-
riorate. At the same time, cities are resilient in their
response to stresses. When one service breaks down,
others take over its functions. During a long newspa-
and from offices and stores. Heavy traffic of cars, taxis, per strike in New York City in the 1960s, for example,
and trucks periodically comes to a standstill. A brief several new magazines were launched, and television
two-block stretch may contain a grocery store; sidewalk networks expanded their coverage of news and events.
vendors; shops selling clothing, appliances, or books; a In many parts of the world the violence of war has
restaurant; a newsstand; a gasoline station; and a movie caused extensive damage to basic infrastructure, lead-
theater. Other features such as a museum, a police sta- ing to the development of alternative systems to cope
tion, a school, a hospital, or a church distinguish some with everything from the most basic tasks such as pro-
neighborhoods. curing food to communication within global political
Each of these services or places of business is de- systems.
pendent on others from outside this two-block radius. A On the surface, city life seems so orderly that we
butcher shop, for instance, depends on slaughterhouses take it for granted; but a moment’s reflection reminds us
and beef ranches. A clothing store could not exist with- that the intricate fabric of city life did not always exist,
out designers, farmers who produce cotton and wool, and the concentrated availability of diverse goods is a
and workers who manufacture synthetic fibers. Restau- very recent development in human history.
rants rely on refrigerated trucking and vegetable and
dairy farmers. Hospitals need insurance companies,
pharmaceutical companies, and medical equipment in-
dustries to function. All institutions, fi nally, depend on
DEFINING CIVILIZATION
the public utilities—the telephone, gas, water, and elec- The word civilization comes from the Latin civis, which
tric companies. Although interdependence is not imme- refers to one who is an inhabitant of a city, and civitas,
diately apparent to the passerby, it is an important aspect which refers to the urban community in which one
of modern cities. dwells. The concept of civilization therefore contains the
The interdependence of goods and services in a idea of “citification” or “the coming-to-be of cities.”
big city makes a variety of products readily available In everyday North American and European usage,
to people. But interdependence also creates vulnerabil- the word civilization carries the notion of refi nement

The violence of war destroys the

basic facilities of cities, as seen in
Kabul, Afghanistan, the site of years
of constant war.
© AP Images
 Defining Civilization 245

Lower
Mesopotamia

Nile Hsia
Valley
Indus
Mesoamerica

Peru
Great
Zimbabwe

Figure 11.1
The major early civilizations sprang from Neolithic villages in various parts of the world. Those of the
Americas developed wholly independently of those in Africa and Eurasia; Chinese civilization seems to
have developed independently of Southwest Asia (including the Nile and Indus) civilizations.

and progress, and the term may imply judgments about What characterized these fi rst cities? Why are they
cultures according to an ethnocentric standard. In an- called the birthplaces of civilization? The fi rst feature
thropology, by contrast, the term has a more precise of cities—and of civilization—is their large size and
meaning that avoids culture-bound notions. As used by population.
anthropologists, civilization refers to societies in which But cities are more than overgrown towns. Consider
large numbers of people live in cities, are socially strati- the case of Çatalhöyük, a compact 9,500-year-old village
fied, and are governed by a ruling elite working through settlement in south-central Turkey.1 The tightly packed
centrally organized political systems called states. We houses for its more than 5,000 inhabitants left no room
shall elaborate on all of these points in the course of this for streets. People traversed the roofs of neighboring
chapter. houses and dropped through a hole in the roof to get into
As Neolithic villages grew into towns, the world’s their own homes. While house walls were covered with
first cities developed. This happened between 4,500 all sorts of paintings and bas-reliefs, the houses were
and 6,000 years ago, fi rst structurally similar to one another, and no known public
THOMSON AUDIO in Mesopotamia (modern-
STUDY PRODUCTS day Iraq), then in Egypt’s
1Material on Çatalhöyük is drawn from Balter, M. (1998). Why
Take advantage of Nile Valley and the Indus
settle down? The mystery of communities. Science 282, 1,442–1,444;
the MP3-ready Audio Lecture Valley (today’s India and Balter, M. (1999). A long season puts Çatalhöyük in context. Science
Overviews and comprehensive Pakistan). In China, civi- 286, 890–891; Balter, M. (2001). Did plaster hold Neolithic society
audio glossary of key terms lization was underway by together? Science 294, 2,278–2,281; Kunzig, R. (1999). A tale of two
for each chapter. See the 5,000 years ago. Indepen- obsessed archaeologists, one ancient city and nagging doubts about
preface for information on dent of these developments whether science can ever hope to reveal the past. Discover 20 (5),
how to access this on-the-go in Eurasia and Africa, the 84–92.
study and review tool. fi rst American Indian cities
appeared in Peru around
civilization In anthropology, a type of society marked by the
4,000 years ago and in Mesoamerica about 2,000 years presence of cities, social classes, and the state.
ago (Figure 11.1).
246 Chapter Eleven/The Emergence of Cities and States

tral authority, technological intensification, and social

stratification. For example, flood control and protection
were vital components of the great ancient cities of the
Indus River Valley, located in today’s India and Paki-
stan. Mohenjo-Daro—an urban center at its peak some
UKRAINE
4,500 years ago with a population of at least 20,000—was
MOLDAVIA RUSSIA built on an artificial mound, safe from flood waters. Fur-
ther, the streets of this densely populated city were laid
ROMANIA
Black Sea out in a grid pattern and included individual homes with
BULGARIA sophisticated drainage systems.
Ancient peoples incorporated their spiritual beliefs
TURKEY
and social order into the cities they built. For example,
Çatalhöyük
the layout of the great Mesoamerican city Teotihuacan,
SYRIA founded 2,200 years ago, translated the solar calendar
CYPRUS into a unified spatial pattern. The Street of the Dead—a
Mediterranean Sea grand north-south axis running from the Pyramid of the
Moon at the north end and bordered by the Pyramid of
the Sun, the royal palace compound, and other major
structures—was deliberately oriented to an astronomi-
architecture existed. People grew some crops and tended cal marker, east of true north. Ancient city planners even
livestock but also collected significant amounts of food channeled the San Juan River to conform to the grid
from wild plants and animals, never intensifying their where it runs through the city (Figure 11.2). Surround-
agricultural practices. Evidence of a division of labor or ing this core were thousands of apartment compounds,
of a centralized authority is minimal or nonexistent. It separated from one another by a grid of narrow streets,
was as if several Neolithic villages were crammed to- maintaining the east-of-north orientation throughout
gether in one place at Çatalhöyük. the city. It is estimated that over 100,000 people inhab-
Archaeological evidence from early urban centers, ited this great city until its sudden collapse possibly in
by contrast, demonstrates organized planning by a cen- the 7th century.

Figure 11.2
The founders of Teotihuacan
imposed an audacious plan
on several square kilome-
ters of landscape in central
Mexico. At the center is the
Street of the Dead, running
from the Pyramid of the
Moon (near top), past the
Pyramid of the Sun, and,
south of the San Juan River
(Rio), the palace compound.
Note the gridded layout
of surrounding apartment
compounds and the chan-
neled San Juan River.
 Tikal: A Case Study 247

VISUAL COUNTERPOINT
© William A. Haviland

© Tom Ives/Corbis
Looking south down Teotihuacan’s principal avenue, the Street of the Dead, an urban axis unequaled in its
scale until the construction of such modern-day avenues as the Champs Elysées in Paris.

Finally, clear evidence for both social and economic

diversity exists in Teotihuacan. Some six levels of soci-
TIKAL: A CASE STUDY
ety can be recognized by variation in size and quality of The ancient city of Tikal, one of the largest lowland Maya
apartment rooms. Those at and near the top of the social centers in existence, is situated in Central America about
scale lived on or near the Street of the Dead. The Pyra- 300 kilometers north of Guatemala City. Tikal was built
mid of the Sun along this avenue was built above a cave, on a broad limestone terrace in a rainforest. Here the
which was seen as a portal to the underworld and as Maya settled 3,000 years ago. Because the Maya calendar
the home of deities associated with death. Teotihuacan can be precisely correlated with our own, it is known
artisans worked on exotic goods and raw materials im- that their civilization flourished until 1,100 years ago.
ported from afar, and at least two neighborhoods housed At its height, Tikal covered about 120 square kilo-
people with foreign affi liations—one with Oaxaca, the meters (km2), and its center or nucleus was the Great
other (the “merchant’s barrio”) with the Gulf and Maya Plaza, a large, paved area surrounded by about 300 ma-
lowlands. Farmers, whose labor in fields (some of them jor structures and thousands of houses. Starting from
irrigated) supplied the food to fellow city dwellers, also a small, dispersed population, Tikal swelled to at least
resided in the city.2 45,000 people. By 1,550 years ago, its population density
Mohenjo-Daro and Teotihuacan, like other early had reached 600 to 700 persons per square kilometer,
cities throughout the globe, were far more than ex- which was three times that of the surrounding region.
panded Neolithic villages. Such great changes took Tikal and the surrounding region were intensively
place in the transition from village to city that the emer- explored under the joint auspices of the University of
gence of urban living is considered by some to be one Pennsylvania Museum and the Guatemalan government
of the great transformations in human culture. The from 1956 through the 1960s. At the time, it was the
following case study gives us a glimpse of another of most ambitious archaeological project undertaken in the
the world’s ancient cities, how archaeologists studied western hemisphere.
it, and how it may have grown from a smaller farming In the fi rst few years of the Tikal Project, archaeolo-
community. gists investigated only major temple and palace struc-
tures found in the vicinity of the Great Plaza, at the site’s
epicenter. But in 1959, aiming to gain a balanced view of
2Cowgill, G. L. (1997). State and society at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Tikal’s development and composition, they turned their
Annual Review of Anthropology 26, 129–161. attention to hundreds of small mounds that surrounded
 248 Chapter Eleven/The Emergence of Cities and States

At Tikal only the tallest temples are

visible above the forest canopy. The
two farthest temples are at either
end of the Great Plaza, the civic and
ceremonial heart of the city. (Those
familiar with the original Star Wars
movie will recognize this view.)
© William A. Haviland

larger buildings and were thought to be the remains of Surveying and Excavating the Site
dwellings. In some senses, this represented a shift in the
practice of archaeology toward studying the complexi- Mapping crews extensively surveyed 6 km2 of forested
ties of everyday life. Imagine how difficult it would be to land surrounding the Great Plaza, providing a prelimi-
get a realistic view of life in a major city such as Wash- nary map to guide the small structure excavation pro-
ington, D.C., or Beijing by looking only at their monu- cess.4 Aerial photography could not be used for this
mental public buildings. Similarly, a realistic view of Ti- mapping, because the tree canopy in this area is often
kal cannot be reconstructed without examining the full 30 meters (about 100 feet) above the ground, obscuring
range of ruins in the area. all but the tallest temples. Many of the small ruins are
The excavation of small structures, most of which practically invisible even to observers on the ground.
were probably houses, permitted the estimation of Ti- Four years of mapping revealed that ancient Tikal was
kal’s population size and density. This information was far larger than the 6 km2 originally surveyed. More time
critical for testing hypotheses regarding the city’s Maya and money were required to continue surveying the area
inhabitants. These data allowed archaeologists to test in order to fully defi ne the city’s boundaries and calcu-
the conventional assumption that the Maya’s subsistence late its overall size.5
practices were inadequate to sustain large population The initial excavation of six structures, two pla-
concentrations. zas, and a platform revealed new structures not visible
Extensive excavation also provided a sound basis for before excavation, the architectural complexity of the
a reconstruction of the everyday life and social organiza- structures, and an enormous quantity of artifacts that
tion of the Maya, a people who had been known almost had to be washed and catalogued. Consequently, not
entirely through the study of ceremonial remains. For every structure was completely excavated, and some re-
example, differences in architecture, house construc- mained uninvestigated. Following this initial work, the
tion, and associated artifacts and burials suggest social archaeological team excavated over 100 additional small
class differences. Features of house distribution seem to structures in different parts of the site in order to ensure
reflect the existence of extended families or other types investigation of a representative sample. The team also
of kin groups. The excavation of both large and small sunk numerous test pits in various other small structure
structures revealed the social structure of the total pop-
ulation of Tikal.3
4Haviland, W. A., et al. (1985). Excavations in small residential groups
3Haviland, W. A. (2002). Settlement, society and demography of Tikal: Groups 4F-1 and 4F-2. Philadelphia: University Museum.
at Tikal. In J. Sabloff (Ed.), Tikal. Santa Fe: School of American 5Puleston, D. E. (1983). The settlement survey of Tikal. Philadelphia:
Research. University Museum.
 Tikal: A Case Study 249

groups to supplement the information gained from more conclude that there were full-time traders among the
extensive excavations. Tikal Maya.
In the realm of technology, specialized wood-
working, pottery, obsidian, and shell workshops have
Evidence from the Excavation been found. The skillful stone carving displayed on stone
Excavation at Tikal produced considerable evidence monuments suggests that occupational specialists did
about the social organization, technology, and diversity this work. The same is true of the fi ne artwork exhibited
in this ancient city, as well as the relationship between on ceramic vessels. Ancient artists had to envision what
people in Tikal and other regions. For example, the site their work would look like after their pale, relatively col-
provides evidence of trade in nonperishable items. Gran- orless ceramics had been fi red. Although we do not have
ite, quartzite, hematite, pyrite, jade, slate, and obsidian direct evidence, there are clues to the existence of textile
all were imported, either as raw materials or fi nished workers, dental workers, makers of bark-cloth “paper,”
products. Marine materials came from Caribbean and scribes, masons, astronomers, and other occupational
Pacific coastal areas. specialists.
Tikal is located on top of an abundant source of To control the large population, some form of bu-
chert (a fl intlike stone used to manufacture tools), reaucratic organization must have existed in Tikal.
which may have been exported in the form of raw ma- From Maya written records (glyphs), we know that the
terial and fi nished objects. The site is located between government was headed by a hereditary ruling dynasty
two river systems to the east and west, and so may with sufficient power to organize massive construction
have been on a major overland trade route between the and maintenance. This included a system of defensive
two. Also, evidence exists for trade in perishable goods ditches and embankments on the northern and southern
such as textiles, feathers, salt, and cacao. We can safely edges of the city. The longest of these ran for a distance
of perhaps 19 to 28 km.
The religion of the Tikal Maya may have developed
initially as a means to cope with the uncertainties of ag-
riculture. Soils at Tikal are thin, and the only available
water comes from rain that has been collected in ponds.
Rain is abundant in season, but its onset tends to be unre-
liable. Conversely, the elevation of Tikal, high relative to
surrounding terrain, may have caused it to be perceived
as a “power place,” especially suited for making contact
with supernatural forces and beings.
The Maya priests tried not only to win over and
please the deities in times of drought but also to honor
them in times of plenty. Priests, the experts on the
Maya calendar, determined the most auspicious time
to plant crops and were concerned with other agricul-
tural matters. This tended to keep people in or near
the city. The population in and around Tikal depended
upon their priesthood to influence supernatural beings
and forces on their behalf, so that their crops would
not fail.
As the population increased, land for agriculture be-
came scarce, forcing the Maya to fi nd new methods of
food production that could sustain the dense population
concentrated at Tikal. They added the planting and tend-
ing of fruit trees and other crops that could be grown
© Enrico Ferorelli

around their houses in soils enriched by human waste

(unlike houses at Teotihuacan, those at Tikal were not
built close to one another).
This painting from Cacaxtla in southern Mexico shows a deity with
Along with increased reliance on household garden-
the typical backpack of a Maya merchant. Imported raw materials and ing, the Maya constructed artificially raised fields in ar-
finished objects made from exotic materials provide abundant evidence eas that were flooded each rainy season. In these fields,
of the presence of merchants and trade at Tikal. crops could be intensively cultivated year after year, as
 250 Chapter Eleven/The Emergence of Cities and States

long as they were carefully maintained. Measures were

taken to maximize collection of water for the dry season,
by converting low areas into reservoirs and constructing
channels to carry runoff from plazas and other architec-
ture into these reservoirs.
As these changes were taking place, a class of arti-
sans, craftspeople, and other occupational specialists
emerged to serve the needs of an elite consisting of the
priesthood and a ruling dynasty. The Maya built nu-
merous temples, public buildings, and various kinds of
houses appropriate to the distinct social classes of their
society.
For several hundred years, Tikal was able to sustain
its ever-growing population. When the pressure for food
and land reached a critical point, population growth
stopped. At the same time, warfare with other cities was
becoming increasingly destructive. All of this is marked
archaeologically by abandonment of houses on prime
land in rural areas, by the advent of nutritional prob-
lems visible in skeletons recovered from burials, and by
the construction of the previously mentioned defensive
ditches and embankments. In other words, a period of
© Anita de Laguna Haviland

readjustment set in, which must have been directed by

an already strong central authority. Activities then con-
tinued as before, but without further population growth
for another 250 years or so.
As this case study shows, excavations at Tikal dem-
Carved monuments like this were commissioned by Tikal’s rulers to onstrated the splendor, the social organization, the be-
commemorate important events in their reigns. Portrayed on this one lief systems, and the agricultural practices of the ancient
is a king who ruled about 1,220 years ago. Such skilled stone carving Maya civilization, among other things. This chapter’s
could only have been accomplished by a specialist. (For a translation of Original Study illustrates a very different approach to
the inscription on the monument’s left side, see Figure 11.4.) another Maya site, just a day’s walk from Tikal.

Original Study
By Anabel Ford

Action Archaeology and the Community at El Pilar BELIZE

Resource management and conserva- ecology—the multifaceted relationships MEXICO

tion are palpable themes of the day. of humans and their environment—rather Orange
Walk Corozal
Nowhere is this more keenly felt than than monumental buildings. Despite
the Maya forest, one of the world’s my interest in daily life in the forest, Belize City
BELIZE
most biodiverse areas and among the monumental buildings became a part of Turneffe Islands
El Pilar
last terrestrial frontiers. Over the next my work. While conducting a settlement Belmopan
two decades this area’s population will survey in the forest, I discovered El Pilar, San Dangriga
Ignacio
GUATEMALA

double, threatening the integrity of the a Maya urban center with temples and
tropical ecosystems with contemporary plazas covering more than 50 hectares. Placencia
San Antonio
development strategies. Curiously, in The observation that the ancient Maya Punta Gorda
the past the Maya forest was home to a evolved a sustainable economy in the HONDURAS
major civilization with at least three to tropics of Mesoamerica led my approach
nine times the current population of the to developing El Pilar.
region. Astride the contemporary border El Pilar is founded on the preservation
I began my work as an archaeolo- separating Belize from Guatemala, El Pilar of cultural heritage in the context of the
gist in the Maya forest in 1972. I was has been the focus of a bold conservation natural environment. With a collabora-
interested in the everyday life of the design for an international friendship tive and interdisciplinary team of local
Maya through the study of their cultural park on a troubled border. My vision for villagers, government administrators, and
 Cities and Culture Change 251

scientists, we have established the El Pilar ience to impacts brought on by human

Archaeological Reserve for Maya Flora expansion. The ancient Maya lived with
and Fauna. this forest for millennia, and the El Pilar
Since 1993, the innovations of the El program argues there are lessons to be
Pilar program have forged new ground learned from that past.
in testing novel strategies for commu- The El Pilar program recognizes the
nity participation in the conservation privilege it has enjoyed in forging an
development of the El Pilar Reserve. This innovative community participatory pro-
program touches major administrative cess, in creating a unique management
themes of global importance: tourism, planning design, and in developing a new

Rolex Awards for Enterprise, Susan Gray

natural resources, foreign affairs, and tourism destination. The success of local
rural development and education. Yet the outreach at El Pilar can best be seen in
program’s impacts go further. Working the growth of the community organiza-
with traditional forest gardeners impacts tion Amigos de El Pilar (Friends of El
agriculture, rural enterprise, and capacity Pilar). With groups based in both Belize
building. There are few areas untouched and Guatemala, the Amigos de El Pilar
by the program’s inclusive sweep, have worked together with the El Pilar
and more arenas can contribute to its program to build an inclusive relationship
evolution. between the community and the reserve
At El Pilar, I practice what I call “ac- that is mutually beneficial. The develop-
tion archaeology,” a pioneering con- about sustainability in this region today. ment of this dynamic relationship lies at
servation model that draws on lessons At El Pilar we have advanced programs the heart of the El Pilar philosophy—re-
learned from the recent and distant past that will simulate “Maya forest gardens” silient and with the potential to educate
to benefit contemporary populations. For as an alternative to resource-diminishing, communities, reform local-level resource
example, the co-evolution of Maya so- plow and pasture farming methods. The management, and inform conservation
ciety and the environment provide clues forest survives and demonstrates resil- designs for the Maya Forest.

CITIES AND CULTURE CHANGE

If someone who grew up in a rural North American vil-
lage today moved to Chicago, Montreal, or Los Ange-
les, that person would experience a number of marked
changes in his or her way of life. Similarly, changes in
daily life would have been felt 5,500 years ago by a Neo-
lithic village dweller upon moving into one of the world’s
fi rst cities in Mesopotamia. Four basic changes mark the
transition from Neolithic village life to life in the first
urban centers: agricultural innovation, diversification of
labor, central government, and social stratification.

Agricultural Innovation
The University Museum, University of Pennsylvania

The fi rst culture change characteristic of early civiliza-

tions occurred in farming methods. The ancient Sume-
rians, for example, built an extensive system of dikes,
canals, and reservoirs to irrigate their farmlands. With
such a system, they could control water resources at will;
water could be held and then run off into the fields as
necessary. Irrigation was an important factor affecting
an increase of crop yields. Freedom from seasonal rain
cycles allowed farmers to harvest more crops in one This clay tablet map of farmland outside of the Mesopotamian city of
year. Increased crop yields, resulting from agricultural Nippur dates to 3,300 years ago. Shown are irrigation canals separat-
innovations, were undoubtedly a factor contributing to ing the various fields, each of which is identified with the name of the
the high population densities of ancient civilizations. owner.
252 Chapter Eleven/The Emergence of Cities and States

Diversification of Labor
The second culture change characteristic of early civi-
lizations was the diversification of labor. In a Neolithic
village without irrigation or plow farming, every fam-
ily member participated in the raising of crops. The high
crop yields made possible by new farming methods and
the increased population permitted a sizable number of
people to pursue nonagricultural activities on a full-time
basis.
Ancient public records document a variety of spe-
cialized workers. For example, an early Mesopotamian

© Gianni Dagli Orti/Corbis

document from the old Babylonian city of Lagash lists
the artisans, craftspeople, and others paid from crop sur-
pluses stored in the temple granaries. These lists included
coppersmiths, silversmiths, sculptors, merchants, pot-
ters, tanners, engravers, butchers, carpenters, spinners,
barbers, cabinetmakers, bakers, clerks, and brewers. This 2,900-year-old Etruscan vase is a fine example of the artistry that
With specialization came the expertise that led to became possible with the introduction of bronze.
the invention of new ways of making and doing things.
In Eurasia and Africa, civilization ushered in what ar-
chaeologists often refer to as the Bronze Age, a period
marked by the production of tools and ornaments made Early civilizations developed extensive trade sys-
of this metal. Metals were in great demand for the man- tems to procure the raw materials needed for their tech-
ufacture of farmers’ and artisans’ tools, as well as for nologies. In many parts of the world, boats gave greater
weapons. Copper and tin (the raw materials from which access to trade centers for transporting large loads of im-
bronze is made) were smelted, or separated from their ports and exports between cities at less cost than if they
ores, then purified, and cast to make plows, swords, axes, had been carried overland. A one-way trip from the an-
and shields. Later, such tools were made from smelted cient Egyptian cities along the Nile River to the Medi-
iron. In wars over border disputes or to extend a state’s terranean port city of Byblos in Phoenicia (not far from
territory, stone knives, spears, and slings could not stand the present city of Beirut, Lebanon) took far less time by
up against metal spears, arrowheads, swords, helmets, rowboat compared to the overland route. With a sail-
or armor. boat, it took even less time.
The indigenous civilizations of the Americas also Egyptian kings, or pharaohs, sent expeditions south
used metals. In South America, copper, silver, and gold to Nubia (northern Sudan) for gold; east to the Sinai Pen-
were used for tools as well as ceremonial and ornamen- insula for copper; to Arabia for spices and perfumes; to
tal objects. The Aztecs and to a lesser extent the Maya Asia for lapis lazuli (a blue semiprecious stone) and other
used the same soft metals for ceremonial and ornamen- jewels; north to Lebanon for cedar, wine, and funerary
tal objects while continuing to rely on stone for their oils; and southwest to central Africa for ivory, ebony, os-
everyday tools. To those who assume that metal is inher- trich feathers, leopard skins, cattle, and the captives they
ently superior, this seems puzzling. However, the ready enslaved. Evidence of trading from Great Zimbabwe in
availability of obsidian (a glass formed by volcanic activ- southern Africa indicates that these trading networks
ity), its extreme sharpness (many times sharper than the extended throughout the Old World. Increased contact
fi nest steel), and the ease with which it could be worked with foreign peoples through trade brought new knowl-
made it perfectly suited to their needs. Moreover, unlike edge into trading economies, furthering the spread of in-
bronze and especially iron, copper, silver, and gold are novations and even bodies of knowledge such as geom-
soft metals and have limited practical use. Obsidian tools etry and astronomy.
provide some of the sharpest cutting edges ever made.

Central Government
Bronze Age In the Old World, the period marked by the produc- The third culture change characteristic of early civiliza-
tion of tools and ornaments of bronze; began about 5,000 years
tions was the emergence of a governing elite, a strong
ago in China and Southwest Asia and about 500 years earlier in
Southeast Asia.
central authority required to deal with the challenges
new cities faced because of their size and complexity. The
 Cities and Culture Change 253

The construction of elliptical

granite walls held together without
any mortar at Great Zimbabwe in
southern Zimbabwe, Africa, attest
to the skill of the people who built
these structures. When European
explorers unwilling to accept the
notion of civilization in sub-
Saharan Africa discovered these
magnificent ruins, they wrongly
attributed them to white non-
Africans. This false notion persisted
until archaeologists demonstrated
that these structures were part of
a city with 12,000 to 20,000 inhab-
itants that served as the center of
a medieval Bantu state.
© Robert Holmes/Corbis

governing elite saw to it that different interest groups, 481 feet high. It contains about 2,300,000 stone blocks,
such as farmers or craft specialists, provided their re- each with an average weight of 2.5 tons. The Greek histo-
spective services and did not infringe on one another’s rian Herodotus reports that it took 100,000 men twenty
rights (to the extent that they had rights). years to build this tomb. Such gigantic structures could
The government ensured that the city was safe from be built only because a powerful central authority could
its enemies by constructing fortifications and raising an harness the considerable labor force, engineering skills,
army. It levied taxes and appointed tax collectors so that and raw materials necessary for their construction.
construction workers, the army, and other public ex- Another indicator of the existence of centralized au-
penses could be paid. It saw to it that merchants, carpen- thority is writing, or some form of recorded information
ters, or farmers who made legal claims received justice (Figure 11.3). With writing, central authorities could dis-
according to standards of the legal system. It guaranteed seminate information and store, systematize, and deploy
safety for the lives and property of ordinary people and memory for political, religious, and economic purposes.
assured them that any harm done to one person by an- Scholars attribute the initial motive for the develop-
other would be justly handled. In addition, surplus food ment of writing in Mesopotamia to record keeping of
had to be stored for times of scarcity, and public works state affairs. Writing allowed early governments to track
such as extensive irrigation systems or fortifications had accounts of their food surplus, tribute records, and other
to be supervised by competent, fair individuals. The business receipts. Some of the earliest documents appear
mechanisms of government served all these functions. to be just such records—lists of vegetables and animals
bought and sold, tax lists, and storehouse inventories.
Evidence of Centralized Authority Before 5,500 years ago, records consisted initially
Evidence of centralized authority in ancient civilizations of “tokens,” ceramic pieces with different shapes indica-
comes from such sources as law codes, temple records, tive of different commercial objects. Thus, a cone shape
and royal chronicles. Excavation of the city structures could represent a measure of grain, or a cylinder could
themselves provides further evidence because they can be an animal. As the system developed, tokens repre-
show defi nite signs of city planning. The precise astro- sented different animals; processed foods such as oil,
nomical layout of the Mesoamerican city Teotihuacan, trussed ducks, or bread; and manufactured or imported
described earlier, attests to strong, centralized control. goods such as textiles and metal.6 Ultimately, clay tab-
Monumental buildings and temples, palaces, and lets with impressed marks representing objects replaced
large sculptures are usually found in ancient civiliza- these tokens.
tions. For example, the Great Pyramid, which is the
tomb of Khufu, an Egyptian pharaoh, is 755 feet long and 6 Lawler, A. (2001). Writing gets a rewrite. Science 292, 2,419.
254 Chapter Eleven/The Emergence of Cities and States

Figure 11.3
The impermanence of spoken words contrasts with the relative permanence of written records. In all of
human history, writing has been independently invented at least five times.

In the Mesopotamian city of Uruk, by 5,100 years that the Olmec had another form of writing distinct
ago, a new writing technique emerged in which writ- from Maya glyphs.9 The Maya hieroglyphic system had
ers used a reed stylus to make wedge-shaped markings less to do with keeping track of state properties than
on a tablet of damp clay. Originally, each marking stood with extravagant celebrations of the accomplishments of
for a word. Because most words in this language were their rulers. Maya lords glorified themselves by record-
monosyllabic, the markings came, in time, to stand for ing their dynastic genealogies, important conquests,
syllables. and royal marriages; by using grandiose titles to refer to
Controversy surrounds the question of the earliest themselves; and by associating their actions with impor-
evidence of writing. Traditionally, the earliest writing tant astronomical events (Figure 11.4). Different though
was linked to Mesopotamia. However, in 2003 archae- this may be from the record keeping of ancient Mesopo-
ologists working in the Henan Province of western tamia, all writing systems share a concern with political
China discovered signs carved into 8,600-year-old tor- power and its maintenance.
toise shells; these markings resemble later-written char-
acters and predate the Mesopotamian evidence by about The Earliest Governments
2,000 years.7 A king and his advisors typically headed the earliest city
In the Americas, writing systems came into use governments. Of the many ancient kings known, one
among various Mesoamerican peoples, but the Maya stands out as truly remarkable for the efficient govern-
system was particularly sophisticated. The Maya writ- ment organization and highly developed legal system
ing system, like other aspects of Maya culture, appears characterizing his reign. This is Hammurabi, the Baby-
to have roots in the earlier writing system of the Olmec lonian king who lived in Mesopotamia some time be-
civilization,8 though discoveries announced in 2006 of tween 3,700 and 3,950 years ago. He issued a set of laws
a stone tablet with a distinctive writing system indicate for his kingdom, now known as the Code of Hammu-
rabi, notable for its thorough detail and standardization.
7Li, X., et al. (2003). The earliest writing? Sign use in the seventh It prescribed the correct form for legal procedures and
millennium bc at Jiahu, Henan Province, China. Antiquity 77, determined penalties for perjury and false accusation.
31–44.
8Pohl, M. E. D., Pope, K. O., & von Nagy, C. (2002). Olmec origins 9del Carmen Rodríguez Martínez, M. (2006). Oldest writing in the
of Mesoamerican writing, Science 298, 1,984–1,987. New World. Science 313, 1,610–1,614.
 Cities and Culture Change 255

It contained laws applying to property rights, loans and

The day 13 Ahau debts, family rights, and even damages paid for malprac-
Eighteenth day of the month,
Cumku, tice by a physician. It defi ned fi xed rates to be charged
in various trades and branches of commerce and mecha-
nisms to protect the poor, women, children, and slaves
End of the seventeenth Katun. against injustice.
The completion of its period.
Officials had the code publicly displayed on huge
stone slabs so that no one accused could plead ignorance.
Even the poorest citizen was supposed to know his or her
(Part of the ruler’s name?) rights and responsibilities. Distinct social classes were
Chitam
clearly reflected in the law (“rule of law” does not neces-
sarily mean “equality before the law”). For example, if an
aristocrat put out the eye of a fellow aristocrat, the law
In the dynastic line, lord of Tikal,
From Yax Moch Xoc required that his own eye be put out in turn; hence, the
(an early Tikal king) saying “an eye for an eye.” However, if the aristocrat put
out the eye of a commoner, the punishment was simply a
payment of silver.10
The ninth plus twenty,
In the count of the rulers
While some civilizations flourished under a single
ruler with extraordinary governing abilities, other civi-
lizations possessed a widespread governing bureaucracy
that was very efficient at every level. The government of
(Successor to ?)
His lord father, the Inca empire is one such example.
The Inca civilization of Peru and its surrounding
territories reached its peak 500 years ago, just before
the arrival of the Spanish invaders. By 1525, it stretched
Yax Kin Caan Chac
(A probable title,) 2,500 miles from north to south and 500 miles from east
to west, making it at the time one of the largest empires
on the face of the earth. Its population, which numbered
In the dynastic line, lord of Tikal, in the millions, was composed of people of many differ-
In his fourth katun (period of 20 tuns, ent ethnic groups. In the achievements of its governmen-
or 360 day years) tal and political system, Inca civilization surpassed every
other civilization of the Americas and most of those of
The leader (batab) Eurasia. An emperor, regarded as the divine son of the
Sixteen days plus one period Sun God, headed the government. Under him came the
of twenty days, royal family, the aristocracy, imperial administrators,
and lower nobility, and below them the masses of arti-
Plus two tuns (back to),
sans, craftspeople, and farmers.
The day 11 Kan, The empire was divided into four administrative re-
gions, further subdivided into provinces, and so on down
to villages and families. Government agricultural and
Twelfth day of the month tax officials closely supervised farming activities such
of the parrot, Kayab, as planting, irrigation, and harvesting. Teams of profes-
He took the throne,
sional relay runners could carry messages up to 250 miles
in a single day over a network of roads and bridges that
At the place of leadership, remains impressive even today.
He who scatters blessings. Considering the complexity of the Inca civilization,
it is surprising that they had no known form of conven-
tional writing. Instead, public records and historical
Figure 11.4
chronicles were kept in the form of an ingenious coding
The translation of the text on the monument shown on page 250 gives
some indication of the importance of dynastic genealogy to Maya
system of colored strings with knots.
rulers. The “scattering” mentioned may refer to bloodletting as part of
the ceremonies associated with the end of one twenty-year period, or 10Moscati, S. (1962). The face of the ancient orient (p. 90). New York:
Katun, and the beginning of the next. Doubleday.
256 Chapter Eleven/The Emergence of Cities and States

GLOBALSCAPE
Arctic
Ocean

ASIA

NORTH EUROPE
AMERICA
New York, NY

AFRICA Pacific
Pacific Ocean
Ocean
Baghdad, IRAQ
Atlantic
SOUTH Ocean
AMERICA Indian
Ocean
AUSTRALIA

ANTARCTICA

Iraqi artifacts in New York City? tion of priceless artifacts. That was the

© Thorne Anderson/Corbis
A clandestine operation carried out by case until the weeks following the U.S.
the U.S. government led to the recovery invasion, when several waves of looters
in New York City of a priceless (though removed tens of thousands of artifacts.
headless) 4,400-year-old stone statue According to Matthew Bogdanos, the
of the Sumerian King Entemena of Marine colonel who led the task force to
Lagash. The statue will be returned to track down and recover these artifacts,
its rightful place in the center of the “The list of missing objects read like a
Sumerian Hall of the Iraqi National ‘who’s who’ of Near Eastern archaeol-
Museum in Baghdad. The modern-day ogy.” Ironically, looting during the first
state of Iraq, located in an area known Gulf War had led local archaeologists to Others have required a combination of
as the cradle of civilization, is home to move artifacts from regional museums international cooperation and investiga-
10,000 archaeological sites preserving to the National Museum of Baghdad for tion, along with raids and seizures once
evidence of the earliest cities, laws, and their safety. This statue, like many other artifacts have been tracked down.
civilizations. Though many Mesopota- stolen artifacts, was first taken across Global Twister If artifacts from
mian artifacts were brought to muse- the border into Syria and then made its ancient civilizations from throughout
ums in Europe and the United states way into the international black market the world represent our shared global
in the 19th and early 20th centuries, in antiquities. Many artifacts have been heritage, how can such treasures be kept
the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad returned to the museum through a safe from the chaos and desperation
still housed an extraordinary collec- no-questions-asked amnesty program. that results from war?

and people were ranked according to the kind of work

Social Stratification they did or the family into which they were born.
The rise of large, economically diversified populations People who stood at or near the head of government
presided over by centralized governing authorities were the earliest holders of high status. Although spe-
brought with it the fourth culture change characteristic cialists of one sort or another—metal workers, tanners,
of civilization: social stratification, or the emergence of traders, or the like—generally outranked farmers, such
social classes. For example, symbols of special status and specialization did not necessarily bring with it high sta-
privilege appeared in the ancient cities of Mesopotamia, tus. Rather, people engaged in these kinds of economic
 The Making of States 257

Grave goods frequently indicate

the status of deceased individuals
in stratified societies. For example,
China’s first emperor was buried
with 7,000 life-size terra cotta
figures of warriors.
© Courtesy of Tavid Rankin Bingham

activities were either members of the lower classes or mains. In stratified societies of the past, the dominant
outcasts.11 Merchants of the past could sometimes buy groups usually lived longer, ate better, and enjoyed an
their way into a higher class. With time, the possession easier life than lower-ranking members of society, just as
of wealth and the influence it could buy became in itself they do today.
a requisite for high status, as it is in some cultures today.

Evidence of Social Stratification THE MAKING OF STATES

How do archaeologists know that different social classes
existed in ancient civilizations? As described earlier, laws From northeastern Africa to China to the South Ameri-
and other written documents as well as archaeological can Andes, ancient civilizations are almost always asso-
features including dwelling size and location can reflect ciated with magnificent palaces built high above ground;
social stratification. sculptures so perfect as to be unrivaled by those of to-
It is also revealed by burial customs. Graves exca- day’s artists; and engineering projects so vast and daring
vated at early Neolithic sites are mostly simple pits dug as to awaken in us a sense of wonder. These impressive
in the ground, containing few, if any, grave goods. Grave accomplishments could indicate that civilization is supe-
goods consist of things such as utensils, figurines, and rior to other cultural forms, particularly when civiliza-
personal possessions, symbolically placed in the grave tions have come to dominate peoples with other social
for the deceased person’s use in the afterlife. Early Neo- systems.
lithic grave sites reveal little variation, indicating essen- It is important to bear in mind that domination re-
tially classless societies. Graves excavated in civilizations, lates more to an aggressive attitude, size, and power than
by contrast, vary widely in size, mode of burial, and the to cultural superiority. In other words, the emergence of
number and variety of grave goods. This reflects a strati- centralized governments, characteristic of civilizations,
fied society, divided into social classes. The graves of im- has allowed some cultures to dominate others and for
portant persons contain not only various artifacts made civilizations to flourish. Anthropologists have proposed
from precious materials, but sometimes, as in some early several theories to account for the transition from small,
Egyptian burials, the remains of servants evidently killed egalitarian farming villages to large urban centers in
to serve their master in the afterlife. which population density, social inequality, and diversity
Skeletons from the burials may also provide evi- of labor required a centralized government.
dence of stratification. Age at death as well as presence
of certain diseases can be determined from skeletal re-
grave goods Items such as utensils, figurines, and personal pos-
sessions, symbolically placed in the grave for the deceased person’s
11Sjoberg, G. (1960). The preindustrial city (p. 325). New York: Free use in the afterlife.
Press.
258 Chapter Eleven/The Emergence of Cities and States

Anthropology Applied
Tell It to the Marines: Teaching Troops about Cultural Heritage
By Jane C. Waldbaum

The need to protect ancient sites, mu- that they might be called upon to of the officers have M.A. degrees; some
seums, and antiquities in war-torn Iraq protect. are reservists and high-school history
and Afghanistan has led the Archaeologi- The current lectures, funded in part teachers,” says Rose, who delivered the
cal Institute of America (AIA) to begin by the Packard Humanities Institute, inaugural lectures last spring. “They care
an innovative program to help educate emphasize Mesopotamia’s role in the a great deal about the history of the
troops soon to be sent to those countries. development of writing, schools, libraries, areas in which they serve; some of them
Conceived by AIA vice president C. Brian law codes, calendars, and astronomy, as have actually lived in or near Babylon on
Rose, the program sends experienced well as connections with familiar biblical earlier tours of duty. All of us have been
lecturers to military bases to teach the figures such as Abraham and Daniel and struck by their thirst for knowledge dur-
basics of Middle Eastern archaeology ancient sites such as Ur and Babylon. ing and after our lectures.”
and the importance of protecting the Afghanistan’s position as a crossroads Many have helped get this program
evidence of past cultures. The class, taken of ancient civilizations and the route of up and running, including U.S. Marine
by both officers and enlisted men and Alexander the Great through the region Colonel Matthew Bogdanos, who was
women, is mandatory. are discussed. Troops also learn about instrumental in securing the return of
The effort is a supplement to the basic archaeological techniques, the many antiquities stolen from the Iraq
AIA’s long-standing, nationwide lec- importance of preserving context, Museum. “When it comes to clearing
ture program in which scholars in the necessity of working with archaeol- a building, neutralizing a land mine, or
archaeology and related fields present ogists and conservators, and the most making a neighborhood safe for children,
the latest research and developments effective ways to protect sites against we know what to do,” says Bogdanos.
to more than 102 local societies in the looters. “When it comes to protecting a country’s
United States and Canada. The lectures The first series of lectures was given cultural heritage, we are just as eager to
for the troops focus specifically on the at the Marine Corps base at Camp Le- do the right thing—we just don’t always
areas where military personnel will jeune, North Carolina, and there are plans know the best way to do it. This is where
be deployed and on the specific sites, to expand the program to other bases Brian Rose’s groundbreaking program will
monuments, museums, and artifacts and services in the near future. “Many pay dividends for generations.”

Ecological Approaches throughout the region. Some form of centralized author-

Ecological approaches emphasize the role of the envi- ity developed to organize trade for the procurement of
ronment in the development of states. Among these, the these commodities and to redistribute them.
irrigation or hydraulic theory holds that civilizations A third theory suggests that states develop where
developed when Neolithic peoples realized that the best populations are hemmed in by such environmental bar-
farming occurred in the fertile soils of river valleys, pro- riers as mountains, deserts, seas, or other human popula-
vided periodic flooding was controlled.12 The centralized tions.13 As these populations grow, they have no space
effort to control the irrigation process blossomed into the in which to expand, and so they begin to compete for
fi rst governing body, elite social class, and civilization. increasingly scarce resources. Internally, this may result
Another theory suggests that in regions of ecological in the development of social stratification, in which an
diversity, trade is necessary to procure scarce resources. elite controls important resources to which lower classes
In Mexico, for example, trade networks distributed chil- have limited access. Externally, this leads to warfare and
ies grown in the highlands, cotton and beans from in- even conquest, which, to be successful, require elabo-
termediate elevations, and salt from the coasts to people rate organization under a centralized authority. As this
chapter’s Anthropology Applied feature shows, in times
of war centralized authorities such as the U.S. military
12Wittfogel, K. A. (1957). Oriental despotism, a comparative study of
total power. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. are drawing upon archaeological expertise to protect
cultural resources.
Problems exist with each of these ecological theo-
hydraulic theory The theory that explains civilization’s emer- ries. Across the globe and through time, cultures can be
gence as the result of the construction of elaborate irrigation found that do not fit these models. For example, some
systems, the functioning of which required full-time managers
whose control blossomed into the fi rst governing body and elite
social class. 13Carneiro, R. L. (1970). A theory of the origin of the state. Science
169, 733–738.
 Civilization and Its Discontents 259

of the earliest large-scale irrigation systems developed As the above example makes clear, the context in
in highland New Guinea, where strong centralized which a forceful leader operates is critical. In the case
governments never emerged. North American Indians of the Maya, the combination of existing cultural and
possessed trade networks that extended from Labrador ecological factors combined to open the way to the
in northeastern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and the emergence of political dynasties. Thus, explanations of
Yellowstone region of the Rocky Mountains and even civilization’s emergence are likely to involve multiple
to the Pacific without centralized control.14 In many of causes, rather than just one. Furthermore, we may also
the cultures that do not fit the theories of environmen- have the cultural equivalent of what biologists call con-
tal determinism, neighboring cultures learned to co- vergence, where similar societies come about in different
exist rather than pursuing warfare to the point of com- ways. Consequently, a theory that accounts for the rise
plete conquest. of civilization in one place may not account for its rise in
Although few anthropologists would deny the im- another.
portance of the human–environment relationship, many
are dissatisfied with theories that do not take into ac-
count the beliefs and values that regulate the interaction
between people and their environment.15 For example,
CIVILIZATION AND ITS
as described in the case study of Tikal, while religion was DISCONTENTS
tied to the earth in that the priests determined the most Living in the context of civilization ourselves, we are
promising time for planting crops, the beliefs and power inclined to view its development as a great step upward
relations that developed within Maya culture were not on a so-called ladder of progress. Whatever benefits
environmentally determined. Human societies past and civilization has brought, the cultural changes it repre-
present bring their beliefs and values into their interac- sents have produced new problems. Among them is the
tions with the environment. problem of waste disposal. In fact, waste disposal prob-
ably began to be a problem in settled, farming commu-
nities even before civilizations emerged. But as villages
Action Theory grew into towns and towns grew into cities, the prob-
One criticism of the above theories is that they fail to lem became far more serious, as crowded conditions and
recognize the capacity of aggressive, charismatic lead- the buildup of garbage and sewage created optimum
ers to shape the course of human history. Accordingly, environments for infectious diseases such as bubonic
anthropologists Joyce Marcus and Kent Flannery have plague, typhoid, and cholera. Early cities therefore
developed what they call action theory.16 This theory tended to be disease-ridden places, with relatively high
acknowledges the relationship of society to the environ- death rates.
ment in shaping social and cultural behavior, but it also Genetically based adaptation to diseases may also
recognizes that forceful leaders strive to advance their have influenced the course of civilization. In northern
positions through self-serving actions. In so doing, they Europeans, for example, the mutation of a gene on chro-
may create change. mosome 7 makes carriers resistant to cholera, typhoid,
In the case of Maya history, for example, local lead- and other bacterial diarrheas.17 Because of the mortality
ers, who once relied on personal charisma for the eco- caused by these diseases, selection favored spread of this
nomic and political support needed to sustain them in allele among northern Europeans. But, as with sickle-cell
their positions, may have seized upon religion to solidify anemia, protection comes at a price. That price is cystic
their power. Through religion they developed an ideol- fibrosis, a usually fatal disease present in people who are
ogy that endowed them and their descendants with su- homozygous for the altered gene.
pernatural ancestry and privileged access to the gods on The rise of towns and cities brought with it other
which their followers depended. In this case, certain in- acute, infectious diseases. In a small population, diseases
dividuals could monopolize power and emerge as divine such as chicken pox, influenza, measles, mumps, pertus-
kings, using their power to subjugate any rivals. sis, polio, rubella, and smallpox will kill or immunize so
high a proportion of the population that the virus cannot
14Haviland, W. A., & Power, M. W. (1994). The original Vermont-
ers (2nd ed., chs. 3 & 4). Hanover, NH: University Press of New
17Ridley, M. (1999). Genome, the autobiography of a species in 23 chap-
England.
ters (p. 142). New York: HarperCollins.
15Adams, R. M. (2001). Scale and complexity in archaic states. Latin
American Antiquity, 11, 188.
16Marcus, J., & Flannery, K. V. (1996). Zapotec civilization: How ur- action theory The theory that self-serving actions by forceful
ban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. New York: Thames & leaders play a role in civilization’s emergence.
Hudson.
260 Chapter Eleven/The Emergence of Cities and States

Biocultural
Connection Social Stratification and Diseases of Civilization:
Tuberculosis
Before the discovery of pressure of TB, the frequency
antibiotics in the early 20th of the Tay-Sachs allele would
century, individuals infected never have increased. Similarly,
with the bacteria causing without the strict social rules
the disease tuberculosis confining poor Jews to the
(TB) would invariably waste ghettos (compounded by rules
away and die. But before the about marriage), the frequency
development of cities, the of the Tay-Sachs allele would
disease TB in humans was never have increased. In recent
rare. The bacteria that cause times, cultural mechanisms
TB cannot survive in the pres- such as prenatal and premarital
ence of sunlight and fresh air. genetic testing have resulted in
Therefore, TB, like many other a decrease in the frequency of
sicknesses, can be called a the Tay-Sachs allele.
disease of civilization. While antibiotics have re-
Before humans lived in duced deaths from TB, resistant
dark, crowded urban centers, forms of the bacteria require
© Paul Almasy/Corbis

if an infected individual an expensive regime of multiple

coughed and released the TB drugs. Not only are poor indi-
bacteria into the air, sunlight viduals more likely to become
would prevent the spread infected with TB, they are also
of infection. But civilization less likely to be able to afford
affects disease in another The difficult living conditions in urban slums promote the spread expensive medicines required
powerful way. The social of infectious disease. For example, the rates of tuberculosis, AIDS, to treat this disease. For people
distribution of TB indicates hepatitis, and other infectious diseases are very high in this favella, in poor countries and for dis-
that social stratification is or bustling slum neighborhood in postindustrial cities of Brazil, as in advantaged people in wealthier
as much a determinant of many other parts of the world. countries, TB—like AIDS—can
disease as any bacterium, past be an incurable, fatal, infec-
and present. of the Tay-Sachs allele. Individuals het- tious disease. As Holger Sawert from
For example, Ashkenazi Jews of erozygous for the Tay-Sachs allele were the World Health Organization has said,
eastern Europe were forced into urban protected from this disease. a “Both TB and HIV thrive on poverty.” The
ghettos over several centuries, becoming Unfortunately, homozygotes for the difficult living conditions in urban slums
especially vulnerable to the TB thriving Tay-Sachs allele develop a lethal, degen- promote the spread of infectious disease.
in crowded, dark, confined neighbor- erative condition that remains common Poverty also makes medical treatment
hoods. As we have seen with the genetic in Ashkenazi Jews. Without the selective inaccessible.
response to malaria (sickle cell and other Before the social stratification ac-
abnormal hemoglobins) and bacterial a
Ridley, M. (1999). Genome, the autobiography companying the emergence of cities and
diarrheas (the cystic fibrosis gene), TB of a species in 23 chapters (p. 191). New York: states, as far as infectious microbes were
triggered a genetic response in the form HarperCollins. concerned, all humans were the same.

continue to propagate. Measles, for example, is likely to Infectious disease played a major role in European
die out in any human population with fewer than half colonization of the Americas. When Europeans with im-
a million people.18 Hence, such diseases, when intro- munity to Old World diseases came to the Americas for
duced into small communities, spread immediately to the first time, they brought these devastating diseases
the whole population and then die out. Their continued with them. Millions of Native Americans who had never
existence depends upon the presence of large population been in contact with the microbes that cause diseases
aggregates as found in cities. Survivors possessed immu- such as smallpox, typhus, measles, and bubonic plague
nity to these deadly diseases. died as a result.
Not until relatively recent times did public health
18Diamond, J. (1997). Guns, germs, and steel (p. 203). New York: measures reduce the risk of living in cities, and had it not
Norton. been for a constant influx of rural peoples, areas of high
 Suggested Readings 261

population density might not have persisted. Europe’s often led to boundary disputes and quarrels over land
urban population, for example, did not become self- between civilized states or between so-called tribal peo-
sustaining until early in the 20th century.19 ples and a state. When war broke out, people crowded
What led people to live in such unhealthy places? into walled cities for protection and to be near irrigation
Most likely, people were attracted by the same things systems.
that lure people to cities today: They are vibrant, excit- What we would call “development” today also
ing places that provide people with new opportunities posed problems in the past. At the Maya city of Copan,
and protection in times of warfare. Of course, people’s in the present-day country of Honduras, much of the
experience in the cities did not always live up to advance fertile bottom lands along the Copan River were paved
expectations, particularly for the poor, as described in over as the city grew, making the people more and more
this chapter’s Biocultural Connection. dependent on food grown in the fragile soils of the val-
In addition to health problems, many early cities ley slopes. This ultimately led to catastrophic soil loss
faced social problems strikingly similar to those found through erosion and a breakdown of food production.
in many cities all over the world today. Dense population Similarly, in ancient Mesopotamia, evaporation of water
and the inequalities of class systems and oppressive cen- from extensive irrigation works resulted in a buildup of
tralized governments created internal stress. The poor salt in the soil, ruining it for agricultural use.
saw that the wealthy had all the things that they them- It is discouraging to note that many of the prob-
selves lacked. It was not just a question of luxury items; lems associated with the fi rst civilizations are still with
the poor did not have enough food or space in which to us. Waste disposal, pollution-related health problems,
live with comfort, dignity, and health. crowding, social inequities, and warfare continue to be
Evidence of warfare in early civilizations is com- serious problems. Through the study of past civiliza-
mon. Cities were fortified. Ancient documents list bat- tions, and through comparison of contemporary so-
tles, raids, and wars between groups. Cylinder seals, cieties, we now stand a chance of understanding such
paintings, and sculptures depict battle scenes, victorious problems. Such understanding represents a central part
kings, and captured prisoners of war. Increasing popula- of the anthropologist’s mission. In this sense, then, an-
tion and the accompanying scarcity of good farming land thropology represents an effort to adapt, so that the next
cultural revolution may see our species transcend these
19Ibid. problems.

