1
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Padilla-Iglesias C, Blanco-Portillo J, Pricop B, Ioannidis AG, Bickel B, Manica A, Vinicius L, Migliano AB. Deep history of cultural and linguistic evolution among Central African hunter-gatherers. Nat Hum Behav 2024:10.1038/s41562-024-01891-y. [PMID: 38802540 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-01891-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Accepted: 04/18/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024]
Abstract
Human evolutionary history in Central Africa reflects a deep history of population connectivity. However, Central African hunter-gatherers (CAHGs) currently speak languages acquired from their neighbouring farmers. Hence it remains unclear which aspects of CAHG cultural diversity results from long-term evolution preceding agriculture and which reflect borrowing from farmers. On the basis of musical instruments, foraging tools, specialized vocabulary and genome-wide data from ten CAHG populations, we reveal evidence of large-scale cultural interconnectivity among CAHGs before and after the Bantu expansion. We also show that the distribution of hunter-gatherer musical instruments correlates with the oldest genomic segments in our sample predating farming. Music-related words are widely shared between western and eastern groups and likely precede the borrowing of Bantu languages. In contrast, subsistence tools are less frequently exchanged and may result from adaptation to local ecologies. We conclude that CAHG material culture and specialized lexicon reflect a long evolutionary history in Central Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cecilia Padilla-Iglesias
- Human Evolutionary Ecology Group, Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | | | - Bogdan Pricop
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | | | - Balthasar Bickel
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Andrea Manica
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Lucio Vinicius
- Human Evolutionary Ecology Group, Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Andrea Bamberg Migliano
- Human Evolutionary Ecology Group, Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
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2
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Kandza VH, Jang H, Kiabiya Ntamboudila F, Lew-Levy S, Boyette AH. Dyadic inter-group cooperation in shotgun hunting activities in a Congo Basin village. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2024; 6:e22. [PMID: 38689891 PMCID: PMC11058523 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2024.14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2023] [Revised: 02/19/2024] [Accepted: 03/13/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Understanding the dynamics of inter-group cooperation in human adaptation has been the subject of recent empirical and theoretical studies in evolutionary anthropology, beginning to fill gaps in our knowledge of how interactions across political, economic and social domains can - and often do - lead to stable, large-scale cooperation. Here we investigate dyadic intergroup cooperation in shotgun hunting in the Republic of the Congo. In the Congo Basin, inter-group cooperation between foragers and farmers is at the centre of an exchange system maintained by traditional norms and institutions such as fictive kinship. Here, we focused on what factors predict cooperative shotgun hunting exchanges between BaYaka and Yambe. We conducted structured interviews with 48 BaYaka hunters and 18 Yambe men who organise hunts in a village along the Motaba River. We used Bayesian multilevel regression models to investigate the influence of Yambe and BaYaka attributes on probability of dyadic cooperation. We found that BaYaka men's reputations as skilled hunters and their family size each predicted cooperation in shotgun hunting, whereas there was no effect of Yambe attributes (status, wealth, family size). We discuss the results in terms of evolutionary models of men as hunters and inter-group cooperation, as well as biodiversity conservation implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vidrige H. Kandza
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Haneul Jang
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute for Advances Studies, Toulouse, France
| | - Francy Kiabiya Ntamboudila
- Faculte des Lettres, Arts et Sciences Humaines Marien Ngouabi University, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo
| | | | - Adam H. Boyette
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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3
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Gallarta-Sáenz P, Pérez-Martínez H, Gómez-Gardeñes J. Emergence of innovations in networked populations with reputation-driven interactions. CHAOS (WOODBURY, N.Y.) 2024; 34:033106. [PMID: 38437870 DOI: 10.1063/5.0189505] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2023] [Accepted: 02/12/2024] [Indexed: 03/06/2024]
Abstract
In this work, we analyze how reputation-based interactions influence the emergence of innovations. To do so, we make use of a dynamic model that mimics the discovery process by which, at each time step, a pair of individuals meet and merge their knowledge to eventually result in a novel technology of higher value. The way in which these pairs are brought together is found to be crucial for achieving the highest technological level. Our results show that when the influence of reputation is weak or moderate, it induces an acceleration of the discovery process with respect to the neutral case (purely random coupling). However, an excess of reputation is clearly detrimental, because it leads to an excessive concentration of knowledge in a small set of people, which prevents a diversification of the technologies discovered and, in addition, leads to societies in which a majority of individuals lack technical capabilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pablo Gallarta-Sáenz
- Department of Condensed Matter Physics, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
- GOTHAM lab, Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems (BIFI), University of Zaragoza, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Hugo Pérez-Martínez
- Department of Condensed Matter Physics, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
- GOTHAM lab, Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems (BIFI), University of Zaragoza, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Jesús Gómez-Gardeñes
- Department of Condensed Matter Physics, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
- GOTHAM lab, Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems (BIFI), University of Zaragoza, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
- Center for Computational Social Science, University of Kobe, 657-8501 Kobe, Japan
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4
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Uchida Y, Kanamori M, Fukushima S, Takemura K. Interdependent culture and older adults' well-being: Health and psychological happiness in Japanese communities. Curr Opin Psychol 2024; 55:101729. [PMID: 38096782 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2023.101729] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2023] [Revised: 11/02/2023] [Accepted: 11/06/2023] [Indexed: 01/28/2024]
Abstract
This review article examined perspectives on the well-being and health of older adults in Japan, a nation renowned for its longevity. We emphasized the impact of social capital and social relationships in local communities, considering both individual and societal factors. The prevailing values in Japanese culture tend to foster a sustained and stable form of interdependent happiness among older adults, suggesting that communal support systems play an important role. This article highlights the value of multi-level datasets, such as the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES) dataset, for understanding the influence of social participation on the health and well-being of older adults. A growing body of evidence underscores the central role of social relationships in the health and well-being of older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yukiko Uchida
- Institute for the Future of Human Society, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
| | - Mariko Kanamori
- Institute for the Future of Human Society, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan; Department of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Shintaro Fukushima
- School of Arts and Sciences, Tokyo Woman's Christian University, Tokyo, Japan
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5
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Jang H, Ross CT, Boyette AH, Janmaat KR, Kandza V, Redhead D. Women's subsistence networks scaffold cultural transmission among BaYaka foragers in the Congo Basin. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2024; 10:eadj2543. [PMID: 38198536 PMCID: PMC10780863 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adj2543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024]
Abstract
In hunter-gatherer societies, women's subsistence activities are crucial for food provisioning and children's social learning but are understudied relative to men's activities. To understand the structure of women's foraging networks, we present 230 days of focal-follow data in a BaYaka community. To analyze these data, we develop a stochastic blockmodel for repeat observations with uneven sampling. We find that women's subsistence networks are characterized by cooperation between kin, gender homophily, and mixed age-group composition. During early childhood, individuals preferentially coforage with adult kin, but those in middle childhood and adolescence are likely to coforage with nonkin peers, providing opportunities for horizontal learning. By quantifying the probability of coforaging ties across age classes and relatedness levels, our findings provide insights into the scope for social learning during women's subsistence activities in a real-world foraging population and provide ground-truth values for key parameters used in formal models of cumulative culture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haneul Jang
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Toulouse School of Economics, 1 Esplanade de l'Université, 31080 Toulouse cedex 06, France
| | - Cody T. Ross
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Adam H. Boyette
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Karline R.L. Janmaat
- Department of Evolutionary and Population Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Leiden University, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Vidrige Kandza
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Daniel Redhead
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Sociology, University of Groningen, Grote Rozenstraat 31, 9712 TG Groningen, Netherlands
- Inter-University Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
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6
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Dobon B, Musciotto F, Mira A, Greenacre M, Schlaepfer R, Aguileta G, Astete LH, Ngales M, Latora V, Battiston F, Vinicius L, Migliano AB, Bertranpetit J. The making of the oral microbiome in Agta hunter-gatherers. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2023; 5:e13. [PMID: 37587941 PMCID: PMC10426117 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2023.9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2022] [Revised: 04/04/2023] [Accepted: 04/06/2023] [Indexed: 08/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Ecological and genetic factors have influenced the composition of the human microbiome during our evolutionary history. We analysed the oral microbiota of the Agta, a hunter-gatherer population where some members have adopted an agricultural diet. We show that age is the strongest factor modulating the microbiome, probably through immunosenescence since we identified an increase in the number of species classified as pathogens with age. We also characterised biological and cultural processes generating sexual dimorphism in the oral microbiome. A small subset of oral bacteria is influenced by the host genome, linking host collagen genes to bacterial biofilm formation. Our data also suggest that shifting from a fish/meat diet to a rice-rich diet transforms their microbiome, mirroring the Neolithic transition. All of these factors have implications in the epidemiology of oral diseases. Thus, the human oral microbiome is multifactorial and shaped by various ecological and social factors that modify the oral environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Begoña Dobon
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Switzerland
- Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Federico Musciotto
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Switzerland
- Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica, Università di Palermo, Italy
| | - Alex Mira
- Department of Health and Genomics, Center for Advanced Research in Public Health, FISABIO Foundation, Valencia, Spain
- CIBER Center for Epidemiology and Public Health, Madrid, Spain
| | - Michael Greenacre
- Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Barcelona Graduate School of Economics, Barcelona, Spain
- Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, University of Tromsø, Norway
| | | | - Gabriela Aguileta
- Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Leonora H. Astete
- Lyceum of the Philippines University, Intramuros, Manila, Philippines
| | - Marilyn Ngales
- Lyceum of the Philippines University, Intramuros, Manila, Philippines
| | - Vito Latora
- School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, UK
- Dipartimento di Fisica ed Astronomia, Università di Catania and INFN, Catania, Italy
- Complexity Science Hub Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Federico Battiston
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Network and Data Science, Central European University, Vienna 1100, Austria
| | - Lucio Vinicius
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, UK
| | - Andrea B. Migliano
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, UK
| | - Jaume Bertranpetit
- Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Barcelona, Spain
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7
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Kandza VH, Jang H, Ntamboudila FK, Lew-Levy S, Boyette AH. Intergroup Cooperation in Shotgun Hunting Among BaYaka Foragers and Yambe Farmers from the Republic of the Congo. HUMAN NATURE (HAWTHORNE, N.Y.) 2023:10.1007/s12110-023-09448-0. [PMID: 37099116 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-023-09448-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/03/2023] [Indexed: 04/27/2023]
Abstract
Whereas many evolutionary models emphasize within-group cooperation or between-group competition in explaining human large-scale cooperation, recent work highlights a critical role for intergroup cooperation in human adaptation. Here we investigate intergroup cooperation in the domain of shotgun hunting in northern Republic of the Congo. In the Congo Basin broadly, forest foragers maintain relationships with neighboring farmers based on systems of exchange regulated by norms and institutions such as fictive kinship. In this study, we examine how relationships between Yambe farmers and BaYaka foragers support stable intergroup cooperation in the domain of shotgun hunting. In the study village, shotgun hunting is based on a specialization-based exchange wherein Yambe farmers contribute shotguns and access to markets to buy cartridges and sell meat while BaYaka foragers contribute their specialized forest knowledge and skill. To understand how costs and benefits are distributed, we conducted structured interviews with 77 BaYaka hunters and 15 Yambe gun owners and accompanied hunters on nine hunting trips. We found that hunts are organized in a conventional manner within a fictive kinship structure, consistent with the presence of intercultural mechanisms to stabilize cooperation. However, because bushmeat demand is high, gun owners can gain significant cash profit, while compensating hunters only with cigarettes, alcohol, and a traditional hunter's portion of meat. To level payoffs, hunters strategically hide kills or cartridges from gun owners to feed their own families. Our results illustrate how each group prioritizes different currencies (e.g., cash, meat, family, intergroup relations) and provide insights into how intergroup cooperation is stabilized in this setting. The example of this long-standing intergroup cooperative system is discussed in terms of its contemporary entwinement with logging, the bushmeat trade, and growing market intersection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vidrige H Kandza
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Haneul Jang
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Francy Kiabiya Ntamboudila
- Faculté des Lettres, Arts, et Sciences Humaines, Marien Ngouabi University, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo
| | | | - Adam H Boyette
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
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8
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Rossi G, Dingemanse M, Floyd S, Baranova J, Blythe J, Kendrick KH, Zinken J, Enfield NJ. Shared cross-cultural principles underlie human prosocial behavior at the smallest scale. Sci Rep 2023; 13:6057. [PMID: 37076538 PMCID: PMC10115833 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-30580-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2022] [Accepted: 02/27/2023] [Indexed: 04/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Prosociality and cooperation are key to what makes us human. But different cultural norms can shape our evolved capacities for interaction, leading to differences in social relations. How people share resources has been found to vary across cultures, particularly when stakes are high and when interactions are anonymous. Here we examine prosocial behavior among familiars (both kin and non-kin) in eight cultures on five continents, using video recordings of spontaneous requests for immediate, low-cost assistance (e.g., to pass a utensil). We find that, at the smallest scale of human interaction, prosocial behavior follows cross-culturally shared principles: requests for assistance are very frequent and mostly successful; and when people decline to give help, they normally give a reason. Although there are differences in the rates at which such requests are ignored, or require verbal acceptance, cultural variation is limited, pointing to a common foundation for everyday cooperation around the world.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mark Dingemanse
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Simeon Floyd
- Department of Anthropology, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Julija Baranova
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Joe Blythe
- Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
| | - Kobin H Kendrick
- Department of Language and Linguistic Science, University of York, York, UK
| | - Jörg Zinken
- Leibniz Institute for the German Language, Mannheim, Germany
| | - N J Enfield
- Discipline of Linguistics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
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9
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Kish Bar-On K, Lamm E. The interplay of social identity and norm psychology in the evolution of human groups. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210412. [PMID: 36688389 PMCID: PMC9869443 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
People's attitudes towards social norms play a crucial role in understanding group behaviour. Norm psychology accounts focus on processes of norm internalization that influence people's norm-following attitudes but pay considerably less attention to social identity and group identification processes. Social identity theory in contrast studies group identity but works with a relatively thin and instrumental notion of social norms. We argue that to best understand both sets of phenomena, it is important to integrate the insights of both approaches. Social status, social identity and social norms are considered separate phenomena in evolutionary accounts. We discuss assumptions and views that support this separation, and suggest an integrated view of our own. We argue that we should be open to the early origins of human social complexity, and conjecture that the longer that the human social world involved multi-level societies the more probable it is that norm psychology and social identity interacted in rich ways. This article is part of the theme issue 'Human socio-cultural evolution in light of evolutionary transitions'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kati Kish Bar-On
- The Science, Technology, and Society program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Ehud Lamm
- The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
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10
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Townsend C, Ferraro JV, Habecker H, Flinn MV. Human cooperation and evolutionary transitions in individuality. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210414. [PMID: 36688393 PMCID: PMC9869453 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
A major evolutionary transition in individuality involves the formation of a cooperative group and the transformation of that group into an evolutionary entity. Human cooperation shares principles with those of multicellular organisms that have undergone transitions in individuality: division of labour, communication, and fitness interdependence. After the split from the last common ancestor of hominoids, early hominins adapted to an increasingly terrestrial niche for several million years. We posit that new challenges in this niche set in motion a positive feedback loop in selection pressure for cooperation that ratcheted coevolutionary changes in sociality, communication, brains, cognition, kin relations and technology, eventually resulting in egalitarian societies with suppressed competition and rapid cumulative culture. The increasing pace of information innovation and transmission became a key aspect of the evolutionary niche that enabled humans to become formidable cooperators with explosive population growth, the ability to cooperate and compete in groups of millions, and emergent social norms, e.g. private property. Despite considerable fitness interdependence, the rise of private property, in concert with population explosion and socioeconomic inequality, subverts potential transition of human groups into evolutionary entities due to resurgence of latent competition and conflict. This article is part of the theme issue 'Human socio-cultural evolution in light of evolutionary transitions'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cathryn Townsend
- Department of Anthropology, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798-7334, USA
| | - Joseph V. Ferraro
- Department of Anthropology, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798-7334, USA
| | - Heather Habecker
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798-7334, USA
| | - Mark V. Flinn
- Department of Anthropology, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798-7334, USA
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11
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Musciotto F, Dobon B, Greenacre M, Mira A, Chaudhary N, Salali GD, Gerbault P, Schlaepfer R, Astete LH, Ngales M, Gomez-Gardenes J, Latora V, Battiston F, Bertranpetit J, Vinicius L, Migliano AB. Agta hunter-gatherer oral microbiomes are shaped by contact network structure. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2023; 5:e9. [PMID: 37587930 PMCID: PMC10426009 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2023.4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2022] [Revised: 12/24/2022] [Accepted: 01/08/2023] [Indexed: 02/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Here we investigate the effects of extensive sociality and mobility on the oral microbiome of 138 Agta hunter-gatherers from the Philippines. Our comparisons of microbiome composition showed that the Agta are more similar to Central African BaYaka hunter-gatherers than to neighbouring farmers. We also defined the Agta social microbiome as a set of 137 oral bacteria (only 7% of 1980 amplicon sequence variants) significantly influenced by social contact (quantified through wireless sensors of short-range interactions). We show that large interaction networks including strong links between close kin, spouses and even unrelated friends can significantly predict bacterial transmission networks across Agta camps. Finally, we show that more central individuals to social networks are also bacterial supersharers. We conclude that hunter-gatherer social microbiomes are predominantly pathogenic and were shaped by evolutionary tradeoffs between extensive sociality and disease spread.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Musciotto
- Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Begoña Dobon
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Michael Greenacre
- Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra & Barcelona Graduate School of Economics, Barcelona, Spain
- Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, University of Tromsø, Norway
| | - Alex Mira
- Department of Health and Genomics, Center for Advanced Research in Public Health, FISABIO Foundation, Valencia, Spain
- CIBER Center for Epidemiology and Public Health, Madrid, Spain
| | - Nikhil Chaudhary
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Gul Deniz Salali
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Pascale Gerbault
- Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | | | - Leonora H. Astete
- Lyceum of the Philippines University, Intramuros, Manila, Philippines
| | - Marilyn Ngales
- Lyceum of the Philippines University, Intramuros, Manila, Philippines
| | - Jesus Gomez-Gardenes
- GOTHAM Lab, Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems, and Department of Condensed Matter Physics, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
- Center for Computational Social Science, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan
| | - Vito Latora
- School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
- Dipartimento di Fisica ed Astronomia, Università di Catania and INFN, Catania, Italy
- Complexity Science Hub Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Federico Battiston
