Re: Absence of Canines in Apiths


"quercophile" <ed.byron.adams@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1133910044.114861.49850@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Jim McGinn wrote:
> . Afterall,
>> homids don't normally go around ambushing their immediate neighbors.
>> Hominid conflict seems to take place on a much larger scale. Wouldn't
>> you,
>> at least, agree with this last statement?
>
> As I've said, I think the New Guinea highlanders provide a wonderful
> model of early hominid behavior, without the overlay of law,
> nation-states and domesticated horses that cloud the observations. They
> do ambush their neighbors. Death from such ambushes constitute one of
> the leading causes of death among many tribes there.
>
> Furthermore, the xenophobia and isolation from their neighbors produced
> such low gene flows between them that members of different tribes are
> easily identified by phenotypically true traits such as hair texture,
> skin hue and stature. Among protohomids this same genetic isolation
> allowed genetic drift to work and the intertribal hostility meant that
> selection for better warmaking capacity such as more accurate and more
> powerful throwing get selected through direct replacement of adjacent
> tribes. IMO, bipedality was a a hitchhiker on this process. It also
> accounts for the loss of prominent canines, the original subject of
> this thread.
>

I really appreciate the level-headedness of this response.

You bring up a good point and I'd like to address it explicitly when I get
more time. There's snow in them there mountains.

Regards,

Jim


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Absence of Canines in Apiths
    ... > homids don't normally go around ambushing their immediate neighbors. ... > Hominid conflict seems to take place on a much larger scale. ... the leading causes of death among many tribes there. ...
    (sci.anthropology.paleo)
  • Re: Absence of Canines in Apiths
    ... > Jim McGinn wrote: ... Changed my tune? ... for early hominid behavior? ... homids don't normally go around ambushing their immediate neighbors. ...
    (sci.anthropology.paleo)