Citation
Dyble, M., Salali, G., Chaudhary, N., Page, A. E, Thompson, J., Smith, D., Vinicius, L., Mace, R., and Migliano, A. (2015) Sex equality can explain the unique social structure of hunter-gatherer bands. Science, 348(6236): 796-8.
Abstract
The social organization of mobile hunter-gatherers has several derived features, including low within-camp relatedness and fluid meta-groups. Although these features have been proposed to have provided the selective context for the evolution of human hypercooperation and cumulative culture, how such a distinctive social system may have emerged remains unclear. We present an agent-based model suggesting that, even if all individuals in a community seek to live with as many kin as possible, within-camp relatedness is reduced if men and women have equal influence in selecting camp members. Our model closely approximates observed patterns of co-residence among Agta and Mbendjele BaYaka hunter-gatherers. Our results suggest that pair-bonding and increased sex egalitarianism in human evolutionary history may have had a transformative effect on human social organization.
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