Marc Verha
Thu, Jul-13-06, 06:23
Apparently, fairy tales like the quotation above can still be
found in scientific works... I suggest P.Storms inform a bit:
http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~mvaneech/Symposium.html
http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~mvaneech/outthere.htm
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT
______
Book review www.PalArch.nl webbased Netherlands scientific
journal (2006) RB Lee & R Daly eds 2004 "The Cambridge
encyclopedia of hunters and gatherers" CUP 511pp
ISBN:0-521-60919-4 ? 25 $ 35 pb review by P. Storm
http://www.palarch.nl/Non_scientific/bookreview.htm The way
human's function, physically and mentally, has essentially
been shaped in the time that our subsistence was based on
gathering and hunting. It is worthy of note that we became
fully bipedal and as intelligent as we are with all our
cultural flexibility amid grasses, trees, herbivores and
carnivores, not by sitting behind a computer. As the two
editors, Lee & Daly remark in the introduction of this
encyclopedia (p. 1): "The world's hunting and gathering
peoples - the Arctic Inuit, Aboriginal Australians, Kalahari
San, and similar groups - represent the oldest and perhaps
most successful human adaptation. Until 12,000 years ago
virtually all humanity lived as hunters and gatherers". Taking
Homo sapiens idaltu from Ethiopia, dated between 160 000 en
154 000 BP, as our oldest fossil representative, our species
lived more than 90 % of its time as hunters and gatherers.
Good change that our ancestors started to live as hunters and
gatherers, with a shift to more meat in their diet, about 1.7
myr ago, which would mean that the genus Homo has survived by
this mode of life about 99 % of its evolutionary history.
Considering the fact that also chimpanzees hunt (Goodall,
1986) it is even reasonable to suggest, as is done Smith (p.
384), that: "The idea of hunting and foraging was probably
already embedded in the social life of our non-human primate
ancestors before they walked on two legs". The urban
lifestyle, of which I am a part, is so recent that it is
questionable if there has been enough time to adapt
genetically to this modern way of life. Eaton & Eaton III
remark (p. 449): "Our bodies are adapted for foraging ways of
life, yet they must contend with psychological, nutritional,
and physical stresses of "Space Age" existence." And there is
something important to learn for us all: "In relation to
problems of human health, recent gatherers and hunters can
serve roughly as models of how men and women lived when their
lifeways and their genetic endowment were more nearly in
harmony". 'The Cambridge encyclopedia of hunters and
gatherers' gives a wealth of information on this important,
basic way of life, divided in two main parts. Part I (p.
23-371) deals with the ethnographies of over fifty of hunters
and gatherer groups, of seven geographical regions: North
America, South America, North Eurasia, Africa, South Asia,
Southeast Asia and Australia. A range of experts has written
the case studies. Frequently occurring subjects (set themes)
within the ethnographies are: history, ecology, economy,
settlement patterns, domestic organisation, politic
organisation, religion, current situation and resistance. Less
attention is paid to topics like for instance: mobility, land
tenure and kinship. Every geographical region has its own
introduction with a map showing the hunters and gatherers of
the region, and within the ethnographies one finds regularly
black and white photographs of the peoples. At the end of the
case studies a reading list is given and in about half of the
cases also one or more films. The second part, which is
smaller (p. 375-492), contains thematic essays grouped in
three main parts: I. Hunter-gatherers, history, and social
theory; II. Facets of hunter-gatherer life in cross-cultural
perspective; III. Hunter-gatherers in a global world.
Lévi-Strauss remarked in the well known book 'Man the hunter',
edited by Lee & Devore (1968, p. 350): "Certainly we should
not try to use these recent hunter-gatherers to reconstruct
events and conditions in the prehistory of mankind". As long
as we are dealing with for instance a species like Homo
erectus, with an endocranial volume of about 2/3 of our own,
we have to be very careful with the reconstruction of past
events by looking at recent hunters and gatherers. Although, I
am not sure if I agree that we should not try. But as soon as
we are talking about Homo sapiens, this is another matter.
