tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/anthropology-181/articlesAnthropology – The Conversation2024-01-17T09:05:15Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2207192024-01-17T09:05:15Z2024-01-17T09:05:15ZWe are losing tetrapod species at a faster rate than we are rediscovering them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569552/original/file-20240116-22672-a3vxe4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C20%2C1908%2C1256&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Voeltzkow’s chameleon was rediscovered in Madagascar in 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2583347">Martin Mandák/iNaturalist </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Lost species are those that have not been observed in the wild for over ten years, despite searches to find them. Lost tetrapod species (four-limbed vertebrate animals including amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles) are a global phenomenon – there are more than 800 of them, and they are broadly distributed worldwide.</p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.17107">Our research</a>, published today in the journal <em>Global Change Biology</em>, attempts to pin down why certain tetrapod species are rediscovered but others not. It also reveals that the number of lost tetrapod species is increasing decade-on-decade. This means that despite many searches, we are losing tetrapod species at a faster rate than we are rediscovering them. In particular, rates of rediscovery for lost amphibian, bird and mammal species have slowed in recent years, while rates of loss for reptile species have increased.</p>
<p>This is not good news. Species are often lost because their populations have shrunk to a very small size due to human threats like hunting and pollution. Consequently, many lost species are in danger of becoming extinct (in fact, some probably are extinct). However, it is difficult to protect lost species from extinction because we don’t know where they are.</p>
<h2>Rediscoveries lead to conservation action</h2>
<p>In 2018, researchers in Colombia successfully searched for the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22735460/181746724">Antioquia brush-finch</a> (<em>Atlapetes blancae</em>), a bird species unrecorded since 1971. This rediscovery led to <a href="https://www.rainforesttrust.org/urgent-projects/last-stand-for-the-antioquia-brush-finch/">the establishment of a reserve</a> to protect the remaining population of the brush-finch, which is tiny and threatened by habitat loss caused by agricultural expansion and climate change.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-find-the-extinct-victorian-earless-dragon-not-seen-since-1969-180982440/">Victorian grassland earless dragon</a> (<em>Tympanocryptis pinguicolla</em>) was rediscovered in Australia last year. It hadn’t been recorded for 54 years, and was presumed to be extinct, due to the loss of its grassland habitat and predation by invasive alien species including feral cats. Its rediscovery resulted in <a href="https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/plibersek/media-releases/joint-media-release-reptile-thought-be-extinct-rediscovered-victoria">government funding</a> to trial new survey techniques to find further populations of the species, a breeding program, and the preparation of a species recovery plan.</p>
<p>Thus, rediscoveries are important: they provide evidence of the continued existence of highly threatened species, prompting funding for conservation action. The results or our study may help to prioritise searches for lost species. In the image below, we mapped their global distribution, identifying regions with many lost and few rediscovered species.</p>
<h2>What factors influence rediscovery?</h2>
<p>Sadly, many quests to find lost species are unsuccessful. In 1993, searches in Ghana and the Ivory Coast over seven years failed to rediscover a lost primate, <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/where-have-you-gone-miss-waldrons-red-colobus">Miss Waldron’s red colobus</a> (<em>Piliocolobus waldronae</em>). The research team concluded that this noisy and conspicuous monkey, unrecorded since 1978, may well be extinct. Its demise has been caused by hunting and the destruction of its forest habitat. Further searches in 2005, 2006 and 2019 were also unsuccessful, although <a href="https://iucn.org/resources/publication/red-colobus-piliocolobus-conservation-action-plan-2021-2026">calls that were possibly by this species were heard in 2008</a>.</p>
<p>In 2010, searches for the Mesopotamia beaked toad (<em>Rhinella rostrata</em>), unrecorded in Colombia since 1914, were unsuccessful (<a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2010/11/pictures-mr-burns-frog-discovered-in-colombia-along-with-2-other-new-species/">but did lead to the discovery of three new amphibian species</a>). Last year’s search for the <a href="https://www.rewild.org/lost-species/sinu-parakeet">Sinú parakeet</a> (<em>Pyrrhura subandina</em>), unrecorded in Colombia since 1949, was also unsuccessful. Nevertheless, the project team did identify the presence of <a href="https://www.birdguides.com/articles/conservation/exciting-rediscoveries-boost-hopes-of-finding-sinu-parakeet/">ten other parrot species in the survey area and large tracts of suitable habitat</a>, giving hope for the continued existence of the Sinú parakeet.</p>
<p>So why is it that some species are rediscovered while others remain lost? Are there specific factors that influence rediscovery? We aimed to answer these questions in our study, in order to improve our ability to distinguish between the types of lost species we can rediscover, from those that we cannot, because they are extinct.</p>
<p>Our project team comprised members of the organisation <a href="https://www.rewild.org/lost-species">Re:wild</a>, which has been leading efforts to search for lost species since 2017, along with species experts from the <a href="https://www.iucn.org/our-union/commissions/species-survival-commission">International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission</a> (SSC).</p>
<p>We compiled <a href="https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.c866t1gdf">a database of 856 lost and 424 rediscovered tetrapod species</a> (amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles). We then proposed three broad hypotheses about factors that might influence rediscovery: characteristics of (i) tetrapod species, and (ii) the environment influence rediscovery, and (iii) human activities influence rediscovery.</p>
<p>For example, body mass (a species characteristic) may positively influence rediscovery, as larger lost species should be easier to find. Lost species occupying dense forests (a characteristic of the environment) may not be rediscovered as searching for them is difficult. Lost species affected by threats associated with human activities (e.g., invasive alien species, which are being spread to new locations by global trade) may not be rediscovered, as they may be extinct.</p>
<p>Based on these hypotheses, we collected data on a series of variables associated with each lost and rediscovered species (for example, their body mass), which we then analysed for their influence on rediscovery.</p>
<h2>Hard to find + neglected = rediscovered</h2>
<p>On the upside, our results suggest that while many lost species are difficult to find, with some effort and the use of new techniques, they are likely to be rediscovered. These species include those that are very small (including many lost reptile species), those that live underground, those that are nocturnal, and those living in areas that are difficult to survey.</p>
<p>In fact, since the completion of our study, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/30/back-from-the-brink-de-wintons-golden-mole-feared-extinct-rediscovered-after-86-years-aoe">De Winton’s Golden Mole</a> (<em>Cryptochloris wintoni</em>) has been rediscovered in South Africa. This species hadn’t been recorded in the wild since 1937. It lives underground much of the time, so searches were conducted using techniques including environmental DNA and thermal imaging.</p>
<p>Our results also suggest some species are neglected by conservation scientists, particularly those that are not considered to be charismatic, such as reptiles, small species and rodents. Searches for these species may also be rewarded with success. Voeltzkow’s chameleon (<em>Furcifer voeltzkowi</em>), a small reptile species, was <a href="https://www.livescience.com/lost-chameleon-rediscovered-after-century.html">rediscovered in Madagascar in 2018</a>.</p>
<h2>Lost or extinct?</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, our results also suggest that some lost species are unlikely to be found no matter how hard we look, because they are extinct. For example, remaining lost mammal species are, on average, three times larger than rediscovered mammal species. Some of these large, charismatic, conspicuous species should have been rediscovered by now.</p>
<p>Furthermore, one third of remaining lost mammal species are endemic to islands, where tetrapod species are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989421003978">particularly vulnerable to extinction</a>. The Bramble Cay melomys (<em>Melomys rubicola</em>), which was once considered to be a lost species, has recently been <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/biodiversity/threatened/nominations/comment/bramble-cay-melomys-2018">declared extinct</a> by the Australian Government. It occupied a small island that has been extensively surveyed – if it still existed it should have been rediscovered by now.</p>
<p>Lost bird species have, on average, been missing for longer than those that have been rediscovered (28% have been missing for more than 100 years), and many have been searched for on several occasions – perhaps some of these species should also have been rediscovered by now.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, unexpected rediscoveries of long-lost species like the <a href="https://www.edgeofexistence.org/species/cebu-flowerpecker/">Cebu flowerpecker</a> (<em>Dicaeum quadricolor</em>) do occur, so we shouldn’t lose hope, and we should definitely keep searching. However, some searches are being carried out for long-lost species that are considered to be extinct, such as the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969723014948">thylacine</a> (<em>Thylacinus cynocephalus</em>). Perhaps the limited resources available for biodiversity conservation would be better used to search for lost species likely to still exist.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The author’s former MSc student, Tim Lindken, contributed to writing this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220719/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Evans received funding from The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.</span></em></p>There are hundreds of lost tetrapod species across the globe and their number are increasing decade-on-decade. This study aims to find out why some are rediscovered, while others are not.Thomas Evans, Research scientist, Freie Universität Berlin, Université Paris-SaclayLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2194682023-12-12T13:22:51Z2023-12-12T13:22:51ZWhat’s the point of giving gifts? An anthropologist explains this ancient part of being human<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565029/original/file-20231211-15-9n4yrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1493%2C0%2C5964%2C4110&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gifts are usually given reciprocally.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/woman-giving-her-boyfriend-a-wrapped-christmas-gift-royalty-free-image/1287618519">Svetlana_nsk/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have you planned out your holiday gift giving yet? If you’re anything like me, you might be waiting until the last minute. But whether every single present is already wrapped and ready, or you’ll hit the shops on Christmas Eve, giving gifts is a curious but central part of being human.</p>
<p>While researching my new book, “<a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo206855594.html">So Much Stuff</a>,” on how humanity has come to depend on tools and technology over the last 3 million years, I became fascinated by the purpose of giving things away. Why would people simply hand over something precious or valuable when they could use it themselves?</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FFy5tMUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">To me as an anthropologist</a>, this is an especially powerful question because giving gifts likely has <a href="https://dundle.com/magazine/en/history-of-gift-giving-from-cavement-to-gen-z/">ancient roots</a>. And gifts can be found in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/208956">every known culture</a> around the world.</p>
<p>So, what explains the power of the present?</p>
<p>Undoubtedly, gifts serve lots of purposes. Some psychologists <a href="https://www.apa.org/topics/mental-health/brain-gift-giving">have observed</a> a “warm glow” – an intrinsic delight – that’s associated with giving presents. Theologians have noted how gifting is a way to express moral values, such as love, kindness and gratitude, in <a href="https://catholicmoraltheology.com/the-virtues-of-gift-giving/">Catholicism</a>, <a href="https://www.alliancemagazine.org/analysis/traditions-of-giving-in-buddhism/">Buddhism</a> and <a href="https://themuslimvibe.com/western-muslim-culture/what-does-islam-say-about-giving-gifts">Islam</a>. And philosophers ranging from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190496432.003.0014">Seneca</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09608788.2015.1088820">Friedrich Nietzsche</a> regarded gifting as the best demonstration of selflessness. It’s little wonder that gifts are a central part of Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and other winter holidays – and that some people may <a href="https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/article281962463.html">even be tempted to regard</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-psychological-differences-between-those-who-love-and-those-who-loathe-black-friday-shopping-105702">Black Friday</a>, the opening of the year-end shopping season, as a holiday in itself.</p>
<p>But of all the explanations for why people give gifts, the one I find most convincing was offered in 1925 by a French anthropologist named <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marcel-Mauss">Marcel Mauss</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565030/original/file-20231211-25-man0nl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="happy girl opens a box glowing from within by a Christmas tree" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565030/original/file-20231211-25-man0nl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565030/original/file-20231211-25-man0nl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565030/original/file-20231211-25-man0nl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565030/original/file-20231211-25-man0nl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565030/original/file-20231211-25-man0nl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565030/original/file-20231211-25-man0nl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565030/original/file-20231211-25-man0nl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A thoughtful gift can feel worth more than its cash value.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/little-girl-excitedly-opens-presents-during-royalty-free-image/1063785468">fstop123/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Giving, receiving, reciprocating</h2>
<p>Like many anthropologists, Mauss was puzzled by societies in which gifts were extravagantly given away.</p>
<p>For example, along the northwest coast of Canada and the United States, Indigenous peoples conduct potlatch ceremonies. In these dayslong feasts, hosts give away immense amounts of property. Consider a <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Indian_Agents/qQI9DgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%221921%22+%22dan+cranmer%22+%22%242,000%22&pg=PA128&printsec=frontcover">famous potlatch in 1921</a>, held by a clan leader of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation in Canada who gave community members 400 sacks of flour, heaps of blankets, sewing machines, furniture, canoes, gas-powered boats and even pool tables.</p>
<p>In a now-famous essay titled “<a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/The-Gift/">The Gift</a>,” originally published almost a century ago, Mauss sees potlaches as an extreme form of gifting. Yet, he suggests this behavior is totally recognizable in most every human society: We give things away even when keeping them for ourselves would seem to make much more economic and evolutionary sense.</p>
<p>Mauss observed that gifts create three separate but inextricably related actions. Gifts are given, received and reciprocated.</p>
<p>The first act of giving establishes the virtues of the gift giver. They express their generosity, kindness and honor.</p>
<p>The act of receiving the gift, in turn, shows a person’s willingness to be honored. This is a way for the receiver to show their own generosity, that they are willing to accept what was offered to them.</p>
<p>The third component of gift giving is reciprocity, returning in kind what was first given. Essentially, the person who received the gift is now expected – implicitly or explicitly – to give a gift back to the original giver.</p>
<p>But then, of course, once the first person gets something back, they must return yet another gift to the person who received the original gift. In this way, gifting becomes an endless loop of giving and receiving, giving and receiving.</p>
<p>This last step – reciprocity – is what makes gifts unique. Unlike buying something at a store, in which the exchange ends when money is traded for goods, giving gifts builds and sustains relationships. This relationship between the gift giver and receiver is bound up with morality. Gifting is an expression of fairness because each present is generally of equal or greater value than what was last given. And gifting is an expression of respect because it shows a willingness to honor the other person.</p>
<p>In these ways, gifting tethers people together. It keeps people connected in an infinite cycle of mutual obligations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565031/original/file-20231211-17-a2otkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="busy city street with lights and holiday decorations" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565031/original/file-20231211-17-a2otkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565031/original/file-20231211-17-a2otkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565031/original/file-20231211-17-a2otkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565031/original/file-20231211-17-a2otkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565031/original/file-20231211-17-a2otkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565031/original/file-20231211-17-a2otkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565031/original/file-20231211-17-a2otkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The year-end shopping frenzy can tip away from meaningful gift exchange to expensive consumerism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/view-of-strøget-street-the-main-shopping-street-in-royalty-free-image/541318714">Atlantide Phototravel/Corbis Documentary via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Giving better gifts</h2>
<p>Are modern-day consumers unknowingly embodying Mauss’ theory a little too well? After all, many people today suffer not from the lack of gifts, but from an overabundance. </p>
<p>Gallup reports that the average American holiday shopper estimates <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/545450/consumers-increase-holiday-spending-intentions-mid-season.aspx">they’ll spend US$975 on presents in 2023</a>, the highest amount since this survey began in 1999.</p>
<p>And many gifts are simply thrown out. In the 2019 holiday season, it was estimated that more than <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/bad-gift-givers-christmas-presents-holiday-gifts/">$15 billion of gifts</a> purchased by Americans were unwanted, with <a href="https://wasteadvantagemag.com/how-holiday-gift-waste-impacts-the-environment/">4% going directly to the landfill</a>. This year, holiday spending is expected to increase in the <a href="https://www.statista.com/topics/3157/uk-christmas-shopping/#editorsPicks">U.K.</a>, <a href="https://www.cpacanada.ca/en/the-cpa-profession/about-cpa-canada/media-centre/2023/november/holiday-spending-2023">Canada</a>, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1287292/japan-holiday-shopping-expenditure-change-previous-year/">Japan</a> and elsewhere.</p>
<p>Modern-day gifting practices may be the source of both awe and anger. On the one hand, by giving presents you are engaging in an ancient behavior that makes us human by growing and sustaining our relationships. On the other hand, it seems as if some societies might be using the holiday season as an excuse to simply consume more and more.</p>
<p>Mauss’ ideas do not promote runaway consumerism. On the contrary, his explanations of gifts suggest that the more meaningful and personal the present, the greater the respect and honor being shown. A truly thoughtful gift is far less likely to end up in a dump. And vintage, upcycled, handmade goods – or a personalized experience such as a food tour or hot air balloon ride – might even be more valued than an expensive item mass-produced on the other side of the world, shipped across oceans and packaged in plastic.</p>
<p>Quality gifts can speak to your values and more meaningfully sustain your relationships.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219468/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chip Colwell receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and National Science Foundation. He is affiliated with the Wenner-Gren Foundation and SAPIENS. </span></em></p>Presents are about giving, receiving and reciprocating, and how this cycle strengthens relationships.Chip Colwell, Associate Research Professor of Anthropology, University of Colorado DenverLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2166422023-11-30T19:03:33Z2023-11-30T19:03:33ZControversial claims about extinct humans are stirring up evolution research. Here’s how the mess could have been avoided<p>In June, researchers led by palaeoanthropologist Lee Berger published <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/05/science/ancient-humans-homo-naledi-buried-dead.html">sensational claims</a> about an extinct human species called <em>Homo naledi</em> online and in the Netflix documentary <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27837467/">Unknown: Cave of Bones</a>. They argued the small-brained <em>H. naledi</em> <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.01.543127v1.article-metrics">buried their dead</a> in Rising Star Cave in South Africa more than 240,000 years ago, and may also have decorated the cave walls with engravings. </p>
<p>If true, this would be an astonishing new entry in the annals of human evolution. But <a href="https://theconversation.com/major-new-research-claims-smaller-brained-homo-naledi-made-rock-art-and-buried-the-dead-but-the-evidence-is-lacking-207000">many scientists</a> – including ourselves (the authors of this article, along with Ian Moffat at Flinders University in Australia, Andrea Zerboni at the University of Milan in Italy, and Kira Westaway at Macquarie University in Australia) – are not convinced by the evidence in the three online articles.</p>
<p>The peer reviewers of these articles and the journal editor found that the evidence was “inadequate” and <a href="https://elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/89106/reviews#tab-content">suggested a comprehensive list of changes</a> that would be needed to make the articles’ argument convincing. More recently, a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248423001434?dgcid=coauthor">strongly worded, peer-reviewed critique</a> by one of us (Herries) concluded there was not enough evidence to support the hypothesis that <em>H. naledi</em> carried out intentional burials.</p>
<h2>The need for an analytical revolution</h2>
<p>What would “enough evidence” for such claims look like? As we argue in a new comment piece in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02215-5">Nature Ecology and Evolution</a>, there are modern scientific techniques that could provide it. </p>
<p>There are many kinds of evidence for human evolution, such as fossils and artefacts, and the sediment (or dirt) from which they are recovered. There are also many new and creative ways we can use to study this evidence. </p>
<p>We argue that the routine use of these techniques to generate supporting data will help avoid future controversies and increase public confidence in such claims. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559804/original/file-20231116-18-u8tdzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in a lab coat examining a dish full of rock or soil." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559804/original/file-20231116-18-u8tdzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559804/original/file-20231116-18-u8tdzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1057&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559804/original/file-20231116-18-u8tdzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1057&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559804/original/file-20231116-18-u8tdzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1057&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559804/original/file-20231116-18-u8tdzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1328&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559804/original/file-20231116-18-u8tdzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1328&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559804/original/file-20231116-18-u8tdzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1328&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Archaeological scientist Kelsey Hamilton at work, Flinders University, Adelaide.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mike Morley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Scientific collaborations</h2>
<p>Human evolution researchers deal with very long timescales, often measured in hundreds of thousands – or even millions – of years. Because of this, we often work with geologists and other Earth scientists, and use their ideas and tools to analyse traces of ancient humans.</p>
<p>The analytical techniques of the Earth sciences can provide extremely useful information about the context of fossils and archaeological material. </p>
<p>These techniques are commonly used to study the sediments that the archaeology and fossils are recovered from. These kinds of analyses can be carried out at the microscopic level, which means we can find information about the collected remains that would otherwise be impossible to obtain.</p>
<h2>Answers in the dirt</h2>
<p>Better instruments and ways to study dirt means that archaeological science can be used to understand the processes that form archaeological sites and preserve fossils and artefacts in incredibly detailed ways. We can even study evidence at the scale of <a href="https://theconversation.com/digging-deep-dna-molecules-in-ancient-dirt-offer-a-treasure-trove-of-clues-to-our-past-172489">molecules and elements</a>.</p>
<p>One way of studying dirt that is gaining traction in the field is known as micromorphology. This method involves the microscopic analysis of sediment that surrounds fossils or archaeology.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dishing-the-dirt-sediments-reveal-a-famous-early-human-cave-site-was-also-home-to-hyenas-and-wolves-122458">Dishing the dirt: sediments reveal a famous early human cave site was also home to hyenas and wolves</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>By studying intact blocks of sediment removed from archaeological trenches, microscopic clues can be pieced together to reconstruct the past environments present at the site and in the local environment.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A close up view of a slice of brown-and-white rock." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561786/original/file-20231127-27-h0u61t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561786/original/file-20231127-27-h0u61t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561786/original/file-20231127-27-h0u61t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561786/original/file-20231127-27-h0u61t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561786/original/file-20231127-27-h0u61t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561786/original/file-20231127-27-h0u61t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561786/original/file-20231127-27-h0u61t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A microscopic view of hyena coprolite (fossilised excrement) including pieces of bone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mike Morley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What’s more, the same blocks of sediment can be used for other analyses, such as refining the ages of the dirt and to better understand how archaeological sites form and preserve up until the point of discovery.</p>
<h2>What’s in the dirt? Science can tell us</h2>
<p>Micromorphology has proven to be a powerful tool for analysing ancient human remains and burial practices. In 2021, scientists who studied the oldest known human burial (78,000 years ago) used micromorphology to help identify the burial and publish the work in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03457-8">Nature</a>.</p>
<p>Earlier, in 2017, the technique was used to identify <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440316300838?casa_token=wf5YCUeuqCoAAAAA:PM8L5sZsNrsur2Jvvt49y2nVK2Q-d8VX5tIwBRpeL42Pjqp1Gp-q0B3dgoJdHV4ai9qHCkM-WQ">hearth features at Liang Bua cave (Indonesia)</a>. These small fireplaces were not obvious to the naked eye but under the microscope showed all of the characteristics of burning, including micro-traces of charcoal and ash. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562032/original/file-20231128-29-qinibd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Photo of a thin slice of rock showing a dark band and traces of soot on a paler background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562032/original/file-20231128-29-qinibd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562032/original/file-20231128-29-qinibd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562032/original/file-20231128-29-qinibd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562032/original/file-20231128-29-qinibd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562032/original/file-20231128-29-qinibd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562032/original/file-20231128-29-qinibd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562032/original/file-20231128-29-qinibd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A microscope slide showing traces of an ancient fireplace at Liang Bua cave.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mike Morley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fossils of <em>H. floresiensis</em> (dubbed “hobbits”) were also found in this cave. However, it turned out the hearths were made by <em>H. sapiens</em> 46,000 years ago, after the last appearance of the hobbits (around 60,000–50,000 years ago).</p>
<p>In the case of <em>H. naledi</em>, micromorphology could have provided evidence for, or against, the idea that the remains were deliberately buried. It might have found traces of a grave cut or subtle differences in the sediment used to cover the body that might not have been obvious during excavation. </p>
<p>In fact, three of the four peer reviewers of the original burial paper suggested micromorphology could have been used to interpret the sediments of the possible grave fill.</p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>As scientists working in the field of human evolution, we are thrilled about the Rising Star Cave fossils and the recognition of <em>H. naledi</em> as a new member of our genus, <em>Homo</em>. We trust the team working at the site will soon present new data that convinces us all one way or the other about the question of intentional burial.</p>
<p>On the weight of the currently available evidence we agree with others that there is no compelling case for that particular mortuary practice at the site. However, there are a raft of scientific techniques that could help end the controversy.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/major-new-research-claims-smaller-brained-homo-naledi-made-rock-art-and-buried-the-dead-but-the-evidence-is-lacking-207000">Major new research claims smaller-brained _Homo naledi_ made rock art and buried the dead. But the evidence is lacking</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It can be incredibly difficult for the public to disentangle facts from fiction. We believe scientists need to be extremely careful about how they communicate their findings to avoid an increase in scepticism towards scientists that can have a major impact across all aspects of modern life.</p>
<p>Aside from the <em>H. naledi</em> burial debate, we would like to see a future where all investigations into human evolution use these scientific techniques from the outset. This might avoid future controversy and find clues that strongly support hypotheses. This would also allow for greater confidence in findings presented to the scientific community and public alike.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216642/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike W Morley receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andy I.R. Herries receives funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna M. Kotarba-Morley receives funding from Australian Research Council, National Centre for Science in Poland, Queensland Department of Environment, and Science and Rock Art Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Renaud Joannes-Boyau receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vito C. Hernandez receives funding from the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences of Flinders University, and the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship grant of Associate Professor Mike Morley.</span></em></p>How, when and where did modern humans evolve? Nobody has all the answers, but studying rock and dirt can put the debate on firmer footing.Mike W. Morley, Associate Professor and Director, Flinders Microarchaeology Laboratory, Flinders UniversityAndy I.R. Herries, Professor of Palaeoanthropology, La Trobe UniversityAnna M. Kotarba-Morley, Lecturer in Museum and Curatorial Studies, University of AdelaideRenaud Joannes-Boyau, Associate Professor, Southern Cross UniversityVito C. Hernandez, Geoarchaeologist and Postgraduate Research Scholar, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2153342023-11-28T19:12:04Z2023-11-28T19:12:04ZScience communicators need to stop telling everybody the universe is a meaningless void<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562017/original/file-20231128-27-l3ap7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5615%2C2907&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/silhouette-of-man-standing-on-rock-while-looking-in-sky-0LU4vO5iFpM">Greg Rakozy / Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The scientific worldview has made great contributions to humanity’s flourishing. But, as science advances into territory once firmly held by religion – attempting to answer questions about the origins of the universe, life and consciousness – science communication often paints a fairly pessimistic picture of the world.</p>
<p>Take a few examples. An article in New Scientist claims our perception that pet dogs love us <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2280859-your-dog-may-not-like-you-as-much-as-you-think-it-does/">may be an illusion</a>. Physicist Brian Greene sees humanity’s ultimate fate in <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/549600/until-the-end-of-time-by-brian-greene/">the demise of the Solar System</a>. Writer Yuval Noah Harari, in his bestselling book Sapiens, posits that <a href="https://www.ynharari.com/book/sapiens-2/">life holds no inherent meaning</a>. Philosopher David Benatar goes so far as to argue that <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/32901"><em>being born</em> is a bad thing</a>.</p>
<p>Scientists themselves may not find the view of the universe presented above to be pessimistic. However, this may bring them into conflict with many things humanity values – or has evolved to value – such as meaning, purpose and free will.</p>
<h2>The Copernican principle</h2>
<p>One essential function of science communication is to mobilise people to act against some of humanity’s most pressing problems – think of the COVID pandemic, or climate change. </p>
<p>However, unlike most people, scientists and science communicators often tend to think humans are in a sense nothing special. This idea is known as the Copernican principle.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/copernicus-revolution-and-galileos-vision-our-changing-view-of-the-universe-in-pictures-60103">Copernicus' revolution and Galileo's vision: our changing view of the universe in pictures</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The Copernican principle (named after the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, who realised Earth goes around the Sun) holds that humans are not special observers of the universe compared to any other beings who may exist elsewhere. </p>
<p>Going further, the principle has been extrapolated to mean that any attempt to ascribe meaning to human life or imply there is something exceptional about human relationships falls outside the realm of science. As a consequence, humans have no unique value – and any suggestion otherwise can be dismissed as unscientific.</p>
<h2>Paradoxes in science communication</h2>
<p>Although science does not deny the importance of human happiness and societal function, we would not expect a physicist, for example, to modify their theories of cosmology to make them more psychologically meaningful.</p>
