Evolutionary Anthropology

Commentary on the Theory Articles In this commentary, we consider how evolutionary biology's life history theory (LHT) can be integrated with life course theorizing, to the benefit of both endeavors. We highlight areas where it can add value to existing work in life course theory (LCT), focusing on: how it can add an extra level of explanation, which may be helpful in understanding why individuals focus on their own health and happiness (or why they don't); how insights from comparative work, both across species and across all kinds of human populations, can inform LCT; and how social and biological researchers can come together fruitfully to make progress on the tricky issue of understanding human agency.

There has been a long history of attempts to explain the evolution of monogamy in mammals in general (Kleiman 1977), and primates in particular (Alexander 1979), partly because of the implications that it may have for the evolution of monogamy in humans. Monogamy is a complex term though, with some species invariably found in pairs (such as owl monkeys), whereas other species can be monogamous, but flexibly take up other mating systems (such as callitrichid monkeys). Humans fit with the latter flexible group, as well as having the additional distinction between their mating system and their marriage system. However, it is fairly well established that monogamy is common in birds (90% of species) (Lack 1968) due to the short time period between mating and egg laying that allows a male to increase his reproductive success through sharing high levels of offspring care (incubating, hatching and rearing), rather than leaving the female he has just mated with to look for other females with whom to mate. The particular reproductive strategy of mammals, with a long gestation period followed by lactation, reduces the opportunities for a male to provide direct care for his offspring, therefore most males move on after mating to seek other fertile females. As a result, monogamy is rare among mammals (5% of species) (Lukas and Clutton-Brock 2013). It is surprising, then, that monogamy is unusually prevalent in one particular mammal order, namely the primates (where 30% of species are monogamous) (Opie, et al. 2013a), with monogamy occurring in all the major primate families (Opie, et al. 2012).

Origins of aggression can be better understood through the lens of sexual benefits that it provides. Combative behavior finds its justification in the need for males to protect their territory and resources, and to conquer the female and to reproduce – these are the adaptive and evolutionary significances of aggression. Namely because of competition for reproductive success there are a strongly asymmetric behavior between males and females in many animal species and this asymmetry in heavily is true for humans.

Lithic miniaturization was one of our Pleistocene ancestors' more pervasive stone tool production strategies and it marks a key difference between human and non-human tool use. Frequently equated with "microlith" production, lithic miniaturization is a more complex, variable, and evolutionarily consequential phenomenon involving small backed tools, bladelets, small retouched tools, flakes, and small cores. In this review, we evaluate lithic miniaturization's various technological and functional elements. We examine archeological assumptions about why prehistoric sto-neworkers engaged in processes of lithic miniaturization by making small stone tools, small elongated tools, and small retouched and backed tools. We point to functional differences that motivate different aspects of lithic miniaturization and several instances where archeological systematics have possibly led archeologists to false negative findings about lithic miniaturization. Finally, we suggest productive avenues by which archeologists can move closer to understanding the complex evolutionary forces driving variability in lithic miniaturization.

Male provisioning behaviour is an evolved response which may potentially trigger other nurturing behaviours, paternal attachment, encourage other fathering behaviours and secure men a place in the family.
This is a summary of my chapter 'From Hegemonic to Responsive Masculinity: The Transformative Power of the Provider Role' published in 'The Palgrave Handbook of Male Psychology and Mental Health' https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783030043834 The  summary is published by The Male Psychology Network  https://malepsychology.org.uk/sample-page/news-2/

Evolutionary approaches to archeological data apply biological principles to understand artifactual variation and cultural change through time. Stone tools are a particularly rich dataset because their morphology represents intentional designs—adaptations to specific environmental and social contexts—transmitted through social learning. Finished tools, especially those forms found in the archeological record to be chronologically or spatially diagnostic of a culture, can be ordered and compared morphologically to understand evolutionary relationships. Because stone-tool manufacture is reductive, the process of production, or the behavioral recipe, can also reflect significant information about past populations. Although many studies have investigated evidence of heritable continuity of technological knowledge, few have made convergent evolution the focus of technological comparisons. Here we explore the chronological occurrence of blades and blade-core reduction in the Southern Plains and periphery of North America as a case study for understanding convergence in the stone-tool record.

