Evolutionary implications of design and performance characteristics of prehistoric pottery

A Darwinian evolutionary approach offers a powerful means of examining change archaeologically. The approach is based on the tenet that materials contained in the archaeological record were parts of human phenotypes, as were behaviors behind the manufacture, use, and discard of the materials. Engineering-design analysis and performance analysis of material remains — here variously tempered ceramic cooking vessels from the midwestern United States — extend the archaeologist's ability to see and map variation beyond that which is readily apparent and thus are logical points from which to begin examination of human adaptation. The approach is essentially indistinguishable from that used by biologists to study design and function of biologically based features as well as phylogenetic histories of such features.