Karenleigh A. Overmann and Frederick L. Coolidge (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190854614
- eISBN:
- 9780190854645
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190854614.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
This anthology celebrates 40 years of an archaeology of mind, the investigation of how the modern human mind emerged, as discerned through material artifacts such as the stone tools used throughout ...
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This anthology celebrates 40 years of an archaeology of mind, the investigation of how the modern human mind emerged, as discerned through material artifacts such as the stone tools used throughout the Paleolithic and the hunting technologies and numbers found in the Neolithic. The contributions by established and emerging scholars cover a wide variety of topics in cognitive archaeology, including the evolutionary bases for cognition, how stone tools may reflect the brains and minds of their makers, when and how stone tools move from the practical to the aesthetic, and the social implications of archaeological artifacts and their relationships to attention, language, working memory, materiality, and numbers. The volume concludes with some thoughts by archaeologist Thomas Wynn, one of the field’s most distinguished pioneers, on how cognitive archaeology contributes to our understanding of human cognition and mainstream cognitive science.Less
This anthology celebrates 40 years of an archaeology of mind, the investigation of how the modern human mind emerged, as discerned through material artifacts such as the stone tools used throughout the Paleolithic and the hunting technologies and numbers found in the Neolithic. The contributions by established and emerging scholars cover a wide variety of topics in cognitive archaeology, including the evolutionary bases for cognition, how stone tools may reflect the brains and minds of their makers, when and how stone tools move from the practical to the aesthetic, and the social implications of archaeological artifacts and their relationships to attention, language, working memory, materiality, and numbers. The volume concludes with some thoughts by archaeologist Thomas Wynn, one of the field’s most distinguished pioneers, on how cognitive archaeology contributes to our understanding of human cognition and mainstream cognitive science.
Shelby S. Putt
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190854614
- eISBN:
- 9780190854645
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190854614.003.0015
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
Language origins remain shrouded in mystery. With little remaining from our earliest ancestors, language evolution researchers have turned to stone tools to learn about ancestral language capacities, ...
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Language origins remain shrouded in mystery. With little remaining from our earliest ancestors, language evolution researchers have turned to stone tools to learn about ancestral language capacities, as discussed in this chapter. Because inferior frontal areas of the brain, once thought specific to language, are now known to participate during manual motor tasks as well, technological-origin hypotheses propose that tool-making was a potential cause or contributor to the evolution of language. Cutting-edge neuroimaging techniques to monitor regional brain activation patterns associated with tool-making processes are helping to investigate the potential evolutionary relationship between language and tool-making. These experiments have identified one area in the left dorsal pars opercularis portion of Broca’s area where language and stone tool-making functions rely on similar cognitive operations. A more general motor origin for language seems likely in other inferior frontal areas of the brain. Clearly, stone tools have stories to tell if we know how to listen.Less
Language origins remain shrouded in mystery. With little remaining from our earliest ancestors, language evolution researchers have turned to stone tools to learn about ancestral language capacities, as discussed in this chapter. Because inferior frontal areas of the brain, once thought specific to language, are now known to participate during manual motor tasks as well, technological-origin hypotheses propose that tool-making was a potential cause or contributor to the evolution of language. Cutting-edge neuroimaging techniques to monitor regional brain activation patterns associated with tool-making processes are helping to investigate the potential evolutionary relationship between language and tool-making. These experiments have identified one area in the left dorsal pars opercularis portion of Broca’s area where language and stone tool-making functions rely on similar cognitive operations. A more general motor origin for language seems likely in other inferior frontal areas of the brain. Clearly, stone tools have stories to tell if we know how to listen.
Marlize Lombard
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190854614
- eISBN:
- 9780190854645
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190854614.003.0023
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
Bow-and-arrow technology is arguably one of the key inventions in the human story. This chapter explores how some of the associated techno-behaviors helped shape the human mind, contributing to ...
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Bow-and-arrow technology is arguably one of the key inventions in the human story. This chapter explores how some of the associated techno-behaviors helped shape the human mind, contributing to humans becoming masters of flexible thinking. Such cognitive plasticity is represented in our ability to learn, teach, innovate, and respond flexibly to new or complex situations. Evidence for bow hunting has been pushed back to more than 60,000 years ago in southern Africa, with some suggesting an even older age. The chapter also touches on potential neurological underpinnings for understanding the cognition of archery. It is suggested that by exploring the techno-behaviors and cognition associated with Stone Age bow hunting and neurological studies conducted in the context of modern archery, we can add to our understanding of the evolution of the sapient mind.Less
Bow-and-arrow technology is arguably one of the key inventions in the human story. This chapter explores how some of the associated techno-behaviors helped shape the human mind, contributing to humans becoming masters of flexible thinking. Such cognitive plasticity is represented in our ability to learn, teach, innovate, and respond flexibly to new or complex situations. Evidence for bow hunting has been pushed back to more than 60,000 years ago in southern Africa, with some suggesting an even older age. The chapter also touches on potential neurological underpinnings for understanding the cognition of archery. It is suggested that by exploring the techno-behaviors and cognition associated with Stone Age bow hunting and neurological studies conducted in the context of modern archery, we can add to our understanding of the evolution of the sapient mind.