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Network and Data Science, Central European University, Vienna, Austria
| | - Jaume Bertranpetit
- Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Lucio Vinicius
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Andrea Bamberg Migliano
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
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12
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Boyette AH, Lew-Levy S, Valchy M, Gettler LT. Associations between men's reputations for fathering and their reproductive success among BaYaka foragers in the Congo Basin. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2023.02.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/19/2023]
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13
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Hackman J, Kramer KL. Kin networks and opportunities for reproductive cooperation and conflict among hunter-gatherers. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210434. [PMID: 36440562 PMCID: PMC9703223 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0434] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2022] [Accepted: 10/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Little is known about the potential for reproductive conflict among hunter-gatherer populations, who are characterized by bilateral kinship ties, flexible residential mobility, and high offspring mortality. To assess the potential for reproductive conflict, we use longitudinal residence and reproductive history data for two bands of South American foragers. Using multilevel logistic regressions (N = 44 women, N = 712 person years), we examine how yearly measures of (i) camp composition, (ii) distribution of female kin and (iii) a woman's position in a female kinship network impact the likelihood of giving birth or experiencing a child's death. We compare conflict models to a demographic model that accounts for the proportion of women giving birth in a given year. Contrary to conflict models, results show that the odds of giving birth increase with the presence of highly related women. However, the odds of experiencing an offspring death are insensitive to the presence of coresident women. Network measures of closeness and centrality in the female kin network also show no significant effect on reproductive outcomes. Furthermore, chances of both births and deaths increase in years when proportionally more women are giving birth. We argue that demographic stochasticity relating to ecological conditions best predicts reproductive outcomes for women. This article is part of the theme issue 'Cooperation among women: evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph Hackman
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
| | - Karen L. Kramer
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
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14
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Fedurek P, Lacroix L, Aktipis A, Cronk L, Makambi J, Mabulla I, Lehmann J, Berbesque JC. Relationship between proximity and physiological stress levels in hunter-gatherers: The Hadza. Horm Behav 2023; 147:105294. [PMID: 36521419 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2022.105294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2022] [Revised: 11/02/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
In recent years there has been a great deal of documentation on how social relationships are related to various aspects of human wellbeing. However, until recently most studies investigating the effects of social relationships on wellbeing have applied social network measures to reported social contacts. Recent advances in the application of bio-loggers in biological studies have now made it possible to quantify social relationships based on in-person, rather than self-reported, social interactions. We used GPS-derived in-camp and out-of-camp proximity data to analyse how in-person proximity is related to Hair Cortisol Concentration (HCC) among Hadza hunter-gatherers. Time spent in close proximity to other camp members was associated with higher HCC, especially in women. In contrast, individuals who spent more time in close out-of-camp proximity to their best friend experienced lower HCC. Our study suggests that physiological costs related to group living might be mitigated by in-person interactions with close friends. We also find that the location (i.e., in-camp vs out-of-camp) of proximity to others and self-perceived friends is associated with HCC among the Hadza.
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Affiliation(s)
- Piotr Fedurek
- Anthropology Programme, University of Roehampton, London, UK; Department of Anthropology, Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wroclaw, Poland.
| | - Laurent Lacroix
- Health Sciences Research Centre, University of Roehampton, London, UK
| | - Athena Aktipis
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Lee Cronk
- Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
| | - Jerryson Makambi
- Mount Meru Tour Guide and International Language School, Arusha, Tanzania
| | | | - Julia Lehmann
- Anthropology Programme, University of Roehampton, London, UK
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15
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Plana F, Pérez J, Abeliuk A. Modularity of food-sharing networks minimises the risk for individual and group starvation in hunter-gatherer societies. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0272733. [PMID: 37163503 PMCID: PMC10171659 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272733] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2022] [Accepted: 10/08/2022] [Indexed: 05/12/2023] Open
Abstract
It has been argued that hunter-gatherers' food-sharing may have provided the basis for a whole range of social interactions, and hence its study may provide important insight into the evolutionary origin of human sociality. Motivated by this observation, we propose a simple network optimization model inspired by a food-sharing dynamic that can recover some empirical patterns found in social networks. We focus on two of the main food-sharing drivers discussed by the anthropological literature: the reduction of individual starvation risk and the care for the group welfare or egalitarian access to food shares, and show that networks optimizing both criteria may exhibit a community structure of highly-cohesive groups around special agents that we call hunters, those who inject food into the system. These communities appear under conditions of uncertainty and scarcity in the food supply, which suggests their adaptive value in this context. We have additionally obtained that optimal welfare networks resemble social networks found in lab experiments that promote more egalitarian income distribution, and also distinct distributions of reciprocity among hunters and non-hunters, which may be consistent with some empirical reports on how sharing is distributed in waves, first among hunters, and then hunters with their families. These model results are consistent with the view that social networks functionally adaptive for optimal resource use, may have created the environment in which prosocial behaviors evolved. Finally, our model also relies on an original formulation of starvation risk, and it may contribute to a formal framework to proceed in this discussion regarding the principles guiding food-sharing networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francisco Plana
- Department of Computer Science, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Jorge Pérez
- Millennium Institute Foundational Research on Data, Santiago, Chile
| | - Andrés Abeliuk
- Department of Computer Science, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- National Center for Artificial Intelligence (CENIA), Santiago, Chile
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16
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Measuring naturalistic proximity as a window into caregiver-child interaction patterns. Behav Res Methods 2022; 54:1580-1594. [PMID: 34505995 PMCID: PMC8907335 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-021-01681-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
The interactions most supportive of positive child development take place in moments of close contact with others. In the earliest years of life, a child's caregivers are the primary partners in these important interactions. Little is known about the patterns of real-life physical interactions between children and their caregivers, in part due to an inability to measure these interactions as they occur in real time. We have developed a wearable, infrastructure-free device (TotTag) used to dynamically and unobtrusively measure physical proximity between children and caregivers in real time. We present a case-study illustration of the TotTag with data collected over two (12-hour) days each from two families: a family of four (30-month-old son, 61-month-old daughter, 37-year-old father, 37-year-old mother), and a family of three (12-month-old daughter, 35-year-old-father, 33-year-old mother). We explored patterns of proximity within each parent-child dyad and whether close proximity would indicate periods in which increased opportunity for developmentally critical interactions occur. Each child also wore a widely used wearable audio recording device (LENA) to collect time-synced linguistic input. Descriptive analyses reveal wide variability in caregiver-child proximity both within and across dyads, and that the amount of time spent in close proximity with a caregiver is associated with the number of adult words and conversational turns to which a child was exposed. This suggests that variations in proximity are linked to-though, critically, not synonymous with-the quantity of a child's exposure to adult language. Potential implications for deepening the understanding of early caregiver-child interactions are discussed.
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17
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Pérez-Martínez H, Bauzá FJ, Soriano-Paños D, Gómez-Gardeñes J, Floría LM. Emergence, survival, and segregation of competing gangs. CHAOS (WOODBURY, N.Y.) 2022; 32:083114. [PMID: 36049916 DOI: 10.1063/5.0084972] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2022] [Accepted: 07/07/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
In this paper, we approach the phenomenon of criminal activity from an infectious perspective by using tailored compartmental agent-based models that include the social flavor of the mechanisms governing the evolution of crime in society. Specifically, we focus on addressing how the existence of competing gangs shapes the penetration of crime. The mean-field analysis of the model proves that the introduction of dynamical rules favoring the simultaneous survival of both gangs reduces the overall number of criminals across the population as a result of the competition between them. The implementation of the model in networked populations with homogeneous contact patterns reveals that the evolution of crime substantially differs from that predicted by the mean-field equations. We prove that the system evolves toward a segregated configuration where, depending on the features of the underlying network, both gangs can form spatially separated clusters. In this scenario, we show that the beneficial effect of the coexistence of two gangs is hindered, resulting in a higher penetration of crime in the population.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Pérez-Martínez
- Department of Condensed Matter Physics, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
| | - F J Bauzá
- GOTHAM lab, Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems (BIFI), University of Zaragoza, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
| | - D Soriano-Paños
- GOTHAM lab, Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems (BIFI), University of Zaragoza, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
| | - J Gómez-Gardeñes
- Department of Condensed Matter Physics, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
| | - L M Floría
- Department of Condensed Matter Physics, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
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18
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19
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Crespi BJ, Flinn MV, Summers K. Runaway Social Selection in Human Evolution. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.894506] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Darwin posited that social competition among conspecifics could be a powerful selective pressure. Alexander proposed a model of human evolution involving a runaway process of social competition based on Darwin’s insight. Here we briefly review Alexander’s logic, and then expand upon his model by elucidating six core arenas of social selection that involve runaway, positive-feedback processes, and that were likely involved in the evolution of the remarkable combination of adaptations in humans. We discuss how these ideas fit with the hypothesis that a key life history innovation that opened the door to runaway social selection, and cumulative culture, during hominin evolution was increased cooperation among individuals in small fission-fusion groups.