Probably, many palaeontologists would knit their brows
seriously if one would say that we might not use recent
studies of wolves as a model or inspiration to try to say
something about the behaviour of Pleistocene wolves. If
palaeo-anthropologists and archaeologists are interested in
reconstructing the life of for instance Cro-Magnons in
Pleistocene Europe, looking at recent hunters and gatherers is
the best option they have. However, this does not mean that we
do not need to be cautious. When I visited the Okiek in 1991,
in the Mau Escarpment in Southwest Kenya, one of the things
that struck me were the western clothes a number of people
wore and the presence of a car. It helps to realise that
hunters and gatherers have contact with other groups. And this
must have been also the case (long) before the arrival of
Europeans. Like any group of people, they adopt all kind of
habits. In other words, their way of life is and was not
static but dynamic. Turning over the pages of this
encyclopedia the impression is that one deals with a
heterogeneous group. For every geographical region there is a
chapter about archaeology and in the second part a chapter is
included 'Archaeology and evolution of hunters and gatherers'.
The encyclopedia takes the earlier periods of hunter and
gatherers seriously, i.e. more than forty pages are dedicated
to it. But this is less than in 'Man the Hunter'. For people
fascinated by the past this encyclopedia touches interesting
topics but it offers no depth for those involved in
prehistoric hunters and gatherers. Especially for people
interested in ethnographies of hunters and gatherers this is a
handy and clearly arranged work that gives a lot of
information and references. What strikes is that this
encyclopedia is not just a dry work to search for information
but it is also well written and really enjoyable to read.
Goodall, J. 1986. The chimpanzees of Gombe. Patterns of
behavior. - Cambridge, The Belknap Press of Harvard University
Press. Lévi-Strauss, C. 1968. The concept of primitiveness.
In: Lee, R.B. & I. DeVore. Eds. 1968. Man the hunter. - New
York, Aldine de Gruyter.
found in scientific works... I suggest P.Storms inform a bit:
http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~mvaneech/Symposium.html
http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~mvaneech/outthere.htm
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT
______
Book review www.PalArch.nl webbased Netherlands scientific
journal (2006) RB Lee & R Daly eds 2004 "The Cambridge
encyclopedia of hunters and gatherers" CUP 511pp
ISBN:0-521-60919-4 ? 25 $ 35 pb review by P. Storm
http://www.palarch.nl/Non_scientific/bookreview.htm The way
human's function, physically and mentally, has essentially
been shaped in the time that our subsistence was based on
gathering and hunting. It is worthy of note that we became
fully bipedal and as intelligent as we are with all our
cultural flexibility amid grasses, trees, herbivores and
carnivores, not by sitting behind a computer. As the two
editors, Lee & Daly remark in the introduction of this
encyclopedia (p. 1): "The world's hunting and gathering
peoples - the Arctic Inuit, Aboriginal Australians, Kalahari
San, and similar groups - represent the oldest and perhaps
most successful human adaptation. Until 12,000 years ago
virtually all humanity lived as hunters and gatherers". Taking
Homo sapiens idaltu from Ethiopia, dated between 160 000 en
154 000 BP, as our oldest fossil representative, our species
lived more than 90 % of its time as hunters and gatherers.
Good change that our ancestors started to live as hunters and
gatherers, with a shift to more meat in their diet, about 1.7
myr ago, which would mean that the genus Homo has survived by
this mode of life about 99 % of its evolutionary history.
Considering the fact that also chimpanzees hunt (Goodall,
1986) it is even reasonable to suggest, as is done Smith (p.
