Center for the Study of Human Origins, Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, New York, USA.
Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Evol Anthropol. 2021 Jan;30(1):28-39. doi: 10.1002/evan.21881. Epub 2021 Jan 21.
One of the greatest difficulties with evolutionary approaches in the study of stone tools (lithics) has been finding a mechanism for tying culture and biology in a way that preserves human agency and operates at scales that are visible in the archaeological record. The concept of niche construction, whereby organisms actively construct their environments and change the conditions for selection, could provide a solution to this problem. In this review, we evaluate the utility of niche construction theory (NCT) for stone tool archaeology. We apply NCT to lithics both as part of the "extended phenotype" and as residuals or precipitates of other niche-constructing activities, suggesting ways in which archaeologists can employ niche construction feedbacks to generate testable hypotheses about stone tool use. Finally, we conclude that, as far as its applicability to lithic archaeology, NCT compares favorably to other prominent evolutionary approaches, such as human behavioral ecology and dual-inheritance theory.
在石器研究（石器学）的进化方法中，最大的困难之一是找到一种将文化和生物学联系起来的机制，这种机制既能保持人类的能动性，又能在考古记录中可见的范围内发挥作用。生态位构建的概念，即生物体主动构建其环境并改变选择条件，可能为解决这个问题提供一个方案。在这篇综述中，我们评估了生态位构建理论（NCT）在石器考古学中的应用。我们将 NCT 应用于石器，既将其作为“扩展表型”的一部分，也将其作为其他生态位构建活动的残余或沉淀物，提出了考古学家如何利用生态位构建反馈来生成关于石器使用的可检验假设的方法。最后，我们得出结论，就其对石器考古学的适用性而言，NCT 与其他突出的进化方法（如人类行为生态学和双重遗传理论）相比具有优势。
