The size and distribution of human populations and the patterns of human behavior were neither determined entirely by nor evolved solely in response to the varieties and availability of food resources. The search for food did not completely occupy the minds of even the earliest hominoids. In addition to maintaining its capacity to obtain food on a daily basis, it was important for each subsistence group to incorporated itself into a network for the exchange of mates. Otherwise the reproductive continuity of the subsistence group would have been at risk. To ensure the availability of suitable mates, human societies have devised a variety of mating systems. Through this process, various criteria for mate choice, i.e. preferences, came to be encode in our genes and written in our cultures. Moreover, in some cases, the existence of such preferences lead to the evolution of physical traits by sexual selection. The concepts and processes mentioned here are usually not recognized in the field of prehistory. They will be the object of our multidisciplinary study from the standpoints of anthropology, archaeology, ethnology, sociology, and linguistics.

代表者	赤澤　　威	国際日本文化研究センター
Organizer	北川　浩之	国際日本文化研究センター
Team Researcher	榎本　知郎	東海大学医学部
〃	杉藤　重信	椙山女学園大学人間関係学部
〃	徳永　勝士	東京大学大学院医学系研究科
〃	長谷川真理子	専修大学法学部
〃	松下　孝幸	土井ヶ浜遺跡人類学ミュージアム
〃	井原　泰雄	東京大学大学院理学系研究科博士課程
〃	米田　　穣	環境庁国立環境研究所
〃	須藤　健一	神戸大学国際文化学部
〃	青木　健一	国際日本文化研究センター
〃	太田　博樹	国際日本文化研究センター