The mind of primitive man

by Franz Boas

The muscular exertions of herbivorous animals, so far as they are fed on pastures, are not so materially changed. The grazing habits of cattle and sheep in domestication are about the same as the grazing habits of wild animals of the same class; but the rapid movements and the watchfulness required for protecting the herd against carnivorous animals have completely disappeared. Stable-fed animals live under highly artificial conditions, and material changes may occur in them.

I think the changes due to these causes may be observed in the oldest types of domesticated animals, such as are found in the neolithic villages of Europe, in which native European species appear in domesticated form (Keller). They may also be observed in the dogs of the various continents, which differ markedly from the wild species from which they are derived. Even the Eskimo dog, which is a descendant of the gray wolf and still interbreeds with the gray wolf, differs in bodily form from the wild animal (Beckmann). Modifications may also be observed in newly domesticated animals, like the Chukchee reindeer, which differs in type from the wild reindeer of the same area (Bogoras). I think it very unlikely, judging from our knowledge of the methods of domestication of tribes like the Eskimo and Chukchee, that any material amount of selection has contributed to the modifications of form which are found in these races of primitive domesticated animals. Their uniformity is still fairly well marked, although they have assumed types different from the wild species.

A more marked differentiation of domesticated forms does not seem to occur until man begins to select and to isolate, more or less consciously, particular breeds. Opportunity for such isolation has been the greater, the older the domestication of any particular species. We find, therefore, that the number of distinct breeds have come to be greatest in those animals which have been under domestication for the longest periods.

The number of varieties of domesticated species has also been increased by unintentional or intentional crossing of different species, from which are derived many breeds whose ancestry it is often so difficult to unravel.

It appears, therefore, that there are three distinct causes which bring about the development of different types in domesticated animals: first, the influence of change of nutrition and mode of life; secondly, conscious selection; and, thirdly, crossing.

Among these causes, the first and the third have been most strongly active in the development of the races of man. The condition of the tribes of man the world over is such, that there are only very few whose mode of nutrition is analogous to that of wild animals, and a consideration of the stages of human culture shows that similar conditions have prevailed for a long period. I think we may safely say that in all those cases in which man practises agriculture, when he is the owner of herds of domesticated animals which are used for food, the food-supply has become regular, and is obtained by an application of the muscular system in highly specialized directions. Examples of this condition are, for instance, the central African negroes, who have their gardens near their villages, the cultivation of the gardens being essentially the work of the women, while the men are engaged in various specialized industrial pursuits. Neither is the manner of the use of the body which is applied by wild animals for protection against enemies found among these tribes. The manner of combat is one in which muscular strength alone is not decisive, but where excellence of weapons and strategy count as much as mere strength and agility. The conditions among the American agricultural Indians of the Mississippi Valley or of those of the South American forests are similar in character.

As an example of a pastoral people among whom considerable regularity in nutrition obtains, we might mention the reindeer-breeders of Siberia or the cattle-breeders of Africa.

We know, of course, that among all these people, periods of starvation occur, due to a failure of the crops or to epidemics in the herds; but the normal condition is one of fairly regular and ample food-supply.

The conditions among fishing tribes are not very different; and we find that, owing to methods of storing provisions, and to the superabundance of food-supply obtained in one season and sufficient to last for the rest of the year, the nutrition of these people is also fairly regular. In this case, also, the kind of muscular exertion required for obtaining food is specialized, and differs from that required from the simple pursuit of game.

The only modern tribes among which the effects of civilization on bodily activities are slight are those who, like the Bushmen of South Africa, the Australians, the Eskimo of Arctic America, the Veddahs of Ceylon, obtain their livelihood by the constant, daily-repeated pursuit of animals, or by the gathering of plants or small invertebrates which grow scattered over a wide area.