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| 2. Culture as Adaptation |
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| This common approach thinks of human cultures as cultural systems interacting with their natural environments—environmental systems of which they are part. Culture as adaptation is concerned not only with the evolution of prehistoric cultures but also with reconstructing ancient environments and ways in which past cultures made their living. | 1 |
| At the core of this paradigm is the notion of multilinear cultural evolution, multiple-branched evolution that saw highly diverse human societies evolve from the simple to the more complex in many different ways. It is also based on the doctrines of cultural ecology, which think of human cultures as systems interacting with other human cultures, the biotic community, and the physical environment over long periods of time. | 2 |
| Proponents of culture-as-adaptation theories argue that each human society pursues its own evolutionary course, determined by the long-term success of its adaptation, via technology and social institutions, to the natural environment. | 3 |
| Culture as adaptation is now widely accepted as a general framework for the study of human prehistory. | 4 |
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