<p>This leads us to two great paradoxes science communication often tries to straddle.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>We live in a deterministic world without free will, yet we must choose to accept science and prevent climate change. And we must act now!</p></li>
<li><p>The universe is destined to end in a dead, freezing void and life has no meaning. But we must prevent climate change so our planet does not become a dead, overheated void – and we can continue our meaningless lives. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>As a result of these paradoxes, those who do not align with science’s claims about the fundamental nature of the universe may not accept scientific arguments regarding climate change. If agreeing to stop using fossil fuels is linked to accepting your life has no meaning, it’s no wonder some are reluctant.</p>
<p>What’s worse, signing up to “science” may also mean accepting your religion is false, your spirituality is an illusion and your relationship with your dog is based on an evolutionary lie. </p>
<h2>Science communication and beliefs</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562020/original/file-20231128-23-p4frq7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo of a T-shirt reading 'Science doesn't care what you believe'." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562020/original/file-20231128-23-p4frq7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562020/original/file-20231128-23-p4frq7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562020/original/file-20231128-23-p4frq7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562020/original/file-20231128-23-p4frq7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562020/original/file-20231128-23-p4frq7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562020/original/file-20231128-23-p4frq7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562020/original/file-20231128-23-p4frq7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It’s a catchy T-shirt slogan, but not an effective strategy for winning hearts and minds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/science-doesnt-care-what-you-believe-2086591639">Depock Chandra Roy / Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In words you might sometimes see on novelty T-shirts, commonly attributed to astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson, “Science doesn’t care what you believe.” What Tyson actually said was a little less combative: “The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.” </p>
<p>But if science, by its rational and objective nature, is not able to care what people believe, perhaps science <em>communication</em> should care. </p>
<p>Compare science communication to health communication, for example. The maternity ward at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney contains the word “welcome” in more than 20 languages. The admission paperwork asks for your religion so that care may be taken to avoid insensitivities and also to provide an appropriate spiritual guide if needed. </p>
<p>Public health messaging is adapted to its audience based on research in health anthropology.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-cultural-assumptions-behind-western-medicine-7533">The cultural assumptions behind Western medicine</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>All of this is done to achieve the best health outcomes and to try to create health care centred on people. This is despite the fact that a virus or a chronic disease care little for your religious or spiritual beliefs. </p>
<p>Just as the World Health Organization’s <a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/social-determinants-of-health#tab=tab_1">Social Determinants of Health Framework</a> looks at non-medical factors that influence health outcomes, we also need to look at non-science factors when evaluating science communication outcomes.</p>
<h2>The opposite poles of the debate</h2>
<p>Proponents of science often see themselves in a battle against the forces of superstition and religion, one which geneticist Francis S. Collins has <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Language-of-God/Francis-S-Collins/9781416542742">written</a> is “overshadowed by the high-decibel pronouncements of those who occupy the poles of the debate”.</p>
<p>But if we are trying to use science communication to make the world a better place, we shouldn’t let the drama of this battle distract us from our ultimate goal. </p>
<p>Instead, science communicators would do well to take a more sensitive and anthropological approach to science communication. Understanding what people value and how to reach them may actually help the advancements of science make the world a better place. </p>
<p>We don’t have to change what science discovers, but we perhaps do not have to tell people their life has no meaning in the opening chapter of a popular science book. As Brian Greene <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/549600/until-the-end-of-time-by-brian-greene/">put it</a>, “we have developed strategies to contend with knowledge of our impermanence”, which provide us with hope as we “gesture toward eternity”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215334/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Ellis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Science is essential for human flourishing. So why does so much science communication paint a bleak, nihilist picture of the world?Chris Ellis, Medical Doctor. Interdisciplinary Lecturer. PhD Student, History and Philosophy of Science., University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2126632023-11-22T13:18:08Z2023-11-22T13:18:08ZForensic anthropologists work to identify human skeletal remains and uncover the stories of the unknown dead<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560481/original/file-20231120-29-au8sqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=310%2C36%2C3747%2C2658&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Forensic anthropologists can be called in when human remains are discovered.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/crime-scene-investigators-searching-grave-site-royalty-free-image/520354722">Ashley Cooper/The Image Bank via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A seasoned deer hunter is shocked when his hound dog trots up with a human femur clenched between its teeth. A woman veers off her normal urban walking path and happens upon a human skull. New property owners commission a land survey that reveals a set of human remains just below a pile of leaves. </p>
<p>These examples are real cases handled by coroners’ offices where we have assisted as forensic anthropologists.</p>
<p>What happens after someone inadvertently discovers a human body? How are human skeletal remains identified? It can be a major effort, requiring collaboration across law enforcement, forensic anthropologists and <a href="https://www.abmdi.org/faq">death investigators</a> to uncover the identities of the unidentified dead and help bring justice to people who were victims of foul play. </p>
<p>There are nearly <a href="https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/">15,000 open cases</a> in the United States involving unidentified people, according to the Department of Justice’s <a href="https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/">National Missing and Unidentified Persons System</a>, a centralized database and resource for unidentified, missing and unclaimed people. This is an underestimate, though, because there is no universal reporting requirement across agencies. Many practicing forensic anthropologists work hard to alleviate what’s routinely referred to as the “<a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/jr000256.pdf">nation’s silent mass disaster</a>” – the crisis of so many missing and unidentified individuals.</p>
<h2>A specialized branch of anthropology</h2>
<p><a href="https://americananthro.org/learn-teach/what-is-anthropology/">Anthropology</a> is the holistic study of human culture, environment and biology across time and space. Biological anthropology focuses on the physiological aspects of people and our nonhuman primate relatives. It considers topics ranging from the evolutionary history of our species to the analysis of ancient and modern skeletal remains. Forensic anthropology is a further subspecialty that analyzes skeletal remains of the recently deceased within a legal setting.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560035/original/file-20231116-19-cvoupi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="human skeleton model posed in bottom of dirt hole with ruler near feet" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560035/original/file-20231116-19-cvoupi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560035/original/file-20231116-19-cvoupi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560035/original/file-20231116-19-cvoupi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560035/original/file-20231116-19-cvoupi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560035/original/file-20231116-19-cvoupi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560035/original/file-20231116-19-cvoupi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560035/original/file-20231116-19-cvoupi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In field school courses, future forensic anthropologists learn from models about what can be gleaned from skeletal discoveries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Katherine Weisensee</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Forensic anthropologists are trained in identifying human skeletal remains. They use scientific techniques to identify deceased people whose faces are unrecognizable – often referred to as “Jane and John Does.” Forensic anthropologists’ skills allow them to interpret from skeletons the trauma and disease a person suffered in life, as well as estimate when that person died.</p>
<p>One of us is employed as a postdoctoral research fellow as well as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=JfkuU8AAAAAJ">forensic anthropologist and deputy coroner</a> through a county coroner’s office; the other is a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=pum4uEMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">university professor who responds to local forensic scenes</a> on an as-needed, consulting basis. The realities of forensic anthropology casework are often misrepresented by crime and mystery movies and shows, but our positions reflect how a lot of <a href="https://www.aafs.org/careers-anthropology">practicing forensic anthropologists are employed</a> in the United States.</p>
<p>Outside of local work, forensic anthropologists travel to sites of <a href="https://aeon.co/essays/how-forensic-science-can-aid-the-human-rights-movement">political violence</a>, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1111/(ISSN)1556-4029.role-of-forensic-anthropology-in-mass-disaster-identification">mass disasters</a> such as the tragedies of 9/11 or the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/10/27/surfside-debris-dispose-search/">collapse of the Surfside condo building</a> in Miami, and events like the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12414797/Maui-forensic-anthropologist-robert-mann-dna.html">devastating fires in Maui</a>. <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-someone-dies-what-happens-to-the-body-143070">Normal procedures for handling deaths</a> can quickly become overwhelmed during crises; burial of the dead can take priority over identification, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/gaza-burials-dead-israel-hamas-war-rcna124238">as has been occurring in Gaza</a>.</p>
<h2>Scientific tools to identify the unidentified</h2>
<p>The complex decomposition process begins as soon as someone dies. Environment, weather, trauma, clothing and location of the death, among other variables, can all complicate how quickly a body decomposes. In cases of advanced decomposition or extreme circumstances such as fires or building collapses, the deceased may no longer be recognizable. That’s a situation in which local law enforcement might want to contact a forensic anthropologist, if possible, to collaborate on figuring out the person’s identity and possibly the circumstances around their death.</p>
<p>A forensic anthropologists’ primary toolkit involves <a href="https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Anthropology/Biological_Anthropology/EXPLORATIONS%3A__An_Open_Invitation_to_Biological__Anthropology_1e/15%3A_Bioarchaeology_and_Forensic_Anthropology/15.04%3A_New_Page">observing subtle variations in features of the skeleton</a> to create a <a href="https://explorations.americananthro.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Chapter-15-Bioarchaeology-and-Forensic-Anthropology-3.0.pdf">biological profile</a>: an estimation of the individual’s age at death, biological sex, height during life and any potentially unique skeletal characteristics, such as healed trauma or tooth loss that may have been visible during life. Forensic anthropologists assess the entire skeleton, with an emphasis on the skull, pelvis and long bones. </p>
<p>Information learned from the skeleton is then uploaded to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System so it can be compared with missing person records. The goal is to develop leads on the person’s identity. An estimated time of death can also provide a useful point of comparison.</p>
<p>For example, consider a case in upstate South Carolina that one of us assisted on. Human remains were discovered in someone’s yard after a dog dragged several bones out of a creek. Our assessment revealed that the size and shape of the bones were consistent with this Jane Doe being a middle-aged woman. This information allowed local investigators to quickly narrow the pool of missing people in the area who fit that description. Ultimately, they were able to identify this unknown person. </p>
<p>Missing person records can vary at the county and state levels, though, and not all missing people are even reported. These bureaucratic challenges can complicate our attempts to match up information learned from the skeleton with the database. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560488/original/file-20231120-29-8qsmz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="digital representation of a skull on a laptop screen with gloved woman in foreground" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560488/original/file-20231120-29-8qsmz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560488/original/file-20231120-29-8qsmz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560488/original/file-20231120-29-8qsmz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560488/original/file-20231120-29-8qsmz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560488/original/file-20231120-29-8qsmz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560488/original/file-20231120-29-8qsmz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560488/original/file-20231120-29-8qsmz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A forensic artist may create a 3D scan of a skull as a starting point to reconstructing what the person looked like during life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/quantico-va-lisa-bailey-a-forensic-artist-with-the-fbi-news-photo/146668602">Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>In the absence of a match, the next step in the identification process can involve a forensic facial reconstruction. Based on the forensic anthropologist’s assessment, along with any clothing found associated with the decedent, <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/forensic-anthropology-puts-a-human-face-on-unidentified-remains">a forensic artist will create</a> a 2D or sometimes 3D facial reconstruction. Law enforcement can release the image to the public through a press release, which may generate leads about who the person was.</p>
<p>DNA can provide other valuable clues, but submitting samples for analysis can be cost-prohibitive. If funding and resources are available, we submit samples from bone or teeth <a href="https://www.unthsc.edu/center-for-human-identification/">to a lab</a> that can then generate a genetic sequence from the skeletal remains.</p>
<p>Even with a clear sequence, though, the unknown DNA sample must be matched either to a sample collected during life or from a close relative in order to be useful for determining identity. <a href="https://bja.ojp.gov/funding/webinar/fy23-cebr-presentation.pdf">It can take weeks, months or even years</a> to get the unknown sequence back and compare it with known individuals. If no match is found, <a href="https://guides.loc.gov/genetic-genealogy">genetic genealogy</a> may suggest leads through <a href="https://theconversation.com/consumer-genetic-testing-customers-stretch-their-dna-data-further-with-third-party-interpretation-websites-118248">potentially related individuals</a> – but this investigative field is still emerging.</p>
<p>In each step toward identification, there are many logistical and bureaucratic barriers that contribute to an enormous backlog of unidentified people in county morgues and coroners’ offices. Many cold cases remain unsolved for decades, and the process is further compounded in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/12/operation-identification-texas-migrant-remains-identify">cases involving undocumented people</a>. Despite these hurdles, forensic anthropologists remain committed to returning names to the unidentified.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212663/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Madeline Atwell receives funding from the National Institute of Justice. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Weisensee receives funding from the National Institute of Justice. </span></em></p>Forensic anthropologists are specialized scientists who analyze the skeletal remains of the recently deceased to help authorities figure out who the person was and what happened to them.Madeline Atwell, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice, Clemson UniversityKatherine Weisensee, Professor of Anthropology, Clemson UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2143472023-11-17T13:29:56Z2023-11-17T13:29:56ZForget ‘Man the Hunter’ – physiological and archaeological evidence rewrites assumptions about a gendered division of labor in prehistoric times<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560041/original/file-20231116-21-sqjk8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=544%2C53%2C4368%2C2812&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In small-group, subsistence living, it makes sense for everyone to do lots of jobs.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/tribe-of-hunter-gatherers-wearing-animal-skin-live-royalty-free-image/1194512903">gorodenkoff/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Prehistoric men hunted; prehistoric women gathered. At least this is the standard narrative written by and about men to the exclusion of women.</p>
<p>The idea of “Man the Hunter” runs deep within anthropology, convincing people that hunting made us human, only men did the hunting, and therefore evolutionary forces must only have acted upon men. Such depictions are found not only in media, <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/museum-of-human-evolution">but in museums</a> and introductory anthropology textbooks, too. </p>
<p>A common argument is that a sexual division of labor and unequal division of power exists today; therefore, it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/0591-2385.00226">must have existed in our evolutionary past</a> as well. But this is a just-so story without sufficient evidentiary support, despite its pervasiveness in disciplines like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2013.804899">evolutionary psychology</a>.</p>
<p>There is a growing body of physiological, anatomical, ethnographic and archaeological evidence to suggest that <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-theory-that-men-evolved-to-hunt-and-women-evolved-to-gather-is-wrong1/">not only did women hunt</a> in our evolutionary past, but they may well have been better suited for such an endurance-dependent activity.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YE6ZrpwAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">We are both</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=u3iE81oAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">biological anthropologists</a>. Cara specializes in the physiology of humans living in extreme conditions, using her research to reconstruct how our ancestors may have adapted to different climates. Sarah studies Neanderthal and early modern human health, and excavates at their archaeological sites.</p>
<p>It’s not uncommon for scientists like us – who attempt to include the contributions of all individuals, regardless of sex and gender, in reconstructions of our evolutionary past – to be accused of rewriting the past to fulfill a politically correct, woke agenda. The actual evidence speaks for itself, though: Gendered labor roles did not exist in the Paleolithic era, which lasted from 3.3 million years ago until 12,000 years ago. The story is written in human bodies, now and in the past.</p>
<p>We recognize that biological sex can be defined using multiple characteristics, including chromosomes, genitalia and hormones, each of which <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23623">exists on a spectrum</a>. Social gender, too, is not a binary category. We use the terms female and male when discussing the physiological and anatomical evidence, as this is what the research literature tends to use.</p>
<h2>Female bodies: Adapted for endurance</h2>
<p>One of the key arguments put forth by “Man the Hunter” proponents is that <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/444294299">females would not have been physically capable</a> of taking part in the long, arduous hunts of our evolutionary past. But a number of female-associated features, which provide an endurance advantage, tell a different story.</p>
<p>All human bodies, regardless of sex, have and need both the hormones <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/estrogen">estrogen</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/testosterone">testosterone</a>. On average, females have more estrogen and males more testosterone, though there is a <a href="https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/tests/testosterone#:%7E:text=Normal%20Results,0.5%20to%202.4%20nmol%2FL">great deal of variation</a> <a href="https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=167&ContentID=estradiol#:%7E:text=30%20to%20400%20pg%2FmL,50%20pg%2FmL%20for%20men">and overlap</a>.</p>
<p>Testosterone often gets all the credit when it comes to athletic success. But estrogen – technically the estrogen receptor – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1086185">is deeply ancient</a>, originating somewhere between 1.2 billion and 600 million years ago. It <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna38268611">predates the existence of sexual reproduction</a> involving egg and sperm. The testosterone receptor originated as a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1086185">duplicate of the estrogen receptor</a> and is only about half as old. As such, estrogen, in its many forms and pervasive functions, seems necessary for life among both females and males.</p>
<p>Estrogen influences athletic performance, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-022-01651-w">particularly endurance performance</a>. The greater concentrations of estrogen that females tend to have in their bodies likely confer an endurance advantage – an ability to exercise for a longer period of time without becoming exhausted.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559161/original/file-20231113-27-iz9t0v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="sihoutte of a woman's body with cartoon systems highlighted" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559161/original/file-20231113-27-iz9t0v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559161/original/file-20231113-27-iz9t0v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559161/original/file-20231113-27-iz9t0v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559161/original/file-20231113-27-iz9t0v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559161/original/file-20231113-27-iz9t0v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559161/original/file-20231113-27-iz9t0v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559161/original/file-20231113-27-iz9t0v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The hormone estrogen has multiple effects throughout the body and plays a role in people regardless of sex.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cara Ocobock</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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</figure>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/H00-024">Estrogen signals the body to burn more fat</a> – beneficial during endurance activity for two key reasons. First, fat has more than twice the calories per gram as carbohydrates do. And it takes <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK556002">longer to metabolize fats than carbs</a>. So, fat provides more bang for the buck overall, and the slow burn provides sustained energy over longer periods of time, which <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/apha.12234">can delay fatigue during endurance activities</a> like running.</p>
<p>In addition to their estrogen advantage, females have a greater proportion of <a href="https://blog.nasm.org/fitness/fast-twitch-vs-slow-twitch">type I muscle fibers</a> relative to males.</p>
<p>These are slow oxidative muscle fibers that prefer to metabolize fats. They’re not particularly powerful, but they take awhile to fatigue – unlike the powerful type II fibers that males have more of but that tire rapidly. Doing the same intense exercise, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1152/JAPPL.1998.85.3.1175">females burn 70% more fats</a> than males do, and unsurprisingly, are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00422739">less likely to fatigue</a>. </p>
<p>Estrogen also appears to be important for post-exercise recovery. Intense exercise or heat exposure can be stressful for the body, eliciting an inflammatory response via the release of heat shock proteins. Estrogen limits this response, which would otherwise inhibit recovery. Estrogen also stabilizes cell membranes that might otherwise be damaged or rupture due to the stress of exercise. Thanks to this hormone, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2165/11319760-000000000-00000">females incur less damage during exercise</a> and are therefore capable of faster recovery.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559162/original/file-20231113-25-uu4rie.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Silhouette of woman running with cartoon systems highlighted" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559162/original/file-20231113-25-uu4rie.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559162/original/file-20231113-25-uu4rie.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559162/original/file-20231113-25-uu4rie.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559162/original/file-20231113-25-uu4rie.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559162/original/file-20231113-25-uu4rie.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559162/original/file-20231113-25-uu4rie.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559162/original/file-20231113-25-uu4rie.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A variety of physiological differences add up to an advantage for women in endurance activities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cara Ocobock</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<h2>Women in the past likely did everything men did</h2>
<p>Forget the Flintstones’ nuclear family with a stay-at-home wife. There’s no evidence of this social structure or gendered labor roles during the 2 million years of evolution for the genus <em>Homo</em> until the last 12,000 years, with the advent of agriculture. </p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal">Our Neanderthal cousins</a>, a group of humans who lived across Western and Central Eurasia approximately 250,000 to 40,000 years ago, formed small, highly-nomadic bands. Fossil evidence shows <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.05.039">females and males experienced the same bony traumas</a> across their bodies – a signature of a hard life hunting deer, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/aurochs">aurochs</a> and wooly mammoths. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1212(199703)7:2%3C133::AID-OA326%3E3.0.CO;2-4">Tooth wear that results from using the front teeth as a third hand</a>, likely in tasks like tanning hides, is equally evident across females and males.</p>
<p>This nongendered picture should not be surprising when you imagine small-group living. Everyone needs to contribute to the tasks necessary for group survival – chiefly, producing food and shelter and raising children. Individual mothers are not solely responsible for their children; in foragers, the <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dev0001601">whole group contributes to child care</a>.</p>
<p>You might imagine this unified labor strategy then changed in early modern humans, but archaeological and anatomical evidence shows it did not. Upper Paleolithic modern humans leaving Africa and entering Europe and Asia show very few sexed differences <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.20950">in trauma and repetitive motion wear</a>. One difference is more evidence of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2016.09.001">“thrower’s elbow” in males than females</a>, though some females shared these pathologies.</p>
<p>And this was also the time when <a href="https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.2000.0435">people were innovating with hunting technologies</a> like <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/spear-thrower">atlatls</a>, fishing hooks and nets, and bow and arrows – alleviating some of the wear and tear hunting would take on their bodies. A recent archaeological experiment found that using <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-40451-8">atlatls decreased sex differences</a> in the speed of spears thrown by contemporary men and women.</p>
<p>Even in death, there are no sexed differences in how Neanderthals or modern humans <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199569069.013.0017">buried their dead, or the goods affiliated with their graves</a>. These indicators of differential gendered social status do not arrive until agriculture, with its stratified economic system and monopolizable resources.</p>
<p>All this evidence suggests paleolithic women and men did not occupy differing roles or social realms.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560074/original/file-20231116-22-l4g97u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="young women adorned with toucan and macaw feathers holding wooden sticks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560074/original/file-20231116-22-l4g97u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560074/original/file-20231116-22-l4g97u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560074/original/file-20231116-22-l4g97u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560074/original/file-20231116-22-l4g97u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560074/original/file-20231116-22-l4g97u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560074/original/file-20231116-22-l4g97u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560074/original/file-20231116-22-l4g97u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young women from the Awa Indigenous group in Brazil return from a hunt with their bows and arrows.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-a-group-of-young-awa-women-adorned-with-toucan-news-photo/1258052224">Scott Wallace/Hulton Archive via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Critics might point to recent forager populations and suggest that since they are using subsistence strategies similar to our ancient ancestors, their gendered roles are inherent to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle.</p>
<p>However, there are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.20046">many flaws in this approach</a>. Foragers are not living fossils, and their social structures and cultural norms have evolved over time and in response to patriarchal agricultural neighbors and colonial administrators. Additionally, ethnographers of the last two centuries brought their sexism with them into the field, and <a href="https://kernsverlag.com/en/book/distorting-the-past/">it biased how they understood forager societies</a>. For instance, a recent reanalysis showed that 79% of cultures described in ethnographic data <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287101">included descriptions of women hunting</a>; however, previous interpretations frequently left them out. </p>
<h2>Time to shake these caveman myths</h2>
<p>The myth that female reproductive capabilities somehow render them incapable of gathering any food products beyond those that cannot run away does more than just underestimate Paleolithic women. It feeds into narratives that the contemporary social roles of women and men are inherent and define our evolution. Our Paleolithic ancestors lived in a world where everyone in the band pulled their own weight, performing multiple tasks. It was not a utopia, but it was not a patriarchy. </p>
<p>Certainly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2018.1433060">accommodations must have been made for group members</a> who were sick, recovering from childbirth or otherwise temporarily incapacitated. But pregnancy, lactation, child-rearing and menstruation are not permanently disabling events, as researchers found among the living Agta of the Philippines who <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00287829">continue to hunt during these life periods</a>.</p>
<p>Suggesting that the female body is only designed to gather plants ignores female physiology and the archaeological record. To ignore the evidence perpetuates a myth that only serves to bolster existing power structures.</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Read more on this topic in <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-theory-that-men-evolved-to-hunt-and-women-evolved-to-gather-is-wrong1/">Scientific American</a></em></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214347/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Female bodies have an advantage in endurance ability that means Paleolithic women likely hunted game, not just gathered plants. The story is written in living and ancient human bodies.Sarah Lacy, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of DelawareCara Ocobock, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Notre DameLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2147192023-10-04T19:05:09Z2023-10-04T19:05:09ZNew path for early human migrations through a once-lush Arabia contradicts a single ‘out of Africa’ origin<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551581/original/file-20231002-21-9nvrqz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C10%2C3456%2C2286&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A general view of Wadi Gharandal riverine wetland, along the Jordan Rift Valley, showing palm trees concentrated at the centre of the wadi near the active spring.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mahmoud Abbas</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Our species, <em>Homo sapiens</em>, migrated out of Africa multiple times – reaching the Levant and Arabia between 130,000 and 70,000 years ago, as exemplified by human fossils and archaeological sites found at various locations. </p>
<p>Little is known, however, about the pathways of these migrations. In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adi6838">study</a> published today in Science Advances, we find the now inhospitable and hyper-arid zone of the southern Jordan Rift Valley was frequently lush and well-watered in the past. </p>
<p>Our evidence suggests this valley had a riverine and wetland zone that would have provided ideal passage for hunter-gatherers as they moved out of Africa and deep into the Levant and Arabia.</p>
<h2>Wandering out of Africa</h2>
<p>Researchers hypothesise humans migrating <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379116301494">out of Africa</a> would have used platforms in the eastern Sahara, the Nile River Valley, or the margins of the western Red Sea. </p>
<p>From there, these small bands of hunter-gatherers would have passed into the Sinai – a land bridge connecting Africa with the rest of Asia – following migrating animals and hunting a variety of them for sustenance. </p>
<p>For many of these hunter-gatherers, the next stop on the journey would have been the southern portion of the Jordan Rift Valley. This valley is situated in a strategic zone, with the Dead Sea to the north and the Gulf of Aqaba in the south. </p>
<p>Our field work was concentrated on three sites. The first two were <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344122987_A_wetland_oasis_at_Wadi_Gharandal_spanning_125-70_ka_on_the_human_migration_trail_in_southern_Jordan">Wadi Gharandal</a> and an area near the village of Gregra – both in the valley itself. The third site, <a href="https://livinginjordanasexpat.com/2019/08/21/hiking-wadi-al-hasa-%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%B3%D8%A7/">Wadi Hasa</a>, is located in the more elevated areas of the Jordan plateau. </p>
<p>“Wadi” is an Arabic word describing a temporary riverbed that only contains water during heavy rains.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551922/original/file-20231003-21-di5gym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551922/original/file-20231003-21-di5gym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551922/original/file-20231003-21-di5gym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551922/original/file-20231003-21-di5gym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551922/original/file-20231003-21-di5gym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551922/original/file-20231003-21-di5gym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551922/original/file-20231003-21-di5gym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551922/original/file-20231003-21-di5gym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We researched three sites, including two wadis and an area near a village called Gregra.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mahmoud Abbas</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>When Arabia was a verdant land</h2>
