Ethnoarchaeology of Pro-Sociality: Frequent All-Night Dances May Help Foster Hunter-Gatherer Cooperation in Impoverished Environments

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

We investigate the pro-sociality of frequent cultural dances among a group of South American hunter-gatherers living in an impoverished environment. Savanna Pumé foragers of the llanos of Venezuela hold 11-hr night dances 36% of all nights sampled during 30 months of ethnoarcheological fieldwork. The Savanna Pumé live in a hyperseasonal environment with low densities and diversity of resources. Terrestrial game animals provide low returns during the six months of wet season; mean returns are ~2 kg/hunter/trip, mostly small game; and few men hunt each week. Resources from dry season fishing are returned in higher amounts and are shared more extensively. Fishing returns also average 2 kg/man/trip, but most men in camp fish every day. Foods contributed and shared by women are critical in all seasons. All-night community dances are equally frequent during the wet and dry seasons. We present information from observations of these dances, daily activity budgets, demographic and mobility data, and corollary experimental evolutionary psychology data on the pro-sociality effects of group participation in rhythmic activities. These suggest that Savanna Pumé hunter-gatherers engage in frequent community dances to promote cooperative subsistence efforts and sharing, and that dance may be a pro-social behavioral adaptation to this depauperate environment.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36644.0