scholarly journals Human social organization during the Late Pleistocene: Beyond the nomadic-egalitarian model

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manvir Singh ◽  
Luke Glowacki
Keyword(s):  
Resource Management ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Human History ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Social Variation

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.

scholarly journals How institutions shaped the last major evolutionary transition to large-scale human societies

2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1687) ◽  
pp. 20150098 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon T. Powers ◽  
Carel P. van Schaik ◽  
Laurent Lehmann
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Shared Intentionality ◽  
Direct Benefits ◽  
Anatomically Modern Humans ◽  
Large Groups

What drove the transition from small-scale human societies centred on kinship and personal exchange, to large-scale societies comprising cooperation and division of labour among untold numbers of unrelated individuals? We propose that the unique human capacity to negotiate institutional rules that coordinate social actions was a key driver of this transition. By creating institutions, humans have been able to move from the default ‘Hobbesian’ rules of the ‘game of life’, determined by physical/environmental constraints, into self-created rules of social organization where cooperation can be individually advantageous even in large groups of unrelated individuals. Examples include rules of food sharing in hunter–gatherers, rules for the usage of irrigation systems in agriculturalists, property rights and systems for sharing reputation between mediaeval traders. Successful institutions create rules of interaction that are self-enforcing, providing direct benefits both to individuals that follow them, and to individuals that sanction rule breakers. Forming institutions requires shared intentionality, language and other cognitive abilities largely absent in other primates. We explain how cooperative breeding likely selected for these abilities early in the Homo lineage. This allowed anatomically modern humans to create institutions that transformed the self-reliance of our primate ancestors into the division of labour of large-scale human social organization.

The Cyrenaican Prehistory Project 2009: the third season of investigations of the Haua Fteah cave and its landscape, and further results from the 2007–2008 fieldwork

2009 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 55-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graeme Barker ◽  
Annita Antoniadou ◽  
Huw Barton ◽  
Ian Brooks ◽  
Ian Candy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Glacial Cycle ◽  
Last Interglacial ◽  
Stratigraphic Sequence ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
The Third ◽  
Late Stone Age ◽  
Southern Side ◽  
Deep Sounding

AbstractThe paper reports on the third (2009) season of fieldwork of the Cyrenaican Prehistory Project, and on further results from the analysis of materials collected in the previous (2007 and 2008) fieldwork. Sediments in a 14 m-deep core drilled beside the McBurney trench provide an invaluable overview of the overall stratigraphic sequence, including at depths reached by the 1950s Deep Sounding but not yet investigated by the present project. Sampling of newly-exposed faces of the original excavation trench for dating (14C, ESR, OSL, U-series) and palaeoenvirommental indicators continued. Excavation was begun of sediments assigned to the early Holocene Libyco-Capsian (McBurney's Layer X), and of Pre-Aurignacian layers beside the top of the Deep Sounding. The Libyco-Capsian layers are particularly prolific in lithic debris, shells, and animal bones; preliminary analysis of the lithics suggests a development from Typical to Upper Capsian within the layers excavated in 2009. Geoarchaeological survey along the littoral to the west and east of the Haua Fteah identified complex sequences spanning most of the last interglacial-glacial cycle. Geoarchaeological survey south of the Haua Fteah characterized the major landforms of the Gebel Akhdar mountain and of the pre-desert and desert-edge zones further south, with Late Stone Age (Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic) material being found especially on the southern side of the Gebel Akhdar, and Middle Stone Age (Middle Palaeolithic) material in the pre-desert and desert regions. The first suite of 14C dates (from charcoal samples taken in 2007) indicates the use of the Haua Fteah by Oranian hunter-gatherers during the Last Glacial Maximum and in the succeeding millennia, but not in the Younger Dryas cold/dry phase (c. 11,000–10,000 cal. BC), with Libyco-Capsian occupation resuming soon after the beginning of the Holocene c. 9000 cal. BC, suggesting that the cave, and perhaps the Gebel Akhdar in general, have a complex history as refugia for human settlement during the Pleistocene.

Paleolithic Hunter-Gatherers of Nubia

2021 ◽  
pp. 79-100
Author(s):  
Mirosław Masojć
Keyword(s):  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Nile Valley ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Human Settlement ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Lower Paleolithic ◽  
Upper Egypt

The chapter is devoted to the earliest human settlement in Nubia, which took place in the Pleistocene, with numerous references to neighboring areas, especially Upper Egypt. Paleolithic groups of humans probably appeared in Nubia in the Early Pleistocene, but well-documented sites—connected with Lower Paleolithic-Acheulean complex industries—are dated only to Middle Pleistocene (MIS 9-7). Some of the oldest Middle Stone Age (MSA) assemblages in Africa were discovered in Nubia (ca. 220 ka, MIS 7). Numerous MSA sites (ca. 220–40 ka, MIS 7-3) with predominating Levallois technology are situated within the Nile valley and the neighboring deserts, mainly in oases. The onset of Upper Paleolithic (ca. 40–20 ka, MIS 3-2) blade technology was recorded together with the oldest mining. Late Paleolithic groups of humans (20–11 ka, MIS 2), characterized by considerable diversity in the hyper-arid period, lived only in the Nile valley. Local examples of rock paintings come from that period. Pleistocene human remains from Nubia are extremely rare; they all represent H. sapiens. Cemeteries with numerous burials, some of which display evidence of violence, were also discovered in this area.

scholarly journals Late Pleistocene age and archaeological context for the hominin calvaria from GvJm-22 (Lukenya Hill, Kenya)

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (9) ◽  
pp. 2682-2687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian A. Tryon ◽  
Isabelle Crevecoeur ◽  
J. Tyler Faith ◽  
Ravid Ekshtain ◽  
Joelle Nivens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Morphological Variability ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Middle And Late Pleistocene ◽  
Age Range

