What would be pre-modern human cognition?

Stibbard-Hawkes's detailed demonstration that in the case of hunter-gatherer artifacts, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence must never be forgotten. The belief that there is a single coherent "human cognitive capacity" difference between modern humans and some unspecified earlier form should be rigorously re-examined.

Sexual dimorphism in chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) and human age-specific fertility.

Across vertebrates, species with intense male mating competition and high levels of sexual dimorphism in body size generally exhibit dimorphism in age-specific fertility. Compared with females, males show later ages at first reproduction and earlier reproductive senescence because they take longer to attain adult body size and musculature, and maintain peak condition for a limited time. This normally yields a shorter male duration of effective breeding, but this reduction might be attenuated in species that frequently use coalitionary aggression.

Hunter-gatherer studies and human evolution: A very selective review.

The century long publication of this journal overlapped major changes in the sciences it covers. We have been eyewitnesses to vast changes during the final third of the last century and beginning of this one, momentous enough to fundamentally alter our work separately and collectively. One (NBJ) from animal ethology, another from western North American archaeology (JOC), and a third (KH) from cultural anthropology came to longtime collaboration as evolutionary ecologists with shared focus on studying modern hunter-gatherers to guide hypotheses about human evolution.

Selection for delayed maturity : Does it take 20 years to learn to hunt and gather?

Humans have a much longer juvenile period (weaning to first reproduction, 14 or more years) than their closest relatives (chimpanzees, 8 years). Three explanations are prominent in the literature. (a) Humans need the extra time to learn their complex subsistence techniques.

Antiquity of postreproductive life: are there modern impacts on hunter-gatherer postreproductive life spans?

Female postreproductive life is a striking feature of human life history and there have been several recent attempts to account for its evolution. But archaeologists estimate that in the past, few individuals lived many postreproductive years. Is postreproductive life a phenotypic outcome of modern conditions, needing no evolutionary account? This article assesses effects of the modern world on hunter-gatherer adult mortality, with special reference to the Hadza.