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Nichols R, Charbonneau M, Chellappoo A, Davis T, Haidle M, Kimbrough EO, Moll H, Moore R, Scott-Phillips T, Purzycki BG, Segovia-Martin J. Cultural evolution: A review of theoretical challenges. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2024; 6:e12. [PMID: 38516368 PMCID: PMC10955367 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2024.2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Revised: 01/15/2024] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 03/23/2024] Open
Abstract
The rapid growth of cultural evolutionary science, its expansion into numerous fields, its use of diverse methods, and several conceptual problems have outpaced corollary developments in theory and philosophy of science. This has led to concern, exemplified in results from a recent survey conducted with members of the Cultural Evolution Society, that the field lacks 'knowledge synthesis', is poorly supported by 'theory', has an ambiguous relation to biological evolution and uses key terms (e.g. 'culture', 'social learning', 'cumulative culture') in ways that hamper operationalization in models, experiments and field studies. Although numerous review papers in the field represent and categorize its empirical findings, the field's theoretical challenges receive less critical attention even though challenges of a theoretical or conceptual nature underlie most of the problems identified by Cultural Evolution Society members. Guided by the heterogeneous 'grand challenges' emergent in this survey, this paper restates those challenges and adopts an organizational style requisite to discussion of them. The paper's goal is to contribute to increasing conceptual clarity and theoretical discernment around the most pressing challenges facing the field of cultural evolutionary science. It will be of most interest to cultural evolutionary scientists, theoreticians, philosophers of science and interdisciplinary researchers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan Nichols
- Department of Philosophy, CSU Fullerton, Fullerton, CA, USA
- Center for the Study of Human Nature, CSU Fullerton, Fullerton, CA, USA
| | - Mathieu Charbonneau
- Africa Institute for Research in Economics and Social Sciences, Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique, Rabat, Morocco
| | - Azita Chellappoo
- School of Social Sciences and Global Studies, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
| | - Taylor Davis
- Department of Philosophy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Miriam Haidle
- Research Center ‘The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans’, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Erik O. Kimbrough
- Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA
| | - Henrike Moll
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Richard Moore
- Department of Philosophy, University of Warwick, Coventry, England, UK
| | - Thom Scott-Phillips
- Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Institute for Logic, Cognition, Language & Information, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Benjamin Grant Purzycki
- Benjamin Grant Purzycki, Department of the Study of Religion, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Jose Segovia-Martin
- M6 Polytechnic University, Rabat, Morocco
- Complex Systems Institute, Paris Île-de-France, Paris, France
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2
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de Courson B, Thouzeau V, Baumard N. Quantifying the scientific revolution. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2023; 5:e19. [PMID: 37587945 PMCID: PMC10426016 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2023.6] [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: 09/26/2022] [Revised: 02/20/2023] [Accepted: 02/21/2023] [Indexed: 08/18/2023] Open
Abstract
The Scientific Revolution represents a turning point in the history of humanity. Yet it remains ill-understood, partly because of a lack of quantification. Here, we leverage large datasets of individual biographies (N = 22,943) and present the first estimates of scientific production during the late medieval and early modern period (1300-1850). Our data reveal striking differences across countries, with England and the United Provinces being much more creative than other countries, suggesting that economic development has been key in generating the Scientific Revolution. In line with recent results in behavioural sciences, we show that scientific creativity and economic development are associated with other kinds of creative activities in philosophy, literature, music and the arts, as well as with inclusive institutions and ascetic religiosity, suggesting a common underlying mindset associated with long-term orientation and exploration. Finally, we investigate the interplay between economic development and cultural transmission (the so-called 'Republic of Letters') using partially observed Markov models imported from population biology. Surprisingly, the role of horizontal transmission (from one country to another) seems to have been marginal. Beyond the case of science, our results suggest that economic development is an important factor in the evolution of aspects of human culture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benoît de Courson
- Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law, Günterstalstraße 73, 79100Freiburg, Germany
- Ecole Normale Superieure, Departement d'Etudes Cognitives, Departement d'Etudes Cognitives, Paris, France
| | - Valentin Thouzeau
- Ecole Normale Superieure, Departement d'Etudes Cognitives, Departement d'Etudes Cognitives, Paris, France
| | - Nicolas Baumard
- Ecole Normale Superieure, Departement d'Etudes Cognitives, Departement d'Etudes Cognitives, Paris, France
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3
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Ben-Oren Y, Kolodny O, Creanza N. Cultural specialization as a double-edged sword: division into specialized guilds might promote cultural complexity at the cost of higher susceptibility to cultural loss. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210418. [PMID: 36688386 PMCID: PMC9869445 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0418] [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] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
The transition to specialization of knowledge within populations could have facilitated the accumulation of cultural complexity in humans. Specialization allows populations to increase their cultural repertoire without requiring that members of that population increase their individual capacity to accumulate knowledge. However, specialization also means that domain-specific knowledge can be concentrated in small subsets of the population, making it more susceptible to loss. Here, we use a model of cultural evolution to demonstrate that specialized populations can be more sensitive to stochastic loss of knowledge than populations without subdivision of knowledge, and that demographic and environmental changes have an amplified effect on populations with knowledge specialization. Finally, we suggest that specialization can be a double-edged sword; specialized populations may have an advantage in accumulating cultural traits but may also be less likely to expand and establish themselves successfully in new demes owing to the increased cultural loss that they experience during the population bottlenecks that often characterize such expansions. This article is part of the theme issue 'Human socio-cultural evolution in light of evolutionary transitions'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yotam Ben-Oren
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, Silberman Institute for Life Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel
| | - Oren Kolodny
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, Silberman Institute for Life Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel
| | - Nicole Creanza
- Department of Biological Sciences and Evolutionary Studies Initiative, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37212, USA
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4
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Lamm E, Finkel M, Kolodny O. Human major transitions from the perspective of distributed adaptations. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210401. [PMID: 36688390 PMCID: PMC9869454 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0401] [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
Distributed adaptations are cases in which adaptation is dependent on the population as a whole: the adaptation is conferred by a structural or compositional aspect of the population; the adaptively relevant information cannot be reduced to information possessed by a single individual. Possible examples of human-distributed adaptations are song lines, traditions, trail systems, game drive lanes and systems of water collection and irrigation. Here we discuss the possible role of distributed adaptations in human cultural macro-evolution. Several kinds of human-distributed adaptations are presented, and their evolutionary implications are highlighted. In particular, we discuss the implications of population size, density and bottlenecks on the distributed adaptations that a population may possess and how they in turn would affect the population's resilience to ecological change. We discuss the implications that distributed adaptations may have for human collective action and the possibility that they played a role in colonization of new areas and niches, in seasonal migration, and in setting constraints for minimal inter-population connectivity. This article is part of the theme issue 'Human socio-cultural evolution in light of evolutionary transitions'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ehud Lamm
- The Cohn Institute for History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Meir Finkel
- The Cohn Institute for History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Oren Kolodny
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, Institute for Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel
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5
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Carmel Y. Human societal development: is it an evolutionary transition in individuality? Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210409. [PMID: 36688399 PMCID: PMC9869447 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
An evolutionary transition in individuality (ETI) occurs when a previously independent organism becomes a lower level unit within a higher hierarchical level (for example, cells in an organism, ants in a colony). Using archaeological and historical accounts from the last 12 000 years, I empirically examine the proposition that human society increasingly functions as a higher hierarchical level within which individuals integrate as lower level units. I evaluate human societal development with respect to three criteria that together indicate complexity in biological systems and serve as an operationalization scheme for ETIs: size, inseparability and specialization. The size of the largest polity has increased seven orders of magnitude, from hundreds to billions. Inseparability became nearly complete since Mesopotamian city-states, following the first appearance of intricate specialization (division of labour). Connectivity within a polity has increased rapidly during the last few centuries, and particularly within the last few decades. In view of these results, I formulate the following hypothesis: human society is undergoing an evolutionary transition in individuality, driven by socio-cultural-technological processes. This proposition requires a detailed theoretical basis and further empirical testing. I propose four predictions derived from the hypothesis that may be used to test it. This article is part of the theme issue 'Human socio-cultural evolution in light of evolutionary transitions'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yohay Carmel
- Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel
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6
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Population trends and the transition to agriculture: Global processes as seen from North America. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2209478119. [PMID: 36649404 PMCID: PMC9942849 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2209478119] [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: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Agriculture-specifically an intensification of the production of readily stored food and its distribution-has supported an increase in the global human population throughout the Holocene. Today, with greatly accelerated of growth during recent centuries, we have reached about 8 billion people. Human skeletal and archaeobotanical remains clarify what occurred over several millennia of profound societal and population change in small-scale societies once distributed across the North American midcontinent. Stepwise, not gradual, changes in the move toward an agriculturally based life, as indicated by plant remains, left a demographic signal reflecting age-independent ([Formula: see text]) mortality as estimated from skeletons. Designated the age-independent component of the Siler model, it is tracked through the juvenility index (JI), which is increasingly being used in studies of archaeological skeletons. Usually interpreted as a fertility indicator, the JI is more responsive to age-independent mortality in societies that dominated most of human existence. In the midcontinent, the JI increased as people transitioned to a more intensive form of food production that prominently featured maize. Several centuries later, the JI declined, along with a reversion to a somewhat more diverse diet and a reduction in overall population size. Changes in age-independent mortality coincided with previously recognized increases in intergroup conflict, group movement, and pathogen exposure. Similar rises and falls in JI values have been reported for other parts of the world during the emergence of agricultural systems.
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7
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Vidiella B, Carrignon S, Bentley RA, O’Brien MJ, Valverde S. A cultural evolutionary theory that explains both gradual and punctuated change. J R Soc Interface 2022; 19:20220570. [PMCID: PMC9667142 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2022.0570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Cumulative cultural evolution (CCE) occurs among humans who may be presented with many similar options from which to choose, as well as many social influences and diverse environments. It is unknown what general principles underlie the wide range of CCE dynamics and whether they can all be explained by the same unified paradigm. Here, we present a scalable evolutionary model of discrete choice with social learning, based on a few behavioural science assumptions. This paradigm connects the degree of transparency in social learning to the human tendency to imitate others. Computer simulations and quantitative analysis show the interaction of three primary factors—information transparency, popularity bias and population size—drives the pace of CCE. The model predicts a stable rate of evolutionary change for modest degrees of popularity bias. As popularity bias grows, the transition from gradual to punctuated change occurs, with maladaptive subpopulations arising on their own. When the popularity bias gets too severe, CCE stops. This provides a consistent framework for explaining the rich and complex adaptive dynamics taking place in the real world, such as modern digital media.
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Affiliation(s)
- Blai Vidiella
- Evolution of Networks Lab, Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Simon Carrignon
- McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UK
| | | | - Michael J. O’Brien
- Department of Communication, History, and Philosophy and Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University–San Antonio, Texas 78224, USA
- Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri 65201, USA
| | - Sergi Valverde
- Evolution of Networks Lab, Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
- European Centre for Living Technology (ECLT), Ca’ Bottacin, 3911 Dorsoduro Calle Crosera, 30123 Venezia, Italy
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8
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Hudson EJ, Creanza N. Modeling how population size drives the evolution of birdsong, a functional cultural trait. Evolution 2022; 76:1139-1152. [PMID: 35403212 PMCID: PMC9324838 DOI: 10.1111/evo.14489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2021] [Accepted: 03/09/2022] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Oscine songbirds have been an important study system for social learning, particularly because their learned songs provide an analog for human languages and music. Here, we propose a different analogy: from an evolutionary perspective, could birds' songs change over time more like arrowheads than arias? Small improvements to a bird's song can lead to large fitness differences for its singer, which could make songs more analogous to human tools than languages. We modify a model of human tool evolution to accommodate cultural evolution of birdsong: each song learner chooses the most skilled available tutor to emulate, and each is more likely to produce an inferior copy than a superior one. Similar to human tool evolution, our model suggests that larger populations of birds could foster improvements in song over time, even when learners restrict their pool of tutors to a subset of individuals in their social network. We also demonstrate that song elements could be simplified instead of lost after population bottlenecks if lower quality traits are easier to imitate than higher quality ones. We show that these processes could plausibly generate empirically observed patterns of song evolution for some song traits, and we make predictions about the types of song elements most likely to be lost when populations shrink. More broadly, we aim to connect the modeling approaches used in human and nonhuman systems, moving toward a cohesive theoretical framework that accounts for both cognitive and demographic processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily J. Hudson
- Department of Biological SciencesVanderbilt UniversityNashvilleTennessee37240,Evolutionary Studies InitiativeVanderbilt UniversityNashvilleTennessee37240
| | - Nicole Creanza
- Department of Biological SciencesVanderbilt UniversityNashvilleTennessee37240,Evolutionary Studies InitiativeVanderbilt UniversityNashvilleTennessee37240
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9
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Rodríguez J, Willmes C, Sommer C, Mateos A. Sustainable human population density in Western Europe between 560.000 and 360.000 years ago. Sci Rep 2022; 12:6907. [PMID: 35484382 PMCID: PMC9051054 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-10642-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2021] [Accepted: 04/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The time period between 560 and 360 ka (MIS14 to MIS11) was critical for the evolution of the Neanderthal lineage and the appearance of Levallois technology in Europe. The shifts in the distribution of the human populations, driven by cyclical climate changes, are generally accepted to have played major roles in both processes. We used a dataset of palaeoclimate maps and a species distribution model to reconstruct the changes in the area of Western Europe with suitable environmental conditions for humans during 11 time intervals of the MIS14 to MIS 11 period. Eventually, the maximum sustainable human population within the suitable area during each time interval was estimated by extrapolating the relationship observed between recent hunter-gatherer population density and net primary productivity and applying it to the past. Contrary to common assumptions, our results showed the three Mediterranean Peninsulas were not the only region suitable for humans during the glacial periods. The estimated total sustainable population of Western Europe from MIS14 to MIS11 oscillated between 13,000 and 25,000 individuals. These results offer a new theoretical scenario to develop models and hypotheses to explain cultural and biological evolution during the Middle Pleistocene in Western Europe.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jesús Rodríguez
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002, Burgos, Spain.
| | - Christian Willmes
- Institute of Geography, University of Cologne, 50923, Cologne, Germany
| | - Christian Sommer
- The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans, Research Area Geography, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities at the University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 19-23, 72070, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Ana Mateos
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002, Burgos, Spain
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10
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Lightner AD, Heckelsmiller C, Hagen EH. Ethnoscientific expertise and knowledge specialisation in 55 traditional cultures. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2021; 3:e37. [PMID: 37588549 PMCID: PMC10427309 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2021.31] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
People everywhere acquire high levels of conceptual knowledge about their social and natural worlds, which we refer to as ethnoscientific expertise. Evolutionary explanations for expertise are still widely debated. We analysed ethnographic text records (N = 547) describing ethnoscientific expertise among 55 cultures in the Human Relations Area Files to investigate the mutually compatible roles of collaboration, proprietary knowledge, cultural transmission, honest signalling, and mate provisioning. We found relatively high levels of evidence for collaboration, proprietary knowledge, and cultural transmission, and lower levels of evidence for honest signalling and mate provisioning. In our exploratory analyses, we found that whether expertise involved proprietary vs. transmitted knowledge depended on the domain of expertise. Specifically, medicinal knowledge was positively associated with secretive and specialised knowledge for resolving uncommon and serious problems, i.e. proprietary knowledge. Motor skill-related expertise, such as subsistence and technological skills, was positively associated with broadly competent and generous teachers, i.e. cultural transmission. We also found that collaborative expertise was central to both of these models, and was generally important across different knowledge and skill domains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aaron D. Lightner
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
| | | | - Edward H. Hagen
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
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11
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Moncel MH, García-Medrano P, Despriée J, Arnaud J, Voinchet P, Bahain JJ. Tracking behavioral persistence and innovations during the Middle Pleistocene in Western Europe. Shift in occupations between 700 and 450 ka at la Noira site (Centre, France). J Hum Evol 2021; 156:103009. [PMID: 34049270 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2020] [Revised: 03/30/2021] [Accepted: 04/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Some areas in Western Europe indicate hiatuses in human occupations, which cannot be systematically attributed to taphonomic factors and poor site preservation. The site of la Noira in the center of France records two occupation phases with a significant time gap. The older one is dated to around 700 ka (stratum a) with an Acheulean assemblage, among the earliest in Western Europe, and the upper phase of the sequence (stratum c) is dated to ca. 450 ka. Humans left the area at around 670 ka, at the beginning of the marine isotope stage (MIS) 16 glacial stage, when cold conditions became too severe. No sites between 650 and 450 ka have yet been discovered in the center region despite systematic surveys over the past three decades. The archaeological evidence indicates that populations returned to the area, at the end of MIS 12 or the beginning of the long interglacial MIS 11. Here, we use technological behaviors common to the two levels of la Noira-strata a and c to evaluate their differences. Compared to other key European sequences, this site can be used to address the evolution of the behavioral strategies in Europe between MIS 17 and 11. We formulate two hypotheses concerning the human settlement of this area: (1) local behavioral evolution over time of populations occasionally occupying the region when the climate was favorable or (2) dispersal and arrival of new populations from other areas. The results focus on (1) changes in land-use patterns with the extension of the territory used by hominins in the upper level, (2) the introduction of new core technologies, including some evidence of early Levallois debitage, and (3) more intensive shaping of bifaces and bifacial tools. Results attest that the la Noira archaeological assemblages record similar regional behavioral evolution as observed at a larger scale in Europe.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie-Hélène Moncel
- UMR 7194 HNHP, MNHN-CNRS-UPVD, Département Homme et Environnement, Muséum National D'Histoire Naturelle, IPH 1 Rue René Panhard, 75013, Paris, France.
