Maximum Parsimony (MP) is a character-based approach that relies on the work of the german entomologist Willy Hennig (1913-1976). Although Hennig’s work has generated significant controversy, the principles that underlie what was later called cladistics, laid the basis for a convenient and powerful method for the analysis of molecular data with the use of computers. For more details about the h...

The Hubble tuning fork diagram, based on morphology and established in the 1930s, has always been the preferred scheme for classification of galaxies. However, the current large amount of multiwavelength data, most often spectra, for objects up to very high distances, asks for more sophisticated statistical approaches. Interpreting formation and evolution of galaxies as a 'transmission with mod...

In this paper, I study the application of phylogenetic analysis in evolutionary archaeology. I show how transfer of this apparently general analytic tool is affected by salient differences in disciplinary context. One is that archaeologists, unlike many biologists, do not regard cladistics as a tool for classification, but are primarily interested in explanation. The other is that explanation i...

I. Continuous characters – ancestral states Many traits of interest are measured on continuous or metric scales – size and shape, physiological rates, etc. Continuous traits are often useful for species identification and taxonomic descriptions; historically, they were also used in phylogenetic analysis through the use of clustering algorithms that can group taxa based on multivariate phenetic ...

Presently cladistics is based on, and justified by, a computer implementation (Wagner Parsimony) rather than sound methodological or theoretical foundations. In this paper, the recent goals of cladistics that are derived from computer implementations and 'tree-thinking' are discussed. The discussion raises a critical point, namely whether one can dispense with these recent goals and adopt a who...

The problem in phylogenetic tree construction, is to find the tree which best describes the relationship between a set of objects. We are mostly interested in the case when the objects are species or taxa. carrot whale chimpanzee human Figure 5.1: Phylogenetic tree of 4 species Phylogenetic Tree Construction is based on Cladistics, the systematic classification of groups of organisms on the bas...

In this paper, I study the application of phylogenetic analysis in evolutionary archaeology. I show how transfer of this apparently general analytic tool is affected by salient differences in disciplinary context. One is that archaeologists, unlike many biologists, do not regard cladistics as a tool for classification, but are primarily interested in explanation. The other is that explanation i...