Abstract
Matrilineal descent is rare in human societies that keep large livestock. However, this negative correlation does not provide reliable evidence that livestock and descent rules are functionally related, because human cultures are not statistically independent owing to their historical relationships (Galton's problem). We tested the hypothesis that when matrilineal cultures acquire cattle they become patrilineal using a sample of 68 Bantu- and Bantoid-speaking populations from sub-Saharan Africa. We used a phylogenetic comparative method to control for Galton's problem, and a maximum-parsimony Bantu language tree as a model of population history. We tested for coevolution between cattle and descent. We also tested the direction of cultural evolution--were cattle acquired before matriliny was lost? The results support the hypothesis that acquiring cattle led formerly matrilineal Bantu-speaking cultures to change to patrilineal or mixed descent. We discuss possible reasons for matriliny's association with horticulture and its rarity in pastoralist societies. We outline the daughter-biased parental investment hypothesis for matriliny, which is supported by data on sex, wealth and reproductive success from two African societies, the matrilineal Chewa in Malawi and the patrilineal Gabbra in Kenya.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (122.4 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Cavalli-Sforza L. L., Piazza A., Menozzi P., Mountain J. Reconstruction of human evolution: bringing together genetic, archaeological, and linguistic data. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Aug;85(16):6002–6006. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.16.6002. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gray R. D., Jordan F. M. Language trees support the express-train sequence of Austronesian expansion. Nature. 2000 Jun 29;405(6790):1052–1055. doi: 10.1038/35016575. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Guglielmino C. R., Viganotti C., Hewlett B., Cavalli-Sforza L. L. Cultural variation in Africa: role of mechanisms of transmission and adaptation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1995 Aug 1;92(16):7585–7589. doi: 10.1073/pnas.92.16.7585. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Holden C., Mace R. Phylogenetic analysis of the evolution of lactose digestion in adults. Hum Biol. 1997 Oct;69(5):605–628. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Holden C., Mace R. Sexual dimorphism in stature and women's work: a phylogenetic cross-cultural analysis. Am J Phys Anthropol. 1999 Sep;110(1):27–45. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(199909)110:1<27::AID-AJPA3>3.0.CO;2-G. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Holden Clare Janaki. Bantu language trees reflect the spread of farming across sub-Saharan Africa: a maximum-parsimony analysis. Proc Biol Sci. 2002 Apr 22;269(1493):793–799. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2002.1955. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Mace R. Biased parental investment and reproductive success in Gabbra pastoralists. Behav Ecol Sociobiol. 1996 Feb;38(2):75–81. doi: 10.1007/s002650050219. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]