<p>Our goal was to reconstruct the region’s past environmental settings by accurately dating various sections of sediment. We used a technique called luminescence dating to estimate how long sediment grains had been shielded from sunlight, thereby allowing us to calculate how old they were.</p>
<p>Our findings from sedimentary sections ranging 5 to 12 metres in thickness showed ecosystem fluctuations over time, including cycles of dry and humid environments. We also found evidence for the presence of ancient rivers and wetlands.</p>
<p>Luminescence dating showed the sedimentary environments formed between 125,000 and 43,000 years ago, suggesting there had been multiple wet intervals.</p>
<p>At Wadi Gharandal, our team recovered three stone tools associated with a wetland environment. Two of these were made using the <a href="https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_391-1">Levallois method</a> – a characteristic manufacturing technique known to have been used by both Neanderthals and <em>Homo sapiens</em>. We dated the tools to 84,000 years ago. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551928/original/file-20231004-29-i2gfqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551928/original/file-20231004-29-i2gfqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551928/original/file-20231004-29-i2gfqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551928/original/file-20231004-29-i2gfqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551928/original/file-20231004-29-i2gfqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551928/original/file-20231004-29-i2gfqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551928/original/file-20231004-29-i2gfqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551928/original/file-20231004-29-i2gfqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We collected samples for luminescence dating from the Wadi Hasa area in West Jordan. Pictured are Mahmoud Abbas, Mohammed Alqudah and Yuansen Lai.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zhongping Lai/Shantou University</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Collectively, our fieldwork in the Jordan Rift Valley demonstrates the valley once functioned as a 360-kilometre-long freshwater corridor that helped funnel humans northward into Western Asia and southward into the Arabian Peninsula. </p>
<p>Further evidence for a northward expansion comes from the famous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skhul_and_Qafzeh_hominins">Skhul and Qafzeh</a> cave sites in Israel. Fossils of <em>Homo sapiens</em> and Levallois stone tools have been found here. </p>
<p>Towards the south, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03863-;y">fieldwork</a> in northern Saudi Arabia has also demonstrated a network of rivers and lakes was once present in the region. This allowed humans to penetrate a green Nefud Desert replete with savannahs and grassland.</p>
<p>In the heart of the Nefud, the lakeside site of Al Wusta has produced a <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-fossil-finger-discovery-points-to-earlier-human-migration-in-arabia-94670">human fossil and Levallois stone tools</a> dating to 85,000 years ago. These dates coincide with the 84,000-year-old Levallois stone tools found at Wadi Gharandal. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/major-new-research-claims-smaller-brained-homo-naledi-made-rock-art-and-buried-the-dead-but-the-evidence-is-lacking-207000">Major new research claims smaller-brained _Homo naledi_ made rock art and buried the dead. But the evidence is lacking</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Multiple migrations into South-West Asia</h2>
<p>Our findings from the Jordan Rift Valley indicate there were multiple early human migrations from Africa, and into Asia, during favourable conditions. This opposes the <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/almost-all-living-people-outside-africa-trace-back-single-migration-more-50000-years">theory of a single</a>, rapid wave of human movement out of Africa <a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/global-human-journey/">60,000 years ago</a>. </p>
<p>Our results also suggest, together with the Levantine and Arabian evidence, that hunter-gatherers used inland river and wetland systems as they crossed South-West Asia. This contradicts a popular model <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18625005-200-humans-took-the-scenic-route-out-of-africa/">suggesting they mainly used</a> coastal routes as super-highways.</p>
<p>Although ancient DNA evidence indicates <em>Homo sapiens</em> interbred with Neanderthals and Denisovans multiple times as they spread into Asia, on-the-ground evidence for these encounters has generally been lacking. Our findings provide further evidence this area served as the ground for these encounters.</p>
<p>Yet numerous questions remain unanswered. Large swathes of territory in South-West Asia have not yet been surveyed or dated – and few fossils of our <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.aai9067">ancestors have been found</a> to shore up arguments about how early humans really dispersed.</p>
<p>We’ll need to closely investigate more long-neglected areas such as the Jordan Rift Valley to accurately portray how humankind’s voyage out of Africa unfolded. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/research-reveals-humans-ventured-out-of-africa-repeatedly-as-early-as-400-000-years-ago-to-visit-the-rolling-grasslands-of-arabia-167050">Research reveals humans ventured out of Africa repeatedly as early as 400,000 years ago, to visit the rolling grasslands of Arabia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214719/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zhongping Lai receives funding from the China Natural Science Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mahmoud Abbas and Michael Petraglia do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The findings reveal a close association between climatic conditions and early human migrations out of Africa.Michael Petraglia, Director, Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith UniversityMahmoud Abbas, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute of Marine Sciences, Shantou UniversityZhongping Lai, Professor, Institute of Marine Sciences, Shantou UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2117702023-08-31T08:37:25Z2023-08-31T08:37:25ZThe philosopher Marc Augé defined our cities. Now it’s in our hands to make them homey<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543221/original/file-20230726-19-t8cqps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C4%2C2671%2C1790&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-photo/people-rush-on-street-blurred-crowd-398922532">Efetova Anna /Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>“[The] city is a spatial figure of time in which present, past and future come together. It is, at times, a cause for astonishment and, at others, for remembrance or expectation […]. In this sense, the city is both an illusion and an allusion.” (Marc Augé, “Pour une anthropologie de la mobilité”).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We head to the mall to do some shopping. Since it’s out in the suburbs, we take the car. Along the way, we pay less attention to our surroundings than to the traffic signs we encounter, with which we automatically comply.</p>
<p>When we arrive at our destination, we walk through the doors (also automatic), and navigate the aisles of the store by following, once again, the signs. We select products by either studying their ingredients or simply by their brand name. We come across other people, but don’t converse with them. At the cash register, new figures and familiar phrases await us.</p>
<p>We frequent these kinds of spaces on a daily basis: subway systems, gas stations, airports, malls, theme parks. Unlike traditional settings, they aren’t intended as places to dwell, but simply to be transited.</p>
<h2>Non-places</h2>
<p>French anthropologist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Aug%C3%A9">Marc Augé</a>, who died on July 24, is renowned for his concept of “non-places”. His 1993 <a href="https://books.google.es/books/about/Non_places.html?id=LMr8_pXJgdwC&redir_esc=y">text of the same name</a> describes a reality that is very much relevant to our everyday lives.</p>
<p>By reading it, we can better grasp the apparent paradox of life in the big city. That is to say, why, despite the fact that we are surrounded by so many people, we still often feel lonely.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539536/original/file-20230726-23-13ifrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2048%2C1361&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man with gray hair and a white beard speaking into a microphone with a smile on his face" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539536/original/file-20230726-23-13ifrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2048%2C1361&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539536/original/file-20230726-23-13ifrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539536/original/file-20230726-23-13ifrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539536/original/file-20230726-23-13ifrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539536/original/file-20230726-23-13ifrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539536/original/file-20230726-23-13ifrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539536/original/file-20230726-23-13ifrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marc Augé, in a photo at an event in Italy in 2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/associazionevedro/6892058626/">Vedro/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As is often the case with any frequently quoted statement, its meaning has often been reduced to a negative critique of the spaces that modern capitalist societies have created.</p>
<p>The fact is that a non-place is a depersonalised space in which we act as mere users, devoid of history – what does the history of a supermarket matter? However, it’s also relational since in these spaces we become cashiers, drivers, customers, etc. and in those terms we interact with others. This illustrates that the non-place is defined, by its very nature, by what it is not.</p>
<p>It’s precisely for this reason that the term is so elusive. However, no space can be understood simply by being a place or a non-place, but by what we do in it and with it. Of course, as a function of their design and purpose, an airport or a supermarket have far more chances of being labelled a non-place than a town square.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, as its users, we are able to redefine it, however tenuous or temporary that may be. After all, Nobel Prize-winning author Annie Ernaux turns a supermarket into a place for romance in <a href="https://books.google.es/books/about/Look_at_the_Lights_My_Love.html?id=iNGwEAAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y">_Look at the Lights, My Love</a>. It seems the French have a knack for unlocking the aesthetic potential of non-places.</p>
<h2>Augé and beyond</h2>
<p>Augé’s more recent works should also be remembered in the wake of his death. These include <a href="https://books.google.es/books/about/Pour_une_anthropologie_de_la_mobilit%C3%A9.html?id=tenrAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y"><em>Pour une anthropologie de la mobilité</em></a>, which examines the concepts of borders and migration in the context of the globalised world.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://books.google.es/books/about/L_impossible_voyage.html?id=3a8LAAAAYAAJ&redir_esc=y"><em>L'impossible voyage: le tourisme et ses images</em></a>, reminds us that, strictly speaking, the concept of travel is a difficult undertaking in the modern world of mass media since we have already consumed images and perceptions of our destination before we set out on our journey. These days, it’s impossible for us to replicate the experience of Ulysses facing the unknown.</p>
<p>Augé taught us a great many things. For instance, that we need not travel to inhospitable lands, if that notion still exists, in order to be anthropologists. He started out, in fact, in African studies. Although Augé was born and died in Poitiers, most of his texts focus on Paris, where he spent much of his life.</p>
<p>He also demonstrated that academic prose is no impediment to beautiful writing. He enjoyed providing literary and cinematographic examples, illustrating that links between anthropology or philosophy and the arts are not only possible, but necessary.</p>
<p>For the scholar, our experience of the city must not be limited to its infrastructures. Instead, it should comprise the dynamic result of the complex interplay of our personal memories and experiences, the collective past and the arts. Some of his other examples include Venice, which cannot be viewed <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Death-in-Venice-novella-by-Mann">without the filter of Thomas Mann</a>, Santiago de Chile, without recalling <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Isabel-Allende">Isabel Allende</a>, and San Francisco, without picturing the mysterious woman in Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052357/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_7_nm_1_q_vertigo"><em>Vertigo</em></a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539545/original/file-20230726-15-53ueip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman walks along a river with a large red bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, in the background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539545/original/file-20230726-15-53ueip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539545/original/file-20230726-15-53ueip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539545/original/file-20230726-15-53ueip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539545/original/file-20230726-15-53ueip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539545/original/file-20230726-15-53ueip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539545/original/file-20230726-15-53ueip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539545/original/file-20230726-15-53ueip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An image from the film <em>Vertigo</em>, by Alfred Hitchcock, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052357/mediaindex">IMDB</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Even if we haven’t read anything by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Baudelaire">Charles Baudelaire</a>, we have acquired a series of expectations about Paris that have, to a large extent, a lot to do with his <em>tableaux</em> (portraits of the city).</p>
<p>In effect, the city is what we see, but also what we don’t see. Its streets, or what’s left of them, or even the buildings that are no longer there, in a gentle or violent manner, transport us to other times, and that’s why every city is like poetry of which we are readers and, at the same time, writers.</p>
<p>Or, in the words of Augé himself:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Urban planners, architects, artists and poets ought to realise that their fate is intertwined and that their raw material is the same: without the imaginary there would be no city, and vice versa.”</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211770/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isabel Argüelles Rozada receives funding from the "Severo Ochoa Programme" pre-doctoral research and teaching grants (BP20-147) from the Principality of Asturias, Spain.</span></em></p>The famous French anthropologist, world-renowned for his theory of non-places and his analyses of the “overmodern” city, died during the summer.Isabel Argüelles Rozada, Investigadora predoctoral en Filosofía, Universidad de OviedoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2069402023-07-26T20:06:19Z2023-07-26T20:06:19ZIn a Stone Age cemetery, DNA reveals a treasured ‘founding father’ and a legacy of prosperity for his sons<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534776/original/file-20230629-19-slv9ij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C279%2C2568%2C1583&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The reburied remains of the 'founding father'. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph by S. Rottier.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>From the remains of nearly 100 ancient individuals, we have reconstructed two extensive prehistoric family trees from a 6,700-year-old cemetery in France, revealing fresh insights into a Stone Age community.</p>
<p>Our new results, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06350-8">published today in Nature</a>, show a group of prehistoric farmers who lived within a network of other communities. This group even brought with them the bones of a “founding father”, establishing a lasting, male-dominated lineage. </p>
<h2>Difficulties looking into the past</h2>
<p>Around 9,000 years ago, during the late Stone Age period, the “Neolithic way of life” <a href="https://theconversation.com/european-invasion-dna-reveals-the-origins-of-modern-europeans-38096">spread from Anatolia</a> (the large peninsula made up mostly of today’s Türkiye) into Western Europe.</p>
<p>Instead of hunting and gathering, people began farming. With the ability to produce and store extra food, Neolithic people developed new social customs built on wealth, land ownership and access to resources, therefore <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2120786119">forming social hierarchies</a>. </p>
<p>Ancient burials can tell us a lot about how prehistoric people treated their dead. But figuring out how these societies behaved on a day-to-day basis has always been challenging for researchers. These challenges are due to a lack of written records, and physical data that can be hard to interpret.</p>
<p>These problems are even more complicated during the Neolithic in the Paris Basin in Northern France, where the French cemetery site of Gurgy “les Noisats” was discovered.</p>
<p>Why? The Paris Basin is well known for its <a href="https://doi.org/10.12766/jna.2010.37">massive Stone Age funerary monuments</a> (large objects celebrating important people after their death). These grand monuments functioned like the ancient Egyptian pyramids or the Taj Mahal of their day, in that they were built for the “elite” people in society.</p>
<p>But only a few, much smaller burials have been found that would likely represent the everyday people of the region. Studying these “normal” burials might be the only way to understand the “non-elite”, regular people of the time. </p>
<p>Using new methods for obtaining and comparing <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43586-020-00011-0">ancient DNA</a>, and by sampling nearly every individual from this non-monumental cemetery, our new results reveal two large family trees which open a window into the lives of the people of this prehistoric community.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/who-owned-this-stone-age-jewellery-new-forensic-tools-offer-an-unprecedented-answer-204797">Who owned this Stone Age jewellery? New forensic tools offer an unprecedented answer</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>A network of communities</h2>
<p>At the cemetery of Gurgy, graves didn’t overlap, meaning there may have been some markings on top of the ground (perhaps like gravestones are used today). This also suggests closely related individuals knew where people were buried.</p>
<p>Using specialised ancient DNA techniques and several sources of evidence from the burials, we reconstructed two of the largest ever family trees from a prehistoric cemetery. One family tree connected 63 individuals over seven generations, while another connected ten individuals over four generations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534954/original/file-20230630-29-6gxcoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A large chart of a family tree with hand-drawn portraits" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534954/original/file-20230630-29-6gxcoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534954/original/file-20230630-29-6gxcoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534954/original/file-20230630-29-6gxcoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534954/original/file-20230630-29-6gxcoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534954/original/file-20230630-29-6gxcoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534954/original/file-20230630-29-6gxcoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534954/original/file-20230630-29-6gxcoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The reconstructed family tree for the largest genetically-related group at Gurgy. The painted portraits are an artist’s reconstruction of two of the individuals based on physical traits estimated from DNA (when available). Dashed squares (genetically male) and circles (genetically female) represent individuals who were not found at the site, or did not yield enough DNA for analysis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Images painted by E. Plain; reproduced here with permission from the University of Bordeaux.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Exploring these family trees revealed a strong pattern of descent through the male line (called patrilineality). This is a practice where each generation is almost exclusively linked to the previous generation through their biological father. </p>
<p>Our results also suggested the practice of virilocality at Gurgy. This means the sons stayed where they were born, and produced children with women from outside of Gurgy.</p>
<p>Using <a href="https://doi.org/10.3109/03014461003649297">strontium isotope analyses</a> we confirmed these results by analysing the chemicals in the teeth of these individuals. Interestingly, some of the “new incoming” female individuals were distantly related to each other, meaning they may have come from a network of nearby communities, and even from the same communities.</p>
<p>Lastly, we also observed the adult daughters from Gurgy were not buried at the site, meaning they had likely left Gurgy to join other nearby communities themselves (once they had reached a certain age).</p>
<h2>A founding father</h2>
<p>We also discovered the grave of the “founding father” at the cemetery: a male individual from whom everyone in the largest family tree was descended. </p>
<p>We noticed this individual was actually brought from wherever he had originally died and was reburied at Gurgy (alongside a female individual we could not get DNA from). Only his long bones – thigh, leg, arm and forearm bones – were brought, and he must have represented an important ancestor to the founders of the new burial place of the community.</p>
<p>We observed an entire group, made up of several generations (children, parents and grandparents), arrived at Gurgy together from the beginning. This group must have left a previous site, leaving behind any previously deceased children (but yet still brought and reburied the founding father). </p>
<p>Similarly, in the final generations of Gurgy we observed many children without parents buried there. Hence, like the founding group, these last generations abruptly departed Gurgy together, leaving behind their own buried children. Hence, Gurgy was probably only used for three or four generations, or approximately 84–112 years.</p>
<p>This research represents a starting point for multidisciplinary studies of the social organisation of prehistoric societies, as these large family trees allow for new interpretations of the lives and practices of ordinary people from prehistoric communities.</p>
<p>As we discover and analyse more and more of these cemeteries, we may be able to compare and contrast social practices across regions and time periods, truly opening the window into our ancient past.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dna-study-sheds-light-on-scotlands-picts-and-resolves-some-myths-about-them-204507">DNA study sheds light on Scotland's Picts, and resolves some myths about them</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206940/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maïté Rivollat is affiliated with the MPI-EVA in Leipzig (Germany), Bordeaux University (France), Ghent University (Belgium) and Durham University (UK). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam "Ben" Rohrlach does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the largest study of its kind, researchers have used DNA from a 6,700-year-old cemetery in France to reconstruct the lives of everyday Neolithic people.Adam "Ben" Rohrlach, Mathematics Lecturer and Ancient DNA Researcher, University of AdelaideMaïté Rivollat, Archaeologist, Université de BordeauxLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2067532023-07-19T19:59:57Z2023-07-19T19:59:57ZGhassan Hage is one of Australia’s most significant intellectuals. He’s still on a quest for a multicultural society that hopes and cares<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537670/original/file-20230717-226738-e17pa4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C0%2C8361%2C3214&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is 50 years – two generations – since then Immigration Minister Al Grassby <a href="http://www.multiculturalaustralia.edu.au/doc/grassby_1.pdf">launched the idea of a multicultural Australia</a> at a Melbourne conference in 1973. Ghassan Hage, Professor in Anthropology and Social Theory at the University of Melbourne, and currently <a href="https://www.eth.mpg.de/6255110/news-2023-04-28-01">visiting scholar</a> at the prestigious Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany, has become the most significant intellectual commentator on multicultural Australia of the second of those generations. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Racial Politics of Multicultural Australia – Ghassan Hage (Sweatshop)</em></p>
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<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533348/original/file-20230622-23-z8x16t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533348/original/file-20230622-23-z8x16t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533348/original/file-20230622-23-z8x16t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533348/original/file-20230622-23-z8x16t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533348/original/file-20230622-23-z8x16t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533348/original/file-20230622-23-z8x16t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1150&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533348/original/file-20230622-23-z8x16t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1150&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533348/original/file-20230622-23-z8x16t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1150&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>The publication of <a href="https://www.sweatshop.ws/racial-politics">The Racial Politics of Multicultural Australia</a> by the <a href="https://www.sweatshop.ws/">Sweatshop Literacy Movement</a> represents a significant collaboration. Hage is an Australian Arab immigrant, whose forebears came to Australia in the 1930s and settled in Lithgow, where they established a clothing factory. Sweatshop is an urban political project created in western Sydney by a younger generation of Australians from Arab and other immigrant and refugee backgrounds. </p>
<p>The volume contains two of Hage’s early books, White Nation (1998) and Against Paranoid Nationalism (2003), and some later essays exploring the place of racism in the rhetoric and practice of Australian multiculturalism. The foreword has been written by “critically conscious daughters and granddaughters of Lebanese, Palestinian and Egyptian immigrant and refugee settlers”, who acted as a reference group for the republishing project. </p>
<p>While the republished works were mainly written early in the second generation, their continuing relevance is both salutary and disturbing. The issues they raise remain deeply embedded today. Yet they also reveal how much has changed. There is a growing acceptance among “multicultural Australians” of the consciousness that Sweatshop advocates, and a moral rejection of much of the situation that Hage condemned. </p>
<p>Hage’s work began to take shape in reaction to the still-dominant Labor multiculturalism of the last years of prime minister Paul Keating. Hage argued that both Labor and the Coalition’s rhetoric and celebration of multiculturalism masked an ongoing reality of racial hierarchy and White privilege. </p>
<p>This privilege, Hage wrote, was bolstered by the capacity of official multiculturalism to authorise certain types of diversity, placing some within the boundaries of acceptability, while excluding others. Yet even behind that veneer there lies – or wriggles – another reality, where only White people are secure enough to unselfconsciously lay claim to the right to define the nation. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534727/original/file-20230629-26-fmkvpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534727/original/file-20230629-26-fmkvpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534727/original/file-20230629-26-fmkvpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534727/original/file-20230629-26-fmkvpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534727/original/file-20230629-26-fmkvpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534727/original/file-20230629-26-fmkvpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534727/original/file-20230629-26-fmkvpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534727/original/file-20230629-26-fmkvpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Ghassan Hage with Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Paula Abood, Sara Saleh and Randa Abdel-Fattah from Sweatshop at the 2023 Sydney Writers Festival.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: Sweatshop Literary Movement</span></span>
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<h2>What is a White person?</h2>
<p>Let’s begin with a critical question: what is a White person? </p>
<p>For Hage, it is a self-referential category into which White people put themselves. That is, people who think of themselves as White are White people. </p>
<p>It is not an ethnic label, in the anthropological sense that it has determinable mores, values and common histories that can be empirically discovered – though values and orientations are indicative. Nor is it racial, in the older sense of race as a bio-social category, with shared DNA clusters associated with territories of origin. </p>
<p>Rather, it is a “fantasy position” born out of colonial history, one that is essentially European. It is imagined to be rooted in the stories of north-western Europe: stories of empires won and an Enlightenment project sustained. </p>
<p>Reality, for a very disparate non-White world, is rather different. </p>
<p>Hage’s non-White world is focused on the Levant and its diasporas. It is important to understand the contradictions, for Hage, of being from Christian Lebanese stock (even without any theocratic perspective), yet oriented towards the metropolitan culture of Paris, where he studied under the sociologist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pierre-Bourdieu">Pierre Bourdieu</a> at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
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<p>Hage came of age within the <a href="https://merip.org/1990/01/primer-lebanons-15-year-war-1975-1990/">Lebanese Civil War</a>. Christian fascism and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kataeb_Party">Phalange</a>, vied with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-Arabism">trans-Arabism</a> and an increasingly radicalised Islam. The European, anti-colonialist, democratic, non-sectarian left also sought to find a space. These contradictory and complicated intertwinings of love and hate have drawn Hage today to a focus on the struggle of Palestinians under the Israeli occupation. </p>
<p>Such different realities are Hage’s project. His lifetime has been committed to exploring, exposing and unravelling the dynamics through which different pictures of the world are formed in minds, cultures and social practices, and the way these pictures are contested, hidden, revealed and sometimes purged. </p>
<p>The underlying frameworks, shaped by class and culture, have been forged by imperial adventures and their often murderous consequences. While Hage writes about “race”, he reminds us this is not the “race” of the initial imperial invasions. It is race introduced from another place, then subjected to the tortuous compression of settlement and the normalisation of Otherness. </p>
<p>Hage warns us often that he recognises the power that sought to create the “Aboriginal race” in what became Australia. Though the reality of Indigenous oppression pervades his work, he does not address it directly. But he does suggest the power of the invaders has developed into a pervasive system of racialised control.</p>
<p>The power to set the agenda is the scaffolding that defines the struggles of the Australian nation. The everyday conceptions of who belongs, who can claim to say who can belong, and the consequences of these types of statements, set the conditions of possibility for the nation “going forward”. </p>
<p>“Race” lubricates this conceptual mechanism, making it move smoothly for some, while remaining slippery and dangerous for others.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/racism-of-rigid-legalism-greets-asylum-seekers-and-their-kind-22951">Racism of rigid legalism greets asylum seekers and their kind</a>
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<h2>White Nation</h2>
<p>In White Nation, Hage draws on two methods: one provided by his studies with Pierre Bourdieu in Paris, and another developed in the social anthropological space of ethnography and listening. </p>
<p>The Bourdieu dimension translates a <a href="https://theconversation.com/karl-marx-his-philosophy-explained-164068">Marxian view of class</a> (as in, ruling class) into a less homogenised constellation of power. In this view, cultural capital draws together skills, knowledge, languages and even “looks” that enable the individuals who have them – and, importantly, share them with others – to replicate those forms, reinforcing their value and authority.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534499/original/file-20230628-23-z0mcrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534499/original/file-20230628-23-z0mcrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534499/original/file-20230628-23-z0mcrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534499/original/file-20230628-23-z0mcrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534499/original/file-20230628-23-z0mcrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534499/original/file-20230628-23-z0mcrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1088&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534499/original/file-20230628-23-z0mcrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1088&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534499/original/file-20230628-23-z0mcrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1088&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Influential sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bernard Lambert/Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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<p>Among his many sources, Hage draws on letters to the editor, which provide a wealth of narratives to be unpicked. White people, suggests one letter, are more immediately seen as Australian (part of the dominant cultural group), even when they have only recently arrived. Others who have different “looks” – those who wear distinctive clothes, for example (the headscarf is a marker of difference) – aggravate. Racial and gender power is exerted through “tearing off the veil”. </p>
<p>Hage proposes that multicultural policies contain, at their heart, the logic that those who advocate and celebrate tolerance are capable of being, and perhaps have been, intolerant. “Mutual tolerance”, in other words, is only possible between parties who have the power to be intolerant of each other. The multicultural edifice thus depends on intolerance – an intolerance that is contained within boundaries of acceptability, but always pressing to escape. </p>
<p>In a racially demarcated social space, not everyone can be tolerant. The least powerful do not “tolerate” their racist harassers. They may avoid them, or be subjugated by them, or resist them, or seek to form an alternative ethnic will. </p>
<p>For Hage, the dark arc of refugee incarceration demonstrates the nature of this interaction, and how it is narrativised in the cause of creating a “good” multicultural nation. The nation’s tolerant multicultural goodness is constantly being challenged by “bad” ethnics: those people who seek refuge “illegally” in Australia, or contest the hegemony of Whiteness in other ways. </p>
<p>As Hage notes, White multiculturalism evades any commitment that “we are a multicultural community in all our diversity”. Rather, “we” only acknowledge our diversity when we can calculate a value that can be attached to that portion we select to notice. </p>
<p>Moreover, argues Hage, these views, be they for or against multiculturalism, all stand upon an edifice that assumes White superiority – and fantasises Australia as a place in which White superiority “should reign supreme”. </p>
<h2>The politics of White decline</h2>
<p>In the decades since White Nation first appeared, the politics of White decline have become an increasingly mainstream concern. </p>