Questions for Reflection 5. With many archaeological discoveries there is a value

placed on “fi rsts,” such as the earliest writing, the fi rst city, or
1. In large-scale societies of the past and present, people face the earliest government. Given the history of the independent
the challenge of social stratification. Elite classes have dis- emergence of cities and states throughout the world, do you
proportionate access to and control of all resources. Is social think that scientists should place more value on some of these
stratification an inevitable consequence of the emergence of events just because they are older?
cities and states? How can the study of social stratification in
the past contribute to the resolution of contemporary issues of
social justice?
2. In previous chapters it was emphasized that human evolu- Suggested Readings
tionary history should not be thought of as progress. Why is it
Diamond, J. (1997). Guns, germs, and steel. New York: Norton.
similarly incorrect to think of the shift from village to city to
state as progress? Also recommended in the last chapter, this book has an excel-
lent discussion of the relation among diseases, social complex-
3. What are some of the ways that differences in social strati-
ity, and social change.
fication are expressed in your community? Does your com-
munity have any traditions surrounding death that serve to
restate the social differentiation of individuals? Fagan, B. (2001). The seventy great mysteries of the ancient world.
4. With today’s global communication and economic net- New York: Thames & Hudson.
works, will it be possible to shift away from social systems in- Archaeologist Brian Fagan edited contributions from twenty-
volving centralized governments or will a centralized author- eight other archaeologists and historians about some of the
ity have to control and protect resources for the entire world? great controversies in the field in this readable book.
262 Chapter Eleven/The Emergence of Cities and States

Marcus, J., & Flannery, K. V. (1996). Zapotec civilization: How

urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. New York:
Thomson Audio Study Products
Thames & Hudson. Enjoy the MP3-ready Audio Lecture Overviews for
With its lavish illustrations, this looks like a book for coffee ta- each chapter and a comprehensive audio glossary of
ble adornment, but it is a thoughtful and serious work on the key terms for quick study and review. Whether walk-
rise of a pristine civilization. In it, the authors present their ing to class, doing laundry, or studying at your desk, you now
action theory. have the freedom to choose when, where, and how you inter-
act with your audio-based educational media. See the preface
for information on how to access this on-the-go study and re-
McNeill W. (1992). Plagues and people. New York: Anchor
view tool.
Books.
This book offers an interpretation of world history through
the impact of infectious disease. It documents the role disease
played in the colonization of the Americas as well as continu- The Anthropology Resource Center
ing the investigation into the present with a social history
of AIDS. www.thomsonedu.com/anthropology
The Anthropology Resource Center provides extended learn-
ing materials to reinforce your understanding of key concepts
Sabloff, J. A. (1997). The cities of ancient Mexico (Rev. ed.). New in the four fields of anthropology. For each of the four fields,
York: Thames & Hudson. the Resource Center includes dynamic exercises including
This well-written and lavishly illustrated book describes the video exercises, map exercises, simulations, and “Meet the Sci-
major cities of the Olmecs, Zapotecs, Maya, Teotihuacans, entists” interviews, as well as critical thinking questions that
Toltecs, and Aztecs. Following the descriptions, Sabloff dis- can be assigned and e-mailed to instructors. The Resource
cusses the question of origins, the problems of archaeological Center also provides breaking news in anthropology and in-
reconstruction, and the basis on which he provides vignettes teresting material on applied anthropology to help you link
of life in the ancient cities. The book concludes with a gazet- what you are learning to the world around you.
teer of fi fty sites in Mesoamerica.
This page intentionally left blank
 Modern Human

12 Diversity:
Race and Racism

© White Packert/Iconica/Getty Images

Biological diversity contributes to our ability to adapt to a variety of environ-

CHALLENGE
ISSUE ments. It is also a challenge, calling upon us to recognize our common origins
and to avoid oversimplification, discrimination, bigotry, and even bloodshed fu-
eled by superficial differences. While some people view so-called racial groups
as natural and separate divisions within our species based on visible physical
differences, biological evidence demonstrates that separate races do not exist.
Broadly defined geographic “racial” groupings differ from one another in only
7 percent of their genes. Having exchanged genes throughout history, human
populations continue to do so today. Instead of leading to the development
of distinctive subspecies (biologically defined races), this genetic exchange has
maintained all of humankind as a single species. While race is an important
social and political category in some societies, it is a cultural construct without
objective scientific merit.
 CHAPTER PREVIEW

What Is the History of Is Studying Differences What Are the Causes

Human Classification? in Intelligence among of Physical Variability?
European scholars of the 18th Populations Valid? Physical variability is a product of
through early 20th centuries classi- These studies are flawed in many underlying genetic variation as it
fied humans into a series of sub- ways. First, studies attempting to is expressed in a particular envi-
species based on geographic location document biological differences gen- ronment. Some physical traits are
and phenotypic features such as skin erally involve comparisons among controlled by single genes, with
color, body size, head shape, and races—a category that for humans variation present in alternate forms
hair texture. Some scholars went a is biologically false. Second, intel- of the gene (alleles). Many physical
step further and placed these types ligence is a multifaceted phenom- characteristics like height, weight,
into a hierarchical framework in enon, and cultures vary in terms of or skin color are controlled by mul-
which the “white” race was consid- which aspects of intelligence they tiple genes and are thus expressed
ered to be superior to other races. value. Third, most instruments continuously, meaning this varia-
With time, these efforts to classify (tests) used to measure intelligence tion cannot be divided into discrete
humans into higher and lower forms are biased toward the dominant categories. Because evolutionary
were discredited for being racist and culture of the people who created forces such as natural selection and
unscientific. the test. Finally, as a complex set of random drift act on each physical
traits, intelligence cannot be linked trait independently, human bio-
to discrete evolutionary forces act- logical variation can be studied only
ing in a particular environment. “one trait at a time.”
Is the Biological Concept
of Race Useful for
Studying Physical
Variation in the
Human Species?
No. Biologically defi ned, “race” re-
fers to subspecies, and no subspecies
exist within modern Homo sapiens.
The vast majority of biological varia-
tion within our species occurs within
populations rather than among
them. Furthermore, the differ-
ences that do exist among popula-
tions occur in gradations from one
neighboring population to another
without sharp breaks. For these
and other reasons, anthropologists
have actively worked to expose the
fallacy of race as a biological concept
while recognizing the existence of
race as a social construct.
265
266 Chapter Twelve/Modern Human Diversity: Race and Racism

F rom male to female, short to tall, light to dark,

biological variation can be categorized in a num-
ber of ways, but in the end we are all members of the
same species. Minute variations of our DNA give each
The German physician Johann Blumenbach (1752–
1840) introduced some significant changes to this four-
race scheme in the 1795 edition of his book On the Natural
Variety of Mankind. Most notably this book formally put
forth the notion of a hierarchy of human types. Based
of us a unique genetic “fi ngerprint,” yet this variation on a comparative examination of his human skull col-
remains within the bounds of being genetically hu- lection, Blumenbach judged as most beautiful the skull
man. Visible differences among modern humans are of a woman from the Caucasus Mountain range (located
expressed within the framework of biological features between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea of southeast-
shared throughout the species, and as a species, humans ern Europe and southwestern Asia). It was more sym-
are highly variable. metrical than the others, and he saw it as a reflection of
Human genetic variation generally is distributed nature’s ideal form: the circle. Surely, Blumenbach rea-
across the globe in a continuous fashion. From a bio- soned, this “perfect” specimen resembled God’s original
logical perspective, this variation sometimes follows a creation. Moreover, he thought that the living inhabi-
pattern imposed by interaction with the environment tants of the Caucasus region were the most beautiful in
through the evolutionary process of natural selection. At the world. Based on these criteria, he concluded that this
other times, the variation results from random genetic high mountain range, not far from the lands mentioned
drift. The significance we give our biological variation, in the Bible, was the place of human origins.
however, is always patterned, because the way we per- Blumenbach concluded that all light-skinned peo-
ceive variation—in fact, whether we perceive it at all—is ples in Europe and adjacent parts of western Asia and
determined by culture. For example, in many Polynesian northern Africa belonged to the same race. On this ba-
cultures, where skin color is not a determinant of social sis, he dropped the “European” race label and replaced it
status, people pay little attention to this physical char- with “Caucasian.” Although he continued to distinguish
acteristic. By contrast, in countries such as the United American Indians as a separate race, he regrouped dark-
States, Brazil, and South Africa, where skin color is a sig- skinned Africans as “Ethiopian” and split those Asians
nificant social and political category, it is one of the fi rst not considered Caucasian into two separate races: “Mon-
things people notice. golian” (referring to most inhabitants of Asia, including
Biological diversity, therefore, cannot be studied China and Japan) and “Malay” (indigenous Australians,
without an awareness of the cultural dimensions that Pacific Islanders, and others).
shape the questions asked about diversity as well as the Convinced that Caucasians were closest to the origi-
history of how this knowledge has been used. When Eu- nal ideal humans supposedly created in God’s image,
ropean scholars first began their systematic study of hu- Blumenbach ranked them as superior. The other races,
man variation in the 18th and 19th centuries, some were he argued, were the result of “degeneration”; moving
concerned with documenting differences among human away from their place of origin and adapting to different
groups in order to divide them hierarchically into pro- environments and climates, they had degenerated physi-
gressively superior “types” of humans. Today, this hier- cally and morally into what many Europeans came to
archical approach has been appropriately abandoned. Be- think of as inferior races.1
fore exploring how contemporary biological variation is Critically reviewing this and other historical efforts
studied today, we will examine the effects of social ideas at classifying humanity into higher and lower forms,
about race and racial hierarchy on the interpretation of we now clearly recognize their factual errors and ethno-
biological variation, past and present. centric prejudices with respect to the concept of race. Es-
pecially disastrous is the notion of superior and inferior
races, as this has been used to justify brutalities ranging
THE HISTORY OF HUMAN from repression to slavery to mass murder or genocide.
It has also been employed to rationalize cruel mockery,
CLASSIFICATION as painfully illustrated in the tragic story of Ota Benga,
Early European scholars tried to systematically classify an African pygmy man who in the early 1900s was caged
Homo sapiens into subspecies, based on geographic loca- in a New York zoo with an orangutan.
tion and phenotypic features such as skin color, body size, Captured in a raid in Congo, Ota Benga somehow
head shape, and hair texture. The 18th-century Swedish came into the possession of a North American mission-
naturalist Carolus Linnaeus originally divided humans ary-explorer looking for exotic “savages” for exhibition in
into subspecies based on geographic location and classi- the United States. In 1904, Ota and a group of fellow Pyg-
fied all Europeans as “white,” Africans as “black,” Amer-
ican Indians as “red,” and Asians as “yellow.” 1Gould, S. J. (1994). The geometer of race. Discover 15 (11), 65–69.
 The History of Human Classification 267

terprising missionary also returned to Congo and with

Ota’s help collected artifacts to be sold to the American
Museum of Natural History in New York City.
In the summer of 1906 Ota came back to the United
States with the missionary, who soon went bankrupt and
lost his entire collection to the bank. Left stranded in the
big city, Ota was placed in the care of the museum and
then taken to the Bronx Zoo and exhibited in the monkey
house, with an orangutan as company. Ota’s sharpened
teeth (a cultural practice among his own people) were
seen as evidence of his supposedly cannibal nature. After
intensive protest, zoo officials released Ota from his cage
Head of an embalmed idiot, from Thebes.
and during the day let him roam free in the park, where
he was often harassed by teasing visitors. Ota (usually re-
ferred to as a “boy”) was then turned over to an orphan-
age for African American children. In 1916, upon hear-
ing that he would never return to his homeland, he took
a revolver and shot himself through the heart.2
The racist display at the Bronx Zoo a century ago
was by no means unique. Just a tip of the ethnocentric
iceberg, it was the manifestation of a powerful ideology
in which one small part of humanity sought to demon-
strate and justify its claims of biological and cultural su-
periority. This had particular resonance in North Amer-
ica, where people of European descent were thrown
The facial angle measured on an ancient Egyptian head. together in a society with Native Americans, African
slaves, and (later) Asians who had been imported as
a source of cheap labor. Indeed, such claims, based on
false notions of race, have resulted in the oppression and
genocide of millions of humans because of the color of
their skin or the shape of their skulls.
Fortunately, by the early 20th century, some schol-
ars began to challenge the concept of racial hierarchies.
Among the strongest critics was Franz Boas (1858–1942),
a Jewish scientist who immigrated to the United States
because of rising anti-Semitism in his German homeland
and went on to become a founder of North America’s ac-
ademic anthropology. As president of the American As-
The facial angle measured on a Shoshonee Indian. sociation for the Advancement of Science, Boas criticized
The work of 19th-century Philadelphia physician Samuel Morton is an false claims of racial superiority in an important speech
example of ideologically biased research conducted to justify popular titled “Race and Progress,” published in the prestigious
prejudices about so-called racial hierarchies. He measured a series of journal Science in 1909.
skulls in an attempt to demonstrate the supposed biological superiority Ashley Montagu (1905–1999), a student of Boas and
of groups of people through features of skull shape and size.
one of the best-known anthropologists of his time, de-
voted much of his career to combating scientific racism.
mies were shipped across the Atlantic and exhibited at Born Israel Ehrenberg to a working-class Jewish family
the World’s Fair in Saint Louis, Missouri. About 23 years in England, he also felt the sting of anti-Semitism. Af-
old at the time, Ota was 4 feet 11 inches in height and ter changing his name in the 1920s, he immigrated to
weighed 103 pounds. Throngs of visitors came to see the United States, where he went on to fight racism in
displays of dozens of indigenous peoples from around his writing and in academic and public lectures. Of all
the globe, shown in their traditional dress and living his works, none is more important than his book Man’s
in replica villages doing their customary activities. The
fair was a success for the organizers, and all the Pygmies 2Bradford, P. V., & Blume, H. (1992). Ota Benga: The pygmy in the zoo.
survived to be shipped back to their homeland. The en- New York: St. Martin’s Press.
268 Chapter Twelve/Modern Human Diversity: Race and Racism

Anthropologists of Note
Fatimah Jackson

While at first glance Fatimah Jackson’s small area uncovered during a New York
research areas seem quite diverse, they City construction project, the remains
are unified by consistent representa- of thousands of Africans and people of
tion of African American perspectives in African descent were uncovered. Jackson
biological anthropological research. is recovering DNA from skeletal remains
With a keen awareness of how and attempting to match the dead with
culture determines the content of sci- specific regions of Africa through the
entific questions, Jackson chooses hers analysis of genetic markers in living Afri-
carefully. One of her earliest areas of can people.
research concerned the use of common Courtesy of Robert T. Jackson Jackson, one of the early advocates
African plants as foods and medicines. for appropriate ethical treatment of
She has examined the co-evolution of minorities in the human genome project,
plants and humans and the ways plant is very concerned with making sure that
compounds serve to attract and repel the genetic work for the African Burial
humans at various stages of ripeness. Ground Project is conducted with sensi-
Through laboratory and field research, tivity to African people. She is therefore
she has documented that cassava, a New throughout Africa in areas where malaria working to establish genetic laboratories
World root crop providing the major is common. and repositories in Africa. For Jackson,
source of dietary energy for over 500 Jackson is also the genetics group these laboratories are symbolic of the
million people, also guards against ma- leader for the African Burial Ground fact of human commonality and that all
laria. This crop has become a major food Project (mentioned in Chapter 1). In a humans today have roots in Africa.

Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race. Published in neither defi nitive nor particularly helpful. The visible
1942, it took the lead in debunking the concept of clearly traits were generally found to occur not in abrupt shifts
bounded races as a “social myth.” The book has since from population to population but in a continuum that
gone through six editions, the last in 1999. Montagu’s changed gradually, with few sharp breaks. To compound
once controversial ideas have now become mainstream, the problem, one trait might change gradually over a
and his text remains one of the most comprehensive treat- north-south gradient, whereas another might show a
ments of its subject. For a similar change from east to west. Human skin color, for
THOMSON AUDIO contemporary example of instance, becomes progressively darker as one moves
STUDY PRODUCTS a culturally informed ap- from northern Europe to central Africa, whereas blood
Take advantage of proach to human biological type B becomes progressively more common as one
the MP3-ready Audio Lecture variation, see this chapter’s moves from western to eastern Europe.
Overviews and comprehensive Anthropologists of Note. Finally, there are many variations within each group,
audio glossary of key terms The fact is, generalized and those within groups are often greater than those be-
for each chapter. See the references to human types tween groups. In Africa, the light-brown skin color of
preface for information on such as “Asiatic” or “Mon- someone from the Kalahari Desert might more closely
how to access this on-the-go goloid,” “European” or resemble that of a person from Southeast Asia than the
study and review tool. “Caucasoid,” and “African” darkly pigmented person from southern Sudan who is
or “Negroid” were at best supposed to be of the same race.
mere statistical abstractions about populations in which
certain physical features appeared in higher frequencies
than in other populations; no example of “pure” racial
types could be found. These categories turned out to be
RACE AS A BIOLOGICAL CONCEPT
To understand why the racial approach to human varia-
tion has been so unproductive and even damaging, we
must fi rst understand the race concept in strictly biologi-
race In biology, the taxonomic category of subspecies that is not cal terms. In biology, a race is defi ned as a subspecies, or
applicable to humans because the division of humans into discrete
a population of a species differing geographically, mor-
types does not represent the true nature of human biological varia-
tion. In some societies race is an important social category. phologically, or genetically from other populations of
the same species.
 The Concept of Human Races 269

© Laurence Dutton/
Getty Images

Fingerprint patterns of loops, whorls, and arches are genetically de-

termined. Grouping people on this basis would place most Europeans,
sub-Saharan Africans, and East Asians together as “loops,” Australian
aborigines and the people of Mongolia together as “whorls,” and
central Europeans and the Bushmen of southern Africa together as
“arches.”

Simple and straightforward as such a defi nition may

seem, there are three very important things to note
about it. First, it is arbitrary; there is no agreement on
how many differences it takes to make a race. For ex-
ample, if one researcher emphasizes skin color while
another emphasizes blood group differences, they will
not classify people in the same way. Ultimately, it proved
impossible to reach agreement on the number of genes
and precisely which ones are the most important for de-
fi ning races. © AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko
After arbitrariness, the second thing to note about
the biological defi nition of race is that it does not mean
that any one race has exclusive possession of any particu-
lar variant of any gene or genes. In human terms, the fre-
quency of a trait like the type O blood group, for exam-
ple, may be high in one population and low in another, Yao Ming, center for the Houston Rockets, receives his Special Olym-
but it is present in both. In other words, populations are pics Global Ambassador jersey from athlete Xu Chuang (left) and
genetically “open,” meaning that genes flow between Special Olympics East Asia President Dicken Yung. Standing side-by-
them. Because populations are genetically open, no fi xed side, these three individuals illustrate the wide range of variation seen
racial groups can exist. The primary reproductive barri- within a single so-called racial category.
ers that exist for humans are cultural.
Another important consideration about the biologi-
cal defi nition of race with respect to humans is that the
differences among individuals and within a population
are generally greater than the differences among popu-
THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN RACES
lations. Evolutionary biologist Richard Lewontin dem- While the biological race concept is not applicable to hu-
onstrated this through genetic analyses in the 1970s. He man variation, nevertheless, race exists as a significant
compared the amount of genetic variation within popu- cultural category. Human groups frequently insert a
lations and among so-called racial types, fi nding a mere false notion of biological difference into the social cat-
7 percent of human variation existing among groups.3 egory of race to make it appear more factual and objec-
Instead, the vast majority of genetic variation exists tive. In various ways, cultures defi ne religious, linguistic,
within groups. As the science writer James Shreeve puts and ethnic groups as races, thereby confusing linguistic
it, “most of what separates me genetically from a typi- and cultural traits with physical traits.
cal African or Eskimo also separates me from another For example, in many Central and South American
average American of European ancestry.”4 This follows countries, people are commonly classified as Indian,
from the genetic openness of races; no one race has Mestizo (mixed), or Ladino (of Spanish descent). Despite
an exclusive claim to any particular form of a gene or the biological connotations of these terms, the criteria
trait. used for assigning individuals to these categories con-
sist of things such as whether they wear shoes, sandals,
3Lewontin, R. C. (1972). The apportionment of human diversity. In or go barefoot; speak Spanish or an Indian language;
T. Dobzhansky, et al. (Eds.), Evolutionary biology (pp. 381–398). New live in a thatched hut or a European-style house; and so
York: Plenum Press. forth. Thus, an Indian—by speaking Spanish, wearing
4Shreeve, J. (1994). Terms of estrangement. Discover 15 (11), 60. Western-style clothes, and living in a house in a non-
270 Chapter Twelve/Modern Human Diversity: Race and Racism

Indian neighborhood—ceases to be an Indian, no matter

how many “Indian genes” he or she may possess.
This sort of confusion of nonbiological characteris-
tics with the biological notion of heredity is by no means
limited to Central and South American societies. To
various extents, such confusion is found in most soci-
eties of Europe and North America. Take, for example,
the fact that the racial categories used by the U.S. Cen-
sus Bureau change with every census. The current large
catch-all categories (white, black, American Indian or
Alaskan Native, Asian, and Pacific Islander or native Ha-
waiian) include diverse peoples. Asian, for example, in-
cludes such different people as Chinese and East Indians,
whereas native Hawaiian and Alaskan are far more re-
strictive. The Census Bureau also asks people to identify
Hispanic ethnicity, a category that includes people who,

© Scott Nelson/Getty Images

in their countries of origin, might be classified as Indian,
Mestizo, or Ladino. The addition of categories for native
Hawaiians, Middle Easterners, and people who consider
themselves multiracial does nothing to improve the
situation. To compound the confusion, inclusion in one
or another of these categories is usually based on self-
identification, which means that these are not biological Persecution and killing based on race or ethnic identity is far from be-
categories at all but rather cultural constructs. ing a thing of the past. Conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan
In the United States, the Census Bureau statistics between the Janjaweed, a militia group recruited from local Arab
tribes, and the non-Arab peoples of the region is a major humanitar-
are applied in a variety of ways that add to the confu-
ian crisis today. Recently the number of internally displaced persons
sion between biological and social categories. For exam- in Darfur was estimated to be 1.65 million people, with more than an
ple, health statistics are gathered using the same Census additional 200,000 refugees from Darfur fleeing to neighboring Chad.
Bureau categories for the purposes of correcting health In this photo, refugees stop to take water from a muddy well dug in an
disparities among social groups. Unfortunately, the false intermittent stream on the border between Sudan and Chad.
biological concept of race is frequently inferred in these
analyses. As a result, the increased risk of dying from a
heart attack for African Americans compared to whites races in Europe assigned some groups to perpetual low
is attributed to biological difference rather than health- status on the basis of their supposed biological inferior-
care disparities or other social factors contributing to the ity, whereas access to privilege, power, and wealth was
development of heart attacks. reserved for favored groups of European descent.5
Similarly, medical genetics research is regularly Because of the colonial association of lighter skin
oversimplified into the comparisons among the racial with greater power and higher social status, people
types defi ned in the 18th and 19th centuries. Whether whose history includes domination by lighter-skinned
this genetic research will avoid the trap of recreating Europeans have sometimes valued this phenotype. In
false genetic types that do not reflect the true nature of Haiti, for example, the “color question” has been the
human variation remains to be seen. The recent claims dominant force in social and political life. Skin texture,
made for race-specific drugs and vaccines based on lim- facial features, hair color, and socioeconomic class col-
ited scientific data indicate that the social category of lectively play a role in the ranking. According to Haitian
race may again be limiting our ability to grasp the true anthropologist Michel-Rolph Trouillot, “a rich black be-
nature of human genetic diversity. comes a mulatto, a poor mulatto becomes black.”6
To make matters worse, the confusion of social with The Nazis in Germany elevated a racialized world-
biological factors is frequently combined with prejudices view to state policy, with particularly evil consequences.
that then serve to exclude whole categories of people The Nuremberg race laws of 1935 declared the superior-
from certain roles or positions in society. Take for exam-
ple, the racial hierarchy among European settlers, Amer- 5American Anthropological Association. (1998). Statement on
ican Indians, and Africans imported as slaves that charac- “race.” Available: www.ameranthassn.org.
terized colonial North America. A racial worldview that 6Trouillot, M. R. (1996). Culture, color, and politics in Haiti. In
had antecedents in the unequal power relations between S. Gregory & R. Sanjek (Eds.), Race. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers
the supposed English or Saxon and the Irish or Celtic University Press.
 The Social Significance of Race: Racism 271

ity of the Aryan race and the inferiority of the Gypsy and ture of Africans. Such unjust characterizations rely upon
Jewish races. The Nazi doctrine justified, on supposed a false notion of biological difference.
biological grounds, political repression and extermina- To date, no innate behavioral characteristic can be
tion. In all, 11 million people (Jews, Gypsies, homosexu- attributed to any group of people (which the nonscientist
als, and other so-called inferior people, as well as politi- might term a “race”) that cannot be explained in terms
cal opponents of the Nazi regime) were deliberately put of cultural practices. If the Chinese happen to exhibit
to death. exceptional visual-spatial skills, it is probably because
Tragically, the Nazi Holocaust (from the Greek word the business of learning to read Chinese characters re-
for “wholly burnt” or “sacrificed by fi re”) is not unique in quires a visual-spatial kind of learning that is not needed
human history. Such genocides, programs of extermina- to master Western alphabets.7 Similarly, the exclusion
tion of one group by another, have a long history that of African Americans from honors in the sport of golf
predates World War II and continues today. Recent and (until Tiger Woods) had more to do with the social rules
ongoing genocide in parts of South America, Africa, Eu- of country clubs and the sport’s expense. All such dif-
rope, and Asia, like previous genocides, are accompanied ferences or characteristics can be explained in terms of
by a rhetoric of dehumanization and a depiction of the culture.
people being exterminated as a lesser type of human. Similarly, high crime rates, alcoholism, and drug use
Considering the problems, confusion, and horren- among certain groups can be explained with reference
dous consequences, it is small wonder that most anthro- to culture rather than biology. Individuals alienated and
pologists have abandoned the race concept as being of demoralized by poverty, injustice, and unequal opportu-
no particular utility in understanding human biological nity tend to display antisocial behaviors more frequently
variation. Instead, they have found it more productive to than those who are integrated into the dominant cul-
study the distribution and significance of single, specific, ture. In a racialized society, poverty and all its ill conse-
genetically based characteristics and continuous traits re- quences disproportionately affect some groups of people
lated to adaptation without grouping a series of unlinked more than others.
traits together. They examine human variation within
small breeding populations, the smallest units in which
evolutionary change occurs. Race and Intelligence
A question frequently asked by those unfamiliar with
the fallacy of biological race in humans is whether
THE SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE some races are inherently more intelligent than others.
First we must ask, what do we mean by the term intel-
OF RACE: RACISM ligence? Unfortunately, there is no general agreement
Scientific facts, unfortunately, have been slow to change as to what abilities or talents actually make up what
what people think about race. Racism, a doctrine of su- we call intelligence, even though some psychologists
periority by which one group justifies the dehumaniza- insist that it is a single quantifiable thing measured by
tion of others based on their distinctive physical charac- IQ tests. Many more psychologists consider intelligence
teristics, is not just about discriminatory ideas, values, to be the product of the interaction of different sorts of
or attitudes but is also a political problem. Indeed, poli- cognitive abil ities: verbal, mathematical-logical, spatial,
ticians have often exploited this concept as a means to linguistic, musical, bodily kinesthetic, social, and per-
mobilize support, demonize opponents, and eliminate sonal.8 Each may be thought of as a particular kind of
rivals. Racial confl icts result from social stereotypes, not intelligence, unrelated to the others. This being so, they
known scientific facts. must be independently inherited (to the degree they are
inherited), just as height, blood type, skin color, and

Race and Behavior 7Chan, J. W. C., & Vernon, P. E. (1988). Individual differences
among the peoples of China. In J. W. Berry (Ed.), Human abilities
The assumption that behavioral differences exist among in cultural context (pp. 340–357). Cambridge, England: Cambridge
human “races” remains an issue to which many people University Press.
today cling tenaciously. Throughout history, certain 8Jacoby, R., & Glauberman, N. (Eds.). (1995). The Bell Curve debate
characteristics have been attributed to groups of people (pp. 7, 55–56, 59). New York: Random House.
under a variety of names—national character, spirit, tem-
perament—all of them vague and standing for a number
of concepts totally unrelated to any biological phenom- racism A doctrine of superiority by which one group justifies
the dehumanization of others based on their distinctive physical
ena. Common myths involve the coldness of Scandina- characteristics.
vians or the warlike character of Germans or the lazy na-
272 Chapter Twelve/Modern Human Diversity: Race and Racism

so forth are independently inherited. Thus, the various For such reasons, intelligence tests continue to be
abilities that constitute intelligence are independently the subject of controversy. Many psychologists as well
distributed like phenotypic traits such as skin color and as anthropologists are convinced that they are of limited
blood type. use, because they are applicable only to particular cul-
The next question is, are IQ tests a valid measure of tural settings. When researchers controlled for cultural
inborn intelligence? Unfortunately, an IQ test measures and environmental factors, African and European Amer-
performance (something that one does) rather than ge- icans tended to score equally well.9
netic disposition (something with which the individual Nevertheless, some researchers still insist upon sig-
was born). Performance reflects past experiences and nificant differences in intelligence among human popu-
present motivational state, as well as innate ability. In lations. Recent proponents of this view are the psycholo-
sum, it is fair to say that an IQ test is not a reliable mea- gist Richard Herrnstein and the social scientist Charles
sure of inborn intelligence. Murray, who at the time was a fellow of the American
Attempts to prove the existence of significant dif- Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in the
ferences in intelligence among human populations United States. Their argument, in a lengthy (and highly
have been going on for at least a century. In the United publicized) book entitled The Bell Curve, is that the differ-
States, systematic comparisons of intelligence between ence in IQ scores between Americans of African, Asian,
people categorized as whites and blacks began in the and European descent is primarily determined by ge-
early 20th century and were frequently combined with netic factors and therefore immutable.
data gathered by physical anthropologists about skull Herrnstein and Murray’s book has been justly criti-
shape and size. During World War I, for example, a se- cized on many grounds, including violation of statistical
ries of IQ tests known as Alpha and Beta were regularly principles and the citation of flawed studies, that support
given to draftees. The results showed that the average their thesis, while ignoring or barely mentioning those
score attained by European Americans was higher than that contradict it. In addition, they are also wrong on
that obtained by African Americans. Even though Afri- purely theoretical grounds. Because genes are inherited
can Americans from the urban northern states scored independently of one another, whatever alleles that may
higher than European Americans from the rural South, be associated with intelligence bear no relationship with
and some African Americans scored higher than most the ones for skin pigmentation or with any other aspect
European Americans, many people took this as proof of human variation such as blood type.
of the intellectual superiority of white people. But all Further, the expression of genes always occurs in an
the tests really showed was that, on the average, whites environment. Among humans, culture shapes all aspects
outperformed blacks in the social situation of IQ test- of the environment. In the following Original Study,
ing. The tests did not measure intelligence per se, but U.S. physical anthropologist Jonathan Marks extends the
the ability, conditioned by culture, of certain individu- discussion of race and intelligence to stereotypes about
als to respond appropriately to certain questions con- athletic abilities of different so-called races.
ceived by Americans of European descent for compa-
rable middle-class whites. These tests frequently require 9Sanday, P. R. (1975). On the causes of IQ differences between
knowledge of white middle-class values and linguistic groups and implications for social policy. In M. F. A. Montagu (Ed.),
behavior. Race and IQ (pp. 232–238). New York: Oxford.

Original Study
By Jonathan Marks

A Feckless Quest for the Basketball Gene

You know what they say about a little that blacks have natural running ability, But it’s not what a new book, Taboo:
knowledge. Here’s some: The great- but whites don’t have natural science Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and
est sprinters and basketball players are ability, because that would be politically Why We’re Afraid to Talk About It, says. It
predominantly black. Here’s some more: incorrect? says that blacks dominate sports because
Nobel laureates in science are predomi- Or perhaps that we can draw no valid of their genes and that we’re afraid to
nantly white. conclusions about the racial distribution talk about it on account of a cabal of
What do we conclude? That blacks of abilities on the basis of data like these. high-ranking politically correct post-
have natural running ability, and whites That is what modern anthropology modern professors—myself, I am flattered
have natural science ability? Or perhaps would say. to observe, among them.
 The Social Significance of Race: Racism 273

The book is a piece of good old- controlled data. Controls are crucial known DNA variations do not respect the
fashioned American anti-intellectualism in science: If every black schoolboy in boundaries of human groups.
(those dang perfessers!) that plays to America knows he’s supposed to be good To be an elite athlete, or elite anybody,
vulgar beliefs about group differences of at basketball and bad at algebra, and presumably does require some kind of
the sort we recall from The Bell Curve six we have no way to measure schoolboys genetic gift. But those gifts must be
years ago. These are not, however, issues outside the boundaries of such an expec- immensely diverse, distributed broadly
that anthropologists are “afraid to talk tation, how can we gauge their “natural” across the people of the world—at least
about”; we talk about them a lot. The endowments? Lots of things go into the to judge from the way that the erosion of
author, journalist, and former television observation of excellence or failure, only social barriers consistently permits talent
producer Jon Entine, simply doesn’t one of which is genetic endowment. to manifest itself in different groups of
like what we’re saying. But to approach But obviously humans differ. Thus, people.
the subject with any degree of rigor, as the last question: What’s the relation- In an interview with The Philadel-
anthropologists have been trying to do ship between patterns of human genetic phia Daily News in February, Mr. Entine
for nearly a century, requires recogniz- variation and groups of people? The observed that Jews are overrepresented
ing that it consists of several related answer: It’s complex. among critics of the views he espouses.
questions. All populations are heterogeneous But is that a significantly Jewish thing?
First, how can we infer a genetic and are built in some sense in opposition Or is it simply a consequence of the fact
basis for differences among people? The to other groups. Jew or Muslim, Hutu or that among any group of American intel-
answer: Collect genetic data. There’s no Tutsi, Serb or Bosnian, Irish or English, lectuals you’ll find Jews overrepresented
substitute. We could document consis- Harvard or Yale—one thing we’re certain because they are a well-educated minor-
tent differences in physical features, acts, of is that the groups of most significance ity? There’s certainly no shortage of non-
and accomplishments until the Second to us don’t correspond to much in nature. Jews who find the ideas in “Taboo” to be
Coming and be entirely wrong in thinking Consider, then, the category “black demagogic quackery.
they’re genetically based. A thousand athlete”—and let’s limit ourselves to men Of course, Jewish academics may
Nigerian Ibos and a thousand Danes will here. It’s broad enough to encompass Ar- sometimes be speaking as academics,
consistently be found to differ in com- thur Ashe, Mike Tyson, and Kobe Bryant. not as Jews. Likewise black athletes may
plexion, language, and head shape. The When you read about the body of the perform as athletes, not just as embodied
first is genetic, the second isn’t, and the black male athlete, whose body do you blackness.
third we simply don’t understand. imagine? Whatever physical gift these How easy it is to subvert Michael Jor-
What’s clear is that, developmentally, men share is not immediately apparent dan, the exceptional and extraordinary
the body is sufficiently plastic that subtle from looking at them. man, into merely the representative of
differences in the conditions of growth Black men of highly diverse builds the black athlete.
and life can affect it profoundly. Simple enter athletics and excel. The problem with talking about the
observation of difference is thus not a Far more don’t excel. In other words, innate superiority of the black athlete is
genetic argument. there is a lot more to being black and that it is make-believe genetics applied to
Which brings us to the second to being a prominent athlete than mere naïvely conceptualized groups of people.
question: How can we accept a genetic biology. If professional excellence or It places a spotlight on imaginary natural
basis for athletic ability and reject it for overrepresentation could be regarded differences that properly belongs on real
intelligence? The answer: We can’t. Both as evidence for genetic superiority, social differences.
conclusions are based on the same stan- there would be strong implications More important, it undermines the
dard of evidence. If we accept that blacks for Jewish comedy genes and Irish achievements of individuals as individu-
are genetically endowed jumpers because policeman genes. als. Whatever gifts we each have are far
“they” jump so well, we are obliged to Inferring a group’s excellence from more likely, from what we know of genet-
accept that they are genetically unen- the achievements of some members ics, to be unique individual constellations
dowed at schoolwork because “they” do hangs on a crucial asymmetry: To ac- of genes than to be expressions of group
so poorly. complish something means that you had endowments.
In either case, we are faced with the the ability to do it, but the failure to do it (By Jonathan Marks, professor of biological
scientifically impossible task of draw- doesn’t mean you didn’t have the ability. anthropology at the University of North
ing conclusions from a mass of poorly And the existing genetic data testify that Carolina, Charlotte.)

There are enormous problems in attempting to sep- cal individuals raised in the same or different environ-
arate genetic components of intelligence from environ- ments. As biologists Richard Lewontin and Steven Rose
mental contributors.10 Most studies of intelligence rely on with psychologist Leon Kamin observe, twin studies are
comparisons between identical twins, genetically identi- plagued by a host of problems: inadequate sample sizes,
biased subjective judgments, failure to make sure that
10Andrews, L. B., & Nelkin, D. (1996). The Bell Curve: A statement. “separated twins” really were raised separately, unrep-
Science 271, 13. resentative samples of adoptees to serve as controls, and
 274 Chapter Twelve/Modern Human Diversity: Race and Racism

has a genetic basis while also being dependent both upon

nutrition and health status (severe illness in childhood
arrests growth, and renewed growth never makes up for
this loss).
While it is possible to see the effects of the environ-
ment on growth, the exact relative contributions of ge-
netic and environmental factors on either the height or
the intelligence of an individual is unknown. Neverthe-
less, documentation of the importance of the environ-
ment in the expression of intelligence exposes further
the problems with generalizations about IQ and race.
For example, IQ scores of all groups in the United States,
as in most industrial and postindustrial countries, have
risen some 15 points since World War II. In addition, the
gap between Americans of African and European de-
scent, for example, is narrower today than in the past.
Other studies show impressive IQ scores for African
American children from socially deprived and economi-
cally disadvantaged backgrounds who have been adopted
into highly educated and prosperous families. It is now
known that underprivileged children adopted into such
privileged families can boost their IQs by 20 points. It is
also well known that IQ scores rise in proportion to the
test-takers’ amount of schooling.
More such cases could be cited, but these suffice
to make the point: The assertion that IQ is biologically
fi xed and immutable is clearly false. Ranking human be-
ings with respect to their intelligence scores in terms of
racial difference is doubly false.
But despite all the efforts to confirm it, the hypoth-
esis that differences in intelligence exist among races
Photo Credit to come

remains unproved. Nor is it ever likely to be proved, in

view of the major thrust in the evolution of the genus
Homo. Over the past 2.5 million years, all populations of
this genus have adapted primarily through culture—ac-
While genetically identical, differences in the growth process can lead
tively inventing solutions to the problems of survival,
to very different outcomes in terms of size as seen in these twins. rather than relying only on biological adaptation. Thus,
Even starting from inside their mother’s womb, twins may experience we would expect a comparable degree of intelligence in
environmental differences in terms of blood and nutrient supply. This all present-day human populations.
can impact not only size but cognitive development. One fi nal criticism of the race–intelligence differ-
ence hypothesis is purely practical. The only way to be
sure that individual human beings develop their innate
untested assumptions about similarity of environments. abilities and skills to the fullest is to make sure they
In fact, children reared by the same mother resemble her have access to the necessary resources and the oppor-
in IQ to the same degree, whether or not they share her tunity to do so. This certainly cannot be accomplished
genes.11 Clearly, the degree to which intelligence is in- if whole populations are assumed at the outset to be
herited through genes is far from understood.12 inferior.
Undoubtedly, the effects of social environment are
important for intelligence. This should not surprise us,
as other genetically determined traits are influenced by STUDYING HUMAN
environmental factors. Height in humans, for example,
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
11Lewontin, R. C., Rose, S., & Kamin, L. J. (1984). Not in our genes Although the biological concept of race is not applicable
(pp. 100, 113, 116). New York: Pantheon. to humans, this is not to say that differences in various
12Ibid., pp. 9, 121. biological traits such as skin color do not exist. In fact,
 Studying Human Biological Diversity 275

Eskimos Lapps
Icelanders
Aleuts
Chippewa
Indians English
Whites Russians
Blackfoot (Michigan)
Indians Basques Chinese
Blacks Swiss
Japanese
(New York) Bengalis
Navaho
Indians Thai
Nilotes
Ghanans
Maya Pemon New Solomon
Indians Indians Guineans Islanders
Nigerians
Makiritare
Indians
Cape York
aborigines
Xavante Bushmen
Indians
Australian
Mapuche A aborigines
Indians World distribution of the A, B, O
gene frequency (selected studies)
B O

Figure 12.1
Frequencies of the three alleles for the A, B, and O blood groups for selected populations around the world
illustrate the polytypic nature of Homo sapiens. The frequency of the alleles differs among populations.

skin color provides an excellent example of the role of since some of those individuals may possess traits that
natural selection in shaping human variation. prove adaptive in the altered environment. Individuals
The physical characteristics of both populations whose physical characteristics enable them to do well in
and individuals are a product of the interaction between the new environment will usually reproduce more suc-
genes and environments. For example, genes predispose cessfully, so that their genes will become more common
people to a particular skin color, but an individual’s skin in subsequent generations. Similarly, the polymorphism
color is also influenced by cultural and environmental of the human species has allowed us to thrive in a wide
factors. The skin of sailors, for example, is darkened or variety of environments.
burned after many hours of exposure to the sun, de- When polymorphisms of a species are distributed
pending not only on genetic predisposition but cultural into geographically dispersed populations, biologists de-
practices regarding exposure to the sun. In other cases, scribe this species as polytypic (“many types”); that is,
such as A-B-O blood type, phenotypic expression closely genetic variability is unevenly distributed among groups.
reflects genotype. For example, in the distribution of the polymorphism for
For characteristics controlled by a single gene, dif- blood type (four distinct phenotypic groups: A, B, O, or
ferent versions of that gene, known as alleles, also medi- AB), the human species is polytypic. The frequency of
ate variation. Such traits are called polymorphic (mean- the “O” allele is highest in American Indians, especially
ing “many shapes”). Our blood types, determined by the among some populations native to South America; the
alleles for types A, B, and O blood, are an example of a highest frequencies of the allele for type A blood tend to
polymorphism, may appear in any of four distinct pheno- be found among certain European populations (although
typic forms (A, B, O, and AB). the highest frequency of all is found among the Black-
A species can also be considered polymorphic, foot Indians of North America); the highest frequencies
meaning that there is wide variation among individuals of the “B” allele are found in some Asian populations
(beyond differences between males and females). Here (Figure 12.1). Even though single traits may be grouped
“polymorphic” refers to continuous phenotypic varia-
tion that may be genetically controlled by interactions
among multiple different genes, in addition to the allelic polymorphic A term to describe species with alternative forms
(alleles) of particular genes.
variation described above. When a polymorphic species
polytypic The expression of genetic variants in different fre-
faces changing environmental conditions, the variation quencies in different populations of a species.
it has within its gene pool fosters survival of the species,
276 Chapter Twelve/Modern Human Diversity: Race and Racism

VISUAL COUNTERPOINT

© Blickwinkel/Alamy
© LMR Group/Alamy

A thick, stocky body and relatively short limbs tend to be characteristic of populations adapted to the cold
of the Arctic or high altitude, as in this person from the Andean highlands of Peru, because this body type
is excellent at conserving heat. A tall, thin body on the other hand, as seen in the Maasai of Kenya, is well
adapted to the heat as it provides additional surface area from which body heat can be radiated into the
environment.

within specific geographic regions, when a greater num- is controlled by a series of genes, allows anthropologists
ber of traits are considered, specific human “types” can- to interpret human global variation in body build as an
not be identified. Instead each of these traits is indepen- adaptation to climate.
dently subject to evolutionary forces. Generally, people long native to regions with cold
Today anthropologists study biological diversity in climates tend to have greater body bulk (not to be
terms of clines, or the continuous gradation over space equated with fat) relative to their extremities (arms and
in the form or frequency of a trait. As mentioned in Chap- legs) than do people native to regions with hot climates,
ter 2, the spatial distribution or cline for the sickle-cell who tend to be relatively long and slender. Interestingly,
allele allowed anthropologists to identify the adaptive these differences show up as early as the time of Homo
function of this gene in a malarial environment. Clinal erectus, as described in Chapter 7. A person with larger
analysis of a continuous trait such as body shape, which body bulk and relatively shorter extremities may suffer
more from summer heat than someone whose extremi-
ties are relatively long and whose body is slender. But
cline A gradual change in the frequency of an allele or trait over
space. they will conserve needed body heat under cold condi-
tions. A bulky body tends to conserve more heat than a
 Studying Human Biological Diversity 277

less bulky one, because it has less surface area relative to particularly during childhood will cause variation in
volume. In hot, open country, by contrast, people benefit body shape through their effect on the growth process.
from a long slender body that can get rid of excess heat Another complicating factor is clothing. Much of the way
quickly. A small slender body can also promote heat loss people adapt to cold is cultural, rather than biological.
due to a high surface area to volume ratio. For example, Inuit peoples of northern Canada live in a
In addition to these sorts of very long-term effects region where much of the year is very cold. To cope with
that climate may have imposed on human variation, cli- this, they long ago developed efficient clothing to keep
mate can also contribute to human variation through the body warm. Because of this, the Inuit are provided
its impact on the process of growth and development with what amount to artificial tropical environments in-
(developmental adaptation). For example, some of the side their clothing. Such cultural adaptations allow hu-
physiological mechanisms for withstanding cold or dis- mans to inhabit the entire globe.
sipating heat have been shown to vary depending upon Some anthropologists have also suggested that vari-
the climate that an individual experiences as a child. In- ation in such features as face and eye shape relate to cli-
dividuals spending their youths in very cold climates de- mate. For example, biological anthropologist Carleton
velop circulatory system modifications that allow them Coon and colleagues once proposed that the “Mongoloid
to remain comfortable at temperatures that people from face,” common in populations native to East and Central
warmer climates cannot tolerate. Similarly, hot climate Asia, as well as Arctic North America, exhibits features
promotes the development of a higher density of sweat adapted to life in very cold environments. The epican-
glands, creating a more efficient system for sweating to thic eye fold, which minimizes eye exposure to the cold,
keep the body cool. a flat facial profi le, and extensive fatty deposits may help
Cultural processes complicate studies of body build to protect the face against frostbite.
and climatic adaptation. For example, dietary differences Although experimental studies have failed to sus-
tain the frostbite hypothesis, it is true that a flat facial
profi le generally goes with a round head. A significant
percentage of body heat may be lost from the head. A
round head, having less surface area relative to volume,
loses less heat than a longer, more elliptical head. As one
would predict from this, long-headed populations are
generally found in hotter climates; round-headed ones
are more common in cold climates. However, these
same features could be also present in populations due
to genetic drift.

Culture and Biological Diversity

While cultural adaptation has reduced the importance
of biological adaptation and physical variation, at the
same time, cultural forces impose their own selective
pressures. For example, take the reproductive fitness of
individuals with diabetes—a disease with a known ge-
netic predisposition. In North America and Europe to-
day, where medication is relatively available, people with
diabetes are as biologically fit as anyone else. However,
if diabetics are denied access to the needed medication,
as they are in many parts of the world, their biological
fitness is lost and they die out. In fact, one’s fi nancial sta-
tus affects one’s access to medication, and so, however
unintentional it may be, one’s biological fitness may be
© Steve Elmore

decided by one’s fi nancial status.