| | - Paula García-Medrano
- UMR 7194 HNHP, MNHN-CNRS-UPVD, Département Homme et Environnement, Muséum National D'Histoire Naturelle, IPH 1 Rue René Panhard, 75013, Paris, France; Dept. Britain, Europe and Prehistory, British Museum, Frank House, 56 Orsman Road, N1 5QJ, London, UK; Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana I Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain; Universitat Rovira I Virgili, Departament D'Història I Història de L'Art, Avinguda de Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
| | - Jackie Despriée
- UMR 7194 HNHP, MNHN-CNRS-UPVD, Département Homme et Environnement, Muséum National D'Histoire Naturelle, IPH 1 Rue René Panhard, 75013, Paris, France
| | - Julie Arnaud
- UMR 7194 HNHP, MNHN-CNRS-UPVD, Département Homme et Environnement, Muséum National D'Histoire Naturelle, IPH 1 Rue René Panhard, 75013, Paris, France; Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università Degli Studi di Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
| | - Pierre Voinchet
- UMR 7194 HNHP, MNHN-CNRS-UPVD, Département Homme et Environnement, Muséum National D'Histoire Naturelle, IPH 1 Rue René Panhard, 75013, Paris, France
| | - Jean-Jacques Bahain
- UMR 7194 HNHP, MNHN-CNRS-UPVD, Département Homme et Environnement, Muséum National D'Histoire Naturelle, IPH 1 Rue René Panhard, 75013, Paris, France
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12
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Mesoudi A. Cultural selection and biased transformation: two dynamics of cultural evolution. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200053. [PMID: 33993764 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Here, I discuss two broad versions of human cultural evolution which currently exist in the literature and which emphasize different underlying dynamics. One, which originates in population-genetic-style modelling, emphasizes how cultural selection causes some cultural variants to be favoured and gradually increase in frequency over others. The other, which draws more from cognitive science, holds that cultural change is driven by the biased transformation of cultural variants by individuals in non-random and consistent directions. Despite claims that cultural evolution is characterized by one or the other of these dynamics, these are neither mutually exclusive nor a dichotomy. Different domains of human culture are likely to be more or less strongly weighted towards cultural selection or biased transformation. Identifying cultural dynamics in real-world cultural data is challenging given that they can generate the same population-level patterns, such as directional change or cross-cultural stability, and the same cognitive and emotional mechanisms may underlie both cultural selection and biased transformation. Nevertheless, fine-grained historical analysis and laboratory experiments, combined with formal models to generate quantitative predictions, offer the best way of distinguishing them. This article is part of the theme issue 'Foundations of cultural evolution'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex Mesoudi
- Human Behaviour and Cultural Evolution Group, Biosciences, University of Exeter, Penryn TR10 9FE, UK
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13
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Lipo CP, DiNapoli RJ, Madsen ME, Hunt TL. Population structure drives cultural diversity in finite populations: A hypothesis for localized community patterns on Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile). PLoS One 2021; 16:e0250690. [PMID: 33979335 PMCID: PMC8115772 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250690] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2020] [Accepted: 04/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding how and why cultural diversity changes in human populations remains a central topic of debate in cultural evolutionary studies. Due to the effects of drift, small and isolated populations face evolutionary challenges in the retention of richness and diversity of cultural information. Such variation, however, can have significant fitness consequences, particularly when environmental conditions change unpredictably, such that knowledge about past environments may be key to long-term persistence. Factors that can shape the outcomes of drift within a population include the semantics of the traits as well as spatially structured social networks. Here, we use cultural transmission simulations to explore how social network structure and interaction affect the rate of trait retention and extinction. Using Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile) as an example, we develop a model-based hypothesis for how the structural constraints of communities living in small, isolated populations had dramatic effects and likely led to preventing the loss of cultural information in both community patterning and technology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carl P. Lipo
- Department of Anthropology, Environmental Studies Program, Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, United States of America
| | - Robert J. DiNapoli
- Department of Anthropology, Environmental Studies Program, Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, United States of America
| | - Mark E. Madsen
- Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States of America
| | - Terry L. Hunt
- The Honors College and School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States of America
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14
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Stabilization of cultural innovations depends on population density: Testing an epidemiological model of cultural evolution against a global dataset of rock art sites and climate-based estimates of ancient population densities. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0247973. [PMID: 33730059 PMCID: PMC7968670 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0247973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2019] [Accepted: 02/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Demographic models of human cultural evolution have high explanatory potential but weak empirical support. Here we use a global dataset of rock art sites and climate and genetics-based estimates of ancient population densities to test a new model based on epidemiological principles. The model focuses on the process whereby a cultural innovation becomes endemic in a population, predicting that this cannot occur unless population density exceeds a critical threshold. Analysis of the data, using a Bayesian statistical framework, shows that the model has stronger empirical support than a proportional model, where detection is directly proportional to population density, or a null model, where rock art detection ratios and population density are independent. Results for different geographical areas and periods are compatible with the predictions of the model and confirm its superiority with respect to the null model. Re-analysis of the rock art data, using a second set of independent population estimates, again supports the superiority of the model. Although the available data is sparse and the analysis cannot exclude all possible sources of bias, this is evidence that population density above a critical threshold may be a necessary condition for the maintenance of rock art as a stable part of a population’s cultural repertoire. Methods similar to those described can be used to test the model for other classes of archaeological artifact and to compare it against other models.
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15
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Spikins P, French JC, John-Wood S, Dytham C. Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Ecological Changes, Social Behaviour and Human Intergroup Tolerance 300,000 to 30,000 BP. JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD AND THEORY 2021; 28:53-75. [PMID: 33679119 PMCID: PMC7891228 DOI: 10.1007/s10816-020-09503-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/15/2020] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
UNLABELLED Archaeological evidence suggests that important shifts were taking place in the character of human social behaviours 300,000 to 30,000 years ago. New artefact types appear and are disseminated with greater frequency. Transfers of both raw materials and finished artefacts take place over increasing distances, implying larger scales of regional mobility and more frequent and friendlier interactions between different communities. Whilst these changes occur during a period of increasing environmental variability, the relationship between ecological changes and transformations in social behaviours is elusive. Here, we explore a possible theoretical approach and methodology for understanding how ecological contexts can influence selection pressures acting on intergroup social behaviours. We focus on the relative advantages and disadvantages of intergroup tolerance in different ecological contexts using agent-based modelling (ABM). We assess the relative costs and benefits of different 'tolerance' levels in between-group interactions on survival and resource exploitation in different environments. The results enable us to infer a potential relationship between ecological changes and proposed changes in between-group behavioural dynamics. We conclude that increasingly harsh environments may have driven changes in hormonal and emotional responses in humans leading to increasing intergroup tolerance, i.e. transformations in social behaviour associated with 'self-domestication'. We argue that changes in intergroup tolerance is a more parsimonious explanation for the emergence of what has been seen as 'modern human behaviour' than changes in hard aspects of cognition or other factors such as cognitive adaptability or population size. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10816-020-09503-5.