<p>The current debate over legislation <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-08/government-to-introduce-ban-on-nazi-symbols/102453090">banning Nazi symbols</a>, ASIO’s warnings about the apparent spread of <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/threat-of-white-power-race-war-grave-concern-to-asio-says-chief-20210812-p58i9u.html">White power groups</a> and the devastation caused by online racism have positioned the White-decline narrative as a central threat to social order. This narrative <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-inherent-racism-of-anti-vaxx-movements-163456">played a key part</a> in the anti-vaxx movement, despite the multicultural makeup of that movement. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534720/original/file-20230629-24-952crh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534720/original/file-20230629-24-952crh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534720/original/file-20230629-24-952crh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534720/original/file-20230629-24-952crh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534720/original/file-20230629-24-952crh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534720/original/file-20230629-24-952crh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1204&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534720/original/file-20230629-24-952crh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1204&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534720/original/file-20230629-24-952crh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1204&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>Some of this was already emerging when Hage published Against Paranoid Nationalism in 2003. The primary focus of anti-migrant sentiment the 1990s had been on “Asians”, particularly Indo-Chinese refugees, and the emerging urban phenomenon of youth gangs and triads. The events of 2001 shifted this focus. A <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-12/how-911-attack-changed-the-lives-of-many-australian-muslims/100438770">national paranoia</a> erupted, generated locally by “Arab” <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-08/nsw-police-sydney-raids-ibrahim-alleged-drug-syndicate/8784118">drug lords</a> and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-06/gang-rapist-mohammed-skaf-leaves-jail-on-parole/100516616">rape gangs</a>, and globally by Islamist attacks on Western targets.</p>
<p>By the time of the invasion of Iraq by Western forces including Australia in 2003, Hage had two strong characters in public life who represented and intensified this paranoia: the then prime minister John Howard, victorious in 1996, and Pauline Hanson, who entered parliament that same year as a disendorsed Liberal Party candidate. Hanson alluded to their apparent political symbiosis when she spoke of the perception that racial tensions were being “inflamed by me and condoned by him”. </p>
<p>Both played a role in White Nation – but they foreground Against Paranoid Nationalism. </p>
<h2>Worrying and caring</h2>
<p>In Against Paranoid Nationalism, Hage proposes that two opposing stances – worrying and caring – establish the parameters of the narcissism and paranoia engulfing Australia. </p>
<p>Worrying about the nation’s present and future breeds an intense fear and hatred of outsiders who might threaten the interests of those who claim a unique right to worry. Colonial history, as a contest of explanatory and emotional narratives, becomes a struggle between conservative critics of “black-armband” perspectives on colonialism, and progressives searching for an alternative way of thinking through the possibility of an non-paranoid, inclusive identity.</p>
<p>The book, more of a compilation of linked essays, opens with an argument that neoliberal economic theory reshapes the social into a market, where individual interests emerge paramount and communal sense fragments and dissipates. What holds such a society together is the cultivation of images of threat. </p>
<p>Only strong and selfish stances are considered sensible and authorised by the state. It claims alone to stand against the threat from without – exemplified by asylum seekers and Islamist terrorists – and threats from within, from Indigenous challenges to the colonial project, and ethnic enclaves that emerge like cancers. </p>
<p>The state “worries” for the national project and those who support it. In the process, people become less willing to hope for a more caring future. </p>
<p>Against Paranoid Nationalism ends with a reference to what Hage calls the Black Economy – that is, an economy that depends on the theft of Aboriginal land. Even the “social gifts” that recognise the presence of individuals, and to some extent succour them, are a consequence of Australians being receivers of stolen goods. </p>
<p>Hage concludes that “our colonial theft […] will remain the ultimate source of our debilitating paranoia”, forcing us to worry and never really letting us care.</p>
<p>Against Paranoid Nationalism, together with the later essays collected in The Racial Politics of Multicultural Australia, offers a readable and challenging engagement with the issues that confront us today as a multicultural nation – one with a history of colonial invasion, but which is, by daring to hope, seeking not to have a racist future. </p>
<p>Hage has made a singularly powerful contribution to our understanding of Australian and global racism, and the politics of domination and resistance. He recently celebrated his mentor, Bourdieu, in a series of European lectures. Bourdieu, I am sure, would be proud of his student. We are all the better off for Hage’s eclectic, systematic, imaginative and penetrating assessment of the human condition in this time of late imperialism.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206753/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I have known Ghassan Hage since the early 1980s, when I first met him when I was director of the Centre for Multicultural Studies at the University of Wollongong. I interviewed him recently for a project on the "arc of the multicultural real". He has a more critical view of sociologists than do I. I am currently writing an Information Brief on Multicultural Policy past, present and future, for a community agency. </span></em></p>Ghassan Hage has made a singularly powerful contribution to our understanding of Australian and global racism, and the politics of domination and resistance.Andrew Jakubowicz, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2075512023-07-13T15:25:19Z2023-07-13T15:25:19ZSan and Khoe skeletons: how a South African university sought to restore dignity and redress the past<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536517/original/file-20230710-23-mw77lw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C144%2C2326%2C2008&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A facial reconstruction of one of the Sutherland Nine, a woman named Saartje.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reconstruction by Dr Kathryn Smith/Professor Caroline Wilkinson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It has been nearly 100 years since the skeletonised remains of nine people were removed from their graves on a farm near the town of Sutherland in South Africa’s Northern Cape province. They were donated to the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) anatomy department by Carel Gert Coetzee, who had unearthed them and was a medical student at the university.</p>
<p>The remains belonged to <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/khoisan">San and Khoekhoe people</a>, two groups indigenous to South Africa. Their families were not consulted about the removal and donation. </p>
<p>This, sadly, was not unusual for the time. Anatomy departments and museums around the world <a href="http://www.northern-cape.gov.za/index.php/component/content/article?id=769:reburial-of-mr-and-mrs-klaas-and-trooi-pienaar">collected</a> human skeletal remains during the colonial era and into the first half of the 20th century. They were displayed in museums or studied for scientific purposes, often with <a href="https://theconversation.com/science-and-race-in-south-africa-lessons-from-old-bones-in-boxes-179774">a racial lens</a> depicting indigenous people as primitive and inferior. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/science-and-race-in-south-africa-lessons-from-old-bones-in-boxes-179774">Science and race in South Africa: lessons from 'old bones in boxes'</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>I am an associate professor in what is today the Division of Clinical Anatomy and Biological Anthropology. In 2017, after encouragement by other museums and universities in South Africa, I completed an archival record review with the aim to identify remains that had been unethically obtained. That was when I came across the Sutherland collection; and immediately realised that, as UCT, we had a moral and ethical duty to return them to their community. </p>
<p>A public participation advisor Doreen Februarie was appointed to approach the community. Myself and UCT’s senior leadership represented by DVC Professor Loretta Feris thought they would merely request the return of the remains for reburial. They did – but first, the descendent families asked the university to study the remains with a view to learning more about their ancestors’ lives. </p>
<p>We recently <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0284785">presented</a> those research results in a single, large, multi-authored publication. </p>
<p>We traced historical records, conducted archaeological field work, analysed the physical remains and conducted biomolecular analyses. Facial reconstructions were completed for eight of the nine people – now known as the Sutherland Nine. </p>
<p>The Sutherland example may set a global precedent for a process of restitution and restorative justice in combination with community-driven science. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197607695.013.29?">My hope</a> is that more curators and custodians of human skeletal remains elsewhere in the world will attempt to redress some of the wrongs of the past.</p>
<h2>Beginning the process</h2>
<p>To ensure that we reached the right people in Sutherland, a public participation advisor was chosen to lead a process with the community. By then, I had studied the archival records related to the donation; these revealed names and two surnames. The community elected those carrying the same surnames as their representatives.</p>
<p>People were shocked and dismayed at the situation. But they also wanted to know who the nine had been and how their remains came to be at the university. </p>
<p>Our answers were limited. When I realised in 2017 that they had been unethically obtained, the department placed a moratorium on studying them. The community requested that this be lifted: they wanted the remains studied to understand the people and the situation. Once this was done they wanted the remains returned so the nine could be reburied properly. </p>
<p>As our research unfolded, we decided to present the results in a single publication. The more common approach would have been to publish several individual papers, focusing on the science. We decided instead to tell the story of the Nine with science as the background. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-scholars-have-created-global-guidelines-for-ancient-dna-research-169284">Why scholars have created global guidelines for ancient DNA research</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We obtained informed consent from the community at every step of the process. The family members wrote in their own words what research they wanted and why, along with their restrictions on data use. For instance, they didn’t want any photos of the actual bones to be published – only digital renderings could be used. They also asked that the DNA sequences obtained from each of the Nine be kept private after scientific verification through peer review. And if anyone wants to conduct future research they must approach the families to begin a new process. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536520/original/file-20230710-21-2lt3b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536520/original/file-20230710-21-2lt3b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536520/original/file-20230710-21-2lt3b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536520/original/file-20230710-21-2lt3b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536520/original/file-20230710-21-2lt3b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536520/original/file-20230710-21-2lt3b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536520/original/file-20230710-21-2lt3b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536520/original/file-20230710-21-2lt3b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Members of the descendent community viewing the facial reconstructions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Je’nine May</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The families of the nine were also asked whether they wanted to be listed as authors in the eventual publications. Collectively, they chose formal acknowledgement in lieu of authorship. </p>
<h2>Hard lives</h2>
<p>It is impossible to summarise all our research findings here. Overall, though, we found that life was physically hard and violent for the Sutherland Nine. One died as recently as 1913; the remaining seven died in the 1870s or 1880s. </p>
<p>When the late professor of anatomy MR Drennan took delivery of the remains in the 1920s, he also noted what little the donor knew about the people’s lives. Most adults were identified by first names (Cornelius, Klaas, Saartje, Jannetje, Voetje, Totje). For two, surnames were also specified – Cornelius Abraham and Klaas Stuurman. </p>
<p>The descendent families have collaborated with the National San Council to rename the unnamed individuals.</p>
<p>The younger boy child (four to six years of age) has been named G!ae, from the N/uu language; it translates to “springbok” – an animal symbolising the San’s pride in their culture and future prosperity. The older girl child (six to eight years of age) has been named Saa, which translates to “eland”, a sacred and spiritual animal in San culture. </p>
<p>The ninth individual did not live at the same time as the others. He was an unnamed adult said by the donor to have been buried 40 years earlier near Sutherland, although the precise burial location was unrecorded. <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0284785">We used</a> radiocarbon dating to show that he actually died about 700 years ago.</p>
<p>There is no evidence that this individual was directly related to the other eight, but his remains came to the institution from the same donor. He has been named Igue We, meaning “blessing”, to symbolise acceptance and blessing by San ancestors for his reburial. </p>
<h2>Painful legacy</h2>
<p>The principal message of this collaborative approach is how community-driven research can benefit processes of restitution when grappling with painful legacy collections. </p>
<p>The reburial of the remains in Sutherland is likely to take place later this year, though no date has yet been set.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207551/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victoria Gibbon receives funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa and for this research also from National Geographic.</span></em></p>Hopefully more curators and custodians of repositories of human skeletal remains will attempt to redress some of the wrongs of the past.Victoria Gibbon, Associate Professor in Biological Anthropology, Division of Clinical Anatomy and Biological Anthropology, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2085572023-06-29T15:03:50Z2023-06-29T15:03:50ZListen — Indiana Jones’s last ride: A legacy to celebrate or bury?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534185/original/file-20230626-19-s9axwz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C1%2C1257%2C721&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' comes out in theatres on June 30. The fifth in a series over 42 years, many of its originating ideas are taken from 19th-century racist archaeology. Will this iteration be different?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Walt Disney Pictures)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/8f4853b0-cd33-48af-9d8a-77c625f697b0?dark=true"></iframe>
<p>I love watching a good adventure movie, especially at the start of summer. I have some great memories of eating popcorn in the local suburban movie theatre while we watched aliens take over a spaceship or a group of kids hunt for long-lost treasure in an underground cave.</p>
<p>At the same time, even as a kid, I remember thinking how awful some of the racial and gender stereotypes were. </p>
<p>I specifically remember watching <em>Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom</em> and cringing at the representations onscreen, especially, the <a href="https://scroll.in/reel/805944/temple-of-doom-is-the-indiana-jones-movie-that-indians-wont-forget-in-a-hurry">ruthless and flat-dimensioned South Asian characters and the ridiculous idea that Indians ate monkey brains</a> — and then there was little Short Round, Indy’s child guide and sidekick played by the young Ke Huy Quan.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534382/original/file-20230627-23-73q8up.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534382/original/file-20230627-23-73q8up.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534382/original/file-20230627-23-73q8up.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534382/original/file-20230627-23-73q8up.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534382/original/file-20230627-23-73q8up.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534382/original/file-20230627-23-73q8up.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534382/original/file-20230627-23-73q8up.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The late Amrish Puri played the critically acclaimed villain in ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Lucas Films)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>With the series, filmmakers George Lucas and Steven Spielberg showcased nostalgia for the early mid-century with Indiana Jones, the humanitarian Hunter College professor turned adventurer at the centre. Indy outran all kinds of harrows to ensure the ancient artifacts he chased ended up where he thought they belonged: “in a museum.” (Another now famous line is from <em>Black Panther</em> when Erik Killmonger asks a museum curator: “How do you think your ancestors got these?”)</p>
<h2>Guilty pleasure or irredeemable Orientalism?</h2>
<p>Well, the final Indiana Jones movie, <em>Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny</em> is coming out tomorrow, 42 years after the first movie was released. </p>
<p>As the series comes to an end, we explore Indy’s complicated legacy — and his famous line: “it belongs in a museum.” </p>
<p>Will <em>Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny</em> reflect the changes in anthropology departments and <a href="https://theconversation.com/museums-are-returning-indigenous-human-remains-but-progress-on-repatriating-objects-is-slow-67378">the growing movements from Indigenous</a> and Global South communities to return <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-accurately-portray-histories-museums-need-to-do-more-than-reimagine-galleries-189109">stolen objects and ancestors from western museums</a>? Will it consider that <a href="https://theconversation.com/protecting-heritage-is-a-human-right-99501">Eurocentric notions of what holds heritage has finally expanded beyond the artifact</a>?</p>
<p>Will this new movie be full of highly problematic stories? Or a guilty pleasure? Or, can it be both?</p>
<p>Historian Christopher Heaney has spent a lot of time thinking about this. He’s written a book <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780230112049/cradleofgold">about the “original” Indiana Jones</a> and wrote <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/burying-indiana-jones">“Burying Indiana Jones” for <em>The New Yorker</em></a>. He’s a professor of Latin American History at Penn State University and he joined me on <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/indiana-joness-last-ride-a-legacy-to-celebrate-or-bury"><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a> — our last episode of the season, and just in time for summer blockbuster season — to unpack everything Indiana Jones.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rcN_InsZCKY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘How do you think your ancestors got these?’ ‘Black Panther’ offers a response to ‘it belongs in a museum.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Read more</h2>
<p><a href="https://mronline.org/2023/05/04/indiana-jones-hollywoods-chief-colonial-pilferer-is-back/">“Indiana Jones, Hollywood’s chief colonial pilferer, is back”</a> (<em>Monthly Review</em>)</p>
<p><em><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/empires-of-the-dead-9780197542552?cc=ca&lang=en&">Empires of the Dead</a></em> by Christopher Heaney (Oxford University Press)</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/how-to-fake-an-alien-mummy/535251/">“The Racism Behind Alien Mummy Hoaxes”</a> (<em>The Atlantic</em>)</p>
<p><a href="https://blackgirlnerds.com/it-does-not-belong-in-a-museum-indiana-jones-colonizer-legacy/">“It does not belong in a museum”</a> (<em>Black Girl Nerds</em>)</p>
<p><a href="https://www.newarab.com/features/can-indiana-jones-overcome-its-orientalist-past">“Can Indiana Jones overcome its Orientalist past?”</a> (<em>The New Arab</em>)</p>
<p><em><a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9780807837153/decolonizing-museums/">Decolonizing Museums</a></em> by Amy Lonetree (UNC Press)</p>
<h2>From The Conversation</h2>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-accurately-portray-histories-museums-need-to-do-more-than-reimagine-galleries-189109">To accurately portray histories, museums need to do more than ‘reimagine’ galleries</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/benin-bronzes-what-is-the-significance-of-their-repatriation-to-nigeria-171444">Benin bronzes: What is the significance of their repatriation to Nigeria?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/protecting-heritage-is-a-human-right-99501">Protecting heritage is a human right</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/belize-shows-how-local-engagement-is-key-in-repatriating-cultural-artifacts-from-abroad-171363">Belize shows how local engagement is key in repatriating cultural artifacts from abroad</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/museums-are-returning-indigenous-human-remains-but-progress-on-repatriating-objects-is-slow-67378">Museums are returning indigenous human remains but progress on repatriating objects is slow</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Our recs: Kids adventure movies/shows</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUTtJjV852c&ab_channel=ParamountPictures"><em>Dora the Explorer and the Lost City of Gold</em></a></li>
<li><a href="https://animatedviews.com/2019/director-juan-antin-talks-about-pachamama-on-netflix/"><em>Pachamama</em></a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/81023618"><em>Finding Ohana</em></a></li>
<li><a href="https://etcanada.com/news/951562/mira-nair-on-the-non-white-america-in-national-treasure-edge-of-history-love-it/"><em>National Treasure: Edge of History</em></a></li>
</ul>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eQfMbSe7F2g?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Lucas Films) ‘You’ve taken your chances, made your mistakes, and now, a final triump,’ Phoebe Walter-Bridge says to Jones.</span></figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208557/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The final Indiana Jones movie is coming out June 30. The fifth in a series over 42 years, many of its ideas are taken from 19th-century orientalist and racist archaeology.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2075932023-06-28T18:10:56Z2023-06-28T18:10:56ZEnglish dialects make themselves heard in genes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534597/original/file-20230628-21-5cad3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=289%2C118%2C4440%2C3103&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Conditions in rural England around the turn of the 20th century offer a case study for cultural evolution researchers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/coming-home-from-the-marshes-1886-a-work-made-of-platinum-news-photo/1338669913">Heritage Images/Hulton Archive via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you need to hit a nail, what tool do you ask for? If you say “hammer,” do you pronounce the “<a href="https://www.bl.uk/british-accents-and-dialects/articles/phonological-variation-across-the-uk#:%7E:text=Above%20all%20he%20is%20a%20rhotic%20speaker">r</a>”? Do you drop the “<a href="https://www.bl.uk/british-accents-and-dialects/articles/social-variation-across-the-uk#:%7E:text=and%20happens.-,H%2Ddropping,-%E2%80%93%20the%20tendency%20to">h</a>”?</p>
<p>Different people pronounce the same English words in different ways. People learn which words to use and how to pronounce them as they’re learning to talk with family, friends and others in their community, so geographic patterns in these pronunciations can <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jul/31/north-south-english-dialects-language-pronunciation-study">persist over time</a>.</p>
<p>In England, pairs of words that mean similar things, like “sight” and “vision” or “yes” and “aye,” can reveal a rich history of language that is intertwined with the history of the place itself. Such words have their origins in <a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/norman-conquest/">migrations and conquests</a> that took place during the Middle Ages. New words would sometimes coexist and sometimes displace one another.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=06-OHeUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Cultural evolution researchers</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vwQdgAYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">like us</a> know that it’s not just mountain ranges or oceans that can be barriers to interaction. Different people can share their technology, cuisines and ideas, but some tend to interact more often with those who share cultural similarities, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.415">a behavior called homophily</a>.</p>
<p>This can be seen most clearly when cultural traditions lead people to marry people from the same community. Populations that tend to marry within their group because of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-4755-6-17">social or economic forces</a>, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep35837">religious</a> <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/tracing-roots-jewishness-rev2">traditions</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/17/health/india-south-asia-castes-genetics-diseases.html">social stratification</a>, have smaller gene pools, leading them to be more genetically similar to one another.</p>
<p>In addition to groups with distinctive marital practices, researchers have found relationships between genes and culture when studying groups that are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003316">from different ethnicities</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.94.15.7719">different regions of the world</a>. These similarities between genes and culture don’t imply that certain genetic variants are exclusive to these groups, or that genetics causes certain cultures to arise. Rather, the same people might be more likely to share genetics and language because of a common history, especially because of significant geographic or social barriers between groups.</p>
<p>Can smaller things, like the different dialects between neighboring villages, shape the genetic landscape of populations? In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24789">new study</a>, we combined genetic and linguistic data sampled in England to study the effects of culture on genetics at smaller geographic scales than generally studied.</p>
<p>We examined this relationship between cultural and genetic variation across England. In places where people move often, the small correlations between language and genes can be lost because of how rapidly they change. Since Great Britain is an island, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0289.00221">few people entered its rural population</a> between the times of the Norman conquest in 1066 and the end of the 19th century, making it ideal for our analysis.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534599/original/file-20230628-19-htd5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="two women and three children in 1956 collect water from a tub against a stone wall of a house" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534599/original/file-20230628-19-htd5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534599/original/file-20230628-19-htd5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534599/original/file-20230628-19-htd5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534599/original/file-20230628-19-htd5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534599/original/file-20230628-19-htd5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=620&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534599/original/file-20230628-19-htd5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=620&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534599/original/file-20230628-19-htd5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=620&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In the middle of the 20th century, interviewers recorded the ways rural people spoke.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/village-without-water-at-ruyton-xi-towns-shropshire-churns-news-photo/867461430">Bill Ellman/Mirrorpix via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Combining two sets of data</h2>
<p>Ideally, we could use a unified data set capturing information about the genetics and dialects of people living in a region. Unfortunately, no such data exists. Instead, we used data from two separate studies of people from approximately the same time and place. For our research, we focused on where the data sets overlapped in England.</p>
<p>For linguistic data, we relied on the <a href="https://dialectandheritage.org.uk/about/the-survey-of-english-dialects/">Survey of English Dialects</a>. Between 1950 and 1961, interviewers visited over 300 mostly rural places and asked people hundreds of questions about their daily lives. Their answers recorded the phrases, terms and sounds of local dialects of English. Each of these words can carry clues about where, or with whom, a person grew up.</p>
<p>The genetic data we used came from the <a href="https://www.peopleofthebritishisles.org/">People of the British Isles</a> project, an academic investigation of how much Britain’s historical events of conquest, war and migration are reflected in British genetics. The project sequenced DNA from more than 2,000 people in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Researchers genotyped people whose grandparents who were born within 50 miles (80 kilometers) of each other, were largely rural, and were born in the late 19th century.</p>
<p>The People of the British Isles project found that most genotypes were not local to any one part of Great Britain <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14230">but were evenly distributed</a>. However, the historical movements of people to Great Britain left genetic marks: Compared with people in the rest of Great Britain, the genetics of those from the south of England were slightly more similar to those in France – a result of the Norman conquest a millennium ago – and the genetics of people in the former <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Danelaw">Danelaw</a> were slightly more similar to modern Danes – because of the settling of the region by Vikings and, later, Danes. These events resulted in groups of people with somewhat similar genetics, a phenomenon <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1078311">referred to as genetic clustering</a>.</p>
<p>We used features from the Survey of English Dialects to measure where neighboring towns spoke the most differently, which occurs at the borders between dialects. When people from neighboring towns speak the same dialect, we expect features of their language, such as whether the “r” is pronounced at the ends of words, to be similar. Conversely, if nearby towns speak different dialects, their language features will be more different.</p>
<p>Many of these dialect boundaries have long histories, such as that separating the English of the <a href="https://www.bl.uk/british-accents-and-dialects/articles/regional-voices-the-north-south-divide">North from that of the South of England</a>. Over time, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jul/31/north-south-english-dialects-language-pronunciation-study">dialects can persist</a> in similar locations if geographic or cultural barriers influence how often and with whom people interact.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534601/original/file-20230628-29-64o014.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="1938 black and white photo of postman pushing bike up hill in village" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534601/original/file-20230628-29-64o014.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534601/original/file-20230628-29-64o014.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534601/original/file-20230628-29-64o014.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534601/original/file-20230628-29-64o014.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534601/original/file-20230628-29-64o014.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534601/original/file-20230628-29-64o014.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534601/original/file-20230628-29-64o014.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rural life was more insular in the past.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-postmans-job-is-not-a-happy-one-when-the-snow-is-on-the-news-photo/3288430">Fox Photos/Hulton Archive via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The echo of sounds long gone</h2>
<p>We found greater genetic differences at the borders between dialects. Our results suggest that language, or some other aspect of culture, has limited how people interacted to some degree over the past thousand years. By limiting how often people started families with those from neighboring groups, cultural differences have maintained genetic evidence of the Norman conquest and other events from the Middle Ages.</p>
<p>This is the first time that information about linguistic dialects has been compared with modern genetic data within a population, particularly at such a granular level. Notably, people speaking different dialects have no obvious reason to avoid marrying one another, as would be expected from groups with specific marriage customs. Nevertheless, we find that even small-scale language differences, or other aspects of culture associated with these differences, can leave an impression on genes via people’s mating behaviors.</p>
<p>Even though people outside of Britain may think of a general “British accent,” the subtle differences among dialects seem to have parallels with the genetics of the region. This is in spite of the fact that the languages brought by people coming to England have since mixed and merged to produce the modern English language and today’s dialects.</p>
<p>The data used in our study represents the genetic landscape and dialects of the late 19th century; both have changed significantly since then. After the introduction of radio and television, dialects became more influenced by the cities around them. As a result, features of many English dialects in England, such as the pronunciation of “r” at the ends of syllables, have <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/cambridge-app-maps-decline-in-regional-diversity-of-english-dialects">become much less common</a>.</p>
<p>At the same time, immigrants from the former British Empire and elsewhere have brought a new influx of language. The cities in Great Britain have developed a set of new dialects rooted in the interactions among people from all ethnicities. As cultural barriers among groups fall away, small human interactions form the bridges that allow people to deemphasize differences and learn from one another.</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to clarify which parts of the United Kingdom were included in the different data sets and the authors’ study.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207593/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yakov Pichkar receives funding from the John Templeton Foundation (grant no. 62187). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Creanza receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation.</span></em></p>People with a common history – often due to significant geographic or social barriers – often share genetics and language. New research finds that even a dialect can act as a barrier within a group.Yakov Pichkar, Ph.D. Candidate in Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt UniversityNicole Creanza, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1946962023-06-09T12:29:31Z2023-06-09T12:29:31Z‘From Magic Mushrooms to Big Pharma’ – a college course explores nature’s medicine cabinet and different ways of healing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531019/original/file-20230608-20480-dlan6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=428%2C512%2C4455%2C2984&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People for millennia have used what grows around them as medicine.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/dangerous-mushroom-royalty-free-image/463172611">LorenzoT81/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Text saying: Uncommon Courses, from The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/uncommon-courses-130908">Uncommon Courses</a> is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.</em> </p>
<h2>Title of course:</h2>
<p>“From Magic Mushrooms to Big Pharma”</p>
<h2>What prompted the idea for the course?</h2>
