Adaptation and human behavior: An anthropological perspective

‘‘ – nearly everyone looks to hunter-gatherers for foundational insights into the origins of human capacities and inclinations’’ (p 12). Indeed, this statement by Winterhalder succinctly summarizes the ‘‘raison d’être’’ for this volume. Editors PanterBrick, Layton, and Rowley-Conwy have brought together a diverse group of anthropologists to produce this informative interdisciplinary analysis focusing upon the ecology, biology, and sociology of past and present-day hunter-gatherers. It is said that scientific revolutions occur when and where diverse fields intersect. This volume does not represent a ‘‘scientific revolution’’ about the comprehension of hunter-gatherer behavior, nor is it truly interdisciplinary in nature but rather represents a series of well-written, up-to-date chapters authored by anthropologists specializing in various facets of hunter-gatherer research. However, that being said, the book succeeds marvelously in showing how ecology influences hunter-gatherer foraging behavior, which in turn drives cultural and social conduct. The first chapter, penned by the editors, sets the tone of the book and provides rationale for the 10 chapters that follow. The editors contend that the present volume differs from the recent and more extensive Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gatherers (Lee and Daly, 1999) because of its more widespread coverage of biological anthropology and human ecology. And in fact, this is the case, as the majority of the book’s chapters either directly or indirectly focuses upon ecological or biological themes in foraging societies. Chapter 2 represents a synopsis of most of the important new work in behavioral ecology since the seminal publication of Winterhalder and Smith’s Hunter-Gatherer Foraging Strategies: Ethnographic and Archaeological Analyses (1981). Winterhalder not only reviews the fundamental components of optimal foraging theory that underlie hunter-gatherer subsistence behavior but also examines more recent mechanisms influencing food transfer (social foraging). In Chapter 3 Rowley-Conwy continues with the ecological theme and brings the uninitiated reader up to par by showing how models of hunter-gatherer foraging behavior have changed since Sahlin’s formulation of ‘‘The Original Affluent Society’’ (Stone Age Economics, 1972). Less convincing is his attempt to debunk six basic assumptions of the progressive view of hunter-gatherer complexity, particularly the idea that marine and aquatic foraging strategies were commonplace in the Pleistocene. Torrence’s chapter on hunter-gatherer technology (‘‘. . . physical actions by knowledgeable actors who use carefully chosen materials to produce a desired outcome.’’) is guided by her belief that optimization of ‘‘desired outcome’’ ultimately determines the choice of tools and actions taken (p 74). Her analysis of tool assemblages rather than upon design of individual tools is central to her conclusions that untended food acquisition tools, tool assemblage diversity, as well as food storage technology are positively related to latitude because of inherently greater failure costs (level of risk) at higher latitudes. In Chapter 5, Kuhn and Stiner contrast recent forager behavior to cases from the Middle and Late Upper Palaeolithic (LUP) in Europe and Asia. Their analysis of the LUP tool arsenal from northern Europe corroborates Torrence’s latitudinal tool assemblage predictions, whereas LUP taphonomic data generally confirm the ecological subsistence constraints as proposed by Winterhalder and others. The notable exception to Torrence’s latitudinal hypothesis stems from Middle Palaeolithic artifacts attributable to archaic humans (Homo heidelbergensis and H. neanderthalensis). There is no evidence that Mousterian tool complexity changed with climate or latitude. Further, subsistence seems to have been governed by prey distribution rather than latitude. Kuhn and Stiner conclude that flexible modern hunter-gatherer adaptations to diet and technology were globally established by the LUP (20,000 BP) and perhaps as early as 45,000 BP. However the specific life ways of Palaeolithic groups were unlike those of recent foragers. The flexibility of recent and LUP hunter-gatherer foraging behaviors almost certainly extend AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY 14:280–287 (2002)