‘Beauty Magic’: Deceptive sexual signalling and the evolution of ritual Camilla Power Thesis submitted for the degree of Ph.D. University College London 2001 Page 1 Page 2 Frontispiece Deceptive sexual signalling: the ritual leader of the Maasai eunoto wears red ochre and his mother‟s jewellery (photo Fisher 1996: 24). Page 3 Strike [the dingo] with the tuft of eagle feathers [used in initiation] Strike [him] with the girdle Strike [him] with the string around the head Strike [him] with the blood of circumcision Strike [him] with the blood of the arm Strike [him] with menstrual blood Send [him] to sleep,... South Australian shout for running down dingo, M. Mauss, Body Techniques (1979: 103), citing Teichelmann and Schürmann (1840: 73). Page 4 ABSTRACT This thesis examines the function of cosmetics, and their role in the evolution of symbolism. Ritual forms of cosmetic display are considered as extravagant or costly signalling within a framework of signal selection theory. It is argued that cosmetics, encompassing the spectrum of techniques for costly signalling with and through the body, constituted the earliest art form and primary medium for political and ritual mobilisation. The thesis is divided into two parts. The first addresses the evolutionary processes by which humans became the unique symbolic culture-bearing species. Evolutionary ecological modelling is used to relate the energetics of encephalization to evolutionary change in two main areas: i) partitioning of reproductive and somatic effort by females to alleviate reproductive stress; ii) female reproductive physiology including mechanisms for extracting increased investment from males. This yields a specific hypothesis for the emergence of symbolism. Acute reproductive stress arising from encephalization in the late Middle Pleistocene intensified sexual selection pressures on females. This promoted a strategy of „deceptive‟ sexual signalling: cosmetic manipulation of signals of imminent fertility, termed „sham menstruation‟, among coalitions of females. Cosmetics, combining pantomime dance and bodypaint, formed the substrate of ritual and symbolic culture. The second part of the thesis tests aspects of the model using a cross-cultural survey of historic ethnography of female and male initiation in sub-Saharan Africa. Standard Darwinian sexual selection theory is applied to formulate hypotheses on the variability in costliness of cosmetic usage by either sex. These costs are related to such factors as need to form reciprocal alliances with members of the same sex, intensity of sexual competition, and level of male contribution to the sexual division of labour. The „sham menstruation‟ hypothesis for the evolution of ritual yields predictions in two main areas relating cosmetics to magico-religious symbolism. Firstly, the signature of ritual potency will be highly conservative, combining signals of imminent fertility with those of non-availability, linking blood-like cosmetics to „wrong‟ displays of sexual and/or species characteristics. It is shown that this „red‟ plus „wrong‟ signal – usually comprising sexual inversion – remains a recurrent feature of sub-Saharan African initiation for both sexes. Secondly, ritually bounded communities identified by these „deceptive‟ entitities are a prerequisite for language to be founded on a basis of trust. This is demonstrated in case studies of the ritual acquisition of „secret‟ language in female initiation schools. Page 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have been fortunate to have support of two anthropology departments in completing this interdisciplinary thesis – University College London and University of East London. At UEL, the Anthropology Subject Area Leader, Lionel Sims, has been especially supportive in helping me juggle the teaching load with research. My closest collaborators have been Chris Knight, whose work has been the main inspiration behind this thesis, and Ian Watts. Both of them have helped enormously with reading and correcting drafts. At UCL, my main thanks go to my supervisor, Leslie Aiello, for her enthusiastic support of a difficult cross- disciplinary project, as well as to Volker Sommer and Amy Parish among the staff, and to Catherine Arthur, Margaret Clegg, Clare Holden, Cathy Key, Elena Mouriki, Dan Nettle and Charles Whitehead among the postgraduates. Among those who have helped improve the ideas presented in this thesis through critical discussion are Robert Aunger, Richard Byrne, Robin Dunbar, Rob Foley, Patty Gowaty, Sarah Hrdy, Debra Judge, Marek Kohn, Geoff Miller, Steve Mithen, Marilee Monnot and Olga Soffer. I should also mention two archaeologists who showed particular interest in the implications