In the Hunter gatherer time polygamy was used to expand the range of a man’s alliances so he is able to maintain or acquire a position of leadership and to also prove his manhood in the tribe. Man who were allowed to choose any wife they desired, were men who had sufficient or more resource eg kettles, servants, crops, ect. Those resources enable or qualifies him to choose a wife as he is fit to be a husband and build a family. Accumulating resourcing it becomes very easy for a man to form alliances with other men, the more resources you have the more wives you get and the more powerful you are and able to form strong alliance.
