Hunters gatherers PDF

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lecture notes from the module 'Hunter, Gatherers and Human evolution'...

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Hunters and gatherers What are hunter gatherers -

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Small societies that don’t have agriculture Foragers A lot of people think that hunter gatherers are small groups o Horticulturalists – agricultural on a small scale more sustainable o mobile Pastoralists o Cattle – goat, sheep, cows o Mobile o Rely on domesticated animals o Food producers – living on agriculture o Having to go back to their crops means they are not true hunter gathers Intensive agriculture o Goes really far back o Small scale societies

Think about the world as food producer’s vs non food producers There is a huge gender element to hunter gatherers -

Prototype of social behaviour in modern societies Putting a heteronormative 50s society on the modern time Woman provide a lot of the daily calories in hunter gatherer society but western society use hunter gathers as a way to suggest that the men do all the hunting

Definition of Foragers/hunter gatherers: -

No domesticated food or less than x% food agriculture And fish

People nowadays are picking and choosing parts of hunter gatherer diet -

Paleo movement/diet not true to hunter gatherer life Picking and choosing parts of the lifestyle

Evolutionary anthropology How do we see into the past? -

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Primatology – living primate behaviour Paleontology – morphology of ancestors H-Gs – behaviour of humans We have to spot thinking that chimps are the same as in the past o They could have evolved something new Stop comparing humans and chimp look at the whole ape species

But -

Is it reasonable to use the behaviour of any modern creature to reconstruct the past?

Hunters and gatherers In some respect yes, you must be careful in knowing that your theory is not provable or disprovable What are the problems with using modern chimps? o

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Ways of looking at foragers comparatively

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o Foragers vs. non-foragers o Forager diversity (foragers vs. foragers) o Foragers and the past (subtracting technology) We cannot understand all hunter gatherers by looking at only one or two groups comparatively you need to look at all groups and see the variation between them o Sometimes the question will change the groups you look at

Why study foragers? 1. 2. 3. 4.

Different from agriculturalists To observe constraints of foraging Part of culture spectrum Privileged role as models

The Kalahari debates Debate over the use of modern foragers as evolutionary models -

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Ongoing debate between anthropologist, archaeologists, sociologists, biologists etc does seem to be two different standards to define who is a true hunter gatherer pristine, pure, encapsulated o why is it we need them to be completely isolated from other groups for them to be true hunter gatherers marginal habitat o hunter gatherers have had their land stolen from them by the agriculturalists o or is it just hunter gatherers don’t want to integrate with them foragers are different from agriculturalists 1. Mobility and residence 2. Food storage 3. Territory and population density 4. Social stratification 5. Warfare and conflict Collette argues that hg are not marginal o Hg don’t do food storage for other food producers this is not the case they need to store their seeds etc o You cant have high population density if you’re moving about o No hierarchy as no one oowns more or is worth over powering

Value of HG model -

Insights into ancestral/derived traits Insights into diversity Not all HG are equally good as evolutionary models o Different groups will be good for different subjects o E.g the diet

Hunters and gatherers Variation in H-Gs ‘simple’ vs ‘complex’ Complex: -

Have complex social structures Social Technological Some argue that specialisation is the beginning of hierarchy

Simple -

No hierarchy People are talented in getting what they need but everyone has these skills and knowledge

Patterns in complexity according to : -

Habitat Subsistence Technology Cultural cluster

Simple -

vs. Mobile Flexible camps Multilocal residence Bilateral descent Slight polygyny Egalitarian

Complex -

Sedentary Non-flexible Often patrilocal Unilineal descent Variable stratified

complexity and unpredictability -

its not necessarily how you make a living

technology and social complexity -

some have thought that technology creates social complexity technology and cultural traits linked?

Mobility -

ways of looking at H-g movements why do they move differently ? how do they move ? are there ‘knock on’ effects?

Optimal foraging theory -

helps us predicted and understand constraints and opportunities foragers have patches

Hunters and gatherers

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o it gradually becomes harder and harder to find food in every patch o but travel time/energy to the next patch is costly too o so, when to move on = marginal value theorem central place foraging o many foragers do not consume their prey where they are captured but return with them to some fixed central place multiple central place foragers o move to a different central place every few days new camps form and disappear according to resources

Kelly’s view on mobility -

residential mobility – movements of all members from one camp to another logistical mobility – movements of individuals or small groups from a residential location

residential mobility -

no. moves per year Ave. distance of moves area covered per year length of occupation of winter (or rainy) season sites

logistical mobility -

one-way distance from residence (foray length one way) total duration (round trip days for treks)

trade-offs -

between logistical and residential (can have fewer residential moves if lengthen logistical trips)

Territoriality -

Moving, land, land rights, storage….etc Technology Residences visible (low investment = high residential mobility)

