DAVID RINDOS
Date: 1 September 1995
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Anthropology and Evolutionary Biology. Cornell University.
August 1981.
M.S. Botany (Plant Taxonomy, Morphology). Cornell University.
August 1980.
B.S. Rural Sociology. Cornell University. June 1969.
POSITIONS
1992-93 Senior Lecturer, University of Western Australia
1991-2 Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, C/O Geography
Department, University of Western Australia
1989-91 Senior Lecturer (Department Head: 11/12 1989, 1990 -
1991). Archaeology Department, University of Western
Australia, Nedlands 6009 Western Australia
1988 Visiting Fellow. Department of Prehistory, Research
School of Pacific Studies. Australian National
University. Canberra ACT 2601 Australia
1987-88 Assistant Professor. Department of Natural Science,
Michigan State University, East Lansing MI 48824 USA
1986-87 - Visiting Assistant Professor, Anthropology Department,
University of Missouri, Columbia MO 65211 USA
1985-1986 Researcher. Archaeology Concentration. Cornell
University, Ithaca NY 14853 USA
1984-85 Research Associate. American Indian Studies Program.
Cornell University
1983 Visiting Scholar. Institute for Advanced Studies.
University of Illinois Urbana IL 61801 USA
1983 Visiting Assistant Professor. Department of
Anthropology. University of Illinois
1982 George F. Miller Visiting Scholar. University of
Illinois
1982 Lecturer. The Cornell Plantations Ithaca NY 14853 USA
1982 Teaching Assistant, Archaeology. Cornell University
1977 Ethnobotanist and Paleoethnobotanist. The Sula Valley
Archaeological Project Honduras C.A.
1976 Paleoethnobotanist. The Alambra Project Cyprus
1973-76 Co-founder and Chair of the Board of Directors. The
Ithaca Farmer's Market (A Producer's Cooperative)
Ithaca NY USA
1971-76 Market Gardener (flowers and oriental vegetables);
Heating and plumbing contractor; Country and Western
accordianist; Caterer. Trumansburg NY USA
1971-72 Research Associate. New York Public Interest Research
Group (NY-PIRG) Ithaca NY (research concentrated on
the impact of agribusiness on the small farmer).
1969-70 Advertising Copywriter. Campus Media, Inc. NY NY USA
(wrote and produced radio ads for Volunteers in Service
to America -- VISTA).
1968 Participant-Observer Researcher. Cornell University
Migrant Worker Research Project. Ithaca NY USA
TEACHING AND RESEARCH INTERESTS
Biological Anthropology Cultural Function and Evolution
Ecological Anthropology Human Origins
Darwinian Evolutionary Theory Agricultural Origins
Mathematical Modeling Quantitative Analysis
Ethnobotany and Paleoethnobotany History / Philosophy Science
PUBLICATIONS
in press Reprints of 1980a and 1989a IN O'Brien, Michael J,
editor. Evolutionary Archaeology: A Materialist Strategy,
Salt Lake City, University of Utah Press.
1992a Review of Plants in Australian Archaeology, edited by W.
Beck, A. Clarke and L. Head. American Antiquity
1992b Review of Coevolution: Genes, culture and human diversity,
by William H. Durham. American Journal of Physical
Anthropology.
1992c (with E. Webb) Modelling the initial human colonization of
Australia: perfect adaptation, cultural variability, and
cultural change. IN Bruce, Neville (ed.). The human
evolutionary enigma: the human aptitude for culture and its
biological consequences. Perth, WA: University of Western
Australia Press. Proc Australas Soc Hum Biol 5:441-454.
1991 (with S. Johannassen) Human-Plant interactions and cultural
change in the American Bottom. In Cahokia and the
Hinterlands: Middle Mississippian Cultures of the Midwest,
edited by Thomas E. Emerson and R. Barry Lewis. Urbana:
University of Illinois Press. Pp 35-45.
1990a Los origenes de la agricultura. Una perspectiva
evolucionista, translated by Nuria Salvador. (Spanish
translation of Rindos 1984). Barcelona, Spain: Ediciones
Bellaterra, SA.
1990b with James Atkinson. Pizza Chromosomes: A method for
teaching modern genetics. The American Biology Teacher
52 (5): 281 - 287.
1989a Undirected variation and the Darwinian explanation of
cultural change. Archaeological method and theory, Vol.
1, Michael B. Schiffer, editor. Pp. 1 - 45.
1989b Diversity, variation and selection. In The concept and
measure of archaeological diversity, edited by R. B.
Leonard and G.T. Jones. Cambridge University Press. Pp. 13 -
24.
1989c Darwinism and Domestication. In Foraging and Farming: the
evolution of plant exploitation, edited by David R Harris
and Gordon C. Hillman. London: Allen and Unwin. Pp. 27-41.
