Straffon 2019 The uses of cultural phylogenetics in archaeology (original) (raw)

2019, Handbook of Evolutionary Research in Archaeology. A.Prentiss (Ed.)

In recent decades, phylogenetic methods originated in evolutionary biology have been put forward as fruitful strategies to trace and reconstruct the origin, development, distribution, and interrelatedness of archaeological artifacts and traditions. Artifact phylogenies are increasingly being used by archaeologists to infer, develop, and test hypotheses about the processes that originate and shape material culture sets, as well as to study the extent and rates of cultural innovation, borrowing, diffusion, convergence, and loss. As an analytical tool, cultural phylogenetics can also be used to test hypotheses about the emergence, change, and exchange of artifact types, thereby allowing researchers to make inferences about temporal and regional behavioral patterns. This chapter will review some basic concepts of cultural phylogenetics, discuss its applications in archaeology, and reflect on some of the main challenges and prospects faced by the field.