scholarly journals Grief and Burial in the American Southwest: The Role of Evolutionary Theory in the Interpretation of Mortuary Remains

2001 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 704-714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas H. MacDonald
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Social Rank ◽  
American Southwest ◽  
Reproductive Value ◽  
Mortuary Ritual ◽  
Grave Good ◽  
Main Determinants ◽  
Good Differentiation ◽  
Grave Goods

Evolutionary theory, in consort with Marxism and processualism, provides new insights into the interpretation of grave-good variation. Processual interpretations of burial sites in the American Southwest cite age, sex, or social rank as the main determinants of burial-good variation. Marxist theorists suggest that mortuary ritual mediates social tension between an egalitarian mindset and an existing social inequality. Evolutionary theory provides a supplementary explanatory framework. Recent studies guided by kin-selection theory suggest that humans grieve more for individuals of high reproductive value and genetic relatedness. Ethnographic examples also show that individuals mourn more intensively and, thus, place more social emphasis on burials of individuals of highest reproductive value (young adults). Analysis of grave goods from La Ciudad, a Hohokam site in the American Southwest, supports the hypothesis that labor value, reproductive value, and grief contributed to grave-good differentiation. At La Ciudad, individuals between the ages of 10 and 20 possessed more and higher-quality grave goods on average than any other age group. Grief at the loss of a young adult of high reproductive and labor value may facilitate explanation of mortuary variation at La Ciudad, as well as other sites in the greater Southwest and beyond.

Bioarchaeological Evidence for Social Maturation in the Mortuary Ritual of Ipiutak and Tigara Hunter-Gatherers: Lifespan Perspectives on the Emergence of Personhood at Point Hope, Alaska

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-251
Author(s):  
Lauryn C. Justice ◽  
Daniel H. Temple
Keyword(s):  
Body Position ◽  
Body Orientation ◽  
Burial Depth ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Tooth Formation ◽  
Mortuary Ritual ◽  
Point Hope ◽  
Grave Good ◽  
Relational Interactions ◽  
Grave Goods

Identity is a concept that shifts over the lifespan in association with relational interactions. This study documents and interprets the cultural systems influencing shifts in identity during maturation in hunter-gatherers from Point Hope, Alaska through archaeological mortuary practices. Grave goods, body position, body orientation, and burial depth (underground versus surface) were recorded for Ipiutak (1500–1100 BP) and Tigara (800–400 BP) cultures. Age was estimated using tooth formation. No age differences in burial depth were found, likely reflecting environmental constraints. Changes in body orientation, body position, and grave-good allocation were found between three and four years with another increase in grave-good allocation after age six. A larger age range of individuals without grave goods was found at Tigara. Changes in bodily orientation and position likely reflect beliefs surrounding the soul. The initial presence of animal implements may represent gifting of amulets, while increases in these items at later ages indicate continued maturation. Differences in the age ranges of individuals without animal implements between the two sites may reflect stronger delineations of social prestige at Ipiutak. These findings hint at the complex relational pathways associated with the formation of identity in prehistoric hunter-gatherer communities.

scholarly journals A Systematic Review of Evolutionary-Based Conceptualisations of Family Violence and the Development of an Alternative Motivational-Emotional Systems Approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Joanne Riley
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Family Violence ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Reproductive Value ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Emotional Systems ◽  
Fundamental Motives

<p>Evolutionary psychology is a field that provides distal explanations of behaviour. Although it has potential to enhance current understandings of family violence, the present state of the literature is conceptually messy. The aim of the current thesis was to bring coherence to this domain by conducting a systematic review of evolutionary conceptualisations of family violence over the past four decades. Four databases (PsycINFO, PsycArticles, ProQuest Central, and Web of Science) were searched using relevant search terms to identify any work that examined family violence from an evolutionary perspective. A total of 54 publications were included in the review, ranging from theoretical pieces and empirical studies through to several commentaries. Findings indicated family violence was conceptualised as an adaptation, by-product, or pathology. However, numerous authors had contradictory perspectives as to how certain offences should be conceptualised, others failed to make a conceptual claim at all, and there was a tendency among authors to describe the behaviour as an adaptation rather than the underlying psychological mechanisms. To make sense of the findings, six recurrent themes were developed: lack of resources, genetic relatedness as a protective factor, fast life history strategy, reproductive value, lethal violence as pathology, and male sexual and familial proprietariness. The second aim of the thesis was to develop a novel theoretical framework that conceptualised family violence in a more clear and coherent manner. This new model was labelled the Fundamental Motives Framework and mapped findings from the systematic review onto a range of motivational-emotional systems. The Fundamental Motives Framework was discussed as a promising way of providing a multi- faceted, coherent perspective of family violence that accommodates for the heterogeneity in offending. Limitations and directions for future research were also discussed.</p>

