Cultural Evolution

28.1 Call for Papers_6 days left_Archaeological Review from Cambridge: Archaeology and Cultural Mixing

by Paul van Pelt

Memy – pasożyty w naszych umysłach

by Mateusz Hohol

published in 'Granice nauki' (The Limits of Science), in cooperation with 'Interia.pl' (08.12.2011) [scientific article for the general public]

Replicator dynamics in public goods games with reward funds

by Tatsuya Sasaki

Co-authored with Tatsuo Unemi (Soka Univ., Japan); preprint; published in 'Journal of Theoretical Biology', 2011

Which punishment or rewards are most effective at maintaining cooperation in public goods interactions and deterring... more Which punishment or rewards are most effective at maintaining cooperation in public goods interactions and deterring defectors who are willing to freeload on others’ contribution? The sanction system is itself a public good and can cause problematic “second-order free riders” who do not contribute to the provisions of the sanctions and thus may subvert the cooperation supported by sanctioning. Recent studies have shown that public goods games with punishment can lead to a coercion-based regime if participation in the game is optional. Here, we reveal that even with compulsory participation, rewards can maintain cooperation within an infinitely large population. We consider three strategies for players in a standard public goods game: to be a cooperator or a defector in a standard public goods game, or to be a rewarder who contributes to the public good and to a fund that rewards players who contribute during the game. Cooperators do not contribute to the reward fund and are therefore classified as second-order free riders. The replicator dynamics for the three strategies exhibit a rock-scissors-paper cycle, and can be analyzed fully, despite the fact that the expected payoffs are nonlinear. The model does not require repeated interaction, spatial structure, group selection, or reputation. We also discuss a simple method for second-order sanctions, which can lead to a globally stable state where 100% of the population are rewarders.

Reply to Henrich et al.: Behavioral variation needs to be quantified at multiple levels

by Shakti Lamba

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2012)

Introducing Universal Symbiogenesis

by Nathalie Gontier

In: O. Pombo et al. (eds.), Special Sciences and the Unity of Science. Series: Logic, Epistemology, and the Unity of Science 24. Dordrecht Springer.
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-2030-5 6,

Human Artistic Behaviour: Adaptation, Byproduct, or Cultural Group Selection?

by Helen De Cruz

Co-authored with Johan De Smedt. De Smedt, J. & De Cruz, H. (2012). Human artistic behaviour: Adaptation, byproduct, or cultural group selection? In: K. Plaisance & T. Reydon (Eds.), Philosophy of behavioral biology (pp. 167–187). Springer, Boston Studies in Philosophy of Science.

Evolutionary accounts of art fall naturally into two categories: those that propose that art is an adaptation, and... more Evolutionary accounts of art fall naturally into two categories: those that propose that art is an adaptation, and those that propose it is a byproduct of adaptations which evolved for different purposes. Although each of these positions can be supported by a wide range of empirical evidence, we will argue that there are shortcomings in each type of explanation. We will propose the alternative that the earliest art arose as a product of cultural group selection, drawing on theoretical models of altruism, anthropological observations of the use of art in extant small-scale societies and archaeological findings from Upper Palaeolithic Europe, in particular the Magdalenian cultural complex.

BETWEEN DARWIN AND CULTURE: THE FALSE DILEMMA OF MORALITY

by Mircea-Dan Mitroiu

Biocultural Diversity in Ecuador

by Emanuele Serrelli

Pievani T, Serrelli E (2007). Gli strani intrecci della biodiversità. Le Scienze (Italian edition of Scientific American), n. 466, pp. 96-101. ISSN 0036-8083 [http://hdl.handle.net/10281/4451]

Ecuador is one of the richest treasures of biodiversity in the world, with its variety of ecosystems and species. This... more Ecuador is one of the richest treasures of biodiversity in the world, with its variety of ecosystems and species. This is even more surprising if one considers the small extension of its territory. The secret of such evolutionary engine is all in the backbone of mountains running north to south and separating the country in three different ecosystems, with many transition areas in between.Moreover, natural richness goes along with an exuberant linguistic, ethnic, and cultural diversity. Not by chance, scholars adopt more and more often the term "biocultural diversity": causes of biological and cultural diversification are probably intertwined, forming a node of interrelationships. We observe and tell about this in the first mainland stage of "Velisti per caso" in South America, following Darwin's path.

Patterns in Time and the Tempo of Change: A North Atlantic Perspective on the Evolution of Complex Societies.

by Kevin P. Smith

In Continuity or Change: The Role of Analytical Scale in European Archaeology, edited by James Matthieu and Rachel Scott, pp. 83-99.  British Archaeological Reports, International Series 1261, 2004.

