Trees, thickets, or something in between? Recent theoretical and empirical work in cultural phylogeny
In: Israel Journal of Ecology and EvolutionSearch for other papers by Michael J. O’Brien in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Mark Collard in
Current site
Google Scholar
Human Evolutionary Studies Program and Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University
Search for other papers by Briggs Buchanan in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Matthew T. Boulanger in
Current site
Google Scholar
Anthropology has always had as one of its goals the explanation of human cultural diversity across space and through time. Over the past several decades, there has been a growing appreciation among anthropologists and other social scientists that the phylogenetic approaches that biologists have developed to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships of species are useful tools for building and explaining patterns of human diversity. Phylogenetic methods offer a means of creating testable propositions of heritable continuity – how one thing is related to another in terms of descent. Such methods have now been applied to a wide range of cultural phenomena, including languages, projectile points, textiles, marital customs, and political organization. Here we discuss several cultural phylogenies and demonstrate how they were used to address long-standing anthropological issues. Even keeping in mind that phylogenetic trees are nothing more than hypotheses about evolutionary relationships, some researchers have argued that when it comes to cultural behaviors and their products, tree building is theoretically unwarranted. We examine the issues that critics raise and find that they in no way sound the death knell for cultural phylogenetic work.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Aberle DF., 1961. Matrilineal descent in cross-cultural comparison. In: Schneider D, , Gough K, editors. Matrilineal kinship. Berkeley (CA): University of California Press; p. 655–730.
-
Aberle DF.1987. Distinguished lecture: what kind of science is anthropology? Am Anthropol. 89:551–566.
-
Abouheif E.1999. A method for testing the assumption of phylogenetic independence in comparative data. Evol Ecol Res. 1:895–909.
-
Anderson E.1949. Introgressive hybridization. New York (NY): Wiley.
-
Angier N.1997. Ernst Mayr at 93. Nat Hist. 106(4):8–11.
-
Archibald JK, , Mort ME, , Crawford DJ. 2003. Bayesian inference of phylogeny: a non-technical primer. Taxon 52:187–191.
-
Arnold ML.1997. Natural hybridization and evolution. New York (NY): Oxford University Press.
-
Atkinson QD, , Gray RD. 2005. Curious parallels and curious connections – phylogenetic thinking in biology and historical linguistics. Syst Biol. 54:513–526.
-
Atkinson QD, , Gray RD, . 2006. Are accurate dates an intractable problem for historical linguistics? In: Lipo CP, , O’Brien MJ, , Collard M, , Shennan SJ, editors. Mapping our ancestors: phylogenetic approaches in anthropology and prehistory. New York (NY): Aldine; p. 269–296.
-
Atkinson QD, , Meade A, , Venditti C, , Greenhill SJ, , Pagel M. 2008. Languages evolve in punctuational bursts. Science 319:588.
-
Atran S.2001. The trouble with memes. Hum Nat. 12:351–381.
-
Aunger R.2002. The electric meme: a new theory of how we think. New York: Free Press.
-
Bakker P.1997. A language of our own: the genesis of Michif, the mixed Cree–French language of the Canadian Métis. New York (NY): Oxford University Press.
-
Bandelt HJ, , Dress AW. 1992. Split decomposition: a new and useful approach to phylogenetic analysis of distance data. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 1:242–252.
-
Barbujani G, , Sokal RR. 1990. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 87:1816–1819.
-
Bateman R, , Goddard I, , O’Grady R, , Funk VA, , Mooi R, , Kress WJ, , Cannell P. 1990. Speaking of forked tongues: the feasibility of reconciling human phylogeny and the history of language. Curr Anthropol. 31:1–24.
-
Bell MA, , Futuyma DJ, , Eanes WF, , Levinton JS, editors. 2010. Evolution since Darwin: the first 150 years. Sunderland (MA): Sinauer.
-
Bellwood P.1991. The Austronesian dispersal and the origin of languages. Sci Am. 265:88–93.
-
Bellwood P.1997. The prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago. 2nd ed. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
-
Bellwood P.2001. Early agriculturalist population diasporas? Farming, languages, and genes. Ann Rev Anthropol. 30:181–207.
-
Bellwood P.2005. First farmers: the origins of agricultural societies. London: Blackwell.
-
Blust R.1995. The prehistory of the Austronesian speaking peoples: a view from language. J World Prehis. 9:453–510.
-
Bonner JT.1980. The evolution of culture in animals. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press.
-
Bonner JT.1988. The evolution of complexity. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press.
-
Borgerhoff Mulder M. 2001. Using phylogenetically based comparative methods in anthropology: more questions than answers. Evol Anthropol. 10:99–111.
-
Borgerhoff Mulder M, , George-Cramer M, , Eshelman J, , Ortolani A. 2001. A study of East African kinship and marriage using phylogenetically based comparative methods. Am Anthropol. 103:1059–1082.
-
Borgerhoff Mulder M, , Nunn CL, , Towner MC. 2006. Cultural macroevolution and the transmission of traits. Evol Anthropol. 15:52–64.
-
Bouckaert R, , Lemey P, , Dunn M, , Greenhill SJ, , Alekseyenko AV, , Drummond AJ, , Gray RD, , Suchard MA, , Atkinson QD. 2012. Mapping the origins and expansion of the Indo-European language family. Science 337:957–960.