scholarly journals Grave Goods in Early Medieval Europe: regional variability and decline

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Brownlee
Keyword(s):  
Early Medieval ◽  
Regional Variability ◽  
Low Countries ◽  
The North ◽  
General Decline ◽  
Medieval Europe ◽  
Grave Good ◽  
Gis Methods ◽  
Individual Choices ◽  
Grave Goods

This article analyses the use of grave goods in burials across early medieval Europe and how that use changed over the course of the 6th to 8th centuries CE with the widespread transition to unfurnished burial. It uses data gathered from published cemetery excavation reports from England, France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. The grave good use in these cemeteries was analysed using GIS methods to visualise regional differences, as well as statistical methods to analyse how grave good use evolved over time in those regions. This analysis revealed clear regional distinctions in grave good use, with England and Alamannia appearing similar, with relatively high levels of grave good use. Meanwhile, parts of Frankia and of Burgundy had considerably lower levels of grave good use. Distributions of individual artefact types tended to match those of overall numbers, but there were a few key exceptions, such as vessels, which followed a quite different pattern, being found in high numbers along the Frankish coast, but in much lower numbers elsewhere. Despite these overall trends, there was still considerable intra-regional and intra-cemetery variation that suggests communities and individuals had the ability to make highly individual choices about the way to bury their dead, along with the ability to subvert local norms. It also revealed that while there was a general decline in the use of grave goods across this period, and everywhere eventually reached the point of almost completely unfurnished burial, this decline occurred at different rates. In particular, there was a zone around the North Sea, including Kent, western Frankia, and the Low Countries, where there was little change in grave good use until it was suddenly abandoned in the early 8th century. Different types of objects declined at different rates across different regions, with few clear trends, suggesting that only personal accessories held a common significance across Europe; the meanings of all other object types were negotiated on a local basis.

НОВОЕ О ПОГРЕБЕНИИ БЕЛОЗЕРСКОЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ ХАДЖИЛЛАР (МОЛДАВИЯ) В СВЕТЕ РАДИОУГЛЕРОДНОГО ДАТИРОВАНИЯ

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kashuba ◽  
◽  
S. Agulnikov ◽  
M. Kulkova ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Rank ◽  
Radiocarbon Date ◽  
Innovative Technologies ◽  
Early Appearance ◽  
Grave Goods

The unique burial Hadjillar of the Belozerskaya culture was excavated in the Low Dniestr region (Moldova). Features of burial ritual and status items in the grave goods such as wooden cup decorated by bronze, bimetallic knife etc., distinguish this complex and this is evidences about high social rank of burial man. New AMS radiocarbon date on a wooden piece of cup discuses about early appearance of innovative technologies connected with iron metallurgy and manufacture of bimetallic (bronze/iron) items.

scholarly journals A Systematic Review of Evolutionary-Based Conceptualisations of Family Violence and the Development of an Alternative Motivational-Emotional Systems Approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Riley
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Family Violence ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Reproductive Value ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Emotional Systems ◽  
Fundamental Motives

