this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2024
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Archaeology

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Archaeology or archeology[a] is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes.

Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time.

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52
The Theory That Men Evolved to Hunt and Women Evolved to Gather Is Wrong (www.scientificamerican.com)
submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
30 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The influential idea that in the past men were hunters and women were not isn’t supported by the available evidence

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

I feel like this is one of those situations where people distort a 45:55 into either a 0:100 or a 50:50.

Ecologically speaking, we're a lot like megafauna rats: we thrive from adaptability. Throw humans into whatever environment, with access to whatever barely edible junk, and they'll still survive and reproduce. As such you expect selective pressure against built-in specialisation of the individuals, for two reasons:

  • kin selection - if depending on the environment half of your tribe is dead weight, you're all going to die.
  • individual survival - we might be a social species, but we can't always rely on other people.

However that does not mean that you should expect the exact same proficiency for all individuals on all tasks based on their innate attributes, such as sex. Some might be really good hunters but passable gatherers; some, the opposite. And I believe that this applies in special to the [important!] typical man and the typical woman.

I can't emphasise "typical" enough. Because even when dealing with individuals of the same sex, you will see some difference in ability towards certain tasks.