The ecology of human birth seasonality
Condon, R.G.; Scaglion, R.
Human Ecology 10(4): 495-511
1982
ISSN/ISBN: 0046-8169 PMID: 12265287 DOI: 10.2307/4602674Document Number: 397295
Birth seasonality is examined in 2 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 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. A research paradigm is proposed designed to facilitate the cross-cultural investigation of birth seasonality in human populations.