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Scars for survival: high cost male initiation rites are strongly associated with desert habitat in Pama-Nyungan Australia (2024)
Journal Article
Learmouth, D., Layton, R., & Tehrani, J. (2024). Scars for survival: high cost male initiation rites are strongly associated with desert habitat in Pama-Nyungan Australia. Evolution and Human Behavior, 45(2), 193-202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2024.02.003

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... Read More about Scars for survival: high cost male initiation rites are strongly associated with desert habitat in Pama-Nyungan Australia.

Aesthetics - the approach from anthropology. (2011)
Book Chapter
Layton, R. (2011). Aesthetics - the approach from anthropology. In E. Schellekens, & P. Goldie (Eds.), Philosphical Aesthetics and Aesthetic Psychology (208-222). Oxford University Press

Crisp snapshots and fuzzy trends. (2008)
Book Chapter
Layton, R. (2008). Crisp snapshots and fuzzy trends. In D. Papagianni, R. Layton, & H. Maschner (Eds.), Time and change: archaeological and anthropological perspectives on the long term (1-13). Oxbow

Discusses ways in which human agency revealed in archaeological moments such as tool-making at Boxgrove or dietary remains from a buried NW Coast native American village can be integrated nto the study of long term adaptive or social evolutionary tre... Read More about Crisp snapshots and fuzzy trends..

What can ethnography tell us about human social evolution? (2008)
Book Chapter
Layton, R. (2008). What can ethnography tell us about human social evolution?. In N. Allen, H. Callan, R. Dunbar, & W. James (Eds.), Early human kinship: from sex to social reproduction (113-127). (1). Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444302714.ch6

critically reviews methods for reconstructing past behaviour from ethnography, compares chimpanzee and hunter-gatherer social behaviour, and rejects some hypotheses proposed by other authors in the same volume.

Aboriginal versus western creationism. (2008)
Book Chapter
Layton, R. (2008). Aboriginal versus western creationism. In R. Bentley (Ed.), The edge of reason? Science and religion in modern society (31-38). Continuum Press

Compares traditional Australian religious beliefs with those of Christian creationists in the U.S. Outlines the social functions of Aboriginal belief and asks whether Christian creationism has similar functions that account for its persistence.

Fission-fusion dynamics : new research frameworks. (2008)
Journal Article
Aureli, F., Schaffner, C., Boesch, C., Bearder, S., Call, J., Chapman, C., …van Schaik, C. (2008). Fission-fusion dynamics : new research frameworks. Current Anthropology, 49(4), 627-654. https://doi.org/10.1086/586708

Renewed interest in fission‐fusion dynamics is due to the recognition that such dynamics may create unique challenges for social interaction and distinctive selective pressures acting on underlying communicative and cognitive abilities. New framework... Read More about Fission-fusion dynamics : new research frameworks..

Order and anarchy: civil society, social disorder and war (2006)
Book
Layton, R. (2006). Order and anarchy: civil society, social disorder and war. Cambridge University Press

Argues against the view that the Capitalist market economy is uniquely conducive to the creation of civil society. Shows that Locke and Ferguson identified civil society with social co-operation based on rational self- interest in all human societies... Read More about Order and anarchy: civil society, social disorder and war.

La structure iconographique d'un art rupestre est-elle une clef pour son interprétation? (2006)
Journal Article
Sauvet, G., Layton, R., Lenssen-Erz, T., Taçon, P., & Wlodarczyk, A. (2006). La structure iconographique d'un art rupestre est-elle une clef pour son interprétation?. Zephyrus. Revista de Prehistoria y Arqueología, 59, 195-208

Develops a method for discriminating between different social contexts in which rock art is created and applies the method to ethnographic and archaeological case studies.

Are immediate-return strategies adaptive? (2005)
Book Chapter
Layton, R. (2005). Are immediate-return strategies adaptive?. In T. Widlok, & W. Tadesse (Eds.), Property and equality : ritualisation, sharing, egalitarianism (130-150). Berghahn Journals

Argues that the social strategies that James Woodburn characterised as 'immediate return' are adaptive in specified ecological contexts. Woodburn's 'delayed return' strategies constitute a composite category. When the components (technology, territor... Read More about Are immediate-return strategies adaptive?.

The politics of indigenous 'Creationism' in Australia (2004)
Book Chapter
Layton, R. (2004). The politics of indigenous 'Creationism' in Australia. In S. Coleman, & L. Carlin (Eds.), The cultures of creationism. Anti-evolutionism in English-speaking countries (145-164). Ashgate Publishing

Art and agency - a reassessment (2003)
Journal Article
Layton, R. (2003). Art and agency - a reassessment. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 9(3), 447-463. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.00158

In his book, Art and agency, Alfred Gell presents a theory of art based neither on aesthetics nor on visual communication. Art is defined by the distinctive function it performs in advancing social relationships through 'the abduction of agency'. Art... Read More about Art and agency - a reassessment.