Seeing Lithics

Seeing Lithics

Author: Gilbert B. Tostevin

Publisher: Oxbow Books Limited

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781842175279

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There is substantial debate over the extent to which the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition and the dispersal of anatomically modern humans from Africa into Eurasia at the end of the Pleistocene were the result of the same process, related processes, or unrelated but coincident processes. The current debate shows a gap in archaeological method and theory for understanding how different cultural transmission processes create patterning in the material culture of foragers at the resolution of Paleolithic palimpsests. This research project attempts to bridge this gap with a middle-range theory connecting cultural transmission and dual inheritance theory with the archaeological study of flintknappers' flake-by-flake choices in the production of lithic assemblages. The project thus combines a new middle-range theory as well as a new approach to characterizing Paleolithic assemblages for systematic comparison of units of analysis appropriate to distinguishing forces of change in cultural evolution.


Book Synopsis Seeing Lithics by : Gilbert B. Tostevin

Download or read book Seeing Lithics written by Gilbert B. Tostevin and published by Oxbow Books Limited. This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is substantial debate over the extent to which the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition and the dispersal of anatomically modern humans from Africa into Eurasia at the end of the Pleistocene were the result of the same process, related processes, or unrelated but coincident processes. The current debate shows a gap in archaeological method and theory for understanding how different cultural transmission processes create patterning in the material culture of foragers at the resolution of Paleolithic palimpsests. This research project attempts to bridge this gap with a middle-range theory connecting cultural transmission and dual inheritance theory with the archaeological study of flintknappers' flake-by-flake choices in the production of lithic assemblages. The project thus combines a new middle-range theory as well as a new approach to characterizing Paleolithic assemblages for systematic comparison of units of analysis appropriate to distinguishing forces of change in cultural evolution.


Stone Tools in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Near East

Stone Tools in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Near East

Author: John J. Shea

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-02-28

Total Pages: 427

ISBN-13: 1107006988

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This book surveys the archaeological record for stone tools from the earliest times to 6,500 years ago in the Near East.


Book Synopsis Stone Tools in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Near East by : John J. Shea

Download or read book Stone Tools in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Near East written by John J. Shea and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-02-28 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book surveys the archaeological record for stone tools from the earliest times to 6,500 years ago in the Near East.


Final Paleolithic Camp Organization as Seen from the Perspective of Lithic Artifacts Refitting

Final Paleolithic Camp Organization as Seen from the Perspective of Lithic Artifacts Refitting

Author: Jan Fiedorczuk

Publisher: Wydawnictwo Instytutu Archeologii i Etnologii PAN

Published: 2006-07-01

Total Pages: 170

ISBN-13: 8389499274

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Preface Introduction I. Overview of the Study Area II. Spatial Organization of Sites: History of Studies II. 1. Methodologies and Research II.2. Archaeological Structures and their Significance in Studies of Spatial Organization of Sites III. Sites of the Mazovian Complex in Studies of Spatial Organization of Camps III.1. Research History and Prospects III.2. Site Selection Criteria III.3. Characteristic of Selected Sites III.3.1. Dobiegniewo III.3.2. Calowanie, Trench I, Level VI III.3.3. Rydno IV/57 III.3.4. Rydno XI/59 IV. Methods in Spatial Organization Studies of Paleolithic Campsites IV.l. Lithic Typology, Technology and Raw Materials IV.2. The Refittings Method IV.2.1. Terminology and Semantic Scope of Concepts IV.2.2. Results of Refitting in the Selected Assemblages IV.2.3. Spatial Distribution of Lithic Artifacts Refitted into Blocks I V.2.4. Comprehensive Analysis of Refitted Specimens IV.3. Spatial Distribution (Patterning) of Selected Classes of Lithic Artifacts IV.3.1. Burnt Artifacts IV.3 2. Tools and Tools Production and Repair Waste IV.3.3. Cores and Core Processing Waste IV.4. Statistical Procedures in Spatial Analysis V. Settlement Structures in Sites of the Mazovian Complex V.I. Features V.I.I. Hearths V.I.1.1. Dobiegniewo V.I.1.2. Calowanie, Trench I, Level VI V.l.1.3. Rydno IV/57 V.l.1.4. Rydno XI/59 V.1.2. Pits V.1.3. Haematite "Stains" V.2. Activity Areas V.2.1. Workshops and Waste Heaps V.2.2. Differentiation of Waste Heaps V.2.3. Workshops Differentiation V.2.4. Living (Home) Activity Areas VI. Spatial Relationships Between Identified Structures VI.l. Workshop vs. Waste Heap VI.2. The Workshop/Workshop Arrangement, or Core Processing in Various Places VI.3. Spatial Manifestations of Blade Selection Behaviors VI.4. Workshop and Living Activity Areas in Relation to Hearths and Dwelling Structures VII. Structure Systems vs. Occupation Episodes, or the Spatial Organization of Campsites VII.1. Dobiegniewo VII.2. Calowanie, Trench I, Level VI VII.3. Rydno IV/57 VII.4. Rydno XI/59 VIII. Expectations, Disappointments and Results. A Brief Summing Up References


