Evolutionary archaeology

There are two main approaches currently used to analyze archaeological remains from an evolutionary perspective: evolutionary archaeology and behavioral (or evolutionary) ecology. The former assumes that cultural change observed in the archaeological record can be best explained by the direct action of natural selection and other Darwinian processes on heritable variation in artifacts and behavior.[1] The latter assumes that cultural and behavioral change results from phenotypic adaptations to varying social and ecological environments.[2]  

  1. ^ Boone, J.L & Smith, E.E. (1998). Is It Evolution Yet? A Critique of Evolutionary Archaeology. Current Anthropology, Vol. 39, No. S1. Special Issue: The Neanderthal Problem and the Evolution of Human Behavior (June 1998), pp. S141-S174. The University of Chicago.
  2. ^ Boone, J.L & Smith, E.E. (1998). Is It Evolution Yet? A Critique of Evolutionary Archaeology. Current Anthropology, Vol. 39, No. S1. Special Issue: The Neanderthal Problem and the Evolution of Human Behavior (June 1998), pp. S141-S174. The University of Chicago