Abstract
The probability of lineal extinction is sensitive to all the moments of the reproductive success probability distribution. In particular, high variance in reproductive success is associated with high probability of lineal extinction. Where male variance in reproductive success exceeds female variance, strictly patrilineal lines of descent will become extinct more rapidly than strictly matrilineal lines of descent. Patrilineal genealogies will be expected to be shallower and broader than matrilineal genealogies under such conditions. Potential implications of this genealogical asymmetry for human descent systems include the greater information content of patrilineal kinship reckoning compared with any other unilineal system and the greater effectiveness of patrilineal kinship as a vehicle for corporate action.
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Peter Ellison is a professor and the chair of the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University. His principal area of research is human reproductive ecology, particularly the physiological ecology of ovarian function. Collateral interests are in mathematical demography and life-history theory. Recent publications include “The Ecological Context of Human Ovarian Function,” inHuman Reproduction 8:2248–2258 (with C. Panter-Brick, S. F. Lipson, and M. T. O’Rourke, 1993) and “Measurements of Salivary Progesterone,” inAnnals of the New York Academy of Sciences 694:161–176 (1993).
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Ellison, P.T. Extinction and descent. Human Nature 5, 155–165 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02692159
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02692159