This page intentionally left blank Social Anthropology and Human Origins The study of human origins is one of the most fascinating branches of anthropology. Yet it has rarely been considered by social or cultural anthropologists, who represent the largest subfield of the discipline. In this powerful study Alan Barnard aims to bridge this gap. Barnard argues that social anthropological theory has much to contribute to our understanding of human evolution, including changes in technology, subsistence and exchange, family and kinship, as well as to the study of language, art, ritual and belief. This book places social anthropology in the context of a widely conceived constellation of anthropological sci- ences. It incorporates recent findings in many fields, including primate studies, archaeology, linguistics and human genetics. In clear, accessible style Barnard addresses the fundamental questions surrounding the evo- lution of human society and the prehistory of culture, suggesting a new direction for social anthropology that will open up debate across the dis- cipline as a whole. alan barnard is Professor of the Anthropology of Southern Africa at the University of Edinburgh, where he has taught since 1978. He has undertaken a wide range of ethnographic fieldwork and archaeo- logical research in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, is a partici- pant in the British Academy Centenary Research Project ‘From Lucy to language: the archaeology of the social brain’ and serves as Honorary Consul of the Republic of Namibia in Scotland. His numerous publica- tions include History and theory in anthropology (2000) and Anthropology and the Bushman (2007). Social Anthropology and Human Origins Alan Barnard Professor of the Anthropology of Southern Africa University of Edinburgh cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/978521749299 © Alan Barnard 2011 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2011 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Barnard, Alan (Alan J.) Social anthropology and human origins / Alan Barnard. p. cm. ISBN 978-0-521-76531-2 (hardback) – ISBN 978-0-521-74929-9 (paperback) 1. Human beings–Origin. 2. Human evolution. I. Title. GN281.B369 2011 301–dc22 2010051877 ISBN 978-0-521-76531-2 Hardback ISBN 978-0-521-74929-9 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. For my mother and for Mother Africa Contents List of figures page viii List of tables ix Preface xi 1 Introduction 1 2 If chimps could talk 18 3 Fossils and what they tell us 33 4 Group size and settlement 53 5 Teaching, sharing and exchange 70 6 Origins of language and symbolism 90 7 Elementary structures of kinship 111 8 A new synthesis 128 9 Conclusions 145 Glossary 152 References 163 Index 179 vii Figures 1.1 Images of the relation between ‘man’ and ‘Orang Outang’ (ape) page 7 2.1 Classifications of living human and great ape species 20 3.1 Major prehistoric human migrations, with approximate dates BP 42 3.2 The evolution of Homo and Pediculus humanus 43 4.1 Predicted group sizes for fossil hominins 54 5.1 Social systems 76 5.2 ‘Them’ and ‘us’ classifications 85 7.1 The four basic forms of descent 114 7.2 The developmental cycle of a domestic group 118 7.3 Direct exchange with two patrilineal moieties 121 7.4 The atom of kinship 123 7.5 Lineal/collateral and parallel/cross terminology structures 125 8.1 A theory of three revolutions 133 8.2 Divergence from African hunter-gatherer culture since the symbolic revolution 140 8.3 The Neolithic transition and ‘Neolithic revolutions’ 142 viii