I have read the introduction and first chapter of Paleofantasy so
far. Zuk especially focuses on evolutionary relationships and also states that
it is hard to define how cavemen used to live because the Paleo lifestyle
itself showed diversity. The first chapter focuses mainly on evolutionary
relationships between modern humans and species closely related to them, and
also on the evolution of human beings themselves. Zuk talks about major
developments such as the beginning of agriculture or tool use and how these
changes affected the development of human traits. I thought it was interesting
that scientists traditionally look to the lives of modern-hunter gatherers to
find out more about how cavemen lived and one limitation of this method being
that they have technically been evolving for just as long as we have. I think
that Zuk does a good job of presenting evolutionary concepts especially because
she clearly mentions that natural selection is not the only means by which
evolution occurs. She states that sometimes “species change just because the
precise combinations of genes in populations can shift, as individuals move
from place to place or small accidents of fate wipe out whole sets of
characteristics that are then no longer available for selection to act on”, referring
to the idea of genetic drift (23). In general, this book has been a good read
and I am interested in finding out more about what the “paleofantasy”
encompasses in the next few chapters. One question I had focuses on the last
section of the first chapter “Were the universal people real people?”: if the
Paleo lifestyle itself was so diverse and hard to determine, then where does
the modern interpretation of how cavemen used to live come from?
I am not reading this book currently but I hope to do so in the future! I find your post interesting and intriguing as a basic overview of the introduction and the first chapter. I realize the assignment is not to summarize things that were read however, I was wondering if you could give me a brief overview of what the "universal people" exactly means? Were these the people that used the agricultural tools and followed the paleo-diet? I look forward to reading more about this book!
ReplyDeleteIt appears as though you and I have similar impression about Paleofantasy so far! I agree that she does a good job discussing other modes of evolution besides natural selection. It is an important distinction that other authors are not making. I didn't discuss this in my recent post, but I also thought it was interesting how scientist have looked at the advancements of agriculture methods and tools to pinpoint the development of traits that we currently have.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your post! I am finding the book interesting as well and I am curious too to see how "paleofantasy" is incorporated throughout the rest of the book. Your question is really interesting about how if the paleo lifestyle was so diverse and hard to determine, then what is the real modern interpretation of it. I think people made broad and vague assumptions about the "paleo diet" and did so using general assumptions that our ancestors ate berries, organic foods...ect with little specific evidence to support it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback! Leah, to answer your question, Zuk had mentioned the "universal people" as possessing "human universals" which are similarities that humans share across cultures worldwide. She gives the example of how people from different cultures do not necessarily know how to make fires, but many use fires to cook food. I found it really interesting however when she said that the reason people share these behaviors is not necessarily because they reflect innate human characteristics that can be used to construct a paleofantasy of how our ancestors were like, but because people across the world happened to evolve similar behaviors due to similar environmental pressures. So by the question “Are universal people real people?” I think she’s asking whether there is a certain way to really know the way cavemen used to live and whether these people even existed as we think of them now. I hope that overview makes sense!
ReplyDeleteGreat explanation in the previous comment, Rija. Your question of where this modern interpretation of the caveman lifestyle seems to get at the real heart of this issue.
ReplyDelete