Journal ArticleDOI
Archaeological Evidence for the Emergence of Language, Symbolism, and Music–An Alternative Multidisciplinary Perspective
Francesco d'Errico,Christopher S. Henshilwood,Christopher S. Henshilwood,Graeme Lawson,Marian Vanhaeren,Anne-Marie Tillier,Marie Soressi,Frédérique Bresson,Bruno Maureille,April Nowell,Joseba Lakarra,Lucinda Backwell,Michèle Julien +12 more
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TLDR
In this article, a critical reappraisal contradicts the hypothesis of a symbolic revolution coinciding with the arrival of anatomically modern humans in Europe some 40,000 years ago.Abstract:
In recent years, there has been a tendency to correlate the origin of modern culture and language with that of anatomically modern humans. Here we discuss this correlation in the light of results provided by our first hand analysis of ancient and recently discovered relevant archaeological and paleontological material from Africa and Europe. We focus in particular on the evolutionary significance of lithic and bone technology, the emergence of symbolism, Neandertal behavioral patterns, the identification of early mortuary practices, the anatomical evidence for the acquisition of language, the development of conscious symbolic storage, the emergence of musical traditions, and the archaeological evidence for the diversification of languages during the Upper Paleolithic. This critical reappraisal contradicts the hypothesis of a symbolic revolution coinciding with the arrival of anatomically modern humans in Europe some 40,000 years ago, but also highlights inconsistencies in the anatomically–culturally modern equation and the potential contribution of anatomically “pre-modern” human populations to the emergence of these abilities. No firm evidence of conscious symbolic storage and musical traditions are found before the Upper Paleolithic. However, the oldest known European objects that testify to these practices already show a high degree of complexity and geographic variability suggestive of possible earlier, and still unrecorded, phases of development.read more
Citations
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Culture, Mind, and Brain: Emerging Concepts, Models, and Applications
Laurence J. Kirmayer,Carol M. Worthman,Shinobu Kitayama,Robert Lemelson,Constance A. Cummings +4 more
Book ChapterDOI
Embodied and Extended Numerical Cognition
Marilynn Johnson,Caleb Everett +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the theories of embodied cognition and extended mind with respect to the human ability to engage in numerical cognition and provide anthropological and linguistic research to defend the thesis that places the body at the center of our development of numerical reasoning.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
The revolution that wasn't: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior.
Sally McBrearty,Alison S. Brooks +1 more
TL;DR: The African Middle and early Late Pleistocene hominid fossil record is fairly continuous and in it can be recognized a number of probably distinct species that provide plausible ancestors for H. sapiens, and suggests a gradual assembling of the package of modern human behaviors in Africa, and its later export to other regions of the Old World.
Journal ArticleDOI
Cultures in chimpanzees
Andrew Whiten,Jane Goodall,William C. McGrew,Toshisada Nishida,Vernon Reynolds,Yukimaru Sugiyama,Caroline E. G. Tutin,Richard W. Wrangham,Christophe Boesch +8 more
TL;DR: It is found that 39 different behaviour patterns, including tool usage, grooming and courtship behaviours, are customary or habitual in some communities but are absent in others where ecological explanations have been discounted.
Journal ArticleDOI
Organization and Formation Processes: Looking at Curated Technologies
TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw upon ethnographic experiences among the Nunamiut Eskimo for insights into the effects of technological organization on interassemblage variability Varying situationally conditioned strategies of raw material procurement, tool design and manufacture, and disposal are described as clues to site function or "placement" in a subsistence-settlement system.
Journal ArticleDOI
Reconstruction of human evolution: bringing together genetic, archaeological, and linguistic data
TL;DR: The reconstruction of human evolutionary history was checked with statistical techniques such as "boot-strapping" and changes some earlier conclusions and is in agreement with more recent ones, including published and unpublished DNA-marker results.
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