Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (187 page)

BOOK: Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology

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cultivation
[De].

The manipulative production and reproduction of plants as sources of food and raw materials for human benefit. The object of attention is usually the fruit, seed, leaf, or fibrous stem of a plant, sometimes several of these for different purposes.

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cultural anthropology
[Ge].

One of the four fields of anthropology, focusing on the description and analysis of the forms and styles of social life of past and present human societies. Its subdiscipline, ethnography, systematically describes contemporary societies and cultures.

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cultural area
[Ge].

In North American archaeology this term refers to broad tracts of land which roughly correspond to ethnographically defined cultural areas recognized by early anthropological work.

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cultural ecology
[Th].

An approach developed by Julian Steward in the 1930s that focused on the dynamic interactions between human societies and their environments. Within this approach, culture is seen as the primary adaptive mechanism used by human societies to deal with, understand, give meaning to, and generally cope with their environment.

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cultural evolution
[Th].

A theory similar to that of biological evolution, which argues that human cultures change gradually throughout time, as a result of a number of cultural processes.

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cultural materialism
[Th].

The theory of cultural causation in which technology, economics, and environment are considered the independent variables.

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cultural pluralism
[Th].

The coexistence of several subcultures within a given society on equal terms.

BOOK: Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology

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