-
Bowern C.2012. The riddle of Tasmanian languages. Proc R Soc B 279:4590–4595.
-
Boyd R, , Borgerhoff Mulder M, , Durham WH, , Richerson PJ, . 1997. Are cultural phylogenies possible? In: Weingart P, , Mitchell SD, , Richerson PJ, , Maasen S, editors. Human by nature: between biology and the social sciences. Mahwah (NJ): Erlbaum; p. 355–386.
-
Boyd R, , Richerson PJ. 1985. Culture and the evolutionary process. Chicago (IL): University of Chicago Press.
-
Brown JH, , Lomolino MV. 1998. Biogeography. 2nd ed. Sunderland (MA): Sinauer.
-
Bryant D, , Filimon F, , Gray RD, . 2005. Untangling our past: languages, trees, splits and networks. In: Mace R, , Holden CJ, , Shennan SJ, editors. The evolution of cultural diversity: phylogenetic approaches. London: University College London Press; p. 67–84.
-
Bryant D, , Moulton V, . 2002. Neighbor-Net, an agglomerative algorithm for the construction of phylogenetic networks. In: Guigo R, , Gusfield D, editors. Algorithms in bioinformatics: second international workshop. Berlin: Springer; p. 375–391.
-
Buchanan B, , Collard M. 2007. Investigating the peopling of North America through cladistic analyses of early Paleoindian projectile points. J Anthropol Archaeol. 26:366–393.
-
Buchanan B, , Collard M. 2008a. Phenetics, cladistics, and the search for the Alaskan ancestors of the Paleoindians: a reassessment of relationships among the Clovis, Nenana, and Denali archaeological complexes. J Archaeol Sci. 35:1683–1694.
-
Buchanan B, , Collard M, . 2008b. Testing models of early Paleoindian colonization and adaptation using cladistics. In: O’Brien MJ, editor. Cultural transmission and archaeology: issues and case studies. Washington (DC): Society for American Archaeology Press; p. 59–76.
-
Buckley CD.2012. Investigating cultural evolution using phylogenetic analysis: the origins and descent of the Southeast Asian tradition of warp Ikat weaving. PLoS ONE 7(12): e52064.
-
Calude AS, , Pagel M. 2011. How do we use language? Shared patterns in the frequency of word use across 17 world languages. Phil Trans R Soc B 366:1101–1107.
-
Cameron HD., 1987. The upside-down cladogram: problems in manuscript affiliation. In: Hoenigswald HM, , Wiener LF, editors. Biological metaphor and cladistic classification. Philadelphia (PA): University of Pennsylvania Press; p. 227–242.
-
Cavalli-Sforza LL, , Feldman MW. 1981. Cultural transmission and evolution: a quantitative approach. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press.
-
Cavalli-Sforza LL, , Piazza A, , Menozzi P, , Mountain J. 1988. Reconstruction of human evolution: bringing together genetic, archaeological, and linguistic data. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 85:6002–6006.
-
Cochrane EE, , Lipo CP. 2010. Phylogenetic analyses of Lapita decoration do not support branching evolution or regional population structure during colonization of Remote Oceania. Phil Trans R Soc B 365:3889–3902.
-
Collard M, , Shennan SJ, . 2000. Ethnogenesis versus phylogenesis in prehistoric culture change: a case-study using European Neolithic pottery and biological phylogenetic techniques. In Renfrew C, , Boyle CK, editors. Archaeogenetics: DNA and the population prehistory of Europe. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research; p. 89–97.
-
Collard M, , Shennan SJ, . 2008. Patterns, processes, and parsimony: studying cultural evolution with analytical techniques from evolutionary biology. In: Stark MT, , Bowser BJ, , Horne L, editors. Cultural transmission and material culture: breaking down barriers. Tucson: University of Arizona Press; p. 17–33.
-
Collard M, , Shennan SJ, , Tehrani JJ. 2006a. Branching, blending, and the evolution of cultural similarities and differences among human populations. Evol Hum Behav. 27:169–184.
-
Collard M, , Shennan SJ, , Tehrani JJ, . 2006b. Branching versus blending in macroscale cultural evolution: a comparative study. In: Lipo CP, , O’Brien MJ, , Collard M, , Shennan SJ, editors. Mapping our ancestors: phylogenetic approaches in anthropology and prehistory. New York: Aldine; p. 53–63.
-
Cullen B.2000. Contagious ideas: on evolution, culture, archaeology and cultural virus theory. Oxford: Oxbow.
-
Currie TE, , Greenhill SJ, , Gray RD, , Hasegawa T, , Mace R. 2010. Rise and fall of political complexity in island South-East Asia and the Pacific. Nature 467:801–804.
-
Currie TE, , Greenhill SJ, , Mace R. 2010. Is horizontal transmission really a problem for phylogenetic comparative methods? A simulation study using continuous cultural traits. Phil Trans R Soc B 365:3903–3912.
-
Currie TE, , Mace R. 2011. Mode and tempo in the evolution of socio-political organization: reconciling ‘Darwinian’ and ‘Spencerian’ approaches in anthropology. Phil Trans R Soc B 366:1108–1117.
