A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
The life history of human foraging: Cross-cultural and individual variation
Authors: Koster J, McElreath R, Hill K, Yu D, Shepard G, Van Vliet N, Gurven M, Trumble B, Bird RB, Bird D, Codding B, Coad L, Pacheco-Cobos L, Winterhalder B, Lupo K, Schmitt D, Sillitoe P, Franzen M, Alvard M, Venkataraman V, Kraft T, Endicott K, Beckerman S, Marks SA, Headland T, Pangau-Adam M, Siren A, Kramer K, Greaves R, Reyes-Garcia V, Gueze M, Duda R, Fernandez-Llamazares A, Gallois S, Napitupulu L, Ellen R, Ziker J, Nielsen MR, Ready E, Healey C, Ross C
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science
Publication year: 2020
Journal: Science Advances
Journal name in source: SCIENCE ADVANCES
Journal acronym: SCI ADV
Article number: ARTN eaax9070
Volume: 6
Issue: 26
Number of pages: 7
ISSN: 2375-2548
eISSN: 2375-2548
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax9070
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/Publication/52149843
Human adaptation depends on the integration of slow life history, complex production skills, and extensive sociality. Refining and testing models of the evolution of human life history and cultural learning benefit from increasingly accurate measurement of knowledge, skills, and rates of production with age. We pursue this goal by inferring hunters' increases and declines of skill from approximately 23,000 hunting records generated by more than 1800 individuals at 40 locations. The data reveal an average age of peak productivity between 30 and 35 years of age, although high skill is maintained throughout much of adulthood. In addition, there is substantial variation both among individuals and sites. Within study sites, variation among individuals depends more on heterogeneity in rates of decline than in rates of increase. This analysis sharpens questions about the coevolution of human life history and cultural adaptation.
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