Cognitive Archaeology and Human Evolution

193 Pages·2009·4.77 MB·English

by  Sophie A. de Beaune

COGNITIVEARCHAEOLOGYANDHUMANEVOLUTION
Thisbookpresentsnewdirectionsinthestudyofcognitivearchaeology.
Seekingtounderstandtheconditionsthatledtothedevelopmentofa
varietyofcognitiveprocessesduringevolution,itusesevidencefrom
empiricalstudiesandofferstheoreticalspeculationsabouttheevolu-
tion of modern thinking as well. The volume draws from the fields
ofarchaeologyandneuropsychology,whichtraditionallyhaveshared
littleinthewayoftheoriesandmethods,eventhoughbothdisciplines
providecrucialpiecestothepuzzleoftheemergenceandevolutionof
humancognition.Thetwelveessays,writtenbyaninternationalteamof
scholars,representaneclecticarrayofinterests,methods,andtheories
aboutevolutionarycognitivearchaeology.Collectively,theyconsider
whether the processes in the development of human cognition sim-
plymadeuseofanatomicalandcerebralstructuresalreadyinplaceat
the beginning of hominization. They also consider the possibility of
anactiveroleofhominoidsintheirowndevelopmentandquerythe
impactofhominoidactivityintheemergenceofnewcognitiveabilities.
SophieA.deBeauneisProfessorofPrehistoryatJeanMoulinUniver-
sity–Lyon3andDeputyScientificDirectorattheFrenchNational
Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). The author of eight books,
most recently L’Homme et L’outil: L’invention Technique durant la
Pre´histoire,sheisalsodirectorofabookseriesentitled“Lepasse´recom-
pose´”atCNRSEditions.
Frederick L. Coolidge is Professor of Psychology at the University of
ColoradoatColoradoSprings.Hehaspublishedextensivelyinbehav-
ioralgenetics,neuropsychology,psychopathologyassessment,andcog-
nitive archaeology, with recent articles in Cambridge Archaeological
Journal,theJournalofHumanEvolution,andJournalofArchaeologi-
calResearch,amongothers.
ThomasWynnisProfessorofAnthropologyattheUniversityofCol-
oradoatColoradoSprings.Hehaspublishedextensivelyontheevolu-
tionofhumancognition,culminatinginatargetarticleinBehavioral
andBrainSciences,publishedin2002.
Cognitive Archaeology and Human
Evolution
Editedby
sophie a. de beaune
JeanMoulinUniversity–Lyon3andCNRS
frederick l. coolidge
UniversityofColorado,ColoradoSprings
thomas wynn
UniversityofColorado,ColoradoSprings
cambridgeuniversitypress
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Cognitivearchaeologyandhumanevolution/editedbySophieA.deBeaune,
FrederickL.Coolidge,ThomasWynn
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-0-521-76977-8(hbk.)–isbn978-0-521-74611-3(pbk.)
1.Archaeology. 2.Cognitionandculture. 3.Cognition–History. 4.Humanevolution.
5.Prehistoricpeoples. 6.Neuropsychology. 7.Languageandlanguages–Origin.
I.Beaune,SophieA.de. II.Coolidge,FrederickL.(FrederickLawrence),1948–
III.Title.
cc175.c63 2009
930.1–dc22 2008053990
isbn978-0-521-76977-8hardback
isbn978-0-521-74611-3paperback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
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Contents
ListofIllustrations pagevii
Contributors ix
1. Theemergenceofcognitiveabilities:Thecontributionof
neuropsychologytoarchaeology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
SophieA.deBeaune
2. TechnicalinventioninthePalaeolithic:Whatifthe
explanationcomesfromthecognitiveandneuropsychological
sciences? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
SophieA.deBeaune
3. Innovationandcreativity:Aneuropsychologicalperspective . . . . 15
AndreasKyriacou
4. Thearchaeologyofconsciousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
MattJ.Rossano
5. Prehistorichandednessandprehistoriclanguage . . . . . . . . . . . 37
NatalieT.Uomini
6. Howtothinkasimplespear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
MiriamNoe¨lHaidle
7. Long-termmemoryandMiddlePleistocene“Mysterians” . . . . . 75
MichaelJ.Walker
8. Thequestforacommonsemantics:Observationson
definitionalcriteriaofcognitiveprocessesinprehistory . . . . . . . 85
CarolinaMaestroandCarmineCollina
v
vi Contents
9. Cognitionandtheemergenceoflanguage:Acontribution
fromlithictechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
JacquesPelegrin
10. Languageandtheoriginofsymbolicthought . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
IanTattersall
11. Implicationsofastrictstandardforrecognizingmodern
cognitioninprehistory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
ThomasWynnandFrederickL.Coolidge
12. Imaginationandrecursion:Issuesintheemergenceof
language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
EricReuland
13. Whitherevolutionarycognitivearchaeology?Afterword . . . . . . . 145
ThomasWynn
References 151
Index 177
List of Illustrations
2.1. Topographyofthemeningealvesselsontheparietalboneof
somehominins. page9
3.1. Increaseofneuralactivationinrightanteriorsuperior
temporalgyrusduringso-called“eurekamoments.” 20
5.1. Single-platformcore-reductionsequenceforaparticipant’s
secondcore. 45
