Colonization of Australia
By Jackie Luu
Homo sapien colonization of Australia and the resulting extinction of many large Australian megafauna occurred around 45,000 years ago in the Upper Paleolithic Period (Harari, 2014). This human-environment interaction shows the effects of human expansion and hunting on the resulting decline and extinction of Australian wildlife. The resource system is the terrestrial land of Australia and the resource units in this system are the native wildlife and vegetation. These resources affected the social-ecological system by providing the colonizing Homo sapiens with abundant and new sources of food.
The Homo sapiens that colonized Australia likely originated from seafaring societies in Indonesia (Harari, 2014). Improvements in technology and innovation spurred the creation of boats which allowed for new actors such as fishermen, traders, and explorers (Harari, 2014). The Homo sapiens in Australia had a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, and they utilized their stone tools and polished hunting skills to take advantage of the vast megafauna present in Australia (Harari, 2014).
Climate patterns played a slight role on the ecological effects on the Australian species. There were some climate fluctuations during the time period of the colonization of Australia, but these changes are unlikely the cause of the mass extinctions (Harari, 2014). Rather, one of the factors that played a larger role on the social-ecological system in Australia include the technological advancement in the creation of boats that led to the arrival of Homo sapiens in Australia.
The colonization of Australia resulted in the extinction of twenty-three megafaunal species that weighed over one-hundred pounds such as the diprotodon, as well as the extinction of many smaller species (Harari, 2014). The ecosystem was drastically transformed, partially attributed to the implementation of fire agriculture which the Homo sapiens used to destroy dense vegetation and attract wildlife that were easier to hunt (Harari, 2014). The fires also resulted in greater prominence of eucalyptus plants due to their fire-resistant nature (Harari, 2014). Homo sapien colonization overall drastically altered the Australian environment due to species extinctions and changes to native vegetation.
Reference
Harari, Y. N. (2014). Sapiens: A brief history of humankind. Random House.
Journey into the Americas
By Kerry Mulligan
Time period and Interaction: According to Harari, the mass migration of homo sapiens into the Americas and subsequent massacre of American fauna occurred approximately 12,000 to 9,000 years ago (2014). This human-environment interaction is a common pattern of our species colonization practices. Where we go, destruction to some of the ecosystem’s most precious and vulnerable species follows.
Resource characteristics: In this instance the resource system is the location-the Americas. From the tips of the Alaskan peninsula to the jungles of central America, distinctive resource units embedded within these systems, like the vegetation and animals that prowled the lands, were unprepared for the challenges that would arise within the social-ecological system. The normative social goals during this era were mainly limited to the expansion of our species into new and uncharted territories to find lands that could suit our most basic needs for survival. Yet mostly unbeknownst to us, this caused mass extinction of wildlife (Harari, 2014) that were not able to adapt to the environmental demands of mankind.
Governance/user characteristics: Nongovernmental systems and their relevant actors played a key role in using their historical understanding to take over the Americas. Actors such as foragers and hunters who learned new skills and techniques to survive the harsh new climate passed their knowledge within primitive network structures that tribes of those days had formed. At this time, humans were still all considered hunter-gathers, but most actors were skillful in utilizing new “technology” such as stitching together thermal clothing and developing at what the time could be classified as sophisticated weaponry to hunt large mammals (Harari, 2014).
Social and related ecosystem’s role: Fairly obviously, demographic trends were indicative of the ecological flow in/out of the SES. Where one man went, another species died out. While not just a theme in the Americas, but of the entire planet, America was considered one of the most diverse foregrounds of birds, insects, animals, plants and any other living creatures (Harari, 2014). The loss was felt heavily within interlining species dying out population by population. It is important to note that during this time natural climate change likely had a hand in the reduced diversity of the America ecosystems. While it was a factor, evidence suggest it is not the main reason for such a decline-rather a not so helpful contributor.
Outcomes: Looking through the SES framework, based on the imputed actors and correspondence within their systems described above, the interaction they had in this environment paved the way for a bleak outcome (McGinnis and Ostrom, 2014). At least from an ecological perspective. There is hard evidence that right after our foray into these two continents, directly afterwards there was essentially a massacre of many exotic species and intricate ecosystems. As quoted by Harari “Within 2,000 years of the Sapiens arrival, most of these unique species were gone” (2014, p.56).
References
Harari, Y. N. (2014). Sapiens: A brief history of humankind. Random House.
McGinnis, M. D., & Ostrom, E. (2014). Social-ecological system framework: initial changes and continuing challenges. Ecology and Society, 19(2), 30. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES- 06387-190230
Storytelling and fictitious images to facilitate cooperation and cognitive complexity
By Lauren Peranio
The appearance of new ways of thinking and communicating between 70,000 and 30,000 years ago encompasses the Cognitive Revolution. It is unknown what striked this cognitive awareness, but the most common theory indicates an accidental genetic mutation changed the inner wiring of the Sapiens brain (Sapiens pg. 21). Homo Sapiens are primarily social creatures and social cooperation was significant for survival and reproduction; unlike their counter parts we were able to create complexities. Another theory was that the language evolved as a means to share information about the world.
The gossip theory transmits information about people, animals but more importantly it was about transmitting information about things that do not exist. The creating of legends, myths, gods first come to light during the cognitive revolution. This cognitive ability enabled to use fictional storying telling and imagination to collectively intergrade and cooperate. This allowed for large numbers of strangers to cooperate successful because they both believed in the same myth. In these stories the ending reflects a reconciliation of each other’s interests and differences, while also creating a social norm enforcement structure, such as emphasizing the benefits to cooperation over competition, examples of punishment for breaking norms, and reverse dominance hierarchies to prevent individual accumulation of power (Smith). The nature article explored the content of hunter-gatherer stories in greater detail and collected 89 stories over seven different forager societies from the Philippines and organized them according to subject matter. Of these stories, around 70% were classified as pertaining to ‘social behavior, norms and expectations (Smith). The storytelling in overall provided a mechanism to coordinate behavior and expectations, transmit social information and promote cooperation in hunter-gatherer camps. (Smith). Storytelling among the hunter-gatherers conveys strong messages of cooperation, sex and social equality, and inequality aversion (Smith).
Three main accounts of the adaptive function of storytelling uses include manipulation of behavior of the audience to enhance the narrator, transmitting survival‐relevant information while avoiding the costs involved in the first‐hand acquisition of that information, maintaining social bonds and group cooperation. In forager societies, storytelling constituted an effective practice for the transmission of survival relevant information, enabling group members to avoid physical, social, and health risks and increase their fitness. For example, experienced hunters may learn about animal behavior from the stories that more expert hunters share in camps during hunting practices, without actually getting involved in potentially dangerous hunting activities (Bietti). Transmission of cultural information through storytelling may constitute a means for peers and younger generations to expand their memory through vicarious experiences which in turn may enhance their ability to imagine or predict future events (Bietti). This could potentially enhance the fitness of the group as a whole. Another important aspect concerns the way the content of stories is adapted to the constraints of human memory (Bietti). Good stories or story tellers are highly memorable. Memory is a cognitive ability that enables the transmission of the information and the facilitation of social cohesion during the Cognitive revolution.
Work cited
Bietti M. Lucas. Storytelling as Adaptive Collection Sensemaking. Wiley Online Library. Topics in Cognitive science/ Volume 11, issue 7/ pg. 710-732. Published: 28, June 2018. Web. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/tops.12358
Smith, D., Schlaepfer, P., Major, K. et al. Cooperation and the evolution of hunter-gatherer storytelling. Nat Commun 8, 1853 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02036-8 Web.