-
Dagan T, , Martin W. 2006. The tree of one percent. Genome Biol. 7(10):118.111–118.117.
-
Dagan T, , Martin W. 2007. Ancestral genome sizes specify the minimum rate of lateral gene transfer during prokaryote evolution. Proc Nat Acad Sci. 104:870–875.
-
Darwent J, , O’Brien MJ, . 2006. Using cladistics to construct lineages of projectile points from northeastern Missouri. In: Lipo CP, , O’Brien MJ, , Collard M, , Shennan SJ, editors. Mapping our ancestors: phylogenetic approaches in anthropology and prehistory. New York (NY): Aldine; p. 185–208.
-
Dawkins R.1982. The extended phenotype: the long reach of the gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
-
Dediu D.2011. A Bayesian phylogenetic approach to estimating the stability of linguistic features and the genetic biasing of tone. Proc R Soc B 278:474–479.
-
Dewar RE.1995. Of nets and trees: untangling the reticulate and dendritic in Madagascar prehistory. World Archaeol. 26:301–318.
-
Diamond J.1988. Express train to Polynesia. Nature 336:307–308.
-
Diamond J.1997. Guns, germs, and steel. London: Cape.
-
Doolittle WF.1999. Phylogenetic classification and the universal tree. Science 284:2124–2128.
-
Dunnell RC.1971. Systematics in prehistory. New York (NY): Free Press.
-
Dunning Hotopp JC, , Clark ME, , Oliveira DCSG, , Foster JM, , Fischer P, , Munoz Torres MC, , Giebel JD, , Kumar N, , Ishmael N, , Wang S, et al.2007. Widespread lateral gene transfer from intracellular bacteria to multicellular eukaryotes. Science 317:1753–1756.
-
Ehret C1998. An African classical age: eastern and southern Africa in world history, 1000 B.C. to A.D. 400. Charlottesville (VA): University Press of Virginia.
-
Endler JA.1998. The place of hybridization in evolution. Evolution 52:640–644.
-
Felsenstein J.1985. Phylogenies and the comparative method. Amer Nat. 125:1–15.
-
Foley R.1987. Hominid species and stone-tool assemblages: how are they related? Antiquity 61:380–392.
-
Foley R, , Lahr MM. 1997. Mode 3 technologies and the evolution of modern humans. Camb Archaeol J. 7:3–36.
-
Forster P, , Toth A. 2003. Toward a phylogenetic chronology of ancient Gaulish, Celtic, and Indo-European. Proc Nat Acad Sci. 100:9079–9084.
-
Fortunato L, , Holden C, , Mace R. 2006. From bridewealth to dowry? A Bayesian estimation of ancestral states of marriage transfers in Indo-European groups. Hum Nat. 17:355–376.
-
Fortunato L, , Jordan F. 2010. Your place or mine? A phylogenetic comparative analysis of marital residence in Indo-European and Austronesian societies. Phil Trans R Soc B 365:3913–3922.
-
Franklin-Hall LR.2010. Trashing life's “tree.” Biol Philos. 25:689–709.
-
García Rivero D. 2010. Evolución cultural y filogenias: el caso de los denominados ídolos placa prehistóricos del suroeste de la Península Ibérica [dissertation]. Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of Seville.
-
Goloboff P, , Pol D, . 2005. Parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetics. In: Albert VA, editor. Parsimony, phylogeny, and genomics. New York (NY): Oxford University Press; p. 148–159.
-
Goodenough WH., 1997. Comment on “The dimensions of social life in the Pacific: Human diversity and the myth of the primitive isolate” by Terrell JE, , Hunt TL, , Gosden C. Curr Anthropol. 38:177–178.
-
Gould S.J.1987a. An urchin in the storm. New York (NY): Norton.
-
Gould SJ.1987b. Time's arrow, time's cycle: myth and metaphor in the discovery of geological time. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.
-
Gould SJ.1991. Bully for brontosaurus. New York (NY): Norton.
-
Gould SJ.1996. Full house: the spread of excellence from Plato to Darwin. New York (NY): Harmony.
-
Gould SJ.1997. A tale of two worksites. Nat Hist. 106(9):18–22, 29, 62–68.
-
Grandcolas P, , Pellens R. 2005. Evolving sensu lato: all we need is systematics. Cladistics 21:501–505.
-
Gray RD, , Atkinson QD. 2003. Language-tree divergence times support the Anatolian theory of Indo-European origin. Nature 426:435–439.
-
Gray RD, , Bryant D, , Greenhill SJ. 2010. On the shape and fabric of human history. Phil Trans R Soc B 365:3923–3933.
-
Gray RD, , Drummond AJ, , Greenhill SJ. 2009. Language phylogenies reveal expansion pulses and pauses in Pacific settlement. Science 323:479–483.
-
Gray RD, , Greenhill SJ, , Ross RM. 2007. The pleasures and perils of Darwinizing culture (with phylogenies). Biol Theory. 2:360–375.
-
Gray RD, , Jordan FM. 2000. Language trees support the express-train sequence of Austronesian expansion. Nature 405:1052–1055.
-
Green RC.1991. The Lapita cultural complex: current evidence and proposed models. Bull Indo-Pac Prehist Assoc. 11:295–305.
-
Green RC.1999. Integrating historical linguistics with archaeology: insights from research in Remote Oceania. Bull Indo-Pac Prehist Assoc. 18:3–16.
