Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-wxhwt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-09T10:38:05.704Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Biology and Behaviour in Human Evolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2008

Phyllis C. Lee
Affiliation:
Department of Biological AnthropologyUniversity of CambridgeDowning StreetCambridge CB2 3DZ

Extract

Of the diverse approaches to understanding patterns and processes in human evolution, a focus on the biology of behaviour using principles derived from the non-human primates may have some utility for archaeologists. This article seeks to outline some biologically-based areas that could prove fruitful in exploring the origins of human behaviour within the archaeological record. It attempts to initiate a dialogue between biologists, even with their limited understanding of the problems facing those working with human origins, and archaeologists, in the hope that this dialogue will move beyond a simple reductionist approach towards the goal of integrating behaviour into a more sophisticated biological perspective.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aiello, L.C., & Dean, M.C., 1990. An Introduction to Human Evolutionary Anatomy. London: Academic PressGoogle Scholar
Alexander, R.D., 1974. The evolution of social behaviour. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 5, 325–83CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alexander, R.D., 1989. Evolution of the human psyche, in TheHumanRevolutiorv Behavioural and Biological Perspectives on the Origins of Modern Humans, eds. Mellars, P. & Stringer, C.B.. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 455513Google Scholar
Altmann, S.A., (ed) 1967. Social Communication among Primates. Chicago: University of Chicago PressGoogle Scholar
Altmann, S.A., 1991. Diets of yearling female primates (Papio cynocephalus) predict lifetime fitness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 88, 420–3CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Axelrod, R., & Hamilton, W.D., 1981. The evolution of cooperation. Science 211, 1390–6Google Scholar
Bailey, G.N., 1983. Concepts of time in Quaternary history. Annual Review of Anthropology 12, 165–92Google Scholar
Bateson, P., 1988. The active role of behaviour in evolution, in Evolu tionary Processes and Metaphors, eds. Ho, M.-W. & Fox, S.W.. New York: Wiley & Sons, 191207Google Scholar
Betzig, L., Borgerhoff, Mulder M., & Turke, P., (eds) 1988. Human Reproductive Behaviour: A Darwinian Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Binford, L.R., 1989. Isolating the transition to cultural adaptations: an organizational approach, in The Emergence of Modern Humans: Biocultural Adaptations in the Later Pleistocene, ed. Trinkaus, E.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1841Google Scholar
Binford, L.R., 1991. When the going gets tough, the tough get going: Nunamiut local groups, camping patterns and economic organization, in Ethnoarchaeological Approaches toMobileCampsites: Hunter-Gatherer and Pastoralist Case-Studies, eds. Gamble, C. & Boismier, W.A.. International Monographs in Prehistory, Ethnoarchaeological Series 1, 25138Google Scholar
Bishop, M.J., & Friday, A.E., 1986. Molecular sequences and hominoid phylogeny, in Major. Topics in Primate and Human Evolution, eds. Wood, B., Martin, L. & Andrews, P.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 150–6Google Scholar
Boesch, C., 1991. Teaching among wild chimpanzees. Animal Behavior 41, 530–3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boesch, C., & Boesch, H., 1983. Optimization of nut-cracking with natural hammers by wild chimpanzees. Behaviour 83, 265–86CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boesch, C., & Boesch, H., 1990. Tool use and tool making in wild chimpanzees. Folia Primatologica 54, 8699CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borgerhoff, Mulder M., 1988. Adaptation and evolutionary approaches to anthropology. Man 22, 2541Google Scholar
Boyd, R., & Richerson, P., 1985. Culture and the Evolutionary Process. Chicago: University of Chicago PressGoogle Scholar
Byrne, R., & Whiten, A., (eds.) 1986. Machiavellian Intelligence. Oxford: Clarendon PressGoogle Scholar
Campbell, D.T., 1965. Variation and selective retention in sociocultural evolution, in Social Change in Developing Areas: AReinterpretation of Evolutionary Theory, eds. Barringer, H.R.Blanksten, G.I. & Mack, R.W.. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Schenkman, 1948Google Scholar