The epicanthic eye fold is common among people native to East Asia. epicanthic eye fold A fold of skin at the inner corner of the
While some anthropologists have suggested that this feature might be eye that covers the true corner of the eye; common in Asiatic
an adaptation to cold, genetic drift could also be responsible for the populations.
frequency of this trait among people of East Asia.
278 Chapter Twelve/Modern Human Diversity: Race and Racism

Cultural factors can also contribute directly to the

development of disease. For example, one type of dia-
betes is very common among overweight individuals
who get little exercise—a combination that describes
61 percent of people from the United States today who
are increasingly beset by this condition. As people from
traditional cultures throughout the world adopt a West-
ern high sugar diet and activity pattern, the frequency of

© Susan Van Etten/PhotoEdit

diabetes and obesity increases.
Another example of culture acting as an agent of
biological selection has to do with lactose tolerance: the
ability to digest lactose, the primary constituent of fresh
milk. This ability depends on the capacity to make a par-
ticular enzyme, lactase.
The “got milk?” ad campaign emphasizes that milk is good for all
Most mammals as well as most human popula- people’s health, yet the vast majority of adults globally are unable to
tions—especially Asian, Native Australian, Native Amer- digest milk. Only populations with long traditions of dairying have high
ican, and many (but not all) African populations—do not frequencies of the alleles for this biological capacity.
continue to produce lactase into adulthood. Failure to
retain lactase production into adulthood causes gas pains
and diarrhea for individuals who consume milk. Only 10 South American earthquakes in the 1960s caused many
to 30 percent of Americans of African descent and 0 to deaths among them.
30 percent of adult Asians are lactose tolerant.13 By con- Among Europeans, lactose tolerance is linked with
trast, lactase retention and lactose tolerance are normal the evolution of a non-thrifty genotype as opposed to the
for over 80 percent of adults of northern European de- thrifty genotype that characterized humans until about
scent. Eastern Europeans, Arabs, and some East Africans 6,000 years ago.14 The thrifty genotype permits efficient
are closer to northern Europeans in lactase retention storage of fat to draw on in times of food shortage. In
than they are to Asians and other Africans. Generally times of scarcity individuals with the thrifty genotype
speaking, a high retention of lactase is found in popula- conserve glucose (a simple sugar) for use in brain and red
tions with a long tradition of dairying. For them, fresh blood cells (as opposed to other tissues such as muscle),
milk is an important dietary item. In such populations, as well as nitrogen (vital for growth and health).
selection in the past favored those individuals with the Regular access to glucose through the lactose in milk
allele that confers the ability to assimilate lactose, select- led to selection for the non-thrifty genotype as protec-
ing out those without this allele. tion against adult-onset diabetes, or at least its onset rela-
Because milk is associated with health in North tively late in life (at a nonreproductive age). Populations
American and European countries, powdered milk has that are lactose intolerant retain the thrifty genotype. As
long been a staple of economic aid to other countries. In a consequence, when they are introduced to Western-
fact, such practices work against the members of popu- style diets (characterized by abundance, particularly of
lations in which lactase is not commonly retained into foods high in sugar content), the incidence of obesity and
adulthood. Those individuals who are not lactose toler- diabetes skyrockets. This chapter’s Biocultural Connec-
ant will be unable to utilize the many nutrients in milk. tion describes another example of genetic and cultural
Frequently they will also suffer diarrhea, abdominal adaptations working at cross purposes.
cramping, and even bone degeneration, with serious re-
sults. In fact, the shipping of powdered milk to victims of
Skin Color: A Case Study
13Harrison, G. G. (1975). Primary adult lactase deficiency: A
problem in anthropological genetics. American Anthropologist 77,
in Adaptation
815–819. Generally, the notion of race is most commonly equated
with skin color. Skin color is subject to great variation
and is attributed to several key factors: the transparency
lactose A sugar that is the primary constituent of fresh milk. or thickness of the skin; a copper-colored pigment called
lactase An enzyme in the small intestine that enables humans to carotene; reflected color from the blood vessels (respon-
assimilate lactose. sible for the rosy color of lightly pigmented people); and,
thrifty genotype Human genotype that permits efficient stor-
age of fat to draw on in times of food shortage and conservation of
glucose and nitrogen. 14Allen, J. S., & Cheer, S. M. (1996). The non-thrifty genotype. Cur-
rent Anthropology 37, 831–842.
 Studying Human Biological Diversity 279

Biocultural
Connection Beans, Enzymes, and Adaptation to Malaria
Some human adaptations to the deadly for “breaking of red blood cells”) and a
malarial parasite are biological while series of chemical reactions that release
other adaptations are strictly tied to free radicals and hydrogen peroxide into
cultural practices such as local cuisine. the blood stream. This condition is known
The phenotype of the genetic sickle-cell as favism.
allele, for example, manifests in red blood The toxic effect of fava bean con-
cells. With the interaction between one sumption in G-6-PD individuals has led
form of the glucose-6-phosphate- to a rich folklore around this simple food,
dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) enzyme and including the ancient Greek belief that
fava bean consumption, we see biologi- fava beans contain the souls of the dead.
cal and dietary adaptations to malaria The link between favism and G-6-PD
converge. The fava bean is a broad flat deficiency has led parents of children
bean (Vivia faba) that is a dietary staple with this condition to limit consumption
in malaria-endemic areas along the Medi- of this favorite dietary staple.
terranean coast. Unfortunately, this has sometimes
G-6-PD is an enzyme that serves to led to the generalized elimination of
© Charles O. Cecil/Alamy

reduce one sugar, glucose-6-phosphate, many excellent sources of protein such

to another sugar—in the process releasing as peanuts, lentils, chick peas, soy beans,
an energy-rich molecule. The malaria and nuts. Another biocultural connection
parasite lives in red blood cells off of is again at the root of this unnecessary
energy produced via G-6-PD. Individuals deprivation. The Arabic name for fava
with a mutation in the G-6-PD gene, so- Fava beans, a dietary staple in the countries beans is foul (pronounced “fool”), while
called G-6-PD deficiency, produce energy around the Mediterranean Sea, also provide the soy beans are called foul-al-Soya,
by an alternate pathway not involving some protection against malaria. However, in and peanuts are foul-al-Soudani, linguis-
this enzyme that the parasite cannot individuals with G-6-PD deficiency, the pro- tically linking plants that are unrelated
use. Furthermore, G-6-PD deficient tective aspects of fava beans turn deadly. This biologically.a
red blood cells seem to turn over more dual role has led to a rich folklore surrounding An environmental stressor as potent
quickly, thus allowing less time for the fava beans. as malaria has led to a number of human
parasite to grow and multiply. While a adaptations. In the case of fava beans
different form of G-6-PD deficiency is and G-6-PD deficiency, these adaptations
also found in some sub-Saharan African ranean Sea, where malaria is common, can work at cross-purposes. Cultural
populations, the form found in Mediter- fava beans are incorporated into the diet knowledge of the biochemistry of these
ranean populations is at odds with an through foods eaten at the height of the interactions will allow humans to adapt,
adaptation embedded in the cuisine of malaria season. However, if an individual regardless of their genotype.
the region. with G-6-PD deficiency eats fava beans,
Enzymes naturally occurring in fava the result is that the substances toxic to a
Babiker, M. A., et al. (1996). Unnecessary dep-
beans also contain substances that inter- the parasite become toxic to humans. rivation of common food items in glucose-6-
fere with the development of the malarial With G-6-PD deficiency, fava bean con- phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency. Annals
parasite. In cultures around the Mediter- sumption leads to hemolytic crisis (Latin of Saudi Arabia 16 (4), 462–463.

most significantly, the amount of melanin (from melas, peoples are less susceptible to skin cancers and sunburn
a Greek word meaning “black”)—a dark pigment in the than are those with less melanin. They also seem to be
skin’s outer layer. People with dark skin have more mela- less susceptible to destruction of certain vitamins under
nin-producing cells than those with light skin, but every- intense exposure to sunlight. Because the highest con-
one (except albinos) has a measure of melanin. Exposure centrations of dark-skinned people tend to be found in
to sunlight increases melanin production, causing skin the tropical regions of the world, it appears that natural
color to deepen. selection has favored heavily pigmented skin as a protec-
Melanin is known to protect skin against damaging tion against exposure where ultraviolet radiation is most
ultraviolet solar radiation;15 consequently, dark-skinned constant.

15Neer, R. M. (1975). The evolutionary significance of vitamin D, melanin The chemical responsible for dark skin pigmentation
skin pigment, and ultraviolet light. American Journal of Physical An- that helps protect against damage from ultraviolet radiation.
thropology 43, 409–416.
 Lightest Medium Darkest
Medium Light Medium Dark

Figure 12.2
This map illustrates the distribution of dark and light human skin pigmentation before 1492. Medium-light
skin color in Southeast Asia reflects the spread into that region of people from southern China, whereas
the medium darkness of people native to southern Australia is a consequence of their tropical Southeast
Asian ancestry. Lack of dark skin pigmentation among tropical populations of Native Americans reflects
their ancestry in Northeast Asia a mere 20,000 years ago.

Figure 12.3
Percentage The east-west gradient in the
frequency frequency of the type B blood in
0–5 Europe contrasts with the north-
5–10 south gradient in skin color shown in
Figure 12.2. Whatever genes are in-
10–15
volved in the various abilities lumped
15–20
together as “intelligence” must be
20–25 independently assorted as well.
25–30
 Race and Human Evolution Revisited 281

The inheritance of skin color involves several genes formation of vitamin D, essential for healthy bones. Dark
(rather than variants of a single gene), each with several pigmentation interferes with this process.
alleles, thus creating a continuous range of phenotypic The severe consequences of vitamin D deficiency
expression for this trait. In addition, the geographic dis- can be avoided through cultural practices. Until recently,
tribution or cline of skin color, with few exceptions, tends children in northern Europe and northern North Amer-
to be continuous (Figures 12.2 and 12.3). The exceptions ica were regularly fed a spoonful of cod liver oil during
have to do with the historic movement of certain popu- the dark winter months. Today, pasteurized milk is often
lations from their original homelands to other regions, fortified with vitamin D.
or the practice of selective mating, or both.
Because skin cancers generally do not develop until
later in life, they are less likely to have interfered with
the reproductive success of lightly pigmented individu-
RACE AND HUMAN
als in the tropics, and so are unlikely to have been the EVOLUTION REVISITED
agent of selection. On the other hand, severe sunburn, Given what we know about the adaptive significance of
which is especially dangerous to infants, causes the body human skin color and the fact that, until 800,000 years
to overheat and interferes with its ability to sweat and rid ago, the genus Homo exclusively inhabited the tropics, it
itself of excess heat. Furthermore, it makes one suscep- is likely that lightly pigmented skins are a recent devel-
tible to other kinds of infection. In addition to all this, opment in human history. Darkly pigmented skins likely
decomposition of folate, an essential vitamin sensitive to are quite ancient. Consistent with humanity’s African or-
heavy doses of ultraviolet radiation, can cause anemia, igins, the enzyme tyrosinase, which converts the amino
spontaneous abortion, and infertility.16 acid tyrosine into the compound that forms melanin, is
In northern latitudes light skin has an adaptive ad- present in lightly pigmented peoples in sufficient quan-
vantage related to the skin’s important biological func- tity to make them very “black.” The reason it does not is
tion as the manufacturer of vitamin D through a chemi- that they have genes that inactivate or in hibit it.17
cal reaction dependent upon sunlight. Vitamin D is vital Human skin, more liberally endowed with sweat
for maintaining the balance of calcium in the body. In glands and lacking heavy body hair compared to other
northern climates with little sunshine, light skin allows primates, effectively eliminates excess body heat in a hot
enough sunlight to penetrate the skin and stimulate the climate as described in Chapter 6. This would have been
especially advantageous to our ancestors on the savan-
16Branda, R. F., & Eatoil, J. W. (1978). Skin color and photolysis: An nah, who could have avoided confrontations with car-
evolutionary hypothesis. Science 201, 625–626.
nivorous animals by carrying out most of their activities
in the heat of the day. For the most part, large carnivores
such as lions rest during this period, being active from
dusk until early morning. Without much hair to cover
their bodies, selection would have favored dark skins in
our ancestors. All humans appear to have had a “black”
ancestry, no matter how “white” some of them may ap-
pear to be today.
An interesting question is how long it took for light
pigmentation to develop in populations living outside
the tropics. Whether or not one subscribes to the multi-
regional continuity model or the recent African origins
hypothesis (Chapters 8 and 9), the settling of Greater
Australia can be used to examine this question, as we
know that the fi rst people to reach Australia did so about
60,000 or so years ago. These people came there from
tropical Southeast Asia, spreading throughout Australia
eventually to what is now the island of Tasmania, with a
Bone diseases caused by vitamin D deficiency can deform the birth latitude and levels of ultraviolet radiation similar to New
canal of the pelvis to the degree that it can interfere with successful
childbirth. Because sunshine is the source of the body’s vitamin D, this
York City, Rome, or Beijing.
disease was very common in the past among the poor in northern As aboriginal Australians originally came from the
industrial cities whose exposure to sunlight was limited. Though food tropics, we would expect them to have had darkly pig-
supplements have reduced the impact of rickets today, it continues to
be a problem where social conventions such as complete veiling limit
access to sunlight by women and girls. 17Wills, C. (1994). The skin we’re in. Discover 15 (11), 79.
 282 Chapter Twelve/Modern Human Diversity: Race and Racism

mented skin. In Australia, those populations that spread

south of the tropics (where, as in northern latitudes, ul-
traviolet radiation is less intense) underwent some reduc-
tion of pigmentation. But for all that, their skin color is
still far darker than that of Europeans or East Asians.
Most of today’s Southeast Asian population spread there
from southern China following the invention of farm-
ing. This expansion of lighter skinned populations ef-
fectively “swamped” the original populations of this
region, except in a few out-of-the-way places like the An-
daman Islands, in the Bay of Bengal between India and
Thailand.18 The obvious conclusion is that 60,000 years
is not enough to produce significant depigmentation.19
These observations also suggest that Europeans and East
Asians may have lived outside the tropics for far longer
than the people of Tasmania or that settlement in lati-
tudes even more distant from the equator were required
for depigmentation to occur.
One should not conclude that, because it is newer,
lightly pigmented skin is better, or more highly evolved,
than heavily pigmented skin. The latter is clearly better
adapted to the conditions of life in the tropics, although
Photo Credit to come

with cultural adaptations like protective clothing, hats,

and sunscreen lotions, very lightly pigmented peoples
can survive there. Conversely, the availability of supple-
mentary sources of vitamin D allows heavily pigmented
These boys from the Jarawa tribe, one of the five indigenous tribes peoples to do quite well away from the tropics. In both
from the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago in the Bay of Bengal, cases, culture has rendered skin color differences largely
are direct descendants of the original inhabitants of Southeast Asia. irrelevant from a biological perspective. With time, skin
Southeast Asia also includes people whose ancestors spread into the
color may lose its social significance as well.
region from China after the invention of agriculture. In the process
there was a mixing of gene pools. The Andaman and Nicobar archi-
pelago located close to the epicenter earthquake of December 2004
was devastated by the tsunami that followed. The Jarawa emerged 18Diamond, J. (1996). Empire of uniformity. Discover 17 (3), 83–84.
safely in January 2005, and seem to have been saved by their ability to 19Ferrie, H. (1997). An interview with C. Loring Brace. Current An-
understand patterns of movement of the wind, ocean, and wildlife. thropology 38, 864.

Questions for Reflection 4. How do you defi ne the concept of intelligence? Do you
think scientists will ever be able to discover the genetic basis
1. Humans are challenged to fi nd ways to embrace and of intelligence?
comprehend the range of biological diversity without suc- 5. Globally, health statistics are gathered by country. In addi-
cumbing to oversimplification, discrimination, and even tion, some countries such as the United States gather health
bloodshed fueled by superficial differences. How do an- statistics by race. How are these two endeavors different and
thropological approaches to race contribute to meeting this similar? Should health statistics be gathered by group?
challenge?
2. From an evolutionary perspective, why is human biologi-
cal diversity a key component of our collective identity as a Suggested Readings
species?
3. Why do biological anthropologists and evolutionary bi- Cohen, M. N. (1998). Culture of intolerance: Chauvinism, class,
ologists use clines to study human variation rather than the and racism in the United States. New Haven, CT: Yale Univer-
biological concept of subspecies? Can you imagine another sity Press.
species of animal, plant, or microorganism for which the sub- This very readable book summarizes what scientific data re-
species concept makes sense? ally say about biological differences among humans and ex-
 The Anthropology Resource Center 283

poses questionable assumptions in U.S. culture that promote Smedley, A. (1998). Race in North America: Origin and evolution
intolerance and generate problems where none need exist. of a worldview. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Audrey Smedley traces the cultural invention of the idea of
Gould, S. J. (1996). The mismeasure of man (2nd ed.). New York: race and how this false biological category has been used to
Norton. rationalize inequality in North America.
This is an update of a classic critique of supposedly scien-
tific studies that attempt to rank all people on a linear scale
of intrinsic and unalterable mental worth. The revision was
prompted by what Gould refers to as the “latest cyclic epi-
Thomson Audio Study Products
sode of biodeterminism” represented by the publication of the Enjoy the MP3-ready Audio Lecture Overviews for
widely discussed book, The Bell Curve. each chapter and a comprehensive audio glossary of
key terms for quick study and review. Whether walk-
Graves, J. L. (2001). The emperor’s new clothes: Biological theories ing to class, doing laundry, or studying at your desk, you now
of race at the millennium. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univer- have the freedom to choose when, where, and how you inter-
sity Press. act with your audio-based educational media. See the preface
for information on how to access this on-the-go study and re-
Graves, a laboratory geneticist, aims to show that there is no
view tool.
biological basis for separation of human beings into races and
that the idea of race is a relatively recent social and political
construction. His grasp of science is solid and up-to-date.
The Anthropology Resource Center
Jacoby, R., & Glauberman, N. (Eds.). (1995). The Bell Curve
debate. New York: Random House. www.thomsonedu.com/anthropology
The Anthropology Resource Center provides extended learn-
This collection of articles by a wide variety of authors (biolo- ing materials to reinforce your understanding of key concepts
gists, anthropologists, psychologists, mathematicians, essay- in the four fields of anthropology. For each of the four fields,
ists) critically examines the claims raised in The Bell Curve. For the Resource Center includes dynamic exercises including
anyone who hopes to understand the race and intelligence de- video exercises, map exercises, simulations, and “Meet the Sci-
bate, this book is a must. entists” interviews, as well as critical thinking questions that
can be assigned and e-mailed to instructors. The Resource
Marks, J. (1995). Human biodiversity: Genes, race, and history. Center also provides breaking news in anthropology and in-
Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter. teresting material on applied anthropology to help you link
In this book, Marks shows how genetics has undermined the what you are learning to the world around you.
fundamental assumptions of racial taxonomy. In addition to
its presentation of the nature of human biodiversity, the book
also deals with the history of cultural attitudes toward race
and diversity.
13 Human Adaptation
to a Changing World

© Roberto Escobar/epa/Corbis

Among the primate species, humans are the only ones capable of inhabiting the
CHALLENGE
ISSUE entire globe. Over the course of human evolutionary history, both our cultural
and biological capabilities have contributed to our adaptability as a species.
Today, however, the actions of human societies are changing the world on such
a massive scale and at such a rapid pace that we, as a species, are facing novel
challenges often manifest in sickness and suffering. Consider this Maya woman,
displaced from her home by war and civil unrest, inhabiting the dump in Gua-
temala City. Her well-being and that of her children is utterly tied to the local
political situations that led her family to leave their home. But global forces,
both positive and negative, also impact their well-being. For example, Safe Pas-
sage, an American-based organization, works to support families so these chil-
dren can stay in school and ultimately leave the dump behind. At the same time,
other global processes keep these people poor and dependent while increasing
the toxicity and danger of the dump they inhabit.
 CHAPTER PREVIEW

How Have Humans What Is Evolutionary How Are Humans

Adapted Biologically Medicine? Adapting in the Face
to Naturally Occurring Evolutionary medicine, a branch of Globalization?
Environmental Stressors? of medical anthropology, uses the The interconnectedness of humans
When faced with an environmen- principles of evolutionary theory to to one another and to the environ-
tal stressor, the human species can contribute to human health. Basic ment is critical for understanding
adapt biologically at three distinct to this approach is framing health human adaptation and disease. Be-
levels: genetically, developmen- issues in terms of the relationship cause local human environments are
tally, and physiologically. Some between biological change and cul- shaped by culture—including global
genetic adaptations are expressed tural change. Biological evolution political and economic systems—
in terms of phenotypic variation of shaped humans slowly over millions these cultural features directly im-
continuous traits. Even when the of years while cultural change oc- pact the global distribution of health
genetic bases to these adaptations curs relatively quickly. The resulting and disease. Simply describing
are not precisely known, scientists disconnect between human biol- disease in terms of biological pro-
can study them through compara- ogy and current cultural practices cesses, such as those associated with
tive measurement of the associated may lead to disease. Also, because infection or malnutrition, leaves out
phenotypic variation. In addition, culture shapes even scientific inter- the ultimate reasons that some in-
the long period of human growth pretations of the human body, evolu- dividuals are more likely to become
and development allows the envi- tionary medicine acknowledges sick than others. By examining the
ronment to interact with genes and that some physiological phenomena political ecology of disease, we can
shape the human body. Short-term regarded as symptoms of disease reveal its social causes, bringing us
changes or physiological adaptations can also be understood as naturally closer to fi nding long-lasting cures.
occur in response to a particular evolving defense mechanisms.
environmental stimulus. Today, the
rapid rates at which cultural pro-
cesses change human environments
pose new biological challenges with
important consequences for our
species.

285
 286 Chapter Thirteen/Human Adaptation to a Changing World

T hroughout millions of years of human evolu-

tionary history, biology and culture interacted
to make humans the species we are today. A look at the
archaeological record and contemporary human varia-
as comfortable with genetic testing to eliminate a dis-
ease gene if they had experienced some of the wrongs
underprivileged ethnic minorities had experienced in
the name of science?
Consider for example, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study,
tion reveal that biology and culture continue to shape carried out by the U.S. Public Health Service in Macon
all areas of human experience, including health and dis- County, Alabama, from 1932 to 1972. This study involved
ease. Indeed, an inside joke among anthropologists is withholding adequate treatment for syphilis to a group
that if you do not know the answer to an exam question of poor African American men without their knowledge,
about biology and culture, the answer is always “both” to learn more about the biology of syphilis in the “Ne-
or “malaria.” Our current understanding of malaria, as gro.” These methods are now widely recognized as a
explained in previous chapters, illustrates how answer- moral breach that caused unnecessary pain and suffering
ing “malaria” is just like answering “both.” Farming to the men and their families. The unethical practices of
practices (culture) of the past created the perfect envi- the study caused the U.S. government to change its re-
ronment for the malarial parasite. The genetic response search policies involving the biological study of human
to this environmental change (biology) was increased subjects. In short, when examining a seemingly biologi-
frequencies of the sickle-cell allele. cal phenomenon such as disease, cultural factors must be
To add a few more layers closer to the present, think considered at every level—from how that phenomenon
about how contemporary global inequalities (culture) is represented in each social group (reflected in this case
contribute to the continued devastating effects of ma- in the false notion that the biology of syphilis would dif-
laria (biology) in poorer countries today. For example, fer between people of different skin colors) to how bio-
if malaria were a problem plaguing North America or logical research is conducted.
Europe today, would most citizens of the countries with An integrated biocultural approach is one of the
rampant malaria still be without adequate treatment or hallmarks of anthropology. In examples ranging from
cure? Similarly, public health initiatives for genetic coun- infant feeding and sleeping practices to the relationship
seling (culture) to reduce frequencies of sickle-cell ane- between poverty and tuberculosis, biocultural connec-
mia (biology) in the United States have been met with tions have been emphasized throughout this book. In
distrust by African Americans who have experienced this chapter, we take a deeper look at this connection
racism rooted in a false message of biological difference and examine some of the theoretical approaches biologi-
(culture).1 Would white citizens of the United States feel cal and medical anthropologists use to examine the in-
teraction of biology and culture.
1Tapper, M. (1999). In the blood: Sickle-cell anemia and the politics of While humans possess a number of exquisite bio-
race. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. logical mechanisms through which they have adapted to

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study wrongly

justified the denial of appropriate
medical therapy to African American
men in order to study the supposed
differences in the biology of the
disease in the “Negro.” This human
experimentation was not only false
from a biological perspective but
represents a moral breach in re-
search conduct. Public outcry about
this experiment led to regulations
that protect all human subjects in
biomedical research.
© Corbis/Sygma
 Human Adaptation to Natural Environmental Stressors 287

the natural environment, as human cultures change the as skin color or body build) are not precisely known, sci-
environment in today’s globalizing world, these biologi- entists can study them through comparative measure-
cal mechanisms can fall terribly short. Before turning to ment of the associated phenotypic variation. Humans
the challenges we face in today’s human-made environ- possess two additional biological mechanisms through
ments, we will explore the biological mechanisms hu- which they can adapt.
mans have used over millennia to adapt to three natu- The fi rst of these, developmental adaptation, also
rally occurring environmental extremes: high altitude, produces permanent phenotypic variation as the envi-
cold, and heat. ronment shapes the expression of the genes each individ-
ual possesses. The extended period of growth and devel-
opment characteristic of humans allows for a prolonged
HUMAN ADAPTATION TO time period during which the environment can exert its
effects on the developing organism.
NATURAL ENVIRONMENTAL The anthropological focus on growth and develop-
STRESSORS ment has a long history dating back to the work of Franz
Boas, one of the founders of four-field anthropology.
Studies of human adaptation traditionally focus on the Boas is credited with discovering the features of the hu-
capacity of humans to adapt or adjust to their environ- man growth curve (Figure 13.1). He demonstrated that
ment through biological the rate of human growth varies in typical patterns until
THOMSON AUDIO and/or cultural mecha-
adulthood, when physical growth ceases. Humans expe-
STUDY PRODUCTS nisms. Darwin’s theory
rience a period of very rapid growth after birth through
Take advantage of of natural selection ac- infancy, followed by a gradually slower rate of growth
the MP3-ready Audio Lecture counts for discrete genetic
Overviews and comprehensive changes built into the allele
during childhood. At adolescence, the rate of growth in-
audio glossary of key terms
creases again during the adolescent growth spurt.
frequencies of populations, In addition to describing the long-term pattern of
for each chapter. See the
such as the various adap- human growth, anthropologists have also demonstrated
preface for information on
tations to malaria that we that within periods of growth, the actual growth pro-
how to access this on-the-go
have examined. It also pro- cess proceeds as a series of alternating bursts and rela-
study and review tool.
vides the mechanism for
understanding that adapta-
developmental adaptation A permanent phenotypic variation
tions, evident in population variation of continuous phe-
derived from interaction between genes and the environment dur-
notypic traits, depend upon multiple interacting genes. ing the period of growth and development.
Even when the genetic bases to these adaptations (such

70 14
Boys 13
60 12
Weight gain (kilogram per year)

Girls
11
50 10
9
Kilograms

40 8 Girls Boys
7
30 6
5
20 4
3
10 2
1
0 0
Birth 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Birth 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Age in years Age in years

Figure 13.1
Franz Boas defined the features of the human growth curve. The graph on the left depicts distance, or the
amount of growth attained over time, while the graph on the right shows the velocity, or rate of growth
over time. These charts are widely used throughout the globe to determine the health status of children.
288 Chapter Thirteen/Human Adaptation to a Changing World

Anthropologist of Note
Peter Ellison (b. 1950)

Reproductive biology and human health Ellison to document the hormonal varia-
across cultures have been the focus of tion around biological events, such as
the work of biological anthropologist egg implantation and breastfeeding, as
Peter Ellison. In the 1970s, Ellison first well as cultural factors such as farm work
read Darwin’s Origin of Species as a or foraging.
college student at St. John’s College in He is especially interested in how
Annapolis, Maryland. He found Darwin’s behavior and social stimuli affect repro-
text transformative and went to the ductive physiology. In Western societies,

Courtesy Martha Stewart

University of Vermont to study biology; he has explored hormonal levels of males
later he earned a doctorate in biological and females in response to stimuli, such
anthropology from Harvard, where he as winning a championship or taking a
now runs a comprehensive program in stressful exam. He has also studied the
reproductive ecology. relationship cancer development has to
Ellison has pioneered techniques exercise and stress. In his recent book
for hormonal analysis from saliva, and On Fertile Ground, Ellison illustrates how
he uses this technique to monitor indi- the world and to correlate hormonal evolutionary forces have shaped human
viduals’ hormonal response to a variety levels with social events. People from reproductive physiology into a system
of environmental stressors. This non- long-term field sites in the Congo, Po- capable of precise responses to environ-
invasive technique has allowed Ellison to land, Japan, Nepal, and Paraguay have mental stimuli.
conduct hormonal studies throughout participated in this research, allowing

tive quiet.2 When challenged by malnutrition, physical differences, known as secular trends, allow anthropolo-
growth slows to permit immediate survival at the ex- gists to make inferences about environmental effects on
pense of height in adulthood. This adaptive mechanism growth and development.
may have negative consequences for subsequent genera- For example, across the globe tremendous varia-
tions as individuals who were malnourished as children tion is seen in the age at menarche or fi rst menstruation.
have been shown to experience reduced reproductive Some of this variation can be attributed to genetically
success as adults.3 based population differences, while the remainder is
Boas also demonstrated differences in the growth due to environmental effects. The Bundi of New Guinea
of immigrant children in the United States compared to have the oldest average age at menarche (18). An impor-
their parents. This work was the earliest documentation tant theory accounting for the timing of sexual matura-
of the variable effects of different environments on the tion ties age at menarche to the percentage of body fat
growth process. Presumably, immigrant children resem- possessed by growing individuals as a regulator of hor-
ble their parents genetically; therefore, size differences monal production.
between immigrant children and their parents could Over the past fi fty years a secular trend has become
be attributed to the environment alone. These kinds of evident in North America with a trend to lower age at
menarche. Whether the secular trend to lower age at
menarche is attributable to healthy or problematic en-
2Lampl, M., Velhuis, J. D., & Johnson, M. L. (1992). Saltation and
stasis: A model of human growth. Science 258 (5083), 801–803. vironmental stimuli (such as childhood obesity or hor-
3Martorell, R. (1988). Body size, adaptation, and function. GDP,
mones in the environment) has yet to be determined. Bio-
335–347. logical anthropologist Peter Ellison works extensively
on the connections between hormones and the environ-
ment—a subspecialty defi ned as reproductive ecology
secular trend A physical difference among related people from (see Anthropologist of Note).
distinct generations that allows anthropologists to make infer- While genetic and developmental adaptations are
ences about environmental effects on growth and development. permanent parts of an adult’s phenotype, physiological
physiological adaptation A short-term physiological change adaptations, short-term changes in response to a specific
in response to a specific environmental stimulus. An immediate
environmental stimulus, come and go. Along with cul-
short-term response is not very efficient and is gradually replaced
by a longer term response (see acclimatization). tural adaptations, these various biological mechanisms
allow humans to be the only primate species to inhabit
 Human Adaptation to Natural Environmental Stressors 289

the entire globe. Over the course of our evolutionary

history, most environmental stressors were climatic and
geographic. Today, humans face a series of new environ-
mental stressors of their own making.

Adaptation to High Altitude

High altitude differs from other natural environmental
stressors because it is the least amenable to cultural ad-
aptation. The major challenge of high altitude is the re-
duced availability of oxygen. Before the invention of oxy-
gen masks and pressurized cabins in airplanes, there was
no way to modify this environmental stressor.
When people speak of the air being “thinner” at
high altitude, they are referring to the concentration
(“partial pressure”) of oxygen available to the lungs (and
so the circulatory system). At high altitudes, the partial

© Reuters/Mike Segar/Landov
pressure of oxygen is sufficiently reduced so that most
lowlanders experience severe oxygen deprivation.
Populations that have lived at high altitudes for
generations, such as the Quechua Indians of Highland
Peru and the Sherpa native to the Himalaya Mountains,
possess a remarkable ability to tolerate oxygen depri-
vation, living and working at altitudes as high as 17,000 Observing that Kenyan runners have won most of the major marathon
competitions over the past several decades, coaches have emulated
to 20,000 feet above sea level. Physiological adaptation the Kenyan approach. Adaptation to the hot, dry yet mountainous
to the lower partial pressure of oxygen in the environ- region leads to a long lean build (a product of the heat adaptation) and
ment has rendered their body tissues resistant to oxygen increased oxygen-carrying capacity. Although runners worldwide tend
deprivation. to be tall and lean, many athletes now train at high altitude so that
Typical lowlanders can make both short- and long- when race day comes, their red blood cell count and hemoglobin levels
term physiological adjustments to high altitude. In gen- allow them to carry more oxygen.
eral, short-term changes help an individual avoid an
immediate crisis, but their poor efficiency makes them The process of growth and development of course
difficult to sustain. Instead, long-term responses take begins with reproduction, and high altitude exerts con-
over as the individual’s physiological responses attain siderable effects on this process. For populations who
an equilibrium with the environment. This process is have not adapted to high altitude, successful reproduc-
known as acclimatization. Most lowlanders stepping tion is not possible without some cultural interventions.
off an airplane in Lima, Peru, will increase their respira- For example, when Spanish colonists founded the city of
tory rate, cardiac output, and pulse rate. Their arteries Potosi high in the Andes to mine the “mountain of sil-
will expand as blood pressure increases in order to get ver” that towers above the community, for the fi rst fi fty-
oxygen to the tissues. This kind of response cannot be four years of this city’s existence no Spanish child was
maintained indefi nitely. Instead, lowlanders acclimatize born who survived childhood. Indigenous populations
as their bodies begin to produce more red blood cells and did not have these problems. To ensure reproductive
hemoglobin in order to carry more oxygen. Individu- success, Spanish women began the cultural practice of
als vary at the altitude at which these physiological re- retreating to lower altitude for their pregnancies and the
sponses begin due to their genetic makeup. fi rst year of their children’s lives.4
Developmental adaptations are seen in individuals
who spend their childhood period of growth and devel- 4Wiley, A. S. (2004). An ecology of high-altitude infancy: A biocul-
opment at high altitude. Among the highland Quechua, tural perspective series. Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology
for example, both the chest cavity and the right ventricle (12). Cambridge.
of the heart (which pushes blood to the lungs) are en-
larged compared to lowland Quechua. This may have
acclimatization Long-term physiological adjustments made
genetic underpinnings in that all Quechua experience a
in order to attain an equilibrium with a specific environmental
long period of growth and development compared to the stimulus.
average person in the United States.
290 Chapter Thirteen/Human Adaptation to a Changing World

At high altitudes cold stress is also a problem. As de- ments to diet, activity pattern, metabolic rate, and the
scribed in the previous chapter, a stocky body and short circulatory system must occur.
limbs help individuals conserve heat while the opposite
facilitates heat loss. These phenomena have been formal-
ized into two rules named after the naturalist who made Adaptation to Heat
such observations in mammals. Bergman’s rule refers to
the tendency for the bodies of mammals living in cold The human body’s primary physiological mechanism
climates to be shorter and rounder than members of the for coping with extreme heat is sweating or perspiring.
same species living in warm climates. Allen’s rule refers Sweating is a process through which water released from
to the tendency of mammals living in cold climates to sweat glands gives up body heat as the sweat evaporates.
have shorter appendages (arms and legs) than members Therefore, water availability is a crucial aspect of adapta-
of the same species living in warm climates. tion to heat. Without replacing sweat through drinking
water, exposure to heat can be fatal.
Though some individual and population variation
Adaptation to Cold exists, each human has roughly 2 million sweat glands.
These glands are spread out over a greater surface area
Cold stress can exist without high altitude, as it does in
on tall, thin bodies, facilitating water evaporation and
the Arctic. While the same pattern of body and limb
heat loss. Thus Bergman’s and Allen’s rules also apply to
shape and size is evident in Arctic populations, additional
heat adaptation. The more surface area a body has, the
cold responses are seen.
more surface for the sweat glands. In addition, because
In extreme cold, the limbs need enough heat to pre-
heat is produced by unit of volume, having a high surface
vent frostbite, but giving up heat to the periphery takes it
area to volume ratio is beneficial for heat loss. A long,
away from the body core. Humans balance this through
slender body is best for dissipating heat. In a hot and hu-
a cyclic expansion and contraction of the blood vessels
mid environment such as a rainforest, water evaporation
of their limbs called the hunting response. Blood ves-
is a major challenge. In this environment, human popu-
sels oscillate between closing down to prevent heat loss
lations minimize heat production through a reduction in
and opening up to warm the hands and feet. When first
overall size while keeping a slender, lean build.
exposed to cold by taking off gloves, blood vessels imme-
Of course, culture can play an important role in
diately constrict. Initial alternations between the open
modifying both heat and cold stress. Housing, diet, and
(warm) and shut (cold) and the corresponding tempera-
clothing traditions modify these stressors considerably.
ture of the skin range dramatically. But the oscillations
But in today’s globalizing world, the effects of culture
become smaller and more rapid, allowing a hunter to
are much more complex. Rather than alleviating physi-
maintain the warmth-derived manual dexterity required
cal stressors through simple cultural adaptations such as
for tying knots or sewing.
housing, diet, and clothing, cultural processes are add-
Eskimos also deal with cold through a high meta-
ing stressors of their own. The dramatic and rapid hu-
bolic rate: the rate at which their bodies burn energy.
man alteration of the environment has rendered simple
This may result from a diet high in protein and fat (whale
biological adaptation to these unnatural stressors very
blubber is the common food). In addition, genetic factors
difficult. Instead, human-made pollution, global warm-
likely also contribute to Eskimos’ high metabolic rate.
ing, and unhealthy diets and lifestyle lead directly to hu-
Short-term physiological responses to cold include
man sickness and suffering.
shivering. Shivering generates heat for the body quickly
but cannot be maintained for long periods of time. In-
stead, as an individual acclimatizes to the cold, adjust-
THE DEVELOPMENT OF
Bergman’s rule The tendency for the bodies of mammals living MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
in cold climates to be shorter and rounder than members of the IN A GLOBALIZING WORLD
same species living in warm climates.
Allen’s rule The tendency of mammals living in cold climates Medical anthropology, a specialization that cuts across
to have shorter appendages (arms and legs) than members of the all four fields of anthropology, contributes significantly
same species living in warm climates. to the understanding of sickness and suffering in the
hunting response A cyclic expansion and contraction of 21st century. Some of the earliest medical anthropolo-
the blood vessels of the limbs that balances releasing enough
gists were individuals trained as physicians and ethnog-
heat to the limbs to prevent frostbite, maintaining heat in the
body core. raphers who investigated the health beliefs and practices
of people in exotic places while also providing them with
 The Development of Medical Anthropology in a Globalizing World 291

Western medicine. Medical anthropologists during this to medical practices in Europe and North America.5 In
early period translated local experiences of sickness into both cases, the healer has access to a world of restricted
the scientific language of Western biomedicine. Follow- knowledge (spiritual or scientific) from which the aver-
ing a re-evaluation of this ethnocentric approach in the age community member is excluded.
1970s, medical anthropology emerged as a specializa- Similarly, other studies revealed how medical cate-
tion that brings theoretical and applied approaches from gories, like other aspects of a people’s unique worldview,
cultural and biological anthropology to the study of hu- reflect the value system of their particular culture. For
man health and sickness. example, the Subinam people of Mindinao, one of the
Medical anthropologists study medical systems, or large islands of the Philippines, give different names to
patterned sets of ideas and practices relating to illness, as fungal infections of the skin depending on whether the
cultural systems similar to any other social institution. infection is openly visible or hidden under clothes.6 The
They examine healing traditions and practices cross- biomedical and scientific categorization of fungal infec-
culturally and use scientific models drawn from bio- tions refer only to genus and species.
logical anthropology to understand and improve human In the 1970s the place of biological and cultural
health. Medical anthropologists have also turned their knowledge in medical anthropology was dramatically
attention toward biomedicine, focusing on the social reorganized. The admission of mainland China to the
and cultural aspects of health care in their own societies. United Nations in 1971, and the subsequent improve-
Their work sheds light on the connections between hu- ment of diplomatic and other relationships between that
man health and political and economic forces, both glob- communist country and Western powers, played a role
ally and locally. Because global flows of people, germs, in this theoretical shift.7 Cultural exchanges revealed a
cures, guns, and pollution underlie the distribution of professional medical system in the East rivaling that of
sickness and health in the world today, a broad anthro- Western biomedicine in its scientific basis and technical
pological understanding of the origins of sickness is vital feats. For example, the practice of open heart surgery in
for alleviating human suffering. China, using only acupuncture needles as an anesthetic,
The theoretical relationship between biological and challenged the assumption of biomedical superiority
cultural knowledge transformed during the course of within anthropological thought. At this time scholars
medical anthropology’s development as a distinct spe- proposed that biomedicine was a cultural system, just
cialty within anthropology. The earliest research on like the medical systems in other cultures, and that it,
medical systems was carried out by physician anthropol- too, was worthy of anthropological study.8
ogists—individuals trained as medical doctors and as an- To effectively compare medical systems and health
thropologists who participated in the international pub- cross-culturally, medical anthropologists have made
lic health movement emerging early in the 20th century. a theoretical distinction between the terms disease and
While delivering the medical care developed in Europe illness. Disease refers to a specific pathology: a physical
and North America, they simultaneously studied the or biological abnormality. Illness refers to the meanings
health beliefs and practices of the cultures they were sent
to help. Local cultural categories about sickness were 5Lévi-Strauss, C. (1963). The sorcerer and his magic. In Structural
translated into Western biomedical terms. Initially, these anthropology. New York: Basic Books.
Western approaches were thought to be culture-free de- 6Frake, C. (1961). The diagnosis of disease among the Subinam of
pictions of human biology and were therefore used as Mindinao. American Anthropologist 63,113–132.
an interpretive framework for examining the medical 7Young, A. (1981). The creation of medical knowledge: Some prob-
beliefs and practices of other cultures. Implicit in this lems in interpretation. Social Science and Medicine 17, 1,205–1,211.
work was a notion that the Western approach, with its 8Kleinman, A. (1976). Concepts and a model for the comparison of
supposed objectivity, was superior. medical systems as cultural systems. Social Science and Medicine 12
(2B), 85–95.

Science, Illness, and Disease

medical anthropology A specialization that brings theoretical
Gradually the superiority of biomedicine eroded as a con- and applied approaches from cultural and biological anthropology
sequence of fieldwork conducted by cultural anthropolo- to the study of human health and disease.
gists who began to examine health beliefs outside of tra- medical system A patterned set of ideas and practices relating
ditional public health interventions. For example, French to illness.
cultural anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss described disease Refers to a specific pathology; a physical or biological
abnormality.
the healing powers of shamans (the name for indigenous
illness Refers to the meanings and elaborations given to a par-
healers, originally from Siberia, and now applied to ticular physical state.
many traditional healers) in terms that could also apply
292 Chapter Thirteen/Human Adaptation to a Changing World

VISUAL COUNTERPOINT

© Topham/The Image Works

© Ronnie Kaufman/Corbis
Shamans and biomedical doctors both rely upon manipulation of symbols to heal their patients. The
physician’s white coat is a powerful symbol of medical knowledge and authority that communicates to
patients just as clearly as does the shaman’s drum. Interestingly, medical schools in the United States are
increasingly incorporating a “white coat” ceremony into medical education, conferring the power of the
white coat onto new doctors.

and elaborations given to particular physical states. Dis- coholism a disease, it becomes a socially sanctioned and
ease and illness do not necessarily overlap. An individual recognized illness within the dominant medical system
may experience illness without having a disease, or a dis- of the United States.
ease may occur in the absence of illness. Disease can also exist without illness. Schistosomia-
In cultures with scientific medical systems, a key sis, infection with a kind of parasitic flatworm called a
component of the social process of illness involves de- blood fluke, is an excellent example. Scientists have fully
lineating human suffering in terms of biology. At times documented the life cycle of this parasite that alternates
this even extends to labeling an illness as a disease even between water snail and human hosts. The adult worms
though the biology is poorly understood. Think about al- live for many years inside the human intestines or uri-
coholism in the United States, for example. A person who nary tract. Human waste then spreads the mobile phase
is thought of as a drunk, partier, barfly, or boozer tends of the parasite to freshwater snails. Inside the snails, the
not to get sympathy from the rest of society. By contrast, parasite develops further to a second mobile phase of the
a person struggling with the disease alcoholism receives flatworm life cycle, releasing thousands of tiny creatures
cultural help from physicians, support from groups such into freshwater. If humans swim, wade, or do household
as Alcoholics Anonymous, and fi nancial aid from health chores such as laundry in this infested water, the parasite
insurance covering medical treatment. It matters little can bore its way through the skin, traveling to the intes-
that the biology of this disease is still poorly understood tine or bladder where the life cycle continues.
and that alcoholism is treated through social support The idea of parasites boring through the skin and
rather than expert manipulation of biology. By calling al- living permanently inside the bladder or intestine may
well be revolting. Ingesting poisons to rid the body of
these parasites may be acceptable for people at certain
social and economic levels. But to people living in parts
endemic The public health term for a disease that is widespread
in a population. of the world where schistosomiasis is endemic (the pub-
lic health term for a disease that is widespread in the
 The Development of Medical Anthropology in a Globalizing World 293

Building the Aswan Dam in Egypt

was a vital part of modernization
for that country. Unfortunately, the
dam has also caused problems. It in-
creased the rates of schistosomiasis
in the Nile River by creating a mas-
sive artificial lake upstream from the
dam that provides the ideal environ-
ment for water snails. Downstream,
the reduced flow of Nile waters into
the Mediterranean Sea has meant
that the sea has encroached upon
people’s homes.
© Reza; Webistan/Corbis

population), this disease state is regarded as normal, and load to cause this symptom) is regarded as a male version
no treatment is sought. In other words schistosomiasis of menstruation.9
is not an illness. Individuals may know about expensive Cultural perspectives can thus be at odds with inter-
effective biomedical treatments but given the likelihood national public health goals that are based on a strictly
of re-infection and the inaccessibility of the drugs, treat- Western biomedical understanding of disease. In the fol-
ment with pharmaceutical agents is not the social norm. lowing Original Study, biological anthropologist Kather-
Over time, the forces of evolution have led to a tolerance ine Dettwyler shows that each perspective brings with it
between parasite and host so that infected individuals particular challenges and benefits.
can live normal lives. So normal is the parasitic infection
in some societies that the appearance of bloody urine at 9Desowitz, R. S. (1987). New Guinea tapeworms and Jewish grand-
the time of adolescence (due to a high enough parasite mothers. New York: Norton.

Text not available due to copyright restrictions

294 Chapter Thirteen/Human Adaptation to a Changing World

Text not available due to copyright restrictions

 Evolutionary Medicine 295

Text not available due to copyright restrictions

While diseases are generally described in biological

terms as understood through scientific investigation, the
EVOLUTIONARY MEDICINE
medical anthropological framework admits that notions The new field of evolutionary medicine—an approach
of disease are not universal. Whether these are based in to human sickness and health combining principles of
the scientific study of biological processes, each culture’s evolutionary theory and human evolutionary history—
medical system provides individuals with a “map” of how constitutes one of the interesting recent developments
to think about themselves in sickness and health. All cul- within scientific medicine with roots in anthropology.
tures defi ne specific terms and mechanisms for thinking While it may seem at fi rst to concentrate on human bio-
about, preventing, and managing illness. In this way, logical mechanisms, evolutionary medicine’s emphasis is
Western medical systems defi ne whether a particular bio-
logical state such as malnutrition, Down syndrome, or
evolutionary medicine An approach to human sickness and
schistosomiasis is recognized as an illness. Each cultural
health combining principles of evolutionary theory and human
system delineates the choices and constraints available evolutionary history.
to individuals affl icted by particular disease states.
296 Chapter Thirteen/Human Adaptation to a Changing World

true to the biocultural integration that figures so promi- tem, the person might learn to recognize an illness as a
nently in anthropological approaches. Biological pro- “cold” or “flu” by responses of the body, such as fever,
cesses are given cultural meanings, and cultural prac- aches, runny nose, sore throat, vomiting, or diarrhea.
tices affect human biology. These two insights provide Think of how you may have learned about sick-
alternative approaches to promoting human health. ness as a young child. A caregiver or parent might have
As with evolutionary theory in general, it is difficult touched your forehead or neck with the back of the hand
to prove conclusively that some of the specific ideas and or lips to gauge your temperature. They may have placed
theories from evolutionary medicine are indeed benefi- a thermometer under your arm, in your mouth, or some
cial to human health. Instead, scientists work to amass a other place to see if you had an elevated temperature or
sufficient body of knowledge that supports their theories. fever. (In the past, children’s temperatures were usually
Where appropriate, the theories can lead to hypotheses taken rectally in North America.) If any of these meth-
that can be tested experimentally. Frequently treatments ods revealed a temperature above the value defi ned as
derived from evolutionary medicine lead to altering cul- normal, the result might be giving a medicine to lower
tural practices and to a return to a more natural state in the fever.
terms of human biology. As described in the Biocultural Evolutionary medicine proposes that many of the
Connection of Chapter 8, evolutionary medicine contrib- symptoms that biomedicine treats are themselves na-
utes a variety of Paleolithic prescriptions for the diseases ture’s treatments developed over millennia. Some of
of civilization. these symptoms, such as fever, perhaps should be toler-
The work of biological anthropologist James Mc- ated rather than suppressed, so the body can heal itself.
Kenna is an excellent example of evolutionary medicine. An elevated temperature is part of the human body’s
McKenna has suggested that the human infant, imma- response to infectious particles, whereas eliminating
ture compared to some other mammals, has evolved the fever provides favorable temperatures for bacteria
to co-sleep with adults who provide breathing cues to or viruses. Similarly within some physiological limits,
the sleeping infant, protecting the child from sudden vomiting, coughing, and diarrhea may be adaptive as
infant death syndrome (SIDS).10 He uses cross-cultural they remove harmful substances or organisms from the
data of sleeping patterns and rates of SIDS to support his body. In other words, the cultural prescription to lower
claim. a fever or suppress a cough might actually prolong the
McKenna conducted a series of experiments docu- disease.
menting differences between the brainwave patterns of Evolutionary biologist Margie Profet proposed a
mother–infant pairs who co-sleep compared to mother– particular benefit for the symptoms of nausea and vom-
infant pairs who sleep in separate rooms. These data fit iting during early pregnancy.11 She suggests that many
McKenna’s theory, challenging North America’s pre- plants, particularly those in the broccoli and cabbage
dominant cultural practice of solitary sleeping. Further, family, naturally contain toxins developed through the
McKenna shows how the cultural pattern of sleeping plants’ evolutionary process to prevent them from being
directly impacts infant feeding practices demonstrating eaten by animals. Profet suggests that eating these plants
that co-sleeping and breastfeeding are mutually reinforc- during the first weeks of pregnancy, when the develop-
ing behaviors. ing embryo is rapidly creating new cells through mitosis
Evolutionary medicine suggests that cultural prac- and differentiation into specific body parts, makes the
tices in industrial and postindustrial societies are respon- embryo vulnerable to mutation. Therefore, a heightened
sible for a variety of other biomedically defi ned diseases, sense of smell and lowered nausea threshold serves as the
ranging from psychological disorders to hepatitis (in- body’s natural defense. It causes women to avoid these
flammation of the liver). foods, thus protecting the developing embryo.

