The Experts below are selected from a list of 246 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Thomas E Currie - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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broad supernatural punishment but not moralizing high gods precede the evolution of Political Complexity in austronesia
Proceedings of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2015Co-Authors: Joseph Watts, Thomas E Currie, Simon J Greenhill, Quentin D Atkinson, Joseph Bulbulia, Russell D GrayAbstract:Supernatural belief presents an explanatory challenge to evolutionary theorists—it is both costly and prevalent. One influential functional explanation claims that the imagined threat of supernatural punishment can suppress selfishness and enhance cooperation. Specifically, morally concerned supreme deities or ‘moralizing high gods9 have been argued to reduce free-riding in large social groups, enabling believers to build the kind of complex societies that define modern humanity. Previous cross-cultural studies claiming to support the MHG hypothesis rely on correlational analyses only and do not correct for the statistical non-independence of sampled cultures. Here we use a Bayesian phylogenetic approach with a sample of 96 Austronesian cultures to test the MHG hypothesis as well as an alternative supernatural punishment hypothesis that allows punishment by a broad range of moralizing agents. We find evidence that broad supernatural punishment drives Political Complexity, whereas MHGs follow Political Complexity. We suggest that the concept of MHGs diffused as part of a suite of traits arising from cultural exchange between complex societies. Our results show the power of phylogenetic methods to address long-standing debates about the origins and functions of religion in human society.
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Mode and tempo in the evolution of socio-Political organization: reconciling ‘Darwinian’ and ‘Spencerian’ evolutionary approaches in anthropology
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 2011Co-Authors: Thomas E Currie, Ruth MaceAbstract:Traditional investigations of the evolution of human social and Political institutions trace their ancestry back to nineteenth century social scientists such as Herbert Spencer, and have concentrated on the increase in socio-Political Complexity over time. More recent studies of cultural evolution have been explicitly informed by Darwinian evolutionary theory and focus on the transmission of cultural traits between individuals. These two approaches to investigating cultural change are often seen as incompatible. However, we argue that many of the defining features and assumptions of ‘Spencerian’ cultural evolutionary theory represent testable hypotheses that can and should be tackled within a broader ‘Darwinian’ framework. In this paper we apply phylogenetic comparative techniques to data from Austronesian-speaking societies of Island South-East Asia and the Pacific to test hypotheses about the mode and tempo of human socio-Political evolution. We find support for three ideas often associated with Spencerian cultural evolutionary theory: (i) Political organization has evolved through a regular sequence of forms, (ii) increases in hierarchical Political Complexity have been more common than decreases, and (iii) Political organization has co-evolved with the wider presence of hereditary social stratification.
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rise and fall of Political Complexity in island south east asia and the pacific
Nature, 2010Co-Authors: Thomas E Currie, Simon J Greenhill, Russell D Gray, Toshikazu Hasegawa, Rachel MaceAbstract:There is disagreement about whether human Political evolution has proceeded through a sequence of incremental increases in Complexity, or whether larger, non-sequential increases have occurred. The extent to which societies have decreased in Complexity is also unclear. These debates have continued largely in the absence of rigorous, quantitative tests. We evaluated six competing models of Political evolution in Austronesian-speaking societies using phylogenetic methods. Here we show that in the best-fitting model Political Complexity rises and falls in a sequence of small steps. This is closely followed by another model in which increases are sequential but decreases can be either sequential or in bigger drops. The results indicate that large, non-sequential jumps in Political Complexity have not occurred during the evolutionary history of these societies. This suggests that, despite the numerous contingent pathways of human history, there are regularities in cultural evolution that can be detected using computational phylogenetic methods.
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The evolutionary ecology of human groups
2009Co-Authors: Thomas E CurrieAbstract:I argue that thinking about human cultures as similar to biological species is a productive way to investigate human cultural diversity. I apply theory and methods from evolutionary biology to tackle questions about the evolution of human Political organisation and the diversity of ethnolinguistic groups. Phylogenetic comparative methods developed in biology have been applied to cultural systems. The use of such methods has been criticized because of the ability of cultural traits to be transmitted horizontally. I conducted simulations that revealed that under realistic scenarios horizontal transmission does not increase the chances of inferring false relationships between cultural traits in phylogenetic co-evolutionary analyses. Debates rage as to whether or not there have been regularities across cultures in the pattern and process of the evolution of human Political organization. I used linguistic and ethnographic data from a sample of Austronesian-speaking societies and employed a phylogenetic comparative method to test different models of the evolution of Political Complexity. The data support the hypothesis that societies pass through stages of Political organization in a particular order in the direction of increasing Complexity. Decreases in Complexity are also possible but may not follow a regular sequence. There is no evidence that the increase in Political Complexity over time in Austronesian societies is the result of a driving force. I also used phylogenetic comparative methods to investigate the coevolution of intensive agriculture and Political organization. I found that in Austronesian societies changes to complex chiefdoms and states are less likely unless agriculture has first been intensified. As with biological species there is a latitudinal gradient in the diversity human ethnolinguistic groups. I constructed a database that integrates language, ethnographic, and environmental data to test various hypotheses concerning the present day distribution of ethnolinguistic groups. Political Complexity was found to be an important predictor of the area a language covers.
