Associate Dean of Faculty and Associate Professor of Anthropology Nathan Goodale and Assistant Professor of Anthropology Colin Quinn published chapters in the Handbook of Evolutionary Research in Archaeology. The volume provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary evolutionary research in archaeology. Edited by Anna Marie Prentiss, the book was recently published by Springer Press.
Goodale contributed two chapters to the volume. “Natural Selection, Material Culture, and Archaeology” explores the consequences of studying human behavior as a trait that is subject to processes of natural selection. Goodale’s second chapter, “Human Behavioral Ecology and Technological Decision-Making,” was co-authored with Nicole Herzog of the University of Denver. It examines the organization of technological systems in the archaeological record using models derived from human behavioral ecology.
Quinn’s contribution, titled “Costly Signaling Theory in Archaeology,” details how our ability to use material culture and behaviors as non-verbal signals of identity and status has developed throughout human history.
