Raymond Hames
@rayhames.bsky.social
Evolutionary anthropologist (University of Nebraska - Lincoln) with interest in labor and food exchanges, small scale societies, war, wildlife conservation, marriage
Home-page at https://rhames.unl.edu/
Home-page at https://rhames.unl.edu/
On the efficacy of shamanism from Mike Jay's review of M. Singh's "Shamanism".
September 6, 2025 at 3:47 AM
On the efficacy of shamanism from Mike Jay's review of M. Singh's "Shamanism".
I just finished M. Singh's "Shamanism" and at the very end he notes this incredible anti-intellectual nonsense from our post-modern colleagues.
July 17, 2025 at 12:24 AM
I just finished M. Singh's "Shamanism" and at the very end he notes this incredible anti-intellectual nonsense from our post-modern colleagues.
Well worth a close read and includes humans - Biological Reviews - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Close encounters of the friendly kind: pacific between‐group interactions in primates
While intergroup conflict features prominently in the behavioural ecology literature, its antonym, intergroup peace, has been a rather neglected phenomenon until recently. Neighbourly relations and a...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
June 19, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Well worth a close read and includes humans - Biological Reviews - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/a...
The Most Wondrous Art in the World in 1,726 Objects
www.nytimes.com
May 28, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/a...
Bonobo news:
We found that females target males in 85% of their coalitions, that females occupy higher ranks compared to males when they form more frequent coalitions. ...female coalition formation is a behavioral tool for females to gain power over males. www.nature.com/articles/s42...
We found that females target males in 85% of their coalitions, that females occupy higher ranks compared to males when they form more frequent coalitions. ...female coalition formation is a behavioral tool for females to gain power over males. www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Drivers of female power in bonobos - Communications Biology
In mammals, documented female dominance is rare, but females can hold high status even with male-biased dimorphism. In wild living bonobo groups, female coalition formation best explains the observed ...
www.nature.com
April 25, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Bonobo news:
We found that females target males in 85% of their coalitions, that females occupy higher ranks compared to males when they form more frequent coalitions. ...female coalition formation is a behavioral tool for females to gain power over males. www.nature.com/articles/s42...
We found that females target males in 85% of their coalitions, that females occupy higher ranks compared to males when they form more frequent coalitions. ...female coalition formation is a behavioral tool for females to gain power over males. www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Weird and irrelevant reference padding.
April 20, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Weird and irrelevant reference padding.
Home Page
doi.org
April 12, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Whoever alerted me to this response by Azar Gat to Michael Mann's "On War", THANKS. The takedown was systematic and exposes a certain blindness in sociology.
networks.h-net.org/group/discus...
networks.h-net.org/group/discus...
H-Diplo|RJISSF Roundtable 16-31 on Mann, _On Wars_ | H-Net
H-Diplo | Robert Jervis International Security Studies ForumRoundtable Review 16-31 Michael Mann. On Wars. Yale University Press, 2023. ISBN: 9780300266818.
networks.h-net.org
April 9, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Whoever alerted me to this response by Azar Gat to Michael Mann's "On War", THANKS. The takedown was systematic and exposes a certain blindness in sociology.
networks.h-net.org/group/discus...
networks.h-net.org/group/discus...
Although Cavalli-Sforza died in 2018 at the age of 96, here is a retrospective piece on his truly innovative contributions to the story of human evolution in joining archaeology and other human sciences with population genetics. Met him when I worked at NSF
www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/b70f0d...
www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/b70f0d...
The legacy of Luca Cavalli-Sforza on human evolution
<jats:p>Archaeology and the branch of population genetics focusing on the human past have historically lived parallel lives, often having complicated encounters when it came to unravelling the origins...
www.repository.cam.ac.uk
April 3, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Although Cavalli-Sforza died in 2018 at the age of 96, here is a retrospective piece on his truly innovative contributions to the story of human evolution in joining archaeology and other human sciences with population genetics. Met him when I worked at NSF
www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/b70f0d...
www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/b70f0d...
