ABSTRACT
The essay begins with a discussion of epistemological issues and then surveys sexual and reproductive behavior in nature, as understood under the headings of biological reproduction, power, pleasure, and social control. Observations on contemporary human sexual and reproductive practice, and anthropologically and historically documented case studies of human sexual, reproductive, and gendered behavior in relation to the establishment of norms, lead on to a review of the range of archaeological and non-archaeological sources available for reconstructing aspects of past human sexual and reproductive behaviour. The essay concludes with a synthetic diachronic scheme of behavioral constraints and material affordances relevant to the psychology of sex and reproduction in different and successive bio-cultural settings.