Book Synopsis Final Paleolithic Camp Organization as Seen from the Perspective of Lithic Artifacts Refitting by : Jan Fiedorczuk

Download or read book Final Paleolithic Camp Organization as Seen from the Perspective of Lithic Artifacts Refitting written by Jan Fiedorczuk and published by Wydawnictwo Instytutu Archeologii i Etnologii PAN. This book was released on 2006-07-01 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Preface Introduction I. Overview of the Study Area II. Spatial Organization of Sites: History of Studies II. 1. Methodologies and Research II.2. Archaeological Structures and their Significance in Studies of Spatial Organization of Sites III. Sites of the Mazovian Complex in Studies of Spatial Organization of Camps III.1. Research History and Prospects III.2. Site Selection Criteria III.3. Characteristic of Selected Sites III.3.1. Dobiegniewo III.3.2. Calowanie, Trench I, Level VI III.3.3. Rydno IV/57 III.3.4. Rydno XI/59 IV. Methods in Spatial Organization Studies of Paleolithic Campsites IV.l. Lithic Typology, Technology and Raw Materials IV.2. The Refittings Method IV.2.1. Terminology and Semantic Scope of Concepts IV.2.2. Results of Refitting in the Selected Assemblages IV.2.3. Spatial Distribution of Lithic Artifacts Refitted into Blocks I V.2.4. Comprehensive Analysis of Refitted Specimens IV.3. Spatial Distribution (Patterning) of Selected Classes of Lithic Artifacts IV.3.1. Burnt Artifacts IV.3 2. Tools and Tools Production and Repair Waste IV.3.3. Cores and Core Processing Waste IV.4. Statistical Procedures in Spatial Analysis V. Settlement Structures in Sites of the Mazovian Complex V.I. Features V.I.I. Hearths V.I.1.1. Dobiegniewo V.I.1.2. Calowanie, Trench I, Level VI V.l.1.3. Rydno IV/57 V.l.1.4. Rydno XI/59 V.1.2. Pits V.1.3. Haematite "Stains" V.2. Activity Areas V.2.1. Workshops and Waste Heaps V.2.2. Differentiation of Waste Heaps V.2.3. Workshops Differentiation V.2.4. Living (Home) Activity Areas VI. Spatial Relationships Between Identified Structures VI.l. Workshop vs. Waste Heap VI.2. The Workshop/Workshop Arrangement, or Core Processing in Various Places VI.3. Spatial Manifestations of Blade Selection Behaviors VI.4. Workshop and Living Activity Areas in Relation to Hearths and Dwelling Structures VII. Structure Systems vs. Occupation Episodes, or the Spatial Organization of Campsites VII.1. Dobiegniewo VII.2. Calowanie, Trench I, Level VI VII.3. Rydno IV/57 VII.4. Rydno XI/59 VIII. Expectations, Disappointments and Results. A Brief Summing Up References


Archaeological Concepts, Techniques, and Terminology for American Prehistoric Lithic Technology

Archaeological Concepts, Techniques, and Terminology for American Prehistoric Lithic Technology

Author: Wm Jack Hranicky

Publisher: AuthorHouse

Published: 2013-06-03

Total Pages: 586

ISBN-13: 1481751743

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Archaeological Concepts, Techniques, and Terminology for American Prehistory Lithic Technology by Wm Jack Hranicky is a 600-page comprehensive publication that encompasses the study of American prehistoric stone tools and implements. It is a look-up volume for studying the material culture of prehistoric people and using its concepts and methods for researching this aspect of archaeology. There are over 3000 entries which are defined and illustrated. It also has an extensive set of references and an overview for the study of stone tools.