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20
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Population interconnectivity over the past 120,000 years explains distribution and diversity of Central African hunter-gatherers. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2113936119. [PMID: 35580185 PMCID: PMC9173804 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2113936119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
We combined ethnographic, archaeological, genetic, and paleoclimatic data to model the dynamics of Central African hunter-gatherer populations over the past 120,000 years. We show, against common assumptions, that their distribution and density are explained by changing environments rather than by a displacement following recent farming expansions, and that they have maintained large population sizes and genetic diversity, despite fluctuations in niche availability. Our results provide insights into the evolution of genetic and cultural diversity in Homo sapiens. The evolutionary history of African hunter-gatherers holds key insights into modern human diversity. Here, we combine ethnographic and genetic data on Central African hunter-gatherers (CAHG) to show that their current distribution and density are explained by ecology rather than by a displacement to marginal habitats due to recent farming expansions, as commonly assumed. We also estimate the range of hunter-gatherer presence across Central Africa over the past 120,000 years using paleoclimatic reconstructions, which were statistically validated by our newly compiled dataset of dated archaeological sites. Finally, we show that genomic estimates of divergence times between CAHG groups match our ecological estimates of periods favoring population splits, and that recoveries of connectivity would have facilitated subsequent gene flow. Our results reveal that CAHG stem from a deep history of partially connected populations. This form of sociality allowed the coexistence of relatively large effective population sizes and local differentiation, with important implications for the evolution of genetic and cultural diversity in Homo sapiens.
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21
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Boyette AH, Lew-Levy S, Jang H, Kandza V. Social ties in the Congo Basin: insights into tropical forest adaptation from BaYaka and their neighbours. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200490. [PMID: 35249385 PMCID: PMC8899623 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0490] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2021] [Accepted: 01/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Investigating past and present human adaptation to the Congo Basin tropical forest can shed light on how climate and ecosystem variability have shaped human evolution. Here, we first review and synthesize genetic, palaeoclimatological, linguistic and historical data on the peopling of the Congo Basin. While forest fragmentation led to the increased genetic and geographical divergence of forest foragers, these groups maintained long-distance connectivity. The eventual expansion of Bantu speakers into the Congo Basin provided new opportunities for forging inter-group links, as evidenced by linguistic shifts and historical accounts. Building from our ethnographic work in the northern Republic of the Congo, we show how these inter-group links between forest forager communities as well as trade relationships with neighbouring farmers facilitate adaptation to ecoregions through knowledge exchange. While researchers tend to emphasize forager-farmer interactions that began in the Iron Age, we argue that foragers' cultivation of relational wealth with groups across the region played a major role in the initial occupation of the Congo Basin and, consequently, in cultural evolution among the ancestors of contemporary peoples. This article is part of the theme issue 'Tropical forests in the deep human past'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam H. Boyette
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Sheina Lew-Levy
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Haneul Jang
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Vidrige Kandza
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
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22
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Migliano AB, Vinicius L. The origins of human cumulative culture: from the foraging niche to collective intelligence. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200317. [PMID: 34894737 PMCID: PMC8666907 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0317] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2021] [Accepted: 06/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Various studies have investigated cognitive mechanisms underlying culture in humans and other great apes. However, the adaptive reasons for the evolution of uniquely sophisticated cumulative culture in our species remain unclear. We propose that the cultural capabilities of humans are the evolutionary result of a stepwise transition from the ape-like lifestyle of earlier hominins to the foraging niche still observed in extant hunter-gatherers. Recent ethnographic, archaeological and genetic studies have provided compelling evidence that the components of the foraging niche (social egalitarianism, sexual and social division of labour, extensive co-residence and cooperation with unrelated individuals, multilocality, fluid sociality and high between-camp mobility) engendered a unique multilevel social structure where the cognitive mechanisms underlying cultural evolution (high-fidelity transmission, innovation, teaching, recombination, ratcheting) evolved as adaptations. Therefore, multilevel sociality underlies a 'social ratchet' or irreversible task specialization splitting the burden of cultural knowledge across individuals, which may explain why human collective intelligence is uniquely able to produce sophisticated cumulative culture. The foraging niche perspective may explain why a complex gene-culture dual inheritance system evolved uniquely in humans and interprets the cultural, morphological and genetic origins of Homo sapiens as a process of recombination of innovations appearing in differentiated but interconnected populations. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lucio Vinicius
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, ZH, Switzerland
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23
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Whiten A, Biro D, Bredeche N, Garland EC, Kirby S. The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200306. [PMID: 34894738 PMCID: PMC8666904 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0306] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Whiten
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, Scottish Oceans Institute, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
| | - Dora Biro
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.,Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
| | - Nicolas Bredeche
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique, ISIR, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Ellen C Garland
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, and Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
| | - Simon Kirby
- Centre for Language Evolution, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
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24
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Wiśniewska M, Puga-Gonzalez I, Lee P, Moss C, Russell G, Garnier S, Sueur C. Simulated poaching affects global connectivity and efficiency in social networks of African savanna elephants—An exemplar of how human disturbance impacts group-living species. PLoS Comput Biol 2022; 18:e1009792. [PMID: 35041648 PMCID: PMC8797174 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009792] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2021] [Revised: 01/28/2022] [Accepted: 12/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Selective harvest, such as poaching, impacts group-living animals directly through mortality of individuals with desirable traits, and indirectly by altering the structure of their social networks. Understanding the relationship between disturbance-induced, structural network changes and group performance in wild animals remains an outstanding problem. To address this problem, we evaluated the immediate effect of disturbance on group sociality in African savanna elephants—an example, group-living species threatened by poaching. Drawing on static association data from ten free-ranging groups, we constructed one empirically based, population-wide network and 100 virtual networks; performed a series of experiments ‘poaching’ the oldest, socially central or random individuals; and quantified the immediate change in the theoretical indices of network connectivity and efficiency of social diffusion. Although the social networks never broke down, targeted elimination of the socially central conspecifics, regardless of age, decreased network connectivity and efficiency. These findings hint at the need to further study resilience by modeling network reorganization and interaction-mediated socioecological learning, empirical data permitting. The main contribution of our work is in quantifying connectivity together with global efficiency in multiple social networks that feature the sociodemographic diversity likely found in wild elephant populations. The basic design of our simulation makes it adaptable for hypothesis testing about the consequences of anthropogenic disturbance or lethal management on social interactions in a variety of group-living species with limited, real-world data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maggie Wiśniewska
- Department of Biological Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Ivan Puga-Gonzalez
- Institutt for global utvikling og samfunnsplanlegging, Universitetet i Agder, Kristiansand, Norway
- Center for Modeling Social Systems at NORCE, Kristiansand, Norway
| | - Phyllis Lee
- Amboseli Trust for Elephants, Nairobi, Kenya
- Faculty of Natural Science, University of Stirling, Stirling, United Kingdom
| | | | - Gareth Russell
- Department of Biological Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Simon Garnier
- Department of Biological Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Cédric Sueur
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC, UMR 7178, Strasbourg, France
- Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
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25
