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The ecology of human birth seasonally

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Abstract

This article examines birth seasonality in two environmentally and ethnographically distinct societies: the Copper Inuit of the Central Canadian Arctic and the Samukundi Abelam of Papua New Guinea. Although the regions inhabited by these societies differ dramatically in degrees of seasonal variation, both populations display significant seasonality in conceptions and births. For the Copper Inuit, such seasonal variation was found to be the consequence of social and economic responses to extreme environmental change. Birth seasonality for the Samukundi Abelam is also pronounced and was determined to be the result of social ideologies which are only indirectly linked to environmental factors. The article also proposes a research paradigm designed to facilitate the cross-cultural investigation of birth seasonality in human populations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, 02138, Cambridge, Massachusetts

    R. G. Condon

  2. Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, 15260, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

    Richard Scaglion

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  1. R. G. Condon
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  2. Richard Scaglion
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Condon, R.G., Scaglion, R. The ecology of human birth seasonally. Hum Ecol 10, 495–511 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01531169

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