Cultural transmission and ecological opportunity jointly shaped global patterns of reliance on agriculture

Evolutionary Human Sciences • Vol/Iss. 2(53) • Cambridge University Press • Cambridge • Published In • Pages: 1-11 •
By Vilela, Bruno, Fristoe, Trevor, Tuff, Ty, Kavanagh, Patrick H., Haynie, Hannah J., Gray, Russell D. , Gavin, Michael C. , Botero, Carlos A.

Abstract

In this article, the authors seek to investigate why some societies reject agriculture despite its many benefits. By modeling data regarding ecological fitness and cultural transmission, the authors found predictors for the degree to which a society relies on agriculture. The authors conclude that the degree of fitness a local environment had for early domesticates as well as the degree of contact with neighboring societies strongly predicts levels of dependence on agriculture.

Samples

Sample Used Coded Data Comment
Ethnographic Atlas (EA)by other researchersa subset of 1,118 societies for which all other pieces of data were available
List of 116 initially domesticated speciesby other researchersdrawn from Larson et al (2014)
EcoClimate datasetby other researchersdrawn from Lima-Ribeiro et al (2015)
Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Model CCSM4by other researchers

Hypotheses (4)

HypothesisSupported
After accounting for dispersal constraints, the potential number of early domesticates will predict farming propensity in early twentieth century traditional societiesSupported
After accounting for dispersal constraints, mammal diversity will predict farming propensity in early twentieth century traditional societiesPartially Supported
After accounting for dispersal constraints, vascular plant diversity will predict farming propensity in early twentieth century traditional societiesSupported
After accounting for dispersal constraints, horizontal transmission will predict farming propensity in early twentieth century traditional societiesSupported
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: dmccloskey103  anj.droe