Documents
- Cultural macroevolution mattersGray, Russell D. - PNAS, 2017 - 3 Hypotheses
Researchers sampled 106 Austronesian societies from the Pulotu database to study the way political complexity evolves in relation to religious beliefs and practices. Specifically, they attempt to test the causal theory that supernatural punishment played a causal role in the emergence of large, complex societies. They use phylogenetic models to control for Galton's Problem in testing the supernatural punishment hypothesis in an effort to demonstrate the effectiveness of utilizing cross-cultural datasets in evaluating evolutionary change in human social organization.
Related Documents Cite More By Author - The sequential evolution of land tenure normsKushnick, Geoff - Evolution and Human Behavior, 2014 - 9 Hypotheses
In this paper, the authors utilize phylogenetic methods to reconstruct the evolution of land tenure norms among 97 Austronesian societies. They coded these norms for each society as none (N), group (G), group-kin (K), and individual (I). After formulating various models of evolution through these various stages, they used Bayesian analysis to determine support for each. They conclude with remarks about this type of evolutionary phylogenetic research as a form of "virtual archeology."
Related Documents Cite More By Author - The sequential evolution of land tenure normsKushnik, Geoff - Evolution and Human Behavior, 2014 - 1 Hypotheses
The researchers use phylogenetic methods to map out the evolutionary trajectories of land tenure norms across 97 Austronesian societies. The analysis suggests the relevance of vertical transmission in patterning land tenure norms, rather than horizontal transmission. It also strongly supports a model along a N(none)-I(individual)-G(group)-K(kin) pathway.
Related Documents Cite More By Author - Geography is not destiny: A quantitative test of Diamond's axis of orientation hypothesisChira, Angela M. - Evolutionary Human Sciences, 2024 - 2 Hypotheses
Jared Diamond previously argued that the East-West orientation of Eurasia allowed for the spread of substantial cultural, political, technological, and military innovations, due to environmental homogeneity across the continent. The authors of this article test this theory through quantitative analyses. Their results suggest that ecology can indeed influence the potential for cultural transmission, consistent with Diamond's theory. However, the authors do not find support for Eurasia having lower environmental barriers to cultural transmission in comparison to other continents.
Related Documents Cite More By Author - Matrilocal residence is ancestral in Austronesian societiesJordan, Fiona M. - Proceedings Of The Royal Society, 2010 - 1 Hypotheses
Using linguistic trees as models of population history in combination with ethnographic data on kinship, the authors of the present study reconstruct post-marital residence rules of early Austronesian societies. Analyses include a Markov-chain Monte Carlo comparative method implemented in a Bayesian phylogenetic framework.
Related Documents Cite More By Author - Coevolution of landesque capital intensive agriculture and sociopolitical hierarchySheehan, Oliver - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2018 - 3 Hypotheses
Using phylogenetic methods, this research examines the relationship between landesque capital intensive agriculture ("permanent changes to landscape, such as construction of terraces and irrigation canals"(3631)) , political complexity, and social stratification amongst 155 Austronesian-speaking societies. Researchers attempted to find an underlying causality between the above mentioned variables, which have already been shown to be cross-culturally related. Results of statistical testing are most consistent with their being no clear causal link between the tested variables. The researchers claim this demonstrates social complexity and the multifaceted nature of cultural evolution.
Related Documents Cite More By Author - Evolutionary dynamics of language systemsGreenhill, Simon J. - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2017 - 3 Hypotheses
How do subsystems of language evolve over time? It is commonly assumed that grammatical changes of language are slower than vocabulary changes. Using a Dirichlet process mixture model to analyze rates of language evolution in 81 Austronesian languages, the authors find that to the contrary, the grammatical features of language tend to change at a faster rate than basic vocabulary. Furthermore, their results show that grammatical features have higher rates of homoplasy, more frequent contact-induced change, and less deliberate differentiation than basic vocabulary.
Related Documents Cite More By Author - Ritual human sacrifice promoted and sustained the evolution of stratified societiesWatts, Joseph - Nature, 2016 - 6 Hypotheses
The social control hypothesis suggests that ritual human sacrifice may have played an important role in the evolution of social stratification, functioning to legitimize class-based power distinctions by pairing displays of ultimate authority with supernatural justifications. Authors test this hypothesis about human sacrifice with a phylogenetic analysis of 93 Austronesian cultures.
Related Documents Cite More By Author - Rise and fall of political complexity in island South-East Asia and the PacificCurrie, Thomas E. - Nature, 2010 - 6 Hypotheses
A central issue in anthropology is the process through which political organization (sometimes referred to as cultural complexity) evolves: competing models typically argue for either incremental increases in complexity or larger, non-sequential increases in complexity. Here, the authors evaluate six different models of political evolution, utilizing a phylogenetic approach to analyze the evolution of 84 Austronesian-speaking societies.
Related Documents Cite More By Author - Christianity spread faster in small, politically structures societiesWatts, Joseph - Nature Human Behaviour, 2018 - 4 Hypotheses
The present study examines 70 Austronesian cultures to test whether political hierarchy, population size, and social inequality have been influential in the conversion of populations to Christianity. Cultural isolation and year of missionary arrival are control variables. Using phylogenetic generalized least squares (PGLS), the researchers test the effect of the three predictor variables on conversion to Christianity and also conduct a multivariate analysis with all variables. The results do not offer support for what is expected by top-down and bottom-up theories of conversion but instead for the general dynamics of cultural transmission.
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