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Camerlenghi E, McQueen A, Delhey K, Cook CN, Kingma SA, Farine DR, Peters A. Cooperative breeding and the emergence of multilevel societies in birds. Ecol Lett 2022; 25:766-777. [PMID: 35000255 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2021] [Revised: 10/24/2021] [Accepted: 11/18/2021] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Multilevel societies (MLSs), where social levels are hierarchically nested within each other, are considered one of the most complex forms of animal societies. Although thought to mainly occurs in mammals, it is suggested that MLSs could be under-detected in birds. Here, we propose that the emergence of MLSs could be common in cooperatively breeding birds, as both systems are favoured by similar ecological and social drivers. We first investigate this proposition by systematically comparing evidence for multilevel social structure in cooperative and non-cooperative birds in Australia and New Zealand, a global hotspot for cooperative breeding. We then analyse non-breeding social networks of cooperatively breeding superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus) to reveal their structured multilevel society, with three hierarchical social levels that are stable across years. Our results confirm recent predictions that MLSs are likely to be widespread in birds and suggest that these societies could be particularly common in cooperatively breeding birds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ettore Camerlenghi
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Alexandra McQueen
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.,Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia
| | - Kaspar Delhey
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Carly N Cook
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Sjouke A Kingma
- Department of Animal Sciences, Behavioural Ecology Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Damien R Farine
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland.,Department of Collective Behavior, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Anne Peters
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
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26
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Garg K, Padilla-Iglesias C, Restrepo Ochoa N, Knight VB. Hunter-gatherer foraging networks promote information transmission. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2021; 8:211324. [PMID: 34950494 PMCID: PMC8692955 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.211324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2021] [Accepted: 11/15/2021] [Indexed: 05/16/2023]
Abstract
Central-place foraging (CPF), where foragers return to a central location (or home), is a key feature of hunter-gatherer social organization. CPF could have significantly changed hunter-gatherers' spatial use and mobility, altered social networks and increased opportunities for information-exchange. We evaluated whether CPF patterns facilitate information-transmission and considered the potential roles of environmental conditions, mobility strategies and population sizes. We built an agent-based model of CPF where agents moved according to a simple optimal foraging rule, and could encounter other agents as they moved across the environment. They either foraged close to their home within a given radius or moved the location of their home to new areas. We analysed the interaction networks arising under different conditions and found that, at intermediate levels of environmental heterogeneity and mobility, CPF increased global and local network efficiencies as well as the rate of contagion-based information-transmission. We also found that central-place mobility strategies can further improve information transmission in larger populations. Our findings suggest that the combination of foraging and movement strategies, as well as the environmental conditions that characterized early human societies, may have been a crucial precursor in our species' unique capacity to innovate, accumulate and rely on complex culture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ketika Garg
- Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced, CA, USA
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27
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Abstract
Creativity generates novel solutions to tasks by processing information. Imagination and mental representations are part of the creative process; we can mull over ideas of our own making, and construct algorithms or scenarios from them. Social scenario-building can be viewed as a human cognitive "super-power" that involves abstraction, meta-representation, time-travel, and directed imaginative thought. We humans have a "theater in our minds" to play out a near-infinite array of social strategies and contingencies. Here we propose an integrative model for why and how humans evolved extraordinary creative abilities. We posit that a key aspect of hominin evolution involved relatively open and fluid social relationships among communities, enabled by a unique extended family structure similar to that of contemporary hunter-gatherer band societies. Intercommunity relationships facilitated the rapid flow of information-"Culture"-that underpinned arms-races in information processing, language, imagination, and creativity that distinguishes humans from other species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark V. Flinn
- Department of Anthropology, Baylor University, Waco, TX, United States
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28
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Fathers' care in context: ‘facultative,’ flexible fathers respond to work demands and child age, but not to alloparental help, in Cebu, Philippines. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2021.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
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29
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The Relative Importance of "Cooperative Context" and Kinship in Structuring Cooperative Behavior : A Comparative Study of Saami Reindeer Herders. HUMAN NATURE-AN INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2021; 32:677-705. [PMID: 34669158 PMCID: PMC8526998 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-021-09416-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Kin relations have a strong theoretical and empirical basis for explaining cooperative behavior. Nevertheless, there is growing recognition that context—the cooperative environment of an individual—also shapes the willingness of individuals to cooperate. For nomadic pastoralists in Norway, cooperation among both kin and non-kin is an essential predictor for success. The northern parts of the country are characterized by a history of herder-herder competition exacerbating between-herder conflict, lack of trust, and subsequent coordination problems. In contrast, because of a history of herder-farmer competition, southern Norway is characterized by high levels of between-herder coordination and trust. This comparative study investigates the relative importance of “cooperative context” and kinship in structuring cooperative behavior using an experimental gift game. The main findings from this study were that in the South, a high level of cooperation around an individual pushes gifts to be distributed evenly among other herders. Nevertheless, kinship matters, since close kin give and receive larger gifts. In contrast, kinship seems to be the main factor affecting gift distribution in the North. Herders in the North are also concerned with distributing gifts equally, albeit limiting them to close kin: the level of intragroup cooperation drives gifts to be distributed evenly among other closely related herders. The observed regional contrasts in cooperative decisions fit with the different historical levels of conflict and trust in the two regions: whereas herders in the South are affected by both cooperative context and kinship, kinship seems to be the main determinant of cooperation in the North.
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30
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Fedurek P, Aktipis A, Cronk L, Makambi EJ, Mabulla I, Berbesque JC, Lehmann J. Social status does not predict in-camp integration among egalitarian hunter-gatherer men. Behav Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arab110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
In the last few decades, there has been much research regarding the importance of social prestige in shaping the social structure of small-scale societies. While recent studies show that social prestige may have important health consequences, little is known about the extent to which prestige translates into actual in-person interactions and proximity, even though the level of integration into such real-life social networks has been shown to have important health consequences. Here, we determine the extent to which two different domains of social prestige, popularity (being perceived as a friend by others), and hunting reputation (being perceived as a good hunter), translate into GPS-derived in- and out-of-camp proximity networks in a group of egalitarian hunter-gatherer men, the Hadza. We show that popularity and hunting reputation differ in the extent to which they are translated into time spent physically close to each other. Moreover, our findings suggest that in-camp proximity networks, which are commonly applied in studies of small-scale societies, do not show the full picture of Hadza men’s social preferences. While men are in camp, neither popularity nor hunting reputation is associated with being central in the proximity network; however, when out of camp, Hadza men who are popular are more integrated in the proximity networks while men with better hunting reputations are less integrated. Overall, our findings suggest that, to fully understand social preferences among hunter-gatherers, both in-camp and out-of-camp proximity networks should be considered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Piotr Fedurek
- Anthropology Programme, Roehampton University, Parkstead House, Holybourne Avenue, London, UK
| | - Athena Aktipis
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Lee Cronk
- Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University, 131 George St, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
| | - E Jerryson Makambi
- Mount Meru Tour Guide and International Language School, Arusha, Tanzania
| | - Ibrahim Mabulla
- National Museums of Tanzania, 5 Shaaban Robert St, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
| | - J Colette Berbesque
- Anthropology Programme, Roehampton University, Parkstead House, Holybourne Avenue, London, UK
| | - Julia Lehmann
- Anthropology Programme, Roehampton University, Parkstead House, Holybourne Avenue, London, UK
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31
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How small-scale societies achieve large-scale cooperation. Curr Opin Psychol 2021; 44:44-48. [PMID: 34562700 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.08.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2021] [Revised: 08/13/2021] [Accepted: 08/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
For most of our species' history, humans have lived in relatively small subsistence communities, often called small-scale societies. While these groups lack centralized institutions, they can and often do maintain large-scale cooperation. Here, we explore several mechanisms promoting cooperation in small-scale societies, including (a) the development of social norms that encourage prosocial behavior, (b) reciprocal exchange relationships, (c) reputation that facilitates high-cost cooperation, (d) relational wealth, and (e) risk buffering institutions. We illustrate these with ethnographic and psychological evidence from contemporary small-scale societies. We argue that these mechanisms for cooperation helped past and present small-scale communities adapt to diverse ecological and social niches.