<p>I’m from the foothills of the Appalachians in southern Ohio, where my Grandma Mildred would go out into the woods, which she called her medicine cabinet, to find herbs to use as medicine. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DhbiqSMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I grew up to be an anthropologist</a>, interested in how people around the world heal themselves. In the 1990s, I did my dissertation research in Ecuador and learned how Indigenous people in the Choco region used <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-019-05446-2">ayahuasca and other medicines from the forest</a> to assist in the grieving process.</p>
<p>With the <a href="https://mjbizdaily.com/map-of-us-marijuana-legalization-by-state/">legalization of cannabis in many states</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/jof8080870">increased research</a> on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13311-017-0542-y">how “nontraditional” drugs can assist</a> people with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and <a href="https://doi.org/10.2174/15733998113099990003">addiction issues</a>, it seemed like an opportune time to create this course. It’s part of a new interdisciplinary minor at Western Illinois University called “<a href="http://www.wiu.edu/academics/cannabis/culture/">Cannabis & Culture</a>” that offers students a foundation for understanding the social and cultural context, history and politics of nature-based medicine use in the United States and around the globe.</p>
<h2>What does the course explore?</h2>
<p>The course looks at how different peoples and cultures use nature-based medicines to heal themselves. First we establish that there are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.embor.7400693">many ways of knowing the world around us</a>, just as there are many ways to heal ourselves. Some of us rely on Western medicine, others pray, yet others turn to Indigenous or traditional ways of healing that are rooted in nature.</p>
<p>We talk about the ways Western medicine now seeks to validate substances that have been used for healing for centuries, like research into how <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27123877">ginger and turmeric can alleviate inflammation</a>, or the ways cannabis can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2016.09.040">reduce or even eliminate some epileptic seizures</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530983/original/file-20230608-27-tlrr54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="closeup of five dots of blood on the shoulder of a man without a shirt" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530983/original/file-20230608-27-tlrr54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530983/original/file-20230608-27-tlrr54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530983/original/file-20230608-27-tlrr54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530983/original/file-20230608-27-tlrr54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530983/original/file-20230608-27-tlrr54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530983/original/file-20230608-27-tlrr54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530983/original/file-20230608-27-tlrr54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kambô frog medicine is a shamanic medicinal ritual that originates among Amazonian tribes who use the poisonous excretion from the <em>Phyllomedusa bicolor</em> tree frog to cure illness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/kambo-frog-poison-medicine-for-body-detox-royalty-free-image/1065635962">GummyBone/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We also examine how the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-8847.2006.00168.x">pharmaceutical industry has</a> <a href="https://www.northatlanticbooks.com/shop/biopiracy/">exploited Indigenous peoples’ ethnobotanical knowledge</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/8898842">and landscapes for monetary gain</a>.</p>
<p>Using the Amazonian giant leaf frog, or kambô (<em><a href="https://amphibiaweb.org/cgi/amphib_query?where-genus=Phyllomedusa&where-species=bicolor&account=amphibiaweb">Phyllomedusa bicolor</a></em>), as a case study, students learn that at least 15 Indigenous groups have long histories of using the frog’s secretion for its analgesic, antibiotic and wound-healing properties. <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/amazon-frog-highlights-appropriation-of-indigenous-knowledge-for-commercial-gain/">Eleven patents related to <em>P. bicolor</em> have been granted</a> – all of them in rich countries. Indigenous people have not been compensated for their knowledge.</p>
<h2>Why is this course relevant now?</h2>
<p>The current generation of young people are <a href="https://magazine.medlineplus.gov/article/teens-are-talking-about-mental-health">open about mental health issues</a>, and many people are looking for new ways to deal with anxiety, grief, PTSD and depression. My students can discuss their health concerns and learn about alternatives to what they may be accustomed to.</p>
<p>At this politically and racially polarized moment in the U.S., the course also provides the opportunity to discuss how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/can.2019.0063">racism, misogyny and discrimination against people of color</a> have influenced scientific research.</p>
<h2>What’s a critical lesson from the course?</h2>
<p>Over the course of the semester, students begin to recognize that there is no one right way of healing. More importantly, there is no one right way of being human. It is my hope that students leave seeing that everything is connected, integrally linked to humanity’s relationship to nature. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531020/original/file-20230608-17666-2vej3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="rows of marijuana crop inside a greenhouse with two agricultural workers" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531020/original/file-20230608-17666-2vej3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531020/original/file-20230608-17666-2vej3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531020/original/file-20230608-17666-2vej3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531020/original/file-20230608-17666-2vej3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531020/original/file-20230608-17666-2vej3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531020/original/file-20230608-17666-2vej3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531020/original/file-20230608-17666-2vej3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In some parts of the U.S., cannabis is now just another agricultural crop.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/large-amounts-and-endless-rows-of-marijuana-crop-stand-news-photo/1254375856">Mark Abramson/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What materials does the course feature?</h2>
<ul>
<li><p>Scientific materials provided by the <a href="https://maps.org/">Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies</a>, a nonprofit that provides some of the only scientific research on psychedelics in the U.S. and promotes awareness of these drugs</p></li>
<li><p>“<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/529343/how-to-change-your-mind-by-michael-pollan/">How to Change your Mind</a>,” by Michael Pollan and the accompanying <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21062540/">Netflix series</a> </p></li>
<li><p>Work of ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin, including his Ted Talk “<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/mark_plotkin_what_the_people_of_the_amazon_know_that_you_don_t?language=en">What the people of the Amazon know that you don’t</a>”</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>What will the course prepare students to do?</h2>
<p>Studying how different cultures approach problems that plague all humans, like being sick and healing our ill, demonstrates to students that there are many ways the world over to solve problems. This course views different approaches not as a problem to be overcome but as a resource that can yield new ways of thinking and new opportunities – a definite advantage in the professional world. I hope students also learn to become advocates for their own health and well-being.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194696/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather McIlvaine-Newsad does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An anthropology course explores how peoples and cultures around the world use nature-based medicines to heal.Heather McIlvaine-Newsad, Professor of Anthropology, Western Illinois UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2068282023-06-09T12:28:03Z2023-06-09T12:28:03ZNever mind Cleopatra – what about the forgotten queens of ancient Nubia?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530270/original/file-20230606-17-xfaojz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C0%2C1017%2C751&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jewelry of the kandake Amanishakheto from a pyramid at Meroe.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Amanishakheto_Jewellery_03.jpg/1024px-Amanishakheto_Jewellery_03.jpg">Einsamer Schütze/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Jada Pinkett Smith’s <a href="https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/african-queens-release-date-cast-news">new Netflix documentary series on Cleopatra</a> aims to spotlight powerful African queens. “We don’t often get to see or hear stories about Black queens, and that was really important for me, as well as for my daughter, and just for my community to be able to know those stories because there are tons of them,” the Hollywood star and producer told a Netflix interviewer.</p>
<p>The show casts a biracial Black British actress as the famed queen, whose race <a href="https://denison.edu/academics/classical-studies/wh/136845">has stirred debate for decades</a>. Cleopatra descended from an ancient Greek-Macedonian ruling dynasty known as the Ptolemies, but some speculate that her mother may have been an Indigenous Egyptian. In the trailer, Black classics scholar <a href="https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/our-faculty/directory/faculty-detail/shelley-haley">Shelley Haley</a> recalls her grandmother telling her, “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IktHcPyNlv4">I don’t care what they tell you in school, Cleopatra was Black</a>.” </p>
<p>These ideas provoked commentary and even outrage in Egypt, Cleopatra’s birthplace. Some of the reactions have been unabashedly racist, mocking the actress’s curly hair and skin color. </p>
<p>Egyptian archaeologists like <a href="https://scholar.google.com.eg/citations?user=JNvJ2noAAAAJ&hl=en">Monica Hanna</a> have criticized this racism. Yet they also caution that projecting modern American racial categories onto Egypt’s ancient past <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/netflix-cleopatra-black-egypt-controversy-ancient-queen/">is inaccurate</a>. At worst, critics argue, U.S. discussions about Cleopatra’s identity overlook Egyptians entirely.</p>
<p>In Western media, she is commonly depicted as white – most famously, perhaps, by screen icon Elizabeth Taylor. Yet claims by <a href="https://africasacountry.com/2022/03/egypt-and-the-afrocentrists-the-latest-round">American Afrocentrists</a> that current-day Egyptians are descendants of “Arab invaders” also ignore the complicated histories that characterize this diverse part of the world.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530272/original/file-20230606-19-wjoaet.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A stone engraving depicts a woman standing with her arms raised." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530272/original/file-20230606-19-wjoaet.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530272/original/file-20230606-19-wjoaet.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530272/original/file-20230606-19-wjoaet.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530272/original/file-20230606-19-wjoaet.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530272/original/file-20230606-19-wjoaet.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530272/original/file-20230606-19-wjoaet.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530272/original/file-20230606-19-wjoaet.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A relief depicting the Nubian Kandake Amanitore in the Egyptian Museum in Berlin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aegyptisches_Museum_Berlin_InvNr7261_20080313_Barkenuntersatz_Natakamani_Amanitore_aus_Wad_Ban_Naga_4.jpg">Sven-Steffen Arndt/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some U.S. scholars counter that ultimately what matters is to “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/10/opinion/black-cleopatra-netflix.html">recognize Cleopatra as culturally Black</a>,” representing a long history of oppressing Black women. Portraying Cleopatra with a Black actress was a “political act,” <a href="https://variety.com/2023/tv/global/queen-cleopatra-black-netflix-egypt-1235590708/">as the show’s director put it</a>. </p>
<p>Ironically, however, the show misses an opportunity to educate both American and Egyptian audiences about the unambiguously Black queens of ancient Nubia, a civilization whose history is intertwined with Egypt’s. As <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/anthro/people/faculty/socio-cultural-faculty/ymoll.html">an anthropologist of Egypt who has Nubian heritage</a>, I research how the stories of these queens continue to inspire Nubians, who <a href="https://www.taraspress.com/nubian">creatively retell them</a> for new generations today. </p>
<h2>The one-eyed queen</h2>
<p>Nubians in modern Egypt once lived mainly along the Nile but lost their villages when the <a href="https://aucpress.com/product/nubian-encounters/">Aswan High Dam was built in the 1960s</a>. Today, members of the minority group live alongside other Egyptians all over the country, as well as in <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2740853">a resettlement district</a> near the southern city of Aswan.</p>
<p>Growing up in Cairo’s Nubian community, we children didn’t hear about Cleopatra, but about Amanirenas: <a href="https://egyptianstreets.com/2022/05/23/queen-amanirenas-the-nubian-queen-who-defeated-the-romans/">a warrior queen</a> who ruled the Kingdom of Kush during the first century B.C.E. Queens in that ancient kingdom, encompassing what is now southern Egypt and northern Sudan, were referred to as “kandake” – the root of <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/The_Candaces_of_Meroe/">the English name “Candace</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530269/original/file-20230606-30-hykc0k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A comic book cover showing a Black woman in brilliant blue robes and gold jewelry in front of pyramids." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530269/original/file-20230606-30-hykc0k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530269/original/file-20230606-30-hykc0k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=919&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530269/original/file-20230606-30-hykc0k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=919&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530269/original/file-20230606-30-hykc0k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=919&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530269/original/file-20230606-30-hykc0k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1155&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530269/original/file-20230606-30-hykc0k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1155&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530269/original/file-20230606-30-hykc0k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1155&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A comic inspired by the story of Amanirenas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AMANI_RENAS_COVER_COMPS_03102022-final_sml.png">Chris Walker, Creative Director, Lymari Media/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/2010/09/28/130190252/the-true-story-of-antony-and-cleopatra">Like Cleopatra</a>, Amanirenas knew Roman generals up close. But while Cleopatra romanced them – strategically – Amanirenas fought them. She led an army up the Nile about 25 B.C.E. <a href="https://egyptianexpedition.org/articles/the-roman-egyptian-nubian-frontier-during-the-reigns-of-augustus-and-amanirenas-archaeological-evidence-from-talmis-qasr-ibrim-and-meroe/">to wage battle against Roman conquerors</a> encroaching on her kingdom.</p>
<p>My own favorite part of this story of Indigenous struggle against foreign imperialism involves what can only be characterized as a power move. After beating back the invading Romans, Queen Amanirenas <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=pcgxBwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA117&dq=amanirenas+&ots=D_hBdOLBPc&sig=purD9nD2bxHnY9ksPxdlLqUnhEg#v=onepage&q=amanirenas&f=false">brought back the bronze head</a> of a statue of the emperor Augustus and had it buried under a temple doorway. Each time they entered the temple, her people could literally walk over a symbol of Roman power.</p>
<p>That colorful tidbit illustrates those queens’ determination to defend their autonomy and territory. Amanirenas personally engaged in combat and <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315621425-23/women-ancient-nubia-jacke-phillips">earned the moniker “the one-eyed queen</a>,” according to an ancient chronicler of the Roman Empire named Strabo. The kandakes were also <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ijAXEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT38&dq=kandaka+nubian+queens&ots=upazD6-aTO&sig=ES1HSdy1EfrgB1wzvsda30jFvuI#v=onepage&q=kandaka%20nubian%20queens&f=false">spiritual leaders and patrons of the arts</a>, and they supported the construction of grand monuments and temples, including pyramids.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530264/original/file-20230606-23-br78mn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A blocky pyramid of stone with an elegant facade, set against an open blue sky." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530264/original/file-20230606-23-br78mn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530264/original/file-20230606-23-br78mn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530264/original/file-20230606-23-br78mn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530264/original/file-20230606-23-br78mn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530264/original/file-20230606-23-br78mn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530264/original/file-20230606-23-br78mn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530264/original/file-20230606-23-br78mn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A pyramid of Kandake Amanitore amid the Nubian pyramids of Meroe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/meroe-pyramids-pyramid-n1-of-kandake-amanitore-royalty-free-image/1169605877?phrase=kandake&adppopup=true">mtcurado/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Interwoven cultures and histories</h2>
<p>When people today say “Nubia,” they are often referring to the Kingdom of Kush, one of several empires that emerged in ancient Nubia. Archaeologists have recently started to bring Kush <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/geoff_emberling_what_happened_to_the_lost_kingdom_of_kush/transcript?language=en">to broader public attention</a>, arguing that its achievements deserve as much attention as ancient Egypt’s. </p>
<p>Indeed, <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.31826/9781463239688/html?lang=en">those two civilizations are entwined</a>. Kushite royals adapted many Egyptian cultural and religious practices to their own ends. What’s more, a Kushite dynasty ruled Egypt itself for close to a century. </p>
<p>Contemporary Nubian heritage reflects that historical complexity and richness. While their <a href="https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210922-a-revival-of-egypts-nubian-culture">traditions and languages remain distinctive</a>, Nubians have been intermarrying with other communities in Egypt for generations. Nubians like my mother are proudly Egyptian, yet <a href="https://doi.org/10.5743/cairo/9789774162893.003.0015">hurtful stereotypes persist</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530266/original/file-20230606-15-2nzyjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two women with their heads covered and colorful robes sit on a blanket, holding a laptop and an open notebook." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530266/original/file-20230606-15-2nzyjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530266/original/file-20230606-15-2nzyjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530266/original/file-20230606-15-2nzyjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530266/original/file-20230606-15-2nzyjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530266/original/file-20230606-15-2nzyjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530266/original/file-20230606-15-2nzyjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530266/original/file-20230606-15-2nzyjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hafsa Amberkab, right, and Fatma Addar, Nubian Egyptian women who compiled a dictionary, show off a Nubian lexical chart near Aswan in upper Egypt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/hafsa-amberkab-and-fatma-addar-nubian-egyptian-women-who-news-photo/1210648292?adppopup=true">Khaled Desouki/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, some Black Americans embrace Cleopatra as a powerful symbol of Black pride. But the idea of ancient Nubia as a powerful African civilization also plays a symbolic role in contemporary Black culture, inspiring images in everything <a href="https://www.juviasplace.com/collections/the-nubian-collection">from cosmetics</a> <a href="https://www.dc.com/blog/2020/05/28/dc-debuts-first-look-at-nubia-real-one">to comics</a>.</p>
<h2>Egyptian voices</h2>
<p>Researchers do argue about Cleopatra’s heritage. U.S. conversations about her, however, sometimes reveal more about Western racial politics than about Egyptian history.</p>
<p>In the 19th century, for example, <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520240698/whose-pharaohs">Western interest in ancient Egypt took off amid colonization</a> – a fascination called “Egyptomania.” Americans’ fixation with the ancient civilization reflected their own culture’s <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/egypt-land">anxieties about race in the decades after slavery was abolished</a>, as <a href="https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/english_language_and_literature/our_people/directory/trafton_scott.php">scholar Scott Trafton</a> has argued.</p>
<p>A century later, a 1990s advertisement for a pale-colored doll of queen Nefertiti sparked debate in the U.S. about <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/02/26/was-nefertiti-black-bitter-debate-erupts/4e7bdc74-18a6-435e-a5f6-df900cb7f014/">how to represent</a> her race.</p>
<p>Nefertiti’s bust – one of the most famous artifacts from ancient Egypt – is on display at a <a href="https://www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/aegyptisches-museum-und-papyrussammlung/collection-research/bust-of-nefertiti/">German museum</a>. Egypt has <a href="https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nefertiti-affair-history-repatriation-debate/">called for the artifact’s return</a> for close to a hundred years, to no avail. Even Hitler <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674983755">took a personal interest in the bust</a>, declaring that he “will not renounce the queen’s head,” according to <a href="https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/joyce.tyldesley">archaeologist Joyce Tyldesley</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530271/original/file-20230606-17-x1xppy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A faded but painted bust of a woman with an exaggerated, large hairdo." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530271/original/file-20230606-17-x1xppy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530271/original/file-20230606-17-x1xppy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530271/original/file-20230606-17-x1xppy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530271/original/file-20230606-17-x1xppy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530271/original/file-20230606-17-x1xppy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530271/original/file-20230606-17-x1xppy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530271/original/file-20230606-17-x1xppy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The famed and fought-over bust of Queen Nefertiti.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/side-view-of-limestone-bust-of-queen-nefertiti-circa-1340-news-photo/635751065?adppopup=true">Francis G. Mayer/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even today, contemporary Egyptian perspectives are almost absent in Western depictions of ancient Egypt. Only one Egyptian scholar is interviewed in the new Netflix series’ four episodes, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/5/1/cleopatra-was-egyptian-whether-black-or-brown-matters">as he himself notes</a>, and he is employed not by an Egyptian university, but by a British one.</p>
<p>For many Egyptians, this lack of representation rehashes troubling colonial dynamics about who is considered an “expert” about their past. The Netflix series “was made and produced without the involvement of the owners of this history,” argues the Egyptian journalist Sara Khorshed in <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/05/14/egypt-netflix-queen-cleopatra-race-history-heritage-imperialism-afrocentrism/">a review of the series</a>.</p>
<p>To be sure, there is <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26528972">anti-Black bias in Egyptian culture</a>, and some of the social media reaction has been slur-filled and racist. Educating people about the stories of Nubian queens <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/603605/warrior-queens-by-vicky-alvear-shecter-illustrated-by-bill-mayer/">like Amarinenas</a> might be a way to encourage a more inclusive understanding of who is Egyptian. </p>
<p>Yet I believe Egyptians’ frustrations about portrayals of Cleopatra also reflect long-standing concerns that their own understandings of their past are not taken seriously.</p>
<p>That includes Black Egyptians, like my mother. When I asked her if she planned to see the Cleopatra series, she shrugged. She already knows that queen’s story well from its many portrayals on screen, whether <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1968/03/15/archives/cleopatra-ban-lifted-by-egypt-film-with-elizabeth-taylor-opens-in.html">in Hollywood films</a> or <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0729780/">Egyptian ones</a>.</p>
<p>“I will wait for the series on Amanirenas,” she said.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206828/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yasmin Moll does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The way many Americans think about racial identity today is hard to map onto the complex history of ancient Egypt and ancient Nubia.Yasmin Moll, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2051842023-05-15T15:01:07Z2023-05-15T15:01:07ZThriving in the face of adversity: Resilient gorillas reveal clues about overcoming childhood misfortune<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525949/original/file-20230512-23918-udbd4r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=837%2C1234%2C5222%2C3305&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A lot of bad things can happen to young mountain gorillas in the wild.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1974, an infant mountain gorilla was born in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda. Researchers named him Titus. As is typical for young gorillas in the wild, Titus spent the first years of his life surrounded by his mother, father and siblings, as well as more distant relatives and unrelated gorillas that made up his social group.</p>
<p>In 1978, however, tragedy struck. Poachers killed Titus’ father and brother. In the chaos that followed, his younger sister was killed by another gorilla, and his mother and older sister fled the group. Juvenile Titus, who was at a developmental stage similar to that of an 8- or 9-year-old human, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1922764/">experienced more tragedy</a> in his first four years of life than many animals do in a lifetime.</p>
<p>In people, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2017.09.027">a rough start in life</a> is often associated with significant problems later on. <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/03/02/387007941/take-the-ace-quiz-and-learn-what-it-does-and-doesnt-mean">Early life adversity</a> can take a wide variety of forms, including malnutrition, war and abuse. People who experience these kinds of traumas, assuming they survive the initial event, are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2011-2663">more likely to suffer health problems</a> and social dysfunction in adulthood and to have shorter life spans. Often, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.13928">these outcomes trace back at least in part</a> to what public health researchers call health risk behaviors – things like smoking, poor eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle.</p>
<p>But researchers have documented the same kinds of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1205340109">problems in adulthood in nonhuman animals</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.06.006">that experienced early life adversity</a>. For example, female baboons who have the hardest childhoods have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11181">life spans that are on average only half as long</a> as their peers that have the easiest. Activities like smoking and unhealthy food choices can’t be the whole story, then, since animals don’t engage in typical human health risk behaviors.</p>
<p>Given the connection between adverse events while young and poor health later in life, one might expect that Titus’ unlucky early years would predict a short, unhealthy adulthood for him. However, there are interesting hints that things <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.04.051">might work differently in mountain gorillas</a>, which are one of humans’ closest living relatives.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525945/original/file-20230512-23-8omdyq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="juvenile gorilla seated" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525945/original/file-20230512-23-8omdyq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525945/original/file-20230512-23-8omdyq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525945/original/file-20230512-23-8omdyq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525945/original/file-20230512-23-8omdyq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525945/original/file-20230512-23-8omdyq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525945/original/file-20230512-23-8omdyq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525945/original/file-20230512-23-8omdyq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Researchers analyzed decades of observational data to determine how life turned out for young gorillas that had faced adversity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Decades of gorilla observations</h2>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GxpHf-AAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">As scientists who have spent</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1I9_QM0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">many years studying wild gorillas</a>, we have observed a wide variety of early life experiences and an equally wide variety of adult health outcomes in these great apes. Unlike other primates, mountain gorillas don’t appear to suffer any long-term negative effects of <a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.62939">losing their mothers at an early age</a>, provided that they reach the age at which they are old enough to have finished nursing.</p>
<p>Losing your mother is only one of many bad things that can happen to a young gorilla, though. We wanted to investigate whether a pattern of resilience was more generalized. If so, could we gather any insight into the fundamental question of how early life experiences can have long-lasting effects?</p>
<p>To do this, we needed exceptionally detailed long-term data on wild gorillas across their lifetimes. This is no mean feat, given <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.6">gorillas’ long life spans</a>. Primatologists know that males can survive into their late 30s and females into their mid-40s.</p>
<p>The best data in the world to conduct such a study comes from the <a href="https://gorillafund.org/">Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund</a>, which has been following individual mountain gorillas in Rwanda almost daily for 55 years. We conducted doctoral and postdoctoral research with the Fossey Fund and have collaborated with other scientists there for more than 20 years.</p>
<p>From their database, which stretches back to 1967, we extracted information on more than 250 gorillas tracked from the day they were born to the day they died or left the study area.</p>
<p>We used this data to identify six adverse events that gorillas younger than age 6 can endure: maternal loss, paternal loss, extreme violence, social isolation, social instability and sibling competition. These experiences are the gorilla equivalent of some kinds of adversity that are linked with long-term negative effects in humans and other animals.</p>
<p>Many young gorillas didn’t survive these challenges. This is a strong indication that these experiences were indeed adverse from the perspective of a gorilla.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525946/original/file-20230512-15-ldzmn2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Adult female gorilla seated tightly together with two young gorillas" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525946/original/file-20230512-15-ldzmn2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525946/original/file-20230512-15-ldzmn2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525946/original/file-20230512-15-ldzmn2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525946/original/file-20230512-15-ldzmn2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525946/original/file-20230512-15-ldzmn2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525946/original/file-20230512-15-ldzmn2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525946/original/file-20230512-15-ldzmn2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ubufatanye experienced the loss of her mother and father and the disintegration of her family group before the age of 5. Now 20, she has become a successful mother, raising three offspring.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.04.051">We were surprised to discover</a>, however, that most of the repercussions of these hardships were confined to early life: animals that survived past the age of 6 did not have the shorter life spans commonly associated with early life adversity in other species.</p>
<p>In fact, gorillas that experienced three or more forms of adversity actually had better survival outcomes, with a 70% reduction in the risk of death across their adult years. Part of this hardiness, especially for males, may be due to a phenomenon called <a href="https://www.biologyonline.com/dictionary/viability#:%7E:text=Viability%20selection%20can%20be%20defined,on%20the%20road%20for%20it.">viability selection</a>: Only the strongest animals survive early adversity, and thus they are also the animals with the longest life spans.</p>
<p>While viability selection may be part of the story, the patterns in our data strongly suggest that as a species, mountain gorillas are also remarkably resilient to early adversity.</p>
<h2>Where do gorillas get their resilience?</h2>
<p>Although our findings corroborate previous research on maternal loss in gorillas, they contrast with other studies on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000394">early adversity in humans</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13785">other long-lived mammals</a>. Our study indicates that the negative later-life consequences of early adversity are not universal.</p>
<p>The absence of this connection in one of our closest relatives suggests there might be protective mechanisms that help build resiliency to early-life knocks. Gorillas may provide valuable clues to understand how early life experiences have such far-reaching effects and how people can potentially overcome them.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525944/original/file-20230512-20526-7wom64.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="two adult and one young gorilla seated together" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525944/original/file-20230512-20526-7wom64.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525944/original/file-20230512-20526-7wom64.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525944/original/file-20230512-20526-7wom64.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525944/original/file-20230512-20526-7wom64.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525944/original/file-20230512-20526-7wom64.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525944/original/file-20230512-20526-7wom64.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525944/original/file-20230512-20526-7wom64.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young gorillas live with their parents as part of larger social groups.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While there is still much left to explore, we suspect that gorillas’ food-rich habitat and cohesive social groups could underpin their resiliency. When young gorillas lose their mothers, <a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.62939">other social group members fill in</a> the companionship hole she leaves behind. Something similar may happen for other types of early adversity as well. A supportive social network combined with plentiful food may help a young gorilla push through challenges.</p>
