“…Figure 2 A shows the reference-control population without the gene for ‘gifting.’ Figure 2 B is an experimental demonstrator population composed of individuals having the gene for ‘gifting.’ Once the two simulations entered into enduring time, population numbers for the Reference-Control population became roughly twice as many as those in the Experimental-Demonstrator, even though the initial startup condition for each simulation was identical. The ‘gifting’ population was able to exist with far fewer members, e.g., on the order of ≥100 individuals (compare with Homo ergaster as suggested in Willems and van Schaik, 2017 ). Figure 2 Two large populations (A and B) endured with no discernible loss.…”
This article describes simulation research based on the Hamiltonian theory of gene-based altruism. It investigates the origin of semipermanent breeding bonds during hominin evolution. The research framework is based on a biologically detailed, ecologically situated, multi-agent microsimulation of emergent sociality. The research question tested is whether semipermanent breeding bonds (an emergent homoplastic social construct) might emerge among primate-like agents as the consequence of a mutation capable of supporting involuntary prosocial behavior. The research protocol compared several, single independent-variable longitudinal studies wherein hundreds of generations of autonomous, initially promiscuous, biologically detailed, hominin-like artificial life software agents were born, allowed to forage, reproduce, and die during experimental intervals lasting several simulated millennia. The temporal setting of the experiment was roughly contemporaneous with, or slightly after the time of, the Pan-Homo split. The simulation investigated what would happen if, within a population, a single gene for prosocial behavior (the independent variable in the experiment) was either switched on or switched-off. The null hypothesis predicted that, if the gene was switched off, then semipermanent breeding bonds (the dependent variable) would nonetheless emerge within the population. The results of the simulation rejected this null hypothesis, by showing that semipermanent breeding bonds would reliably emerge among the experimental populations but not among the control groups. Moreover, it was found that, across all experimental settings having constrained population numbers, the portion of each population having no prosocial trait would die out early, whereas the portion with the prosocial trait would survive. Large control populations had no discernible loss. The results of this research imply that, during the early stages of hominin evolution, there might have been a set of initially gene-based, altruistic excess forage-sharing social traits that contributed to the onset of morphological and additional complex social changes characteristic of this group. This work also demonstrates that modern computational technologies can extend our ability to test ‘what if’ hypotheses appropriate to the study of early hominin evolution.
“…Figure 2 A shows the reference-control population without the gene for ‘gifting.’ Figure 2 B is an experimental demonstrator population composed of individuals having the gene for ‘gifting.’ Once the two simulations entered into enduring time, population numbers for the Reference-Control population became roughly twice as many as those in the Experimental-Demonstrator, even though the initial startup condition for each simulation was identical. The ‘gifting’ population was able to exist with far fewer members, e.g., on the order of ≥100 individuals (compare with Homo ergaster as suggested in Willems and van Schaik, 2017 ). Figure 2 Two large populations (A and B) endured with no discernible loss.…”
This article describes simulation research based on the Hamiltonian theory of gene-based altruism. It investigates the origin of semipermanent breeding bonds during hominin evolution. The research framework is based on a biologically detailed, ecologically situated, multi-agent microsimulation of emergent sociality. The research question tested is whether semipermanent breeding bonds (an emergent homoplastic social construct) might emerge among primate-like agents as the consequence of a mutation capable of supporting involuntary prosocial behavior. The research protocol compared several, single independent-variable longitudinal studies wherein hundreds of generations of autonomous, initially promiscuous, biologically detailed, hominin-like artificial life software agents were born, allowed to forage, reproduce, and die during experimental intervals lasting several simulated millennia. The temporal setting of the experiment was roughly contemporaneous with, or slightly after the time of, the Pan-Homo split. The simulation investigated what would happen if, within a population, a single gene for prosocial behavior (the independent variable in the experiment) was either switched on or switched-off. The null hypothesis predicted that, if the gene was switched off, then semipermanent breeding bonds (the dependent variable) would nonetheless emerge within the population. The results of the simulation rejected this null hypothesis, by showing that semipermanent breeding bonds would reliably emerge among the experimental populations but not among the control groups. Moreover, it was found that, across all experimental settings having constrained population numbers, the portion of each population having no prosocial trait would die out early, whereas the portion with the prosocial trait would survive. Large control populations had no discernible loss. The results of this research imply that, during the early stages of hominin evolution, there might have been a set of initially gene-based, altruistic excess forage-sharing social traits that contributed to the onset of morphological and additional complex social changes characteristic of this group. This work also demonstrates that modern computational technologies can extend our ability to test ‘what if’ hypotheses appropriate to the study of early hominin evolution.
