Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

All Outputs (55)

Social ties in the Congo Basin: insights into tropical forest adaptation from BaYaka and their neighbours (2022)
Journal Article
Boyette, A. H., Lew-Levy, S., Jang, H., & Kandza, V. (2022). Social ties in the Congo Basin: insights into tropical forest adaptation from BaYaka and their neighbours. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 377(1849), Article 20200490. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0490

Investigating past and present human adaptation to the Congo Basin tropical forest can shed light on how climate and ecosystem variability have shaped human evolution. Here, we first review and synthesize genetic, palaeoclimatological, linguistic and... Read More about Social ties in the Congo Basin: insights into tropical forest adaptation from BaYaka and their neighbours.

Hunter-gatherer children in the past: An archaeological review (2021)
Journal Article
Milks, A., Lew-Levy, S., Lavi, N., Friesem, D. E., & Reckin, R. (2021). Hunter-gatherer children in the past: An archaeological review. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 64, Article 101369. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2021.101369

Theoretical engagement and methodological innovations geared towards identifying the presence and activities of children in archaeological contexts has increased in pace over the last decade. This paper presents a systematic review of the literature... Read More about Hunter-gatherer children in the past: An archaeological review.

BaYaka adolescent boys nominate accessible adult men as preferred spear hunting models (2021)
Journal Article
Lew-Levy, S., Milks, A., Kiabiya Ntamboudila, F., Broesch, T., & Kline, M. A. (2021). BaYaka adolescent boys nominate accessible adult men as preferred spear hunting models. Current Anthropology, 62(5), 631-640. https://doi.org/10.1086/716853

Humans are selective social learners. In a cultural landscape with many potential models, learners must balance the cost associated with learning from successful models with learning from accessible ones. Using structured interviews, we investigate t... Read More about BaYaka adolescent boys nominate accessible adult men as preferred spear hunting models.

There and back again: The biosocial dynamics of returning from the field (2021)
Journal Article
Sarma, M. S., Gildner, T. E., Howells, M. E., Lew-Levy, S., Trumble, B. C., & Fuentes, A. (2022). There and back again: The biosocial dynamics of returning from the field. American Journal of Human Biology, 34(S1), Article e23673. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23673

Background Leaving “home” to pursue fieldwork is a necessity but also a rite of passage for many biological anthropology/human biology scholars. Field-based scientists prepare for the potential changes to activity patterns, sleep schedules, social i... Read More about There and back again: The biosocial dynamics of returning from the field.

How small-scale societies achieve large-scale cooperation (2021)
Journal Article
Glowacki, L., & Lew-Levy, S. (2022). How small-scale societies achieve large-scale cooperation. Current Opinion in Psychology, 44, 44-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.08.026

For most of our species’ history, humans have lived in relatively small subsistence communities, often called small-scale societies. While these groups lack centralized institutions, they can and often do maintain large-scale cooperation. Here, we ex... Read More about How small-scale societies achieve large-scale cooperation.

Out of the empirical box: A mixed-methods study of tool innovation among Congolese BaYaka forager and Bondongo fisher-farmer children (2021)
Journal Article
Lew-Levy, S., Pope, S. M., Haun, D. B., Kline, M. A., & Broesch, T. (2021). Out of the empirical box: A mixed-methods study of tool innovation among Congolese BaYaka forager and Bondongo fisher-farmer children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 211, Article 105223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105223

Tool innovation has played a crucial role in human adaptation. Yet, this capacity seems to arise late in development. Before 8 years of age, many children struggle to solve the hook task, a common measure of tool innovation that requires modification... Read More about Out of the empirical box: A mixed-methods study of tool innovation among Congolese BaYaka forager and Bondongo fisher-farmer children.

Gender differences in BaYaka forager sleep-wake patterns in forest and village contexts (2021)
Journal Article
Kilius, E., Samson, D. R., Lew-Levy, S., Sarma, M. S., Patel, U. A., Ouamba, Y. R., …Boyette, A. H. (2021). Gender differences in BaYaka forager sleep-wake patterns in forest and village contexts. Scientific Reports, 11, Article 13658. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92816-6

Sleep studies in small-scale subsistence societies have broadened our understanding of cross-cultural sleep patterns, revealing the flexibility of human sleep. We examined sleep biology among BaYaka foragers from the Republic of Congo who move betwee... Read More about Gender differences in BaYaka forager sleep-wake patterns in forest and village contexts.

