Introduction: Demography and Cultural Macroevolution

Human Biology Volume 81 Issue 2 Special Issue on Demography and Cultural Macroevolution Article 1 2009 Introduction: Demography and Cultural Macroevolution James Steele University College London, Stephen Shennan University College London, Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol Recommended Citation Steele, James and Shennan, Stephen (2009) "Introduction: Demography and Cultural Macroevolution," Human Biology: Vol. 81: Iss. 2-3, Article 1. Available at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol81/iss2/1 Introduction: Demography and Cultural Macroevolution Abstract The papers in this special issue of Human Biology, which derive from a conference sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Center for the Evolution of Cultural Diversity, lay some of the foundations for an empirical macroevolutionary analysis of cultural dynamics. Our premise here is that cultural dynamics—including the stability of traditions and the rate of origination of new variants—are infl uenced by independently occurring demographic processes (population size, structure, and distribution as these vary over time as a result of changes in rates of fertility, mortality, and migration). The contributors focus on three sets of problems relevant to empirical studies of cultural macroevolution: large-scale reconstruction of past population dynamics from archaeological and genetic data; juxtaposition of models and evidence of cultural dynamics using large-scale archaeological and historical data sets; and juxtaposition of models and evidence of cultural dynamics from large-scale linguistic data sets. In this introduction we outline some of the theoretical and methodological issues and briefl y summarize the individual contributions. Keywords cultural transmission, demography, dispersal, carrying capacity, prehistoric Europe, language change. Cover Page Footnote We would like to acknowledge the considerable assistance received from the Human Biology editorial offi ce in preparing this issue; in particular, Franz Manni, Nancy Wise, and Mimi Braverman. The conference was funded by an AHRC Phase Two Research Center grant to the AHRC Centre for the Evolution of Cultural Diversity (http:// www.cecd.ucl.ac.uk). We thank Manu Davies, CECD Administrator, for making the practical arrangements that enabled this conference to take place. This open access article is available in Human Biology: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol81/iss2/1 Introduction: Demography and Cultural Macroevolution James Steele1 and Stephen Shennan1 Abstract The papers in this special issue of Human Biology, which derive from a conference sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Center for the Evolution of Cultural Diversity, lay some of the foundations for an empirical macroevolutionary analysis of cultural dynamics. Our premise here is that cultural dynamics—including the stability of traditions and the rate of origination of new variants—are influenced by independently occurring demographic processes (population size, structure, and distribution as these vary over time as a result of changes in rates of fertility, mortality, and migration). The contributors focus on three sets of problems relevant to empirical studies of cultural macroevolution: large-scale reconstruction of past population dynamics from archaeological and genetic data; juxtaposition of models and evidence of cultural dynamics using large-scale archaeological and historical data sets; and juxtaposition of models and evidence of cultural dynamics from large-scale linguistic data sets. In this introduction we outline some of the theoretical and methodological issues and briefly summarize the individual contributions. The papers in this special issue of Human Biology are derived from a conference sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Center for the Evolution of Cultural Diversity (http://www.cecd.ucl.ac.uk) as part of a series examining the application of evolutionary models in the social sciences. (The AHRC is the U.K. national funding agency for research in these fields. In the past 10 years it has funded a program of interdisciplinary research centers to enable researchers from different institutions and environments to work together on related activities and projects.) The contributions lay some of the foundations for an empirical macroevolutionary analysis of cultural dynamics. Cultural traditions and innovations are socially transmitted between and within generations (by vertical or oblique and horizontal transmission routes, respectively; Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman 1981); learners apply heuristics or rules of thumb to choose when to engage in independent trial-and-error learning and to select which models to copy when this is the preferred strategy (transmission biases; Boyd and Richerson 1985). These processes lead to turnover in cultural traits, which can change the 1 AHRC Centre for the Evolution of Cultural Diversity, Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31–34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, United Kingdom. Human Biology, April–June 2009, v. 81, nos. 2–3, pp. 105–119. Copyright © 2009 Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan 48201-1309 Key words: cultural transmission, demography, dispersal, carrying capacity, prehistoric Europe, language change. HB_81_2-3_FINAL.indb 105 10/8/2009 12:05:13 PM 106 / steele and shennan selective environment affecting gene frequencies. Adaptive interactions between cultural and genetic evolution have already been well studied in gene-culture coevolutionary theory (Feldman and Laland 1996) and more recently in the niche construction perspective (Odling-Smee et al. 2003). Our premise here is that cultural dynamics—including the stability of traditions and the rate of origination of new variants—are also influenced by independently occurring demographic processes, such as changes in population size, structure, and distribution over time as a result of changes in rates of fertility, mortality, and migration. Population dynamics will inevitably have an effect on any transmission system in which the level of stability and diversity of traits is dependent on demographic variables. A well-known example in the contemporary world is the reduction in global linguistic diversity and the vulnerability to extinction of languages spoken by small and previously isolated groups; extinction is associated with an increasing scale of sociopolitical integration, higher rates of migration and intermarriage, and the consequent breakdown of intergenerational transmission of the more local language (Barreña et al. 2007; Nettle 1999; cf. Currie and Mace 2009). This accelerated rate of language shift is an example of a macroevolutionary process that is unfolding on a short time scale. Mesoudi et al. (2006) proposed a multidisciplinary framework for the Darwinian analysis of cultural dynamics and drew an explicit p (...truncated)