Steele, J

English

UCL Discovery

Cambridge Archaeological Journalhttp://journals.cambridge.org/CAJAdditional services for Cambridge Archaeological Journal:Email alerts: Click hereSubscriptions: Click hereCommercial reprints: Click hereTerms of use : Click hereClimate and Human ProgressJames SteeleCambridge Archaeological Journal / Volume 4 / Issue 01 / April 1994, pp 147 ­ 149DOI: 10.1017/S0959774300001025, Published online: 22 December 2008Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0959774300001025How to cite this article:James Steele (1994). Climate and Human Progress. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 4, pp 147­149 doi:10.1017/S0959774300001025Request Permissions : Click hereDownloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/CAJ, IP address: 144.82.107.37 on 30 Jan 2013Cambridge Archaeological Journal 4:1 (1994), pp. 147-55Review ArticlesClimate and Human ProgressBeing Human: Putting People in an EvolutionaryPerspective by Mary & John Gribbin, 1993,London: J.M. Dent. 292pp.James SteeleBeing Human is the Gribbins' third book on humanorigins, and John Gribbin (the better known of thepair) has co-authored two others with Jeremy Cherfas.This productivity suggests both that there is a size-able target market for such books, and that theGribbins feel that they have something important tosay to this target readership. Let us note at the outsetthat they have targeted a lay readership outside theacademic community.Their published output is that of r-selected strat-egists: lots of books, relatively low level of invest-ment of time in any single volume. Presumably thisreflects the hit-and-miss nature of commercial suc-cess in this competitive sector of the book market.Thus as well as his scientific journalism, John Gribbinpublished two other books last year, one on cosmol-ogy, the other a (co-authored) biography of Einstein.Within academia, John Gribbin is best known amongscientists (to judge from his citations impact) for hisscientific journalism and books on climate change. Inthe arts and social sciences, his impact has been pri-marily made by books of scientific popularization,notably one on quantum physics (in Search ofSchrodinger's Cat). Mary Gribbin, a former teachertrained in developmental psychology, now writesscience books for children. The Gribbins' recent jointbooks on human origins have had little discerniblecitations impact in any of these academic sectors.But they are not pastiches. What makes BeingHuman distinctive, and a stimulating read, is the spe-cific expertise the Gribbins bring to bear on the sub-ject. Their message to their target audience concernsthe role of climatic change as a determinant of verte-brate, especially human, evolution, and the evolu-tionary origins of 'central tendencies' in human so-cial behaviour which make our species distinct. An-other recent book by the Gribbins, Too Hot to Handle?(1992), evidently covers the inverse relationship —recent human impact on climate, and the anthro-pogenic greenhouse effect.The effect of climate on evolution is reviewed ina series of chapters which cover both the ultimatecauses of global temperature fluctuation (plate tec-tonics, vulcanism, meteor impacts, cyclical orbitalvariability), and the record of biotic responses (de-cline and extinction of the dinosaurs, radiation of themammals, origins of the primates). The origin of thehominid line, and its divergence from that of theliving great apes, is seen as part of this picture. Al-though the Gribbins write with engaging enthusi-asm, they are somewhat lax in deciding how close intime climatic and speciation events should be for acausal relationship to be inferred. Their reading ofthe secondary literature in palaeoanthropology is alsoskimpy — the Aquatic Ape theory, for instance, isgiven space in a discussion of the evolution of skinhairlessness, while Peter Wheeler's more recent physi-ological models are omitted. But a more detailed re-view of this field would not have discredited theirclimatic determinism. Locomotor bipedalism in Homomay, like reduced skin hair, reflect the physiologicaloptimization of heat dissipation and water retentionpostulated by Wheeler as a savannah adaptation (cf.Wood 1993). Earliest Homo has now been pushedback to c. 2.4 MYR, approximately coincident withearliest dates for Paranthropus boisei and with the ear-liest stone artefacts: this coincides with a shift at c. 2.5MYR toward drier environments, probably also re-flected in changes in the composition of other ele-ments of vertebrate fauna at this time (Hill et al. 1992;Wood 1992). Homo erectus in Africa dates from c. 1.7MYR, with Acheulean artefacts from c. 1.4 MYR, andcolonization of Eurasia by 1.2-1.4 MYR (Asfaw et al.1992): regionally, a severe climatic perturbation oc-curred in East Africa at c. 1.6 MYR, with major localextinctions of genera, which approximately coincideswith the appearance of the erecfws/Acheulean com-plex (Harris 1993). The climatic determinist modelseems to work rather well for the Lower Palaeolithic.In the Gribbins' account, human evolution is147Review Articlesthe product of successive demographic bottlenecksforcing selection for enhanced intelligence and socia-bility as a response to the temperature fluctuations ofPleistocene glacial-interglacial cycles. The