We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Running Deep: Speculations on the Evolution of Running and Spirituality in the Genus Homo.
- Authors
Sands, Robert R.; Sands, Linda R.
- Abstract
Recently, there has been a plethora of work that has cast Homo, possibly Homo erectus, as an established distance (endurance) runner. Speculations on selection for endurance running have focused on acquisition of animal protein, in the form of scavenging and hunting, specifically 'persistence hunting' (Carrier 1984; Heinrich 2001; Bramble and Lieberman 2004; Liebenberg 2006; Lieberman et al. 2006; Lieberman and Bramble 2007; Lieberman et al. 2007). This paper offers an additional explanation for the selection of endurance running (perhaps already established as a critical behavior that filled several facets of Homo lifeways, to include subsistence). Running in Homo selected for a Paleolithic spirituality or 'horizontal awareness' through a biologically based, culturally reinforced biophilia that would have been enhanced through the existing neurobiological reward system. This awareness or Paleolithic high provided Horno with a means to reinforce the necessity of running for survival and situate them as part of a larger and dynamic environmental universe. This intimate environmental bond was facilitated and communicated through running. To borrow on a contemporary evolutionary psychology assessment, humans are wired, both in body and mind, to be runners; however, the ultra running movement today is only a pale reflection of what would have been an essential and reflective part of Homo lifeways.
- Publication
Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature & Culture, 2009, Vol 3, Issue 4, p552
- ISSN
1749-4907
- Publication type
Academic Journal
- DOI
10.1558/jsrnc.v3i4.552