Resumen de Competition theory and the case for Pleistocene Hominin-Carnivore Co-evolution
Virtually every period in human evolutionary history provides examples of co-evolutionary processes with animal, plant or fungi species. Some of the earliest examples of co-evolutionary processes come from zooarchaeological studies of human interactions with members of the order Carnivora. Archaeological research on this subject goes back 50 years or more and follows numerous conceptual paths. This paper explores ideas and some of the evidence of hominin-carnivore co-evolutionary processes from the viewpoint of evolutionary ecology and the extent to which these ideas have progressed in recent decades. The challenge is to demonstrate that the evolutionary paths of co-evolving species were mutually constrained. Some key behavioral outcomes among humans include non-primate behaviors such as habitual food transport, extensive food sharing and efficient processing of animal foods-behaviors also critical to the success of many of the social carnivores. Another outcome argued to have arisen from co-evolutionary relations is partial complementarity in the patterns of prey age selection among humans and other large predators across African and Eurasian ecosystems. At the heart of ideas about cause in hominin-carnivore co-evolution are competition models.
