Skip to main content
  • Textbook
  • © 2019

Handbook of Evolutionary Research in Archaeology

  • The first truly comprehensive introduction to evolution studies in archaeology

  • Will be immensely valuable for a wide range of archaeological, anthropological, and evolutionary students and scholars seeking summaries and discussion of the now many strands of evolutionary archaeological research

  • Chapters authored by a combination of bright early career and imminent senior scholars in the field from around the world

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (20 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
  2. Introduction

    • Anna Marie Prentiss
    Pages 1-22
  3. Microevolution

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 23-23
    2. Introduction to Cultural Microevolutionary Research in Anthropology and Archaeology

      • Matthew J. Walsh, Anna Marie Prentiss, Felix Riede
      Pages 25-47
    3. Cultural Transmission and Innovation in Archaeology

      • Matthew J. Walsh, Felix Riede, Sean O’Neill
      Pages 49-70
    4. Analysing Cultural Frequency Data: Neutral Theory and Beyond

      • Anne Kandler, Enrico R. Crema
      Pages 83-108
  4. Macroevolution

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 109-109
    2. Cultural Macroevolution

      • Anna Marie Prentiss, Cheyenne L. Laue
      Pages 111-125
    3. The Uses of Cultural Phylogenetics in Archaeology

      • Larissa Mendoza Straffon
      Pages 149-160
    4. Cultural Macroevolution and Social Change

      • Charles S. Spencer
      Pages 183-213
  5. Human Ecology

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 215-215
    2. Human Ecology

      • Anna Marie Prentiss
      Pages 217-229
    3. Human Behavioral Ecology and Zooarchaeology

      • Lisa Nagaoka
      Pages 231-253
    4. Costly Signaling Theory in Archaeology

      • Colin P. Quinn
      Pages 275-294
    5. Human Behavioral Ecology and Technological Decision-Making

      • Nicole M. Herzog, Nathan Goodale
      Pages 295-309
    6. Demography, Environment, and Human Behavior

      • Cedric Puleston, Bruce Winterhalder
      Pages 311-335

About this book

Evolutionary Research in Archaeology seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of contemporary evolutionary research in archaeology. The book will provide a single source for introduction and overview of basic and advanced evolutionary concepts and research programs in archaeology.  Content will be organized around four areas of critical research including microevolutionary and macroevolutionary process, human ecology studies (evolutionary ecology, demography, and niche construction), and evolutionary cognitive archaeology. Authors of individual chapters will address theoretical foundations, history of research, contemporary contributions and debates, and implications for the future for their respective topics. As appropriate, authors present or discuss short empirical case studies to illustrate key arguments.

Reviews

“This volume covers a lot of ground at considerable depth. … readers of this volume should gain an excellent understanding of the current status of evolutionary research in archaeology in all its contradictions, complexity, and insight. … this compelling volume indicates that this approach proves extremely robust in explaining the development of human behavior.” (Christopher Morgan, American Antiquity, Vol. 85 (4), 2020)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Department of Anthropology, University of Montana, Missoula, USA

    Anna Marie Prentiss

About the editor

Dr. Anna Marie Prentiss is an archaeologist specializing in the prehistory of the Great Plains, Pacific Northwest, and Western Arctic regions of North America and Chilean Patagonia.  She has a methodological specialty in lithic technology and theoretical interests in the archaeology of villages and towns, social inequality, hunter-gatherer mobility and technological organization, and the cultural evolutionary process. She is currently editor of the SAA Archaeological Record, the magazine of the Society for American Archaeology.​

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Handbook of Evolutionary Research in Archaeology

  • Editors: Anna Marie Prentiss

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11117-5

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-11116-8Published: 14 June 2019

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-11117-5Published: 03 June 2019

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XII, 443

  • Number of Illustrations: 43 b/w illustrations, 24 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Archaeology

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access