<p>This possibility underscores the importance of ensuring that human children who experience early adversity are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2016.1559">supported in multiple ways</a>: socially, but also economically, especially since early adversity is particularly prevalent among children living in poverty – itself a form of adversity.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525223/original/file-20230509-25-vqm6q4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=436%2C0%2C3845%2C2702&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="large adult male gorilla against leafy background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525223/original/file-20230509-25-vqm6q4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=436%2C0%2C3845%2C2702&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525223/original/file-20230509-25-vqm6q4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525223/original/file-20230509-25-vqm6q4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525223/original/file-20230509-25-vqm6q4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525223/original/file-20230509-25-vqm6q4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525223/original/file-20230509-25-vqm6q4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525223/original/file-20230509-25-vqm6q4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Titus, pictured here as an adult, survived more adversity before age 4 than many animals confront in a lifetime.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1922764/">And what became of Titus</a>? Despite his difficult start in life, Titus went on to lead his group for two decades, siring at least 13 offspring and surviving to his 35th birthday, making him one of the most successful gorillas the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund has ever studied.</p>
<p>Though Titus’ story is only a single anecdote, it turns out that his resilience is not so unusual for a member of his species.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205184/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stacy Rosenbaum receives funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the University of Michigan. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robin Morrison receives funding from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and the Swiss National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>In many animals, including humans, adverse events in youth have lasting negative health effects over the life span. But new research suggests something different is going on in mountain gorillas.Stacy Rosenbaum, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of MichiganRobin Morrison, Postdoctoral Fellow in Animal Behavior, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1965552023-05-02T12:14:34Z2023-05-02T12:14:34ZEnigmatic human fossil jawbone may be evidence of an early ‘Homo sapiens’ presence in Europe – and adds mystery about who those humans were<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522664/original/file-20230424-25-snjmo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1041%2C1616%2C9952%2C6772&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Close examination of digital and 3D-printed models suggested the fossil needs to be reclassified.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brian A. Keeling</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Homo sapiens</em>, our own species, evolved in Africa sometime between <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22336">300,000</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04275-8">200,000</a> years ago. Anthropologists are pretty confident in that estimate, based on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0237">fossil</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/325031a0">genetic</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2008.09.010">archaeological</a> evidence.</p>
<p>Then what happened? How modern humans spread throughout the rest of the world is one of the most active areas of research in human evolutionary studies.</p>
<p>The earliest fossil evidence of our species outside of Africa is found at <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/ancient-jawbone-suggests-our-species-left-africa-40000-years-earlier-expected">a site called Misliya cave</a>, in the Middle East, and dates to around 185,000 years ago. While additional <em>H. sapiens</em> fossils are found from around 120,000 years ago in this same region, it seems modern humans reached Europe much later.</p>
<p>Understanding when our species migrated out of Africa can reveal insights into present-day biological, behavioral and cultural diversity. While we <em>Homo sapiens</em> are the only humans alive today, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.06.008">our species coexisted</a> with different human lineages in the past, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.3998/jar.0521004.0069.202">Neandertals</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2020.48.3.003-032">Denisovans</a>. Scientists are interested in when and where <em>H. sapiens</em> encountered these other kinds of humans.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=EjyT0fIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Our</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JG6YfO4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">recent</a> reanalysis of a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103291">fossil jawbone from a Spanish site called Banyoles</a> is raising new questions about when our species may have migrated to Europe.</p>
<h2><em>Homo sapiens</em> fossils found in Europe</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://australian.museum/learn/science/human-evolution/a-timeline-of-fossil-discoveries/">first documented discoveries</a> of human fossils were in Europe, just before Darwin’s 1859 publication of “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Darwin/On-the-Origin-of-Species">The Origin of Species</a>.” Ideas of evolution were being actively debated within European universities and scientific societies.</p>
<p>Many of the earliest fossil findings were <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/who-were-the-neanderthals.html">Neandertals</a>, a species that evolved in Europe by 250,000 years ago and became extinct around 40,000 years ago. They <a href="https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics/ancient-dna-and-neanderthals">are also our closest evolutionary relatives</a> and, because of ancient interbreeding, the genomes of people today include Neandertal DNA. Because of their early historical presence, Neandertal fossils had a big influence on how early researchers thought about human evolution. </p>
<p>The first <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.192464099">fossil evidence of Neandertals was found in 1856</a> during quarrying activities from the Neander Tal (Neander Valley) in Germany. Paleontologists took the hint and started to search for human fossils in other caves and exposed areas that preserved ancient sediments.</p>
<p>More than a decade later, in 1868, paleontologists uncovered <em>H. sapiens</em> fossils at the <a href="https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/fossils/cro-magnon-1">site of Cro-Magnon in southern France</a>. For much of the 20th century, the 30,000-year-old Cro-Magnon fossils represented the earliest fossil evidence of our species in Europe.</p>
<p>More recently, evidence for an earlier <em>H. sapiens</em> presence in Europe has come from two sites in Eastern Europe, including a partial skull from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01443-x">Zlatý kůň Cave in Czechia</a> dating to 45,000 years ago, as well as more fragmentary remains from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2259-z">Bacho Kiro Cave in Bulgaria</a> dating to around 44,000 years ago. Ancient DNA analysis has confirmed that the fossils from these sites represent <em>H. sapiens</em>. Additional, potentially earlier, evidence is represented by a <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-suggests-modern-humans-lived-in-europe-10-000-years-earlier-than-previously-thought-in-neanderthal-territories-176648">single tooth dating to 54,000 years ago</a> from the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abj9496">Grotte Mandrin Cave in France</a>.</p>
<p>This is where the human fossil from Banyoles comes into the story.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t_ZZkzCbd3U?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A new look at an old fossil find potentially pushes back the date when <em>Homo sapiens</em> lived in Europe.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reinvestigating a ‘Neandertal’ mandible</h2>
<p>Over a century ago in 1889, a fossil human lower jaw, or mandible, was found at a quarry near the town of Banyoles, in northeastern Spain. Pere Alsius, a prominent local pharmacist, first studied the mandible, and the fossil has been curated by his family ever since.</p>
<p>A number of anthropologists have studied the fossil over time, but it has not usually been included in discussions about <em>H. sapiens</em> in Europe. Most researchers instead argued it represented a Neandertal or showed Neandertal-like features, in part because the Banyoles fossil lacks a feature considered typical and diagnostic of our own species: a bony chin on the front of the mandible.</p>
<p>Researchers did not have a good idea of how old the Banyoles mandible was, with most believing it likely dated to the Middle Pleistocene (780,000-130,000 years ago). That age made it seem too old to represent <em>H. sapiens</em>. Thus, with the absence of a chin and the presumed early date, the designation as a Neandertal seemed to make sense.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502873/original/file-20230103-20-qzh844.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing the green and rocky terrain of Spain with fossil discovery sites indicated." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502873/original/file-20230103-20-qzh844.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502873/original/file-20230103-20-qzh844.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502873/original/file-20230103-20-qzh844.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502873/original/file-20230103-20-qzh844.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502873/original/file-20230103-20-qzh844.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502873/original/file-20230103-20-qzh844.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502873/original/file-20230103-20-qzh844.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Map of the Iberian Peninsula indicating where the Banyoles mandible (yellow star) was found, along with Late Pleistocene Neandertal (orange triangles) and <em>H. sapiens</em> (white squares) sites.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brian A. Keeling</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Based on recent modern <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4409-0_50">uranium-series</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9694-0_8">electron spin resonance</a> dating, researchers now believe the Banyoles mandible is between 45,000 and 66,000 years old. This younger estimate overlaps with the early <em>H. sapiens</em> fossils from Eastern Europe.</p>
<p>Working with Spanish paleoanthropologists and archaeologists, we took another look at what species the fossil might represent. We relied on a CT scan to virtually reconstruct damaged or missing portions of the mandible and generated a 3D model of the complete fossil. Then, we studied its overall shape and distinctive anatomical features, comparing it to <em>H. sapiens</em>, Neandertals and other earlier human species.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502874/original/file-20230103-26-x4inu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three side-by-side digital reconstructions of the Banyoles mandible, from side and above." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502874/original/file-20230103-26-x4inu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502874/original/file-20230103-26-x4inu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502874/original/file-20230103-26-x4inu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502874/original/file-20230103-26-x4inu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502874/original/file-20230103-26-x4inu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502874/original/file-20230103-26-x4inu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502874/original/file-20230103-26-x4inu6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Virtual reconstruction of the 3D model of the Banyoles mandible. Highlighted piece in blue indicates a mirrored element that researchers used to fill out missing sections.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brian A. Keeling</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contrast to earlier analyses, our results revealed that the Banyoles jawbone was most similar to <em>H. sapiens</em> fossils – not Neandertals.</p>
<p>When we examined the mandible’s bony features where muscle tendons and ligaments would have attached, it most closely resembled <em>H. sapiens</em>. We also found no unique bony features shared with the Neandertals. Additionally, when we used sophisticated 3D analysis techniques, we found that Banyoles’ overall shape was a better match with <em>H. sapiens</em> than with Neandertal individuals.</p>
<p>While nearly all of our evidence suggests this prehistoric human was indeed a member of our species, the lack of a chin remains puzzling. This feature is present in all human populations today and should be present in Banyoles if it is a member of our species.</p>
<h2>Figuring out the closest match</h2>
<p>How do we reconcile our results showing that Banyoles is a modern human with the fact that it lacks one of the most distinctive modern human features? We considered several possible scenarios.</p>
<p>When the mandible was discovered, it was still encased in a hard travertine block and only partially exposed. During initial cleaning and preparation of the specimen, it was <a href="https://helvia.uco.es/bitstream/handle/10396/16390/carandell51.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">accidentally dropped</a> and the chin region was damaged. The fossil was subsequently reconstructed, with the damaged fragments aligned in their correct anatomical position, and the current state of the fossil does seem to accurately reflect an original chinless shape. Thus, the lack of a chin in Banyoles cannot be attributed to this initial incident.</p>
<p>Could the lack of a chin in the Banyoles fossil be a result of interbreeding with Neandertals, who also lacked a chin? <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1002947">Genetic evidence</a> suggests that <em>H. sapiens</em> most likely interbred with Neandertals between 45,000 and 65,000 years ago, making this a possibility.</p>
<p>To assess this hypothesis, we compared Banyoles with an early <em>H. sapiens</em> mandible dating to about 42,000 years ago from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.2035108100">a Romanian site called Peştera cu Oase</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14558">Ancient DNA analysis</a> has revealed that the Oase individual had a Neandertal ancestor between four and six generations back, making it close to a hybrid individual. However, unlike Banyoles, this mandible shows a full chin along with some other Neandertal features. Since Banyoles shared no distinctive features with Neandertals, we ruled out the possibility of this individual representing interbreeding between Neandertals and <em>H. sapiens</em>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502875/original/file-20230103-24-rjv92m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three different lower jaw bones side by side" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502875/original/file-20230103-24-rjv92m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502875/original/file-20230103-24-rjv92m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=226&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502875/original/file-20230103-24-rjv92m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=226&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502875/original/file-20230103-24-rjv92m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=226&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502875/original/file-20230103-24-rjv92m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502875/original/file-20230103-24-rjv92m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502875/original/file-20230103-24-rjv92m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Comparison of mandibles between <em>H. sapiens</em>, at left; Banyoles, center; and a Neandertal, at right.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brian A. Keeling</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We’re left with two possibilities. Banyoles may represent a hybrid individual between <em>H. sapiens</em> and a non-Neandertal archaic human lineage. This scenario might account for the absence of the chin as well as the lack of any other Neandertal features in Banyoles. However, scientists haven’t identified any such non-Neandertal archaic group in the fossil record of the European <a href="https://www.geosociety.org/GSA/Education_Careers/Geologic_Time_Scale/GSA/timescale/home.aspx">Late Pleistocene</a> (129,000-11,700 years ago), making this hypothesis less likely.</p>
<p>Alternatively, Banyoles may document a previously unknown lineage of largely chinless <em>H. sapiens</em> in Europe. Possible support for this hypothesis comes from the fact that early <em>H. sapiens</em> fossils from Africa and the Middle East show a less prominent chin than do living humans. </p>
<p>Additionally, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17993">ancient DNA research</a> has shown that <em>H. sapiens</em> populations in Europe before 35,000 years ago did not contribute to the modern European gene pool. Thus, we believe the least unlikely hypothesis is that Banyoles represents an individual from one of these early <em>H. sapiens</em> populations.</p>
<p>Our study of Banyoles demonstrates how new discoveries about our evolutionary past do not solely rely on new fossil discoveries, but can also come about through applying new methodologies to previously discovered fossils. If Banyoles is really a member of our species, it would potentially represent the earliest <em>H. sapiens</em> lineage documented to date in Europe. Future ancient DNA analysis could confirm or refute this surprising result. In the meantime, <a href="https://www.morphosource.org/">the 3D model of Banyoles</a> is available for other researchers to study and form their own conclusions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196555/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Scientists had figured a fossil found in Spain more than a century ago was from a Neandertal. But a new analysis suggests it could be from a lost lineage of our species, Homo sapiens.Brian Anthony Keeling, Doctoral Candidate in Anthropology, Binghamton University, State University of New YorkRolf Quam, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Binghamton University, State University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1991942023-04-27T13:01:39Z2023-04-27T13:01:39ZSlavery’s historical link to marriage is still at play in some African societies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508608/original/file-20230207-18-9ckb4k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women in parts of the world are victims of slavery</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Governments and religious institutions regulate marriage. Such regulations are heavily laden with specific moral ideas and cultural taboos. There are heated debates around what counts as “proper” marriage: should polygamy or monogamy be preferred? What should be the minimal age for marriage? </p>
<p>Despite these debates, all contemporary societies see marriage as a sacrosanct institution that deserves legal protection. Not so slavery. </p>
<p>Today slavery is abolished in all countries. But 250 years ago various forms of slavery would have been legal on all continents. </p>
<p>During the period of legal slavery, marriage and slavery were closely interconnected and sometimes overlapped. Slave owners could force their slaves to marry, remain unmarried, or separate from their spouses. They could also marry them. </p>
<p>The forms of power that allowed slaveholders to coerce enslaved persons into unwanted marriages (or out of wanted ones) haven’t disappeared. </p>
<p>First, slavery has not ended. African women and children are caught in illegal networks controlled by sex traffickers who cater for a persistent demand in vulnerable (and therefore sexually abusable) persons. This, today, is outlawed and prosecutable as either slavery or forced marriage. But in the past such a demand was largely met through the provision of enslaved persons who could be used for sexual and conjugal purposes. </p>
<p>This points to <a href="https://www.ohioswallow.com/book/Trafficking+in+Slavery%E2%80%99s+Wake">continuities</a> in the types of services required, as well as the traffic geographies that connect vulnerable people from the South to demand in the North and Near East, as well as from poorer peripheries to urban centres within different regions in the South. </p>
<p>Second, during <a href="https://csiw-ectg.org/survivors-hearing-for-reparations-for-conflict-related-sexual-and-gender-based-violence-kinshasa-principles/">recent</a> African wars, militias kidnapped women and forced them into marriage, and sexual or conjugal slavery. Here, too, there are clear continuities with historical forms of wartime captivity. African women – survivors and activists – have been on the forefront of global movements speaking out against these abuses. </p>
<p>Thirdly, <a href="https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/descent-based-slavery/">African abolitionists</a> today fight against groups who illegally enslave people and defend slavery as a legitimate institution, based on the alleged slave descent of its victims . These practices are peculiarly resilient in connection to the acquisition of enslaved wives or concubines.<br>
I have been studying slavery in African and global history for over two decades. As part of this research, I have considered the relation between slavery and marriage.</p>
<p>In a recent <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0144039X.2022.2063231">research paper</a> co-authored with professor of politics Joel Quirk, we introduced a collection of articles on slave ‘marriages’ in Africa from 1830 to today.</p>
<p>While slavery has lost the ideological battle almost everywhere, women nevertheless continue to be objectified and subordinated under the protective cloak of “marriage”. What forms of “marriage” are nothing but slavery in disguise? In such cases, does the terminology of “marriage” merely serve the interest of perpetrators? </p>
<p>We can learn from the history of African women’s resistance against slavery, a history that has not ended. The voices and actions of women who were enslaved in the past, or who experienced enslavement today, reveal how oppression works and what made a difference to those exposed to it. </p>
<p>This history is not only an important part of the past that should not be forgotten. It can also be useful to activists and decision makers today.</p>
<h2>Historical slave marriages</h2>
<p>It is still common for people to think of historical slavery as coinciding exclusively with the history of Africans transported to America and the Caribbean as dehumanised labour for the profit of Euro-American racist capitalism. But this was only one of multiple historical forms of slavery. </p>
<p>Slavery also occurred within Africa and between different groups of Africans. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/plantation-slavery-in-the-sokoto-caliphate/3BAA8C45E8E5A017BD67473B85DF80F3">Research </a>by African and international historians leaves no doubt that slavery was a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-world-history-of-slavery/slavery-in-africa-18041936/F01667F6DC2CDF8A51D6F9E0D5505E6E">legitimate institution</a> in most African societies in the Nineteenth Century. In Africa in the 1800s, ‘marriages’ between enslaved people and freeborn people were relatively common. Usually a ‘slave wife’ benefited from some protections compared to other categories of female slaves. But slave wives were nevertheless subordinate to free wives, first wives and higher-ranking wives. </p>
<p>Whether the role of the ‘slave wife’ or the ‘conjugal slave’ was perceived as relatively desirable, or whether it was instead experienced as a daily torture imposing dreaded burdens on its unfortunate bearers, was contextual and individual. But such hierarchies were not uncommon. As historian Ettore Morelli <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0144039X.2022.2063232">has shown </a> for Sesotho- and Setswana-speaking societies of the Highveld in today’s Lesotho, they gave rise to complex social dynamics of resistance and accommodation. </p>
<p>In most African societies there were many ways of being a slave and many ways of being a wife. There were hierarchies within slavery and hierarchies within marriage. <a href="https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-466;jsessionid=614732E6961AD8AD9096A836E01F8206">Researchers</a> have only just begun to explore this area.</p>
<p>It must also be remembered that both marriage and slavery in Africa in the 1800s existed within patriarchal societies. In such societies positions of political dominance and public prestige are primarily held by men, and in which men have rights in women that women do not have either in their male kin or in themselves – even though the features of patriarchy varied from case to case. Everyday <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/everyday-gender-inequalities-that-underpin-wartime-atrocities/">gender inequalities </a>common in patriarchal contexts influence historical and contemporary forms of slavery and trafficking.</p>
<h2>Modern-day slave marriages</h2>
<p>Modern-day or contemporary trafficking in women and girls meets a demand for women whose sexuality, fertility and labour can still be imagined as fully controllable. Trafficking is <a href="https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/406-trafficking-in-human-beings-especially-women-and-children-in-africa-second-edition.html">recognised</a> as a major problem in most African sub-regions and countries.</p>
<p>In addition, in Africa’s recent conflicts large numbers of women and girls have been abducted by militias whose members seized females as booty, as in the case of the Lord Resistance Army in northern Uganda. Their commanders redistributed female abductees among their officers. Forced wives were expected to become pregnant. Their children would join societies ruled by warlords who sought to establish new autonomous political and social units. </p>
<p>Researchers <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/expertiseguide/sociology-social-policy/dr-eleanor-seymour.aspx">Eleanor Seymour</a>, <a href="https://research.birmingham.ac.uk/en/persons/eunice-apio">Eunice Apio</a>, and <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/history/people/academic-staff/professor-benedetta-rossi">Benedetta Rossi</a><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0144039X.2022.2063237?tab=permissions&scroll=top"> explored </a> how, if at all, these phenomena were in continuity with forms of female captivity common in the region’s warfare in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. </p>
<p>Another <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jun/28/child-sex-trafficking-wahaya-girls-slavery-niger">form</a> of trafficking that has proven resilient in contemporary Africa is the sale of young concubines (also known as ‘fifth wives’) to Muslim men who feel entitled to purchase girls of alleged ‘slave’ status to avoid committing the sin of fornication. These practices, in Niger for example, have been <a href="https://www.antislavery.org/reports/wahaya-domestic-and-sexual-slavery-in-niger/">combated</a> by African anti-slavery non-governmental organisations whose members are Muslims who argue that there can be no Islamic justification for these forms of conjugal slavery today, if there ever was. </p>
<p>Historic slavery lives on today in various forms and is exacerbated by contemporary slavery. Research on this history can reveal the perspectives and strategies of those enslaved and inform policy aimed at reducing their oppression.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199194/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benedetta Rossi receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon2020 research and innovation programme, grant agreement no. 885418. </span></em></p>The voices and actions of women who were enslaved reveal how oppression works and what made a difference to those exposed to itBenedetta Rossi, Professor of History, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2035322023-04-13T18:03:53Z2023-04-13T18:03:53ZWooded grasslands flourished in Africa 21 million years ago – new research forces a rethink of ape evolution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520610/original/file-20230412-18-2l6ftt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C808%2C3552%2C3217&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An ape that lived 21 million years ago was used to a habitat that was both grassy and wooded.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Corbin Rainbolt</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Human evolution is tightly connected to the environment and landscape of Africa, <a href="https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/sahelanthropus-tchadensis">where our ancestors first emerged</a>.</p>
<p>According to the traditional scientific narrative, Africa was once a verdant idyll of vast forests stretching from coast to coast. In these lush habitats, around 21 million years ago, the earliest ancestors of apes and humans first evolved traits – including upright posture – that distinguished them from their monkey cousins.</p>
<p>But then, the story went, global climates cooled and dried, and forests began to shrink. By about 10 million years ago, grasses and shrubs that were better able to tolerate the increasingly dry conditions started to take over eastern Africa, replacing forests. The earliest hominins, our distant ancestors, ventured out of the forest remnants that had been home onto the grass-covered savanna. The idea was that this new ecosystem pushed a radical change for our lineage: We became bipedal.</p>
<p>For a long time, researchers have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69378-0">linked the expansion of grasslands in Africa</a> to the evolution of numerous human traits, including walking on two legs, using tools and hunting.</p>
<p>Despite the prominence of this theory, mounting evidence from paleontological and paleoclimatological research undermines it. <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq2834">In two</a> <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq2835">recent papers</a>, our multidisciplinary team of Kenyan, Ugandan, European <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DjYvbR8AAAAJ&hl=en">and</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=W7H_Y0oAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">American</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=gwZCXkQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scientists</a> concluded that it is time finally to discard this version of the evolutionary story.</p>
<p>A decade ago, we began what, at the time, was a unique experiment in paleoanthropology: Several independent research teams joined together to build a regional perspective on the evolution and diversification of early apes. The project, dubbed REACHE, short for Research on Eastern African Catarrhine and Hominoid Evolution, was based on the premise that conclusions drawn from evidence across many locations would be more powerful than interpretations from individual fossil sites. We wondered whether previous researchers had missed the forest for the trees.</p>
<h2>An ape in Uganda 21 million years ago</h2>
<p>Based on the lifestyle of apes alive today, scientists have hypothesized that the very first ones evolved in dense forests, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/284139">where they successfully fed on fruit</a>, thanks to a few key anatomical innovations.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QKuyv6YdBx4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Chimpanzees move with an upright posture.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Apes have stable, upright backs. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_2001-1">Once the back is vertical</a>, an ape no longer has to walk on the top of small branches like a monkey. Instead, it can grab different branches with its arms and legs, distributing its body mass across multiple supports. Apes can even hang below branches, making them less likely to lose their balance. In this way, they are able to access fruits growing on the edges of tree crowns that otherwise might be available only to smaller species.</p>
<p>But was this scenario true for the earliest apes? A 21 million-year-old site in Moroto, Uganda, became an ideal place to investigate this question. There our REACHE team discovered teeth and other remains belonging to <em>Morotopithecus</em>, the oldest ape for which scientists have found fossils from the cranium, teeth and other parts of the skeleton.</p>
<p>Two bones in particular helped us understand how this species moved. A lower backbone found decades ago and curated by the Uganda National Museum had already been noted for its <a href="https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.1994.1012">bony attachments for back muscles</a>, indicating that <em>Morotopithecus</em> had a stiff lower back, good for climbing upright in the trees.</p>
<p>A discovery of our own confirmed this climbing behavior in a major way. At Moroto we found a fossil ape thigh bone that is short but strong, with a very thick shaft. This kind of bone is characteristic of living apes and helps them climb up and down trees with a vertical torso.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520652/original/file-20230413-20-yvp928.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="vertebra, partial jaw and femur fossils" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520652/original/file-20230413-20-yvp928.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520652/original/file-20230413-20-yvp928.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=240&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520652/original/file-20230413-20-yvp928.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=240&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520652/original/file-20230413-20-yvp928.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=240&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520652/original/file-20230413-20-yvp928.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520652/original/file-20230413-20-yvp928.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520652/original/file-20230413-20-yvp928.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Three fossilized bones from <em>Morotopithecus</em>: a vertebra, part of a jaw and a femur.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">L. MacLatchy and J. Kingston</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although both skeletal fossils are consistent with the fruit-eating, forest-dwelling ape hypothesis, <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq2835">we found something astonishing</a> when we discovered an ape lower jaw fragment in the same excavation layer. Its molars were elongated, with well-developed shearing crests running between the cusps. These ridges are ideal for slicing leaves but are unlike the low, round, crushing tooth cusps of committed fruit eaters. If ape skeletal adaptations evolved in forests to aid in fruit exploitation, why would the earliest ape showing these locomotor features instead have teeth like a leaf eater’s?</p>
<p>Such inconsistencies between our evidence and the traditional narrative of ape origins led us to question other assumptions: Did <em>Morotopithecus</em> live in a forested habitat at all? </p>
<h2>The environment at Moroto</h2>
<p>To figure out <em>Morotopithecus’</em> habitat, we studied the chemistry of fossil soils – called paleosols – and the microscopic remains of plants they contain in order to reconstruct the ancient climate and vegetation at Moroto.</p>
<p>Trees and most shrubs and nontropical grasses are classified as C₃ plants, based on the type of photosynthesis they perform. Tropical grasses, which rely on a different photosynthetic system, are known as C₄ plants. Importantly, C₃ plants and C₄ plants differ in the proportions of the various carbon <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/isotope">isotopes</a> they take in. That means carbon isotope ratios preserved in the paleosols can tell us the composition of the ancient vegetation.</p>
<p>We measured three distinct carbon isotope signatures, each providing a different perspective on the plant community: carbon resulting from decomposition of vegetation and soil microbes; carbon resulting from plant waxes; and calcium carbonate nodules formed in soils through evaporation.</p>
