CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (Audio)

In this presentation from CARTA’s Human and Non-Human Culture Symposium, Hal Whitehead (Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia) discusses “Cultures of the Open Ocean: The Sperm Whale.” Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 17826]

Margaret Schoeninger (CARTA Co-Director, UC San Diego) and James Moore (Symposium Chair, UC San Diego) provide some introductory remarks to the CARTA symposium on “Human and Non-Human Cultures” held on October 2, 2009. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 17820]

In this presentation from CARTA’s Human and Non-Human Culture Symposium, Peter Tyack (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) discusses “Vocal Learning in Dolphins and Parrots.” Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 17825]

In this presentation from CARTA’s Human and Non-Human Culture Symposium, Donald Brown (UC Santa Barbara) discusses “Human Cultural Universals: How and Where They Differ.” Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 17821]

In this presentation from CARTA’s Human and Non-Human Culture Symposium, Andrew Whiten (University of St. Andrews Scotland) discusses “The Cultural Worlds of Child and Chimpanzee.” Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 17827]

CARTA: Human and Non-Human Cultures – Timothy Wright Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 17824]

Ajit Varki (CARTA Co-Director, UC San Diego), Pascal Gagneux (CARTA Associate Director, UC San Diego), and Margaret Schoeninger (CARTA Co-Director, UC San Diego) describe CARTA’s Museum of Comparative Anthropogeny and offer some closing remarks for the CARTA Symposium on “Human and Non-Human Cultures.” Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 17829]

Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 25401]

Rick Potts (Smithsonian Institution) suggests that the complexity of climate dynamics, and associated resource uncertainty, likely influenced the evolution of adaptive versatility in our species, expressed by the expansion of mobile technologies, symbolism, social networks, and behavioral diversity. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 25390]

Ofer Bar-Yosef (Harvard Univ) briefly summarizes the archaeological evidence for the dispersals of modern humans into Eurasia avoiding the assumptions that these events, whether short or continuous, were triggered by climatic conditions or followed the dispersals of other mammals. He contends that tracing past human groups as they move through time and space in Eurasia relies on the recognition of how they made their stone tools. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 25396]

CARTA: Behaviorally Modern Humans: The Origin of Us – Christopher Ehret: Relationships of Ancient African Languages Almost all of the more than 1,000 African languages spoken today belong to just four families – Afroasiatic, Niger-Kordofanian, Nilo-Saharan, and Khoesan. As these language families spread out across the continent in the early Holocene, they gradually drove out hundreds of other languages that used to be spoken in Africa. Christopher Ehret (UCLA) reflects on the relationships of these languages to the existing African families and to the language families of the rest of the world, and asks what this information can tell us about human origins and early human history. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 25397]

Evidence points strongly to Africa as the major center for the genetic, physical and behavioral origins of both ancient and modern humans. In this talk, Chris Stringer (Natural History Museum, London) reviews recent genetic and paleontological research that suggests more complex scenarios for our origins than had been considered previously. This includes the likelihood of interbreeding between archaic and modern humans, both within and outside of Africa. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 25393]

Lyn Wadley (Univ of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) contends that the manufacture of compound adhesives and compound paints by 100,000 years ago in South Africa is clear evidence for modern thought processes that involve, for example, multi-tasking. Some early hunting technologies support this conclusion. Cultural traditions, reminiscent of hunter-gatherer ones practiced in historic times, are also evident in South Africa’s Middle Stone Age, by not less than 100,000 years ago. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 25392]

CARTA: Behaviorally Modern Humans: The Origin of Us – Iain Davidson: Stone Tools and Cognition: Lessons from Australia In this talk, Iain Davidson (Univ of New England, Australia) addresses four topics: What is cognition? Can we learn anything from brains? What was the cognitive ability of the Last Common Ancestor? And, how can we learn from stone tools? He emphasizes specific aspects of stone tool making and use, which show how it required particular cognitive abilities and provided a selective context for their evolutionary emergence. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 25398]

Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 25399]

Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 25400]

One of the enduring questions of human origins is when, where and how we "Behaviorally Modern Humans" emerged and why and how we eventually replaced all the other human-like species. This series takes a fresh look at the situation today with a critical examination of the available evidence from multiple sources. Ofer Bar-Yosef (Harvard Univ) leads off with a talk about Evidence for the Spread of Modern Humans, followed by Christopher Ehret (UCLA) on Relationships of Ancient African Languages, and Iain Davidson (Univ of New England, Australia) on Stone Tools and Cognition: Lessons from Australia. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 25389]

One of the enduring questions of human origins is when, where and how we "Behaviorally Modern Humans" emerged and why and how we eventually replaced all the other human-like species. This series takes a fresh look at the situation today with a critical examination of the available evidence from multiple sources. Chris Stringer (Natural History Museum, London) leads off with a talk about the Fossil Record of Anatomically Modern Humans, followed by Michael Hammer (Univ of Arizona) on Interbreeding with Archaic Humans in Africa, and Richard “Ed” Green (UC Santa Cruz) on Interbreeding with Archaic Humans outside Africa. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 25388]

One of the enduring questions of human origins is when, where and how we "Behaviorally Modern Humans" emerged and why and how we eventually replaced all the other human-like species. This series takes a fresh look at the situation today with a critical examination of the available evidence from multiple sources. Rick Potts (Smithsonian Institution) leads off with a talk about African Climate of the Last 400,000 Years, followed by Alison S. Brooks (George Washington Univ/Smithsonian Institution) on East African Archaeological Evidence, and Lyn Wadley (Univ of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) on South African Archaeological Evidence. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 24970]

Colin Renfrew (McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research) discusses the “Sapient Paradox.” The genetic basis of humankind was established 200,000 years ago, and yet the tectonic phase of human development is only 10,000 years old. So what took so long? Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 24982]

Steve Mithen (Univ of Reading) discusses what the archaeological and fossil records tell us about the similarities and differences between the minds of Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 24980]

In this talk, Daniel Povinelli (Univ of Louisiana at Lafayette) suggests that “desperately seeking explanation” is a uniquely human mental function. In science, this “explanatory drive” can be properly regarded as a mania, which, as it proceeds largely uncontrolled, will continue to yield products that both improve, and threaten, our very existence. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 24979]

Why is human thought so flexible? Although many features of human brains can be attributed to selection for novel cognitive functions (e.g., for symbolic language), relaxation of selection on other attributes has additionally contributed to de-differentiation of certain brain functions. Here a parallel process is described by Terry Deacon (UC Berkeley) involving domestication and birdsong. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 24978]

Morality is a social behavior seen in mammals, and some birds, which depends on an interlocking brain organization shaped by four factors. Patricia Churchland (UC San Diego) discusses how the importance of these factors can vary between species, as a function of natural selection operating on subcortical structures, and of the degree of flexibility of the cortical organization. For example, increased capacity for impulse control is a feature of frontal brain expansion. Social benefits are accompanied by social demands; we have to get along, but not put up with too much. Hence impulse control – being aggressive or compassionate or indulgent at the right time – is hugely advantageous. In different contexts and cultures, expression of sociality may vary, as local factors limit solutions to the social problems of getting along and prospering despite competition between individuals. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 24985]

Cognitive abilities often regarded as unique to humans include humor, morality, symbolism, creativity, and preoccupation with the minds of others. In these compelling talks, emphasis is placed on the functional uniqueness of these attributes, as opposed to the anatomical uniqueness, and whether these attributes are indeed quantitatively or qualitatively unique to humans. Merlin Donald (Queen’s Univ) begins with Skilled Performance and Artistry, followed by Terry Deacon (UC Berkeley) on Symbolic Communication: Why Is Human Thought So Flexible?”, and V.S. Ramachandran (UC San Diego) on Inter-Modular Interactions, Metaphor, and the “Great Leap.” Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 24975]

