Does Group Size Matter? The Impact of Reciprocity on Giving in Local Faith Communities

We compare and contrast how group size affects the internal structure & relational dynamics of religious communities, ranging from small religious congregations to megachurches (in American society). Classic anthropological economic and evolutionary theory holds that reciprocity, particularly altruistic generalized reciprocity, is most likely to strongly influence small groups, especially kinship-based groups. In the case of non-kin groups, studies of behavior mimicking kin altruism have found that all forms of reciprocity, including extreme giving and high-cost behaviors, are most likely to be found in small social groups with tight bonds, particularly those with shared religious beliefs. In the case of larger groups and individuals who are less tightly bound, a different set of factors may be associated with giving and other forms of group interaction. Distribution and redistribution of resources through a mediator, leader or bureaucracy is often more typical of large-scale groups with less direct contact between giver and receiver. How does this dynamic apply to modern religious groups, such as megachurches? In this paper, we propose a conceptual framework for analyzing religious communities, ranging from small-scale and larger-scale churches. Based on theoretical concepts drawn from both Anthropology and Sociology, we indicate that as the social group size increases, the nature of giving, broadly defined, is altered, becoming less direct and less kin-like, and more outwardly focused. By contrast, smaller groups are more likely to focus on interior, direct, reciprocal giving and kin-like altruism on an ongoing basis. Because giving is important to individual happiness as well as to religious community identity, what lessons are there to be learned about best practices in how religious communities organize giving

Effects of initial plant species richness in microcosms: preliminary results

We established microcosms of crop species (Borago officinalis, Brassica oleracea, Glycine max, Lactuca sativa, Lycopersicon esculentum, Ocimum basilicum, Tagetes patula, Zinnia violacea) in a richness gradient from 1 to 8 species to determine the effects of initial richness on the richness and composition of. weed. communities emerging from artificial seed banks. Most crop species performed better in mixture than in monoculture. The richness of . weeds. was not significantly related to the initial diversity of crops, but weed richness did appear to be a function of crop species (even after accounting for variation in crop and weed biomass). The composition of weeds was significantly related to initial crop composition, although not to interactions between crop species

Informe del análisis de muestras de fitolitos del Valle del Cauca

En este informe, se detallan los resultados de los análisis de fitolitos realizados en sedimentos de varios contextos arqueológicos, la mayoría del sitio Hacienda Malagana y del periodo Malagana. Las muestras provienen de los siguientes contextos:5El interior de vasijas antropomorfas que representan mujeres sentadas sobre los talones (50/1342, 80b/1337, 80e/1345, 53/1355). Estas vasijas no son parte de ajuares funerarios, sino de ofrendas rituales.De los alrededores o debajo de estas vasijas antropomorfas femeninas (49/1348, 53a/1354).Del interior de otras vasijas: del periodo Ilama (80i/1338); del periodo Malagana (45/1331, 81c/1334, 51/1344, 80g/1350, 78/1352, 52/1353); del periodo Tardío (80bis/1302).De rellenos de tumbas (80c, 80d/1330,1301; 80f/1340).De rellenos de pozos (47/1341, 46/1343).De orificios de poste (81d/1335).De otros contextos (77/1333, 80h/1336,44/1339, 35/1349).Todos estos contextos, con excepción de los detallados en el numeral 3, corresponden al periodo Malagana. En la Tabla 1 se presentan los datos completos de estos contextos. En este informe, primero, se detallan los procedimientos utilizados para extraer e identificar los fitolitos. Luego, se describen los taxones vegetales identificados mediante el análisis de fitolitos en el conjunto de muestras. Finalmente, se examinan los resultados de acuerdo con los contextos y se discute si existe una asociación entre contextos particulares y ocurrencias de determinados fitolitos.

Phytoliths as a tool for investigations of agricultural origins and dispersals around the world

Agricultural origins and dispersals are subjects of fundamental importance to archaeology as well as many other scholarly disciplines. These investigations are world-wide in scope and require significant amounts of paleobotanical data attesting to the exploitation of wild progenitors of crop plants and subsequent domestication and spread. Accordingly, for the past few decades the development of methods for identifying the remains of wild and domesticated plant species has been a focus of paleo-ethnobotany. Phytolith analysis has increasingly taken its place as an important independent contributor of data in all areas of the globe, and the volume of literature on the subject is now both very substantial and disseminated in a range of international journals. In this paper, experts who have carried out the hands-on work review the utility and importance of phytolith analysis in documenting the domestication and dispersals of crop plants around the world. It will serve as an important resource both to paleo-ethnobotanists and other scholars interested in the development and spread of agriculture

Historical ecology, human niche construction and landscape in pre-Columbian Amazonia: a case study of the geoglyph builders of Acre, Brazil

This paper applies concepts from the fields of historical ecology and human niche construction theory to interpret archaeological and palaeoecological data from the Brazilian state of Acre, southwest Amazonia, where modern deforestation has revealed hundreds of pre-Columbian monumental earthworks called 'geoglyphs', largely built between ca. 2000–650 cal. BP (calibrated years before present). Our main objective was to move away from the debate which currently dominates Amazonian archaeology over large- vs. small-scale pre-Columbian environmental impacts, and instead offer a more nuanced interpretation of human-environment interactions in our specific study area. Despite the difficulties presented by working with an incomplete regional archaeological dataset, interpreting our findings in light of these theoretical frameworks allowed us to re-think landscape history and ask new questions about a possible relationship between anthropogenic forests, symbolic capital and monument building in our particular study area

The Amazonian Formative: Crop Domestication and Anthropogenic Soils

The emergence of sedentism and agriculture in Amazonia continues to sit uncomfortably within accounts of South American pre-Columbian history. This is partially because deep-seated models were formulated when only ceramic evidence was known, partly because newer data continue to defy simple explanations, and partially because many discussions continue to ignore evidence of pre-Columbian anthropogenic landscape transformations. This paper presents the results of recent geoarchaeological research on Amazonian anthropogenic soils. It advances the argument that properties of two different types of soils, terras pretas and terras mulatas, support their interpretation as correlates of, respectively, past settlement areas and fields where spatially-intensive, organic amendment-reliant cultivation took place. This assessment identifies anthropogenic soil formation as a hallmark of the Amazonian Formative and prompts questions about when similar forms of enrichment first appear in the Amazon basin. The paper reviews evidence for embryonic anthrosol formation to highlight its significance for understanding the domestication of a key Amazonian crop: manioc (Manihot esculenta ssp. esculenta). A model for manioc domestication that incorporates anthropogenic soils outlines some scenarios which link the distribution of its two broader varieties—sweet and bitter manioc—with the widespread appearance of Amazonian anthropogenic dark earths during the first millennium AD