Book Synopsis Archaeological Concepts, Techniques, and Terminology for American Prehistoric Lithic Technology by : Wm Jack Hranicky

Download or read book Archaeological Concepts, Techniques, and Terminology for American Prehistoric Lithic Technology written by Wm Jack Hranicky and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2013-06-03 with total page 586 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Archaeological Concepts, Techniques, and Terminology for American Prehistory Lithic Technology by Wm Jack Hranicky is a 600-page comprehensive publication that encompasses the study of American prehistoric stone tools and implements. It is a look-up volume for studying the material culture of prehistoric people and using its concepts and methods for researching this aspect of archaeology. There are over 3000 entries which are defined and illustrated. It also has an extensive set of references and an overview for the study of stone tools.


Archaeologies of Listening

Archaeologies of Listening

Author: Peter R. Schmidt

Publisher: University Press of Florida

Published: 2019-04-26

Total Pages: 303

ISBN-13: 0813057051

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Archaeologists tend to rely on scientific methods to reconstruct past histories, an approach that can alienate local indigenous populations and limit the potential of archaeological research. Essays in this volume argue that listening to and learning from local and descendant communities is vital for interpreting the histories and heritage values of archaeological sites. Case studies from around the world demonstrate how a humanistic perspective with people-centric practice decolonizes the discipline by unlocking an intellectual space and collaborative role for indigenous people. These examples show how listening to oral traditions has opened up broader understandings of ancient rituals in Tanzania—where indigenous knowledge paved the way to significant archaeological finds about local iron technology. Archaeologists working with owners of traditional food ovens in Northern Australia discovered the function of mysterious earth mounds nearby, and the involvement of local communities in the interpretation of the Sigiriya World Heritage Site in Sri Lanka led to a better understanding of indigenous values. The ethical implications for positioning archaeology as a way to bridge divisions are also explored. In a case study from Northern Ireland, researchers risked sparking further conflict by listening to competing narratives about the country’s political past, and a study of archival records from nineteenth-century grave excavations in British Columbia, where remains were taken without local permission, reveals why indigenous people in the region still regard archaeology with deep suspicion. The value of cultural apprenticeship to those who have long-term relationships with the landscape is nearly forgotten today, contributors argue. This volume points the way to a reawakening of the core principles of anthropology in archaeology and heritage studies. Contributors: Peter Schmidt | Alice Kehoe | Kathryn Weedman Arthur | Catherine Carlson | Billy Ó Foghlú | Audrey Horning | Steve Mrozowski | George Nicholas | Innocent Pikirayi | Jonathan Walz | Camina Weasel Moccasin | Jagath Weerasinghe


Book Synopsis Archaeologies of Listening by : Peter R. Schmidt

Download or read book Archaeologies of Listening written by Peter R. Schmidt and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2019-04-26 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Archaeologists tend to rely on scientific methods to reconstruct past histories, an approach that can alienate local indigenous populations and limit the potential of archaeological research. Essays in this volume argue that listening to and learning from local and descendant communities is vital for interpreting the histories and heritage values of archaeological sites. Case studies from around the world demonstrate how a humanistic perspective with people-centric practice decolonizes the discipline by unlocking an intellectual space and collaborative role for indigenous people. These examples show how listening to oral traditions has opened up broader understandings of ancient rituals in Tanzania—where indigenous knowledge paved the way to significant archaeological finds about local iron technology. Archaeologists working with owners of traditional food ovens in Northern Australia discovered the function of mysterious earth mounds nearby, and the involvement of local communities in the interpretation of the Sigiriya World Heritage Site in Sri Lanka led to a better understanding of indigenous values. The ethical implications for positioning archaeology as a way to bridge divisions are also explored. In a case study from Northern Ireland, researchers risked sparking further conflict by listening to competing narratives about the country’s political past, and a study of archival records from nineteenth-century grave excavations in British Columbia, where remains were taken without local permission, reveals why indigenous people in the region still regard archaeology with deep suspicion. The value of cultural apprenticeship to those who have long-term relationships with the landscape is nearly forgotten today, contributors argue. This volume points the way to a reawakening of the core principles of anthropology in archaeology and heritage studies. Contributors: Peter Schmidt | Alice Kehoe | Kathryn Weedman Arthur | Catherine Carlson | Billy Ó Foghlú | Audrey Horning | Steve Mrozowski | George Nicholas | Innocent Pikirayi | Jonathan Walz | Camina Weasel Moccasin | Jagath Weerasinghe


