You know I love this sort of story, filled with citations and tight analysis, so great job on that, but I do feel the need to point out (since it's my Medium mission) that hypergamy is a relatively recent dynamic that comes from patriarchy, so it's only about 6 k years old. Hunter-gatherer bands share food and take care of all the members of the group, and in many of those bands today, women still provide most of the daily calories. Hunting is important, but also more sporadicly successful. Plus, these groups actively discourage against anyone imagining they have more status than anyone else.
"For hunter-gatherers and in other types of agricultural economies (not plowed agriculture), what women did was a huge contribution to the wellbeing of the family and the society, and this brought them both a lot of both status and a lot of freedom. In places where women historically worked outdoors in both paddy and hoe fields, female labor was vital, and a woman’s social status mirrored her indispensable contributions. Without her, there would be a lot less food.
Among the Juǀʼhoansi ǃKung of Namibia and Botswana, women generally collect plant foods and water, providing 60%–80% of the group’s sustenance, while men hunt. Depending on the climate, meat may be a relatively small part of the diet for any hunter-gatherer band. In some cultures, both men and women work together to obtain meat, such as the Agta tribes of the Philippines who hunt wild boar using dogs. It is primarily with those cultures who get their meat from large game, that men have a higher status than women, and women are more dependent on men."