Symptoms as a Defense Mechanism Evolution and Infectious Disease

Scientists have documented that when faced with infec- Understanding infectious disease is all the more impor-
tion from a bacterium or virus, the human body mounts tant in a globalizing world where people, viruses, and
a series of physiological responses. For example, as a bacteria cross national boundaries freely. Evolutionary
young individual learns his or her culture’s medical sys- medicine provides two key insights with regard to in-

10McKenna, J. (1999). Co-sleeping and SIDS. In W. Trevathan, E. O. 11Profet, M. (1991). The function of allergy: Immunological defense
Smith, & J. J. McKenna (Eds.), Evolutionary medicine. London: Ox- against toxins. Quarterly Review of Biology 66 (1), 23–62; Profet, M.
ford University Press. (1995). Protecting your baby to be. New York: Addison Wesley.
 The Political Ecology of Disease 297

nonresistant strains essentially opens up an entire eco-

logical niche for that resistant strain inside the infected
human. Here, without competition from the original
form of the bacterium wiped out by the antibiotic, this
mutant can proliferate easily and then spread to other
individuals. The practice of taking antibiotics artificially
alters the environment inside the human body.
In order to avoid the development of resistant strains,
complex lengthy treatment regimes, often of multiple
drugs, must be followed exactly. These expensive treat-
ments are cost-prohibitive in many parts of the world.
The unfortunate result is not only increased human suf-
fering but also the possibility of creating environments
for the development of resistant strains as individuals re-
ceive partial treatments.
Although treatments are provided to individuals
within their own country’s health care system, infectious
microbes do not observe these same national bound-
aries. To eradicate or control any infectious process, the
world has to be considered in its entirety. On a positive
note, treatments can also be allowed to flow freely across
© Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

national boundaries. As seen in this chapter’s Global-

scape, successful treatment of many infectious diseases
involves far more than simply taking antibiotics or anti-
viral agents.
Thus, antibiotic resistance illustrates a key perspec-
tive evolutionary medicine contributes to the under-
standing of infectious disease: Infectious disease and the
North American medical anthropologist Emily Martin has shown that
scientific depictions of infectious disease draw upon military imagery human efforts to stop infectious disease always occur in
common to the culture of the United States. Biomedical treatments the context of the human-made environment. Humans
involve taking antibiotics to kill “invading” organisms. An evolutionary have been altering their external environments with in-
perspective suggests that the quick life cycle of microorganisms makes creasing impact since the Neolithic transition, resulting
this “battle” a losing proposition for humans. in an increase in a variety of infectious diseases. In this
regard, evolutionary medicine shares much with politi-
cal ecology—a discipline closely related to medical an-
fectious disease. First, if infectious disease is viewed as thropology and described below.
competition between microorganisms and humans—as
it is in biomedicine where patients and doctors “fight” in-
fectious disease—microorganisms possess one very clear
advantage. Viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites all THE POLITICAL ECOLOGY
have very short life cycles compared to humans. There-
fore, when competing on an evolutionary level, they will
OF DISEASE
continue to pose new threats to health, because any new An ecological perspective considers organisms in the con-
genetic variants appearing through a random mutation text of their environment. Because local human environ-
will become incorporated in the population’s genome ments are shaped not only by local culture but by global
more quickly. This notion is of particular importance political and economic systems, these features must all
with regard to the use of antibiotics to fight infectious be included in a comprehensive examination of human
disease. disease from an ecological perspective. Simply describ-
While antibiotics will kill many bacteria, increas- ing disease in terms of biological processes leaves out the
ingly resistant strains of bacteria are becoming more deeper, ultimate reasons that some individuals are more
common. “Resistant strains” refers to genetic variants of likely to become sick than others. A strictly biological ap-
a specific bacterium that are not killed by antibiotics. If proach also leaves out differences in the resources avail-
a resistant strain appears in an infected individual who able to individuals, communities, and states to cope with
is being treated with antibiotics, the removal of all the disease and illness.
298 Chapter Thirteen/Human Adaptation to a Changing World

GLOBALSCAPE
Arctic
Ocean

ASIA

NORTH EUROPE
AMERICA

Atlantic
Ocean

AFRICA Pacific
Pacific Ocean
Ocean
SOUTH
AMERICA

BRAZIL ANGOLA Indian

Ocean
AUSTRALIA
MOZAMBIQUE

ANTARCTICA

© Jamil Bittar/Reuters/Corbis
Healthy Border Crossings? According 1996 Brazil became the first country to
to the UNAIDS 2006 global report on guarantee free antiretroviral access to
the AIDS epidemic, in 2005 38.6 million all its citizens. At the same time, Brazil-
people were living with HIV, 4.1 mil- ian public health officials developed
lion were newly infected with HIV, and counseling and prevention programs in
2.8 million people lost their lives to collaboration with community groups
AIDS. International public health of- and religious organizations. Their AIDS
ficials often point out the fact that the program’s success is in part due to the
HIV retrovirus does not observe national candid public education on disease religious groups to develop appropriate
boundaries, whereas the transfer of transmission targeted at heterosexual counseling, education, and prevention
treatments and preventive approaches women and young people, who are now will lead to strategies specific for the
is far more complex. Each culture the fastest-growing groups affected people of Mozambique and Angola.
possesses its own health beliefs and by HIV. Global Twister Brazil’s AIDS program
practices, along with systems and infra- In 2004, Brazil continued its in- provides antiretroviral agents at a cost
structure for distribution and financing novations with the “South to South of $2,000 per person per year and puts
of HIV prevention and treatments. Initiative” providing assistance to the medicines within reach for people from
The Brazil HIV/AIDS program is in- HIV and AIDS programs in the Portu- poor countries like Angola and Mozam-
ternationally recognized as a model for guese-speaking African countries of bique. In developed nations, including
prevention, education, and treatment Mozambique and Angola. The Brazilian the United States, these same medicines
for several reasons. Through a national approach of providing free antiretroviral cost $10,000 to $15,000 per person
policy of developing generic alternative agents can be modeled directly in these per year. What aspects of the Brazilian
antiretroviral agents and negotiating for African countries. The Brazilian phi- HIV/AIDS program should developed
reduced prices on patented agents, in losophy of collaboration with civil and nations emulate?
 The Political Ecology of Disease 299

Mad Cow, Kuru, and Other

Prion Diseases
In 1997 the North American physician scientist Stanley
Pacific
Prusiner won the Nobel Prize in medicine for his discov- Ocean
ery of an entirely new disease agent called a prion—a
protein lacking any genetic material that behaves as an
A
infectious particle. Prions are a kind of protein that can INDONESI PAPUA
NEW GUINEA
cause the reorganization and destruction of other pro-
teins and result in neurodegenerative disease as brain tis-
sue and the nervous system are destroyed. Coral
This discovery provided a mechanism for under- Sea
AUSTRALIA
standing mad cow disease, a serious problem in post-
industrial societies. But knowing the biological mecha-
nism alone is not enough to truly grasp how this disease When documentation of the kin relationships did
spreads. The beef supply of several countries in Europe not reveal a pattern of genetic transmission, the medi-
and North America became tainted by prions introduced cal team turned instead to the notion of infectious dis-
through the cultural practice of grinding up sheep car- ease, even though the slow progression of kuru seemed
casses and adding them to the commercial feed of beef to weigh against an infectious cause. Material derived
cattle. This practice began before prions were discov- from infected individuals was injected into chimpanzees
ered, but postindustrial farmers were aware that these (see Chapter 5’s Biocultural Connection for a discussion
sheep had a condition known as scrapie; they just did not of the ethics of this practice) to see whether they devel-
know that this condition was infectious. Thus, through oped the disease. After 18 months, injected chimpanzees
the wide distribution of tainted feed, prion disease spread succumbed to the classic symptoms of kuru, and their
from sheep to cows and then to humans who consumed autopsied brains indicated the same pathologies as seen
tainted beef. Today countries without confi rmed mad in humans with kuru. At this point, the disease was de-
cow disease ban the importation of beef from neighbor- fi ned as infectious (garnering Gajdusek a Nobel Prize).
ing countries with documented prion disease. Such bans Because prions had not yet been discovered, scientists
have tremendous effects on the local economies. defi ned this infectious agent as an unidentified “slow
While mad cow disease besets postindustrialized virus.”
countries today, prion disease was a major concern for Though scientists knew that kuru is infectious, the
the Fore (pronounced “foray”) people of Papua New story of kuru is not complete without an examination
Guinea during the middle of the 20th century. Kuru is of why some individuals were infected and not others.
the name given in the local language to the prion disease For this, one has to return to the local cultural and larger
that was claiming the lives of great numbers of women global perspectives of anthropology, as Lindenbaum
and children in Fore communities. With such devasta- explains in her book Kuru Sorcery. Lindenbaum demon-
tion in their midst, the Fore welcomed assistance pro- strates that kuru is related to cultural practices regarding
vided by an international team of health workers led by a the bodies of individuals who had died from kuru and
physician from the United States, Carleton Gajdusek. As the way global factors impacted local practices.
with mad cow disease, local and global cultural processes Culturally, Fore women are responsible for prepar-
affected both the transmission of kuru and the measures ing the bodies of their loved ones for the afterlife. This
taken to prevent transmission of this deadly condition practice alone put women at a greater risk for exposure
long before prion biology was understood. to kuru. Lindenbaum also discovered that women and
Kuru did not fit neatly into any known biomedical children were at risk due to a combination of these lo-
categories. Because the disease seemed to be limited to cal practices with more global forces. In Fore society,
families of related individuals, cultural anthropologists men were responsible for raising pigs and slaughtering
Shirley Lindenbaum from Australia and Robert Glasse and distributing meat. The middle of the 20th century
from the United States, who were doing fieldwork in the was a time of hardship and transition for the Fore peo-
region, were recruited to contribute documentation of ple. Colonial rule by Australia had changed the fabric of
Fore kinship relationships. It was hoped this knowledge society, threatening traditional subsistence patterns and
would reveal an underlying genetic mechanism for this
disease.12
prion An infectious protein lacking any genetic material but
capable of causing the reorganization and destruction of other
12Lindenbaum, S. (1978). Kuru sorcery: Disease and danger in the New proteins.
Guinea highlands. New York: McGraw-Hill.
300 Chapter Thirteen/Human Adaptation to a Changing World

resulting in a shortage of protein in the form of pigs. The being, not the mere absence of disease or infirmity.”13
limited amount of pig meat available was distributed by While the international public health community works
men preferentially to other men. to improve human health throughout the globe, heavily
Fore women told Lindenbaum that, as a practical armed states, megacorporations, and very wealthy elites
solution to their hunger they consumed their own dead. are using their powers to structure or rearrange the
Fore women preferred eating their loved ones who had emerging world system and direct global processes to
died in a relatively “meaty” state from kuru compared to their own competitive advantage. When such power re-
eating individuals wasted from malnutrition. This tem- lationships undermine the well-being of others, we may
porary practice was abandoned as the Fore subsistence speak of structural violence—physical and/or psycho-
pattern recovered, and the biological mechanisms of logical harm (including repression, environmental de-
transmission were communicated to the Fore. struction, poverty, hunger, illness, and premature death)
The Fore medical system had its own explanations caused by exploitative and unjust social, political, and
for the causes of kuru, primarily involving sorcery, that economic systems.
were compatible with biomedical explanations for the As we saw in Chapter 11, health disparities, or dif-
mechanisms of disease. Such blending of medical sys- ferences in the health status between the wealthy elite
tems is common throughout the globe today. and the poor in stratified societies, are nothing new.
Medical pluralism refers to the presence of multiple Globalization has expanded and intensified structural
medical systems, each with its own practices and beliefs violence, leading to enormous health disparities among
in a society. As illustrated with the Fore, individuals individuals, communities, and even states. Medical an-
generally can reconcile confl icting medical systems and thropologists have examined how structural violence
incorporate diverse elements from a variety of systems leads not only to unequal access to treatments but also to
to ease their suffering. While Western biomedicine has the likelihood of contracting disease through exposure
contributed some spectacular treatments and cures for a to malnutrition, crowded conditions, and toxins.
variety of diseases, many of its practices and values are
singularly associated with the Euramerican societies
in which it developed. The international public health Population Size, Poverty, and Health
movement attempts to bring many of the successes of At the time of the speciation events of early human evo-
biomedicine based on the scientific understanding of hu- lutionary history, population size was relatively small
man biology to the rest of the world. But to do so suc- compared to what it is today. With human population
cessfully, cultural practices and beliefs must be taken size at over 6 billion and still climbing, we are reach-
into account. ing the carrying capacity of the earth. India and China
Both mad cow disease and kuru illustrate that no alone have over 1 billion inhabitants each. And popula-
sickness in the 21st century can be considered in isola- tion growth is still rapid in South Asia, which is expected
tion; an understanding of these diseases must take into to become even more densely populated in the early
account political and economic forces as well as how 21st century (Figure 13.2). Population growth threatens
these forces affect the ability to treat or cure. to increase the scale of hunger and pollution—and the
many problems associated with these two issues.
Desirable though it may be to halt population
GLOBALIZATION, HEALTH, growth, programs to do so, and their consequences,
pose many new health (and ethical) problems. These are
AND STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE well illustrated by China’s much publicized “one child”
One generalization that can be made across the globe is policy, introduced in 1979 to control its soaring popula-
that with regard to most diseases, wealth means health. tion growth. This policy led to a sharp upward trend in
The World Health Organization defi nes health as “a sex-selective abortions, as well as female infanticide and
complete state of physical, psychological, and social well- high female infant mortality due to abandonment and
neglect. This trend has created an imbalance in China’s
male and female populations, referred to as the “miss-
medical pluralism The presence of multiple medical systems, ing girl gap” of some 50 million. One study reported that
each with its own practices and beliefs in a society. China’s male to female sex ratio had become so distorted
structural violence Physical and/or psychological harm (in- that 111 million men would not be able to fi nd a wife.
cluding repression, environmental destruction, poverty, hunger, Government regulations softened slightly in the 1990s,
illness, and premature death) caused by exploitative and unjust
when it became legal for rural couples to have a second
social, political, and economic systems.
health disparity A difference in the health status between the
wealthy elite and the poor in stratified societies. 13World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/about/
defi nition/en.
 Globalization, Health, and Structural Violence 301

Billions of people
9

>5 2.5 500,000 40,000 20,000 8500 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 500 1000 1500 2000
million million BC AD
Year

Figure 13.2
Human population growth grew at a relatively steady pace until the industrial revolution when a geomet-
ric pattern of growth began. Since that time, human population size has been doubling at an alarming rate.
The earth’s natural resources will not be able to accommodate ever-increasing human population if the
rates of consumption seen in Western industrialized nations, particularly the United States, persist.

child if their fi rst was a girl—and if they paid a fee. Mil- creased in the presence of obesity. High rates of obesity
lions of rural couples have circumvented regulations by among U.S. youth has led public health officials to pro-
not registering births—resulting in millions of young ject that the current generation of adults may be the fi rst
people who do not “officially” exist.14 generation to outlive their children due to a cause other
With an ever-expanding population, a shocking than war.
number of people worldwide face hunger on a regular Much of the famine and associated death experienced
basis leading to a variety of health problems including disproportionately by the disenfranchised over the past
premature death. It is no accident that poor countries hundred years can be attributed to human-made causes.
and poorer citizens of wealthier countries are dispropor- Similarly, the generation and disposition of pollutants
tionately malnourished. All told, about 1 billion people represent another aspect of how population health may
in the world are undernourished. Some 6 million chil-
dren age 5 and under die every year due to hunger, and
those who survive often suffer from physical and mental
impairment.15
In wealthy industrialized countries a particular ver-
sion of malnourishment—obesity—is becoming increas-
ingly common. Obesity also affects poor working-class
people who are no longer physically active at their work
(because of increasing automation) and who cannot af-
© UPI Photo/A. J. Sisco/Landov

ford more expensive, healthy foods to stay fit. High

sugar and fat content of mass-marketed foods and “super
size” portions underlie this dramatic change. The risk
of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke is also greatly in-

14Bongaarts, J. (1998). Demographic consequences of declining fer- After a natural disaster such as Hurricane Katrina, the ability to recover
tility. Science 282, 419; Wattenberg, B. J. (1997, November 23). The is determined by the relative wealth and resources available to the
population explosion is over. New York Times Magazine, 60. community. In the hard-hit Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, for ex-
15Hunger Project 2003; Swaminathan, M. S. (2000). Science in re- ample, a year after water levels rose to above the rooflines of houses,
sponse to basic human needs. Science, 287, 425. Historical atlas of the much of the neighborhood is still in disarray. Here a car sits exactly
twentieth century. http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/20centry.htm. where it was pushed after the levees broke—underneath a house.
302 Chapter Thirteen/Human Adaptation to a Changing World

VISUAL COUNTERPOINT

© AP Photo/Caritas Hong Kong, Kahn Zellweger, HO

© Allison Wright/Corbis

The scientific definition of malnutrition includes undernutrition as well as excess consumption of un-
healthy foods. Malnutrition leading to obesity is increasingly common among poor working-class people
in industrialized countries. Starvation is more common in poor countries or in those that have been beset
by years of political turmoil, as evident in this emaciated North Korean child.

be impacted by disparities in the distribution of wealth. 3 degrees Celsius could result in 50 million to 80 million
The industries of wealthier communities and states cre- new malaria cases per year.16
ate the majority of the pollutants that are changing the Experts predict that global warming will lead to an
earth today. For example, in recent years, the use of chlo- expansion of the geographic ranges of tropical diseases
rofluorocarbons in aerosol sprays, refrigeration, and air and increase the incidence of respiratory diseases due to
conditioning and the manufacture of Styrofoam have additional smog caused by warmer temperatures. Also,
contributed substantially to the ozone layer’s deteriora- they expect an increase in deaths due to heat waves, as
tion. Because the ozone layer screens out some of the witnessed in the 15,000 deaths attributed to the 2003 heat
sun’s ultraviolet rays, its continued deterioration will wave in France.17 Added to this is the flow of industrial
expose humans to increased ultraviolet radiation. As we and agricultural chemicals via air and water currents to
saw in the previous chapter, some ultraviolet radiation is Arctic regions where their long life (due to icy tempera-
necessary for the production of vitamin D, but excessive tures) allows these toxins to enter the food chain. As a
amounts lead, among other things, to an increased inci- result toxins generated in temperate climates end up in
dence of skin cancers. Hence, a rising incidence of skin the bodies (and breast milk) of Arctic peoples who do not
cancers—particularly melanoma, a fatal cancer if not produce the toxins but merely eat primarily foods that
caught quickly—represents a predictable consequence of they hunt and fish.
ozone layer depletion. Unfortunately, ozone continues to Unfortunately, public concern about global warm-
deteriorate despite international treaties limiting the use ing is minimal. To solve this global challenge our species
of chlorofluorocarbons. In many places such as Australia needs to evolve new cultural tools in order to anticipate
and the United States, melanoma is becoming a leading environmental consequences that eventuate over de-
cause of death. cades. Public relations campaigns from energy interests
Global warming represents another challenge hu- implying that global warming is not real, hearkening
mans face as a consequence of their industrial activity. back to tobacco companies’ former campaigns claiming
Rates of deadly infectious diseases such as malaria may that smoking was not hazardous, have not helped.
increase as the carbon emissions from the combustion Ozone depletion and global warming are merely
of petroleum warm the climate globally. Annually it is two of a host of problems confronting humans today that
estimated that 1.5 million to 2.7 million deaths world-
wide are caused by malaria, making it the fi fth largest 16Stone, R. (1995). If the mercury soars, so may health hazards. Sci-
infectious killer in the world. Children account for about ence 267, 958.
1 million of these deaths, and more than 80 percent of 17World Meteorological Organization, quoted in “Increasing heat
these cases are in tropical Africa. It is possible that over waves and other health hazards.” greenpeaceusa.org/climate/
the next century, an average temperature increase of index.fpl/7096/article/907.html.
 Globalization, Health, and Structural Violence 303

will ultimately have an impact on human gene pools.

In view of the consequences for human biology of such Human Sperm Concentration

% men with > 100 million sperm per ml

seemingly benign innovations as dairying or farming (as
discussed in Chapter 10), we may wonder about many re- 50%
cent practices—for example, the effects of increased ex- 44%
posure to radiation from increased use of x-rays, nuclear
accidents, increased production of radioactive wastes,
and the like. 28%
In addition to exposure to radiation, humans also 21%
face increased exposure to other known mutagenic 16%
agents, including a wide variety of chemicals, such as
pesticides. Despite repeated assurances about their safety,
there have been tens of thousands of cases of poison-
ings in the United States alone and thousands of cases of 1930–51 1951–60 1961–70 1971–80 1981–90
cancer related to the manufacture and use of pesticides.
The impact may be greater in so-called underdeveloped Figure 13.3
countries, where substances banned in the United States A documented decline in human male sperm counts worldwide may be
are routinely used. related to widespread exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals.
All this on top of the several million birds killed each
year (many of which would otherwise have been happily
gobbling down bugs and other pests), serious fish kills,
and decimation of honey bees (bees are needed for the ef- known to disrupt hormones, and this could be just the
ficient pollination of many crops). In all, pesticides alone tip of the iceberg. Some of these chemicals mimic hor-
(never mind other agricultural chemicals) are respon- mones in the manner of DES, whereas others interfere
sible for billions of dollars of environmental and public with other parts of the endocrine system, such as thy-
health damage in the United States each year.18 Anthro- roid and testosterone metabolism. Included are such
pologists are documenting the effects on individuals as seemingly inert substances as plastics widely used in
described in the Biocultural Connection feature. laboratories and chemicals added to polystyrene and
The shipping of pollutant waste between countries polyvinyl chloride (PVCs) to make them more stable and
represents an example of structural violence. Individu- less breakable. These plastics are widely used in plumb-
als in the government or business sector of either nation ing, food processing, and food packaging. Hormone-
may profit from these arrangements, creating another disrupting chemicals are also found in many detergents
obstacle to addressing this problem. Similar issues may and personal care products, contraceptive creams, the
arise within countries, when authorities attempt to co- giant jugs used to bottle drinking water, and plastic lin-
erce ethnic minorities to accept disposal of toxic waste ings in cans (about 85 percent of food cans in the United
on their lands. States are so lined).
In addition to pesticides, hormone-disrupting chem- The implications of all these developments are so-
icals pose health threats. For example, in 1938 a synthetic bering. We know that pathologies result from extremely
estrogen known as DES (diethylstilbestrol) was devel- low levels of exposure to harmful chemicals. Yet, be-
oped and subsequently prescribed for a variety of ail- sides those used domestically, the United States exports
ments ranging from acne to prostate cancer. Moreover, millions of pounds of these chemicals to the rest of the
DES is routinely added to animal feeds. It was not until world.20 It is possible that hormone disruptions are at
1971, however, that the fi rst indication that DES causes least partially responsible for certain trends that have
vaginal cancer in young women came to light. Subse- recently become causes for concern among scientists.
quent research has shown that DES causes problems These range from increasingly early onset of puberty
with the male reproductive system and causes deformi- in human females to dramatic declines in human sperm
ties of the female reproductive tract. DES, like many counts. With respect to the latter, some sixty-one sepa-
other synthetic organic compounds, mimics the natural rate studies confi rm that sperm counts have dropped al-
sex hormones, binding with receptors in and on cells.19 most 50 percent from 1938 to 1990 (Figure 13.3). Most of
DES is not alone in its effects: At least fi fty-one these studies were carried out in the United States and
chemicals—many of them in common use—are now Europe, but some from Africa, Asia, and South America
show that this is essentially a worldwide phenomenon. If
18Pimentel, D. (1991). Response. Science 252, 358. this trend continues, it will have profound results.
19Colburn, T., Dumanoski, D., & Myers, J. P. (1996). Hormonal sab-
otage. Natural History 3, 45–46. 20Ibid., 45–46.
304 Chapter Thirteen/Human Adaptation to a Changing World

Biocultural
Connection Picturing Pesticides
The toxic effects of pesticides have long exposed to large doses of pesticides and of nursing mothers from the valley farms
been known. After all, these compounds one living in ranching villages in the was also documented. Second, children
are designed to kill bugs. However, docu- foothills nearby. from the two communities were asked
menting the toxic effects of pesticides on Guillette documented the frequency to perform a variety of normal child-
humans has been more difficult, as they of pesticide use among the farming hood activities, such as jumping, memory
are subtle—sometimes taking years to Yaqui to be forty-five times per crop games, playing catch, and drawing
become apparent. cycle with two crop cycles per year. In pictures.
Anthropologist Elizabeth Guillette, the farming valleys she also noted that The children exposed to high doses of
working in a Yaqui Indian community in families tended to use household bug pesticides had significantly less stamina,
Mexico, combined ethnographic observa- sprays on a daily basis, thus increasing eye–hand coordination, large motor co-
tion, biological monitoring of pesticide their exposure to toxic pesticides. In the ordination, and drawing ability compared
levels in the blood, and neurobehavioral foothill ranches, she found that the only to the Yaqui children from the foot-
testing to document the impairment of pesticides that the Yaqui were exposed hills. These children exhibited no overt
child development by pesticides.a Work- to consisted of DDT sprayed by the symptoms of pesticide poisoning—instead
ing with colleagues from the Techno- government to control malaria. In these exhibiting delays and impairment in their
logical Institute of Sonora in Obregón, communities, indoor bugs were swatted neurobehavioral abilities that may be
Mexico, Guillette compared children or tolerated. irreversible.
and families from two Yaqui communi- Pesticide exposure was linked to child Though Guillette’s study was thor-
ties: one living in farm valleys who were health and development through two sets oughly embedded in one ethnographic
of measures. First, levels of pesticides in community, she emphasizes that the
a
Guillette, E. A., et al. (1998, June). An an-
the blood of valley children at birth and exposure to pesticides among the Yaqui
thropological approach to the evaluation of throughout their childhood were exam- farmers is typical of agricultural com-
preschool children exposed to pesticides in ined and found to be far higher than in munities globally and has significance for
Mexico. Environmental Health Perspectives the children from the foothills. Further, changing human practices regarding the
106, 347. the presence of pesticides in breast milk use of pesticides everywhere.

Foothills Valley
Courtesy of Dr. Elizabeth A Guillette

60-month-old 71-month-old 71-month-old 71-month-old

female male female male

Compare the drawings typically done by Yaqui children heavily exposed to pesticides (valley) to those made
by Yaqui children living in nearby areas who were relatively unexposed (foothills).

embedded in the cultural system. Genetic toxicity, with

THE FUTURE OF HOMO SAPIENS associated risk of cancer and birth defects, represents just
One of the difficulties with managing environmental and one example of the prices paid for many of the material
toxic health risks is that serious consequences of new cul- benefits of civilization we enjoy today. Cultural practices
tural practices are often not apparent until years or even thus exert deleterious effects on the human gene pools as
decades later. By then, of course, these practices are fully never before.
 Questions for Reflection 305

The long-term effects on the human species remain

to be seen. If the promise of genetic engineering offers
hope of alleviating some of the misery and death that re-
sult from our own practices, it also raises the possibility
of rendering us susceptible to infection or other biologi-
cal stressors.
In addition to the problems human cultures are
creating through changing the environment, new chal-
lenges arise from expectations set in motion through
cultural means. The values of wealthy consumers liv-
ing in industrialized countries spread to the inhabitants
of poorer and developing countries, influencing their
expectations and dreams. Of course, the resources nec-
essary to maintain a luxurious standard of living are
limited. Instead of globalizing a standard of living that
the world’s natural resources cannot meet, it is time
for all of humanity to use today’s global connections
to learn how to live within the carrying capacity of the
earth.
We are a social species with origins on the African
continent over 5 million years ago. Over the course of
our evolutionary history, we came to inhabit the entire
globe. In each corner of this round earth, human cul-
tures became distinct from one another, each devising its
own specific beliefs and practices to meet the challenges
of survival. In the future, dramatic changes in cultural
values will be required if our species is to thrive. “New,
improved” values might, for example, include a world-
view that sees humanity as part of the world, rather than
as master over it as it is in many of the worlds’ cultures
© Sarah Grimm.

today. Included, too, might be a sense of social responsi-

bility that recognizes and affi rms respect among ethnic
groups as well as our collective stewardship for the earth
we inhabit. These Gambian children are spending their Saturday in the school
Our continued survival will depend on our ability to library to make up skits and songs about health issues that they will
cultivate positive social connections among all kinds of take out into their local community. They are a part of a peer health
people and to recognize the ways we impact one another educator group, a tradition that stretches throughout The Gambia and
beyond. Both in school lessons and in extracurricular activities these
in a world interconnected by the forces of globalization. students are reminded of their connections to the rest of the world.
Together, we can use the adaptive faculty of culture, The survival of the human species depends on the knowledge of our
the hallmark of our species, to ensure our continued common humanity and our collective responsibility for the world we
survival. share.

Questions for Reflection elaborations given to those biological states. Can you think of
some examples of illness without disease and disease without
1. Considering that sickness has challenged humans through- illness?
out our evolutionary history, why is an understanding of 3. What do you think of the notion of letting a fever run its
global process so critical for human health today? course instead of taking a medicine to lower it? Do these “Pa-
2. The anthropological distinction between illness and dis- leolithic prescriptions” suggested by evolutionary medicine
ease provides a way to separate biological states from cultural run counter to your own medical beliefs and practices?
306 Chapter Thirteen/Human Adaptation to a Changing World

4. Are there any examples in your experience of how the Nesse, R. M., & Williams, G. C. (1996). Why we get sick. New
growth process or human reproductive physiology served to York: Vintage.
help you adapt to environmental stressors? Does this ability The authors expanded on a scholarly article to bring health-
help humans from an evolutionary perspective? promoting ideas from evolutionary medicine to the public.
5. Do you see examples of structural violence in your commu-
nity that make some individuals more vulnerable to disease
Trevathan, W., Smith, E. O., &.McKenna, J. J. (Eds.). (1999).
than others?
Evolutionary medicine. London: Oxford University Press.
This comprehensive edited volume collects primary research
conducted by leaders in the field of evolutionary medicine.
Suggested Readings Examples from throughout the human life cycle range from
sexually transmitted diseases to cancer.
Farmer, P. (2001). Infections and inequalities: The modern plagues
(updated edition with a new preface). Berkeley: University of
California Press. Thomson Audio Study Products
Paul Farmer, continuing the tradition of the physician anthro-
pologist, traces the relationship between structural violence Enjoy the MP3-ready Audio Lecture Overviews for
and infectious disease, demonstrating that the world’s poor each chapter and a comprehensive audio glossary of
bear a disproportionate burden of disease. key terms for quick study and review. Whether walk-
ing to class, doing laundry, or studying at your desk, you now
have the freedom to choose when, where, and how you inter-
Helman, C. B. (2003). Culture, health, and illness: An introduc- act with your audio-based educational media. See the preface
tion for health professionals. New York: Butterworth Heine- for information on how to access this on-the-go study and re-
mann Medical. view tool.
This well-referenced book provides a good overview and intro-
duction to medical anthropology. Though written with health
professionals in mind, it is very accessible for North American The Anthropology Resource Center
students who have fi rsthand experience with biomedicine, the
dominant medical system of North America. www.thomsonedu.com/anthropology
The Anthropology Resource Center provides extended learn-
ing materials to reinforce your understanding of key concepts
McElroy, A., & Townsend, P. K. (2003). Medical anthropology in in the four fields of anthropology. For each of the four fields,
ecological perspective. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. the Resource Center includes dynamic exercises including
Now in its fourth edition, this text lays out ecological ap- video exercises, map exercises, simulations, and “Meet the Sci-
proaches in medical anthropology, including biocultural, en- entists” interviews, as well as critical thinking questions that
vironmental, and evolutionary perspectives. In addition to can be assigned and e-mailed to instructors. The Resource
providing a clear theoretical perspective, it offers excellent ex- Center also provides breaking news in anthropology and in-
amples of applied work by medical anthropologists to improve teresting material on applied anthropology to help you link
health globally. what you are learning to the world around you.
Glossary
absolute or chronometric dating: In ar- Archaic cultures: Term used to refer to cognitive capacity: A broad concept
chaeology and paleoanthropology, dates Mesolithic cultures in the Americas. including intelligence, educability,
for recovered archaeological material Ardipithecus ramidus: One of the earliest concept formation, self-awareness, self-
based on solar years, centuries, or other bipeds that lived in eastern Africa about evaluation, attention span, sensitivity in
units of absolute time. 4.4 to 5.8 million years ago. discrimination, and creativity.
acclimatization: Long-term physiological Aurignacian tradition: Tool-making tradi- community: A unit of primate social orga-
adjustments made in order to attain an tion in Europe and western Asia at the nization composed of fi fty or more indi-
equilibrium with a specific environmen- beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. viduals who inhabit a large geographic
tal stimulus. Australopithecus: The genus including sev- area together.
Acheulean tradition: The tool-making tra- eral species of early bipeds from south- continental drift: According to the theory
dition of Homo erectus in Africa, Europe, ern, eastern, and central Africa living of plate tectonics, the movement of conti-
and Southwest Asia in which hand-axes between about 1.1 and 4.3 million years nents embedded in underlying plates
were developed from the earlier Old- ago, one of whom was directly ancestral on the earth’s surface in relation to one
owan chopper. to humans. another over the history of life on earth.
action theory: The theory that self-serving Bergman’s rule: The tendency for the bod- convergent evolution: In biological
actions by forceful leaders play a role in ies of mammals living in cold climates to evolution a process by which unrelated
civilization’s emergence. be shorter and rounder than members of populations develop similarities to one
adaptation: A series of beneficial adjust- the same species living in warm climates. another due to similar function rather
ments to the environment. binocular vision: Vision with increased than shared ancestry. In cultural evolu-
adaptive radiation: Rapid diversification of depth perception from two eyes set next tion, the development of similar cultural
an evolving population as it adapts to a to each other allowing their visual fields adaptations to similar environmental
variety of available niches. to overlap. conditions by different peoples with dif-
agriculture: The cultivation of food plants bioarchaeology: The archaeological study ferent ancestral cultures.
in soil prepared and maintained for crop of human remains emphasizing the pres- coprolites: Preserved fecal material provid-
production. Involves using technologies ervation of cultural and social processes ing evidence of the diet and health of past
other than hand tools, such as irrigation, in the skeleton. organisms.
fertilizers, and the wooden or metal plow biocultural: Focusing on the interaction of cranium: The braincase of the skull.
pulled by harnessed draft animals. biology and culture. Cro-Magnon: A European of the Upper
allele: Alternate form of a single gene. bipedalism: The mode of locomotion in Paleolithic after about 36,000 years ago.
Allen’s rule: The tendency of mammals which an organism walks upright on its cultural adaptation: A complex of ideas,
living in cold climates to have shorter two hind legs characteristic of humans activities, and technologies that enable
appendages (arms and legs) than mem- and their ancestors. people to survive and even thrive.
bers of the same species living in warm blade technique: A technique of stone tool cultural anthropology: Also known as
climates. manufacture by which long, parallel- social or sociocultural anthropology.
altruism: Acts of selflessness or self- sided flakes are struck off the edges of a The study of customary patterns in hu-
sacrificing behavior. specially prepared core. man behavior, thought, and feelings. It
anagenesis: A sustained directional shift in brachiation: Using the arms to swing from focuses on humans as culture-producing
a population’s average characteristics. branch to branch, with the body hanging and culture-reproducing creatures.
analogies: In biology, structures possessed suspended beneath the arms. cultural resource management (CRM):
by different organisms that are super- burin: A stone tool with chisel-like edges A branch of archaeology tied to gov-
ficially similar due to similar function; used for working bone and antler. ernment policies for the protection of
without sharing a common developmen- Catarrhini: An anthropoid infraorder that cultural resources and involving survey-
tal pathway or structure. includes Old World monkeys, apes, and ing and/or excavating archaeological
ancestral: Characteristics possessed by an humans. and historical remains threatened by
organism or group of organisms due to chromosome: In the cell nucleus, the struc- construction or development.
shared ancestry. ture visible during cellular division con- culture: A society’s shared and socially
Anthropoidea: A suborder of the primates taining long strands of DNA combined transmitted ideas, values, and percep-
that includes New World monkeys, Old with a protein. tions, which are used to make sense of
World monkeys, and apes (including civilization: In anthropology a type of experience and which generate behavior
humans). society marked by the presence of cities, and are reflected in that behavior.
applied anthropology: The use of an- social classes, and the state. datum point: The starting, or reference,
thropological knowledge and methods cladogenesis: Speciation through a branch- point for a grid system.
to solve practical problems, often for a ing mechanism whereby an ancestral dendrochronology: In archaeology, a
specific client. population gives rise to two or more method of chronometric dating based on
arboreal: Living in the trees. descendant populations. the number of rings of growth found in a
arboreal hypothesis: A theory for pri- clavicle: The collarbone connecting the tree trunk.
mate evolution that proposes that life in sternum (breastbone) with the scapula dental formula: The number of each tooth
the trees was responsible for enhanced (shoulder blade). type (incisors, canines, premolars, and
visual acuity and manual dexterity in cline: A gradual change in the frequency of molars) on one half of each jaw. Unlike
primates. an allele or trait over space. other mammals, primates possess equal
archaeology: The study of human cultures codon: Three-base sequence of a gene that numbers on their upper and lower jaws
through the recovery and analysis of ma- specifies a particular amino acid for so the dental formula for the species is a
terial remains and environmental data. inclusion in a protein. single series of numbers.
307
308 Glossary

derived: Characteristics that defi ne a group or historical point of view, utilizing gracile australopithecines: Members of the
of organisms that did not exist in ances- ethnographic accounts and developing genus Australopithecus possessing a more
tral populations. anthropological theories that help ex- lightly built chewing apparatus; likely
developmental adaptation: A permanent plain why certain important differences had a diet that included more meat than
phenotypic variation derived from inter- or similarities occur among groups. that of the robust australopithecines.
action between genes and the environ- evolution: Changes in allele frequen- grade: A general level of biological orga-
ment during the period of growth and cies in populations; also known as nization seen among a group of species,
development. microevolution. useful for constructing evolutionary
diastema: A space between the canines evolutionary medicine: An approach to relationships.
and other teeth allowing large projecting human sickness and health combining grave goods: Items such as utensils, figu-
canines space within the jaw. principles of evolutionary theory and hu- rines, and personal possessions, symboli-
disease: Refers to a specific pathology; man evolutionary history. cally placed in the grave for the deceased
a physical or biological abnormality. fieldwork: The term anthropologists use person’s use in the afterlife.
divination: A magical procedure or for on-location research. grid system: A system for recording data in
spiritual ritual designed to fi nd out about flotation: An archaeological technique three dimensions from an archaeological
what is not knowable by ordinary means, employed to recover very tiny objects excavation.
such as foretelling the future by inter- by immersion of soil samples in water to grooming: The ritual cleaning of another
preting omens. separate heavy from light particles. animal’s coat to remove parasites and
DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid. The genetic fluorine dating: In archaeology or paleo- other matter.
material consisting of a complex mol- anthropology, a technique for relative Haplorhini: In the alternate primate taxon-
ecule whose base structure directs the dating based on the fact that the amount omy, the suborder that includes tarsiers,
synthesis of proteins. of fluorine in bones is proportional to monkeys, apes, and humans.
domestication: An evolutionary process their age. Hardy-Weinberg principle: Demonstrates
whereby humans modify, either inten- food foraging: Hunting, fishing, and gath- algebraically that the percentage of in-
tionally or unintentionally, the genetic ering wild plant foods. dividuals that are homozygous for the
makeup of a population of plants or foramen magnum: A large opening in dominant allele, homozygous for the
animals, sometimes to the extent that the skull through which the spinal cord recessive allele, and heterozygous should
members of the population are unable passes and connects to the brain. remain constant from one generation to
to survive and/or reproduce without hu- forensic anthropology: Applied subfield of the next, provided that certain specified
man assistance. physical anthropology that specializes conditions are met.
dominance: The ability of one allele for in the identification of human skeletal health disparity: A difference in the health
a trait to mask the presence of another remains for legal purposes. status between the wealthy elite and the
allele. fossil: Any mineralized trace or impres- poor in stratified societies.
dominance hierarchies: An observed sion of an organism that has been pre- hemoglobin: The protein that carries oxy-
ranking system in primate societies served in the earth’s crust from past gen in the red blood cells.
ordering individuals from high (alpha) to geological time. heterochrony: Change in the timing of
low standing corresponding to predict- founder effect: A particular form of genetic developmental events that is often re-
able behavioral interactions including drift deriving from a small founding sponsible for changes in the shape or size
domination. population not possessing all the alleles of a body part.
ecological niche: A species’ way of life present in the original population. heterozygous: Refers to a chromosome
considered in the full context of its envi- fovea centralis: A shallow pit in the retina pair that bears different alleles for a
ronment, including factors such as diet, of the eye that enables an animal to focus single gene.
activity, terrain, vegetation, predators, on an object while maintaining visual holistic perspective: A fundamental prin-
prey, and climate. contact with its surroundings. ciple of anthropology: that the various
empirical: Based on observations of the gene: A portion of the DNA molecule con- parts of human culture and biology
world rather than on intuition or faith. taining a sequence of base pairs that is must be viewed in the broadest possible
endemic: The public health term for a dis- the fundamental physical and functional context in order to understand their
ease that is widespread in a population. unit of heredity. interconnections and interdependence.
endocast: A cast of the inside of a skull; gene flow: The introduction of alleles from homeobox gene: A gene responsible for
helps determine the size and shape of the the gene pool of one population into that large-scale effects on growth and devel-
brain. of another. opment that are frequently responsible
entoptic phenomena: Bright pulsating gene pool: All the genetic variants pos- for major reorganization of body plans in
forms that are generated by the central sessed by members of a population. organisms.
nervous system and seen in states of genetic code: The sequence of three bases homeotherm: An animal that maintains
trance. (a codon) that specifies the sequence of a relatively constant body temperature
enzyme: Protein that initiates and directs amino acids in protein synthesis. despite environmental fluctuations.
chemical reactions. genetic drift: Chance fluctuations of home range: The geographic area within
epicanthic eye fold: A fold of skin at the in- allele frequencies in the gene pool of a which a group of primates usually
ner corner of the eye that covers the true population. moves.
corner of the eye; common in Asiatic genotype: The alleles possessed for a par- hominid: African hominoid family that in-
populations. ticular trait. cludes humans and their ancestors. Some
estrus: In some primate females, the time genus, genera (pl.): In the system of plant scientists, recognizing the close relation-
of sexual receptivity during which ovula- and animal classification, a group of like ship of humans, chimps, bonobos, and
tion is visibly displayed. species. gorillas, use the term hominid to refer to
ethnography: A detailed description of a globalization: Worldwide interconnected- all African hominoids. They then divide
particular culture primarily based on ness, evidenced in global movements of the hominid family into two subfamilies:
fieldwork. natural resources, trade goods, human the Paninae (chimps, bonobos, and goril-
ethnology: The study and analysis of labor, fi nance capital, information, and las) and the Homininae (humans and
different cultures from a comparative infectious diseases. their ancestors).
 Glossary 309

hominin: The taxonomic subfamily or law of competitive exclusion: When molecular anthropology: A branch of
tribe within the primates that includes two closely related species compete for biological anthropology that uses genetic
humans and our ancestors. the same niche, one will out-compete and biochemical techniques to test hy-
hominoid: The taxonomic division super- the other, bringing about the latter’s potheses about human evolution, adapta-
family within the cattarrhine primates extinction. tion, and variation.
that includes gibbons, siamangs, orang- law of independent assortment: The molecular clock: The hypothesis that dates
utans, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, Mendelian principle that genes control- of divergences among related species can
and humans. ling different traits are inherited indepen- be calculated through an examination of
Homo erectus: “Upright man.” A species dently of one another. the genetic mutations that have accrued
within the genus Homo fi rst appearing law of segregation: The Mendelian prin- since the divergence.
just after 2 million years ago in Africa ciple that variants of genes for a particu- monogamous: In the animal kingdom,
and ultimately spreading throughout the lar trait retain their separate identities mating for life with a single individual
Old World. through the generations. of the opposite sex.
Homo habilis: “Handy man.” The fi rst Levalloisian technique: Tool-making Mousterian tradition: The tool industry
fossil members of the genus Homo technique by which three or four long of the Neandertals and their contem-
appearing 2.5 million years ago, with triangular flakes were detached from a poraries of Europe, Southwest Asia,
larger brains and smaller faces than specially prepared core. Developed by and northern Africa from 40,000 to
australopithecines. members of the genus Homo transitional 125,000 years ago.
homologies: In biology, structures pos- from H. erectus to H. sapiens. multiregional hypothesis: The hypothesis
sessed by two different organisms that Lower Paleolithic: The fi rst part of the that modern humans originated through
arise in similar fashion and pass through Old Stone Age beginning with the a process of simultaneous local transi-
similar stages during embryonic develop- earliest Oldowan tools spanning from tion from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens
ment though they may possess different about 200,000 or 250,000 to 2.6 million throughout the inhabited world.
functions. years ago. mutation: Chance alteration of genetic
homozygous: Refers to a chromosome pair macroevolution: Evolution above the spe- material that produces new variation.
that bears identical alleles for a single cies level. natal group: The group or the community
gene. mammal: The class of vertebrate animals an animal has inhabited since birth.
horticulture: Cultivation of crops carried distinguished by bodies covered with Natufian culture: A Mesolithic culture
out with simple hand tools such as dig- fur, self-regulating temperature, and living in the lands that are now Israel,
ging sticks or hoes. in females milk-producing mammary Lebanon, and western Syria, between
hunting response: A cyclic expansion and glands. about 12,500 and 10,200 years ago.
contraction of the blood vessels of the material culture: The durable aspects of natural selection: The evolutionary
limbs that balances releasing enough culture such as tools, structures, and art. process through which factors in the
heat to the limbs to prevent frostbite medical anthropology: A specialization in environment exert pressure, favoring
with maintaining heat in the body core. anthropology that brings theoretical and some individuals over others to produce
hydraulic theory: The theory that explains applied approaches from cultural and the next generation.
civilization’s emergence as the result of biological anthropology to the study of Neandertals: A distinct group within
the construction of elaborate irrigation human health and disease. the genus Homo inhabiting Europe and
systems, the functioning of which re- medical pluralism: The presence of mul- Southwest Asia from approximately
quired full-time managers whose control tiple medical systems, each with its own 30,000 to 125,000 years ago.
blossomed into the fi rst governing body practices and beliefs in a society. Neolithic: The New Stone Age; prehistoric
and elite social class. medical system: A patterned set of ideas period beginning about 10,000 years ago
hypoglossal canal: The opening in the and practices relating to illness. in which peoples possessed stone-based
skull that accommodates the tongue- meiosis: A kind of cell division that pro- technologies and depended on domesti-
controlling hypoglossal nerve. duces the sex cells, each of which has half cated crops and/or animals.
illness: Refers to the meanings and elab- the number of chromosomes found in Neolithic transition: Sometimes referred
orations given to a particular physical other cells of the organism. to as Neolithic revolution. The pro-
state. melanin: The chemical responsible for found culture change beginning about
isolating mechanism: A factor that dark skin pigmentation that helps 10,000 years ago and associated with the
separates breeding populations, thereby protect against damage from ultraviolet early domestication of plants and animals
preventing gene flow, creating divergent radiation. and settlement in villages.
subspecies, and ultimately (if main- Mesoamerica: The region encompassing nocturnal: Active at night and at rest dur-
tained) divergent species. southern Mexico and northern Central ing the day.
isotherm: An animal whose body tem- America. notochord: A rodlike structure of cartilage
perature rises or falls according to Mesolithic: The Middle Stone Age period that, in vertebrates, is replaced by the
the temperature of the surrounding between the end of the Paleolithic and vertebral column.
environment. the start of the Neolithic; referred to as Oldowan tool tradition: The fi rst stone
Kenyanthropus platyops: A new proposed Archaic cultures in the Americas. tool industry, beginning between 2.5 and
genus and species of bipeds contempo- middens: A refuse or garbage disposal area 2.6 million years ago.
rary with early australopithecines; may in an archaeological site. opposable: Able to bring the thumb or big
not be separate genus. Middle Paleolithic: The middle part of toe in contact with the tips of the other
k-selected: Reproduction involving the the Old Stone Age characterized by the digits on the same hand or foot in order
production of relatively few offspring development of the Mousterian tradition to grasp objects.
with high parental investment in each. of tool making and the earlier Levalloi- ovulation: Moment when an egg released
lactase: An enzyme in the small intes- sian traditions. from the ovaries into the womb is recep-
tine that enables humans to assimilate mitosis: A kind of cell division that pro- tive for fertilization.
lactose. duces new cells having exactly the same paleoanthropology: The study of the
lactose: A sugar that is the primary con- number of chromosome pairs, and hence origins and predecessors of the present
stituent of fresh milk. copies of genes, as the parent cell. human species.
310 Glossary

