TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2009//
TI  - Did warfare among ancestral hunter-gatherers affect the evolution of human social behaviors?
JO  - Science
A1  - Bowles, S.
SP  - 1293
EP  - 1298
VL  - 324
IS  - 5932
N2  - Since Darwin, intergroup hostilities have figured prominently in explanations of the evolution of human social behavior. Yet whether ancestral humans were largely "peaceful" or "warlike" remains controversial. I ask a more precise question: If more cooperative groups were more likely to prevail in conflicts with other groups, was the level of intergroup violence sufficient to influence the evolution of human social behavior? Using a model of the evolutionary impact of between-group competition and a new data set that combines archaeological evidence on causes of death during the Late Pleistocene and early Holocene with ethnographic and historical reports on hunter-gatherer populations, I find that the estimated level of mortality in intergroup conflicts would have had substantial effects, allowing the proliferation of group-beneficial behaviors that were quite costly to the individual altruist.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0036-8075
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1168112
ID  - ref1
ER  -