The expert Neandertal mind

Wynn, Thomas; Coolidge, Frederick L.

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.01.005

Cited by 207 publications

(116 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Despite the excellent record, and their obvious cognitive sophistication, Neanderthals did not show the exponential rate of cultural change characterizing our own species from about 80,000 years ago to the present (Mellars, 1998b(Mellars, , 2004Tattersall, 1999). As already noted, most archaeologists and anthropologists conclude that, despite their many similarities to us, Neanderthals lacked some cognitive and/or linguistic features of our species (Gunz, Neubauer, Maureille, & Hublin, 2010;Hublin, 2009;Mellars, 1998a;Mithen, 2005;Schepartz, 1993;Shea, 2003;Wynn & Coolidge, 2004; for a dissenting view, see Dediu & Levinson, 2013). While I agree with the premise that Neanderthals lacked something, I think it unlikely that they lacked language entirely; rather, a multicomponent perspective suggests that they already possessed some aspects of modern language and cognition, but lacked one or more others.…”

Section: The Short Time Scale: Comparing Human Populationsmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…Neanderthals had brain sizes identical to or exceeding those of modern humans, and their hunting practices and stone tool kits approached ours in complexity, but many crucial symbolic aspects of the artifacts of modern humans are found rarely or not at all in association with Neanderthals (Mellars, 1998b(Mellars, , 2004Tattersall, 2016). However, despite the excellent fossil and archaeological record left by Neanderthals, and decades of discussion, their cognitive abilities remain highly controversial (e.g., Dediu & Levinson, 2013;Lieberman, 2007;Stringer & Gamble, 1993;Wynn & Coolidge, 2004)-ranging from BNeanderthals were just like us^to Bthey lacked key cognitive capacities including symbolic language.^Given their utter disappearance in Europe shortly after the arrival of modern humans from Africa, it seems more plausible to assume at least some cognitive differences. Fortunately, high-quality paleogenetic data is now available for both Neanderthals and Denisovans, data which offers clear hope of progress beyond this impasse.…”

Section: Paleontological Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Empirical approaches to the study of language evolution

2017

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The study of language evolution, and human cognitive evolution more generally, has often been ridiculed as unscientific, but in fact it differs little from many other disciplines that investigate past events, such as geology or cosmology. Well-crafted models of language evolution make numerous testable hypotheses, and if the principles of strong inference (simultaneous testing of multiple plausible hypotheses) are adopted, there is an increasing amount of relevant data allowing empirical evaluation of such models. The articles in this special issue provide a concise overview of current models of language evolution, emphasizing the testable predictions that they make, along with overviews of the many sources of data available to test them (emphasizing comparative, neural, and genetic data). The key challenge facing the study of language evolution is not a lack of data, but rather a weak commitment to hypothesistesting approaches and strong inference, exacerbated by the broad and highly interdisciplinary nature of the relevant data. This introduction offers an overview of the field, and a summary of what needed to evolve to provide our species with language-ready brains. It then briefly discusses different contemporary models of language evolution, followed by an overview of different sources of data to test these models. I conclude with my own multistage model of how different components of language could have evolved.

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Section: The Short Time Scale: Comparing Human Populationsmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Paleontological Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Empirical approaches to the study of language evolution

2017

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“…The statistical tests demonstrated that Levallois technology involved the most rapid rate of phase changes and the highest hierarchical breadth throughout the sequences. This supports those that have emphasised the complexity of Levallois technology as well as the hypothesis that a major component of the Acheulean to Middle Palaeolithic transition was an increase in hierarchical behaviour and cognition (Ambrose 2001;Eren and Lycett 2012;Kandel et al 2016;Moore 2010;Schlanger 1996;Shipton et al 2013b;Wynn and Coolidge 2004;2010b).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

“…Some have sought to synthesise and apply to the archaeological record both short-and long-term components of memory, such as the concept of expert cognition (Wynn and Coolidge 2004;2010b).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of experimental knapping in empirically testing key themes in the evolution of lithic technology: reduction intensity, efficiency and behavioural complexity

Muller¹

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Experimental knapping has complimented and stimulated lithic analyses for over a century.Throughout this period, the discipline has witnessed an increase in the scientific rigour and theoretical grounding with which these studies are conducted. This thesis charts these key trends and in doing so establishes a best-practice model of experimental knapping, the veracity of which is in turn tested using four new lithic experiments. These case-studies employ experimental knapping to advance our understanding of flake platform measurement, reduction intensity, technological efficiency, and behavioural complexity.The first case-study, Chapter 3, offers a more accurate and precise calliper-based method of flake platform measurement that relies on simple geometric approximations of platform shape rather than the inflexible and unreliable existing method of multiplying platform width by thickness. In Chapter 4, a new reduction intensity metric for backed blades, a hitherto overlooked tool-type, is developed and tested on the backed blades from an early Neolithic site in Turkey. This new metric allows a reconstruction of the raw material consumption patterns at the site, finding that the backed blades These four case-studies, coupled with a consideration of existing knapping experiments, allow an understanding of how experimental knapping is embedded in the broader archaeological research process, and ultimately tests the efficacy of a best-practice model of experimental knapping. This model identifies the initial scope, methodological control, and breadth of interpretations as the key variables dictating the validity of an experiment. While knapping experiments may differ markedly in their scope and control, they do not necessarily vary in their validity. Instead, it is the interplay of these variables that dictates the validity of experimentation. Within this best-practice model, lithic experiments are most robust when the scale of the initial scope, methodological control and ensuing interpretations are congruent, and when they involve explicit and falsifiable hypothesis testing.iii

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“…Objects of the same type that are interpreted as evidence of symbolic behavior when found in a sapiens context, have also been found associated with Neanderthals in Europe (Langley et al, 2008;d'Errico, 2008;Watts, 2009;Zilhão, 2007;Zilhão et al, 2010) as well as objects that can reasonably be interpreted as art (Appenzeller, 1998;d'Errico et al, 2003;Wynn & Coolidge, 2004). While these finds are simpler and less frequent than the ornaments and figurative art of later Homo sapiens (e.g.…”

Section: The Revolution That Wasn'tmentioning

confidence: 97%

Constraining the Time When Language Evolved

Johansson

2006

The Evolution of Language

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The expert Neandertal mind

Cited by 207 publications

References 42 publications

Empirical approaches to the study of language evolution

Empirical approaches to the study of language evolution

The role of experimental knapping in empirically testing key themes in the evolution of lithic technology: reduction intensity, efficiency and behavioural complexity

Constraining the Time When Language Evolved

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