2010 Volume 74 Issue 4 Pages 541-565
This paper aims to elucidate human evolution and northern adaptation from the viewpoint of the anthropology of nature and culture, while focusing on the process of the development of Homo sapiens. To that end, it first extracts the mental characteristics of modem-day northern hunter-gatherers, particularly their sociality of mind, clarifying their cultural-ecological basis. Secondly, it verifies the possibility of that sociality of mind, dating back to Upper Paleolithic man 40,000 years ago. It shows that the graphics in cave paintings, once considered sorcerer-based or enigmatic, represent hybrid figures (i.e., animal-humans), and that the workings of the mind were behind them-the recognition of original oneness and reciprocity. Thirdly, with regard to the meanings of mental evolution in light of modem human adaptation to northern regions, it points out that the process of humans' becoming Homo sapiens can be regarded as a process of pre-adaptation that took place before actual adaptation to the northern circumpolar environment. It further points out that such factors as a world view based on the cognition of the relationships between man and game served as a behavioral strategy in periglacial ecology. Lastly, based on those findings, the paper elucidates the outlook for the mind and human evolution, including the origins of humanity, the importance of behavioral adaptability in the mechanism of human evolution, the future of humans, and the role played by anthropology.
