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The origins of religion and of complex societies represent evolutionary puzzles1–8. The ‘moralizing gods’ hypothesis offers a solution to both puzzles by proposing that belief in morally concerned supernatural agents culturally evolved to facilitate cooperation among strangers in large-scale societies9–13. Although previous research has suggested an association between the presence of moralizing gods and social complexity3,6,7,9–18, the relationship between the two is disputed9–13,19–24, and attempts to establish causality have been hampered by limitations in the availability of detailed global longitudinal data. To overcome these limitations, here we systematically coded records from 414 societies that span the past 10,000 years from 30 regions around the world, using 51 measures of social complexity and 4 measures of supernatural enforcement of morality. Our analyses not only confirm the association between moralizing gods and social complexity, but also reveal that moralizing gods follow—rather than precede—large increases in social complexity. Contrary to previous predictions9,12,16,18, powerful moralizing ‘big gods’ and prosocial supernatural punishment tend to appear only after the emergence of ‘megasocieties’ with populations of more than around one million people. Moralizing gods are not a prerequisite for the evolution of social complexity, but they may help to sustain and expand complex multi-ethnic empires after they have become established. By contrast, rituals that facilitate the standardization of religious traditions across large populations25,26 generally precede the appearance of moralizing gods. This suggests that ritual practices were more important than the particular content of religious belief to the initial rise of social complexity. Belief in moralizing gods followed the expansion of human societies and may have been preceded by doctrinal rituals that contributed to the initial rise of social complexity.

The origins of religion and of complex societies represent evolutionary puzzles1–8. The ‘moralizing gods’ hypothesis offers a solution to both puzzles by proposing that belief in morally concerned supernatural agents culturally evolved to facilitate cooperation among strangers in large-scale societies9–13. Although previous research has suggested an association between the presence of moralizing gods and social complexity3,6,7,9–18, the relationship between the two is disputed9–13,19–24, and attempts to establish causality have been hampered by limitations in the availability of detailed global longitudinal data. To overcome these limitations, here we systematically coded records from 414 societies that span the past 10,000 years from 30 regions around the world, using 51 measures of social complexity and 4 measures of supernatural enforcement of morality. Our analyses not only confirm the association between moralizing gods and social complexity, but also reveal that moralizing gods follow—rather than precede—large increases in social complexity. Contrary to previous predictions9,12,16,18, powerful moralizing ‘big gods’ and prosocial supernatural punishment tend to appear only after the emergence of ‘megasocieties’ with populations of more than around one million people. Moralizing gods are not a prerequisite for the evolution of social complexity, but they may help to sustain and expand complex multi-ethnic empires after they have become established. By contrast, rituals that facilitate the standardization of religious traditions across large populations25,26 generally precede the appearance of moralizing gods. This suggests that ritual practices were more important than the particular content of religious belief to the initial rise of social complexity. Belief in moralizing gods followed the expansion of human societies and may have been preceded by doctrinal rituals that contributed to the initial rise of social complexity.

The origins of religion and of complex societies represent evolutionary puzzles

THE discovery by Voyager I of a thin flat stream of rocks orbiting Jupiter at a radius of some 130,000 km, or ∼2RP (Rp = 6.677 × 109 cm = present polar radius), in its equatorial plane opens a new avenue of information in our understanding of the formation of the Solar System. Each of the major planets which possesses a regular satellite system also possesses a ring system. Theories for the formation of the major planets should therefore address themselves to this phenomenon of the co-appearance of rings and regular satellite systems, especially in considering the question whether Neptune, which has no regular satellites, may also not have a ring. We suggest here that Jupiter's rocky belt formed through condensation from a gaseous disk which was shed by the rotating gaseous envelope that originally contracted to form that planet. The four galilean satellites were formed from gaseous rings which were shed by the same envelope at an earlier and more turbulent stage in its evolution. It is possible that Jupiter may possess another rocky satellite belt at orbital radius 4RP1.

INVESTIGATIONS of lipid deposits connected with atherosclerosis have usually been concerned with the lipids from the plaques formed in the intima of the aorta1. Although the condition of the aorta is a guide to the progress of the disease, dysfunction due to atherosclerosis is most liable to occur in the smaller arteries, especially coronary and cerebral arteries. It has generally been assumed that lipid deposition in these arteries occurs in a similar way to that in the aorta. If this is so, the composition of the lipids deposited should be approximately the same. Lipids extracted from different atheromatous arteries have been examined in order to test this assumption.

THERE is a continuing interest in the possible toxicity to man and animals from the present and future concentrations of lead in the environment. The importance of environmental lead was emphasized by Monier-Williams in 1938 (ref. 1), and has since resulted in numerous studies2–4.

KNOWLEDGE of the composition of airborne particles and the reactions that take place in the atmosphere is important to the understanding of the fate of these particles. Lead compounds are present in a concentration of about 1% in the particulate and information about their composition would be especially helpful to people conducting experimental studies on the health effects of lead in air.

IT has been suggested to us that it would be useful to extend the list of pulsar distances which two of us computed earlier1,2 to include those pulsars which have been discovered since then. In Table VII of ref. 2 we listed distances of thirty-six pulsars. We now list the results for another eighteen, six of which were mentioned previously2 in a note added in proof. The results are given in Table 1. Because a plot of pulsar distribution against height z above the galactic plane shows a sharp distinction between those objects for which a precise distance was found and those for which we use equation 44 of ref. 2, we have adopted l=200 |sin b|−1 pc as a lower bound distance estimate for pulsars with n0(∞)≳0.05 cm−3 whose line of sight does not intersect an HII region. For the Jodrell pulsars we have used the data of Davies, Large and Pickwick3,4.

IT is well known that estimates of pulsar distances are based on their dispersion which is a direct measure of ∫nedl, where ne is the density of electrons cm−3 and where the integration is along the line of sight from the pulsar to the Earth. Usually, as a rough estimate, the value 0.1 cm−3 has been used for ne, but there have been indications that this may be much too high in most cases. It should be possible to do better, however, for the positions of pulsars in the sky are quite well known and it is suspected that most of them lie relatively close to us, within perhaps 1 kpc. We can therefore use our knowledge about stars along the line of sight and about the general distribution of hydrogen in our galaxy to give an approximate calculation of ne along the line of sight and thus to see at what point the observed ∫nedl runs out of distance. It is clear that the position of a hot star or association will materially affect the resultant distance l, estimated in this way, for in HII regions the value of ne will be at least an order of magnitude higher than 0.1 cm−3.

Collected Scientific Papers By H. A. Kramers. Pp. xi + 969. (Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company, 1956.) 45 Dutch florins; 90s.

Superposition and Interaction: Coherence in Physics. By Richard Schlegel Pp.302. ISBN 0-226-73841-8. (Chicago University Press: 1981.) $22.50, £13.50.

Pioneers in Neuroendocrinology. (Perspectives in Neuroendocrine Research, Vol. 1.) Edited by Joseph Meites, Bernard T. Donovan and Samuel M. McCann. Pp. viii+327. (Plenum: New York and London, 1975.) $27.

ONE of the main difficulties to be met by any theory about the origin of the solar system is the difficulty of accounting for the present distribution of its angular momentum.