Cultural transmission among hunter-gatherers
Edited by Marcus Feldman, Stanford University, Stanford, CA; received January 25, 2024; accepted May 20, 2024
Significance
Cultural evolutionary theories have stimulated substantial research on from whom hunter-gatherers learn. Nine modes of cultural transmission are examined among Congo Basin and other hunter-gatherer groups. The various modes help us to understand why several features of hunter-gatherer life, such as egalitarianism and extensive sharing, are highly conserved and similar across diverse natural environments. The modes of cultural transmission demonstrate how cultural skills and knowledge are maintained for long periods of time, providing opportunities for innovation and cumulative culture.
Abstract
We examine from whom children learn in mobile hunter-gatherers, a way of life that characterized much of human history. Recent studies on the modes of transmission in hunter-gatherers are reviewed before presenting an analysis of five modes of transmission described by Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman [L. L. Cavalli-Sforza, M. W. Feldman, Cultural Transmission and Evolution: A Quantitative Approach (1981)] but not previously evaluated in hunter-gatherer research. We also present two modes of group transmission, conformist transmission, and concerted transmission, seldom mentioned in hunter-gatherer social learning research, and propose a unique mode of group transmission called cumulative transmission. The analysis of the additional modes of transmission indicated that cultural evolutionary signatures of vertical transmission, such as the conservation of cultural traits, have been underestimated because previous studies have seldom considered remote generations or distinguished intrafamilial from extrafamilial horizontal and oblique transmission. However, field data also indicate that hunter-gatherer children interacted with and learned from many nongenetically related individuals; about half of children’s and adolescents’ horizontal and oblique social learning came from nongenetically related individuals. Intimate living conditions of hunter-gatherers provide opportunities for group transmission, and ethnographic evidence presented demonstrates that at least three types of group transmission exist. All three forms of group transmission theoretically contribute to the conservation of culture, homogeneity of intracultural diversity, and high intercultural diversity. Analysis of additional modes of oblique and horizontal transmission and discussion of previous and unique modes of group transmission demonstrate the various mechanisms by which hunter-gatherer children learn and how cultures are conserved and contribute to cumulative culture.
Data, Materials, and Software Availability
All study data are included in the article and/or SI Appendix. Data on the Aka, BaYaka, and Baka can be accessed in previous publications cited in the tables in the text. Specific data on each ethnic group are also available upon request from the ethnographer; A.H.B for the Aka, S.L-L for the BaYaka and S.G. for the Baka. Data and codes for Fig. 1 are available on GitHub: https://github.com/ahboyette (50).
Acknowledgments
We want to sincerely thank all of the hunter-gatherer families that allowed researchers into their homes to conduct studies of cultural transmission. We also want to thank Jeffrey Andrews for help with the Bayesian model and Fig. 1 and Isabel Pineda Yupanqui for help with Fig. 2. Funding for A.H.B. research was provided by the NSF under grant DGE-0549425 and the Wenner-Gren Foundation under Dissertation Fieldwork Grant GR 8021. He gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Mboulou Aubin and Mboula Edward during fieldwork. S.L.-L. research was provided by awards from the Wenner-Gren Foundation (no. 9789) and the Leakey Foundation. S.L.-L. would like to thank Prof. Clobite Bouka-Biona from the Institut de Recherche en Sciences Exactes et Naturelles, who facilitated the acquisition of research permits and infrastructure; DZABATOU Moise, who served as a community liaison; DZABATOU Ardain, who provided additional contextual information; and our field assistant, MEKOUNO Paul. S.G. Baka research was funded by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC grant agreement FP7-261971-LEK. S.G. would like to thank Ernest Simpoh and Appolinaire Ambassa for their assistance with data collection. S.J.D. gratefully acknowledges the funding support of the Leakey Foundation and the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. He would also like to thank Hawassa University and Majang Administrative Zone for their assistance with the research by providing research authorizations. In particular, he would like to thank research assistants Kidmael Kiraris, Addisu Alemu, Ermias Yatola, and Timotews who facilitated all phases of the research.
Author contributions
B.S.H., A.H.B., S.G., S.J.D., and S.L.-L. performed research; A.H.B., S.L.-L., S.G., and S.J.D. analyzed data; and B.S.H., A.H.B., and S.L.-L. wrote the paper.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interest.
Supporting Information
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Information & Authors
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Cover image: Pictured is an artistic illustration of cultural evolution depicting the evolution of harnessing light and heat, with equations handwritten by Marcus W. Feldman, a key figure in the development of modern quantitative cultural evolution. A collection of articles in the Half a Century of Cultural Evolution Special Feature highlights advances in the field of theoretical cultural evolution over the past 50 years. Together, the articles illustrate the insights and progress of cultural evolutionary theory and its spread to a wide array of academic fields that study human and animal culture. See the Introduction to the Special Feature, e2418106121. Image credit: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
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Copyright
Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND).
Data, Materials, and Software Availability
All study data are included in the article and/or SI Appendix. Data on the Aka, BaYaka, and Baka can be accessed in previous publications cited in the tables in the text. Specific data on each ethnic group are also available upon request from the ethnographer; A.H.B for the Aka, S.L-L for the BaYaka and S.G. for the Baka. Data and codes for Fig. 1 are available on GitHub: https://github.com/ahboyette (50).
Submission history
Received: January 25, 2024
Accepted: May 20, 2024
Published online: November 18, 2024
Published in issue: November 26, 2024
Keywords
Acknowledgments
We want to sincerely thank all of the hunter-gatherer families that allowed researchers into their homes to conduct studies of cultural transmission. We also want to thank Jeffrey Andrews for help with the Bayesian model and Fig. 1 and Isabel Pineda Yupanqui for help with Fig. 2. Funding for A.H.B. research was provided by the NSF under grant DGE-0549425 and the Wenner-Gren Foundation under Dissertation Fieldwork Grant GR 8021. He gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Mboulou Aubin and Mboula Edward during fieldwork. S.L.-L. research was provided by awards from the Wenner-Gren Foundation (no. 9789) and the Leakey Foundation. S.L.-L. would like to thank Prof. Clobite Bouka-Biona from the Institut de Recherche en Sciences Exactes et Naturelles, who facilitated the acquisition of research permits and infrastructure; DZABATOU Moise, who served as a community liaison; DZABATOU Ardain, who provided additional contextual information; and our field assistant, MEKOUNO Paul. S.G. Baka research was funded by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC grant agreement FP7-261971-LEK. S.G. would like to thank Ernest Simpoh and Appolinaire Ambassa for their assistance with data collection. S.J.D. gratefully acknowledges the funding support of the Leakey Foundation and the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. He would also like to thank Hawassa University and Majang Administrative Zone for their assistance with the research by providing research authorizations. In particular, he would like to thank research assistants Kidmael Kiraris, Addisu Alemu, Ermias Yatola, and Timotews who facilitated all phases of the research.
Author contributions
B.S.H., A.H.B., S.G., S.J.D., and S.L.-L. performed research; A.H.B., S.L.-L., S.G., and S.J.D. analyzed data; and B.S.H., A.H.B., and S.L.-L. wrote the paper.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interest.
Notes
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
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