Technology as human social tradition : cultural transmission among hunter-gatherers /

Technology as human social tradition : cultural transmission among hunter-gatherers /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Jordan, Peter, 1969- author.
Imprint:	Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2015]
Description:	1 online resource (xi, 412 pages) : illustrations
Language:	English
Series:	Origins of human behavior and culture ; 7 Origins of human behavior and culture ; 7.
Subject:	Technology and civilization. Hunting and gathering societies. Technological complexity. Prehistoric peoples -- Material culture. Social evolution. Social learning. Intercultural communication. Hunting and gathering societies. Intercultural communication. Social evolution. Social learning. Technological complexity. Technology and civilization. Electronic books. History. Electronic books.
Format:	E-Resource Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11238972

Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:	9780520958333 0520958330 9781322115740 1322115745 9780520276925 9780520276932 0520276922 0520276930
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references and index. Print version record.
Summary:	"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"--
Other form:	Print version: Jordan, Peter, 1969- Technology as human social tradition. 9780520276925 0520276922

Description
Summary:	Technology as Human Social Tradition outlines a novel approach to studying variability and cumulative change in human technology--prominent research themes in both archaeology and anthropology. Peter Jordan argues that human material culture is best understood as an expression of social tradition. In this approach, each artifact stands as an output of a distinctive operational sequence with specific choices made at each stage in its production. Jordan also explores different material culture traditions that are propagated through social learning, factors that promote coherent lineages of tradition to form, and the extent to which these cultural lineages exhibit congruence with one another and with language history.<br> <br> <br> <br> Drawing on the application of cultural transmission theory to empirical research, Jordan develops a descent-with-modification perspective on the technology of Northern Hemisphere hunter-gatherers. Case studies from indigenous societies in Northwest Siberia, the Pacific Northwest Coast, and Northern California provide cross-cultural insights related to the evolution of material culture traditions at different social and spatial scales. This book promises new ways of exploring some of the primary factors that generate human cultural diversity in the deep past and through to the present.
Physical Description:	1 online resource (xi, 412 pages) : illustrations
Bibliography:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:	9780520958333 0520958330 9781322115740 1322115745 9780520276925 9780520276932 0520276922 0520276930