Mapping the field of cultural evolutionary theory and methods in archaeology using bibliometric methods

This study presents a bibliometric analysis of cultural evolutionary theory and methods in archaeology from 1981-2021. Using bibliographic coupling network analysis, the authors identify successive author clusters representing the core research domain. A broader, vernacular understanding of cultural evolution is also prevalent outside of strictly defined cultural evolutionary studies. The analysis reveals the centrality of computational models but also a stagnation in the application of phylogenetic methods, a key tool in related fields like paleontology. However, recent methodological innovations in paleobiology offer new ways to integrate artifact shape data with phylogenetic applications, potentially leading to a renaissance in artifact phylogenetics and macro-scale applications of cultural evolutionary theory in archaeology.

David N. Matzig, Clemens Schmid, Felix Riede