Darwinian selection and archaeology (Other Keyword)

DOCUMENT Citation Only Glen Rice. Christopher Watkins.

This is an abstract from the "Why Platform Mounds? Part 2: Regional Comparisons and Tribal Histories" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Hohokam platform mounds (as well as ball courts and earthen "trash" mounds) are forms of monumental architecture requiring the expenditure of labor for purposes not related to shelter and subsistence. Selectionist theory predicts that economically unessential behavior (wasteful spending, superfluous activity) used...