Identifying post-marital residence patterns in prehistory: A phylogenetic comparative analysis of dwelling size

Abstract

Post-marital residence patterns are an important aspect of human social organization. However, identifying such patterns in prehistoric societies is challenging since they leave almost no direct traces in archaeological records. Cross-cultural researchers have attempted to identify correlates of post-marital residence through the statistical analysis of ethnographic data. Several studies have demonstrated that, in agricultural societies, large dwellings (over ca. 65 m 2) are associated with matrilocality (spouse resides with or near the wife's family), whereas smaller dwellings are associated with patrilocality (spouse resides with or near the husband's family). In the present study, we tested the association between post-marital residence and dwelling size (average house floor area) using phylogenetic comparative methods and a global sample of 86 pre-industrial societies, 22 of which were matrilocal. Our analysis included the presence of agriculture, sedentism, and durability of house construction material as additional explanatory variables. The results confirm a strong association between matrilocality and dwelling size, although very large dwellings (over ca. 200 m 2) were found to be associated with all types of post-marital residence. The best model combined dwelling size, post-marital residence pattern, and sedentism, the latter being the single best predictor of house size. The effect of agriculture on dwelling size becomes insignificant once the fixity of settlement is taken into account. Our results indicate that postmarital residence and house size evolve in a correlated fashion, namely that matrilocality is a predictable response to an increase in dwelling size. As such, we suggest that reliable inferences about the social organization of prehistoric societies can be made from archaeological records.

The potential to infer the historical pattern of cultural macroevolution

“…The problem of highly facultative traits is well-illustrated in a recent innovative study linking archaeological and contemporary ethnographic data to examine the association between dwelling size and post-marital residence [38]. By plotting dwelling size and residence rules onto a time-calibrated global super-tree of human populations the authors show that changes in house size precede changes in residence patterns.…”

“…Second, data (or branches) may be missing not at random with respect to the trait of interest. With respect to the first issue, in Hrnčíř et al's study [38] the sample for studying the association between dwelling size and post-marital residence was heavily biased to New World sites, on account of the scant attention payed to material traits (such as house size) by European as opposed to American ethnographers. While the resulting sample may not be biased with respect to the hypothesis (i.e., data are missing at random) the effect of such uneven and sparse sampling might obscure any phylogenetic signal in the variables and influence inferences about internal nodes.…”

The Potential to Infer the Historical Pattern of Cultural Macroevolution

“…With respect to missing trait values, in a recent study of the association between dwelling size and post-marital residence Hrncir et al [14] cut many populations from their global super-tree because there were no data on dwelling size diameter, ending up with only 86 societies. Unsurprisingly, given the emphasis on material culture among American as opposed to European ethnographers, the sample is heavily biased towards the New World; in fact there are only 14 populations from Africa, none of which are matriocal (or ambi-matrilocal), and only one from Australia.…”

“…The problem of highly facultative traits is well illustrated in a recent study of the association between dwelling size and post-marital residence [14]. By plotting dwelling size and residence rules onto a time-calibrated global super-tree of human populations the authors show that changes in house size precede changes in residence patterns.…”

An Ethnological Analogy and Biogenetic Model for Interpretation of Religion and Ritual in the Past

“…Cross-cultural patterns can inform archaeological inference, providing a basis from which to generalize about societal types, infer causes of phenomena, attribute interpretations to material findings, and make inferences about diverse cultural practices of the past based on associations found in worldwide data. Comparative ethnology can provide models that allow artifactual remains (i.e., settlement and dwelling size) be used to interpret populations features such as sedentary lifestyle, marital residence, marriage patterns, kinship and social organization, warfare, political hierarchy, and even religious practices (also see Václav et al, 2020;Kahn, 2015).…”