The foundations of cognitive archaeology / Marc A. Abramiuk.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Abramiuk, Marc A., 1973- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Archaeology.

Cognition and culture.

Mind and body.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 316 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. ; London, England : MIT Press, [2012]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In The Foundations of Cognitive Archaeology, Marc Abramiuk proposes a multidisciplinary basis for the study of the mind in the past, arguing that archaeology and the cognitive sciences have much to offer one another. Abramiuk draws on relevant topics from philosophy, biological anthropology, cognitive psychology, cognitive anthropology, and archaeology to establish theoretically founded and empirically substantiated principles of a discipline that integrates different approaches to mind-related archaeological research. Abramiuk discusses the two ways that archaeologists have traditionally viewed the human mind: as a universal or as a relative interface with the environment. He argues that neither view by itself can satisfactorily serve as a basis for gleaning insight into all aspects of the mind in the past and, therefore, the mind is more appropriately studied using multiple approaches. He explains the rationale for using these approaches in mind-related archaeological research, reviewing the literature in both cognitive psychology and cognitive anthropology on human memory, perception, and reasoning. Drawing on archaeological and genetic evidence, Abramiuk investigates the evolution of the mind through the Upper Paleolithic era -- when the ancient mind became functionally comparable to the modern human mind. Finally, Abramiuk offers a model for the establishment of a discipline dealing with the study of the mind in the past that integrates all the approaches discussed.

Contents:

Toward a study of the mind in the past in relation to developments in archaeological theory

Archaeological perspectives on the mind and associated approaches for studying the mind in the past

Concepts and their reconstruction in cognitive archaeology

Percepts and their reconstruction in cognitive archaeology

Reasoning and its role in the reconstruction of conceptual products and thought processes in cognitive archaeology

An introduction to the evolution of the mind

An introduction to the emergence of the modern human mind

A vision for an ongoing discipline.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

ISBN:

0-262-30527-5

OCLC:

892105594

Publisher Number:

9780262305273

40021249282