Innovation in Cultural Systems: Contributions from Evolutionary Anthropology

In recent years an interest in applying the principles of evolution to the study ofculture emerged in the social sciences. Archaeologists and anthropologists reconsidered the role ofinnovation in particular, and have moved toward characterizing innovation in cultural systems notonly as a product but also as an evolutionary process. This distinction was familiar to biology butnew to the social sciences; cultural evolutionists from the nineteenth to the twentieth century hadtended to see innovation as a preprogrammed change that occurred when a cultural group"needed" to overcome environmental problems. In this volume, leading researchers from avariety of disciplines--including anthropology, archaeology, evolutionary biology, philosophy, andpsychology--offer their perspectives on cultural innovation. The book provides not only a range ofviews but also an integrated account, with the chapters offering an orderly progression of thought.The contributors consider innovation in biological terms, discussing epistemology, animal studies,systematics and phylogeny, phenotypic plasticity and evolvability, and evo-devo; they discuss moderninsights into innovation, including simulation, the random-copying model, diffusion, and demographicanalysis; and they offer case studies of innovation from archaeological and ethnographic records,examining developmental, behavioral, and social patterns. ContributorsAndre Ariew, R. AlexanderBentley, Werner Callebaut, Joseph Henrich, Anne Kandler, Kevin N. Laland, Daniel O. Larson, AlexMesoudi, Michael J. O'Brien, Craig T. Palmer, Adam Powell, Simon M. Reader, Valentine Roux, ChetSavage, Michael Brian Schiffer, Jeffrey H. Schwartz, Stephen J. Shennan, James Steele, Mark G.Thomas, Todd L. VanPool

Stephen J. Shennan is Professor of Theoretical Archaeology and Director of the Institute of Archaeology at University College London.