Research projects

Prof. Dr. Marcelo Sánchez

Human cultural macroevolution and Neotropical Archaeology

Leadership/contacts

Duration

September 2013 to December 2026

Funding sources

SNF, Programm NFS/NCCR, Universität Zürich (position pursuing an academic career), SNF (Personen- und Projektförderung), Foundation
SNF Agora; Cogito Foundation, Seed Grant Leading House for Latin America 2024

Collaborations

Summary

Our work concerns primary data and analyses pertaining to early peopling, human/non-human animal interactions and cultural macroevolution in the northern Neotropics, with a focus on Venezuela. Furthermore, we work with colleagues on studies of the past history of indigenous groups integrating new genetic data.
In the past, the theory of evolution has had a profound impact on the social sciences, often through the pejorative and frequently misunderstood term of Social Darwinism. Today it becomes clearer than ever that any serious attempt to understand social and cultural phenomena must take evolutionary theory into account. The conceptual and methodological tools of evolutionary biology have greatly expanded. No biologist would deny the importance of the theory of the role of natural selection in evolution. But focusing on Darwin's original idea overshadows some of the most important developments in the past 150 years and their significance for research in the human and social sciences.
This project aims at creating symposia, museum exhibits, overview publications and original research on subjects pertaining to methods and concepts in evolutionary biology and its relevance in human affairs. This includes the use of phylogenetic methods in the study of historical changes in material culture (e.g. musical instruments), the creation of venues that facilitate interactions across disciplines, and the communication of research results on evolution that connect the discoveries and concepts to the relevance of our understanding of human biological and cultural evolution.

Keywords

Evolution, Culture, Music, Language, Phylogeny

Publications

Carrillo-Briceño JD, Reyes-Céspedes AE, Vargas D, Jaimes A, Vargas D, Becerra-Valdivia L, Wiesenberg GLB, Sánchez-Villagra MR. 2025. Proboscidean-ivory tools from Northwestern Venezuela. Paleoamerica https://doi.org/10.1080/20555563.2025.2466363.

Sánchez-Villagra MR (2024) Distinct entanglements – human - non - human animal interactions and the atlantic divide. A review of 'The Tame and the Wild' by Marcy Norton, Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 2024. Evolutionary Anthropology:e22047.

Sánchez-Villagra MR. 2024. Recensión: The Archaeology of Amazonia. A Human History. Anartia, 39:52-58.

Sánchez-Villagra MR, Carrillo-Briceño JD, Jaimes A, Arvelo L (eds) (2024) Contribuciones en Venezuela Arqueológica, 295 pp. Tübingen. ISBN: 978-3-947020-25-6.

Sánchez-Villagra MR, Lewy M, Jaimes A (2024) El olvido del pasado prehispánico venezolano – un futuro de estudios sobre los orígenes de la diversidad de los pueblos originarios. En: Sánchez-Villagra MR, Carrillo-Briceño JD, Jaimes A, Arvelo L (eds). Venezuela Arqueológica. Scidinge Hall.

Jaimes A, Carrillo-Briceño JD, Aguirre-Fernández G, de Jesús I, Sánchez-Villagra MR (2024) Diversidad tecnológica en proyectiles del Cuaternario en el norte de Venezuela. En: Sánchez-Villagra MR, Carrillo-Briceño JD, Jaimes A, Arvelo L (eds). Venezuela Arqueológica. Scidinge Hall.

Jaimes A, Sánchez-Villagra MR, Carrillo-Briceño JD (2024) Fósiles y artefactos en el sitio de Matanza de Megafauna El Vano, Pleistoceno Tardío de Venezuela. En: Sánchez-Villagra MR, Carrillo-Briceño JD, Jaimes A, Arvelo L (eds). Venezuela Arqueológica. Scidinge Hall.

Menéndez LP, Barbieri C, López Cruz IG, Schmelzle T, Breidenstein A, Barquera R, Borzi G, Schuenemann VJ, Sánchez-Villagra MR (2023) On Roth’s “human fossil” from Baradero, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina: morphological and genetic analysis. Swiss Journal of Palaeontology 142 (1):26

Sánchez-Villagra MR (2022) Claude Lévi-Straus as a humanist forerunner of cultural macroevolution studies. Evolutionary Human Sciences 4:E31

McKay CJ, Sommer-Trembo C, Sánchez-Villagra MR (2022) The portrayal of animal interactions in nature documentaries by David Attenborough and Bernhard Grzimek. Evolution: Education and Outreach 15 (1):15. doi: 10.1186/s12052-022-00171-5.

Carlini AA, Carrillo-Briceño JD, Jaimes A, Aguilera O, Zurita AE, Iriarte J, Sánchez-Villagra MR (2022) Damaged glyptodontid skulls from Late Pleistocene sites of northwestern Venezuela: evidence of hunting by humans? Swiss Journal of Palaeontology 141 (1):11

Aguirre-Fernández G, Barbieri C, Graff A, Perez de Arce J, Sánchez-Villagra MR (2021) Cultural macroevolution of musical instruments in South America. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 8:208

Aguirre-Fernández G, Blasi D, Sánchez-Villagra MR (2020) Panpipes as units of cultural analysis and dispersal. Evolutionary Human Sciences 2:E17

Sánchez-Villagra MR, van Schaik CP (2019) Evaluating the self-domestication hypothesis of human evolution. Evolutionary Anthropology 28:133-143