“…Some next steps that I see in investigating and interpreting possible hominin scavenging evidence should be focused largely on uncovering more evidence of bones with taphonomic traces indicative of consumption by hominins and/or non‐hominin predators, improving our methods for identifying taphonomic traces on bones inflicted by hominins and/or non‐hominin predators, and developing better models for interpreting those taphonomic traces based on modern experimental and observational studies. Specifically, this could include: (a) discovering and (sometimes re)studying more pre‐2.0 Ma fossil assemblages for traces of human butchery; (b) determining the relative abundances of felids and hyenids within fossil assemblages where traces of human butchery have been documented to evaluate whether traces of hominin scavenging are higher in felid‐dominated prehistoric ecosystems; (c) further developing our ability to recognize unequivocal zooarchaeological and taphonomic traces of scavenging, including those left by hominins, carnivores, and crocodiles; (d) continuing to pursue the identification of taphonomic traces that may distinguish between predator taxa, or at least predator body size, in order to test hypotheses of hominin scavenging from specific predators in the past; (e) generating new or re‐examining previously collected scavenging data from modern forager groups; (f) more fully documenting animal tissue resources available from small and medium carcasses including tree‐stored leopard and terrestrial cheetah kills; (g) additional modern studies of medium and large carcass availability and persistence, both the remains of predator kills as well as animals that have died "naturally" of disease, malnutrition, drought, or other causes, as well as more vulnerable newborns and heavily pregnant females of potential prey animals, in ecosystems with a variety of physiography and habitat characteristics (e.g., seasonality, temperature, rainfall, vegetation) and predator guild compositions; and (h) more detailed and nuanced studies of the length of time that various carcass tissues (meat, marrow, brains, etc.) remain edible.…”
Section: Future Researchmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Among primates, terrestrial species live in larger groups with more and bigger males than arboreal taxa, particularly those that live in savanna versus forest environments; they also have higher frequencies of counter-attacks against known predators, and if this pattern was followed as early hominins became committed bipeds, it could have led to confrontational scavenging. 122 Competition with and scavenging from large predators may have favored coordinated movement, group cohesion and defense, goal-directed carcass part transport to specific points on the landscape beyond the closest refuge, and the ability to rapidly disarticulate large carcasses with stone tools to minimize time spent at prey death sites. 26,78 Once a successful scavenger encounters a carcass, it must be able to both outcompete or stave off potential competitors to monopolize and then and efficiently process the carcass.…”
Section: How Much Meat and Marrow Would Scavenging Early Hominins Hmentioning
Questions about the timing, frequency, resource yield, and behavioral and biological implications of large animal carcass acquisition by early hominins have been a part of the “hunting‐scavenging debate” for decades. This article presents a brief outline of this debate, reviews the zooarchaeological and modern ecological evidence for a possible scavenging niche among the earliest animal tissue‐consuming hominins (pre‐2.0 Ma), revisits some of the questions that this debate has generated, and outlines some ways to explore answers to those questions with evidence from the archaeological record.
“…At the physiological level, increasingly more refined calls of the W + HH type could have selected for finer motor control of vocalizations, while the existing corpus of intentional gestures could have provided the scaffolding to which the meaning of words might have been attached. Willems and van Schaik (2017) propose that H. erectus social life was on the cusp of male-female bonding and band formation. They note that where primates suffer a high risk of predation, there are more males in the group, which leads to the survival of a higher proportion of immature individuals.…”
This article seeks to identify at what point in hominid evolution language would have become adaptive. It starts by recalling the distinction between kin-selected altruism and reciprocal altruism, noting that the former is characteristic of social insects while the latter is found among some species of social mammal. Reciprocal altruism depends on the exchange of information assuring partners of the other's continued friendly intent, as in the iterated prisoner's dilemma. The article focuses on species that practice "fission-fusion": social behaviour, where the alternation between larger and smaller parties creates greater uncertainty as to individuals' continued commitment to reciprocity. The greatest uncertainty arises in "atomistic" fission-fusion, where individuals leave and join foraging groups independently. Chimpanzees, bonobos, and human huntergatherers practice this type of social behaviour. There is less uncertainty where the smaller social unit is an extended family, as among vampire bats, chacma baboons, and savanna elephants. A comparison of the repertoire of calls and gestures among these species indicates that chimpanzees and bonobos have the largest repertoires. I then point out that, thanks to the higher proportion of meat in the diet, hunter-gatherers must live in far more dispersed communities than chimpanzees or bonobos, yet they practice more complex patterns of cooperation and reciprocity. This, I argue, created a social environment in which language became particularly adaptive. Homo heidelbergensis is identified as the key species in which language could have originated, during the transition between the Lower and Middle Paleolithic.
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