Culture change in archaeology

This chapter discusses culture change from an archaeological perspective, using material culture as a proxy. This chapter argues for the importance of cultural transmission modalities in structuring material culture lineages. As transmission processes also underlie population change as tracked by genetic affinities and language change, this chapter argues that cultural evolutionary theory within which ‘culture’ is defined as emerging from transmission processes provides a powerful framework for unravelling the degree to which material culture, genes and language changed in tandem. With focus on the Middle Neolithic of Scandinavia, this chapter explores how different aspects of material culture can be marshalled in support of rich and nuanced interpretations of culture change, and how these may link to migration and language.