Between 1175 and 1250 AD, medieval Icelanders transformed their society from a network of decentralized simple... more Between 1175 and 1250 AD, medieval Icelanders transformed their society from a network of decentralized simple chiefdoms into a unified proto-state. Uniquely, a vast corpus of vernacular writing - much written by the chieftains themselves - describes actors' ideologies, histories, motivations and understandings of the processes involved. Archaeological data provide alternative perspectives, highlighting processes that extended over temporal scales beyond actors' abilities to observe or manage. How robust can our explanatory frameworks be if the changes we seek to explain occur too rapidly to be monitored by most archaeological methods? Do archaeological perspectives provide valuable or illusory insights on the processes involved?

Law of the Worlds - Towards an Inter-Systemic Theory

by Poul F. Kjaer

PP 159 - 75 in Stefan Keller und Stefan Wiprächtiger (Hrsg.): Recht zwischen Dogmatik und Theorie. Marc Amstutz zum 50. Geburtstag (Zürich: Dike Verlag, 2011) .

Departing from systems theory, Marc Amstutz has developed a refined theory of world law. In the course of developing... more Departing from systems theory, Marc Amstutz has developed a refined theory of world law. In the course of developing this theory he has, however, reformulated or changed the status of a number of central system theoretical concepts, including the concepts of (co-)evolution, interpenetration and function. At first glance, these changes appear to be relatively inconsequential but at second glance they amount to a radical reformulation of systems theory because the focus is systematically shifted away from system internal processes and towards inter-systemic processes. Although Amstutz departs from a legal perspective, his theory is in fact projecting a mirror image of the wider society. Amstutz has, in other words, not just developed a theory of world law, but rather a central contribution to a novel inter-systemic theory of society as such.

History of Italian Culture (a project with Luca Cavalli-Sforza)

by Emanuele Serrelli

Serrelli E (2007). Popoli, nomi e nominatori: un dizionario del popolamento. Introduction to E. Serrelli, C.B. Serrelli, Dizionario del popolamento dell’Italia prima della romanizzazione, unpublished.

From 2003 to 2006 Emanuele Serrelli worked in the research project "History of Italian Culture", directed by... more From 2003 to 2006 Emanuele Serrelli worked in the research project "History of Italian Culture", directed by prof. Luigi Luca Cavalli Sforza. The research, in collaboration with Italian museums and other institutions, yielded the publication Dizionario del popolamento dell'Italia prima della romanizzazione (by E. Serrelli and C.B. Serrelli). Its main access points are the initial synoptic maps in which the major incoming migrations or "arrivals" are shown, with specification of dates and main names that emerged in these movements. From such maps one can delve into the dictionary in search for details.

In november 2003 prof. Luigi Luca Cavalli Sforza asked Telmo Pievani and Emanuele Serrelli (who in turn involved Claudio Bruno Serrelli) to deal with population processes before the advent of ancient Romans. The request was a list of names of peoples, with the related occupied territories and temporal range. Fortunately, Italy is a name with a precise and unambiguous geographic extent: the Alps and the sea define its identity and ease the study of peoples following one another. The Romanization of Italy, carried on both for direct annexation and colony creations, begins after the "latin war" of 340-338 B.C., and ends with the "social war" of 90-88 B.C., last desperate attempt of Italic peoples to oppose Rome's the expansive process.
First of all, then, it was necessary to know peoples, those analogues to biological populations that are needed to talk about evolution...
The maps give access to the details in the Dictionary. So, for example, it will be possible to enter the world of Reto-euganei. There will be found a more detailed map of populations or tribes that formed them in III Century, and appreciate the preceding "compression" effect operated by the arrival of Veneti people in X Century.

Rethinking Our Assumptions: Economic Specialization at the Household Scale in Ancient Ejutla, Oaxaca, Mexico (1999)

by Gary Feinman

(Gary M. Feinman, 1999)

Comparative Frames for the Diachronic Analysis of Complex Societies: Next Steps (2012)

by Gary Feinman

(Gary M. Feinman, 2012)

Archaeology and Political Economy: Setting the Stage (2004)

by Gary Feinman

(Gary M. Feinman, 2004)

Constructing knowledge landscapes within the framework of geometrically oriented evolutionary theories

by Andrea Scharnhorst

A. Scharnhorst: Constructing Knowledge Landscapes within the Framework of Geometrically Oriented Evolutionary Theories. In: Integrative Systems Approaches to Natural and Social Sciences – Systems Science 2000. Ed. by M. Matthies, H. Malchow, J. Kriz. Springer, Berlin, 2001, pp. 505-515

Virtual knowledge landscapes are constructed from empirical data to visualize and to understand search and innovation... more Virtual knowledge landscapes are constructed from empirical data to visualize and to understand search and innovation processes in science and technology. In this paper we discuss how geometrically oriented evolution theories (G_O_E_THE) may represent an appropriate framework for the empirical design of such knowledge landscapes as well as for theoretical explanations of observable, dynamic processes therein. G_O_E_THE describes evolution as a competitive hill-climbing process of different searchers or searching groups in an unknown adaptive landscape over a continuous characteristics space. In this chapter we discuss the application of this framework to the dynamics of national science systems in the international scientific communication system.