Cann, R.L., Stoneking, M., & Wilson, A.C., 1987. Mitochondrial DNA and human evolution. Nature 325, 31–6Google Scholar
Carrithers, M., 1990. Why humans have cultures. Man 25, 189207CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cavalli-Sforza, L.L., 1988. Reconstruction of human evolution: bringing together genetic, archaeological and linguistic data. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 85, 6002–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheney, D.L., & Seyfarth, R.M., 1990. How Monkeys See the World. Chicago: University of Chicago PressCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheney, D.L., Seyfarth, R.M., & Smuts, B.B. 1986. Social relationships and social cognition in non-human primates. Science 23, 1361–6Google Scholar
Cheney, D.L., Seyfarth, R.M., Andleman, S., & Lee, P.C., 1988. Reproductive success in vervet monkeys, in Reproductive Success, ed. Clutton-Brock, T.H.. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 384402Google Scholar
Clark, G.A., & Lindly, J.M., 1989.The case of continutity: observations on the biocultural transition in Europe and western Asia, in The Human Revolution: Behavioural and Biological Perspectives on the Origins of Modern Humans, eds. Mellars, P. & Stringer, C.B.. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 626–76Google Scholar
Clutton-Brock, T.H., & Harvey, P.H., 1980. Primates, brains, and ecology, journal of the Zoological Society of London 190, 309–23Google Scholar
Clutton-Brock, T.H., Guinness, F.E., & Albon, S.D., 1983. The costs of reproduction to red deer hinds. journal of Animal Ecology 52, 367–84Google Scholar
Cullen, B.R., 1990. Darwinian views of history: Betzig's virile psychopath versus the cultural virus. Crosscurrents: The Journal of Graduate Research in Anthropology (Rutgers University, New Jersey) 4, 61–8Google Scholar
Dawkins, R., 1976. The Selfish Gene. Oxford: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Dawkins, R., 1982. The Extended Phenotype. Oxford: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Dawkins, R., 1989. The Selfish Gene. New ed. Oxford: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
De Rousseau, C.J., (ed.) 1990. Primate Life History and Evolution. New York: Wiley-LissGoogle Scholar
De Waal, F.B.M., 1991. Rank distance as a central feature of rhesus monkey social organization: a sociometric analysis. Animal Behavior 41, 383–96Google Scholar
Dunbar, R.I.M., 1982. Intraspecif ic variations in mating strategy, in Perspectives in Ethology 5, eds. Klopfer, P. & Bateson, P.. New York: Plenum Press, 385431Google Scholar
Dunbar, R.I.M., 1988. Primate Social Systems. London: Chapman & HallGoogle Scholar
Durham, W.H., 1990. Advances in evolutionary culture theory. Annual Review of Anthropology 19, 187210Google Scholar
Edelman, G.M., 1989. Neural Darwinism: The Theory of Neuronal Group Selection. Oxford: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Foley, R.A., 1987. Another Unique Species: Patterns in Human Evolutionary Ecology. Harlow: LongmanGoogle Scholar
Foley, R.A., 1989a. The ecology of speciation: comparative perspectives on the origins of modern humans, in The Human Revolution: Behavioural and Biological Perspectives on the Origins ofModernHumans, eds. Mellars, P. & Stringer, C.B.. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 298320Google Scholar
Foley, R.A., 1989b. The evolution of hominid social behaviour, in Comparative Socioecology, eds. Standen, V. & Foley, R.A.. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 473–94Google Scholar
Foley, R.A., 1991a. Howuseful is the culture conceptin early hominid studies? in The Origins of Human Behaviour, ed. Foley, R.A.. London: Unwin Hyman, 25–8Google Scholar
Foley, R.A., 1991b. How many species of hominid should there be? Journal of Human Evolution 20, 413–27Google Scholar
Foley, R.A. & Lee, P.C., 1989. Finite social space, evolutionary pathways and reconstructing hominid behaviour. Science 243, 901–6Google Scholar
Foley, R.A., & Lee, P.C., in press. Ecology and energetics of encephalization in hominid evolution. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series BGoogle Scholar
Gamble, C.S., 1991. Raising the curtain on modern human origins. Antiquity 65, 412–17CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geist, V., 1978. Life Strategies, Human Evolution, Environmental Design. New York: Springer VerlagGoogle Scholar
