Exam 2: week 7 Flashcards
differences in ecology lead to what variations? (3)
- defendable resources
- wealth accumulation
- nomadism or sedentism
adaptation
product of natural selection and takes multiple generations
- Level of skin pigment, greater muscle mass in men than women, strong tendency to form pair bonds
adaptability
ability to cope with changes in environment and occurs within a single individual
- Tanning in response to sunlight, greater muscle mass in athletes, variation in marriage patterns
modes of subsistence
- horticulture
- foraging
- pastoralism
- agriculture
horticulture
cultivation of plants (via burning) as a resource but on a smaller scale than agriculture and involves more constant change of plots ⇒ still relies on wild foods
foraging
hunting and gathering only wild foods
- Majority of human evolutionary history
- Finding, processing, and fewer calories per food item
- mobile vs sedentary
mobile vs sedentary foraging
mobile is frequent moving while sedentary is staying where resources are consistently available or able to be stored
examples of mobile foragers (4)
!Kung, Ache, Hadza, Inuit
examples of sedentary foragers
Pacific northwest (Haida, Kwakiutl, etc.), California (Chumash)
pastoralism
large flocks of domesticated animals ⇒ cattle, chicken, goats, sheep, etc.
- The environment must be able to sustain herds of animals ⇒ open and grass dominated
agriculture
farms with monocultures of crops and animals included
- all the foods we buy at supermarkets we have genetically modified via domestication
T/F hunter-gatherers have a highly gendered pattern? what would that look like?
True; men hunt, fish, collect honey (sweet, antimicrobial, calories) and women gather (plant foods), cook, look after children
- In most other primates, males and females forage for the same foods
why do women gather? (4)
- Anisogamy biases evolution toward sex differences in parental effort
- Female mammals are extreme specialists in parental care ⇒ internal gestation and lactation (Primates are very good at caring for young ⇒ slow growing young need to be carried)
- Need reliable sources of sufficient foods to feed themselves and offspring
- Reproductive aged women usually carry babies
why do human females have more fertility?
shorter in duration than others because we live in supportive communities to help raise young
how much nutrient intake from 0-5 goes to brain growth?
50%
- requires investment and time by other group members
what % of energy goes to our brain every day as adults?
20%
what slows down female foragers with babies?
- Increases travel costs
- Increases risk when pursuing prey
why do men hunt? (2)
- With food subsidies from women, they are freed to pursue high risk, high gain prey => Cooperation amongst communities to sustain high reproductive rates
- Weapons for fighting are also used in hunting between communities
which foraging tribes are hunter gatherers? (3)
- !Kung (south Africa)
- Ache (Paraguay)
- Hadza (Tanzania)
properties of mobile hunter gathers? (6)
- No permanent settlement
- Range nomadically within large home range
- Few possessions ⇒ due to moving often
- Little wealth
- Egalitarian ⇒ power amongst individuals is more evenly divided
- Most marriages monogamous ⇒ pair bonded with mutual commitment to offspring
where do mobile hunter gathers usually get pushed to?
the outer areas of productive places where agriculturalists settle ⇒ doesn’t give us information about what societies were like before agriculture between groups
in chimps which sex hunts more?
males do
- Females spend more time in extractive foraging such as fishing for termites
females can and do hunt (carrying infants) but if they do males will often steal their prey
- Juveniles will learn from their moms
in bonobos which sex hunts more?
females do
- they are higher ranking than males so they don’t get their prey stolen
Hazda
- more inland
- very conservative in subsistence mode
- much like they were when first described >80 years ago
- middle range for many features => population (30), moves (6.5), area (122 km), polygyny 4%
- women go out together in groups to search for resources
- Hadza ≠ EEA ⇒ they have some technologies that may be more recent like poisons for big game (Hadza today are surrounded by pastoralists and farmers and protected by national government)
alloparenting
community members that are not parents of the offspring who help with the care and rearing of offspring
how would hunter gather worlds have looked? (5)
- in a camp there is a range where men go out hunting for large game whereas the women’s range is a much shorter distance => plant resources are more abundant so they don’t need to travel as far
- In a larger area there may be two different communities interacting as larger groups
- Often the communities have friendly encounters => people can move in between camps somewhat fluidly
- There are also marriage partner exchanges ⇒ whole families or individuals
- The larger group ranges from about 500-900 individuals amongst large areas of communities
what type of lifestyle did people have on the Great Plains in North America? (4)
- primarily rely on bison ⇒ the spanish introduced them to horses which changes their ability to hunt the bison
- Faster travel
- Larger camps
- Highly mobile warriors ⇒ more warfare between communities
examples of sedentary hunter gatherers
Chumash (S. california), Inuit
properties of sedentary hunter gathers (7)
- Reliable, concentrated resource ⇒ salmon streams
- Social stratification => Hereditary nobility & Slavery
- Warfare may be more frequent
- Polygyne more common ⇒ for high status men
- Chief, aristocracy, commoners, slaves
- Luxury goods
- Potlatch
what is helpful about salmon?
salmon runs provided reliable resource ⇒ salmon as smoked and stores for steady food supply
potlach
big party of excess ⇒ the individual who throws this due to abundant resources where people who attend are indebted to them
when did horticulture start?
about 12,000 years ago
examples of horticulturists?