Thomas R Rocek - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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socio Political organization in the aceramic neolithic of southwestern asia the complex evolution of socio Political Complexity
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2019Co-Authors: Michael Rosenberg, Thomas R RocekAbstract:Abstract Attempts to address the socio-Political organization of the early Neolithic mega-sites in southwestern Asia have generally been hampered by expectations derived from a view of socio-Political evolution rooted in a binary opposition of egalitarianism and hierarchy. We propose that the egalitarianism-hierarchy dichotomy can be unpacked with reference to the distinction between ideology and practice. Both social relations can coexist, with egalitarian ideologies constraining hierarchical practices, producing seemingly egalitarian leadership despite hierarchical practices. We also propose that there were ceremonial sodalities in these early Neolithic societies and that sodalities can be effective agents of social control, exemplifying this interaction of ideology and practice. We argue that the existence of sodalities in any given society is independent of any Political hierarchy as may or may not also exist and that the Political role of sodalities is independent of the influence-authority distinction underlying step-wise socio-Political evolutionary stages, invalidating such stages. Instead, we propose that there exist (reversible) threshold social conditions, only some contingently sequential, which falsely convey a sense of categorical evolutionary stages based solely on the presence of some threshold condition. The early Neolithic mega-sites illustrate the far broader spectrum and multidimensional range of possible socioPolitical organization produced by cultural evolution.
Nathan Craig - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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politywide analysis and imperial Political economy the relationship between valley Political Complexity and administrative centers in the wari empire of the central andes
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2001Co-Authors: Justin Jennings, Nathan CraigAbstract:Abstract This article tests a model for the Political economy of the Wari Empire (AD 600–1000) of Peru. This model divides the empire into core and periphery zones. In the core, Wari Political economy was organized to extract surplus agricultural production to feed the capital. In the periphery, the Wari strove to extract prestige goods. We suggest that there is a strong relationship between where the empire chose to locate its centers in the periphery and the Political Complexity of the local population in which the center was placed. We argue that in areas of low Political organization sites should be located near the geographic center of a population. These sites will tend to function as local administrative centers geared toward the organization and exploitation of the area's wealth potential. In areas with more complex Political organization sites should be located on the margins of a population. These sites should have functioned as gateway centers controlling, or at least profiting from, interregional exchange. Our model was systematically tested through the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The results suggest that much of the variability found in Wari site placement in the periphery can be explained by differences in local socioPolitical Complexity.
Russell D Gray - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Coevolution of landesque capital intensive agriculture and socioPolitical hierarchy
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2018Co-Authors: Oliver Sheehan, Russell D Gray, Joseph Watts, Quentin D AtkinsonAbstract:One of the defining trends of the Holocene has been the emergence of complex societies. Two essential features of complex societies are intensive resource use and socioPolitical hierarchy. Although it is widely agreed that these two phenomena are associated cross-culturally and have both contributed to the rise of complex societies, the causality underlying their relationship has been the subject of longstanding debate. Materialist theories of cultural evolution tend to view resource intensification as driving the development of hierarchy, but the reverse order of causation has also been advocated, along with a range of intermediate views. Phylogenetic methods have the potential to test between these different causal models. Here we report the results of a phylogenetic study that modeled the coevolution of one type of resource intensification—the development of landesque capital intensive agriculture—with Political Complexity and social stratification in a sample of 155 Austronesian-speaking societies. We found support for the coevolution of landesque capital with both Political Complexity and social stratification, but the contingent and nondeterministic nature of both of these relationships was clear. There was no indication that intensification was the “prime mover” in either relationship. Instead, the relationship between intensification and social stratification was broadly reciprocal, whereas Political Complexity was more of a driver than a result of intensification. These results challenge the materialist view and emphasize the importance of both material and social factors in the evolution of complex societies, as well as the complex and multifactorial nature of cultural evolution.
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Cultural macroevolution matters
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2017Co-Authors: Russell D Gray, Joseph WattsAbstract:Evolutionary thinking can be applied to both cultural microevolution and macroevolution. However, much of the current literature focuses on cultural microevolution. In this article, we argue that the growing availability of large cross-cultural datasets facilitates the use of computational methods derived from evolutionary biology to answer broad-scale questions about the major transitions in human social organization. Biological methods can be extended to human cultural evolution. We illustrate this argument with examples drawn from our recent work on the roles of Big Gods and ritual human sacrifice in the evolution of large, stratified societies. These analyses show that, although the presence of Big Gods is correlated with the evolution of Political Complexity, in Austronesian cultures at least, they do not play a causal role in ratcheting up Political Complexity. In contrast, ritual human sacrifice does play a causal role in promoting and sustaining the evolution of stratified societies by maintaining and legitimizing the power of elites. We briefly discuss some common objections to the application of phylogenetic modeling to cultural evolution and argue that the use of these methods does not require a commitment to either gene-like cultural inheritance or to the view that cultures are like vertebrate species. We conclude that the careful application of these methods can substantially enhance the prospects of an evolutionary science of human history.
