CARTA - Anthropogeny (Video)

Recently, a convergence of views has led to the notion that the study of animal domestication may tell us something not only about our relationship with domesticated species since perhaps at least the Pleistocene, but also about our own evolution as a species in the more distant past. This symposium brings together scientists from a variety of research backgrounds to examine these views and to elucidate further the possible role of domestication in human evolution. Terrence Deacon (UC Berkeley) begins with a discussion about The Domesticated Brain, followed by Philipp Khaitovich (PICB, Shanghai) on Neotenous Gene Expression in the Developing Human Brain, and Tecumseh Fitch (Univ of Vienna) on The Domestication Syndrome and Neural Crest Cells: A Unifying Hypothesis. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 28892]

Recently, a convergence of views has led to the notion that the study of animal domestication may tell us something not only about our relationship with domesticated species since perhaps at least the Pleistocene, but also about our own evolution as a species in the more distant past. This symposium brings together scientists from a variety of research backgrounds to examine these views and to elucidate further the possible role of domestication in human evolution. Robert Wayne (UCLA) begins with a discussion about The Transformation of Wolf to Dog: History, Traits, and Genetics, followed by Anna Kukekova (Univ of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) on Fox Domestication and Genetics of Complex Behaviors, and Robert Franciscus (Univ of Iowa) on Craniofacial Feminization in Canine and Human Evolution. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 28891]

Sarah Blaffer Hrdy(UC Davis) discusses how reliance on allomaternal assistance to rear young rendered mothers increasingly sensitive to signals of how much social support she and her offspring could expect. Additionally, multiple offspring, with overlapping periods of dependency, meant that mothers might be forced to choose between offspring when investing. Paternal and alloparental responses to infants would also be facultatively expressed, depending on probable relatedness, alternatives available, past experience and degree of exposure to infantile appeals. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 28217]

Patricia Lambert (Utah State Univ) examines the bioarchaeological evidence for violence and warfare in ancient California. Violent injuries in human skeletal remains provide one of the most compelling lines of evidence for violent conflict in prehistory. These data help to broaden our perspective on the causes of human violence and enhance our understanding of its evolutionary underpinnings. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 28350]

Welcome and opening remarks for the symposium Male Aggression and Violence in Human Evolution that takes a fresh look at the causes and consequences of variation in aggression, both between and within species. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 28346]

Human male violence is paradoxical. On the one hand, within social groups there is a strong tendency for avoidance of direct conflicts such that confrontations between angry individuals or groups normally end without serious harm. On the other hand, our species has a consistent history of intense deliberate violence, ranging from planned homicides and low-level and long-lasting warfare among nomadic hunter-gatherers to massive intermittent conflicts among states. Richard Wrangham (Harvard Univ) shows that the combination of aggression styles is better understood as being due to two neurobiologically distinct patterns that have been subject to contrasting selective regimes. He concludes that the combination of these two styles of aggression makes humans well adapted for both war and avoidance of war. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 28354]

In this talk, Christopher Boehm (USC) discusses how today’s hunter-gatherers are used to portray likely patterns of male aggression among culturally-modern foragers in the Late Pleistocene epoch. Patterns of aggressive behavior are considered at three levels: within groups, between groups of the same ethnicity, and between groups that consider one another strangers.

Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 28347]

In both lions and chimpanzees, males cooperate in inter-group conflict with group-mates who are often relatives and with whom they maintain close, life-long social bonds. Anne Pusey (Duke Univ) discusses some of the mounting evidence that successful intergroup aggression and killing results in better resources for group members in both species. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 28348]

In order to understand how warfare and violence have shaped the natural history of our species, and perhaps favored adaptations that respond to this important life threat, we need to document what types of violence were common in our ancestors and what were the levels of violent death in the past. Observation of modern hunter-gatherers, who live under conditions similar to our ancestors, provides an important source of information. Kim Hill (Arizona State Univ) studied the death rates of two hunter-gatherer tribes, the Aché of Paraguay and the Hiwi of Venezuela, and discusses his findings in this talk. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 28351]

Summary, question and answer session and closing statement for the symposium Male Aggression and Violence in Human Evolution that takes a fresh look at the causes and consequences of variation in aggression, both between and within species. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 28357]