Violent Death in Northern Siberia: Application of Evolutionary Hypotheses

Ust-Avam is an indigenous community of 500 individuals north of the Arctic Circle on the Taimyr Peninsula in Siberia (Russia). The collapse of the USSR in the 1990’s significantly altered economic organization in Taimyr. In Ust-Avam the majority of working-aged adults were laid off their jobs in 1993. From 1993 to 1997, I documented decreased fertility rates and increased frequency of deaths due to unnatural (often violent) causes compared with the previous six years, when state-organized hunting was profitable (Ziker 2002). Since 2002, fertility rates have increased, but mortality rates have remained steady and unnatural deaths continue to account for up to 70 percent of all deaths. Native community members across Siberia pointed to uncontrolled sales of alcohol in the 1990s and binge drinking surrounding paydays for many of the deaths. Homicides accounted for 10 percent of violent deaths between 1986 and 1997, while drowning and suicide accounted for more than half. The poster will examine homicide and other violence in Ust’-Avam in light of hypotheses derived from evolutionary theory and current cross-cultural research. In particular, male sexual proprietariness and violence will be considered in light of variables representing women’s attractiveness to rivals, costs to husbands in using violence, intensity of intrasexual competition, and female choice (Wilson and Daly 1993). Interethnic homicides, homicides committed by females and children, and suicides also will be explored considering applicable variables.