Technology As Human Social Tradition
Subtitle: Cultural Transmission among Hunter-Gatherers
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 424
ISBN-13: 9780520276932
Subjects: Technology and civilization; Hunting and gathering societies; Prehistoric peoples; Social evolution; Social learning; Intercultural communication
Description: "This book examines three interlocking topics that are central to all archaeological and anthropological inquiry: the role of technology in human existence; the reproduction of social traditions; the factors that generate cultural diversity and change. The overall aim is to outline a new kind of approach for researching variability and transformation in human material culture, and the main argument is that these technological traditions exhibit heritable continuity: they consist of information stored in human brains and then passed onto others through social learning. Technological traditions can therefore be understood as manifestations of a complex transmission system, and applying this new perspective to human material culture builds on, but also largely transcends, much of the earlier work conducted by archaeologists and anthropologists into the significance, function and social meanings associated with tools, objects and vernacular architecture"--