The evolution of farming, and the boom and bust of culture.

Summary

Occam’s razor judges the success of any model by its ability to explain the evidence with the greatest simplicity. We present two powerful yet simple models; the first evaluates the transition from hunting and gathering to farming within an evolutionary framework, by considering farming as a phenotypic mutation under positive selection. This allows us to estimate the selection coefficient and map local times of first appearance and fixation. The second evaluates the appearance and eventual disappearance of cultures through time, revealing a fundamental shape in the distribution of cultural traits. Both models provide textbook examples of simple patterns that underlie complex processes.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Evolutionary theory and archaeology, Part I: Cultural transmission, cultural evolution, and evolutionary archaeology

Keywords

Spatial Coverage