1988 Evolucion Darviniana y cambio cultural. El caso de la
agricultura. (Spanish translation of 1987). IN Coloquio V.
Gordon Childe, edited by L. Manzanilla. Mexico, D. F.:
Instituto de Investigaciones Antropologicas, Universidad
Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. Pp. 79 - 90.
1987 Darwinian evolution and cultural change: the case of
agriculture. In Studies in the Neolithic and Urban
Revolutions: The V. Gordon Childe Colloquium, Mexico 1986,
edited by Linda Manzanilla. Oxford: British Archaeological
Reports. Pp. 69-79.
1986a Response to Martindale on Rindos 1985a. Current
Anthropology 27: 50-53.
1986b The genetics of cultural anthropology: Toward a genetic
model for the origin of the capacity for culture. Journal
of Anthropological Archaeology 5: 1 - 38.
1986c Response to Watson and Hobbs on Rindos 1985a. Current
Anthropology 27: 151-152.
1986d The evolution of the cultural capacity: Structuralism,
Sociobiology and Cultural Selectionism. Current
Anthropology 27: 315 - 332.
1986e Darwinism and its role in the explanation of subsistence
patterns. In Recent advances in the understanding of plant
domestication and early agriculture. Southampton: World
Archaeological Congress.
1986f Review of Paul Ehrlich's The machinery of nature.
The Humanist 46(5):44.
1985 Darwinian selection, symbolic variation and the evolution of
culture. Current Anthropology 26: 65-88.
1984 The origins of agriculture: an evolutionary perspective.
New York: Academic Press. 324+xvii. (Paperback version,
1988; Spanish translation, see 1990a)
Reviews: 1984 Economic Geography 60:339-44 (Donald Lathrap)
1985 American Antiquity 50:698-9 (Richard Yarnell)
1985 American Anthropologist 87:928-9 (Donald Hardesty)
1985 Economic Botany 39:218-219 (Charles B. Heiser Jr.)
1986 American Scientist 74(2):203-204 (John O. Corliss)
1986 JAS:95-96 (David Harris)
1986 Reviews in Anthropology 13:210-223 (Ezra Zubrow)
[To read this review, select here]
1986 Anthropos 81:365-366 (Wilson Glenn Smith)
1986 Man 21:551 (G. Jones).
1994 Journal Of World Anthropology 1(2) (Danny Yee)
[To read this review, select here (JWA) or here (Yee's site)]
1981 The origin and spread of agriculture. Ph.D Thesis, Cornell
University, August 1981 (Awarded the annual Messenger -
Chalmers prize by the History Department for the best thesis
on the development of human culture).
1980a Symbiosis, instability and the origin and spread of
agricultural systems: a new model. Current Anthropology
21: 751-772.
1980b Generic delimitation in the Verbesinoid Heliantheae: The
genus Zexmenia Llave. MS Thesis, Cornell University,
August 1980.
Papers at Conferences (National and International Conferences only).
1995 "Comments." Paper read in my absence at 60th Annual
meeting, Society for American Archaeology, Minneapolis MN,
May 1985.
1992 "Pizza Chromosomes." Presented at CONSTANSA 41, Perth WA.
1988 In Darwin On Darwin. Presented at the session "The place of
hunters and gatherers in in anthropolog and European social
thougth." Fifth International Conference on Hunting and
Gathering Societies, Darwin NT Australia. 29 August - 2
September 1988.
1987 Cultural Evolution -- the Perspective from Anthropology.
1987 Summer Conference: History, Philosophy and Social
Studies of Biology. Virginia Polytechnic Institute,
Blacksburg VA, 16 June 1987.
1986a Open ended coding. Invited paper presented at the symposium
"The evolution of culture in animals and humans -- the
emergence of symbolic communication." AAAS Annual Meetings,
Philadelphia PA, 30 May 1986. (Press conference 30 May)
1986b Darwinian evolution and cultural change: the case of
agriculture. Paper read in my absence at the V. Gordon
Childe Colloquium, Instituto de Investigaciones
Antropologicas, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico,
Mexico D.F., 11 July 1986.
1986c The origin of symbolic coding systems. Invited paper
presented at the 2nd Annual Meeting of the Language Origins
Society. Oxford, England, 30 August 1986.
1986d Sponsored participant. Symposium "Recent advances in the
understanding of plant domestication and early agriculture,"
11th Congress of the International Union of Prehistoric and
Protohistoric Sciences (The World Archaeological Congress),
Southampton and London. 1-7 September 1986.
