Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
proved they could provide for a family, acquired a wife and then had children. The process,
however, was more complex than the man provided resources and woman progeny. A likely
factor in controlling the population was that children were spaced about four years apart
because of a prolonged period of weaning as hunter-gatherers (pastoralism replaced women's
milk with cows and stopped the contraceptive effect of breast feeding). Furthermore, unique to
humans, they did not have a period of estrus or musth driving for new propagation of the
species. The latter musth, a Hindi word, being particularly a feature of elephant bulls, is
indicated by a duct excreting a liquid dripping down the side of an elephant's face, and
promotes breeding. The elephants are particularly aggressive at this time and will readily
attack other elephants, animals and vehicles. They also walk differently (strut) and urinate
while they walk to announce their willingness or need to breed. Usually the dominant bull
starts to go into musth first and the lower bulls follow, probably as a mechanism to prevent
violent fights that would both expend tremendous energy and also result in fatal deaths by
stabbing in the chest from tusks.
The unions were largely monogamous and permanent. With the division of labor, men
hunting, with male members of the clan, protected a woman's gathered food from her
husband's male bond members in the clan, and thus the women safely gathered food and
brought up children. Through marriage came the support of in-law brothers, sisters, and
mothers in law, useful for cooperative hunting, child rearing, gathering, and cooking. Hence,
modern men that may not be successful every day in their pursuits receive comfort from their
wives, baseline nutrition, care when ill, and he provides the money (meat). An analogy that is
a quaint one is that when a beaver's dam wall breaks, he does not immediately go and busily
tackle it, but rather returns to his spouse who helps him prepare with oils and preening for the
job to tackle. Thus, societies were largely patrifocal, namely dominated by the hunting father.
However, as fathers have become less involved in child rearing or are no longer the “meat”
providers, families have become more matrifocal, often with fathers being completely absent.
The division of labor allowed for the male hunter to return to a cooked meal at the end of the
day, even if he was not successful. There was thus a staple of cooked food for him to
regenerate his energy level for the next day's another attempt. The grinding, pounding, and
cooking of either gathered food or meat allowed humans to more effectively to use their
relatively short small intestines. Raw food, high fiber food, and bulky food is less well
absorbed by the ileum of the small intestine. Indeed, food absorption maybe 50% to 70% less
efficient if not reduced in size and cooked. The advantage of cooking was that otherwise
inedible plants could be soaked in water and poisons extracted before being cooked to make
otherwise inedible carbohydrates digestible. Or, sometimes meat that had taken time to get
back to the clan would be cooked to reduce the bacterial load or would eliminate parasites
like taenia tape worms in meat.
In return for cooking food, females obtained hunting meat, which increased their fertility, but
also protection. Furthermore, it meant she received good treatment and was treated fairly but it
has to be admitted that once child rearing started, the life of a mother was a difficult one unless
aided by sisters or her mother. This often led to the frequent practice of a man taking his
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