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Singh M, Acerbi A, Caldwell CA, Danchin É, Isabel G, Molleman L, Scott-Phillips T, Tamariz M, van den Berg P, van Leeuwen EJC, Derex M. Beyond social learning. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200050. [PMID: 33993759 PMCID: PMC8126463 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2020] [Accepted: 01/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Cultural evolution requires the social transmission of information. For this reason, scholars have emphasized social learning when explaining how and why culture evolves. Yet cultural evolution results from many mechanisms operating in concert. Here, we argue that the emphasis on social learning has distracted scholars from appreciating both the full range of mechanisms contributing to cultural evolution and how interactions among those mechanisms and other factors affect the output of cultural evolution. We examine understudied mechanisms and other factors and call for a more inclusive programme of investigation that probes multiple levels of the organization, spanning the neural, cognitive-behavioural and populational levels. To guide our discussion, we focus on factors involved in three core topics of cultural evolution: the emergence of culture, the emergence of cumulative cultural evolution and the design of cultural traits. Studying mechanisms across levels can add explanatory power while revealing gaps and misconceptions in our knowledge. This article is part of the theme issue 'Foundations of cultural evolution'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manvir Singh
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Toulouse 31015, France
| | - Alberto Acerbi
- Center for Culture and Evolution, Brunel University London, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK
| | | | - Étienne Danchin
- Laboratoire Évolution and Diversité Biologique (EDB, UMR5174), Université Fédérale de Toulouse, CNRS, IRD, 31062 Toulouse cedex 9, France
| | - Guillaume Isabel
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, Centre de Biologie Intégrative, Université Fédérale de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 31062 Toulouse cedex 9, France
| | - Lucas Molleman
- Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, 1018 WT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Thom Scott-Phillips
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Budapest 1051, Hungary
| | - Monica Tamariz
- Department of Psychology, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK
| | | | - Edwin J. C. van Leeuwen
- Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
- Centre for Research and Conservation, Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, 2018 Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Maxime Derex
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Toulouse 31015, France
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 5314, Toulouse 31015, France
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33
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Page AE, Emmott EH, Dyble M, Smith D, Chaudhary N, Viguier S, Migliano AB. Children are important too: juvenile playgroups and maternal childcare in a foraging population, the Agta. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200026. [PMID: 33938270 PMCID: PMC8090817 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Non-maternal carers (allomothers) are hypothesized to lighten the mother's workload, allowing for the specialized human life history including relatively short interbirth intervals and multiple dependent offspring. Here, using in-depth observational data on childcare provided to 78 Agta children (a foraging population in the northern Philippines; aged 0-6 years), we explore whether allomaternal childcare substitutes and decreases maternal childcare. We found that allomother caregiving was associated with reduced maternal childcare, but the substitutive effect varied depending on the source and type of care. Children-only playgroups consistently predicted a decrease in maternal childcare. While grandmothers were rarely available, their presence was negatively associated with maternal presence and childcare, and grandmothers performed similar childcare activities to mothers. These results underscore the importance of allomothering in reducing maternal childcare in the Agta. Our findings suggest that flexibility in childcare sources, including children-only playgroups, may have been the key to human life-history evolution. Overall, our results reinforce the necessity of a broad conceptualization of social support in human childcare. This article is part of the theme issue 'Multidisciplinary perspectives on social support and maternal-child health'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abigail E. Page
- Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - Emily H. Emmott
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Mark Dyble
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Dan Smith
- Bristol Medical School (PHS), University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Nikhil Chaudhary
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Sylvain Viguier
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
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34
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Rocha LEC, Ryckebusch J, Schoors K, Smith M. The scaling of social interactions across animal species. Sci Rep 2021; 11:12584. [PMID: 34131247 PMCID: PMC8206375 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-92025-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2021] [Accepted: 06/01/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Social animals self-organise to create groups to increase protection against predators and productivity. One-to-one interactions are the building blocks of these emergent social structures and may correspond to friendship, grooming, communication, among other social relations. These structures should be robust to failures and provide efficient communication to compensate the costs of forming and maintaining the social contacts but the specific purpose of each social interaction regulates the evolution of the respective social networks. We collate 611 animal social networks and show that the number of social contacts E scales with group size N as a super-linear power-law [Formula: see text] for various species of animals, including humans, other mammals and non-mammals. We identify that the power-law exponent [Formula: see text] varies according to the social function of the interactions as [Formula: see text], with [Formula: see text]. By fitting a multi-layer model to our data, we observe that the cost to cross social groups also varies according to social function. Relatively low costs are observed for physical contact, grooming and group membership which lead to small groups with high and constant social clustering. Offline friendship has similar patterns while online friendship shows weak social structures. The intermediate case of spatial proximity (with [Formula: see text] and clustering dependency on network size quantitatively similar to friendship) suggests that proximity interactions may be as relevant for the spread of infectious diseases as for social processes like friendship.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis E. C. Rocha
- grid.5342.00000 0001 2069 7798Department of Economics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium ,grid.5342.00000 0001 2069 7798Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Jan Ryckebusch
- grid.5342.00000 0001 2069 7798Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Koen Schoors
- grid.5342.00000 0001 2069 7798Department of Economics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium ,grid.77852.3f0000 0000 8618 9465Higher School of Economics, National Research University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Matthew Smith
- grid.20409.3f000000012348339XThe Business School, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, UK
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Seabright P, Stieglitz J, Van der Straeten K. Evaluating social contract theory in the light of evolutionary social science. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2021; 3:e20. [PMID: 37588528 PMCID: PMC10427299 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2021.4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Political philosophers have long drawn explicitly or implicitly on claims about the ways in which human behaviour is shaped by interactions within society. These claims have usually been based on introspection, anecdotes or casual empiricism, but recent empirical research has informed a number of early views about human nature. We focus here on five components of such views: (1) what motivates human beings; (2) what constraints our natural and social environments impose upon us; (3) what kind of society emerges as a result; (4) what constitutes a fulfilling life; and (5) what collective solutions can improve the outcome. We examine social contract theory as developed by some early influential political philosophers (Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau), who viewed the social contract as a device to compare the 'natural' state of humans with their behaviour in society. We examine their views in the light of recent cross-cultural empirical research in the evolutionary social sciences. We conclude that social contract theorists severely underestimated human behavioural complexity in societies lacking formal institutions. Had these theorists been more informed about the structure and function of social arrangements in small-scale societies, they might have significantly altered their views about the design and enforcement of social contracts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Seabright
- Toulouse School of Economics, University of Toulouse Capitole, Toulouse, France
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, University of Toulouse Capitole, Toulouse, France
| | - Jonathan Stieglitz
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, University of Toulouse Capitole, Toulouse, France
| | - Karine Van der Straeten
- Toulouse School of Economics, University of Toulouse Capitole, Toulouse, France
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, University of Toulouse Capitole, Toulouse, France
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36
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Thompson JC, Wright DK, Ivory SJ. The emergence and intensification of early hunter-gatherer niche construction. Evol Anthropol 2020; 30:17-27. [PMID: 33341104 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21877] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2019] [Revised: 03/31/2020] [Accepted: 08/30/2020] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Hunter-gatherers, especially Pleistocene examples, are not well-represented in archeological studies of niche construction. However, as the role of humans in shaping environments over long time scales becomes increasingly apparent, it is critical to develop archeological proxies and testable hypotheses about early hunter-gatherer impacts. Modern foragers engage in niche constructive behaviors aimed at maintaining or increasing the productivity of their environments, and these may have had significant ecological consequences over later human evolution. In some cases, they may also represent behaviors unique to modern Homo sapiens. Archeological and paleoenvironmental data show that African hunter-gatherers were niche constructors in diverse environments, which have legacies in how ecosystems function today. These can be conceptualized as behaviorally mediated trophic cascades, and tested using archeological and paleoenvironmental proxies. Thus, large-scale niche construction behavior is possible to identify at deeper time scales, and may be key to understanding the emergence of modern humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica C Thompson
- Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - David K Wright
- Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.,State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, China
| | - Sarah J Ivory
- Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Sciences Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
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37
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Stieglitz J, Hooper PL, Trumble BC, Kaplan H, Gurven MD. Productivity loss associated with functional disability in a contemporary small-scale subsistence population. eLife 2020; 9:e62883. [PMID: 33259289 PMCID: PMC7744098 DOI: 10.7554/elife.62883] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
In comparative cross-species perspective, humans experience unique physical impairments with potentially large consequences. Quantifying the burden of impairment in subsistence populations is critical for understanding selection pressures underlying strategies that minimize risk of production deficits. We examine among forager-horticulturalists whether compromised bone strength (indicated by fracture and lower bone mineral density, BMD) is associated with subsistence task cessation. We also estimate the magnitude of productivity losses associated with compromised bone strength. Fracture is associated with cessation of hunting, tree chopping, and walking long distances, but not tool manufacture. Age-specific productivity losses from hunting cessation associated with fracture and lower BMD are substantial: ~397 lost kcals/day, with expected future losses of up to 1.9 million kcals (22% of expected production). Productivity loss is thus substantial for high strength and endurance tasks. Determining the extent to which impairment obstructs productivity in contemporary subsistence populations improves our ability to infer past consequences of impairment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Stieglitz
- Université Toulouse 1 CapitoleToulouseFrance
- Institute for Advanced Study in ToulouseToulouseFrance
| | - Paul L Hooper
