Male-biased operational sex ratios and the Viking phenomenon: an evolutionary anthropological perspective on Late Iron Age Scandinavian raiding

Ben Raffield; Neil Price; Mark Collard

doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.10.013

Male-biased operational sex ratios and the Viking phenomenon: an evolutionary anthropological perspective on Late Iron Age Scandinavian raiding

Ben Raffield, Neil Price, Mark Collard

Archaeology

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31 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

In this paper we use a combination of evolutionary theory, ethnographic data, written sources, and archaeological evidence to develop a new explanation for the origins of Viking raiding. Our argument focuses on the operational sex ratio, which is the ratio of males to females in a society who are ready to mate at a given time. We propose that a combination of two practises—polygyny and concubinage—and the increase in social inequality that occurred in Scandinavia during the Late Iron Age resulted in a male-biased Operational Sex Ratio. This would have created a pool of unmarried men motivated to engage in risky behaviours that had the potential to increase their wealth and status, and therefore their probability of entering the marriage market. With high-status men looking to instigate expeditions to acquire plunder and develop their reputations as war leaders, raiding represented a mutually beneficial means of achieving social advancement and success.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	315-324
Number of pages	10
Journal	Evolution and Human Behavior
Volume	38
Issue number	3
Early online date	30 Oct 2016
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.10.013
Publication status	Published - May 2017

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Laura Whitehouse, John Carman, Oliver Grimm, Julie Lund, Bjørnar Olsen, two anonymous reviewers, and the editor for their comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this paper. We also thank Alex Woolf for providing us with a copy of his forthcoming article on the Vikings in Ireland. Lastly, we are grateful to Luke Glowacki, Shane McFarlane, and Ryan Schacht for their insights about raiding and OSRs. Needless to say, all remaining errors are our own.

Funding
BR and MC are supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through a Partnership Grant (895-2011-1009) awarded to the Cultural Evolution of Religion Research Consortium (www.ubc/hecc/cerc). MC is also supported by the Canada Research Chairs Program, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund, and Simon Fraser University. NP is supported by a Swedish Research Council grant for "The Viking Phenomenon" project (2015-00466).

Keywords

Vikings
Late Iron Age Scandinavia
raiding
polygyny
concubinage
Operational Sex Ratio
male-male competition

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10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.10.013Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Male-biased operational sex ratios and the Viking phenomenon an evolutionary anthropological perspective on Late Iron Age Scandinavian raiding
© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Final published version, 872 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "Male-biased operational sex ratios and the Viking phenomenon: an evolutionary anthropological perspective on Late Iron Age Scandinavian raiding",

abstract = "In this paper we use a combination of evolutionary theory, ethnographic data, written sources, and archaeological evidence to develop a new explanation for the origins of Viking raiding. Our argument focuses on the operational sex ratio, which is the ratio of males to females in a society who are ready to mate at a given time. We propose that a combination of two practises—polygyny and concubinage—and the increase in social inequality that occurred in Scandinavia during the Late Iron Age resulted in a male-biased Operational Sex Ratio. This would have created a pool of unmarried men motivated to engage in risky behaviours that had the potential to increase their wealth and status, and therefore their probability of entering the marriage market. With high-status men looking to instigate expeditions to acquire plunder and develop their reputations as war leaders, raiding represented a mutually beneficial means of achieving social advancement and success.",

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author = "Ben Raffield and Neil Price and Mark Collard",

note = "Acknowledgements We would like to thank Laura Whitehouse, John Carman, Oliver Grimm, Julie Lund, Bj{\o}rnar Olsen, two anonymous reviewers, and the editor for their comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this paper. We also thank Alex Woolf for providing us with a copy of his forthcoming article on the Vikings in Ireland. Lastly, we are grateful to Luke Glowacki, Shane McFarlane, and Ryan Schacht for their insights about raiding and OSRs. Needless to say, all remaining errors are our own. Funding BR and MC are supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through a Partnership Grant (895-2011-1009) awarded to the Cultural Evolution of Religion Research Consortium (www.ubc/hecc/cerc). MC is also supported by the Canada Research Chairs Program, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund, and Simon Fraser University. NP is supported by a Swedish Research Council grant for {"}The Viking Phenomenon{"} project (2015-00466).",

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N2 - In this paper we use a combination of evolutionary theory, ethnographic data, written sources, and archaeological evidence to develop a new explanation for the origins of Viking raiding. Our argument focuses on the operational sex ratio, which is the ratio of males to females in a society who are ready to mate at a given time. We propose that a combination of two practises—polygyny and concubinage—and the increase in social inequality that occurred in Scandinavia during the Late Iron Age resulted in a male-biased Operational Sex Ratio. This would have created a pool of unmarried men motivated to engage in risky behaviours that had the potential to increase their wealth and status, and therefore their probability of entering the marriage market. With high-status men looking to instigate expeditions to acquire plunder and develop their reputations as war leaders, raiding represented a mutually beneficial means of achieving social advancement and success.

AB - In this paper we use a combination of evolutionary theory, ethnographic data, written sources, and archaeological evidence to develop a new explanation for the origins of Viking raiding. Our argument focuses on the operational sex ratio, which is the ratio of males to females in a society who are ready to mate at a given time. We propose that a combination of two practises—polygyny and concubinage—and the increase in social inequality that occurred in Scandinavia during the Late Iron Age resulted in a male-biased Operational Sex Ratio. This would have created a pool of unmarried men motivated to engage in risky behaviours that had the potential to increase their wealth and status, and therefore their probability of entering the marriage market. With high-status men looking to instigate expeditions to acquire plunder and develop their reputations as war leaders, raiding represented a mutually beneficial means of achieving social advancement and success.

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Male-biased operational sex ratios and the Viking phenomenon: an evolutionary anthropological perspective on Late Iron Age Scandinavian raiding

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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