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broad supernatural punishment but not moralizing high gods precede the evolution of Political Complexity in austronesia
Proceedings of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2015Co-Authors: Joseph Watts, Thomas E Currie, Simon J Greenhill, Quentin D Atkinson, Joseph Bulbulia, Russell D GrayAbstract:Supernatural belief presents an explanatory challenge to evolutionary theorists—it is both costly and prevalent. One influential functional explanation claims that the imagined threat of supernatural punishment can suppress selfishness and enhance cooperation. Specifically, morally concerned supreme deities or ‘moralizing high gods9 have been argued to reduce free-riding in large social groups, enabling believers to build the kind of complex societies that define modern humanity. Previous cross-cultural studies claiming to support the MHG hypothesis rely on correlational analyses only and do not correct for the statistical non-independence of sampled cultures. Here we use a Bayesian phylogenetic approach with a sample of 96 Austronesian cultures to test the MHG hypothesis as well as an alternative supernatural punishment hypothesis that allows punishment by a broad range of moralizing agents. We find evidence that broad supernatural punishment drives Political Complexity, whereas MHGs follow Political Complexity. We suggest that the concept of MHGs diffused as part of a suite of traits arising from cultural exchange between complex societies. Our results show the power of phylogenetic methods to address long-standing debates about the origins and functions of religion in human society.
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rise and fall of Political Complexity in island south east asia and the pacific
Nature, 2010Co-Authors: Thomas E Currie, Simon J Greenhill, Russell D Gray, Toshikazu Hasegawa, Rachel MaceAbstract:There is disagreement about whether human Political evolution has proceeded through a sequence of incremental increases in Complexity, or whether larger, non-sequential increases have occurred. The extent to which societies have decreased in Complexity is also unclear. These debates have continued largely in the absence of rigorous, quantitative tests. We evaluated six competing models of Political evolution in Austronesian-speaking societies using phylogenetic methods. Here we show that in the best-fitting model Political Complexity rises and falls in a sequence of small steps. This is closely followed by another model in which increases are sequential but decreases can be either sequential or in bigger drops. The results indicate that large, non-sequential jumps in Political Complexity have not occurred during the evolutionary history of these societies. This suggests that, despite the numerous contingent pathways of human history, there are regularities in cultural evolution that can be detected using computational phylogenetic methods.
Lawrence H. Keeley - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Coercion and Warfare in the Rise of State Societies in Southern Zambezia
African Archaeological Review, 2015Co-Authors: Chapurukha M. Kusimba, Lawrence H. KeeleyAbstract:Researchers have raised a wide range of variables to account for the emergence and governance of complex polities. Warfare and investment in military power, along with an expansionist ideology, are often raised as catalysts for the emergence of state societies and hierarchical forms of leadership. In southern Africa’s Zambezian region, complex polities arose during the Later Iron Age, presently dated to the early second millennium CE. Wealth accumulation in the form of arable land for grazing cattle, as well as the development of a highly regulated elite ideology coupled with favorable climatic conditions, factored into this trajectory of socioPolitical development. This paper explores the role coercion may have played in cultural changes associated with increased Political Complexity in Zambezia. Coercive and persuasive leadership is often challenging to recognize archaeologically. Do we have sufficient visible datasets to support coercive power and conflict as a dominant factor for cultural change in this region? Was conflict a significant driver of change in the prehistoric Shashi-Limpopo Basin? How does the evidence stand up to scrutiny when evaluated against known archaeological signatures for warfare? Un nombre important de variables ont été mises en avant pour rendre compte de l’émergence des sociétés complexes et de leur gouvernance. Dans la région Zambézienne d’Afrique du sud, ces sociétés complexes sont apparues durant l’âge du fer tardif, au début du 2^nd millénaire de notre ère. L’accumulation de richesses sous forme de terres arables pour la pâture du bétail, le développement d’une idéologie élitiste hautement régulée et des conditions climatiques favorables sont des facteurs importants qui influencent la trajectoire du développent sociopolitique de ces sociétés. Cet article explore le rôle que la coercition a pu jouer dans les changements culturels associés à l’augmentation de la complexité politique. Les conflits et l’investissement dans la force militaire, en même temps qu’une idéologie expansionniste, sont souvent présentés comme des catalyseurs de l’émergence de sociétés-états d’une part et de formes hiérarchisées de gouvernement d’autre part. Ce type de gouvernement est souvent coercitif et persuasif mais difficile à reconnaitre sur le plan archéologique. Avons-nous assez de données visibles pour prouver l’existence et le rôle dans les changements culturels de cette région d’un pouvoir coercitif. Les conflits ont-ils eu une influence notable sur les changements qui se sont produits dans le Bassin Shashi-Limpopo à l’époque préhistorique? Les preuves disponibles dans cette région sont-elles comparables aux éléments qui forment habituellement la signature archéologique d’un conflit.