Small agencies and great consequences: Darwin's archaeology

Abstract

Recent years have seen renewed interest in Darwinian concepts as an inspiration for evolutionary theory in archaeology (for example Barton & Clark 1997; Hart & Terrell 2002). This is not, however, the thrust of this paper, whose aims are more historiographic than programmatic. It will not focus upon Darwin's 'big book',The Origin… of 1859 (or evenThe Descent… of 12 years later), but rather his last volume, the wonderfully curiousThe formation of vegetable mould through the action of wormsof 1881 (hereafterWorms).