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Macroevolution in Human Prehistory

Evolutionary Theory and Processual Archaeology

  • Book
  • © 2009

Overview

Editors:
  1. Anna Prentiss

    1. Dept. Anthropology, University of Montana, Missoula, U.S.A.

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  2. Ian Kuijt

    1. Dept. Anthropology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, U.S.A.

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  3. James C. Chatters

    1. Dept. Earth & Environmental Sciences, California State University, Fresno, U.S.A.

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  • 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)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-viii
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  2. Introduction

    • Anna Marie Prentiss, Ian Kuijt, James C. Chatters
    Pages 1-19

  3. Issues in Macroevolutionary Theory

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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  5. Macroevolutionary Approaches to Cultural Change

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 109-109
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  7. Cultural Diversification, Stasis and Extinction as Macroevolutionary Processes

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 211-211
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  8. Part III. Cultural Diversification, Stasis and Extinction as Macroevolutionary Processes

    1. A Macroevolutionary Perspective on the Archaeological Record of North America

      • James C. Chatters
      Pages 213-234

    2. Cultural Stasis and Change in Northern North America: A Macroevolutionary Perspective

      • Anna Marie Prentiss, Michael Lenert
      Pages 235-251

    3. Niche Construction, Macroevolution, and the Late Epipaleolithic of the Near East

      • Ian Kuijt, Anna Marie Prentiss
      Pages 253-271

  9. Macroevolutionary Theory in Archaeology

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 273-273
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  10. Part IV. Macroevolutionary Theory in Archaeology

    1. Macroevolutionary Theory and Archaeology: Is There a Big Picture?

      • Robert L. Bettinger
      Pages 275-295

    2. Material Cultural Macroevolution

      • Niles Eldredge
      Pages 297-316

  11. Back Matter

    Pages 1-8
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Keywords

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

  • Dept. Anthropology, University of Montana, Missoula, U.S.A.

    Anna Prentiss

  • Dept. Anthropology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, U.S.A.

    Ian Kuijt

  • 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

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