Male Aggression and Violence in Human Evolution
In the last few decades, new sources of evidence have continued to indicate that male violence has played an important role in shaping behavior in the human lineage. The frequency and nature of such violence varies widely among populations and over time raises questions about the factors responsible for the variation. In the past, much controversy and even some acrimonious debate has occurred over the question of whether humans lived in a state of ancestral peace. The aim of this symposium is to set aside such theories and debates and take a fresh look at the causes and consequences of variation in aggression, both between and within species.
The focus will be on speakers who can critically examine and represent the available evidence from multiple sources, including comparative ethology, ethnology, archaeology, political science, and evolutionary neuroscience. While the symposium may not come to any definitive conclusions, it should allow for the best interpretation of the current evidence, and help suggest research agendas for the future.
(from carta.anthropogeny.org)
Male Violence among Ache and Hiwi Hunter-Gatherers. 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 Ache of Paraguay and the Hiwi of Venezuela, and discusses his findings in this talk.
| 5. Male Violence among Ache and Hiwi Hunter-Gatherers |
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