<p>Evolutionary psychology is a field that provides distal explanations of behaviour. Although it has potential to enhance current understandings of family violence, the present state of the literature is conceptually messy. The aim of the current thesis was to bring coherence to this domain by conducting a systematic review of evolutionary conceptualisations of family violence over the past four decades. Four databases (PsycINFO, PsycArticles, ProQuest Central, and Web of Science) were searched using relevant search terms to identify any work that examined family violence from an evolutionary perspective. A total of 54 publications were included in the review, ranging from theoretical pieces and empirical studies through to several commentaries. Findings indicated family violence was conceptualised as an adaptation, by-product, or pathology. However, numerous authors had contradictory perspectives as to how certain offences should be conceptualised, others failed to make a conceptual claim at all, and there was a tendency among authors to describe the behaviour as an adaptation rather than the underlying psychological mechanisms. To make sense of the findings, six recurrent themes were developed: lack of resources, genetic relatedness as a protective factor, fast life history strategy, reproductive value, lethal violence as pathology, and male sexual and familial proprietariness. The second aim of the thesis was to develop a novel theoretical framework that conceptualised family violence in a more clear and coherent manner. This new model was labelled the Fundamental Motives Framework and mapped findings from the systematic review onto a range of motivational-emotional systems. The Fundamental Motives Framework was discussed as a promising way of providing a multi- faceted, coherent perspective of family violence that accommodates for the heterogeneity in offending. Limitations and directions for future research were also discussed.</p>

Mortuary Ritual and Social Hierarchy in the Longshan Culture

Early China ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 1-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liu Li
Keyword(s):  
Social Stratification ◽  
Social Rank ◽  
High Status ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Ancestor Worship ◽  
Mortuary Ritual ◽  
Status Goods ◽  
A Site ◽  
Exchange Network ◽  
Longshan Culture

The mortuary data from the Longshan culture provide crucial information for understanding the process of socio-political change from non-stratified to stratified societies in late Neolithic China. This article identifies the variables in Longshan burials that can be correlated with social rank, and then studies four Longshan burial sites (Taosi, Chengzi, Yinjiacheng, and Zhufeng) in two steps. The first step is to classify the evidence for determining burial rank; the second step is to analyze intra-cemetery spatial patterns through time, including the location of graves within a site, the distribution of differently ranked graves and spatial relationships between graves and associated features (houses and pits), the diachronic changes observed in a site, and the depositional practices relating to ritual activities. The results of these analyses suggest that kinship-based Longshan communities were internally and externally stratified in their social structure; that this social stratification was ideologically legitimized by ritual activities that emphasized ancestor worship; and that their society was politically reinforced by an elite exchange network of high status goods at both regional and interregional levels. These social, political, and religious relationships formed the foundation for the development of civilization in prehistoric North China.

scholarly journals Lineage-based differences in grandparental investment according to adverse early life experiences of grandchildren

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuli Helle ◽  
Antti O Tanskanen ◽  
David Coall ◽  
Mirkka Danielsbacka
Keyword(s):  
Measurement Error ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Inclusive Fitness ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Reproductive Value ◽  
Grandparental Investment ◽  
Benefits And Costs ◽  
Population Based Survey

Evolutionary theory predicts a downward flow of investments from older to younger generations that represents individuals’ efforts to maximize their inclusive fitness. Maternal grandparents and maternal grandmothers in particular have been consistently found to show the highest investment (e.g., time, care and resources) in their grandchildren. However, grandparental investment may depend on varying social and environmental conditions affecting the development of children, modifying the benefits and costs of grandparental investment. Using population-based survey data of English and Welsh adolescents, the present study investigates whether grandparental investment responds to adverse early life experiences (AELEs) of grandchildren. In contrast to current literature that considers grandparental investment in response to AELEs from the perspective of increased investment to meet the increased need, we predict that higher number of AELEs are associated with reduced grandparental investment as increased AELEs tend to reduce the reproductive value of grandchildren. Moreover, we predict that those grandparents who already invest less (i.e., paternal grandparents) react more strongly to elevated AELEs compared to those grandparents who invest the most (i.e., maternal grandparents and maternal grandmothers in particular). We found support for our predictions that maternal grandparents (maternal grandmothers in particular) showed investment in grandchildren that was unrelated to their grandchildren’s AELEs. In contrast, paternal grandparents reduced their investment in grandchildren in cases of increased AELEs. These findings were largely robust to measurement error in the of AELEs and confounding due to omitted shared causes.

scholarly journals Association between the social rank, body mass, testicular circumference and linear body measures of rams

