The “phylogenetic model” has a long pedigree within historical anthropology, traceable in its essentials to Sapir's 1916 monograph. In the 1950s, it was formally developed under the label of “the genetic model,” a term that might be confused with a strictly biological perspective of somatic (genetic) inheritance, and which we (Kirch and Green 1987) therefore replaced with “phylogenetic model.” This revised label emphasizes historical sequences of cultural differentiation or divergence within related groups, regardless of the mechanism of transmission. Indeed, in the complexities of human history, both somatic and extra-somatic modes of trans-generational inheritance are salient (Durham 1982, 1991; Boyd and Richerson 1985). Thus a phylogenetic model within historical anthropology must incorporate data and perspectives from the full range of anthropological subdisciplines, including biological anthropology, archaeology, historical linguistics, and comparative ethnology.

In this introductory chapter we will sketch the intellectual history of the phylogenetic model within anthropology, including its applications in Polynesia; discuss some current issues surrounding its applicability; compare its principal methods with phylogenetic (cladistic) approaches in biology and linguistics; and, finally, argue the fundamental signifance of a phylogenetic understanding of homologous change within historical anthropology.