Cultural Phylogenetics: Concepts and Applications in Archaeology. Interdisciplinary Evolution Research, Volume 4. Edited by Larissa Mendoza Straffon. Cham (Switzerland): Springer. $179.00 (hardcover); $139.00 (ebook). xii + 202 p.; ill.; no index. ISBN: 978-3-319-25926-0 (hc); 978-3-319-25928-4 (eb). 2016.

2017 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 470-471
Author(s):  
Mark Pagel
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Phylogenetics

scholarly journals Cultural Phylogenetics of the Tupi Language Family in Lowland South America

PLoS ONE ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. e35025 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert S. Walker ◽  
Søren Wichmann ◽  
Thomas Mailund ◽  
Curtis J. Atkisson
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Language Family ◽  
Cultural Phylogenetics

scholarly journals Quantifying uncertainty in the phylogenetics of Australian numeral systems

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1815) ◽  
pp. 20151278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Zhou ◽  
Claire Bowern
Keyword(s):  
Transition Probabilities ◽  
General Tendency ◽  
Phylogenetic Methods ◽  
Cultural Systems ◽  
Upper Limits ◽  
Numeral Systems ◽  
Cultural Phylogenetics ◽  
Lower Limits ◽  
Quantifying Uncertainty ◽  
Australian Languages

Researchers have long been interested in the evolution of culture and the ways in which change in cultural systems can be reconstructed and tracked. Within the realm of language, these questions are increasingly investigated with Bayesian phylogenetic methods. However, such work in cultural phylogenetics could be improved by more explicit quantification of reconstruction and transition probabilities. We apply such methods to numerals in the languages of Australia. As a large phylogeny with almost universal ‘low-limit' systems, Australian languages are ideal for investigating numeral change over time. We reconstruct the most likely extent of the system at the root and use that information to explore the ways numerals evolve. We show that these systems do not increment serially, but most commonly vary their upper limits between 3 and 5. While there is evidence for rapid system elaboration beyond the lower limits, languages lose numerals as well as gain them. We investigate the ways larger numerals build on smaller bases, and show that there is a general tendency to both gain and replace 4 by combining 2 + 2 (rather than inventing a new unanalysable word ‘four'). We develop a series of methods for quantifying and visualizing the results.

scholarly journals On the shape and fabric of human history

2010 ◽  
Vol 365 (1559) ◽  
pp. 3923-3933 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell D. Gray ◽  
David Bryant ◽  
Simon J. Greenhill
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Computational Methods ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Human History ◽  
The World ◽  
Cultural Phylogenetics ◽  
Different Parts

In this paper we outline two debates about the nature of human cultural history. The first focuses on the extent to which human history is tree-like (its shape), and the second on the unity of that history (its fabric). Proponents of cultural phylogenetics are often accused of assuming that human history has been both highly tree-like and consisting of tightly linked lineages. Critics have pointed out obvious exceptions to these assumptions. Instead of a priori dichotomous disputes about the validity of cultural phylogenetics, we suggest that the debate is better conceptualized as involving positions along continuous dimensions. The challenge for empirical research is, therefore, to determine where particular aspects of culture lie on these dimensions. We discuss the ability of current computational methods derived from evolutionary biology to address these questions. These methods are then used to compare the extent to which lexical evolution is tree-like in different parts of the world and to evaluate the coherence of cultural and linguistic lineages.

scholarly journals Transmission coupling mechanisms: cultural group selection

2010 ◽  
Vol 365 (1559) ◽  
pp. 3787-3795 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Boyd ◽  
Peter J. Richerson
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Group Selection ◽  
Multiple Equilibria ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Cultural Group ◽  
Cultural Group Selection ◽  
Cultural Adaption ◽  
Group Competition ◽  
Cultural Phylogenetics ◽  
Coupling Mechanisms

The application of phylogenetic methods to cultural variation raises questions about how cultural adaption works and how it is coupled to cultural transmission. Cultural group selection is of particular interest in this context because it depends on the same kinds of mechanisms that lead to tree-like patterns of cultural variation. Here, we review ideas about cultural group selection relevant to cultural phylogenetics. We discuss why group selection among multiple equilibria is not subject to the usual criticisms directed at group selection, why multiple equilibria are a common phenomena, and why selection among multiple equilibria is not likely to be an important force in genetic evolution. We also discuss three forms of group competition and the processes that cause populations to shift from one equilibrium to another and create a mutation-like process at the group level.

scholarly journals Matrilocal residence is ancestral in Austronesian societies

2009 ◽  
Vol 276 (1664) ◽  
pp. 1957-1964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona M. Jordan ◽  
Russell D. Gray ◽  
Simon J. Greenhill ◽  
Ruth Mace
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Population History ◽  
Austronesian Language ◽  
Virtual Archaeology ◽  
Leave No Trace ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Phylogenetic Framework ◽  
Cultural Phylogenetics ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary

The nature of social life in human prehistory is elusive, yet knowing how kinship systems evolve is critical for understanding population history and cultural diversity. Post-marital residence rules specify sex-specific dispersal and kin association, influencing the pattern of genetic markers across populations. Cultural phylogenetics allows us to practise ‘virtual archaeology’ on these aspects of social life that leave no trace in the archaeological record. Here we show that early Austronesian societies practised matrilocal post-marital residence. Using a Markov-chain Monte Carlo comparative method implemented in a Bayesian phylogenetic framework, we estimated the type of residence at each ancestral node in a sample of Austronesian language trees spanning 135 Pacific societies. Matrilocal residence has been hypothesized for proto-Oceanic society ( ca 3500 BP), but we find strong evidence that matrilocality was predominant in earlier Austronesian societies ca 5000–4500 BP, at the root of the language family and its early branches. Our results illuminate the divergent patterns of mtDNA and Y-chromosome markers seen in the Pacific. The analysis of present-day cross-cultural data in this way allows us to directly address cultural evolutionary and life-history processes in prehistory.

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