Household and kin provisioning by Hadza males

This dissertation presents results of behavioral ecology research undertaken among Hadza hunter-gatherers of northern Tanzania between 2004 and 2009. The research focuses upon men's foraging group preferences, food production strategies, and the distribution of male-acquired foods. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the Hadza, while chapter 2 presents a review of theory and empirical data bearing upon the evolution of paternal provisioning among humans and other primates. Chapters 3 and 4 provide empirical tests of three hypotheses for the current function of male food production and sharing among the Hadza: the 1) showoff; 2) household provisioning; and 3) kin provisioning hypotheses. The results are consistent with the household and kin provisioning hypotheses and refute the showoff hypothesis. The research shows that men's foraging group preferences, food production, and food sharing benefited their wives, the children in their household, their own kin, and their wives kin. Households of male food producers retained larger and higher quality shares of food than other households in camp. This sharing provided consumptive benefits to men's wives and children. Men's consanguineal and affinal kin living in other households also had privileged access to the foods they produced. This evidence shows that men were foraging and sharing in ways beneficial for their nuclear families, consanguineal kin, and affinai kin. Chapter 5 of this dissertation presents a model that addresses why Hadza couples typically reside with the wife's family early in their marriage, but later are more likely to live with the husband's family or coreside with both families. The model addresses the inclusive fitness costs that wives might experience from leaving their own kin and joining their husband's kin as a function of the number of children in their nuclear family. The model suggests that such shifts become less costly to wives as their families grow. This model may help explain some of the dynamics of multilocal post-marital residence among the Hadza and other foragers. Chapter 6 concludes the dissertation and previews future research among the Hadza that will build upon the results of this thesis.