Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (188 page)

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Authors: Timothy Darvill

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cultural process
[Th].
A deductive approach to archaeological research that is designed to study the changes and interactions in cultural systems and the processes by which human cultures change throughout time. Processual archaeologists use both descriptive and explanatory models.
cultural relativism
[Th].
The position that there is no universal standard to measure cultures by, and that all cultures are equally valid and must be understood in their own terms.
cultural resource management
[Ge].
In the USA this term refers to the legally mandated protection of archaeological sites situated on public lands that are threatened with destruction through development of any sort. Extensive laws have been enacted to protect sites on federal lands, but states and some cities have similar legislation. See
ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
.
cultural selection
[Th].
The process that leads to the acceptance of some cultural traits and innovations that make a culture more adaptive to its environment; somewhat akin to natural selection in biological evolution.
cultural system
[Th].
A perspective that thinks of culture and its environment as a number of linked systems in which change occurs through a series of minor, linked variations in one or more of these systems.
cultural tradition
[Th].
In archaeology, a distinctive tool kit or technology that lasts a long time—longer than the duration of one culture—at one locality or several localities.

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