COMMENT ON: DENHAM, “ALYAWARRA KINSHIP, INFANT CARRYING, AND ALLOPARENTING”

Arising from an initial inquiry about the distribution of levels of inbreeding in Aboriginal Australian (Denham, 2012) societies and subsequent analysis of some small datasets with Dr Denham, I have come to read the paper “Alyawarra kinship, infant carrying, and alloparenting”. It contains interesting observations about patterns of interaction within- and between-social and kinship groups studied by Dr Denham, which have prompted for me some questions and speculations. I should stress that my perspective on the material covered in the paper is a combination of quantitative genetic analysis, coupled with a broader interest in evolutionary processes, in this case as they may have applied in both the genetic and social or cultural senses of evolution. I share these questions and speculations simply to extend the discussion which I am sure will be prompted by the paper. And I stress in advance my extremely limited knowledge of the fields of research covered by this journal