<p>Although each proxy gave us slightly different values, <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq2834">they converged on a single remarkable story</a>. Moroto was not a closed forest habitat but rather a relatively open woodland environment. What’s more, we found evidence of abundant C₄ plant biomass – tropical grasses.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520653/original/file-20230413-16-s1no2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Traditional versus updated view of early ape habitat and evolution" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520653/original/file-20230413-16-s1no2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520653/original/file-20230413-16-s1no2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520653/original/file-20230413-16-s1no2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520653/original/file-20230413-16-s1no2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520653/original/file-20230413-16-s1no2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520653/original/file-20230413-16-s1no2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520653/original/file-20230413-16-s1no2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">(A) Forested ecosystem traditionally believed to be the habitat of early apes, which ate fruit at the ends of tree branches, compared with (B) new perspective of grassy woodland ecosystem reconstruction, where early apes lived in open habitats and fed on leaves.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Figure modified with permission from MacLatchy et al., Science 380, eabq2835 (2023)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This discovery was a revelation. C₄ grasses lose less water during photosynthesis than C₃ trees and shrubs do. Today, C₄ grasses dominate seasonally dry savanna ecosystems that <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000058054">cover more than half of Africa</a>. But scientists hadn’t thought the levels of C₄ biomass we measured at Moroto had evolved in Africa until 10 million years ago. Our data suggests it happened twice as far back in time, 21 million years ago.</p>
<p>Our colleagues <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=A5RCBfEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Caroline Strömberg</a>, Alice Novello and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Sg0Q5xkAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Rahab Kinyanjui</a> used another line of evidence to corroborate the abundance of C₄ grasses at Moroto. They analyzed phytoliths, tiny silica bodies created by plant cells, preserved in the paleosols. Their results supported an open woodland and wooded grassland environment for this time and place.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520540/original/file-20230412-20-hnv0wy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Early Miocene grass phytoliths" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520540/original/file-20230412-20-hnv0wy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520540/original/file-20230412-20-hnv0wy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520540/original/file-20230412-20-hnv0wy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520540/original/file-20230412-20-hnv0wy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520540/original/file-20230412-20-hnv0wy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520540/original/file-20230412-20-hnv0wy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520540/original/file-20230412-20-hnv0wy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Example of typical grass phytoliths, extracted from paleosol at one of the sites, some of which indicate the presence of C₄ grass.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alice Novello</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Taken together, this evidence dramatically contradicts the traditional view of ape origins – that apes evolved upright torsos to reach fruit in forest canopies. Instead, <em>Morotopithecus</em>, the earliest known ape with upright locomotion, consumed leaves and inhabited an open woodland with grassy areas.</p>
<h2>A new, regional view of early ape habitats</h2>
<p>Through the REACHE project, we applied the same approach to reconstruct habitats at eight other fossil sites in Kenya and Uganda, ranging in age from around 16 million to 21 million years old. After all, <em>Morotopithecus</em> is only one of several apes that lived during this time period.</p>
<p>To our surprise, we discovered that the ecological signal measured at Moroto was not unique. Instead, it was part of a broader pattern in eastern Africa during this time. </p>
<p>Our isotopic proxies at each fossil site contributed two significant revelations. First, vegetation types ranged from closed canopy forests to open wooded grasslands. And second, every site had a mixture of C₃ and C₄ vegetation, with some locations having a high proportion of C₄ grass biomass. Phytoliths from the same paleosols again corroborated that abundant C₄ grasses were present at multiple sites. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520539/original/file-20230412-20-ys57ae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="cartoon depictions of nine paleoenvironments placed on timeline" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520539/original/file-20230412-20-ys57ae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520539/original/file-20230412-20-ys57ae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=274&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520539/original/file-20230412-20-ys57ae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=274&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520539/original/file-20230412-20-ys57ae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=274&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520539/original/file-20230412-20-ys57ae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520539/original/file-20230412-20-ys57ae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520539/original/file-20230412-20-ys57ae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paleoenvironments for the nine fossil sites analyzed range from closed canopy forest to more open wooded grassland environments. Inset map shows the geographic location of sites in eastern Africa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Peppe</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The realization that such a variety of environments, especially open habitats with C₄ grasses, was present at the dawn of the apes forces a reassessment not just of the evolution of apes but of humans and other African mammals. Although some studies had suggested such habitat variation was present across Africa, our project was able to confirm it, repeatedly, within the very habitats that early apes and their animal contemporaries occupied.</p>
<p>Because the timing of the assembly of Africa’s grassland habitats underlies many evolutionary hypotheses, our discovery that they existed much earlier than expected calls for a recalibration of those ideas.</p>
<p>Regarding human origins, our study adds to a growing body of evidence that our divergence from apes – in anatomy, ecology, behavior – cannot be simply explained by the appearance of grassland habitats. Nevertheless, we cautiously remind ourselves that hominin evolution unfolded over many millions of years. It is almost certain that the vast and majestic grasslands of Africa played an important role in some of the many steps along the path to becoming human.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203532/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura M MacLatchy receives funding from the US National Science Foundation, the LSB Leakey Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation and the University of Michigan. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Peppe receives funding from National Science Foundation, Leakey Foundation, Baylor University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kieran McNulty has received funding from the National Science Foundation, Leakey Foundation, Wenner-Gren Foundation, Leverhulme Foundation, and the University of Minnesota. </span></em></p>Contrary to the idea that apes evolved their upright posture to reach for fruit in the forest canopy, the earliest known ape with this stature, Morotopithecus, lived in more open grassy environments.Laura M. MacLatchy, Professor of Anthropology, University of MichiganDan Peppe, Associate Professor of Geosciences, Baylor UniversityKieran McNulty, Professor of Anthropology, University of MinnesotaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2020112023-04-05T12:24:51Z2023-04-05T12:24:51ZRacist and sexist depictions of human evolution still permeate science, education and popular culture today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518818/original/file-20230331-1042-s84ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2048%2C1367&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Human evolution is typically depicted with a progressive whitening of the skin, despite a lack of evidence to support it.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stone_age_by_Vasnetsov_01.jpg">Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov/Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Systemic racism and sexism have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70401-2">permeated civilization</a> since the rise of agriculture, when people started living in one place for a long time. Early Western scientists, such as Aristotle in ancient Greece, were indoctrinated with the <a href="http://www.beacon.org/Superior-P1495.aspx">ethnocentric</a> and <a href="https://www.akpress.org/a-brief-history-of-misogyny.html">misogynistic</a> narratives that permeated their society. More than 2,000 years after Aristotle’s writings, <a href="http://www.beacon.org/Inferior-P1278.aspx">English naturalist Charles Darwin</a> also extrapolated the sexist and racist narratives he heard and read in his youth to the natural world. </p>
<p>Darwin presented his biased views as scientific facts, such as in his 1871 book “<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/39301709">The Descent of Man</a>,” where he described his belief that men are evolutionarily superior to women, Europeans superior to non-Europeans and hierarchical civilizations superior to small egalitarian societies. In that book, which <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-darwins-descent-man-holds-150-years-after-publication-180977091/">continues to be studied</a> in schools and natural history museums, he considered “the hideous ornaments and the equally hideous music admired by most savages” to be “not so highly developed as in certain animals, for instance, in birds,” and compared the appearance of Africans to the New World monkey <em>Pithecia satanas</em>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Science isn’t immune to sexism and racism.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“The Descent of Man” was published during a moment of societal turmoil in continental Europe. In France, the working class <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Commune-of-Paris-1871">Paris Commune</a> took to the streets asking for radical social change, including the overturning of societal hierarchies. Darwin’s claims that the subjugation of the poor, non-Europeans and women was the natural result of evolutionary progress were music to the ears of the elites and those in power within academia. Science historian <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OCG87poAAAAJ&hl=en">Janet Browne</a> wrote that Darwin’s <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691114392/charles-darwin">meteoric rise within Victorian society</a> did not occur despite his racist and sexist writings but in great part because of them. </p>
<p>It is not coincidence that Darwin had a state funeral in Westminster Abbey, an honor emblematic of English power, and was <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/darwin/oclc/644948405">publicly commemorated</a> as a symbol of “English success in conquering nature and civilizing the globe during Victoria’s long reign.” </p>
<p>Despite the significant societal changes that have occurred in the last 150 years, sexist and racist narratives are still common in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21978">science, medicine and education</a>. As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=sOat2IwAAAAJ&hl=en">teacher and researcher</a> at Howard University, I am interested in combining my main fields of study, <a href="https://www.ruidiogolab.org/">biology and anthropology</a>, to discuss broader societal issues. In research I recently published with my colleague <a href="https://profiles.howard.edu/fatimah-jackson">Fatimah Jackson</a> and three medical students at Howard University, we show how racist and sexist narratives are not a thing of the past: They are still present in scientific papers, textbooks, museums and educational materials.</p>
<h2>From museums to scientific papers</h2>
<p>One example of how biased narratives are still present in science today is the numerous depictions of human evolution as a linear trend from darker and more “primitive” human beings to more “evolved” ones with a lighter skin tone. Natural history <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/john-gurche-shaping-humanity/1836128.html">museums</a>, <a href="https://medium.com/paperkin/where-is-evolution-taking-the-human-race-6ddaf7eaddba">websites</a> and <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/africa/south-africa/articles/what-south-africas-caves-can-tell-you-about-humankind/">UNESCO heritage sites</a> have all shown this trend.</p>
<p>The fact that such depictions are not scientifically accurate does not discourage their continued circulation. <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/video/15-countries-largest-white-population-195712421.html">Roughly 11%</a> of people living today are “white,” or European descendants. Images showing a linear progression to whiteness do not accurately represent either human evolution or what living humans look like today, as a whole. Furthermore, there is no scientific evidence supporting a progressive skin whitening. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24564">Lighter skin pigmentation</a> chiefly evolved within just a few groups that migrated to non-African regions with high or low latitudes, such as the northern regions of America, Europe and Asia.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2aFfDooTIVQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Illustrations of human evolution tend to depict progressive skin whitening.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sexist narratives also still permeate academia. For example, in a 2021 paper on a famous early human fossil <a href="https://doi.org/10.4436/jass.99001">found in the Sierra de Atapuerca</a> archaeological site in Spain, researchers examined the canine teeth of the remains and found that it was actually that of a girl between 9 and 11 years old. It was previously believed that the fossil was a boy due to a popular 2002 book by one of the authors of that paper, paleoanthropologist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5nDp-kIAAAAJ">José María Bermúdez de Castro</a>. What is particularly telling is that the study authors recognized that there was no scientific reason for the fossil remains to have been designated as a male in the first place. The decision, they wrote, “<a href="https://newsrnd.com/news/2021-03-16-%0A---the-boy-from-the-gran-dolina-was-actually-a-girl%0A--.Skx4GEFC7u.html">arose randomly</a>.”</p>
<p>But these choices are not truly “random.” Depictions of human evolution <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801435492/ancestral-images/">frequently only show men</a>. In the few cases where women are depicted, they tend to be shown as passive mothers, not as active inventors, cave painters or food gatherers, despite available anthropological data showing that <a href="http://www.beacon.org/Inferior-P1278.aspx">pre-historical women were all those things</a>.</p>
<p>Another example of sexist narratives in science is how researchers continue to discuss the “puzzling” <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jez.b.22690">evolution of the female orgasm</a>. Darwin <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70401-2">constructed narratives</a> about how women were evolutionarily “coy” and sexually passive, even though he acknowledged that females actively select their sexual partners in most mammalian species. As a Victorian, it was difficult for him to accept that women could play an active part in choosing a partner, so he argued that such roles only applied to women in early human evolution. According to Darwin, men later began to sexually select women.</p>
<p>Sexist narratives about women being more “coy” and “less sexual,” including the idea of the female orgasm as an evolutionary puzzle, <a href="https://www.iflscience.com/female-orgasms-are-not-puzzling-enigmas--43486">are contradicted</a> by a wide range of evidence. For instance, women are the ones who actually more frequently experience <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2020.1743224">multiple orgasms</a> as well as more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490209552129">complex, elaborate and intense orgasms</a> on average, compared to men. Women are not biologically less sexual, but <a href="https://theconversation.com/data-should-smash-the-biological-myth-of-promiscuous-males-and-sexually-coy-females-59665">sexist stereotypes</a> were accepted as scientific fact.</p>
<h2>The vicious cycle of systemic racism and sexism</h2>
<p>Educational materials, including textbooks and anatomical atlases used by science and medical students, play a crucial role in perpetuating biased narratives. For example, the 2017 edition of “<a href="https://evolve.elsevier.com/cs/product/9780323547086?role=student">Netter Atlas of Human Anatomy</a>,” commonly used by medical students and clinical professionals, includes about 180 figures that show skin color. Of those, the vast majority show male individuals with white skin, and only two show individuals with “darker” skin. This perpetuates the depiction of white men as the anatomical prototype of the human species and fails to display the full anatomical diversity of people.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mMVzPCOut1w?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Textbooks and educational materials can perpetuate the biases of their creators in science and society.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Authors of teaching materials for children also replicate the biases in scientific publications, museums and textbooks. For example, the cover of a 2016 coloring book entitled “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Evolution_of_Living_Things_Coloring.html?id=mOUkMQAACAAJ">The Evolution of Living Things”</a>“ shows human evolution as a linear trend from darker "primitive” creatures to a “civilized” Western man. Indoctrination comes full circle when the children using such books become scientists, journalists, museum curators, politicians, authors or illustrators.</p>
<p>One of the key characteristics of systemic racism and sexism is that it is unconsciously perpetuated by people who often don’t realize that the narratives and choices they make are biased. Academics can address long-standing racist, sexist and Western-centric biases by being both more alert and proactive in detecting and correcting these influences in their work. Allowing inaccurate narratives to continue to circulate in science, medicine, education and the media perpetuates not only these narratives in future generations, but also the discrimination, oppression and atrocities that have been <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/disturbing-resilience-scientific-racism-180972243/">justified by them in the past</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202011/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rui Diogo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From Aristotle to Darwin, inaccurate and biased narratives in science not only reproduce these biases in future generations but also perpetuate the discrimination they are used to justify.Rui Diogo, Associate Professor of Anatomy, Howard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2011542023-03-29T15:02:28Z2023-03-29T15:02:28ZAncient DNA is restoring the origin story of the Swahili people of the East African coast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516781/original/file-20230321-2514-xlebqo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=278%2C16%2C2537%2C1926&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How are people today related to those who lived centuries ago in the Swahili civilization? </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/eQ6o77">The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The legacy of the medieval Swahili civilization is a source of extraordinary pride in East Africa, as reflected in its language being the official tongue of Kenya, Tanzania and even inland countries like Uganda and Rwanda, far from the Indian Ocean shore where the culture developed nearly two millennia ago.</p>
<p>Its ornate stone and coral towns hugged 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) of the coast, and its merchants played a linchpin role in the lucrative trade between Africa and lands across the ocean: Arabia, Persia, India, Southeast Asia and China.</p>
<p>By the turn of the second millennium, Swahili people embraced Islam, and some of their grand mosques still stand at the UNESCO World Heritage sites of <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1055/">Lamu in Kenya</a> and <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/144">Kilwa in Tanzania</a>.</p>
<p>Self-governance ended following Portuguese colonization in the 1500s, with control later shifting to the Omanis (1730-1964), Germans in Tanganyika (1884-1918) and British in Kenya and Uganda (1884-1963). Following independence, coastal peoples were absorbed into the modern nation-states of Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516769/original/file-20230321-2560-1pocur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="old color map of a hilly island with a town on one side" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516769/original/file-20230321-2560-1pocur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516769/original/file-20230321-2560-1pocur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516769/original/file-20230321-2560-1pocur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516769/original/file-20230321-2560-1pocur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516769/original/file-20230321-2560-1pocur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516769/original/file-20230321-2560-1pocur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516769/original/file-20230321-2560-1pocur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Swahili island settlement of Kilwa, in present-day Tanzania, grew over centuries to be a major coastal city and trading center.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-the-11th-century-the-island-of-kilwa-kisiwani-was-sold-news-photo/1354431211">Pictures From History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So who were the Swahili people, and where did their ancestors originally come from?</p>
<p>Ironically, the story of Swahili origins has been molded almost entirely by non-Swahili people, a challenge shared with many other marginalized and colonized peoples who are the modern descendants of cultures of the past with extraordinary achievements.</p>
<p>Working with a team of 42 colleagues, including 17 African scholars and multiple members of the Swahili community, we’ve now published the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05754-w">first ancient DNA sequences from peoples of the Swahili civilization</a>. Our results do not provide simple validation for the narratives previously advanced in archaeological, historical or political circles. Instead, they contradict and complicate all of them.</p>
<h2>Colonization affected how the story was told</h2>
<p>Western archaeologists in the mid-20th century emphasized the <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/1174314">connections of the medieval Swahili to Persia and Arabia</a>, sometimes suggesting that <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/1672964">their impressive achievements</a> could not have been <a href="https://www.publicmedievalist.com/recovering-medieval-africa/">attained by Africans</a>.</p>
<p>Post-colonial scholars, including one of us (<a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5NehBh4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Kusimba</a>), pushed back against that view. Earlier researchers had inflated the importance of non-African influences by focusing on imported objects at Swahili sites. They minimized the vast majority of locally made materials and what they <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/905641508?oclcNum=905641508">revealed about African industry and innovation</a>.</p>
<p>But viewing Swahili heritage as primarily African or non-African is too simplistic. In fact, both perspectives are byproducts of colonialist biases.</p>
<p>The truth is that colonization of the East African coast did not end with the departure of the British in the middle of the 20th century. Many colonial institutions were <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Plundering_Africa_s_Past/qCBxNhZxSPMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Destruction+of+Swahili+Heritage&pg=PA201&printsec=frontcover">inherited and perpetuated by Africans</a>. As modern nation-states formed, with governments controlled by inland peoples, <a href="https://africaworldpressbooks.com/the-swahili-idiom-and-identity-of-an-african-people-by-alamin-m-mazuri-and-ibrahim-noor-shariff/">Swahili people continued</a> <a href="https://iupress.org/9780253210548/plundering-africas-past/">to be undermined</a> politically and economically, in some cases as much as they had been under foreign rule.</p>
<p>Decades of archaeological research in consultation with local people aimed to address the marginalization of communities of Swahili descent. Our team consulted oral traditions and used ethnoarchaeology and systematic surveys, along with targeted excavations of residential, industrial and cemetery locations. Working with local scholars and elders, we unearthed materials such as pottery, metal and beads; food, house and industrial remains; and imported objects such as porcelain, glass, glass beads and more. Together they revealed the complexity of Swahili everyday life and the peoples’ cosmopolitan Indian Ocean heritage.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516767/original/file-20230321-3114-lin1g3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="woodsy setting with a stone wall enclosing an area with grave stones" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516767/original/file-20230321-3114-lin1g3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516767/original/file-20230321-3114-lin1g3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516767/original/file-20230321-3114-lin1g3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516767/original/file-20230321-3114-lin1g3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516767/original/file-20230321-3114-lin1g3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516767/original/file-20230321-3114-lin1g3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516767/original/file-20230321-3114-lin1g3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">For generations, Swahilis have maintained matrilineal family burial gardens such as this one in Faza town, Lamu County.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chapurukha Kusimba, 2012</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ancient DNA analysis was always one of the most exciting prospects. It offered the hope of using scientific methods to obtain answers to the question of how medieval people are related to earlier groups and to people today, providing a counterweight to narratives imposed from outside. Until a few years ago, this kind of analysis was a dream. But because of a <a href="https://reich.hms.harvard.edu/why-i-wrote-book">technological revolution in 2010</a>, the number of ancient humans with published genome-scale data has risen from nothing to <a href="https://reich.hms.harvard.edu/allen-ancient-dna-resource-aadr-downloadable-genotypes-present-day-and-ancient-dna-data">more than 10,000 today</a>.</p>
<h2>Surprises in the ancient DNA</h2>
<p>We worked with local communities to determine the best practices for treating human remains in line with traditional Muslim religious sensitivities. Cemetery excavations, sampling and reburial of human remains were carried out in one season, rather than dragging on indefinitely.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516773/original/file-20230321-2318-sfwzc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="black and white drawing of a skeleton on its side" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516773/original/file-20230321-2318-sfwzc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516773/original/file-20230321-2318-sfwzc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=236&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516773/original/file-20230321-2318-sfwzc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=236&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516773/original/file-20230321-2318-sfwzc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=236&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516773/original/file-20230321-2318-sfwzc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516773/original/file-20230321-2318-sfwzc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516773/original/file-20230321-2318-sfwzc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A detailed line drawing captures the way one person’s remains were discovered during cemetery excavation at Mtwapa in 1996.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eric Wert, 2001</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our team generated data from more than 80 people, mostly elite individuals buried in the rich centers of the stone towns. We will need to wait for future work to understand whether their genetic inheritance differed from people without their high status. </p>
<p>Contradicting what we had expected, the ancestry of the people we analyzed was not largely African or Asian. Instead, these backgrounds were intertwined, each contributing about half of the DNA of the people we analyzed.</p>
<p>We found that Asian ancestry in the medieval individuals came largely from Persia (modern-day Iran), and that Asians and African ancestors began mixing at least 1,000 years ago. This picture is almost a perfect match to the <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/kilwa-chronicle-sultan-list-swahili-culture-171631">Kilwa Chronicle</a>, the oldest narrative told by the Swahili people themselves, and one almost all <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3171745">earlier scholars had dismissed</a> as a kind of fairy tale.</p>
<p>Another surprise was that, mixed in with the Persians, Indians were a significant proportion of the earliest migrants. Patterns in the DNA also suggest that, after the transition to Omani control in the 18th century, Asian immigrants became increasingly Arabian. Later, there was intermarriage with people whose DNA was similar to others in Africa. As a result, some modern people who identify as Swahili have inherited relatively little DNA from medieval peoples like those we analyzed, while others have more.</p>
<p>One of the most revealing patterns our genetic analysis identified was that the overwhelming majority of male-line ancestors came from Asia, while female-line ancestors came from Africa. This finding must reflect a history of Persian males traveling to the coast and having children with local women.</p>
<p>One of us (<a href="https://reich.hms.harvard.edu">Reich</a>) initially hypothesized that these patterns might reflect Asian men forcibly marrying African women because similar genetic signatures in other populations are known to <a href="https://nautil.us/social-inequality-leaves-a-genetic-mark-237027/">reflect such violent histories</a>. But this theory does not account for what is known about the culture, and there is a more likely explanation.</p>
<p>Traditional Swahili society is similar to many other East African Bantu cultures <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/45341518">in being substantially matriarchal</a> – it places much economic and social power in the hands of women. In traditional Swahili societies even today, ownership of stone houses <a href="http://www.siupress.com/books/978-0-8093-3397-4">often passes down the female line</a>. And there is a long recorded history of female rulers, beginning with Mwana Mkisi, ruler of Mombasa, as recorded by the Portuguese as early as the 1500s, down to Sabani binti Ngumi, ruler of Mikindani in Tanzania as late as 1886.</p>
<p>Our best guess is that Persian men allied with and married into elite families and adopted local customs to enable them to be more successful traders. The fact that their children passed down the language of their mothers, and that encounters with traditionally patriarchal Persians and Arabians and conversion to Islam did not change the coast’s African matriarchal traditions, confirms that this was not a simple history of African women being exploited. African women retained critical aspects of their culture and passed it down for many generations.</p>
<p>How do these results gleaned from ancient DNA restore heritage for the Swahili? Objective knowledge about the past has great potential to help marginalized peoples. By making it possible to challenge and overturn narratives imposed from the outside for political or economic ends, scientific research provides a meaningful and underappreciated tool for righting colonial wrongs.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: We removed an archival photo that was not representative of Swahili dress.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201154/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chapurukha M. Kusimba received funding for this research from the Field Museum of Natural History, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fulbright Scholars Program, and the National Geographic Society.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Reich received funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Institutes of Health, the John Templeton Foundation and the Allen Discovery Center program, a Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group advised program of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.</span></em></p>The first ancient DNA sequences from peoples of the medieval Swahili civilization push aside colonialist stories and reveal genetic connections from the past.Chapurukha Kusimba, Professor of Anthropology, University of South FloridaDavid Reich, Professor of Genetics and of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1997552023-02-23T13:16:17Z2023-02-23T13:16:17ZWhen there are no words: Talking about wartime trauma in Ukraine<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510789/original/file-20230217-18-v9aq5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C0%2C1017%2C682&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ukrainian designer Margarita Chala stands next to shoes symbolizing war crimes committed against Ukrainian civilians at the Old Town Square in Prague in 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/ukrainian-designer-margarita-chala-drapped-in-a-ukrainian-news-photo/1247164013?phrase=ukraine&adppopup=true">Michal Cizek/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the first anniversary of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-did-russia-invade-ukraine-178512">Russian invasion of Ukraine</a> approaches, one thing is clear: The destruction the war has wreaked upon Ukrainians over the last 12 months is so catastrophic that the country will be dealing with the humanitarian consequences for the foreseeable future. One of the consequences is trauma. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://ii.umich.edu/ii/people/all/u/uehling.html">an anthropologist</a>, I have long sought ways to describe my interviewees’ narratives in ways that are true to what they experienced. This is particularly challenging after shocking, painful or overwhelming experiences, which are often difficult for survivors to describe in chronological order – or sometimes, to describe at all.</p>
<p>Still, abundant research shows that unverbalized memories are not necessarily lost. Often, they return in the form of flashbacks <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-018-1680-4">and physical sensations</a>. Survivors may find themselves reaching, consciously or unconsciously, for different ways to describe their experiences.</p>
<p>I did extensive <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501768484/everyday-war/#bookTabs=1">ethnographic research</a> in Ukraine between 2015 and 2017, crisscrossing the country to understand <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/48614280">what was happening to civilians</a> after Russian-supported troops began the war in the Donbas region of Ukraine. During my research, many people related their experiences of war in terms of their embodied sensations and material possessions.</p>
<h2>The body knows</h2>
<p>Ukrainians often described their decision to leave areas of active military conflict as a visceral, rather than cerebral, process. A woman I call “Zhenia,” for example, lived through the epic siege <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/02/a-year-of-war-completely-destroyed-the-donetsk-airport/386204/">of the Donetsk airport</a> in 2014. Although her family planned to stay, that changed one night when her husband saw a mortar from a missile strike land down the street from their high-rise apartment while he was standing on their balcony. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511460/original/file-20230221-28-vwt2d8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The view of a damaged-looking apartment building from inside another damaged apartment." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511460/original/file-20230221-28-vwt2d8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511460/original/file-20230221-28-vwt2d8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511460/original/file-20230221-28-vwt2d8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511460/original/file-20230221-28-vwt2d8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511460/original/file-20230221-28-vwt2d8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511460/original/file-20230221-28-vwt2d8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511460/original/file-20230221-28-vwt2d8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A view from a destroyed window after a shell hit an apartment block building in Donetsk on Dec. 2, 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-from-a-destroyed-window-after-a-shell-hit-an-apartment-news-photo/459826320?phrase=2014%20donetsk%20airport&adppopup=true">Eric Feferberg/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>But they didn’t need to talk about it. Zhenia remembers thinking that her husband’s skin looked almost green from shock. Then, he threw up in the bathrooom. By the glances they exchanged, she knew it was time to pack their bags. </p>
