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

Learmouth, Duncan; Layton, Robert; Tehrani, Jamshid

Abstract

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.

Citation

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

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 23, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Mar 10, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024-03
• Deposit Date: Mar 11, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 17, 2024
• Journal: Evolution and Human Behavior
• Print ISSN: 1090-5138
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 45
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 193-202
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2024.02.003
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2325257