Cognitive Models in Palaeolithic Archaeology - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0190204117 ISBN 13: 9780190204112

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2016

Synopsis

How did human thought evolve into the highly complex process it is today? In the field of evolutionary cognitive archaeology, cognitive science and archaeology intersect to provide a more complete and grounded picture of the mind. With the combination of cognitive theories and archaeological evidence, this burgeoning field is only beginning to tap into the potential for a better understanding of the development of specific cognitive abilities.

Cognitive Models in Palaeolithic Archaeology explores hominin cognitive development by applying formal cognitive models to analyze prehistoric remains from the entire range of the Palaeolithic, from the earliest stone tools 3.3 million years ago to artistic developments that emerged 50,000 years ago. Several different cognitive models are presented, including expert cognition, information processing, material engagement theory, embodied/extended cognition, neuroaesthetics, visual resonance theory, theory of mind, and neuronal recycling. By examining archaeological remains, and thereby past activities and behavior, through the grounded lenses of these models, a mosaic pattern of human cognitive evolution emerges. This volume, authored by many leading authorities in the field of cognitive archaeology, will attract scholars and students of cognitive evolution and paleoanthropology, who will find a new understanding of hominin cognitive evolution and substantive conclusions about our hominin evolution as opportunities for further research.

About this title

About the Author

Thomas Wynn, PhD, is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. He has published extensively in Palaeolithic archaeology, with a particular emphasis on cognitive evolution.

Frederick L. Coolidge, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. He focuses primarily on behavioral genetics, paleopsychology, and personality disorders across the lifespan.

Both editors are well-known in paleoanthropology as advocates of the enhanced working memory hypothesis for recent cognitive evolution. In 2012, they co-founded the UCCS Center for Cognitive Archaeology. They have also published numerous articles and two books together: The Rise of Homo sapiens: The Evolution of Modern Thinking (2009) and How To Think Like a Neandertal (OUP 2012).

Review

"This is an area of great importance in understanding humanity, one of rapid development and one where new views of theory and practice are essential to continued progress. Thomas Wynn and Frederick L. Coolidge have put together a fascinating new collection that has real substance and is both
topical and thought-provoking. It will be a 'must read' for a professional audience, and can provide a useful spine for teaching cognitive evolution modules. This book will certainly be seen as on the cutting edge of current thinking."

--John Gowlett, PhD, Professor of Archaeology, University of Liverpool

"If mind is a process, we need to investigate the relationships among its parts. This book frames cognitive models into an evolutionary perspective, a necessary step to disclose those relationships. Knowledge is about questions, and this publication shows that cognitive archaeology is now
looking for its own ones."

--Emiliano Bruner, PhD, Centro Nacional de Investigacion sobre la Evolucion Humana (Espana)

"This offering from the standard bearers of cognitive archaeology will be a stimulating read, with both new ways of looking at the record and new ideas of when and where specific cognitive abilities are first manifested. I am particularly excited by the number of developments in cognition,
including in expertise and Theory of Mind, that are suggested to occur within the Acheulean period."

--Ceri Shipton, PhD, Fellow in East African Archaeology, British Institute in Eastern Africa, Nairobi; McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0190204117
• ISBN 13: 9780190204112
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240
• Editor: Wynn Thomas, Coolidge Frederick L.