Articles producció científica> Història i Història de l'Art

A multilevel analytical framework for studying cultural evolution in prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies

  • Identification data

    Identifier: imarina:9216886
    Authors:
    Romano, ValeriaLozano, Sergide Pablo, Javier Fernandez-Lopez
    Abstract:
    Over the past decade, a major debate has taken place on the underpinnings of cultural changes in human societies. A growing array of evidence in behavioural and evolutionary biology has revealed that social connectivity among populations and within them affects, and is affected by, culture. Yet the interplay between prehistoric hunter-gatherer social structure and cultural transmission has typically been overlooked. Interestingly, the archaeological record contains large data sets, allowing us to track cultural changes over thousands of years: they thus offer a unique opportunity to shed light on long-term cultural transmission processes. In this review, we demonstrate how well-developed methods for social structure analysis can increase our understanding of the selective pressures underlying cumulative culture. We propose a multilevel analytical framework that considers finer aspects of the complex social structure in which regional groups of prehistoric hunter-gatherers were embedded. We put forward predictions of cultural transmission based on local- and global-level network metrics of small-scale societies and their potential effects on cumulative culture. By bridging the gaps between network science, palaeodemography and cultural evolution, we draw attention to the use of the archaeological record to depict patterns of social interactions and transmission variability. We argue that this new framework will contribute to improving our understanding of social interaction patterns, as well as the contexts in which cultural changes occur. Ultimately, this may provide insights into the evolution of human behaviour.
  • Others:

    Author, as appears in the article.: Romano, Valeria; Lozano, Sergi; de Pablo, Javier Fernandez-Lopez;
    Department: Història i Història de l'Art
    URV's Author/s: Lozano Pérez, Sergio
    Keywords: Wild Transmission Social network analysis Primate networks Prehistoric hunter-gatherers Population-size Human social behaviour Evolutionary archaeology Dynamics Diffusion Demography Cultural transmission Cultural evolutionary theory Cultural complexity Computational archaeology Community structure Centrality Archaeological networks Animal social networks
    Abstract: Over the past decade, a major debate has taken place on the underpinnings of cultural changes in human societies. A growing array of evidence in behavioural and evolutionary biology has revealed that social connectivity among populations and within them affects, and is affected by, culture. Yet the interplay between prehistoric hunter-gatherer social structure and cultural transmission has typically been overlooked. Interestingly, the archaeological record contains large data sets, allowing us to track cultural changes over thousands of years: they thus offer a unique opportunity to shed light on long-term cultural transmission processes. In this review, we demonstrate how well-developed methods for social structure analysis can increase our understanding of the selective pressures underlying cumulative culture. We propose a multilevel analytical framework that considers finer aspects of the complex social structure in which regional groups of prehistoric hunter-gatherers were embedded. We put forward predictions of cultural transmission based on local- and global-level network metrics of small-scale societies and their potential effects on cumulative culture. By bridging the gaps between network science, palaeodemography and cultural evolution, we draw attention to the use of the archaeological record to depict patterns of social interactions and transmission variability. We argue that this new framework will contribute to improving our understanding of social interaction patterns, as well as the contexts in which cultural changes occur. Ultimately, this may provide insights into the evolution of human behaviour.
    Thematic Areas: General biochemistry,genetics and molecular biology General agricultural and biological sciences Ciências biológicas i Ciências ambientais Biology Biodiversidade Biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology (miscellaneous) Biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology (all) Agricultural and biological sciences (miscellaneous) Agricultural and biological sciences (all)
    licence for use: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/
    Author's mail: sergio.lozano@urv.cat
    Author identifier: 0000-0003-1895-9327
    Record's date: 2023-02-19
    Papper version: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
    Link to the original source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/brv.12599
    Papper original source: Biological Reviews. 95 (4): 1020-1035
    APA: Romano, Valeria; Lozano, Sergi; de Pablo, Javier Fernandez-Lopez; (2020). A multilevel analytical framework for studying cultural evolution in prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies. Biological Reviews, 95(4), 1020-1035. DOI: 10.1111/brv.12599
    Licence document URL: https://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/
    Article's DOI: 10.1111/brv.12599
    Entity: Universitat Rovira i Virgili
    Journal publication year: 2020
    Publication Type: Journal Publications
  • Keywords:

    Agricultural and Biological Sciences (Miscellaneous),Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (Miscellaneous),Biology
    Wild
    Transmission
    Social network analysis
    Primate networks
    Prehistoric hunter-gatherers
    Population-size
    Human social behaviour
    Evolutionary archaeology
    Dynamics
    Diffusion
    Demography
    Cultural transmission
    Cultural evolutionary theory
    Cultural complexity
    Computational archaeology
    Community structure
    Centrality
    Archaeological networks
    Animal social networks
    General biochemistry,genetics and molecular biology
    General agricultural and biological sciences
    Ciências biológicas i
    Ciências ambientais
    Biology
    Biodiversidade
    Biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology (miscellaneous)
    Biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology (all)
    Agricultural and biological sciences (miscellaneous)
    Agricultural and biological sciences (all)
  • Documents:

  • Cerca a google

    Search to google scholar