Kenya National Museums Lukenya Hill Hominid 1 (KNM-LH 1) is a Homo sapiens partial calvaria from site GvJm-22 at Lukenya Hill, Kenya, associated with Later Stone Age (LSA) archaeological deposits. KNM-LH 1 is securely dated to the Late Pleistocene, and samples a time and region important for understanding the origins of modern human diversity. A revised chronology based on 26 accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dates on ostrich eggshells indicates an age range of 23,576–22,887 y B.P. for KNM-LH 1, confirming prior attribution to the Last Glacial Maximum. Additional dates extend the maximum age for archaeological deposits at GvJm-22 to >46,000 y B.P. (>46 kya). These dates are consistent with new analyses identifying both Middle Stone Age and LSA lithic technologies at the site, making GvJm-22 a rare eastern African record of major human behavioral shifts during the Late Pleistocene. Comparative morphometric analyses of the KNM-LH 1 cranium document the temporal and spatial complexity of early modern human morphological variability. Features of cranial shape distinguish KNM-LH 1 and other Middle and Late Pleistocene African fossils from crania of recent Africans and samples from Holocene LSA and European Upper Paleolithic sites.

scholarly journals From hunter-gatherers to nomadic pastoralists: forager bands do not tell the whole story of the evolution of human cooperation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marius Warg Næss
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Evolution Of Cooperation ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Close Link ◽  
Nomadic Pastoralists ◽  
Fertile Ground ◽  
History Of

The history of humanity is a story of cooperation. Issues pertaining to the origin of human cooperation have, however, been characterized by a forager bias, the assumption being that they have a close link to our evolutionary past. In contrast little effort has been spent on documenting and explaining cooperative herding among nomadic pastoralists. As the Mongolian empire attest to nomadic pastoralists—in contrast to foragers—can form large-scale empires. In combination with the prevalence of small-scale cooperative herding groups, nomadic pastoral societies thus provide a fertile ground for expanding our understanding of the evolution of cooperation. In this paper I aim to extend our understanding of human cooperation through a comparison of the most well-known cooperative herding groups—namely the Mongolian khot ail and the Saami siida—and the most well-studied forager bands, namely the Hadza camp and Ache band.

scholarly journals ORDEN HÍDRICO: PRÁCTICAS E INSTITUCIONES EN MENDOZA, ARGENTINA

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (17) ◽  
pp. 117
Author(s):  
Paula Cecilia Mussetta
Keyword(s):  
Resource Management ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Wine Industry ◽  
Production Model ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Hydrologic Regime ◽  
Institutional Relationships

Este artículo aborda el campo del manejo de los recursos hídricos y propone un esquema de análisis para estudiar las relaciones entre las instituciones y las prácticas de los actores afectados por las acciones de tales instituciones. Avanza después, en forma preliminar y descriptiva, sobre la exploración de algunas de las categorías presentadas en el esquema propuesto en un caso concreto (Mendoza, Argentina). Reconocemos una doble dinámica de funcionamiento del régimen hídrico: una entre la autoridad hídrica y los grandes y poderosos actores vitícolas y otra entre un conjunto de entidades satélites no hídricas y pequeños productores. Esto lleva a que desde la política hídrica se reproduzca un modelo de producción que claramente beneficia a un sector a costa de otro.   HYDROLOGIC ORDER: PRACTICES AND INSTITUTIONS IN MENDOZA, ARGENTINA This article addresses the territory of water resource management and proposes an analytical framework to study the inter-institutional relationships and practices of the stakeholders affected by the actions taken by those institutions. It explores in a preliminary and descriptive form some of the categories presented in the framework proposed for the specific case of Mendoza, Argentina. It identifies a double working dynamic in the hydrologic regime: one between the hydrologic authorities and large-scale and powerful stakeholders of the wine industry and another dynamic between a series of non-hydrologic satellite entities and small-scale producers. This leads to a hydrologic policy that reproduces a production model that clearly benefits one sector at the expense of another.

Ecological risk, demography and technological complexity in the Late Pleistocene of northern Malawi: implications for geographical patterning in the Middle Stone Age

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica C. Thompson ◽  
Alexander Mackay ◽  
Sheila Nightingale ◽  
David Wright ◽  
Jeong-Heon Choi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Ecological Risk ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Technological Complexity

Did Middle Stone Age Khargan Peoples Leave Structural Features? ‘Site J’, The Forgotten Settlement of the ‘Empty Desert’, Kharga Oasis, Egypt: 1933 and 2011

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary M.A. McDonald ◽  
Marcia F. Wiseman ◽  
Maxine R. Kleindienst ◽  
Jennifer R. Smith ◽  
Nicholas Taylor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Survey Area ◽  
Kharga Oasis

G. Caton-Thompson and E. W. Gardner designated new Pleistocene cultural units at Kharga Oasis in the 1930’s: both were originally termed ‘pre-Sebilian’, but were later locally named the ‘Levalloiso-Khargan’ and ‘Khargan’ industries. High on the Bulaq scarp face, a puzzling cluster of stone ‘alignments’ was discovered in 1931–32, with a reported, but discounted, association with ‘Levalloiso-Khargan’ artefacts. Gardner excavated some features in 1933. Members of the Kharga Oasis Prehistory Project relocated ‘Site J’ in January 2011, and verified the reported Khargan associations with the features. In 2008, the project found structural features associated with Khargan artefacts in the northern Gebel Yebsa survey area, confirming earlier finds in the southern oases of Kurkur and Dungul. Evidence there, and that found in Kharga and Dakhleh oases, is now designated as the Khargan Complex. The associated built stone features of the included cultural units appear to be unique in Late Pleistocene Africa, especially at Bulaq.

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