  It is important to be clear as to whether a theory such as evolutionary
archaeology pertains to biological evolution, in which acquired change is
obliterated at the end of each generation, or cultural change, in which
acquired change is retained. In evolutionary archaeology, (1) the population is
said to consist of artifacts, yet (2) artifacts are said to be phenotypic.
Neither (1) nor (2) is necessarily problematic in and of itself, but the two
are inconsistent, as the first pertains to cultural change whereas the second
to the biological evolution of humans. A first step to avoiding this problem is
to recognize that there is a need for a theory of change specific to human
culture. Referring to ongoing work using a related approach to cultural change,
it is suggested that the inconsistencies in evolutionary archaeology, though
problematic, are not insurmountable.