Lithics After the Stone Age

Lithics After the Stone Age

Author: Steven A. Rosen

Publisher: Rowman Altamira

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 9780761991243

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Not everyone bought into the Bronze Age right away, and Rosen describes and classifies the stone tools that continued to be made and used in the Middle East for the next two thousand years. He considers subtypes, function, distribution, chronology, the organization of production, styles, the relationship between lithic and metal technology, and other aspects. Over 100 drawings and maps provide archaeologists with a guide to identifying finds. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


Book Synopsis Lithics After the Stone Age by : Steven A. Rosen

Download or read book Lithics After the Stone Age written by Steven A. Rosen and published by Rowman Altamira. This book was released on 1997 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Not everyone bought into the Bronze Age right away, and Rosen describes and classifies the stone tools that continued to be made and used in the Middle East for the next two thousand years. He considers subtypes, function, distribution, chronology, the organization of production, styles, the relationship between lithic and metal technology, and other aspects. Over 100 drawings and maps provide archaeologists with a guide to identifying finds. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


Methods for the Analysis of Stone Artefacts

Methods for the Analysis of Stone Artefacts

Author: Yvonne Tafelmaier

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-01-13

Total Pages: 78

ISBN-13: 3658390913

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This essential gives an overview of current methods of analysis of stone artefacts ranging from attribute analysis of entire inventories to microscopic analyses of traces of use of individual artefacts. The presented approaches show the range of analysis of prehistoric stone artefacts in the German-speaking area. Simple examples of application illustrate the possibilities and limitations of each method. The content and structure of the essentials is identical to teaching units for learning methods of stone artefact analysis at the University of Tübingen in the Department of Early Prehistory.


Book Synopsis Methods for the Analysis of Stone Artefacts by : Yvonne Tafelmaier

Download or read book Methods for the Analysis of Stone Artefacts written by Yvonne Tafelmaier and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-01-13 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This essential gives an overview of current methods of analysis of stone artefacts ranging from attribute analysis of entire inventories to microscopic analyses of traces of use of individual artefacts. The presented approaches show the range of analysis of prehistoric stone artefacts in the German-speaking area. Simple examples of application illustrate the possibilities and limitations of each method. The content and structure of the essentials is identical to teaching units for learning methods of stone artefact analysis at the University of Tübingen in the Department of Early Prehistory.


The Lives of Stone Tools

The Lives of Stone Tools

Author: Kathryn Weedman Arthur

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 2018-04-24

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 081653828X

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The Lives of Stone Tools gives voice to the Indigenous Gamo lithic practitioners of southern Ethiopia. For the Gamo, their stone tools are alive, and their work in flintknapping is interwoven with status, skill, and the life histories of their stone tools. Anthropologist Kathryn Weedman Arthur offers insights from her more than twenty years working with the Gamo. She deftly addresses historical and present-day experiences and practices, privileging the Gamo’s perspectives. Providing a rich, detailed look into the world of lithic technology, Arthur urges us to follow her into a world that recognizes Indigenous theories of material culture as valid alternatives to academic theories. In so doing, she subverts long-held Western perspectives concerning gender, skill, and lifeless status of inorganic matter. The book offers the perspectives that, contrary to long-held Western views, stone tools are living beings with a life course, and lithic technology is a reproductive process that should ideally include both male and female participation. Only individuals of particular lineages knowledgeable in the lives of stones may work with stone technology. Knappers acquire skill and status through incremental guided instruction corresponding to their own phases of maturation. The tools’ lives parallel those of their knappers from birth (procurement), circumcision (knapping), maturation (use), seclusion (storage), and death (discardment). Given current expectations that the Gamo’s lithic technology may disappear with the next generation, The Lives of Stone Tools is a work of vital importance and possibly one of the last contemporaneous books about a population that engages with the craft daily.


