Evolution and Modern Archaeology Theory

January 28, 2015Anth 130

Darwin and Evolution

• Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species in 1859….everything changes!

• “Evolution is the change in the inherited characteristics of biological populations over successive generations”

• What does this mean for the way we study culture?

Cultural Evolution Theory

• The idea that cultural “evolves” over time to create a more “civilized” species

• societies evolve from savagery through barbarism to civilization

What other two ideas occurred to bring about a scientific approach to archaeology?

Classification-Historical Period(or Culture History)

• Lasted from the late 1800s-1960• Central concern was chronology • Looked at ancient civilizations and tried to

figure out a time frame for their cultures• The question that was trying to be answered: To

what period do this artifacts date? With which other materials do they belong? Who made them?

• Artifact assemblages=culture

Flinders Petrie (1853-1942)

• Worked in Egypt and later Palestine

• Devised a dating method called “serration” to establish chronology

• Believed in collectingEverything found in the Field

Gordon Childe(1892-1957)

• Worked on making comparisons between prehistoric communities in Europe

• Attempted to account for artifacts origins

• Was very influenced by Marxist theory

• Addressed why things changed in the past

Cultural History Archaeologist believed

• Change happened in one of three ways: migration, invention, diffusion

• Space needed to be organized into “cultural areas”

• Culture evolved unilineal

What are the problems with this approach?

Do Pots=People?

Native American Language Families

Native American Cultural Areas

Do all cultures evolve unilineally?

Willey and Philips’ 1958:

New World Developmental Stages

• Postclassic- metallurgy, cities• Classic- craft specialization, ceremonial centers• Formative- pottery, agriculture, permanent towns• Archaic- groundstone, semi-permanent towns• Paleo-Indian- chipped stone tools, mobile hunter-

gatherers

Good things to come out of Culture History!

• New apparition for attention to detail• Stratigraphic excavation• Typology• New dating techniques: serration

Processual Archaeology (or New Archaeology)

• 1960-Present• Want to answer the question Why? • Looks at different processes at work within a

society • Looks to explain a culture instead of describe a

culture

Lewis Bindford(1931-2011)

• Argued against the approach of using archaeology to write a “counterfeit history”

• Had a more optimistic view of what archaeology could do for our understanding of the past

• Believed that interpretation should be based on a framework of logical arguments

• Archaeology should EXPLAIN history not DESCRIBE history

• Analyze cultures as a system which could b broken down into subsystems

• Led to the study of certain aspects of culture in their own right: trade, subsistence, technology etc..

• Less emphasis on artifact typology• Turned away from the approach's of history

and towards those of science

Focused on a Ecological view of culture

• The idea that societies adapt to their environment by culture…

• Cultures interact with not only each other but with their environments as well.

• Does this mean that cultures are environmentally determined?

Gordon Willey(1913-2002)

• Studied pre-Columbian occupation in the Viru Valley in Peru

Also focused on a Materialistic view of culture

• A society’s solution to basic biological needs affects higher forms of organization

• The idea that human cultural is a “response to practice problems of earthly existence”

• It is a scientific research strategy which uses the scientism method

• Infrastructure is the most significant force behind the evolution of culture

Important things to come out of Processual Archaeology

• Radiometric dating

• Plant and animal studies

• Raw material analysis

• Deductive Reasoning

• Multilineal cultural evolution

Post-Processual Archaeology

• 1980’s-Present

• No single correct way to interpret archaeological data

• Also known as the “interpretive approach”

• Goal is to explain the past with an “insiders” perspective…Why and What did it mean?

Post-Processual Archaeology focuses on

• Multiple perspectives from different theories and disciplines

• Focuses on minority groups and their role (gender, ethnic etc.)

• Rejects the strictness of the scientific method • Social awareness• Stresses the idea of the “individual” or “agent”• Rejects generalization

Four different ways to interpret

• Antiquarianism• Culture History• Processual Archaeology• Post-Processual Archaeology

In groups discuss the difference between the four theoretical movements in archaeology…which do you agree with the most?

Example: Four Approaches to Interpreting a Barrow

What is a Barrow?

A mound containing a tomb

Found in W. Europe

Part of the Neolithic cultural landscape that also included henges and circles

Antiquarian Approach1849:

John Merewether dug West Kennett and 34 others in 4 weeks!

Results:

few artifacts, little of interest.

Antiquarian Approach

• What’s wrong with this approach?

• Isn’t there more to prehistory than the potential for finding treasure?

• Is this pace of excavation ethical?

Culture History Approach

1955-1956: Stuart Piggott conducted large-scale, systematic excavations

Mapped the architecture and artifacts

Illustrated and analyzed the pottery

Culture History Approach

Results:• West Kennett Barrow assigned to the “Severn-

Cotswold” barrow type• Pottery placed into types: e.g.“Peterborough

ware”• Discussed distribution of types• Speculated about origins of barrow idea

(diffusion, migration, innovation).

Culture History Approach

• What’s wrong with this approach?

• Is it too descriptive?

• Why are there norms? Why do they change?

Processual Approach

• Observation: – Radiocarbon dates show that European

barrows are older than those on Crete. Must find local explanation.

• Research questions: – Why did people build barrows? What

function did they serve?

Processual Approach

• Observation: – barrow builders were farmers, and barrows

are regularly spaced on good farming land.

• Hypothesis: – communal tombs serve as land claim

markers where land is scarce

• Based on ethnographic analogy

Processual Approach

Interpretation:Long barrows were an element of an adaptive system that enabled some groups to work together and hold onto valuable land.

Processual Approach

• What’s wrong with this approach?

• Does it seem too mechanical?

• Don’t people’s needs go beyond basic food and shelter concerns?

Postprocessual Approach

• Questions: – What did the barrow mean to it’s builders? – What was its long-term context?

• Observations: – Farming came to Britain from Europe through

diffusion or migration. – British long barrows are similar in form to

earlier European long houses

Postprocessual Approach

BarrowsLong houses

Postprocessual Approach

• Interpretation: – Long Barrows are metaphors for houses– Meaning: community meeting places, living and

dead are reunited– Mingling of bodies emphasizes equality

• What’s wrong with this approach?

• Can we prove these conclusions?