Darwinian Evolution

Mini Written Essay on Darwinian Evolution Case Studies

In the paper offered by Diehl, principles of behavioral ecology and a description of late archaeic land use and subsistence are given. Some theories about the late archaic subsistence are tested againstmacrobotanical datain the Great Tucson basin between 1500Bc and AD 200. There are trhree models of late archaic land use. One model seeks to explain the adoption of agriculture şn the low desert as a consequence of systemic relationships between foraging and horticulture. It is suggestted that the adoption of agriculture by the occupants of the low desert ocurred as a strategy for generating stored food that culd be used in long distance hunting forays. Another model describes the groups as dependent of agricultural cropsas well as of cactus fruits and animals. ın another model, the horticulturalists are defined as seasonally sedentary foragers. The behavioral ecology studies optimization as a consequence of rational choices between behavioral alternatives. Tenets of optimizations are:

There’s imminent threat of starvation

Specific nutrients are in short supply

There are time constraints on foraging

Risks are involved while foraging

Excess food  or time may be used to enhance reproductive fitness.

The relation of behavioral ecology and LD hunting model- paleobotanical evidence shows that the occupants of Tucson basin optimized resourceprocurement. The very long distance hunting model proposed by Willsis an energetically inefficient strategy for obtaining calories. There is meticulous calculation showing that much energy is required to carry food to this distance.

Behavioral ecology and classically sedentary model- the main diet was maize. But looking from behavioral ecology lens there is reason to think that the two subsistence strategies differed greatly. It is suggested that Cienega phase occupants from the Tucson Basi were less dependent on agriculture than their Hohokan period descendants then wild plants are replaced with domesticated plants like maize, beans, squash, cotton... Late archaic horticulturalists as seasonally sedentary foragers- in this model the place of seasonal settlements, the season of foraging and resources used are not mentioned. But the model fits best with the macrobotanical record.

On Conspicious consumption and wasteful advertising, there is a rising interest on the spatial distribution of terminal monument dates, and the scale of political competition that preceded it. the dated stone monuments can be used to monitor ancient phenomena. But there is a lack of theoretical account of the causal mechanisms that link between the collapse of the monuments and social collapse. Instead there has been too much empirical generalization. Recent work of Triggerlinks between monumental architecture and complexity of power relationship. The model uses Zipf’s principle of least effort and Veblen’s notion of conspicious consumption. Zipf emphasizes the necessity of economizing in order to sustain human life, while Veblen shows how wasteful spending enhances social prestige. Trigger states that conspicious consumption was a symbol of power, because it implies control over the workers, and monuments are seen as embodiments of this huge human energy.

According to Darwinian perspective, advertizing is wasteful because it represents fitness costs that have no compensatory fitness benefit.

According to Zahavi’s model, waste is a signal tht conveys information about some hidden quantity of the sender who incurred a fitness cost in order to send the signal. Accordingly, the receiver will behave in a way that benefits the sender. It is in fact the ability of an individual to win political contest that depends on the smartness of conspicious consumption. If the two parties differ significally from each other in competitive ability, communication will avoid a contest where there is a nonefficient conclusion.

The model created uses three factors: the competitive ability of the worst advertizer, the variance of the competitive ability of the group, the payoff of a given investmant in advertising.

The Darwinian theory is a causal explanation for why monumental architecture should scale with the range of payoffs to advertize. The model uses a N distribution and a loess regreeion model . then we hear a long course on statistics. There are some explaination tested, like invasion, drought, ecpological disaster... finally the author discovered a surprising relationship between mean annual rainfall and terminal monument dates. So the terminaiton of the monument building has to o with an ecological disaster.

Ceremonial architecture in Polynesia is, according to one view, some form of cultural explanation of social complexity. In a contextual and behavioral approach, ceremonial architecture represents the location at which rituals are performed. In general, Polynesian ceremonial architecture includes partially or completely paved courts with altars. Different levels of sociopolitical organization in Polynesia reflected the particular adaptation resulting from the interplay of environment and technology. For Sahlins, environmental diversity and productivitycorrelate with complexity of social stratification. Goldman emphasizes status rivalry in the development of varying levels of social stratifcation among pPolynesian societies.

Apert forom cultural evolution, selectionist models should describe the operation of dynamic principles and extract from this patterns of material behavior variation.wasteful consumptionis again mentioned, and we have the importance of “superflous” behaviours underlined. According to Dunnell, superflous behaviours are fixed by a selection and in fact contribute to the increased fitness through lower population numbers.

As a result, the author finds that large and monumental ceremonial architecture is not a result of environmental productivity. Alternatively, there is a selectionist model showing that there is advantages in superflous consumption like the construction of a ceremonial architecture which would result in population dampening with selectional results.