Meat-sharing with close kin and unrelated adults is believed to be one of the most significant dietary changes to occur in the course of human evolution. Despite its importance there is no consensus on when, why or how sharing emerged among ancestral hominids. The problem lies not only in our inability to confidently identify different sharing behaviors from the archaeological record, but the lack of a theoretical framework for understanding how and why sharing operates. With National Science Foundation support Dr. Karen Lupo and a team of researchers will conduct two seasons of ethnoarchaeological research on meat-sharing among Bofi foragers. The Bofi occupy lush forested regions of the Ngotto Forest Reserve in the Central African Republic and procure most of their food by hunting and gathering. The research is guided by a larger theoretical context which views sharing among family and between unrelated adults as fulfilling very different goals. Provisioning, or sharing among family members, enhances the survivability of close kin. But sharing with unrelated adults is aimed at enhancing a hunters social status. The theory predicts that hunters will vary their choice of prey depending upon their overall goal (provisioning or status enhancement). The research team will use direct observations, informant interviews and animal bone collections from different hunters and their households to test salient aspects of this theory. These techniques will allow the team to collect quantitative data on what hunters procure and how much of it is shared and consumed by close family and unrelated adults. Data collected with these techniques will be used to investigate the following research questions: 1) Does meat-sharing vary predictably by prey type? If so, what characteristics predict which prey will be shared with family and unrelated adults? 2) Do hunters vary their pursuit effort of different types of prey depending on their overall goal (provision family or enhance status)? 3) What is the material link between different sharing behaviors and the archaeological record?
The importance of this research is far-reaching. This project will be the first systematic and quantitative study of prey choice and meat-sharing ever conducted among contemporary foragers. This research will also examine and identify the links between different sharing strategies, as reflected by animal bones, and the material record. This latter point is particularly important for archaeological investigations. The project combines ethnoarchaeological research with a theoretical framework that will help explain how and why sharing operates in a contemporary setting. By extension, it will provide important new insights into the evolution of sharing among ancestral hominids. Finally, very little is known about the Bofi foragers. Thus far, only one other study has ever been conducted in this area. This research will expand current understanding of contemporary forager ecology.
