Human social organization during the Late Pleistocene: Beyond the nomadic-egalitarian model
| Autor: | Manvir Singh, Luke Glowacki |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2022 |
| Předmět: |
bepress|Physical Sciences and Mathematics
bepress|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Anthropology bepress|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Psychology bepress|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Psychology|Biological Psychology Experimental and Cognitive Psychology bepress|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Anthropology|Social and Cultural Anthropology bepress|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Anthropology|Biological and Physical Anthropology bepress|Life Sciences|Ecology and Evolutionary Biology bepress|Life Sciences Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) bepress|Social and Behavioral Sciences bepress|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Anthropology|Archaeological Anthropology bepress|Life Sciences|Ecology and Evolutionary Biology|Behavior and Ethology bepress|Life Sciences|Ecology and Evolutionary Biology|Evolution Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics |
| Zdroj: | Evolution and Human Behavior. 43:418-431 |
| ISSN: | 1090-5138 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.07.003 |
| Popis: | Many researchers assume that until 10-12,000 years ago, humans lived in small, mobile, relatively egalitarian bands composed mostly of kin. This “nomadic-egalitarian model” informs evolutionary explanations of behavior and our understanding of how contemporary societies differ from those of our evolutionary past. Here, we synthesize research challenging this model and propose an alternative, the diverse histories model, to replace it. We outline the limitations of using recent foragers as models of Late Pleistocene societies and the considerable social variation among foragers commonly considered small-scale, mobile, and egalitarian. We review ethnographic and archaeological findings covering 34 world regions showing that non-agricultural peoples often live in groups that are more sedentary, unequal, large, politically stratified, and capable of large-scale cooperation and resource management than is normally assumed. These characteristics are not restricted to extant Holocene hunter-gatherers but, as suggested by archaeological findings from 27 Middle Stone Age sites, likely characterized societies throughout the Late Pleistocene (until c. 130 ka), if not earlier. These findings have implications for how we understand human psychological adaptations and the broad trajectory of human history. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|
Full Text from ScienceDirect