Reply to Opler on Apachean Subsistence, Residence, and Girls' Puberty Rites

Archaeological evidence shows that Apaches occupied the central Plains area from A.D. 1525–1725 in Wyoming, South Dakota. Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado. Toward the end of this period they were semi-sedentary farmers living in houses generically like those of the Plains-Prairies earth lodge. Because in their southward migration they contacted Plains-Prairies farmers earlier than those in the Southwest proper, and farming was women-dominated and residence matrilocal for the Hidatsa, Mandan, Arikara, Pawnee, and Wichita, it seems highly probable that these Plains Apaches acquired matrilocal residence and a female farming division of labor at this time before contacting Tanoans in the Southwest. The more western Apacheans, who may not have had contact with Plains tribes, could have acquired matrilocal residence from western Pueblos, including the Keresans, who were probably all matrilocal before Spanish contact. It is doubtful that the wild plant gathering of Apachean women was sufficient to cause matrilocal residence, because in parts of California and the Great Basin where women gathered a greater proportion of the diet than Apachean women, residence was vary rarely matrilocal.     

Postmarital residence and biological variation at Pueblo Bonito

Although the social organization of many of the present-day pueblos of the American Southwest is well-described in the anthropological literature, many aspects of prehistoric Puebloan social organization have received limited attention since initial investigations of postmarital residence in the 1960s and 1970s. This paper examines postmarital residence at the Chaco Canyon great house of Pueblo Bonito, using biological data. Our findings are inconsistent with the previously well-accepted hypothesis that the Pueblo II and Pueblo III occupants of the San Juan Basin conformed to a socially prescribed pattern of matrilocal residence with matrilineal descent. Univariate variance differences for nine craniometric variables indicate a pattern of increased female variability consistent with patrilocal/bilocal residence. The results of multivariate determinant ratio analyses are in agreement with the univariate results, suggesting the possibility of a patrilocal or bilocal residence preference at Pueblo Bonito. These findings are inconsistent with the notion that the female-based system of matrilocal residence with matrilineal descent observed among the present-day Western Pueblos was the ancestral Anasazi condition.     

The Conditions Favoring Matrilocal Versus Patrilocal Residence

This paper describes the results of a series of cross-cultural tests of several different explanations of matrilocal versus patrilocal residence. The first explanation tested was the traditional assumption that division of labor determines residence. The results did not support that assumption. The results of other tests suggest rather that patrilocal residence is favored by internal warfare, whether or not such warfare interferes with a normally patridominant division of labor; and matrilocal residence appears to be favored by purely external warfare if such warfare compels the women to do at least as much subsistence work as the men.     

Factors related to inbreeding components from isonymy in an urban population: Aranjuez (Spain)

An isonymic analysis has been carried out using a sample of 1529 reconstituted families residing during 1870-1964 in Aranjuez, an urban area situated south of Madrid, Spain. The random, non-random and total-components inbreeding coefficients from isonymy were obtained and the various combinations of surnames compared in order to infer the patri- or matrilocal pattern of residence. Throughout the period studied the random component of inbreeding (F(r)) has not changed, in contrast to the non-random component (F(n)), thus suggesting the latter could be responsible for the reduction of total inbreeding. Using several methodological approaches (biplot analysis, alpha, nu and percentage of immigrants) the predominance of the immigration of grooms was interpreted in terms of Aranjuez as a matrilocal pattern of residence. From this study it can also be concluded that surnames provided by reconstituted families are good estimators of inbreeding and migration.     

Aggregation,interregional interaction,and postmarital residence patterning: A study of biological variation in the late prehistoric middle Ohio Valley

This study examines a perennial problem in anthropology, changes in postmarital residence patterning. Cross‐cultural patterns related to shifts from patrilocal to matrilocal patterns have been attributed to changes in subsistence and/or the result of migrants entering a populated region. Shifts from matrilocal to multilocal patterns have been found to be related to depopulation. This study examines these possibilities in an archeological context through morphometric analyses of human dentition. Comparisons in variability among males and females are made at four Fort Ancient sites in the Middle Ohio Valley that date to sequential time periods between circa A.D. 1000 and 1650. Results show that the earliest site (Turpin) that was occupied during the transition to maize agriculture was patrilocal, whereas two subsequent sites (Anderson and SunWatch) that were occupied after the transition to a maize‐focused diet reflect a matrilocal pattern. The most recently occupied site (Madisonville), occupied during a time of depopulation of the region after a decline in levels of maize consumption and a marked population shuffling contains a multilocal pattern. These results fit well with the various cross‐cultural findings regarding shifts in postmarital residence patterns. Am J Phys Anthropol 154:270–278, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Helpful grandmothers in rural Ethiopia: A study of the effect of kin on child survival and growth

