Introduction

Culture so strongly shapes us humans that it might seem at first sight to separate us from the rest of biology and from Darwinian evolution. Our recent research paints a very different picture.

We've discovered that 'culture' (broadly, the passing on of traditions by learning from others) is a much more important force in the animal kingdom than has been assumed. It's richer in quality than anybody thought, in a range of animals from fish to apes, and even insects. And because culture provides a second kind of inheritance (1), piggy-backing on existing genetic inheritance, discovering the forms it takes is extending and transforming our understanding of biology and Darwinian evolution. Our exhibit shows how we have revealed examples of culture in fish, meerkats and chimpanzees.

These represent one meaning of our title, 'culture evolves' - the discovery that our human culture has not appeared out of the blue, because forms of culture have evolved in widespread ways in the animal kingdom.  Our own cultural complexity has evolved from simpler forms, that we can begin to reconstruct through our studies of apes and other animals.

But there is also a second meaning of 'culture evolves'.  Once culture appears, a new form of evolution can take off - cultural evolution. This is very evident in the cumulative progress of human culture, as each generation builds on the achievements of earlier ones in technology, science, art and every aspect of human endeavour. Cultural evolution has been suggested to resemble Darwinian, biological evolution in some fundamental ways - a focus of current debate. (2)

It's a real challenge to develop a scientific study of something this complex. One answer is to set up experimental simulations in the lab, which take the form of 'Chinese whispers' games. We have used these to discover some of the fundamental processes that can drive cumulative cultural change along a chain of people, where each individual can build on the achievements of the last. Our exhibit shows several examples that visitors can participate in. 

Together, the examples in our exhibit illustrate how we are at last establishing an 'experimental science of culture'.

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