-
Greenhill SJ, , Gray RD, . 2009. Austronesian language phylogenies: myths and misconceptions about Bayesian computational methods. In: Adelaar A, , Pawley A, editors. Austronesian historical linguistics and culture history: a festschrift for Robert Blust. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics; p. 1–23.
-
Hansell M.H.1984. Animal architecture and building behaviour. London: Longman.
-
Harpending HC, , Eller E, . 2004. Human diversity and its history. In: Kato M, , Takahata N, editors. Biodiversity. Tokyo: Springer-Verlag; p. 301–314.
-
Haviland WA.2001. Cultural anthropology. 10th ed. Fort Worth (TX): Harcourt.
-
Henrich J, , Boyd R. 1998. The evolution of conformist transmission and the emergence of between-group differences. Evol Hum Behav. 19:215–241.
-
Henrich J, , McElreath R. 2003. The evolution of cultural evolution. Evol Anthropol. 12:123–135.
-
Holden CJ.2002. Bantu language trees reflect the spread of farming across Sub-Saharan Africa: a maximum-parsimony analysis. Proc R Soc B 269:793–799.
-
Holden CJ., 2006. The spread of Bantu languages, farming, and pastoralism in sub-equatorial Africa. In: Lipo CP, , O’Brien MJ, , Collard M, , Shennan SJ, editors. Mapping our ancestors: phylogenetic approaches in anthropology and prehistory. New York (NY): Aldine; p. 249–267.
-
Holden CJ, , Gray RD, . 2006. Rapid radiation, borrowing and dialect continua in the Bantu languages. In: Forster P, , Renfrew C, editors. Phylogenetic methods and the prehistory of languages. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research; p. 43–55.
-
Holden CJ, , Mace R. 1997. Phylogenetic analysis of the evolution of lactose digestion in adults. Hum Biol. 69:605–628.
-
Holden CJ, , Mace R. 1999. Sexual dimorphism in stature and women's work: a phylogenetic cross-cultural analysis. Am J Phys Anthropol. 110:27–45.
-
Holden CJ, , Mace R. 2003. Spread of cattle pastoralism led to the loss of matriliny in Africa: a co-evolutionary analysis. Proc R Soc B 270:2425–2433.
-
Holden CJ, , Mace R, . 2005. ‘The cow is the enemy of matriliny’: using phylogenetic methods to investigate cultural evolution in Africa. In: Mace R, , Holden CJ, , Shennan SJ, editors. The evolution of cultural diversity: a phylogenetic approach. London: University College London Press; p. 217–234.
-
Holden CJ, , Mace R, , Sear R. 2003. Matriliny as daughter-biased investment. Evol Hum Behav. 24:99–112.
-
Holden CJ, , Meade A, , Pagel M, . 2005. Comparison of maximum parsimony and Bayesian Bantu language trees. In: Mace R, , Holden CJ, , Shennan SJ, editors. The evolution of cultural diversity: a phylogenetic approach. London: University College London Press; p. 53–65.
-
Hornborg A.2005. Ethnogenesis, regional integration, and ecology in prehistoric Amazonia. Curr Anthropol. 46:589–620.
-
Howe CJ, , Windram HF. 2011. Phylomemetics – evolutionary analysis beyond the gene. PLoS Biol. 9(5):e100 1069.
-
Hurles ME, , Matisoo-Smith E, , Gray RD, , Penny D. 2003. Untangling Oceanic settlement: the edge of the knowable. Trends Ecol Evol. 18:531–540.
-
Huson DH, , Bryant D. 2006. Application of phylogenetic networks in evolutionary studies. Mol Biol Evol. 23:254–267.
-
Jinam TA, , Hong L-C, , Phipps ME, , Stoneking M, , Ameen M, , Edo J, , HUGO Pan-Asian SNP Consortium, Saitou N. 2012. Evolutionary history of continental Southeast Asians: “early train” hypothesis based on genetic analysis of mitochondrial and autosomal DNA data. Mol Biol Evol. 29:3513–3527.
-
Jordan FM, , Gray RD, , Greenhill SJ, , Mace R. 2009. Matrilocal residence is ancestral in Austronesian societies. Proc R Soc B 276:1957–1964.
-
Jordan P, , Mace T, . 2006. Tracking culture-historical lineages: can “decent with modification” be linked to “association by descent”? In: Lipo CP, , O’Brien MJ, , Collard M, , Shennan SJ, editors. Mapping our ancestors: phylogenetic approaches in anthropology and prehistory. New York: Aldine; p. 149–167.
-
Jordan P, , Mace T, . 2008. Gendered technology, kinship, and cultural transmission among Salish-speaking communities on the Pacific Northwest Coast. In: Stark MT, , Bowser BJ, , Horne L, editors. Cultural transmission and material culture: breaking down barriers. Tucson: University of Arizona Press; p. 34–62.
-
Jordan P, , O’Neill S. 2010. Untangling cultural inheritance: language diversity and long-house architecture on the Pacific Northwest Coast. Phil Trans R Soc B 365:3875–3888.
-
Jordan P, , Shennan SJ. 2003. Cultural transmission, language and basketry traditions amongst the California Indians. J Anthropol Archaeol. 22:42–74.