Kin selection and parental investment theories state that, in highly social species, such as humans, individuals can increase their inclusive fitness by extending support to their relatives. Here, we document patterns of kin support in a rural Ethiopian community, where postmarital residence practices provide differential access to relatives. Using demographic, anthropometric, and behavioral data collected from four villages we are able to (a) identify the effects of the presence of kin on child mortality and growth patterns and (b) provide detailed information on the role of relatives within the household.

Mortality analyses indicate that grandmothers had a positive effect on child survival. Anthropometric data reveal that maternal grandmothers had a particularly beneficial effect on child height, but paternal grandmothers less so. Time allocation data suggest that grandmothers continued to visit their daughters' households, irrespective of postmarital residence, where they relieved their daughters of heavy domestic tasks rather than helping with direct grandchild care. Matrilocal postmarital residence was associated with improved child survival, although children in matrilocal households were actually smaller. This may be due to wealth effects, increased competition between siblings, or higher survival of smaller infants in matrilocal households.     

Changes in Hidatsa Residence Patterns: a Cross-Cultural Interpretation

Abstract

Changes in Hidatsa marital residence patterns are described on the strength of ethnohistoric and ethnographic data. Such changes include a shift from a predominantly matrilocal to a multilocal pattern during the period 1780-1870. An interpretation for this change is offered in light of cross-cultural studies: multilocal residence is a response to depopulation due to infectious epidemic diseases in societies with some dependence on horticulture. A revision for the coding of Hidatsa marital residence in the Ethnographic Atlas is also suggested.     

Art and Residence Among the Shipibo Indians of Peru: A Study in Microacculturation

The geometric decorative art of the Shipibo Indians, Peruvian montaña, is produced by women balanced between a cultural imperative for personal innovation and submission to the constraints of traditional style. The experimental commissioning of painted Shipibo textile samplers using a rule-based approach reveals that additional variables in the Deetz-Longacre hypothesis associating female stylistic uniformity with matrilineal descent and matrilocal residence, such as the number of elements and rules used and the higher position in a hierarchy of complexity such solutions occupy, contribute to aesthetic micro-acculturation. That is done in the Shipibo case in a way that belies the presupposition that the mother is always the most important mentor in a girl's art, while supporting this archaeological theory's prediction that a group of coresiding females produces relatively homogeneous art. [ethnoarchaeology, art-style analysis, Deetz-Longacre hypothesis, South American Indians, Peru, Shipibo]     

The Matrilocal Tribe

This article integrates (1) research in the historical dynamics of state societies relating group solidarity and group expansion to cultural frontiers, (2) comparative research in anthropology relating matrilocality to a particular variety of internal politics and a particular form of warfare, and (3) interdisciplinary reconstructions of large-scale "demic expansions" and associated kinship systems in prehistory. The argument is that "metaethnic frontiers," where very different cultures clash, are centers for the formation of larger, more enduring, and more militarily effective groups. In small-scale non-state societies, the major path toward the formation of such groups is the establishment of cross-cutting ties among men. This often involves the adoption of matrilocal norms. The current distribution of matrilocality and matrilineality around the world may be partly a residue of major demic expansions in prehistory involving matrilocal tribes. This hypothesis is evaluated with a range of evidence, including information regarding the spread of two language families, Bantu and Austronesian.     

Postmarital Residence and Bilateral Kin Associations among Hunter-Gatherers

Dispersal of individuals from their natal communities at sexual maturity is an important determinant of kin association. In this paper we compare postmarital residence patterns among Pumé foragers of Venezuela to investigate the prevalence of sex-biased vs. bilateral residence. This study complements cross-cultural overviews by examining postmarital kin association in relation to individual, longitudinal data on residence within a forager society. Based on cultural norms, the Pumé have been characterized as matrilocal. Analysis of Pumé marriages over a 25-year period finds a predominant pattern of natalocal residence. We emphasize that natalocality, bilocality, and multilocality accomplish similar ends in maximizing bilateral kin affiliations in contrast to sex-biased residential patterns. Bilateral kin association may be especially important in foraging economies where subsistence activities change throughout the year and large kin networks permit greater potential flexibility in residential mobility.     