- Economic Science Institute, Chapman University, 1 University DriveOrangeUnited States
| | - Benjamin C Trumble
- Center for Evolution and Medicine, Life Sciences C, Arizona State UniversityTempeUnited States
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State UniversityTempeUnited States
| | - Hillard Kaplan
- Economic Science Institute, Chapman University, 1 University DriveOrangeUnited States
| | - Michael D Gurven
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa BarbaraSanta BarbaraUnited States
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38
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Padilla-Iglesias C, Gjesfjeld E, Vinicius L. Geographical and social isolation drive the evolution of Austronesian languages. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0243171. [PMID: 33259529 PMCID: PMC7707576 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2020] [Accepted: 11/16/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The origins of linguistic diversity remain controversial. Studies disagree on whether group features such as population size or social structure accelerate or decelerate linguistic differentiation. While some analyses of between-group factors highlight the role of geographical isolation and reduced linguistic exchange in differentiation, others suggest that linguistic divergence is driven primarily by warfare among neighbouring groups and the use of language as marker of group identity. Here we provide the first integrated test of the effects of five historical sociodemographic and geographic variables on three measures of linguistic diversification among 50 Austronesian languages: rates of word gain, loss and overall lexical turnover. We control for their shared evolutionary histories through a time-calibrated phylogenetic sister-pairs approach. Results show that languages spoken in larger communities create new words at a faster pace. Within-group conflict promotes linguistic differentiation by increasing word loss, while warfare hinders linguistic differentiation by decreasing both rates of word gain and loss. Finally, we show that geographical isolation is a strong driver of lexical evolution mainly due to a considerable drift-driven acceleration in rates of word loss. We conclude that the motor of extreme linguistic diversity in Austronesia may have been the dispersal of populations across relatively isolated islands, favouring strong cultural ties amongst societies instead of warfare and cultural group marking.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Erik Gjesfjeld
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Lucio Vinicius
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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39
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French JC, Riris P, Fernandéz-López de Pablo J, Lozano S, Silva F. A manifesto for palaeodemography in the twenty-first century. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 376:20190707. [PMID: 33250019 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0707] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer C French
- Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Philip Riris
- Institute for the Modelling of Socio-Environmental Transitions, Bournemouth University, Poole, UK
| | | | | | - Fabio Silva
- Institute for the Modelling of Socio-Environmental Transitions, Bournemouth University, Poole, UK
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40
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Page AE, French JC. Reconstructing prehistoric demography: What role for extant hunter-gatherers? Evol Anthropol 2020; 29:332-345. [PMID: 33103830 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21869] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2019] [Revised: 02/17/2020] [Accepted: 10/06/2020] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Demography is central to biological, behavioral, and cultural evolution. Knowledge of the demography of prehistoric populations of both Homo sapiens and earlier members of the genus Homo is, therefore, key to the study of human evolution. Unfortunately, demographic processes (fertility, mortality, migration) leave little mark on the archeological and paleoanthropological records. One common solution to this issue is the application of demographic data from extant hunter-gatherers to prehistory. With the aim of strengthening this line of enquiry, here we outline some pitfalls and their interpretative implications. In doing so, we provide recommendations about the application of hunter-gatherer data to the study of demographic trends throughout human evolution. We use published demographic data from extant hunter-gatherers to show that it is the diversity seen among extant hunter-gatherers-both intra- and inter-population variability-that is most relevant and useful for understanding past hunter-gatherer demography.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abigail E Page
- Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Jennifer C French
- Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
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41
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Dover Y, Goldenberg J, Shapira D. Sustainable online communities exhibit distinct hierarchical structures across scales of size. Proc Math Phys Eng Sci 2020; 476:20190730. [PMID: 32831599 DOI: 10.1098/rspa.2019.0730] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2019] [Accepted: 05/21/2020] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
As humans, we are uniquely competent at incorporating ourselves into groups that scale up from a few members to millions of individuals to engage in joint activities in social circles of varying sizes. Yet, the question of how a group's survival depends on its social structure is not well understood. In an analysis of more than 10 122 real-life online communities (with a total of 134 147 members) hosted by a leading platform over periods of more than a decade, we observe a prominent structural difference between stable and unstable communities, enabling the prediction of sustainability up to a decade ahead. We find that communities that fail to maintain a typical hierarchical social structure that preserves cohesiveness across size scales do not survive, while communities that exhibit such balance prevail. This difference is observable in as early as the first 30 days of a community's lifetime, enabling prediction of community sustainability up to 10 years in the future. We theorize that communities comprising distinct social structures that balance global and local factors across scales of sizes are more likely to maintain sustainability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaniv Dover
- Jerusalem School of Business Administration, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91905, Israel.,Federmann Center for the Study of Rationality, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
| | - Jacob Goldenberg
- Arison School of Business, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Herzliya 4610101, Israel.,Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Daniel Shapira
- Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management, Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel.,Adjunct Research Faculty at the University of Mannheim Business School, 68131 Mannheim, Germany
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42
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Romano V, Lozano S, Fernández‐López de Pablo J. A multilevel analytical framework for studying cultural evolution in prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2020; 95:1020-1035. [PMID: 32237025 PMCID: PMC7383820 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12599] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2019] [Revised: 03/10/2020] [Accepted: 03/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Over the past decade, a major debate has taken place on the underpinnings of cultural changes in human societies. A growing array of evidence in behavioural and evolutionary biology has revealed that social connectivity among populations and within them affects, and is affected by, culture. Yet the interplay between prehistoric hunter-gatherer social structure and cultural transmission has typically been overlooked. Interestingly, the archaeological record contains large data sets, allowing us to track cultural changes over thousands of years: they thus offer a unique opportunity to shed light on long-term cultural transmission processes. In this review, we demonstrate how well-developed methods for social structure analysis can increase our understanding of the selective pressures underlying cumulative culture. We propose a multilevel analytical framework that considers finer aspects of the complex social structure in which regional groups of prehistoric hunter-gatherers were embedded. We put forward predictions of cultural transmission based on local- and global-level network metrics of small-scale societies and their potential effects on cumulative culture. By bridging the gaps between network science, palaeodemography and cultural evolution, we draw attention to the use of the archaeological record to depict patterns of social interactions and transmission variability. We argue that this new framework will contribute to improving our understanding of social interaction patterns, as well as the contexts in which cultural changes occur. Ultimately, this may provide insights into the evolution of human behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valéria Romano
- Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Arqueología y Patrimonio Histórico (INAPH)Universidad de Alicante, Edificio Institutos Universitarios03690San Vicente del RaspeigAlicanteSpain
- Institut Català de Paleoecología Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Edificio W3, Campus Sescelades URV, Zona Educacional 443007TarragonaSpain
| | - Sergi Lozano
- Institut Català de Paleoecología Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Edificio W3, Campus Sescelades URV, Zona Educacional 443007TarragonaSpain
- Departament d'Història Econòmica, Institucions, Política i Economia MundialUniversitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 69008034BarcelonaSpain
- Universitat de Barcelona Institute of Complex Systems (UBICS)Universitat de Barcelona, Martí Franqués 108028BarcelonaSpain
| | - Javier Fernández‐López de Pablo
- Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Arqueología y Patrimonio Histórico (INAPH)Universidad de Alicante, Edificio Institutos Universitarios03690San Vicente del RaspeigAlicanteSpain
- Institut Català de Paleoecología Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Edificio W3, Campus Sescelades URV, Zona Educacional 443007TarragonaSpain
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43
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Padilla-Iglesias C, Foley RA, Shneidman LA. Language as a marker of ethnic identity among the Yucatec Maya. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2020; 2:e38. [PMID: 37588346 PMCID: PMC10427450 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2020.39] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Most human variation is structured around symbolically marked cultural ('ethnic') groups that require common codes of communication. Consequently, many have hypothesised that using others' linguistic competences as markers of their descent is part of an evolved human psychology. However, there is also evidence that the use of language as ethnic markers is not universally applied, but context specific. We explore the tension between these views by studying responses to bilingualism among 121 adults living in Mayan communities undergoing rapid socioeconomic changes involving increased contact with Spanish-speaking towns. We show that, although competences in Mayan were strongly tied to perceiving others as having a Mayan ethnic identity, ethnolinguistic category membership was not seen as stable through life, vertically transmitted, nor regarded as incompatible with competences in Spanish. Moreover, we find variation in how people reasoned about ethnolinguistic identities depending on their own linguistic repertoires. Our work suggests that, while there may be an evolved predisposition to use language as a signal of group identity, our developmental plasticity allows us to respond adaptively to social information around us, leading to psychological and behavioural variation within and across populations. How people reason about others based on their linguistic profiles will affect the payoffs of acquiring different languages and ultimately the long-term sustainability of linguistic diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cecilia Padilla-Iglesias
- Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Robert A. Foley
- Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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44
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Richerson PJ, Boyd R. The human life history is adapted to exploit the adaptive advantages of culture. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 375:20190498. [PMID: 32475331 PMCID: PMC7293148 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans evolved from an ape ancestor that was highly intelligent, moderately social and moderately dependent on cultural adaptations for subsistence technology (tools). By the late Pleistocene, humans had become highly dependent on culture for subsistence and for rules to organize a complex social life. Adaptation by cultural traditions transformed our life history, leading to an extended juvenile period to learn subsistence and social skills, post-reproductive survival to help conserve and transmit skills, a dependence on social support for mothers of large-brained, very dependent and nutrient-demanding offspring, males devoting substantial effort to provisioning rather than mating, and the cultivation of large social networks to tap pools in information unavailable to less social species. One measure of the success of the exploitation of culture is that the minimum inter-birth interval of humans is nearly half that of our ape relatives. Another measure is the wide geographical distribution of humans compared with other apes, based on subsistence systems adapted to fine-scale spatial environmental variation. An important macro-evolutionary question is why our big-brained, culture-intensive life-history strategy evolved so recently and in only our lineage. We suggest that increasing spatial and temporal variation in the Pleistocene favoured cultural adaptations. This article is part of the theme issue 'Life history and learning: how childhood, caregiving and old age shape cognition and culture in humans and other animals'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter J Richerson
