Publication details
On the origin of collective ritual
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Treating collective ritual as a complex signaling system facilitating mutualistic cooperation, we propose an evolutionary model of its origin in the hominin lineage. For our model, we first synthesize the literature dealing with hunter-gatherer ethnography and hominin archaeology and identify similarity signals, coalitionary signals, and signals of commitment to collective action as the main building blocks of the signaling system. As a next step, we turn to primatology and paleoanthropology to investigate these signals in non-human primates and past hominins. Adding the proximate level to our analysis, we pinpoint distinctive neurocognitive mechanisms scaffolding the three types of ritual signals and track down the mechanisms` presence. Finally, we connect this evidence with the prevalent socio-ecological selective pressures for cooperative communication and suggest that by the arrival of H. Sapiens collective ritual already constituted crucial adaptation overcoming collective action problems. |
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