Marriage patterns in a Mesoamerican peasant community are biologically adaptive

Differential investment in offspring by parental and progeny gender has been discussed and periodically analyzed for the past 80 years as an evolutionary adaptive strategy. Parental investment theory suggests that parents in poor condition have offspring in poor condition. Conversely, parents in good condition give rise to offspring in good condition. As formalized in the Trivers-Willard hypothesis (TWH), investment in daughters will be greater under poor conditions while sons receive greater parental investment under good conditions. Condition is ultimately equated to offspring reproductive fitness, with parents apparently using a strategy to maximize their genetic contribution to future generations. Analyses of sex ratio have been used to support parental investment theory and in many instances, though not all, results provide support for TWH. In the present investigation, economic strategies were analyzed in the context of offspring sex ratio and survival to reproductive age in a Zapotec-speaking community in the Valley of Oaxaca, southern Mexico. Growth status of children, adult stature, and agricultural resources were analyzed as proxies for parental and progeny condition in present and prior generations. Traditional marriage practice in Mesoamerican peasant communities is patrilocal postnuptial residence with investments largely favoring sons. The alternative, practiced by ～25% of parents, is matrilocal postnuptial residence which is an investment favoring daughters. Results indicated that sex ratio of offspring survival to reproductive age was related to economic strategy and differed significantly between the patrilocal and matrilocal strategies. Variance in sex ratio was affected by condition of parents and significant differences in survival to reproductive age were strongly associated with economic strategy. While the results strongly support TWH, further studies in traditional anthropological populations are needed.     

Asymmetric male and female genetic histories among Native Americans from Eastern North America

Previous studies have investigated the human population history of eastern North America by examining mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation among Native Americans, but these studies could only reconstruct maternal population history. To evaluate similarities and differences in the maternal and paternal population histories of this region, we obtained DNA samples from 605 individuals, representing 16 indigenous populations. After amplifying the amelogenin locus to identify males, we genotyped 8 binary polymorphisms and 10 microsatellites in the male-specific region of the Y chromosome. This analysis identified 6 haplogroups and 175 haplotypes. We found that sociocultural factors have played a more important role than language or geography in shaping the patterns of Y chromosome variation in eastern North America. Comparisons with previous mtDNA studies of the same samples demonstrate that male and female demographic histories differ substantially in this region. Postmarital residence patterns have strongly influenced genetic structure, with patrilocal and matrilocal populations showing different patterns of male and female gene flow. European contact also had a significant but sex-specific impact due to a high level of male-mediated European admixture. Finally, this study addresses long-standing questions about the history of Iroquoian populations by suggesting that the ancestral Iroquoian population lived in southeastern North America.     

Genetic variation in Northern Thailand Hill Tribes: origins and relationships with social structure and linguistic differences

Background

Ethnic minorities in Northern Thailand, often referred to as Hill Tribes, are considered an ideal model to study the different genetic impact of sex-specific migration rates expected in matrilocal (women remain in their natal villages after the marriage and men move to their wife's village) and patrilocal societies (the opposite is true). Previous studies identified such differences, but little is known about the possible interaction with another cultural factor that may potentially affect genetic diversity, i.e. linguistic differences. In addition, Hill Tribes started to migrate to Thailand in the last centuries from different Northern areas, but the history of these migrations, the level of genetic legacy with their places of origin, and the possible confounding effects related to this migration history in the patterns of genetic diversity, have not been analysed yet. Using both original and published data on the Hill Tribes and several other Asian populations, we focused on all these aspects.

Results

Genetic variation within population at mtDNA is lower in matrilocal, compared to patrilocal, tribes. The opposite is true for Y-chromosome microsatellites within the Sino-Tibetan linguistic family, but Hmong-Mien speaking patrilocal groups have a genetic diversity very similar to the matrilocal samples. Population divergence ranges between 5% and 14% at mtDNA sequences, and between 5% and 36% at Y- chromosomes STRs, and follows the sex-specific differences expected in patrilocal and matrilocal tribes. On the average, about 2 men and 14 women, and 4 men and 4 women, are exchanged in patrilocal and matrilocal tribes every generation, respectively. Most of the Hill Tribes in Thailand seem to preserve a genetic legacy with their likely geographic origin, with children adoption probably affecting this pattern in one tribe.

