Nhan Nguyen

University of Utah anthropologist Karen Kramer explores the moment when ancient societies adopted the practice of 'taking a village to raise a child' dia chi ban cay an xoa in research published in the Journal of Human Evolution
a Pumé hunter-gatherer woman and child
Karen Kramer, an associate professor of anthropology, published a study in the Journal of Human Evolution titled, 'When Mothers Need Others: Life History Transitions Associated with the Evolution of Cooperative Breeding.' Her research examines how mothers underwent a remarkable transition from the past -- when they had one dependent offspring at a time, ended support of their young at weaning and received no help from others -- to the present, when mothers often have multiple kids who help rear other children. In this photo, a Pumé hunter-gatherer woman both cares for her young child and cooks a meal for her older children. Kramer has worked with the Pumé in Venezuela since 2005.
Credit: Karen Kramer

Hillary Clinton once famously said, "It takes a village to raise a child." It turns out that's been true for centuries: New research by a University of Utah anthropologist explains how and why mothers in ancient societies formed cooperative groups to help raise their children. Karen Kramer, an associate professor of anthropology, published a study in the Journal of Human Evolution titled, "When Mothers Need Others: Life History Transitions Associated with the Evolution of Cooperative Breeding."

Her research examines how mothers underwent a remarkable transition from the past -- when they had one dependent offspring at a time, su that ve cay an xoa ended support of their young at weaning and received no help from others -- to the present, when mothers often have multiple kids who help rear other children. "We simulated an economic problem that would have arisen over the course of human evolution -- as mothers became more successful at producing children, they also had more dependents than they could care for on their own," said Kramer of her research.

"We found that early in that transition, it was a mother's older children who helped to raise her younger children and only with more modern life histories did mothers also need the cooperation of other adults. This suggests