Special Issue: Innovation and the Evolution of Human Behavior.Quantifying Technological Innovation.

Abstract

Many aspects of technological innovation can be represented using graph theory. This makes possible both quan-titative and qualitative analysis of technologies and of technological innovation. This article describes how graph theory can be applied in this way, with worked examples from lithic technology. The results are analyzed quan-titatively, to assess complexity using several measures, and qualitatively, to assess potential interactions between technologies. Innovation can be quantified as the minimum edit distance between the graph for a new technology and the previous situation. The resulting model also is linked to ergonomic measurement and to foraging theory.The “Innovation and Evolution” workshop was held at the Centre for the Archaeology of Human Origins, Uni-versity of Southampton, United Kingdom; workshop papers guest edited by Hannah Fluck (University of South-hampton; and, Landscape, Planning and Heritage, Hampshire County Council), Katharine MacDonald (Faculty of Archaeology, University of Leiden), and Natalie Uomini (School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool). This is article #5 of 7.