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Well, I mean, it's not like they'd get pregnant every time they had sex. And on top of that, the rate of miscarriage was probably high, so maybe the woman wouldn't even realize she was pregnant.
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In Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond said that nomadic cultures would sometimes control their birthrate (it's very difficult to have more than one child that has to be carried when you're a nomad) through abstinance.
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If people are having sex whenever with whomever, the connection might never come up. Especially when you bring infertility into the picture.
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I managed to track down the article we were discussing. "The Meaning of Paternity and the Virgin Birth Debate." Carol Delaney. Man, New Series, Vol. 21, No. 3 (Sept 1986) 494-513.
Australian Aborigines and Trobriand Islanders. Sorry, I can't copy-paste anything and the text is way too long to type out now. I'll see if I can't do it later.
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Actually, you may still be right. The problem is that the early anthropologists didn't ask the right questions, and it's too late now. So we'll never know.
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Probably copyright issues with trying to stick the full text on the boards, but I'd be interested to see a key passage or two.
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Copyright issues and the fact that it's 20 pages long. I'll see what I can do about posting a couple bits tomorrow, though.
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It's also quite possible that early anthropologists were having their collective legs pulled.
People without advanced technology are still fully people, with all the intelligence and playfulness that implies. The "simple country rube" has always enjoyed pulling the leg of the "sophistocated city guy" about local customs and conditions. The differences in culture can make for a great deal of miscommunication, too.
If some arrogant foreigner walked up to you and asked "Do you people understand where babies come from?" what do you suppose you might answer?
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I remember hearing a story about an anthropologist among the natives asking about their beliefs regarding disease.
Anthropologist: What causes sickness and diseases? Native: Invisible beings. Anthropologist: You mean like spirits? Native: Yes, something like that. They get inside you then you get sick. Anthropologist: This is fascinating! Can you tell me more about it? Native: Sure! Come into the grass hut and I'll show you under the microscope. For example, these tiny little amoeba things that are invisible without special instruments get all over the food, then when you eat them they get inside you, and cause dysentary.
The natives had had prior contact with technological civilization.
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Oh, quite likely, Tatiana. There's even some interview snippets where that seems like it might be what was going on. But no one followed up on it. Not the right questions.
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