猎人、猎物、腐食者?——《人类演化原理》中的人类祖先

Hunter,Prey and the Scavenger?——Human Ancestors Described in Principles of Human Evolution

长久以来,透过各类传播媒介的介绍,大多数人似乎已经认定我们的老祖先很早就能运用智慧与勇气在蛮荒世界生存,成为自然界的伟大猎人。但事实似乎没有那么简单。本文从英国普利兹奖得主Roger Lewin和剑桥大学教授Robert A.Foley合著的《人类演化原理》(Principles of Human Evolution)一书的相关研究成果,介绍人类先祖(hominins)究竟是猎人、猎物,或腐食者的争论。此外,也高度评价了该书以科学的视野与优美的文笔,让读者清楚掌握学者应如何解读考古材料,并且以侦探小说的笔调,描绘了人类先祖的生计与社会活动的演化。

Everybody has seen images of prim- itive people, wrapping themselves up in animal skins, with a simple club in hand, fighting various kinds of animals, sometimes even dinosaurs which never even existed in their time. It seems that our ancestors, since the early periods of history, pos- sessed the wisdom and courage to survive in wild lands and become the greatest hunters in the natu- ral world. Actually, during the Period of the Plio- Pleistocene, our ancestors were not necessarily hunters. On the contrary, they might have been the prey of other carnivores, or perhaps, they were just like the African hyena, or a vulture that lives on the rotten meat lust like other animals.