Excitement shoots through my veins whenever I read real research on the origin of babywearing, the use of slings and carriers in other cultures and the ability of these tools to make life a breeze. With this in mind, you may understand the adrenaline that pulsed through me when I came across an editorial on Timothy Taylor’s new book “The Artificial Ape: How Technology Changed the Course of Human Evolution” in The New Humanist Magazine Volume 125 Issue 4 July/August 2010.
Although I am not quite certain of my stance on evolutionary theory, I was excited to read that there was much room within this theory for babywearing. I must admit, my eyes did glaze over initially with the parallels of evolution between human and monkey brain sizes and the like, but came alive again as Taylor moved onto the emergence of the sling in history. In many ways, women are painted within this article as the inventors of a tool which “smash(ed) the glass ceiling that had for so long precluded … humans into the world of accelerated cognitive thinking”.
Want more? Hop on over to the New Humanist for the abridged article, or find the book through a good book seller.