Reposted by Raymond Hames
"the narrow bandwidth of ideas that Western academics often draw upon when formulating hypotheses for socio-cultural phenomena in other times and places"
Dancing Around Rituals of Gender
Dancing Around Rituals of Gender
inquisitivemag.org
February 22, 2025 at 2:08 PM
"the narrow bandwidth of ideas that Western academics often draw upon when formulating hypotheses for socio-cultural phenomena in other times and places"
Today's re-reading and noting a lovely photo of the Gunwinggu from Jon Altman's important work. They no doubt feasted for days and called in friends and relatives to join in
February 2, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Today's re-reading and noting a lovely photo of the Gunwinggu from Jon Altman's important work. They no doubt feasted for days and called in friends and relatives to join in
I know that you-all occasionally get this academic junk but the subject line in the email is so - I really don't know what to say "Great News! You are Highly Invited for Servicing as a Editor in Chief"
January 15, 2025 at 3:15 PM
I know that you-all occasionally get this academic junk but the subject line in the email is so - I really don't know what to say "Great News! You are Highly Invited for Servicing as a Editor in Chief"
We could use more studies like this one by sociologists who are not afraid of evolutionary theory
sociologicalscience.com/articles-v10...
sociologicalscience.com/articles-v10...
Evolutionary Influences on Assistance to Kin: Evidence from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics
Article: Evolutionary Influences on Assistance to Kin: Evidence from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics | Sociological Science | Posted December 16, 2023
sociologicalscience.com
January 12, 2025 at 3:10 PM
We could use more studies like this one by sociologists who are not afraid of evolutionary theory
sociologicalscience.com/articles-v10...
sociologicalscience.com/articles-v10...
Mass editorial board resignation at the Journal of Human Evolution. Why? Elsevier the publisher of JHE has an enormous 24% profit margin. To increase it further they are cutting back copy editing and other human resources necessary for a well-run journal.
x.com/markwgrabows...
x.com/markwgrabows...
x.com
x.com
December 27, 2024 at 4:15 PM
Mass editorial board resignation at the Journal of Human Evolution. Why? Elsevier the publisher of JHE has an enormous 24% profit margin. To increase it further they are cutting back copy editing and other human resources necessary for a well-run journal.
x.com/markwgrabows...
x.com/markwgrabows...
Montaigne in "Of Cannibals" described Brazilian native Tupinamba visitors to France in 1562 and their assessment of French civilization
December 13, 2024 at 3:44 PM
Montaigne in "Of Cannibals" described Brazilian native Tupinamba visitors to France in 1562 and their assessment of French civilization
My profile image has been blurred because of "explicit sexual imagery". Dumb AI I suspect. The suspect link to my homepage has a bare chested Yanomamo woman with other bare chested men peering over my shoulder as I work on my computer. I have appealed. I hope I get a pass.
November 19, 2024 at 6:53 PM
My profile image has been blurred because of "explicit sexual imagery". Dumb AI I suspect. The suspect link to my homepage has a bare chested Yanomamo woman with other bare chested men peering over my shoulder as I work on my computer. I have appealed. I hope I get a pass.
Excellent history of evolutionary anthropology as it relates to human behavior and culture. The take home point is that both human behavioral ecology and evolutionary psychology need to account for culture per se more effectively and intergratively. Open access at www.pnas.org/doi/epub/10....
Cultural evolution: Where we have been and where we are going (maybe)
www.pnas.org
November 19, 2024 at 6:14 PM
Excellent history of evolutionary anthropology as it relates to human behavior and culture. The take home point is that both human behavioral ecology and evolutionary psychology need to account for culture per se more effectively and intergratively. Open access at www.pnas.org/doi/epub/10....
Seems that it has a small chance of success but one can hope and hope it will lead others to effectively expose the collusion and exploitation:
www.chronicle.com/article/a-ma...
www.chronicle.com/article/a-ma...
‘A Massive Scandal': Does a Landmark Lawsuit Against Academic Publishers Have Legs?
