Human biological and cultural evolution are closely linked to technological innovations. Direct evidence for tool manufacture and use is absent before 2.5 million years ago (Ma), so reconstructions of australopithecine technology are based mainly on the behavior and anatomy of chimpanzees. Stone tool technology, robust australopithecines, and the genus Homo appeared almost simultaneously 2.5 Ma. Once this adaptive threshold was crossed, technological evolution was accompanied by increased brain size, population size, and geographical range. Aspects of behavior, economy, mental capacities, neurological functions, the origin of grammatical language, and social and symbolic systems have been inferred from the archaeological record of Paleolithic technology.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/291/5509/1748.full.pdf

Paleolithic Technology and Human Evolution

An Evolutionary Perspective on Food and Human Taste

The symptoms of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy were described by 363 pregnant women who kept daily symptom diaries. All delivered a single live baby. The majority of information collected was prospective, with the median day from last menstrual period to initial interview by the study midwife being day 57. It was found that 80% of women had symptoms, 28% experienced nausea only, while 52% had nausea and vomiting. The mean number of days from last menstrual period to onset and cessation of symptoms was 39 and 84, respectively, and 40% of women's symptoms ended abruptly. Cessation of symptoms occurred at approximately the same day from the last menstrual period whether they had begun early or later, severely or mildly [corrected]. The median total number of hours of nausea per pregnancy in those 292 women experiencing symptoms was 56, with peak symptoms occurring in the ninth week. Eighty five per cent of women experienced days with two episodes of nausea. Fifty three per cent of episodes of vomiting occurred between 06.00 hours and 12.00 hours. The symptom complex can be defined as episodic daytime pregnancy sickness. Among the study population, 206 women were in paid employment. Seventy three of these women (35%) spent a mean of 62 hours away from their paid work because of symptoms of nausea and vomiting, showing the socioeconomic significance of this condition. The detailed information gathered should help in the investigation of the aetiology of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy.

A prospective study of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy.

Archaeology can provide two bodies of information relevant to the understanding of the evolution of human cognition--the timing of developments, and the evolutionary context of these developments. The challenge is methodological. Archaeology must document attributes that have direct implications for underlying cognitive mechanisms. One example of such a cognitive archaeology is found in spatial cognition. The archaeological record documents an evolutionary sequence that begins with ape-equivalent spatial abilities 2.5 million years ago and ends with the appearance of modern abilities in the still remote past of 400,000 years ago. The timing of these developments reveals two major episodes in the evolution in spatial ability, one, 1.5 million years ago and the other, one million years later. The two episodes of development in spatial cognition had very different evolutionary contexts. The first was associated with the shift to an open country adaptive niche that occurred early in the time range of Homo erectus. The second was associated with no clear adaptive shift, though it does appear to have coincided with the invasion of more hostile environments and the appearance of systematic hunting of large mammals. Neither, however, occurred in a context of modern hunting and gathering.

Archaeology and cognitive evolution.

Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy

Using interviews at specific periods during pregnancy, this study examined the influence of maternal dietary cravings and aversions during pregnancy on frequency of consumption of dietary items, among a sample of 400 white, well‐nourished women in Albany, New York, whose pregnancies were ascertained by the 13th week. Seventy‐six percent of the women reported craving at least one item, while 85% reported at least one aversion. The greatest changes in frequency of consumption, according to 7‐day diet histories, occurred between the last menstrual period and the 12th week. Most cravings and aversions also occurred early, with aversions earlier than cravings. A decrease in mean frequency of consumption of craved items was noted for only two foods (vegetables and ice cream) out of a total of 18. Women reporting aversions showed a similar pattern of change, an increase in consumption for two of 18 items (white milk and fruit). Thus, women reporting cravings generally increased their consumption of food items cr...

Influence of cravings and aversions on diet in pregnancy

Psychological research has now clearly demonstrated that there is a significant difference between men and women in their performance on certain spatial tasks. Evidence further suggests that this difference has a neurological basis. This hypothesis is well enough established to have inspired several additional hypotheses concerning the evolutionary origin of the difference, including hypotheses emphasizing male hunting, female foraging, and male reproductive strategy. In this article we examine these hypotheses by placing them against the evidence for the neurological basis for the sex difference and the archaeological evidence for the evolution of spatial thinking in general. Given the probable source of the neurological difference in the timing of fetal testosterone, hypotheses that emphasize selection for female cognitive abilities are handicapped from the start. The hypotheses favoring male hunting and male reproductive strategy stumble when evaluated in light of the timing of the evolution of spatial cognition; archaeological evidence for the proposed selective behaviors and for the spatial abilities in question (e.g., mental rotation) do not correspond in a way that would permit a link between them. We conclude that none of the proposed adaptationist hypotheses fit the evidence as it currently exists, and that the modern sex difference in spatial cognition is almost certainly an evolutionary by-product of selection for optimal rates of fetal development. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Evolution of sex differences in spatial cognition

(1989) Investigating the biocultural dimensions of human sexual behavior Medical Anthropology: Vol 11, Human Sexuality in Biocultural Perspective, pp 367-383

Investigating the biocultural dimensions of human sexual behavior.

From the perspective of evolutionary theory, we believe it makes more sense to view the sex differences in spatial cognition as being an evolutionary by-product of selection for optimal rates of fetal development. Geary does not convince us that his proposed selective factors operated with “sufficient precision, economy, and efficiency.” Moreover, the archaeological evidence does not support his proposed evolutionary scenario.

Sex differences and evolutionary by-products

Nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP) is a ubiquitous complex of symptoms affecting upward of 90% of pregnant women in the United States. A clear positive correlation between the presence of NVP and favorable pregnancy outcome has been demonstrated. Although clearly hormonal, the exact causes of NVP have not been established. Treatment of NVP for maternal comfort and fetal well-being is possible. Although many attempts have been made to link the development of NVP to better pregnancy outcome by its effect on the consumption of potentially embryotoxic and fetotoxic substances, any selective advantage to NVP in terms of such an effect is, while interesting to study, undemonstrated.

Pregnancy, Nausea and Vomiting

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