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The Tsimane Health and Life History Project: Integrating anthropology and biomedicine
Author(s) -
Gurven Michael,
Stieglitz Jonathan,
Trumble Benjamin,
Blackwell Aaron D.,
Beheim Bret,
Davis Helen,
Hooper Paul,
Kaplan Hillard
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
evolutionary anthropology: issues, news, and reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.401
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1520-6505
pISSN - 1060-1538
DOI - 10.1002/evan.21515
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , sociality , life course approach , biomedicine , life history , modernization theory , sociology , life history theory , psychology , environmental ethics , ecology , history , developmental psychology , biology , political science , philosophy , genetics , archaeology , law
The Tsimane Health and Life History Project, an integrated bio‐behavioral study of the human life course, is designed to test competing hypotheses of human life‐history evolution. One aim is to understand the bidirectional connections between life history and social behavior in a high‐fertility, kin‐based context lacking amenities of modern urban life (e.g. sanitation, banks, electricity). Another aim is to understand how a high pathogen burden influences health and well‐being during development and adulthood. A third aim addresses how modernization shapes human life histories and sociality. Here we outline the project's goals, history, and main findings since its inception in 2002. We reflect on the implications of current findings and highlight the need for more coordinated ethnographic and biomedical study of contemporary nonindustrial populations to address broad questions that can situate evolutionary anthropology in a key position within the social and life sciences.