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Cited by 188Violence, Religion, and PhilosophyLanguage and cultural evolutionEvolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 31 of the 32 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Ritual human sacrifice promoted and sustained the evolution of stratified societies

Watts, Joseph, Sheehan, Oliver, Atkinson, Quentin D., Bulbulia, Joseph, Gray, Russell D.·2016·Nature
DOI 10.1038/nature17159
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Abstract

Evidence for human sacrifice is found throughout the archaeological record of early civilizations, the ethnographic records of indigenous world cultures, and the texts of the most prolific contemporary religions. According to the social control hypothesis, human sacrifice legitimizes political authority and social class systems, functioning to stabilize such social stratification. Support for the social control hypothesis is largely limited to historical anecdotes of human sacrifice, where the causal claims have not been subject to rigorous quantitative cross-cultural tests. Here we test the social control hypothesis by applying Bayesian phylogenetic methods to a geographically and socially diverse sample of 93 traditional Austronesian cultures. We find strong support for models in which human sacrifice stabilizes social stratification once stratification has arisen, and promotes a shift to strictly inherited class systems. Whilst evolutionary theories of religion have focused on the functionality of prosocial and moral beliefs, our results reveal a darker link between religion and the evolution of modern hierarchical societies.

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Citations

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Show all 32 references

Research works printed but not linked: 7

  1. Carrasco, D. City of Sacrifice (Beacon Press, 1999)
  2. Beatty, A. Society and Exchange in Nias (Claredon Press, 1992)
  3. Turner, C. G. & Turner, J. A. Man Corn: Cannibalism and Violence in the Prehistroic American Southwest (Univ. Utah Press, 1999)
  4. Burkert, W. Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biology in Early Religions (Harvard Univ. Press, 1998)
  5. Wilson, E. O. On Human Nature (Harvard Univ. Press, 1978)
  6. Wheatley, P. The Pivot of the Four Quarters (Edinburgh Univ. Press, 1971)
  7. Kamakau, S. M. Ka Po’E Kahiko: the People of Old (Bernice P. Bishop Museum Press, 1968)

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Metadata

Authors
Watts, J., Sheehan, O., Atkinson, Q. D., Bulbulia, J., & Gray, R. D.
Affiliations
  • University of Auckland (NZ)
  • Victoria University of Wellington (NZ)
  • Australian National University (AU)
Corresponding author
Watts, Joseph
ORCID
Venue
Nature
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2016-04
Volume
532
Issue
7598
Pages
228-231
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
DOI
10.1038/nature17159
OpenAlex
W2323566052
Cited by
188
References
32
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 40 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 3
FWCI
124.07
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Violence, Religion, and Philosophy
  • Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
Keywords
social stratification, social hierarchy, evolution of religion, political authority, cross-cultural comparison
MeSH terms
Bayes Theorem, Ceremonial Behavior, Cultural Evolution, Humans, Models, Theoretical, Phylogeny, Religion and Psychology, Social Class, Social Control, Formal

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