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Small agencies and great consequences: Darwin's archaeology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Christopher Evans
Christopher Evans*
Affiliation:
*Cambridge Archaeological Unit, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3DZ, UK (Email: cje30@cam.ac.uk)
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Extract

Recent years have seen renewed interest in Darwinian concepts as an inspiration for evolutionary theory in archaeology (for example Barton & Clark 1997; Hart & Terrell 2002). This is not, however, the thrust of this paper, whose aims are more historiographic than programmatic. It will not focus upon Darwin's 'big book', The Origin … of 1859 (or even The Descent … of 12 years later), but rather his last volume, the wonderfully curious The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms of 1881 (hereafter Worms).

Type
Debate
Information
Antiquity , Volume 83 , Issue 320 , June 2009 , pp. 475 - 488
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2009

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