Conclusion

Overall, the sex specific genetic signature of different postmarital habits of residence in the Hill Tribes is robust. However, specific perturbations related to linguistic differences, population specific traits, and the complex migratory history of these groups, can be identified. Additional studies in different populations are needed, especially to obtain more precise estimates of the migration parameters.

     

Mitochondrial origin of the matrilocal Mosuo people in China

The Mosuo people are currently the only matrilocal population in China. The origins of the population and their matrilocal tradition remain unknown. To address these questions, we studied the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diversity of the Mosuo. Lower mtDNA diversity is expected in matrilocal populations because the women remain with their families after marriage, and there is generally less movement of mtDNA genomes in matrilocal populations. However, the haplotype diversity of this population is not lower than the neighboring patrilocal populations, indicating that the Mosuo started practicing matrilocality at least after the Paleolithic Age. A previous haplogroup frequency clustering study indicated that the Mosuo are closest to the Naxi people, but the network analysis of individual sequence haplotypes presented herein shows that most Mosuo lineages cluster with Pumi lineages. Therefore, we concluded that the Mosuo people have the closest genetic relationship with the Pumi, and that they started to practice matrilocality several thousand years ago.     

Matrilocal residence is ancestral in Austronesian societies

The nature of social life in human prehistory is elusive, yet knowing how kinship systems evolve is critical for understanding population history and cultural diversity. Post-marital residence rules specify sex-specific dispersal and kin association, influencing the pattern of genetic markers across populations. Cultural phylogenetics allows us to practise ‘virtual archaeology’ on these aspects of social life that leave no trace in the archaeological record. Here we show that early Austronesian societies practised matrilocal post-marital residence. Using a Markov-chain Monte Carlo comparative method implemented in a Bayesian phylogenetic framework, we estimated the type of residence at each ancestral node in a sample of Austronesian language trees spanning 135 Pacific societies. Matrilocal residence has been hypothesized for proto-Oceanic society (ca 3500 BP), but we find strong evidence that matrilocality was predominant in earlier Austronesian societies ca 5000–4500 BP, at the root of the language family and its early branches. Our results illuminate the divergent patterns of mtDNA and Y-chromosome markers seen in the Pacific. The analysis of present-day cross-cultural data in this way allows us to directly address cultural evolutionary and life-history processes in prehistory.     

The Evolution of Avunculocal Chiefdoms: A Reconstruction of Taino Kinship and Politics

Studies of prehistoric settlement patterns emphasize resource distributions, production, exchange, and political relations as the determining factors of settlement locations. Settlement patterns are also influenced by social organization. The present study examines the interrelationship of social organization, specifically matrilocal/avunculocal residence and matrilineal descent, and the Lucayan Taino settlement of the Bahama archipelago (ca. A.D. 800–1500). The study involves an archeo-ethnological collaboration in which archeological questions of Taino kinship and politics and ethnological questions concerning the evolution of avunculocal chiefdoms are addressed. The results include a remarkably complete reconstruction of Taino social organization and a diachronic test of the evolutionary sequence proposed for the development of avunculocal institutions.     

Chronic leptin infusion advances, and immunoneutralization of leptin postpones puberty onset in normally fed and feed restricted female rats

Does leptin play a vital role in initiating puberty in female rats and can it overrule a nutrionally imposed (i.e. a 30% feed restriction, FR) delay in puberty onset? Prepubertal female rats were chronically infused for 14 days with leptin (icv or sc) or leptin-antiserum (icv) while puberty onset was monitored by means of scoring the moment of vaginal opening (VO). Median VO age was higher (35 days versus 27 days) in FR animals but leptin levels at VO were significantly decreased (1.44 +/- 0.17 ng/ml versus 2.79 +/- 0.31 ng/ml). Centrally (icv) and peripherally (sc) infused leptin (1 microg/day) advanced VO age compared to FR controls (30 days versus 35 days and 31 days versus 41 days, respectively). Congruently, centrally (icv) administered leptin-antiserum (0.6 microg/day) delayed puberty onset. In normally fed rats median VO age was only marginally advanced (26 days versus 27 days) but only if leptin was applied centrally. The effects of FR on puberty onset are counteracted or even normalized by the infusion of leptin, whereas immunoneutralization of central leptin postpones puberty onset. We therefore conclude that central leptin is crucial for initiating puberty in female rats.     

