Cladistics and Archaeology

by O'Brien, Michael J.; Lyman, R. Lee; Glover, Daniel S.; Darwent, John; Leonard, Robert D.

• ISBN13: 9780874807752
• ISBN10: 0874807751
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-08-27
• Publisher: Univ of Utah Pr

Summary

Cladistics is a method used in biology and paleobiology to establish phylogeny: what produced what and in what order. It is a very specific method, developed in Germany in the 1950s and currently the primary phylogenetic method in the world. Cladistics has also been applied to such fields as historical linguistics and manuscript history. If things evolve in a nonrandom way, they may be appropriately studied using this method. In Cladistics and Archaeology, Michael O'Brien and Lee Lyman explore the application of cladistics to archaeology by considering artifacts as human phenotypic characters. Their fundamental premise is that particular kinds of characters (style, artifact type, tool) can be used to create historically meaningful nested taxa. Further, they argue that this approach offers a means of building connections and 'life histories' of archaeological artifacts. In order to make a potentially difficult topic more readily comprehensible, the authors have organized the book as something of a primer. Cladistics and Archaeologyincludes many figures to illustrate basic concepts, as well as a case study that shows a step-by-step application of cladistics to archaeology.

Author Biography

Michael J. O'Brien is associate dean and professor of anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia R. Lee Lyman is professor of anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
List of Tables	xiv
Foreword	xv
Preface	xxi
PART I: PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS
1. Introduction	3	(18)
2. Evolutionary Taxonomy and Phenetics: Two Approaches to Classification and Phylogeny	21	(28)
3. Cladistics: An Alternative Approach to Phylogeny	49	(44)
PART II: CLADISTICS IN ARCHAEOLOGY
4. Constructing Cultural Phylogenies	93	(32)
5. Taxa, Characters, and Outgroups	125	(42)
Michael J. O'Brien, R. Lee Lyman, John Darwent, and Daniel S. Glover
6. Trees and Clades	167	(34)
Michael J. O'Brien, Daniel S. Glover, R. Lee Lyman, and John Darwent
Plates following page	200	(1)
7. Character-State Tracking	201	(20)
Michael J. O'Brien, Daniel S. Glover, and R. Lee Lyman
PART III: FOR THE FUTURE
8. Concluding Remarks	221	(10)
Glossary	231	(14)
References	245	(30)
Index	275