Evolutionary anthropologists are examining a potential role for art in human evolution. This text looks at the visual arts of traditional societies, because they are passed between generations and offer ways to promote social relationships among kin and codescendants of a common ancestor.

With each new generation these clans propagated not only their genes but also their behavioral strategy, the replication or presence of "art." The book concludes by examining the changing characteristics of visual art-including a higher value on creativity, competition, and cost-when traditional constraints on social behavior disappear.