What Can Archaeology Do With Boyd and Richerson's Cultural Evolutionary Program?

by Ben Marwick

The Review of Archaeology 26(2): 30-40.

In a famous letter, the economist Alfred Marshall outlines a method for economic theorising: "(1) Use mathematics... more In a famous letter, the economist Alfred Marshall outlines a method for economic theorising: "(1) Use mathematics as shorthand language, rather than as an engine of inquiry (2) Keep to them till you have done (3) Translate into English (4) Then illustrate by examples that are important in real life (5) Burn the mathematics (6) If you cannot succeed in 4 then burn 3." (Pigou 1925). If Marshall's method is relevant to the way Boyd and Richerson work, then their new book is evidence that their theorising has reached an advanced stage. In their new book Not by Genes Alone (hereinafter, NBGA) there are none of the dense maths that distinguished their influential book Culture and the Evolutionary Process (1985), instead there are numerous examples drawn from the human sciences. The main point of this new book is to show that Darwinian evolutionary theory and methods are essential and productive tools for the analysis of human culture. This is a theme that Boyd and Richerson have been promoting since the late 1970s, but NBGA presents a more accessible account of their cultural evolutionary program and outlines a manifesto for future research. The book is aimed at readers in social science and humanities departments, with no graphs, only a single equation buried in the endnotes, axiom-like chapter headings, and case studies drawn from across the human sciences. The publication of this new synthesis of their ideas provides a good opportunity to review the main arguments of Boyd and Richerson's work as described in NBGA and evaluate the impact their program has had on archaeological research.

Words Can Speak Louder Than Actions

by Robert H. Gargett

Privatization, small-seed intensification, and the origins of pottery in the western Great Basin

by Jelmer Eerkens

American Antiquity 69(4):653-670.

Brownware pottery technologies became widely used in the Great Basin around 600 years ago. A significant increase in... more Brownware pottery technologies became widely used in the Great Basin around 600 years ago. A significant increase in the use of small seeds within the subsistence economy took place about the same time. I suggest these two events are linked, that people consciously chose to focus on seeds because they could be privatized, that is, they could be individually owned and were not subject to unrestricted sharing. Pots were an integral component to this process because they could be individually made and owned and could be used within domiciles, placing food preparation and storage out of view from others in the community. Privatization of a staple food resource may have been a response to increased population size, and hence the number of freeloaders, new village kinship organizations, and/or a desire to create surplus on the part of aggrandizers.

Cultural Transmission Theory and the Archaeological Record: Providing Context to Understanding Variation and Temporal Changes In Material Culture

by Jelmer Eerkens

Journal of Archaeological Research 15:239-274.

Cultural transmission (CT) is implicit in many explanations of culture change. Formal CT models were defined by... more Cultural transmission (CT) is implicit in many explanations of culture change. Formal CT models were defined by anthropologists 30 years ago and have been a subject of active research in the social sciences in the ensuing years. Although increasing in popularity in the social sciences in recent years, CT has not seen extensive use in archaeological research, despite the quantitative rigor of many CT models and the ability to create testable hypotheses. Part of the reason for the slow adoption, we argue, has been the continuing focus on change in central tendency and mode in archaeology, instead of change in dispersion or variance. Interestingly, given its diachronic perspective, archaeological research provides an excellent data source for exploring processes of CT. We review CT research in the anthropological sciences and outline the benefits and drawbacks of this theoretical framework for the study of material culture. We argue that CT can shed much light on our understandings of why material technology changes over time, including explanations of differential rates of change among different technologies. We further argue that transmission processes are greatly affected by the content, context, and mode of transmission and fundamentally structure variation in material culture. Including ideas from CT can provide greater context for explaining and understanding changes in the variation of artifacts over time. Finally, we outline what we feel should be the goals of CT research in archaeology in the coming years.

Cultural transmission, copying errors, and the generation of variation in material culture and the archaeological record

by Jelmer Eerkens

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 24:316-334.

Archaeologists are adept at analyzing variation in artifacts. The discipline has well-established and tested methods... more Archaeologists are adept at analyzing variation in artifacts. The discipline has well-established and tested methods to track change through time and to evaluate the function of artifacts that depend upon measures of variation in the archaeological record. Although a critical concept, the means by which variation in material culture is generated is not well understood. This paper explores one source of variation, copying errors, and systematically examines how cultural transmission processes act to amplify, reduce, or maintain such variation. Using simple models, we generate expected distributions for the amount of variation that occurs through time under varying circumstances. This variation is caused by small errors that are transmitted from one person to another in the propagation and replication of cultural traits. These baseline values provide useful null models for explaining variation in prehistoric assemblages of artifacts. We use measurements of projectile points from Owens Valley and Woodland ceramics from Illinois to demonstrate the value of this approach.