5.2. DiagramofaproposedknappingsequenceforZ-shaped
twistedovates. 46
5.3. DiagramofaZ-shapedtwistedovateprofile. 47
6.1. Chaıˆnesope´ratoiresofthecrackingofPandaoleosanutsand
theknappingofanOldowanchopper. 61
6.2. Thedifferentcomponentsofacognigram:a,foci;b,
perceptions;c,actions;d,effects;ande,phases. 62
6.3. Detectingthedifferenceswithcognigramsofa,thecracking
ofPandaoleosanutsandb,oftheknappinganduseofan
Oldowanchopper. 64
6.4. Cognigramoftheproductionanduseofawoodenlanceby
chimpanzeestohuntGalagosenegalensis. 68
6.5. Cognigramoftheproductionanduseofawoodenspearby
HomoheidelbergensistohunthorsesinLowerSaxony. 70
6.6. EffectivechainofasimplespearfromLowerSaxony. 72
9.1. ArefitcoreanditsflakesfromLokalalei2C. 99
9.2. BifacesfromIsenya. 101
9.3. LevalloiscoreandflakefromAult(NorthernFrance). 103
vii
viii ListofIllustrations
9.4. DiagramoftheLevalloismethodwithapreferentialflake
andchapeaudegendarmeplatform. 105
10.1. Highlyprovisionalschemaofhominidphylogeny. 110
11.1. Hohlenstein-Stadelfigurine.Aurignacian.29.6cm. 126
Contributors
SophieA.deBeauneisProfessorofPrehistoryatJeanMoulinUniversity–
Lyon3(France).ShewaseducatedatthePantheon-SorbonneUniversity
ofParisIandisaresearcherattheFrenchNationalCenterforScientific
Research(CNRS) unit Arche´ologieset Sciencesde l’Antiquite´ (ArScAn)
inNanterre,France.SheiscurrentlyworkingonUpperPalaeolithictech-
nology,theevolutionoftechnology,andthelinkbetweenarchaeologyand
cognition. She recently published L’Homme et L’outil: L’invention Tech-
niquedurantlaPre´histoire(CNRSEd.,2008).In2009,shewasappointed
DeputyScientificDirectorattheCNRS.
CarmineCollinaisaprehistoricarchaeologist.Heiscompletingadoctoral
thesisattheUniversityofProvenceandUniversityLaSapienzaofRome.
HeisamemberoftheItalianArchaeologicalMissionofMelkaKunture
(Ethiopia).Amongothers,hestudiesthelithictechnologyofOldowanand
AcheuleanindustriesinEasternAfrica.In2008,hepublishedwithMarcello
Piperno and others “Obsidian Exploitation and Utilization During the
Oldowan at Melka Kunture (Ethiopia),” in E. Hovers and D. R. Braun
(Eds.), Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Oldowan (Springer Science,
BusinessMediaB.V.,111–128).
FrederickL.CoolidgereceivedhisdoctoratefromtheUniversityofFlorida
andcompletedatwo-yearPostdoctoralFellowshipinClinicalNeuropsy-
chologyatShandsTeachingHospital,Gainesville,Florida.Heiscurrently
ProfessorofPsychologyattheUniversityofColoradoatColoradoSprings.
Professor Coolidge conducts research in behavioral genetics and psycho-
logical assessment. For the past ten years, he has been interested in the
applicationofcognitiveandpsychologicalmodelstoarchaeology.Heand
ix
x Contributors
archaeologist Thomas Wynn recently published a paper in the journal
PalaeoAnthropologytitled“TheRoleofEpisodicMemoryandAutonoetic
ThoughtinUpperPalaeolithicLife.”
MiriamNoe¨lHaidlereceivedherdoctoralandhabilitationdegreesfrom
theUniversityofTu¨bingen,Germany,in1996and2006.Sheiscurrently
the coordinator of The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans
Research Center of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humani-
ties.Specializingintheevolutionofthemind,shehasinpress“Working
Memory Capacity and the Evolution of Modern Cognitive Capacities:
ImplicationsfromAnimalandEarlyHumanToolUse,”inT.Wynnand
F.Coolidge(Eds.),WorkingMemoryandtheEvolutionofModernThinking
(CurrentAnthropology).
AndreasKyriacou,NeuropsychologyUnit,UniversityHospitalofZu¨rich,
receivedhisMaster’sDegreeinScienceinclinicallinguisticsfromtheUni-
versitiesofPotsdam,Germany,andGro¨ningen,TheNetherlands.Forhis
doctorateattheCenterforNeuroscienceinZu¨rich,Switzerland,heinves-
tigatedpronenesstofalsememoriesinskepticalandschizotypalthinkers.
Hismaininterestliesintheneuralunderpinningsofcreativityandmad-
ness. In 2004, he published “How Thinking Determines Language: The
RelativityofLanguageRelativity,”inG.Fulton,W.J.Sullivan,andA.R.
Lommel(Eds.),Language,ThoughtandReality(LACUS,159–165).
Carolina Maestro is a prehistoric archaeologist. In 2007, she received a
postgraduate degree in Prehistory at the National Archaeological School
of the University La Sapienza of Rome with this dissertation: “Origins
andDiffusionofHomosapiens:TheDebateonEmergenceofBehavioral
Modernity.”SheiscurrentlyadoctoralstudentinCognitiveArchaeology
attheUniversityofMontreal.Herresearchisaboutfirstsymbolicmanifes-
tationsoftheMiddleandUpperPalaeolithic.
Jacques Pelegrin completed his doctorate in Prehistory in 1986 at the
University of Nanterre (Paris X), about the Chaˆtelperronian. Presently a
Research Director in the Pre´histoire et Technologie Laboratory of the
French National Center for Scientific Research – University of Paris X,
heisaspecialistinlithictechniques,withaparticularinterestinmethod-
ologicalandcognitiveimplications.In2005,hepublished“RemarksAbout
ArchaeologicalTechniquesandMethodsofKnapping:ElementsofaCog-
nitiveApproachtoStoneKnapping,”inV.RouxandB.Bril(Eds.),Stone