On 4/15/10, CeJ <jann...@gmail.com> wrote: > CB>>The great enhancement of sociality that language and > culture give bestows and enormous adaptive advantage on humans, from > the beginning of the species.<< > > > One thing that came up in my reading that throws a spanner in the > spandrel is this: based on the evidence we have now, we can say that > the Cro Magnons out of Africa weren't anymore biologically, socially > or culturally well-adapted for survival than the Neanderthals already > outside of Africa. In fact, for a long time Neanderthals were more > successful. They might even have been more intelligent. They show the > same signs of culture and language use that we look for in Cro > Magnons.
^^^^^^^ CB: Definitely. Cromagnons and Neanderthals both have culture. Culture arises long before them. Pithecanthropines have culture, It think. > > Now I have tried to recapitulate the theory that somehow Cro Magnons > developed socially beyond what Neanderthals had, and this might > account for their eventual success. One of the differences, at least > in some of the readings, was the 'domestication' of the wolf-dog. This > might have brought adaptive value to both Cro Magnons and to > wolf-coyote-dog (they are arguably all the same species). ^^^^ CB: Well, same genus (smile). They can't interbreed, which defines a species. ^^^^^ It might > reflect the fact that Cro Magnons had some sort of capability to adapt > themselves to living with another species. ^^^^ CB: It's an early domestication of animals. Interesting idea that this is an extension of the social. I imagine the early hominids were fantastic zoologists and botanists. They probably were very knowledgeable and coordinated with many , many other animal and plant species, both predators, prey and neutrals. Culture and language , myths , stories , kinship systems allow the accumulation of knowledge across generations. ^^^^ ^^^^^^^ Which then leads to a > number of things, but perhaps most importantly are more advanced > social structure (that takes care of individuals across 3 generations, > and takes in extended family to fulfill planned social activities for > survival, such as a bison hunt, or passing on information as to where > a herd of wild goats is going to be next spring, etc.). ^^^^^^^ CB; Yes, this is what I am getting at. ^^^^^^^ The strongest > analogy that can be found among other animals is that wolves can also > do this, although how they achieve this is not the same as how humans > would do it. How proto-humans did it, we don't know. ^^^^^^^ CB: Proto humans were in touch with many dead generations. ^^^^^^^ > > So Cro Magnon moved from being a bunch of small bands preying off > herds (and competing with wolves) to being a society that in-gathered > the bands for more ambitious activities--such as burning fires, to > create pasture, to increase bison populations so Cro Magnon and the > wolf-dogs could hunt/herd them. ^^^^^^^ CB: Usually, it is said that domestication of animals doesn't come until much later, like about 12,000 bc. ^^^^^^ > > I guess one question is: since wolves and humans shared the same range > and fed at the same niche, when did this inter-species cooperation > start? And why couldn't Neanderthals do this? > > In the case of the wolf, this animal shows the ability to cooperate > with other species besides humans. It cooperates with badgers because > badgers are better at digging out prey, while wolves are better at > driving to a place that a badger can dig it out. ^^^^^^^^^ CB: Well, you know knats on the backs of bison are cooperating species, too. > > It makes for interesting speculation anyway. > > > CJ > > > -- > ELT in Japan > http://eltinjapan.blogspot.com/ > > Japan Higher Education Outlook > http://japanheo.blogspot.com/ > > We are Feral Cats > http://wearechikineko.blogspot.com/ > > _______________________________________________ > Marxism-Thaxis mailing list > Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
