Abstract

CUNHA, Eugénia. Compassion between humans since when?: What the fossils tell us. Etnográfica [online]. 2016, vol.20, n.3, pp.653-657. ISSN 0873-6561.

This paper explores the concept of compassion in an evolutionary framework, and presents pathological cases identified in fossil records. The paleopathological examples presented illustrate how the negative impact of disease and injury on individuals’ lives is minimized through empathy, cooperation and care towards conspecifics.

Keywords : compassion; paleopathology; paleoepidemiology; bioarcheology; human evolution.

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