This symposium brings together archaeologists, anthropologists, and psychologists to discuss the hypothesis that religious beliefs and practices facilitate the emergence of large-scale, complex societies by enhancing within-group cooperation. Among the questions that will be discussed are: How important are religious leaders in stimulating or preventing cooperation? Are costly rituals essential to the formation of large‐scale, complex societies? Do episodes of warfare and territorial expansion follow shifts in religious beliefs and practices? Do environmental conditions make some types of religion more or less likely?
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