Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-h8lrw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-14T11:37:20.562Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Shared intentionality may have been favored by persistence hunting in Homo erectus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 January 2025

Jared Vasil Open the ORCID record for Jared Vasil [Opens in a new window]
Jared Vasil*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA jared.vasil@duke.edu
*
*Corresponding author.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Shared intentionality is the derived hominin motivation and skills to align mental states. Research on the role of interdependence in the phylogeny of shared intentionality has only considered the archeological record of Homo heidelbergensis. But ethnographic and fossil data must be considered, too. Doing so suggests that shared intentionality may have been favored in Homo erectus to support persistence hunting.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 48 , 2025 , e20
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Alexander, R. M. (1991). Energy-saving mechanisms in walking and running. Journal of Experimental Biology, 160(1), 55–69. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.160.1.55CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bramble, D. M., & Lieberman, D. E. (2004). Endurance running and the evolution of Homo. Nature, 432(7015), 345–352. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03052CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caravaggi, P., Pataky, T., Günther, M., Savage, R., & Crompton, R. (2010). Dynamics of longitudinal arch support in relation to walking speed: Contribution of the plantar aponeurosis. Journal of Anatomy, 217(3), 254–261. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7580.2010.01261.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carrier, D. R. (1984) The energetic paradox of human running and hominid evolution. Current Anthropology 25(4), 483–495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hatala, K. G., Roach, N. T., Ostrofsky, K. R., Wunderlich, R. E., Dingwall, H. L., Villmoare, B. A., … Richmond, B. G. (2016). Footprints reveal direct evidence of group behavior and locomotion in Homo erectus. Scientific Reports, 6(1), 28766. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep28766CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holowka, N. B., & Lieberman, D. E. (2018). Rethinking the evolution of the human foot: Insights from experimental research. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 221(Pt 17), jeb174425. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.174425CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holowka, N. B., Richards, A., Sibson, B. E., & Lieberman, D. E. (2021). The human foot functions like a spring of adjustable stiffness during running. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 224(Pt 1), jeb219667. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.219667Google Scholar
Hrdy, S. B. (2009). Mothers and others: The evolutionary origins of mutual understanding. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Huang, C. K., Kitaoka, H. B., An, K. N., & Chao, E. Y. (1993). Biomechanical evaluation of longitudinal arch stability. Foot & Ankle, 14(6), 353–357. https://doi.org/10.1177/107110079301400609CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ker, R. F., Bennett, M. B., Bibby, S. R., Kester, R. C., & Alexander, R. M. (1987). The spring in the arch of the human foot. Nature, 325(6100), 147–149. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/325147a0CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liebenberg, L. (1990). The art of tracking: The origin of science. David Phillip Publishers.Google Scholar
Liebenberg, L. (2006) Persistence hunting by modern hunter-gatherers. Current Anthropology 47(6), 1017–1026.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieberman, D. E., Bramble, D. M., Raichlen, D. A., & Shea, J. J. (2007). The evolution of endurance running and the tyranny of ethnography: A reply to Pickering and Bunn (2007). Journal of Human Evolution, 53(4), 439–442. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2007.07.002CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lieberman, D. E., Kistner, T. M., Richard, D., Lee, I.-M., & Baggish, A. L. (2021). The active grandparent hypothesis: Physical activity and the evolution of extended human healthspans and lifespans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(50), e2107621118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2107621118CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lieberman, D. E., Mahaffey, M., Cubesare Quimare, S., Holowka, N. B., Wallace, I. J., & Baggish, A. L. (2020). Running in Tarahumara (Rarámuri) culture: Persistence hunting, footracing, dancing, work, and the fallacy of the athletic savage. Current Anthropology, 61(3), 356–379. https://doi.org/10.1086/708810CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morin, E., & Winterhalder, B. (2024). Ethnography and ethnohistory support the efficiency of hunting through endurance running in humans. Nature Human Behaviour, 8, 1065–1075. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01876-xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Connell, J. F., Hawkes, K., & Blurton Jones, N. G. (1999). Grandmothering and the evolution of Homo erectus. Journal of Human Evolution, 36(5), 461–485. https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.1998.0285CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pontzer, H. (2017). Economy and endurance in human evolution. Current Biology, 27(12), R613–R621. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.05.031CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roberts, G. (2005). Cooperation through interdependence. Animal Behaviour, 70(4), 901–908. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.02.006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skyrms, B. (2004). The stag hunt and the evolution of social structure. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Stearne, S. M., McDonald, K. A., Alderson, J. A., North, I., Oxnard, C. E., & Rubenson, J. (2016). The foot's arch and the energetics of human locomotion. Scientific Reports, 6(1), 19403. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep19403CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tindale, N. B. (1974). Aboriginal tribes of Australia: Their terrain, environmental controls, distribution, limits, and proper names. Australian National University Press.Google Scholar
Tomasello, M. (2014). A natural history of human thinking. Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomasello, M. (2019). Becoming human: A theory of ontogeny. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Tomasello, M. (2022). The evolution of agency: Behavioral organization from lizards to humans. MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomasello, M., Hare, B., Lehmann, H., & Call, J. (2007) Reliance on head versus eyes in the gaze following of great apes and human infants: The cooperative eye hypothesis. Journal of Human Evolution 52(3), 314–320.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tomasello, M., Melis, A. P., Tennie, C., Wyman, E., & Herrmann, E. (2012) Two key steps in the evolution of human cooperation: The interdependence hypothesis. Current Anthropology 53(6), 673–692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vasil, J. (2023). A new look at young children's referential informativeness. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 18(3), 624–648. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916221112072CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Venkadesan, M., Yawar, A., Eng, C. M., Dias, M. A., Singh, D. K., Tommasini, S. M., … Mandre, S. (2020). Stiffness of the human foot and evolution of the transverse arch. Nature, 579(7797), 97–100. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2053-yCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed