ANTH222 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Rib Cage, Technological Evolution, Infant
25 Oct 2018
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A true invention: fire, function: keep predators at bay, cooking (easier to digest, alters chemical makeup, provides more protein to the brain, etc. Fire produced homo erectus from homo habilus (fire): stature increased by 1/3, a result of animal protein, e. g. Jungles are usually not rich in food resources: every time when things got bad in europe, people got smaller. We are also born when we should still be in the womb. We only have a 9-month gestation, but we should still have a 10- 11-month gestation, because premature babies have smaller skulls: altricial: the neonate cannot look after itself. The price is that the mother must attend to it 24/7. So the mother stays close to the hearth to tend to it, where the food is, thus creating the beginnings of the patriarchal society. A good wife will never let the fire go out.
