Northern Studies and Human Evolution　　　Takashi Irimoto

1. Introduction
　Assuming that the emergence of humans was 7 million years ago and considering that agriculture began in West Asia 10,000 years ago and stock farming started 10,000 to 5,000 years ago, it can be said that 99.9% of human history has taken place in the age of hunting and gathering (cf. Lee and DeVore 1968). It is also believed that Early Man (Homo erectus) and Old Man (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, Archaic Homo sapiens) were already able to hunt, although most such activities might have simply involved gathering and scavenging carrion. New Man (Homo sapiens sapiens, Modern Homo sapiens) was the direct ancestor of modern humans that emerged in Africa 200,000 years ago (Leakey 1996), and had adapted to northern lands and established activity systems for hunting large animals by the Upper Paleolithic (the Würm Glacial Maximum – the last glacial period) at the latest (Irimoto 1996:117–18). To learn about human evolution, therefore, it is necessary to study the activity systems of current hunter-gatherers who retain a similar subsistence pattern with past humans. Needless to say, hunter-gatherers today are a result of historical and ecological adaptations rather than an evolutionary survival of past humans. It is both relevant and possible from an anthropological standpoint to compare ecological relations and analyze and consider the process of human evolution based on the above conditions (Irimoto 2007:6–7).
　In northeast Siberia, where continental ice sheets did not develop, the advance of humans into Northern Eurasia took place in the Karginsky interstadial (25,000–40,000 years ago) of the Late Pleistocene Würm Glacial Maximum, when mammoths and other large mammals lived. As the weather became colder toward the Sartan glacial period 20,000 years ago, vegetation changed from the drought-resistant to the semidesert type. It is believed that humans advanced southward or eastward following large mammals that moved south and entered Alaska by crossing the Bering Sea through gaps that existed at that time (Fukuda 1995:88). This led to a number of changes in Upper Paleolithic culture. The Levallois technique, which enabled the creation of stone blades, emerged in the Karginsky interstadial. In the Sartan glacial period, blades became smaller, the ability to make leaf-shaped points spread, micro-blades emerged and grooved bone shafts were developed. Humans adapted to cold weather and advanced into the Arctic (Kimura 1997: 51).
　While there have been many attempts to consider this adaptation to the north as a factor behind sapiensifization (Watanabe 1972: 271–285), it may not be appropriate to say that the northern environment was a contributory factor in human evolution due to the assumption that modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) originated in Africa. The emergence of modern man must have been a result of more general factors common to adaptation to cold and tropical zones, and should be considered as pre-adaptation to the north. It is then necessary to pose a new question about how this potential led to the adaptation to northern living and the development of northern circumpolar cultures.
2. Evolution of Minds
　When considering adaptation to the north, it is important to clarify not only technical matters concerning the environment but also social aspects and the evolution of human sociality of mind that underpin the realization of these matters. Sociality of mind is a function associated with the relationships between oneself and other individuals and groups. Society as recognized by humans can be divided into two types – human society and supernatural society formed by the personification of nature. Furthermore, the concept of original oneness, as seen among the northern Athapaskans, is behind the recognition of reciprocity, which forms the basis of sociality of mind (Irimoto 1983; 1994; 1996; 2007: 7). With this logic to integrate dualism and oneness, it is possible to establish a worldview of hunting in which humans kill animals and eat their meat, and at the same time receive the meat as a gift; the favor is returned by employing the concept of reciprocity with animals, which are considered to be animal-persons as their supernatural nature.
