This article tested multiple previous hypotheses for associations between matriliny and cultural traits typically associated with stability and loss (subsistence strategy, animal domestication, mating system, residence pattern, wealth transfer, and property succession). Combining both genetic and linguistic data, researchers formed a phylogenetic ‘supertree’ that includes 16 matrilineal populations. Using this dataset they performed various analyses to assess patterns of evolution of matriliny and matrilocality.

Through phylogenetic comparison, Holden and Mace explore the relationship between descent and cattle among a sample of 68 Bantu/Bantoid-speaking populations in Africa. The authors posit that when matrilineal cultures adopt cattle, they become patrilineal. Possible theories are offered to explain trends and variation in the data.

Considerable disagreement exists in regard to the origin and distribution of economic phenomena such as money, slavery, markets, exchange, and imbalanced transfers. Here the author utilizes a worldwide cross-cultural sample of 60 pre-industrial "societies" to empirically test many economic hypotheses, with a focus on distributional mechanisms and institutions.

This chapter explores and tests some propositions about matrilineal societies. Supplementary to that discussion, the author also explores the problems of method associated with the use of coded data on large samples of cultures.

The authors examine correlations between slavery and variables that can potentially be detected archaeologically. The authors do not test specific hypotheses, but aim to explore the variables in a broader sense. As such, the authors use a grounded theory approach to data analysis in order to examine trends that emerge from the data itself.

Researchers examined kinships terminology systems for explanations regarding specifically observed typology of kin terms for cousins cross-culturally. They explore two theories, the first relating to population size via bottleneck evolution, and the second relating to social practices that shape kinship systems. Using the Ethnographic Atlas within D-PLACE, 936 societies with kinship system information were studied. The findings did not suggest a relationship between increased community size and a decrease in kinship complexity, however the research does suggest a relationship between practices of marriage and descent and kinship complexity.

In order to evaluate previous claims of association between reliance on fishing and matrilineal inheritance practices, the researchers test the association between matriliny and reef density within a 10 km radius among the 186 societies of the Standard Cross Cultural Sample (SCCS). A positive correlation between these variables is complemented by a supplementary analysis of 56 villages in the Solomon Islands, intended to control for phylogenetic and demographic impacts on incidence of matriliny. The authors conclude that ecological factors such as reef density can and do have a direct effect on inheritance rules, with potential secondary effects on welfare and economic development.

In this study, the authors analyze the evolutionary history of female and male marital dispersal norms in Sino-Tibetan ethnic groups. They also test for the coevolution of agriculture, domesticated cattle pastoralism, and unilineal descent with these dispersal norms. Results indicate that early Sino-Tibetans were likely patrilocal, agriculture and unilineal descent coevolved with female dispersal norms, and cattle domestication did not coevolve with dispersal norms in Sino-Tibetan ethnic groups.

The second and third parts of this book classify the economic systems of foraging and agricultural societies in the SCCS based on correlations between their institutions of property an distribution. These economic types are then examined for relationships with other social, political, demographic, and environmental factors in order to draw tentative conclusions regarding the origins of the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions. The fourth part of the book uses cross-national data to examine similar associations in industrial/service economies, and is not included here.

This article posits an explanation of witchcraft based on developments of subsistence type and social stratification. In small foraging bands, individuals' fear systems evolved to detect deceit and other social dliemmas. Following a transition to farming communities, the fear system could become overstimulated, resulting in accusations of witchcraft. Various factors such as centralization of political control, property rights, and urbanization mark a shift toward more collectivist forms of social paranoia.