-
Jordan P, , Shennan SJ. 2009. Diversity in hunter–gatherer technological traditions: mapping trajectories of cultural ‘descent with modification’ in northeast California. J Anthropol Archaeol. 28:342–365.
-
Kirch PV.1997. The Lapita peoples: ancestors of the Oceanic world. Oxford: Blackwell.
-
Kirch PV.2000. On the road of the winds: an archaeological history of the Pacific Islands before European contact. Berkeley (CA): University of California Press.
-
Kirch PV, , Green RC2001. Hawaiki, ancestral Polynesia: an essay in historical anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Kitchen A, , Ehret C, , Assefa S, , Mulligan C. 2009. Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of Semitic languages identifies an Early Bronze Age origin of Semitic in the Near East. Proc R Soc B 276:2703–2710.
-
Kolaczkowski B, , Thornton JW. 2004. Performance of maximum parsimony and likelihood phylogenetics when evolution is heterogeneous. Nature. 431:980–984.
-
Kopytoff I, editor. 1987. The African frontier: the reproduction of traditional African societies. Bloomington (IN): University of Indiana Press.
-
Laland KN, , O’Brien MJ. 2010. Niche construction theory and archaeology. J Archaeol Method Theory. 17:303–322.
-
Lansing JS, , Cox MP, , Downey SS, , Gabler BM, , Hallmark B, , Karafet TM, , Norquest P, Schoenfelder JW, , Sudoyo H, , Watkins JC, , Hammer MF. 2007. Coevolution of languages and genes on the island of Sumba, eastern Indonesia. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 104:16022–16026.
-
Larsen AW.2011. Evolution of Polynesian bark cloth and factors influencing culture change. J Anthropol Archaeol. 30:116–134.
-
Leonard RD, , Jones GT. 1987. Elements of an inclusive evolutionary model for archaeology. J Anthropol Archaeol. 6:199–219.
-
Levin DA.2002. Hybridization and extinction. Am Sci. 90:254–261.
-
Lewis HM, , Laland KN. 2012. Transmission fidelity is the key to the build-up of cumulative culture. Phil Trans R Soc B 367:2171–2180.
-
Lipo CP., 2006. The resolution of cultural phylogenies using graphs. In: Lipo CP, , O’Brien MJ, , Collard M, , Shennan SJ, editors. Mapping our ancestors: phylogenetic approaches in anthropology and prehistory. New York (NY): Aldine; p. 89–107.
-
Lum JK.1998. Central and eastern Micronesia: genetics, the overnight voyage, and linguistic divergence. Man Culture Oceania. 14:69–80.
-
Lum JK, , Cann RL. 1998. mtDNA and language support a common origin of Micronesians and Polynesians in Island Southeast Asia. Am J Phys Anthropol. 105:109–119.
-
Lumsden CJ, , Wilson EO. 1981. Genes, mind, and culture: the coevolutionary process. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.
-
Lyman RL, , O’Brien MJ, . 2006. Seriation and cladistics: the difference between anagenetic and cladogenetic evolution. In: Lipo CP, , O’Brien MJ, , Collard M, , Shennan SJ, editors. Mapping our ancestors: phylogenetic approaches in anthropology and prehistory. New York (NY): Aldine; p. 65–88.
-
Lyman RL, , O’Brien MJ, , Dunnell RC. 1997. The rise and fall of culture history. New York (NY): Plenum.
-
Mace R.1996. Biased parental investment and reproductive success in Gabbra pastoralists. Behav Ecol Sociobiol. 38:75–81.
-
Mace R, , Holden CJ. 2005. A phylogenetic approach to cultural evolution. Trends Ecol Evol. 20:116–121.
-
Mace R, , Jordan FM, . 2005. The evolution of human sex ratio at birth: a bio-cultural approach. In: Mace R, , Holden CJ, , Shennan SJ, editors. The evolution of cultural diversity: a phylogenetic approach. London: University College London Press; p. 207–216.
-
Mace R, , Jordan FM. 2011. Macro-evolutionary studies of cultural diversity: a review of empirical studies of cultural transmission and cultural adaptation. Phil Trans R Soc B 366:402–411.
-
Mace R, , Pagel M. 1994. The comparative method in anthropology. Curr Anthropol. 35:549–564.
-
Mallet J.2005. Hybridization as an invasion of the gene. Trends Ecol Evol. 20:229–237.
-
Matthews LJ, , Tehrani JJ, , Jordan FM, , Collard M, , Nunn CL. 2011. Testing for divergent transmission histories among cultural characters: a study using Bayesian phylogenetic methods and Iranian tribal textile data. PLoS ONE 6(4): e14810.
-
Matisoo-Smith E, , Roberts RM, , Irwin GJ, , Allen JS, , Penny D, , Lambert DM. 1998. Patterns of prehistoric human mobility in Polynesia indicated by mtDNA from the Pacific rat. Proc Nat Acad Sci. 95:15145–15150.
-
Mayr E.1982. The growth of biological thought: diversity, evolution, and inheritance. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.
-
McElreath R.1997. Iterated parsimony: a method for reconstructing cultural histories [dissertation]. Los Angeles (CA): Department of Anthropology, University of California.
-
McWhorter J.2001. The power of Babel. New York (NY): Holt.
