HOME | BESTSELLERS | NEW RELEASES | PRICE WATCH | FICTION | BIOGRAPHIES | E-BOOKS |
+ PRICE WATCH
* Amazon pricing is not included in price watch
Genes, Memes and Human History: Darwinian Archaeology and Cultural Evolution Book
Today, many scholars show more interest in unscientific attempts to empathize with ancient peoples than in obtaining valid knowledge about the past. Archaeologists have become failed ethnographers, forever regretting the demise of the people they would like to talk to. Stephen Shennan provides an ambitious blueprint for a new approach to archaeology, based on the application of the latest neo-Darwinian evolutionary ideas. What is the history of human populations? How are cultural traditions maintained and changed over time? Why did people destroy their environments in the past and were they ever conservationists? What led to the emergence of marked social inequalities? These are some of the important questions that evolutionary archaeology can answer. Shennan opens with the study of animal behavior, as acted upon by natural selection, and goes on to demonstrate that the same ideas can be applied to human societies, not just through the genes but also through culture, our second inheritance system. He then looks in detail at population history, methods of subsistence, male-female relations, social evolution, and competition and warfare. Fascinating insights emerge. For example, the unique time-depth of archaeology can be used to show that human populations have expanded and then crashed far more frequently in the past than has hitherto been realized. Similarly, the rise of plough agriculture may well have led to increasing control of women by men. Ranging from life history theory to game theory, and from the origins of farming to the collapse of societies, the book takes us on a thrilling intellectual journey. 50 b/w illustrations.Read More
from£19.95 | RRP: * Excludes Voucher Code Discount Also available Used from £3.50
- 0500051186
- 9780500051184
- Stephen Shennan
- 21 October 2002
- Thames & Hudson
- Hardcover (Book)
- 304
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. If you click through any of the links below and make a purchase we may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you). Click here to learn more.
Would you like your name to appear with the review?
We will post your book review within a day or so as long as it meets our guidelines and terms and conditions. All reviews submitted become the licensed property of www.find-book.co.uk as written in our terms and conditions. None of your personal details will be passed on to any other third party.
All form fields are required.