The evolution of human ritual behavior as a cooperative
signaling platform

k 2023

The evolution of human ritual behavior as a cooperative signaling platform

LANG, Martin

Basic information

Original name

The evolution of human ritual behavior as a cooperative signaling platform

Authors

LANG, Martin

Edition

Ritual in Human Evolution: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, International Conference Tübingen, Oct. 4–6, 2023, Germany, 2023

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Presentations at conferences

Field of Study

60304 Religious studies

Country of publisher

Germany

Confidentiality degree

is not subject to a state or trade secret

References:

URL

Organization unit

Faculty of Arts

Keywords in English

African hominins; collective ritual; complex signaling systems; cooperative communication; mutualistic cooperation; neurocognitive mechanisms; pleistocene

Abstract

In the original language

Collective ritual is virtually omnipresent across past and present human cultures and is thought to play an essential role in facilitating cooperation, yet little is known about its evolution in the hominin lineage. We examine whether collective ritual could have evolved as a complex signaling system facilitating mutualistic cooperation under socio-ecological pressures in the Pleistocene. Specifically, we identify similarity, coalitional, and commitment signals as the building blocks of the contemporary signaling systems in hunter-gatherers and trace the presence of these signals in non-human primates and the hominin archaeological and paleoanthropological record. Next, we establish the underlying cognitive mechanisms facilitating these signals and review the evidence of the earliest presence of these mechanisms as well as evidence for selective pressures on the evolution of cooperative communication. The synthesis of these streams of evidence suggests that ritualized cooperative signals might have first evolved in the Early Pleistocene in the form of similarity signals, whereas coalitional and commitment signals would start appearing in the early and late Middle Pleistocene until, eventually, coalescing into a signaling system. By the arrival of Homosapiens, it is possible that collective ritual as a staged and repetitively performed signaling act constituted an important adaptation facilitating collective action

Links

MUNI/A/1396/2022, interní kód MU

Name: Aktuální výzvy v kognitivním studiu náboženství

Investor: Masaryk University, Contemporary challenges in the cognitive study of religion

Cite

LANG, Martin. The evolution of human ritual behavior as a cooperative signaling platform. In Ritual in Human Evolution: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, International Conference Tübingen, Oct. 4–6, 2023, Germany. 2023.

@proceedings{2321318,
   author = {Lang, Martin},
   booktitle = {Ritual in Human Evolution: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, International Conference Tübingen, Oct. 4–6, 2023, Germany},
   keywords = {African hominins; collective ritual; complex signaling systems; cooperative communication; mutualistic cooperation; neurocognitive mechanisms; pleistocene},
   language = {eng},
   title = {The evolution of human ritual behavior as a cooperative signaling platform},
   url = {https://uni-tuebingen.de/fakultaeten/mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche-fakultaet/fachbereiche/geowissenschaften/arbeitsgruppen/urgeschichte-naturwissenschaftliche-archaeologie/ina/aeltere-urgeschichte-quartaeroekologie/aktuelles/tagungen/},
   year = {2023}
}

TY  - CONF
ID  - 2321318
AU  - Lang, Martin
PY  - 2023
TI  - The evolution of human ritual behavior as a cooperative signaling platform
KW  - African hominins
KW  - collective ritual
KW  - complex signaling systems
KW  - cooperative communication
KW  - mutualistic cooperation
KW  - neurocognitive mechanisms
KW  - pleistocene
UR  - https://uni-tuebingen.de/fakultaeten/mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche-fakultaet/fachbereiche/geowissenschaften/arbeitsgruppen/urgeschichte-naturwissenschaftliche-archaeologie/ina/aeltere-urgeschichte-quartaeroekologie/aktuelles/tagungen/
N2  - Collective ritual is virtually omnipresent across past and present human cultures and is thought to play an essential role in facilitating cooperation, yet little is known about its evolution in the hominin lineage. We examine whether collective ritual could have evolved as a complex signaling system facilitating mutualistic cooperation under socio-ecological pressures in the Pleistocene. Specifically, we identify similarity, coalitional, and commitment signals as the building blocks of the contemporary signaling systems in hunter-gatherers and trace the presence of these signals in non-human primates and the hominin archaeological and paleoanthropological record. Next, we establish the underlying cognitive mechanisms facilitating these signals and review the evidence of the earliest presence of these mechanisms as well as evidence for selective pressures on the evolution of cooperative communication. The synthesis of these streams of evidence suggests that ritualized cooperative signals might have first evolved in the Early Pleistocene in the form of similarity signals, whereas coalitional and commitment signals would start appearing in the early and late Middle Pleistocene until, eventually, coalescing into a signaling system. By the arrival of Homosapiens, it is possible that collective ritual as a staged and repetitively performed signaling act constituted an important adaptation facilitating collective action
ER  -

LANG, Martin. The evolution of human ritual behavior as a cooperative signaling platform. In \textit{Ritual in Human Evolution: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, International Conference Tübingen, Oct. 4–6, 2023, Germany}. 2023.

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