Cognitive abilities often regarded as unique to humans include humor, morality, symbolism, creativity, and preoccupation with the minds of others. In these compelling talks, emphasis is placed on the functional uniqueness of these attributes, as opposed to the anatomical uniqueness, and whether these attributes are indeed quantitatively or qualitatively unique to humans. Nicholas Humphrey (Darwin College, Cambridge) begins with Entering the “Soul Niche,” followed by Steven Mithen (Univ of Reading) on An Evolved and Creative Mind, and Daniel Dennett (Tufts Univ) on Humor. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 24974]

Cognitive abilities often regarded as unique to humans include humor, morality, symbolism, creativity, and preoccupation with the minds of others. In these compelling talks, emphasis is placed on the functional uniqueness of these attributes, as opposed to the anatomical uniqueness, and whether these attributes are indeed quantitatively or qualitatively unique to humans. Colin Renfrew (McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research) begins with the Archaeological Evidence for Mind, followed by Daniel Povinelli (Univ of Louisiana at Lafayette) on Desperately Seeking Explanation, and Patricia Churchland (UC San Diego) on Moral Sense. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 23910]

Kristen Hawkes, University of Utah, discusses the grandmother hypothesis, which links the evolution of human longevity to ecological changes that left ancestral youngsters unable to get enough food on their own. Help from grandmothers allowed mothers to bear their next baby sooner while setting novel social problems for both mothers and offspring. These connections link grandmothering not only to the evolution of our long lifespans, but also to other features of human life history, physiology, and behavior. Even if only some are correct, they make human postmenopausal longevity much less of a puzzle after all. But how do we do it? Estrogen is crucial to the maintenance of many physiological systems aside from fertility. Yet ovarian estrogen secretion depends on menstrual cycling which ends at similar ages in all great apes including humans. Like most mammals, other primates display geriatric symptoms while still cycling and rarely survive their fertile years while women remain strong and healthy beyond menopause. The contrast points to non-ovarian sources of estrogen in somatic maintenance. A likely nominee is an adrenal androgen that circulates at a higher level in humans than any other hormone and is estimated to be the precursor for most of the estrogen in women’s peripheral tissues even before menopause. Chimpanzee levels of this steroid are much lower, consistent with the hypothesis that shifts in adrenal function are an important mechanism for slowed aging in our lineage. Comparisons with other apes also reveal intriguing puzzles about somatic maintenance in our closest living relatives. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 24114]

For many species, including humans, matings occur among a restricted pool of partners. In humans, restrictions on the choice of partners are culturally determined and frequently are the result of homophily, namely, contacts among individuals that are similar on some dimension. Marcus Feldman, Stanford University, discusses how the dimension may itself be culturally transmitted, and its transmission may affect the transmission of other characters, which may be genetically determined, but have nothing to do with the dimension on which the mating choice is based. Socioeconomic choice of consanguineous marriage is an example; it has important consequences for genetic variation in many populations around the world. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 24113]

Language is a hallmark of modern humans: only humans have language. Yet, while no human society lacks a language, individual languages exhibit wide variety. In this, language differs greatly from bipedalism, the other hallmark of humans. Mark Aronoff, Stony Brook University, and Carol Padden, UC San Diego, explore the question of whether there is a relation between the variety among languages and genetic variation, concentrating on the emergence of sign languages in societies with a high incidence of deafness due to genetic traits. They show that the emergence of sign languages in such societies is also tied to a number of preexisting cultural factors. This type of interaction, where genetics and culture, both separately and together, provide the foundation for a particular type of language, has not previously received attention. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 24115]