Children's fingernail cortisol among BaYaka foragers of the Congo Basin: associations with fathers' roles (2021)
Journal Article
Gettler, L. T., Lew-Levy, S., Sarma, M. S., Miegakanda, V., Doxsey, M., Meyer, J. S., & Boyette, A. H. (2021). Children's fingernail cortisol among BaYaka foragers of the Congo Basin: associations with fathers' roles. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 376(1827), Article 20200031. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0031

Children and mothers’ cortisol production in response to family psychosocial conditions, including parenting demands, family resource availability and parental conflict, has been extensively studied in the United States and Europe. Less is known abou... Read More about Children's fingernail cortisol among BaYaka foragers of the Congo Basin: associations with fathers' roles.

The Life History of Learning Subsistence Skills among Hadza and BaYaka Foragers from Tanzania and the Republic of Congo (2021)
Journal Article
Lew-Levy, S., Ringen, E. J., Crittenden, A. N., Mabulla, I. A., Broesch, T., & Kline, M. A. (2021). The Life History of Learning Subsistence Skills among Hadza and BaYaka Foragers from Tanzania and the Republic of Congo. Human Nature, 32(1), 16-47. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-021-09386-9

Aspects of human life history and cognition, such as our long childhoods and extensive use of teaching, theoretically evolved to facilitate the acquisition of complex tasks. The present paper empirically examines the relationship between subsistence... Read More about The Life History of Learning Subsistence Skills among Hadza and BaYaka Foragers from Tanzania and the Republic of Congo.

Cultural Components of Sex Differences in Color Preference (2021)
Journal Article
Davis, J. T. M., Robertson, E., Lew-Levy, S., Neldner, K., Kapitany, R., Nielsen, M., & Hines, M. (2021). Cultural Components of Sex Differences in Color Preference. Child Development, 92(4), 1574-1589. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13528

Preferences for pink and blue were tested in children aged 4–11 years in three small-scale societies: Shipibo villages in the Peruvian Amazon, kastom villages in the highlands of Tanna Island, Vanuatu, and BaYaka foragers in the northern Republic of... Read More about Cultural Components of Sex Differences in Color Preference.

Demonstrating the utility of Egocentric Relational Event Modelling using focal follow data from Congolese BaYaka children and adolescents engaging in work and play (2021)
Journal Article
Ellis-Davies, K., Lew-Levy, S., Fleming, E., Boyette, A., & Baguley, T. (2021). Demonstrating the utility of Egocentric Relational Event Modelling using focal follow data from Congolese BaYaka children and adolescents engaging in work and play. Field Methods, 33(3), 287-304. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X20987073

Temporal aspects of child and adolescent time allocation in diverse cultural settings have been difficult to model using conventional statistical techniques. A new statistical approach, Egocentric Relational Event Modelling (EREM), allows for the sim... Read More about Demonstrating the utility of Egocentric Relational Event Modelling using focal follow data from Congolese BaYaka children and adolescents engaging in work and play.

Mobility, autonomy and learning: Could the transition from egalitarian to non-egalitarian social structures start with children? (2020)
Book Chapter
Reckin, R., Lew-Levy, S., Lavi, N., & Ellis-Davies, K. (2020). Mobility, autonomy and learning: Could the transition from egalitarian to non-egalitarian social structures start with children?. In Social inequality before farming? Multidisciplinary approaches to the study of social organisation in prehistoric and ethnographic hunter-gatherer-fisher societies (33--50). McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research

Optional-switch cognitive flexibility in primates: Chimpanzees' (Pan troglodytes) intermediate susceptibility to cognitive set. (2020)
Journal Article
Pope, S. M., Fagot, J., Meguerditchian, A., Watzek, J., Lew-Levy, S., Autrey, M. M., & Hopkins, W. D. (2020). Optional-switch cognitive flexibility in primates: Chimpanzees' (Pan troglodytes) intermediate susceptibility to cognitive set. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 134(1), 98-109. https://doi.org/10.1037/com0000194

Within human problem-solving, the propensity to use a familiar approach, rather than switch to a more efficient alternative is pervasive. This susceptibility to “cognitive set” prevents optimization by biasing response patterns toward known solutions... Read More about Optional-switch cognitive flexibility in primates: Chimpanzees' (Pan troglodytes) intermediate susceptibility to cognitive set..

