Department of Basic Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, Komaba 3-8-1, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
Research Center for Complex Systems Biology, University of Tokyo, Komaba 3-8-1, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
Proc Biol Sci. 2022 Feb 23;289(1969):20212641. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2021.2641.
In many indigenous societies, people are categorized into several cultural groups, or clans, within which they believe they share ancestors. Clan attributions provide certain rules for marriage and descent. Such rules between clans constitute kinship structures. Anthropologists have revealed several kinship structures. Here, we propose an agent-based model of indigenous societies to reveal the evolution of kinship structures. In the model, several societies compete. Societies themselves comprise multiple families with parameters for cultural traits and mate preferences. These values determine with whom each family cooperates and competes, and they are transmitted to a new generation with mutation. The growth rate of each family is determined by the number of cooperators and competitors. Through this multi-level evolution, family traits and preferences diverge to form clusters that can be regarded as clans. Subsequently, kinship structures emerge, including dual organization and generalized or restricted exchange, as well as patrilineal, matrilineal and double descent systems. These structures emerge depending on the necessity of cooperation and the strength of mating competition. Their dependence is also estimated analytically. Finally, statistical analysis using the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample, a global ethnographic database, empirically verified the theoretical results. Such collaboration between theoretical and empirical approaches will unveil universal features in anthropology.
在许多土著社会中，人们被划分为几个文化群体，即氏族，他们相信自己共享祖先。氏族归属为婚姻和血统提供了一定的规则。氏族之间的这种规则构成了亲属结构。人类学家已经揭示了几种亲属结构。在这里，我们提出了一个基于主体的土著社会模型，以揭示亲属结构的演变。在该模型中，几个社会相互竞争。社会本身由多个具有文化特征和配偶偏好参数的家庭组成。这些值决定了每个家庭与谁合作和竞争，并通过突变传递给下一代。每个家庭的增长率取决于合作者和竞争者的数量。通过这种多层次的进化，家庭特征和偏好会产生分歧，形成可以被视为氏族的聚类。随后，亲属结构出现，包括双重组织和广义或限制交换，以及父系、母系和双重血统系统。这些结构的出现取决于合作的必要性和交配竞争的强度。它们的依赖性也可以进行分析估计。最后，使用全球民族志数据库——标准跨文化样本进行的统计分析，从经验上验证了理论结果。这种理论和经验方法之间的合作将揭示人类学中的普遍特征。
