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Polygyny without wealth: popularity in gift games predicts polygyny in BaYaka Pygmies

Chaudhary, N; Salali, GD; Thompson, J; Dyble, M; Page, A; Smith, D; Mace, R; (2015) Polygyny without wealth: popularity in gift games predicts polygyny in BaYaka Pygmies. Royal Society Open Science , 2 (5) 10.1098/rsos.150054. Green open access

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Abstract

The occurrence of polygynous marriage in hunter–gatherer societies, which do not accumulate wealth, remains largely unexplored since resource availability is dependent on male hunting capacity and limited by the lack of storage. Hunter–gatherer societies offer the greatest insight in to human evolution since they represent the majority of our species' evolutionary history. In order to elucidate the evolution of hunter–gatherer polygyny, we study marriage patterns of BaYaka Pygmies. We investigate (i) rates of polygyny among BaYaka hunter–gatherers; (ii) whether polygyny confers a fitness benefit to BaYaka men; (iii) in the absence of wealth inequalities, what are the alternative explanations for polygyny among the BaYaka. To understand the latter, we explore differences in phenotypic quality (height and strength), and social capital (popularity in gift games). We find polygynous men have increased reproductive fitness; and that social capital and popularity but not phenotypic quality might have been important mechanisms by which some male hunter–gatherers sustained polygynous marriages before the onset of agriculture and wealth accumulation.

Type: Article
Title: Polygyny without wealth: popularity in gift games predicts polygyny in BaYaka Pygmies
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.150054
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150054
Language: English
Additional information: © 2015 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
Keywords: Science & Technology, Multidisciplinary Sciences, Science & Technology - Other Topics, Polygyny, Hunter-Gatherers, Social Capital, Genetic Quality, Social Networks, Hunter-Gatherers, Reproductive Success, Behavioral Ecology, Sexual Selection, Mating System, Evolution, Societies, Foragers
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Anthropology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1487127
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