Clark Spencer Larsen (Ohio State Univ) explores what anthropologists have learned about the alterations of the lives, lifestyles, and wellbeing from the study of bones and teeth of our recent ancestors during the one of the most dynamic periods of human evolution. Just as the process of domestication was complex and involved regional economic, social, and environmental circumstances, the impact of the foraging-to-farming transition on human biology and evolution was varied. In general, however, the outcome of this fundamental behavioral shift in how humans acquire food was decline in health owing to population crowding, reduced nutritional quality, and related factors. Collectively, this outcome was central to creating the circumstances that transformed the human biological landscape into what it is today. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 24840]

In this presentation, Leslie Aiello (Wenner Gren Foundation) provides some background for the discussion and defines the overall goal of the symposium, The Evolution of Human Nutrition, which is to highlight the evolution of human nutrition from our earliest ancestors to the modern day and to draw attention to the diversity in the human diet and its consequences. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 24835]

At least three major transitions can be seen from the archaeological record of meat-eating. Mary Stiner (Univ of Arizona) explains how each of these transitions came with new labor and social arrangements that extended well beyond the mechanics of hunting. The transitions also relate to major changes in environmental carrying capacity and human population densities. These changes are predicated on new ways of capturing energy and insulating the group (especially children) from variation in the supplies of high quality food. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 24843]

Unlike all other free-living animals, human populations need to eat much of their food cooked. We now know that cooking causes starch and meat to provide much extra energy; that cooked food saves so much eating time that it makes dedicated hunting possible; and that honey-eating by African hunter-gatherers offers a remarkable clue that the control of fire is an ancient habit. From an evolutionary perspective, Richard Wrangham (Harvard Univ) contends that the special feature of the human diet is not so much its ingredients, as how we prepare them. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 24839]

Alyssa Crittenden (Univ of Nevada, Las Vegas) reports on the diet composition and foraging profiles of the Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania. The significance of meat, tubers, and honey is addresses and the role that these food items play in evolutionary models is explored. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 24837]

Peter Ungar (Univ of Arkansas) looks at the fossil record to determine what it can teach us about the diets of our early hominin forebears. Evidence from tooth chemistry and microscopic wear suggests that some species had increasingly specialized diets, but others, including those of early Homo, ate a broader variety of foods. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 24838]

Alison S. Brooks (George Washington Univ) and Margaret J. Schoeninger (UC San Diego) provide an overview of Neanderthal diets based on the physical evidence, archaeological data, and bone composition data. They conclude that Neanderthal subsistence strategies varied with their local environments and included various combinations of plant and animal foods throughout their range. Like modern humans, Neanderthals selected foods that are relatively high in protein from both plant and animal sources. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 24842]

Globalization is, in part, an economic force to bring about a closer integration of national economies. Food globalization brings about nutritional transitions. The most common transition today is the shift from a diet based on locally-grown, minimally refined vegetable foods supplemented with small amounts of animal food to the ‘modern diet’ of globally sourced highly processed foods, rich in saturated fat, animal products, and sugar, but poor in some nutrients and low in fiber. Barry Bogin (Loughborough Univ) discusses how the Maya people of Mexico and Central America are a poignant case of globalized diets. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 24841]

Tracing the evolution of the human diet from our earliest ancestors can lead to a better understanding of human adaptation in the past. It may also offer clues to the origin of many health problems we currently face, such as obesity and chronic disease. This fascinating series of talks focuses on the changing diets of our ancestors and what role these dietary transitions played in the evolution of humans. Here Clark Spencer Larsen (Ohio State Univ) discusses The Impact of Agriculture on Human Evolution, followed by Barry Bogin (Loughborough Univ) on The Impact of Globalization on Children’s Nutrition and Alyssa Crittenden (Univ of Nevada, Las Vegas) on Current Hunter-Gatherer Diets. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 24830]

Tracing the evolution of the human diet from our earliest ancestors can lead to a better understanding of human adaptation in the past. It may also offer clues to the origin of many health problems we currently face, such as obesity and chronic disease. This fascinating series of talks focuses on the changing diets of our ancestors and what role these dietary transitions played in the evolution of humans. Leslie C. Aiello (Wenner-Gren Foundation) begins with An Overview of Diet and Evolution, followed by Richard Wrangham (Harvard Univ) on Fire, Starch, Meat, and Honey Steven Leigh (Univ of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) on Diets and Microbes in Primates. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 24807]

