Dr Selin Nugent

The causes, consequences, and timing of the rise of moralizing religions in world history have been the focus of intense debate. Progress has been limited by the availability of quantitative data to test competing theories, by divergent ideas regarding both predictor and outcomes variables, and by differences of opinion over methodology. To address all these problems, we utilize Seshat: Global History Databank, a large storehouse of information designed to test theories concerning the evolutionary drivers of social complexity. In addition to the Big Gods hypothesis, which proposes that moralizing religion contributed to the success of increasingly large-scale complex societies, we consider the role of warfare, animal husbandry, and agricultural productivity in the rise of moralizing religions. Using a broad range of new measures of belief in moralizing supernatural punishment, we find strong support for previous research showing that such beliefs did not drive the rise of social complexity. By contrast, our analyses indicate that intergroup warfare, supported by resource availability, played a major role in the evolution of both social complexity and moralizing religions. Thus, the correlation between social complexity and moralizing religion seems to result from shared evolutionary drivers, rather than from direct causal relationships between these two variables.

Our target article empirically tested the Big Gods Hypothesis which proposes that beliefs in moralizing supernatural punishment (MSP) contributed to the evolution of socio-political complexity (SPC) in world history. We tested this hypothesis using a suite of measures of MSP, SPC, and other potential evolutionary drivers coded in Seshat: Global History Databank. Our analyses indicate that intensity of warfare and productivity of agriculture were major drivers in the evolution of both SPC and MSP. The correlation between social complexity and moralizing religion resulted from shared evolutionary drivers, rather than from direct causal relationships between these two variables. Most commentaries on the target article broadly accept our conclusions, but some argue that alternative measures might be used in future studies before the Big Gods Hypothesis can be conclusively rejected. In this response, we argue that while some of these alternative measures should be developed, they are closely related to the ones we have already adopted. Thus, it seems unlikely that further research will give rise to substantially different outcomes. A particularly fruitful aspect of the discussion is that it illustrates both the pitfalls and productive affordances of transdisciplinary research that seeks to bridge the “two cultures” of the humanities and sciences.

Archaeological and archaeogenetic evidence points to the Pontic-Caspian steppe zone between the Caucasus and the Black Sea as the crucible from which the earliest steppe pastoralist societies arose and spread, ultimately influencing populations from Europe to Inner Asia. However, little is known about their economic foundations and the factors that may have contributed to their extensive mobility. Here we investigate dietary proteins within the dental calculus proteomes of 45 individuals spanning the Neolithic to Greco-Roman periods in the Pontic-Caspian Steppe and neighboring South Caucasus, Oka-Volga-Don, and East Urals regions. We find that sheep dairying accompanies the earliest forms of Eneolithic pastoralism in the North Caucasus. During the 4th millennium BCE, Maykop and early Yamnaya populations also focused dairying exclusively on sheep, while reserving cattle for traction and other purposes. We observe a breakdown in livestock specialization and an economic diversification of dairy herds coinciding with aridification during the subsequent late Yamnaya and North Caucasus Culture (NCC) phases, followed by severe climate deterioration during the Catacomb and Lola periods. The need for additional pastures to support these herds may have driven the heightened mobility of the Middle and Late Bronze Age periods. Following a hiatus of more than 500 years, the North Caucasian steppe was repopulated by Early Iron Age societies with a broad mobile dairy economy, including a new focus on horse milking.

Research shows that despite several distinctive local features the Middle Bronze Age cultures of the South Caucasus and Near East share many similarities. During the Middle Bronze Age black ceramics were widespread in parts of the South Caucasus; however, painted ceramics characterized the southern areas. These Middle Bronze Age painted ceramic cultures from the South Caucasus were also present in Northwest Iran (Iranian Azerbaijan) and East Anatolia. The origins of the painted ceramics culture of the Middle Bronze Age are subject to debate, while the particular local features are designated by various names. In general, excavations in East Anatolia, Northwest Iran, and the South Caucasus have revealed few settlements connected with the culture of painted ceramics of the Middle Bronze Age (2400-1500 BC). 

= Культуры эпохи средней бронзы Южного Кавказа и Ближнего Востока, отличаясь некоторыми локальными особенностями, имеют также много общих черт. В эпоху средней бронзы в части Южного Кавказа была распространена культура, характеризующаяся черной керамикой, а в южных районах существовала культура с расписной керамикой. Культура расписной керамики эпохи средней бронзы Южного Кавказа (2400–1500 гг. до н.э.) была распространена также в северо-западном Иране (Иранский Азербайджан) и Восточной Анатолии. О генезисе этой культуры, отличающейся локальными особенностями, высказывались различные мнения, сама культура обозначалась различными названиями. В Восточной Анатолии, Северо-Западном Иране и на Южном Кавказе поселений, связанных с данной культурой, известно очень мало. В Восточной Анатолии, Грузии, Армении и Азербайджане, кроме Нахчывана, такие поселения не выявлены. Существование поселений крепостного типа, а также расположение этих памятников в благоприятных для обороны местах показывают, что в эпоху средней бронзы существовали межплеменные столкновения, и люди нуждались в убежищах. Это подтверждается наличием крепостных стен в таких поселениях, как Кюльтепе II и Кызкала, которые расположены в долинах рек. Поселение Кызкала представляет собой состоящий из цитадели, неукрепленного селища и могильника комплекс, который особенно важен для изучения культуры расписной керамики эпохи средней бронзы Южного Кавказа.

