Hunter-gatherers may have used social networks to bring in cultural revolutions : study

Hunter-gatherer human ancestors from around 3,00,000 years ago may have facilitated a cultural revolution by developing ideas in small social networks, and regularly drawing on knowledge from their neighbouring camps, a new study says.

The research, published in the journal Science Advances, mapped close-range social interactions between individuals of Agta hunter-gatherers in the Philippines using radio sensor technology every hour for one month.

Anthropologists, including those from the University College London (UCL) in the UK, also observed inter-camp migrations and visits almost on a daily basis.

They found that the social structure of the hunter-gatherers, built around small family units linked by strong friendships and high in-between camp mobility, was key to the development of new cultural ideas.

According to the scientists, this is because the social structure allowed for the co-existence of multiple traditions or solutions to a similar problem in different parts of the network.

"It is fair to say that 'visits between camps' is the social media of current hunter-gatherers, and probably of our extinct hunter-gatherer ancestors," said study co-author and anthropologist Andrea Migliano from the University College London.

"When we need a new solution for a problem, we go online and use multiple sources to obtain information from a variety of people. Hunter-gatherers use their social network exactly in the same way," Migliano explained.

The researchers said these constant visits between camps are essential for information to be recombined and continuously generate cultural innovations.