Evolutionary Archaeology: Theory and Application (Foundations of Archaeological Inquiry) PDF
Preview Evolutionary Archaeology: Theory and Application (Foundations of Archaeological Inquiry)
Evolutionary Archaeology : Theory and title: Application Foundations of Archaeological Inquiry author: O'Brien, Michael J. publisher: University of Utah Press isbn10 | asin: print isbn13: 9780874805024 ebook isbn13: 9780585133416 language: English Archaeology, Social evolution, Social subject change. publication date: 1996 lcc: CC173.E96 1996eb ddc: 930.1 Archaeology, Social evolution, Social subject: change. Page i Evolutionary Archaeology Page ii Foundations of Archaeological Inquiry Page iii Evolutionary Archaeology Theory and Application Edited by Michael J. O'Brien Foreword by Robert C. Dunnell University Of Utah Press Salt Lake City Foundations Of Archaeological Inquiry James M. Skibo, editor Copyright 1996 by the University of Utah Press All rights reserved Printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America 01 00 99 98 97 96 6 5 4 3 2 1 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Evolutionary archaeology : theory and application / edited by Michael J. O'Brien; foreword by Robert C. Dunnell. p. cm.(Foundations of archaeological inquiry) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-87480-5 14-7 (alk. paper) 1. Archaeology. 2. Social evolution. 3. Social change. I. O'Brien, Michael J. (Michael John), 1950 . II. Series. CC173.E96 1996 930.1dc20 96-20648 Page v CONTENTS Foreword vii Preface and Acknowledgments xiii Evolutionary Archaeology: An Introduction 1 Part I: The Foundations of Evolutionary Archaeology 17 1. Natural Selection, Scale, and Cultural Evolution: Some 24 Preliminary Considerations Robert C. Dunnell 2. Evolutionary Theory and Archaeology 30 Robert C. Dunnell 3. Science, Social Science, and Common Sense: The 68 Agonizing Dilemma of Modern Archaeology Robert C. Dunnell 4. Aspects of the Application of Evolutionary Theory in 86 Archaeology Robert C. Dunnell 5. Archaeology and Evolutionary Science 98 Robert C. Dunnell Part II: Methodological Issues In Evolutionary 107 Archaeology 6. Style And Function: A Fundamental Dichotomy 112 Robert C. Dunnell 7. Archaeological Potential of Anthropological and 123 Scientific Models of Function Robert C. Dunnell 8. Elements of an Inclusive Evolutionary Model for 139 Archaeology Robert D. Leonard And George T. Jones Page vi 9. Undirected Variation and the Darwinian Explanation of 152 Cultural Change David Rindos 10. Variation, Selection, and the Archaeological Record 177 Michael J. O'brien And Thomas D. Holland Part III: Applying an Evolutionary Perspective 201 11. Symbiosis, Instability, and the Origins and Spread of 209 Agriculture: A New Model David Rindos 12. A Paradigmatic Shift in the Search for the Origin of 236 Agriculture Michael J. O'Brien And H. Clyde Wilson 13. Ceramics and Evolution 244 Hector Neff 14. Coevolution of Sedentism, Pottery Technology, and 270 Horticulture in the Central Midwest, 200 B.C.-A.D. 600 David P. Braun References 285 Index 319 Contributors 329 Page vii FOREWORD In some respects a collection of archaeological essays using evolutionary theory as a theme is a strange assemblage. After all, evolutionary theory is the scientific theory used to explain living things, and no one doubts the human authorship of the archaeological record. It has been more than half a century since there was any serious competition. Further, evolution is, in one version or another, the only scientific theory that explains change in living things; archaeology has had scientific aspirations for over a century and a half, and the explanation of change has been a central objective in all modern incarnations. That evolutionary theory represents only a minor theme in a plethora of interpretive algorithms current in archaeology todaya condition that certainly justifies a collection such as thisis thus both anachronistic and a contradiction of the discipline's own historic goals. Marion Blute and I pointed out independently over fifteen years ago that the use of scientific evolution in social science is really quite recent, beginning well after the centenary of Darwin's On the Origin of Species. We both concluded that this situation was largely attributable to a confusion between scientific evolution, the modern derivative of Darwin's insight, and what is commonly called cultural evolution, an interpretive algorithm of considerable antiquity in Western thought (that is, a folk explanation). As an explicit theory, however, it is closely associated with the work of Herbert Spencer, Edward B. Tylor, and others (for example, Karl Marx and Lewis Henry Morgan). While social scientists were quick to overlook the differences between Darwinian and cultural evolution in an attempt to be construed in the Darwinian, or scientific, mold, the reverse was not true. Architects of modern cultural evolution in anthropology (for example, White) appreciated the differences between the two evolutions. As Robert Wenke and I pointed out, however, the typical worker conflates the two thoroughly. For example, Norman Yoffee, in a classic paper, "The Decline and Rise of Mesopotamian Civilization," lists a series of reasons why "evolution" as used in biology cannot be applied in archaeology. Yet all of his reasons are also cited by scientific evolutionists to demonstrate why cultural evolution is defective! Scientific evolution is condemned for properties it does not have. There is more to it than sloppy terminology. Why such confusion should persist is worth an essay in its own right, but it is sufficient in this context to point out that two features probably account for much of the confusion. In the first instance, it is difficult to find a social scientist who has bothered to master evolutionary theorymost seem to have taken their notion from the popular press. Others confuse it with ecology. Key elements such as cause, materialism, selection, and adaptation are either not understood or
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