| cultural evolution | A model for the development of society that delineates a sequence of cultural change over time
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| unilineal evolution | Early theoretical school that postulated that all cultures proceeded through a series of successive stages.
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| neoevolutionary model | A model of cultural evolution based on types of technological and food-procurement strategies and the sociocultural adaptations that resulted from them.
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| multilinear evolution | An evolutionary model of culture emphasizing different development patterns for societies in different habitats.
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| Oldowan tools | A very early African tool-making tradition associated with the first members of Homo.
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| Acheulean hand axes | Part of an African and European tool tradition associated with Homo erectus and Homo ergaster. The tradition also includes cleavers and some flake tools.
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| ecological model | A model that views a culture as part of a larger global ecological system with each aspect of the system interacting with all of the other parts.
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| cultural ecology | The study of the processes by which a society adapts to its environment.
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| optimal-foraging model | A model that aims at understanding how foragers optimize the gathering of food.
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| evolutionary-ecological model | A model of human culture that combines both the neoevolutionary and ecological perspectives.
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| technology | The knowledge, tools, and skills used by humans to manipulate their environments.
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| traditions | Cultural choices consistently made by a society and practiced generation to generation.
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| foraging | A food-procurement strategy that involves collecting wild plant and animal foods.
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| carrying capacity | The ability of an econiche to support an organism.
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| bands | A societal type common in foraging groups and marked by egalitarian social structure and lack of specialization.
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| family band | A type of band organization consisting of nuclear family units that move independently within an area. Joins others when resources are plentiful; travels alone at other times.
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| patrilocal band | A type of band consisting of related males and their wives and children who stay together and forage as a group.
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| reciprocity | A form of exchange that involves the mutual giving and receiving of food and other items between people who are socially equal.
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| generalized reciprocity | Institutionalized gift giving and exchange between close kin; accounts are not kept and there is no expectation of immediate return.
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| balanced reciprocity | Exchange and gift giving with the expectation of a return of equal value within a reasonable period of time.
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| negative reciprocity | An economic exchange aimed at receiving more than is given.
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| egalitarian | Refers to members of a society having equal access to status, power, and wealth.
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| low energy budget | The expenditure of minimum energy to acquire the basic needs for survival.
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