Socialization, Autonomy, and Cooperation: Insights from Task Assignment Among the Egalitarian BaYaka (2020)
Journal Article
Boyette, A. H., & Lew-Levy, S. (2020). Socialization, Autonomy, and Cooperation: Insights from Task Assignment Among the Egalitarian BaYaka. Ethos, 48(3), 400-418. https://doi.org/10.1111/etho.12284

Across diverse societies, task assignment is a socialization practice that gradually builds children's instrumental skills and integrates them into the flow of daily activities in their community. However, psychosocial tensions can arise when coopera... Read More about Socialization, Autonomy, and Cooperation: Insights from Task Assignment Among the Egalitarian BaYaka.

Sharing and caring: Testosterone, fathering, and generosity among BaYaka foragers of the Congo Basin (2020)
Journal Article
Gettler, L. T., Lew-Levy, S., Sarma, M. S., Miegakanda, V., & Boyette, A. H. (2020). Sharing and caring: Testosterone, fathering, and generosity among BaYaka foragers of the Congo Basin. Scientific Reports, 10, Article 15422. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-70958-3

Humans are rare among mammals in exhibiting paternal care and the capacity for broad hyper-cooperation, which were likely critical to the evolutionary emergence of human life history. In humans and other species, testosterone is often a mediator of l... Read More about Sharing and caring: Testosterone, fathering, and generosity among BaYaka foragers of the Congo Basin.

Where innovations flourish: an ethnographic and archaeological overview of hunter–gatherer learning contexts (2020)
Journal Article
Lew-Levy, S., Milks, A., Lavi, N., Pope, S. M., & Friesem, D. E. (2020). Where innovations flourish: an ethnographic and archaeological overview of hunter–gatherer learning contexts. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 2, Article e31. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2020.35

Research in developmental psychology suggests that children are poor tool innovators. However, such research often overlooks the ways in which children's social and physical environments may lead to cross-cultural variation in their opportunities and... Read More about Where innovations flourish: an ethnographic and archaeological overview of hunter–gatherer learning contexts.

Sex differences in daily activity intensity and energy expenditure and their relationship to cortisol among BaYaka foragers from the Congo Basin (2020)
Journal Article
Sarma, M. S., Boyette, A. H., Lew-Levy, S., Miegakanda, V., Kilius, E., Samson, D. R., & Gettler, L. T. (2020). Sex differences in daily activity intensity and energy expenditure and their relationship to cortisol among BaYaka foragers from the Congo Basin. American journal of physical anthropology, 172(3), 423-437. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24075

Objectives The pooling of energetic resources and food sharing have been widely documented among hunter-gatherer societies. Much less is known about how the energetic costs of daily activities are distributed across individuals in such groups, inclu... Read More about Sex differences in daily activity intensity and energy expenditure and their relationship to cortisol among BaYaka foragers from the Congo Basin.

BaYaka education: From the forest to the ORA (Observer, Réflechir, Agir) classroom (2020)
Journal Article
Bombjaková, D., Lew-Levy, S., Duda, R., Loubelo, G., & Lewis, J. (2020). BaYaka education: From the forest to the ORA (Observer, Réflechir, Agir) classroom. Hunter Gatherer Research, 6(1-2), 87-114. https://doi.org/10.3828/hgr.2023.3

Schooling is part of a global effort to help Indigenous peoples adapt to their changing social and ecological worlds and assert their human rights. There is ongoing discussion among anthropologists and educational researchers as to whether schooling... Read More about BaYaka education: From the forest to the ORA (Observer, Réflechir, Agir) classroom.