Book Synopsis The Lives of Stone Tools by : Kathryn Weedman Arthur

Download or read book The Lives of Stone Tools written by Kathryn Weedman Arthur and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2018-04-24 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Lives of Stone Tools gives voice to the Indigenous Gamo lithic practitioners of southern Ethiopia. For the Gamo, their stone tools are alive, and their work in flintknapping is interwoven with status, skill, and the life histories of their stone tools. Anthropologist Kathryn Weedman Arthur offers insights from her more than twenty years working with the Gamo. She deftly addresses historical and present-day experiences and practices, privileging the Gamo’s perspectives. Providing a rich, detailed look into the world of lithic technology, Arthur urges us to follow her into a world that recognizes Indigenous theories of material culture as valid alternatives to academic theories. In so doing, she subverts long-held Western perspectives concerning gender, skill, and lifeless status of inorganic matter. The book offers the perspectives that, contrary to long-held Western views, stone tools are living beings with a life course, and lithic technology is a reproductive process that should ideally include both male and female participation. Only individuals of particular lineages knowledgeable in the lives of stones may work with stone technology. Knappers acquire skill and status through incremental guided instruction corresponding to their own phases of maturation. The tools’ lives parallel those of their knappers from birth (procurement), circumcision (knapping), maturation (use), seclusion (storage), and death (discardment). Given current expectations that the Gamo’s lithic technology may disappear with the next generation, The Lives of Stone Tools is a work of vital importance and possibly one of the last contemporaneous books about a population that engages with the craft daily.


Culture History and Convergent Evolution

Culture History and Convergent Evolution

Author: Huw S. Groucutt

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-07-23

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 3030461262

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This volume brings together diverse contributions from leading archaeologists and paleoanthropologists, covering various spatial and temporal periods to distinguish convergent evolution from cultural transmission in order to see if we can discover ancient human populations. With a focus on lithic technology, the book analyzes ancient materials and cultures to systematically explore the theoretical and physical aspects of culture, convergence, and populations in human evolution and prehistory. The book will be of interest to academics, students and researchers in archaeology, paleoanthropology, genetics, and paleontology. The book begins by addressing early prehistory, discussing the convergent evolution of behaviors and the diverse ecological conditions driving the success of different evolutionary paths. Chapters discuss these topics and technology in the context of the Lower Paleolithic/Earlier Stone age and Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age. The book then moves towards a focus on the prehistory of our species over the last 40,000 years. Topics covered include the human evolutionary and dispersal consequences of the Middle-Upper Paleolithic Transition in Western Eurasia. Readers will also learn about the cultural convergences, and divergences, that occurred during the Terminal Pleistocene and Holocene, such as the budding of human societies in the Americas. The book concludes by integrating these various perspectives and theories, and explores different methods of analysis to link technological developments and cultural convergence.


Book Synopsis Culture History and Convergent Evolution by : Huw S. Groucutt

Download or read book Culture History and Convergent Evolution written by Huw S. Groucutt and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-07-23 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume brings together diverse contributions from leading archaeologists and paleoanthropologists, covering various spatial and temporal periods to distinguish convergent evolution from cultural transmission in order to see if we can discover ancient human populations. With a focus on lithic technology, the book analyzes ancient materials and cultures to systematically explore the theoretical and physical aspects of culture, convergence, and populations in human evolution and prehistory. The book will be of interest to academics, students and researchers in archaeology, paleoanthropology, genetics, and paleontology. The book begins by addressing early prehistory, discussing the convergent evolution of behaviors and the diverse ecological conditions driving the success of different evolutionary paths. Chapters discuss these topics and technology in the context of the Lower Paleolithic/Earlier Stone age and Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age. The book then moves towards a focus on the prehistory of our species over the last 40,000 years. Topics covered include the human evolutionary and dispersal consequences of the Middle-Upper Paleolithic Transition in Western Eurasia. Readers will also learn about the cultural convergences, and divergences, that occurred during the Terminal Pleistocene and Holocene, such as the budding of human societies in the Americas. The book concludes by integrating these various perspectives and theories, and explores different methods of analysis to link technological developments and cultural convergence.