Paleoindian: The earliest inhabitants of prehensile: Having the ability to grasp. RNA: Ribonucleic acid; similar to DNA
North America. prehistory: A conventional term used to but with uracil substituted for the base
palynology: In archaeology and paleo- refer to the period of time before the thymine. Transcribes and carries instruc-
anthropology, a method of relative appearance of written records. Does not tions from DNA from the nucleus to
dating based on changes in fossil pollen deny the existence of history, merely of the ribosomes where it directs protein
over time. written history. synthesis. Some simple life forms contain
participant observation: In ethnography, pressure flaking: A technique of stone tool RNA only.
the technique of learning a people’s manufacture in which a bone, antler, or robust australopithecines: Several species
culture through social participation and wooden tool is used to press, rather than within the genus Australopithecus, who
personal observation within the commu- strike off, small flakes from a piece of lived from 2.5 and 1.1 million years ago
nity being studied, as well as interviews fl int or similar stone. in eastern and southern Africa; known
and discussion with individual members primate: The group of mammals that in- for the rugged nature of their chewing
of the group over an extended period cludes lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, apparatus (large back teeth, large chew-
of time. apes, and humans. ing muscles, and a bony ridge on their
pastoralism: Breeding and managing mi- primatology: The study of living and fossil skull tops for the insertion of these large
gratory herds of domesticated grazing primates. muscles).
animals, such as goats, sheep, cattle, prion: An infectious protein lacking any r-selected: Reproduction involving the
llamas, or camels. genetic material but capable of causing production of large numbers of offspring
percussion method: A technique of stone the reorganization and destruction of with relatively low parental investment
tool manufacture performed by striking other proteins. in each.
the raw material with a hammerstone or Prosimii: A suborder of the primates that sagittal crest: A crest running from front
by striking raw material against a stone includes lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers. to back on the top of the skull along the
anvil to remove flakes. punctuated equilibria: A model of macro- midline to provide a surface of bone for
phenotype: The observable or testable evolutionary change that suggests evolu- the attachment of the large temporal
appearance of an organism that may or tion occurs via long periods of stability muscles for chewing.
may not reflect a particular genotype due or stasis punctuated by periods of rapid Sahul: The greater Australian landmass
to the variable expression of dominant change. including Australia, New Guinea, and
and recessive alleles. quantitative data: Statistical or measur- Tasmania. At times of maximum glacia-
physical anthropology: Also known as able information, such as demographic tion and low sea levels, these areas were
biological anthropology. The system- composition, the types and quantities continuous.
atic study of humans as biological of crops grown, or the ratio of spouses scapula: The shoulder blade.
organisms. born and raised within or outside the secular trend: A physical difference
physiological adaptation: A short-term community. among related people from distinct
physiological change in response to race: In biology, the taxonomic category generations that allows anthropolo-
a specific environmental stimulus. of subspecies that is not applicable to gists to make inferences about en-
An immediate short-term response humans because the division of humans vironmental effects on growth and
is not very efficient and is gradually into discrete types does not represent development.
replaced by a longer term response (see the true nature of human biological seriation: A technique for relative dating
acclimatization). variation. In some societies race is an by putting groups of objects into a se-
Platyrrhini: An anthropoid infraorder that important social category. quence in relation to one another.
includes New World monkeys. racism: A doctrine of superiority by which sexual dimorphism: Within a single spe-
polygenetic inheritance: When two or one group justifies the dehumanization cies, differences in the shape or size of
more genes contribute to the phenotypic of others based on their distinctive physi- a feature for males and females in body
expression of single characteristic. cal characteristics. features not directly related to reproduc-
polygyny: Marriage of a man to two or radiocarbon dating: In archaeology and tion such as body size or canine tooth
more women at the same time; a form of paleoanthropology, a technique for chro- shape and size.
polygamy. nometric dating based on measuring the sickle-cell anemia: An inherited form
polymerase chain reaction (PCR): A tech- amount of radioactive carbon (14C ) left of anemia caused by a mutation in the
nique for amplifying or creating multiple in organic materials found in archaeo- hemoglobin protein that causes the
copies of fragments of DNA so that it can logical sites. red blood cells to assume a sickle
be studied in the laboratory. recent African origins or “Eve” hypoth- shape.
polymorphic: A term to describe species esis: The hypothesis that all modern soil mark: A stain that shows up on the sur-
with alternative forms (alleles) of particu- people are derived from one single face of recently plowed fields that reveals
lar genes. population of archaic H. sapiens from an archaeological site.
polytypic: The expression of genetic vari- Africa who migrated out of Africa after speciation: The process of forming new
ants in different frequencies in different 100,000 years ago, replacing all other ar- species.
populations of a species. chaic forms due to their superior cultural species: The smallest working unit in the
population: In biology, a group of similar capabilities. Also called the out of Africa system of classification. Among living
individuals that can and do interbreed. hypothesis. organisms, species are populations or
potassium-argon dating: In archaeology recessive: An allele for a trait whose ex- groups of populations capable of inter-
and paleoanthropology, a technique for pression is masked by the presence of a breeding and producing fertile viable
chronometric dating that measures the dominant allele. offspring.
ratio of radioactive potassium to argon relative dating: In archaeology and pa- stabilizing selection: Natural selection
in volcanic debris associated with human leoanthropology, designating an event, acting to promote stability, rather than
remains. object, or fossil as being older or younger change, in a population’s gene pool.
preadapted: Possessing characteristics that, than another. stratified: Layered; said of archaeological
by chance, are advantageous in future ribosomes: Structures in the cell where sites where the remains lie in layers, one
environmental conditions. translation occurs. upon another.
 Glossary 311

stratigraphy: In archaeology and paleo- found in all the hominoids, allowing transcription: Process of conversion of
anthropology, the most reliable method these large-bodied primates to hang sus- instructions from DNA into RNA.
of relative dating by means of strata. pended below the tree branches. translation: Process of conversion of RNA
Strepsirhini: In the alternate primate taphonomy: The study of how bones and instructions into proteins.
taxonomy, the suborder that includes other materials come to be preserved in Upper Paleolithic: The last part (10,000 to
the lemurs and lorises without the the earth as fossils. 40,000 years ago) of the Old Stone Age,
tarsiers. taxonomy: The science of classification. featuring tool industries characterized
structural violence: Physical and/or psy- tertiary scavenger: In a food chain, the by long slim blades and an explosion of
chological harm (including repression, third animal group (second to scavenge) creative symbolic forms.
environmental destruction, poverty, to obtain meat from a kill made by a vertebrate: An animal with a backbone in-
hunger, illness, and premature death) predator. cluding fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds,
caused by impersonal, exploitative, and thrifty genotype: Human genotype that and mammals.
unjust social, political, and economic permits efficient storage of fat to draw on visual predation: A hypothesis for primate
systems. in times of food shortage and conserva- evolution that proposes that hunting
Sunda: The combined landmass of the tion of glucose and nitrogen. behavior in tree-dwelling primates was
contemporary islands of Java, Sumatra, tool: An object used to facilitate some responsible for their enhanced visual
Borneo, and Bali that was continuous task or activity. Although tool making acuity and manual dexterity.
with mainland Southeast Asia at times of involves intentional modification of the
low sea levels corresponding to maxi- material of which it is made, tool use
mum glaciation. may involve objects either modified for
suspensory hanging apparatus: The broad some particular purpose or completely
powerful shoulder joints and muscles unmodified.
Bibliography

Abbot, E. (2001). A history of celibacy. Cam- Angrosino, M. V. (2004). Projects in ethno- Barber, B. (1957). Social stratification. New
bridge, MA: Da Capo Press. graphic research. Long Grove, IL: Wave- York: Harcourt.
Aberle, D. F., Bronfenbrenner, U., Hess, land Press. Barham, L. S. (1998). Possible early pig-
E. H., Miller, D. R., Schneider, D. H., Ankel-Simons, F., Fleagle, J. G., & Cha- ment use in South-Central Africa. Cur-
& Spuhler, J. N. (1963). The incest taboo trath, P. S. (1998). Femoral anatomy of rent Anthropology 39, 703–710.
and the mating patterns of animals. Aegyptopithecus zeuxis, an early Oligo- Barnard, A. (1995). Monboddo’s Orang
American Anthropologist 65, 253–265. cene anthropoid. American Journal of Outang and the defi nition of man. In
Abu-Lughod, L. (1986). Veiled sentiments: Physical Anthropology 106, 421– 422. R. Corbey & B. Theunissen (Eds.), Ape,
Honor and poetry in a Bedouin society. Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at large: man, apeman: Changing views since 1600
Berkeley: University of California Press. Cultural dimensions of globalization. Min- (pp. 71– 85). Leiden: Department of Pre-
Adams, R. E. W. (1977). Prehistoric Meso- neapolis: University of Minnesota Press. history, Leiden University.
america. Boston: Little, Brown. Appenzeller, T. (1998). Art: Evolution or Barnett, H. (1953). Innovation: The basis of
Adams, R. M. (1966). The evolution of urban revolution? Science 282, 1,451–1,454. cultural change. New York: McGraw- Hill.
society. Chicago: Aldine. Armstrong, D. F., Stokoe, W. C., & Wil- Barnouw, V. (1985). Culture and personality
Adams, R. M. (2001). Scale and complexity cox, S. E. (1993). Signs of the origin of (4th ed.). Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press.
in archaic states. Latin American Antiquity syntax. Current Anthropology 34, 349–368. Barr, R. G. (1997, October). The crying
11, 188. Ashmore, W. (Ed.). (1981). Lowland Maya game. Natural History, 47.
Adbusters. www.adbusters.org. settlement patterns. Albuquerque: Univer- Barth, F. (1961). Nomads of South Persia:
Alemseged, Z., et al. (2006, September 21). sity of New Mexico Press. The Basseri tribe of the Khamseh confed-
Nature 443, 296–301. Aureli, F., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2000). eracy. Boston: Little, Brown (series in
Alland, A., Jr. (1970). Adaptation in cultural Natural conflict resolution. Berkeley: Uni- anthropology).
evolution: An approach to medical anthro- versity of California Press. Barth, F. (1962). Nomadism in the moun-
pology. New York: Columbia University Avedon, J. F. (1997). In exile from the land of tain and plateau areas of Southwest Asia.
Press. snows: The definitive account of the Dalai The problems of the arid zone (pp. 341–355).
Alland, A., Jr. (1971). Human diversity. Lama and Tibet since the Chinese conquest. Paris: UNESCO.
New York: Columbia University Press. New York: Harper. Bar-Yosef, O. (1986), The walls of Jericho:
Allen, J. L., & Shalinsky, A. C. (2004). Babiker, M. A., Alumran, K., Alshahri, An alternative interpretation. Current
Student atlas of anthropology. New York: A., Almadan, M., & Islam, F. (1996). Un- Anthropology 27, 160.
McGraw-Hill. necessary deprivation of common food Bar-Yosef, O., Vandermeesch, B., Arens-
Allen, J. S., & Cheer, S. M. (1996). The items in glucose-6-phosphate dehydroge- burg, B., Belfer-Cohen, A., Goldberg,
non-thrifty genotype. Current Anthropol- nase deficiency. Annals of Saudi Arabia 16 P., Laville, H., Meignen, L., Rak, Y.,
ogy 37, 831– 842. (4), 462– 463. Speth, J. D., Tchernov, E., Tillier, A-M.,
Alvard, M. S., & Kuznar, L. (2001). Bailey, R. C., & Aunger, R. (1989). Net & Weiner, S. (1992). The excavations in
Deferred harvest: The transition from hunters vs. archers: Variation in women’s Kebara Cave, Mt. Carmel. Current Anthro-
hunting to animal husbandry. American subsistence strategies in the Ituri Forest. pology 33, 497–550.
Anthropologist 103 (2), 295–311. Human Ecology 17, 273–297. Bascom, W. (1969). The Yoruba of southwest-
Amábile-Cuevas, C. F., & Chicurel, M. E. Baker, P. (Ed.) (1978). The biology of high ern Nigeria. New York: Holt, Rinehart &
(1993). Horizontal gene transfer. Ameri- altitude peoples. London: Cambridge Winston.
can Scientist 81, 332–341. University Press. Bates, D. G. (2001). Human adaptive strate-
AMAP. (2003). AMAP assessment 2002: Balandier, G. (1971). Political anthropology. gies: Ecology, culture, and politics (2nd ed.).
Human health in the Arctic. Oslo: Arctic New York: Pantheon. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Monitoring Assessment Project. Balikci, A. (1970). The Netsilik Eskimo. Gar- Bates, D. G., & Plog, F. (1991). Human
Ambrose, S. H. (2001). Paleolithic technol- den City, NY: Natural History Press. adaptive strategies. New York: McGraw-
ogy and human evolution. Science 291, Balter, M. (1998). On world AIDS day, a Hill.
1,748–1,753. shadow looms over southern Africa. Bednarik, R. G. (1995). Concept-mediated
American Anthropological Association. Science 282, 1,790. marking in the Lower Paleolithic. Current
(1998). Statement on “race.” www Balter, M. (1998). Why settle down? The Anthropology 36, 606.
.ameranthassn.org. mystery of communities. Science 282, Beeman, W. O. (2000). Introduction:
Amiran, R. (1965). The beginnings of 1,442–1,444. Margaret Mead, cultural studies, and
pottery-making in the Near East. In Balter, M. (1999). A long season puts Çatal- international understanding. In M. Mead
F. R. Matson (Ed.), Ceramics and man höyük in context. Science 286, 890– 891. & R. Métraux (Eds.), The study of culture
(pp. 240–247). Viking Fund Publications Balter, M. (2001). Did plaster hold Neo- at a distance (pp. xiv–xxxi). New York and
in Anthropology, 41. lithic society together? Science 294, Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Anderson, A. (2002). Faunal collapse, land- 2,278–2,281. Behrend, H., & Luig, U. (Eds.) (2000).
scape change, and settlement history in Balter, M. (2001). In search of the fi rst Euro- Spirit possession, modernity, and power in
Remote Oceania. World Archaeology 33 (3), peans. Science 291, 1,724. Africa. Madison: University of Wisconsin
375–390. Banton, M. (1968). Voluntary association: Press.
Andrews, L. B., & Nelkin, D. (1996). Anthropological aspects. In International Behrensmeyer, A. K., Todd, N. E., Potts,
The Bell Curve: A statement. Science encyclopedia of the social sciences (Vol. 16, R., & McBrinn, G. E. (1997). Late
271,13. pp. 357–362). New York: Macmillan. Pliocene faunal turnover in the Turkana

312
 Bibliography 313

basin, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Science 278, Bodley, J. H. (1985). Anthropology and con- Braidwood, R. J. (1960). The agricultural
1,589–1,594. temporary human problems (2nd ed.). Palo revolution. Scientific American 203,
Belshaw, C. S. (1958). The significance of Alto, CA: Mayfield. 130–141.
modern cults in Melanesian develop- Bodley, J. H. (1990). Victims of progress Braidwood, R. J. (1975). Prehistoric men
ment. In W. Lessa & E. Z. Vogt (Eds.), (3rd ed.). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. (8th ed.). Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.
Reader in comparative religion: An anthro- Boehm, C. (1984). Blood revenge. Lawrence: Brain, C. K. (1968). Who killed the Swart-
pological approach. New York: Harper & University of Kansas Press. krans ape-men? South African Museums
Row. Boehm, C. (2000). The evolution of moral Association Bulletin 9, 127–139.
Benedict, R. (1959). Patterns of culture. New communities. School of American Research, Brain, C. K. (1969). The contribution of Na-
York: New American Library. 2000 Annual Report, 7. mib Desert Hottentots to an understand-
Bermúdez de Castro, J. M., Arsuaga, J. L., Bogucki, P. (1999). The origins of human ing of australopithecine bone accumula-
Cabonell, E., Rosas, A., Martinez, I., society. Oxford, England: Blackwell. tions. Scientific Papers of the Namib Desert
& Mosquera, M. (1997). A hominid Bohannan, P. (Ed.) (1967). Law and warfare: Research Station, 13.
from the lower Pleistocene of Atapuerca, Studies in the anthropology of conflict. Gar- Branda, R. F., & Eatoil, J. W. (1978). Skin
Spain: Possible ancestor to Neander- den City, NY: Natural History Press. color and photolysis: An evolutionary
tals and modern humans. Science 276, Bohannan, P., & Middleton, J. (Eds.) hypothesis. Science 201, 625– 626.
1,392–1,395. (1968). Kinship and social organization. Brettell, C. B., & Sargent, C. F. (Eds.)
Berndt, R. M., & Berndt, C. H. (1989). Garden City, NY: Natural History Press (2000). Gender in cross-cultural perspec-
The Speaking Land: Myth and story in (American Museum Source Books in tive (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Aboriginal Australia. New York: Penguin. Anthropology). Prentice-Hall.
Berra, T. M. (1990). Evolution and the myth Bohannan, P., & Middleton, J. (Eds.) Brew, J. O. (1968). One hundred years of
of creationism. Stanford, CA: Stanford (1968). Marriage, family, and residence. anthropology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press. Garden City, NY: Natural History Press University Press.
Bicchieri, M. G. (Ed.) (1972). Hunters and (American Museum Source Books in Brody, H. (1981). Maps and dreams. New
gatherers today: A socioeconomic study of Anthropology). York: Pantheon Books.
eleven such cultures in the twentieth century. Bolinger, D. (1968). Aspects of language. New Broecker, W. S. (1992, April). Global warm-
New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. York: Harcourt. ing on trial. Natural History, 14.
Binford, L. R. (1972). An archaeological per- Bongaarts, J. (1998). Demographic conse- Brown, B., Walker, A., Ward, C. V., &
spective. New York: Seminar Press. quences of declining fertility. Science 182, Leakey, R. E. (1993). New Australopithe-
Binford, L. R., & Chuan, K. H. (1985). 419. cus boisei calvaria from East Lake Tur-
Taphonomy at a distance: Zhoukoudian, Bonvillain, N. (2000). Language, culture, kana, Kenya. American Journal of Physical
the cave home of Beijing man? Current and communication: The meaning of mes- Anthropology 91, 137–159.
Anthropology 26, 413– 442. sages (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Brown, D. E. (1991). Human universals. New
Birdsell, J. H. (1977). The recalibration of Prentice-Hall. York: McGraw-Hill.
a paradigm for the fi rst peopling of Bordes, F. (1972). A tale of two caves. New Brown, P., et al. (2004). A new small-
Greater Australia. In J. Allen, J. Golson, York: Harper & Row. bodied hominin from the Late Pleisto-
& R. Jones (Eds.), Sunda and Sahul: Pre- Bornstein, M. H. (1975). The influence of cene of Flores, Indonesia. Nature 431,
historic studies in Southeast Asia, Mela- visual perception on culture. American 1,055–1,061.
nesia, and Australia (pp. 113–167). New Anthropologist 77 (4), 774–798. Brues, A. M. (1977). People and races. New
York: Academic Press. Boshara, R. (2003, January/February). York: Macmillan.
Blackless, M., et al. (2000). How sexually Wealth inequality: The $6,000 solution. Brunet, M., Beauvilain, A., Coppens, Y.,
dimorphic are we? Review and synthe- Atlantic Monthly. Heintz, E., Moutaye, A. H., & Pilbeam,
sis. American Journal of Human Biology Bowen, J. R. (2004). Religions in practice: D. (1995). The fi rst australopithecine
12, 151–166. An approach to the anthropology of religion 2,500 kilometers west of the Rift Valley
Blakey, M. (2003). African Burial Ground (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. (Chad). Nature 16, 378 (6554), 273–275.
Project. Department of Anthropology, Bowie, F. (2006). The anthropology of religion: Brunet, M., et al. (2002). A new hominid
College of William & Mary. An introduction (2nd ed.). Malden, MA: from the Upper Miocene of Chad, Cen-
Blok, A. (1974). The mafia of a Sicilian village Blackwell. tral Africa. Nature 418, 145–151.
1860–1960. New York: Harper & Row. Brace, C. L. (1981). Tales of the phylo- Buck, P. H. (1938). Vikings of the Pacific. Chi-
Blok, A. (1981). Rams and billy-goats: A key genetic woods: The evolution and cago: University Press of Chicago.
to the Mediterranean code of honour. significance of phylogenetic trees. Burling, R. (1969). Linguistics and ethno-
Man, New Series 16 (3), 427– 440. American Journal of Physical Anthropology graphic description. American Anthropolo-
Blom, A., et al. (2001). A survey of the apes 56, 411– 429. gist 71, 817– 827.
in the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park, Cen- Brace, C. L. (1997). Cro-Magnons “R” us? Burling, R. (1970). Man’s many voices:
tral African Republic. African Journal of Anthropology Newsletter 38 (8), 1, 4. Language in its cultural context. New York:
Ecology 39, 98–105. Brace, C. L. (2000). Evolution in an an- Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Blumberg, R. L. (1991). Gender, family, and thropological view. Walnut Creek, CA: Burling, R. (1993). Primate calls, human
the economy: The triple overlap. Newbury Altamira. language, and nonverbal communica-
Park, CA: Sage. Brace, C. L., Nelson, H., & Korn, N. tion. Current Anthropology 34, 25–53.
Blumer, M. A., & Byrne, R. (1991). The (1979). Atlas of human evolution (2nd ed.). Burling, R. (2005). The talking ape: How lan-
ecological genetics and domestication New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. guage evolved. Oxford: Oxford University
and the origins of agriculture. Current Bradfield, R. M. (1998). A natural history of Press.
Anthropology 32, 30. associations (2nd ed.). New York: Interna- Butynski, T. M. (2001). Africa’s great apes.
Boas, F. (1962). Primitive art. Gloucester, tional Universities Press. In B. Beck et al. (Eds.), Great apes and hu-
MA: Peter Smith. Bradford, P. V., & Blume, H. (1992). Ota mans: The ethics of co-existence (pp. 3–56).
Boas, F. (1966). Race, language and culture. Benga: The pygmy in the zoo. New York: Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institu-
New York: Free Press. St. Martin’s Press. tion Press.
314 Bibliography

Butzer, K. (1971). Environment and anthropol- Chatty, D. (1996). Mobile pastoralists: De- Cohen, M. N. (1998). Culture of intolerance:
ogy: An ecological approach to prehistory velopment planning and social change in Chauvinism, class, and racism in the United
(2nd ed.). Chicago: Aldine. Oman. New York: Columbia University States. New Haven, CT: Yale University
Byers, D. S. (Ed.) (1967). The prehistory of Press. Press.
the Tehuacan Valley: Vol. 1. Environment Cheater, A. (2005). The anthropology of Cohen, M. N., & Armelagos, G. J. (1984).
and subsistence. Austin: University of power. London: Routledge. Paleopathology at the origins of agriculture.
Texas Press. Chicurel, M. (2001). Can organisms Orlando: Academic Press.
Cachel, S. (1997). Dietary shifts and the speed their own evolution? Science 292, Cohen, M. N., & Armelagos, G. J. (1984).
European Upper Paleolithic transition. 1,824–1,827. Paleopathology at the origins of agricul-
Current Anthropology 38, 590. Childe, V. G. (1951). Man makes himself. ture: Editors’ summation. In Paleopathol-
Calloway, C. (1997). Introduction: Surviv- New York: New American Library. ogy at the origins of agriculture (p. 594).
ing the Dark Ages. In C. G. Calloway (orig. 1936) Orlando: Academic Press.
(Ed.), After King Philip’s war: Presence Childe, V. G. (1954). What happened in his- Colborn, T., et al. (1997). Our stolen future.
and persistence in Indian New England tory. Baltimore: Penguin. New York: Plume/Penguin Books.
(pp. 1–28). Hanover, NH: University Ciochon, R. L., & Fleagle, J. G. (Eds.) Colburn, T., Dumanoski, D., & Myers,
Press of New England. (1987). Primate evolution and human ori- J. P. (1996). Hormonal sabotage. Natural
Carneiro, R. L. (1970). A theory of the ori- gins. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine. History 3, 45– 46.
gin of the state. Science 169, 733–738. Ciochon, R. L., & Fleagle, J. G. (1993). The Cole, J. W., & Wolf, E. R. (1999). The
Carneiro, R. L. (2003). Evolutionism in human evolution source book. Englewood hidden frontier: Ecology and ethnicity in an
cultural anthropology: A critical history. Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. alpine valley (with a new introduction).
Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Clark, E. E. (1966). Indian legends of the Pa- Berkeley: University of California Press.
Caroulis, J. (1996). Food for thought. Penn- cific Northwest. Berkeley: University of Cole, S. (1975). Leakey’s luck: The life of Louis
sylvania Gazette 95 (3),16. California Press. Seymour Bazett Leakey. 1903–1972. New
Carsten, J. (Ed.) (2000). Cultures of related- Clark, G. (1967). The Stone Age hunters. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
ness: New approaches to the study of kinship. York: McGraw-Hill. Collier, J., & Collier, M. (1986). Visual
Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univer- Clark, G. A. (1997). Neandertal genetics. anthropology: Photography as a research
sity Press. Science, 277, 1,024. method. Albuquerque: University of New
Cartmill, M. (1998). The gift of gab. Dis- Clark, G. A. (2002). Neandertal archaeol- Mexico Press.
cover 19 (11), 64. ogy: Implications for our origins. Ameri- Collier, J., Rosaldo, M. Z., & Yanagi-
Cashdan, E. (1989). Hunters and gather- can Anthropologist 104 (1), 50– 67. sako, S. (1982). Is there a family? New
ers: Economic behavior in bands. In Clark, W. E. L. (1960). The antecedents of anthropological views. In B. Thorne &
S. Plattner (Ed.), Economic anthropology man. Chicago: Quadrangle Books. M. Yalom (Eds.), Rethinking the family:
(pp. 21– 48). Stanford, CA: Stanford Uni- Clark, W. E. L. (1966). History of the pri- Some feminist questions (pp. 25–39). New
versity Press. mates (5th ed.). Chicago: University of York: Longman.
Catford, J. C. (1988). A practical introduction Chicago Press. Collier, J. F., & Yanagisako, S. J. (Eds.)
to phonetics. Oxford, England: Clarendon Clark, W. E. L. (1967). Man-apes or ape-men? (1987). Gender and kinship: Essays toward
Press. The story of discoveries in Africa. New a unified analysis. Stanford, CA: Stanford
Caton, S. C. (1999). Lawrence of Arabia: A York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. University Press.
film’s anthropology. Berkeley: University Clarke, R. J. (1998). First ever discovery Cone, M. (2005) Silent snow: The slow poi-
of California Press. of a well preserved skull and associated soning of the Arctic. New York: Grove
Cavalli-Sforza, L. L. (1977). Elements of skeleton of Australopithecus. South African Press.
human genetics. Menlo Park, CA: W. A. Journal of Science 94, 460– 464. Connelly, J. C. (1979). Hopi social orga-
Benjamin. Clarke, R. J., & Tobias, P. V. (1995). Sterk- nization. In A. Ortiz (Ed.), Handbook of
Chagnon, N. A. (1988). Life histories, blood fontein member 2 foot bones of the old- North American Indians, Vol. 9, Southwest
revenge, and warfare in a tribal popula- est South African hominid. Science 269, (pp. 539–553). Washington, DC: Smithso-
tion. Science 239, 935–992. 521–524. nian Institution.
Chagnon, N. A. (1988). Yanomamo: The fierce Clottes, J., & Bennett, G. (2002). World Conner, M. (1996). The archaeology of
people (3rd ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart rock art (conservation and cultural heri- contemporary mass graves. SAA Bulletin
& Winston. tage series). San Francisco: Getty Trust 14 (4), 6, 31.
Chambers, R. (1983). Rural development: Put- Publication. Conroy, G. C. (1997). Reconstructing human
ting the last first. New York: Longman. Coe, S. D., & Coe, M. D. (1996). The true origins: A modern synthesis. New York:
Chang, K. C. (Ed.) (1968). Settlement ar- history of chocolate. New York: Thames Norton.
chaeology. Palo Alto, CA: National and Hudson. Coon, C. S. (Ed.) (1948). A reader in general
Press. Coe, W. R. (1967). Tikal: A handbook of the anthropology. New York: Holt, Rinehart
Chang, L. (2005, June 9). A migrant worker ancient Maya ruins. Philadelphia: Univer- & Winston.
sees rural home in new light. Wall Street sity of Pennsylvania Museum. Coon, C. S. (1954). The story of man. New
Journal. Coe, W. R., & Haviland, W. A. (1982). York: Knopf.
Chapple, E. D. (1970). Cultural and biological Introduction to the archaeology of Tikal. Coon, C. S. (1958). Caravan: The story of the
man: Explorations in behavioral anthro- Philadelphia: University Museum. Middle East (2nd ed.). New York: Holt,
pology. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Cohen, J. (1997). Is an old virus up to new Rinehart & Winston.
Winston. tricks? Science 277, 312–313. Coontz, S. (2005). Marriage, a history: From
Chase, C. (1998). Hermaphrodites with Cohen, M. N. (1977). The food crisis in pre- obedience to intimacy, or how love conquered
attitude. Gay and Lesbian Quarterly 4 (2), history. New Haven, CT: Yale University marriage. New York: Viking Adult.
189–211. Press. Cooper, A., Poinar, H. N., Pääbo, S., Ra-
Chasin, B. H., & Franke, R. W. (1983). US Cohen, M. N. (1995). Anthropology and dovci, C. J., Debénath, A., Caparros,
farming: A world model? Global Reporter race: The Bell Curve phenomenon. Gen- M., Barroso-Ruiz, C., Bertranpetit, J.,
1 (2), 10. eral Anthropology 2(1), 1– 4. Nielsen-March, C., Hedges, R. E. M., &
 Bibliography 315

Sykes, B. (1997). Neanderthal genetics. Dalton, G. (Ed.) (1967). Tribal and peasant de Waal, F. B. M. (1998). Comment. Current
Science 277, 1,021–1,024. economics: Readings in economic anthropol- Anthropology 39, 407.
Coppa, A., et al. (2006). Early Neolithic tra- ogy. Garden City, NY: Natural History de Waal, F. B. M. (2000). Primates—A nat-
dition of dentistry. Nature 440, 755–756. Press. ural heritage of confl ict resolution. Sci-
Coppens, Y., Howell, F. C., Isaac, G. L., Dalton, G. (1971). Traditional tribal and ence 28, 586–590.
& Leakey, R. E. F. (Eds.). (1976). Earliest peasant economies: An introductory survey de Waal, F. B. M. (2001). The ape and the
man and environments in the Lake Rudolf of economic anthropology. Reading, MA: sushi master. New York: Basic Books.
Basin: Stratigraphy, paleoecology, and evo- Addison-Wesley. de Waal, F. B. M. (2001). Sing the song of
lution. Chicago: University of Chicago Daniel, G. (1970). The first civilizations: The evolution. Natural History 110 (8), 77.
Press. archaeology of their origins. New York: de Waal, F. B. M., & Johanowicz, D. L.
Corballis, M. C. (2003). From hand to mouth: Apollo Editions. (1993). Modification of reconciliation
The origins of human language. Princeton, Dalton, G. (1971). Traditional tribal and behavior through social experience: An
NJ: Princeton University Press. peasant economics: An introductory survey experiment with two macaque species.
Corbey, R. (1995). Introduction: Missing of economic anthropology. Reading, MA: Child Development 64, 897–908.
links, or the ape’s place in nature. In Addison-Wesley. de Waal, F. B. M., Kano, T., & Parish,
R. Corbey & B. Theunissen (Eds.), Ape, Daniel, G. (1975). A hundred and fifty A. R. (1998). Comments. Current Anthro-
man, apeman: Changing views since 1600 years of archaeology (2nd ed.). London: pology 39, 408, 410, 413.
(p.1). Leiden: Department of Prehistory, Duckworth. Diamond, J. (1996). Empire of uniformity.
Leiden University. Darwin, C. (1936). The descent of man and Discover 17 (3), 83– 84.
Cornwell, T. (1995, November 10). Skeleton selection in relation to sex. New York: Diamond, J. (1997). The curse of QWERTY.
staff. Times Higher Education, 20. Random House (Modern Library). Discover 18 (4), 34– 42.
Corruccini, R. S. (1992). Metrical recon- (orig. 1871) Diamond, J. (1997). Guns, germs, and steel.
sideration of the Skhul IV and IX and Darwin, C. (1967). On the origin of species. New York: Norton.
Border Cave I crania in the context of New York: Atheneum. (orig. 1859). Diamond, J. (1998). Ants, crops, and his-
modern human origins. American Journal Davenport, W. (1959). Linear descent and tory. Science 281, 1,974–1,975.
of Physical Anthropology 87, 433– 445. descent groups. American Anthropologist Dicks, B., et al. (2005). Qualitative research
Courlander, H. (1971). The fourth world of 61, 557–573. and hypermedia: Ethnography for the digital
the Hopis. New York: Crown. Davies, G. (2005). A history of money from age (New technologies for social research).
Court says same-sex marriage is a the earliest times to present day (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
right. (2004, February 5). San Francisco Cardiff: University of Wales Press. Dillehay, T. D. (2001). The settlement of the
Chronicle. Davis, S. H. (1982). Victims of the miracle. Americas. New York: Basic Books.
Cowgill, G. L. (1980). Letter, Science 210, Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univer- Dirie, W., & Miller, C. (1998). Desert flower:
1,305. sity Press. The extraordinary journey of a desert no-
Cowgill, G. L. (1997). State and society at Deevy, E. S., Jr. (1960). The human popula- mad. New York: William Morrow.
Teotihuacan, Mexico. Annual Review of tion. Scientific American 203, 194– 204. Dissanayake, E. (2000). Birth of the arts.
Anthropology 26, 129–161. de Laguna, F. (1977). Voyage to Greenland: Natural History 109 (10), 89.
Crane, H. (2001). Men in spirit: The masculin- A personal initiation into anthropology. Dixon, J. E., Cann, J. R., & Renfrew, C.
ization of Taiwanese Buddhist nuns. Doc- New York: Norton. (1968). Obsidian and the origins of trade,
toral dissertation, Brown University. del Carmen Rodríguez Martínez, M., Scientific American 218, 38– 46.
Crane, L. B., Yeager, E., & Whitman, et al. (2006). Oldest writing in the New Dobyns, H. F., Doughty, P. L., & Lass-
R. L. (1981). An introduction to linguistics. World. Science 313 (5793), 1,610–1,614. well, H. D. (Eds.). (1971). Peasants,
Boston: Little, Brown. del Castillo, B. D. (1963). The conquest of power, and applied social change. Lon-
Cretney, S. (2003). Family law in the twenti- New Spain (translation and introduction don: Sage.
eth century: A history. New York: Oxford by J. M. Cohen). New York: Penguin. Dobzhansky, T. (1962). Mankind evolving.
University Press. Delson, E., Tattersal, I., Brooks, A., & New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Crocker, W. H., & Crocker, J. G. (1994). Van Couvering, J. (1999). Encyclopedia of Doist, R. (1997). Molecular evolution and
The Canela, bonding through kinship, ritual, human evolution and prehistory. New York: scientific inquiry, misperceived. American
and sex. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace. Garland. Scientist 85, 475.
Crocker, W. H., & Crocker, J. G. (2004). DeMello, M. (2000). Bodies of inscription: Dozier, E. (1970). The Pueblo Indians of North
The Canela: Kinship, ritual, and sex in A cultural history of the modern tattoo America. New York: Holt, Rinehart &
an Amazonian tribe. Belmont, CA: community. Durham: Duke University Winston.
Wadsworth. Press. Draper, P. (1975). !Kung women: Contrasts
Culbert, T. P. (Ed.) (1973). The Classic Maya d’Errico, F., Zilhão, J., Julien, M., Baffier, in sexual egalitarianism in foraging and
collapse. Albuquerque: University of New D., & Pelegrin, J. (1998). Neandertal sedentary contexts. In R. Reiter (Ed.),
Mexico Press. acculturation in Western Europe? Current Toward an anthropology of women (pp. 77–
Culotta, E. (1995). Asian hominids grow Anthropology 39, 521. 109). New York: Monthly Review Press.
older. Science 270, 1,116–1,117. Desowitz, R. S. (1987). New Guinea tape- Driver, H. (1964). Indians of North America.
Culotta, E. (1995). New fi nds rekindle worms and Jewish grandmothers. New Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
debate over anthropoid origins. Science York: Norton. Dubos, R. (1968). So human an animal. New
268, 1,851. Dettwyler, K. A. (1994). Dancing skeletons: York: Scribner.
Culotta, E., & Koshland, D. E., Jr. (1994). Life and death in West Africa. Prospect Dumurat-Dreger, A. (1998, May/June).
DNA repair works its way to the top. Sci- Heights, IL: Waveland Press. “Ambiguous sex” or ambivalent medi-
ence 266, 1,926. Dettwyler, K. A. (1997, October). When to cine? The Hastings Center Report 28 (3),
Cultural Survival Quarterly. (1991). 15 (4), 5. wean. Natural History, 49. 2,435 (posted on the Intersex Society of
Cultural Survival Quarterly. (1991). 15 (4), 38. DeVore, I. (Ed.). (1965). Primate behavior: North America website: www.isna.org).
Current population survey. (2002). U.S. Cen- Field studies of monkeys and apes. New Duncan, A. S., Kappelman, J., & Shapiro,
sus Bureau. York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. L. J. (1994). Metasophalangeal joint func-
316 Bibliography

tion and positional behavior in Australo- Eugenides, J. (2002). Middlesex: A novel. Female genital mutilation. (2000).
pithecus afarensis. American Journal of New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Fact sheet no. 241. World Health
Physical Anthropology 93, 67– 81. Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (1951). Kinship and Organization.
Dundes, A. (1980). Interpreting folklore. marriage among the Nuer. New York: Ox- Fernandez-Carriba, S., & Loeches, A.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ford University Press. (2001). Fruit smearing by captive chim-
Durant, J. C. (2000, April 23). Everybody Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (1968). The Nuer: panzees: A newly observed food-
into the gene pool. New York Times Book A description of the modes of livelihood and processing behavior. Current Anthro-
Review, 11. political institutions of a Nilotic people. pology 42, 143–147.
Duranti, A. (2001). Linguistic anthro- London: Oxford University Press. Ferrie, H. (1997). An interview with
pology: History, ideas, and issues. In Fagan, B. M. (1995). People of the earth C. Loring Brace. Current Anthropology
A. Duranti (Ed.), Linguistic anthropology: (8th ed.). New York: HarperCollins. 38, 851– 869.
A reader (pp. 1–38). Oxford: Blackwell. Fagan, B. M. (1999). Archeology: A brief intro- Field, L. W. (2004). Beyond “applied” an-
Durkheim, E. (1964). The division of labor in duction (7th ed.). New York: Longman. thropology. In T. Biolsi (Ed.), A com-
society. New York: Free Press. (orig. 1893) Fagan, B. M. (2000). Ancient lives: An intro- panion to the anthropology of American
Durkheim, E. (1965). The elementary forms duction to archaeology. Englewood Cliffs, Indians (pp. 472– 489). Oxford: Blackwell
of the religious life. New York: Free Press. NJ: Prentice-Hall. Publishing.
(orig. 1912) Fagan, B. (2001). The seventy great mysteries Finkler, K. (2000). Experiencing the new
duToit, B. M. (1991). Human sexuality: Cross of the ancient world. New York: Thames & genetics: Family and kinship on the medical
cultural readings. New York: McGraw- Hudson. frontier. Philadelphia: University of Penn-
Hill. Fagan, B. M., Beck, C., & Silberman, sylvania Press.
Eastman, C. M. (1990). Aspects of language N. A. (1998). The Oxford companion to ar- The fi rst Americans, ca. 20,000 B.C. (1998).
and culture (2nd ed.). Novato, CA: Chand- chaeology. New York: Oxford University Discover 19 (6), 24.
ler & Sharp. Press. Firth, R. (1946). Malay fi shermen: Their
Edwards, J. (Ed.) (1999). Technologies of Falk, D. (1975). Comparative anatomy of peasant economy. London: Kegan Paul,
procreation: Kinship in the age of assisted the larynx in man and the chimpanzee: Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd.
conception. New York: Routledge (distrib- Implications for language in Neander- Firth, R. (1952). Elements of social organiza-
uted by St. Martin’s Press). thal. American Journal of Physical Anthro- tion. London: Watts.
Edwards, S. W. (1978). Nonutilitarian ac- pology 43 (1), 123–132. Firth, R. (1957). Man and culture: An evalu-
tivities on the Lower Paleolithic: A look Falk, D. (1989). Apelike endocast of “ape- ation of Bronislaw Malinowski. London:
at the two kinds of evidence. Current man” Taung. American Journal of Physical Routledge.
Anthropology. 19 (l), 135–137. Anthropology 80, 335–339. Firth, R. (Ed.) (1967). Themes in economic
Egan, T. (1999, February 28). The per- Falk, D. (1992). Braindance. New York: anthropology. London: Tavistock.
sistence of polygamy. New York Times Henry Holt & Company. Fisher, R., & Ury, W. L. (1991). Getting to
Magazine, 52. Falk, D. (1993). A good brain is hard to yes: Negotiating agreement without giving in
Eiseley, L. (1958). Darwin’s century: Evolution cool. Natural History 102 (8), 65. (2nd ed.). Boston: Houghton Miffl in.
and the men who discovered it. New York: Falk, D. (1993). Hominid paleoneurology. Flannery, K. V. (1973). The origins of
Doubleday. In R. L. Ciochon & J. G. Fleagle (Eds.), agriculture. In B. J. Siegel, A. R. Beals,
Eisenstadt, S. N. (1956). From generation to The human evolution source book. Engle- & S. A. Tyler (Eds.), Annual Review of An-
generation: Age groups and social structure. wood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. thropology (Vol. 2, pp. 271–310). Palo Alto,
New York: Free Press. Falk, D., et al. (2005). The brain of LB1, CA: Annual Reviews.
El Guindi, F. (2004).Visual anthropology: Es- Homo floresiensis. Science 308, 242– 245. Flannery, K. V. (Ed.) (1976). The Mesoameri-
sential method and theory. Walnut Creek, Farmer, P. (1992). AIDS and accusation: can village. New York: Seminar Press.
CA: Altamira Press. Haiti and the geography of blame. Berkeley: Fleagle, J. (1998). Primate adaptation and evo-
Elkin, A. P. (1964). The Australian Aborigi- University of California Press. lution. New York: Academic Press.
nes. Garden City, NY: Doubleday/Anchor Farmer, P. (2001). Infections and inequalities: Folger, T. (1993). The naked and the bi-
Books. The modern plagues (updated edition with pedal. Discover 14 (11), 34–35.
Ellis, C. (2006). A dancing people: Powwow a new preface). Berkeley: University of Forbes, J. D. (1964). The Indian in America’s
culture on the southern plains. Lawrence: California Press. past. Englewood Cliff s, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
University Press of Kansas. Farnell, B. (1995). Do you see what I mean? Forbes International 500 List. (2003).
Ellison, P. T. (1990). Human ovarian func- Plains Indian sign talk and the embodiment Forde, C. D. (1955). The Nupe. In D. Forde
tion and reproductive ecology: New of action. Austin: University of Texas (Ed.), Peoples of the Niger-Benue confluence.
hypotheses. American Anthropologist 92, Press. London: International African Institute
933–952. Fausto-Sterling, A. (1993, March/April). (Ethnographic Survey of Africa. Western
Ember, C. R., & Ember, M. (1996). What The five sexes: Why male and female are Africa, part 10).
have we learned from cross-cultural not enough. The Sciences 33 (2), 20–24. Forde, C. D. (1968). Double descent among
research? General Anthropology 2 (2), 5. Fausto-Sterling, A. (2000, July/August). the Yakö. In P. Bohannan & J. Middleton
Enard, W., et al. (2002). Molecular evolu- The five sexes revisited. The Sciences 40 (Eds.), Kinship and social organization
tion of FOXP2, a gene involved in speech (4), 19–24. (pp. 179–191). Garden City, NY: Natural
and language. Nature 418, 869– 872. Fausto-Sterling, A. (2003, August 2). Per- History Press.
Ervin-Tripp, S. (1973). Language acquisition sonal e-mail communication. Fortes, M. (1950). Kinship and marriage
and communicative choice. Stanford, CA: Feder, K. L. (1999). Frauds, myths, and among the Ashanti. In A. R. Radcliffe-
Stanford University Press. mysteries (3rd ed.). Mountain View, CA: Brown & C. D. Forde (Eds.), African
Esber, G. S., Jr. (1987). Designing Apache Mayfield. systems of kinship and marriage. London:
houses with Apaches. In R. M. Wulff & Fedigan, L. M. (1986). The changing role Oxford University Press.
S. J. Fiske (Eds.), Anthropological praxis: of women in models of human evolu- Fortes, M. (1969). Kinship and the social
Translating knowledge into action (pp. 187– tion. Annual Review of Anthropology 15, order: The legacy of Lewis Henry Morgan.
196). Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 25–56. Chicago: Aldine.
 Bibliography 317

Fortes, M., & Evans-Prichard, E. E. F. B. M. de Waal, Natural conflict resolution Gladdol, D. (2006). English next. London:
(Eds.) (1962). African political systems. (pp. 334–351). Berkeley: University of British Council.
London: Oxford University Press. California Press. Gledhill, J. (2000). Power and its disguises:
(orig. 1940) Furst, P. T. (1976). Hallucinogens and culture Anthropological perspectives on politics
Fossey, D. (1983). Gorillas in the mist. Bur- (p. 7). Novato, CA: Chandler & Sharp. (2nd ed.). Boulder, CO: Pluto Press.
lington, MA: Houghton Miffl in. Galdikas, B. (1995). Reflections on Eden: My Godfrey, T. (2000, December 27). Biotech
Foster, G. M. (1955). Peasant society and years with the orangutans of Borneo. New threatening biodiversity. Burlington Free
the image of the limited good. American York: Little Brown. Press, 10A.
Anthropologist 67, 293–315. Gamble, C. (1986). The Paleolithic settle- Godlier, M. (1971). Salt currency and the
Fountain, H. (2000, January 30). Now the ment of Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge circulation of commodities among the
ancient ways are less mysterious. New University Press. Baruya of New Guinea. In G. Dalton
York Times, News of the Week, 5. Gardner, R. A., Gardner, B. T., & Van (Ed.), Studies in economic anthropology.
Fox, R. (1968). Kinship and marriage in an Cantfort, T. E. (Eds.) (1989). Teaching Washington, DC: American Anthro-
anthropological perspective. Baltimore: sign language to chimpanzees. Albany: State pological Association (Anthropological
Penguin. University of New York Press. Studies No. 7).
Fox, R. (1981, December 3). [Interview]. Gamst, F. C., & Norbeck, E. (1976). Ideas of Goodall, J. (1986). The chimpanzees of
Coast Telecourses, Inc., Los Angeles. culture: Sources and uses. New York: Holt, Gombe: Patterns of behavior. Cambridge,
Frake, C. (1961). The diagnosis of disease Rinehart & Winston. MA: Bel knap Press.
among the Subinam of Mindinao. Ameri- Garn, S. M. (1970). Human races (3rd ed.). Goodall, J. (1990). Through a window: My
can Anthropologist 63,113–132. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas. thirty years with the chimpanzees of Gombe.
Frake, C. O. (1992). Lessons of the Mayan Gates, H. (1996). Buying brides in China— Boston: Houghton Miffl in.
sky. In A. F. Aveni (Ed.), The sky in Mayan again. Anthropology Today 12 (4), 10. Goodall, J. (2000). Reason for hope: A spiri-
literature (pp. 274–291). New York: Oxford Gebo, D. L., Dagosto, D., Beard, K. C., & tual journey. New York: Warner Books.
University Press. Tao, Q. (2001). Middle Eocene primate Goodenough, W. (Ed.). (1964). Explora-
Frankfort, H. (1968). The birth of civiliza- tarsals from China: Implications for tions in cultural anthropology: Essays in
tion in the Near East. New York: Barnes & haplorhine evolution. American Journal honor of George Murdock. New York:
Noble. of Physical Anthropology 116, 83–107. McGraw–Hill.
Fraser, D. (Ed.) (1966). The many faces of Geertz, C. (1965). The impact of the con- Goodenough, W. (1965). Rethinking status
primitive art: A critical anthology. Engle- cept of culture on the concept of man. and role: Toward a general model of the
wood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. In J. R. Platt (Ed.), New views of man. cultural organization of social relation-
Frayer, D. W. (1981). Body size, weapon Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ships. In M. Benton (Ed.), The relevance of
use, and natural selection in the Euro- Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cul- models for social anthropology. New York:
pean Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic. ture. London: Hutchinson. Praeger (ASA Monographs l).
American Anthropologist 83, 57–73. Geertz, C. (1984). Distinguished lecture: Goodenough, W. (1970). Description and
Frazer, Sir J. G. (1961 reissue). The new Antirelativism. American Anthropologist comparison in cultural anthropology. Chi-
golden bough. New York: Doubleday, 86, 263–278. cago: Aldine.
Anchor Books. Gell, A. (1988). Technology and magic. Goodenough, W. H. (1990). Evolution of
Freeman, J. D. (1960). The Iban of western Anthropology Today 4 (2), 6–9. the human capacity for beliefs. American
Borneo. In G. P. Murdock (Ed.), Social Gene study suggests Polynesians came Anthropologist 92, 601.
structure in Southeast Asia. Chicago: from Taiwan. (2005, July 4). Reuters. Goodman, A., & Armelagos, G. J. (1985).
Quadrangle Books. Gibbons, A. (1993). Where are new diseases Death and disease at Dr. Dickson’s
Freeman, L. G. (1992). Ambrona and Tor- born? Science 261, 680– 681. mounds. Natural History 94 (9), 12–18.
ralba: New evidence and interpretation. Gibbons, A. (1997). Ideas on human origins Goodman, M., Bailey, W. J., Hayasaka,
Paper presented at the 91st Annual evolve at anthropology gathering. Science K., Stanhope, M. J., Slightom J., & Cze-
Meeting, American Anthropological 276, 535–536. lusniak, J. (1994). Molecular evidence on
Association. Gibbons, A. (1998). Ancient island tools primate phylogeny from DNA sequences.
Fried, M. (1967). The evolution of political suggest Homo erectus was a seafarer. Sci- American Journal of Physical Anthropology
society: An essay in political anthropology. ence 279, 1,635. 94, 7.
New York: Random House. Gibbons, A. (2001). The riddle of coexis- Goody, J. (1969). Comparative studies in kin-
Fried, M., Harris, M., & Murphy, R. tence. Science 291, 1,726. ship. Stanford, CA: Stanford University
(1968). War: The anthropology of armed Gibbons, A. (2001). Studying humans—and Press.
conflict and agg ression. Garden City, NY: their cousins and parasites. Science 292, Goody, J. (1976). Production and reproduc-
Natural History Press. 627. tion: A comparative study of the domestic
Friedl, E. (1975). Women and men: An Gibbs, J. L., Jr. (1965). The Kpelle of Li- domain. Cambridge: Cambridge Univer-
anthropologist’s view. New York: Holt, beria. In J. L. Gibbs, Jr. (Ed.), Peoples of sity Press.
Rinehart & Winston. Africa (pp. 216–218). New York: Holt, Goody, J. (1983). The development of the fam-
Friedman, J. (Ed.) (2003). Globalization, the Rinehart & Winston. ily and marriage in Europe. Cambridge,
state, and violence. Walnut Creek, CA: Gibbs, J. L., Jr. (1983). [Interview]. Faces of MA: Cambridge University Press.
Altamira Press. culture: Program 18. Fountain Valley, CA: Gordon, R. J. (1992). The Bushman myth: The
Frisch, R. (2002). Female fertility and the Coast Telecourses. making of a Namibian underclass. Boulder,
body fat connection. Chicago: University Giddens, A. (1990). The consequences of mo- CO: Westview Press.
of Chicago Press. dernity. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univer- Gordon, R. J., & Megitt, M. J. (1985). Law
Fritz, G. J. (1994). Are the fi rst American sity Press. and order in the New Guinea highlands.
farmers getting younger? Current Anthro- Ginsburg, F. D., Abu-Lughod, L., & Hanover, NH: University Press of New
pology 35, 305–309. Larkin, B. (Eds.) (2002). Media worlds: England.
Frye, D. P. (2000). Confl ict management in Anthropology on new terrain. Berkeley: Gould, S. J. (1983). Hen’s teeth and horses’
cross-cultural perspective. In F. Aureli & University of California Press. toes. New York: Norton.
318 Bibliography

