Culture collections in the eHRAF databases are updated up to several times a year. Below is a brief summary of what cultures and traditions we have added or updated in eHRAF World Cultures and eHRAF Archaeology in the past year, followed by a preview of what we will be working on analyzing throughout 2022.

For several years, HRAF has been prioritizing additions to World Cultures which are part of the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS). The SCCS was created by George Peter Murdock and Douglas R. White in 1969 and consists of 186 anthropologically described societies chosen by the sample’s creators to be representative of the world’s cultures. The sample tried to minimize cultural relatedness, so only one society was chosen from a given culture area. Each society is pinpointed in time and space. Researchers coding variables for this sample are expected to adhere to the specified time and place focus. In July 2021, we announced that the complete set of 186 cultures is available in eHRAF World Cultures. This achievement represents a great milestone for HRAF and cross-cultural researchers coding data from eHRAF.

In Archaeology, completion of regional sequences is prioritized. The Western Africa sequence is all new, and will be completed in 2021. ND63 will complete a sequence that already includes ND60 Paleo-Arctic and ND50 Proto-Athapaskans. Two collections will be added to the Simple Random Sample (SRS), and one collection (Jamaicans) is part of a planned diaspora collection (more details available soon).

Cultures and Traditions Added in 2021

Cultures and Traditions Projected for 2022

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