adaptiveproliferation of human cultures in the present inter-glacial is, then, a contingent product of the fortuitousappearance of another brief interglacial warm spellafter the appearance of Homo sapiens in Ice Age envi-ronments. The Gribbins extend their climatic deter-minism to Holocene prehistory and history, listingthe historical events and processes (migrations, sub-sistence failures, systems collapses and transforma-tions) which can be related to subtler climatic fluc-tuations during this period. They take their lead fromthe climatologist Hubert Lamb.This approach has rarely been so systematicallyapplied to human history. Few prehistorians havedeveloped analogues of Sulimirski's (1935) early cli-matic determinist model of cyclical human migra-tions in the later Holocene (recent exceptions to thisinclude: Bridgman 1983; Fang & Liu 1992; andNeuman 1993). But even with migration models dis-counted, models of fluctuating global solar energybudgets during the Holocene need to be reduced to aseries of 'middle range' models of regional micro-climates if we are accurately to discriminate the ef-fects of climate from those of anthropogenic changein explaining subsistence changes and systems col-lapses (Renfrew 1989). Just recently, modified envi-ronmental determinisms which take account of thisproblem of scale are resurgent: a number of studieshave persuasively implicated climatic change as adriving force in agricultural adaptation or failure(Ortloff & Kolata 1993; Stanley & Warne 1993; Wright1993). This is clearly becoming a very active researchfield. But until more work is done, the Gribbins' ap-proach must be discounted as speculative and con-viction-led.The parallel theme of this book concerns thedistinctive human qualities of co-operative reason-ing and low aggressiveness, which evolved in thesmall face-to-face bands of the Pleistocene, but whichenable us today to transcend (with limited success)our 'mammalian inheritance' of sexually dimorphicbehaviour patterns, and of close-kin-biased helpingbehaviour. This is the less-developed strand of thebook, partly I think because climatic determinismprevents the Gribbins from appreciating the role ofco-operative behaviour in enabling human societiesto adapt to Holocene regional ecologies. The Tit-For-Tat strategy in the Prisoner's Dilemma game is usedto explain the development of a post-war superpowerarms race, but there is no discussion of how co-op-eration is sustained in risk-buffering agricultural alli-ances, nor any account of how Commons Dilemmamodels have helped us to understand the processesleading to environmental degradation. Again, thisapproach to human rationality is an active field inarchaeological theory, and is one which is relevant topredicting global policy responses to greenhousewarming today.In this context, the significance of engagingly-written books like Being Human is not measured bytheir limited potential as research tools, but by theiruse as a gauge of the Zeitgeist. Being Human shouldnot be judged in isolation, but as part of an oeuvretargeted at a lay audience, and which includes theGribbins' other books on weather and the greenhouseeffect. Indeed, the book is itself a synthesis of two oftheir previous collaborations, Children of the Ice andThe One Per Cent Advantage, and this occasionallyshows at the joins. Science writers like the Gribbinsare sensitive to their market. They are also in a posi-tion to survey scientific work across disciplines andfaculties, and to attempt to determine how this workshould be consolidated into a synthesis which speaksto our condition. They make no apocalyptic predic-tions, but their book reminds us how slim is therecord of human survival on a palaeontological timescale. The immediate challenge to archaeologists is todevelop more detailed 'middle range' models of theeffects of global climatic change on regional ecologies,and human subsistence responses.James SteeleDepartment of ArchaeologyUniversity of SouthamptonHighfieldSouthamptonSO9 5NHReferencesAsfaw, B., Y. Beyene, G. Suwa, R.C. Walter, T.D. White, G.WoldeGabriel & T. Yemane, 1992. The earliestAcheulean from Konso-Gardula. Nature 360, 732-5.Bridgman, H.A., 1983. Could climatic change have had aninfluence on the Polynesian migrations? Palaeo-geography Palaeoclimatology Paiaeoecology 41,193-206.Fang, J.-Q. & G. Liu, 1992. Relationship between climaticchange and the nomadic southward migrations inEastern Asia during historical times. Climatic Change22,151-68.Harris, ]., 1993. Ecosystem structure and growth of the Afri-can savanna. Global and Planetary Change 8,231-48.Hill, A., S. Ward, A. Deino, G. Curtis & R. Drake, 1992.Earliest Homo. Nature 355, 719-22.148Cognitive Aspects of Religious SymbolismNeuman, ]., 1993. Climatic changes in Europe and the NearEast in the second millennium BC. Climatic Change 23,231-45.Ortloff, C.R. & A.C. Kolata, 1993. Climate and collapse:agro-ecological perspectives on the decline of theTiwanaku state. ]ournal of Archaeological Science 20,195-221.Renfrew, C, 1989. Climate and Holocene culture change —some practical problems. Philosophical Transactions ofthe Royal Society of London A 330,657-63.Stanley, DJ. & A.G. Warne, 1993. Sea level and initiation ofPredynastic culture in the Nile delta. Nature 363,435-8.Sulimirski, T., 1935. Climate and Population. London: BalticInstitute.Wood, B., 1992. Old bones match old stones. Nature 355,678-9.Wood, B., 1993. Four legs good, two legs better. Nature 363,587-8.Wright, H.E., Jr, 1993. Environmental determinism in NearEastern prehistory. Current Anthropology 34,458-69.Cognitive Aspects of Religious Symbol-ism: An Archaeologist's PerspectiveCognitive Aspects of Religious Symbolismedited by P. Boyer, 1993,Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.246 pp.Alan PeatfieldCognitive archaeology seems about as likely a crea-ture as a child of the marriage of Edward Lear's Owland Pussycat. This article contributes to the currentinterest in cognitive approaches to archaeology, aris-ing out of one of anthropology's newest sub-disci-plines, cognitive anthropology. It was occasioned bythe recent publication of Cognitive Aspects of ReligiousSymbolism, whose articles apply the principles of cog-nitive psychology to anthropological interpretationsof religion. Cognitive archaeology in that sense there-fore is a third-hand methodological derivative. Butits focus on things of the mind remedies what hasbeen a consistent flaw in New or Theoretical Archae-ology in its various incarnations: for all its success inrevolutionizing the analysis of site formation andpolitical and economic processes, New Archaeologyhas rarely been successful in the understanding ofreligion (exceptions being Renfrew 1985; Flannery &Marcus 1983). This is partly a consequence of theelusive nature of religious evidence, inevitably in-volving a greater inclusion of mental abstractionsthan the material and social processes referred toabove.The brief of this article therefore is to assess theusefulness of the cognitive anthropology approach,as expressed in the aforementioned book, to the ar-chaeological interpretation of religion. I suggest, how-ever, that the premise is flawed, because it perpetu-ates the notion that archaeology can only interpretreligion through methodologies derived from otherdisciplines: anthropology, and now psychology, con-sidered 'superior' in the greater completeness of thehuman cultural evidence available to them. This is, ofcourse, compounded for the prehistoric archaeolo-gist, who is denied any of the verbally articulatedideas of the culture chosen for study.The urge to interpretThe fundamental problem for the archaeologist isthat the culture chosen for study is of the past; it is'dead'. Yet few archaeologists have been content withthe sterility of simple typologies, and the urge tointerpret has always been there. Archaeology's sisterdiscipline, anthropology, the study of living cultures,has always proved a rich and fruitful source of inspi-ration to interpret, because to a degree it brings thosedead cultures back to 'life'. This has been nowheremore true than in the field of religion.It has long been recognized, for example, thatmuch of Evans' and Nilsson's vision of Minoan reli-gion was influenced by the religious concepts ofMannhardt, Harrison and Frazer, whose collectiveideas attribute early religion to the concepts of fertil-ity, cyclical change, and magic (Marinatos 1993, 8-10). This was in a sense a universalist claim, becausemagic was identified as a general characteristic of the'primitive' mind. In other words, the basic assump-tion operating here was that human capacity for sym-bolic thought expressed in religion was subject toevolutionary development from ancient 'primitive'magic to modern sophisticated religion. This assump-tion encompassed religion, psychology, anthropol-ogy, archaeology, and was thought to be universal,applicable to all human culture.The validity of such an evolutionist perspectiveon the human mind, with its implicit assumptionthat west Europeans were at the top of the evolution-ary ladder, is rightly now discredited. But anthropo-logical or archaeological interpretations have oftenbeen tempted to make universalist claims. So whatexactly is the urge to interpret? It is the attempt torender the alien culture (the foreign or the ancient)149

148Cognitive Aspects of Religious Symbolism Neuman, ].,

Climate and collapse: agro-ecological perspectives on the decline of the Tiwanaku state.

Climate and Holocene culture change — some practical problems.

Climate and Population. London: Baltic Institute.

Cognitive Aspects of Religious Symbolism: An Archaeologist's Perspective Cognitive Aspects of Religious Symbolism edited by

Could climatic change have had an influence on the Polynesian migrations? Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Paiaeoecology

Earliest Homo.

Ecosystem structure and growth of the African savanna.

Environmental determinism in Near Eastern prehistory.

Four legs good, two legs better.

Old bones match old stones.

Relationship between climatic change and the nomadic southward migrations in Eastern Asia during historical times.

Sea level and initiation of Predynastic culture in the Nile delta.

The earliest Acheulean from Konso-Gardula.

Climate and Human Progress: Being Human: Putting People in an Evolutionary

Perspective by Mary & John Gribbin, 1993,

London: J.M. Dent. 292pp.

Climate and Human Progress: Being Human: Putting People in an Evolutionary Perspective by Mary & John Gribbin, 1993, London: J.M. Dent. 292pp.

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

UCL Discovery