Evolution of human ritual behavior

KUNDT, Radek and Martin LANG. Evolution of human ritual behavior. In Rituals Between Mind and Society. 2021.

Basic information

• Original name: Evolution of human ritual behavior
• Authors: KUNDT, Radek and Martin LANG.
• Edition: Rituals Between Mind and Society, 2021.

Other information

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

Abstract

Proposing an evolutionary model of the origin of ritual in the hominin lineage, we treat collective ritual as a complex signaling system that facilitates mutualistic cooperation. In 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. Subsequently, we turn to primatology and paleoanthropology to trace 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. 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 important adaptation overcoming collective action problems.

Links

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

Investor: Masaryk University