Leslie Aiello (Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research) reviews the historical development of ideas in relation to the evolution of bipediality. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 23670]

Jeremy DeSilva (Boston University) shares his insights into the foot and ankle diversity of australopiths and refutes the hypothesis that there is only one kinematic way to be a striding biped. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 23664]

The fastest humans sprint slowly and for very limited durations compared to most quadrupedal mammals, but even average humans have superlative long distance running capabilities in terms of speed and distance compared to other mammals, especially in the heat. Dan Lieberman (Harvard University) posits that these abilities raise the question of how to evaluate when and how adaptations for running evolved in hominins, and what effect such selection had on the evolution of the human body. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 23669]

In the classic nature-nurture dichotomy, nature has a stronger or weaker influence on nurture, but certainly nurture was supposed to have no impact on nature. Human culture is often taken to be a form of nurture. However, culture itself has evolutionary properties. In particular, culture generates novel environments that in turn select for novel genes. A few dramatic cases of this effect are well known and many more are suspected. Peter Richerson, UC Davis, explains why the nature-nurture dichotomy is an impediment to clear thinking and should be abandoned. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 24108]

Christopher Ruff (Johns Hopkins University) interprets the analyses of forelimb and hindlimb bone strength in a number of early hominin taxa. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 23668]

What constitutes the essential behavior of our species is contentious. Evolutionary scenarios leading to both the capacity for and practice of these essential behaviors are even more debated. Genetics, cognitive and evolutionary psychology, morphology, reconstructions of climate variation, and the archaeology of human behavior all provide pathways to explore these questions. This presentation by Alison Brooks, George Washington University, will review the evidence for the accumulation of distinctive human behaviors in a comparative framework. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 24107]

Carol Ward (University of Missouri) reviews the growing, although still imperfect, evidence for torso form in apes and early hominins, and relates that to hypotheses about the origins and early evolution of hominin bipedality. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 23667]

The history of human evolution and dispersal was associated with remarkable environmental challenges to those processes that maintain stable physiological conditions. Indeed, environmental change over time and over space has been a major feature of human evolution. Though many adaptations undoubtedly occurred at the cultural and behavioral levels, the striking variation of human phenotypes suggests that adaptations also involved genetic changes. Cultural changes, e.g. different modes of subsistence or diets, in turn created new selective pressures. Anna Di Rienzo, University of Chicago, has developed approaches to test for the impact that selective pressures associated with specific environmental factors have had on the human genome. Using these approaches, she and her colleagues identify adaptations to selective pressures related to climate as well as diet and subsistence. Some of these beneficial alleles were selected in multiple continents while others represent continent-specific adaptations. Interestingly, many alleles strongly correlated with climate variables also influence risk to diseases of the immune response. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 24109]

In most individuals, the ability to digest lactose, the sugar present in milk, declines rapidly after weaning because of decreasing levels of the enzyme lactase in the small intestine. However, there are individuals who maintain the ability to digest milk into adulthood due to a genetic adaptation in populations that have a history of pastoralism. Sarah Tishkoff, University of Pennsylvania, presents her latest studies of the genetic basis of lactose tolerance in African pastoralist populations. Her team has identified several mutations that arose independently in East African pastoralist populations. This demonstrates a striking footprint of natural selection in the genomes of individuals with these mutations. It shows that the age of the mutations associated with lactose tolerance in Europeans and Africans is correlated with the archeological evidence for origins of cattle domestication. Thus, the genetic adaption for lactose tolerance is an excellent example of gene-culture co-evolution. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 24111]

Steven Churchill (Duke University) talks about the evolution of the human pelvis and the major architectural changes which reflect an improvement in the ability of this structure to engage in bipedal locomotion. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 23663]