1985 Cognitive ethology and anthropology -- a necessary
synthesis? Invited paper for the symposium, "Evolutionary
approaches to the study of human diversity." 50th annual
meeting, Society for American Archaeology, Denver CO, 3 May
1985
1984 Diversity, variation and selection. Invited paper for the
symposium, "The concept and measure of archaeological
diversity." 49th annual meeting, Society for American
Archaeology, Portland WA, 12 April 1984.
1983a Fitness and adaptation. Invited paper for the symposium,
"Evolutionary theory and anthropology: Issues and
applications." 48th annual meeting, Society for American
Archaeology, Pittsburg PA, 30 April 1983.
1983b Chance, necessity and selection. Paper delivered at the 1st
Summer Conference on the History and Philosophy of Biology,
Denison University, Granville OH 22 July 1983.
1983c with Johannessen, Sissel. Diversity and uniformity in
Mississippian plant usage. Invited paper for the symposium,
"Mississippian cultural development and variation in the
central and upper Mississippi river drainage." 48th annual
meeting, Society for American Archaeology, Pittsburg PA, 28
April 1983.
1982 A mathematical model for human subsistence change. Paper
read at the 47th annual meeting, Society for American
Archaeology, Minneapolis MN, 15 April 1982.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Darwinian Cultural Evolution (Post-Graduate Level)
University of Missouri, Columbia. 1986, 1987.
Michigan State University. 1987.
The origins of agricultural systems
University of Illinois, Urbana. 1983.(Graduate Level)
University of Western Australia. 1989 - 1992
Introduction to Human Biosocial Evolution (First Year Level)
Michigan State University. 1987, 1988.
Introductory Archaeology (Undergraduate Level)
University of Missouri, Columbia. 1986.
Cornell University. Summer 1982 (Teaching Assistant).
University of Western Australia 1990 - 1992
The taxonomy of cultivated plants (Undergraduate Level)
Cornell University. 1978, 1979 (Teaching Assistant).
The Prehistory of North America
University of Western Australia. 1989 - 1992
Archaeological Method and Theory
University of Western Australia. 1989 - date
The cuisines of Mexico, India and the Mediterranean
Cooking with herbs and spices.
Lecturer, The Cornell Plantations. 1982.
The history of domestication
Seminar Organizer, Cornell University. 1980.
Ethnobotanical methods and problems (short-course)
Lecturer, Cornell University. 1980.
Palaeoethnobotany Field School courses
Cornell Archaeological Projects. 1976, 1977
Reviewer for: Cornell University Press, University of Oklahoma Press,
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Current Anthropology,
American Anthropologist, American Antiquity, The Humanist
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Archaeology: Australia (1992-) Cyprus (1976), Honduras (1977). Experience
with froth-flotation recovery methods and plant material
identification.
Ethnobotany: Guatemala and Honduras (1977), Seneca Nation (Fall
1984 and Spring 1985). Market and garden collecting,
some work in ethnofloristics and folk taxonomy.
Cultural Fieldwork in migratory labor camps (1968, reports
Anthropology: in W. Friedland and D. Nelkin, Eds. 1971).
Botany Taxonomy of domesticates
Extensive experience in herbarium practice and plant
identification
General collecting (Cyprus 1976, Honduras 1976, 1977)
Light and SEM microscopy, microtechnique.
COLLOQUIA AND LECTURES
1990a Blood from Stones [with Lyle Palmer]. Presented to the
Archaeology Department. University of Western Australia,
Perth WA. October 1990.
1990b The "Archaeological Instantaneous:" Inherent limitiations
concerning statements that may be made about the past [with
S. O'Connor]. Presented to the Archaeology Department.
University of Western Australia, Perth WA. 16 March 1990.
1989a Cahokia: an example of the failure of agricultural success?
Presented to the Archaeology Department. University of
Western Australia, Perth WA. 16 August 1989.
1989b The origins of the capacity for culture: some mathematical
aspects. Presented to the Department of Anthropology,
Stanford University, Stanford CA. 12 May 1989
1989c Cultural Selectionism. Presented to the Departments of
Anthropology and The Division of Environmental Studies,
University of California, Davis CA. 15 May 1989
1988a Agricultural origins and Darwinian evolution. Presented to
the Archaeology Department, University of Auckland, Auckland
NZ. 27 July 1988
1988b Darwinism and the evolution of cultural systems. Presented
to the Archaeology Department, University of Auckland,
Auckland NZ. 29 July 1988
1988c Instability and the rise of Agriculture -- a case study from
the Central United States. Presented to the Prehistory
Department, University of Sydney, Sydney NSW. 3 August 1988
1988d What is a cat? Lecture presented to the Seminar on
Ecological Anthroplogy, University of Armidale, Armidale,
NSW. 17 August 1988
1988e Instability, Agriculture and Evolution. Presented to the
Archaeology and Agronomy Departments, University of
Armidale, Armidale, NSW. 19 August 1988
1988f Darwinism and cultural change. Presented to the Department
of Anthropology, University of Western Australia, Perth WA.
