A Papionin Multilevel Society as a Model for Hominin Social Evolution

Swedell, Larissa; Plummer, Thomas W.

doi:10.1007/s10764-012-9600-9

Cited by 93 publications

(109 citation statements)

References 163 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

105

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The sorts of tools Oldowan hominins may have made from perishable materials are unknown, even though analogy with nonhuman primates and hunter-gatherers suggest they existed (Panger et al, 2003;Plummer, 2004 (Ungar, 2012), analogy with living humans and non-human primates (Peters & O'Brien, 1981;O'Connell et al, 1999;Wrangham et al, 1999), actualistic studies of potential plant food availability from modern ecosystems (Sept, 1994;Peters &Vogel, 2005;Copeland, 2009), and mechanical properties of potential wild plant foods (Dominy et al, 2008) suggest that Oldowan hominins could have consumed a variety of plant foods, although the actual species of plants and types of plant products that were consumed are unknown. Social behaviors, such as the type of hominin mating systems, and the scale and extent of food-sharing, are also difficult to address with the paleoanthropological record (Swedell & Plummer, 2012). The use-wear analysis of Oldowan artifacts from Kanjera adds value to the zooarchaeological, lithic, and isotopic analyses being carried out at the site, by identifying suites of behaviors that would 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 normally be invisible archaeologically, and by corroborating behaviors inferred through other analyses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Skill-based acquisition of foods that could be shared within a group, and be used to provision subadults who were unlikely to meet their own nutritional needs, may thus have been an important component of hominin socioecology at Kanjera South (Oliver, 1994;Kaplan et al, 2000;Aiello & Key, 2002;Schuppli et al, 2012;Swedell & Plummer, 2012;Crittenden et al, 2013). 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 Finally, while it is possible that the use-wear derives from activities that were carried out "on-site," or in the immediate vicinity of the Kanjera South locality, quartzite and possibly quartz were transported over 10 km to the site.…”

Section: Non-food Processing Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Old stones' song: Use-wear experiments and analysis of the Oldowan quartz and quartzite assemblage from Kanjera South (Kenya)

Lemorini

Plummer

Braun

et al. 2014

Journal of Human Evolution

152

113

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Old stones' song: Use-wear experiments and analysis of the Oldowan quartz and quartzite assemblage from Kanjera South (Kenya) http://ljmu-new.eprints-hosting.org/313/ Article LJMU has developed LJMU Research Online for users to access the research output of the University more effectively. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article (s) AbstractEvidence of Oldowan tools by ~2.6 million years ago (Ma) may signal a major adaptive shift in hominin evolution. While tool-dependent butchery of large mammals was important by at least 2.0 Ma, the use of artifacts for tasks other than faunal processing has been difficult to diagnose.Here we report on use-wear analysis of ~2.0 Ma quartz and quartzite artifacts from Kanjera South, Kenya. A use-wear framework that links processing of specific organic materials and tool motions to their resultant use-wear patterns was developed in a suite of experiments. A blind test was then carried out to assess and improve the efficacy of this experimental use-wear framework, which was then applied to the analysis of 62 Oldowan artifacts from Kanjera South.Use-wear on a total of 23 artifact edges was attributed to the processing of specific materials.Use-wear on seven edges (30%) was attributed to animal tissue processing, corroborating zooarchaeological evidence for butchery at the site. Use-wear on sixteen edges (70%) was attributed to the processing of plant tissues, including wood, grit-covered plant tissues that we interpret as underground storage organs (USOs), and stems of grass or sedges. These results expand our knowledge of the suite of behaviors carried out in the vicinity of Kanjera South to include the processing of materials that would be "invisible" using standard archaeological methods. Wood cutting and scraping may represent the production and/or maintenance of wooden tools. Use-wear related to USO processing extends the archaeological evidence for hominin acquisition and consumption of this resource by over 1.5 Ma. Cutting of grasses, sedges or reeds may be related to a subsistence task (e.g., grass seed harvesting, cutting out papyrus culm for consumption) and/or a non-subsistence related task (e.g., production of "twine," simple carrying devices, or bedding). These results highlight the adaptive significance of lithic technology for hominins at Kanjera.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Non-food Processing Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Old stones' song: Use-wear experiments and analysis of the Oldowan quartz and quartzite assemblage from Kanjera South (Kenya)

