Population Structure, Cultural Transmission, and Frequency Seriation

Modelling Creative Innovation

“…For example, while choices of baby names at the scale of the entire United States are indistinguishable from neutral copying (Hahn and Bentley 2003), different ethnic groups select from different pools of names (Leiberson 2000;Freyer and Levitt 2004), yet within each group, random drift could predominate again (which remains to be studied). Similarly, prehistoric pottery designs may constitute a selected range of variation acceptable to a group, yet characterised by neutral copying within this range (Lipo et al 1997). In this sense, the neutral-copying model helps us objectively identify the groupings of creative expression, without resorting to our own subjective opinions as to what "meant" what (Neiman 1995;Lipo et al 1997).…”

“…Similarly, prehistoric pottery designs may constitute a selected range of variation acceptable to a group, yet characterised by neutral copying within this range (Lipo et al 1997). In this sense, the neutral-copying model helps us objectively identify the groupings of creative expression, without resorting to our own subjective opinions as to what "meant" what (Neiman 1995;Lipo et al 1997).…”

“…Ultimately, we seek to explore how much we can explain through neutral copying processes before we need to resort to 'reasons' such as individual selection for one thing or another. The analysis could then be used to help identify the scale at which selection is exerted, which could help to define the group themselves (Lipo et al 1997). …”

Darwinian Archaeologies

“…In the transmission of attributes in which fitness differences between variants are small, changes in relative frequencies are explicable as the result drift and random effects involved in transmission. (Bettinger and Eerkens 1997;Braun 1991;Dunnell 1978;Lipo et al 1997;Lyman and O'Brien 2000;Neff 1993;Neiman 1995;O'Brien 1996;O'Brien and Holland 1990). Measurements made using functional classes, on the other hand, emphasize performance differences and thus are explicable via natural selection.…”

“…Biologists have recorded instances of cultural inheritance among dolphins (Krützen et al 2005), orca whales (Ford 1991), primates (Biro et al 2003), elephants (Poole et al 2005), fish (Brown and Laland 2003), and birds (Fritz and Kotraschal 1999;Grant and Grant 1996;Lynch 1996). Although many early models of cultural transmission were based largely on analogies derived from genetics (Boyd and Richerson 1985;Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman 1981), more recent models have considered the characters of cultural transmission that involve the continuous inheritance and acquisition of information without empirically definable generations (Bettinger and Eerkens 1999;Lipo et al 1997;Neff 2001;Neiman 1995;Shennan and Wilkinson 2001). Discussion continues about the degree to which biological models can be used to explain cultural variability, both pro (Collard and Shennan 2000;Shennan and Collard 2005) and con (Terrell 1988;Terrell et al 1997;Welsh et al 1992).…”