-
Melton T, , Peterson R, , Redd AJ, , Saha N, , Sofro AS, , Martinson J, , Stoneking M. 1995. Polynesian genetic affinities with Southeast Asian populations as identified by mtDNA analysis. Am J Hum Genet. 57:403–414.
-
Mesoudi A.2011. Cultural evolution: how Darwinian theory can explain human culture and synthesize the social sciences. Chicago (IL): University of Chicago Press.
-
Mesoudi A, , Whiten A, , Laland KN. 2004. Is human cultural evolution Darwinian? Evidence reviewed from the perspective of the origin of species. Evolution 58:1–11.
-
Mesoudi A, , Whiten A, , Laland KN. 2006. Towards a unified science of cultural evolution. Behav Brain Sci. 29:329–383.
-
Moore C, , Romney AK. 1994. Material culture, geographic propinquity, and linguistic affiliation on the North Coast of New Guinea: a reanalysis of Welsch, Terrell & Nadolski (1992). Am Anthropol. 96:370–396.
-
Moore JH.1994a. Ethnogenetic theories of human evolution. Res Explor. 10:10–23.
-
Moore JH.1994b. Putting anthropology back together again: the ethnogenetic critique of cladistic theory. Am Anthropol. 96:925–948.
-
Moore JH., 2001. Ethnogenetic patterns in native North America. In: Terrell JE, editor. Archaeology, language, and history: essays on culture and ethnicity. Westport (CT): Bergin and Garvey; p. 31–56.
-
Moylan JW, , Graham CM, , Borgerhoff Mulder M, , Nunn CL, , Håkansson NT, . 2006. Cultural traits and linguistic trees: phylogenetic signal in East Africa. In: Lipo CP, , O’Brien MJ, , Collard M, , Shennan SJ, editors. Mapping our ancestors: phylogenetic approaches in anthropology and prehistory. New York (NY): Aldine; p. 33–52.
-
Muscio H., 2010. Transferencia horizontal, cladismo y filogenias culturales. In: Escacena Carrasco JL, , García Rivero D, , García Fernández FJ, editors. Clasificación y arqueología: enfoques y métodos taxonómicos a la luz de la evolución darwiniana. Seville (Spain): University of Seville; p. 223–251.
-
Naroll R., 1970. Galton's problem. In: Naroll R, , Cohen R, editors. A handbook of method in cultural anthropology. New York (NY): Columbia University Press; p. 974–989.
-
Nelson-Sathi S, , List J-M, , Geisler H, , Fangerau H, , Gray RD, , Martin W, , Dagan T. 2010. Networks uncover hidden lexical borrowing in Indo-European language evolution. Proc R Soc B 278:1794–1803.
-
Nichols J., 1996. The comparative method as heuristic. In: Durie M, , Ross M, editors. The comparative method reviewed: regularity and irregularity in language change. New York (NY): Oxford University Press; p. 39–71.
-
Nunn CL, , Arnold C, , Matthews L, , Borgerhoff Mulder M. 2010. Simulating trait evolution for cross-cultural comparison. Phil Trans R Soc B 365:3807–3819.
-
Nunn CL, , Borgerhoff Mulder M, , Langley S. 2006. Comparative methods for studying cultural trait evolution: a simulation study. Cross-Cult Res. 40:177–209.
-
O’Brien MJ, , Buchanan B, , Collard M, , Boulanger M, . 2012. Cultural cladistics and the early history of North America. In: Pontarotti P, editor. Evolutionary biology: mechanisms and trends. New York (NY): Springer; p. 23–42.
-
O’Brien MJ, , Darwent J, , Lyman RL. 2001. Cladistics is useful for reconstructing archaeological phylogenies: Palaeoindian points from the southeastern United States. J Archaeol Sci. 28:1115–1136.
-
O’Brien MJ, , Holland TD. 1992. The role of adaptation in archaeological explanation. Am Antiquity. 57:36–59.
-
O’Brien MJ, , Holland TD, . 1995. Behavioral archaeology and the extended phenotype. In: Skibo JM, , Walker WH, , Nielsen AE, editors. Expanding archaeology. Salt Lake City (UT): University of Utah Press; p. 143–161.
-
O’Brien MJ, , Lyman RL. 1999. Seriation, stratigraphy, and index fossils: the backbone of archaeological dating. New York (NY): Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
-
O’Brien MJ, , Lyman RL. 2000. Applying evolutionary archaeology: a systematic approach. New York (NY): Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
-
O’Brien MJ, , Lyman RL. 2002a. Evolutionary archeology: current status and future prospects. Evol Anthropol. 11:26–36.
-
O’Brien MJ, , Lyman RL. 2002b. The epistemological nature of archaeological units. Anthropol Theory. 2:37–56.
-
O’Brien MJ, , Lyman RL. 2003. Cladistics and archaeology. Salt Lake City (UT): University of Utah Press.
-
O’Brien MJ, , Lyman RL, , Collard M, , Holden CJ, , Gray RD, , Shennan SJ, . 2008. Transmission, phylogenetics, and the evolution of cultural diversity. In: O’Brien MJ, editor. Cultural transmission and archaeology: issues and case studies. Washington (DC): Society for American Archaeology; p. 77–90.
