Social networks and cooperation in hunter-gatherers

Social Networks and Cooperation in Hunter-Gatherers - SUPPLEMENT

1 Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA 2 Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA 3 Department of Anthropology, Cambridge University, Cambridge, CB2 3DZ, UK 4 Medical Genetics Department, University of California, San Diego, CA 92103, USA 5 Political Science Department, University of California, San Diego,...

Social learning among Congo Basin hunter-gatherers.

This paper explores childhood social learning among Aka and Bofi hunter-gatherers in Central Africa. Existing literature suggests that hunter-gatherer social learning is primarily vertical (parent-to-child) and that teaching is rare. We use behavioural observations, open-ended and semi-structured interviews, and informal and anecdotal observations to examine the modes (e.g. vertical versus hori...

Horticulturalists and Hunter-Gatherers

The Northwest Coast: Complex Hunter-Gatherers, Ecology, and Social Evolution

Northwest Coast cultures have long held a central place in anthropology. Recently, the coast has become important in two major topics of theoretical interest: 1. the existence and socioeconomic evolution of complex hunter-gatherers (74) and 2. the origins and evolution of permanent forms of social inequality (3). The coast’s culture history also has intrinsic value to its native and non-native ...

High mobility explains demand sharing and enforced cooperation in egalitarian hunter-gatherers

'Simple' hunter-gatherer populations adopt the social norm of 'demand sharing', an example of human hyper-cooperation whereby food brought into camps is claimed and divided by group members. Explaining how demand sharing evolved without punishment to free riders, who rarely hunt but receive resources from active hunters, has been a long-standing problem. Here we show through a simulation model ...