ABSTRACT
Change is universal, and considerable archaeological effort is exerted to document and explain cultural change. One traditional approach to the study of change is to examine how the various cultural systems interact with each other. Evolutionary archaeology attempts to explain cultural change as the result of direct selective processes on the variation of artifact types and frequencies, resulting in the change of those types and frequencies over time. All social and political movements change the cultural landscape to some degree, and powerful social movements can effect substantial change. Detecting change involves the discovery and plotting of differences in traits across space and over time. The study of change can be focused on culture history, cultural ecology, and political economy. Invention and innovation are important mechanisms of change. Archaeologists begin by reconstructing events that took place at a specific time and comparing them to other events from different times to document evidence of change.
