This paper builds on previous Austronesian dispersal research that indicated rituals and social complexity gave rise to each other, by examining if marital residence and initiation rites co-evolved during the dispersal. Using a phylogenetic test and initiation data from 79 societies, the authors found evidence that female and male initiation rites co-evolved during the dispersal and were most stable when both initiation rites were present. The authors also suggest that proto-Austronesian society probably lacked initiation rites and such rites only developed later.

This paper builds on previous Austronesian dispersal research that indicated rituals and social complexity gave rise to each other, by examining if marital residence and initiation rites co-evolved during the dispersal. Using a phylogenetic test and initiation data from 79 societies, the authors found evidence that female and male initiation rites co-evolved during the dispersal and were most stable when both initiation rites were present. The authors also suggest that proto-Austronesian society probably lacked initiation rites and such rites only developed later.