Gould, S. J. (1985). The fl amingo’s smile: Hager, L. (1989). The evolution of sex toolmaking behavior. American Journal of
Reflections in natural history. New York: differences in the hominid bony pelvis. Physical Anthropology 106, 401– 402.
Norton. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Califor- Hatch, E. (1983). Culture and morality: The
Gould, S. J. (1989). Wonderful life. New nia, Berkeley. relativity of values in anthropology. New
York: Norton. Hall, E. T. (1959). The silent language. Gar- York: Columbia University Press.
Gould, S. J. (1991). Bully for brontosaurus. den City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday. Hatcher, E. P. (1985). Art as culture, an in-
New York: Norton. Hall, E. T., & Hall, M. R. (1986). The troduction to the anthropology of art. New
Gould, S. J. (1994). The geometer of race. sounds of silence. In E. Angeloni (Ed.), York: University Press of America.
Discover 15 (11), 65– 69. Anthropology 86/87 (pp. 65–70). Guilford, Haviland, W. A. (1967). Stature at Tikal,
Gould, S. J. (1996). Full house: The spread of CT: Dushkin. Guatemala: Implications for ancient
excellence from Plato to Darwin. New York: Hall, K. R. L., & DeVore, I. (1965). Baboon Maya, demography, and social organiza-
Harmony Books. social behavior. In I. DeVore (Ed.), Pri- tion. American Antiquity 32, 316–325.
Gould, S. J. (1996). The mismeasure of man mate behavior. New York: Holt, Rinehart Haviland, W. A. (1970). Tikal, Guatemala
(2nd ed.). New York: Norton. & Winston. and Mesoamerican urbanism. World
Gould, S. J. (2000). The narthex of San Hallowell, A. I. (1955). Culture and experi- Archaeology 2, 186–198.
Marco and the pangenetic paradigm. ence. Philadelphia: University of Pennsyl- Haviland, W. A. (1972). A new look at Clas-
Natural History 109 (6), 29. vania Press. sic Maya social organization at Tikal.
Gould, S. J. (2000). What does the dreaded Halperin, R. H. (1994). Cultural economies: Ceramica de Cultura Maya 8, 1–16.
“E” word mean anyway? Natural History Past and present. Austin: University of Haviland, W. A. (1974). Farming, seafar-
109 (1), 34–36. Texas Press. ing and bilocal residence on the coast of
Graburn, N. H. H. (1969). Eskimos without Halverson, J. (1989). Review of the book Maine. Man in the Northeast 6, 31– 44.
igloos: Social and economic development in Altimira Revisited and other essays on early Haviland, W. A. (1997). Cleansing young
Sugluk. Boston: Little, Brown. art. American Antiquity 54, 883. minds, or what should we be doing in
Graburn, N. H. (1971). Readings in kinship Hannah, J. L. (1988). Dance, sex and gender. introductory anthropology? In C. P.
and social structure. New York: Harper Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Kot tak, J. J. White, R. H. Furlow, & P. C.
& Row. Hanson, A. (1989). The making of the Rice (Eds.), The teaching of anthropology:
Graves, J. L. (2001). The emperor’s new Maori: Culture invention and its logic. Problems, issues, and decisions (p. 35).
clothes: Biological theories of race at the American Anthropologist 91 (4), 890–902. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.
millennium. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Harlow, H. F. (1962). Social deprivation in Haviland, W. A. (1997). The rise and fall of
University Press. monkeys. Scientific America, 206, 1– 10. sexual inequality: Death and gender at
Graves, P. (1991). New models and meta- Harner, M. (1980). The way of the shaman: Tikal, Guatemala. Ancient Mesoamerica
phors for the Neanderthal debate. Current A guide to power and healing. San Fran- 8, 1–12.
Anthropology, 32(5), 513–543. cisco: Harper & Row. Haviland, W. A. (2002). Settlement, society
Gray, P. M., Krause, B., Atema, J., Payne, Harpending, J. H., & Harpending, H. C. and demography at Tikal. In J. Sabloff
R., Krumhansl, C., & Baptista, L. (1995). Ancient differences in population (Ed.), Tikal. Santa Fe: School of American
(2001). The music of nature and the can mimic a recent African origin of Research.
nature of music. Science 291, 52. modern humans. Current Anthropology, Haviland, W. A. (2003). Tikal, Guatemala:
Greenberg, J. H. (1968). Anthropological 36, 667– 674. A Maya way to urbanism. Paper prepared
linguistics: An introduction. New York: Harris, M. (1965). The cultural ecology of for 3rd INAH/Penn State Conference on
Random House. India’s sacred cattle. Current Anthropology Mesoamerican Urbanism.
Grine, F. E. (1993). Australopithecine tax- 7, 51– 66. Haviland, W. A., et al. (1985). Excavations
onomy and phylogeny: Historical back- Harris, M. (1968). The rise of anthropological in small residential groups of Tikal: Groups
ground and recent interpretation. In theory: A history of theories of culture. New 4F-1 and 4F-2. Philadelphia: University
R. L. Ciochon & J. G. Fleagle (Eds.), The York: Crowell. Museum.
human evolution source book, Englewood Harris, M. (1979). Cultural materialism: The Haviland, W. A., & Moholy-Nagy, H.
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. struggle for a science of culture. New York: (1992). Distinguishing the high and
Grivetti, L. E. (2005). From aphrodisiac to Random House. mighty from the hoi polloi at Tikal,
health food: A cultural history of choco- Harris, M. (1989). Cows, pigs, wars, and Guatemala. In A. F. Chase & D. Z. Chase
late. Karger Gazette, 68. witches: The riddles of culture. New York: (Eds.), Mesoamerican elites: An archaeo-
Grün, R., & Thorne, A. (1997). Dating the Vintage Books/Random House. logical assessment. Norman: Oklahoma
Ngandong humans, Science 276, 1,575. Harrison, G. G. (1975). Primary adult lac- University Press.
Guillette, E. A., et al. (1998, June). An an- tase deficiency: A problem in anthropo- Haviland, W. A., & Power, M. W. (1994).
thropological approach to the evaluation logical genetics. American Anthropologist The original Vermonters: Native inhabitants,
of preschool children exposed to pes- 77, 815– 819. past and present (2nd ed.). Hanover, NH:
ticides in Mexico. Environmental Health Hart, C. W., Pilling, A. R., & Goodale, J. University Press of New England.
Perspectives 106, 347. (1988). Tiwi of North Australia (3rd ed.). Hawkes, K., O’Connell, J. F., & Blurton
Guthrie, S. (1993). Faces in the clouds: A New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Jones, N. G. (1997). Hadza women’s time
new theory of religions. New York: Oxford Hart, D. (2006, April 21). Humans as prey. allocation, off spring, provisioning, and
University Press. Chronicle of Higher Education. the evolution of long postmenopausal life
Gutin, J. A. (1995). Do Kenya tools root Hart, D., & Sussman, R. W. (2005). Man spans. Current Anthropology 38, 551–577.
birth of modern thought in Africa? Sci- the hunted: Primates, predators, and hu- Hawks, J. (2006, July 21). Neandertal
ence 270, 1,118–1,119. man evolution. Boulder, CO: Westview Genome Project. http://johnhawks
Haeri, N. (1997). The reproduction of sym- Press. .net/weblog.
bolic capital: Language, state and class in Hartwig, W. C. (2002). The primate fossil Hazardous waste trafficking. www
Egypt. Current Anthropology 38, 795– 816. record. New York: Cambridge University .Choike.org.
Hafkin, N., & Bay, E. (Eds.) (1976). Women Press. Heita, K. (1999). Imanishi’s world view.
in Africa. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univer- Hartwig, W. C., & Doneski, K. (1998). Journal of Japanese Trade and Industry 18
sity Press. Evolution of the hominid hand and (2), 15.
 Bibliography 319

Heitzman, J., & R. L. Wordem, R. L. Holden, C. (1999). Ancient child burial Hymes, D. (1964). Language in culture and
(Eds.). (2006). India: A country study uncovered in Portugal. Science 283, 169. Society: A reader in linguistics and anthro-
(Sect. 2, 5th ed.). Washington, DC: Hole, F. (1966). Investigating the origins of pology. New York: Harper & Row.
Federal Research Division, Library of Mesopotamian civilization. Science 153, Hymes, D. (Ed.) (1972). Reinventing anthro-
Congress. 605– 611. pology. New York: Pantheon. icasualties
Helm, J. (1962). The ecological approach in Hole, F., & Heizer, R. F. (1969). An in- .org.
anthropology. American Journal of Sociol- troduction to prehistoric archeology. New Inda, J. X., & Rosaldo, R. (Eds). (2001).
ogy 67, 630– 649. York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. The anthropology of globalization: A reader.
Helman, C. B. (2003). Culture, health, and Holloway, R. L. (1980). The O. H. 7 (Oldu- Malden, MA, and Oxford: Blackwell.
illness: An introduction for health profession- vai Gorge, Tanzania) hominid partial Ingmanson, E. J. (1998). Comment. Current
als. New York: Butterworth Heinemann brain endocast revisited. American Journal Anthropology 39, 409.
Medical. of Physical Anthropology 53, 267–274. Inkeles, A., & Levinson, D. J. (1954). Na-
Henry, D. O., et al. (2004). Human Holloway, R. L. (1981). The Indonesian tional character: The study of modal person-
behavioral organization in the Mid- Homo erectus brain endocast revisited. ality and socio-cultural systems. In G. Lind-
dle Paleolithic: Were Neandertals dif- American Journal of Physical Anthropology zey (Ed.), Handbook of social psychology.
ferent? American Anthropologist 107 55, 503–521. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
(1), 17–31. Holloway, R. L. (1981). Volumetric and International Union for Conservation of
Henry, J. (1965). Culture against man. New asymmetry determinations on recent Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).
York: Vintage Books. hominid endocasts: Spy I and II, Djebel (2000).
Henry, J. (1974). A theory for an anthropo- Jhroud 1, and the Salb Homo erectus Inuit Tapiirit Katami. http://www
logical analysis of American culture. In specimens, with some notes on Nean- .taprisat.ca/english- text/itk/
J. G. Jorgensen & M. Truzzi (Eds.), An- derthal brain size. American Journal of departments/enviro/ncp.
thropology and American life. Englewood Physical Anthropology 55, 385–393. Irvine, M. (1999, November 24). Mom-and-
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Holloway, R. L., & de LaCoste- pop houses grow rare. Burlington Free
Herdt, G. H. (1993). Semen transactions Lareymondie, M. C. (1982). Brain Press.
in Sambia culture. In D. N. Suggs & endocast asymmetry in pongids and Italy-Germany verbal war hots up. (2003,
A. W. Mirade (Eds.), Culture and human hominids: Some preliminary fi ndings on July 9). Deccan Herald. (Bangalore, India).
sexuality (pp. 298–327). Pacific Grove, CA: the paleontology of cerebral dominance. It’s the law: Child labor protection. (1997,
Brooks/Cole. American Journal of Physical Anthropology November/December). Peace and Justice
Herskovits, M. J. (1952). Economic anthro- 58, 101–110. News, 11.
pology: A study in comparative economics Holmes, L. D. (2000). Paradise bent (fi lm Jacobs, S. E. (1994). Native American two-
(2nd ed.). New York: Knopf. review). American Anthropologist 102 (3), spirits. Anthropology Newsletter 35 (8), 7.
Hertz, N. (2001). The silent takeover: Global 604– 605. Jacoby, R., & Glauberman, N. (Eds.).
capitalism and the death of democracy. New Holy, L. (1996). Anthropological perspectives (1995). The Bell Curve debate. New York:
York: Arrow Books. on kinship. London: Pluto Press. Random House.
Hewes, G. W. (1973). Primate communica- Hostetler, J., & Huntington, G. (1971). Jennings, F. (1976). The invasion of America.
tion and the gestural origin of language. Children in Amish society. New York: Holt, New York: Norton.
Current Anthropology 14, 5–24. Rinehart &Winston. Jennings, J. D. (1974). Prehistory of North
Himmelfarb, E. J. (2000, January/Febru- Houle, A. (1999). The origin of platyr- America (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-
ary). First alphabet found in Egypt. rhines: An evaluation of the Antarctic Hill.
Newsbrief. Archaeology 53 (1). scenario and the floating island model. Johansen, B. E. (2002). The Inuit’s struggle
Historical atlas of the twentieth century. American Journal of Physical Anthropology with dioxins and other organic pollut-
http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/ 109, 554–556. ants. The American Indian Quarterly 26 (3),
20centry.htm. Howell, F. C. (1970). Early man. New York: 479– 490.
Hitchcock, R. K., & Enghoff, M. (2004). Time-Life. Johanson, D., & Shreeve, J. (1989). Lucy’s
Capacity-building of first people of the Ka- Hrdy, S. B. (1999). Body fat and birth con- child: The discovery of a human ancestor.
lahari, Botswana: An evaluation. Copen- trol. Natural History 108 (8), 88. New York: Avon.
hagen: International Work Group for Hsiaotung, F. (1939). Peasant life in China. Johanson, D. C., & Edey, M. (1981). Lucy,
Indigenous Affairs. London: Kegan, Paul, Trench & Truber. the beginnings of humankind. New York:
Hodgen, M. (1964). Early anthropology in the Hsu, F. L. (1961). Psychological anthropol- Simon & Schuster.
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Phila- ogy: Approaches to culture and personality. Johanson, D. C, Edgar, B., & Brill, D.
delphia: University of Pennsylvania Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press. (1996). From Lucy to language. New York:
Press. Hsu, F. L. K. (1979). The cultural problems Simon & Schuster.
Hoebel, E. A. (1949). Man in the primitive of the cultural anthropologist. American Johanson, D. C., & White, T. D. (1979).
world: An introduction to anthropology. Anthropologist 81, 517–532. A systematic assessment of early African
New York: McGraw-Hill. Hubert, H., & Mauss, M. (1964). Sacrifice. hominids. Science 203, 321–330.
Hoebel, E. A. (1954). The law of primitive Chicago: University of Chicago Press. John, V. (1971). Whose is the failure? In
man: A study in comparative legal dynam- Human development report. (2002). Deep- C. L. Brace, G. R. Gamble, & J. T. Bond
ics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University ening democracy in a fragmented world. (Eds.), Race and intelligence. Washington,
Press. United Nations Development Program. DC: American Anthropological Associa-
Hoebel, E. A. (1958). Man in the primitive Hunger Project. (2003). www.thp.org. tion (Anthropological Studies No. 8).
world: An introduction to anthropology. Hunt, R. C. (Ed.). (1967). Personalities and Johnson, A. (1989). Horticulturalists: Eco-
New York: McGraw-Hill. cultures: Readings in psychological anthro- nomic behavior in tribes. In S. Plattner
Hoebel, E. A. (1960). The Cheyennes: Indians pology. Garden City, NY: Natural History (Ed.), Economic anthropology (pp. 49–
of the Great Plains. New York: Holt, Rine- Press. 77). Stanford, CA: Stanford University
hart & Winston. Hutter, M. (Ed.) (2003). The family experi- Press.
Holden, C. (1996). Missing link for Miocene ence: A reader in cultural diversity (4th ed.). Johnson, A. W., & Earle, T. (1987). The
apes. Science 271, 151. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. evolution of human societies, from forag-
320 Bibliography

ing group to agrarian state. Stanford, CA: Kehoe, A. (2000). Shamans and religion: Kramer, P. A. (1998). The costs of human
Stanford University Press. An anthropological exploration in critical locomotion: Maternal investment in
Johnson, D. (1996). Polygamists emerge thinking. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland child transport. American Journal of Physi-
from secrecy, seeking not just peace Press. cal Anthropology 107, 71– 85.
but respect. In W. A. Haviland & R. J. Keiser, L. (1991). Friend by day, enemy by Kraybill, D. B. (2001). The riddle of Amish
Gordon (Eds.), Talking about people (2nd night: Organized vengeance in a Kohistani culture. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Uni-
ed., pp. 129–131). Mountain View, CA: community. Fort Worth: Holt, Rinehart & versity Press.
Mayfield. Winston. Kroeber, A. (1958). Totem and taboo: An
Johnson, N. B. (1984). Sex, color, and rites Kelly, T. L. (2006). Sadhus, the great re- ethnologic psycho-analysis. In W. Lessa
of passage in ethnographic research. Hu- nouncers. Photography exhibit, Indigo & E. Z. Vogt (Eds.), Reader in comparative
man Organization 43 (2), 108–120. Gallery, Naxal, Kathmandu, Nepal. religion: An anthropological approach. New
Jolly, A. (1985). The evolution of primate be- www.asianart.com/exhibitions/sadhus/ York: Harper & Row.
havior (2nd ed.). New York: Macmillan. index.html. Kroeber, A. L. (1939). Cultural and natural
Jolly, A. (1991). Thinking like a vervet. Sci- Kendall, L. (1990, October). In the com- areas of native North America. American
ence 251, 574. pany of witches. Natural History, 92. Archaeology and Ethnology (Vol. 38). Berke-
Jolly, C. J. (1970). The seed eaters: A new Kennickell, A. B. (2003, November). ley: University of California Press.
model of hominid differentiation based A rolling tide: Changes in the distribution Kroeber, A. L. (1963). Anthropology: Cul-
on a baboon analogy. Man 5, 5–26. of wealth in the U.S. 1989–2001. Levy Eco- tural processes and patterns. New York:
Jones, S. (2005). Transhumance re- nomics Institute. Harcourt.
examined. Journal of the Royal Anthro- Kertzer, D. I. (1989). Ritual, politics, and Kroeber, A. L., & Kluckhohn, C. (1952).
pological Institute 11 (4), 841– 842. power. New Haven, CT: Yale University Culture: A critical review of concepts and
Jones, S., Martin, R., & Pilbeam, D. Press. definitions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
(1992). Cambridge encyclopedia of human Key, M. R. (1975). Paralanguage and kinesics: University Press (Papers of the Peabody
evolution. New York: Cambridge Univer- Nonverbal communication. Metuchen, NJ: Museum of American Archaeology and
sity Press. Scarecrow Press. Ethnology, 47).
Jorgensen, J. (1972). The sun dance religion. Kirkpatrick, R. C. (2000). The evolution Kruger, J., et al. (2005, December). Egocen-
Chicago: University of Chicago Press. of human homosexual behavior. Current trism over e-mail: Can people commu-
Joukowsky, M. A. (1980). A complete field Anthropology 41, 384. nicate as well as they think? Journal of
manual of archeology: Tools and techniques Klass, M. (1995). Ordered universes: Ap- Personality and Social Psychology 89 (6),
of field work for archaeologists. Englewood proaches to the anthropology of religion. 925–936.
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Kummer, H. (1971). Primate societies: Group
Kaiser, J. (1994). A new theory of insect Klass, M., & Weisgrau, M. (Eds.). (1999). techniques of ecological adaptation. Chi-
wing origins takes off. Science 266, 363. Across the boundaries of belief: Contempo- cago: Aldine.
Kalwet, H. (1988). Dreamtime and inner rary issues in the anthropology of religion. Kunnie, J. (2003). Africa’s fast growing
space: The world of the shaman. New York: Boulder, CO: Westview Press. indigenous churches. http://coh.arizona
Random House. Klein, R. (2002). The dawn of human culture. .edu/newandnotable/kunnie/kunnie
Kaplan, D. (1972). Culture theory. Engle- New York: Wiley. .html. Kunzig, R. (1999). A tale of two
wood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall (Founda- Klein, R. G., & Edgar, B. (2002). The dawn obsessed archaeologists, one ancient
tions of Modern Anthropology). of human culture. New York: Wiley. city and nagging doubts about whether
Kaplan, D. (2000). The darker side of the Kleinman, A. (1976). Concepts and a model science can ever hope to reveal the past.
original affluent society. Journal of Anthro- for the comparison of medical systems Discover 20 (5), 84–92.
pological Research 53(3), 301–324. as cultural systems. Social Science and Kuper, H. (1965). The Swazi of Swazi-
Karavani, I., & Smith, F. H. (2000). Medicine 12 (2B), 85–95. land. In J. L. Gibbs (Ed.), Peoples of Africa
More on the Neanderthal problem: Kluckhohn, C. (1970). Mirror for man. (pp. 479–511). New York: Holt, Rinehart
The Vindija case. Current Anthropology Greenwich, CT: Fawcett. & Winston.
41, 839. Kluckhohn, C. (1994). Navajo witchcraft. Kurth, P. (1998, October 14). Capital
Kay, R. F., Fleagle, J. G., & Simons, E. L. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American crimes. Seven Days, 7.
(1981). A revision of the Oligocene apes Archaeology and Ethnology 22 (2). Kurtz, D. V. (2001). Political anthropology:
of the Fayum Province, Egypt. Ameri- Knauft, B. M. (1991). Violence and sociality Paradigms and power. Boulder, CO: West-
can Journal of Physical Anthropology 55, in human evolution. Current Anthropology view Press.
293–322. 32, 391– 409. Kushner, G. (1969). Anthropology of complex
Kay, R. F., Ross, C., & Williams, B. A. Koch, G. (1997). Songs, land rights, and societies. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univer-
(1997). Anthropoid origins. Science 275, archives in Australia. Cultural Survival sity Press.
797– 804. Quarterly 20 (4). LaFont, S. (Ed.). (2003). Constructing sexu-
Kay, R. F., Theweissen, J. G. M., & Yoder, Konner, M., & Worthman, C. (1980). alities: Readings in sexuality, gender, and
A. D. (1992). Cranial anatomy of Ignacius Nursing frequency, gonadal function, culture. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-
graybullianus and the affi nities of the and birth spacing among !Kung hunter- Hall.
plesiadapiformes. American Journal of gatherers. Science 207, 788–791. Lai, C. S. L., et al. (2001). A forkhead-
Physical Anthropology 89 (4), 477– 498. Koufos, G. (1993). Mandible of Ourano- domain gene is mutated in severe
Kedia, S., &Van Willigen, J. (2005). Applied pithecus macedoniensis (hominidae: pri- speech and language disorder. Nature
anthropology: Domains of application. New mates) from a new late Miocene locality 413, 519–523.
York: Praeger. in Macedonia (Greece). American Journal Lakoff, R. T. (2004). Language and woman’s
Keen, B. (1971). The Aztec image in western of Physical Anthropology 91, 225–234. place. M. Bucholtz (Ed.). New York: Ox-
thought. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Krader, L. (1968). Formation of the state. ford University Press.
University Press. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Lambek, M. (2002). A reader in the anthropol-
Kehoe, A. (1989). The ghost dance: Ethno- (Foundation of Modern Anthropology). ogy of religion. London: Blackwell.
history and revitalization. Fort Worth: Krajick, K. (1998). Greenfarming by the Lampl, M., Velhuis, J. D., & Johnson,
Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Incas? Science 281, 323. M. L. (1992). Saltation and stasis: A
 Bibliography 321

model of human growth. Science 258 review of evidential claims. American nomena in Upper Paleolithic art. Current
(5083), 801– 803. Anthropologist 92, 982. Anthropology 29, 201–245.
Lancaster, J. B. (1975). Primate behavior and Leclerc-Madlala, S. (2002). Bodies and poli- Lewis-Williams, J. D., & Dowson, T. A.
the emergence of human culture. New York: tics: Healing rituals in the democratic (1993). On vision and power in the Neo-
Holt, Rinehart & Winston. South Africa. In V. Faure (Ed.), Les cahiers lithic: Evidence from the decorated
Landau, M. (1991). Narratives of human evo- de ‘l’IFAS, No. 2. Johannesburg: The monuments. Current Anthropology 34,
lution. New Haven, CT: Yale University French Institute. 55– 65.
Press. Lee, R. B. (1993). The Dobe Ju/’hoansi. Ft. Lewis-Williams, J. D., Dowson, T. A., &
Langan, P., & Harlow, C. (1994). Child rape Worth: Harcourt Brace. Deacon, J. (1993). Rock art and changing
victims, 1992. Washington, DC: Bureau Lee, R. B., & Daly, R. H. (1999). The Cam- perceptions of Southern Africa’s past:
of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of bridge encyclopedia of hunters and gatherers. Ezeljagdspoort reviewed. Antiquity 67,
Justice. New York: Cambridge University Press. 273–291.
Lanning, E. P. (1967). Peru before the Incas. Lee, R. B., & DeVore, I. (Eds.) (1968). Man Lewontin, R. C. (1972). The apportionment
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. the hunter. Chicago: Aldine. of human diversity. In T. Dobzhansky
Larsen, C. S., Matter, R. M., & Gebo, Lees, R. (1953). The basis of glottochronol- et al. (Eds.), Evolutionary biology (pp. 381–
D. L. (1998). Human origins: The fossil ogy. Language 29, 113–127. 398). New York: Plenum Press.
record. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press. Lehman, E. C., Jr. (2002, Fall). Women’s Lewontin, R. C., Rose, S., & Kamin,
Larsen, J. (2006, July 28). Setting the rec- path into the ministry. Pulpit & Pew L. J. (1984). Not in our genes. New York:
ord straight. Earth Policy Institute, Eco- Research Reports 1, 4. Pantheon.
economy updates. Lehmann, A. C., & Myers, J. E. (Eds.) Li, X., Harbottle, G., Zhang, J., & Wang,
Lawler, A. (2001). Writing gets a rewrite. (2000). Magic, witchcraft, and religion: An C. (2003).The earliest writing? Sign use
Science 292, 2,419. anthropological study of the supernatural in the seventh millennium bc at Jiahu,
Layton, R. (1991). The anthropology of art (5th ed.). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. Henan Province, China. Antiquity 77,
(2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univer- Leigh, S. R., & Park, P. B. (1998). Evolu- 31– 44.
sity Press. tion of human growth prolongation. Lieberman, P. (2006). Toward an evolution-
Leach, E. (1961). Rethinking anthropology. American Journal of Physical Anthropology ary biology of language. Cambridge, MA :
London: Athione Press. 107, 331–350. Belknap Press.
Leach, E. (1962). The determinants of dif- Leinhardt, G. (1964). Social anthropology. Lindenbaum, S. (1978). Kuru sorcery: Disease
ferential cross-cousin marriage. Man 62, London: Oxford University Press. and danger in the New Guinea highlands.
238. LeMay, M. (1975). The language capability New York: McGraw-Hill.
Leach, E. (1962). On certain unconsidered of Neanderthal man. American Journal of Lindstrom, L. (1993). Cargo cult: Strange
aspects of double descent systems. Man Physical Anthropology 43 (1), 9–14. stories of desire from Melanesia and beyond.
214, 13–34. Lenski, G. (1966). Power and privilege: A Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Leach, E. (1982). Social anthropology. Glas- theory of social stratification. New York: Littlewood, R. (1997). Military rape. An-
gow: Fontana Paperbacks. McGraw-Hill. thropology Today 13 (2), 14.
Leacock, E. (1981). Myths of male dominance: Leroi-Gourhan, A. (1968). The evolution Livingstone, F. B. (1973). The distribu-
Collected articles on women cross culturally. of Paleolithic art. Scientific American 218, tion of abnormal hemoglobin genes and
New York: Monthly Review Press. 58ff. their significance for human evolution.
Leacock, E. (1981). Women’s status in egali- Lestel, D. (1998). How chimpanzees have In C. Loring Brace & J. Metress (Eds.),
tarian society: Implications for social domesticated humans. Anthropology Today Man in evolutionary perspective. New York:
evolution. In Myths of male dominance: 12 (3). Wiley.
Collected articles on women cross culturally. Levine, N. E., & Silk, J. B. (1997). Why Lloyd, C. B. (Ed.) (2005). Growing up global:
New York: Monthly Review Press. polyandry fails. Current Anthropology 38, The changing transitions to adulthood in
Leakey, L. S. B. (1965). Olduvai Gorge, 375–398. developing countries (pp. 450– 453). Wash-
1951–1961 (Vol. 1). London: Cambridge Lévi-Strauss, C. (1963). The sorcerer and ington, DC: National Academies Press,
University Press. his magic. In Structural anthropology. New Committee on Population, National Re-
Leakey, L. S. B., Tobias, P. B., & Napier, York: Basic Books. search Council, and Institute of Medicine
J. R. (1964). A new species of the genus Lewellen, T. C. (2002). The anthropology of of the National Academies.
Homo from Olduvai Gorge. Nature 202, globalization: Cultural anthropology enters Lock, M. (2001). Twice dead: Organ trans-
7–9. the 21st century. Westport, CT: Green- plants and the reinvention of death. Berke-
Leakey, M. G., Spoor, F., Brown, F. H., wood Publishing Group/Bergin & ley: University of California Press.
Gathogo, P. N., Kiare, C., Leakey, Garvey. Louckey, J., & Carlsen, R. (1991). Massa-
L. N., & McDougal, I. (2001). New hom- Lewin, R. (1987). Four legs bad, two legs cre in Santiago Atitlán. Cultural Survival
inin genus from eastern Africa shows good. Science 235, 969. Quarterly 15 (3), 70.
diverse middle Pliocene lineages. Nature Lewin, R. (1993). Paleolithic paint job. Dis- Louie, A. (2004). Chineseness across borders:
410, 433– 440. cover 14 (7), 64–70. Renegotiating Chinese identities in China
Leakey, M. D. (1971). Olduvai Gorge: Excava- Lewis, I. M. (1976). Social anthropology in and the United States. Durham and Lon-
tions in Beds I and II. 1960–1963. London perspective. Harmondsworth, England: don: Duke University Press.
and New York: Cambridge University Penguin. Lorenzo, C., Carretero, J. M., Arsuaga,
Press. Lewis-Williams, J. D. (1990). Discovering J. L., Gracia, A., & Martinez, I. (1998).
Leap, W. L. (1987). Tribally controlled cul- southern African rock art. Cape Town and Intrapopulational body size variation and
ture change: The Northern Ute language Johannesburg: David Philip. cranial capacity variation in middle Pleis-
revival project. In R. M. Wulff & S. J. Lewis-Williams, J. D. (1997). Agency, art, tocene humans: The Sima de los Huesos
Fiske (Eds.), Anthropological praxis: Trans- and altered consciousness: A motif in sample (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain).
lating knowledge into action (pp. 197–211). French (Quercy) Upper Paleolithic pari- American Journal of Physical Anthropology
Boulder, CO: Westview Press. etal art. Antiquity 71, 810– 830. 106, 19– 33.
Leavitt, G. C. (1990). Sociobiological ex- Lewis-Williams, J. D., & Dowson, T. A. Lounsbury, F. (1964). The structural
planations of incest avoidance: A critical (1988). Signs of all times: Entoptic phe- analysis of kinship semantics. In H. G.
322 Bibliography

Lunt (Ed.), Proceedings of the Ninth Inter- Marks, J. (1995). Human biodiversity: Genes, of agriculture in the Near East. American
national Congress of Linguists. The Hague: race and history. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine. Anthropologist 93, 46– 69.
Mouton. Marks, J. (2000, May 12). 98% alike (what McDermott, L. (1996). Self-representation
Lovejoy, C. O. (1981). Origin of man. Sci- our similarity to apes tells us about our in Upper Paleolithic female figurines.
ence 211 (4480), 341–350. understanding of genetics). Chronicle of Current Anthropology 37, 227–276.
Lowie, R. H. (1948). Social organization. Higher Education, B7. McElroy, A., & Townsend, P. K. (2003).
New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Marks, J. (2002). What it means to be 98 per- Medical anthropology in ecological per-
Lowie, R. H. (1956). Crow Indians. New cent chimpanzee: Apes, people, and their spective. Boulder, CO: Westview
York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. (orig. genes. Berkeley: University of California Press.
1935) Press. McFee, M. (1972). Modern Blackfeet: Mon-
Lucy, J. A. (1997). Linguistic relativity. An- Marsella, J. (1982). Pulling it together: tanans on a reservation. New York: Holt,
nual Review of Anthropology 26, 291– 312. Discussion and comments. In S. Pastner Rinehart & Winston.
Lurie, N. O. (1973). Action anthropology & W. A. Haviland (Eds.), Confronting McGrew, W. C. (2000). Dental care in
and the American Indian. In Anthropology the creationists (pp. 79– 80). Northeastern chimps. Science 288, 1,747.
and the American Indian: A symposium. San Anthropological Association, Occasional McHenry, H. (1975). Fossils and the mosaic
Francisco: Indian Historical Press. Proceedings, 1. nature of human evolution. Science, 190,
MacCormack, C. P. (1977). Biological Marshack, A. (1976). Some implications of 524– 431.
events and cultural control. Signs 3, the Paleolithic symbolic evidence for the McHenry, H. M. (1992). Body size and
93–100. origin of language. Current Anthropology proportions in early hominids. Ameri-
MacLarnon, A. M., & Hewitt, G. P. (1999). 17 (2), 274–282. can Journal of Physical Anthropology 87,
The evolution of human speech: The role Marshack, A. (1989). Evolution of the hu- 407– 431.
of enhanced breathing control. Ameri- man capacity: The symbolic evidence. McKenna, J. J. (1999). Co-sleeping and
can Journal of Physical Anthropology 109, Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 32, SIDS. In W. Trevathan, E. O. Smith, &
341–363. 1–34. J. J. McKenna (Eds.), Evolutionary medi-
MacNeish, R. S. (1992). The origins of agri- Marshall, E. (2001). Preclovis sites fight for cine. London: Oxford University Press.
culture and settled life. Norman: University acceptance. Science 291, 1,732. McKenna, J. J. (2002, September–October).
of Oklahoma Press. Marshall, L. (1961). Sharing, talking and Breastfeeding and bedsharing. Mothering,
Madison Avenue relevance. (1999). Anthro- giving: Relief of social tensions among 28–37.
pology Newsletter 40 (4), 32. !Kung bushmen. Africa 31, 231–249. McKenna, J. J., & McDade, T. (2005, June).
Mair, L. (1957). An introduction to social Marshall, M. (1990). Two tales from the Why babies should never sleep alone:
anthropology. London: Oxford University Trukese taproom. In P. R. DeVita (Ed.), A review of the co-sleeping controversy
Press. The humbled anthropologist (pp. 12–17). in relation to SIDS, bedsharing, and
Mair, L. (1969). Witchcraft. New York: Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. breast feeding. Pediatric Respiratory Re-
McGraw-Hill. Martin, E. (1994). Flexible bodies: Tracking views 6 (2), 134–152.
Mair, L. (1971). Marriage. Baltimore: immunity in American culture—from the McNeill, W. (1992). Plagues and people. New
Penguin. days of polio to the age of AIDS. Boston: York: Anchor Books.
Malefijt, A. de W. (1969). Religion and cul- Beacon Press. Mead, A. T. P. (1996). Genealogy, sacred-
ture: An introduction to anthropology of Martin, E. (1999). Flexible survivors. An- ness, and the commodities market.
religion. London: Macmillan. thropology News 40 (6), 5–7. Cultural Survival Quarterly 20 (2).
Malinowski, B. (1922). Argonauts of the Martorell, R. (1988). Body size, adaptation, Mead, M. (1928). Coming of age in Samoa.
western Pacific. London: Routledge & and function. GDP, 335–347. New York: Morrow.
Kegan Paul. Mascia-Lees, F. E., & Black, N. J. (2000). Mead, M. (1960). Anthropology among
Malinowski, B. (1945). The dynamics of Gender and anthropology. Prospect the sciences. American Anthropologist 63,
culture change: An inquiry into race relations Heights, IL: Waveland Press. 475– 482.
in Africa. New Haven, CT: Yale Univer- Mason, J. A. (1957). The ancient civilizations Mead, M. (1963). Sex and temperament in
sity Press. of Peru. Baltimore: Penguin. three primitive societies (3rd ed). New York:
Malinowski, B. (1951). Crime and custom in Maybury-Lewis, D. (1960). Parallel descent Morrow. (orig. 1935)
savage society. London: Routledge. and the Apinaye anomaly. Southwestern Mead, M., & Metraux, R. (Eds.) (1953).
Malinowski, B. (1954). Magic, science, and Journal of Anthropology 16, 191–216. The study of culture at a distance. Chicago:
religion. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Maybury-Lewis, D. (1984). The prospects University of Chicago Press.
Mann, A., Lampl, M, & Monge, J. (1990). for plural societies. 1982 Proceedings of the Medicine, B. (1994). Gender. In M. B. Davis
Patterns of ontogeny in human evolu- American Ethnological Society. (Ed.), Native America in the twentieth cen-
tion: Evidence from dental development. Maybury-Lewis, D. (1993, fall). A new tury. New York: Garland.
Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 33, world dilemma: The Indian question Melaart, J. (1967). Catal Hüyük: A Neolithic
111–150. in the Americas. Symbols, 17–23. town in Anatolia. London: Thames &
Mann, C. C. (2000). Misconduct alleged in Maybury-Lewis, D. (2001). Indigenous peo- Hudson.
Yanomamo studies. Science 289, 2, 253. ples, ethnic groups, and the state (2nd ed.). Mellars, P. (1989). Major issues in the
Mann, C. C. (2002).The real dirt on rainfor- Boston: Allyn & Bacon. emergence of modern humans. Current
est fertility. Science 297, 920–923. Maybury-Lewis, D. H. P. (1993). A special Anthropology 30, 356–357.
Marcus, G. (1995). Ethnography in/of the sort of pleading. In W. A. Haviland & Meltzer, D., Fowler, D., & Sabloff, J.
world system: The emergence of multi- R. J. Gordon (Eds.), Talking about people (Eds.) (1986). American archaeology: Past
sited ethnography. Annual Review of (2nd. ed., p. 17). Mountain View, CA: & future. Washington, DC: Smithsonian
Anthropology 24, 95–117. Mayfield. Institution Press.
Marcus, J., & Flannery, K. V. (1996). Zapo- Mayr, E., & Diamond, J. (2002). What evo- Merin, Y. (2002). Equality for same-sex cou-
tec civilization: How urban society evolved lution is. New York: Basic Books. ples: The legal recognition of gay partnerships
in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. New York: McCorriston, J., & Hole, F. (1991). The in Europe and the United States. Chicago:
Thames & Hudson. ecology of seasonal stress and the origins University of Chicago Press.
 Bibliography 323

Merriam, A. P. (1964). The anthropology of Murphy, R. (1971). The dialectics of social life: Nietschmann, B. (1987). The third world
music. Chicago: Northwestern University Alarms and excursions in anthropological war. Cultural Survival Quarterly 11 (3),
Press. theory. New York: Basic Books. 1–16.
Mesghinua, H. M. (1966). Salt mining in Murphy, R., & Kasdan, L. (1959). The Norris, R. S., & Kristensen, H. M. (2006,
Enderta. Journal of Ethiopian Studies 4 (2). structure of parallel cousin marriage. July/August). Global nuclear stockpiles,
Miles, H. L. W. (1993). Language and the American Anthropologist 61, 17–29. 1945–2006. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
orangutan: The “old person” of the for- Mydens, S. (2001, August 12). He’s not 62 (4), 64– 66.
est. In P. Cavalieri & P. Singer (Eds.), The hairy, he’s my brother. New York Times, Nunney, L. (1998). Are we selfish, are we
great ape project (pp. 45– 50). New York: sec. 4, 5. nice, or are we nice because we are self-
St. Martin’s Press. Myrdal, G. (1974). Challenge to affluence: ish? Science 281, 1,619.
Miller, J. M. A. (2000). Craniofacial varia- The emergence of an “under-class.” In Nye, J. (2002). The paradox of American
tion in Homo habilis: An analysis of the J. G. Jorgensen & M. Truzzi (Eds.), An- power: Why the world’s only superpower
evidence for multiple species. Ameri- thropology and American life. Englewood can’t go it alone. New York: Oxford Uni-
can Journal of Physical Anthropology Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. versity Press.
112, 122. Nader, L. (Ed.) (1965). The ethnography of Oakley, K. P. (1964). Man the tool-maker.
Millon, R. (1973). Urbanization of Teotihua- law, part II. American Anthropologist 67 (6). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
cán, Mexico: Vol. 1, Part 1. The Teotihuacán Nader, L. (Ed.) (1969). Law in culture and O’Barr, W. M., & Conley, J. M. (1993).
map. Austin: University of Texas Press. society. Chicago: Aldine. When a juror watches a lawyer. In W. A.
Mintz, S. (1996). A taste of history. In W. A. Nader, L. (Ed.) (1996). Naked science: Anthro- Haviland & R. J. Gordon (Eds.), Talking
Haviland & R. J. Gordon (Eds.), Talking pological inquiry into boundaries, power, about people (2nd. ed., pp. 42– 45). Moun-
about people (2nd ed., pp. 81– 82). Moun- and knowledge. New York: Routledge. tain View, CA: Mayfield.
tain View, CA: Mayfield. Nader, L. (1997). Controlling processes: Obler, R. S. (1982). Is the female husband a
Minugh-Purvis, N. (1992). The inhabi- Tracing the dynamics of power. Current man? Woman/woman marriage among
tants of Ice Age Europe. Expedition 34 (3), Anthropology 38, 715–717. the Nandi of Kenya. Ethnology 19, 69– 88.
23–36. Nader, L. (Ed.) (1997). Law in culture and Offiong, D. (1985). Witchcraft among the
Mitchell, W. E. (1973, December). A new society. Berkeley: University of California Ibibio of Nigeria. In A. C. Lehmann &
weapon stirs up old ghosts. Natural His- Press. J. E. Myers (Eds.), Magic, witchcraft, and
tory, 77– 84. Nader, L. (2002). The life of the law: Anthro- religion (pp. 152–165). Palo Alto, CA:
Mitchell, W. E. (1978). Mishpokhe: A study pological projects. Berkeley: University of Mayfield.
of New York City Jewish family clubs. The California Press. Okonjo, K. (1976). The dual-sex politi-
Hague: Mouton. Nader, L., & Todd, Jr., H. F. (1978). The cal system in operation: Igbo women
Modell, J. (1994). Kinship with strangers: disputing process: Law in ten societies. New and community politics in midwestern
Adoption and interpretations of kinship in York: Columbia University Press. Nigeria. In N. Hafkin & E. Bay (Eds.),
American culture. Berkeley: University of Nanda, S. (1990). Neither man nor woman: Women in Africa. Stanford, CA: Stanford
California Press. The hijras of India. Belmont, CA: Wads- University Press.
Molnar, S. (1992). Human variation: Races, worth. Olszewki, D. I. (1991). Comment. Current
types and ethnic groups (3rd ed.). Engle- Nanda, S. (1992). Arranging a marriage in Anthropology 32, 43.
wood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. India. In P. R. De Vita (Ed.), The naked O’Mahoney, K. (1970). The salt trade. Jour-
Monaghan, L., Hinton, L., & Kephart, anthropologist (pp. 139–143). Belmont, CA: nal of Ethiopian Studies 8 (2).
R. (1997). Can’t teach a dog to be a cat? Wadsworth. Ong, A. (1999). Flexible citizenship: The
The dialogue on ebonics. Anthropology Nash, J. (1976). Ethnology in a revolution- cultural logics of transnationality. Durham,
Newsletter 38 (3), 1, 8, 9. ary setting. In M. A. Rynkiewich & J. P. NC: Duke University Press.
Montagu, A. (1964). The concept of race. Spradley (Eds.), Ethics and anthropology: Orlando, L., et al. (6 June 2006). Cor-
London: Macmillan. Dilemmas in fieldwork (pp. 148–166). New respondence: Revisiting Neandertal
Montagu, A. (1964). Man’s most dangerous York: Wiley. diversity with a 100,000 year old mtDNA
myth: The fallacy of race (4th ed.) New Natural Resources Defense Council. sequence. Current Biology 16, 400– 402.
York: World Publishing. (2005, March 25). Healthy milk, healthy Ortiz, A. (1969). The Tewa world. Chicago:
Montagu, A. (1975). Race and IQ. New York: baby: Chemical pollution and mother’s The University of Chicago Press.
Oxford University Press. milk. www.NRDC.org. Oswalt, W. H. (1972). Habitat and tech-
Moore, J. (1998). Comment. Current Anthro- Needham, R. (Ed.) (1971). Rethinking kin- nology. New York: Holt, Rinehart &
pology 39, 412. ship and marriage. London: Tavistock. Winston.
Morgan, L. H. (1877). Ancient society. New Needham, R. (1972). Belief, language and ex- Otte, M. (2000). On the suggested bone
York: World Publishing. perience. Chicago: University of Chicago flute from Slovenia. Current Anthropology
Morphy, H., & Perkins, M. (Eds.). (2006). Press. 41, 271.
Anthropology of art: A reader. Boston: Neer, R. M. (1975). The evolutionary sig- Otten, C. M. (1971). Anthropology and art:
Blackwell. nificance of vitamin D, skin pigment, Readings in cross-cultural aesthetics. Gar-
Morse, D., et al. (1979). Gestures: Their and ultraviolet light. American Journal of den City, NY: Natural History Press.
origins and distribution. New York: Stein Physical Anthropology 43, 409– 416. Ottenberg, P. (1965). The Afi kpo Ibo of
& Day. Nesbitt, L. M. (1935). Hell-hole of creation. eastern Nigeria. In J. L. Gibbs (Ed.),
Moscati, S. (1962). The face of the ancient ori- New York: Knopf. Peoples of Africa. New York: Holt, Rine-
ent. New York: Doubleday. Nesse, R. M., & Williams, G. C. (1996). hart & Winston.
Murdock, G. P. (1960). Cognatic forms of Why we get sick. New York: Vintage. Ottenheimer, M. (1996). Forbidden rela-
social organization. In G. P. Murdock Netting, R. M., Wilk, R. R., & Arnould, tives: The American myth of cousin mar-
(Ed.), Social structure in Southeast Asia E. J. (Eds.) (1984). Households: Compara- riage. Chicago: University of Illinois
(pp. 1–14). Chicago: Quadrangle Books. tive and historical studies of the domestic Press.
Murdock, G. P. (1965). Social structure. New group. Berkeley: University of California Otterbein, K. F. (1971). The evolution of war.
York: Free Press. Press. New Haven, CT: HRAF Press.
324 Bibliography

Pandian, J. (1998). Culture, religion, and the (p. 217). Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Powdermaker, H. (1976). Stranger and
sacred self: A critical introduction to the an- Gruyter. friend: The way of an anthropologist. Lon-
thropological study of religion. Englewood Pimentel, D. (1991). Response. Science 252, don: Secker and Warburg.
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 358. Power, M. G. (1995). Gombe revisited: Are
Paredes, J. A., & Purdum, E. D. (1990). Pimentel, D., Hurd, L. E., Bellotti, A. C., chimpanzees violent and hierarchical in
“Bye, bye Ted . . . ” Anthropology Today Forster, M. J., Oka, I. N., Sholes, O. D., the free state? General Anthropology 2 (1),
6 (2), 9. & Whitman, R. J. (1973). Food Produc- 5–9.
Parés, J. M., Perez-Gonzalez, A., Weil, tion and the Energy Crisis. Science, 182. Premack, A. J., & Premack, D. (1972).
A. B., & Arsuaga, J. L. (2000). On the Pink, S. (2001). Doing visual ethnography: Im- Teaching language to an ape. Scientific
age of hominid fossils at the Sima de los ages, media and representation in research. American 277(4), 92–99.
Huesos, Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain: Paleo- Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Price, T. D., & Feinman, G. M. (Eds.)
magnetic evidence. American Journal of Piperno, D. R., & Fritz, G. J. (1994). On (1995). Foundations of social inequality.
Physical Anthropology 111, 451– 461. the emergence of agriculture in the New York: Plenum.
Parish, A. R. (1998). Comment. Current An- new world. Current Anthropology 35, Pringle, H. (1997). Ice Age communities
thropology 39, 414. 637– 643. may be earliest known net hunters. Sci-
Parker, R. G. (1991). Bodies, pleasures, and Pitt, D. (1977). Comment. Current Anthro- ence 277, 1,203–1,204.
passions: Sexual culture in contemporary pology 18, 628. Pringle, H. (1998). The slow birth of agri-
Brazil. Boston: Beacon Press. Pitts, V. (2003). In the flesh: The cultural culture. Science 282, 1,449.
Parkin, R. (1997). Kinship: An introduc- politics of body modification. New York: Prins, A. H. J. (1953). East African class
tion to basic concepts. Cambridge, MA: Palgrave Macmillan. systems. Groningen, the Netherlands:
Blackwell. Plane, A. M. (1996). Putting a face on J. B. Wolters.
Parnell, R. (1999). Gorilla exposé. Natural colonization: Factionalism and gender Prins, H. E. L. (1996). The Mi’kmaq: Resis-
History 108 (8), 43 politics in the life history of Awashunkes, tance, accommodation, and cultural survival
Partridge, W. (Ed.) (1984). Training manual the “Squaw Sachem” of Saconnet. In R. S. (p. 106). Orlando: Harcourt Brace.
in development anthropology.Washing- Grumet (Ed.), Northeastern Indian Lives, Prins, H. E. L. (1998). Book review of
ton, DC: American Anthropological 1632–1816 (pp.140–175). Amherst: Univer- Schuster, C., & Carpenter, E. American
Association. sity of Massachusetts Press. Anthropologist 100 (3), 841.
Patterson, F., & Linden, E. (1981). The edu- Plattner, S. (Ed.) (1989). Economic anthropol- Prins, H. E. L. (2002). Visual media and the
cation of Koko. New York: Holt, Rinehart ogy. Stanford, CA: Stanford University primitivist perplex: Colonial fantasies,
& Winston. Press. indigenous imagination, and advocacy
Peacock, J. L. (2002). The anthropological Plattner, S. (1989). Markets and market- in North America. In F. D. Ginsburg
lens: Harsh light, soft focus (2nd ed.). New places. In S. Plattner (Ed.), Economic et al., Media worlds: Anthropology on new
York: Cambridge University Press. anthropology. Stanford, CA: Stanford terrain (pp. 58–74). Berkeley: University of
Pease, T. (2000, Spring). Taking the third University Press. California Press.
side. Andover Bulletin. Pohl, M. E. D., Pope, K. O., & von Nagy, Prins, H. E. L., & Carter, K. (1986). Our
Pelto, G. H., Goodman, A. H., & Dufour, C. (2002). Olmec origins of Mesoameri- lives in our hands. Video and 16mm.
D. L. (Eds.). (2000). Nutritional anthropol- can writing, Science 298, 1,984–1,987. Color. 50 min. Distributed by Water-
ogy: Biocultural perspectives on food and Polanyi, K. (1968). The economy as town, MA: Documentary Educational
nutrition. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield, instituted process. In E. E. LeClair, Jr., Resources and Bucksport, ME: Northeast
Pelto, P. J. (1973). The snowmobile revolution: & H. K. Schneider (Eds.), Economic an- Historic Film
Technology and social change in the Arctic. thropology: Readings in theory and analysis Prins, H. E. L., & Krebs, E. (2006). Toward
Menlo Park, CA: Cummings. (pp. 127–138). New York: Holt, Rinehart a land without evil: Alfred Métraux as
Pennisi, E. (1999). Genetic study shakes up & Winston. UNESCO anthropologist 1948–1962. In
out of Africa theory. Science 283, 1,828. Pollan, M. (2001). The botany of desire: A 60 years of UNESCO history. Proceedings
Peters, C. R. (1979). Toward an ecological plant’s-eye view of the world. New York: of the international symposium in Paris,
model of African Plio-Pleistocene homi- Random House. 16–18 November 2005. Paris: UNESCO.
nid adaptations. American Anthropologist Pope, G. (1989, October). Bamboo and hu- Profet, M. (1991). The function of allergy:
81(2), 261–278. man evolution. Natural History 98, 48–57. Immunological defense against toxins.
Petersen J. B., Neuves, E., & Hecken- Pope, G. G. (1992). Craniofacial evidence Quarterly Review of Biology 66 (1), 23– 62.
berger, M. J. (2001). Gift from the past: for the origin of modern humans in Profet, M. (1995). Protecting your baby to be.
Terra preta and prehistoric American China. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology New York: Addison Wesley.
occupation in Amazonia. In C. McEwan 35, 243–298. Puleston, D. E. (1983). The settlement
and C. Barreo (Eds.) Unknown Amazon Pope Pius XII. (1954). Sacra Virginitas. survey of Tikal. Philadelphia: University
(pp. 86–105). London: British Museum encyclical on consecrated virginity. The Museum.
Press. Catholic Encyclopedia Online: www Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. (1931). Social
Pfeiffer, J. E. (1978). The emergence of man. .newadvent.org. organization of Australian tribes. Oceana
New York: Harper & Row. Pospisil, L. (1963). The Kapauku Papuans of Monographs 1, 29.
Pfeiffer, J. E. (1985). The creative explosion. west New Guinea. New York: Holt, Rine- Radcliffe-Brown, A. R., & Forde, C. D.
Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. hart & Winston. (Eds.) (1950). African systems of kinship
Piddocke, S. (1965). The potlatch system of Pospisil, L. (1971). Anthropology of law: A and marriage. London: Oxford University
the southern Kwakiutl: A new perspec- comparative theory. New York: Harper & Press.
tive. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology Row. Radin, P. (1923). The Winnebago tribe. In
21, 244–264. Potts, R. (1997). Humanity’s descent: The 37th annual report of the Bureau of American
Piggott, S. (1965). Ancient Europe. Chicago: consequences of ecological instability. New Ethnology, 1915–1916 (pp. 33–550). Wash-
Aldine. York: Avon. ington, DC: Government Printing Office.
Pilbeam, D. R. (1987). Rethinking human Powdermaker, H. (1939). After freedom: A Rapp, R. (1999). Testing the woman, testing
origins. In R. L. Ciochon & J. G. Fleagle cultural study in the Deep South. New York: the fetus: The social impact of amniocentesis
(Eds.), Primate evolution and human origins Viking. in America. New York: Routledge.
 Bibliography 325