Social privilege in a society they're very often making these kinds of trade offs about resources while they are doing and Hunter gatherers pay nothing almost because they don't have anything taxis in terms of space that's really problematic OK so tethered foraging is one of the last I think concepts I was going to try and teach you in terms of how people might move around in the land and burning in post sort of ecological examples so there could be other things like trade items that can actually afford there are cultural things there of become central to that in the case of tobacco I mean I don't think they don't write their trade for it but they've been training for from different groups for so long that they actually have lots of myths about tobacco use that 100 is better at hunting and can see better if you can smoke right against cultural stories that even though it's not something that's going to be close to somebody that they can trade for tobacco with and so it becomes another part of their mobility patterns and of course this also means that they are bumping up against the same groups that they might have conflicts with because they're both having conflicts with him and trading with them which makes the whole relationships really complicated and that's not uncommon either I don't think and then if you have other kinds of Hunter gatherers like mountain once then you have to

Hunters and gatherers not only just think about what the people need but also what do the horses that they use need some people say okay mum did Hunter gatherers i still it was just a logical formula about how much my time driving Internet so I mean I do think it's interesting that people had domesticated animals and didn T they use them hunt of her animals mean if you think about that for a minute against little little weird maybe its just me why don't they just eat the horse once they have the horses don't know but they didn't turn OK so I wanted to show you another way of thinking about resources and how much how many pieces were needed for capita and I've got a little video here I'm saying it delete my weekend been studying is that years ago there was some concern about how much of the plant's net primary production people were demanding if you look at the planet the land surface produces a certain amount of vegetation based on all the other cultural influence we have now are natural climate now constitutes a total available amount of bio Maps present for consumption and human appropriation opponent has a weakness that is actually how much NP your plans for this week Wat OK i'm gonna go back i think he does say this but if he doesn't Using satellites people have been for a long time tracking not just how much plant materials in a penny and the reason for that is because you can't eat tree bark old growth is almost always available so the amount of new work that you get almost how much is there for consumption so this is this is because we just can't right activity and this is the stuff that this guy is doing it's not just one guy but it's always one guy got anything anyway he's basically talking about trying to measure the available resources for the entire population.

NPP vs. Primary biomass -

High NNP (low primary biomass) = lots of residential moves per year (unless have acquatic resources)

Why move? -

Needs of food No sanitation o Move when rubbish gets bad Need water

Draw backs of moving -

Energetic costs Logistics Opportunity loss Time itself Can’t defend current residence

Discuss -

Role for culture in behavioural ecology? Is it useful to categorise the variation in H-Gs How do factors like those we discussed affect social complexity?

Hunters and gatherers

Life history theory -

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Evolutionary forces shape trade-offs between quantity and quality of offspring and between current and future offspring Investment in one offspring subtract from resources to invest in another, thus trade-offs Some think all else equal, good to reproduce early and often o But reproduction takes away from growth and maintenance (somatic investment) o And early reproduction means less time spent growing o Grow until payoffs to current reproduction would exceed benefits to further growth To build a better organism is more costly and if resources are allocated to quality there is less for quantity Longer growth = later reproduction

Mammalian life history -

Gestation Birth Weaning Maturity First reproduction Last reproduction Death

Human life history -

Live slow, die old Brain size predicts that slow human life history began to appear at about 1-2mya o Growth-lines on teeth support this hypothesis o Pattern of toot growth does to

Primates -

Big brains Long lives

Humans -

Biggest brain Longer lives

Brains -

2% of body weight 20% of metabolic energy Selection would not favour such a costly trait if it did not payoff in RS If live a long time, then have more time to recoup the investment in big brain Homo erectus is when brain size started to take off

Hunters and gatherers

Parenting -

Humans born immature – strategy that can only work when there is excellent parental care

Menopause -

Grandmother hypothesis o At some point, females gain more from care of existing children than from producing new ones

r/K species -

R= lots of off spring/ short life’s K = fewer off spring / longer life’s more investment

Trade offs and ecology -

Not advantageous to wait to reproduce if you are unlikely to survive Competition for resources means it could be beneficial to have a larger body (longer growth time) Local ecology can dictate these things o Body size o Litter size o Life span

Extraction and hunting -

Hunting favours sharing to minimize risk of no food Extractive foraging favours specialisation Thus, sexual division of labour

Hunting sharing, social organization -

Chimp mums let infants take food that are more difficult to process but meat only shared with other adults Hunting makes sharing necessary and sharing makes hunting feasible Early hominin sexual dimorphism implies uni- or multi male groups; probably so large that multi-male and bonds

Childhood learning -

Complex foraging selected for larger brains, longer juvenile period, longer life span NBJ and FWM tested the hypothesis that longer juvenile period is for “time to learn” with the Hadza

Hunters and gatherers

Food sharing and cooperation Cooperation/ helping motivations: -

Nepotism : o the practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives or friends,

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Reciprocity: o you scratch my back ill scratch yours Mutualism: o Wanting the same thing so helping each other in order to get it Coercion o Blackmail, threats Signalling o Help to show off, make people like them

especially by giving them jobs.

