Measuring behavioural and cognitive complexity in lithic technology throughout human evolution

Muller, Antoine; Clarkson, Chris; Shipton, Ceri

doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2017.07.006

Cited by 94 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 113 publications

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“…In an attempt to assess the behavioural and cognitive complexity evidenced in lithic reduction strategies, Muller et al (2017) used "problem-solution distance modelling" as applied to experimental core replications. To analyse the complexity of the technological operations, they produced "hierarchical diagrams" that distinguish specific phases of focus in the knapping process, as well as components or sub-foci within that phase, with "hierarchical depth" represented by how many phases are involved in the reduction and "hierarchical breadth" by how many sub-foci are within the longest phase.…”

Section: Considerations: Cognition Tools Memory and Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

An overview of the cognitive implications of the Oldowan Industrial Complex

Toth

Schick

2018

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

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Section: Considerations: Cognition Tools Memory and Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

An overview of the cognitive implications of the Oldowan Industrial Complex

Toth

Schick

2018

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

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“…Underscoring the challenging nature of their construction, right‐hand‐side images show the best of many attempts by the author under direct, guided instruction from the expert. For a detailed analysis of Acheulean construction techniques . [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]…”

Section: The Beginnings Of Cumulative Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

The Social Glue of Cumulative Culture and Ritual Behavior

Nielsen

2018

Child Dev Perspectives

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Cumulative culture, where innovations are incorporated progressively into a population's stock of skills and knowledge, generating more sophisticated repertoires, is a core aspect of human cognition underpinning the technological advances that characterize our species. Cumulative culture relies on our proclivity for high-fidelity imitation, a characteristic that emerged phylogenetically early in our evolutionary history and emerges ontogenetically early in our development. Commensurate with this proclivity to copy others comes a tradeoff that behaviors that are functionally irrelevant will be easily maintained and transmitted. Rituals are an expression of this. In this article, I argue that the core cognitive architecture responsible for cumulative culture and technological progress also supports the propagation of rituals: our socially motivated propensity for engaging in high-fidelity imitation.

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“…Blade technology has a deep past in the MSA, and is cited among the innovations that define cultural and technological complexity in our lineage (Johnson and McBrearty, ; Wilkins and Chazan, ), although recent scholarship contends that laminar reduction is actually less complex that either Levallois reduction or the bifacial reduction associated with Acheulean handaxe production (Muller et al ., ). Dedicated blade technologies are absent from the Karonga assemblages.…”

Section: Complexity In the Karonga Msamentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Muller et al . () modeled the problem–solution distances for five core types (bipolar, discoidal, bifacial, Levallois and blade). They found that Levallois cores have the longest problem–solution distance, followed by bifacial reduction (such as in Acheulean handaxes), blade cores, discoidal cores, and finally bipolar cores.…”

Section: Complexity In the Karonga Msamentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological risk, demography and technological complexity in the Late Pleistocene of northern Malawi: implications for geographical patterning in the Middle Stone Age

Thompson

Mackay

Nightingale

et al. 2017

J Quaternary Science

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The Late Pleistocene Middle Stone Age (MSA) record of Africa provides early examples of standardised stone tool production and complex manufacturing sequences, superficially implying a long-term trend towards greater complexity in MSA technology at a continental scale. However, at this scale, spatial and temporal expressions of technological complexity are uneven. New lithic and chronometric data from the East-Central African record add further regional perspective to these patterns. Stone artefact assemblages from Karonga, northern, Malawi (92-22 ka), persistently lack the complexity demonstrated elsewhere in Africa at the same times, despite similar lithic raw materials. These new data provide an essential avenue for exploring hypotheses about the roles of environmental risk and demography in shaping the expression of MSA technology across the continent, not just at a local scale. When set within this framework, the simplicity of the Karonga MSA is best explained by its position in an environment that was persistently low in relative extrinsic subsistence risk. These results reinforce that motivations to invest in complex tools were variable through space and time, and that this variation, more than factors relating to behavioural capacity, may explain the patchy evidence for lithic complexity in the later MSA.

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Measuring behavioural and cognitive complexity in lithic technology throughout human evolution

Cited by 94 publications

References 113 publications

An overview of the cognitive implications of the Oldowan Industrial Complex

An overview of the cognitive implications of the Oldowan Industrial Complex

The Social Glue of Cumulative Culture and Ritual Behavior

Ecological risk, demography and technological complexity in the Late Pleistocene of northern Malawi: implications for geographical patterning in the Middle Stone Age

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