Yanomamo, North American Indians, Highland New Guinea, Polynesia
what is different about horticulture compared to hunter gatherers? (3)
- More concentration of resources than in mobile hunter gatherers
- Chiefs
- More polygyny
when did pastoralism start?
about 9-11,000 years ago
examples of pastoralists?
Maasai, Zulu, Turkana, Mongols, Huns, Tuareg, Berber, Sami, Somalis
properties of pastoralism? (4)
- Most common in grasslands/tundra where its too dry/cold for agriculture
- Concentration of wealth and power
- More polygyny and war ⇒ threat of theft
- Horses permit rapid movement of warriors
when did agriculture start?
About 10,000 years ago
Social properties of agriculture? (2)
- Formation of states, standing armies
- Stratified society with hereditary nobility and extreme polygyne for despots
examples of agriculturalists?
Egypt, Mesopotamia, Indus Valley, China, Mesoamerica, Andes, USA, Aztec
Polygyny threshold model
polygyny occurs when females have greater reproductive success mating with a male already mated than an unmated male with less resources
- Affected by the type of male parenting and the time for gestation
- sometimes a female can do better as the second mate of a male with a great territory than as the first mate of a male with a poor territory => the conditions under which the female can expect a degree of access to resources and contributions from the male will influence this
cattle example of polygyne threshold in humans
Men herd cattle and women farm ⇒ the women (or their parents) preferentially chose men offering high quality breeding opportunities with respect to the number of acres available on which to settle
T/F the more frequent polygamy is the higher the likelihood that children will be malnourished and have a lower quality of life?
True
- from this perspective polygyny is a bad thing
- However the anthropological perspective is the opposite
when does polygyne have more negative effects?
in areas with little to no resources to begin with
- even though some individuals may have more resources, this is not necessarily better
- in areas where there is more resources the community will have more polygamy whereas more low quality areas has much lower levels of polygamy
what 2 extreme conditions do we expect to see polygymy?
- The abundance of resources
- How the resources are asymmetrically acquired
what social + weather pattern does number of wives correlate with?
population density and rainfall ⇒ with more rain for crops you can feed more people
how much do men contribute to household resources in polygyny?
- Resources may not be dependent on one item ⇒ animals, agriculture, etc.
- Agriculture needs manpower and labor ⇒ more wives means more manpower as long as the environment can provide
what does the negative relationship between percent of household calories contributed by male correlate with?
% of women in the community that are polygamous
- more polygyny where men contribute the least via agriculture from the women
T/F polygyny is more common in mobil forag when men provide smaller portions of subsistence?
true
- Forager men can rarely provide enough food for more than one wife
- Polygyny is more feasible if women support themselves
Life history theory
energy is limited and organisms can channel energy into growth, maintenance, or reproduction
- Can’t do everything at once ⇒ slow growth period
when do we shift into reproductive effort
adolescence
primate life history traits (5)
- Big brains
- Long lives
- Slow growth
- Few offspring per litter ⇒ average is 1 at a time
- Relatively altricial young ⇒ helplessness /needs parental care (vs protriciality)
human life history (3)
- Long pre-reproductive period
- Long lifespan
- Long post reproductive period for females (ends at about 40-45)
T/F humans have a fast inter birth rate compared to other primates?
True
- Human ⇒ 2-4 years (7 kids on avg) ⇒ why human populations have had success partly
- Chimp ⇒ 5-6 years (5 kids on avg)
- Gorilla ⇒ 4-6 years (5.5 kids on avg)
- Orangutan ⇒ 7-8 years (3 kids on avg)
juvenile dependency
the amount of time that a child is dependent on the adults raising it
- Human kids play, socialize, rest, etc.
- Even after human children have brain growth, they have a long period before they are independent
what is the big thing that happens at adolescence?
puberty where secondary sex characteristics begin ⇒ actual reproduction is still delayed
- our growth pattern is not as extreme as other animals
- Primates and humans are more exaggerated and slow
Theory of mind
beliefs and knowledge for each individual is different
- For young children <5 they don’t show theory of mind in full
main tasks of human childhood (2)
- Grow
- Learn skills
tasks of learning (5)
- Language
- Culturally appropriate behavior
- Motor skills
- Tool use
- Skills needed for adult roles
why do adult humans look different from children?
Reproductive effort requires new traits
- Adults need sufficient size and skills to mate, bear children
- Job of the adult is to make new children
how do human males and females compare in food production similarity to chimps?
the lines for male and female chimpanzees are so similar you can’t really tell them apart ⇒ consumption and production are similar
- Human male and females are very different ⇒ females production more after menopause and male production is more earlier in life and decline later
- Female consumption for their first 4 decades comes from male production => Demonstrates the food sharing that happens in human communities not seen in any other primates
what may be other reasons fro slow growing? (2)
- limited growing opportunities
- low mortality
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