Scars for survival

Costly ritual behaviours have frequently been of interest to evolutionary researchers seeking to understand whether they have an adaptive benefit. Here we examine the costliness of initiation rituals across a large group of hunter-gather societies in Pama-Nyungan Australia and compare these with a range of possible adaptive benefits, including warfare, food sharing, demography, and mate competition. We find that in Australia, desert habitat was mostly strongly associated with these rites. Such rites may support the collective action, such as food sharing, necessary for survival in such a precarious environment

Biology · Geography · Habitat · Political science · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Law · Plant and animal studies · Ecology

• The evolution of cultural diversity in Pama-Nyungan Australia

  Open Access•Duncan Learmouth, Robert H Layton et al.•Humanities and Social Sciences…•2024

  Incluir item

• Spite and Science‐Denial

  Open Access•David S Gordon, Megan E Birney•Journal of Social Issues•2025

  Incluir item

• Male genital mutilation

  Open Access•Christopher G Wilson•Evolution and Human Behavior•2008

  Incluir item

• Our better nature

  Open Access•C R Ember, Ian Skoggard et al.•Evolution and Human Behavior•2018

  Incluir item

• Sex differences in the anatomical locations of human body scarification and tattooing as a function of pathogen prevalence

  Open Access•Devendra Narain Singh, Devendra Singh et al.•Evolution and Human Behavior•1997

  Incluir item

• Costly Signaling Increases Trust, Even Across Religious Affiliations

  Open Access•Deborah L Hall, Adam B Cohen et al.•Psychological Science•2015

  Incluir item

• World Map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification updated

  Open Access•Markus Kottek, Jürgen Grieser et al.•Meteorologische Zeitschrift•2006

  Incluir item

• Biological signals as handicaps

  Open Access•Alan Grafen•Journal of Theoretical Biology•1990

  Incluir item

• To give and to give not

  Open Access•M Gurven•Behavioral and Brain Sciences•2004

  Incluir item

• Mate selection—A selection for a handicap

  Open Access•Amotz Zahavi•Journal of Theoretical Biology•1975

  Incluir item

• Scars for war

  Open Access•R Sosis, Helen M Kress et al.•Evolution and Human Behavior•2007

  Incluir item

• The role of costly commitment signals in assorting cooperators during intergroup conflict

  Open Access•Martin Lang, Radim Chvaja et al.•Evolution and Human Behavior•2024

  Incluir item

• Oxford Handbook of Cultural Evolution

  Jamshid Tehrani, Jamshid ca /21 Jh Tehrani et al.•Oxford Handbook of Cultural…•2023

  Incluir item

• The Comparative Approach in Evolutionary Anthropology and Biology

  C L Nunn•The Comparative Approach in…•2011

  Incluir item

• Australian Languages

  Open Access•R M W Dixon•Australian Languages•2002

  Incluir item

• Cult‐totemism and Mythology in Northern South Australia

  Open Access•A P Elkin•Oceania•1934

  Incluir item

• Gadjari Among the Walbiri Aborigines of Central Australia

  Open Access•M J Meggitt•Oceania•1966

  Incluir item

• Subsistence Behaviour Among the Western Desert Aborigines of Australia1

  Open Access•Richard A Gould•Oceania•1969

  Incluir item

• Observations on Route Finding and Spatial Orientation Among the Aboriginal Peoples of the Western Desert Region of Central Australia

  Open Access•David Lewis•Oceania•1976

  Incluir item

• Signaling theories of religion

  Carl Brusse•Religion Brain & Behavior•2020

  Incluir item

• Violence and Warfare among Hunter-Gatherers

  James E Snead•California Archaeology•2015

  Incluir item

• Autobiographical Memory in a Fire-Walking Ritual

  Dimitris Xygalatas, Ivana Konvalinka et al.•Journal of Cognition and Culture•2013

  Incluir item

• Religion and trust

  Open Access•Jonathan H W Tan, Claudia Vogel•Journal of Economic Psychology•2008

  Incluir item

• Considerations on ritual subincision practices

  John E Lobdell•The Journal of Sex Research•1975

  Incluir item

• The World of the First Australians

  T G H Strehlow, Ronald M Berndt et al.•The Australian Quarterly•1965

  Incluir item

• Cooperation and Commune Longevity

  Open Access•R Sosis, Eric R Bressler•Cross-Cultural Research•2003

  Incluir item

• Food Sharing Among Ache Foragers

  H Kaplan, Kim Hill et al.•Current Anthropology•1985

  Incluir item

• Why aren't we all hutterites

  Open Access•R Sosis•Human Nature•2003

  Incluir item

• Resource Stress Predicts Changes in Religious Belief and Increases in Sharing Behavior

  Open Access•Ian Skoggard, C R Ember et al.•Human Nature•2020

  Incluir item

• Signalling theory and the evolution of religious cooperation

  Joseph Bulbulia, Joseph A Bulbulia et al.•Religion•2011

  Incluir item

• Social support networks and religiosity in rural South India

  Open Access•Eleanor A Power•Nature Human Behaviour•2017

  Incluir item

• Global phylogenetic analysis reveals multiple origins and correlates of genital mutilation/cutting

  Open Access•Gabriel Šaffa, Jan Zrzavý et al.•Nature Human Behaviour•2022

  Incluir item

• War increases religiosity

  Open Access•J Henrich, Michal Bauer et al.•Nature Human Behaviour•2019

  Incluir item

• Subincision and Kindred Rites of the Australian Aboriginal

  Herbert Basedow•The Journal of the Royal…•1927

  Incluir item

• The Logic of Collective Action

  Sidney C Sufrin, Mancur Olson•Industrial and Labor Relations…•1966

  Incluir item

• Feuding and Warfare

  Harrison, Simon Harrison et al.•Journal of the Royal Anthropologica…•1995

  Incluir item

• Archaeology

  Richard A Gould, Brian Hayden•Man•1994

  Incluir item

• Omnivorous Primates

  T Ingold, Robert S O Harding et al.•Man•1982

  Incluir item

• Ritual Behavior and Trust in the Tyva Republic

  B G Purzycki, Tayana Arakchaa•Current Anthropology•2013

  Incluir item