Aché life history : the ecology and demography of a foraging people

"...a magnificent achievement, and a landmark in at least three distinct fields: anthropological demography, human evolutionary ecology, and hunter-gatherer studies...." — Evolutionary Anthropology The Ache, whose life history the authors recounts, are a small indigenous population of hunters and gatherers living in the neotropical rainforest of eastern Paraguay. This is part exemplary ethnography of the Ache and in larger part uses this population to make a signal contribution to human evolutionary ecology. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 Table of Contents 8 Preface 12 Acknowledgments 18 1 Life History and Demography 22 Why Study Life History and Demography? 27 The Organization of This Book 32 Human Evolutionary Ecology 33 Life History Theory 39 Demography and Life History Theory 53 Summary 56 2 The Ache 62 Area Overview 63 Prehistory of Eastern Paraguay 64 Ethnohistory 65 Current Situation 77 Modern Ecological Studies 78 Biological and Genetic Affinity 79 Ecology of Eastern Paraguay 81 Forest Life 86 Reservation Life 94 Summary 99 3 Study Population and Sampling Methods 104 Study Population 105 The Sample and Methods of Data Collection 106 Reliability of Interview Data 115 Sample Bias 117 The Contact Problem 121 Summary 121 4 Age and Sex Structure of the Study Population 132 Difficulties of Estimating Ages for the Ache 133 Howell's Method for Estimating !Kung Ages 135 Some Problems Using Stable Population Models 136 Deriving Age Estimates for the Ache 140 Age-Sex Structure of the Northern Ache 153 Comparison with the !Kung and Yanomamo 155 Summary 155 5 Causes of Mortality 172 Mortal Dangers in the Forest and on the Reservation 173 Customs Concerning Sickness and Death 176 Analytical Methods and Choice of Sample 178 Causes of Mortality during the Forest Period 179 Comparison with the !Kung and Yanomamo 186 Causes of Death during the Contact Period 187 Causes of Death during the Reservation Period 188 Summary 189 6 Rates of Mortality 200 The Life Table/Mortality Hazard Approach 200 Mortality Parameters of the Forest Living-Ache 204 Comparison with the !Kung and Yanomamo 208 The Contact Period 209 The Reservation Period 211 Summary 213 7 Development, Marriage, and Other Life Course Events 240 Childhood Development 240 Adolescence 244 Marriage and Divorce 247 Old Age 256 Summary 258 8 Female Fertility 270 Pregnancy and Birth 270 Fertility during the Forest Period 273 Comparison with the !Kung and Yanomamo 275 Fertility during the Reservation Period 277 Summary 278 9 Male Fertility 294 Paternity 294 Fatherhood 296 Fertility during the Forest Period 298 Comparison with the !Kung and Yanomamo 300 Fertility during the Reservation Period 301 Summary 302 10 Resource Availability, Intrinsic Variation, and Life Cycle Constraints 314 Measures of Independent Variables in Life History Models 315 Infant and Childhood Mortality 316 Adult Mortality 325 Variation in Female Fertility Rate 326 Variation in Male Fertility Rate 337 Summary 338 11 Body Size and the Timing of Sexual Maturity 362 Allometry, Determinate Growth, and Ache Growth Patterns 363 Optimal Age at First Reproduction 366 Summary 377 12 Life History Trade-Offs and Phenotypic Correlations 396 The Cost of Reproduction 398 Offspring Number and Offspring Fitness 401 Components of Reproductive Success and Intergenerational Correlations 406 Men and Women with High Reproductive Success 410 Summary 412 13 Kin Effects on Life History 440 Kin Effects on Mortality 441 Kin Effects on Fertility 447 Reproductive Senescence 448 Infanticide and Child Homicide 455 Sex-Biased Investment 460 Patterns in Female Mating and Female Mate Choice 463 Summary 466 14 Conclusions 488 Life History of the Ache and Other Modern Foragers 488 Humans as Apes 490 Humans as Hominids 492 Theoretical Implications 495 Applied Anthropological Demography 497 Appendix A. Implications of Stable Age Models for Deriving !Kung Ages 506 Appendix B. Block Rankings of Relative Age 512 Appendix C. Five Genealogies with Multiple Generations 522 References 550 Index 574 "The Ache, whose life history the authors recounts, are a small indigenous population of hunters and gatherers living in the neotropical rainforest of eastern Paraguay. This is part exemplary ethnography of the Ache and in larger part uses this population to make a signal contribution to human evolutionary ecology."--Provided by publisher