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Affiliation(s)
- Penny Spikins
- Department of Archaeology, Archaeology PalaeoHub, University of York, York, YO10 5DD UK
| | - Jennifer C. French
- Department of Archaeology, Classics, and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 7WZ UK
| | - Seren John-Wood
- York Cross-disciplinary Centre for Systems Analysis (YCCSA) Internship Programme, University of York, York, UK
- University College London, London, UK
| | - Calvin Dytham
- Department of Biology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD UK
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16
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Strassberg SS, Creanza N. Cultural evolution and prehistoric demography. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 376:20190713. [PMID: 33250027 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0713] [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: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
One prominent feature of human culture is that different populations have different tools, technologies and cultural artefacts, and these unique toolkits can also differ in size and complexity. Over the past few decades, researchers in the fields of prehistoric demography and cultural evolution have addressed a number of questions regarding variation in toolkit size and complexity across prehistoric and modern populations. Several factors have been proposed as possible explanations for this variation: in particular, the mobility of a population, the resources it uses, the volatility of its environment and the number of individuals in the population. Using a variety of methods, including empirical and ethnographic research, computational models and laboratory-based experiments, researchers have found disparate results regarding each hypothesis. These discordant findings have led to debate over the factors that most significantly influence toolkit size and composition. For instance, several computational, empirical and laboratory studies of food-producing populations have found a positive correlation between the number of individuals in a population and toolkit size, whereas similar studies of hunter-gatherer populations have found little evidence of such a link. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive review of the literature in this field of study and propose corollaries and interdisciplinary approaches with the goal of reconciling dissimilar findings into a more comprehensive view of cultural toolkit variation. This article is part of the theme issue 'Cross-disciplinary approaches to prehistoric demography'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Nicole Creanza
- Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240, USA
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17
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Fogarty L, Kandler A. The fundamentals of cultural adaptation: implications for human adaptation. Sci Rep 2020; 10:14318. [PMID: 32868809 PMCID: PMC7459347 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-70475-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2019] [Accepted: 06/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
The process of human adaptation to novel environments is a uniquely complex interplay between cultural and genetic changes. However, mechanistically, we understand little about these processes. To begin to untangle these threads of human adaptation we use mathematical models to describe and investigate cultural selective sweeps. We show that cultural sweeps differ in important ways from the genetic equivalents. The models show that the dynamics of cultural selective sweeps and, consequently, their differences from genetic sweeps depend critically on cultural transmission mechanisms. Further, we consider the effect of processes unique to culture such as foresight and innovations in response to an environmental change on adaptation. Finally we show that a 'cultural evolutionary rescue', or the survival of an endangered population by means of cultural adaptation, is possible. We suggest that culture might make a true, genetic, evolutionary rescue plausible for human populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurel Fogarty
- Theory in Cultural Evolution Lab, Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Anne Kandler
- Theory in Cultural Evolution Lab, Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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18
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Miu E, Morgan TJH. Cultural adaptation is maximised when intelligent individuals rarely think for themselves. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2020; 2:e43. [PMID: 37588362 PMCID: PMC10427482 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2020.42] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans are remarkable in their reliance on cultural inheritance, and the ecological success this has produced. Nonetheless, we lack a thorough understanding of how the cognitive underpinnings of cultural transmission affect cultural adaptation across diverse tasks. Here, we use an agent-based simulation to investigate how different learning mechanisms (both social and asocial) interact with task structure to affect cultural adaptation. Specifically, we compared learning through refinement, recombination or both, in tasks of different difficulty, with learners of different asocial intelligence. We find that for simple tasks all learning mechanisms are roughly equivalent. However, for hard tasks, performance was maximised when populations consisted of highly intelligent individuals who nonetheless rarely innovated and instead recombined existing information. Our results thus show that cumulative cultural adaptation relies on the combination of individual intelligence and 'blind' population-level processes, although the former may be rarely used. The counterintuitive requirement that individuals be highly intelligent, but rarely use this intelligence, may help resolve the debate over the role of individual intelligence in cultural adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Miu
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change and Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Thomas J. H. Morgan
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change and Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
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19
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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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20
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Hamilton MJ, Walker RS, Buchanan B, Sandeford DS. Scaling human sociopolitical complexity. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0234615. [PMID: 32614836 PMCID: PMC7332085 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234615] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2019] [Accepted: 05/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Human societies exhibit a diversity of social organizations that vary widely in size, structure, and complexity. Today, human sociopolitical complexity ranges from stateless small-scale societies of a few hundred individuals to complex states of millions, most of this diversity evolving only over the last few hundred years. Understanding how sociopolitical complexity evolved over time and space has always been a central focus of the social sciences. Yet despite this long-term interest, a quantitative understanding of how sociopolitical complexity varies across cultures is not well developed. Here we use scaling analysis to examine the statistical structure of a global sample of over a thousand human societies across multiple levels of sociopolitical complexity. First, we show that levels of sociopolitical complexity are self-similar as adjacent levels of jurisdictional hierarchy see a four-fold increase in population size, a two-fold increase in geographic range, and therefore a doubling of population density. Second, we show how this self-similarity leads to the scaling of population size and geographic range. As societies increase in complexity population density is reconfigured in space and quantified by scaling parameters. However, there is considerable overlap in population metrics across all scales suggesting that while more complex societies tend to have larger and denser populations, larger and denser populations are not necessarily more complex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcus J. Hamilton
- Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States of America
| | - Robert S. Walker
- Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States of America
| | - Briggs Buchanan
- Department of Anthropology, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK, United States of America
| | - David S. Sandeford
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States of America
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21
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Thierry B, Deneubourg JL, Poulin N. Modelling persistence over generations in biological and cultural evolution based on differential paces of change. Biosystems 2020; 196:104189. [PMID: 32599013 DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2020.104189] [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: 04/07/2020] [Revised: 06/17/2020] [Accepted: 06/18/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Paces of change are faster in cultural evolution than in biological evolution due to different levels of stability in information storage. This study develops mathematical models to investigate the consequences of differential mutation rates on the ability of groups of information units to survive over many generations. We examined the ability of groups composed of connected units to live on despite the occurrence of deleterious mutations that occur at probabilities ranging from 10-1 to 10-6. It appears that the degree of connection between units should be high enough for groups to persist across generations, but this alone did not ensure their survival; when groups of units were limited in size and subjected to high mutation rates, they did not survive for very long. By contrast, a significant proportion of groups were able to survive numerous generations if mutation rates were low and/or group size was large. The results revealed that the mean number of surviving generations was minimized for certain sizes of groups. When allowing information units to duplicate at each generation, simulation showed that a great number of groups avoided extinction even when mutating at the rate of cultural change if the initial group size was large and the duplication rate was high enough to counteract the consequences of environmental perturbations. The modelling described in this study sets out the conditions under which groups of units can survive along generations. It should serve as a basis for further investigations about the links between processes of biological and cultural changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bernard Thierry
- Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, CNRS, INRAE, Université de Tours, Nouzilly, France.
| | - Jean-Louis Deneubourg
- Center for Nonlinear Phenomena and Complex Systems (CENOLI), Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
| | - Nicolas Poulin
- CeStatS, Institut de Recherche Mathématique Avancée, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Strasbourg, France.