In this extensive editorial conclusion several threads woven in the contributions of this edited volume are brought together and drawn into conversation with the work of anthropologist Tim Ingold. Through five themes the terms ‘relation’, ‘vulnerability’ and ‘love’ are reaffirmed as key notions for theological anthropology in the twenty-first century. The first theme of theological anthropology’s conversation with the discipline of anthropology addresses Michael Banner’s call for an anthropological turn as well as the ongoing conversations between theology and evolutionary anthropology and proposes Ingold as a key conversation partner. Woven through this first theme, the second theme concerns a relational understanding of being human as a practice and never-ending task, which demands a recognition of the primacy of ‘knowing-in-being’ and the necessity of a forward-going approach. The third and fourth themes are further explorations of this knowing-in-being by connecting Ingold’s insights with, on the one hand, Brian Brock’s notion of existing-in-believing and Markus Mühling’s attention to tradition and way-formation, and with Elizabeth Gandolfo’s and Paul Fiddes’ discussion of our ‘wild’ world in which vulnerability is a given, on the other hand. The fifth theme brings us to theology’s areas of concern in this conversation with anthropology, more particularly, the need to discern when to embrace and when to resist vulnerability, and an understanding of such discernment and resistance as a form of existing-in-believing in which love as the deepest reality is discovered from within.

The theory of evolution by natural selection can help explain why people care about other species. Building upon recent insights that morality evolves to secure fitness advantages of cooperation, we propose that conservation ethics (moral beliefs, attitudes, intuitions and norms regarding other species) could be adaptations that support cooperation between humans and non-humans. We present eco-evolutionary cost–benefit models of conservation behaviours as interspecific cooperation (altruism towards members of other species). We find that an evolutionary rule identical in structure to Hamilton's rule (which explains altruistic behaviour towards related conspecifics) can explain altruistic behaviour towards members of other species. Natural selection will favour traits for selectively altering the success of members of other species (e.g. conserving them) in ways that maximize inclusive fitness return benefits. Conservation behaviours and the ethics that evolve to reinforce them will be sensitive to local ecological and socio-cultural conditions, so will assume different contours in different places. Difficulties accurately assessing costs and benefits provided by other species, time required to adapt to ecological and socio-cultural change and barriers to collective action could explain the apparent contradiction between the widespread existence of conservation ethics and patterns of biodiversity decline globally.

We call for satellite events, 2-hour long symposia, individual talks and posters. We invite scholars from A(rcheology) to Z(oology) to contribute data, experimental and theoretical research. The 2019 conference additionally calls out for contributions on the following 5 themes:
1 Paleolithic Cosmologies: How Early Hominins conceptualized Matter, Space/Ecology, Time, Words & Number
2 Defining Protolanguage and the Biological, Cognitive, and Cultural Mechanisms and Processes whereby it evolves
3 History, Philosophy and Methodologies to Study Primate and Human Cognition, Communication & Culture
4 Multimodal Theories in Primate Communication and (Proto)Language
5 Modelling of Language Evolution (trees, networks, agent and population dynamics)

Timelines to submit:
Satellite events & symposia by January 15th, 2019;
Individual talks & posters by February 1st, 2019

Source: Актуальные проблемы глобальных исследований: ценности глобального мира / под ред. И.В. Ильина. – М., МООСИПНН Н.Д. Кондратьева, 2018. C. 92-118.

Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel, the authors of the Human Development Sequence Theory, suggest modernization to be one of the main processes forming the value structures in a population. The current paper investigates the relation between values and modernization applying some elements of the method proposed by Inglehart and Welzel to the data of Shalom Schwartz. The values survey by Schwartz specifies two main value axes, namely conservation/openness to change and self-transcendence/self-enhancement. Our research has revealed that the correlation between these two value axes differs in its direction when estimated for " macro-Europe " (including Europe and former settlement colonies of North and South America and Oceania) and " Afrasia " (including Asia and Africa). In the Western world there is a significant positive correlation between openness to change and self-transcendence, while in the Eastern world this correlation is strong, significant, and negative. We investigate the possible impact of modernization on this difference. To do this, we approximate modernization through such indicators as GDP per capita and the proportions of the labour force employed in various sectors of the economy. We find that in both megazones modernization is accompanied by increasing openness to

Pathological and the related morphological changes can make a vaginal birth extremely hazardous for women. However, previous palaeopathological studies have limited their examination to individual female remains buried with neonates and obvious complications stemming from a contracted pelvis, an unstable pelvic brim or pelvic fractures. This has resulted in a gap in the literature for a study on past populations which incorporates lesser known pathological or morphological issues including developmental, metabolic, and spinal causes, together with premature fusion of the coccyx, arthritis and other diseases or deficiencies which can result in the dislocation or atrophy of lower limbs.

The aim of this study is to establish the frequency of pathological and related morphological changes in female skeletal remains during their reproductive period that do not stem from a contracted pelvis due to but may result in an increased risk during childbirth. To accomplish this, 402 females between 13.0 and 44.9 years at from urban Romano-British sites were examined for evidence of pathological and related morphological changes, including those associated with pregnancy, which can create complications during a vaginal birth. Within the sample group 37.6% (n=151) displayed such changes which can result in contracted pelvic outlet or other complications.