Editors:
Integrated, comprehensive theory of cultural evolution in Archaeology
Covers a range of time periods and geographic regions
Offers new explanations and perspectives on major cultural development throughout the world
Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
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Table of contents (12 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Issues in Macroevolutionary Theory
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Front Matter
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Part I. Issues in Macroevolutionary Theory
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Macroevolutionary Approaches to Cultural Change
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Front Matter
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Part II. Macroevolutionary Approaches to Cultural Change
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Cultural Diversification, Stasis and Extinction as Macroevolutionary Processes
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Front Matter
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Part III. Cultural Diversification, Stasis and Extinction as Macroevolutionary Processes
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Macroevolutionary Theory in Archaeology
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Front Matter
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Part IV. Macroevolutionary Theory in Archaeology
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Back Matter
About this book
Cultural evolution, much like general evolution, works from the assumption that cultures are descendent from much earlier ancestors. Human culture manifests itself in forms ranging from the small bands of hunters, through intermediate scale complex hunter-gatherers and farmers, to the high density urban settlements and complex polities that characterize much of today’s world.
The chapters in the volume examine the dynamic interaction between the micro- and macro-scales of cultural evolution, developing a theoretical approach to the archaeological record that has been termed evolutionary processual archaeology. The contributions in this volume integrate positive elements of both evolutionary and processualist schools of thought. The approach, as explicated by the contributors in this work, offers novel insights into topics that include the emergence, stasis, collapse and extinction of cultural patterns, and development of social inequalities. Consequently, these contributions form a stepping off point for a significant new range of cultural evolutionary studies.
Reviews
From the reviews:
“This comprehensive volume on macroevolutionary theory is a recent attempt to revitalize evolutionism in archaeology. … The study of … memes facilitates the observation of cultural evolution. … this book is a significant and impressive contribution to evolutionary studies of cultural change, it propagates rhetoric inherent in this rigid perspective on dynamic variables like human behavior and the environment.” (Heather Kendall, The Midden, Vol. 43 (2), 2011)Editors and Affiliations
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Dept. Anthropology, University of Montana, Missoula, U.S.A.
Anna Prentiss
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Dept. Anthropology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, U.S.A.
Ian Kuijt
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Dept. Earth & Environmental Sciences, California State University, Fresno, U.S.A.
James C. Chatters
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Macroevolution in Human Prehistory
Book Subtitle: Evolutionary Theory and Processual Archaeology
Editors: Anna Prentiss, Ian Kuijt, James C. Chatters
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0682-3
Publisher: Springer New York, NY
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science, Behavioral Science and Psychology (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag New York 2009
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4419-0681-6Published: 02 October 2009
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4899-8385-5Published: 29 November 2014
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4419-0682-3Published: 18 September 2009
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 324
Topics: Archaeology