Plasma androgens in spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta): influence of social and reproductive development

Differences in plasma testosterone and androstenedione concentrations in male spotted hyaenas belonging to various reproductive and social categories 4 clans resident in South Africa and Botswana suggest that central-immigrant males have the highest concentrations of androgens, reflecting their roles as mating males. Social inhibition of reproductive function may occur in other males. A reversal in the ratio of testosterone: androstenedione occurs at puberty in most individuals, testosterone becoming the dominant hormone, especially in males that have procured mating rites. Cubs of either sex had low testosterone concentrations, except for a 4-day-old male that displayed adult concentrations, which were accompanied by a temporary testicular descent. Plasma testosterone concentrations in females largely reflected ovarian activity and showed no correlation with androstenedione concentrations. Female cubs had androstenedione concentrations significantly higher than those in all other social categories except for the central-immigrant males. The androgen profiles presented here suggest that the key to the behavioural dominance of female spotted hyaenas over males may lie with the neonatal developmental stages, rather than with the androgen patterns of adult animals.     

Craniometric variation and population history of the prehistoric Tewa

Although the population history and social organization of the prehistoric Pueblo Indians of the American Southwest have received attention in the archaeological literature, little research on this topic has been conducted by biological anthropologists. Here, we examine postmarital residence at two ancestral Tewa Indian pueblos located in north-central New Mexico using determinant ratio analysis. In addition, we examine genetic relationships among pueblos, as well as levels of within-pueblo heterogeneity due to gene flow from extraregional sources, or regional aggregation. Results from determinant ratio analysis indicate greater within-pueblo male variation, consistent with matrilocal residence for at least one Tewa pueblo. Less than expected heterogeneity at two pueblos suggests that endogamy might have been practiced among some prehistoric Tewa pueblos. Gene flow from extraregional sources is indicated for two different pueblos by greater than expected within-group heterogeneity. Distance matrix correlation analyses indicate little if any relationship between phenotypic and geographic distances, suggesting that geography was not the primary basis of gene flow or mate exchange. The weak relationship between phenotypic and geographic distances may be the combined effects of endogamy at some pueblos, nonrandom extraregional gene flow or migration at other pueblos, and limited nonproximity-dependent regional gene flow or migration among pueblos, possibly structured on ritual exchange networks based on medicine society affiliation.     

Female genital mutilation and cosmetic surgery: regulating non-therapeutic body modification

In the UK, female genital mutilation is unlawful, not only when performed on minors, but also when performed on adult women. The aim of our paper is to examine several arguments which have been advanced in support of this ban and to assess whether they are sufficient to justify banning female genital mutilation for competent, consenting women. We proceed by comparing female genital mutilation, which is banned, with cosmetic surgery, towards which the law has taken a very permissive stance. We then examine the main arguments for the prohibition of the former, assessing in each case both (a) whether the argument succeeds in justifying the ban and, if so, (b) whether a parallel argument would not also support a ban on the latter. We focus on the following arguments. Female genital mutilation should be unlawful because: (1) no woman could validly consent to it; (2) it is an oppressive and sexist practice; (3) it involves the intentional infliction of injury; (4) it causes offence. Our view is that arguments (3) and (4) are unsound and that, although arguments (1) and (2) may be sound, they support not only a ban on female genital mutilation, but also one on (some types of) cosmetic surgery. Hence, we conclude that the present legal situation in the UK is ethically unsustainable in one of the following ways. Either the ban on female genital mutilation is unjustified because arguments (1) and (2) are not in fact successful; or the law's permissive attitude towards cosmetic surgery is unjustified because arguments (1) and (2) are in fact successful and apply equally to female genital mutilation and (certain forms of) cosmetic surgery. The people of the countries where female genital mutilation is practised resent references to 'barbaric practices imposed on women by male-dominated primitive societies', especially when they look at the Western world and see women undergoing their own feminization rites intended to increase sexual desirability: medically dangerous forms of cosmetic plastic surgery, for instance....