Stone tools and the evolution of human cognition / edited by April Nowell and Iain Davidson.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Nowell, April, 1969-

Davidson, Iain, 1948-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Stone implements.

Tools, Prehistoric.

Cognition and culture.

Human behavior.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (245 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Boulder, Colo. : University Press of Colorado, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Stone tools are the most durable and common type of archaeological remain and one of the most important sources of information about behaviors of early hominins. Stone Tools and the Evolution of Human Cognition develops methods for examining questions of cognition, demonstrating the progression of mental capabilities from early hominins to modern humans through the archaeological record. Dating as far back as 2.5-2.7 million years ago, stone tools were used in cutting up animals, woodworking, and preparing vegetable matter. Today, lithic remains give archaeologists insight into the forethought, planning, and enhanced working memory of our early ancestors. Contributors focus on multiple ways in which archaeologists can investigate the relationship between tools and the evolving human mind-including joint attention, pattern recognition, memory usage, and the emergence of language. Offering a wide range of approaches and diversity of place and time, the chapters address issues such as skill, social learning, technique, language, and cognition based on lithic technology. Stone Tools and the Evolution of Human Cognition will be of interest to Paleolithic archaeologists and paleoanthropologists interested in stone tool technology and cognitive evolution.

Contents:

"Grammars of action" and stone flaking design space / Mark W. Moore

Insights on the technical competence of the early Oldowan / Ignacio de la Torre

Growing up in the Middle Pleistocene : life history strategies and their relationship to Acheulian industries / April Nowell and Mark White

How Levallois reduction is similar to, and not similar to, playing chess / Thomas Wynn and Frederick L. Coolidge

On standardization in the Paleolithic : measures, causes, and interpretations of metric similarity in stone tools / Steven L. Kuhn

Middle Stone Age tools from Klasies River main site and symbolic cognition / Sarah Wurz

Possible relationshion between language and technology in human evolution / Dietrich Stout

Stone tools and the evolution of hominin and human cognition / Iain Davidson

Current developments in inferring cognitive capabilties from the archaeological traces left by stone tools : caught bwetween a rock and a hard inference / Philip J. Barnard.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781607320319

1607320312

OCLC:

664571206