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22
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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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23
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Abstract
In this article, we model cultural knowledge as a capital in which individuals invest at a cost. To this end, following other models of cultural evolution, we explicitly consider the investments made by individuals in culture as life history decisions. Our aim is to understand what then determines the dynamics of cultural accumulation. We show that culture can accumulate provided it improves the efficiency of people's lives in such a way as to increase their productivity or, said differently, provided the knowledge created by previous generations improves the ability of subsequent generations to invest in new knowledge. Our central message is that this positive feedback allowing cultural accumulation can occur for many different reasons. It can occur if cultural knowledge increases people's productivity, including in domains that have no connection with knowledge, because it frees up time that people can then spend learning and/or innovating. We also show that it can occur if cultural knowledge, and thus the higher level of resources that results from increased productivity, leads individuals to modify their life history decisions through phenotypic plasticity. Finally, we show that it can occur if technical knowledge reduces the effective cost of its own acquisition via division of labour. These results suggest that culture should not be defined only as a set of knowledge and skills but, more generally, as all the capital that has been produced by previous generations and that continues to affect current generations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Baptiste André
- Institut Jean Nicod, Département d’études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, PSL Research University, CNRS, ParisFrance
| | - Nicolas Baumard
- Institut Jean Nicod, Département d’études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, PSL Research University, CNRS, ParisFrance
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24
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Moncel MH, Ashton N, Arzarello M, Fontana F, Lamotte A, Scott B, Muttillo B, Berruti G, Nenzioni G, Tuffreau A, Peretto C. Early Levallois core technology between Marine Isotope Stage 12 and 9 in Western Europe. J Hum Evol 2020; 139:102735. [PMID: 32078934 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.102735] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2018] [Revised: 12/11/2019] [Accepted: 12/11/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Early Levallois core technology is usually dated in Europe to the end of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 9 and particularly from the beginning of MIS 8 to MIS 6. This technology is considered as one of the markers of the transition from lower to Middle Paleolithic or from Mode 2 to Mode 3. Recent discoveries show that some lithic innovations actually appeared earlier in western Europe, from MIS 12 to MIS 9, contemporaneous with changes in subsistence strategies and the first appearance of early Neanderthal anatomical features. Among these discoveries, there is the iconic Levallois core technology. A selection of well-dated assemblages in the United Kingdom, France, and Italy dated from MIS 12 to 9, which include both cores and flakes with Levallois features, has been described and compared with the aim of characterizing this technology. The conclusion supports the interpretation that several technical features may be attributed to a Levallois technology similar to those observed in younger Middle Paleolithic sites, distinct from the main associated core technologies in each level. Some features in the sample of sites suggest a gradual transformation of existing core technologies. The small evidence of Levallois could indicate occasional local innovations from different technological backgrounds and would explain the diversity of Levallois methods that is observed from MIS 12. The technological roots of Levallois technology in the Middle Pleistocene would suggest a multiregional origin and diffusion in Europe and early evidence of regionalization of local traditions through Europe from MIS 12 to 9. The relationships of Levallois technology with new needs and behaviors are discussed, such as flake preference, functional reasons related to hunting and hafting, an increase in the use of mental templates in European populations, and changes in the structure of hominin groups adapting to climatic and environmental changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie-Hélène Moncel
- UMR 7194 CNRS - Département Hommes et Environnement, Muséum National D'Histoire Naturelle, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, Paris, France.
| | - Nick Ashton
- Department Britain, Europe & Prehistory, British Museum, Franks House, 56 Orsman Road, London N1 5QJ, UK
| | - Marta Arzarello
- Sezione di Scienze Preistoriche e Antropologiche, Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università Degli Studi di Ferrara, Corso Ercole I D'Este, 32, I-44121, Italy
| | - Federica Fontana
- Sezione di Scienze Preistoriche e Antropologiche, Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università Degli Studi di Ferrara, Corso Ercole I D'Este, 32, I-44121, Italy
| | - Agnès Lamotte
- University of Lille, UMR 8164, Bâtiment de Géographie, Avenue Paul Langevin, Villeneuve D'Ascq, France
| | - Beccy Scott
- Sezione di Scienze Preistoriche e Antropologiche, Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università Degli Studi di Ferrara, Corso Ercole I D'Este, 32, I-44121, Italy
| | - Brunella Muttillo
- Sezione di Scienze Preistoriche e Antropologiche, Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università Degli Studi di Ferrara, Corso Ercole I D'Este, 32, I-44121, Italy
| | - Gabriele Berruti
- Sezione di Scienze Preistoriche e Antropologiche, Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università Degli Studi di Ferrara, Corso Ercole I D'Este, 32, I-44121, Italy; Museo di Archeologia e Paleontologia C. Conti, Borgosesia, Italy
| | | | - Alain Tuffreau
- University of Lille, UMR 8164, Bâtiment de Géographie, Avenue Paul Langevin, Villeneuve D'Ascq, France
| | - Carlo Peretto
- Sezione di Scienze Preistoriche e Antropologiche, Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università Degli Studi di Ferrara, Corso Ercole I D'Este, 32, I-44121, Italy
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Abstract
Cumulative technological culture (CTC) refers to the increase in the efficiency and complexity of tools and techniques in human populations over generations. A fascinating question is to understand the cognitive origins of this phenomenon. Because CTC is definitely a social phenomenon, most accounts have suggested a series of cognitive mechanisms oriented toward the social dimension (e.g., teaching, imitation, theory of mind, and metacognition), thereby minimizing the technical dimension and the potential influence of non-social, cognitive skills. What if we have failed to see the elephant in the room? What if social cognitive mechanisms were only catalyzing factors and not the sufficient and necessary conditions for the emergence of CTC? In this article, we offer an alternative, unified cognitive approach to this phenomenon by assuming that CTC originates in non-social cognitive skills, namely technical-reasoning skills which enable humans to develop the technical potential necessary to constantly acquire and improve technical information. This leads us to discuss how theory of mind and metacognition, in concert with technical reasoning, can help boost CTC. The cognitive approach developed here opens up promising new avenues for reinterpreting classical issues (e.g., innovation, emulation vs. imitation, social vs. asocial learning, cooperation, teaching, and overimitation) in a field that has so far been largely dominated by other disciplines, such as evolutionary biology, mathematics, anthropology, archeology, economics, and philosophy.
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26
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Niekus MJLT, Kozowyk PRB, Langejans GHJ, Ngan-Tillard D, van Keulen H, van der Plicht J, Cohen KM, van Wingerden W, van Os B, Smit BI, Amkreutz LWSW, Johansen L, Verbaas A, Dusseldorp GL. Middle Paleolithic complex technology and a Neandertal tar-backed tool from the Dutch North Sea. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:22081-22087. [PMID: 31636186 PMCID: PMC6825292 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1907828116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
We report the discovery of a 50,000-y-old birch tar-hafted flint tool found off the present-day coastline of The Netherlands. The production of adhesives and multicomponent tools is considered complex technology and has a prominent place in discussions about the evolution of human behavior. This find provides evidence on the technological capabilities of Neandertals and illuminates the currently debated conditions under which these technologies could be maintained. 14C-accelerator mass spectrometry dating and the geological provenance of the artifact firmly associates it with a host of Middle Paleolithic stone tools and a Neandertal fossil. The find was analyzed using pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, X-ray micro-computed tomography, and optical light microscopy. The object is a piece of birch tar, encompassing one-third of a flint flake. This find is from northwestern Europe and complements a small set of well-dated and chemically identified adhesives from Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age contexts. Together with data from experiments and other Middle Paleolithic adhesives, it demonstrates that Neandertals mastered complex adhesive production strategies and composite tool use at the northern edge of their range. Thus, a large population size is not a necessary condition for complex behavior and technology. The mitigation of ecological risk, as demonstrated by the challenging conditions during Marine Isotope Stage 4 and 3, provides a better explanation for the transmission and maintenance of technological complexity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcel J L Th Niekus
- Stichting STONE/Foundation for Stone Age Research in The Netherlands, 9741 KW Groningen, The Netherlands;
| | - Paul R B Kozowyk
- Faculty of Archeology, Leiden University, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands;
| | - Geeske H J Langejans
- Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands;
- Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg 2092, South Africa
| | - Dominique Ngan-Tillard
- Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CN Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Henk van Keulen
- Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, 1071 ZC Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Johannes van der Plicht
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Kim M Cohen
- Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, 3584 CB Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | | | - Bertil van Os
- Cultural Heritage Agency of The Netherlands, 3811 MG Amersfoort, The Netherlands
| | - Bjørn I Smit
- Cultural Heritage Agency of The Netherlands, 3811 MG Amersfoort, The Netherlands
| | - Luc W S W Amkreutz
- Faculty of Archeology, Leiden University, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands
