@article {333887,
	title = {Through Time and Across Traits: Evaluating Explanations of Human Evolution},
	journal = {Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews},
	volume = {35},
	year = {2026},
	month = {2026/08/20},
	abstract = {<p>We argue that current explanatory practice misses two situations that can arise in any lineage, not only ours. The first is dynamic: traits continue changing in one direction when a lineage\&$\#$39;s own niche construction keeps enlarging the problem it faces. The second is unifying: many traits change together and may require one explanation rather than several. Both cases bear on Tinbergen\&$\#$39;s four questions, the test of explanatory completeness, and both require extending his function question: what is a trait for? An answer that names a problem of fixed size cannot explain continued change. We call a problem of rising magnitude a gradient, and one that serves many traits a unifying gradient. We set out five questions that any complete gradient explanation must answer, map the major hypotheses of human evolution onto this scheme, and use our Prey-Size Decline hypothesis as a worked example. The proposed framework does not depend on that example.</p>
},
	isbn = {1060-15381520-6505},
	doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/evan.70046},
	url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/evan.70046},
	author = {Ben-Dor, Miki and Barkai, Ran}
}
