Origin of human ritual behavior

KUNDT, Radek and Martin LANG. Origin of human ritual behavior. In Cultural Evolution Society Conference 2021, online. 2021.

Basic information

• Original name: Origin of human ritual behavior
• Authors: KUNDT, Radek and Martin LANG.
• Edition: Cultural Evolution Society Conference 2021, online, 2021.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 60304 Religious studies
• Country of publisher: Japan
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• Organization unit: Faculty of Arts
• Keywords in English: ritual; evolution; cooperative communication
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

We propose an evolutionary model of the origin of ritual behavior in the hominin lineage that treats collective ritual as a communication technology facilitating mutualistic cooperation. In our model, we first synthesize the literature dealing with hunter-gatherer ethnography and hominin archaeology and identify gradual coalescence of similarity signals, coalitionary signals, and signals of commitment to collective action as the main building blocks of human ritual behavior. Subsequently, we turn to primatology and paleoanthropology to trace the presence of these signals in both 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 their presence in past hominins. Finally, we connect this evidence with the prevalent socio-ecological selective pressures for cooperative communication and offer estimates both for when the first of the ritual signals started to evolve as well as when ritual signals coalesced into an adaptation affording to overcome collective action problems.

Links

• MUNI/A/1444/2020, interní kód MU: Name: Evoluční a kognitivní výzkum náboženství (Acronym: EVAKON)

Investor: Masaryk University