The article discusses the role of toys and tools in the development of skills and cultural transmission in hunter-gatherer societies. The authors present a cross-cultural inventory of objects made for and by hunter-gatherer children and adolescents, finding that toys and tools were primarily handled outside of explicit pedagogical contexts, and there is little evidence for formalised apprenticeships. The authors suggest that children's self-directed interactions with objects, especially during play, have a critical role in early-age enskillment. Both boys and girls tend to use objects in work and play that emulate the gendered division of labor in their communities, and many objects made by and for children had full-scale counterparts. Finally, the authors argue that the peer group is crucial to skill acquisition in hunter-gatherer societies.

Name-soul belief systems operate under the belief that deceased ancestors will be reincarnated amongst newborn members of the community. This informs the naming process of children amongst these societies. This study samples 11 hunting/gathering/fishing societies with this belief system, comparing and contrasting how the systems are of the same or different origins. Utilizing a neo-functionalist theoretical model the researchers argue that this system reinforces kinship bonds, as new members are viewed as old members returning home, and that the returned ancestors would provide strength and protection to the newborn from more malevolent spirits. The researchers theorize that this practice, in a functionalist anthropology lens, is a way to deal with constant mortality trauma, and to strengthen group cohesion amongst often mobile groups.

To explore the fundamental nuances of knots, this study analyzes patterns of knot tying in an evolutionary cross-cultural lens. The results highlight a set of staple knots congruent across societies that implies the fundamentality of knots to human technology and innovation, exposing both strong patterns of social learning as well as task and subsistence diversity. The knot theory and computational string matching methods used in this study could be expanded to larger string or tying analysis in the future. Geographical proximity is not generally an important factor.

While string figure designs are very widespread, global cross-cultural analysis into potential connections are lacking. This study presents the first global and cross-cultural sample of string figures and suggests the widely dispersed occurrence of identical patterns and practices reflects a deep ancestry. Patterns such as these could be a product of deep cultural transmission and cognitive evolution, topics that should be researched further in future studies.