This study focuses on death symbolism in relation to matrilineal descent. Findings suggest that matrilineal societies are more likely than patrilineal or bilateral societies to believe in ancestral spirits, reincarnation, and a quality of afterlife unconditioned on individual’s behavior.

This study focuses on death symbolism in relation to matrilineal descent. Findings suggest that matrilineal societies are more likely than patrilineal or bilateral societies to believe in ancestral spirits, reincarnation, and a quality of afterlife unconditioned on individual’s behavior.

This article presents a replication of Somersan's (1984) study of the relationship between death symbolism and descent group. The unsuccessful replication is attributed to sampling error. Codes are included.

This article presents a replication of Somersan's (1984) study of the relationship between death symbolism and descent group. The unsuccessful replication is attributed to sampling error. Codes are included.

The study builds on a previous study with the Maasai suggesting that matrilineal descent will close that gap of competitive behavior between men and women. The author conducted a lab experiment consisting of 614 individuals representative of 27 ethnic groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the experiment, the participants completed a timed matching game. First, they played alone with the goal to complete 5 games within 5 minutes to win money. Next, they competed against an undisclosed opponent to complete the most games and to keep all of the winnings. Finally, the participants were able to choose which pay they preferred based solely on the results from the first round. This was designed to reflect competition preference and results indicated that women were less likely to engage in competition regardless of kinship system.

This paper examines the behavior between close kin and affines of the opposite sex. The authors "point to certain differences between continental areas that are related to specific social factors, including the structure of descent groups and the nature of marriage arrangements."

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.

What is the evolutionary sequence of beliefs in hunter-gatherers? The authors attempt to answer this question by reconstructing the development of various traits in traditional societies using phylogenetic and linguistic source trees. Testing for correlated evolution between this reconstruction and population history as proxied by linguistic classification suggests the presence of animism at profound time depth, aligning with classical anthropological religious theory put forth by E.B. Tylor. Coevolutions between other religious concepts including shamanism, ancestor worship, active ancestor worship, high gods, active high gods, and belief in an afterlife are also examined.

What is the evolutionary sequence of beliefs in hunter-gatherers? The authors attempt to answer this question by reconstructing the development of various traits in traditional societies using phylogenetic and linguistic source trees. Testing for correlated evolution between this reconstruction and population history as proxied by linguistic classification suggests the presence of animism at profound time depth, aligning with classical anthropological religious theory put forth by E.B. Tylor. Coevolutions between other religious concepts including shamanism, ancestor worship, active ancestor worship, high gods, active high gods, and belief in an afterlife are also examined.

Using 57 cultures from the Human Relations Area Files database, this paper examines the function and effectiveness of the belief of punitive ancestors in small-scale societies. The authors found that belief in dangerous ancestral entities is widespread and common and that harm is preventable through ritualized mortuary practices. The authors concluded that the fear of ancestral spirits did not promote social cooperation or inhibit self-interest behavior, contrary to the supernatural punishment hypothesis.