Choice Reviews Online · 2011 · 578 citations · 0 references
Social SciencesAnthropologyArchaeologyBehavioral EcologyBiological AnthropologyHuman EvolutionAfrican ArchaeologyBehavioral EvolutionEvolutionary AnthropologyForaging EcologyHunter-gatherer ArchaeologySubsistence StrategiesArchaeological EthnographyHuman Behavioral EcologyHuman Evolutionary EcologyHuman OriginsHunter-gatherer LifewaysSubsistence EcologyTraditional Material Culture
The Hadza, a remaining hunter‑gatherer society in East Africa near the Serengeti and Olduvai Gorge, are a key focus for anthropologists studying human origins. The book introduces behavioral ecology, applying an evolutionary lens to human behavior and providing foundational background for readers new to human evolutionary theory. Marlowe draws on years of fieldwork to examine traditional ethnographic themes—subsistence, material culture, religion, and social structure.
In Frank Marlowe provides a quantitative ethnography of one of the last remaining societies of hunter-gatherers in the world. The Hadza, who inhabit an area of East Africa near the Serengeti and Olduvai Gorge, have long drawn the attention of anthropologists and archaeologists for maintaining a foraging lifestyle in a region that is key to understanding human origins. Marlowe ably applies his years of research with the to cover the traditional topics in ethnography - subsistence, material culture, religion, and social structure. But the book's unique contribution is to introduce readers to the more contemporary field of behavioral ecology, which attempts to understand human behavior from an evolutionary perspective. To that end, Hadza also articulates the necessary background for readers whose exposure to human evolutionary theory is minimal.