19 October 1988
1988g The Origins of Agriculture. Presented to the Center for
Prehistory, University of Western Australia, Perth WA.
21 October 1988.
1987a Darwinism and cultural evolution. Presented to the
Department of Natural Science, Michigan State University,
East Lansing MI. 23 January 1987.
1987b The evolution of the human cultural capacity. Presented to
the Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University,
East Lansing MI. 26 January 1987.
1987c Chair. Symposium "Tools and toys: Human implementation in
evolutionary and cross-cultural perspective". 153rd Annual
Meeting AAAS, Chicago IL. 16 February 1987 (Press
conference 15 February 1987).
1987d Failure as success: the evolutionary basis for world hunger.
Wayland Lecture, The Wayland Collegium and the Alan Shaw
Feinstein World Hunger Program, Brown University, Providence
RI. 14 April 1987.
1987e The evolution of the capacity for culture. Presented to the
Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University,
Dallas, TX. 1 May 1987.
1987f Symbols and the human capacity for culture. Presented to
the Department of Anthropology, Southern Illinois
University, Carbondale IL. 5 May 1987.
1986a The neodarwinian theory of cultural evolution. Presented to
the Department of Social Relations, Leheigh University,
Bethlehem PA. 15 April 1986.
1986b Invited participant. Symposium "The evolution of culture in
animals and humans -- the emergence of symbolic
communication." 152nd Annual Meeting, Philadelphia PA.
30 May 1986 (Press conference, 30 May 1986).
1986c Invited participant, 2nd Annual Meeting of the Langague
Origins Society, Oxford University, Oxford. 27-30 Aug 1986.
1986d Sponsored participant. Symposium "Recent advances in the
understanding of plant domestication and early agriculture,"
11th Congress of the International Union of Prehistoric and
Protohistoric Sciences (The World Archaeological Congress),
Southampton and London. 1-7 September 1986.
1986e The origin of agricultural systems: the Darwinian model.
Presented to the Biologish-Arkeologish Institut,
Rijksuniversitet, Groninigen, Holland. 9 September 1986.
1986f Cultural capacities and Sociobiology. Presented to the
Nederlande Vereniging Fysische Antropologie (Dutch
Association of Physical Anthropology), Utrecht, Holland.
12 September 1986.
1986g Open ended coding. Presented to the Department of
Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia MO.
22 October 1986.
1985a Maize-induced instability in Mississipian agriculture.
Presented to the Department of Anthropology, University of
Washington, Seattle WA. 6 May 1985.
1985b Darwinian approaches to Anthropology. Presented to the
Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee,
Knoxville TN. 3 October 1985
1985c A mathematical model for the origin of the capacity for
culture. Presented to the Department of Anthropology,
University of Tennessee, Knoxville TN. 4 Oct 1985
1985d Cultural Selectionism. Presented to the Department of
Anthroplogy, Cornell University, Ithaca NY. 4 December 1985.
1984a Darwinism and cultural change: the philosophical problems.
Presented to the Center for Advanced Studies, University of
Illinois, Urbana IL. 8 March 1984.
1984b Darwinism and cultural change: examples from prehistory.
Presented to the Center for Advanced Studies, University of
Illinois, Urbana IL. 29 March 1984.
1984c Darwinism and anthropology. Presented to Anthropology 450,
Cornell University, Ithaca NY. 2 October 1984.
1983a The origins of agriculture: instability and demic spread.
Presented to the Center for Latin American Studies,
University of Illinois, Urbana IL. 4 February 1983.
1983b Undirected variation and the evolution of symbolism.
Presented to the Department of Anthropology, University of
Illinois, Urbana IL. 10 March 1983.
1983c Failure as success: the spread of agricultural systems.
Presented to the Geography Department, University of
Illinois, Urbana IL. 18 May 1983.
1983d The evolution of domestication: a case from North America.
Presented to the Center for Materials Research in
Archaeology and Ethnology, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge MA. 30 April 1983
1983e Genetics and the origin of aesthetics. Presented to the
Department of Landscape Architecture, University of
Illinois, Urbana IL. 5 May 1983.
1983f Organizer and Chair: Sessions on cultural evolution. 1st
Summer Conference on the History, Philosophy and Sociology
of Biology, Denison University, Granville OH. 18-22 July
1983.
1983g The orchid family: an ancient adaptation. Presented to the
Central Illinois Orchid Society, Urbana IL. 9 December 1983.
1982 A mathematical model for subsistence change. Presented to
the Anthropology Department, University of Wisconsin,
Madison WI. 14 March 1982