Anthropological Science (Japanese Series)
Online ISSN : 1348-8813
Print ISSN : 1344-3992
ISSN-L : 1344-3992
Symposium: Newly Compiled Biology Textbooks and Anthropology Education
Importance in quest for origin of human sociality
Juichi Yamagiwa
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JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

2014 Volume 122 Issue 1 Pages 76-81

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Abstract
Biological anthropology and primatology provide us an important insight for origin of human sociality. The lack of this knowledge may lead to misunderstanding of human nature. For example, the hunting hypothesis has led us to wrong perspectives on the origin of warfare in the past. The high abilities of empathy and sympathy in humans have possibly evolved with communal breeding under high predation pressure, and resulted in the formation of human family. A comparison of life history traits in modern humans, such as age at weaning, age at first parturition, inter-birth interval, andpost-reproductive life span, with great apes (orangutans, gorillas and chimpanzees) indicates life history strategy (high fecundity and slow maturation) unique to humans. These recent anthropological knowledge should be used in high schools for education of teenagers who are expected to join adult societies after graduation.
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© 2014 The Anthropological Society of Nippon
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