Abstract
Research in nonindustrial small-scale societies challenges the common perception that human childhood is universally characterized by a long period of intensive adult investment and dedicated instruction. Using return rate and time allocation data for the Savanna Pumé, a group of South American hunter-gatherers, age patterns in how children learn to become productive foragers and from whom they learn are observed across the transition from childhood to adolescence. Results show that Savanna Pumé children care for their siblings, are important economic contributors, learn by doing rather than by instruction, and spend their time principally in the company of other children. This developmental experience contrasts with that of children in postindustrial societies, who are dependent on adults, often well past maturity; learn in formal settings; and spend much of their time in the company of adults. These differences raise questions about whether normative behaviors observed in postindustrial societies are representative of human children. This comparison also identifies the potential mismatch between hunter-gatherer and postindustrial societies in the extent to which children may be well adapted to learn from and teach each other. In particular, spending time in autonomous work and play groups develops the cooperation and coordination skills that are foundational to human subsistence and growing up to be socially and productively adept adults and parents.
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Notes
For simplicity, “postindustrial” is used throughout to refer to contemporary industrialized societies, in contrast to “traditional” societies. “Nonindustrial” is sometimes the preferred term, however it suggests a historical trajectory and takes the perspective of “us compared with them,” rather than the other way around, the more evolutionarily relevant perspective. Both are used here to refer to natural-fertility, small-scale societies that use technologies, foods, and strategies consistent with their recent past—e.g., societies that have little access to the market labor economy, market foods, wage labor, health care, or education. Unfortunately, no term describes either society fully, in its variation or without bias.
Childhood and juvenility are variously defined in the literature. As a shared mammalian trait, juvenility is bracketed by weaning and sexual maturity. Human juvenility is often developmentally more narrowly defined as the period between childhood (weaning to eruption of M1) and adolescence (onset of the growth spurt). In its specialized reference to the unique human stage, childhood (sensu Bogin, 1999) specifically defines the period that follows weaning and ends with the eruption of the first permanent molar and ability to consume adult foods (approximately 3–7 years of age). Here childhood is used more broadly and interchangeably with juvenility to reference the general developmental period from weaning to sexual maturity. Infant refers to a nursing child and adult to a reproductive-aged individual.
Fruit returns (large fruit returns) include a variety of species, but predominately feral mango. Caloric estimates are based on analyses of Mangifera indica, with a wet weight estimate of 675 kcal/kg skinless, pitless fruit (Gebhardt & Thomas, 2002). The edible portion of fruit (skinless, pitless) is estimated at 82% of total weight. Thus, the 13.5 kg average child’s return * .82 edible portion * 675 kcal/kg = 7472 edible kcal.
Fish returns include a variety of species, with Hoplias malabaricus predominating. Caloric values are based on analysis for catfish (Leung, 1961), which is a reasonable analog for the fish that dominate Pumé fishing returns. Kcal values for fish = 139 kcal/100 g. Edible portion of Pumé returns is estimated as 65% raw weight. Thus, a 1.3 kg average child’s return * .65 edible portion * 1390 kcal/kg = 1175 edible kcal.
Meat returns (hunting returns) include a variety of species, with armadillo (Dasypus sabanicola), tegu lizard (Tupinamibis teguixin), and small teiid lizards (Ameiva ameiva) being the predominate species (68% of all hunting kills; Greaves, 1997b). Estimates are based on an edible portion of 76% (what the Pumé actually eat, adjusted from Saadoun & Cabrera, 2008) and 1306 kcal/k (Caldironi & Manes, 2006). Thus, .9 k * .76 edible portion * 1306 kcal/kg = 893 kcal. Based an edible portion of 50% for armadillo and 2183 kcal for digestible energy (Gómez‑Ortiz et al. 2011), a 0.9 k average child’s return * .5 digestible portion * 2183 kcal/kg = 982 edible kcal.
Root returns (large root returns) predominately consist of changuango (Dracontium margaretae). Return weights have no waste weight; only a small amount of boiled roots is discarded. D. margaretae = 349 kcal/100 g (raw) and 324 kcal/100 g, boiled (analyses of raw samples at Nutritional Ecology Laboratory at Harvard University; Greaves & Kramer, 2013). Most roots are boiled before being eaten. Thus, a 3.0 kg average child’s return * 1 edible portion * 3240 kcal/kg = 9720 edible kcal.
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Acknowledgments
I am grateful to the Savanna Pumé, who graciously allowed us to observe their children at work and play for many years. In particular, I thank Dr. Russell D. Greaves, who started working with the Savanna Pumé in the 1990s and collected much of the data used in these analyses. I also greatly appreciate the contribution of Dr. Joe Hackman, Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, who produced a number of the graphs in this manuscript. I wish to acknowledge the editors of this special edition for recognizing the importance of the topic of childhood learning in traditional societies, and for organizing the AAA symposium on which this issue is based. Funding for the Savanna Pumé research was provided by the National Science Foundation (0349963 and DBS-9123875), the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation (awarded to Russell Greaves), the Milton Fund, and Harvard University.
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Kramer, K.L. Childhood Teaching and Learning among Savanna Pumé Hunter-Gatherers. Hum Nat 32, 87–114 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-021-09392-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-021-09392-x