Evolution And History

Suggested Readings 227

As Paleolithic peoples eventually spread over all

the continents of the world, including Australia and the

Americas, changes in climate and environment called for

new kinds of adaptations. In forest environments, people

needed tools for working wood; on the open savannah

and plains, they came to use the bow and arrow to hunt

the game they could not stalk closely; the people in set-

tlements that grew up around lakes and along rivers and

coasts developed harpoons and hooks; in the sub-Arctic

regions, they needed tools to work the heavy skins of seals

and caribou. The fact that culture is first and foremost a

mechanism by which humans adapt means that as hu-

mans faced new challenges in the Paleolithic throughout

the globe, their cultures differentiated regionally.

Through Paleolithic times, at least in the colder parts
of the world, hunting became more important, and people
became more proficient at it. Humans’ intelligence en-
abled them to develop composite tools as well as the social
organization and cooperation so important for survival
and population growth. As discussed in the next chapter,
this trend was reversed during the Mesolithic, when hunt-
ing lost its preeminence, and the gathering of wild plants
and seafood became increasingly important.
As human populations grew and spread, cultural dif-
ferences between regions also became more marked.
While some indications of cultural contact and inter-
communication are evident in the development of long-
distance trade networks, tool assemblages developed in
response to the specific challenges and resources of spe-
cific environments.

Questions for Reflection

1. Upper Paleolithic art suggests that humans have always
   been challenged to understand where we fit in the larger sys-
   tem of life forms, past and present. What are your thoughts
   about how the impulse to create art relates to human efforts
   to make sense of our place in nature? What is your concep-
   tion of the artist who might have made the Venus figurine in
   the chapter opening?


2. What does it mean to be “modern,” biologically or cul-
   turally? How should we define “human”?


3. How do you feel personally about the possibility of hav-
   ing Neandertals as part of your ancestry? How might you

relate the Neandertal debates to stereotyping or racism in

contemporary society?

4. Why do you think that most of the studies of prehis-
   toric art have tended to focus on Europe? Do you think this
   focus reflects ethnocentrism or bias about the definition of
   art in Western cultures?


5. Do you think that gender has played a role in anthropo-
   logical interpretations of the behavior of our ancestors and
   the way that paleoanthropologists and archaeologists con-
   duct their research? Do you believe that feminism has a role
   to play in the interpretation of the past?

Suggested Readings

Clottes, J., & Bennett, G. (2002). World rock art (conservation
and cultural heritage series). San Francisco: Getty Trust
Publication.

Written by Jean Clottes, a leading authority on rock art (and dis-
coverer of the Upper Paleolithic cave art site Grotte de Chauvet),
this book provides excellent descriptions and beautiful images
of rock art throughout the world, beginning with the earli-
est examples from Australia to rock art from the 20th century.

Dillehay, T. D. (2001). The settlement of the Americas. New
York: Basic.

In an engaging, clear style, Dillehay provides a detailed ac-
count of the evidence from South America that has recently
challenged theories about the peopling of the Americas, with
particular emphasis on the author’s work in Chile.

Klein, R. (2002). The dawn of human culture. New York: Wiley.

While this book covers the entire history of human evolu-
tion, it provides a particular focus on the theory of recent

African origins of the species Homo sapiens and associated

cultural abilities.

White, R. (2003). Prehistoric art: The symbolic journey of hu-

mankind. New York: Abrams.

This sumptuously illustrated volume demonstrates the

power of prehistoric imagery as well as providing a compre-

hensive overview of the theoretical approaches to studying

prehistoric art. White presents a global survey of prehistoric

art and demonstrates that Western notions of art have inter-

fered with interpretations of prehistoric art.

Wolpoff, M., & Caspari, R. (1997). Race and human evolu-

tion: A fatal attraction. New York: Simon & Schuster.

This book is a detailed but readable presentation of the

multi regional hypothesis of modern human origins. Among

its strengths is a discussion of the problem of defining what

“anatomically modern” means.