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California-Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Robert Boyd
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe AZ, USA
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45
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Salali GD, Dyble M, Chaudhary N, Sikka G, Derkx I, Keestra SM, Smith D, Thompson J, Vinicius L, Migliano AB. Global WEIRDing: transitions in wild plant knowledge and treatment preferences in Congo hunter-gatherers. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2020; 2:e24. [PMID: 37588372 PMCID: PMC10427474 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2020.26] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Cultures around the world are converging as populations become more connected. On the one hand this increased connectedness can promote the recombination of existing cultural practices to generate new ones, but on the other it may lead to the replacement of traditional practices and global WEIRDing. Here we examine the process and causes of changes in cultural traits concerning wild plant knowledge in Mbendjele BaYaka hunter-gatherers from Congo. Our results show that the BaYaka who were born in town reported knowing and using fewer plants than the BaYaka who were born in forest camps. Plant uses lost in the town-born BaYaka related to medicine. Unlike the forest-born participants, the town-born BaYaka preferred Western medicine over traditional practices, suggesting that the observed decline of plant knowledge and use is the result of replacement of cultural practices with the new products of cumulative culture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gul Deniz Salali
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, LondonWC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Mark Dyble
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, LondonWC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Nikhil Chaudhary
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, LondonWC1H 0BW, UK
- Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1QH, UK
| | - Gaurav Sikka
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, LondonWC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Inez Derkx
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, LondonWC1H 0BW, UK
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, 8057Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Sarai M. Keestra
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, LondonWC1H 0BW, UK
- Department of Anthropology, Durham University, DurhamDH1 3LE, UK
| | - Daniel Smith
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, LondonWC1H 0BW, UK
- Bristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences, University of Bristol, BristolBS8 2BN, UK
| | - James Thompson
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, LondonWC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Lucio Vinicius
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, LondonWC1H 0BW, UK
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, 8057Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Andrea Bamberg Migliano
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, LondonWC1H 0BW, UK
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, 8057Zürich, Switzerland
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46
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Grueter CC, Qi X, Zinner D, Bergman T, Li M, Xiang Z, Zhu P, Migliano AB, Miller A, Krützen M, Fischer J, Rubenstein DI, Vidya TNC, Li B, Cantor M, Swedell L. Multilevel Organisation of Animal Sociality. Trends Ecol Evol 2020; 35:834-847. [PMID: 32473744 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2020.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2019] [Revised: 05/01/2020] [Accepted: 05/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Multilevel societies (MLSs), stable nuclear social units within a larger collective encompassing multiple nested social levels, occur in several mammalian lineages. Their architectural complexity and size impose specific demands on their members requiring adaptive solutions in multiple domains. The functional significance of MLSs lies in their members being equipped to reap the benefits of multiple group sizes. Here, we propose a unifying terminology and operational definition of MLS. To identify new avenues for integrative research, we synthesise current literature on the selective pressures underlying the evolution of MLSs and their implications for cognition, intersexual conflict, and sexual selection. Mapping the drivers and consequences of MLS provides a reference point for the social evolution of many taxa, including our own species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cyril C Grueter
- School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia; Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia.
| | - Xiaoguang Qi
- Shaanxi Key Laboratory for Animal Conservation, Northwest University, College of Life Sciences, Xi'an, 710069, China.
| | - Dietmar Zinner
- Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Center (DPZ), Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, 37077 Göttingen, Germany; Leibniz ScienceCampus for Primate Cognition, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Thore Bergman
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Ming Li
- CAS Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China; Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, China
| | - Zuofu Xiang
- College of Life Science and Technology, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, Hunan 410004, China
| | - Pingfen Zhu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China
| | | | - Alex Miller
- School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia
| | - Michael Krützen
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, 8057, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Julia Fischer
- Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Center (DPZ), Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, 37077 Göttingen, Germany; Department for Primate Cognition, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Daniel I Rubenstein
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - T N C Vidya
- Evolutionary and Organismal Biology Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Jakkur, Bengaluru 560064, India
| | - Baoguo Li
- Shaanxi Key Laboratory for Animal Conservation, Northwest University, College of Life Sciences, Xi'an, 710069, China; Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, China
| | - Maurício Cantor
- Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Konstanz, 78464, Germany; Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, 78464, Germany; Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, 78464, Germany; Departamento de Ecologia e Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, 88048-970, Brazil; Centro de Estudos do Mar, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Pontal do Paraná, 83255-000, Brazil; School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2000, South Africa
| | - Larissa Swedell
- Department of Anthropology, Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing, NY 11367-1597, USA; New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY 11367, USA; Anthropology, Biology and Psychology Programs, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA; Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7701, Cape Town, South Africa
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47
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Derex M, Mesoudi A. Cumulative Cultural Evolution within Evolving Population Structures. Trends Cogn Sci 2020; 24:654-667. [PMID: 32466991 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2020.04.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2020] [Revised: 04/24/2020] [Accepted: 04/28/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Our species has the peculiar ability to accumulate cultural innovations over multiple generations, a phenomenon termed 'cumulative cultural evolution' (CCE). Recent years have seen a proliferation of empirical and theoretical work exploring the interplay between demography and CCE. This has generated intense discussion about whether demographic models can help explain historical patterns of cultural changes. Here, we synthesize empirical and theoretical studies from multiple fields to highlight how both population size and structure can shape the pool of cultural information that individuals can build upon to innovate, present the potential pathways through which humans' unique social structure might promote CCE, and discuss whether humans' social networks might partly result from selection pressures linked to our extensive reliance on culturally accumulated knowledge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxime Derex
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, UMR 5314, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Toulouse 31015, France.
| | - Alex Mesoudi
- Human Behaviour and Cultural Evolution Group, Department of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, TR10 9FE, UK
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48
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Sosa S, Sueur C, Puga‐Gonzalez I. Network measures in animal social network analysis: Their strengths, limits, interpretations and uses. Methods Ecol Evol 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.13366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Sosa
- Université de StrasbourgCNRSIPHC UMR 7178 Strasbourg France
| | - Cédric Sueur
- Université de StrasbourgCNRSIPHC UMR 7178 Strasbourg France
- Institut Universitaire de France Paris France
| | - Ivan Puga‐Gonzalez
- Institute for Global Development and Planning University of Agder Kristiansand Norway
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49
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Migliano AB, Battiston F, Viguier S, Page AE, Dyble M, Schlaepfer R, Smith D, Astete L, Ngales M, Gomez-Gardenes J, Latora V, Vinicius L. Hunter-gatherer multilevel sociality accelerates cumulative cultural evolution. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:eaax5913. [PMID: 32158935 PMCID: PMC7048420 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aax5913] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2019] [Accepted: 12/10/2019] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Although multilevel sociality is a universal feature of human social organization, its functional relevance remains unclear. Here, we investigated the effect of multilevel sociality on cumulative cultural evolution by using wireless sensing technology to map inter- and intraband social networks among Agta hunter-gatherers. By simulating the accumulation of cultural innovations over the real Agta multicamp networks, we demonstrate that multilevel sociality accelerates cultural differentiation and cumulative cultural evolution. Our results suggest that hunter-gatherer social structures [based on (i) clustering of families within camps and camps within regions, (ii) cultural transmission within kinship networks, and (iii) high intercamp mobility] may have allowed past and present hunter-gatherers to maintain cumulative cultural adaptation despite low population density, a feature that may have been critical in facilitating the global expansion of Homo sapiens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea B. Migliano
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Federico Battiston
- Department of Network and Data Science, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Sylvain Viguier
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Abigail E. Page
- Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Mark Dyble
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Jesus College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | | | - Daniel Smith
- Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Leonora Astete
- Community Outreach and Services Learning, Lyceum of the Philippines University, Manila, Philippines
| | - Marilyn Ngales
- Community Outreach and Services Learning, Lyceum of the Philippines University, Manila, Philippines
| | - Jesus Gomez-Gardenes
- GOTHAM Lab, Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems, and Department of Condensed Matter Physics, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
- Center for Computational Social Science (CCSS), Kobe University, Kobe, Japan
| | - Vito Latora
- School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
- Dipartimento di Fisica ed Astronomia, Università di Catania and INFN, Catania, Italy
- Complexity Science Hub Vienna (CSHV), Vienna, Austria
- The Alan Turing Institute, The British Library, London, UK
| | - Lucio Vinicius
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
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50
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Lew-Levy S, Kissler SM, Boyette AH, Crittenden AN, Mabulla IA, Hewlett BS. Who teaches children to forage? Exploring the primacy of child-to-child teaching among Hadza and BaYaka Hunter-Gatherers of Tanzania and Congo. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2019.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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