-
O’Brien MJ, , Lyman RL, , Saab Y, , Saab E, , Darwent J, , Glover DS. 2002. Two issues in archaeological phylogenetics: taxon construction and outgroup selection. J Theor Biol. 215:133–150.
-
Odling-Smee J, , Turner JS. 2011. Niche construction theory and human architecture. Biol Theory. 6:283–289.
-
O’Malley MA, , Martin W, , Dupré J. 2010. The tree of life: introduction to an evolutionary debate. Biol Philos. 25:441–453.
-
Page RDM, editor. 2003. Tangled trees: phylogeny, cospeciation, and coevolution. Chicago (IL): University of Chicago Press.
-
Pagel M.1999. Inferring the historical patterns of biological evolution. Nature 401:877–884.
-
Pagel M., 2000. Maximum likelihood models for glottochronology and for reconstructing linguistic phylogenies. In: Renfrew C, , MacMahon A, , Trask L, editors. Time-depth in historical linguistics. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research; p. 189–207.
-
Pagel M.2009. Human language as a culturally transmitted replicator. Nature Rev Genet. 10:405–415.
-
Pagel M, , Atkinson Q, , Meade A. 2007. Frequency of word-use predicts rates of lexical evolution throughout Indo-European history. Nature 449:717–720.
-
Pagel M, , Meade A. 2004. A phylogenetic mixture model for detecting pattern-heterogeneity in gene sequence or character-state data. Syst Biol. 53:571–581.
-
Pagel M, , Meade A, . 2005. Bayesian estimation of correlated evolution across cultures: a case study of marriage systems and wealth transfer at marriage. In: Mace R, , Holden CJ, , Shennan SJ, editors. The evolution of cultural diversity: a phylogenetic approach. London: University College London Press; p. 235–256.
-
Platnick NI.1977. Cladograms, phylogenetic trees and hypothesis testing. Syst Zool. 26:438–442.
-
Platnick NI, , Cameron D. 1977. Cladistic methods in textual, linguistic, and phylogenetic analysis. Syst Zool. 26:380–385.
-
Pocklington R., 2006. What is a culturally transmitted unit, and how do we find one? In: Lipo CP, , O’Brien MJ, , Collard M, , Shennan SJ, editors. Mapping our ancestors: phylogenetic approaches in anthropology and prehistory. New York (NY): Aldine; p. 19–31.
-
Pocklington R, , Best ML. 1997. Cultural evolution and units of selection in replicating text. J Theor Biol. 188:79–87.
-
Pol D, , Siddall ME. 2001. Biases in maximum likelihood and parsimony: a simulation approach to a ten-taxon case. Cladistics 17:266–281.
-
Rexová K, , Frynta D, , Zrzavý J. 2003. Cladistic analysis of languages: Indo-European classification based on lexicostatistical data. Cladistics 19:120–127.
-
Rhymer J, , Simberloff D. 1996. Extinction by hybridization and introgression. Ann Rev Ecol Syst. 27:83–109.
-
Rogers DS, , Feldman MW, , Ehrlich PR. 2009. Inferring population histories using cultural data. Proc R Soc B 276:3835–3843.
-
Romney AK.1957. The genetic model and Uto-Aztecan time perspective. Davidson J Anthropol. 3:35–41.
-
Rosewich UL, , Kistler HC. 2000. Role of horizontal gene transfer in the evolution of fungi. Annu Rev Phytopathol. 38:325–363.
-
Ross M.1989. Early Oceanic linguistic prehistory. J Pac Hist. 24:135–149.
-
Schneider HK.1964. A model of African indigenous economy and society. Comp Stud Soc Hist. 7:37–55.
-
Sellen DW, , Mace R. 1997. Fertility and mode of subsistence: a phylogenetic analysis. Curr Anthropol. 38:878–889.
-
Service ER.1962. Primitive social organization: an evolutionary perspective. New York (NY): Random House.
-
Shennan SJ.2000. Population, culture history, and the dynamics of culture change. Curr Anthropol. 41:811–835.
-
Shennan SJ.2001. Demography and cultural innovation: a model and some implications for the emergence of modern human culture. Camb Archaeol J. 11:5–16.
-
Shennan SJ.2002. Genes, memes and human history. London: Thames and Hudson.
-
Shennan SJ, , Collard M, . 2005. Investigating processes of cultural evolution on the North Coast of New Guinea with multivariate and cladistic analyses. In: Mace R, , Holden CJ, , Shennan SJ, editors. The evolution of cultural diversity: a phylogenetic approach. London: University College London Press; p. 133–164.
-
Skála Z, , Zrzavý J. 1994. Phylogenetic reticulations and cladistics: discussion of methodological concepts. Cladistics 10:305–313.
-
Smouse PE, , Long JC. 1992. Matrix correlation analysis in anthropology and genetics. Yearb Phys Anthropol. 35:187–213.
-
Sober E.2004. The contest between parsimony and likelihood. Syst Biol. 53:644–653.
-
Sokal RR.1988. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 85:1722–1726.
-
Spriggs M, , Anderson A. 1993. Late colonisation of East Polynesia. Antiquity 67:200–217.
-
Swadesh M., 1964. Diffusional cumulation and Archaic residue as historical explanations. In: Hymes D, editor. Language in culture and society. New York (NY): Harper and Row; p. 624–637.
