Throughout our entire evolutionary history, the physical environment has played a significant role in shaping humans’ subsistence adaptations. As early humans began to colonise novel biomes and construct ecological niches, their behavioural flexibility appeared as an unquestionable fact. During the Late Pleistocene-Holocene transition, the shift from foraging to farming radically altered ecosystem services, resulting in increased exposure to zoonotic pathogens and the emergence of structural inequalities that pervade our current human condition in the Anthropocene epoch. The article seeks to use an anthropological biosocial analysis to explore the diverse evolutionary paths humans have taken, which in turn shape their relationships with the natural world. Given the enigmatic nature of human behavior, it is essential to examine it holistically to understand how different subsistence patterns (e.g., intensive agriculture, foraging, and horticulture) have influenced resilience and adaptation to environmental challenges.
The article analyzes the main provisions of constructive anthropology developed in Russian empirio-criticism in the first quarter of the 20th century. The justification of non-metaphysical philosophy, which developed the “problematic” approach to cognition, made the new understanding of man possible. From this point of view, the essence of man is not a metaphysical constant, but is modeled on the basis of an appropriate organization of experience; the essence of man is determined by his existence and is constantly changing; the essence of man can be consciously adapted by directing his development and giving him the necessary characteristics; man as an essence is always man’s project, or scientific and philosophical concept; only by understanding man as a dynamic project can we justify free will and man’s capacity for creation. The project of constructive anthropology is fundamentally different from the philosophical anthropology developed in Germany in the 20th century by Max Scheler and Helmuth Plessner, since the latter is essentially an attempt to preserve the traditional metaphysical interpretation of man.
In recent years, the expansive pastoralist landscapes in southern Kenya have undergone rapid transformation, the key being a change in the land-tenure system from communal to individual ownership. However, little is known about the complexities influencing these changes and how the changes impact the local people. This study employed qualitative inductive approaches and ethnographic methods, such as participant observation and in-depth interviews. It examined how local and international formal and informal institutions have impacted land tenure changes among the Maa pastoralists living near Chyulu and Tsavo-West national parks. Despite the expected benefits of individual land ownership, the changes have not addressed significant social barriers. These include norms and power structures that disadvantage the poor in the community, as well as women and youth within households. People with higher levels of poverty and fewer or no political connections are marginalized during land adjudication at the community level. At the same time, traditions and customs deny women and youth entitlement to property at the household level. Such groups thus experience land privatisation differently. This article argues that expropriation and unequal abilities to control, access and benefit from land profoundly impact social differentiation among pastoralists. Further, the article illuminates a more-than-human achievement, with wildlife shaping people’s lives through conservation-induced land expropriation, and a more-than-human vulnerability that livestock and wildlife face in the wake of land fragmentation and fencing that restrict their free movement. The article contributes to more significant debates on pastoralist land tenure, property relations, ongoing changes in land control processes, and more-than-human achievements and vulnerabilities.
Archaic and modern humans differ in a range of craniodental features. From a taxonomic and phylogenetic perspective, it is essential to distinguish between species accurately through detailed morphological characterizations. This study analyzes the size and shape variation of the enamel-dentine junction (EDJ) of upper molars from two hominin species, early Neanderthals from Krapina (N = 13) and mid-Holocene European modern humans (N = 14), to assess the extent of their endostructural morphological differentiation. The EDJ was obtained through microtomographic scans of each molar using segmentation procedures. Three-dimensional landmarks semilandmarks and 3D geometric morphometric methods, were employed to investigate EDJ size and shape variation through univariate (t-test), multivariate exploratory, and classification methods (PCA and LDA). The results indicate that the shape of the EDJ and cervix of M2 differentiates Krapina Neanderthals from mid-Holocene European modern humans with a high degree of accuracy (~85%). Furthermore, EDJ size and dental nonmetric traits expressed in this structure provide additional information that is useful for distinguishing between the two species. Compared to modern humans, Krapina Neanderthals exhibit reduced dental diversity. From an endostructural perspective, this study provides additional insights into early Neanderthals’ morphological diversification relative to modern humans, which is valuable for studying middle and late Pleistocene hominin evolution.
We have recently found that a megalithic basaltic rock lunisolar calendar in Lanzarote, Canary Islands (“Quesera or Cheeseboard” of Zonzamas) has almost a twin monument in Jerusalem (Al Quds in Arab). These two unique monuments are on the West and East sides of the Sahara Desert and support the hypothesis of a common “Green” Saharan culture and a later migration of people towards the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Middle East and other areas when desiccation started after 10,000 years BC, thus spreading culture and genes. Traces of this culture can still be found in Iberian rock inscriptions on the Canary Islands and in the Sahara Desert, particularly at Tim-Missaou in Algeria.This is concordant with Usko-Mediterranean languages (Basque and Berber are related and also with Iberian and Etruscan), genetics and other common anthropological traits. In this paper, we analyse the Al Quds-Jerusalem megalithic monument as representing a solar calendar of Egyptian-type (365 days in 1 year) and show how it could be identical to the Lanzarote megalithic calendar (“Quesera or Cheeseboard” of Zonzamas). Both monuments,each crest/channel, are coincidental in each solar month assignment in both Lanzarote and Jerusalem rock calendars representation. Jerusalem’s megalithic calendar was built at least 900 years BC, when it fell out of use. Therefore, it can be assumed that the Lanzarote megalithic calendar was constructed around a similar time, meaning an undetermined period over 2800 years ago.