Rappaport, R. A. (1969). Ritual regula- Ridley, M. (1999). Genome: The autobiogra- Sabloff, J. A. (1997). The cities of ancient
tion of environmental relations among phy of a species in 23 chapters. New York: Mexico (rev. ed.). New York: Thames &
a New Guinea people. In A. P. Vayda HarperCollins. Hudson.
(Ed.), Environment and cultural behavior Rightmire, G. P. (1990). The evolution of Sabloff, J. A., & Lambert-Karlovsky, C. C.
(pp. 181–201). Garden City, NY. Natural Homo erectus: Comparative anatomical stud- (Eds.) (1974). The rise and fall of civiliza-
History Press. ies of an extinct human species. Cambridge: tions, modern archaeological approaches
Rappaport, R. A. (1984). Pigs for the ances- Cambridge University Press. to ancient cultures. Menlo Park, CA:
tors (Enl. ed.). New Haven, CT: Yale Rightmire, G. P. (1998). Evidence from Cummings.
University Press. facial morphology for similarity of Asian Sahlins, M. (1961). The segmentary lineage:
Rappaport, R. A. (1999). Holiness and hu- and African representatives of Homo An organization of predatory expansion.
manity: Ritual in the making of religious life. erectus. American Journal of Physical An- American Anthropologist 63, 322–343.
New York: Cambridge University Press. thropology 106, 61– 85. Sahlins, M. (1968). Tribesmen. Englewood
Rathke, L. (1989). To Maine for apples. Salt Rindos, D. (1984). The origins of agriculture: Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall (Foundations of
Magazine 9 (4), 24– 47. An evolutionary perspective. Orlando: Modern Anthropology).
Rathje, W. L. (1974). The garbage project: Academic Press. Sahlins, M. (1972). Stone age economics. Chi-
A new way of looking at the problems of Robben, A. C. G. M. (2007). Fieldwork cago: Aldine.
archaeology. Archaeology 27, 236–241. identity: Introduction. In A. C. G. M. Salzman, P. C. (1967). Political organiza-
Rathje, W. L. (1993). Rubbish! In W. A. Robben & J. A. Sluka (Eds.), Ethnographic tion among nomadic peoples. Proceedings
Haviland & R. J. Gordon (Eds.), Talking fieldwork: An anthropological reader of the American Philosophical Society 111,
about people: Readings in contemporary (pp. 59– 63). Malden, MA: Blackwell. 115–131.
cultural anthropology. Mountain View, Robben, A. C. G. M. (2007). Reflexive eth- Sanday, P. R. (1975). On the causes of IQ
CA: Mayfield. nography: Introduction. In A. C. G. M. differences between groups and im-
Read-Martin, C. E., & Read, D. W. (1975). Robben & J. A. Sluka (Eds.), Ethno- plications for social policy. In M. F. A.
Australopithecine scavenging and hu- graphic fieldwork: An anthropological Montagu (Ed.), Race and IQ (pp. 232–238).
man evolution: An approach from faunal reader (pp. 443– 446). Malden, MA: New York: Oxford.
analysis. Current Anthropology 16(3), 359– Blackwell. Sanday, P. R. (1981). Female power and male
368. Robben, A. C. G. M., & Sluka, J. A. (Eds.) dominance: On the origins of sexual inequal-
Recent demographic developments in Eu- (2006). Ethnographic fieldwork: An anthro- ity. Cambridge, England: Cambridge
rope—2000. Council of Europe. pological reader (Part VII). Malden, MA: University Press.
Recer, P. (1998, February 16). Apes shown Blackwell. Sanday, P. R. (2002). Women at the center:
to communicate in the wild. Burlington Rogers, J. (1994). Levels of the genealogical Life in a modern matriarchy. Ithaca: Cor-
Free Press, 12A. hierarchy and the problem of hominid nell University Press.
Redfield, R. (1953). The primitive world and phylogeny. American Journal of Physical Sangree, W. H. (1965). The Bantu Tiriki of
its transformations. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Anthropology 94, 81– 88. western Kenya. In J. L. Gibbs, Jr. (Ed.),
University Press. Romer, A. S. (1945). Vertebrate paleontology. Peoples of Africa (pp. 69–72). New York:
Redman, C. L. (1978). The rise of civilization: Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
From early farmers to urban society in the an- Roosevelt, A. C. (1984). Population, Sanjek, R. (1990). On ethnographic validity.
cient Near East. San Francisco: Freeman. health, and the evolution of subsistence: In R. Sanjek (Ed.), Field notes. Ithaca, NY:
Reid, J. J., Schiffer, M. B., & Rathje, W. Conclusions from the conference. In Cornell University Press.
L. (1975). Behavioral archaeology: Four M. N. Cohen & G. J. Armelagos (Eds.), Sapir, E. (1921). Language. New York: Har-
strategies. American Anthropologist 77, Paleopathology at the origins of agriculture court.
864– 869. (pp. 572–574). Orlando: Academic Press. Savage-Rumbaugh, S., & Lewin, R. (1994).
Reina, R. E. (1966). The law of the saints. Rosas, A., & Bermdez de Castro, J. M. Kanzi: The ape at the brink of the human
Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill. (1998). On the taxonomic affi nities of the mind. New York: Wiley.
Relethford, J. H. (2001). Absence of re- Dmanisi mandible (Georgia). Ameri- Scaglion, R. (1987). Contemporary law
gional affi nities of Neandertal DNA with can Journal of Physical Anthropology 107, development in Papua New Guinea. In
living humans does not reject multi- 145–162. R. M. Wulff & S. J. Fiske (Eds.), Anthro-
regional evolution. American Journal of Roscoe, P. B. (1995). The perils of “positiv- pological praxis: Translating knowledge into
Physical Anthropology 115, 95–98. ism” in cultural anthropology. American action. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Relethford, J. H., & Harpending, H. C. Anthropologist 97, 497. Schaeffer, S. B., & Furst, P. T. (Eds.).
(1994). Craniometric variation, genetic Roscoe, W. (1991). Zuni man-woman. Al- (1996). People of the peyote: Huichol Indian
theory, and modern human origins. buquerque: University of New Mexico history, religion, and survival. Albuquer-
American Journal of Physical Anthropology Press. que: University of New Mexico Press.
95, 249–270. Rowe, N., & Mittermeier, R. A. (1996). The Scheflen, A. E. (1972). Body language and
Renfrew, C. (1973). Before civilization: The pictorial guide to the living primates. East the social order. Englewood Cliff s, NJ:
radiocarbon revolution and prehistoric Hampton, NY: Pogonias Press. Prentice-Hall.
Europe. London: Jonathan Cape. Ruhlen, M. (1994). The origin of language: Schepartz, L.A. (1993). Language and hu-
Reynolds, V. (1994). Primates in the field, Tracing the evolution of the mother tongue. man origins. Yearbook of Physical Anthro-
primates in the lab. Anthropology Today New York: Wiley. pology 36, 91–126.
10 (2), 4. Rupert, J. L., & Hochachka, P. W. (2001). Scheper-Hughes, N., & Waquant, L.
Rice, P. (2000). Paleoanthropology 2000— The evidence for hereditary factors con- (2002). Commodifying bodies. London: Sage
part 1. General Anthropology 7 (1), 11. tributing to high altitude adaptation in (Theory, Culture, and Society series).
Richmond, B. G., Fleagle, J. K., & Andean natives: A review. High Altitude Schlegel, A. (1977). Male and female in
Swisher III, C. C. (1998). First Homi- Medicine & Biology 2 (2), 235–256. Hopi thought and action. In A. Schlegel
noid elbow from the Miocene of Ethiopia Ruvdo, M. (1994). Molecular evolutionary (Ed.), Sexual stratification (pp. 245–269).
and the evolution of the Catarrhine el- processes and confl icting gene trees: The New York: Columbia University Press.
bow. American Journal of Physical Anthro- hominoid case. American Journal of Physi- Schoepfle, M. (2001). Ethnographic re-
pology 105, 257–277. cal Anthropology 94, 89– 113. source inventory and the National Park
326 Bibliography

Service. Cultural Resource Management 5, Shore, B. (1996). Culture in mind: Meaning, Spencer, F., & Smith, F. H. (1981). The sig-
1–7. construction, and cultural cognition. New nificance of Ales Hrdlicka’s “Neanderthal
Schrire, C. (Ed.). (1984). Past and present in York: Oxford University Press. phase of man”: A historical and current
hunter-gatherer studies. Orlando: Aca- Shostak, M. (1983). Nisa: The life and words assessment. American Journal of Physical
demic Press. of a !Kung woman. New York: Vintage. Anthropology 56, 435– 459.
Schusky, E. L. (1983). Manual for kinship Shreeve, J. (1994). Terms of estrangement. Spencer, H. (1896). Principles of sociology.
analysis (2nd ed.). Lanham, MD: Univer- Discover 15 (11), 60. New York: Appleton.
sity Press of America. Shreeve, J. (1995). The Neandertal enigma: Spencer, R. F. (1984). North Alaska Coast
Schuster, C., & Carpenter, E. (1996). Solving the mystery of modern human ori- Eskimo. In D. Damas (Ed.), Arctic: Hand-
Patterns that connect: Social symbolism in gins. New York: William Morrow. book of North American Indians (Vol. 5,
ancient and tribal art. New York: Abrams. Shuey, A. M. (1966). The testing of Negro pp. 320–337). Washington, DC: Smithso-
Schwartz, J. H. (1984). Hominoid evolu- intelligence. New York: Social Science nian Institution.
tion: A review and a reassessment. Cur- Press. Spindler, G., & Stockard, J. E. (Eds.)
rent Anthropology 25 (5), 655– 672. Sillen, A., & Brain, C. K. (1990). Old flame. (2006). Globalization and change in fifteen
Schwartz, M. (1997). A history of dogs in the Natural History 4, 6–10. cultures. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
early Americas. New Haven: Yale Univer- Simons, E. L. (1972). Primate evolution. New Spradley, J. P. (1979). The ethnographic
sity Press. York: Macmillan. interview. New York: Holt, Rinehart &
Scupin, R. (Ed.) (2000). Religion and culture: Simons, E. L. (1989) Human origins. Sci- Winston.
An anthropological focus. Upper Saddle ence 245, 1,349. Spradley, J. P. (1980). Participant observation.
River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Simons, E. L. (1995). Skulls and anterior New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Seeger, A. (2004). Why Suya sing: A musical teeth of Catopithecus (primates: anthro- Stacey, J. (1990). Brave new families. New
anthropology. Champaign: University of poidea) from the Eocene and anthropoid York: Basic Books.
Illinois Press. origins. Science 268, 1,885–1,888. Stahl, A. B. (1984). Hominid dietary selec-
Sellen, D. W., & Mace, R. (1997). Fertility Simons, E. L., Rasmussen, D. T., & tion before fi re. Current Anthropology 25,
and mode of subsistence: A phylogenetic Gebo, D. L. (1987). A new species of 151–168.
analysis. Current Anthropology 38, 886. Propliopithecus from the Fayum, Egypt. Stanford, C. B. (2001). Chimpanzee and red
Semenov, S. A. (1964). Prehistoric technology. American Journal of Physical Anthropology colobus: The ecology of predator and prey.
New York: Barnes & Noble. 73, 139–147. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Senut, B., et al. (2001). First hominid from Simpson, G. G. (1949). The meaning of evolu- Press.
the Miocene (Lukeino formation, Kenya). tion. New Haven, CT: Yale University Stanford, C. B. (2001). The hunting apes:
C. R. Academy of Science, Paris 332,137–144. Press. Meat eating and the origins of human behav-
Seyfarth, R. M., et al. (1980). Monkey Simpson, S. (1995, April). Whispers from ior. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
responses to three different alarm calls: the ice. Alaska, 23–28. Press.
Evidence for predator classification and Sjoberg, G. (1960). The preindustrial city. Stannard, D. E. (1992). American holocaust.
semantic communication. Science 210, New York: Free Press. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
801– 803. Sluka, J. A. (2007). Fieldwork relations and Steady, F. C. (2001). Women and the Amistad
Seymour, D. Z. (1986). Black children, rapport: Introduction. In A. C. G. M. Rob- connection, Sierra Leone Krio Society. Roch-
black speech. In P. Escholz, A. Rosa, ben & J. A. Sluka (Eds.), Ethnographic field- ester, VT: Schenkman Books.
& V. Clark (Eds.), Language awareness work: An anthropological reader. Malden, Steady, F. C. (2005). Women and collective
(4th ed.). New York: St. Martin’s Press. MA: Blackwell. action in Africa. New York: Palgrave
Shane, L., III. (2005). Happy couple both Small, M. F. (1997). Making connections. Macmillan.
no-show wedding: Deployed troops American Scientist 85, 503. Stedman, H. H., et al. (2004). Myosin gene
make use of double-proxy ceremony. Small, M. F. (2000). Kinship envy. Natural mutation correlates with anatomical
Stars & Stripes 3 (17), 6. History 109 (2), 88. changes in the human lineage. Nature
Shapiro, H. (Ed.) (1971). Man, culture and Smedley, A. (1998). Race in North America: 428, 415– 418.
society (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford Uni- Origin and evolution of a worldview. Boul- Stein, R. L., & Stein, P. L. (2004). Anthro-
versity Press. der, CO: Westview Press. pology of religion, magic, and witchcraft.
Sharer, R. J., & Ashmore, W. (2002). Ar- Smith, B. H. (1994). Patterns of dental de- Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
chaeology: Discovering our past (3rd ed.). velopment in Homo, Australopithecus, Pan, Steward, J. H. (1972). Theory of culture
New York: McGraw-Hill. and gorilla. American Journal of Physical change: The methodology of multilinear
Shaw, D. G. (1984). A light at the end of the Anthropology 94, 307– 325. evolution. Urbana: University of Illinois
tunnel: Anthropological contributions Smith, F. H., & Raynard, G. C. (1980). Press.
toward global competence. Anthropology Evolution of the supraorbital region in Stiglitz, J.E. (2003). Globalization and its
Newsletter 25, 16. Upper Pleistocene fossil hominids from discontents. New York: Norton.
Shearer, R. R., & Gould, S. J. (1999). Of South-Central Europe. American Journal Stiles, D. (1979). Early Acheulean and
two minds and one nature. Science 286, of Physical Anthropology 53, 589– 610. developed Oldowan. Current Anthropology
1093. Smith, P. E. L. (1976). Food production and 20 (l), 126–129.
Sheets, P. (1993). Dawn of a new Stone Age its consequences (2nd ed.). Menlo Park, Stockard, J. E. (2002). Marriage in culture:
in eye surgery. In R. J. Sharer & W. Ash- CA: Cummings. Practice and meaning across diverse societies.
more, Archaeology: Discovering our past Snowden, C. T. (1990). Language capabili- Ft. Worth: Harcourt College Publishers.
(2nd ed.). Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield. ties of nonhuman animals. Yearbook of Stocking, G. W., Jr. (1968). Race, culture and
Shipman, P. (1981). Life history of a fossil: An Physical Anthropology 33, 215–243. evolution: Essays in the history of anthropol-
introduction to taphonomy and paleoecology. Speck, F. G. (1920). Penobscot shamanism. ogy. New York: Free Press.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Memoirs of the American Anthropological Stone, L. (1998). Kinship and gender: An intro-
Press. Association 6, 239–288. duction. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Shook, J. R., et al. (Eds.). (2004). Dictionary Speck, F. G. (1970). Penobscot man: The life Stone, L. (2005). Kinship and gender: An
of modern American philosophers, 1860– history of a forest tribe in Maine. New York: introduction (3rd ed.). Boulder, CO: West-
1960. Bristol, England: Thoemmes Press. Octagon Books. view Press.
 Bibliography 327

Stone, R. (1995). If the mercury soars, so A socio-ecological study of subsistence Urban, G. (2001). Metaculture: How cultures
may health hazards. Science 267, 958. technology. African Studies Monograph move through the modern world. Westport,
Straus, W. L., & Cave, A. J. E. (1957). Pa- (Kyoto), 71– 85. CT: Greenwood Press.
thology and the posture of Neanderthal Thomas, E. M. (1994). The tribe of the tiger: Ury, W. L. (1993). Getting past no: Negotiat-
man. Quarterly Review of Biology, 32. Cats and their culture (pp. 109– 186). New ing your way from confrontation. New York:
Stringer, C. B., & McKie, R. (1996). African York: Simon & Schuster. Bantam Books.
exodus: The origins of modern humanity. Thomson, K. S. (1997). Natural selection Ury, W. L. (1999). Getting to peace: Trans-
London: Jonathan Cape. and evolution’s smoking gun. American forming conflict at home, at work, and in the
Stuart-MacAdam, P., & Dettwyler, K. A. Scientist 85, 516–518. world. New York: Viking.
(Eds.) (1995). Breastfeeding: Biocultural Thorne, A. G., & Wolpoff, M. D. H. Ury, W. (2002, Winter). A global immune
perspectives. New York: Aldine. (1981). Regional continuity in Austral- system. Andover Bulletin.
Study estimates 250,000 active child sol- asian Pleistocene hominid evolution. U.S. Census 2000. www.adherents.com.
diers. (2006, July 26). Associated Press. American Journal of Physical Anthropology U.S. Census Bureau News. (2004,
Suarez-Orozoco, M. M., Spindler, G., 55, 337–349. March 18).
& Spindler, L. (1994). The making of Thornhill, N. (1993). Quoted in W. A. Van Allen, J. (1997). Sitting on a man:
psychological anthropology, II. Fort Worth: Haviland & R. J. Gordon (Eds.), Talking Colonialism and the lost political institu-
Harcourt Brace. about people (p. 127). Mountain View, CA: tions of Igbo women. In R. Grinker &
Susman, R. L. (1988). Hand of Paranthropus Mayfield. C. Steiner (Eds.), Perspectives on Africa
robustus from Member 1, Swartkrans: Tobias, P. V., & von Konigswald, G. H. R. (p. 450). Boston: Blackwell.
Fossil evidence for tool behavior. Science (1964). A comparison between the Ol- Van den Berghe, P. (1992). The modern
240, 781–784. duvai hominines and those of Java and state: Nation builder or nation killer?
Swadesh, M. (1959). Linguistics as an some implications for hominid phylog- International Journal of Group Tensions 22
instrument of prehistory. Southwestern eny. Nature 204, 515–518. (3), 191–207.
Journal of Anthropology 15, 20–35. Trevathan, W., Smith, E. O., &.McKenna, Van Eck, C. (2003). Purified by blood: Honour
Swaminathan, M. S. (2000). Science in J. J. (Eds.) (1999). Evolutionary medicine. killings amongst Turks in the Netherlands.
response to basic human needs. Science London: Oxford University Press. Amsterdam University Press.
287, 425. Trinkaus, E. (1986). The Neanderthals and Van Gennep, A. (1960). The rites of pas-
Swartz, M. J., Turner, V. W., & Tuden, A. modern human origins. Annual Review of sage. Chicago: University of Chicago
(1966). Political anthropology. Chicago: Anthropology 15, 197. Press.
Aldine. Trinkaus, E., & Shipman, P. (1992). The Van Tilburg, J. A. (1994). Easter Island:
Swisher III, C. C., Curtis, G. H., Jacob, Neandertals: Changing the image of man- Archaeology, ecology, and culture. London:
T., Getty, A. G., Suprijo, A., & Widias- kind. New York: Knopf. British Museum Press.
moro. (1994). Age of the earliest known Trouillot, M. R. (1996). Culture, color, Van Willigen, J. (1986). Applied anthro-
hominids in Java, Indonesia. Science 263, and politics in Haiti. In S. Gregory & pology. South Hadley, MA: Bergin &
1,118–1,121. R. Sanjek (Eds.), Race. New Brunswick, Garvey.
Tannen, D. (1990). You just don’t understand: NJ: Rutgers University Press. Venbrux, E., Rosi, P. S., & Welsch, R. L.
Women and men in conversation. New Trouillot, M. R. (2003). Global transforma- (Eds.) (2006). Exploring world art. Lon-
York: Morrow. tions: Anthropology and the modern world. grove, IL: Waveland Press.
Tapper, M. (1999). In the blood: Sickle-cell New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Vincent, J. (2002). The anthropology of poli-
anemia and the politics of race. Philadel- Tumin, M. M. (1967). Social stratification: tics: A reader in ethnography, theory, and
phia: University of Pennsylvania Press. The forms and functions of inequality. critique. Boston: Blackwell.
Tattersal, I. (1998). Becoming human: Evolu- Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Vogt, E. Z. (1990). The Zinacantecos of
tion and human uniqueness. New York: (Foundations of Modern Sociology). Mexico: A modern Maya way of life
Harcourt Brace. Turnbull, C. M. (1983). Mbuti Pygmies: (2nd ed.). Fort Worth: Holt, Rine-
Tattersall, I., & Schwartz, J. H. (1999). Change and adaptation. New York: Holt, hart & Winston.
Hominids and hybrids: The place of Rinehart & Winston. Waldbaum, J. C. (2005, November/De-
Neanderthals in human evolution. PNAS Turnbull, C. M. (1961). The forest people. cember). Tell it to the Marines: Teaching
96 (13), 7,117–7,119. New York: Simon & Schuster. troops about cultural heritage. Archaeol-
Tax, S. (1953). Penny capitalism: A Guate- Turnbull, C. M. (1983). The human cycle. ogy 58 (6).
malan Indian economy. Washington, DC: New York: Simon & Schuster. Walker, A., & Shipman, P. (1997). The wis-
Smithsonian Institution, Institute of Turner, T. (1991). Major shift in Brazilian dom of the bones: In search of human origins.
Social Anthropology, Pub. No. 16. Yanomami policy. Anthropology Newsletter New York: Vintage Books.
Taylor, G. (2000). Castration: Abbreviated 32 (5), 1, 46. Wallace, A. F. C. (1956). Revitalization
history of western manhood. New York: Turner, V. W. (1957). Schism and continu- movements. American Anthropologist 58,
Routledge. ity in an African society. Manchester, 264–281.
Tedlock, B. (2005). The woman in the sha- England: University Press. Wallace, A. F. C. (1966). Religion: An an-
man’s body: Reclaiming the feminine in re- Turner, V. W. (1969). The ritual process. thropological view. New York: Random
ligion and medicine. New York: Random Chicago: Aldine. House.
House. Tylor, E. B. (1871). Primitive culture: Re- Wallace, A. F. C. (1970). Culture and per-
Templeton, A. R. (1994). Eve: Hypothesis searches into the development of mythology, sonality (2nd ed.). New York: Random
compatibility versus hypothesis testing. philosophy, religion, language, art and House.
American Anthropologist 96 (1), 141–147. customs. London: Murray. Wallace, E., & Hoebel, E. A. (1952). The
Templeton, A. R. (1995). The “Eve” Tylor, Sir E. B. (1931). Animism. In V. F. Comanches. Norman: University of Okla-
hypothesis: A genetic critique and re- Calverton (Ed.), The making of man: An homa Press.
analysis. American Anthropologist 95 (1), outline of anthropology. New York: Modern Walrath, D. (2002). Decoding the dis-
51–72. Library. courses: Feminism and science, review
Terashima, H. (1983). Mota and other UNESCO. www.unesco.org/webworld/ essay. American Anthropologist 104 (1),
hunting activities of the Mbuti archers: babel. 327–330.
328 Bibliography

Walrath, D. (2003). Re-thinking pelvic White, T. D. (1979). Evolutionary implica- Wirsing, R. L. (1985). The health of
typologies and the human birth mecha- tions of Pliocene hominid footprints. traditional societies and the effects of
nism. Current Anthropology 44 (1), 5–31. Science 208, 175–176. acculturation. Current Anthropology 26 (3),
Walrath, D. (2006). Gender, genes, and White, T. D. (2003). Early hominids—di- 303–322.
the evolution of human birth. In P. L. versity or distortion? Science 299, 1,994– Wittfogel, K. A. (1957). Oriental despotism,
Geller & M. K. Stockett (Eds.), Feminist 1,997. a comparative study of total power. New
anthropology: Past, present, and future. White, T. D., & Toth, N. (2000). Cutmarks Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylva- on a Plio-Pleistocene hominid from Sterk- Wolf, E. R. (1966). Peasants. Englewood
nia Press. fontein, South Africa. American Journal of Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Ward, C. V., Walker, A., Teaford, M. F., Physical Anthropology 111, 579–584. Wolf, E. R. (1969). Peasant wars of the
& Odhiambo, I. (1993). Partial skeleton Whitehead, B. D. & Popenoe, D. (2004). twentieth century. New York: Harper
of Proconsul nyanzae from Mfangano The state of our unions: The social health & Row.
Island, Kenya. American Journal of Physical of marriage in America 2004. Rutgers, NJ: Wolf, E. R. (1982). Europe and the people
Anthropology 90, 77–111. Rutgers University National Marriage without history. Berkeley: University of
Washburn, S. L., & Moore, R. (1980). Ape Project. California Press.
into human: A study of human evolution Whitehead, N. L., & Ferguson, R. B. Wolf, E. R. (1999). Envisioning power: Ide-
(2nd ed.). Boston: Little, Brown. (1993, November). Deceptive stereotypes ologies of dominance and crisis. Berkeley:
Wattenberg, B. J. (1997, November 23). The about tribal warfare. Chronicle of Higher University of California Press.
population explosion is over. New York Education, A48. Wolf, E. R., & Trager, G. L. (1971).
Times Magazine, 60. Whiting, B. B. (Ed.) (1963). Six cultures: Hortense Powdermaker 1900–1970.
Weatherford, J. (1988). Indian givers: How Studies of child rearing. New York: Wiley. American Anthropologist 73 (3), 784.
the Indians of the Americas transformed the Whiting, J. W. M., & Child, I. L. (1953). Wolf, M. (1985). Revolution postponed:
world. New York: Ballantine. Child training and personality: A cross- Women in contemporary China. Stanford,
Weiner, A. B. (1977). Review of Trobriand cultural study. New Haven, CT: Yale CA: Stanford University Press.
cricket: An ingenious response to co- University Press. Wolfson, H. (2000, January 22). Polyga-
lonialism. American Anthropologist 79, Whiting, J. W. M., Sodergem, J. A., & mists make the Christian connection.
506. Stigler, S. M. (1982). Winter temperature Burlington Free Press, 2c.
Weiner, A. B. (1988). The Trobrianders of as a constraint to the migration of prein- Wolpoff, M. H. (1993). Evolution in Homo
Papua New Guinea. New York: Holt, Rine- dustrial peoples. American Anthropologist erectus: The question of stasis. In R. L.
hart & Winston. 84, 289. Ciochon & J. G. Fleagle (Eds.), The human
Weiner, J. S. (1955). The Piltdown forgery. Whyte, A. L. H. (2005). Human evolu- evolution source book. Englewood Cliff s,
Oxford, England: Oxford University tion in Polynesia. Human Biology 77 (2), NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Press. 157–177. Wolpoff, M. H. (1993). Multiregional evolu-
Weiss, M. L., & Mann, A. E. (1990). Human Wiley, A. S. (2004). An ecology of high- tion: The fossil alternative to Eden. In
biology and behavior (5th ed.). Boston: altitude infancy: A biocultural perspec- R. L. Ciochon & J. G. Fleagle (Eds.), The
Little, Brown. tive series. Cambridge Studies in Medical human evolution source book. Englewood
Wells, S. (2002). The journey of man: A ge- Anthropology 12. Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
netic odyssey. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Wilk, R. R. (1996). Economics and cultures: Wolpoff, M. (1996). Australopithecus: A new
University Press. An introduction to economic anthropology. look at an old ancestor. General Anthropol-
Werner, D. (1990). Amazon journey. Engle- Boulder, CO: Westview Press. ogy 3 (1), 2.
wood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Willey, G. R. (1966). An introduction to Wolpoff, M., & Caspari, R. (1997). Race and
Wheeler, P. (1993). Human ancestors American archaeology: Vol. 1. North human evolution: A fatal attraction. New
walked tall, stayed cool. Natural History America. Englewood Cliff s, NJ: York: Simon & Schuster.
102 (8), 65– 66. Prentice-Hall. Wolpoff, M. H., Wu, X. Z., & Thorne,
Whelehan, P. (1985). Review of incest, a Willey, G. R. (1971). An introduction to Amer- A. G. (1984). Modern Homo sapiens
biosocial view. American Anthropologist ican archaeology, Vol. 2: South America. origins: A general theory of hominid
87, 678. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. evolution involving fossil evidence from
White, D. R. (1988). Rethinking polygyny: Williams, F. (2005, January 9). Toxic breast east Asia. In F. H. Smith and F. Spen-
Co-wives, codes, and cultural systems. milk? New York Times Magazine. cer (Eds.), The origins of modern humans
Current Anthropology 29, 529–572. Williamson, R. K. (1995). The blessed (pp. 411– 483). New York: Alan R. Liss.
White, L. (1949). The science of culture: A curse: Spirituality and sexual difference Wood, B., & Aiello, L. C. (1998). Taxo-
study of man and civilization. New York: as viewed by Euramerican and Native nomic and functional implications of
Farrar, Straus. American cultures. The College News mandibular scaling in early hominines.
White, L. (1959). The evolution of culture: 18 (4). American Journal of Physical Anthropology
The development of civilization to the fall of Willigan, J. V. (1986). Applied anthropology. 105, 523–538.
Rome. New York: McGraw-Hill. South Hadley, MA: Bergin and Garvey. Wood, B., Wood, C., & Konigsberg, L.
White, M. (2001). Historical atlas of the Wills, C. (1994). The skin we’re in. Discover (1994). Paranthropus boisei: An example of
twentieth century. http://users.erols.com/ 15 (11), 79. evolutionary stasis? American Journal of
mwhite28/20centry.htm. Wilson, A. K., & Sarich, V. M. (1969). A Physical Anthropology 95, 117–136.
White, R. (2003). Prehistoric art: The sym- molecular time scale for human evolu- Woolfson, P. (1972). Language, thought,
bolic journey of humankind. New York: tion. Proceedings of the National Academy of and culture. In V. P. Clark, P. A. Escholz,
Abrams. Science 63, 1,089– 1,093. & A. F. Rosa (Eds.), Language. New York:
White, T., Asfaw, B., Degusta, D., Gil- Wingert, P. (1965). Primitive art: Its tradition St. Martin’s Press.
bert, H., Richards, G., & Suwa, G., and styles. New York: World. World Almanac. (2004). New York: Press
Howell, F. C. (2003). Pleistocene Homo Winick, C. (Ed.). (1970). Dictionary of Publishing Co.
sapiens from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. anthropology. Totowa, NJ: Littlefield, World Health Organization. http://www
Nature 423, 742–747. Adams. .who.int/about/defi nition/en.
 Bibliography 329

World Meteorological Organization. Young, A. (1981). The creation of medical Zihlman, A. (2001). The human evolution col-
(2003). Increasing heat waves and other knowledge: Some problems in inter- oring book. New York: Harper Resources.
health hazards. greenpeaceusa.org/ pretation. Social Science and Medicine Zilhão, J. (2000). Fate of the Neandertals.
climate/index.fpl/7096/article/907.html. 17,1,205–1,211. Archaeology 53 (4), 30.
Worsley, P. (1957). The trumpet shall sound: Young, W. (Ed.) (2000). Kimball award Zimmer, C. (1999). New date for the dawn
A study of “cargo” cults in Melanesia. Lon- winner. Anthropology News 41 (8), 29. of dream time. Science 284, 1,243.
don: Macgibbon & Kee. Zeder, M. A., & Hesse, B. (2000). The Zimmer, C. (2001). Evolution: The triumph of
Worsley, P. (1959). Cargo cults. Scientific initial domestication of goats (Capra an idea. New York: HarperCollins.
American 200 (May), 117–128. hircus) in the Zagros Mountains Zimmer, C. (2005) Smithsonian intimate
Wrangham, R., & Peterson, D. (1996). De- 10,000 years ago. Science 287, 2,254– guide to human origins. New York:
monic males. Boston: Houghton Miffl in. 2,257. HarperCollins.
Wulff, R. M., & Fiske, S. J. (1987). Anthro- Zeresenay, A., Spoor, F., Kimbel, W. Zohary, D., & Hopf, M. (1993). Domestica-
pological praxis: Translating knowledge into H., Bobe, R., Geraads, D., Reed, D., tion of plants in the Old World (2nd ed.).
action. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. & Wynn, J. G. (2006). A juvenile early Oxford: Clarenden Press.
Yip, M. (2002). Tone. New York: Cambridge hominin skeleton from Dikika, Ethiopia.
University Press. Nature 443, 296–301.
Index

A in meiotic division, 37 Anthropology

Abbott, Jack Henry, 43 polygenetic inheritance, 37–38 defi ned, 3, 4
Abell, Paul, 131 and sexual reproduction, 36 development of, 4
A-B-O blood system, 34, 37 Allen, J. S., 278 fields of, 7–14
distribution of type B blood, 280 Allen’s rule, 290 Antibiotics
polymorphism and, 275 Altitude, adaptation to, 289–290 restraint strains of bacteria, 297
race and, 269 Altruism, 44 tuberculosis and, 260
Aboriginal peoples. See also Australia Alvard, M. S., 228 Anti-Semitism, 267
Arnhem Land study, 18 Amábile-Cuevas, C. F., 35 Apache Indians, 10
skin color of, 281–282 Amazon rainforest Apes, 62
Absolute dating. See Chronometric dating dark earths, 232 great apes, 65– 66
Abu Hureyra, 227 farming methods, 231 of Miocene epoch, 116–121
Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS), 90 terra preta, 232–233 Proconsul, 117–118
Accidents of nature, 41 Ambrona site, 172 small apes, 65– 66
Acclimatization, 289 Ambrose, Stanley H., 168, 182, 190 Appenzeller, T., 207
Acheulean tool tradition, 167–168 American Anthropological Association Applied anthropology, 7– 8
Action theory, 259 (AAA) Code of Ethics, 18–19 Arabia, 252
Adams, R. M., 259 American Association for the Advancement Arago skull, 180
Adapis genus, 115 of Science, 267 Arboreal hypothesis, 114
Adaptation, 8–9. See also Developmental American Enterprise Institute, 272 Arboreal mammals, 55
adaptation American Indians. See Native Americans Archaeological excavations, 89–92
anemia, 45– 47 American Sign Language (ASL), 52, 74 Archaeological Institute of America (AIA),
culture and, 47 Americas. See also Mesoamerica 258
to environmental stressors, 287–290 Archaic cultures, 222 Archaeological sites. See also Excavations
to heat, 290 civilization in, 245 preservation of, 92–93
high altitude adaptations, 289–290 domestication of plants in, 229–231 Archaeology, 3, 12–13, 82
natural selection and, 42 metals, use of, 252 Archaic cultures, 222
physiological adaptations, 288–289 Neolithic culture in, 237 Archaic Homo sapiens, 179, 185–186
variational change and, 108–109 in Upper Paleolithic, 215–217 multiregional hypothesis, 192
Adaptive radiation, 112 writing systems in, 254 Arctic
in Paleocene epoch, 114 Amigos de El Pilar, 251 climate, adaptation to, 290
Adenine, 33 Amino acids, 33, 231–232 industrial chemicals and, 302
Aegyptopithecus, 116 racemization dating, 98, 100 in Upper Paleolithic, 215
Afghanistan Amniocentesis, 35 Ardipithecus ramidus, 124, 133–134, 194
ancient sites, protection of, 258 Anagenesis, 107, 109 Ardrey, Robert, 159
war in, 244 Analogies, 28 Argentina desaparacidos (disappeared
Africa Anatomically modern peoples, 203–204 ones), 10
civilization in, 245 Anatomy Arginine, 34
farming, spread of, 234–235 of bipedalism, 129–131 Aristotle, 26
HIV/AIDS in, 16–18 of Neandertals, 184 Armelagos, George J., 188, 240
Homo erectus from, 165 Ancestral characteristics, 109 Army Corps of Engineers, 13
homonids in, 117–118 Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, Arnhem Land study, 18
in Pliocene epoch, 133–137 282 Arrows and bows, 206
sickle-cell anemia, 45– 47 Andean highlands Art
skin color and, 268 animal domestication, 225 in Tikal, 249
vegetation zones of, 145 body shape and, 276 Upper Paleolithic art, 207–213
African Americans Neolithic culture in, 237 Artifacts, 82
athletics, 272–273 plant domestication in, 230 searching for, 87
Jackson, Fatimah, research of, 268 Anderson, A., 13 Asfaw, Berhane, 194
Tuskegee Syphilis Study, 286 Anemia Ashe, Arthur, 273
African Burial Ground Project, 268 folate decomposition and, 281 Ashkenazi Jews, 260
African Genesis (Ardrey), 159 sickle-cell anemia, 45– 47 Ashmore, W., 187
Agriculture. See Farming and agriculture Angiosperm plants, 114 Asia. See also Eurasia
AIDS. See HIV/AIDS Angkor Wat, 80 Acheulean tool tradition, 169
Ainu people, 216 Animal domestication. See Domestication domestication in, 229
Alaska, 215 Animalia, 128 Egyptian trade with, 252
Alcohol, 292 Ankel-Simons, F., 116 hemoglobin abnormalities, 240
Alleles, 34–35. See also A-B-O blood system Antennepedia homeobox gene, 107 Aswan Dam, Egypt, 293
dominant/recessive alleles, 37, 43– 44 Anthropoidea sub-order, 55–56 Athletics and race, 272–273
genetic drift, 41 Anthropoid primates, 115 Athropithecus Africanus, 137–138

330
 Index 331

Atlatl, 205–206 Bioarchaeology, 94–96 Bows

Aureli, F., 70 Biocultural approach, 8 and arrows, 206–207
Aurignacian tool tradition, 196–197 Biological anthropology. See Physical musical, 207
Aurochs, 187 anthropology Brace, C. L., 203
Australia. See also Aboriginal peoples Biological diversity, 277–278 Brace, C. Loren, 197
rock art, 208 Biology Brachiation, 61
spread of people to, 213–215 of australopithecines, 137–138 Bradford, P. V., 267
in Upper Paleolithic, 213–215 as isolating mechanism, 106 Brain, C. K., 160, 169
Australopithecus, 126 Neolithic and, 237–240 Brain death, 7
diet and, 140–146 race, concept of, 265, 268–269 Brain size
environment and, 140–146 Biomedicine, 291 of Aegyptopithecus, 116
hands of, 142 and primate research, 117 food and, 174
Homo genus compared, 153–154 Bipedalism, 28, 126–129 heat stress and, 144
Pliocene fossil evidence, 131–140 anatomy of, 129–131 of Homo erectus, 162–163
range of fossil fi nds, 133 and childbirth, 143 jaw-size reduction and, 170
species of, 134 early bipeds, 124–147 of Neandertals, 184, 191
vocal tract of, 173 food-foraging and, 143–144 of primates, 60
walking ability, 131 fossils showing, 118 at Sierra de Atapuerca site, 180
Australopithecus aethiopicus, 134, 139, 140 heat stress and, 144–145 tools and, 174
Australopithecus afarensis, 94, 134–137, 194 negative aspects of, 142–143 and Upper Paleolithic peoples, 204
skull of, 135–136 Sahelanthropus tchadensis and, 122 Branda, R. F., 281
Australopithecus africanus, 134 Birdsell, Joseph H., 214 Brassempouy Venus figurine, 200
Australopithecus anamensis, 134 Bithorax homeobox gene, 107 Brazil
teeth of, 137 Black, Davidson, 166 HIV/AIDS program, 298
Australopithecus bahrelghazali, 134, 137 Black Skull, 139–140 terra preta (black soil), 232–233
Australopithecus boisei, 134, 139, 140 Blade technique, 204 Breastfeeding, 54
tools of, 150 Blakey, Michael, 11 cultural patterns and, 296
Australopithecus garhi, 134, 140, 141, 194 Blending, inheritance as, 32 in hunting-gathering populations, 234
Australopithecus robustus, 134, 138–140 Blom, A., 53 Breeding colonies for primates, 77
Aztec culture, 252 Blood. See also A-B-O blood system Brewster, Karen, 85
gene for, 34 Brno skull, 203
B hemoglobin abnormalities, 240 Bronze Age, 252
Babiker, M. A., 279 molecular clock and, 119 Broom, Robert, 138
Baboons, 65 sickle-cell anemia, 45– 47 Brow ridges, 203
Babylonia, 258 Bluffi ng, 66 Brunet, Michael, 122, 137
Hammurabi, 254–255 Blume, H., 267 Bryant, Kobe, 273
Balter, M., 167, 245 Blumenbach, Johann, 266 Bubonic plague, 260
Barham, L. S., 182, 207 Blumer, M. A., 227 Burial practices. See Death practices
Barr, R. G., 6 Boas, Franz, 8, 15, 267, 287–288 Burin, 205–206
Barrow, Alaska excavation, 84– 87 Boats, 213–214 Burns, Karen, 11
Bar-Yosef, O., 235 Boaz, Noel T., 160 Bush Meat Project, 67
Bay of Bengal, 282 Bodley, J. H., 12 Bushmen
Bear predation, 160 Body function, 27 Ju/’hoansi people, 234, 235
Beck, B., 54 Body ornamentation, 212–213 Bushmen, trances of, 209
Bednarik, R. G., 172, 197, 203, 222 Body structure, 27 Butchering
Behavior Body temperature, 112–113, 171 marks, 158
brain size and, 174 Body type by Neandertals, 187–188
race and, 271 climate affecting, 276–277 Butynski, T. M., 54
reproductive physiology and, 288 culture and, 277 Bwindi Impenetrable National Park,
Behavioral reconstructions, 157 Boehm, Christopher, 44– 45 Uganda, 53
of Homo erectus, 167 Boesch, Christophe, 160 Byblos, 252
Behrensmeyer, A. K., 156 Bogdanos, Matthew, 256, 258 Byrne, R., 228
The Bell Curve (Herrnstein & Murray), 272, Bohannon site, Vermont, 90
273 Bonding in primates, 71 C
Berger, Lee, 127–129, 159–160 Bone diseases, 281 Cambodian Khmer Rouge, 80, 548, 608–
Bergman’s rule, 290 Bongaarts, J., 301 609
Beringia (Bering Land Bridge), 215 Bonobos, 56, 66 Cancer, 188
Bermudez de Castro, J. M., 164 body plan of, 118 DES (diethylstilbestrol) and, 304
Berry, J. W., 271 female-female bonds, 68– 69 pesticide poisoning and, 303
Bias and Taung child, 126 home range, 74–75 Cann, Rebecca, 120
The Bible, 4 hunting by, 77 Cannibalism, 160
creation story, 26 reconciliation in, 70 kuru infection and, 300
Great Flood, 30 sexual behavior, 72 Carder, Nanny, 90
Bilzingsleben site, 172, 180 trail markers, 74 Carneiro, Robert L., 258
Binford, Lewis R., 160, 171–172 Bottle-feeding infants, 54 Carpenter, Edmund, 208
Binocular vision, 59 Boule, Marcellin, 178 Cartmill, Matt, 114–115, 173, 192
332 Index

Caspari, Rachel, 192, 198, 203, 204 Cities. See also Tikal Continental drift, 111, 112
Cassava crop, 268 agricultural innovation and, 251 Convergent evolution, 110
Çatalhöyük, Turkey, 245–246 division of labor and, 252 sagittal crest and, 138
Catarrhini infraorder, 55–56, 62 modern cities, 244 Cook, Captain James, 26
Catastrophism, 29–30 Mohenjo-Daro, 246, 247 Coon, Carleton S., 277
Catopithecus, 115 Teotihuacan, 246–247 Copan, 261
Cavalieri, P., 74 warfare and, 261 Coppa, A., 238
Cell division, 35–37 Civilization. See also States Copper, 252
Cell membrane, 33 Bronze Age, 252 Coprolites, 93
Census Bureau racial categories, 270 defi ned, 244–247 Cord impressions, 95
Ceprano specimen, 167 diseases and, 259 Corn, domestication of, 224–225
Cercopithecoidea, 55–56 government and, 252–256 Cornwell, T., 11
Cereals, 224 problems of, 259–261 Corruccini, R. S., 197, 198
Cerebral cortex in primates, 60 social classes and, 256–257 Co-sleeping, 6, 296
Chalepah, Alfred, 10 Cladogenesis, 106–107 Cosmic calendar, 111
Champs Elysées, Paris, 247 Clan of the Cave Bear (Auel), 202 Cowgill, George L., 247
Chan, J. W. C., 271 Clark, Desmond, 194 Crabtree, Don, 187
Chatrath, P. S., 116 Clark, E. E., 26 Cranial capacity. See Brain size
Chauvet Cave paintings, 208 Clark, G. A., 196 Creation myths, 26
Cheer, S. M., 278 Clarke, Ron J., 137, 159–160 Cretaceous period, 111
Chemical exposure, 303–304 Classes. See Social stratification continental drift in, 112
Chert, 249 Classification. See Human classification Cribra orbitalia, 238–239
Chicken pox Clavicle of primates, 61 Crick, Francis, 32
animal domestication and, 239 Climate Crime and race, 271
cities and, 259 archaeological sites and, 92–93 Crocodile predation, 160
Childbirth body type and, 276–277 Cro-Magnons, 200
bone disease and, 281 continental drift and, 111 skull of, 203
evolution and, 143 fi re and, 171 Cross-cultural perspective, 5– 6
genetics and, 35 food production and, 226 beliefs and practices and, 12
Childe, V. Gordon, 226 of Ice Age, 215 organ transplantation, 7
Chili peppers, 231 Mousterian tool tradition and, 188 CT (computed tomography) scans,
Chimpanzees, 56, 66 and Natufian culture, 227 94
body plan of, 118 in Paleocene epoch, 114 Culotta, E., 40
genetics of, 38–39 primate evolution and, 116 Cultural adaptation, 47
home range, 75 of Upper Paleolithic, 217 Cultural anthropology, 3, 9–12
and humans, 129 Clines, 276–277 Cultural resource management, 13
mediation, 70–71 Clothing, 171 Culture
as prey, 160 cultural adaptation and, 277 and biological diversity, 277–278
protein needs, 156 of Neolithic, 236 body type and, 277
reconciliation in, 70 in Upper Paleolithic, 212–213 and childbirth, 143
sexual behavior, 72 Code of Hammurabi, 254–255 co-sleeping, 6
tools, use of, 76 Co-dominance, 37 defi ned, 9
China. See also Zhoukoudian Cave and sickle-cell anemia, 45 disease and, 293
civilization in, 245 Codons, 33–34 heat/cold stress, 290
grave goods, 257 Cognitive capacity, 217 of Homo erectus, 167–173
Great Wall, 242 Cohen, M. N., 240 of Homo sapiens, 181–182
Homo erectus from, 166–167 Colburn, T., 304 material culture, 82– 83
medical systems in, 291 Cold stress, 290 of Neandertals, 191–193
and multiregional hypothesis, 194 Colonizer variants, 227 of Neolithic settlements, 235–237
one child policy, 300–301 Color vision in primates, 58 race and, 269–271
writing systems in, 254 Columbus, Christopher, 26, 27 of Upper Paleolithic, 207
Chircurel, M. E., 35, 41 Communication in primates, 74 Culture-bound perspective, 5–7
Chlorofluorocarbons, 302 Communities, primate, 68–71 Custer, George Armstrong, 10
Cholera, 259 Comparative method, 18 Cystic fibrosis, 259, 260
Chordata, 30, 128 Compass, 5 carrier status, 42
Chordates, 30, 128 paleomagnetic reversals dating, 101 Cytoplasm, 33
Christian creation story, 26 Competitive exclusion, law of, 140 Cytosine, 33
Chromosomes, 32–33 Complementary pairs of bases, 33
cell division, 35–37 Complex thought, 172–173 D
sex chromosomes, 34 Concealed ovulation, 72 Dani people, New Guinea, 229
somatic chromosomes, 34 Conkey, Margaret, 209, 210 Darfur, racial persecution in, 270
Chronometric dating, 97 Conner, M., 11 Dart, Raymond A., 126, 132, 137, 142, 159,
list of methods, 98 Conroy, G. C., 188 161
Chuang, Xu, 269 Conservation Darwin, Charles, 30–31, 42, 106, 108, 127,
Churingas, 189, 207 ecotourism, 53 183
Ciochon, Russell L., 104, 120, 136, 160, 171, Maya forest, 250–251 Darwin, Erasmus, 30
174 of primates, 77–78 Darwinian gradualism, 108–109
 Index 333

Dating techniques, 96–101. See also Chrono- Division of labor Ellison, Peter, 288
metric dating; Relative dating in Çatalhöyük, Turkey, 245 El Pilar Archaeological Reserve, 250–251
Datum point, 91 cities, development of, 252 Empirical social science, 14
Dawson, Charles, 126–127 and food foragers, 157 Enard, W., 192
DDT, use of, 303 Dmanisi specimens, 164, 165–166 Endangered species
Death practices, 84 DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), 24 gorillas as, 67
in Australia, 215 of chimpanzees, 38–39 great apes as, 53
in Egypt, 92–93 double helix, 32–33 Endemic diseases, 292–293
grave goods, 257 from fossil remains, 94 Endocasts, 94
kuru and, 299–300 junk DNA, 35 Endoplasmic reticulum, 33
of Neandertals, 189–190 mutations in, 40– 41 Engendering Archaeology (Conkey & Gero),
of Neolithic, 237 of primates, 117 210
orchre, use of, 182 primate sequences, 56 Entemena, King, 256
Sierra de Atapuerca site and, 180 recent African origins hypothesis, Entoptic phenomenon, 208, 209
Del Carmen Rodriguez Martinez, M., 254 192–193, 193, 195–198 Environment
Dendrochronology, 99–100 variation and, 266 adaptation to stressors, 287–290
Denmark, same-sex couples in, 20 Dobzhansky, T., 269 and australopithecine origins, 140–146
Dental comb, 58 Doist, R., 47 challenges to, 304–305
Dental formula, 57 Domestication. See also Farming and fi re and control of, 171
Dentistry in Neolithic, 238 agriculture intelligence and, 274
Dentition. See Teeth in Americas, 229–231 mutations and, 40– 41
Derived characteristics, 109 centers of, 229–232 and Natufian culture, 227
D’Errico, F., 196 defi ned, 223–224 physiological adaptations, 288–289
Desaprecidos (disappeared ones), 10 diseases from, 239 states, development of, 258–259
The Descent of Man (Darwin), 127 early evidence of, 224–225 of Upper Paleolithic, 217
DES (diethylstilbestrol), 304 in Fertile Crescent, 226–229 Enzymes, 34
Desiccation theory, 226 and fi xed territories, 228 Eoanthropus dawsoni, 126–127
Desowitz, R. S., 293 mad cow disease and, 239 Eocene epoch, 115–116
Dettwyler, Katherine A., 293–295 in Neolithic, 223–225 Eosimias genus, 115
Developmental adaptation, 8, 287–288 in Southwest Asia, 227 Epicanthic eye fold, 277
to altitude, 289 stored foods, 227 Eskimos. See also Inuit peoples
climate and, 277 Dominance hierarchies, 68 cost, adaptation to, 290
DeVore, Irven, 187 Dominant alleles, 37 languages, 216
De Waal, Frans, 47, 69, 70–71, 72, 76, 78 The Double Helix (Watson), 32 Estrus, 72
Diabetes, 188 Down syndrome, 35, 294–295 Ethical, Legal and Social Implications
cultural factors and, 278 Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, 127 (ELSI), 43
Diamond, Jared, 224, 225, 234, 260, 261, 282 Dragon Bone Hill, 166 Ethics, 18–19
Diarrhea, 259, 260 Dryopithecus, 118 genomics and, 42– 43
lactose intolerance and, 278 Dubois, Éugene, 161, 162 of habituation, 53
Diastema, 136 Dukaryotic cells, 33 in primatology, 52
Diet. See also Food foragers; Meat-eating Dumanoski, D., 304 Tuskegee Syphilis Study, 286
and australopithecine origins, 140–146 Dwellings Ethiopia, 194
cost, adaptation to, 290 from Mesolithic, 223 Ethnocentrism, 15
of early mammals, 113 of Neolithic, 236 Ethnography, 9, 10–12
in Mesolithic, 238 of Upper Paleolithic, 213, 214 Ethnology, 10, 12
tools and, 174 Etruscan vase, 252
Dikika fossil, 94 E Eurasia
Dinosaurs, 111, 113 Early Homo sapiens, 181 civilization in, 245
ecological niches and, 60 Early mammals, 111–113 Homo erectus from, 165
Discovery Institute, 26 Easter Island, 13 Europe. See also Eurasia; specific countries
Discrimination, 19–20 Eatoil, J. W., 281 Homo erectus from, 167
Diseases. See also specific diseases Eaton, Boyd, 188 Eve hypothesis. See Recent African origins
alcoholism, 292 Ecological niches, 60, 112 hypothesis
civilization and, 259 Ecology Evolution, 108
cultural factors and, 278 disease, political ecology of, 297–300 classification system, 26–29
defi ned, 291–292 states, development of, 258–259 convergent evolution, 110
from domesticated animals, 239 Economic system in Teotihuacan, 247 creation stories and, 26
endemic diseases, 292–293 Ecotourism, 53 defi ned, 25
evolution and, 296–297 Egypt. See also Nile River discovery of, 29–32
global warming and, 302 Aswan Dam, 293 for human dentition, 58
molecular comparisons and, 28 burial practices, 92–93 infectious disease and, 296–297
in Neolithic, 238–239 centralized government, evidence of, 253 of mammals, 112–113
Paleolithic ancestors and, 188 grave goods, 257 mutation and, 40– 41
political ecology of, 297–300 trade in, 252 and populations, 39– 40
prion diseases, 299–300 Elderly Neandertals, 188–189 relationships, constructing, 109–110
symptoms and, 296 Eldred, Niles, 108 Evolutionary medicine, 295–297
Diurnal mammals, 55 Electron spin resonance dating, 98, 100 Evolutionary perspective, 5– 6
334 Index