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Maksimovic ◽  
M. Zujovic ◽  
S. Hristov ◽  
M.P. Petrovic ◽  
B. Stankovic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass ◽  
Social Rank ◽  
Food Competition ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Development ◽  
The Social ◽  
Chest Girth ◽  
Main Determinants ◽  
Positive Correlations ◽  
Linear Body

The social rank refers to the relative position of an individual animal within the dominant hierarchy developed in a group. In rams, social rank is mostly associated with body mass, body size and body condition. However, although the body mass is generally considered as one of the main determinants of social rank, only few studies have been carried out for the purpose of associating of the social behavior and body development of these animals. Objective of this research was to determine how the ram body development measures relate to establishment of social hierarchy. Social rank was established using food competition test at the age of animals between 4 and 17 months. Testing was done on total of 20 male animals of which number 12 animals were selected for further testing (6 dominant and 6 submissive animals). Body mass and testicular circumferences were measured at the age of 4, 7, 12 and 18 months, and linear body measures were taken at the age of 12 and 18 months. Dominant males had higher body mass and greater testicular circumference. The social rank had no significant effect on linear body measures of rams, except for chest girth (P<0.05) in both control periods. Body mass was moderately to highly positively associated with studied body parameters. Significant positive correlations were established between body mass and body length (r=0.58; P<0.01), chest width (r=0.44; P<0.05), chest girth (r=0.65; P<0.01) and testicular circumference (r=0.62; P<0.01). Results obtained in this study indicate that it is justified to observe the body mass as one of the main determinants of social rank, as well as the possibility of earlier maturation of dominant animals.

Virulence evolution

2021 ◽  
pp. 353-388
Author(s):  
Paul Schmid-Hempel
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Side Effect ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Serial Passage ◽  
Transmission Rates ◽  
Host Interaction ◽  
Virulence Evolution ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Evolution Of Virulence ◽  
Context Manipulation

Virulence (i.e. reduction of host fitness) results from the parasite–host interaction. It can be an unselected side effect or the result of short-sighted evolution. The evolutionary theory of virulence predicts virulence by the fitness advantages for the parasite. Thereby, trade-offs among virulence level and host recovery or transmission rates are critical. This process can lead to lower, higher, or intermediate virulence, depending on conditions. Vertical transmission generally selects for lower virulence, whereas co-infection tends to increase virulence levels, also depending on genetic relatedness among the parasites. The sensitivity framework more generally addresses virulence levels in different systems; in this context, manipulation by parasites can result in significant virulence effects, especially when avoiding clearance and when effects are delayed. Different vaccination mechanisms can modify the evolution of virulence. Besides, virulence can evolve within hosts; for example, adaptation to a particular host type with serial passage attenuates virulence on other hosts.

scholarly journals The Archaeology of the Middle Caddoan Period in the Middle Red River Valley of Northeast Texas

1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
River Valley ◽  
Red River ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Cultural Affiliation ◽  
Red River Valley ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Grave Good ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
Sabine River ◽  
Grave Goods

Middle Caddoan period sites (estimated to date from ca. A.D. 1100-1300/1350; in the Middle Red River Valley of Northeast Texas appear to have cultural affiliation with the Sanders phase/focus originally recognized by Krieger. Sanders phase components are distributed in the Middle Red, Kiamichi, and Upper Sabine River basins of Southeast Oklahoma and Northeast Texas. In the Middle Red River valley, key components include the A.C. Mackin (41LR36), Fasken (41RR14), Roitsch (41RR16; previously known as the Sam Kaufman site), Holdeman (41RR11), Sanders (41LR2), and Harling (41FNI) sites. Middle Caddoan period settlements along the Middle Red River include dispersed farmsteads and hamlets with structures, middens, and cemeteries, as well as large communities such as the Roitsch and Holdeman sites with single and multiple mounds; substructure mounds; flat-topped platform mounds; and burial mounds. Sites include from one to as many as three mounds at the larger communities or villages. Burials in mound and non-mound contexts were typically in extended supine position, with large numbers of grave goods in association. At the Holdeman site, for example, Sanders phase burials contained an average of 6.5 grave goods, mainly ceramic vessels, per individual, with even more substantial grave good associations (shell conch dippers, gorgets, and beads, bone beads, projectile points, and ceramic vessels) from Class I and II burials at the Sanders site.

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