384), that: "The idea of hunting and foraging was probably
already embedded in the social life of our non-human primate
ancestors before they walked on two legs". The urban
lifestyle, of which I am a part, is so recent that it is
questionable if there has been enough time to adapt
genetically to this modern way of life. Eaton & Eaton III
remark (p. 449): "Our bodies are adapted for foraging ways of
life, yet they must contend with psychological, nutritional,
and physical stresses of "Space Age" existence." And there is
something important to learn for us all: "In relation to
problems of human health, recent gatherers and hunters can
serve roughly as models of how men and women lived when their
lifeways and their genetic endowment were more nearly in
harmony". 'The Cambridge encyclopedia of hunters and
gatherers' gives a wealth of information on this important,
basic way of life, divided in two main parts. Part I (p.
23-371) deals with the ethnographies of over fifty of hunters
and gatherer groups, of seven geographical regions: North
America, South America, North Eurasia, Africa, South Asia,
Southeast Asia and Australia. A range of experts has written
the case studies. Frequently occurring subjects (set themes)
within the ethnographies are: history, ecology, economy,
settlement patterns, domestic organisation, politic
organisation, religion, current situation and resistance. Less
attention is paid to topics like for instance: mobility, land
tenure and kinship. Every geographical region has its own
introduction with a map showing the hunters and gatherers of
the region, and within the ethnographies one finds regularly
black and white photographs of the peoples. At the end of the
case studies a reading list is given and in about half of the
cases also one or more films. The second part, which is
smaller (p. 375-492), contains thematic essays grouped in
three main parts: I. Hunter-gatherers, history, and social
theory; II. Facets of hunter-gatherer life in cross-cultural
perspective; III. Hunter-gatherers in a global world.
Lévi-Strauss remarked in the well known book 'Man the hunter',
edited by Lee & Devore (1968, p. 350): "Certainly we should
not try to use these recent hunter-gatherers to reconstruct
events and conditions in the prehistory of mankind". As long
as we are dealing with for instance a species like Homo
erectus, with an endocranial volume of about 2/3 of our own,
we have to be very careful with the reconstruction of past
events by looking at recent hunters and gatherers. Although, I
am not sure if I agree that we should not try. But as soon as
we are talking about Homo sapiens, this is another matter.
Probably, many palaeontologists would knit their brows
seriously if one would say that we might not use recent
studies of wolves as a model or inspiration to try to say
something about the behaviour of Pleistocene wolves. If
palaeo-anthropologists and archaeologists are interested in
reconstructing the life of for instance Cro-Magnons in
Pleistocene Europe, looking at recent hunters and gatherers is
the best option they have. However, this does not mean that we
do not need to be cautious. When I visited the Okiek in 1991,
in the Mau Escarpment in Southwest Kenya, one of the things
that struck me were the western clothes a number of people
wore and the presence of a car. It helps to realise that
hunters and gatherers have contact with other groups. And this
must have been also the case (long) before the arrival of
Europeans. Like any group of people, they adopt all kind of
habits. In other words, their way of life is and was not
static but dynamic. Turning over the pages of this
encyclopedia the impression is that one deals with a
heterogeneous group. For every geographical region there is a
chapter about archaeology and in the second part a chapter is
included 'Archaeology and evolution of hunters and gatherers'.
The encyclopedia takes the earlier periods of hunter and
gatherers seriously, i.e. more than forty pages are dedicated
to it. But this is less than in 'Man the Hunter'. For people
fascinated by the past this encyclopedia touches interesting
topics but it offers no depth for those involved in
prehistoric hunters and gatherers. Especially for people
interested in ethnographies of hunters and gatherers this is a
handy and clearly arranged work that gives a lot of
information and references. What strikes is that this
encyclopedia is not just a dry work to search for information
but it is also well written and really enjoyable to read.
Goodall, J. 1986. The chimpanzees of Gombe. Patterns of
behavior. - Cambridge, The Belknap Press of Harvard University
Press. Lévi-Strauss, C. 1968. The concept of primitiveness.
In: Lee, R.B. & I. DeVore. Eds. 1968. Man the hunter. - New
York, Aldine de Gruyter.