- National Museum of Antiquities, 2301 EC Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Lykke Johansen
- Archeological Drawings and Analyses, 9751 SC Haren, The Netherlands
| | - Annemieke Verbaas
- Faculty of Archeology, Leiden University, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Gerrit L Dusseldorp
- Faculty of Archeology, Leiden University, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands
- Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg 2092, South Africa
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27
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Reply to Martens: Various factors may enable large populations to enhance cumulative cultural evolution, but more evidence is needed. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:17161-17162. [PMID: 31420519 PMCID: PMC6717275 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1911176116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
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28
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Smolla M, Akçay E. Cultural selection shapes network structure. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2019; 5:eaaw0609. [PMID: 31453324 PMCID: PMC6693906 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw0609] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2018] [Accepted: 07/10/2019] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Cultural evolution relies on the social transmission of cultural traits along a population's social network. Research indicates that network structure affects information spread and thus the capacity for cumulative culture. However, how network structure itself is driven by population-culture co-evolution remains largely unclear. We use a simple model to investigate how populations negotiate the trade-off between acquiring new skills and getting better at existing skills and how this trade-off shapes social networks. We find unexpected eco-evolutionary feedbacks from culture onto social networks and vice versa. We show that selecting for skill generalists results in sparse networks with diverse skill sets, whereas selecting for skill specialists results in dense networks and a population that specializes on the same few skills on which everyone is an expert. Our model advances our understanding of the complex feedbacks in cultural evolution and demonstrates how individual-level behavior can lead to the emergence of population-level structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Smolla
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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29
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Pargeter J, Khreisheh N, Stout D. Understanding stone tool-making skill acquisition: Experimental methods and evolutionary implications. J Hum Evol 2019; 133:146-166. [PMID: 31358178 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.05.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2019] [Revised: 05/22/2019] [Accepted: 05/22/2019] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Despite its theoretical importance, the process of stone tool-making skill acquisition remains understudied and poorly understood. The challenges and costs of skill learning constitute an oft-neglected factor in the evaluation of alternative adaptive strategies and a potential source of bias in cultural transmission. Similarly, theory and data indicate that the most salient neural and cognitive demands of stone tool-making should occur during learning rather than expert performance. Unfortunately, the behavioral complexity and extensive learning requirements that make stone knapping skill acquisition an interesting object of study are the very features that make it so challenging to investigate experimentally. Here we present results from a multidisciplinary study of Late Acheulean handaxe-making skill acquisition involving twenty-six naïve participants and up to 90 hours training over several months, accompanied by a battery of psychometric, behavioral, and neuroimaging assessments. In this initial report, we derive a robust quantitative skill metric for the experimental handaxes using machine learning algorithms, reconstruct a group-level learning curve, and explore sources of individual variation in learning outcomes. Results identify particular cognitive targets of selection on the efficiency or reliability of tool-making skill acquisition, quantify learning costs, highlight the likely importance of social support, motivation, persistence, and self-control in knapping skill acquisition, and illustrate methods for reliably reconstructing ancient learning processes from archaeological evidence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin Pargeter
- Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Rock Art Research Institute, School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
| | | | - Dietrich Stout
- Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
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30
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Tureček P, Slavík J, Kozák M, Havlíček J. Non-particulate inheritance revisited: evolution in systems with Parental Variability-Dependent Inheritance. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blz041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Petr Tureček
- Department of Philosophy and History of Science, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Jakub Slavík
- Department of Stochastic Informatics, Institute of Information Theory and Automation, The Czech Academy of Sciences, Pod Vodárenskou věží Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Michal Kozák
- Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Trojanova, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Jan Havlíček
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná, Prague, Czech Republic
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31
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Sterelny K. Afterword: Tough Questions; Hard Problems; Incremental Progress. Top Cogn Sci 2019; 12:766-783. [PMID: 31025469 DOI: 10.1111/tops.12427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2019] [Accepted: 04/02/2019] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The papers in this issue have specific and focused targets that are essential for making incremental progress on the very difficult problem of identifying the coevolutionary interactions of cognition and culture. The purpose of this paper is to discern the shape of a few of the large problems that loom over these more narrowly focussed papers, and to explain and assess the ways these papers contribute to their solution. The background problems described are (a) the character of the selective interactions between the evolution of culture and of cognition; (b) the special features of cumulative cultural evolution; and (c) the place of language in an account of cognition-culture coevolution. The paper ends with some reflections on the extraordinarily difficult challenge of testing scenarios in this field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kim Sterelny
- School of Philosophy, Research School of the Social Sciences, Australian National University
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32
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Tools, trails and time: Debating Acheulian group size at Attirampakkam, India. J Hum Evol 2019; 130:109-125. [PMID: 31010538 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.02.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2018] [Revised: 02/12/2019] [Accepted: 02/21/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Estimating Acheulian group sizes based on a fragmentary archaeological record is fraught with difficulties, more so in regions like India, where lithics form the primary source of information. Here, we review current approaches towards modeling group size in Indian archaeology. We then examine to what extent one may address issues related to seasonality, fission-fusion strategies and group size in the context of Acheulian sites, drawing on our research along the southeastern coast of India. We move between multiple scales of analysis: from the regional Acheulian archaeological record to specific studies at the site of Attirampakkam (ATM). We consider aspects of site distribution, sizes, artefact densities and Acheulian lithic reduction strategies, factoring in issues related to geomorphology, taphonomy and chronology. Acheulian hominins occupied the study region over the early to middle Pleistocene, and the fragmented lithic reduction sequence noted on landscape scales suggests diverse site functions structured by ease of access to quartzite raw material for large flake production in addition to other resources. In contrast to most sites, the absence of raw material at ATM necessitated groups to anticipate this, and organize their behavior on landscape scales, and on-site, to resolve this issue. We show how successive groups were attracted to the site over the early Pleistocene, potentially aiming at exploiting seasonally predictable biological resources in a riparian environment, knowledge of which was transmitted across generations. Considerations of the spatial and temporal variability in artefact densities across a vast site area, along with aspects of the lithic reduction sequences suggests a short-duration occupation by a potentially large group, possibly resulting from aggregation of several small groups as noted in some ethnographic examples of hunter-gatherer fission-fusion strategies. We show drastic changes in behavioral organization in the succeeding Middle Palaeolithic phases at the site and in the region.
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33
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Abstract
The extent to which larger populations enhance cumulative cultural evolution (CCE) is contentious. We report a large-scale experiment (n = 543) that investigates the CCE of technology (paper planes and their flight distances) using a transmission-chain design. Population size was manipulated such that participants could learn from the paper planes constructed by one, two, or four models from the prior generation. These social-learning conditions were compared with an asocial individual-learning condition in which individual participants made repeated attempts at constructing a paper plane, without having access to any planes produced by other participants. Larger populations generated greater variation in plane performance and gave participants access to better-adapted planes, but this did not enhance CCE. In fact, there was an inverse relationship between population size and CCE: plane flight distance did not improve over the experimental generations in the 2-Model and 4-Model conditions, but did improve over generations in the 1-Model social-learning condition. The incremental improvement in plane flight distance in the 1-Model social-learning condition was comparable to that in the Individual Learning condition, highlighting the importance of trial-and-error learning to artifact innovation and adaptation. An exploratory analysis indicated that the greater variation participants had access to in the larger populations may have overwhelmed their working memory and weakened their ability to selectively copy the best-adapted plane(s). We conclude that larger populations do not enhance artifact performance via CCE, and that it may be only under certain specific conditions that larger population sizes enhance CCE.
