Natural Selection, Material Culture, and Archaeology

A paradigm constitutes a process of reasoning, guidance, and explanation of behavior interacting with the environment and social world. Aspects of the theory of natural selection set the basis for the evolution paradigm and subsequent applications in studies of cultural evolution via materiality in archaeology. The theory of natural selection is important because it provides the tools to set up hypotheses as to why variation in material culture can influence reproductive success as a by-product of human decision-making processes. In this paper, the connections are made between the concept of natural selection and explanatory applications in evolution via natural selection in archaeology and studies of material culture.