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Nepotism: -

Hamilton’s formula: rB – C > 0 The more related you are the more likely you are to help them

Reciprocity -

Triver’s formula: B – C > 0 The benefit has to be grater than the costs for both people

Altruism and spite – do they exist? -

Altruism has to be good for the recipient but bad for the actor o Somebody has to miss out for it to be altruistic Spite is detrimental for both the actor and recipient o Brings both people down

Other reasons for cooperation -

Group selection o Hurts you but good for the group Migrants from selfish groups must be excluded Cheater mutants can invade altruistic groups after selfish groups go extinct Cultural group selection o Traits that are maintained because of differential success of groups

Video - trathe commoners were not their owners but by tradition they had the right to graze livestock upon them overtime the extent of common pasture shrinks into the process of enclosures however one could see a vast difference between Collins and private lands in 1833 British economist William Forrester Lloyd asked why are the catalogue of Commons so beauty and stunted why is the common itself so bear ornel why is it crops so differently from the pride lands imagine 2 pasturelands of the same size one is a common pasture that is used by 10 peasants and the other is divided into 10 identical lots each used as a private pasture by one of the 10 different owners both pasturelands can feed up to 50 cattle in a year before being unable to regenerate crops 5 cattle can be braised upon each of the identical private plots private owners are like greys more cattle per year

Hunters and gatherers upon their lots but they know that if they would there's a high risk that it would make their lives there and such that no cow could be grazed upon them in the next year the benefits of using the pastures for many years were higher than a one off profit from allowing more cattle to graze upon them commoners who used the common pastures were no less competent they also know that no more than 50 cattle of the time should graze upon the common pasture as long as there were fewer than 50 cattle grazing on the common pasture everything was fine the cattle population grew however and at first the limit was reached and exceeded one of the counters called Gilbert thought to himself so far each of us has been raising 5 cows up on the pasture but now I have more cattle grazing another cow was a risk because of the past are concerned there and I should not do it then Unfortunately the commoners were influenced by different incentives than those affecting private plot owners Gilbert was worried how can I be sure that another commenter will not raise an extra cow in such a case I will not be able to use the pasture next year as it will be barren and at the same time I 6 cow will be less that this year if I do the right thing by not raising the extra cow not only will I save the pasture for next year but at the same time I will save it for someone else this year that is why I decided to bring an extra couch in the pasture gilbert's action marked a simple regularity the cow is private property so the more of his cattle graze on pasture the better it is for him the pastor however is common property This is why all potential losses will be shared by everyone in sense gilbert's private profit will probably outweighs sharing the shared lots it definitely pays for him to create the next cow and he should do it quickly before someone else comes up with the idea in fact others did come up with the same idea indeed grades more cattle than the land could sustain as a result nature supplied for the ever increasing consumption became unsustainable the past return Baron was taken over by weeds in adewole for animals the couch became puny and stunted CC of milk and finally died by acting in their own self interest The Commons work now only to the detriment of others but also to their own detriment in the long term to put it simply they were cutting their brands they were sitting on in 1968 professor of human ecology Garrett Hardin put the subject back in the spotlight with his article the tragedy of the Commons but calling Lloyds work hard to win the end of the issuer the tragedy of the Commons which consists of the fact that when people have free access to a shared resource by acting rationally in their own self interest that cause the rest of society and themselves to suffer losses in the long run this is because the institution of common property motivates people to abuse resources and at the same time to neglect their maintenance and renewal he notes ruin is the destination toward which all men rush each pursuing his own best interests in a society that believes in the freedom of the Commons freedom and a common Springs ruins wall let's try to pinpoint the root cause of the problem up to a certain point the common resources are so abundant that anyone can use them freely without any adverse effects for example a pastor they can feed 50 cattle will not be made Baron by 3 cattle even if eating is all they do a single angler cannot hope to catch all the fish in a large Lake just as a small group of an absence of the Great Plains will not contribute to the decline of the American bison population there is a turning point however that which nature cannot possibly restore such resources of pasture for instance can only feed a certain number of animals during a given time away can only sustain a certain number of fishermen and anglers each year before its fish population starts to diminish there is no such thing as an infinite bison supplying the Great Plains at some point the increase in the number of animals fisherman anglers and hunters causes building to suffer from overcrowding freedom of access to the common resource is promote the tendency for their excessive use for the neglected their maintenance and renewal one contemporary example of the tragedy of the Commons is high seas according to the law everyone has equal access to these waters for example everyone has the rights of fish in the high seas given concertize the population modernisation of fishing techniques and other factors nature just cannot sustain its output the eponymous tragedy consists of the fact that the law encourages fishermen to catch as much fish as possible in doing so the longer X fishermen to

Hunters and gatherers catch unsustainable amounts of fish and dusted him aquatic resources instead of encouraging them to care about keepi...