3. Development of Hunting Culture
　The reindeer hunting activity system found among northern Athapascans is a strategic model of the relationship between humans and nature among northern hunting people. Based on this theory, it can be presumed that hunting activity systems and a variety of taboos, myths and rituals for the ideological manipulation of such systems were established when humans became hunters of large animals. Cave paintings from the Eurasian Upper Paleolithic 40,000 to 10,000 years ago not only present the artistic evolution of hunting culture but also serve as proof of the possible creation and description of myths that form the origins of reciprocity between animals and humans. In addition to the Altamira and Lascaux cave paintings, the Le Trois Fleurs cave in the Pyrenees area of southern France has a painting of a mixed animal with horns, a tail and human legs leading other animals. It also features a painting showing an animal deity-like figure that wears a mask with horns and has owl-like eyes, a horse’s tail, wolf’s ears, bear’s forepaws and human-like legs and groin (Prideaux, 1977: 128–131). Father Breuil, a leading researcher on the Paleolithic, interprets this figure as a sorcerer, although it is not in fact known if these are animal deities or shamans. However, since these mixed animals have both human and animalistic characteristics, they are certainly representations of the concept of original oneness of animals and humans. The recognition of original oneness also includes the personification of animals, and suggests the possibility that reciprocity between humans and animals was recognized (Irimoto 1996: 117–118; 2007:17).
　What is important here is that humans categorized themselves and animals, and recognized the relationship between them. Categorization becomes even more possible by considering language. The widespread use of language by humans in those days is backed by morphological comparison of skull bases in fossil hominoids. It is also necessary to note here that original oneness is the logic used to resolve underlying discrepancies, in which the originally identical thing is categorized as different. It is an evolutionary process that is directly opposed to the interpretation of the cognitive fluidity of minds based on a psychological module model, in which fundamentally different things are integrated (Mithen 1998: 211–220).
4. Future of Humans
　It can be said that Homo sapiens sapiens used and recognized language, developed cultures using it and achieved adaptive radiation around the world. The concept of original oneness gave humans a mysterious relationship with nature and contributed to the establishment of a rich worldview. However, from a different perspective, it can also be said that self-justification and the establishment of a world of fictional logic made humans a thorn in the side of other creatures. The spread of humans worldwide has created civilizations, destroyed the environment and killed other humans using righteousness as a justification. As a result, humans have become the biggest thorn in their own sides. The global environment issues seen today are an extension of this.
　The worst-case scenario for the future is the annihilation of humankind together with other creatures. Despite its pessimistic outlook, this is indeed the most likely outcome. Nevertheless, the best-case scenario may be that humans will renew their understanding of the fundamental truth of self and the world and succeed in self-regulation of minds. Minds remain adaptive, as they have been throughout human evolution.
References
Fukuda, M.
　1995 Nature in Siberia and Alaska. In: The Earth of the Mongoloids 4, Travelers of the Far North. Yonekura, N. (ed.), Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, pp. 47–90.
Lee, R. and DeVore (eds.)
　1968 Man the Hunter. Chicago: Aldine.
Irimoto, T.
　1983 From the World of Canadian Indians. Tokyo: Fukuinkan Shoten Publishers, Inc.
　1994 Religion, Ecology, and Behavioral Strategy: A Comparison of Ainu and Northern Athapaskan. In: Circumpolar Religion and Ecology. Irimoto, T. and T. Yamada (eds.), Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, pp. 317–340.
　1996 Bunka no Shizenshi (An Anthropology of Nature and Culture). Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.
　2007 Sociality of Minds through an Anthropologic Approach. In: Theory and Practice of Communal Living – Psychological and Anthropological Consideration of Reciprocity. Irimoto, T., Y. Takahashi and T. Yamagishi (eds.), Sapporo: Hokkaido University Press, pp. 3–33.
Kimura, H.
　1997 The Study of Paleolithic Culture in Siberia. Sapporo: Hokkaido University Press.
Mithen, S.
　1996 The Prehistory of the Mind. London: Thames and Hudson.
Prideaux, T.
　1973 Cro-Magnon Man. New York: Time-Life Books.
Watanabe, H.
　1972 Periglacial Ecology and the Emergence of Homo sapiens. In: The Origin of Homo sapiens. Proceedings of the Paris Symposium, 2-5 September 1969, organized by UNESCO in co-operation with the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA). Bordes, F. (ed.), Paris: UNESCO, pp. 271–285.
Leakey, R.
　1994 The Origin of Humankind. New York: Basic Books.
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