Hunters, Farmers, & Marathoners

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Tom Hartmann (Tom Brown of Yale is quite active in ADD research) and the Hunter/Farmer could be describing a bimodal description or poles on same dimension. Leakey (1) implies a good case for the evolution of Executive Functions as a product of hunting. If you push the data just a bit, H. habilis and H. erectus differed from their contemporary, Australopithecus afarensis by having:

1) An upright posture as indicated by his semicircular canals, skull features, and pelvic structure.

2) A tilted pelvis which required the child be relatively less mature when born; perhaps stimulating the development of family structure, high parental investment, and role divisions between mom and dad.

3) The basicranium (and voice box?) lower in the skull, perhaps allowing a larger pharynx and wider range of vocal sounds.

4) A brain enlargement (inferred from skull casts) comparable to Broca's Area; tool shapes suggest he was right handed.

5) A left half of the brain slightly larger than the right, comparable to modern humans.

6) Probably the skills to make tools to a template.

7) The ability to run, as suggested by rib and leg structure.(2) Running after game means visualizing the prey when it pulls out of sight, anticipating its next move or when it will tire, and planning the best site for an ambush. It requires memory of prior hunts, the details of what worked, and creative adaptation of methods for different prey, weapons, and weather. It also may involve cooperative hunts that require even more elaborate planning and communication.

Agriculture might later have tapped into these Executive Functions and the "restless" ones may have been at a disadvantage, either with producing crops or even hanging around long enough to get possession of the land. However, the restless could have been manics, with perfectly good Executive Functions, rather than ADHD. It's hard for me to picture an individual with pervasive ADHD being either a good hunter or good farmer (unless they have some intact Adaptive Systems for those skills that are independent of ADHD or mania). I'm glad Hartman's around to put a check on some easy conclusions, but like all of us he's handicapped by having to interpret self-selected data.

NOTE:

(1) Leakey R. (1994) The Origin of Humankind. New York: Basic Books. See esp. pp. 128-133.

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