The life history of human foraging: Cross-cultural and individual variation

Jeremy Koster; Richard McElreath; Kim Hill; Douglas Yu; Glenn Shepard; Nathalie Van Vliet; Michael Gurven; Benjamin Trumble; Rebecca Bliege Bird; Douglas Bird; Brian Codding; Lauren Coad; Luis Pacheco-Cobos; Bruce Winterhalder; Karen Lupo; Dave Schmitt; Paul Sillitoe; Margaret Franzen; Michael Alvard; Vivek Venkataraman; Thomas Kraft; Kirk Endicott; Stephen Beckerman; Stuart A. Marks; Thomas Headland; Margaretha Pangau-Adam; Anders Siren; Karen Kramer; Russell Greaves; Victoria Reyes-García; Maximilien Guèze; Romain Duda; Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares; Sandrine Gallois; Lucentezza Napitupulu; Roy Ellen; John Ziker; Martin R. Nielsen; Elspeth Ready; Christopher Healey; Cody Ross

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aax9070

The life history of human foraging: Cross-cultural and individual variation

Jeremy Koster^*, Richard McElreath, Kim Hill, Douglas Yu, Glenn Shepard, Nathalie Van Vliet, Michael Gurven, Benjamin Trumble, Rebecca Bliege Bird, Douglas Bird, Brian Codding, Lauren Coad, Luis Pacheco-Cobos, Bruce Winterhalder, Karen Lupo, Dave Schmitt, Paul Sillitoe, Margaret Franzen, Michael Alvard, Vivek VenkataramanThomas Kraft, Kirk Endicott, Stephen Beckerman, Stuart A. Marks, Thomas Headland, Margaretha Pangau-Adam, Anders Siren, Karen Kramer, Russell Greaves, Victoria Reyes-García, Maximilien Guèze, Romain Duda, Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares, Sandrine Gallois, Lucentezza Napitupulu, Roy Ellen, John Ziker, Martin R. Nielsen, Elspeth Ready, Christopher Healey, Cody Ross

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

50 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Human adaptation depends on the integration of slow life history, complex production skills, and extensive sociality. Refining and testing models of the evolution of human life history and cultural learning benefit from increasingly accurate measurement of knowledge, skills, and rates of production with age. We pursue this goal by inferring hunters’ increases and declines of skill from approximately 23,000 hunting records generated by more than 1800 individuals at 40 locations. The data reveal an average age of peak productivity between 30 and 35 years of age, although high skill is maintained throughout much of adulthood. In addition, there is substantial variation both among individuals and sites. Within study sites, variation among individuals depends more on heterogeneity in rates of decline than in rates of increase. This analysis sharpens questions about the coevolution of human life history and cultural adaptation.

Original language	English
Article number	eaax9070
Journal	Science advances
Volume	6
Issue number	26
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax9070
Publication status	Published - Jun 2020

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Koster, J., McElreath, R., Hill, K., Yu, D., Shepard, G., Van Vliet, N., Gurven, M., Trumble, B., Bird, R. B., Bird, D., Codding, B., Coad, L., Pacheco-Cobos, L., Winterhalder, B., Lupo, K., Schmitt, D., Sillitoe, P., Franzen, M., Alvard, M., ... Ross, C. (2020). The life history of human foraging: Cross-cultural and individual variation. Science advances, 6(26), Article eaax9070. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax9070

@article{d2cc4cc7cbaa4f4cb32925974b3118b9,

title = "The life history of human foraging: Cross-cultural and individual variation",

abstract = "Human adaptation depends on the integration of slow life history, complex production skills, and extensive sociality. Refining and testing models of the evolution of human life history and cultural learning benefit from increasingly accurate measurement of knowledge, skills, and rates of production with age. We pursue this goal by inferring hunters{\textquoteright} increases and declines of skill from approximately 23,000 hunting records generated by more than 1800 individuals at 40 locations. The data reveal an average age of peak productivity between 30 and 35 years of age, although high skill is maintained throughout much of adulthood. In addition, there is substantial variation both among individuals and sites. Within study sites, variation among individuals depends more on heterogeneity in rates of decline than in rates of increase. This analysis sharpens questions about the coevolution of human life history and cultural adaptation.",

