Teaching: Natural or Cultural?

In this chapter I argue that teaching, as we now understand the term, is historically and cross-culturally very rare. It appears to be unnecessary to transmit culture or to socialize children. Children are, on the other hand, primed by evolution to be avid observers, imitators, players and helpers—roles that reveal the profoundly autonomous and self-directed nature of culture acquisition (Lancy in press a). And yet, teaching is ubiquitous throughout the modern world—at least among the middle to upper class segment of the population. This ubiquity has led numerous scholars to argue for the universality and uniqueness of teaching as a characteristically human behavior. The theme of this chapter is that this proposition is unsustainable. Teaching is largely a result of recent cultural changes and the emergence of modern economies, not evolution

Comparison of plants used for skin and stomach problems in Trinidad and Tobago with Asian ethnomedicine

RefereedThis paper provides a preliminary evaluation of fifty-eight ethnomedicinal plants used in Trinidad and Tobago for skin problems, stomach problems, pain and internal parasites for safety and possible efficacy. Thirty respondents, ten of whom were male were interviewed from September 1996 to September 2000 on medicinal plant use for health problems. The respondents were obtained by snowball sampling, and were found in thirteen different sites, 12 in Trinidad and one in Tobago. The uses are compared to those current in Asia. Bambusa vulgaris, Bidens alba, Jatropha curcas, Neurolaena lobata, Peperomia rotundifolia and Phyllanthus urinaria are possibly efficacous for stomach problems, pain and internal parasites. Further scientific study of these plants is warranted

Strong differences between Neanderthals and AMHs cannot be inferred from ethnographic evidence for skill and learning in hunting

The majority of analyses of hominin learning processes focus on stone tools. However, stone tool production is just one of many skills that were important for forager survival and success in the past, of which hunting strategies are one of the few documented in the Palaeolithic record. This chapter focuses on hunting skills, as a supplement to lithic studies addressing learning processes in Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans. Based on the ethnographic record, the content to be learned while hunting includes a wide range of different sorts of skills and information, some of which are situation specific. The similarities and relatively subtle differences in the record for hunting behaviour between the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic make it unlikely that there was a substantial contrast in the content to be learned or processes involved in acquiring hunting skills. Among contemporary hunters, various older individuals undertake some teaching and also frequently provide small tools, take children on hunting trips, and tell hunting stories. Children enthusiastically engage in their own hunting exploits and games with weapons. The widespread distribution of such activities suggests benefits for the speed and quality of learning, among other factors. It is not unlikely that AMH and Neanderthals, for whom hunting was an important skill, also employed some of these processes.Human Origin