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34
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Henderson K, Loreau M. An ecological theory of changing human population dynamics. PEOPLE AND NATURE 2019. [DOI: 10.1002/pan3.8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Kirsten Henderson
- Centre for Biodiversity, Theory, and Modelling Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS Moulis France
| | - Michel Loreau
- Centre for Biodiversity, Theory, and Modelling Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS Moulis France
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35
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36
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van Schaik CP, Pradhan GR, Tennie C. Teaching and curiosity: sequential drivers of cumulative cultural evolution in the hominin lineage. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-018-2610-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
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37
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Reali F, Chater N, Christiansen MH. Simpler grammar, larger vocabulary: How population size affects language. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 285:rspb.2017.2586. [PMID: 29367397 PMCID: PMC5805949 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.2586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2017] [Accepted: 01/02/2018] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Languages with many speakers tend to be structurally simple while small communities sometimes develop languages with great structural complexity. Paradoxically, the opposite pattern appears to be observed for non-structural properties of language such as vocabulary size. These apparently opposite patterns pose a challenge for theories of language change and evolution. We use computational simulations to show that this inverse pattern can depend on a single factor: ease of diffusion through the population. A population of interacting agents was arranged on a network, passing linguistic conventions to one another along network links. Agents can invent new conventions, or replicate conventions that they have previously generated themselves or learned from other agents. Linguistic conventions are either Easy or Hard to diffuse, depending on how many times an agent needs to encounter a convention to learn it. In large groups, only linguistic conventions that are easy to learn, such as words, tend to proliferate, whereas small groups where everyone talks to everyone else allow for more complex conventions, like grammatical regularities, to be maintained. Our simulations thus suggest that language, and possibly other aspects of culture, may become simpler at the structural level as our world becomes increasingly interconnected.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florencia Reali
- Department of Psychology, Universidad de los Andes, G230, Cra. 1 Nro. 18A-12, Bogotá 11001000, Colombia
| | - Nick Chater
- Behavioural Science Group, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
| | - Morten H Christiansen
- Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Uris Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA .,The Interacting Minds Centre and School for Culture and Communication, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
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38
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Dyble M. The effect of dispersal on rates of cumulative cultural evolution. Biol Lett 2018; 14:rsbl.2018.0069. [PMID: 29491024 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2018.0069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2018] [Accepted: 02/09/2018] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to develop cultural adaptations to local environments is critical to the biological success of humans. Although overall population size and connectedness are thought to play an important role in increasing the rate of cumulative cultural evolution, the independent effect of dispersal rules on rates of cultural evolution has not been examined. Here, a computational model is used to explore the effect of dispersal on the rate of cultural evolution in traits transmitted patrilineally (from father to son), matrilineally (mother to daughter) and bilineally (through both sexes). Two dispersal conditions are modelled: patrilocality (where females disperse and males stay) and bilocality (where either sex may disperse). The results suggest that when only females disperse, the capacity for cumulative cultural evolution in traits shared only among males is severely constrained. This occurs even though overall rates of dispersal and the number of cultural models available to males and females are identical in both dispersal conditions. The constraints on the evolution of patrilineally inherited traits could be considered to represent a process of 'cultural inbreeding', analogous to genetic inbreeding.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Dyble
- Jesus College, University of Cambridge, Jesus Lane, Cambridge CB5 8BL, UK .,Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
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39
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Muthukrishna M, Doebeli M, Chudek M, Henrich J. The Cultural Brain Hypothesis: How culture drives brain expansion, sociality, and life history. PLoS Comput Biol 2018; 14:e1006504. [PMID: 30408028 PMCID: PMC6224031 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2018] [Accepted: 09/12/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
In the last few million years, the hominin brain more than tripled in size. Comparisons across evolutionary lineages suggest that this expansion may be part of a broader trend toward larger, more complex brains in many taxa. Efforts to understand the evolutionary forces driving brain expansion have focused on climatic, ecological, and social factors. Here, building on existing research on learning, we analytically and computationally model the predictions of two closely related hypotheses: The Cultural Brain Hypothesis and the Cumulative Cultural Brain Hypothesis. The Cultural Brain Hypothesis posits that brains have been selected for their ability to store and manage information, acquired through asocial or social learning. The model of the Cultural Brain Hypothesis reveals relationships between brain size, group size, innovation, social learning, mating structures, and the length of the juvenile period that are supported by the existing empirical literature. From this model, we derive a set of predictions-the Cumulative Cultural Brain Hypothesis-for the conditions that favor an autocatalytic take-off characteristic of human evolution. This narrow evolutionary pathway, created by cumulative cultural evolution, may help explain the rapid expansion of human brains and other aspects of our species' life history and psychology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Muthukrishna
- Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Michael Doebeli
- Department of Zoology / Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Maciej Chudek
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Joseph Henrich
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Canada
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40
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Aoki K. On the absence of a correlation between population size and 'toolkit size' in ethnographic hunter-gatherers. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2018; 373:rstb.2017.0061. [PMID: 29440526 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/26/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
In apparent contradiction to the theoretically predicted effect of population size on the quality/quantity of material culture, statistical analyses on ethnographic hunter-gatherers have shown an absence of correlation between population size and toolkit size. This has sparked a heated, if sometimes tangential, debate as to the usefulness of the theoretical models and as to what modes of cultural transmission humans are capable of and hunter-gatherers rely on. I review the directly relevant theoretical literature and argue that much of the confusion is caused by a mismatch between the theoretical variable and the empirical observable. I then confirm that a model incorporating the appropriate variable does predict a positive association between population size and toolkit size for random oblique, vertical, best-of-K, conformist, anticonformist, success bias and one-to-many cultural transmission, with the caveat that for all populations sampled, the population size has remained constant and toolkit size has reached the equilibrium for this population size. Finally, I suggest three theoretical scenarios, two of them involving variable population size, that would attenuate or eliminate this association and hence help to explain the empirical absence of correlation.This article is part of the theme issue 'Bridging cultural gaps: interdisciplinary studies in human cultural evolution'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kenichi Aoki
- Organization for the Strategic Coordination of Research and Intellectual Properties, Meiji University, 4-21-1 Nakano, Tokyo 164-8525, Japan
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41
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Derex M, Perreault C, Boyd R. Divide and conquer: intermediate levels of population fragmentation maximize cultural accumulation. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2018; 373:rstb.2017.0062. [PMID: 29440527 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/01/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Identifying the determinants of cumulative cultural evolution is a key issue in the interdisciplinary field of cultural evolution. A widely held view is that large and well-connected social networks facilitate cumulative cultural evolution because they promote the spread of useful cultural traits and prevent the loss of cultural knowledge through factors such as drift. This view stems from models that focus on the transmission of cultural information, without considering how new cultural traits actually arise. In this paper, we review the literature from various fields that suggest that, under some circumstances, increased connectedness can decrease cultural diversity and reduce innovation rates. Incorporating this idea into an agent-based model, we explore the effect of population fragmentation on cumulative culture and show that, for a given population size, there exists an intermediate level of population fragmentation that maximizes the rate of cumulative cultural evolution. This result is explained by the fact that fully connected, non-fragmented populations are able to maintain complex cultural traits but produce insufficient variation and so lack the cultural diversity required to produce highly complex cultural traits. Conversely, highly fragmented populations produce a variety of cultural traits but cannot maintain complex ones. In populations with intermediate levels of fragmentation, cultural loss and cultural diversity are balanced in a way that maximizes cultural complexity. Our results suggest that population structure needs to be taken into account when investigating the relationship between demography and cumulative culture.This article is part of the theme issue 'Bridging cultural gaps: interdisciplinary studies in human cultural evolution'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxime Derex
- Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA .,Human Biological and Cultural Evolution Group, Department of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Penryn TR10 9FE, UK.,Laboratory for Experimental Anthropology-ETHICS (EA 7446), Lille Catholic University, 59016 Lille, France
| | - Charles Perreault
- Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.,School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Robert Boyd
- Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.,School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
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42
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Watts J, Sheehan O, Bulbulia J, Gray RD, Atkinson QD. Christianity spread faster in small, politically structured societies. Nat Hum Behav 2018; 2:559-564. [DOI: 10.1038/s41562-018-0379-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2017] [Accepted: 06/18/2018] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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43
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A serial founder effect model of phonemic diversity based on phonemic loss in low-density populations. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0198346. [PMID: 29856877 PMCID: PMC5983421 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0198346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2017] [Accepted: 05/17/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
It has been observed that the number of phonemes in languages in use today tends to decrease with increasing distance from Africa. A previous formal model has recently reproduced the observed cline, but under two strong assumptions. Here we tackle the question of whether an alternative explanation for the worldwide phonemic cline is possible, by using alternative assumptions. The answer is affirmative. We show this by formalizing a proposal, following Atkinson, that this pattern may be due to a repeated bottleneck effect and phonemic loss. In our simulations, low-density populations lose phonemes during the Out-of-Africa dispersal of modern humans. Our results reproduce the observed global cline for the number of phonemes. In addition, we also detect a cline of phonemic diversity and reproduce it using our simulation model. We suggest how future work could determine whether the previous model or the new one (or even a combination of them) is valid. Simulations also show that the clines can still be present even 300 kyr after the Out-of-Africa dispersal, which is contrary to some previous claims which were not supported by numerical simulations.
