A Dynamic Systems Framework for Studying Technological Change: Application to the Emergence of the Potter's Wheel in the Southern Levant

The dynamic systems framework may be considered an alternative to traditional approaches that study technological change. The benefits of this framework are simultaneously methodological and metaphorical. Methodologically, the framework provides a coherent analytic process for studying empirical data to explain the complexity of technological change. Metaphorically, the framework appeals to local-scale interactive mechanisms to account for the origins of change. Applicability of the dynamic systems framework for studying technological change is illustrated with an archaeological case study: the emergence of the potter's wheel in southern Levant during the 4th millennium BC.