The Nomadic Alternative – Page 246

right hand. And it is an interesting reflection on the state of

physical anthropology to find that human evolution - and in partic-

ular the evolution of the human brain - has been almost exclusively

interpreted in terms of masculine activities. (This has resulted

in a continual flow of "Man the Weapon-maker" theories.) The female,

it seems, failed to contribute to the formation of the intelligence.

But seen from the viewpoint of woman, the evolutionary advantage

of right-handedness is obvious. It may be immaterial to a man which

hand he uses to chip a stone axe or brandish it about. But if a

child prefers to hang from a woman's left side, her left hand must

steady it. (See ill. above.)

And since the female provides just as much food and is just as

busy as her mate, she must have her right hand free for constructive

work - to dig for grubs, forage for vegetable food, pick berries,

prepare the evening meal and make things. Far from being a child-

bearing drudge, it is her industry and intelligence that keeps

society. The leather sling she uses to support her child has an

importance in the history of technology equal to - and to my mind

more important than - the hand axe, though it has completely escaped

the archaeological record.

V

Only the BEAST, or outside menace, can explain the intensity of

attachment behaviour of a child to its mother. Moro's Response and

'non-nutritive sucking' at the breast reflect its impulse to cling

onto her. The idea of an infantile fantasy to destroy the breast

is superfluous. The breast is simply the third point of contact -

something to hang on to.

Fear of the Beast also explains why clinging behaviour intensifies

in situations of genuine alarm, and why an anxious child needs a

dummy to prevent it sucking its thumb; why, too, a child can be made