author = "Jeremy Koster and Richard McElreath and Kim Hill and Douglas Yu and Glenn Shepard and {Van Vliet}, Nathalie and Michael Gurven and Benjamin Trumble and Bird, {Rebecca Bliege} and Douglas Bird and Brian Codding and Lauren Coad and Luis Pacheco-Cobos and Bruce Winterhalder and Karen Lupo and Dave Schmitt and Paul Sillitoe and Margaret Franzen and Michael Alvard and Vivek Venkataraman and Thomas Kraft and Kirk Endicott and Stephen Beckerman and Marks, {Stuart A.} and Thomas Headland and Margaretha Pangau-Adam and Anders Siren and Karen Kramer and Russell Greaves and Victoria Reyes-Garc{\'i}a and Maximilien Gu{\`e}ze and Romain Duda and {\'A}lvaro Fern{\'a}ndez-Llamazares and Sandrine Gallois and Lucentezza Napitupulu and Roy Ellen and John Ziker and Nielsen, {Martin R.} and Elspeth Ready and Christopher Healey and Cody Ross",

note = "Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved.",

year = "2020",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1126/sciadv.aax9070",

language = "English",

volume = "6",

journal = "Science advances",

issn = "2375-2548",

publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",

number = "26",

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Koster, J, McElreath, R, Hill, K, Yu, D, Shepard, G, Van Vliet, N, Gurven, M, Trumble, B, Bird, RB, Bird, D, Codding, B, Coad, L, Pacheco-Cobos, L, Winterhalder, B, Lupo, K, Schmitt, D, Sillitoe, P, Franzen, M, Alvard, M, Venkataraman, V, Kraft, T, Endicott, K, Beckerman, S, Marks, SA, Headland, T, Pangau-Adam, M, Siren, A, Kramer, K, Greaves, R, Reyes-García, V, Guèze, M, Duda, R, Fernández-Llamazares, Á, Gallois, S, Napitupulu, L, Ellen, R, Ziker, J, Nielsen, MR, Ready, E, Healey, C & Ross, C 2020, 'The life history of human foraging: Cross-cultural and individual variation', Science advances, vol. 6, no. 26, eaax9070. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax9070

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AU - Koster, Jeremy

AU - McElreath, Richard

AU - Hill, Kim

AU - Yu, Douglas

AU - Shepard, Glenn

AU - Van Vliet, Nathalie

AU - Gurven, Michael

AU - Trumble, Benjamin

AU - Bird, Rebecca Bliege

AU - Bird, Douglas

AU - Codding, Brian

AU - Coad, Lauren

AU - Pacheco-Cobos, Luis

AU - Winterhalder, Bruce

AU - Lupo, Karen

AU - Schmitt, Dave

AU - Sillitoe, Paul

AU - Franzen, Margaret

AU - Alvard, Michael

AU - Venkataraman, Vivek

AU - Kraft, Thomas

AU - Endicott, Kirk

AU - Beckerman, Stephen

AU - Marks, Stuart A.

AU - Headland, Thomas

AU - Pangau-Adam, Margaretha

AU - Siren, Anders

AU - Kramer, Karen

AU - Greaves, Russell

AU - Reyes-García, Victoria

AU - Guèze, Maximilien

AU - Duda, Romain

AU - Fernández-Llamazares, Álvaro

AU - Gallois, Sandrine

AU - Napitupulu, Lucentezza

AU - Ellen, Roy

AU - Ziker, John

AU - Nielsen, Martin R.

AU - Ready, Elspeth

AU - Healey, Christopher

AU - Ross, Cody

PY - 2020/6

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N2 - Human adaptation depends on the integration of slow life history, complex production skills, and extensive sociality. Refining and testing models of the evolution of human life history and cultural learning benefit from increasingly accurate measurement of knowledge, skills, and rates of production with age. We pursue this goal by inferring hunters’ increases and declines of skill from approximately 23,000 hunting records generated by more than 1800 individuals at 40 locations. The data reveal an average age of peak productivity between 30 and 35 years of age, although high skill is maintained throughout much of adulthood. In addition, there is substantial variation both among individuals and sites. Within study sites, variation among individuals depends more on heterogeneity in rates of decline than in rates of increase. This analysis sharpens questions about the coevolution of human life history and cultural adaptation.

AB - Human adaptation depends on the integration of slow life history, complex production skills, and extensive sociality. Refining and testing models of the evolution of human life history and cultural learning benefit from increasingly accurate measurement of knowledge, skills, and rates of production with age. We pursue this goal by inferring hunters’ increases and declines of skill from approximately 23,000 hunting records generated by more than 1800 individuals at 40 locations. The data reveal an average age of peak productivity between 30 and 35 years of age, although high skill is maintained throughout much of adulthood. In addition, there is substantial variation both among individuals and sites. Within study sites, variation among individuals depends more on heterogeneity in rates of decline than in rates of increase. This analysis sharpens questions about the coevolution of human life history and cultural adaptation.

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U2 - 10.1126/sciadv.aax9070

DO - 10.1126/sciadv.aax9070

M3 - Article

SN - 2375-2548

VL - 6

JO - Science advances

JF - Science advances

IS - 26

M1 - eaax9070

ER -

The life history of human foraging: Cross-cultural and individual variation

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