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Ceramic Style Change and Neutral Evolution: A Case Study from Neolithic Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

S. J. Shennan  and
J. R. Wilkinson
S. J. Shennan
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Sq, London WC1H OPY, UK
J. R. Wilkinson
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Sq, London WC1H OPY, UK
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Abstract

Following on the work of Dunnell, the evolutionary archaeology school has made a sharp distinction between functional and stylistic variation in archaeological artifacts. Variation is defined as functional if it is affected by selection processes and as stylistic if it is a result of processes of random drift. The argument has been further developed by Neiman (1995), who showed by simulation that processes of cultural mutation and drift could produce the kinds of "battleship curves" that generally characterize artifact-style frequency distributions through time, and also demonstrated that they could account for patterns of stylistic variation through time in Woodland-period ceramic assemblages from Illinois. In this paper we present a case study of change in the decoration of pottery from early Neolithic Central Europe. We show that the actual diachronic frequency distributions and those expected under the neutral model do not coincide and conclude that in this case the neutral model does not provide an adequate description of change in ceramic decoration. A model involving selection, in the form of a bias in favor of novelty in the later phases of the period studied, seems likely to be more appropriate, and we note the social interpretation of the original investigator of the data. In conclusion, it is suggested that neutral models provide an important heuristic tool but that there is not a radical break between functional and stylistic variation.

Résumé

Résumé

Siguiendo a Dunnell, la escuela de ‘arqueología evolucionista’ ha profesado una clara distinción entre la variatión funcional y la variación estilística de los artefactos arqueológicos. Se puede definir variación como funcional si ésta es afectada porprocesos de selectión y como estilística si es el resultado de procesos de deriva aleatoria. Este argumento ha sido desarrollado en mayor detalle por Neiman (1995), quien demostró por medio de estudios de simulatión que los procesos de mutatión y deriva producen los tipos de curvas en forma de “barcos de batalla ” que generalmente caracterizan la distributión de estilos del artefacto y quién además demostró que estos procesos explican los patrones de variación estilística de los conjuntos cerámicos del período Woodland en Illinois. En este ensayo nosotros presentamos un ejemplo del cambio de la decoratión en la cerámica del Neolitico temprano de Europa Central. Demostramos que las distribuciones de frecuencias actuates diacrónicas así como las esperadas en el modelo neutral sencillamente no proveen una explicacación adecuada de los cambios de decoración en la cerámica. Antes bien, proponemos que es más probable que la explicatión resida en un modelo de selectión, el cual favorece innovatión hacia las fases finales del período bajo consideratión tomando además en cuenta la interpretatión social que el investigador original extrajo de los datos. En conclusión sugerimos que los modelos explicativos neutros nos proporcionan una importante herramienta heurística pew que, a su vez, hay una separatión radical entre la variatión funcional y la estilística.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 66 , Issue 4 , October 2001 , pp. 577 - 593
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2001

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