Archeological insights into hominin cognitive evolution

Abstract

How did the human mind evolve? How and when did we come to think in the ways we do? The last thirty years have seen an explosion in research related to the brain and cognition. This research has encompassed a range of biological and social sciences, from epigenetics and cognitive neuroscience to social and developmental psychology. Following naturally on this efflorescence has been a heightened interest in the evolution of the brain and cognition. Evolutionary scholars, including paleoanthropologists, have deployed the standard array of evolutionary methods. Ethological and experimental evidence has added significantly to our understanding of nonhuman brains and cognition, especially those of nonhuman primates. Studies of fossil brains through endocasts and sophisticated imaging techniques have revealed evolutionary changes in gross neural anatomy. Psychologists have also gotten into the game through application of reverse engineering to experimentally based descriptions of cognitive functions. For hominin evolution, there is another rich source of evidence of cognition, the archeological record. Using the methods of Paleolithic archeology and the theories and models of cognitive science, evolutionary cognitive archeology documents developments in the hominin mind that would otherwise be inaccessible.

From side to side: Symmetry in handaxes in the British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic

“…On the basis of the data presented here the answer to our research question is in the negative, symmetry is not consistently applied in the British Acheulean record. It will be recalled that in the broad sweep of the Acheulean's duration our data set covers the latter part of its time span, after 0.5 mya, the period that Wynn and Coolidge (Wynn and Coolidge, 2016) suggested saw the increase in exact mirror imaging of edges and cross-sections (which clearly does occur -just not consistently). No persistent increase in symmetry is evident in our data across the four interglacials and +300 ky duration of the British Acheulean and beyond.…”

“…Iovita and colleagues raise the possibility that persistent handaxe symmetry only emerges in the handaxe record once hominins first enter Europe, which would raise Wynn's threshold (Wynn and Coolidge, 2016) from c. 500 kya to at least c. 700 kya. In which case symmetry may reflect the bauplan of earlier hominin migrants (Bridgland and White, 2015).…”

“…Early handaxes are described as crude and poorly shaped, lacking much -if any -sense of symmetry in their planform (Hodgson, 2010;Hodgson, 2015;Wynn, 2002). Later Acheulean handaxes, appearing towards the end of the Acheulean, supposedly show much higher degrees of symmetry accompanying regularity in planform outline (Clark, 1994;Clark, 2001;Wynn and Coolidge, 2016). Potentially, these later Acheulean handaxes may reflect the increasing capacity of material culture to carry symbolic meaning (Lycett, 2008).…”

“…Wynn has explicitly linked what he sees as stages in handaxe development to evolving hominin cognition and spatial awareness, connected with more sophisticated hunting (Wynn, 2002), and evolving hominin neural architecture (Wynn and Coolidge, 2016). He argues that a threshold was crossed at c.1.8 mya with the deliberate imposition of shape on raw material.…”

Human paleoneurology: Shaping cortical evolution in fossil hominids

“…Fields like cognitive archeology and neuroarchaeology are providing interesting bridges between evolution and neuroscience. The former considers the archeological evidence in the light of current theories in fields like neuropsychology (Coolidge et al, ; Wynn & Coolidge, ). The latter employs current tools in neuroscience (like functional imaging) to investigate behaviors associated with the archeological information (such as tool making; Stout & Chaminade, ; Stout & Hecht, ).…”