Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Worldwide cross-cultural studies and their relevance for archaeology

  • Published:
Journal of Archaeological Research Aims and scope

Abstract

Archaeological inference based on ethnographic analogy may or may not be correct. What is worse, there is no systematic way to tell. With certain provisos, it is better to generate archaeological inference from the results of worldwide cross-cultural tests of relational hypotheses. Such tests may provide more benefits than within-region comparisons. This paper discusses a number of ways in which worldwide cross-cultural research may be used in archaeological inference, including: generalizing about societal types, inferring from presumed causes, inferring from material correlates, and inferring from noncausal associations. The paper concludes with a discussion of how comparative archaeology could help cross-cultural researchers test causal theories diachronically.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References cited

  • Abrahamson, M. (1969). Correlates of political complexity.American Sociological Review 34: 690–701.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, R. C., Head, G., Jenike, M., Owen, B., Rechtman, R., and Zechenter, E. (1989). Hunting and gathering in tropical rain forest: Is it possible?American Anthropologist 91: 59–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balkwell, C., and Balswick, J. (1981). Subsistence economy, family structure and the status of the elderly.Journal of Marriage and the Family 43: 423–429.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barry, H., III (1957). Relationship between child training and the pictorial arts.Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 54: 380–383.

    Google Scholar 

  • Binford, L. R. (1990). Mobility, housing, and environment: A comparative study.Journal of Anthropological Research 46: 119–152.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blanton, R. E. (1993).Houses and Households, Plenum, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumberg, R. L., and Winch, R. F. (1972). Societal complexity and familial complexity: Evidence for the curvilinear hypothesis.American Journal of Sociology 77: 898–920.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bodley, J. H. (1990).Victims of Progress, 3rd ed., Mayfield, Mountainview.

  • Bourguignon, E. (1973).Religion, Altered States of Consciousness, and Social Change, Ohio State University Press, Columbus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourguignon, E., and Evascu, T. L. (1977). Altered states of consciousness within a general evolutionary perspective: A holocultural analysis.Behavior Science Research 12: 197–216.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowden, E. (1969). An index of sociocultural development applicable to precivilized societies.American Anthropologist 71: 454–461.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, C., Moore, C. C., Burton, M. L., and White, D. R. (1990). A cross-cultural historical analysis of subsistence change.American Anthropologist 92: 447–457.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, B. M. (1987). Population estimation from floor area: A restudy of “Naroll's constant.”Behavior Science Research 21: 1–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burton, M. L., and White, D. R. (1991). Regional comparisons, replications, and historical network analysis.Behavior Science Research 25: 55–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carneiro, R. L. (1970). Scale analysis, evolutionary sequences, and the rating of cultures. In Naroll, R., and Cohen, R. (eds.),A Handbook of Method in Cultural Anthropology, Natural History Press, Garden City.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carneiro, R. L., and Tobias, S. F. (1963). The application of scale analysis to the study of cultural evolution.New York Academy of Sciences, Transactions, ser. 2.26: 196–207.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, J. E., and Parry, W. J. (1990). Craft specialization and cultural complexity.Research in Economic Anthropology 12: 289–346.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, M. N. (1977).The Food Crisis in Prehistory: Overpopulation and the Origins of Agriculture, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, W. D. (1971).Societal Complexity and the Nature of Primitive Man's Conception of the Supernatural, Ph.D. dissertation, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Divale, W. T. (1974). Migration, external warfare, and matrilocal residence.Behavior Science Research 9: 75–133.

    Google Scholar 

  • Divale, W. T. (1975).The Causes of Matrilocal Residence: A Cross-Ethnohistorical Survey, University Microfilms, No. 75-7742, Ann Arbor, MI.

  • Divale, W. T. (1977). Living floor area and marital residence: A replication.Behavior Science Research 12: 109–115.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dressler, W. W., and Robbins, M. C. (1975). Art styles, social stratification, and cognition: An analysis of Greek vase painting.American Ethnologist 2: 427–434.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Driver, H. E., and Massey, W. C. (1957). Comparative studies of North American Indians.Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 47: 165–456.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, C. R. (1974). An evaluation of alternative theories of matrilocal versus patrilocal residence.Behavior Science Research 9: 135–149 [Reprinted in Ember and Ember (1983).]

