{"product_id":"kinship-and-human-evolution-9781498524179","title":"Kinship and Human Evolution","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKinship and Human Evolution: Making Culture, Becoming Human offers an exciting new explanation of human evolution. Based on insights from anthropology, it shows how humans became cultured beings capable of symbolic thought by developing kinship-based exchange relationships. Kinship was as an adaptive response to the harsh environment caused by the last major ice age. In the extreme ice age conditions, natural selection favored those groups that could forge and sustain such alliances, and the resulting relationships enabled them to share different food resources between groups. Kinship was a means of symbolically linking two or more groups, to the mutual reproductive advantage of both. From an evolutionary point of view, kinship freed humans from their dependence on their immediate environment, vastly expanding the niches they could occupy. If we take kinship to be the major factor in human evolution, networks and alliances must precede cultural units, becoming the defining element of l\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSteen Bergendorff argues persuasively that the key to human evolution lies in the origins of kinship. His argument captures the symbolic significance of the discovery of kin relations among early humans. It also explains the cultural diversity that kinship allows, in particular, in relation to trade. -- Alan Barnard, University of Edinburgh\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction\t\t\t\t\t\t Chapter 1\tThe Record of Human Evolution\t\t\t\t Chapter 2\tConnecting Niches by Kinship\t\t\t Chapter 3\tKinship and Exchange\t\t\t\t\t Chapter 4\tFrom Kinship to Culture\t Chapter 5\tLocal Strategies—The Mekeo of Papua New Guinea\t\t Conclusion\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Bibliography","brand":"Lexington Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51040682115415,"sku":"9781498524179","price":70.2,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781498524179.jpg?v=1750947503","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/kinship-and-human-evolution-9781498524179","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}