Gibson, K.R., 1986. Ontogeny, cognition and extraction of embedded foods, in Primate Ontogeny, Cognition and Social Behaviour, eds. Else, J.G. & Lee, P.C.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 93105Google Scholar
Goodall, J., 1970. Tool-using in primates and other vertebrates, in Advances in the Study of Behavior 3, eds. Lehrman, D., Hinde, R.A. & Shaw, E.. New York: Academic Press, 195249Google Scholar
Goodall, J., 1986. The Chimpanzees of Gombe. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University PressGoogle Scholar
Gould, S.J., & Vrba, E.S., 1982. Exaptation - a missing term in the science of form. Palaeobiology 8, 415CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gowlett, J.A., 1984. Mental abilities of early man: a look at some hard evidence, in Hominid Evolution and Community Ecology, ed. Foley, R.A.. London: Academic Press, 167–92Google Scholar
Greenfield, P.M., & Savage-Rumbaugh, E.S., 1990. Grammatical combination in Pan paniscus: processes of learning and invention in the evolution and development of language, in Language and Intelligence in Monkeys and Apes, eds. Parker, S.T. & Gibson, K.R.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 540–78Google Scholar
Gribbin, J., & Gribbin, M., 1990. Children of the Ice: Climate and Human Origins. Oxford: BlackwellGoogle Scholar
Hannah, A.C., & McGrew, W.C, 1987. Chimpanzees using stones to crack open oil palm nuts in Liberia. Primates 28, 3146Google Scholar
Harvey, P.H., Martin, R.D., & Clutton-Brock, T.H., 1987. Life histories in comparative perspective, in Primate Societies, eds. Smuts, B., Cheney, D.L., Seyfarth, R.M., Wrangham, R.W., & Struhsaker, T.T.. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 181–96Google Scholar
Hinde, R.A., 1976. Interactions, relationships and social structure. Man 11, 117CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinde, R.A., 1987. Individuals, Relationships and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Humphrey, N., 1976. The social function of intellect, in Crowing Points in Animal Behaviour, eds. Bateson, P. & Hinde, R.A.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 303–17Google Scholar
Ingold, T., 1987. Evolution and Social Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Ingold, T., 1990. An anthropologist looks at biology. Man 25, 208–29Google Scholar
Jolly, A., 1966. Lemur social behaviour and primate intelligence. Science 153, 501–6Google Scholar
Kinzey, W.G., (ed.) 1987. The Evolution of Human Behavior: Primate Models. New York: State University of New York PressGoogle Scholar
Kummer, H., & Goodall, J., 1985. Conditions of innovative behaviour in primates. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 308, 302–14Google Scholar
Landau, M., 1984. Human evolution as narrative. American Scientist 72, 262–8Google Scholar
Lee, P.C., 1989a. Comparative ethological approaches in modelling hominid behaviour. Ossa 14, 113–26Google Scholar
Lee, P.C., 1989b. Family structure, communal care and female reproductive effort, in Comparative Socioecology, eds. Standen, V. & Foley, R.A.. Oxford: Blackwell, 323–40Google Scholar
Lee, P.C., 1991. Adaptations to environmental change: an evolutionary perspective, in Prima te Responses to Environmental Change, ed. Box, H.O.. London: Chapman & Hall, 3956Google Scholar
Leonard, R.D., & Jones, G.T., 1987. Elements of an inclusive evolutionary model for archaeology. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 6, 199219Google Scholar
Martin, R.D., 1983. Human Brain Evolution in an Ecological Context. 52nd James Arthur Lecture on the Evolution of the Brain. New York: American Museum of Natural HistoryGoogle Scholar
Martin, R.D., 1984. Scaling effects and adaptive strategies in mammalian lactation. Symposium of the Zoological Society of London 51, 87117Google Scholar
Martin, R.D., 1989. Primate Origins and Evolution. London: Chapman & HallCrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGrew, W.C, 1989. Why isape tool-use so confusing? in Comparative Socioecology, eds. Standen, V. & Foley, R.A.. Oxford: Blackwell, 457–94Google Scholar
McGrew, W.C., 1991. Chimpanzee material culture: what are its limits and why? in The Origins of Human Behaviour, ed. Foley, R.A.. London: Unwin-Hyman, 1324Google Scholar
McGrew, W.C. & Tutin, C.E.G., 1978. Evidence for a social custom in wild chimpanzees. Man 13, 234–51Google Scholar
