Steps Towards Operationalising an Evolutionary Archaeological Definition of Culture (original) (raw)

Cultural Phylogenetics: Concepts and Applications in Archaeology

The use of methods developed in evolutionary biology to model the processes of cultural change and innovation that amount to cultural evolution is becoming an increasingly widespread practice in the sociocultural sciences. The purpose of this book is to explore the potential and challenges of implementing evolutionary phylogenetic methods in archaeological research, by discussing key concepts and presenting concrete applications of these approaches. The volume is set in two parts. The papers in the first part venture into the theoretical and conceptual implications of using evolution-based models in the sociocultural domain, illustrate the sorts of questions that these methods can help to answer, and invite the reader to reflect on the possibilities and limitations of these perspectives. The second part is comprised by case studies that address relevant empirical issues such as inferring patterns and rates of cultural transmission, detecting selective pressures in cultural evolution, and explaining the nature of cultural variation. This book will appeal to archaeologists interested in applying evolutionary thinking and inferential methods to their field, and to anyone interested in cultural evolution studies.

Current and Potential Roles of Archaeology in the Development of Cultural Evolutionary Theory

[paper available through link (above) or by request from author] Archaeology has much to contribute to the study of cultural evolution. Empirical data at archaeological timescales are uniquely well suited to tracking rates of cultural change, detecting phylogenetic signals among groups of artefacts, and recognizing long-run effects of distinct cultural transmission mechanisms. Nonetheless, these are still relatively infrequent subjects of archaeological analysis and archaeology’s potential to help advance our understanding of cultural evolution has thus far been largely unrealized. Cultural evolutionary models developed in other fields have been used to interpret patterns identified in archaeological records, which in turn provides independent tests of these models’ predictions, as demonstrated here through a study of late Prehistoric stone projectile points from the US Southwest. These tests may not be straightforward, though, because archaeological data are complex, often representing events aggregated over many years (or centuries or millennia), while processes thought to drive cultural evolution (e.g. biased learning) operate on much shorter timescales. To fulfil archaeology’s potential, we should continue to develop models specifically tailored to archaeological circumstances, and explore ways to incorporate the rich contextual data produced by archaeological research.

REVIEW Cultural Phylogenetics : Concepts and Applications in Archaeology

2016

This book explores the potential and challenges of implementing evolutionary phylogenetic methods in archaeological research, by discussing key concepts and presenting concrete applications of these approaches. The volume is divided into two parts: The first covers the theoretical and conceptual implications of using evolution-based models in the sociocultural domain, illustrates the sorts of questions that these methods can help answer, and invites the reader to reflect on the opportunities and limitations of these perspectives. The second part comprises case studies that address relevant empirical issues, such as inferring patterns and rates of cultural transmission, detecting selective pressures in cultural evolution, and explaining the nature of cultural variation. This book will appeal to archaeologists interested in applying evolutionary thinking and inferential methods to their field, and to anyone interested in cultural evolution studies

The Applications and Challenges of Cultural Phylogenetics in Archaeology: An Introduction

Cultural Phylogenetics: Concepts and Applications in Archaeology (2016)

Inferring and explaining cultural patterns and the ways in which human groups relate and interact over large spans of time or space is one of the biggest challenges for archaeologists. When dealing with either the remote past or the present , researchers struggle to learn about the conditions and mechanisms by which cultural traits originate, move, change, and disappear. The use of phylogenetic methods, originated in evolutionary biology to measure relatedness between species , can help to make signifi cant advances toward those aims. This introduction maps the fi eld of cultural phylogenetics, considers its potential for archaeological research, and summarizes the proposals laid out by the contributors of this book.

Straffon 2019 The uses of cultural phylogenetics in archaeology

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

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.

Cultural transmission, phylogenetics, and the archaeological record

… in anthropology and prehistory, ed. CP …, 2006

Having long ignored cultural transmission as an important evolutionary force, archaeology has finally begun to develop models of transmission processes and actively search for archaeological evidence of them. Dual inheritance theory suggests phylogenies will be difficult to obtain, and often misleading, for behaviors largely the product of individual learning and most suitable to behaviors resulting from conformist and indirectly-biased transmission. Simulations and analysis of a very large sample of Great Basin projectile points confirms these expectations and highlights the problems involved in working with artifact classes whose variation is mainly quantitative.

What is an archaeological culture? Approaching cultural transmission and variation

unizd.hr

The idea of an archaeological culture as a definable entity in space and time has survived the onslaughts of several generations of theoretically inclined archaeologists. Cultures have been deconstructed, reformulated, renamed and simply ignored but have refused to be consigned to the dustbin of archaeological research. Whether they are employed as a background to regional or local investigations or provide the central focus for research, they show no signs of going away. Does this mean that they have a certain validity? How therefore should we analyse and interpret distinct similarities in burials, settlements, technology or material culture? Perhaps our starting point should be the broad diversity of chronological and geographical scales through which archaeological regularities and variations exist. From this point of view, we must not expect straightforward correlations in the evidence as culture is not a bounded entity. What might be important is the nature of the connections where cultural transmission occurs and cultural variation is created.