Human Systems Lab at Boston University 
PI Luke Glowacki
 

• Vadavalli B., Garfield Z., & Glowacki L. Social structure shapes decision-making norms in small-scale societies. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Biological Sciences 381: 20240449

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• Venkataraman V., et al. 2026. The meanings and dividends of Man the Hunter. Evolution and Human Behavior 47: 106840

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• Böhm R., Glowacki L., Rusch H., & Thielmann I. 2025. Untangling altruism and parochialism in human intergroup conflict. iScience 28:113978.

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• Liu B., et al. 2025. Leveraging deep learning models to increase the representation of nomadic pastoralists in health campaigns and demographic surveillance. PLOS Global Public Health 5: e0005757. 

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• Glowacki L. 2025. Robust evidence that mobile hunter-gatherers participated in war. Evolution and Human Behavior 46:106658.

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• Glowacki L. 2024. The controversial origins of war and peace: apes, foragers, and human evolution. Evolution and Human Behavior 45:10618. 

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• Venkataraman V., et al. 2024. Female foragers sometimes hunt, yet gendered divisions of labor are real. Evolution and Human Behavior.

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• Glowacki L. 2024. The evolution of peace. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 47: 1-71.

 

• Garfield Z. & Glowacki L. 2023. Interpersonal conflicts and third-party mediation in a pastoralist society. Evolution and Human Behavior 44:613-623.

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• Yurdum L., Singh M., Glowacki L., Vardy T., Atkinson Q., Hilton C., Sauter D., Krasnow M., & Mehr, S. 2023. Universal interpretations of vocal music. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120: e2218593120

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• Medupe D., Roberts S., Shenk M. & Glowacki L. 2023. Why did foraging, horticulture and pastoralism persist after the Neolithic transition? The oasis theory of agricultural intensification. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society--Biological Sciences.

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• Garfield Z., Ringen E., Buckner W., Medupe D., Wrangham R. & Glowacki L. 2023. Norm violations and punishments across human societies. Evolutionary Human Sciences.

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• Singh M. & Glowacki L. 2022. Human social organization during the Late Pleistocene: Beyond the nomadic-egalitarian model. Evolution and Human Behavior.

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• Glowacki L. & McDermott R. 2022. Key individuals catalyse intergroup violence. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society--Biological Sciences 377.

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• Glowacki L. & Lew-Levy S. 2022. How small-scale societies achieve large-scale cooperation. Current Opinion in Psychology 44: 44-48.

 

• Savage P., Loui P., Tarr B., Schachenr A., Glowacki L., Mithen S., & Fitch W.T. 2021. Music as a coevolved system for social bonding. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 1-36.

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• Glowacki L. 2020. The emergence of locally adaptive institutions: insights from traditional social structures of East African pastoralists. Biosystems 198: 104257.

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• Glowacki L., Wilson M. & Wrangham R. 2020. The evolutionary anthropology of war. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 178: 963-982.

 

• Mehr, S., Singh, M., Knox, D., Ketter, D., Pickens-Jones, D., Atwood, S., Lucas, C., Egner, A., Jacoby, N., Hopkins, E., Howard, R. M., Hartshorne, J. K., Jennings, M. V., Simson, J., Bainbridge, C. M., Pinker, S., O'Donnell, T., Krasnow, M., & Glowacki, L. (2019). Universality and diversity in human song. Science, 366, eaax0868:1-17.

 

• Wild H, Glowacki L, Maples S, Mejía-Guevara I, Krystosik A, Bonds M, Hiruy A, LaBeaud D & Barry M. 2019. Making pastoralists count: geospatial methods in the surveillance of a nomadic population. American Journal of Tropical Hygiene and Medicine.

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• Glowacki L. 2018. The cultural evolution of war rituals [Commentary]. Behavioral and Brain Sciences

 

• *Dogan G., *Glowacki L., *Rusch H. 2018. Spoils division rules shape aggression between natural groups. Nature Human Behaviour. * Equal contribution

 

• Mehr S., Singh M., York H., Glowacki L., Krasnow M. 2018. Form and function in human song. Current Biology. 

 

• Wilson M. & Glowacki L. 2017. Violent cousins: chimpanzees, humans, and the roots of war. Muller M., Wrangham R. & Pilbeam D. (eds). Chimpanzees and Human Evolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

 

• Singh M., Wrangham R. & Glowacki L. 2017. Self-interest and the design of rules. Human Nature.

 

• Glowacki L. & Molleman L. 2017. Subsistence styles shape human social learning strategies. Nature Human Behaviour.

 

• Glowacki L., Isakov A., McDermott R., Wrangham R., Fowler J. & Christakis N. 2016. Formation of raiding parties for inter-group violence is mediated by social network structure. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.​​

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• von Rueden C., Gavrilets S. & Glowacki L. 2015. Solving the puzzle of collective action through inter-individual differences. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

 

• Glowacki L. & von Rueden C. 2015. Leadership solves collective action problems in small-scale societies. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

 

• Glowacki L. & Wrangham R. 2015. Warfare and reproductive success in a tribal population. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

 

• Glowacki L. & Wrangham R. 2013. The role of rewards in motivating participation in simple warfare. Human Nature.​

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• Glowacki L. & Gönc K. 2013. Customary institutions in pastoralist societies: a neglected potential for conflict resolution. Conflict Trends.

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• Wrangham R. & Glowacki L. 2012. Intergroup aggression in chimpanzees and war in nomadic hunter-gatherers: evaluating the chimpanzee model. Human Nature.​​​​

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