Mellars, P. 1991. Cognitive changes and the emergence of modern humans. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 1, 6376Google Scholar
Mellars, P., & Stringer, C., (eds) 1989. The Human Revolution: Behavioural and Biological Perspectives on the Origins of Modern Humans. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University PressGoogle Scholar
Menzel, E.W., 1978. Cognitive mapping in chimpanzees, in Cognitive Processes in Animal Behaviour, eds. Hulse, S.H., Fowler, H. & Honig, W.K.. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Association, 375422Google Scholar
Odling-Smee, J., 1988. Niche constructing phenotypes, in The Role of Behaviour in Evolution, ed. Plotkin, H.C.. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 73132Google Scholar
Parker, S.T., 1987. A sexual selection model for hominid evolution. Human Evolution 2, 235–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker, S.T., & Gibson, K.R., 1979. A model of the evolution of intelligence and language in early hominids. Behavioural and Brain Sciences 2, 367407Google Scholar
Parker, S.T., & Gibson, K.R., 1990. Language and Intelligence in Monkeys and Apes: Comparative Developmental Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Peters, R.H., 1983. The Ecological Implications of Body Size. Cambridge: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Platt, J.R., 1964. Strong inference. Science 146, 347–53Google Scholar
Promislow, D.E.L., & Harvey, P.H., 1990. Living fast and dying young: a comparative analysis of life-history variation among mammals. Journal of the Zoological Society of London 220, 417–38Google Scholar
Rindos, D., 1985. Darwinian selection, symbolic variation, and the evolution of culture. Current Anthropology 26, 6588Google Scholar
Rindos, D., 1986a. The genetics of cultural anthropology: toward a genetic model of the origin of the capacity for culture. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 5, 138CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rindos, D., 1986b. The evolution of the capacity for culture: sociobiology, structuralism, and cultural selectionism (with comment). Current Anthropology 27, 315–31Google Scholar
Rindos, D., 1989. Undirected variation and the Darwinian explanation of cultural change. Archaeological Method and Theory 1, 244Google Scholar
Roberts, N., 1984. Pleistocene environments in time and space, in Hominid Evolution and Community Ecology, ed. Foley, R.A.. London: Academic Press, 2554Google Scholar
Rodseth, L., Wrangham, R.W., Harrigan, A.M., & Smuts, B.B., 1991. The human community as a primate society. Current Anthropology 32, 221–54Google Scholar
Sigg, H., & Stolba, A., 1981. Home range and daily march in a hamadryas baboon troop. Folia primatologica 36, 4075Google Scholar
Smuts, B.B., 1985. Sex and Friendship in Baboons. New York: AldineGoogle Scholar
Standen, V., & Foley, R.A., (eds.) 1989. Comparative Socioecology. Oxford: BlackwellGoogle Scholar
Sugiyama, Y., & Koman, J., 1979. Tool-using and making behaviour in wild chimpanzees at Bossou, Guinea. Primates 20, 513–24Google Scholar
Tooby, J., & DeVore, I., 1987. The reconstruction of hominid behavioral evolution through strategic modelling, in The Evolution of Human Behavior: Primate Models, ed. Kinzey, W.G.. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 183237Google Scholar
Waser, P.M., & Homewood, K., 1979. Cost-benefit approaches to territoriality: a test with forest primates. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology 6, 115–19Google Scholar
Western, D., 1979. Size, life history and ecology in mammals. African Journal of Ecology 17, 185204Google Scholar
White, R., 1989. Towards a contextual understanding of the earliest body ornaments, in The Emergence of Modern Humans: Biocultural Adaptations in the Later Pleistocene, ed. Trinkaus, E.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 211–31Google Scholar
Whallon, R., 1989. Elements of cultural change in the later Palaeolithic, in The Human Revolution: Behavioural and Biological Perspectives on the Origins of Modern Humans, eds. Mellars, P. & Stringer, C.B.. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 433–54Google Scholar
Wrangham, R.W., 1980. An ecological model of female-bonded primate groups. Behaviour 75, 262300Google Scholar
Wrangham, R.W., 1982. Mutualism, kinshipand social evolution, in Current Problems in Sociobiology, ed. King's College Sociobiology Group. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 269–90Google Scholar