In its classic formulation, Darwinism is a theory about why certain organisms do better in particular environments than do other organisms and hence over time leave more descendants. The theory says nothing about the archaeological record. Thus, archaeologists interested in applying a Darwinian perspective to the study of the material record have had to spend considerable time in constructing logical theoretical and methodological arguments as to how this can be accomplished in a nonreductionistic manner (e.g., Hurt and Rakita, 2001; Lipo et al., 2006a; Lyman and O’Brien, 1998; O’Brien, 1996a; O’Brien and Lyman, 2000, 2002a, 2003a, 2003b; O’Brien et al., 1998).
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Notes
- 1.
Now revised and updated, this essay originally appeared under the title “Darwinian Evolutionism Is Applicable to Historical Archaeology,” in International Journal of Historical Archaeology 4:71–112, published by Springer.
- 2.
Interestingly, Wedgwood considered the addition of cobalt oxide to the glaze to be a change in rather than an improvement over what his firm had been producing (Finer and Savage, 1965:237). Towner (1957:3–4) downplays the significance of pearlware, noting that it should be classified simply as a creamware variant. The important point here is not the terminology but the recognition that there was no grand disjunction between creamware and pearlware. Rather, selection against a cream-colored body led to the evolution of vessels that were whiter in color. That evolutionary line continued back through creamware, which, as Towner (1957:1) points out, was itself the direct descendant of lead-glazed wares of the Middle Ages.
- 3.
Although we use the term “selected for,” no feature is really selected “for.” Rather, one state of a feature is selected against, which causes an alternative state of that feature to rise in relatively frequency.
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O’Brien, M.J., Lyman, R.L. (2009). Darwinism and Historical Archaeology. In: Gaimster, D., Majewski, T. (eds) International Handbook of Historical Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-72071-5_13
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