Table 2.

Grouping/network layers estimated for Neanderthals and contemporary modern humans using different methods, assuming a scaling ratio of three between network layers, following Hill et al (2008) and Zhou et al (2005). The values in bold are the initial group size estimates from which the other layers were calculated using the scaling ratio.

Social network/grouping layer	Expected group/network layer size for living humans (‘idealised’ layers) (Zhou et al., 2005) [numbers reached when scaling strictly by three from 5-layer upwards]	Group size estimated from:
		Mean [minimum-maximum] endocranial volumes standardized for body mass and visual system size (Pearce et al., 2013)		Maximum obsidian transfer distances and a minimum density of 0.003 individuals/km (Moutsiou, 2011; Pearce, 2013)
		Modern humans	Neanderthals	Modern humans	Neanderthals
Family	5[5]	5 [4-6]	4 [3-5]	6	3
Foraging Party/Dispersed Band	15[15]	15 [12-19]	13 [9-16]	19	10
(Fused) Band	50 [45]	46 [37-57]	38 [28-47]	56	31
Periodic Aggregation/Active Network	150 [135]	139 [112-172]	115 [84-141]	168	94
Mating Community	500 [405]	417 [336-516]	345 [252-423]	503	283
Ethnolinguistic Tribe/Population	1500 [1215]	1251 [1008-1548]	1035 [756-1269]	1508	848