How did pre-industrial tribal societies – for example Inuits, manage to deal with inbreeding even though they were small in size and lacked outside contact?

Question

How did pre-industrial tribal societies – for example Inuits, manage to deal with inbreeding even though they were small in size and lacked outside contact?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Those small tribal societies were hunter gatherers, and therefore nomadic. Makes it easier to meet other families and tribes when you have to roam a few hundred miles every year. And then you have cultural practices like polyandry and “wife stealing” (eg in the Inuit case) to reinforce the notion that you should mate outside the clan, and you’re all set.