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, C. R. (1975). Residential variation among hunter-gatherers.Behavior Science Research 10: 199–227. [Reprinted in Ember and Ember (1983).]

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, C. R. (1978). Myths about hunter-gatherers.Ethnology 17: 439–448. [Reprinted in Ember and Ember (1983).]

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, C. R., and Ember, M. (1972). The conditions favoring multilocal residence.Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 28: 382–400 (Reprinted in Ember and Ember, 1983).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, C. R., and Ember, M. (1992a). Resource unpredictability, mistrust and war: A cross-cultural study.Journal of Conflict Resolution 36: 242–262.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, C. R., and Ember, M. (1992b). Warfare, aggression and resource problems: Cross-cultural codes.Behavior Science Research 26: 169–226.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, C. R., and Ember, M. (1993).Anthropology, 7th ed., Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, C. R., and Levinson, D. (1991). The substantive contributions of worldwide cross-cultural studies using secondary data.Behavior Science Research 25: 79–140.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, C. R., Ember, M., and Pasternak, B. (1974). On the development of unilineal descent.Journal of Anthropological Research 30: 69–94. [Reprinted with “Afterthoughts” in Ember and Ember (1983).]

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, C. R., Ross, M. H., Burton, M., and Bradley, C. (1991). Problems of measurement in cross-cultural research using secondary data.Behavior Science Research 25: 187–216.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, C. R., Ember, M., and Russett, B. (1992). Peace between participatory polities: A cross-cultural test of the “democracies rarely fight each other” hypothesis.World Politics 44: 573–599.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, C. R., Russett, B., and Ember, M. (1993). Political participation and peace: Cross-cultural codes.Cross-Cultural Research (formerlyBehavior Science Research)27: 97–145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, M. (1963). The relationship between economic and political development in nonindustrialized societies.Ethnology 2: 228–248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, M. (1967). The emergence of neolocal residence.Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences 30: 291–302. [Reprinted with “Afterthoughts” in Ember and Ember (1983).]

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ember, M. (1973). An archeological indicator of matrilocal versus patrilocal residence.American Antiquity 38: 177–182 (Reprinted in Ember and Ember, 1983).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, M. (1974). The conditions that may favor avunculocal residence.Behavior Science Research 8: 203–209. [Reprinted with “Afterthoughts” in Ember and Ember (1983).]

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, M. (1975). On the origin and extension of the incest taboo.Behavior Science Research 10: 249–281. [Reprinted with “Afterthoughts” in Ember and Ember (1983).]

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, M. (1991). The logic of comparative research.Behavior Science Research 25: 143–153.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, M., and Ember, C. R. (1971). The conditions favoring matrilocal versus patrilocal residence.American Anthropologist 73: 571–594 (Reprinted with “Afterthoughts” in Ember and Ember, 1983).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ember, M., and Ember, C. R. (1983).Marriage, Family, and Kinship: Comparative Studies of Social Organization, HRAF Press, New Haven, CT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, M., and Otterbein, K. (1991). Sampling in cross-cultural research.Behavior Science Research 25: 217–233.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feinman, G., and Neitzel, J. (1984). Too many types: An overview of sedentary prestate societies in the Americas. In Schiffer, M. B. (ed.),Advances in Archaeological Methods and Theory, Vol. 7, Academic Press, Orlando, FL, pp. 39–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, J. L. (1961). Art styles as cultural cognitive maps.American Anthropologist 63: 79–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, L. C., and Winch, R. F. (1957). Societal complexity: An empirical test of a typology of societies.American Journal of Sociology 62: 461–466.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haas, J., and Cramer, W. (1993).Stress and Warfare Among the Kayenta Anasazi of the Thirteenth Century A.D., Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hassan, F. A. (1981).Demographic Archaeology, Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiatt, B. (1970). Woman the gatherer.Australian Aboriginal Studies 32: 2–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, K. Q. (1979). Political institutionalization in primitive societies: A hologeistic analysis.Behavior Science Research 14: 277–292.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ishii-Kuntz, M., and Lee, G. R. (1987). Status of the elderly: An extension of the theory.Journal of Marriage and the Family 49: 413–420.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keegan, W. F., and Maclachlan, M. D. (1989). The evolution of avunculocal chiefdoms.American Anthropologist 91: 613–630.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keeley, L. H. (1988). Hunter-gatherer economic complexity and “population pressure”: A cross-cultural analysis.Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 7: 373–411.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keeley, L. H. (1992). The use of plant foods among hunter-gatherers: A cross-cultural survey.Prehistoire de l'Agriculture: Nouvelles Approaches Experimentales et Ethnographiques, Monographie du CRA, No. 6, CNRS, pp. 29–38.