We find ourselves at a unique point of time in history. Following over two millennia of debate amongst some of the greatest minds that ever existed about the nature of morality, the philosophy of ethics and the attributes of moral agency, and after all that time still not having reached consensus, we are coming to a point where artificial intelligence (AI) technology is enabling the creation of machines that will possess a convincing degree of moral competence. The existence of these machines will undoubtedly have an impact on this age old debate, but we believe that they will have a greater impact on society at large, as AI technology deepens its integration into the social fabric of our world. The purpose of this special issue on Computing Morality is to bring together different perspectives on this technology and its impact on society. The special issue contains four very different and inspiring contributions.

In 2016 Microsoft released Tay.ai to the Twittersphere, a conversational chatbot that was intended to act like a millennial girl. However, they ended up taking Tay's account down in less than 24 h because Tay had learnt to tweet racist and sexist statements from its online interactions. Taking inspiration from the theory of morality as cooperation, and the place of trust in the developmental psychology of socialisation, we offer a multidisciplinary and pragmatic approach to build on the lessons learnt from Tay's experiences, to create a chatbot that is more selective in its learning, and thus resistant to becoming immoral the way Tay did.

This report describes the current canonical time-series dataset named “Equinox2020,” a subset of Seshat: Global History Databank data for a well-curated list of polities and variables available on the Seshat Data Browser. The report provides an introduction to the methods and procedures of the Seshat project relating to the curation and release of the Equinox2020 dataset.

Here, we report genome-wide data analyses from 110 ancient Near Eastern individuals spanning the Late Neolithic to Late Bronze Age, a period characterized by intense interregional interactions for the Near East. We find that 6th millennium BCE populations of North/Central Anatolia and the Southern Caucasus shared mixed ancestry on a genetic cline that formed during the Neolithic between Western Anatolia and regions in today’s Southern Caucasus/Zagros. During the Late Chalcolithic and/or the Early Bronze Age, more than half of the Northern Levantine gene pool was replaced, while in the rest of Anatolia and the Southern Caucasus, we document genetic continuity with only transient gene flow. Additionally, we reveal a genetically distinct individual within the Late Bronze Age Northern Levant. Overall, our study uncovers multiple scales of population dynamics through time, from extensive admixture during the Neolithic period to long-distance mobility within the globalized societies of the Late Bronze Age.

This article explores the scale and seasonal patterns of mobility at the complex settlement site of Qızqala during the Middle Bronze Age (2400–1,500 BCE). By integrating human bone, teeth, and environmental samples this research tests the hypothesis of the persistent importance of community-wide seasonal pastoral transhumance during the early formation of complex settlement systems of the South Caucasus. This research applies stable oxygen and radiogenic strontium isotope analyses on incremental samples of human tooth enamel, bulk tooth enamel, and bone to resolve mobility patterns. Sequential and bulk sampling techniques elucidate seasonal and residential mobility behaviors. Extensive environmental isotope samples of plant and water were collected through regional survey and establish local and regional isotopic baselines, which are compared to human isotope analysis results. Qızqala individuals exhibit low isotopic variability compared to regional contemporaries. 87Sr/86Sr ratios from human remains indicate seasonal and residential isotopic variability within the baseline ranges of local landscapes. δ18O values display erratic patterns, but correspond to seasonal variability with fluctuations between highland and lowland altitudinal zone baseline values. Results suggest that isotopic analysis of multiple elements and sequential enamel samples offers finer resolution on the complexities of human mobility strategies and elucidate the daily lives of often overlooked mobile populations. Higher resolution of individual mobility reveals shared routine behaviors that underscore the importance of diverse social collaborations in forming complex polities in the South Caucasus.

Since initial applications of strontium isotope human sourcing in the early 1990s, the use of the method has steadily increased in archaeology and in anthropology more broadly. Despite this trend, the collection of necessary baseline environmental data has not been standardized and sometimes does not occur at all. A thorough environmental sampling strategy will ensure that all the variability within a selected region is documented, which is a critical step to improving the accuracy of sourcing studies. Furthermore, shared strontium baseline data collections are needed to improve the intercomparability of datasets and results. This paper provides a case study from a semiarid region in northwestern New Mexico, USA, highlighting the need for a bottom-up approach to baseline data collection (from bedrock to animal) and describes the methods of pre-field planning and collecting, including rationales for what samples to collect for Sr isotope baseline data. The authors hope that this paper will lay a foundation for the implementation and standardization of Sr isotope baseline data collecting, which does not currently exist.