of this work, Estelle Orrelle, and the late Ben Cullen. Ben was both a wonderful person and a brilliant thinker on Darwinian cultural evolution; his death was a terrible loss to this field in its early development. I thank Angela Fisher for permission to reproduce a photograph. I am very grateful for financial support through lean times from Hilary Alton and David James, CBE. My mother, Elizabeth Power, has supported in every way. Page 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Title page 1 Abstract 4 Acknowledgements 5 Table of contents 6 List of figures 11 List of tables 13 List of plates 14 Map 15 1. Introduction 16 1.1 The problem of symbolism 16 1.2 Costliness of symbolic behaviour 20 1.3 „Collective deceptions‟ as collective representations 23 1.4 Language as „an aspect of human sociality‟ 25 1.5 Darwinian models of religion 30 1.6 Darwinian signal evolution theory and symbolic communication 38 1.7 Zahavi‟s „handicap principle‟ and ritualization 40 1.8 Alexander‟s group warfare as sexual warfare 43 1.9 Thesis outline 46 2. The energetics of encephalization 48 2.1 Selection pressures 49 2.2 Effects of environment change 54 2.3 Specific female adaptions to reproductive costs of encephalization 58 2.3.1 Secondary altriciality 60 2.3.2 Childhood 64 2.3.3 Delay in age of first reproduction 66 2.3.4 Postreproductive lifespans 70 2.3.5 Problems for the „grandmother‟ hypothesis 75 2.3.5.1 Is cooking necessary? 76 2.3.5.2 Children‟s nutrition 78 2.3.5.3 Can mothers and daughters stay together? 81 2.4 Summary: The energetics of encephalization 86 Page 7 3. Female mechanisms for raising male investment 88 3.1 Paternal investment and reproductive conflict 88 3.2 Sexual signals: concealed ovulation and continuous receptivity 90 3.3 Theory of reproductive synchrony 93 3.3.1 Seasonality in primate mating systems 95 3.3.2 Costs of synchrony to females 97 3.3.3 Effects of partible paternity and infant mortality on male strategies 100 3.3.3.1 Partible paternity 101 3.3.3.2 Effect of father desertion 104 3.3.4 The model 105 3.3.5 Results 108 3.3.5.1 Effect of interbirth interval 112 3.3.5.2 Varying infant mortality according to male strategy 114 3.3.5.3 Varying paternity parameters with infant mortality 117 3.3.6 Discussion 124 3.3.7 Human birth seasonality: the energetic challenge model 125 3.4 Alternative female strategies for increasing male investment via mating effort 129 3.5 Summary: Female mechanisms for raising male investment 134 4. Deceptive sexual signalling: the ‘sham menstruation’ strategy 136 4.1 Introduction 136 4.2 The „sham menstruation‟ model and key predictions 137 4.2.1 Development of „sham menstruation‟ from „sex-strike‟ theory 143 4.3 Machiavellian intelligence models: „gossip‟ and „counter-dominance‟ 146 4.3.1 Dunbar‟s „vocal grooming, gossip and evolution of language‟ 147 4.3.2 Erdal and Whiten‟s „counter-dominance‟ model of hunter-gatherer egalitarianism 150 4.4 Reciprocity modelling: exchange, social and sexual cooperation 155 4.5 Handicap models: sexual and signal selection 157 4.5.1 Miller: sexual selection for culture 157 4.5.2 Kohn and Mithen: the handaxe theory 161 4.5.3 Hawkes: showing off or mate-guarding? 162 4.6 Summary: Deceptive sexual signalling: the „sham menstruation‟ strategy 166 Page 8 5. Review of archaeological and palaeontological evidence 168 5.1 The record of „pigment‟ use 168 5.1.1 Where and when were mineral pigments‟ used? 168 5.1.2 Selective criteria for material used 171 5.1.3 Possible non-cosmetic uses 173 5.1.4 Evidence in ethnohistoric accounts 173 5.1.5 Correlation with onset of „modern‟ behaviours 175 5.2 Review of palaeontological evidence 180 5.2.1 Correlation of ochre use with encephalization 180 5.2.2 Correlation with reduced robusticity/stress, and association with modern morphology 181 5.2.3 Did Neanderthals use cosmetics? 184 5.3 Summary: Review of archaeological and palaeontological evidence 188 6. Beauty magic 189 6.1 Ornamentation and signal selection 189 6.2 Cosmetics as cosmology 189 6.3 Cosmetics as costly signals: why magic? 195 6.4 Testing predictions about magic 199 6.4.1 Methods 206 6.4.1.1 Sample 206 6.4.1.2 Data 210 6.4.2 Results 212 6.4.2.1 Pigments 212 6.4.2.2 „Wrong sex‟ signals 212 6.4.2.3 Red + „Wrong‟ 217 6.4.2.4 Lunar/menstrual ideology 218 6.4.3 The ethnographies: „wrong sex‟ signals 219 6.4.3.1 Ju/‟hoansi 219 6.4.3.2 Nama 221 6.4.3.2 Mbuti 223 6.4.3.4 Venda 227 6.4.3.5 Ila 229 6.4.3.6 Bemba 230 Page 9 6.4.3.7 Ndembu 231 6.4.3.8 Yombe 233 6.4.3.9 Kikuyu 233 6.4.3.10 Chagga 236 6.4.3.11 Fang 238 6.4.3.12 Tiv 241 6.4.3.13 Kpelle 241 6.4.3.14 Dogon 244 6.4.3.15 Azande 247 6.4.3.16 Maasai 248 6.4.3.17 Sara 250 6.4.3.18 Ga'anda 252 6.4.3.19 Hausa 253 6.5 Summary: Beauty magic 254 7.