  • Kelly, R. L. (1983). Hunter-gatherer mobility strategies.Journal of Anthropological Research 39: 277–306.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, G. R. (1984). Status of the elderly: Economic and family antecedents.Journal of Marriage and the Family 46: 267–275.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, G. R., and Kezis, M. (1979). Family structure and the status of the elderly: A preliminary study.Journal of Comparative Family Studies 10: 429–443.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, R. B. (1976). !Kung spatial organization: An ecological and historical perspective. In Lee, R. B., and DeVore, I. (eds.),Kalahari Hunter-Gatherers: Studies of the !Kung San and Their Neighbors, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 73–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, R. B., and DeVore, I. (eds.) (1968).Man the Hunter, Aldine, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lenski, G. (1970).Human Societies: A Macrolevel Introduction to Sociology, McGraw-Hill, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levinson, D., and Malone, M. J. (1980).Toward Explaining Human Culture: A Critical Review of the Findings of Worldwide Cross-Cultural Research, HRAF Press, New Haven, CT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lomax, A., and Arensberg, C. (1977). A worldwide evolutionary classification of cultures by subsistence systems.Current Anthropology 18: 659–708.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marsh, R. M. (1967).Comparative Sociology: A Codification of Cross-Sectional Analysis, Harcourt, Brace & World, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNett, C. W., Jr. (1970a). A cross-cultural method for predicting nonmaterial traits in archaeology.Behavior Science Notes 5: 195–212.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNett, C. W., Jr. (1970b). A settlement pattern scale of cultural complexity. In Naroll, R., and Cohen, R. (eds.),A Handbook of Method in Cultural Anthropology, Natural History Press, Garden City, pp. 872–886.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNett, C. W., Jr. (1973). Factor analysis of a cross-cultural sample.Behavior Science Notes 8: 233–257.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murdock, G. P. (1949).Social Structure, Macmillan, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murdock, G. P., and Provost, C. (1973b). Measurement of cultural complexity.Ethnology 12: 203–225.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murdock, G. P., Ford, C. S., Hudson, A., Kennedy, R., Simmons, L., and Whiting, J. W. M. (1982).Outline of Cultural Materials, 5th rev. ed., Human Relations Area Files, New Haven, CT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Myers, F. R. (1988). Critical trends in the study of hunter-gatherers.Annual Review of Anthropology 17: 261–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naroll, R. (1956). A preliminary index of social development.American Anthropologist 58: 687–715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naroll, R. (1962). Floor area and settlement population.American Antiquity 27: 587–589.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nimkoff, M. F., and Middleton, R. (1960). Types of family and types of economy.American Journal of Sociology 66: 215–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osmond, M. W. (1969). Toward monogamy: A cross-cultural study of correlates of type of marriage.Social Forces 44: 8–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peregrine, P. (1993). An archaeological correlate of war.North American Archaeologist 14: 139–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Precourt, W. (1975). Initiation ceremonies and secret societies as educational institutions. In Brislin, R., Lonner, W., and Boohner, S., (eds.),Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Learning, Sage, Beverly Hills, pp. 231–250.

