Biology is only part of the story ...

Full Abstract

The origins and development of human cognition constitute one of the most interesting questions to which archaeology can contribute today. In this paper, we do so by presenting an overview of the evolution of artefact technology from the maker's point of view, and linking that development to some hypotheses on the evolution of human cognitive capacity. Our main hypothesis is that these data indicate that, in the first part of the trajectory, biological limits to cognitive capacity were a major constraint that limited technology, whereas, in the second part, this biological constraint seems to have been lifted and others have come in its place. But these are modifiable by means of conceptual frameworks that facilitate concept innovation and therefore enable learning, thereby permitting acceleration in the pace of change in technology. In the last part of the paper, we elaborate on some of the consequences of that acceleration.

Author information

Author/s: Read, Dwight (D); van der Leeuw, Sander (S);

Affiliation: Department of Anthropology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. dread(-atsign-)anthro.ucla.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Review

Journal: Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences (Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Jun; vol 363 (issue 1499) : pp 1959-68

Dates: Created 2008/04/30; Completed 2008/08/11; Revised 2009/06/15;

PMID: 18292066, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 6/16/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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