In The Symbolic Species Terrence Deacon argues that “marriage” was an ancient homonid response to the conundrum of group living as a monogamous species, that is, a socially constrained contract given meaning and force by symbolic concepts. The Ancestress Hypothesis: Visual Art As Adaptation Kathryn Coe also suggests that marriage is an old feature of our genus, and points out that the “ideal” time of marriage for females in most traditional cultures is prior to their reproductive peak years, indicating long term investment on the part of males. Of course, monogamy and polygyny are stark dichotomies which do not capture the full range of behavioral norms of humans and our near kin, though I think it can be asserted that humans fall somewhere closer to the monogamous end of the spectrum.
Posted by razib at 02:35 PM