Excavations Folate, 281 meiosis and, 36–37

of fossils, 92 Folger, T., 144, 145 and populations, 39– 40
sorting evidence, 93–96 Folk medicine and HIV/AIDS, 17 primate relationships, 55–56
Extinction of dinosaurs, 111, 113 Food foragers and reproduction, 35
Eyes. See also Vision bipedalism and, 143–144 and sexual reproduction, 36
Aegyptopithecus, eye orbits of, 116 division of labor and, 157 skin color and, 281
epicanthic eye fold, 277 domestication and, 225 social impact of, 35, 44
fertility and, 234 swapping of, 204
F Oldowan tools and, 158–159 transmission of, 32–39
Faces in Southwest Asia, 228 Genesis, Book of, 26
of Neandertals, 183 Food production, 222. See also Farming and Genetic code, 34
of Upper Paleolithic peoples, 204 agriculture Genetic drift, 41
Fagan, Brian M., 82 domestication and, 225 anagenesis, 107
Falciparum malaria, 45– 47 in Neolithic, 232–235 Genetic variation, 266
Falk, Dean, 138, 144, 153 reasons for, 226–229 Genito-genital rubbing (GG-rubbing), 70
Family, 28 spread of, 233–235 Genomes, 35, 43
Famine Food scarcity. See also Famine Genomics, 42– 43
human-made causes, 301–302 thrifty genotype and, 278 Genotype, 37
in Neolithic, 239 Foot of Homo habilis, 152 Genus/genera, 27, 28
Farming and agriculture Foramen magnum, 129–130 Geographic range, 106
in Çatalhöyük, Turkey, 245–246 of primates, 60 Geography and gene flow, 41– 42
cities and innovation in, 251 Ford, Anabel, 250–251 Geological time, 111
defi ned, 240 Forensic anthropology, 9, 10–11 Geology of Upper Paleolithic, 207
fertility and, 234 Fore people, 299–300 Geomagnetic reversals, 101
in Jericho, 235 Fort Ternan specimens, 132 Geometric designs, 208
Mesolithic roots of, 222–223 Fossey, Dian, 67, 69, 132 Germany, Nazis in, 270–271
population growth and, 232–233 Fossey Fund, 67 Gero, Joan, 210
sickles, use of, 227 Fossils, 29, 83– 84 Gibbons, 56–57, 66
slash-and-burn agriculture, 233 excavation of, 92 Gibbons, A., 72, 172, 193, 195, 204
in Teotihuacan, 247 preservation of, 92–93 Gigantopithecus, 104
in Tikal, 249–250 searching for, 87 Glaser, Bruno, 232
vulnerability and, 234 Founder effect, 41 Glasse, Robert, 299
Faunal series dating, 98, 99 Fovea centralis, 59 Glauberman, N., 271
Faure, V., 18 FOXP2 gene, 191 Globalization, 3, 19–21
Fava beans, 279 Frake, C., 291 ethnographic fieldwork and, 11–12
Favism, 280 Franklin, Rosalind, 32 health and, 300–304
Fay, Michael, 160 Frayer, D. W., 206 Global warming, 302
FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), 10 Freeman, L. G., 172 Glucose and thrifty genotype, 278
Feet of bipeds, 130 Frostbite hypothesis, 277 Glutamine, 34
Felsenstein, Joseph, 120 Frye, D. P., 70 Glyphs, Mayan, 249
Fernandez-Carriba, S., 75 Funeral practices. See Death practices Golden barriers, 77
Ferrie, H., 183, 282 Gold in Americas, 252
Fertile Crescent, 226–229 G Goldsmith, Michelle, 53
Fertility Gajdusek, Carleton, 299 Gondwanaland, 114
of farming populations, 234 Galdikas, Birute, 69, 132 Goodall, Jane, 38, 52, 68, 69, 72, 75, 117, 132,
folate decomposition and, 281 Gambia, peer health educators in, 305 142, 156
of hunter-gatherers, 234 Gamble, C., 170 Goodenough, W. H., 171
Fieldwork, 9, 16 Garbage Project, 12–13 Goodman, M., 56
ethnographic fieldwork, 11–12 Gebo, D. L., 115 Goodman A., 240
HIV/AIDS in Africa, 16–18 Geertz, Clifford, 6 Gordon, R. J., 232
laboratory work and, 94 Gender Gorillas, 66– 67
Fingerprint patterns, 269 of early Homo, 156–158 body plan of, 118
Fire in physical anthropology field, 157 group unit, 68
for cooking, 170 primates and, 68 home range, 75
Homo erectus and, 169–172 skeletons and, 94–95 individual interaction among, 71
Fission track dating, 98, 100–101 Venus figurines and, 209 as prey, 160
Fitzroy, Captain, 30–31 Gene flow, 25, 41– 42 protection of, 67
Fixed territories, 228 Gene pool, 39 sexual behavior, 72
Flake tools, 169 Genes and genetics. See also Alleles vulnerability of, 53
Levalloisian technique, 181–182 of chimpanzees, 38–39 Gould, Stephen Jay, 15, 47, 77, 108–109, 110,
pressure flaking, 204–205 genetic material, 28 111, 195, 225, 266
Flannery, Kent, 259 homeobox genes, 107, 108–109 Governments. See also States
Fleagle, J. G., 116, 120, 136, 171, 174 human populations, gene flow among, earliest governments, 254–255
Flood control, 246 204 in early civilizations, 252–256
Flores island site, 172 jaw growth and mutations, 170 evidence of, 253–254
Flotation, 92 language gene, 191 in Tikal, 249
Fluorine dating, 97–98, 127 medical genetics research, 270 Gracile australopithecines, 137–138
Fluted points of Paleoindians, 216 medicalization of life and, 43 Grades, 55
 Index 335

Grand Dolina specimen, 167 alleles for, 37 scavengers, early Homos as, 158–159
Grave goods, 257 and sickle-cell anemia, 45– 47 Homo habilis, 149, 150, 198
Great apes, 65– 66 Hemolytic crisis, 279 Homo erectus, relationship to, 164
Great Chain of Being, 26 Henan Province, China, 254 Lake Turkana specimens, 151–152
Great Pyramid, Egypt, 253 Heredity, 31. See also Genes and genetics Oldowan tools, 155–156
Great Rift Valley system, 132 cell division, 35–37 as scavenger, 158–159
Great Wall of China, 242 co-dominance, 37 Homo heidelbergensis, 163
Great Zimbabwe, 252 polygenetic inheritance, 37–38 Homologies, 28
elliptical granite walls, 253 Herodotus, 4, 253 Homologous structures, convergent evolu-
Gregory, S., 270 Herrnstein, Richard, 272 tion of, 110
Grid system, 89 Herto specimens, 193, 194 Homo rudolphensis, 152
Grine, F. E., 136 Hesse, B., 225 Homo sapiens, 27, 128. See also Neandertals
Grooming, 71 Heterochrony, 108 archaic Homo sapiens, 179, 185–186
Growth, 8–9 Heterozygous chromosome pairs, 37 brain size of, 180–182
classification system and, 27–28 Hardy-Weinberg principle, 39– 40 future of, 304–305
curve, 287 Hewitt, G. P., 192 geographic range of, 106
environment and, 287–288 High altitude adaptations, 289–290 Homo sapiens idaltu, 193, 194
G-6-PD deficiency, 279 High blood pressure, 188 Homosexual marriage, 20–21
Guanine, 33 Himalayas, Miocene ancestors in, 118 Homozygous chromosome pairs, 37
Guillette, Elizabeth A., 303 Hinduism, 118 Hardy-Weinberg principle, 39– 40
Gulf War investigation, 11 creation story, 26 Hopwood, A. T., 117
HIV/AIDS, 16–18, 260 Hormones
H molecular comparisons and, 28 chemicals and, 304
H. M. S. Beagle, 30 primates and, 117 research on, 288
H. M. S. Bounty, 41 retroviruses, 35 Horses in Pech Merle cave art, 211–212
Habituation, 53 UNAIDS report, 298 Horticulture, 240
Hackberries, 171–172 Holden, C., 196 Houle, A., 116
Haeckel, Ernst, 161 Hole, Frank, 92, 227 “How the Leopard Got His Spots”
Haile Selassie, Y., 141 Holistic perspective, 5 (Kipling), 45
Hair, 144 Holloway, Ralph L., 137 Human classification, 26–29, 30. See also
Halverson, J., 212 Holocaust, 271 Race
Hammurabi, 254–255 Homeobox genes, 107, 108–109 history of, 266–268
Handedness in Lower Paleolithic tools, 173 Homeotherms, 112–113 studying biological diversity, 274–281
Hands Home range, 74–75 Human evolutionary studies, 8, 82
comparison of bones, 151 Hominids, 128–129 Human Evolution in China (Wu & Poirier),
of early bipeds, 142 Hominins, 28, 128–129 194
Hand stencils, 211 Middle Awash Research Project, 194 Human genome, 35, 43
Haplorhini suborder, 56 Hominoidea, 55–56, 128 Human Genome Project, 43
Harcharek, Jana, 86 Hominoids, 28–29, 117 Hunting. See also Food foragers
Hardenbergh, Firmon, 187 families of, 128 Homo erectus and, 172
Hardy, G. H., 39– 40 molecular clock and, 120 in Mesolithic, 223
Hardy-Weinberg principle, 39– 40 Homo antecessor, 163 Mousterian tool tradition and, 187–188
Harpending, H. C., 204 Homo erectus, 149, 161–162, 194 by Paleoindians, 216
Harris lines, 238 from Africa, 165 by primates, 76–77
in Neolithic, 238–239 body type and climate, 276 spear-throwers, 205–206
Harrison, G. G., 278 cannibalism and, 160 in Upper Paleolithic, 205–207, 217
Hart, D., 159–161 from China, 166–167 Hunting response, 290
Haviland, W. A., 232, 248, 259 complex thought, 172–173 Huntington disease, 42
Health. See also Diseases; Medicine culture of, 167–173 Hurricane Katrina, 301
civilization and, 259–261 from Eurasia, 165–166 Hutterites, fertility of, 235
disparities, 300 fi re, use of, 169–172 Huxley, Thomas Henry, 31
in Neolithic, 238–239 fossils, 84, 162–167 Hybridization, 31
population size and, 300–304 Homo habilis, relationship to, 164 and Neandertals, 196
poverty and, 300–304 hunting by, 172 Hydraulic theory, 258
structural violence and, 300–304 from Indonesia, 166 Hyenas, 160
Hearing, 113 language and, 173–174 Hylobatidae, 128
Heart disease, 188 physical characteristics of, 162–163 Hyoid bone in Neandertals, 190–191
Heat skull of, 161–163 Hypoglossal canal, 173
adaptations to, 290 symbolic artifacts, 172–173 of Neandertals, 191
bipedalism and, 144 tools of, 167–168 Hypoplasias, 238
Heat waves, 302 vocal tract of, 173 Hypothesis, 14–15
Height from Western Europe, 167 comparative method and, 18
factors influencing, 274 Homo ergaster, 162, 163 in evolution, 26
in Neolithic, 239 Homo genus
Heita, K., 68 australopithecines and, 140 I
Heizer, Robert F., 92 Australopithecus compared, 153–154 Ibn Khaldun, 4
Hemoglobin early representatives of, 150–154 Iconic images, 209
abnormalities, 240 Lake Turkana specimens, 151–152 Illnesses. See Diseases
336 Index

Imanishi, Kinji, 69 Judaism Lampl, M., 138, 288

“Immunological Time-Scale for Human anti-Semitism, 267 Landau, Misia, 150
Evolution” (Wilson & Sarich), 120 creation story, 26 Land bridge theory, 215
Incan culture, 255 Holocaust, 270–271 Language
Independent assortment, law of, 32 Tay-Sachs allele, 260 gene, 191
India, 4 Ju/’hoansi people, 234, 235 Homo erectus and, 173–174
in Miocene epoch, 132 Junk DNA, 35 linguistic anthropology, 14
transplant tourism in, 20 Jurassic period, 111 linguistics, 3
Individual interaction in primates, 71 “Just So” stories (Kipling), 45 of Neandertals, 190–191
Indonesia, Homo erectus from, 166 of Paleoindians, 216
Indus River Valley, 245, 246 K primates learning, 74
Industrial chemicals, 302 Kabul, Afghanistan, 244 writing systems, 253–254
Industrialization and evolution, 29 Kabwe skull, 185 La Quina site, 188
Infants Kaiser, J., 47 Lawler, A., 253
co-sleeping, 6 Kamin, Leon, 273–274 Law of competitive exclusion, 140
mortality, 300 Kanjera specimens, 132 Law of independent assortment, 32
SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), Kano, T., 69 Law of segregation, 32
6, 296 Kanzi bonobo, 191 Lawrence Hall of Science, University of
Infectious diseases. See Diseases Kao Poh Nam rock shelter, 169, 170 California, Berkeley, 24
Infertility. See Fertility Karavani, I., 197 Leakey, Louis, 68, 117, 132, 150, 159
Influenza Kay, R. F., 115 Leakey, Louise, 132, 137
animal domestication and, 239 Kebara Cave site, 189, 191, 197–198 Leakey, Mary, 131, 132, 138–139, 150
cities and, 259 Kennewick Man, 96, 216 Leakey, Meave, 128, 132, 137
Informants, 10 Kenya. See also Masai people Leakey, Richard, 132, 151
Ingmanson, E. J., 77 altitude adaptations, 289 Leakey Foundation, 194
Intelligence Kenyanthropus platyops, 128, 129, 137 Learning by primates, 75–76
of Australopithecus, 142 Khmer Rouge, 80 Leavitt, Bertha, 85
IQ tests, 272 Khufu, 253 Leavitt, George C., 85
race and, 271–274 Kingdoms, 28 Lebanon, Egyptian trade with, 252
twin studies on, 273–274 Kinship and kuru, 299 Leclerc-Madlala, Suzanne, 16–18
Upper Paleolithic trends, 217 Kipling, Rudyard, 45 Leigh, S. R., 171
Intelligent design movement, 26 Kirkpatrick, R. C., 21 Le Mousterier cave, 186
Interdependence in cities, 244 Kiwi eggs, evolution of, 47 Lemurs, 62, 63
In the Belly of the Beast (Abbott), 43 Kleinman, A., 291 Leopard predation, 160
Inuit peoples, 15. See also Eskimos Kneeing-in, 129–130 Les Eyzies site, 202
clothing of, 277 KNM ER 1470, 151–153, 163 Lestel, D., 74
IQ tests, 272 KNM ER 1813, 151–153 Levalloisian technique, 181–182
Iraq Knuckle-walkers, 129 Lévi-Strauss, Claude, 291
ancient sites, protection of, 258 Koenig, Barbara A., 42– 43 Lewin, Roger, 144, 192, 210–212
artifacts from, 256 Koloko, “Doctor,” 17 Lewontin, Richard C., 269, 273–274
National Museum of, 256 Konigsberg, L., 146 Life expectancy, 188
Irish potato famine, 234 Konner, Melvin, 188, 234 Lifestyles in Neolithic, 239
Iron, 252 Koshland, D. E., Jr., 40 Limbs of primates, 61
Irrigation Krapina site, 189 Lindenbaum, Shirley, 299
cities and, 251 Kromdraai specimens, 138 Linguistic anthropology, 14
and states, 259 Kruuk, Hans, 160 Linguistics, 3
Islamic creation story, 26 K-selected species, 113 Linnaean classification, 128
Isolating mechanisms, 106–108 !Kung people, 234, 235 Linnaeus, Carolus, 26–28, 118,
Isotherms, 112–113 Kunzig, R., 246 128
Kurds, 21 Linné, Carl von, 26–28
J Kuru, 117, 299–300 Linton, Sally, 157
Jackson, Fatimah, 268 Kuru Sorcery (Lindenbaum), 299 Liss, Alan R., 192
Jacoby, R., 271 Kuznar, L., 228 Little Big Horn, 10
Japan Kwakiutl Indians, 15 Lix, X., 254
brain death in, 7 Lock, Margaret, 7
pottery in, 236 L Locomotion, 129–131. See also Bipedalism
Jarawa tribe, 282 La Chapelle-aux-Saints site, 183 Loeches, A., 75
Jaws elderly remains, 189 Looting archaeological sites, 93–94
of Australopithecus, 136 LaCoste-Lareymondie, M. C., 137 Lorblanchet, Michel, 210–212
changes in size of, 170 Lactose intolerance, 278 Lorenzo, C., 180
of early mammals, 112–113 Laetoli footprints, 132, 155 Lorises, 62, 63
language development and, 173–174 La Ferrassie Neandertal, 184 Lovejoy, C. O., 143
Jensen, Anne, 84– 87 Lagash, 252 Lower Paleolithic, 154–156
Jericho, 223 Entemena, King, 256 tools, 154–156, 169
in Neolithic, 235 Lai, C. S. L., 192 Lucy’s baby, 135
Jhala, Jayasinghiji, 4 Lake Turkana, 151–152 Lucy specimen, 134, 135
Johanowicz, D. L., 70–71 Homo erectus from, 165 Lumpers, 153, 162, 181
Johnson, M. L., 288 tools of, 154–155 Lyell, Charles, 31
 Index 337

M food sharing and, 157–158 Moore, J., 68

Mace, R., 232 Mousterian tool tradition and, 187–188 Mortality
MacLarnon, A. M., 192 scavenging and bipedalism, 144 civilization and, 259
Macroevolution, 106–111 Mediation in primates, 70–71 infant mortality, 300
nondirectness of, 110–111 Medical anthropology, 8, 290–295 in Neolithic, 239
Madagascar Medical pluralism, 300 Morton, Samuel, 267
lemurs in, 63 Medicine, 291 Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race
prosimian diversity, 116 evolutionary medicine, 295–297 (Montagu), 268
Mad cow disease, 117, 299–300 Fore people and, 300 Mother/child separation, 6
and domestication, 239 medical anthropology, 290–295 Mousterian tool tradition, 186–189, 202
Magnetic compass. See Compass stone tools, 187 Multiregional hypothesis, 192
Mailer, Norman, 43 Meiosis, 36–37 gene flow and, 204
Maize, 224–225 Melanin, 279–281 race issues, 198
Malae Mountains National Park, 160 Melanomas, 302 Wu, Xinzhi and, 194
Malaria Mellars, P., 188 Mumps, 259
adaptation to, 279, 286 Mendel, Gregor, 31–32, 37 Mundorff, Amy Zelson, 11
cassava crop and, 268 Mengele, Josef, 10 Munn, Bill, 104
and sickle-cell anemia, 45– 47 Merin, Y., 20 Murray, Charles, 272
Mali, disease in, 293–295 Mesoamerica Mushrooms, 202
Malnutrition, 301–302 civilization in, 245 Musical instruments
growth and, 288 Neolithic culture in, 237 Neandertal use of, 190
in Neolithic, 239 Teotihuacan, 246–247 of Upper Paleolithic, 207–208
Malthus, Thomas, 31 writing systems in, 254 Mutagens, 40– 41
Mammals, 27, 52, 54 Mesolithic, 222 Mutation, 40– 41
early mammals, 111–113 microliths, 222–223 Mydens, S., 78
features of, 54–55 physiological stress in, 238 Myers, J. P., 304
Mammilia, 128 Mesopotamia
Mann, Alan, 138 artifacts from, 256 N
Mann, Charles C., 233–234 civilization in, 245 Naming
“Man the Hunter,” 159–161 Lagash, 252 controversy, 128–129
Maoi (Easter Island), 13 Nippur, 251 perspective of researchers and, 152
Marcus, Joyce, 259 social classes in, 256 Nariokotome Boy, 165
Marks, Jonathan, 38–39, 272–273 writing, development of, 253–254 Natal group, 68
Marmosets, 73 Mesozoic era, 111 National Geographic, 11
Marriage, same-sex, 20–21 Metals and Bronze Age, 252 hominin, use of term, 128–129
Marrow, 158–159 Microevolution, 39 National Human Genome Research Insti-
Marshack, Alexander, 172–173, 189 Microliths, 206, 222–223 tute (NHGRI), 43
Marshall, E., 216 Middens, 88 National Park Service, 13
Martin, Emily, 297 Middle Awash Research Project, 194 Midwest Archaeological Center, 11
Martorell, R., 288 Middle Paleolithic, 186–193. See also National Prehistoric Preservation Act, 89
Masai people, 276 Neandertals Nations, defi ned, 21
and paleotourism, 155 Middle Stone Age. See Mesolithic Native American Graves Protection and
Material culture, 82– 83 Miles, H. Lyn White, 74 Repatriation Act, 96
Mauer jaw, 163 Milk and lactose intolerance, 278 Native Americans
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Miller, J. M. A., 153 Boas, Franz and, 15
Anthropology, 191 Mind-body split, 7 cultural resource management, 13
Mayan culture. See also Tikal Ming, Yao, 269 infectious diseases and, 260
action theory and, 259 Mintz, Sidney, 232 Nez Perce creation story, 26
climate and, 93 Miocene epoch Paleoindians, 216
Copan, 261 apes, 116–121 Zuni Indians, 15
El Pilar Archaeological Reserve, 250–251 continental drift in, 112 Natufians, 223
metals, use of, 252 and human origins, 121–122 Fertile Crescent, 226–229
writing systems in, 254, 255 Missing link theory, 161 Natural selection, 31, 42– 45, 108
Mbuti pygmies, 206 Missisquoi Bay Bridge project, 90 animal domestication and, 228
McCain, John, 96 Mitochondria, 33, 34 in arboreal hypothesis, 114
McCorriston, J., 227 Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), 34, 192–193, and arboreal mammals, 55
McDade, T., 6 193, 195–198 jaw changes and, 170–171
McDermott, LeRoy, 209, 210 Mitosis, 36–37 for learning ability, 174
McFarlane, Len, 187 Mladec skull, 203 nonadaptive traits, 47
McGrew, W. C., 76 Mohenjo-Daro, 246, 247 single births and, 73
McHenry, H. M., 134 Molecular anthropology, 8 stabilizing selection, 45
McKenna, James J., 6, 296 Molecular clock, 119–120 Nature, 32
Measles chimps and humans, 128 Nazca Desert, Peru, 88
animal domestication and, 239 Monge, J., 138 Ndutu skull, 180
cities and, 259–261 Monkeys. See Primates Neandertals, 182–185
Meat-eating Monogamous species, 72 as archaic Homo sapiens, 185–186
brain development and, 174 Montagu, Ashley, 267–268 Aurignacian tool tradition, 196–197
in early Homo species, 156 Monte Verde site, 216 brain size of, 191
338 Index

Neandertals (continued) Occipital buns, 195–196, 198 Pei, W. C., 166

culture of, 191–193 Ochre, 182 Peking Man, 166–167, 194
language of, 190–191 in Australian death practices, 215 Pelvis of bipeds, 129
Mousterian tool tradition, 186–189, 202 Middle Paleolithic crayons, 207 Penis fencing, 72
race issues, 198 Oldowan tools, 155–156, 158–159 Percussion method, 154
skulls of, 195–196 Acheulean tool tradition and, 167 Permian period, 112
Solo River skulls, 185 Old Stone Age. See Lower Paleolithic Perspective, anthropological, 5–7
symbolic life of, 189–190 Old Testament, 4 Pertussis
technology of, 197 Olduvai Gorge, 132, 150 animal domestication and, 239
in Upper Paleolithic, 196 Homo erectus from, 165 cities and, 259
Neander Valley, 182 paleotourism at, 155 Peru. See also Andean highlands
Neck of bipeds, 129 potassium argon (K-AR) dating, 100 Incan culture, 255
Neer, R. M., 279 robust australopithecine discovery, Nazca Desert, 88
Negovanna, Silas, 85 138–139 Pesticides, 303–304
Nenet people, 6 tools of, 154–156 Peterson, James B., 232
Neolithic Old World monkeys, 55–56, 62, 64– 65 Petralona skull, 180
in Americas, 237 evolutionary relationships of, 121 Phenotypes, 34, 37
and biology, 237–240 Oligocene epoch, 116 Phyla, 28
clothing of, 236 Olszewki, D. I., 227 Physical anthropology, 3, 8–9
culture of, 235–237 On Man’s Place in Nature (Huxley), 31 Physiological adaptations, 8–9, 288–289
dwellings of, 236 On the Natural Variety of Mankind (Blumen- to cold, 290
food producers, 232–235 bach), 266 Physiological stress in Neolithic, 238–239
pottery of, 236, 237 Opposable toes, 61, 130 Pigments. See also Ochre
progress, idea of, 240 Orangutans, 66 Neandertal use of, 189
revolution, 223–225 body plan of, 118 Pilbeam, David R., 118, 120
social structure of, 236–237 Orders, 28 Piltdown specimens, 126–127
tool-making, 235–236 Organ transplantation, 7 Pimentel, D., 303
transition to, 220–241 sale of organs, 20 Pitcairn Island, 41
villages, 245 Origin of Species (Darwin), 31, 106, 108, 183 Pithecanthropus erectus, 161
Neotony, 108 Orrorin tugenensis, 122, 126, 134 Planning behavior, fi re and, 171
Net hunting, 206 Ostrich eggs, dating with, 100 Plastics, 304
Neves, Eduardo, 233 Ota Benga, 266–267 Platyrrhini infraorder, 55–56, 62
New Guinea. See Papua New Guinea Otte, Marcel, 190 Play in primates, 73–74
New reproductive technologies (NRTs), 35 Ötzi, 83 Pleistocene epoch, 180
New Stone Age. See Neolithic Out of Africa hypothesis, 192–193, 193, Pliocene epoch
New Testament, 4 195–198 bipeds in, 131–140
New World monkeys, 55–56, 62, 64 Ovulation in primates, 72 Central Africa, 137
Oligocene anthropoids, 116 Owsley, Doug, 96 South Africa in, 137–138
Nez Perce creation story, 26 Ozone layer, 302 Pohl, M. E. D., 254
Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania, Poirier, Frank, 194
155 P Poison on spear tips, 206
Nichols, Johanna, 216 Pääbo, Svante, 191 Pokotylo, David, 187
NIH (National Institutes of Health), 42 Packard Humanities Institute, 258 Polio, 259
Nile River Pair bonding of Australopithecus, 143 Political ecology of disease, 297–300
Aswan Dam, 293 Paleoanthropology, 8, 82, 104 Pollan, M., 224
civilization and, 245 Paleocene epoch, 113–114 Pollen, dating by, 99
trade along, 252 Paleoindians, 216 Pollution and health, 301–302
Nippur, 251 Paleolithic. See also Upper Paleolithic Polygenetic inheritance, 37–38
Nocturnal mammals, 55 Middle Paleolithic, 186–193 Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technol-
Nonadaptive traits, 47 Paleomagnetic reversals dating, 98, 101 ogy, 94
Normile, D., 66 Paleotourism, 155 Polymorphic traits, 275
North Slope Borough, Alaska, 84– 87 Palynology, 99 Polytypic traits, 275
Notochord, 30 Pan genus, 56 Pongidae, 128
Nubia, 252 Pant-hoots, 74 Pope, G. C., 169, 192, 204
Nuclear membrane, 33 Papua New Guinea Pope, K. O., 254
Nucleated cells, 33 Dani people, 229 Populations
Nucleus, 33 earliest sites in, 214 altitude adaptations, 289–290
Nunney, L., 44 Fore people, 299–300 food production and, 232–233
Nuremberg race laws, 270–271 spread of people to, 213–214 genetic drift, 41
Nursing young, 54 Parés, J. M., 180 genetics and, 39– 40
Paris, Champs Elysées, 247 health and, 300–304
O Parish, A. R., 69, 75 stability of, 39– 40
Oakley, Kenneth, 127 Park, P. B., 171 states, development of, 258
Oasis theory, 226 Parnell, R., 75 of Tikal, 247, 250
Obesity Participant observation, 9, 14 Porotic hyperostosis, 238–239
culture and, 278 Particulate, inheritance as, 32 Posthole pattern, 93
malnourishment and, 301 Pastoralism, 240 Potassium argon (K-AR) dating, 98, 100
Obsidian tools, 252 Mesolithic roots of, 222–223 Potosi, 289
in modern surgery, 187 Pech Merle cave art, 211–212 Pottery of Neolithic, 236, 237
 Index 339

Potwar Plateau Sivapithecus, 120 Principles of Geology (Lyell), 31 Recordkeeping, 253

Poverty Pringle, H., 206, 227, 228, 229 of Inca civilization, 255
biological diversity and, 277–278 Prins, Harald E. L., 10 Registered Partnership Act, Denmark,
health and, 300–304 Prions, 239, 299–300 20
HIV/AIDS and, 260 Proconsul, 117–118 Relative dating, 97–99
tuberculosis and, 260 Profet, Margie, 296 list of methods, 98
Power, M. G., 75 Progress in Neolithic, 240 Relethford, John H., 195, 204
Power, M. W., 259 Prosimians, 55–56 Religion. See also Death practices; Judaism
Preadapted characteristics, 112 diversity, 116 creation stories, 26
Precipitation, 119 teeth of, 58 in Teotihuacan, 247
Predators Prosimii sub-order, 55–56 in Tikal, 249
and evolution, 142 Proteins Reproduction, 36
fi re, use of, 169 functions of, 34 genetics and, 35
of humans, 159–161 plant domestication and, 231–232 in primates, 72–73
Predmosti skull, 203 prions, 239 Reproductive biology, 288
Pregnancy structure, 28 Reptiles
genetics and, 35 synthesis, 33 as r-selected species, 113
in primates, 72–73 Prusiner, Stanley, 299 teeth of, 54–55
symptoms of, 296 Puberty rituals, 212 Resource management, 250–251
Prehensile ability, 61 Public health movement, 8 Respondents, 10
Prehistory, 82 Pueblo Indians, 88 Restraint strains of bacteria, 297
Prenatal genetic testing, 35 dendrochronology for dating, 99 Retroviruses, 35
Press, Nancy, 42– 43 Puleston, D. E., 248 Ribosomes, 33–34
Pressure flaking, 204–205 Punctuated equilibria, 108–109 Rice, P., 213
Prey. See Predators PVCs (polyvinyl chlorides), 304 Rickets, 281
Primates, 26, 27, 51. See also New World Pygmies Ridley, Matt, 34, 259, 260
monkeys; Old World monkeys Mbuti pygmies, 206 Rightmire, G. P., 164
anatomical variation/specialization in, Ota Benga, 266–267 Rindos, D., 222
62 Rituals
arboreal hypothesis, 114 Q in Australia, 215
bonding in, 71 Qafzeh site, 197–198 orchre, use of, 182
brain, 60 Quechua Indians, 289 puberty rituals, 212
characteristics of, 57– 62 RNA (ribonucleic acid), 33–34
communication in, 74 R Robinson, John, 138
community unit, 68–71 Race, 19–20 Robust australopithecines, 138–140
conservation concerns, 77–78 and behavior, 271 Rock art, 208
disease and, 117 as biological concept, 265, 268–269 Romer, A. S., 60
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) sequence, as cultural category, 269–271 Roosevelt, Anna, 238–239
56 defi ned, 268 Rosas, A., 164
genetic comparisons, 55–56 evolution and, 198 Rose, C. Brian, 258
grooming, 71 and intelligence, 271–274 Rose, Steven, 273–274
home range, 74–75 labels for, 266 Ross, C., 115
human heritage and, 52, 54–55 skin color and, 281–282 R-selected species, 113
hunting by, 76–77 “Race and Progress” (Boas), 267 Rubella, 259
learning, 75–76 Racemization, amino acid, 98, 100 Rule of law, 254
living primates, 62– 67 Racism Rusinga Island specimens, 132
long life cycle of, 73 Boas, Franz and, 15 Rwanda, 11
play, 73–74 defi ned, 271 United Nations investigation, 11
Proconsul, 117–118 Nazi racism, 270–271
reconciliation in, 70–71 Ota Benga and, 266–267 S
reproduction in, 72–73 scientific racism, 267–268 Sabloff, J., 248
rise of, 113–121 social significance of, 271–274 Sagan, Carl, 111
sensory organs of, 58– 60 Radiation and mutations, 40– 41 Sagittal crest, 138
sexual behavior of, 71–72 Radiator theory, 144 of Black Skull, 139
sexual dimorphism, 58 Radiocarbon dating, 86, 98, 99 Sahelanthropus tchadensis, 122, 126
skeleton of, 60– 62 Radiocarbon years, 99 Sahlins, Marshall, 225
smell, sense of, 58–59 Rajput caste, 4 Sahul, 213–215
social behavior, 67–77 Ramapithecus, 118–119 Saint Césaire specimen, 195, 196
taxonomy, 55–57 molecular clock and, 120 Salé skull, 181
teeth of, 57–58 Rapa Nui, 13 Same-sex marriage, 20–21
timeline of evolution, 114 Rapp, Rayna, 35 Sanday, Peggy Reeves, 272
tools, use of, 76 Rathje, William, 12–13 Sanitation
touch, sense of, 59– 60 Recent African origins hypothesis, 192–193, civilization and, 259
true primates, 115–116 195–198 in Neolithic, 239
vision in, 59 gene flow and, 204 Sanjek, R., 270
visual predation hypothesis, 114–115 race issues, 198 Sarich, Vince, 119, 120, 121
young, care of, 72–73 Recer, P., 74 SARS (sudden acute respiratory syndrome),
Primatology, 9 Recessive alleles, 37, 43– 44 28
ethics in, 52 Reconciliation in primates, 70–71 Savage-Rumbaugh, Sue, 192
340 Index

Savannah, 132 Sivapithecus, 118–119, 120 Spencer, Herbert, 43

heat stress and, 144–145 Siwaliks, 118 Spit-painting, 211–212
human evolution and, 142 Sjoberg, G., 257 Splitters
Sawert, Holger, 260 Skeletons and early Homo sapiens, 181
Scalpels, stone, 187 gender, determination of, 94–95 on Homo erectus fossils, 162
Scapula, 61 of primates, 60– 62 researchers as, 153
Schepartz, L. A., 189, 192 Skhul site, 198 Spontaneous abortion, 281
Schistosomiasis, 292–293 Skin cancers, 281 St. Lawrence Iroquians, 90
Schliemann, Heinrich, 88 ozone layer and, 302 Stabilizing selection, 45
Schöningen site, 172 Skin color, 266 Stahl, A. B., 156
Schuster, Carl, 208 adaptation and, 278–281 Standards of living, 304–305
Schwartz, J. H., 196 colonial America and, 270 Starvation, 302
Science distribution in world, 280 States
anthropology and, 14–15 race and, 281–282 action theory, 259
medical anthropology and, 291 variations in, 268 defi ned, 21
Scientific naming, 128–129 Skulls early states, 257–259
Scrapie, 299 of Australopithecus afarensis, 135–136 ecological approaches to, 258–259
Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Ge- of Neandertals, 183–184, 195–196 hydraulic theory, 258
netic Testing (SACGT), 41– 42 of primates, 60 Stedman, H. H., 170
Secular trends, 288 Slash-and-burn agriculture, 233 Steiner, Christoph, 233
Segregation, law of, 32 Slash-and-char agriculture, 233 Steinheim skull, 180, 181
Sellen, D. W., 232 Small apes, 65– 66 Stereoscopic vision, 59
Semenov, S. A., 94 Smallpox Stereotypes
Sensory organs of primates, 58– 60 animal domestication and, 239 athletic abilities and race, 272–273
Senut, B., 122 cities and, 259 of Neandertals, 183, 202
Serial monopedalism, 131 Smell Sterfontein Australopithecus, 137–138
Seriation dating, 98–99 of mammals, 113 Stevenson, Matilda Coxe, 15
Sex chromosomes, 34 primates, sense in, 58–59 Stigler, S. M., 171
mutations in, 40– 41 Smith, Alexander, 41 Stone, R., 302
Sexual behavior of primates, 71–72 Smith, F. H., 192, 197 Stonehenge, 237
Sexual dimorphism, 58, 72 Snow, Clyde C., 10 Stoneking, Mark, 120
of Australopithecus, 135, 143 Social organization Stored foods, 227
in canine teeth, 135 fi re and, 171 Stratified sites, 92
in Homo erectus, 163 as isolating mechanisms, 106–108 Stratigraphy, 97–98
Shamans, 202, 291 of Neandertals, 188–189 Strepsirhini suborder, 56
Shanidar Cave site, 188–189, 197–198 of Neolithic, 236–237 Stress, mutations and, 40– 41
Sharer, R. J., 187 primates, behavior of, 67–77 Structural violence, 300–304
Shea, John, 160, 187 reproductive physiology and, 288 Strum, Shirley, 77
Sheehan, Glen, 85– 87 in Teotihuacan, 247 Subfamilies, 128
Sheep in Tikal, 249 Subinam people, 291
domestication of, 228 Social stratification, 28 Subjects, 10
scrapie, 299 in Code of Hammurabi, 254 Substance abuse andn race, 271
Sheets, Payson, 187 in early civilizations, 256–257 Sunburn, 281
Sherpa, 289 grave goods and, 257 Sunda, 214
Shivering, 290 skin color and, 266 Superfamilies, 128
Shostak, Marjorie, 188 tuberculosis and, 260 Surgery and Neandertals, 189
Shreeve, James, 184, 187, 193, 269 Sodergem, J. A., 171 Survival of the fittest, 43
Siamangs, 56–57, 66 Soil marks, 88 Suspensory hanging apparatus, 61, 65
Siberia, spread of peoples to, 216 Solar radiation and bipedalism, 144 Swaminathan, M. S., 301
Sickle-cell anemia, 45– 47, 240, 259, 260 Solo River skulls, 185 Swanscombe skull, 180, 181
malaria and, 279, 286 Solutrean laurel leaf bifaces, 204–205 Swartkrans site, 138
Sickles, use of, 227 Somatic chromosomes, 34 fi re, use of, 169
Sidell, Nancy, 90 Sorghum, 234 Sweating, 290
SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), 6, South Africa Sweet potato cultivation, 229
296 HIV/AIDS in, 17 Symbolic life
Sierra de Atapuerca site, 180 in Pliocene epoch, 137–138 Homo erectus and, 172–173
Sight. See Vision “South to South Initiative,” 298 of Neandertals, 189–190
Sillen, A., 169 Soy beans, 279 Symbols abd medicine, 291–292
Silver in Americas, 252 Spear-throwers, 205–206 Systema Naturae (Linnaeus), 26
Sima de los Huesos site, 180, 181 Specialization
Simmonds, Samuel, 86 cities and, 252 T
Simons, Elwyn L., 115, 118, 204 primate anatomical specialization, 62 Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports
Simpson, Sherry, 84– 87 Speciation, 106–108 and Why We’re Afraid to Talk About It,
Sinai Peninsula, 252 punctuated equilibria, 108–109 272–273
Sinanthropus pekinensis, 166–167, 194 Species, 27, 28 Tahiti, Pitcairn Island, 41
Singer, P., 74 Speech. See also Language Tai Forest, 160
Single-celled organisms, 110 in Neandertals, 190–191 Taphonomy, 84
Site identification, 87– 89 Spencer, F., 192 Tarsiers, 56, 62, 63– 64
 Index 341

Task Force on Genetic Testing, 42– 43 of Paleoindians, 216 transition to, 191
Tasmania. See also Aboriginal peoples percussion method, 154 trends of, 217
spread of people to, 213–214 primates using, 76 Ur, 258
Tattersall, I., 196 sickles, use of, 227 Uranium for fission track dating, 100–101
Taung child, 126, 159–160 of Tikal, 249 Uruk, 254
anatomy of, 129 of Upper Paleolithic, 204–207, 217
Taxonomies, 28 Torralba site, 172 V
of humans, 28–29 Toth, N., 150 Vaginal cancer, 304
primate taxonomy, 55–57 Touch in primates, 59– 60 Van Tilburg, J. A., 13
Tay-Sachs allele, 260 Toumai, 122, 134 Variation, 8–9, 31
Technology Tourism, ecological, 53 primate anatomical variation, 62
of Neandertals, 197 Trade Variational change, 108–109
of Paleoindians, 216 early civilizations and, 252 Vegeculture, 229
of Upper Paleolithic, 204–207 in Tikal, 249 Velhuis, J. D., 288
Teeth Traditional healers and HIV/AIDS, 16–18 Venus figurines, 200
of Aegyptopithecus, 116 Trail markers, 74 perspective and, 209, 210
of Australopithecus, 136 Trances of Upper Paleolithic, 208–209
of Australopithecus garhi, 140 art and, 209 Vermont, Missisquoi Bay Bridge project,
of Black Skull, 139 and Upper Paleolithic art, 208, 209 90
diastema, 136 Transcription, 33–34 Vernon, P. E., 271
of hominids, 117 Transformational theories, 108–109 Vertebral canal
of mammals, 54–55, 111–112 Transplant tourism, 20 of Neandertals, 191
of Neandertals, 183–184 Travel, 4 Vertebrates, 60
of Neolithic peoples, 238 Triassic period, 111 Villages. See also Cities
of primates, 57–58 Trinil skull cap, 161–162 Çatalhöyük, Turkey, 245–246
of reptiles, 54–55 Trisomy 21, 35 Neolithic villages, 245
sexual dimorphism and, 135 Trouillot, Michel-Rolph, 270 Vindija Neandertal village, 203
Tehuacan Valley subsistence trends, 231 True primates, 115–116 Vision
Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre, 166 Tsukahara, Takahiro, 160 acuity, 58
Templeton, A. R., 193 Tuberculosis arboreal hypothesis and, 114
Teosinte, 224 animal domestication and, 239 of mammals, 113
Teotihuacan, 246–247 social classes and, 260 in primates, 59
Terra preta (black soil), 232–233 Turkey, Çatalhöyük, 245–246 visual predation hypothesis, 114–115
Tertiary scavengers, 159 Tuskegee Syphilis Study, 286 Visual predation hypothesis, 114–115
Textiles of Neolithic, 236 Twins Vitamin D, 281
Theory, 15 intelligence studies of, 273–274 Von Königswald, G. H. R., 166
comparative method and, 18 in primates, 73 Von Nagy, C., 254
Thies, Janice, 233 Typhoid, 259
Thomson, K. S., 45 Typhus, 260 W
Thorne, Alan G., 192, 194 Tyson, Mike, 273 Wadi en Natuf, 223
3-D digital images of skeletons, 96 Waldbaum, Jane C., 258
Thrifty genotype, 278 U Wallace, Alfred Russel, 31, 214
Thymine, 33 Ukkuqsi excavation, 84– 87 Wallace trench, 214
Tikal, 87, 88, 89, 91, 247–250 Ultraviolet radiation, 279–281 Warfare
Great Plaza, 247, 248 ozone layer and, 302 and cities, 244
manikin scepter figures, 93 UNAIDS, 298 in early civilizations, 261
social organization in, 249 Undernutrition, 301–302 Watercraft, 213–214
surveying/excavating site, 248–249 UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Watson, James, 32
Tiwanaku empire, skulls from, 94 Scientific, and Cultural Organization) Wattenberg, B. J., 301
Tobias, Philip V., 137, 153, 166 World Heritage List, 155 Weapons. See Tools
Toes, opposable, 61, 130 United Nations Rwanda investigation, 11 Weatherford, Jack, 231
Toga, Teshome, 194 University of California, Berkeley, 120 Weidenreich, Franz, 166–167, 194
Tools. See also Oldowan tools Lawrence Hall of Science, 24 Weinberg, W., 39– 40
Acheulean tool tradition, 167–168 University of Rochester, New York, 4 Wells, S., 195, 204
atlatls, 205–206 Upper Paleolithic Wheeler, Peter, 144, 145
Aurignacian tradition, 196–197 art, 207–213 White, T. D., 150, 193
of Australopithecus boisei, 150 burrins in, 205–206 Whiting, J. W. M., 171
burin, 205–206 Cro-Magnons, 200, 203 Whooping cough. See Pertussis
of early bipeds, 142 culture, 207 WHO (World Health Organization),
hands of, 142 fi rst modern humans, 202–204 300
of Homo erectus, 167–168 houses of, 213, 214 ethical issues, 18
of Homo habilis, 150 hunting in, 205–207 HIV/AIDS in Africa, 16–18
Levalloisian technique, 181–182 Les Eyzies site, 200 Wiley, A. S., 289
Lower Paleolithic tools, 154–156 musical instruments, 207–208 Wilkins, Maurice, 32
microliths, 222–223 Neandertals and, 196 Willandra Lakes site, 215
Mousterian tool tradition, 186–189, spread of peoples, 213–215 Williams, B. A., 115
202 technology of, 204–207 Wills, C., 281
of Neolithic, 235–236 timeline, 207 Wilson, Allan, 119–120
342 Index

Wittfogel, Karl A., 258 Writing systems, 253–254 Z

Wolf predation, 160 Wu, Xinzhi Z., 192, 194 Zagros Mountains, 225, 227
Wolpoff, Milford H., 171, 174, 185, 192, 194, Zeder, M. A., 225
198, 203, 204 X Zeresenay, A., 135
Women’s Anthropological Society, 15 X chromosome, 34 Zhoukoudian Cave, 84, 160, 166–167
Wood, B., 146 X-ray crystal photography, 32 fi re, evidence of, 171–172
Wood, C., 146 Wu, Xinzhi and, 194
Woods, Tiger, 271 Y Zihlman, Adrienne, 157
Woods, William I., 232 Yaqui Indians, 303 Zilhao, J., 196, 197
World Heritage List, 155 Y chromosome, 34 Zimmer, C., 213
World War I IQ tests, 272 and recent African origins hypothesis, Zimmerman, Michael, 86
World War II, 270–271 193, 195–198 Zinjanthropus boisei, 138–139
The World of Living Things (Imanishi), 69 spread of species and, 204 Zuni Indians, 15
Worthman, Carol, 234 Young, A., 291
Wrangham, Richard, 78 Yung, Dicken, 269
Map Index
Evolution and Prehistory includes a rich map program comprised of three general
types of maps: globalscape maps, distribution and frequency maps, and locator
maps. With these maps, it is our hope that we are able to foster not only a broader
understanding of geography but also a stronger sense of the global nature of the
world in which we live. In addition, we begin the text with a tried and true feature
titled “Putting the World in Perspective.” This feature illustrates the ways in which
cultural values and beliefs influence map making and how culturally informed
maps, in turn, influence the ways in which people see their world.

PUTTING THE WORLD IN PERSPECTIVE

A Comparison of the Mercator, Mollweide, Van der
Grinten, and Robinson Projections
The Robinson Projection Japanese Map
The Peters Projection The Turnabout Map

Arctic
Ocean

ASIA

NORTH
EUROPE
AMERICA

Atlantic
Ocean

GLOBALSCAPE MAPS
AFRICA Bangalore Pacific
Pacific Ocean
Mandya
Ocean

Indian
SOUTH Ocean
AMERICA

AUSTRALIA

ANTARCTICA

A Global Body Shop? 20 Iraqi Artifacts in New York City? 256

Gorilla Hand Ashtrays? 67 Healthy Border Crossings? 298

Americans European
and Canadians Jews

Russians

Chinese Europeans

Chinese

DISTRIBUTION AND FREQUENCY MAPS Asians

Mexicans
Southeast and Central
Americans

Caribbeans
(Cubans, Haitians,
Puerto Ricans)
Africans
South
Asians Southeast Asians

Europeans

Global Distribution of the Sickle Cell Allele and

Malaria 46 The Fertile Crescent of Southwest Asia 226
The Position of the Continents during Several Early Plant and Animal Domestication 230
Geological Periods 112 Independent Development of Major Early Civilizations
Locations of Australopithecine Fossils 133 Globally 245
The Changing Vegetation Zones of Africa 145 Locations of Early Written Records 254
The Spread of Homo from Africa to Eurasia 162 World Distribution of A, B, O Blood Types 275
The Development of Upper Paleolithic The Geographic Distribution of Skin Pigmentation
Technology 196 Before 1492 280
Sunda and Sahul 214 The Frequency of Type B Blood in Europe 280
Beringia 215
 SUDAN

ETHIOPIA

SOMALIA
UGANDA

LOCATOR MAPS KENYA

Lake
Victoria

KwaZulu-Natal TANZANIA
Indian
Island of Flores, Indonesia 172
Ocean
Province, South Quercy Region, France 211
Africa 16 Monte Verde, Chile 216
Barrow, Alaska, United States 85 Iranduba, Amazonas State, Brazil 232
Vermont, United States 90 çatalhöyük, Turkey 246
Lake Turkana, Kenya 151 El Pilar, Belize 250
Dmanisi, Georgia 166 Mali, West Africa 293
Kao Poh Nam, Thailand 169 Papua New Guinea 299