The Origin of Man
Abstract
Five characters separate man from other hominoids—a large neocortex, bipedality, reduced anterior dentition with molar dominance, material culture, and unique sexual and reproductive behavior. Evidence provided by the fossil record, primate behavior, and demographic analysis shows that the traditional view that early human evolution was a direct consequence of brain expansion and material culture is incorrect, and that the unique sexual and reproductive behavior of man may be the sine qua non of human origin.
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The link between food sharing and oxytocin found in chimpanzees may also be relevant for humans.
“This link between food sharing and oxytocin found in chimpanzees may also be relevant for humans [70], where pro-social behaviour has often been linked to food sharing and provisioning [46,81,82].”
From Food sharing is linked to urinary oxytocin levels and bonding in related and unrelated wild chimpanzees (2014) · cites this paper as [81]
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- Authors
- Lovejoy, C. O.
- Affiliations
- Kent State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lovejoy, C. Owen
- ORCID
- Lovejoy, C. Owen
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1981-01-23
- Volume
- 211
- Issue
- 4480
- Pages
- 341-350
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2163036271
- Cited by
- 1,396
- References
- 70
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 38 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 45 · 2014: 32 · 2013: 39 · 2012: 45
- FWCI
- 281.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Keywords
- human evolution, neocortex, bipedalism, material culture, brain expansion, primate behavior, fossil record, demographic analysis
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