Given that research on female political representation tends to be overlooked across many societies, this study investigates whether historical female political leadership influences contemporary female political representation in Africa. The authors hypothesize that precolonial traditions of women in leadership persist in shaping present-day representation. Using two original datasets—one from cross-cultural samples and one from previous elections—they find that ethnic groups with histories of female leaders have more women elected today, with results also show that many institutional factors have shaped women’s traditional political roles, and that the effects of historical colonialism have reversed much of their influence. The conclusion is that historical female leadership continues to affect modern representation, though shaped by institutional change.

Several theories on the development of matrilocal residence are tested. The main argument put forth predicts that matrilocal residence will develop in response to a need to break up fraternal interest groups that encourage internal war and instead encourage a pattern of external war that is more beneficial in populated regions with additional group migration.

In this article, the author argues that matrilocality is a form of social organization that is conducive to expansion in tribal societies with smaller populations. Because this organization increases internal solidarity and success in external warfare, the theory suggests that it is best suited for expansion on cultural frontiers by groups with small populations. The author supports this theory with empirical tests on 33 societies and case studies of Bantu and Austronesian expansion.

Information from the archaeological record from 9 culture areas was used to explore the influence of human insecurities on the rate of depopulation in the U.S. Southwest and Mexican Northwest region during the 1300 to 1400s. The authors found that as the sum of human insecurities increased in culture areas, the speed of depopulation also increased. They hope to relate these findings to modern sustainability planning and to advocate with the UN Development Programme for increased human security.

This study explores possible causes of matrilocal residence. Previous hypotheses are unsupported. Results show a significant relationship between matrilocality and recent migration.

This paper examines the enormous variation in linguistic diversity among Pacific Islands by testing its relationship with various environmental variables put forth in several common theories of language richness. The researchers identify variables relating to land area and island isolation as accounting for about half of variation in linguistic diversity, suggesting that the other half is a result of complex social factors.

Through phylogenetic comparison, Holden and Mace explore the relationship between descent and cattle among a sample of 68 Bantu/Bantoid-speaking populations in Africa. The authors posit that when matrilineal cultures adopt cattle, they become patrilineal. Possible theories are offered to explain trends and variation in the data.

The researcher looks for empirical evidence of natural selection as an explanation for worldwide variation in novelty-seeking behavior. Examining the relationship between variability in frequency of the DRD4 exon III 7-repeat allele variant (a variant theorized to stifle dopamine reception and thus encourage compensatory novelty-seeking behavior) and migratory distance from prehistoric humans' origin point in East Africa yields a positive correlation. After controlling for various biogeographic indicators, the researcher theorizes that presence of the DRD4 exon III 7-repeat variant provided an exploratory urge and evolutionary advantage to hunter-gatherers and pastoralists who migrated into unfamiliar environments.

The authors explore the relationship between differences in technology adoption across cultures in snapshots from 1000 BCE, 0 CE, 1500 CE, and 2002 CE. While acknowledging various flaws inherent in the ambitious scope of their dataset, a significant relationship is nonetheless revealed between technology adoption in 1500 CE and technology and income in 2002 CE after controlling for various geographic and demographic factors. The authors suggest that this persistence may occur because technology adoption is heavily dependent on stock of prior technology.

What is the evolutionary sequence of beliefs in hunter-gatherers? The authors attempt to answer this question by reconstructing the development of various traits in traditional societies using phylogenetic and linguistic source trees. Testing for correlated evolution between this reconstruction and population history as proxied by linguistic classification suggests the presence of animism at profound time depth, aligning with classical anthropological religious theory put forth by E.B. Tylor. Coevolutions between other religious concepts including shamanism, ancestor worship, active ancestor worship, high gods, active high gods, and belief in an afterlife are also examined.