    Google Scholar 

  • Redfield, R. (1947). The folk society.American Journal of Sociology 52: 293–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Redfield, R. (1953). The Primitive World and Its Transformation, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robbins, M. C. (1966). House types and settlement patterns.Minnesota Archaeologist 28: 2–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, J. M. (1965). Oaths, autonomic ordeals, and power.American Anthropologist 67: 186–212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schalk, R. (1982). Land use and organizational complexity among foragers of northwestern North America. In Koyama, S., and Thomas, D. (eds.),Affluent foragers. Senri Ethnological Studies 9, pp. 53–76.

  • Schlegel, A., and Barry, H., III (1980). The evolutionary significance of adolescent initiation ceremonies.American Ethnologist 7: 696–715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schrire, C. (1984). Wild surmises on savage thoughts. In Schrire, C. (ed.),Past and Present in Hunter Gatherer Studies, Academic Press, Orlando, FL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Service, E. R. (1962).Primitive Social Organization: An Evolutionary Perspective, Random House, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swanson, G. E. (1960).The Birth of the Gods: The Origin of Primitive Beliefs, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trigger, B. G. (1981). Archaeology and the ethnographic present.Anthropologica 23: 3–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Underhill, R. (1975). Economic and political antecedents of monotheism: A cross-cultural study.American Journal of Sociology 80: 841–861.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, D. R. (1967).Concomitant Variation in Kinship Structures, Master's thesis, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, D. R. (1988). Rethinking polygyny.Current Anthropology 29: 529–558.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, D. R., and Burton, M. L. (1988). Causes of polygyny: Ecology, economy, kinship and warfare.American Anthropologist 90: 871–887.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whiting, J. W. M. (1954). The cross-cultural method. In Lindzey, G. (ed.),Handbook of Social Psychology, Addison-Wesley, Cambridge, MA, pp. 523–531.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whiting, J. W. M., and Ayres, B. (1968). Inferences from the shape of dwellings. In Chang, K. C. (ed.),Settlement Archeology, National Press Books, Palo Alto, CA, pp. 117–133.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilmsen, E. N. (1989).Land Filled with Flies: A Political Economy of the Kalahari, University of Chicago, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winkelman, M. (1986a). Magico-religious practitioner types and socioeconomic conditions.Behavior Science Research 20: 17–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winkelman, M. (1986b). Trance states: A theoretical model and cross-cultural analysis.Ethos 14: 76–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winkelman, M. (1990). Shamans and other “magico-religious” healers: A cross-cultural study of their origins, nature and social transformations.Ethos 18: 308–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Bibliography of recent literature

  • Ember, C. R. (1990). Bibliography of cross-cultural research methods.Behavior Science Research 24: 141–154.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, C. R. (with the assistance of Page, H., Jr., Martin, M. M., and O'Leary, T. J.) (1992).A Computerized Concordance of Cross-Cultural Samples, Human Relations Area Files, New Haven, CT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, C. R., and Ember, M. (1988).Guide to Cross-Cultural Research Using the HRAF Archive, Human Relations Area Files, New Haven, CT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, M. (1970). Taxonomy in comparative studies. In Naroll, R., and Cohen, R. (eds.),A Handbook of Method in Cultural Anthropology, Natural History Press, Garden City, NY, pp. 697–706.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, M. (1988). The Human Relations Area Files: Past and future.Behavior Science Research 22: 97–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levinson, D. (1988).Instructor's and Librarian's Guide to the HRAF Archive, Human Relations Area Files, New Haven, CT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levinson, D. (1990). Bibliography of substantive worldwide cross-cultural studies.Behavior Science Research 24: 105–140.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Human Relations Area Files, Yale Station, P.O. Box 2054, 06520-2054, New Haven, Connecticut

    Melvin Ember & Carol R. Ember

  2. Department of Anthropology, Hunter College, CUNY, 695 Park Avenue, 10021, New York, New York

    Carol R. Ember

Authors
  1. Melvin Ember
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Carol R. Ember
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ember, M., Ember, C.R. Worldwide cross-cultural studies and their relevance for archaeology. J Archaeol Res 3, 87–111 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02231488

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02231488

Key words

Search

Navigation