This article examines meat avoidance during pregnancy as an evolutionary adaptation. Data suggests that during pregnancy, meat avoidance is significantly more common cross-culturally than other types of food avoidance. The timing of meat avoidance, the presence of meat-borne pathogens, and sensory and ingestive changes in early pregnancy are also discussed.

Social scientists are equivocal as to the importance of teaching (as contrasted with other forms of learning) in traditional societies. While many cultural anthropologists have downplayed the importance of teaching, cognitive psychologists often argue that teaching is a salient human universal. Here the authors investigate cultural transmission among 23 hunter-gatherer populations to explore the relative importance of teaching among foragers.

Researcher's examine the presence of pubic hair removal (PHR) and retention in a cross-cultural setting, looking to see if such practices exist outside of the West, where it is well documented. Data from societies with PHR or retention from the eHRAF World Cultures sample were analyzed. Results indicate that PHR or retention exists cross-culturally without influence from the West. Commonly practiced for hygiene, women remove or retain pubic hair more often than men, with the main methods for removal being plucking.

Using a sample of 60 societies from eHRAF, this study explores the cross-cultural commonalities and differences in human-pet dynamics. The authors focus on understanding the range of functions of pets and the positive or negative treatment of pets. In addition, they test whether human investment in pets is a significant challenge of evolutionary theory. First, the results support that there are distinct functions of pets, challenging the common view of contemporary function of pets as emotional surrogates. Secondly, the data collected show an ambivalent treatment of pets across cultures, including small-scale societies. Finally, the research does not support the idea that human investment in pets sacrifices their reproductive success.

Researchers examine the ethnographic record, sampling 82 hunter gatherer societies from the HRAF World Cultures database, for cross-cultural patterns of archaeological evidence of knowledge of astronomy and constellations. Surveying the data, researchers identified many patterns in the upper paleolithic, noting the importance of further examination of this topic.

This article conducts a cross-cultural, comparative review of whether birds are bearers of signs using eHRAF World Cultures and published articles. The researchers first examine whether birds are thought of as signifiers and the mode of sign delivery be it voice, presence, or behavior. They also investigate whether biocultural salience is more indicative of passerines, near-passerines, or non-passerines.

This article examines the "sexual conflict" hypothesis which predicts that male genital mutilation should be associated with polygyny and a reduction in the frequency of extramarital sex. Male genital mutilation (MGM) rituals should be highly public and facilitate access to social benefits. Support for these assumptions is provided.

This study is a comprehensive analysis of female and male genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C and MGM/C) practices, including their history and socio-ecological correlates, using a phylogenetic cross-cultural framework. It employed two global ethnographic samples, the Ethnographic Atlas (EA) and the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS), and two subsets of the phylogeny (supertree) of human populations based on genetic and linguistic data, to investigate the variables that may have led to the introduction of these practices, and to determine where and when they may have originated. The study suggests that MGM/C probably originated in polygynous societies with separate residence for co-wives, supporting a mate-guarding function, and that FGM/C likely originated subsequently and almost exclusively in societies already practicing MGM/C, where it may have become a signal of chastity. Both practices are believed to have originated multiple times, some as early as in the mid-Holocene (5,000–7,000 years ago). The study posits that GM/C co-evolves with and may help maintain fundamental social structures and that the high fitness costs of FGM/C are offset by social benefits, such as enhanced marriageability and social capital.

The present research examines the consumption, treatment, and disposal of the human placenta in a sample of 179 societies. The findings reveal differences between placental mammals and humans as maternal placentophagy, the consumption of the placenta, is rare. Treatment and disposal of the placenta is variable but ubiquitous cross-culturally.

This article challenges ideas of cultural progressionism through an analysis of counting systems. Cultural adaptation in both biotic and abiotic environments is examined, and results suggest that culture adapts to both the human-made environment and the physical environment. The author asserts that “interpreting divergent and convergent behaviors as due to differences and similarities of local environments” is superior to a progressionist approach to cultural change (62).