“Gag rules.” Price fixing. “Anticompetitive agreements.” A new lawsuit seeks to skewer academic-publishing heavyweights, but experts have their doubts.
www.chronicle.com
September 22, 2024 at 1:01 AM
Seems that it has a small chance of success but one can hope and hope it will lead others to effectively expose the collusion and exploitation:
www.chronicle.com/article/a-ma...
www.chronicle.com/article/a-ma...
Luke Glowacki just published an excellent critique on war among mobile foragers with a focus on the work of Fry and Söderberg inter alia. I have published my own reservations of their Science paper. But Luke's paper uncovered more problems. I had to change my lecture notes to include the following
September 11, 2024 at 8:23 PM
Luke Glowacki just published an excellent critique on war among mobile foragers with a focus on the work of Fry and Söderberg inter alia. I have published my own reservations of their Science paper. But Luke's paper uncovered more problems. I had to change my lecture notes to include the following
80% of the world's biodiversity found in indigenous territories. The figure is false and incomprehensible yet cited in 186 scientific publications
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
No basis for claim that 80% of biodiversity is found in Indigenous territories
A much-cited statistic about how much of the world’s biodiversity is under Indigenous stewardship is unsupported — and could harm the cause it is meant to support. A much-cited statistic about how muc...
www.nature.com
September 9, 2024 at 11:44 PM
80% of the world's biodiversity found in indigenous territories. The figure is false and incomprehensible yet cited in 186 scientific publications
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Thought of the day: scientific journals exploit reviewers. It takes me about half-a-day of work to do a good review and sometimes more with SOM's. A tiny step in the right direction would be to compensate reviewers with a gratis two year subscription to the journal. Thoughts?
July 19, 2024 at 2:56 PM
Thought of the day: scientific journals exploit reviewers. It takes me about half-a-day of work to do a good review and sometimes more with SOM's. A tiny step in the right direction would be to compensate reviewers with a gratis two year subscription to the journal. Thoughts?
Reposted by Raymond Hames
Our failure to reproduce Anderson et al (2023), The Myth of Man the Hunter, is now published: 🧪 authors.elsevier.com/c/1j2qf3tz49...
May 7, 2024 at 10:10 PM
Our failure to reproduce Anderson et al (2023), The Myth of Man the Hunter, is now published: 🧪 authors.elsevier.com/c/1j2qf3tz49...
Our article on women and hunting is now in press and online. Free views for the next 50 days.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
authors.elsevier.com
May 7, 2024 at 9:26 PM
Our article on women and hunting is now in press and online. Free views for the next 50 days.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
More on woman the hunter
Martin,Melanie, AlejandraNuñezdelaMora, ClaudiaValeggia,and AmandaVeile.2024.“Can women hunt?Yes. Did women contribute much to human evolution through endurance hunting? Probably not.” American Anthropologist1–5. doi.org/10.1111/aman...
Martin,Melanie, AlejandraNuñezdelaMora, ClaudiaValeggia,and AmandaVeile.2024.“Can women hunt?Yes. Did women contribute much to human evolution through endurance hunting? Probably not.” American Anthropologist1–5. doi.org/10.1111/aman...
Can women hunt? Yes. Did women contribute much to human evolution through endurance hunting? Probably not.
Click on the article title to read more.
doi.org
March 17, 2024 at 7:30 PM
More on woman the hunter
Martin,Melanie, AlejandraNuñezdelaMora, ClaudiaValeggia,and AmandaVeile.2024.“Can women hunt?Yes. Did women contribute much to human evolution through endurance hunting? Probably not.” American Anthropologist1–5. doi.org/10.1111/aman...
Martin,Melanie, AlejandraNuñezdelaMora, ClaudiaValeggia,and AmandaVeile.2024.“Can women hunt?Yes. Did women contribute much to human evolution through endurance hunting? Probably not.” American Anthropologist1–5. doi.org/10.1111/aman...
Our critique of "The Myth of Man the Hunter" is now up on a preprint server. It has been submitted to PLOS One
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Woman the Hunter? Female foragers sometimes hunt, yet gendered divisions of labor are real
bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution
www.biorxiv.org
February 29, 2024 at 3:47 PM
Our critique of "The Myth of Man the Hunter" is now up on a preprint server. It has been submitted to PLOS One
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...