Lemorini

Plummer

Braun

et al. 2014

Journal of Human Evolution

152

113

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Baboons have been used as analogs for spawning ideas about human social evolution for two reasons: first, many taxa dwell in environments similar to those inhabited by our forebears (i.e., savanna-woodland habitats) (3); second, others exhibit a human-like social organization (4). Guinea baboons have until recently remained largely neglected by the primatological and anthropological community.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous reconstructions of the evolutionary pathways leading to these systems in papionins (and hominins) point to a pattern whereby ancestrally mixed-sex groups underwent permanent internal fission in response to a mixture of social and ecological pressures. This step could have been favored by spatial dispersion of food coupled with male monopolization of females (or female-initiated protective bonds with males) (4,6).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Primate model offers insights into male bonding in complex societies

Grueter

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Macaca mulatta : Sherman, 1980; Macaca nemestrina and Macaca arctoides : Weigel, 1980; Macaca fuscata fuscata: Corradino, 1990) and multilevel society groups (e.g. Theropithecus gelada: SnyderMackler et al, 2012; Papio hamadryas: Schreier & Swedell, 2012;Swedell & Plummer, 2012;Rhinopithecus roxellana: Zhang et al, 2012). 1 Social structure in animal groups can be affected by many factors, such as kinship (Furuichi, 1984;Matsumura & Okamoto, 1997;Silk, 2002), age classes (de Waal & Luttrell, 1986), resource holding potential (Barrett & Henzi, 2006), and resource availability (Henzi et al, 2009).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Proximity association in polygynous western black crested gibbons ( Nomascus concolor jingdongensis ): network structure and seasonality

Guo¹,

Huang²,

Ning³

et al. 2013

Zoological Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:We investigated the structure and seasonality of the proximity network in a group of polygynous western black crested gibbons (Nomascus concolor) using social network analysis. The spatial proximity changed seasonally and was affected by temperature and rainfall. Preferred proximity association was not distributed randomly among individuals. Kinship was one explanation for the social structure, as offspring preferred to maintain close proximity with their mothers. The proximity of infants to mothers decreased with age, and independent offspring had lower proximity to mothers than dependent ones. We found that the adult male had different proximity relationships with two different adult females. The frequency of proximity between the male and the infant-carrying female was significantly higher than that between the male and the female who had immigrated carrying one offspring of uncertain paternity into the group. Infanticide avoidance and/or predation protection for dependent infants might explain the proximity relationship differences. Temperature influenced group proximity association, with individual proximity increasing in the cold months and decreasing in the hot months. Group proximity decreased in months with higher anthropogenic disturbance.Keywords: Proximity; Nomascus concolor; Polygynous; Social network Spatial distance between individuals exists in all group living animals; however, variances occur among different species and among individuals within the same group. It is reported that spatial distance among individuals is correlated with social relationships (Sade, 1965(Sade, , 1972 and social organization (Kummer, 1968); therefore spatial proximity between group members is important for studying social structure. Early research reported on a correlation between inter-individual distance and social relationship in Macaca mulatta (Sade, 1965), with further studies using spatial data to represent social structure in different primates (e.g. Symphalangus syndactylus: Chivers, 1971; Papio cynocephalus and Saimiri sciureus: Fairbanks, 1976). In recent years, spatial distance has also been used in species with different social structures, such as multi-male-multifemale groups (e.g. Social structure in animal groups can be affected by many factors, such as kinship (Furuichi, 1984;Matsumura & Okamoto, 1997;Silk, 2002), age classes (de Waal & Luttrell, 1986), resource holding potential (Barrett & Henzi, 2006), and resource availability (Henzi et al, 2009). A number of studies have also investigated the relationship between ecological factors and social behavior (Emlen & Oring, 1977;Terborgh, 1986;Sterck et al, 1997;Kappeler & Van Schaik, 2002) and shown that social relationships may change in different seasons (Shimooka, 2003) and habitats (Pruetz & Isbell, 2000). However, compared to numerous studies on the effects of seasonal ecological factors on animal behavior (Dunbar, , 1997), and the development of appropriate measures for spatial proximity can express qualitative variation and assess the...

show abstract

A Papionin Multilevel Society as a Model for Hominin Social Evolution

Cited by 93 publications

References 163 publications

Old stones' song: Use-wear experiments and analysis of the Oldowan quartz and quartzite assemblage from Kanjera South (Kenya)

Old stones' song: Use-wear experiments and analysis of the Oldowan quartz and quartzite assemblage from Kanjera South (Kenya)

Primate model offers insights into male bonding in complex societies

Proximity association in polygynous western black crested gibbons ( Nomascus concolor jingdongensis ): network structure and seasonality

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About