On the shape and fabric of human history

TLDR

Cultural phylogenetics is criticized for assuming a highly tree‑like, tightly linked human history, while critics point to obvious exceptions. The paper outlines two debates on human cultural history: its tree‑like shape and its unity. The authors conceptualize the debate along continuous dimensions and employ computational evolutionary biology methods to map cultural aspects, assess lexical tree‑likeness across regions, and evaluate cultural and linguistic lineage coherence.

Abstract

In this paper we outline two debates about the nature of human cultural history. The first focuses on the extent to which human history is tree-like (its shape), and the second on the unity of that history (its fabric). Proponents of cultural phylogenetics are often accused of assuming that human history has been both highly tree-like and consisting of tightly linked lineages. Critics have pointed out obvious exceptions to these assumptions. Instead of a priori dichotomous disputes about the validity of cultural phylogenetics, we suggest that the debate is better conceptualized as involving positions along continuous dimensions. The challenge for empirical research is, therefore, to determine where particular aspects of culture lie on these dimensions. We discuss the ability of current computational methods derived from evolutionary biology to address these questions. These methods are then used to compare the extent to which lexical evolution is tree-like in different parts of the world and to evaluate the coherence of cultural and linguistic lineages.