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44
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Fogarty L, Creanza N. The niche construction of cultural complexity: interactions between innovations, population size and the environment. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2018; 372:rstb.2016.0428. [PMID: 29061900 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2016.0428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/03/2017] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Niche construction is a process through which organisms alter their environments and, in doing so, influence or change the selective pressures to which they are subject. 'Cultural niche construction' refers specifically to the effect of cultural traits on the selective environments of other biological or cultural traits and may be especially important in human evolution. In addition, the relationship between population size and cultural accumulation has been the subject of extensive debate, in part because anthropological studies have demonstrated a significant association between population size and toolkit complexity in only a subset of studied cultures. Here, we review the role of cultural innovation in constructing human evolutionary niches and introduce a new model to describe the accumulation of human cultural traits that incorporates the effects of cultural niche construction. We consider the results of this model in light of available data on human toolkit sizes across populations to help elucidate the important differences between food-gathering societies and food-producing societies, in which niche construction may be a more potent force. These results support the idea that a population's relationship with its environment, represented here by cultural niche construction, should be considered alongside population size in studies of cultural complexity.This article is part of the themed issue 'Process and pattern in innovations from cells to societies'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurel Fogarty
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, UK .,CoMPLEX, University College London, London, UK
| | - Nicole Creanza
- Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
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45
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Weinberger VP, Quiñinao C, Marquet PA. Innovation and the growth of human population. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2018; 372:rstb.2016.0415. [PMID: 29061888 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2016.0415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/31/2017] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Biodiversity is sustained by and is essential to the services that ecosystems provide. Different species would use these services in different ways, or adaptive strategies, which are sustained in time by continuous innovations. Using this framework, we postulate a model for a biological species (Homo sapiens) in a finite world where innovations, aimed at increasing the flux of ecosystem services (a measure of habitat quality), increase with population size, and have positive effects on the generation of new innovations (positive feedback) as well as costs in terms of negatively affecting the provision of ecosystem services. We applied this model to human populations, where technological innovations are driven by cumulative cultural evolution. Our model shows that depending on the net impact of a technology on the provision of ecosystem services (θ), and the strength of technological feedback (ξ), different regimes can result. Among them, the human population can fill the entire planet while maximizing their well-being, but not exhaust ecosystem services. However, this outcome requires positive or green technologies that increase the provision of ecosystem services with few negative externalities or environmental costs, and that have a strong positive feedback in generating new technologies of the same kind. If the feedback is small, then the technological stock can collapse together with the human population. Scenarios where technological innovations generate net negative impacts may be associated with a limited technological stock as well as a limited human population at equilibrium and the potential for collapse. The only way to fill the planet with humans under this scenario of negative technologies is by reducing the technological stock to a minimum. Otherwise, the only feasible equilibrium is associated with population collapse. Our model points out that technological innovations per se may not help humans to grow and dominate the planet. Instead, different possibilities unfold for our future depending on their impact on the environment and on further innovation.This article is part of the themed issue 'Process and pattern in innovations from cells to societies'.
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Affiliation(s)
- V P Weinberger
- Departamento de Ecología, CSIC-PUC), Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Alameda 340, Santiago, Chile.,Instituto de Ecología & Biodiversidad (IEB), Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile
| | - C Quiñinao
- CIMFAV, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Valparaíso, General Cruz 222, Valparaíso, Chile.,Instituto de Ciencias de la Ingeniería, Escuela de Ingeniería, Universidad de O'Higgins, Av. Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins 611, Rancagua, Chile
| | - P A Marquet
- Departamento de Ecología, CSIC-PUC), Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Alameda 340, Santiago, Chile .,Laboratorio Internacional en Cambio Global (LINCGlobal, CSIC-PUC), Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Alameda 340, Santiago, Chile.,Instituto de Ecología & Biodiversidad (IEB), Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile.,The Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA.,Centro de Cambio Global (PUC-Global), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.,Instituto de Sistemas Complejos de Valparaíso (ISCV), Artillería 470, Cerro Artillería, Valparaíso, Chile
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46
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Blinkhorn J, Petraglia MD. Environments and Cultural Change in the Indian Subcontinent. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2017. [DOI: 10.1086/693462] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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47
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Billiard S, Alvergne A. Stochasticity in cultural evolution: a revolution yet to happen. HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE LIFE SCIENCES 2017; 40:9. [PMID: 29181739 PMCID: PMC5876334 DOI: 10.1007/s40656-017-0173-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2016] [Accepted: 11/15/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Over the last 40 years or so, there has been an explosion of cultural evolution research in anthropology and archaeology. In each discipline, cultural evolutionists investigate how interactions between individuals translate into group level patterns, with the aim of explaining the diachronic dynamics and diversity of cultural traits. However, while much attention has been given to deterministic processes (e.g. cultural transmission biases), we contend that current evolutionary accounts of cultural change are limited because they do not adopt a systematic stochastic approach (i.e. accounting for the role of chance). First, we show that, in contrast with the intense debates in ecology and population genetics, the importance of stochasticity in evolutionary processes has generated little discussion in the sciences of cultural evolution to date. Second, we speculate on the reasons, both ideological and methodological, why that should be so. Third, we highlight the inadequacy of genetically-inspired stochastic models in the context of cultural evolution modelling, and ask which fundamental stochastic processes might be more relevant to take up. We conclude that the field of cultural evolution would benefit from a stochastic revolution. For that to occur, stochastic models ought to be developed specifically for cultural data and not through a copy-pasting of neutral models from population genetics or ecology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sylvain Billiard
- Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 8198, Evo-Eco-Paleo, 59000, Lille, France.
- School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | - Alexandra Alvergne
- School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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Vaesen K, Houkes W. Complexity and technological evolution: What everybody knows? BIOLOGY & PHILOSOPHY 2017; 32:1245-1268. [PMID: 29563656 PMCID: PMC5842246 DOI: 10.1007/s10539-017-9603-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2016] [Accepted: 10/28/2017] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
The consensus among cultural evolutionists seems to be that human cultural evolution is cumulative, which is commonly understood in the specific sense that cultural traits, especially technological traits, increase in complexity over generations. Here we argue that there is insufficient credible evidence in favor of or against this technological complexity thesis. For one thing, the few datasets that are available hardly constitute a representative sample. For another, they substantiate very specific, and usually different versions of the complexity thesis or, even worse, do not point to complexity increases. We highlight the problems our findings raise for current work in cultural-evolutionary theory, and present various suggestions for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Krist Vaesen
- Department Philosophy and Ethics, Eindhoven University of Technology, Postbox 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
- Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 2, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Wybo Houkes
- Department Philosophy and Ethics, Eindhoven University of Technology, Postbox 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
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Collard M, Vaesen K, Cosgrove R, Roebroeks W. The empirical case against the 'demographic turn' in Palaeolithic archaeology. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2017; 371:rstb.2015.0242. [PMID: 27298472 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/22/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Recently, it has become commonplace to interpret major transitions and other patterns in the Palaeolithic archaeological record in terms of population size. Increases in cultural complexity are claimed to result from increases in population size; decreases in cultural complexity are suggested to be due to decreases in population size; and periods of no change are attributed to low numbers or frequent extirpation. In this paper, we argue that this approach is not defensible. We show that the available empirical evidence does not support the idea that cultural complexity in hunter-gatherers is governed by population size. Instead, ethnographic and archaeological data suggest that hunter-gatherer cultural complexity is most strongly influenced by environmental factors. Because all hominins were hunter-gatherers until the Holocene, this means using population size to interpret patterns in the Palaeolithic archaeological record is problematic. In future, the population size hypothesis should be viewed as one of several competing hypotheses and its predictions formally tested alongside those of its competitors.This article is part of the themed issue 'Major transitions in human evolution'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Collard
- Human Evolutionary Studies Program and Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6 Department of Archaeology, University of Aberdeen, Elphinstone Road, Aberdeen AB24 3UF, UK
| | - Krist Vaesen
- School of Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eeuwsel IPO 1.14, 5612 AZ Eindhoven, The Netherlands Human Origins Group, Faculty of Archaeology, University of Leiden, Einsteinweg 2, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Richard Cosgrove
- Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Plenty Road, MB 167 Melbourne, Australia
| | - Wil Roebroeks
- Human Origins Group, Faculty of Archaeology, University of Leiden, Einsteinweg 2, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands
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Mesoudi A. Pursuing Darwin's curious parallel: Prospects for a science of cultural evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2017; 114:7853-7860. [PMID: 28739929 PMCID: PMC5544269 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1620741114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
In the past few decades, scholars from several disciplines have pursued the curious parallel noted by Darwin between the genetic evolution of species and the cultural evolution of beliefs, skills, knowledge, languages, institutions, and other forms of socially transmitted information. Here, I review current progress in the pursuit of an evolutionary science of culture that is grounded in both biological and evolutionary theory, but also treats culture as more than a proximate mechanism that is directly controlled by genes. Both genetic and cultural evolution can be described as systems of inherited variation that change over time in response to processes such as selection, migration, and drift. Appropriate differences between genetic and cultural change are taken seriously, such as the possibility in the latter of nonrandomly guided variation or transformation, blending inheritance, and one-to-many transmission. The foundation of cultural evolution was laid in the late 20th century with population-genetic style models of cultural microevolution, and the use of phylogenetic methods to reconstruct cultural macroevolution. Since then, there have been major efforts to understand the sociocognitive mechanisms underlying cumulative cultural evolution, the consequences of demography on cultural evolution, the empirical validity of assumed social learning biases, the relative role of transformative and selective processes, and the use of quantitative phylogenetic and multilevel selection models to understand past and present dynamics of society-level change. I conclude by highlighting the interdisciplinary challenges of studying cultural evolution, including its relation to the traditional social sciences and humanities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex Mesoudi
- Human Biological and Cultural Evolution Group, Department of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, United Kingdom
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