Beyond the Meme

Beyond the Meme

Author: Alan C. Love

Publisher: U of Minnesota Press

Published: 2019-09-03

Total Pages: 421

ISBN-13: 145296162X

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Interdisciplinary perspectives on cultural evolution that reject meme theory in favor of a complex understanding of dynamic change over time How do cultures change? In recent decades, the concept of the meme, posited as a basic unit of culture analogous to the gene, has been central to debates about cultural transformation. Despite the appeal of meme theory, its simplification of complex interactions and other inadequacies as an explanatory framework raise more questions about cultural evolution than it answers. In Beyond the Meme, William C. Wimsatt and Alan C. Love assemble interdisciplinary perspectives on cultural evolution, providing a nuanced understanding of it as a process in which dynamic structures interact on different scales of size and time. By focusing on the full range of evolutionary processes across distinct contexts, from rice farming to scientific reasoning, this volume demonstrates how a thick understanding of change in culture emerges from multiple disciplinary vantage points, each of which is required to understand cultural evolution in all its complexity. The editors provide an extensive introductory essay to contextualize the volume, and Wimsatt contributes a separate chapter that systematically organizes the conceptual geography of cultural processes and phenomena. Any adequate account of the transmission, elaboration, and evolution of culture must, this volume argues, recognize the central roles that cognitive and social development play in cultural change and the complex interplay of technological, organizational, and institutional structures needed to enable and coordinate these processes. Contributors: Marshall Abrams, U of Alabama at Birmingham; Claes Andersson, Chalmers U of Technology; Mark A. Bedau, Reed College; James A. Evans, U of Chicago; Jacob G. Foster, U of California, Los Angeles; Michel Janssen, U of Minnesota; Sabina Leonelli, U of Exeter; Massimo Maiocchi, U of Chicago; Joseph D. Martin, U of Cambridge; Salikoko S. Mufwene, U of Chicago; Nancy J. Nersessian, Georgia Institute of Technology and Harvard U; Paul E. Smaldino, U of California, Merced; Anton Törnberg, U of Gothenburg; Petter Törnberg, U of Amsterdam; Gilbert B. Tostevin, U of Minnesota.


Book Synopsis Beyond the Meme by : Alan C. Love

Download or read book Beyond the Meme written by Alan C. Love and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2019-09-03 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interdisciplinary perspectives on cultural evolution that reject meme theory in favor of a complex understanding of dynamic change over time How do cultures change? In recent decades, the concept of the meme, posited as a basic unit of culture analogous to the gene, has been central to debates about cultural transformation. Despite the appeal of meme theory, its simplification of complex interactions and other inadequacies as an explanatory framework raise more questions about cultural evolution than it answers. In Beyond the Meme, William C. Wimsatt and Alan C. Love assemble interdisciplinary perspectives on cultural evolution, providing a nuanced understanding of it as a process in which dynamic structures interact on different scales of size and time. By focusing on the full range of evolutionary processes across distinct contexts, from rice farming to scientific reasoning, this volume demonstrates how a thick understanding of change in culture emerges from multiple disciplinary vantage points, each of which is required to understand cultural evolution in all its complexity. The editors provide an extensive introductory essay to contextualize the volume, and Wimsatt contributes a separate chapter that systematically organizes the conceptual geography of cultural processes and phenomena. Any adequate account of the transmission, elaboration, and evolution of culture must, this volume argues, recognize the central roles that cognitive and social development play in cultural change and the complex interplay of technological, organizational, and institutional structures needed to enable and coordinate these processes. Contributors: Marshall Abrams, U of Alabama at Birmingham; Claes Andersson, Chalmers U of Technology; Mark A. Bedau, Reed College; James A. Evans, U of Chicago; Jacob G. Foster, U of California, Los Angeles; Michel Janssen, U of Minnesota; Sabina Leonelli, U of Exeter; Massimo Maiocchi, U of Chicago; Joseph D. Martin, U of Cambridge; Salikoko S. Mufwene, U of Chicago; Nancy J. Nersessian, Georgia Institute of Technology and Harvard U; Paul E. Smaldino, U of California, Merced; Anton Törnberg, U of Gothenburg; Petter Törnberg, U of Amsterdam; Gilbert B. Tostevin, U of Minnesota.