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Male Strategies and Plio-Pleistocene Archaeology

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Male Strategies and Plio-Pleistocene Archaeology J. F. O’Connell Male strategies and Plio-Pleistocene Department of Anthropology, archaeology1 270 South 1400 East, University of Utah, Salt Lake Archaeological data are frequently cited in support of the idea that big City, Utah 84112, U.S.A. game hunting drove the evolution of early Homo, mainly through its E-mail: role in offspring provisioning. This argument has been disputed on [email protected] two grounds: (1) ethnographic observations on modern foragers show that although hunting may contribute a large fraction of the overall K. Hawkes diet, it is an unreliable day-to-day food source, pursued more Department of Anthropology, for status than subsistence; (2) archaeological evidence from the 270 South 1400 East, Plio-Pleistocene, coincident with the emergence of Homo can be read University of Utah, Salt Lake to reflect low-yield scavenging, not hunting. Our review of the City, Utah 84112, U.S.A. archaeology yields results consistent with these critiques: (1) early E-mail: humans acquired large-bodied ungulates primarily by aggressive [email protected] scavenging, not hunting; (2) meat was consumed at or near the point of acquisition, not at home bases, as the hunting hypothesis requires; K. D. Lupo (3) carcasses were taken at highly variable rates and in varying Department of Anthropology, degrees of completeness, making meat from big game an even less Washington State University, reliable food source than it is among modern foragers. Collectively, Pullman, Washington 99164, Plio-Pleistocene site location and assemblage composition are con- U.S.A. sistent with the hypothesis that large carcasses were taken not for E-mail: [email protected] purposes of provisioning, but in the context of competitive male displays. Even if meat were acquired more reliably than the archae- ology indicates, its consumption cannot account for the significant N. G. Blurton Jones changes in life history now seen to distinguish early humans from Departments of Anthropology ancestral australopiths. The coincidence between the earliest dates and Psychiatry, and Graduate for Homo ergaster and an increase in the archaeological visibility School of Education, of meat eating that many find so provocative instead reflects: (1) University of California, changes in the structure of the environment that concentrated Los Angeles, scavenging opportunities in space, making evidence of their pursuit California 90095, U.S.A. more obvious to archaeologists; (2) H. ergaster’s larger body size E-mail: [email protected] (itself a consequence of other factors), which improved its ability at interference competition. Received 14 November 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. 2001 Revision received 9 September 2002 and accepted 10 September 2002 Keywords: Homo ergaster, Olduvai, Koobi Fora, Hadza, meat-eating, Journal of Human Evolution (2002) 43, 831–872 scavenging, sexual selection, doi:10.1006/jhev.2002.0604 male–male competition. Available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on 1Research reported here was supported by the University of Utah, the University of California (Los Angeles), and Washington State University. Assistance and advice were provided by Leslie Aiello, Helen Alvarez, Douglas Bird, Rebecca Bliege Bird, Thure Cerling, Eric Charnov, Mark Collard, Robert Elston, Diane Gifford-Gonzalez, Jennifer Graves, Don Grayson, Robert Hitchcock, Richard Klein, Steve Kuhn, Lee Lyman, Laura Major, Curtis Marean, Alan Rogers, Mary Stiner, Martha Tappen, Tim White, and Polly Wiessner. Hadza fieldwork was underwritten in part by the US National Science Foundation. Fig. 5 reprinted from World Archaeology by permission of Taylor and Francis. 0047–2484/02/120831+42 $35.00/0 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. 832 . ’ ET AL. Introduction enough to meet the daily subsistence needs of hunters, and is seldom shared in ways that Men’s big game hunting has long been favor their own families (e.g., Hawkes, identified as the primary catalyst for the 1993; Hawkes et al., 2001a). Moreover, evolution of early humans (e.g., Washburn whatever return rates are enjoyed typically & DeVore, 1961; Lancaster & Lancaster, depend on the use of relatively sophisticated 1983; Kaplan et al., 2000). Allegedly pur- projectile weapons (e.g., bow and arrow). If, sued for the purpose of family provisioning, as the archaeological record suggests, early it is said to have enhanced the overall quality humans lacked access to similarly effective of ancestral hominin diets, favored increased weaponry, then the overall returns and day- intelligence and the development of larger to-day reliability of big game hunting would brains, and promoted the emergence of have been lower, probably much lower, than uniquely human patterns of life history and they are among moderns. Assertions about social organization. the role of hunting as an agent of evolution- Archaeological data are commonly cited ary change are undercut accordingly. in support of this argument (e.g., Isaac, The second basis for skepticism is 1978; Isaac & Crader, 1981; Kaplan et al., the complementary argument that faunal 2000). The earliest well-known sites are assemblages at early sites are the product, roughly the same age as the oldest definitely not of big game hunting, but of relatively human fossils; many contain the remains low-yield ‘‘passive’’ scavenging, defined as of large animals; cut marks and impact the culling of scraps from carcasses heavily scars on the bones themselves indicate that ravaged and abandoned by their initial non- humans ate at least some of the meat and hominin predators (e.g., Binford, 1981; marrow (e.g., Isaac, 1997; Potts, 1988; Shipman, 1986; Blumenschine, 1987). The Blumenschine, 1995). Many observers see same argument further holds that the early these sites as the functional equivalent sites are not base camps, but simply con- of modern hunter-gatherer base camps— venient spots to which hominins sometimes places to which a variety of foods, including carried bones from carnivore kills made in meat from big game, were brought to the immediate vicinity. If this argument is share with others (e.g., Isaac, 1978; Rose right, then inferences about nuclear families & Marshall, 1996). On the basis of this and paternal provisioning among early analogy, other characteristics long taken to humans have no basis in the archaeology. be typical of modern behavior, including More important, it means that meat from nuclear families and a sexual division of large animals probably cannot have been a labor in support of offspring, are inferred for key component in early human subsistence, early humans as well (e.g., Isaac, 1978; let alone the main catalyst for the evolution Clark, 1997). of the genus: the quantities involved simply There are several good reasons to be skep- would have been too small. tical of this ‘‘hunting hypothesis’’. Here we Reactions to these challenges can be are concerned with just two. One is based on divided into two groups. Those in the first the observation that for many modern for- discount the ethnographic evidence against agers big game hunting is a risky propo- big game hunting as an effective provision- sition, and commonly an arena for status ing strategy, reject the revisionist view of the rivalry rather than paternal effort (Hawkes & archaeology, and reaffirm their faith in the Bliege Bird, 2002). Even where meat from original argument (e.g., Kaplan et al., 2000). large animal prey makes up a sizable fraction Big game hunting is identified as central to of the diet, it is often not acquired reliably modern forager subsistence; the simplest - 833 reading of the archaeology indicates it was latter’s anatomy, life history, and ecology. first pursued coincident with the origin of The indicated increase in scavenging ability genus Homo; no other equally productive is in our view more likely a consequence of resources were exploited by humans at the early human evolution than its cause. It same time; big game hunting is therefore the probably says more about male competition main force behind their initial evolution. for status than it does about subsistence. Those in the second group dismiss the eth- Throughout the paper, we make frequent nography as irrelevant, flag the archaeology reference to recent ethnographic and ethno- as the only reliable source of information on archaeological observations among the past human behavior, and pursue a more Hadza, a modern East African foraging rigorous exploration of its character (e.g., population (for background, see Blurton Blumenschine, 1991b). Though they rarely Jones et al., 1992, 1996, 2000 and sources appeal in detail to the hunting hypothesis, cited therein). These observations challenge the fact that their analyses focus on the large important elements of both the hunting animal remains suggests a continuing sense hypothesis and the passive scavenging alter- that meat eating was a primary factor native. They also provide a basis for in the evolution of early humans (e.g., different behavioral interpretations of the Blumenschine et al., 1994; Capaldo, 1997). archaeology. We rely on these observations, Here we review key elements of this dis- not because we imagine the modern Hadza pute, with special attention to the archaeo- to be ‘‘living fossils’’, but because knowledge logical evidence so central to it. We begin of their behavior provides insight on the with a brief outline of the problems posed by ecological opportunities and constraints the emergence of genus Homo; then follow that confronted early humans living in with a statement of the hunting hypothesis similar habitats. Potential reactions to and a summary of the recent history of those circumstances and their archaeo- archaeological research related to its assess- logical consequences can be anticipated ment. This leads us to consider the archae- accordingly. ology itself in greater detail, starting with a descriptive overview, then turning to a series Early Homo: questions raised of specific questions about early human procurement and handling of large animal The ancestry of genus Homo can be traced to prey.
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