-
Swofford DL.1998. PAUP*: Phylogenetic analysis using parsimony (*and other methods). Sunderland (MA): Sinauer.
-
Tehrani JJ, , Collard M. 2002. Investigating cultural evolution through biological phylogenetic analyses of Turkmen textiles. J Anthropol Archaeol. 21:443–463.
-
Tehrani J, , Collard M. 2009a. On the relationship between interindividual cultural transmission and population-level cultural diversity: a case study of weaving in Iranian tribal populations. Evol Hum Behav. 30:286–300.
-
Tehrani JJ, , Collard M, . 2009b. The evolution of material culture diversity among Iranian tribal populations. In: Shennan S, editor. Pattern and process in cultural evolution. Berkeley (CA): University of California Press; p. 99–111.
-
Tehrani JJ, , Collard M, , Shennan SJ. 2010. The cophylogeny of populations and cultures: reconstructing the evolution of Iranian tribal craft traditions using trees and jungles. Phil Trans R Soc B 365:3865–3874.
-
Terrell JE.1988. History as a family tree, history as an entangled bank: constructing images and interpretations of prehistory in the South Pacific. Antiquity 62:642–657.
-
Terrell JE., 2001. Introduction. In: Terrell JE, editor. Archaeology, language, and history: essays on culture and ethnicity. Westport (CT): Bergin and Garvey; p. 1–10.
-
Terrell JE., 2004. Review of “Cladistics and archaeology” by O’Brien MJ, , Lyman RL. J Anthropol Res. 60:303–305.
-
Terrell JE, , Hunt TL, , Gosden C. 1997. The dimensions of social life in the Pacific: human diversity and the myth of the primitive isolate. Curr Anthropol 38:155–195.
-
Terrell JE, , Kelly KM, , Rainbird P. 2001. Foregone conclusions? In search of “Papuans” and “Austronesians.” Curr Anthropol. 42:97–124.
-
Terrell JE, , Stewart PJ. 1996. The paradox of human population genetics at the end of the twentieth century. Rev Anthropol. 26:13–33.
-
Thompson RH.1956. An archaeological approach to cultural stability. In: Seminars in archaeology: 1955. Memoirs, no. 11. Menasha (WI): Society for American Archaeology; p. 31–57.
-
Towner MC, , Grote MN, , Venti J, , Borgerhoff Mulder M. 2012. Cultural macroevolution on neighbor graphs: vertical and horizontal transmission among western North American Indian societies. Hum Nat. 23:283–305.
-
Turner JS.2000. The extended organism: the physiology of animal-built structures. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.
-
Velasco JD.2012. The future of systematics: tree thinking without the tree. Phil Sci. 79:624–636.
-
Weisler MI.1998. Hard evidence for prehistoric interaction in Polynesia. Curr Anthropol. 39:521–531.
-
Weisler MI, , Kirch PV. 1996. Interisland and interarchipelago transfer of stone tools in prehistoric Polynesia. Proc Nat Acad Sci. 93:1381–1385.
-
Welsch RL, , Terrell JE. 1994. Reply to Moore & Romney. Am Anthropol. 96:392–396.
-
Welsch RL, , Terrell JE, ., Nadolski JA. 1992. Language and culture on the North Coast of New Guinea. Am Anthropol. 94:568–600.
-
Wiener LF., 1987. Of phonetics and genetics: a comparison of classification in linguistic and organic systems. In: Hoenigswald HM, , Wiener LF, editors. Biological metaphor and cladistic classification. Philadelphia (PA): University of Pennsylvania Press; p. 217–226.
-
Willey GR.1945. Horizon styles and pottery traditions in Peruvian archaeology. Am Antiquity. 10:49–56.
-
Willey GR, , Phillips P. 1958. Method and theory in American archaeology. Chicago (IL): University of Chicago Press.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 539 | 213 | 77 |
| Full Text Views | 30 | 6 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 19 | 1 | 0 |
Trees, thickets, or something in between? Recent theoretical and empirical work in cultural phylogeny
In: Israel Journal of Ecology and EvolutionSearch for other papers by Michael J. O’Brien in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Mark Collard in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Human Evolutionary Studies Program and Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University
Search for other papers by Briggs Buchanan in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Matthew T. Boulanger in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Anthropology has always had as one of its goals the explanation of human cultural diversity across space and through time. Over the past several decades, there has been a growing appreciation among anthropologists and other social scientists that the phylogenetic approaches that biologists have developed to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships of species are useful tools for building and explaining patterns of human diversity. Phylogenetic methods offer a means of creating testable propositions of heritable continuity – how one thing is related to another in terms of descent. Such methods have now been applied to a wide range of cultural phenomena, including languages, projectile points, textiles, marital customs, and political organization. Here we discuss several cultural phylogenies and demonstrate how they were used to address long-standing anthropological issues. Even keeping in mind that phylogenetic trees are nothing more than hypotheses about evolutionary relationships, some researchers have argued that when it comes to cultural behaviors and their products, tree building is theoretically unwarranted. We examine the issues that critics raise and find that they in no way sound the death knell for cultural phylogenetic work.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 539 | 213 | 77 |
| Full Text Views | 30 | 6 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 19 | 1 | 0 |