<p>From her perspective, their bodies “knew” the time had come – it was an embodied form of knowing. She and many other displaced Ukrainians told their stories by referring to physical changes they experienced: tightening in the diaphragm, shortness of breath, an upset stomach, diarrhea, pain in their bones. Young people in good health described their hair going gray and teeth suddenly beginning to fall out. Psychologists might call this “somaticizing”: when mental and emotional distress <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2014.07.011">expresses itself physically</a>.</p>
<p>Anthropologists <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520247451/life-and-words">have long debated how best</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/14634996030033003">communicate about pain and violence</a> in a way that honors survivors’ experiences <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/006996685019001011">without being voyeuristic</a>. In my 2023 book, “<a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501767593/everyday-war/#bookTabs=1">Everyday War</a>,” I address the challenge by giving voice to the embodied language the people I spoke with used, relating their lives to me by talking about their bodies and possessions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511509/original/file-20230221-3844-fzfy9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Framed photos and small decorations sit on a desk next to a houseplant." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511509/original/file-20230221-3844-fzfy9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511509/original/file-20230221-3844-fzfy9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511509/original/file-20230221-3844-fzfy9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511509/original/file-20230221-3844-fzfy9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511509/original/file-20230221-3844-fzfy9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511509/original/file-20230221-3844-fzfy9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511509/original/file-20230221-3844-fzfy9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Bits of life, sitting in a nursing home room near Kyiv.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/residents-personal-belongings-in-a-room-on-may-8-2022-at-a-news-photo/1240546289?phrase=ukraine%20possessions&adppopup=true">Alexey Furman via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Surviving the surreal</h2>
<p>Among survivors of horrific experiences, there is also <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/884645650">a tendency to dissociate</a>. Dissociation refers to the sense of detachment from reality that occurs when the ways we typically make sense of our experiences are inadequate to what is happening.</p>
<p><a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/09/1127691">War crimes</a> exemplify humanity at its worst, and ordinary words <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-102215-100232">often feel insufficient</a> to describe what people witness. It is not uncommon for individuals who have survived war and conflict to describe feeling detached from reality and other people. Many experience the world in which they are living as unreal, dreamlike and distorted.</p>
<p>In Ukraine, people I spoke with who had been affected by the war painted a world so uncannily altered by violence that it felt as they were living in a science fiction drama: The previously familiar became very strange.</p>
<p>A woman who had been displaced from Donetsk, “Yuliya,” told me she left after an otherworldly quality seemed to overtake her city. She compared her time in the city to a science fiction movie she had seen about the Soviet Union, in which high-tech sonic waves were used to subdue the population. Others <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501767593/everyday-war/#bookTabs=1">described the Russian occupiers</a> as bestial, monstrous and “zombies.” “Valya,” for example, described the mercenaries who entered her town as an “animal horde” because their activities were so indiscriminate.</p>
<p>Researchers in other countries where people are suffering from widespread trauma show survivors using similar language. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9655.2005.00232.x">In South Africa</a>, people talked about human inhumanity to others in terms of “zombification.” </p>
<p>In “<a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501767593/everyday-war/#bookTabs=1">Everyday War</a>,” I use Yuliya’s term, “sci-fi,” because so many people described having to make sense of what seemed like life on another planet. Here again, Ukraine is not unique. For example, in accounts of the civil war in Sierra Leone, <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/190850795">recovering child soldiers</a> report seeing not water but blood flowing from the tap.</p>
<h2>The power of objects</h2>
<p>A third way people spoke of traumatic experiences was in terms of objects. A single mother of five girls, “Fiona,” fled Luhansk when the Russians stationed near her rural home began going on shooting sprees during their safety patrols in 2014. She began selling household items to generate funds for bus tickets to a safer location. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511541/original/file-20230221-14-bka8pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young woman and her young daughter look out the window from a walkway aboard a train." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511541/original/file-20230221-14-bka8pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511541/original/file-20230221-14-bka8pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511541/original/file-20230221-14-bka8pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511541/original/file-20230221-14-bka8pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511541/original/file-20230221-14-bka8pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511541/original/file-20230221-14-bka8pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511541/original/file-20230221-14-bka8pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A Ukrainian mother and daughter from Kharkiv travel toward Slovakia as they flee the war on March 9, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-unnamed-ukrainian-mother-and-her-daughter-from-kharkiv-news-photo/1239054970?phrase=daughter%20train%20ukraine&adppopup=true">Robert Nemeti/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Fiona’s description of these items was very detailed and took up most of our conversation. At first, I was perplexed as to why she wanted to go over the make, year and model of items like toasters and washing machines. She was more eager to talk about these appliances, it seemed, than her experiences or her children.</p>
<p>Eventually, I understood that these everyday objects, now sold, were icons of the life they had lost. Describing appliances was a way for Fiona to communicate about her family and its migration, easier than trying to discuss heavy emotional experiences head-on.</p>
<p>Another man who had fled his home, who I call “Leonid,” told me what he most longed for was the collection of matchbook cars he had to leave behind. The picture he displayed on his phone showed the cars lined up, still in their packaging, on a shelf in his home.</p>
<p>A humanitarian worker counseled him to overcome his sense of despair by purchasing new ones. What Leonid was saying, however, was more complex. As he was fleeing, he had also photographed innumerable real cars that were crushed by tanks, shredded by mortars, or incinerated by fire. Our conversation made clear that he longed for the toy cars because they represented everything the real cars in his actual world were not: safe, whole and protected. Talking about the toy cars was a way to describe – in condensed form – a whole set of powerful emotions.</p>
<p>When the war ends, Ukrainians may return to the places they had to flee, but both their inner and their outer worlds have changed. This means anyone intent on understanding will need flexible ways to listen. For anthropologists, it is vital to listen to not only what people say, but how they say it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199755/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Greta Uehling received funding for her research from the Fulbright Foundation</span></em></p>Trauma can affect how people remember and describe experiences. Many survivors express their pain through objects and physical symptoms, an anthropologist explains.Greta Uehling, Lecturer, Program in International and Comparative Studies, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1968262023-01-09T16:22:19Z2023-01-09T16:22:19ZWomen work harder than men – our anthropological study reveals why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501930/original/file-20221219-20-f1s7be.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C39%2C3205%2C2404&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women working in rural China close to the Tibetan border.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Yuan Chen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For most people around the world, physical work takes up a great amount of time and energy every day. But what determines whether it is men or women who are working harder in households? In most hunter-gatherer societies, men are the hunters and <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/prehistoric-female-hunter-discovery-upends-gender-role-assumptions">women are the gatherers</a> – with men seemingly walking the furthest. But what’s the labour breakdown in other societies?</p>
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<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/women-work-harder-than-men-our-anthropological-study-reveals-why-196826&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
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<p>We carried out a study of farming and herding groups in the Tibetan borderlands in rural China – an area with huge cultural diversity – to uncover which factors actually determine who works the hardest in a household, and why. Our results, <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(22)01963-7">published in Current Biology</a>, shed light on the gender division of work across many different kinds of society.</p>
<p>The majority of adults across the world <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/marriages-and-divorces">are married</a>. Marriage is a contract, so one might expect roughly equal costs and benefits from the union for both parties. But unequal bargaining power in a household – such as one person threatening divorce – can lead to unequal contributions to the partnership. </p>
<h2>Leaving home</h2>
<p>We decided to test the hypothesis that leaving your natal area after heterosexual marriage to live with your spouse’s family may contribute to a higher level of workload. In such marriages, the new person typically isn’t related to, and doesn’t share a history with, anyone in their new household. Without blood relatives around them, they might therefore be at a disadvantage when it comes to bargaining power.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501928/original/file-20221219-26-rahmat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Image of a girl carrying grass." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501928/original/file-20221219-26-rahmat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501928/original/file-20221219-26-rahmat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501928/original/file-20221219-26-rahmat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501928/original/file-20221219-26-rahmat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501928/original/file-20221219-26-rahmat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501928/original/file-20221219-26-rahmat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501928/original/file-20221219-26-rahmat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Men have more leisure time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Yuan Chen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>The most <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/ethnographic-atlas-a-summary/oclc/611025990">common form of marriage</a> around the world is where women are the “dispersers”, leaving their native home, while men stay with their families in their natal area. This is known as patrilocality. </p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/10693971221120496">Neolocality</a> – in which both sexes disperse at marriage, and the couple lives in a new place away from both their families – is another common practice in many parts of the world. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3629311#metadata_info_tab_contents">Matrilocality </a> – where women stay in the natal family and men move to live with the wife and her family – is quite rare. And <a href="https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1525/aa.1968.70.2.02a00070">duolocality</a> – where neither sex leaves home and husband and wife live apart – is very rarely seen. </p>
<p>Luckily, in the diverse Tibetan borderlands, all four of these different dispersal patterns can be found across various different ethnic groups.</p>
<p>Our study focused on rural villages from six different ethnic cultures. With our collaborators from Lanzhou University in China, we interviewed more than 500 people about their dispersal status after marriage, and invited them to wear an activity tracker (like a fitbit) to assess their workloads.</p>
<h2>Women work harder</h2>
<p>Our first finding was that women worked much harder than men, and contributed most of the fruits of this labour to their families. This was evidenced both by their own reports of how much they worked and by their activity trackers. </p>
<p>Women walked on average just over 12,000 steps per day, while men walked just over 9,000 steps. So men also worked hard, but less so than women. They spent more time in leisure or social activities, or just hanging around and resting.</p>
<p>This may be partly because women are, on average, physically weaker than men, and may thus have reduced bargaining power. But we also found that individuals (be they male or female) who disperse at marriage to live away from their kin have higher workloads than those who stay with their natal families. </p>
<p>So if you are female and move away from home at marriage (as most women do throughout the world), you suffer not just in terms of missing your own family but also in terms of workload. When both sexes disperse and no one lives with their natal families, both sexes work hard (as there is little help from kin) – but the woman still works harder. According to our study, perfect sex equality in workload only occurs in instances where men disperse and women do not. </p>
<p>These results help us to understand why women globally disperse, but men generally do not. Dispersal is especially bad for men – adding about 2,000 more steps per day to their step count, but only adding about 1,000 steps per day for women. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Image of men going out to work." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501933/original/file-20221219-16-ykj0bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501933/original/file-20221219-16-ykj0bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501933/original/file-20221219-16-ykj0bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501933/original/file-20221219-16-ykj0bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501933/original/file-20221219-16-ykj0bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501933/original/file-20221219-16-ykj0bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501933/original/file-20221219-16-ykj0bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Men work slightly less hard than women.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Yuan Chen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Time and energy spent on farming, herding and housework competes with free time. So substantial labour contribution to households in these rural areas can result in less time spent on rest. From an evolutionary view, giving up rest isn’t favourable unless it contributes to higher fitness – such as enhancing offspring survival.</p>
<p>We don’t actually know whether it is favourable in this case, as it hasn’t been researched much. It may be true in poor and rural areas around the world, but less so in wealthier settings.</p>
<p>In most urban areas, for example, an inactive lifestyle is becoming more pervasive. And research has shown that sedentary lifestyles in such areas among white-collar workers <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(18)30357-7/fulltext">are becoming a significant public health issue</a>. They are linked to many chronic health conditions such as obesity, infertility, and several mental health disorders. </p>
<p>Sex inequality in workload persists both in the home and outside. Now our study has given an evolutionary perspective on why women are more likely than men to be bearing a heavy work burden. </p>
<p>But things are slowly changing. As women are increasingly starting families away from both their partner’s and their own family, their bargaining power is increasing. This is further boosted by their increasing levels of self-generated wealth, education and autonomy. Ultimately, these changes are leading men to take on an increasing workload in many urban, industrial or post-industrial societies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196826/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yuan Chen receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC grant EvoBias), and previously was funded by Lanzhou University, the International Society of Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, and the HRAF institute affiliated with Yale University supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF 2022).
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruth Mace receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC grant EvoBias). She is Editor-in-Chief of Evolutionary Human Sciences (a Cambridge University Press open-access journal). She has previously been affiliated with The Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and Lanzhou University. Ruth Mace is currently a visitor at the Institute of Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST).
</span></em></p>Men in rural China spend more time in leisure or social activities, or just hanging around and resting.Yuan Chen, PhD Candidate in Evolutionary Anthropology, UCLRuth Mace, Professor of Anthropology, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1956372022-12-16T13:14:48Z2022-12-16T13:14:48ZOver the holidays, try talking to your relatives like an anthropologist<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500772/original/file-20221213-20478-ts9sxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C11%2C7326%2C4891&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many people go their entire lives knowing little about their relatives' childhoods and formative experiences.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/hands-of-senior-woman-holding-cup-of-coffee-royalty-free-image/556674747?adppopup=true">Westend61/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>How is it possible to spend so much time with your parents and grandparents and not really know them?</p>
<p>This question has puzzled me <a href="https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/anthropology/faculty/elk612">as an anthropologist</a>. It’s especially relevant for the holiday season, when millions of people travel to spend time with their families. </p>
<p>When my parents were alive, I traveled long distances to be with them. We had the usual conversations: what the kids were doing, how the job was going, aches and pains. It wasn’t until after my parents died, though, that I wondered whether I really knew them in a deep, rich and nuanced way. And I realized that I’d never asked them about the formative periods of their lives, their childhoods and teenage years. </p>
<p>What had I missed? How had this happened? </p>
<p>In fact, I had interviewed my mother a few years before her death. But I only asked her about other relatives – people I was curious about because my father’s job had taken us to places away from the rest of the family. I based my questions for my mother on the bit of information I already had, to build a family tree. You might say I didn’t know what I didn’t know. </p>
<p>I decided to research the kinds of questions that would have elicited from my mother things about her life that I had no clue about and that now remain hidden and lost forever. I interviewed older people to <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/690817/the-essential-questions-by-elizabeth-keating-phd/">develop questions</a> that would paint a vivid picture of a person’s life as a child and teenager. I wanted details that would help me see the world that had influenced the person they became. </p>
<p>So I used my training as an anthropologist to ask the type of questions an anthropologist would ask when trying to understand a way of life or culture they know little about. Anthropologists want to see the world from another person’s point of view, through a new lens. The answers I got from older people opened whole new worlds for me.</p>
<h2>Probing the mundane</h2>
<p>One secret to having a deep conversation with your elders when you’re together over the holidays is to set aside your customary role. Forget, for the space of the interview, about your role as their grandchild or child, niece or nephew, and think like an anthropologist.</p>
<p>Most <a href="https://lib.guides.umd.edu/c.php?g=326980&p=2198795">genealogical inquiries</a> concentrate on the big life events like births, deaths and marriages, or building a family tree. </p>
<p>But anthropologists want to know about ordinary life: interactions with neighbors, how the passage of time was experienced, objects that were important to them, what children were afraid of, what courtship practices were like, parenting styles and more. </p>
<p>When you ask about social life, you’ll get descriptions that paint a picture of what it was like to be a child figuring things out back then – when, for instance, as one relative explained, “Unless you were told to go and say hello to Grandma, you never just, as a child, spoke to adults.” </p>
<p>On the other hand, when you ask about important objects, you’ll hear about those tangible things that pass from generation to generation in your family that are vessels of value. These ordinary things can convey stories about family life, just as this person who grew up in the U.K. describes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Mum used to say to me that the best part of the day was me coming home from school, coming in the back door and sitting on the stool in the kitchen and just talking, a mother-daughter thing. I’ve still got that stool from the kitchen. My father built it in evening classes. My children remember sitting on the stool in the kitchen, too, while Grandma was baking, passing time, drinking cups of tea and eating shortbread.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>My interview subject, now a grandparent herself, had a hard time understanding the fascination young people have with the social worlds contained in their phones. </p>
<p>But on the topic of phones, I found there can also be unexpected points of connection across generations. When I asked one grandparent about the home she grew up in, as she was visualizing her home in rural South Dakota, she suddenly remembered the telephone they had, a “<a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/62876/10-aspects-old-telephones-might-confuse-younger-readers">party line</a>” phone, which was common in the U.S. back then. </p>
<p>All the families in the area shared one phone line, and you were supposed to only pick up the phone when you heard your family’s special ring – a certain number of rings. But as she told it, her mother’s connection to the community was greatly expanded even then by telephone technology:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We had a phone, and it was on a party line. And you know, we would have our ring, and of course, you’d hear the other rings too. And then sometimes, my mom would sneak it and lift up the receiver to see what was going on.” </p>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The hands of two people clasping over a table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500777/original/file-20221213-18128-ku00pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500777/original/file-20221213-18128-ku00pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500777/original/file-20221213-18128-ku00pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500777/original/file-20221213-18128-ku00pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500777/original/file-20221213-18128-ku00pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500777/original/file-20221213-18128-ku00pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500777/original/file-20221213-18128-ku00pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In addition to being exposed to a different way of life, there can also be unexpected points of connection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/you-have-my-full-support-royalty-free-image/1135286661?phrase=holding%20hands%20at%20table%20black&adppopup=true">PeopleImages/iStock via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>‘All you have to do is ask’</h2>
<p>I enjoyed the interviews with older people so much that I gave my students at the University of Texas at Austin the assignment to interview their grandparents. They ended up having exhilarating, interesting and generation-bridging conversations. </p>
<p>Their experiences, along with mine, led me <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/690817/the-essential-questions-by-elizabeth-keating-phd/">to write a guide</a> for people wanting to learn more about their parents’ and grandparents’ early lives, to protect a part of family history that is precious and easily lost.</p>
<p>Grandparents are <a href="https://www.jenonline.org/article/S0099-1767(20)30425-6/fulltext">often lonely</a> and feel <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1388922/The-ignored-elderly-Weve-invisible-society-say-half-65s.html">no one listens</a> or takes what they have to say seriously. I found out that this can be because many of us don’t know how to start a conversation that gives them a chance to talk about the vast knowledge and experience they have. </p>
<p>By taking the position of an anthropologist, my students were able to step out of their familiar frame of reference and see the world as older generations did. One student even told the class that after interviewing her grandmother, she wished she could have been a young person in her grandmother’s time.</p>
<p>Often, the tales of “ordinary” life relayed to my students by their older relatives seemed anything but ordinary. They included going to schools segregated by race, women needing a man to accompany them in order to be allowed into a pub or restaurant, and leaving school in the sixth grade to work on the family farm.</p>
<p>Time and again, grandparents said some version of “no one’s asked me these questions before.” </p>
<p>When I was first developing the right questions to ask older family members, I asked one of my research participants to interview her elderly mother about daily life when she was a child. Toward the end of that interview, she said to her mother, “I never knew this stuff before.” </p>
<p>In response, her 92-year-old mother said, “All you have to do is just ask.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195637/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Keating does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If you skirt the small talk and dig a little deeper, you’ll be surprised at what you might learn.Elizabeth Keating, Professor of Anthropology, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1945902022-11-24T13:51:03Z2022-11-24T13:51:03ZCommunity wildlife conservation isn’t always a win-win solution: the case of Kenya’s Samburu<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496272/original/file-20221120-18-h0rj85.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A herder grazes cattle alongside wildlife in Samburu, Kenya.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Community-based wildlife conservation is often promoted as a <a href="https://www.conservation.org/places/africa">win-win solution</a>. The idea behind this approach is that the people who live close to wildlife can be involved in protecting it and have an interest in doing so. </p>
<p>This results in wildlife being protected (a win for global biodiversity) and local people benefiting from conservation through tourism revenues, jobs, or new infrastructure like schools, clinics and water supplies. </p>
<p>However, the reality of community-based wildlife conservation is sometimes less straightforward, as the experience of Kenya shows. </p>
<p>Kenya is home to spectacular wildlife, landscape and cultural resources that drive the safari tourism industry. This <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO4eVRLy24Q">brings in</a> millions of visitors – and billions of US dollars – to the country annually. Yet, Kenya’s tourist attractions face significant threats. These include <a href="https://theconversation.com/saving-east-africas-wildlife-from-recurring-drought-183844">climate change</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-us-kenya-cooperation-on-wildlife-and-drug-trafficking-matters-184070">illegal wildlife trade</a>, loss of habitat due to <a href="https://theconversation.com/kenya-has-been-trying-to-regulate-the-charcoal-sector-why-its-not-working-154383">deforestation</a> and <a href="https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/data-hub/the-economic-pains-human-wildlife-conflict-3662002">human-wildlife conflict</a>. To address some of these risks, community conservancies have been established across the country. </p>
<p>Community conservancies are wildlife-protected areas established on community owned or occupied land. They make up a significant part of the wildlife protection landscape in Kenya, with implications for thousands of people. </p>
<p>There are currently <a href="https://kwcakenya.com/conservancies/status-of-wildlife-conservancies-in-kenya/">76 such spaces</a>, covering tens of thousands of square kilometres. They date back to the 1980s, but have accelerated in number and extent over the last 20 years. </p>
<p>In northern Kenya, which is characterised by a wide expanse of grasslands, most conservancies are supported by the <a href="https://www.nrt-kenya.org/">Northern Rangelands Trust</a>. This is a national NGO funded by global donors and international conservation agencies. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kenyan-wildlife-policies-must-extend-beyond-protected-areas-127821">Kenyan wildlife policies must extend beyond protected areas</a>
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<p>It’s difficult to establish how much funding is directed to community conservancies. However, in 2020, the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association, an umbrella body, reported that the country’s conservancies incur about <a href="https://kwcakenya.com/conservancies-receive-historic-support-from-government/">US$25 million</a> in annual operational costs. This is mostly funded through donors and, to a limited extent, the government. </p>
<p>Over 30 years of conducting anthropological fieldwork among Samburu communities in northern Kenya, I noticed that community conservation was gaining in popularity, yet there was little evidence about its operation or effects. I conducted a study to explore the issue in more detail. This research led to a <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793650290/Conservation-and-Community-in-Kenya-Milking-the-Elephant">book</a>, which sets out the impact of conservancies on cooperation and conflict in communities. </p>
<p><a href="https://kws.go.ke/content/national-wildlife-census-2021-report">Wildlife numbers</a> in Kenya are declining, but more wild animals are found on conservancy land than in unprotected areas. While this is promising, my research found that conservancies increased human-wildlife conflict, with communities bearing the brunt of loss and injury caused by wildlife. Further, the economic benefits of community conservancies to members were minimal. </p>
<h2>The roots of community conservation</h2>
<p>Community-based conservation has its roots in the realisation that the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Connections-Perspectives-Community-Based-Conservation/dp/1559633468">“fortress” model</a> of conservation – which is the creation of parks and reserves that exclude all human use – is untenable. Wild animals require vast landscapes to thrive. They cannot be contained within the boundaries of parks. </p>
<p>Equally, when local people are excluded from parks, they are denied access to the resources they need for survival. Treating people as less important than wildlife makes them less inclined to protect wildlife. This is particularly true in a place like northern Kenya, where livestock-herding societies like the Samburu have lived in close proximity to wildlife for centuries. </p>
<p>Understanding that successful conservation depends on local populations having a stake in its success has led to efforts in Kenya to engage communities directly in conservation activities. In this approach, the community sets aside <a href="https://www.nrt-kenya.org/community-conservation-overview">part of its land</a> for conservation activities in exchange for anticipated benefits that will flow from conservation. </p>
<p>In the Samburu case, communities have set aside about 10% to 25% of their land for wildlife, and in some cases for tourism infrastructure. These conservancies are run by paid staff overseen by boards made up of community members and supported by conservation NGOs. </p>
<p>Livestock grazing is prohibited or severely restricted on this land. </p>
<p>Community conservation creates boundaries, which are policed by wildlife scouts who are often armed. Although their stated role is wildlife protection, these scouts are in fact tasked with protecting pasture from outsiders and livestock from theft. </p>
<h2>Heightened tensions</h2>
<p><a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793650290/Conservation-and-Community-in-Kenya-Milking-the-Elephant">My research</a> involved spending a year in several Samburu conservancies. I observed how the conservancies operated and talked to members about how they felt about them. I conducted surveys to measure the costs and benefits incurred. </p>
<p>The study revealed a number of impacts of conservancies on local communities that mainly have to do with security and with funding.</p>
<p>I found that conservancies actually heightened tensions among Samburu communities. Creating zones of land use and restricting grazing makes it necessary to maintain boundaries and refuse access to non-members. This goes against Samburu norms of allowing livestock access to pasture, particularly during dry seasons and droughts. On the other hand, members of conservancies see the policing of grazing as a benefit.</p>
<p>Many times in the course of my research, I heard people refer to their Samburu neighbours outside conservancy boundaries as “outsiders” or “encroachers” who must be kept out. Conservancies resemble islands around which herders must navigate to find pasture. If and when they landed on these islands, conflicts often occurred.</p>
<p>Additionally, the amount of funding channelled to conservancies from donor organisations was relatively large compared to other sources of support. Conservancies that have tourism facilities also earn revenue from hotel contracts, bed-night charges and conservation fees. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/elephant-conservation-may-be-undermined-by-twitter-users-who-overlook-main-threats-191788">Elephant conservation may be undermined by Twitter users who overlook main threats</a>
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<p>Members perceived that there was a lot of money circulating in conservancies, controlled by the boards and staff. They reported minimal economic benefits for themselves, mostly in the form of school fees for students and sometimes an annual dividend. This fuelled suspicions among members that the money was being misused by conservancy boards and staff. </p>
<p>Suspicions of misuse of funds have resulted in bitter conflicts within the community over leadership, demands for greater public accountability and legal action.</p>
<p>These unintended consequences of community-based conservation call for more effective models. Conservation that places less emphasis on who may or may not use a piece of land, and that improves accountability, could result in better outcomes for people and for wildlife.</p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>The intentions behind community-based conservation are laudable. It aims to correct past failures, which include isolating wildlife in parks and excluding people from important survival resources. Yet, this approach brings its own set of challenges. There is a risk that if members don’t receive the kinds of benefits they have been promised, their support for conservation could decline, undermining the approach. </p>
<p>Greater engagement of members, and more accountability regarding funding and its uses would enhance confidence and ownership among members.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194590/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carolyn K. Lesorogol receives funding from the United States National Science Foundation that funded the research discussed here. </span></em></p>Conservation that places less emphasis on who may or may not use a piece of land could result in better outcomes for people and wildlife.Carolyn K. Lesorogol, Professor, Washington University in St. LouisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.