Václav Hrnčíř

Chimpanzee pee reveals how our primate cousins are getting drunk on fermented fruit A urinalysis shows that these apes ingest significant amounts of alcohol, providing new clues to how alcohol influences the animals’ behavior

www.scientificamerican.com/article/chim...

Leipzig U and the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) have an open faculty position (W2) in evolutionary population genetics! This position is tenured and comes with generous core funding. We are eager to welcome a new colleague! Deadline March 11.
www.uni-leipzig.de/en/newsdetai...

Really nice write-up in @psypost.bsky.social about the recent study with @kris-smith.bsky.social.

Of course, there is *also* regular generosity, but like Woodburn and (most) others I believe that active demands and negotiations do the heavy lifting.

I'm excited about giving a talk next week for the UoL Evo Anth Seminar Series.

If you are interested in the topic of alcohol in traditional societies, feel free to join. 🍻

"With the advent of artificial intelligence, though, the only distinction that remains between scientists is that of seerdom: who can ask the right questions, and who can figure out how to put everything together? Finally, the seer soul is free to roam."

We are delighted to announce that the keynote speech at the upcoming Lessons From the Past conference (23rd - 24th March 2026), will be a free and publicly accessible talk!

What if the use of psychoactive substances, particularly alcohol consumption, had been a factor in the rise of socio-political complexity throughout human history?

Addressing this question is not easy, but it is worth trying 👇🏼

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

It’s been three years since I stepped into the editorial duties of the @archrozhledy.bsky.social. To mark the anniversary, I’ve written down a few thoughts on the current culture of critique and on possible ways out of it.

🚀 Postdoc Alert! Are you passionate about social learning & cultural evolution? @dominikdeffner.bsky.social & I have a 3-year position with freedom to develop your research and work on cutting-edge multiplayer and immersive experiments. Apply by March 30! hmc-lab.com/SocialLearni... Pls share 🙏

Nice video from my department of linguistic and cultural evolution at @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social and Vanuatu cultural centre on language diversity in Vanuatu

www.eva.mpg.de/fileadmin/co...

We recently published two versions of Carneiro's dataset (127 societies with 354 binary traits, or 74 societies with 618 traits).

d-place.org/contribution...
d-place.org/contribution...

If interested, I can also send you the manuscript of the Data Descriptor, which we are currently finalizing.

Thanks!

A small painted figurine of a bent‑over servant placing several rounded beer jars into a woven basket, standing on an oblong base against a dark museum display background.

Beer for the afterlife!
An #Egyptian figurine of a servant with a basket full of #beer jars.
Figurine of servants were deposited in tombs to ensure that the deceased would enjoy the products and services represented.
Beer was a dietary staple in #Egypt, so it’s not surprising to ...🧵1/2

📷 me

Happy to see our second study testing the "drunk hypothesis" published in PNAS 🎉

After analyzing the role of alcohol in the rise of sociopolitical complexity on a global scale
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

we have now focused on the role of kava in Oceania
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Kava drinking and its role in cultural evolution A new study tests the hypothesis that the consumption of the mind-altering beverage kava facilitated the emergence of complex, hierarchical societies in Oceania

#Kava drinking & its role in cultural #evolution. Did the consumption of the mind-altering beverage facilitate the emergence of complex, hierarchical #societies in #Oceania? New study @pnas.org by an intl. team led by @vaclavhrncir.bsky.social. See tinyurl.com/4jt8vy3d & www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Kava drinking and its role in cultural evolution Did the consumption of the mind-altering beverage kava facilitate the emergence of complex, hierarchical societies in Oceania?

new research on kava drinking and its role in cultural evolution by @vaclavhrncir.bsky.social, @scottclaessens.bsky.social and colleagues at @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social and partner institutions!! well done!!
www.eva.mpg.de/press/news/a...

Cheers to that (or Bula! / Manuia! / etc depending on which island you're on...)

Cool paper from @vaclavhrncir.bsky.social, Olly Sheehan, @scottclaessens.bsky.social & Russell Gray with a nuanced take on whether kava consumption is associated with the rise of sociopolitical complexity in Oceania

Kava consumption and the rise of sociopolitical complexity in Oceania | PNAS Humans have been using psychoactive substances for millennia, despite their potential negative health and social consequences. According to some sc...

Kava consumption and the rise of sociopolitical complexity in Oceania www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

throwback, if you ever wanted to hear my boss Dr Russell Gray of @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social and I talk about the Grambank project, here's a podcast episode of @becauselanguage.com that we did a few years ago
becauselanguage.com/76-ooo-yum-uh/

Positions available - Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

My post-doc Charlotte King will be starting her own Minerva research group in September and is looking for PhD students. Click here if you are into experimental biomechanics, apes and hominin evolution.

www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit...

Generating units of cultural analysis with large language models: methods and validation for scalable cross-cultural research Abstract. We present a transparent, human-in-the-loop framework that uses large language models (LLMs) to transform ethnographic texts into binary, structu

Paper 🚨 We found that LLMs can match or exceed human coders on theoretical variables assessing the form and function of ritual fasting. Guided by theory and ethical human oversight, LLMs can generate units of cultural analysis for cross‑cultural theoretical tests. #BioAnth doi.org/10.1098/rsos...

Generating units of cultural analysis with large language models: methods and validation for scalable cross-cultural research Abstract. We present a transparent, human-in-the-loop framework that uses large language models (LLMs) to transform ethnographic texts into binary, structu

Intriguing evaluation of LLMs abilities.

"Our findings demonstrate that GPT-4 can reliably annotate culturally diverse ethnographic data, outperform human coders on select variables and enhance overall annotation accuracy when used within a human-in-the-loop workflow."

doi.org/10.1098/rsos...

a shrunken head from Ecuador

Differing views: in western museums (eg Pitt Rivers in Oxford) shrunken heads have mostly been removed from public view. In Ecuador, their country of origin, the Museo Pumapungo in Cuenca has a gallery devoted to their display. It is a big hit with Ecuadorean schoolkids (I could barely get near it)

The much loved SAPIENS is missed but the archive lives on! Visit sapiens.org.

The International Society for Hunter-Gatherer Research are delighted to announce that CHAGS 14 will take place in Belém, Brazil Mon 12 - Fri 16 July 2027. Events/trips immediately before/afterwards.

Tx to hosts: Goeldi Museum & Federal Univ. of Pará. More details to follow.

Please share widely!

The Original Affluent Society? Lessons from 60-Years of "Man the Hunter" Research To mark the 60th anniversary of the 1966 'Man the Hunter' symposium, On Humans is proud to publish the first-ever podcast interview with Richard B. Lee.

A new podcast interview by @ilarimakela.bsky.social with Richard B. Lee about Man the Hunter! Should be fascinating.

onhumans.substack.com/p/the-origin...

Our @ucdarchaeology.bsky.social G Cert Hunter-Gatherer Arch & Anth students spend summer using the excellent eHRAF @hraf755.bsky.social resource for their research projects. We did this a couple of yrs ago & the good folk at HRAF ran a news story about the results! 1/2

hraf.yale.edu/featuring-eh...

I coauthored the part on media coverage! Check out Table 2, a framework for weighing risks/rewards of different levels of media engagement by scholars: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Your contributions to our exciting EAA session are still welcomed!
Join us for the event in Athens.

There is still time to join us in Athens 🫵 The extended deadline is February 9. #EAA2026